Our Time PressThe Local Paper with the Global View

It should come as no surprise to these residents that Borough President Marty Markowitz is a major promoter of this project. Marty is absolutely true to form. Quick. Think of something Marty has done in the area of Education, Housing, Homelessness, Jobs, Crime. This Borough President wasn’t elected because of substance. He was elected because he is a great entertainer. In more than two decades as State Senator Marty always put entertainment first with nothing else second. His colleagues in Albany often complained that Marty spent most of his time and energy into arranging his Concerts. So the Ratner project is perfect for Marty. This is his dream. He can move his concerts from Wingate Field to the new stadium where he will strut in splendor in his white tuxedo.
On the other hand Councilwoman Tish James has already proved to be a serious elected official and has passed her first test with flying colors. She never hesitated to support the residents of her community and we do not believe that her predecessor James Davis would have been as steadfast and reliable. Regrettably, most of the politicians who were willing to sign petitions and join the demonstration to prevent Assemblyman Clarence Norman from being indicted for grand larceny and extortion were not there to stand with Brooklyn residents whose community is being hijacked. The message is that although these politicians will join forces to protect each other in trouble, they disappear when the time comes to support voters who are under attack.
There are other troubling messages. Footnotes is always concerned about

Most New Yorkers probably don’t believe what’s happening in downtown Brooklyn. They just cannot understand how a big developer could actually draw up a project that would completely change a community without first consulting the people who own homes, rent apartments, and send their children to school in the area.
It sounds like something that Saddam Hussein would have done in a Kurdish community or the way American troops would treat a Baathist area. These residents cannot believe that their Mayor, their Boro President and their Speaker would support the developer’s plan without first coming to the people who voted them into office.
A television host interviewing State Senator Velmanette Montgomery and Councilman David Yassky thought for sure that these two representatives of the area had been consulted. So when Montgomery remarked that neither the developers nor the elected officials pushing the plan had spoken to her the interviewer clearly thought that she was not being quite truthful. So he turned to Yassky and asked him whether he had been consulted. Yassky, somewhat reluctantly, admitted that no one had as yet spoken to him.
The interviewer was definitely stunned. He expressed absolute amazement that the drawings and plans for the area had been completed and were being presented as a done-deed to the people who live in the community and to the people who were elected to represent them.
Even if the project had been perfect, and improved the community in every way, Bruce Ratner and the politicians owed these residents the respect of consulting with them through the officials who represent them. Ratner would never dare to pull a stunt like this in the communities where Gifford Miller, or Mike Bloomberg have their homes. It just wouldn’t happen, and it shouldn’t be happening in downtown Brooklyn.
It should come as no surprise to these residents that Borough President Marty Markowitz is a major promoter of this project. Marty is absolutely true to form. Quick. Think of something Marty has done in the area of Education, Housing, Homelessness, Jobs, Crime. This Borough President wasn’t elected because of substance. He was elected because he is a great entertainer. In more than two decades as State Senator Marty always put entertainment first with nothing else second. His colleagues in Albany often complained that Marty spent most of his time and energy into arranging his Concerts. So the Ratner project is perfect for Marty. This is his dream. He can move his concerts from Wingate Field to the new stadium where he will strut in splendor in his white tuxedo.
On the other hand Councilwoman Tish James has already proved to be a serious elected official and has passed her first test with flying colors. She never hesitated to support the residents of her community and we do not believe that her predecessor James Davis would have been as steadfast and reliable. Regrettably, most of the politicians who were willing to sign petitions and join the demonstration to prevent Assemblyman Clarence Norman from being indicted for grand larceny and extortion were not there to stand with Brooklyn residents whose community is being hijacked. The message is that although these politicians will join forces to protect each other in trouble, they disappear when the time comes to support voters who are under attack.
There are other troubling messages. Footnotes is always concerned about the integrity of elected officials who align themselves with major developers or who have problems supporting community activists against big money. Maybe its being cynical, but we always wonder whether secret deals are being cut behind the scenes for campaign support, and contracts for loved ones. We have heard stories about elected officials and contractors connected with elected officials who made millions off of Metro-Tech. It makes us think that former City Councilman Angel Rodriguez was not one of a kind, and that downtown residents should be keeping a very close watch on Brooklyn’s elected officials.

When facing challenges they say that attitude is everything and we saw an example of that in two meetings in Brownsville that dealt with those points where city and population meet: crime, garbage pickups and housing.

We first attended a tenant association meeting at Seth Lowe Housing at Belmont and Christopher.  Chaired by Jenny Ortiz-Bowman, Council of Presidents administrator, it was a small group, including Lisa Kenner, president of the Van Dyke Houses Resident Association.   The New York City Police Department was well-represented by Captain Michael  Kemper and Lieutenant Joseph Donachie of the 75th.  Precinct officers from  the 73rd  as well as transit and housing police.   
They had come prepared with the letters that had been sent to their commanders and they spoke to the changes they had made in their policing based on the information received.  The residents spoke about specific problems of safety with people leaving for work at 3AM-4AM when most folks are just turning over. 
Mrs. Bowman was good- humored and relentless as she explained that the people in the community wanted to partner with the police to rid the community of crime. As the residents told about several unreported robberies, Captain Kemper was listening and flexible, and spoke of the necessity of reporting all robberies while taking personal responsibility that what they were saying would not be sitting on someone’s desk.  This  intelligence would be directly transmitted to the people shaping the morning shift.   
The task force meeting of the Council of Presidents was a standing-room-only affair in the Community Room at Seth Low Houses.  Present were residents and  tenant presidents,as well as building superintendents and managers. Gloria Finkelman, borough director of  NYCHA was there with many of her staff.
Council President Reginald Bowman says he believes that when the community and NYCHA work together, common problems can be solved, in fact it’s somewhat of a mantra with him.  “I don’t see constructive use in being adversarial.  We can agree to disagree as long as we’re working toward the same goal.”
Mr. Bowman maintains that by coming together and solving a problem at one development, it can help solve a problem at another. 
One problem that a tenant wanted to see addressed was what was happening at 296 Sutter Avenue.  She reported that “Life is being made a living hell by other residents.”   There was a concern voiced about the need for computer technology centers.  “There are terminals in the complexes for the managers, we need this technology for the residents,”  said a tenant president.
Several of the superintendents spoke about the work they do around the complexes and the particular challenges of being in charge of a physical plant of very small city.   Tenants commenting said that the superintendents and the building staff were hardworking and dedicated people, with many working beyond what is called for.  One tenant president said “One of the residents came to me and said the Super was out there working, and it was Veteran’s Day.  I went and looked and sure enough he was working, and I know he didn’t have to do that.” 
Bowman says he approaches situations with an attitude of partnership with the agencies, saying it was this approach and active participation from a coalition that has recently won a shuttle bus to make up for the closing of the “L” train station at .  “We woke up with no L train.  People had to walk 5-8 blocks”.
“Working together, we have a brand new shuttle serving the community today.

Making Schools Work for Parents
As another calendar year approaches its end and Kwanzaa is days away, it’s the perfect time to assess effectiveness in all areas of our lives and revamp our plans for the coming year.   
 On the school front the Fall Open School sessions have just concluded.    Conversations with teachers and parents in various schools brought home the fact that changes can and must be made at the level of the individual school.   The general designation for the conferences is for an afternoon session and an evening session for a  total of approximately five hours.
 This arrangement clearly doesn’t produce the intended result.  Afternoon attendance has traditionally been low – and continues to be.  A number of middle school teachers, each with 75 – 80 students on their rolls reported seeing an average of five or six parents in their afternoon session.  No surprise here.  Working on my Masters, the research showed that the greatest obstacle to parent involvement was scheduling events during the day.  
While more parents attend the conferences during the evening hours, another problem arises, especially at the middle and high school levels.  In these schools teachers have four or more classes of 25 plus students.  Some teachers said that up to 50 percent of their parents signed in but because of the numbers and the time constraint, they didn’t always get to meet with them.  I remember the ritual of going into class rooms filled with waiting parents, signing in and leaving to see if I could see another teacher or if lucky, two before my name was reached on the first list.  That didn’t always work and what was originally intended to be an opportunity to hear about my children’s progress and needs, became a tension filled obstacle course.  So if this system doesn’t work for 50 percent of the parents attending, what can we expect at 60, 70, 80 and above?
 Fortunately, I discovered that some school communities are taking the initiative to make Open School more parent and teacher friendly and in the process having it serve its intended purpose – provide an opportunity for parents to meet, greet and confer with the adults (teachers and administrators) who often spend more waking hours with their children than they do. 
Some schools designate a period of days for parent-teacher conferences and parents make appointments based on their schedules.  Others convene the afternoon and evening session in a combined block of time. An elementary school stretches the conferences over a two-week period and parents have 30-minute blocks of time.   In one middle school, the Homeroom teacher assembles the information from the student’s subject teachers.  Parents then meet with the Homeroom teacher and can request meetings with the subject teacher if desired.  You all know that you can request conferences with the teacher(s) at any time during the school year, of course.   I’m sure that there are more innovations out there on a wide range of topics and I’d like this column to be the vehicle to share them.  There is a correlation between effectiveness and team spirit, between team spirit and parent involvement, between parent involvement and student success.  The more we share what works, the closer we come to reaching our goal – school success for all children. 
It makes sense that promoting team spirit and problem solving is easier to implement within a school than in the entire city.  By students, parents and school staff increasing the effectiveness of their school, the system, city wide is made effective.   The ball is in your court.  We can change anything that we take responsibility for – responsibility does not equal blame.  What things could be improved in your school that would have a positive impact on student success?  Working with your Parent Coordinator to reform the next Open School Week might be a good project to start.
I’d like to extend an invitation to the Parent Coordinators to let us know what you’re up to at your school.  What challenges do you face?  What challenges have you met or are meeting successfully.  The invitation is ever open to parents to let us know what your successes and needs are.  Remember people are resources.  Please email me at faminisha@aol.com or parentsnotebook@yahoo.com.

By Eric Adams

Inspector Timothy Pearson stood in front of the barber shop and looked over the crime scene for any evidence that may have been overlooked by the detectives. It was only hours earlier that a career criminal’s body lay dead on the same side walk from a single shot to the chest from a police officer’s gun.
Reports indicated that the deceased had just performed a gun point robbery of a patron in the barber shop. He then left the establishment and was confronted by two uniformed police officers. After a reported confrontation, the armed career criminal was shot and killed.
It was only days earlier that Inspector Pearson sat in one of the barber chairs and received his weekly hair cut. His mind allowed him to go back to the incident involving an off-duty police officer who found herself involved in a shoot out with armed robbers while she was in her hair salon. As he observed the curious onlookers, he saw many familiar faces and it reinforced why he spent so much time in the Fort Greene-Clinton Hill community where the 88th Precinct is located. The assignment is more than a nine to fiver. It is an obsession to bring a level of normality to a community that has known its share of crime and violence.
Many of the onlookers knew him by first name and was happy to see an African-American man in such a prestigious rank in the New York City Police Department. He understood that with the title of Inspector (and Black man), came an awesome responsibility to ensure fairness and justice–something that has often alluded residents of minority communities. This task is even more difficult when you have a full understanding of the financial and ethnic demographics of the community he is responsible for. Fort Greene and Clinton Hill have homeowners with million dollar properties standing side by side with families that are on pubic assistance. This mixture of have and have nots often bring about a violences and conflict.
Inspector Pearson’s 12 hour days have paid off and the result is that he has prevented those conflicts from taking place. He would be the first to tell you that much of his success has little to do with crime fighting and more to do with caring. He cared enough to self fund and run several youth summer programs in his precinct while the city was cutting these much needed services. A significant number of children participated in his summer time daily organized events. These deeds were similar to what he did in East New York Brooklyn, when he was the commanding officer of Housing Public Service Area 2.
Even critics of the community policing concept will have to agree that Inspector Pearson’s proactive style of approaching public safety paid off during the investigation into the case involving the armed gun man who was shot by the police in front of the barber shop. This was due to the fact that when backup police officers responded, no one was able to locate the gun that the assailant was supposed to have been carrying.
The absence of a gun in any other precinct would have been cause for many in the community to call for an investigation into possible police brutality. This was not the case here. The detectives in charge of investigating the case stated that they could not get enough help from community residents, who volunteered first-hand accounts of the case and gave information relating to what happened to the missing gun. Many of the witnesses clearly indicated their willingness to come forward which had a lot to do with their deep trust and respect for Inspector Pearson.
That respect has turned into respectable decreases in the seven major crime categories. These are national indicators that are used to determine the safety of a given area. Inspector Pearson style of policing has also helped to bridge the gap between the police department and the community that they are sworn to serve and protect. It is clear that because of this a possible frontpage controversial police shooting became a back page success story of the police and public working together to solve a crime.
Let us hope one day our city will reach the point where these forms of cooperation for public safety will also be worthy of breaking news headlines.