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View From Here

David Mark Greaves
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View From Here

Donald Trump is such an absurdly powerful character, that there is a risk of his changing the nature of what we expect in a president, that some might grow up thinking his angry and threatening appearance at the United Nations was normal occurrence. I suggest going to YouTube and take a moment to watch Barack Obama in his first appearance to the UN. With the applause interruptions, it is to be reminded of where the bar has been set on how to deliver an address on the world stage and what presidential majesty is supposed to look and sound like.

The sanity, the humanity, the acknowledgement of challenges, the need for coalitions, the hopefulness are all themes lost on the current President of the United States. Apparently, presidential aide Stephen Miller had a hand in writing the script and you can hear his nasty, grating voice throughout as the president embarrassed the nation and raised concerns around the world by reading whatever is placed in front of him. And if he is able to be removed from office for reasons of delusions or collusion, waiting in the wings is the blandly sinister Vice President Mike Spence, ready to enact all of the anti-climate, anti-people agenda but without the overt craziness, instability and Tweets of Trump.

The only hope for a regime change is to elect a Democratic House of Representatives, impeach both Trump and Pence, and have the Democratic Speaker assume the office. But that’s not likely as Senate Republicans wouldn’t go along and Trump supporters would probably make a fuss. So we’re left to fighting the Trump Administration state by state and city by city, electing the best we can on the local level and fighting hardest against voter suppression.

Republicans Determined to Rip Up Affordable Care Act

The Republican determination to remove health care from millions of people is an effort that just won’t die.   The Times reported that the current incarnation will take $700 billion out of the health care system and the Republicans say that will make it better. That’s not savings, that’s less care, longer illnesses and more dying. And the money they take out of the system by taking away health care, they then give to the nation’s richest, including themselves, their friends and those they want to be friends with. It is perverse and as the Times calls it, “mean”.

And they insist on going forward despite the objections of over 50 medical associations, including the American Medical Association, AARP, American Hospital Association & Federation of American Hospitals, American Cancer Society, Cancer Action Network, American Health Care Association (AHCA), America’s Essential Hospitals and America’s Hospitals and Health Systems. But as far as the Republicans are concerned, they only represent patients and the people who directly deliver health care. They can’t be expected to have an affinity for the politics and bought loyalties of the health care system.

Extreme Weather: Our New Normal

After Superstorm Sandy, we had warned of hurricanes becoming a 2-week norm with the changing climate, but we never expected it to manifest so soon. The Caribbean islands are being savaged by a string of hurricanes that have left only land and soaked rubble.   Debt-ridden Puerto Rico, not yet recovered from Irma’s glancing blow, has now been hit by Maria, a Category 4 storm that has left the entire island, with its already fragile electrical grid, without power for a projected several months.

There is no stopping this onslaught. Nature will keep producing these hurricane winds because that is what it does, given the new warmth of air and water.   Therefore, this is the new normal, with the threat of a series of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes sweeping across the Caribbean and up the east coast throughout hurricane season, which runs to the end of November.

Rebuilding in the usual hurricane path would have to be done knowing that reality and family homes will need to be capable of withstanding regular hits of 150-175mph winds and rain.   And that’s going to be hard to contemplate when you’re standing in front of a home destroyed, with a lifetime in wreckage all around and having only the clothes on your back to start with. This is what a changing climate looks like up close, and as the suffering is being mirrored in climate events around the world, we are led by climate change deniers whose immorality we must fight on every front.

Major Findings from Comptroller’s Report on Bed-Stuy

Editor, Our Time Press
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Major Findings from Comptroller’s Report on Bed-Stuy

The number of jobs in Bedford-Stuyvesant increased by 45 percent since the end of the recession in 2009 to a record 17,000 jobs in 2016. The retail trade and the leisure and hospitality sectors registered the largest job gains, with each sector accounting for about one-fifth of the 5,300 jobs added since 2009. Job growth has accelerated since 2010 and has exceeded 7 percent in each of the past four years.

The number of businesses increased by 73 percent between 2000 and 2015, which was the fourth-fastest rate of growth among the 55 neighborhoods in New York City. In 2015, there were a record 1,910 businesses and almost three-quarters were small businesses with fewer than five employees.

The population increased by 25 percent between 2000 and 2015 to 150,900, more than three times faster than the citywide rate of growth. The ethnic and racial mix of the population has undergone significant change in the past 15 years as the neighborhood has attracted new residents.

Many of the new residents are immigrants, white or young, and are likely to have higher household incomes than long-term residents. New residents had a median household income of $50,200, compared to $28,000 for long-term residents. New residents comprised one-third of the households.

There were 14,000 senior residents living in Bedford-Stuyvesant in 2015. Their household incomes were only $25,500, and 42 percent of them relied on the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for food assistance.

The number of residents under age 18 (43,900) grew by 27 percent between 2010 and 2015, more than three times faster than the rest of the population. This segment of the population accounted for 29 percent of Bedford-Stuyvesant’s population, the third-highest concentration among the city’s 55 census-defined neighborhoods.

Housing affordability is a serious problem, even though nearly two-thirds of all apartments are either rent-stabilized or public housing. The median monthly rent increased by 77 percent between 2005 and 2015, rising to $1,230. In 2015, 55 percent of all households spent at least 30 percent of their income on rent and nearly one-third devoted more than half.

Median home values (for one-, two- and three-family homes and condominiums) have risen sharply in recent years, from $484,800 in 2005 to $779,400 in 2015. The 61 percent increase was nearly twice as fast as the growth in Brooklyn overall.

Residents suffer from above-average incidences of chronic health problems. According to the New York City Department of Health, of the 59 community districts in New York City, Bedford-Stuyvesant ranks in the top 10 for smoking, diabetes, new HIV diagnoses, obesity, stroke, mental health, alcohol hospitalizations and adult hospitalizations for asthma. The average time patients waited in the emergency room before being seen for a diagnostic evaluation by a health care professional at area hospitals was higher than the statewide average.

Other findings in DiNapoli’s report include:

  • The share of households living in poverty has hovered at about 30 percent since the end of the recession, significantly higher than the citywide poverty rate (19 percent). Moreover, the number of households in poverty increased by 13 percent from 13,800 in 2009 to 15,600 in 2015.
  • One-third of all households receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and nearly half receive Medicaid benefits. These programs are at risk of federal budget cuts.
  • In 2015, less than one-fifth of long-term residents had at least a bachelor’s degree, compared with 46 percent of new residents.
  • More than 20,400 people live in public housing apartments under the control of the New York City Housing Authority, the highest number in any community district in Brooklyn.
  • Violent crime fell by 44 percent between 2000 and 2016, but crime remains a concern.
  • School District 16, which covers most of the neighborhood, has one of the highest concentrations of homeless students in New York City.
  • Traditional elementary and middle schools have shown notable improvement in English and math proficiency, but they still lag behind the citywide averages.

Read the report or go to: http://osc.state.ny.us/osdc/rpt5-2018.pdf

For access to state and local government spending, public authority financial data and information on 130,000 state contracts, visit Open Book New York. The easy-to-use Web site was created to promote transparency in government and provide taxpayers with better access to financial data.

 

 

More Than Mere Playgrounds

Marlon Rice
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More Than Mere Playgrounds

   Today, I saw some pictures of the damage that Hurricane Irma caused last week during its terror into the Caribbean Islands. In St. Maarten, dozens of yachts and boats of varying sizes laid atop one another as if some gigantic child had dumped a pile of his favorite toy ships along the shore in his sandbox. I saw a progression picture of the island of Virgin Gorda that revealed that when the winds of Irma tore through, basically all of the green foliage was stripped away, leaving it brown and virtually barren. And, for the first time in 300 years, there isn’t one person that is currently inhabiting the island of Barbuda. The island has been completely destroyed, every structure flattened; of its 1,800 residents, only abandoned pets and livestock remain.

The Caribbean is the most tourism-dependent region in the world; 27 million visitors a year, spending $29.5 billion dollars (a lot of that money leaks out of the region in the form of international businesses that cater to the region’s tourism without actually being of the region). Almost half of the visitors are American. While for many of our community, the Caribbean represents home, a place of birth or an origin of their family roots, a bigger percentage of Americans view the Caribbean as a playground, a destination that’s forever sunny and warm where you can jet-ski and snorkel, and visit on a cruise ship and always feel welcomed. And if you should happen to wander off of the ship, natives are always in the marketplace willing to sell you a souvenir or even to braid your hair with beads. And if you stay at one of those nice resorts, you can enjoy a chartered tour of the island followed by a spa day, and later you can experience some of the island’s best cuisine for dinner. No matter the island, the supreme attention on service to international visitors seems to be the same.

Americans, we love to watch train wrecks. Isn’t rubbernecking in traffic always due to an accident on the other side of the highway, people simply slowing up to have a look at the carnage? During hurricane season, weathermen thoroughly enjoy the drama associated with having to report and forecast a hurricane for television. Where is it going to land? How fast are the winds moving? Our local meteorologists tell us everything we need to know about these storms, even if they have absolutely no chance of reaching us. If you tell us that a hurricane has formed, we will follow your reporting and forecasting as that hurricane travels and develops, just waiting to see if it is going to make landfall somewhere against the East Coast. I think that because we rarely get to experience that kind of inclement weather, New Yorkers have this thing with hurricanes that we secretly root for one of them to make that peculiar turn towards the north, just enough to bring us in on all of the fun.

However, in most cases, standing in between America’s shores and the hurricanes bearing down on them, are the Caribbean Islands. And so, by the time a system reaches Florida, Louisiana or the Texas Panhandle, in most cases they have already left a path of destruction on its way here. When Texas was battered by Hurricane Harvey, many of our celebrities went to work immediately to raise money for the victims of the hurricane. Houston Texans lineman J.J. Watt was able to raise over $30 million for Harvey survivors. America always finds ways to pony-up the resources to help in the aftermath of a natural disaster in our backyard.

But what about the disasters that happen in our playgrounds?

Those islands destroyed by Irma, their economy depends heavily on the tourism industry. Indirectly, more than 2 million jobs are created due to tourism in the region. And, unlike the States, where even the most vicious storm cannot completely destroy our industrial infrastructure, a Category 5 hurricane can steal an island’s prosperity, leaving the residents unable to fend for themselves. That clear water and pink sand that we enjoy on our holidays means nothing when an island’s infrastructure is ruined, destroyed beyond repair. And the people have to deal with losing everything. And unlike the citizens here, they don’t have rich allies like Kevin Hart or J.J. Watt sending the call out to raise resources. But they should. Those that would use the Caribbean as their destination for beauty and bacchanal should respond now in the same way that the islands respond to their needs for sun and service during a vacation visit. Actor Robert DeNiro recently pledged to help rebuild Barbuda, citing that he loves the island as a place of refuge and wishes to give back to the island as a way to return the favors he’s experienced there as a vacationer. He has the right idea.

Youth Central

Editor, Our Time Press
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Youth Central

Coney Island cousins Jedisha Johnson, 17 and Asiana Perez, 7, and their family won the 1st Place Award for Family Group for their sand sculpture “Pyramid” at the 27th Annual Coney Island Sand Sculpting Contest on August 19. Jedisha, who is entering Long Island University as a freshman this fall, inspired the family to create a three sided pyramid.

“Most pyramids are made with four sides,” she said. “I was inspired to put dragons on it in honor of the sculpture that our family worked on our first year in 2015.”

The Coney Island Sand Sculpting Contest also had top winners in the Individual Adult and Adult Group categories. Professional and amateur sand sculptors competed for bragging rights and 1st, 2nd and 3rd place cash prizes ranging from $500, $250 and $100.  The judges included Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP, Commissioner for the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. The free family fun event was presented by Neptune/Sixth in partnership Brooklyn Community Services (BCS), Astella Development Corp and Alliance for Coney Island.

THIRTEENTH ANNUAL BED-STUY ALIVE! CELEBRATION SHINES LIGHT ON EDUCATION

Editor, Our Time Press
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THIRTEENTH ANNUAL BED-STUY ALIVE! CELEBRATION SHINES LIGHT ON EDUCATION

Brooklyn NY (September 8, 2017) – The Bed-Stuy Alive! Collective is proud to present the 13TH Annual Bed-Stuy Alive! celebration, scheduled to begin on Saturday, October 14th, and span several weeks of exciting happenings throughout the community.. “We are pleased to be a part of this event, which will showcase our great businesses, schools, restaurants, artists, and homes,” stated Dordy Jourdain, Executive Director of the Bedford-Stuyvesant YMCA. The project is designed to promote economic development, neighborhood pride, tourism, the community’s cultural richness, and the unique heritage and diversity of the people who live in Bedford-Stuyvesant. This year’s theme,” Lighting the Path for Our Children: Education Is Our Torch”, was selected by the members of the Collective in order to highlight the importance of education at all levels in our community. “From pre-k to adulthood, our community must be continually engaged in lifelong learning. Groups are working together to help improve our public schools; and organizations all over the community are offering workshops and training programs that cover everything from financial literacy to job preparation,.” said Lynette Lewis-Rogers, President of the Brownstoners of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Inc.

The excitement begins on October 14h, at 10:00 a.m., with the Opening Ceremony in the main building of the Restoration Complex, at 1368 Fulton Street. The Gala Kick-off Street Festival, which will be held from 12 noon 5:00 p.m., on Fulton Street, between Marcy and Brooklyn Avenues.

TOHMA Y. FAULKNER AWARDS

The 10:00 Opening Ceremony is a special time that is set aside to honor the community’s best with the 9th Annual Tohma Y. Faulkner Community Awards. One of the highlights of the program will be the first donation of books that were collected for the Annette M. Robinson Early Childhood Literacy Project. During Assembly Member Robinson’s community celebration last March, over four hundred books were contributed by those who attended. Assembly Member Robinson said, “As a participating parent and former staff member of the Bedford-Stuyvesant Early Childhood Development Center, I am most proud that the Annette M. Robinson Early Childhood Literacy Project will present books to the Center, in recognition of the organization’s over fifty years of providing dedicated educational services to the children of Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights.”

According to this year’s Chairperson, Stephanie Faulkner Brabham, “This is always a very moving and uplifting program. We hope our neighbors will come out to say thank you to those champions who have done so much for Bedford-Stuyvesant. It is not too late to donate to the Literacy Project, and new books for grades pre-k to second grade will be welcomed.”

Tohma Faulkner was a true child of Bedford-Stuyvesant, and an activist in every sense of the word. The Bed-Stuy Alive! initiative grew out of her thoughts, as a way of celebrating every aspect of the history and people of her community. Sadly, Tohma passed away eight years ago, and the awards are named in her honor. A portion of Decatur Street has been co-named Tohma Y. Faulkner Way, as a means of keeping her legacy alive.

This year’s Tohma Y. Faulkner Honorees are:

Arts and Culture Trailblazer – Rachim Ausar –Sahu, Artist and Educator

Community Service – Brownstoners of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Inc.

Explorers of the New York City Fire Department

Community Champion – Girls High School Alumnae Association

Economic Development Trailblazer – Lillian Bowen, Owner of Lillian’s Professional Services

New Entrepreneurs – Shawn and Sabrina Brockman, Owners of Grandchamps Kitchen and Market

Outstanding Educator – Lena Gates, Principal of P.S. 5, the Dr. Ronald Mc Nair School

Youth Achievement – Edriona Stroud

Special Recognition – Colvin W. Grannum, Esq., President, Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation

 

FULTON STREET COMES ALIVE AT NOON

Fulton Street, between Marcy and Brooklyn Avenues will be jumping with the Bed-Stuy Heritage Market and the Savor Bed-Stuy Food Court. The lively Children’s Village will feature the Uni Project that will bring an entire pop-up library.  The Health Pavilion will be anchored by the Interfaith Medical Center, the Veterans’ Administration along with other health providers provide screenings and information, and the Discover Your Neighborhood Resource Row, with representatives from a broad range of education and social service organizations.

The large stage will be the backdrop for Restoration’s annual Restoration Rocks. This year’s line-up includes Talib Kweli, with DJ Spinna, Les Nubians, and Soul Science Lab.

The Collective includes: Bridge Street Development Corporation, Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, the Brownstoners of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Inc., the Bedford-Stuyvesant Artists’ Association, Bedford-Stuyvesant YMCA, the Bedford-Stuyvesant Gateway Business Improvement District, and 500 Men Making a Difference. This year’s corporate sponsors include ABC Television Network, Foodtown, Applebee’s, and AlphaCare. Supporters include the Mayor’s Office Community Assistant Unit, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, New York State Senator Velmanette Montgomery, New York State Assembly Member Annette M. Robinson, and Council Member Robert E. Cornegy, Jr.

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