By Stephen Witt
A packed working-class crowd at the Rustik Neighborhood Tavern stayed glued to the four giant televisions as if it were Super Bowl Sunday and all agreed that President Obama bested Mitt Romney in the second of three presidential debates – some by a knockout and others by decision.
Cheers and jeers erupted intermittently at the eatery and watering hole located at 471 DeKalb Avenue as patrons watched the two candidates verbally spar on such issues as the economy, job creation, taxes, energy and foreign policy.
“I thought it was a good debate for President Obama,” said Tiffany M., 25, after the lively discussion ended. “He had a lot to prove coming out of the last debate and he was confident and responsive.”
Tiffany, who is originally from Washington DC, acknowledged that the current shaky economy has made it somewhat hard to get a footing in the city’s job market, but still believed Obama was best suited to see the country through the tough times. “I’ve been underemployed as a recent college grad, but now I work for the city,” she said.
Rustik Neighborhood Tavern owner Frantz Metellus said that while both Obama and Romney gave their views on giving small businesses tax breaks, he would be happier with breaks on his utility bills and for installing green energy.
“My gas and light bills are way more than my payroll taxes,” said Metellus, who opened the tavern in 2008 right before the economic meltdown and has 15 employees.
Metellus said the debates have been good for business, particularly because they take place earlier in the week (Tuesday and Wednesday), which are normally slower days in the bar/food industry.
“I think Obama did much better this time,” he said. “The standard for the president is so high. I was looking for some passion and he showed he was still passionate for the job. He also called Romney on the carpet when he lies. Romney also showed he was an amateur when it comes to foreign policy.”
Rustik Neighborhood Tavern manager Soeurette Ligonde, 38, said Obama really picked up his game for the second debate in addressing the issues and illustrating the facts.
“This is my Super Bowl. It’s great for business and in a very nice setting,” she said, adding that the downturn in the economy has been hard and that she has a second union job with Verizon.
“Unions are the basis of the country and the standard bearer for everything we have from fair wages to child labor laws to minimum wages,” she said.
But for firefighter Kobie Dixon, 36, who works out of Engine Company 210 in Fort Greene, the debate was politics as usual.
“Mitt Romney danced around the issues a lot while President Obama stuck to the script. It’s a matter of choosing between the lesser of two evils,” he said.
Package of Bills Seeks to Curb Excessive Policing as NYPD Beating in Crown Heights is Caught on Tape
By Mary Alice Miller
A contentious City Council hearing on the need for police oversight took place last week, one day after The Nation released audio of a police officer calling a teen a “f***ing mutt” during a stop-and-frisk encounter, the second the teen experienced that evening. The package of four bills called the Community Safety Act, are sponsored by Councilman Jumaane Williams, who chairs the Council Oversight and Investigations Committee.
Unknown to the public last week, security cameras recorded NYPD officers beating and pepper-spraying Ehud Halevi, an Orthodox Jewish young man who was sleeping in the Aliya Institute, a Crown Heights synagogue and outreach center for at-risk youth. Someone called the police, but Halevi told them he had permission to be there. When police attempted an arrest, Halevi balked, prompting officers to beat and pepper-spray himfor several minutes until backup officers were able to subdue Halevi on the floor and place him in handcuffs.
“This is another low for abuse of police power,” said Councilman Williams in response to a recording of the encounter. “Good policing does not require the excessive use of force Halevi endured. The NYPD is an institution to be trusted, not to be feared. Clearly, that message was not absorbed by these officers, which calls into question (once again) the standards of training that they receive from their superiors.”
Williams added that the video is a clear example of “the lack of police accountability” and noted that “historically disenfranchised communities have felt this reality for years, but this incident shows how it could impact every New Yorker. The need for reform goes beyond the misuse of stop, question and frisk; at its core, it is about an approach to public safety that fails to make our public safer. The Community Safety Act helps address some of these inequities, which is why we are so anxious to see its passage.”
CM Williams’ package of bills has attracted a wide variety of sponsors among other Council members.
Intro 799, sponsored by 26 Council members, would create the functional equivalent of a Miranda warning for searches by requiring officers to advise people of their right not to consent when there is no other legal basis for the search, and obtain proof from the person to be searched that the consent given is real voluntary, and informed.
Intro 800, sponsored by 29 Council members, would prohibit the NYPD from bias-based profiling based on age, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, immigration status, housing status, language or disability, in addition to race, religion or ethnicity.
Intro 801, sponsored by 27 Council members, would require NYPD officers to provide subjects of law enforcement activity their name, rank, an explanation for the stop and a written record of the encounter, including information on how to file a complaint or compliment.
Intro 881, sponsored by 30 Council members, would create an Office of the Inspector General to examine systemic issues within the NYPD and provide effective oversight with subpoena power to protect New Yorkers from abuses and misconduct.
“New Yorkers stand in support of the Community Safety Act because it represents the first meaningful reform in a generation of the NYPD’s approach to policing historically disenfranchised communities,” said Council member Williams. “This legislation is a crucial step we must take toward achieving better policing and safer streets for all, a goal we collectively share. By tackling discrimination and instituting true accountability, we will empower ‘New York’s Finest’ to focus their energies on proven strategies that helps our city root out crime and violence in every corner.”
The proposal of an Office of the Inspector General over the NYPD has engendered pushback from Mayor Bloomberg, who believes the Council does not have authority to oversee the NYPD. In addition, Bloomberg said an Inspector General would politicize the police department and interfere with the administration’s selection of agency commissioners.
Council member Peter Vallone, Jr. has stated the bills will cost NYC by taking officers off the streets, increasing overtime, and potential lawsuits.
Nevertheless, supporters of the bills believe they will help curb zealous policing while curbing crime.
“The Community Safety Act will help keep New Yorkers safe from crime and terrorism without subjecting them to profiling based on their race, ethnicity or religion,” said Council member Brad Lander, co-prime sponsor of Intro 881. ”Right now, we have no accountability at the NYPD for patterns of discriminatory policing, such as surveillance of Muslim communities and abuses of stop-and-frisk, for the implementation of quotas or for the downgrading of crime statistics.” Lander noted an inspector general, a standard “good government practice” for other city and federal agencies, will improve accountability and efficiency, make recommendations for improvement before problems fester and diminish morale or lead to lawsuits, and protect New Yorkers’ basic civil liberties while keeping the city safe.
“The NYPD’s stop, question and frisk policy has unfairly targeted minority communities for far too long through placing an unfair focus on certain groups,” said Council member Letitia James. ”This proposed legislation would address profiling mechanisms by officers, hinder unlawful searches and establish officer self-identification. These steps would not hinder the important work of law enforcement but rather bring necessary accountability to the process.”
“My position on stop-and-frisk is clear – it should be abolished,” said City Comptroller John Liu (D-New York). ”Until that day comes, we must support those attempts like the Community Safety Act, that are designed to reduce the adverse impacts of this discriminatory tactic.”
“The power of law enforcement to stop, question, frisk and even detain citizens deserves the most careful scrutiny and the most rigorous oversight,” said state Senator Eric Adams. “A society whose judicial system is based upon the presumption of innocence must not permit its police department to infringe upon the civil and legal rights of the law-abiding public. With an increase in power, there must be an increase in oversight to create a balance. To date, that need has never been addressed. I commend the New York City Council for taking this much-needed stance.”
“The Community Safety Act will reform abusive police practices and will bring about a better NYPD – one that is more transparent and accountable to the people of New York,” said Donna Lieberman, Executive Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. “New York City cannot tolerate the effects NYPD abuses have on innocent lives, on New Yorkers who are targeted for the places they live, their religious beliefs, their gender and the color of their skin.”
There will be two public hearings on the New York Police Department’s use of stop, question and frisk. The first will be held on Tuesday, October 23rd at the Brooklyn College Student Center beginning at 6:00 PM, while the second will take place on Wednesday, October 24th at the York College Performing Arts Center beginning at 6:00 PM.
Bedford Stuyvesant Real Estate Board’s 75th Anniversary Celebration
Honoring the past, Charting the Future
The Trust: Standing united on foundations built by past trailblazers, the present-day Bedford-Stuyvesant Real Estate Board is advancing its 75-year-old organization into the 21st century, utilizing today’s technological tools, new partnerships and focused strategies in Central Brooklyn and beyond. Joyce P. Turner (right), BSREB Board chair and president/CEO, Cross Boro Business Services; Bessie Edwards, BSREB president and principal/CEO, B.R.Edwards Associates Real Estate, Inc.; Richard Flateau (far left), BSREB treasurer and president/CEO Flateau Realty Corp., and Norman Leff, BSREB Financial Secretary and Sales Agent, are committed to continuing the vision of its trailblazing predecessors Mr. Jesse L. Vann, BSREB founder; LeRoy F. Hill, Wilbert Blanche, Philip J. Manning, Benjamin Williams, Joseph Boyd and Norman Johnson: to build realtists and realty businesses; forge professional careers; sustain a living for craftspeople and provide property-ownership opportunity for families and individuals in Brooklyn and beyond. (Board members unpictured include: Douglas Anderson, Angela Bell and Barbara Haynes.) Photo: Johnathan Jeronimo
In the special insert, the Board acknowledges families, residents and institutions who are a testament to the founder’s vision and the 75th anniversaryevent theme of honoring the past, charting the future. Click here for BSREB Journal
Medgar Evers Students Stage Walkout over Financial Aid Fiasco
By Mary Alice Miller
Our Time Press
Several hundred students and their supporters packed the plaza of Medgar Evers College to protest a litany of allegations against President Pollard and his administration. Among the ongoing complaints: curtailed student services and remedial labs, no access to the student computer labs during the first three weeks of the semester, and allegations that Dr. Pollard announced a drastic reduction in course offerings due to a budget deficit of up to $3 million.
What sent students into the streets is a letter many received from the Bursar’s Office which stated “there is an outstanding tuition balance.” The letter dated October 10, 2012 asks that students “Please make your payment no later than Thursday October 25th, 2012 to avoid a late payment fee.”
Several students acknowledged receiving the letter and are concerned about their academic future.
Miasha, a freshman who wants to pursue a career in nursing, produced a billing statement for 6 classes and a language lab totaling 9 credits. The statement dated August 27, 2012 states Miasha’s total financial aid applied was $2,775.00, a Pell estimate. Her contribution to her Fall semester class load was $90.85. Yet, she received a letter from the Bursar dated October 10, 2012 alerting her of an outstanding tuition balance of $2,865.85. Miasha said she doesn’t have almost $3,000 available to submit by the October 25, 2012 due date and doesn’t know what she is going to do.
Ardith’s August 27, 2012 tuition bill for five classes (13 credits) was $2,865.85, of which the Pell Grant allocation was $2,775.00 and an SEOG was $90.85. The outstanding balance at that time was $0.00 Ardith received his October 10, 2012 letter which stated the outstanding tuition balance is $867.36, due October 25th.
Kristt Basile said he received an outstanding balance letter, too. Kristt is a transfer student from Syracuse University, said his letter claimed he had a tuition deficit, but his tuition was fully paid by Pell. “I don’t understand,” said Kristt. “They said I was denied TAP for some arbitrary reason. I was $0.00 balance before, now I have a bill for about $800.00. I am interested in finding out what happened. I am protesting, because there is no reason why I should owe money when I was at a zero balance.
Something got changed in the system to deny my funds, but I don’t know why.” Kristt said this situation is making him “edgy, and not comfortable in class. I feel as if I am wasting my time right now” because he is not sure he will be able to complete the semester. “This has got me really mad right now.”
Natasha, a freshman, said her letter states she has to pay $961.00 by October 25. If she is unable to pay, Natasha said “They will drop me out of classes.” Natasha said she didn’t understand how she could owe money because she was supposed to receive about $1,000 from her financial aid next week. She plans to “start a payment plan, and then when they fix it, have them refund my money.”
Dawn Walker, Assistant Vice President in the Office of Communications and External Relations at Medgar Evers College, and Director of Communications Christopher Hundley were contacted to explain the sudden change in student financial aid allocations. CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein was also contacted. As of press deadline, there was no response.
Council member Letitia James had a blunt response: “If Medgar Evers made the mistake, let Medgar Evers cover the balance.”
It May Take A “Numbers Man” to be the People’s Mayor
John Liu Knows Arithmetic, Connects with All the People
Loves New York and does not fear Compassion
The publishers of Our Time Press had the opportunity to interview Comptroller John Liu at his office in the Municipal Building. The building is already landmarked, and there should be a landmark commission for the furniture as well. It’s testament to American-made durability and even classic in its way.
We spoke with the comptroller regarding the phone calls we’ve been receiving from parents distraught about the closing of day care centers, or changes in day care management. All of it stemming from an RFP process, the complexity of which was a surprise to everyone filling it out. “That was the Early Learn program and it was a disaster in the way it was implemented,” said Liu. His office extended the existing contracts for another year back in June, but in the last couple of months, “ACS seems to be doing some work, and right now the contracts are coming in to supersede the one-year extension” but once again, Liu says he’s not sure that the parents have clarity “as to whom they’re entrusting their young children”.
“I can’t talk too much about that because once we engage the audit, it does take some time, but we intend to get to the bottom of it.” His office is looking at how the RFP process was executed and what, if any, “irregularities there were in the RFP and evaluation process”.
Another contracting issue we had was involving the privatizing of some public sector workers with the result being that the workers get lower pay and the extra money going to contractors, moving the money up the food chain and out of the city. “We’ve seen this issue with some of the tutoring companies contracted to tutor young people,” said Liu speaking of another area of investigation. “They were charging the Department of Education $50-$80/hr. and paying the tutors, something like $10/hr. That’s a huge rip-off of the taxpayers and it also speaks to the qualifications of the tutors.”
We reminded Liu that when we had last spoken, he said that the money his office was able to retrieve for the city was put into the general fund and when asked if this would this be considered “found money”, he confirmed that is the case and added, “I think the count is close to $2 billion dollars.”
Apparently, it’s the old story: a $100 million here, a hundred million there, pretty soon you’re talking about real money. Some examples he gave of money retrieved were the Economic Development Corporation ($128 million) over 4 years, $100 million in renegotiated technology contracts and, of course, the crown jewel, CityTime, a payroll project to keep track of the overtime charged by city workers. Beginning in 1998, the CityTime project grew from a projected $63 million dollars to about $760 million.
In The Public Interest, an organization offering resources on privatization and contracting, asked what does this largest-ever fraud say about the city administration “and for that matter, what does it say about the city comptroller’s office, which also had an oversight role on the payroll agency? In fairness, the current comptroller, John Liu, has aggressively raised questions about CityTime. He was the one who persuaded Mayor Bloomberg to stop the open-ended payments to SAIC, and forced them to agree to a real deadline.”
“The money was being spent outrageously and it was out of control.” Liu was speaking of CityTime and the audit he initiated and how the investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office sent people to jail and in March of this year, secured a $500 million refund to the city from the contractor.
If this windfall has come in, where did it go and if the check is still in the mail, what will it be spent for when it does arrive? “In the context of a $70 billion dollar city budget, $500 million almost seems like a drop in the bucket and sometimes City Hall spends it that way,” says Liu.
To put it in the context of how fiscal choices affect life every day on the ground in the city, he said, “Last year when they were threatening the closures of 105 senior centers across the city how much was that supposed to save? $27 million dollars.”
And of the other end of the weakest-among-us spectrum (mothers and children), Liu says that part of “the Early Learn dilemma that so many people are going through right now” was for a cost savings factored in at roughly $50 million dollars. And that included the closing of afterschool programs. “So when you’re talking about $500 million dollars, that is more than enough to stave off any reductions in daycare slots, cultural or afterschool programs, any threatened closures of senior centers and even all of that, is just a small fraction of $500 million. The bottom line is: $500 million dollars pays for a lot. It seems small in the grand scheme of the budget, but it does pay for a lot.”
Capital Budget
The city actually has two budgets. All of the above are part of the budget for expenses. Thecapital budget is money borrowed and spent on infrastructure: roads, bridges, improvement in parks, etc. It is a ten-year budget financed by the city borrowing money by selling city bonds. Liu has called for an acceleration of $2 billion in capital spending for several reasons. Borrowing rates “super low right now”, and construction costs are also very low compared to the last few years. “That’s because of the excess capacity in the construction industry, saving even more money over the long term.” The benefits the comptroller sees are obvious: “We get the infrastructure built and repaired sooner and we put people to work now, when we need it most.” According to Liu, a $2 billion dollar capital acceleration would generate 15,000 jobs and we get to save taxpayers money over the long term.
He says that the main cost of the capital acceleration plan is that some of the key city agencies, the School Construction Authority, the Department of Design and Construction, they’ve got to work faster. They’ve got to get these projects up online quicker. That’s the only cost. I know the commissioners are ready, willing and able, but City Hall seems to be unwilling to do anything that someone else suggests.”
Pension Funds
We were recently at a meeting of the Caribbean-American Chamber of Commerce and Industry CACCI headed by Roy Hastick, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio said that the pension funds had not been invested enough in affordable housing. We asked Liu about that and he responded, saying that the pension funds are invested significantly in affordable housing. “It’s the portion of the funds I call the ‘economically retargeted investments’. It’s money that is pumped back into the economy and that earns returns for our pensioners.”
The comptroller said there is a little more than a billion dollars of economically targeted investments—most of it going for affordable housing. $17 million for the Diego Beekman Houses in the Bronx and just last week in Crown Heights, a new development for local residents and people with disabilities made possible with a $13 million investment by pension funds. “The credit crunch has hit builders hard. In many instances, our financing provides financing they could not otherwise secure.”
So while money is invested in affordable housing and the like the comptroller says, “Our first and foremost responsibility is that we can only invest in projects that are going to deliver a safe return for the pension funds. It’s not like the city budget where you can play with some money. This is pension fund money, ensuring the futures of our employees and retirees”.
As far as foreclosures go, the comptroller says they have not been able to find a way to invest in such a way as to be in line with the first responsibility of a pension fund. “This is the responsibility of the banks. What we have done is use the pension fund leverage to say to Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo and Chase use the power of shareholder votes to force these banks to take action to stave off foreclosure crises. We got a 40% vote for bank responsibility and they have to pay attention to that.”
Wealth Divide
The wealth divide is one of the main issues facing the city of New York, says Liu. “There is a lot of money in the city. It’s just a question of how it is used, how it is invested, how it is allocated.” And in this regard, he says key changes have to be made in fiscal policy and in tax policy. “Fiscal policy is how the city’s money is spent. Liu says that one of the things that has to go are huge subsidies to private corporations. “They were supposed to create jobs, but in most cases created no jobs, but still got hundreds of millions of dollars from the taxpayers.” On the tax policy front, he says that of all the places to have a nonprogressive tax policy, NY City is the worst. “Income tax is supposed to be progressive, the more you make, the more you pay. In the city of New York, a family that makes $50,000 a year pays 3.3% in income tax to the city. A family that makes $50 million dollars a year pays 3.7%, virtually the same. That is what’s called a flat tax. The issue of flat tax has been in presidential debates and it has been soundly rejected by both parties. And yet in the city of New York we’ve got a flat income tax. That has to change. I’ve proposed an increase on the top 1% of about 1-1.25% in income tax. That would allow the other 99% to get a tax decrease and still yield the city a quarter to a billion dollars in revenue.”
That sounds like a good idea but what about the prospect of the rich being driven out of the city, the real estate wreckage of Central Park triplexes up for sale and corporate jets being moved to hangers in Parsippany. “That has been the rallying cry for Mayor Bloomberg these past ten years. That the rich are going to leave the city. New York City is the place to be. It’s the place to be for people of any economic status.”
On education and the elite schools
A coalition of education and civil rights groups have filed a federal complaint about the racial disparities in the city’s specialized high schools that they say stems from the Specialized High School Admissions Test, the only exam that will get you in. “I don’t think it’s fair,” says Liu. “I don’t think a 2-hour test gauges what’s happened in 8 years of school.” He feels that the admissions process is flawed and there are huge ethnic disparities of the admitted students which is itself evidence of a flawed process. “Every test has a bias that has to be taken into account”, says Liu and that understanding as well as the marketing of the schools and enhanced tutoring programs all should play a part in correcting the imbalances.
We need to look at education through a “prism” that reveals how it is the “economic development policy of tomorrow”. This goes to the point of the importance of the fiscal policy change that the city has to take. The city is spending close to a $100 million on a golf course in the Bronx. “It’s a huge amount of money and without placing judgment on the value of a golf course, the point is that once again a huge amount of money is being given to a private developer (Donald Trump) and yet we’re eliminating day care slots, closing afterschool programs; it’s the fiscal policy, how we spend the city’s money that needs some serious prioritization.”
The Investigation
There is an ongoing federal investigation into Comptroller Liu’s political campaign. There have been questions raised about the identity of his “bundlers” — those folks who gather and combine contributions, and Liu says they were all disclosed back in January. And the other thing, the Times’ reporting of phony donors was always questionable from our point of view because every donor they asked about we gave them a copy of the personal check that the donation came in, and a copy of the donor report. So we questioned how could the Times say there are phony donors when we’ve given them personal checks that the contributions came in. The comptroller asks how can donors be fictitious when they have a checking account?
“I’ve got nothing to hide. A couple of weeks ago I was shocked to learn the FBI had been tapping my phone for 18 months. And it’s been more than a year since they finished tapping my phone. Not only my phone, but nine others that are somehow associated with me. I could have saved them a lot of money because if they had told me they were interested, I’ve got unlimited 3-way calling. I could have just dialed them in.
“It is something hanging over me, but it’s not something holding me back. I’m firing on all cylinders in respect to my responsibilities of this office and my campaign plans for next year.”