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A Recognition of Twin Towers Engineer, Mr. Alton A. Burton

Editor, Our Time Press
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When the building of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center was proposed in 1960, Gov. Nelson Rockefeller chose Clinton Hill resident Alton Burton, an African-American engineer who had earned his degree from the University of Michigan and a master’s from New York University. At that time, he was already employed at the Port Authority as its lone Black engineer. A LOOK BACK …

(Congressman Ed Towns’ tribute for the Congressional Record December, 2006)

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Alton A. Burton, PE, a distinguished member of the New York City community. It behooves us to pay tribute to this outstanding leader and I hope my colleagues will join me in recognizing his impressive accomplishments.

During the course of history, there have been a select few people known as visionaries. Mr. Burton is one of these visionaries that viewed our world not as it necessarily is, but as it can be.

Alton A. Burton was a U.S. Air Force Lieutenant, serving as bombardier, navigator and pilot during World War II. After distinguished service in our Armed Forces as a Tuskegee Airman, Mr. Burton pursued the power of ideas through higher education by obtaining a Bachelor of Science and Master’s Degrees in Civil Engineering. He also obtained a license as a Professional Engineer in the State of New York.

Soon after receiving his degrees and license, Alton A. Burton joined the staff of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in design engineering. Mr. Burton’s assignments included contract plans for various facilities, including marine terminals. Little did Mr. Burton know that he was being positioned by the hand of destiny for something more. During the 1950s and 60s, Mr. Burton toiled in the eye of the storm of civil and political unrest, a time of cultural, human and civil rights crises.

Against all odds, Alton A. Burton was able to understand the situation and conditions of a racially charged environment and era that would have been deemed impossible. In 1962, the late Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller of New York appointed Mr. Burton the Chief Civil Engineer in charge of the planning phase of the multibillion-dollar project known as the World Trade Center.

In the minds of most Americans, the deeply disturbing images of the inferno that engulfed the Twin Towers and then the crumbling to the ground after being hit by two hijacked commercial airliners 5 years ago on 9-11-01 will never be forgotten. Most of us are unaware that over 40 years ago, Chief Civil Engineer Alton A. Burton designed and fortified the infrastructure, which accounted for the reliability of the Twin Tower structures to withstand tremendous force, including that of an earthquake.

Chief Civil Engineer Alton A. Burton and his team of civil engineers had no idea that some 40 or so years later terrorists would fly jets into the towers. Because of the fortification of the infrastructure, due to Mr. Burton’s vision and preparation for the unexpected, the towers, as damaged as they were, managed to hold—giving our first responders, EMS, NYPD, FDNY and other emergency units a grace period to do what they do best, save lives.

If not for Chief Civil Engineer Alton A. Burton’s vision of a fortified infrastructure, the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers would have immediately toppled to the streets below. With steel beams heating to over 3000 degrees F, the infrastructure still managed to endure. The North Tower held for 1 hour, 42 minutes and the South Tower for 56 minutes before the total collapse. We note (with regret) that approximately 3,000 lives were lost that infamous day and we offer our sincere condolences to their families. However, keeping in mind Mr. Burton’s efforts to fortify the infrastructure with the best materials known to architectural and civil engineering at that time, between 10,000 and 20,000 individuals were safely evacuated from the towers and surrounding areas, so many more lives were saved.

Chief Alton A. Burton’s prolific civil engineering work carries with it profound moral and philosophical insight, possessing power without arrogance, bringing redemptive clarity whose truths have never been more necessary as we honor the lives of those that were lost and their legacy by how we live. Alton A. Burton has risen at the age of 82 to become a Great American Hero, and we claim him as one of our own, both in title and in spirit.

As our nation moves forward with a unified purpose, we realize that purpose is perhaps more significant than outcome. It is what we all become in the process to embrace all of the opportunities this country has to offer as the real purpose. Alton A. Burton continues to live his life with purpose. The people of the city of New York, the United States of America and the world became a better place because Mr. Burton has given us all his best; and he has created a mark in American history and the world that cannot be erased.
Mr. Speaker, I believe that there are no words too magnanimous to fully describe our gratitude; we thank former Chief Civil Engineer Alton A. Burton for inspiring modesty, selfless devotion of the advancement of humanity through his devoted service to the United States of America.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that it is incumbent on this body to recognize that in Alton A. Burton we have an outstanding citizen worthy of the highest respect and esteem from his community, the City of New York and our nation.

(For more information on Mr. Burton,88, a resident of Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, view interviews conducted by his son, Michael Burton, on YouTube.)

Kings County Politics (KCP)

Stephen Witt
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The race to succeed Vann
With the state officeholders and Democratic District Leader primaries over this week, the race to succeed Central Brooklyn’s dean of politics, the term-limited City Councilman Al Vann begins in earnest.

While much has been written in this column about male Democratic District leader and Vanguard Independent Democratic Association (VIDA) President Robert Cornegy and his plan to succeed Vann, two local church reverends and longtime community activists have also thrown their hat in the ring.

Rev. Dr. Robert Waterman, 48, the pastor at Antioch Baptist Church, 826-828 Greene Avenue, said he is running because the ground has shifted in the last three decades, and it’s important to bring new independent thinkers with deep Bed-Stuy roots to the political process.

“If you do not prepare a community for change or empower new and fresh people then the community suffers,” said Waterman, noting Cornegy’s close ties with Vann and the perception that he is the councilman’s handpicked successor.

“Some people have this thing in the political process that you have to wait your turn, but if you’re a puppet to the old guard that means the old guard hasn’t changed,” he said.

Waterman, who has already reported raising $28,000 for the race with the city campaign fiancé office, indicated that Vann went against his own community in deciding to support the mayor’s overturning of the term limit laws and in running for a third term.

“When people stay in office too long you have to ask do they still represent the people or themselves. Once they stay in office too long they sometimes stop representing the people’s will. To me a public servant should be a public servant and not superstar,” he said.

Waterman said the key issues is about maintaining institutional services such as hospitals while representing both brownstoners and those living in public housing equally.
“You can’t be a city council member to only a certain group of people just like President Obama can’t just be a black president. He has to represent everybody,” said Waterman.

Waterman said this includes a Bedford-Stuyvasant that is becoming more multicultural with a growing Jewish and gentrified white population beginning to trickle into the community.

“God is a universal god and you have to deal with people trying to work together,” said Waterman.
Waterman said at the same time the district remains majority black, and there are core issues of importance to the black community like trying to get the kids off the corners who didn’t make it through school. You have to provide jobs for them as well as other alternatives to just being on the street, he said.

Not to be outdone, Reverend Conrad Tillard, 48, and pastor of the Nazarene Congregational Church, 506 MacDonough Street, also said he is running to replace Vann.

“This election is extraordinarily important because we’re talking about a post Al Vann era. He’s been like a tall heroic person in the community for as longtime, and this is the firs time this community has to look at new generation of leadership,” said Tillard, whose ties to the community includes being on the community advisory board at both Boys and Girls H.S., and Bedford Academy and a former (two term) Co -PTA President at H.S.of Art and Design.

Tillard said whomever represents the district in the city council has to be tried, tested, committed, seasoned and experiences from day one.

Bed-Stuy kids move to front of class with pilot engineering program

Editor, Our Time Press
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Instructor Alastair Forde give pointers to Asili Johnson on her glider design.

By Nico Simino

Following the success of a 2012 summer pilot program, kids in Bed-Stuy will now have a place to not only have fun, but learn and improve their math and science skills, following in sync with the national push for more science and technology educational programs.

The educational program, called Summer Engineering Experience for Kids (SEEK), is run through a partnership between the local nonprofit organization, the Magnolia Tree Earth Center (MTEC), and the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE).

Founded by Hattie Carthan in 1972, MTEC is located at 677 Lafayette Avenue and is built around the only living landmark in New York City, a magnolia tree that sits outside of their office. The environmental organization works within the Bed-Stuy community, and has for more than 20 years planted gardens in vacant lots with an extended mission to educate the community about the environment and to be good, healthy, contributing citizens.

SEEK was established to help solve the problem of underrepresentation of African-American students in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields. The three-week program is a STEM pipeline.
“The purpose of the program is to provide a hands-on experience for middle school students,” said MTEC Executive Director Beverly Johnson. “We want to provide them with a free place to learn, hands-on, about math, science and engineering.”

The program is designed to expose African-American children to STEM fields as early as the third grade. In addition, the exposure is provided by utilizing NSBE members, who are college students majoring in STEM fields.

“It [the pilot program] was definitely a success this year, the students did amazingly well,” said Johnson. “This program has never been attempted in NY state and we wanted to test it first to make sure everything would go right with parent participation, among other things.”

“[The program] is essential to our community,” said Lavasia Peterson, Branch Manager and Vice President of the Caesars Bay TD Bank in Gravesend who helped Magnolia receive grants for the program. “It is so different from the normal programs I’ve seen run in the past.”

The SEEK pilot program had 20 kids this summer, but plans on expanding it to 300 by next summer. For the rest of the year, MTEC will provide tutors to help young students with STEM-oriented subjects. Most of the tutors are from the Bed-Stuy area and even include some high school students.

“The SEEK program is an important thing to have, especially for our community,” said William Suggs, Regional Director for the American Association of Blacks in Energy.

There is no prerequisite test to join the program. During the three-week program, campers were tested on basic vocabulary, science and math skills once after they joined and then again at the end of the program.
The SEEK program utilizes a hands-on design curriculum developed by SAE International (Society of Automotive Engineers). The campers worked in teams using the skills they learned to complete a project at the end of each week, culminating with a presentation and design competition for parents.

The first week campers built a Glider, the second week they built a Gravity Cruiser, and the last week they built a jet toy.

“Parents and funders have been asking us to expand it beyond three weeks after our success this summer. My long-term goal is to have a SEEK camp in each borough. But we need more financial support,” said Johnson. “The program is free, but is on a first-come first-serve basis. The early bird gets the worm.”
“[SEEK] is terrific and educational, it makes you want to learn,” said Islam McDowell, 10, a student who participated in this year’s pilot program. “I loved it, if there’s one thing I learned is that there is no ‘I’ in team, you need teamwork. I want to go back next year!”

“I thought the program was needed, especially for our young black youth,” said Abu Bakr Abbus-Salam, Islam’s father. “They need to know about all of this new technology and science, it’s important that these kids get started when they are young.”

MTEC programs include workshops, community service projects, tours, career-awareness services and worker training. The organization also has an art gallery that exhibits environmentally themed artwork.
MTEC also partners with local schools in the Bed-Stuy area, including: Excellence Boys Charter School, George H. Murray Prep Academy, I.S. 318, Leadership Prep Bedford-Stuyvesant, P.S. 3, Bedford Village School, P.S. 11 and P.S. 308.

Promoting Parents on the Elementary School Level

Aminisha Black
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While parents are literally in their children’s classroom night and day year-round, we aren’t made aware of passing and failing because in this culture, job descriptions for effective parenting are not promoted. After all, think of the impact it would have on an economy that depends on “needy – real or imagined” – individuals for survival. I didn’t have a clue until my first-born son, Pamoja, as an adult shared with me the negative impact of a statement I made, “All classes should be IGC (Intellectually Gifted Classes)”; when in the third grade he was promoted to an IGC Class.

Later, after giving birth to six more children and deciding to attend Lincoln U for a Master’s Degree in Human Services, I discovered Erickson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development that list ages, description and conflicts to be mastered. Knowing that the effects of past actions or inactions can be corrected is powerful. It allows parents to take responsibility for the precious opportunity to create a different world, one which works for everyone with no one left out. The only requirements are 1) Giving up the need to always be right or to know it all and 2) Since there’s evidence that what we focus on increases, make sure your energy is spent “for” a goal instead of merely “against” someone or thing.

Listing Erickson’s stages from infancy to elementary school-age, readers can grade themselves and create a makeup plan if necessary. It’s never too late.
Infancy Basic trust vs. mistrust: /Parents must maintain an adequate environment –supportive, nurturing and loving– so that the child develops trust.
Years 1-3 Autonomy vs. shame or doubt: As the child develops bowel and bladder control, she must also develop a healthy attitude towards being independent and somewhat self-sufficient. If the child is made to feel that independent efforts are wrong, then shame and self-doubt develops instead of autonomy.
Years 3-5 Initiative vs. guilt: The child must discover ways to initiate actions on his own. If such initiatives are successful or acceptable, guilt will be avoided.
Years 5 ½-12 Industry vs. inferiority: The child must learn to feel competent, especially when competing with peers. Failure results in feelings of inferiority.
An Assignment: If you are fortunate enough to have or know an elementary school student, participate in this project. Interview the student asking the following questions and simply recording the answers.

1. What is your favorite activity when you are not in school? What’s your favorite class in school this year? Why? What was your favorite class last year? Why? What grade did you get in that class last year?
2. Once the questions are answered, have student complete a Multiple Intelligence Inventory and compare the results to those answers in (1). Parents who complete 1 and 2 will receive a list of activities geared to different intelligences, providing resources to stimulate and motivate child’s emotional and intellectual growth.
PN interviewed two elementary school siblings who attend Better Choice Community School, located in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Fobayo McIntosh-Principal, started in 2008 as pre-K through 2nd grade, each year adding a class for graduates and now up to 5th grade – celebrating its first graduation in June. Thanks to Ngueseh and Apoeseh for allowing us to see the relationship of passion to performance. Thanks to their mother, Mrs. Florence Wapimewah, native of Cameroon, for allowing PN the opportunity.
Ngueseh – DOB March 18, 2004 – 4th-grader – His favorite out-of-school activities are baseball, football. In school his favorites are reading (biographies about sports players – Derek Jeter a favorite) and recess with playground. Last year (3rd grade), his favorite subjects were reading and math. He received a 4 in reading and 3 in math.

Apoeseh – DOB March 10, 2002 – 5th-grader – Her current favorite out-of-school activity is designing clothes which started this summer. She designs and draws clothes for different ages. In pre-K she started drawing people and cars. She also sings and raps; Beyoncé, Mary Mary and Willow Smith are favorites. She shared that she sings in the shower, creating her own songs. In school her favorite class is writing. She hates math, finding it very challenging. She moved to D Level in reading recently from W4. Last year (4th grade), reading was her favorite subject and she loved Harry Potter. She received 4s and 3s in all subjects.

We’ll continue the journey of liberating our children’s genius. Questions to parentsnotebook@yahoo.com, Check out Parents Notebook on Facebook/ visit Nana411b.wordpress.com.

Van Jones: On the Environment, Obama and the Green Economy

Editor, Our Time Press
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New America Media,
Question & Answer, Ngoc Nguyen http://newamericamedia.org/
Editor’s Note: As both Democratic and GOP conventions wrapped up, New America Media asked Van Jones to parse each candidate’s environment and energy agendas. Jones, briefly President Obama’s green jobs czar, is president and co-founder of Rebuild the Dream, an organization that advocates for economic reforms. He is the author of The Green Collar Economy and Rebuild the Dream. New America Media’s Ngoc Nguyen spoke with Jones about the role of green jobs in the recovery and what’s needed to address climate change at the national level.

New America Media: What stood out for you in Obama or Romney’s remarks on climate change, energy or the green economy during the recent party conventions?

Van Jones: What struck me about Romney’s speech was his snarky joke about how Obama promised to stop the seas from rising. I thought that was a cheap shot. [It was] particularly disappointing to see the 2012 Republican nominee essentially pooh-pooh global warming when the 2008 GOP nominee John McCain took the issue so seriously.

It’s as clear a sign as any of the complete degeneration of the Republican Party into an extreme faction-based party that’s not qualified to govern. I was happy to hear President Obama rejoinder in saying that climate change is not a joke. In a period when extreme droughts are socking red states and hurting farmers, for the Republican nominee to make a joke about climate change isn’t funny at all.

NAM: How would you grade Pres. Obama’s record on the environment and energy in the last four years?
Jones: [I would give Obama a] B or B-minus, he can’t get an A because he didn’t fight for the Cap and Trade bill … [he] didn’t try to solve climate change, but he has other things when it comes to fuel efficiency for cars and some emissions stuff through the EPA.
To read more click here.

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