The Paw Print

A news publication created by Baruch's College Now high school journalism class

News

City Council Pushes for More Accessibility of Parks and Recreational Facilities for People with Disabilities

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CITY HALL – On July 23, the New York City Council voted 41-0 on a bill that would demand an annual report on the compliance of park and recreational facilities with Americans with Disabilities Act standards.

 

Mark Levine, New York City Council member and chairman of the Committee of Parks, is not only the prime sponsor of the bill, but also a strong advocate for equality.

 

Policy plays an important role in obtaining equality for all New Yorkers. “How quickly are we making progress toward the critical goal of 100 percent accessibility in our parks facilities? Until now the council and the public have had no way to answer that question. Intro 558A is … designed to change that, by giving us for the first time regular reports on accessibility assessments and retrofitting plans,” says Levine.

 

According to Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York, 889,219 individuals live with disabilities – that is 11 percent of New Yorkers. “If our park system is truly going to be for all New Yorkers then that surely must include those New Yorkers with disabilities” says Levine.

At the Council Meeting, Levine said, “The report would detail whether each assessment was done during the course of regular construction work or as the result of a complaint as well as what work was done and what work will be done to bring such facilities into compliance during the calendar year when the report is issued. It would also include a updated list of Parks Department Facilities that are specifically designed for use by disabled persons.”

Chinatown Residents Angered by the Sale of Counterfeits

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“Get off the damn sidewalk! Beep, Beep! Go somewhere else!”

This is one of the many angry comments made by people of Chinatown on a daily basis about the lack of sidewalk space. The presence of sellers who sell counterfeit bags to tourists overcrowds the sidewalk and residents are fed up.

The sellers are usually women who wear fanny packs and loiter in front of areas where tourists tend to frequent. With an earpiece in one ear, the seller’s eyes shift from potential customers to the end of the block, making sure the police is nowhere in sight. If one gets close enough, one could hear them mumble names of several brands such as Gucci and Prada.

They have potentials customers meet them in an area without many police officers and give the latter a piece of papers with pictures of products they offer. Once the customers make their choice, the vendors contact the supplier to deliver the goods.

However, many residents of Chinatown start to find it a burden on their daily lives especially as the number of vendors and tourists grows. Some sellers harass people who simply walked pass them.

Ying, a former Chinatown inhabitant, commented, “My cousin told me that one day he would just gather a bunch of them [the sellers] and claim he is going to buy a lot of stuff…then call the police on them cause they block…the sidewalk.”

It seems a little harsh but illustrates the frustration among Chinatown residents.

Amy, a teenager, commented “I don’t mind the sellers…it is actually fun to watch them try to argue with the tourists about prices….but it does make it hard to walk.” She later added that the situation is caused by increased tourism in Chinatown. Some vendors even made alliances with tourist companies so the latter would bring tourists into certain areas of Chinatown that are known for counterfeit sales.

According to the American Bar Association, New York City Council Member Margaret Chin, who represents Manhattan District 1, is working to reduce the demand of counterfeit goods especially on Canal Street. The street is known internationally as the destination for purchasing counterfeit handbags and watches.

Chin introduced a bill that would provide stricter punishments for people involve in the the illegal sale of counterfeit goods. The bill, Title 18 United States Code Section 2320, punishes vendors with a fine up to $2,000,000 or 10 years of imprisonment.

Despite city crackdowns and City Councilwoman Margaret Chin’s effort to pass a bill, many people continue to break the law. In recent years, some residents notice that the initial business has moved away from Canal Street and has spread to other areas of Chinatown to avoid detection by the police. The new places include Elizabeth Street and Mulberry Street.

Police are even going undercover, using civilian vehicles to smoke out several operations in the aforementioned areas but this has only caused more disturbances.

On August 1st, police and vendors clashed on Mulberry Street. A street filled with both tourists and Chinatown residents as they watched an officer in a brown civilian car calling out to the group of vendors, causing the latter to drop their goods and break into a run. However, instead of chasing them, the officer stepped out of the car, picked up the goods and left.

These chaotic events are becoming more common in this area and civilians are tired of the continuous chaos.

“Sometimes, I just wish it was happening in some other place…you know?” said Henry, a teenager who lives in Chinatown.

 

Imprisonment on the Island

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A prison in the past, Roosevelt Island is now a progressive residential neighborhood. However, the difficulty of communing may at times make some of 12,000 residents feel like they are in prison.

Constant delays and construction on the F line, the only line stopping on this island, as well as thousands of new residents settling in the new buildings create overcrowding and longer commute for the islanders who need to travel to other parts of the city.

“F train has just been ridiculous during the last couple of weeks,” said a long time islander, Alex. According to Straphangers Campaign’s Subway Line Profile, F train has a below-average regularity which means that less F trains arrive on schedule.

Despite a tram that goes across the bridge, many residents prefer F train. So, in the rush hours, the Manhattan platform fills up in five minutes. When a delayed train comes, “some people cannot even get on,” says Alex, and are forced to wait for the next train. Sometimes the next trains comes in one minute, sometimes in 20 minutes.

6999587547_8c5fca6b5d_zWhen it’s clear that the train has been delayed, many try to take a tram. But, even here residents face challenges. “That’s another $2.75 you have to pay,” says Jessica because “no one is compensating us” for the swipe for the F train.

Additionally, the tram imposes challenges for disabled residents because the only two elevators on the Manhattan side have been broken for 3 weeks already.

Current construction on the F line has made things more complicated. “With this construction, we are stuck on the island almost every weekend,” says Jessica about MTA’s weekend construction that makes F trains go over the E line-skipping Roosevelt Island- almost every week. When Queens- bound trains don’t stop on the island, one has to go to 47-50 Rockefeller Center station and switch over to the Queens-bound train. “It adds close to an hour,” says Alex with weekend slow service and delays.  8066376643_005517bb92_o

Roosevelt Island has two bridges- Queensboro and Roosevelt Island bridges. However, both of them have specific commute challenges. For example, Roosevelt Island bridge only goes to Queens and the neighborhood where it ends has no train stations for avenues.

Queensboro bridge has no connection to the island at all. In order to get to Manhattan by car- which not every islander has- a driver has to first go to Queens and then, through a series of avenues, take Queensboro bridge to Manhattan. This might add up to 40 minutes to travel time.     

Despite existing challenges, recently opened buildings and other being planned for the future will attract thousands of people who could further overcrowd every form of transportation on the island. A new luxury building, Riverwalk 7, was finished last month. Already 40% percent of 266 apartments have been rented and some newcomers already moved in. This will probably mean more crowded buses, trains and trams.

According to the local newspaper, the Main Street Wire, Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC) has hinted at the building of two more luxury condos right near Riverwalk 7. Although the process has not started yet, RIOC plans on starting it soon. New buildings will add a16081116347_8cafb32e08_on estimated thousand new residents to the island by 2019.

Residential buildings are not the only buildings on the island. Cornell University is building its new campus- Cornell Tech- on Roosevelt Island as well. According to Cornell University, this campus will include 2 million square feet of buildings, over 2 acres of open space, and will be home to more than 2,000 graduate students and nearly 280 faculty and staff. The campus is set to open in 2017. This addition to the island might mean even more overcrowded train and trams.

As a possible solution, AM New York once wrote about a ferry that will stop at three locations: Roosevelt Island, Long Island City and 34th street. “That would be great,” says Jessica.  

Daily News reports that that MTA plans to speed up the time on the 6,7 and F trains. The plan includes shorter audio announcements that might help trains leave the station in shorter time and 100 platform controllers who will help people get off and get on faster. This might mean less delays on the F line and, as a result, better commute for the Roosevelt Island residents.

Baruch in the Spotlight

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Baruch_College_Newman_Library   With September rapidly approaching and the summer beaches turning chilly, high school seniors are starting to look at colleges.

“Right now, I am thinking about applying to Baruch College, but I am not sure yet. It really sucks to be stressed about colleges.” said Cindy, a rising senior attending Millennium High School.

NYC students apply to Baruch College because, according to U.S News, it is a top business school and the college ties for fourth place among the best public schools in the regional north.

“The majority of students come to Baruch College because they want to major in business. I want to say I believe 95% of students come to Baruch because of that,” Clemente Diaz, the Associate Director of College Now, said, “But Baruch College is not only a business school. We also have the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences, and the School of Public Affairs.”

Not only does Baruch support students in other majors, the institution also provides internships and networking opportunities for all undergraduates.

“Baruch has really helped me with getting access to internships and jobs. I recently worked at Albany for a stipend and others got the opportunity to work for the Congress,” stated Michael, a junior Public Affairs major.

When asked if they would recommend Baruch College to high school students, four out of seven students interviewed said yes.

A graduate student who majored in Taxation said that Baruch is a good investment compared to private colleges because it is much cheaper and its students are as likely to get good jobs. Unlike universities such as Fordham that cost around $40,000 a year, Baruch costs only $6,330 a year.

However, when asked about the flaws of Baruch, the graduate student said the grading system in Baruch is harsh. There are strict rules on the number of students who can get the highest grades. For instance, only the top 20% get A’s. This makes it difficult to obtain high grades and students become very competitive.

Because Baruch is in the middle of New York City and is a commuter school, some students do not get the same campus feel as those who go to rural or suburban colleges.  “The campus is not active. Everyone is involved in themselves so it lacks a sense of community. I just go to school and then go home,” said Mona, a junior majoring in Accounting.  As a result, she does not recommend Baruch for those who want a lively campus.

Even the staffs at Baruch recognize this problem. Maziely Crisostomo, the Director of College Now and Collaborative Programs and Clemente Diaz both agreed that Baruch would be better with more school spirit and a bigger campus.

Clemente commented, “I [would] prefer to have more buildings in a campus. It does not have to be something huge but something where students can go around into the neighborhood a bit more instead of only having buildings on 27th street, Lexington, Third Avenue.”

Maziely added, “Space, we could definitely use more classrooms. Baruch is like jammed pack, really crowded.”

Whether it is the tuition or the campus life, high school students should research every aspect of colleges to see which one is the best learning environment for them.

“I strongly recommend high school students to choose colleges wisely, to have a major in mind, and to take AP classes to get ready for the workload in college,” said Shi Li, a freshman in Business Management who recently graduated from Townsend Harris High School.

Into the Abyss of History – Blood Feuds

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From Kukës to New York Blood Feuds Prevail

As the dawn breaks in the capital city of Albania, Tirana, a nightmare is interrupted by the inception of a new one. From a life in isolation to a life in the greatest democracy in the world, blood feuds remain in existence, and more violent than ever.

The Committee of Nationwide Reconciliation (in Tirana, Albania) estimates that since the transition from communism, nearly 22 years ago, approximately 10,000 people have lost their lives as a result of blood feuds. In addition, another couple of thousand have sought asylum in foreign lands, many of whom have reached the shores of the United States.

No different is the case of the undocumented Brooklyn resident, S.S, who with inheriting the property of his grandfather inherited the shame, the guilt, and the conflict of blood feud for a crime he did not commit.

Blood feuds are based on a set of traditional laws from the 15th Century, the Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini, that contain the edict, “spilled blood must be met with spilled blood,” as a victim stated for the German news outlet Spiegel. The Kanun is a prevailing system of justice in rural parts of northern Albania, focusing on family honor, yet defining it through an antiquated perspective, which follows a killing with another retributive killing.

The dispute that forced S.S and his family into isolation dates back to his ancestors. After Albania’s independence in 1912, his ancestors moved to Tirana for better opportunities. The property they left behind in the small town of Kukës was unjustly occupied by other townspeople. In an attempt to resolve the issue, S.S’s grandfather paid a trip to the town.

The negotiations failed, and the people turned to firearms for answers.

Without intending to end a life, S.S’s grandfather shot a blind bullet, leaving a man lifeless, and marking the start of a blood feud, that would in fact begin nearly half a century later.

In 1997, as Albania’s transition from a 50 year old communist system was entering a critical point, the army’s weapons’ depots were pillaged by citizens, and to this day only a small fraction of the weapons has been recovered. In a state of anarchy, the people turned to the primeval system of justice, the Kanun, which led to the restoration of the legitimacy of blood feuds.

Thus, at 34, S.S was left with the choices to seclude himself for the rest of his life, or accept death.

To his luck, his two children were girls. In the Kanun laws, women and children are untouchable by the vendettas.

With the rival clan living in the small town of Kukës, S.S felt no present danger in Tirana, which was a more modern place, and considerably far. However, this would change once the rival clan moved to the capital city.

The family of S.S. would spare nothing if it meant reconciliation and forgiveness of blood. Many times they offered money and land to the rival clan, but at all times the propositions were violently refused.

The economically challenged family then took an even greater risk and funded an illegal trip for S.S.
After providing approximately $20,000 to human traffickers, S.S was smuggled into Montenegro, and Slovenia. Then, he reached Germany where he received an illegal passport with which he entered the United States, in 2003.

In the United States, he reported this story to the authorities and was given an asylum. Since that day he has been waiting for the U.S government to confirm his story and provide him with documents which will one day make him a U.S citizen, eligible to reunite with his family which still lives in Albania.

While the United States has been a “safe haven” for him, S.S has not seen his wife and children in 11 years. The support of the U.S government has made his adjustment manageable, but the danger prevails. New York has a large Albanian community and if word spreads of his situation, who knows what vengeance can spark in the rival clan who lives close to his wife and two daughters in Albania.

The Kanun states that women and children cannot be murdered. Lately however, the mandate that blood must be avenged with blood has been interpreted loosely. In 2012, the streets of Tirana were filled with protesters after a 17- year-old daughter to an isolated family lost her life in a blood feud.

S.S has never rested. He constantly tries to bring his wife and two daughters to the United States in the same manner he, himself, arrived, – illegally. In 2009, he purchased another set of three falsified passports from human traffickers for $30,000. His efforts proved futile, for his family was stopped in Italy and returned to Albania.

When asked if he ever considers going back to Albania S.S proclaims, “I am planning to bring my family here in the U.S and then move from New York. Here I have to be extra cautious, and I would like a place that is quieter if you know what I mean. But, I could never go back there, I would never go back.”

In Tirana, his family receives only $72 a month, in the form of government assistance. This amount is not enough for a semi-comfortable life. If S.S were employed, he could send financial support to his family. However, considering he must remain in isolation, he can only be employed temporarily.

S.S’s battles against a living death do not represent an isolated phenomenon. It occurs in Albania where 2,000 families are currently in isolation, but it persists in the United States, and precisely in New York City.

Across the ocean and in hiding, he states, “Nowhere is safe.”

Artists' Haven Shuts its Doors

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Pearl Paint’s landmark building located on 308 Canal Street.
Pearl Paint’s landmark building located on 308 Canal Street.

Established in 1933, Pearl Paint has been the home of artists for over 80 years. Its Canal Street location in Lower Manhattan has been an iconic New York City landmark for decades, but on April 17th the beloved red and white building closed its gates for good.

Pearl Paint’s real estate broker, Massey Kankal has not released any plans to demolish the building, and proposes that the space can be “delivered vacant.” The five-story building is listed for sale at $15 million, with a lease price of $825,000.

Pearl Paint’s newly unemployed workers are shocked. They were given only 10 days notice that their jobs would be terminated, an act deemed illegal by their union, Workers United Local 169. “We all just can’t believe it,” said an anonymous worker to DNAinfo. “I’ve worked here for 10 years and this is how they treat you? You know how I really feel? This is f—– up.”

Pearl Paint’s previous customers are shocked as well. Lilly Nathan has been coming to the art store for over 20 years. “I’m in disbelief,” she says. “I mean I really can’t believe it. I’ve been coming here since I moved to New York City. I was just starting out as an artist, and that was when I was in my mid-twenties! That was so long ago.”

People like Dawn LaSalle have grown to know Pearl Paint’s employees as a local family. “I remember coming here with my mother as a little girl. She used to paint all the time at home and I would love to play with her different paint bottles,” she says. “I would see this beautiful red and white building and be so happy. The people here were always so kind and friendly. It’s a shame they’re closing this place down.”

The attention has been increasing with artists online as well, and many are disappointed to see another local business shut its doors. “I remember going there with my mom when I was a freshman in art school,” writes Jonathan D on Pearl Paint’s Yelp page. “It’s a sad day for New York. The days of New York being an artist mecca are over.”

With such a classic business closed, many of Pearl Paint’s loyal customers now need to find a new art supply store. SoHo Art Materials is just a three minute walk away from Pearl Paint’s building, and they seem to be picking up quite a few of Pearl Paint’s old customers.

“Customers have been coming in that have been going to Pearl Paint for years, and we are able to provide them with the art materials they are looking for,” says the manager of SoHo Art Materials. “I wouldn’t say we are the secondary source for Pearl Paint’s customers, but the primary source.”

Surrounding art supply stores Blick Art Materials and Utrecht Art Supply were unable to provide a comment.

Even with other art supply stores in close proximity, some of Pearl Paint’s customers are uneasy making the switch. “I’ve tried the other stores and it’s just not the same,” says Jenna Soto. “I’m used to walking right into Pearl Paint knowing what I need and knowing right where to get it. With these new art stores, I don’t know where anything is and I always have to ask the workers.”

Pearl Paint was a home for individuality and creativity. The employees were welcoming and always encouraged self-expression through art. “The workers at other stores are nice, but they’re so young,” she says. “You can tell that this is just some job to make money. They’re kids, they don’t care what store they work in, as long as they earn money to spend. At Pearl Paint, you knew that the workers cared. You knew that they liked to help.”

No one has yet to express interest in buying the property. Although it is unclear what the building will become in the future, it is safe to say that Pearl Paint will definitely be missed.

Prices and Building Sizes Skyrocket as East Village Gentrifies

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Prices and Building Sizes Skyrocket as the East Village Gentrifies

by Anna London

It’s no secret that real estate in New York is a hot commodity, and that developers and affluent people have been buying properties in poorer neighborhoods, displacing residents and changing the face of communities. Harlem, Hell’s Kitchen (‘Clinton’), and the East Village have been subject to it for some time now.

However, gentrification reached new levels in the East Village this May, as the contractor commonly referred to by East Village locals as Ben “The Sledgehammer” Shaoul purchased an entire strip of buildings on Houston Street with the purpose of knocking them down and building high rises. Shaoul is known as the “Sledgehammer” following an incident where he was seen in a heated argument with East Village squatters while his employees stood beside him holding sledgehammers.

The “Sledgehammer” has made it his mission to gentrify the tight-knit Village ever since his first project in September of 2013, when he bought the building that housed the beloved coffee shop “The Bean,” and raised their rent so exorbitantly that it was priced-out from its location on First Avenue to make room for yet another Starbucks.

In June 2013, Shaoul bought the non-profit Cabrini Center which supplied health care to low-income elderly people, and renovated it into luxury apartments. Rent for a one-bedroom at the old Cabrini, now named BLOOM 62, begins at $3,450 a month and goes up to $7,600 a month for larger apartments.

    After six months, BLOOM 62 was 82 percent leased and received glowing reviews from Real Estate Weekly, which exclaimed, “The smell of barbecue coming from the built-in outdoor grills and the blooming hydrangea summed up the building’s message: Just because you’re in Manhattan, doesn’t mean you can’t live as if you’re out in the country”.  Rooftop barbecues are illegal in New York City. Neighbors, many of them long term residents, are infuriated and confused about this, as many of them recall being ticketed and harassed when they would have barbecues on their roofs.

Inspired by his success with BLOOM 62 and what is estimated to be around 40 other buildings that he owns in the East Village alone, Shaoul set his sights on the block of Houston Street between Ludlow Street and Orchard Street, a strip of restaurants sharing the block with the famous restaurant Katz’s Delicatessen.

His newest project on Houston Street has led to the closing of numerous old and loved businesses such as Bereket, a famous Turkish restaurant that opened in 1995. The only business remaining is Katz’s, which only remains because the owner of the deli also owns the building.

The block of buildings to be demolished on Houston Street, surrounded by high rises.

From The Ludlow on Ludlow Street to a massive 166-unit building on Avenue D, high rises have already begun to line Houston street, virtually blocking out the sky with their massive height. In response to the grumblings of numerous residents in the East Village, Shaoul told a reporter from the New York Times during a tour of some of his buildings, “Why is everyone so hung up on the East Village? How about saying to me, ‘Ben, wow, your building is really beautiful, let’s focus on how

well-built it is?'”

East Village resident Edward Arrocha, known affectionately to many East Villagers as “Eak”, disagrees strongly, exclaiming, “All this money they’re spending and they’re still getting tenements. These buildings are so badly built. I can’t fathom that they spend this much, when I moved here you could live on very little.”

The East Village was once protected by such New York zoning laws, which demanded that all buildings along avenues A, B and C be six stories high. In 2008, rezoning laws were approved, which stated that buildings on Avenue A could be up to 32 stories high. Buildings east of Essex Street on Houston could be up to 12. Elissa Sampson, an urban geographer in the East Village, holds out hope that the process is not irreversible, saying, “Gentrification is made by humans and can be prevented by zoning.”

Zoning did not prevent Community Board 3 from voting to approve the construction of a massive high rise on Houston Street and Avenue D, directly across from the NYCHA projects. and one of the most impoverished areas of the Lower East Side.  Affordable housing advocate, Joel Feingold of GOLES (the Good Old Lower East Side), said to the Lo-Down NY, “this will be viewed as an incredibly hostile imposition. This building fits the exact caricature in people’s minds of neighborhood loss and change. I think it’s ludicrous to consider putting a building on Avenue D that’s all glass and steel and costs $2800 for a studio. I think it’s outrageous.” In addition, the building replaced a community garden.

    Eak, who has lived in the East Village since the early 90’s, has seen a number of waves of gentrification. He states, “I feel that gentrification has become a victim of its own success. This isn’t gentrification that we’re facing now, it’s super-gentrification, gentrification-on-steroids. Suddenly, the people who originally gentrified (the East Village) got displaced by the people who look at is as an investment.”

As a resident in the East Village myself, I have witnessed this gentrification firsthand. When my family moved to the East Village twenty-five years ago, it was an entirely different place than it is today. My parents, both self-employed artists, were typical of the first waves of gentrifiers. According to Sampson, who moved to the Lower East Side in the 70’s, “We were early gentrifiers. We were what the French call “bobo”, basically meaning ‘bourgeois bohemians’. People who chose to live in poor areas but had more conventional backgrounds.”

The Lower East Side and East Village attracted those with low incomes, artists, ‘oddballs and outcasts’ who could not afford to live in affluent neighborhoods. Steve Weintraub, a choreographer and former East Village resident, describes the neighborhood in those days, “That was kind of the funkier village. The Alphabet Jungle was just where you didn’t go.” The “Alphabet Jungle”, also commonly known as “Alphabet City” and “Loisaida”, refers to the region east of Avenue A, where the avenues have letters instead of numbers.

The East Village wasn’t always referred to as the East Village. According to Sampson, it used to be called the Lower East Side (which now refers to the area below Houston Street). “They began calling it the East Village in the late 50’s early 60’s, [which was meant to show it was] a continuation of the West Village and bohemian, [but which] destroyed the continuities with the past and made people think of them [the Lower East Side and the East Village] as two separate areas with two separate futures.”

While parts of the Lower East Side were dangerous and rightfully feared, others had a flourishing art scene and a tight-knit community. Collectively, it was a community built on support and creativity, with little to no emphasis on luxury.

As someone who first began spending time in the Lower East Side in the late 80’s, Eak explains, “It was risky, but there was music, poetry readings, it was sad but beautiful. I fell in love with it. I came to the place where my heart felt it belonged. My heart led me here and suddenly I was home. I have nowhere else to go, my heart is here.”

Frank London, a musician (and my father), explains, “When I moved to the East Village in 1990, I got a six-floor walk up apartment with a bathtub in the kitchen. It was a small one-bedroom and it cost $650 a month – which felt quite expensive at the time. The building that it was in, on Fourteenth Street, has recently been torn down for new construction. Our next apartment was a larger one bedroom for which we paid about $770 in approximately 1993. Around 1995 or so we moved to another apartment in the same building, a 700 square foot, 2-bedroom apartment. It cost about $850 when we first moved in, but by the time we moved out in about 2007, it was almost $1100 a month. Each of those were rent-stabilized apartments.”

Rent stabilization is a system which tries to keep rents affordable for tenants, and rent stabilized apartments are apartments which increase in cost by small percentages yearly. Rent controlled apartments are much less expensive and only slightly increase in cost, but are nearly impossible to get ahold of. According to nakedapartments.com, only 2% of NYC apartments are rent controlled, and they’re passed down through family, making them unavailable to anybody whose family hasn’t lived in the apartment since 1971.

Today, the average one-bedroom East Village/Lower East Side apartment  is not covered by rent stabilization and rents for $3,611 a month.

Eak admits there are benefits to gentrification, but explains, “At first, a certain level of gentrification made it a more agreeable neighborhood to live in. I could go to a store and buy fresh vegetables, I could get edible stuff at a corner store. I suddenly had a better sense of safety. But these points drove it to such a point that they didn’t exist anymore. Now I can’t afford it. Once it ultra gentrifies it won’t even benefit the rest of us [the original pioneers]”

The severe disproportionality in the economy has created a social divide in the East Village. Sampson elaborates, “This neighborhood still relies on food and clothes pantries. There are people on the top end and bottom end of the economic ladder. When you have neighborhoods with extremes and no middle class, you see people who are really needy, and the people who buy mink coats for their dogs”.

    This latest demolition of buildings on Houston Street reflects the transformation of the beloved neighborhood from community gardens and small buildings with affordable apartments to glass high rises and overpriced wine shops (no less than twelve have opened in the East Village over the last two years). When he moved to the East Village, Eak explains, “It was all about individuality. We were all real oddballs looking for affordable rent and certain individuality. We didn’t have to like each other but we could live together”.  Now, he resigns, “The people moving here are tone deaf, they don’t hear anything. You could be lying dead in the street and they’d keep walking. Nobody exists to them, there’s nothing, everyone is invisible. To see this in my community, it breaks my heart.”

Paving the Path to Unveil Injustices

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Michael Grabell

“You do not have to be a foreign correspondent and go to Africa and China to find these problems and violations. There is plenty to uncover here,” Michael Grabell said describing the aspects of his career.

Michael Grabell currently investigates and reports for ProPublica, a journalistic organization whose primary goal is to serve the public’s interest. His investigative work includes articles about temp agencies and temp workers, President Obama’s economic stimulus package, the Federal Air Marshall Service, the Lance Armstrong doping allegations, chemicals stored near schools and neighborhoods, and the TSA’s body scanning. His work for ProPublica has been published in the New York Times, PBS NewsHour, CBS Evening News, NPR, and USA Today. In January 2012, Grabell, published the book “Money Well Spent? The Truth Behind the Trillion-Dollar Stimulus, the Biggest Economic Recovery Plan in History.”

On July 8 2014, Grabell shared some of his most influential experiences as a journalist writer with Baruch College Now students. “I start with a phone call to experts,” he stated, when asked to describe his working procedures.

In order to first select “the jaw dropping story-to-be”, Grabell creates a mental graph, qualifying the harmfulness of the incident, and quantifying its effect on citizens, such as how many are swept by the phenomenon.

Then Grabell proclaims, it is important to start with the most easily accessible data, look at the public records, lawsuits, social media and so on. Once the basics have been filled, it becomes easier to “be persistent in convincing officials to give up data,” he said.

In having decided on a good topic to research, Grabell explains, the duty of the author becomes to relate the story to the targeted audience. Simultaneously, he maintained that to reason with the intentions of the story is vital, because it forcibly teaches the reporter to be patient, to gain confidence, and to see a good horizon even if the path of uncovering a truth seems impossible to penetrate. Grabell persisted that these are some of the most important characteristics that will enable an investigative journalist to unveil those who attempt to “find a way to put the harm on somebody’s pockets,” the unparalleled way to serve the public’s interests, the people’s interests.

He also encouraged the students to ask as many questions as possible; stating that in fact, this precise fact led to his future success. During his internships Michael Grabell was not afraid to ask questions. “That is how I learned where all the documents were buried in town,” he confessed. Knowing where the information was and how to acquire it, was exactly the reason newspapers hired him – the reason he transformed himself, from a writer of the obituaries to an investigative journalist.

His passion to uncover injustices is apparent in his commitment to make reporting personal, while maintaining professionalism and accuracy. “If I am not interested, why would my reader be?,” he asks.

More than Cruelty

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wpid-dog-meat-381China is the second largest economy in the world. Producing almost all of the world’s products, materials and technology. But what is a country that makes its money off of brutality and cruelty? Off of bloody, ruthless and devastating violence against innocent and harmless animals.

Many celebrities, rich and wealthy people all have a fur coat or clothes made of animal fur in their wardrobes. However, many do not know the ugly truth about how their materials were made. A lot of imported fur comes from China because it is the largest export of animal fur. In fact, “China is the largest importer of fur pelts in the world, therefore making them the largest re-exporter of finished fur products,” according to Wikipedia research. A lot of animals such as sheep, raccoons, rabbits, foxes and most of all, dogs, are killed everyday just for their fur.

Many videos exposed by china’s very few activists or activists from the United Kingdom and the United states who have intervened with this issue, have either disguised themselves as workers or secretly captured footage on Chinese men and women workers hanging animals on sharp hooks. Once they are hung, the “workers” cut their fur viciously, trimming off their flesh. The animals’ bodies, some conscious and some unconscious, are then thrown onto piles of other furless and dead animals.

Moreover, many dogs that are scattered all over many places in China are not “welcome to their city.” In an article that talks of a mob of Chinese in a city called Shijiazhuang where “dogs aren’t allowed” throw bricks to two dogs who wandered off from an owner. They ended up in a hell hole where there was a “dog-hunt” to find them, shoot them six times and “chopped up by people hitting it with spades.”

In addition to such cruelty in China, there are flea markets that sell dog meat. Exposed pictures and videos show piles and piles of axed and chopped dogs. There is also dog meat trade, dogs slaughtered for human consumption.

The lack of strict protection of these helpless animals is beyond disbelief. There aren’t laws that ban a market from doing this. Recently, a group of activists wrote a letter to President Xi Jinping and urge him to put an end to the corrupt and horrific dog and cat meat and fur trades immediately. Over 4,000 signatures of support and bravery from people all around the world. Unluckily, with China’s 1.8 billion populations, it almost seems as if no one cares. True ignorance is truly unbelievable.

“I think animal cruelty in China takes it to a whole another level of brutality,” says high school student Ricardo Melendez. He says he has watched horrific clips and footage of the way animals “especially dogs” are treated. “A lot of my friends have shown me videos on like YouTube, and words cannot describe how I feel. I blame the government because they don’t force laws on animal cruelty as much as they should be and they are responsible for controlling injustice behavior.”

“Where else are we going to get fur from? I mean don’t get me wrong, I think it’s horrible of the way these animals are treated to get fur however, we can’t stop the use of trade. The world relies on money so it’s an issue that will remain because no one can actually stop the world,” says Dre Liason. He believes this issue has no solution.

“I hate people who use fur. It’s so wrong like even people in music videos use it and for what? They look ridiculous. No creature deserves to be treated this way at all,” says high school student Sky Pina who resents the usage of fur coats and “would do anything to stop it.”

Many argue that animal cruelty is a huge issue all of us should be against however; others may argue that it benefits trade and increases money. They may say you can’t change trade, you can’t stop animal testing because it’s been attempted to stop however very few companies have stopped it.  If many people from countries all around the world take a stand, it can help stop the way animals are treated. It’s a controversial issue and we must speak for the creatures that can’t.

 

 

 

The Man Behind the Movie

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“I think it’s fun to go see a bad movie” says Rafer Guzman.  Most people wouldn’t enjoy watching horrible films  intentionally, but for Rafer Guzman, it’s the best part of his job.

 A well-known film critic for Newsday, Rafer Guzman has had the pleasure (or in some cases the burden) of viewing many films.  Although most of us might grow bored of watching numerous movies consecutively, Rafer however, is able to sit through them happily.

 After graduating from Columbia, Rafer began career as a rock critic doing reviews of concerts.  He was able to get his name out through the work he did for small local papers and eventually applied for a job at Newsday.  At Newsday he started as a rock critic, but later went into reviewing movies also taking jobs other critics refused to escape having to listen to terrible music.  Unlike bad films, which he has a much greater tolerance for, Rafer said that to him, “music is really personal,” and that he couldn’t bear to endure anymore terrible performances.

 Since he is the only movie critic for Newsday, Guzman must watch about 3-5 films a week and write reviews of each one.  His favorite genre is action because he finds these films very cinematic and says it “looks good on screen.” This is why he enjoys the work of Bryan Singer and is a big fan of the X-Men and Batman series.  He says that these films were the first to combine real-life ideas and events with a fictional world.

 Despite his love of film, Rafer does hate some genres like most romantic comedies and kid’s films.  However, he doesn’t let this stop him from writing a fair review.  When reviewing films that may not necessarily appeal to a great audience, he tries to “sell” the movie to the reader.  He believes that a key factor in writing a credible review is not being 100% positive or negative about the film, but providing a mix of the two.

While he was with us, Rafer gave us some predictions on how some upcoming films will do in the box office.  The most memorable being Star Wars: Episode VII.  He thinks that the film will be a hit.  Although he is not a fan of the original series by George Lucas, he went  as far saying that he wouldn’t be surprised if the Disney production did better than James Cameron’s Avatar,  regarded by many as one of the biggest movies of all time.