The Paw Print

A few months ago Carlos Akino moved with his family from Bedford Park because of violence that broke out at a pizza shop down the block from where he lived.

“It was scary having something like that happen so close to you,” said Carlos. “George’s Pizza was like the father of the neighborhood. It was my after school hangout. The food was good and [it made the] neighborhood calmer.”

The largest housing development in the nation holds 55,000 people and 13,750 are on one bus. The residents of Co-Op City are limited to four buses because of MTA recent budget cuts. Service time, bus routes and bus numbers have all been reduced.

“I can no longer travel when I feel, I find myself going according to new bus schedules,” said Betty Thomas, a 63-year-old resident who formerly used the Bx28, but has been forced to switch to the Bx38.

Before the recent cuts, neighborhood buses ran every five to seven minutes. Now due to drastic system-wide changes, residents have a 30 minute wait between buses. That is an increase of nearly 330 percent.

“I have received 1,082 complaints re-guarding the recent bus services and 378 of them came from senior citizens,” said Janneen Willson community board manger of Riverbay Corporation, the organization that manages Co-Op City.

Not everyone feels the MTA is doing a bad job. Louise Wells, an 87-year-old MTA customer described a day on the bus going to attend a doctor appointment. She waited for the Bx26 bus for 33 minutes but she still received the courtesy of having the step lowered and being offered a seat on a crowded bus.

On the other hand Wells mentioned that when she takes the Bx26 bus she now finds herself paying an extra fare because riders cannot transfer from bus to bus. When taking the Bx26 before bus cuts it was one ride. Now riders must get off the Bx26 to catch Bx14. And because some riders are finding bus-to-bus free transfers inconsistent, they must dole out another $2.25.

“I work my hardest not to earn money, but to keep my job,’’ said Angelo Davis, Gun Hill Road bus depot manger. This shows the intensity that recent cuts have caused in the MTA work environment.

The Gun Hill bus depot services the Co-op City area so his clerk Monica Towns receives the complaints from that area of the North East Bronx. “I can report these complaints to the headquarters but I don’t expect a response because things are so hectic with the MTA right now the last thing they care about is complaints,’’ said Angelo Davis.

Co-op City residents are unsure whether they will receive any changes or adjustments to bus service or just have to adapt to these new conditions but residents elderly and youths are affected by cuts.

Mark Green the representative for the president of the MTA Jay Kaufman declined to comment on the issue.

“I can not answer any of your question because my job will be in jeopardy,” he said.

Summer enrollment at CUNY is at a 19-year high because students are trying to graduate early and get a head start on the workforce.

“This year summer enrollment was 74,700. There was a three percent increase in summer enrollment from last year,” said Rita Rodin of CUNY Office of Media Relations.

“Students are taking more core classes at CUNY during the summer, said Ellis Simon, CUNY director of public relations.

Many of the students interviewed were taking core classes such as accounting, economics finance and communications.

College students taking summer classes want to take core classes and required classes for their major to get them out of the way.

Mason Lin, a student at Baruch College, is taking cost accounting and financial accounting because it’s required for his major. Finishing these classes allows him to graduate early.

According to several students attending school during the summer, classes are more demanding and rigorous than classes during the rest of the year. Some students feel that summer courses have a better structure than regular year classes because teachers work more with the students and the semester is shorter.

According to Ail Alyas, a student at Baruch College, the workload is a lot more intense and it is done at a faster pace during the summer.

Christal James of Brooklyn College said she is taking core classes because she has the money right now and she saved up to take the classes. She doesn’t know when she will have the money again to get the classes out of the way.

 â€œStudents take summer course to catch up with missing work,” said Alyas.

Many students during the year are so busy that they don’t have time to take all the classes they need.

“Certain profile of students takes summer courses. They are hard working, take summer classes more serious and graduate quicker,” said Anthony O’Malley, a professor at Baruch College.

Because students work harder for summer courses, O’Malley said, “grades grew a little higher, more A’s, and students are higher quality.”

CUNY Rodin said that students gain more from their learning experience during summer classes. Students might take classes because they don’t have time during the year, are out of work in the summer, and in order to advance their skills and resume.

While CUNY’s enrollment has increased, SUNY’s has not seen the same growth, with enrollment decreasing by one percent since last year.

Nerissa George usually gets up at 6 a.m. on Labor Day to give herself enough time to get into her costume and head out onto Eastern Parkway for the West Indian-American Day Carnival. This year, however, she can sleep in an extra hour because of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s new five-hour limit on parades and street fairs. The carnival now begins at 11 a.m. instead of its former 10 a.m. start.

“I’m still going to participate but this really sucks,” said Nerissa George, 17, who has participated in the carnival for six years.

In an effort to save $3.1 million in police pay, Mayor Bloomberg announced that he would limit the amount of time used for public celebrations or cultural events such as the West Indian American Day Carnival, which will be reduced by three hours.

The West Indian-American Day Carnival is a Caribbean-style celebration designed to mirror those in Trinidad, Grenada, Barbados and other West Indian islands, where the carnivals are the biggest cultural events of the year. The entire country comes to a halt for a few days in order to celebrate and palance, a word used by Trinidadians to reflect a sense of enjoyment, fun and partying.

“There is unity and we come together as one and celebrate who we are,” said Bria Murray, 16-year old participant in the carnival. The celebration on Eastern Parkway acts as the closing ceremony to the summer season to many West Indians that live in New York City.

According to some the event doesn’t even fit into the Mayor’s policy. “This is not a parade, it is a carnival,” said Joseph Charles, founder of Sesame Flyers, whose 1,500 member band is the largest participant in the festivities

Others note that the city is actually losing money by shortening the time and route of the parade.

“You cannot save money by cutting down time,” said Marlon Smart, costume designer for the carnival bands Sesame Flyers and Ramajay. As the city’s largest street celebration, it generates $24 million in tax revenue annually, according the West Indian American Day Carnival Association officials. That is eight times the amount that the government is trying to save. “The cut down means less revenue for the city,” said Smart.

Blogger for popular cultural blog When Steel Talks said, “The economics work in favor of the city. The city will invest less in terms of police and other utility support and yet reap the same economic benefits. For example, the MTA is going to make the same amount of money regardless f the time factor. They typically run a rush hour schedule on the number 4 and 3 lines for the duration of the carnival on labor day.”

People that attend the parade and participate in it blame bandleaders for not being on time. This is a complaint of many participants: masqueraders spend a lot of time waiting for costume bands to move along the parade route. Costume bands and bandleaders make the carnival exciting for viewers; therefore if they are late the entire parade is delayed.

“Then they begin turning bands off the parade route because they are so late,” said Blake.

“Last year, three hours were wasted,” said George, 17-year-old participant in the parade.

Smart, the costume designer, said that as long as the fun factor is there people would still have a good experience despite the time restrictions.

New York is 2,456 miles from Arizona, yet young activists on opposite coasts are connected by their fury over new legislation in the Grand Canyon state that gives police the right to stop any civilian who looks like they may be an illegal immigrant.

New Yorkers of all ages protested on July 29, when the controversial Arizona immigration law was put into legislation.

“This bill strips away the core of what America stands for and promotes intolerance,” stated City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn in a recent press release.

The law, Senate Bill 1070, requires all immigrants to carry identification documents, prompting comparisons to the times of South African pass laws or Nazi Germany’s required Star of David. In previous interviews, Hispanic Federation President Lillian Rodríguez López has compared the law to Nazi Germany and South Africa’s apartheid.

Community organizer Roberto Mercedes agrees, “I think the law is very racist. It devalues society and is definitely not fair.” As part of the New York Civic Participation Project (NYCPP), Mercedes was an organizer of their July 29 rally.

Many doubt the legal standing of the law, claiming that it will lead to unwarranted fear of government among Mexican-Americans and extreme racial profiling.

“The law is unconstitutional,” said Bishop Orlando Findlayter, a Brooklyn community leader who has led many into activism against the law.

Many New York activists have called teens the driving force behind the protests, expressing shock over how involved young people have gotten in the issue.

Mercedes was one of 200,000 other protesters who attended the May Day rally held in Union Square Park this year. The protests were part of a national movement intended to fix both the broken immigration system and SB 1070. Rallies were scattered across seventy US cities, drawing millions of protestors.

Mercedes says that young people were an integral part of the New York demonstration, making up about half of the protesters.

“We want young people to have a say in their own country, in what laws they must abide by.” Findlayter is the chairman of Churches United to Save and Heal (CUSH) in Brooklyn, an organization that has taken drastic action against the law, putting effort into involving members of his youth community in rallies and protests.

His community has been writing letters to New York government officials and marching in rallies against the law. Findlayter said that this is an important way to give undocumented young immigrants a way to have their voices heard.

Mercedes says that youth are taking action because of personal connections to the matter.

“If I saw my parents or someone I cared about so severely affected by a law, I would want to participate. I would want to support them,” he said.

“This is an issue that is motivating young people in a big way,” said former New York high school teacher, Jose Rivera. “My students went out to a lot of protests and rallies. They seemed very motivated by the issue.”

Rivera has joined forces with many in efforts to create a nationwide boycott of all goods produced and associated with the state of Arizona, including traveling to the state to visit his family. 

“I’m staying out of Arizona altogether,” said Rivera. Many of the former Arizonanian’s family and friends are still residing in the area, but he has taken initiative and moved out of the state. His move is a change many of his family members are now considering.

“As a group, united, there is an opportunity for young people to be heard,” said Bahir Mustafa, an activist from the NYCPP who is a big supporter of youth rights. “They look at the impact of this law on the people around them, and they feel the need to do something about it.”

“Young people in this city, particularly Latino youth, have very much been mobilized by the Arizona law,” said Council Member Melissa Mark Viverito in an email interview. “I have seen many young people at rallies and other actions that have been held against the Arizona law and in support of immigration reform.”

“Immigration is the civil rights of the 21^st century. We can only hope that justice is given the same way,” said Findlayter.   

Dannie White, 17, would like to be working but he never got around to filling out job applications when school let out, so instead he spends his summer watching T.V. –  Teletubies to be exact.

Dannie is one of many teenagers who sink into lazy habits during the summer. Since he thought working was the only option to fill his days, he didn’t bother to find out about other activities that don’t involve getting paid.

“I’m not doing anything productive,” said Dannie, who would like to be a lawyer someday. His day’s hardest decision usually involves whether he should stay at home and watch SpongeBob or play basketball in the park. “I would rather be working but I’m very lazy in the summer,” said Dannie.

Dannie is one of the many teenagers that are not engaged in any activities during the summer time. Though there are many programs that Dannie can be involved in, such as those run by the Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD).

DYCD is a city agency that focuses on the way teenagers use their personal time. “Trying to make sure that teens are scheduled from 3 to10 p.m. is our main focus since it seems that’s the time where most crimes happen,” said Denise Williams, the general manager of DYCD.

“Literacy programs, Summer Youth job programs, sports programs, volunteer programs will help interact with others, to have more things that they look forward to,” said Williams. “By attending extra programs during the summer, it is a great way to build resumes, and get better connections with the people the teenagers worked with,” said Williams.

“We made accounts on different sites such as YouTube, MySpace, Facebook and Twitter, so that teens could interact with us through the way a teen knows,” said Williams.

Even Williams admits that it isn’t easy for a teenager to find many of the programs that are available.

“Many of the DYCD programs aren’t reaching teens even through these websites and that’s because they don’t know where to look,” said Williams.

Dannie’s mother, Marie White, a law student, said, “It’s up to both me and Dannie to help him get engaged and I feel I wasn’t as engaged as I should be as a parent.”

Dannie is not the only teenager who feels he is unaware of the many programs that are available because he does not know where to look.

Oddisey Jones, 17, a high school student whose dreams of becoming a veterinarian, said, “There is nothing else I could look for. There is nothing else I could find.”

For teenagers like Oddisey and Dannie, there are many opportunities out there that they can get if they would only know where to find them.

“Teenagers can call or sign up with Youth Connect at 1-800-246- 4646,” said Williams. “There is this saying that states if you don’t plan to succeed, you plan to fail. Teenagers are our future, they are the next generation instead of wasting summers, do something productive.”

A few months ago Carlos Akino with his family from Bedford Park because of violence that broke out at a pizza shop right down the block from where he lived.

Carlos Akino a former resident of 204 street is one person who moved with his family to another neighborhood because of the shooting.

“It was scary”, “having something like that happen so close to you” said Carlos Akino a former resident of 204 street. “Georges pizzeria was like the father of the neighborhood”. “It was my after school hangout”. “The food was good and neighborhood was calmer”. Said Carlos.

Carlos also stated that he started notice graffiti starting booming more on building walls right after the shooting.

“Ever since that shooting took place, stores have been closing down like wild fire,” he said. “Its hard enough that as storeowners we have to deal with problems in our every day lives, but to deal with violence on this is just ridiculous”. Said Mr. Felix.

Since the shooting, Mr. Felix has closed his café.

The business owners of Bedford Park were not only ones affected though. Residents like Mrs. Rose who have been long time residents of 204 street have also noticed changes within the neighborhood.

“Bedford was not always like this”. “There was a time when everything was quiet, calm and relaxing”. “There was even a teashop I used to go, to get bubble tea and coffee.” “Sadly it closed down right after the shooting”.” It’s a shame since that store was something new for the neighborhood”.

Mrs. Rose also replied by saying she would not move out of the neighborhood if the gang violence escalated. “Just because I am old; I am not going to let a bunch of street punks scare me out of my neighborhood”. Said Mrs. Rose.

This shooting has caused residents to move and stores to close down and move. In addition to all the chaos this shooting has caused Bedford Park, residents still don’t know why this John Doe was killed. While talking with a gang member, he gave me a little insight into why this incident happened.

“They had to have killed him because he was probably from a rival gang member or he had started a problem”. “They would not have killed unless he had brought trouble upon himself”. Usually the only time when a gun is involved in gang activity is either for robbery, initiation, killing a rival gang member, or a personal vendetta”. Said the Gang member.

The gang member also said “this shooting should not escalate into a bigger problem, unless it’s a territory issue”.

Consequently, the real damage has already been done to 204 street in Bedford Park. With the business owners starting to move and the residents packing their up, 204 street has really been hit with a bad case of domino effect. If residents and police don’t start working together to make sure Bedford does not get over run with gang violence just like Europe got over run by the black death, then 204 will continue suffer.

“I will let them take over my home”. Said Mrs. Rose. If residents of 204 street don’t start getting the same attitude as Mrs. Rose has, then residents of 204 street can expect more acts of gang an unrelated violence to come.

A mother of two, Wai Ping Ma finds it hard to keep up her family budget.  She had to give up buying supplies for family usage. Her family had to depend on using re-used items rather than using new ones. Instead of every year buying new supplies for school, Ma’s family have to use the item they didn’t finish from the year before.

Some families are making sacrifices in order to provide their children with necessities for school because budget cuts have slashed many programs their children used to go to.

Ever since the budget cuts in school programs were announced, Ma’s family has been struggling to keep their finances under control because they would need to pay for other afterschool programs, since the school no longer provide the same program.

Ma and her family live in an apartment in Chelsea. She has two daughters, one who is currently in college.  She used to work in a factory in Chinatown. She was born and raised in Guang Dong, China, but moved to America with her family 19 years ago, hoping to live a better life.

“School budget cuts are affecting me personally because currently I am unemployed and my youngest daughter has one more year until she goes to college,” said Ma.  “It is hard enough that only my husband brings home the income.  As a family, we have to cut down the things we buy, like clothes and shoes.”

Some families have feared the budget cuts since the start of the economic downfall; The city has had a budget gap since 2008 and the government has threatened to cut 8,500 teacher positions,  according to an article on CNN.com.

Having less staff to teach children in programs would contribute to the eventual disappearance of these programs. Children need programs to have their best education and without programs to educate children, they will have nothing to do.  For some families, grandparents had to make sacrifice in order to make the best for their grandchildren’s in school.

Lu Zhao Ma Song lives in an apartment in Chinatown by herself. She has two granddaughters, aged 9 and 10, who lives in Uptown. They attend an afterschool program call “Virtual Y” that was in their school, PS.42.  This program moved to a YMCA in East Broadway.  The move caused distress in Ma song’s household.

“If the government cut any more programs or move programs to another place, it will be hard for me to bring them home,” said Ma Song.  “I’m already a 76-year-old grandma and all I want is my grandkids to have fun, but fun is too far away.”

 â€œI don’t want my grandma to walk so far to bring us home.  She already has back problem and I don’t want to see her injure herself again,” said Ma Song’s granddaughter Yu Yin.  Next year, I am probably not going back to this program because it is too far from my grandma home, even though I really want to go.”

Suki Wong, a 17 year old, at Baruch College Campus High School loves taking AP Art, but her class will be the last to enjoy it.

“In my school, I heard that they would cut the AP art class. I am passionate about art and now I have to go to elective classes unrelated to art,” said Suki

“My mom works at a day care center and she has to be aware of the supplies they have. The government is cutting funds used to buy supplies for children,” said Suki.  “My mom makes me re-use items and makes sure I don’t waste items that can be still used.  I find that a struggle.”

“Cuts to the Department of Education’s budget leave our most vulnerable children and youth without the services and supports that they need to succeed in school,” said Ailin Chen, an education policy manager at Coalition for Asian American Children and Families. CAACF works New York City families on education and health isues.

“All I want for next year is to have afterschool program to go to. I hope the Department of Education won’t cut afterschool program in my school because I don’t want my parents spending extra money only for a program of 2 hours,” said Wendy, 9 who goes to PS.42, an elementary school in Chinatown.

Zakir Chowdhury and his family are feeling the burden of the recent robberies that are circulating around Parkchester. What’s worse, these residents feel like the police aren’t doing enough to protect them.
The crime that is occurring in the community is scaring the residents. The statistics on robberies are overwhelming. This lingering affect of robberies in the community is causing many residents to rethink the decision to call Parkchester home.
This year there have been 13 more burglaries than last year. Almost passed midpoint of the year, robbery is leaping towards passing the 2009 statistics.
So far this year, the population in Parkchester is steadily declining. Juana Tatis, an employee who works at the Parkchester North Condominium thinks the population will continue to be affected negatively if the community and the police department don’t find an alternative way to prevent robberies.
“People are unemployed and teenagers are out on the street causing trouble,” said Tatis. “The robberies have been a devastating blow to this neighborhood. I think the population will continue to decline and we will see more empty apartments.”
Residents in Parkchester are aware of recent crimes. Community members post community news and updates in building lobbies around the neighborhood.
Recent robberies are causing havoc in Parkchester. People are more inclined to leave the community because they feel unsafe. Just ask 36-year-old father, Zakir Chowdhury who has been residing in Parkchester for 10 years. He has three children that go to Middle School 127 and feels the overwhelming burden on his shoulder about the recent robberies.
“I feel that Parkchester has changed a lot, there are a whole lot of thefts going on and of course the Parkchester security doesn’t do anything about it.” Chowdhury said. He said the police have been careless in responding.

The 43rd Precinct Police Department has ordered more officers to patrol the streets of Parkchester more efficiently. They have placed more officers in places where there is heavy crime.
“The main priority of the 43rd Precinct is to protect the lives and property of residents by reducing and preventing crimes,” said Chris Cunningham, a veteran officer who patrols the street of Parkchester.
As for the future, Chowdhury says, “I am waiting for my lease to be over to move elsewhere because I will not continue to raise my children in this horrible neighborhood.”
Joseph Nazrul, a resident from Parkchester, left the neighborhood and moved with his family to Amarillo, Texas. Nazrul felt the neighborhood was unsafe, particularly the place where he was residing.
“Every time me and my wife are at work, we were worried that someone might break into our apartment. There was always a sense of panic,” said Nazrul.
Last April, Nazrul was robbed coming home from work. When Nazrul approached his building, he realized that he was being followed. Unlike other victims, Nazrul was not brutally beaten or left helpless on the ground. Instead, the perpetrators simply took his wallet and everything in it and escaped.
Police officials responded to the scene, but they were too late. The three alleged perpetrators left. Nazrul hopes the community gets safer and the police are able to maintain the security.
“The police officers in my opinion are not doing enough. Yes they’re patrolling the neighborhood but I just don’t feel they’re doing enough to help stop the recent robberies,” said Nazrul.