Nassau County Youth Programs Suffering at the Hands of Elected Officials by Sarah Moi-Thuk-Shung
Eager volunteers, tables filled with arts and crafts, and a pumped up DJ await as students begin to file in for some Christmas fun. The gym at Gotham Avenue Elementary School will soon be filled with nearly 400 first to fourth graders for this years Christmas party. Patrick Boyle, Executive Director of Gateway Youth Outreach, Inc., along with his staff, put together this party for the children who are a part of GYO at Gotham, as well as students from nearby elementary schools. The toys given to these nearly 400 children, the pizza delivered for them as well as volunteers and staff, and the surprise visit from Santa Claus were all sponsored by GYO. This event would not be the first that GYO has had to sponsor without the help of government funding since the budget cut in July.
“We had programs that had 800 kids in them every day after school. Nassau County in their infinite wisdom decided in July to cut our budget completely. We do have one program that is being run through a state grant at the Gotham Avenue School for 100 children, but that means that 700 kids don’t get programs,” said Boyle. This great decrease in numbers of kids who don’t get programs does not begin to show the devastation of the budget cut.
Parents of children that attend elementary schools in the Sewanhaka Central District who are used to having summer programs and afterschool offered to them through GYO were forced to find alternative programs, most likely at a high cost or at an inconvenient location. Luisa Celis, parent of an 8-year old at the only open afterschool program in the districts says, “This is just a life saver for me. Babysitting is expensive and I cannot work to pay babysitters. If they cut the program, I probably won’t be able to have a job.” Like many parents who work full time, Luisa just needs somewhere for her son to stay for an hour or two until she is off of work and able to pick him up.
Gateway Youth Outreach does not only consist of afterschool programs. The staff of GYO works with students who are on probation and they allow them to do community service as well as provide them with counseling. More counseling is provided for elementary and high school students and their parents who live in Elmont, if there is a problem within the home. Also, GYO deals with superintendent suspensions in order to help a child that is in trouble get back into school faster. “We run a myriad of programs and whatever the need is in the community, that’s what we’ll do,” said Boyle.
GYO is a not for profit corporation that receives a certain amount of money from Nassau County to run the business and provide it’s different programs. The total budget for GYO for the year is about $328,000. For all 43 youth service agencies in Nassau County, the budget was $7.3 million. In relation to the $2.6 billion budget for the whole county, the budget for youth services is a mere 0.002%. “To me it’s just a war on kids and there families, the county is very short-sighted,” said Susanna Isaacson, former member of the Nassau County youth board. After the budget cut, Isaacson was told she either had to retire early or she would be laid off. She decided to retire a year early and did not receive her full 30-year pension.
The politics behind the budget cut made by Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano gets complicated, but Mr. Boyle was able to explain it in layman’s terms. “It was because of a fight between redistricting and bonding, it had nothing to do with youth services,” said Boyle. Politicians were not concerned with the welfare of the children and their families, but more so they were looking out for their own jobs when it came to making the decisions for the budget cuts.
So what is in the future for youth programs in Nassau County, more specifically Gateway Youth Outreach? At 4:29pm on October 11, GYO received a little over 50% of their money back for funding. Now, the program will be able to serve about half as many kids as it did when it received full funding, this means close to 400 kids in total. “They can still use us as a pawn because they have only given us back half of our money and they know we want the other half because that is how we serve as many people as we do,” said Boyle. It is the hope of many working parents that 100% of the youth programs in the Sewanhaka Central District community as well as throughout Nassau County will be restored soon. The guidance that these programs provide for the youth is necessary and imperative to the thriving communities of Long Island.
Protected: A Lot of Men, A Little Money
Holiday Market, How do you Dare to Take Our Union Square?
Christmas is in the air. Whichever store you go to, the music makes you hum along “All I want for Christmas is you.” Union Square is crowded: its numerous stores attract hundreds of customers. Starting November 16, the Union Square Holiday Market adds to it. Bright red and white tents form rows and rows of the selling spots with future Christmas presents. The market seems to be a perfect add-on to the Square reflecting the overall holiday mood of the New Yorkers, but it only seems so. To a number of people this market took over the space where they spent their free time. Skaters, bikers, soccer players were forced to relocate.
The Union Square Holiday Market is run by “Urban Space”, a huge organization founded in 1978, active not only in the U.S., but also in Great Britain. In order to become a vendor, you have to sell something unique and creative. Urban Space helped to develop such businesses as “Body Shop” and a British designer “Red or Dead.”
While walking around the market, it is impossible to pass the picturesque Turkish tent with a number of ceramics, tiles, plates, cups, lamps, and rugs etc. This section of the market is so bright and unusual, that even if you are not into Mediterranean stuff, it is hard to walk by without stopping. Alphan Atila, one of the owners of this family business, says they have been selling their products in the Holiday Market on Union Square for ten years already. They also have a tent in a Columbus Circle market (which is also run by Urban Space) and they used to be a part of the holiday market next to WTC.
Mr. Atila says that the representatives of “Urban Space” have called him for ten years asking if he wants to participate in the fair and he never said “no”: “It is a very good promotion for our web-site. They can see the products and we can sell them. The soul loves bright colors, people are attracted to them. Before we used to do the online wholesale, but this market made us look at our products as at gift items.” Mr. Atila says that the main customers are American, European, and Brazilian women who love the authentic Turkish craft.
Another tent with such unusual goods the glassblowers tent. The shelves are covered with strange creatures made of glass. Here and there familiar beer or vodka bottles are transformed into a vase, glass or a candle holder. Mark Sunrise, the artist, says that he has been participating in this market for five years already and he will do the same next year. He works in Massachusetts and brings his work in NYC where it is being sold mostly to tourists.
Sanya Breznikar, one of the customers of the Union Square Holiday Market says: “I love the market on Union Square. Christmas is coming and we all want to give interesting presents. I bought socks with shina inu (breed of a dog) on them. One pair was 25 bucks! I cant believe it! But it is still worth it, because this is the dog that is waiting for me at home and at least once a year you can splurge like that.”
Still, not everyone is happy with the pre-holiday Union Square transformation. Tyriq Holloway and his friends were forced out by the holiday market: “Old-school skateboarding started at Tompkins and my generation migrated to Union to skate the stairs, there is a rail and ramps, there are people, you can talk to people, and now with the market we are back at Tompkins skating. Now, there are twice the number of people in Tompkins;. There is just flat ground. You cant really like skate off the stairs and practice to the highest extent, so we are stuck at Tompkins until this market is done. And I don’t even know how long its gonna take. It will probably take forever. At least Union looks better than before. There were a lot of homeless people. One time I almost got my camera stolen. Now you can’t sit down and you can’t hang around. But you can shop and spend money like everyone else.”
“BMXers” or the bikers go to the skate park near the bridge for the time being.
Tyriq says that sometimes they skate in the back of Union Square, though there are no obstacles or ramps, just flat ground, he adds “it’s boring, but better than nothing. No one can bother us.”
One of Tyriq’s friends, John, is mad about the market. Tyriq says: “He is a little upset about the whole thing. He just started, so, for him, the only place to practice is Union.”
Not all the regulars are unhappy. Justin, one of the chess players who plays chess for money right on Union square, says the market did not affect him negatively He is still there, now on a curb of the market, which attracts more people, so that he gets more business as well.
The market will stay there for a little more than a week. Skaters and the bikers, annoyed at being displaced, will have to wait. Thankfully, Christmas is only once a year.
Deadly Choices at Memorial Post
First of all, I want to establish this story has many sides and the conflict here is very great. I think until put in that situation, no one really knows what the right decisions to make were. But there are a good deal of things I disagree with.
The fact that a hospital administrator referred to the hospital as being in ‘survival mode’ not ‘treatment mode’, seems a little ludacris to me. I couldn’t agree more with Marc Leblanc’s statement. I understand that the hospital was in crisis, but I feel the situation could have been dealt with better as a hospital should ALWAYS be in treatment mode. And turning away victims seems inexcusable. After going back and forth mentally for a while, I also kind of disagree with the numbering system. I feel that the sickest and most at risk patients should have been given 1’s, and the healthier ones who did not directly rely on iv’s or ventilation, 3’s.
I do understand the difficulty of performing triage and making patient assessments, because unlike most things in the medical world, there is no black and white way to do it. While I don’t excuse euthanasia in any circumstance, this one seems particularly trying. And also, the fear the doctors had for the patients if they did not evacuate and experienced a looting, which was predicted, is very reasonable. The further one reads into the story the more one sees how difficult these decisions were to make.
The Girl in the Window Response
This article absolutely blew me away. The fact that a mother can be so negligent is disgusting. Obviously, she has some type of mental retardation or illness herself because any sane and logical person would neglect their child so severely.
I have never heard of the term ‘feral child’ before this article, but I understand what it means based on the examples. It’s a crazy concept that a six year old child has not yet spoken and may not ever. I wasn’t aware of the fragility of speech, and that it had to be learned so early or it may never be.
I like the way the author of the article interviews all sides for the story: the social service workers involved, speech therapists, Diane and Bernie, and her mother. It answers all the necessary questions.
I found a link to an article that talks about Dani’s progress three years later, if anyone is interested.
http://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/article1186860.ece
The Upper West Side’s Battle for Bike Lanes
The M5 bus drives straight down Riverside Drive from 120th Street until 72nd Street and then turns onto Broadway, Manhattan’s main street. It’s a picturesque sight with beautiful post war monuments on 110th Street, lines of trees changing colors leading into Riverside Park, and a universal quiet, with the exception of children’s squeals of excitement in the playground.
But now the quiet is being tarnished with the constant, but necessary, sounds of horns aimed at bicyclists. Bike lanes are nonexistent on Riverside Drive in the Upper West Side and on Columbus Avenue they are cut short. The effort to implement safer bike practices has been an uphill battle for Community Board 7. 
According to the Community Board 7’s October minutes, the attendants “all spoke in favor of extending the lanes.” Their adamant pro-bike lanes attitude stems from the 2-year wait they’ve been forced to sit through on the matter. Yet, up until their December 11, 2012 Community Board meeting, no further steps regarding bike lanes have been resolved.
A spokesperson for the Upper West Side Streets Renaissance Campaign said, “Protected bike lanes help save the lives of pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers.” Bike lanes in New York City are distinguished by the painted white lines on the ground with a stick figure picture of a person on a bike; protected bike lanes are divided from regular traffic with a barrier.
In response to the vote that tied up the plea to continue protected bike lanes on Columbus Avenue, she said “DOT (Department of Transportation) will have to do more research on the topic now. A lot of people, who last night voted against [protected bike lanes], said that they did so because they did not have enough information, which we [UWS Renaissance Campaign] certainly do not agree with.”
A car owner and frequent visitor to the neighborhood, Diane Delgado, said “The streets are too narrow for bikers. I constantly have to stop my car to let them go by. I am not a fan of having bikers on bike lanes or the streets”
Crowded streets are a New York problem, but even more so with bikers cutting off MTA buses and racing too close to a 4,000-pound car. Even though, by law, as stated on the nyc.gov website, bicyclists are allowed to “ride in the street” and “ride in traffic,” they are also encouraged to “ride in the middle of the travel lane” if their distance from a car is too close.
“I can’t believe that the Community Board, yet again, voted against safe streets and against the will of the community,” said Lisa Sladkus on Facebook after a Community Board 7 meeting, “Business is important, but safety trumps all.”
Protected bike lanes might be the solution each party is looking for. With protected bike lanes traffic will not be brought to a halt because of bikers and bikers will be able to ride freely.
Holding Ground: An Historic Town’s Fight Against Franchises
Sun dressed women drink and dance alongside men in summer suits and expensive swim shorts. The live band rocks its own twist to Michael Jackson’s “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’”. Servers dish out clams and sandwiches with smiles while speedboats and motorcycle gangs rumble their engines before parking at the party. This is the pier at Claudio’s Clam Bar in the heat of the Long Island summer. Where cocktails clash with clams and couture in celebration of the season.
Claudio’s Clam Bar & Restaurant is the oldest same family owned restaurant in the United States. It stretches out into the Bay from Main Street in Greenport, a small and picturesque fishing town turned tourist escape for wealthy New Yorkers who look to sleep, swim and spend their summer days outside of the Hamptons.
Today, the post-Sandy scene at Claudio’s is more salvage than celebration. Closed for the season with renovations moving along, locals worry that the storm may have pushed the restaurant and its owners past a breaking point.
“I really hope they can come back from this. You won’t see it on the market, but Claudio’s is always up for sale,” says life-long resident and local librarian Poppy Johnson. “If the price is right, of course.”
The past ten years have seen Greenport real estate double, even during a down market. Business owners fight like sharks for a piece of the up-and-coming quiet beach town with Manhattan variety, but most of what makes Greenport so desirable is already in place.
“I’ve been the owner and operator of Sandpiper for 33 years,” says ice cream parlor owner Paris Alatsis. “You’ll find me or my wife making our homemade ice cream every day of the week.”
Like Claudio’s, Sandpiper Ice Cream attracts visitors with its long family history. The old-fashioned popcorn machine and rotating pretzel stand pay a nostalgic ode to the old days of ice cream parlors, and everybody likes seeing a private owner work his business day in and day out. But, as Mr. Alatsis notes, “Things got harder when Ralph’s came.”
Ralph’s Italian Ices has enjoyed three summers of booming business in Greenport. The new kid on the block sings a familiar tune, as most of Greenport’s tourists have undoubtedly had dessert at a Ralph’s elsewhere in the tri-state area which the budding franchise spans.
“I’ve been getting dessert from Sandpiper since I was in high school. Back then it was the only parlor in town. We still go, but now my kids beg for Ralph’s every time we pass,” explains Julia Robbins, a local realtor.
Gone are the days of the highway diner, replaced by the golden arches of McDonald’s, familiar in both product and price. Like the rest of the world, Greenport is no stranger to franchise businesses outgunning family-owned operations.
But doesn’t that defy the enjoyment of a vacation? To escape from the familiar and experience the unknown?
“It’s tough, when the big companies move in, but people can tell if you love what you do,” explains Aldo Maorana while crafting several espressos behind the counter of his café on Front Street. “It’s all in the service. I’ve been making coffee for thirty years, but I don’t work the shop to sell people coffee. I live my life to share experiences with people, on a human level. “
Aldo’s Café was faced with a threatening intrusion when Starbucks, the unholy symbol of gentrification, moved right across the street. Perhaps it was Aldo’s philosophy on life and business that helped preserve his shop, as an uplifting victory for the home team saw Starbucks pack up and ship out after two seasons, when corporate headquarters saw that the business wasn’t meeting its quota.
“Greenport should be an experience, not just a business. I hope people can understand that,” Aldo explains.
The shop-lined streets of Greenport village have seen coffee competition come and go. New dessert eateries won’t even brew coffee out of respect for the hometown hero who beat out Starbucks. But corporate sharks feed wherever they can find food, and right now—with tourism increasing thanks to direct transport to the town from the Hamptons, Manhattan and even Connecticut—the money situation in Greenport is looking mighty delicious.
The next push is coming from Subway, the world’s largest franchise. Despite a good fight from Greenport Township, including the Building and Zoning Departments who seek to preserve Greenport’s pristine public image, the franchise famous for its $5 footlong subs looks like it will be taking a big bite out of every sandwich business in town very soon.
“There’s always this looming threat that things are going to change,” says Mark LaMain, owner of Butterito’s, formerly Butta’Cakes. LaMain took Superstorm Sandy as a sign to change his shop. He decided to expand from just cupcakes and pastries and include soups and fresh baked sandwiches to the menu. LaMain is proud to serve locally sourced foods.
“The hurricane was one thing, now Subway is moving in. I’m totally revamping the menu—again—to include burritos. And if Chipotle comes next year, then I’ll just take it as a sign to leave the town,” LaMain jokes. “It all comes down to the customer though. Where are they going to eat? Do they want something fresh or do they want something familiar?”
The historic family business of Claudio’s brings in big business. The mom and pop shops that precede it all attribute to the small town charm that attracts tourists and keeps them coming back. But Mark LaMain begs the perfect question. In a summer resort town hours away from the traffic of city living, do visitors want more of the same or something new?
Extra Credit: Source Difficulty
This semester has definitely showed me some of the difficulties journalists on the beat encounter. Getting crucial sources to talk was a hard task for all my stories. I feel as if people automatically hear that their quotes will be published and freeze up, and eventually try to revoke statements. Another thing that was an issue was I think because I am a college student, that people were more reluctant to talk to me then had I been writing for a major paper.
My profile story actually went pretty smooth, except my initial character backed out. The person I ended up doing the profile on actually was a great source and I had a lot of people who could back up my story and were willing to divulge information about her.
My small business story did not go as well. I had originally planned to write an article about a shoe repair shop in my neighborhood where I am a fairly frequent customer. After speaking to an employee and getting the ground work on my story, I found that the owner, a crucial source for completion of the story, refused to be interviewed. So I moved on to a local pharmacy. There, I had a little bit better luck and the owner was forthcoming with information, but he did refuse to give concrete numbers. Also, none of the employees would be in any of the photos which was frustrating.
The community service story was by far the worst as far as obtaining sources. After volunteering at the organization, I had written down some of the things the employees said, but I couldn’t really get too much one on one time. So my plan was to e-mail them and explain that I had a great experience and was going to write an article about it for my school blog. I figured that since I was telling them that the article would have a pretty positive tone, they would comply. No such luck. I went back and forth with the assistant manager of volunteer services (the only person who would even respond to my e-mails) and she would not give me any information, just told me to look on their website. So I decided to call her. I think I caught her off guard with the phone call, but she sounded nervous and apprehensive and told me she had to speak to her marketing director before saying anything. She came back on the line after a brief hold and said that it’d be best to check their website. I waited a week, and e-mailed her again. FINALLY she gave me a little bit of information but it was like pulling teeth.
These experiences gave me even more respect for today’s journalists because I know they are often given details of a story and have mere hours to come up with something plausible and with good sources. We were lucky enough to have understanding deadlines, being new at this, but I learned that sometimes while persistence is a useful tool, moving on is often necessary.
Katherine Vaz Profile
Diamond in the Rough
The Baruch Harman Writer-in-Residence program finds a diamond in the rough in their latest fellowship selection, Portuguese-American author, Katherine Vaz. Vaz is most well-known for her novels Saudade and Mariana, as well as her book of short-stories with a religious undertone, ‘Our Lady of the Artichokes’. Growing up in the Oakland area of Northern California, she was surrounded with stories of the saints which had a profound impact on inspiring her writing style.
Being raised in an atmosphere which fostered creativity was an important part of Katherine Vaz’s development into a talented fiction writer. She attributes much of her early passion for writing to both of her parents. Vaz’s father who was a multitasking painter, gardener, and high school history teacher encouraged her creative process in a way beyond those of most parents.
“Unlike most parents, who would just yell at their kids for drawing on a wall, my father designated one wall and said, ‘Okay here is the wall we draw on’.” Vaz describes her father as being her inspiration and one of the most important people in her life. “I feel full and complete when I spend time with my father.” She credits her mother with giving her the gift of her love for reading.
For Vaz, writing was second nature. She compares it to those who have a singing talent; it’s just something one is born with. However, that does not mean it does not require hard work. In college Vaz recalls assigning three hours a day just to write, no matter what. Those exercises in discipline gave her the backbone to make something of her talent.
Vaz attended the University of California twice, both as an initial post-high school college venture, and again to obtain a Masters in Fine Arts degree. Since then her career has taken off. Following her win of the Prairie Schooner Book Prize, her work was published in notorious magazines and papers throughout the world. She has also participated in fellowships at Harvard, Radcliffe, and now Baruch College.
Vaz was always told she had the face of her grandmother, who died in childbirth with Vaz’s father and this allowed a spiritual side to grow within her. Her writing has a great deal of emotional and spiritual roots, particularly ‘Our Lady of the Artichokes’. While some may reach for the word depressing to describe some of her stories, she counteracts the accusations like this.
“It is hard to write fiction that doesn’t have those issues that connect to loss. The aim is how human beings find real joy, genuine joy in the face of that. That’s probably the definition of real courage. I think we fear the death of our loved ones more than our own.”