Writing New York: Posts from the Boroughs and Beyond — 2008-2011 | Department of Journalism, Baruch College, City University of New York

The Same Conquest for “La Nueva Conquista”

Posted on May 18, 2009 by warren

La Nueva Conquista

236 Lafayette St. New York, NY, is home to a restaurant that by the looks of its exterior is not too welcoming. “Don’t judge a book by its cover” is the most appropriate phrase that can be said about one of Soho’s hidden treasures, “La Nueva Conquista”. Located in a neighborhood that was once known for its manufacturing firms, the Dominican eatery has not strayed away from serving their main customers, the common worker.
Positioned under a shabby apartment building, the restaurant with its meager decor does not try to be pretentious. With a space equivalent to a Manhattan apartment, there is barely any room to eat in. To dine in is more like eating at a bar; stools are used instead of chairs. Dull yellow walls seem to evoke some type of cultural symbolism.
As customers enter the joint, they’re greeted by the cashier girl who is stationed no more than four feet from the door. “Customers become like family here” said Joanna Tavarez, 35, the cashier and daughter of the owner. As the employees maintain an air of optimism in these harsh economic times, it is important to note that small businesses like “La Nueva Conquista” who have been around for over 40 years, are not safe from the grips of this recession. Continue reading →

Look at the boards and know the community

Posted on May 18, 2009 by Lillian Rizzo

On a typical Saturday afternoon children are roaming the bookshelves, surfing the web and whispering loudly across beige wooden tables in the Mill Basin library branch. The children’s section information desk assistant rarely sits except to search the database for the appropriate books for a class report.
The library attracts groves of children after 3 pm on weekdays and all day until 5 pm on Saturdays.

Sundays used to be a crowded day but due to budget cuts all Brooklyn libraries are closed that day and librarians expect that next year Saturdays could be cut out altogether.
“We may be forced to cut some classes or their frequency if these cuts continue,” said Sachi Devi Cacarla, a children’s librarian of the Brooklyn Public Library since 2001.
They are also extremely understaffed after instituting a hiring freeze and cannot handle all of the programs they provide daily.
Senior Children’s Librarian Ann bustled around the library at 4 pm, an hour before closing, putting away books and helping young children sign on to learning programs on computers. She said Mondays were her toughest days because she administered back to back programs and only had an hour in between to assist regular patrons find books and do assignments. Being able to speak was almost impossible and she shook her head at the thought of more cuts.
Decreases in funding would hurt the neighborhood in two major ways. The library serves as an after school location for massive numbers of children, as well as a community information source.
Through the glass doors that hold taped service hours, book drop information and a Mill Basin Civic Association emblem, two large bulletin boards, a commemorative plaque, a poster of local assembly Alan Maisel and an easel holding a chart of expected library donations greets residents.
Next to a missing dog poster for Shilo, a grey and black terrier, Brooklyn museum pamphlets and GED class information rest in small slots. Stacks of the Kings Courier and Parents Weekly sit beneath the Community Board.
Across from this board is a Library News Bulletin Board, primarily serving the residents with information about what goes on at the branch.
“We do the best customer service with computer classes and baby programs, which are very popular,” said Cacarla.
The community’s dependency on the library is shown on the cluttered bulletin boards. It provides many programs for children and an accessible source of information for those stopping in while waiting for the bus to Kings Plaza Mall.
“It is mostly neighborhood kids that come in or children that travel to the schools that might come by,” said Cacarla.
Its importance to the neighborhood stems from the ‘70s when Mill Basin Civic Association president Dorothy Russo advocated to have a new library built after it moved around the neighborhood.
It originally opened in 1940 on Avenue T as apart of Austen Pharmacy and moved all over the neighborhood until Russo planned for the construction of a permanent library site at the epicenter of Mill Basin. A framed timeline and photographs of the evolution of the Mill Basin branch hangs in the children’s section. A plaque of appreciation and dedication sits appropriately next to the community board, which she was actively apart of until her death in the late 90s.
People caught up by the boards were mostly those returning their books in the slot next to the entrance. Some would take a quick glance at a board while passing it and even stop to pluck a number strip off of an apartment listing. Some would take a bright pink College Planning Class Schedule for parents of high school juniors and seniors.
Lessening library hours would create a roadblock for residents who stop by on weekends to fill themselves in on what goes on in the community during the week when they are at work. Also being a likely spot for children and a free daycare in a sense, these patrons are likely to feel the brunt of a loss of programs and weekends.
On a sunny day fewer children were present in the library. Still, almost every computer was occupied, parents called to their children in their quiet-stern voices and students sat at desks working on art projects.
“This is a pretty busy branch, especially on Saturdays,” said Cacarla. “Normally it is extremely crowded on a Saturday, this is a really quiet day compared to the rest.”

Posted in Bernstein Spring 2009, Community Service Story, Mill Basin | 2 Comments

Health insurance cuts impact dentist’s business

Posted on May 16, 2009 by Zanub Saeed

General Dentistry and Orthondontia office

General Dentistry and Orthodontia office

A pair of separate doors allow for entrance into the waiting room of the General Dentistry and Orthodontia office on Jamaica Avenue in Woodhaven, Queens. The first opens with a pull of the knob; the second requires a potential patient to ring the bell above the doorknob. Inside the cramped waiting room is a seven-foot fish tank situated before the wall separating the room and reception window. The handful of patients sitting in the waiting room drift their eyes from the dark-blue hued tank to the free magazines they are idly sifting through, as they wait for the assistant to call them into the dentist’s chair.

Two children, four or five years old, are running back and forth across the light-gray and tan-tiled floor, alternately giggling and shouting at each other. A girl, with long, dark hair done in a plait and a magenta colored coat, runs after a black-haired boy, who makes his way to a chair across the main entrance of the dentist’s office. They begin to rifle through a magazine, cheering every time they turned the page and found a photo of a toy or cartoon. The boy’s mother is fast asleep in her blue chair a few seats down; the girl’s father steps outside for a quick cigarette.

The children make up “about 10 percent” of the total number of patients he sees on a daily basis, according to Dr. Jitendra S. Shah, owner and sole dentist of the facility,

Shah’s dentist’s office, located in a building he owns and pays the mortgage for – which he says he has no problem doing – has the appearance of a soothing environment: the walls surrounding the dentist’s chair are a cascade of peach, mint, and light pink pastels, which complement the green-and-red pebbled gray walls of the waiting room; the floors and tables are kept neat and as sanitary as medical offices should strive to be; and most importantly of all, very rarely is the dreaded sound of the dentist’s drill heard. The patients, young and old, look serene and even bored as they wait for their turn in the dentist’s chair, reading books and skimming through magazines.

The General Dentistry and Orthodontia has been running at its 86-13 Jamaica Avenue since Shah moved to Woodhaven from his practice in Bayside, Queens, in 1982. On average, around 20 patients, the majority of whom are returning patients, visit the office on a full day, a number that has not decreased in the past year.

Medical assistants at the Dentistry

There has been a steady team of four additional employees who have worked there for “a good eight-nine years”: two female secretaries who “do the paperwork at the front desk,” says Shah; and two dental assistants who “assist me on the chair.” Shah remembers about a past assistant, “who worked with me for 12 years; she moved to South Carolina so she’s no longer with me.” He says that although “the number of works has gone down,” their work hours have decreased in recent times.

Shah is worried about a decrease in the number of patients who come and visit, many of whom are medically insured – including the “20 to 25 percent” covered by Medicaid, who are required to give a $5 co-payment. Acknowledging the recent financial crisis and scarcity of employment, he says, “When they don’t have jobs, they lose their insurance, and now they don’t have jobs, they don’t have insurance, and they have to feed their family. They of course try to hold the last dollar they have, so the teeth is their last priority.”

The assistants, dental and administrative alike, and Shah himself, surround themselves with computers organizing schedules and appointments, and technology which speeds up work. Shah notes that the digital X-rays and the building’s computerization make the facility “faster and more advanced.”

Shah enjoys his work as a dentist, from which there are numerous gratifications. Of his patients, Shah says, “the majority of them are happy, I’d say 99 percent. That’s the biggest reward that you get, when the patient is happy. Money is immaterial, but the patients – when you see the smile on their face, when they thank you for doing what you did, that’s the best reward you can get.”

Posted in Bernstein Spring 2009, Community Service Story, Queens | 4 Comments

Nail tips still a priority in recession times

Posted on May 16, 2009 by Zanub Saeed

CoCo’s Nail & Spa

At 8:30 p.m. on a Wednesday evening, four women are filling a few of the mostly empty chairs at CoCo’s Nail and Spa on Jamaica Avenue in Woodhaven, Queens. A young Asian woman is quietly staring around at the bright pastels and tropical sunset drawings coloring the walls as she getting her nail tips done by the only visible employee in the salon. Her nail technician is just as silent, and wears a surgical-mask to cover her nose and mouth from the strong chemical smells of acetone and enamel saturating the store’s air.

On the far right of the store, across from the two Asian women at the nail station, an African-American woman is sitting in a small niche created into the wall. She has her newly-painted long fingernails lying below an artificial heating lamp, which is slowly allowing the enamel to dry. The woman admits that she has been to CoCo’s a few times; she was first drawn to the store a while back, when she wanted to get her nail done and noticed that it wasn’t very busy. Her daughter in tow, she got her nails done at CoCo’s that day, and has given the salon repeated business since.

A third Asian woman is sitting at an unused nail station near the cash register, sifting through several piles of small receipts. CoCo Chang, who has christened the store after herself, is a friendly and busy woman, but also someone aware of her business’ decline, particularly in the past year.

CoCo’s Nail & Spa’s clientele has not decreased since the economic downfall this past September. Chang, 38, notes that the number of people who come to her shop, found on 87-24 Jamaica Avenue, has not decreased, but what they order to have done changed.

“Some people usually get pedicures and tips; they probably just do tips only,” Chang says. “It’s not the amount of customers; just the bill’s come out smaller.”

When it was launched in April 2006, business was slow. A surge of customers came in a year after, and on average about 40-50 customers came in a day. However, the amount of money the patrons spent to get their manicures and pedicures dropped significantly.

“If you count per head, per customer, you break it down; you see that each ticket is probably $20 to $30,” Chang says of consumer spending in 2009; it is a decrease from the average $30 to $40 minimal spent per customer in 2008. Profits, Chang says, have “dropped by half” since September 2008, despite half of her customers giving repeat business to the salon.

The rent for the salon property has become more burdensome in recent months, as there is a five percent increase every year. Decreasing profits in 2009 has not helped pay dues, either.

“It’s kind of hard,” Chang says of making profits, “we made less money than last year. In the summertime, we make more.” She admits that, “on the record, this year we’ve made less than last year.”

There are five to six workers that comprise all of CoCo’s personnel, who earn a commission for each customer they provide nail service to; they make an extra $70 to $80 per day through commissions, in addition to their salary plus whatever tips they are given. When the store opened, Chang had four employees, including her; a couple of part-time employees also come in during the weekends.

Chang does hire extra staff, though it’s “probably in the summertime we’ll get one or two. Depending on this year, and how the business picks up, it’s probably just a few workers. Summertime we have about five or six.” There isn’t a worry of the salon closing down, however, unless business doesn’t pick up this coming summer.

The salon’s loss is significantly more than other businesses around it. A friend, who works at a nearby restaurant, told Chang that profits decreased by 20 percent. “I think I’ve lost more business because people still have to eat, people still have to do shopping, whatever. This is just nails and hair.”

Posted in Bernstein Spring 2009, Queens, Under the Radar: Feature Stories | 4 Comments

Catholic School to Be Shut Down

Posted on May 15, 2009 by Esther

On weekdays at 3pm, parents and children hustle and bustle through the streets of Harway Avenue. Children laugh animatedly while playing tag as they cross the streets, mothers are hard at work controlling their kids and security guards wave happily as they all rush chaotically across the street. The public schools have called it a day. But life is not as carefree for The Most Precious Blood Catholic School, which is just one block up on 27^th Avenue. The Diocese of Brooklyn has announced that The Most Precious Blood is one of the three Catholic Schools in Brooklyn that will be closing this June.

The atmosphere of the school has lost its liveliness. Not a sound is heard except for the footsteps of the one security guard patrolling in the main lobby. “I have been here for 15 years”, said Santos, a security guard at the age of 51. “This will be an early retirement for me” he said. After school programs such as arts and craft have been cut. Santo explains that he is no longer needed for the extra one hour shift. The two bulletin boards plastered on the faded yellow walls holds pictures of shamrocks and bake sale fliers from February.

“I do not know where to send my son to now” said Connie Li, a parent of a third-grader from Most Precious Blood. Connie has been debating with her husband whether to send their son Teddy to the nearest public school P.S 212, but doubts the school teaching methods. Since the two alternative Catholic schools in Brooklyn, St. Vincent Ferrer and Flatbush Catholic Academy are also closing, Connie is out of options. “We want the best education and safety for Teddy. I am not sure P.S 212 can do that” she said.

Parents and students fought hard to rescue the school. Lori Pedone, parent of a seventh-grader, took part in a campaign that included obtaining pledges worth about $100,000. Marches and even YouTube appeals were held but it just was not enough. “We had $100,000 in pledges and an anonymous donor pledged another $100,000. But they reviewed our plan and didn’t feel it was viable, given the economic times” she said. Ms. Pedone explained that the school’s enrollment was a total of 220 but the diocese wanted the numbers to reach 260. They felt that the pledges were monetary and the plan did not meet satisfaction in addressing enrollment and finances.

With the increase in closure of Catholic Schools, the diocese is still in negotiation with the city of Education Department and Mayor Bloomberg, according to yournabe.com. Bloomberg plans to possibly open charter schools in vacant parochial school buildings. He believes this will keep Catholic school students out of local public schools, which are already overcrowded. According to diocese spokesperson Rev. Kieran Harrington, issuing charter schools will raise questions and concerns such as, “Can Catholic schools operate public schools considering our world view? What is really going to be lost from our perspective? Would we be compromising our integrity?” If the two parties reach an agreement, charter schools could open as early as this September.

“It will be the best if charter school open, but since it is not certain I will not depend on it”, said Connie. The parents are not the only ones who are stressed out by this sudden misfortune. Eight year old Teddy is worrying about making new friends at his future school.

Head of the Catholic School committee, Bishop DiMarzio remains positive in these circumstances. According to his internet based presentation on February 12,2009, he said “Change is never easy. Sometimes it is even painful. My thoughts and prayers are with the students, parents and teachers whose schools will be consolidated in June. I want to assure you that we will do everything we can to assure that your child finds a seat in the school of your choice”.

Posted in Brooklyn, Community Service Story | Comments Off

The Reverend is Running for Mayor

Posted on May 15, 2009 by ellesee

Talen’s Campaign HQ, taken by Lilian Chan

In orange and cyan paint, two feet tall, above the door frame reads “Vote Rev Billy” and a sign to the side reads “Vote Rev Billy Talen for Mayor of NYC”.

The self-ordained Reverend Billy Talen is the Green candidate running for mayor of New York City this year. Bill Talen established his campaign headquarter mid-April, at 250 Lafayette Street, in a spacey white-wall ground level studio, located on the border of Soho and Nolita. At the entrance, a sign reads “Mayor-alujah!” and a three feet long white megaphone stands next to a white podium. On it, curious pedestrians can fill out their contact information to be on Talen’s mailing list. Some passersby, earphones plugged into their heads or speaking on a cell phone, walking their dogs or walking their babies, may glance up at the colorful words that contrast the white surroundings, but most walk past the office without giving the location any attention.

“It’s a new workout place!” remarked Chris Fields, a fireman outside Ladder 20. “Yoga?” Mr. Fields asked, as he stood observing Bill Talen’s colorful campaign headquarter from across the street.

The Indypendent listed Talen’s campaign headquarter, in the April edition, as a “Radical Space” and a “progressive public and community space.”

Mr. Osmer said the campaign chose their Lafayette Street location because they were able to get a short term lease, and because they were close to many subway lines.

“It’s the class of people, a yuppie area, it’s the younger people,” Mr. Fields said.

“He’s a performing artist,” Emily Schuch said. A graduate from the School of Visual Arts in New York City, Ms. Schuch is a volunteer graphic artist for Talen’s campaign. “He’s a self-ordained Reverend,” she explained confidently, “And he started his own church.”

Currently,the top three results for “Billy Talen” returned on a popular online search engine are the Reverend and the Choir of After Shopping’s website, the Wikipedia entry for “Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping”, and the Reverend’s campaign website, in that order.

Talen needs 7,500 signatures to get on the ballot to run for Mayor in the November elections. Ms. Schuch confidently said “I think we’ll definitely get enough signatures to get on the ballot.”

Reverend Billy Talen with megaphone, image borrowed from tucsoncitizen (dot) com

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Computer as the Second Language

Posted on May 14, 2009 by Julia Borovskaya

“What am I gonna do with an email?” asked the man rather boisterously.

“I’ll send ya a joke!” replied his classmate with a laugh. She was a 60-year-old woman with round cheeks that filled with a healthy blush as she spoke.

In a second they both turned their attention toward the busy Yahoo webpage displayed on a 20 inch Dell screen. The class was still in progress. Younger than most of her students, Yvette Brockington spoke with the zeal of a motivated mentor. “Software is the intangible part of the computer,” she said, carefully overlooking each of the six students in attendance. “They are the programs that run inside the computer.”

Sheepshead Bay library is tucked between two apartment buildings on East 14th Street and Avenue Z in Brooklyn.

The calm, but dynamic classroom activity of the computer basics workshop was taking place in the warmly lit children’s floor of the Sheepshead Bay library, a small two-floor branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. Amidst the tightening budget cuts across Manhattan’s and Queens’ library systems, Brooklyn Public Library is still largely open full-time, and is not yet deciding which programs to let go, and who to fire next. Brockington’s classes that started six months ago are quietly thriving behind the beige brick walls of the Sheepshead Bay branch. They have the energy and engagement needed for some among the older population of Sheepshead Bay to advance their lives with the speed of the Internet, a speed not offered for most of their life.

Yvette’s computer during the workshops is usually circled by nine patrons in their 60s and 70s who come early afternoons on Monday, Thursday, and now Wednesday too for Yvette’s recent additional workshop, introduction to Microsoft Word.

Occupying bright orange, yellow, and green chairs in the children’s room, most of the students have a pen and a small notepad. The supply of new information grows by the end of the session with handouts and in-class worksheets that Yvette distributes during the class on computer vocabulary, steps on how to navigate a webpage, and questions on new terms, like floppy disk drive, megahertz, “right-clicking”, and browser.

Yvette was absent on March 20th, Monday's workshop. Some students occupied the free computers, and collectively traveled through the desktop and Internet.

Knowing these terms is vital for some of the attendees. The economic downturn left the older generation stranded at a time when use and knowledge of technology is one of the bullet points in the list of duties and responsibilities on the job. A laid-off fashion industry worker in her mid 60s never had to use a computer on the job, except the email function. A post office young retiree only remembers how to use a typewriter, the closest thing to technology he ever touched.

One of the patrons, a tall skinny 61-year-old man in large size trousers and overly thick tie tightly attached to frail skin of his thin neck, seemed like a student with a course overload after Wednesday’s workshop on April 9^th, carrying a worn checkered roller backpack, and a “Microsoft Word 2003” textbook in his hand. He is unemployed after serving 30 years in the security field, and is now trying to pick up the pace of the online world.

“It’s all send me this, and send me that,” he said, with an air of conformity to the digital age. He’s in the process of completing his typed up resume, and is slowly becoming comfortable with websites like Monster.com, and JobSearch.com.

“It’s like everything today. You gotta have an Ezpass to get through on the roads; or a metrocard. You gotta swipe it to get on the subway. It’s your pass; otherwise you can’t get in,” theorized Jim Scott, a quite energetic man for a retired 59-year-old police officer. Before the workshops he goes to the nearby Bally’s fitness club after driving 10 minutes from Marine Park, a neighborhood adjacent to Sheepshead Bay. Jim still doesn’t exactly know what use he’s going to have for his recently set up email account. But he enjoys the easy accessibility to information on the Internet, and the various opportunities that facilitate learning of new skills, like the Learning Express Library, Brooklyn Public Library’s website perk that Yvette demonstrated during her workshop on March 26^th.

Not knowing so, Yvette might have found her niche coming to work at the Sheepshead Bay branch six months ago. She filled the newly vacated spot of the Technology Resource Specialist, a position that was created within Brooklyn library’s system in 2004 to help the IT department coordinate technology-related problems across the 6o branches of the BPL. “Yvette’s personality truly connected with the eagerness of the patrons,” said Svetlana Lerner, the librarian at the branch. Svetlana is an old woman of few words, but she is highly perceptive of the life inside this small library, which is half the size of a 300-student auditorium.

One month after Yvette’s arrival, the Monday column on the calendar of activities was marked “Computer Basics 12 PM”, and Thursday’s column, – “Surfing for Seniors 1 30 PM”, next to “Story Time”, “Arts & Crafts”, and “Chess workshop”. Aside from monitoring the computers, the copy machine, and the library kiosk self-service, the Technology Resource Specialist must provide this kind of computer training to the public at least once a month.

By Mid-March, however, Yvette has volunteered to land the third workshop onto the weekly calendar, – the Microsoft Word basics.

“They need it,” she said. “You’re talking about patrons that have come from scratch; they didn’t even know how to turn on the computer, and now they’re able to go to the desktop, double-click on E, the internet opens up, go to the address bar, type in the web-page, and sign on.”

At a time when city agencies, like senior centers, are booked, and most BPL’s branches offering infrequent computer workshops, Yvette’s modest school is a treasure to the patrons.

It’s a treasure to her as well.

At 42 years old, Yvette is married and after having guided her two daughters to college, is now raising her 17-year-old son who goes to a Midwood high school nearby. Once outside the active classroom environment she carries a scent of indifference, her haughty eyes guarding what’s inside. But the genuineness and her kind intentions break through.

“I have one patron,” she recollected, her eyes twinkling with joy. “He’s an older guy, he’s retired from the post office. He came here; he knew nothing. Now all I do is turn on the computer, I go up there, he’s already checking his inbox, he’s typing and all. I mean, when I see’em progressing, I’m so proud of them!”

Posted in Bernstein Spring 2009, Brooklyn, Community Service Story | 4 Comments

NFL Draft Brings Hope to Local Fans

Posted on May 14, 2009 by Baruch Obama

James Lang/US Presswire

During the last weekend of April, New York Jets fans found an aviator who can fly their Jets to the top of the AFC East. During the 2009 NFL Draft in Radio City Music Hall, former Jets intern and current NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced, “OK Jet Fans. Cleveland traded the fifth pick to the New York Jets. And with the fifth pick of 2009 NFL Draft, the New York Jets select Mark Sanchez, quarterback, USC.”

“This is our guy. Let’s go get him”, said the Jets’ new head coach, Rex Ryan, after he went to see Sanchez at Mission Viejo High in California.

Well, here is a four-word sentence for those who question if Sanchez even compares to Jets legendary quarterback Joe Namath: he’s no average Joe.

In high school alone, Sanchez won six individual crème de le crème awards and was named to 17 all-star teams. At the University of Southern California, he displayed his skills and readiness for the NFL in the Rose Bowl rout of Penn State, which would be the final and biggest game of his collegiate career.

One question that continues to arise is whether Sanchez is ready for the N.Y. media? Well, USC has a big spotlight itself, being a college football powerhouse and NFL top-prospect producing factory. Pete Carroll, who helped quarterbacks Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart each win the Heisman Trophy, coached Sanchez for three years. Not to mention, the former Trojan has a charismatic and confident personality, which was proved when he entered the draft despite Carroll’s public disapproval.

The Jets’ front office seems to agree; they traded defensive end Kenyon Coleman, quarterback Brett Ratliff, promising defensive back Abram Elam, the seventeenth overall pick and a second round pick, just to move up twelve spots to select Sanchez.

However, the Jets did not only select Sanchez; they also drafted Iowa running back Shonn Greene in the third round and Nebraska offensive guard Matthew Slauson in the sixth round.

Greene was drafted as insurance for Thomas Jones, the Jets’ current starting halfback. Jones is, rumored to be, unhappy with his current contract; he is entering his tenth season in the league at age 30, and although he was ran for more than 1,100 yards in each of his seasons with the Jets, it is worth noting that Jets great Curtis Martin declined, in a major way, in his eleventh season. In addition, Greene is a quality blocker and runs with the same powerful style that Jones runs with.

Slauson has: good strength and awareness, average blocking skills, and subpar agility to go along with questionable character, which stems from him vandalizing cars in parking lot in 2007. He has an improbable chance of making the final roster.

Jets earned an A as their draft grade.

The other New York team, the Giants, did not do too shabby themselves. With their first round pick, the Giants selected North Carolina wide receiver Hakeem Nicks. Nicks is not that fast but possesses great catching ability. The Giants also selected California Polytechnic State wide receiver Ramses Barden in third round. Barden has giant size for a wideout, standing at 6 feet 6 and weighing 229 pounds. He has: great leaping ability, good body control, did not miss a single game as a four-year starter, and has great work ethic. The combination of Nicks and Barden should be able to make former Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress’ absence less apparent.

In the second round, Virginia outside linebacker Clint Sintim was selected by the Giants to prep as a potential replacement for either Antonio Pierce or Danny Clark, two starting linebackers that now are in their 30s. Connecticut offensive tackle William Beatty was also selected in the second based on his exceptional agility and awareness, yet it is debatable whether or not he will fit in with the Giants who is smash-mouth team and Beatty, reported to be, a finesse player.

Giants also drafted: Wisconsin tight end Travis Beckum, who is quicker than most linebackers and could make an immediate impact, North Carolina State running back Andre Brown, who is a powerful runner, Sam Houston State quarterback Rhett Bomar, who has an unresolved character but a strong arm, and cornerbacks DeAndre Wright of New Mexico and Stoney Woodson of South Carolina.

The 2007 Super Bowl champions’ draft grade would be a B, for the questionable selections of Beatty and Bomar, as well as not trading their early picks for star wideout Anquan Boldin or Braylon Edwards.

Posted in Davis Spring 2009, The Bronx | Tagged Sports | Comments Off

Queens Residents Have No Place to Go

Posted on May 13, 2009 by margaretsoria

The Queens Library along with the Brooklyn Public Library and the New York Public Library are facing budget cuts by the city. Faced with hard times, the Queens Library, like the other two library systems, are forced to close branches on weekends and reduce programming, library officials said. The three library systems are scheduled to receive a total of $280 million in city funding for the next fiscal year, after cuts averaging 11.7 percent. “If enacted these cuts would close every community library all weekend long with some libraries going below five days per week,” testified Thomas W. Galante, Director of the Queens Library, at the Fiscal 2010 Preliminary Budget Hearing. Continue reading →

Posted in Astoria, Bernstein Spring 2009, Community Service Story | 4 Comments

Gentrification Wins the 20 Year Battle for the East Village

Posted on May 13, 2009 by Britny Kutuchief

An anonymous Loisaida resident poses enthusiastically on 3rd Street and Avenue C

It is the warmest weekend day of the year and the streets of the East Village are excitingly buzzing. There are people congregating on every street corner and residents happily migrating towards Tompkins Square Park. Outside the air is welcoming and pleasant, and everyone seems to be more cheerful than usual. Two Third Street residents stroll toward Avenue C with reusable shopping bags stuffed with blankets, magazines, snacks and all the stuff for a Sunday in the park. Young, fashionable professionals- these two girls are unprepared for what they are about to see.

The corner of Third Street and Avenue C is a perfectly overt window into the two cross-sections that are the East Village. One side of Third Street houses an upscale pizza shop and an exclusive lounge. Immediately adjacent to these establishments is a New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) building, or a “projects” building. In some respects, the two worlds of this “Loisaida” (a slang word for “Lower East Side” that identifies this portion of the East Village) sub-neighborhood are at odds at this intersection, separated only by a ten foot strip of black pavement.

The young women cross Avenue C at a leisurely pace until they reach the corner near the NYCHA building. Lingering on the sidewalk is a group of a grizzly, homeless looking gentlemen and one particular fellow in a wheelchair. The girls think nothing of it until they realize that the wheelchair-bound man is exposing himself freely and preparing to urinate on the sidewalk. The women are appalled. They contest that this section of Third Street is where all the problems of the neighborhood lie.

“All the robberies occur between these Avenues, men yell vulgar things at me daily, and I often have to see men exposing themselves. It is the dirtiest section of the neighborhood,” long-term resident and Ohio-import Amanda Smith tells me. Unfortunately, the girls’ sneering does little to solve the problem and typically only elicits perverted remarks.

There are fewer places with such a great economic divide as the East Village. On a typical day, a resident might be peddled for change by a wandering squatter or homeless person while rushing past a posh restaurant where patrons pay $50 a plate. Residents vary from dirt-poor drifters and beggars to project-housing inhabitants to wealthy businesspeople. Avenue C is perhaps the most obvious representation of this great divide.

Avenue C is a bustling economic center just one avenue East of Tompkins Square Park and perpendicular to Houston Street. The Avenue, which stretches from Houston to 23^rd Street hosts chic condominiums, a squatter-inhabited building (C-Squat, which was purchased from the government in 2002 for one dollar), and several rows of project housing. The enormous range of housing on the Avenue creates an interesting cultural and economic dynamic that is unique to any other neighborhood in Manhattan. While the avenue’s diversity is distinctive, its gentrification has not necessarily been welcomed by the entire East Village community.

Resident and friend Gabriel Sanabria represents one portion of the neighborhood that is particularly outspoken about the gentrification. Gabriel is short and youthful, a twenty year-old of Puerto Rican descent. Since most of the changes have erupted in the past five years, Sanabria remembers when the Avenue was “dirtier” and “less safe.”

“My parents talk about it all the time. My mother curses in Spanish every time a new place opens.”

Sanabria isn’t unique in that his parents are immigrants. A large majority of Loisiaida are of Puerto Rican and Dominican heritage.

“We like what is happening to some degree. We like that our properties and our stores are becoming more valuable. The problem is that most of these people can’t afford to pay $2,000 rent!”

Sanabria lives in a government-assisted housing building adjacent to Avenue C.

“The fact that the yuppies haven’t really made it below 6^th is probably because of all the projects down here. They aren’t gonna be able to take out the projects and they don’t want the riffraff in their stores.”

Sanabria is referring to the area of Avenue C below 6^th street, which is largely, but not completely, ungentrified. While Sanabria and Smith both represent a population of the neighborhood who consider themselves “active” and “opinionated,” most of the current residents of the neighborhood are largely unaware of the issues that come with gentrification.

The 1980’s were a particularly turbulent time for the neighborhood. As chic establishment after chic establishment began to erupt, affordable housing and dining quickly diminished. Protests relentlessly broke out over developments, and locals refused to stand for it. 1988 saw a principally important riot, later called the Tompkins Square Park Riot. The riot essentially objected to the government overtaking the culture of the neighborhood and the “cleansing” of Tompkins Square Park. This portion of New York City was rapidly turning into a gated community only accessible to the rich and posh. Protesters stood near Avenue A with signs reading Gentrification Is Class War!

The Christodora House, to some, represented the first sign of gentrification as it was converted into expensive condominiums on Avenue B in 1983. While protesters spent nearly ten years actively dissenting against the developments that occurred all around the Tompkins Square area, a resident has to wonder where all the anger and hype has faded to.

“If somebody organized something, you know, somebody that isn’t me, I would march. I would want to save this area, or try to, because it’s where I grew up. I know my parents won’t be able to live here if the projects are gone,” expresses Sanabria to me, when I ask about starting a new revolution against gentrification.

The fact that the neighborhood dispute has been quiet for over ten years is concerning and disappointing. The spirit of the East Village has always been one of dissent, and this feels like one combat that East Villagers are tired of fighting.

Critics have to wonder, though, if the protest of Loisaida is just in remission. Is the neighborhood preparing for yet another wave of conflict as developers and business owners take over the once humble streets of Loisaida? Sanabria disagrees with this theory, saying the war is over.

“The neighborhood seems to have lost the battle, I guess.”

Posted in Community Service Story, East Village | 2 Comments

Food Not Bombs: Serving Heaping Helpings of Revolution to the Masses

Posted on May 11, 2009 by Britny Kutuchief

FNB volunteers serve food on a Sunday

The aroma of a vegetarian meal wafting from a rickety old serving cart draws a diverse crowd to the Southeast corner of Tompkins Square Park on Sunday afternoon. Squatters and yuppies alike curiously meander around the wobbly makeshift serving table, noting the mismatched stainless steel pots and pans, hodgepodge serving plates and silverware set awkwardly atop it. A friendly face doles out portions of hearty vegetable soup and sliced bread to hungry park-goers. The weather is bleak, but the atmosphere surrounding this little rolling cart is pleasant and welcoming.
Food Not Bombs is an organization that represents its utensils: mismatched, jumbled and worn-out, yet functional and strong-standing. The group, which has been active since the early eighties, serves up free vegetarian food to the masses on Sunday afternoons in Tompkins Square Park. Using one hundred percent donated food supplies; FNB is a loosely organized and fully people-generated grass roots organization of activists who believe that the most basic necessity of life is food. The group contests that government money, which it sees none of, should be going directly to the poor people rather than to military operations. FNB meets at ABC No Rio on Rivington Street at 1:00 PM on Sundays to cook and then transports the food to the park around 3:30 PM, “rain or shine.”
Susie is a regular FNB volunteer shuffling around the cart busily and animated. Tall with natural blonde mid-back length hair, Susie is in her early thirties and is incredibly soft-spoken and welcoming. She has a naturally pretty face and wears tapestry-printed gypsy style clothing. She makes strong and meaningful eye contact with everyone she speaks to, including strangers and straggly looking bohemians, who she seems to recognize.
“It sounds weird,” she says shyly, “but I look forward to Sundays with FNB. It is the best part of my week.”
Susie says that on a typical Sunday FNB serves about fifty to one hundred people and welcomes between three and fifteen volunteers.
“Usually there are about three regular volunteers and a bunch of people who pass through. There are a lot more people hanging around in summer, of course.”
When asked about the groups politics, Susie is vague.
“I guess we’re all anti-war and probably socialists. Some of us are freegans. We are a great mix of politics.”
The term “freegan” refers to a growing trend in vegan-vegetarian lifestyle. The typical freegan refuses to pay for any food item, arguing that all food should be free and that the necessary food items can be obtained simply from others’ waste. It is hard to imagine any freegan going hungry for long in New York City.
“We get all our food from an organic market in Brooklyn and a few other small donors,” Susie says. “The donations are tax deductable and we carry away their ‘garbage’ safely without wasting, so it works out for everyone!”
The enthusiasm of FNB volunteers is palpable and kind of addicting. While Susie is shy and quiet, she is passionate about her work with FNB and believes wholeheartedly that this is the smallest and most valuable way she can help feed the masses in an ethically sound and affective way.
FNB is representative of the neighborhood it serves in. Tompkins Square Park and the East Village have most definitely been known to welcome activists and artsy renegades. The group of hippie-looking volunteers does not look out of place in Tompkins. While the East Village has most definitely gone through some intense gentrification and refashioning in the last ten years, the homeless and squatter communities still congregate in the park, making it a unique and open forum for all types of people. FNB is welcoming and representative of each of these groups.
While FNB has been serving in various cities since its flagship chapter in Boston begun in the eighties, the populist and grassroots trend of completely people organized community service is gaining a lot of attention and steam during the current economic pitfall. FNB volunteers enlighten people to the concept that in America, people always have too much. Recession or not, America is a nation of wasters and disposers. Clothes, electronics and foods: they’re all disposable. If one small group of passionate, disorganized people can salvage some of that waste for only a few people that have barely anything, their day is a success.

Posted in Community Service Story, East Village | 3 Comments

Protecting the Environment, 20-years Later

Posted on May 9, 2009 by ADavis

“Breathing in this neighborhood is hazardous to our health,” read the signs of protesters wearing gas masks as they stand alongside the West Side Highway at seven in the morning, in front of the North River Sewage Plant in Harlem.

This was twenty years ago when on Martin Luther King Day, the current New York Governor, David Patterson and We Act for Environmental Justice co-founder, Peggy Shepard and five other individuals known as, “The Sewage Seven,” were arrested for holding up traffic.

Continue reading →

Posted in Bernstein Spring 2009, Community Service Story | Comments Off

Harlem Barber Shop Takes a Step Up, as Economy Falls

Posted on May 9, 2009 by ADavis

The current decline in the economy has clothing boutiques, shoe repair shops, and “mom and pops’ ” restaurants below water. However, at one Harlem barber shop, A Step Above, owner Sharron Corley is still cutting hair at the same rate as when he opened his business two years ago.

“Everybody needs to look right. You know professionals they want to look right. That’s not something that you sacrifice. You know when you’re working, you have to look right, you have to be groomed,” Corley explains. Continue reading →

Posted in Bernstein Spring 2009, Under the Radar: Feature Stories | 20 Comments

Posted on May 7, 2009 by bxnick621

“This town sucks!”

Words from 19 year old Andrew Figueroa, resident of Monroe, NY.

The town of Monroe; named after our country’s fifth president, James Monroe, in Orange County, New York is home to over 31,000 residents and the birthplace of Velveeta Cheese. To some it is home, to a few others it can be almost be compared to time out.

Monroe, for the young adult, is nothing too special. Most of the town’s activities center around young children. Once grown up, the kids gotta find new ways to keep busy. Sometimes those way can lead to trouble.

Posted in Davis Spring 2009, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Breaking New Ground

Posted on April 29, 2009 by mowens

The Groundwork for Success Program, run by the non-profit organization Groundwork Inc., provides high-school students with countless opportunities for academic, professional, and personal growth, and has a high rate of graduating scholars that make it into some of the nation’s top colleges and universities.

“My school didn’t really have resources like SAT Prep classes or FAFSA workshops, to be honest I didn’t even think about applying to schools outside of the CUNY system actually I didn’t believe I could even get into the senior colleges in the CUNY system and now I attend NYU and it’s because of Groundwork,” says Joel Marte, a 2007 Groundwork for Success graduate.

Posted in Brooklyn, Davis Spring 2009, Uncategorized | Comments Off

Have Some Books Under the Car Seat, It’ll be a Long Wait at Park Circle

Posted on April 28, 2009 by Julia Borovskaya

Buses, delivery trucks, taxis, and commuters crowd and bump against one another on streets surrounding Prospect Park, the large green grounds in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. Four major roads, Coney Island Avenue, Caton Avenue, Parkside Avenue, and the Prospect Park Expressway find their way to Park Circle, the intersection that is under the weight of constant traffic congestion.

Starting April 25^th noise will get louder as more frustrated drivers standing in one place honk their horns, mutter unkind words and lose patience. Irritation will spring up together with fumes on the roads when the park will have two fewer entrances to its main road, the West Drive, channeling all the traffic to Park Circle, endangering an already unsafe area. The closing of entrances was announced by the Department of Transportation in a brief phone call last week to Community Board 7, startling the board members and leaving them with no voice in the matter.

“We would look into setting up a specific Transportation Committee meeting on this issue. However, they let us know so late, that they are planning to implement this next week, and we don’t have the time to be able to hold the meeting before then,” said Jeremy Laufer, the district manager at CB 7.

The DOT hastily decided to change traffic streams in one of the busiest intersections of Brooklyn Heights without advising with the community. Only few months ago, on February 19^th, CB 7 held a planning session with the DOT specifically on the issue of Park Circle, with 40 members of the public discussing how to make Park Circle a safer junction. “DOT was there. They never mentioned anything about the closures,” said Laufer.

DOT’s motivation behind the entrance closings in the park was the safety of pedestrians who shared the entrances with inflow of motor vehicles. The closed entrances will entitle neighborhood residents to traffic-free wide park streets.

However, Park Circle will now get hit with double the amount of motor vehicles, especially during rush hours; something that the DOT was made aware of during the planning session in February.

There hides a history of communication deficit between CB 7 and the DOT. It has been Laufer’s concern for several years. [to be continued]

Thoughts on Intro

The first page and a half of my conflict story introduce the conflict between the community and the Department of Transportation. I wanted to convey the atmosphere of the streets around the park in the lede, making it a descriptive one. My second graph is the nut graph, exposing the issue. However, I think this introduction is thin. I haven’t been able to get in touch with the residents who oppose this, especially the drivers; and I haven’t seen Jeremy Laufer, the District manager at CB 7, so I can’t offer a rich description of him. I will be working on making it fuller and more interesting.

Posted in Brooklyn | 2 Comments

City Park Plans Uproots Community Garden

Posted on April 22, 2009 by margaretsoria

As reported earlier this month, Two Coves Community Garden in Astoria, Queens, is at risk because the Parks Department and Goodwill Industries have forced a design for a city park on 75 percent of the garden’s space.

Because the Garden could be facing its final chapter, the dedicated gardeners are afraid that their unique space will become a city park although there are already two large parks, Astoria and Rainey, within walking distance. As Gardener and Astoria Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) President Stacy Ornstein points out, “We want the garden to maintain its ability to allow local resident the opportunity to garden and grow together.”

Other gardeners were overheard saying that community gardens are known to increase property values, provide access to healthy food and serve youth as an outdoor classroom. No one would volunteer to be interviewed about the situation.

City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) has now allocated $450,000 to create the park at the site. He could not be reached for comments, but his secretary said that the city has agreed not to begin any work at the site until after this year’s harvest season.

Queens Parks Department Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski said the agency would hold meetings with Astoria residents and Two Coves gardeners this summer to discuss plans for the site.

Gardening season at Two Coves runs from April 1 to November 1.

Posted in Astoria, Bernstein Spring 2009 | 2 Comments

How Far Will They Go

Posted on April 21, 2009 by tiffanyk

The current state of the economy is affecting people from all areas of life, even for those people who have jobs. “I just took a pay cut at work recently. There was nothing I could have done. It was either I took a pay cut or someone else would get fired. I would not want that happening to anyone,” Susan Lee said. Rising rents and maintenance fees are a concern for many. The decrease in income has led many residents to look towards affordable housing and federally subsidized buildings. Continue reading →

Posted in Bernstein Spring 2009, Chinatown, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

You can’t play all day, every day

Posted on April 20, 2009 by mega

In Jackson Heights, Queens’s overpopulation is a problem it’s residents face everyday. From the congested 7 train line to the gridlocked streets of Roosevelt Avenue, residents, old and young, share Jackson Heights. On one street in particular, 87 Street between Northern Boulevard and 34th Avenue, lies a battleground for more space.

“Play Street” is a summer long event where the street adjacent to Traver’s Park, the local playground, is closed off to traffic every Sunday. The purpose of “Play Street” is to extend the playground space so younger children can play without competing with older kids for room. This year, Jackson Heights Green Alliance, the group that sponsors Play Street, is planning to include Saturdays as well and, if the Department of Traffic accepts, close 89th Street all summer or even year round.

Not everyone is as excited as the kids.

Across the street from Traver’s Park is the Garden School. It is a K-12 school that has something to say about closing off the street permanently. “We’re a school but we are a business…your putting me at a dead-end street!” said Mary Maisano, Director of Finance at the Garden School. “We couldn’t support the closing of the street from year end to the beginning” she added.

The Garden School hosts over 200 students in they’re summer camp every year. By closing off 89th Street, Mrs. Maisano says her school would lose a valuable entrance zone for emergency vehicles and it would worsen the traffic situation when students are dropped off and picked up. “Traffic is an issue” she said.

“We are trying to be good neighbors and we would be happy to do weekends” said Mrs. Maisano who claims the Garden School was more than happy to allow the Sunday closings and even provided the Jackson Heights Green Alliance storage space inside the school. “It was wonderful” she says of the children playing in the summer and the senior citizens who sat by observing all the fun.

Another issue Mrs. Maisano pointed to was safety. Apparently Traver’s Park has a reputation for gang activity and is an after hours hang out spot for young adults in the area. She is not thrilled with the idea of the police being barricaded from patrolling the area.

http://www.jhgreen.org/

Posted in Davis Spring 2009, Jackson Heights | 1 Comment

Keeping It In The Family

Posted on April 14, 2009 by margaretsoria

Unfortunately, history tells us that family-owned businesses have some challenges ahead. According to The Economist, about 70 percent of family-owned businesses in the United States never make it to the second generation. And 90 percent do not survive until the third generation of the family. For the Associated Supermarket in Astoria, Queens, this is not the case. It started off as a “little bodega” back in 1928. The matriarch of the Giuta family decided to open up this store while her husband worked for Con Edison. And now, over 80 years later, they are proud owners of three other Associateds in the Queens area. Continue reading →

Posted in Astoria, Bernstein Spring 2009, Under the Radar: Feature Stories | 2 Comments

Writing New York: Posts from the Boroughs and Beyond — 2008-2011