District 26 is one of the best school districts in NYC, however P.S 31 one of the elementary schools in the district has not received computer upgrades for over 8 years. In the 2006 quality review by the Department of Education the school received top scores; however resources are scarce for 600 students that attend computer classes every week.Â
 http://www.timesledger.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18234391&BRD=2676&PAG=461&dept_id=551067&rfi=6
Picture taken from NY Times Website.
April 23, 2007. The lime green walls that surround the maple floors of Empire Roller Skating Rink in Crown Heights, Brooklyn lovingly known as “Empire” to residents, will officially be home to a storage company. Residents are outraged at the community gem being ripped from their grasp. “I just don’t understand why this is happening,” said Diane Louis, a former employee of the facility. “Skating is the only activity that my family does together. Empire was close, convenient and the music was great to groove to.”
The closing comes just several months from the closing of the famed Roxy roller rink in Manhattan and almost a year after the closing of Bronx’s Skate Key. “It seems like there is a mission against skating,” said Michael Nichols, a 35 year old professional skater from Bedstuy who frequently skated at Empire. “The only rink that’s left in the five boroughs is in Central Park and I’m sure the music and ambiance is nothing like Empire.”
A rally of two hundred participants gathered last week in front of the facility to show their support. Individuals signed online petitions in support of the rink, leaving comments recapping their experiences there. Their efforts were in vain as the 66 year-old-establishment was sold by the building owner for $4.5 million to facilitate a storage company.
Throughout the cries of resentment, shouts of joy can be heard. “I’m glad to see it go,” said Marcus Cunningham, a 55 year-old -man who lives around the corner. “Maybe now I can park my car near my house or walk around the block without fearing that I would be walking into a fight or even gunfire.”
Violence has erupted several times in the past after the skate sessions let out. The most publicized event was a shooting that left four injured on January 3rd of this year. According to a NY1 article, Michael Feiger, the owner of Empire for the last six years, has been cited with criminal summons in the past for fights and shootings outside the rink. Feiger insists that he follows all laws and that his security team enforces strict rules to make sure no weapons enter the building. “We do our jobs to ensure the safety of the patrons as well as ourselves,” insisted Teon Harmon, one of the long-term security guards.
The closing of Empire Roller Skating Rink has attracted major attention. A landmark to the community, it will be missed greatly, but to those who embrace the change, victory prevails.
The New York telephone company has purchased a block near South Street Seaport from the city for 8 million dollars and has entered into a contract to sell it to JAck Resnick and Sons for 13 million dollars.
Burton Resnick, the president of Jack Resnick & Sons, said that he hoped to proceed with an office building ”as quickly as possible.” He said that the sale included development rights for an additional 120,000 square feet. The development rights were created more than a decade ago when the city acquired much of the property in the South Street Seaport area. For the full story please visit : http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980DE4DF1539F932A35750C0A967948260
“The hospital killed her,” says Camille Carby, who lost her grandmother in January 2006. “She went in to get her blood pressure checked, ended up being hospitalized, suffered a stroke and died within ten days.” This is the common belief that a lot of South Jamaica residents have concerning Mary Immaculate Hospital. Locals refer to Mary Immaculate, along with Jamaica Hospital, as “The Death Hospitals.”
Another young lady, also a South Jamaica resident, who asked not to be identified, lost her father three years ago, also at Mary Immaculate Hospital. Her father was complaining of chest problems, and when the ambulance arrived her mother pleaded with them not to take him to Mary Immaculate. Instead, she wanted to go to Jamaica Hospital which was closer. “I knew once he went there he was not coming out alive,” says the young lady. She was right. While, at Mary Immaculate he suffered a heart attack and because of the number of patients and the lack of staff, he died at the age of forty.
Despite these two stories, on the Department of Health’s website, between April 2005 to March 2006, Mary Immaculate’s heart attack care performance was at 95%. Their heart failure care rate about 93%. “I guess things got better but I doubt that,” states the young lady. Carby, on the other hand, thinks that statistics are “fake.” “They are just trying to make themselves look good,” says annoyed Carby.
Twenty-two year old Larry Bethea, on the other hand, was “lucky” to make it out of the hospital alive. In 2006, he was shot in the right leg and was at Mary Immaculate for three months before he was released with crutches. “I’m happy that I made it out of there with crutches and not in a body bag.” His statement is in response to the number of friends and family members who were not as lucky. “There is just not enough staff,” states Bethea. “There are probably like two nurses for every 50 people.” Bethea’s statement may be an exaggeration but while he was there he had to wait anywhere from 15-30 minutes before a nurse was able to see him. When she finally did arrive, Bethea states that “she would come for ten seconds and then leave.”
A dance festival is held each year at the Benson Elementary School, P.S.200. The performance is taken place outside of the spacious school yard, with loud music blasting from speakers that are quite large. Parents and neighborhoods gather around the school yard to watch the performances. Residents who live across the street sit outside of their homes and some even bring lawn chairs into the school yard. Each grade level has a different song and dance that they perform to. Grade K comes out first to perform, and then it continues up to grade 5. The students dance to songs like the Electric Slide, Macarana, and much more. They dress colorfully in bright clothes and accessories like bows and ties. The students also create their own instruments from bottles and cardboard tubes from paper towels.
Here is some information about the school.
Over the past week there have been many news stories on the Virginia Tech. shooting. This has affected many people–the victims, their families, friends, staff and students on that campus and other campuses. I read on-line that Korean students and their families are afraid of backlashing on campuses or other places where Koreans live or work.
I personally feel that not only Koreans are being looked at in a different way, but the Asian communities in general are also being looked at as if we were all part of the shooting. Asians share similar features, which makes many non-Asians think that we are all the same. On Thursday, the cover page of AM New York, a free daily newspaper sponsored by ads, had a picture of the Virginia Tech. shooter. My sister was taking the train to school and this non-Asian man stood in front of my sister while holding the AM New York paper and pointing at Cho Seung-Hui and then pointing at my sister and said, “You and him are the same.” My sister ignored him and he got off the train at the next stop.
On Friday, my mother witnessed two non-English speaking Asian boys in my neighborhood around 14-15 years old who were being targeted with small rocks and water balloons by three non-Asian teenagers around the same age. Just when my mother walked past the three teenagers started throwing water balloons at my mother and yelling out names and one of the phrases that one boy shouted was, “Kill all Asians!” My mother yelled back at them saying they were crazy, but they still targeted her. Luckily, a man who was non-Asian drove by, saw and yelled at the three boys saying he would call the cops and that scared them off. My mother and the two other boys were okay and this was not reported to the police because no one was hurt.
The shooter of Virginia Tech. is an Asian person, but this does not mean all Asians are the same. The shooter could’ve been anyone no matter what their ethnic background is.
Once nicknamed “Crack City” for the amount of the drug peddled on the streets of this neighborhood, it seemed that Washington Heights had come a long way. Two recent events have shocked local residents and police and questioned how far the area has really come. In late March 2007 on the corner of 161st Street and Broadway a late night shooting left one man dead and another seriously injured. The Drug Enforcement Agency, with the help of local police, also seized over 700 marijuana plants in the raid of an apartment on 154th Street and Amsterdam. “We have come very far as a community, but still have a long way to go,” said 157th Street resident Martha Hernandez. “This neighborhood is still home to some nasty people, though some might think otherwise,” said City College student Junior Garcia . Related issues are sure to arise at the 33rd and 34th Precinct Council meetings on the 25th of April, where the precincts discuss their crime rate statistics for the month.
   Co-op City has made the news and this time it’s not about the parking. Ms. Iris Baez, former Co-op City board president, was charged with bribery and conspiracy. $100,000 out of the $3.5 million contract would have gone to Ms. Baez for teaming up with a specific contractor.Â
   Will this cause problems for future contracts? It has already taken more than 4 years to fix the garages, which might leave residents to question where their maintenance fee is going. If residents were more interested in their neighborhood there might not be room for inside deals. As Ms. Gloria Wharton, president of building 9B, said ” People complain about things but they don’t do anything to follow up on it. What do they expect?”Â
Seventy years ago when the Great Depression hit the city, people from all walks of life were forced to stand in breadlines to help feed their families. Today, breadlines are mostly occupied by the homeless or extremely poor people. In South Jamaica, Queens it’s a different story.
About two weeks ago while riding the bus, I noticed that two nearby churches had people standing on the lines with shopping carts and bags waiting to get food. Mt. Moriah Community Church and Universal Calvary Church Incorporated give food to anyone who joins that line. Mt. Moriah Community Church is located at 110-22 Sutphin Boulevard. Universal Calvary Church Incorporated can be found a block away at 109- 20 Sutphin Boulevard.
What actually made me take notice was seeing a lot of neighbors and old friends waiting on the line.–many of whom I knew had good income and could afford to buy their own food. “They only go because it is free food,” says Maleka Aiken, a 20-year resident of the neighborhood. “I know plenty of people on that line who have a good job and own a home with two cars in the driveway.”
Most of the food is donated from local supermarkets or people in the neighborhood. The pastor asks if people are willing to buy food and drop it off or bring in canned goods out of their pantry. Twice a week as early as seven in the morning to as late as noon, people line up to receive bread, canned goods, meat, juice, etc. “Take as much as you need,” yells one of the volunteers passing out the food. These churches have been doing this for nearly four years and consider it a way to give back to the community.
Brittney Dickens, has lived in the neighborhood all of her life and “never goes to these churches for Sunday service, but I do come to get the food.”
This weblog was developed and is supported by the Bernard L. Schwartz Communication Institute, Baruch College, CUNY
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