catonavenue.com Blog
first aside
While having a fascinating time checking out the amazing website/app EveryBlock.com, one of the many brilliant information and geo-information projects of Adrian Holovaty, (also famous among tech-cogniscenti for Django) I found the outstanding blog The Brooklyn Ink, a project of The Journalism School at Columbia.
It’s beautiful-looking, the content is wildly diverse, and everything I’ve read so far has been outstanding. The staff bios (all Columbia graduate and undergraduate journalism students) suggest that these might be some of the most interesting people in Brooklyn. Perhaps because of the student management, there’s no sense of editorial hierarchy, or even a “contact” tab. (As the adage goes, shoemaker’s children go without shoes; I suppose the parallel is that some journalists don’t make it easy to arrange interviews or submit media queries).
So check out The Brooklyn Ink, or just wait for me to start plagiarizing their excellent work in earnest. And more soon about EveryBlock.com – more particularly, NYC.EveryBlock.com – which, once you’ve isolated the New York City slice(s) – you can then start searching by Zip, by neighborhood name, or by a neighborhood that you define graphically on a map. I don’t – yet – see that one can slice by census block, block/lot, police precinct or sector, or community board boundaries. But it looks like many things are possible – and that the more of us check out and contribute to EveryBlock, the more useful and entertaining it would be.
From Bob Hennelly’s coverage if the most recent chapter in the Carl Kruger scandal:
An emotional state Senator Carl Kruger pleaded guilty to four federal corruption charges in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday.
Kruger, who teared up in the courtroom, pleaded guilty to two conspiracy counts and two counts citing Travel Act violations. The Brooklyn Democrat who represented Flatbush, Mill Basin and Coney Island since 1994, resigned his seat prior to his court appearance.
He agreed not to appeal any prison sentence up to 11 years and three months.
“My actions were in violation of the law, and I knew that they were wrong,” Kruger said. “I accept responsibility for my actions and am truly sorry for my conduct.”
State Senator Carl Kruger Pleads Guilty to Corruption Charges, Resigns
By Bob Hennelly, Senior Political Reporter, WNYC.org
It’s good, of course, that the Southern District successfully prosecuted Senator Kruger. One hopes that the sentence serves as a deterrent – but the lessons of history in New York, which has made official misconduct and corrupt a local art form – but we worry that, even with this prosecution and sentence, we’re still at business at usual.
From Record Number in City Shelters: Report, by Daniel P. Tucker, on the WNYC News Blog:
There are more than 41,000 New Yorkers living in the city’s homeless shelters — the highest number ever, according to to a new report from the Coalition for the Homeless.The group said 17,000 children sleep in shelters each night and that shelter stays are getting longer. Homeless families now spend an average of 11 months in the shelter system, up from 8 months a year ago.
The report is based on city data on the shelter population at the end of October, but that number fluctuates daily. The report found the rise is due to the end of a city program that provided housing subsidies to homeless families.
Sad, but not surprising.
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Stuart Appelbaum, an influential union leader in New York City, was in Tunisia last month, advising the fledgling labor movement there, when he received a flurry of phone calls and e-mails alerting him to the rumblings of something back home. Protesters united under a provocative name, Occupy Wall Street, were gathering in a Lower Manhattan park and raising issues long dear to organized labor.
And gaining attention for it.
Mr. Appelbaum recalled asking a colleague over the phone to find out who was behind Occupy Wall Street — a bunch of hippies or perhaps troublemakers? — and whether the movement might quickly fade.
So far, at least, it has not, and on Wednesday, several prominent unions, struggling to gain traction on their own, made their first effort to join forces with Occupy Wall Street. Thousands of union members marched with the protesters from Foley Square to their encampment in nearby Zuccotti Park.
“The labor movement needs to tap into the energy and learn from them,” Mr. Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, said. “They are reaching a lot of people and exciting a lot of people that the labor movement has been struggling to reach for years.”
In fact, the unexpected success of Occupy Wall Street in leveling criticism of corporate America has stirred some soul-searching among labor leaders. They have noted with envy that the new movement has done a far better job, not only of capturing interest, but also of attracting young people. Protests have spread to dozens of cities, including Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles.
Major Unions Join Occupy Wall Street Protest – NYTimes.com.
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE and CARA BUCKLEY, The New York Times,, published: October 5, 2011.
From Nobel-winning economist supports ‘Occupy Wall Street’
Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz showed up at “Occupy Wall Street” this week to show his support for the protest and clearly outline what he sees as the worst crimes of the Ameri
can financial sector. In a brief speech amplified by an “echo chamber” of protesters (who shouted Stiglitz’s own words as a group because they’re banned from using megaphones), the Colombia University professor said that Wall Street had become wealthy by “socializing losses and privatizing gain,” calling it a scheme that’s “not capitalism.” “After the bubble broke, they continued in their way of disobeying the law, in a sense. Throwing people out of their houses, even in some cases when they didn’t owe money… “We bailed out the banks with an understanding that there would be a restoration of lending. All there was was a restoration of bonuses. Unless we deal with the anti-competitive practices with the reckless vending and speculative behavior, with the anti-competitive practices, unless we restore demand to the function it should serve, we won’t have a robust recovery.”
What do the Wall Street occupiers want? As near as we can figure,
- Accountability and transparency from the leaders of financial system, in and out of government;
- A fair tax system;
- A reasonably generous safety net, includingg unemployment and disability insurance;
- Universal access to health care.
This doesn’t, in our view, make them extremists. But a system which requires such dramatic political organizing for this sort of agenda is itsef a bit extreme.
Stay tuned.
Via RawStory.com – Agence France-Presse reports that, while millions suffer economic difficulties – and fear for their futures – US CEO pay jumped 11 percent.
WASHINGTON — Compensation received by chief executives of the biggest US companies surged 11 percent over the past 12 months — to $9.3 million on average, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Citing a study conducted for the newspaper by management consultancy Hay Group, The Journal said the increase was largely due to decisions by company boards to reward CEOs for strong profit and share-price growth with bigger bonuses and stock grants.
The survey covered the 350 biggest companies that filed their statement between May 1, 2010, and April 30, 2011.
Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman topped the list after receiving compensation valued at $84.3 million, more than double his 2009 pay, the report said.
Larry Ellison, the billionaire founder of Oracle, took second place, according to The Journal.
Long ranked among the highest-paid chiefs, he received compensation valued at $68.6 million for the year ended last May 31.
CBS CEO Leslie Moonves landed the number three spot with compensation valued at $53.9 million.
Agence France-Presse: U.S. CEO pay jumps 11 percent: survey
From Helicopter crashes into East River in New York City
The helicopter is reportedly fully submerged in the river
A woman has died and two others are seriously injured after a helicopter plunged into a river in New York City shortly after take-off, officials say.
Witnesses described how the privately owned Bell 206 aircraft span out of control before it fell into East River near 34th Street in midtown Manhattan.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has scheduled a news conference near the crash site soon.
At least seven boats joined the frantic rescue effort, along with divers.
Unconfirmed reports said all the passengers were tourists from England.
“We got the call at 15:22 (19:22 GMT) for us to respond to a helicopter crash,” a spokesman for the Fire Department of New York told the Press Association.
“We did, and four people were pulled from out of the water. Two females are in a critical condition. One had suffered a cardiac arrest and one a respiratory arrest.”
The East 34th Street Heliport (link is to Wikipedia entry) has been around since the erly 1970′s. Older readers may remember the Pan Am heliport above Grand Central Terminal when the building later known as the MetLife building whose street addres has remained intact (200 Park Avenue).
The Atlantic Wire reports that one passenger, a woman, did not survive the crash. Update: One Woman Dead in New York Helicopter Crash
The Washington Post’s coverage - Rescue after helicopter crashes into East River – includes a CBS News video clip of the rescue.
Doctors Without Borders, a/k/a Medicin Sans Frontiers, is holding a recruitment information session in New York on September 28th (this coming Wednesday). Details of that and other events, regarding recruitment, and some high-concept fund-raisers (an art auction in San Francisco, can be found on this page.
The New York recruitment event will be held, as noted above, on September 28th, 7:00 P.M. (1900)
Support Center for Nonprofit Management
Training Room
305 7th Ave, 11th Floor
New York, NY 10001
One can register online via this link:
We note that the event registration and logistics are apparently managed by EventBrite, an event-management and logistic group which seems to appear – if you look carefully – at interesting and worthy events.
A few nights ago, we had an outstanding meal, one of the best meals ever, for a pittance, no less, at The Castello Plan at 1213 Cortelyou Road, more or less directly opposite the firehouse. Regular readers may notice that we’re not in the habit of writing restaurant reviews, a form of journalism with which we have no experience. But this meal – almost entirely composed of hitherto-unimagined combinations of foods which, in the event, were spectacular.
We’ll post later with more details about this meal, and, we hope, some images. For the moment, we’ll tell you about a fettucine Alfredo with a grilled peach which alone is worth the trip.
And also about the live music – which with the music of Miss Tess and her colleague of the evening was by itself worth the trip.
Check back for more.
Via the National Weather Service [http://weather.gov]:
Irene Taking Aim at East Coast of The United States
At 8:00 a.m. EDT the center of Hurricane Irene was located near latitude 30.0 north, longitude 77.3 west. Irene is moving toward the north near 14 mph and this motion is expected to continue during the next 24 hours, followed by a gradual turn toward the north-northeast. The core of the hurricane is forecast to pass well off the coast of northeastern Florida today, approach the coast of North Carolina tonight and pass near or over the North Carolina coast Saturday. The hurricane is forecast to move near or over the Mid-Atlantic coast Saturday night. Maximum sustained winds are near 110 mph, with higher gusts. Irene is a Category Two hurricane. Some re-intensification is possible today and Irene is expected to be near the threshold between category two and three as it reaches the North Carolina coast. For storm information specific to your area in the U.S., please monitor products issued by your local NWS forecast office. Details…
Published: Fri, 26 Aug 2011 08:01:38 EDT
From the WNYC News Blog, dated 7 July 2011. This shouldn’t be a surprise – the strong arguments for closing Indian Point don’t amount to a plan if not accompanied with plausible scheme for reducing consumption and providing renewable energy at least equal – it not in excess of – Indian Point’s electricity consumption.
From Rift Widens Between Bloomberg, Cuomo on Indian Point Nuclear Plant By Ilya Marritz
The disagreement between Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Michael Bloomberg over the future of the controversial Indian Point nuclear power station in upstate New York appears to be growing, as indicated by a draft study commissioned by the mayor’s administration and obtained by WNYC.
“You can built a 400-500 megawatt combined cycle gas fired plant in a relatively short period of time.”
— Robert Catell, a member of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing Advisory PanelA copy of the document — which examines the likely consequences of closing Indian Point — warns that developing a replacement for the facility “should be well underway now” if the reactors are to be shut down when their operating licenses expire in 2013 and 2015.Cuomo is strongly opposed to re-licensing the plant. No replacement plants are currently under construction.
The report, prepared by Charles River Associates, also says New Yorkers’ energy bills would rise because of the cost of building replacement power plants. The total cost of wholesale electricity would go up 5 to 10 percent, according to the report.
In a point-by-point rebuttal, the Cuomo administration took issue with the reports’ methodology and conclusions. Cuomo believes the real increase in consumer electric bills would be in the 2.5 percent to 5 percent range.
“The wholesale increase is a misleading and inaccurate indicator of the actual retail cost impact,” the statement said.
Bloomberg has voiced skepticism that New York City can do without the 2,000 megawatts in power — roughly a quarter of the city’s energy consumption — that Indian Point provides.
According to USA Today and the AP, the distribution of New Yorkers by age is shifting upwards. See Aging boomers strain cities built for the young, which we caught by the WNYC News Blog, brought to us by WNYC’s news staff. Since no single human beng, not even WNYC’s Robert Hennelly, can compress information so that all the important material they would like to report each day, the blog serves as an outlet for things which get forced by the inherent scarcity of airtime – like The New York Times, the WNYC News Blog isn’t secondary, isn’t a lesser matter – but the combination of the on-air and on-line (print/paper costs and on-line capacity in the case of The Times). From USA Today’s Aging boomers strain cities built for the young:
NEW YORK – America’s cities are beginning to grapple with a fact of life: People are getting old, fast, and they’re doing it in communities designed for the sprightly.
To envision how this silver tsunami will challenge a youth-oriented society, just consider that seniors soon will outnumber schoolchildren in hip, fast-paced New York City.
It will take some creative steps to make New York and other cities age-friendly enough to help the coming crush of older adults stay active and independent in their own homes.
“It’s about changing the way we think about the way we’re growing old in our community,” said New York Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs. “The phrase ‘end of life’ does not apply anymore.”
With initiatives such as using otherwise idle school buses to take seniors grocery shopping, the World Health Organization recognizes New York as a leader in this movement.
But it’s not alone.
Atlanta is creating what it calls “lifelong communities.” Philadelphia is testing whether living in a truly walkable community really makes older adults healthier. In Portland, Ore., there’s a push to fit senior concerns such as accessible housing into the city’s new planning and zoning policies.
Such work is getting a late start considering how long demographers have warned that the population is about to get a lot grayer.
“It’s shocking how far behind we are, especially when you think about this fact — that if you make something age-friendly, that means it is going to be friendly for people of all ages, not just older adults,” said Margaret Neal of Portland State University’s Institute on Aging.
While this fledgling movement is being driven by nonprofit and government programs, New York aims to get private businesses to ante up, too.
Last year, East Harlem became the city’s first “aging improvement district.” Sixty stores, identified with window signs, agreed to put out folding chairs to let older customers rest as they do their errands. The stores also try to keep aisles free of tripping hazards and use larger type so signs are easier to read. A community pool set aside senior-only hours so older swimmers could get in their laps without faster kids and teens in the way.
On one long block, accountant Henry Calderon welcomes older passers-by to rest in his air-conditioned lobby even if they’re not customers. They might be, one day.
Ben Franklin is reputed to have said “we shall hang together, or we shall hang separately.” Long-time readers know that it is our firmly-held conviction that social networks matter more than any single type of preparation or cached equipment. Here is an excerpt from The Key To Disaster Survival? Pals, Neighbors broadcast on the July 4, 2011 edition of All Things Considered:
A researcher’s data suggest that ambulances, firetrucks and government aid aren’t the principal ways most people survive during and recover after a disaster. Instead, it’s the personal ties between members of a community that really matter.
If you want an easy template for doing this in your community, check out the 3 Steps Program.
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