NYC Rats Won’t Pack - They'll Just Wait Out Back!

Riddle me this….Can a rat tell time?

I’ve never seen one wearing a watch or scampering around a street clock - making sure they’re on schedule for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

However, now that New York City's Mayor Eric Adams added ‘Staunch Exterminator’ to his list of accolades, we can expect rodents to be more vigilant of their infestation practices. Right?

No way!

There are many jokes to be had when it comes to the new Department of Sanitation (DSNY) regulations that mandate homeowners place their trash curbside at 6 p.m. if they’re in covered plastic waste bins or at 8 p.m. if they’re simply in trash bags. These mandates aim to reduce the time that garbage is outside on the streets, subsequently (hopefully!) cutting down on the time that rats come out and run amok.

Really? What kind of 'Big (Rotten) Apple' semantics and logic is THIS?

In my humble opinion - and I’m sure many New Yorkers will agree - the new schedule (that will have DSNY picking up trash at amended hours to shorten the time garbage is curbside) is nothing but a rat race!!!

Let’s get real and consider this:

Rats and mice etc. don’t just come out when garbage is on the streets - If the city actually thinks that household garbage is the SOLE reason rats run rampant, this is a really ignorant mind frame! I’ve had licensed exterminators tell me that construction is one of the precursors for mice and rat activity. With excavation, rebuilding and constant opening of deep spaces in the ground where rats burrow, these vermin are forced out of their natural habitat and into our city streets - and then our homes! 

With their own homes waaaaay beneath the surface being disturbed by all types of projects and land use, where the heck are they gonna go? 

Other exterminators have told me that a homeowner can have the cleanest, most immaculate house on the block and STILL get these disease-infected rodents coming into their home through the tiniest crack or crevice - with their families in tow nonetheless - looking for food and water.

Trash dumped haphazardly in Canarsie.

P.S. I’ve seen rats scampering in the streets with no regard for human passersby at two in the afternoon - on their daily stroll to look for their next meal that's situated in a public trash receptacle a block away. Will the rats now need be more aware of when a larger haul of garbage will be placed outside for them to feast upon?

The Human Population Continues To Invite Them, Via Illegal Dumping - As a reporter, I’ve covered numerous illegal dumping sites for the Canarsie Courier. For nearly 20 years, I’ve seen dumping of food containers, furniture, miscellaneous household items, construction debris and bags of household garbage scattered along the Paerdegats and Seaview Avenue in my hometown. With civic leaders’ help and outreach to the DSNY, these thoroughfares were cleaned - but dumping remains persistent and there are no cameras, no fines enforces and no rat mitigation in place. 

Vermin can have a ball at these spaces that have overgrown brush and weeds that make the perfect home! FYI - even if you’re putting your trash out at 8 p.m. like the law requires, those suckers are still roaming the streets - heading to dark and dingy dumping sites for a gourmet meal and possibly a cozy new mating shack within the depths of the dumped waste! 

It’s party time y’all!

Contributions From New York City's Unhoused Population - Sadly, the existing encampments on the streets - and some in subway corridors-  are compiled of garbage, food refuse and even bottles of human waste. Some of the garbage that homeowners are being mandated to dispose of at specific times are harbored by the city's homeless in dark corners of scaffolding and among cardboard boxes.

I've seen many displaced individuals lugging around shopping carts of papers, empty bottles and food remnants/ containers, soiled clothes and other toxic items that would be a rat's amusement park. How can the city mitigate these unhealthy and unsafe environments? Despite advocates' outreach to the unhoused, offering help and resources, there are hundreds of locations where so many of them are just hunkered into a pile of debris that contributes to the city's trash problem 24/7. 

Multiple Family Dwellings/Buildings and the notorious New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) Must Comply! There are never too many stories to publish about the city’s worst landlord NYCHA and other management companies that hire private garbage collection agencies to do the dirty work.

Private developments will have to have their own maintenance staff and services adjust to HUNDREDS of tenants’ trash being out by the curb at 8 p.m.? 

And have you SEEN the conditions at NYCHA grounds all over the “City that Never Sleeps”? Garbage of all types is scattered in common areas… Trash is being thrown out of windows onto the grass at ground level… Receptacles outside of the apartment complexes are often overflowing with household garbage that doesn’t fit into the incinerator within the building itself. Despite DSNY making stops at the projects to do their routine collections, the agency is highly unlikely to be able to keep up with tenants’ trashy habits.

A rat’s playground? You betcha! And timing has NOTHING to do with this dirty trap!

I can go on…and on…

Of course there will be fines and enforcement that come with this new mandate, somehow. Fines, according to the DSNY, will run you up to $300 if you haven't complied three times within a 12-month span.

When Mayor Adams announced that “Rat Czar” Kathleen Corradi would be directing the city’s mitigation of vermin, I didn’t feel a sense of confidence in the system.

Why? 

Simply put, rats and mice are smart! They're often times smarter than people!

Oh please! You can’t eradicate a population of species who found a way to survive and multiply for centuries no matter what attempts were made to wipe out their existence!

Battle lost?

Maybe!

We'll never be able to cut off their food and water supply, especially with the city growing and neighborhoods becoming more populated -- and housing multiplying. More residents equal more trash ... equal more rodents!

There is hope and there is a solution but all of us need to do our part and become cleaner, more trash-conscious humans!

The city is our home, our future and our investment. Only astute vigilance and respect for our communities can send those critters packing! 

Happy New Year! Let’s Resolve To Stay Realistic In 2022!

 

“New Year, New Me!”

Isn’t that the typical sentiment that always resonates when you’re making a New Year’s resolution? 

Isn’t this the phrase you play with in your head while you think about the ways you want to improve your life and do “more” than you did last year? And if you’re like the rest of us, your plan is to get those changes going as soon as you flip that calendar!

Pandemic, or no pandemic, there are so many of us who won’t achieve what we set out to do. I don’t want to be a ‘Dara Downer’ - however, there are so many feats we want to tell others that we will accomplish, but in the back of our mind we’re fumbling with how to start, where to start, and what will give us a push to the Promise Land where we can be proud to show off our ‘new selves.'

In my humble opinion, a New Year’s resolution is just an excuse to open the calendar to a ‘new’ time in your life - coincidentally taking place on January 1st of the ‘New Year’ and using it as a stepping stone and marker to begin your next journey.

What IS your next journey?

Losing weight/eating better?

Saving money/getting out of debt?

Getting a new job?

Being a better person?

Making more time for your family?

Being ‘more creative’ with your free time?

It seems that one out of every handful of people has at least one of these traditional ‘resolutions’ that could improve their lives.  Accomplishing these goals will make this, as many state: “MY YEAR!”

Honestly, I’ve never actually said to myself, “This year is going to be MY YEAR.”  I have records through Facebook’s memory scope since 2009 - that naively noted practically every year prior as ‘The best year of my life.’ Now, I look back and realize that that was nearly impossible!  With so much time ahead to make improvements - and some changes resulting from tragedies - the 'best year' of anyone’s life may still be pending!

Let’s get real - a ‘New You’ doesn’t just happen because you’ve flipped the calendar! So when you’re making a New Year’s resolution, what’s on your plate? When do you plan to start? What has thus far prompted you to make a change in your life?

Consider this:

New Years Resolutions Don’t Have To Take Effect On January 1st

If everyone waited to change themselves on January 1st, nothing would get done.

Let’s say, God forbid, you had a heart attack or a stroke on March 5th of this year and your doctor ordered you to change your diet and your lifestyle habits - otherwise you will risk another heart attack - or possibly death - within months.

Do you think you’ll risk waiting until next year to start listening to your body and take better care of yourself? Making life changes due to an imminent matter in your life will force you to kick into gear no matter what month or day it is. This can be considered a blessing or a curse, but sometimes, life throws wrenches at your plans, your goals and your peace of mind.

And sometimes, these horrific wrenches are blessings in disguise to take better care of yourself. If this unfortunate turn of events is what you’re waiting for, any time of the year can beckon you to start over and reassess yourself, change your habits and steer your life in a different direction. You don’t need New Year’s to establish your goals when nothing is predictable!

Take Note: Rome Wasn’t Built In A Day

Experts agree - you can’t jump from Point A to Point D without B and C getting in the way -- and being part of the process! For many repeat New Year’s offenders, as I call them, they’re focusing on starting a goal as soon and as fast as they can so they can say it's getting done.

Why are so many individuals making the same resolutions year after year and not getting anywhere by the time February rolls around?

Let’s consider the advice many specialists offer: Small steps towards your goals over time, and consistency during the course of the entire year, are sometimes needed so you can reach the bigger goal. Once you see you’re making strides, you will most likely be motivated to continue on a positive path.

If you want to lose weight, for example, small things like going for daily walks and cutting out  certain foods indefinitely can be a slow start to your goal. It will take more than a few months - maybe even more than a year - to get to your destination.

The frustration of the time it often takes to ‘achieve’ a goal can be a deterrent, but anything can happen from January to December - and focusing on the fact that your resolution must be maintained for the rest of your life also plays a factor. Are you prepared to build, maintain and nurture yourself as part of your long-term resolution?

The Commercialization That A ‘Resolution’ Is For Everyone

I might be the only person who will say this: New Year’s resolutions aren’t for everyone!

If the only reason you’re conjuring up a way to improve your life is because millions of others are doing this, there’s nothing wrong with NOT making a resolution! You might not want to change anything or make any ‘Drastic January Decisions’ if you don’t have the means to do so.

Just think about how commercialized some New Year’s resolutions are. One example is how gyms are pumping with ‘membership specials’ to get you to join. Companies will come up with all sorts of gimmicks to make you buy stuff you don’t need - offering sales on products you probably wouldn’t otherwise spend money money on.

As of this writing, I don’t really have any New Year’s resolutions that I can share, harp on or hem and haw over. I do have goals, plans and ideas that will carry me to 2023 and the low-key absence of a resolution takes the pressure off joining ‘high-expectation’ conversations.

Do Your Resolutions Match Your Lifestyle/Character?

Time and time again, people make promises to themselves that they will ‘change.’ I’m not quite sure how someone can simply make this ‘change’ happen. Some extreme personality changes require extensive counseling - and other personality changes require maturing.

I’ve overheard people say they’re resolving to ‘be nicer’ or they want to ‘be a better person’ etc. If it’s not part of your character, will you simply snap your fingers and change your personality? If you are keen to improve your relationships and friendships but your actions don’t match your character or who you really are - how will you evolve? Internal change takes time, as we all know, and forced change is even harder to process without professional help or maybe even suffering the loss of a close relationship.

Also, does your lifestyle and how you live every day enable you to stick to your resolutions?

If you’re looking to lose weight, for example, are you surrounded by others who won’t deter you from your goals? Can you adjust your entire household - and everyone around you- to make this resolution a reality? Do those around you hold you accountable and support your goals?

Anyone can resolve to ‘get a healthier amount of sleep’ this year or ‘consume less sugary drinks’. Unfortunately, staying focused -while those you live with are blatantly doing the opposite of what your goals are - can make the journey harder to stick to.

In the end, it’s never ‘easier said than done’ and anyone can change their life if they have the focus, tools and support needed to get on their individual tracks. Too many are consumed with this ‘timer’ effect  - that as soon as January approaches we must being anew.

There are lots of ways to help yourself stay committed and realistic. Go easy on yourself and get some perspective - you can always reshape those keys to your year-long resolutions. 

Happy Resolving!

Zoomin' Through A New Era Of Reporting

I've only attended three virtual - or digital - meetings as a reporter since the Coronavirus pandemic hit in mid-March. My last in-person coverage of a civic meeting - a local Build the Block gathering - was at the beginning of March, when anxiety and fear first gripped the city over what to do if everything was shut down and put to an abrupt halt. Sure enough, later that week we learned that stay-at-home orders would restrict our ability to come together and share information face-to-face, something we often took for granted.

Before the technology of FaceTime existed, many businesses would have their briefings and "virtual gatherings" via conference calls on a certified "conference phone" some through VOIP service, which offered call forwarding, call waiting, caller ID and a speakerphone. These appliances, which looked like a space alien tripod contraption, is probably still used in conference rooms all over the world to keep companies and teams connected so they can discuss their professional prospects.

Let's Conference -- OLD SCHOOL STYLE!

Being a reporter is not really a job you can do at home when it comes to "on the scene" tactics.

Ground breaking ceremony - ya gotta be there!!

Perp walk at the local precinct - ya GOTTA BE THERE!

Catching first responders at the front lines of their careers - YA GOTTA BE THERE!

Let's get real...Community meetings have always been the "Let's sit down, have dinner and talk about our day," types of gatherings. Eventually, when you attend civic meetings often enough, you see the same faces, the same elected officials and the same activists who make the community so vibrant and solid. Many of those who attend local meetings become family to each other - seeing each other at two to three, or more, times per week at meetings, for different reasons with different representation. And who can forget the meetings where refreshments are served and they don't mind if residents hang around after to schmooze and chit-chat.

It really felt, at first, like canceling ALL meetings would be both a social, emotional, psychological and physical detriment to the progress of our city and communities. It takes a lot of planning, networking, collaborating and coordinating to put a community event together - especially making sure your guest speakers will be booked and that you have enough time to get feedback from the community.

Virtual meetings, while still effective, don't quite offer the same resources as in-person meetings, but I've learned that much can be done and accomplished in a shorter time when you're in a Zoom, Microsoft or Google video meeting - especially as a journalist whose mantra is "Less Is More." I've so far covered a school board meeting, a NY state committee on education town hall hearing and another Build the Block gathering. I did feel a sense of familiarity and community, as the participants and speakers were leaders I'd known/met, corresponded with and interviewed many times.

One good thing about virtual meetings is that, unlike in-person gatherings, many of the stakeholders are getting right to the point! With Zoom's basic meeting app requirements, you're allowed 40 minutes to host your initial conference and squeeze the most out of that time. I've noticed that during most virtual meetings, time is NOT wasted with jokes (which I do miss) and small talk or 15 minutes of hugs and kisses (which I also miss) before the actual meeting begins. To put it simply, there's less lollygagging during the time when a meeting is scheduled to start and instead the civic engagement conversation rolls out as soon as all the invited attendees are present.

Local Zoom meeting in progress.

I do think it will be somewhat easier and more accessible for reporters to get their information while virtual meetings are the only options available. A lot of us will be given exclusive entry to these meetings to ask questions and we won't have to worry about a physically packed room of people to shout over or wait behind in order to address many leaders directly. Hearing our civic leaders is a lot easier, even though there is less time to hear concerns from those who may not be tech-savvy.

And what about all the old-timers who have been going to meetings for decades - the ones who feel the civic gatherings gives them "a reason to get out of the house?" Reporters know these people by heart - like family - and they know their gripes. They're somewhat the pipelines of our community and  aptly portray the squeaky wheel that needs the oil! My one concern would be for the old timers who aren't able to just "download this app and connect" - the ones who need help and who need resources but don't have or can't process the directions of going digital in order to stay connected. What do we do for these folks? 

When a reporter sees over 100 viewers have joined the online discussion, it seems like a wealth of participants - but how many of those are the older residents who attended every community meeting since ....what was possibly the beginning of time? 

The best part of reporting on a digital meeting is that there's really no excuse to miss it at this point. It's as easy as opening an app on your computer or phone - without even having to show your face or voice (try doing THAT in person!!) You're at home, you're probably comfortable and you don't have to get in your car or on public transportation to GET TO this meeting. Hell, you don't even have to have pants on!

I can attest to the fact that virtual meetings may be the way of the future -and they're not a bad thing. They remain interactive, inventive and they keep people connected in ways that we didn't think possible decades ago (although we seemed to hypothesize video calling as a "Back to the Future" fantasy creation). We can still give each other support, we can still influence change in our community and we can still be a vehicle for information in these uncertain times when a novel virus has torn through our state and much of the globe.

All generations somehow adapt to change and other generations work to create more means of communication that will benefit unprecedented conditions and situations. I'm hoping more civic leaders and associations join the virtual bandwagon even though their fan base remains old school and old fashioned, waiting til the first in-person meeting resumes so they can hug their friends and have a complimentary cup of coffee or water before the presentations start.

I still look forward to large social gatherings as a journalist - and the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Covid-19: A Lesson For The Future So We Don't Forget The Past

Red blotches and craters everywhere!

Swelling, itchiness, exhaustion and body aches...

One of the popular, highly contagious infections I contracted growing up was the chickenpox (medically known as varicella-zoster virus/VZV). According to my mother's notes in my childhood book of immunizations, I suffered with the chickenpox in October of 1986. 

What I remember about the rash-inducing infection was how wide-spread it was among children in my elementary school - and how you just knew someone else had it because they were absent for weeks at a time and returned with tiny pock-mock scars on their face/arms - demonstrating their epidermal battle with the annoying bumps, lesions and craters left on their skin weeks after the chickenpox war.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of kids I went to school with had "their turn" with getting the chickenpox.  Officials never closed down schools for weeks or months at a time (presumably because no one died)...They never canceled any of our programs and life seemed to go on as normal once students recovered from the itchy beast - and man was it itchy!!!!

My recollection of fighting the chickenpox is simply that every body part itched so intensely even after I finished my medications and even after bathing myself in Calamine lotion (which was the only relief in site as far as topical treatments). My parents would carefully blot the pink, chalky goo all over me (as I'm sure most parents did with their children at the time) with a cotton ball and I'd tried my hardest not to scratch my skin. 

"Don't scratch!! It will leave permanent scars!!!"

Some of my childhood vaccinations.

Even though I'd been vaccinated years before that for what seemed to be "old world" viruses and infections like measles, mumps, rubella (in the 1970s, the three treatments were combined as an MMR vaccine) and diphtheria, the vaccination for chickenpox was still in the works and hadn't been available in the United States until at least the mid-1990s, studies say. According to the Center for Disease Control Prevention (CDC) we didn't have clearance to facilitate the chickenpox vaccine until March 1995*.

Sadly, you can develop painful shingles later in life since there's subsequent immunity to the chickenpox but not to strains of other versions of the disease (proof that humans aren't bullet proof when it comes to viruses later in life as well). Still --- why did a vaccine take so damned long?

You can blame politics, government funding, private funding, healthcare disparities and racial inequalities for the thousands of deaths that resulted from the current novel coronavirus - Covid-19. By the time this blog is completed and published, another 100 plus lives will have been lost to a silent killer that shut the city and most of the world down in March 2020.

I find it hard to believe that in this day and age - when robots can assist in executing major surgery and computer programs can enhance a slew of research and resources - we're basically dealing with a fight that can be compared to the Spanish flu/influenza battle in the early 1900s. 

Most historical sites claim that over 670,000 lives were lost in America during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic - another virus that unexpectedly swept the globe.  An astonishing 5 % of the world's population was killed by the virus, calling for emergency measures to be considered as it took over societies in 3 waves*. 

Let's get real. Both the flu, as we know it today, and the chickenpox for example, from what we knew  back then, were both contagious. But, it took YEARS to get them under control and keep the virus confined to one person or a few people who aren't vaccinated. 

Will this coronavirus be the new "normal"post-pandemic? Will society, at ANY POINT simply be able to operate with the deadliest-virus-ever existing silently among us? 

According to some studies, the CDC estimated that the seasonal flu killed 61,100 people in the United States during the 2017-2018 flu season*. Considering the fact that there is a vaccine many chose not to receive, we're still losing a lot less people to flu-related deaths including complications that arise from the illness, such as pneumonia. When dealing with any respiratory virus, death is the greatest dictator and the biggest risk at stake.

Of course, I'm nowhere near being a medical specialist. I have no central knowledge of diseases, viruses, sicknesses and their derivatives other than what the general public gathers from history, experience, literature and studies that may or may not hold much truth.
I also doubt that many of the victims who succumbed to Covid-19 knew what was in store for them just a few months ago. You wouldn't put your hand into a pool of flaming lava if you knew it would burn to a crisp! 

Just think about how one wrong move, that one instance - that one split second - where a Covid19 sufferer could have possibly protected themselves from contracting the virus... Each second turned into a history-making tragedy and they've been added to the statistics thus far collected.

The only realist in this health crisis seems to be 79-year-old Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. In many ways, he's being brutally honest with the press, and Americans as a whole, about how to cope with a new virus we seem to know nothing about in terms of definitive treatment and vaccination timing. 

What makes us angry, as a people, I believe, is that Covid-19 is killing faster and wider than any other virus in history - faster than cancers kill their victims. The percentage that will survive, great! The percentage that will become immune to the beast - superb! But to think that we have to wait years to legally administer and regulate a prevention drug as we have for other "old world" viruses seems...antiquated! 

If this is a political issue more than a health issue, I'm eager to research how the feds and states across the country dealt with funding vaccinations in the 1960s and on. We've battled smallpox and malaria...polio...the bubonic plague, smallpox....and let's not forget the other bacterial diseases that no longer exists because of health guidelines. People in many countries have have to suffer from cholera largely because of contaminated water -- a resource that can be regulated and sanitized.

Is Covid-19 going to be a new norm even after the pandemic quiets down? Will we one day just say to our loved ones/friends, "Oh, it's fine, I just got Covid and have to social distance for two weeks, no biggie...." That is, if the person survives...The bigger question is: Will they be able to market a treatment that will prevent death and the perishing of millions more around the world?? 

Also unknown to humans - what will happen to those who have successfully recovered from Covid-19 in the future? What health consequences will they face, if any, after the damage is done to their bodies? Will they develop breathing or respiratory complications years later as the lungs repair from the virus' wrath? How will unborn children of Covid-19 victims develop?

If history has taught us anything it's that the past "catches up to us" in some ways that we never forsee...

On another note, avoiding contraction of some diseases and viruses are solely YOUR responsibility. If you eat raw, contaminated or expired food, you possibly acknowledge you're risking your health...If you voluntarily expose yourself to unsanitary conditions (wash your hands ANYWAY!!!) you must know you're setting yourself up to getting sick. Some illnesses that have been a part of human history have been our responsibility to consciously thwart off. 

Sadly, the wild-fire spread of the coronavirus was seemingly out of our conscious control until mid-March when we began wearing gloves and masks everywhere we traveled to ward off possible contraction/contamination and even cross-contamination. 

It's hard to think of the coronavirus as a new "thing"...

Even as I recovered from "simple" bronchitis this past February - which involved a grueling 3 weeks of coughing, sleeping and medicating myself - I questioned if there's any true way to stay healthy in this contaminated world of the unknown.  

With so many environmental factors at play and so many humans remaining ignorant to infectious diseases - and add the fact that there's so little time to develop a drug/treatment that will extinguish the beasts of the world -  we still have a long way to go. 

As of March/April 2020, we've enforced 'social distancing' - a term never used in the history of communal functioning - and we're back to disciplining ourselves to keeping with basic functional mandates and following proper basic hygiene (which doesn't mean buying 100 rolls of toilet paper!). These are lessons we learned to follow as children which, as adults we can't seem to practice exclusively in these dire times,  have lead to thousands of deaths...

...Don't cough in someone's direction, sneeze into your elbow, respect other peoples' personal space and keep yourself clean by routinely washing your hands and not touching your face. 

Oh...wait...Why weren't we doing these things to begin with!!!!????

Pray for the best, expect the worst and prepare to be better.

*https://www.thoughtco.com/1918-spanish-flu-pandemic-1779224

*https://www.cdc.gov/chickenpox/vaccination.html

*https://www.healthline.com/health/can-you-die-from-the-flu

Vaping: Why A New Generation's Ethics Is Up In Smoke

The appeal of smoking and its "rebellious" image dates back to the early 1900s when black and white films and images portrayed cigarettes in a sexy light (some may say). Just seeing an old movie star laid across a leather couch with a cigarette dangling between two careless fingers was a symbol of careless sensuality and a "cool attitude."

Who were some of the pioneers of these iconic smoke-filled reputations? Consider icons like James Dean, Marilyn Monroe and my favorite - Twilight Zone host and American writer Rod Serling (who, according to the internet, smoked 3-4 packs of cigarettes a day).

Chew, Not Smoke? Nope!

Totally unrelated, but related, my childhood consisted of school days where the "bad kids" cut class and went somewhere like the schoolyard or staircases to smoke. When I went to Bildersee Junior High School in Canarsie, a group of the "cool girls" wreaked of cigarette smoke, but it was considered a type of rebellious perfume to attract an attract a "cute bad boy" who probably also smoked and had the same educational values. 

Let's get real, very few of the students who were on the honor role or in the chess/math clubs picked up a pack of smokes or went to the bathroom to puff away when the morning bell went off! I wasn't in ANY club or social group and I wasn't liked by the "cool kids", rather I was just boring old Dara who was afraid to fill her little lungs with carcinogens and have her hair/clothes smell like a pipe shop.

Wow - I supposed nothing says: "I look cool because I don't care about my health - and not caring about my health is a great value!" like picking up or continuing a habit that has most likely proven to kill more people than car accidents or homicides in a single city*.

The Centers for Disease and Control Prevention (CDC) reports that over 480,000 annual deaths have occurred from smoking and smoking-related diseases, including secondhand smoke. Lung cancer, heart disease, respiratory conditions...Yes! All of those kids in school have the right idea to look like they're careless while getting a nicotine buzz that helped them numb the pain of growing up. Boo-hoo!

In order to understand the hype behind e-cigarettes and the increasing number of deaths behind vaping (inhaling vaporized or aerated cannabis), most would have to accept the fact that every generation will have a dangerous vice. While I never used drugs or had any interest in substances or substance abuse, I grew up in the 1980s - which was still part of an era when you could smoke in public parks, beaches, restaurants, clubs,  and inside of airplanes.

Our city cracked down on the cigs, banning smoking in most public areas in 2011. Was that going to have a domino effect on our residents and force them to quit smoking since every place they turned forbid them from lighting up? Oh yes, wouldn't it be easier if you JUST DIDN'T SMOKE AT ALL??? Of course!!

Today's generation of individuals - trying to get away with fitting in, getting a buzz/high and  trying to be cool because they don't care about their health - is going a step further than my generation did. E-cigarette users and those who love to vape are dying faster today than the stars of the 1950s and 1960s who smoked regular cigarettes for over 3 decades!

Forget chain smoking and passing a joint around that party just to get a "hit". Today's availability of e-cigarettes and vaping products has upped the game and increased the chances of death much sooner than the smokes of the olden days.

Often laced with toxic cannabinoid additives, THC drugs and chemicals, vaping is becoming just as dangerous as smoking regular cigarettes as it claims the lives of hundreds across the country. In 2019, as of September,  7 people reportedly died of vaping.  Severe lung disease was the alleged culprit - although I'm still unsure why anyone would believe the slightest bit of of smoke trapped in their lungs would be a healthy choice!

Taking these devices off the shelves, banning their use in certain locations or raising the purchasing price/age consumption will not discourage hundreds - perhaps thousands - from getting their hands on these lethal substances. In my humble opinion, businesses are making too much money from those who need a buzz or love to escape reality while risking their lives to care about human mortality.

My favorite "smokes" were the candy/gum cigarettes sold in mini marts back the day. You pulled out a small pipe-like stick wrapped in white paper from the funky box and when you blew air into one end, powdered sugar billowed briefly around your face from the other end, simulating that "cool" image. Ah! But then you took that wrapper off and enjoyed a good old fashioned piece of gum! Yum! 

Sadly, these goodies were removed from stores for "influencing youngsters" to eventually indulge in the real thing.  The Family Smoking Prevention and Control Act was signed into law in June 2009, when candy/gum cigarettes were subsequently banned.

What's the answer? 

A recent Vice.com article entitled  "Seven People Have Died From Lung Illness Linked to Vaping: Should You Quit?" MeiLan Han professor of internal medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Michigan Medicine and director of the Michigan Airways Program said it best:  "The bottom line is that the lungs were not designed to breathe anything other than clean air."

Any questions???

It's A Battle Of The Wheels For New York City Cyclists

My first set of wheels was a Strawberry Shortcake tricycle.

Ah! Those were the days! Cruising up and down the community driveways and around the backyard at my grandparents house on East 78th Street in Canarsie - those were simple times. As I got older and my bikes were abused from wear and tear, many of my wheels went missing after multiple moves during my teenage years.

The Evolution Of A Cyclist: A Girl And Her Bike

I never "traveled" with my bikes farther than to the end of the block and many parents' concerns at the time were that we should "watch out for active driveways" and cars pulling out of parking lots. Kids in the 1980s basically took over their blocks with bikes, so drivers basically expected to see us somewhere in their vehicle mirrors - coming out into traffic.

There were no "designated bike lanes" or greenways as there are now, and cars parked along Paerdegat Avenue North had the entire span to themselves from Avenue J to Seaview Avenue. There weren't enough deadly and fatal incidents involving cyclist and cars prompting politicians to champion for specific, protected lanes designed to keep cyclists safe.

Decades later, with thousands of well-mapped and well-thought out greenway bike paths in place - and thousands of bike paths designated along residential blocks - the number of cyclist deaths are on the rise and there's no end in sight to the ongoing tragedies.

The death toll, as of this writing, is 19 cyclist deaths in New York City. The 19th death was that of 52-year-old Jose Alzorriz, an avid cyclists, runner and triathlon competitor. Oddly, the media states that Alzorriz was waiting at a busy intersection in Midwood Brooklyn when he was plowed over by a car that blew through a red light. How was this well-loved athlete protected?
Weeks before that in July, a 30 year old woman who was cycling in Sunset Park was allegedly hit by a 10-wheeler truck and one article in the New York Daily News noted that "this year is on pace to be the deadliest year for cyclists since 2014."

Why? Good question!

My boyfriend and I got bicycles in August 2018 and we've been using them as our main source of transportation - no parking problems, no money spent on gas or insurance and best of all, we're never caught in a traffic jam somewhere along the highway waiting to move at a snails pace.

And it's so exciting to breeze to a destination while also getting a workout in there! I've recently incorporated cycling into my athletic life as a cross training tool - and it's been more time efficient than taking public transportation anywhere in the borough.

One thing I've noticed as a renewed cyclists is that there are more residents than ever biking city streets. If you hit up city beaches during any summer weekend, you'll see hundreds of bikes lined up and locked up along the boardwalks. On any given Saturday or Sunday morning, a string of savvy cyclists will be wheeling over the Belt Parkway and either of the bridges that head out to the Rockaways. The Jamaica Bay Greenway, as it's formally known along the Belt, is situated plenty of feet away from traffic and can be considered a "protected" bike path! There are physical spacial partitions and barricades protecting cyclists from traffic.

Unfortunately, when they painted white bicycle lanes along residential roads that run parallel to parked cars, the intention was good  but the reality of their space actually functioning isn't what infrastructure designers planned. I don't think it's what Mayor Bill de Blasio had planned in his "Zero Vision" initiative either!

You can create as many petitions as you'd like to make streets safer for cyclists, have more "zero vision" proposals and offer as many transportation changes as you'd like. Just because there's a bike path on a city street, it doesn't mean it's safe, designated or protected and it doesn't mean two wheels are any less important than four!

Let's get real!!! If you want to make bike lanes safe and attempt to bring down fatality rates, the city would have to build boulders, barriers or paths so far away from traffic in every community that there'd be NO chance of collision or danger. This is impossible, I know.  And I was grateful to see that our Public Advocate Jumaane Williams took to the streets earlier this month to trek the very same streets we lost a cyclist to - as Williams' hands-on-the handlebars approach to quality of life ranks top as we try to whittle down what needs to be implemented on our roads.
Despite the presence of existing bike lanes and creating new paths that connect to each other in order to avoid cars sharing the road with their arch nemesis, there will always be fatalities. And the more residents opting to pedal their way to their destination, the more transportation clashes will ensue!

However, here are some other tips and tricks I've learned over the past year that cyclist must abide by as they fight for the road on city streets:

-Even when you're right, you're not right:  Hundreds of miles in each borough are dedicated to bike lanes, whether they're painted slime green or bright white. Even if you abide by the law and stick to bike lanes, CARS RULE THE STREETS. How is it safe to travel along local bike lanes where cars block or double park along the route? Cyclists are subsequently forced to bike around double parked cars, into traffic - and risk their lives even though they took the safest path meant only for them!

-Just because they see you, doesn't mean they don't want to hit you! I always thought that if a driver acknowledges that there's something passing in front of them, they would be cautious. Many times I've had to cycle along city streets to get to protected bike lanes and cars will converge upon me regardless of whether I've slowed down to make myself visible. What do those drivers have against us cyclists abiding by the traffic rules?? I'll never know! 

-Even Pedestrians Hate You: Yes, sorry but it's true. People walking in the streets - or even in city parks - have no regard for bikers. You can ring that little bell all you want (I tried) but many pedestrians are in their own world when they're walking and when they see a cyclist come up from behind them, it's as if a bee stung them on their ass! In my experience, pedestrians aren't worried about being mauled by cyclist, even if it's in the exact environment made for their means of travel. During a recent trip to the Rockaways, I pedaled near Floyd Bennett Field where a youth event was taking place. None of the parents or children walking paid mind as I came through the BIKE PATH made for cyclists to safely travel. We're all using our legs to get around, so what's the problem people!!!

-Drivers Hate Each Other - And You Will Get Caught In The Crossfire!! Let's get real, the number of car accidents in New York City has escalated in the past few years as more residents flock to our state. More people, more cars, more anger, less room, more accidents! I've witnessed hundreds of near-misses as a cyclists - drivers trying to beat the light, drivers racing to an intersection and drivers cutting each other off or speeding past each other in road rage. Too many times, as cyclist are casually rolling along the street - even going in the same direction as traffic - they're victims of drivers battling other drivers. If we can't get our drivers under control and our auto fatality rates under control, how can we keep others safe who are also utilizing the streets?

Now that I understand how tumultuous it  can be as a cyclist in the city, and now that I'm acknowledging how reckless accidents take place, I can only control my own safety and awareness.

Of course I miss the days when my little girlie basket sat perched at the front of my tricycle and the only care I had was -- what will my next bike would look like? Okay...I STILL have a "girlie basket", but it's packed with travel goods and I'm hoping it outlasts all the crazy drivers that get in its way!

Why The Judicial System Adds Insult To InJURY

Junk mail isn't as overwhelming as it used to be. We used to get tons of magazines and who can forget Publishers' Clearing House envelopes bursting with false hopes. We also used to get an influx of medical supply magazines selling gadgets like boot warmers and silly looking gardening knickknacks. Today, there's that ONE PIECE OF MAIL you'll dreadfully receive and it's the equivalent of a mental death sentence; you start to feel animosity towards conventional mail altogether. 

The courthouse had a scenic view of the borough, at least!

In February I finally received that long, yellow-highlighted notification advising me to report to jury duty on Wednesday, March 20th. Of course, they wanted me to call their useless phone number the night prior to going to the Supreme Court in Downtown Brooklyn. Why waste time calling to find out if you have to report? About 80% of the time, you have to report in. You usually can't get out of it unless you're disabled, have children or can find another real, legit and brilliant excuse as to why you can't sit in a building wasting 8 hours a day for less money than you'd earn actually going to work. 

Honestly, I didn't see the negative aspects of serving jury duty -- at first. Hey, it's a day off of work, right? I wouldn't have to travel to the city, I'd be in the heart of Brooklyn with all of those gourmet fooderies and I could do some shopping!  It wouldn't be sooooo bad!!!

Great! I woke up at least an hour later than usual, I took my time and pffffff - I got there at 9 a.m. even though the jury card said 8:30 a.m.  Come on! They're not paying me to be there on time!!

Courthouses are pretty cool and neat. Neat meaning, they look more sterile than a hospital during a flu outbreak. As I went into the huge auditorium already showing some flimsy video clip about citizens being required to carry out their civic duty by being part of the judicial system, I hoped this ordeal would be simple.

Not so much (of course!).

All of the jurors were corralled like harnessed stable horses from the big auditorium into a smaller room where we were addressed by a court officer. "I know y'all all bearing with us, but just imagine - we have to do this every day!"

Every day? In effort to escape getting arrested for arguing with a law enforcement official, I stopped myself from standing up and hollering - "Every day? Y'all get PAID a nice salary and a pension with plenty of vacation and a retirement plan fit for a king!!!! Y'all get to wear bullet proof vests and get certified as reputable law enforcement while we waste away in this suit-obsessed building for a measly $40 a DAY!!!"

Falling asleep in the courthouse - not an unusual site.

For some reason, the professionals who work in the courts want us to pity them (when this is what they pine to do professionally and get paid pretty well to carry out) for having to endure the criminal justice system every day.
Hey- we're just hard working New Yorkers forced out of our jobs and lives to determine someone else's legal fate whether we want to or not!!! Who has it rough?????

The group of jurors I joined were corralled up to another floor where we waited yet again. I didn't get to enjoy my "day off". I wanted to read, catch up on my date book planning and text with a friend. With all of the standing and waiting, I lost over 3 hours of productive time.

Finally, when we were inside the courtroom, we were - in the end - either chosen or not chosen to preside over a burglary case. I obviously can't give the details of the case, but in the back of my mind I wondered why someone would need a dozen random people to prove their innocence!!! How many upstanding citizens who simply go about their business and stay OUT OF TROUBLE wind up in a courthouse with several different criminal charges and their lawyer sitting there trying to convince us that this is a "nice guy". Why would I even care if he was framed?

The bad news was that I was chosen for the case. The good news is that I was later excused from serving as a juror for the simple fact that I couldn't afford to be out of work for a week - the projected time the case would take to reveal all of the evidence and testimonies - at $40 a day.

After dodging the bullet of having to put someone in jail - or letting them roam free - I started noticing more stories in the media about everything that's wrong with our government's jury selection process.

I don't know how many of you have ever served on a case or have witnessed the process by which prosecutors and lawyers choose juries. I've been to jury duty selection 3 times since I was 20 years old and the oddest thing I realized is that most juries are comprised of middle class (or once middle class) workers who are average residents of the county.

 In the juror pool I joined last month, at least 7 of the jurors were freelancers - many journalists for news sites. Others were artistic designers, liberal arts aficionados and construction workers. Of course, the court's time was wasted inevitably by roves of poor souls trying to provide an excuse for why they couldn't be picked for a case. One woman pretended she didn't understand English. DANG, why didn't I think of that?... Oh, yes, it's not really a "disability" as many think it is.

I've actually never seen or heard of a jury "of my peers" who were doctors, lawyers, CEOs of companies, Wall Street types or politicians. How often do they even receive summonses to appear for jury duty? Is there some salary bracket that upper class and rich people fall into that by and large excludes them from the judicial hell that is jury duty? Does their professional standing get in the way of them being chosen - and are they easily excused from even being picked because their professions are SO in demand that the State Of New York doesn't want to touch their delicate schedules??

Who knows!!!!

It doesn't take much to realize that jury duty and the process by which the courts "randomly" chooses us is the worst and most out dated rigmarole I've ever seen. There are a few factors that makes jury duty itself faulty and ineffective to any case - especially one that's in the spotlight.

The court system is full of confidence and legal nonsense. They want people who don't care about someone else's criminal activities to think beyond reality. We have to declare and believe that someone's "innocent until proven guilty."

Let's get real!!!!!  The reason they're in court to begin with is because someone out there deems them unsavory and they've already gotten their hands dirty somehow by being involved with the wrong people or by being at the wrong place of accusation.

Now, I'm not a saint by ANY means, but I've never had a brush with the law. I've never been involved in a situation where I put myself in any legally compromising position. No one has ever had to defend my innocence. 

I'm sure there are millions of people out there who just live their day-to-day life without being questioned by the law. It' my opinion that those aren't the people who need a jury to decide if they deserve time behind bars.

Nowadays, jury selection shouldn't be about choosing a "regular working person" at random and throwing them into a room to be questioned. 

If you picked up the March 27th issue of the Daily News, you could clearly understand in their article, "Let Me Trial Again: Chapo Sez Toss Conviction by Tainted Jury," how cocaine kingpin El Chapo felt the randomly selected individuals were swayed in their decisions by social media.

Who isn't???

Whether the courts want to admit it or not, most jurors - when exposed to a case - can't help but recall some of the most notorious stories in the media - the O.J. trail, Michael Jackson's array of legal woes - from sexual allegations to claims that his own doctor reportedly assisted in his passing, and more recently, Bill Cosby's almost shocking sentencing years after his abusers were victimized.

As "normal folks" we're all watching 'Law And Order,' 'CSI', 'Forensic Files', 'The First 48 Hours' and 'Dateline'. Nowadays, we're constantly fed information on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter about new evidence, updates on a crime and press releases/statements from politicians intended to go viral. We know more about a robbery, murder or lawsuit than we truly want to because it's all made public information somewhere and who can be 100 % honest that what they've read in the news has NO impact on how they view the criminal justice system?

The old saying goes that no matter what, if you're picked for a jury, you have to be able to prove the client's guilt/innocence "beyond a reasonable doubt."
By the time they reviewed this bit of famous information,  I was sitting in the jury box - pitying the suits who had to waste the court's time questioning our perception of the law. Who knows how many individuals receive unfair trails every day?

For example, anyone who lived in New York in August 2016 knows the horrible story behind the murder of Karina Vetrano, a runner who was reportedly attacked and killed in Queens by Chanel Lewis. The jury on this trial revealed a guilty verdict and the Daily News' April 2nd article, "Justice For Karina" implied that the jurors weren't being fair to Lewis in many legal facets.
So an average person like ME has to sit and listen to a case we already knew about and feel horrible for the family? Were the jurors swayed inadvertently by the evidence and stories they'd heard on the news and social media years before Lewis' trial began? Did they feel bad for the Vetrano family at the inception of the tragedy?

Of freakin' course!!!

By the end of my own jury court day, as I was informed of the procedure when we returned to the courtroom the following week, I already thought about the criminal justice system and my hatred/dislike for its processes.
So many defense lawyers and prosecutors want retrials, new jurors, appeals and verdicts that really mean something to their clients' case. With this in mind, how can they proceed with jury selection when their pool is limited to the class and types of jurors they bring in.

My proposal? Bus in a slew of retired professionals who have life-long experiences and values who don't mind spending a day Downtown Brooklyn wasting time. Provide these seasoned individuals with meals and transportation from their senior centers to the courts.
Make jury duty a volunteer-based legal program with benefits (provide jurors with meals, allow them to use their cell phones whenever they want and PAY THEM AT THE END OF THE DAY!!!) Please - stop forcing working people to sacrifice their salaries just to decide the fate of someone they don't even care about (which is the point of hearing someone's story).
If someone's receiving unemployment for a long time, make it mandatory that they serve on a jury in order to receive benefits until they find a job. Yes, plenty of jurors are unemployed etc., and the court should take advantage of those who aren't worried about missing work and important deadlines.

No matter who's picked, it always seems like the supposed criminal isn't being operated fairly... or someone isn't happy with the verdict. Then what good did the courts do selecting jurors to preside over those cases in the first place?

Well, I'm still waiting for my $40 compensation for serving that one day - that one day which made me realize that nothing's improving in our judicial system and even when "justice is served" there will be someone out there looking to settle the score and challenge a new jury's decision because they're unhappy with the results. It's also unsettling that it's a crime to not show up to jury duty!!!

Really!!!
Case dismissed!