Last year, I predicted that a slew of incidents would take place in 2014 (“More Of The Same In 2014 – Don’t Say You Weren’t Warned,” December 26, 2013). The influx of car accidents, group homes, more shootings “with no casualties,” and increased beautification projects that go virtually unrecognized were visible in my “fortune telling” crystal ball in 2014.
It’s
interesting when people say Canarsie’s getting worse – but I content that matters
are going to stay the same and that residents are going to be even more angry
with no real civic outlet.
So what’s more of the “worst”
we’re going to see in 2015? Last year the Canarsie
Courier covered reoccurring issues that didn’t get resolved. Who can we
thank for this? Good question!
More Secrets And A Lot Of: “Nothing’s
Going On”: What happened down the
block from you that all those cops and fire trucks showed up? Why was that
house cordoned off for 12 hours – yet once the caution tape was removed, you’d
never know something happened? It’s no mystery – well, actually it IS a mystery
– why we sometimes have no information on an incident that happened in our community.
We’ve gotta “hear it through the grapevine,” our neighbors or hope that someone
official knows someone who knows someone who can give us an idea if our
safety’s been compromised. As the press, I’m offended when we’re kept in the
dark about happenings in our community. How could the press reassure residents
that the 50 cars they saw cordoning off your block turned out to be
“nothing”? Even if “nothing” happened,
wouldn’t it be great if someone informed us of that fact? Guess some secrets
are better left untold…
Timmmmmmberrrr!!!: Yep, there’s no
doubt in my mind that even more trees in the community will be chopped up,
sawed down and nothing but a disgusting stump will be left behind. I predict
that we’ll get hundreds of phone calls by the end of 2015 about contractors
going out on a limb to wipe out rotted and centuries old trees. Let’s get real
– is it really REALLY a big deal when the city finally decides to cut a tree
down? Fine, the tree was “dangerous” and a hazard to nearby homes…Thanks to
former Mayor Mike Bloomberg, MORE trees are being planted every day to make
this fine city “greener.” If the Courier
is still around in 100 years, we’ll get more calls about those very trees being removed. No offense to all you tree huggers,
but Mother Nature’s beauties have to come down some time – and it’s usually not the most shocking news going on out
there!...
More Housing Nightmares: In the almost 11 years I’ve been reporting, I’ve
never covered so many stories on so many horrible looking apartments in
New York City Housing. It’s only within the last year that we’ve gotten an
overwhelming amount of calls about leaks, mold, bugs and other conditions you’d
think you’d find in an apartment in a Third World country. Doesn’t NYCHA read
the headlines – namely ours when they
make the feeds? Don’t they care that they’re slowing killing their tenants, who
are mostly low-income residents that deserve the same rights as middle class
renters?
Dumping: In 2014, it seems like we covered more dumping
stories than most years. With people taking their bulk refuse or passersby
trashing their crap at Rockaway Parkway near the westbound entrance to the Belt
Parkway, dumping is a never ending battle. I predict we’re going to see more
overflowing and inappropriate use of trash receptacles along Avenue L, Rockaway
Parkway and Flatlands Avenue. Whoever you are – STOP DUMPING ON US! If you live
in Canarsie and just don’t have the patients for the Sanitation Department to
pick up your trash…TOO BAD! I’ve never seen so many Canarsie streets randomly
chosen for dumping. We’re not just talking about weeded areas or people using
construction sites their personal landfill. We’re talking about trash on
private properties and near city parks where volunteers spend hours trying to tidy up. I think more
illegal dumping signs need to be posted for violators and that fines should be
raised.
No matter what stories we run
over and over, we’re curious what’s gonna irk everyone and NOT change our
headlines. Come on, let’s clean up 2015!
To be published in 1-1-15 edition of Canarsie Courier
No comments:
Post a Comment