Another Means Of Dangerous Travel That’ll Have You Flying Off Your Seat

Imagine flying hundreds of feet above the air – seeing the best New York has to offer – and getting to your destination in record time. If you can also imagine being stuck in midair for hours and NOT getting to your destination at all, you’re probably thinking about the frightening aspects of relying on a new form of transportation proposed for the city.

Remember this debacle?

We already had a disaster with the Roosevelt Island Tram in 2006. I remember watching the news and seeing the tram suspended in the middle of the line over the East River for what seemed like endless hours. It was pitch black by the time everyone was saved. Over 60 unfortunate commuters, who simply wanted an easygoing trip from one place to another, were stranded until rescue workers showed up.

Published reports stated that this wasn’t the first catastrophe that happened on the tram. Our city takes thousands of people, from one borough to another, 24 hours, seven days a week on public transportation and there’s no guarantee that everyone’s going to make it through their commute without problems.

So why are we entertaining the idea of the “East River Skyway?” Someone (or a group of residents) should protest what could be another dangerous and lagging means of travel. Haven’t we learned our lesson?

The city already can’t keep up with the amount of commuters it has to transport every day. Hundreds are moving into the city as more multiple family dwellings are being built in posh and hipster communities. The ‘L’ train alone is constantly having more cars added to its line – and trains that run more frequently – every year to serve the growing population in Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Bushwick. And what happens as a result of added trains and constant traffic?

DISASTER!!

My little sister, coming home from the city on her first week of high school, was stuck at Broadway Junction during rush hour with no ‘L’ train in site. The whole line was out of whack, but the MTA didn’t even provide a shuttle bus as soon as the problem occurred – leaving my sister stranded and looking for an alternate route to get home via an East New York bus she never traveled on before.

Let’s get real! The irony of spending millions to improve our transportation system, which leaves commuters stranded because of its overuse, is not a lesson we want to learn the hard way! We’re spending millions to “upgrade” a system that constantly has signal and switch problems. Construction debacles cause shuttle trains and buses to run for weeks and months at a time. In addition, we’re always being herded – literally like cattle – from one train or bus to another when the MTA encounters a problem.

Isn’t this proof that our city needs to focus on improving the flow and dependency of transportation methods we already facilitate? Sure, “it happens” but do you want incidents to “happen” while you’re in a tiny, caged car with dozens of strangers, dangling over the East River?

Okay, I get it – maybe the East River Skyway will help alleviate some of the train and bus traffic that causes congestion. And who doesn’t like a scenic view of our bridges and boroughs? If developers and engineers can truly build a system that will handle our daily abuse – and come up with a safety contingency plan that won’t leave people hanging over a body of water for more than an hour – then it might work.

Unless you ride the rails every day, you’ll never know the fear the MTA has instilled in commuters who need to get back and forth from work. No matter how attractive, costly or efficient any new form of transportation seems, the real test will be enduring the countless hours – stranded in the middle of nowhere – when these beauties malfunction. Happy trails to you and happy spending on a system whose destination is ruining your sanity! 

http://www.canarsiecourier.com/news/2014-09-25/Telling_It_Like_It_Is/Telling_It_Like_It_Is.html 

They’re Teaching Us A Thing Or Two About REAL Education!

Threesomes, secret meetings, raunchy messages and specially assigned “homework”…

Is this the start of your typical porn movie? 

No! Sadly, it’s the way headlines and news stories begin when dirty teachers are finally exposed!

You’d think after all of the stories that were published over the years of teachers being arrested and caught having affairs with students, that many educators would STOP! You’d think that the only cases left to report would be years old – and that teachers and principals currently employed would smarten up.

Two awful stories made the news in a week – one about the teachers in Louisiana who were arrested for having a threesome with their student, and the other was about the Brooklyn Tech High School teacher who “traded sex for good grades,” among other nasty things. It’s discouraging to acknowledge that authorities in our public schools don’t think about their actions before even making moves. I’ve definitely lost respect for today’s educators. Of course, I’m not going to stereotype all teachers for making academics a dirty realm in which to learn and grow.

Kids are told to respect and listen to teachers…That teachers “sculpt” a child’s future. If by “sculpt” they actually mean entice students into a sexual act because things aren’t going right in their marriage or because they don’t think they’re going to get caught…well, then “sculpt” away!  I can use the word sculpt in a sexually suggestive way, too but let’s get real! I don’t want to keep using sexual innuendos to get a message across…

Oh, that’s right, for some teachers, that’s the only way to get through to their students!

When I went to school in the 1980s and 1990s, most of our teachers were older women and men who we couldn’t tolerate. They were gross! They stood over us in class or in the cafeteria and sprayed us with saliva every now and then during their lectures. But hey – THAT was as much bodily fluids as we exchanged with them! We couldn’t wait to get out of class. We put gum on their seats and said, “We’re not finished taking notes!” when they wrote something on the blackboard, subsequently holding up a lesson on purpose. We praised the earlier generation of students who wrote: “Kick Me” on a sheet of loose leaf paper and stuck it on a teacher’s back.

I’m in no way, shape or form promoting any of these shenanigans – but no kid wanted to come near a teacher in any sexual way and teachers didn’t seem to fancy us either! While today’s sleazy teachers carry on affairs for MONTHS with their students, before somehow getting caught, teachers from my days looked for any reason to have a student suspended and sent out of the building. There was very little conflict-resolution going on and the minute a fight ensued between us kids, the parties involved would get a week off from school – OOPS, I mean, they’d get suspended for a week.

Of course, there were probably plenty of scandals that went unreported when I went to school. But when 75 percent of the teachers are in their 60’s and 70’s and have bad body odor or hygiene, how enticing could an affair be? Maybe today’s teachers are “hot” and young – and maybe the students are getting so desperate for attention and good grades that they’re willing to get some “private lessons,” no matter how much they’re going to have to legally skate on thin ice when everything’s exposed.

Are students looking to get their teachers in trouble? And why can’t educators resist getting themselves into these messes? Perhaps they’re ignorant to becoming another statistic – and maybe they don’t read the news or think an afterschool romp is that big of a deal. Don’t they get it??? Do they want their careers and reputations ruined? What motivates someone – who’s supposed to be a role model for our kids – to enroll themselves in an illegal tryst?

In the end, who knew the popular “School’s Out” song lyrics would take on a whole new meaning… “No more pencils…no more books…no more teachers dirty looks.” Whatever those ‘dirty looks’ refer to, I’ve learned a thing or two about today’s educators. They need to have the book thrown at them in more ways than one!

Unpublished 10/3/14

Snap Away NYPD – If You Can Find ‘Em, Then Arrest ‘Em!

MTA surveillance - is this a squashed penguin or a crime?

When the Canarsie Courier gets a media alert from the NYPD, we’re excited that there’s a video or photo attached of a suspect or bad guy who’s on the loose. Photos and videos give a lot of character and substance to a crime story. And if a photo is taken/captured at just the right angle, you’ve got an exclusive view of a coward caught in the act....well usually they haven't been caught...YET!

With all the talk of adding more cameras around the city, it’s no surprise that officials are looking to make the city "safer" and get a stellar image of those dirtbags committing the ultimate crime. Whether speed cameras are going off and catching the bad guy, generating thousands of dollars a day, or surveillance cameras are set up in the subway to deter sex crimes, we’re a city that likes to snap away!

On the flip side…have you ever SEEN these still images from the NYPD? Have you seen those blurry shots from a dark alleyway or sidewalk where a “man in his 20s wearing all black” is accused of attacking a young girl or walking around with a loaded handgun? I don’t know about you – but my eyesight is pretty good and I can’t even make out what these thugs look like. You’ve got pixelated shots of someone’s face and body, or the backs of their heads – and if there are TWO bad guys, you’ve got to distinguish who’s who and squint A LOT to make out any details. Quite possibly, the only people who will know what the suspects really look like are the victims and those who were in the immediate vicinity of the reported crime.

I have problems choosing which NYPD photos to publish in our paper since none of them are even clear enough to give the public an idea what the crooks look like! Snapshots of thugs wearing a doo rag…gray sweat pants…black cap…Well, that describes clothing that A LOT of people wear, so how the hell are we supposed to help the police catch anyone?

I’ll estimate that three out of 10 surveillance images are actually visible, usable and CLEAR! I understand something is better than nothing – and there are hundreds of scenarios where the NYPD disseminates images to the public which are recorded by private businesses and homeowners who can’t get the best quality that’s out there. 

But distributing a blurry image doesn’t help – especially knowing some media outlets, like the Canarsie Courier, will be reprinting or republishing the photos in black and white. And it's not going to help solve the crime if we can't see the damned people!

This leads to my next question: If the MTA plans on putting cameras on their trains, what kind of cameras are they going to be? Are they going to capture everyone? What about when a train is packed to the brim? If they’re looking to catch perverts on the train, they’re going to have get real close and have some type of zoom lense. Suspects – if they’re arrested and make it to court to defend their case – can say it wasn’t them and that, “That footage looks like it could be anyone!”

Let’s get real! If someone KNOWS there’s going to be cameras capturing their every move, they’re going to take extra measures to hide their face, or whatever else will give away their identity. Shouldn’t the MTA do this on the down-low so offenders won’t go out of their way to make their identity hard to distinguish? All they have to do is commit the crime right before they get off a train and “flee in an unknown direction” as officials like to say. Someone exposing themselves on a train might take a chance when commuter traffic is so busy that no one can make out the details of their characteristics.

The only thing surveillance can do is possibly help victims identify a suspected predator. But then, how do you catch the guy so he can get arrested? We have to hope and pray that wherever he went, someone recognized his clothing and other features and reported him to the authorities. How often do cops capture a guy whose image has been plastered all over the city? And are those awful stills they send out to the media responsible for helping with the arrest?

Of course, NYPD Commissioner Bill Braton said this useful “crime fighting tool” will provide more evidence to detectives and serve as a “deterrent to bad guys.” I don’t know how this assessment can be made when there’s so much to consider…How many cameras would you need per train? Per car? Which trains are going to be equipped with these cameras first? What angle will they capture – and how good will the quality of the photos be?

If the images resemble anything like what the NYPD already releases to the public – barely visible faces and distorted details that resemble a large portion of people walking the streets – good luck tracking anyone down. Put that in your camera and develop it!

Unpublished 10/2/14

Who’s Really To Blame For Our Children’s Dark Future???

“I study nuclear science I love my classes 

I got a crazy teacher, he wears dark glasses 

"Things are going great, and they're only getting better I'm doing all right, getting good grades 

The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades, 

I gotta wear shades 

I've got a job waiting for my graduation 

Fifty thou a year - buys a lot of beer 

Things are going great, and they're only getting better I'm doing all right, getting good grades 

The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades I gotta wear shades...”

When I think about the Timbuk3 song “The Future's So Bright (I Gotta Wear Shades)” in 1986, I wonder if the artists were referring to their immediate future or 2012? Unlike the UK artists, whose pop song made the Top 20, students in our community may not have such a bright future – despite the countless efforts of educators throughout the city.

If you've walked along Rockaway Parkway or Flatlands Avenue when school lets out, you'll see droves of kids traveling with seemingly no destination.

Some kids are pushing each other into the streets and others are starting fights at corners and chasing each other into local businesses. For the kids who don't want to go home and do their homework or get involved in anything productive after school, it seems like they'd rather hang out yelling in the streets and rob other kids' cell phones.

Are these kids, with their shenanigans, going to be our future?

What's worse, I've read, is that our economy isn't 100 percent ready for youths who actually have goals and want to make a bright future for themselves.

According to a CBS news report on April 28th, Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott responded to a statement that suggested eliminating summer school could save the city $28 million. Of course, Walcott disapproved of the findings, published by the Independent Budget Office. The article also stated that last summer 34,000 elementary and middle school students attended summer school. The Independent Budget Office “suggested that kids who fail the state exam should retake it in June to pass it and avoid summer school.”

Why are these kids even failing to the point where they need to retake exams and go to school in the summer? Of course, summer school is a vital program that allows students to redeem themselves academically. If they know they'll be stuck in a classroom while their peers are on vacation or enjoying two months away from hitting the books, the idea of having to attend summer school should be a deterrent – but for too many kids, it's not.

There are plenty of students who actually want to get ahead and accomplish academic goals. Many are eager to graduate, get accepted to the college of their choice and start their career, despite the looming challenges of unemployment in their future

Still, the motivated kids are the ones who we need in our community! Let’s get real – for some of those highly-motivated students, the future doesn't look so bright either.

Where are your kids going to go after high school? If they're planning to enroll in or apply to a quality college that will afford them an opportunity to get a high paying job, tuition costs are soaring. Some reports state that college tuition has doubled over the past 10 years. In today's economy, it's not enough to get any old job working in a factory or just “getting by” the way it was in the late 1900s. It takes a college education and a degree to really be successful and earn a decent salary.

However, if your whiz kid doesn't receive a scholarship to an Ivy League college, or if they don't qualify for financial aid to attend a stellar state university, they'll have to take out a private bank loan and that could take years, sometimes decades, to pay back. What type of incentive is that? The high cost of education is another deterrent for some students to get to their professional destination. Want to be a doctor or laywer? Be prepared to spend many more years in school and spend a lot more money to finally be successful.

The New York City unemployment rate has been steady at 8.7 percent since last year. Even though the New York State Department of Labor stated that, “From March 2011 to March 2012, New York State has added 155,000 private sector jobs,” the number of layoffs (including teachers and nurses being cut from their institutions) are outrageous.

In general, there are plenty of opportunities and prospects for kids who decide running from the cops isn't the path to a decent future. Then again, even those students who excel and decide to challenge the roller coasters of this economy may have a not-sobright future. Put away your shades... 

http://www.canarsiecourier.com/news/2012-05-10/Telling_It_Like_It_Is/Whos_Really_To_Blame_For_Our_Childrens_Dark_Future.html 

Did Someone Say Something About Your Etiquette...Or Lack Thereof?

Are you one of the hundreds of people who blatantly interrupts someone in the middle of a conversation they're having with someone else? Do you step into someone's space when they're in the midst of a conversation?

Are you guilty of hollering at someone in the distance while you're on a business call? Do you talk over someone, refusing to hear what they have to say because you just need to “get it out” to them before you forget?

Before I became a reporter, I knew that people had bad manners – those individuals are everywhere! In my field, much like retail, dealing with professionals is mandatory. Unlike working in retail, I can't take a break from the floor or choose to work in the inventory room away from the public. I have to make phone calls and correspond with hundreds of people every day, both in and out of the office.

However, if you are going to do business with a business, it's only right that you know your place professionally and learn some etiquette so that your reputation also remains “professional.” There are hundreds of pet peeves and social disasters that go unpunished every day, but here are a couple I wish to abolish immediately.

We received a call last week from a secretary at a local school about an upcoming event. When I picked up the line to speak to the secretary, she was yelling at someone else who she was also talking to. So, when I announced my name and asked, “How can I help you?” she'd already been in the midst of another conversation, so she was yelling in my ear at the other party. I had to yell, repeat my name, and ask “HOW CAN I HELP YOU!” She apologized and said that she was talking to someone else. I didn't mind telling it to her like it is and said, “Do you want to call me back after you've finished your other conversation?”

This incident happens dozens of times with professionals, especially with politicians' secretaries, whose aim is asking us for help in getting their news out. Why don't you make your phone calls when the coast is clear? Why don't you tell the person in front of you that you're in the middle of an important phone call? Do you realize how rude it is when someone picks up the other line and you’re screaming in their ear in response to another conversation you're having?

Think about it...

I've also been to meetings where people sidle up next to me when I'm in the middle of an important discussion. They interrupt me with some question that could have been addressed over the phone (and without the poor phone etiquette as already explained!) Do you realize two people are in the middle of talking and that your conversation may not be received well if you interrupt? What compels you to just walk over to two people who are talking and open your mouth?

Think about it...

Maybe these people never learned etiquette for these typical social situations growing up. They’re doing the same thing as adults in the workplace that they do with their families and friends, but they're not being told the truth: You're RUDE!

It's one thing to carry on tactlessly and be rude with people you know very well in your personal life. I don't mind if some of my closest professional contacts accidentally break etiquette rules because they are very busy or in a rush.

Let's get real – if you want to get respect from your colleagues, you have to give respect! Even in your own office or workplace, you need to have manners. My biggest pet peeve (one that retail workers can relate to as well, not just those working in an office) is when a co-worker stands right next to me or behind me when I'm the middle of a phone call – personal or not. To me, it's the equivalence of a child pulling on their mother’s skirt for attention while she's in the middle of a serious financial transaction at the bank. Could you not wait until the conversation is over to get within five feet of whoever is on the phone? And did your parents not reprimand you for doing this when they were on important phone calls?

Think about it!...

This can also be applied when two people in an office are talking among themselves about something and an unrelated third party sidles up to the conversation, which has nothing to do with them at all. As a child, my mother yelled at me if we were out in public and I interrupted her one-on-one conversation (she even yells at my 11-year-old sister, who insists on chiming in during our mother-daughter conversations). Even if your parents didn't yell at you and prepare you for the real world of professional communication, where did you learn that it's perfectly okay to pipe in for no reason?

Think about it!...

I have to admit, I've learned a lot more about etiquette by being a reporter and corresponding with professionals than I did when I worked in retail. There is still a divide in this community and beyond when it comes to etiquette. What's the RIGHT way to behave? Think about it – if it's something you don't want done to you, don't do it to others. Besides, if your parents haven't taught you social skills, you'll wind up learning etiquette the hard way – by losing your job or having someone like me tell it like it is...

http://www.canarsiecourier.com/news/2012-05-03/Telling_It_Like_It_Is/Telling_It_Like_It_Is.html

Ganging Up On New York's Department Of Education For Shutting Out The Media

The following was originally published on April 5th, 2012 after I was denied access to a community meeting on gang awareness.

Saturday’s disgusting weather afforded residents the opportunity to stay home and catch up on house chores. The rain and gloominess didn’t disappoint me as much as the story I wanted to cover that afternoon.

The public was recently invited to a Gang Awareness Forum that was held Saturday afternoon at Holy Family School. Hundreds of fliers were distributed by the parish, as well as Father Edward Kane at the last 69th Precinct Community Council meeting. The event was hosted by the Department of Education’s Gang Prevention Unit and Brooklyn Catholic Charities. Plenty of residents over the years have asked for a presentation to be given by an official agency that would help parents identify if their children are involved in gangs. With increased gang activity among the community’s youths, a forum like this is necessary to bring to Canarsie and surrounding areas.

I haven’t covered weekend events in a long time, but I was actually eager to know what the sponsors of this event were going to present to some of the potentially uneducated parents. I’m sure the discussion focused on what signs to look for, what behavior to pay attention to and what patterns children involved in gangs exhibit

I wouldn’t know what the discussion was about – because I was told this forum was NOT for the media to know about. I was basically uninvited and kicked out of the event. Even though I’m somewhat well known in the community, no one recognized me when I arrived at Holy Family School Saturday at 3 p.m. For the first time in MONTHS I had to tell the sponsors at the entrance that I was from our community newspaper. They had no idea what to tell me about the event in general – only that children were put in the auditorium and parents were put in the cafeteria for separate presentations.

I then spoke to a gentleman from Catholic Charities who couldn’t verify anything either. The sponsors seemed flustered and didn’t know what to tell me – as if this forum was some secret event that shouldn’t have been announced so widely to our community. I even heard them repeat to each other that the forum was announced at a community meeting. However, it seemed the public was incorrectly notified and this was ONLY an event for Holy Family parishoners.

I was told that information from the Gang Awareness Forum wasn’t allowed to be published in the newspaper, even though we already announced it in the “Events” section in our Community Guide last week (and that’s the extent of the information you’ll read on the forum.)

“It’s just for parents and children. We don’t want press here,” was what one of the women told me, as relayed to them by the Department of Education representative who was there to speak to parents

I blatantly asked them, “So, let me get this straight – you’ve got kids in Canarsie joining gangs….you announce this event to the WHOLE community at meetings, but you don’t want to share it with the public?”

I suddenly felt like the DOE was being counterproductive in their efforts to educate parents. The only person who also seemed surprised was Holy Family’s Rev. Father Amann. I tried to persuade him that the Canarsie Courier wants to demonstrate that things are happening in the community for the betterment of the youth. Father Amann was sympathetic, but confirmed that this wasn’t something for the newspaper to publish, as per the sponsors’ request.

  Is the DOE off their rocker? Our job, as a newspaper is to get the word out to those who can’t attend civic meetings and other events. Think about it – when you turn down the media, you subsequently keep the public in the dark, too.

Our readers, who rely on newspapers for critical local information, are the ones who lose out. The DOE basically denied the community information. Sure, I could have taken it personally that they didn’t want me there, but in the long run, the DOE’s message to me was: “We don’t want the public to really know about gangs.”

  For some odd reason, no one even offered to send me a press release or write-up after the event. The DOE speaker, who wouldn’t say two words to me the whole 20 minutes I was there, should have given me his information to follow up.

I also don’t understand why the NYPD didn’t sponsor this event – Gang Task Force units have spent years making gang-related arrests and they know where kids are hanging out AFTER school hours and they study patterns of gang activity. The NYPD would have also been much more accommodating to me.

Maybe I shouldn’t get too worked up over a simple event that I was turned away from. After all, it afforded me the opportunity to do all my house chores. Thanks DOE, thanks a lot… 

I May Have Girl Power, But I’m Not A Hypocrite!

Equal Rights have come a long way. Even though us gals can rock the vote and have the same employment opportunities as men, in most cases, we can’t deny that we have different quality of life requirements than men do.

You want to have a child? You’re about to give birth and you demand maternity leave and can’t work for a handful of months! That’ll show those men we’re equal to them and that we can work just as hard – but only if our personal choices to procreate allow us to!

Women have different medical needs than men, too – we’ve got mammograms and gynecological issues that could pop up at any time. Sure, men have health issues – but in every place I’ve ever worked that had its share of men and women employees, women were the ones who had “girlie” problems.

 

For the most part, women are also the ones who pick their children or grandchildren up from school. It must feel great to be a woman and have real “girl power” in that we have to deal with a unique cluster of situations men just don’t have to take care of or worry about.

So, why not segregate ourselves even more by creating a cab company that’s operated for and by who else – us powerful women! When I first heard about the proposal for a taxi company that would offer female-only service, I thought: Wait, don’t we want the same treatment as men? Don’t we want to live in the same world and have the same opportunities as men? Despite our shortcomings, we want the same pay as men and we don’t want to be discriminated against.

Whether a chic-only cab service, also called “SheRides,” would provide a safety net or “comfort zone” that a male taxi driver can’t provide, I personally think the idea is ridiculous. I understand that, as a woman, you want to feel “safe” while you’re traveling – but isn’t this a little overboard? Everyone has to use some form of transportation that’s not so safe. It’s my belief that a woman should know how to protect herself and defend herself in unsafe situations – and common sense should tell you that it’s not the best idea to travel in a cab alone at 2 in the morning – especially not drunk and half passed out on a weekend night – unless it’s an absolute emergency. Just because women who summon the service are reportedly met by a female driver wearing a hot pink pashmina scarf, does that mean they’re going to get extra special treatment? How about offering a free box of tampons with each ride!

What’s next, a train that only accepts female commuters at a special stop near department stores? How about a pink bus that only makes stops at certain streets for groups of women? Wouldn’t these measurements be discrimination?

This new service is also supposed to open the doors of opportunity for women who want to be taxi cab drivers. Really? What factors have stopped them from being cab drivers in the first place? Obviously, something about driving a car – that doesn’t belong to them – at all hours of the day and night and picking up strangers, to take them some place they’ve never been, is not appealing. Oh! But maybe if they’re only picking up women passengers, it’ll make a biiiiiiiiig difference! How’s that for segregating ourselves from the rest of society when we want to be “treated equal”? If you look at statistics, a large percentage of male livery cab drivers have been robbed, beaten, stabbed and killed in the city over the past five years. Other than capturing the dangerous thugs on the cab’s surveillance, how are male drivers truly supposed to protect themselves?

Anyone who transports people from one place to another is putting themselves at risk. You don’t know who you’re dealing with, if they’re armed or if they’re going to threaten you.

Instead of a service that separates women from the rest of society – as if we’re all fragile, fine china dangling off the edge of a cliff – they should work on creating more services that teach women how to have common sense while traveling. Stop putting on your makeup while you’re in your car at a stop sign. Stop wearing skanky looking clothes while you’re on Mass Transit! Stop talking to and trusting random men who could potentially follow you off the train or attack you! Need some more advice? Use your special girl powers to summon some common sense – or hop into a vehicle that discriminates against everyone else! 

http://www.canarsiecourier.com/news/2014-09-18/Telling_It_Like_It_Is/Telling_It_Like_It_Is.html