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!

What The "L"? New Plans Won't Help Our Commuter Hell!

For me, every commute on the 'L' train at 6:30 a.m. is  H - E - double hockey stick! If you didn't know this, the earlier you board this train, the more bums there are -- scattered along seats, sprawled out sleeping. This  means us hard working, tax paying New Yorkers - along with school children on their way to getting an education don't get to sit or rest before the hustle and bustle of our workdays.

Any stop can be your "last" on the L!

Many of my morning rides are spent trying to drown out loud commuters who are wide awake - laughing and chatting it up on their cell phones before the sun even rises! During other treks into the city, I'm simply trying to maintain my "space" in a seat where I get smushed by someone who has no regard for personal physical boundaries. Am I getting my $2.75 worth? Is ANYONE?

 Of course not!!

What gets me riled up is the freestyle mornings! Those are the days when anything can happen. The 'L' train has "signal problems" and "train traffic ahead" or some "mechanical disturbance/delay" that renders everyone's trip useless! Just one minute can be the difference between getting to work on time and going back home altogether because it would simply take too long to reroute yourself from anywhere along the line to another train that could get you to your destination. 

Trust me, whenever there's an issue with the 'L' in the morning, I'm tempted plenty of times to just get on a train back to Canarsie and call in sick. The headaches produced by MTA woes is sometimes too much to bare!!! But why let the MTA defeat me and make me miss an entire day of work!!

A couple of weeks ago, my morning commute - which hadn't been disrupted for quite a few months (shock and a half!!) - was off to a quiet start. Of course, it was too good to be true! A few seconds after the train pulled away from the Myrtle-Wyckoff Avenue stop, the cars seemed to bump unexpectedly into each other and I could feel an abrupt halting of the gears.
Something wasn't right! Sure enough, after two minutes of not moving, the train conductor announced that there were NO L trains running in either direction due to "someone who had been hit by a train at Myrtle-Avenue."

WHAT!

Crazy enough, as I evacuated the train along with hundreds of fellow commuters, we saw a middle -aged man hunched over on the edge of the platform. MTA staff yelled at everyone to stand back as they assessed the situation. 

It was uncertain if the guy hit by our train was inebriated, homeless or simply a straphanger who was side-swiped after leaning too far out to see if the train was coming. It could have been any one of these tangibles. Regardless, we all got yelled at for standing around (and what else could we do - we had no idea yet what our alternative transportation options would be!!!).
As soon as FDNY personnel showed up with their gurneys in tow, we were forced off the platform and upstairs to take an alternative route - the 'M' train - a line that practically stops at every block in the borough!! Sure, we were lucky to be stranded at transfer point - but what if we weren't?

For those of us who wanted to take an 'L' train back east towards Canarsie - to perhaps catch a better option of transfers into the city - it was a no-go. So NO trains operated for about an hour on the 'L' as officials sussed out the situation, soon leaving thousands of riders fending for themselves at the last minute.

This harrowing course of events on the 'L' seems to take place more often than not - and no one has figured out emergency tactics to get riders back on track immediately after an "incident." Investigations, interruptions...the only thing I was thankful of that morning was having the 'M' train option to begin with.
If we were evacuated from the train at, say, Grand Street or Montrose Avenue, commuters would have to foot the bill for a cab to their destination because the MTA wouldn't be able to resolve the situation in a timely fashion. 

Why are we always left stranded?

As you can imagine, I've already had it up to here (hand saluted at forehead level) with  the 'L from Hell.' And I'm not alone when I say that straphangers would have been totally frazzled by the mandatory shut down of our 10.24 mile line this April. Unavoidable Hurricane Sandy repairs would be tediously executed along what officials coined the "Canarsie Tube."

  

Dozens of MTA and community hearings produced a plethora of transportation alternatives. Still, train lines across the board - in one way or another - would feel the brunt of overcrowding as a result of the 'L' shutting down.  Officials can say anything they want about the expected time of completion for reconstruction, be it 13 to 18 months, a year-plus... We were preparing to be derailed every day on the line, which serves 24 stations that accommodate just under 300,000 residents  a day from Brooklyn, some from Queens, and Manhattan.

Alas!!!
New York's own uncaped hero Governor Andrew Cuomo came to the rescue in early January - tossing out years of engineering studies, budget allotments, contracting plans and everything else that came along with the scope of reconstructing our already doomed 'L' line tunnel. Cuomo and his new "team" of engineers from Columbia and Cornell universities have it down pat.

Their new agenda calls for construction that only disrupts service during nights and weekends instead of 24/7 - GREAT!

Their new plans will also reportedly shut down one track at a time inside of the  Sandy-damaged tube so that we can actually ride uninterruptedly into and out of the city with minor inconvenience...FABULOUS! 

Fun fact?
I've been riding the 'L' train since I was 16 years old and to be quite honest, I can't recall too many weekends or late week nights when it actually operated without diversions. There would be weekends at a time when shuttle buses served the line between Rockaway Parkway and Broadway Junction. Then there were days when the 'L' facilitated ONE single shuttle train every 25 minutes on ONE track back and forth between Canarsie and Broadway Junction.
More recently, riders were diverted on the weekends with no trains traveling beyond Broadway Junction, Myrtle Avenue or Lorimer Street so that crews could haul in materials and prepare for the Big Shutdown.

Hey - I should be used to this game of musical trains by now after 20 years!! And we all get it - our precious 'L' is becoming more and more popular every year as Brooklyn's up-and-coming neighborhoods like Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Bushwick draw in thousands of residents.

There have been a slew of editorials, updates and opinion pieces on Gov. Cuomo's reassessment of  the updated work span. I had no idea our savvy governor had such astute engineering skills that provoked him to bring on a new team of contractors and planners!

A considerable population of New Yorkers are worried that Cuomo's revamping efforts will just add up to dangerous or useless "patch work." We want permanent resiliency efforts. The pre-Cuomo plans included a multi-million dollar project which involved removing and ripping out ALL of the old wiring/tracks etc.
Will new plans - that include simply relocating power lines and fortifying bench walls - last long enough? And will the new tunnel components be strong enough that crews won't have to come back years later to fix or repair?

Let's get real - it doesn't matter what the itinerary is for the new scope. Send in every army of  the government you've got with different resources and insights - our 'L' will practically always mean "Lost"!
Once this rehab project is done, another one will follow in 10 years from now... and who knows what those commuters will have to contend with!

Yes, it's a small victory for daily riders like myself who panicked about which alternative method of transportation we'd use when the Big Shutdown finally happened, so kudos to Cuomo! Crisis averted! If you can't sense my sarcasm, it means we shouldn't be shocked or annoyed at any upcoming plans that infringe on our commute.

In the end, it's just another day in the life of hell on the 'L'. 

A Tribute To Our Community's Matriarch: Catherine Rosa

On Saturday, August 25th, 2018 the world lost an amazing woman with a heart bigger than anyone can imagine...Catherine Rosa was more than just our boss at the Canarsie Courier. No words can ever describe the imprint she left on us, but now she will rest in peace...

Me and Catherine at our office party.

I met Catherine Rosa in February 2004 when I was recruited to freelance for the Canarsie Courier newspaper fresh out of college. Having noticed my professionally skeletal resume, she seemed to sense that I was a young woman who was hungry to make it in the news industry.  I quickly learned that she didn't just play the role of Business Manager at the newspaper. 

Catherine was a provider, nurturer and generous individual who brought me on board full time at the newspaper later that year to be her clerical assistant as I climbed way up the ladder - working as a cub reporter with our Editor Chuck Rogers and Associate Editor Neil Friedman. 

Over the next 12 years, my skills matured and I became an official staff reporter. Eventually, I moved up to an editorial position. I was extremely close with Catherine on every level. We spent 8 - sometimes 10 - hours a day together. One Wednesday I was at the office from 9 in the morning until 11 at night hustling with Catherine and our staff to meet the paper's deadline.

On the weekends we would text message, e-mail and use the now defunct AOL messenger to chat about the newspaper she was so passionate about us publishing. We eventually chatted about personal matters and I was so lucky to be able to confide in her about everything going on in my life.

Catherine and her husband Mike.

I’ll never forget how she stood up for me and supported me in an industry dominated by men. This very blog began as a simple "guest column" where I ranted about community happenings. I'll never forget when Catherine said to Chuck and Neil, "Come on, give the kid a chance and let her write something every week! You fellas have your own columns!" 

Somehow, we convinced Chuck and Neil that I was good enough to have my own weekly column, "Telling It Like It Is," published every week on the same page. This was a feat she described as “Girl Power!” 

Even after I stepped down from my full time on-staff position at the paper in February 2016, Catherine and I were inseparable in so many ways. Even though she was my boss from a distance, (as I continued to freelance for the Courier) she would ask me for advice on editorial matters and call me every once in a while - simply to chat and laugh about everything and nothing.

 I was sincerely lucky to have Catherine not just as a boss, but as a friend, a second mother and a guiding hand. When she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in winter 2016, I feared the worst, but prayed and hoped for the best.

  Behind the scenes, Catherine was a remarkably classy woman! She always dressed professional and took pride in herself, making sure her hair and nails were done just right. She was sassy, honest, dedicated, old fashioned and had old school values that everyone -in the office and in our community as a whole - admired. 

A generous soul, Catherine even helped me find my first apartment – and then she helped me shop for furniture for my first apartment. She had great taste in design and there's no tool that could measure her domestic expertise.

One of the traits I’ll never forget about Catherine was her profound love for the simple things she collected. Her collection included hundreds of Swarovski crystals...shoes, anything with leopard print designs...shoes,  countless figurines of owls, more shoes... tons of silver and gold designer handbags, scented candles and reed diffusers (that she claimed drove her husband nuts)… and if I didn’t emphasize it enough… SHOES! 

Our editor Chuck, God rest his soul, used to joke around when Catherine and I were having personal conversations: “Are you ladies talking about shoes again??” 

And we’d always say: "Yes! Get back to work!"

Keepin' the Courier Christmas spirit going!

I’m just one of many young women who Catherine went out on a limb for because her heart was enormous and she genuinely didn’t want to see anyone struggling in life.  Whenever I had a personal problem and needed to hear the truth, she was there to smack sense into me whether I liked it or not and I deeply respect her for that. I think everyone who was close to her respected her for being so brash and motherly at the same time. 

The only trait I think others didn’t understand about Catherine was how forgiving her soul was and how she didn’t hold grudges – even against those who took advantage of her good nature. This humble characteristic made Catherine strong, resilient, loving, compassionate and dedicated. 

I don’t feel like Catherine is really gone. I feel like parts of her are embedded in everyone she’s connected with and our newspaper will continue the legacy she so eloquently branded. I still keep the values she taught me near and dear and I attribute so many aspects of my social and professional development to Catherine’s passion, love for life and the ability to make it happen – whatever “it” happens to be. 

 All I ask of her friends, family, loved ones and co-workers is to keep Catherine’s spirit alive and laugh about the good times. Be forgiving, open your heart to those who are struggling and always use her hilarious, take-no-nonsense vocabulary – which includes phrases like, “ Frig!”... “I can’t take myself”....“Come on Fellas let’s go! Ya killin’ me!” (this was one of her weekly rants, shouted to our graphic designers when we needed the paper done on time). Then there was: “You just can’t make this shit up!”  And when she made a mistake, you could hear her from the back of the office holler: “Ahhhh, ya sister’s ass!” No one will forget her popular Courier rant after working in that office for 30 plus years: “I hate this place!!!” - even though she loved it with all of her heart.

When I heard the news that Catherine passed away after her long battle with cancer, my heart dropped to think that I would never hear her voice again and that life, in general, would never be the same without her. We will always be reminded of her in some way or another, and her memory will live on indefinitely... 

"....And We'll Never Be Royals..." --- And Hey - We Don't Wanna Be!

I think the smooth stylings of singer Lorde put it best in her song "Royals"... But for those of you who couldn't wait to see Meghan Markle and Prince Harry walk down the aisle over the weekend and tie the knot in a lavish wedding (that most of us New Yorkers will never be able to afford in our lifetimes) good for you!

According to most studies, Americans don't particularly care much about details of the royal wedding that took place this weekend. Oh - the dress! Oh - the invite list! Oh dear - is Meghan's family going to fair well with this distinguishing transition she is about to embark upon??? Oh my - let's get a good look at her BILLION DOLLAR wedding ring and how her manicure so eloquently matches her stunning energy!!!

...OH PUH-LEASE!!!

Royal wedding overshadows tragic rubble?

Sarcasm aside, most Americans - as per my investigating on social media outlets - feel that there are much more important worldly and national matters to toil over instead of turning on our televisions (hey - does anyone really "turn on the TV" anymore instead of opening their Netflix or Hulu or YouTube?) to see a huge wedding in which we played NO part.

In the past couple of weeks, America has seen more chaos than we need to: mass shootings, one in which 10 people were killed in a horrible school shooting in Texas, a child and teacher killed in a New Jersey bus crash, and right here in New York City our residents - our POOR and STRUGGLING residents - who live in New York City Housing, are living in deplorable, deteriorating conditions that are making children sick!

With the world becoming hateful, violent and scary everywhere you turn, the royal wedding could have been a reprieve from the never ending gloom, doom and depression of reality. A beautiful wedding filled with perfection, poise and elegance can be a diversion - and a sign that there's something good in this mangled world of hatred and bigotry!! Right?

Let's get real! The royal family and their highfalutin lifestyles have no impact on us as a whole. Want to know how to do your makeup like Dutchess Meghan? You can Google that right now and have yourself looking fabulous in NO time!! Want to know how Prince Harry picked out that to-die-for engagement ring? Simple - just save up enough money and by the time you're too old to even want to get married, you'll be able to afford a nice sized rock for your lady!

On the flip side, want to know when city agents  receive your 311 call and will be sending someone to your house to fix that downed tree from last week's storm which totaled your brand new car? HA! Good luck with THAT! 

Want some real financial secrets for climbing your way out of student debt after taking out a huge loan that won't get paid off unless you manage to snag a six-figure-a-year spot in the career of your choice? HA! Dream on!

I honestly don't see how viewing the royal wedding is an "escape from  the real world" -nor do I understand how the nationally televised "distraction" will ease issues such as global tensions and ISIS' plans to carry out more mass shooting/bombings etc. 

Of course, there are celebrity weddings taking place all the time that don't receive the attention of the royal wedding -- since social status and lifestyle completely transforms the newlyweds as they take on new roles within the British family.

There's nothing about a lavish ceremony that effects me personally or screams "If you miss this, it will be a shame!!!" While all of that trash-talk on social media about Meghan's family does reflect what many of us endure in American culture, it's still a soap opera I won't tune in to watch. Yes, we do "crave a different kind of buzz..."!

A Legislation Slightly "Disconnected" From Reality

It was October 2012 and I was enjoying a mild Saturday morning tending to errands around Canarsie. Suddenly, my cell phone chimed with a text message notification from Catherine Rosa, one of my bosses at the Canarsie Courier newspaper.

"Something smells God awful over here - what's going on? I have a headache from the stench and can't even keep my windows open!" her text read. 

It wasn't out of the ordinary for Catherine to text me on the weekends or during the evenings - news leads and breaking stories don't stop when the office is closed. It also wasn't out of the ordinary for Catherine to message me about non-work related topics - our friendship surpassed professional boundaries and we'd sometimes gossip about shoes, clothes and family matters.

However, when it came to the stench she was griping about, I was slightly annoyed, thinking 'It's a silly smell...and it's a weekend morning...What do you want ME to do? Run over to Georgetown and take a picture of the stink lines?'

Suffice it to say, I did not ignore her message or tell her it's Saturday - I'm not "at work" and I have a right to disconnect from my job. Catherine's keen sense of smell, and her ability to sniff out a story,  led to me eventually contacting our local politician Alan Maisel, who also 'works on the weekend' - should an issue should arise. 

We're never disconnected!

When other residents started noticing the foul stench of gasoline in the area over the weekend, a full-blown investigation soon revealed that National Grid's attempt at decommissioning pipes under Paerdegat Basin went awry. Officials discovered that over 1,000 gallons of a non-toxic oily substance was leaking into the basin and had to be contained, then removed over a period of weeks. 

Still, had it not been for staying connected electronically to my boss and my career, I wouldn't have gotten a head start on one of the biggest federal investigation stories I worked on that year.

During my years as a staff reporter and Associate Editor for the Courier, it crossed my mind quite a few times to block out my "professional life" once I went home. Car accident - who cares! House fire down the street - fuggetaboutit!!! I had a right to declare my right for free time. 

Since hearing about a recent proposal that would make it illegal for New York City bosses to contact employees after working hours - called "The-Right-to-Disconnect" bill, I thought about all the nights and weekends spent toiling away at newspaper dealings for which I wasn't being financially compensated.  Sadly, Catherine spent even more time than I did dealing with the paper's operations for no extra pay. In the media business, that's the way we roll and we stay connected because of our passion and commitment to keeping others in-the-know 

As part of the "Right-To-Disconnect" bill, sponsored by Brooklyn Councilman Rafael Espinal, private companies with more ten employees would have to comply with certain communication rules or face a $250 fine. Sure, they can send a message to their employees - but they wouldn't be allowed to require a response. This fine is supposed to deter bosses from bothering their staff after working hours.

Let's get real! This nonsense bill may apply to limited industries where employees aren't "needed" outside of work hours. "Needed" can refer to inquiries about the office, like - "Sorry to bother you - where are the files you were working on?" or "Can you come in an hour earlier tomorrow?" 

In today's tech-obsessed world, most industries - especially the media, law enforcement and politics - you'll NEVER be disconnected!

When it comes to the media, if something critical breaks at midnight, you can bet your cell phone bill that editors, reporters, bloggers and photographers will be up at all hours of the night cranking headlines, following leads and leaking teasers all over social media.

While the "Right-to-Disconnect" concept is amusing - and a great incentive for low-wage workers to tell their bosses "Go f**k yourself if you think I'm answering that message about why the deep fryer is so dirty" - it's unrealistic to expect high demanding professionals like doctors, law enforcement officials and government employees to cut off communication when they're not in the office. For some professionals, their "office" is everywhere, nowhere and anywhere all at once. 

The major flaw in this bill is that it's being considered for a city that's riddled with non-stop action and people who can never get off their phones - even if they're walking upstairs on a crowded subway, they're glued to their technology! Thanks to social media apps, you can tell the world what you're up to every damned second of the day, so why would ANY company believe you're truly "disconnecting." 

Of course, you have the right to tell everyone when you're....say....in the hospital...or if you have indigestion and you can't sleep...or if you're busy taking a dozen photos of that gourmet cup of coffee from your favorite cafe. You have a right to share your most personal information with your friends and family while ignoring that text from your boss about where the direct deposit slips were relocated in the office.

Professionally, I've moved on to more calming pastures with less emergency situations occurring after hours or during the weekends.  Now, as an administrative assistant for a fashion company in the city, I can't do any physical work or actively help with tasks related to my job/position unless I'm at my desk in the office. 

Even though I wouldn't hesitate to respond to my current boss after hours if he had a quick question about something I was working on in the office, I'm grateful there's no urgency or necessity for me to be connected and "on" 24/7 the way I was required to be in the media world.

It's ironic that a bill of this technological nature would be introduced during an era when everyone is always connected, whether they want to be or not. Or maybe the proposal simply gives New Yorkers an excuse to continue playing that illusive Bedazzled game on their phone non-stop instead of helping their boss once they've clocked out. 

When Our Common Sense Goes Up In Smoke

“Only YOU can prevent forest fires!” Smokey The Bear has been bellowing for decades. If you don’t remember Smokey the Bear, you may be a Millennial or even younger - too young to remember those Boy Scout-like campaigns launched since the 1940s asking the public to be careful when they’re out in the woods.  According to the friendly, fluffy firefighting advocate, nine out of 10 wildfires are caused by…HUMANS!

Humans? We’re responsible for all of that destruction? You mean we’re careless and have no common sense when it comes to preventing things from burning to a crisp?

Unfortunately, that sounds about right!

Within the last month - before 2018 kicked off - the city’s FDNY recovered an overwhelming amount of victims from residential fires. Sadly, the most epic tragedy of the 2017 (and one of the deadliest in recent history) took 12 residents’ lives in The Bronx in December. The culprit? Reports and an extensive investigations found that the fire was a result of a boy who was playing with a stove in one of the apartments.

Playing with a stove? Various reports also claimed the child was known to fiddle with fire. Long story short, this horrible inferno COULD have been prevented 100 percent if the boy’s guardians were paying attention to his “pastime” and reprimanded him for his history of endangering other peoples’ lives. Numerous editorials have already provided some insight on how poorly a job this child’s parents/guardians did raising him if playing with a stove was acceptable. If the supposed arsonist was an innocent boy who didn’t link possible death with flames - that could spread throughout the entire building - what are we teaching or NOT teaching in order to enforce common sense about fire prevention.

The Bronx blaze was the deadliest fire in the city since 1990 when 87 people reportedly died at a social club. Despite the story making headlines nationwide, another fire in a building on Lenox Road in Brooklyn was reportedly caused by irresponsible people. Officials said a pig roast that was burning in the basement caused a blaze that forced tenants out of the apartment building and into the frigid weather for hours.

Really? Someone in the building felt the need to have a barbecue indoors and put hundreds of residents at risk by not using common sense?

Let’s get real, building codes have changed over the years and insulation materials/electrical wiring used to build or reconstruct old homes have to be up to code by law. With that in mind, human error, laziness and lack of common sense are to blame for almost every fire we read about in the news in New York City (states where brush fires and warehouse fires are common place - but in the city we don’t have many of those that wind up wiping out entire families).

With freezing temperatures hitting the area, residents are bound to turn up the heat in their homes - especially if their landlord doesn’t keep the atmosphere toasty. In retaliation, it seems, tenants turn to space heaters and their kitchen ovens for additional heat sources but fail to abide by simple FDNY safety measures - such as DON’T place space heaters within three feet of other objects and DON’T plus space heaters into extension cords.

How difficult are those advisories??? Really!!! If you ever used a space heater, you know that the power cord itself gets pretty hot to the touch. Why would you risk burning everything in your home - and possibly killing dozens of people?

I have a small space heater in my apartment - but it’s NOT placed within even ONE FOOT of my bed, television, couch or any other objects. It’s also unplugged during the night and when no one is home during the day. I, for one, don’t want to be responsible for the building going up in flames.

Public fire safety education DOES exist - the media publishes/airs a slew of rules to keep in mind about fire prevention. Oh - and how can I forget to mention that human-caused residential fires (fatalities and advisories) are ALL OVER THE NEWS!! If you pick up a newspaper, watch a local broadcast or scroll through social media, you’re going to be blasted with updates and reports on these deadly infernos.

If you’re not learning a valuable lesson by reading about OTHER peoples’ dangerous and tragic mistakes, you must have your head in the sand! Aside from the tragedy of lives lost, there is something tragic about the carelessness of those who could take a few simple steps to following fire safety rules.

In just about all of the fires reported recently, human error was to blame. Last December in Sheepshead Bay, a mother and her three children were killed in a fast-moving fire reportedly caused by an unattended lit menorah. It’s understandable that a devout family wants to observe the holidays, but the fire broke out after 2 in the morning (sleeping with candles lit in another room screams danger!). Clearly, no one was adhering to a common sense rule enforced by the FDNY about using candles in general - do NOT leave them burning in your home unattended. PERIOD!

Whether or not a building has smoke detectors isn’t particularly “life saving” if you hear the alarms too late and can’t escape in time, especially if the alarm goes off when there’s not - in reality - enough time to get out. Residential smoke detectors also don’t come with or activate sprinkler systems that will douse flames or announce safety measures (it would help if a voice programmed inside the alarm also gave evacuation instructions and an advisory to shutting doors, which can keep a fire from spreading).

This winter’s been brutal so far - and my estimation is that no matter how many fire incidents are reported, there are plenty of irresponsible HUMANS who could still use a lesson on the basics from an urban version of Smoky The Bear.