Monthly Archives: February 2017

So…Editorials from 2 NYC and one NY State media outlets (not known to always agree!):

Cuomo [with help from NY State Legislature]!

New York Times:

A lousy bill reached Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s desk this week. It would block New York City’s attempt to impose a nickel fee on plastic bags, as a way to reduce their use.

Mr. Cuomo could have vetoed it. He could have said: This bill is bad for the environment, because it allows billions of bags to keep choking the city’s waste stream. It’s undemocratic, because it throttles the city’s ability to attack its own pollution problem in its own way…

“…governor…likes to say, “In this state, with all our diversity, there is no one size fits all, so we work region by region”? So why does New York City have to wait while the state government finds some bag plan that applies to Malone and Elmira, too? Why punish New York City but not Suffolk County (population 1.5 million) and the city of Long Beach, which have passed similar bag fees? Does Long Island inhabit some special zone exempt from the logic of Albany?”

The Daily News:

“Rather than stand up and reject state legislation killing the City Council’s imposition of a nickel fee on disposable paper and plastic grocery bags, Gov. Cuomo on Tuesday joined the gang infantilizing New York City…. [Gov’s task force to ‘solve’ state wide] a sorry excuse for bigfooting the city and nullifying its exhaustive, good-faith legislative efforts, even as identical bag fees in two other parts of the state remain untouched.

Absurdly, the only idea off the table is the one that the duly elected representatives of New York City arrived at after two years of careful study: A fee on all bags collected by grocers, with exemptions for the poor.

[Instead Cuomo] floats two alternatives… One, an outright ban on the polluting, never-degrading plastic bags. Two, a straight-up tax, with the money going to the government.

..the City Council… [found] that the bans have a hell of a time defining precisely which plastic bags are proscribed. …Chicago had a ban. It didn’t work, so it was changed to a fee of seven cents. California …a dime fee for each allowed bag — thicker plastics and paper. That money goes to the grocers.”

TimesUnion:

NYC’s forward-thinking plan to slash the tons of disposable bags dumped weekly into its landfill has been derailed by the state Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Instead, they say, we need a statewide solution. …why make New York City wait?

The city’s Carryout Bag Law would have imposed a 5-cent fee for each single-use bag customers take from local vendors. …Mr. Cuomo acknowledged the stunning statistics that led the NYC Council to pass the law in the first place: The city’s Department of Sanitation estimates it collects 1,700 tons of plastic bags per week and spends $12.5 million annually to dispose of them. This doesn’t include those that get away, blowing like tumbleweed through the streets, clogging storm drains and choking wildlife.

Mr. Cuomo and the many opponents who pushed for a state law to overrule the city’s action argued the 5-cent fee would particularly burden the poor. And because merchants would keep the fee, the governor said, it would be a $100 million annual windfall for them.

That may be a bit of an exaggeration, because if the program was successful, the amount of nickels paid by consumers would begin to drop quickly. As far as corporate windfalls go, just consider the continuing windfall the governor’s and Legislature’s action has guaranteed for the plastic bag industry, whose lobbyists fought hard to kill New York City’s fee.”

Thursday February 23, 2017, 6-8pm

NYCHA Rutgers Houses Community Center

200 Madison Street (at Rutgers Street)

NY NY 10002

LES Employment Network

with support from NYCHA REES

CB3, The Door, GOLES, CPC, UniversitySettlement, Ed. Alliance, Grand Street Settlement, Henry Street Settlement, others.

Something for all of us to think about?

From the Guardian:

“No one in the public eye should expect to avoid scrutiny and criticism. As the UK’s first black female MP, Diane Abbott never had the opportunity to be so naive. She has not only weathered political storms and prejudice but endured years of outright abuse without complaint. Now, as she has revealed in the Guardian, things are getting worse – and it is preventing people from entering the field or speaking out”….:

“Once, the pushback was against the actual arguments for equality and social justice. Now the pushback is the politics of personal destruction,” she wrote.”

That reflects in part a political discourse that is becoming coarser and more vicious. But those who do not fit the traditional mould of a public figure – white, male and straight – are more often subjected to vitriol, and such vitriol will more often focus on their identity, not their opinions. …

It should be extraordinary that high-profile women receive a torrent of hate messages directed at their gender and ethnicity, and rape and death threats. Instead, it is becoming routine. Female MPs say they feel physically unsafe; Jo Cox was targeted online before her murder by a far-right terrorist, and her death is used to threaten them. …Social media has amplified longstanding prejudice, increasing the pressure on its targets through volume and normalising personalised abuse and hatred….

1. ….leaders need to make it clear that there is no place for misogyny and racism in public life.
2. Technology firms must get as serious about tackling abuse as they are about, for example, copyright infringement.
3. Other institutions too must consider how they handle the problem.
4. Finally, the rest of us should challenge prejudice, resist the normalisation of cruelty and bigotry, and consider how we can build a civil, inclusive and constructive public sphere… “
5. And maybe agree to post using our actual names [unless there is a real threat of exposure to harm]

“Freedom of speech is precious. But it is not an inalienable right to bully, threaten and belittle others into silence without consequence.”

Thanks to the Lo-Down for the article on Robert Newman’s passing and this Channel 12 Long Island News piece:

“Spending more than 40 years with Ladder 18, many colleagues referred to Newman as a legend….

Newman’s friends say he turned down multiple opportunities for promotions during his years with Ladder 18, saying he just wanted to stay with his firehouse and help the folks of the Lower East Side.”

The Lower East Side thanks Firefighter Newman for his service, steadfastness, generosity, loyalty and bravery on behalf of our communities.

“Newman is the fourth firefighter to die this year of 9/11-related illness and the 126th since the terror attack in 2001.

Newman was also a Vietnam veteran.”

The Manhattan Borough President honored the firefighters of The Pitt in May 2015.

From: State of Politics

“In a 929-word statement issued Tuesday afternoon…

“Cuomo added he was sympathetic to the support from environmental groups who want to cut down on plastic bag waste, but also the argument the fee amounts to a regressive tax…” [no one on assistance would have to pay] [no mention of windfall to oil and plastics industries]

In place of the city-based surcharge, Cuomo is forming a “task force” to take review how to reduce waste.

…Local governments and stakeholders will also be included. 

Local stakeholders & governments DID weigh in on the issue. That’s the bill WE passed.

….By the end of this year, this Task Force will conclude with a report and proposed legislation.

….I look forward to New York State leading the way on this issue.”

Too late! NY State is already lagging behind. Rwanda already has one.

Gong hei fat choy! This year marks the 10th Annual Lantern Installation, created by MS 131 students and Hester Street Collaborative’s  Ground Up Design Education Program. The lanterns will be on display in Sara D. Roosevelt Park from now until mid-March. 

From BoweryBoogie:

“Saturday afternoon, Chinatown rang in the year of the Rooster with quite a bang. Literally.

For the eighteenth year running, the Better Chinatown Society hosted the Firecracker Ceremony… attracting hundreds to the Hester Playground inside Sara D. Roosevelt Park. (Falling on the weekend certainly helped turnout.) The event featured traditional song and dance, Tai Chi, dragons, and lions.”

Retrain Workers for Long-Term Work Lives and to Build Energy Infrastructure that is Sustainable and Long-Term Cost Effective for NY State

Times Union Editorial Board:

“…By its own account, 2016 was a “monumental year” for Exelon, for good reason. It’s not every year that a company gets a $7.6 billion boost courtesy of New Yorkers.

Exelon is slated to reap that windfall over the next 12 years through a fee on just about anyone who gets an electric bill in New York, all to support its nuclear power plants in the state. That’s an energy tax by any other name, but as a fee levied by a state commission, it has drawn far less attention than, say, an income tax increase of that scale would receive.

Lawmakers, however, will have a chance to take a closer look at this huge corporate subsidy for a company with an annual net income of more than $2 billion. They’ll also have a chance to look more closely at how this new tax came about in yet another example of New York’s shadow government at work.

The money will be raised in the form of Zero Emissions Credits, which, simply put, translate into a fee on electric utility bills in the state. It will go to Exelon as part of a deal to keep open its two Nine Mile Nuclear Station plants and its James A. Fitzpatrick Nuclear Power Plant in Scriba, and its R.E. Ginna Plant near Rochester, for a dozen more years.”

Slant City and State: by Nicole Gelinas is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Follow her on Twitter @nicolegelinas.

“For nearly a decade, since the Bloomberg era, the city has been trying to cut down on plastic bag use. New Yorkers use 9 billion plastic bags a year – making up two percent of all waste – most only for a few minutes. Unlike paper, metal, glass and higher-quality plastic, these bags aren’t recyclable. The city spends $12.5 million a year – and requires 7,000 truck trips – to cart 91,000 tons of plastic bags to landfills. Loose bags clog up sewer drains and end up in waterways, where fish and birds eat the plastic particles.

Last year, the New York City Council passed a bill, sponsored by lower Manhattan’s Margaret Chin and Park Slope’s Brad Lander, and signed into law by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. The law, set to take effect Feb. 15, is straightforward: Supermarkets and most other stores – except liquor stores – must charge customers at least five cents for each carryout plastic or paper bag. The stores would keep the money, so it’s not a tax. People who use food stamps and WIC benefits are exempt.”