On December 6th, thousands of protesters filled Foley Square to express their outrage over the Sean Bell shooting. Today, the Rev. Al Sharpton is promising civil disobedience, slow-downs and pray-ins at six locations around the city to protest the acquittal of three cops charged in the shooting.
From a press release:
Reverend Al Sharpton, President of National Action Network, will lead a citywide "pray-in" on Wednesday, May, 7th at six locations around New York City to lead up to an eventual citywide shut down this Spring. Joining Rev. Sharpton in civil disobedience will be Nicole Paultre Bell, Joseph Guzman, Trent Benefield and other community and religious leaders to call upon the United States Department of Justice to intervene in the case.
According to Rev. Sharpton, participants in Wednesday's "pray-ins" at six locations across the city should be prepared to go to jail to protest the acquittals of the three detectives. "If you are not going to lock up the guilty in this town, then I guess you'll have to lock up the innocent," says Rev. Sharpton. Rev. Sharpton said protesters at each location would get down on their knees in prayer.
The protest will begin at 3:00 p.m. at the following locations:
Site A: 125th and Third Avenue (led by W. Franklyn Richardson, Chairman of National Action Network)
Site B: Third Avenue and 60th Street (Led by National Action Network senior staff)
Site C: 34th and Park Avenue (Led by National Action Network Senior Staff)
Site D: Varick and Houston Street (Led by Hazel Dukes, NAACP and Labor leaders)
Site E: One Police Plaza (Led by Rev. Al Sharpton. Nicole Paultre Bell, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield will be at this location)
Site F: House of the Lord Church, Brooklyn, New York (Led by Rev. Herbert Daughtry)
Pickles picketed for part-time workers at a May Day protest at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, where educators and tour guides have been seeking recognition for a their union for a year and a half.
Union leaders from UAW 2110, which represents the workers, celebrated May Day by handing out free pickles and singing old time union songs outside the museum’s visitor’s center and gift shop on Orchard Street.
“This is a great institution, but the working conditions are unsustainable. There’s a revolving door of people leaving” said Lily Paulina, a educator and costumed interpreter at the museum.
The union began its organizing drive about a year and a half ago, with a request for benefits, a merit-based pay system, and a fair disciplinary process. According to members at the protest, the management of the museum has refused to recognize the union.
“A lot of people were getting fired and we didn’t know why” said Lethia Nall, a union organizer and long time tour guide. “I’ve been here five years, and I never got a raise until the union.”
The pickled protest was meant to connect to a bit of Lower East Side history as part of the museum’s mission to connect with the past and make it come alive, according to Paulina.
“We love the visitors, and we wanted to entertain them” said Nall. “We wanted to find different ways of saying that we aren’t going away.”
Recently two new videos have emerged online documenting police harassment of photographers, and acts of violence against riders , but there is hope that April might set a precedent for lighter policing of the event in the future, particularly for the Bike Month ride in May.
Posted by Duncan Meisel at 12:55 PM, April 28, 2008
The ongoing war between the forces of gentrification and the middle and working classes of the "old New York" has hit Chinatown too.
A new organization, calling itself the Coalition to Protect Chinatown and the Lower East Side, has taken aim at what it says are three threats to the neighborhood: a lack of affordable housing, a rezoning plan that could push upscale high-rise development from the Lower East Side to Chinatown, and a potential Business Improvement District that they say would tax small businesses out of existence.
The Coalition’s biggest battle thus far has been over rezoning laws, which Josephine Lee, a leader of the newly formed Coalition, calls racist for its exclusion of neighborhoods of people of color from protections against luxury and high rise development. According to Lee, the rezoning plan “excludes Latinos and Chinatown” and would encourage taller, pricier development to move East and into Chinatown by setting limits on development in trendier parts of the Lower East Side.
“All we’re asking for is accountable development” said Lee who is also a member of the Chinese Staff and Workers’ Association. “If you have a whole community that caters to tourists, where will community needs go—the doctors, the grocery stores? Where will residents go? They will be priced out their community.”
Another potential culprit in the changing neighborhood is ‘inclusionary zoning’ laws, that allows taller development in exchange for developers setting aside 20% of new housing units for affordable housing. However, community activists say this is inadequate to ensure the neighborhood stays affordable.
“They’re not going to build housing affordable for the people in the area” said Hoon Kim, another member of the coalition, who works with the group National Mobilization Against Sweatshops. He said the standard for what is ‘affordable’ sets the bar too high for residents in the area, using a measure derived from median income for the metropolitan area. Lee says residents would have to make $60,000 a year to afford to live in the units, in a neighborhood where the average income is around $20,000 a year.
Debate also continues over a proposal to create a Business Improvement District for Chinatown. A total of 59 BIDs have sprung up over New York, providing marketing, beautification and public safety services to its members according to the City’s Department of Small Business Services. Two groups—the Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation, and the Rebuild Chinatown Initiative—have begun advocating for the formation of a Chinatown BID, a process organizers say is at its “embryonic” stage. The Coalition opposes a BID because it would add one to five percent to property owners’ taxes, forcing businesses operating at the margins into closing.
“[The BID] is a tool, a marketing tool. If I didn’t believe this was helpful to Chinatown, I would drop it immediately.” said Wellington Chen of the Chinatown Partnership LDC. “The discussion is whether Chinatown will participate in the party, or will it be on the floor scrubbing.” Chen points to the BIDs that surround the area, and to Chinatowns around the country that operate under BIDs as reasons residents should invest in forming the district. At least one business owner with the Coalition takes issue with this approach.
“The Boston Chinatown, the LA Chinatown— they’re horrible shells of what they used to be, and much of the reason is that they’ve been taxed out” said Jan Lee, who also took issue with the comparison to other neighborhoods in New York. “Other BIDs in New York City have anchor businesses such as Lincoln Square for Lincoln Center, or 34th St. which has Macy’s. Trying to tap landlords in a place like Chinatown, the same equation doesn’t apply.”
Ultimately, community activists point to the visible liveliness of Chinatown’s streets as the best reason to fight the impending changes. “It would be different if Chinatown were a depressed neighborhood, if there was no commerce there” said Rob Hollander of the Lower East Side Residents for Responsible Development. “It’s a low income but viable neighborhood. Not every neighborhood has to be about luxury.”
Posted by Maria Luisa Tucker at 11:24 AM, April 22, 2008
Last week, we reported that the city parks department reluctantly approved an August punk show to commemorate the violent 1988 police riot in Tompkins Square Park. Among those celebrating the news was Clayton Patterson, an East Village artist who filmed over three and half hours of the 1988 riot. Patterson provided the Voice with clips from that footage, which show in graphic detail a number of protesters, bystanders and even reporters being beaten by cops. That video played a large part in backing demonstrators' claims of police brutality. Watch the video here:
Patterson's many years of documenting the turmoil and transformation of the Lower East Side are featured in a new
film, Captured, which premiers this Thursday at NYU's Cantor Film Center.
Posted by Duncan Meisel at 1:47 PM, April 21, 2008
Gotta make room for....you guessed it!.... more condos.
The clock is ticking away once again for Times Up! Less than one month after losing their long-time headquarters at 49 Houston St., a hot real estate market is forcing the grassroots alternative transportation and environmental group to move again. Rent will double next month for the space Times Up! shares with The Hub bike shop in the West Village, which means the group is back in the hunt for space to house their myriad workshops, actions and offices.
“We know it was a month-to-month lease, but not even three weeks after we get there, they tell us the rent has been doubled” said Bill Dipaloa, Director of Times Up! and space manager for the shop. “We haven’t even unpacked half the boxes.”
Despite the rent increase, bikes will continue to be a part of the Hub’s current location, because a company that makes cargo and ad bikes inked a five-year lease on Times Up!’s current location. “At this time, we’re optimistic, that at least some variation on the theme of this space will continue” said George Bliss, the Hub's owner. “It’s likely that the store will have to go through a big change, maybe have to do a focus on higher-end stuff, instead of trying to deal with everyone who comes in the door, just to pay the rent.”
Times Up! was first uprooted after their landlord at 49 Houston St. sold to developers after years of barely making the rent. Their previous landlord, Steve Stollman, gave the organization a year to raise the funds to meet higher rents before asking them to leave.
“We’ve been using that space for 10 years, and for the past two years we’ve been having weekly meetings trying to save the space” he said. “Times Up! was extremely successful when it was in that space. Unfortunately doing good work and being extremely successful doesn’t pay the bills.”
This new move will also impede one of Times Up!’s primary activities over the years: providing meeting and collaboration space for activist groups of all stripes. Besides the cycling resources it offered to all comers, the organization played host to puppet and banner making and regular activist movie screenings, Dipaloa said.
An outside chance remains that Times Up! could return to 49 Houston St. in the future. The previous owner, Steve Stollman retains a buyback option for ground-floor retail in the building that will be constructed.
“He’s going to move back to the 1st floor, there’s a contract for him whereby he sold the space to my clients, and there’s a buyback provision for the first floor for him, and he’ll have a continued presence,” said architect Arpad Baksa. “I think it’s a good thing for the community.”
However, rising rents on the Lower East Side could thwart the group's dreams once again. “If the neighborhood continues to gentrify wildly, that may be more difficult” Stollman said. “I’m not getting that space back for 2 years, and since my expenses will be higher, rent will be much more expensive, and might be too rich for them.”
Times Up!’s struggle with Manhattan real estate will continue. They plan to host a benefit party on the 25th , in the hopes of raising money to stay in place, or find a stable location soon. Diapaloa hopes the event will draw awareness to their work and their role in the community.
“We’re using this party on the 25th to bring attention to save the space," Diapaloa said. "That was how we used to save community gardens, you bring people into a space and tell them ‘This is being destroyed in a few days’ and sometimes they’re really willing to make a change.”
A trio of Brooklyn College graduate students believe they can turn the collective unrest of the City into beautiful music.
Jared Mezzocci, David Gladden and Tara Gladden have constructed an enormous coffin, roughly eight-feet high by four-feet wide, and are calling on New Yorkers to place within the casket that which they want to see dead.
Intended to be a living work of art demonstrating that evil can be turned to good, the piece, entitled “Coffin It Up,” will be taken around the City so that those who come across it can write on its interior things they would like to see changed. At the end of its tour the coffin, will be sealed and turned into a cello-like instrument, to be played at an as-yet-determined concert venue. The idea, said David Gladden, is to turn negative energy into positive song.
“The most beautiful flower, the lotus flower, grows in the stinkiest, nastiest muck, so we don’t think that good things can only come out of good things. We think that art and beauty can come out of everything,” said David Gladden.
The casket started as a school project, inspired by the street theater of the 1960’s countercultural icons, the Diggers, but incorporates two video monitors broadcasting stylized images of politics, war, environment, and money.
“Coffin It Up” intends to give the general public a blank slate to voice the need for change, and the videos are meant to get people thinking about important issues before they take a marker to the casket.
“It’s kind of like a collective billboard for everyone,” said Mezzocci. “Coming into it we just kind of gave a blank slate to everyone, we had no idea what it would become. We were hoping for exactly what is happening, kind of a conversation within the coffin, to see what to bury.”
Its creators first revealed the casket to the public last week at the Anarchist Book Fair in the Village, where the coffin confronted visitors at the entrance of the event. Using magic markers, visitors scrawled a variety of pleas and causes on the coffin’s walls. One person called for an end to national borders, while another called for Americans to “smash Wal-Mart.” Sentiments to end nuclear proliferation and to impeach President Bush were also scribbled within the casket in permanent marker.
“It will hopefully bring together a kind of community of people who haven’t seen each other, but have seen each others’ causes,” said Mezzocci. “We created the platform, but everyone is its voice.”
New York City protests might lose a little of their cattle-drive feel after a legal agreement between the New York City Police Department and the a New York Civil Liberties Union. For years the department has used barricades and mounted officers to control access to political demonstrations, but today agreed to change course on the use of these herding tactics.
Now, the NYPD has agreed to change its crowd control policies at political protests in response to a NYCLU lawsuit. Without admitting any legal liability, the NYPD will issue new regulations for the treatment of political protesters, including guidelines for improving access to areas where the department has barricaded groups of demonstrators and improved communication between police and protest organizers on how the NYPD will restrict access to protests.
“It's going to ensure that when police restrict access, they will have to provide information to people and facilitate access to protests. That’s something the department has never taken on” said Chris Dunn, the lead lawyer for the NYCLU in the case.
Also, the NYPD has issued new advice for the use of mounted police in protests. Now, the manual for mounted officers will say that when using horses to disperse a crowd “it is important to ensure that a crowd or group to be dispersed has sufficient avenues of escape and/or retreat available.”
In the agreement the police department also agrees to pay two participants in the February 15th, 2003 anti-war protests $10,000 and $15,000 each for injuries sustained when mounted police charged into crowds. Each of the individual litigants was prevented from accessing the demonstration after their injuries.
The new rules on access notification require the Police to provide information on restrictions to the press, public and protest organizers. Additionally, police officers at the scene must use sound amplification to inform large groups on how to get to protests after blocking of streets or sidewalks, and individual officers manning checkpoints must be constantly updated on routes to access demonstrations. Dunn points to the changes as a significant shift in how the NYPD deals with accessing protests:
“The department has been very busy restricting access to protests, now they will have to promote access and make sure people are getting to these events”
Yet another demonstration is planned this afternoon to protest the city's proposed 125th Street rezoning plan, which could change the face of Harlem's main commercial thoroughfare. This time it's street vendors who claim the proposed rezoning is top-down plan that puts corporate needs over those of community.
A group of street vendors are calling for an "emergency demonstration and rally" to be held today from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. State Office Building. According to a flier for the event, more than 200 street vendors have been given the shaft by the city.
"There are 200 street merchants from St Nicholas to Lex Ave," the flier says. "They have been part of the fabric of Harlem life. They have been shuffled from one part of Harlem to another and worse, even assigned to projects that fail such as the Mart 125 and the 116th relocation. The 125th St rezoning proposal does not even address them. Lately they have been subjected to rounds of police harassment divide and conquer schemes, confiscation of goods and arrests."
One-hundred twenty-fifth Street is known for its street vendors, who sell everything from cocoa butter and incense to "street lit" and African jewelry. Critics of the rezoning proposal worry that small, local businesses, including street vendors, will be cleared out in favor of corporate retailers.
The city council could vote on the rezoning proposal as early as tomorrow.
Posted by Duncan Meisel at 2:36 PM, April 10, 2008
Dressed in red amid the blues and grays of Wall Street, union leaders pounded drums and shouted over loudspeakers yesterday to add a voice of dissent among the limos and police protection that lined Front Street in the financial district during Goldman Sachs’ annual shareholders meeting. The Service Employees International Union organized the event to ask Sachs to pressure food service provider Aramark, in which the bank holds a 20% stake. As the rally went on outside the meeting, representatives from the union addressed shareholders to demand improved labor conditions at the food services giant. Current and former employees claim that Aramark provides unfair wages and fires workers who attempt to organize for better pay and benefits.
“I was trying to organize my co-workers so that we could get the things we need” said Antonio Gomez, a former worker at Houston’s Convention Center, where Aramark provides cleaning services. Gomez said he organized partly to remedy a lack of health care coverage and was subsequently fired by the company.
“When people would get sick or injured, [Aramark] would basically say ‘That’s your problem,’ and ‘If you can’t come to work, don’t bother coming back at all’” he said.
A press representative from Aramark declined to comment on these specific allegations, citing company policy on privacy, but disputed the union's claims more generally, saying that the company provides competitive wages and benefits. The company also said it has a 50-year relationship with unions nationwide, including SEIU.
“As a services business we rely on the quality of services provided by our employees, for that reason we make an effort to provide competitive wages” said Christine Grow, a press representative for Aramark. “A vast majority of our employees have access to health care benefits.”
The workers came to the Goldman Sachs meeting after a nationwide fact-finding tour of sites run by Aramark and say that they want to put a human face on the decisions Sachs makes as a primary stakeholder in Aramark. The union said many of these problems began when Aramark went private. Their list of concerns extends from the company shortchanging school districts in Detroit on bulk-order food to 33 major health-code violations at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, CA.
SEIU defended its research methods in the face of claims by Aramark that the union inflated figures to support recruitment demands.
“Our reports come directly from workers, in what workers have experienced” said Erin Smith from SEIU. “Everything we use in our fact sheets and documents is public information. The majority of our facts come from media reports, and public reports to [Aramark’s] shareholders before they went private.”
Two workers and a union organizer were given the chance to address the Goldman Sachs meeting, and pointed to the high salaries of Goldman Sachs’ co-presidents in their call for change, describing a stark wealth disparity that increasingly defines American society.
“I’m asking Goldman Sachs executives if they could live on $6.30 an hour” said Vernita Murdock, a worker from Houston. “Because I’m pretty sure I could figure out a way to live on $67.5 million a year.”
Posted by Michael Clancy at 6:47 PM, March 19, 2008
The Rev. Mark Hallinan S.J. administered an Easter blessing to Aramark workers at the Madison Avenue headquarters of PricewaterhouseCoopers yesterday. Aramark cafeteria workers at the financial services giant are considering unionizing. Aramark has been harassing and intimidating the workers, according to UNITE HERE, which represents 450,000 workers in the hotel, restaurant, laundry and other industries.
Posted by Duncan Meisel at 1:00 PM, March 14, 2008
As the sound of jackhammers echoed aloud, community members protested the park renovations in Washington Square Park by scrawling their reflections on the redesign onto helium balloons.
“Our goal was to do something slightly illicit” said organizer and NYU student Ani Neeman of the event dubbed “The Washington Square Blowjob.” “We haven’t been asked what our opinion is, they’ve gone ahead without community approval” she added, referring to the city Parks Department’s decision to remodel the park.
“The lack of community involvement is inappropriate” said Alexandra, another volunteer.
Passers-by at Washington Square were asked to write their thoughts about the park's reconstruction on helium-filled latex balloons, which were then attached to temporary fixtures throughout the park. At 8 pm, organizers planned to pop the balloons one by one, adding a display of sound to a day-long visual presence.
Many of the people who were inflating and writing on the balloons are students at NYU, an institution that has received criticism for what many call its support for an unneeded renovation. The school has reportedly donated 1 million dollars to the project, and the Tisch Family, major donors to NYU has put $2.5 million to park renovation.
After construction ends, a leveled-out, purely ornamental fountain bearing the Tisch name will replace the old ‘theater in the round’ fountain that played host to countless performances and protests.
“As an institution we have suspicions that NYU is in favor [of renovation], because a privatized park is in their favor” said Neeman. Other organizers said they would like the event to create a meaningful dialog about NYU’s community relations. “We want to send a message to the community that NYU students are not the enemy” said John Mayer.
“They’re making the park a big opaque playpen for university students” said student activist Colin Dillon. “Renovation will change the way the park functions, it’s no longer the center of life. ”Things might change “when NYU finds out its students are interested in living in the village, not on top of it” Mayer added.
The protest was a visual reminder of the frustration many feel with a renovation that has taken away a historic public space. Changing the fountain and erecting a larger fence are “steps towards privatizing the park” Neeman said. “This is a jewel that has been the community for years.
Grandmothers Against the War—no strangers to non-violent protest at the Times Square Recruiting Center— denounced this morning's bombing and announced a Knit-in For Peace at the recruiting center island on March 19 to commemorate the end of five years since the bombing of Baghdad.
"The grannies are an organization devoted to peace, and, therefore, abhor violent and perilous acts such as that perpetrated by unknown persons in Times Square this morning. We are hereby calling for an immediate end to any further destructive deeds of that nature" the group said in a statement.
Looks like the suits at Scores West will have to settle for juice with their jiggle. The gin or any other sauce will be scarce for the next few years.
Scores West Side strip club is losing its liquor license for two years after getting busted for prostitution charges last year. Last January undercover cops said they were propositioned by dancers in the club’s high-dollar private rooms, and yesterday a State Liquor Authority administrative judge came down on the establishment with a booze ban. The decision will be appealed, and the club’s managers told the Daily News they will remain open and selling liquor until all appeals are finished. Even if the club dodges this legal bullet, two other legal troubles remain: a harassment suit against management from a fired employee, and a class action suit accusing the club of skimming tips.
There are 3,306 homeless people living on New York City streets, a decline 12 percent since last year, Mayor Bloomberg and the Department of Homeless Services announced Tuesday.
Two years ago, Bloomberg launched a “supportive housing” program that provides access to subsidized housing designated specifically for use by the homeless. That program helped spur the decline, as well as more aggressive efforts to break up homeless encampments and cooperation with MTA to reach out to homeless people who spend time on the subways, officials said.
Still, homeless advocates took issue with the extent of the programs.
“The only genuine solution to ending homelessness is the creation of additional permanent supportive housing for homeless New Yorkers," said Patrick Markee, Senior Policy Analyst at the Coalition of the Homeless. "Mayor Bloomberg has created fewer new apartments for homeless individuals and families than the successful Housing New York initiative of the Koch and Dinkins administrations.”
The announcement also included the introduction of a new ad campaign, called “Give Real Change” that encourages subway riders to contact Homeless Services through 311 rather than giving money to the homeless.
In a press release, DHS described the survey’s method as “nationally recognized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as the national standard for this type of homeless count,” but the city’s surveys of the homeless have come into question. According to the New York Times' CityRoom blog, a Columbia professor who worked on the survey quit last year, saying it would under-represent the street homeless, and previous counts have been called out as misleading by Coalition for the Homeless. Despite the gains in combating street homelessness, the Coalition for the Homeless has unleashed serious criticism against the program, citing use of illegal boarding houses and a long-term rise in chronic homelessness.
Posted by Michael Clancy at 10:38 AM, February 22, 2008
The National Weather Service predicted five to seven inches of snow for New York City. By 10:30 am, it seemed like five inches had already fallen. This fellow in Brooklyn was stoic about the entire affair.
Posted by Michael Clancy at 2:10 PM, February 13, 2008
The "Anonymous" protest in front of the Church of Scientology's Manhattan headquarters on Sunday seemed a little tame compared to some other protests around the globe. The Manhattan videos, which can be found here and here, featured as much name calling as protest, it seemed. The above video gives a good overview of the origins of the emerging Anonymous movement.
Posted by Michael Clancy at 4:06 PM, February 4, 2008
If you care about the Giants parade and want to know how to score free tickets — from City Hall — for their parade down the Canyon of Heroes, then read on.
From the mayor's office
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today announced that the City’s 311 Citizen Service Center will be used to give New Yorkers a chance to attend a limited-access City event: tomorrow’s Super Bowl Champions Ceremony on City Hall Plaza, at which the Mayor will give the Key to the City to the Super Bowl XLII Champion New York Giants. New Yorkers who have already called 311 asking about tickets for tomorrow’s (Tuesday’s) 11 AM City Hall Plaza event and those who call by 7 PM tonight (Monday) will be entered into a lottery. New Yorkers may request up to four tickets, need only give their name, address, and phone number to be eligible, and will be notified tonight if they win about when and where to pick up tickets.
“When we announced six years ago that 311 would open up the City’s government to the people it works for, a Super Bowl celebration wasn’t exactly what we had in mind, but the beauty of innovative and adaptable tool like 311 is that it lets us serve the public in new ways we never anticipated,” Mayor Bloomberg said.
While the sidewalks lining Tuesday’s tickertape parade up the Canyon of Heroes along Broadway from the Battery to City Hall are open to all members of the public, there is limited space on City Hall plaza for the ceremony with the Giants players and owners. The City will set up three large screens around City Hall Park for members of the public to watch the ceremony. In addition to tickets for Giants friends and family, additional tickets for the 4,200 seats on City Hall Plaza will be distributed to the public by Members of the City Council and other City elected officials, community organizations that work in partnership with the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit in all five boroughs, City and State agencies, municipal unions, and NYC & Co – the City’s tourism arm.
Lottery winners will have to present photo identification to pick up tickets and to enter City Hall Plaza. All guests will have to go through security, and all bags will be examined.
It's a simple equation. No pants + a subway ride = hilarity.
Or it can be expressed this way: xsubway riders - xpants + a few unsuspecting riders = mirth.
In any event, here's a groovy slideshow documenting "No Pants 2k8", which, according to organizers, attracted 900 revelers who dared defy the tyranny of pants last Saturday.
Posted by Chloé A. Hilliard at 1:44 PM, January 9, 2008
The victim of a shooting that allegedly involved Remy Ma last July hit the rapper with a whopping $80 million lawsuit on Wednesday, one day before Remy Ma was set to return to court for pre-trial hearings in the criminal case regarding the gun-play over a reportedly missing $2,000.
Remy Ma, her former label Universal Music Group and Sure Shot Recordings are responsible for Remy’s thugged-out image that ultimately led to the shooting of Makeda Barnes-Joseph, according to a press release sent to The Voice by Joseph’s attorney Lauren P. Raysor. Remy shot Joseph twice in the abdomen, according to Raysor, causing wounds that have led to three surgeries and weekly visits to the hospital.
“Only by pursuing those who we believe are legally responsible for this vicious and callous act of violence, can we hope to put an end to this senseless cycle of violence that is glorified by Hip-Hop marketing,” said Raysor in a press release.
When asked about her involvement in the shooting for a November 7th Voice cover story, Remy proclaimed her innocence and viewed it as another media attack on hip hop music and its artists. Yet, that isn’t stopping Joseph and her attorney from seeking millions from the rapper, who after being arrested has seen her performances canceled by club and concert promoters and was recently denied permission by the case’s judge to travel overseas for European tour dates.
“It strikes me that this is part of a publicity stunt,” said Remy’s attorney Ivan Fischer. “The claims she makes are inaccurate. She reaches into every conceivable deep pocket—people and institutions that have no more responsibility for what happened than the village voice. It’s grossly irresponsible.”
Joseph’s decision to file a civil suit before the actual criminal trial starts (no trial date has been set as of yet) is sure to lead to a victory, Fischer said. “I’m very glad that she’s filed this thing because it represents a position she is taking factually that is inaccurate and is showed to be inaccurate,” the attorney said. “The civil suit is beneficial to us. It shows someone trying to profit for an incident that she was at least in part responsible.”
Naturally, Joseph's attorney has quite a different view.
“Makeda Barnes-Joseph is clearly the victim, yet Mr. Fisher and Remy Ma continue to make statements that they know will prejudice the jury pool,” Raysor said. “He has tried to portray Remy Ma as the victim, which is laughable.”
Posted by Julie Bolcer at 12:24 PM, December 27, 2007
John Nirenberg would walk 500 miles. And it sounds like he would walk 500 more. But unlike the persistent pop tune by The Proclaimers, he refuses to be the man who falls down at Nancy Pelosi’s door.
Nirenberg, a hearty New York City native and current resident of Brattelboro, Vermont, intends to be standing when he reaches Washington, D.C. around January 10, at the conclusion of a scheduled 40-day walk that began in Boston on December 1. This fall, the 60-year-old professor of organizational behavior and Air Force veteran decided to traverse Route 1 on foot to implore House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to begin impeachment proceedings against President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
“It was about a whole collection of issues around the Constitution and the behavior of this administration,” explains Nirenberg, who finds that his sense of outrage and jogging background help him complete 15 miles per day. “Especially the torture issue, the spying, and an illegal war. All of this, at some point, was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I decided that I needed to do something different.”
In order to channel his frustration, Nirenberg founded the non-profit organization, March in My Name, where his trek can be followed on the Web site, www.marchinmyname.org
He hopes also that by collecting photos, testimonials and petition signatures, he can show Speaker Pelosi that popular support exists for her, at the very least, to allow the House Judiciary Committee to open a hearing into the behavior of the Bush administration.
Since she assumed office after the mid-term elections in 2006, Speaker Pelosi has continued to insist that the impeachment option is “off the table.” Her position disappoints people like Nirenberg who had anticipated a more aggressive outcome from the Democratic majority in Congress. For example, they note with suspicion the change in House Committee Chairman John Conyers, an acknowledged proponent of executive accountability who appeared possibly bullish on impeachment in early 2006. Now in his new role, he cites a lack of votes and refers to the disruptive potential of the process.
“The Speaker is certainly aware of the frustration a lot of Americans feel about the conduct of this war,” said Drew Hammill, a Pelosi spokesperson. “But she believes that impeachment would be a distraction to the priorities of this Congress.” He declined to speculate whether the Speaker would meet with Nirenberg, who sent a certified letter recently to request an appointment.
Impeachment advocates, on the other hand, ask what could be more important for Congress to undertake than an investigation into the possibility that “high crimes and misdemeanors” have been committed in violation of the Constitution. They argue that uncensored abuses of executive power and subversion of the rule of law would hold dramatic consequences for the remainder of the Bush administration, and the future of the presidency.
Nearly 80 such supporters gathered at an evening rally for Nirenberg at St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery in late December, when he arrived after beginning his day' journey in Harlem that morning.
“This problem is not solved by the next election,” declared speaker Liz Holtzman, who served on the House Judiciary Committee in 1974 during the impeachment hearings on the activities of President Richard Nixon. “Because what is the message? It’s like saying, ‘This murderer, he’s going to die. Why do we have to go through the trouble of bringing him to justice?’”
Duty to future generations aside, immediate concerns about the election next year likely calculate into the decision of House leaders not to pursue impeachment. Democrats may fear that Republicans in the minority would attempt to portray them as obstructionist and politicized, which is precisely how Democrats painted Republicans when they proceeded with the impeachment of President Bill Clinton in 1998 on the grounds of perjury and obstruction of justice pertaining to the Monica Lewinsky scandal and Paula Jones lawsuit.
However, three Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee remain vocal in favor of the impeachment of Vice President Cheney. On November 7, the House voted to send a resolution concerning his impeachment to the committee. Last week, Representatives Tammy Baldwin, Luis Gutierrez, and Robert Wexler published an online op-ed calling for hearings to begin. Since December 14, more than 100,000 people have signed on to www.WexlerWantsHearings.com to tell Congress to proceed.
Nirenberg urges reluctant members of the House to stiffen their spines, and embrace an impeachment impulse that he feels is widespread.
“They have to believe that they may actually be hurt by inaction,” he observes. “That’s my mission – to help them have the courage to understand that holding on to their 11 percent approval rating, or whatever it is, is not a strategy that is going to work. They may lose the White House.”
In fact, a USA Today/Gallup Poll of 1,011 U.S. adults conducted via telephone from December 14-16 found that 30 percent of respondents approved of Congressional job performance. The findings verge on historic lows.
Nirenberg may walk well-worn liberal territory in the exactly 485 miles between Boston and Washington, D.C., but the former college dean still insists that, “The numbers are ridiculous. When people choose to let me know how they feel, whether it’s the thumbs down or finger, or thumbs up and a horn, it’s probably 95 to 5 in favor. It’s unbelievable.”
And so Nirenberg will walk to relay that message to Speaker Pelosi, in the hope that she and her colleagues will act. “Without doing something,” he says, “this Congress is telling history, ‘We changed the Constitution.’”
The Riviera Gallery proudly presents Sprinkle Brigade's Equipped, an exhibit of their photographs of decorated dog poo. SB’s mission is to beautify the New York City landscape by showing you that dog shit can be a beautiful thing.
Photo by The Sprinkle Brigade
VV: We understand that you like to photograph dog shit and create art with it. But we'd like you take us back to the beginning—where does the name Sprinkle Brigade came from?
TSB: The Shepard's dad had a lawn mowing business. That was until the great drought of ‘98 killed his business. Ever since then he has preached turbulent weather and the conjuring of rain showers. Later it turned into a cult called the Sprinklists. Not much came of them, and they ended up all buying knock-off croc skin loafers and jumping off a cliff. But we always thought the Shepard's dad was cool.
VV: Explain the creative process for us. Do your ideas come before or after finding the poop? Do you have equipment/props there on the scene, ready at a moment's notice?
TSB: We’ve learned quickly that poo is not something you can control. It just is, what it is. So rather than try and tame the beast, we go out sprinklin’ with a range of ideas, and wait ever so patiently to find the perfect specimen. ‘Poodolph’ for instance, would not have worked out so well if it was a giant swirling mound of soft serve.
VV: What do you do with the doo-doo after your artistic epiphany is over?
TSB: It's like our saying goes "Just leave it.We got it". All of our creations are left on site for the rest of the world to enjoy. In fact, we heard a heart warming story the other day about a guy who was down on his luck and going through a tough time. He stumbled across one of our pieces and it made his day.
VV: What can we expect from you in the future? Will your love for "urban beautification" go even further and move beyond the city—perhaps we'll see you in the forest looking for bear shit?
TSB: I think we have sort of beat you to the punch with that question. Sprinkle Brigade is already working on a second book entitled "European Vacation", which will cover our travels and creations internationally. As far as venturing out to the forest, probably not. Unless of course we knew the animals would appreciate what we do. I mean seriously, how awesome would it be to see a group a bears rolling around laughing at one of our pieces.
VV: According to your website, one of your side goals in creating Sprinkle Brigade was to meet the ladies. Any success?
TSB: Fortunately, the SB team is a very good looking bunch. The fact that we are dog poo artists just sweeps them off their feet even more. And we all have had penis reduction surgery.
Posted by Michael Clancy at 10:07 AM, December 13, 2007
Check that out: The concrete is already crumbling and it hasn't even been a full winter.
Cemusa, a Spanish firm, shocked many industry watchers when it landed a billion-dollar municipal franchise to outfit the city's new street furniture: bus shelters, newsstands, and some 20 public toilets. The company, in turn, gets to sell advertising on the street furniture at top dollar.
Another problem seems to be the cement work around the new bus shelters, at least those that recently went up along Prospect Park Southwest. I'm no Johnny Concrete, but when cement is degrading and crumbling just a few weeks after it was poured, it wouldn't seem to indicate quality work.
Posted by Michael Clancy at 11:49 AM, November 14, 2007
The Chinatown Fair will remain open, despite the 'for rent' sign.
The Chinatown Fair is not going the way of the tic-tac-toe-playing chicken.
The famed chicken disappeared a few years back, and a few Lower Manhattan residents feared it was "game over" for the beloved Mott St. video arcade when a "for rent" banner appeared over its storefront sign (which still advertises the chicken, by the way.) The banner prompted one reader to write the Voice to ask about it.
But a store employee said the sign is an indication of another game being played.
A game of brinkmanship over rent increases, the employee said.
"We are not closing, I can tell you that," said a Chinatown Fair employee who gave his name as Benny. "It's about the rent. They are going to take the sign down after a few months and we will be here. And that's it."
It appeared to be business as usual at the arcade this week, as about twenty people, mostly teenage boys, played the latest Dance Dance Revolution, first-person shooters, and martial arts street fighting games. Except for a few new games, the arcade still looks the same as it did decades ago. It smells the same too, a dank odor a friend described as the hormones of teenage boys.
A person who answered the phone at Raber Enterprises, the realtor listed on the banner, confirmed that Chinatown Fair, at 8 Mott St.,was not closing. He said the sign was for other properties on Mott Street. Mott Street does appear to have its fair share of vacancies these days. At least four property near the Chinatown Fair appear vacant.
"We're not closing," said Benny. "There'd just be one more vacancy on the block. It's nothing."
Dance, dance! But call off the revolution. The Chinatown Fair is not closing.
Posted by Michael Clancy at 10:01 AM, October 25, 2007
In this photo taken from a white supremacist message board, a young fan gives Thompson a "salute" at a concert.
By Maria Luisa Tucker
Marko Perkovic is taking the stage November 2nd to literally sing praises of the Holocaust.
The Croatian rocker goes by the stage name Thompson (for the American-issued Thompson sub-machine gun he carried as a soldier in the Croatian war)—and sings about the Ustaše, the Croation pro-Nazi regime that sent Jews, Serbs and Gypsies to concentration camps during WWII. The folk-metal musician is often greeted by audiences with a Nazi salute. He's been kicked out of Canada and the Netherlands for hate speech, only to be welcomed by Manhattan's own Croatian Center in Midtown.
Surprisingly, Thompson is not totally embraced by American neo-Nazis, who'd rather berate Jews, blacks and Hispanics than Serbs. Earlier this year, when Thompson announced his plans to perform in Vancouver, a Canadian racist tried to set the record straight for his fellow haters on Stormfront.org, an international message board for white supremacists:
“Thompson isn't a neo-Nazi band; they are Croatian Nationalists whose songs focus on their love for Croatia, the Croatia people, and their religion. Their songs also focus on their hatred of the Serbian people, another proud White race... Thompson drew heavy criticism—and rightfully so—for their recording of Jasenovac i Gradiška Stara. Now, my Croatian is a little rusty, but I believe the song is a tribute to a WWII slaughter of Serb troops in the Balkans.”
The Canadian, whose screen name is option_violence, made it clear that this kind of white-on-white genocide is not welcome:
“I do not support them or their music if all it will do is continue to create divisions between the different white nations, namely the Croats and the Serbs.”
Yes, because obviously that's just wrong.
The New York Sun reported this morning that the concert is already sold out and sales for a second performance are under way. Protesters will certainly be there—Jews, Serbs and, just maybe, a few white supremacists.
About 1.3 million New Yorkers rely soup kitchens, food pantries, and other emergency food programs to get by, according to a report released Thursday by the Food Bank for New York City.
That's 300,000 more New Yorkers who rely on food program to make ends meet than did in 2004, when the Food Bank first scientifically analyzed emergency food program trends.
The report found that one in four people who rely on food programs have some college education—an increase of 10 percent. In the 2004, 15 percent of the people seeking assistance from food programs, according to the Hunger Safety Net report.
More than one in five people who seeks emergency food assistance are working. More than half of those people work full time.
The report found that the city's lack of affordable housing plays a significant roll in contributing to hunger in the city. The report found that:
79 percent of household who rely on food programs rent their homes while 11 percent are homeless and 7 percent own their homes. (The report doesn't mention the other 3 percent.)
59 percent of the renter's monthly income goes to their landlord, the report found.
More highlights from the reports summary:
EMERGENCY FOOD PROGRAM (EFP) PARTICIPANTS
NYC POPULATION RELYING ON EMERGENCY FOOD PROGRAMS (EFPs)
New York City’s network of emergency food programs (EFPs) currently provide food to approximately 1.3 million residents annually, a 24 percent increase from approximately 1 million in 2004.
SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF EFP PARTICIPANTS AND HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS
Household Age Composition: Among EFP households, almost one out of every three (31 percent) members is a child under age 17 (a 20 percent increase since 2004), 57 percent are working-age adults (18 to 64) and 12 percent are elderly adults age 65 and older.
Country of Birth and Citizenship: More than two-thirds (68 percent) of EFP participants were born in the United States and 84 percent are U.S. citizens.
Language: English is the primary language in almost three-quarters (74 percent) of EFP households.
Education: Approximately one-quarter (24 percent) of EFP participants have a college education (including some college, associate’s, bachelor’s and graduate degrees), up from 15 percent in 2004.
Annual Income: The majority of EFP households (92 percent) have annual incomes below $25,000; 59 percent have incomes below $10,000 and 29 percent have incomes below $5,000.
Employment: More than one out of every five (21 percent) EFP participants is employed and among them 57 percent work full-time — a 73 percent increase from 2004. Almost one-third (31 percent) of EFP participants are disabled, 19 percent are retired and 28 percent are unemployed/not working.
INCOME SUPPORT
Food Stamp Program (FSP): Almost one-half (46 percent) of EFP households receive food stamps, up from 31 percent in 2004. On average, EFP households receive $147 in food stamps per month ($37 per week). Almost one-quarter (24 percent) of EFP households run out of food stamp benefits in one week or less, 60 percent in two weeks and 84 percent run out in three weeks.
Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC): More than one-half (54 percent) of EFP households with children under five receive WIC, up from 32 percent in 2004.
School and Summer Meals Programs: More than three-quarters (79 percent) of EFP households with school age children participate in the National School Lunch Program while 59 percent and 39 percent participate in the School Breakfast Program and Summer Food Service Program respectively.
HEALTH
Health Insurance: More than one-fifth (21 percent) of EFP participants do not have health insurance.
Most EFP households with insurance have Medicaid (65 percent) and Medicare (25 percent).
Health Conditions: EFP participant diagnoses include asthma (21 percent), diabetes (20 percent) and heart disease (10 percent). Diagnoses among EFP household members include asthma in almost one-fifth (19 percent) of children and diabetes in more than one-third (34 percent) of elderly adults.
HOUSING
More than three-quarters (79 percent) of EFP households rent, 7 percent own and 11 percent are homeless. EFP households who rent their homes spend 59 percent of their total income on rent.
Posted by Michael Clancy at 3:25 PM, October 15, 2007
Special flashback bonus video: Protesters took to the streets of Southampton last month to ask residents there to rally for more tax breaks for one of their neighbors: buyout king Henry Kravis. On Monday, protesters rallied outside of Toys "R" Us, which is partly owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Kravis' private equity firm.
Parents, child safety advocates, and activists protested in front of the West 57th Street headquarters of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, which owns part of Toys "R" Us, to call on the buyout firm to adopt a strict code of conduct for its suppliers to ensure that more toys tainted with lead paint do not wind up on store shelves.
"With all the dangers that parents must protect their children from today, we cannot add to that the additional worry of whether toys are safe," Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez, (D-NY) said in a statement. "It is crucial that parents feel confident when buying products for their kids, and KKR must take ultimate responsibility for the quality of merchandise sold in their stores. Anything less is completely unacceptable."
Chanting "Toys "R" Toxic", the demonstrators said buyout firms, such as KKR, need to put safety before profits and take measures to ensure that tainted toys don't wind up on store shelves as they did throughout the summer.
The coalition, which includes the Center For Environmental Health, the Service Employees International Union, ACORN, Greenpeace, and the Working Families Party among other noted that:
This summer, Toys “R” Us recalled thousands of lead-tainted bibs and crayon and paint sets.
Earlier this year, Toys “R” Us also recalled more than 128,000 toy sets because of unsafe levels of lead
This month, 15,000 Toys “R” Us toys were recalled for lead levels that violate federal standards.
The group, which announced a hotline (866) 311-3405 for parents to call and web site toxicplayroom.org, said buyout firms such as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts should:
Know what’s in its products by requiring content and safety information.
First eliminate the most hazardous chemicals like lead, phthalates, PBDEs, cadmium and bisphenol A from children’s toys.
Ensure workers and production and disposal site communities are protected.
Support government reform measures that close the safety gap that continues to allow untested chemicals into everyday consumer products.
Posted by Michael Clancy at 11:49 AM, October 3, 2007
Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu said he will join the call for a boycott of the 2000 Olympics unless China changes its U.N. Security Council position on Burma.
Saturday, October 6th, has been declared an International Day of Action For Burma. Organizers are asking that people worldwide wear red or saffron as a show of unity for the Burmese monks who are standing in opposition to one of the most brutal military dictatorships in the world.
Most recently, a United Nations worker in Burma and three of her family members were among those taken from their homes by the junta's security forces, the New York Times reported today. It is not known how many people have been killed or detained since the Burmese governement cracked down against the Buddhist monks who led the largest demonstrations against the junta in two decades.
From the Times:
Yangon residents say helicopters fly over the city throughout the night as military trucks patrol the streets with loudspeakers blaring intimidating messages.
Shari Villarosa, the highest ranking United States diplomat in Myanmar, said the message, broadcast in Burmese, was roughly this: “We have your pictures. We’re going to come and get you.”
“I think they just are arresting anybody that they have the least bit of suspicion about,” Ms. Villarosa said. “This is a military that rules by fear and intimidation. Wouldn’t you be terrified if you were subject to being rousted out of bed at 2 o’clock in the morning, taken away and never knew why?”
Posted by Michael Clancy at 2:28 PM, October 2, 2007
After two more years of hard living out on the streets of New York City, the Astor Place cube is getting the spa treatment. In 2005, the cube, formally known as Alamo by Tony Rosenthal, needed a TLC session and had to be removed from its perch because the 2,500-pound sculpture was tilting and dangerous.
This time around it's just getting a three-day touch-up including a new paint job and a special anti-graffiti coating, the parks department said.
Members of New York City's Buddhist community are organizing a sit-in on Monday at the Burmese Mission to show support for the monks and citizens who are posing a challenge to the country's military junta and being met with violent reprisals.
The silent protest will begin at 12:30 pm in front of the Burmese Mission at 10 East 77th Street between Fifth and Madison avenues.
Soldiers killed nine protesters in Rangoon on Thursday and injured 31 others, according to an account read on official Burmese television. The Associated Press reports that that the number of casualties is much higher than that.
From the Washington Post:
In addition to cracking down with automatic weapons in the street, Burmese security forces arrested dozens of the robed monks who provided leadership and moral authority to the protests since they erupted in August. Those protests have grown during the past two weeks into a political movement demanding an end to military dictatorship.
The monastery raids, in which a number of monks were beaten and hauled away in trucks, resulted in a sharp reduction in the number of monks seen in the streets. Most of those seen protesting Thursday -- in video footage shipped out electronically -- were lay activists of student age.
Posted by Michael Clancy at 5:21 PM, September 19, 2007
About two dozen protesters from ACORN/The Working Families party busted in on a private equity analyst conference at the Waldorf-Astoria this afternoon where Carlyle Group cofounder David Rubenstein was scheduled to speak. The demonstration was part of their campaign to raise awareness about the little know world of private equity and the effect it has on the lives of average New Yorkers.
Angered by the trillion-dollar buyout industry’s treatment of workers and inequitable tax breaks corporate takeover giants receive, two dozen protestors from the Working Families Party and the New York chapter of the national community organizing group ACORN burst into the 3rd floor ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria this afternoon where more than 1,000 analysts and investors were gathered awaiting remarks from Carlyle Group cofounder David Rubenstein.
Chanting, “It’s Not Fair, Pay Your Share”, protestors entered the ballroom while two protest leaders dropped a banner from the balcony above the ballroom that read "Why does David Rubenstein pay taxes at a lower rate than an NYPD officer?" After being hustled out by security the banner remained on view above the crowd - tied to the balcony above the audience.
The action follows the announcement earlier this morning of a new coalition of New York labor and community organizations angered at buyout industry executives for saddling regular New Yorkers with an unfair tax burden while engaging in risky debt-fueled investments that have put New Yorkers’ retirement funds at risk.
Armed with signs depicting a hotel doorman that asked, “Why does Carlyle Group founder David Rubenstein pay taxes at a lower rate than this guy?” and “Why do New York state pensioners see risk while David Rubenstein sees profits?” protestors demanded that the buyout industry and key players like Carlyle’s Rubinstein change their business practices and pay their fair share.
“The Carlyle Group is the poster child for an industry that has made billions by fleecing taxpayers and loading up companies with unsustainable levels of debt,” said Dan Cantor, Executive Director of the Working Families Party. The Carlyle Group is one of the five biggest buyout firms in the nation. Carlyle partner Bruce Rosenblum chairs the buyout industry’s lobbying arm, the Private Equity Council—Washington, D.C.’s most outspoken defender of tax breaks enjoyed by buyout firms and their partners.
“David Rubenstein made $260 million last year, yet he paid taxes at a lower rate than the doorman at this hotel. Not only that, companies like Carlyle don’t pay their fair share in corporate taxes.” said Pat Boone, President of NY ACORN.
“What does this mean to your average New Yorker?” asked Boone. “Plenty. The takeover industry’s tax dodges increase the tax burden on the rest of us while undercutting vital public services like schools, healthcare and affordable housing.”
The coalition noted that regular New Yorkers have less to spend on taxes these days. Between 2002 and 2005, median rents increased almost 10 percent across the city, while the average household income actually dropped by more than 6 percent.
Posted by Michael Clancy at 10:50 AM, September 5, 2007
There were plenty of cabs cruising the streets of the Village this morning.
The taxi strike is on but its effectiveness will surely be a matter of debate. Expect the city to say it was nothing, and the group that called the work stoppage to deem it a success.
The Associated Press, New York Times, and other major news outlets reported this morning that there were longer waits at JFK, LaGuardia and Penn Station, but the news organizations also said it was hard to quantify just how many of the city's 13,000 yellow cabs were kept off the road.
In five minutes of observation along Lafayette Street this morning, more than a dozen cabs rolled by.
The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, the group which called the strike, called the action a success this morning, according to the Time's CityRoom blog, which also quoted Ed Ott, of the New York Central Labor Council, as saying "Quite frankly, if you can’t see the difference between yesterday at Penn Station and today, you’re blind or you’re a tourist.”
But there seemed to be no shortage of cabs along Lafayette Street, Broadway and the Bowery, according to casual observation of street traffic in the Village at about 10 am this morning.
The drivers are protesting a mandate from the TLC, as part of a taxi fare increase in 2004, that ordered that all cabs be outifitted with GPS tracking devices and credit card processing equipment. The drivers say the GPS is an invasion of their privacy and that credit card processing fees will eat away at their take-home pay.
It raises a few questions:
Did you notice a difference this morning?
Do the drivers have a point about GPS?
Do you like the idea of being able to pay for a cab with a credit card?
Do you think you'd be likely to tip more if you'd paid with plastic?
As the New York Taxi Worker's Alliance set up a "strike hall" at the headquarters of the Transport Workers Union Local 100 on Tuesday, the city announced contingency plans to combat a cabbie work stoppage set to take effect at 5 a.m. Wednesday morning.
The MTA will be running extra trains and buses, and the those hacks that choose to operate can collect a flat fee from multiple passengers making the trip to LaGuardia or JFK. The TLC is also reserving the right to allow livery cabs to make street stops.
From the mayor's office:
The contingency plan will go into effect at 12:00 AM on September 5, 2007. If the TLC determines the labor action by drivers is not significantly impacting taxi service, it will be cancelled. If the contingency plan is cancelled, all normal taxi fare structures will immediately be put back in place.
Trips to/from Manhattan and JFK will be a $30 flat fare per person, while trips to/from Manhattan and LGA would be $20 per person. Zone charges would dictate fares for trips to/from airports and boroughs other than Manhattan. The City also reserves the right to allow livery hails if the TLC determines that it is necessary after evaluating the situation. Subsequent public announcements about plans will be made by the TLC.
In all cases:
If riders to/from LGA and JFK airport select the group ride option, they will be required to adhere to the flat fare or zone based system.
All riders to/from LGA and JFK have the option to choose non-group rides. In that scenario, normal metered rates will apply.
Tolls are included in all zone-based and flat fare rides.
Charges apply to adult riders only. Children under 12 ride free with adults
The MTA will be providing additional service on the M60 and Q33 bus routes to/from LGA. The M60 transports riders between LGA and Manhattan, running along 125th Street and making connections with the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, A, B, C, and D subway lines, as well as Metro-North Railroad. The Q33 connects LGA with the 74th St. – Broadway Station in Jackson Heights, Queens, where connections to the 7, E, F, R, V, and G subway lines is available. Travelers at JFK can use the AirTrain to connect to the A train at the Howard Beach station, or the E, J, and Z trains at the Sutphin Boulevard station.
Any driver charging or attempting to charge fares in excess of the fares authorized by the TLC will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Passengers can report complaints or get updated information to 311 or via the TLC’s website by clicking on www.NYC.gov and following the links to TLC.
Dressed in red amid the blues and grays of Wall Street, union leaders pounded drums and shouted over loudspeakers yesterday to add a voice of dissent among the limos and police protection that lined Front Street in the financial district during Goldman Sachs’ annual shareholders meeting. The Service Employees International Union organized the event to ask Sachs to pressure food service provider Aramark, in which the bank holds a 20% stake. As the rally went on outside the meeting, representatives from the union addressed shareholders to demand improved labor conditions at the food services giant. Current and former employees claim that Aramark provides unfair wages and fires workers who attempt to organize for better pay and benefits. 
Looks like the suits at Scores West will have to settle for juice with their jiggle. The gin or any other sauce will be scarce for the next few years. 
