Stringer's Food Fight Continues as the Space Shuttle Lands in Manhattan

Last week, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer issued a report regarding the NYC government's barriers to the expansion of farmer's markets, and his proposed solutions deserve immediate attention. Also, Manhattan's Intrepid Museum was awarded a Space Shuttle in a highly competitive battle with museums around the country.

Scott Stringer's Food Fight for a Healthier NYC

As a follow-up to his earlier report regarding the "food deserts" in New York City, Manhattan Borough President Stringer released a report last week detailing the challenges for farmer's markets created by NYC rules and regulations, and he proposed six groups of very specific recommendations for improving access to healthy, fresh food in New York City through expansion of farmer's markets.

Specifically, the report found challenges for farmer's markets caused by local regulations including:

1) Red Tape: The permitting process for markets is decentralized, inconsistent, confusing and expensive. In some cases, a market starting in July would have to apply for permits a full seven months in advance.

2) High Cost of Entry: Permit fees are based on the number of days a market will operate for an entire season. The cost of the entire season must be paid upfront, with a single permit often exceeding $800. When combined with required insurance coverage, a market operator, in many cases, must pay over $1,300 before the market season begins in order to obtain a permit. This can be a heavy financial toll for small market operators with limited resources for whom running markets is often not their primary job.

3) Lack of Operational Procedures for Parking: Because traveling to the city for market days is expensive for farmers, free parking is critical to the success of a market. However, the Department of Transportation has no official operating procedure for requesting signage or issuing placards to reserve parking on market days. Some markets reported waiting years to receive reserved parking signage.

Stringer proposed the following six solutions:

1. Eliminate Daily Permit Fees for Markets in Low-Income Areas

2. Simplify and Clarify the Process

• Assign oversight of farmers markets to a single City entity

• Create a uniform application process

• Create a guide to operating a farmers market

3. Create Standard Procedures for Farmers Market Parking

• Department of Transportation must create a clear policy for requesting signage

• Appropriate agencies must develop farmers market parking placards

• NYPD traffic officers must be trained regarding enforcement for farmers market parking

4. Create Information and Outreach Campaign About Using Federal and State Nutrition Supports at Farmers Markets

5. Increase Access to Urban Land for Farming

• Assess land availability and suitability for urban agriculture

• Create a citywide urban agriculture program

• Ensure the permanence of community gardens

6. Increase Access to Commercial Kitchen Space

• Explore use of City-owned kitchens

• Create online portal of available kitchen space

To eliminate food deserts and improve the health of the people of New York City, we all need to follow the lead of the Manhattan Borough President and advocate for less red tape and barriers to success for farmer's markets. The fresh fruits and vegetables that are found at farmer's markets are the solution to the problems of poor nutrition and obesity in our communities.

Space Shuttle Lands in Manhattan

The people of New York City should be proud to have been awarded a Space Shuttle for display at the Intrepid Museum as the Space Shuttle program shuts down.

We asked more than a year ago for your support for this effort, and the effort was successful. Senators Gillibrand and Schumer as well as the rest of the elected officials from in and around NYC and New York State deserve enormous credit for their determination and for their willingness to cooperate on this issue.

While some individuals have criticized this achievement because the Space Shuttle selected for Manhattan never flew in space, we should be pleased. There were only four Space shuttles available to be provided to museums around the country. Houston, the headquarters of space flight in our country, was not awarded a Shuttle. Manhattan's Shuttle, Enterprise, flew test flights but never escaped our planet's atmosphere to fly in space. It has all of the same elements of any of the Space Shuttles that have been in space, and it will be an inspiration to the youth of our city to aim high and pursue careers in science and technology. Enterprise was the first Space Shuttle ever built and gave birth to all of the others.

Enterprise will create significant economic opportunity in New York City, bringing new visitors to our city and drawing nearby residents back to the Intrepid Museum.

As New Yorkers, we should be excited to obtain any Space Shuttle and share it with all who visit our great city.

Pace University Shooting Insult

Last week, police in Westchester County named the officer who killed an unarmed football star from Pace University as the officer of the year. The choice speaks volumes for the police culture in Westchester County. Killing innocent, unarmed young black men is heroic in the eyes of the police there. In reality, these killings are too frequent and are criminal.

Republican Incarceration Strategy Exposed

The New York State Republican Party has exposed itself as favoring incarceration as a strategy for maintaining and expanding Republican political power, and all New Yorkers should be outraged by their cynical and destructive approach.

Incarceration Expands Republican Political Power

As we have discussed in the past, incarceration approaches in New York State have been designed to increase and solidify Republican political power. Nearly all incarcerated individuals are from urban parts of New York State that traditionally vote for Democrats in State Assembly and State Senate races. Nearly all prisons in New York State are in Republican areas of the state. Incarcerated individuals have traditionally been counted as residents of the community in which the prison sits rather than being considered residents of the community in which they chose to live prior to incarceration. The increased population coming from counting incarcerated individuals (who cannot vote) gives voters in Republican areas extra voting strength; their votes carry more weight, and they elect more State Senator and Assembly members than their non-prison population(who are permitted to vote) would be entitled to elect based on population size. The loss of population from urban areas such as New York City reduced the political strength of those areas and undermines urban political influence in our state.

The shift of population from urban area to Republican areas also provides those Republican areas with an unfair advantage in the battle to receive funding from the state and federal governments. Population size affects how state and federal dollars are dispersed for housing, education, transportation, and nearly every area of state and federal funding. The incarceration strategy drains funds away from the poor neighborhood where almost all incarcerated individuals come from and sends those funds to Republican areas.

The elected leaders in the Republican Party have sought to increase the number of incarcerated individuals in order to increase Republican voting power and increase funding to Republican areas.

There is a strong racial element to the incarceration strategy. More than 90% of those incarcerated in New York State on drug offenses are Black or Hispanic (80% of all incarcerated people in New York State are Black or Hispanic), even though all studies show that Black and Hispanic residents of New York State use illegal drugs less than other ethnic/racial groups. By putting large numbers of first-time, non-violent drug offenders behind bars, Republicans have gained political power and funding. They have also taken populations that have traditionally voted for Democrats and made them ineligible to vote, thereby adding to Republican voting power.

Republican Party Files Suit to Maintain Their Incarceration Advantage

During David Paterson's reign as Governor, the democratically controlled State Legislature and the Governor agreed to end the practice of counting incarcerated individuals at the location of the prison and agreed to start counting them at the place of their most recent home. It was a major change, and it signaled the latest attack on the incarceration strategy (previously, the Governor and the State Legislature agreed to end the mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent offenders).

Last week, the Republican Party sued our state to try to reverse the change in how incarcerated individuals are counted. Some of the Republican districts at the heart of the suit would not have sufficient population to remain as districts if they did not count incarcerated individuals in their population counts.

Attorney General Schneiderman will defend New York State against the attack by the Republican Party, and we should be pleased that he was successful in the 2010 election cycle. His Republican opponent and one of his rivals in the Democratic primary were supporters of the incarceration strategy. Schneiderman led the fight to end the counting of incarcerated people at the prison location, and he'll be the right person to defend the law he championed.

In some ways, it is a relief to see the Republican Party admit that incarcerating large numbers of people of color is part of their electoral agenda. Now, the debate is clear. Do we want more non-violent individuals to serve long sentences in order to aid the Republican Party? Do we want the existing incarcerated population used to boost Republican political power? The Republican Party has answered with a strong, "Yes!"

It is up to all of us (as well as Attorney General Schneiderman and the New York State courts) to defeat their efforts.

Bye Black and Enter Walcott

Cathie Black's reign as Chancellor of the New York City school system was brief and humiliating for all of us. It was less a reflection of her lack of knowledge and more a reflection of the arrogance of Mayor Bloomberg.

In a strange twist that seems to deserve explanation, Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott will become the Chancellor but will not receive the Chancellor's $250,000 salary. Oddly, Walcott is claiming that he chose not to accept the increased salary, while the Mayor insists that Walcott would not have been permitted to receive the raise. One could assume that the Mayor is being frugal in refusing to pay Walcott for the job Walcott will now undertake, but you'd wonder why he is being frugal with Walcott's paycheck when he pushed for massive retroactive raises for his staff during the height of the recession. One might wonder whether Walcott is not really the Chancellor, since he won't be paid as the Chancellor. Perhaps Bloomberg will be the Chancellor, which has always been the problem. We've had a bad Mayor for education. Our Chancellors have suffered because they worked for the wrong leader in our city. The failure of our school system (where only 28% of Black males graduate from high school) is a failure of the Mayor and not a failure of his Chancellors. Dennis Walcott cannot fix the school system until we get a Mayor in New York City who wants our schools to successfully educate our children.

Sense-less Census in NYC

The 2010 Census failed to capture the full population of New York City, and New York City is officially demanding that the Census Bureau fix the Census.

Hidden Homes

In New York City, there are many more homes than are obvious at first. Homes are subdivided (some illegally). Families move in together during tough times. New buildings are constructed that fail to appear on lists of addresses with dwellings. Many foreign-born New Yorkers are concerned that filling out Census forms, which are sent out by the federal government once every ten years, will subject them to mistreatment.

In the 2000 Census, the Census Bureau missed 240,000 residents in New York City.

In 2010, as the Census count was beginning, New York City had to provide 127,000 addresses to the Census Bureau for homes that the Census Bureau did not have on its list of homes.

The problem of hidden homes is particularly difficult in densely populated areas like New York City, where families may be hiding in plain sight.

Now, we see the hidden homes problem in the outcome of the 2010 Census.

2010 Census Undercount in New York City

New York City views the 2010 Census count of its population as an undercount of at least 200,000 (which is consistent with the 240,000 residents missed in the last Census). The 2010 Census put the New York City population at 8,175,133, but New York City estimates its population at 8.4 million. Making the Census numbers difficult to accept is the lack of population growth in growing sections of Queens and Brooklyn.

Brooklyn grew by less than 2% over the last 10 years according to the Census figures, and Queens experienced essentially no growth in a decade based on those same figures. The Census Bureau itself had estimated in 2009 that Brooklyn had grown by more than 4% since the 2000 Census, but their figures now suggest growth of less than half of that number.

The Census figures showing very little growth for New York City are a threat to the funding of New York City. A large portion of federal and state funding provided to New York City is based on the size of the New York City population. The type of major undercount that New York City believes has occurred in the 2010 Census could result in underfunding for New York City in housing, education, healthcare, and many other key funding categories.

As we have stated previously, the faster growth of states in the West and South relative to states in the Northeast has resulted in a shift of Congressional seats and electoral votes from the Northeast to the West and South. New York State is expected to lose two Congressional seats in the upcoming reapportionment. Though we and many others had expected the lost seats to come from Upstate New York where populations have declined, the disappointing growth figures in New York City may result in lost Congressional representation and political power in New York City.

New York City must successfully obtain corrected figures from the Census Bureau and overcome the problem of hidden homes in order to protect its funding and its political influence.

Upper Manhattan Congressional District Under Attack

The historic Upper Manhattan Congressional District, which has only had two representatives in its storied history yet has had more impact on Congressional accomplishments than any district in the country, is now facing potential elimination.

New York State Losing 2 Congressional Seats

As we stated in December 2010:

New York State will lose two of its 29 US House seats starting with the 2012 elections based on the 2010 Census. Congressional seats are apportioned amongst the 50 states based on the data from the census that occurs every 10 years. Though New York State gained population during the period from 2000 to 2010, its growth of less than 3% was too slow to keep up with the nearly 10% growth in the US Population since 2000. There are 435 seats in the US House of Representatives because of Federal law, and the faster growing states gain seats while slower growing and shrinking states lose seats. As the US population has moved westward and southward, Nevada, Florida, and other beneficiaries of population movement have gained seats while New York and New Jersey have lost seats. New York's slow growth will result in the loss of two seats in the 2012 elections.

The New York State Legislature will draw new lines for US House districts in 2011. Some other states use commissions, but New York's process is fully political. The apparently-Republican-controlled State Senate, the Democratic-controlled Assembly, and the Democratic Governor will need to agree on the US House lines. It will likely be an ugly and frustrating process as the two parties attempt to gain an advantage versus each other while shrinking our Congressional delegation.

Governor Cuomo has proposed legislation that would create a redistricting commission to decide the new lines instead of the state legislature. Thus far, the Cuomo proposal has not been embraced by the State Senate's Republican leadership, which has suggested that the plan is more appropriate for the redistricting that will occur after the 2020 Census. Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch has been pushing for a non-partisan approach, but his approach has not gained any greater momentum in Albany than the Cuomo plan has.

Potential Threat to Upper Manhattan's District

Reports have emerged suggesting that the New York State Legislature may attempt to redraw the Upper Manhattan Congressional District to pick up large portions of the Bronx and Westchester County. The District would be centered outside of Manhattan, and the history of the District would be undermined.

Because Manhattan benefits from having four Congressional Districts rather than a smaller number, and because the Upper Manhattan District is both historic and has a history of achievement, Manhattan residents should make the effort to keep the Upper Manhattan District a top priority.

As we stated in December 2010:

In Manhattan, where our population has grown, we hope to essentially maintain our current map while the two seats are lost in upstate New York, which was the source of the lost population and slow growth in New York that created the need to reduce our number of US House seats. But, by losing two seats, our State Legislature may be tempted to tamper with the district maps in Manhattan and in the other parts of the New York City metro area. Manhattan residents should work together to discourage major changes to our district maps.

Charlie Rangel's Upper Manhattan seat is historic and must be protected. It has only been help by two people, and it is the first "Black" district to emerge on the national stage. Charlie Rangel and his predecessor, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., have been the most productive and successful legislators in the history of our country. Adam Clayton Powell was the first Black member of Congress from New York State. The people of Upper Manhattan should pro-actively come together to push the State Legislature to make as few changes as possible to Charlie Rangel's historic district in the upcoming redistricting. We cannot imagine a higher priority in the next few months, given that the new district lines will likely be in place for the next 10 years.

Bloomberg Voters' Remorse

Mayor Bloomberg's popularity is declining, according to published polls. The decline seems long overdue, given his administration's fiscal failures, snow clearance failures, repeated demonstrations of enormous incompetence, and shocking race-based policing approach.

Poor Poll Results

Mayor Bloomberg's popularity is as low as it has been since early in his first term eight years ago. A new poll shows that only 39% of New Yorkers approve of the performance of Mayor Bloomberg, while 51% of Mayor Bloomberg's constituents disapprove of his performance.

Eighty-four percent of New York City respondents to the pollsters stated that the Mayor should identify who is in charge of the city when he is out of town (the Mayor makes regular trips to Bermuda on weekends but does not state publicly where he will be or who is leading our city when he is not available).

With the Mayor's popularity plunging, we are compelled to speculate as to the reasons for the decline.

Racism Exhaustion

Perhaps the people of New York City are exhausted with the intensity and the nakedness of the racially discriminatory policies and behaviors of the Bloomberg Administration. The stop and frisk nightmare continues; the Mayor continues to refuse to adopt a non-racist approach to hiring fire department; and the Mayor continues to employ the least diverse administration in a generation.

After nine years, the basic decency of the people of New York City is offended by the behavior of the Mayor as he pursues indefensible approaches to law enforcement and hiring.

Fiscal Mistakes and Incompetence

Mayor Bloomberg's fiscal mistakes and incompetence are likely a major piece of his lack of support from his constituents.

The Mayor mismanaged the city's expenses and attempted to buy political support by spending tax dollars as well as by making charitable donations from his personal funds. His misuse of taxpayer funds to build his political alliances has left our city with an unhealthy imbalance between revenues and expenses as well as a record of stunning growth in the city's expenses.

The Mayor also allowed more than $80 million to be stolen from a $63 million project, and that $63 million project is now expected to cost nearly $1 billion. For a Mayor who based his campaigns on his strength as a manager, the missing $80 million and the nearly $1 billion of cost overruns on one $63 million project tell the real story of the Mayor's competence.

Snow Clearance

Not only did Mayor Bloomberg fail to prepare the city for the snow storm on December 26, 2010 that crippled the city, his decision to organize the city as if snow does not fall in NYC resulted in more than $115 million of city expenses for snow removal - a new record and nearly twice the previous record, even though this season's snow fall was not the largest snow fall on record.

Though the Mayor has been leading City Hall for more than nine years, he organized the snow removal approach of the city to assume that no major snow storm would hit our city. When his risky bet moved against him, our city suffered enormously and had to reach out to expensive private contractors to do the work of the city.

Polls Represent Perception Rather Reality

While Mayor Bloomberg has earned his low poll numbers, his poll numbers were high when he was not succeeding as a leader. We should not assume that his poll numbers are an accurate reflection of his success or failure. We do know that support for racists policing, fiscal irresponsibility, and incompetent snow removal planning are not acceptable realities for a Mayor in our city. The Mayor should change his approach to leading our city or show true leadership by stepping aside to allow others to fix the mess he's creating.

Cremation Trend Costing Jobs in NYC

A growing trend for individuals to choose cremation of their remains instead of burial is causing financial strains at cemeteries in New York City. Also, the Republican effort to cut billions of dollars from Head Start should scare residents of our great city.

Cremation Burns Cemetery Revenues

New York City residents appear to have shifted their final resting place desires sharply in favor of cremation and sharply away from burial over the last two and one-half decades. With burials far more costly and labor-intensive than cremation, cemeteries are facing revenue reductions and looking to reduce headcount to avoid deficits.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the current cost of a grave is more than ten times the cost of cremation. To compare costs fully, one would need to add the cost of opening the grave and the cost of the burial itself, perhaps doubling the total cost of the burial as compared to the cremation and creating a 20 to one cost differential. The costs represent revenues to the cemetery, and those revenues provide jobs for cemetery workers.

The same Wall Street Journal article suggests that New York City cemeteries have seen their ratios go from seven to one in favor of burials over cremations to a ratio of two to one in favor of cremations in twenty five years. The financial impact of that shift is now starting to impact the employment at our city's cemeteries.

In February, cemetery workers and their union protested proposed cuts at the famous Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. Woodlawn had suggested that it would seek massive lay offs and significant wage reductions. The proposed changes are shocking and may be designed to pressure the union and its members to agree to lesser cuts, but the shifting cremation versus burial ratios create a smaller revenue pie with which to employ cemetery workers.

Because cemeteries are non-profit institutions, there are no owners or shareholders to create wealth from creating profitable revenue. Cemeteries have Board of Directors that work to promote the longevity of those cemeteries and guide them to meet their mission of providing a place for the dead to be remembered and for loved ones to visit to remember and mourn. Boards across our city may seek to reduce their employee headcount figures to avoid having expenses that exceed their revenues, and the reduced headcount will further challenge our city's troubled economy.

Republican Cuts Aimed at Head Start

The Federal Head Start program is once again under attack from Republicans.

President Obama attacked the Republican Party last week for proposing major cuts in Head Start while failing to tackle the largest areas of spending. The Republican Party has been aggressive in defending subsidies for major energy companies and tax breaks for the highest earners in or society, but the dollars spent educating young children are under attack.

Many studies have shown Head Start to be one of the most effective uses of Federal dollars. Participants gain substantial long-term benefits.

Here in New York City, where only 28% of African American males graduate from high school, Head Start is absolutely crucial to efforts to reverse the collapse of the public school system in our city. Sadly, across New York State, only 25% of African American males graduate from high school.

The horrifying failure of the New York City public school system creates a pipeline of young people to fill our jails and prisons. Head Start puts children on a path that steers them away for prison and toward academic success as well as economic opportunity. Therefore, all of us in NYC should be standing up with President Obama to defend the Head Start program and to ensure that the children of New York City are not successfully targeted by the Republican Party as they seek to shift Federal resources away from neighborhoods and communities and toward to pockets of the highest earners and the wealthiest families in our country.

NYC Pays Stop and Frisk Victims

Mayor Bloomberg's racist and disgusting record-setting stop-and-frisk policies are costing taxpayers in our city large amounts of money that we don't have.

Record Setting Stop and Frisk Activity

Mayor Bloomberg has focused his law enforcement strategy on stopping innocent people of color. He has set a new record each year for stop-and-frisk activity, and while approximately 90% of those stopped are completely innocent, approximately 90% of those stopped are people of color. Our city is 53% people of color, but only 10% of our stop-and-frisk victims are white.

Law suits and public criticism of Mayor Bloomberg's racist approach to law enforcement have not stopped to steady growth in the number of victims each year. The Mayor's reaction suggests that the racist policy is one of his most important initiatives.

Many defenders of the Mayor's racist policies have suggested that the racial make-up of the stop-and-frisk victims results from the descriptions provided by crime victims. The records of stop-and-frisk activity in NYC demonstrate that the reason given most often for the stops is that the stop-and-frisk victim was behaving suspiciously. A "fit-the-description" excuse was almost never given for a stop. It turns out that people of color are viewed as suspicious by the NYPD, and their suspicious behavior causes the stops, even though 90% of those stopped are completely innocent.

One can imagine how long a stop-and-frisk policy would last that stopped more than one-third of all of the innocent white people in a white neighborhood every year. In Harlem, more than a third of the residents are stopped each year, yet the policy continues to escalate its abuse of innocent people of color.

Stop-and-Frisk Victim Payouts

NYC has paid approximately $170,000 to victims of the stop-and-frisk abuse that Mayor Bloomberg has insisted on bringing to neighborhoods of color.

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the Legal Aid Society filed suit against NYC as a result of the stop-and-frisk abuse occurring in public housing, and the costly settlements may be just the start of the cost of continuing the Mayor's racist and abusive policies.

There are plaintiffs still pursuing litigation against the city for the stop-and-frisk disaster that Mayor Bloomberg continues to force upon us.

If litigation fails to stop the escalating abuse, legislation might be a better path. I hope that the State Legislature and/or the City Council will limit this abuse soon.

Women's Health and Fitness Day at the Intrepid

You don't want to miss Women's Health and Fitness Day on March 13th at the Intrepid near the West Side Highway and 44th Street in Manhattan. It is a full day of health related events, including interactive fitness demonstrations and educational programs.

As we have discussed in the past, improved health in NYC is crucial to our economic future. We are in the midst of a health crisis, and the upcoming Women's Health and Fitness Day is part of overcoming the forced that are robbing residents in NYC of their health and their lives.