East Harlem Focus

Spirit of East Harlem Mural Defaced; Call for Community Action and Cultural Education Campaign*

2009-06-24T09:34:00.001-07:00

During the early hours of June 13, one of El Barrio's s most famous outdoor artworks, the Spirit of East Harlem mural, was mysteriously defaced. The landmark painting has significant historical roots in Spanish Harlem and has served as a cultural attraction for thousands of students and tourists from around the country and the world.

Commissioned by Hope Community, Inc. in 1978, the four-story mural was created by Hank Prussing and featured local residents engaging in everyday activities. Artist Manny Vega, who’d served as Prussing's apprentice, restored the badly weathered painting in the mid-1990s.

Manny Vega’s internationally acclaimed Julia de Burgos mosaic on East 106th Street does not appear to have been defaced, nor have any works by artist James de la Vega.

East Harlem Preservation has reached out to local artists and cultural organizations to engage in a public forum to highlight the importance of preserving local artwork.

* [Although the Spirit of East Harlem mural WAS indeed vandalized, our original announcement incorrectly described the Graffiti Wall of Fame as having been defaced. Apologies for the confusion. Stay tuned for further updates.]

Costco and Food Stamps: A Good Neighbor Policy

2009-05-04T15:20:00.000-07:00

Guest Editorial by Viveca Diaz
Why is Costco moving into non-middle income neighborhoods like East Harlem when they don’t accept food stamps? They want to live on the land of the people, but they don’t want people of the land who receive federal assistance to purchase food from their stores.

Box-box stores built in disadvantaged communities catering only to middle-income shoppers sure sounds like gentrification (not to mention segregation) to me.

Rather than snubbing lower-income residents in East Harlem, Costco should seize the opportunity to improve its corporate reputation by reversing its antiquated policy on food stamps.

In exchange for permission to make late-night deliveries, Costco is offering 2,000 free memberships to the East Harlem community. Seems like a great offer except for the fact that: (1) memberships are based on income, (2) the free memberships would only be good for two years and, (3) the free memberships will be based on a lottery system (to be overseen by supporters of this raw deal).

So let’s get this straight: Costco’s lease is for 30 years but neighborhood residents are only being offered a limited number of free two-year memberships? Seems a bit unfair, doesn’t it?

Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the amount of food stamps an individual or families receives will be increased by up to 13%.

Given that none of those families fall into the middle-income bracket that make up the majority of Costco members, I suspect that the company will soon reconsider their food stamps policy.

Free Grass for the Working Class!

2009-01-18T19:04:00.000-08:00

I grew up at 2030 Lexington Avenue, in a narrow, walk-up tenement owned by my grandfather. Today, when I stop by the community garden where our building once stood, I am filled with both hope and despair. I am saddened because even though the lot has been classified as a permanent “green” space, it remains undeveloped as an environmental haven because the Parks Department won’t support community gardens financially.

I have always been inspired by the incredible sense of community in East Harlem and by the neighborhood’s remarkable political and cultural heritage. Such influence helped compel me to advocate for the preservation of that legacy.

Several years ago, I began documenting all of the large-scale commercial and luxury housing development projects – simply because folks were not being informed about changes in their own community! The issues then broadened to include affordable housing and environmental justice.

Now, everyone always asks why I’m so interested in Randall’s Island. Well, in addition to addressing gentrification as an issue of displacement, I think it’s important that we also examine the parallel trend that is the privatization of public parkland in our own backyard – which is, of course, Randall’s Island and Central Park.

So, what does it look like when a neighborhood is no long ours? Well, certainly its name will be changed. It will also be that our children will not be able afford to live here any longer because the majority of housing that’s being built is at market rate.

But it will also be the case that our children can no longer access their playgrounds because our parkland has been sold off to the highest bidder – which is mostly private businesses that exclude our community by means of admission price and access.

Already, we have a 480-acre island where our community once held cultural festivals, picnics, and impromptu concerts but which we can no longer freely access because the public footbridge is closed five months out of the year, and the playground permits are overwhelmingly controlled by private schools and corporate sports teams, or because the mayor decides to hold a private soirée that prevents public access to almost one quarter of the island for almost two weeks each year.

While the “green” issue may not be at the forefront of the anti-displacement movement – and certainly permanent affordable housing should always be the priority – I hope you will remember that one of the solutions to the astronomical asthma and obesity rates that our children suffer because of all the surrounding traffic (three bridges and a major highway) – might be as simple as a walk in the park, rather than diets and an inhaler.

As one of my cultural mentors, Pedro Pietri, said, “free grass for the working class!”

Testimony Presented at Town Hall Meeting for Housing Justice, Marina Ortiz, Thursday, January 15th, 2009

Barrio Op Ed: Bargain Uptown Theatre!

2008-10-24T16:21:00.000-07:00

The Mayor wants to cut a sweetheart deal with a multi million dollar corporation to give them a million dollar parcel of city-owned land in East Harlem for $1.00, even though that corporation can well afford to pay market rate for the property. I must admit to some astonishment over this deal. I am also very troubled by it.

I am both astonished and troubled because Bloomberg, since he became Mayor, has insisted on charging poor Latino Theatre Companies market rate prices for city owned spaces in the same community, and refused to even consider a lower rate. This is nothing short of scandalous. How can you insist on charging market rate rentals for Theatres in a poor Latino community when there is no market for Theatre rentals in that area!

This “Brilliant” fiscal policy charges Downtown rates for Uptown spaces with the net result being that there is no regular Theatre being produced in East Harlem which is a significant part of the Theatre Capitol of the world! This is crazy! As a Theatre Person with over 20 years of experience producing Theatre in New York, I must Protest! This is an outrage! Nobody has been able or willing to rent these spaces from the City during good times, it is the height of arrogance to think that someone will be able to rent them at market rates during the coming hard times.

Moreover, why are poor Latino Theatre Companies being treated so differently? Multi-Million Dollar Corporations get a “Freebie” at the same time that poor Latinos have to pay an “Arm and a Leg?” How does that remotely make sense? Is there some Bias at work here? As Shakespeare once said, something is rotten in the State of Denmark!

Forgive me for raising the question, but doesn't it make more sense for Bloomberg to charge the poor Latino Theatre Company a $1 for the Theatres and charge the Multi Million dollar Corporation Market Rate for the land? Am I crazy? Not for nothing, but what kind of Republican Bizzaro World do we live in; where there’s Welfare for the Rich, and Full-Fare for the poor? Isn't that what caused the World Wide economic crisis we all now face?

Even if you put aside the apparent racial implications of this deal, it is at the very least immoral, and unethical! Not only does it not make ethical sense, it makes no business sense either! The fact of the matter is that two operating Theatres in El Barrio can generate more money for the whole City, than any “Sweet Heart Land Deal” could possibly generate for the local community.

It is an accepted fiscal fact that an operating Theatre generates $4 for the local economy for every $1 spent IN that Theatre. Our El Barrio Theatres have almost 800 seats, so they can potentially generate (Check my math, $50 per X 800 seats = $40,000 X 4 days a week = $160,000 X 52 Weeks a year = $8,320,000 spent in the Theatre. Multiply that by the $4.00 spillover, it means) over 33 million for the local economy!!! Now, that kind of economic activity in a poor community, any poor community, makes sense for the whole City, no? How much money do you think this “Sweet Heart Land Deal” will generate for the City? Is it anywhere near 33 Million? I don‚t think so.

In conclusion, Mr. Mayor, if you want to give away City Owned Property in El Barrio for $1.00, give us our Theatres for a $1.00!

Eugene Rodriguez, Playwright/Director
Puerto Rican Intercultural Drama Ensemble (P.R.I.D.E.)

Healthy Food Disparities in Upper Manhattan

2008-07-28T10:15:00.001-07:00

Click to Play

WE ACT Sustainability Coordinator James Subudhi addresses healthy food disparities in Upper Manhattan at UFCW Local 1500's "Building Blocks" Food Policy Conference on July 10, 2008. Produced by Hope Community, Inc.

Even Hollywood Understands Privatization

2008-05-23T16:51:00.000-07:00

I know it's Hollywood and all, but I just wanted to share that John Cusack ("War, Inc.”) is my “American Idol” de jour as I admire his candid opinion on the degeneration of our collective civic priorities in an interview with Juan Gonzalez for Democracy Now (excerpted below):

JOHN CUSACK: ...You know, when we hear these words like “privatization,” you know, what does that mean? ... [I}t meant outsourcing what you would imagine to be the very core functions of government and the very thing that makes you a state, to turn that into a for-profit business. And we’ve gone so far down the rabbit hole now. So it’s strange and savage times.

TRANSCRIPT FROM “WAR, INC.”

BRAND HAUSER: I like [fill in the blank verb] people as much as the next guy, but I signed up to [fill in the blank verb] the bad ones. Health clinics, trade unionists, journalists, agricultural co-ops, Catholic liberation theologians, impoverished Colombian coffee farmers—these are the barbarians, the depraved opponents of civilization? We turn [fill in the blank neighborhood or nation] into a … graveyard. Whoever momentarily interrupts the accumulation of our wealth, we pulverize. I’m just not feeling good about that anymore, sir.

Randall's Island decision; public school children win!

2008-02-01T16:10:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of Leonie Haimson
In an important victory for public school children, parents and community members have won their lawsuit to stop the city from leasing the sports fields on Randall's Island during after school hours to a consortium of 20 private schools for the next 20 years.

As Supreme Court Justice Shirley Kornreich concluded, the amount of land being converted to new use - at least 12 ∏ acres -- far outstrips the 30,000 sq. ft. or 2/3 of an acre that defines a "major concession" according to the City Charter. Thus, this deal requires ULURP, a review process involving the Community Board, the Manhattan Borough President, and the City Council, which never happened in this case.

She rejected the city's argument that this deal was legal because the land would be converted to sports fields first - and then handed over to the private schools after the fact. As she wrote, "The court disagrees with strained interpretation of the Concession, an interpretation designed to evade ULURP review...Essentially respondents attempt to alter reality ...Allowing the City to avoid ULURP review by drafting terms to redefine when a concession has been granted would undermine ULURP's purpose of requiring community input on significant land use decisions regarding public land."

Here are statements from some of the plaintiffs and others involved in bringing this lawsuit:

Eugenia Simmons-Taylor, former president of the Presidents Council in D4 in East Harlem, which was the lead plaintiff: "This is a great victory for public school children as well as the community as a whole. I'm thrilled that we were able to stop this unjust deal before it went through. Now the community and our elected representatives will have a chance to have their say."

Matthew Washington, a member of the Community Board 11 in East Harlem and another plaintiff: "We're happy to have an opportunity to do the right thing for all the children in this city."

David Bloomfield, a member of the Citywide Council on High Schools, also a plaintiff: "The sad lesson of the Randall's Island litigation is that elites have no business making decisions for those with less money or influence. From the first, the city and the Randall's Island Sports Foundation should have included parents, schools, and the community at the negotiating table. Instead, the courts have been forced to ensure these rights and in so doing have made sure that there will be quality recreational facilities for all children."

Patrick Sullivan, the Manhattan appointee of the Panel for Educational Policy, who did the much of the initial research showing that this deal was illegal: "The public school parents and community activists of East Harlem have won a great victory on behalf of all the city's children. Public athletic fields must not be sold via special invitation to the well connected. The city must now put forward a plan for equitable access to the Randall's Island fields. "

Geoffrey Croft, President of NYC Park Advocates, "We are delighted at this outcome, but this deal never should have been allowed to go forward in the first place. I hope the city doesn't appeal the decision. It would be a waste of taxpayer money and would violate the important principle that public parks should be for the public and not for private interests."

Marina Ortiz, founder of East Harlem Preservation and another plaintiff: “I am elated that Judge Kornreich made a just and proper decision in annulling the illegal bid to construct new sports fields on Randall's Island. Now that their private steamship has been docked for due process, perhaps the Randall’s Island Sport Foundation will be more sensitive to the needs and concerns of local youth. I am confident that East Harlem and South Bronx residents will appreciate the opportunity to voice their needs and concerns, and I will work to ensure a more transparent and democratic process with regards to the disposition of public parkland in our communities.”

The case was argued pro bono by attorneys Norman Siegel and Alan Klinger, Faith Kaminsky Cohen and Christina Weis of Stroock, Stroock and Lavan.

We all owe them tremendous thanks. A summary from the NYLJ is below.

Judge Annuls Approval of New Fields on Randall's Island
New York Law Journal, January 31, 2008

Approval of a bid to construct new sports fields and revamp 36 existing fields on Randall's Island has been annulled by a state judge. Supreme Court Justice Shirley Werner Kornreich of Manhattan held that concessions granted by the city's Franchise Concession Review Committee to the Randall's Island Sports Foundation and a group of 20 private schools was not properly reviewed under the New York City's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. The agreement provides for the city to allocate more than $65 million for field improvements and grants the foundation permission to use and maintain the fields and the schools annual permits for 20 years to use two-thirds of the fields during after-school peak hours. The concession period would begin when 75 percent of the playing fields are substantially complete. Section 374 of the city charter provides that a "major concession" must be reviewed under the review procedure. Justice Kornreich (See Profile) rejected the city's argument that the new fields, on 12.5 acres, fall under an existing use exemption to the review procedure because construction on the land will be substantially completed and "in use" at the onset of the concession period.

District 4 Presidents' Council v. Franchise and Concession Review Judgment Committee, 108327/07, will be published Tuesday. - Noeleen G. Walder

http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/index.jsp

Our Lady Queen of Angels: Testing the Faith of East Harlem Residents

2007-02-20T15:07:00.000-08:00

“God has set [Christians] in the world as His sentinels and they may not leave their posts." -- St. Justin Martyr

Sunday Mass Continues at Our Lady Queen of Angels, Padlocks Notwithstanding

Despite recent arrests after a 37-hour vigil to protest the imminent closing of their spiritual "home away from home," dozens of parishioners returned to Our Lady Queen of Angels Roman Catholic Church for their usual Sunday morning assembly.

Things were a bit different this time around, however, as the congregation could find no local priest willing to defy warnings issued by the Archdiocese of New York against officiating the February 18 ceremony. Still, church members and supporters braved cold weather and icy streets to gather before the now-shuttered church.

Led by Carmen Villegas, a parishioner for over 33 years, worshippers held a bilingual outdoor ceremony, chanting spiritual hymns and reciting biblical verses before half a dozens television cameras.

"We are going to keep fighting and we're going to win," declared the 52-year-old parish council member as supporters chanted "Save our church!"

Built in 1886 to serve German immigrants, the East 113th Street church has served hundred of thousands throughout its 121-year history.

Despite its having the only wheelchair ramp for elderly and disabled Catholic worshippers within 10 blocks, the 400-member parish is one of 21 churches targeted for closing by the Archdiocese of New York in response to a “shortage of priests,” “dwindling attendance,” and “demographic changes” throughout its jurisdiction.

According to the Archdiocese, the “parish realignment decisions” are the culmination of an extensive three-year planning process, established by Edward Cardinal Egan, “designed to identify the religious, spiritual, and education needs of the Catholic faithful throughout the entire Archdiocese, and determine how those needs could best be met. While the Realignment process has now concluded, the Archdiocese will continue the process of strategic planning for the spiritual good of God's People and the strengthening of its parishes and institutions.”

Gentrification works in mysterious ways

Although the Daily News reported that none of the properties in the city parishes earmarked for closing is up for sale, many in East Harlem are not so sure.

East Harlem Chamber of Commerce President Henry Calderon was thus inspired to channel a gospel ballad “Calling All Angels” in his trumpet call to action.

“Cardinal Egan has decreed that some of his tax-exempt properties can no longer continue to save souls because they are losing dollars,” waxed Calderon in one of his oft-poetic emails. “When does a Church stop being a Church? Is it just a bookkeeping decision? Is the mission of our Church now found in a Business Plan instead of in the Bible?”

After learning about the planned closing of their parish last year, active members of the church convened a working group, the Families of Our Lady Queen of Angels, chaired by Villegas.

The group then created a business plan outlining actions to prevent the closing, but their efforts were overruled by the Archdiocese.

On February 9, the church door locks were changed. "We realized then, that they wanted to kick us out," said Villegas.

She then asked for support from experienced groups such as the Council of Parishes and Voice of the Faithful, two Boston-based groups that have fought church closings in their area.

On Sunday, February 11, Villegas and several other parishioners and supporters, including Peter Borré, co-chairman of the Council of Parishes, decided to remain after mass in a peaceful vigil intended to prevent the closing of their beloved church.

The following afternoon, members of the group held a press conference outside of the church to reiterate their rationale. “We don’t want to disobey the church,” explained Villegas, “but we do want to be here to pray and worship where we feel comfortable.”

Rather than meet with the parishioners, the Archdiocese released a statement that read, in part, “As a result of this regrettable event and the possibility of future events of this kind. It has been decided that the parish is to be closed immediately.”

Bibles and Bodyguards

The tension grew worse when Monsignor Dennis Mathers, Vice Chancellor of the Archdiocese, arrived at the church with several burly, intimidating guards. Soon after, parishioners were ordered to leave Our Lady Queen of Angels or be arrested.

Unwilling to abandon their convictions, Ms. Villegas and five other parishioners, Gladys Mestre, Patricia Rodriguez, Alba-Delice Rijos, Juanita Ortiz and Maria Mante, called on Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito and officers from the 23rd Precinct for protection.

They were then gently arrested on trespassing charges by local officers and politely led out of the church in handcuffs.

“We are deeply saddened by the arrest of Catholics by the Archdiocese of New York, who has failed in his pastoral duty,” wrote Villegas in a statement. “Vigils are a Catholic tradition going back many centuries, and it was disturbing to have this ancient tradition violated.”

A witness to the February 12 arrest, the Councilwoman says she was also disturbed at the “strong-arm tactics exhibited by agents hired and stationed at the church to intimidate and bully.”

In a February 16 letter, Mark-Viverito urged Cardinal Egan to meet with the parishioners to engage in a “good faith dialogue.”

“Our Lady Queen of Angels has served as a safe haven and a refuge for those willing to express their devotion and be consoled in times of grief and despair,” she wrote. “The vigil did not stem from defiance, but of deep love taught to them by their faith.”

“To have these individuals meet with such retaliatory and aggressive behavior by the institution to which they have been faithful appears to defy the very principles of Christianity they have been taught,” Mark-Viverito added.

The Archdiocese has yet to respond.

Villegas and others plan to bless parishioners with ashes this week on Ash Wednesday, February 21, from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, and vow to continue their Sunday morning assemblies.

The congregation also plans to work to preserve the church through landmarking and other legal measures with the support of Councilwoman Mark-Viverito, and others.

Supporters are being encouraged to attend the arrestees’ Criminal Court hearing, scheduled for 9:30 am on Friday, April 20th at 346 Broadway.

Catholic Dissidence is Not New

Throughout its history, the Roman Catholic Church has faced many challenges from progressive rebels.

St. Jeanne d'Arc, was a young French soldier who fought to recover her homeland from English domination during the Hundred Years War. After a politically motivated mock trial in 1421, the 19-year-old heroine was convicted of heresy and burned at the stake when she said she'd been guided by "angels and saints from heaven." In 1445, the Church relented and her conviction was overturned. Jeanne d'Arc was canonized in 1920.

In 1933, Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin established the Catholic Worker Movement, a spiritual organization that actively supports labor unions and human rights. Since its inception, members have often been jailed for acts of protest against racism, unfair labor practices, social injustice and war.

Today, Carmen Villegas and other East Harlem residents have passed a more modern test of faith and have taken religious militancy to an entirely new level: the simple preservation of an ordinary house of worship.

The New Randalls Island: Separate and Unequal?

2007-01-31T11:44:00.000-08:00

Under the Randalls Island Sports Foundation’s “New Deal,” local public schools would have priority access to 20 ball fields from 3 to 6 pm. What this actually means is that the majority of children in East Harlem and the South Bronx would have to skip their school lessons or their dinner in order to play ball during daytime hours throughout the school year.

More precisely, the contract would mostly benefit students from out-of-district private institutions during those crucial after-school hours. Yet the names of those private schools remain a mystery to folks uptown since the Foundation has repeatedly failed to provide a list of the schools in writing during meetings in East Harlem.

One can’t help but wonder: How many of those private schools, which the Foundation describes as “responsible user groups,” have representatives serving on the Board of Trustees of the Randalls Island Sports Foundation. Or, rather, how many members of the board have a human, monetary or professional interest in these institutions.

Even without those details, it’s obvious that the residents of East Harlem have been working on a separate and unequal playing field with regards to the planning of this New Deal. But, just because something has always been done a certain way does not necessarily mean that it is just. This was true during the civil rights movement and it remains true today.

Since at least the latter part of the 20th Century, every citizen - of every age and income – could enjoy free and public access to city parks. Today, hundreds - if not thousands – of acres of parkland are being systematically turned over to private developers and institutions and, in many cases, permanently removed from free and open public use. It would appear that we are moving backward.

This is especially troublesome considering the fact that public funding for parks remains at an all time low at just .04 percent of the city budget even though we enjoy a $3.9 billion surplus.

East Harlem Preservation opposes the alienation of city parkland without due process and the recent moves by this administration to restrict the rights of other elected officials to review private concessions involving city properties.

We support the call for a more thorough annual accounting of private funding of city parks, including oversight hearings on park concessions and greater transparency in public-private partnerships.

Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC project purports to design a city in which all citizens will be able to access a park within a 10 minutes walking distance. The question is: will this parkland be free - or will we have to pay to play, as is now the trend?

For most East Harlem residents - under whose jurisdiction Randalls Island lies – this “New Deal” (and the Parks Department’s “New Math”) is clearly a return to customs we’ve fought too hard to revisit.

Testimony Presented By East Harlem Preservation During the City Council Committee on Parks & Recreation’s Oversight Hearing on Status of the Possible Exclusive Use of the Athletic Fields on Randall's Island by NYC Private Schools, January 31, 2007.

Marie Dickson: The Eastern Star of Board 11

2007-01-13T14:01:00.000-08:00

East Harlem mourned the loss of veteran community advocate Eulalia “Marie” Dickson, who died January 5 at the age of 83.

Hundreds of local residents, friends, and colleagues of Ms Dickson attended a viewing held January 11 at the Johnstone Funeral Chapel in East Harlem.

The service was presided over by Father Mario Guarino and the Reverend Ill. Bro. Howard Breedy 33º and included scripture readings from the Old and New Testaments and reflections by a number of local officials and members of various civic, nonprofit, and fraternal organizations.

“We were all truly blessed to have had such a great person of her stature in our Order,” offered Sister Sheila Grant, Order of the Eastern Stars Grand Deputy of New York and the Country of Canada, a fraternal organization with which Ms. Dickson had been affiliated for over 50 years.

Sister Grant, who handled all the arrangements for Marie’s service and published the memorial program “Celebration of Life” – which aptly described her as “a woman of pride, grace and dignity” – then invited others to share their thoughts.

Community Board 11 was eloquently represented as Vice Chair Deborah Quinones, Treasurer Cesar Ortiz, Secretary Frances Mastrota, and Parks Committee Chair Robert McCullough spoke passionately about Ms. Dickson’s remarkable might and her steadfast support and commitment.

Dozens of other community board members came to pay their respects, as did the entire board staff. Also in attendance were many East Harlem notables, including Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito, State Senators José M. Serrano and Bill Perkins, Northern Manhattan Borough Commander Raymond Diaz, Captain Edward Caban of the 25th Precinct, Deputy Inspector David Colon of the 23rd Precinct, 23rd Precinct Council President Cesar Vasquez, members of the Franklin Plaza Board of Directors, Aimee Boden, Jonathan Greengrass, and Sabina Ellentuck of the Randalls Island Sports Foundation, Barbara Brenner of Mt. Sinai, Kathy Benson of the Museum of the City of New York, Carmen Vasquez of Hope Community, Taller Boricua director Fernando Salicrup, Robert and David Acosta of El Barrio Hardware, and East-Harlem.com editor Jose B. Rivera.

After many poignant eulogies, visitors were then invited to repair to the community room in Ms. Dickson’s Franklin Plaza building on First Avenue for an evening repass.

A mass was held the following morning at St. Ann’s Catholic Church in East Harlem. The January 12 service was presided over by Father Mario Guarino and other members of the church, and included beautifully sung arias such as Gounod’s “Ave Maria.”

Afterward, Community Board 11 Chair Robert Rodriguez delivered a statement on behalf of Congressman Charles B. Rangel, which read in part, “In all of my years, serving as a Member of Congress for the 15th Congressional District, Marie Dickson has served right along with me. It will not feel the same knowing that [she] will not be around to watch my back here in East Harlem as she has done for me all the years. Eulalia 'Marie' Dickson was God's gift to East Harlem and, her legacy will be spirited through all the work that will be done on behalf of her undying commitment to the people.”

Ms. Dickson was then buried in Forest Green Memorial Park in Morganville, New Jersey.

Biography

Affectionately known as Marie, Ms. Dickson was born July 20, 1923 in Atlantic City, New Jersey to Brilliant Victory and Matilda Belinda Vasquez.

An only child, Marie later relocated with her family to the Catskills section of New York. She later graduated from Kingston High School and Columbia University.

Ms. Dickson then married the late Arnold Andrue Carson, Sr., with whom she bore her only son, Arnold Carson.

Marie worked in the accounting department of the Elgin Operating Corporation for over 32 years, and later ran several small businesses in East Harlem. After her retirement, she continued to work diligently with many church and civic groups.

Ms. Dickson was a charter member of the Order of the Eastern Star, and the first Worthy Matron of the group’s Empire State Chapter No. 44. She also served as president of the Matrons & Patrons Council, Honored Associate Royal Matron of Amaranth Truth Court No. 2; Queen Mother of King Solomon Palace No. 2; Grand OES & Amaranth Deputy for the State of New York and the Country of Canada; OES School Director and Instructor; and President of the Eleven Builders and Pelican Club. As the group’s Travel Coordinator, Marie became a world traveler with junkets to Egypt and other countries.

Marie was also a long-time member of St. Ann’s Catholic Church where she served on four committees. She served as President of the board of directors of Franklin Plaza Apartments and was the founder of the Annual Franklin Plaza Family Day Celebration. Ms. Dickson was also an active member of the 23rd Precinct Community Council and Merchants Association.

Formerly, she’d served as an elected Democratic County Committee Person, treasurer and member of the James Weldon Johnson Community Center; an auxiliary police officer with the 23rd Precinct, volunteer for the New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, assistant art director of Green Gallery, Inc., and member of the East Harlem Interfaith Board of Directors.

As a member of Community Board 11 for over 27 years, Ms. Dickson served on nine committees, was chair of the Youth Committee for over 10 years, and most recently served as Chair of the Public Safety and Transportation Committee.

“Marie was extremely intelligent and well-liked,” recalls fellow board member Daniel Perez, who first met Marie in 1978 while he was with the Community Assistance Unit. “Her work with the Youth Committee will stand as a measure for generations to come.”

During her tenure, Ms. Dickson led the initiative for the renovation of Jefferson Park and advocated tirelessly for drug rehabilitation and youth prevention programs. She also founded “Youth Speak-Out,” an annual conference that provided a forum in which local youth could articulate their concerns and be matched with related neighborhood programs. In 1989, Marie dedicated a portion of the annual “Youth Speak-Out” to the “Central Park Jogger” case to allow local teens to address the issue.

Under her leadership, the Youth Committee also published a newsletter and an annual directory of youth services in East Harlem, and surveyed hundreds of youth each year, the results of which were used to target committee priorities for the coming year.

“Marie Dickson ran a very tight ship and had high expectations for all her committee members,” said Deborah Quinones, Vice Chair of Community Board 11. “Her standard for commitment was exceptional, always giving 100% to every committee on which she served. Marie also had a very long memory; she was our encyclopedia and could detail the history of any one issue.”

In an effort to ensure that youth-funded programs were actually servicing East Harlem youth, Ms. Dickson would instruct Youth Committee members to review funding proposals and conduct site visits to each applicant agency, recalled Ms. Quinones. Two programs that Marie set her particular sights on were the Asphalt Green Sports Center, and the Randalls Island Sports Foundation.

Under Marie’s leadership, the Youth Committee convinced Asphalt Green to arrange bus pickups of local youth to the Upper East Side location. And as a result of her work with the Randalls Island Sports Foundation, the agency established the “Marie Dickson Award of Excellence” in 2005 for members of the Jesse Owens Track and Field Club.

“East Harlem lost its most devoted resident [and] the Randall’s Island Sports Foundation has lost a true friend in Ms. Dickson, whose passion and persistence for keeping our city’s under-resourced youth active and in good health was unparalleled,” said RISF Executive Director, Aimee Boden. “East Harlem never knew a greater community advocate. RISF will miss her encouragement, both on and off the field.”

When asked what might be the best form of public recognition for her many years of community service, Ms. Quinones said, “The best way to acknowledge Marie’s contributions would be to follow her example and commitment to engaging in the civic process. Marie was concerned about the wasting away of character, integrity and respect for the work that we do. We need to maintain that same standard of excellence.”

Eulalia “Marie” Dickson is survived by her son Arnold Carson, granddaughter Janee’ Nicole Jones, three great grandchildren Rayshord, Briana and Kandace of Virginia Beach; a cousin, Bobby Fields of Washington, D.C., and hundred of friends and colleagues.

Alienation of Park Land Continues with Water Park “Development” on Randalls Island

2006-12-22T10:26:00.001-08:00

The New York Times again reported on the alarming friendship between New York State Senate’s majority leader Joseph L. Bruno and Jared E. Abbruzzese, an investor with Empire Racing Associates, which was awarded an operating franchise for the state’s thoroughbred horseracing tracks.

According to the Times, Abbruzzese’s nanotechnology firm, Evident Technologies, also received $500,000 in state money and had help from Bruno in obtaining $2.5 million in state aid for a joint development project.

What does any of this have to do with a Water Park on Randalls Island?

Abbruzzese is also an investor with the Aquatic Development Group, "winners" of a sole-source bid in 2000 for the 35-year Water Park concession, which City Comptroller William Thompson called a “seriously flawed process.”

Aquatic recently bailed out of a public hearing at the New York City Industrial Development Agency regarding $215,000,000 million bond funding. With no explanation, the company announced that it would instead seek private funding for the project.

The Randalls Island Sports Foundation said the Aquatic Development Group withdrew its bid for IDA bonds simply because it had secured private funding. When asked to name those funding sources, however, The Foundation admitted that Aquatic is still in the process of acquiring investors.

Perhaps the decision had more to do with media reports about Aquatic’s prior brush with bankruptcy in the 1990s or the failure of its president, Herb Ellis, to repay a $1.5 million loan to the Albany IDA.

The New York City Parks Department apparently suffers from the same lack of integrity. Under the leadership of Parks Commissioner Adrian Benape, with the blessing of Mayors Guiliani and Bloomberg, thousands of acres of public land have been systematically turned over to private developers and, in many cases, permanently removed from free and open public use.

On Randalls Island, the Water Park has grown from 12 acres to 26 acres, an area covering the northwestern portion of the island. Construction for the site will also greatly limit the number of ball fields available, with remaining fields most likely awarded to grandfathered permit holders from out-of-district private schools.

Although the Randalls Island Sports Foundation claims that public view of the river will not be blocked by the perimeter fencing or the water park (which will sit on sunken land), the developer’s description of “water slides rising 80 feet into the skyline” does not provide much reassurance. Certainly, public access to the shore will be severely hampered.

With an estimated 1.3 million visitors each year, the Water Park will greatly increase vehicular traffic to and from the island – thus releasing volumes of asthma-producing gas fumes and carcinogens into the atmosphere over the island and surrounding areas.

While the Foundation dismisses claims of environmental risk or damage as “nonsense,” it is a simple fact that that many visitors will also produce that much more pollution – not to mention noise, crime, garbage and contaminated groundwater draining into the nearby Harlem River. Provisions to preserve tranquility in nearby parkland, meanwhile, have never been offered.

The Foundation claims the Water Park is needed to help fund island maintenance and sports activities, yet it provides no details or reports on such financing. Likewise, the Foundation does not provide financial data on concert/stadium event revenue.

Aside from 300 (presumably entry-level) jobs and a few free tickets tossed to targeted agencies negotiated by Community Board 11, the Water Park will provide no direct and lasting financial benefit to neighboring communities.

Clearly, East Harlem Preservation cannot support a Water Park on Randalls Island.

We oppose a process that Comptroller Thompson called "flawed and inconsistent with well-established principles of public bidding."

We oppose a plan that defies sound environmental and fiscal logic.

We oppose a business that will generate millions of dollars each year with little benefit to the East Harlem community.

We oppose the recent move by Mayor Bloomberg to restrict the rights of other elected officials to review private concessions involving city properties.

We oppose the State Senate majority leader exerting influence over local matters on behalf of their wealthy associates.

Most importantly, we oppose the alienation of precious parkland without due process.

Although Commissioner Benape claims the Water Park will serve a “park use,” it will only do so minimally and for a cost. For East Harlem residents - under whose jurisdiction Randalls Island lies - that is a price too high to pay.

Julia de Burgos Remembered

2006-10-31T09:24:00.000-08:00

On Friday, October 27, 2006, Iris Consuelo Burgos unveiled an historic mosaic by artist Manny Vega honoring her sister, Julia de Burgos, the revered Boricua poet. The ceremony took place in the heart of East Harlem’s “Cultural Corridor” on the northeast corner of Lexington Avenue and East 106th Street.

The mosaic initiative was organized by Marina Ortiz and Debbie Quinones of East Harlem Preservation and funded by JPMorgan Chase, Congressman Charles B. Rangel, Hope Community, Inc., the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, State Senator José M. Serrano, Mt. Sinai Medical Center, and many local supporters.

The momentous occasion also marked the announcement by El Museo del Barrio and Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito of the re-naming of East 106th Street from Fifth Avenue to First Avenue in honor of Julia de Burgos, one of the few instances of a street being named after a Puerto Rican woman of high accomplishments.

The homage to Julia de Burgos compliments Councilwomen Mark-Viverito and El Museo de Barrio’s exceptional initiative to rename East 106th Street in honor of the famous poet. East Harlem residents and visitors will feel an increased sense of pride as they see the mosaic while strolling down the Julia de Burgos Boulevard.

The mosaic unveiling and press conference was followed by a noon reception hosted by El Taller Boricua in the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center at 1680 Lexington Avenue. The lunch-time gathering offered typical Latino appetizers and refreshments.

About Julia de Burgos

Born on February 17, 1914, Julia de Burgos was one of the most important and beloved Puerto Rican poets working in New York in the first half of the twentieth century. Modern critics believe that de Burgos’s poetry anticipated the work of feminist writers and poets as well as that of other Hispanic authors. De Burgos published several books including; Poemas Exactos de mí Misma, Poemas en Veinte Zurcos and Canción de la Verdad Sencilla. She received several honors and homages before and after her death. De Burgos died in East Harlem, on July 6, 1953 at the early age of 39.

Don Otilio Diaz, Beloved Executive Director of La Casa de la Herencia Cultural Puertorriqueña, Dies Peacefully on August 21

2006-08-31T18:19:00.000-07:00

Don Otilio Díaz, executive director of La Casa de la Herencia Cultural Puertorriqueña, died peacefully on Monday, August 21, 2006. He was 75. Mr. Díaz had no children, but is survived here in New York City by a sister, a nephew, and many nieces and cousins.

A public memorial was held Wednesday, August 30 and Thursday, August 31 at the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center in East Harlem. Religious services were held Friday, September 1 at Saint Cecilia's Church. Mr. Diaz was then buried in his hometown of Guayama, Puerto Rico.

Background

Otilio Díaz was born 1930 in Guayama, near the southern coast of Puerto Rico. He earned a B. A. from the University of Puerto Rico and an M.S. in Educational Administration from Fordham University.

In Puerto Rico, Mr. Díaz worked as an elementary, junior and high school teacher. He also served with the Puerto Rican Department of Agriculture’s Administration of Social Programs for several years. In New York City, Mr. Díaz worked with the Migration Division of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico as a migration specialist and as a supervisor of the agency’s education and community organization programs.

He then served as a program planner and proposal writer with the South Bronx Model Cities Program and as a school supervisor in charge of Bilingual Education for School District 10 in the Bronx and District 4 in Manhattan. Mr. Díaz also worked as an adjunct lecturer for the Department of Puerto Rican Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Mr. Díaz was a founding member of the Borinquen Lions Club and former president of Community School Board # 7 and the Pamela Torres Day Care Center. He served as a consultant to “Damas Unidas de America,” the Puerto Rican Forum, the Center for Urban Education and the Puerto Rican Folklore Festival, and was an honorary member of the Hispanic Genealogical Society of New York.

Throughout his career, Mr. Díaz regularly received pubic acknowledgement for his community service work and received awards from the Association of Puerto Rican Mayors, the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the “Instituto de Puerto Rico” in New York City, the Hispanics Educators Association of the Bronx, the Great Council of Hispanic Organizations of New York City, the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club of the Bronx, the Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators, the Neighbor Association of San Sebastián Street in Old San Juan, and “Los Hijos del Viejo San Juan Association.”

In 1981, Mr. Díaz joined La Casa de la Herencia Cultural Puertorriqueña, Inc as its Executive Director. Over the next 25 years, he worked diligently to promote traditional Puerto Rican arts and culture, including folkloric dancing and music - and to welcome frequent visitors from Puerto Rico and other Latin American nations. Intensely proud of his heritage, Mr. Díaz was also instrumental in the agency's acquisition of thousands of books and artifacts from and about Puerto Rico. As a result, La Casa is greatly appreciated by many in the Puerto Rican and Latino community.

The East Harlem and Puerto Rican community mourns the loss of Mr. Díaz and has already vowed to ensure that the work of La Casa continues.

About La Casa

La Casa de la Herencia Cultural Puertorriqueña, Inc. was founded in 1981 by the late New York Assemblyman Luis Nine to preserve, enrich and disseminate the rich literary and cultural heritage of Puerto Ricans and other Hispanics.

Located in the Heckscher Building on Fifth Avenue, La Casa's library is a prestigious research center with thousands of books, music, and movies highlighting Puerto Rican history and culture and hundreds of cultural and historical artifacts. Visited by educational leaders from across the nation, Puerto Rico and Spain, its Puerto Rican heritage archive is a prestigious research center open to the general public.

La Casa also functions as a familiar locale and home-away-from-home for many Puerto Ricans with a variety of cultural programs, including traditional music lessons and instructions on folkloric dancing and artisan crafts, along with annual field trips to Puerto Rico and to other countries.

As a cultural and educational institution, La Casa has developed into an effective community resource that enhances the knowledge and awareness of the Puerto Rican and Hispanic culture within the framework of a multi-cultural society through the implementation of cultural programs and activities. This beloved cultural institution has served the East Harlem community for over 25 years through the leadership and dedication of a volunteer staff led by Otilio Díaz and the loyalty of La Casa’s membership and audience.

As such, La Casa was awarded $225,000 by the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation on January 25, 2005 to help underwrite critical staffing needs and to support the growth of the organization’s exhibition and archiving capacity.

Immediately prior to the UMEZ grant, the agency had relied on membership drives and fundraising events for the majority of its operating income. With the award, La Casa was able to purchase equipment and software for the preservation and archiving of its extensive collection. The grant also enabled Mr. Díaz to devote more time to future planning for the organization by converting his job into a paid position from a volunteer one.

The board of directors of La Casa has held several meetings to discuss the agency’s future, and will now begin moving forward to implement their Strategic Plan. For more information, visit: www.lacasapr.org.

Fire Unites East Harlem Arts Community

2006-02-08T12:28:00.000-08:00

Diogenes Ballester is certainly counting his blessings these days. After a midnight fire swept through his East Harlem studio on January 30, the Puerto Rican artist has been overwhelmed with support from colleagues and neighbors that have come to his aid.

Although no one was harmed during the blaze, which is still under investigation, among the items destroyed were the artist’s entire collection of catalogues from shows around the world, along with many older prints and uncompleted newer works. Also ruined were a number of historical documents chronicling important East Harlem events. Luckily, the bulk of Ballester’s artwork was already en route to Puerto Rico for an upcoming exhibit.

“First of all, I’m very happy that everyone’s alive in the building and in the whole block because it could have been worse,” said the artist, who continues to prepare for an upcoming show at the Ponce History Museum (Museo de la Historia de Ponce) in Puerto Rico. “I lost a lot, but I have to transform energy, instead of dealing with the negative. That is what inspires me to keep going.”

Although his artwork was not insured, many surviving smoke-damaged canvasses will need cleaning and restoration. And while he expects that his 106th Street studio will be repaired by the building owner, Ballester is now seeking more affordable workspace in the neighborhood.

Diogenes concludes. “Maybe this happened for a reason. Even with gentrification, we still have this very strong sense of community here in East Harlem that has given me a hand on many levels.” The artist’s network certainly includes neighbors such as Federico Colon, and others, who spent the weekend helping Ballester move his surviving work into storage space donated by Taller Boricua/Puerto Rican Workshop.

Ballester, who just turned 50, recently won an Individual Artist Award from the New York State Council on the Arts for the creation of an Oral History/Digital Book on African-Catholic-Taino religious expressions within Puerto Rican families. Ever busy, the artist is also preparing for an August show at the National Museum of Catholic Art and History in East Harlem, which is part of a traveling exhibition that concludes at the Museum of Art of Puerto Rico.

In addition, Diogenes and his wife, artist Mary Bonché, are compiling a book on his work to be presented at a Latin American Stories Association conference in March which includes syncretic oral histories gathered by Ballester in East Harlem, Paris, Haiti, Cuba and Puerto Rico from the 1980s to the present.

Most recently, Diogenes exhibited a multi-media collection, “La Promesa de Mi Tía Ketty” (“The Promise of My Aunt Ketty”), at the Carlos Rios Seniors Residence in East Harlem where he and filmmaker Judith Escalona also recorded residents as they shared their personal histories. Those pieces are now on display, alongside works by local artists Roger Caban, Fernando Salicrup, Franklin Flores, and Marcos Dimas, in a show, “Los Muchachos del Barrio,” at Bonito Restaurant on East 126th Street.

Despite his misfortune, Diogenes says he intends to remain in East Harlem. “When I first came to New York in 1981, Franklin Flores and others took me around and I saw a lot of artists here and that always motivated me,” he explains. “I think el Barrio is a very special place for any artist. El Barrio for me is an incomplete project.”

About the Artist

Diogenes Ballester
Painter, born 1956, Playa de Ponce, Puerto Rico

Diogenes Ballester is internationally renowned for his painting, drawing and installations. Born 1956 in Playa de Ponce, Puerto Rico of Afro-Caribbean descent, he first moved to New York in 1981 to join a burgeoning art scene. He was an artist-in-residence for printmaker Robert Blackburn and by 1982 he had his first solo exhibition in New York at the Cayman Gallery. Leaving New York for nearly five years, he returned Spanish Harlem to a studio on 106th Street, where he continues to work today. His work has been exhibited internationally and is in the permanent collections of numerous institutions, including the Bronx Museum in New York, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, and the Instituto per la Cultura e L' Arte, Catania, Italy.

Upon receiving the Arana Foundation Award in 1999, Ballester went to Paris to paint. It is there that he found himself reaffirming his African identity, which becomes a point of departure for his later installations in Haiti, Cuba and San Francisco. The installation entitled Globalization, Post-industrialism and Syncretism was exhibited at the Casa de las Americas in Havana during the symposium the Myth of the Caribbean. It was further re-defined and presented at the Museum of Art in Port-au-Prince, Haiti for the Multicultural Forum of Contemporary Art in 2000. The installation in San Francisco is entitled Fertility in response to the gross number of fatalities in Africa due to AIDS.

In September 2001, Ballester was one of seven visual artists joined by seven poets to exhibit in A Collaborative Digital Print Portfolio Between Visual Artists and Poets presented at the XIII San Juan Biennial of Latin American and Caribbean Printmaking in Puerto Rico. He was invited to address the International Association of Art Critics (AICA) Southern Caribbean Symposium entitled Migration and Diaspora in Caribbean Art, where he spoke about the aesthetic development of Puerto Rican visual arts in New York as part of the Puerto Rican diaspora. Concurrently, an edited excerpt of this address was published in the Alma Boricua catalogue in 2001. Ballester has continued to receive awards for his work, including honorable mention in drawing at the Tenth International Print and Drawing Exhibition in Taipei (2001) and the Gold Medal in painting at the Third Caribbean and Central American Biennial of Painting in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic (1996).

Bio courtesy of PR Dream.

New Bridge Proposed to Provide Pedestrian Access to Randall’s Island

2005-12-23T11:53:00.000-08:00

East Harlem residents and business owners debated the merits of building a new pedestrian bridge to Randall’s Island during a public workshop held at the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center on December 6. The “Bridge the Gap” forum was the second in a series co-sponsored by the Manhattan Borough President’s Office, CIVITAS Citizens, Inc., and the NYS Department of State.

T. Gorman Reilly, President of CIVITAS, opened the meeting by referencing the agency’s 2000 “East 125th Street Enhancement Study,” in which planner Geoffrey Roesch first issued recommendations for a pedestrian bridge to the Randall’s Island sports complex.

Cora Shelton, a member of Community Board 11 and CIVITAS, then expressed her support for the proposal and described how visitors to Randall’s Island must presently cross from either the Triborough Bridge at 125th Street Bridge, which is not easily accessible to pedestrians and cyclists, or the 103rd Street footbridge, which remains raised much of the time.

Afterward, consultant Jackson T. Wandres of the RBA Group outlined the proposal for a new pier and pedestrian bridge to be built over the Harlem River near 117th Street. “Something needs to be done to get there from here,” he quipped.

An alternate site at 120th Street had also been considered, Wandres said, but the southern location was preferred because of the nearby 116th Street retail corridor, the forthcoming East River Plaza mall, and convenient access to the subway and cross-town buses.

According to the plan, developed by the engineering firm of Hardesty & Hanover, pedestrians and cyclists would connect to a reconstructed dock via a new footbridge to be constructed at the end of East 116th Street over the FDR Drive. They would then travel north to the new dock and bridge at 117th Street.

Since Hardesty & Hanover are also involved in the planned rebuilding of the 100-year-old Willis Avenue Bridge, Wandres said, the engineering firm has proposed using leftover parts from that landmark to build the pedestrian bridge to Randall’s Island.

Rick Muller, a policy analyst for the Manhattan Borough President, elaborated. “What they propose is almost a park above the water, with a very interesting design. Why shouldn’t Community Board 11 have a beautiful bridge with access to Randall’s Island?”

Asked whether anything would have to be “condemned” to make room for the project, Wandres indicated that a small segment of the rear yard of the Manhattan School for Science and Mathematics might have to be used - while adding that school officials are in favor of the plan.

He also cited environmental concerns about construction near an old gasification plant located under the high school building, but assured the audience that the area in question would not be touched.

Wandres said his group surveyed business owners along East 116th Street, noting that they received 50 responses mostly favoring the idea. They also met with Community Board 11, neighboring schools, the 25th police precinct, the Wagner Houses, and East River Landing/1199 Plaza, he said.

Johnny Rivera, the East Harlem liaison to Congressman Rangel, said he favors the project. “As a parent, I think that Randall’s Island ought to be available to us too. I think it’s a grand idea.”

Dimitri Gatanas, co-owner of Dimitri’s Garden disagreed. “Why not fix the existing bridge at 103rd Street so local businesses can increase their traffic on that end?” Gatanas countered.

“The 103rd Street Bridge doesn’t serve Randall’s Island,” said CIVITAS board member Raymond Plumey. “That bridge goes over to the southern end of the island where a lot of institutions are while all the recreational activities are at the northern end,” noted Plumey, referring to agencies such as the Fire Department training facility, Manhattan State Hospital for the mentally ill, the Charles Gay Men’s Shelter and the Ward’s Island Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Added Plumey, “I see the need to have a bridge. I think 116th street is a good location but it has its drawbacks, what with the traffic from the FDR and the new shopping center. From a quality standpoint, having pedestrians coming on and off the bridge onto all that traffic could be an issue of air safety.”

Residents Complain About Postal Service

2005-12-05T08:58:00.000-08:00

Although the Hellgate Post Office in East Harlem was renamed in 2002 in honor of Oscar Garcia Rivera, the first Puerto Rican elected to public office on the United States, the station has yet to change the sign over its front door.

“The post office is the one branch of government that needs the least amount of support because it is self-sustaining,” says local resident Mario Cesar Romero. “I see no reason why they couldn’t have commissioned $50,000 dollars for a portrait of Rivera and some biographical information.”

“That sign is the least of the problems,” insists another resident. “Hellgate, is actually the more appropriate name for what amounts to a poorly run operation. There should also be a better formula for determining the number of mailboxes available to the community, especially considering all the new housing that has sprung up in the neighborhood.”

While the U.S. Postal Service website claims an on-time delivery rate of 95%, concern appears to be mounting about delivery problems and long lines at the station. The website also states that letter carriers delivers about 2,300 pieces of mail each day to 500 addresses, although many in East Harlem would argue those statistics.

“Mail is not delivered on a timely or organized basis,” says Mr. Romero. “When I returned from a trip last summer, my mailbox was filled with other people’s mail, while my first class mail was on the ground. I found a check for $1,200 that had been sitting outside my mailbox for at least two days, and I still get mail for Maria Lopez, a tenant who moved out in 1998.

“They need to do something about the lines at the station,” he adds. “People wait and wait and wait. The manager says they have hired more people; so it seems to be a question of making more efficient use of employees’ time. And on the street, I’ve seen a few carriers working out of uniform, some with their pants below their buttocks.”

Not one for inaction, Mr. Romero has gathered seven pages of petition signatures from local residents whom also feel mistreated. He has also begun attending neighborhood meetings on the subject. The most recent gathering, held on November 16, was convened by representatives from the Clinton, Johnson and Taft public housing projects, and was attended by the station manager, Herbert Clark as well as Johnny Rivera, the East Harlem liaison for U.S. Congressman Charles B. Rangel.

Notes Mr. Rivera, “We’ve met twice already with manager Clark, who seems open to hearing concerns and to making changes. I appreciate that he’s willing to go to meetings and listen and go back to try to resolve the issue.

“I’ve heard complaints about mail being delivered very late in the day, sometimes after working hours. I’ve also heard stories about misplaced mail and long lines at the post office. Because it is a federal office, we will monitor the issue on an ongoing basis,” Rivera assured.

During the meeting with Clark, Rivera said, the manager pointed out that the station has been independently audited, that the station’s budget has been increased, and that more people are working at the windows to increase service.

But not everyone agrees. “The mail service in East Harlem is slower than the Pony Express,” says one resident. “It’s common knowledge that if you want something to arrive on time, you don’t mail it out of East Harlem. We’ve always had struggles with this post office. My faith in the service is shaken when I see the conduct of the carrier.”

Mr. Romero, who plans to hold another meeting in the near future for residents in the 106th Street area, has quite a few suggestions he intends to propose. “For starters, all service windows should be open at all times. There should be a line exclusively for senior citizens, and there should always be Spanish-speaking attendants available throughout the day.”

Repeated calls to Manager Clark by this newspaper went unanswered. Rivera recommends consumers call Clark directly to voice their concerns. Mr. Clark may be reached at (212) 860-1896. Another option might be to place a call to the Consumers Affairs Office of the Postal Service in the James A. Farley General Post Office at (212) 330-3667 or to log on to their website at www.usps.com.

About Oscar Garcia Rivera
Courtesy of NYS Department of Labor

Born November 6, 1900 in the City of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, Garcia Rivera demonstrated at an early age exceptional scholarship and leadership qualities. These were evidenced by his selection as valedictorian at the Escuela Central Grammar (Junior High School) and his subsequent election as President of the High School of Mayaguez in 1925.

Soon after his graduation from the high school of Mayaguez, Garcia Rivera traveled to New York for the first time. While there he became concerned with the needs of the poor and working class of the city.

In 1926 he held a part-time job at the Boerum and Pease Binder factory in Brooklyn, while waiting for the results of a Postal Clerk’s examination. Scoring 98.4% on that test, Garcia Rivera immediately was appointed to the City Hall Post Office which was considered to be a prestigious assignment.

While there, he organized the Puerto Rican and Hispanic employees and encouraged them to become active in the Postal Clerks’ Union of America, which earned him the respect and support of the most prominent labor leaders in the country.

In 1930, Oscar Garcia Rivera became one of the pioneer law graduates from the St. John’s University School of Law. After his graduation from St. John’s, Garcia Rivera practiced his legal profession before State and Federal courts.

He established his own law firms at Wall Street, Mid-Manhattan, and Spanish Harlem, where he often offered pro-bono representation to the poor who could not afford to defend themselves in the courts.

In 1937, Garcia Rivera was elected to the New York Assembly becoming the first Puerto Rican in history to be elected to public office in the continental United States. He was reelected in 1938 and continued to serve in the state Assembly until 1940.

About the United States Postal Service

The United States Postal Service is an independent establishment of the Executive Branch of the United States Government serving over 7 million customers daily at its 38,000 branches. Every year, the agency delivers over 206 billion pieces of mail to more than 142 million addresses, and collects mail from over 280,000 points across the country. The agency has been named one of the 50 Best Companies for Minorities by Fortune magazine for five consecutive years.

Former Public School 109 To Be Developed as Affordable Housing for Artists

2005-10-28T12:01:00.000-07:00

The City Properties Committee of Community Board 11 was the scene of another heated debate on Monday, October 17 as board members and residents deliberated the merits of a plan by El Barrio’s Operation Fightback to develop an artists’ residence through a partnership with ArtSpace Projects, Inc.—a Minneapolis-based real estate firm specializing in housing for artists.

The location in question? 225 East 99th Street, a seemingly nondescript East Harlem address which happens to be the site of the landmark Public School 109.

Operation Fightback and ArtSpace are hoping to turn the former school, nestled between two housing projects, into an arts-specific complex with 66 affordable mixed units for low-income artists and a common ground-floor space intended for public exhibits and community meetings.

The rates for individual apartments would be set at, or below, 60% of Area Median Income, with monthly fees ranging from $550-600 for a studio to $816-$979 for three bedrooms. Affordability will be made possible through government-sponsored low-income housing tax credits that guarantee the rental rates for at least 30 years.

Funding for the $25 million project will come from various sources; $5.3 million in private equity (including a $1.5 million grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation), and $20.2 million from historic tax credits, housing trust funds, and low-income housing subsidies.

According to ArtSpace Executive Director Greg Handberg, his agency will retain a 60% controlling interest, while Operation Fightback would be a 40% managing partner. Community-minded architects Raymond Plumey and Victor Morales have also been drafted to take part in the project.

Morales has designed a number of affordable housing sites for Operation Fightback and done similar work for other agencies on the Lower East Side and Brooklyn, while Plumey brings a record of historic preservation. In addition to the 106th Street Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center, he designed the renovated Lexington Avenue building which holds the historic mural “The Spirit of East Harlem.”

While Handberg asserted that 50% of the tenants would come from East Harlem, it remains to be seen what mechanisms, if any, the developers will employ to determine the artistic credentials of their applicants. Similar housing projects require candidates to register with the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs—an often complicated and costly procedure which requires artists to submit a portfolio of their work.

Although questions remain about who will ultimately get to live in the residence, Rosado pledged that the lottery would be an open process. “Community Board 11 will be in invited to observe,” he said.

“I think this project will help us to maintain our identity and culture,” he added. This is affordable housing that’s affordable to the people that live here, using space that’s been vacant for 10 years. We feel this is a win-win situation for the neighborhood.”

To bolster his case, Rosado collected over 200 petition signatures from area residents through a campaign entitled “Revive 109.” He also gathered letters of support from community leaders such as Taina Traverso, Founder and Executive Director of Applause; Fernando Salicrup, Executive Director of the Puerto Rican Workshop/Taller Boricua; and Hilda Vives-Vasquez, Executive Director of the 116th Street Block Association.

Despite local support for the project, community opposition appears to be mounting. Veteran activist Gloria Quiñones, in particular, has begun a letter-writing campaign against the proposal. “On what basis did the Board of Education give up this space when our school-age population continues to grow?” writes Quiñones. “If this community and its educational leaders have determined that there is no need for educational space, who determined that artist housing is the priority for this community? This unique building sits on very, very valuable land and amid very vulnerable public housing. Who will own the land? Has a community land trust been considered as an ownership option?”

Plumey disagrees. “The battle to save this building has been fought since 2000, first as a school and then to at least preserve the structure for another use of need to the community. Saving the building for artist housing is consistent with efforts to preserve the architectural and cultural history of this neighborhood. I consider it a victory that we have found someone interested in helping us develop this landmark building. Low-cost work and living space for struggling artists will be a great benefit to the community.”

Still, Quiñones and others continue to question the process by which the NYC Department of Education transferred the property to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and exactly how ArtSpace and Operation Fightback ended up as sole-source bidders on the site.

Despite the conflict, the City Properties Committee endorsed the proposal and site control approval was granted at the full board meeting the following day. The project will now go through the standard uniform land use review procedures, and will be put forth for a land disposition vote in the City Council early next year. Construction will most likely begin in 2007, with the artists’ residence opening sometime in 2008.

About Public School 109

Public School 109 was designed by NYC Board of Education Architect Charles B.J. Snyder in 1898. Like most of Snyder’s work, the five-story structure was built in the shape of the letter “H” as an inexpensive, mid-block site.

In 1999, the NYC School Construction Authority began preparations to demolish the school. East Harlem residents Gwen Goodwin and Raymond Plumey then formed the Coalition to Save PS 109, which successfully prevented the building’s demolition and stopped the removal of precious architectural artifacts by representatives from Demolition Depot and Urban Archeology.

Although the coalition had successfully lobbied the NYC Landmarks Conservancy to obtain an engineering report proving the school’s structural integrity, similar efforts for restoration proved futile and the building remained empty—attracting little interest until now.

About ArtSpace

ArtSpace was established in Minneapolis in 1979 to create, foster and preserve affordable space for artists and arts organizations. In expanding its mission to incorporate the planning and development of performing arts centers, museums, other arts facilities, and entire arts districts, the agency has become the nation’s leading nonprofit real estate developer for the arts. ArtSpace serves artists and arts organizations of all disciplines, cultures, and economic circumstances through projects that enhance the cultural and economic vitality of the surrounding community, and which often help transform unused or underutilized historic buildings into fully functioning facilities.

About El Barrio’s Operation Fightback

El Barrio’s Operation Fightback is an economic development agency founded in 1983 that renovates and manages affordable housing and provides social services and advocacy support, including tenant counseling and educational and after-school services to low income families in East Harlem. Since 1991, Operation Fightback has renovated 30 buildings and created 378 affordable rental apartments. In 1995, the agency successfully sponsored and marketed 59 two- and three-family homes to first-time buyers in East Harlem. Most recently, Operation Fightback has begun new construction of La Casa Quinta, an affordable apartment complex with 42 rental units.

Business & Residents Alliance of East Harlem vs. East River Plaza, et al. Round 2

2005-09-30T08:42:00.000-07:00

Oral arguments were held September 27th in a case brought against the East River Plaza project in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in lower Manhattan.

The federal lawsuit was first launched in 2003 by the Business and Residents Alliance of East Harlem (BARA) against various defendants, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation (UMEZ), the New York Empowerment Zone and the project developers, TIAGO Holdings.

BARA had previously argued that demolition of the old Washburn Wire Factory, formerly located along the F.D.R. Drive, from 116th Street to 119th Street, violated Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, which mandates that projects that receive federal expenditures and are eligible or listed on the National Register of Historic Places be reviewed by federal, state preservation offices and local citizens to determine whether the proposed shopping mall will have any impact on historic resources.

There is no jury panel present during a federal appeal; arguments by the attorneys were instead brought before a three judge panel. A strong case against the $200 million dollar, 1 million-square-foot retail shopping center and parking garage was made by attorney Kevin J. Farrelly, Esq., attorney for the plaintiffs, while the defendant agencies and developers were represented by a team of lawyers who argued against the requirements of Section 106. The judges, after hearing the oral arguments and having read all the legal briefs render a decision by late October or early November.

Lead plaintiffs in the case include a variety of East Harlem residents, homeowners, property owners and small business owners among them Raymond Plumey, AIA, a local architect, preservationist and city planner. “It’s too early to tell how the court’s decision will go,” said Plumey of the proceedings. “Our argument is that federal expenditures are being used without proper federal historic resource review and, as such, the process has been circumvented.” Other plaintiffs in the appeal are John Kozler, Irene Smith and Pascuale Palmieri. Other plaintiffs in the original federal district court claim included Gloria Quinines, Thomas Donovan and Charles Iulo.

Although the Washburn Wire Factory was demolished in 2002, Plumey explains why the argument still holds weight. “It doesn’t matter whether the building is still standing. Plus, there are other historic resources in the neighborhood that might also be negatively impacted. We have a number of other sensitive properties within a close proximity to this site . There’s the former Benjamin Franklin High School,, the Farenga Funeral Parlor on 116th Street, Thomas Jefferson Park and a former Con Edison building on First Avenue, which are listed or eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. There’s also an archeological site on 119th Street near the FDR Drive, considered a sensitive site by the City and State presevaion offices, that is the former fishing village of the Wecksquaesgek Indian Tribe.”

“My concern as a resident and businessperson is that we are losing our architectural and cultural history,” he added. “With proposed mega projects such as the Marriott Hotel and Uptown NY, both on 125th Street, East Harlem won’t be the same unless we repair and preserve our existing community. I’m not opposed to economic development in general, only to projects that are out of context and eradicate our neighborhood’s history. Developers in Soho and TriBeCa don’t eradicate the history of those neighborhoods, and the same respect should be accorded to our neighborhood.”

Background on East River Plaza

The former Washburn Wire Factory Factory had been vacant since 1982. In 1996, the Blumenfeld Development Group Ltd. (BDG) acquired the site for $3.1 million at a federal auction. BDG then sought backing from UMEZ and NYEZ with plans to develop it as East River Plaza, a shopping center with Costco and Home Depot serving as anchor tenants. In May 2004, BDG formed a partnership with Forest City Ratner Companies, developers of the controversial Brooklyn Atlantic Yards project, which will accommodate a new Nets Basketball stadium.

The East River Plaza project has already weathered a number of other lawsuits involving property owners forced to relinquish their land to make way for the mall. One of those displaced through “eminent domain” condemnation was William Minic, who for over 20 years ran a cabinetmaking shop on East 117th Street which was demolished in 2004 to accommodate the project’s planned 1,200 car parking garage.

Text from Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966

“The head of any Federal agency having direct or indirect jurisdiction over a proposed Federal or federally assisted undertaking in any State and the head of any Federal department or independent agency having authority to license any undertaking shall, prior to the approval of the expenditure of any Federal funds on the undertaking or prior to the issuance of any license, as the case may be, take into account the effect of the undertaking on any district, site, building, structure, or object that is included in or eligible for inclusion in the National Register. The head of any such Federal agency shall afford the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation established under Title II of this Act a reasonable opportunity to comment with regard to such undertaking.”

De la Vega Trades East Harlem for East Village

2005-09-02T12:12:00.000-07:00

Artist James de la Vega is not doing badly these days. With a brand-new East Village storefront and crowds of affluent shoppers drifting in every day, the former East Harlem icon is thrilled with his new gallery.

Although rents along the retail corridor of St. Mark’s Place range from $6,000 to $12,000 per month, de la Vega says the increased foot traffic is well worth the new, considerably higher, overhead.

Despite a recent campaign against gentrification and displacement in East Harlem, the artist sees no conflict in having moved to the trendy, downtown location. “I strive to live by example how to grow beyond the limitations created by our own fears,” he said. “I have no regrets about moving.”

Even so, the sidewalks along the artist’s former storefront on the corner of Lexington Avenue and 104th Street were filled with posters last summer—charging his former landlord, Hope Community, with “bullying poor people out of the neighborhood.”

Famous for his inspirational street murals and upbeat, East Harlem-oriented t-shirts, the 32-year-old Cornell University graduate first gained notoriety in 2003 when he was arrested for painting on the wall of a Bronx building without the owner’s permission. In 2004, he ran as a write-in candidate for state senator to protest his arrest and conviction.

Earlier this year, de la Vega lost the right to renew his five-year lease at the rate of approximately $575 per month when, according to Hope Community, the artist failed to comply with a previously agreed-upon agreement that included full financial disclosure and monthly art donations.

Balking at paying the standard commercial rate of $3,000 per month, the artist and his followers instead embarked on a smear campaign with storefront signs and press releases claiming that the local development agency was “committing a crime against the neighborhood [through a] vicious game of money.”

“Hope Community is the biggest culprit in gentrifying the neighborhood,” read one de la Vega placard–charges which Executive Director Bill Jacoby publicly disputed.

Despite the agency’s offer to assist him in finding another spot in the area, de la Vega instead continued his media relations campaign bemoaning the loss of his sweetheart deal. The “struggling” artist quickly became the media’s darling as they quoted him in dozens of articles on gentrification and electoral politics in East Harlem.

De la Vega’s campaign eventually backfired, however, when he began lashing out against Latino elected officials and political aspirants—blaming them for the “cultural genocide of East Harlem.” His parting shot left an especially bitter aftertaste when he painted his storefront gate with what many perceived to be insulting slogans urging local residents not to vote for any Hispanic candidate and to vote “Bloomberg for Mayor” instead.

“De la Vega speaks for no one but himself,” says one local resident. “I can maybe agree with his statement that local officials are ‘puppets clowning around … hoping for a piece of the pie,’ but his bizarre statement that ‘East Harlem deserves to be taken away’ certainly did not win him any sympathy points here in el Barrio.”

When asked, the artist defended his rationale in a press release. “I do not want to get involved in the petty politics that presently make up the dynamics of the Latino community, there is no victory there,” he wrote. “By exploring a wider audience, I will continue to deliver the same message given birth in the streets of Spanish Harlem.

“I want to forge a new path that takes our people to a spiritual place where we can see beyond the borders imposed by poverty, where we make a place for ourselves in the world. I am sad to leave behind the children who are growing up under these oppressive conditions. For 12 years we brought a magic to the streets, and they will be robbed of this gift.”

Still, it remains to be seen if East Harlem has seen the last of James de la Vega or whether anyone will actually care that he is gone.

Testimony at Public Scoping Session for "Uptown NY"

2005-07-12T12:24:00.000-07:00

Discussions about the project have varied depending on the setting, as has the description. With titles ranging from “Uptown NY” to the “ Latino Entertainment Center,” it appears that different segments of East Harlem have been met with dissimilar approaches. Any sort of subterfuge will only increase fears that the project may destroy the very fabric of our community.

I question (again) why, up until today, there has been no information outlining the project made available over the Internet (including electronic copies of the Environmental Assessment Statement). It becomes rather difficult to discuss the plan when we have not been provided with specific details – aside from what’s been publicly presented (which amounts to super-intricate flash cards on easels). If you want to gain public support for your project, I propose full transparency on the part of the developers and related city agencies. If you are truly seeking constructive (and creative) input into your design, then provide us the means with which to have a meaningful dialogue.

From what I’ve heard thus far, I am also quite concerned about:

The rationale behind the city’s plan to condemn local businesses such as the newly establish Dry Cleaners’ Academy on Third Avenue, while other buildings (and city operations) are to be left intact;

The thought behind the expansion of the project onto the southeast corner of 125 th Street and Third Avenue with yet another tall building just because there happens to be a vacant lot on that spot. NY Uptown will forever change the look of the East Harlem Triangle and the developers should respect the continuity of the surrounding areas;

The health and environmental impact of a 1,000 car parking lot and underground bus shelter that will be situated under and around 700,000 square feet of retail shops and 1,500 units of housing;

The lack of information about (and planning for) adequate public transportation, sanitation and other environmental impact issues to be expected during both the construction and post-construction phases of the project;

The lack of specifics regarding the formula (and agency) that will be used to determine what is affordable housing – which may not adequately reflect local income averages;

The failure to secure community support in the form of Memorandums of Understanding, which are generally brought to fruition beforehand;

The lack of clarity with respect to the proposed “cultural” and/or “community” aspects of the project, which has been described as a “Latino Cultural Center” at some meetings and as a “Community Center” during others. Artifice does not go over very well in East Harlem.

"Uptown NY" has the potential to establish a dynamic bond amongst struggling community agencies, local arts organizations and residents – either for or against the proposed project. As such, tangible agreements and partnerships should first be established with local board members, community development and arts agencies, neighborhood associations, and homeowners, if you truly hope to ensure that the project compliments (and serves) the vision of those who already live and work in East Harlem.