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Unfair to Immigrants, Costly for Taxpayers

By Andrew Friedman and Scott M. Stringer April 4, 2011

Every year thousands of immigrants being held on Rikers Island are transferred to federal custody and deported. Only about half of them have a criminal record, many of them are here legally, most of them have their due process rights violated and all of them are subjected to substandard conditions before being returned to their countries of origin.

The city has no obligation to hand over detainees, and in fact many cities around the country have refused to participate in the federal government’s efforts. Mayor Michael Bloomberg should do the same.

Under what is known as the Criminal Alien Program, for more than a decade city law enforcement officials have given the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency the names of all arrestees, regardless of the crime they are accused of committing and regardless of whether they are convicted. When agents locate an immigrant, they often request that he be transferred to federal custody.

Once in federal hands, most detainees are transported to centers in Texas and Louisiana, far from their families. Conditions at these federal detention centers are worse than those at many prisons, with inadequate medical care and access to phones and legal materials. Detainees are subjected to abuse and sometimes even death — 107 people died in immigration detention from 2003 to 2010.

True, earlier this year the federal government proposed upgrading these centers, including those in the New York region, to increase capacity and improve conditions. But this is a Band-Aid solution to a much larger problem: over 80 percent of those in detention have little or no access to lawyers — and no effective way to represent their interests in a surreal, confusing system.

Not only is the program an injustice — according to our calculations, it has cost the city tens of millions of dollars. New York houses these prisoners at Rikers far longer than it would otherwise, because of a misguided city policy which forbids anyone with immigration holds — meaning they might be placed in deportation proceedings — from being released on bail.

What’s more, because of its flaws and draconian rules, the city’s policy deters many immigrant New Yorkers from reporting crimes, fearing that contact with the police could lead to deportation.

Perhaps what is most disturbing is that sometimes legal immigrants who have been convicted of no crime are caught up in this system. Their plight stems partly from flaws in federal databases; the process is too rushed to ensure proper identification of status and identity, let alone confirmation of criminal background.

But it’s also a matter of political pressure to increase the number of people who are deported every year. E- mails released in December from the Department of Homeland Security showed how the immigration agency has been pushing states and cities to send it the fingerprints of all those they arrest as part of a similar program, Secure Communities.

For all these reasons, Mayor Bloomberg should end New York’s collaboration with federal officials on Rikers Island and resist Washington’s pressure to join the newer Secure Communities program. New York wouldn’t be the first: communities as diverse as Santa Clara, Calif., and Arlington, Va., have limited or prevented federal access to their jails.

For decades, New York City has been a beacon to the rest of the country in promoting immigrant rights. We must not let our desire to enforce immigration laws lead us to dim that light.

Scott M. Stringer is the Manhattan borough president. Andrew Friedman is the co-executive director of Make the Road New York, an immigrant advocacy organization.

Even Bloomberg Can’t Escape Complexity of Immigration

By Sam Dolnick

January 20, 2011

On “Meet the Press,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg prevalent in many parts of the country, that they can be declared, “We have to go and get the immigrants here.” To deported if a police officer notices them. a group of business leaders in Brooklyn, he extolled “the economic power” of immigration. And in his State of the The city’s information line, 311, greets callers in Spanish, City address on Wednesday, he interrupted a litany of local Russian, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean and Creole. In his issues to urge Americans “to fix our broken immigration address on Wednesday, the mayor promised new system.” programs to help immigrant entrepreneurs obtain loans and expertise. Having taken on the New York City school system and the illegal gun trade, Mr. Bloomberg has now proposed Yet even as New York ranks among the American cities overhauling the federal immigration laws, offering himself most accommodating to newcomers, certain practices as the man to help settle one of the nation’s thorniest keep immigrants on edge. At the city jail complex on debates. He praises immigrants as a precious resource and Rikers Island, Correction Department officials provide speaks of current immigration policy with undisguised lists of foreign-born inmates to federal officers who then disgust — “the most ruinous economic policy you could question, detain and deport about 3,200 a year. ever conceive of” was his line on Wednesday. Immigrants’ advocates say the collaboration leads to the removal of many immigrants who have not been convicted But the stark language often brushes past the complexities of, or even charged with, serious crimes, and makes others surrounding immigration, which has proved to be a afraid to cooperate with law enforcement. nuanced and difficult issue, even for the mayor. Mr. Bloomberg’s efforts to make city agencies more Though Mr. Bloomberg, the grandson of immigrants from accessible to people who speak little or no English have Russia and what is now Belarus, has set an inclusive tone won wide acclaim. In 2003, he signed a law requiring the in his nine years as mayor and has provided critical city’s Human Resources Administration and social service services for immigrants, some programs have failed to live agencies to provide interpreters and other language help; up to expectations. an executive order in 2008 extended that to every agency dealing with the public. And though he has adopted landmark policies to protect the privacy of illegal immigrants, he has also rankled But Legal Services NYC, a nonprofit group, is suing the immigrants’ advocates who say city and police officials Human Resources Administration, saying that follow- work too closely with federal authorities, putting many through has been spotty, leading to “humiliating noncriminals at risk of arrest and deportation. discrimination” against immigrants. Many city workers remain unaware of the rules, and some are unequipped to “Mayor Bloomberg has been an important ally of help people who speak other languages, lawyers and immigrant communities,” said Andrew advocates say. Friedman, co-director of Make the Road New York, an advocacy group. “But there are a “There is a big disconnect between what our city policy number of areas where he has not used his power, says and what’s happening,” said Amy S. Taylor, the and as a result, immigrant New Yorkers are more lawyer who filed the suit. likely to be deported, less likely to learn English, less likely Mr. Bloomberg said in a recent interview that language to be paid lawful wages.” access was improving. But, he noted, “you’re never going to have every language spoken in every agency 24 hours a Supporting immigrant causes is virtually a job day.” requirement for any New York mayor, but many immigrants and their supporters say Mr. Bloomberg has He said that he had worked to build trust between gone well beyond the expected. His New York is a city immigrants and government agencies, and that where illegal immigrants start businesses, raise families newcomers were crucial to New York’s success. and attend public school without the constant fear, “Our lifeblood is a constant stream of new immigrants,” he Katzmann, a judge on the United States Court of Appeals said, “to improve our cuisine, our culture, our language for the Second Circuit who has worked closely with the and, mainly, our economy.” administration.

Mr. Bloomberg began his third term a year ago by The mayor has not endorsed every suggested change in announcing plans for a national task force of big-city immigration policy, particularly when a proposal collides mayors and prominent business leaders to press Congress with his pro-business agenda. For example, he resisted for an overhaul of immigration policy. His principal calls to support a state bill, signed into law last month by argument was, and is, that immigrants are good for the Gov. David A. Paterson, to set stiffer penalties for economy because they open businesses, create jobs and employers who underpay workers, many of them illegal pay taxes. immigrants; Mr. Bloomberg’s aides say he was concerned about its effect on small businesses. There is disagreement over how much influence Mr. Bloomberg, an independent, might wield in the national For many, though, Mr. Bloomberg’s signal mark on the debate over immigration, given the Republicans’ takeover immigration debate had nothing to do with policy. His of the House and their chilliness to any thaw in declaration of support for the planned Islamic community immigration policy. But few doubt his influence in New center and mosque near ground zero was a stirring York, where City Hall officials point to a series of pro- affirmation that the mayor would champion the city’s immigrant policies and decisions that they call national diversity, advocates said. models. “That was a defining moment,” said Chung-Wha Hong, the “It started when he took office,” said Fatima Shama, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition. commissioner of the city’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. “He “He didn’t really have to do that. He got there because of was able to focus New Yorkers on being one city, and the connections and the work he’s done and his whole showing that all New Yorkers matter. From that, we saw a philosophy on immigration.” number of policies emerge.”

Chief among them was Executive Order No.41, issued in 2003, which sought to protect crime victims and witnesses from fear of deportation by forbidding city workers to ask immigrants about their legal status.

A similar policy had been in place since the Koch administration, but by the time Mr. Bloomberg took office, a federal challenge and subsequent court decisions had made its renewal uncertain. The Bloomberg administration came up with an approach that broadened the policy and drew no challenges.

Like the earlier measures, however, Mr. Bloomberg’s order made an exception allowing police officers who suspect illegal activity to inquire about immigration status. While there is no evidence that it has led to widespread profiling or harassment, advocates have complained for years, particularly with regard to the Police Department, that there is no mechanism in place to enforce the policy or investigate violations.

Immigrants’ leaders also lament that the mayor has not joined some officials of other municipalities across the country in resisting Secure Communities, a new program that will help federal officials deport illegal immigrants by improving coordination with local police departments. Mr. Bloomberg said that while he aimed to accommodate immigrants, he was responsible for keeping the city safe. “If people commit crimes, we have an obligation,” he said. “If they broke the law, make them pay the penalty.”

The Bloomberg administration has also sought to solve intractable problems like finding legal representation for immigrants, who are not entitled to court-appointed lawyers in the civil courts, where their immigration violations are heard. City Hall has pledged to provide $2 million to provide lawyers and training, placing New York far ahead of the national norm on the issue, said Robert A.

What is today's American Dream?

By Katty Kay March 28, 2011

They may not have called it the American Dream but for centuries people have gone to America in search of freer, happier, and richer lives. But is today's American Dream a mythical concept or still a reality?

Isabel Belarsky's tiny Brooklyn apartment fills with the sound of her father's voice. Sidor Belarsky sings an Aria in Russian and 90-year-old Isabel, her lips painted an elegant red, sways gently to the song coming from her stereo.

Isabel speaks with pride about her father's talent and his success as an opera singer: Albert Einstein was such a fan she says that he invited Sidor to accompany him on his speaking engagements and would ask him to sing to the audience.

How the Belarskys came to be in America is an extraordinary tale that Isabel loves to tell.

"It was the Mormons!" she says, laughing. "They couldn't be more different from us Jews!"

It was the offer of a six-month job by a Mormon college president, who had seen Sidor singing in Leningrad, that enabled the Belarskys to escape from Stalin's Russia in 1930.

"Our dream was being in America," Isabel says. "They loved it. My mother could never think of Russia, it was her enemy and my father, he made such a wonderful career here."

National psyche Isabelle Isabel Belarsky's family escaped to America from Stalin's Russia

Like generations of immigrants before them, the Belarskys came to America in search of freedom - to them the American Dream meant liberty.

But Isabel says it promised even more.

"The Dream is to work, to have a home, to get ahead, you can start as a janitor and become the owner of the building."

The American Dream is not written into the constitution but it is so ingrained in the national psyche that it might as well be.

Many point to the second sentence in the Declaration of Independence - the "certain unalienable rights" that include "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" - as the "official" version of the phrase.

But it was actually relatively recently - in 1931 - that the term was popularised, when historian James Truslow Adams wrote in The Epic of America that the Dream means "a better, richer, and happier life for all our citizens of every rank".

'A quest for Coca Cola' The concept of the American Dream has not stayed static.

For European immigrants, like Isabel, fleeing persecution in the first half of the last century, the Dream was about a life without persecution.

But somewhere in the middle of the last century the dream changed.

As America's post war economy boomed the new arrivals wanted more than freedom - they wanted a share of the prosperity as well.

In the 1950s, TV commercials featured twinkly housewives proudly showing off kitchens filled with gleaming appliances. The quest for liberation became a quest for Coca Cola.

TV shows played their part in pushing the new economic Dream, starring perfect families in houses with picket fences and two cars in the driveway.

As the century wore on, the materialistic slant of the dream overtook the political side.

Dallas and Dynasty suggested this was a country where it was possible to become not just rich, but filthy rich.

'This is not America' Cheyanne Smith was shocked at the deprivation that greeted her in America.

But without the inspiring glue of freedom the dream became vulnerable to more prosaic things - like economic downturns.

We met 18-year-old Cheyanne Smith at the "Make The Road New York" community centre in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Cheyanne Smith

She arrived in New York from the Caribbean seven years ago. Having watched endless American TV shows as a child she thought she knew what to expect when her family moved to Brooklyn.

Instead, the deprivation of one of New York's poorest neighbourhoods shocked her.

"I thought this is not America because this is not what I see on television," she says.

Like Cheyanne, 18-year-old Franscisco Curiel is also ambitious. He came from Mexico City three years ago to go to college here but he's worried that Brooklyn's schools aren't going to give him a good enough education.

"The system is broken, we can't get the superior education that they supposedly want to give us," he says.

Through the centuries America's immigrants have endured terrible hardship and sacrifice so that they and their children can get ahead.

Perhaps it's not surprising to hear the members of the Bushwick youth group lament the multiple, low paid jobs that their parents must do simply to get the rent paid and put food on the table.

What is startling is that these bright, ambitious youngsters just don't believe that talent and hard work are enough to ensure they will ever have a shot at that mythical American Dream.

Housing Laws are Breath of Fresh Air for City's Children at Risk for Asthma

By Albor Ruiz

January 9, 2011

Asthma, like so many other illnesses, doesn't like poor people. "Asthma is epidemic in low-income communities of color throughout our city, and The evidence is clear: Even though it affects more this bill is an important step toward ending the than 500,000 New Yorkers - more than half of impunity that is literally taking our children's them children - asthma is three times more breath away," said Andrew Friedman, co- prevalent in poor city neighborhoods where rodent executive Director of the advocacy group Make and cockroach infestation is more common. the Road New York.

With 300,000 children suffering from the María Cortés, a member of Make the Road respiratory illness, New York has one of the New York who has been in and out of emergency highest childhood asthma rates in the U.S. It is the rooms for years with respiratory problems main cause of school absenteeism and the most triggered by mold and roach infestation, knows common cause of hospitalization for children 14 firsthand about the impunity with which many years and younger in our city. landlords operate.

A report by the American Lung Association "My building has 186 open violations, 40 of concludes that with the progressive worsening of which correspond to my apartment," Cortés the city's air quality, asthma is bound to become said. "The court ordered my building owner to even more prevalent. Pollution is "an everyday make the repairs but he has done very little." threat to just about every single New Yorker," said Corri Freedman, director of advocacy at the lung With the new law, though, Cortés thinks that is association's New York City chapter. about to change.

Which is why the passage last Wednesday by the "Tenants should not have to suffer from asthma City Council of Intro 436-A, an expansion of the attacks because of the owner's irresponsibility," 2007 Safe Housing Act, is such welcome news. she said. "This law will ensure tenants like my Intro 436-A is comprehensive legislation that will family are protected and landlords are held crack down on dangerous housing conditions, accountable." including asthma triggers that put families at risk, such as mold, rats and rodents. "[This] is a significant step forward," said Michelle de la Uz, executive director of the Fifth Avenue Under this law, every year the city targets for Committee, a Brooklyn neighborhood group. repairs the 200 worst buildings in terms of housing "Infestations of mold and vermin that are not code violations. Landlords must clear their handled properly pose significant threats to buildings of violations - such as peeling walls, health...the expansion of the city's enforcement moldy ceilings and rodent infestation - themselves, authority to address these issues is much needed or the city will do it for them - and bill them for the in many communities throughout New York City." work. The City Council has taken that significant first "The first 200 buildings will come into the program step. Now, for the sake of all New Yorkers - but at the end of the month," said Harvey Epstein, especially our low-income families - the next step director of Community Development at the Urban should be to make sure the new legislation is Justice Center. "It may not sound like much but it strictly enforced. actually helps thousands of families."

Triangle Shirtwaist fire is a memory, but struggles remain: 80,000 NY farmworkers have no protection

By Eric Schneiderman March 25, 2011

One hundred years ago today, New York City Valley, grapes in the Finger Lakes region and suffered the deadliest industrial disaster in its plants on Long Island. history. The memory of the 146 people who lost their lives in the Triangle Shirtwaist fire stands as a The workers who harvest our food have been reminder that legal protections and workplace systematically denied the basic rights that are safety standards were won through a long struggle granted to all other American workers. They can be for social justice and at great human cost. fired for trying to form a union, or for attempting to improve their working conditions. They are not Tragically, a century later, many of my colleagues eligible for overtime pay, disability or even in government seem to have forgotten the lessons unemployment insurance. They work seven days a of that unspeakable disaster. Over the last decade week, and many have reported physical and sexual progress has slowed and, in many states, workers' abuse. rights have been seriously weakened. We can and we must do better. Last year, 29 West Virginians perished in the nation's worst mine disaster in four decades. The One tool at our disposal is the new Wage Theft Massey Energy mine had received 1,100 safety Protection Act [drafted and spearheaded by violations over the three previous years for Make the Road New York], a law that creates improper ventilation and poor escape routes, but criminal penalties for unscrupulous employers who this death trap continued to operate. fail to pay their workers. Some groups estimate that more than $1 billion is stolen each year from Despite repeated warnings, citations and accidents, employees in New York City alone, resulting in $50 the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion cost the million in lost tax revenue. By cracking down on lives of 11 people and injured 16 others before wage theft, we can make sure workers and burning and sinking into the Gulf of Mexico, causing taxpayers are not getting ripped off by crooked one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. employers. history. And through litigation and legislation, our state can And in 2005, after years of safety violations, a fire do even more to protect safety and fairness in the and explosion at a BP oil refinery in Texas claimed workplace. the lives of 15 workers. There have been at least four other major safety incidents in the years From Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican who built following the blast. bridges between labor and management, to Frances Perkins, a witness to the Triangle fire who Now, in Wisconsin, we are seeing a radical assault led the fight for safer workplace standards as the on employee protections, which 10 years ago nation's first female cabinet secretary, to the men would have seemed unimaginable in its scope. and women who have fought for better wages and safe working conditions over the last century, New And right here in New York, people are struggling in York has a proud history of standing up for working working conditions not much safer or fairer than the people. sweatshops of 1911. We can lead the nation again. To truly honor the There are nearly 80,000 farmworkers in every memories of those who lost their lives 100 years corner of New York State - they harvest apples in ago today, we can't afford to wait another century to Western New York, onions and corn in the Hudson get it right.

Schneiderman is attorney general of New York.

Family, friends gather at vigil for slain Queens teen Anthony Collao

By Valeriya Safronova and Joe Kemp

March 25th 2011

Family and friends [and members of Make the Road New York] of a Queens teen gathered Thursday night at the site where he was fatally beaten more than a week ago and called for justice.

Anthony Collao, 17, died after he was chased and pummeled outside a Woodhaven birthday party in the early hours of March 12. Cops said five teens stomped and beat him with a pipe.

Collao died at Jamaica Hospital two days later.

"It's very overwhelming," said the teen's cousin, Alex Collao. "It's also very surprising that so many people who didn't know anything came together to support him after such an ugly disaster."

Collao's parents and his girlfriend were too distraught to speak and huddled with family during the vigil.

Four suspects - Alex Velez, 16, and Nolis Ogando, Christopher Lozada and Luis Tabales, all 17 - were collared soon after the attack and charged with manslaughter.

Calvin Pietri, 17 - who has seven previous arrests - was apprehended a couple of days later and also charged with manslaughter for the bloody beatdown.

At least one of the suspects inked anti-gay epithets on a wall inside the vacant house where the party was held after the group stormed in without paying the $7 cover charge, cops and witnesses said.

The suspects chased Collao and a friend after the pair left and pummeled him on the street, police said.

None of the men reportedly used homophobic slurs during the fatal beating and investigators were left to figure if the anti-gay graffiti was intended for the party hosts, who are gay. Collao was not.

"It's so incredibly important for us all to be here," said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. "This is what happens when hate goes unchecked. We will not allow hate to fester in our city."

Quinn was joined by councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Queens) and the ambassador to Ecuador.

School Meeting Draws Protest

By Barbara Martinez February 4, 2011

Hundreds of protesters [including members of Make the Road New York] descended on Brooklyn Thursday, laying bare the deep philosophical divide that has become central to the Bloomberg administration's education policy: whether the city should fix failing schools or shut them down.

The dichotomy came to a head this week as the Panel for Educational Policy met twice to vote on whether to shutter 22 schools deemed failures because its students can't read or do math on grade level.

The panel, which is populated mostly by Bloomberg appointees, voted to close 10 schools at its meeting Tuesday and was expected to vote to close the other 12 Thursday night.

The administration and charter-school advocates argue that some schools are such failures they must be shut down completely and replaced with new schools. Students are allowed to register at the new schools, but for the most part, the new schools start up with different teachers and administrators. The city maintains that the new schools are more effective. Hundreds of parents, teachers, students, community activists, [including members of Make the Road New York and elected officials stage a At the opposing end, the teachers union and others rally outside the hearing. Photo: Rob Bennet for the Wall Street Journal charge that the city's Department of Education sets up schools for failure by depriving them of resources, ultimately harming students who get displaced.

The panel may not necessarily have the last word. Last year, the panel voted to close 19 schools. After the United Federation of Teachers and the NAACP sued the city over the plan, two courts sided with the UFT and the schools remained open. The UFT hasn't yet indicated whether it will oppose the latest closures in court, but it organized a massive protest outside of the panel meeting Thursday night at Brooklyn Technical High School.

An hour and a half into Thursday's meeting, chanting teachers, students and parents brought the proceedings to a halt for 15 minutes. UFT President Michael Mulgrew inspired an ovation when he yelled at schools chancellor Cathleen Black and the panel members, "It's clear you want schools to fail." Minutes later, hundreds of teachers walked out, emptying the cavernous auditorium by half.

The rest of the evening was spent as a spirited volley between anti-closure speakers and charter-school parents. Deputy mayor Dennis Walcott frequently left the stage to referee arguments over whose turn it was at the public microphones.

"Closing schools should be a method of last resort after the DOE has done everything possible to improve them, not an educational policy," said Noah Gotbaum, president of Community Education Council for district three, which covers parts of Harlem and the Upper West Side. "The schools are closed down and their kids cast out or scattered to other overburdened schools which inevitably are next on the DOE's closure list."

But man y parents agreed with closing schools. "I don't see any valid argument to keep a school open that has consistently failed its students," said Margery Hannah, who lives in Harlem and has three children in three different public schools. At one of the schools, "there are a lot of wonderful people there, however the expectations teachers have of students are low," she said. As a result, she spends an hour to two every night teaching her daughter skills that she believes she should be learning at school.

Wal-Mart Skips Council Hearing as Impact of Stores Is Assailed

By Elizabeth A. Harris

February 3, 2011

It was a moment long planned and carefully prepared for — a moment that had twice been delayed by snow. But when the moment finally arrived, the main protagonist was missing.

The City Council held a hearing on Thursday after noon to examine the economic impact Wal-Mart would have should it succeed in opening its first stores in New York City.

But Wal-Mart’s official representatives were no- shows, which was something company officials had made clear would happen weeks ago when the hearing was first scheduled.

So critics, from council members to representatives of small businesses [including members of Make Opponents of Wal-Mart's plans to open stores in the Road New York and Walmart Free NYC], New York rallied at City Hall on Thursday. Instead had no one to direct their anger at and spent hours of speaking directly to the City Council, Wal-Mart making the same familiar arguments — the death of has begun an all-out publicity drive. family-owned businesses, poor labor practices by Wal-Mart — to a mostly sympathetic audience.

The reason no one from Wal-Mart accepted an invitation, a spokesman for the retail giant said, was that it felt it was being singled out unfairly in a city full of big-box stores, including Home Depot, Sears and Target.

“Our decision not to attend today’s hearing has nothing to do with our willingness to answer questions or our belief that our stores would be good for New York City,” the spokesman, Steven Restivo, said, “and everything to do with the hypothetical nature of the proceedings and the fact that it ignores the hundreds of similarly sized stores that exist in the city today.”

The Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, wasted no time pointing out Wal-Mart’s absence.

“I want to say how deeply disappointed I am that one very important part of the equation, Wal- Mart, decided not to join us here today,” she said as the hearing began. She said the company’s “refusal to attend, sadly, only leads me to be further skeptical about them as a company.”

Several council members said they shared her misgivings.

“My community needs jobs, but even if you’re hungry, someone shouldn’t feed you garbage,” Councilman Jumaane D. Williams of Brooklyn said.

The verbal volleys against Wal-Mart started early. At a rally on the steps of City Hall before the hearing, a crowd of more than 300 people waved anti-Wal-Mart signs as the public advocate, Bill de Blasio, called the company destructive and a “Trojan horse.”

And Councilman Charles Barron, who represents the East New York section of Brooklyn, one of the places where Wal-Mart is considering opening a store, called the store “a plantation.”

Two hours into the hearing, Andy Sullivan, the founder of a group called 911 Hard Hats and a union construction worker who had come to testify in favor of Wal-Mart, stood up and complained that no one on his side had yet had a chance to testify.

When it was his turn, Mr. Sullivan noted that Wal-Mart had recently made final a deal with a politically powerful construction union, the Building and Construction Trades Council, promising to build and renovate its stores in the five boroughs with union workers for five years. Wal-Mart used the same strategy to gain support for stores in Chicago several years ago.

“The pain is here, it is now,” Mr. Sullivan during his testimony, citing what he said was a 30 percent unemployment rate among unionized construction workers. “It’s not being caused by Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart’s not here!”

Charles Fisher, the chairman of the Hip-Hop Summit Youth Council in Harlem, also spoke in favor of Wal-Mart. Last year, Wal-Mart flew Mr. Fisher down to its headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., at the company’s expense, for a three-day “stakeholder summit” of community leaders from around the country.

Instead of speaking directly to the Council, Wal-Mart, which has not announced a specific store opening in New York, has begun an all-out publicity drive, with direct mailings, radio advertisements and a Facebook page.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who has said that New York should be open to any legal business that wants to come here, was asked by a reporter on Thursday about the hearing and if it was in the city’s best interest to let Wal-Mart set up shop.

“You should let the marketplace decide,” he said. “Anybody who has tried to manage the marketplace, it has not turned out very well. I think the Soviet Union is as good an example as you’d ever need of that.”

Protests, Worries Surround Walmart's Effort to Open in Brooklyn

By Katie Honan

February 3, 2011 "After Walmart open in Chicago’s 37th Ward, 22 The City Council met Thursday to discuss Walmart's businesses opened nearby, responsible for generating latest round of plans to build its first store in the city, in thousands of new jobs," the site declares. a poorer neighborhood in Brooklyn where opponents say the megastore will shut local businesses and drive The company, which set up shop in a lower-income down wages. neighborhood of Chicago, was seen by many local politicians as a welcome change. Stores opened in "food deserts"--areas where residents were miles away from access to fresh produce and healthy food options.

But a report out of Hunter College last month actually concluded the opposite--saying Walmark actually drives down wages and is a tax burden because it does not give health and other benefits to many part-time employees, leaving a burden on Medicaid and other public programs.

Walmart's plan is to open a store in Brooklyn in a lower- Scores of people [including members of Make the income area between the Belt Parkway and the Spring Road New York] protested Walmart's possible Creek Towers, formerly called Starrett City, which is the arrival in the city ahead of the afternoon meeting. largest federally subsidized housing project in the country. The City Coucil was set to discuss the economic impact of Walmart, which has launched a large-scale plan to The surrounding areas are lower- and working-class, win over hearts and minds, and after years of false drawing easy comparisons. But unlike the Chicago starts, finally open up in the city. neighborhoods, there are already retail stores and supermarkets nearby, including big-box retailers like Walmart is boycotting the hearing, saying they are being Target, BJ’s Wholesale and Home Depot. treated unfairly since other large retailers like Target have not undergone the same scrutiny. And local politicians, including City Councilmember Charles Barron, are against the store coming to town. The largest private employer in the country, Walmart has previously attempted to open stores in New York, While Walmart may see itself as a saving grace for scouting locations on Staten Island and Brooklyn. The poorer neighborhoods--bringing jobs and cheaper food company's been met with opposition each time. and products--a study published in January by Hunter College's Center for Community Planning showed that Now, though, Walmart has reinvigorated its effort to America's biggest discounter may actually make bring a presence to the five boroughs. neighborhoods poorer.

They've created the website walmartnyc.com, which The report found that Walmart kills jobs, drives down displays large cities similar to New York economically wages and is a tax burden because it doesn't provide thriving with Walmart stores. health and other benefits to many part-time employees. This puts a strain on Medicaid and other public health The lead story--"When Walmart Comes To Town: A programs. Chicago Success Story"--draws comparisons between New York and the other union-heavy city, which opened Walmart dismissed the report, saying it didn't give a a second Walmart in the city over the summer after comprehensive analysis of their impact. making deals with construction unions and politicians.

Protesting School Closings, in a Noisy Annual Ritual

By Sharon Otterman February 3, 2011

The seven-foot, blue-eyed beaver mascot in a red Jamaica High School sweatshirt bobbed his head above teachers and parents chanting, “Whose schools? Our schools!”

Above them, a 12-foot-high JumboTron screen, set up outside Brooklyn Technical High School in Fort Greene, broadcast rock-music video montages of past protests to a crowd of hundreds [including members of Make the Road New York].

Students blew whistles, rang cowbells and shouted, “Save Protesters gathered outside of Brooklyn Technical High our schools.” Christopher Martinez, 16, held up a sign with School in Fort Greene. the words “Egypt is N.Y.,” in a nod to the continuing pro- democracy protests there. “We want to show that our voices Charles Barron, the Brooklyn councilman, who criticized her can be heard here, too,” he said. for her reaction on Tuesday night, when she answered the crowd’s constant chanting with a mocking, two-second taunt It was the second day of what has become the New York City of her own. school system’s annual Lollapalooza of anti-Bloomberg fury: the rowdy, ear-splitting, all-night, midwinter meetings at Closing schools has been one of the mayor’s signature which failing schools get closed. policies, and perhaps his most controversial. More than 100 schools, many of them large comprehensive high schools, On Tuesday, a city panel voted to close 10 schools, and on have been phased out, and broken up into smaller, themed Thursday, the panel voted to close 12 more. Among them schools. were large high schools once considered stars, like Jamaica High School in Queens, and John F. Kennedy High School The city has emphasized the success of these schools, whose and Columbus High School in the Bronx, that have since run graduation rates are often far higher than the failing schools into difficulties. that they replaced. But the themed schools have also had more control over their enrollment; even so, some of them Roughly 350 speakers signed up to give two-minute public are also failing. Eight schools opened by the mayor are comments at the meeting, which started at 6 p.m. and, among those being closed. The city said its willingness to according to the Department of Education, was attended by close those schools was evidence that all schools were being about 2,000 people. held accountable.

As members of the crowd jeered, Cathleen P. Black, the The teachers’ union, which supplied the JumboTron, has chancellor, took her place at center stage in the three-tiered strongly opposed closings, in part because it is one of the few auditorium, surrounded by aides and the Panel for ways the city can remove a large number of teachers from a Educational Policy, which votes on the closings. particular school.

She tried to give an introduction, but was drowned out by At one point, the clamor took over the auditorium, making it teenagers shouting, “We don’t care.” impossible for speakers to take the microphone. The room reverberated with the sound of bongos and the repeated The demonstrators said they knew that their noise would not chant: “Fix our schools now.” About 7:30 p.m., most of the change anything, given that the panel, controlled by the students began to walk out in protest. mayor, had never voted against a closing. But they came anyway, to be heard, some of them said. In the relative quiet that was left behind, the speaker list moved quickly, and by 11 p.m. the closings were put before “If it takes a revolution in this city,” said Tony Avella, a state the panel for their questions. In the end, before 1 a.m. senator from Queens backing Jamaica High School, “we are Friday, the 12-member panel voted as expected, and all the going to take back our schools.” To Ms. Black, he said: “You closings were approved. "It's been a long night, it's been a should not be sitting there as chancellor. You have no productive one," Ms. Black said in brief closing remarks. educational experience.” "These are never easy decisions," she added, "but we believe we've come out in the right place." Ms. Black did not respond to Mr. Avella, or to the students who chanted, “Black is wack!” Nor did she respond to

NY City Councilmen Among 24 Arrested in School Protest

By Reuters Staff

January 31, 2011

Twenty-four people, including two members of the New York City Council, were arrested on Monday at a protest over plans to close two dozen city schools, authorities said.

Charles Barron and Jumaane Williams, City Council members from Brooklyn, were arrested along with 22 other adults after the group formed a human chain across Chambers St. in downtown Manhattan outside the city's Department of Education headquarters.

The group [including members of Make the Road New York], some of whom wore signs saying "Fix schools, don't close them," was protesting plans to close 25 schools ahead of this week's meetings of the Panel for Educational Policy.

"It's not our fault that John F. Kennedy (school) is below standard. It's the Department of Education's fault," said one student, who claimed that the school was "set up" to be closed years ago when officials started "dumping" low performing and special needs students there.

The arrested protesters were being held on charges of disorderly conduct pending issuance of summonses or court appearances, police said.

The acts of civil disobedience followed an earlier rally by students of schools targeted for closing, along with parents and education activists.

The demonstration was the latest of a series of protests in recent weeks over the proposed school closings, which unions say are the most ever in New York City.

The Panel for Educational Policy is an oversight group with a majority of members appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose offices assumed control of the school system in 2002.

Critics of the plan to shut what the city calls failing schools say it masks a move to usher in more charter schools.

Such schools receive public money but are exempt from certain rules that apply to other public schools due to higher accountability in standards set by their charters. The schools often have long waiting lists.

Deputy schools chancellor Marc Sternberg defended the planned closings last week, telling a city council member: "When we feel the supports we've given to a school are not getting the job done ... we are going to consider every intervention possible."

Census ‘undercounts’ Queens — legislators

By Anna Gustafson, Assistant Editor March 31, 2011

Legislators lambasted the federal government for Census numbers released last week that they said grossly underestimate the growth Queens has experienced over the past decade and puts the borough at risk of losing out on significant funding for education and healthcare.

“We believe that errors have occurred in putting together the Census results for Brooklyn and Queens,” Mayor Bloomberg said at a press conference in Jackson Heights on Sunday. “It seems evident to us that something incongruous happened in the Census counting these two boroughs.”

Queens politicians wholeheartedly agreed with Bloomberg, who noted that, despite a major development boom, Jackson Heights allegedly decreased in population by 4.6 percent, going from 113,327 residents in 2000 to 108,152 in 2010, according to the Census.

The Census reports New York City grew just 2.1 percent, increasing from 8,008,278 residents to 8,175,133. Queens, a borough that has been marked by the construction of massive new apartment and condominium complexes, particularly in the western neighborhoods, reportedly grew just 0.1 percent, going from 2,229,379 residents in 2000 to 2,230,722 in 2010.

“If the Census Bureau thinks population growth in Queens is flat, it probably still believes the earth is, also,” said Assemblyman Rory Lancman (D-Fresh Meadows). “We demand a recount, because our residents deserve the fair allocation of representation and resources that an accurate Census count will produce.”

Bloomberg announced that city officials plan to formally challenge the numbers, which would, if successful, change the official census numbers and bring the city additional federal funds.

“In Queens alone, the census claims that only about 1,300 new people moved into the borough,” U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) said in a prepared statement. “Tell that to the folks on the crowded Number 7 train. It’s absurd. The numbers are dead wrong, and it makes you wonder if the Census Bureau is living on a different planet.”

A spokesman for Queens Borough President Helen Marshall said the Census figures are particularly troubling because Queens will need federal aid to help alleviate its overcrowded classrooms and emergency rooms.

“The Census is important because it affects federal aid, and we really need that for schools and hospitals in Queens, which see the brunt of increased populations,” spokesman Dan Andrews said.

Marshall said she believe the numbers were so low in part because many immigrants did not participate due to language barriers or concerns they would get into trouble if they were not in the country legally. “I believe that Queens has traditionally been undercounted and continues to be,” Marshall said. “I invite Census officials who believe that our population is stagnant to go on tour with me and discover the difference.”

Make the Road New York Executive Director Ana Maria Archila said immigrants undoubtedly were hesitant to participate in the Census and had “very real reasons” to be afraid of the government because of the detention and deportation of individuals.

Despite this, Archila noted that the Hispanic population in the borough, and city, has increased. In Queens, the Hispanic population grew by 10.3 percent. The city’s Hispanic population grew by 8.1 percent.

“The Census figures are an important reminder that Latinos and immigrants in general are a growing force and play an increasingly important role in the economic and political future of New York,” Archila said.

Alongside Jackson Heights, Astoria, Cambria Heights, Queens Village and Howard Beach also declined in population, according to the Census.

Astoria’s population reportedly decreased by 11.6 percent, Cambria Heights dropped 10.8 percent, Queens Village lost 9 percent of its population and Howard Beach dropped 7 percent. The Arverne area saw one of the greatest percentage increases at 16.6 percent, jumping from 31,645 in 2000 to 36,885.

The number of residents in South Jamaica increased by 10.6 percent, going from 35,181 to 38,894.

“The borough is being plagued by overdevelopment, traffic congestion and limited parking, overcrowding in our schools and a deteriorating infrastructure and other issues that are directly correlated with a spiking population,” said state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside).“All anybody needs to do is try to walk through the pedestrian packed streets of downtown Flushing on any afternoon to get an idea of how overpopulated our urban centers have become. We need a more accurate counting of our population so that we receive the appropriate federal funding.”

Flushing grew by 2,646 residents, or 3.8 percent — a ludicrously small number, according to area legislators who noted the large number of developments that have been built in the area over the past 10 years.

U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Jamaica) said the federal government must correct its data for Queens and the city.

“Federal funds are allocated based upon the number of people in each state and if undercounting has occurred communities will not receive the proper funds to meet the needs of the population for hospitals, job training centers, schools, senior centers, public work projects and emergency services,” the congressman said in a prepared statement issued last week.

A Year In, Immigrant Groups Say Health Care Reform Has Benefited Communities

By Sarah Kate Kramer March 23, 2011

A year ago today President Obama signed the Affordable Care for America Act into law, enacting a controversial federal health care reform for millions of Americans. Though many of the provisions have yet to go into effect and despite looming legal challenges, immigrant groups in New York are celebrating its anniversary. Immigrant advocates say the reform’s employer tax credits and federal funding for community health centers have already benefited their communities.

New York Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, the ranking member of the House Small Business Committee, appeared at a Make The Road New York press event on Monday to reaffirm her support for the law, which has come under attack repeatedly since it was signed.

“Small businesses in New York City are benefiting from the law in many ways. From the tax credit, to the new regulations restricting denial of coverage based on pre-existing conditions, businesses have an easier time affording health care now than they did a year ago,” she said.

Immigrant small business owners at the event spoke about how they desire to purchase affordable health care for their employees. “I believe that this law is a step in the right direction, and I look forward to joining with other businesses to buy health insurance at lower costs,” said Edgar Andrade, [member of MRNY’s Small Business United Project and] owner of Tang’s 99c and Hardware Store in Bushwick.

The federal reform does not mandate small businesses to purchase insurance for their employees, but tax credits for businesses with fewer than 25 employees and average wages of less than $50,000 aim to give them incentives to do so. Down the line, assuming that the law is not repealed, small businesses will also be able to purchase insurance for employees through state exchanges that the Obama administration claims will further reduce insurance costs.

Despite overall support for the law, immigrant advocates say many challenges remain in its implementation–not least overcoming the public’s lack of knowledge about the law. Eunjee Shin, Coordinator of Social Services at Korean Community Services, says that many immigrant small business owners simply do not understand how health reform affects them. “They are unaware that they now qualify for tax credits under the new law. It is important that this information become more accessible to our communities,” she said. Other advocates point out that despite the advantages of the federal health care reform, it still doesn’t cover undocumented immigrants.

Hundreds of Thousands Expected to Gather in DC for Immigration Rights March

March 19, 2011

An immigrant rights march planned on Sunday is CLARISSA MARTINEZ DE CASTRO: One of the expected to draw over 100,000 people from a broad main purposes of that meeting was to make sure the coalition of groups across the country to call on administration understood very clearly the state of President Obama live up to his promises and Congress emergency that immigrant communities are living in to pass comprehensive immigration reform. We speak every day and that that state of emergency is created with members of La Raza and Make the Road New by inaction on immigration reform. We have heard York. [includes rush transcript] commitments from the administration in the past, as well as from Congress, to do something to finally address this issue, but we haven’t seen a lot of real JUAN GONZALEZ: President Obama has pledged action. So the idea was that they needed to start to move forward on immigration reform and embraced demonstrating very clearly steps to get there. And we a draft plan from Senators Charles Schumer and have seen some of these steps happen this week, Lindsey Graham for overhauling the nation’s leading up to the march on Sunday. immigration system. In a statement released by the White House Thursday, Obama praised the senators’, JUAN GONZALEZ: Well, Clarissa, this promises— quote, "promising bipartisan framework," adding that it looks like it’s going to be the largest protest march it, quote, "can and should be the basis for moving of the Obama administration so far, and it seems that forward." The four-point proposal from Senators already there has been enormous reaction by the Schumer and Graham includes high-tech identification administration and by Congress just as you were cards, bolstering border security, creating a process for organizing the march. There were a series of meetings admitting temporary workers, and implementing a, that the President held. Luis Gutierrez, the quote, "tough but fair path" for legalization. congressman from Chicago, who has been a leading advocate of immigration reform, said, I think just AMY GOODMAN: Well, the announcement comes yesterday, that he promised to vote for health reform just before a planned march on Washington this on the basis that the administration was promising that Sunday called by immigrant rights advocates. Over it would move forward on immigration reform this 100,000 people from a broad coalition of groups year. So you’re already getting a lot of at least verbal across the country are expected to rally at the National support. The question is, will it be translated into Mall, demanding President Obama live up to his action in Congress? And could you give us a sense of promises and Congress pass comprehensive what you feel about the proposals of Senator Schumer immigration reform. and Lindsey Graham?

We’re joined now in Washington, DC by a lead CLARISSA MARTINEZ DE CASTRO: Sure. First, organizer of Sunday’s march, Clarissa Martinez De let me say that, you know, certainly my organization is Castro, the director of immigration and national part of March for America, but it is important to know campaigns at the National Council of La Raza. that there are over 700 organizations across the country who are part of this effort, and it is that Clarissa, you met with President Obama. What were combined energy that it’s bringing these results. your demands? What did you talk to him about this past week? Yesterday, as you mentioned, Senator Schumer, Democrat from New York, and Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican from South Carolina, unveiled space to say this needs to change. In 2008, over ten some broad parameters of what they’re proposing will million Latinos helped elect President Obama, be then turned into a legislative vehicle. There’s not a helped put the Democrats in control of the Senate great deal of detail in those parameters at this point. So and the House of Representatives, with the promise we look forward to those ideas being swiftly translated that immigration reform would be a priority. And into a legislative vehicle that then we can analyze in nothing—there hasn’t been real movement. detail. So far they’re talking about four pillars that will drive that bipartisan proposal, and they deal largely, as And at the same time, there are people like Marta they describe them, with border security, worker Freire, one of our members who lives in Queens, a flows, which means legal immigration issues, with woman from Ecuador, undocumented women, worker eligibility verification to work, and with a who, in 9/11, was one of the cleanup workers after legalization program. 9/11. She now has developed cancer, terminal cancer, and she wants to be able to see her AMY GOODMAN: Clarissa, La Raza opposed the daughters. She wants to be able to travel to her healthcare reform bill? country and say goodbye to her daughters before she dies, after she did the work that she did for this CLARISSA MARTINEZ DE CASTRO: We issued country. There are many stories like Marta’s story, our statement yesterday, that we didn’t think it really and that’s why people are marching on Sunday, to addressed the needs of the most vulnerable among our make sure that the message of restoring dignity populations. and opportunity to millions of people that have done so many things to make this country strong, JUAN GONZALEZ: We’re joined here in New York that that promise that was—that Obama made and by Ana Maria Archila of the community organization that members of Congress made is actually kept. Make the Road by Walking [Make the Road New York]. JUAN GONZALEZ: One of the things I think I was struck by, in terms of the parameters that were Welcome to Democracy Now! unveiled by Senators Schumer and Lindsey Graham, was that there’s going to be an emphasis, in terms of future immigration, more on high-tech workers, rather ANA MARIA ARCHILA: Thank you so much. than on blue-collar workers, basically bringing in more computer and scientific workers from—expanding the JUAN GONZALEZ: The importance of this march, H-1B portion of immigration and reducing the number this upcoming march, and the need to get of low-income workers that are coming in the country. comprehensive immigration reform this year, if Do you have some concerns still about some of the possible, could you talk about that? issues that are being raised by Senator Schumer and Senator Graham? ANA MARIA ARCHILA: Yes. Well, immigrant communities across the country have been waiting ANA MARIA ARCHILA: Well, so we have—so, and waiting to see a real solution to the crisis that first, I want to say I think the organizing that has we have. We have a legal system that basically happened in immigrant communities, both street creates a second class of non-citizens that are easily organizing and political organizing, has taken us exploitable; that are exploited at work every day; this far. We were able to get President Obama to that, when they go into the detention centers, do meet with immigration advocates. We were able to not have any sense of due process; that are forced start seeing some action in the Senate. So that’s to live in fear and are facing the realities of being great. separated by their—from their families. And so, this legal system has existed in this country for too The parameters that are established by the op-ed long, so long that now we have 12 million people that Senators Schumer and Graham published who are undocumented and who live under these yesterday do emphasize quite heavily enforcement conditions every day. and also emphasize quite heavily what you mentioned, which is creating flows for migration So, all of us worked really hard to make sure for kind of highly educated immigrants. We know that—to create a different political space in the that that’s one of the interests of businesses in this country. Back before the elections, in 2006, millions country, is being able to retain—attract and retain of people came out to march. Millions of people people who are highly skilled. But we also know who could lose their jobs, who were afraid of that the reality of this country is that some of the government, came out and took over the public industries that are growing fastest are not the high- tech industries, are not those industries, are other are people like Harry Reid himself, the Senate industries that we also need to keep in this country. Majority Leader, who’s facing a tough race in Nevada. So there needs to be a way to look at the future and What would the message be to the Latino electorate if think about how to welcome workers in a way that immigration reform is not passed? is organized, that is orderly, and that also protects and respects the rights of those workers. And we CLARISSA MARTINEZ DE CASTRO: Well, look forward to working on those details. that’s an important point, particularly because, look, the immigration issue has been debated now how AMY GOODMAN: Clarissa Martinez De Castro in many years? So that’s one of the reasons we feel that Washington, I wanted to go back to that issue of there can be swift action, because they have debated healthcare. It’s very significant. You’ve come out with this issue over and over again. What has stopped it a statement yesterday. Why do you feel the healthcare from happening is that it’s become a political football. reform bill does not help the most vulnerable And first of all, it’s unacceptable that people are immigrants in this country? seeing their lives come to bitter ends every day or sent away from their children, all because of politics. CLARISSA MARTINEZ DE CASTRO: Well, That’s why it’s time to act. we—granted, we understand that the fight over healthcare is very difficult. We also believe that one of In terms of Latinos, I think that there’s been a back- the purposes should be to remove the structural and-forth over time about whether Latinos care about barriers to those people who are having a hard time immigration or not. Here’s the reality. Latinos care either obtaining healthcare or obtaining quality very deeply about bread-and-butter issues, and in the healthcare. In the case of the Latino community, we current state of the economy, there’s no question that have one of the largest uninsured populations. And we we’re very concerned about the economy and jobs. feel that there was a real opportunity here to right a But we also care about respect. And that’s how we see wrong that was done in the past, where we started the issue of immigration. Even if you’re a tenth treating legal immigrants and US citizens as if they generation American, when you’re Latino, the way were different classes of people. There was a real that this issue gets debated really has a lot to do with opportunity to do that. We know that many folks try to how you are regarded and how you are treated. And manipulate the immigration issue to block healthcare we have seen a lot of discrimination, increase in hate reform. This is a recurring problem and, there again, crimes against the Latino community, due to the vitriol one of the reasons why we need to do immigration in the immigration debate. That is one of the reasons reform. why this issue has such an energizing power on the civic participation of Latinos and why it drove us to But there was—but instead of standing strong on march in 2006, as it will do now, why it drove people principles of healthcare reform, what we saw was that to become citizens, and then, citizens native-born and instead of undoing that wrong that prevents legal new Americans alike, to vote in 2008. immigrants who are contributing to our society from that being treated differently, that that stayed in there. Some say, hey, this is just—Latinos are just going to So there was an opportunity to do that, to remove become Democrats. That is not the case. But parties structural barriers that had been artificially created, have to fight for our vote. For Democrats, action is and instead of that, they stayed in place, and we added essential, because promises were made and because some others. the issue has such dire consequences. But for Republicans, progress on this issue and solutions is This is a very difficult position for us to take. We also essential, if they want to start restoring their understand how much the country needs healthcare. relationship with Latinos who are the fastest-growing But we also understand that when you have an electorate in the nation. And we’re going to be opportunity to truly address the barriers that are watching who takes action to try to get this done, who preventing communities across the country from really sits on the sideline, and who works to obstruct it. And accessing care, that we need to do a better job. And we that’s how it—that’s going to influence our vote in need to be mindful of how the most vulnerable among November. us are treated in those proposals. AMY GOODMAN: Clarissa Martinez De Castro, JUAN GONZALEZ: And Clarissa Martinez, to go thank you very much for joining us, director of back to the immigration reform issue, could you talk immigration and national campaigns at the National about what the impact could possibly be in November Council of La Raza. And Ana Maria Archila of if immigration reform is not passed? Obviously there Make the Road by Walking [Make the Road New York], thank you so much.

300 Staten Islanders protest proposed federal budget cuts

By Staten Island Advance March 11, 2011

STATEN ISLAND, N. Y. -- They came to St. Philip's Baptist Church in Port Richmond last night bearing signs that read "No cuts!" and "Don't cut services for immigrant communities!"

It was all about protesting that Staten Island may have $600,000 slashed in federal funds to community education programs and legal services to the poor on the North Shore.

That includes cuts from everything from summer youth employment programs to senior centers.

Staten Island-based not-for-profits hosted the public meeting, which drew 300 people.

The city's Dept. of Youth and Community Development Commissioner Jeanne Mulgrav will review the President's Fiscal Year 2012 budget proposal.

The Rev. Terry Troia, executive director of Project Hospitality noted that the President's budget is proposing a 50 percent reduction in the Community Services Block Grant program, a cut of $350 million nationally. The cut will end virtually all city supported ESL, GED, and basic literacy programs and legal service programs such as the one Catholic Charities hosts at its CYO Center at 120 Anderson Ave.

Rev. Troia underscored that these programs provide key educational opportunities to hundreds of working poor persons on the North Shore who depend on increasing their language skills or graduating with a GED to better themselves economically.

She said the Island agencies who will be most deeply affected by the cut include: Catholic Charities and the Jewish Community Center of Staten Island, Make the Road New York, and Project Hospitality.

Last night's event was sponsored by the United Jewish Appeal, United Neighborhood Houses, the Human Services Council and the New York Immigration Coalition.

The Island not-for-profits co-hosting the meeting include: Project Hospitality, Make the Road NY, JCC of SI and Catholic Charities – CYO.

1200 Parents and Students Rally Against $1.5 Billion in Education Cuts

By Utica News Daily Staff March 10, 2011

ALBANY, --1200 parents and students from across the “The Governor’s budget is a travesty for New York’s state were joined by elected officials, clergy, teachers students, particularly poor children and children of and community organizations in a rally against the color who have been systematically disadvantaged for proposal by Governor Cuomo to enact $1.5 billion in years. It strips away the initial investments of the cuts to schools combined with $4.6 billion in tax cuts Campaign for Fiscal Equity promise and makes it for wealthy New Yorkers. significantly harder for them to receive their Constitutional right to an opportunity to learn,” said Dr. The rally, at the Albany Armory, was followed by a John Jackson, President and CEO of the Schott march to the Capitol and Legislative Office Building Foundation for Public Education. and lobby visits with legislators. Governor Cuomo’s cuts are the largest ever proposed in the history of “Overwhelmingly New Yorkers disagree with Governor New York State, the tax cuts for the state’s highest Cuomo’s record setting cuts to schools and with the income earners are supported by the Senate plan by the Governor and the Senate Majority to give Republican Majority as well as the Governor. Polls the wealthiest New Yorkers a tax cut,” said Billy show that three-quarters of New Yorkers oppose the Easton, Executive Director, Alliance for Quality education cuts and two-thirds of New Yorkers oppose Education. “Tax cuts for the rich, and massive school tax cuts for high income earners. If the cuts are cuts for our kids? It’s nonsensical.” enacted, schools across the state will need to get rid of thousands of teachers, guidance counselors and “A $24 million cut to Buffalo City schools will mean librarians, cut arts, sports, music, college and career that our district may be forced to eliminate instruction prep courses and basic educational services. School to students in their native language, a program offered closings are also proposed in districts across the state by bilingual aides to %12 of students. Too many as a result of the proposed cuts. The rally was children that rely heavily on this and other programs to sponsored by the Alliance for Quality Education, achieve their dreams of on-time graduation will be let Citizen Action of New York, New York Communities for down if Governor Cuomo’s tax break to the wealthy Change, New York City Coalition for Educational makes it in the final budget,” said Bryon McIntyre, of Justice, Long Island Progressive Coalition, Metro Citizen Action of New York, a parent from Buffalo. Justice of Rochester, Make the Road New York, and the Campaign for Fiscal Equity. "It’s irresponsible for the Governor to balance the budget on the backs of those of us who need funding "Education is the most fundamental obligation the most, while allowing the wealthiest New Yorkers government has to society's children. If we have to continue to ride the wave of prosperity. We demand move mountains to make sure our children have a that he make them pay their fair share so that teachers quality education, then that's what we'll do. I'm asking can keep their jobs and resources and programs can ALL elected officials to step up and uphold what the be provided for our children so they can be college Campaign for Fiscal Equity is all about. A budget crisis and career ready!” said Ocynthia Williams, a New York is never an excuse to turn our backs on our kids," said City parent and member of the Coalition for New York Council Education Chairman Robert Educational Justice. Jackson, Lead Plaintiff in Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit. “The governor's education budget proposals are well far off from what most of us believe and know to be right for our children. I am optimistic however that this governor, which we elected, will listen, and he will get children they teach to properly fund our low-and our message, which we must deliver loud and clear, I middle-income districts in order to give the multi- do believe we have a governor who understands the millionaires and billionaires of our state a tax break. value of a sound education, and will provide the That new yacht can wait -- kindergarten only happens appropriate funding to make sure our children really do once. Most New Yorkers are clear on what's more not get left behind,” said Assemblyman N. Nick Perry important," said Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton of of Brooklyn, Deputy Majority Leader and Chairman of Ithaca. the NYS Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators. “We must commit to our children from “When politicians demagogue about public servants, pre-K through college. I stand together with the many their pensions, collective bargaining or other hard concerned parents that traveled to our state capital earned benefits, it is our democracy that is being today, and assure them that I will tenaciously advocate attacked. This must stop. Tax the rich!” said Senator on their behalf and work towards passing an education Bill Perkins of Manhattan. budget that provides every single one of our children with not just a sound, basic education – but a first- “Allowing the rich to benefit at the expense of class, quality education that will help them be school children will mean that so many of our successful in life and firmly plant their feet on the path children will face heart break while the rich to success.” welcome a $1 billion tax break and continue to become wealthy. The state budget should be "Working families and communities of color like the balanced in a way that allows everyone to pay their ones I represent in the Bronx are being fair share and the only way to do this is to extend disproportionately impacted by proposed budget cuts the millionaire’s tax,” said Javier Valdés, Deputy to education funding and crucial state services. They Director Make the Road the Road New York. are the ones that send their children to public schools and depend on English as a second language "With a $1.5 billion cut in aid to schools, now is not the programs and special education programs that are time for a tax cut for the state's wealthiest," said facing drastic cuts. My neighbors understand the need Senator Jose Peralta of Queens. "This is not about to sacrifice during tough times, but we cannot ask creating a new tax or raising taxes. This is about them to bear the brunt of these budget cuts and then shared sacrifice. Balancing the budget will require give a tax cut to the wealthiest New Yorkers. We have many difficult choices. Extending the surcharge will to work toward a budget that is about shared not be one of them." responsibility and shared sacrifice - minimizing cuts to education funding," said Senator Gustavo Rivera of the Bronx. “We need to make sure that people in every community on Long Island realize how damaging these cuts will be to their children. Every district is "Last year's massive education budget cuts meant a looking at cuts. In some districts the students will be loss of lost teachers, educational staff and programs losing an opportunity for a second language. Others it that students need to be college and career ready, will mean no pre-k program at all. What will happen to such as after school, tutoring, math, reading and my granddaughter when there is no program offered English as a second language. Now, Governor for her?” said Amparo Sadler, Central Islip Cuomo's budget proposes to take an additional $1.5 grandmother and Long Island Progressive Coalition billion from school children. How much more can we member. take and still expect our students to excel?" said Marie Pierre, New York Communities for Change board member. "The Committee to Save NY has it backwards. The best investment we can make is in the people of NY, especially our children. Give our kids the education “I am delighted to join with other religious leaders in they need and our communities, and all of NY, will support of the AQE and CEJ fight to challenge the flourish. Committee to Save NY? Real Estate moguls Governor and legislators that the state's financial and Wall St. Executives? I am not impressed. I would crises should not be solved by destroying the be more impressed if they were saying, ‘Yes. These communities that are most in need and vulnerable. are tough times and we will help. We believe in the We urge Albany legislators not to cut Education, people of NY.’ When times are tough, everyone has to Senior Services and Healthcare,” said Bishop Orlando pull together. That includes the wealthiest among us. Findlayter, Churches United to Save and Heal. What makes this state great is the belief in the value of every New Yorker, and the potential for each person to "It is unthinkable that we would continue to break the do great things, a good education is key to that," said promise we made in 2007 to our schools and the Cathy Fahey, 7th Ward Councilmember, Albany.

Bushwick Small Biz Worries About Wal-Mart

By Aaron Short March 7th, 2011

The Wal-Mart backlash is in full bloom — and the megaretail chain hasn’t even opened a store yet.

Bushwick’s small business owners are growing restless as the global retail giant has begun lining up support from unions and other businesses for a proposed retail store in East New York.

Encouraged by groups such as Make the Road NY, 30 business owners from Myrtle and Knickerbocker Avenues are organizing against Wal- Mart’s inclusion in the Related Industries-owned A meeting at Make the Road NY, one of the organizations Gateway II mall complex. working with local business owners to oppose Wal-Mart in Brooklyn, where members rallied for fair labor practices and living wages. Francisco Acosta, owner of #1 Stop Grocery, called the store his "lifeline." But Wal-Mart is lining up their own union support from "It helps provide for my entire family here and abroad," some construction-worker and building-trade unions in said Acosta. "I know that I will compete directly with a glitzy PR battle with retail workers, according to City Wal-Mart to sell many of the goods I currently stock. I Hall News. can’t keep up with their low prices. In tough economic times, this might be what puts me over the edge." And many Bushwick residents BushwickBK interviewed support a Wal-Mart in Brooklyn saying they And Maria de los Santos, owner of Mary’s Jeans and would buy appliances there, but would still shop on Mary’s Flowers, said that Wal-Mart does not share her Knickerbocker to buy every day items and groceries. values. But Make the Road’s Director Javier Valdes said "As a small business owner, I invest in my that aggressively priced items like air conditioners lure neighborhood because this is where I am raising my customers toward spending all their money on family as well. What I make gets re-invested in everything else. Bushwick. What Wal-Mart makes in sales will never get put back into the neighborhood." "It’s what they call door busters," said Valdes. "You end up buying everything there that you would They have a good reason to be worried. have bought at Knickerbocker or Myrtle. At the end of the day it’s only 15 minutes from Bushwick to A 2009 study touted by Make the Road showed that Gateway. You’re going to see more and more over a period of two years after a Wal-Mart opened in people going there." Chicago, 25 percent of independently-owned businesses within a four-mile radius of the retail store And that’s why Make the Road is working hard to closed. organize small businesses and educate its membership base about the effects of patronizing the store as well Make the Road organizer Dan Coates doesn’t think as the corporation’s labor practices. that’s a coincidence. "We’re not in the business of telling members "You can’t peg it on a recession," said Coates. where to work or not to work," said Valdes. "We’re "Stores that were more directly in competition with trying to raise the living standards of all workers Wal-Mart were hit harder. The idea of Wal-Mart and if Wal-Mart comes in, workers will take a step coming in — this is the straw that breaks the back.” camel’s back."

2 Brooklyn grocers face class-action suits A Fine Fare and a Key Food in Brooklyn are being sued over charges that they violated minimum wage and overtime laws; attorney sees cases as first of many.

By Daniel Massey March 3, 2011

Workers at two Brooklyn supermarkets filed class-action sick; I've worked on holidays and haven't gotten paid lawsuits Thursday, alleging the owners of the shops extra; and I never got overtime,” said Jesus Najera, a 31- violated minimum wage and overtime laws. year-old immigrant from Honduras who plans to vote in favor of the union. “We think that with the union there will The suits, filed against a Fine Fare and a Key Food, are be changes for the better at the store.” part of an ongoing campaign by New York Communities for Change—the successor to Acorn— and Retail, Since the campaign launched in December, organizers Wholesale and Department Store Local 338 to improve from Local 338 and New York Communities for Change conditions for low-wage supermarket workers in the city. have met with more than 300 workers. The drive combines the organizing of workers to demand back pay The suit against Fine Fare alleges stock workers earned with more traditional efforts seeking union representation. between $300 and $400 for weeks that ranged from 65 to New York Communities for Change has used its roots on 78 hours, starting in 2006. It claims they weren't paid the the ground in Brooklyn to help activate workers who are time and a half required by law for hours in excess of 40, often difficult to organize because many are nor were they given bonus pay for days longer than 10 undocumented. Late last year, the group organized a bus hours. The Key Food complaint makes similar caravan that stopped at various supermarkets where allegations, charging that stock workers earned between workers claimed their rights were being violated. $300 and $450 for weeks between 72 and 84 hours, without overtime pay, from 2007 through 2010. “By combining the strength of the union and labor laws with a community base, the employer has to realize he “This is pretty common in a lot of stores in New York City can't just treat these guys poorly or it's going to blow up and I see these as the first of many cases we're going to in his own backyard,” said Kevin Lynch, director of bring,” said Arthur Schwartz, the workers' attorney. organizing at Local 338. The community group Make the Road New York employed a similar strategy in a campaign with the Retail Wholesale and Department Fine Fare owner Mustafa Aba Saab said he has not yet Store Union to organize retail workers on Knickerbocker seen the suit. There was no answer at the Key Food Avenue in Bushwick in 2005. store and there was no immediate response to an e-mail sent to Key Food corporate headquarters. The supermarket campaign comes as a new state law pushed by Make the Road is set to go into effect next As part of the campaign, Mr. Schwartz sent a letter to the month, increasing penalties on employers who violate owner of a third shop—Golden Farm in Flatbush— wage and hour laws and don't properly keep records. threatening a suit by next week if he did not negotiate over minimum wage and overtime violations against a dozen employees. Workers there are trying to organize a Workers will be able to recoup the money they are owed, union and Local 338 filed for an election Tuesday. plus a 100% penalty. The current law allows for just 25% in damages, meaning even if caught, employers typically end up paying little more than they stole. The act also Sonny Kim, the owner of Golden Farm, said his lawyer beefs up protections for workers who are retaliated has been working for four months to bring the situation to against for exerting their rights, and gives the state's a close, negotiating with the state Department of Labor, commissioner of labor new powers to collect damages which is demanding back wages and penalty payments. from employers who violate the law. “We're trying to settle,” he said.

Wage theft costs more than 317,000 low-wage workers in Organizers also announced Thursday that a union the city $18.4 million per week, according to a 2010 study election would be held Monday at a fourth supermarket— by the National Employment Law Project. The workers Master Food in Flatbush, where workers say they are lose almost 15% of their earnings due to labor fighting for respect on the job. violations—$58 each per week, or $3,016 every year, according to the group. Minimum wage violations are “I've worked there from August 2004 and I have never particularly prevalent in grocery stores, the study had a vacation; I've gotten sick and had to go to work showed.

Brooklyn Business Owners Fear Wal-Mart Coming to Town By Tara MacIsaac March 1, 2011

NEW YORK—A land of bodegas, dollar stores, and mom-and-pop retailers of various sorts, the heart of Bushwick, Brooklyn, is home to a slew of small-business owners that fear the competition Wal-Mart could bring to town.

Although Wal-Mart has not officially announced a location for New York City, some city council members have mentioned that negotiations have begun at the Gateway Center in East New York. Bushwick is about a 10-minute drive from Gateway, which is already home to big box stores like Old Navy and Home Depot.

Two City Council hearings were held in February to discuss the hypothetical effects the retail giant could have on the city that has thus far shut it out. The first hearing was broad in scope; the second focused on the company's labor practices.

Nine business owners gathered in front of 1 Stop Grocery on the corner of Bleecker Street and Irving Avenue in Bushwick on Tuesday to express their concern about the company's effect on small businesses.

“Already we have a problem with our businesses because the economy all over the world is down. So, we do [about] 60 to 70 percent less [business]. That means we are working without profit,” said [Make the Road New York Small Business United Coalition member] Marco Reynoso, who has owned the Superstar Deli on Bleecker Street for 25 years.

Reynoso says he has already seen great changes in the area. It is a lucrative location for development, he points out, because it is only a 15-minute ride into Manhattan on the L-train, and the M and J lines also stop in the area.

The citywide phenomenon of middle-to-upper class New Yorkers pushing into the outer boroughs where rent is cheaper, has begun in Bushwick as well.

“They like ready food better, not fast food,” says Reynoso of his changing clientele. He sells more soup and sandwiches now. “I am working that way to see what I can do to change, but honestly I don't have the money to do that,” he lamented.

The business owners all reported that their positions are already precarious, and the low prices Wal-Mart would bring to the area could be the nails in their coffins.

Edgar Andrade has owned Tang's Hardware and 99 Cent store for two years. He says he would be unable to compete with Wal-Mart's prices, as he cannot buy directly from the producers but has to go through a middleman. Wal-Mart's scale allows them to buy in bulk the way no small store could ever hope to.

A report published in 2009 by David Merriman, an economics professor at Loyola University of Chicago, showed that specialty stores like hardware shops were least effected by competition with Wal-Marts in other parts of the country. Andrade says if he just had the 99 Cent store without the hardware part, he would have already gone the route of two of his neighbors that closed shop recently.

“My backup plan is just basically eliminate the 99 Cent store, keep into the hardware more. But, still that's a big investment and it's really hard to make it,” said Andrade.

Though many of the business owners spoke vehemently against a Wal-Mart coming to their region, many local residents expressed their support for the company coming to town.

“Yes to Wal-Mart! We need jobs!” a voice shouted from a car as it drove past the gathering.

While lamenting the hardship mom-and-pop stores may experience if Wal-Mart came to the Gateway Center, Justin Morales maintains, “the amount of employees [Wal-Mart] takes in will rejuvenate the area; this area needs that.”

Morales already shops at Wal-Mart online to get goods at a cheaper price.

“A [head of] lettuce out here is $5!” exclaimed his friend, Cody Tanner, who agrees Wal- Mart would benefit the community.

Another passerby did not express an opinion on the matter either way, but simply resigned himself to what he sees as the inevitability of Wal-Mart's appearance in town, “there's going to be one here anyway.”

Congressman Charles Rangel has said Related Retail, the development company that has the contract for Gateway, got the contract on the condition that Wal-Mart would not be built there. The matter of Wal-Mart coming to Gateway still rests in City Council's hands. A Wal-Mart spokesperson says that Wal-Mart can foster business growth in an area.

"Businesses of all sizes that can diversify themselves and take advantage of the spike in customer activity that comes with a Walmart, want to be as close to our stores as possible," stated the spokesperson in an e-mail.

The mayor and immigration

By Javier H. Valdés, Enterate Hoy (Translated from Spanish by Emily Leavitt.) February 16, 2011

Although Mayor Michael Bloomberg recognizes that the federal immigration system is dysfunctional, he is not aware that New York City's own policies contribute to the deportations of many immigrants. It's about time the mayor disentangles city agencies from the worst parts of the overall immigration system.

The Department of Corrections (DOC) has become the open door through which New York introduces itself into the deplorable system that detains immigrants. The DOC's immigration policies implicate the city in the worst aspects of ICE's destructive practices, through which ICE perpetuates a heavily flawed system.

For a long time now, the city has facilitated, at its own cost, ICE's arbitrary and irrational program that arrests anyone they think could be deported. This includes legal residents (those with green cards), people without a criminal record, and vulnerable New Yorkers, like minors, the elderly, the sick, and people seeking protection – like victims of domestic violence.

From its headquarters on Rikers Island, ICE orders "arrest warrants" for any and all foreign-born individuals who they believe are suspicious, including people with minor immigration violations. Guilt or innocence is not a factor in this equation. Many immigrants are thrown into ICE custody before even having a trial or being convicted of any crime.

This practice has serious consequences for the city's finances and its communities. The DOC spends tens of millions of dollars every year to keep individuals in jail who have received arrest warrants from ICE.

Families are split up: parents, brothers, sisters, and other loved ones have been taken from them. And the city is less safe because the immigrant community increasingly avoids the police out of fear that they too will become trapped in a broken immigration system.

The mayor says that he is obeying the law and doesn't have any alternative except to help ICE destroy our communities. He is mistaken. The federal government has clearly stated that arrest warrants issued by ICE are only requests, not legally mandated. The city doesn't have to obey them. The city doesn't have to provide ICE with rent-free space on Rikers Island. The city doesn't have to give ICE agents special access to the DOC's database.

All these practices are decided by the Mayor's Office. Mayor Bloomberg could order the DOC tomorrow to stop assisting ICE with its devastating efforts to deport everyone who passes through the city's jails. He could implement a different a more sensible program, like ones that exist in other jurisdictions, where it can determine when it is, and when it is not, in the city's interest to help ICE deport a resident from this great city.

If the mayor makes these changes in our city, he will have more credibility in the immigrant community regarding his efforts to push for immigration reform nationwide.

Councilman Daniel Dromm Secures Funding to Support Educational Programs for Immigrants

By Daniel Miller, Ph.D. February 9, 2011

Immigrants living Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island were the beneficiaries of a New York City Council’s Immigrant Opportunities Initiative (IOI) to the tune of $100,000 as part of a greater funding award of $4.5 million Citywide to help local not for profit community organizations continue to educate the nation’s newest wave of immigrants.

The presentation was made in Jackson Heights on Tuesday February 8 at the offices of Make the Road New York, one of the three beneficiaries who shared this award. Attending the press conference were representatives from the four local organizations operating their programs in Councilman Daniel Dromm’s 25TH council district (25CD) in Queens and who will share the $100,000 award. They groups named to receive the money are: Make the Road New York, Ecuadorian International Center, Queens Community House which service a mostly Latino Spanish speaking population and Sheba USA, whose main focus is to assist low-income South Asian immigrant populations. The 25th Council District has the largest percentage of immigrants living in the Borough of Queens communities that make up the district which include, Corona, Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, LeFrak City, Rego Park, and Woodside. It’s estimated that about 65% of the District is made up of new immigrant arrivals.

In spite of the budgetary woes of the City, Council Member Daniel Dromm, Chair of the City Council Immigration Committee, rallied the support of his colleagues on the Council to fund the program designed to help community organizations to help immigrants through educational and other social service programs. Mayor Bloomberg cut the IOI program by $5 million last year but Dromm and his supporters voted back $4.5 million to the delight of the organizations and the immigrants taking classes with them. The money will go to fund adult education classes including adult classes in ESL

At the check presentation ceremony held at the offices of Make the Road on Roosevelt Avenue, Jackson Heights Council Member Dromm said, “These services are essential to our immigrant communities here in our area. That is why I made saving IOI funding a top priority. The people that have the least are the ones affected the most in difficult economic times and they are always the last ones to recover. We need to ensure that they are given the opportunities and the resources necessary to become fully integrated in our society and pursue the American dream. Dromm added, “I am proud to provide organizations that are fully committed to our immigrant people with the means to do just that.” "It is wonderful that City Council Member Daniel Dromm has arranged for Sheba USA to receive IOI funding,” said Executive Director Tamanna Yasmin, adding, “As you all know our main focus is to provide free basic English, computer, tax prep courses to all immigrants with a special focus on empowering women.”

Make the Road Deputy Director Javier Valdes indicated that the lines for classes are out the door with long waiting lists to attend the dozens of classes offered each day. The demand to learn English is greatest in the Latino Spanish speaking immigrant communities of the city with only 3 % of the 1.23 immigrant adults able to speak the language. “We service more than 500 adult learners daily with hundreds turned away through a lottery system to fill the seats.” When asked what he would do with additional money if available Mr. Valdez replied, “I would increase the number of student we could service.” “We applaud Council Member Dromm for his steadfast effort in securing these funds for our district.,” said Veronica Piedra, Deputy Director of Ecuadorian International Center.

Brooklyn Tenant: Landlord Shuts Off Heat Every Night

Reporting Marcia Kramer February 8, 2011

NEW YORK (CBS 2) — This year’s tough winter has left thousands of New York City residents literally out in the cold. Many have been fighting for heat with landlords who don’t provide it.

Among those dealing with the issue is Gladys Puglla, of Bushwick, Brooklyn. She said living in an apartment with no heat every night has taken its toll.

“I’m angry because I’m getting sick and I haven’t been able to get better and every day it’s a hassle for me to go to work, coughing all day in my job and I can’t do my work,” she told CBS 2′s Marcia Kramer.

Puglla said her landlord has turned off the heat every night for the 12 years she has lived in the rent- controlled apartment. She said she heats water in pots on the stove to warm the room closest to the kitchen in addition to sealing her bedroom window in plastic to keep out some of the drafts.

Puglla said it has been her “worst enemy” to “have no heat at night.”

It is so cold in the apartment that her poodle Teddy has to wear a coat indoors.

“We’re like icicles,” she said.

In addition to using three or four blankets to cover her, Puglla said she has to wear socks, jogging pants and a sweater when going to bed at night.

Puglla has testified about her plight at a City Council hearing seeking to increase the penalties for landlords, who don’t provide heat. It is an issue that continues to effect thousands. Since October, the 311 call center has received over 150,000 heat and hot water complaints.

According to Puglla, her landlord has not been penalized because city inspectors only come during the day and not the night, when the heat is shut off. Her landlord refused to speak when contacted by CBS 2 on Tuesday.

Public Advocate Bill Deblasio said not having heat is simply “not acceptable.”

“It happens because the laws aren’t strong enough and some bad landlords are taking advantage of weak laws and we’re going to stop it we’re going to change the laws,” Deblasio said.

Lessons from School Closings

By Jaritza Geigel

January 26, 2011

My name is Jaritza Geigel and I am a youth intensive supports for graduating eighth graders to leader at Make the Road New York and a understand their options for high schools in the graduate of the Bushwick School for Social Justice. community, so they know well before the fall. Lastly, there needs to be opportunities for parents, Our community experienced the phase out of students and community organizations to have Bushwick High School Campus almost seven years input in selecting the schools that will be placed in ago and know directly the impact closing its doors their communities to replace phasing out schools. had on students, teachers and community These are just some of the lessons we learned from members. While the new small schools graduate a going through the process of Bushwick Campus much higher percent of students, they serve less being phased out. than half of the number of students that were on the original rolls. Nearby high schools felt the And now our community finds itself facing this painful impact of receiving overflow in schools issue again. Bushwick Community High School, a already struggling with the issue of overcrowding. transfer school in the neighborhood, was just Our community was making demands from the recently added to the PLA (Persistently Lowest beginning about the removal of so many seats and Achieving) list and is threatened with closure. This were promised by the DOE they would be school, known around Bushwick as a “second replaced. Seven years later we have not seen an home” for students who have struggled in increase in seats in Bushwick. District 32 has an traditional school settings, should not be on this average of 1,330 students enrolled in each grade list. The criteria for this list needs to be changed level, but only 713 available ninth-grade seats. and transfer schools need to be evaluated differently. How can a transfer school, that Additionally, we found out with little advance consists of mostly over-aged, under-credited warning that Bushwick High School was on the list students, be held to the same standards as other slated for closure, allowing little time to inform the high schools? We are simply asking that high- community. There were no community meetings stakes measures, like those for PLA criteria, be with the DOE. There was never a clear plan applied to us in a way that accurately reflects the presented for the phase out. Students and parents circumstances and function of this school as a came to the school in the fall looking for their seats transfer school within the NYC DOE and that gives in their zone school. The DOE did not inform the us a real chance to reach the necessary community of the changes. Most of the teachers performance targets and support students in their and counselors left, and the few that remained academic transformation. encouraged students to leave before the school even finished closing. There was not enough Make the Road New York community support for remaining students to succeed and members in Bushwick have directly experienced graduate as planned. these challenges and struggles around school closings. We are committed to fighting for We know firsthand that it is critical for the DOE to excellent, high performing schools in our provide adequate notice to students, parents and neighborhood and ensuring that the resources, families about proposed closings. The DOE needs support services and funding are in place to to share plans with the school and community address these issues and to create the space and stakeholders as well. During the phase out process, opportunity for the necessary community often students in these schools are not being involvement in this process. supported. They need the resources to make sure that they graduate on time. There also needs to be

Wage Theft: New York State Cracks Down on Crime Wave Against Workers

By Andrew Friedman, co-executive director of Make the Road New York

January 25, 2011

Every payday, thousands of New York workers are robbed of their wages. According to research by the National Employment Law Project, each week more than $56.4 million is stolen from low-wage workers in New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles alone. That adds up to almost three billion dollars each year.

The consequences of these violations are severe—for the workers, their families, and the rule of law. Yet labor law reform has been slow.

The movement to combat wage theft, however, is gathering momentum. Last year, then-New York State Governor David Paterson signed major legislation – which passed with votes from both sides of the aisle – that will protect hundreds of thousands of workers each year. The Wage Theft Prevention Act (WTPA) will significantly increase penalties and improve enforcement of the New York State laws protecting workers from wage theft.

Though not often discussed, the problem of wage theft is severe. Nationwide, over a quarter of low-wage workers receive less than the minimum wage rate required by law—60 percent of those are underpaid by more than $1.00 per hour. Seventy-six percent of low-wage workers who work more than forty hours per week do not receive the legally mandated time-and-a-half overtime rate.

Workers also have their tips stolen by employers, are denied legally mandated breaks, or suffer sexual harassment or physical violence on the job. Workers who complain of abuses are routinely subject to retaliation—firing, demotion, harassment, stalking, threats to “call immigration authorities.”

Is news of this crime wave splashed across the police blotter? Not a chance. In fact, many states’ labor laws are so weak that even those employers who get caught stealing from their workers often end up paying less than they would have had to pay if they had followed the law in the first place. Indeed, unscrupulous employers build the low risk of getting caught – and the miniscule penalties required – into the cost of doing business.

The Wage Theft Prevention Act will work to put an end to these practices by increasing penalties for violating labor law, providing greater protection to workers who speak up for themselves and their co-workers, and adding tools that the State Department of Labor (DOL) and courts can use to investigate cases and more easily collect the money workers are owed.

The WTPA increases the damages employers must pay on top of the wages owed from 25 percent to 100 percent—a real price tag that will deter violations in the first place.

Importantly, the WTPA explicitly prohibits employers from threatening workers who stand up for their rights, and the law prevents anyone from retaliating against employees who blow the whistle on violations.

The WTPA also provides that victims of retaliation will receive up to $10,000 in liquidated damages—permitting the courts and the DOL to award damages that truly compensate the harms suffered by victims of retaliation.

Winning unpaid wage cases is often not the end of a worker’s struggle for justice, however. Tracking down the assets to collect what is owed often proves an insurmountable obstacle. The worst wage thieves hide assets to evade having to pay.

The WTPA addresses the problem by giving the DOL the authority to collect asset information on employers found in violation and take recalcitrant employers to court if they refuse to give it. In addition, the WTPA provides for an automatic 15 percent increase in the total amount of a judgment if the employer fails to pay within 90 days.

These reforms will help workers like Luis Olivo, who worked as a bagger at a Fine Fare supermarket in the Bronx for more than thirteen hours a day, six days a week for pocket change and tips for over seven years. He and those like him will now have the law behind them when they stand up for their dignity and demand that their employers follow the law.

Thanks to the Act, New York has become a leader in the nationwide fight against wage theft. The Wage Theft Prevention Act’s increased damages, stronger criminal penalties for egregious violations, and better protections for whistle blowers will change the calculation of lawless employers. Other states should follow New York’s example and enact legislation modeled on the Wage Theft Prevention Act to make sure that a good day’s work always earns workers a good day’s pay.

Voices That Must Be Heard: Undocumented, But Still Have Rights

By Gloria L. Ramirez

January 1, 2011

According to Colombian-born immigration lawyer Mercedes S. Cano, a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), "The United States Constitution does not discriminate between those who have no papers and those who do. The Constitution says: 'We the people'; it does not say: 'We the documented people' or 'We the people born in the United States'. Based on this, every person living in this country has the right to the protection of the law, to urgent medical attention, to freedom from discrimination, to representation in a court of law, and to be addressed [by the authorities] in two languages (English and his or her native language, which is a federal law), among other rights."

An example of how workers in New York have rights and are protected even when they are undocumented is the case of the Dominican couple, Ramón Núñez, 83, and his 73-year-old wife Tomasina, who worked as grocery packers for approximately six and two years, respectively, at the Associated supermarket at 229 Knickerbocker Avenue, in Brooklyn, working nearly 12 hours a day and living off of nothing but the tips they got from the store's clients. The pair succeeded in winning a suit, along with their fellow workers and others from the "Pioneer" supermarket on Pennsylvania Avenue at New Lots, also in Brooklyn, for unpaid and unjust wages.

The suit, which was resolved to the benefit of 50 workers (many of them undocumented like the Núñez couple) and took four years (2005-2009), succeeded due to pressure from immigrants' rights groups like Make the Road New York, community organizations, and the residents of those neighborhoods. The total award to the plaintiffs was approximately $1,125,000, and according to the Núñez', their combined share came to $109,000.

"It's worth it to make the effort," says Ramón. "I brought the suit because it was my right. It is an obligation to demand one's rights, because every worker is worth his pay," he comments, to which his wife adds, "I recommend that every person who is working without being paid, the way we were, go to the Attorney General's office or to Make the Road New York because, other than God, those were the people who helped us."

Ramón and Tomasina are now U.S. citizens and are enjoying their retirement.

In New York, after 40 hours of work a week, the worker has the right to be paid the equivalent of the regular wage plus one-half of that hourly wage for work done beyond the 40 hours – and this applies whether or not the worker is documented. Undocumented workers, however, have no right to paid vacations, holidays or lunch hours (the employer gives them time for lunch, but does not have to pay for that time.)

Knowledge of these rights is essential to avoid abuses. According to Deborah Axt, an immigration lawyer and assistant director at Make the Road New York, "Many times, workers think they have no right to overtime pay because they are working by the piece (in the needle trades, for example), because they are working for a weekly wage or because they get tips at their jobs; low-income workers are almost always eligible for overtime pay whether they have papers or not."

Medical attention

In New York, all people, regardless of their immigration status, have the right to receive medical treatment in the city's public hospitals through the HHC Options program of the Health and Hospitals Corporation. This is a low-cost health care insurance program for people with low income. There is also an Emergency Medicaid program (which is temporary), to which the undocumented have access in case of a serious health emergency.

For children up to the age of 19 there is the free insurance program called Child Health Plus, which they can get if they live in the city, whether or not they were born in New York and whether or not they are documented. Pregnant undocumented women, adult or adolescent, can also access temporary medical insurance throughout their pregnancy and for a few months after they give birth.

Housing

Any person documented or not, has the right to get a receipt for rent paid from the place where he or she resides, and the right to a lease, heat, hot water, etc.

"Immigrants need to know that they have rights, that when they move into an apartment or a room and they pay for it, that place is their home. All tenants (documented or not) have the same rights as any citizen, and they do not necessarily have to have a signed lease; they only have to have proof that they live in that place," Cano points out.

The two lawyers agree that being well informed and organized is crucial in order to protect oneself as an undocumented immigrant, and to avoid abuses. "There are many rights that people don't know about. There are many protection recourses, and we have to use them, reinforce them and continue fighting collectively to improve them. The most important thing is to get organized and to remain united in order to have greater power and more influence," Axt emphasizes.

Rising Stars of 2011

By El Diario Staff

January 2, 2011

Latinos continue to shape the Big Apple in big and small ways. Here are a few of the emerging leaders in policy and politics:

The Fighter

If you’re looking for a shrinking violet, it’s not Ana Maria Archila. At the helm of Make the Road NY, Archila has been a relentless advocate for policies to protect workers, immigrants, and GLBT persons. In a city that continually squeezes the little guy, we need more Archila’s.

Los hispanos continúan influenciando la vida en la Gran Manzana de distintas formas, grandes y pequeñas. Aquí están algunos de los líderes emergentes en la política de Nueva York.

Ana María Archila

Si buscas alguien tímida, no es Ana María Archila. Al frente del liderazgo de Se Hace Camino Nueva York, Archila ha sido una voz implacable que lucha por leyes y políticas que protejan a la comunidad LGBT, a los inmigrantes y a los trabajadores. Las comunidad más vulnerables necesitan más Archilas.

Exigen acción en política migratoria

By Catalina Jaramillo March 6, 2011

NUEVA YORK – El congresista Luis Gutiérrez hizo un llamado ayer al Presidente Obama a ejercer su poder para darle justicia a la comunidad inmigrante mediante una orden ejecutiva para detener las deportaciones y crear una reforma.

Gutiérrez asistió a la reunión anual de Se Hace Camino Nueva York, donde cientos de miembro de la organización y funcionarios públicos de la ciudad fijaron las prioridades para la lucha inmigrante durante este año.

"Él (Obama) tiene posibilidades, el tiene poderes como presidente de los Estados Unidos, para traer un poco de balance para la política de migración", dijo Gutiérrez.

Otros de los asistentes estuvieron el congresista Anthony Wiener, la vocera del concejo de la Ciudad Christine Quinn, el contralor John Liu, el presidente del condado de Manhattan Scott Stringer, los concejales Melissa Mark-Viverito, Jimmy Van Bramer e Ydanis Rodríguez, el senador estatal José Peralta, los asambleístas Francisco Moya y Guillermo Linares.

"Estamos luchando por los trabajadores, por una mejor política de inmigración y para que no cierren más escuelas. Estamos todos juntos en esta lucha, algunas batallas son largas, pero queremos justicia para todos", dijo el congresista Anthony Weiner.

Se Hace Camino Nueva York, una organización de 14 años y 8.388 miembros en la ciudad, seguirá centrando sus esfuerzos en lograr una reforma migratoria integral, explicó su co-director Javier Valdés.

Valdés explicó que a nivel de la ciudad las metas son luchar para que no se cierren más escuelas y quitar a la migra de las cárceles. A nivel estatal, dijo, la organización se concentrará en intentar cambiar las leyes de vivienda, removiendo la ley de descontrol de rentas, lo que beneficiará especialmente a los residentes de Queens y Brooklyn, y luchará por mantener el presupuesto para escuelas y para educación de adultos.

"Estamos creciendo. Tenemos mucho que aprender pero hemos logrado grandes cosas el año pasado a nivel ciudad y estado. Pero para una comunidad más justa tenemos que seguir creando coaliciones con otros grupos. Vamos por buen camino pero tenemos que todavía crecer", dijo Valdés.

El encuentro se realizó en la sede de la local 32BJ en Manhattan y duró toda la tarde. Un gran número de miembros le explicó a la comunidad la importancia de los diferentes proyectos de la organización y las luchas por las cuales van a pelear durante el año.

"Para mí es un día muy importante porque estamos reunidos toda la gente de Nueva York y demostrándole a la gente que nuestra organización sigue organizando a más gente de nuestra comunidad y estamos haciendo un llamado a la comunidad a que se una a nosotros para poder seguir adelante y llevar a cabo nuestros objetivos que es tener una mejor calidad de vida", dijo Irania Sánchez, miembro de Se hace camino NY por más de una década.

Iglesia contra la presencia de ICE en cárceles

Por Annie Correal 28 de febrero, 2011

Unas 50 personas se reunieron ayer en la Iglesia Luterana Sion para hacer un llamado a los políticos locales a frenar la práctica de permitir a agentes federales de Inmigración interrogar a los reos en las cárceles de la ciudad antes de que estos sean condenados.

Esta práctica, según ellos, empeorará cuando se implemente un programa nacional llamado Comunidades Seguras que permite que los agentes federales accedan a la información de todos los detenidos.

Nueva York se inscribió en el programa en mayo del 2010 y ya ha sido activado en partes del estado.

“Esto no promueve la seguridad sino la inseguridad”, dijo el padre Fabián Arias, originario de Argentina, en una entrevista con El Diario-La Prensa.

Actualmente, el Departamento de Correcciones de la Cuidad de Nueva York transfiere de 3.000 a 4.000 personas a las autoridades federales de Inmigración y Aduanas (ICE, por sus siglas en ingles), según datos obtenidos por organizaciones comunitarias como Make the Road New York.

Estas organizaciones, unidas bajo el nombre The New Sanctuary Coalition of New York, sostienen que entre los transferidos están muchos “residentes permanentes”. El Departamento de Correccionales asegura que protege los derechos de los encarcelados.

La oficina del gobernador Cuomo no respondió a un correo de este diario solicitando un comentario sobre la participación de Nueva York en Comunidades Seguras. A partir de febrero, este programa se había activado en 39 estados, incluyendo en Nueva York.

Ayer, después de la misa, el dominicano José Reyes habló sobre su experiencia con ICE en las cárceles. “Yo perdí a mis hijas que fueron removidas mientras que yo estaba detenido”, dijo.

Reyes, de 48 años de edad, fue arrestado en el 2009. Según él, fue retenido por ICE durante dos meses por haber sido condenado por un cargo menor —posesión de narcóticos — en el 1997.

“Por un delito menor me intentaron deportar”, dijo Reyes, un residente legal.

Eventualmente, un juez redujo el cargo y su caso fue cerrado. Sin embargo, Reyes tuvo que luchar para recuperar la custodia de sus hijas.

Denuncian posible deportación ilegítima de mexicano en EUA

Fuente : Notimex 29 de Marzo de 2011

La mayor coalición de inmigrantes de la ciudad de “Ricardo es sólo un ejemplo de los miles de Nueva York denunció hoy la posible deportación neoyorquinos que son puestos en proceso de ilegítima del mexicano Ricardo Muñiz, víctima de deportación pese a haber sido encontrados un crimen de odio que, sin embargo, las inocentes de los crímenes por los que se les autoridades locales no han reconocido como tal. acusa”, declaró Archila a Notimex.

“Las autoridades no clasificaron la agresión La activista indicó que el encierro de Muñiz no es como crimen de odio simplemente porque no sólo inmoral, sino que además genera costos hicieron bien su trabajo”, afirmó Ana María innecesarios para la ciudad, que paga anualmente Archila, codirectora ejecutiva de Haz Camino 55 millones de dólares al año por mantener en Nueva York, grupo promotor de los derechos de prisión a ciudadanos inocentes, en espera de ser inmigrantes. deportados.

En julio de 2009, Muñiz, quien se declara como “La ciudad de Nueva York debe evitar facilitar la “abiertamente gay”, fue brutalmente golpeado con deportación de inocentes neoyorquinos”, denunció bates y cinturones debido sólo a su preferencia Archila, luego de ofrecer una conferencia de sexual, de acuerdo con la denuncia que levantó prensa sobre el caso. ante la policía. La esperanza es que la policía de Nueva York “Le gritaron palabras obscenas, insultaron su decida clasificar el incidente en que se vio sexualidad”, recordó Jorgelina Aguirre, madre de envuelto Ruiz como un crimen de odio, lo que le Ruiz, en entrevista con Notimex. permitiría solicitar la visa U para inmigrantes víctimas de crímenes en Estados Unidos. Pese a la golpiza, Muñiz fue arrestado varias semanas más tarde, acusado de haber atacado a Archila, sin embargo, no alberga demasiadas sus agresores, quienes también presentaron esperanzas de que las autoridades reconsideren cargos contra Muñiz, responsabilizándolo del el caso. Mientras tanto, Muñiz y su familia ataque. seguirán sufriendo.

Desde entonces, Muñiz ha sido mantenido en la “No quiero que me deporten a mi hijo. Allá en prisión de Riker’s, en el estado de Nueva Jersey. México sufrió de mucha discriminación, por eso nos vinimos de allá”, enfatizó Aguirre. Apenas la víspera, las autoridades de Nueva York declararon a Muñiz inocente de todos los cargos. No obstante, turnarán su caso a las autoridades migratorias federales, que ya habían decidido deportar a Muñiz.

Protestan por Robo de Salario A 100 años del incendio que inició la lucha por el derecho de los trabajadores

25 de marzo 2011 Por Catalina Jaramillo

NUEVA YORK – Cien años atrás, en el día $57.000 y están luchando para que los de hoy, el incendio de la fábrica del recupere. Triángulo mató a 146 costureras inmigrantes debido a las condiciones "Es mi derecho, yo me lo gané, lo inseguras en que trabajaban, lo que inició trabajé. Cuántas horas pasé parada la lucha por los derechos laborales en en este lugar…", dijo Amador en Nueva York. frente de la tienda en la calle 37 y la avenida 13 en Brooklyn. Hoy, cien años después, siguen cometiéndose abusos. Según Amador a ella y al resto de los empleados, en su mayoría dominicanos, "Con el abuso es como que la persona no les pagaban el salario mínimo, les se está muriendo lentamente. Son daban media hora para comer, no les cien años y pareciera que no se daban agua ni un lugar para calentar su avanzara", comentó Zayda Moreno, comida. peruana de 61 años. Moreno trabaja en "Se Hace Camino Nueva York" Amador dejó de trabajar cuando su jefe apoyando inmigrantes abusados, pero no le permitió faltar un día en que ella también ha sufrido en carne propia de tuvo que acompañar a un familiar enfermo malos tratos en el trabajo. en Nueva Jersey.

"La diferencia es que ahora hay "Ha sido un poco lento", dijo Amador organizaciones que se preocupan de sobre el proceso. "Pero tengo fe en la comunidad y a personas como que se va a resolver". Josefina", agregó Moreno. Al ser consultado por su versión de los Josefina Amador, mexicana de 51 hechos, el administrador de Bergament años que reside en Brooklyn, trabajó en la Home Center amenazó con llamar a la tienda de descuentos Bergament Home policía por invasión de propiedad. Center desde el 2004 al 2008. Este 9 de abril entra en vigor la ley que Según su abogada, Amy Carrol, protege a los trabajadores del robo de Amador trabajaba 60 horas a la semana salarios (Wage Theft Prevention Act), con sin sobretiempo y se le pagaba menos del lo que los activistas pro derechos salario mínimo, que actualmente es laborales esperan que más empleados $7,15. abusados como Amador se atrevan a demandar y a exigir sus derechos. Carrol dijo que —según el Departamento de Trabajo— a Amador se le deben

Recuerdan a víctima de odio en Queens

25 de marzo, 2011

NUEVA YORK — Un nutrido grupo de familiares y amigos de Anthony Collao, se reunieron frente anoche en Queens para celebrar una vigilia en su memoria.

La organización "Se Hace Camino Nueva York" organizó la actividad en coordinación con autoridades locales, como el asambleísta Francisco Moya y la presidenta del Concejo Municipal, Christine C. Quinn, entre otras personalidades.

Amigos y familiares de Anthony Collao Ana María Archila, codirectora de la durante la actividad de anoche en Queens, institución, dijo que es necesario evitar a la que asistieron también activistas y funcionarios electos. más muertes por motivos homofóbicos y xenofóbicos.

"Tenemos que proteger a nuestros jóvenes de actos brutales y violencia. Esta tragedia no debe repetirse nunca más. Debemos unir fuerzas para evitar que actos horribles como éste se sigan repitiendo en la ciudad. No queremos que más jóvenes mueran", afirmó.

Luis Gallegos, Embajador de Ecuador, manifestó que a pesar de que la comunidad ecuatoriana es pequeña, su espíritu es grande y fuerte, sobre todo en momentos tan trágicos. "El joven Collao no es la primera vida que nos arrebata la violencia y la ausencia de respeto hacia los inmigrantes en la comunidad ecuatoriana. Esto no debe pasar en ninguna parte del mundo. Las familias no deben llorar por una vida tan joven. Exigimos un alto. No más", expresó.

El asambleísta Francisco Moya dijo a EL DIARIO LA PRENSA que es necesario analizar los estatutos que tipifican los crímenes de odio, pues muchas tragedias quedan impunes ante la falta de argumentos. "La comunidad latina debe unirse para hacer un frente común a hechos tan indignantes", dijo.

Protestan por recortes a programas educativos La falta de fondos afectará severamente a la comunidad latina

March 24, 2011

NUEVA YORK — Miembros activos de la La directiva anunció que en los próximos días, organización Make the Road New York, decenas de organizaciones se unirán para realizaron una protesta el día de ayer en las exigir que los fondos no sean retirados. instalaciones de la institución en la Avenida Roosevelt, en Queens. Decenas de padres de "Haremos una protestas masiva en la familia y estudiantes de la secundaria alcaldía de la ciudad. Lucharemos Panamericana Internacional, mostraron su fuertemente para evitar que la preocupación ante el recorte de fondos para comunidad latina sea afectada. No el subsidio global a servicios comunitarios cederemos en esta batalla", afirmó. (CSBG, por sus siglas en inglés), que se distribuye en todo el país para distintos Hellen Rivera, miembro del Comité de programas destinados a ayudar a Padres en Acción de Se Hace Camino en comunidades de bajos ingresos. Nueva York, lamentó que el Gobernador Cuomo carezca de sentido social en beneficio El Presidente Barack Obama propone eliminar de las minorías. $350 millones de dólares de los fondos CSBG para el año fiscal 2012. La ciudad de Nueva "El gobernador viene de una familia York podría perder $565 millones de dólares, luchó por la educación. Su esposa diseñó arriba del recorte de $442 millones que se programas educativos y se desempeñó efectuó el año pasado. en este ámbito. Es vergonzoso que ahora muestre poco interés en ayudar quienes El gobernador Cuomo planea un recorte de realmente necesitan ser educados", $1.5 billones de dólares, lo que representaría aseveró. el más grande de la historia en la Gran Manzana. Diana Suárez, de 15 años y estudiante de la secundaria Panamericana Internacional, dijo Ana María Archila, codirectora de Make que la institución está diseñada para jóvenes the Road New York, indicó que la falta de con menos de 4 años de residencia en fondos afectará severamente a la comunidad Estados Unidos. Aseveró que el recorte latina, pues los programas educativos son presupuestal generaría una crisis económica mayormente demandados por este sector. en la institución y la probable pérdida de empleos de una gran número de maestros. "Nuestras organización brinda enseñanza de inglés gratis, entre otros En el año fiscal 2011, la ciudad de Nueva York clases que fueron especialmente creadas recibió un estimado de $31.9 millones en para padres y estudiantes hispanos. De fondos CSBG, los cuales subsidian a más de no contar con los recursos, cientos de 200 organizaciones, mismas que ofrecen personas se quedaran sin educación, lo programas educativos y "after school" a unas que no es justo porque es un derecho 30.000 personas. innegable", afirmó.

Velázquez: reforma de salud ayudará a 32 millones de latinos

March, 22 2011 Associated Press

NUEVA YORK — Unos 32 millones de hispanos en Estados Unidos tendrán acceso a un seguro médico tras la aprobación hace un año de la reforma del sistema de salud que limita el poder de las aseguradoras y ofrece más protecciones a los inmigrantes, dijo el lunes la congresista Nydia Velázquez.

Defensores de los derechos de los inmigrantes como la organización Main Street Alliance celebraron el primer aniversario de la aprobación de la reforma con actos en 15 estados el lunes. El llamado Affordable Care Act fue firmado por el presidente Barack Obama el 23 de marzo del 2010. "Las minorías son más proclives a sufrir enfermedades crónicas y esta nueva ley de salud limita la habilidad de las empresas aseguradoras a negarles una cobertura médica", dijo Velázquez en una conferencia telefónica con periodistas organizada por los grupos Se Hace Camino Nueva York y Small Business United.

Unos 6,7 millones de pequeños negocios ya pueden solicitar una ayuda fiscal del 35% cuando ofrecen seguros médicos a sus empleados, dijo Velázquez. En la ciudad de Nueva York 200.000 pequeños negocios — muchas veces abiertos por inmigrantes — cumplen los requisitos para solicitar la ayuda, dijo la congresista.

Piden al alcalde defender a los estudiantes, no a los millonarios

By Catalina Jaramillo March 3, 2011

NUEVA YORK – Decenas de padres se reunieron ayer afuera de la Alcaldía para demandarle al alcalde que presione al gobernador en renovar los impuestos a los millonarios de la ciudad, en vez de seguir haciendo cortes en las escuelas.

El gobernador Andrew Cuomo se ha negado a renovar el impuesto que recauda aproximadamente mil millones extras para el presupuesto, por lo que padres y activistas creen que es responsabilidad del alcalde Michael Bloomberg luchar para que el impuesto siga en pie.

"El alcalde Bloomberg sabe que la única solución real para nuestra crisis presupuestaria es crear ganancias de una forma justa e inteligente. Renovar el impuesto a los millonarios es la mejor opción en la mesa", dijo Ceilia Green, madre de cuatro niños que asisten a escuelas públicas en Brooklyn.

Los padres explicaron que a pesar de que las encuestas muestran que dos de cada tres neoyorquinos apoyan la renovación del impuesto a los millonarios, el alcalde optó por tomar otra solución y anunció esta semana despidos para 4.600 profesores.

"Despedir a profesores no es la manera porque tiene un impacto horrible en nuestros hijos y su educación", dijo Eudocia Rodríguez [miembra de Se Hace Camino Nueva York], que tiene una hija que va a la PS 81 en Bushwick.

Los activistas de New York Communities for Change, Coalition for Educational Justice y Se Hace Camino Nueva York dijeron que son las escuelas de los vecindarios más pobres las que más sufren con los cortes del presupuesto a educación. Los padres invitaron al alcalde a ir a Albany la próxima semana a presionar al gobernador.

Marc LaVorgna, vocero de la ciudad, dijo que el impuesto es un asunto del Estado. "El alcalde ha hecho mayores compromisos con la educación que cualquiera, aumentando el gasto de la ciudad (los dólares que el alcalde controla) en educación en $2,2 miles millones este año, mientras el gobierno estatal y federal han cortado el gasto en educación en la ciudad", explicó.

El martes el vocero de la Asamblea estatal, Sheldon Silver, dijo que los demócratas buscarán que la ley que renueva el impuesto temporal a los millonarios se apruebe.

Protestan por costo de la renta en Queens

Por Zaira Cortes 27 de febrero, 2011

NUEVA YORK — Decenas de inquilinos protestaron frente al edificio ubicado en 37-60 Luis Peláez, ecuatoriano, vive desde 2005 en el de la calle 88, en el condado de Queens. Al edificio donde se celebró la protesta. En seis redoble de tambores y con pancartas en alto, los años de rentar un pequeño departamento, su manifestantes unieron sus voces al grito de "el casero aumentó su pago inicial de mil 139 pueblo unido jamás será vencido". dólares a mil 650 dólares.

Más de 10 organizaciones locales se unieron a la "Yo debo enviar mi renta por Money Order a marcha que tuvo como escenario las Debra Real State. Cada 2 años me han ido inmediaciones de la Avenida Elmhurst. aumentando mi pago", dijo el hombre, preocupado por un nuevo aumento. Hilary Klein, vocera de la organización "Make the Road New York" y organizadora del Al finalizar la conferencia de prensa, los evento, indicó que el propósito de la manifestantes se trasladaron al edificio ubicado manifestación fue exigir rentas justas y en 87-15 de la Avenida 37 para realizar una regularizadas en este sector. La activista segunda protesta. Leandra Reuena, vocera de la expresó que la comunidad en general se ve organización "Peruanos en Acción", aseguró que afectada por elevados cobros de vivienda; sin inquilinos de este sitio sufren por elevados embargo, los trabajadores inmigrantes no costos de renta. legales y que no hablan inglés son los más vulnerables en sufrir abusos por parte de sus "Estamos protestando aquí porque exigimos un caseros. alto a los abusos de ADI Management, quienes administran el lugar. Muchas familias latinas "Hay mucha desinformación al respecto. estamos absorbiendo costos que no podemos Los inquilinos no conocen sus derechos y pagar", declaró. tampoco denuncia cuando son víctimas de injusticia. Muchas familias deben Según datos proporcionados por la organización desplazarse a otros condados para buscar R3-Real Rent Reform Campaign, entre 2002 y rentas económicas. Esto es un problema 2008, Queens perdió 53 mil 936 departamentos porque abandonan sus centros de trabajo, cuyo costo de renta es accesible, lo que escuelas y parientes", aseguró Klein. representa el 22.8 por ciento de vivienda económica en todo el condado. Los residentes de El asambleísta Francisco Moya solicitó a los Queens pagan un porcentaje mayor en alquiler inconformes su apoyo para continuar la batalla que los residentes de Manhattan. por una vivienda accesible y digna. Los barrios de Corona, Elmhurst y Jackson "No vamos a aceptar las altas rentas. Los cobros Heights presentan un 17.5 por ciento de aumentan pero no los salarios de los sobrepoblación en departamentos, pues de esta trabajadores. En el distrito 39 tenemos calculada manera los inquilinos ahorran en sus pagos la existencia de 17 mil departamentos. Hay mensuales. miles de familias que necesitan protección. Tenemos que unirnos en esta lucha", expresó Si la renta de un departamento supera los 2 mil Moya ante unos 100 manifestantes. dólares, automáticamente se pierde el control Se esperaba la presencia de la concejal Julissa sobre el alquiler. Ferraras, pero no asistió al evento.

Walmart—el Destructivo Gigante

Por Leni Juca [miembro de Se Hace Camino Nueva York]

February 3, 2011

Como actual propietario de un pequeño bodeguero que sabe exactamente cómo te negocio y antiguo administrador de una gusta el café. En mi negocio de fotocopias cadena de tiendas, sé que Walmart en yo hago el esfuerzo para llegar a conocer a Nueva York afectaría mi negocio. Pero mis clientes y vecinos y darles servicio Walmart acaba de lanzar una campaña personalizado. masiva para tratar de abrirse camino en Nueva York. Tenemos que mirar más allá de Muchas veces son los pequeños negocios los la propaganda. que hacen que nuestro vecindario se sienta como casa. La fascinante diversidad de Walmart no está diciendo la desagradable tiendas y restaurantes es exactamente lo verdad: cuando Walmart llega, los que hace tan vibrantes y vivas las calles de pequeños negocios se acaban. La cadena de Nueva York. Las tiendas de cadena no tiendas gana 400 mil millones de dólares en dominan nuestra economía, por eso es que ventas anualmente. Si fuera un país, sería Nueva York no se siente como cualquier la vigésimo quinta (25) economía más otra ciudad en América. grande del mundo, ¡más grande que Argentina,, Irán o Sudáfrica! Esta compañía Walmart es igual en todas partes y controla usa todo su enorme poder adquisitivo para gran parte de la pequeña industria en todo sacar provecho de sus proveedores e el país, destruyendo pequeños negocios inhabilitar a los pequeños negocios y así como el mío y por lo tanto, la singularidad ganar más poder de monopolio. de cada lugar. No podemos permitir que Walmart le haga lo mismo a la ciudad de Walmart aduce que creará empleo. Pero la Nueva York. verdad es que Walmart les paga salarios miserables a sus empleados. Ganar el Como neoyorquinos consumidores, salario mínimo sin beneficios significa no empleados y propietarios de pequeños poder mantener la familia. Verse obligados negocios, no nos beneficiaremos con esto. a acudir al gobierno para recibir servicios de Las únicas cuentas bancarias que seguirán salud y cupones de alimentos. Podemos acumulando dinero son las de los ejecutivos pensar que estamos ahorrando unos pesitos multimillonarios de Walmart. al comprar en Walmart, pero olvidamos que con nuestros impuestos terminaremos En lugar de dejar que este destructivo pagando la cuenta. gigante se meta en medio de nosotros, preguntémonos cómo fortalecer el Muchas personas a favor de Walmart dicen verdadero motor de la economía en Nueva que si no dejamos entrar a Walmart, los York, el propietario de pequeño negocio y el neoyorquinos sencillamente irán a Nueva que planea tener su propio negocio. Somos Jersey para comprar en Walmart. Pero el futuro de la ciudad. permitir que Walmart entre no solo afectará nuestra economía. Acabará con lo que hace Walmart es malo para Pequenos Negocios. que Nueva York sea tan especial.

Pensemos por un segundo en esos pequeños negocios de nuestro vecindario. El

El Alcalde e Inmigración, Pasos a Tomar

By Javier Valdes [el vice-director de Se Hace de Camino Nueva York]

January 26, 2011

Aunque el Alcalde Michael Bloomberg comunitarios. El DOC está gastando decenas reconoce que el sistema federal de de millones de dólares al año para sostener inmigración está roto, él no está consciente individuos que tienen órdenes de detención que las políticas propias de la ciudad de de inmigración de ICE. Las familias están Nueva York están facilitando la deportación divididas, padres, hermanos, hermanas y de muchos inmigrantes a un sistema roto. Es otros seres queridos se han tomado de ellos. hora de que el alcalde separe las agencias de Y la ciudad es menos segura, porque la la ciudad de los peores aspectos del sistema comunidad inmigrante cada vez cierra sus de inmigración. puertas a la policía por temor a que ellos también serán atrapados en un sistema de El Departamento de Correcciones (DOC) se ha inmigración roto. convertido en la puerta de entrada a través de que Nueva York se introduce al sistema El alcalde dice que él está siguiendo la ley y deplorable de detención de inmigrantes. La que no tiene más remedio que ayudar a ICE a política de inmigración del DOC implica a la destruir nuestras comunidades. Se equivoca. ciudad en los peores aspectos de los El gobierno federal ha dejado claro que esfuerzos destructivos de la agencia federal órdenes de detención emitidas por ICE son de Inmigración y Aduanas (ICE) para solicitudes, no mandatos legales. La ciudad implementar su sistema con tantas fallas. no tiene que cumplirlos. La ciudad no tiene que proporcionar a ICE un espacio de alquiler Durante mucho tiempo, la ciudad ha gratis en Rikers Island. La ciudad no tiene facilitado, a su propio costo, el programa que permitir a los agentes de ICE acceso arbitrario e irracional de ICE para detener a especial a las bases de datos del DOC. todos que ellos piensan que pueden ser deportado —esto incluye a los residentes Todas estas políticas son decisiones tomadas legales (los que tienen la Green Card), las por la Alcaldía. El señor Bloomberg podría personas sin antecedentes penales, y dirigir DOC mañana, que deje de facilitar los neoyorquinos vulnerables como los menores, esfuerzos destructivos de ICE para deportar a los enfermos y ancianos, y personas que todo el mundo que entra a las cárceles de la buscan protección como víctimas de delitos ciudad. Se podría poner en marcha un como violencia doméstica. programa sensible, como en otras jurisdicciones, en cuando es, y cuando no, en Desde su base en Rikers Island, ICE pone interés de la ciudad para ayudar a ICE en la "órdenes de detención" a cualquier y todos deportación de un residente de esta gran los individuos nacidos en el extranjero que ciudad. ellos creen son sospechosos, incluso personas con violaciones de inmigración pequeñas. Si el alcalde hace estos cambios en nuestra Culpabilidad o inocencia no es un factor en ciudad, va tener mas credibilidad en la esta ecuación. Muchos inmigrantes son comunidad inmigrante para seguir empujando arrojados a la custodia del ICE antes de que los cambios al nivel nacional. ellos han tenido un juicio, o ser condenado por ningún delito.

Facilitar esta práctica tiene graves costos para la ciudad, tanto financieros como

Mejoran Ley de Vivienda Segura

By Gonzalo Aburto

January 6, 2011

NUEVA YORK—Las condiciones que causan ataques de asma en las viviendas, incluyendo la presencia de moho e infestación de alimañas y roedores, serán consideradas como violaciones a los Códigos de Vivienda de la ciudad y por ello los caseros tendrán que eliminarlas de sus edificios, gracias a la expansión de las regulaciones de la Ley de Vivienda Segura,** aprobada ayer de manera unánime por el Concejo Municipal.

Los cambios aumentan las regulaciones del Alternative Enforcement Program (AEP), una herramienta de la Ley de Vivienda Segura designada para enfocarse en los 200 principales edificios que generaron una mayor aplicación de la ley debido a su mal estado de parte del Departamento de Preservación y Desarrollo de la Vivienda, HPD.

La presidente del Concejo Municipal, Christine C. Quinn, dijo que el mejoramiento de la Ley de Vivienda Segura amplía en abanico de protección contra el mal estado de la vivienda en la ciudad de Nueva York, mediante la inclusión de más unidades afectadas con condiciones que causan asma que por ley deben ser reparadas.

"La expansión de la ley no sólo mejorará las condiciones de la vivienda de los neoyorquinos, sino también la salud", dijo Quinn.

Bajo la legislación de 2007, conocida como Safe Housing Act, la ciudad identificó a los 200 peores edificios con relación a la violación de los Códigos de Vivienda (más de mil unidades), y se enfocó en su reparación. Los caseros, bajo la ley, tienen que hacer las reparaciones necesarias o la ciudad toma acción para hacer las reparaciones y obliga a los caseros a pagar por los gasto.

Se espera que con la expansión aumente el número de edificios con violaciones, lo que podría incrementar el número de unidades a ser mejoradas en cerca de 3,500.

El doctor Parvez A. Mir, director asociado de la unidad de cuidado pulmonar crítico del hospital Wyckoff Heights de Brooklyn, dijo en un comunicado que en ese condado el asma pediátrica está en aumento y es la causa principal de la pérdida de días de clases de los niños, estrés y falta al trabajo de los padres.

"La medida va a ayudar a mejorar la salud pulmonar de los residentes de Brooklyn, particularmente en Bushwick, con índice cuatro veces más alto que la media de la ciudad", dijo Mir. "Con la expa nsión de la ley, las violaciones a los códigos de vivienda que causa asma, como el moho y los roedores, deben ser corregidas por el casero, o la ciudad dará los pasos para hacer las reparaciones y hacer que el casero pague los gastos", agregó el médico.

**Ganó por Se Hace Camino Nueva York y nuestros aliados.