JUNE 17 - JUNE 23, 2020 • VOL. 21 • NO. 25 WASHINGTON HEIGHTS • INWOOD • HARLEM • EAST HARLEM NORTHERN MANHATTAN’S BILINGUAL NEWSPAPER EL PERIODICO BILINGUE DEL NORTE DE MANHATTAN NOW EVERY WEDNESDAY TODOS LOS MIERCOLES Illustration: NMIC | ʟᴀʏǫᴀ ɴᴜɴᴀ ʏᴀᴡᴀʀ @layqanunayawar 2 JUNIO 17, 2020 • MANHATTAN TIMES • www.manhattantimesnews.com Affordable apartments are available Home Depot via lottery for eligible New Yorkers. Revamped affordable devices and accessible in more than 100 languages. housing website unveiled New Yorkers can apply for affordable apartments regardless of immigration status. By Gregg McQueen “In the last year, we’ve worked with [HPD] to make the housing lotteries n the streets and on your more accessible,” said Mayor’s Office of screens. Immigration Affairs (MOIA) Commissioner I Bitta Mostofi. “The necessity of including a Social Security number has been shifted to While much of the city ground to a halt make more New Yorkers eligible for it and due to coronavirus, Department of Housing to be able to establish eligibility based on Preservation and Development (HPD) income in different ways.” Commissioner Louise Carroll said her “This pandemic not only caused a health agency has been hard at work. crisis — it has caused an economic one as well. “Our inspectors are out in the streets. As stress is mounting on families We are responding to 311 across the city, we are fighting complaints about lack of to ensure all New Yorkers are services,” she said on Tuesday supported,” said Mayor Bill de voucher program. “We’ve made sure that immigration status – legal advice, guidance during a video meeting with Blasio in a statement. “The new everyone who has Section 8 can keep it during on tenant protections, housing court,” he community media. and improved NYC Housing this crisis.” said. The agency has also been Connect will make applying for Though Housing Connect previously “Many have questions about their rights, focused on revamping the affordable housing easier than contained only rental units, home ownership or maybe have a complaint, or are seeking NYC Housing Connect ever at a time that we know opportunities will be included for the first repairs,” he said. “They can be guided website, the city’s centralized families need all the help they can get.” time. through filing a complaint.” tool for applying to affordable housing Starting in July, “nearly 2,500 affordable The original Housing Connect website, City residents can access by calling 311 lotteries. housing units will be added to the website,” created under the Bloomberg administration, and saying, “Tenant Help Line.” Launched by HPD on Tuesday, the Carroll said. will be phased out after all the rental “This line is centralizing critical new site features an enhanced application “With the pandemic showing everyone the opportunities posted on it are filled. information,” Martínez Campos said. “So, process, customizable search features and strong disparities in the city based on race and Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants (MOPT) any question tenants have, they should be housing alerts. ethnicity, we’re being asked to do more to Deputy Director Ricardo Martínez Campos able to get an answer.” “We’ll calculate your income, match you address these disparities,” she said. said his agency has launched a Tenant Help with units that you qualify for,” Carroll said. “Our Section 8 office is open,” noted Line during the pandemic. To access the new Housing Connect, go The site has been optimized for mobile Carroll, referring to the federal housing “Anyone can access – regardless of to nyc.gov/housingconnect. JUNIO 17, 2020 • MANHATTAN TIMES • www.manhattantimesnews.com 3 Space Stakes Call for permanent expansion of Open Streets By Gregg McQueen s the city prepares to enact “This is an opportunity to make Phase 2 of its reopening something great here,” Sandra Restaurateurs are pushing A Jaquéz, owner of Il Sole Restaurant. for more space outdoors. process in the coming weeks, some officials are calling for Seaman Avenue and Broadway was one of “As we’re allowed to do outdoor dining, make this happen not just temporarily, but thoroughfares to be permanently the first streets included in the program. this is space that we will need to use for permanently.” closed to traffic to allow for City Councilmember Ydanis Rodríguez tables so people can keep spaced out,” Launched on May 4 to allow for greater said the Open Streets program should explained Jaquez, who said closing a social distancing, Open Streets now outdoor dining and cultural serve as a blueprint on how to create more section of Dyckman to traffic has shown includes 45 miles of New York City roads activities. permanent open spaces. the potential for using open spaces even and is expected to expand to 100 miles. “My whole vision is about making the after the pandemic is gone. Other Northern Manhattan Streets in On Fri., June 12, elected officials, city of New York a role model, making the “This is an opportunity under these the program include Margaret Corbin Department of Transportation (DOT) city more walkable and open to pedestrians circumstances that we have with Drive between Fort Washington Avenue Commissioner Polly Trottenberg and and cyclist friendly,” said Rodríguez, coronavirus to make something great and Cabrini Boulevard in Fort Tryon Park, community stakeholders gathered on Chair of the Council’s Transportation here,” remarked Jaquéz, who suggested and Laurel Hill Terrace near Highbridge Dyckman Street in Inwood to tout Committee. the space could be used for farmers or flea Park. the success of the city’s Open Streets Sandra Jaquéz, owner of Il Sole markets, activities for children and holiday Rodríguez called for Dyckman Street program, which has closed designated Restaurant, said the program has been parties. between Broadway and Seaman to be streets to vehicular traffic during the helpful to eateries on the block, as “It’s not only going to benefit restaurant closed to traffic permanently and renamed pandemic. customers can gather more safely and eat owners but also the community so we can The block of Dyckman Street between takeout food on nearby park benches. come together,” she said. “We want to See SPACE p18 4 JUNIO 17, 2020 • MANHATTAN TIMES • www.manhattantimesnews.com Participants earned an average of $1,670. More than 74,000 young people participated in the program in 2019. SYEP cuts will cost youth $109.2 million in wages: report his summer is going to sting. Budget Office (IBO). Last year, youth participating in the incomes of $31,000 or less, and many of In his latest Executive Budget, Mayor Bill program earned a total of $98.2 million, or them lived in the city’s public housing. T Funding cuts for the city’s Summer de Blasio proposed $119 million in cuts to an average of about $1,670 per participant, With the city confronting huge job Youth Employment Program (SYEP) SYEP this year. In 2019, more than 74,000 according to the IBO. losses, especially among low-income might cause young people to lose over young people ages 14 to 24 participated in In addition, participants that were 14 workers, the loss of income may be $109 million in wages in 2020, according the program, where students work up to 25 or 15 years of age received a stipend of especially difficult for these youth and to an analysis by the NYC Independent hours per week for up to six weeks. $700 for a classroom-based program that their families, the analysis said. teaches work-readiness and related skills, De Blasio has cited budget problems amounting to a total of $10.9 million. caused by the coronavirus pandemic as a The SYEP initiative also serves as a reason for the proposed cuts. source of income for low-income families, the IBO said. Last summer, 85 percent of For more on the analysis, go to bit. participants came from families reporting ly/3dUiwET. June 08 – June 13 Los estudiantes suelen trabajar Uptown Love in the Time of Coronavirus – The flames of the riot were engulfing hasta 25 horas por semana. The 1992 Washington Heights Uprising everything in its path. I actually saw a Remembered dude I grew up with, chasing a cop car down the hill on 193rd Street and St. July 3, 1992 Nicolas Avenue. It appeared that the Recortes de SYEP costarán a The moment I stepped out of the 1 train entire world had been turned upside down. station at 191stSstreet on St. Nick, I could This was also the first time I had seen los jóvenes $109.2 millones en feel the electricity in the air, it was palpable. the entire neighborhood come together This was not unusual in the Washington instead of the block by block infighting that Heights of that era, but this was different. was so common back then. salarios: informe It seemed to be pulsating. Magnetically, At the time, I felt the urge to document ste verano va a doler. 15 años de edad recibieron un estipendio de that energy pulled us south, all the way to what was happening, so I pulled out a $700 dólares para un programa en el aula que 163rd Street, which was the source of the cheap disposable camera and took the E Según un análisis de la Oficina de enseña preparación para el trabajo y habilidades emanation. For the most part, the streets pictures you can see on our site or on Presupuesto Independiente de Nueva York relacionadas, por un total de $10.9 millones. en route to our destination were quiet but social media. I was a teenager in those (IBO, por sus siglas en inglés), los recortes de La iniciativa SYEP también sirve como fuente there was a bubbling anger underneath the pictures and could not completely fathom fondos para el Programa de Empleo Juvenil de de ingresos para las familias de bajos ingresos, surface.