By MAKEET FINCH
Transit advocates From The Riders Alliance Group joined forces with 39 straphanger groups who rallied on Thursday against the MTA’s plan to hire 500 transit cops while cutting transit service.
Protestors sent a letter to Governor Andrew Cuomo demanding him to stop focusing on fare evasions, blaming low income New Yorkers and instead spend the money on improving subway and bus service.
“We’re calling onto the governor to stop criminalizing the poor, I think we’re worth a lot more than $2.75 cents” said Danysha Reyes at the rally in front of Cuomo’s Midtown office.
Officials said the MTA planned to hire 500 new transit cops to deal with homeless people and crack down on fare evasion while implementing service cuts.
The protestors said the Citizens Budget Commission had put a price tag of $261.5 million on hiring the cops. increasing the MTA budget deficit.
The governor’s office did not reply to several requests for comment.
“When we’re talking about a crackdown on fare evasion we’re talking about a surge in summons for people who can least afford it, ” contended Brooklyn public defender Jared Chausow. “We’re talking about a rise in arrest, we’re talking about a billion dollars in new police officers in the subways in record low crime rates.”
By KEVIN LIMITI
A group of local politicians pushed on Thursday to implement rank voting in local elections, an electoral overhaul that would allow voters to rank their preferred candidates, thus insuring that the victor would have a majority.
A press conference on the steps of Federal Hall on Wall St. attracted local council-members, assemblyman, activists, and supporters who believed that rank voting would save money, allow more minority and women candidates a chance for victory, and help voters make decisions in what they consider a confusing and crowded electoral field.
Public advocate Jumaane Williams aid that rank voting would, “cost everybody less and empower the system more.”
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer said that she was concerned that candidates were winning with less than a majority. “If voters approve this proposal then we can make sure our elected officials are chosen by the majority of voters,” Brewer said.
Rank voting would require candidates to win by a majority of five possible candidates with the fifth most popular candidate dropped when a front runner fails to achieve a majority.
Williams said that he himself got only 33% of the vote when he was elected. “It is imperative we get this done,” he added. “Our voting structure is not based in a way that increases participation. And I really think rank choice voting will make that happen. It increases the power of the vote, it encourages positive campaigning, and it allows candidates of color and women to be voted in.”
Assemblyman Ron Kim related that he had an, “army of young people to run,” but that they were being turned off by the political process. “Right now, the political system is a win-lose system, “Kim said. “It’s toxic. We want more people to run,” he said. He claimed that rank voting would encourage more people to run and then, “more people will vote.”
If the ballot proposal were approved in November, rank voting would be implemented by the 2021 mayoral election.
Bertha Lewis, an activist from the Black Institute said she was getting arthritis from knocking on doors and that rank voting would help expand the electorate and that she was “tired of low voter turnout.”
Brooklyn Councilman Brad Lander said that he had been working with Brewer since 2010 on implementing rank voting. “You’ve heard all the reasons, but it really is pretty simple because it gives more voters an opportunity to participate. . .rank choice voting is one great way to revitalize energy to our local democracy in New York City. Let’s get it done this November.”
Other speakers also cited concerns about how implementing rank voting will allow the electorate to vote for whom they want without being concerned about so-called ‘spoiler’ candidates.
Rank voting has been adopted by cities such as San Francisco, Portland, and Minneapolis for mayoral and city council elections.
By FRITZNER NEPTUNE
Officials connected to a CUNY-led effort to ease the path to citizenship urged aspiring citizens to apply quickly before the federal government changes fee waiver rules.
New York Secretary of State Rossana Rosado, CUNY Chancellor, Felix Matos Rodriguez, and Director of CUNY Citizenship Now! Allan Wernick held a press conference at John Jay College to address the upcoming changes.
The current fee waivers are need-based but only require applicants to show if they are receiving income-based benefits, have a household income is less than 150% of the poverty level, or can show proof that they are experiencing financial hardship.
The new rule requires applicants not jut one but at least two of the requirements to receive the $725 fee waiver.
“Any day now we expect the government to announce a new fee waiver policy,” said Wernick “We think that most of the people we’re helping now will get fee waivers but it’s going to be a hugely complex process. It’s going to require a lot of paper, it’s going to discourage a lot of people from applying. We are committed when the renewal comes about to develop efficiency and do whatever we can to help qualify for the waiver”.
More than 60% of people attending the application assistance event on September 21st could leave with a fee waiver request, a naturalization application, and a copy of their green card. Once done, the only fee would be the cost the postage stamp.
CUNY Citizenship Now! became the first university-based immigration service when it began in 1997. It supports 15,000 people a year with citizenship and immigration law services, free of charge.
“I’m extremely excited about Citizenship Day, said Matos Rodriguez
Luzdary Lozano, a beneficiary of the group’s efforts, came to America in 2010, leaving her husband and children in Columbia. After gaining residency, she turned to Citizenship Now for assistance. In eight months she was able to become a U.S. citizen.
“Today I realized something very important, that education and perseverance are fundamental, as well as having the help from CUNY Citizenship Now,” she said through an interpreter. “That is why I’m vouching to motivate yourselves and come to the event on the 21st and get help becoming a citizen”.
Photo by Fritzner Neptune
By NICHOLAS WILLIAMS
Residents near a Bedford Stuyvesant Charter School were shocked on Thursday to hear that an 11-year-old boy slashed a 13-year-old boy in the face Wednesday morning.
Around 7:30 am, the two students, who knew each other and attended Uncommon Schools Leadership Prep Charter School, were on their way to the school when they got into an altercation causing 11-year-old to slash the 13-year-old. The altercation happened a block away from the school on MacDonough Street near Marcy Avenue.
The 13-year-old boy was rushed to the Maimonides Medical Center and received 78 stitches. The 11-year-old boy was later taken into custody and was charged as a juvenile and released to his family.
Mama Gee, a parent coordinator at Historic Boys and Girls High School in Bedford Stuyvesant, heard the news of the two students Thursday morning and was baffled since her own experience with students does not illuminate why the students resorted to violence rather than talking things out.
“I don’t blame everything on the parenting, there’s so many elements that raise our children,” Gee said. “Obviously it was anger, something made him angry, there are so many things that play a part.”
Barbara Martinez, a spokeswoman for the school, released a statement: “We share our deep concern for the students involved in yesterday morning’s incident which happened outside of school. We are cooperating with law enforcement and are focused on supporting the families and students involved, as well as our school community at-large.”
Residents near the school were asking what prompted the slashing.
“That’s terrible! We’re supposed to love each other, not kill each other,” said John Kimpson, a Bedstuy native.” They’re kids, but they’re not being taught nothing. A lot of our people are loss, a lot of these kids aren’t being taught nothing, they want to be on the computers, we need to come together as people, we need unity!
“The children today are too angry, they watch too much TV, they take it out on parents and classmates,” said Marcia, a 70 year old neighbor of he school. “It’s shameful, the parents should take responsibility. It is not okay, why would you want to slash someone?”
By Edward King
The Center on Media, Crime, and Justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice has honored two leaders of criminal justice media, Sarah Koenig of the Serial podcast and Brittany Packet.
Brittany Packet. Credit: John Jay College website.
Koenig co-founded the true crime podcast Serial in 2014 and it has since become a staple of, not just true crime aficionados, but the podcast industry at large. The Peabody Award-winning program is currently in its third season, exploring the minutiae of the criminal justice system of Cleveland, Ohio.
Sarah Koenig. Credit: John Jay College website.
Packett is the co-host of the Pod Save the People podcast, which is about social justice in America. She was well known for her work as an organizer of the protests against the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014.
By Austin Santiago
Osmond Eweka, who is of Nigerian descent and from a royal background, was sentenced to three years probation on criminal fraud changes on Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Eweka, an American citizen, and his business partner Kamal McKay were convicted of fraud last July.
Prosecutors said that Eweka had rented an office in the Empire State Building to create a fake job placement company called Stamford Consulting Firm L.L.C.
It was through that office that Eweka would call job seekers, using the fake name of Sean Jackson.
He promised job seekers employment as long as they were willing to pay a fee for his services. The fees ranged from $200-$700.
Shortly after luring hopeful job seekers and collecting their fees, Eweka would stop contacting the individual, or send them to a fake address where no job was waiting.
In July, Eweka’s attorney, Thomas Kenniff, stated that there was nothing false about Eweka’s business. “The reality is that Mr.Eweka has provided honest services to many satisfied clients,” the attorney said.
There was no such talk on Thursday, however, as Eweka faced sentencing before Judge Abraham Clott in New York’s Supreme Court.
Eweka, who showed up late to the sentencing, had no comment as he handed over a cashier’s check for $50,000 to his attorney. The payment was ruled as forfeiture as per his sentence.
Eweka was also sentenced to a three-year conditional discharge, meaning that he will not face any jail time as long as no further crimes are committed in that time span.
The final stipulation of Eweka’s sentence was to pay the court fees which came to $375. Eweka, a Nigerian Prince, requested 60 days to pay said fee.
By Brianna Mikes and Austin Santiago
Mayor de Blasio addressed the residents of the city at a rally at the Kingsway Jewish Center earlier on Thursday. The topic was anti-semitism in New York City. The mayor had postponed his planned trip to New Hampshire.
The main reason for the postponement was the killing of a police department detective in a “friendly fire” incident on Tuesday.
Mayor de Blasio meeting Jewish community leaders. Credit: Austin Santiago.
“A true New Yorker stands up against hate,” de Blasio said, addressing the issue of anti-Semitism.
Several swastikas have been found recently on different L trains. The trains were then taken out of service for the cleaning and removing of the the swastikas, which in some reports were described as graffiti.
“Everyone must be part of the solution,” de Blasio said.
Various Jewish community leaders praised the mayor, including Devorah Halberstam.
Her son Harry was murdered 25 years ago on the Brooklyn Bridge, in what was considered a hate crime. “I am so proud of what he (the mayor) did today,” Halberstam said, “as a Jewish American and as a Jewish New Yorker.”
City Councilman Kalman Yeger also spoke. “The most important job of a mayor is that his community feels safe,” Yeger said. “Him (de Blasio) being here today is incredibly important.”
Rabbi Michael Miller. Credit: Austin Santiago.
The enthusiasm for the city’s chief executive was spread wide. “We turn to the mayor to provide messages to us that one, we will be protected and, second, to deploy the law enforcement manpower to ensure the safety and security of Jewish people,” Rabbi Michael Miller said.
Saying he would stay in solidarity with the Jewish community, de Blasio declared, “We will not let fear win.”
By María Venegas
Make the Road NY, a non-profit organization that provides services to the immigrant community in Queens, is putting up a new building, at 104-19 Roosevelt Ave.
Vicente Mayorga, an activist organizer at Make the Road NY for 20 years, said that the population has expanded, and the need for a larger facility was great.
Credit: María Venegas
“It has been a process of several years to get this project approved and now it’s a reality,” he said. “We are proud of this achievement, and the community will, for sure, benefit from it.”
Mayorga said that at the current office of Make the Road NY, located about 15 blocks away from new site, is not big enough for the larger community the group is servicing.
“We have had three lawyers working in one small room at a time,” he said. “The new building will allow us to have more office space, and the services will improve considerably.”
This is a milestone for Make the Road NY, which was founded in 1997 in Bushwick, Brooklyn, and opened its Queens location in 2007. The center offers English classes, Know Your Rights and Civics classes, college access programs for youth, immigration lawyers, among other services for the community.
Twelve years later, the success of the organization has created the need for more space. The new three-story building is going to open in about two years.
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By ALAIN GAILLARD
A gang member testified Thursday for the prosecution in Brooklyn Supreme Court that he tried to de-escalate the violence between his clique and a rival gang, which led to the fatal accidental shooting of Carey Gabay, an aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, during J’Ouvert, a predawn celebration that occurred before West Indian American Day.
Todd Wilkins, aka “The Ghost,” on cross-examination, said that he was aware of the conflict between the two gangs but not the severity of the animosity. He explained that he and a friend were jumped during an altercation by about five or 10 members of the Folk Nation, the gang to which the four alleged members now on trial for the fatal shooting belonged.
“I tried to diffuse the situation,” Wilkins explained, while the four defendants in the courtroom, each flanked by lawyers, looked at him with contempt. “One of them pulled up his shirt to show me his gun. My friend ran, and members of the Folk Nation ran after him; I was obligated to help. That’s when they jumped us,” he added.
The gunfight nearly three years ago was a sad reminder of the continued presence of vicious gangs in New York City. Wilkins, 23, explained that he had been a gang member since he was 12 years old. And the incident drew negative publicity to the festivities on West Indian American Day, prompting some calls to cancel the parade.
One of the weapons used during the barrage of 30 bullets that the police reported were sprayed that night was found on the windshield of a car one month later at Bergen Street, Brooklyn.
Gabay, the son of Jamaican immigrants, was a lover of the parade and relished celebrating his Jamaican heritage by going every year to J’Ouvert. He also was considered a rising star in Democratic state political circles.
It was on September 7, 2015, the shootout broke out in what appeared to be a turf war between the opposing Folk Nation and Eight-Tray Crips gangs. Gabay, 43, a Harvard-educated lawyer, tried to hide behind a car when he was struck in the head by a stray bullet. He died a week later at Kings County Hospital Center.
If convicted, all four alleged members of the Folk Nation face 25 years behind bars.
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