A low response rate could have very serious consequences for our city – for each person who is not counted in the census, the city loses about $3,000 in federal aid every year, money that could be spent on services our communities all want and need.” ~NYC mayor Mayor Bloomberg
Less than 50% of Brooklyn has filled out their census forms and that means the census will be knocking on their doors in May. Seems like the first thought for people has been “it’s gotta be those damn immigrants.” To be fair the surrounding boroughs didn’t fair that much better, only clocking in at (more…)
Laborers looking to help rebuild the World Trade Center are rallying to urge the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which controls the property, to make some progress in the rebuilding efforts. (more…)
Photo Credit: “Return To The Batcave” by Jake Dobkin
It was once called “The Lavender Lake”. Sounds like a nice place to go right? Nah, it wasn’t. The Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, New York was so named by the locals because it was so polluted with lavender tinged industrial waste.
After decades of all kinds of industrial wastes from coal tar, oil refineries, tanneries and chemical plants, raw sewage, heavy metals the Gowanus Canal is now in a federal clean up program.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency has declared the site a Superfund. This is a program created in 1980 that gives the EPA the authority to clean up the most hazardous sites in the nation, force the local polluters to clean the site or face stiff penalties including paying the EPA 3 times their cost to clean up the site. It also means the site has a shot at a thorough and comprehensive clean up. If not pollution of the groundwater and in the area can leech into places that can still make people sick. (more…)
Photo Credit: DREAMSCAPE by SkyShaper. An incredible artist…
I had a co worker once that ran away to New York City the day after his graduation in pursuit of a career in fashion and a lifestyle out of the closet. Fortunately for him he was very talented and driven. Many who come to the Big Apple don’t make it. Still others have fallen on hard times financially. Either way there is a significant homeless population in New York City and our current mayor Michael Bloomberg has sworn to eradicate the problem.
In March of 2009 the exact number of homeless people in New York City was supposed to be “9,720. This is five times the number of people who were in shelters back in 1983, when the issue of homelessness was considered a major municipal scandal, rating regular attention on the evening news and newspaper front pages.” ~villagevoice.com
Something would have to be done, especially considering the 2 term mayor’s desire to break term limits and run for a third term. Also it costs the cash strapped City of New York about $36,000 a year to keep a family in a city shelter. Mayor Bloomberg’s latest solution: give homeless people free one way tickets out of the city.
Crystal Waters- Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless)”
You know when you consider the subject matter it was kind of difficult to understand this song as a hit but how many songs can we say that about though? In 1991 we couldn’t resist that hook “La da dee da da da”. I don’t know about you but it still gets stuck in my head…They’re just like you and me but they’re homeless.
