TALENTED TEENS & TOP PERFORMERS ULIMINATE HARLEM STAGE FOR
35th Annual Harlem Tree Lighting Ceremony
By Keith L. Forest

On Monday, December 12, 2011, the holiday season in Harlem came to life as Harlem’s own Grammy and Oscar nominated music group Impact Repertory Theatre; youth groups Vy Higgins Gospel for Teens and the Urban Assembly School for the Performing Arts’ Voices of Excellence choir took center stage for the 35th Annual Harlem Tree Lighting Ceremony.

Hosted by NY1 News leading anchorwoman Cheryl Wills, the festive, outdoor, family-affair also featured a soulful holiday greeting from balladeer Alyson Williams who moved the crowed with her own personal rendition of “This Christmas.” Three-time Tony Awards winner Hinton Battle was also on hand. Broadway community’s most respected musical stars debut his first inspirational single, “When I Walk,” and later introduced cast members from his latest off Broadway production Sistas. NY Assemblyman Keith Wright, the legendary Roxanne Shante, radio personalities DJ Marley Marl and WBLS own Dr. Bob Lee and other luminaries were also in attendance.

The event, which was sponsored by the New York State Office of General Services, Melba’s Restaurant, Harlem Community Development Corporation, American Express, Harlem Arts Alliance, Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce, Healthfirst, Chez Lucienne and City College of New York, highlights Harlem’s profound legacy and majestic future. As in the past, organizers will once again use this affair as an opportunity to give back to those less fortunate. “This is the community’s tree,” stated Willie Walker, committee member of Holidays in Harlem. “During these difficult economic times, many families in our community are unable to put food on their tables. This ceremony and this tree is our gift to them.”

The history of the Harlem Tree Lighting Ceremony dates back to 1976 when a group of prominent Harlemites decided to celebrate their beloved neighborhood with a ceremonial festival similar to the annual Rockefeller Plaza event. In 1978, with the assistance of New York State office of General Services, Con Edison and the 369th Army National Guard, the first tree was placed in front of Adam Clayton State Office Building. 35 years later, with corporate and community support, the tradition lives on.

The Holidays In Harlem Committee is comprised of concerned citizens from both the public and private sector, in concert with NYS Office of General Services. Each year a committed body of good spirited citizens’ come together to create this amazing tree lighting event in hopes that the affair captures the spirit of all who visit the historic village while reflecting the true essence of Harlem. The main event is the tree lighting ceremony, which will feature a magnificent 30 foot balsam fir tree adorned with an array of cool LED lights, followed by an after party in the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building sponsored by Melba’s Restaurant.

Pictures by Hubert Williams of Images of Us

Pix 1: Cheryl Wills (centered Right); Vy Higginson (centered Left) and the Vy Higginson Gospel for Teens take a bow before the Harlem community’s illuminated 35 ft. balsam fir tree.
Pix 2: Harlem’s own Impact Repertory Theatre delivered yet another energetic performance
Pix 3: Soul singer Alyson Williams raised the frigid temperature with her stylized version of “This Christmas”

Deputy Chief Michael Marino threatens cops at 79th Precinct who want to go on summons strike
By Rocco Parascandola - New York Daily News

A top NYPD supervisor drew a line in the sand, daring Brooklyn cops to carry out a threat to stop writing summonses for a day, police sources said Tuesday.

The Daily News reported Sunday that officers assigned to the 79th Precinct were so angry over alleged ticket quotas that they talked about not writing summonses for 24 hours in protest.
The sources said Deputy Chief Michael Marino marched into the Bedford-Stuyvesant precinct at roll call Monday with a deputy inspector and read cops the riot act.

"Just try it," a police source quoted Marino as saying. "I'll come down here and make sure you write them."

Another source said Marino vowed to transfer people, like he did when he was the commanding officer of the 75th Precinct in East New York.

In 2006, an arbitrator ruled that Marino broke state labor laws by punishing cops who did not meet ticket and arrest quotas.

"A lot of guys were really [angry] by the time he left," said a 79th Precinct police source, referring to the Monday tirade. "The younger guys, they're scared. They'll listen. The older guys are not going to stand for this."

Marino - second in command in Brooklyn North - didn't respond to requests for comment.
Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne said Marino never threatened anyone with a transfer. Instead, he came to roll call to remind officers that issuing summonses was about "protecting people, not numbers."

The 31-year NYPD vet was named in a $50 million lawsuit filed by Officer Adrian Schoolcraft, who accused cops of forcing him into a psych ward for blowing the whistle on quotas in the 81st Precinct in Brooklyn.

Audio tapes showed that Marino was one of the cops who pulled Schoolcraft from his Queens home.

Lt. Robert Gonzalez, president of the NYPD chapter of the National Latino Officers Association, was outraged that Marino attended Monday's roll call. He wants Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly to investigate Marino's conduct.

Tenants at city housing project apartment in Bed-Stuy wonder who'll stop rain?

BY Jake Pearson - NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

When Joseph Jones looks at his ceiling in his city housing project apartment, he can see the sky.
That's because there is a gaping, 3-by-4-foot hole in his top-floor apartment in the Weeksville Gardens Houses in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

"It makes me go crazy at times," said Jones, 30, a security guard who lives in the three-bedroom apartment with two siblings. "I can't believe this; I know we need to get out of here."
Jones is one of at least a dozen tenants who live in fourth-floor Weeksville apartments with leaky ceilings at the 256-unit public housing project on Dean St. between Troy and Schenectady Aves.
The tenants said they have repeatedly complained for years as the cracks have grown larger, but it took until October before the city Housing Authority sent workers who put tarps up to cover the holes.

Tenants said the tarps don't catch all the rain water, which has damaged floors, beds and other furniture.

"It's dangerous, all that water, because you never know if one day the ceiling will just come down," said Mildred Ponder, 62, who said she complained 20 times before workers came.
After the Daily News asked about the holes in Weeksville's roofs, NYCHA spokeswoman Heidi Morales said that despite its tight budget the agency is looking to find the $3.5 million to repair the roof.

Morales also said Friday that inspectors were sent out to Weeksville to offer temporary transfers to residents who need them.

But resident Phelisa Benjamin said there's no way she would move her family - especially during the holidays.

"They should've fixed this years ago .... I don't think I need to move around at all," said Benjamin, who lives in a top-floor apartment where NYCHA workers plastered a piece of cardboard over a hole in her bedroom in October - a hole that continues to leaks.

"The plasterer who came was upset and he said, 'Why are they sending a plasterer when you need to send a contractor here to fix the roof?'" Benjamin said.

For Jones, the white tarp NYCHA workers put over the hole hasn't done much good. He said on days when it rains heavily he has filled a 30-gallon jug full of rain water at least three times.
"This is really wild," he said. "It wakes me up in the morning: The sound, the water splashing on my face, the debris."

"It's horrible," added Ponder, who said she's getting sick of repeatedly calling about her cracked ceiling. "They always say, 'Somebody will come and take care of it,' but they never do."
The tenants use pots and garbage cans to catch the dripping water.

Tenant advocate Reginald Bowman said a lack of funding was no excuse to let dangerous conditions continue at Weeksville.

"I think the Housing Authority needs to find the money to fix the problem immediately," said Bowman.

"In a situation like this where there's actually life-threatening damage to the building itself," said Bowman, "the Housing Authority should immediately find a way to get permanent repairs."

After-School program in Bedford Stuyvesant provides care and counseling to kids whose parents are in prison

By Josie Raymond - Tonic

Almost 2.5 million kids in the US have a parent who is in prison. So who steps in to fill the void? With any luck, it's you.

"For children who experience other kinds of separation from their parents, there's some level of sympathy. The children of incarcerated parents don't get that. They're also serving time," said Sharon Content, the founder of Children of Promise, NYC, a three-year-old organization committed to doing everything it can to make sure that the children of incarcerated parents don't end up behind bars themselves.

An after-school program and summer day camp in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn are focused on developing the children's social, academic and leadership skills to ensure that they've got opportunities for success. It's the first program of its kind in New York City and it currently serves 135 kids from ages 6 to 18, including the cute ones in the photo above.

Group of Bed-Stuy men, We Make Us Better, escorts pedestrians in wake of robberies

BY Jake Pearson - THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

They're not part of a political club, they don't come from any one church and they've never been particularly active in the community - until now.

After a spate of recent muggings and robberies, a group of 20 Bedford-Stuyvesant men started escorting people home as they got off the train and are walking through the neighborhood reaching out to young men.

More Officers Getting Sick Of Quotas, Threaten Boycott

It’s the end of the year and for those of us who live in Bedford Stuyvesant and other large minority populated communities, we are quite aware that the end of the year means police quota season. Every year police take to the street taxing the poor by writing up bogus summons in an effort to meet their annual quota. Although law suits have been filed and police officers have come forward, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and Mayor Bloomberg continually deny that such a system exists. A recent article in Gothamlist.com quotes police in the 79th Precinct planning a possible boycott.

"Suspect Arrested In Clinton Hill, Bed-Stuy Rapes," - Gothamist

Police arrested a man suspected in two Brooklyn rapes. According to the Daily News, "Dupree Nicholson was charged with rape, assault and robbery after his DNA matched evidence taken from the March attacks near the border of Clinton Hill and Bedford-Stuyvesant, police said."

On March 16, a man, wielding a gun forced a 56-year-old woman at Fulton and Franklin Avenue to go a park, where he raped her and struck her in the head with the firearm. On March 23, a man matching the description of the March 16 attacker threatened a 42-year-old woman with a gun on Gates Avenue between Classon Avenue and Irving Place at around 5:30 a.m., dragging her to an alley where he raped and sodomized her. Acting on a tip, police brought in for questioning— and he voluntarily offered a DNA sample.

City Councilwoman Letitia James, who is concerned about crime in her district, said, "I applaud both the 79th and 88th precincts for their joint efforts in bringing about a speedy arrest, though I remain concerned that this individual seemed to be conscious of the gap that exists in these few blocks between Bedford-Stuyvesant and Clinton Hill. It is clear that we must do what we can to prevent any similar occurrences, and I continue to call for more police presence throughout the district."

"Brooklyn 'jail' playground could be rebuilt as White House to mark one of America's historic moments,"
By Michael Daly - New York Daily News

The word "jail" has been painted over, but on close examination you can still see the letters.

And there remains the mystery of how the city allowed a jail to be part of a play set at a Brooklyn housing project for six years.

Another question is: What should be done with that playground now?

How about putting in something to mark a giant leap forward the whole country took, a leap that still seemed all but impossible when the "jail" was installed back in March of 2004?

How about replacing the city's only jail playground with its very first White House playground?

Until Barack Obama was actually elected, many people believed that an African-American could not become President.

Obama proved that America had finally become a place where anybody really can grow up to become President.

A kid-sized White House would have a perfect backdrop with the huge portraits of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X that presently adorn a handball court wall facing the playground.

And, where steps and a bridge once led to a jail cell, youngsters would be ascending to the highest office in the land, one no longer barred to a person of color.

I was lucky enough to be down in Washington on inauguration weekend and I remember watching 5-year-old Marcus Scott of Brooklyn, a descendant of slaves, doing a happy dance with an American flag.

"It's nice to be able to wave the flag and say we belong here," said his mother, Alison Scott.

I also remember seeing Elaine Cope of South Carolina point her camera between the iron bars surrounding the White House.

"How many times I've been to Washington and I've never wanted to take a picture of the White House," Cope said.

Obama remains our President even if the Tea Party nuts rail against him with such fury that you have to figure race is involved.

As the health bill was finally nearing passage last week, some of that came to the surface. A tea party protester spat the N word at Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga).

"It surprised me that people are so mean and we can't engage in a civil dialogue and debate," Lewis said afterwards.

Lewis is a civil rights champion who addressed the same rally where King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech. The modern day haters seem exasperated by the reality that part of the dream has been realized with Obama's election.

I do not include Sarah Palin in that group. She is even worse. She fans the flames to her own ends.

She is no hockey mom.

She is a hockey player and she looks to win.

But maybe she was a blessing during the election. She was such a bad candidate that whites who probably would never have voted for a candidate of color ended up going for Obama.

The right wing has grown so wild and wacky that the one-time embarrassment Palin is stepping in to help her former running mate, Sen. John McCain.

In the midst of this mad meanness, we would do well to remind youngsters of the continuing victory that preceded it.

That will becomes all the more important as the city and state budget cuts begin hitting the schools and leaving the streets more dangerous. As always, the poorer neighborhoods will feel the cuts most keenly.

Doing well in school could become even tougher. Falling into trouble could become even easier.

Just as the playground "jail" carried a bad message, a White House would carry a good one: However tough things may get, we have overcome one obstacle that was so important because it never should have been there in the first place.

In the meantime, even a city going broke can afford to replace the ragged American flag flying in front of Public School 59 across Throop Ave. from the playground.

As a playground White House would remind the kids, the flag does indeed belong to everybody, as much to them as to Sarah Palin and her Tea Party pals, or anybody else.

"Playground ‘Jail,’ Drawing Outrage, Gets a Face-Lift," - The New York Times

Playground controversies usually involve bickering parents, unruly dogs or bullies.

One exception is at the Tompkins Houses, a housing project in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. An orange jungle gym there, adorned with a cell door, prison bars and the word “jail,” has set off outrage in the neighborhood and the blogosphere, along with a hasty official response.

Children may play cops and robbers all the time, but putting a pretend jail in a public housing playground in a historically black community struck some residents as an insult.

“We started complaining because it was like promoting kids to go to jail,” said Natasha Godley, 37, who has a 6-year-old son.

The prison look was part of the original design of the playground, which was made by a company called Landscape Structures and erected in March 2004, the Housing Authority said.

But it had not elicited complaints until this week, said Sheila Stainback, an agency spokeswoman.

Lumumba Bandele, a lecturer in black history at the City University of New York who lives nearby, said he complained about the playground to the Housing Authority and local officials last weekend.

“The fact is that this community, along with six others in New York City, makes up the majority of the prison population in New York State,” Mr. Bandele said. “And to have this here under the auspices of Nycha is absolutely insulting.”

The jungle gym, tucked behind a building near Throop and Park Avenues, sits opposite a handball court decorated with paintings of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

On Sunday, the Web site Black and Brown News published a photograph of the jungle gym by Mr. Bandele’s wife, Monifa Bandele, and a critical article about it.

“There is no kind, gentle, diplomatic way to describe the offense against a community by this ‘jail playground’ on a New York City Housing Authority property,” the article began.

Some residents said that complaints about the play set were actually not a new phenomenon. One Housing Authority grounds worker who declined to give her name said her mother had been so incensed about the inscription two years ago that she covered the word “jail” with gold spray paint. It was not clear how the word came to be restored.

But on Wednesday, after the Black and Brown News article was picked up by Brownstoner and other Web sites, Housing Authority workers arrived to paint over the word “jail.” Later, another worker showed up and began permanently taking off the word “jail” and the fake bars, which appeared stenciled into the play set, with steel wool and paint remover.

The authority, Ms. Stainback said, “painted over the equipment as a temporary solution to replacing this part of the playground.” The authority is also looking into who ordered the equipment, she said.

Calls to the main office of Landscape Structures were not returned. A woman who answered the phone at one of its sales offices, in Carle Place on Long Island, said the company provided playgrounds for the Housing Authority, “but only by their approval.” She said she had never seen one of the company’s play sets adorned with the word “jail,” but emphasized, “I’m only answering the phones.”

Somewhere in the city’s public housing universe, the playground has a twin, Ms. Stainback said. She would not divulge its location, but said that its “jail” sign and bars would be painted over, too.

"CB3 URGES RESIDENCE TO STAND UP & BE COUNTED

By Keith L. Forest

The US Census count is underway and civic leaders, clergy, elected officials and citizens are joining forces to make sure that the village of Bedford Stuyvesant is well counted.

During Community Board Three’s monthly meeting, Dr. John Flateau, Deputy Director of the New York State Senate and Census Coordinator, urged residence to stand up and be counted. According to Dr. Flateau, the Bedford Stuyvesant community continues to be poorly represented in the Census count. This constant miscalculation has not only cost the community billions of dollars in federal funding, but has resulted in the loss of political representation and major cuts in much needed social service programs. “The math is easy,” said Dr. Flateau. “If we continue to be undercounted, we will continue to be underfunded.”

According to City Councilman Al Vann, less than 35% of Bedford Stuyvesant residence responded to the 2000 Census. This resulted in the community having the lowest response rate in the country. A Census Sunday is schedule to take place March 7, where Pastors across Bedford Stuyvesant will address the Census from the pulpit. The 2010 Census forms will be mailed out on March 15. Other events and activities include the following:

DATE EVENT TIME LOCATION
Wed. 3/10 Harriet Tubman Day/Census Rally 9 – 11 Boys & Girls High School
Sat. 3/13 Public Housing Census Rally 11 – 1 Van Dyke Community Ctr.
Sat. 3/20 Yes We Count” : Bed Stuy “ 10 – 12 Boys & Girls High School
Sat. 3/20 “Yes We Count” Crown Heights 12 – 2 Medgar Evers College
Sat. 3/20 Yes We Count” Brownsville/E NY 2 – 4 St. Paul’s Baptist Church

The Housing and Land Use Committee gave an update on the marketing of the New Foundation Houses located on Herkimer and Albany Avenue. Bridge Street Development, the faith-based nonprofit organization based in Central Brooklyn, will hold a lottery for the 3 family homes that include an owner’s duplex and two (2), two bedroom rentals. Selling prices for the units range from $500 – $600,000.

In addition to the update, the committee also held an informational forum for Providence House. The nonprofit organization that provides transitional housing for homeless, recently incarcerated and special needs female clients and their families, is seeking a letter of support for a new units it wants to build at 273, 275 & 277 Kosciusko Street (between Tompkins Street & Throop Ave). The presentation, which included renderings and floor plans of the 40 unit complex, was given by Sister Janet Kinney. The Community Board voted 31 in favor with 6 opposing.

Under the guidance and direction of Chairman Henry Butler, with persistence from Rev. Robert Waterman, CB-3 recently launched an Ad Hoc Ecumenical committee. The group, which includes CB3 board members Pastor Ayana Ajanaku, Rev. Jesse Sumry and Rev. Waterman, will meet the third Monday of every month to discuss community issues. “Information historically travels quicker through the church,” stated Rev. Waterman. “We want to continue this tradition in an effort to connect the community with services.”

(more)
Other scheduled community events and activities include the following:

Tuesdays, March 2 – 30: 6:30 – 8:30pm - Wealth Building Tuesday Workshops; Restoration Plaza, 1368 Fulton Street. For registration and additional information, please call Bernice McRae @ (718) 636-6924 or email at bmcrae@restorationplaza.org

Tuesdays, March 2 – 30, 7:30 pm sharp, Bedford-Stuyvesant YMCA FREE Healthy Living Series, 1121 Bedford Avenue. For additional information, please call (718) 789-1497.

Monday, March 29: Congressman Ed Towns & Bedford Stuyvesant YMCA present Women’s History Month. To RSVP or for additional information, call Debbie McFarland @ (718) 789-1497 Ext. 4006 or Edna Johnson @ (718) 855-8018.

Keith L. Forest is a freelance publicist, writer and proud Bedford-Stuyvesant home owner who lives and works in the beloved community. His current blog space mybedstuy.blogspot.com seeks to celebrate the people and places that make up this great community while addressing issues such as gentrification, predatory lending and other ill norms that seek to exploit, discredit and harm the area and its people.

"Gov. Paterson scandal gives lawmakers chance to push bills on state police and domestic violence," - NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Three state lawmakers seized on Gov. Paterson's problems Sunday to push bills seemingly ripped from the scandal headlines.

Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Eric Adams, both Brooklyn Democrats, said their new bill would crack down on mismanagement of the State Police.

Assemblyman Felix Ortiz (D-Brooklyn) held a press conference to draw new attention to a domestic violence bill he first introduced in 2007.

Both bills play on the scandalous allegations that Paterson and the State Police abused their power by intervening in a domestic violence case after a woman obtained an order of protection against a top gubernatorial aide.

Jeffries said the bill he'll introduce this week would create a temporary commission "to investigate systematic misconduct, abuse of power and political interference with respect to the New York State Police."

Modeled after the Knapp Commission, which probed police corruption in the 1970s, the commission would have subpoena power and would report to the Legislature.

State troopers "have engaged in acts that undermine the very fabric of our democracy," Jeffries charged, referring to allegations in the Paterson, Spitzer and Pataki administrations.

In a press conference outside the state Supreme Court building in Lower Manhattan, Adams said the bill was not specifically intended to censure Paterson. But he said last week's news, which led the governor to abandon his election bid and prompted calls for his resignation, "was the straw that broke the camel's back."

"From Buffalo to Bedford-Stuyvesant, our state troopers have the responsibility to don gray uniforms, but they enforce laws that are black and white," Adams said.

Ortiz said his Sunday press conference on the City Hall steps had been scheduled for weeks and had nothing to do with Paterson.

Still, he said the latest scandal "will give us a better opportunity, a better shot to now get the bill the consensus that is needed in order to get it done in both houses and send it to the governor for a signature."

The Ortiz bill - called Erika's Law after Erika Delia, a woman murdered by an abusive ex-boyfriend - would force abusers slapped with protection orders to wear electronic monitoring devices.

The bill, sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island), has twice passed the Senate but has been stalled in the Assembly.

"I don't believe that the bill is aiming at any particular individual," Ortiz said, adding: "We hope that in this session, with everything that's been happening throughout the state and with everything that's been happening in Albany, that we can take a moment ... to honor this particular bill for Erika."

"Fed-up tenants sue, demand city fix nightmare Bedford-Stuyvesant apartments,"
By Jeff Wilkins - New York Times

A city housing project in Bedford-Stuyvesant has been a horror for residents who have lived with rats and mice, lack of heat, water damage and mold for years.

Tenants of the Bed-Stuy Rehabs, a three-building complex on Willoughby and Throop Aves., filed a lawsuit against the city Housing Authority in December after living with the conditions since the 1980s.

"We're tired of being treated like NYCHA's foster children," said Cassandra Harrell, president of the Bed-Stuy Rehabs Tenant Association, who said years of living in her mold-filled apartment left her stricken with asthma. "We want our apartments fixed."

The three small buildings with 81 apartments were originally part of Woodhull Hospital, and were converted into public housing in 1983.

Right from the start, said longtime tenants, their apartments had problems. They said Housing Authority officials promised fixes that were never made.

If the work is done, they added, it's shoddy or takes a long time to get scheduled.

In one case, a tenant at 281 Throop Ave. said workers showed up as late as 9 p.m. to repair a collapsed ceiling.

"Every time they say they're going to fix something, they don't do anything," said Luisa Figueroa, 33, pointing to a hole in her wall that isn't scheduled to be repaired until June. "It's just talk, talk, talk."

Retired postal worker Kathleen Green, who has lived at 675 Willoughby Ave. since 1983, has gone without heat three or four days at a time for years.

"It gets really cold in here in the winter, like you're living outside," she said. "I wake up and turn my oven on at 6 a.m. just to get some heat."

Green said she has phoned in countless complaints. Workers have come and looked at her radiators, promised to send someone to make repairs - and rarely do.

"Ten years ago, I gave them a list of all my problems," said Green. "Ten years later, they're still not fixed."

Housing Authority spokeswoman Sheila Stainback denied the agency had neglected the buildings, and said they have repeatedly responded to tenants' requests for repairs.

"NYCHA staff has addressed and worked on the repairs needed for Bedford-Stuyvesant Rehabs and will continue to do so," Stainback said in a statement.

Residents of 281 Throop Ave. used a lawsuit to force the Housing Authority to repair the building's leaky roof in 2005.

"Mayor's New Plan for Affordable Housing: Overnight Delivery?," - Gothamlist

Rather than building new affordable homes in the city, Bloomberg now wants to spruce up those that already exist. His revamped plan will cost $8.5 billion and seeks to preserve 165,000 units by 2014. One Bed-Stuy housing development would have been a good candidate for the program, until it called a press conference to address its long list of complaints and the repairs were miraculously completed. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” said Cassandra Harrell, the president of the Bed-Stuy Rehabs’ resident association, who has lived in the project for 27 years. “They put up Sheetrock, they painted the walls, they knew the press was coming.”

For years residents of the Bedford-Stuyvesant Rehabs complained about "mold, leaky pipes, stained ceilings, holes in the walls, puddles in the hallway and long spells in the winter without heat or hot water," according to the Times. The vermin problem was so bad that one resident lost his pet bird to a rat. “Yeah, it ate the bird,” said David Caban. “The cage was on the floor.” But the night before a press conference was scheduled, 8-12 repairmen appeared at the projects and got to work. “[We are] a 24/7 operation,” said a spokeswoman for the housing authority in an email, adding that the work had been scheduled ahead of the press conference.

Under Bloomberg's plan, affordable housing tenants shouldn't have to sic the press on the housing authority to get their repairs. The New Housing Marketplace Plan will "preserve" affordable housing, meaning that "its housing agencies refinance and renovate buildings in return for keeping rents locked in for long periods, usually decades, as opposed to letting the units rent or sell at market rates" as the Times puts it.

The city will build 60,000 new homes and preserve 105,000 amending a cheaper 2005 plan to build 92,000 units and preserve 73,000. “The extra money will go toward allowing us to save projects that otherwise would’ve gone to market rates, and keeping rents low, and locking that in 30 or 40 years,” said housing commissioner, Rafael Cestero. “We have the opportunity right now to step in at a way that we weren’t able to before.”

"Every tenant's nightmare: No heat, hot water for months in Brooklyn apartment that's in foreclosure,"
BY JAKE PEARSON - New York Daily News

Their Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment building is in foreclosure - and these tenants are feeling forsaken.

Tenants at 874 Greene Ave. have suffered for months without heat or hot water even though a court-appointed receiver hired a managing company to make repairs and collect rents.

"The only way I get heat is to turn the stove on," said Paulette Walker, 36, who lives in her freezing fourth-floor apartment with her husband and 13-year-old son, Jacob.

"I boil water for the steam, turn on the grill and let the burners go."

The eight-unit building has been without heat or hot water since the boiler, which has broken countless times, failed again, tenants said.

Even their original landlord had a better track record than BPC Management when it came to making repairs, they added.

The tenants charge that BPC Management has ignored complaints about the broken boiler, roach infestations and even a leaking roof.

"They don't listen; they don't care," said Natasha Favorite, 25, who is eight months pregnant and lives on the second floor with her 3-year-old son, Adonis. "I'm sick of being in this house with no heat and no hot water."

Favorite said she has complained to BPC at least 10 times over the past year.

Angry tenants in the building have lodged 65 complaints with the Housing Preservation and Development Department since last February.

They are working with organizers from Pratt Area Community Council, who are trying to negotiate a timeline for improvements and repairs.

"This is the complication of foreclosures," said PACC organizing director Elana Shneyer.

"The tenants haven't done anything [wrong], but they get caught in the middle ... without basic services."

A BPC Management spokesperson declined to comment.

"We can't even bathe the way we want to bathe," said Walker, an unemployed security guard who dumps six big cooking pots full of boiling water into the tub and adds cold water to take a bath.

"We really shouldn't have to live this way."

"Nostrand Avenue bus initiative gets federal stimulus money,"
By Stephen Witt - Courier Life Publication

An infusion of federal stimulus dollars could provide the jolt to get the Nostrand Avenue Select Bus Service (SBS) project jump-started.

That after the Obama administration’s 2011 budget included $28 million for the proposed SBS along the Nostrand Avenue corridor.

Bed-Stuy bakes up dough to save beloved Bread Stuy eatery
By Mike Mclaughlin and Sam Goldsmith - NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Neighbors of a beloved Brooklyn coffee shop are working on their own bailout for the local hangout.

Bread Stuy on Lewis Ave. in Bedford-Stuyvesant was shuttered last week because owners fell behind on more than $20,000 in back taxes.

The neighborhood stepped in, donating and lending owners more than $10,000, and the shop reopened Saturday.

"It's more than just coffee," owner Lloyd Porter said of his shop. "We host gatherings for new neighbors. We do a Christmas tree lighting every year, and my wife and I dress like Mr. and Mrs. Claus."

Peaches, a restaurant down the block from Bread Stuy, hosted a Super Bowl party fund-raiser for the coffee shop and eatery last night.

"It's not just a business thing, it's a personal thing," said Peaches co-owner Craig Samuels, 40. "Lloyd is the unofficial mayor of Bed-Stuy."

"It has become such a part of the neighborhood," said Claudia Siambert, 24, a regular customer at Bread Stuy. "Everyone is really happy here."

The owners say they were blindsided by late fees and penalties that piled up from their tax woes.

Java lovers were stunned last week to find a "seized" notice posted on the storefront in the trendy Stuyvesant Heights area.

"Neighbors protest new Bed-Stuy housing facility for recovering addicts," - REAL DEAL NY

332 Malcolm X. Boulevard (Source: PropertyShark) A new temporary housing facility for recovering alcohol and drug addicts in Bedford-Stuyvesant has the surrounding community up in arms over its potential impact on the neighborhood.

Roughly 20 new residents of 332 Malcolm X. Boulevard "came in over night," said Eric Smith, president of the Bainbridge Street Block Association. Bedford-Stuyvesant "needs that place like a hole in the head," he said. Neighbors say they've seen the men throwing out empty beer cans and liquor bottles from the home, though the Gelzer Foundation, a private organization that runs the facility insists the men had not been drinking and have been undergoing outpatient treatment for drug and alcohol abuse.

There's already a men's shelter one block away from the three-story building, whose safety is already in question as it has also been hit with a temporary stop work order for building without a permit. "Why would you bring a shelter on a block that has a history of drug issues that we're trying to kill?" said Henry Butler, chair of Community Board 3. Butler is meeting with city agency representatives this evening about the stop work order at the site

"Double Dutchers jump back: Financial woes threaten Brooklyn's legendary Jammin' Jumpers team,"
BY Jake Pearson - New York Daily News

Adams IV for NewsRuth Payne (c.), coach of the Jammin’ Jumpers, with her Double Dutch team. Related NewsSchools looking to make Double Dutch into a varsity sportThe Jammin' Jumpers are in a real jam.

The world-famous Bedford-Stuyvesant Double Dutch team is flat broke, scrambling to raise money for its 10th annual Celebrate Jump Rope competition in March.

"We're hurting big time," said Ruth Payne, 65, executive director of United Families, and coach of the Jammin' Jumpers. "I have to turn kids away because...I don't have the staff. It doesn't feel good."

Almost every year, the Jammin' Jumpers make it to the world championship Double Dutch competition in Sumter, S.C. Last year, the fourth-grade team placed fifth and the seventh-grade team took second place overall.

"We get to go to worlds every year, but people can't volunteer like they used to," said Payne, who is known boroughwide as the Joe Torre of jump-rope coaching. "Someone who gave six hours a week, now I'm lucky if they give six a month."

The Celebrate Jump Rope competition in March brings about 200 youngsters from across the borough - and even from other parts of the country - to participate.

"Every team from all over comes out to this," said Kyaisha Murray, 25, a former Jammin' Jumper who now volunteers one day a week coaching the team.

"The Jazzie Jumpers [from North Carolina] and Stan's Pepper Steppers [from Rockaway.] They all know about the competition."

Last March, Celebrate Jump Rope was held in Von King Park in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Payne received enough donations to pay judges, provide lunches and give trophies to the winners. "Ruth always tries to make it possible for the kids to get medals," said Murray. "She doesn't want any kid to walk away with nothing."

Families United operates out of the gym at St. Peter Claver Church on Claver Place and Jefferson Ave. They are four months behind on rent, and though never flush, Payne said the group can usually scrape together enough private and government grants to stage the event.

But so far this year, they haven't been able to raise much.

"We're in debt, and we don't have a budget," said Payne, who persuaded St. Francis College to donate gym space for this year's competition. She said she hopes to raise about $10,000 - enough to fund the competition and pay the rent owed.

"We're doing fund-raisers and sending out letters. Somehow we'll get by," she said.

United Families coaches 400 children annually from Bedford-Stuyvesant, Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, who participate in its jump rope, basketball and art programs.

Donations may be sent to Families United, 175 Adelphi St., Brooklyn, N.Y., 11205.

"Bed Stuy Resident Carmin Colon Donates doughnuts to troops,"
By Erik Slavin, Stars and Stripes

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — Very few of the sailors aboard the USS Shiloh knew who paid for the 408 doughnuts that showed up in their mess hall on Friday.
But judging by all the jelly-glazed smiles and sugar-dusted fingers, a Brooklyn woman’s gift to a ship she’s never even seen was greatly enjoyed.
"This probably just made everybody’s Friday," said Petty Officer 2nd Class Randall Nagel.
With help from United Service Organizations, Carmen Colon purchased $240 worth of doughnuts for the sailors — something she says made her feel so good, it was like buying a Christmas present for herself.
"Wherever they’re serving … I want to say that we appreciate you, we miss you, and we can’t wait for you to come home," Colon said last week from her home in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.
One year ago, Colon reconnected on Facebook with a friend she graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School with nearly 30 years ago.
Colon’s friend is now a master chief petty officer aboard the Shiloh. She asked if there was anything she could send him, but he always declined.
She kept up with her friend’s descriptions of life aboard the Shiloh through the summer, when tragedy struck. On July 8, Petty Officer 1st Class Christopher Geathers died while on duty.
Colon heard how devastating the loss was to the crew and resolved to do something for the sailors. When the Shiloh returned from sea last month, Colon’s opportunity came.
However, Colon’s focus isn’t just on the Shiloh. She plans to spread the word and would love to see every command "adopted" like the Shiloh.
"I love them, but I love the entire base, too," Colon said.
Shiloh sailors said they were sure other ships would happily accept the support.
"Some people here go straight to work in the morning, and to be able to take a break and enjoy free doughnuts — it really makes me feel like somebody cares," Seaman Amber Cage said.

Is Punditry a Prelude to a Race in New York?
By MICHAEL BARBARO - The New York Times

Robert F. Kennedy possessed the biggest brand name in American politics. Hillary Rodham Clinton boasted eight years in the White House.

But Harold E. Ford Jr., the former Tennessee congressman who is weighing a run for the United States Senate from New York, represents a new breed of out-of-town political aspirant in the Empire State: the TV pundit.

His stature undoubtedly derives from his five consecutive terms as a United States representative and a bitterly contested campaign for the Senate, but Mr. Ford, 39, has introduced himself to New Yorkers as a self-assured, nattily dressed political insider on Fox, NBC and MSNBC.

Over the past two years, he become a regular on shows like “Morning Joe” and “Meet the Press,” pontificating on everything from death panels to Barack Obama’s popularity.

The appearances have given Mr. Ford’s name a familiar ring but have revealed little about his politics, which will become the subject of intense scrutiny over the next few weeks as he decides whether to run against Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand this fall. He has given himself 45 days to sound out potential donors and party leaders about a campaign.

“The question is: Can a guy who is not a movie star but a TV personality from Tennessee, not from New York, who happens to be African-American win a race against a well-funded incumbent with support from a large part of the political establishment?” said Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime New York political consultant.

Several influential Democratic donors, like the financier Steven Rattner and the co-president of HBO, Richard Plepler, have encouraged him to run, and New York City’s billionaire mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg, has signaled he is open to supporting Mr. Ford.

Mr. Bloomberg, who carefully parses out his praise, on Wednesday called Mr. Ford “a very smart guy” who had been “very helpful” to the city.

Those who have examined Mr. Ford’s record in office describe him as a conservative Democrat with positions that might raise a few eyebrows in the Democratic Party’s liberal wing. He is a member of the National Rifle Association who voted to protect gun makers against litigation; he has voted against gay marriage, but is for civil unions; and he supported a ban on partial-birth abortions. (He describes himself as in favor of abortion rights.)

“He is more conservative than most people imagine him to be,” said Basil Smikle, a top aide to Mrs. Clinton when she was a senator in New York.

Mr. Ford’s supporters, many of whom have criticized Ms. Gillibrand as undistinguished, said that they were drawn to his charisma and conviction, not a handful of votes on hot-button issues. “It’s much more personal,” said an executive who has promised to back Mr. Ford if he runs.

His initial challenge may be selling voters on his very New Yorkness. He moved to the city three years ago, after losing the Senate race in Tennessee.

“It’s not clear to me that he knows the difference between Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brookhaven and Buffalo,” said Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn. “He’s got a lot to learn about New York State in a very short period of time.”

Yet Mr. Ford’s claims to the state are, by historical standards, better than average. Mrs. Clinton won her Senate seat after having lived in Westchester County for about a year.

Mr. Ford is in the process of getting his driver’s license in New York. But there is at least one hole in his New York civic life: He did not register to vote in the state until a few weeks ago, skipping the Democrats’ historic — and successful — bid to retake the State Senate, as well as a mayoral race in which the party sought to retake City Hall after 15 years of Republican control. He kept his registration in Tennessee in case he decided to seek office there again.

As he tries to sell skeptical donors and voters on the viability of his candidacy, Mr. Ford, who declined to comment for this article, is likely to be helped by his TV appearances.

It was telling that Mr. Ford, who has repeatedly declined to discuss his Senate ambitions publicly, broke his silence on TV on Wednesday morning, under questioning from his on-air colleagues, who warmly teased him, calling him “senator.”

“I’m absorbing a lot of thoughts, listening to a lot of people,” he said of his discussions with supporters. “I have a little time to think about it.”