Protestors in Times Square (Photo by Brian Browdie)
About 50 yards from where hundreds of people massed Wednesday evening in Times Square to protest the decision by a grand jury not to indict a police officer in the death of Eric Garner, about two dozen tourists gazed up at themselves on a video display sponsored by Revlon.
The tourists chatted away in languages other than English and snapped photos of themselves snapping photos of themselves on the giant display that looms above Broadway.
Whatever selfies they snapped at street level may reveal in the background a sea of signs held aloft by protestors who had come to register the injustice of the chokehold death of a black man by a police officer on Staten Island last summer for allegedly selling loose cigarettes. As transgressions go, Garner’s offense roughly rivaled staring at oneself on a video display in the threat it posed to the general welfare.
(Photo by Brian Browdie)
“This is a clear-cut case of death by broken windows policing,” Stan Williams, a labor organizer from Brooklyn, told a reporter. “Was he selling loosies that day? If he was, take him to jail.”
As if the death of Garner, 43, who stood six feet three and whom locals described as a gentle giant, were not tragedy enough, the death of another black man at the hands of police suggests that America itself suffers from an illness of injustice that undermines the ideal that draws people here from around the world to snap selfies and pursue their dreams.
Protestors stage a die-in at Grand Central Terminal (Photo by Brian Browdie)
On Wednesday, beneath the LED displays for Dunkin Donuts, Stella Artois and a multitude of other products that illuminate Times Square, a series of signs penned in Sharpie spoke of a reality that has characterized America for far too long. “We want an indictment,” read one. “I can’t breathe,” read another, quoting Garner’s words as he lay dying.
(Photo by Brian Browdie)
“Mr. Garner’s death is one of several recent incidents across the country that have tested the sense of trust that must exist between law enforcement and the communities they are charged to serve and protect,” Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement Wednesday announcing that the Department of Justice will proceed with a federal civil rights investigation.
“This is not a New York issue or a Ferguson issue alone,” Holder added. He’s right of course. As President Obama said Wednesday, “This is an American problem.”
“We can’t imagine we’re the city on the hill or a country where equality reigns when people are being brutalized,” said Williams. As another protestor remarked to a reporter from Europe 1 radio: “I just feel like everyone should give a shit about this.”
Ride-sharing services may be facing legal risks in some cities but the taxi alternatives have permission to pick up passengers at the airport in Music City.
Nashville has become the first U.S. airport to authorize pick-ups by Uber, Lyft and other so-called transportation network companies provided the companies obtain a permit, pay a fee and identify themselves clearly.
Drivers who satisfy the guidelines will be able to retrieve passengers in areas designated for such pickups.
“This is a major milestone to embrace ever-evolving technology and accommodate new app-based transportation service operators,” Rob Wigington, chief executive of the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority, said in a press release. “We are continuously listening to the needs of our passengers, so that we can better provide and enhance the Nashville Airports Experience.”
The authorization comes as ride-sharing services face questions from public officials in California and elsewhere about the services’ adherence to consumer-protection laws. On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that district attorneys in San Francisco and LA are questioning whether the companies mislead customers in connection with how carefully the companies review the backgrounds of drivers.
Regulators in California, which is home to Uber, Lyft and Sidecar, also are asking the companies to discontinue their practice of allowing customers to share rides. California law reportedly bars transportation services from charging more than one person for the same ride.
Ride-sharing services tap smartphones and GPS to connect drivers and passengers. Drivers who hold licenses and satisfy certain criteria can use the services to earn money with their cars.
According to the Tennessean, officials in Nashville held discussions with Lyft and Uber to lay out a system that would respond to demand for the services while addressing taxi operators’ concerns that their companies are being treated unfairly. As part of the plan, the companies will pay $3.50 per trip to pick up passengers. Taxis pay $1.50.
Uber is available in about 112 cities throughout the U.S. and Canada. Lyft serves about 63 cities in the U.S., while Sidecar serves 10.
The companies now compete with taxis in many cities. In August, New York City council member Ben Kallos proposed legislation that would direct the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission to create an app that would allow passengers to hail nearby drivers without having to wave down a taxi.
Kallos said the proliferation of ride-sharing services may mean the apps need an app.
“I think my nightmare would be hopping into a yellow cab in the future where they’ve got a phone for Uber a phone for Lyft a phone for Hailo…and they’ve literally got a dashboard covered in phones because they want to make sure they’re signed up for every single e-hail app,” Kallos told Mashable. “My preference would people to have one phone, one interface.”
Plans by a group that is planning to sue New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority after the agency rejected a proposed advertisement that refers to Muslims killing Jews highlights how cities can differentiate between categories of speech in accepting advertising on city-owned buses.
The M.T.A. said in a statement released Friday that it had rejected a request by American Freedom Defense Initiative, a pro-Israel group, to run advertisements that feature the quotation, “Killing Jews is Worship that draws us close to Allah,” credited to “Hamas MTV.” The ad reportedly parodies ads sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations that presented jihad as an idea of individual struggle rather than incitement to terrorism.
The ads ran on buses in cities other than New York, according to the M.T.A.
Under the First Amendment, a city’s allowing advertising on public buses does not make that property a public forum. Rather, a bus is a commercial forum, which means that a city can limit advertising so long as the city’s review of proposed ads is viewpoint neutral and substantially related to an important government interest.
In its statement, the agency defended its policy as viewpoint neutral. “The M.T.A. does not decide whether to allow or not allow a proposed advertisement based on the viewpoint that it expresses or because that viewpoint might be controversial,” the agency said.
The M.T.A. said that its security chief “concluded the proposed advertisement would lead reasonable observers to interpret it as urging direct, violent attacks on Jews, given turmoil in Gaza, Syria and Iraq and New York City’s heightened security concerns.”
Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn / Wikimedia Commons
The City of New York is facing a higher legal hurdle in its efforts to tamp down transmission of a deadly form of the herpes virus that can occur during some types of Jewish circumcision.
City officials must show that a prohibition against a person performing oral suction of the circumcision wound without the written consent of the parents or guardian of the infant being circumcised is not religiously motivated, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held in a decision released last Friday.
The ruling, which addresses a ritual act known as metzitzah b’peh, or MBP, means that a regulation adopted by the city in 2012 that requires parental consent will be struck down if officials cannot demonstrate that the law does not purposely interfere with the rights of the plaintiffs, who include several ultra-Orthodox Jewish groups and rabbis who perform circumcisions.
The city contended that the regulation only incidentally burdens the plaintiffs’ rights under the First Amendment, which prohibits laws that interfere with the free exercise of religion. The regulation should be upheld so long as the court finds that it has a rational basis, the city argued.
The appeals court sided with the plaintiffs, finding that regulating conduct that is done for religious reasons only does not, by itself, contravene the Constitution. However, “where the object of the law itself is the regulation of religious conduct – the law is subject to heightened scrutiny, and not to rational basis review,” Judge Debra Ann Livingston wrote for the three-judge panel.
At issue is the practice of MPB, which city officials say contributes to about 10% of herpes simplex virus, or HSV, infections among infants that occur after birth. Because newborns lack developed immune systems, about one-fifth of infants who contract HSV die from the infection, while those who survive can suffer brain damage.
New York City has about 15 cases of neonatal HSV infection a year, among roughly 125,000 live births, according to evidence presented at trial.
In 2012, the plaintiffs sued the city, charging that the regulation burdens their free exercise of religion and should be subject to strict scrutiny by the courts. The plaintiffs contend that Jewish religious authorities deem MBP to be the only acceptable means to enact metzitzah.
In her opinion, Livingston contrasted two of the U.S. Supreme Court’s leading decisions interpreting the Free Exercise Clause. The first, a 1993 decision, struck down a city ordinance in Hialeah, Florida that the court found aimed solely to suppress animal sacrifice by adherents of Santeria. The second, a 1990 case, upheld Oregon’s prohibition on ingesting peyote, finding that the law was not specifically directed to religious practice, despite claims by two Native Americans that they had consumed the drug for religious reasons.
Livingston concluded that New York City’s regulation governing the practice of MPB is the type of law at issue in the Hialeah case. “The regulation purposely singles out religious conduct performed by a subset of Orthodox Jews,” she wrote. “And the regulation applies exclusively to the religious conduct performed by this religious group.”
“Thus, while the interests at stake in this litigation are serious on both sides, requiring the most careful calibration, the method for this calibration cannot be a mere rational basis, Livingston added. “Strict scrutiny must apply.”
At trial, the City of New York introduced the testimony of an expert from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who characterized the evidence tying oral suction to neonatal infection of HSV as “strong, consistent and more than biologically plausible.”
New York City logged 11 confirmed cases of HSV in infants born between 2000 and 2011 who had undergone a circumcision that likely involved oral suction, according to a study performed by the city’s Department of Health & Mental Hygiene.
According to the city, the rate of HSV infection following direct oral suction is three to four times greater than for males born in New York City who did not have oral suction.
Though Jewish law requires that male children be circumcised on the eighth day after their birth, the practice of MPB occurs primarily among members of the Satmar, Lubavitch and other Hasidic sects. The city conceded at trial that MBP is the only conduct covered by the regulation.
For their part, the plaintiffs charged that the study cited by the city in support of the regulation contains insufficient evidence to determine that the tie between MBP and HSV transmission has resulted in actual infections. The plaintiffs also asserted that mohelim, the rabbis who perform MBP, are trained to take steps to prevent the spread of HSV, including refraining from performing circumcisions if they exhibit any symptoms of HSV infection.
The city adopted the regulation about seven years after it first warned rabbis, religious leaders and physicians of the risks of MPB.
The 2nd Circuit’s ruling does not mean that the plaintiffs will succeed in overturning the regulation.
“The Department has asserted interests that are substantial and may prove, on analysis, to be compelling,” Livingston wrote. “Mindful of the serious interests at stake on both sides, we express no view as to whether the plaintiffs have borne their burden of establishing a likelihood of success on the merits.”
The plaintiffs hailed the decision as a “great victory,” and said they remain ready to work with city officials “to protect our children’s health while fully respecting and accommodating our religious practice,” according to a report by Reuters.
The city’s law department had no comment on the ruling.
I’m walking through Central Park and all I can think about is that if one of those branches falls and hurts someone that person will have one year and 90 days to sue the city, according to the statute of limitations.
It’s about 9:00 p.m. on July 4. New York City’s annual fireworks display is slated to start in about 30 minutes. Here in Harlem, the sounds of bottle rockets began about 30 minutes ago.
I’m at my desk, trying to memorize the Rule in Shelley’s Case, which, funny enough, is a doctrine that we Americans inherited, like much of our law, from England. The rule, which has been abolished in most states, prevents a landowner from creating a so-called remainder in his heirs. (One who is alive, by definition, has no heirs.)
The rule seems to have originated as an estate-planning tool. It allowed landowners to convey land to their children through property law instead of by inheritance, thereby circumventing taxes owed to the British monarchy.
I passed by these girls while walking recently through Sheep Meadow, which is Central Park’s largest lawn without ballfields. The girls were among clusters of people tossing Frisbee and frolicking but what caught my attention was the girls’ taking turns lifting one another off the ground. “Hey guys, I’m light,” the girl in the white top, in the center above, exclaimed to her friends. That’s something we stop doing at some age — picking each other up (in the literal meaning of that term) just for the fun of it. I’m not suggesting we start, but watching these girls trying to lift one another and delighting in their playtime delighted me.
In an article recently for The New Yorker, the writer John McPhee describes some of his experiences over the course of more than 50 years of interviewing people, including Special Agent Ronald Rawalt, a mineralogist from the FBI whose work in Mexico solved the murder of an American drug agent there; the actor Richard Burton, who “interviewed himself,” according to McPhee; and Alan Hume, M.D., a surgeon in Maine who “talked clearly, rapidly, volubly, and technically.”
McPhee has some advice for anyone who makes a living that involves recording what other people say. “Whatever you do, don’t rely on memory,” he writes. “Don’t imagine that you will be able to remember in the evening what people said during the day.” Good point, in my experience, as limited as it may be compared with McPhee’s. Even when I’m not on deadline, I make it a practice to read my notes the same day I’ve interviewed someone, as a way to reflect on what he or she told me, to identify gaps in my understanding and to decipher the scrawl that I tend to produce when I’m scribbling.
Lots of people take notes but journalists may be the only ones for whom writing down what other people tell us is the work itself. In December I met Bohlale Ratefane, a woman who works the lost luggage counter for South African Airways at Johannesburg’s Tambo airport. Ratefane wrote notes to herself in a black notebook with a worn cover while juggling both a BlackBerry and a smartphone. She wrote in the notebook seemingly at random, back and forth among the pages, but the system must have made sense to her because she found the entry she needed every time. She worked the notebooks and phones to perfection in pursuit of her prey, which included suitcases and passports that had become separated from their owners.
Recently I came across a story that I wrote two autumns go, during a football game between Columbia and Dartmouth that I had gone to cover for a class at journalism school. The draft had been piled among a series of notes that I’ve carried with me since then as I’ve traveled from New York City to South Africa and back.
About midway through the fourth quarter on that Saturday in October, I wandered over to the Big Green’s side of the stands, where I met Elliott Olshansky. I had sought out Olshansky because he and a cluster of fans cheered for Dartmouth on nearly every play. As it happened, Olshansky graduated from Dartmouth in 2004 and aspired to be a writer and an entrepreneur. “I’m in this weird limbo between where I am and where I want to be,” he told me.
I liked his comment and used it in my first draft of the story. My professor also liked the comment but suggested that I discard it nonetheless. “It doesn’t really advance your central point,” he wrote in tracked changes through the middle of the paragraph. My professor was right about the quote. The story was tighter without it.
Still, I’m glad I’ve preserved that first draft of the story long enough to read Olshansky’s comment anew. That’s because the in-between state that Olshansky described himself as occupying has become a home of sorts to me. I’ve recently returned to New York from South Africa to work on a project that combines my training in law and journalism. But I also look forward in August to returning to South Africa, where there are stories that I want to report and write, and where my partner lives and works.
When I met Olshansky he had recently published an e-book about the rules of dating from a guy’s perspective. “Guy-lit,” according to Olshansky, who also was pursuing an MBA at Fordham. Aspiring entrepreneur and writer – that was where Olshansky stood as we parted on that sunny afternoon, when I did not yet realize his observation might one day resonate with me.
Writing in my notebook what Olshansky said and discovering the quote anew 18 months later underscores for me another reason one writes things down in the first place. Mostly we take notes to remember, but the notes that we take also help us to see things in new ways. Our drafts may be a means to an end, but they become a part of us too.
Starting next month, management will post notices about monthly meetings of the tenants’ association inside the bulletin boards in each lobby. This way we can hold them accountable. If the notices are not posted, we’ll know.
You may notice crews digging in the streets around the complex. They’re replacing the oil heat with natural gas. If you smell gas, call 911 and get away. They are switching over the system. Natural gas is cheaper and cleaner. But if you smell something, especially outside, where it’s not near anyone’s stove, report it immediately. The infrastructure under the streets is aging. Will require billions in investment in the coming years.
If you see people wearing green jackets who happen to be near the traffic island at Macombs Place, they’re doing a study for the Department of Transportation. They’re counting cars and pedestrians, with the idea of possibly turning the triangle into a pedestrian island. Doesn’t make sense to spend $150,000 to create a plaza when there are projects in the neighborhood like youth basketball for 122 kids that can’t get money anywhere.
The chairman of the tenants’ association will not run for reelection. He’s served for eight years and wants to spend time with his grandchildren.
The group discusses motorcycle packs that ride in the city. The police point of view is don’t chase them.
Cleaning of common hallways is lacking. “It’s not the Dunbar,” says one woman. “It’s the Dump-bar.” Tenants discuss possible need for a petition. Note that management reduced staff just as a rough winter arrived, bringing ice and snow, which results in salt and grime being tramped across floors.
But even with a snowstorm they have to sweep and mop the buildings and clean the grounds. Head of tenants association spoke with the property manager about this. If we had the right amount of staff the situation might be better. Head of tenants association might ask for a volunteer from each courtyard for petition drive. Will speak with manager.
The people responsible for removing snow are not supposed to be the same people coming into apartments to make repairs. Someone notes that’s not followed, however. Someone else asks about union, which might object to that.
When the current management took over the Dunbar they had 75 vacant units. They are renovating the apartments and bringing in additional tenants, which they say will help them to do more as far as staffing. “I’m not impressed by what they say,” someone says. “I’m impressed by what they do.” He notes that insufficient services may entitle us to a reduction in rent.
Work on renovating apartments must take place between 9:00 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays, not late at night or on weekends. Report problems to 311.
If your rent increases sufficiently the landlord can require you to give them additional security deposit, up to one month’s rent.
The number for security is a non-working number. Security company’s personnel don’t seem to be patrolling. They sit inside. Security monitors aren’t working – another decrease in service we can add to our petition.
