Park Slope Reader

Part of the Solution

The Hill We Climb

By Filed Under: Part of the Solution Tagged With: , , ,

When day comes, we ask ourselves where can we find light in this never-ending shade? 

The loss we carry, a sea we must wade. 

We’ve braved the belly of the beast.

We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace,

and the norms and notions of what “just” is isn’t always justice.

And yet, the dawn is ours before we knew it.

Somehow we do it.

Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken,

but simply unfinished.

We, the successors of a country and a time where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president, only to find herself reciting for one.

And yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine,

but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect.

We are striving to forge our union with purpose.

To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters, and conditions of man.

And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us, but what stands before us.

We close the divide because we know, to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside.

We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another.

We seek harm to none and harmony for all.

Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:

That even as we grieved, we grew.

That even as we hurt, we hoped.

That even as we tired, we tried.

That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious.

Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division.

Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree and no one shall make them afraid.

If we’re to live up to our own time, then victory won’t lie in the blade, but in all the bridges we’ve made.

That is the promise to glade, the hill we climb, if only we dare.

It’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit.

It’s the past we step into and how we repair it.

We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it.

Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.

This effort very nearly succeeded.

But while democracy can be periodically delayed,

it can never be permanently defeated.

In this truth, in this faith, we trust,

for while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us. 

This is the era of just redemption. 

We feared it at its inception. 

We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour, 

but within it, we found the power to author a new chapter, to offer hope and laughter to ourselves.

So while once we asked, ‘How could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?’ now we assert, ‘How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?’

We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be: 

A country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free. 

We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation. 

Our blunders become their burdens. 

But one thing is certain: 

If we merge mercy with might, and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change, our children’s birthright.

So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left. 

With every breath from my bronze-pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one. 

We will rise from the golden hills of the west. We will rise from the wind-swept north-east where our forefathers first realized revolution. 

We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states. W

e will rise from the sun-baked south. 

We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover.

In every known nook of our nation, in every corner called our country, our people, diverse and beautiful, will emerge, battered and beautiful.

When day comes, we step out of the shade, aflame and unafraid. 

The new dawn blooms as we free it. 

For there is always light, 

if only we’re brave enough to see it. 

If only we’re brave enough to be it.

Maya Wiley Runs for Mayor of New York City

By Filed Under: Feature, Part of the Solution, Sally Kohn Tagged With: , , ,

“We all see the world from the prism of our experience. The question is: How broad are our experiences? How deep are they?” Maya framed this fundamental question over the phone in the Fall of 2020, just weeks after announcing her groundbreaking – and unconventional – candidacy to be the next mayor of New York City.

Maya Wiley framed this fundamental question over the phone in the Fall of 2020, just weeks after announcing her groundbreaking — and unconventional — candidacy to be the next mayor of New York City. Wiley is a human rights activist and civil rights attorney with a decades-long record of leadership at the forefront of movements for social, economic, and racial justice. She is many other things, too. A black woman. A Brooklyn mom. A child of political icons.  

But what Maya Wiley is definitely NOT is a politician. Which is probably both her greatest asset and her greatest challenge in the mayoral contest.

Wiley was born in 1964 in Washington, D.C., to politically active parents who met in Syracuse. In many ways, her birth was a testament to the complexities of our nation, then as now. Wiley’s father, George, was a professor of organic chemistry who became a leading figure in the civil rights movement. He rose to national leadership in the Congress of Racial Equality and then founded the National Welfare Rights Organization. As a Black man organizing mostly women of color to agitate for dignity and justice in public assistance, he was an early pioneer of what we now call intersectionality — how gender and race and class compound and connect.  Wiley’s mother, Wretha, was a white woman from a Texas town Maya describes as “all white and very racist when she was growing up” who understood the injustice of exclusion and myopia and left to blaze a different path. I should clarify here that Maya Wiley is my friend from years of movement work together, and I met her mom several times before her passing. I can’t help but think that Maya’s candidacy to be the first Black woman mayor of the City of New York represents their daughter but also their hopes for our nation — that we could be the kind of place, the kind of people, who would choose their daughter to lead. 

Because who Maya Wiley is is central to understanding what kind of mayor she would be. After graduating from Columbia Law School and then clerking in Philadelphia, Wiley moved to Brooklyn in 1991 where she’s lived ever since. She held positions at the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and the ACLU, in addition to being a Senior Advisor on Race and Poverty at the Open Society Foundations, advancing human rights and justice around the globe. But perhaps the defining role in Wiley’s career was the one she created for herself when in 2002 she founded the Center for Social Inclusion, one of the nation’s first action-oriented think tanks focused on dismantling structural racism and inequity. With a tiny bit of seed money and, initially, running the organization without paying herself a salary, Wiley created applied research projects led in partnership with communities of color to develop and document transformative policy solutions in housing, food systems, technology access, and more. Yes, Wiley was also a prominent legal analyst for MSNBC and NBC until recently, a Senior Vice President and professor at The New School. Wiley may not be a conventional candidate but she is keenly aware of how city government works, how to manage within it, and what needs fixing to make us fairer and more just. She obviously has the chops to do the job.  She served as the first Black woman to be Counsel to a New York City Mayor, serving early in  Bill de Blasio’s administration. And after leaving in 2016, Chaired the NYC Civilian Complaint Review Board, sending the case of the officer who killed Eric Garner, former Officer Daniel Panteleo, to the NYPD to get him off the force.

But the formative part of Wiley’s career was spent not just talking about bold solutions to our biggest problems — but actually developing them.  When most politicians were still struggling to use words like “intersectional” in a sentence, Wiley was working with grassroots communities and leading innovators to actually put intersectionality into practice — and policy.

And that deep track record from her past shows up in her campaigning today. “I am running because this city can and must do more than recover from Covid,” she told me over the phone when we spoke. “It must reimagine itself as a place where we can all live with dignity. That means a place where we develop without displacement. That means a place where we put the public back in public safety. That means a place where the government is a partner and not a pariah. That means a place where communities of concern get the investments they need in order to become whole.”  

All of which Wiley insists is possible if we stop making bad choices forcing unnecessary trade-offs between helping affluent New Yorkers and Wall Street versus everyone else. “We can be a city that holds onto what we all love about New York,” Wiley says. “We love the fact that New York City is one of the most diverse cities in the world. That brings so much culture and innovation and makes us a place everyone wants to be. We have to hold onto that. But we can’t do that unless we reimagine the city as something that can include everyone.” In other words, Wiley argues, we don’t have to choose between fairness for all versus opportunity for some. There’s another way, where we “come together and have a real, honest conversation about what will make us stronger, what will make us more fair and more just… and bring this city back even stronger.” Wiley points to examples where we can make the city government more principled and more efficient and effective, invest in innovative affordable housing strategies and infrastructure investments that benefit us all.

But can we really do both?  Yes, insists Wiley with her characteristic mix of gumption and faith. “That’s why we need a non-traditional leader. Because we always could do both. We just haven’t had that option.”

Women of color in particular, Wiley explains, have never had the luxury of just “sticking with the status quo or reacting to it. We’ve always had to create.” She makes the case for why we need more diverse and inclusive leadership not just based on principle but practice — the real, concrete difference that leaders with broader perspectives bring to the table.

“I don’t embody every other,” Wiley explains, “but there’s a recognition when you are forced by society, the way we’ve structured society, to have to see many different experiences. Not everybody is forced to do that, but if you are black and female and have been fortunate enough to see what it’s like to be in a segregated, overcrowded, underfunded public school and to see what it’s like in a private school with small classrooms… to have the privilege of living in a black neighborhood where folks could barely get by and living uptown where people are living in mini-mansions… you have a sense of what other experiences are like.”  Which, to Wiley, is the point. We have constructed a society in which some of us, especially those of us often represented in positions of leadership, are distinctly less likely and even insulated from the experiences of others in our society. Electing Black women leaders isn’t just important because it makes our government look more like the people it represents but because diverse leaders can actually understand the lives and needs of all our communities.  When we talk about leadership and say “experience matters,” we also have to broaden our understanding of experience. Actually having lived the plights of ordinary New Yorkers should be a political prerequisite for any leader professing solutions for those plights. 

Which also may be the doorway to a different type of leadership altogether.  Wiley isn’t just positing herself as some sort of singularly unique and therefore singularly able savior, in the vein of ego-centric messiah-like political figures before her. She wants to bring her intersectional experiences and ideas into governing but she doesn’t want to stop there; she also wants to reimagine governing to be inherently more inclusive, participatory, and transparent. To this end, as part of her campaign, Wiley is organizing “People’s Assemblies” that bring wide ranges of New Yorkers together to discuss their priorities and needs and challenges and concerns — ”no matter which candidate they support,” Wiley notes — and come up with shared solutions. “So we’re not just telling folks, ‘Here’s what we’ll do for you.’  We’re starting a democratic practice of coming together and having these conversations.”  

In the first of these People’s Assemblies on the subject of gun violence, participants ranged from an Afro-Latina woman who grew up in public housing and a white man who was a former cop. The conversation — just the fact of them coming together and talking, and the shared struggles and solutions they and others were able to connect over — was, as Wiley describes it, “fantastic.” Several more People’s Assemblies will be organized by the campaign in the coming weeks and months.

“We’re not just asking for votes, we’re asking for community, we’re asking for folks to be in conversation,” Wiley adds. In this sense, Maya Wiley isn’t just a transformational candidate, she’s also running a transformational campaign.  

Which in so many ways makes sense given Wiley’s community organizing roots. In 2014, as Wiley was preparing to work in the de Blasio Administration — where she would ultimately experience how the transformative potential of city government could be wasted under an ineffective, visionless mayor — Wiley spoke to then Politico-reporter Maggie Haberman about the move. “You could have gone and made a million dollars,” Haberman noted, asking why Wiley wanted to work in city government instead.

In response, Wiley shared a memory from her father. “[A] friend of his once asked him, when do you stop, George And his answer was, ‘When no one else is hungry. And his friend said, Well, that’s never going to be the case. And he said, Well then you never stop.’”

Let’s hope Maya Wiley never stops fighting to bring her transformative experiences and ideas — and the experiences and ideas of all New Yorkers — to the fore. If that fight ultimately takes her to City Hall, we’ll be a better city and a better community because of it.

People Over Policing: 6 Ways to Reallocate Funds to Better Serve Our Communities

By Filed Under: Part of the Solution Tagged With:

Mural at Park Slope 5th Avenue – Photos by Sofia Pipolo

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The conversation to defund the police and abolish prisons is nothing new. They’ve been happening within criminal justice reform groups for years.

For example, started in September 2018, No New Jails NYC is “a multiracial, intergenerational network fighting against Mayor Bill de Blasio’s inner-borough jails expansion plan.” Their mission statement reads, “Overwhelmingly, New Yorkers agree that all efforts should be dedicated now to closing all jails on Rikers Island, that there is no need to build any more jails, and that the billions of dollars budgeted for new jails should be redirected instead to community-based resources that will support permanent decarceration.”

The goal of such organizations, working alongside the Black Lives Matter Movement, is to radically reimagine what criminal justice looks like in our country. To bring an end to police brutality and the prison-industrial complex by moving away from hyper-policing, punishment, and control and towards restorative justice, rehabilitation, and reentry. Along with the ending of inhumane practices, such as solitary confinement and exploitative prison labor. 

In the past months, these discussions have moved beyond college classrooms, guest lectures, and activist groups and been brought to the mainstream. Since early May, New York City has consistently held protests. The trading tag of #defundthepolice and #abolishprisons call to question where our country, states, and cities choose to make and spend their money and what that spending prioritizes.

When our political administration has continuously cut back spending on education, social security, environmental conservation, public health care, but continues to increase its spending on military and police we can begin to question what it says about our priorities as a nation? What does it mean when we are number 1 in incarcerated citizens, and number 17 in literacy (with only 12% of adults reading at a high school graduate to college literacy level)? Why is the idea to defund the police so radical, but defunding education isn’t? Or women’s health care? Or National Park services? Or public art programs? All while knowing that our current system does not lead to a reduction in recidivism or reincarceration, but creates a cycle of poverty and punishment, which disproportionately affects people of color and low-income communities.

By providing sustainable, inclusive, and quality resources our city can shift its values and priorities from controlling to serving the people. Here are 6 ways to reallocate funds to better serve our communities.

The prison has become a black hole in which the detritus of contemporary capitalism is deposited. Mass imprisonment generates profits as it devours social wealth, and thus it tends to reproduce the very conditions that lead people to prison”

Angela Davis

1. Education

Almost all sociologists agree education is the number one path to equal opportunity, wealth, and success. It’s individual access to social mobility. It’s our greatest path to building smarter, active, and viable communities. There’s also a push to ensure our curriculum has intersectional representation to create a deeper, dynamic, and more complete look at history, literature, and social sciences. With fully-funded public education, every child will have equal access to intersectional knowledge, social and emotional learning, extracurricular and cultural programs, and a healthy and safe environment to continuously move us to a better future. 

As sociologist and activist writer W.E.B. Du Bois stated, “Education is that whole system of human training within and without the schoolhouse walls, which molds and develops men.”

Protest on August 21 at Barclay’s Center

2. Housing

Finland has essentially ended homelessness. Through the ‘Housing First’ program, those affected by homelessness have received a small apartment and counseling with no preconditions. With an extreme success rate, they have proven that providing permanent housing and the basic groundwork to begin recovering from the causes and effects of homelessness has been more sustainable and cheaper.

It’s hard to give exact numbers on homeless, but in New York City the homeless population accounted for in shelters has steadily increased over the past 5 years. Infrastructure designs, like street spikes, and other forms of policing have received criticism for attacking homeless individuals, and not homelessness. While shelters and other municipalities have continuously worked to support those affected by the city’s now five-decade-long homeless crisis, funding sustainable and permanent affordable housing and income plans are the greatest way to bring an end to homelessness.

3. Addition Rehab

Better funding, support, and awareness for addiction rehab programs will break down systems of poverty and criminalization, and build up community health in NYC. Drug and alcohol addiction is an illness and should be treated as such. By policing and criminalizing addiction, cities are often spending more and perpetuating more harm, such as family breakups and multi-generational poverty. An estimated 50 percent of U.S. prison populations have a drug addiction illness but do not receive the necessary care within prisons. 

Programs that prioritize the well-being of patients, research and education, care, rehabilitation, and prevention have proven more effective for individuals and their families affected by addiction. These programs create less costly, long-lasting, and viable results.

4. Health Care

The Covid-19 Crisis has proven we have a flawed public health care system. With New York having the highest number of deaths, over 32,500, we have seen the virus disproportionately affect Black and Latino individuals and posed an increased threat to the senior population. It has created a much-needed call to action on prioritizing funding for public health care and research.  

Healthy food and fitness options are disproportionately spread out in neighborhoods, with an estimated 750,000 people living in food deserts or without adequate exercise options, like gyms or parks. Similarly, women and LGBTQ individuals are still underserved when it comes to health care resources. Schools fail to offer an inclusive and complete public and sexual health education. And mental health care is put second or dismissed in conversations about public health. To increase the well-being of its people NYC needs all forms of affordable and accessible health care resources for all communities. 

Brooklyn Community Garden

5. Free Public Spaces

Danish architect, Jan Gehl, said: “A good city is like a good party – people stay longer than necessary because they are enjoying themselves.” Public spaces provide us the opportunity to come together and actively engage with our shared community. They should strive to be inclusive and accessible for all ages, backgrounds, and abilities by providing social spaces that fit the communal needs for entertainment, commerce, and recreation. 

Public spaces, like community gardens, public meeting halls, outdoor theaters, local markets, and libraries, serve to enrich communities without barriers of entrees such as memberships or other fees. They create self-sustaining micro-communities that people can openly visit as they wish, use in the ways that seem fit, and promote unity for all peoples.

6. Education for Reentry

Again, education serves as our greatest ally to uplift our city. 

Prison education and rehabilitation programs have shown the greatest success in ending recidivism, incarceration, and reentry poverty. All at a lower cost than fueling the prison system. For example, Hudson Link programs estimate the cost of $60,000 per year to incarcerate a single person, compared to their $5,000 annual tuition fees. These programs are the final step in ending the school to prison pipeline, the prison industrial complex, and mass incarceration.

As Victor Hugo famously said, “He who opens a school door, closes a prison.” 

By funding education, skill-based training, and reentry services incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals are better prepared to positively and successfully serve themselves, their families, and their communities. 

Additional Resources:

Small Shops, Big Impact

By Filed Under: Part of the Solution, Shop Local Tagged With: , , ,

Take a stroll down Park Slope’s Fifth Avenue, or Seventh Avenue, or head on east through Grand Army Plaza into Prospect Heights. Here’s what you’ll find: proof that a strong, locally-owned business economy is good for the community. You will encounter a dizzying selection of unique gifts to help you whittle down your holiday shopping list (phew!), as well as a diverse group of business owners whose investment in the community makes Park Slope and the surrounding area the place to give back while you shop.

There are plenty of statistics showing just how important it is to shop small.

Usually, a higher percentage of the revenue created in a small, locally-owned business will stay in the local economy, when compared to a big-box retailer’s revenue; small businesses tend to create more and better-paying jobs, and the existence of a myriad local businesses spurs competition and innovation, meaning you’re more likely to find unique, high-quality items at reasonable prices. And nationwide, “non-profit organizations receive an average 250 percent more support from smaller business owners than they do from large businesses,” according to the organization Loyal to Local. In Park Slope, many business owners live in the neighborhood or nearby. Park Slope is not just somewhere they work; rather, it’s a place they work to improve.

The ways in which local business owners give back are as varied as the kinds of stores you’ll find here. These good deeds range from free origami lessons at local fairs, provided by Taro’s Origami, to donating all profits to charity, as Life Boutique Thrift donates its profits to Chai Lifeline, an organization that helps Jewish children with life-threatening illnesses. Many businesses also participate in A Taste of Fifth, an annual event occurring in April. Attendees can sample food and drink from local restaurants and watering holes, and the proceeds benefit several local charities, like Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX) and Good Shepherd Services.

At Bhoomki, which appropriately describes itself as “ethically fashioned,” you can find luscious designs made from eco-friendly fabric by traditional artisans. Bhoomki’s owner, Swati Argade, says her store has “become a destination for people who want to buy ethically.” She feels lucky to be able to “provide that service” to shoppers. Every year, Bhoomki donates some of its wares to benefit various charities, like the Rainforest Alliance, and supports local public and private schools by donating gift certificates. When I told Argade that, nationwide, nonprofits receive more in donations from local businesses than they do from big chains, she was not surprised. She imagines that “there’s probably a lot of red tape involved” for larger companies, whereas she, as a small business owner, is in her store three or four days a week. “It’s very easy to reach me,” she says.

The fact that local business owners make a point of giving back is especially impressive given just how difficult it is to own a small business, in any neighborhood. Owners in the area face what Mark Caserta, Executive Director of the Park Slope Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District, calls a “citywide problem”: ever-increasing rents. As property value increases, so do the rents.

Frank Ling, senior teacher and manager of Taro’s Origami, says that rising rents are the “main threat” to business owners. Every day, he passes shuttered boutique stores on Seventh Avenue on his way to work. Many other business owners echo Ling and Caserta’s concerns. Chris Yanatiba, owner of Yanatiba in Prospect Heights, wonders if there is such a thing as “small” business anymore, given just how high rents are. Clarence Nathan, owner of Premium Goods, the go-to spot for sweet kicks, sums it up well: “retail business owners have it rough.”

Park Slope and the surrounding areas could go the way of neighborhoods like Brooklyn Heights, where many of the mom-and-pop stores have been replaced by chains. One resident of Brooklyn Heights feels that the local business scene there has lost much of its “substantive personality.” But Park Slope is holding on, and many local businesses have successfully adjusted to an economy that’s still sputtering after the recession. As Caserta says, business owners have to be innovative because, “fundamentally, people have changed the way they shop and go out” since 2008.

In spite of all that, Park Slope is a place where people want to see small businesses survive and flourish. I asked Clarence Nathan what he would say to encourage residents and visitors to shop small. He said that instead of encouraging shoppers, he “would like to thank them. To shop small is to WANT to support the small guy.” Many Park Slope residents do make the conscious decision to shop small; according to Nathan, they don’t feel the need to shop in “high-end districts,” walking around “with that recognizable shopping bag.”

I asked several store owners, though, whether customers could do more to support Park Slope’s vibrant local economy, given the challenges they face. Tabeel Rush, owner of Tabeel’s Aromatherapy Gift Shop & Salon, encourages residents and visitors to, first of all, explore the area, to come see what Park Slope has to offer. “Fifth Avenue has a lot of things going down,” Rush says, referring to the 500 small stores, bars, and restaurants on Fifth Avenue alone. And Rush knows Fifth Avenue well—her store is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year. She encourages shoppers to “come in and talk to the people and experience the products” that local stores are offering.

You’re bound to discover something unexpected, and the Slope features a mix of veteran and new stores that are ripe for exploration. At Park Chemists—“where gift shop meets pharmacy”—you’ll find a thoughtful selection of holistic and naturally-based goods, in addition to amazing customer service. At this store, which opened in the summer of 2014, customers “feel like they come home” because they’re treated “like family,” says co-owner Gary Valevich.

So, this holiday season, take the time to explore. It’s important to do so, partially because Park Slope doesn’t experience the same level of foot traffic that booming neighborhoods like Williamsburg do. Swati Argade opened a second location, Bhoomki Home, in order to offer ethically made home furnishings, in November of 2014, but she had to close the store after only eight months. Many of her customers later told her they never got a chance to check out Bhoomki Home. They probably thought it would be around longer, but, the economic landscape that store owners face adds a sense of urgency.

That’s why it’s so important to make a conscious effort “to keep these stores alive,” and to help Park Slope keep its “small business character,” as Argade describes it. Once you’ve crossed the threshold into one of Park Slope’s unique boutiques, you’ll immediately notice some striking differences between these stores and big-box retailers. One is, as Clarence Nathan describes it, that local stores know their customers, and they focus on “selecting the right product” for shoppers. These store owners are like curators, diligently scouring Etsy and trade fairs in order to provide shoppers with a memorable selection. As Ann Lopatin Cantrell, owner of Annie’s Blue Ribbon General Store, says, “We do our best to source items that are unique to our shop. One of my favorite parts of having a store is pulling together fun and clever merchandising stories. We always try to outdo ourselves each year,” she says, which is “good news for our customers.”

Customers who want to help ensure the success of their favorite stores don’t always need to spend money to do so (though this certainly helps). Valevich encourages satisfied customers to, in effect, advertise for their favorite shops through word of mouth. Customers can also spread the word via social media. Many stores maintain active accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other platforms; Cantrell says she feels “grateful for all the social media love.”

If you spot something fantastic while shopping, snap a photo and tag the business. You can use hashtags like #shopsmall or, if you’re shopping on Fifth Avenue, #theother5th. And there’s an added benefit to following your favorite stores on social media: you’ll be one of the first to know about special events and sales. Many of Bhoomki’s sales, for example, are advertised to those who have signed up for the store’s email list.

Store owners and the 5th Avenue Business Improvement District have a lot planned for this holiday shopping season. On Small Business Saturday, November 28th, the 5th Avenue BID will conduct its annual tree lighting, and, as Caserta reminds us, “Christmas lights will be up over the Avenue again.” Bhoomki’s holiday sale begins that day, and it’s also when the store will launch its holiday merchandise.

The festivities will extend throughout the entire season. Customers can help celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Tabeel’s Aromatherapy Gift Shop & Salon with a big sale on December 14th, and the store will also be hosting a smaller, in-house Kwanzaa celebration later in December. At Yanatiba, customers will be able to order custom-made silver jewelry, while also browsing through eclectic offerings of Early American furniture and gift items from around the world. So, as the leaves in Prospect Park change color and fall, and as the holidays approach, why not buy local? It’s a great way to ring in the new year in Park Slope.

Vision Zero: A New Kind of Street Smart

By Filed Under: Part of the Solution

memorial_6

In the wake of the three tragic pedestrian deaths of local M.S. 51 students this past year, fellow student and advocate for pedestrian safety awareness, Alison Collard de Beaufort, decided it was time for action. Beaufort personally knew the three victims Mohammad Naiem Uddin, Sammy Cohen Eckstein, and Joie Sellers and recalls what it was like to suffer the loss of her friends and classmates. Both Sellers, twelve, and Uddin, fourteen, were killed by hit-and-run drivers in the Park Slope neighborhood, while Eckstein was killed near Prospect Park when fetching his soccer ball which had rolled into the street.

“The first time it happened it’s a big shock, you don’t expect it. Then having to go through it a second time and then a third time all within fourteen months was completely surreal. It is a pain that no one should have to experience.”
-Alison Collard de Beaufort

Reaching out to heavy-weight champion for pedestrian rights, Councilman Brad Lander, in hopes of finding a solution to the seemingly growing hazard of street safety in Brooklyn, the ambitious sophomore of Brooklyn Technical High School aimed to start a social action group specifically targeted for students. “Since most groups are for adults and parents, Councilman Lander and I had a meeting [about] how to get students involved with the matter—which is how Vision Zero Youth Council was created,” Beaufort elaborates.

Vision Zero, a series of traffic legislations originally implemented in Sweden to eradicate serious crashes, made its way to New York City this past year when Mayor Bill de Blasio placed the act at the top of his transportation priority, with policies of lowering driving speeds and expanding automated enforcement.  Following in the footsteps of the Swedish model and mantra of having an anticipated zero deaths or serious pedestrian injuries by 2020, New York City is embarking upon both technological and legislative changes to help facilitate the much-needed social revolution of pedestrian safety. A few items in the works include the planned additions of 120 speed-tracking cameras near schools, following the impressive example by Sweden who has installed more than 1,100 cameras, along with the goal of reducing the citywide speed limit from 30 miles per hour to 25.

New York City’s Transportation Department is keen on blending both Swedish-style design principles along with engaging public awareness campaigns. The reasoning lies simply with the notion that despite changing speed limits and traffic design, the ultimate preventative measure in pedestrian accidents lies in properly educating both drivers and pedestrians. We are admittedly in the age where there are a plethora of technological distractions—whether it is a driver on the phone or a pedestrian with headphones in—and in order for change to occur both parties must do their part in adopting safe practices.   

But all this legislative banter clearly isn’t reserved for adults. The Vision Zero Youth Council is a means for students in the New York City area, grades four to twelve, to join the call to social action, come up first hand with solutions to on-going problems, offer input for pedestrian safety around schools, and liaise directly with school faculty members. Of course parents are welcome to join the meetings, but they should be prepared to take the back seat to these vocal and opinionated young people. Of the two meetings the council has hosted to-date Beaufort notes, “Though we have only had two meetings so far, one held each month, there has been great discussion and brainstorming among local students and faculty members, and the future membership for the group looks very promising.” Faculty members of local schools are doing their part in spreading the word of the council, encouraging students to get involved and attend the meetings.

After just coming to creation in January of this year, the Vision Zero Youth Council has had a notable attendance of approximately thirty members to each meeting as well as mustering hundreds of likes and followers on its social media pages, which are all personally manned by Beaufort when she is not figure skating or spending time with her school’s engineering club. The Vision Zero meetings, held once a month at local M.S. 51, have an open forum style where students are welcome to voice their concerns and work together to find solutions. Though the council does not have an official board yet, the strategic fourteen-year-old has picked her allies with care, as councilman Lander and the Department of Transportation have played prominent roles in laying the foundation for the council.

Councilman Lander has shown time and time again that pedestrian safety in the city is of upmost importance with his newest call to action, the Driver Accountability Task Force—just passed early March in partnership with Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson and Street Safety Advocates. The avant-garde approach of the Driver Accountability Task Force aims to increase prosecution of reckless driving and eliminate loopholes in legislation, which allow drivers who cause injury or death to pedestrians to escape punishment.

The force—formed in response to the third tragic hit-and-run fatality of 14-year-old Mohammed Naiem Uddin who was hit in a cross-walk when a driver failed to yield—will comprise stakeholders from the NYPD, advocacy groups, local and state governments, and criminal justice experts. While advocacy groups like the Zero Vision Youth Council serve to take preventative measures for pedestrian accidents, the Driver Accountability Task Force will ensure that justice is met when unfortunate accidents occur.  The hope is to foster a cultural shift in the ethical implications of driving responsibly and to further force drivers to face the repercussions of reckless driving.

In the wake of the local tragedies, support and advocacy groups consisting of victims of traffic violence and families who have suffered loss from reckless driving have sprung up. Families for Safe Streets, formed in early 2014, has played a crucial role in lobbying for changes in legislation such as lowering city speed limits. The group wants to make a conscious effort to turn their grief into action and create a city in which pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles safely coexist. Going with the notion of strength in numbers, the Vision Zero Youth Council plans to partner with Families for Safe Streets and other social action groups in order to tag-team legislative changes through rallies, events, and social media campaigns to engage public discussion.

Other groups such as Transportation Alternatives are more on the extreme end of the pedestrian activist spectrum, suggesting vehicles be eliminated altogether, promoting bicycling, walking, and public transit as a means to get around. While it might not seem totally realistic to banish the car completely here in Brooklyn, the big brother group, founded in 1973, has managed some notable accomplishments such as Citi Bike, parking-protected bike lanes, Select Bus Service, and automated speed enforcement cameras just to name a few. Possible future projects could include ways to reduce cyclist fatality rates, as Swedish authorities are channelling efforts to find an energy-absorbing pavement to alleviate the severity of a fall.  Like that of Families for Safe Streets, their ultimate goal is to see change and eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries in the city’s streets.

New York City might be similar to Stockholm in the essence that it is the national epicenter for the Vision Zero initiative, and leading by example might encourage other metropolitan cities in the country to jump on the pedestrian safety bandwagon and take the necessary steps to propagate change. San Francisco adopted the Vision Zero plan at the same time as New York City in January of 2014, with Boston shortly after in March 2014, and most recently Portland as of February 2015.  Car companies like Volvo are also taking matters into their own hands and have initiated projects for automatic braking and steering, pedestrian and cyclist detection systems, and even a bit of a robotic-esque sensor that can read road signs. On the topic of drinking and driving, Sweden ensures sober driving by installing breathalyzers in nearly all school buses and government vehicles as well as one-third of taxis—all of which New York City might think about incorporating in the future.

With a full plate of agendas and a seemingly endless list of pedestrian safety topics, what really is the Vision Zero Youth Council’s main goal? Beaufort emphasizes, “We really want to put an end to pedestrian deaths and make zero fatalities and injuries a reality by 2020.” And of course, spreading awareness of the issue: “I want students to know that this isn’t just an annoying topic that teachers pester us about. This is a real problem that has directly affected us and change needs to happen.” With the progress made by the group already in its short time of existence, there is no limit to what these driven students can accomplish within the next five years.

For more information on the Vision Zero Youth Council and for meeting dates and times visit their website: http://visionzeroyc.wix.com/vzyc2015

Retaining Our Rain

By Filed Under: Part of the Solution

As we board the subway, get in elevators, and jog down the sidewalks, we start to take for granted the feeling of pavement beneath our feet; it’s easy to forget that the structures around us have only been in place for about 300 years.

There’s a sense of comfort, after all, for us city dwellers—an assuring sense of groundedness and even permanence felt when making contact with New York’s foundation.  We even allude to it in our daily conversations; we “pound the pavement” to find success, and “kick to the curb” things we want to discard.  Is there anything in this world that invokes imagery of strength and efficiency like the concrete jungle?

If there’s ever a thing to snap one out of a state of urban sentimentalism it’s the foul stench that reeks from the waters of the Gowanus Canal.  It’s an offensive reminder of the constant give and take between environment and urban development.  In 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declared the canal one of the nation’s most polluted bodies of water, adding it to the Superfund list to join the ranks of our country’s most hazardous waste sites.  In December 2012, the EPA released a proposal detailing its plan to launch a ten-year, multi-million dollar cleanup of the canal.

Beth and Frieda | Photo by Jeane M. McLellan

I sit across the table from Beth Franz and Frieda Lim in Four and Twenty Blackbirds on Third Avenue, only 500 meters away from the canal.  These two women are well acquainted with the dichotomy of New York’s green and grey worlds and have invested their careers in reconciling this divide.  Franz is an associate at a landscape architecture firm and specializes in urban design and green infrastructure.  Lim owns Slippery Slope Farm in Gowanus, and was part of the team who brought the Edible Community Garden to P.S. 39.  Both have a thorough understanding of our urban ecosystem and are working to innovate the way we think about structure, its relationship to environment, and its potential pitfalls.

One of those pitfalls is storm water management.  Over 300 years ago, long before the factories, subway lines, or sewers of modern-day Brooklyn, there was the Gowanus Creek and its network of tributaries.  There were also trees, marshes, swamps, and fields that thrived off of rainfall, and animals that borrowed their own underground networks through the absorbent soil and loam that supported the world of surface dwellers.  When heavy storms rained down, the water replenished the streams, and the excess sunk into the earth.  The earth retained it for later, acting as a sort of sponge that could be squeezed for moisture in times of thirst.

This system was compromised when the Dutch began to settle and literally lay the foundation for what would become one of the largest cities in the world.  The natural green spaces of Brooklyn diminished to a mere fraction of what they were 300 years ago, and factories, shipyards, paved roads, and warehouses took their place.  With development came the removal of nature’s storm water management system and the installation of a manmade one.  The newly industrialized Brooklyn of the 1800s needed land on which to build factories, and those factories needed a place to dump their waste.  In 1848 the city approved the dredging of Gowanus Creek and the surrounding marshlands and began construction on the Gowanus Canal—one, big, open-air sewer.

We’ve come a long way since the days when it was acceptable to dump our waste straight into the canal, but what many may not realize is that this still happens, just less frequently.

The city uses a combined sewer system, which catches and transports both storm water runoff and raw sewage in the same pipes.  Under normal conditions, it works fine.  But when storms move in and produce an unusually high amount of rainfall, that’s when “shit happens.”

The overflow mechanism is triggered, and the spillover is flushed through combined sewer overflows (CSOs) straight into the nearest body of water.  The spillover is more than just rainwater.  It’s rainwater that has churned and mixed with everything we’ve all been dumping down the drain—soap, chemicals, cleaners, paint, oil, urine, feces, vomit—a slurry many living within the flood zones of Sandy dealt with firsthand.   Specifically, there are ten CSOs that dump into the Gowanus, and OH-007 is the second most active.

“It’s an enormous issue and huge environmental problem,” sighs Franz, “and what we want to do here in Park Slope will hopefully diminish our role in it.”  Lim and Franz are heading up the Environmental Gardens & Education Committee, which has proposed a local public works venture called P.S. 39 Stormwater Garden Initiative Program.  The initiative will repurpose space within the school grounds of P.S. 39, converting underutilized space into functional and beneficial solution to Park Slope’s storm water runoff.  Specifically, the committee plans on introducing green infrastructure to the schoolyard and front garden areas by adding bioswales—small gardens that catch storm water—and by swapping out the current concrete walkway with permeable pavers.

The Committee recognizes that space in the schoolyard is a luxury and has taken that into consideration.  Currently, the school’s perimeter fence is braced by metal structures that are not only a minor safety hazard for kids, but also eat up about a foot-and-a-half of space adjacent to the fence.  The bioswales will fill that void along the school’s perimeter and serve as a sponge-like interceptor to puddles and torrents that gush through after heavy rains.  The entrance of the school, which is currently paved with impenetrable slabs, will be resurfaced with permeable pavers with spacers that are more conducive to groundwater absorption.  Layers of gravel, sand, and mesh will protect the spaces so weeds won’t be able to grow in between.

It doesn’t sound all that complicated because it isn’t.  In total, the project is only estimated to cost about $125 thousand and can be implemented over the course of a couple months.  “Once installed, [the improvements] will be self-sustaining, requiring little maintenance and no additional manpower,” explains Franz.  “All of the plants will be native varieties and will be able to live entirely off of natural rainfall.”

The impact of these changes, however, would be meaningful. For one, the storm water runoff from P.S. 39 drains directly into OH-007, that second most offending outfall site.  While it’s tricky to guess exactly how much of that runoff will be reduced, Franz and Lim expect the new green infrastructure will divert a significant amount of storm water away from the outfall.

Lim looks at the table behind us where her daughter and niece giggle and play.  It’s clear that P.S. 39 was a strategically chosen as the site for this project for reasons other than its proximity to OH-007.

“We’re hoping this project will be a lesson for the kids that they can take home and pass along,” say Lim.  “It’s important to us that this be used as an educational tool.  We want people to take an interest in what this all is and see how it’s done.”

One of the main tenants of the plan addresses a current lack of sustainability education in our schools’ curriculums, as explained by Karen Herskowitz, P.S. 39’s parent coordinator: “Students at P.S. 39 are part of a future generation that will be faced with many environmental challenges.  Our children will be tasked with making innovative changes in the way our population lives or face dire consequences.”  If implemented, the project will be the first of its kind, and both Franz and Lim are excited about the prospect of Park Slope leading the way for future green infrastructure improvements throughout the city.

The P.S. 39 Stormwater Garden Initiative program was one of twenty other proposals competing for a piece of Representative Brad Lander’s $1 million Participatory Budget, which went to ballot on April 7.  Frieda, Lim, and the rest of the committee had hoped to win a favorable vote, but unfortunately, their project did not make the cut.  While  they are disappointed with the outcome, the Committee will continue to seek out alternative sources of financial support for their plan.

To learn more about the project and ways to get involved, visit the P.S. 39 Park Slope Stormwater Garden Initiative’s Facebook Page.

Park Smoke

By Filed Under: Part of the Solution

Whether it be what you like to do at 3 a.m. while watching Golden Girls reruns and eating White Castle Microwaveable Cheeseburgers, or whether you consider it taboo, America’s views about marijuana are changing.

Eighteen states have legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes, Colorado and Washington became the first two states to legalize it for recreational usage, and according to a 2012 Rasmussen poll, fifty-six percent of Americans think marijuana should be legalized and regulated like alcohol and tobacco. Yet despite all this, there is still resistance. According to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), the US still spends nearly $42 billion per year in marijuana-related criminal justice costs and in lost tax revenues, there were 853,838 arrests made in 2010 for marijuana-related offenses, and a majority of states still ban it even for medicinal purposes. Under the Controlled Substances Act, the federal government considers it a Level 1 drug—every bit as dangerous as heroin with no medical benefit—and they continue to raid and prosecute marijuana sellers and users regardless of individual state legality. Where do you stand on this issue? Do you want to continue locking people up for nonviolent marijuana violations? Do you want to let marijuana be legalized? And where does New York and Park Slope fall within this dank, purple haze do you ask? I will share.

According to a Sienna College poll, fifty-seven percent of registered voters in New York state are for the legalization of medical marijuana. Though not yet for full legalization, Governor Andrew Cuomo, with the support of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, did introduce a plan to decriminalize the possession of small amounts. Like most progressive legislation in Albany, the bill died. If it had been enacted, it would have changed the punishment for possession of twenty-five grams or less from a criminal misdemeanor to a violation with a fine of up to $100.

In 2011, the New York City spent about $75 million arresting approximately 50,700 people for low-level marijuana offenses as reported by Fox News. Marijuana accounts for more arrests than any other crime in the city (nothing kills a good buzz like being put in a jail cell). The $75 million price tag includes court costs, police manpower and jail time. Data from the 2010 US Census and NY State Division of Criminal Justice Services estimate that approximately 1,150 people get arrested in neighboring Bedford- Stuyvesant each year for possession and about 1,600 get arrested in Brownsville. How many people get arrested in Park Slope? About 115 a year. Hmmmm… so police lock up about 1,035 more people in Bed-Stuy and 1,485 more people in Brownsville per year than they do in Park Slope. Why the disparity? (I’ve smelt more than my fair share of ganja wafting down Park Slope avenues in little green clouds.) Ailsa Chang of WNYC reports, “Though national studies show young whites smoke pot more, eighty-seven percent of those arrested for marijuana in New York City are either black or Latino.” But that would mean that Park Slope is more white than the surrounding neighborhoods… oh right. My advice to the 115 Park Slopers who did get arrested: stop skateboarding and taking bong hits in front of Precinct 78.

Except when it comes to the Top Notch Gentlemen terrifying young mothers by smoking blunts on the playground at Lincoln Place, Park Slopians don’t seem to mind marijuana much. David, a young African-American man who works in the area and smokes, believes, “It’s a victimless crime. I feel like law enforcement wastes a lot of time and resources on catching people smoking weed…Jail record [and] drug charges add up later down the line. People don’t need that.” Tom, a single, white working man in his thirties, who doesn’t smoke marijuana, believes there’s a double-standard, “If they’re gonna make alcohol legal, marijuana should be legal. Nobody smokes marijuana and goes home and beats their wife.” Jenny, a white mother who has lived here for over twenty years, and smokes occasionally, went even further, “If you commit a crime while using a drug, that’s different, but if it’s only drug use, then I say decriminalize all drugs.”

What would happen to Park Slope if marijuana were decriminalized or even legalized? How would the community change? Would the now-free 115 non-violent offenders consume all the Tasti D-Lite on Ninth Street and Seventh Avenue? Would they start a naked drum circle in front of the YMCA? Would they hallucinate that swarms of feral monk parakeets are flying overhead? (Actually feral monk parakeets do fly over Park Slope— there’s a colony of them that nest in Greenwood Cemetery).

Soffiyah Elijah, executive director of The Correctional Association Of New York and a Park Slope resident, states, “It costs about $56,000 a year to incarcerate someone.” That’s a lot of money when it comes to non-violent marijuana crimes. It costs approximately $1,479 to simply arrest a single low-level marijuana offense; this means if we were to legalize marijuana and let those 115 non-violent offenders go, over the next ten years Park Slope alone would see more than $1,700,000 returned to the community. This money could be used to build recreational centers, schools, parks, libraries, fix that pot hole on Fourth Avenue that nearly claimed my life, and all sorts of other uses. Police would be able to focus their time on violent crime, like, catching that perv who was sexually assaulting women or the guy who stole the wheel off my bike (I’m still pissed about that). The 115 non-violent offenders would be able to stay with their families and continue to serve the community by working, instead of costing us taxpayer dollars.

Hector, a Hispanic father who has lived in the neighborhood for years, has been fined a number of times for marijuana possession and was also locked up for five days. After being stopped-and-frisked, the cops ordered him to empty his pockets. When he produced a small bag of weed, they arrested him. Hector explained, “When you get to the precinct and you ask [other inmates] what you here for, what you here for? [They say] weed weed weed weed.” Personally I’d rather see more violent criminals in the cells rather than pacifists with bad short-term memories. It seems that far too much attention is being given to people minding their own business, than those who are real menaces to society.

New York is falling behind in the marijuana movement. We are surrounded by states that have legalized it for medicinal use, including New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Delaware and Maine. Even if we legalized it just for medicinal purposes, those 115 non-violent offenders could open up medicinal dispensaries that would be regulated, taxed, and provide jobs and money to the community. We would benefit from their services.

There are people who say these 115 non-violent offenders should continue to be arrested. They argue that weed makes you lazy and stupid and that all you’ll do is play video games. (All I do is play video games when I’m sober too…) Michael R. Long, chairman of the NY State Conservative Party, posited that decriminalization could lead to the increased use in children.  at is actually not true. As reported by KPVI News 6, according to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, “Teens between the ages of twelve and seventeen say it’s easier to get marijuana than buy cigarettes, beer or prescription drugs.” Regulating marijuana and making it legal for those twenty-one and older is the best way to keep it out of the hands of kids. Laura, a white Park Slope mother of a two-year-old daughter, is still worried, “I think that parents are worried it’s a gateway drug, because eventually you will get bored with the high of marijuana and a lot of people will go onto another substance.” Again, not true. Gateway theory, as it’s known, is a widely fabricated belief.  The 2006 University Of Pittsburgh, the 1999 US National Academy Of Science’s Institute of Medicine, and the data compiled by the National Household Survey On Drug Abuse found no evidence that marijuana use led directly to the use of harder drugs.  The 115 non-violent offenders aren’t necessarily interested in taking bumps of cocaine in the bathroom stalls at a Black Keys concert. For many of them, a joint, a three-quarter pound Delirious Burger from Cheeburger Cheeburger, and a four-hour romp through Medal Of Honor are all that interests them.

As Bob Dylan sang, “The times they are a-changin.”  The legalization movement has picked up a lot of steam and we may see some changes to the marijuana laws in the next couple of years.

Whether you are for the legalization of marijuana or the continued prohibition of marijuana, we would like to hear from you. Please comment on whether you are for it or against it.