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EASEL - San Diego Art Fair
Sept 2,3,4 2011
HOST - Alexander Salazar Fine Art

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN
1040 7th Avenue, San Diego, CA 92101To Register Please call 619-531-8996 or 619-531-8988

EASEL - San Diego Art af(FAIR) 2011 is an amazing art fair celebrating local artists. 

This event will showcase San Diego and Guests Artists.  

Located at 1040 7th Avenue, just half a block from Sponsor Alexander Salazar Fine Art. -  

$5.00 for 3 Day Pass - 5,000 Sq Ft of Amazing Art all on Easels

Sept 2-4 - Friday, Saturday, Sunday -  Fair Hours - 11 am to 8 pm

(Set up Sept 1, Break Down Sept 5^th) Original Art all priced under $5,000

To Participate -

$100.00 Fee To Participate - Non refundable - by Cash, Check or Credit Card.

One Painting up to 60 tall by 40 wide -  Artist must provide their own easel. 

Full Marketing Provided by Alexander Salazar Fine Art in Newspapers, Radio, TV, and Social Media. All Artwork Fully Insured. In the event of a sale - Alexander Salazar Fine Art will Process All Sales and pay any credit card fees associated with the sale  Payment to artist will be payable within 7 business days.  Each Artist Must complete a I-9 Tax form to receive any funds greater than $200.00 

Artist will Receive 75% of Sale - Gallery will Receive 25% of Sale.

To Register Please call 619-531-8996 or 619-531-8988

N. Y. State Attorney General Eric Schniederman files suit against United States for the people of New York

   In a 34 page complaint listed on Liz Benjamins State of Politics blog New York State Attorney General Eric Schniderman has filed suit against the Army Corp of Engineers, the United States Department of Environmental Protection, Department of the Interior, Department of Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Services for what appears to be a halt to any thought of drilling for gas in the Delaware water basin, home of the majority of New York City's fresh drinking water. 

 

COMPTROLLER LIU, NYC PENSION FUNDS TO DISCUSS WAL-MART’S SUPPLIERS
WITH FORMER CHILD LABORER

   New York City Comptroller John C. Liu will host a breakfast meet-and-greet with Trustees of the NYC Pension Funds and Kalpona Akter, a workers’ rights activist and former child laborer from Bangladesh on Tuesday, May 31.

Comptroller Liu, the Trustees and Ms. Akter, who is stopping in New York on her way to Wal-Mart’s annual meeting, will discuss the Funds’ shareholder proposal that Wal-Mart require its suppliers uphold human and workers rights.  The Funds’ hold $311 million in Wal-Mart shares.

On June 3, Ms. Akter, the Executive Director of the Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity, will present the Funds’ proposal to Wal-Mart’s board of directors in Arkansas.  The proposal calls on the nation’s largest retailer to hold its suppliers around the globe accountable for their compliance with international standards of human and workers rights.

Kalpona faces years in prison on unsubstantiated criminal charges of fomenting garment worker unrest in Bangladesh.  Eighteen members of Congress have sent letters on her behalf to Wal-Mart and five other U.S. retailers, as well as to the U.S. Trade Representative.

Orchard Beach Celebrates its 75^th Anniversary

    On Friday, May 27, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. joined Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe and other elected officials to announce the official start of the 2011 summer season and the 75^th anniversary of Orchard Beach. Known as the  Riviera of the Bronx, Orchard Beach is celebrating  its anniversary with a new and better look thanks to the completion  of the $13 million Orchard Beach Shoreline Protection Project. The US Army  Corps of Engineers and the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation  placed approximately 268,000 cubic yards of sand on the beach to further protect it against tides, winds, waves and storms. During the 2011 season, the beach will be open for swimming daily from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm when lifeguards are on duty.

  Borough President Diaz with the 5th Grade Class of P.S. 79 on the newly refurbished Orchard 
Beach.

GUN BUY BACK SCHEDULED FOR JUNE 4TH

DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, THE NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT, AND THE OFFICE OF THE BRONX BOROUGH PRESIDENT RENEW PARTNERSHIP WITH CLERGY TO GET FIREARMS OUT OF CIRCULATION 

Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. have formed a partnership with the pastors of three Bronx churches in sponsoring a gun buy-back program for one day only on Saturday, June 4, 2011.

In a continuing effort to get illegal handguns and other firearms off the streets and out of circulation, participants in the ‘gun buy-back’ will receive a $200 pre-paid cash card for each eligible weapon surrendered, No Questions Asked. The firearms may be turned in at three drop-off locations between the hours of 11:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M.

District Attorney Johnson said: “We are gratified that the Commissioner Kelly and Borough President Diaz recognize the deadly threat that guns pose in our community and once again are being proactive. Now it’s up to all of our citizens to do their part in getting these guns off the streets before they cause more deaths, serious injuries and destroy families.”

Police Commissioner Kelly said: “Programs like the gun buy-back have real, quantifiable results. Since this program started in 2008, it has been responsible for taking over 6,000 guns off the street of the five boroughs. Our hope is that next week’s gun buy-back in the Bronx builds on this success and results in even more guns off the street, and more innocent lives saved.”

Borough President Ruben Diaz said: “Once again my office is working together with District Attorney Robert Johnson and the NYPD to fight gun violence and crime in The Bronx. Every time a firearm is taken out of circulation, we are potentially saving somebody’s life. The Bronx has come a long way, and Bronxites can no longer tolerate gun violence in our neighborhoods. I urge all of our residents to join us on the fight to bring peace to our streets.”

On Saturday, June 4, 2011, people who own illegal handguns will be able to trade them for $200 bank cards.  People turning in operable rifles and shotguns will receive $20 bank cards. The transactions will be completely anonymous with “no questions asked.” A $200 bank card will be issued for each operable handgun gun that is surrendered, with no limit on how many guns may be turned in.  However, participants will only be paid a maximum sum of $600 for three or more handguns. The bank cards can be used either as a debit card to make purchases or to withdraw cash from any ATM.

Firearms belonging to either active or retired law enforcement officials are not eligible for the buy-back program.

Plainclothes NYPD police officers, Bronx DA Detective Investigators, and members of the NYPD Bronx DA Squad will be on hand at the churches to accept the firearms that are surrendered. Participants are encouraged to bring the weapons in paper bags, plastic bags, or shoe boxes. If the weapons are being transported by car, they must be placed in the trunk of the car. 

Funding for the gun “buy-back” program is being provided jointly by the Bronx District Attorney’s Office and the NYPD. Firearms may be surrendered at the following locations:

                         

                 

Bronx Pentecostal                   Grace Temple

1755 Watson Avenue                  2401 Marion Avenue

Bronx, New York 10473             Bronx, New York 10458

Bishop Clarence Jones                 Pastor Olusegun Apoeso

718-822-6929                                 718-367-6937

                                                                                                                                          

Our Lady of Grace

3985 Bronxwood Avenue

Bronx, New York 10466

Father Levelt Germain

718-652-4817

 

Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz's Public Awareness Campaign

New York Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz released the following statement in response to the planned "F*** Ruben Diaz Festival" advertised online to be held on June 11th at the Metropolitan bar in Brooklyn.

"I continue to be the target of a vulgar campaign by seething extremists who oppose my defense of New York's marriage laws.

The latest attempt to publicly attack my integrity is a call for written entries 1000 – 2000 words at a "F*** Ruben Diaz Festival” set to be held on June 11th.  An online group called The New Gay is advertising the event:  TNG Writing Contest Alert - "F*** Ruben Diaz: Gay Erotica Featuring NYC’s Number One Bigot".  Here are their details:

 "So all you LGBT litterateurs (and allies, of course) pick up your pens and plug in your laptops — if a fool is our theme, let satire be our song. Imagine a day in the life of the Bronx's most prominent Pentecostal minister. Is he downtown scoring poppers? Is he rehearsing his latest screed in his bathroom mirror? Is he waking up in a tangle of hard man-bodies after a raging orgy? Don’t think you have to take the closet case angle though, feel free to put Ruben in whatever ridiculous scenario you want — think Onion headline material — 'Ruben Diaz Sprains Ankle, Loses Faith in God', 'Ruben Diaz Tired of Wife's "Meatloaf Mondays'", ‘Ruben Diaz Gives Impassioned Anti-Gay Speech to his Co-Op Board', or, I don't know, 'Ruben Diaz in the MI6: Killing for Queen and Country'."

My position on marriage as defined between a man and a woman is no different than the position of many other Christians.  It is also the teaching of the Catholic Church, of Judaism and of Islam.   The United States Constitution guarantees us all the right to freedom of  – not freedom from – religion.  I am blessed to serve as a Pentecostal minister and I celebrate this!

It is sad to see the disrespect and irreverence that flourishes from those who have no respect for religious leaders here in New York and those who mock us as we serve our communities.

As a Christian and as the President of the New York Hispanic Clergy Organization, I will continue to defend the teachings of the Bible and oppose homosexual marriage.   As a Member of the New York State Senate, I will continue to defend the definition of New York's marriage laws to be between a man and a woman.

I urge Governor Andrew Cuomo along with my colleagues in the legislature, the media, and all New Yorkers to take a close look at the hard core and vulgar tactics that are being used to change a law in New York State.   I urge all to compare my non-violent, peaceful and prayerful rallies to protect marriage and the attempts to humiliate me because of my one vote in the State Senate.  Add to that the intolerant onslaught of hate-filled phone calls to my office. Add to that to the death threats and threats against my family that  have been duly reported to the FBI and the police departments of New York and Albany.

As a Christian, of course I love those who hate me and I will continue to pray for their souls.

Even though for the most part these attacks remain unreported in the news, the public deserves to know about them.  As such, I will continue to document them so my constituents and my colleagues remain aware."

To see more on what Senator Reverend Diaz is talking about click here

 

COMPTROLLER LIU REMARKS ON CONTINUING CITY TIME CONTRACT

Below are remarks by New York City Comptroller John C. Liu at a news conference on Wednesday, May 25, 4:30 p.m. regarding the CityTime project:
“Earlier this afternoon, my office was provided with a letter written  to the Executive Director of the Financial Information Services Agency (FISA) by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), the prime contractor on the CityTime project. We were informed that SAIC had terminated their senior project manager who led the CityTime project.
“The name of that employee is Gerard Denault.
“SAIC has determined that Mr. Denault violated SAIC’s policies and standards with respect to timekeeping practices while working on CityTime. He routinely billed hours to the CityTime project that he did not in fact work.
“By their own admission, this latest development now implicates, for  the first time in this scandal, SAIC. The very company entrusted by our City to build a timekeeping system for NYC employees has grossly mismanaged their own time keeping, and in the process over charged the city for sums of money – still to be determined.
“SAIC now says they will now refund $2,470,522 to the city coffers for the time Mr. Denault billed to hard working NYC taxpayers.
“A few moments ago I sent a letter to the Mayor because I believe we need to work together.
“I am asking him to join me in calling on the Department of  Investigation along with all other relevant authorities to conduct a comprehensive review of other possible violations by SAIC, and I am proposing that the City withhold any future payments to SAIC pending the outcome of the investigations.
“This is a sad day for the New York City taxpayer.
“With the proposed budget cuts looming, we at least need to tightly manage expensive outside consultants.
“The public’s trust in government must be bolstered, and I am committed to working with the Mayor to do just that.”
Below is the full text of the letter sent to Mayor Bloomberg on May 25, 2011.

---
May 25, 2011

Honorable Michael R. Bloomberg
Mayor
City Hall
New York, NY  10007

Re:  Science Application International Corporation (SAIC)

Dear Mayor Bloomberg:

Today, we were informed by SAIC that they have terminated theirproject manager for CityTime.  SAIC cited the project manager’s violation of SAIC’s policies and standards, specifically with regard to his time billed to the City of New York.  Because SAIC cannot accurately calculate the amount that should have been billed to the City, SAIC will reimburse the City for this individual’s billed services.  This repayment amounts to $2,470,522.
To date, the alleged fraud relating to CityTime has only involvedsubcontractors.  This latest development now implicates the prime contractor and compels a comprehensive review of SAIC’s billings to the City, in particular, SAIC employees whose time was billed to the CityTime project.
I am directing my representative on the OPA board to introduce aresolution on the points below, and ask that your representative support the resolution:
§  The Department of Investigation, along with all other relevantauthorities, conduct a comprehensive review of other possible timekeeping violations; and
§  The City withholds any outstanding payments to SAIC pending the outcome of the investigations.
I believe the above actions are necessary and as always, I amavailable to discuss any of these issues with you.  Thank you.
Sincerely,
John C. Liu