Chancellor Walcott Town Hall Meeting

   New York City public schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott held a town hall meeting at the Walton Campus last night. The chancellor by the Mayoral Control law must have a town hall style meeting every two years in each school district according to Community District Education Council 10 President Marvin Shelton. Due to the poor outreach in organizing this town hall meeting there were few parents in the audience which included DOE staffers, teachers, and principals (as you will see in one photo below).

   Walcott opened up by saying that he prefers schools of choice, in 3-4 weeks students will be taking the state Math and English tests, and even with Hurricane Sandy and a bus strike the schools have come out all right. Walcott answered (or had some DOE personal) answer questions that ranged from ELL & immigrant learners, chronic overcrowding, budget cuts, IEP'S, The recent incident at MS 80, when the Walton pool would reopen, and what goals set up by the mayor that have not been reached. Answers ranged from that a new 665 seat school would be opening on Webster Avenue in 2014, the failure to reach an agreement with the teachers union, the reopening of the Walton pool in April, and in 2001 there were 1250 schools whereas now there are 1750 schools. Walcott added that many larger schools have been closed and broken down into smaller schools where the common areas are assigned by the individual school enrollment and worked out by each principal when questioned by Assemblyman Dinowitz (who was in the audience).

   It was brought up during the meeting by members of the audience that a town hall meeting is an open forum to ask questions, and not to have to write them on a card that then gets edited. CDEC 10 President Shelton lamented that the original procedures put in place when the education councils were put into effect to replace the school boards are now not being followed by the DOE, giving the example of zoning. Walcott answered by saying that was good feedback and that he would look into it. Walcott then went on to speak on how he took 2-3 buses to get to junior high school, and 3 buses to get to high school. he ended by saying that he wants to give every student a choice of a good school, and not just have to go to the local school. 

   After the town hall meeting Chancellor Walcott was interviewed by two television station reporters who asked about the recent incident that took place at nearby MS 80. Walcott answered that the incident was under investigation, that the DOE has a discipline policy in effect for such incidents, and that the parent has a right to a safety transfer for her child. When I asked if the incident was gang related as has been in some cases in the past, Chancellor Walcott said he did not think or know of any gang problem at the school.

Left - Chancellor Walcott opens the meeting (CDEC President Marvin Shelton is seated behind Walcott).

Right - Walcott watches as Interim Superintendent Melodie Mashel answers a question, as CDEC President Shelton looks for the next question.

There were lots of empty seats at this Town Hall meeting due to lack of getting the information about the meeting out to the parents and public.

Left - Chancellor Walcott is challenged by two of the attendees on the procedure of a town hall meeting.

Right - Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz addresses Chancellor Walcott.

What You Should Know

By Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz
32nd Senatorial District, Bronx County, New York

Rossana and El Diario La Prensa, Here is Your Great Opportunity

 
   You should know that Ms. Rossana Rosado has held the esteemed position of Publisher and CEO of El Diaro la Prensa for more than ten years. You should also know that this year, El Diario la Prensa is celebrating 100 years of existence. There have been many activities and special events planned to recognize and celebrate the largest and oldest Spanish-language newspaper in the country. These events in honor of El Diario la Prensa include a dinner by New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo.

As you know, El Diario la Prensa credits itself as a publication that protects and fights for the rights of the immigrants, and criticizes anyone who is not in favor of the immigrant. El Diario la Prensa’s famous motto is El Campeón de los Hispanos which means "the Champion of the Hispanics." They have been demanding that the Dream Act become law, to the point that their March 18, 2013 editorial, Unity on the NY Dream Act, asks for all of the Hispanic Senators in New York State NOT to vote for the Budget if it does not include the Dream Act.

I would like to take this opportunity to call on Rossana Rosado, the Publisher and CEO of El Diario la Prensa, to see this as her great opportunity to put up, or shut up.

I have to believe that if El Diario la Prensa has the courage and commitment to ask the Hispanic Senators not to vote on the Budget if it does not include the Dream Act, then we should expect for Rossana Rosado and El Diario la Prensa to bring it to the Governor this Friday when Governor Andrew Cuomo will be honoring Rossana Rosado and El Diario la Prensa in Albany.

It would have been better if, instead of accepting the Governor’s invitation for a dinner celebration to recognize El Diario la Prensa, they could have said, “Governor, we will not accept it because of the way you have been treating our community and our immigrants, and we don't want the Dream Act to be shelved once again." THAT would have sent the greatest message of all, and everybody and every newspaper would have said that El Diario la Prensa truly IS a champion to refuse an invitation from Governor Andrew Cuomo, all because the Governor refused to include the Dream Act in New York State's Budget.

However, due to the fact that El Diario la Prensa has accepted Governor Andrew Cuomo’s invitation – and they will be coming to Albany on Friday – they can still make a difference. During that dinner, Rossana Rosado can use the opportunity to say publicly – with the same insistence El Diario la Prensa used to ask for New York’s Hispanic Senators to vote "NO" on the Budget – that El Diaro la Prensa demands for New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo to stop ignoring the immigrants and to put the Dream Act into the Budget.

You should know that I have been criticizing my colleagues, especially the Black and Hispanic Senators, for being too eager to accept every one of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s invitations to go to his mansion and eat his food and drink his wine, while they get nothing for our community. I would hate to think that El Diario la Prensa and Rossana Rosado are among those who like to publicly write and demand action in favor of our community and of the immigrant, but in private join the Governor in his mansion to eat his food and drink his wine, while nothing is done for our community and the Governor keeps laughing at us.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a great opportunity for Rossana Rosado and El Diario la Prensa, not only to eat dinner and drink wine in the Governor’s mansion, but to put strong words in defense of what they preach and what they write about the Dream Act.

This is Senator Reverend Rubén Díaz, and this is what you should know.

Sick Pay Bill

 (This comes from The Bronx Chamber of Commerce) 

The City Council will hear testimony on the Sick Pay Bill this Friday.  This will probably be your last chance to call your Council-member to urge him/her to withhold support until the bill is redrafted in a manner that is less destructive to businesses.  The following is yesterday's article in Crains New York Business:

Meet the sick-days police

Gulp: The city's Department of Health would audit businesses.

Crain's Published: March 18, 2013

Been incorporated as a business here for all of 12 months? Congratulations. You must now comply. Multilingual written notice must be given to all employees and similarly worded posters displayed. Personnel manuals and orientation materials must reflect the many provisions of the new law, which include rules governing the swapping of shifts to cover for last-minute employee absences and the accumulation of unused paid sick days into future years.

Interestingly, the sick employee must provide little beyond his or her word. An employer may not demand a physician's note until the third day out. Even then, the note need not specify the nature of an employee's or family member's claimed illness or condition. Naturally, the employer cannot withhold pay or deny the sick days if the worker fails to produce even such minimal documentation.

A fired employee who persuades a DOH-approved tribunal that he or she was wronged by the employer who dared dismiss a ne'er-do-well for abusing the newly prescribed right to call in sick five times a year without a moment's warning, well, he or she can be awarded at least $5,000 and other relief - "including reinstatement and promotion."

Family shop or Fortune 500 HQ, it matters not: The bureaucrats who brought you the beverage ban would have the power to subpoena and examine your employment records. Has anyone outside a union hall actually read this law? Better take a big gulp. DOH investigators can show up at your store or office demanding a compliance audit with no more evidence than a claim of wrongdoing by a kvetcher whose identity you may never learn. Woe to the business that does not have three years' worth of paperwork documenting the hours worked and sick time accrued and taken by each employee-full-time, part-time or even seasonal. Under this law, failure to maintain proper records is presumed to be evidence of a violation. First violation: $1,000. A second violation within the next five years: at least $2,000.

You may have heard something in the news last week about a modest initiative from the New York City Department of Health that called for limiting sales of sugary drinks to 16-ounce portions. Well, guess which city agency would be responsible for enforcing the City Council's proposed paid-sick-days law? That's right: the DOH, which under the latest rewrite of the sick-days legislation is given incredible policing powers over any city business with five or more employees. 

 

 

COMPTROLLER LIU & MAYOR BLOOMBERG ANNOUNCE SWEEPING REFORMS TO CITY SUBCONTRACTING REQUIREMENTS

   New Reporting System Will Increase Transparency & Reduce Possibility for Fraudulent Billing 

   Comptroller John C. Liu and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today announced that New York City will become the first municipality in the country to establish a comprehensive subcontracting database and publicly report payments made by prime contractors to subcontractors, which will greatly enhance the City’s – and the public’s – ability to monitor billions of dollars worth of contract activity. The new reforms will also strengthen the City’s capacity to detect and address potentially fraudulent billing practices, further ensure the timeliness of payments from contractors to subcontractors and more seamlessly track the utilization of minority- and women-owned businesses on subcontracted City work. The Mayor’s Office of Contract Services and the Comptroller’s Office have been working on this subcontracting initiative for more than a year, and recently began a pilot program with vendors serving as initial testers.

“Today marks the start of a new era of scrutiny for outside contractors,” said Comptroller Liu. “Giving all New Yorkers the ability to keep an eye on this information will give contractors 8.3 million more reasons to spend tax dollars as prudently as possible. It’s great that the Big Apple is setting another national benchmark for government transparency.”

“From creating a Citywide Performance Reporting tool, which allows the public to track agency performance, to establishing the City’s Open Data Portal, which makes more than a thousand agency data sets available for public use, we’ve worked to make City government more open and transparent,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “These new reporting requirements will help us to continue to lead the way in making government more accessible and accountable to the public.”

“This collaborative process produced an effective, efficient system that will reduce the risk of waste and fraud,” said Vanessa Champion, Chief of Staff and Special Counsel, Office of Comptroller Liu.

“By using the latest technology, we are furthering our goal of enhancing transparency,” said Andrea Glick, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services. “The new subcontracting database is a win for the City, and we are thankful to our partners for helping ensure its launch.”

Beginning this month, on any new contract valued over $1 million, all prime vendors will have to disclose information on the City’s Payee Information Portal, including the names of subcontractors hired as well as each and every payment to them. In June, the ceiling is lowered to contracts above $250,000, which will ensure approximately 96 percent of all dollars spent on City contracts are captured in this new database. The work to design and develop this new tracking system was completed by CGI, based on a fixed-price deliverable contract for a cost of $1.6 million. In the event a prime vendor fails to carry out their responsibility, the City has the right to withhold payment until all requirements have been met.

The City’s new requirements will create a central infrastructure to improve oversight, further reduce the possibility of fraudulent billing and ensure that the City is meeting its minority and women-owned business enterprise goals. Since Local Law 129 was first enacted in December 2005, certified minority and women-owned businesses have won thousands of contracts – worth billions of dollars in total aggregate value – in prime and subcontracts with the City of New York.

Once these new protocols are established, each payment and data set will be fully integrated with the Comptroller’s Checkbook NYC fiscal transparency website – which was launched with the assistance from the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services – placing never-before-seen subcontract data in the public domain.

The City modeled its groundbreaking reforms on the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, which was signed into law in 2006 and requires Federal contractors to disclose their subcontractors through a searchable website. Unlike the Federal government, however, the City is the first in the nation to publicly disclose both the names of subcontractors and payments made to them. 

“Citizens Union commends Comptroller Liu and Mayor Bloomberg for working collaboratively to provide more complete information about payments made to subcontractors through the Comptroller’s transparency website, Checkbook,” said Dick Dadey, Executive Director of Citizens Union. “Given the large size of certain contracts, it is important to provide New Yorkers with greater detail regarding those subcontractors who perform services for the city of New York.  This new level of detail will give New Yorkers more information on how their tax dollars are being spent and on whom. Such greater public scrutiny could result in cost savings.”

“This initiative improves transparency of New York City’s operations and is an important step forward for facilitating oversight of the city’s contracting operations,” said Citizens Budget Commission President Carol Kellermann.

“New Yorkers will be getting a much more complete picture of how contractors and subcontractors are spending their tax dollars, thanks to Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Comptroller John Liu,” said Gene Russianoff, senior attorney for the New York Public Interest Research Group.

“Congratulations to Mayor Bloomberg and Controller Liu,” said John Kaehny, Executive Director of Reinvent Albany and Co-Chair of the NYC Transparency Working Group. “Digitizing and reporting subcontractor payments is a huge leap forward in accountability and transparency. Though somewhat dry and esoteric, this new reporting system has big implications for reducing corruption and improving efficiency, and when fully in place, will make New York City one of the most fiscally transparent cities in the world. When the subcontractor data is put into the Checkbook NYC platform, it will become instantly available for the rest of government and the public to use.”

Comptroller Liu and Mayor Bloomberg thanked the members of the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services, including Director Andrea Glick and Deputy Director for Research and Information Technology Ezra Polonsky, the Comptroller’s Office – led by Chief of Staff Vanessa Champion – and Robert Townsend at the Financial Information Services Agency for their efforts on the project.

Beonx Chamber of Commerce Women of Distinction Luncheon

 

We look forward to seeing you there!

What You Should Know

By Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz
32nd Senatorial District, Bronx County, New York

El Diario la Prensa is Following My Lead
    

    You should know that El Diaro la Prensa is following my lead – yes, the lead of Senator Rev. Ruben Diaz – and the political movement I began last year asking my colleagues in the New York State Senate, especially the Hispanic Senators, unite and to not vote for Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Budget unless it includes the Dream Act.

You should know that I worked very hard on this movement to Unite for Dream Act during last year’s Budget negotiations, and I was disappointed that my colleagues who advocate for the Dream Act on behalf of their constituents in public, did not unite with me and insist for the Dream Act to be included in the State Budget.  You should also know that I have not given up and instead, I am more determined than ever for a vote of unity against any Budget that does recognize the immigrant.

In my March 12, 2013 column, What You Should Know column titled Hispanic Legislators: Put Up or Shut Up, urging the 6 Hispanic Senators and almost 15 Hispanic Members of the New York State Assembly:

"If they really want to fight for the Dream Act and if they honestly want it to be part of the Budget, then let all of the Hispanic legislators – let all of us in the Senate and in the Assembly – come together and take a vote that we will not vote for Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Budget – none of it – not one single part of it – unless it includes the Dream Act. Let the Governor pass the Budget without the Hispanic vote, and let us show our repudiation of him and his Budget plan of ignoring the immigrants."

Today’s editorial in El Diario la Prensa agrees with me.  Although they did not credit me, Senator Rev. Ruben Diaz, for my efforts to be sure that no Hispanic legislator votes for the Budget without the Dream Act, I am very glad they are standing beside me in this effort.

Below is a copy of today's editorial from El Diario la Prensa.

And once again, I ask all of my colleagues in the Senate and in the Assembly, especially the Hispanic Members of the State Legislature, to stand united with me and oppose the upcoming Budget if it does not include the Dream Act.

This is Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz and this is what you should know.

Unity on the NY Dream Act
Editorial/El Diario la Prensa
03/18/2013

The New York Legislature is about to approve the budget, and as things stand, the state's Dream Act bill will be shelved once again. Hispanic lawmakers—who represent many Dreamers—can prevent this if they unite and make it clear to Senate leaders and Gov. Andrew Cuomo that they will vote "NO" on the budget package unless it includes the Dream Act.

Lawmakers have had this bill, which attempts to do what other states have done and give eligible undocumented students access to state financial aid for college, for several years. During the current session, the Assembly finally drafted a balanced version that was recently approved, along with $25 million to pay for it.

The Senate, controlled by Republicans and Independent Democrats, refuses to include this bill in the budget, despite its economic benefits in the long term. Hispanic senators support the bill, which makes sense, since it's a priority for their constituents. They have sent messages to Cuomo and attended Dream Act demonstrations.

But their actions haven't yielded results. Senate leaders and Cuomo clearly don't understand the importance of this law. However, when it's convenient for them, they talk about the contributions immigrants make, their concern about low high school and college graduation rates, and how important educating minorities is to the state's economic well-being.

Now, it's time to show that this bill is extremely important. The course of action in Albany will affect the future of 200,000 immigrant students who graduated from our public schools to start or continue their college studies. This major budget, with essential laws like a minimum wage increase, must also include the Dream Act. Hispanic lawmakers and others who believe in providing equal education opportunities must reject the budget proposal unless the Dream Act is in it.

http://www.eldiariony.com/Opinioneditorial/20130318/Unity-on-the-NY-Dream-Act#.UUdqXleNAt0 

   

Croton Facility Monitoring Committee Meeting March 21st

Croton Facility Monitoring Committee Meeting

Thursday, March 21, 2013 – 7:00 PM

                           DEP Office – 3660 Jerome Avenue
                                                                     

Agenda

          

I  Welcome -                        Bob Fanuzzi, Chair

   

II Consider, Adopt March CFMC Agenda  -     
CFMC Representatives

III Consider, Adopt 1/17/13 Meeting Minutes   -
CFMC Representatives

IV Comment on CFMC Letters to DEP & DEP  Responses  - 
Bob Fanuzzi & CFMC

      

V Update on Croton Filter Plant Landscape Design & Construction  -       
DPR, DDC, DEP, & Grimshaw  Architects            

   

VI Croton Construction Schedule & Costs Report   -    
Bernard Daly, DEP

VII Update on Field Equipment & Field System Testing  -
Bernard Daly Lauren D’Attile, DEP

VIII Preliminary Budget Planning 2015 – Van Cortlandt Park Pedestrian Bridge -
Bob Fanuzzi

       

IX   CFMC Discussion & Set Date for Next Meeting -      
CFMC Representatives

X Adjourn

*********************************************************

Mayoral Candidate John Liu Visits Riverdale

   After making his announcement that he is running for mayor current City Comptroller John Liu visited all five boroughs ending up in the Riverdale home of Community Board 8 Vice-Chair Maria Kurry before his days events were over. About 35 friends and supporters were on hand at Ms. Kurry's home to congratulate Mayoral candidate Liu on his announcement where candidate Liu spoke with his supporters. Earlier in the day on the steps of City Hall Comptroller Liu announced that he is running for mayor, and due to the extremely large crowd Liu had to repeat his speech to the many people who could not fit into the area by the steps of City Hall and were in City Hall Park. Below are a few photos of the visit to the Riverdale home of Ms. Kurry. Click on any photo to enlarge it. 

Below Left - Mayoral candidate John Liu with Host Ms. Maria Kurry.

Right - Candidate Liu explaining some of the points of his mayoral campaign. 

Below Left -  Liu and many Riverdale supporters gather around for a group photo.
Right - Another group photo with more supporters.