Crown Hts Says No to Homeless Intake Center
Crown Heights residents with calm resolve said, “No,” to
NYC Department of Homeless Services plan to relocate the men’s homeless intake center from Bellevue men’s shelter in Manhattan to the Atlantic Armory Shelter located at the corner of Atlantic and Bedford Avenues in Brooklyn. Rather than belligerently bash the messenger, whom was DHS Deputy Commissioner for Adult Services/Operations George Nashak,
Brooklyn Community Board 8 held a productive special meeting August 12, 2008 at the Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation.
Approximately 125 people packed the room with many others lining the hallway. Nashak’s statements were brief because he “wanted to hear what the people had to say.” He explained that due to an increase in the lease, the city of New York would exit Bellevue by June 2009. It is the city’s intention to have a Manhattan and Brooklyn men’s homeless intake centers. Though the Manhattan site hasn’t been identified, by April 25, 2008, Mayor Bloomberg announced the
proposed Brooklyn site. This announcement perplexes many who know at least 60% of the homeless report hailing from Manhattan.
Elected officials who raised objection to the plan included
Letitia James (35 CD) and
Albert Vann (36 CD) as did Community Board 8 chairman Robert Matthews.
St. Senator Eric Adams recalled his time as an 88th precinct police officer that worked hard to control illegal activity caused by the shelter residents. Adams sees the relocation as “the highest level of disrespect of a community.” He intends to form a taskforce that seeks legal remedies for the matter. “With the number of level 1, 2, and 3 sex offenders in the Atlantic Armory Shelter, Office of Mental Retardation and Development Disabilities commissioner was supposed to be presented with this plan.” Adams intends “to meet with the OMRDD commissioner, speak with attorney Norman Siegel and if need be, mobilize the homeless for a visit to Gracie Mansion.”
The Atlantic Armory Shelter has an assessment center. At one time it had 1,000 beds; currently it holds 350. Should it become the intake center the beds will reduce to 230. Given the shelter’s practice of turning the men out on the street in the morning, the community is concerned about the hundreds of additional homeless men who will loiter, panhandle or seek menial jobs.
While there was no apparent DHS staff member recording the community’s concerns, residents made their opposition known. One single mother who lives in a nearby family shelter described the lack of services and referrals for those in the system. Community icon Elsie Richardson spoke glowingly of thirty years of grassroot work to improve housing, transportation and other infrastructure [in the face of bank redlining]. Richardson recalls “past St. Assemblyman Roger Green’s proposal to convert the armory into a recreational facility.” Nelcia Clarence and John Allgood stated how unfair the siting is to the community. Ms. Clarence went, as far as to say, “Heads should roll for dumping so much on Crown Heights.”
The dumping she refers to is the number of methadone clinics, mental health programs, food programs, drop-in centers, and residential facilities for special needs populations. Observing the objections to the community’s comments, Janet Collins, another Crown Heights resident, questioned Nashak’s purpose. Nelson said, “You’re not hearing us, although we live here and know what’s going on, you’re denying what we’re saying.”
Labels: Brooklyn, Crown Heights, homelessness
PR Talks All The Time
Pity the public relations professional because he's on call all the time. It's harder than being a flight attendant. Flight attendants smile and serve before the flight, during the flight and after the flight. Once everyone's off the plane, they can let down those smiles and cheery dispositions for a few hours.
Not so for PR folks. We're about crisis management, investor relations, community relations and corporate social responsibility. Ignoring people or being in a bad mood is not an excuse. The best thing is to stay in doors. This way you won't risk ruffling anyone's feathers and, then have to perform crisis management for Y-O-U, Inc.
The other day a rep had to hear another describe his inattentiveness which could be interpreted in so many negative ways. At first, the rep wasn't open to hearing the description but then realized if one person could view the situation that way who else may see it that way too.
Being communications strategists, we have to be strategic in our talk. We have to explain what we want and why. For example, if a colleague asks to visit you at your office, a response such as, "I don't you want to come to the office," is bound to cause controversy. The better phrasing is "Hey, it's very busy in here now and I want our conversation confidential. Is it convenient for you now to take notes over the phone?" You appear to reveal something about yourself and you consider the other person. Can you believe this is an actual clip of a conversation? When asked, "Why didn't you tell me the office was busy?'' the response was, "I don't have to tell you that." This could make a minor faux pas a major rub the wrong way.
Rubbing someone the wrong way is not the public relations game. PR brings the oil, the mat and ambient music to every scene. Can you PR talk all the time?
Labels: communications, crisis management, public relations, society
New York Uses Diamond to Close the Digital Divide
Across the globe in cities like Philadelphia, Paris, and Beijing citizens and institutions enjoy 24/7 high-speed Internet access, using broadband technology. Even
Manassas, VA (2006 pop. est. 38,066) has broadband over power lines, making the Internet as close as a wall socket. The Big Apple, however, is lost in its sauce. What blocks New York from closing the digital divide so that every section of the five boroughs has the latest in e-communications?
On July 30, 2008,
Diamond Management & Technology Consultants’ Chris O’Brien briefed the New York City Council, the Mayor’s Office, and the
Broadband Advisory Committee on the findings of a study of access, cost and connectivity challenges faced by NYC residents, small to medium size businesses and large businesses. Research uncovered that the demand for greater bandwidth that comes from streaming video and HDTV required replacing existing copper cables with fiber optics and installing it in uncovered areas. Existing cable services gave access to 98% of NYC residences and 87% of NYC residences had access through DSL. Actual subscription rates varied based on socio-demographics. For example only 26% of NYC Housing Authority tenants subscribed to broadband. A low subscriber rate is also the case for New Yorkers aged 50 years and over. The common reasons for not subscribing were the affordability of computers, the cost of monthly subscriber fees, the need for computer training, and not seeing the value of in-home access.
In fact, one-third of people accessing the Internet at public libraries that were polled stated the library was their sole source. About half of them go to the library three times per week for this purpose.
Business users were split between those having T-1 lines and using DSL. Large firms experienced lower costs due to their T-1 line investment, while small to medium size firms had comparable cost to those of residences if they chose DSL.
Shaun Belle,
Mt. Hope Housing executive director and chairman of the Broadband Advisory Committee and Jose Rodriguez, committee member and president
of HITN TV both recognized that the study validated what they knew as on-the-ground technology service providers.
New York City is the United States most populated city and its largest media market. To stay competitive internationally New York must get up to speed to that of San Francisco, Boston and Philadelphia. New York City Council Committee on Technology in Government, chaired by
Gale A. Brewer (C.D. 6), exists “to make better use of technology to save money, improve City services, and bring residents, businesses and non-profits closer to government and their communities.” The city explains the relative slow pace in the roll out of municipal wireless and broadband infrastructure is due to a concern for avoiding quick obsolescence yet high installation costs. Another concern is using programs that effect technology adoption by low-income households. Given a significant proportion of black New Yorkers are low-income and/or residents of NYC Housing Authority properties, it’s imperative that we become proactive in our demand for technology so as not to become obsolete as the broadband infrastructure is laid.
Labels: broadband, Broadband Advisory Committee, digital divide, New York City, technology
Like Deer Staring into the Headlights
While news reports still won't use the word depression to label the economic picture for America, we have the symptoms of a depression. 70% of American homeowners are at risk of foreclosure.
GM lost $15 billion in sales because people stopped buying trucks and SUVs in the first two quarters of 2008. The airline industry is laying off employees and
Starbucks will close 3,000 outlets. With optimism and a plan, we can swing this period to our advantage. It takes a good mind to be optimistic and formulate a plan. The question is how many of us have "good minds"....and if we don't have one, can we develop "good minds."
There was a job fair at the New York Hilton, July 31, that was an eye-opener into the psyche of some New Yorkers. It was billed TechExpo in certain circles but for the most part it was the Diversity Fair. Women and men of various ages, religions and ethnicities were there. The table under observation was
Web Grrls International. Unlike the other exhibitors,
Web Grrls is a membership organization for women involved in technology and the Internet for personal or professional reasons. Members can meet face-to-face or connect online. Due to the high volume of job-seekers to the table, the display card had the following handwritten message: "We Aren't An Employer And Have No Jobs." Obviously people didn't notice the sign because they came to the table and attempted to leave resumes on it. People were leaving resumes without a discussion.
Looking at the growing crowd, you saw job seekers in jeans, evening wear, heavy jewelry, tie-less, jacket-less and, unfortunately clue-less. Too many job seekers didn't know what they wanted to do. They couldn't explain what interest them. They were like deer staring into the headlights of a car. Hey, didn't anyone tell them how to dress for success, discover their passion or how to strike up a conversation? One recent journalism grad from
Hofstra University didn't want to learn to blog because she'd be in competition with newspapers. Didn't
Hofstra's journalism professors tell her about social media, RSS feeds, podcasting, blogging, Nexis Lexis, or search engines? Didn't this fresh-faced grad know that the
New York Times' Web site is one of the most popular in the world?
Another Indo-Asian gent came to the
Web Grrls table and wanted to know what it was all about. Once told it was a membership organization for women involved in technology and the Internet, however men may join, he wanted to know how the organization made money. Would you believe that a membership organization's revenue base would consist of event tickets and membership dues? This gent couldn't accept this; it had to be more complex.
In these economic times people have to study trends to uncover the jobs in demand, know what's their passion, and how to best present themselves. The number of people that didn't have a clue could have images of roadkill along a US interstate highway dance in a smarter person's head. Americans have too many online tools and resources to be clue-less and hope someone in human resources will find something for them to do. Human resource professionals have benefits, trainings, grievances and payroll to handle to make the time to tell someone what his passion is. Can you imagine what may have run through the minds of the recruiters at this Diversity Fair?
Labels: cashless society, job fairs, job search, New York City, technology, US economy, Web Grrls International
