Obama’s Education secretary calls for 12-hour school days, longer school year

If Education Secretary Arne Duncan has his way, kids would be spending a lot more time at school — and a three-month summer would be a thing of the past.


Duncan joked with attendees at a luncheon at the National Press Club this past Tuesday in Washington that he would like schools to stay open 13 months out of the year. Then he told the audience of over 100 that he seriously supports longer school hours.

“In all seriousness, I think schools should be open 12, 13, 14 hours a day, seven days a week, 11-12 months of the year,” Duncan said. “This is not just more of the same. There would be a whole variety of after-school programs. Obviously academics would be at the heart of that. But you top it off with dancing, art, drama, music, yearbook, robotics, activities for older siblings and parents, ESL classes.”

He continued by explaining that the American school calendar is antiquated and must be modified so that American students can compete at the highest levels internationally.

“Most people realize that our current day is based on the agrarian economy, and we don’t have too many kids working out in the fields nowadays,” Duncan said. “Schools in countries that are beating us are going to school 25-30 days more than us. If you practice basketball five times a week, you’re gonna be better than the people who practice three times a week.”

Obama Administration comes to Jamaica Bay

U.S. Rep. Anthony Wiener (from l.), U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Park Ranger Dandelion Dilluvio remove an invasive vine in Jamaica Bay during Salazar's visit to the ecosystem. Photo by Christina Santucci

Obama cabinet member takes tour of Jamaica Bay

By Ivan Pereira

yournabe.com

The U.S. secretary of the Interior paid a visit to Jamaica Bay Monday and borough elected officials said they hope his trip will have a positive impact on the future of its environment.

This is the first time Ken Salazar visited the 31-square-mile ecosystem and got up close with its fauna and flora, according to U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Forest Hills), who accompanied the secretary during the tour.
“There are a lot of, ‘Oh, wow,’ moments when you visit Jamaica Bay,” the congressman said.
Salazar, who was touring several Gateway National Recreation Area sites, including the Statue of Liberty, walked the path of the bay’s wildlife refuge and took a boat tour of the bay along with park rangers, Weiner and Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Jamaica).

Fishing in Jamaica Bay - Who knew?

I guess the secret's out now. 

The Cross Bay Bridge Toll Fight Continues....

From the Queens Forum South July 29, 2010 edition

Officials Vow to Continue Fighting Cross Bay Toll

By Eric Yun

For the past twelve years, residents of Broad Channel and Rockaway were able to drive over the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge for free thanks to the Resident Rebate Program. For the past week, they have lived with the reality that they also must pay the toll as a result of MTA cost-cutting measures.

The new plan, enacted by the MTA to help close its $800 million budget deficit, now charges $1.13 per trip for qualified residents who use EZ-Pass and $1.54 for drivers using a token. Normal fare for the bridge is $2.75. In a concession from the MTA, the first two trips across the bridge in a given day are charged, but subsequent trips will be free.

"The decision to modify the Rockaway Rebate program was made by the full MTA Board in April after public hearings were held," an MTA Bridges and Tunnels spokeswoman said. "This action was taken to help MTA close an $800 million budget deficit, and was part of a package that included difficult service cuts to public mass transit, as well."


Residents in Broad Channel often depend on the bridge for everyday tasks. As a small neighborhood, Broad Channel is heavily dependent on Rockaway. The closest hospital and police station are both located across the bridge.

Info on 100 Million Facebook Users made public!

If you have a Facebook page and you have never paid too much attention to the "privacy settings" of your page you might be interested to know that your information might now be available to the public as Mr. Ron Bowes of Skull Security appears to have quite legally used a cleverly crafted web crawler code to gather details on over 100 million users who either intentionally or unintentionally failed to obscure their profiles from search engines .

Mr. Bowes has published his archive of data to the web containing names, profile URL, and unique user ID of all 100 million users, scraped from the popular social networking site, which currently claims a user base of over 500M users.

Simon Davies from the watchdog Privacy International, though, calls the data mining an "attack" and comments, "Facebook should have anticipated this attack and put measures in place to prevent it... It is inconceivable that a firm with hundreds of engineers couldn't have imagined a trawl of this magnitude and there's an argument to be heard that Facebook have acted with negligence... People did not understand the privacy settings and this is the result."

BCVFD in the news...

From the Thursday July 29, 2010 edition of the Queens Chronicle

Broad Channel vollies set to get new home

by Bryan Yurcan, Assistant Editor

After years of jumping through beaureaucratic hoops, the Broad Channel Volunteer Fire Department appears to be on track to get a new firehouse.


A bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer (D-Ozone Park) and state Senator Shirley Huntley (D-Jamaica) that would allow the state Department of Transportation to be in charge of the project passed both houses of the Legislature this month. The project had been under the city DOT’s purview, but the city had said it wouldn’t pursue the project, deeming it unnecessary.


“With this bill giving the state control of the project, we think this is finally going to happen,” said Pheffer


This is just the latest news in the long and convoluted history of the project.


In 2005, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Queens and Brooklyn) and then-Sen. Hilary Clinton (D-New York) placed $2 million in the next year’s Omnibus Transportation Bill to fund a new firehouse for the department.


However, the city DOT had to approve the spending, which it never did. The agency is mandated by Federal Highway Administration rules to have complete control of such a project from start to finish.


The city told the vollies it didn’t think the project was necessary, that the fire department underestimated the cost of its project and the city didn’t have the $3.9 million in matching funds it claimed the plan required.


But with the legislation that puts the state Dormitory Authority in charge, Pheffer believes the vollies’ long quest for a new headquarters may be nearing an end.


“The city never moved on this project,” Pheffer said. “There still may be a bump here or there along the way, but at least now it looks like this thing will finally get done.”


There is no timeline as to when the project may be completed, or even started, but Pheffer said the legislation is the first step towards bringing the project out of the four-year limbo it’s been in.


The new firehouse will be an “exciting project” she said, citing among other things that it will be partially powered by solar energy.


Though the legislation is expected to finally get the project moving, Pheffer said, considering the delays that have already occurred she understands there still may be skepticism.


“I think we’ll all be happy when we see a shovel in the ground,” she said.

Family & Friends Day in Broad Channel

From the Thursday July 29, 2010 edition of the Queens Chronicle

State Sen. Shirley Huntley, with the assistance of the city Parks Department and the Broad Channel Volunteer Fire Department, treated her constituents to a fun-filled Family and Friends Day last Saturday at Broad Channel Park. The water kept the kids cool, snacks were abundant and of course there was a bounce castle to play in.

photos by PJ SMITH

MTA Releases Preliminary 2011 Budget & Financial Plan

Earlier today the MTA released its 2011 Preliminary Budget and proposed Four-Year Financial Plan for 2011-2014. No surprises here; the plan includes all the different fare hike proposals that have been floated in the past couple of weeks. You can peruse the MTA's full 2011 Preliminary Buget and Financial Plan in pdf form here.

“Today’s announcement begins a period of public discussion,” MTA Jay Chairman Walder said. “We look forward to hearing from the public and reviewing the public comments as we continue to evaluate this proposal before we adopt the final budget by the end of the year.”

What the Chairman meant to say was that starting this September there will be a whole bunch of public hearings where you and I can complain about the proposed increases and then in December 2010, the MTA will formally adopt the budget and finacial plan anyway and the increases will go into effect in 2011.

RUMOR - Addabbo Bridge Toll?

I received an email earlier this morning from a neighbor who wrote...

Hey Pete,

I heard a rumor, that they are planning to put tolls on the Addabbo bridge for us to pay to and from howard beach... Did you know anything about this?

My response to this inquiry was as follows.

At first blush the "rumor" sounded outlandish and I attributed it to the frustration all of us feel regarding the recent modification of the MTA's resident rebate program for tolls on the Cross Bay Bridge which went into effect last Friday, July 23, 2010.

After all, unlike the Cross Bay Bridge which is operated by the M.T.A., the Joseph P. Addabbo Memorial Bridge falls under the auspices of the New York City Department of Transportation.  The DOT also operates all of the older, major east river bridges (Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, Williamsburg Bridge and the Queensboro Bridge) as well as most of the other minor bridges throughout the city.

Then, the more I thought about this, I remembered that Bloomberg is still dead set on achieving his "congestion pricing" plan which would include the placement of tolls on the major east river crossings.

Thus in answer to your question, no, I have not heard anything about this and I would be extremely interested in the source of the rumor.

Do I think it is possible for the city to place a toll on the Addabbo Bridge - absolutely! If the city and DOT can toll the major east river bridges, why not?

Do I think it is probable? Absoultely not, it would be a political nightmare.

Of course, what I think doesn't amount to a hill of beans when it comes to our federal, state and city governments putting their hands in our wallets. 

Knowing full well that next year's city budget deficit is looming, our city is looking to identify all kinds of new and "innovative" revenue streams. After all, the Mayor just recently announced that he is considering charging a fee for the amount of garbage we generate.  As such, I have contacted the office of our city councilman (Eric Ulrich) and aksed that he repond to this rumor.  I will let you know his response when I receive it.

(UPDATE Monday 7/26/10:  Councilman Ulrich has stated that his office is unable to lend any credence to this rumor.)

A "New Garbage Tax" and other things to worry about!

Over the weekend there was a small news article that you may have missed.

Mayor Bloomberg said he is considering charging people for how much they throw away as a way to plug the budget gap.

Under the considered plan, households would pay more for throwing away more, theoretically encouraging New Yorkers to be less wasteful. Recycling would still be free. Bloomberg said nothing is definite, but "I'm not going to rule out anything, there's no sacred cows."

Let’s stop and think about this for a moment. There is a whole lot more going on here than just the usual proclivity of our elected officials to “tax anything it can!”, although that by itself is bad enough.

Consider the following...

Broad Channel Library Unveils Book Return Kiosk

[City Councilman Eric Ulrich and State Senator Shirley Huntley]

(From: The Queens Forum South)

By Eric Yun

Representatives from Queens Library and local elected officials gathered at Broad Channel Library on Wednesday to unveil a new automated self-check-in kiosk. The machine allows library visitors to return books at any time and is one of the first to be installed in the borough.

The kiosk was the last part of a complete renovation of the Broad Channel branch. “We want every library in the borough to have one,” said Thomas Galante, Queens Library CEO. The new technology, he said, will help cut down lines for the staff.

Having a 24/7 check-in kiosk will also help those who try to return a book just after the library closes. “It will help cut down the fines and fees of the customers,” Broad Channel Librarian William Schulz said.

The project was funded by City Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park), who set aside $190,000 in last year's budget.

“I'm glad for the people in the community who depend on the library day in and day out,” Ulrich said. “This is taxpayer dollars well-invested right back to the community.”

Also present at the ceremony was Senator Shirley Huntley (D-Jamaica). She reiterated her love for the libraries and promised she would provide funding in the future.

Cross Bay Bridge Toll Resident Rebate is history!

Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer used the few hours remaining before the CBB Resident Toll Rebate Program expired earlier today at 12:01 a.m. to, once again,  call on MTA Chief Executive Officer Walder to reinstate the Resident Rebate Program for the Cross Bay Bridge.

Mr. Walder, as someone who grew up in Rockaway, you are aware of the burden the Cross Bay Bridge toll causes for the residents and business in Rockaway and Broad Channel.

While the elimination of the toll for all is truly justified, and should be a goal of the MTA, until such time, the Resident Rebate Program relieves a burden from the communities that suffer the most.

I know that the MTA is facing a budget deficit that is unprecedented and that this year’s budget remains dismal. However, I am committed to working with you and my colleagues in Albany to address this urgent and vital issue affecting my community.

I have received copies of hundreds of letters sent to you by residents of my community detailing the devastating effect the removal of this program will have on the residents and businesses in Rockaway and Broad Channel.

The Cross Bay Bridge is the only intra-borough toll in the nation. The two sides of the Cross Bay Bridge connect the communities of Rockaway and Broad Channel in Queens. They share the same zip code, the same police precinct, firehouses, post offices, etc.

Our community has seen a tremendous revitalization since the implementation of the Residents Discount Program. Land that has been vacant for decades is now developed and even in today’s market, the homes are still selling. Our real estate values have increased, and unlike other areas, ours are still holding.

We implore you to continue the Resident Rebate Program for the toll on the Cross Bay Bridge and not allow the MTA to eliminate this essential program.

Audrey I. Pheffer

The "Dragonfly's Banquet"

Have you ever gazed out onto Jamaica Bay and spotted a rather garisghly painted wooden raft and said to yourself, "What the hell is that thing?"

Well, after some checking I found that the vessel in question is called the "Dragonfly's Banquet"

and was built in Provincetown, MA, in the winter of '95-96 by Tim Johnson and Gretchen Neutrino, using materials from the decks and cabins of the Son of Town Hall, the first recycled raft to cross the Atlantic, along with other recycled materials from beaches and construction sites. Gretchen painted the murals which decorate the hull, cabin and sails of the raft. Tim and Gretchen sailed Dragonfly's Banquet from Provincetown to Martha's Vinyard and then to New York where it is now part of the Rockaway's Artists Alliance collection and is moored in the middle of the Jamaica Bay.

Now here is something you don't see every day!

Bonnie, a New York City Finacial Analyst and avid kayaker and sailing enthusiast, reported on her website Frogma this past Saturday that a white pelican had been sited in the Jamaiaca Bay Wildlife Preserve amidst a group (gaggle?) of Canadian Geese near the "A" trains tacks.

Only in Broad Channel folks, only in Broad Channel!

Cross Bay Bridge Tolls - Important Reminder!

At 12:01 a.m. this Friday, July 23, 2010, the Cross Bay Bridge Resident Toll Rebate program will be changed.

Effective at that time, within any 24 hour period, (midnight to midnight) residents of Rockaway and Broadway who are EZ Pass holders will be charged for their first round trip passage of the bridge, $1.13 each way, for a daily maximum toll debit of $2.26.  Any additional passages during that 24 period will be rebated to your EZ Pass account.

West 12th Road Tidal Flooding Issue Update

By invitation of Dorothy Pafumi, Community Associate with the Queens Borough President's Consulting Engineering Office, the West 12th Block Association's Tidal Flooding Issue Committee will be attending a follow up meeting with Queens Borough President Helen Marshall at Borough Hall on Wednesday, August 11, 2010, at 10:30 am.

The committee members are:

Grace Arnemann

Sophia Vailakis-Devirgilio

John Heaphy
Peter Mahon

Robert McCarthy

Scott Valentine

Immediately after the meeting, all information regarding same will be posted here and a newsletter delivered to all West 12th Road residents.

Update:  A press release regarding this pending meeting was published 7/19/10 and forwarded to our local media outlets as well as our elected officials.  (Peter J. Mahon)

Broad Channel Volunteer Fire Department - "Never Give Up!"

For more than a century, the Broad Channel Volunteer Fire Department has been protecting the lives and property of our town’s residents.  Operating out of an old, two story, wooden frame building on Noel Road,  the “vollies” have always had one goal…that of constructing a new firehouse.

MTA Fare Hikes - The Never-Ending Story?

The MTA is still struggling to find ways of closing their (seemingly) never-ending budget deficit.  Under consideration are...

...Hiking the present $2.25 single fare to rise to $2.50,

...adding a $1 surcharge for customers who buy a new

 MetroCard instead of refilling their old MetroCard,

...increasing the price for the present $27 weekly unlimited MetroCards to $29,

...increasing the price for the present $89 monthly unlimited MetroCard to almost $100.

Another source of revenue under consideration is putting limits on unlimited MetroCards, capping the number of rides allowed on weekly and monthly unlimited cards. The plan under consideration would max out a monthly card at 90 trips, and put a cap of 21 rides on weekly cards.

The MTA's new "Unlimited (limited)" monthly and weekly MetroCards could actualy replace the time honored usage of the term "military intelligence" to provide an example of an oxymoron!

Of course there will the mandated "public hearings" held to gather "public opinion" on these increases but the bottom line remains that if approved by the MTA Board, the above rate hikes would go into effect in January 2011.

Need I mention that the new, modified, Cross Bay Bridge Resident Toll Program goes into effect Friday, July 23rd, at 12:01 A.M.?

Welcome Home Jessie!

"...do bheatha 'bhaile!"

A hearty "welcome home" to our neighbor, Jessie Cowan, who just returned to West 12th Road from her visit to the old sod!

Tidal Flooding on West 12th Road - Update

The following letter has been sent to Queens Borough Presidient Helen Marshall as a follow up to a previous letter forwarded to her on May 27, 2010, regarding the issue of tidal flooding on West 121th Road.

July 8, 2010

The Honorable Helen M. Marshall
Office of the Queens Borough President
120-55 Queens Boulevard
Kew Gardens, New York
11424

Re: Tidal Flooding West 12th Road

Dear Borough President Marshall:


Attached for your information is a copy of a letter forwarded to your attention by the West 12th Road Block Association on May 27, 2010.

As of the date of this communication (7/8/2010), our Association is still awaiting a response to same.


Additionally, we are still awaiting a response from the Department of Transportation’s Capital Project Division regarding an update on Capital Project HWQ1182 which Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan assured us would be forthcoming in “early June.”


We are also awaiting confirmation that the promised funding for this project has become available as of July 1st and that the design phase of the flood mitigation efforts for West 12th Road has commenced.

Peter J. Mahon

for

The West 12thRoad Block Association

Attachment: W12thrd Block Association ltr to QnsBoroPres dated May 27, 2010


Copy to:
Congressman Anthony Weiner
State Senator Shirley Huntley
Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer
Councilman Eric Ulrich
Janette Sadik-Khan, Commissioner, N.Y.C.D.O.T
Maura McCarthy, D.O.T. Borough Commissioner, Queens
Grace Arnemann, W12thRd Block Association
John Heaphy, W12thRd Block Association
Robert McCarthy, W12thRd Block Association
Sophia Vailakis-DeVirgilio, W12thRd Block Association
Scott Valentine, W12thRd Block Association

New CBB Resident Toll Rebate Program goes into effect 7/23/10

According to the MTA:

Effective Friday July 23, 2010, there will be changes to the Rockaway Resident Rebate program as a result of service cuts instituted by the MTA Board to help close a nearly $800 million budget deficit.

The first two trips taken on each E-ZPass tag between 12:01 AM and midnight on any given day will be charged a resident rate of $1.13 per trip. After the first two trips, all other Cross Bay crossings on the same tag on the same day will be rebated.

Each tag on an account (up to four allowed per account) will not be charged more than a total of $2.26 during a 24-hour period between 12:01 AM to midnight. Please make sure there are funds in your account to cover these charges.

This new "tax" on Broad Channel residents could not have come at a worse time. 

It was bad enough that our local police precinct, (100th Pct), Community Board (CB14), State Assemblywoman and City Council member district offices and the nearest large supermarket are all located in Rockaway, within the space of just the past few months we have lost our town's pharmacy, our laundromat and our town's post office sub-station.

Although many of our elected politicians still pay lip service to this issue, their fight with the MTA is all but over.  Their mantra is now (to parapharse John Donne), "Send not to ask for whom the bridge tolls, it tolls for thee!"

Nevertheless, Rick Horan, who sits with the Board of Directors for the Rokaway Park Civic Association is not giving up just yet.  In this week's edition of The Wave, Mr. Horan writes...

The MTA has apparently used the current budget crisis as an excuse to reinstitute a toll that is unfair and perhaps even ilegal.  And it's not only about money.

Appaently, Jay Walder, Chairman of the MTA, has reversed himself and is now saying that even if (the MTA) found the $3 million that our unjustified tolls amount to each year, he would allocate it elsewhere and keep us paying the tolls.

So, what should we do?  Well the MTA and all of our elected officials need to hear from us, loud and clear.

Here's how...

1.  Go to the MTA's website  and send the agency an email stating your displeasure with new "tax".

2.  Contact the MTA's Public Affairs Office at 646-242-7417 to register your displeasure.

3.  Visit the Rockaway Park Civic Association's website to send a pre-written email to the MTA and all of our state, city and local representatives.

4.  Tell all your friends to do the same.  If none of this works, we will organize a huge march and rally once we have all seen our E-Z Pass bills go up by about $70 a month. Stay tuned.

Would that there were more of us like Mr. Horan.  His spirit of "It ain't over until the fat lady sings and maybe not even then!" is exactly what we need right now!
If this issue concerns you, then your next steps have been laid out very specifically by Mr. Hoaran above. 

If the "fat lady starts to sing" and the tolls do go into effect  then it would behoove all of us to join with Mr. Horan and perhaps cause a little traffic congestion on our local bridge, perhaps on a nice, warm, weekend beach day, as a way of saying "thank you" to the MTA and our e;ected officials!

New York leads the nation with highest new taxes per person!

The following excerpt is taken from a June 30, 2010, article by Rick Newman which was published in U.S. News and World Report, entitled "Ten States where taxes are rising the most."  The fact that New York leads this list should not come as a surprise to anyone.

Over the last two years, 36 out of 50 states have raised taxes or fees, according to data from the National Association of State Budget Officers. The combined tab comes to more than $25 billion. The worst seems to be over, with proposals for the upcoming year amounting to just $3.1 billion in new state taxes. But those figures are premised on a steadily improving economy, which means new taxes could end up a lot higher if there's a dreaded double-dip recession.



I used NASBO data to compile the total tax hikes in each state since 2009, including proposed tax increases for 2011. Then I divided each aggregate figure by the state's population, based on Census Bureau data, and ranked the states according to the amount of new taxes per person. ... Here are the states with the highest per capital tax hikes since 2009.


1. New York: $8.2 billion, $419 per person
2. California: $11.5 billion, $312 per person
3. Delaware: $253 million, $286 per person
4. Connecticut: $777 million, $221 per person
5. Wisconsin: $900 million, $159 per person
6. Arizona: $1 billion, $154 per person
7. Kansas: $425 million, $151 per person
8. Washington: $982 million, $147 per person
9. Oregon: $541 million, $141 per person
10. Massachusetts: $890 million, $135 per person

Your Water and Sewage Rates Just went Up...Again!

As of July 1, 2010, the DEP and the New York City Water Board have, once again, raised your metered water and sewage rates.  You are now paying a metered water rate of $2.95 per 100 cubic feet of water (approximately 748 gallons) with an accompanying sewage rate of 19% of your water rate ($4.69) for a total water and sewage rate charge of $7.64 per 100 cubic feet of water used.

Just to give you an idea of how these water and sewer rates have been creeping up over the past several years, listed below are the rate increases by the DEP from 2007 through this most recent hike.

                                                  
                                  Water Rate
F.Y.        %  (+/-)      $ per 100 cf    Sewage Rate      Total Water/Sewer

2011      +12.6%          $2.95              $4.69                   $7.64

2010      + 12.9%          $2.61             $4.15                   $6.76

2009      + 14.5%          $2.31             $3.67                   $5.98

2008      + 11.5%          $2.02             $3.21                   $5.23

2007      + 9.4%            $1.81             $2.88                   $4.69

It should also come as no surprise to anyone that next year the Water Board will, once again ,ask the DEP to raise your water and sewer rates and that request will be granted.

HEAT ADVISORY UNTIL 7 PM THIS EVENING!

Issued by The National Weather Service

New York City, NY

4:07 am EDT, Wed., Jul. 7, 2010

A HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EDT THIS EVENING.

HIGH TEMPERATURES TODAY ARE EXPECTED TO REACH THE MID TO UPPER 90S... WITH HEAT INDEX VALUES OF 100 TO 104 DEGREES.

Beach Channel Drive "stinker condominiums" to be demolished!

I remember driving along Beach Channel Drive back in 2006 and watching construction start on the condominiums being built on 106th street directly adjacent to the Rockaway sewage treatment plant.

I could not understand why a developer would invest capital in such a project to build a housing development right next door to a wastewater treatment plant that, especially during the warm summer months, can best be described as extremely malodorous and why the city would give its approval to such a construction project.

I also wondered what person, in his or her right mind, would buy into such a development.

As it turned out the City finally woke up and after issuing several stop work orders, the city condemned the property back in 2007 leaving more than a dozen half-completed homes to sit abandoned for the next three years.

The city recently announced a $2 million dollar project which will see the abandoned buildings razed and the property cleared starting this summer and construction started on a storage facility to be utilized the adjacent sewage treatment plant to be completed next year. 

Below is a rendering of what the completed project should look like when completed.