Thursday, April 28, 1994
Health Reform Should Not Be A Free Lunch
Reading the March 1994 AARP Bulletin I've been once more struck by the awesome power of my Golden Age crowd. President Clinton came pleading for the AARP endorsement of his health program, at a conference in Edison, N.J., and indicated that he plans to have the long-term-care (LTC) and prescription drug benefits included. But the tough AARP National Legislative Council urged that AARP support no proposal that fails to include universal coverage, LTC and prescription drugs "It is now or never,... gain these reform elements now or your'e not going to see [them] for another decade, maybe even two," to quote a key delegate. Good surmise, tough attitude... but no one qoutes cost figures. Obviously, the idea is to get these coverages free.
However, a column or so later, AARP Exec Director Horace B. Deets gave the numbers. He felt that the average nursing home care cost of $35,000/yr is beyond most people's reach, and stated that in total some 7 Million Americans, 40% of them below age 65, need long-term care. So let's do some arithmetic. A simple multiplication shows that 7M times $35K makes an annual cost of $245 Billion, less $60B for current nursing home costs. To this we add about $40B, or 2/3 of the annual $60B prescription drug cost. The total is $1,065B, jumping medical expenses from 14% to nearly 18% of the GDP. And if a few million among our 36M long-suffering brothers and sisters surviving below the powerty line should get their doctors to declare them in need of LTC, the increment could double. If a 75+ year old cannot testify to a good reason that would qualify him for nursing home care, there is really something wrong with him.
Now let's think about the additional cost of universal medical care, which by simple arithmetic should add 15% or $126B to the bill (the 37% uninsured are 15% of the population), for a grand total of $1,091B, or 20% of the GDP. How is it all that gonna get paid, and by whom? All of these political people who talk about universal health care, you are just a bunch of slogan salesmen. Where is the price list, the cost/benefit study? Am I the only one who reads statistics and can use a $10 hand calculator? Am I the only one who can put straightforward sums on the table?
Our AARP crowd is also a lot like the politicians, trying to get free benefits. The AARP volunteers are on the air, calling radio talk shows and breathlessly asking that all and sundry write to their comgressmembers, demanding LTC. But do the retirees truly deserve the entitlements? The AARP Bulletin in January shows that 12.9% of them are below the poverty line, they are still better off than the general population, which has a rate of 14.5%. And while the 75+ olds are slipping down further, it is "because more than 20% of the [slipping group's] annual incone is derived from investments and CODs, and interest rates are low." Come now, one can invest in higher risk securities than CODs without taking huge risks. One does not have to hide the principal in low-return investments as a heritage to the kids, meanwhile demanding that the taxpayers at large pick up the bill for the increased cost of living.
As is, there is a great tendency for the elderly to give away their money and strip themselves bare to qualify for Medicaid, should the need for nursing home care arise (if you want to know how to qualify, it has to be done 30 months ahead of the confinement). That also comes under the heading of sticking it to the taxpayers.
With that kind of attitudes on part of the seniors, no wonder there is some talk of intergenerational war. Young people fear that the Social Security will not be there when they will need it.
What should be done? Well, the seniors should opt for more home care, which is much better than the nursing home and less expensive. Moving retirement age to 70 will help (that is due by 2029). Meanwhile, our gang should hold off demanding more entitlements, and ask for a cost analyis. Remember the catastrophic insurance legislation of 1988? The AARP crowd was material in killing the law when it turned out to be too expensive. Do we think that society at large will really give us free LTC, when the costs become apparent? We should show an attitude of willingness to pay at least part of the LTC costs, if we want the benefits. We may have paid our dues, but we should not try to walk away with all the toys. There should be no free lunch for the select.
However, a column or so later, AARP Exec Director Horace B. Deets gave the numbers. He felt that the average nursing home care cost of $35,000/yr is beyond most people's reach, and stated that in total some 7 Million Americans, 40% of them below age 65, need long-term care. So let's do some arithmetic. A simple multiplication shows that 7M times $35K makes an annual cost of $245 Billion, less $60B for current nursing home costs. To this we add about $40B, or 2/3 of the annual $60B prescription drug cost. The total is $1,065B, jumping medical expenses from 14% to nearly 18% of the GDP. And if a few million among our 36M long-suffering brothers and sisters surviving below the powerty line should get their doctors to declare them in need of LTC, the increment could double. If a 75+ year old cannot testify to a good reason that would qualify him for nursing home care, there is really something wrong with him.
Now let's think about the additional cost of universal medical care, which by simple arithmetic should add 15% or $126B to the bill (the 37% uninsured are 15% of the population), for a grand total of $1,091B, or 20% of the GDP. How is it all that gonna get paid, and by whom? All of these political people who talk about universal health care, you are just a bunch of slogan salesmen. Where is the price list, the cost/benefit study? Am I the only one who reads statistics and can use a $10 hand calculator? Am I the only one who can put straightforward sums on the table?
Our AARP crowd is also a lot like the politicians, trying to get free benefits. The AARP volunteers are on the air, calling radio talk shows and breathlessly asking that all and sundry write to their comgressmembers, demanding LTC. But do the retirees truly deserve the entitlements? The AARP Bulletin in January shows that 12.9% of them are below the poverty line, they are still better off than the general population, which has a rate of 14.5%. And while the 75+ olds are slipping down further, it is "because more than 20% of the [slipping group's] annual incone is derived from investments and CODs, and interest rates are low." Come now, one can invest in higher risk securities than CODs without taking huge risks. One does not have to hide the principal in low-return investments as a heritage to the kids, meanwhile demanding that the taxpayers at large pick up the bill for the increased cost of living.
As is, there is a great tendency for the elderly to give away their money and strip themselves bare to qualify for Medicaid, should the need for nursing home care arise (if you want to know how to qualify, it has to be done 30 months ahead of the confinement). That also comes under the heading of sticking it to the taxpayers.
With that kind of attitudes on part of the seniors, no wonder there is some talk of intergenerational war. Young people fear that the Social Security will not be there when they will need it.
What should be done? Well, the seniors should opt for more home care, which is much better than the nursing home and less expensive. Moving retirement age to 70 will help (that is due by 2029). Meanwhile, our gang should hold off demanding more entitlements, and ask for a cost analyis. Remember the catastrophic insurance legislation of 1988? The AARP crowd was material in killing the law when it turned out to be too expensive. Do we think that society at large will really give us free LTC, when the costs become apparent? We should show an attitude of willingness to pay at least part of the LTC costs, if we want the benefits. We may have paid our dues, but we should not try to walk away with all the toys. There should be no free lunch for the select.
Wednesday, April 27, 1994
Jews and Arabs Talk at Brotherhood Synagogue
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
The Friday April 23rd Sabbath service was an incredibly emotional event for the congregation. This was the first time that the sermon was given by a Muslim.
In line with the principles of peace and brotherhood between nations as well as between individuals espoused by Rabbi Block and his successor, Rabbi Alder, they along with Rabbi Brooks and David Landis, a past President of the congregation, had attended a Muslim service and met Seif Ashmawy, the publisher of The Voice of Peace, an Arab/English/Spanish language monthly newspaper. Seif was invited to address the congregation.
One must understand where Seif comes from. He is a man with a mission, a mission of peace. A naturalized American and a business executive, he and his Italian-born wife Maria, who is a self-employed pharmacist, started the newspaper with their personal funds right after the Gulf War, and were suspected by both Jewish and Arab extremists as being In the pay of Saudis, or the CIA. But they have persisted. Seif today is heard as the voice of moderate Sunni Moslems (90% of the world's 900 Million Moslems) on WABC, once a month.
Seif's message is that of unity, of the common origin and beliefs shared by Moslems, Jews and Christians. He does not speak of the differences. Rather, he brings forth the common principles: that the true Muslim believes in all the Prophets and Messengers , including Noah, Abraham (Ibrahim), Moses, David and Jesus; that he must believe in the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament as well as the Koran: that above all, he must believe in the Oneness of God. At which point he recites the Shmah, the basic statement of Oneness of God in Hebrew.
He is concerned that the troublemakers among Muslims, as among Jews, are misinterpreting the teachings of the scriptures, of love, mercy and justice. According to Seif, the Muslim Jihad, the holy war, was not to overpower the world, because Islam does not believe in conversion. It was to defend Islam. The concept originated with the Prophet Mohammed's flight to Medina, from the disbelievers in Mecca, and his successive defenses against the Meccan agressors. The extremists in Islam who advocate fighting against non-Muslims, are doing it to dominate the society. This does not reflect the teachings of Islam, says Seif.
Further, the Sunnis do not recognize a religious hierarchy, or clergy. The relationship between the person and God is direct. An Immam is a leader, yet a layman. Among the Sunnis there are no ayatollahs.
This message, delivered without script but with frequent browsings in a sheaf of biblical and Koran quotes, initiated an hour of discussions during the social Oneg Shabbat after services, during which Seif was surrounded by questioning congregants. Seif came to Brotherhood accompanied by the Consul-General of Egypt, Hon. Sameh Darar, who too believes in the message of peace, but must travel with bodyguards, for fear of political attempts. There were also three Ashmawy supporters from the Egyptian- American community, as well as his wife and his college-bound son Omar, both active editors in the Voice of Peace.
Judging from his followers, it is easy to believe when Seif Ashmawy states that the majority of Muslims are for peace. He holds no brief for the regimes that provide for the average Muslim no means of expressing his opinion, and abhors the
terrorists that respond to moderates with violence. The peace effort must go on.
The Brotherhood congregation opened it its heart to this hopeful message. The traditional embraces between the Arab visitors and members went on and on. I saw an ordinarily sceptical woman survivor of the Holocaust death camps shower kisses on Seif. There were members of the congregation persuasively expressing trust in Seif Ashmawy's person and message, deep in discussions with their more doubtful brethren.
It is understandable that the magnetism of Ashmawy's personality and the optimism of his message is appealing to middle-class Americans, both Arab and Jewish. It is doubtful that the same appeal can be made to the ragged Arab masses, in desperately hopeless conditions and incited by fanatics promising salvation and a a better life. Economic conditions as much as politics and religion drive the social unrest that threatens not only the peace effort in Israel but also the governments of Egypt, Algeria and particularly the rich oil states. But unless we support the peace effort, no matter how doubtful the outcome, we are certain to have wars.
Ashmawy is a panelist on the once-a-month ecumenical session of a popular call-in program, Religion on the Line, on WABC Radio every Sunday, 6AM to 9AM. The other three sessions are individually hosted by Father Paul Keenan, Rev Dr Byron Schaeffer and Rabbi Joseph Potasnick.
The Friday April 23rd Sabbath service was an incredibly emotional event for the congregation. This was the first time that the sermon was given by a Muslim.
In line with the principles of peace and brotherhood between nations as well as between individuals espoused by Rabbi Block and his successor, Rabbi Alder, they along with Rabbi Brooks and David Landis, a past President of the congregation, had attended a Muslim service and met Seif Ashmawy, the publisher of The Voice of Peace, an Arab/English/Spanish language monthly newspaper. Seif was invited to address the congregation.
One must understand where Seif comes from. He is a man with a mission, a mission of peace. A naturalized American and a business executive, he and his Italian-born wife Maria, who is a self-employed pharmacist, started the newspaper with their personal funds right after the Gulf War, and were suspected by both Jewish and Arab extremists as being In the pay of Saudis, or the CIA. But they have persisted. Seif today is heard as the voice of moderate Sunni Moslems (90% of the world's 900 Million Moslems) on WABC, once a month.
Seif's message is that of unity, of the common origin and beliefs shared by Moslems, Jews and Christians. He does not speak of the differences. Rather, he brings forth the common principles: that the true Muslim believes in all the Prophets and Messengers , including Noah, Abraham (Ibrahim), Moses, David and Jesus; that he must believe in the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament as well as the Koran: that above all, he must believe in the Oneness of God. At which point he recites the Shmah, the basic statement of Oneness of God in Hebrew.
He is concerned that the troublemakers among Muslims, as among Jews, are misinterpreting the teachings of the scriptures, of love, mercy and justice. According to Seif, the Muslim Jihad, the holy war, was not to overpower the world, because Islam does not believe in conversion. It was to defend Islam. The concept originated with the Prophet Mohammed's flight to Medina, from the disbelievers in Mecca, and his successive defenses against the Meccan agressors. The extremists in Islam who advocate fighting against non-Muslims, are doing it to dominate the society. This does not reflect the teachings of Islam, says Seif.
Further, the Sunnis do not recognize a religious hierarchy, or clergy. The relationship between the person and God is direct. An Immam is a leader, yet a layman. Among the Sunnis there are no ayatollahs.
This message, delivered without script but with frequent browsings in a sheaf of biblical and Koran quotes, initiated an hour of discussions during the social Oneg Shabbat after services, during which Seif was surrounded by questioning congregants. Seif came to Brotherhood accompanied by the Consul-General of Egypt, Hon. Sameh Darar, who too believes in the message of peace, but must travel with bodyguards, for fear of political attempts. There were also three Ashmawy supporters from the Egyptian- American community, as well as his wife and his college-bound son Omar, both active editors in the Voice of Peace.
Judging from his followers, it is easy to believe when Seif Ashmawy states that the majority of Muslims are for peace. He holds no brief for the regimes that provide for the average Muslim no means of expressing his opinion, and abhors the
terrorists that respond to moderates with violence. The peace effort must go on.
The Brotherhood congregation opened it its heart to this hopeful message. The traditional embraces between the Arab visitors and members went on and on. I saw an ordinarily sceptical woman survivor of the Holocaust death camps shower kisses on Seif. There were members of the congregation persuasively expressing trust in Seif Ashmawy's person and message, deep in discussions with their more doubtful brethren.
It is understandable that the magnetism of Ashmawy's personality and the optimism of his message is appealing to middle-class Americans, both Arab and Jewish. It is doubtful that the same appeal can be made to the ragged Arab masses, in desperately hopeless conditions and incited by fanatics promising salvation and a a better life. Economic conditions as much as politics and religion drive the social unrest that threatens not only the peace effort in Israel but also the governments of Egypt, Algeria and particularly the rich oil states. But unless we support the peace effort, no matter how doubtful the outcome, we are certain to have wars.
Ashmawy is a panelist on the once-a-month ecumenical session of a popular call-in program, Religion on the Line, on WABC Radio every Sunday, 6AM to 9AM. The other three sessions are individually hosted by Father Paul Keenan, Rev Dr Byron Schaeffer and Rabbi Joseph Potasnick.
Tuesday, April 26, 1994
Survival in Columbia County, NY
How do they survive?
Last Fall on the Taconic, on a Friday afternoon, 30 miles out of New York, on our way to see the red and gold maples of Columbia County (just as gorgeous as Vermont, and alot closer), the old Olds started to slip gears. I nursed it to the one and only gas station between NY and Albany, 60 miles North of here, and called the Bronx dealer. "Better get to a shop, your transmission is shot," was the advice. "But you guys just changed the oil..." "Yeah, the old thick oil, that's what made it move. 80,000 miles is too long between transmission oil changes." He's right, I drove on, cautiously, to our hideaway, another 45 miles of fear, and called the Catskill Transmission guys. Shot gears was the diagnosis, bring it in early, maybe we can get you back to NYC, if you have $1,600 bucks. I didn't, but I brought it in anyway, and the owner reviewed the sit, reduced the price to $1,000 (can you believe that), guessed that the job will be done by nightfall, and drove me to the local Jartran junk car rental. We got the word at 6PM that they had to stop because their kids were having a birthday party at the shop, but they would continue Sunday.
Sunday, 3PM the job was done, I drove over, gave an unverified check (the owner had been stuck only once, last Summer, by a Canadian), and a friend of the house drove me over to Jartran, where I dropped the car in the lot. On the way I found out that he was an ex-NYer who opened a beer distributorship 5 years ago. He got tired of the temptations, got married and moved out. The territory was fine, an his drivers were pleased as Punch to have jods at $16,000 a year! This is where I got an education.
Upstaters live in houses that have been inherited and paid for ages ago, when you bought a reasonable property with small acreage for $20,000. The big cash outlay is taxes, and schools are the big cost center. The local highschool superintendent is the big money earner in the county, at $80,000, and the "why" question is raised at many school board meetings. Ubnlike, NY where school boards are elected by 5% of the voters, which makes a farce of local government, school board and school funding attracts more people to the polls than any other election.
Government is cheap. Columbia County has 640 sq. miles and 60,000 inhabitants, spread in 17 townships. Town supervisors earn $ 5,000, councilmembers $2,000 cost erimbursements. Town highway superintendents work for $20,000, workers for less. The superintendent may double as construction inspector - he sees everything anyway -and as the dog catcher, for another $2,000. Police power is supplied by the state troopers; if you want money badly enough to set a local speed trap on the Taconic, you put on some guys, who will bring the speeders to town justice ($3,000), and get some funds. Small towns do hire local cops, when the kids get out of hand. Hudson (8,000 inhabitants and lots of drugs) has a real police force of 20.
Fire Departments and Emergency Service are volunteer. In the middle of the day, when you hear the siren, you kow that some guys in the hardware store, both salesmen and customers, are running to their cars, a short-order cook is dropping his skillet, a barber might be giving the razor to his customer, saying: "Here, finish it yourself." This is still country, wher everybody takes care of everybody else. In fact lived and painted only 20 miles away, in Sturbridge, Mass.
Just like in the big city, Zoning Review Boards are the power. Many poor, not just land poor people want to subdivide the 2, 5, 7 or whatever acres it takes locally to build on, to sell the property. That's easy. But if a real subdivision of a farm gone broke comes along, many issues get raised. Water; sewage; roads; garbage;
As to how people survive: first, you acn garden and have vegetables in the root cellar all winter.
You can get a deer license, first for the early bow-and-arrow season, then for the gun season, for all members of the family. You must have refruigerators. One of the highschool girls who works for our local roadside stand told my wife that her family never had beef; all she knew in her growing-up years was venison.
And the roadside stand, if your truck garden is large enough to sell. If you have to buy wholesale, you might as well forget it. And cost of labor does not count into the equasion. My wife, who cannot pass a strawbweery patch in a pick-it-yourself farm, has a cash-only-if-you-sell-it deal with our localroadside stand owner, for her jams - the natural outcome of a berry-picking habit.
Last Fall on the Taconic, on a Friday afternoon, 30 miles out of New York, on our way to see the red and gold maples of Columbia County (just as gorgeous as Vermont, and alot closer), the old Olds started to slip gears. I nursed it to the one and only gas station between NY and Albany, 60 miles North of here, and called the Bronx dealer. "Better get to a shop, your transmission is shot," was the advice. "But you guys just changed the oil..." "Yeah, the old thick oil, that's what made it move. 80,000 miles is too long between transmission oil changes." He's right, I drove on, cautiously, to our hideaway, another 45 miles of fear, and called the Catskill Transmission guys. Shot gears was the diagnosis, bring it in early, maybe we can get you back to NYC, if you have $1,600 bucks. I didn't, but I brought it in anyway, and the owner reviewed the sit, reduced the price to $1,000 (can you believe that), guessed that the job will be done by nightfall, and drove me to the local Jartran junk car rental. We got the word at 6PM that they had to stop because their kids were having a birthday party at the shop, but they would continue Sunday.
Sunday, 3PM the job was done, I drove over, gave an unverified check (the owner had been stuck only once, last Summer, by a Canadian), and a friend of the house drove me over to Jartran, where I dropped the car in the lot. On the way I found out that he was an ex-NYer who opened a beer distributorship 5 years ago. He got tired of the temptations, got married and moved out. The territory was fine, an his drivers were pleased as Punch to have jods at $16,000 a year! This is where I got an education.
Upstaters live in houses that have been inherited and paid for ages ago, when you bought a reasonable property with small acreage for $20,000. The big cash outlay is taxes, and schools are the big cost center. The local highschool superintendent is the big money earner in the county, at $80,000, and the "why" question is raised at many school board meetings. Ubnlike, NY where school boards are elected by 5% of the voters, which makes a farce of local government, school board and school funding attracts more people to the polls than any other election.
Government is cheap. Columbia County has 640 sq. miles and 60,000 inhabitants, spread in 17 townships. Town supervisors earn $ 5,000, councilmembers $2,000 cost erimbursements. Town highway superintendents work for $20,000, workers for less. The superintendent may double as construction inspector - he sees everything anyway -and as the dog catcher, for another $2,000. Police power is supplied by the state troopers; if you want money badly enough to set a local speed trap on the Taconic, you put on some guys, who will bring the speeders to town justice ($3,000), and get some funds. Small towns do hire local cops, when the kids get out of hand. Hudson (8,000 inhabitants and lots of drugs) has a real police force of 20.
Fire Departments and Emergency Service are volunteer. In the middle of the day, when you hear the siren, you kow that some guys in the hardware store, both salesmen and customers, are running to their cars, a short-order cook is dropping his skillet, a barber might be giving the razor to his customer, saying: "Here, finish it yourself." This is still country, wher everybody takes care of everybody else. In fact lived and painted only 20 miles away, in Sturbridge, Mass.
Just like in the big city, Zoning Review Boards are the power. Many poor, not just land poor people want to subdivide the 2, 5, 7 or whatever acres it takes locally to build on, to sell the property. That's easy. But if a real subdivision of a farm gone broke comes along, many issues get raised. Water; sewage; roads; garbage;
As to how people survive: first, you acn garden and have vegetables in the root cellar all winter.
You can get a deer license, first for the early bow-and-arrow season, then for the gun season, for all members of the family. You must have refruigerators. One of the highschool girls who works for our local roadside stand told my wife that her family never had beef; all she knew in her growing-up years was venison.
And the roadside stand, if your truck garden is large enough to sell. If you have to buy wholesale, you might as well forget it. And cost of labor does not count into the equasion. My wife, who cannot pass a strawbweery patch in a pick-it-yourself farm, has a cash-only-if-you-sell-it deal with our localroadside stand owner, for her jams - the natural outcome of a berry-picking habit.
Survival in Columbia County, NY
How do they survive?
Last Fall on the Taconic, on a Friday afternoon, 30 miles out of New York, on our way to see the red and gold maples of Columbia County (just as gorgeous as Vermont, and alot closer), the old Olds started to slip gears. I nursed it to the one and only gas station between NY and Albany, 60 miles North of here, and called the Bronx dealer. "Better get to a shop, your transmission is shot," was the advice. "But you guys just changed the oil..." "Yeah, the old thick oil, that's what made it move. 80,000 miles is too long between transmission oil changes." He's right, I drove on, cautiously, to our hideaway, another 45 miles of fear, and called the Catskill Transmission guys. Shot gears was the diagnosis, bring it in early, maybe we can get you back to NYC, if you have $1,600 bucks. I didn't, but I brought it in anyway, and the owner reviewed the sit, reduced the price to $1,000 (can you believe that), guessed that the job will be done by nightfall, and drove me to the local Jartran junk car rental. We got the word at 6PM that they had to stop because their kids were having a birthday party at the shop, but they would continue Sunday.
Sunday, 3PM the job was done, I drove over, gave an unverified check (the owner had been stuck only once, last Summer, by a Canadian), and a friend of the house drove me over to Jartran, where I dropped the car in the lot. On the way I found out that he was an ex-NYer who opened a beer distributorship 5 years ago. He got tired of the temptations, got married and moved out. The territory was fine, an his drivers were pleased as Punch to have jods at $16,000 a year! This is where I got an education.
Upstaters live in houses that have been inherited and paid for ages ago, when you bought a reasonable property with small acreage for $20,000. The big cash outlay is taxes, and schools are the big cost center. The local highschool superintendent is the big money earner in the county, at $80,000, and the "why" question is raised at many school board meetings. Ubnlike, NY where school boards are elected by 5% of the voters, which makes a farce of local government, school board and school funding attracts more people to the polls than any other election.
Government is cheap. Columbia County has 640 sq. miles and 60,000 inhabitants, spread in 17 townships. Town supervisors earn $ 5,000, councilmembers $2,000 cost erimbursements. Town highway superintendents work for $20,000, workers for less. The superintendent may double as construction inspector - he sees everything anyway -and as the dog catcher, for another $2,000. Police power is supplied by the state troopers; if you want money badly enough to set a local speed trap on the Taconic, you put on some guys, who will bring the speeders to town justice ($3,000), and get some funds. Small towns do hire local cops, when the kids get out of hand. Hudson (8,000 inhabitants and lots of drugs) has a real police force of 20.
Fire Departments and Emergency Service are volunteer. In the middle of the day, when you hear the siren, you kow that some guys in the hardware store, both salesmen and customers, are running to their cars, a short-order cook is dropping his skillet, a barber might be giving the razor to his customer, saying: "Here, finish it yourself." This is still country, wher everybody takes care of everybody else. In fact lived and painted only 20 miles away, in Sturbridge, Mass.
Just like in the big city, Zoning Review Boards are the power. Many poor, not just land poor people want to subdivide the 2, 5, 7 or whatever acres it takes locally to build on, to sell the property. That's easy. But if a real subdivision of a farm gone broke comes along, many issues get raised. Water; sewage; roads; garbage;
As to how people survive: first, you acn garden and have vegetables in the root cellar all winter.
You can get a deer license, first for the early bow-and-arrow season, then for the gun season, for all members of the family. You must have refruigerators. One of the highschool girls who works for our local roadside stand told my wife that her family never had beef; all she knew in her growing-up years was venison.
And the roadside stand, if your truck garden is large enough to sell. If you have to buy wholesale, you might as well forget it. And cost of labor does not count into the equasion. My wife, who cannot pass a strawbweery patch in a pick-it-yourself farm, has a cash-only-if-you-sell-it deal with our localroadside stand owner, for her jams - the natural outcome of a berry-picking habit.
Last Fall on the Taconic, on a Friday afternoon, 30 miles out of New York, on our way to see the red and gold maples of Columbia County (just as gorgeous as Vermont, and alot closer), the old Olds started to slip gears. I nursed it to the one and only gas station between NY and Albany, 60 miles North of here, and called the Bronx dealer. "Better get to a shop, your transmission is shot," was the advice. "But you guys just changed the oil..." "Yeah, the old thick oil, that's what made it move. 80,000 miles is too long between transmission oil changes." He's right, I drove on, cautiously, to our hideaway, another 45 miles of fear, and called the Catskill Transmission guys. Shot gears was the diagnosis, bring it in early, maybe we can get you back to NYC, if you have $1,600 bucks. I didn't, but I brought it in anyway, and the owner reviewed the sit, reduced the price to $1,000 (can you believe that), guessed that the job will be done by nightfall, and drove me to the local Jartran junk car rental. We got the word at 6PM that they had to stop because their kids were having a birthday party at the shop, but they would continue Sunday.
Sunday, 3PM the job was done, I drove over, gave an unverified check (the owner had been stuck only once, last Summer, by a Canadian), and a friend of the house drove me over to Jartran, where I dropped the car in the lot. On the way I found out that he was an ex-NYer who opened a beer distributorship 5 years ago. He got tired of the temptations, got married and moved out. The territory was fine, an his drivers were pleased as Punch to have jods at $16,000 a year! This is where I got an education.
Upstaters live in houses that have been inherited and paid for ages ago, when you bought a reasonable property with small acreage for $20,000. The big cash outlay is taxes, and schools are the big cost center. The local highschool superintendent is the big money earner in the county, at $80,000, and the "why" question is raised at many school board meetings. Ubnlike, NY where school boards are elected by 5% of the voters, which makes a farce of local government, school board and school funding attracts more people to the polls than any other election.
Government is cheap. Columbia County has 640 sq. miles and 60,000 inhabitants, spread in 17 townships. Town supervisors earn $ 5,000, councilmembers $2,000 cost erimbursements. Town highway superintendents work for $20,000, workers for less. The superintendent may double as construction inspector - he sees everything anyway -and as the dog catcher, for another $2,000. Police power is supplied by the state troopers; if you want money badly enough to set a local speed trap on the Taconic, you put on some guys, who will bring the speeders to town justice ($3,000), and get some funds. Small towns do hire local cops, when the kids get out of hand. Hudson (8,000 inhabitants and lots of drugs) has a real police force of 20.
Fire Departments and Emergency Service are volunteer. In the middle of the day, when you hear the siren, you kow that some guys in the hardware store, both salesmen and customers, are running to their cars, a short-order cook is dropping his skillet, a barber might be giving the razor to his customer, saying: "Here, finish it yourself." This is still country, wher everybody takes care of everybody else. In fact lived and painted only 20 miles away, in Sturbridge, Mass.
Just like in the big city, Zoning Review Boards are the power. Many poor, not just land poor people want to subdivide the 2, 5, 7 or whatever acres it takes locally to build on, to sell the property. That's easy. But if a real subdivision of a farm gone broke comes along, many issues get raised. Water; sewage; roads; garbage;
As to how people survive: first, you acn garden and have vegetables in the root cellar all winter.
You can get a deer license, first for the early bow-and-arrow season, then for the gun season, for all members of the family. You must have refruigerators. One of the highschool girls who works for our local roadside stand told my wife that her family never had beef; all she knew in her growing-up years was venison.
And the roadside stand, if your truck garden is large enough to sell. If you have to buy wholesale, you might as well forget it. And cost of labor does not count into the equasion. My wife, who cannot pass a strawbweery patch in a pick-it-yourself farm, has a cash-only-if-you-sell-it deal with our localroadside stand owner, for her jams - the natural outcome of a berry-picking habit.
Tuesday, April 19, 1994
The Police Academy Is Going To Stay Here, in Manhattan.
This is such good news I want to repeat it - the Police Academy is going to stay on East 20th Street. The news that fiscal sanity has prevailed, and our children will not have to pay for an unnecessary $260M Police Palace in the Bronx makes one hope that maybe New York City can, once more, rise out of the downslide and become a living, functioning organism.
Since 1986, when the Mayor's Committee on Police Management and Personnel Policy first recommended a new academy and we organized the Committee to Save the Police Academy (CSPA), there were a number of threats that made the move of the Acadamy to the Bronx a virtual certainty. Sophisticated political people advised us to forget about saving the Academy and to concentrate on alternate uses of the site, that you cannot fight City Hall. Naive and stubborn, we persisted, and between bombarding City Hall with petitions and letters, speaking up at public hearings, insisting that a cost/benefit justification for a new building be made, we have managed to keep our Academy. Or so we feel. More realistically, we could not have done it without the the aid of the huge deficit that by necessity had to shrink the city's capital budget.
We also had to contend with adversity, such as two hostile editorials and articles in the New York Times. We were responsible for a new word in the English language. William Safire to note: a New York Times editorials writer coined an acronym to describe us - SIMBY (Stay In My Back Yard), as contrasted with the well-known NIMBY. The Times seemingly reflected the strong feeling in The Bronx that a new Academy would somehow serve the economic rebirth of the borough.
But we also had friendly press, from the community newspapers, and a responsive Community Board #6, which kept hitting the Mayors with a resolution asking for an economic justification for the move.
And now to our friends and collaborators. CSPNA sprung to life in 1986 because the recommendation to move the Academy was instantly seen by everybody in the neighborhood as a threat to the security of our "bed-pan" area, through the loss of the presence of the recruits. Every area activist immediately lent his or her name to the effort to save the Academy. District leaders of both parties, councilpersons, assemblypersons, state senators, a member of the Congress; heads of every civic association, clergy, educators, CB#6 - the honor roll of people who lent us their names and their time is long, and we salute every one of you. In rough alphabetical order, you are:
Rev. James C. Amos (Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran Church), Rev. Irving J. Block (Brotherhood Synagogue), Jack Bringaman (Concerned Citizens Speak), Hon.Barbara Cattell (Federal Republican Club), the late Hon. Beth Robertson Cosnow (Tilden Democratic Club), Hon. Jane Crotty (Community Board #6), Louise Dankberg (Tilden Democratic Club), the late Alline E. Davis (22st St. East Block Association), James Dougherty (Gramercy Neighborhood Associates), Hon. Peter Doukas (Mid-Manhattan New Democratic Club), Alvin Doyle (Stuyvesant Town Tenants Association), Hon. Rose Dubinsky (Jefferson Democratic Club), Hon. Andrew Eristoff (4th City Council District), Hon. Lou Frank (Tilden Democratic Club), Hon. Miriam Friedlander (2nd City Council District), Hon. Sylvia Friedman (Gramercy-Stuyvesant Independent Democratic Club), Hon. Raymond Gibson (Mid-Manhattan New Democratic Club), Hon. Mary Gleason (Jefferson Democratic Club), Hon. Roy M. Goodman (26th Senatorial District), Hon. Carol Greitzer (3rd City Council District), Rosalee Isaly (Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association), Oliver Johnson (Union Square Park Community Coalition), Hon.Andrew Kulak (Jefferson Democratic Club), Hon. Myrna LePree (New York State Committee, 63rd Assembly District), Hon. John B. Levitt (Tilden Democratic Club), Jay Litwin (Mid-Manhattan New Democratic Club), Hon. Carolyn B. Maloney (U.S. House of Representatives, 14th District), Joyce G. McCray (Friends Seminary), Hon. Manfred Ohrenstein New York State Senate, 27th Senatorial District), Hon. Antonio Pagan (2nd City Council District), Hon. William F. Passanante (61st Assenbly District), Rev Dr Thomas F. Pike (Calvary-St.George's Episcopal Church), Jo-Ann Polisi (Stuyvesant Town Tenants Association), Hon. Stuart Prager (New York State Committee, 63rd Assembly District), Jo Pulvermacher Community Board #6), Francine Quesada (Independent Democratic Club), Hon. Bartholomeew M. Regazzi (Albano Republican Club), the late Joe Roberto, AIA, E.Peter Ryan(Gramercy Neighbors), Phillip Rothman (Cabrini Community Advisory Board), Hon. Steven Sanders (63rd Assembly District), Carol Schachter (Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association), Hon. Louis Sepersky (Community Board #6), Evelyn Strouse (Union Square Park Community Coalition), Hon. Mary M. Stumpf (Mid-Manhattan New Democratic Club), Hon. Joy Tannenbaum (Albano Republican Club), Jack Taylor (Union Squar Parl Community Coalition), Hon. Philip Wachtel (Independent Democratic Club), Rob Walsh (14th Street Union Square Local Development Corporation B.I.D.), Hon. Peter K. Wilson (Jefferson Democratic Club), Hon. Paul Wrablica (Federal Republican Club). If I've left anyone out, please remind me, and I'll make amends.
But remember - eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, and never say never. We must remain watchful. I am saving all your phone numbers, just in case.
Finally, let us all wish our sister borough, The Bronx, a good economic recovery, and hope that they will utilize the 10 acres near the 149th Street Hub which they had set aside for their Academy, to bring in some industry with a payroll. The poor recruits would have only brought sandwich money, if that - since many of them brown-bag.
Since 1986, when the Mayor's Committee on Police Management and Personnel Policy first recommended a new academy and we organized the Committee to Save the Police Academy (CSPA), there were a number of threats that made the move of the Acadamy to the Bronx a virtual certainty. Sophisticated political people advised us to forget about saving the Academy and to concentrate on alternate uses of the site, that you cannot fight City Hall. Naive and stubborn, we persisted, and between bombarding City Hall with petitions and letters, speaking up at public hearings, insisting that a cost/benefit justification for a new building be made, we have managed to keep our Academy. Or so we feel. More realistically, we could not have done it without the the aid of the huge deficit that by necessity had to shrink the city's capital budget.
We also had to contend with adversity, such as two hostile editorials and articles in the New York Times. We were responsible for a new word in the English language. William Safire to note: a New York Times editorials writer coined an acronym to describe us - SIMBY (Stay In My Back Yard), as contrasted with the well-known NIMBY. The Times seemingly reflected the strong feeling in The Bronx that a new Academy would somehow serve the economic rebirth of the borough.
But we also had friendly press, from the community newspapers, and a responsive Community Board #6, which kept hitting the Mayors with a resolution asking for an economic justification for the move.
And now to our friends and collaborators. CSPNA sprung to life in 1986 because the recommendation to move the Academy was instantly seen by everybody in the neighborhood as a threat to the security of our "bed-pan" area, through the loss of the presence of the recruits. Every area activist immediately lent his or her name to the effort to save the Academy. District leaders of both parties, councilpersons, assemblypersons, state senators, a member of the Congress; heads of every civic association, clergy, educators, CB#6 - the honor roll of people who lent us their names and their time is long, and we salute every one of you. In rough alphabetical order, you are:
Rev. James C. Amos (Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran Church), Rev. Irving J. Block (Brotherhood Synagogue), Jack Bringaman (Concerned Citizens Speak), Hon.Barbara Cattell (Federal Republican Club), the late Hon. Beth Robertson Cosnow (Tilden Democratic Club), Hon. Jane Crotty (Community Board #6), Louise Dankberg (Tilden Democratic Club), the late Alline E. Davis (22st St. East Block Association), James Dougherty (Gramercy Neighborhood Associates), Hon. Peter Doukas (Mid-Manhattan New Democratic Club), Alvin Doyle (Stuyvesant Town Tenants Association), Hon. Rose Dubinsky (Jefferson Democratic Club), Hon. Andrew Eristoff (4th City Council District), Hon. Lou Frank (Tilden Democratic Club), Hon. Miriam Friedlander (2nd City Council District), Hon. Sylvia Friedman (Gramercy-Stuyvesant Independent Democratic Club), Hon. Raymond Gibson (Mid-Manhattan New Democratic Club), Hon. Mary Gleason (Jefferson Democratic Club), Hon. Roy M. Goodman (26th Senatorial District), Hon. Carol Greitzer (3rd City Council District), Rosalee Isaly (Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association), Oliver Johnson (Union Square Park Community Coalition), Hon.Andrew Kulak (Jefferson Democratic Club), Hon. Myrna LePree (New York State Committee, 63rd Assembly District), Hon. John B. Levitt (Tilden Democratic Club), Jay Litwin (Mid-Manhattan New Democratic Club), Hon. Carolyn B. Maloney (U.S. House of Representatives, 14th District), Joyce G. McCray (Friends Seminary), Hon. Manfred Ohrenstein New York State Senate, 27th Senatorial District), Hon. Antonio Pagan (2nd City Council District), Hon. William F. Passanante (61st Assenbly District), Rev Dr Thomas F. Pike (Calvary-St.George's Episcopal Church), Jo-Ann Polisi (Stuyvesant Town Tenants Association), Hon. Stuart Prager (New York State Committee, 63rd Assembly District), Jo Pulvermacher Community Board #6), Francine Quesada (Independent Democratic Club), Hon. Bartholomeew M. Regazzi (Albano Republican Club), the late Joe Roberto, AIA, E.Peter Ryan(Gramercy Neighbors), Phillip Rothman (Cabrini Community Advisory Board), Hon. Steven Sanders (63rd Assembly District), Carol Schachter (Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association), Hon. Louis Sepersky (Community Board #6), Evelyn Strouse (Union Square Park Community Coalition), Hon. Mary M. Stumpf (Mid-Manhattan New Democratic Club), Hon. Joy Tannenbaum (Albano Republican Club), Jack Taylor (Union Squar Parl Community Coalition), Hon. Philip Wachtel (Independent Democratic Club), Rob Walsh (14th Street Union Square Local Development Corporation B.I.D.), Hon. Peter K. Wilson (Jefferson Democratic Club), Hon. Paul Wrablica (Federal Republican Club). If I've left anyone out, please remind me, and I'll make amends.
But remember - eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, and never say never. We must remain watchful. I am saving all your phone numbers, just in case.
Finally, let us all wish our sister borough, The Bronx, a good economic recovery, and hope that they will utilize the 10 acres near the 149th Street Hub which they had set aside for their Academy, to bring in some industry with a payroll. The poor recruits would have only brought sandwich money, if that - since many of them brown-bag.
Monday, April 18, 1994
Adversarial Behavior -You Too Can Help Cool The Scene
by Wally Dobelis 4/18/94
The Wall Street Journal, mid-April, hasd a story about a chronically unemployed young ex-journalist who wents his aggressions and frustrations by going to the daytime TV "talk shows" and screaming at the panelists. Since these talk shows specialize in in tabloid freak psychology, inspired by the National Inquirer, airing sick behavior between spouses, inappropriate lovers and horrid parent/child relationships, his screaming is on the "right side." These shows have a role in society - in a sense, they help the watchers realize that no matter how sick their family problems, there are others that are sicker. That is cheaper than the psychiatrist's couch.
Getting back to the screamer, the story is that the producers of the talk shows give him best seats and encourage his hostility, for the sake of excitement. That is bear-baiting and fostering gladiator shows, like Morton Downey Jr., who got too repulsive, even for the average hockey fan. I am for cooling everybody down.
There is too much adversarial behavior in our everyday life. We have learned to react to slights with anger, of which the extremes are stabbings due to bad "eye contact," gang wars, drive-by shootings, motorist gunning-down and drug vendettas. The city has too many people, and will have more, as population increases (see Wally Dobelis on Population Explosion). We must learn tolerance, low treshhold of anger. I do not dare to ask for good manners, which are unfortunately mistaken for subservience. Good manners are actually a way of recognizing the reality of the other person.
We have innate good manners - we turn our eyes down to people who act up in the street, and pass them by. We do not need talk show producers to teach gratuitous hostile behavior. Nice sensitive comments would be more to the point.
I'm teaching myself non-hostile behavior for the putative 21st Century lifestyle, should I ever make it. I practice smiling, when I think of it, since I have a naturally forbidding face. I practice speaking in a pleasant, not "now what" voice, because I know the costs of bad vocal tone in my personal relationships. A bad word in the waking up can set the tone for an entire day. I practice a little Alphonse-and-Gaston "after you" and "please, go ahead" behavior. In a super market, I will let the single item purchaser go ahead. At a gas station, I will pull up to the furthest open pump, so as not to block off others. And if forgotten, I will apologize to the driver behind me. You will not believe how nice that feels. I feel like Mr. Sensitivity.
When the ubiquitous coffee cup man sticks out his badge of office, and I am tapped out, I will speak up cheerily: " How are you doing," and get a cheerful brief response. That makes the cupman feel good, and me too, better than pinching my lips ans shaking him off. (Some day I will have a long writeup on my homeless acquantances for your review and criticism.) And when the insolent high school student in front of Washington Irving Higsschool glares at me, daring me, I have learned to suppress my "You don't own the sidewalk" retort. I visualize him in a adversarial daily environment, "me and my family against the world," in the projects, with drug shootouts. Or in an after-school and gang environment (that is another "me and my family" script). So I do another "How are you doing" and if that's positive, "How's school," and we walk away like Arafat and Rabin. One kid wanted to know if I was queer, and I told him that I was a conflict resolution counselor (you must think ahead for these encounters), which satisfied him.
In a sense, we are all conflict resolution counselors, in personal and business interrelationship way. I do not go to a business or association meeting without visualizing the potential controversies and my responses to them. Or the issues that I will raise and the objections. "Win-win" is the term that is almost tritely applied to these encounters. In its simplest terms, it requires that you think out how the people to whom you will offer an idea, can benefit from it. Once you get the idea, you can apply it to any encounter sutuatuion, and it will come naturally to you. But it takes a shift in attitude, a "paradigm shift," to use the current catchword.
Now, you can do whatever you want. I am doing these things because there have been costs of mindless behavior in my life, and I have learned better. Do not discard advice that comes free to you, it may have cost someone else a lot, if not in money, then in personal relationships.
The Wall Street Journal, mid-April, hasd a story about a chronically unemployed young ex-journalist who wents his aggressions and frustrations by going to the daytime TV "talk shows" and screaming at the panelists. Since these talk shows specialize in in tabloid freak psychology, inspired by the National Inquirer, airing sick behavior between spouses, inappropriate lovers and horrid parent/child relationships, his screaming is on the "right side." These shows have a role in society - in a sense, they help the watchers realize that no matter how sick their family problems, there are others that are sicker. That is cheaper than the psychiatrist's couch.
Getting back to the screamer, the story is that the producers of the talk shows give him best seats and encourage his hostility, for the sake of excitement. That is bear-baiting and fostering gladiator shows, like Morton Downey Jr., who got too repulsive, even for the average hockey fan. I am for cooling everybody down.
There is too much adversarial behavior in our everyday life. We have learned to react to slights with anger, of which the extremes are stabbings due to bad "eye contact," gang wars, drive-by shootings, motorist gunning-down and drug vendettas. The city has too many people, and will have more, as population increases (see Wally Dobelis on Population Explosion). We must learn tolerance, low treshhold of anger. I do not dare to ask for good manners, which are unfortunately mistaken for subservience. Good manners are actually a way of recognizing the reality of the other person.
We have innate good manners - we turn our eyes down to people who act up in the street, and pass them by. We do not need talk show producers to teach gratuitous hostile behavior. Nice sensitive comments would be more to the point.
I'm teaching myself non-hostile behavior for the putative 21st Century lifestyle, should I ever make it. I practice smiling, when I think of it, since I have a naturally forbidding face. I practice speaking in a pleasant, not "now what" voice, because I know the costs of bad vocal tone in my personal relationships. A bad word in the waking up can set the tone for an entire day. I practice a little Alphonse-and-Gaston "after you" and "please, go ahead" behavior. In a super market, I will let the single item purchaser go ahead. At a gas station, I will pull up to the furthest open pump, so as not to block off others. And if forgotten, I will apologize to the driver behind me. You will not believe how nice that feels. I feel like Mr. Sensitivity.
When the ubiquitous coffee cup man sticks out his badge of office, and I am tapped out, I will speak up cheerily: " How are you doing," and get a cheerful brief response. That makes the cupman feel good, and me too, better than pinching my lips ans shaking him off. (Some day I will have a long writeup on my homeless acquantances for your review and criticism.) And when the insolent high school student in front of Washington Irving Higsschool glares at me, daring me, I have learned to suppress my "You don't own the sidewalk" retort. I visualize him in a adversarial daily environment, "me and my family against the world," in the projects, with drug shootouts. Or in an after-school and gang environment (that is another "me and my family" script). So I do another "How are you doing" and if that's positive, "How's school," and we walk away like Arafat and Rabin. One kid wanted to know if I was queer, and I told him that I was a conflict resolution counselor (you must think ahead for these encounters), which satisfied him.
In a sense, we are all conflict resolution counselors, in personal and business interrelationship way. I do not go to a business or association meeting without visualizing the potential controversies and my responses to them. Or the issues that I will raise and the objections. "Win-win" is the term that is almost tritely applied to these encounters. In its simplest terms, it requires that you think out how the people to whom you will offer an idea, can benefit from it. Once you get the idea, you can apply it to any encounter sutuatuion, and it will come naturally to you. But it takes a shift in attitude, a "paradigm shift," to use the current catchword.
Now, you can do whatever you want. I am doing these things because there have been costs of mindless behavior in my life, and I have learned better. Do not discard advice that comes free to you, it may have cost someone else a lot, if not in money, then in personal relationships.
Building Employee Local 32B Contract Expires April 20
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
By the time you read this, your building's maintenance staff may be out on your sidewalk, picketing you. The contracts of Building Service Employee Union Local 32B-32J, to which many of our neighborhood's building employees belong, expire on Midnight, April 20. Stuyvesant Town is not affected. The employees covered are doormen, porters and handymen (superintendents belong to a different union).There are active negotiations between the union and the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations, Inc., the association to which most of the area buildings belong. However, the last time, in 1991, the talks resulted in a two-week strike, with no apprecable gains for the union members, and one should be prepared for the possibility of another strike in 1994.
The main contingencies that tenants should recognize and organize for, and building management should provide for are security and garbage disposal. A doorman building should have a security guard, and distribute passes to tenants. A friendlier but more difficult to administer security method is to have tenant volunteers at the door, but you will end up overworking the poor mothers who will be the only ones available to cover during business hours. A combination of guards and volunteers is best. If a building is skipping nighttime guard service, front door keys (if the door is lockable) should be provided to all tenants. Tenants should also alert delivery people and visitors to call ahead, so that the tenant can be reached upon arrival.
Tenants in buildings that have no doormen should exercise extra caution in buzzing in visitors. When an unexpected delivery is announced, it is best to come down and check the arrival's bona fides through the door pane.
For garbage disposal the best method is to have the building reserve a dumpster, to be delivered and placed in front of the building when the strike is imminent. The tenants then can take their garbage down directly. Building management should also provide garbage bags and ask for floor captain volunteers on each floor, to handle the garbage problems of the elderly and feeble. Be advised that everybody on the street will try to use your dumpster. Also, for those tenants who have no access to a dumpster and do not want to save up their garbage - do not use the street-corner city garbage basket. You can -and will - be fined if you use it for household garbage. In 1991 many people ended up with $50 tickets because their mail was found in the street-corner basket.
Also, schedule your activities. If you have your kitchen remodeled, check with your building management whether your contractors will have access to elevators, and if not, write the contract so that the work is done before or after, but not overlapping the potential strike period. You don't want to be stuck with a half-finished kitchen or bathroom for the duration of a strike. Also, do your spring cleaning ahead of time; recycle your winter's aggregation of newspapers and magazines now.
Actually, a buiding employees' strike has some side benefits. You will meet and talk with your neighbors. If you want to meet potential eligible soulmates, volunteer for frequent door duty. If you just plain want to chat and have a chance to to tell what's on your mind -ditto. New Yorkers are tend to be distant; even if you like to be friendly, under normal circumstances you may be hesitant to bid "Good Morning" to an elevator-full of people in a who might give you the baleful eye and spoil your mood. Before, during and even for a few months after a strike people in elevators smile and chat with each other as though they were lifelong friends. In 1991, when I acted as the tenants' strike coordinator for my coop building, a nice old lady stopped me to say:"I had such a good time! When do we have the next strike?" I promptly sent her off to Beth Israel Hospital - to be a volunteer, that is.
Some day let's do a volunteer activities directory for this area. If you want to tell me about your group, please write to me, c/o Hagedorn Communications, One Madison Ave, NYC 10010.
By the time you read this, your building's maintenance staff may be out on your sidewalk, picketing you. The contracts of Building Service Employee Union Local 32B-32J, to which many of our neighborhood's building employees belong, expire on Midnight, April 20. Stuyvesant Town is not affected. The employees covered are doormen, porters and handymen (superintendents belong to a different union).There are active negotiations between the union and the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations, Inc., the association to which most of the area buildings belong. However, the last time, in 1991, the talks resulted in a two-week strike, with no apprecable gains for the union members, and one should be prepared for the possibility of another strike in 1994.
The main contingencies that tenants should recognize and organize for, and building management should provide for are security and garbage disposal. A doorman building should have a security guard, and distribute passes to tenants. A friendlier but more difficult to administer security method is to have tenant volunteers at the door, but you will end up overworking the poor mothers who will be the only ones available to cover during business hours. A combination of guards and volunteers is best. If a building is skipping nighttime guard service, front door keys (if the door is lockable) should be provided to all tenants. Tenants should also alert delivery people and visitors to call ahead, so that the tenant can be reached upon arrival.
Tenants in buildings that have no doormen should exercise extra caution in buzzing in visitors. When an unexpected delivery is announced, it is best to come down and check the arrival's bona fides through the door pane.
For garbage disposal the best method is to have the building reserve a dumpster, to be delivered and placed in front of the building when the strike is imminent. The tenants then can take their garbage down directly. Building management should also provide garbage bags and ask for floor captain volunteers on each floor, to handle the garbage problems of the elderly and feeble. Be advised that everybody on the street will try to use your dumpster. Also, for those tenants who have no access to a dumpster and do not want to save up their garbage - do not use the street-corner city garbage basket. You can -and will - be fined if you use it for household garbage. In 1991 many people ended up with $50 tickets because their mail was found in the street-corner basket.
Also, schedule your activities. If you have your kitchen remodeled, check with your building management whether your contractors will have access to elevators, and if not, write the contract so that the work is done before or after, but not overlapping the potential strike period. You don't want to be stuck with a half-finished kitchen or bathroom for the duration of a strike. Also, do your spring cleaning ahead of time; recycle your winter's aggregation of newspapers and magazines now.
Actually, a buiding employees' strike has some side benefits. You will meet and talk with your neighbors. If you want to meet potential eligible soulmates, volunteer for frequent door duty. If you just plain want to chat and have a chance to to tell what's on your mind -ditto. New Yorkers are tend to be distant; even if you like to be friendly, under normal circumstances you may be hesitant to bid "Good Morning" to an elevator-full of people in a who might give you the baleful eye and spoil your mood. Before, during and even for a few months after a strike people in elevators smile and chat with each other as though they were lifelong friends. In 1991, when I acted as the tenants' strike coordinator for my coop building, a nice old lady stopped me to say:"I had such a good time! When do we have the next strike?" I promptly sent her off to Beth Israel Hospital - to be a volunteer, that is.
Some day let's do a volunteer activities directory for this area. If you want to tell me about your group, please write to me, c/o Hagedorn Communications, One Madison Ave, NYC 10010.
