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DEMAND JUSTICE
Victims of sexual abuse by
Catholic clergy or by authority
figures at school have rights.
NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY LAW HAVE
EXTENDED THE TIME PERIOD IN WHICH TO FILE
YOUR SEXUAL ABUSE CLAIM. ACT NOW TO GET
YOUR CLAIM TIMELY FILED.
CLERGY ABUSE ATTORNEY HOTLINE 800-444-9112
ATTORNEY ADVERTISING
DOUGLAS & LONDON, P.C. 59 MAIDEN LN, 6TH FLOOR, NEW YORK, NY 10038
THE MATTHEWS LAW FIRM, PLLC, 244 5TH AVENUE, SUITE 2882, NY, NY 10001
MAIN OFFICE: 2905 SACKETT STREET, HOUSTON, TEXAS 77098
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Fight for the right to parking
Boro President Adams: If everyone else can park illegally, I can too!
By Kevin Duggan
Brooklyn Paper
Borough President Eric
Adams refused to intercede in
his employees’ illegal parking
habits at a town hall meeting
he convened to discuss placard
abuse on Tuesday, claiming
that — if other public officials
get to abuse their parking
privileges — he can too!
“I fought my entire life to
make sure men that look like
me don’t have different rules
than anyone else,” said Adams.
“There’s one rule in this
city, there’s not going to be a
rule just for Eric Adams, the
first African-American borough
president.”
Adams, who is marketing
himself as a safe streets advocate
as he prepares to campaign
for mayor of New York
City next year, convened the
public meeting at Borough
Hall to mend his broken reputation
in the wake of a social
media blunder he committed
last month, in which he compared
a Twitter user to the
Ku Klux Klan for criticizing
his record on placard abuse in
America’s Downtown.
As part of a post-Twitter
blunder publicity tour he’s embarked
Photo by Kevin Duggan
Stopping the city school brain drain
For decades, the “gifted
and talented” program
has given some of the
sharpest young minds in the
New York City public school
system a chance to challenge
themselves, hone their skills
and cultivate their minds to
their fullest potential.
But if a group of education
reformers whispering in the
ears of Mayor Bill de Blasio
and Schools Chancellor Richard
Carranza have it their way,
the gifted and talented program
will soon be a thing of
the past.
The School Diversity Advisory
Group recommended last
month that the Department of
Education (DOE) dismiss the
program in the name of equality.
They claim that the screening
system in place disproportionately
leaves out students of
color, and contributes to segregation
in the nation’s largest
public school district.
But the group’s assertion
that the gifted and talented program,
by itself, is the cause of
segregation is a deeply flawed
argument. It’s also the same
argument made by those seeking
to eliminate entrance exams
for the city’s specialized
high schools, for the very same
reason: a lack of equality and
opportunity for all.
Make no mistake, there
is a troubling lack of equality
and opportunity in New
York City public school education.
A shameful segregation
indeed persists to this day
in classrooms across the most
progressive city in America.
But specialized education
programs or standardized tests
are not to blame for this condition.
Decades of failed education
policy in New York
City, rather, have left behind
public school students across
the city.
Simply put, this city has not
invested enough in its future.
It has not provided enough resources
to public schools in every
corner of every borough to
operate at its optimum level.
It has not provided enough in
the way of after-school educational
programs and free tutoring
for students to achieve
high marks and qualify for specialized
schools or the gifted
and talented program.
To turn things around and
truly open up opportunity for
all public school students, we
need to invest in them. That
costs billions of our taxpayer
dollars, of course, and requires
a steady amount of work to ensure
that everything goes according
to plan.
In short, it’s hard. It requires
work, patience and diligence.
It’s not an easy remedy. But
it just so happens to be the
right one.
Getting rid of programs
such as gifted and talented
risks a tremendous brain drain
in New York. If the city cannot
help its sharpest young minds
reach their full potential, and
if the city cannot help all of its
students reach their full potential,
they will wither away from
boredom and neglect.
Likewise, if the city cannot
solve its segregation problem
without investing in better
schools, better teachers and
better programs for all its students,
it should expect more
of the same, regardless of reforms
made.
Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor
Carranza must do the
right thing, for once, and invest
in the city’s future, rather
than tear it down.
EDITORIAL
on, Adam’s rolled back
his Klan comments in a Sept. 1
radio interview prior to Tuesday’s
meeting, saying that he
was merely referring to criminals
covering their faces —
not the white supremacist terrorist
group specifically.
“People who throughout my
history of using ways of hiding
their faces by using any form
of disguise to commit any kind
of act that a coward would do,”
he told WCBS Radio.
And on Tuesday the beep
said it’s okay to use social media
as “a bully pulpit” to highlight
problem areas and fight
placard abuse — as long as he
isn’t singled out!
“Let’s do this in a uniform
fashion,” Adams said. “I’m the
break-the-car-culture elected
official. I believe it, I live it, I
don’t just talk about it, I live
through it. But I’m clear on one
thing, we’re not going to have
two standards, folks.”
Adams broached other tactics
for fighting placard abuse,
including mandated enforcement
sweeps, publicly sponsored
car pools for city workers,
and legislative reform to hold
bad actors accountable.
But the beep’s audience
Tuesday wanted to know what
he would do to clean up illegal
parking around his seat of
power at Borough Hall — before
they discussed the city at
large — saying they weren’t
buying his excuse that widespread
corruption excused his
own wrongdoings.
“If I go into a clothing
store and 20 people are stealing
things and I walk in and
I steal something too, I don’t
say ‘Oh it’s okay, everyone
else is doing it. I’m not going
to stop until everybody else
stops,’” said Armenoush Alsanian
Persico.
Another constituent made
clear to Adams that he’s not
mayor yet, and that while he’s
Brooklyn borough president,
he’s expected to act like it.
“It frankly hurts when you
say there’s a double standard
happening. We expect enforcement
throughout New
York City. With that said,
I’m your constituent, I’m not
the Manhattan borough president’s
constituent, so I’m coming
to you and asking for your
help,” said Blythe Austin.
This reporter found about
half a dozen unmarked cars
illegally parked at Borough
Hall’s side entrance with placards
issued by Adams’ office
in the dash and a traffic cone
in front of them with a makeshift
laminated sign saying
“Parking Spot for BP Car.”
And Adams admitted he
allows staffers to park illegally,
but only female employees
who respond to emergency
situations late at night, such
as the recent mass shooting
in Brownsville.
“The only individuals who
are allowed to park private
vehicles around the building
are my women employees
that I have told they have
to respond late at night when
they call,” he said.
One of several unmarked vehicles with placards issued
by Adams’s office that could be seen illegally
lining the side of the Beep’s Downtown office ahead
of the meeting.
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