Editorial
Op-ed
Order in the court
“When the facts are on your side,
pound the facts. When the
law is on your side, pound
the law. When neither is on your side, pound
the table.”
That axiom is popular among lawyers and
attorneys, but it speaks not just to the court
of law, but also the court of public opinion.
On Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio did a lot
of table-pounding at his press conference regarding
the slow movement of cases through
the city’s criminal courts. He pointed the
fi nger of blame at the state Unifi ed Court
System for not expediting non-gun violence
cases, which he said has allowed more
criminals to roam the city streets and commit
crimes.
De Blasio’s table-pounding, however, is not
completely baseless. The criminal courts have
been moving slowly; just 18 trial cases went
to verdict in the fi rst six months of 2021; by
comparison, more than 400 such cases were
adjudicated in the fi rst half of 2019.
The state courts fi nally lifted most COVID
19 restrictions in May and resumed
business-as-close-to-usual. A spokesperson
for the Unifi ed Court System acknowledged
the delays, but said de Blasio was mistaken
— and that the delays in processing criminal
cases were related to prosecutors and defense
attorneys failing to catch up with the demand.
The United States is built upon guaranteed
rights of the accused to fair and speedy trials,
and due process of law. If those rights are
violated, the accused often walk free, even
if they are truly guilty of the crimes committed
— and justice is evaded.
Criminal cases must be expedited in New
York City, but pointing fi ngers at the courts
or attorneys or the mayor isn’t going to solve
the problem. The city and state must come
together on an agreement to quickly adjudicate
all pending criminal court cases without
resorting to mud-slinging in the court of
public opinion.
And it must be noted that the court delays
aren’t the only reason why crime remains too
troublingly high in New York City.
July saw year-over-year decreases in shooting
incidents, and overall major felonies were
fl at. That’s largely the result of good police
work (gun arrests are at an all-time high) and
shifts in public resources toward education
and job programs to improve lives in crimedamaged
communities.
Mayor de Blasio should pound the effectiveness
of those programs more than the
struggles of the court system.
Publisher of The Villager, Villager Express, Chelsea Now,
Downtown Express and Manhattan Express
PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER
CEO & CO-PUBLISHER
EDITOR IN CHIEF
REPORTERS
CONTRIBUTORS
ART DIRECTOR
ADVERTISING
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES
PUBLISHER’S LIABILITY FOR ERROR
The Publisher shall not be liable for slight changes
or typographical errors that do not lessen the value
of an advertisement. The publisher’s liability for
others errors or omissions in connection with an
advertisement is strictly limited to publication of the
advertisement in any subsequent issue.
Published by Schneps Media
One Metrotech North, 3rd floor
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Phone: (718) 260-2500
Fax: (212) 229-2790
On-line: www.thevillager.com
E-mail: news@thevillager.com
© 2021 Schneps Media
VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA SCHNEPS
ROBERT POZARYCKI
EMILY DAVENPORT
KEVIN DUGGAN
DEAN MOSES
ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
BOB KRASNER
TEQUILA MINSKY
MARCOS RAMOS
CLIFFORD LUSTER
(718) 260-2504
CLUSTER@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
GAYLE GREENBURG
JULIO TUMBACO
ELIZABETH POLLY
New York Press Association
Member of the National
Newspaper Association
Member of the
Member of the
Minority Women Business Enterprise
City must invest in
nutrition services for
older New Yorkers
BY JEREMY KAPLAN
In one month, the city will wind down
GetFoodNYC operations, ending the
emergency food program created in
response to the pandemic. While the peak
of the crisis has passed, the need for food
remains high – particularly among vulnerable
older New Yorkers.
Even before the pandemic, 1 in 4 older
adults living at home were nutritionally at
risk. Then COVID hit, creating a crisis
uniquely devastating for seniors. Older
residents, most susceptible to the coronavirus,
shuttered themselves indoors. Not
surprisingly, requests for home-delivered
meals went through the roof.
At Encore Community Services, we
saw a 45% increase in demand the fi rst
few weeks of the pandemic, and rushed to
meet the need. We provided 1,600 delivered
meals a day to seniors on the west
side of Manhattan, up from 1,100. Our
peer organizations saw similar requests.
Unfortunately, we weren’t provided with
funds to sustain the increased demand for
meals, despite being recognized experts
in the fi eld. Instead, the city used federal
funding to create a new emergency food
program, GetFoodNYC, and had that
program operated by the Department of
Sanitation, rather than the Department for
the Aging (DFTA).
On Oct. 1, the city will start to shutter
GetFoodNYC and is now turning
PHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES
to nonprofi t senior service providers to
facilitate the transition for 19,000 seniors
still enrolled. Once again, we are expected
to solve problems with no promise for
sustained funding or support.
A handful of individuals still enrolled in
GetFoodNYC may return to recently-reopened
senior centers for meals. But many
likely have limited mobility, and would be
eligible for home-delivered meals funded
through DFTA. However, most providers,
like Encore Community Services, are at
capacity with contracts capped by the city,
and cannot expand to meet the needs.
Furthermore, while GetFoodNYC provided
three meals a day as an emergency
service, regular meal delivery clients supported
by city-funded programs are only
allocated one meal per day – often the only
meal they eat. It’s clearly not enough.
As the city works towards an equitable
COVID recovery, we can’t forget about seniors
and their nutrition needs. In fact, over
the next few years, the needs of older New
Yorkers will only increase as demographics
continue to shift. The situation requires
signifi cant and long-term investment from
the city – including additional funding
for DFTA, improved fl exibility with city
contracts, and an emergency food plan to
ensure that all older adults have uninterrupted
access to food before the next crisis
happens.
Jeremy Kaplan is the executive director
of Encore Community Services.
8 September 2, 2021 Schneps Media
/www.thevillager.com
link
link
/www.thevillager.com
link
link
