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April 22, 2022 • Schneps Media
LOCAL NEWS OPED
Our city can repair local
schools – and economy
BY VINCENT ALVAREZ
A majority of our nation’s
school buildings are at
least 50 years old. Think
about that: the classrooms and
other school facilities where our
kids spend hours on end, fi ve
days a week, are in desperate
need of renovations to deal with
issues like leaking roofs, broken
air-conditioning, mold or mildew
issues, and poor air quality.
In NYC, the situation is even
more dire: the average age of our
school buildings is 70 years old.
This is a crisis for our students,
and it’s especially acute in communities
of color that have endured
generations of underinvestment.
The environment in which our students
learn affects everything from
their test scores to their health
and well-being. Old, deteriorating
school buildings rely on outdated
equipment, pumping tons of carbon
emissions into the air. Taxpayers
are on the hook for millions
of dollars in energy costs, which
nationwide represent the secondhighest
costs for schools after personnel.
We need to get this under
control before it’s too late.
Fortunately, earlier this week,
the White House announced
the Biden-Harris Action Plan for
Building Better School Infrastructure,
a $500 million grant program
that will allow states and cities to
invest in green retrofi ts that improve
energy effi ciency, air quality,
and health outcomes for students
across the country. Importantly,
these projects will create hundreds
of thousands of new, good union
jobs across the country, building
a pipeline between public schools
and union careers that will support
strong communities and a just
economy for all.
With this groundbreaking federal
program in place, New York
can show the way forward. That’s
why here in our state, a coalition of
The fourth sweep of an East Village encampment led to two arrests on April 20.
Swept away again
Fourth raid on East Village ‘Anarchy Row’
homeless encampment, two arrests made
sweep ended without incident
with homeless outreach merely
posting an updated removal notice.
“I have roots in this area since I
was a child. Eleven years ago, I returned
to homelessness and since
then I’ve been with the homeless
community out here. I just couldn’t
leave what I consider to be my people,”
Grima told amNewYork Metro
Tuesday.
On April 20th, the NYPD were
not taking any chances. Arriving in
a police van at around 8am, the department
and sanitation demanded
the sweep be undertaken, something
the unhoused East Village
residents didn’t take too kindly.
Grima, like so many times before,
stood in defi ance of the sweep, refusing
to leave his tent to the snapping
maw of a garbage truck. With
Grima standing in prevention of
the New City Police, members of
PHOTO COURTESY VANISHING NY
NYPD’s strategic response unit
moved in. Wrestling with Grima
who desperately clung to his tent,
four offi cers lugged the homeless
man by his elbows and ankles and
placed him in the rear of an awaiting
van, allowing sanitation workers
to dismantle and ultimately dispose
of the camp.
Another arrest was also made. An
advocate and friend to Grima was
also led away in cuffs for allegedly
attempting to prevent the sweep.
According to Grima and Veer, by
continuing to camp in the area they
are attempting to show defi ance
against what they feel are inhumane
sweeps and demand permanent
housing.
“We want permanent housing,
where you can have your family over
for a holiday, where you don’t have
all these weird rules like curfews–I
don’t want all that,” Veev said.
The Villager, Villager Express, Chelsea Now, Downtown Express and Manhattan Express
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labor unions formed Climate Jobs
NY to advance a pro-worker, proclimate
agenda – a coalition that
has grown to represent 2.6 million
workers across every sector of New
York’s economy.
We believe our work is absolutely
imperative for achieving racial
justice across all fi ve boroughs,
because our schools’ crumbling
buildings are not distributed equally.
Right now, many of the public
schools that educate our most underserved
students are the ones in
most need of repairs. If our city is
to truly commit to addressing inequity,
our leaders must acknowledge
that students of color are attending
schools with inadequate HVAC
and ventilation systems, faulty
windows and doors, and decaying
roofs.
As it stands, one in four New
York City classrooms have no air
conditioning whatsoever — resulting
in an unhealthy learning environment
in warm weather months.
A major investment in the Carbon
Free and Healthy Schools initiative
would represent meaningful progress
in reversing decades of neglect.
It’s time to build the schools
of the future: safe, healthy and
carbon-free. If successful, we will
eliminate 75,000 tons of carbon
emissions from our schools, save
tens of millions of public money
and create thousands of union jobs
in the process— giving students of
color a direct pipeline from their
public schools to jobs that sustain
careers and families. And we can
send a clear signal to Washington
and to other states and cities across
the country: investments in addressing
climate change can simultaneously
be investments in our
students and their health.
Given this moment, too much
is at stake and we cannot wait any
longer to act.
Vincent Alvarez is president of
the New York City Central Labor
Council.
Member of the National
Newspaper Association
Member of the
New York Press Association
Member of the Minority
Women Business Enterprise
BY DEAN MOSES
One day after the residents
of Anarchy Row stood
their ground against an attempted
homeless encampment
removal, the NYPD returned in
force early Wednesday morning,
leading to arrests.
Johnny Grima, an individual
living with homelessness and a rising
undomiciled activist has been
fi ghting for his home—a small
row of tents—against a revolving
door of sweeps for weeks, with the
latest battle being the third removal
in less than seven days.
On April 19, Grima, fellow rough
sleeper Sinthia Veev, and advocates
rebelled against the NYPD, DSSDHS,
and DSNY who arrived at
9th Street and Avenue B to dismantle
the encampment.
Following a brief standoff, the attempted
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