Month: May 2005

Bigger, Faster, Harder: Organize My Teeming Masses, Baby!

The New York Times has published yet another of its series of articles encapsulating developments in the power struggle within the labor federation. It’s hard to express how disappointed I am in how this debate has degenerated. What started out as an exciting difference of opinion on the way forward for organizing masses of new union members, taking on Corporate America and winning huge gains for working families has wound up being just another acrimonious electoral campaign. First, there’s John Sweeney, who, as a public speaker may be as electrifying as dirt, but is nevertheless responsible for a minor renaissance that saved “Big Labor” from a premature death in the mid-1990’s, and who would have been looked back upon fondly by historians for sparking the resurgence in labor’s fortunes that we all hope is just around the corner. Though he promised to serve just ten years when first elected in […]

Goodbye, Jamaica Avenue

One of my favorite eccentricities of the neighborhood in which I grew up is about to be eradicated in order to “alleviate confusion.” In actual fact, it’s to alleviate racist fears. I grew up in a neighborhood called Floral Park, which is situated in outer-most Queens – so far east, in fact, that the neighborhood is bisected by New York City’s border with Nassau county. Right on red? Well, if you’re on 258th Street, you’re in the clear, but if you’re on 259th, you’re risking a ticket, unless you’re north of 89th Avenue. Best of all, our southernmost border in Northeastern Queens is called Jamaica Avenue – except when it’s called Jericho Turnpike. Built in 1809 by the Brooklyn, Jamaica and Flatbush Turnpike Company, Jamaica Avenue is one of the oldest and most central arteries on the island we call Long. In Brooklyn, it’s Empire Blvd before it becomes E. […]

Yo, Brooklyn!

I’m sure you’ve all been waiting patiently for my 2005 election cycle endorsements. The sad fact is there is not much to be excited about in the upcoming NYC elections. Freddy Ferrer has squandered much of his goodwill from the 2001 elections, and the Democratic contenders are likely to savage each other in the primary and hand Bloomberg an easy re-election. And, sadly, there doesn’t seem to be a strong independent candidacy to support. The outlook is considerably brighter in Brooklyn, where community activist Gloria Mattera is running for Borough President. Gloria is a community activist with deep support in Park Slope, where she received 30% of the vote in a City Council election in 2001. She has been a very strong anti-war voice, and, as the Chairperson of the NYS Green Party, she has helped ensure that the party extend its message beyond environmentalism to become a true progressive […]

Si Gerson

Si Gerson, the last vital link to the Communist Party’s glory days in NYC politics in the 1930’s and 40’s, died last December at the age of 95. Si was a valued colleague and comrade, and I miss him. The CP will be hosting a memorial in Si’s honor on June 10th. Si was a journalist and political activist during the Popular Front era, when the CP enjoyed considerable mainstream clout as a partner in the American Labor Party, a New York coalition party consisting of labor activists, Socialists, Communists reform Democrats and liberal Republicans that effectively took back the city from Tammany Hall for a time. Bookended by a corruption scandal that forced Mayor Jimmy Walker to flee the city in 1932 and by the start of anti-Communist hysteria in 1947, the era saw New York City freed from the grip of Tammany Hall hacks through political and electoral […]

Civil Rights for the Mentally Ill

From my comrade in Staten Island, Tom Good: Dear Comrades, Please sign the online petition for civil rights for the mentally ill at – http://www.petitiononline.com/just1nyc/ ** Please list your organization if you are in a union or healthcare related employment – or are a member of a mainstream political action group as we are trying to pressure elected officials to do the right thing. ** If you are free tomorrow evening: Community Board One will hold it’s meeting tomorrow evening at 7 PM at the Saint George Theatre – located at 25 Hyatt Street, Staten Island. The CB meeting is devoted to a discussion of the proposed Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Center’s Fort Place supported housing project for 50 very stable psychiatric patients. SVCMC Behavioral Health CEO Dr. Brian Fitzsimmons and Residential Services Director Marianne DiTommaso have been invited to speak for the hospital. Opponents of this project have been […]

The Wal-Mart Revolution is Bananas!!!

There’s a pretty good article in today’s Washington Post about legal efforts to block Wal-Mart from invading the region. These include a measure that would restrict the location of stores larger than 120,000 feet (the typical size of a Wal-Mart Supercenter) and one which would require employers to spend eight percent of their payroll on health care if they have more than 10,000 employees in Maryland (only one company employs as many people while paying far less than eight percent on health care; guess which one?). Efforts like these, and our own Wal-Mart Free NYC, are having their effect. Wal-Mart’s stock price has been stagnant for years. Sure, they’re a huge corporation making billions of dollars in business, but Wall Street always wants more. Wal-Mart’s failure to expand into America’s large urban areas is hurting them, slowly but surely. But, oh, how can we consumers resist all that cheap underwear? […]

From the End of Your Leash

I finally reached one of my goals for this website and got my first batch of free CDs for review, thanks to the good people at Bloodshot Records. Don’t think any less of my journalistic integrity if I wind up only writing positive reviews. I’ve long been a fan of the record label and its stable of clever and nervy alt.country artists. Perhaps the best record that I missed in 2004, “From the End of Your Leash” features the outsized sounds and ambitions of Bobby Bare Jr.’s Young Criminals’ Starvation League. A smart-ass songwriter in the finest Nashville tradition (his pop has dozens of Top 40 country hits to his credit), Bare Jr. is not afraid to let his masterful arrangements – complete with Stax horns and lovely harmony from Carey Kotsionis – compete with his frequently witty lyrics. “Hey, brother, could I borrow your girlfriend?” he asks in the […]

A Brief Return to the Twentieth Century: Gang of Four at Irving Plaza

The Gang of Four returned to New York in great style and form last night, showing no signs of their two-decade gap in performing. They were tight and sharp and ready to take over the world. Darting across stage and frequently switching places, Andy Gill’s jagged guitars sounded every bit as dangerous as they do on those old records while Jon King punctuated his singing by wildly flailing his arms like some sort of spastic messiah. It felt a bit like a socialist church (the crazy, speaking-in-tongues, big-tent revival kind) as the crowd (a wonderful mix of old-timers and kids) screamed along with lines like “The change will do you good!” and “To Hell with poverty!!!” The set list was mostly restricted to songs from their first two albums, the only ones that all four original members played on, although the late, Joseph Conrad-quoting “We Live As We Dream, Alone” […]

Baseball and Hardball

I saw my first Mets game of the season, a terrific 9 to 2 bludgeoning of the Reds. “Value” tickets for last night’s game were just $5 for the nosebleed seats in the upper decks. For $5, one can’t really complain. Actually, I rather prefer it way up there. All the games that I saw as a kid were in the upper decks, so that’s how I learned to follow the ball in play. Those box seats behind home plate are just a little overwhelming. The Mets have a pretty good team this year. They actually win as often as they lose. All I ask is for a little excitement and suspense. The next two nights are also “value” days, and tickets will be the same price. Tickets will obviously be much more expensive when the Yankees visit this weekend. “Value” days return on May 31 when the Mets face […]

Terrific Coverage from Staten Island’s Paper of Record

Union members distribute fliers protesting plans for 2 local Wal-Marts By ROB HART STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE Friday, May 13, 2005 A Queens resident who helped derail Wal-Mart’s attempt to build a store in his borough joined union members and volunteers yesterday in protesting the big-boxer’s plans to build on Staten Island. Shaun Richman, along with members of Local 342 of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, handed out small orange fliers to late-afternoon commuters at the St. George Ferry Terminal “[Wal-Mart comes] in and all the small shops close down,” contended Richman. “They’re welfare cheats and they produce jobs that don’t pay enough.” The retail behemoth is eyeing industrial tracts in Mariners Harbor and Richmond Valley. Either would be the first Wal-Mart in New York City. Besides the alleged detriment to small businesses, the fliers accused Wal-Mart of poor labor practices in regard to health care, discrimination against women […]

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