Don’t ever say that some of the female members of Brooklyn’s city council delegation are soft: they aren’t. There was a raucous public hearing last Wednesday evening at the Brooklyn Museum (near Grand Army Plaza), that was aimed at getting the general view on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s proposed service cuts in the next fiscal year; at this event, NYC council members Darlene Mealy and Tish James -both from Brooklyn- made outstanding oral presentations which captivated the loud crowd of attendees. Throughout the procedures scores of teenagers outnumbered the elderly, in openly expressing their disenchantment with the proposed cuts by the MTA’s board members. Eventually four arrests were made amongst the spirited -but at times rowdy- youngsters; as police officers had to be called in to help maintain order.  read more »

I should really make this title: “OF DREAMS AND DRIVES AND PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT”, since it highlights the importance of parental involvement in young children’s lives. This column deals with two black female attorneys and their two kids; and in both instances these kids were raised in single-parent households. Too often these types of situations are frowned upon; but I always caution folks not to stereotype: you will be surprised or contradicted quite often.

I know both parents involved here. They are both good friends and are also politically active. They have devoted their lives to developing their kids properly. They have also invested extraordinary amounts of time, effort, energy and money in their children’s overall development. Their combined goal has always been to maximize the potential in these kids. They both need to be commended. Maybe some organization could jointly award them the “Mother of the Year” award at some event, later this year.  read more »

I guess it was just too much for me to hope that the quality of black and Hispanic electeds will get better in a post-Obama USA. After all, there was really nothing to base that on. And after years of frustration with the quality emerging from New York, I guess I was just grasping at straws, in hope that we could elect people, who are not only intellectually developed to tackle real issues facing the polity, but also possessive of the moral character and courage to do the right thing when the right time comes.

Look, there are no perfect politicians. In fact there are no perfect human beings anywhere. If we were all perfect, we would have nothing to strive for; so hopefully we keep reaching for the good within, hoping that one day we get to become the best we can be. I know that I am not perfect, but I do strive to be a better human being every day of my adult life. I also try to learn from my mistakes and not repeat them: to me, this is basic; this is fundamental for trying to live a decent life.  read more »

Last week, I handed in my resignation to Ms. Darlene Mealy (NYC council member of the 41st District). I assume that most of you are aware that I have been working with her since December -as the part time Communications Director. Hopefully, my last day in this role will be on the 26th of March (as per my resignation letter). .

The main reasons I have chosen to go this route are what necessitate this column. I want to make it clear that this is my choice -and mine only. I was not forced to walk the plant, nor given any subtle shoves out the door. I have given her enough notice (4 weeks) so that she can hire someone to replace me without her small staff being strained, stressed and/or stretched.

As far as I read it, I can stay on with the councilwoman, once I accept the rules and regulations around public blogging that she handed to me from the City Council’s Office of the General Counsel. I have chosen not to do that, despite many friends and relatives telling me to stay on. They all think that I can offer so much more than I have so far.

These are the rules:  read more »

In my last Vines column (see # 10-09), I told you that I had inside info, which stated that upon finding out Eliot Spitzer’s team had tagged him for the Lieutenant-governor slot, David Paterson said: “they surely haven’t vetted me for this job”. And now Paterson goes up on a local radio station and directly corroborates said info. This had been a news item on the blogs (see Elizabeth Benjamin’s blog) last week. I hereby reiterate what I wrote in a column recently, calling for mainstream media (and alternative mediums too) to do a better job vetting candidates before elections are held; this is a responsibility placed squarely on the shoulders of the fourth and fifth estates (non-identical twins). And by fifth estate, I refer to all the alternative mediums that have sprung up with all the technological advancements in communications, since the founding fathers ratified the constitution (and the fourth estate). For example: the internet, twittering, blogging, texting and the like, can now be considered the fifth estate.  read more »