November 3, 2020 is General Election day. WestView News wants to ensure you know how, where, and when to cast your ballot for the upcoming election. Here are all of your options amid the coronavirus pandemic. We encourage people to have a voting plan. Decide which way you’re going to vote and when you’re going
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Voting Can Be Easy: DO IT!
By Brian J. Pape, AIA Election Day: Tuesday, November 3, 2020 Early Voting: October 24-November 1, 2020 Many of you may have concerns about the coming election and New York’s absentee ballot laws. In August, the governor signed a law allowing all New Yorkers to vote absentee in this election, which means, starting right now,
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Glick and Hoylman Introduce Legislation Over Police Objections
By Frank Quinn Assembly member Deborah Glick and State Senator Brad Hoylman have introduced legislation to ban the use of facial recognition technology by police departments regardless of its current use as a crime-fighting tool. Last year former NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill published an article titled “How Facial Recognition Makes You Safer.” He described the
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Billionaires of the World Unite!
By Alec Pruchnicki, MD “A billion here, a billion there, and before you know it, you’re talking real money.” —Attributed to Senator Everett Dirksen. Former Mayor Mike Bloomberg recently pledged $100 million for Democratic election efforts in the swing state of Florida. That is a lot of money for one state. Very rough estimates indicate
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Super Hero VII: The Sociable Democrat—What Can a Super Do to Get Out the Vote?
By Robert Kroll The Super of a tenement building is generally viewed as a servant, an underling, a middle person between the tenants and the building owner whose job is to refuse to make repairs, ignore tenant needs, and be sure all rules and regulations are slavishly followed. But there is another less understood, less
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Voter Fraud—Not Bloody Likely
By Robert Kroll and Rose M. Ray, PhD and poll worker Anyone out there thinking of voting more than once at the upcoming General Election? Think again. The chances of getting away with it in the city of New York or any of its five boroughs are slim to none. Firstly, no mailed or handed
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It’s Hard to Vote If You’re Old or Sick in NYC
By J. Taylor Basker New York State has a long list of “Your Rights as a Nursing Home Resident in New York State and Nursing Home Responsibilities” on the Dept. of Health website, yet your right to vote is not included. You have a right to dignity and respect, quality care and treatment, but nothing
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Please America, Not Again
By Alec Pruchnicki MD Definition of Dukakised: loss of a political contest by acting ethically when the opponent is acting unethically or cheating. (see presidential elections: George H. Bush vs. Michael Dukakis, 1988, and George W. Bush vs. Al Gore, 2000) You won’t see the above definition in Webster’s since it’s rarely been used (above
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The Census as Metaphor for America’s Future
It was the Worst of Times, It Was the Worst of Times By Bruce Poli The US Census is an enormous, complex, decade-by-decade constitutionally mandated national undertaking. You could call it a behemoth. We take it very seriously for a good reason…it shapes who we are as a country. But—wait a minute—it’s also a metaphor
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Greenwich House Announces New Chief Executive Officer
By Andrea Newman Greenwich House’s Board Chair Jan-Willem van den Dorpel has announced that Darren S. Bloch, has been named Chief Executive Officer, beginning January 2020. Speaking on behalf of the board, Mr. van den Dorpel expressed, “We are looking forward to Darren Bloch leading Greenwich House as we continue to build on a legacy
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Engineers Pledge $45,000 Reward for Refuting WTC7 University of Alaska Study
By Brian J Pape, AIA On the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 disaster, structural engineer Ibrahim Soudy, Ph.D., pledged $10,000 to any qualified American professional structural engineer, physicist, or physical science engineer to refute successfully the University of Alaska study “A Structural Reevaluation of the Collapse of World Trade Center 7,” which would be decided
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“ACT UP! Fight Back! Fight AIDS!”
By Stanley Wlodyka Last month marked the 30th anniversary of an unprecedented event, one that saw worlds collide. Organized by AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), approximately 4,500 people gathered outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral on 5th Avenue one Sunday in December of 1989. They were there to protest the Catholic Church’s response to the
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Westbeth Super-Senior Scammed—Don’t Fall for Social Security Fraud
By Arthur Z. Schwartz A 97-year-old Westbeth resident (name withheld for privacy), who we will call Val, an active dancer who still performs internationally, got victimized by a “Social Security” scam which has sucked in thousands of people all over the U.S. What happened to her is instructive to us all. In early December she
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Take the Reins and End the Slaughter
By Anastasia Kaliabakos Approximately 100,000 horses are transported annually across the United States border to be slaughtered for the sake of human consumption. People seeking to profit off of these magnificent animals cram them into crowded trucks without food or water—oftentimes for over 24 hours—to meet their demise in slaughterhouses, where many are gruesomely dismembered
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A Public Housing Primer
The Housing Act of 1937 was intended to improve living conditions in cities and create quality public housing for low- and middle-income families. But after several iterations of the bill, two critical pieces were inserted. First, the Act passed with coverage for only the lowest income residents, due in part to fear that middle-income housing
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The Rise of ADA Litigation in New York
By Samuel G. Dobre, Esq. The need for a local online newspaper became dramatically evident last month when we got a call from the popular Sandwich Shoppe on Greenwich Avenue that they had been “served” with a nine page legal brief which explained in nearly undecipherable legal gobbledygook that they were not in compliance with
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NYC Helped Block President Trump’s Proposed Public Charge Rule & Allocated $30 Million to Prevent the Spread of Fear
By Karen Rempel Since 2017, when President Trump took office and began trying to change US immigration policy, 78,000 New Yorkers who are eligible to receive food stamps or SNAP benefits left the program or didn’t enroll. A draft of a new “Public Charge” rule was leaked in February of 2018, and even though the
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Community Pharmacists Rally to Advocate for Patients Rights
By John Kaliabakos Hundreds of community pharmacists held rallies across New York State on October 23 to stand with Governor Cuomo and support legislation containing the nation’s toughest protections from prescription drug middlemen known as pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). Village Apothecary was proud to stand alongside other independent pharmacies in the quest for fairness in
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Important Ballot Proposals—Vote November 5
By Arthur Schwartz Did you know that the polls were opened for voting on November 5 (and on our first five Early Voting Days, which have passed)? There are two important things on the ballot: We get to vote on giving Jumaane Williams the last two years on the normal four-year Public Advocate term. (Yes,
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14th Street Busway—Neighbors Cringe
By Arthur Schwartz Polly Trottenberg, New York City’s most arrogant Department of Transportation Commissioner since Robert Moses, stood on 14th Street on the morning of October 4th and declared the Busway a total success. The Busway, which has turned 14th Street into an urban oddity, sees buses come through once every 10 minutes during rush
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Presidential Candidates Pledge to Cure AIDS
By Kambiz Shekdar, Ph.D. In a crowded 2020 presidential race, taking the lead on curing AIDS may offer candidates an opportunity to differentiate themselves and resonate with voters across multiple key demographics. More than 1.1 million LGBT, African-American, Latino and female Americans are living with HIV/AIDS today. Where does each candidate stand on curing AIDS?
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NYCHA in the Apartment Next Door
By George Capsis Below is an excellent history of U.S. public housing by our gifted Architecture Editor, Brian Pape. The article was prompted by the now year-long discussion here in New York to take government out of the building and maintaining of housing for the permanently poor and to invite developers via a competitive Request
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The Normalization of Gay
From Oppression to Legalization By Robert Heide In New York the “World Pride” month of June, 2019, was given over to celebrate gay life worldwide and the concept of freedom to be who we are—gay, straight, bisexual, and the trans categories of transvestite, transsexual, and transgender; and queer. Each day in June, walking out of
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Racism and Anti-Semitism are Existential Threats
We need to start having more awkward conversations before it gets worse By Arthur Schwartz Pittsburgh in 2018; another attack that year in Los Angeles; six months after Pittsburgh, a shooting in California. These are the latest acts of hate perpetrated against the Jewish community. They came only months before a shooting at an El
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Want Single Payer Healthcare in New York? Speak Up!
By Alec Pruchnicki, MD This isn’t a theoretical question. There is actually a bill in the New York State legislature sponsored by Assemblyman Richard Gottfried and Senator Gustavo Rivera called the New York Health Act. It would provide extensive universal medical coverage for all residents of New York State, eliminate almost all private medical insurance
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Update: 14th Street Busway: Court Allows DOT Busway for Now. The Fight Isn’t Over.
By Arthur Z. Schwartz In what has become a fight between the rights of Village and Chelsea residents against a callous, uncaring City bureaucracy, an appellate court on September 27 lifted a stay which has been in place since June 26. The lifting of the stay means that starting Thursday October 3 no cars or
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Long Island Fire Commissioners Call For 9/11 Review
For the first time ever, an elected government body in the United States has stated that it is “beyond any doubt” that explosives—and not just plane impacts and fires alone—were responsible for destroying the three World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001. Fire commissioners from the Franklin Square and Munson Fire District, located just
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“Wild West” Ad Culture on Facebook Targets Youth
IMAGES ON SOCIAL MEDIA POSTED BY THE SAN DIEGO LGBT COMMUNITY CENTER, @mxdavidmx and @darrow81. In a first of its kind, Facebook has been co-opted to advertise a pharmaceutical drug. Like Russian influence on the U.S. election, the use of social media targeted at vulnerable populations raises important questions. By Kambiz Shekdar, Ph.D.
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Why do Prescription Drugs Cost So Much in the U.S.?
By D. Cascardo, MA, MPA, CFP Although many Americans have insurance that covers most of the prescription drugs they take, many more do not have any insurance or have ridiculously high co-payments with the plans they do have. Those who need to take “brand name” drugs rather than generics, may find those drugs are not
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Abolishing the Senate
By James Lincoln Collier It hardly needs to be said that the United States government is today so riven by conflict that it can no longer function. Liberals are at war with conservatives, Republicans are at war with Democrats, the president is at war with everybody. In most parliamentary democracies the voters choose a legislature
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Landmark Preservation Today
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, Architecture Editor The loss of the original NYC Penn Station caused citizens here to focus on the importance of our monumental buildings and special historic homes being lost. But the movement to preserve special places grew. Economic and population pressures continued to threaten our historic fabric, from Plymouth Rock to
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Mt. Sinai/Beth Israel Applies for Drastic Changes
By Penny Mintz Mt. Sinai/Beth Israel filed an application with the State Department of Health on July 22nd, 2019. The application seeks approval for the relocation and construction of a replacement building for the Beth Israel Hospital on 16th Street and First Avenue. If this application is approved, the hospital, with an 800-bed capacity, will
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Polly’s Folly Will Be Adjudged This Month!
Disability Rights Lawsuit Against the MTA to Follow By Arthur Z. Schwartz I spent 24 years on Community Board 2. During those 24 years I interacted with numerous City and State Agencies (mostly the Parks Department and the Hudson River Park Trust), and I experienced the Community Board as a means by which the efforts
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WestView Instagrams the Issues of the Day
By Karen Rempel Last month we reported that WestView News has begun a video interview series in which George Capsis speaks with prominent cognoscenti about newsworthy subjects. We discovered that George is a natural TV maven, delivering compelling stories and coaxing his subjects to tell all. This month, WestView is pleased to announce we continue
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Captain O’Hare: PO Israel Torres Has Got to Leave the 6th Precinct!
By Arthur Z. Schwartz It isn’t often that I write about cases I lose, but this month I just must. During the third week of May I represented a former neighbor (whose privacy I will respect by calling him “J”) in a civil rights trial arising out of his arrest in 2014. The arrest was
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A Celebration of Pride: WorldPride NYC 2019 in the Village
By Karen Rempel Marchers and spectators from around the world brought a rainbow of color and sparkle to New York City on June 30 to celebrate and support each other at the 2019 LGBTQIA+ Pride March. NYC Pride was the official host of WorldPride NYC 2019 and Stonewall 50. These events meant unprecedented millions of people
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The Dignity of Work
By Siggy Raible I am retired now and have been for almost eight years. But when I worked I found what I did to “earn a living” dignified and fruitful—I managed my husband’s small law firm. We did not make a ton of money, but we earned our keep. I was floored by the news
