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For Undercounted Communities, A Census Cheetah – Politically and Fashionably!

Posted by David Montalvo

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She is not a politician of pantsuits or tweed skirts.

Those are for lions, already all-powerful to many and who travel in large packs, like Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State and Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House.

But it’s not for a second-term congresswoman.

Instead, from behind a cherry blossom in Brooklyn’s concrete jungle, a swifter, more energetic, and just as fiercely competitive cat appears – the cheetah.

Donning an animal-print trench coat, sharp Christian Dior eyewear and blood red lipstick, Rep. Yvette Clarke made two points Saturday:

  1. Not only does she have style, it’s edgy and frankly it works for her!
  2. And, invoking her inner cheetah, she is on the hunt for constituents slow to return their census forms.

“I believe democracy is not a spectator sport,” told Clarke to a crowd outside a post office in Crown Heights, encouraging them to fill out and mail 2010 Census forms.

IMG_3021Most, if not all, present were Caribbean and African Americans, though Clarke said the post office at Nostrand Avenue and Empire Boulevard was an important location for this initiative.

“This is the nexus where lots of immigrants come,” she told The NYC Delegation. “It’s a hard-to-count district.”

Though national outreach efforts seem to focus on Spanish-speaking communities, they are a small group in this district.

But, said Clarke, there is a high “concentration of African Americans,” another low turnout group.

Indeed, nationally almost 70% of census forms have been returned, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, compared with 51% for all of Brooklyn. Here in Crown Heights and East Flatbush, which have some of the highest black and Caribbean populations in this district, have the lowest return rate so far – as low as 34%.

But across Prospect Park in Park Slope and Cobble Hill, where there’s a larger white population, there’s a much higher return rate for Clarke’s district and for Brooklyn – a percentage closer to the national average.

Clarke said even this number is low for white Americans in her district, though she doesn’t attribute it to antigovernment sentiment, as one report recently indicated.

“This is one exercise that is immune to antigovernment,” she said.

In fact, Census workers said they see feelings of fear toward the government, not feelings against it.

Yvette Mendes, a census outreach worker at Clarke’s event, said Crown Heights and East Flatbush have a “high immigrant community,” so she believed this was a logical location for such an event.

Mendes said such communities might worry about their immigration status and possible deportation, so they don’t participate in the census, even though “they’re secure, they’re confidential,” she said.

Projecting through a megaphone, Clarke told the crowd of about 30-or-so people that by not being counted, they are turning money away for the community, like schools and hospitals, and they are telling Washington: “We don’t need your assistance. Send that check somewhere else.”

IMG_3024She told The NYC Delegation that being accounted for in the census is like an ATM transaction: If we don’t deposit population numbers, we can’t withdraw the federal funds we need.

And, seeing as this is her first national census as a member of the House of Representatives, this leopard-clad congresswoman appears ready to fight for those funds for her district.

“I’m a competitive congresswoman,” she added.

Shakeup in the 15th

Posted by Daniel Gold

One silver lining to Charlie Rangel’s recent trouble is that it came on the same night as the revelations of David Paterson’s long rumored transgressions. Otherwise, things are looking pretty downhill for Rangel, who was formally admonished by the House ethics committee for accepting corporate sponsorships to vacation in the Caribbean.

There are still more allegations being investigated, including the allegations that he improperly has 4 rent-controlled apartments and unreported assets that could total more than $1,000,000. Compared to those, the Caribbean trip is a relatively minor offense. If found guilty of those, Rangel will be in a much more precarious position. There’s already talk of what to do with him as chairman of the Ways and Means committee and the challenge facing Nancy Pelosi if she wants to oust Rangel. Rangel still counts the Congressional Black Caucus, of which he is a founding member, among his allies who will rally to his defense, but there are definitely some in the Democratic party who see him as something the Republicans can use to cast the Democrats in a negative, unethical light. Rangel will surely resign from the key tax-writing post he holds, whether voluntary or “voluntary,” according to Democrats who spoke with Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic.

“Once promised to be the ‘most ethical Congress in history,’ the Democratic majority now has a serious ethics scandal on its hands,” said Ken Spain, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. A similar uproar occurred when William Jefferson, another senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus and a member of the Ways and Means Committee, was found with $90,000 of ill-gotten money in his freezer. What followed was what the Salon article refers to as
weeks of maneuvering” that culminated in a House vote. The other members of the CBC, along with a host of other Democrats totaling 60 still voted against throwing out Jefferson. Keep in mind, Jefferson did not have nearly the same sort of support and power that Rangel had.

The scandal comes just as Obama is asking Congress to make another push for health care reform, a push that is going to require everything the Democrats have got. It’s a particularly tough time to have a scandal like Rangel’s sitting out in the open for Republicans to cherry-pick for attacks. Republicans have been going after Rangel since the first day the scandals were reported, and will likely be looking to intensify their attacks and calls for his resignation.

Even if Rangel isn’t forced out, there’s a chance he might not seek re-election. He threatened to retire in 2006 if the Democrats didn’t win the house, and he’ll be 80 years old by the time of next election. Additionally, if he’s forced out of the Ways and Means Committee, there’s a good chance he might not want to go back to being a much weaker player in Congress.

This is, of course, is great news for Democratic challenger Vince Morgan. Speaking by phone, Morgan was hesitant to express any sense of excitement or pleasure in Rangel’s troubles.

“If you’re sitting back hoping for something, you’re wasting time…We’re going to run the strongest race that we can and its going to be enough to beat him on the issues,” he said. “I don’t wish him any ill will, but I do think its time for him to step aside.”

Serrano Has a Hard Time Taking Wall Street Whining Seriously

Posted by Azriel Relph

Jose Serrano still believes the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other terrorists should take place in New York City.

Most of his fellow New York Democrats have backed away from supporting a trial in the city.  Serrano himself seemed to be cooling to the idea a couple of weeks ago, but said last week that Downtown New York was as good a place as any other to have the trials.

He told the Daily News that his colleagues might be coddling to big business downtown:

“We were all on board with it, and all of a sudden, I think, that the boys of Wall Street began to say, ‘We don’t want that in our neighborhood,’ he said. “Is it truly a concern about safety . . . or is it just coddling corporate America?”

And:

“Well, we’re gonna have a traffic jam,” Serrano needled. “Hello. This is New York. This is new?”

Never one to coddle to Wall Street, perhaps the release of two recent reports, reminding him of the great divide between downtown and his own district, inspired Serrano to keep the issue up.

Earlier in the month, a Gallup survey revealed that more than 36% of residents in New York’s 16th Congressional District could not afford to feed themselves or their families during the last year.  This makes Serrano’s district officially the hungriest in the nation.

Last week, another Gallup survey came out, ranking the relative health and happiness of Americans by congressional district.  Take a guess where Serrano’s district ranked.  It should come as no surprise that the poorest district in the nation ranked as the unhealthiest and the saddest.  The Las Vegas area turned out to be the angriest, but the South Bronx was right behind it in the number two spot.

In the poorest, hungriest, saddest and unhealthiest area of the country, it is probably difficult to take complaints about high costs and traffic jams from your wealthy neighbors seriously.

Crowley Keeps Focus on Community Concerns

Posted by Matthew Robinson

Back in August, when tea partiers went viral on cable news, Joseph Crowley, D –N.Y. 7, set up an interactive healthcare forum to help inform Americans about what was actually happening with reform. But six months later, and Democrats losing their super majority with the election of Scott Brown, Crowley is looking to just get something passed, according to the Bronx News Network.

“We might have to break up the bill a bit, to do it piecemeal,” he said. “I think we will get something through—it may not be everything we want at first, but it will be substantial.”

Crowley has cited the need for health care reform in his own district, particularly for Bronx small business owners, who he says can’t afford to buy health insurance for their employees.

Across the river, Jackson Heights, Queens is home to almost two-thirds of the 28,000 Bangladeshi residents in New York City, according to the 2000 census. Crowley is the founder and co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Bangladesh, which brings 31 Members of Congress together in support of the people of Bangladesh, according to his website.

Crowley asked Bangladesh authorities on Jan. 27 to investigate the punishment of a 16-year-old rape survivor. The Daily Star, Bangladesh’s largest circulating English-language newspaper, reported that the teenage girl was raped and then punished with 101 lashes.

“I urge the Bangladeshi authorities to begin an impartial investigation into this matter and move to bring any perpetrators to justice immediately.”  Crowley said in a press release.

The press release added:

“Additionally, the London-based Guardian newspaper reported that “elders in the village issued a fatwa insisting that the girl be kept in isolation until her family agreed to corporal punishment.”  While Bangladeshi law is largely secular and does not tolerate rape, local elders often issue sentences and settle disputes, as it appears in this case.  Bangladesh is a moderate, predominantly Muslim country which has taken several strong steps to ensure women’s rights, including the provision of seats for women in the national parliament.”

Since taking office in 1999, Crowley has easily won reelection with an increasingly higher percentage of votes by keeping up on issues that matter to his constituents. He’s hoping these initiatives will keep it that way.