January 2010

Sometimes people say things so stupid they can’t recover. American Christian televangelist Pat Robertson’s recent comments on the Haiti disaster have sparked controversy worldwide. If you were offended by Robertson’s bigotry and would like to take a stand we encourage you to tell your cable provider to remove him from the air. We’ve provided a sample email after the jump.

This year, make it your New Year's resolution to go green – safely and properly recycle your old electronics at our eWaste Recycling Drive, hosted with the Lower East Side Ecology Center. Bring computers, monitors, fax machines, copiers, CD/DVD/VCR players, stereo equipment, televisions, cell phones, and other unwanted electronics to Tekserve on Saturday, January 16th to be safely recycled. Click here for a complete list of acceptable items.

While there has been a recent uproar about a building on 12th street in Greenwich Village (Equinox Fitness Center) that has billboards plastered around its exterior, the decades-long effort to eliminate the unsightly signs in SoHo has been completely ignored. It’s no surprise that the Community Board, whose members are nominated and supported by elected politicians (who receive campaign contributions from the media companies which erect billboards), has dragged its feet.

Basketball City, a private gym, is installed on Pier 36 on the East River, city property. Will Basketball City serve the community, as public land should? Will it hire locally? Thursday, January 14, 6:30, the Community Board will be voting on a community benefit plan at 30 Delancey Street (BRC senior Center inside Roosevelt Park at Forsyth Street). The Community Benefit Plan includes local hiring and low prices for drop-in play for the community.

"I offer my deepest prayers and sympathy to all the victims in Haiti" says Council Member Williams. "I am working in concert with the Mayor, Speaker Quinn, Council Member Mathieu Eugene, and the National Action Network to identify what supplies and support is most needed now by Haitian earthquake victims."

Denise E. O’Donnell, who serves as the top law enforcement official in the Paterson administration, will speak at a Citizens Crime Commission Breakfast Forum on Wednesday, January 13, at 8:30 AM.

UNRESERVED Alliance is pleased to announce IN/SIGHT 2010, an exhibition of art by American Indian artists, curated by Clarissa Dalrymple and UNRESERVED co-founder Michael Chapman. The exhibition is a survey of work by both emerging and established artists working in various media. Twenty-four artists spanning several generations are represented in the show.

State Senator Eric T. Schneiderman, Assemblymember Adriano Espaillat and City Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez were joined by Northern Manhattan public officials and community leaders today at a press conference on St. Nicholas Avenue and West 186th Street to announce proposed State legislation that cracks down on the sale of alcohol without an appropriate license. The announcement comes on the heels of recent investigations, including one by the Daily News, on the sale of illegal and potent alcoholic beverages called “Nutcrackers” by barber shops, bodegas, and other stores to children as young as 14.

Islands are indeed likely to be the areas hardest hit by our warming climate. The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), a coalition of 42 small island and low-lying coastal countries that have banded together to lobby United Nations policymakers, reports that warming-induced sea level rises could threaten the very existence of some island nations including the Maldives, Kiribati and parts of the Bahamas.

A reminder the full CWG meets next Monday, January 11, 6-8pm at American Legion Post 1291, 2nd Floor, 191-193 Canal Street. (Please note the 6-8 pm meeting time is to accommodate those unable to attend CWG meetings during the work day.) The agenda will be posted shortly on our website - www.chinatownworkinggroup.org

Plastic, Rubber + Wood, is an exploration of material, through content, subject, and form. The exhibit challenges our conception of the industrial materials of which our manmade world is comprised. Incorporating several processes, including photography, sculpture, painting and installation, the exhibition unveils the materials’ inherent beauty and alters our conscious perception of them as elements.

“Take The Winter Blues Away” with Café Society's Friday night jazz series. Featuring the Alex Levin Trio, the Downtown Community Center hosts live jazz every Friday through the end of March. It’ll be a entertaining way to meet more of your downtown community. And if there is one thing you can trust us on, it’s that the downtown community is definitely also entertaining. So go see some Friday night jazz. It will be entertainment to the nines!!

January 2010

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January 2010

Past Issues

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Inside Our Current Issue

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