Community Magazine November 2008

98 Community magazine Life in the Big City  ”  Jersey Tolls to Double The New Jersey Turnpike Authority approved a plan to raise Turnpike tolls as of December 1, from the current average of $1.20 to an average of $1.70, and to $2.60 in 2012. Garden State Parkway tolls will rise from the current average of 35 cents to 50 cents in December and to 75 cents in 2012. This marks the first toll increase on the Turnpike since 2000, and on the Parkway since 1989. Turnpike officials say the increases are needed to fund a 10-year capital plan, meet debt obligations, and help pay the state’s $1.25 billion share of a new commuter-rail tunnel under the Hudson Riv- er. The plan also includes discounts for seniors, EZPass users and low-emission vehicles. Environmental groups and the Tri-State Transportation Cam- paign said proposed widening projects on the highways will waste money and won’t improve travel conditions. They also warned that the toll hikes could undermine attempts to find new sources of revenue for the Transportation Trust Fund, the state’s main fund- ing source for roadwork, which is scheduled to run out of cash for new projects in 2011. – CM STAFF Golden Gets $11 Mil for Maimonides In the wake of the closure of Victory Memorial Hospital, nearly $25 million in HEAL NY funding has been allocated to local hospitals to help improve the quality of health care for Brooklyn residents. Senator Marty Golden, who strongly supported this critical investment, stated, “We fought long and hard to keep Victory Memorial Hospital open, but the Berger Commission’s misguided decision to close Victory was leaving 17,000 annual emergency room visits with no place to go. Without substantial investment by New York State in both Maimonides Medical Center and Lutheran Health Center facilities, our community would have suf- fered. There was a strong possibility that the overflow of cases from the now closed Victory Memorial Hospital would be overwhelming.” HEAL NY funding goes to local health facilities to improve ac- cess to primary care services. The awards focus on patient cen- tered care which includes disease prevention and general health promotion. Funds include $11,000,000 for Maimonides Medical Center, $13,230,630 for Lutheran Medical Center and $500,000 for SUNY Downstate Medical Center (the Victory Memorial site). – CM STAFF Cops Probe Anti-Semitic Threats Against Brooklyn-Based Charity The National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Educa- tion has been receiving threatening and anti-Semitic emails. The wave of hostile letters began when The People for Ethical Treat- ment of Animals (PETA), an animal advocacy group, encouraged its members to protest kapparot practices. The threats are cur- rently under investigation by the NYPD Hate Crime Task Force. The charity came under fire from PETA amid charges that the Jewish organization’s practice of slaughtering thousands of chick- ens as part of a Yom Kippur ritual, had led to many chickens being discarded, instead of being distributed to the poor. The charity, ac- cording to reports, says that a small percentage of chickens had to be thrown out because they were deemed non-kosher and therefore unfit to be donated to poor Jews. Prior to Yom Kippur, leading rabbis in Brooklyn’s Ashkenazic community issued a directive that kapparot should only be con- ducted at facilities which are supervised by a competent rabbi who would ensure kosher standards and humane handling of the chick- ens, amongother requirements.Anumberof communityrabbiswent even further, recommending that this year kapparot be conducted with money, instead of chickens. – CORRESPONDENT DAVE GORDON Economic Crisis to Cost NY Billions The turmoil on Wall Street could cost New York up to $3.5 billion in tax revenues over the next year and a half, while knocking out 40,000 financial sector jobs, ac- cording to State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. The estimated decline in Wall Street would rival the economic drop that followed the 2001 terrorist attacks in Manhattan. Over the past year, finan- cial firms have written off hundreds of billions of dollars in bad debt, which has resulted in a loss of confidence and a destabiliza- tion of the financial markets, the Comptroller’s office said in its re- port. Governor Paterson said he’ll be issuing a new financial plan next month reflecting the impact of the turmoil in the financial services sector. – DAVE GORDON New York City’s Housing Plan is Largest in Nation A new plan is in place to build and preserve affordable housing for 500,000 New Yorkers. The $7.5 billion New Housing Marketplace Plan, which aims at constructing 165,000 units, is the nation’s largest municipal affordable housing plan. Of the more