Community Magazine March 2009

Life in the Big City Telemarketers Targeting Your Cell Phone People have long ago grown accustomed to tele- marketing calls at home, but recent- ly, telemarketers have expanded their reach and are now contact- ing the public on their personal cell phones. Brooklyn C o u n c i l m a n Simcha Felder encourages citizens whose cell phones have been targeted by telemarketers to register their cell phone number with the National Do Not Call Registry. Once the number has been added to the list, telemarketers have up to 31 days from the date registered to stop calling. If calls continue, a complaint can be filed at http://www.donotcall.gov. Registration is free for both home and cell phone numbers. Numbers added to the Do Not Call Registry remain on the list permanently. Numbers can be easily removed from the Do Not Call Registry, too, by calling toll-free 1-888-382-1222 from the telephone number you want to delete. Milk in NYC is Overpriced Citywide milk prices are above the state-determined legal threshold, a study from city council has shown. Milk is the second most commonly consumed beverage in the United States, and the most heavily consumed beverage among children ages 4-8. According to the most recent survey from the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets (AGMKT), the cost of a gallon of whole milk in the New York metropolitan area increased by nearly 30 percent between December 2006 and December 2007. In 1991, New York State enacted the Milk Price Gouging Law, designed to protect consumers from food retailers who sell milk at a price that is “unconscionably excessive” and to ensure that retailers are not charging consumers substantially more than what is paid to farmers. Although the Department currently conducts monthly supermarket surveys, it analyzes the same supermarkets each month, allowing the AGMKT to obtain only a measure of milk prices over time. In spite of the monthly survey, forty-three of the fifty stores charged a price that was higher than the threshold for at least one unit of milk. Tougher Engine Idling Restrictions Near Schools The New York City Council voted on legislation to reduce engine idling in front of schools and authorize additional city agencies to enforce automotive idling restrictions. As New York’s child asthma rates are among the highest in the country, these bills aim to reduce harmful pollutants emitted by idling engines on city streets. According to the Asthma Free School Zone, one in every four children in NYC has asthma, well over the national average. Under current laws, cars and trucks may idle for up to three minutes; the new legislation reduces legal idling time to one minute. This bill does not apply to emergency service vehicles. This legislation will require the Environmental Control Board and the Department of Finance to submit written reports to the City Council each year concerning the number of idling violations and summonses issued as well as the amount of penalties imposed. B23 Bus Service Cuts Draw Protest The MTA’s plan to cut B23 bus service, which runs between Boro Park and Flatbush along 16 th Avenue and Cortelyou Road, has come under sharp criticism. Assemblyman Dov Hikind con- demned the decision, advocating for the dismissal of extraneous MTA personnel as an alternative cost-saving measure. An August 2007 report issued by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli supports Hikind’s recommendation, stating that the MTA’s latest four-year financial plan “does not identify any specific actions to downsize the workforce, number of employees, or job titles.” State auditors revealed that the MTA has 70,000 people on its payroll, many of whom are occupying superfluous positions, including 288 New York City Transit employees in the “corporate communications” department; 70 Long Island Rail Road person- nel in “market development and public affairs”; and 52 workers at the MTA headquarters in “corporate and community affairs.” Since 2004, the Comptroller’s Office has repeatedly warned the MTA to reduce its administrative staff in order to cover budget shortfalls. Hikind added that eliminating the B23 route is a great inconvenience for seniors, as well as for students who return home from school after dark. NYC Campaign to Boycott Durban II An online, nationwide petition campaign launched byAssemblyman Dov Hikind calls on President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to for- mally boycott the Durban II Review Conference scheduled for April 20-24, 2009 in Geneva, Switzerland. This year’s conference has been billed as a continuation of the 2001 United Nations World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance previously held in Durban, South Africa. At that Conference, the nation states failed to meet their stated objectives of addressing international racism, xenophobia, and intolerance, mutating instead into a tribunal which demonized  ”  114 cOmmUNITY maGaZINE