Community Magazine October 2009

102 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE Brooklyn Public Library Reopens Sundays The renewal of previously suspended government funding has enabled four Brooklyn public libraries to open once again on Sundays. The branches include the Central, Kings Highway, McKinley Park and Borough Park branches. Additionally, another 16 local branches will stay open from 1 pm to 8 pm daily. Sunday service was axed in early January after Mayor Bloomberg proposed a $17.5 million – or 21 percent – cut to the library’s budget. The decision dealt an especially harsh blow to neighborhoods like Borough Park, where most residents observe Shabbat, and cannot use the library on Saturdays. The cut would have forced the library to slash hours even more drastically, to an average of just 25 a week. But public outcry led to negotiations, and the City Council and the mayor found money to restore service, though the BPL was forced to fire 13 employees this summer and remains $5.5 million short of its budget. Water Bottles to Require Deposit Mandatory five-cent deposits on water bottles are expected to start this fall in New York. The deposit does not include other beverages, including flavored water, iced tea and sports drinks, but Governor David Paterson’s administration is trying to extend the law to these bottles, as well. Another possible addition to the law would make deposit bottles redeemable at all stores, not just those that sell a particular brand, which would make returns easier. The exclusion of sugared water from the law has drawn sharp criticism, especially in light of Paterson’s campaign to battle obesity. The required nickel deposit plus the handling fee will raise retail prices more than $2 for a 24-pack of water, including grocery generic brands, said James Rogers, president of the Food Industry Alliance of New York State. Eleven states have at least some mandatory bottle deposits, and legislation has been introduced in Congress, according to the Bottle Bill Resource Guide. In New York, beverages exempt from the deposit include milk, juice, wine and liquor. City Clarifies Report on Jihad in NY The New York Police Department revised a report on homegrown terrorism after Islamic groups complained that it insulted law-abiding Muslims. The 90 page study “Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat,” which is based on the analysis of domestic plots thwarted since 911, was circulated in law enforcement circles and on the internet in over the past two years. The two-page clarification says the NYPD “understands that it is a tiny minority of Muslims who subscribe to al-Qaida’s ideology of war and terror.” Despite welcoming the changes, a spokesperson for New York office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas funding case said that the study still has passages that “criminalize religious behaviors.” In response, the NYPD denies having stereotyped all Muslims and said that the changes only “make explicit what was already implicit.” The report warns that homegrown terrorists look and act like everyone around them, making it especially difficult for law enforcers to identify them. The report also notes that many of these terrorists were indoctrinated in local “radicalization incubators,” including cafes and bookstores which carry many volumes of literature which demonize non-Muslims and encourage attacks on Americans. Fines Doubled for Skipping Tolls Starting November 15, drivers who go through New York- bound E-ZPass lanes without paying will be facing double the regular fines, a jump from $25 to $50. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s Board of Commissioners approved the increase in the hope of encouraging more drivers to open E-ZPass accounts and reducing congestion at bridges and tunnels linking Manhattan and New Jersey. The Port Authority collected $6.5 million in toll evasion administrative fees last year and expects to double that amount when the fine increases. Almost two percent of the 325,000 drivers who go through E-ZPass lanes every day evade the toll. Life in the Big City  ” 