In exile since 1998, the wild wit of J. Nayer Hardin has returned to Harlem in spirit. Harlem is a state of soul, even though the poverty pimps are still running it as a plantation.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Run Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. RUN
The headline read today
DWI Trial Will Not Deter Adam Clayton Powell IV From Running For Rangel's Seat
Dear Lord, let it true. New York State Assemblyman Powell's DWI vs. Con Rangel's almost 30 year history of rape, pillage and looting Harlem...let's see.
The most evil thing to happen to Harlem was the stolen election from the people's champion in 1970, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. to the capitalist tool Con Charles Rangel. The election process in Harlem is still so corrupt that in the 2008 primary in many neighborhood locations, now President Obama got ZERO votes. I still question the election results of 1994, when Assemblyman Powell ran for congress against the corrupt Con Rangel.
Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. was inspiring, helping folks lift themselves out of poverty. Under Rangle's Rule Harlem was a lock, probably to encourage folks to sell out. AIDS, crack/cocaine/heroin, disempowerment zone, 5 open sewers, warlike police force, etc. mark his reign. Doing nothing effective is doing something too. He helped transform Harlem into a place of shattered dreams.
It would be such poetic justice for former Congressman Powell's son, who has dedicated his life to serving Harlem anyway, won back the seat in his and his father's name.
Then, Harlem could be back on track as a location of dreams achieved, computers and all.
What happens to a dream achieved?
It doesn't dry up like a raisin in the sun
It doesn't fester like a sore and then run
It don't stink like rotten meat
It don't crust and sugar over like a syrupy sweet.
It don't sag like a heavy load.
IN THIS CLIP MANY DIFFERENT SCENES OF CLIFFY BARZ TROUGHOUT THE YEAR 2009 TV RUNDOWN OF THE HARLEM STREETS TV SHOW"
This young man, Cliffy Barz, and his crew are among the best that Harlem has ever offered as artists. I'm sure that even the great Langston Hughes would be proud of the work these young people have done, like HOW TO SHOOT A COP (with a camera). The cutting edge truth that comes off the screen cannot be denied.
Common sense says if you are smelling the sewer, you're breathing it. Airborne particles find their way into people's bodies. The illusion that hospital waste is treated differently is a dangerous flaw. Sick people from all over the world come to New York and use the sewers before they check into the hospital.
The 5 Open Sewers Surrounding Harlem do more than stink in the summer time. North River, Wards Island, Tallmans, Hunts Point and Bowery Bay Water Pollution Control Plants are releasing toxins into the already polluted environment. Over the last century NYC is the recipient of transportation, pest control, heating/cooling, etc. toxins, settled into walls, fabrics and streets. Ooops, I forgot to add the dust from the World Trade Center. Asbestos does not wash out.
The two most obvious sewers, North River (135th & Hudson River, 10027) and Wards Island (Wards Island, NYC 10035) Water Pollution Control Plants (Sewage Treatment Plants) are on the west side of Harlem and in the river off of the east side respectively.
Across the bay are the other three are across the bay.
The year after North River was built there was a radical rise in the infant mortality rate. Yet when I was there in the 80's & 90's the discussion was limited to odor and flow, which haven’t killed anybody. It's the accompanying toxins that kill, not the smell.
When you connect the dots on the chart below you'll see when the North River plant was open and rises and falls in Harlem's infant mortality rates over the years and plant actions.
North River Plant and Infant Mortality Rates
in NYC & Harlem 1984-1993
Year
NYC
Harlem
1984 -
Plant Construction
13.6
16.0
1985 - Plant built
13.4
23.3
1986
12.8
27.6
1987
13.1
20.9
1988
13.4
22.0
1989
13.3
23.4
1990
7.6
27.7
1991 -
Primary Tanks Covered
11.4
19.2
1992
10.2
15.9
1993 - Crack in tank
10.2
25.
In great part due to the open windows at all ends of the North River, and open outdoor tanks at Wards Island, Harlem in particular and the metro NY area in general were breathing, daily, volatile organic compounds (VOC's -airborne living organisms) from these sewage tanks. If the tanks are not covered, folks still are.
Politics and common sense need to merge in Harlem. Start with cleaning out the corruption.
Harlem's best park, Riverbank State Park, is located over the North River sewer plant and has people, among them children and seniors, exercising over an open sewer…not healthy.
The NYC EPA says “The roof of the building is the home of Riverbank State Park, a popular recreational facility with three swimming pools, an amphitheater, an athletic center, a skating rink, a restaurant and sports fields - and, of the two New York State park facilities in the City, the only one built on top of a water pollution control plant.”
The park's won many awards while placing Harlem residents in danger of toxic chemicals, methane gas and mutating germs.
1998 Carousel Shot In Riverbank State Park
There are germs in the sewer air. Environmentalists are being honored in Harlem who keep the conversation about odor and flow rather than toxins and germs and toxic chemicals coming off the sewers.
Sewer System As A Source of Germ Disbursement: “The greatest danger…in breathing of sewer air is that of inhaling with it the living particles (bacilli, etc.) contained or developed in the excrement of diseased persons.” {Roger S. Tracy, Handbook Of Sanitary Information For Households, NY Appleton, 1895}
Sick people from all over the world come to New York City to benefit from her extraordinary medical system. Though hospital waste is handled separately from the general sewer system, during the time before sick people check into the hospital, and, if they remain in the city, after they leave, are using the general sewer facilities.
In this time of terrorism, toxic materials (both medical and chemical that could cause illness and death) can be dropped into the sewer system and a large portion of the population could be impacted days after the event. Unnecessary risk.
Floating material could contain harmful elements and the results, devastating. This is because many, if not all of the NYC sewer plants, are not covered and in some cases could be easily contaminated from street or building levels without the culprit being noticed.
At North River, the large windows by the tanks are open. At Ward’s Island, the tanks are outside. Though we are encouraged to take comfort in the fact that chlorine kills 85-95% of the germs in the sewer, the more relevant question is what is in the other 5-15% that is strong enough to survive chlorine, food additives, genetically altered foods, human growth hormone, antibiotics, etc.
Secondary Tanks With No Covers Next To Open Windows Under Riverbank, 1998
Sludge Tank Below Riverbank State Park
Consider what happens when those strong germs and toxic chemicals get together in North River’s secondary and sludge tanks, with their steam wafting off to open windows. Also, the additional chlorine put into the environment via tap water and flushed into the river can have a seepage effect on the land it comes in contact with, further empowering mutating bacteria.
The water in North River’s secondary tanks frequently has steam coming off them, which lifts some germs and they become air borne. As you saw in the chart Harlem's infant morality rate in the year after the North River Plant went into operation was raised and by 1993 was 2.5 times higher than the rest of the City.
What needs to happen to correct the problem?
First, the sewer windows need to be covered or, like at Ward's Island where the open sewer tanks are outside, at least the tanks sealed, like what was in the original plans.
“The problem with covering and air treating the secondary tanks is one of expense … NYCDEP’s rough estimate for subjecting the secondary tanks in a similar odor control system as that for the primary tank is in excess of $100 million.” From “The Smell of Success? An assessment of Odor Control Measures at the North River Water Pollution Control Plant” (June, 1994)
Where are they shopping? Tiffany’s? What about hemp plastic to cover the sewers? What about growing hemp to aerate the soil and pull the excess CO2 out of the atmosphere? What about medical hemp to help with the areas intense asthma and other health problems? What about hemp to heal New York's economy to create a modern infrastructure system. (Read the HEMP FOR VICTORY series by Richard M. Davis to learn how - www.hempmuseum.org)
We need to honestly evaluate the situation at hand and bring forward better ideas on waste treatment. Johan Cruijff said "Every disadvantage carries with it an advantage." One of the things that Harlem taught me is the disadvantage is always of equal or greater value.
A project of fixing the environmental problems can use a NYC labor pool, featuring Harlem residents trained for the job. Community residents will be motivated to do a good job because they and their families are breathing the air.
Harlem has a master level engineer in her hero and former owner of the Langston Hughes House, Albert Davis. I still think he won the election when he ran against Congressman Rangel in the 90's. With President Obama getting zero votes in Harlem in the 2008 primary, I believe now more than ever that Albert won.
Second, regular testing of the sewer's contents and airborne materials need to be done and the results published. That sewer readings were not useable in determining the toxic levels in the air on 9/11/09 proves the worthlessness of the system at that time. I'm open to news of improvements that are not published.
The people have a right to know what's in the air, water and land more than they need a say over "is Coke or Pepsi or Snaple going to get the vending contract for the park on top of the sewer.
Please, tell New York's elected and appointed officials to stop leaving New Yorkers in danger of environmental hazards like when the WTC fell, and cover the open sewers, and not just the ones around Harlem.
Any additional insight you post here is appreciated.
"Why is it that Charles Rangel, chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, is still in elected office, never mind not in jail ("Tax Chief Charlie a Tax 'Cheat,' Too," Aug. 27)?
If he were any other "regular" American citizen, he would have been in jail long ago and would owe thousands on top of what wasn't reported or paid."
"Representative Charles B. Rangel failed to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income and assets on his financial disclosure forms for 2002 through 2006, including tens of thousands of dollars in rental income from a Harlem brownstone he sold in 2004, according to records filed this month with the clerk of the House of Representatives.
Mr. Rangel, who is facing investigations by two House subcommittees into his personal finances and fund-raising, filed amended financial disclosure forms on Aug. 12 acknowledging that he had omitted an array of assets, business transactions and sources of income. They include a Merrill Lynch Global account valued between $250,000 and $500,000; tens of thousands of dollars in municipal bonds; and $30,000 to $100,000 in rent from a multifamily brownstone building he owned on West 132nd Street.”
WASHINGTON -- Even as he fends off accusations about his own failure to pay taxes and fully disclose his financial dealings, Rep. Charles Rangel had quietly slipped into the health-care bill broad new provisions cracking down on taxpayers in proceedings with the IRS, The Post has learned.
The changes approved by the House Ways and Means Committee that Rangel chairs would strip away legal defenses and pile higher penalties on corporate and individual taxpayers facing IRS proceedings for what they claim are unintentional mistakes, experts said.”
---
Over the decades Congressman Rangel's been in office, there have been questions about the accuracy of the vote count or the uncanny similarity of signatures on petitions. An unguarded moment was found in last year’s primary election results for a candidate that the congressman supported.
“Unofficial Tallies in City Understated Obama Vote
“Black voters are heavily represented in the 94th Election District in Harlem’s 70th Assembly District. Yet according to the unofficial results from the New York Democratic primary last week, not a single vote in the district was cast for Senator Barack Obama.
That anomaly was not unique. In fact, a review by The New York Times of the unofficial results reported on primary night found about 80 election districts among the city’s 6,106 where Mr. Obama supposedly did not receive even one vote, including cases where he ran a respectable race in a nearby district."
Stop the poverty pimps from pimping us. Fire the Chairman of the House Ways and Means committee for corruption and replace him with somebody who knows what they are doing.
