LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: REGISTER TO VOTE BY OCT. 12       

Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), who represents New York's 10th Congressional District in the House of Representatives at a Town Hall meeting on Oct. 9, 2018. (Photos: © Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) has represented the west side of Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn in the House of Representatives for 26 years, and normally takes a pragmatic stance and the long view when discussing the state of affairs in Washington, D.C. But at a Town Hall meeting on Oct. 9 at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, although Nadler was as cogent as usual, the anger in his voice was also unmistakable.

Among other things, he spoke about Donald Trump's using the federal government to enrich himself. (Nadler: "President Trump violates the emoluments clause every day.") He spoke about the "culture of corruption" in Washington, about Congress's failure to exercise the oversight mandated by the framers of the U.S. Constitution when they set up a system of checks and balances, about the attacks on the Affordable Care Act, which could, if successful, lead to around 100 million people losing their health insurance because they have pre-existing conditions, and about the children who were seized from their parents at U.S. borders and "held in cages."

 

"It may be that they will never be reunited with their families," Nadler said. "The administration had no interest in keeping track of these children."

 

He also spoke about the "systematic and concerted effort to chip away at voting rights," particularly those of people in African-American and Hispanic communities. The new restrictions such as the requirement for a photo ID in order to vote and fewer polling places, especially in low-income and minority neighborhoods, also disproportionately affect older people, Nadler said.

Abortion and the Supreme Court: The President was very clear before the election. He said that he would only appoint people to the Supreme Court who were on a list given to him by the Federalist Society. The Federalist Society is a judicial group that promotes very right-wing principles. And he has been as good as his word, not only with Supreme Court justices but with circuit court justices and district court justices.  

 

When it comes to abortion, they're very clear. They're opposed to it. And Susan Collins's willful ignorance notwithstanding, anyone who's looked at Justice Kavanaugh's record can predict absolutely, not that he will overturn Roe v. Wade, but that he will destroy it.

You don't have to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision to destroy it. In 1991, the Casey case [Planned Parenthood v. Casey] came down which said that pursuant to Roe, states can pass restrictions on abortion provided they are not an undue burden. And every case since then has had the same restriction, and the question before the court will be 'Is this restriction an undue burden?' So if you want to destroy abortion rights, you don't have to overturn Roe v. Wade. You simply have to never find that any restriction passed by a state is an undue burden.  

Immigration reform: if you claim asylum and you go before an asylum officer - assuming you pass a credible threat review - you then have to go before an immigration judge. Those immigration judges are employees of the Department of Justice. If you appeal a decision from an immigration judge, it goes to the Board of Immigration Appeals. That I knew. But what I didn't realize was that the Board of Immigration Appeals is NOT part of the federal courts. It reports to the Attorney General personally. The Attorney General runs the show. So the Attorney General can declare, for instance, that grounds for asylum do NOT include what we always thought they included, domestic violence or bias directed against you unless it was directed against you because you were of the wrong ethnic group or something like that.

One thing that I want to do is to make the immigration courts really independent - make the Board of Immigration Appeals go to the federal courts and give the judges some security of tenure so that if they're too sympathetic to immigrants or whatever, they can't summarily be fired.

Tax reform: The tax bill was a $1.5 trillion reduction in revenues, not paid for. It was designed to give 83 percent of the benefits to the top 1 percent of the population and to large corporations.

In addition to that, it repeals SALT, which means State and Local Tax Deductions.

Since President Lincoln instituted a federal income tax to finance the Civil War, anytime you had federal income tax, you always deducted state and local taxation so you weren't being double taxed. They just got rid of this.

Now the total of deductible state and local taxes and property taxes is limited to $10,000.

That represents a 30 percent to 40 percent tax increase directed at 11 states, all of which happen to be Blue states.

Infrastructure: We have more than a $3 trillion backlog in infrastructure expenditures that we need to make - not only for new things but for old things as well. Our bridges and tunnels are falling apart. We have to fix mass transit. We need to make major investments. Some of our infrastructure is 50 to 100 years old. We're living on borrowed time.

The administration has proposed nothing. The Democratic minority has proposed a $1 trillion bill to be financed by higher gasoline taxes and other revenue. We have to maintain our infrastructure if we want to remain competitive.

The auditorium at the Borough of Manhattan Community College was only about one-third full for Nadler's Town Hall. The election, where Nadler will be on the ballot, was, as of that evening, 27 days away.

BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCHERS GIVE BATTERY PARK CITY PARKS HIGH MARKS AFTER YEAR-LONG STUDY 

At the quarterly Open Community Meeting conducted by the Battery Park City Authority on Oct. 2,  Dr. Robin Isserles, professor of sociology at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, held up a copy of the executive summary of a study performed by BMCC exploring how Battery Park City parks are used. Dr. Ilir Disha, assistant professor of criminal justice at BMCC, was a consultant for the study. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

Around 690,000 people use Battery Park City's parks every year prompting the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) to wonder exactly who they are, what brings them to Battery Park City and what they think of their experience in BPC's parks.

To answer these and other questions, the BPCA engaged researchers and students from the Borough of Manhattan Community College to conduct a formal, scientific study of Battery Park City's 36 acres of parks and public spaces. The research took place between July 2017 and June 2018 and included statistical counts, surveys of a random sampling of park users and focus groups.

When asked what they liked least about BPC parks, the largest number of respondents could either think of nothing or said they liked everything about BPC parks. Of course, there was some grumbling. Some BPC residents groused about dog waste, hazards caused by bicycles on walkways and the perception that this place that they called home was overflowing with too many people at certain times of the day. Non-residents were more likely to point to insufficient restrooms and poor wireless connectivity.

But overall, Battery Park City parks earned an A, the researchers reported. This must have been satisfying to people at the BPCA who have devoted many years to making the parks what they are. Abby Ehrlich, BPCA Director of Community Partnerships and Engagement, is one of them. "As park planners and stewards we are constantly observing and assessing," she said. "Is this the best we can do? Can we provide more, for more people? This study answers many of our questions with scientific clarity and neutrality thanks to the expertise of BMCC professors and students."