The coverage of the Polish is front and center at a Greenpoint newsstand in Brooklyn, N.Y. on June 26, 2010. Photo: Anna Spinner

Reported on July 11, 2010

If the Polish voters in Greenpoint had had their say, Poland’s new president would be Jaroslaw Kaczyński, the twin brother of the late president.

Instead, voters elected Bronislaw Komorowski, the interim president who served for four months following the plane crash that killed the president and 96 others including the first lady, the army chief of staff and the president of the National Bank of Poland.

The much-anticipated election saw the highest voter turnout among Greenpoint’s Polish community since 1989, according to the Polish Consulate.  More than 5,000 voters from across New York and neighboring states including New Jersey, flocked to the largest of the region’s voting stations.  Any Polish passport holder who had registered could vote there. Greenpoint voters gave Jaroslaw Kaczyński 73 percent of the vote. In Poland, Komorowski won 53 percent, according to the Polish Consulate.  He took office on Aug. 6.

Greenpoint voters chose Kaczyński not just because he is a spitting image of his brother but, as former prime minister, they also thought that he had the political resume to carry out the late president’s work. Many said they wanted a watchdog president outside the governing party: a politician who would put national interests above European Union ones; who would protect the needs of middle and lower classes; and maintain ideals of Polish independence, as the late president did.   They also felt strong, sentimental feelings for the former president, who visited Greenpoint on a trip to New York. Many voters hoped Kaczynski would carry out his legacy.

“He’s truthful, moral, honest and patriot,” said Jadwiga Wroblewska, a 77-year-old clothing designer.

But, it was not just sentimentality that drove Greenpoint voters to the polls. Waldamor Majchrzak, a 49-year-old on disability, disliked Komorowski’s stance on trimming welfare benefits. “Kaczyński cares much more for the class middle and poorer,” said Majchrzak.

Others such as a 57-year-old business owner, Honorata Pierwola, voted for Kaczyński because she said Poland needed a strong president unafraid to veto the majority party’s platforms. “I choose Kaczyński only for the reason that one party control another,” she said. “We had a very bad experience working with one party. Many corruptions going on if it’s one party.”

While some Greenpoint voters preferred Kaczyński’s conservative stances, others thought they held back the country. Komorowski’s few supporters in Greenpoint thought Kaczyński could hurt Poland’s international standing and saw Komorowski’s plan to strengthen European Union ties as a step forward for the country.

“For me Kaczyński seems narrow-minded.  It seems he doesn’t like our neighbors like Germany and other countries,” said Lucas Bielak, a 34-year-old store manager.

Bielak’s perspective matches the larger electorate’s take on the election, but it is a stance unpopular with Polish immigrants, who tend to be politically conservative, said John S. Micgiel, an adjunct professor of international affairs and the director of Columbia University’s East Central European Center.

“Most of the people who vote for Kaczyński are from the more underdeveloped, rural parts of Poland, whose population is more prone to seek employment opportunities abroad,” he said.  “They are more conservative, more religious and more apt to support candidates who are perceived as being tough on security and defending Polish interests in Europe and elsewhere.”

Bronislaw Komorowski’s win may have disappointed many Greenpoint voters, but the record turnout was itself a victory in the eyes of Ewa Junczyk-Ziomecka, Consul-General of the Republic of Poland in New York.  Gathering at voting stations, she said, only strengthens people’s ties to their home country.

“They see that they belong to a group, which is good.  It unifies the community and this is what I like,” she added.

More stories by Anna

Sixty-inch flower pots placed by the Newark Downtown District line Raymond Boulevard. Photo: Andaiye Taylor

NEWARK, N.J. – To frequent visitors, downtown Newark has in the past couple of years become greener, cleaner, and more pedestrian-friendly than it has been in recent memory.  In addition to the new flowerpots, garbage cans, benches, and lampposts that now dot the sidewalks, visitors said they have also noticed the bevy of workers in yellow shirts who tend the area.

The workers are employees of the Newark Downtown District, also known as NDD, a nonprofit created more than a decade ago by a city ordinance. The NDD is devoted to increasing the commercial viability of the district.  Its employees, who they dub “ambassadors,” stand out in their bright outfits as they power wash the sidewalks, scrub the graffiti, sweep the streets, and otherwise maintain the neighborhood.

Over the past three years, the NDD has aggressively embarked on a neighborhood beautification campaign. The district’s innovative use of Geographic Information System, or GIS, technology lets its employees efficiently track and maintain the new neighborhood improvements.

To use the GIS technology, the NDD affixes a unique bar code to the improvements when they are initially placed. If a worker spots a problem, he or she scans it, submitting a time stamped work order to a central queue where it is prioritized and assigned by NDD management. People in the neighborhood can also submit damage reports by either calling a hotline or logging onto the district’s website, identifying improvements by type and location, and characterizing the damage.

The workers’ use of the GIS scanners, skinned in yellow and black to match their outfits, is subtle, but people who live, work, and shop downtown notice the upkeep, thanks to the new technology.

Roshawn Bristol, 39, of Newark, sees the workers as a sign of increased collective pride in the city. “The people with the yellow shirts, they’re out cleaning,” she said. “Newark is beautiful, and they’re making it that way.”

Most people incorrectly assumed that the city employs the workers. The NDD’s online interface enables people to submit complaints about city-owned property, but the organization forwards those requests to the appropriate city agency. According to a report summary furnished by NDD, more than six of 10 issues captured by the system are ultimately assigned to NDD to address.

Though no one denied that the improvements are a positive change, a few people went out of their way to distinguish between re-facing the downtown neighborhood and implementing the more fundamental changes they think are necessary in Newark.

Oscar Mercado, 31, is a Newark homeowner and parking attendant who works two blocks from the Prudential Center arena.

“You can cosmetically dress it up with a little flower pot, a couple benches,” he said, while sitting on an NDD bench in front of the parking lot. “All these little decorations haven’t changed anything.”

Abdul Holden, 35, of Newark, said the professionally dressed workers are a signal that the city is “trying.” While he thinks more fundamental work needs to be done to improve the city, he said he also thinks sprucing up the neighborhood is an easy win that can change perceptions of Newark.

Pennsylvania-based GIS Tech Solutions designed the system to NDD’s specifications. The company’s president, Bill Chappell, said that while he has designed programs for other municipalities, this is a unique application of his company’s technology. Chappell said that Newark Downtown District can further integrate GIS by building a mobile phone application that automatically detects users’ coordinates, enabling them to submit repair requests even more easily.

The International Downtown Association is considering NDD for its 2010 IDA Downtown Achievement Award for applying GIS technology to capital improvement maintenance.

More stories by Andaiye

Mindy Bockstein, left, warned that "dumpster diving" is the most common way for thieves to steal personal information. Photo: Matt Allinson

Reported on July 31, 2010

A state government group in Albany shredded more than 3,000 pounds of documents on July 28, destroying such a volume of paper that they needed a truck to haul away the waste.

The New York State Consumer Protection Board did it as part of their ongoing “Shred the Word” campaign against identity theft. They invited Albany residents to join them outside Joseph Bruno stadium, where 3N, a local document destruction company, provided the service free of charge.

Identity theft, which cost Americans more than $50 billion in damages last year, is New York’s most prevalent type of fraud. In 2009, more than 18,000 New Yorkers reported identity theft – the nation’s sixth-highest rate per capita, according to the state group. To combat this financially-destructive crime, the consumer protection board has worked to educate people. They have also prodded state legislators to enact stronger consumer protections, including a 2008 security freeze law and restrictions on the use of social security numbers.

Mindy Bockstein, the board’s executive director, said people are becoming more knowledgeable about protecting their identities, but there is work to be done. She said people mistakenly believe identity theft is confined to the Internet. Yet, phony websites and e-mails from Nigerian royalties constitute just a small portion of all identity fraud.

“Dumpster or mailbox diving is still the most common way for thieves to steal an identity,” Bockstein said, standing in front of 3N’s disposal truck. Scammers look for credit card offers, which they can use to open accounts in victims’ names; or they try to reconstruct identities from pay stubs and bank statements.  With the right information, they can fraudulently open new lines of credit, drain existing accounts or amass medical bills.  Due to the rising cost of health care, identity theft for medical purposes is a growing concern for the board.

Bockstein advised people to destroy their unwanted mail. “That is why we are here,” she said, pointing to a stack of papers destined for 3N’s mobile guillotine. She suggested people stop unsolicited credit card offers by calling 1-888-5OPTOUT and also reminded travelers to make mail arrangements if they leave home for more than a few days. Identity thieves often target empty households with bundles of letters stuffed into the mailboxes.

Jorge Montalvo, director of strategic initiatives for the consumer protection board, corrected another misconception. He said only one website, www.annualcreditreport.com, is where New Yorkers should obtain their free credit report provided by state law. He warned of private companies using similar web addresses and catchy advertisements to lure customers into paying for credit protection.

Bockstein reviewed some of the recent results of her group’s advocacy. As part of New York’s 2008 Identity Theft Prevention and Mitigation Act, it is now illegal for businesses to require social security numbers on personal checks used for payment. It is also illegal for businesses and other institutions to use social security numbers for their user identification numbers. Bockstein said that this is important, because thieves often use these numbers as keys to stealing other aspects of a victim’s identity.

Additionally, New York now allows consumers to call for a security freeze on their credit file, should they feel their identity has been compromised. The freeze blocks businesses from accessing the individual’s credit history, thus thwarting the opening of new accounts. The consumer can unfreeze their credit file in a matter of minutes, and the freeze does not affect their credit score.

Bockstein and Montalvo are proud of their advocacy. They admitted that most consumer protection happens at the federal level but called New York an incubator for change that pushes federal action.

Watch the slideshow.

Related article: Community farm launches in Newark’s Lincoln Park

More stories by Andaiye

The Citywide Congested Corridors Project will make Beverly Road narrower with a wider sidewalk, according to the New York City Department of Transportation. Photo: Yeong Lim

Reported on July 30

Whether you are a driver or pedestrian in Kensington, commuting on Church Avenue could become easier and safer as the street gets repaired and upgraded this summer, according to the New York City Department of Transportation.

The Citywide Congested Corridors Project initiated by the department began its construction on Church Avenue in June. The construction will improve safety and mobility for pedestrians, cyclists, transit users and motorists in the neighborhood, according to Gregory Haas, the project’s coordinator.

The construction on Church Avenue goes from McDonald Avenue to Utica Avenue, a 2.7-mile corridor. Of that corridor, approximately 0.54 miles, or 20 percent, of the construction will take place in Kensington. According to the agency’s website, the Church Avenue improvement in Kensington focuses mainly on installing signs, widening the sidewalks, and building two additional bus shelters. The project will make Beverly Road narrower with a wider sidewalk, and improve traffic signal timing.

The Citywide Congested Corridors Project is a construction project funded by the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program or the CMAQ, which provides more than $8.6 billion in federal funds to state transportation agencies and urban planning groups. The CMAQ program, established in 1991, provides funds to invest in projects that improve air quality and reduce congestion, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration.

“Church Avenue is one of 14 busy roadways across five boroughs being studied and upgraded right now,” said Haas.

According to Haas, the first five roadway projects began in February 2008. The project areas included Church Avenue in Brooklyn, Amboy Road in Staten Island, White Plains Road in the Bronx, Woodhaven Boulevard in Queens, and West 181 Street in Manhattan.

The constructions around the McDonald Avenue area began in June, according to Haas.

But, residents are more concerned about the potential safety implications than they are about the funding or timeframe of the project. “I hope it stops all the accidents around here,” said Veronica Valentine, 37, a Kensington resident. “It’s a mess here.”

According to the New York City Department of Transportation 2009 crash report, there were eight crashes at the intersection of Church Avenue and McDonald Avenue prior to the construction; seven of these were pedestrian crashes. The Church Avenue roadway between McDonald Avenue and Ocean Parkway had 12 crashes, with seven as pedestrian accidents.

According to Councilman Brad Lander’s office, there were more than a dozen traffic complaints earlier this year. The intersection at Ocean Parkway and Church Avenue had many of the problems with 22 crashes last year. Of those, four involved pedestrians.

Construction at that intersection is scheduled to begin in August. The plans include raising the height of the pedestrian refuge island and median extension, installing new pedestrian signals, pavement markings, and upgrading “No Turns” and “Yield to Pedestrian” signs.  The construction project will also repaint the stripes on the crosswalks, stop bars and other pavement markings.

According to the study done by the Congested Corridors Project Team, islands and upgraded signs are expected to reduce the number of crashes. The anticipated traffic delay reduction by 2017 on Church Avenue corridor from McDonald Avenue to Utica Avenue will average at 187.5 seconds during the morning peak hours, and 140 seconds during the evening peak hours, the study said. Speed improvement is expected to increase traveling time at approximately 1.25 mph during the morning peak hours, and 0.8 mph increase during the evening peak hours.

Construction is expected last until December 2010.

More stories by Yeong

A public trash container at the corner of Wadsworth Avenue and 181st Street in Washington Heights. Photo: Stephen Steim

It happens every summer in Washington Heights: residents notice public trash containers mysteriously go missing from streets and parks.

While theories vary about where the containers are going, what is certain is that the missing containers put added stress on a system of public waste collection that residents say is already overburdened by illegal dumping. Combined with a lingering July heat wave that has temperatures consistently in the mid-90s, Washington Heights has a potentially pungent quality of life issue on its hands.

At a June 23 meeting of the 33rd Precinct Police Department’s Community Council, residents complained about the rise of stolen trash containers. Ignazio Terranova, a Department of Sanitation public affairs officer, said his department’s small staff makes it difficult to enforce container theft.

“I have 74 sanitation officers for the entire city,” said Terranova. He said residents should call 311 if they notice missing containers.

Despite the complaints, spokesman Matthew LiPani said the department is unaware of any missing trash containers in Washington Heights. LiPani wrote in a July 22 email: “If one was to be stolen, we would immediately replace it.”

Michael Mowatt-Wynn, 54, is president of the 33rd Precinct Community Council and lives on Riverside Drive near the entrance to Fort Washington Park at 158th Street. He notices trash containers often go missing.

“We have a continuous stream of people since it’s the main entrance to the park,” said Mowatt-Wynn. “I see from time to time the cans are gone. As soon as they get emptied, people take them.”

And why steal a trash container?

“They take them down to the river, put a grate on top of it, and it’s an impromptu barbecue,” said Mowatt-Wynn. The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation did not return calls seeking comment about missing trash containers in parks.

Some local businesses are especially frustrated by trash that piles up in front of their stores, and point to street vendors as the source.

M. Rana, 40, manages the Jimmy Jazz clothing store on West 181st Street in Washington Heights. The block is packed tightly with street vendors who he says dispose their trash in the container in front of his store. According to the sanitation department’s rules and regulations, it is illegal to dump any “trade or household waste” in public trash containers.

“Trash piles up every day,” said Rana. “The people who sell on the street make a mess. They throw away fruit and vegetables, so it stinks.”

Rana has seen as many as nine trash bags piled around the lone trash container at the corner of 181st Street and Wadsworth Avenue. He says that while the city’s sanitation workers do an excellent job of disposing of trash at scheduled times, they simply cannot keep up with the extra trash created by vendors.

The vendors tell a different story. Juan Pena, 37, runs a fruit stand a quarter block from Rana’s store. Pena says he leaves the sidewalk and street spotless at the end of each day.

“Garbage goes back with us in the van,” said Pena. “The ticket for leaving trash is $500 and the police check to see if you do.” Pena says he has never received a complaint from the storefront businesses on the block.

Community members say their neighbors are also adding to the problem. Randy Rodriguez, 33, says people throw out their home trash in public containers every day.

“The trash cans are overflowing every morning,” said Rodriguez.

Watch the slideshow.

Lincoln Park community farm launch attendees enjoy farm-grown produce and live music at the farm on July 14, 2010, in Newark, N.J. Produce is grown on the half-acre brown field using hydroponic and raised-bed farming techniques. Photo: Andaiye Taylor

NEWARK, N.J. – Robert Wisniewski stood under the shed he’d built on top of a half-acre brown field, across the street from historic Newark Symphony Hall.

“How was that okra?” he called out to a man working in an adjacent lot.

“Good, good,” the man shouted in reply, before turning back to his work.

The okra had come from the new community farm that is now sprouting from the field. Wisniewski, sustainability director for Newark’s Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District, was busy shuffling containers and deciding what to do with brown paper bags full of unclaimed tomatoes that Thursday afternoon. The leftover produce symbolized one of the major challenges facing the farm.

In the weeks since its launch, the farm’s managers are looking to overcome key tests whose outcomes will determine whether it will be a long-term fixture in Newark’s Lincoln Park neighborhood.  According to Wisniewski, Lincoln Park is a produce desert with no fresh vegetables available within a mile of the farm.

The nonprofit cultural district sees its role as facilitating the housing, educational, cultural and now, the nutritional needs of the Newark residents it serves. To that end, the organization has added the farm to a list of other projects it has launched in the community: its annual, three-day Lincoln Park Music Festival; new mixed-income sustainable housing that will include 32 units; and the planned Museum of African American Music.

The farm sits atop unusable soil, behind the facade of what was once the South Park Presbyterian Church. The crops grow where the building once stood, and the soil’s toxicity stems from pollution from fuel tanks that once powered the building.

To grow crops in the space, farmer Brian Barry brings in outside soil, and also uses a technique called hydroponics, which enables him to grow the produce in a nutrient-rich solution instead of directly in the plot’s native soil.

Weekly shares cost $20, and earn customers a basket of assorted produce, including collards, tomatoes, okra, and assorted herbs and lettuces. When shareholders pick up their food on Wednesday evenings, they also receive preparation tips and instructions on how to properly store and maintain the produce.

While Barry and Wisniewski man the farm during pickup hours, they also employ two seniors, both paid by the Urban League’s Mature Worker program, to tend it up to four hours per day, usually in the mornings.

The worker program, along with a startup grant, were both pivotal funding sources for getting the farm off the ground, but Wisniewski seeks to rely mostly on revenue to sustain farm operations.  For that reason, the gap between interest in farm shares and actual sales reveals both the farm’s potential, and the highest hurdle it must clear. The farm can currently feed 20 to 25 families per week, according to Barry, and about 25 people have signed up. However, to make the produce affordable, the district decided not to require consumers to pay upfront for all of their shares for the season. According to Wisniewski, only about eight to 10 people actually show up to retrieve their shares weekly.

The price of the produce is also not affordable for many in an area where nearly half of all families live below the poverty level, according to 2000 census data. The district’s recent mixed-income housing initiatives bring potential customers who are more likely to be able to afford the shares than the average Lincoln Park resident.

Jan Zientek, senior program coordinator at the Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, agreed that building a sustainable business model for the farm will not be easy. “The economics of the project are hard to figure,” he said during a telephone interview.  Still, Zientek is skeptical of the long-term prospects for grant-supported farms, and thinks the share-supported model that the Lincoln Park cultural district is trying to build has greater promise for long-term sustainability, despite the startup hurdles they face.

Zientek visited the farm recently, and said he thinks it has a shot. He noted common problems such as blossom end rot on some of the tomatoes, and cabbage that had been nibbled on by moths. But the issues affected only a portion of the produce, and the remedies were simple: lighter-colored boxes for produce to preserve moisture, and cloths over the cabbage to deter the moths.

Wisniewski is clear-eyed about the challenge of building a consistent customer base, and has been considering additional revenue for the farm, including distribution to local restaurants. Back under the shed, perhaps trying to figure the economics of accounting for absentee shareholders, he mulled what to do with his orphaned tomatoes. He decided to try pitching the produce to Allure, a bar and lounge across the street.

The establishment’s chef, William “Staff” Powell, recalled the visit the following week.   “They have nice produce,” he said. “The quality is good.”

He mentioned that while it is impractical for him to buy anything but bulk for restaurant cooking, he would consider creating specialty dishes made with the locally grown vegetables.  “That type of thing might appeal to customers,” he explained. “Everyone is going green.”

During a recent Wednesday pickup, Vashti White, who owns a trio of health and wellness-related businesses in nearby Montclair, claimed her first share.

“I thought it was great,” she said of the vegetables two days later. “The food was fresh and flavorful.”

While she plans to sample other growers’ produce, White said she is leaning toward partnering with the LPCCD farm for her restaurant, Raw N Simple. “I really like the fact that this is a local effort,” she said. “For that alone, and the freshness of the food, I would lean toward buying there.”

The farm’s managers must contend with other issues endemic to urban farms, including insects and rodents, possible theft or vandalism, and limited space. Wisniewski explained that the cultural district wants to use the farm as a living laboratory to devise solutions to some of these issues. While urban farming is not a new practice, the cultural district is aiming to grow 100 percent of its produce onsite to ensure complete local sustainability.

Kelli Koontz, a writer and drug counselor who lives one block from the farm, bought her first share a couple of weeks after attending the farm’s launch party.  “I see it as an investment in this community,” said Koontz in her kitchen, as she cut a tomato that came with her share. “I see the garden as a catalyst for the beginning of change.”

The 45-year-old mother of two said she thinks buying produce from the farm will change her family’s eating habits.  “I’m really looking forward to investing time in preparing things a little bit differently,” she said, noting that the farm would help her family eat healthier.

Koontz also looks forward to involving her 11-year-old son in the process, turning the food pickup and preparation into a family project.

The farm fits into the cultural district’s broader plan for Lincoln Park. The district sees the neighborhood as a hub for artists, writers, and other creative types. In addition to figuring out operational details, its planners also want to achieve syncretism between the neighborhood’s artiness and the farm’s layout.  When farm operations resume next year after a winter hiatus, Wisniewski envisions creating an “art farm park” that is both a working farm and an artist space fit for performances and exhibits, in line with the broader Lincoln Park arts milieu.

Additionally, the cultural district is considering redesigning the farm to make a statement about what it means for the urban and the agrarian to exist side-by-side. Wisniewski said the design theme would be the “built environment that grows,” and would feature “cool structures made of natural materials,” that illustrate how urban residents can sustain themselves without having to forgo the benefits of urban living.

While honing the produce growing process, the district is looking to shore up the community aspect of the farm next year by considering programming such as cooking classes and workshops on how to grow food.  In fact, the community outreach might be the key to boosting the farm’s shareholder revenue. Three weeks after she’d initially purchased her share, Koontz said she was happy with the produce, which her family used up in a week and a half.

But would she consider prepaying for shares for the entire season?

“Not at this juncture,” Koontz said.  While she would invest in a prepaid share if more of her neighbors did it, she said she didn’t want to be out on a limb as one of only a few seasonal shareholders because, “I guess I don’t have enough faith that it’s going to sustain just yet.”  If more people invested, though, she said she would “definitely” invest in shares.

Koontz, who likes the change that the farm brings to the community, and hopes it will last, thinks more consistent communication, including regular newsletters and programming, between LPCCD and Lincoln Park community members would increase engagement with the farm.

View the slideshow

More stories by Andaiye

Across the street from his house, Mike D’Arcy chats with his neighbors, founding members of the Kingston Uptown Residents Alliance. From right to left: Michael D’Arcy, Doris Soldner, Eric Winchell, Jerry Soldner. Photo: Celia Seupel

Michael D’Arcy is making sausage and onions tonight.  Scarlett, his sprightly 9-year-old who likes to run barefoot, shouts from the living room and demands help.  D’Arcy covers the skillet, folds his arms across his compact body, tattoo peeping out of a sleeve, and peers at Scarlett’s computer screen.  On the other side of the narrow living room, Tristan, 7, broods over the computer game.

Garrulous ex-marine, former chef, gardener of backyard herbs and stay-at-home dad, 37-year-old D’Arcy is an unlikely crusader for public safety.  He was never involved in a civic association or local politics.  He wasn’t even in student government at Rondout Valley High School, but when Kingston’s violent crime entered D’Arcy’s back yard on Feb. 20, 2010, an activist was born.

It was Friday evening, sometime between 9:30 and 10:00 p.m. D’Arcy and his wife, Claudia, had just turned out the lights when they heard sobbing.  As the sobbing grew louder, Claudia crawled out of bed and peered out the window. She saw their friend, Gretta Scoe, disappear into her small house at the back of their neighboring yards.

Minutes later, as the D’Arcys lay wondering, sirens wailed down the street. The couple threw on clothes and ran next door.

“The EMTs were already treating her,” Claudia recalls. “She ended up with a big egg on her head and two huge black eyes. She had to have stitches between her eyes.”  The D’Arcys learned that Scoe had been attacked from behind as she walked home only half a block away on the corner of Wall and St. James streets. As Scoe struggled, she was thrown to the ground, landing on her face. The assailant got her purse: $20 and a debit card.

“My wife walks past that corner every day. Every morning, every afternoon,” says D’Arcy.  “I couldn’t sleep.”  Online all night, D’Arcy searched for resources—neighborhood associations, civilian patrols, some way to make sure an attack like that didn’t happen again.  He found nothing for Kingston, so he made his own. By 8 a.m., D’Arcy says, the flyers were ready.

Claudia puts it more like noon. “He woke me up around five in the morning and said he was going to start a neighborhood watch. That afternoon, we were handing out flyers.  By Saturday night, the logo was designed.” The D’Arcys’ neighborhood blog was transformed into the official Kingston Neighborhood Watch site. “We had our first meeting on Sunday.” Claudia laughs. “It’s been a wild ride ever since.”

Claudia D’Arcy’s profession, Internet search and social marketing, has been instrumental. “Within six weeks, we had over 1,000 hits on our Facebook site,” says Claudia.

The Kingston Neighborhood Watch holds pot-luck meetings and encourages residents to meet their neighbors and neighborhood children, to watch out for each other and to report suspicious or criminal activity. It also organizes neighborhood walks to raise awareness.  Members don bright yellow shirts and, armed with flashlights and whistles, walk as a group through streets that have known violence, talking to residents.

Still, after almost six months in action, D’Arcy finds his membership numbers disappointing. “Only 166 members in a city of 23,000,” says D’Arcy. “Why?”

Whatever the reason, it is not for a lack of crime.  The Kingston Crime Reports map shows a total of 145 crimes reported in the city of Kingston during the month of July 2010, including breaking and entering, violent robbery, assault, and property crimes. Almost every month, police reports show, there are reports of shots fired.

According to Kingston Police Chief Gerald M. Keller, a 38-year veteran of the department, crime is better in Kingston than in similar nearby cities such as Poughkeepsie and Middletown and a lot better than it was in the early ’90s. “It was a hot time,” says Keller, “a very bad situation in midtown and Broadway East.” Broadway East was a housing project notorious for drugs and shootings. The complex was eventually cleaned up in the late ’90s after new management hired private security and evicted about 50 families, according to Keller.

Still, for residents, the city’s crime rate in contrast to surrounding bucolic farmlands and small villages can seem outsized. According to New York State Department of Criminal Justice statistics, Kingston experienced 759 Part I or “index” crimes in 2009. Index crimes include murder, rape, aggravated assault, and property crimes.  Kingston accounted for 22 percent of Ulster County’s violent crime and 70 percent of the county’s burglaries.

Poughkeepsie and Middletown crime figures are higher. Kingston shows a 37 percent decline in property and violent crime since 2005, whereas Middletown shows only a 4.5 percent decline and Poughkeepsie shows none.  According to criminologist Alan Lizotte, Dean of SUNY Albany’s School of Criminal Justice, comparing a city’s Part I statistics to cities of similar population and geographic area is a good way to evaluate the crime rate.

“Under 1,000 Part I crimes a year is not bad for a city the size of Kingston,” says Keller.

“Not bad?” says D’Arcy.  “Try telling that to a family that lives in midtown, or the store owner who had his window shot out.”  D’Arcy hastens to add that the police and sheriff’s departments have been very helpful. “What the police have done with the neighborhood watch is amazing. Many patrolmen have stepped up and given me their phone numbers.”

But D’Arcy perceives a “huge divide” between city police and citizens. “I’ve talked to hundreds of people and there is a lack of trust between people and the police.”

“There was a time when cops were around all the time,” says Margaret Napoli, a 30-year-resident of Kingston. While walking her dog on the evening of July 1, 2010, Napoli rounded the corner of Clinton Street just as a man shot two other men only a block away from her home. “It’s getting bad. They should bring the state police in.”

Cops walking a beat—one crime solution often mentioned by residents—is not an option, according to Keller. The police department does not have the manpower—12 to 15 sworn officers per shift—and the city does not have the money.  Kingston police patrol in their cars, frequently responding to emergency calls. They rarely emerge just to mingle, and, residents say, communication suffers.

D’Arcy is trying to forge a new kind of bond between the public and the police, a contract of mutual aid.  According to city council representatives, the tech-savvy D’Arcys are already succeeding.

“One of the biggest differences the neighborhood watch has made,” says Jennifer Fuentes, alderwoman for D’Arcy’s Ward 5, “is ClickFix.”

The neighborhood watch website devotes a page to reporting problems using SeeClickFix.com. It’s easy to mark the problem-spot on the Kingston map and post a complaint. Suspicious character lurking.  Dangerous speeding.  Drug dealing. Other people can add their voices to the complaint, vote to have it fixed and see other issues that have been reported, too.

“We never had anything like this before,” says Fuentes. “People are posting regularly. People are taking the time to report things.  It’s even on the Daily Freeman site now,” said Fuentes, referencing the local daily newspaper. “It’s pretty impressive.”

“The neighborhood watch has brought a number of community members together,” says Andrea Turco-Levin, Alderwoman for Kingston’s Ward 1. Turco-Levin showed up on D’Arcy’s doorstep the day after the Kingston Neighborhood Watch was born and asked how she could help.  “He’s created an awareness at a grassroots level.  One way Mike D’Arcy has really influenced me is when I see something going on, something suspicious or wrong, I don’t just say to myself ‘Oh, that’s disgusting,’ I call the police dispatcher now and I tell them.”

“It’s difficult to do as a volunteer,” says Fuentes. “Mike’s degree of commitment and energy is fantastic. When he started I made him promise he wouldn’t burn out.”

“I’m here to stay,” says D’Arcy. But he does admit to getting discouraged at times.  “Then my wife reels me back in,” says D’Arcy. “She says, ‘Just calm down. Let’s just do this.’”

Claudia D’Arcy leans back in the kitchen chair, tired from work and not yet ready to eat. Scarlett runs into the kitchen with Pumpkin the cat draped over her shoulder, looking for dinner. D’Arcy dishes up sausages for the kids and takes the sausages and the kids back into the living room.

“When we first met,” Claudia says, “I didn’t even own a computer. He was the geek and I was the activist. Now it’s totally reversed.” Still, she admits to wondering if she and her husband have made themselves into targets.

“Everybody knows where we live,” says Claudia. “But I’m not going to change my life or how I walk home because of it. I just can’t think about that.”

Grit runs in the family, but if anyone is inspired by the softer side, it’s D’Arcy. “My wife and my kids empower me in a way the military never did,” he says. “I do it for them: for my friends, for my neighbors.”

More stories by Celia

Campus of Essex County College, August 20, 2010, in Newark, N.J. While unemployment vouchers are accepted at other post-secondary institutions in Essex County, most students exercise the waivers at ECC given its two-year associate program, which serves as a bridge to a four-year education. Photo: Andaiye Taylor

Reported on July 31, 2010

NEWARK, N.J. – Cheritta Stewart knows better than to romanticize losing her job. At least, she won’t do so without qualification.

“I guess I can call it a blessing,” said the 29-year-old Newark native, who has been unemployed since 2008. “But it hasn’t been easy.”

Stewart was a case manager assistant at First Managed Care Option in Parsippany, N.J. when she was laid off; her duties there were mostly clerical. “Had this not have happened, I would have still been there dreaming about going to school,” she said.

The New Jersey Department of Labor’s tuition waiver program for people collecting unemployment benefits provides a bridge to new careers for state residents, including hundreds from Essex County, where unemployment was 11.2 percent as of June. Given its two-year associate degree program, which provides a smoother on-ramp to continuing education for students who are not prepared to leap into four-year programs, Essex County College in downtown Newark has enrolled many of these waiver-wielding students.

The Office of Student Affairs reports that the number of students who applied for classes with waivers has increased in the past few years: enrollment more than doubled from 393 during the 2008-2009 academic year, to 934 during the 2009-2010 year. Students can only exercise the waivers if other financial aid does not cover their tuition in full.

While students who were interviewed said unemployment presented ongoing economic challenges, they were nonetheless grateful for the opportunity to continue their education. None of them could imagine being able to afford classes without the support.

Tykyannah Fields, 28, was laid off from her job at the Irvington Board of Education. She intends to take courses in psychology at Essex County College full-time, and then use her associate degree as a first step to launching a counseling career in the school system.

The mother of three will rely on her network of family and friends to assist her with childcare while she attends classes. Even given the toughness of being unemployed, Fields said she thinks attending school right now is a worthwhile, career-boosting time investment.

The process Fields described for qualifying for the waiver aligns with the process laid out by the state Labor Department.  Unemployed applicants must first attend a series of workshops at a One-Stop Career Center. At the centers, would-be students receive career counseling to help determine a course of study. That chosen course must prepare participants for jobs in high-growth sectors as determined by the New Jersey Department of Labor.

Prospective students must also pass a qualifying exam at the center and be accepted into their chosen academic program. Waiver applicants can select courses after tuition-paying students have first reserved their seats in classes.

Waivers do not cover all costs for students, who are still responsible for books and fees. Patricia Vaden, an administrative assistant in the Essex County College student affairs office, cited the cost of books as the toughest hardship for waiver students to overcome, as those costs can approach the price of a single course.

In addition to the ailing economy, the number of students using tuition waivers has increased because of a federal policy change. According to Dean of Student Affairs Susan Mulligan, a federal policy alteration last year allowing financial aid offices to consider unemployment status when making award decisions increased enrollment by unemployed students. A March 2009 Department of Education memo advised state work force agencies to facilitate financial aid approval for the unemployed.

Despite her endorsement of the program, Stewart noted its key paradox: she had to first be laid off to receive the benefit. Describing her salary while employed as putting her “between a rock and a hard place” – she didn’t earn enough to afford school, but earned too much to qualify for substantial aid – she suggested that the program be expanded to also aid employed workers at lower income thresholds who want to advance their careers.

More stories by Andaiye