MTA Repeats Its Pattern of Racial and Class Neglect with New Second Avenue Subway

Nothing shows classism and racism like the new Second Avenue and where it goes and where it does not go. There are two philosophies of providing transit: provide it to the car-oriented people to wean them away, or provide it to the people who depend on it. Clearly they Metropolitan Transit Authority is practicing the philosophy of build the train for the affluent who use taxis more.

The new line goes to possibly the wealthiest neighborhood of the nation, the Upper East Side, 72nd Street, 86th Street and 96th Street. The definitive divider between the rich and white Upper East Side and the working class and more Latino area is 96th Street, where the Metro-North leaves the tunnel and becomes an elevated railroad. And 96th Street is where the subway ends.

Notice the area served by the SAS today: very rich

 Upper E Side

This Upper East Side serving new route of the Q train is a bitter contrast against the trains of the past.
In the past the Bronx was white and when the elevated was built in Manhattan, Harlem, central and east, was white.
Until the 1970s there was a Third Avenue Elevated in the middle of the South Bronx. And when the far upper reaches of the East Side were transitioning from suburban to urban, a transit company built to 129th Street. Service on the Manhattan section of the Third Avenue Elevated was terminated in 1955. The city dithered for years and there was no action taken to build the promised subway replacement.

The transit system in the bus division is under mighty strain because they are serving trajectories that are not served by subways or elevated lines. In sections of the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens buses are impossibly crowded. Drivers routinely pass waiting commuters when the buses reach crush capacity. Even the new accordion or "articulated" buses are stuffed. So, the city needs better connectivity to the upper Manhattan and the Bronx.

The crush capacity platforms and trains on the Lexington Avenue 4, 5, and 6 lines are strained and these issues will not be resolved by the stub subway to 96th Street. There is no connection for people in Harlem, in the Bronx. And there are no discussions of relief for the hapless commuters in the outer borough who have to suck in their guts and move further back in the bus, only to continue to be sardines.

And did you notice the mini art gallery look of the stations? All for the Upper East Side super-rich. The trains are so far below the surface. There's no need for that. Existing pines and utilities are not that far below. This is patently a sop to the richest percents, so that they will never feel the vibrations. Seriously, can you see such care if the MTA ever does care about the people that already are transit dependent? We cannot expect to ever see a Utica Avenue line or a Fordham / Pelham Parkway line. Can you really expect deep bore tunnels for a Utica Avenue subway, and so protecting Ocean Hill from subway vibrations in the same way the Second Avenue's deep bore protects the Upper East Side.

Others have recognized the strain and have called out the neglect since the 1970s. See this blog's critique of the MTA's neglect of the Bronx.

The MTA needs to match up with 1929-1940 ideas. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b3/1939_IND_Second_System.jpg/250px-1939_IND_Second_System.jpg 

New York City, with more billionaires and millionaires than ever. Yet no provisions for express tracks. And there are no plans to address the transit corridors that need to be built in the outer boros.
A cross-Bronx line along Fordham Avenue/Pelham Parkway, a cross Queens line from Whitestone to Jamaica, an extension of the F to the Nassau border, a Brooklyn line to the Belt in Flatlands, and a new Utica Avenue line. These are neighborhoods where new lines are desperately needed. The most comfortable New Yorkers should be taxed, so that New Yorkers can move as easily as the uber rich can move from 86th Street to midtown Broadway with its theatres.

We can just wait til more New York gets gentrified if we're going to expect lines in places like Central Bronx or a line to La Guardia Airport. When the neighborhoods in question get the political clout then we'll see a line.

Maybe the MTA will find the funds when the upper five percent move into East Harlem. Notice the hype for neighborhoods that New York Magazine added.

The MTA will probably add a line when the class with clout, those over five %, move into East Harlem, and when the city media decide to hype the need for a new subway to serve the East Side.

 (First problems with this map: even under the rosiest scenario, Phase 2 would not open until the late 2020s. For the rest of the line, maybe it would open in the 2040s.)
Maybe we'll need to rethink building all the way to the Financial District anyway. Here is what a 2.5 meter rise in the seas will do to Lower Manhattan.

The city will have a greater conflict: trying to convince the modest income New Yorkers to build giant sea walls to protect the millionaires' lower Manhattan, while the truly vulnerable New Yorkers will be in the tens of thousands in Staten Island, and southern Brooklyn and Queens at the Atlantic Ocean's edge. If you are concerned with the issue of rising sea levels, download the data before January 20. The incoming Donald Trump presidential administration may not keep such data on government sites any more. Some links to NOAA and NASA sites are at my other blog.

Principal at Mohawk School: Common Core Materials are Culturally Insensitive, at King's Plattsburgh Appearance

The critiques keep getting more astute and unsettling in new ways each week.

I was listening to "Commissioner King Attends Common Core Forum in Plattsburgh", a report on NYSED Commissioner John King's appearance in Plattsburgh (Adirondacks). The recording in this report from WAMC, North Country radio, had speakers with more subdued delivery than the suburban tours, but nevertheless had just as profound arguments.

I was very disturbed to hear about the culturally insensitive materials, but I believe the charge. The authors of the materials live in their own culturally isolated bubble, so it is hardly shocking that these cases will come up. Nonetheless, it is an intolerable situation. This is one more major reason to oppose the Common Core States Standards.

Shirley Thomas, principal of the St. Regis Mohawk elementary school in the Akwesasne Reservation:

. . . The quality of the ELA and math modules is shockingly poor. In addition to these errors, the modules are culturally insensitive with Native Americans depicted in stereotypical ways. What are the plans for overhauling the modules to be developmentally appropriate for students and the justification of tying these underdeveloped modules to high stakes testing which are directly tied to teacher and administrator performance?

An earlier speaker, a teacher in training, emphasized that "if you want to create life-long learners you need to stop creating an environment where they hate school, because it's only going to get worse."

 A response by John King in the report, "Does this mean we're going to stop the Common Core? No. We believe in the Common Core. We're committed to the work of the Common Core."

 There were only 100 guests allowed in the small studio for the taped event. But a small group of protesters stood outside in the cold.

The forum will be broadcast by Mountain Lake PBS Thursday and Friday evening and will be posted on the station’s website later this week.

The Adirondack Daily Enterprise reported on deep parent frustration at another Common Core event in the area.

"I personally find Common Core to be an abomination to education," said one Schroon Lake parent named Heather, who said she had a son enrolled in third grade.

This kind of fury and distrust was nearly universal as parent after parent from across the North Country lined up to blast King for the content of Common Core and its implementation.

"Education was not a function of the federal government but rather the duty of each state," argued Jules Como, a parent from Long Lake. "The federal government has essentially bribed the states to implement Common Core with promises of money. Yet the funding that local schools have received from Race to the Top woefully is adequate for implementation of Common Core at the local level - another unfunded mandate from our local leaders in Albany." This idea, that Common Core has been rolled out poorly, with too much top-down design and without enough state funding, echoed again and again.

* * *

 First we heard of students hating school, then we heard of students thinking themselves stupid, then we hear of students getting physically sick. Psychologists are reporting that children are getting depressed because of the work that they are doing in the classroom. Now we hear of racially insensitive materials.

Just what will it take for the madness of these standards and the associated curriculum to stop? The New York State Education Department is committing child abuse. Bravo to the administrators that have stood up and denounced the Common Core.  Notice that students are against it, parents are against it, teachers are against it, supervisors from principals up to superintendents are against it.
Watch just some of the videos:
here
here
here

The only communities pushing for it are reporters with their sugar-coated reports and the politicians. Why is King so deeply invested in the Common Core? Could he have some financial interest in the matter? Is he receiving some stipend from Bill Gates that is conditional on his continued shilling for the Common Core?

Earlier I wrote a post making the Vietnam War parallel to the intractable stances of state education leaders and other proponents of the Common Core and other "reforms". In that war, the leaders and politicians did not listen to the people; they barreled on, in their steadfast closemindedness. We have the same situation here in New York State. Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch and Commissioner King are not budging an inch. They are speaking like wind-up dolls, saying precisely the same things they said months ago. They are proceeding forward as though this was an article of faith. As Raging Horse blog wrote two days ago to speak against the Common Core in their minds is blasphemy.
State legislators must now hold hearings on the Common Core and must listen to the public's demand that King step down from his position. $212,000 (King's 3 percenter salarie not well spent.

 * * *
A ;etter frp, a certified Soi W:

32BJ Reports: Falling Further Apart: Decaying Schools in New York City’s Poorest Neighborhoods

The 32BJ union's reports of New York City School segregation echo reports, posted last year at my previous blog address, on how New York City Schools are some of the most segregated in the nation, the third most segregated, behind Chicago's schools and Dallas' schools, according to the New York Times.
Additionally, the neglect in New York City's failure to replace toxic window fixtures and lighting (the latter having received wide attention as of late) in New York's schools is just the tip of the iceberg of many environmental toxins in the schools.

From the 32BJ union: "Falling Further Apart: Decaying Schools in New York City’s Poorest Neighborhoods"

The New York City public school system, among the most diverse in the nation, has long been a stepping stone to the American Dream. But that stepping stone and the pathway it represents are crumbling. Years of deferred maintenance and inadequate facilities funding have taken a toll on public school buildings, with serious consequences for some of New York City’s most vulnerable populations. Students from the poorest families and neighborhoods attend some of the most neglected school buildings in the city. Because poorer students are generally nonwhite, this disparity in building conditions predominantly affects Black, Latino and other nonwhite schoolchildren. The U.S. Green Building Council has linked the condition of school facilities with academic performance; hence, a disparity in building conditions could contribute to widening the achievement gap.

FINDINGS:

* NEW YORK CITY STUDENTS: RACIALLY SEGREGATED AND ECONOMICALLY UNEQUAL
* STUDENTS FROM THE POOREST FAMILIES AND NEIGHBORHOODS ATTEND WORSE SCHOOL BUILDINGS
* TOXIC PCBs DISPROPORTIONATELY IMPACT POORER AND NONWHITE SCHOOLS
* INSUFFICIENT FUNDING HAS LED TO INADEQUATE SCHOOL FACILITIES
* MEET NEW YORK CITY’S WORST SCHOOL BUILDINGS
* THE CITY CAN INVEST IN CHILDREN’S FUTURES – FULLY AND EQUALLY

Download the report here

NEW YORK CITY STUDENTS: RACIALLY SEGREGATED AND ECONOMICALLY UNEQUAL

The New York City public school student population is one of the most diverse in the country. Thousands of students are immigrants or come from immigrant families, seeking the American Dream. But that dream is far from reality – New York City’s public schools are some of the most racially segregated in the country and a greater percentage of students qualify for free or reduced price meals than the national average.

NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE AMONG THE MOST SEGREGATED IN THE COUNTRY

New York City schools are among the most segregated in the nation. More than 60 percent of New York City public school students attend schools where the population is more than 90 percent nonwhite, and more than half of schools have student populations that are at least 90 percent black or Hispanic



NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS ARE POORER THAN THE NATIONAL AVERAGE

Almost 80 percent of New York City public school students qualify for free or reduced price meals – significantly higher than the national average of 48 percent



Download the report here

STUDENTS FROM THE POOREST FAMILIES AND NEIGHBORHOODS ATTEND WORSE SCHOOL BUILDINGS

New York City public schools located in the most impoverished Census tracts, on the average, are in the worst physical condition. As the percentage of students who qualify for free or reduced price meals increases, average school facility quality worsens.

Studies have linked the condition of school facilities with academic performance. Because students from the poorest families and neighborhoods attend some of the most neglected school buildings in the City, and poorer students are generally nonwhite, this disparity in building conditions could be contributing to the widening achievement gap.

POOREST STUDENTS ATTEND WORST SCHOOL FACILITIES

As the percentage of students qualifying for free or reduced price meals increases, the SchoolStat score decreases. (A SchoolStat is a measure of a school building’s maintenance and cleanliness; SchoolStat scores range from “5=Good” to “1=Poor.”)



Download the report here

TOXIC PCBs DISPROPORTIONATELY IMPACT POORER AND NONWHITE SCHOOLS

Although the U.S. Congress banned polychlorinated biphenyls (“PCBs”) in 1977, many New York City public schools still use light fixtures that contain these toxic compounds, which are known to cause cancer as well as hinder cognitive and neurological development. The City removed these toxic light fixtures from over 160 schools, but schools still awaiting light fixture replacement are poorer and have a greater percentage of nonwhite students than the schools where light fixtures were replaced.



Download the report here

INSUFFICIENT FUNDING HAS LED TO INADEQUATE SCHOOL FACILITIES
New York City public school facilities and capital budgets have been cut significantly. The City spends a smaller percentage of its total education budget on maintenance and operations than six of the seven largest school districts in the country. New York City reports less than two percent of school buildings to be in “good” condition and the majority to be in only “fair” condition. The City is forced to triage a growing list of building deficiencies while hundreds of schools fail to meet accessibility, environmental, and building code criteria.

SCHOOL FACILITIES AND CONSTRUCTION BUDGETS CUT SIGNIFICANTLY
The percentage of the City’s education budget dedicated to facilities decreased almost every year during the past nine years. This includes cuts of almost $50 million to budgets for the Custodial Engineers who are responsible for the maintenance and repair of the vast majority of public schools.



NEW YORK CITY SPENDS SMALLER PERCENTAGE ON MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONS THAN SIX OF THE SEVEN LARGEST SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN THE COUNTRY
A school district’s maintenance and operations (“M&O”) budget includes allocations for custodial and maintenance payroll, energy and utilities, as well as equipment and supplies. New York City’s M&O budgeted spending, as a percentage of its total education spending in fiscal year 2013, was six percent – the second lowest of any of the nation’s seven largest school districts, next to Los Angeles.



Download the report here

MEET NEW YORK CITY’S WORST SCHOOL BUILDINGS

Many of the schools with worst BCAS and SchoolStat scores also have dozens of building code violations and most still have PCB-contaminated light fixtures – a stark reality for hundreds of schoolchildren across New York City who lack access to quality school facilities.





Download the report here

THE CITY CAN INVEST IN CHILDREN’S FUTURES — FULLY AND EQUALLY

The City must invest in public school facilities to protect student safety and improve educational outcomes:

Seek new revenue streams and prioritize school facilities funding. Close tax loopholes that benefit the wealthiest New Yorkers and examine additional revenue options, including charging a fair and appropriate rent from charter schools that are co-located with traditional public schools.

Remove toxic PCBs from schools immediately. They can cause cancer and hinder neurological development, potentially setting back future economic opportunity for thousands of children across the City.

Green school buildings and train staff to operate and maintain buildings more efficiently. The City can achieve much-needed energy savings, while creating a safer and healthier learning environment for our children.

Provide all staff with adequate resources. While the cost of living continues to rise, school workers’ wage levels have been frozen for six years. Workers affected by budget cuts are working harder than ever, even during times of crisis. During Hurricane Sandy, many school maintenance workers spent the night in their schools and others worked longer shifts, assisting displaced families seeking shelter and repairing storm damage.

To ensure excellence in its schools, New York City must exercise fairness in its treatment of the men and women who work in the schools. Earning the wages and benefits they deserve, workers can focus all of their energies on creating and maintaining healthy, safe schools where our children can thrive and learn.