Harlem Senator Cordell Cleare is proud to announce that she has successfully protected her district from the negative impact of charter schools in the state budget. The proposed state budget included a provision that would have eliminated the charter cap in New York City, potentially leading to a proliferation of charter schools in the district.…
Harlem Bespoke: The Uptown Night Market returns for every second Thursday during the summer 2022 season after a successful first run in Manhattanville last fall.
Thursday, May 11th, 4:00PM-10:00PM, Uptown Night Market, 12th Avenue just north of 133rd Street. Several dozen food vendors will line the avenue just north of the viaduct and sell a variety of offerings late into the evening hours at this local food festival. Admission is all free to the public and seating sections are available to enjoy the culinary discoveries of the moment. Check out our past post for evening photos of the event from a previous night market in November: LINK
It’s time to lace up your walking shoes for a worthy cause from Harlem to Hollis! True to START’s mission, we continue to provide care to the most disadvantaged and vulnerable citizens. START will participate in the 2023 AIDS Walk on May 21st in Central Park. The AIDS Walk New York is the world’s largest and most visible HIV/AIDS…
Harlem Bespoke: After selling for $1.9 million back in 2020 during the start of the pandemic, Number 465 West 144th Street in Hamilton Heights is now back on the market for a cool $2.5 million. So what is different this time around? The listing mentions that everything is in a multi-family layout and a Certificate of No Harrassment in place so an SRO situation might have been the case in the past. With that said, that would mean the next owner can start with changing the layout right away and there lies the new value of the apparent fixer-upper. As previously mentioned, this is one of the rarely available landmark townhouses on the block of West 144th Street between Convent and Amsterdam Avenue which is one of our favorite blocks in all of the city. More details and photos can be found on Streeteasy: LINK
Photographs by Seitu Oronde On Monday, May 1st, 2023, photojournalist Seitu Oronde was at the Alton Henry Maddox, Jr., Celebration Of Life at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, NY. The music, the love, and the spirit of Harlem played in celebration of Mr. Maddox’s life. Click here to find more of Seitu Oronde’s photo essays at Seitu’s World.
Organizations must understand their employees’ thoughts and opinions in today’s fast-paced and ever-changing work environment. Online employee surveys are a powerful tool that can help companies gather feedback from their employees in a quick, cost-effective, and efficient way. This blog post will provide a complete guide to conducting an online employee survey, including their benefits,…
Gone are the days when shopping for new clothes meant a trip to the mall. With the advent of e-commerce marketplaces, such as Temu, it’s now possible to shop for the latest fashion trends from the comfort of your own home. But with so many options out there, it can be overwhelming to know where…
Harlem Bespoke: Calling emerging artists of African and Latin American descent! Did you know that artist Kehinde Wiley started out in Harlem with a Studio Museum residency before taking the art world by storm? The Studio Museum continues this legacy and is currently receiving applications for the 2023-24 Artist-in-Residence program. This eleven-month studio residency will be offered to three emerging artists working in any media and the application deadline is by May 22nd, 2023. More details and online application can be found on the Studio Museum site: LINK
Harlem Bespoke: Friday-Sunday, May 19th-21st 11:00AM to 7:00PM, 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, at Malt House in the Manhattanville Factory District, 439 West 127th Street by Amsterdam Avenue. The Harlem location of Gavin Brown in Manhattanville shuttered in 2020 and now the West Harlem location in the old brewery building will be used for the occasional pop-up exhibit for New Yorkers to check out in the unique uptown space.
Held annually across three continents, in London, New York and Marrakech, 1-54 is the leading global event series dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. This year’s New York iteration features dozens of galleries hailing from across Africa, Europe and the United States: LINK
ALBANY — Legislation expected to be adopted as part of a new $229 billion state budget does nothing to alleviate a home care staffing shortage that has reached crisis levels, advocates for those workers said Monday.
“We are going to continue to lose workers,” Bryan O’Malley, director of the Consumer Assisted Personal Assistance Association of New York State, told CNHI. “We are certainly not going to get the influx of new workers we need to offset the damage that has already been done.”
O’Malley’s non-profit association is one of several organizations that formed a united front called the New York Caring Majority to push for higher wages and benefits for home care workers.
Ilana Berger, director of the Caring Majority, said the Hochul administration is cutting $1.55 from the hourly wages of more than 300,000 home care workers.
Members of Hochul’s public relations team did not respond to the criticism.
Hochul did go on a New York City television station Monday night to put a positive spin on changes to the controversial bail law, saying she expects legislation in the emerging budget to expand the discretion judges have to remand defendants to jail at their arraignments.
The advocates for home care workers argued the budget bills allow private insurance companies to legally “siphon” hundreds of millions of dollars that should be going into the paychecks of home care aides.
“As long as New York State continues to underpay home care workers, more older adults and disabled New Yorkers will be left without care or forced into nursing homes,” Berger said.
With inflation continuing to take its toll on paychecks, advocates for mental health aides are also arguing that workers are being shortchanged by the emerging budget bills.
“Where is the fairness and equitability for human service providers?” said Glenn Liebman of the Mental Health Association of New York State.
Liebman’s group had been pushing for an 8.5% cost of living adjustment for mental health workers, but the spending plan advancing at the statehouse will leave them with a total of 4%, translating into what he said amounts to a pay cut given the pace of inflation.
He argued more robust state investments in mental health could reduce waiting lists for services, result in less incarceration, slash emergency room visits and “most importantly less deaths of despair due to overdose and suicide completion.”
Lawmakers said the bulk of the remaining budget legislation is expected to be approved Tuesday following weeks of tense negotiations between Hochul’s representatives and aides to the Democratic leaders of the state Senate and Assembly.
Upstate Republican lawmakers have been highly critical of the process. They are expected to vote against the budget bills, pointing out the latest fiscal blueprint increases total state spending by $8 billion since last year.
Sen. James Tedisco, R-Saratoga County, called the budget “not only pie in the sky, it’s pie and pork in the sky.”
Tedisco said the spending plan represents the fourth successive year the state will have failed to produce an “on-time, fiscally responsible budget,” contending policies enacted in Albany has led to New York capturing “the dubious distinction of being Number One in out-migration of all 50 states.”
Hochul, meanwhile, told WCBS that having a late budget was necessary in order for her administration to get the changes it wanted in the state bail laws.
But one district attorney, Michael McMahon of Staten Island, said even with the changes there are still too many criminal offenses that will be ineligible for bail.
“I vehemently disagree with that assessment,” Hochul told the television station in a Manhattan interview.
