Juan Ardila: The arc of a woke campaign

Whoa, tough words, there! You seem like a rather confident candidate. Great job landing this all important interview with a Bushwick publication which is in a different borough from where you are running. Hey, you gotta start somewhere!

Great form showing up at an "anti-racism" protest outside your opponent's house. That'll show everyone just how seriously woke you are!

Ooooooh womp, womp!

From the NY Post:

“Chinese Americans denounce Juan Ardila for the use of the highly racist ch-nk and n-word, and the flagrant disparagement of Jews, women, gays and lesbians,” said Wai Wah Chin founding president of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Greater New York.

“A candidate for elected office showing such blatant sexism, racism and bigotry is despicable and horrifying. It is precisely this kind of hateful speech that leads to hateful action, to horrific attacks against Asians and other groups, such as the vicious attack in East Harlem two days ago that left a 61-year old Asian man in a coma.

“Ardila is absolutely unfit for elected office,” Wah Chin said.

Hey, at least he is an equal opportunity hater! Mental note to future candidates: Delete blatant bigotry from your social media prior to campaign kickoff...

Now where are the statements from the following tweeders?

That's a really impressive list of "like-minded" individuals and groups, there, Juan! Congrats!

De Blasio kicks meeting attendee out for exercising First Amendment right

For those who don't have facebook and are viewing this on other browsers besides Chrome. Here's the whole hearing. Where our mayor shows contempt and gives condescending responses to every other citizen who had the mike. Start it at the 25 minute mark to save time. JQ LLC

Asians now are in favor of illegal conversion bill

From Brooklyn Daily:

An Asian advocacy group that criticized a bill to prevent so-called “illegal home conversions” as racist has reversed its position and is the first Asian group to publicly support the measure. In July, Members of the Asian Community United Society said the proposal to boost fines for dicing one- and two-family homes into multifamily apartments unfairly targeted the Chinese who live in such buildings. But now the group’s director says the bill will actually protect Asian immigrants from predatory landlords.

“Initially I was under the impression that Chinese homeowners were being targeted, and we were worried about their safety,” said Warren Chan, the executive director of the society. “We need to come together because these developers are taking advantage of our community.”

The bill, introduced in June, would impose greater fines on landlords who incorrectly subdivide homes and would also let the city put liens on properties when landlords fail to pay the penalties. In its early stages, the bill created a fund for residents displaced when the city vacates illegal buildings, but lawmakers scrapped the provision, because Council does not have the power to designate such a fund.

Chan and others previously argued that the legislation would put immigrant families on the street as the city empties dangerous homes. The city raided two such illegal conversions in Dyker Heights this month, leaving nearly 40 people without a home.

But Chan now says that property owners are the real bad guys, because unsanctioned construction work exposes residents to carbon monoxide poisoning, electrical fires, and building collapse. The city must adopt a two-pronged approach — pass the bill and increase the stock of affordable housing so new immigrants have options — he said.

Nothing illegal about hanging dead fish outside

From CBS 2:

Something fishy is going on in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn – and some residents say it stinks so much they have been calling 311 to complain.

As CBS2’s Alice Gainer reported Friday, a line of half-wrapped dead fish is hanging on the roof of a home in the neighborhood, and many neighbors are not pleased.

“Sure it smells — especially at that time when they hang it in the back, so I tell them all the time, but they don’t listen to nobody,” said neighbor Sal Felse.

CBS2’s Gainer did not smell anything on Friday. But neighbors along the stretch of 64th Street said it is worse when the weather is warmer.

But the stench is not the biggest concern.

“Rodents and insects — it’s very unsanitary,” one neighbor said.

“That side — they used to get mice,” another said. “I don’t know if they still do.”

Neighbors said the residents have been hanging fish on the roof for a long time. CBS2 caught up with the homeowner outside, who rents out the two apartments inside.

When asked if she would take the fish down, the woman said, “I don’t know.” But she does not speak much English, so CBS2 went to another neighbor’s house to translate.

“She says she doesn’t want to talk about it,” the neighbor said.

Asia will soon send more immigrants here than the Americas

From AP:

In a major shift in immigration patterns over the next 50 years, Asians will have surged past Hispanics to become the largest group of immigrants heading to the United States, according to estimates in a new immigration study.

The study looks in detail at what will happen by 2065, but the actual tipping point comes in 2055.

An increase in Asian and Hispanic immigration also will drive U.S. population growth, with foreign-born residents expected to make up 18 percent of the country's projected 441 million people in 50 years, the Pew Research Center said in a report being released Monday. This will be a record, higher than the nearly 15 percent during the late 19th century and early 20th century wave of immigration from Europe.

Today, immigrants make up 14 percent of the population, an increase from 5 percent in 1965.

The actual change is expected to come in 2055, when Asians will become the largest immigrant group at 36 percent, compared with Hispanics at 34 percent. White immigrants to America, 80 percent back in 1965, will hover somewhere between 18 and 20 percent with black immigrants in the 8 percent to 9 percent range, the study said.

Currently, 47 percent of immigrants living in the United States are Hispanic, but by 2065 that number will have dropped to 31 percent. Asians currently make up 26 percent of the immigrant population but in 50 years that percentage is expected to increase to 38 percent.

Massage parlors proliferating everywhere

From WPIX:

On a rainy Monday approaching midnight, PIX11 Investigates took a drive along Northern Boulevard in Little Neck, Queens, heading east toward the Great Neck border. We noticed blinking, neon lights in two storefronts standing side by side. One of them was called “Relax Station,” and the blue and white sign indicated it was open. The next store had a red awning; the sign advertising $19.99 rubs for 30 minutes.

These are the spas of Little Neck and Douglaston in eastern Queens, and in the last couple of years, the name FOOT SPA has appeared increasingly on the signs.

PIX11 took note of the trend in our travels and decided to look into the phenomenon.

Special court for sex trafficking victims

From the NY Times:

In the hallway, they speak mostly in Mandarin, in accents from across China. Some speak Korean. They meet with their court-appointed lawyers in the hallway, often helped by an interpreter born in Fujian Province and hired by the city courts. A snazzy dresser, the interpreter bounces from one defendant to the next; he has found himself adding terms to his usual vocabulary: prostitution (“maiyin”), illegal massage (“feifa anmo”), unlicensed massage (“wuzheng anmo”).

This is the Human Trafficking Intervention Court in Queens, which is marking its 10th anniversary next month, and which serves as a model for a statewide 11-court program that began last year. The intention is to change the legal conversation around the multibillion-dollar sex trade by redefining the women in it as victims instead of criminals. Most are offered a deal: Take part in a set number of counseling sessions, usually five or six, and the charges will be dismissed and the record sealed.

After 13 months, the five New York City courts are still a work in progress, their success tracked more in individual stories than statistics.

“This court is not devised to solve the problems of trafficking,” Judge Serita said of the program, “but to address one of the unfortunate byproducts, which is the arrest of these defendants on prostitution charges.”

All defendants in the specialized courts are presumed to be victims at risk, the first of many assumptions made, in part, because of the silence surrounding sex trafficking. That silence also makes it tougher to shift social mores. Not only do the police and the justice system still treat prostitution as a crime, but the women themselves, most undocumented, often don’t define themselves as having been trafficked — whether out of fear, shame or choice.

The Queens court has changed significantly in the decade since Judge Fernando M. Camacho founded it. Dismayed at seeing the same American-born teenage girls reappearing in his court for prostitution, Judge Camacho said he wanted to break the cycle by offering them alternatives to a criminal record or incarceration.

Now, a majority of the defendants who sit in the worn walnut benches are either Latin American women or, even more often, older, undocumented immigrants from Asia, ranging in age from 30 to 50. According to statistics Judge Serita’s court has kept, Asian defendants represented 27 percent of the cases in 2010. In 2014, they have made up 40 percent.

The total transformation of a community

From the Queens Chronicle:

In October 1965 a liberalized immigration law known as the Hart-Celler Act was passed allowing immigrants to come to America and bring family along later without quota restrictions. Opponents of the bill said immigration would get out of hand and engulf and change communities overnight. Flushing was one such neighborhood whose identity was changed and lost overnight as predicted.

In the early 20th century, 40th Road was a block of handyman shops. Rent was cheaper here than on Main Street. It you needed a locksmith, plumber, printer or even a quick haircut, 40th Street was where you would go for a good deal and fair prices.

Other shops were there too. In the 1930s came Shifman’s kosher butcher shop, which later became Dan Schreiber’s kosher butcher shop, a staple for many years at 135-38 40 Road. Schreiber’s speciality was corned beef and pickled tongue.

Next door, right on the corner with Main Street, was the Hy-Heat Coal Co. When coal went out of favor as a fuel, the site became became the home of the M.C. Avery liquor store. That was another neighborhood staple. In 1962 it became Gem Liquor, which continued to operate there until 1987.

Today 40th Road is of course filled with Asian-American shops, with most signs not even written in English.

Many people who come to America have already studied our history. Perhaps the Bowne House, a symbol of freedom of religion located a short distance away, is one reason this neighborhood was chosen as the favorite place to be for one wave of immigrants who came here.

I sincerely doubt that was the reason. Actually I know it wasn't a reason at all. Think tweeding.

Queens: More vibrant, diverse and poor than ever!

From the Daily News:

Poverty in Queens rose the most of all five boroughs in the years after the economic crisis — even as the city as a whole largely rebounded, according to new city data.

The poverty rate in Queens jumped to 22 percent in 2012, up from 16 percent in 2008 — bringing the number of people living under the city poverty line to around 500,000.

“I’ve seen some of the changes with my own eyes,” said Councilman Daniel Dromm, whose district in Jackson Heights is among the poorest in the borough. “We get a huge number of constituents coming in who can’t meet rent, are going to be evicted, or are in illegally converted houses as the only way they can put a roof over their head.”

The study by the city Center for Economic Opportunity spotlighted working families and immigrant communities that have borne the brunt of higher rents and tight jobs market.

An additional 7 percent of the city's Asian population — half of whom live in Queens — fell into poverty, bringing the group's poverty rate to 29 percent. It was the largest increase for any single ethnic group, according to the report.

Why Asians love Bayside

From NY1:

On Bell Boulevard, there are signs that the demographics in Bayside are changing. Whites still account for the majority of the residents, but census numbers show that the Asian population has tripled in the last two decades.

In 1990, the number of Asians living here was a little more than 5,000. Today, it's around 15,000, according to census estimates.

There are 10,000 Chinese and Korean residents here, and while their population is on the rise, the number of white residents are declining, according to Census estimates from 2008 to 2012. There were 30,000 white residents in 1990. Today, 21,000 live here. Many are not only leaving the neighborhood, but the city as well.

"Cause it's so expensive," said one resident. "It's crazy here. My day will come."

So what's the draw for many Asians? Most say it's the neighborhood's high-performing school district and the after-school programs in the area.

The other part is the beautiful homes and quiet tree-lined streets.

A medical warning from Ron Kim

From the Daily News:

Asian immigrants who inject themselves with a toxic IV solution in Queens homes and makeshift clinics are ignoring serious health issues, Assemblyman Ron Kim charged.

Flanked by Asian-American doctors at his Flushing office Thursday, Kim promised to help launch a public education campaign with community groups, following news of one woman who underwent the procedure and lost parts of her limbs to septic shock.

Even though it was unclear whether using the IV therapy caused her illness, Kim said it was a call to action.

“This is something that resonated very deeply,” said Kim, the first Korean-American elected to the state Legislature. “They think that just putting a needle in your vein will fix anything. That’s the culture we want to address.”

Using IV solutions to cure exhaustion or illness is a common practice among some Chinese and Korean immigrants.

Latest scam targets elderly Asians

From the Queens Courier:

A 50-year-old con artist has admitted to duping three Queens women out of nearly $5,000 through a phony “blessing” scam, officials said.

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said Fengluan Qin confessed Thursday to using an ancient con game to take jewelry and large sums of cash from three unsuspecting Flushing women, between 52 and 72 years old.

Qin convinced the victims to place their cash and valuables into a bag for a “blessing ritual” that would cure their families of sickness and bad luck, before swapping the bags and stealing the goods, Brown said.

Victims of the hoax have lost $1.3 million within the last year to different crews moving throughout the city, according to Inspector Brian Maguire, commanding officer of the 109th Precinct.

Out of about 50 cases citywide, more than $500,000 has been pilfered from victims in the 109th precinct alone, Maguire said.

According to Brown, the scam that targets mostly elderly immigrant women is prevalent in Asian communities nationwide.

The district attorney’s office said Qin, a Chinese national with an expired visa, was believed to be living in Flushing, though she did not provide an address to authorities.

In a hurry to cover a memorial

"Hey, wanted to send you this picture of a memorial someone spray painted on the sidewalk at the fatal Queens Blvd accident from this past Monday between Van Loon St and Reeder St (I was not the one that painted FYI nor know who).

I saw it on the way to work this morning and took a picture of it then. When I came home this evening, there was an Asian man with a can of paint stripper removing it from the sidewalk already. Guess I was lucky to snap a picture of it while it was day, maybe? BTW, they left the application of chemical stripper still on the sidewalk at this hour of 8PM, with a few cones around. God help any dog or animal (or kid) that walks through it or licks it...

I guess even Asians don't care about other Asians dying in front of their business (there's an Asian real estate brokerage right on that corner where it's applied).

I know it's still vandalism, graffiting the sidewalk, but I guess it's the speed in which this memorial was removed. Who knows."

Justin

Are Toby's Senate days numbered?

From The Politicker:

The breakaway Democratic caucus in the State Senate is trying to recruit a candidate to unseat Senator Toby Stavisky, a Democrat from Queens, as they seek to strengthen their control of the chamber.

A source with direct knowledge of the Independent Democratic Conference’s plans freely admitted the efforts to Politicker this afternoon.

“The IDC is actively seeking a candidate,” he said.

Ms. Stavisky represents Flushing, the sole Asian-majority district in the State Senate, which factored into the IDC’s thinking. “The district was created to give Asian-Americans a greater voice in government,” said the source, arguing that changing demographics had made her vulnerable.

A guide to pandering

The NY Times has a "tour" of voting blocs throughout the City.

The problems (and the fun) start when those blocs don't vote the way they're "supposed to."

Ugly arboricide

"Why is it that every time an Asian moves into the neighborhood (North Flushing) the first thing they do is KILL ALL OF THE TREES?????? Today’s unnecessary butcher job is taking place on 163rd St between 29th Ave and Bayside Lane – right across the street from Marino’s.

Why move to a once-lovely tree-lined neighborhood and DESTROY IT?????"

Regards,

Flooshing Rezident

This raises an important question. Why does it seem that immigrants of all stripes move into new homes and immediately cut down all the trees? I thought that living with nature was considered ideal and admired and respected worldwide.

Non-Asians need not apply?

From the Queens Courier:

An Asian supermarket chain is under fire from a trio of picketers who say the company is not colorblind in its hiring practices.

Jim MacDonald and his two pals, Craig Kinsey and Vincent Middleton, say H-Mart only employs Korean or Chinese cashiers and Hispanic backroom workers at its northeast Queens and Long Island stores. The threesome has been picketing outside the location on Union Street in Flushing since late August.

“It’s unfair to block out other ethnic backgrounds and only hire specific ones,” Kinsey said. “Flushing is a diverse community. If you want to show diversity, put your money where your mouth is. Have some diversity in employment.”

The activists say they’ve toured three H-Mart locations in Flushing and two in Nassau County, only to find a disparity in store workers’ ethnicities.

“We saw no African Americans or white Americans working there,” said Kinsey, who is African-American and lives in Flushing. “It’s not fair because of the consistency of this type of trend in those stores.”

MacDonald, 63, of Flushing — who is white — said H-Mart is considered a standard supermarket and should be held to fair hiring procedures.

Johnny's a world traveler

From the NY Times:

Two months ago, John C. Liu, New York City’s comptroller, said he was “heartbroken” that the state’s top Democrats, skittish about a federal investigation into his campaign fund-raising, had excluded him from their delegate list to the Democratic National Convention.

But this week, as most of the Democratic establishment, including all of his presumed major rivals in the 2013 race for mayor, gathers in Charlotte, N.C., Mr. Liu is doing his best to attract attention 7,000 miles away in Asia.

He is visiting Seoul and Taipei, Taiwan, as part of a four-day whirlwind trip that will feature at least 14 events, including audiences with the mayor of Seoul and the vice president of Taiwan. One of the highlights of the trip came on Tuesday, when he delivered a speech at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul to a packed auditorium of more than 230 people, including 100 exchange students from the State University of New York, Mr. Liu’s alma mater.

Mr. Liu, who was born in Taiwan but moved to New York as a child, said he was in Asia to promote business and investment opportunities for the city. The trip also promises to afford him a chance to connect with civic and business leaders who have ties to American immigrant communities and who could be potential donors, according to two people close to Mr. Liu.

The host governments are paying for Mr. Liu’s airfare and lodging, which is permissible under city rules.

Asians are largest immigrant group

From NY Magazine:

The big demographic discussion of the 2012 elections might be about how the parties can court America's growing Hispanic population, but in future presidential races, the conversation might center around the Asian vote. According to new research from the Pew Research Center, people from Asian countries now make up the largest group of immigrants to the Unites States, surpassing what had previously been the group with the biggest influx, Hispanics. In 2010, there were 430,000 Asian immigrants, versus 370,000 (or 36 percent of all immigrants versus 31).

Flushing tofu makes people sick

From the Daily News:

Two people got botulism - a rare but potentially fatal foodborne illness - after buying tofu at a store in Flushing.

The city Health Department said in a release Friday evening that it confirmed one case of the potent form of food poisoning, and suspected another case.

Both of the afflicted are Chinese-speaking Queens residents who recently bought fresh, unrefrigerated bulk tofu from Flushing market. The tofu was not made at the store, and its source is under investigation, the Health Department release states.

"This kind of tofu -- commonly sold in an open, water-filled bin -- is highly suspected to be the source of these cases; however it has not yet been confirmed," the release states.

Fresh, unrefrigerated tofu is used to make fermented tofu and is an ingredient in a popular Chinese dish called chou doufu, or stinky tofu. Anyone who has bought this variety of tofu is urged to throw it away, even if they cooked it, because the toxic spores can survive cooking.

A Health Department spokewoman said neither patient has died of the illness, but declined to comment on their condition. She also declined to name the Flushing store where the two bought the tofu.