Halloran, Smith trial on hold

From the Times Ledger:

Hours of conversations and hundreds of text messages in Yiddish have stalled the federal corruption trial of state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Hollis), former Bayside Councilman Daniel Halloran and the ex-vice chairman of the Queens Republican Party, Vincent Tabone.

Attorneys representing the Queens trio, who are charged with participating in Smith’s alleged scheme to bribe his way onto the GOP line for the 2013 mayoral election, have urged the judge to dismiss the indictments and call a mistrial because they say the government did not turn over Yiddish conversations quickly enough for them to prepare for proceedings.

Judge Kenneth Karas instructed prosecutors and defense attorneys to submit documents detailing their arguments over the weekend and planned to resolve the dispute during a Monday conference in federal court in White Plains, according to Herb Hadad, a spokesman for prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Hadad said the judge intended to call the jury back Tuesday and inquire whether the jurors could remain in court past June, when he had initially planned to wrap up the trial.

Karas then will decide how to proceed.

How does the Machine screw over Willets Point? Let us count the ways...

From Willets Point United:

The City Council, when we last checked, purports to be a deliberative body, but when you get really close to examine how it really functions you come to understand that it is deliberately obtuse when it comes to the interests of small businesses, and communities impacted by mega-development. Take the ULURP application for the slyly named Willets West-a project that emerged like Rosemary’s Baby from the failure of the original Willets Point development that passed under a false flag in 2008. If what we have seen so far is any indication, the council is preparing to roll over because of an inordinate obsequiousness to the interests of Joe Crowley and the Queens County Democrats.

In the first case, the initial hearing is scheduled for September the 3rd, the first business day after the Labor Day holiday. Acting like folks who want to remain inaccessible and perhaps even incognito, the notice for the hearing was posted on Thursday the 29th, leaving a single day before the holiday for the word to get out.

When it comes to the hearing itself, the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises is signaling that it really doesn’t want to have a vigorous debate on a project that remains promiscuously controversial considering the illegal lobbying that drove the original council approval five years ago. It is doing so first by shutting down the request from Willets Point United to present a 20 minute power point that deconstructs the numerous erroneous assumptions from EDC - an entity that was forced to reconstruct itself after orchestrating the aforementioned illegal lobbying.

There’s really no excuse for doing this since WPU has been willing to forego the time of five or six of its testifiers so that the power point could be presented. The only conclusion an impartial observer can draw from this is that the committee is trying to tamp down the opposition’s ability to make its case. Will the committee limit the developers to 2 minutes? No, we don’t think so - and Chairman Weprin needs to explain why he needs to act as a homer for the developers.

In addition, the time being allotted to each speaker has been reduced to 2 minutes! - another example of favoritism since the developers, being the prototypical special interests, normally have fewer people coming to testify. Two minutes for some of the folks who stand to lose their businesses and their property if this corrupt deal is approved is the quintessential example of the stacked deck.

The committee is also showing its true colors by disrespecting the expected testimony of many of the Hispanic immigrant workers and business owners. No Spanish translator will be provided at this hearing – despite the ULURP application that is at issue requiring that 100+ businesses vacate the premises that are owned and operated predominantly by people who speak Spanish. The City previously failed to provide any Spanish translator at the eminent domain hearing which was widely criticized at the time. Apparently the City has not learned any lesson and is content to steamroll the 100+ immigrant businesses without hearing them at the Council. And why hasn't Julissa Ferreras, the home rule council member who has been working for years with the tenant businesses, demanded interpretation services for her constituents, or spoken out against the skulduggery being perpetrated by the City against Willets Point land and business owners?

The above points, taken all together, demonstrate the City Council's active contempt for public testimony about the proposed Willets West mall / Willets Point Phase One ULURP application. Speaker Quinn, Land Use Committee Chair Leroy Comrie, and subcommittee Chair Mark Weprin should be ashamed of themselves. These latest examples of bias come a year after the Mayor's Office and NYCEDC selected Sterling Equities and Related Companies, and their plan to expand the development from 62 to 108.9 acres including constructing a shopping mall on parkland, in a private process that shut out the Queens-based Willets Point Advisory Committee from the developer selection process, contrary to multiple written promises. The fix appears to be in; let the Council now show us - and all New Yorkers - otherwise.

Translation scam at Elmhurst Hospital

From the Daily News:

A Korean-speaking swindler was busted at a Queens hospital after he reportedly tried to fleece non-English speaking immigrants, hospital officials said.

The man had been repeatedly spotted offering to translate between staff at Elmhurst Hospital Center and Korean speakers for a $240 fee, said hospital spokesman Dario Centorcelli.

Hospitals are mandated to provide interpreter service at no cost and freely advertise that fact, he said.

Toby caught telling some whoppers

From Queens Politics:

Lies, exaggerations, mistruths are all exposed in Stavisky’s campaign literature.

At her announcement ceremony in Flushing, Stavisky and her campaign staff handed out flyers listing her accomplishments. But what she was really doing was telling lies to everyone present.

Like the old saying goes – do as I say and not as I do – Senator Stavisky claims she forced the 109th Precinct to perform translation services in Korean and Chinese. What she conveniently left out was that for fourteen years, Senator Stavisky never had any translation services for her Chinese or Korean constituency in her district, which is the second largest Chinatown outside of mainland China and where many Chinese and Korean Americans have trouble communicating in English.

It gets worse. In a perfect world, campaign literature should maintain a somewhat respectful dialog and that includes omitting lies and distortions. But try telling Toby Stavisky and the lobbyists that oversee her campaign. It is ignored.

The literature (pictured above) also touts Stavisky’s claim to saving Brinckerhoff Cemetery by securing Landmark status and preventing development.

This is a complete LIE.

Here are the rest of the lies.

Government docs to be translated into 6 languages

From the Daily News:

New York State docs will be translated into in six languages -- Spanish, Chinese, Italian, Russian, French, and Créole -- in an effort to make government more accessible to the people, Gov. Cuomo announced in a Red Room presser a short time ago.

"We welcome immigration," said Cuomo, surrounded by officials and immigration activists. "We invite [immigrants] to join the family of New York and we always have, so to the extent we can expedite communication among our family members, that is exactly what we will do."

The executive order requires agencies that provide direct public services to offer free interpretation and translation services for vital forms and instructions. The gathered officials said having government information available in a number of languages other than English can be not only helpful but critical in cases such as reporting crimes.

Cuomo, for his part, said the order corrects a long-standing injustice and problem: "Government works for the person. The person does not work for the government."

Some of the funding for the translation services will be provided by the federal government.

State Senate Dems' bios now in Spanish

I noticed something a little different when I went to the State Senate's page and looked up one of our local senators. There's now a link "En Espanol" at the top of his bio page. Click it and it jumps to the bottom of the page where you can read his bio in Spanish. I browsed around and found this was only on Senate Democrats' pages, and not on the pages of Republicans or any members of the Assembly. This brings to mind a few questions.

1) Why is only the bio page translated?
2) Why is Spanish the only foreign language available?
3) Why is the translation only on the Democrats' pages?
4) How much did this cost the taxpayers?
5) Will sessions also be translated into Spanish from now on?

Immigrants and voting - two opinions

From Sunnyside Post:

It is time for our evolving democracy to embrace voting rights in local elections for all residents. We are all stakeholders in our community and should have a say in important local issues. In the words of the Revolutionary patriots who put their lives on the line for the freedoms we enjoy today, “No taxation without representation.”

Our democracy is becoming ever more inclusive, but we still have a long way to go. Over the years, we have recognized the right of African Americans, women, and others to vote. Even so, this progress has not yet extended to all residents. Tax paying residents who do not yet have citizenship cannot vote, even in local elections.

New York has always been a beacon for both immigrants and democracy. This is why we should lead the way in ensuring that our non-citizen community members can exercise the right to vote in local elections.

Meanwhile, in Brooklyn...courtesy of Sheepshead Bites:

“For far too long, dozens of thousands of the Russian-American senior citizens of New York have been shut out of the voting process unfairly because of the language barrier,” pontificated State Sen. Carl Kruger when he introduced the legislation. Passed by the New York state Senate 48 to14 on May 28, the bill, known as S. 552 – An act to amend the election law in relation to providing Russian-language voting materials” passed the state Assembly with only 23 members dissenting out of 132 votes cast.

Russian was thereby added to the list of existing alternate languages in which election material must be printed, the others being Spanish, Chinese and Korean.

...we don’t really have a need for these translations. I don’t know who is going to be reading them, when all this can be heard on the radio in a form that is a lot more interesting and less officious.

Other than that, I have never had any problems at the voting polls. Respectful Russian–speaking volunteers showed and explained everything.

It appears that the motivation behind this bill was painfully transparent — it was a dishonest and disrespectful misjudging of the Russian community by the politicians.

“In my humble opinion, I just don’t understand real purpose of this bill,” immigrant Boris Borovoy states flatly. “The majority of politically active Russian-Americans are fluent in English and have no need for a Russian translation; to me it’s another pork barrel, another waste of taxpayers’ money for a mostly symbolic purpose.

And for hard-working, middle-class Russian-Americans it’s real slap in a face. “Want to make some important political decisions? Learn English, comrade. That’s as simple as it gets”.

Tweeding effort in overdrive

From the NY Times:

In the world’s most diverse city, it was hailed as a milestone: Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg signed an executive order in July 2008 requiring every New York City agency that dealt with the public to provide interpreters, translated documents and other language help to people who spoke little or no English.

The order was supposed to help immigrant New Yorkers use services and navigate a daunting city bureaucracy. And in keeping with Mr. Bloomberg’s passion for applying good business practices to city government, the policy was meant to prevent the waste of time and money caused by miscommunication and misunderstanding.

Mr. Bloomberg pledged at the time to “make our city more accessible, while helping us become the most inclusive municipal government in the nation.”

But two years later, the mayor’s promise has fallen short. Many government workers fail to offer interpreters, even if people ask for them, and signs and forms in multiple languages are often nowhere to be found, according to people who have sought services and a lawsuit filed against one of the city’s largest agencies where the problems seem particularly acute.

The agency, the Human Resources Administration, is a virtual lifeline to millions of New Yorkers who depend on it for benefits like food stamps, cash assistance and subsidized medical care.

So not only are we giving people who aren't from this country handouts, we are paying to get them on the public dole. Why are we allowing people to come here and become a burden on us?

Please, beam me up, Scotty!

Translators at the runoff polls had little to do

Runoff-election translators at a loss for words
By JENNIFER FERMINO, NY Post

Poll workers weren't the only ones with nothing to do at September's feeble Democratic runoff election.

The New York City Board of Elections hired more than a thousand Chinese and Korean interpreters at $200 a pop to work the polls -- but nearly a quarter of them reported seeing fewer than five people the entire day, according to records obtained by The Post.

More than a third helped just one person or none at all on the day of the runoff, in which just 8 percent of the city's registered Democrats turned out to choose a candidate for city comptroller and public advocate, according to the board's records.

"The Board of Elections should know which population speaks Chinese," groused one translator assigned to work at a polling site in TriBeCa.

"On the Election Day, I only helped two Chinese."

The Korean and Chinese translators were assigned to work at 366 polling sites in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan.

The location and number of interpreters was set under a ratio included in a 2008 settlement between the Board of Elections and the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, which alleged widespread discrimination in a lawsuit.