Don’t ever say that some of the female members of Brooklyn’s city council delegation are soft: they aren’t. There was a raucous public hearing last Wednesday evening at the Brooklyn Museum (near Grand Army Plaza), that was aimed at getting the general view on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s proposed service cuts in the next fiscal year; at this event, NYC council members Darlene Mealy and Tish James -both from Brooklyn- made outstanding oral presentations which captivated the loud crowd of attendees. Throughout the procedures scores of teenagers outnumbered the elderly, in openly expressing their disenchantment with the proposed cuts by the MTA’s board members. Eventually four arrests were made amongst the spirited -but at times rowdy- youngsters; as police officers had to be called in to help maintain order. 

I should really make this title: “OF DREAMS AND DRIVES AND PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT”, since it highlights the importance of parental involvement in young children’s lives. This column deals with two black female attorneys and their two kids; and in both instances these kids were raised in single-parent households. Too often these types of situations are frowned upon; but I always caution folks not to stereotype: you will be surprised or contradicted quite often.

I know both parents involved here. They are both good friends and are also politically active. They have devoted their lives to developing their kids properly. They have also invested extraordinary amounts of time, effort, energy and money in their children’s overall development. Their combined goal has always been to maximize the potential in these kids. They both need to be commended. Maybe some organization could jointly award them the “Mother of the Year” award at some event, later this year.

I guess it was just too much for me to hope that the quality of black and Hispanic electeds will get better in a post-Obama USA. After all, there was really nothing to base that on. And after years of frustration with the quality emerging from New York, I guess I was just grasping at straws, in hope that we could elect people, who are not only intellectually developed to tackle real issues facing the polity, but also possessive of the moral character and courage to do the right thing when the right time comes.

Look, there are no perfect politicians. In fact there are no perfect human beings anywhere. If we were all perfect, we would have nothing to strive for; so hopefully we keep reaching for the good within, hoping that one day we get to become the best we can be. I know that I am not perfect, but I do strive to be a better human being every day of my adult life. I also try to learn from my mistakes and not repeat them: to me, this is basic; this is fundamental for trying to live a decent life.

Last week, I handed in my resignation to Ms. Darlene Mealy (NYC council member of the 41st District). I assume that most of you are aware that I have been working with her since December -as the part time Communications Director.  Hopefully, my last day in this role will be on the 26th of March (as per my resignation letter).

The main reasons I have chosen to go this route are what necessitate this column. I want to make it clear that this is my choice -and mine only. I was not forced to walk the plant, nor given any subtle shoves out the door. I have given her enough notice (4 weeks) so that she can hire someone to replace me without her small staff being strained, stressed and/or stretched.

In my last Vines column (see # 10-09), I told you that I had inside info, which stated that upon finding out Eliot Spitzer’s team had tagged him for the Lieutenant-governor slot, David Paterson said: “they surely haven’t vetted me for this job”. And now Paterson goes up on a local radio station and directly corroborates said info. This had been a news item on the blogs (see Elizabeth Benjamin’s blog) last week. I hereby reiterate what I wrote in a column recently, calling for mainstream media (and alternative mediums too) to do a better job vetting candidates before elections are held; this is a responsibility placed squarely on the shoulders of the fourth and fifth estates (non-identical twins). And by fifth estate, I refer to all the alternative mediums that have sprung up with all the technological advancements in communications, since the founding fathers ratified the constitution (and the fourth estate). For example: the internet, twittering, blogging, texting and the like, can now be considered the fifth estate. 

Believe me when I say I didn’t want to touch Kevin Parker -as the subject of one of my columns- again. I have taken enough flack over the years for writing the truths about him and his anger-management issues. So I was quite happy as time went by, to see my columns vindicated time after time, by Mr. Parker’s own public behavior(s); while continuing to sit on information I have been privy to about his private bad behaviors for some time now. Information I have chosen not to release, since no matter what others may think, this isn’t personal on my part. I just strongly believe that electeds should be held to a higher standard of behavior (both private and public), given that they are role models for our youth; and also given that we have chosen them to represent the best in all of us, at one of the highest levels of government: the legislature.

The way mainstream media operates, you will usually find that  after the “big” story dies down -and after the flaming headlines have simmered- there is little follow up to the initial newsworthy event. So lately, you will hardly find coverage from the aftermath of the latest cataclysm to affect the Caribbean nation of Haiti. And yet for the millions of Haitians affected by the disastrous earthquake 12thJanuary, 2010, life must go on. And life for most Haitians continue to be challenging -even more so than it was before the earthquake hit. For Caribbean-Americans like me, it is really nice to see that many members of the New York city council are still finding ways to help the Haitian community at large.

Lately there has been some controversy swirling around the decisions of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein, relative to proposed school closings all over the city. If memory serves me right some players in this brouhaha have even gone to court to stop some (or all) of the proposed closings. I am told that the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) has opposed some (if not all) of these closings -at least in principle. But then the teachers union is usually an adversary of the chancellor’s office in an almost perfunctory manner, so this isn’t surprising. Now, let me preface this column by stating this: there are surely schools which should be closed -given years upon years of delivering poor quality education to its students; so I am not one trying to look over the shoulders of Department of Education (DOE) officials on the ground. Let’s be clear about that from Jump Street.

Last night our president delivered his first official state of the union address: he was brilliant. Years from now speech instructors will be playing tapes of his speeches for their students; in fact; it’s probably happening already on many college campuses. Years from now books will be written compiling many of his speeches; some given even before he became one of the most historic of all our presidents. From here on in Barack Obama will be the standard by which great speakers are measured.  He is undoubtedly one of the best public speakers ever (especially from a prepared script).

A funny thing happened on the way to the presidency though that bears noting. It was when he appeared before the congressional black caucus (at his request) to inform them that he was contemplating a run for the presidency. A significant number of black electeds thought the idea laughable. This is a fact. More than a few of them actually laughed at him and his idea. I mean that literally.  Many others scoffed and others still were quite dismissive. They all know who they are.

Government should always try its best to avoid screwing the little man/woman. You know: the everyday people; the ordinary people like you and I. You see, without government we are left alone to the vagaries of greedy capitalists and unscrupulous speculators. Without government protections the strong and the wealthy will have too much power; much more than they already have. Much more than they already abuse. 

Between the years 2001 and 2003, the residents of four dilapidated high rise towers in Brownsville, Brooklyn, were forced to relocate by the government of New York City. There were 368 apartment owners involved in this undertaking, and the lives of more than a thousand residents were possibly disrupted. The apartments were known as Prospect Plaza, in a nexus near Eastern Parkway, including small sections of Prospect Place and Saratoga Avenues.

Okay; so I hate political dynasties: it’s simple as that. Anything that seems to possess the trappings of royalty brings out the left-winger in me. Plus; in general, I find there is a tendency towards corruption once you allow one family to hold on to political power in any one area for too long. That’s just my suspicion; that’s all.  I am making no accusations against anyone (or any group) here. Please, be mindful of that. I am just giving you a peek inside my scrambled brain that’s all -whether you want to peek in or not. LOL.

Anyway, over the years I have worked with many candidates who tackled the Boyland clan in Brownsville. At one time or another, the Boylands have simultaneously held the 55th Assembly seat; plus the 41st City Council seat; plus the district leaderships (both male and female) in the 55thAD.  Plus they have even had family members on the local School Board. And they are colorful political players too. In fact, I have to admit that Brownsville has given us many colorful characters in the “game” of politics; but I will save that for another column.

From where I come in politics there is something called “paying dues”; it’s the reason I didn’t vote for Hilary Clinton in the general election of 2000. Although I endorsed her (and voted for her) in the primary that year, when the general election came I found her wanting. To me, the idea of moving into the state and immediately running for senate was revolting: so yes, I went with Rick Lazio (one of the few times I have voted Republican in my life).

Hilary ran all around the state on a “listening tour”, which I thought was an insult to my intelligence. Plus, I saw her candidacy as purely a stepping stone to a presidential run; and that was a turn off.  So if I couldn’t vote for Hilary Clinton (a brilliant woman on many many levels), where the bleep is Harold Ford going with this trial balloon he has been floating for months now? Can you simply pack up a U-HAUL truck one morning, drive a thousand or so miles to New York, and immediately announce that you are contemplating a run for federal office from this state? Gimme a break! There are at least a million people better qualified to represent New York in the senate than this carpetbagger.

At a press conference held at Brooklyn’s Borough Hall yesterday, democrat senator John Sampson -Majority Leader of the New York Senate- pledged to donate ten thousand dollars from his salary, to aid the Haitian relief effort; in the wake of last Tuesday’s devastating earthquake. The earthquake which appears to be one of the deadliest in Caribbean history has devastated millions of Haitians when it hit 7.0 on the Richter scale that day; and since then, numerous smaller after-shocks have further heightened tensions in an already frail situation. Some estimates say that as many as a quarter million people have already died because of this earthquake. 

The English Encarta Dictionary (North America) defines a “Don Quixote” type as “an impractical idealist who loves to champion hopeless causes”; I thought of this when I watched Charles Barron last Wednesday, as he tried to make his case for becoming Speaker on the New York City Council. It was the first stated meeting of the newly elected city council. Barron was pleading his case before this semi-august body, which will be 357 years old on February 2nd, 2010.

Late last year, when I first came upon the news item that NYC Councilmember Charles Barron (#42) was challenging Speaker Christine Quinn’s re-election, I thought to myself that this was a tremendous opportunity for Barron to publicly lay out his arguments for reform within this legislative body. I even went to some length to convey this to him in person.

Politically speaking, the year 2009 was rather elliptical. It started out with tremendous promise (Obama) and ended up somewhat unsatisfying. If I were to describe it in one word, I would say priapic (as in priapism).  To all my grad students who regularly read my column, I could only say this: go look up some of these words/lol.

There were a few highs and far too many lows last year; and for me, getting the opportunity to peregrinate the 40th council district while campaigning for its city council seat was a political high that words could only deflate.  Many people who went up to my website (www.rockhackshaw.com) in order to view my platform, contacted me to say that they were impressed with my thinking through some of the many issues facing us here in the Big Apple.  That was quite encouraging during some very tough days last summer.