Northattan

Dear Northattan readers, viewers and listeners:

Thank you for checking out our website and engaging with us. For the next couple of months, the Northattan team will be posting only occasional multimedia updates and stories. We will then return in earnest this fall. We hope you will continue to check back with us to “see what’s up” in Northattan for our periodic coverage and for full coverage in fall.

Thank you, Northattan

ARC XVI senior center's members use the service to get to the center early in the morning. Photo by Isha Soni/Northattan.

“I am afraid of falling down the stairs and I haven’t used the subway for 20 years,” said 75-year-old Washington Heights resident Leonor Ramos. Another 73-year-old uptown resident, Flerida Custro, said, “MTA makes absolutely no effort to understand the needs of senior citizens.”

Understanding the concern of residents like these, the ARC XVI Fort Washington Senior Center has launched a new service called COASTS, for Coordinated Older Adult Senior Transportation Service. As the name suggests, it is what its organizers call a “door-through-door” transportation service for senior citizens, exclusive to northern Manhattan.

Diana Hernandez, the assistant executive director of the senior center, said that as people age, especially if they have disabilities, transportation becomes one of the biggest challenges. “It affects them psychologically and socially,” she said. “They become alienated, marginalized and invisible citizens and no one sees them except for doctors.”

COASTS runs between 110th Street and 220^th Street in Manhattan. Rides are free for people above the age of 60 and for disabled people over 50, but the riders must be aware of their destination and of their residential address. An aide can assist a member with a mental illness, and, Hernandez said, “If you have a mobility impairment, we have added a mobility facilitator who ensures a member’s safe transfer, door to door.”

On a recent morning, Chris Hernandez, 32, a mobility facilitator, escorted 10 elderly people from their apartment gates to a bus seat and fastened their seat belts. All through the journey, the bus driver and Hernandez chatted with the passengers and made them feel comfortable. Hernandez said she had three weeks of training to become a facilitator, where “I was trained in handling wheelchairs, dealing with senior citizens and how to help them get around.”

Mary Johnson, of Washington Heights, was one of the passengers. She said, “If I didn’t have this transportation today, I wouldn’t be able to use any other transportation and go anywhere.” Another passenger, Cenida Velasquez, said, “I use it for everything: To go to the doctor, to go shopping, to visit the center, and it is very good because the driver and the attendant make you feel like a king and take very good care of you.” Velasquez uses this service up to five times a week.

Currently, COASTS has nine buses, each of which can carry up to16 passengers. It is funded by a combination of public and private funds, including more than half a million dollars from the federal transit administration and local funds of more than $137,000 raised by the ARC XVI senior center with the help of New York City Council and the Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation Inc. The senior citizen center is now preparing to apply for another grant to expand the reach of the transportation service and to buy more and larger buses.

COASTS fills a need, especially acute in northern Manhattan. There are no elevators or escalators for the A, C and 1 train subways in Inwood, and in much of northern Manhattan, hills make walking especially difficult for disabled and older people.

The MTA already supplies some services similar to COASTS, like Access-a-Ride, for people who cannot use the subways or other public transport, but people have complained that those services are not enough. Edith Prentiss, 69, a member Community Board 12’s traffic and transportation committee, says, “New York city transit does not run on schedule. Whether it is Access-a-Ride, or it is the M5, when it keeps the disabled person waiting, it’s a problem.”

“Parkour is just training your body to overcome obstacles,” says “Vert,” who teaches the acrobatic discipline four times a week in Fort Tryon Park.

A coalition of community organizations, elected officials and labor unions plans to lead hundreds of Uptown residents from Washington Heights to Zuccotti Park on Monday.

This is the first time communities of color from Northern Manhattan have organized to join the Occupy Wall Street movement. The march is expected to include elected officials, community activists and members from the black and Hispanic community, and is intended to show solidarity from diverse communities around New York with the Occupy Wall Street protesters in Zuccotti Park.

David Segal, press secretary for City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, who is backing the march, said it’s inaccurate to portray the Occupy Wall Street movement to be predominantly white. “It’s important to let the rest of the city to know that people of color are in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement,” he said.

Organizers from the Occupy Wall Street protest attended a press conference announcing the march on Thursday morning in front of an abandoned building on 182nd Street and St. Nicholas. Tyler Combelic, a spokesman for Occupy Wall Street, said it was important to recognize the needs and concerns of the New York City neighborhoods that have been hardest hit by the recession. “I’m marching all 11 miles,” he said.

United New York, a nonprofit that helps the working class find jobs, is one sponsor of the demonstration. “The march is a way for people of color to lend their voices to the movement and express their dissatisfaction with the lack of jobs,” said Cara Noel, who works with United New York. “It’s an opportunity for them to take care of their families.” Noel said her team has been tweeting, passing out fliers and working with partner organizations to spread the word on the walk. “I’m expecting it to be very organized and to make a statement,” she said.

Among the groups participating and expecting to march are the Transport Workers Union, Alianza Dominicana, the Service Employees International Union, and The Northern Manhattan Improvement Coalition. New York State Senator Adriano Espaillat and Councilman Member Rodriguez plan to lead the walk.

The march, called “End to End for 99%,” is scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. Monday at 181^st Street and St. Nicholas, work its way South through Harlem, and end at Zuccotti Park about 3 hours later. Segal said it is one of the few times that Harlem and Washington Heights has united in a movement.

Because there is no permit for the march, staff from different community organizations will work as marshals to help guide demonstrators.

Emmanuel Abreu, a resident of Inwood who expects to participate, said he thought the march would start small. “Two people will know, more and more people will join in and by the time we reach Harlem there should be more people.”

The march will end with a final rally in solidarity with Uptown residents and members of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

This article was updated on 11/04/2010  to correct that David Segal said that it was an inaccurate portrayal of the Occupy Wall Street movement as mostly white, not that it was a betrayal.

Grenade found near the MTA service station under the No.1 train overpass in Inwood.

Inwood residents said a grenade was found Thursday afternoon near an MTA maintenance shop under the No. 1 train overpass, 10^th Ave. New York Police Department officers along with bomb squad specialists rushed to the spot and removed the explosive device, after receiving a call about the item at 12:50 p.m., according to a report in DNAinfo.com.

Nicolas Perez, a 22-year-old audio technician at Syntax Communication, a shop opposite the maintenance shop, said that five police cars, with at least 20 police officers,  gathered at the station around 1 p.m. Perez said that the streets were closed and traffic was diverted for an hour.

On reaching the scene, the cops put barricades around the station and started telling curious people to get on the sidewalk. Perez said, “The cops asked us to stay inside the shop and said not to come out.”

Perez said that although he was initially confused seeing the chaos created in this otherwise quiet neighborhood, as the police presence increased, he grew scared. “I was, like, oh my God, what is going to happen?” recalled Perez.

Altagracia Perez, the 57-year-old owner of Syntax Communication, said, “ I reached my shop at around 1:50 p.m. and there still were so many cops in the neighborhood.”. After another hour of chaos and confusion, the barricades were removed and normal activity was restored.

MTA officials have not replied to an email enquiry and the police department hasn’t confirmed the incident at this time.  It was unknown if the grenade was live.

Protestors have taken over Wall Street. Photo by Mayeta Clark/Northattan.

For three weeks now, protesters have filled the area around Wall Street, voicing their anger at the state of the U.S. economy. One theater troupe from Inwood and Washington Heights traveled to Wall Street to add their voices to the mix. But protest wasn’t the only thing on their minds: Their aim was to add some drama to proceedings. Nadine Natour reports

Did you miss the live broadcast? You can listen to the full show below.

New York City is a major junction for birds on the migratory flyway. Millions of birds–of over 355 species–pass through or make their nest here. But it’s an urban obstacle course with dangerous consequences.