Northattan

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.

Washington Heights Dominicans rally in support of presidential candidate Hipólito Mejía ahead of May's election. Photo by Russ Finklestein/Northattan.

Hundreds of supporters of Dominican presidential candidate Hipólito Mejía came out for a “bandereo,” or flag waving, rally on the streets of Washington Heights last Sunday.

The crowd circulated along St. Nicholas Avenue around 181st Street waving pro-Mejia flags and chanting slogans like “llegó papá!” (“Father has arrived!”) Mejía supporters also carried a purple coffin bearing a photo of incumbent party candidate Danilo Medina, symbolizing their hope that the May elections will bring an end to the Dominican Liberation Party’s 8-year hold on the presidency.

Polls suggest that Mejía, who was president of the Caribbean nation from 2000 to 2004, represents the biggest threat to Medina, whose running mate, Margarita Cedeño de Fernández, is the wife of the current president, Leonel Fernández.

But aside from bolstering local support for the Dominican Revolutionary Party’s political platform, campaign organizers in New York are also doing their best to register voters. Amid the chanting and flag waving, campaign volunteers like Argentina Lijanio comb the crowd with clipboards ready to register eligible Dominican voters before the approaching December deadline.

“I left my job in order to motivate people to vote so that we can get rid of this corrupt government we’ve got in power,” said Lijanio, who normally works as a machine operator in a garment factory.

Though the 2010 Census counted over half a million Dominicans living in New York City, only about 80,000 of them are expected to vote.

“I still haven’t figured out who I’m voting for, but I’m definitely going to vote because I feel like I should,” said Luz Maria Portéz, who is registered to vote in the May elections. “It’s my responsibility.”

Dominicans living abroad have traditionally played an important role in the national economy, though before 2004 they were required to travel home to vote in national elections. According to the World Bank, Dominican expatriates sent an estimated $3.3 billion home to friends and family members. These payments, called remittances, make up 7 1/2 percent of the country’s national economy.

U.S.-born Dominicans need to obtain a national ID in order to register and vote in the Dominican election, but many are unmotivated to do so.

“I’m so fixated on other things like work and school that I haven’t really thought about it,” said Brianna Perez, a 26-year-old student and teaching assistant at CUNY.

Perez, who was born in the U.S., says she will not vote in May because she doesn’t have the time or energy to file the necessary paperwork.

The 2012 elections will also be the first time that Dominicans abroad can vote on new legislative representation for expatriates. Seven out of the 178 members of Congress will represent Dominicans living abroad; three of them will represent constituents in the U.S.  Most of the leading candidates live in New York, the unofficial capital of the Dominican community in the U.S.

These legislative candidates are aligned with the key national political parties, including Mejía’s Dominican Revolutionary Party. Many of them have a hand in local grassroots organizing in New York, including events like Sunday’s “bandereo.”

This Saturday, local representatives of the Dominican Revolutionary Party are organizing an appearance by Mejía himself in Washington Heights. The rally will feature a speech by Mejía followed by music from prominent Dominican musical acts El Torito, Hector Acosta, Mirian Cruz and Shino Aguakate, which organizers hope will draw more potential voters who they hope to register before the December deadline. The event is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. in Armory Arena and tickets start at $20.

This article has been updated to correct that the representatives of expatriates in the Dominican Congress will be elected for the first time in 2012.

What would you do with a million dollars? That’s the question four New York City Council members are asking their residents. The money’s in the bank; now they just need to figure out how to spend it.

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

Northattan’s multimedia team traveled to the heart of the protests at Wall Street to gauge the mood after three weeks on the street.

Photos and Video by Mayeta Clark/Northattan

Obama magnets once sold like hotcakes in Harlem. How about today? Photo by Tomos Lewis/Northattan.

Presidential memorabilia, some say, is as old as the presidency itself. And when Barack Obama won the election in 2008, the demand for Obama souvenirs shot through the roof. Especially in Harlem. Today, a few merchants still peddle Obama-themed wares here. But the U.S. economy has declined, and the president’s popularity has followed suit. Sales of Obama merchandise have also slumped, and its vendors have fallen on hard times.

Tomos Lewis reports.

On a gray Monday morning during final exam week, Caroline Gagné, a sophomore at Columbia College, casually sat on a bench against the wall outside of Butler Library, smoking a Camel Light cigarette and drinking a cup of coffee. Just a normal smoke break – except that this time, by lighting up right beside the library, Gagné was in violation of a new policy on campus.

Caroline Gagné, a sophomore at Columbia, smokes her morning cigarette outside of Butler Library. Photo by Katrina Kaufman/Northattan.

The University Senate passed a resolution on Dec. 3 that prohibits smoking within 20 feet of all campus buildings on Columbia’s Morningside campus. Technically, the smoking ban is now in effect, but students are not being held accountable for transgressing it yet, according to Michael McNeil, Director of Columbia’s health services program Alice!, which promotes health initiatives to students.

“We feel it is our responsibility to allow some time to disseminate information to the institution, move receptacles, and put up proper signage before action will be taken to enforce this policy,” said McNeil, who also chaired the campus Tobacco Work Group that spent the past two years reviewing Columbia’s tobacco policies.

The university’s goal is to have all of that in place by Jan. 18, the first day of spring semester, said McNeil.

So Gagné, who was smoking about a foot away from Butler Library, was safe for the moment – and not too worried about the future..

“Twenty feet away is not that big a deal,’ she said. “I don’t think it would be that much of a sacrifice.”

A map showing the effect of a 20 foot ban on Columbia

If Gagné does violate the smoking ban once it’s formally in effect, she could be subject to a warning. But McNeil said that enforcement of the ban is a community issue and hoped that faculty and students will help enforce the policy on campus.

“We see no need for a heavy handed approach to this at all,” said McNeil. “We’re not expecting an issue. When people are aware or they are reminded, they generally comply.”

The Senate debate early this month initially considered banning smoking 50 feet from all Morningside campus buildings. The limit was reduced to 20 feet due to concerns about compliance and enforceability, according to Alex Frouman, a student senator for Columbia College. Frouman said that a 20-foot ban seemed more feasible, in part because banning smoking 50 feet from any building would de facto create a total smoking ban in the northeast part of the Morningside campus.

Some in the Senate favored a flat ban on smoking anywhere on campus. But after a contentious debate, the 20-foot ban was passed by a 31-13 vote in the University Senate,

Despite the lopsided vote, some senators say the debate is not over.

Mark A. Cohen, a Columbia Business School professor, is calling for a full smoking ban on campus.

“It’s a dangerous issue, and on top of that it’s unsanitary, unsightly and it ought to be something that the university rids itself of categorically,” said Cohen, a former smoker.

A student smokes near Avery, ignoring the building's current 50 foot smoking ban. Photo by Katrina Kaufman/Northattan.

The 20-foot ban complies with New York State law, which requires that colleges and universities forbid smoking within 20 feet of college residence halls. The state ban does not cover other academic buildings, but the university wanted to implement a consistent rule throughout campus, according to McNeil.

The university’s former smoking policy only prohibited smoking near residences halls. Certain buildings had imposed their own rules, such as the architecture school’s Avery Hall, which has maintained a ban on smoking within 50 feet of the building. The new 20-foot ban creates a uniform campus policy, negating specific building restrictions like the one at Avery.

With this policy, Columbia joins over 500 U.S. colleges and universities – about a fifth of all higher education campuses in the country – in implementing a smoking ban. At least 446 of these campuses are 100 percent smoke free, according to the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation.

Campus-wide bans have been controversial at some institutions, such as the University of Kentucky, where pro-nicotine students staged a “smoke-out” in protest, according to the Time magazine article “Campus Smoking Bans? Some Saying ‘Lighten Up.’”

“A full ban would be unfair,” said Gagné “People would be late for class and on Broadway smoking thousands of cigarettes. People would still smoke on campus and get into trouble. Smoking is an addiction that some people aren’t ready to give up.”

But Cohen pointed out that Columbia’s Medical School campus on 168th Street and Broadway already instituted a full smoking ban and said the main campus also should act consistently with that decision.

A law student extinguishes her cigarette in a receptacle outside the Law School

“I understand the trauma of a smoker who is being deprived,” said Cohen, “But so what? It’s not something the university should support. It’s a poisonous habit.”

“I think the 20 or 50 foot rule is silly because are you going to have public safety officers walking around with tape measures?” he continued. “Are you going to delineate lines on the sidewalk to figure out where you can smoke?”

Brian Rice, a smoker and Columbia Law student, thinks that a 20-foot ban is reasonable, but he also opposes a full ban. “I think it would have the effect of just externalizing the problem, forcing the university’s smokers, along with their smoke and litter onto Columbia’s neighbors. I question the feasibility and desirability of enforcing such a ban.”

Rice admitted that smoking is a lonesome habit on this campus. Only about 16 percent of Columbia students are smokers, according to McNeil.

Smoking is legal as long as smokers meet New York state age regulations, said McNeil, but private organizations and public venues have the authority to establish guidelines limiting or banning smoking on their premises.

Ron Mazor, a student senator for Columbia Law School, is against a full smoking ban but feels that the new 20-foot ban is a fair compromise. He expressed concern that a full ban would infringe upon the rights of smokers at Columbia. Mazor does not smoke.

“I think smokers are a significant and valued group of people on campus who should be treated with consideration for their personal choice regarding a legal habit,” said Mazor.

He added, “Smoking restrictions that go significantly beyond state law, such as a full ban, only serve to alienate them and create severe hardship for them while on campus. Such a ban is antithetical to creating a tolerant space of free, open exchange and interaction.”

Cohen plans to propose a full ban resolution at the Senate’s next meeting on Feb. 4.

Along St. Nicholas Avenue and 181^st Street in Washington Heights, street vendors and their folding tables pack the sidewalks, offering everything from stuffed animals to designer watches, and pungent perfumes.

A shopper stops to check out some bracelets on a crowded sidewalk. Photo by Brett Teal/Northattan.

The vendors can satisfy almost any shopper’s needs, but not everyone is happy with their presence.  Recently, they have been targeted by local businesses that think there are too many in the neighborhood and that the stands have an unfair advantage.

“They’re selling items that we have, but cheaper,” said Alex Min, who manages a sports apparel store, FootCo, on the corner of 181^st Street and St. Nicholas Avenue.

For example, Min’s shop sells gloves for $20 and beanies for $10, but a vendor directly in front of FootCo sells similar items for $5 each.

New York City requires everyone selling merchandise such as clothing, dolls or watches to have a license.  But the city grants only 853 licenses to nonveterans and has a waitlist of thousands, forcing many vendors to operate illegally.

Without a permit, vendors escape paying a $200 yearly license fee and they don’t have to pay taxes. If they’re caught selling without a license, they can be arrested and their merchandise can be confiscated.

One unlicensed vendor, Zouhair Hoteite, has been selling hookahs and perfume in Washington Heights without a permit since 1988.  Last week he was arrested and this week he has already received two tickets.

“You’ve just got accept it,” Hoteite, who earlier in the year was fined $1,300, said.

“I can’t pay tickets, I don’t have money, my rent is $1,300 and I have a wife and kids,” he added.

Hoteite said he explained this to the judge, who dismissed the ticket.  But he now has two more to deal with and knows it will happen again.

Another table on St. Nicholas Avenue pushed up against a fire hydrant is filled with eclectic belt buckles. Photo by Brett Teal/Northattan.

Many street salespeople have flocked to Northern Manhattan, and as many as 40 operate near St. Nicholas Avenue, according to the Washington Heights Business Improvement District.

“I mean it’s really crazy to have three to four tables,” Nash Siddiquv said about the vendors in front of his 181^st Street T Mobile store.

The cluster of tables often block the building’s entrance, touching up against the windows and leaving a narrow path.

“There’s only two feet in between for people to walk,” Siddiquv said.  “People complain, they’re in front of the door and they can’t get in.”

He said he would like the number of vendors, or at least their tables, lowered in the future.  That wish may be closer to becoming reality.

The Washington Heights Business Improvement District, which oversees the area around 181^st Street from Amsterdam Avenue to Fort Washington Avenue, has been taking in feedback from residents and local merchants in hopes of creating a solution to the vendor problem early next year.

“It’s a very important issue for Washington Heights,” Angelina Ramirez, its executive director, said, adding that vendors, “put a strain for maintaining cleanliness on the sidewalk and they create traffic.”

All of the area’s vendors will be surveyed to see who is operating without a permit and Ramirez hopes to find a group to represent the street salespeople to create a “win-win” solution.

“The economy the way it is, we just don’t want to blindly take this livelihood away from people who make their money by selling,” Ramirez said.

New York City Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez, who represents Washington Heights, said he doesn’t want to outright get rid of vendors, but understands the complaints.

Zouhair Hateite's colorful goods include everything from tobacco smoking accessories to perfume. Photo by Brett Teal/Northattan.

“We have to support our small businesses that pay taxes,” Rodriguez said.  “We need to be sure our streets are clean and pedestrians have the space to walk.”

Rodriguez said one possible solution would be to create a plaza specifically for street vendors where they wouldn’t clog the sidewalks.  The salespeople would be able to purchase a temporary permit allowing them to set up their tables for the day.

This would be modeled after the street vendor market on 175^th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue, which was created in 1994.

Rodriguez and Ramirez have been in talks with the Department of Transportation to explore the possibility of a new location.

But vendor Zouhair Hoteite said he would rather risk being arrested than selling in a plaza.

“There’s no money, people don’t go there,” Hoteite said.  “There’s no traffic.”

He said even if another plaza opened he would continue selling on St. Nicholas Avenue and 181^st Street.

Dyckman Street in Inwood has become a hot spot for locals.  One block near Seaman Avenue has so many bars and restaurants that angry residents are calling it ‘Alcohol Alley’.  Now they are battling to restore order on the noisy street.

A can of Four Loko. Photo by Paul Sakuma/AP.

On a Saturday afternoon, Harlem is bustling with activity. A 16-year-old boy wearing a red cap and baggy pants is hanging out with friends on busy 125^th Street, not too far from the Magic Johnson Theatres. “Yeah, I’ve heard about them” he says nonchalantly. “They’re pretty popular with kids because most of the time, we don’t need an ID to buy them.”

The teenager, who asked not to be named, is talking about a highly potent and deceptively sweet alcoholic concoction, a combination of punch and alcohol, known around New York City as nutcrackers.

Unlike the controversial Four Loko, which combines caffeine and alcohol, nutcrackers are mixed at home and sold illegally in sealed plastic bottles for $5 or $10, mostly in bodegas and in barbershops. But much like Four Loko, they are very popular with teenagers.

Nutcrackers have been around for years, but Trymaine Lee, who covers Harlem for the Times and wrote about nutcrackers in September, says he first heard about them when a friend introduced him to a man who brews them at home. Lately, people in Harlem have expressed some fears about these drinks being illegally sold to minors, but nothing concrete has been done so far to address the issue. “I don’t think there’s outrage yet” says Lee,” but there is concern.”

The Harlem teenager said he buys his nutcrackers from a bodega around 135^th Street, but refused to be more specific. “Bodega owners never sell them to strangers; they have to know you to sell you one” he said.

But nutcrackers are also being sold from home. Jeff Trills, an entrepreneur from the Bronx, wholesales his nutcrackers to “earn some extra money.” He makes his with 160-proof Devil’s Springs vodka, 151-proof Bacardi rum and a large quantity of Hawaiian punch, before diluting the mixture, which he calls “slap yo momma,” with fresh water. Using the pseudonym “jtnutcracker,” he posted a video on YouTube in August of last year to explain how to make the drink from scratch; the video has already garnered more than 15,000 views.

Once an underground activity, nutcrackers have now gone mainstream.

“We’re not doing anything illegal, all we’re doing is making a cocktail drink,” says Trills. Actually, selling alcohol without a license is illegal, although he says he is in the process of acquiring one. And in the wake of a growing controversy, he maintains that his drinks, that he also calls “happy juices,” are harmless. “I don’t want to endanger my customers, which is why I created my YouTube video.” However, Trills does not give any sense of proportion in the video, and with what looks like one-third alcohol, it is unclear how potent his drink is. It is also unclear who he sells them to, although Trills mentions that he’s willing to ship his drinks to colleges or even army bases.

Rapper N.O.R.E's latest single is an ode to nutcrackers.

The nutcracker phenomenon has also hit the world of hip-hop. Victor Santiago Jr., a popular rapper born in Queens and better known by his stage name N.O.R.E. or Noreaga, recently released a single on iTunes called “Nutcracker.” He says he wrote the song as an ode to the drink after sampling different recipes. Noreaga, who is currently staying in Florida, said by telephone that he knows nothing about the controversy over the drink. “They’re not that bad” he says. “But if you drink two, you’ll be out of your mind. Drink three and you may go crazy. ”

Noreaga, who says he’s been buying nutcrackers for 10 years, has helped turn them into a household name, but he thinks their potential dangers have been blown out of proportion. “Nobody in their right mind will sell these drinks to kids, but will kids go out and try to find them anyway? Absolutely, and there’s nothing we can do about that.”

Instead, Noreaga says he’s proud to have helped popularize the drink. “I like nutcrackers the same way I like to cheer for the Jets, the Knicks, or the Mets” he says. “I’m a fan of everything that’s specific to New York and nutcrackers represent the underground of this city.”

Eric K. Washington, a Harlem historian, also says he had not heard about nutcrackers until he was approached by Lee a couple of months ago.

But he’s not surprised these drinks have hit the streets.  “Through history, people have always tried to make an extra buck by selling their own concoctions. Back in the 1920s in Harlem, snake oil salesmen would advertise potions designed to make you virile or to make your hair grow back.”

“This nutcracker craze has a romantic side to it, reminiscent of Prohibition days,” he says. “But because there is no quality control and no accountability, apprehension is naturally high.”

And since people are recreating a drink that has no specific recipe, Washington fears that someone will eventually get hurt. “So far, I don’t think there have been any known incidents involving nutcrackers, but one person getting sick is one too many.”

Despite the attention, nutcrackers remain an underground activity, which makes it harder for police to take action. In January, the New York Daily News conducted its own investigation in five spots in upper Manhattan. They found that under-aged kids were illegally being sold the drink in bodegas and barbershops without being asked for an ID.

State Senator Jeff Klein (left) and State Liquor Authority Deputy CEO Mike Jones unveiled details of an undercover operation which found Four Loko being illegally sold to minors at 11 stores in New York City. Photo by Linda Abi Assi/Northattan.

Mike Jones, Deputy CEO of New York State Liquor Authority, says a couple of bodegas were shut down as a direct consequence of the Daily News’ article. “We don’t know much about their potency since people put whatever they want in there” Jones says, “but it seems to be a seasonal thing that fades once summer is over.”

Four Loko, another popular alcoholic drink, is currently making headlines all over the country. Unlike nutcrackers, Four Loko, also known as “blackout in a can,” is legal and, because it also contains caffeine, more open to abuse.

The popularity of these drinks, which cause what is known as “wide-awake drunk”, has exploded over the last few months, and there have been reports of teenagers being hospitalized after drinking them.

New York, along with several other states, has already banned the sale of Four Loko. Retailers and wholesalers now have until Dec. 10 to clean out old stock and inventory.

Unlike Four Loko, nutcrackers don’t contain caffeine, are home brewed, and it is not clear how much alcohol they contain since dozens of different recipes exist. And with all the current attention paid to getting Four Loko and other high-alcohol, high-caffeine drinks off the shelves, nutcrackers remain under the radar.