Message fron Senator, Eric Adams of Brooklyn, District #20
August 4, 2008
Dear Neighbors:
When I was elected in 2006 as New York State Senator for the 20th District, I was excited about the opportunity to represent a community in which various groups would illustrate for our city and state the many ways in which to celebrate the beauty of diversity. Throughout my first term in office, as I interacted with numerous residents who shared the vision of the magnificence of diversity, I identified a great strategy to transform this theoretical conception into a day of celebration.
The initial goal is the establishment of a "Celebrate our Diversity Day."
The objective of the day is to observe and honor the multiplicity of ethnicities, cultures, religions, and lifestyles that make up our great borough. I hope to draw meaning from the issues and themes that are important to each of them. Our celebration will be constructed around two separate events.
The first will involve pet owners. We will invite all dog owners and non-owners to assemble in the Prospect Park Long Meadow during the h ours of 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM (off-leash hours). It is my aim to construct an occasion during which dog owners and non-owners can use pets as vehicles to recognize how much we actually have in common. If brown dogs, beige dogs, German Shepherds, poodles, retrievers, etc. can play in and enjoy the park together, then we humans should also be able to share our community in mutual esteem and brotherhood/sisterhood.
The second part of the day will involve a bike ride between the hours of 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM throughout the 20th Senatorial District. During this tour we will travel through the different communities that comprise one of the most diverse Senatorial Districts in the State of New York. We will ride through the neighborhoods of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Boro Park, Crown Heights, Flatbush, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Sunset Park, and Windsor Terrace. During the trip we will pause to enjoy the various sights, sounds, foods, and cultural manifestations that comprise this remarkable district.
The bike ride will have the significant added benefits of promoting the use of alternative transportation, encouraging fitness through exercise, and making our roadways more bike friendly.20(It is important to note that these are some of the critical topics that were discussed during my first meeting with individuals who support safer biking.)
In order to make these events successful endeavors, your assistance is vital. If you are interested in aiding me to organize them, please email me at my personal email address,
[email protected].
The scheduled day for both events is Saturday, September 6th, 2008. I encourage everyone interested in helping to organize "Celebrate our Diversity Day" to attend.
Together, we can make Brooklyn a harmonious and safe place in which to nurture children and families.
Best,
Eric
NYS Senator, District #20
Dear Neighbors:
When I was elected in 2006 as New York State Senator for the 20th District, I was excited about the opportunity to represent a community in which various groups would illustrate for our city and state the many ways in which to celebrate the beauty of diversity. Throughout my first term in office, as I interacted with numerous residents who shared the vision of the magnificence of diversity, I identified a great strategy to transform this theoretical conception into a day of celebration.
The initial goal is the establishment of a "Celebrate our Diversity Day."
The objective of the day is to observe and honor the multiplicity of ethnicities, cultures, religions, and lifestyles that make up our great borough. I hope to draw meaning from the issues and themes that are important to each of them. Our celebration will be constructed around two separate events.
The first will involve pet owners. We will invite all dog owners and non-owners to assemble in the Prospect Park Long Meadow during the h ours of 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM (off-leash hours). It is my aim to construct an occasion during which dog owners and non-owners can use pets as vehicles to recognize how much we actually have in common. If brown dogs, beige dogs, German Shepherds, poodles, retrievers, etc. can play in and enjoy the park together, then we humans should also be able to share our community in mutual esteem and brotherhood/sisterhood.
The second part of the day will involve a bike ride between the hours of 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM throughout the 20th Senatorial District. During this tour we will travel through the different communities that comprise one of the most diverse Senatorial Districts in the State of New York. We will ride through the neighborhoods of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Boro Park, Crown Heights, Flatbush, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Sunset Park, and Windsor Terrace. During the trip we will pause to enjoy the various sights, sounds, foods, and cultural manifestations that comprise this remarkable district.
The bike ride will have the significant added benefits of promoting the use of alternative transportation, encouraging fitness through exercise, and making our roadways more bike friendly.20(It is important to note that these are some of the critical topics that were discussed during my first meeting with individuals who support safer biking.)
In order to make these events successful endeavors, your assistance is vital. If you are interested in aiding me to organize them, please email me at my personal email address,
[email protected].
The scheduled day for both events is Saturday, September 6th, 2008. I encourage everyone interested in helping to organize "Celebrate our Diversity Day" to attend.
Together, we can make Brooklyn a harmonious and safe place in which to nurture children and families.
Best,
Eric
NYS Senator, District #20
Comments
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Is the thing about the dogs a joke?
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I think it sounds wonderful.
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Interesting!
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I think this might be a joke email. I've never heard of an elected official posting their personal email address. If they are organzing an event they always have you contact their district office and usually provide the name of a staff member in charge of the event. I think this is a hoax.
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He probably set that email up just for this event and in any case I think its wonderful. Whether you agree with either of these events, here is a politician who is really trying to unify the community. It may not be what you want but there are others who will enjoy it and make the most out of it.
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Subject: Celebrate our Diversity Day
To all who inquired about the “Celebrate Our Diversity Day,” this is an actual event that I am hosting. Those who are familiar with me know two things with certainty, that I take pride in personally responding to the emails of my constituents, and that I always use my personal email address. This allows me to hear first hand from the individuals who duly elected me to serve office, and ensures that I do not receive a filtered message from a member of my staff.
Celebrate Our Diversity Day, has allowed me to creatively incorporate two of my greatest passions (Bike riding and Dogs) to promote the beauty of living in a richly diverse community.
To those who do not want to participate in this event, and or have other ideas of accomplishing the goal of celebrating our diversity, I enjoin you to email me at my personal email ([email protected]) and utilize my office as a medium to bring your idea to fruition.
This is a socially rich community and we are fortunate to be a part of it.
Best
Eric
NYS Senator
718-284-4700 (Senate office number) -
OK Eric, NYS Senator, the problem I have with your “Celebrate Our Diversity Day, is two fold. Not only does it not address the real problem but it excaserbates it. As I see it most of the friction in these gentrified hoods are a result of class warfare, not race. Half of these threads are somebody moaning about the loss of a butcher or geegaw shop because of some nasty landlord wanting in on the surge (that was intentional). They don't complain about poor people being shuffled out of the neighborhood so some rathole can be turned into condos.
What do you hope will happen during your rainbow dog party? some wave of enlightenment will waif over the park. Actually the bike ride is what really takes it. A bunch of yuppies dressed in their favorite racing gear, women with sensible MT bikes (they have the kid on back of course) The men with their 5K fixed gears they justified buying so they could lose a little weight. Your going to take these people and ride through "diverse" neighborhoods, (to me that's code for poor black}, the same people you probably displaced. Why not just rent a tour bus (double decker of course) and leave all the wealth at home. You'll find some jerk chicken restuarant and is big enough and make nervous jokes about "I hope they didn't spit in the food. -
You're such a little ray of sunshine, modsquad.
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I guess what I resent is the Senator making Race as the problem. I think it is naive at best and dangerous at its worst. There's a lot of locals out there who resent the gentrification of neighborhoods they called home for generations. It's sorta like Columbus "discovering" America with 2 Indians in the woods saying to each other "yo, whad he saying?"
Preaching racial harmony to this crowd is truly preaching to the choir. I just hope that dude with the 2 pitbulls doesn't show up at the dog party. Well maybe I do hope he shows just a little bit.
I resent being called a "little ray of sunshine". Isn't that like being a "wack peen of sunshine"? -
i like you modsquad
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people like me, they really really like me.
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modsquad wrote: I guess what I resent is the Senator making Race as the problem. I think it is naive at best and dangerous at its worst. There's a lot of locals out there who resent the gentrification of neighborhoods they called home for generations. It's sorta like Columbus "discovering" America with 2 Indians in the woods saying to each other "yo, whad he saying?"
That explanation makes so much more sense than the earlier screed. Thank you.
Preaching racial harmony to this crowd is truly preaching to the choir. I just hope that dude with the 2 pitbulls doesn't show up at the dog party. Well maybe I do hope he shows just a little bit.
Railing away at the Senator, who has made the rare move of bothering to actually come back and follow the thread about his event rather than just having some flunky post it and never return (something I don't recall ever seeing an elected official do before on this site), might have been fun and/or cathartic for you, but if you really want to persuade someone to change their thinking about something, the way to do it is to make an intelligent, reasonable argument, as you did above. Insulting tirades might make people who already agree with you happy, but they don't make the people whose minds you'd presumably like to change give any real consideration to your point of view. -
that's because everyone takes themselves way too seriously.
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deathscythe257 wrote: that's because everyone takes themselves way too seriously.
SAY IT TO MY FACE!!!
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Point taken, apollonia666. I was lying awake last night thinking, gee i could stand to loose some weight, but now I can't get a bike, no wait I have a bike! Thank God it's not a fixed gear!
I can see the Post headline.
ANGRY BLOGGER LATEST CASUALTY IN BK CLASS WAR! MODSQUAD SHOT DEAD FOR BIKE AT CORNER OF DIVERSITY ALLEY AND GENTRIFICATION BLVD. -
disclaimers:
i take myself far too seriously
i take my bike everywhere
i don't have any of the fore mentioned gear
&
i heart sen adam's post
@ modsquad
posting to this forum might indeed bring out the bike gang you've described + a dreaded hipster or 2
but why would you assume that this is the only place this event is being publicized????
i have a sneaking suspicion that outreach is being done throughout the community perhaps through churches, schools, youth groups or any of the other ways one gets the word out in ch.
maybe instead of contributing snide cynicism you could volunteer to reach out to whomever you deem worthy of being a bona fide ch resident and help add a little flava to the mix -
Fair disclosure: although modsquad was off to quite a start initially ( :shock:
), he has also in recent weeks posted some extremely helpful suggestions and good-neighborly advice in various other threads.
So, guess he's only evil part-time.
A veritable Dr. Heckle and Mr. Jibe (Jive? ), of sorts.
Just have to catch him in the persona that suits ya. -
neene wrote: @ modsquad
Not likely, if history is any judge. Of the three rides I've been on with the Brooklynian crowd, I'd be surprised if the sum total of ALL our bikes reached $5000. So far we haven't attracted any fixies (except caaahyoko, who has a fixed gear on a foldable bike - i'm not sure that'd get her admitted to the hipster club). And our clothing selection is anything but aerodynamic.
posting to this forum might indeed bring out the bike gang you've described + a dreaded hipster or 2
For his mischaracterization, Modsquad (if he choses to join the ride) should be required to transport the Senator's dogs in one of these, in an act of penance.
[/img] -
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/97/Childwithhandgrenadedianearbus.jpg
THANKS JEFFERY! I think?
How come Rick Ashley is standing on his tip toes? -
Subject: Celebrate Diversity
“Modsquad” and others, the “Celebrate our Diversity “ day is not simply about racial diversity. It is the celebration of the many groups (Asian, Jewish, Caribbean, Hispanic, Irish, Italian, African-American, Muslim, and LGBT) that make up the 20th Senatorial District. This makes our community a culturally rich neighborhood.
I am happy to have been a member of this community for over 22 years.
I believe my office does an excellent job of addressing the underling problems that impact our city. If you believe there are other issues of concerns that we should address, please come by my office or invite me to meet with you face to face to discuss your ideas.
I always state blogging is great, but we should never abandon human interaction.
I will be in my office tomorrow (Friday) or you can obtain my cell phone number from my staff.
Best
Eric
NYS Senator
718-284-4700 -
Subject: Diversity Day
Sorry for the typo in the previous post ("underlying") but I am sure you get the message.
Best
Eric
NYS Senator -
This is my final post on the subject of celebration and bicycle riding. -
You're a real class act, modsquad.
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Senator Adams, on the other hand, has definitely impressed me with his comments in this thread. And I live in his district.
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Apollonia666, with apologies to Susan Sontag, "Life says " Come on in, the living is great, we stand back and take a picture."
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Subject: Celebrate Our Diversity Day on September 6th
Modsquad, are you going to meet with Senator Adams to discuss your ideas? If you're not scared, cause he used to be a cop. I pass by 572 Flatbush everyday. I bet you won't go, cause you're to busy blogging and pissing at life, instead of Living Life. Take it from the real "Sunshine."Wack peen and that video you posted has no class. In other words they're wack. It's time for me to go and spread some more Sunshine in the universe today, cause no body wants to be pissed at or pissed on in life. Maybe, you're just pissed. Nonetheless, there's still hope for you too. Let me know if you go. I look forward to seeing you at the bike ride on September 6th. Peace... Sunshine -
lol.
he's a cop, be scared -
My Dear Sunshine,
What I resent is the Senator implying that we have a racial/ethnic problem when in reality it is social/economic. This is only a problem if you get the shitty end of the stick. It happens that in NYC the sides of this conflict fall a long racial lines. That is only on the surface. Go to the Catskills (Ulster Co.) and see what the poor whites think of the weekenders who buy up all the local housing stock while they live in trailer courts.
Yuppies come in all colors, as long as you got the right job you are welcome, total color blindness. However, yuppies have their shock troops, those people asking about a specific block they want to move to in BK. If you were moving somewhere, wouldn’t you ask the neighbors what the area was like? We know why they ask anonymous people on the internet about a block, the hood is full of “diverse” people of color. In a sense this blog encourages the tipping, at the edges, a neighborhood into transition. There is nothing wrong with this! It is just the opposite of what happened in the 60’s and early 70’s, “white flight” , red lining, etc The point is, poor people may want your Ipod, but we really want their brownstone, and would gladly trade. It’s fair, isn’t it?.
The Senator wants to celebrate our cultural diversity. Isn’t that a little like celebrating the weather? Sometimes it’s good sometimes it sucks. Culture day at school for my kids means they bring a pizza (Italian), maybe some Chinese take out, you know dumb stuff like that, but these are kids. You can’t pick and choose what you like about someone’s culture like a take out menu. Every culture the Senator mentions has something repugnant to somebody else. I’d be willing to bet most BK transplants are here because of something they found repugnant about their own. We only think we want theirs.
Like Queen Isabella to Columbus, the Senator wishes you to go forward and multiply and bring back some of that booty to boot! Under the Rainbow flag of racial coziness we will all live in a utopian economic fuzziness with a Mexican Restaurant on the corner and a Chinese take out (we deliver) in the middle of the block. That is a hipster’s idea of a culturally diverse neighborhood. They deliver the food and go home at night.
Bike ride all you want Sunshine, just know that most of you are scoping out FOR RENT signs as you celebrate others peoples cultures.
In terms of the video, I just want to have fun Sunshine, thats all. The kids miss their mom though. The kids! -
modsquad wrote: Point taken, apollonia666. I was lying awake last night thinking, gee i could stand to loose some weight, but now I can't get a bike, no wait I have a bike! Thank God it's not a fixed gear!
You urgently need to get laid.
I can see the Post headline.
ANGRY BLOGGER LATEST CASUALTY IN BK CLASS WAR! MODSQUAD SHOT DEAD FOR BIKE AT CORNER OF DIVERSITY ALLEY AND GENTRIFICATION BLVD. -
Subject: Blog, The Modern Day Hood
Modsquad, are you going to go see the Senator and share your ideas? Anything else is like a tree falling in the forest and no one is around to hear it. So, it's not making a sound. Post after you meet with the Senator and let us know how that goes.
There's a historical analogy of those who were afraid to reveal themselves and hid under hoods. Are you going to meet with the Senator and discuss your ideas, or, are you going to join the ranks of those who wore hoods and hide behind the blog?
As for your having fun with the video you posted, it's disrespectful toward women to say the least. I will continue to say, there's hope for you yet.
It's good to see that wasn't your last post on the subject. This time, post after you meet with the Senator. Peace....Sunshine
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