Fwd: Notify NYC - Heat Advisory - 9/5 - 9/6 (CW)

Spiral Thought 

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Notify NYC <noreply@everbridge.net>
Date: Mon, Sep 4, 2023 at 3:28 PM
Subject: Notify NYC - Heat Advisory - 9/5 - 9/6 (CW)

Notification issued 09-04-2023 at 03:26 PM.

The National Weather Service has issued the following:
What: Heat Advisory
Where: NYC
When: 11:00 AM on 9/5 to 8:00 PM on 9/6
Hazards: High heat and humidity with heat indices of 95 to 99 degrees expected. These conditions are dangerous to health. People without air conditioning, older adults, and people with chronic health conditions are most at risk.
Preparedness Actions:
- Avoid strenuous activity
- Active children, adults, and people with lung disease such as asthma should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors

For more information and safety tips on avoiding heat illness, visit www.NYC.gov/beattheheat.

For the latest weather info: www.weather.gov/okx/.

 

 

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VIRTUAL TENANT MEETINGS

Are tenants interested in having tenant meetings using Zoom? It could give tenants an opportunity to discuss issues concerning life at Kenmore Hall without being interrupted or interfered with by social workers or staff; you can join the meetings using your smartphone, tablet or laptop, if you have one (smartphones & tablets are available to low-income people using Assurance, for instance). I'd be happy to set this up and host it. We can do occasional meetings, OR I can just set up meetings that happen on a regular schedule, say once a week, or once a month, at a time when most people might be available to participate. I'm not a morning person, so I'd rather do this in the afternoon or evening. Let me know if you're interested; it's easiest to send out the link to a Zoom meeting by email, but I think I can also post it here on the blog. Feel free to contact me with your email address (and if you like, also let me know what types of things you'd like to discuss) - email me at emilyhbrown@outlook.com, OR leave me a message at 347-850-2283.

Some tenants are concerned (STILL, AGAIN) about a topic we've covered here before: Dead Kenmoreans

 Ambulances pull up to the building on a daily basis; sometimes the tenants returns, other times, not so much. 

Do you feel that the crisis-level illness and death rate in the building is higher than in other buildings? Log in with a comment

IS KENMORE ASSOCIATES/H.S.I. TAKING YOU TO HOUSING COURT IN AN ATTEMPT TO EVICT YOU?

 Gothamist (an online publication associated with radio station WNYC) wants to hear from tenants facing possible eviction in New York City, in connection with a series they're doing on tenants and evictions. They are usually very pro-tenant, and while they may not be able to help you legally, it might be interesting to get the word out about H.S.I.'s eviction tactics. After all, H.S.I. is supposed to be helping SOLVE the homelessness problem, not make it worse. 

Here's a link to their questionnaire: https://airtable.com/shrpsjuMjm1eiK5iW?utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=nypr-email&utm_campaign=Newsletter+-+Early+Addition+-+20230811&utm_term=Share+your+story+here.&utm_id=240755&sfmc_id=54575562&utm_content=2023811&nypr_member=Unknown

This is what Gothamist says about the project:

Help us cover evictions

Have you been evicted? Are you facing eviction? Are people in your building receiving eviction notices? Or are you a property owner who is trying to evict someone? We want to hear about your experiences with evictions to help guide our news coverage and unearth issues that may be happening. We're gathering these stories to help inform our reporting and will contact you if we wish to publish any part of your account. We won't publish any identifying information without your permission. We take your privacy seriously and appreciate you sharing your story.

THINGS YOUR CASEWORKER SHOULD BE HELPING YOU WITH (but probably isn't because they're too busy trying to pry into your medical records and other personal business) - PART 1 Fair Fares: Most of the tenants in the building are probably eligible for a half price Metrocard through the Fair Fares program. It's easy to find out, too, if you go online: https://www.nyc.gov/site/fairfares/index.page You can do this yourself in the computer lab (or at the library). For those tenants who are uncomfortable with computers, though, the caseworkers SHOULD be providing assistance. The card needs to be renewed on a yearly basis, but this is also fairly easy. While we're on the topic of computer use, anyone that wants to get more comfortable with the basics ought to be able to get up to speed at the Learning Center (computer lab). I don't know what the current person working in the lab offers, but it's worth a conversation. Sometimes the local libraries have free classes, too, so that's worth looking into. Keep in mind that every yime you talk to a case manager/social worker, they're billing your Medicaid for the "service", even though none of them is actually a health care provider. It's part of why I don't talk to them often, and refuse to give them my insurance information - I have plenty of real health issues to spend my Medicaid allotment on already, and don't need a rude surprise along the lines of "you've filled your quota for the year"...

Francesca Rossi Today

Remember Francesca Rossi, former Clinical Director at Kenmore Hall and gal-pal of Juan Thompson the mad bomber journalist? She's moved on to set up a practice as a licensed clinical social worker who counsels people dealing with cyberstalking, and calls her practice Thriving Through. She's essentially figured out how to make a living from her alleged experiences being cyber-stalked by her thug ex-boyfriend. Ironically (or not, depending on how you look at it) she spends a LOT of time on Thriving Through's website talking about how traumatic it can be for victims of cyberstalking to deal with being on-camera all the time, especially after the expansion of Zoom meetings during the Covid epidemic - and puts a high value on getting peoples' permission to put them on camera before insisting they participate in Zoom meetings and the like. The irony should be obvious to anyone living in Kenmore Hall, where tenants are on camera all the time - and subject to remote surveillance by Mr. Garcia, the security director. Want to see more? Google her: Francesca Rossi LCSW (the LCSW is important, because there's also an Italian mathematician with the same name), or look up https://www.thrivingthrough.com/ Oh, and if you're wondering whatever happened to Juan Thompson, he's back in jail for violating his parole. He was released from jail in December 2021. According to the RiverFront Times

According to court filings, Thompson "evaded" his court supervision in June and July by "making false claims of being hospitalized." He also failed to attend court-mandated counseling, filings say. Thompson's supervised release was officially revoked at a hearing in federal court yesterday morning. A judge sentenced him to four months in prison.

Here's the link to the full article: https://www.riverfronttimes.com/news/fake-st-louis-journalist-juan-thompson-headed-back-to-prison-38820695

If you're interested in her pathetic statement, condemning Juan Thompson at his sentencing, here's the link: https://www.thecut.com/2017/12/juan-thompson-cyberstalking-victim-francesca-rossi-statement.html

One of "Kenmore's Finest" showed up recently on a neighbor's Facebook feed: https://www.facebook.com/1156116234/videos/755554748792347 Jeez, I can't seem to get this link to automatically "connect", so I suggest you copy the top link and paste it into your browser.

https://nypost.com/2022/03/11/biden-plan-to-close-city-va-hospitals-is-a-thumb-in-the-eye-to-vets/?fbclid=IwAR2oGj6tLg3tY3bll7_PhLPgGzTZlpbFze9l5Czru69qSENF4q8gEq0OUjY

IF YOU'RE A VETERAN, YOU NEED TO READ THIS!

President Biden wants to shut down Veterans' Administration hospitals, and Manhattan's facility on 23rd Street is apparently on the list Here's a link to an article in The Post: Sounds like a catastrophe in the works - especially for a lot of Kenmore Hall's tenants. I'll try to find out which of our local representatives may be able to help convince President Biden that this is a huge mistake. I know there are tenants in the building who are MUCH more plugged in about this than I am (Doc? Christopher Smith?) so hopefully some of them will see this and leave comments about steps everyone can take.

A Halloween Trick

    Remember Sal Martinez, alleged tenant leader for many years? Tall, dark and ugly? Noisy and constantly stirring up trouble?

    He got evicted in August 2013, thank god - I was so relieved to not have to run into him in the building and neighborhood after that. 

    I'm just bringing him up because over the years, since then, I've heard about him through other people - he actually had fairly normal friends outside the building, believe it or not. Here's the thing, though - he's still dragging trouble around with him. I 've heard several stories about how he's continued playing "street lawyer", but that it's backfired and people have lost their homes because of his lousy advice. And according to the stories he tells, he's living rent-free at the house of someone he used to play poker with, "protecting" his very elderly mother while the former poker crony spends some time in jail. Geriatric gigolo? Oh, cringe. Seems that karma's still working properly, though - he's had a spell of Bell's palsy. Hard to think of him as uglier than he already was, but seems fitting. 

End of year updates

 I haven't been posting much over the past year and a half or two. There's been plenty to talk about, but I've been dealing with a lot of things OUTSIDE of the building. What I'd like to know at this point, though, is what issues do tenants feel are important right now?

Are you concerned about COVID and related pandemic issues? Has staff been helpful about providing needed information and resources?

Are you getting the additional benefits (like expanded SNAP, and unlimited talk, text & data lifeline phone benefits)?

If you don't have your own wifi service, are you still able to access the internet when you need to? The second floor was without wifi for a very long time because the community room was closed, and apparently the router was removed because staff didn't like tenants hanging out in the stairwells to use the wifi signal there. There are solutions to this, by the way... more on this later.

Has staff shared information about local sources of pantry and other forms of what's referred to as "mutual aid"?

I'd like to hear from tenants about what they need to know more about. I may be able to provide additional information that you need. 

Leave comments below: you can do this anonymously if you like. Also feel free to call 646-271-3474 or 347-850-2283,

 

Your Benefits Will Increase

https://pix11.com/news/local-news/snap-households-to-receive-maximum-benefits-in-october/?fbclid=IwAR1shnNXzgJGqtBfso_5IvpkXTH0BnYtLQGD4hHYEeSq8ZH2T2tluiWWHSM

Checking In

It's been a long time since I posted regularly. I haven't abandoned the blog completely, I've just been incredibly busy with other things. 

I'm planning new things for this fall and winter. I'm looking into additional ways to get information out to tenants - running a BLOG has been cheap & efficient for me, but not everyone has access to the internet in the building (let alone a computer or smartphone). I'm not sure that printing a paper newsletter is the answer, though... I'll post any bright ideas I have. One solution would be to get building-wide wifi installed (and there ARE ways to do this, especially because of the COVID-19 epidemic). I'm concerned that people without access to even a phone are missing out on a ton of valuable information (not just access to this blog). There are more companies offering Lifeline service now - it's not just Safelink and Assurance; new companies like QLink are popping up. 

I'm also thinking about starting a podcast to help relay information to tenants, and possibly create a Facebook page so that we can do livestream question & answer sessions.

Leave comments below to let me know what YOU think would be helpful.

The Eviction Moratorium Pause Ends Friday. Here's What You Need To Do

https://patch.com/new-york/parkslope/s/hg2ej/the-eviction-moratorium-pause-ends-friday-heres-what-you-need-to-do?utm_source=share-mobile&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=share

A "Commercial" for Housing & Services, Inc.

 TD Bank is apparently one of HSI's sponsors, and this little video showed up on YouTube profiling a tenant/advocate and HSI's miraculous services. Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yXVzdyRge0. Funny thing is that at Kenmore Hall, tenant advocacy by tenants is discouraged to the point where it would be more appropriate to say it's punished. I'm not saying people who have experienced homelessness shouldn't be grateful for a roof over their heads, but THIS guy seems like a total shill: nothing but glowingly positive things to say about HSI. Click on the link and take a look. Molly and Kristi both make appearances - and the building looks nothing like Kenmore Hall (it must be one of HSI's other properties). 

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traveling. For safety tips: https://on.nyc.gov/3gMf1S2. www.weather.gov/nyc.
Emily

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throughout the day. Flash Flood Watch & Tropical Storm Warning in effect for all 5 boroughs . Take caution when

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Fwd:
From:89361
Sent:Fri, Jul 10 20 11:34am
Msg: NYers are encouraged to prepare for heavy rain & strong winds