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Volume XX • Number 9 • Feb. 28 - March 6, 2013 •
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Opposition to Putnam Trail paving won’t go away By KIMBERLEY HYATT In October 2011, Save the Putnam Trail advocate Matthew Turov exposed the controversy surrounding the Putnam Trail improvements in Van Cortlandt Park, asking “Why does the trail have to be improved with deforestation? Why does it need to be 15 feet wide?” The questions were raised then at the public Environmental Forum at the Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale, co-sponsored by Assemblyman
Jeffrey Dinowitz, Bronx Councilman Oliver Koppell and State Senator Adriano Espaillat. The issue, then and now, is the hot button question of cutting down 400 trees and paving the trail with asphalt. Shutting down further debate on the matter, Turov said in a phone and email chat with the Riverdale Review that Koppell argued “there are plenty of trees in Van Cortlandt Park”. At press time, Koppell was unavailable for comment, on these
Teachers union endorses Cohen
By REVIEW STAFF behalf ostensibly without his knowledge, The powerful United Federation of thus skirting campaign spending limits. Teachers has taken the unusual step of The U.F.T. is one of New York’s most casting their lot with a local City Council prestigious public unions representing candidate early in the election approximately 200,000 school race. Perhaps a reflection of the teachers and employees, in his discord between the teachers bid for the City Council’s 11th and principal Donna Connelly district seat in the Bronx. It is at P.S. 24, the union has come believed that approximately down strongly on behalf of 4,000 current or retired U.F. political newcomer, Andrew T, members live in this City Cohen. Council district. Cohen’s main opponent, “Andrew Cohen underClifford Stanton, is a former stands the issues and concerns co-President of the P.S. 24 of parents and teachers,” said Michael Mulgrew Parent’s Association. MemMichael Mulgrew, President of bers of that group’s leadership have been the United Federation of Teachers. “We are critical of the teachers at the school for proud to support his candidacy for City their lack of enthusiasm for the educa- Council, knowing that he will continue tional policies of Dr. Connelly, a psycholo- to fight for smaller class sizes and ensure gist who favor a controversial approach that our children and our community called “social and emotional learning” have a voice at the table.” which puts concerns such as bullying The UFT endorsement is the latest in a above academic achievement. Teachers line of high profile early endorsements for routinely make their displeasure known Cohen, who seeks to succeed term-limited through the school environment section Councilmember Oliver Koppell. In addiof the official school report card, a segment tion to the UFT, Cohen has now received which routinely results in an “F” grade for the support of City Council Speaker Dr. Connelly. Christine Quinn, Public Advocate Bill In 2011, a key Stantion ally and con- de Blasio, Manhattan Borough President tributor, Joseph Zizzo, acting as the “official Scott Stringer, Congressman Eliot Engel, spokesperson” for the Parents Association State Senator Jeff Klein, Assemblyman Jefleadership, criticized the teachers saying frey Dinowitz and City Councilmembers that, “it is the teachers’ job to live up to the Oliver Koppell and James Vacca. standards of their new principal, it is not the “I am honored to receive the supprincipal’s job to please the teachers.” port of the UFT, one of our great public The fallout was so great that Zizzo unions here in the city, and view their was forced to retreat from his remarks. endorsement as a validation of my strong But the schism was now out in the open commitment to education,” Cohen said. and established Stanton and his allies as “As an assistant adjunct professor, I know antagonistic to the veteran teaching staff, firsthand just how dedicated our educators who are widely believed to be responsible are to their students. It takes a village--or for the long-term success of the school. in our case a city--to raise a child, and if we Stanton’s vocal support of the expan- want to give our kids the best educational sion of charter schools into the area was experience possible, we need to have a viewed as another slap at the teachers and government that treats our teachers as their union. He is a member of the Board of partners, not adversaries. Only together Trustees of the Tech International Charter can we make our schools more responsive School, and actively tried to recruit fami- to the needs of the community, whether lies of local students from the neighbor- it’s by strengthening our Parent Associahood public schools to jump ship. tions or ending the practice of teaching Stanton is widely expected to win to standardized tests. I am proud to stand “super-PAC” support of the pro-charter with the UFT, and look forward to working “Students First” group bankrolled by Mayor with them on behalf of our students as Bloomberg, money that will be spent on his Councilman for the 11th district.”
remarks, reminiscent of the statement of former Vice President Spiro Agnew who once memorably declared, “once you’ve seen one tree, you’ve see them all.” An email sent by the group in February
2013 to spread this response also lists the contact information of Council Speaker Christine Quinn, asking to “tell her we desperately need a leader on this issue.” Continued on Page 9
Manhattan College looks back to the ’60s By CAROLYN QUEST On December 13, 2012, Manhattan College broke ground on the new student commons named after Raymond “Ray” W. Kelly, Commissioner of the New York City Police Department and a member of Manhattan College’s class of 1963. The College is naming this new addition on campus after Kelly to honor his achievements since graduation. As a current student,
this made me wonder what the college was like when Kelly attended school here, and what and how his life and times and compared with ours. I took a trip to the archives to find out. One of the first surprising, yet fitting, parallels I found was that when Kelly was a freshman, the college was as now undergoing massive physical improvements to Continued on Page 14
When Police Commissioner Ray Kelly was a student at Manhattan College, the campus was a hotbed of political activism on all sides of the issues.