Brooklyn Ron

Explaining Economy, Bush Shows Ignorance That Astounds and Frightens

When I heard President Bush's first words on the tube, I was so stunned that I immediately turned away from the care-giving task that should have demanded my full attention.

Fortunately the object of my interrupted care giving survived without any pain, trauma or -- for that matter -- any awareness that my mind had wandered to the idiot on the screen.

I wish I could say the same for the country, that it has not suffered because of the idiocy of this president who I used to think was pretending when he sounded like an uneducated spurner of things wise or well phrased.

Here's Bush introducing his remarks about his planned ka-billion dollar bail-out of the money bundlers, telling us why he decided to "act and act boldly."

Brace yourselves:

"It turns out that there's a lot of interlinks throughout the financial system. The system had grown to a point where a lot of people were dependent upon each other. And that the collapse of one part of the system wouldn't just affect a part of the financial markets. It would affect the average citizen."

I heard this and was stunned that the leader of the free world could sound so uninformed and simple minded, like a Candide whose stupidity by its very boldness can wreak havoc on millions around the globe.

Countless Americans who consider themselves weak on the basics of the economy would be embarrassed to give remarks like that; they would do anything -- sacrifice all sleep and comfort -- to study and consult and think, in order to avoid sounding so sophomoric and, really, moronic.

I shudder as I ponder the implications of the reality that underlies all this: that this man was voted into his high office by a majority of the American people.

Well, you know what I mean.

[photo is by AP's Pablo Martinez Monsivais.]

In Emerging 'New Brooklyn,' Prosecutors Must Protect Victims of Economic Violence

The term 'New Brooklyn' is being used quite a bit these days, a reflection of the powerful real estate forces transforming the borough.

There are good things about gentrification. It revitalizes communities suffering from disinvestment and it adds a stability to neighborhoods suffering high levels of crime.

But there is a very painful flip side to gentrification. In this borough of Kings, it has meant the welcoming of new princes even as it turns countless native old-timers into paupers.

This social phenomenon is not in and of itself evidence of crime; but the realities of today's real estate market in Brooklyn, with all the pain it is inflicting on those down the economic ladder, were foreshadowed by an unchecked explosion of predatory lending back in the 1990s and early years of this century; and along the way there were committed many more crimes than were ever punished or prosecuted.

Let's say it loud: Predatory lenders are some of the most heartless, and in their own way, violent human beings out there interacting with other human beings. We have met women who've said they were strong-armed by contractors into signing for work they did not need on their homes, and then into taking out exorbitant loans to pay for the work they did not need.

Those who are aware of these crimes also know that predatory lending has to be an issue next year in the next race for Brooklyn District Attorney. Voters and those not yet eligible to vote will have to press candidates on what they have done and what they will do to protect the most vulnerable in our cut-throat economy.

The sad truth is that law enforcement officials have done relatively little to deter predatory lending criminals, little to make examples of them as they committed egregious crimes in Brooklyn and sections of Queens and the Bronx, victimizing countless senior citizens, often black women living alone.

Many victims lost their homes, and we are convinced that some died premature deaths from the incredible stress they were made to live under.

And of those who were responsible for that suffering, you will not find many -- maybe none -- in our jails.

To the contrary, some of them even strolled into a kind of respectability.

For example, a short while back, one of the worst lenders of the preying variety was Delta Funding. Often using tough and conscienceless contractors as intermediaries, Delta bilked many New Yorkers out of their homes and into the poor house. And then, when the heat turned up a bit on Delta, with a couple of negative news articles and a little noise-making by a couple of state legislators, the company got PR religion and was rescued from any serious punishment or even castigation.

Among those who helped Delta along the way into its newfound respectability was ex-Mayor David Dinkins' former chief of staff, Bill Lynch.

All of this reflection comes to mind following a recent invitation from Brooklyn D.A. Charles Joe Hynes, extended to some Brooklyn bloggers. His publicist stated clearly that Hynes did not want to discuss the upcoming election.

But it did seem that the election had to be on his mind, given that the last two of them, in 2001 and 2005, yielded up competition that was stronger than many had anticipated.

In a web search, we noted an interesting 2005 article in StayFree magazine. In it then-candidate Mark Peters, formerly of the State Attorney General's office, which under ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer did in fact put pressure on some predatory lenders, strongly criticized Hynes for not doing enough about this crime that is really an economic mugging and, in some cases, arguably, like murder.

"Brooklyn has become a real epicenter for predatory lending. We're talking millions and millions of dollars a year," Peters said.

"That's a fraud that needs to be prosecuted criminally by the D.A."

The conversation between bloggers and D.A. Hynes last week touched on predatory lending, and Hynes expressed his determination to do more about it, but no data were offered showing the extent of the crime or the prosecution of it.

As the evening drew to a close, Hynes went off to a community meeting convened by Congressman Edolphus Towns.

The topic of the gathering: predatory lending.

Paul Moses' Reporting Shows Issue of Displacement Transcends Color

Paul Moses - former city editor of New York Newsday, book writer and now professor at Brooklyn College - has always been drawn to stories about the poor and powerless.

When Brooklyn Ron was doing grunt work of street reporting at Newsday several years back, it was Paul who encouraged him to write extensively about the plight of Mexican immigrants, especially undocumented day laborers in Brooklyn and Queens.

Over the past two years - as Paul worked on a a book about St. Francis of Assisi, organized a new Center for the Study of Brooklyn, and taught his journalism classes - he also wrote reams about the current hot real estate market in Brooklyn, and how it hurts powerless renters, homeowners and business people in the borough, some of whom have been forced to relocate (i.e. been displaced).

One case was that of Herb Engler [photo], who for 36 years owned Penn State Fabricators in Greenpoint, where he and his employees cut discs out of aluminum sheets, making cushions for pile drivers.

Wrote Paul in the Village Voice: "Now, his business is set to meet the wrecking ball, and the promised buffer of aid for factory owners has turned out to be about as solid as a press release."

Then there's the retiree Ann Thompson, forced out of her apartment on Fourth Avenue by a rezoning that some say is designed to turn that wide avenue into a Brooklyn version of Park Avenue, with little or no room for folks like Thompson.

There's also retired police officer Roger Owens, whose life as a homeowner came to a noisy screeching halt because of nearby construction that itself was  allowed by rezoning. Writing of Owens' experience, Paul noted, again in the Voice:

"Such is life in the rezoned world of Williamsburg and Greenpoint, where even the most rooted property owner can wind up homeless on a minute's notice and where longtime tenants, both residents and businesses, are subject to massive rent increases, eviction, and harassment."

Giving us, in yet another article, the hard experiences of the Jaramillo family, Paul says their case proves the borough is being assaulted by "a flood of dangerous construction" and rising rents, which together are displacing black, white, yellow and brown residents.

All of this brings to mind words uttered by Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries several days ago, as he announced the opening of a new "Operation Preserve" to help those facing displacement in neighborhoods near Downtown.

Said Jeffries (in The Brooklyn Paper): “The displacement of low- and moderate-income residents from our community is not a black issue or a white issue, it is all about the color green . . . This must end, and it must end now.” 

What Will Obama Do About the Housing Crisis in Central Brooklyn?

                                                                                                 

We need to know soon exactly what Barack Obama will do about the subprime crisis that has led to so many foreclosures of homes.

It seems from quick Internet searches that Hillary ("The Frigidaire") Clinton has been more out front on this issue, offering a plan to freeze interest rates and create a multi-billion dollar pool to help those homeowners hard hit by the crisis.

No single community has been affected by this crisis as much as Central Brooklyn, with Bed Stuy/Crown Heighs topping the national list of zip codes with home foreclosures.

This is a crisis affecting many tens of thousands and it is not getting enough attention.

The accompany map here, prepared by the wonderful Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project (NEDAP), shows so clearly how this terrible and painful problem is affecting Central Brooklyn, Eastern Brooklyn and Southeast Queens.

Appropriately enough, the foreclosure-heavy areas are in blood red.

In Race for Brooklyn Borough President, It's Fighting Time

The election for Borough President of Brooklyn is two years away, but already it's heating up and the two main declared candidates are squaring off.

Bill de Blasio got into it with Charles Barron, with Barron pulling out (as they say) the race card and beating up on de Blasio for voting against the renaming of a street after deceased and controversial black activist Sonny Carson.

De Blasio should be thankful for one thing: At least (as far as we know) Barron didn't threaten to have him assassinated, as Barron's former chief of staff, Viola Plummer, suggested might happen to black Queens Councilmember Leroy Comrie when Comrie abstained from voting for the street renaming.

But this early stage of the race is down and dirty enough anyway, and one only wonders how low it will go. Down to the groins? Barron gave every suggestion that it just might.

Race will clearly be a factor in Brooklyn. Though demographers say the black population of Brooklyn is dropping, it is still, and will be for a long time, a very black borough, more than 30 percent of residents being of African descent.

De Blasio, who is very progressive on social issues by Council standards, hopes to easily counter assertions by Barron that he is against the interests of black people.  For one thing, de Blasio backed Brooklyn Congresswoman Yvette Clarke last year when she was up against white Councilmember David Yassky, who many considered to be an obnoxious white interloper.

One significant issue distinguishing Barron and de Blasio is that Barron opposes the building of Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards and de Blasio (though he has been lately silent about it) has supported it.

The News' article on the race was fairly interesting.