Tenant president stands up for residents

This is a story I just finished about a 67-year-old woman who is president of the tenant association at a public housing development in the East Village. It's also posted on Pavement Pieces here, with some really colorful, entertaining audio. Take a look!

By RACHEL WISE

One morning in early April, an elderly woman awoke to find her stove was no longer working. The woman, who lives in Jacob Riis public housing in the East Village, contacted the maintenance call center to report the problem.

The operator told her the earliest they could fix her stove was May 29. And when she continued to follow up on the request, the operator told her to stop calling. That’s when Odell Tamias, president of the Jacob Riis Tenant Association, stepped in.

“That is unacceptable! You know how Spanish people like their coffee,” Tamias said with a chuckle, before a stern expression swept over her face. “Seriously, though. I don’t play. I really don’t.”


Tenant president stands up for residents
Audio, Features — By Rachel Wise on April 30, 2010 at 7:56 pm | Edit
Odell2

Odell Tamias, president of the Jacob Riis Tenant Association. Photo by Rachel Wise

One morning in early April, an elderly woman awoke to find her stove was no longer working. The woman, who lives in Jacob Riis public housing in the East Village, contacted the maintenance call center to report the problem.

The operator told her the earliest they could fix her stove was May 29. And when she continued to follow up on the request, the operator told her to stop calling. That’s when Odell Tamias, president of the Jacob Riis Tenant Association, stepped in.

“That is unacceptable! You know how Spanish people like their coffee,” Tamias said with a chuckle, before a stern expression swept over her face. “Seriously, though. I don’t play. I really don’t.”

Odell Tamias explains her outrage over the operator’s response.

Odell Tamias, 67, has lived at Jacob Riis Houses for 43 years, but for the past five years, she’s served as president of the tenant association. Her job is to help tenants with any housing-related issues, on a volunteer basis.

“Basically, I’m the medium between housing and tenants. Someone has to stand up for them,” she said.

Jacob Riis is a public housing development comprising 19 buildings and 1,764 apartments. Its borders are East Sixth and East 13th streets, and Avenue D and F.D.R. Drive. And it is home to 4,305 residents.

Tamias was born and raised in Columbus, Alabama, but moved to New York City when she was only 17. She worked odd jobs at factories in Long Island and Manhattan in the 1960s, and moved from place to place, usually staying with friends or family members.

“I didn’t become a prostitute or drug addict, thank God. I’m surprised. But you can’t change a person, especially from South,” Tamias said. “I was doing OK. I was never, like, homeless or anything like that.”


Tenant president stands up for residents
Audio, Features — By Rachel Wise on April 30, 2010 at 7:56 pm | Edit
Odell2

Odell Tamias, president of the Jacob Riis Tenant Association. Photo by Rachel Wise

One morning in early April, an elderly woman awoke to find her stove was no longer working. The woman, who lives in Jacob Riis public housing in the East Village, contacted the maintenance call center to report the problem.

The operator told her the earliest they could fix her stove was May 29. And when she continued to follow up on the request, the operator told her to stop calling. That’s when Odell Tamias, president of the Jacob Riis Tenant Association, stepped in.

“That is unacceptable! You know how Spanish people like their coffee,” Tamias said with a chuckle, before a stern expression swept over her face. “Seriously, though. I don’t play. I really don’t.”

Odell Tamias explains her outrage over the operator’s response.

Odell Tamias, 67, has lived at Jacob Riis Houses for 43 years, but for the past five years, she’s served as president of the tenant association. Her job is to help tenants with any housing-related issues, on a volunteer basis.

“Basically, I’m the medium between housing and tenants. Someone has to stand up for them,” she said.

Jacob Riis is a public housing development comprising 19 buildings and 1,764 apartments. Its borders are East Sixth and East 13th streets, and Avenue D and F.D.R. Drive. And it is home to 4,305 residents.

Tamias was born and raised in Columbus, Alabama, but moved to New York City when she was only 17. She worked odd jobs at factories in Long Island and Manhattan in the 1960s, and moved from place to place, usually staying with friends or family members.

“I didn’t become a prostitute or drug addict, thank God. I’m surprised. But you can’t change a person, especially from South,” Tamias said. “I was doing OK. I was never, like, homeless or anything like that.”

Odell Tamias explains her experience avoiding alcohol and drug use.

Then in 1967, Tamias got married and had a son. When her son was only 8 months old, she applied for housing and was accepted. She moved into Jacob Riis Houses — when rent was only $68 per month. Although she got divorced in 1972, she and her son continued living at Jacob Riis. And it didn’t take long before she became involved in the community.

“I have been living here for 43 years. … I was always involved when something happened,” she said. “When there was another president … I would volunteer my service. I could not be doing nothing — I’m not like that. I have to be doing something.”

Before she became president, Tamias served as tenant patrol supervisor — a part-time job for which she received a small stipend. For 12 years, she was responsible for the safety of tenants at Jacob Riis. Every night, she patrolled the grounds and checked on tenants. After that, she became vice president of the TA.

During her time as president, Tamias said she has done “what’s expected” of her but doesn’t think she’s done anything “special.” But history, and tenants, tells a different story.

“I think she’s great. Always friendly and happy to help,” said Maria, a 12-year resident of Jacob Riis who declined to give her full name. “I know when I’ve had a problem, she really helps to work it out. And she’s got a great spirit about her, too.”

One thing Maria pointed to is Tamias’ ability to build a sense of community among residents, specifically citing her organization of Family Day.

Every summer, Tamias is responsible for putting together a Family Day celebration.

“Politicians give us money, and housing gives us money. And we buy franks and burgers and ice cream. … And we have a DJ and clowns, and sometimes (a bounce house),” Tamias said.

But Tamias takes it a step further: She also provides gifts for all the children who come to Family Day, sometimes using her own money if funds run out.

“I buy book bags for the boys and girls for when they go back to school in September. I put everything in there: the pencils, the pens, the eraser — all kinds of little stuff for them,” Tamias said. As she continued to describe the day’s events, her excitement grew and her eyes lit up. “I love to just help, you know, just buy stuff for the kids.”

In addition to community building, Tamias also has made great strides to improve the security at Jacob Riis. When she became aware of safety issues in the development — such as break-ins and robberies — she immediately took action.

“I did the petition to get surveillance cameras for every building,” she said. “I got over 600 people — 700 people (to sign). It’s supposed to keep out the undesirables.”

The “undesirables,” according to Tamias, are the “drug dealers” who invade the premises and stay with friends in several of the buildings.

“I have a whole apartment of drug dealers in my building — in my building,” she said. “I told the police, I told everybody. … There ain’t nothing much else I can do.”

Sibyl Colon, manager of Jacob Riis Houses, agrees with Tamias that drug addicts and dealers are a big issue in the community.

“(Tamias is) very proactive in trying to get rid of the drugs,” Colon said. “We have constant meetings with the police … and relay the information on.”

And while these drug problems are a source of frustration for Tamias, they’re not the only thing.

“The hardest part of my job is when (maintenance) stuff does not get done fast. … That is what is bothering me. It’s the same thing, week after week,” Tamias said.

She said the problem stems from a lack of funding to hire the proper staff who knows how to fix the issues that plague Jacob Riis — “leaky walls, broken this, broken that,” according to Tamias.

“There’s a lot of work shortage here … because of the budget,” Tamias said. “They got the people that clean the grounds (working on) infrastructure problems. They need a contractor to come in and fix the leaks inside the wall because these people don’t know how to do that.”

But all of this wouldn’t be as hard to handle, she said, if it weren’t for the issues tenants have when they contact the maintenance call center.

Tamias said she has seen dozens of apartments with various problems, but no matter what the problem is, she always hears the same response.

“They’ll tell you a month from now. I swear … it doesn’t matter what you call for, they’ll tell you a month from now,” she said.

Sometimes, Tamias admits, the issues she faces seem overwhelming.

“When I first came here it was beautiful. You know, nice, quiet. But now … it’s gone to the dogs, I think,” Tamias said. “It was like the nicest development in the whole Lower East Side … but now it changed. It has changed, trust me, over the years.”

Despite the problems, Tamias is determined to help Jacob Riis become the development she knew 43 years ago.

“She cares about her community. It’s a volunteer position, so you have to really care to do it,” said Sibyl Colon, manager of Jacob Riis. “She has definite leadership qualities, and the residents respond well to her.”

For more than 20 years, Tamias has served her community. But in only one month, Tamias’ reign could be up. The election for TA leaders is set for May, and the winners will be sworn in in June.

“At first, she wasn’t going to run again,” said Epifania “Fanny” Rodriguez, 62. Rodriguez is TA vice president and Tamias’ longtime friend. “But I told her she had to. She’s done a good job — she really has.”

When tenants and friends urged Tamias to run again, she gave in. She said she’d be happy to be president again, but for a shorter term.

“Two years — I think I can deal with that, right? I don’t think I’ll drop dead in that time,” she said, erupting in laughter. “That’s all I can say. And if they still want me, they vote for me.”

Some good news for print journalism?

If you're talking about "the state of print journalism," or in any way critiquing traditional media, I can almost guarantee what you're going to say: It's bad news. Numbers are bad; readers are dwindling. It's bad, bad, bad.

But what if it's not all bad?

I had begun to give up hope that I'd ever hear any positive news about print media. In fact, sometimes I'd begun to give up hope about media in general. Everyone is so negative, and I feel like it's all we ever talk about.

But then I saw this report: Naples Daily News reports a 22% increase in circulation. That is, print circulation. You know ... newspapers. You remember those, right? (Juuuust kidding. Sort of.)

I was particularly pleased about this report, not because I think it's changing the game or even a trend that will have any significant impact, but because I used to work at the Daily News. And I still have a lot of friends and former colleagues there. And not only that, but I think Naples Daily News is an incredibly strong publication with some really, really talented journalists on staff. Their photo staff is one of the best in the country. Their Web and multimedia teams are amazing. And their reporters, editors and copy editors are just really great people.

But, mostly, it's just nice to hear some good news once in a while.

Pavement Pieces

I can't believe I haven't blogged about this before — but it's time I do. Have you checked out Pavement Pieces lately?

For those of you who haven't, I urge you to. Pavement Pieces is an online publication that features the work of NYU graduate journalism students, mostly those in the Reporting New York and Reporting the Nation programs. And for the past nine months, I have been editor of this publication, taking it from a basic, slightly messy version through an elaborate redesign in September to its current incarnation.

We officially relaunched the new Pavement in October, showcasing our coverage of Navajo Nation.

In fact, just last week we learned that we — by way of our Navajo package — are a finalist for the Harry Chapin WHY award — up against the New York Times and Denver Post. Needless to say, we were thrilled and very honored to hear about this!

And if you need further incentive to visit Pavement Pieces, I point to the latest stories we've posted. There have been some incredibly powerful stories — and very compelling multimedia — generated by my talented colleagues.

Darren Tobia recently reported on a transgender woman and Jersey tabloid who are at odds over a recent report about the prostitution arrest of Coy Gordon of West New York. His audio slideshow is creative and interesting and a joy to watch.

Liz Wagner produced a phenomenal story about a Muslim woman who has been a victim of domestic abuse and who struggles to find the resources to help her in New York. The audio segments she included are chilling and very moving.

Alex DiPalma wrote about a fun, lesser-known sport: hard-court bike polo in the Lower East Side. Her details of the sport and characters she interviewed made for a really fun read.

And Amanda VanAllen covered a story about "soul-food diseases" and their negative impact on the health of the black community. She also produced a slideshow featuring some of these delicious "soul-food" dishes. It was so funny and creative.

Obviously, the pieces we feature are diverse, dynamic and truly innovative — there's something for everyone.

I hope you take a look at the site, and don't forget to follow Pavement Pieces on Twitter and 'like' Pavement on Facebook!

'People are gray'

When the Pulitzer Prize winners were announced recently, it was particularly exciting for my Reporting New York class (at NYU) and me. We learned that Barbara Laker and Wendy Ruderman won for investigative reporting for their work at the Philadelphia Daily News. My professor and program director, Yvonne Latty, worked at the Daily News for several years and considers Barbara Laker one of her mentors — and a dear friend.

So last week, we had a conference call with Barbara Laker to talk about the series that won her the Pulitzer. The series — "Tainted Justice" — "exposed a rogue police narcotics squad, resulting in an FBI probe and the review of hundreds of criminal cases tainted by the scandal," the announcement reads.

Talking to Barbara was a joy because it was so clear how invested she is in the series. Her dedication and excitement was infectious, and it was really great to hear about how she and Wendy "hit the streets of Philadelphia" day after day and month after month. I think it was, in a big way, paying homage to the traditional idea of journalism that has become a rarity in the modern newsroom.

But what I took away from our conversation with Barbara was an understanding of the importance in being so invested — so immersed — in the story. Barbara talked a lot about how she envisions herself in the shoes of the people she interviews. She tries to understand what it feels like from their perspective to better convey the little details.

One of my favorite things she said was in reference to a video that was part of the series. The Daily News obtained surveillance footage from one of the raids led by the narcotics unit in a bodega. She talked about how closely she watched that video to glean the particulars.

In the video, one of the police officers, who was at the center of this entire controversy, was seen talking to a young person and allowing him to leave as the other officers searched the place, questioned the owner and cut wires to disable the video camera — seemingly for no reason. Barbara said how easy it is to assume people are all good or all bad, but that she saw a different side of this officer based on his interaction with the young man.

"People are gray," she said.

I couldn't agree more. And the series, which was reported so fairly and with such detail, was an inspiring, thought-provoking read. I highly recommend taking a couple hours and looking through the articles.

After cuts, rat problems in E. Village could worsen

A sign in the Creative Little Garden on East Sixth Street warns
visitors to clean up trash to prevent rat infestations. Photo by Rachel Wise

Faruk Mohammed recalled dozens of mornings when he’d show up to work and find signs of intruders. Packages seemed to be torn open, and their contents covered the floor.

Mohammed, who works at Akter Grocery at 106 Avenue B, set traps, hoping to catch the offender. When he returned to work the next morning, he was shocked to find not just one but five intruders — five fat, gray rats stuck in traps.

“We’re losing business because of rats,” said Mohammed, 32. “We had to move all the shelves around because they bite everything.”

Mohammed is one of many East Village residents affected by rat infestations. And unfortunately for them, things could potentially get worse in the coming months.

On March 30, amNewYork reported the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene plans to reduce the number of pest control aides by almost 70 percent — cutting 57 of 84 full-time positions.

Pest control aides are workers who respond to complaints called into 311 and from community boards about rats; they conduct inspections and work to rid troubled areas of rodent infestations when owners fail to act.

According to officials from DC37, a union for public employees in New York City, four of six workers in Manhattan and one of two supervisors will be cut.

Amy Geung, who lives on E. 10th Street across from Tompkins Square Park, worries about how these cuts will affect the neighborhood.

“I’ve lived here seven years, and each year (the rat problems) have gotten better,” said Geung, 41. “If they cut those positions, what will happen? Probably, it will set us back.”

Geung says her apartment building doesn’t seem to have problems with rats but plenty of other places nearby do.

“You see the rats in some areas a lot — like near trash or dirty vacant lots. In those areas, (you see) one rat trap after another,” she said.

Mohammed said rat traps are necessary in his store because of the amount of trash that accumulates.

“The basement is all garbage. But where I live (on First Avenue), there are no signs of rats,” he said. “I think garbage is the key.”

Michael Rivera, co-owner of Beyond Pest Control at 80 First Avenue, agrees. Rivera said there are some parts of the East Village that are hit hard.

“St. Marks is one place that’s heavily, heavily hit. All the street shops there, and the transit system,” Rivera said. “People are generally not clean, and that attracts rats. There’s no real cure for it.”

Rat traps, like this one on East Fifth Street, can be seen throughout
the East Village, usually near trashcans outside apartment buildings.
Photo by Rachel Wise

The health department couldn’t say how often pest control aides are sent out, and Community Board 3 didn’t respond when asked how often complaints are reported in the East Village. But Rivera said he gets calls daily about rat problems in Manhattan. As for the East Village specifically, Rivera said, “it’s hard to say.”

But Steve Rose, who works as a superintendent on East Sixth Street, around the corner from Akter Grocery, and manages the Creative Little Garden also on East Sixth Street, tells an entirely different story.

“I live on the ground floor. … I’ve been there thirty-five years, and I’ve seen all of five rats. People tell me they see them in the garden, but I’ve never seen them,” said Rose, 59. “It doesn’t seem to be a problem.”

Rose admits he keeps his properties very clean, which might make all the difference. In his apartment building, he keeps trashcans sealed and indoors. In the garden, rat traps are set and trash is kept to a minimum.

In a statement, the health department maintains “proposed cuts focus on the services that would have the least adverse impact.” Officials said the pest-control program will “continue to answer complaints about rats, conduct inspections, exterminate, issue violations for rats and garbage … (and) proceed with the indexing initiative which was recently expanded to Manhattan.”

The indexing program is detailed in the Rat Information Portal, an extension of the NYC.gov Web site, which provides specific data “to proactively identify the presence of rats in neighborhoods, and to compare the severity of infestations among blocks and neighborhoods.” Using the RIP complaint tracker, users can zoom into specific places in the city to determine whether an area shows signs of rats, problem conditions or has passed inspection.

Additionally, the RIP provides a 10-page guide on how to prevent and control rat problems. The health department reminds residents to store garbage in rat-resistant, sealed containers; to trim shrubs and keep landscaped areas free of tall weeds; and to check for and repair cracks or holes in buildings and sidewalks.

The pest-control aide cuts represent just 35 percent of staff cuts the health department plans to make, which could save the city as estimated $1.5 million. Almost every city agency has been asked to reduce spending by at least 15 percent to help New York City close its $2-billion deficit.

While it’s uncertain when these proposed cuts would go into effect, it would likely be at the start of the new fiscal year, which begins July 1.

Visit the Rat Information Portal and see your neighborhood statistics at https://gis.nyc.gov/doh/rip/.

Grammar geeks unite!

On April 16, during a session at the annual American Copy Editors Society, the folks in charge of AP Style announced a significant change. Immediately after that announcement, @APStylebook Tweeted: "Responding to reader input, we are changing Web site to website."

As soon as I saw that, I retweeted it. After all, I've not always been called the "Walking AP Stylebook" for nothing. I'm grammar-obsessed. I love all things to do with copy editing, grammar and style. And, of course, I expected my fellow grammar geeks to Tweet about the change, which they did.

But what I didn't expect to see were so many people buzzing about it — many of whom don't usually take an interest in these kinds of things. But for some reason, this change was a particularly hot topic.

Stemming from the Twitter buzz, I came across two really awesome links. The first was a sort of reaction piece from The Poynter Institute — Some Cheer, Jeer AP Change from 'Web site' to 'website.'

The second link I came across has less to do with the AP Style change and more to do with grammar in general. It's a list of the 50 best blogs for grammar geeks, many I've seen before, but plenty I haven't. These blogs are great resources for answering grammar-related questions or just having a place to go to discuss nerdy things with like-minded geeks.

And, in case you're not like me and don't share my bizarre love for grammar and style, here's something you can enjoy. Yes, it is about grammar, but it's light-hearted and very funny.

Even more in the surveillance-camera debate

Last night, I decided to try my hand in Stumbling — or browsing the Web using StumbleUpon. For the most part, I wasn't impressed. I came across some mildly funny quotations and pictures, some cool nature photos and some less-than-impressive tech blogs.

I was about to call it quits when I StumbledUpon this page: a wiki entry entitled "How to Watch Security Camera Streams on the Internet."

The entry insists if you enter one of the dozens of codes they provide into a search engine, you will find yourself watching a random surveillance camera monitoring a random place somewhere in the world. Skeptical at first, I plugged in a few of the codes and, indeed, found myself watching over parking lots, street corners, city views, highways and even inside some businesses.

Inside of some pet-grooming shop.

A highway ... somewhere in the world?

I'm uncertain whether these are live streaming or pre-recorded. I think both. On one video, it was several hours ahead, across the globe, and another claimed it was footage from October 2005.

Nevertheless, this certainly complicates my argument on surveillance cameras. In my first entry, I argued these cameras were seriously breaching our day-to-day privacy. In my second, I said there was a great deal of good cameras potentially could do. Now, I'm somewhere in the middle.

Certainly, they can be advantageous — no doubt. But with systems designed to be open-ended like some of these, or easily hacked (The entry does say, "If you have to break through an existing login system, it's most likely illegal." Good to know. ...), is that really in anyone's best interest? Some of these monitor public places, but others have the capacity to tilt and zoom the camera, making it easy to become less of a surveillance tool and more of a stalking mechanism. Creepy.

But, then again, technology is heading quickly toward a state of omnipresence, so shouldn't we almost expect we're always being watched? Is this actually all that surprising?