The communities surrounding the park are diverse and lower income, with 75% of the surrounding residents being people of color and 40% living below the poverty line. Corona, a heavily immigrant neighborhood adjacent to the park, has the worst childhood obesity rate in the entire city at 51%.

In the waning days of the Bloomberg Administration, the park is being targeted as a building site for several of the Mayor's stated "Legacy'' projects. Corporations are eager to acquire valuable land at low cost and wi.th generous public subsidies for their own developments. The park and surrounding communities are under siege by corporate and political interests seeking to exploit this valuable public asset at the expense of the largely working class,immigrant population of Queens.

One of the three proposed projects is the Urtited States Tennis Association's (USTA) bid to expand their already sizable footprint inside the park by capturing an additional .94 acres to their leasehold. The USTA estimates that the NTC expansion would bring an additional 10,000 spectators per day dlu·ing the U.S. Open. The proposed $500 million renovation would include the consh-uction of a third tennis stadium, renovations to enlarge two existing stadiums, two new parking garages, a new road, up to 170,000-gsf of new retail space, and a dirty diesel­ fueled power plant.

This report examines the revenues and profits USTA has at its disposal as a result of their special siting within Flushing Meadows Corona Park. It further studies how much economic development occurs in the surrounding communities as a result ofUSTA's presence. Finally, this report will explore the extent to which the NTC is really open to the public as paikland.

Six months later, the acute need for mold remediation across New York City has not abated, and mold’s disproportionate impact on low-income and immigrant communities has resulted in displacement, sickness, and continued crisis in Sandy-affected neighborhoods. Major community-based organizations with roots in those neighborhoods have stepped in to help construct solutions. Members of the Alliance for a Just Rebuilding, a coalition of labor unions and community, faith-based, environmental and policy organizations across New York, have begun to survey residents in order to meaningfully assess the post-Sandy mold crisis across the city. In March and April, Faith in New York (formerly Queens Congregations United for Action), Make the Road NY, and New York Communities for Change conducted phone and door-to-door surveys across the Rockaways and in Staten Island, reaching almost 700 households. Feedback from residents forms the basis for this report’s analysis of the threat of mold in hurricane-ravaged neighborhoods and our recommendations on how city leaders should respond to the crisis.

Running through the center of Bushwick is Knickerbocker Avenue, one of the major shopping streets in the neighborhood. The street extends nearly a mile from the Knickerbocker Avenue stop on the M line of the subway to just beyond Maria Hernandez Park. Along this vibrant Avenue of stores are more than 175 stores employing hundreds of people from the neighborhood.

The People Prevailed at Make the Road’s Second Annual Membership Assembly

Reactions to the Assembly

Community Forum in Memory of José Sucuzhanay

Lack of access to earned paid sick time disproportionately impacts small businesses and their employees in low-income, Latino, and immigrant neighborhoods, including neighborhoods such as Bushwick, Brooklyn, Jackson Heights and Corona, Queens and Port Richmond, Staten Island. According to a recent survey conducted by the Community Service Society of New York, about two-thirds (64 percent) of low-income workers in New York did not have access to any earned paid sick time in 2011. More than three quarters (76 percent) of low-income Latino workers had no earned paid sick time coverage (compared to 61 percent of low-income white workers). And more than two thirds (70 percent) of low-income immigrant workers had no earned paid sick time coverage (compared to 61 percent of U.S.-born workers).

State Attorney General Orders New York Pharmacy Chains to End Discrimination

Family Member Beaten by Police

Meet Pascacio Sanchez, member

This report concludes that the Responsible Restaurant Act (Intro 569), currently under consideration by the City Council, would help to improve restaurant practices by encouraging the city to license only responsible employers when issuing or renewing operating licenses. The Act is an important step for the City Council to take to ensure that our restaurants act responsibly and better protect workers.

From our early years working to combine legal services, education, and community organizing in Jackson Heights and Bushwick, we had big dreams about what kind of city and state New York can be. And we had the audacity to believe we could build an organization with the sophistication and muscle to deliver on those dreams.