Beggers Shouldn't Be Choosers

The people I am stealing Internet from need a stronger router.  I keep losing the connection.

Thank goodness for people who don't protect their connections.

Overworked and Underpaid



Yesterday, on his way to the post office, my dad fell.  Thankfully, he is living in Co-op City, one of the best places in the city, and people were around immediately to help him.  A security guard called me twice, once to tell me what happened and that he called an ambulance and a second time to give me the name of the hospital.  The construction workers around stopped what they were doing to care for him.  The Bronx, and particularly places like Co-op City, aren't touted as good places to live, but as long as my dad can live alone, I wouldn't want him anywhere else.

The ambulance took him to Einstein Hospital, the hospital I credit with finding his cancer and saving his life.  And, while I will say thank you to the doctors for fixing him up, I will say BAH HUMBUG when it came to patient care.  We waited hours to see a doctor and even longer (almost two hours) for the nurse to bring the pain killer he ordered.  There was a machine behind my dad that beeped non stop and no one bothered to turn it off for more than a few minutes at a time.  Before we left a patient advocate let us know all we had to do was hit a yellow button and it was a shame we weren't told this.  My dad missed his turn at x-ray because no one came to pick him up and even when we were told we could leave, it took another hour and a half to get tubes removed and papers signed.

I had a long conversation with the patient advocate as we waited to depart and let her know all my concerns.  She listened, upset at what I told her and said to say something earlier next time.  The truth of the matter is I would have except I watched the poor staff run around, like chickens without heads, doing their best to take care of everyone.  No one was sitting around shooting the breeze or having a leisurely cup of coffee.  These nurses, techs and aids were providing the best care they could.  There just was not enough personnel to handle the patient load.  The PA that took care of my dad was a fine young man who was running in a hundred directions at once.  By the end of the night, I wanted to tell him to lay down in the bed my dad was vacating. (He looked like he needed it.)

ER's take care of sick people.  They save lives.  The people that work their deserve decent paychecks and the utmost respect from everyone.  Hospital administrators need to see how overworked and overwhelmed these people get and they need to do something to alleviate these working conditions because, unless these conditions are improved, lives will be lost.  But hey, ERs like this take care of us 99%ers and the people in charge don't much care.

Devastation In The Bronx

Co-op City opened up in 1969. It was the hope of the middle class, a chance to own something, a chance to give your family an affordable, brand new apartment, with all modern conveniences. It was a dream come true for the people moving there, people moving from walk up tenements and city housing projects. It was the chance to have a life many thought they would never be able to afford.

My family was one of the first residents. In those days, people moved in according to the floors their apartment was on. We were on the fifth floor and were assigned the third day. It was so exciting. We were getting a terrace and my sister and I were going to share the huge master bedroom with two closets. I still get tingly thinking of our first night in the apartment.

It took five years to complete the complex and after the initial move, people waited years for apartments to become available. I knew I wanted to live there when I first got married so we added our name to a list way before the date.

Today, Co-op City should still be a wonderful place to live. The people that live there are still some of the best people in the world. Everyone is friendly and helpful and caring. But, it takes more than fantastic people to create a desirable neighborhood.

The buildings of Co-op City are coming apart. They are surrounded by barbed wire fences, blocking off exits and paths to the once majestic outdoor areas. Yes, there are still gardens like the one here

but the scaffolding and the barbed wire fences make the area look more like a war zone than a family oriented neighborhood.
And now, to add insult to injury, the staff of Riverbay is on strike. Management wants to cut health benefits to these already underpaid workers in exchange for a 2.3% raise. Garbage is piling up, and there was even a dead rat or bird (I refused to get close or my picture would be better) on the side of one of the buildings.

The people that live in Co-op City are hard working, middle class people. They need and deserve a quality place to live. They work hard and should be getting what they pay for. At this time, they are not. The politicians don't care. They never did. They allowed this magnificent city to be built with sub par materials and then hired cheap, inefficient contractors to fix the mistakes. What has happened here is a crime.

Co-op City, the dream come true has now turned into a nightmare for so many.