It looks like the Sound Shore Medical Center, specifically, the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program will present a 4 hour workshop in concert with our local health club, Retrofit, on September 29 in the SSMC Auditorium located on Grover Johnson Place. The hours appear to be between 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM. Some areas to be address and actually open to audience participation are (1) exercising, (b) healthy cooking, and (c) healthy eating.
More information will surely follow and Talk of the Sound will be one source of up to the minute information. I encourage you to reserve space once the full details are known and I trust the City will include this positive expression of Community Sponsoring on their communication links.
This is how things should generally work. What it does is put the question of large vs small government into play, but not so much in absolute terms, but in relative terms. The second proposal on the Armory is a classic case of putting the cart before the horse or at least not reworking the proposal to make it more community accessible.
Less exposure to bicycle repairs, hydrophonics, local organic produce and more to understanding that we have lots of people of color, lower or middle class, economically deprived, or seniors on fixed income who make choices based on need as well as want. OUr more affluent or informed citizens have no trouble taking a short trip to Pelham Manor or Eastchester to find two state of the art facilities that house the sorts of product lines talked about in the presentation.
Thus, while applauding the ideas, subscribing to them and practicing the nutrition and healthy eating ideas, more urgent applications, applications directed at community in need people, is called for. The Armory cries out for any and all potential community services that improve health, quality of life, employment… concentration on veterans to be sure….. and senior and student services as well as building or reinforcing our too thin cultural base.
This is why I am excited over this partnership sponsored by WIC. I don’t want to see any government mandate the size of our soft drinks such as we see in NYC. That is an aberration of democracy and their are better ways of addressing the laudable outcomes of healthier people.
Same goes for the overstatements made so frequently about “community use of the waterfront.” This, too becomes sophistry in the sense that any such commitment requires a reexamination of our true waterfront areas such as Five Island and Hudson Parks and to see how we can and should simplify ALL residents having use. It can and should be simplified and a better approach taken is County at Glen Island Park.
I would like to encourage council members who head up districts with large percentages of people of color or people from a Hispanic culture, to ask whether they are satisfied with how the City addressses building new facilities such as housing or city yards.
A truly integrated city looks to build housing for disadvantaged people no matter what color, nationality or age…. criteria is need….. throughout the entire City. Often this is the way a truly integrated and socially accepting community is built and nurtured. So, put up some condominiums or similar facility on Pinebrook Boulevard and look for a salt dome or other DPW space in Wyakgl.
What should be a shared value, a shared mission is the restoration and renewal of our business district with all of its positive effects on the well being of citizen equity, morale, and supported by decentralizing services from Fortress 515 from North Avenue where it could be both seen and heard.
Mayb we need a confirming referendum on the Charter to move forward?
But, definitely, we need to vigorously support what Sound Shore and Retrofit seem to be up to on September 29.