Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

You may recall the early June fiasco when several Chinatown bus services were shut down by the government, which cited serious public safety hazards on those carriers.

Now, Greyhound, cited by many Chinatown bus riders as overly pricy and un-flexible with regard to drop-off points, is looking to corner that market. Spokespeople for Greyhound clarified the company has not yet decided where to locate the bus stops, and must first go through the approval process with Community Board 3, reported DNA Info. The City has the right to designate such stops, and a bill currently pending would make it even easier for officials to track bus carrier business.

Catching a bus out of the city is going to get a whole lot pricier for many riders.

—Alissa Fleck 

SILVER URGES OPENING SCHOOL FIELD TO PUBLIC
Last week, in an open letter to Department of Education Chancellor Dennis Walcott, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver asked for the Seward Park High School Field on the Lower East Side to be reopened to the public.
The DOE only recently restricted access for nonstudents to the four handball courts, three tennis courts, six basketball hoops and track. In the letter, Silver reminded Walcott that 10 years ago, he helped the school win a “Take the Field” grant. Silver noted the grant “provided for extensive renovations, turning it into a thriving recreational space that served our area so well.” Silver said local communities are suffering from a lack of open spaces that encourage physical exercise and prevent childhood obesity.
“We should be providing more opportunities for our children to engage in safe, healthy physical activities, not shutting down public access to our parks,” Silver said.

CRABS IN CHINATOWN
Wednesday morning, during rush hour, numerous crabs escaped from a bucket that fell on the road during a delivery to a local Chinatown market. Bystanders, shop workers and a deliveryman all blocked traffic on Lower Eldridge Street trying to catch the scurrying shellfish.
Bowery Boogie, the Lower East Side website, reported that about a dozen people armed with plastic bags gathered the crabs on the street. Whether any of these crabs made it to the dinner table or a store shelf remains unknown.

CHANGES TO METROCARDS
This month, the MTA has increased the timeframe in which an unlimited MetroCard can be swiped at the same turnstile in an effort to combat fraud.
Scammers are currently making a profit by buying monthly subway cards for $104 and then selling a single swipe for less than $2.50, the price of a single ride pass. Scammers often jam vending machines, which prevents passengers from purchasing their own tickets. The MTA claims these practices are costing millions of dollars each year.
The Daily News reported that the MTA has changed turnstiles at 28 stations where they found fraud to be especially high. By increasing the time between swipes from 18 minutes to up to 60 minutes, the MTA hopes scammers will have to buy extra MetroCards to rotate during waiting times. With the longer waiting periods, it will be harder for scammers to make a profit.

ANONYMOUS ONLINE POSTING PROPOSAL
Last week, the New York State Assembly and State Senate proposed a bill that would require all New York-based websites to “remove any comments posted on his or her website by an anonymous poster unless such anonymous poster agrees to attach his or her name to the post and confirms that his or her IP address, legal name and home address are accurate.”
State Sen. Thomas O’Mara, who is sponsoring the bill, said the legislation would help prevent cyberbullying. According to a National Crime Prevention Council survey, about 40 percent of teenagers have experienced some form of cyberbullying.
Assemblyman Jim Conte, a co-sponsor of the bill, said in an online statement that if passed, the bill would also prevent anonymous users from criticizing local businesses.
“The legislation will help cut down on the types of mean-spirited and baseless political attacks that add nothing to the real debate and merely seek to falsely tarnish the opponent’s reputation by using anonymity on the Web,” Conte said.
The legislation would require website administrators to remove any anonymous comments from their pages upon request. Users would not have to reveal their identity when making a complaint for removal.

Saturday, Nov. 12, K-12 grade students gathered at Battery Park City School, the city’s first “green” school, for the seventh annual Jane Goodall Roots and Shoots Northeast Youth Summit. Students traveled from all around New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Jersey, as did environmental and humanitarian leaders from across the region, to participate in the event. The group built reflective mobiles for skyscrapers to deter migrating birds from collisions, made dog and cat toys from reused materials for local animal shelters and created a peace-themed collage from recycled materials to be displayed at the school.

The Jane Goodall Roots and Shoots program was founded in 1991 by Dr. Jane Goodall and a group of Tanzanian students. The program focuses on making positive changes in communities, for animals and for the environment.

Chinatown
PIONEERING BIG BELLY TRASH COMPACTORS

Last Wednesday afternoon, on the corner of Canal and Mott streets, City Council Member Margaret Chin and members of Community Board 3 held a press conference to unveil Chinatown’s newest effort to go green. The Chinatown Partnership has teamed up with Big Belly Solar to install solar-powered Big Belly trash compactors in the neighborhood. The compactors have a unique green energy sensor that monitors how full the cans are and sends a message to the unit’s command center when the trash needs to be compacted. The sensors also monitor when the garbage must be collected, which cuts down on unnecessary collections that waste fuel and increase pollution.

Chin noted the financial gains the city stands to make from this installation. The compactors hold roughly five times more garbage than regular trash cans, so the city will pay less for trash collection. This program was implemented in Philadelphia, where collections were reduced from 17 to 5 in one week, with immediate savings of 70 percent, according to the Big Belly website.

Lower Manhattan
RIBBON-CUTTING CEREMONY AT MEDHATTAN

Doctors Leslie Miller and Alicia Salzer, co-founders of Medhattan Immediate Medical Care on Liberty Street, hosted the ribbon-cutting at their new facility Monday, Nov. 14. The Medhattan center is a state-of-the-art medical facility that provides the luxury of a high-class hotel chain to ease the all-too-painful hospital experience.

Patients can expect snacks, plush robes and a host of unanticipated amenities, including wellness services such as acupuncture and massage. As many New Yorkers know, luxury has its price. However, the goal of this facility is to provide luxury at a discount. According to the press release, “Medhattan promises luxury that patients can afford, with visits costing as little as $200.” As cold and flu season hits full swing, a hospital visit is often an unfortunate reality, but New Yorkers may be more willing to spend some time at the new Medhattan Immediate Medical Care Facility—in plush robes and slippers, of course.

Students Margaret Christman and Sara Healey make mobiles as part of the Jane Goodall Roots and Shoots program, which focuses on making positive changes in communities.
Photo courtesy of the Jane Goodall Roots and Shoots Program