Mount Sinai Medical Center Receives Critical Data to Evaluate First Responders Affected by 9/11

Here is news on a small victory that should help 9/11 first responders. It's amazing that issues like retrieving important health data, RELATED TO OUR 9/11 HEROES, take a decade to retrieve.

Gregory
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Dear Friends,

I have good news to report on our efforts to help 9/11 first responders. After weeks of public pressure and negotiations, the City has finally agreed to hand over critical data to Mount Sinai Medical Center that will help researchers prove a link between the toxic debris at the World Trade Center site and the cancer many brave men and women have developed in the years since.

For months, the City stonewalled our efforts to secure this vital medical information —until now. The release of this data is an important step in the right direction, and we’ll continue working with our allies from the medical community and the Patrolman’s Benevolent Association to ensure every first responder who served on 9/11 and in its aftermath receives the justice they’re due.

Best,

Bill de Blasio
NYC Public Advocate

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio Seeks Volunteers for a Day of Service to Commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Here is a chance to participate in a day of service honoring Martin Luther King Day, organized by our Public Advocate Bill de Blasio.

Gregory

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Dear Friends:

Next Monday will mark the 27th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which we celebrate as a national day of service. It is a time to reflect on how far we have come, and on the work still ahead, in helping struggling families across our country. But for the 1.5 million New Yorkers who are malnourished or chronically unsure of where their next meal will come from, it is a day like any other. All of them, including hundreds of thousands of children, struggle with hunger every day and need our help.

> Click here to volunteer

Time and again, New Yorkers have demonstrated an incredible spirit of unity in the face of grave challenge. Last August, when Tropical Storm Irene was set to hit New York, scores of you responded to our call for action and offered to help your friends and neighbors in an hour of need. We saw the same spirit in December of 2010, when a historic blizzard brought the City to a standstill—and volunteers stepped up to ensure hospitals remained accessible and streets were plowed.

The hunger crisis we face today is no less immediate, which is why my office will partner with the NYC Coalition Against Hunger to hold volunteer events across the City next week to address this growing problem.

My staff and I will be joining local volunteers Sunday, January 15th between 8:30am and 4:30pm, and Monday, January 16th between 9:00am and 5:00pm, where we will work to distribute food and reach out to families throughout the City. We invite you to join us in celebrating the legacy of Dr. King by making a difference in the lives of fellow New Yorkers.

If you are interested in volunteering, please fill out this form and my staff will be in touch with further details.

Thank you, and have a safe holiday!

Bill de Blasio
Public Advocate for the City of New York

Public Advocate Bill De Blasio Scheduled to Appear on CNN en Espanol to Discuss Alleged Abuses in Privately Owned Detention Centers

Here is more on NYC Public Advocate Bill De Blasio and his push to investigate privately owned detention centers were alleged abuses are taking place. To hear more and make your own conclusion, he is scheduled to appear on CNN en Espanol later tonight. As our reliance on private prisons increases so should our diligence to make sure big business does not infringe on our human rights, regardless of our immigration status.

Gregory
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Dear Friends,

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio will appear on CNN en Español tonight in a segment about mistreatment of undocumented immigrants being held at private detention centers around the country. The Public Advocate has called on the Justice Department to launch an investigation into abuses in the industry. Tune in tonight at 7pm - CNN en Español, Channel 852 on Time Warner Cable.

Thanks,
Wiley Norvell
Press SecretaryNYC Public Advocate Bill de Blasio

IN 11th HOUR PUSH, PUBLIC ADVOCATE DE BLASIO BRINGS VOICE OF PARENTS TO CITY HALL

Public Advocate Bill De Blasio has taken the lead organizing and campaigning against teacher layoffs. Please do see the video below where De Blasio and his wife discuss the importance of class size and the need for educational models that support and protect our teachers. To join the grass roots campaign and have your voice heard, please do log onto the web site listed below. Hopefully the voice of the people will be listened to.

Gregory
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Parents Speak Out: Meet Bill & Chirlane from Joel Clark on Vimeo.

IN 11th HOUR PUSH, PUBLIC ADVOCATE DE BLASIO BRINGS VOICE OF PARENTS TO CITY HALL
Delivers petitions, testimonials and resolutions as parents stage call-a-thon opposing teacher cuts


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 20, 2011

NEW YORK – Public Advocate Bill de Blasio capped off a month of parent activism and outreach against teacher layoffs by delivering to City Hall over 7,000 parent petition signatures, dozens of video and audio testimonials from parents, and 18 resolutions from Community Education Councils, Community Boards and the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Council. The package represents enormous parent opposition to the administration’s plans that will shed more than 6,000 teachers as part of budget cuts.

See all the parent actions delivered today at: http://advocate.nyc.gov/ParentsAgainstCuts

“The parents of this city are speaking loudly if City Hall is willing to listen. Classroom teachers—not technology, not consultants, not office furniture—are parents’ number-one priority in education,” said Public Advocate Bill de Blasio. “From community board resolutions in Brooklyn to signing petitions at afternoon dismissals in Harlem to online video testimonials from Queens, parents are standing up against these cuts and demanding we find the will to keep teachers in front of our classrooms.”

In addition to delivering parent messages to City Hall, parent volunteers will hit the phones at the Public Advocate de Blasio’s office on Tuesday night, calling thousands of fellow parents across the five boroughs and urging them to register their opposition to teacher cuts through 311.

The efforts include:

7,177 petition signatures from parents who oppose teacher layoffs.

63 audio, video and written testimonials, including one from Public Advocate de Blasio and his wife, Chirlane McCray.


18 resolutions opposing teacher layoffs from:
· Chancellor's Citywide Parent Advisory Council
· Community Education Council 18, Brooklyn
· Community Education Council 15, Brooklyn
· Community Education Council 25, Queens
· Community Education Council 11, Bronx
· Community Education Council 12, Bronx
· Community Education Council 14, Brooklyn
· Community Education Council 9, Bronx
· Community Education Council 17, Brooklyn
· Community Education Council 3, Manhattan
· Community Education Council 30, Queens
· Community Education Council 1, Manhattan
· Community Education Council 6, Manhattan
· Community Education Council 31, Staten Island
· Community Education Council 7, Bronx
· Manhattan Community Board 7
· Manhattan Community Board 10
· Bronx Community Board 14