TWF 267: I'm speaking at Adelphi University about The Weekly Freeporter and more!

Hello, Freeport!

I hope you're ready for an announcement that's left me, honestly, stunned!  Well, you've read the headline already so chances are you know!  On October 6th I'm speaking at Adelphi University about my experiences in hyper-local journalism and politics (it's a non-partisan event!).  That's right!  You've heard me correctly!  It's an awe-inspiring event, so let me give you the details.

The Details

What:  "Decisions 2016:  Why your vote matters at all levels"

When:  Thursday October 6th, 2016, 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Where:  Adelphi University, Blodgett Hall room 201

Who:  Well...

The History Department, in particular Dr.  Cristina Zaccarini, has been helping us organize this and is far and away an incredible person to work with.  She's written three books on China and, well, her faculty website profile will do more to tell you about her than I ever could.

Our headline speaker is Jamie Diamond, a close friend of mine and a fellow alumni.  She was heavily active in the Buffalo For Bernie movement (now called Liberty Union Progressives), where she helped organize events in support of Bernie Sanders' run for office.  I wrote about some of the things she was up to over on The Daily Kos.

We're hoping to add a number of current students to our list, including, hopefully, campus Democrats and Republicans.  We might even get a former candidate or two to join us!

As for me?  I'll be talking about what I've experienced with The Weekly Freeporter.  I'm probably going to re-enable some old articles for viewing, especially the Hurricane Sandy stuff, but that's a time consuming prospect (you've gotta remember, I've written over 250 articles, here, and I have to comb through them myself after work some day).  Since we're all (mostly) Freeport people here, right?  The list of interesting topics includes...

 - How The Weekly Freeporter got started.

 - Garbage for Gold

 - Hurricane Sandy

 - Freeport Gerrymandered

So if you want to hear my honest thoughts about those fun times, what it was like to cover them, and why it's so essential that you know your local politicians and be engaged with the county and state levels of politics, come on through!  See you in about half a month!

TWF 266: Freeport Gerrymandered

Greetings,

Today I went to vote.

Carmen Pinyero is taking on Earlene Hooper, and if the words "Garbage to gold" mean anything to you, you know why that's an important election.  If not, here's why:  Hooper once tried to sell Freeport on building an incinerator.  Why, yes, there is a picture of Hooper and former Mayor Andrew Hardwick in a promotional video for this Simpsons-seque scheme floating around.  I just re-enabled that article on this site!

Anyhow, we're here to discuss something I found out when I went to my polling place - Freeport as a community is split between the 18th New York State Assembly district and the 21st.  What's this mean?  It means that if you live south of an imaginary line, you're in a different district - with a different representative.  And guess what?  You can't vote in the other election.

Hooper's 18th district looks something like this, image courtesy of New York State libraries.

How is Freeport Gerrymandered?

I've written about Gerrymandering before for The Hill, in particular criticizing Florida.  I know I say "guess what" a lot, but guess what?  The 18th district is severely gerrymandered, as you can no doubt tell by the fact that the district looks more like a horse-shoe than it does a sensible geographic region.

Gerrymandering, for those of you who don't know, is (in a nutshell) when the lines of a particular representative district are drawn in such a way that the representatives get to choose their electorate, and not the other way around.  Oh, it might not be a deliberate case of a particular representative choosing a particular thing, but political parties (both Republican and Democrat) are notorious for creating "safe seats."  Given that people at one polling place informed me that they'd had to turn away over a dozen people who wanted to vote, but weren't eligible to vote down the block from their house because they were in a different district, well...

Let's just say that there's something very un-just happening in our town.  In this case, it's the fact that northern Freeport is in one district, southern Freeport is in another, and therefore the village as a whole does not get to have one representative.  Instead, our northern representative also represents Roosevelt, Lynbrook, parts of Hempstead and other communities that, while lovely, might not have our best interests at heart.  South Freeport is connected to Merrick as well as other south-shore communities; also totally fine places to live, but not necessarily putting Freeport first.

If you need a hint:  When Earlene Hooper was proposing the incinerator, she wasn't planning on building it in her district.

That's all; make of it what you will.


For more information about gerrymandering, watch CGPGrey's awesome videos about "Voting in the Animal Kingdom."

TWF 266: Freeport Gerrymandered

Greetings,

Today I went to vote.

Carmen Pinyero is taking on Earlene Hooper, and if the words "Garbage to gold" mean anything to you, you know why that's an important election.  If not, here's why:  Hooper once tried to sell Freeport on building an incinerator.  Why, yes, there is a picture of Hooper and former Mayor Andrew Hardwick in a promotional video for this Simpsons-seque scheme floating around.  I just re-enabled that article on this site!

Anyhow, we're here to discuss something I found out when I went to my polling place - Freeport as a community is split between the 18th New York State Assembly district and the 21st.  What's this mean?  It means that if you live south of an imaginary line, you're in a different district - with a different representative.  And guess what?  You can't vote in the other election.

Hooper's 18th district looks something like this, image courtesy of New York State libraries.

How is Freeport Gerrymandered?

I've written about Gerrymandering before for The Hill, in particular criticizing Florida.  I know I say "guess what" a lot, but guess what?  The 18th district is severely gerrymandered, as you can no doubt tell by the fact that the district looks more like a horse-shoe than it does a sensible geographic region.

Gerrymandering, for those of you who don't know, is (in a nutshell) when the lines of a particular representative district are drawn in such a way that the representatives get to choose their electorate, and not the other way around.  Oh, it might not be a deliberate case of a particular representative choosing a particular thing, but political parties (both Republican and Democrat) are notorious for creating "safe seats."  Given that people at one polling place informed me that they'd had to turn away over a dozen people who wanted to vote, but weren't eligible to vote down the block from their house because they were in a different district, well...

Let's just say that there's something very un-just happening in our town.  In this case, it's the fact that northern Freeport is in one district, southern Freeport is in another, and therefore the village as a whole does not get to have one representative.  Instead, our northern representative also represents Roosevelt, Lynbrook, parts of Hempstead and other communities that, while lovely, might not have our best interests at heart.  South Freeport is connected to Merrick as well as other south-shore communities; also totally fine places to live, but not necessarily putting Freeport first.

If you need a hint:  When Earlene Hooper was proposing the incinerator, she wasn't planning on building it in her district.

That's all; make of it what you will.


For more information about gerrymandering, watch CGPGrey's awesome videos about "Voting in the Animal Kingdom."

TWF 265: Preparing For Hurricane Hermine

To all,

Hello!  It's been a while!  I'm posting this mainly because of a sense of nostalgia, but also because our community is once again facing a very serious hurricane threat and I felt obliged to do my share in pointing it out.  Without further ado:

Hermine.

As ABC News points out, it's a major "post-tropical Cyclone" (or something specific), but is expected by NJ.com to strengthen back into a Hurricane.  The below image, courtesy of Channel 7's Accuweather, is a depiction of the Tropical Storm warning for our area heading into Labor Day Weekend.

I'm no meteorologist, but from what I have read over the course of preparing for this storm, it is roughly comparable to what we experienced with Hurricane Irene:  Approximately four foot storm surges, serious rain and significant winds.  In short:  This is no joke.  Take this seriously, make sure your yards are clear of debris and make sure you have at least a flashlight and some batteries.

I believe we've been through this situation enough in recent years that we know how to handle it, but in the unlikely event this becomes a severe situation, don't panic.  Damage can be repaired, homes can be rebuilt, but our common heritage as Freeporters will never be broken.

On future updates and old posts.

I'm afraid I'm not coming back to do the blogging thing, as I'm unable to call Freeport my home any longer, however I may use this blog from time-to-time to alert people to emergency situations effecting our region or other significant news regarding our community.

Additionally, I may make some of this site's prior reporting available again on a limited basis, depending on what I feel is significantly important to Freeport's history.  In particular, I'm mainly considering making my live-blogging of Hurricane Sandy available, and working with my old co-conspirator Jason Bass to make sure his amazing video of that era is out there.

Finally, I want to offer a belated condolence to the family and friends of Shawn Oliver, who I remember from Freeport High School.  Farewell.