Posted on 06/03/2009 8:55:28 AM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
The constant hum of the air conditioning units across the street could be heard clearly from Ralph Moss's home.
At a word, they were shut off. Sounds of talking neighbors rose through the silence.
"My front porch has become my haven, and my haven is threatened," Moss said, sitting on his porch on North Albany Street. "It's so much of a nuisance, I have to go inside and close my doors and windows to get some peace."
Moss has lived in the neighborhood facing the east entrance of Beverly J. Martin Elementary School on and off since 1982.
The newest addition to the neighborhood bothers him more than a little bit. Several air conditioner condenser units nestled in the shadow of BJM were installed a few weeks ago in a spot where Moss's neighbors were planning to plant a garden with students from the elementary school.
Residents of the block between Buffalo and Court streets say the condensers pose a safety risk for young children and show disrespect for two trees planted there in memory of Bob Navarro, a former principal of BJM, and Rashad Richardson, a seventh-grader killed in 2001. Richardson's tree is now within an enclosure surrounding the condensers....
Jeff Bercuvitz, Moss's next-door neighbor and liaison to BJM for the informal North Albany Neighborhood Association, said the buzz is evidence of an attitude in ICSD that is contrary to its own stated goals of equity and school-community partnership.
"I see some real classism and environmental racism here," Bercuvitz said. "Our assertion is that if the same concerns were raised by a rich, white CEO in Cayuga Heights ... the district would respond."
The street is a heterogeneous mix of backgrounds and ethnicities, Bercuvitz said, with white, black, Latino and Tibetan families living in a tight-knit neighborhood, where the average income is $30,000 or less.
Bercuvitz said for the most part the residents on North Albany have accepted that inconveniences are a part of life when you live next to a school - especially on the side with the bus drop-off. But, "we're not a service area for the school," he said.....
Board members said they hope to abate the sound rather than move the units to the roof, which would cost an estimated $100,000 and require new designs and submitting the plans to the state education department
“”I see some real classism and environmental racism here,” Bercuvitz said.”
I see the typical leftist bullsh** myself.
holy smokes. hybrid "isms."
We're so progressive, even our "isms" have "isms."
AC systems are racist .....crazy idgits !!!
This really reminds me of something that you’d see on “South Park” or “the Goode Family.” You have a school that is predominantly minority students and the liberals are trying to prevent the kids from having air conditioning...all in the name of OPPOSING racism.
“environmental racism” ??? There’s a new one.
As frustrating as California gets, I’m forever grateful that my Dad found his career HERE, instead of Ithica, where he was right before I was born.
Stop enviromental racism! Put the units up on the roof. Raise their taxes. Make the young leftists in the making sweat until they do.
Dude! Dey was disrespectin’ da tree! You don’ be disrespectin’ da tree, else dat tree be on yo’ ass wit’ a quickness!
WTF is wrong with these people?? Pardon my language but for chrissake what in the hell is environmental racism??? These people must sit around all day and think of new things to be offended by and new terms to call them. I really am starting to HATE these people!
There ain’t but one word in the dictionary that describes that level of stupid. That word is “liberal”.
Stuck. On. Stupid.
That's OK, Liberals LOVE paying more taxes and submitting government forms. They just love it!
Bears constant repetition...
It's a Fashionable Liberal Concept. It refers to the allegedly deliberate choice to put polluting conditions in minority neighborhoods.
You would know this if you had cocktails with liberals more often.
;-)
Tell me again, in what country am I living??? You've got to be kidding me.
See post 16.
Of course he’d be whining about racism if the white kids got nice AC but the black school didn’t.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
