Subject: May 2011 Community Update
From: "Assemblyman Jonathan Bing" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 24 May 2011 10:30:11 -0400 (EDT)

In this Issue:
• The Time for Marriage Equality is Now
• Bing Testifies
Against the Re-opening of the E. 91st Street Marine Transfer Station
•
Assemblyman Bing Headlines Organized Retail Crime Conference
•
Assemblyman Bing to Address AARP-Upper East Side Chapter
• Summer Reading
Challenge
• Space Shuttle Enterprise Lands at Intrepid
• Museum of the
City of New York Summer Student Programs
• PS 198 Wins Award for Cutting
Energy Use
************

The Time for Marriage Equality is Now
 
With
a Governor, Assembly, LGBT community, and a majority of New Yorkers
supportive of marriage equality, 2011 must be the year in which equal
rights for all comes a step closer to realization by the recognition of
same-sex marriages. This is a fundamental issue of fairness and equality
for which I have been fighting since I was first elected to the Assembly
nine years ago.
 
I have always been a strong supporter of marriage
equality and the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered
community.  I am proud to have been one of the ten original sponsors of
the first marriage equality legislation introduced in the Assembly during
the 2003 session, and I have co-sponsored legislation supporting same-sex
marriage each year I have been in office.  I voted for and the Assembly
has passed marriage equality legislation on three occasions, but the
Senate defeated the measure in 2009. This year, the Senate must stay true
to the ideals upon which New York State prides itself by passing same-sex
marriage legislation.  
 
I have previously introduced and sponsored
numerous bills in support of the LGBT community.  This session, I have
reintroduced legislation (A. 1234) that would prohibit judges from
preventing a parent from undergoing gender reassignment as a condition of
receiving custody.  I am also a co-sponsor of legislation which has
recently passed the Assembly (A. 2807) that would require health insurance
plans to provide insurance coverage for domestic partners when such
coverage is requested by an individual or employer group purchasing
insurance.  In 2010, I co-sponsored legislation that was signed into law
(Ch. 509) permitting unmarried partners to adopt a child.  Further, I am a
sponsor of legislation (A. 5039) that has previously passed the Assembly
prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity or expression, and
including offenses regarding gender identity or expression under the hate
crimes statute. 
 
As the fight for equal rights continues, I will
remain committed to advocating for the LGBT community. It is my hope that
the State Senate will follow the Assembly's lead on this issue, one which
rests upon one very simple, yet incredibly vital, principle: equality for
all New Yorkers.

************

Bing Testifies Against the Re-opening
of the E. 91st Street Marine Transfer Station
 
This month, the New York
City Council Finance and Sanitation and Solid Waste Management Committees
held a hearing on the 2011-12 New York City sanitation budget and the
re-opening of the East 91st Street Marine Transfer Station (MTS).
Assemblyman Bing delivered testimony to the Council opposing the reopening
on the grounds of environmental, health and safety concerns.

The
current plan provides for a MTS at 91st Street with a capacity of 4,290
tons per day of collected waste from four Manhattan Community Board
Districts as well as commercial waste, and on peak days there could be
more than two hundred trucks per day or a truck every seven minutes.
The re-opening of the MTS would place an undue burden on thousands of
nearby Yorkville residents, the tenants of the Stanley Isaacs Houses and
Holmes Towers, the 6,000 neighborhood residents who frequent the Stanley
Isaacs Neighborhood Center, and the 40,000 patrons and 134 schools,
businesses and non-profit organizations that use Asphalt Green each year.
In fact, for many area residents, Asphalt Green is the only nearby
facility of this type that offers these amenities. Situating a waste
transfer station on the premises with hundreds of garbage trucks rumbling
past daily will radically alter the environment and profoundly impact the
function of the park.
 
Yorkville is a residential neighborhood that is
restricted from commercial truck traffic by the New York City Department
of Transportation and should not have garbage trucks drive by every
several minutes, twenty four hours a day, six days a week. It is
imperative that the few parks and pools that we have on the Upper East
Side not be surrounded by a fleet of hundreds of idling garbage trucks
increasing our children's risk for asthma. In fact, New York City's
highest asthma rates are found in the 10029 zip code, which is only a few
blocks away from the waste transfer station.
 
Re-opening the East 91st
Street Marine Transfer Station will endanger the safety and health of
countless community residents. Based on the neighborhood's demographics
and the proximity to services and institutions frequented by children and
seniors, it is clear that the MTS will have a large, negative impact on
this community.

************

Assemblyman Bing Headlines Organized
Retail Crime Conference
 
In April, Assemblyman Bing was invited to
address the New York State Retail Council's Organized Retail Crime
Conference in Albany. Organized Retail Crime is a significant problem in
many major cities, and New York has been the epicenter of such crime.
Assemblyman Bing's district is home to many of the world's largest
retailers and encompasses many retail flagship stores such as Saks 5th
Avenue, Bloomingdale's, Bergdorf Goodman, Barney's, and FAO Schwarz.
Organized retail crime is comprised of a wide spectrum of high-volume and
highly-organized theft rings that typically steal goods from large retail
stores and then resell the items on the black market. Organized retail
crime annually costs retailers as much as $30 billion nationwide and New
York State taxpayers as much as $70 million in potential sales tax
revenue. Further, consumers wind up paying higher prices for goods due to
thefts that have occurred and also may unwittingly be purchasing goods on
the secondary or black market which do not meet proper health and safety
standards.
 
In recognition of the importance of this issue, Assemblyman
Bing has authored three pieces of legislation that would give law
enforcement the tools needed to effectively combat organized retail crime
and the attendant crime of identity theft:
 
A. 7785 - This legislation
would create an omnibus law which would criminalize organized retail
theft, make it easier for prosecutors and district attorneys to prosecute
organized retail crime and would increase penalties for perpetrators of
such crime.

A. 7784 - This bill would increase the penalty for stealing
property with the use of an anti-security item such as a "booster bag".
A. 3838 - This legislation is a comprehensive identity theft package that
was authored in conjunction with Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance,
and would streamline and modernize the tools needed to effectively
prosecute perpetrators of identity theft. This legislation is a crucial
component of the battle against organized retail theft because it not only
affects the individuals whose identity is stolen, but also the retailers
that process transactions who may not know that the information they are
being given was in fact fraudulent.

************

Assemblyman Bing to
Address AARP-Upper East Side Chapter
 
On Thursday, June 9, at 1 pm,
Assemblyman Bing will address the Upper East Side Chapter of the AARP to
discuss critical issues affecting senior citizens, such as housing, health
care and social service issues. The event is open to all seniors, and will
be held at the Immanuel Lutheran Church on the corner of East 88th Street
and Lexington Avenue.

************

Summer Reading Challenge

This
summer, Assemblyman Bing will again host his annual Summer Reading
Challenge in conjunction with the New York State Library.  The Summer
Reading Challenge is available for students in pre-K through middle
school, and covers a wide variety of genres including picture books,
mystery, humor, history and sports.  Children who read for at least
fifteen minutes a day for 40 days will receive a New York State Assembly
Excellence in Reading Certificate.  

To obtain this year's Summer
Reading Challenge materials, please contact Assemblyman Bing at
212-605-0937 or [email-masked].

************

Space
Shuttle Enterprise Lands at Intrepid
 
Intrepid is honored to have been
chosen by NASA as the new home for Enterprise (OV-101), the first Space
Shuttle Orbiter, to help perpetuate the legacy of one of our country's
greatest technological achievements. Enterprise will be the centerpiece of
a new multi-million dollar, state-of-the-art Space gallery at the Intrepid
Museum Complex, complete with educational, interactive and exciting
exhibits telling the history of space exploration and the future of space
flight.  Visit www.shuttle2nyc.org to learn more about this exciting
expansion and how you can help support it!

From Wednesday, May 25
through Monday, May 30, Fleet Week 2011 will be taking place at Intrepid.
The parade of ships will take place the morning of May 25.  During the
rest of the week, visitors can tour military ships as they visit New York
Harbor and view military displays and Broadway performances on Intrepid's
Pier 86.  For more information, visit www.intrepidmuseum.org.
************

Museum of the City of New York Summer Student Programs
Students in the sixth through eighth grades may join the Museum of the
City of New York for a three-week summer program investigating the past,
present and future of New York City. Participants will engage in
content-rich discussions, hands-on activities and lessons, projects, and
field trips. Through the program, they will gain access to the Museum's
collections and exhibitions, meet New York City experts such as historians
and urban planners, and explore various neighborhoods and institutions. In
addition, participants will research and interpret a variety of sources
from the Museum's collections and exhibitions.
 
The programs take place
from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and are entitled: Planning Urban Places and
Spaces (July 18-22); Headline! How New York Newspapers Made New York (July
25-29)' and, Who is New York? Collecting Stories from Recent Immigrants
(August 1-5)

Applications are due by June 17, 2011. Please register
early. For more information, contact [email-masked].

************
PS 198 Wins Award for Cutting Energy Use
 
Earlier this month, New York
City Public Schools Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott announced grants to the
top 10 public schools which reduced energy consumption during a month-long
competition called the Green Cup Challenge™.  PS 198 on the Upper East
Side was one of the winners, reducing its energy consumption by 3.8%. The
competition was created by the Green Schools Alliance, a nonprofit
organization of public and private schools whose aim is to reduce the
carbon footprint through energy conservation.  This was the second year
that the City Department of Education (DOE) participated in the challenge
and it is the first year grants were made available. The competition ran
from March 4 through April 1.  

************

Assemblyman Jonathan
Bing
360 East 57th Street, Mezzanine
New York, NY 10022
(212) 605-0937
(212) 605-9948 (fax)
[email-masked]
www.assembly.state.ny.us
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