How To Fix the Voting System

Why are we pretending not to know there is a problem with how we are counting votes, or not counting votes? We can count a dollar down to a fraction of a penny, but we can't count votes. I'm over 50. I can't be that stupid.

Here’s how to fix the voting system in America.

Use the current library system as polling places. They are already wired for the Internet. Have folks cast from secure connections from either their home computer (with digital id and password) or go to their local library where possible. If neither option is available to the voter, the town halls, etc. can be used.

For the election, disconnect the public machines from the internet and let them count votes with a real-time CD backup of the voting. No external access during voting other than between the voter and his/her voting file. Even if a machine goes down during the voting process, use another and the non-functioning one can be corrected after the election with sufficient witnesses.

Each vote can be printed out, like you print out an Excel spread sheet, one approved copy with the polling place, and one with the voter. The hard copy can have a machine number on it to help with any necessary recount based on citizen verification.

Once a machine is open for voting, no human access allowed until counting time. No external media or adjustments allowed in the machine.

I’ve been thinking about this for a long time.

I lived in NYC from the early 1970’s to the late 1990’s. In the early 90’s I was helping a friend, Al Davis, run for congress against Charles Rangel. Under Rangel’s rule, Harlem went into the pits, from a place of hope to one of deep despair. Crack and AIDS hit the community hard, cancers and a high infant mortality rate added to the depression. Harlem's political leadership kept the focus on music and hopelessness. “Live from the Apollo” rarely featured anyone from Harlem. The Empowerment Zone became known as the disempowerment zone, where funds were withheld and dreams destroyed by politicians who demanded entrepreneurs jump through a thousand hoops to be denied the money at the end of the process. They put it in the bank instead. Yet the same political management team was re-elected again and again. Still are. We use to joke how the dead outvoted the living every time.

Al Davis’s petition signatures were challenged by Congressman Rangel and valuable time Davis should have been spending campaigning was spent at the Board of Elections verifying signatures.

During that process the crew I was on found a lot of typographical errors in the voting registration computer. For example, a written card that the voter sent out for registration would read "Jim Lobe" and the computer operator would have mistakenly typed in "Jim Love." When Mr. Lobe went to the polls, his name would not be on the list and his vote not counted.

So I found out the qualifications for getting a job doing data entry at the Board of Elections.

1. Are you a member of a Democratic or Republican club?

2. Are you a member of a church with a Democratic or Republican Club?

3. Are you a registered voter?

The question that was missing was “can you type accurately for more than 5 minutes?” We found so many typographical errors on the BOE’s computers that they shut the system down and let our petitions through. I had suggested a "checker" but that idea was shot down faster than a falling star. I remember, being the drama queen that I am, reading the Declaration of Independence out loud just in case it might help. It didn't.

I was also a poll watcher in an election in Harlem. At the time I was a registered republican, from a family of Lincoln Republicans. (I am now a Kerry Democrat).

At that election, I was seeing two Democrats going into the voting booth with voters to “help them vote.” When I questioned the practice, I was told that there were no republicans in the house. I presented my voter registration card that showed I was. The police put me under house arrest (in the polls) and said I couldn’t talk with anyone since I was a registered poll watcher. I walked around my confined area first humming, then singing “we have overcome this day.” (My candidate, Carman Quinonnes, won.)

Since I broke no laws and was confined at the polling center, I was told that I don’t have a police record regarding the incident. Though I have been jacked by the police many times, I’ve never been arrested because every time I’ve been jacked, it’s not because I’ve broken any laws or was acting in an uncivilized way. Just Black in America, which is why I pay so much attention to this issue of voting.

In summary the way to fix the problems with voting is to move to stand alone, secure personal computers that are plugged into an intranet at the end of polling time, when votes are counted. We need to insure the integrity of the information we are using to run our lives by double checking the data entered into the Board of Elections computers. Citizens should verify how they voted with what is printed out on their receipt.

I've been an avid computer user since 1977 and I can assure you that the wise use of technology can provide us with a truth razor that can have a manual backup for revealing the Will of the People, peace, prosperity, safety, health, shelter, opportunity, education, 'and a great place to party.'

'We are overcoming now.'

How To Bridge The Digital Divide

DO IT NOW!!!

INTRODUCTION
WHY BUILD THE BRIDGE
CYBER CLUBS
WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE NOW?
HOW TO SUCCEED
RAILROAD TRACKS

GIVE THE GIFT OF COMPUTERIZATION
START A CYBER CLUB

(SET UP LIKE A CHRISTMAS CLUB)

AT YOUR BANK TODAY

INTRODUCTION

We have a problem to solve. Though we are clearly in the information age, we are still using industrial age thinking in solving our problems. For example, all this talk about jobs. NAFTA was passed and here in the United States, jobs are fewer and harder to find. However, in the Information Age, one can earn a living at home on line. All that is needed is a computer and the skills to complete the task. Regarding our health crisis, making more information on how to take care of oneself available in the style of Web MD, pressure could be reduced off the health care system, making available more resources to folks who really need it. Computers are really the keys out of Babylon where we can once again all speak the same language, web.

Albert Einstein explained it best in his 1938 "Message For Posterity." Our technology has exceeded our humanity, and now is the time to create balance. Everyone who wants to be computerized, should have a right to computerization.

Make no mistake about it. Second hand information in the information age is truly the new slavery. If you have to go to another for your daily data, by the time you get it, if you get it, it’s old news. Talk about second-class status.

Uncensored web access means no country can determine that their people cannot know the truth. Freedom of thought is the bounty for getting whoever wants to be on the information super highway on the road.

With computers and other forms of technology, we have in our hands the ability to create peace on earth as a result of better managing the world's assets...food to the hungry, clean water to the thirsty, housing for the homeless.

Q and A

Who is not on line yet?

The vast majority of the world's population is not yet computerized. Our greatest treasure may be found in the realm of the billions of unread voices yet to be on the web.

What is the digital divide?

The digital divide is the space in our society between the computerized and the non-computerized. The distance between the technology haves and have nots? We live in a world of technology haves and have-nots. Like A Tale Of Two Cities, failure to address the issues can result in creating a future resembling The Time Machine.

The digital divide is dangerous, yet can be made safe if we all just work together to build a bridge to cyber freedom.

When does the bridge need to be built?

Now.

Where to begin?

In our own communities, wherever we are. Those of us with the skills and the technology need to openly share information with those who don't have access. Begin with making sure those around you are computer literate and expand from there, i.e. through your place of worship, community centers, recreational groups (i.e. Bridge night where the games and cards are made on the computer.)

Why build a bridge to close the digital divide?

You never know where the next great solution is going to come from.

How to bridge the digital divide?

Simple.

Make sure everyone has computer access and the basic training to use the equipment.

How is that simple?

Make equipment and internet access available in all schools, libraries,

town halls, houses of worship, etc.

Computer companies know the value of creating customers by letting them train on their brands of hardware and software. Stress the sales times, Dr. Kings Birthday Weekend and July 4th weekend, generally the best times to buy equipment.

Set up computer clubs where folks can make contributions into one's technology fund rather than buy a $100 pair of sneakers.

In the information age, access to modern technology i.e. that which gives web access, is a part of civil rights.

We all have a right to be connected.

Since we never know who’s life experience will hold the key to solving the problems of disease, environmental destruction, economic empowerment, or our next really good laugh, we can’t afford to leave any soul behind who wants to participate in the Information Age Evolution.

The way to bridge the digital divide is to do something about it. When the problem is a lack of adequate computerization, the solution is simply to adequately computerize. Web conferencing, computer enriched literacy programs and organizational participation can dramatically help transform the digital divide into opportunities wide. One of the things that amazed me most during my years of training is the number of folks who can't really read. They may be able to sound out a few words, but wherever they went to school failed to teach them how to comprehend the images in front of them. We need to use computers to help folks learn how to read, do math and think.

The solution to the problem of how to bridge the digital divide involves access to both equipment and education. For example, internet access without the confidence and ability to effectively use the technology, is like having a microphone and not know how to turn it on or what to say.

The HOW TO COMPUTE training notes are posted

WHY BUILD THE BRIDGE?

The evidence is too precise to ignore any more. Maximizing cyber opportunities is critical to the success of any economy. Information on the web is already helping save lives, i.e. various on-line medical tests one can take to determine when it's time to see a doctor.

Many companies only have additional product information on the web. Some days, the best air fare is found the week before a flight on the web. Given modern homeland security issues, checking a product number against the FDA site for re-call information is a good thing.

I have a theory that during WWII enough people chose good over evil so that we were given the power of computers. The Enigma Machine, an early computer, was developed by the Allies and used to break Hitler’s code, thereby turning the tide of the war. The power of our modern Enigma Machines, computers, has changed the tide in many lives in no less a dramatic fashion. Folks are overcoming now.

The oldest referenced structure in the bible is the Tower of Bable. According to Genesis, during the time of Babylon’s ego, language was confounded. With computers and their language translation capabilities, people from all over the world can speak and be understood. A real chance at world peace based on communication.

Computerization is an empowerment tool on many levels, like the joy on the face of a young man in Harlem the first time he communicated with a soul from Japan about a mutual artistic passion. Or the peace of senior Miss. Ruth who was able to communicate with younger members of her family in another state through a computer, which translated into them becoming even closer. Or the accomplishment of a young father building stronger communications bridges with his six-year-old daughter during conversations they would have while together at the computer screen.

With computers, it no longer matters what one learned or did not learn in school. You can learn on line. The information, the commodity of kings, is available to all who know how to use a computer, the Internet and an assortment of educational tools.

As Anthony Robbins says in his book AWAKEN THE GIANT WITHIN…”I can’t overemphasize the power and value of gaining even one, single distinction – a sole piece of information – that can be used to change the course of your life. Information is power when it is acted upon, and one thing is that you never know when you’re going to get it.”

Illiteracy can become an ancient concept. In computer class, the most popular book is the dictionary, as anxious minds search for just the right spelling to get their questions answered.

Adequate computerization provides a way that national testing of school children can work. It gives students access to the same information at the same time. All 14 years of school can be available on the web, with interactive programs that test and teach. Any person who goes through a web-based education should be able to pass the national standards test. This is not difficult if we allow the needs of the students to hold greater weight than the needs of the unions and school officials.

The difference between a computerized and non-computerized life is like the difference between a Mercedes and a mule. Take insurance. Via the web, one can quickly gain access to tools that compare up to the second insurance rates offered by a multitude of companies. Without the web, one usually relies on whatever dated print or phone information is available.

Still, the best way to fight poverty is with a legal income. Anyone can be a salesman with Amazon, Yahoo Classifieds, ebay.com, and other on-line sales listing. Driving instructions, medical treatments, food information, breaking news, spirituality, sports, humor, art, it’s all there.

CYBER CLUBS

We've started with two basic types of cyber clubs. One is to encourage folks to systematically save money for computer purchases like one saves for Christmas season.

The second type is to gather a group of folks together and go computer shopping.

In the mid-90's when conducting ‘computer buying groups’, we had one

Radio Shack in Harlem, close to Columbia University, which had an extremely limited computer selection and programs were minimal. We ended up having to go down town. At the time I felt that they didn't want us down town either.

Access to technology is meaningless until we learn how to use it to empower our lives. The first step to bridge the digital divide though, is access.

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE NOW? COMPUTERIZE

Here are C.U.R.E.'s recommendations onhow to bridge the digital divide.

1. Encourage banks to set up “Cyber Clubs”, much like the old “Christmas Clubs” where people can make deposits into an account for future technology purchases. As an alternative to giving a child a doll or game for a gift, take that money and deposit it into the account. These clubs can make group purchases during July 4th and Dr. King’s Birthday weekends offering additional buying incentives based on volume discount buying. They can also keep people informed of the newest, latest and most effective equipment and programs to purchase. Financial management, i.e. “computer banking” computer user groups can be formed to use the technology to enrich the community.
2. Provide incentives for community organizations to offer free computer training to their membership. Teach the basics necessary to write letters, get on and use the web, balance a budget or record one’s family tree. Trainers can be available on line with e-mail correspondence.
3. Encourage business growth. With a computer, whatever one does best, they can do as a business. For example, if someone braids hair, show them how their computer can keep their books, appointments, send out customer mailings, encourage word of mouth, file taxes, etc. Sales development clubs, on the web and off, can also encourage economic growth. These clubs can reach beyond national borders. Also, auto responder book sales and other residual income sites can be established.
4. Hold more and targeted local, state and national and international “town meetings” on the web with elected and appointed officials answering questions and listening to solutions from constituents. Network ideas with resources and people to accomplish the mission of safe, effective computerization for all who want it.
5. Provide additional tax and financing incentives to open computer stores, training centers, wherever. It’s not just low-income people who need access and training. We all do. I still can’t believe the many times I heard “I never thought I would ever be able to use a computer,” or “I’ve never even touched a mouse.”
6. Encourage intelligent, cross cultural-religious-economic-racial-gender, etc. computer use. With computers we see the quality of one’s ideas before we see the body they are in or the lifestyle they live. The opportunity to build bridges is to great to ignore.
7. Encourage non-violent conflict resolution through a computer. It’s tough to use a computer and a gun at the same time. Also arguments over modems cause less violence.
8. Promote the joy of computing.
9. Ask computer companies to stop red-lining inner cities.

Consider reparations for the American people. It was American tax dollars that financed the creation and development of computers. Money that could have gone into family inheritance funds. Yet, this technology was not given freely to the people, but to business interests. The skinny is, since our grand parents, through their tax dollars, helped finance the creation and development of computers, where's our royalty checks? Investors should get a royalty too.

HOW TO SUCCEED

The systems for successfully bridging the digital divide are already in place. Community organizations, one-on-one at home sharing information, economic encouragement and technology already exist to expedite the process. With sponsorship opportunities for computer hardware, software and humanwear, the process can pay for itself via an empowered tax base.

Dr. Martin Luther King was right. In my experience, which began on computers in 1977 at ABC Radio’s WPLJ-FM, the table of brotherhood that Dr. King spoke of in his I HAVE A DREAM speech is a table with a computer on it, and good people around it, using the computer to solve problems and have a good time.
Just like Dr. King was a champion of civil rights, we must all become champions of cyber rights. Government, business, non-profits and individual intervention will not only close the digital divide, but where there was a hole in the ground, new opportunities will be found.

How does one champion cyber rights? If you know how to use a computer, find someone in your life that does not know and teach him or her. If you don’t know how to use a computer, find someone who does and ask them to teach you. Help your organizations and institutions become computerized too. If you can comfortably afford it, buy a computer for a family who doesn't have one. Everyone has something to contribute.

I personally recommend beginning with each individual saying their own prayers for divinely guided computerization.

Regarding the question can anybody learn computers, bring to mind the image of an illiterate person who has already learned how to read the screens and push the buttons on their ATM. We are limited only by our imaginations.
Finally, a message from Miss. Roxanna Dawson. The Railroad had issued a challenge to Harlem that I was actively looking for the first person we could not train how to use a PC. Since the cost of the training is that it be passed onto at least two other people, we could not back up the challenge with money, but thousands of the people came anyway over a four-year period.

Roxanna, at 92 years old, came and said she was that person we could not train. I asked her why and she said because she was blind. I asked her if she was totally blind or legally blind. I had read Huxley’s THE ART OF SEEING so I know the difference. I put Roxanna’s fingers on the home row keys and had her type her name. I made the type big and she jumped back from the screen and yelled, “I can see.” The people in the training room at Harlem's Minisink Townhouse went electric. She turned around and said with a smile of deep pride, “If I can do it, the rest of your have no excuse.”

For her second lesson, I sat her at a computer with a 26-year-old woman and they learned how to use a mouse together. In between practice and laughter, they talked about community issues at a level that’s helped me grow ever since. Healing can be found in networking.

In summary,since the cause of the problem is a lack of adequate computerization,the solution is simple – computerize.

It’s easier than it seems,and when done right,its rewards are tremendous.


RAILROAD TRACKS

Computer Underground Railroad Enterprises, (C.U.R.E. or the Railroad), has trained thousands how to use a computer,in the 1990's in the great community of Harlem, NY and elsewhere in the USA.

The cost of the training is that it be passed onto at least two other people.

The Computer Underground Railroad is just a continuation of the original freedom concept. The real lesson from the original Underground Railroad is that those who have freedom, have a responsibility to share that freedom with those who do not. Those of us who have computer literacy, must share that information with those who do not. Until that’s accomplished, we’re just a slave system in another form. When that is accomplished, everyone is free with the help of ‘a friend of a friend.’ Free to understand, grow, pray and prosper.

Back in the late ‘80’s Harlem’s great community service diva, Mother Clara Hale, told me that there was something going on with computers and I needed to come uptown to help people become computerized. I won’t repeat what she said about Harlem’s politicians on the issues. History speaks for itself. She was right.
For example, Hale House became famous for helping babies and their mothers with AIDS and crack addictions. In the 80’s I was told by Harlem’s leadership that AIDS was not a Black problem (like race should make a difference). They said the best way to handle AIDS was to not talk about it. They’d put another record on the radio, rather than have on Niro Markoff Asistent who’s book WHY I SURVIVE AIDS tells how she healed herself of HIV with ARC (aids related complex).

With computers, it becomes easy to learn what's really going on. In the 80's and 90’s, the politicians did little about the 5 open sewers that surround Harlem, the location of the majority of Manhattan’s bus depots in Harlem, the threat of the Hanta Virus or plague from the large rodent population, inadequate disaster relief programs or information available on how to deal with the dramas on hand.

People need to be able to interact with new technology. When I lived in mid-town Manhattan in the 80’s and early 90’s, I had many computer stores in walking distance of my apartments. When I went to Harlem in ’94, there was not one computer store…a place where you could “kick the tires”, try new technologies, and take a test drive of new software. Ride a train down the tracks.

When I left Harlem in ’98, despite pleas to elected and appointed officials, Harlem still did not have a computer super store. Not even all the time spent on the Empowerment Zone helped. Instead, I was told that most people had no interest in computers or that computers were of the devil. It turns out it wasn't the computers that were of the devil (ooooooooops).

The training notes updated from Word '97 to Word 2000 and 2003, were given to all who came to learn how to compute. I stopped counting at 3,000 people over a four-year period, 1994-1998. Though millions of dollars were raised for education during that time by others, the railroad accomplish what it did on donated loaned computers, training space and programs and a $10,000 grant from Columbia University and City College, plus whatever I earned and the hard work of all who participated. I was not invited to speak.

 
Happy Computing

Computer Ergonomics Made Simple

Are you a heavy computer user?

Do you sometimes feel pain or discomfort in your wrists, arms, shoulders and neck as a result of your extensive computer use?

Would you know how to achieve pain free computing
without going through a learning curve?

Ergonomics is simply the study of the interaction between man and machine, with a focus on how to improve the process.

Simply stated, when the computer ergonomic problem is repetitive stress, as in repetitive stress injureis, the solution is non restrictive, repetitive, support.

I've been typing for almost 40 years with speeds as fast as 119 wpm.,and I've had every computer injury in the book except a brain tumor.

My repetitive stress injuries were healed within 30 days by using a CompUrest, U.S. Patent No. 5,188,321, which supports my upper body while lowering my keyboard allowing splint technology to do its job.

CompUrest has kept me from having to have carpal tunnel surgery on my wrists, dramatically reduced my neck, back and shoulder pain, eliminated the late night and day computer injury pain in my arms, neck and shoulders, and afforded me years of pain free computing.

Since 1990, with regular use, the injuries never returned.

Here’s what the U.S. government does not want you to know about computer injuries. They are completely preventable. I write from almost 15 years experience being pain free on my computers.

My friend Bernie Hirschenson and I invented a simple device, CompUrest, U.S. Patent No. 5,188,321. The armrest portion of the CompUrest fully supports you from your wrists to your shoulders. The lowered keyboard well allows your hands to be positioned over the keys, keeping your wrists flat and straight, hands in a natural arch, and fingers fully supported, resting on the keys.

To explore an effective way to stop computer pain now, check out my site at www.compurest.com.

Why haven’t you hear about it in all this time? I don't understand it myself, and I lived it. I have some theories based on experiences and conversations over the years.

The government is not interested in the solution, only in the problems because they make their money through fines. (Most recent contact

Another e-mail:

From:
"Meilinger, Francis"
To:
"'nayer@compurest.com'"
Subject:
RE: OSHA-003526 - Hazards in the Workplace
Date:
Thu, 21 Feb 2002 10:47:18 -0500

OSHA does not endorse commercial products. Thank you for your
correspondence and interest in occupational safety and health.
 -----Original Message-----
From: Georgiades, Gus
Sent: Friday, December 28, 2001 12:55 PM
To: Contact, OPA
Subject: FW: OSHA-003526 - Hazards in the Workplace
;
-----Original Message-----
From: Contact, CCU
Sent: Friday, December 28, 2001 2:28 AM
To: Contact, CCU
Subject: OSHA-003526 - Hazards in the Workplace
Name: J. Nayer Hardin
 State: Arizona
Phone: 928-***-****
E-Mail: Hospital for Special Surgery explained to me “it is not in our best interest to endorse your product.” They use to have a Director of Ergonomics, now ergonomics does not produce any search results at the hospital's website.

I went to many investment houses and independent financial sources in the early 1990’s. It’s funny to me that Arthur Anderson was telling me that there was no way I could compete with Microsoft, who was coming out with their natural keyboard. Though I got angry at the time, (to myself) it was proven in court that they were right. Arthur Anderson did, however, finance Enron around the same time.

I don’t take it personal. I use to think that it was just discrimination because I am a Black American Woman. That illusion didn’t last long. The U.S. government has subverted many good ideas to solve problems. 

Examples include:

The N-Machine vs. the Super Collider. The great inventor, Bruce DePalma, creator of the N-Machine that uses magnets to power a self-sustaining generator wrote in his paper, The Problem of Free Energy, “I have a very strong background in successful high-tech R and D. Once I had demonstrated the reality of direct extraction of electrical energy in a small model N-machine, I thought commercial development would be obvious and easy. That was 17 years ago.”

Instead of financing the N-Machine, the government blew a lot of money on the Super Collider, which they eventually shut down.

Niro Markoff Asistent healed herself of AIDS in the 1980’s. She was shut out and the AIDS epidemic gets worse every day with life long pills being the only hope offered. Every time I approach the government with “my injuries still have not returned” e-mail, presentation, etc., they are not interested. Yet they wrote a report on wrist rests and Microsoft’s natural keyboard.

Side Note - the computer injuries never returned.

There's a lot wrong with the way NYC 9-11 was handled.

When the planes hit, New York City should have been evacuated. Air, water and food testing should have already been in place, as should have an evacuation plan in the event of a natural or unnatural disaster. Instead, the great City by the Ocean was just shut down, locked down, and the people had no air but the very polluted toxic soup produced by the pulverization of the WTC.

As a New Yorker not living in New York anymore, I got issues with the way people were handled.

Like why when the EPA admitted that they altered the report on air quality in NYC post 9/11, the mayor or governor said nothing. No outrage, class action suit or anything. They just dealt with the blackout of the Northeast when the report was released.

Even factoring in party loyalty and the CNN report that the governor of New York was a classmate of the president of the United States, I still don't get it.

Thousands of people got sick from the dust when the buildings fell. They breathed it, ate it as it landed on their food, and drank the water with the small particles in it. Though the site got cleaned up, the surrounding areas, and I don't believe that the dust limited itself to Lower Manhattan, the pollution can still be found inside and out. Asthma, cancer and other environmentally induced illnesses are expected to manifest as a result to exposure. And the government's response is to have a health registry, tell them how one gets sick and dies without any obligation for treatment. Too stupid for words.

God bless the activist group Mothra, and the rest of the universe too.

This is a list they made of some of the blunders resulting from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) premature, unsupported announcement, shortly after 9/11/01, that the "air is safe to breathe, water safe to drink" in Lower Manhattan, which I'm publishing with their approval.

This list clearly indicates many of the reasons to reallocate some of those billions committed by the White House and other elements of the federal and state governments to fix Lower Manhattan.

The list was compiled By Members of 9/11 Environmental Action. - Nayer's Notes in {}

"Air is safe to breathe, Water safe to drink"

1. Decision by First Responders -- who learned as early as the first or second day, that the EPA thought there was no problem -- to be less concerned about getting/wearing adequate protective gear.

2. Decision to not evacuate all the people living in harm's way until it was certain that they were not in danger.

3. Decision to reopen the Stock Exchange before office buildings, retail stores, subways etc. had been proven to be clear of contaminants, endangering the health of thousands of workers.

4. Decision by the EPA, and other agencies at all levels, not to do as much testing of air and dust as they should have.

{The EPA did not begin testing the air until 9/14/01, giving the toxins time to settle down. - And when did the City's DEP start counting toxins? It's not like they didn't know there was a problem?}

5. Decision by EPA right after 9/11 to refuse offers of sampling equipment and personnel from EPA Region 8 and Desert Research Institute (Reno).

{Don’t the sewers keep air quality readings? What did their records say about 9/11 - 9/14?}

6. Decision to permit reoccupation of residences and businesses before there was evidence that it was safe to do so.

7. Decision by Gov. Pataki to not include, in his request for federal disaster funds, a specific request for funds for a complete toxic cleanup.
{CNN reported in 1/2004 that Pataki and Bush use to study together at Yale - the home of Skull & Bones and Prescott Bush - Hitler's U.S. Banker.}

8. Decision by NYC Board of Ed that it was safe for Stuyvesant students to go back to school on Oct 9. It was later found that asbestos and lead levels were high even after subsequent cleanings. Cases of nosebleeds, coughing and many more symptoms were never collected in a scientific study, and there was insufficient nursing staff to screen students complaining of illness.

9. Decision by EPA not to immediately start cleaning up indoor spaces, delegating that responsibility to the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

10. Decision by the City DEP delegating indoor cleanup to landlords, with no oversight or follow-up to ensure that landlords actually did the cleanup - because the dust was supposedly not toxic.

11. Decision by the New York City Department of Health (DOH) to urge homeowners and office workers to clean up the dust themselves, without protection and using crude methods - because the dust was supposedly not toxic.

12. Decision not to have any kind of "smog" alert or noxious dust protocol in place in the City, even after the attack spread toxic fumes and contaminants for miles, for several months.

13. Decisions by EPA to withhold data on air quality from scientists, residents and even public officials; to delay putting information on their web site about air quality tests; to post only a tiny fraction of available information; to not aggregate information from all relevant agencies in one place (instead, their site had links to other web sites).

14. Decision by EPA not to ensure that the fires at the disaster site - the source of massive, continuing toxic emissions - were extinguished quickly; instead, relegating it to the New York City Fire Department, whose depleted force was consumed with rescue and recovery.

15. Decisions by residents and offices not to throw out carpets, drapes and other soft furnishings, although the EPA knew that those items cannot be completely cleaned of asbestos, even by the most stringent methods.

16. Decision by EPA, when it finally did start a remediation program a year later, to design it as a voluntary, arbitrarily limited program which did not clean entire HVAC systems, offices or most residences near Ground Zero, and none in Brooklyn or above Canal St. (they couldn't contradict their own earlier reassuring statements). Among many seriously flawed program protocols: clearance testing after cleaning was only for asbestos and not for dioxins, metals and fiberglass; the need to clean HVAC systems was determined by using visual inspection rather than analytical sampling; residents could choose 'passive' air testing -- either by itself or after cleaning -- a method that does not provide assurances that homes are free of asbestos or other contaminants; contracted cleaning crews removing asbestos contaminated hallway carpeting were not given respirators or other protective clothing, and were not even required to wear dust masks.

17. Decision by EPA not to do much testing for PAHs (a fact that EPA’s peer review panel noted in their July, 2003 sessions).

18. Decision by Gov. Pataki to suspend, for the World Trade Center recovery and site cleanup, state environmental regulations governing the transport and disposal of toxic waste. The governor signed this executive order on October 9, 2001, the very day that Stuyvesant High students were made to return to classes, next to Hudson River Pier 25. The governor’s order led to the following:

19. Decision by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to allow an uncovered barge-loading operation for WTC toxic waste at Pier 25, adjacent to Stuyvesant High School and within a block of residences and other schools; and to the decision to allow the transport of toxic waste through city neighborhoods in leaky, tarp-covered trucks rather than totally sealed vehicles. Yes, the site cleanup was completed months ahead of schedule, but at the expense of people’s health!

20. Decision by whatever government agency that someone should have been in charge. There was no urgent need to get protective respirators to everyone working anywhere near the toxic waste and fires. It was publicized much later that the US Army had plenty of respirators in storage that could have been deployed in NYC.

21. Decision by FEMA to not pay for businesses to premeditate their premises (because they said insurance companies would pay for it).
22. Decision by insurance companies not to cover claims to premeditate dust contamination because “there was no problem.”

23. Decision by the insurance companies to encourage people to move back in quickly so that their living-out expenses were limited.

24. Decisions by non-residents to take government bribes to move into Downtown (without full knowledge of the possible contamination in the buildings into which they were moving).

25. Decisions by relatively few residents to sign up for the voluntary clean-up, since they were initially, and continually, reassured by EPA statements.

26. Decisions by volunteers from around the world (e.g., Southern Baptist crews who cleaned apartments at Thanksgiving, 2001, some of whom were teenagers), who unknowingly assumed risks that they might not have elected to expose themselves to had they been honestly informed.

27. Decision by the Red Cross to discourage volunteers and participants at the October 11, 2001 memorial from wearing masks although they were plentiful and available.

28. Decision by those exposed to WTC air and dust not to consider their symptoms (shortness of breath, etc.) to be an illness caused by exposure to toxics, and therefore not to seek treatment. Doctors have said the sooner patients receive treatment, the better.

29. Decision not to begin a health registry of all those exposed to contaminated air or dust until years after the exposure, thus ensuring that the registry, when begun, would omit data about people who had already died or suffered in the interim, and increasing the likelihood of faulty data collection and inaccurate conclusions about the health impacts of the WTC collapses and fires.

30. Decision by Red Cross to refuse to notify volunteers that they had been exposed and that they are eligible for the Registry and Health Care for injuries from the attack.

31. Decision by doctors not to pay special attention to their patients who lived, worked or were otherwise exposed to WTC air and dust, because they believed it to be safe (note how even Mt. Sinai admits they fell for this).

32. Decision to allow ongoing digging and construction at the WTC site, as well as at the site of #7 WTC, without testing the site or, if any tests were done, without publicly releasing the results.

The above is published with permission from the great MOTHRA-NYC.org. MOTHRA-NYC.org advocates for full disclosure about the risks from WTC toxins and exposes the extent and effects of Environmental Protection Agency's failed outreach.

Unitech Operations

Some relevant research articles are posted on Al Davis'
LINK MASTER:Add Your Comments...

Please let your elected and appointed officials know to help New Yorkers survive. Folks need medical attention, with or without insurance, help with financial and relationship issues as many have lost their jobs and are suffering from depression.

Most of all. If you know a person who was in New York and the surrounding areas, contact them, listen to them, and help them where you can. TELL your elected and appointed officials to do the same.

Peak Oil - Nayer's Notes

NAYER'S NOTES

"God does not play dice with the world!"
Albert Einstein

Here's the "Peak Oil" problem

We're running out of petroleum, and unless we change our way of living, the vast majority of us could die soon and dramatically.

The rest of us will be left behind
to deal with a world in trauma and chaos unless we
CONVERT TO ALTERNATIVE CLEAN ENERGIES NOW!!!

I learned about peak oil early in January, 2004. I am not an oil industry person; never dipped into the wells. While reading message board postings, I came across an announcement by a wise young man, Matt Savinar. His site, a great "Peak Oil 101" place to learn is LIFE AFTER THE OIL CRASH . Another mover and shaker in the alternative energy field is David Crockett Williams who over the last five years has kept me on environmental point.

We are in the Information Age. The available information indicates we are reaching the peak of oil production. Further, reports indicate a link between fossil fuels, environmental pollution and health problems.
As we solve the peak oil problem by switching to clean alternatives energies like bio fuels and magnets, we can further solve the problem of our pollution killing us.

In America, we've been dealing with a health care crisis in terms of money. It's a convenient way not to discuss the causes of the rapidly rising cancer rates, among them, pollution. As we reduce the cause of people getting sick, the result, high health care costs, will reduce themselves based on supply and demand.

We have got to stop acting stupid. We live on the same planet and we have to work together to stay here.

A major problem is of course economic. Many are making a lot of money on war for oil, the continued use of oil, and the part of the medical industry that profits from cancer and asthma rates. Over the centuries we have seen that greed is not good. Peak Oil is just another example of where we need to remove greed from the daily operation of life.

Paying for the conversion is a problem given current laws that should be changed. Governments who band hemp need to get out of the way of a solution. An international hemp tax, part of which can go to the U.N. (or a newly created international project management board to oversee the conversion) can pay for the transformation.

For example, in the United States, implementing the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, a 20% tax on hemp revenues could generate a lot of money quickly, both from product taxes and stamp (license) fees. An estimated $7 billion marijuana is sold in the United States. 20% of that is $1,400,000,000. Not a bad start up budget and that's just America, with hemp illegal.

Side Note: Maybe there would be more peace in the middle east and elsewhere if both side of a warring issue took a hemp break and laughed about their differences.

It is time to stop Industrial Age Thinking in the Information Age. It's killing Us.

Like Many folks report doing their best "thinking" in the toilet. Maybe that's why the world looks the way it does. We can think this peak oil thing through on our computers. The evidence is too precise to ignore.
Changing from petroleum to bio fuels feeds my basic common sense. The oil within the planet is not an unlimited resource. We need to be living seven generations out, and we are failing. Our deficit, environmental and energy policies demand constructive change.
The next step is converting a car to an alternative energy source. I've begun by putting the web published writings of Bruce DePalma in an e-book to be released this summer. If you're interested in being on the mailing list for a copy, send an e-mail to

mailto:cureworks2@yahoo.com?subject=DePalma .

It's time to stop taking oil from the inner earth. Like We need oils for Our bodies; maybe the planet needs her oil for Her body. She gives Us what she can spare via bio fuels. There are more than enough of them to keep Us going and avoid the "Peak Oil" drama.

Dr. Elizabeth Kubler Ross in her book The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying taught me 'once I learned that I could do without, the rest was easy.' She's right. It's time for us to learn and live from 'We can do without petroleum oil' and it's resulting "Peak Oil" drama.' We can do without petroleum if petroleum is killing us. Carolyn Myss said in her book Anatomy Of Spirit that Wisdom Erases Karma. It is wise to learn the lessons of the past so we don't have to repeat them.

Yes, We may be too late, but if We put the conversions on a Project Manager, People who are now being told to kill, soldiers, can be re-directed to save the planet as well as ourselves. We can get the job done. It's worth an accomplishment.

The way we are doing things with petroleum is about to kill up to 5.5 billion (yes BILLION) of us if we fail to act. This knowledge has forced me to drop much of my life and focus on this issue.

It's a great first project for Us all to work as One. The web is helping Us get this done. After this we can work on better managing and cleaning up te food supply, getting all planetary residents computers so that issues of illiteracy, health care and other life support information is quickly shared, building ocean water distill boats to keep people supplied with clean water.

Please understand that the Table of Brotherhood that Dr. M. L. King spoke about is a table with a computer on it, and good people around it, solving problems and having a good time.

The mechanics of the transition can be coordinated on the web. The how to for converting autos can be downloaded by every shop and independent mechanic. Home conversion kits can also be available.
One more motivating factor to act now. There is a plan in the United States to take nuclear waste from all over the country and transport it in 2010 to an active earthquake fault line in Yucca Mountain, Nevada. This plan calls for this toxic, extremely radioactive waste to be transported via highways and railways. This endangers the lives of many of us while the nuclear industry just makes more waste.

The revenue generated by the conversion could be considerable. The amount of local work this conversion generates can jump start many economies around the world. A local hemp tax could fund many business and individual opportunities involved in solving this peak oil problem. Cash strapped farmers from all over the world can produce an income from a strong energy market. Current energy distribution companies can simply shift from one fuel to another. Everybody wins.
Continuing to live a lifestyle where our engines are polluting our air is just plain stupid, and stupid has consequences. (Just trying to lighten up - smile, we can do this.)

Blessings to you and yours and thanks for all the work you do on this and all other empowerment issues.

Please e-mail me to share your solution based thoughts. There is nothing to fear but fear.

We are overcoming now.

Peak Oil - The Solution

Switch To Clean Alternative Energies

Empowerment Key:
Implement Effective Solutions

Message For Posterity
Our time is rich in inventive minds, the inventions of which could facilitate our lives considerably. We are crossing the seas by power and utilize power also in order to relieve humanity from all tiring muscular work. We have learned to fly and we are able to send messages and news without any difficulty over the entire world through electric waves.
However, the production and distribution of commodities is entirely unorganized so that everybody must live in fear of being eliminated from the economic cycle, in this way suffering for the want of everything. Furthermore, people living in different countries kill each other at irregular time intervals so that also for this reason any one who thinks about the future must live in fear and terror. This is due to the fact that the intelligence and the character of the masses are incomparably lower than the intelligence and character of the few who produce something valuable for the community.

I trust that posterity will read these statements with a feeling of proud and justified superiority.”

ALBERT EINSTEIN – 1938
From His Most Amazing Book
Out Of My Later Years

When the problem is we are running out of one energy source, the solution is to immediately implement the use of abundant clean, natural energy sources.

If there was ever a time for common sense and working together, it's now.

Contrary to what some "experts" say, we have an abundance of energy sources available to us. From a list provided by David Crockett Williams are just a few examples.

Bruce DePalma, Primordial Energy

The New Energy Movement

The Energy Machine of Joseph Newman

Infinite Energy

Project Earth

The Institute For New Energy

Motionless Electromagnetic Generator

The Space Power Generator

Since the problem is we are running out of oil, the solution is to immediately move to clean, safe alternative energies. No drama required, just positive action. Bio fuels like hemp, soy and other oils burn clean too. We have the tools...each other, computers and alternative energies and fuels.

Thousands of mechanics world wide can find work converting the autos of family and friends from petro to alternative energies. These independent mechanics will empower many industries around them, and areas where there is little work can become booming economies.
Here's information on another alternative fuel, hemp.

HEMP BIO FUELS
Empowerment Key:
Get off of petroleum

Revenue from a local hemp tax could finance the transition.

1. HEMP CAR - It's a site on a functional hemp vehicle.

2. The Hemp Museum. - Bio Fuels Room
"This (HEMP) plant is the earth's number one biomass resource or fastest growing annual plant for agriculture on a worldwide basis, producing up to 14 tons per acre. This is the only biomass source available that is capable of producing all the energy needs of the U.S. and the world."

3. Jack Herer's Hemp Bible - The Emperor Wears No Clothes
 
 Chapter 9 Economics: Energy, Environment and Commerce

Energy and the economy

The book Solar Gas, Science Digest, Omni magazine, The Alliance for Survival, the Green Party of Germany, the United States and others put the total figure of our energy costs at 80% of the total dollar expense of living for each human being.

In validation, 82% of the total value of all issues traded on the New York Stock Exchange and other world stock exchanges, etc., are tied directly to:

- Energy producers such as Exxon, Shell Oil, Conoco, Con-Edison, and so forth.

- Energy transporters such as pipeline companies, oil shipping and delivery companies.

- Refineries and retail sales of Exxon, Mobil, Shell, So. California Edison, Con-Edison, etc."

- Frackers & others engaged in raping Earth for oil we don't need.


4. Cannabis Fuel
 
"Each acre of hemp would yield 1,000 gallons of methanol. Fuels from hemp, along with the recycling of paper, etc., would be enough to run American virtually without oil."

"In the early 1900s, Henry Ford and other futuristic, organic, engineering geniuses recognized (as their intellectual, scientific heirs still do today) an important point - that up to 90 percent of all fossil fuel used in the world today (coal, oil, natural gas, etc.) should long ago have been replaced with biomass such as: cornstalks, cannabis, waste paper and the like. Biomass can be converted to methane, methanol or gasoline at a fraction of the current cost of oil, coal, or nuclear energy - especially when environmental costs are factored in - and its mandated use would end acid rain, end sulfur-based smog, and reverse the Greenhouse Effect on Our planet - right now!* *Government and oil and coal companies, etc., will insist that burning biomass fuels is no better than using up Our fossil fuel reserves, as far as pollution goes; but this is patently untrue. Why? Because, unlike fossil fuels, biomass comes from living (not extinct) plants that continue to remove carbon dioxide pollution from Our atmosphere as they grow, through photosynthesis. Furthermore, biomass fuels do not contain sulfur."

5. Energy Farming
A Practical Answer To America's Farming, Energy And Environmental Crises

by Lynn Osburn

"Biomass is the term used to describe all biologically produced matter. World production of biomass is estimated at 146 billion metric tons a year, mostly wild plant growth. Some farm crops and trees can produce up to 20 metric tons per acre of biomass a year. Types of algae and grasses may produce 50 metric tons per year. Dried biomass has a heating value of 5000-8000 Btu/lb., with virtually no ash or sulfur produced during combustion. About 6% of contiguous United States land area put into cultivation for biomass could supply all current demands for oil and gas. And this production would not add any net carbon dioxide to the atmosphere."

6. Mass. Norml on Hemp Fuel

"Fuel:

Farming 6% of the continental U.S. acreage with biomass crops would provide all of America's energy needs.

Hemp is Earth's number-one biomass resource; it is capable of producing 10 tons per acre in four months.

Biomass can be converted to methane, methanol, or gasoline at a cost comparable to petroleum, and hemp is much better for the environment. Pyrolysis (charcoalizing), or biochemical composting are two methods of turning hemp into fuel.

Hemp can produce 10 times more methanol than corn.

Hemp fuel burns clean. Petroleum causes acid rain due to sulfur pollution.

The use of hemp fuel does not contribute to global warming."

7. Gasoline and Hemp

"And hemp has a lot going for it as a fuel.

Rudolf Diesel, the inventor of the diesel engine, designed it to run on vegetable and seed oils like hemp; he actually ran the thing on peanut oil for the 1900 World's Fair. Henry Ford used hemp to not only construct cars but also fuel them.

As an alternative to methanol, hemp has at least one glowing report: the plant produces up to four times more cellulose per acre than trees. And a hemp crop grows a little quicker than a forest.

As for an alternative to petroleum,

• Hemp grows like mad from border to border in America; so shortages are unlikely. And, unlike petrol, unless we run out of soil, hemp is renewable."

8. Hemp Oil Fuels and How To Make Them
 
"• Growing and harvesting the stuff has much less environmental impact than procuring oil.

• Hemp fuel is biodegradable; so oil spills become fertilizer not eco-catastrophes.

• Hemp fuel does not contribute to sulfur dioxide air poisoning.

• Other noxious emissions like carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons are radically slashed by using “biodiesel.”

• Hemp fuel is nontoxic and only a mild skin irritant; anybody who’s ever cleaned out an old carburetor with gasoline can confirm the same is not true for petrol.

• Growing hemp for fuel would be a tremendous boon for American farmers and the agricultural industry, as opposed to people like, say, the Bush family."

9. Hemp - Lifeline to the Future

Chris Conrad has in his book a chapter on Energy Independence & Security.

Page 108:
"During the Second World War, the head of the Hemp for Victory program explained that hemp was again powering it own mechanical processing and generating a 50 percent energy surplus."

10. Alternative energy solutions
"Studies have also been conducted to demonstrate the viability of hemp oil as a fuel. Hemp oil converts fairly simply into a biodiesel fuel once mixed with caustic lye dissolved in methanol, a technique which makes the oil less viscous and more combustible. Environmental defense attorney Don Wirtshafter, (proprietor of the Ohio Hempery, the company providing the oil) notes that fuel and glycerine are generated from the process, and the glycerine can be used to make soap or candles. Potassium hydroxide used as the caustic agent results in fertilizer. The only modification made to the hemp car was the replacement of rubber hoses with synthetic rubber tubes - biodiesels erode rubber."

11. Biomass and bio fuels Web Site Links

12. Overview of Bio Fuels by the government

U.S. Department of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy - they don't mention hemp but do a search on their site for biofuel.

13. National BioDiesel Board

14. Do a generic web search in various engines (Yahoo, MSN, Google and/or others for "Biofuel". "Hemp Fuel". "Peak Oil". and "Alternative Energy." Don't stop here.

Next step, implementation.

Peak Oil - The Problem

PEAK OIL PROBLEM - Lack of Petroleum

Empowerment Key:
Do Your Homework

We, the people of the world, are at a critical point in our existence. If we choose to work together, we survive. If we continue depending on depleting oil supplies and fighting among ourselves, the peak oil card is played.

To get through this lets begin by acknowledging the problem, then we'll go onto finding solutions and implementing them on a global scale, each community implementing their clean, safe energy choice.

Many respected scientists have estimated that we've used up about half of the world's petroleum oil supply. Whether we have or not, oil is being priced like we have. The price of oil, and all that is produced with it, like food, transportation, plastics, etc. is rising dramatically as costs to pump the crude increases and availability decreases. Estimates are that as soon as 2008, the drama could get serious.

Failure to deal with Peak Oil can cause an international economic collapse that could be at cause for the next big death cull. It's going to take all of us working together to solve this one, but we can do it. I'm not talking about 'the sky is falling." That happened in the United States on 9/11/01. We all saw it over, and over and over again. We're on the other side of that now.

The best "Peak Oil 101" place for a deep understanding of the issue with supporting documentation is LIFE AFTER THE OIL CRASH by Matt Savinar. Thank the Lord for the young people. They are the reason the rest of us are here. Check out:

---LINKS

LIFE AFTER THE OIL CRASH Great first step on the yellow brick road to understanding and solving the peak oil crisis.

"The situation is so dire that even George W. Bush's Energy Adviser, Matthew Simmons, has acknowledged that "The situation is desperate. This is the world's biggest serious question."

According to Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham, "America faces a major energy supply crisis over the next two decades. The failure to meet this challenge will threaten our nation's economic prosperity, compromise our national security, and literally alter the way we lead our lives."

THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF PEAK OIL

"May 30, 2003, PARIS – Research presented on May 26th and 27th at the French Institute for Petroleum (IFP) by a wide variety of experts from varying and often competitive perspectives disclosed that, in the year since the first conference of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil (ASPO), supply constraints have worsened and the realities of energy depletion are becoming more apparent. A year of violent political history centered on oil and ever-more unforgiving production results have begun to force reluctant political and economic acknowledgement of Peak Oil’s threat to civilization."Presentation at the Technical University of Clausthal, C.J.Campbell, December 2000

"2. Sub-Title: The title of my talk is Peak Oil. It truly is a turning point for Mankind. It will affect us all. It is a large subject, and it will take us about an hour to work through it.

3. Purpose: The purpose of the talk is to evaluate the resource base and its depletion. Then we can go on to study the present crisis and try to see how it will evolve. Finally we can think specifically about Germany's predicament."

HUBBERT PEAK OF OIL PRODUCTION

"Named after the late Dr. M. King Hubbert, Geophysicist, this website provides data, analysis and recommendations regarding the upcoming peak in the rate of global oil extraction."

Oil depletion: One of the most important problems of the world

"To solve a problem one must understand the magnitude of the problem. To reiterate previous numbers energy is consumed by humans at a rate of about 13TW (1TW equals one (US) trillion Watts). A very large fraction (around 40%) comes from oil. Oil is therefore the primary energy source, and it is the primary energy source which should concern us.

The world consumes 77 million barrels (one barrel is 42 (US) gallons or 159 (SI/metric) liters) of petroleum daily, which makes 26 billion barrels annually. The biggest extractors are Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United States, and Mexico. The biggest exporters are Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Norway. The biggest importers are the United States, Japan, Korea and Germany."

Die off.org

"Petroleum geologists have known for 50 years that global oil production would "peak" and begin its inevitable decline within a decade of the year 2000. Moreover, no renewable energy systems have the potential to generate more than a tiny fraction of the power now being generated by fossil fuels.

In short, the end of oil signals the end of civilization, as we know it."

Maybe, as Die Off.org says, no single bio fuel can save us. But the open market availability of all bio fuels can solve the problem without the drama. Everything needs to be re-thought through so that we produce life enriching rather than murderous results.

Harlem's High Asthma Rates

It was recently reported that Central Harlem, NY has one quarter of its young people suffering from asthma. Yet, the elected and appointed officials continue to pretend not to know why this is occuring.

There was a recent claim that the cause was exposure to roaches. However, as a member of a family who has roots going back to the 1920's in Harlem, I can assure you that Harlem has been living with roaches and mice since at least then. As a historical note, I remember my grandmother wondering in the 1980's if the rat and roach poison she put out back then was still impacting on the land and the people.

If modern science, which has been proven to be for sale, pretends not to know what's really going on, consider this:

The 5 Open Sewers Surrounding Harlem

PARK ON TOP OF SEWER
&
OPEN SEWAGE TANK

Harlem is surrounded by 5 Open Sewers, North River Water Pollution Control Plant, Wards Island, Tallmans Island Water Pollution Control Plant, and Bowery Bay Water Pollution Control Plants. The year after North River was built there was a radical rise in the infant mortality rate. However too many people are making too much money keeping the system as is, so the roaches are blamed. Can't blame everything on Canada.

The two most obvious, North River (135th & Hudson River, 10027) and Wards Island (Wards Island, NYC 10035) Water Pollution Control Plants (Sewage Treatment Plants) are on the west side of Harlem and in the river off of the east side respectively.

In great part due to the open windows at all ends of the North River Water Pollution Control Plant, and outdoor tanks at Wards Island, Harlem is breathing, daily, volatile organic compounds (VOC's -airborne living organisms) from these sewage tanks.

Across the river on the east side, Harlem is also close to Hunts Point Water Pollution Control Plant, Tallmans Island Water Pollution Control Plant, and Bowery Bay Water Pollution Control Plant. You can find a map of the NYC sewer system as published by the Department of Environmental Protection.

Politics and common sense need to merge in Harlem. Her best park, Riverbank State Park, is located over the North River plant and has people, among them children and seniors, exercising over an open sewer…not healthy. The NYC EPA says “The roof of the building is the home of Riverbank State Park, a popular recreational facility with three swimming pools, an amphitheater, an athletic center, a skating rink, a restaurant and sports fields - and, of the two New York State park facilities in the City, the only one built on top of a water pollution control plant.” It’s won many awards while placing Harlem residents in danger of toxic chemicals, methane gas and mutating germs.

Established Harlem leadership had decided to put a Hudson River mall just south of the sewer. Don't they think that the funk from the sewer may affect the quality of the meal? There are germs in the sewer air. Environmentalists are being honored in Harlem who keep the conversation about odor and flow rather than toxins and germs and toxic chemicals coming off the sewers.

Sewer System As A Source of Germ Disbursement: “The greatest danger…in breathing of sewer air is that of inhaling with it the living particles (bacilli, etc.) contained or developed in the excrement of diseased persons.” {Roger S. Tracy, Handbook Of Sanitary Information For Households, NY Appleton, 1895}

Sick people from all over the world come to New York City to benefit from her extraordinary medical system. Though hospital waste is handled separately from the general sewer system, during the time before sick people check into the hospital, and, if they remain in the city, after they leave, they are using the general sewer facilities.

In this time of terrorism, toxic materials (both medical and chemical that could cause illness and death) can be dropped into the sewer system and a large portion of the population could be impacted days after the event. Floating material could contain harmful elements and the results, devastating. This is because many, if not all of the NYC sewer plants, are not covered and in some cases could be easily contaminated from street or building levels without the culprit being noticed.

At North River, the large windows by the tanks are open. At Ward’s Island, the tanks are outside. Though we are encouraged to take comfort in the fact that chlorine kills 85-95% of the germs in the sewer, the more relevant question is what is in the other 5-15% that is strong enough to survive chlorine, food additives, genetically altered foods, human growth hormone, antibiotics, etc. Consider what happens when those strong germs and toxic chemicals get together in North River’s secondary tanks, with their steam wafting off the tanks next to open windows. Also, the additional chlorine put into the environment via tap water and flushed into the river can have a seepage effect on the land it comes in contact with, further empowering mutating bacteria.

The water in North River’s secondary tanks frequently has steam coming off them, which lifts some germs and they become air borne. Harlem's infant morality rate in the year after the North River Plant went into operation was 2.5 times higher than the rest of the City. Yet the discussion is limited to odor and flow, which haven’t killed anybody.
When you connect the dots between when the North River plant was open and rises and falls in her infant mortality rates over the years, you’ll see a direct correlation.

North River Plant and Infant Mortality Rates in
NYC & Harlem 1984-1993

Year (Event at North River plant), NYC, Harlem
1984 (Plant Construction), 13.6, 16.0
1985 (Plant built), 13.4, 23.3
1986, 12.8, 27.6
1987, 13.1, 20.9
1988, 13.4, 22.0
1989, 13.3, 23.4
1990, 7.6, 27.7
1991 (Primary Tanks Covered), 11.4, 19.2
1992, 10.2, 15.9
1993 - (Crack in tank), 10.2, 25.

Shortly after I published this data, the information source dried up. I had children with oxygen masks protesting the plant and the damage it was doing to them in the mid-90's.

What needs to happen to correct the problem?

First, the windows need to be covered or, like at Ward's Island where the open sewer tanks are outside, at least the tanks sealed, like what was in the original plans. “The problem with covering and air treating the secondary tanks is one of expense … NYCDEP’s rough estimate for subjecting the secondary tanks in a similar odor control system as that for the primary tank is in excess of $100 million.” From “The Smell of Success? An assessment of Odor Control Measures at the North River Water Pollution Control Plant” (June, 1994)

Where are they shopping? Tiffany’s? We need to honestly evaluate the situation at hand. Consider using sealed aircraft aluminum covers for the secondary tanks and using a NYC labor pool, featuring Harlem residents trained for the job.

Community residents will be motivated to do a good job because they and their families are breathing the air.

Second, regular testing of the sewer's contents and airborne materials need to be done and the results published. They test for indicator gases, but with the level of chemical reactions that can happen when various chemicals are mixed, we need to test for what is in the air.

The people have a right to know what's in the air, water and land more than they need a say over "is coke or pepsi or snaple going to get the vending contract for the park on top of the sewer, Riverbank State Park, the best park in Harlem.

As we remove or control the cause of the problem, the effects, what we experience as reality, will diminish like what happened in 1991 when the primary tanks were covered.

I've put up a page on Harlem's environmental crisis.

Please, tell New York's elected and appointed officials to stop leaving New Yorkers in danger of environmental hazards like when the WTC fell, and cover the 5 open sewers.

I still feel deep sorrow toward the mayor and the govenor about their silence concerning the EPA lying about the dangers in the dust. Yet, the congressmen, senators and many elected and appointed officials in Harlem are just as silent as the children die from asthma.