The transgender community won a small triumph this week in a larger battle to gain fairer media coverage, activists said.

The Jersey Journal, a Jersey City-based tabloid, yanked an article about a transgender woman from West New York, from its Website earlier this week after a two-month-long battle with advocates.

The coverage of the prostitution arrest of Coy Gordon, 42, sparked outrage among transgender activists. In turns, they faulted the reporting as exploitative, dangerous and error-plagued, as first reported by PavementPieces.com last month.

In the Web version of that Feb. 27 article, gender pronouns such as “he” and “his” were used to describe Gordon, who has lived as a woman for the past 30 years. Advocates also argued that the disclosure of Gordon as a “transsexual” in the headline and in the phrase “transsexual sex romp” was gratuitous and exploitative.

But of most imminent concern, was that it listed Gordon’s address by way of an interactive Google map, according to Melissa Broudo, a consulting attorney at the Sex Workers Project, and Gordon’s lead advocate.

Broudo described the newspaper’s decision to pull the story as a somewhat rare but considerable victory.

“It’s not to say it never happens, but newspapers are very protective,” said Broudo. “But by an large there are limitations [to free speech]—especially when someone’s safety is involved.”

Broudo’s back-and-forth with the newspaper consisted of phone calls and written correspondence, and utilized a two-prong approach. First, she focused on the risks the article posed to her client, which yielded the removal of the Google map in March.

Next, she highlighted “erroneous” phrases that cast aspersions on her client, particularly in the lead sentence: “Coy S. Gordon expected it to be a normal night of work – a transsexual sex romp with ‘john’…”

“How would they know how often she has a sex romp?” said Broudo.

While Margaret Schmidt, managing editor at the Jersey Journal, refused to comment about the article’s removal. Broudo characterized her dealings with staff as cooperative and “thoughtful.”

Gender rights advocates were elated by the turn of events.

They hoped it would usher in a bright, new chapter in the Journal’s coverage of the transgender community, which has until now seemed to be favor bad news only, according to Babs Casbar Siperstein, president of the Gender Rights Advocacy Association of New Jersey.

“This is great news for a change!” said Siperstein, a Jersey City native. “It shows some semblance of fairness and journalistic responsibility.”

The link that once lead Journal readers to the controversial article now draws a blank screen on the newspaper’s Website, Gordon, who is still contesting the charges in court, saw it as anything but a clean slate.

“I was already an eyesore in this neighborhood,” Gordon said. “Now they’ve turned me into a billboard.”

A sign in the Creative Little Garden on East Sixth Street warns visitors to clean up trash to prevent rat infestations. Photo by Rachel Wise

Faruk Mohammed recalled dozens of mornings when he’d show up to work and find signs of intruders. Packages seemed to be torn open, and their contents covered the floor.

Mohammed, who works at Akter Grocery at 106 Avenue B, set traps, hoping to catch the offender. When he returned to work the next morning, he was shocked to find not just one but five intruders — five fat, gray rats stuck in traps.

“We’re losing business because of rats,” said Mohammed, 32. “We had to move all the shelves around because they bite everything.”

Mohammed is one of many East Village residents affected by rat infestations. And unfortunately for them, things could potentially get worse in the coming months.

On March 30, amNewYork reported the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene plans to reduce the number of pest control aides by almost 70 percent — cutting 57 of 84 full-time positions.

Pest control aides are workers who respond to complaints called into 311 and from community boards about rats; they conduct inspections and work to rid troubled areas of rodent infestations when owners fail to act.

According to officials from DC37, a union for public employees in New York City, four of six workers in Manhattan and one of two supervisors will be cut.

Amy Geung, who lives on E. 10^th Street across from Tompkins Square Park, worries about how these cuts will affect the neighborhood.

Rat traps, like this one on East Fifth Street, can be seen throughout the East Village, usually near trashcans outside apartment buildings. Photo by Rachel Wise

“I’ve lived here seven years, and each year (the rat problems) have gotten better,” said Geung, 41. “If they cut those positions, what will happen? Probably, it will set us back.”

Geung says her apartment building doesn’t seem to have problems with rats but plenty of other places nearby do.

“You see the rats in some areas a lot — like near trash or dirty vacant lots. In those areas, (you see) one rat trap after another,” she said.

Mohammed said rat traps are necessary in his store because of the amount of trash that accumulates.

“The basement is all garbage. But where I live (on First Avenue), there are no signs of rats,” he said. “I think garbage is the key.”

Michael Rivera, co-owner of Beyond Pest Control at 80 First Avenue, agrees. Rivera said there are some parts of the East Village that are hit hard.

“St. Marks is one place that’s heavily, heavily hit. All the street shops there, and the transit system,” Rivera said. “People are generally not clean, and that attracts rats. There’s no real cure for it.”

The health department couldn’t say how often pest control aides are sent out, and Community Board 3 didn’t respond when asked how often complaints are reported in the East Village. But Rivera said he gets calls daily about rat problems in Manhattan. As for the East Village specifically, Rivera said, “it’s hard to say.”

But Steve Rose, who works as a superintendent on East Sixth Street, around the corner from Akter Grocery, and manages the Creative Little Garden also on East Sixth Street, tells an entirely different story.

“I live on the ground floor.  … I’ve been there thirty-five years, and I’ve seen all of five rats. People tell me they see them in the garden, but I’ve never seen them,” said Rose, 59. “It doesn’t seem to be a problem.”

Rose admits he keeps his properties very clean, which might make all the difference. In his apartment building, he keeps trashcans sealed and indoors. In the garden, rat traps are set and trash is kept to a minimum.

In a statement, the health department maintains “proposed cuts focus on the services that would have the least adverse impact.” Officials said the pest-control program will “continue to answer complaints about rats, conduct inspections, exterminate, issue violations for rats and garbage … (and) proceed with the indexing initiative which was recently expanded to Manhattan.”

The indexing program is detailed in the Rat Information Portal, an extension of the NYC.gov Web site, which provides specific data “to proactively identify the presence of rats in neighborhoods, and to compare the severity of infestations among blocks and neighborhoods.” Using the RIP complaint tracker, users can zoom into specific places in the city to determine whether an area shows signs of rats, problem conditions or has passed inspection.

Additionally, the RIP provides a 10-page guide on how to prevent and control rat problems. The health department reminds residents to store garbage in rat-resistant, sealed containers; to trim shrubs and keep landscaped areas free of tall weeds; and to check for and repair cracks or holes in buildings and sidewalks.

The pest-control aide cuts represent just 35 percent of staff cuts the health department plans to make, which could save the city as estimated $1.5 million. Almost every city agency has been asked to reduce spending by at least 15 percent to help New York City close its $2-billion deficit.

While it’s uncertain when these proposed cuts would go into effect, it would likely be at the start of the new fiscal year, which begins July 1.

Visit the Rat Information Portal and see your neighborhood statistics at https://gis.nyc.gov/doh/rip/.

Gordon is set for a court hearing today in West New York for a recent prostitution arrest, part of citywide crackdown on the local sex trade. But for many activists — and transgender women living private lives — this trial has become much larger than Gordon herself.

Gordon feels her safety has been jeopardized because of the way the arrest was covered by a Jersey City-based tabloid, the Jersey Journal. Questions meanwhile have resurfaced about the ethical limits of tabloid sensationalism in the coverage of transgender women and the real-world harm it can cause them.

Steven Goldstein, president and CEO of Garden State Equality, called the story “an abomination in reporting.”

In the Web version of that Feb. 27 article, gender pronouns such as “he” and “his” were used to describe Gordon, who has lived as a woman for the past 30 years. But careless copy errors — which were later corrected at the behest of Gordon’s legal representation — were only the tip of the iceberg.

The article listed Gordon’s address along with an interactive Google map, offering a paint-by-numbers guide to her home. Advocates argue that the mere disclosure of Gordon’s gender identity as a “transsexual” in the headline and in the phrase “transsexual sex romp” was gratuitous and exploitative.

“This arrest had nothing to do with the fact that this person was transgender,” Goldstein said.

This sort of coverage would appear absurd and discriminatory in the context of any other minority or ethnic group, according to Babs Casbar Siperstein, director of the Gender Rights Advocacy Association of New Jersey.

“If this had been a Jewish or Italian girl, would they have written ‘a Jewish or Italian sex romp?’ ” Siperstein said. “They are obviously picking on us because they think we are politically impotent.”

But editorial staff at the Jersey Journal fired back at critics.

“All of a sudden we are now the big bad newspaper who are a bunch of cavemen,” said Ron Zeitlinger, deputy managing editor at the newspaper.

He admits the misuse of masculine gender pronoun was a “mistake” that “slipped through.” But he is baffled why activists are criticizing their disclosure of Gordon’s gender identity, especially because she posted her services under a heading for “Transsexuals” on the backpage.com Web site.

“We probably should have given an attribution,” Zeitlinger said. “We have no agenda on what we call people. We just try to be accurate.”

But the fact that Gordon is transgender was precisely what made the story newsworthy, he said. He compared the incident to the public stir caused by Hugh Grant’s arrest for soliciting a transgender prostitute in Los Angeles 15 years ago.

“That’s what makes it news,” Zeitlinger said about Gordon being a transgender woman. “Every group could say you write too much about black crime, too much Hispanic crime and politicians doing bad things.”

But Siperstein, a Jersey City native, said the paper’s coverage of transgender people lacks balance and instead follows a strict, bad-news-only policy. She could not remember a single positive article written recently about the transgender community — and that is not for a lack of occasion.

GRAANJ, in corroboration with local gay center Hudson Pride Connections, held a town hall meeting in 2006. It was a celebration of New Jersey’s passage of transgender non-discrimination legislation, the ninth state in the nation to do that. Last June, activists scored another milestone in state-recognized equality, when former Gov. Jon Corzine signed a bill allowing a person’s driver’s license to reflect his or her gender identity.

“Do you think the press covered that?” Siperstein asked. “No.”

In the past decade, three news stories about transgender women have been covered by the Jersey Journal, prior to Gordon’s arrest. In 1999, Janet Aiello, a Hoboken police lieutenant, filed a discrimination suit against her then-employer following a sex-change operation.

In March 2004, the trial coverage of a Bayonne transgender woman, who allegedly was sexually and physically assaulted by a Jersey City man, was hampered by questionable copy. The paper consistently referred to the plaintiff as a transsexual, even though by the article’s own disclosure, she had never received a surgical procedure. According to the report, the alleged assailant “pulled down a thong and realized the victim was male.”

“There is a clear difference between transsexual, transvestite, transgender and drag queen,” said J. Marshall Evans, communications and outreach manager at Hudson Pride Connections.

“Transsexual” is a medical term that describes a person who has undergone hormone therapy or gender reassignment surgery, Evans explained.

Nonetheless, he thinks tabloids like the Jersey Journal prefer the term transsexual, instead of the umbrella term “transgender,” because it is a way “grabbing readers” while disregarding accuracy.

But according to one longstanding, openly gay copy editor at the Jersey Journal, “inflammatory words” are just the nature of tabloid writing.

“We are not trying to be the Washington Post,” said John Crittenden. “Our style in covering crime is to go more for the jugular than the brain.”

In his 30-year career at the newspaper, Crittenden said he has seen the newspaper go through “several incarnations of taste.” But the transgender community, in the context of crime reporting, is painted with the same “tabloid” brushstroke as any other community.

Crittenden, who also edits the newspaper’s “Letters to the Editor” section, faults activists for not once voicing their criticism directly to the newspaper.

“If you care about this issue — if you think the only ballgame in town should not be a tabloid — then write a letter to the editor,” Crittenden said. “The world is full of opinions; never be afraid to express one.”

Alexandra Sauceo, 12, from the group Youth Action Changes Things, listens intently to a Census outreach seminar for Mexican-American students. Photo by Darren Tobia

To his peers, Oscar Zempoaltecatl, 15, is considered a pretty normal kid — perhaps a bit of a jokester. But to his community leaders in the year of the census, he could be a linchpin of future political and economic empowerment.

Census outreach efforts to the city’s Mexican-American community — one of the most elusive and undercounted communities — are targeting students more than ever. Young people are expected to play a pivotal role in convincing parents and elders to complete and return the once-a-decade survey, which determines things such as allocation of federal funds and redrawing of political districts.

The census recently arrived in Oscar’s mailbox in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, home to one of the city’s largest Mexican-American populations. The last time the census came to town, research estimates only half of the city’s Mexican-American residents — the third largest Latino group — were counted. Overall, New York City’s 55-percent return rate in the 2000 census was well below the national rate of 75 percent.

His mother has already expressed some concern to him about completing the form.

“She thinks it could have a negative effect on us,” Oscar said.

But Oscar, along with four friends from his Brooklyn-based after-school group, Youth Action Changes Things, attended a census seminar at Baruch College in Manhattan on a recent Friday. He emerged ready to have a difficult but important discussion with his mother, he said.

“This is not just a bunch of papers you have to fill out every 10 years,” Oscar said.

Angelo Cabrera said he wanted to train the students to be ambassadors to their community and to reassure others that there is little to fear.

“There is a trust among parents to their son or daughter,” said Angelo Cabrera, president of the Mexican-American Student’s Alliance, which sponsored the event. “We are not going to tell them something that will hurt them in the future.”

Cabrera is trying to spread the message through young people that the census can actually reap benefits to the 10.3 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. — 57 percent of whom are Mexican-American, according to a study by the Pew Hispanic Center study.

On one hand, records are now more confidential than ever before. The Justice Department announced last month that not even the Patriot Act could grant access to a person’s census data.

But that information can be accessed at a later date at the participant’s request, and used to gain amnesty after working 10 years in the country, Cabrera said.

Still, undocumented immigrants are not the only group contributing to the undercount in the Mexican-American community, advocates point out. The recession has forced many families to share housing, often exceeding the limit of occupants allowed by law. Doubled-up tenants fear that participation in the census could make them vulnerable to eviction, according to Jackson Chin, a counseling attorney at LatinoJustice PRLDEF, a Latino advocacy organization.

These fears, however varied, have severely cost the city and residents relying on some form of government service or program. Last census, an estimated $847 million in federal funds were lost from the undercount, according to a final report to Congress by the U.S. Census Monitoring Board.

“That’s money that went to other states, other counties,” Chin said. “That could have brought a lot of new schools, teachers, jobs and services.”

Other types of government funding directly related to census participation include unemployment insurance, Medicaid, school lunches, Head Start, road construction and Pell grants, a higher-education subsidy for students of low-income families.

Chin said there has never been a case known to the public of a census worker violating confidentiality, adding it was “theoretically possible, but highly unlikely.” Any report of a breach would be “scandalous,” rendering the nearly billion-dollar census promotional efforts useless, he said.

Nevertheless, census return rates in New York City — Brooklyn has the fewest returns at 38 percent — have so far disappointed many advocates. Despite an unprecedented investment in outreach, far more is needed, Chin said. On a recent Sunday, Chin joined a team of volunteers, which included college students and kids from Oscar’s after-school group, to hand out flyers in Sunset Park. He was amazed out how little promotional signage he found in the neighborhood, given the significance of the message.

Still, he said joining the group of “idealistic” young ambassadors was an excellent strategy.

“Youth are very important to getting the message out when the adults are failing,” Chin said.

And there was a palpable sense of urgency among the young volunteers.

“We have to inform our community,” Monica Vega, 18, the group leader of Oscar’s group.

Bellevue patient Beverly Farmer has been coming to the hospital since doctors there saved her life after a heart attack five years ago. Photo by Simon McCormick

Carmen Serrano’s face stiffened when she heard the hospital she’s gone to her entire life could face a steep budget cut. The 55-year-old is currently unemployed and on Medicaid.

Serrano comes to Bellevue Hospital Center at least once a week for a chronic medical condition she declined to name.

“It’s almost like I have a job at Bellevue, I’m in here so much,” Serrano said. The life-long Chelsea resident said her entire family relies on the care at Bellevue. “If this hospital closes, where will I go?” she said. “What will I do?”

Bellevue is one of New York’s 11 public hospitals run by the city’s Health and Hospitals Corporation. Under Gov. David Paterson’s proposed budget, which would go into effect in April, the HHC would see its funding slashed by $370 million. The cut would come at a time when more uninsured New Yorkers than ever are using the city’s public hospitals.

Over the last four years, the HHC has seen a 14-percent increase in the number of uninsured patients coming through its doors. In 2009, 453,000 people without coverage visited HHC hospitals. One of those patients, 75-year-old Harlem resident Beverly Farmer, said she became loyal to the hospital five years ago when she suffered a heart attack.

“They saved my life,” Farmer said. “I’ve been coming here ever since.”

In an e-mail, HHC President Alan Aviles said a deep budget cut would make it extremely difficult for his organization to continue assisting the poor.

“Providing health care services to the uninsured cannot be done with magical thinking,” Aviles said. “It comes at a significant cost.”

Part of that cost results from the sheer numbers of patients who visit HHC hospitals. Bellevue alone took in more than 100,000 emergency room patients in 2008, according to the hospital’s Web site.

Bellevue’s main entrance is host to a constant stream of foot traffic during the day. On a weekday afternoon, a young mother slowly crept along the sidewalk, trying not to wake her sleeping baby resting on her shoulder. An elderly man who just left the hospital sat in his wheelchair, waiting for a taxi, as a teenage boy raced past him, hurrying to catch a bus. A middle-aged patient stopped at the food cart adjacent to Bellevue where he chomped into a hot dog before walking toward 26th Street.

In the late evening, the buzz of activity had died down outside Bellevue, and first-year resident Dr. Megha Shah left the hospital after a 12-hour shift. She said even without the potential budget cut, Bellevue’s doctors struggle to meet the needs of their patients.

“We already work at a very minimal budget,” Shah said. “The staff and doctors are overworked, and we don’t have enough nurses. A budget cut would make that a lot worse.”

HHC spokeswoman Pam McDonnell declined to comment on what effect a large slice in funding would have on patients and staff. She noted that nothing in Paterson’s budget is written in stone because the state Legislature has an opportunity to make adjustments to it. Paterson is also under heavy pressure to resign amidst allegations that he pressured a woman to drop assault charges against one of his top aides. It’s unclear what effect his resignation would have on the state budget.

“When final financial decisions at the state and federal level are made, HHC will weigh the impact and act accordingly,” McDonnell said.

But Aviles contended that if the budget were to pass as is, layoffs would have to be considered. A large part of the $370-million decrease in HHC’s funding would come out of the Disproportionate Share Hospital payment program. Disproportionate Share payments subsidize hospitals that care for large numbers of poor patients.

Under Paterson’s budget, the HHC would get close to $300 million less in DSH subsidies than it did last year.

“DSH funding is the lifeblood of our public system,” Aviles said. “It would be virtually impossible to sustain our mission and all of our public hospitals … without it.”

The HHC has already run up a $1-billion deficit covering the tabs of patients who can’t afford care. Serrano said the recent financial struggles of St. Vincent’s Hospital, which is near bankruptcy, proves established hospitals can be brought to the brink of collapse.

“I hope that doesn’t happen to this hospital,” she said. “I’m not sure what would happen if Bellevue goes away.”

Councilman James Sanders speaks at the press conference on unemployment on March 24. Photo by Simon McCormack

City councilman James Sanders Jr. said he knows the city spends tens of millions of dollars trying to create jobs in New York. Even so, he said more can be done to help the city’s struggling unemployed.

“We know that the city is not unwilling to deal with this issue,” Sanders said. “So we want to find out — what is the city doing about it?”

Sanders spoke at a press conference yesterday. He was joined on the steps of City Hall by councilwoman Diana Reyna and councilman Jumani Williams. With unemployment in the Big Apple near 10 percent, council members insisted there are more tools the city can use to help jobless New Yorkers get back on their feet.

Reyna expressed concerns that the city agencies geared toward growing the economy and stamping out unemployment were not in lockstep with each other. Reyna insisted that more New Yorkers will find jobs if these agencies work together.

“If we can tie them together and better synchronize their efforts, then we can certainly take a different approach in addressing our unemployment rate,” Reyna said. Reyna praised the efforts underway at Workforce1 Centers, city-run facilities in all five boroughs designed to provide career training and placement services to residents. She said companies doing business with the city should be required to post job openings at Workforce1 sites.

The postings would be a way of partnering companies that need labor with well-trained people looking for work, Reyna said.

“New Yorkers are not necessarily being linked to the places where job opportunities are occurring,” Reyna said.

The days of New York’s enormous factories may be over, Reyna conceded, but industry need not leave the city altogether. The councilman said city-owned industrial buildings should be subdivided so that smaller companies who can’t afford to rent sprawling buildings can move in.

“We cannot allow these buildings to sit idle while developers, who claim hardship, convert these buildings into condos,” Reyna said. “We must protect them and spur them into the opportunity for affordable industrial space.”

In her annual report this February, Council Speaker Christine Quinn mentioned the need to create a New York City High-Tech Connect. The project would link high-tech entrepreneurs with the resources needed to create profitable businesses. Reyna said she’d like to see that idea gain traction. But when asked whether they were confident other council members would back their proposals, Sanders offered only an indirect response.

“The Council is easy to speak for,” Sanders said. “We are the people’s voice, and we will be the people’s response.”

It was also unclear whether Mayor Michael Bloomberg was likely to agree with the council members’ recommendations. When asked whether Bloomberg was on board, Sanders said, “We look forward to hearing what the administration is going to say, and more importantly, what we are jointly going to do.” Bloomberg’s spokespeople did not return calls for comment.

No one from the mayor’s office attended the press conference, and only a handful of non-politicians or press showed up.

“They’re probably out looking for jobs so they weren’t able to join us today,” Williams said in reference to the paltry public turnout.

Sanders said he and his fellow council members were not interested in lambasting the administration for failing to effectively deal with the growing number of unemployed. The Queens Democrat said he’s simply looking to improve the city’s response to the problem.

“We’re going to look at a lot of different parts of the puzzle to see if they’re working together,” Sanders said. “If they’re not, we’ll find out why not.”

Councilwoman Annabel Palma, center, addresses the crowd along with fellow advocates and a few other elected officials. Photo by Rachel Wise

Gov. David Paterson’s (D-N.Y.) proposed state budget recently revealed a plan to cut $65 million in annual funding for adult homeless services. And many elected officials and advocates aren’t taking that lightly.

On Monday, the Department of Homeless Services and the Coalition for the Homeless, along with Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, councilwoman Annabel Palma and a group of advocates held a press conference to voice their fierce opposition to the proposed cuts.

“We have record homelessness in New York City right now. The governor’s cuts would absolutely decimate the adult municipal shelter system,” said Mary Brosnahan, executive director of Coalition for the Homeless. “This is exactly the wrong cuts at the wrong time. We need more help from the state, not less.”

More than 39,000 people in New York City seek shelter, according to the Department of Homeless Services daily census. Officials and advocates claim Paterson’s proposed cuts would drastically reduce aid to adult shelters, homeless-prevention services and safe havens.

“New Yorkers have seen the progress we’ve made in outreach program, drop-in centers, prevention,” said Christy Parque, executive director of Homeless Services United, a coalition of homeless service agencies in New York City. “We’ve made significant milestones in reducing the number of people of the street and reducing the length of stay (at shelters), and we want to continue doing that.”

The officials and advocates who held the press conference at Bowery Residents’ Committee, 317 Bowery, made it clear they were very different from one another. Each was involved in some part of the homeless-services community but admitted they have been known to butt heads often.

“This is a diverse group. Many times, we have gone against each other in terms of policy and what to do,” said Palma, a councilwoman who was homeless only 18 years ago. “But today we are standing here together to send a strong message to the governor and to Albany that these cuts can simply not happen.”

New York City operates under a “right to shelter” mandate, which ensures shelter for homeless men, women, children and families. Because of this, the city would still be required to serve the same number of individuals but with significant less funding.

Some speakers at the press conference held back opinions of what they thought might happen to the homeless-services system if these proposed cuts were passed.

“I’ve really hesitated when I’ve been asked … what would happen as a result of these cuts … because it’s unconscionable. It would set the city back, in the area of homeless services, 20 or 30 years,” said Robert Hess, commissioner of the Department of Homeless Services.

Other advocates felt it was important to look to the past to predict what the system might turn into — a grim forecast.

“Twenty or 30 years ago, we never had a capacity crisis in the shelter system because (shelters) were just so horrible. People only went when they had to,” said Muzzy Rosenblatt, executive director of Bowery Residents’ Committee. “They weren’t safe; they weren’t supportive; they weren’t caring; and they didn’t get results. And so when you make a two-thirds cut, you go back to that.”

Adding to this already-complicated issue is the fact that more and more people are becoming homeless as a result of the economic downturn.

“We need to step up and provide the services for the new people coming into the system,” Parque said. “Cutting the safety net for the people who are already hanging by a string is tantamount to condemning them to remain homeless and eliminating any opportunity for them to better their lives and return to a stable housing situation.”

Markus Spokane, a 46-year-old homeless man, has been in and out of shelters for more than four years. Spokane said he wasn’t aware of the proposed cuts but isn’t surprised.

“So many shelters are at capacity as it is. That’s why I’m here, sleeping on the sidewalk,” Spokane said. “The cuts are just going to hinder that even more. I don’t even want to think about how many others like me will be back on the streets — probably for good.”

While the cuts would certainly have a negative impact on the homeless community, advocates say the rest of the city will feel the change, too.

“These cuts aren’t just going to hurt our homeless neighbors; they’re going to hurt all of us because it’s going to decimate the quality of life here in New York City,” Brosnahan said.

These leaders and homeless-services advocates are calling on Paterson and the state Legislature to reverse the proposed cuts and restore funding to what they say is an integral community need.

“Is there going to be a broad abrogation of responsibility, and sort of running away from the problems in our state, or is there going to be some kind of lines in the sand drawn, where there is an understanding … the quality of life in this city could be fundamentally different if Albany fails to act?” de Blasio asked.

On Tuesday, de Blasio and Commissioner Hess will be in Albany, fighting to restore funding for the homeless population.

“We need everyone to call members of the Legislature, and to put all the pressure on possible to call on the governor to do the right thing,” Hess said. “We call upon them today with a coalition that doesn’t often stand together but believes, sincerely, that we cannot set this city back 30 years.”

Almost 200,000 demonstrators gather in the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on March 21. Photo by Elisa Lagos

Tens of thousands of people descended on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Sunday to call on President Obama and Congress to enact immigration reform. Demonstrators carried American flags and signs, and some even held crosses with the names of those who died while crossing the border into the United States.

Nearly 200,000 demonstrators came from across the country, according to rally organizers. Some drove from as far as California or Florida to bring the immigration debate back to the forefront.

“We came in buses from Florida,” Jorge Sierra said in Spanish. “It’s important that Obama know we want (immigration) reform. If not now, when?”

President Obama laid a timetable for immigration overhaul last year when he said his administration would tackle reform by early 2010. Demonstrators in Washington said they want to hold Obama to that promise, but immigration reform has been largely overshadowed by the battle over health care and financial overhaul.

In a video message, the president tried to reassure demonstrators that immigration reform is still a top priority all while the House of Representatives prepared for a vote on the Senate’s health-care bill. The bill passed in a historic vote late Sunday.

“I think they will take (immigration reform) up. Obama’s next step will probably be financial reform, which is necessary, but immigrants are highly important to the economy as well. He can’t ignore the issue,” said Charlotte Jones-Carroll of Maryland.

Maria Cardenas and Jorge Sierra, both from Florida, participate in a large demonstration in Washington, D.C. Photo by Elisa Lagos

The immigration debate last came to a head in 2007 when the country was embroiled in a bitter dispute that gave rise to the Minute Men movement and a 1,951-mile long wall along the U.S.–Mexico border.  There is already an inkling of reform on Capitol Hill as senators Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) outlined the beginnings of a new bill that would pave a road for illegal immigrants to become citizens. But many of those in favor of reform want more than a path toward legal status — they want the immigration system completely revamped.

“Citizenship is good, but they need to do something to help the children who suffer most when their parents are taken and deported,” said Maria Cardenas of Florida. “They need to find a way to keep families together. You don’t know how those children suffer. You don’t know what they go through.”

The last time the immigration reform legislation passed in Congress was the 1996 Illegal Immigrant Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act that made it easier for the government to deport illegal immigrants. But as immigration increased and the number of undocumented workers reached approximately 12 million, reform supporters say the country needs immigration overhaul sooner than later.

Gethsemane — a Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Flatbush, which has one of the largest Haitian-American congregations in NYC — has had to transform itself, almost overnight, into a makeshift emergency command center. Run by 42 volunteers and church staff, the headquarters serves as a crisis management center, fielding concerns of neighborhood residents, and a communications tower for its delegation, which arrived in Haiti, via the Dominican Republic, on Jan. 19.

Haitians line up in a Flatbush money-transfer store to wire funds to Haiti to help relatives who are victims of the earthquake. Photo by Zanub Saeed

Haitians in Flatbush stood in line at the UniTransfer money transfer service on Tuesday afternoon, waiting to send funds to relatives and friends trying to survive in the aftermath of the massive earthquake that hit the Caribbean nation a week before.

Family and friends of the victims have been trying to send money, though it has not been easy. As numerous money transfer buildings and services crumbled to the ground in the capital city of Port-au-Prince and neighboring villages, Haitians living in Flatbush were forced to wait a week to send funds to their relatives via wire services such as UniTransfer on Church Street. The money would be used to buy basic needs such as food and water, both of which are presently scarce in Haiti.

Renel Bazile, a Flatbush native, waited to be told when to send money to his relatives in Haiti. His cousins in Haiti — with whom he was able finally to make contact this Sunday — searched for a wire service that was still standing amid the rubble, and sent word back when they had finally found one. Bazile immediately headed to UniTransfer when receiving confirmation.

“Here, if you want to, you send the money, and you call them to get it, and they’ll go and get it,” Bazile, 51, said.

Bazile, who regularly sends money to his relatives in Haiti every other week, gave a bit more this time. He also planned to donate money to Haiti relief organizations, but knew that the wire transfer would assist his family quicker.

“I’m planning to give some to them, but I have to think of family first,” Bazile said. “With charity, it’s going to take time before getting there.”

Bettina Abellard, who stood patiently in line at UniTransfer, was of the same mind set as Bazile. She noted the money transfer could take up to “a couple of minutes” to get the Haiti.

“Well, it’s going to take a while before the (charity) money is distributed in Haiti, and they need to survive before that,” said Abellard, 28, who sent $500 — about 20,000 Haitian Gourdes — to relatives in Haiti.

Haitians in Flatbush provided funds to those outside their family circle. Darlene Sanon said that her neighbors, who did not have family in Haiti, sent money to friends suffering in the Caribbean. Sanon, 42, wanted to send food to her family, who were living “outside in the field, actually, the soccer field,” but due to the poor conditions, she was afraid it would not get to them.

“We can’t send food because there’s no transportation, no delivery there,” Sanon said. “They can go and get the money, and have money in their hand because they’re selling food down there. They have some merchants, some restaurants that aren’t broken down.”

Although goods and money are being transported to Haitians in need, the prices of goods in the nation have inflated greatly. Jude Domond sent $500 to his parents and cousins in Port-au-Prince to buy food, but was wary of the prices.

“They’re going to buy some food, some drink and some water. It’s expensive right now, so expensive,” said Domond, 33. “A bottle of water was one or two (Haitian) dollars, but right now it’s ten (Haitian) dollars.”

Despite the catastrophe and the rising number of casualties, Haitians are optimistic.

“Everybody is fine,” Bazile said. “Their homes were destroyed, and they sleep on the street, but thank God they’re still alive.”