By: Shiryn Ghermezian

“It is unfortunate that some members of the opposing team disrespected Israel’s national anthem. We are proud to be the only university who sings both the American and Israeli national anthems before every athletic competition and major event,” said Yeshiva University president Ari Berman.

Yeshiva University president Ari Berman slammed the “disrespectful” decision by two Brooklyn College volleyball players to kneel during the playing of “Hatikvah,” Israel’s national anthem, at a recent match hosted by the university.

“It is unfortunate that some members of the opposing team disrespected Israel’s national anthem,” Berman told JNS. “We are proud to be the only university who sings both the American and Israeli national anthems before every athletic competition and major event. Nothing makes me prouder to be an American than living in a country where our religious freedom, our Zionism and our commitment to our people will never be impeded and always be prized.”

The two athletes, part of the Brooklyn College Bulldogs men’s volleyball team, kneeled on the ground when the song blared on the loudspeaker before the match against Yeshiva University’s Maccabees on Feb. 23.

The Brooklyn players were later identified as Omar Rezika and Hunnan Butt in social-media posts about the event.

A video of the athletes kneeling on the ground was posted on Facebook by Sarah Serfaty, a Stern College student watching from the stands inside Yeshiva University’s Max Stern Athletic Center.

The Bulldogs won the game 3-0.

While some social-media users claimed Rezika and Butt refused to shake hands with the Jewish athletes, Yeshiva University debunked that claim. The Jewish school wrote on Twitter that accusations about a handshake not taking place are “not accurate.” It added, “Please rest assured that if anything like that should ever occur we would handle it through the proper channels.”

A Brooklyn College spokesperson said the school “strongly condemns all forms of anti-Semitism and hatred,” and also defended the students’ rights under the First Amendment to kneel during Israel’s national anthem.

Neither team responded to requests for comments from JNS, though many social-media users took to the Bulldogs’ official Instagram page to call out the athletes for not showing sportsmanship during the game.

Their anti-Semitic actions were called “disrespectful” and “shameful,” and one Instagram user wrote to the team saying, “You should put out a statement either condemning the anti-Semitic actions of the two who knelt, or kick them off your team. If Bklyn won’t punish the players, the conf needs to,” referring to the CUNY Athletic Conference.

(JNS.org)

By: David Maybaum

New York’s infamous MTA system is giving riders of the Q subway train a real ride. The company is upgrading its fleet of trains for newer trains, ditching the decades-old ones at last, “…in preparation for the launch of a modern signal system on the E,F, M and R lines”, according to the New York Post.

The passengers of the Q train adjusted to ‘modern trains’ that were introduced in 2006, which was introduced with bright lights and shiny, new blue seats; a stark contrast from the 30+ year old trains that were equipped with fake wood paneling and the grunge orange and yellow seats, as if they were a shrine of the 70s era.

“I think it stinks,” said lawyer Pam Caruso, 55, as she waited on the platform.

“The visuals on the old cars don’t bother me as much as the space and the seating,” she added, noting back-to-back, transverse seating of the older cars. “You’re sitting with the back of your head covered in someone’s hair.”

The MTA stated that this long-needed switch is essential to introduce modern computerized signals, referred to by the system’s name, Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC), to the E, F, M and R lines. The company will buy multiple new train cars in anticipation of the projected CBTC’s success throughout the entire subway system, which is expected to last all the way into the next decade.

“Modern computerized signaling doesn’t just bring the latest technology to our tracks – it’s also driving the upgrade of our train fleet including thousands of new cars for use throughout the system,” said Shams Tarek, an MTA spokesman, in a statement. “The ultimate result will be a very reliable subway system with modern, advanced trains throughout the five boroughs.”

According to abc14news.com, “The MTA is investing $663 million to provide CBTC to Queens Boulevard tracks from Kew Gardens/Union Turnpike station all the way to 50th Avenue stop for the E prepare in Manhattan.”

Reportedly, the Q train is not the only system under construction. The Eighth Avenue and Lexington Avenue subways in Manhattan, as well as the Jap Parkway and Fulton Road subways in Brooklyn are also slated for CBTC upgrades, which officers say will convey significant improvements for rides of the 4/5/6 and A/C trains.

In an interesting turn of events, some passengers have expressed that they actually prefer the old trains instead of the newer ones, despite both having the same quantity of passenger seats. One passenger named Brandon, a 36-year old Shakespeare professor, commented, “Yeah, the newer cars search nicer… but the older cars have far more seating.”

By Howard M. Riell

The New York City Advisory Commission on Property Tax Reform announced that the first hearing following the release of its Preliminary Report will take place on Thursday, March 12 at 6:30 PM at the Petrides School Auditorium (C-Building) at 715 Ocean Terrace on Staten Island.

On January 31, 2020, the Commission released a Preliminary Report with 10 initial recommendations to make NYC’s Property Tax System simpler, clearer and fairer. The Commission was formed by Mayor de Blasio and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson in 2018 with a mandate to reform NYC’s property tax system to achieve these goals while ensuring there is no reduction in revenue used to fund essential City services.

The Commission spent more than a year analyzing data and examining various reform models that comport with its mandate. Based on the extensive deliberations of Commission members, ex-officio members and staff, the Commission is advancing initial recommendations in this preliminary report that address inequities in the system and provide the Commission’s appointing authorities and policymakers with a roadmap to reform.

“New York City is home to a mosaic of real property, from the iconic skyscrapers that shape its skyline to the varied domiciles that house its 8.6 million residents,” reads the executive summary of the preliminary report. “The residential dwellings, office buildings, and small business corridors that line its streets contribute to New York’s diversity of industry, rich culture, and vibrancy of its neighborhoods.

“Though the topography of the City’s properties may vary from neighborhood to neighborhood, there is one common thread that stitches most of them together – the obligation to pay property taxes,” it continues. “While this connection may bind properties together at an elemental level, commonalities beyond that can be quite limited. A close look at New York City’s property tax system will show that there can be vast differences in how properties are classified, valued, and assessed, lending credence to the widely held characterization that the system is overly complex, opaque, and arcane.”

To ensure the Commission hears from all those interested, it is asking that speakers should plan to speak for no more than three minutes. Commission members may use additional time to ask the speaker questions. Elected officials will be given the opportunity to speak first; all other participants will be heard in the order in which they sign up when they arrive at the hearing.

Speakers may submit their presentations ahead of time by emailing them to [email protected] or uploading them at https://www1.nyc.gov/site/propertytaxreform/contact/testimony-submission.page through an online portal.

The Commission will be holding public hearings in all five boroughs and will be scheduling hearings in other boroughs soon.

By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh

Hundreds of miles north of Manhattan there is a city in upstate New York where buyers are pushing and shoving to purchase property at above the asking price. All the hallmarks of a booming real estate market are evident in this city of Rochester, New York. Located 350-miles away from the Big Apple, in the North West, only two-hours away from the Canadian border, Rochester is becoming one of the hottest sellers’ markets today.

As reported by the NY Post, this city, with a population of roughly 200,000, is seeing bidding wars for listed properties, all-cash offers, and listings are selling for above the asking price just hours after hitting the market. House hunters need to check websites for listings daily to keep up with the speedy turnover. “I’ve been doing this for 42 years,” local agent and broker Tony Ruggeri told 13 WHAM local news, “and I’ve never seen anything like this.” “Make sure you have cash,” added Ruggeri. “If you have a home to sell, forget about it. Don’t even bother, and be ready to go.”

Recently Ruggeri represented a home at 1123 Stonegate Drive, which had 23 showings in a single day. Needless to say the home has already been sold. Built in 1985, the four-bedroom 1,760-square-foot home, in the Rochester suburb of Webster, listed for $179,900 on Feb. 12th. One of the couples who rushed to see the house, newlyweds Kailey Suhr and Joseph Colway, were just on their way back from their honeymoon. They have been searching for a home since October. “There hasn’t been a lot to look at yet; stuff is going very quickly,” said Colaway. Median listing prices for homes in the city are at about $279,900.

Andy Kachaylo, a local realtor and the president of the Greater Rochester Association of Realtors, also said he’s astounded by the frenzy of their real estate market. “The activity is tremendous,” Kachaylo said. When searching for an answer as to the cause of the sudden influx in prices, the only result is the obvious: there is an increase in demand. This is probably a function of low supply. The number of homes available for purchase is at the lowest point it’s been in the past seven years. At the end of 2013, there were 5,446 homes for sale, that’s a whopping 3,017 more homes available than there were at the end of 2019. There are also more local buyers, in addition to buyers who are looking to come in from out of state.

By: Mike Mustiglione

Will the Department of Education (DOE) really excuse coronavirus-related absences as they say they will?

Some parents aren’t buying it.

An announcement by DOE officials earlier today with assurances that absences due to the coronavirus will not have any effect on competitive school applications is being looked at suspiciously by school kids’ parents.

“In our schools, it’s health and safety first,” the DOE posted. “#Coronavirus-related absences will not impact current applications to middle or high schools.”

School attendance is, of course, one of the criteria when schools select from among student applications.

“How will they determine which absences are corona-related?” Community Education Council 2 member Eric Goldberg told The New York Post in an interview. “This also implicitly states that if you keep a child home with seasonal flu or cold, their admissions will be impacted. I suggest DOE think this through a bit more.” He added, “Doctors, public health officials, even the DOE itself says to keep your sick kid home, but DOE is so fixated on assessing and sorting children, it can’t clear up the policy.”

A related problem, of course, is school closings. “Widespread transmission of COVID-19 would translate into large numbers of people needing medical care at the same time. Schools, childcare centers, workplaces, and other places for mass gatherings may experience more absenteeism,” said the CDC in statement.

“Health officials are currently taking steps to prevent the introduction and spread of COVID-19 (‘Coronavirus’) into communities across the United States. Schools can play an important role in this effort,” reads a Department of Education webpage statement. “Through collaboration and coordination with State and local health departments, State and local educational agencies, other education officials, and elected officials, schools can disseminate critical information about the disease and its potential transmission to students, families, staff, and community. Schools can prepare to take additional steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19, should State and local health officials identify such a need.”

“Ultimately, Department of Education officials recommend that schools defer to a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidance that provides information for both schools that do, and do not, have identified cases of coronavirus within their communities,” reported cnbc.com. “For schools that have identified cases of coronavirus, the CDC says the first step is to “determine if, when, and for how long childcare programs or schools may need to be dismissed,” indicating that school closures may be recommended for 14 days or longer.”

In fact, CDC appears to be very concerned with kids missing school due to the outbreak. It said in a statement, “School plans should be designed to minimize disruption to teaching and learning and protect students and staff from social stigma and discrimination. Plans can build on everyday practices (e.g., encouraging hand hygiene, monitoring absenteeism, communicating routinely) that include strategies for before, during and after a possible outbreak.”

By Pat Savage

Bob Iger quit the top job at Disney last week, but his legacy will live on for quite some time.

After 14 years as Disney’s chief executive officer, he referred to his job at the company as “a brand manager” in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. But that’s not all of it by any stretch.

“A quartet of multibillion-dollar acquisitions during Mr. Iger’s tenure assembled Buzz Lightyear, Captain America, Princess Leia and Bart Simpson on Disney’s studio lot in Burbank, Calif.,” the Journal reported. “In doing so, Mr. Iger, 69, ran the entertainment conglomerate with a laser focus on developing franchises that could be exploited across multiple divisions, redefining what it meant to be a successful Hollywood executive. Instead of being a smooth talker able to charm and cajole stars and directors, Mr. Iger put protection of the brand above all else. Stars such as Robert Downey Jr. once ruled Hollywood; at Mr. Iger’s Disney, Iron Man was worth more.”

Robert Allen Iger, born February 10, 1951 served as the President of ABC Television from 1994 to 1995, and as President/COO of Capital Cities/ABC, Inc. from 1995 until Disney’s acquisition of the company in 1996. He was named President and COO of Disney in 2000, and later succeeded Michael Eisner as CEO in 2005, after a successful effort by Roy E. Disney to shake up the management of the company. As part of his yearly compensation, Iger earned $44.9 million in 2015.

During his tenure, Disney broadened the company’s roster of intellectual properties and its presence in international markets; Iger oversaw the acquisitions of Pixar in 2006 for $7.4 billion, Marvel Entertainment in 2009 for $4 billion, Lucasfilm in 2012 for $4.06 billion, and 21st Century Fox in 2019 for $71.3 billion, as well as the expansion of the company’s theme park resorts in East Asia, with the introduction of Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and Shanghai Disney Resort in 2005 and 2016, respectively.

In an industry known for its divergent opinions, opinions of Iger’s legacy vary surprisingly little. How did he make it to the pinnacle?

“The answer, according to those who worked with Iger over the years, lies in his discipline, his thoughtful and straightforward management style and a knack for forging trust with business partners — including former adversaries,” noted the LA Times. “He has charisma, and he is smarter than he thinks he is,” said Alan Horn, co-chairman of Walt Disney Studios, who joined the company in 2012. “And Bob possesses both courage and vision, which is rare. Few people have both.”

By Tom Roberts

Is Jack Dorsey on the way out as Twitter’s C.E.O.?

Some insiders say he may well be.

Hedge fund Elliott Management has recently purchased a large piece of Twitter, and is being loud in calling for the social network to make some changes.

The New York Times is reporting that a pair of insiders said that giving Dorsey the heave-ho is currently being discussed.

“Though Elliott has a number of concerns, its biggest is the fact that Mr. Dorsey currently is the chief executive title at both Twitter and another business he founded, the financial company Square, one of the people briefed on the matter said,” noted the Times. “Mr. Dorsey’s divided attention has been a longstanding area of concern for investors in the technology company, whose business and stock price have grown in recent years — but more slowly than its social media competitors.”

“Paul Singer, the billionaire founder of Elliott Management, is a Republican mega-donor who opposed Donald Trump during the real-estate magnate’s run for the presidential nomination but has since come onside,” reported theguardian.com. “After a White House visit in February 2017, Trump said Singer “was very much involved with the anti-Trump or, as they say, ‘Never Trump’, and Paul just left, and he’s given us his total support and it’s all about unification.”

In fact, Elliott Management Corp. has reportedly nominated four directors to the board at Twitter Inc.

Last November, Dorsey announced that he was intending to reside in Africa for anywhere from three to six months during 2020. “The announcement surprised executives at Twitter and angered investors frustrated with the company’s performance under the part-time CEO,” noted wsj.com. “Twitter’s shares and financial performance have long lagged behind its popularity and influence in culture and politics. Its market capitalization, at around $26 billion, is a fraction of that of rival social-media platform Facebook Inc.”

Dorsey and co-founder Jim McKelvey developed a small business platform to accept debit and credit card payments on a mobile device called Square, released in May 2010. The small, square-shaped device attaches to iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, or Android devices via the headphone jack, and as a mini card reader, allows a person to swipe their card, choose an amount to transfer to the recipient and then sign their name for confirmation. Square is also a system for sending paperless receipts via text message or email, and is available as a free app for iOS and Android OS. On October 14, 2015, Square filed for an IPO to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. As of that date, Dorsey owned 24.4% of the company.