Tag Archives: activists

Mineola, New York, USA. April 26, 2021. Activist at rally holds sign saying: STOP TAXING OUR WATER. Faced with a 26% rate increase from New York American Water going into effect May 1, 2021, activists and residents who are NYAW customers rally to urge NYS Assemby to push through legislation, before that date, corresponding with NYS Senate Bill S989A to establish a Nassau County Water Authority and except water works corporations in counties of populations over one million from a special franchise tax. (© 2021 Ann Parry, AnnParry.com)

Activists Rally to STOP New York American Water Rate Hikes

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From LONG ISLAND – by Ann Parry (annparry.com)
April 27, 2021

Activists urge NYS Assembly to pass legislation to create Nassau County Water Authority

  • contact info for NYS Assembly members at end of post
“Mineola, NY, USA. April 26, 2021. At rally, activists hold signs saying STOP TAXING OUR WATER, and Water for ALL! Faced with a 26% rate increase from New York American Water going into effect May 1, 2021, activists and residents who are NYAW customers rally. (© 2021 Ann Parry/AnnParry.com)

Mineola, NY, USA. April 26, 2021. At rally, activists hold signs saying STOP TAXING OUR WATER, and Water for ALL! Faced with a 26% rate increase from New York American Water going into effect May 1, 2021, activists and residents who are NYAW customers rally. (© 2021 Ann Parry/AnnParry.com)

Yesterday, April 26, activists held a rally in Mineola about the unfair burden of paying dam-bursting rates – about to rise 26% higher on May 1st – for water from New York American Water, a private company.

Living in Merrick, I’m among over 124,000 customers of NYAW in Nassau County who pay rates many times higher than county residents with municipal water.

“Mineola, NY, USA. April 26, 2021. MARGARET MAHER, from non-profit Food and Water Watch, speaks at rally. Faced with a 26% rate increase from New York American Water going into effect May 1, 2021, activists and residents who are NYAW customers rally to urge NYS Assembly to push through legislation, before that date, corresponding with NYS Senate Bill S989A to establish a Nassau County Water Authority. (© 2021Ann Parry/AnnParry.com)

Mineola, NY, USA. April 26, 2021. MARGARET MAHER, from non-profit Food and Water Watch, speaks at rally. Faced with a 26% rate increase from New York American Water going into effect May 1, 2021, activists and residents who are NYAW customers rally. (© 2021 Ann Parry/AnnParry.com)

Since 2011, I’ve been covering rallies and attending meetings about the extreme, unfair difference in rates customers pay for water from private companies versus municipal water in Nassau County.

“Mineola, NY, USA. April 26, 2021. Activists and civic leaders - including in front row, center, wearing lapis blue face mask and jacket, CLAUDIA BORECKY, a Co-Director of CAWS (Clean Air Water Soil) - rally at Theodore Roosevelt Executive and Legislative Building. Faced with a 26% rate increase from New York American Water going into effect May 1, 2021, activists and residents who are NYAW customers rally. (© 2021 Ann Parry/AnnParry.com)

Mineola, NY, USA. April 26, 2021. Activists and civic leaders – including in front row, center, wearing lapis blue face mask and jacket, CLAUDIA BORECKY, a Co-Director of CAWS (Clean Air Water Soil) – rally at Theodore Roosevelt Executive and Legislative Building. Faced with a 26% rate increase from New York American Water going into effect May 1, 2021, activists and residents who are NYAW customers rally. (© 2021 Ann Parry/AnnParry.com)

But the notable changes water customers have experienced over the past 11 years have been repeated sales from one private water company to another, and a flood of rate hikes.

“Mineola, NY, USA. April 26, 2021. At front, GEORGE POMBAR, President of Glen Head-Glenwood Civic Association, speaks at rally. Faced with a 26% rate increase from New York American Water going into effect May 1, 2021, activists and residents who are NYAW customers rally to urge NYS Assembly to push through legislation, before that date, corresponding with NYS Senate Bill S989A to establish a Nassau County Water Authority. (© 2021Ann Parry/AnnParry.com)

Mineola, NY, USA. April 26, 2021. At front, GEORGE POMBAR, President of Glen Head-Glenwood Landing Civic Council, speaks at rally. Faced with a 26% rate increase from New York American Water going into effect May 1, 2021, activists and residents who are NYAW customers rally. (© 2021 Ann Parry/AnnParry.com)

New York State Senate Bill S.989a

Recently, however, New York State Senate Bill S.989a passed –  sponsored by Sen. James Gaughran (Dem.-5th District, Northport) – which relates to the assessment of property owned by water-works corporations – including creating a Nassau County Water Authority and exempting water works corporations in counties of populations over one million from a special franchise tax.

In addition to NYS Sen. James Gaughran, Sen. John Brooks (Dem. – 8th Dist., Seaford), Sen. Leroy Comrie (Dem. – 14th Dist., St. Albans)  Sen. Todd Kaminsky (Dem. – 9th Dist., Long Beach), and Sen. Kevin Thomas (Dem. – 6th Dist, Garden City) actively supported the bill’s passage, and speakers at the rally thanked them.

“Mineola, NY, USA. April 26, 2021. L-R, DAVE DENENBERG, Co-Director of CAWS; LLOYD NADEL (speaking at mics) attorney for Glen Head-Glenwood Landing Civic Council; ERIC WELTMAN, Senior Organizer for Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Action; (activist); GEORGE POMBAR, Pres. of GH/GL Civic Council; and AGATHA NADEL, Director of NSCC,  speak at rally. Faced with a 26% rate increase from New York American Water going into effect May 1, 2021, activists and residents who are NYAW customers rally. (© 2021 Ann Parry/AnnParry.com)

Mineola, NY, USA. April 26, 2021. L-R, DAVE DENENBERG, Co-Director of CAWS; LLOYD NADEL (speaking at mics) attorney for Glen Head-Glenwood Landing Civic Council; ERIC WELTMAN, Senior Organizer for Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Action; (activist); GEORGE POMBAR, Pres. of GH/GL Civic Council; and AGATHA NADEL, Director of NSCC,  speak at rally. Faced with a 26% rate increase from New York American Water going into effect May 1, 2021, activists and residents who are NYAW customers rally. (© 2021 Ann Parry/AnnParry.com)

But for New York American Water customers to avoid the 26% rate hike, and for such changes to take place, the NYS Assembly must also pass corresponding legislation before May 1st.  [See UPDATE near end of post]

“Mineola, NY, USA. April 26, 2021. Activist META MEREDAY, of Baldwin, speaks at rally and holds up sign saying: NY Assembly, Only You Can Stop the Rate Hike! Faced with a 26% rate increase from New York American Water going into effect May 1, 2021, activists and residents who are NYAW customers rally to urge NYS Assembly to push through legislation, before that date, corresponding with NYS Senate Bill S989A to establish a Nassau County Water Authority. (© 2021Ann Parry/AnnParry.com)

Mineola, NY, USA. April 26, 2021. Activist META MEREDAY, of Baldwin, speaks at rally and holds up sign saying: NY Assembly, Only You Can Stop the Rate Hike! Faced with a 26% rate increase from New York American Water going into effect May 1, 2021, activists and residents who are NYAW customers rally. (© 2021 Ann Parry/AnnParry.com)

Contact your NYS Assembly member:

New York State Assembly members:  assembly.state.ny.us/mem/

Michael Durso  •  District 9
nyassembly.gov/mem/Michael-Durso
dursom@nyassembly.gov •  516-541-4598

Charles D. Lavine  •  District 13
nyassembly.gov/mem/Charles-D-Lavine
LavineC@nyassembly.gov  •  516-676-0050

David G. McDonough  •  District 14
nyassembly.gov/mem/David-G-McDonough
mcdonoughd@nyassembly.gov  •  516-409-2070

Michael Montesano  •  District 15
nyassembly.gov/mem/Michael-Montesano
MontesanoM@nyassembly.gov •  516-937-3571

John K. Mikulin  •  District 17
nyassembly.gov/mem/John-K-Mikulin
mikulinj@nyassembly.gov •  516-228-4960

Taylor Darling •  District 18
nyassembly.gov/mem/Taylor-Darling
darlingt@nyassembly.gov  •  516-489-6610

Edward P. Ra  •  District 19
nyassembly.gov/mem/Edward-P-Ra
rae@nyassembly.gov  •  516-535-4095

Judy Griffin •  District 21
nyassembly.gov/mem/Judy-Griffin
griffinj@nyassembly.gov  •  516-561-8216

Michaelle C. Solages •  District 22
nyassembly.gov/mem/Michaelle-C-Solages
SolagesM@nyassembly.gov  •  516-599-2972

“Mineola, NY, USA. April 26, 2021. AGATHA NADEL, Director of North Shore Concerned Citizens (NSCC) speaks at rally, and behind her at right is ERIC WELTMAN, Senior Organizer for Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Action. Faced with a 26% rate increase from New York American Water going into effect May 1, 2021, activists and residents who are NYAW customers rally to urge NYS Assembly to push through legislation, before then, corresponding with NYS Senate Bill S989A to establish a Nassau County Water Authority. (© 2021 Ann Parry/AnnParry.com)

Mineola, NY, USA. April 26, 2021. AGATHA NADEL, Director of North Shore Concerned Citizens (NSCC) speaks at rally, and behind her at right is ERIC WELTMAN, Senior Organizer for Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Action. Faced with a 26% rate increase from New York American Water going into effect May 1, 2021, activists and residents who are NYAW customers rally to urge NYS Assembly to push through legislation, before then, corresponding with NYS Senate Bill S.989As to establish a Nassau County Water Authority. (© 2021 Ann Parry/AnnParry.com)

Company & groups in post:

New York American Water – www.amwater.com/NYAW/
facebook – nyamwater

CAWS – LI Clean Air Water and Soil – www.licaws.org/

Food and Water Watch –
www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2021/03/02/stopping-privatization/

Glen Head-Glenwood Landing Civic Council –
www.facebook.com/ghgwlcivics/

North Shore Concerned Citizens (NSCC)

→ UPDATE:  New York State Assembly Bill A07279

Before May 1, 2021, NYS Assembly Bill A07279 passed, which “relates to the establishment of the north and south shore water authority and capping the rate a water-works corporation may increase its rates and charges.” It was sponsored by Rep. Charles Lavine (Dem. – Dist. 13, Glen Cove), and co-sponsors Rep. Judy Griffin (Dem. – Dist. 21, Rockville Centre), Rep. Michaelle Solages (Dem. – Dist. 22, Elmont), and Rep. Michael Montesano (Rep., Ind., Cons. – Dist. 15, Glen Head).

NYS Assembly Bill A07279 differs from NYS Senate Bill A.989.a in some significant ways. For one, the NYS Assembly bill would form a North and South Shore Water Authority, covering fewer New York Water Authority customers than the Nassau County Water Authority NYS Senate Bill S.989.a would cover.

my Photo Gallery: Rally to Stop NY American Water Rate Hikes

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North Bellmore; New York; USA. March 14; 2018. Protesting gun violence, Mepham High School students walk out of class for 17 minutes; starting 10:00 am EST; one minute for each student shot and killed last month in a Parkland, Florida, H.S. It was part of a nationwide walkout in solidarity with student shooting victims, and a demand for U.S. laws to reduce gun violence.

Bellmore-Merrick Students Walkout to Protest Gun Violence: Déjà Vu

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From LONG ISLAND – by Ann Parry (annparry.com)
March 14, 2018

Today, over a hundred Wellington C. Mepham High School students walked out of class from 10:00 to 10:17 AM, one month after a teen used a semi-automatic rifle to kill 17 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas H. S. in Parkland, FLA.  

North Bellmore; NY; USA. March 14, 2018. Protesting gun violence, Mepham H. S. students walk out of class for 17 minutes; starting 10:00 AM; one minute for each student shot and killed last month at a Parkland, Florida, H.S. (© 2018 Ann Parry/Ann-Parry.com)

North Bellmore; NY; USA. March 14, 2018. Protesting gun violence, Mepham H. S. students walk out of class for 17 minutes; starting 10:00 AM; one minute for each student shot and killed last month at a high school in Parkland, Florida. (© 2018 Ann Parry/AnnParry.com)

2018 NATIONAL STUDENT WALKOUT: 17 MINUTES

Mepham’s walkout was part of a nationwide protest to show solidarity with student shooting victims, and to demand U.S. lawmakers enact regulations and laws to reduce gun violence.

By 9:45 AM, several Nassau County patrol cars were parked on Camp Avenue in front of Mepham. School administration had requested police “just in case.” But neither the officers nor the school security guard, standing a distance from the walkout, needed to interact with protestors.

North Bellmore; NY; USA. March 14, 2018. Security Guard in red jacket watches as Mepham High School students, protesting gun violence, walk out of class for 17 minutes; starting 10:00 am.  ( © 2018 Ann Parry/Ann-Parry.com)

North Bellmore; NY; USA. March 14, 2018. Security Guard in red jacket watches as Mepham High School students, protesting gun violence, walk out of class for 17 minutes; starting 10:00 am.  ( © 2018 Ann Parry/AnnParry.com)

Several adults drove or walked to Mepham and stopped to look at the protest held at the west side of the school building. The most visible focal point from the street was four students standing on a bench and holding up big handmade protest signs. 

North Bellmore; New York; USA. March 14; 2018. CRYSTAL PHOTIOU, of Bellmore, drove to Mepham to watch students walkout to protest gun violence.

[Photo digitally altered to remove color from car/driver] North Bellmore; NY; USA. March 14, 2018. CRYSTAL PHOTIOU, of Bellmore, drove to Mepham H. S. to watch students walkout to protest gun violence. (© 2018 Ann Parry/AnnParry.com)

CRYSTAL PHOTIOU, of Bellmore, stopped her car in front of Mepham to watch the protest. When asked why she was there this morning, Photiou said:

“I wanted to see the kids. I wanted to see our future. That’s why I came.
“We have to do this. We have to support them. Absolutely.”

Midway through the walkout, a car with a man and woman in it stopped in front of the school. The driver said they’d come from the student walkout at Calhoun High School – which, like Mepham, is in the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District. Smiling, she added there were so many students protesting outside Calhoun it looked like the whole school was participating in the walkout.

Déjà Vu:  VIETNAM WAR 50 YEARS AGO

The Vietnam War started not long after after I was born. By the late 1960’s, protests, notably including student protests, were helping turn public opinion against having American troops in Vietnam, which significantly helped lead to the withdrawal of our last troops by 1973.

I first began to understand the cost of the Vietnam War in 1968 when I was a junior at Calhoun High School. A military draft seemed guaranteed in the near future (in fact, the 1st draft lottery for Vietnam War was held Sept. 1969), and one of my closest friends, Tom, a senior, waited anxiously to find out if he was accepted into a military band, considered a safer assignment than the alternative.

My senior year, a small but earnest group of students held a walkout to protest U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. 

And in Calhoun’s Main Lobby, the plaque commemorating graduates who died serving in Vietnam had even more brass nameplates than expected for a school our size.

When I was an undergraduate student at SUNY New Paltz, Vietnam War protests were an inescapable part of life on campus, starting with the protest songs during Orientation Week concerts, just weeks after and 50 miles away from the Woodstock festival…  including a sit-in at the Administration Building around the time of the Kent State massacre, May 1970…  and continuing until our troops totally left Vietnam, shortly before I graduated.

North Bellmore; New York; USA. March 14; 2018. Protesting gun violence, Mepham H. S.  students walk out of class, as part of a nationwide walkout in solidarity with shooting victims, and a demand for U.S. laws to reduce gun violence. (© 2018 Ann Parry/Ann-Parry.com)

North Bellmore; NY; USA. March 14; 2018. Protesting gun violence, Mepham H. S. students walk out of class, as part of a nationwide walkout in solidarity with shooting victims, and a demand for U.S. laws to reduce gun violence. (© 2018 Ann Parry/AnnParry.com)

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Properly motivated lawmakers – who replace incumbents, when necessary – can pass regulations and laws that both keep Second Amendment rights intact and also help significantly reduce the amount of gun violence, which is significantly, outrageously worse here than in other countries.

Today’s National Student Walkout to Protest Gun Violence is a hopeful step in the right direction. On March 24th there’s the March for Our Lives Rally in Washington, DC, and local communities. After that it’s time for the next steps.  

#ENOUGH      #NeverAgain 

  • UPDATE  April 8, 2021 – President Biden announces new executive actions on gun control  CNN Politics

Protect Children, Not Guns:   ChildrensDefenseFund.org

Mepham Students Walkout:  my PHOTO GALLERY

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Related posts:

    • 2018/08: Gov. Cuomo Endorses Liuba Grechen Shirley for Congress
    • 2018/04: Steve Israel Brings Out His BIG GUNS on Long Island
    • 2016/04: Hillary Clinton Panel on Gun Violence Prevention, Port Washington