Hankster Summer Friday: Live-blogging Friday Afternoon July 30, 2010

Hey there Hanksteristas -- it's Friday, it's afternoon, it's summer -- it's time for Hankster Summer Friday!

3:42pm (NY time) It was a little cooler today (not really) but it was really HOT on Wednesday night at the Queens Boro Hall NYC Charter Revision Commission public hearing. The Queens Boro Hall is right next to the Van Wyck, which is how a lot of people get around in cars in Queens, and how lots of people get to JFK Airport from Manhattan. Hence the photo I just put up.

Here's a picture of Queens Boro Hall

So anyways, I won't give you the whole run-down since I tweeted the basics from the Hall last night, but suffice to say that there were about 100 people in the audience, many independents, who I suspect wanted to see what the follow-up response would be to the "disruption" of the Harlem hearing on Monday night by Community Voices Heard [watch for upcoming video soon!] and the spectacular statement about democracy by Dr. Lenora Fulani.

The upshot of this meeting was a response from every single commission member about where they stand nonpartisan elections.  Hard to tell, most of them stand somewhere between here and there. However, results-oriented Anthony Crowell's statement was clear and unequivocal. He noted that with every election cycle the level of disenfranchisement deepens for non-Democrats in the City of New York.

Then independent attorney Harry Kresky characterized the discussion (this is an issue that's being talked about all over the country) as a "New York City throw-down." It's a fight.

4:33pm -- I was reading a couple of articles today on the #7 train on my way in to work (around this time of year you get a seat more often because there are so many people on vacation...) (and I have now subscribed to 3 magazines that come to my apartment on paper -- interesting! Who knew!?) in Rolling Stone. One about Leo DiCaprio, who I didn't know much about but who seems like an interesting actor. And the other was about this performer who goes by M.I.A. "Maya Arulpragasam, the British-Sri Lankan hip-hop art-punk guerrilla, has his genius for stirring up trouble" 

---- EXTREMELY INTERESTING! "Why wouldn't they give those kids a microphone?" she asks. Indeed!!

4:49pm -- okay, I gotta go! My group has a date with a new group tonight and I don't want to be late! See you soon! Enjoy your evening!!!

-NH