Brooklyn Ron

Verizon Locks You up, and Throws Away the (QWERTY) Keys

Already on this website, we have written about the deception built into Verizon's marketing of its two-year contracts.

(See that blog post here.)

More recently, after I switched to a Verizon data plan so that I could surf the Net with my (pretty dumb) LG "smart phone, I found another reason to be outraged by Verizon.

It had to do with texting, and the limits that Verizon (sneakily) has been placing on our ability to do it.

Like others, I began to find texting fun and easy with the raised "qwerty" keyboard that, as you know, sequences its letters as a typewriter does.

Much smoother than typing clumsily on a regular abc telephone pad.

Imaging my surprise when I sudden began receiving these irritating bleeping messages from Verizon, saying I had exceeded the character limit.

What the hell is this? I wondered, Twitter? Twitter is free, for crying out loud.

Turns out that Verizon, with telling them, has been migrating customers over to plans that set 160-character limits on text messages.

When I called Verizon to complain, I was told that Verizon is trying to save space in its virtual sky, since folks have been sending so many photos, videos and audios online.

So what gets sacrificed? Words -- your words, my words, the words, dear friends, of everyday people, simple saps, who get sucked unwittingly into scheming Verizon contracts, that know no transparency.

And so, it was with a bit of glee yesterday that I took in the front page of The Wall Street Journal, with its story carrying the headline: "Telecoms Face Antitrust Threat."

Give 'em hell, Harry. I mean, Barack.

Concerned About Foreclosure? Attend this Bed-Stuy Event and Get Advice from Best Non-Profits in America

If you are in danger of foreclosure, or you know someone who is, or you just want to make sure you never fall into that danger, attend this session being held in Bedford Stuyvesant on Tuesday, July 14th.

Counsellors will be on hand to give advice, free of charge.

Participating groups include the best of the best in the city (we'd dare say the best of the best in the country).

They include NEDAP (the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project), South Brooklyn Legal Services, the Flatbush Development Corporation, the Pratt Area Community Council and others.

Location is the Bed-Stuy Multi-Service Center at 1958 Fulton Street.

Time is Tuesday, July 14th, from 4 to 8 p.m.

Elected officials, including Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and State Senator Malcolm Smith, are involved in putting together the session, according to NEDAP.

Those involved will also attempt to make people aware of scams that pretend to offer foreclosure help, but instead run off with your money.

See the flier for the event.

Car Insurers Discriminate Against Brooklyn, With Backing of State Officials

This has to be one of my favorite storefront windows.

It sits there boldly on Court Street just south of Schermerhorn in Downtown, brazenly advertising the way insurance companies discriminate against car owners in Brooklyn.

[Click image to enlarge it, by the way.]

New York City already has the highest insurance rates in the country, and Brooklyn is treated worst of all.

Look closely at the window.

The rates advertised here are quite good (otherwise, of course, they would not be posted in the window), but they show that the prices for a person with a Brooklyn address are substantially higher than for someone in Manhattan, Queens or the Bronx.

Consumer advocates say insurers of auto and homes are getting away like bandits, and state insurance officials are allowing them to do it.

See the advocates' report from last year titled, "NEW YORK INSURERS OVERPRICE POLICIES AND  
UNDERPAY CLAIMS, LEADING TO RECORD PROFITS."

“Insurance companies charge more and pay out less, which is bad news for homeowners and
drivers,” Russ Haven, legislative counsel for NYPIRG (New York Public Interest Research Group) said as that report was issued.

“New York needs to level the playing field by creating an independent consumer advocate office to represent average insurance customers and to pass legislation cracking down on the unfair claims settlement practices insurers use to deny claims outright and settle other claims on the cheap.”

One thing consumers could do, of course, is petition their state senators (no longer spelled with capital letters) asking for help.

But lotsa luck with that!

Ozier Muhammad Keeps Harlem in Vogue, With Photos That Will Outlive Videos

In some ways it pained me to write that headline, because I've been trying my eye at video-making lately.

And I know I will never create a video with the beauty and durability of Ozier Muhammad's photographs.

But that's okay, really. Not only is Ozier a friend of many years, but he's been a co-worker in the journalism craft, and has a Pulitzer Prize to show for his talent and courage.

Brian Lehrer, the quintessential interviewer and selector of worthy interviewees, saw the timelessness in Ozier's photographs of Harlem and Chicago, and he invited our friend and colleague for a revealing sit-down.

In that session on CUNY TV, Ozier speaks of how he developed his aesthetic sensibilities and of his love for Harlem and for the Black neighborhoods of Chicago. Along the way, he speaks also of how the current video revolution is changing the way Times photographers do their jobs.

Enjoy the interview by clicking the right-pointing arrow on the image below.

And, by the way, check out the New York Times "lens" web page showcasing Ozier's Harlem shots, along with audio commentary by the photographer.

It was here that Lehrer was made aware of the artist's love affair with America's best known African-American neighborhood. [Click here.]

Last, but not least in noteworthiness, we disclose that Ozier took the photographs making up the proud logo of this BrooklynRon website.

Al Vann is All but Sure to Win Bed-Stuy Council Race, One 'Objective' Observer Says

 The race for the City Council seat in Bed-Stuy (the 36th District) is one for the books.

Some half dozen challengers are trying to unseat incumbent Al Vann. And they are taking this all very seriously, turning deaf ears to the (here) oft repeated truism that incumbents win 97 percent of the time.

This truism is true whether incumbents have done a good job or whether they have "fucked up."

Excuse the language, but that was the phrasing, more of less, of a former Councilmember quoted anonymously in City Limits magazine.

Regarding the crowded field in the 36th, it is a testament to the ambition and/or character of the would-bees that they plow ahead, despite the odds.

And, in truth, there are some grounds, in virtually each case, for hope.

For example, one would think that challenger Mark Winston Griffith -- with the backing (and presumably accompanying money and manpower) of the Working Families Party and of ACORN -- could be putting fear into the heart of Councilman Vann.

After all, challengers do sometimes end up pumping their fists up in victory.

But a big problem for Griffith -- or for the others -- is precisely that there are so many of them, and that they are so seemingly sincere.

Their determination can be seen, said our source, in the way they are going through the petition process, with due diligence, gathering signatures that will allow them to be on the Democratic primary ballot this September.

And there's the rub: The more of them on the ballot, the greater the chances of Vann sailing to the finish line first.

All of this would be less an issue if one of the challengers -- particularly Griffith -- could draw more attention, raise more hell.

But that's just not been happening, so far.

[The "objective source" referred to up above, by the way, is about as knowledge (and honest) as they come, with respect to Bed-Stuy politics.]

Candidate Cornegy is Music to Ears of Patricia Robinson, Who Leads a Symphony of Pianos, Politics and History in Bed-Stuy

[caption: l-r, Bed-Stuy's historic Patricia F. Robinson Music School; Patricia Robinson; City Council candidate Robert E. Cornegy, Jr.]

Patricia F. Robinson embodies the cultural history of the wonderful place called Bedford-Stuyvesant. Her mother, as you will hear in the below video, started a local music school 79 years ago, and that place of aural learning endures to this day.

Such continuity!

But Robinson does not want to see that kind of continuity in her elected officials.

She believes incumbent City Councilman Al Vann has been in office too long (having served 35 years in elective office, most of it as Assemblyman before switching jobs with then Councilmember Annette Robinson).

And so Music Director Robinson is now playing the renegade in Bed-Stuy's exciting City Council primary race.

She's throwing her enthusiastic energies behind Robert E. Cornegy, Jr., son of a popular minister, about whom you'll hear more in the brief video below.

Robinson says life is music, and music (as any musician knows) needs changes.

[Also, please check out this Sunday, June 28, 2009, at 2 pm, "The 79th Annual Recital" of The Patricia F. Robinson Music Studio.

It's at the Brooklyn Music School, 126 St. Felix St., Brooklyn. $25 at the door; $20 in advance. School can be emailed at pfr_musicstudio@yahoo.com. Or visited at its website www.pfrmusicstudio.org or on Facebook.]

Here's the video:

Scamming America: AT&T, Verizon Lock up Their Phones (and Lock You up, Too)

About five years ago, after leaving a job and giving up the company phone, I decided to get my own cell phone from Verizon.

I went first to a Verizon store on Seventh Avenue in Park Slope.

The guy there told me you had to sign up for a two-year contract. Almost immediately a fellow standing next to me said, "That's not true. I have a one-year contract."

I thanked the fellow to my side and walked out the door. It didn't seem like a good place to be signing any kind of contract.

Stay with me. This gets better.

Some days later, I went to a Verizon place on 86th St. on the East Side of Manhattan, near my new job, and I (knowingly and smugly) asked for a one-year contract.

When the paper work was done, I looked it over and saw they had given me a two-year contract.

Feeling I was in the land of con men, I went back and told them that I had clearly and articulately asked for a one year contract. They apologized and promptly issued me what I requested.

But hold on. It gets better still!

A month later I received, not one, but two bills: One for a one-year contract, and another for a two-year contract.

It was easily rectified with a phone call, give me a break!

Clearly this was not just a simple clerical error. Deception was so obviously built into the marketing of these Verizon contracts.

And let me say the following: that this story of the two-year contract that would not die is growing in relevance.

Today, as so-called smart phones grow in popularity, carriers like Verizon, AT&T and Spring and others are creating new age monopolies, cornering the market on certain types of devices (for example, AT&T possessing rights for the iPhone, and Sprint doing the same with the Palm Pre).

And (just as they physically lock up those phones so they can't be used with another carrier) the companies all but insist on locking you into a one- or two-year contact.

AT&T tells you plainly that you can't get the iPhone without a contract. Others just trick you into it, by not telling you the ways that you can be on a month-to-month (non contractual) plan.

These days, many Free Internet advocates are accusing the big phone companies of being anti-free market.

And the advocates are pushing back against the virtual behemoths.

Writes Josh Levy of the Free Press Action Fund (in an email that I received):

"These "exclusive deals" remind me of the days when AT&T held a monopoly over all phone communications. Consumers could only use one phone, on one network, at rates set by one company. No innovations could take place without AT&T's permission. When federal rules forced AT&T to open its network, an explosion of innovation occurred with new fax machines, Internet modems and answering machines. . . Today, the FreeMyPhone campaign seeks to open up the wireless market in the same way."

Senator John Kerry is getting into the fray also, asking, "Who Really Owns Your Phone?" in a post on Save The Internet.

Please check out what the "Free My Phone, No More GateKeepers" folks are saying. Click here.

Finally, a Leader (Barack Obama) Concedes: Card Companies and Banks Abused Consumers

This is a Barack Obama speech that should go down in history, for its declaration of the evils committed over the past decade by credit card companies, banks and, yes, Verizon and various telephone companies as well.

Who thinks that those Verizon bills -- and the bills as well from National Grid or ConEd (as in "We con Ed or Bob or anyone else we can") or Citi Card -- were really meant to inform their consumers?

The statements have been so stunningly confusing that one suspected, at first, that they were devised by illiterates.

It took a year or so to realize it was intentional obfuscation on the part of the companies.

The time lag in reaching that awareness was attributable -- not just to stupidity -- but a reluctance to accept that well established American companies would treat their customers with such cold, calculating and (dare we say criminal) contempt.

American businesses, at the level of Verizon and big banks and insurance companies, created a culture of deception that enveloped us in a painful financial crisis, a crisis that, until recently, seemed likely to destroy the way of life we have known.

Obama's speech criticizing that culture was discussed and parsed on CNN and other news stations, but they were fairly boring and meaningless, really, when measured against the real thing.

They did not, of course -- egotists that they are -- want streaming competition from a 19 minute presidential speech of this type.

In it, Obama (in his gentle way) criticized companies that have cunningly lured millions of Americans into loans and deals they could not afford and that they did not understand, companies that offered "a bewildering array of incomprehensible options," companies that competed "not by offering better products but more complicated ones, with more fine print and more hidden terms."

Thus the need, he said, for better, tougher regulation.

[Meanwhile, The New York Times, in an analysis, says "There was "Only a Hint of Roosevelt in (Obama's) Financial Overhaul."]

A video of the speech was there on the White House website, for bloggers to grab and post.

My Fort Greene, Time is Swift and Time is Mean: A Story of Gentrification

Fort Greene Park at sunset is a beautiful place.

Then again, so is it beautiful during the day, now as it was a hundred years ago.

There is so much history in this storied Brooklyn neighborhood, which was my home many years (no, decades) ago.

Much of that history, as a majority of caring Brooklynites know, involved African Americans.

But the once very significant African American presence is diminishing these recent years, pushed by the gentrification that has so changed the social and business landscape of the community.

Herewith, in that vein, we offer a little video.

Below, check out previous BrooklynRon posts on Fort Greene:

"BAMboozled" and "A Slap in the Face of History."

Sen. Gillibrand's Favorite Journalist is . . . Guess Where? At Fox News

New York's junior Senator Kirsten Gillibrand [left] tells New York magazine that she loves journalists and journalism and that she, in fact, would have been a journalist had law not been her first passion.

Then came the disclosure that gave pause:

"Did I tell you if I wasn’t a lawyer, I wanted to be a journalist? I love getting at the truth. My favorite is Greta Van Susteren [photo, right].”

Almost right away, the senator realized the admission might not sit well with progressives and others who have complained about her con and neo-con positions when she was an upstate Congresswoman (before being appointed by Gov. Paterson to take Sen. Hillary Clinton's place).

The author (Stephen Rodrick) writes: "For a fleeting moment, a look of concern comes over Gillibrand’s face, and she touches my arm. 'Is this going to be okay?'”

We here thought Van Susteren was great when she was at CNN ages ago. Loved her. But we stopped watching her, almost in our tracks, when she went to Fox in 2002. It wasn't just the off-putting facial surgery, which made it seem she was turning over personality as well as reputation to right-wing Fox, that put us off.

It was the newly adopted, blatantly contrived TV tabloid Fox tough-talking style that made it impossible for us to watch or listen.

By the way, the Van Susteren angle is way at the bottom of the New York article.

It is an often effective technique, especially in longish feature-style pieces, to include the most awkwardly revealing comments or moments at the very end, as Rodrick did in this profile of Gillibrand.

To read the New York magazine piece, click here.