No Public transport in New York City/Ferry to Roosevelt Island/

My last post was about Hurricane Sandy's destruction, which is compounded by the politicians' lack of preparedness; what comes to mind right away is the lack of transportation, the lack of pumps in the subways which are now flooded, and the lack of any alternate transportation; such as ferries.

NY has a history of these, so there is precedent - and no excuse not to have them. One does run from the tip of Manhattan to Staten Island, which has no subway - and for what it's worth, one to Governor's Island, which was closed earlier this year when I went with a friend to take a ride - but other ferries are not to be found. One in particular, or the lack of one, hits home, as I visit a friend who is housed in a hospital on Roosevelt Island. It has only one vehicular access bridge, from Queens; a tram, and a subway. All of which are out of order now, and the hospital being surrounded by water and on low ground, I am worried about my friend and cannot get him on the phone.

So it brings to mind a conversation I had with residents of the island and 12th Congressional District candidate-to-be Wade Emory Johnson, when he asked about a ferry, which could run to Queens, Manhattan and other parts. It was said that the MTA opposed the idea as it would compete with the train

America is about competition. Competition would have created a way to get to work for the hundreds of workers in the hospital, some of whom ended up trapped at the hospital. Ferries do not need expensive tunnels and are not confined to fixed routes. They serve a need and can be rerouted as needed in emergencies. And they are fun to ride.

So why no ferry? Ask the mayor, the borough president, the congressman, and everyone else involved in this rotten thieving administration. Maybe the answer is that they stole so much money there was none left for this.

And ask them what they are doing about hemp, which could provide jobs for Americans, and from which ferries can be powered.

But don't expect an answer. They have hijacked this country and will not give it back.

Wade Emory Johnson for Congress

New York is not a big hemp state, although it was grown here back in the day. There are no hemp shops,
and only an occasional eatery that uses it, surprising the number of health conscious people there are here;
Whole Foods has several shops and is opening yet another on the East Side. They sell very little and yesterday after going to four of their outlets I came back with no hemp.

Politically, very few legislators care or know. The expection would be Jerrold Nadler, a long term incumbent
in the 8th Congressional District - which is the southern end of Manhattan to 34th St. on the West Side, + a smidgeon of Brooklyn. He is actually a co-sponsor of the Hemp Bill with Dr Ron Paul.

His thinking is more independent than most of his Democrat colleagues. But really, American needs more independents, and more hemp. And both were found unexpectedly one day while making my weekly visit to Roosevelt Island. Parenthetically, I am not sure which Roosevelt it is named after...Teddy turned Indepenedent but after naming his party the Bull Moose Party he lost the race...but I digress. This weekly visit is to see an elderly friend of mine who is staying in Coler-Goldwater and outside the subway stop was a man asking for signatures. The kind of thing I avoid, but for some reason he seemed a cut above and we got to talking. Turns out he is seeking the Independent candidacy for the 8th Cong Dist., which is the Upper East Side, Roosevelt Island, part of Queens and a bit of Brooklyn.

Usually these guys seeking office are a waste of time on real issues, so I shot him the hemp one. Not that he knew tons of info, but he did know, and I did not which impresses me - a place on East 17th that uses hemp oil and seed, so I will have to go and check it out (and blog about it here.)

Wade Emory Johnson is his name, he is an established human rights lawyer in New York and has dealt with a greatnumber of different nationalities in his day, so he has gotten to know the people. And the people seem to know him, as we had barely set foot in the Starbucks a week later when he was bring recognised and chatted up by former petition signers.

This was after he accompanied me to on my lonely vigil to see a patient there - and what surprises is that he walked both ways, it was a mile trek in the hot New York sun. But he wanted to see the island, which many policians neglect, as it has less than 12,000 people on it, and he took careful notes. At Coler, he spent not only time to walk around and listen to staff, but he spent almost an hour with me trying to help my friend, whose mental state is so bad he needs to be clothed and cannot dial a phone anymore.

Usually politicians want the camera crew and a make-up artist before they start kissing those babies, but Wade was just hanging out and observing. Coler, by the way, is well run - the staff have a very hard job with all the patients, mainly either amputees or senile. It is easy to forget these people, society and many politicians do.

Thus Wade scored a lot of points with me, and with the residents - he stopped to listen to housing complaints, proposals about a possible ferry, local history, the future of the hospital and the new tech campus they are going to build there, and even notes on the birdlife (so far, 14 species, half of them maritime birds such as grebes and coromorants).

One thing I wanted to bring of course was a copy of "Hemp for Victory", but I am packing again, going off to the Bronx for a while, things are in storage, so I'll get a copy mailed to him from Minawear (based, BTW, in Dr Ron Paul's constituency).

He has already googled it and disussed the main points with me, in particular how hemp provides jobs for Americans, and I know this will be a key issue. So I am supporting a candidate, and, if he gets the 3,000 signatures he needs on the ballot by this month, will be supporting his campaign here. My proposed slogan is: It's not just election day, it's INDEPENDENTS DAY.

Greens, Independents, Libertarians...Americans - unite. If you live in the 12th Cong Dist in NY get on his list now to make him a candidate and vote for Wade Emory Johnson for Congress. American needs its Independents,  it needs jobs,  it needs hemp and it needs you to vote.