All posts by Barbara Nevins Taylor

Racist J.B. Stoner Came Before Marjorie Taylor Greene

April 18th, 2021

by Barbara Nevins Taylor

In 1979, I sat at a long table in a law office in a white frame house in Marietta, Georgia with J.B. Stoner. I was there to interview the racist, anti-semitic founder of the National States Rights Party about some aspect of his campaign for governor. I’d interviewed Stoner before, for WAGA-TV, and he always had us set up in front of the big flag with the Nazi thunderbolt behind him. We talked easily while the photographer got the equipment ready. I planned tough questions, but kept it light before we got started. After a few minutes, Stoner cocked his head and said, “You know, you are pretty nice for a Jew-lady.”

The comment took my breath away. Stoner with his bristly hair and clip-on bowtie might have seemed like a cartoon character, but he wasn’t. As a teenager he resurrected a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In the 1950s he was suspected in a string of bombings and attacks against Jews and Blacks in the South. He was indicted in 1963 for obstruction of justice and trying to stop integration in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1969 he represented James Earl Ray, the convicted killer of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Ray’s brother Jerry became Stoner’s bodyguard, always hovering nearby. He was there at my interview with Stoner standing slightly to the right. Stoner lost that 1979 governor’s race and a year later Stoner was convicted for the 1958 bombing of the Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham.

Over many years in Georgia, this hateful racist got air time and newspaper coverage and was a fixture in the vocal right wing of North Georgia politics. Sound familiar?

Racist J.B. Stoner speaks. Photo by Eddie Hunter — Racist J.B. Stoner speaking with right wing Congressman Larry McDonald behind him. Photo by Eddie Hunter.

Stoner died in 2005 and I haven’t worked in Georgia since the early ’80s. But when I hear Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene talk, it sounds like I’m back in that little room in Marietta.

Taylor Greene’s 14th Congressional District runs just west of Marietta and north to the Tennessee line near Chattanooga. It’s hard to believe that so much of J.B. Stoner seems to linger in the north Georgia air and is reflected in Marjorie Taylor Greene’s rhetoric.

Take a couple of lines from a notorious Stoner commercial using the N word during his unsuccessful run for U.S. Senate in 1974. Stoner sued to require TV stations to run the commercial under the Fairness Doctrine, even though the Federal Communications Commission had a long-standing ban against using the word.

Stoner won. Here’s some of what he said: “I am the only candidate for United States Senator who is for the white people. I am the only candidate who is against integration. All of the other candidates are race mixers to one degree or another.” Stoner lost that race to Sam Nunn. But you get the idea.

Back to Marjorie Taylor Greene. In Facebook videos she said, “There is an Islamic invasion into our government offices right now,” referring to Congresswomen Ilan Omar and Rashida Talib. She said Black people are “held slaves to the Democratic Party” and called the philanthropist George Soros, a Jewish, holocaust survivor, a Nazi.

Her latest plan to form an Anglo-Saxon caucus, reported by Punchbowl, makes her seem even more like Stoner’s heir.

Taylor Greene apparently scrapped the idea of the caucus after Republican leaders criticized it. Yet she remains a voice that may skirt overt racism, but echoes an ugly past. Too bad we’re not over it.

Majorie Taylor Greene is now a fundraising machine. She raised $3.2 million dollars during the first three months of 2021, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC)

One good thing. The AJC’s Jim Galloway reported that Stoner’s house in Marietta now is owned by an oral surgeon who leased the basement to the Cobb County Democratic Party. Active members include Blacks and Jews.

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Got The Second Shot. Now What?

February 27th, 2021 1 Comment

by Barbara Nevins Taylor

When will it end? I admit it: I am weary of hiding from COVID and I’m struggling like millions of others to see the sunny side. I feel lucky that my husband Nick and I got the second shot. We want the bells to ring and the sun to shine and the world to turn and a great new day to begin.

We want to expand our lives and love New York to the fullest. We want to travel again, visit beautiful places and eat delicious food with friends in restaurants. The IFC movie theater around the corner is re-opening. Lincoln Center plans outdoor events. Indoor dining in New York is back at 35 percent capacity. You can catch the Knicks and Nets in person. Dare we indulge?

We haven’t had a meal inside or on the street outside a restaurant since the beginning of March 2020. We see friends and family only on Zoom and FaceTime. I teach and interact with my students and colleagues on Zoom. I’ve added a few things that some might consider dangerous. I ride the subway to Chinatown for a one-on-one Tai Chi class. I get my hair done, and go to a salon for pedicures. I wash my hands so many times a day that manicures seem useless.

Nick plays tennis a couple of times a week and rides the subway. We shop at our local markets and delis. We pick up meals or have them delivered. But that’s it.

So it’s two weeks and counting since we got the second shot. Now what? The vaccine should have kicked in to protect us against COVID, but the new variants seem scary. In January at a CNN town hall, Dr. Fauci said the CDC was likely to come up with new guidance on what people who received the second shot could do.

“It is not a good idea to travel. Period. We don’t want people to think that other public health recommendations don’t apply,” Dr. Fauci said. He went on to say,
“Getting vaccinated does not say, now I have a free pass to travel. Nor does it say that I have a free pass to put aside all of the public health measures that we talk about all of the time.”

Here’s why. The vaccines are not 100 percent effective. The Pfizer vaccine is 95 percent effective. Modern 94. 5 percent and Johnson & Johnson, 85 percent effective. The risk of getting the virus is small, but it is still possible to get sick. That means if you are older or are in a high-risk group, the all-clear hasn’t sounded yet.

The CDC tells us to proceed with caution.

This is from the CDC website:

“Even after getting the COVID-19 vaccine, you should still:

Wear a well-fitting mask that covers your nose and mouth when around others
Stay at least 6 feet away from others
Avoid crowds
Avoid poorly ventilated spaces
Wash your hands often.”

We can do all that. But we want to do so much more.

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Why Can’t a 91-Year-Old Get the COVID Vaccine in N.J.?

February 14th, 2021

by Barbara Nevins Taylor

When my 91-year-old friend Carol Kitman told me a month ago that she and her husband couldn’t get appointments for the COVID vaccine in New Jersey, I offered to help. I figured that I could navigate the New Jersey websites for them and check a couple of times every day until something opened up. Foolish me. Quick on the uptake New Jerseyans had booked all of the COVID vaccine appointments. It was like getting a ticket to a Springsteen concert.

Carol and Marvin, a critic, writer and humorist, and also a 91-year-old, had registered on the New Jersey Vaccine Scheduling System. But their options in Bergen County, where they live, were limited and I registered them at two hospitals, a pharmacy and a medical group that has several locations. But every site pointed out that they had limited supplies of the vaccine and that it might be a long wait.

I tried other counties. But some would not accept people from out of the county. About a week into this, Marvin learned from his friend, cartoonist Mort Gerberg (my cousin), that he was eligible to get the vaccine at the Veterans Administration Medical Center. He made an appointment quickly. “Marvin got an appointment on February 1. That’s my birthday,” Carol said, her voice heavy with resignation and irony. “What am I going to do?”

Marvin Kitman Getting the COVID vaccine at the VA — Marvin Kitman getting the COVID vaccine at the VA Medical Center in New Jersey. Photo by Carol Kitman.

I kept at it. I wrote to the mayor in the town where she lives, and finally reached out to someone in Governor Phil Murphy’s press office. He said he couldn’t help, but did pass my request on to the state health department. A few days later Carol received a call. “Got a call from a lady in Trenton who said I am on a ‘watch list.’ Fingers crossed,” Carol emailed.” I told her to thank the governor’s office if this came through. Two days later, the woman called me and asked if I had Carol’s information to help set up an appointment. “Sure,” I said. “I have it all.”

She got someone else from the health department on the phone. He was on the scheduling website. “We have openings at 11:30 and 12:45 in Elizabeth tomorrow, Monday February 8,” he said. He took Carol’s birthdate, address, email and phone. While he was putting in the data, the appointments disappeared. Another appointment showed up that week for February 11 at 12:30. “Great,” I said. I thanked them over and over. I was so excited. I emailed Carol and she received a confirmation from the state within minutes.

“Hello Carol Kitman, Your appointment to receive your COVID-19 vaccine is confirmed. Please bring this email with you to your appointment and make sure that the code below (black square image) and your appointment ID are accessible on your phone or visible on a printed copy.”

Carol called, “Thank you. I really don’t know how to thank you enough,” she said. “Thank me after you get the vaccine,” I replied. My hesitation to accept praise was correct. The night before she was scheduled to go to Elizabeth, she received an email from the New Jersey Department of Health.

“Now what?” Carol emailed.

I called and texted the woman in Trenton. She apologized and explained that their computer program was double-booking and they had to straighten it out. She would try again next week.

The same day, Governor Murphy announced that Rite-Aid pharmacies would have 7500 doses. When we tried all the appointments were booked.

Anyone have any ideas?

First COVID-19 Vaccine Dose

January 15th, 2021

On January 14, I drove from Manhattan to East New York to Rossi Pharmacy to get the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. I imagined that I’d find a big independent pharmacy and made a mental list of the over-the-counter things I needed.

But I found a small store on Eastern Parkway where plexiglass separated the pharmacy staff, its medical supplies and the few over-the-counter products from the public waiting area.

Governor Cuomo promised to make sure the vaccine is distributed equitably to neighborhoods of color and East New York qualifies. Yet the two people who got the vaccine before me were white and they came from the suburbs.

A woman from Long Beach, Long Island, walked out as I headed in. “I found it on the internet,” she told me. The next person, Paul Epstein, traveled from Oceanside, Long Island. “My wife went on the internet and there wasn’t anything available in a 70-mile radius. So my son looked at 100 miles and found this,” he said. Google Maps says it’s only about 16 miles on the Belt Parkway from Oceanside to East New York.

That’s geographically. But culturally, the neighborhood with its squat brick buildings is a million miles from the suburbs.

Seconds after I arrived, the young supervising pharmacist, Ambar Keluskar, slid the paperwork to me through a slot. It repeated some of the screening questions that I had filled out online the day before.

When I told him that I was writing about the experience, he explained that he was trying to get more local people in: “I feel really bad about it. People who know how to use the internet got the appointments. I’m trying to call some of our regular customers to make appointments. But we are playing catch-up.”

Rossi Pharmacy and others on the state list to administer the vaccine didn’t find out in advance that the state had opened the vaccine category to people over 65. Governor Cuomo hurriedly announced it on the morning of January 12 because the CDC told states to do it.

People, including me, immediately began to scramble to find appointments At first when I went down the list and contacted the pharmacy, I was told the state hadn’t notified them that 65-plus were eligible. But they took my contact information, and a few hours later, pharmacist Keluskar called to say the state updated the information and he felt free to give me an appointment.

“We didn’t have any operational guidance,” he said. “It feels so weird that they had months to plan for it and it feels like it is some disaster.”

Getting the vaccine was efficient and relatively painless. I sat in a spotless area with white curtains separating three chairs.

Mia Yu preparing the COVID-19 Vaccine for injection at the Rossi Pharmacy. Photo by ConsumerMojo.com — Mia Yu preparing the COVID-19 vaccine for injection at the Rossi Pharmacy. Photo by ConsumerMojo.com

Another pharmacist, Mia Yu, injected me and stuck a bandage on my arm. She asked me to wait in the chair or in my car for 15 minutes to make sure that I didn’t have a reaction. And that was that.

My husband Nick Taylor got his vaccine the day before and it was also efficient. But it is not so easy for millions of other people to get the vaccine. Friends told us stories of calling and scrolling and calling again and again until they found open spots. One couple made appointments online at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s hub on St. Anne’s Avenue in the South Bronx. Another friend got an appointment at a facility in Harlem and her husband registered for the city hub at Adlai Stevenson High School in the Northeast Bronx.

One friend said he couldn’t find an appointment within a 250-mile radius. Another complained that pharmacists told her that they were only on the state list because they gave the flu vaccine. Although she lives in Manhattan, she finally landed an appointment in the Bronx.

And Governor Cuomo keeps warning that the supply of vaccine is smaller than the number of people — 7.1 million — who now qualify to get a shot. The state only received 300,000 doses a week since the distribution began. Next week it will drop to 250,000.

The governor said, “Overall, 74 percent of vaccine delivery is in arms.” A CDC chart shows the distribution of the vaccine in New York state and the doses left to be administered.

But Cuomo has repeatedly warned there is not enough for everyone who needs it. He criticized the federal government for opening up the eligibility to people over 65. “If you increase the eligibility and you don’t increase the supply, you have a very complicated situation,” he said.

Some may look to hospitals to get the vaccine. That’s a mistake. The governor wants hospitals to focus on healthcare workers. He asked unions and police and fire departments to vaccinate their frontline workers.

Urgent care centers, independent medical groups, pharmacies and the city hubs will provide vaccine when they have it to people over 65 and the rest of those eligible.

There is apparently enough vaccine for the second dose. Cuomo said, “When we do the distribution, we make sure that there is the second dose. If the facility gives you the first dose they have to schedule you for the second dosage. Don’t worry about it.”

But the numbers are slightly confusing because it looks like New York City still has a lot of vaccine waiting unused. This chart comes from the New York City Health Department.

This may be because the city-owned hospitals have not used all of their vaccine. The chief of New York City’s Health and Hospitals Corporation, Mitchell Katz, said that 30 percent of hospital workers don’t want the vaccine because they distrust it, or because they have had COVID. But the city says every healthcare worker who wants it, got it. So where does that vaccine go?

In the meantime, I’m grateful to have received the vaccine and in four weeks, I’ll return to Brooklyn for my second dose. Pharmacist Keluskar told me he plans to call the state to see if they can help get more local people registered on his list, or if he can reserve spots for local people. My conscience about being an interloper eased slightly as I was leaving. An African-American family arrived, with three adults who had appointments to get their shots.

COVID Vaccination Day!

January 14th, 2021

by Nick Taylor

I worried that my COVID-19 vaccination scheduled for this morning at New York’s Javits Center would be an all-day endurance test. Fearing the worst, I loaded a good book and a writing pad into a shoulder bag and headed for the subway. I arrived a few minutes before my 9:15 appointment and — Wow! I was amazed at the efficiency of the COVID-19 vaccine delivery system at the Javits Center.

The Javits Center is huge, but signs gave clear guidance where to enter. Inside, guided by New York National Guardspeople in camouflage, I went to an intake desk where I showed a photo ID and the appointment ticket I was emailed after I made my reservation online through the New York State Department of Health website.

Then, again directed by several of what looked to be scores of National Guard guides, I followed arrows and distancing decals from one room to another before ending up in a long room with desks spaced along the aisles. Here, a worker confirmed my birth date and asked some of the same screening questions I’d answered to register online.

After that, I was on my feet again and following more Guard directions — left here, see that Guard member, follow her — and soon I was in the room to get my shot.

I was pointed to a tall nurse in braids wearing a mask and eye shield and blue latex gloves. Her name was Katrina Culberson and she was a traveler, a nurse who went where she was needed. Katrina was from Saginaw, Michigan, and this was her first time in New York. She was staying in New Jersey for the moment, because she’d driven from Saginaw and hadn’t realized that parking in the city might be difficult.

Katrina asked for my “non-dominant arm.” I’d had the sense to wear a short-sleeved T-shirt, so I took my sweater off and propped my left arm on the table. Seconds later, it was done.

A data entry person named Bibi sitting at a computer recorded that Nick Taylor of Zip code 10014 had had Pfizer shot No. 1. With that I was off to follow more arrows and National Guard directions to an area where I’d sit for 15 minutes in case I had a bad reaction. Along the way a Guardsman handed me a sticker.

After 15 minutes I still felt fine. It was around 9:40 at that point and I’d been in the building a little more than half an hour. But one more line awaited me. Both COVID-19 vaccinations, Pfizer‘s and Moderna‘s, are two-shot protocols. The next line led to counters where you’d make an appointment for your second shot. This took another half-hour, but around 10:15 I was headed for the exit with an appointment to come back to the Javits Center on the morning of Feb. 5.

Compliments are in order here. The National Guard soldiers were courteous and cheerful. Katrina, the nurse from Saginaw, was too. New York Department of Health workers helping to guide and organize the throngs were a model of efficiency. Whether that would last all day long, who knows? Katrina told me she’d given between 25 and 40 shots on Wednesday, her first day, and had heard that around 1,400 shots in all had been administered. Lines were longer and moved slower later in the day. Still, in a city that invented the word “gridlock,” having the first COVID-19 shot in my arm and the experience of getting it were a relief and, for what it was, a pleasure.

Mad Dash For COVID Vaccine

January 12th, 2021

by Barbara Nevins Taylor

At about 10:45 a.m. on January 12, I learned that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo opened the COVID vaccine to people over 65 and those with underlying conditions. Wow, that’s great! I thought. But during the next couple of hours, I found out how frustrating trying to find an appointment to get the COVID vaccine will be for many, many New Yorkers.

The new rule means that 7 million New Yorkers are eligible to get a vaccine when the state gets only 300,000 vaccine doses a week. And we all need two. The governor made the move, but he wasn’t happy about it. He said, “The federal government didn’t give us an additional allocation. That’s 300,000 per week. How do you effectively serve 7 million people, all of whom are now eligible, without any priority?”

But I scrambled and made a mad dash to find a place where I could get the COVID vaccine. The New York State Health Department website screens you to see if you are eligible. If you pass the first hurdle, you move on to the locator based on your zip code.

The Javits Center came up first in my list and that was great. It had openings in January and my husband Nick, who is 75 and was eligible in the second group, got an appointment there right away. But when I tried today to sign up for an appointment, the site crashed over and over and over again.

I began calling the urgent care offices and pharmacies listed on the website. Lines were busy, or voice messages said they were only giving the vaccine to healthcare workers, police officers, firefighters, some teachers and other public employees who deal with the public.

I tried the few websites listed. One urgent care outfit asked for my credit card. I clicked out because the vaccine is free and they should not have asked.

I continued down the list the Health Department provided. A pharmacy in Chinatown put me on their waiting list with 200 people in front me. A pharmacy in East New York, Brooklyn hadn’t gotten the signal from the health department that the pool of eligible people had been expanded. But they took my name and information.

Two-and-half hours later, I got a call from the Brooklyn pharmacy. They received the guidance and had appointments for Thursday, January 14. I will breathe a huge sigh of relief when I get the vaccine on Thursday.

But, I really feel for everyone who is not as persistent as I am — I had the time, many people don’t — and should still be getting the COVID vaccine. This system is not fair.

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New Yorkers Who Can Get COVID Vaccine

January 11th, 2021

Nick Taylor

If you live long enough, you’ll turn 75 years old someday. I reached that milestone last November, but I wasn’t really happy about it until this morning. Today was my first day of eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccine, and I made an appointment to get my first shot on Thursday, Jan. 14 between 9:15 and 9:30 a.m.

Ultimately it was pretty easy. But I had to find the right access point to the vaccination system that exists in New York City. Some of the phone numbers provided by the New York City Health and Mental Hygiene Department weren’t helpful. I started early in the morning on the first day my age group opened. The numbers led to health centers or urgent care locations that were closed, or messages hadn’t been updated to mention the new eligibles in Phase 1b. If you can, it’s probably better to go online to sign up for a vaccination.

While I was looking through the Health Department list, I got an email from a tennis buddy from my Monday night group. He said, “Go to this site. Fill out info. I just signed up online for a shot at the Javits Center on January 14.”

I jumped on it and went to the New York State Department of Health website.

When I logged on around 8:30 a.m. I first had to answer questions to confirm that I was eligible. Once I passed that hurdle by supplying my birthdate along with personal and contact information, more questions screened me for potential dangers: did I have COVID symptoms, was I on blood thinners, or had I suffered reactions to vaccinations in the past. At the end there were 13 appointments available in my time window and I got one of them. A registration ticket arrived via both email and text message.

Two of my tennis partners will be there at the same time. But early in the afternoon, I wanted to see if a site closer to my Greenwich Village home would have an appointment.

I clicked on a RITE AID location on Hudson Street about 2 p.m. to see if they had slots available. It was closer, and would have been more convenient. The site told me that 4847 users were in line ahead of me, and that the appointment line was “paused.”

If you want to know if you are in group 1b, we have the list below.

Who Can Get the COVID Vaccine in the second wave — Phase 1 b

Phase 1b:
As of Monday, January 11
People 75 and older
Grocery Workers
First Responders and Support Staff for First Responder Agencies
Fire Service
State Fire Service, including firefighters and investigators (professional and volunteer)
Local Fire Services, including firefighters and investigators (professional and volunteer)
Police and Investigations
State Police, including Troopers
State Park Police, DEC Police, Forest Rangers
SUNY Police
Sheriffs’ Offices
County Police Departments and Police Districts
City, Town and Village Police Departments
Transit of other Public Authority Police Departments
State Field Investigations, including Department of Motor Vehicles, State Commission of Correction, Justice Center, Department of Financial Services, Inspector General, Department of Tax and Finance, Office of Children and Family Services and State Liquor Authority
Public Safety Communications
Emergency Communication and Public Safety Answering Point Personnel, including dispatchers and technicians
Other Sworn and Civilian Personnel
Court Officers
Other Police or Peace Officers
Support of Civilian Staff for any of the above services, agencies or facilities
Corrections
State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision Personnel, including correction and parole officers
Local Correctional Facilities, including correction officers
Local Probation Departments, including probation officers
State Juvenile Detention and Rehabilitation Facilities
Local Juvenile Detention and Rehabilitation Facilities
P-12 Schools, College and Child Care
P-12 school or school district faculty or staff (includes all teachers, substitute teachers, student teachers, school administrators, paraprofessional staff and support staff including bus drivers)
Contractors working in a P-12 school or school district (including contracted bus drivers)

In-person college instructors
Licensed, registered, approved or legally exempt group child care
Licensed, registered, approved or legally exempt group child care providers
Employees or support staff of licensed or registered child care setting
Licensed, registered, approved or legally exempt child care providers
Public Transit
Airline and airport employees
Passenger railroad employees
Subway and mass transit employees (MTA, LIRR, Metro North, NYC Transit, Upstate Transit)
Ferry employees
Port Authority employees
Public bus employees
Homeless Shelters
People living in a homeless shelter where sleeping, bathing or eating accommodations must be shared with people who are not part of their household
People working (paid or unpaid) in a homeless shelter where sleeping, bathing or eating accommodations must be shared by people who are not part of the same household, in a position where there is potential for interaction with shelter residents

More 1 b Eligibility

Likely starting February 2021
Other frontline essential workers (to be determined by New York State)

Other at-risk groups (to be determined by New York State)

AND THEN

Phase 1c:
Likely starting March-April 2021
Likely includes:
People ages 65 to 74
People with certain underlying health conditions (to be determined by New York State)
All other essential workers (to be determined by New York State)
Phase 2:
Likely starting Summer 2021
All other people

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New York Will Open Registration for COVID Vaccine

January 8th, 2021

We have friends in Georgia and family in Colorado who’ve already gotten their first COVID vaccine shots. New York is way behind.

But there’s now some good news for New Yorkers waiting to get the COVID vaccine. Registration for the second wave of vaccinations begins on Monday, January 12. You are in this group if you are over 75, have an underlying condition, are a police officer, firefighter, teacher or essential public worker. But that is almost a tease. Because there isn’t enough vaccine, it may take 14 weeks to get an appointment for a shot. And you can’t get vaccinated without an appointment.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state plans to have a network of 3,000 pharmacies and healthcare providers, in a couple weeks, to administer the vaccine. “But none of them will have nearly enough vaccine. The supply is the major problem,” he said.

New York, like other states, gets a proportionate amount of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNtech vaccines from the federal government, based on population. The state receives 300,000 doses a week and for the past month has focused on healthcare workers in hospitals, what it calls the 1a group.

Now it is expanding to its 1b group. This has 4.2 million people, including 1.4 million over 75. You can see how the number of doses available does not meet the need.

The governor promised that every region of the state will get a proportionate amount of vaccine based on the size of the population in the target group. That means a lot of us will be waiting our turn.

Cuomo said, “The Biden Administration is working on accelerating the supply.” But he also warned that many of us will be disappointed because we can’t get the vaccine quickly. He insisted that no one will be able to jump the line, including his mother Mathilde. She qualifies, he said, because she is in the 75-plus group.

The New York State Department of Health website, starting Monday, January 12 , will have information about vaccination sites and how to register. The state wants people to pre-register so that you have a specific appointment. It sounds nicer than waiting in line overnight. But many of us will wait much longer than we would like.

Monday, January 11 is also the day to start checking pharmacy websites to see if you can register. They should be ready to administer the vaccine by Wednesday, January 13.

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Who Gets Vaccine And When

January 4th, 2021

COVID-19 vaccines are still only available to nursing home residents and front line hospital workers in New York State. Even in that limited sphere, the roll-out is uneven and slow.

About 300,000 vaccine doses have been administered in hospitals and nursing homes. But in New York City’s Health and Hospitals Corporation facilities, only 12,000 of the 23,000 eligible employees have been vaccinated and the hospitals have received 38,000 doses, according to State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker. In contrast, 99 percent of New York Presbyterian Weil Cornell hospital employees have received the vaccine. Northwell, the largest hospital system in the state, had administered 62 percent of the vaccines that they received as of January 4.

“There needs to be a sense of urgency” by city officials to get hospital workers vaccinated, Zucker said at a January 4, 2021 news conference.

Healthcare workers in hospitals are first in line for the vaccine along with nursing home residents. The nursing home vaccinations also lag, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo.

He blamed the federal government system of vaccinating only a third of the patients and staff at a time at any one facility. The state partnered with a federal government program that contracted with national pharmacy chains and local pharmacies to administer the vaccines. But Cuomo said, “Of about 611 nursing home facilities statewide, about 288 of them have completed the first dose for residents.”

New York plans to speed things up. Cuomo said.”We’ll be sending additional personnel into nursing homes to do the vaccines. Some nursing homes can actually do the injections themselves. If they can, we’re going to go to them and let them do it themselves to further expedite it.”

Frontline workers including police, firefighters, EMTs, medical professionals, bus drivers and subway workers, and older people with medical issues, are next in line after the state and city get the first wave of vaccines competed.

Mayor Bill de Blasio vowed to get the city’s vaccinations moving more quickly. He promised a “24-7 effort to get the next wave of people vaccinated.” Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene Dr. Dave Choski said the city is also connecting with small community providers in priority neighborhoods to connect them to available appointments at 16 community health centers and 15 urgent care sites. These are all in addition to the hospital sites that have already begun vaccine operations.

At these new sites, Choski said, “We’ll be ready to welcome newly eligible individuals, such as unaffiliated health care providers who don’t have employer-based access to vaccines. These include not just nurses and doctors, but also phlebotomists, dentists, physical therapists, coroners, funeral workers, and staff at specialty clinics like dialysis centers.” If you are one of those unaffiliated providers, you can find out how to get vaccinated by visiting nyc.gov/covidvaccine.

No word on when the rest of us will get our shot.

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Trove to Watch on Netflix and Amazon Prime

January 4th, 2021

We watch a lot on Netflix and Amazon Prime and expanded the Amazon channels to include MHz Choice, Acorn, BritBox and Topic. We discovered a treasure trove of European police procedurals, mysteries, thrillers and comedies of sorts on MHz for $7.99 a month. It became our go-to-channel in 2020. And that was one of the good things that made isolating more durable in the annus horribilis.

Here’s what we enjoyed the most that you might have overlooked.

MHz Choice

From France

Spiral or Engrenages

The French police procedural takes a case a season and you visit Paris as cops, judges, lawyers and the French justice system grapple with complexities and contradictions. It begins its eighth and final season in 2021, but it’s worth catching from the beginning. Caroline Proust, Audrey Fleurot, Thierry Godard, and Philippe Duclos star throughout.

The Art of Crime

A phobic art historian and a cop make an unlikely duo to solve art world crimes in Paris. The stories are good and the scenics are wonderful. Eléonore Bernheim and Nicholas Gob play the likable antagonists.

Détectives

Detectives offers up a multi-generational family detective agency for a romp that mixes comedy and crime without being annoying. The Roche family brings in an outsider, a former French intelligence officer Nora Abadie, played by Sara Martins, to shore up the sagging business. A romance develops slowly between Nora and Phillipe Roche (Phillipe Levebre) the son of the retired founder. When big problems need solving the team meets on the houseboat where the patriarch Max Roche (Jean-Luc Bideau lives. The acting is excellent and the stories are engaging.

Nicholas Le Floch

This confection brings you into the world of a Parisian police commissioner during Louis XV’s rein in the eighteenth century. The charming Commissaire Nicholas Le Floch (Jérôme Robart) fights crime, court intrigue and becomes a favorite of the king. He reports to Versailles regularly with sword fights, skirmishes on horseback, bordello liaisons and wild carriage rides in between. The stories are good and don’t make you feel like an idiot for watching, so it’s unfortunate there’s only one season.

Murder In . . .

The scenics alone make Murder In . . . worth watching, especially since we’re all stuck at home during the pandemic. Each episode features a local detective and a visiting prosecutor trying to crack a murder in a different part of France. You feel like you have dropped into towns and regions like Aigues Mortes, Lozère, the Sommes, Colliure, Aveyron and more. The crime-solvers are usually a male and female with different ways of approaching a problem, and these mismatches produce romantic tension. It is almost always beautiful and while the scripts are uneven, the acting and atmosphere make up for it.

Blood of the Vine

Blood of the Vine, like Murder In . . . , takes you on a tour of France. But instead of a police detective, you travel with Benjamin Lebel (Pierre Arditi), an oenologist who also solves crimes. The stories are uneven but the visits to different wine regions are spectacular. Lebel is aided in his wine consultations and sleuthing by young assistants Mathilde (Catherine Demaiffe) and Silvère (Yoann Denaive). Despite the murders, it’s mostly fun.

Netflix

Call My Agent or Dix pour Cent

This funny French series comes back for a fourth season on January 21, 2021. Talent agencies compete with each other for clients, romance and try to keep their famous clients happy and employed. It’s worth starting at the beginning of the series. You’ll laugh a lot and enjoy the cameo performances by French stars including Isabelle Huppert, Isabelle Adjani and Jean Dujardin. In the upcoming season, we’ll see American actor Sigourney Weaver at the agency.

The Bonfire of Destiny or Le Bazar de la Charité

This soap opera set in 1897 Paris is a rich woman, poor woman story that twists, turns and is full of romance, intrigue and deception. It’s a good story with terrific acting by Audrey Fleurot, Camille Lou and Julie de Bona whose lives are upended by a fire at a charity bazaar.

Denmark

Seaside Hotel

We’ve had a lot of fun with a Danish series, Seaside Hotel, from Walter Presents, on the PBS Amazon Prime Masterpiece Channel. It brings you into the lives of the owners and staff of a hotel on the Jutland coast and their guests who visit every summer from 1928 to 1933. They take a six-year break and we meet them again in 1939. The regulars include a businessman whose filmmaker daughter describes him as “a sheep in wolf’s clothing,” an egocentric actor with stage fright, a closeted gay count who travels with his mother, two very different older sisters, and a wife impatient to make more of her life. Their encounters with one another and the staff are hilarious and poignant. The last year throws the shadow of war over the hotel, and the frivolity for the guests and all comes to an end.

The New Nurses

Set in 1950s Denmark, The New Nurses takes on the experiment of training men to work as nurses alongside women. There’s huffing and puffing from the social establishment, and also laughter and romance. The scripts are good, the acting excellent and again you get to travel to Denmark.

Dicte

It probably won’t surprise you that we like this series about an investigative reporter who solves crimes in Aahrus on the Jutland Penisula. This isn’t Nordic noir, it’s a charming mix of procedural and family story that loses nothing to its darker counterparts. After Dicte Svendson, played by Iben Hjejlea, gets divorced, she and her teen daughter return her hometown but the dad remains involved. The episodes features Dar Salim as a photographer and her love interest, and Lars Brygmann as a detective with whom she has a combative working relationship.

Borgen

If politics is your thing, and even if it’s not, the (fictional) story of Birgitte Nyborg’s, played by Sidse Babet Knudsen rise from political obscurity to become Denmark’s first female prime minister will suck you in. Nyborg is a great character with human flaws, and she shows you the toll the political life takes on family and friendships. She’s surrounded by the usual suspects — a spin doctor who never gives straight answer; journalists both friend and foe; ambitious colleagues with knives out for their own opportunities. Borgen, which means the Castle in Danish and is shorthand for the Christiansborg Castle that houses Danish government, covers three seasons of ten episodes each. All are good.

You can find our recommendations for great Italian shows here.

And Scandinavian Noir here.

Featured Stories

Watch Scandinavian Noir and More

January 4th, 2021

We’re warm weather people, so when the gripping mysteries and dramas set in Scandinavia take us into snow-covered landscapes we tell each other, “It’s pretty . . . in that way.” If you’re like us, you don’t have to like the cold to enjoy some of the fine Scandinavian series on offer from Netflix and MHz and Focus.

We start with Finland because Nick has Finnish DNA tucked away and identifies with the lead character in Bordertown on Netflix.

Bordertown

Gifted detective Kari Sorjonen acts on instinct and intuition. He conquered autism, and flashbacks to his childhood occasionally show the difficultly. His ability to live within himself apparently helps when he takes his family from Helsinki to a peaceful small town near the Russian border to spend more with them and work for the local police. But then cross-border skullduggery tests his skill and demands his time and makes him a 24-hour detective. Ville Virtanen plays Kari in this engaging three-season series.

Deadwind

Deadwind also takes place in Finland. A widowed detective, Sofia Karrpi (Pihla Viitaala), with two children and plenty of personal demons, begins to investigate a murder. The murder is linked to something bigger and she and a rookie, Sakari Nurmi (Lauri Tilkanen) from financial crimes, pair in homicide. The excellent scripts keep the odd couple scrambling to avoid danger, uncover the truth and deal with Sofia’s two children. Two seasons are available on Netflix and a third is promised soon.

Arctic Circle

On Amazon Prime’s Topic

Perfect viewing for our virus-hobbled times. Lina Kuustonen stars as Nina Kautsalo, a young Lapland detective juggling her work and single momhood. Her investigation initially involves Russian human traffickers who bring women across the border into Lapland to work as prostitutes in buses set up alongside roads in the middle of nowhere. She finds a woman at death’s door in a remote cabin, and it turns out the prostitute carries a mysterious and deadly virus. A German virologist, Thomas Lorenz, played by Maximilian Brückner, is brought in to identify it and help prevent the spread. The team must find Patient Zero before the world is infected while they both deal with their family problems and romance. It’s a thriller, largely in English, and if you long to fantasize about snowmobiling through icy wastelands then you’re in for a bonus. Arctic Circle is on Amazon Prime’s Topic channel.

From Norway

The Valhalla Murders

A home for troubled boys in the snowy Icelandic outback holds dark secrets in its past. These begin to surface when Oslo detective Arnar (Björn Thors), a native Icelander, is brought in to team with Reykjavik detective Kata (Nina Dögg Fillipusdóttir) to investigate a pair of murders. Turns out he’s got deep problems rooted in his upbringing. That unspools as the pair follow threads of violence and corruption back to the now-abandoned boys home. The series lasts eight episodes and is (very loosely) based on a true story.

Ragnarock

This is different. It’s a version of an old Norse myth, updated for climate change, and is a lot of fun. The young hero, Magne (David Stakston) discovers his superpowers when his mother Turid (Henriette Steenstrup moves him and his brother Laurits (Jonas Strand Gravli) back to a small remote town where she grew up. At school, we learn Magne is dyslexic and we watch a romance of sorts develop while he gets tutoring help from Isolde (Ylva Bjørkaas Thedin). She is an environmental activist and her discovery of pollution by a rich local family leads Magne to uncover the truth about the family. He also discovers, like Thor, he can throw a hammer almost two kilometers.

Varg Veum

This MHz series, named for the private detective character created by novelist Gunnar Staalesen, takes place in the fjords and islands around Bergen in western Norway. Veum, played by Tron Espen Seim, gets beaten up a lot as he ignores danger to chase clues that lead deeper into more elaborate plots. His cases keep viewers on the edge of their seats guessing where the leads will go. Two seasons of six episodes each.

The Heavy Water War

This six-part series on MHz takes us to Norway during World War II. Germany invades and captures a Norwegian heavy water plant that it needs to build an atomic bomb. Six local men are trained in England and return to sabotage the plant before the Germans can crank up production and produce a weapon that will win the war. It’s based on a true story and is one of the gripping chapters of the war.

Twin

Kristoffer Hivju, who viewers will remember as the tall red-bearded wildling in Game of Thrones, plays identical brothers in this MHz series. Eric is a slacker surfer who lives in a bus. He’s estranged from his uptight entrepreneurial brother Adam. But when he visits to try to borrow money to save his surf camp, both brothers suffer accidents. Adam dies but authorities think Eric’s the fatality, and with the lead of Adam’s wife Ingrid (Rebecca Nystabakk), with whom he has a history, Eric assumes Adam’s identity. The ensuing complications over ten episodes make us root for Eric and Ingrid even as we rethink the wisdom of ever making snap choices.

You can find our recommendations for France and Denmark here.

And recommendations for great Italian shows here.

Featured Stories

Italian Shows To Watch on Amazon Prime

January 4th, 2021

We love traveling in Italy. Back home, our interest led us to RAI and the terrific shows they produce, and launched our immersion in MHz Choice on Amazon Prime. The first Italian shows we watched were wrapped in beautiful scenics, had great music and excellent actors. Detective Montalbano, based on the mystery novels by Andrea Camilleri, got us started. We enjoyed the novels and liked Camilleri’s personal story. He worked as a screenwriter and RAI producer writing books on the side. He published the first of many Montalbano books when he was 68. They’re set in Sicily and the books and subsequent series became international hits.

Detective Montalbano

Luca Zingaretti plays Inspector Salvo Montalbano, a detective and police chief who rarely misses a good meal, even in the middle of a complicated investigation. He begins each day with a swim in the Mediterranean and has breakfast on his terrace overlooking the sea. The interesting, twisty, police procedurals unveil life in small Sicilian towns as Montalbano’s squad, a mix of comic and serious characters, fight criminals and corruption. His best friend, Mimi Auguello (Cesare Bocci), is a handsome womanizer who inevitably develops the wrong theories. Inspector Giuseppe Fazio (Peppino Mazzotta), a literalist, reads from his notebook every detail of a crime to an impatient Montalbano. Agente Caterella (Angelo Russo) stumbles in out of Montalbano’s office but seems to be a tech whiz. Several actors have played Montalbano’s long-distance love interest, Livia, who drops in now and then from Genoa. The beautiful settings around Ragusa, as the fictional town of Vigata, and other parts of Sicily add to the pleasure of watching.

The Young Montalbano

The prequel to Inspector Montalbano is almost better than the original. Michele Riondino plays the newly arrived Vigata police chief and it’s fun to watch his eccentricities develop. Food, crime and beautiful scenery dominate this series, too.

Imma Tataranni

This police procedural set in Matera, in the south of Italy between Apulia and Calabria, has the same vibe as the Montalbano stories. But Imma Tataranni, a deputy public prosecutor played by Vanessa Scalera, has a complicated life. Her devoted husband Pietro De Ruggeri (Massimiliano Gallo) tries to ease her stress. Her teenage daughter Valentina (Alice Azzariti) adds to it. So do her mother, who suffers from dementia, and her mother-in-law, who hates her. The brilliant Imma wears short skirts and high heels no matter how inappropriate, has a great memory and manages against the odds, including opposition from her boss, to solve crimes. A young Carabinieri corporal, Ipazzio Calogiuiri (Alessio Lapice), adds sexual tension as her loyal partner with a secret crush. The series puts you in beautiful locations in the Basilicata region and that, too, adds to the viewing pleasure.

Murders at Barlume

Massimo Viviani (Filippo Timi) runs a bar on the coast of Tuscany. It’s the local for a band of quirky oldsters and they, like Massimo, enjoy the puzzles he plunges into now that he’s divorced. When the puzzles include murder Massimo follows the clues as the regulars urge him on and contribute their own zany theories. The mix of mystery and comedy on MHz totals ten episodes over two seasons.

Lampedusa

An MHz series of just two episodes, Lampedusa is set on the Italian island of the same name in the southern Mediterranean near the coast of Tunisia. Commander Serra (Claudio Amendola) arrives on the island to captain an Italian coast guard ship patrolling for refugees fleeing Africa for Europe. They’re packed into overflowing boats and inflatable rafts run by human trackers and Serra’s mission is to save lives and get the refugees to a center on Lampedusa. It’s a sympathetic look at the crisis that shows the refugees as people with hopes and dreams we recognize.

Bulletproof Heart

Bruno Palmieri (Gigi Proietti) is an investigative journalist nearing retirement. But he thinks he’s been living too cautiously, the result of a bullet lodged in his heart from a shooting thirty years ago. Now he wants to eat without counting calories and enjoy a glass of wine or two without worrying about his health. Above all he wants to chase the kinds of stories that make front-page news and solve mysteries, and doesn’t care that danger is involved. He has an enabler in his photographer friend Fiocchi (Marco Marzotta). The MHz series, set in beautiful Rome, has ten episodes over three seasons

Fog and Crimes

This serious police procedural is the polar opposite of the lighter Italian mysteries. Set in Ferrara where it always seems misty and cold, the police chief Franco Soneri seems equally moody. Played by Luca Barbareschi, the detective is an appealing character and you believe him as he digs into murder, corruption, sex offenses and everything bad that can happen in the Po Valley. He has a tangled relationship with Ukrainian lawyer Angela Corneila. played by Natasha Stefanenko, who sometimes represents people he’s investigating. It runs for two seasons with a total of ten episodes.

Nero Wolfe

This series transplants detective Nero Wolfe, the Rex Stout character, from his Manhattan townhouse on West 35th Street to Rome. The brilliant detective was asked to leave the United States because, the story tells us, the FBI felt threatened by his talent. Stout, played by Tino Buazelli, still doesn’t leave his home, his orchids, or the elaborate meals prepared by his chef. But he does respond to pleas for crime-solving help and sends his sidekick Archie Goodwin, played by Paolo Ferrari, out to investigate for him. The stories are charming, and the 1950’s period clothing and scenic Rome make it fun for the eight episodes that it runs over one season.

When Can You Get The COVID-19 Vaccine?

January 2nd, 2021

New York City was supposed to have received 368,650 doses of COVID-19 vaccine by New Year’s day, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo. At a news conference during the last week of December he said, “They will not necessarily have been administered. But they will have been delivered.”

So where are those COVID-19 vaccine doses and who gets them? Nobody in the city seems to know the answer as of the first weekend of the new year.

The latest from Cuomo as of January 2 is that,
“The state is working around the clock with the medical community to not only ensure vaccines are distributed as quickly and efficiently as possible, but to also continue growing bed capacity so hospitals do not become overwhelmed.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio said he wants to vaccinate as many New Yorkers as possible and set a target of one million vaccinations by the end of January.

But the vaccination roll-out seems to have taken the weekend off while COVID-19 cases are going up. On January 1, 2021, the state-wide positivity rate was 7.52 percent and the city was at 5.85 percent.

Cuomo said that 140,000 doses of the vaccine were administered as of Monday, December 28, 2020.

So what’s the hold-up?

In New York City, the mayor apparently needs authorization from the federal government and the state to give the vaccine to people beyond first responders and healthcare workers. As for administering one million shots by the end of January, “We are doing everything we can . . . but to really pick up the pace, we need our federal and state partners on board—and fast. It will be tough, but I believe that we can do it, ” he said on New Year’s Eve.

That leaves us wondering where and when a widespread vaccine roll-out will take place. The mayor’s press release laid out some priorities.

1. First vaccinations will go to people who work in health care and are at increased risk of getting COVID-19. This includes people who take care of COVID-19 patients or work in areas of a facility where COVID-19 patients are seen.

2. First responders and nursing home residents and staff.

After that group, essential workers.

3. Essential workers who interact with the public and who are not able to physically distance, along with people at higher risk of complications from COVID-19 because of age (75 and over) or underlying medical conditions

4. Then the rest of New Yorkers when enough vaccine doses are available

Who will administer the vaccine remains a question.

The mayor’s press release said, “You will likely be able to get the vaccine at the same places you usually get vaccines, such as: Your health care provider; Community and hospital clinics; Pharmacies; Urgent care centers. Some COVID-19 testing sites and community pop-up locations may also provide vaccinations.”

CVS is administering vaccines in nursing homes. But when we called our local CVS a recording told us, “The COVID-19 vaccine is not currently available at CVS locations. Please visit CVS.com to get the latest vaccine news and updates.”

We reached out the offices of the mayor and governor to try to get clarification.

Consumer News, Featured Stories, First Person, News

Gratefully We Celebrate Thanksgiving for Two 2020

November 26th, 2020

by Nick Taylor

We’re having Thanksgiving for two this year. Far to the west in Colorado, our chef nephew Doug and his family – wife Jenny and two lovely, lively and kitchen-oriented children Jeffrey and Juliann – are having Thanksgiving for four. And farther west, in the mountains, Barbara’s sister Hope and our brother-in-law Ed, are like us having Thanksgiving for two. Or three, counting Sammy their miniature Schnauzer.

Mule Deer Crossing the road in Edwards, Colorado

Normally all nine of us would be together at Hope and Ed’s house. We’d spend some time by the fire in the living room, peddling away in their workout room, catching up on the many Thanksgiving weekend football games, looking out at the mountains to catch a glimpse of snow, or the mule deer running up from the valley. We’d walk Sammy along the steep roads around the house, keeping a firm grip on his leash in case he bolts after one of the deer that share the neighborhood. But the vast majority of the time we’d gather together in the kitchen.

It’s a long room. There’s a long counter island with stools on one side and work space on the other. A door opens to a pantry at one end, a wall counter at the other end holds drawers, a sink and two dishwashers. Ed’s the central figure in this tableau. He’s the cook, and Barbara and I await orders to cut or slice or trim. Doug has a wider repertoire, and since the pandemic shut us all in he’s been perfecting his baking. We’d be fatter feasting on his baked goods if the pandemic hadn’t kept us home this year.

Doug Tudanger’s baked goodies, Thanksgiving 2020.

Hope keeps things neat and Jenny keeps company and reads. Jeffrey, if past years are a clue, sits at the kitchen table in one corner engrossed in Yugioh with a cast of difficult-to-comprehend characters and rules or Pokemon. Juliann, when she is not chopping or helping with cooking, drapes a towel over one arm and acts the part of a server taking orders. We all hang out together.

Turkey, mash potatoes and onions — Food ready to eat Thanksgiving 2018, Edwards, Colorado.

Thanksgiving, of course, is premised around food, but food brings people together day in and day out, year after year. We need sustenance, and there’s pleasure in good food, but on days like Thanksgiving it’s the company that brings us joy. That’s one reason why 2020 has been such a hard year. It’s why, despite over 260,000 deaths, millions of COVID-fatigued Americans got on planes this weekend to visit relatives despite Centers for Disease Control warnings that family gatherings could spread the deadly virus.

Barbara Nevins Taylor cooking Thanksgiving dinner 2018 — Barbara Nevins Taylor cooking Thanksgiving dinner 2020.

Barbara and I haven’t been to a restaurant since March. We haven’t sat down to eat with anybody but each other. We’re lucky to be able to enjoy this after all this time. We’d also like to see other people whom we love, and other people who bring new information and perspectives to the table. But we don’t want this enough to ignore the possibility that it would be dangerous to them, or us.

So we offer our gratitude this Thanksgiving for having come this far. We’ve learned that we can, after all, live with changes to our lives that we couldn’t have imagined. We’ve learned, as our parents told us, that patience is a virtue. We’ve learned that if we’re patient for a few more months vaccines may let us resume lives we once thought of as normal.

Finally, we’ve learned that the disruptions to our lives are ripples on a pond compared with many others. Look at those who’ve died, and their families. Look at the nurses and doctors who have treated the victims. Look at the people who deliver the packages we don’t shop for in person anymore. Look at the people who bring us the takeout food we order. Look at the shopkeepers and store clerks who keep goods and groceries on the shelves. Look at the cops and firefighters and emergency workers who keep a lid on the chaos. We have so, so very much to be thankful for, and this season we’re reminded as never before that we should never think otherwise.

Former Atlanta Mayor Reflects on Election

November 4th, 2020

ATLANTA, November 3, 2020

* The United States woke up after election day to more dispiriting evidence that we remain a divided country. Shirley Franklin, a Democrat, was mayor of Atlanta, GA, from 2002 to 2010. She shared the thoughts below with us this morning.

by Shirley Franklin

Today I have a greater appreciation for those who are willing to break with their dark history to support progressive and moderate public policy.

I am horrified that any immigrant — first, second or third generation — believes they succeed in America because of their hard work alone. That is a selfish narrow-minded approach to human rights and economic freedom

I am convinced the fight for justice is harder today than any time since slavery.

I am annoyed that much of heartland and rural America rides on the economic backs of urban America, yet many still thumb their noses at urban Americans who are more diverse and much less selfish than they are.

The lessons of Ida B. Wells and Frederick Douglass and other abolitionists tell us to be loud, uncompromising, proud and persistent. Those lessons are more pertinent for these days than I imagined.

New York Early Voting Draws Crowds And Calls For Reform

October 27th, 2020

by Barbara Nevins Taylor and Nick Taylor

If you wanted to make sure your vote counted and you voted early in New York City, you probably waited in line. Nearly 200,000 people came during the first two days of early voting and some waited for hours before they got to fill out their ballots.

People waiting for early voting at St. Anthony's Church in Soho. — The line for early voting snaked around for blocks in Soho.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said, “This is a great sign that people may be getting involved in an unbelievably powerful manner. And this could be great for our future as well.”

But voting was tarnished by the long lines, caused by the consolidation of polling places and confusing and inconsistent hours. Here’s how to find your polling place for early voting and the hours it’s open. Once you’re there, you’ll find tablets replacing the old paper forms for signing in and matching signatures. Filling out your ballot and feeding it into a scanner is a fairly smooth process, at least where we voted at the St. Anthony of Padua Church in Soho.

Nick Taylor waiting on line for early voting. — Nick Taylor waits in line patiently to vote. Photo by ConsumerMojo.com

Still, it could be easier. We arrived near the opening time of 10 a.m. on Sunday. Once our line started moving, it snaked from Houston Street down Macdougal to Prince, then east two blocks to Thompson, north again to Houston, and then a block back east to Sullivan. We entered the voting area around 11:30, and felt like the time we spent was worth it.

Voting place in New York City area to fill out early voting ballots — You fill out your ballots in privacy pods. Photo by ConsumerMojo.com

But a lot of early voters have less time. That’s why de Blasio called for the Board of Elections to “Step up” and put more machines and more workers on the job to allow more people to vote before the November 3 election. He said, “There are plenty of election machines, voting machines that are on hold for Election Day. Those machines should be brought out now and put in the early voting sites so that New Yorkers can vote more easily. The hours right now – the weekend hours for early voting are only 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. This coming weekend, those hours should be expanded.”

De Blasio repeated his call to abolish the Board of Elections, where nepotism and political patronage by both Republicans and Democrats get people jobs.

Bronx Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez voted early in the Bronx and said at a news conference, “There is no place in the United States where two, three, four-hour waits to vote is acceptable. And just because it’s happening in a blue state doesn’t mean that it’s not voter suppression.”

But both she and Mayor de Blasio praised poll workers for their dedication and hard work.

And most of the voters we talked with felt optimistic about voting and resigned to waiting. Watch the video!