Virginia Montague - One Step Up for a Familiar Face - News

One Step Up for a Familiar Face - News: "One Step Up for a Familiar Face
By David Greenhouse
Spectator Staff Writer
Issue date: 3/3/05 Section: News"

"“What’s unlimited is that you can be an advocate,” she said."

Virginia M. Montague is an inspiration and further proof that the elections in Harlem must be rigged, with the dead sometimes outvoting the living. She is an extraordinary innovator, a true Harlem Hero who has consistently put the good of the community ahead of her own interests.

"Since Montague came to New York in the 1970s from North Carolina, she has been active in working with the city’s at-risk populations. She was a caseworker in the welfare system and later became a probation officer before embarking on a Pennsylvania program that sought to help released prisoners find jobs.

“Most of the young people coming out of jail didn’t have any skills at all,” she said of that experience. “We tried to place them, but they didn’t have the discipline or mental skills to succeed in a job environment.”

In part, Montague attributed her decision to run a third time to an observation that many areas of the district are experiencing economic and social stagnation.

Since 1997, “the conditions I see in my community haven’t changed,” she said.

Montague talked about improving constituent service as a way of jump-starting social progress and bringing fringe areas more fully into the district."

I hope she writes a book on the importance of having elected and appointed officials who actually care about the community, like she does. What the elected folks have allowed to happen in Harlem post dis-empowerment zone era (1997) is a shame before God.

Harlem stands at the beginning of Global Warming, unprotected, below sea level, with elected officials who did nothing to build dikes or water walls to protect 125th Street in the event of a rise in the sea level. They were warned and did nothing.

To understand, in the spring from either end of 125th Street you can see the river elevated. It's a thin line to flood the valley, Central Harlem.

Instead, some of the elected and appointed officials propose a restaurant/mall down wind from the stinking, uncovered sewer tanks at North River, lying under Riverbank State Park, where people come to exercise and play.

If Montague had been elected to City Council in 1997, the whole future of New York would have been radically better. Her hope chest is full with constructive possibilities. Her political commitment is to the Lord's Highest Good For All Concerned. I can't imagine her as a cut throat politician, what I'm told it takes to succeed. I hope she runs until she wins again, and again, and again.

I pray the rest of Harlem is as proud of Virginia M. Montague as I am, and will, like in the production THE WIZ, throw off Evillene and dance in the light of healing ideas Montague and other positive community folks are trying to implement to make our lives, and that of future generations, better.

Thank you Virginia Montague and all the other Harlem Heroes fighting to make this world a better place.

Go forward!

Is Congressman Rangel Senile?

I mean no disrespect in my question but the man makes no sense. 9/11, global warming, racism, failing educational system, government corruption, loss of freedom, war, etc. are issues that need to be addressed through the House Ways and Means Committee, which he chairs.

I ask because the Congressman Charles Rangel continues to propose totally unworkable solutions to problems, like re-instituting the draft.

"WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Rep. Charles Rangel introduced a bill in Congress to reinstate the military draft, saying fighting forces should more closely reflect the economic makeup of the nation. " Wednesday, January 8, 2003

War is an ineffective solution and yet, he continues to advocate it as a strategy. Could it be Mad Cow? Just dumb?

When I first sat down to write this piece I thought I was the only one who thinks that the forever evil congressman has turned senile (when crack and AIDS came to Harlem he did NOTHING effective, if anything). A Yahoo web search returned the results "...about 382 for "Charles Rangel" "senile"

I don't think the man ever got elected...just another in a series of stolen elections. Kitchen table petitioning, voter fraud, corruption so thick that a McDonalds opened in Harlem Hospital, and the eternal cycle of money and programs in place before elections, snatched away within a week of the election, stand as testimony.

Just look at how he took Harlem from the land of hope and dreams in the 70's that Congressman Adam Clayton Powell helped create, to the depths of despair, doing his best to keep Harlem out of the Information Age.

Harlem under his watch has became an environmental disaster area.

I told Congressman Rangel in the mid 90's that in between 10-15 years global warming would kick in. I explained that Harlem needed to build water walls at either end of 125th street, because when the ocean rises, since 125th street is below sea level, it could flood and a lot of life and property could be lost. Did he even care? No! His eyes just glazed over like he didn't have a clue what I was talking about, even though I had a topographical map that demonstrated what I was talking about.

Harlem is infested with industrial age thinking in the information age. The congressman is at the helm of stupidity.

For example. Industrial age thinking says it's fine for folks to starve and freeze if they can't afford food or fuel. No problem, just the American way.

Charles Rangel dissed Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez who is giving oil to poor folks in America who can't afford traditional heating bills. The congressman is an embarrassment.

"Congressman Charles B. Rangel was the principal author of the five billion-dollar Federal Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community demonstration project to revitalize urban neighborhoods throughout America. "

This author of the dis-empowerment zone trashed many good souls working in the 90's to make Harlem a better place, build our businesses and give back to the community.

Given what Congressman Rangel has done for Harlem, and what he is proposing for our young people, it's foolish to think that he would not do the same to the rest of America.

IT'S TIME TO STOP LIVING BY THE DICTATES OF EVIL, SENILE, GREEDY PEOPLE INCLUDING CONGRESSMAN RANGEL. HE SHOULD BE REPLACED BY COMPETENT LEADERSHIP THAT FACTORS IN THE HIGHEST GOOD FOR ALL CONCERNED.

We must demand integrity in elections so people like Congressman Rangel can stop killing the rest of us.