NYC Council Members James Vacca and Dan Garodnick, along with other elected officials, are joining afterschool program advocates and parents in calling on the City to restore funding to seven Beacon programs that have been cut in the Mayor’s budget. The officials delivered hundreds of letters written by children from Beacons across the City to Mayor Bloomberg.

The President of the General Assembly, Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser has expressed his disappointment over the lack of progress in ending the violence in Syria.

“To tell you frankly, I’m very disappointed,” Mr. Al-Nasser said in an interview. “The UN, the General Assembly, [and] the Security Council try very hard to convince the Syrian Government to stop the violence and start listening to their own people and reach out to them and try to come up with a plan.”

ASSAD HAS TO GO NOW. Must Leave Syria With His Brutality and Duplicity.
Against the backdrop of a new massacre in Syria, UN envoy Kofi Annan will propose global and key regional players develop a strategy to end the 15-month conflict.

ASSESSING THE DRAW-DOWN. Panetta in Afghanistan.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is in Afghanistan reviewing plans for military draw-down, as violence incidents increase. This is his fourth trip to that war zone.

REOPENING TALKS. Reconsidering New Route.

This week Bronx and Manhattan Borough Presidents joined NYC Council Members and approximately two hundred City Islanders to protest the proposed closure of City Island FDNY Ladder 53.

Unfortunately, this is the fourth straight year that a mayoral budget dance has proposed eliminating Ladder 53 on City Island. If this Ladder Company closes, it will take the next-nearest ladder company over ten precious minutes to respond to any emergency. That is if neither one of of those two drawbridges are raised.

It was 68 years ago today and veterans throughout The United State of America still remember one of the most significant days in world history - It is simply know as "D-Day".

City Islanders Russel Schaller and Robert Branizza both recall that fateful day. Branazza says he vaguely remembers watching it all from from the sky. However, Russel Schaller says his recollections of D Day actually began on June 4th, when his 33rd Photo Reconnaissance Squadron was restricted to the base. There were no evening junkets, or visits to the local pub allowed.