EVERY DAY FROM 4PM TO 5PM

Terraza 7 train cafe will project THE DEMOCRACY NOW Daily TV/radio program.

DN! August 18

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¡DEMOCRACIA YA! PARA QUEENS!

Martes 18 de Agosto, 6-8 PM

Una noche de testimonios personales de crisis y esperanza con Democracy Now! en Español.

Escuche las historias que vienen desde Argentina hasta EEUU y conozca nuestro programa.

By Marvin Anderson

Current measures touted by New York’s elected officials are making momentous strides to integrate the immigrant community with the rest of the City’s residents, said Ana Maria Archila.

Archila, co-executive director for Make the Road New York, an immigrant advocacy group, attended a rally on Monday with local legislators and residents in support of a Congressional bill that pushes for English language education services for immigrants.

She said the bill would provide a multitude of immigrants an opportunity to successfully blend into American society, united in language.

The Strengthen and Unite Communities with Civics Education and English Skills Act of 2009, the brainchild of U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and (D-New York) and U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-Brooklyn), is an attempt to tackle language needs.

Measures in the act set out to provide tax incentives for business and teachers that help provide literacy training and it establishes grants and upgrades for existing classes.

“This bill answers the question of who is allowed in this country and under what circumstances,” Archila said. “It recognizes that the future is here and is changing.”

NYC immigrant resources serve residents well, legislators and Archila said.

“But only a small fraction of immigrants are getting access to learn the skills needed to integrate successfully and be a part of a growing economy,” said Gillibrand in a press release. Gillibrand has been criticized by some over her position to make English the official language of the United States.

Clarke said Gillibrand, who helped organized the rally at Corona restaurant Terraza, was in Washington, D.C. to vote on bills.

The current immigrant services are overwhelmed with 1.5 million people in need of English instruction, said Gillibrand and Clarke.

With a boom in population, Archila and legislators said this bill would increase the number of able-bodied Americans prepared to compete in a global arena when the economy rebounds.

Archila stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Clarke and urged the need for support of this bill to the crowd at the rally.

Freddy Castiblanco, owner of Terraza, stressed a need for support of the bill while giving a testimony of his experience emigrating from Columbia to America in 1999.

Castiblanco, who was a doctor in Columbia, spoke in support of the bill to a board of legislators in Washington, D.C. on behalf of Clarke and Gillibrand. In addition to the language services, Castiblanco asked legislators and Make the Road New York to be advocates and focus on health care reform for immigrants as well.

“We can’t wait for a general consensus,” he said of legislators whom deliberate over the bill. “We are even willing to contribute.”

Reach Reporter Marvin Anderson at manderson@queenstribune.com or (718) 357-7400, Ext. 128.

Profile

Owner Freddy Castiblanco, a doctor and amateur artist originally from Colombia, has created a space somewhere between venue, bar, and community center at Terraza 7. The clientele–largely South American expats chattering away in Spanish along with a few adventurous neighborhood newbies–have a variety of entertainment options: Thursdays are for Latin Jazz, when Afro-Peruvian jams and South American folk often ring out; Mondays are movie nights, where long-form shorts screen and the directors themselves occasionally stop by; and every first Tuesday of the month is the poetry jam (there are also the occasional art shows, D.J.’s, and workshops). The action goes on upstairs, where a small performance space hangs on wires, but most of the room is on the ground floor, which feels spacious thanks to full-wall windows, tall beams, and a multitude of mirrors. The space is furnished with shabby-chic couches and scattered pillows; colorful crochet streamers hang from the ceiling; glass hearts and terra-cotta crosses line the bright yellow wall over statues of saints, skulls, and seasonal vegetables; and Christmas lights twinkle against the margarita and martini glasses above the bar. The fully functioning hammocks are a singular treat, but the two computers with free Internet are nearly as popular. — Irina Gusin

Está invitado a una rueda de prensa con la Sen. Gillibrand en Terraza Café!
Vengan a aprender de la nueva legislacion que esta proponiendo la Senadora Gillibrand para dar mas fondos a las clases de ingles y dar créditos los pequeños negocios

Para mas informacion llama:
Becca Telzak (Make the Road NY) – 914-500-9257

You’re invited to a meeting with the press with Senator Gillibrand at Terraza Cafe!
Come and learn about new legislation being proposed by Senator Gillibrand to provide more funds to classes for learning english and giving credit to small business.

For more information call:
Becca Telzak (Make the Road NY) – 914-500-9257

Small businesses have big impact on health care; many favor public health insurance

Updated Sunday, June 21st 2009, 4:06 PM

There are pundits and politicians who repeat – as if it were an article of faith – that business owners oppose President Obama’s proposal to give people the choice of a public health insurance plans.

Don’t believe it.

A recent survey found that the city’s small business owners want real health care reform, favor a public health insurance option and are willing to pay into a system of shared responsibility.

“As a small business owner, I’m willing to contribute, I’m willing to pay my fair share for a real health care solution,” said Freddy Castiblanco, the owner of Terraza Cafe in Jackson Heights, Queens.

A practicing physician in his native Colombia, Castiblanco was one of 202 small business owners surveyed in New York City, Long Island, Albany, Binghampton and Buffalo.

The report, titled “The Pulse of Main Street, New York: Small Businesses, Health Insurance, and Views on Reform,” was released Thursday.

A veritable myth buster, the survey was conducted by Small Business United for Health Care, a coalition sponsored by the community group Make the Road New York, and affiliated with the national Main Street Alliance, a network of small business organizations.

Surprising as it may be, most of those surveyed said they are willing to spend more to make health care work.

Sixty-four percent stated that they would pay 4% to 7% of payroll or more to guarantee quality, affordable coverage for themselves and their employees.

The survey also found a clear preference – more than 4 to 1 – for a public alternative to private coverage over an expanded private market option.

“The health insurance companies have had a captive audience of us for too long,” said Doris Lozada, owner of LD Home Contractors in Forest Hills, Queens, who also participated in the study.

“I believe we need a quality public option so we can’t be held hostage by the industry any more.”

The businesses may be small, but their impact on the city’s economy is huge. There are 220,000 of them that give jobs to more than half of private-sector employees. The small businesses’ support is a big boost for the President’s health care reform plan.

In poignant testimony before the House Small Businesses Committee on June 3, Castiblanco, who started his business eight years ago and today employs 11 neighborhood people, laid out the view of many small business owners on health care reform.

He told the committee about his frustration with being unable to purchase a group health insurance plan for his employees and their families.

“I have found, however, that the costs of decent health coverage are completely unaffordable for a business like mine,” Castiblanco said.

“It pains me, as an employer and as a doctor, that my employees and their families do not have the opportunity to get routine care that would help them lead a healthier life.”

But Castiblanco said he was confident small businesses could help the country regain its economic stability by creating new jobs and generating new revenue in their local economies.

“But we need to be able to count on quality, affordable health care for our employees to make this happen,” he said.

This won’t be possible, said Castiblanco reflecting the opinion of most of those surveyed, without a stronger role for government.

“That’s why I support the creation of a quality public health insurance option,” he said.

CLARIFICATION: In Thursday’s column we took the President to task for twice suspending a meeting with congressional leaders to map immigration reform this year. In fact, the White House announced Wednesday after our deadline that the meeting is set for June 25. aruiz@nydailynews.com

A Move Toward Requiring Health Coverage

In Letter to Senate Democrats, Obama Suggests Hardship Waiver for the Poor

Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 4, 2009

One day after signaling a fresh willingness to consider taxing employer-sponsored health insurance, President Obama indicated yesterday a new openness toward a nationwide requirement that every American have health coverage.

In his push to enact sweeping health-care reform legislation this summer, Obama previewed what could be the outlines of a compromise on two of the thorniest issues confronting Congress. He said he could support mandates on both individuals and employers to contribute to the cost of health insurance if the bill provides protections to certain small businesses and poor people.

“If we do end up with a system where people are responsible for their own insurance, we need to provide a hardship waiver to exempt Americans who cannot afford it,” he wrote in a letter to top Senate Democrats.

During the presidential primaries last year, Obama attacked then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s proposed individual mandate as a scheme to “go after people’s wages.”

In the letter, however, he said he understands that key committees are “moving towards a principle of shared responsibility — making every American responsible for having health insurance coverage, and asking that employers share in the costs.”

The approach tracks closely with a universal health program enacted in Massachusetts three years ago in which individuals must have coverage and businesses must either offer insurance to employees or pay into a state fund that provides coverage. In Massachusetts, individuals can receive free or subsidized care based on income.

Broadly speaking, the business community has opposed requirements to “pay or play,” as the employer mandate is often known. But a survey conducted by the Main Street Alliance, a small-business coalition advocating reform, found that 77 percent of 1,200 small firms interviewed are willing to pay a portion of workers’ health-care costs.

“Do we feel a responsibility to help our employees afford health care? Yes, we do,” Freddy Castiblanco, owner of La Terraza Cafe in Queens, N.Y., said in congressional testimony yesterday. “Are we willing to contribute? Yes.”

Castiblanco, who employs 11 people, said any health-care overhaul should include the option of a government-sponsored insurance policy for people having trouble buying coverage on the private market.

That idea got a boost from Obama, who said in the letter that he “strongly” believes in giving Americans the choice of a public option.

“This will give them a better range of choices, make the health-care market more competitive, and keep insurance industries honest,” he wrote.

Obama also pledged — without providing details — to trim an additional $200 billion to $300 billion out of Medicare and Medicaid spending over the next decade. That would be on top of the $309 billion in Medicare reductions in his budget, though Congress has not embraced the specifics.

For the first time, the president also said he is considering proposals that would empower the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission to implement cost controls on the health program for seniors and the disabled. The idea is similar to legislation sponsored by Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), who wants to make the commission an independent agency in the executive branch functioning along the lines of the Federal Reserve Board. Obama, however, suggests following the model of the military base closing commission, with Congress still involved in Medicare’s coverage and price decisions.

Senate Finance Committee members were told privately yesterday that the panel will probably see draft legislation on June 17 and begin marking up the bill the following week.

Tomorrow night-Monday, December 1st, 6-9pm at Terraza Cafe in Jackson Heights.  Details after the hop.

Date: Monday, December 1st, 6:00pm – 9:00pm

Location: Terraza Cafe (40-19 Gleane Street – about half a smidge south of Roosevelt Ave, 83rd St, and Baxter Ave, in Jackson Heights). Take the 7 Local to 83 St or (a little farther) the E/F/R/V/7 Express to 74/Roosevelt/Broadway

ADMISSION: FREE

Hosted by: Friends of Travers Park and the Jackson Heights Green Coalition at Terraza Cafe in Jackson Heights.

Friends of Travers Park is a committee of the Jackson Heights Beautification Group. Friends started out cleaning up broken bottles and removing graffiti at the park; then planting shrubs and perennials. More recently, we’ve run Family Fun Day, back-to-school book-give-aways, Storytime in the Park, and Summer Sundays in the Park, a multi-cultural performance series. Recently we’ve begun to work on open space and other environmental issues, including creation of a Green Agenda for Jackson Heights.

Jackson Heights Green Coalition is a community group dedicated to creating sustainable public spaces in our neighborhood. Our goal is to create and/or expand parks, playgrounds and other green spaces in our area through outreach, education, and leadership.

What’s Queens Green Drinks again?

Very simply, it’s an informal social gathering/networking event for folks that are environmentally minded. Come and we’ll introduce you to some of the other like minded folks in and around Queens. If we’re lucky (which is likely) we’ll cross pollinate make new friends, catch up with old ones, and maybe even sprout an idea or three.

Since this is a new little experiment for our borough, please help get the word out and tell your friends about it! Heck, why don’t you bring them?

Just to let you know, we’ll have a different host each month selecting the venue of their choice. If you are interested in helping to get the word out, if you have suggestions for hosts, or if you’d like to donate your skills in building a website please let me know at queensgreendrinks(at)gmail(dot)com.

Time Out New York / Issue 685 : Nov 13—19, 2008

Terraza 7 Train Café
Bohemia meets Latin America by way of the 7 train at Terraza, a funky bar (vibrantly hued walls, your abuelita—s mismatched comfy couches and a Virgin Maria statue). The locale, frequented by a largely Latino crowd on the weekends, regularly hosts South American musicians, English and Spanish poetry readings and an LGBT night, and will soon launch an indie-film screening series. 40-19 Gleane St between Britton and Roosevelt Aves (718-803-9602, terrazacafe.com)

Time Out New York Winter 2008 Bar Guide