Anchor Rick Sanchez left CNN on Friday, one day after making controversial comments.STORY
By the CNN Wire Staff
CNN.com (October 1, 2010)

HIGHLIGHTS
CNN: “Rick Sanchez is no longer with the company”
Sanchez calls Jon Stewart “a bigot” on satellite radio show
Sanchez’s 3 to 5 p.m. daily spot will be filled by “CNN Newsroom”

Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) — CNN anchor Rick Sanchez abruptly left the network Friday afternoon, just one day after making controversial comments on a satellite radio program.

“Rick Sanchez is no longer with the company,” according to a statement from CNN. “We thank Rick for his years of service and we wish him well.”

On Thursday, Sanchez appeared on the XM Sirius radio program “Stand-Up with Pete Dominick.” During the interview with Dominick, Sanchez called “The Daily Show’s” Jon Stewart “a bigot” and then said that he was bigoted against “everybody else who’s not like him. Look at his show, I mean, what does he surround himself with?”

Dominick pressed for specifics, and Sanchez, who is Cuban-American, responded, “That’s what happens when you watch yourself on his show every day, and all they ever do is call you stupid.”

Dominick, who was once the warm-up comic at Stewart’s Comedy Central show and now has a spot on CNN’s “John King, USA,” noted that Stewart is Jewish and so a minority himself.

“I’m telling you that everybody who runs CNN is a lot like Stewart, and a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart, and to imply that somehow they, the people in this country who are Jewish, are an oppressed minority? Yeah,” Sanchez responded.

The comments were widely quoted online and on social media.

Sanchez’s 3 to 5 p.m. daily spot will be filled by “CNN Newsroom” for the “foreseeable future,” CNN said.

Dear Constituent:

On September 30, 2010, New York City Economic Development Corporation (“NYCEDC”), on behalf of the City of New York, will be issuing a Request for Expressions of Interest (“RFEI”) for the programming and operation of the theater and event space located in the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center. I am fully supportive of this effort. To help facilitate this process and ensure the community’s ongoing involvement, I will be sponsoring a visioning discussion on Monday, October 4, 2010 at 6pm at the SCAN La Guardia Senior Center (307 East 116th Street).

As you may know, Julia de Burgos was approved for disposition for non-profit cultural and educational uses in 1992. It was envisioned that the building would serve the surrounding community by providing classes, workshops, studio and performance space to neighborhood artists and residents and would be available for use by theater, music and art cultural groups. Unfortunately, this has not been the case and building has been underutilized for many years.

In response to my sharing the community’s ongoing concerns about the lack of access to this community space, NYCEDC is issuing an RFEI. The RFEI seeks proposals from qualified individuals, companies or organizations to operate, program and maintain the multi-purpose community space and two classroom spaces adjacent on the first floor and the theater space on the second floor. Goals for the Space include, but are not limited to:

Activating the Space with a variety of programming;
Strengthening local arts and cultural organizations;
Providing access to the local artistic community; and
Providing programming for the local community.
For more information about submission requirements and to download a copy of the RFEI, please visit www.nycedc.com.

I look forward to a more inclusive partnership and a cultural center that is truly reflective of our community.

Sincerely,

Melissa Mark-Viverito
Council Member – District 8

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TO SIGN PLEASE GO TO:
http://www.petitiononline.com/taller/petition.html

Please forward or post this link and petition to as many people and places as you can!

THE ISSUE
The management company that runs the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center, the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) is taking away Taller Boricua’s lease for our multicultural community space. After founding the Julia de Burgos 14 years ago and being ideal tenants ever since (paying rent, insurance and upkeep), we are being forced out. Should EDC be successful, it will potentially cripple all of Taller Boricua’s community arts and cultural programming, including our exhibitions.

EDC intends on issuing a Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) on September 30, 2010. This RFEI allows EDC the power to select any group to take over our lease without approval or intervention from the Julia de Burgos Board, Taller Boricua, Community Board 11 or the El Barrio community. This is not the first time EDC has done this: La Marqueta had a similar RFEI sent.

EDC’s reason for the RFEI is they have now decided that the Julia de Burgos theater has to be rented together with our multicultural space. The motive they give for this is the lack of soundproofing between spaces.

Instead of coming to Taller Boricua and discussing their solution for the two spaces, EDC informed us on September 17th that the RFEI would be issued on September 30th. They disregarded our requests to put a halt to the RFEI and find alternative solutions to soundproofing the theater–solutions that do not require taking away Taller Boricua’s lease on the space.

As of the date of this petition, we still have not been supplied any details of the time frame or logistics of the RFEI (e.g., stipulations, instructions for submitting, deadlines, end of lease) by EDC. Community Board 11 has already written EDC on Taller Boricua’s behalf, asking EDC to put a halt to the RFEI and to agree to discuss alternative solutions with both Taller Boricua and the Community Board. To date, EDC has not yet responded.

TALLER BORICUA’S LEGACY OF COMMITMENT TO EL BARRIO, SPANISH HARLEM
Taller Boricua’s mission has always been for positive change and growth for Spanish Harlem. We see the “issue” with soundproofing of the theater as an opportunity for jobs for workers in Spanish Harlem and a revival of the theater’s use.

Starting in the 60’s, a time when Spanish Harlem was basically ignored and ostricized socially, economically and politically, Taller Boricua fought for our community, dedicating the organization to the improvement of living conditions and providing arts and culture programming to El Barrio.

The founders and current directors of Taller Boricua, Fernando Salicrup and Marcos Dimas, have always been involved with bringing basic public services as well as the arts to the neighborhood such as: working with Operation Fightback to create and keep affordable housing; being part of the original founding board of El Museo del Barrio and assisting Boys Harbor’s move to Spanish Harlem. They also helped more recent not-for-profits art groups such as Art for Change and Media Noche start-up in the community. Taller Boricua’s goal was and still is to build a “cultural corridor” from Museum Mile into Spanish Harlem.

14 years ago the founders of Taller Boricua fought for and won the ability to found and create the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center along with Taller Boricua multicultural space and galleries within. We have been utilizing it for artistic, cultural and community activities in El Barrio ever since.

Apart from Taller Boricua’s own programming (Salsa Wednesdays, open poetry nights, film screenings, lectures and panels,) the multicultural space is used by the community to celebrate milestones in their lives (memorials, weddings, baptisms and birthdays) as well as by other not-for-profits in Spanish Harlem to further their programming. To name a few: New York Latinas Against Domestic Violence, Danisarte, Community Works, Los Pleneros de la 21, Harlem Community Justice Center, 100 Hispanic Women, Hope Community, Pathways to Housing, Art for Change, Friends of Claridad, Cemi-Underground, Community Planning Board, Absolutely on 2/Latin Dance with Carmen Marrero, Little Sisters of Assumption, Community Voices, The Field, The Renaissance School, Artist in the Schools, The Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, ArtCrawl Harlem. Zon de Barrio, Yerba Buena

ONGOING PATTERN OF GENTRIFICATION
The Economic Development Corporation’s insistence on releasing an RFEI just one more step towards the gentrification of Spanish Harlem and the continual dismantling of all the efforts won by the Latino community. We have lost many important groups in the past few years such as Chica Luna and the Association for Hispanic Arts (AHA). It seems as if there is a concerted effort to erase our culture in El Barrio.

Please sign our petition below and help put pressure on EDC to stop the RFEI and discuss other options for the Julia de Burgos Theater that do not include taking away Taller Boricua’s lease on our multicultural space. Thank you for your support.

For the past 40 years the Taller Boricua has strived to support the community of El Barrio and create a vibrant arts culture in Spanish Harlem.

We the undersigned appeal to the Economic Development Corporation to put a halt to their RFEI and not to destroy the long-term achievement and the social and cultural benefits that Taller Boricua brings El Barrio, Spanish Harlem.

TO SIGN PLEASE GO TO:
http://www.petitiononline.com/taller/petition.html