A call to remove the ban, by Jeremy McCool

A Call to Remove the Ban:

As many of you know, HEVO employs people from all walks of life. We are represented by Jews, Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Agnostics, Atheists and other religious belief systems throughout our small 15 person company. As I write this, I am pained to be planning the loss of our CTO (Chief Technology Officer), because his his family lives in Niagara Falls, Canada, and he is of Pakistani origin. He works full-time in our Brooklyn labs and goes back to Canada every couple of weeks to be with his family. Soon, he will be going home to spend Valentine’s Day with his amazing wife of 10 years and two wonderful children. There’s a high likelihood he will not be able to return to our team in Brooklyn, because of the Muslim ban (yes, Pakistan and Canada are not on the list…yet). So, we are having to plan an alternative technology development strategy for him to work solo from Niagara Falls if he cannot return.

We also have Turks and Kurds that need to go see their families. One of our developers has a brother who is terminally ill. He can’t visit his brother in Turkey without risking his ability to return to the U.S. Our team members from India may be banned from going home to visit their families after years from being home, because they might be termed “Muslims.” Then, there’s my Iraqi brothers who battled shoulder to shoulder with me and my platoon against Islamic terrorists and radicals. Some were given asylum in our country and lead promising lives in service to their communities. Now, they may become deportable.

Remove the ban.

Respectfully,

Jeremy R. McCool

CEO, HEVO Inc.

People of Red Hook: What do you think about the Luigi Mangione phenomenom? by Lisa Gitlin

I’ve been going to bars lately because it’s cold outside, people in bars have loose tongues, and it’s easy to talk to them. Today I went into the Strong Rope Brewery on the waterfront and asked customers and bartenders a provocative question for the January issue: What are your feelings about the Luigi Mangione phenomenon? For those of you who

Gilbert Gonzalez honored at Rec Center Christmas event, by Nathan Weiser

The Red Hook Rec Center was in the spirit of giving last month, hosting their annual holiday bash with food, music and presents for children. It was organized by Isiah Forde of the Center and Andre Richey of New Leader Hoops. The first holiday party hosted by the Rec Center in 2015. There was pizza from Mark’s on Van Brunt

Cautious optimism on the Gowanus smell front, by Oscar Fock

In December, The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), began the second phase of construction of Gowanus’s two Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) tanks after pausing work since August. Because of the design of the much of New York’s sewer system, where stormwater and sewage water both go through the same pipe,

A great day at PS 676, by Nathan Weiser

Red Hook’s Harbor Middle School held their holiday spectacular showcase the last day before winter break. It began in the auditorium with performances and videos from the school year so far. After that was finished, there were beverages, snacks, holiday crafts and photos. The YMCA after-school program showed their holiday video titled “Mischief at 676, the Red Hook story.” Next

A call to remove the ban, by Jeremy McCool