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Activists Meeting With Mayor’s Rep In Protest Of "Poverty Area" Label A group of local civic activists will meet with a representative of Mayor Bloomberg’s office today in the hope that questions regarding a "poverty zone" status in some sections of Canarsie will be explained. On May 10, the City Department of Youth and Community Development hosted a meeting during which they determined a wide section of the area received the status because certain percentages of residents were recognized as "low income" during the last census, which was taken in 2000. The purpose of the meeting was to determine the allotment of federal grant money here. Mary Anne Sallustro, who heads the South Canarsie Civic Association, told the Canarsie Courier she "resented" the label "poverty area" for some of the sections described by members of the agency, stating "there are homes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars owned by middle class, working class, owners of predominantly one, two and three-family homes who love our beautiful homes and community. We are not poor. Pleased prove we are poor before you proceed any further." In a letter to the editor in this issue, another community activist, Gerry Weiner, says, "By declaring parts of Canarsie a poverty zone, elected officials can obtain more money from city, state and federal agencies, but Councilman Fidler and others weren’t elected to devalue our community in order to obtain additional funding. It is unacceptable and discriminating!" She adds, "Was the proposal another ploy to erode the white population of our community and to discourage people of every ethnic group from moving in?" Sallustro said one of the purposes of the meeting with the mayor’s representative is to start a petition in protest of the proposal. Charles Rogers
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