Heart of the City; No. 1; 1994-02-23

<v TV Announcer>Major funding for Heart of the City was provided by the Surdna foundation. <v TV Announcer>Additional support was provided by Con Edison, the steam, natural gas, <v TV Announcer>and electricity millions depend on every day. <v TV Announcer>Con Edison, for more than a century, energizing New York City, Westchester <v TV Announcer>County, and beyond. <v Laurie Scott>We got our volunteers by calling friends who wanted to work with kids, <v Laurie Scott>were looking for something other than their job to turn them on. <v John Romero>1989, there were 5000 people live in the subway. <v John Romero>In that same year, 79 had died on the subway. <v John Romero>Homeless people hit by trains, electrocuted. <v John Romero>And in 4 short years, we've been able to bring that number down to less than a thousand. <v Louis Garden Acosta>If they learn anything when they graduate and they will all graduate <v Louis Garden Acosta>in 4 years, they will know that they are power. <v Speaker>[piano music] <v Speaker>When I heard about a barge, I knew having seen the shape of them, <v Speaker>I knew it was perfect for chamber music.

<v Speaker>[intoduction music plays] <v John Kennedy>Welcome to the premiere of Heart of the City. <v John Kennedy>Hello, I'm John Kennedy. <v John Kennedy>There are few places on Earth more fascinating, exciting, or glamorous <v John Kennedy>than New York City. But what's really unique about New York are its neighborhoods. <v John Kennedy>From the narrow streets of Chinatown to the sidewalks of the South Bronx, <v John Kennedy>in every community in this city, there are local heroes, unsung heroes. <v John Kennedy>You may even know some of them. There are people who are making a difference in their <v John Kennedy>communities and making New York a safer, friendlier, and better place

<v John Kennedy>to live. In the next 6 shows, you'll meet them. <v John Kennedy>They're truly the heart of the city. <v John Kennedy>Laurie Scott was a successful young professional. <v John Kennedy>At 26 years old, she had a career, a Manhattan apartment, and could enjoy <v John Kennedy>the best that New York had to offer. <v John Kennedy>Something was missing. So along with Sheldon Talman and some other <v John Kennedy>young professionals, she created the S-Team, a program to help <v John Kennedy>homeless kids build self-esteem. <v John Kennedy>And along the way, they learned the kids had something to give to them. <v Laurie Scott>I was in advertising and it just wasn't working for me. <v Laurie Scott>I wasn't into the selling aspect. <v Laurie Scott>I started thinking what would make me jump out of bed in the morning? <v Laurie Scott>And what really turns me on is working with kids. <v Sheldon Talman>I met Laurie through a friend. She was a copywriter and I was an art director.

<v Sheldon Talman>I wanted to look at her portfolio. And one night I was over our apartment and we were <v Sheldon Talman>talking about this self-esteem program she wanted to do for kids. <v Sheldon Talman>I really wanted to get into something just like this. <v Sheldon Talman>So we formed uh a union. <v Speaker>[Laurie and Sheldon greet kids in background] <v Sheldon Talman>Basically it's S-Team, if you say it fast enough, it's esteem. <v Sheldon Talman>And um I liked it because of the word team in there, because the volunteers <v Sheldon Talman>become a group of uh teammates that work with a group of kids who <v Sheldon Talman>all become teammates. [background chatter] <v Laurie Scott>We're down in Crown Heights working with kids at St. John's Family Center. <v Laurie Scott>We were looking at different organizations, Y camps, um all different after <v Laurie Scott>school programs, and it really was a flip of a coin that we ended <v Laurie Scott>up working in homeless shelters. If we're going to start working on self-esteem and <v Laurie Scott>working with children, what better place than to work with kids whose main <v Laurie Scott>things that are going on in our lives are fear and anger?

<v Laurie Scott>Are they going to have food on the table? And where are they going to be living? <v Kid 1>They would call me stupid because I was in a shelter and they would- <v Kid 1>when I come home, they would pull my hair. <v Kid 1>I didn't even bother to go pl- just go on a see-saw with them. <v Kid 1>Or nothin' like that. I would just sit on a bench with my mother and watch <v Kid 1>all the- all the other kids play. <v Laurie Scott>What I found when I went to the shelters, I had a lot of stereotypes in my head about <v Laurie Scott>what homeless people were like. And what I was blown away by was how much these mothers <v Laurie Scott>care. <v Mother 1>I don't think she really understood what she was going through. <v Laurie Scott>And you're going to paste on the outside of the bag, the things that people know about <v Laurie Scott>you. And you're gonna put on the inside of the bag, the things that people don't <v Laurie Scott>know about you. <v Kid 2>What I like about this picture is that um the little girl is huggin' her mother and her <v Kid 2>father. <v Speaker>[applause] <v Mother 1>She opened up a lot and she really surprised me. <v Mother 1>I think of herself also.

<v Laurie Scott>We ready to rock and roll? <v Speaker>[kids cheer] <v Sheldon Talman>Yes, see, we put together as a series of 8 modules. <v Sheldon Talman>Every module that we create has to make them more <v Sheldon Talman>introspective, get them to do any kind of arts and crafts, cutting, pasting, drawing. <v Sheldon Talman>And at the same time, we sneak in the back door with a little self-esteem and self-worth. <v Laurie Scott>I'll show you some of the activity books. I am very surprised at how little instruction <v Laurie Scott>they give. They leave so much up to the teacher. <v Laurie Scott>I think it's irresponsible. <v Sheldon Talman>And working with Laurie on this project, we were starting to find a lot of you know, <v Sheldon Talman>you can't- you can't do this program without a degree. <v Sheldon Talman>And we started realizing that nobody can tell us that we can't do anything. <v Laurie Scott>Today is the bag exercise. How many of you guys have done this before? <v Laurie Scott>Can I just see a show of hands? <v Laurie Scott>We got our volunteers by calling friends who wanted to work with kids, <v Laurie Scott>were looking for something other than our job to turn them on. <v Speaker>["Bizarre Love Triangle" by New Order plays] <v Sheldon Talman>From the beginning, everything's been coming out of our pockets. <v Sheldon Talman>We pay for our own tokens. <v Sheldon Talman>We were paying for all the food.

<v Nancy Peck>I'm Nancy Peck and I'm a mother and a student. <v Mitchell>Hi, I'm Mitchell. I'm a government employee. <v Deborah Teal>Hi, I'm Deborah Teal and I'm a freelance writer. <v Deborah Teal>I was in a wheelchair for part of this summer and to come here and work with the kids <v Deborah Teal>got me out of myself, made me forget all of my physical troubles. <v Deborah Teal>And that was wonderful. The time that I showed up in the wheelchair, the kids loved it. <v Deborah Teal>They were doing wheelies with me around the room. <v Speaker>[background chatter] <v Jim>I recently retired after working 34 and a half happy years at the chemical bank. <v Jim>And I also did some volunteer work. <v Jim>But the volunteer work I was doing was at a local hospital over on the east side and I <v Jim>found out it was very sad, like when I left, some days I would go back <v Jim>to see someone that I had brought a book to and the pers- the bed <v Jim>would be empty, and have such an empty feeling. <v Jim>When I come over here with the S-Team and see these kids smiling and <v Jim>jumping up to say, Hey, Jim, would you give me a piggyback ride? <v Jim>I said, Yeah, I'll give you a piggyback ride. That's something I can't buy.

<v Jim>Tonight with ?inaudible?, it was really a challenge. <v Jim>I said to myself, I gotta see if I can make this guy talk with me. <v Jim>You're doing a great job. You're a regular artist. That's good. <v Mother 2>He would go in, you know, and just sit like in the back in a corner, like he's <v Mother 2>real shy, so he wouldn't, you know, really play with the other kids too much. <v Mother 2>But now, as you can see, as y'all saw today, that he started <v Mother 2>playing and he even got up and really surprised me that he got up and he <v Mother 2>spoke because he really doesn't do it. <v Sheldon Talman>Here comes the secret. <v Sheldon Talman>And you want to be a cop. Our first police officer. <v Jim>I may come back here in 25 years with ?inaudible? <v Jim>And I may see ?inaudible? talking to some young guy about, don't be bashful, you know, <v Jim>come on, speak up, you know? So I think it goes around into a nice circle. <v Laurie Scott>Every time we go to work with the kids, it's like, is it going to work?

<v Laurie Scott>Sometimes we find out right away that it works. <v Laurie Scott>Sometimes we find out months later, we may find out 10 years from now. <v Sheldon Talman>If I don't feel that the kids got it, I get a little depressed for a while and then <v Sheldon Talman>we start to uh get the feedback. <v Sheldon Talman>And then I realized kids were getting it, you know, that makes- that really makes it <v Sheldon Talman>worthwhile. <v Kid 1>When I went to the S-Team, we went um- we went on a lot of trips. <v Kid 1>I had something to do. <v Kid 1>I was- um I just- <v Kid 1>I just felt more better in my- in my- in my- in my heart, I just felt <v Kid 1>better. <v Laurie Scott>Hey Annika. <v Annika>Hey Laurie, how you doin'? <v Laurie Scott>I have the TVC boards for ya. <v Laurie Scott>This program is my life. <v Laurie Scott>I'm working on this enough so this can be my career. <v Laurie Scott>This isn't how I felt about advertising. <v Laurie Scott>Just every second is worth it. <v John Kennedy>For more information about the S-Team, you can call 2 1 2 7 1 7

<v John Kennedy>1 2 7 6. <v John Kennedy>There are 90000 homeless in New York City. <v John Kennedy>We pass them every day on the streets and there are countless others that we never see <v John Kennedy>because they live underground. <v John Kennedy>Transit cop John Romero heads the homeless outreach division of the New York City <v John Kennedy>Transit Police. And every day he meets homeless New Yorkers who call <v John Kennedy>that strange subterranean world of the subway tunnels home. <v Speaker>[ominous background music plays] <v John Romero>My name is Lieutenant John Romero with the New York City Transit Police.

<v John Romero>I'm the commanding ?officer? of the homeless outreach unit. <v John Romero>This tunnel area right now that we're going through is about a 3-block distance <v John Romero>underground between the Broadway Lafayette and the Second Avenue station. <v Subway Worker>When you walk in, just hug the wall. <v John Romero>In 1989, there were 5000 people living in Subway. <v John Romero>In the same year, 79 had died on the subway. <v John Romero>Homeless people hit by trains, electrocuted. <v John Romero>Some died of natural causes. <v John Romero>In 4 short years, we've been able to bring that number down to less than a thousand <v John Romero>number of people on the system and the number of people have died down to 44. <v John Romero>So we are making progress. <v John Romero>Hey, Dennis, how you been? What's goin' on? <v John Romero>I mean, you know, you can't keep living like this [Dennis speaking in background] in 32 <v John Romero>years of age catching up to you. <v John Romero>So why don't you let us try taking you somewhere we can get some help. <v John Romero>Dennis has been down here off and on for years, but had yet to accept services. <v John Romero>But some point we're hoping uh that he will and uhwe brought people down <v John Romero>here, professional people to talk to him. <v John Romero>We're just hoping that one day it just clicks where he realizes he needs help.

<v John Romero>When we talk about the homeless in the subways ?we oughtta? <v John Romero>understand who we're talking about. We're talking about a population, predominately <v John Romero>males, whose ages run from 20 to 45. <v John Romero>We're talking about a population who 80 percent fall into what we call ?mica? <v John Romero>category: they're mentally ill or chemical abusers or both. <v John Romero>So it's not a case of where we're dealing with a population that because of domestic or <v John Romero>economic reasons, have found themselves temporarily homeless and are calling the subways <v John Romero>a- a residence. We're dealing with a population with some serious problems. <v John Romero>Gary ?inaudible? <v John Romero>Gary has been livin' here off and on for about 4 years in this emergency exit. <v John Romero>As I indicated earlier, we had to evacuate a train and get people out <v John Romero>through here, but all the obstruction that Gary has here, it can make for <v John Romero>a tragedy. <v John Romero>No one can tell me that living down here under these conditions is better than living <v John Romero>in a shelter. It's not. I'm not saying that shelters are perfect.

<v John Romero>What I am saying is shelters have rules. <v John Romero>And these people, by their own choice, have elected not to follow rules. <v John Romero>That's why they're here. <v Transit Policeman 1>Okay, we got 2 people here, who obviously been down in the tunnel for a while. <v Transit Policeman 2>Wake up transit police! <v Speaker>[train screeches] <v Transit Policeman 2>Transit police, how are you doing? <v Transit Policeman 1>As you can see, the train's just a few feet away. <v Transit Policeman 1>We're gonna try and ask them if they want to go to a shelter. <v John Romero>If you shut your lights off for a second, you'll get an idea of what it's like down here. <v John Romero>We're here with our protective vest and flashlights and gloves and masks, <v John Romero>yet people are walkin' around here in total darkness without any kind of light, oblivious <v John Romero>to the dangers of the third rail that's within a matter of inches from where they're <v John Romero>walkin'. <v Bus Driver>Why don't you take a ride? We've got the bus up there, we'll give you somethin' to eat, we'll <v Bus Driver>give you a bed for tonight. <v Homeless Man 1>No! <v Bus Driver>Aren't you cold? <v Homeless Man 1>No. <v Bus Driver>We're asking people on the trains that are apparently homeless if they'd like to go to <v Bus Driver>the shelter tonight. If somebody does accept shelter off us, we'll transport them <v Bus Driver>upstairs to our bus.

<v Bus Driver>We'll give them something to eat on the bus, while they're waiting, and then we'll take <v Bus Driver>them up to Bellevue Shelter where they can get a bed for the night. <v Bus Driver>I'll take ya up to the bus, alright? <v Homeless Man 1>Wasn't for them I'd still be downstairs somewhere. And uh they- they also rescue <v Homeless Man 1>me out of snow, out of rain, out of ice. <v Homeless Man 1>Stuff like that. They're lifesavers. <v Homeless Outreach Unit Official>Excuse me sir. How you doing? <v Homeless Outreach Unit Official>Transit police. You alright tonight? Huh? <v Homeless Outreach Unit Official>How would you like to go to shelter tonight? <v Homeless Outreach Unit Official>I've been with the homeless average unit on March it'll be 3 years. <v Homeless Outreach Unit Official>And it's a good unit. Most of the people out here are black. <v Homeless Outreach Unit Official>Most of the homeless people are black. And me as a black man, it's- it's hard. <v Homeless Outreach Unit Official>I try to do what I can. There are times I- you know, I go home and you just think about <v Homeless Outreach Unit Official>them, looking at all my people and they're homeless, you <v Homeless Outreach Unit Official>know, and it's- it gets a little rough. <v Homeless Outreach Unit Official>That's why, you know, I try to talk to- you know, you talk to 'em- most of these people, <v Homeless Outreach Unit Official>a lot of people think they're crazy. <v Homeless Outreach Unit Official>They're not really crazy, per se, but, you know, down on their luck, drugs, alcohol,

<v Homeless Outreach Unit Official>whatever. [background chatter] And um- <v Homeless Outreach Unit Official>it's just- it gets a little rough. <v John Romero>Do me a favor. Put the uh put the bottle away, that alright? <v Speaker>[background chatter of workers talking with the men] <v Homeless Man 2>I can't throw it away, it cost me too much and then it's my last money. <v John Romero>But you can't drink it here. You alright? <v Homeless Man 3>You can't just throw people out in the cold. I mean, um, the whole idea of <v Homeless Man 3>somebody not having a place to sleep. <v Homeless Man 3>You can't sleep on the sidewalk, you can't sleep in the park. <v Homeless Man 3>Can't sleep on private property. <v Homeless Man 3>I mean, if you don't have- you got to sleep. <v Homeless Man 3>I mean, your body is going to shut down after a while regardless. <v John Romero>It's not a police problem. However, the police had to address it. <v John Romero>It's not conventional police work. <v John Romero>But when you really sit down and think about what is police work, police work is helping <v John Romero>people. And that's what we do here. <v Homeless Man 3>It's not like this is going to- it's going to change. <v Homeless Man 3>You wake up tomorrow, you've got the same problems. <v Homeless Man 3>Now, right now, tonight, I appreciate it.

<v John Romero>Take care y'all. <v Homeless Men>We will. <v John Kennedy>We all remember high school: a blackboard up front, rows of seats, and a buzzer <v John Kennedy>that rang at the beginning and end of every period. <v John Kennedy>But there are other creative ways to design a school. <v John Kennedy>We learned that when we visited the El Puente Academy of Peace and Justice, part <v John Kennedy>of the board of ed's alternative high school program, located in the middle of ethnically <v John Kennedy>diverse Williamsburg, Brooklyn. <v Frances Lucerna>Here at the El Puente Academy, the whole thrust of the curriculum <v Frances Lucerna>is community development, and a very big part of the learning <v Frances Lucerna>process is community service.

<v Speaker 2>The health fair was important because some families don't got enough money to buy shots, <v Speaker 2>you know, some shots cost you 50 to a hundred dollars. <v Speaker 2>They have a chance to come here and get free shots for their child. <v Speaker 2>They don't want their child gettin' sick. <v Mom 1>No she's not allergic to anything. <v Volunteer 1>The same thing to every child, write the same thing? <v Mom 1>Yeah. <v Mom 2>I think it's great. Since the fact that um, since she's always sick, <v Mom 2>this is an opportunity for her, she's well now [baby babbles] and it's free. <v Mom 2>It's just come in and they'll send you, no appointment or anything, so it's good. <v Hector Calderon>I believe that the philosophy of the school is about developing leadership <v Hector Calderon>for social change. And that young people right now can create those changes not only <v Hector Calderon>within themselves, but within their community. <v Hector Calderon>The individual transformation is the first key to social transformation. <v Student 1>I feel it's important because we should get involved with the community. <v Student 1>I mean, you live in it, right? <v City Worker>The students of El Puente are taking care of the environment right here in their <v City Worker>own neighborhood. They're all aware of the great rain forest, but they're

<v City Worker>only 4000 miles away. <v City Worker>Here in the city of New York, we have our own rainforest where the trees are becoming <v City Worker>?inaudible? <v Frances Lucerna>I think we have a great opportunity, particularly in this neighborhood of Williamsburg. <v Frances Lucerna>This community of Williamsburg, to really be able to proactively <v Frances Lucerna>practice and experience and explore the issues of peace and <v Frances Lucerna>social justice. <v Delia Montalvo>I think that we believe in is that everyone here in the school is both teacher and <v Delia Montalvo>student. <v Delia Montalvo>So you know how viruses live in your body? <v Student 2>Yeah, they take over-. <v Delia Montalvo>You know, like for example, the HIV virus? <v Student 2>The T- T- cells. <v Student 3>T-cells. <v Student 2>They survive inside the T-cells, ?inaudible?. <v Delia Montalvo>Since we're learning from each other, we felt that it would be more appropriate to call <v Delia Montalvo>ourselves facilitators. <v Delia Montalvo>Name 1 reason why parents do not get their <v Delia Montalvo>children vaccinated. <v Student 1>'Cause they don't have enough money. <v Student 1>They like to call facilitators, because they see us like friends, like real friends here. <v Student 1>And I want to be just like them, 4 years from now, when I work here.

<v Student 1>I mean, I love this place. <v Hector Calderon>The Day of the Dead, Dia De Los Muertos, is a way of bridging <v Hector Calderon>the past with the present, a way of bridging the old traditions <v Hector Calderon>of our ancestors with- with the way we're living right now. <v Hector Calderon>It's also- it's a way of commemorate the memories of those who have passed away. <v Hector Calderon>Making that transformation from the old school systems to now has been very challenging, <v Hector Calderon>to say the least. I see young people are here that in other schools are considered losers <v Hector Calderon>or problem kids, so whatever the term- the popular term goes around. <v Hector Calderon>So why you gonna celebrate something that's already dead? <v Hector Calderon>Their spirits are alive [students talk in background] that this the body, it's always <v Hector Calderon>only physical, but their spirits never really die. <v Hector Calderon>I've seen some amazing, amazing transformations because we really focus on the individual <v Hector Calderon>and talking to them as human beings. <v Hector Calderon>And here they really have a home and they have a place. <v Hector Calderon>They see themselves having potential and moving on in different- in directions in their <v Hector Calderon>little possible. <v Frances Lucerna>Louis Garden Acosta is the founder and the visionary behind El Puente.

<v Louis Garden Acosta>Remember, we're going to communities where they don't speak English, where all they know <v Louis Garden Acosta>about us is what the television tells them. <v Frances Lucerna>He is the master bridge maker. <v Frances Lucerna>Um he brought people together like myself from the community and said, we can come <v Frances Lucerna>together. We have what it takes. <v Frances Lucerna>We have all the resources we need to make the change for young people. <v Frances Lucerna>He had the vision of a place that was safe, a place where you could grow <v Frances Lucerna>in body, mind, spirit and affect the community. <v Frances Lucerna>And he's made that vision happen. <v Louis Garden Acosta>If they learn anything when they graduate and they will all graduate <v Louis Garden Acosta>in 4 years, they will know that they are a power. <v Louis Garden Acosta>They can come together with others, people that- whose languages maybe they don't <v Louis Garden Acosta>understand, whose cultures they- they perhaps don't totally understand <v Louis Garden Acosta>but they can come together as human beings and make the changes for all of us. <v Louis Garden Acosta>That they will understand. <v Student 1>So, you know, I think anyone is going to hear about El Puente.

<v Student 1>That's what I'm hoping for. There would be new people coming in and it would be all over <v Student 1>the news everywhere and they would have more El Puentes nationwide. <v Speaker>["We Are Family" by Sister Sledge plays] <v John Kennedy>For more information about the El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice, you can call <v John Kennedy>7 1 8 5 9 9 2 8 9 5. <v John Kennedy>New York Harbor is one of the finest in the world. <v John Kennedy>It made New York the commercial and financial power it is today, but <v John Kennedy>it's the last place you'd expect to hear great classical music. <v John Kennedy>However, a retired musician named Olga Bloom had a dream. <v John Kennedy>With sacrifice and hard work, she turned that dream into a unique <v John Kennedy>New York cultural institution. <v Speaker>[barge honking] <v Speaker>[classical music plays] <v John Kennedy>Moored in the East River in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, which towers overhead.

<v John Kennedy>It seems small, even humble. <v John Kennedy>Were it not for a card wooden sign, "Barge Music Limited," passers-by <v John Kennedy>might not even notice the deceptively plain white barge. <v John Kennedy>Inside this once old coffee barge, the cherry wood-paneled walls <v John Kennedy>encompass world-renowned musicians and the dream and determination of <v John Kennedy>Olga Bloom. <v Olga Bloom>I had been a musician all my life. <v Olga Bloom>Most of the time I was furious, except when <v Olga Bloom>I was in proximity to natural beauty, <v Olga Bloom>which sort of brought me back to sanity. <v Olga Bloom>We produce hordes of stunning <v Olga Bloom>artists, year after year. They come out in waves. <v Olga Bloom>But the school system and the scholarship system has no relevance <v Olga Bloom>to the real world. And so having chewed on <v Olga Bloom>that bone for many, many years, I uh I

<v Olga Bloom>determined that a scattering of many small places <v Olga Bloom>would be a useful addition to the whole world at large. <v Olga Bloom>When I heard about a barge, I knew having seen the shape of them, <v Olga Bloom>I knew it was perfect for chamber music. <v John Kennedy>After retiring, Olga mortgaged her home to buy the barge and began renovating <v John Kennedy>it with her own hands. <v Olga Bloom>Here you see a juxtaposition of my love of nature <v Olga Bloom>in the river stretch of sky and the <v Olga Bloom>music, of course, which our artists bring to us. <v Olga Bloom>I'm enormously aided uh by a troop of volunteers <v Olga Bloom>who are simply the greatest people: school teachers <v Olga Bloom>with scientific or literary skills, <v Olga Bloom>all sorts of people. <v Volunteer 2>It's 15, for students and senior citizens all the time, and it's 23 on Sundays and 20 on

<v Volunteer 2>Thursdays. <v Ik-Hwan Bae>Olga and I both feel very strongly that this should not remain a <v Ik-Hwan Bae>elite people's hobby. <v John Kennedy>Ik-Hwan Bae was already an established violinist when he came aboard as Olga's artistic <v John Kennedy>director 9 years ago. <v Ik-Hwan Bae>Olga is always here, very solid, rock-solid, making sure everything works <v Ik-Hwan Bae>smoothly. <v Speaker>[violin plays] <v Olga Bloom>If I don't see that the musicians are nurtured, then <v Olga Bloom>I'm betraying my trust. <v Speaker>[chamber music plays] <v Performer 1>This is actually how chair music was written. <v Performer 1>It was intended for a hall of this size. <v Olga Bloom>The performers tell me it's unique in the world.

<v Olga Bloom>We give more concerts than anyone, twice a week, all year. <v Olga Bloom>You know, it's an incredible amount of performances. <v Speaker>[chamber music continues] <v Olga Bloom>When you played chamber music, you must be terribly aware of what your <v Olga Bloom>companions are doing. <v Olga Bloom>Regardless of how outstandingly they could play it, they are considering <v Olga Bloom>whether or not it's appropriate so that the other person can be

<v Olga Bloom>heard. <v Olga Bloom>This kind of unselfish consideration and performance <v Olga Bloom>is truly remarkable. <v Olga Bloom>[music continues] I think it's the epitome of civilized behavior. <v Olga Bloom>That's what I've come to appreciate. <v Olga Bloom>[music continues] <v John Kennedy>For more information about Barge Music, you can call 7 1 8 6 2 4 <v John Kennedy>4 0 6 1.

<v John Kennedy>We've just met some remarkable New Yorkers who've had an impact on our communities <v John Kennedy>and changed the lives of the many people that they've met. <v John Kennedy>We found unsung heroes in every burrow in this city. <v John Kennedy>And you'll meet more of them when you join us here next week at Heart of the City. <v John Kennedy>I'm John Kennedy. <v John Kennedy>If you want to learn more about other organizations where you can volunteer, you can call <v John Kennedy>the Mayor's Voluntary Action Center at 2 1 2 7 <v John Kennedy>8 8 7 5 5 0, or New York Cares <v John Kennedy>at 2 1 2 2 2 8 5 thousand. <v Speaker>[music plays] <v TV Announcer>Major funding for Heart of the City was provided by the Surdna Foundation.

<v TV Announcer>Additional support was provided by Con Edison: the steam, natural gas <v TV Announcer>and electricity millions depend on every day, Con Edison. <v TV Announcer>For more than a century, energizing New York City, Westchester County and beyond.