From Betsy Combier:

Citizens of New York City do not need a hypocrite in the Mayor's Office, and therefore should not, under any circumstances, vote for Manhattan Media CEO Tom Allon. The reason is detailed below, in my article about his Blackboard Awards.

When I was Parent Association President of Booker T. Washington MS 54 in Manhattan, in 1999-2001, I heard that Tom Allon was giving a Blackboard Award to one of "Booker T"'s 5 programs, The DELTA Program. The DELTA Program was segregated, with the white, middle-class children of the Upper West Side solidly in control. When I tried to make this Honors program more available to other ethnic groups and I tried to get the District 3 office - namely D.J. Sheppard and Superintendent Patricia Romandetto - to give equal services and money to all 5 programs in the school, of which DELTA was only one, I was attacked and verbally abused. Larry Lynch, Principal, called me a "Liar, child abuser and thief".

Dr. Robin Aranow, whose child was in the DELTA Program, told me to resign immediately. Robin became a Judge for the Blackboard Awards, and voted an Award as "Best Middle School" to the DELTA PROGRAM. DELTA HONORS Program was not then, nor is it now, a school. By giving the Blackboard Award to the DELTA Program, Robin Aranow, Tom Allon, and the District 3 Superintendent's office set me and all non-white parents (as well as the special education parents) back as this prevented us from making the school less unfair and segregated. We, the parents who felt that Booker T was segregated, went to Manhattan Media and asked them to re-consider giving the award to the DELTA Program, and we brought supporting documents with us. All in vain. Tom Allon would not listen to us.

Tom Allon supports segregation in NYC public schools, and should not be elected to any Citywide office.

Betsy Combier
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – January 17, 2012

Press Contact: Evan Burr (917-686-8554)

Mayoral Candidate Tom Allon Pledges to Open City Hall to Bloggers, Citizen Journalists

Allon Vows His Administration Will Be Most Transparent in NYC History

NYC mayoral candidate Tom Allon pledged today that when he is elected mayor he will open up the City Hall press corps to include bloggers and citizen journalists to an unprecedented extent.

Allon, who is the publisher of a family of community newspapers and a former journalist, vowed to make his administration the most open and transparent in the city's history.

"Why is it that right now City Hall gets to decide who gets credentialed to cover it? That’s like the fox guarding the henhouse. When I am mayor I am going to invite questions from anyone who dedicates themselves to the free and open exchange of information, be it through political blogs like Room Eight, True News, and The Perez Notes, or neighborhood blogs like Boogie Downer in the Bronx, Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, Queens Crap, Washington Square Park Blog in Manhattan or the Staten Island Treasure Blog," said Allon.

"Citizen journalists like Katia Kelly, Rafael Martinez Alequin, Rock Hackshaw, and Heather Letzkus have become one of the great bulwarks against corruption and incompetence we have in this city. In this age of media consolidation and newsroom layoffs, the Mayor owes it to the public to empower our tremendous community newspapers, ethnic media, bloggers and citizen journalists to ask the questions that matter most to their readers. If sunlight is the best disinfectant, it's time that we let the sun shine in to City Hall."

Allon said that rather than the current system of City Hall and the NYPD making the determination who is a legitimate reporter that he would appoint a nonpartisan, blue-ribbon independent commission of journalists, publishers, civil rights attorneys, and bloggers to determine the criteria for who is eligible for press credentials. He emphasized that public safety and security concerns would not be discounted from the new criteria, but that they would not be used as an excuse to curb the freedom of the press.

Are The Blackboard Awards Simply Political PR?