Google helps people ‘Grow’ at new pop-up
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
Now New Yorkers have a chance
to grow their tech skills thanks
to free help from Google.
The Grow with Google Center
opened April 8, on the ground fl oor of
Google’s Chelsea headquarters building,
at W. 16th St. and Eighth Ave.
“Technology is changing the way that
all businesses operate, and the skills
people need to work in these businesses
are changing, too,” said Congressmember
Jerrold Nadler, who spoke at the
center’s opening ceremony on April
8. “But that doesn’t mean that, if you
didn’t get a computer science degree in
college, that you should be disqualifi ed
from getting a job in this economy.”
The Grow with Google Center is
part of the company’s national effort to
bring digital skills to everyone — but
especially those most in need of basic
computer literacy and tech crash courses.
Small business owners without an
online presence, students wanting to
learn how to make a presentation and
those who have been out of the workforce
for years are examples of the
kind of people the center is designed to
help.
Google was able to fi nd participants
for the center’s fi rst hourlong class
through local organizations the company
already has partnerships with, such
as Hudson Guild and Goodwill. The
PHOTO
BY ALEJANDRA
O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
Participants at the first
class at the new Google Grow popup
in Chelsea.
Grow with Google Center was made
possible with the help of 19 other organizations.
But one does not have to be part of
one of the 19 organizations in partnership
with the Grow with Google Center
to participate. Anyone interested can
walk into the Chelsea offi ce and sign
up for a course or register for a class
online.
Kimbery Kindle, 47, from Chelsea,
participated in the center’s fi rst-ever
class immediately after the opening remarks.
“I’m not really computer savvy, so I
wanted to come to the computer classes
to get more help,” she said. “I’m a slow
learner, so the class was really at my
pace.”
The class was about how to build a
résumé using Google templates. Kindle
is trying to re-enter the workforce after
years of being “a full-time mother,” so
the résumé course was a logical fi rst
step.
According to instructor Aisha Taylor-
Issah, all of the courses have a Google
focus. The classes are meant to enhance
people’s knowledge of what can be done
with Google, and show that it’s more
than just an Internet search browser.
“I have Gmail on my Smartphone,
but I never really used it much,” said
John Breen, 28, another participant in
the center’s fi rst course. “But seeing
that it’s so useful,” he said, “I could
defi nitely use it more.”
Grow with Google Centers, which
are all temporary, have popped up in
cities around the country since 2017
but have never stayed open for longer
than a few weeks. Chelsea’s Grow with
Google Center will be the longest-lived
center yet and is scheduled to stay open
for fi ve months.
Google representatives said they
are still determining what to do with
the space once the fi ve months are up.
Google has said the center is a sort of
trial program, however.
Manhattan Borough President Gale
Brewer spoke briefl y at the center’s
April 8 opening ceremony.
“At this wonderful center, here’s an
example of how people can use data to
improve our neighborhoods,” enthused
Brewer, who has always been a big advocate
of tech.
Carley Graham Garcia, Google’s head
of external affairs, said the point of the
center was less for people to connect
with the brand and more for Google to
connect with the community.
L-tunnel debris won’t be removed at Ave. A
BY RICO BURNEY
Residents around E. 14th St. are
breathing a sigh of relief that
the impacts from the upcoming
L-train tunnel repairs won’t be as bad
as had been expected when the project
called for a full shutdown of the line’s
Manhattan leg for 15 months.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority
recently made some announcements
regarding the L-train work that
is set to begin at the end of this month.
Foremost for those living and working
around E. 14th St. is the news that
all the construction debris will no longer
be extracted at a major staging area
near Avenue A, as originally planned.
Instead, the tunnel debris will be transported
along the tracks via subway
work cars to a Brooklyn rail yard.
Janno Lieber, M.T.A. chief development
offi cer, credited the new tunnel
plan — which calls for 93 percent less
demolition work compared to the original
plan — for this development. He
also said the decreased demolition led
the M.T.A. to cut work hours from 16
to 12 per day on the ongoing projects to
add new entrances at Avenue A for the
First Ave. station and on the Avenue B
substation.
The announcements were made at
the New York City Transit and Bus
Committee meeting on Mon., March
25.E
. 14th St. residents say they are at
their “wits’ end” over dealing with the
latter two construction projects the
past two years — and they believe that
the M.T.A. could still do more to mitigate
these impacts.
“That’s great news,” Penny Pennline,
who lives between Avenues A and B,
said of the announcements. “But I still
don’t understand why they have to torture
us with jackhammers and trucks
beeping at 7 a.m. We’ve asked for them
to start later in the day and they just
ignore us.”
Dale Goodson, president of the
North Avenue A Neighborhood Association,
echoed Pennline’s comment.
He said he is in favor of shortening the
work day, “even if it extends the overall
repair schedule.”
Also discussed at the meeting were
concerns over plans for dust mitigation.
The issue was highlighted after straphangers
at Brooklyn’s Bedford Ave. station
recently found it covered in dust
following train service resuming after a
weekend closure.
The Daily News reported that the
silica dust level at the station that
morning was 9.4 micrograms per cubic
meter of air, or three times the normal
level. The M.T.A. asserted that level is
safe to breathe.
“The OSHA limit for people working
eight hours a day over the course of
decades is 50 micrograms of silica per
cubic meter,” said Max Young, M.T.A.
chief external affairs offi cer. He was referring
to U.S. Occupational Safety and
Health Administration.
“There is absolutely no reason to
suggest any health issues or concern,”
Young added. “This is a federal scientifi
c standard, and nothing outweighs
science.”
Lieber addressed these concerns at
the meeting, too. He stated that the
M.T.A. installed air monitors in the affected
L stations and would make the
data from them public. However, Lieber
could not give specifi cs yet on how
that data would be released, and how
often. State Senator Brad Hoylman said
he wants the M.T.A. to release the data
in real time.
E. 14th St. residents, on the other
hand, said they are past the point of believing
anything the M.T.A. has to say
about air quality. Pennline said that she
and a number of neighbors have been
dealing with health problems stemming
from construction dust since work on
the First Ave. station started there a
little under two years ago.
“Every doctor says that it’s my environment
making me sick,” Pennline
said. “We have begged for dust-proof
windows, air conditioners — anything
to help, and they just lie to us and say
it’s not that bad.”
In addition, Fernando Ferrer, the
then-acting M.T.A. chairperson, backtracked
on his promise from January
that both the original and modifi ed
L-train tunnel repair plans would be
examined by an independent commission.
Instead, Ferrer announced at the
full-board meeting on Tues., March 26,
that the M.T.A. had awarded a $1.2
million contract to J.M.T. Consulting
Group to oversee the safety of the project
once construction begins.
8 April 18, 2019 CNW Schneps Media