2 posts tagged “rocky robinson”
Historically, the batting average of city run EMS, in regards to response time- which is not 100%, is on average around 35-40 minutes- which is lackluster- at best. The establishment of the Bedford-Stuyvesant Volunteer Ambulance Corps (BSVAC) was thus a knee jerk reaction.
The headquarters where BSVAC has been basing its operations, for nearly twenty years, is out of an old trailer that sits on a ‘vacant’ lot at the intersection of Greene Ave and Marcus Garvey Blvd. It looks like it fell from the sky, landed in the hood and then got shot at. Suffice it to say, gaining acceptance within the community was a slow transition- at best, but the dominant factor that has contributed to the trailers current decrepit state is the over abundance of city wide red tape, which has done absolutely nothing in regards to keeping it together. The fact that the trailer and BSVAC itself are still standing today is par for the course of its overall inspiring and heartbreaking history.
To get there by train requires an additional walk through the hood of no less than 15 blocks from the closest station- the Kingston/Throop stop near Fulton Street. Regardless of how or whichever route you take, despite the current level of building activity in downtown Brooklyn, all show no visible signs of gentrification taking place.
My first day, I was beginning to have doubts about the overall endeavor during the long walk over as it was also the coldest day of the year. Although I had gloves on, my fingers felt like they could have fallen off from the cold. It was about 9 in the morning and nobody was really outside- just me and other random faces hidden under hoodies and thick scarves. Never the less, I was still scared retarded. When I turned the corner onto Greene from Throop, I saw the trailer for the first time down at the next block. I laughed my ass off as it almost seemed like a cliché to me at how beat to hell it was- complete with bullet holes on the sides. I then took a few mocking pictures of the place on my treo walking inside that first time.
The sensation of it collapsing in on me at any given second was overwhelming. The walls and ceiling are both caving in and the floor is not only warped- completely, but various sections of it have given way altogether.
I then stumbled over one of the various subsections then heard a deep barrel of a voice laugh out, “Watch yo step!”
I said I was there to see James Robinson.
“This is Rocky”, he said.
I started to repeat who I was there to see- He cuts me off while getting up out of his chair and then looking down at me, “you call me Rocky!”
He then sat back down and took off his glove to reveal a giant hand resembling that of an old catcher’s glove- dark, calloused and broken in from years of hard work. “Gotch yo paper work!”
I don’t know what he’s talking about.
“You might as well go home, I can’t interview you withoucth yo paper work- you can’t wash the ambulances anyway. All the hoses are frozen.”
Inside it doesn’t get any warmer as the only sources of heat are two electric heaters that will blow out the power if turned on at the same time.
Robinson then continued with the conversation he was midstream in with a woman fulfilling community service hours of a mandatory probation requirement before I stumbled in to interrupt them.
While I patiently waited for a polite opportunity to interject, I glanced around at hundreds of press clippings smothered throughout the trailer’s walls, but with little comprehension. I overheard Robinson saying he has been an EMT for 35 years or so, he has 19 kids all of which are still alive and spread out amongst 4 marriages, his wife now is suffering from highly malignant cancer and Robinson himself had a close call with death two years ago from Kidney failure. One of the 19 evidently stepped up and donated an extra one of his.
“Well no shit. It’s not like you didn’t have 48 at your disposal.” He swivels around to me with a glaring eye, a contagious smile and bursts out laughing.
He chuckles, “I couldn’t piss! I couldn’t piss!”
He chuckles some more trying to explain the story in more detail, but keeps laughing uncontrollably. Finally bringing the room back down again and all the while engaging, he grunts to me, “What’s your name?”
“Michael Hamilton” People continue running in and out of his little office, grab random stuff and run back out.
Eventually, Robinson sends the woman outside to sweep the front steps and then swivels around towards me again.
“Aye- uhm Hamilton- what do you want?”
“I’m”. He cuts me off again- “Got any special skills?”
“Yeah- I can fly.”
“You ain’t gotta be no smart ass!” He gets up to grab a call on his cell phone. It sounds like he is yelling, but the 66 year old is slightly hard of hearing. He hangs back up.
I look around more and the place is a total mess, not dirty, definitely not disorganized- just warn in and over crowded.
I then suggest, “Why don’t you put some of your grant money towards scanning these documents?”
“What’s that?”
“I’ll even organize them for you electronically, create a shell database and free up some space around here.” He condescendingly tells me, “We don’t got those kinds of resources!”
Assuming the man is loaded as the place is a dump, he has 19 kids and everyone there volunteers, “Why don’t you have any resources, where are they all?”
He starts to go off, but stops himself, “You good with computers?”
“Well no- yeah- I’m alright I guess.”
In regards to pissing and financials, Robinson literally doesn’t have a pot to piss in- which I found out the hard way when later that day my own pee ricocheted off the surface of the frozen urine that occupied about 2/3rds of the broken toilet’s bowl.
While I was hooking up his computer, organizing and updating his excel files, and clearing up unnecessary icons- I tried to show Rocky how to use the machine. He was quick to let me know about his poor eyesight and his preferred method. He did, however, appreciate what I was doing for him and the initiatives I was taking. It’s funny to see a no bull shit bad ass like Rocky Robinson being polite and courteous- especially in his den so to speak.
I ask him why he does all of this?
‘There’s a need for it’
Fair enough.
There is so much on the web about this guy that it literally takes days to sift through. I suggested that he get a website and I’ll consolidate all his media as a first step to generate an awareness campaign. He then said there was something going on or in the works then exhales, “its all bullshit.” He gets back on the phone.
Because the quality of emergency medical services within Bed-Stuy left the community in dire need, starting the corps for Robinson and his then partner, Specialist Joe Perez was a knee jerk reaction to the ‘epidemic’. “People were dieing in the streets and the ambulances were not showing up.”
As both an EMT and a resident of Bed-Stuy, Rocky saw first hand the quality of emergency medical care in the community go from bad to worse as it did in Harlem and the South Bronx, a result of the influx of guns in the community. By the 1980’s, the height of the crack epidemic, the good people of Bed-Stuy were waiting upwards to an hour for ambulance services to come and many lives were lost in the process.
Cut to the chase Robinson is without a doubt the most amazing human being I have met in my whole entire life. Regardless of his tough gigantic no bullshit exterior, his sincere attentiveness, genuine interest, captivating eye, and contagious smile for everyone and anyone he crosses paths with; he has this aura which radiates from him and envelopes you with comfort that while encompassing you- you are so awed and loved that as cheesy as it sounds- you feel that no matter what your problems are and no matter how major or miniscule they really are- you spend a few days with this guy and its like, oh my God- this guy is going to fucking save me.
Robinson will tell you straight up that he’s not perfect, but that’s what makes him even the more so. What he is- is the most definitive example of an extrovert Bed-Stuy or anyone in the Western Hemisphere has ever been graced with. He became an EMT when he had to watch his 7 year old niece die, because no ambulances came to her rescue. As an EMT, Robinson saw a tremendous inequality in emergency medical services first hand while in different communities. Places like Bed-Stuy, the South Bronx and Harlem had services that were lackluster at best.
In the beginning they didn't even have any sort of trailer to work out of- let alone an ambulance. “The first headquarters was in an abandoned building”, Robinson says. "When we moved into that building, there were no lights, no electricity, no hot water and the roof 1eaked. But we put in a phone, police scanner, and when we heard someone was hurt, we'd put oxygen tanks and trauma bags on our backs and respond on foot.” People just laughed at them. In fact Robinson even turned down an offer from Sinbad for a movie pitch. Then again, Sinbad is kind of a doosh anyway. That is unless you think Clown suits are kind of fresh. Hey what ever happened to Karl Kanai anyway?
In addition to mockery, reoccurring hurdles like turf-wars and minimal funding, the organization has overcome enough barriers to write a book about (which Rocky did) and the praise he has received in the national media takes days to sort through. As a result of BSVAC’s success, action was taken to transfer Robinson out of Bed-Stuy. Yes- Robinson started this endeavor while working full time as an EMT.
Building BSVAC was an uphill battle from the start it continues to be just to keep it going, due to its lack of funding and overall skepticism- much, ironically from within the community.
The corps may have at first been understaffed, but its determination went unnoticed. Within a year of its existence, an ambulance was donated to the team adding greater value to its success and commitment. On its second day with the ambulance, the BSVAC crew was able to rescue ten people from a fire in an abandoned building that would have been otherwise impossible to get to on foot. As a result of its quick response time, the vollies became a direct threat to the EMS (or lack there of) in the area.
The synergy, internally, has never dwindled and its goals continued to grow proportionately to its accomplishments. The ultimate goal is to expand the BSVAC program both within the Bed-Stuy community in Brooklyn and to all cities that remain under served in their inner city neighborhoods.
The peak-
One random night in July of 1990- the local ABC affiliate was following around the police that patrol the area. While interviewing one of the cops, a call on dispatch interrupted them. BSVAC was already first on the scene responding to the call when the police got there. Then close to 30 minutes later the city EMS showed up. Both the journalist and BSVAC then got their big break as the story went straight to 20/20. As a result of the national spotlight, Robinson has received numerous awards including; the Robin Hood foundation hero of the year award, The New York City hero award, the American institute for Public Service Jefferson award, the Maxwell House hero search award.
Of all awards and honors Rocky has earned, he describes his greatest reward as the satisfaction he enjoys from saving lives seeing young people going off to succeed and do great things. Robinson has saved thousands within the community and hundreds upon hundreds of his volunteers that would never had a chance on life have gone off to become EMTs, Nurses, MD’s Police Officers and Lawyers. Hence- the third part of his mission Create self esteem to go on and do great things.
In brief, Rocky’s ability to inspire led to his being chosen to address the 1994 Republican National Convention in Houston, TX. He also carried the Olympic torch down Fifth ave in Manhattan as it was en route to Atlanta in 1996. He received the 1000 points of light award on national television by President Bush I. He has also been invited to the white house on several occasions. Rocky’s status as a hero was even recognized by the children of Wilkes County Elementary school in North Carolina, who named Rocky as their black hero in 1998 over a landslide over other candidates including Michael Jordan.
The problem, due to media recognition fizzling out- so did the ‘fashionable’ donations that linked to the limelight.
Now that there is an inconspicuous agenda to preserve Bed-Stuy, the vollies will be forced off the lot unless they can buy it back from the city- at price that is substantially more than a) what the lot is actually worth, b) what those attempting to preserve the area more than likely paid for their brownstones and c) evidently more than the lives of the current continuance. Essentially this means, a) the city would make money off of the corps, b) everyone else that can’t afford to live in Williamsburg or Park Slope can now live in whatever gay name they change Bed-Stuy to and c) there won’t be a need for alternative ambulances- one of the many benefits of gentrification is neighborhoods become safer and ambulances won’t be afraid to go there.
Despite the marvelous architecture of the buildings that are still standing- it’s not a good area. In regards to its extremely high poverty and homicide rates, drug and turf wars- there is no reason to go there- unless you’re from there. That’s where the problem stems nobody wants to go there- including city ambulances. As a result, the already plagued community was left with lackluster Emergency Medical Services- if any at all. Robinson then took ownership of the problem.
The lot that the trailer has been (kinetically) sitting on the entire time, at the intersection of Greene Ave and Marcus Garvey Blvd, is owned by the city. It is not prime real estate by any stretch of the imagination. Neither is Bed-Stuy in general for that matter. Than again, I am naïve to the interrelationship between politics and real-estate. Again, now that there is an inconspicuous agenda to ‘preserve’ Bed-Stuy, the city now considers the lot vacant. As result, in an order for BSVAC to continue “saving lives and changing lives” for the betterment of the community and all its volunteers- the ‘Vollies’ will be strong armed out unless they can buy the lot from the city at a price substantially more than both its actual market value and what those who are attempting to ‘preserve’ the area more than likely paid for their own brownstones. The city holds auctions once a year, and the Volunteer Ambulance Corps hopes that Councilman Al Vann and Borough President Marty Markowitz amongst other politicians, community leaders and activists will complete the job so Rocky can gain ownership of the lot and in turn continue to build, educate and save lives. Essentially meaning- the city would make money off BSVAC. To complicate matters and shine more light on the overall agenda- if the money would be raised-, a new trailer would be approved, but a permanent structure would be prohibited.
In this regard, I feel the city in certain regards has been given more credit, in regards to intelligence, involvement and fairness than what they actually deserve and are capable of.
The lot that the trailer sits on has been occupied by BSVAC for close to twenty years. Its prior inhabitants were squatters in crack shanties seeking refuge in the form of crack fixes and prostitution. Robinson and his then co-founder Joe Perez went in with baseball bats and sledgehammers and claimed the lot for themselves to make way for their new donated trailer.
Why had the city failed to acknowledge the reasons why an initiative was being taken to start up an alternative ambulance corps in the first place? They didn’t until BSVAC’s productivity, success, accomplishments and most importantly national media attention, recognition and praise exposed a problem and in doing so absolutely embarrassed the city run ambulances.
By doing so, they met a great deal of opposition not only from the former squatters seeking refuge in the forms of crack fixes and prostitution, the city run ambulances and quite ironically the community they were trying to save. The vollies were able to work that stuff out by working with the city EMS and embedding itself within the community. The city then had no complaints, but in all fairness to the then city government officials, they were more than likely completely unaware. After all, there were over 250 abandoned buildings in the area claimed by drug lords, so the BSVAC lot was just another refuge for crack fixes and prostitution. If the city wasn’t taking any action to put a stop to the turf wars throughout the area- how would they possibly know about anything good coming out of one of their vacant lots? They still don’t apparently- or they did when it was praised.
Moral obligation always looks good. In one way recognition of ones moral obligation one ups the many social equivalents that are otherwise unaware. The fact that I am writing this is a prime example, however, spending a month and half there full time has made me hooked on the shit like phonics.
The corps has since embedded itself within the community by saving thousands and changing the lives of hundreds within for the better. As a result, Robinson and has received national attention, awards, honors and praise at an extraordinary level. Never the less; although the organization has gained acceptance, respect and symbiotic growth within the community the question still stands over whether or not it will stay?
Now that the media has fizzled out- the city thinks they can fuck with BSVAC again. My goal is to create awareness so this doesn’t have to happen.
Michael Hamilton
