Picture the Homeless is proud to report that PTH was chosen one of the "Top 50 Public Policy Bloggers" by The Policy Police -- alongside Politico, Huffington Post, and Paul Krugman.  We appreciate the recognition!   We'll keep doing our best online, with our homeless and formerly-homeless members' analysis and grassroots work on public policy rep'ing our communities' and allies' concerns in the blogosphere.  Thanks for reading... Onward!

Thanks again to everyone who participated in and supported our walking tour and sleep-out in Council Speaker Quinn's district -- summary & great photos are here.   DNAinfo, a top online Manhattan news site, filed this comprehensive story (with great photos) by reporter Tara Kyle -- with quotes from PTH members Arvernetta Henry, Kendall Jackman, and William Burnett.

The DNAinfo story was picked-up as a featured story in the Housing and Land Use News Digest of NYU's Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy.  Our "Vacant NYC" crowdmap is also buzzing (check it out if you haven't yet!), with a nice feature on the blog of the Campaign to Restore National Housing Rights that we're part of.

Graham Rayman's "NYPD Tapes" cover stories in the Voice has to be one of the most powerful and explosive investigative journalism series of recent years -- PTH members have brought each one of these feature stories on police misconduct and unjust practices to our civil rights meetings for close reading and discussion.  Rayman's "NYPD Tapes 5" in the Village Voice recognizes PTH's civil rights work:  "The group Picture the Homeless held two public protests to highlight the NYPD's questionable use of the disorderly conduct charge to get people off the streets. Statistics obtained by the Voice show that in more than 50 percent of these low-level arrests, the charges are dismissed."  PTH's civil rights campaign against the NYPD's abuse of disorderly conduct is gonna stay hot through this summer and into the fall, and we much-appreciate and will stay tuned to Rayman's vital reporting.

August 24-25 action -- report & photos!

***UPDATED***   Checkout another great set of photos by Alan Greig.

Thanks to everyone who attended yesterday's walking tour of vacant buildings and lots in NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn's district, to bring attention to and advance City legislative Intro 48, the vacant properties count bill... which ended-up being a twenty-person all-night sidewalk sleep-out in the pouring rain, by Quinn's office!  [see below...]

Also, this week we are launching "Vacant NYC" -- a "crowdsourced" online mapping project -- we need your participation!   Anyone (including YOU!) can submit a vacant building or lot address -- together, we'll be able to build and share this online map, using a software pioneered in Kenya called Ushahidi (Swahili for testimony).  Our map project is to get the ball rolling toward the City's count, by showing them how easily its done.

PARTICIPATE!

When you see a vacant lot or building anywhere in the five boroughs, let us know:

visit vacantnyc.crowdmap.com to submit a report, or text the address to 917.412.3064, or send it via Twitter using #housingnotwarehousing or @pthny

Picture the Homeless and the Housing Not Warehousing Coalition invite you...

Rotten Apple Walking Tour