Why is Puerto Rico
​being excluded ​from the
​Avenue of the Americas?

Check out former NYC Mayor Ed Koch doing what the current mayor has apparently not even thought of.
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This 1980s photo, taken by Diario/La Presa photographer Humberto Arellano, is now part of the Columbia University journalism archives.

Have you seen this list of new medallions proposed by NYC Transportation Commissioner Ydanis (Tremendously Shameless) Rodriguez last week? Did you notice that Puerto Rico is missing? Why? ​Would he dare argue that Puerto Rico never had a medallion? Or is there another, perhaps more insidious reason for excluding the Puerto Rican community?

And why is this person Tremendously Shameless? Because he stole the "Save the Medallions" idea I introduced back in April, because he was interviewed for articles about my idea several months ago, and yet stood at a press conference last week and accepted praise for an idea he knows he stole, because he didn't have the decency to recognize my students who have worked so hard on our "Save the Medallions" campaign.
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TREMENDOUSLY SHAMELESS

Back in April, when I walked the entire length of the Avenue of the Americas, I found and photographed only 18 medallions. But since some countries still have more than one medallion, only these 14 were still represented:​

​And so, when I searched for the countries that could be missing, and I came up with this list of 34 more, I felt that my list was quite inclusive ...
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List created by Migue Pérez

But when I saw the list proposed by Tremendously Shameless, and realized that 13 Caribbean Islands were being excluded, I could not believe my eyes. Is it because these islands are not independent nations? Are they not still part of "the Americas?" 

"Not even Puerto Rico?" I kept asking myself. Considering the size and history of the Puerto Rican community in the city, could this be an oversight? Similar to the oversight of not recognizing our "Save the Medallions" campaign?

​Or is it Tremendously Shameless?