Around Brooklyn: State Liquor Authority eases requirements

March 27, 2020 Editorial Staff

Gravesend. Photo: Lore Croghan/Brooklyn Eagle

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State Liquor Authority eases requirements

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the State Liquor Authority last week announced new policy changes, according to the Brooklyn Reporter. These changes include a 60-day extension on payment of fees for renewals and penalties. They also permit wholesalers to immediately lower prices, permit email correspondence for municipal and community board notifications, and provide extensions for deficiencies and fingerprint requirements. “At Governor Cuomo’s direction, the SLA will continue to take immediate actions to support our licensees who are suffering disruptions caused by the novel coronavirus,” said SLA Chairman Vincent Bradley.

Woman stabbed to death in Crown Heights

A young woman was stabbed to death inside a Crown Heights home, and a man in the apartment was being questioned by police, according to the Daily News. Kiara Guadalupe, 21, was found with two puncture wounds in her chest inside the apartment on Crown Street near Nostrand Avenue late Thursday. When police arrived, they found a man sitting in a chair and took him into custody. Guadelupe lived in Manhattan and it wasn’t clear what relationship she had with the man.

Cuomo confirms closed streets plan

The pilot program to close select city streets to traffic so New Yorkers can stretch their legs amid the coronavirus shutdown has the green light, Gov. Andrew Cuomo confirmed Wednesday. “Because we have much less traffic … [we have] open streets. People want to go out and get some air,” the New York Post quoted him as saying. Cuomo offered no additional details about the test run, which he first called for on Sunday morning and which Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled more than 48 hours later on Tuesday afternoon.

Density reduction begins to work, says Cuomo

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday that the state may be making incremental progress on slowing the wave of coronavirus cases coming into the hospitals. “Given the density we’re dealing with, it spreads really quickly, but if you reduce the density you can reduce the spread very quickly,” he said, according to amNewYork. The governor said that as recently as Sunday, the rate of hospitalization was doubling every two days. By Monday it was doubling only every 3.4 days, and by Tuesday that figured had dropped to doubling every 4.7 days, amNewYork said.

Groups post virus information in Spanish

As the coronavirus pandemic increases, Latinos in Brooklyn are sharing information through Facebook groups in both Spanish and English. Groups like Friends of Sunset Park and Mexicanos en Queens, Bronx, Manhattan y Brooklyn have been full of posts sharing news and encouragement, according to Bklyner. In addition to news about their own neighborhoods, members discuss how the virus is affecting their family members back home. The community organization Mixteca has also been streaming live yoga sessions in Spanish.

Brooklyn Tech teacher dies, but not of coronavirus

A well-known Brooklyn Tech social studies teacher who earlier had criticized the city’s delayed closings of schools died Tuesday, but not of coronavirus-related causes, according to the New York Post. Andrew Decker “appeared to have a heart attack,” Principal David Newman wrote in an internal communication. At least five Brooklyn Tech teachers have tested positive for coronavirus, the Post reported.

Renting begins at Flatbush building

Rentals and move-ins will soon begin at 336-338 28th St., a new four-story apartment building in Flatbush, according to New York YIMBY. The building is owned by Joel Rubin of JR Property Holdings and was designed by S. Wieder Architect. Five of the six units are income-restricted at 130 percent of the area medium income, or $1,850 for a one-bedroom apartment. Pricing for the sixth apartment was not immediately available, New York YIMBY said.

Adams hands out masks to bus drivers, NYCHA residents

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams on Wednesday handed out masks to bus drivers and public housing tenants, according to the New York Post. Adams posted images on Twitter of him handing out medical masks to more than a dozen workers outside the Flatbush Bus Depot. Afterward he went to NYCHA’s Wyckoff Gardens public housing complex to hand out face masks to the tenant outside. He had received 1,000 masks Tuesday from Xin Lei Property LLC and the Zhezhang Wenzhou Association of Industry and Commerce.

Lentol forms North Brooklyn COVID-19 task force

Assemblymember Joseph Lentol (D-Bushwick-Williamsburg-Greenpoint) recently announced the formation of the COVID-19 North Brooklyn Task Force. The group will consist of local community groups and community leaders who are experts in the fields of housing and tenant advocacy, small business advocacy, schools, tenant organizations and more. “It is imperative that we are able to efficiently and effectively respond to the needs of North Brooklyn residents and businesses during this crisis,” Lentol said.

Cumbo wants recognition for essential workers

City Council Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo (D-Fort Greene-Clinton Hill-Prospect Heights-Crown Heights) has joined with Bronx Councilmember Mark Gjonaj and 38 other Council members to urge Mayor Bill de Blasio to recognize employees of grocery stores, pharmacies, banks, laundries, delivery services, child care and elder care establishments as essential workers. “These first responders should be included in all efforts to secure protective gear such as N95 masks, hand sanitizers, shoe covers, and medical gloves in order to continue to serve everyday New Yorkers,” wrote Cumbo and her colleagues in a letter to de Blasio.

Widow of slain cop donates masks, sanitizer

Pei “Sanny” Xia Chen, whose husband, Det. Wenjian Liu, was killed in the line of duty, on Wednesday donated more than 3,000 face masks and a box of hand sanitizer to his Downtown Brooklyn precinct, the 84th, according to the New York Post. Chen, 37, and Liu, 32, had only been married three months when Liu and his partner, Rafael Ramos, were fatally ambushed in their squad car by cop-hating Ismaaiyl Brinsley shortly before Christmas 2014. “I was thinking about my husband’s precinct, how I love them so,” Chen told the Post of the donation. “Their job is to keep us safe so we want to do something to keep them safe as well.”

Park Slope art studio offers online courses

A Park Slope art studio is hosting online customized art classes, according to the Brooklyn Paper. “All children, they thrive on routine, and when that routine goes out the window it’s really hard,” said Valeen Bhat, who runs Private Picassos on Fifth Avenue. “It’s important to keep some kind of learning going.” The studio is offering both private custom lessons for kids and families, along with public group classes, with prices beginning at $10, the Brooklyn Paper reported.

Volunteers work to create face masks

A group of Brooklyn residents have gotten together to make face masks for hospital workers. They have already delivered more than 200, according to the Brooklyn Paper. Around March 20, a group of seamstresses in Boerum Hill decided to start the South Brooklyn Mask Making Project. Soon after the group started, the small team of volunteers was posting mask-making instructions for volunteer sewers and enlisting people across the borough, the Brooklyn Paper reported.

Compiled by Raanan Geberer.