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Around Brooklyn: Rose supports professionals’ mental health bill

August 26, 2020 Editorial Staff
Newly built 25 Kent Ave. has lots of eye-catching architectural details. Photo: Lore Croghan/Brooklyn Eagle
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Rose supports professionals’ mental health bill

U.S. Rep. Max Rose (D-Southern Brooklyn-Staten Island) joined fellow congressmembers in introducing the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act, bipartisan legislation that aims to reduce and prevent suicide, burnout, and mental and behavioral health conditions among health care professionals. “The healthcare professionals on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic have been through hell to keep us safe — and the trauma they’ve experienced is real and cannot be ignored,” Rose said. Dr. Lorna Breen, a physician at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physician & Surgeons who worked with pandemic victims, committed suicide in Virginia.

Nearly $60M in luxury RE contracts signed in Brooklyn

During most of the pandemic, only four or five contracts have been signed in Brooklyn asking $2 million or more. But during the third week of August, there were 15, as there were the previous week. The properties were asking a combined $58.5 million. The most expensive deal was for an eight-bedroom townhouse at 52 Remsen St. in Brooklyn Heights. The second priciest was for a condo, also in Brooklyn Heights, at 90 Furman St., according to The Real Deal.

Underground club holds secret parties

An underground Brooklyn club has been hosting secret dance parties without coronavirus precautions. The venue, on Evergreen Avenue in Bushwick, has hosted multiple raves in recent weeks. Zachary Shepis, one of the co-founders of the club, which is known as the Illmore, posted in June that he’d conceived the space with pandemic precautions in mind. “While our concerts will be limited until COVID restrictions change, we’ll be offering the space to bands for rehearsals and live streams in the meantime,” he wrote in June. However, Shepis’ Instagram post on Sunday showed revelers crammed together inside the tiny space with less than the mandated 6 feet between them, according to the New York Post.

Sinking feeling in Downtown Brooklyn

The rear wheels of an 80,000-pound, fully-loaded cement truck fell through a metal plate on a Downtown Brooklyn street, FDNY officials said. The truck, owned by US Concrete, was heading south on Livingston Street around 1 p.m. on Aug. 24 when it hit a metal plate in the road on Broad Street protecting a trench that had been dug to install sewer pipes. Police said the truck’s rear right wheels slipped into the trench. It took two heavy-duty tow trucks to tow the truck away, according to amNewYork.

Senior with dementia missing from home

The NYPD has issued a missing persons report for an 89-year-old man last seen at his home in Bushwick. Israel Perez suffers from dementia and uses a cane to walk around. He was last seen inside his home around 11 a.m. on Saturday, police said. Perez is Hispanic, approximately 6 feet tall, and 215 pounds with brown eyes and gray hair. He was last seen wearing a white shirt, gray pants and white sneakers, according to NBC New York.

Nets pledge $50M for economic help to Black community

The Brooklyn Nets, led by owners Joe and Clara Wu Tsai, are pledging $50 million over a 10-year period to establish a five-point plan to help the Black community in Brooklyn. The plan will address wage gaps in communities of color and diversity within the NBA’s front office. “I wanted to state our beliefs on this issue — that racism is pervasive and needs to be addressed, and I wanted to lay out core principles that clarified our purpose as an organization,” Tsai said. The $50 pledge is an addition to the $10 million that Joe and Clara already donated to the NBA and National Basketball Players Association’s $30 million-per-year commitment to a foundation that will “increase access and support for high school, college-aged and career-ready Black men and women,” according to CNBC.

Renderings reveal 10-story building on Bedford Avenue

Architectural renderings from The J Associates reveal a 10-story building in the works at 1499 Bedford Ave., near the border of Crown Heights and Prospect Heights. The building will include 98 rental units and will also have an enclosed parking structure for 49 vehicles. The exterior will consist of several sections in alternating red and light tan brick. Some apartments will have terraces. The property, located at the corner of Bedford Avenue and St. Johns Place, is two blocks from the 2, 3, 4 and 5 trains’ Franklin Avenue subway station, according to New York YIMBY.

Deutsch announces funding for clean streets

Councilmember Chaim Deutsch (D-Sheepshead Bay-Manhattan Beach-Brighton Beach-Homecrest) has announced funding for a $160,000 initiative that will ensure cleaner streets within his City Council district. “I have been working diligently to close the gap in services for the 48th District, and that includes fighting for these additional funds for enhanced Sanitation services. I will not allow our district to fall into disrepair or lawlessness,” he said.

Cornegy speaks out against tax lien sale

Yesterday, Councilmember Robert E. Cornegy (D-Bedford-Stuyvesant-Northern Crown Heights) spoke at a back-to-school giveaway event against an upcoming tax lien sale, scheduled for Sept. 4.  Cornegy has joined with colleagues in a letter to the mayor urging the deferral of the 2020 tax lien sale, and supports legislation introduced on Monday by State Sen. Leroy Comrie and Assemblymember David Weprin to this effect.

Three-story building planned for Bushwick

Permits have been filed for a three-story building at 1265 Myrtle Ave. in Bushwick. The site, currently a vacant lot, is located between Evergreen Avenue and Hart Street and is within walking distance from the M train’s Central Avenue subway station and J, M and Z trains’ Myrtle Avenue-Broadway subway station. The building is slated to have two apartments, most likely rentals, and 1,380 square feet of commercial space as well as a rear yard. It is being developed by Jaime Jiminez and designed by P. Georgeopoulos, Architect, according to New York YIMBY.

Brooklyn Tech graduate wins Milken Scholarship

Brooklyn Tech high school graduate Ayan Rahman, the son of Bandgladeshi immigrants who live in Kensington, found out last month that he was one of five students in New York City to win the prestigious Milken Scholarship. The scholarship connects the winners with a network of professionals from different fields who integrate community service into their work. As a student at Brooklyn Tech, Rahman was heavily involved with the school’s Key Club, a student-led community service group that focuses on mental health awareness, environmental protection, diversity and help for younger kids, according to BK Reader. Recalling his years as one of the few Bangladeshi or Pakistani students in middle school, he said, “I felt the need to code-switch a lot and create an identity for myself that wasn’t me.”

Couple gets engaged on Gowanus Canal

A Gowanus couple got engaged while canoeing on the Gowanus Canal on Saturday afternoon. Jamison Pence proposed to his girlfriend of more than three years, Emma Borochoff, while they were canoeing on the canal near the Carroll Street Bridge on August 22. Pence said that they have lived in Gowanus for two years, and that they walk past the canal every day. The couple, who work in sales and marketing, moved to the neighborhood two years ago from Greenpoint. “I felt like doing it on the Carroll Street Bridge would have been too easy, so I wanted to add a bit of a challenge,” Pence told the Brooklyn Paper.

East River State Park renamed for LGBT activist

East River State Park, a seven-acre waterfront green space in Williamsburg, has been formally renamed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo as a tribute to Marsha P. Johnson, a pioneer LGBT activist, drag performer and model who was known as “The Mayor of Christopher Street.”  Johnson is best known for her role in the Stonewall Uprising in 1969 and as a founding member of the Gay Liberation Front. Johnson identified himself as a gay man and drag artist during his lifetime, but more recently has been referred to as a transgender woman. He was also an ACT Up activist and co-founder of the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, according to the Architect’s Newspaper.

Compiled by Raanan Geberer.

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