Brooklyn Boro

Around Brooklyn: Cornegy joins with community residents

November 27, 2020 Editorial Staff
Here lies Henry Bergh, the founder of the ASPCA. Photo: Lore Croghan/Brooklyn Eagle
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Cornegy joins with community residents

City Councilmember Robert Cornegy (D-Bedford Stuyvesant, Northern Crown Heights) on Wednesday joined with community groups to bring in a surge of resources and outreach to the block where a mass shooting at a Sweet 16 party left six injured and one dead. From arts and athletics resources for young people, to adult education and workforce development resources, city agencies and community groups joined in a surge of outreach at the event.

Dyker Heights gears up for Christmas light show

The annual Dyker Lights Christmas display will take place this year, although it will probably take a more low-key form because of the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier this week, several houses between 83rd and 86th streets and 11th and 13th avenues were already lit up as crews hung up decorations at homes throughout the neighborhood. Workers with the neighborhood’s two outdoor decorating companies, DiMeglio Decorators and B&R Christmas Decorators, said business is doing well this year, according to published reports.

Adams gives away nutrition shakes, reusable bags

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams on Wednesday joined The Campaign Against Hunger, Kate Farms, and the Haber Houses Tenant Association to distribute plant-based nutrition shakes, personal protective equipment and reusable bags to residents at NYCHA’s Haber Houses in Coney Island.  The event, which took place on the eve of Thanksgiving, is part of a series of distributions Borough President Adams has held or participated in to help New Yorkers in need during an unprecedented holiday season. It also comes after New York state began officially enforcing its ban on single-use plastic bags last month.

Brooklyn Dems to admit non-binary members

The Kings County Democratic Committee is taking another step toward increasing diversity in its ranks with a resolution that was recommended for consideration by its executive committee Monday night. By an overwhelming vote, members of the party’s Task Force on Gender Discrimination and Representation adopted a resolution calling upon the leaders to amend the party rules to create at-large County Committee positions in each Assembly District, for the purpose of participating in the new County Committee organizational meeting. The at-large members will serve a two-year term of office alongside those members elected from within Election Districts. “This will enable non-binary Democrats to immediately serve as County Committee members, which they were previously unable to do since the rules — going back at least 60 years — limited membership to males and females,” said Aaron Maslow, an election law attorney and chair of the Task Force.

NYS to sell sneakers, sports equipment

Just in time for the holiday shopping season, New York state Office of General Services Commissioner RoAnn Destito has announced that the OGS State Surplus team is providing the public with opportunities to purchase some unique items not commonly found on the NYSStore.com eBay site. During the next several weeks, 188 pairs of sneakers and 14 pieces of sports memorabilia seized by the NYPD as part of an investigation into the distribution of illegal drugs on Long Island will be added to the list of furniture, file cabinets, computer equipment, tools and other government surplus items usually sold by New York state on eBay. Among the sneakers to be sold are Nike Air Jordan and LeBron James shoes, as well as other unique and colorful models sought and traded by sneakerheads.

Women’s biz group, Fed to host crowdfunding seminar

On Dec. 2 from noon to 1 p.m., the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, in partnership with IFundWomen, will host an hourlong webinar on Crowdfunding and Leveraging Online Fundraising for Your Business. The virtual lunch and learn session will be led by Virginia Almendarez, startup coach at IFundWoman, a funding marketplace for women-owned businesses and people who want to support these businesses with access to capital, coaching and connections. She will teach how to navigate each step of the fundraising journey.

Driver killed in three-car Williamsburg crash

A driver was killed in a three-car crash that began when the tire blew out on a BMW SUV in Williamsburg early Wednesday. The accident, which was caught on video, took place on Grand Street near Manhattan Avenue around 1:10 a.m. After the tire blew out of the BMW, the driver, a 30-year-old man, lost control, police said. The car veered into the eastbound lane, striking a black Honda Odyssey, and then struck another car, a red Honda Element. The Honda Odyssey, driven by Alexander Ulloa-Toribo, 26, smashed into a tree. Ulloa-Toribo was found unconscious and unresponsive with severe body trauma. He was rushed to Woodhull Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to the New York Post.

New candidate for borough prez

Khari Edwards, a Crown Heights community leader whose parents hail from Trinidad and Guyana, has declared that he is running for borough president. He said that even before COVID, “Brooklyn faced a lack of affordability, a lack of true access to healthcare, and many of our communities were forgotten.” Most recently, he served as vice president of external affairs at Brookdale Hospital Medical Center. Among his priorities as borough president would be the lack of affordable housing, and homelessness, according to Caribbean Life. He is also the Brooklyn Council president of the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

Brooklyn office boom forecasted

Bisnow, a business publication, predicts that new commercial development on the horizon could add to Brooklyn’s fortunes. One reason may be that Brooklyn has a variety of residential options near transit lines. “You can have a high-rise downtown, you can live off the water in a building, you can live in a brownstone,” the website quotes Carlo Scissura, head of the New York Building Congress, as saying. In June, residential real estate purchase transactions increased by more than 100 percent.

Security firm adapts to COVID-19 era

The Brooklyn Business Center highlighted several firms for Small Business Saturday this year, with a focus on how these companies changed their focus to meet the needs of the coronavirus era. For example, the virus initially wiped out 80 percent of business for the security guard company Omowale St. Juste. The company decided to concentrate on doing business with the Department of Homeless Services, which was setting up more and more facilities for New Yorkers with coronavirus. Even without its usual clients, the business grew from 66 employees for more than 200 during the past year, according to Patch.

Brooklyn fugitive arrested in Putnam County

A Brooklyn man, who had a warrant from Louisiana for allegedly stealing $180,000, was arrested in Putnam Valley by State Police. Troopers arrested Joshua Allen, 19, on Nov. 17 for a traffic violation in a work zone on the Taconic State Parkway in Putnam Valley. An investigation revealed his active felony warrant from the Pelican State. He was charged and remanded to the Putnam County Jail, according to Mid-Hudson News.

Woman fatally struck by driver in Midwood

A 69-year-old pedestrian was fatally struck by a driver at the corner of East 12th Street and Avenue M around 5:20 p.m. on Nov. 24, police said. The victim, Bella Wolman, lived only a few steps from the intersection. According to published reports, she was walking across Avenue ME when a driver identified as Gittie Klein, also a senior, of East 27th Street, approached in her 2020 Mercedes Benz. Police said Klein was illegally trying to make a U-turn when she struck Wollman, who was in the crosswalk. Klein was charged with failing to yield to a pedestrian, violating a red light, failure to exercise due care and making an illegal U-turn.

Compiled by Raanan Geberer.

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