Good Morning, Brooklyn: Tuesday, August 17, 2021

August 17, 2021 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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PUBLIC NOTICE DEADLINE FOR BOROUGH HALL IRT STATION: Brooklynites who use the Borough Hall subway station at Columbus Park have until this Thursday, August 19 to take part in the Public Comment period for an MTA project affecting that site. The MTA earlier this summer issued a Public Notification of the land use for an ADA Elevator installation, temporary partial closure and walkway detour at the Borough Hall IRT Station serving the 4 and 5 trains with passageway to the 2 and 3 trains. MTA Construction & Development proposes to make Borough Hall Station ADA compliant and also to address a number of deficient conditions in the station, by building three new elevators: street-to-mezzanine elevators and two mezzanine-to-platform elevators. The construction, expected to last about two years, would involve a temporary excavation in the Joralemon Street sidewalk in front of Borough Hall, in a way that would limit temporary impacts.

Comments can be sent via email to Andrew Inglesby of the MTA New York City Transit Government and Community Relations via [email protected]

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MTA HAS PLAN TO IMPROVE BUS SERVICE: The MTA and DOT are unveiling an “ambitious plan” to improve bus service throughout NYC. The MTA is adding 300 cameras onboard buses next year; and the city will simultaneously expand bus lane camera enforcement, with the goal of covering 85% of all bus lanes by the end of 2023. Starting in 2022, NYCDOT will embark on major projects to add or improve 20 miles of bus lanes, including up to five new busway pilots. These projects, developed over the next several months in coordination with the MTA, will be designed to serve bus riders in critical areas of the city.

OMNY All-Door Boarding coming to 10 local bus routes in pilot program that will allow customers using OMNY to enter through any door in an effort to speed up boarding times. Exact routes are still in the process of being selected.

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URGING AID FOR DISASTER-WEARY HAITIANS: Elected officials and faith leaders gathered Monday afternoon at St. Jerome’s Roman Catholic Church on Newkirk Ave. in Flatbush to hold a faith vigil for the people of Haiti following the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck that country on Saturday, August 14. The leaders and advocates in attendance called on President Biden to provide expanded humanitarian assistance. Participants included City Councilmember Farah N. Louis (D-45); City Council District 40 Democratic Nominee Rita Joseph; the Rev. Al Sharpton, Jackson Rockingster of Little Haiti BK.

“As the proud daughter of Haitian immigrants, I join my community in mourning loved ones lost while the nation struggles to recover from the tragic events that have unfolded in Haiti in recent years including the 2010 earthquake, hurricanes, a deadly cholera outbreak, and near-constant political and economic instability,” said Councilmember Farah Louis.

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KEY TO NYC POLICY STARTS TODAY: Vaccination Proof for Indoor Activities: People 12 and older who want to enjoy indoor public venues are now required to show proof they have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine authorized for emergency use by the FDA or the World Health Organization. The venues include restaurants, catering halls, event spaces, hotel banquet rooms, bars, nightclubs, cafeterias, grocery stores with indoor dining, coffee shops and fast food or quick service with indoor dining; indoor fitness centers, gyms, pools, and dance studios; and entertainment venues such as movie theaters, music and concert venues, museums and galleries, aquariums and zoos, professional sports arenas, indoor stadiums, convention centers, exhibition halls, performing arts theaters, bowling alleys, arcades, pool and billiard halls, recreational game centers, adult entertainment and play areas.

Proof of vaccination may include:NYC COVID Safe App: Android | iOS

Excelsior Pass; CDC Vaccination Card (or photo); NYC Vaccination Record or an official immunization record from outside NYC or the U.S.

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GREATER NYCHA TRANSPARENCY: NYCHA’s budget and revenue data will now be publicly available and accessible, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer and the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) announced on Monday. This stage now completes the NYCHA Checkbook integration project. Through Checkbook NYC — an award-winning, first-of-its-kind online tool that provides near real-time data on city mayoral agencies’ budget, revenue, spending, contracts and payroll — New Yorkers will now be able to view how the largest public housing authority in the country generates income and prioritizes and allocates its spending.

NYCHA contracts, spending, and payroll data have been publicly available since March 2020, when the first phase of this project was completed.

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DEMAND HEALTH PROTOCOLS IN COURTHOUSES: Safety protocols must be immediately implemented at the courthouses to protect clients and staff from COVID-19 and the highly-contagious Delta variant, demands a group of advocates, including The Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services, The Bronx Defenders, Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, and New York County Defender. The group sent a letter to the Office of Court Administration today calling on the Office of Court Administration to take specific steps: to provide an N95 or KN95 mask to anyone who arrives in a courthouse without a mask or who requests one and ensure that everyone complies with the mask mandate, to conduct all non-dispositive appearances virtually unless a client requests an in-person appearance, to schedule and locate arraignments on appearance tickets to avoid crowds gathering, to reinstitute screening and separation of symptomatic people in custody, and to provide proof that all detention areas now have regulation-quality air filtration systems.

The group pointed out that unsafe courthouse conditions are particularly worrisome, given the fact that COVID-19 has already had an outsized impact on Black and brown New Yorkers who are also most likely to be forced into court by what they call unjust policing.

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PROMINENT PASTOR ON BROOKLYN POWER 100 LIST: The Rev. A. R. Bernard, senior pastor of the Christian Cultural Center megachurch in eastern Brooklyn, is named on City & State’s Brooklyn Power 100 List for 2021. Pastor Bernard is said to have wielded political clout on several fronts; for example, supporting Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams’ call to allow guns in houses of worship, “carried by cops of course,” according to City & State.

Pastor Bernard also led the late rapper DMX’s funeral and nearly got then-President Bill Clinton to apologize for slavery. On a spiritual front, he has sought to help men reconnect with their faith and argued for preserving the role of Black fellowship in the evangelical tradition.

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DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN POWER PLAYER: Regina Myer, president of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, is also a Brooklyn Power 100 player. Now, she is part of Brooklyn’s “turbo-recovery mode,” exemplified by the opening of the borough’s tallest office tower and the extension of outdoor dining for another year.

Regina Myer also played a role in supporting Fulton Street’s newest crown jewel, the Gage & Tollner restaurant which reopened in April.