Good Morning, Brooklyn: Tuesday, October 26, 2021

October 26, 2021 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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FLOOD WATCH AS STORM APPROACHES: New York City Emergency Management has issued a travel alert through this afternoon, Tuesday, Oct. 26. in advance of heavy rains and winds forecast for the New York metropolitan area. The National Weather Service also has issued a Flash Flood Watch for New York City through 5 p.m. this evening. A total of 2-4 inches of rain is expected with locally higher amounts possible, with winds expected to be 20 mph to 30 mph and wind gusts of up to 40 mph.

“This storm system may cause flooding in the city, including on highways, streets, underpasses, as well as other poor drainage or low-lying spots,” according to NYC Emergency Management incoming Acting Commissioner Andrew D’Amora.

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HALLOWEEN FEST WAS PROTEST AGAINST LNG VAPORIZERS: The No North Brooklyn Pipeline coalition joined with Greenpoint residents living near National Grid’s fracked gas storage facility to hold a Halloween festival and rally on Sunday in Cooper Park to protest National Grid’s proposed LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) vaporizers. Activists and community members call on Governor Hochul and the Department of Environmental Conservation to deny National Grid’s permit, citing that the vaporizers would contribute to the dangerous air quality of the area, adding to decades of environmental racism and pollution, and emitting greenhouse gases furthering the climate crisis.

National Grid claims that additional regasification of stored LNG will be needed to meet “peak demand” in future winters, yet reports note only 10% of the gas stored was used in 2020, and 1% in 2019

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DUNKIN’ CUSTOMERS CAN NOW RECYCLE THEIR COFFEE BAGS: Dunkin’® At Home Coffee is teaming up with international recycling leader, TerraCycle®, to deepen their commitment to sustainability and help reduce the amount of plastic waste that ends up in landfills. Through the Dunkin’ Coffee Bag Recycling Program, consumers are invited to send in their used Dunkin’ flexible ground coffee bags and whole bean coffee bags to be recycled for free via https://www.terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/dunkin. Once collected, the packaging is cleaned and melted into hard plastic that can be remolded to make new recycled products.

Additionally, for every shipment sent to TerraCycle through the recycling program, collectors earn points that can be donated to a non-profit, school or charitable organization of their choice.

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BELONG/BROOKLYN AT BARCLAYS CENTER: The Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation last weekend unveiled “Belong / Brooklyn,” a large-scale, site-specific neon installation by the internationally celebrated artist Tavares Strachan. The work will be on long-term view at the entrance of Barclays Center, atop the Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center Station complex, and will serve as an affirmation of belonging as well as a call to unity in the heart of Brooklyn.

Strachan’s practice exists at the intersections of art, science, and politics. His works are often monumental on both a physical and conceptual scale.

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NEW PORTALS FOR CHARITIES’ FINANCIAL STATEMENTS: Charities can now report their annual financial disclosures on a new, user-friendly online filing portal. New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday officially launched the portal for the new online system, which will speed up filing for thousands of charities required to register with the Office of the Attorney General’s Charities Bureau.

The streamlined application — which uses e-signatures and electronic payments — is designed to eliminate applicants’ guesswork, minimize the Charities Bureau’s response times, and reduce errors and incomplete filings.

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Bishop DiMarzio blesses the icon of 4th century St. Ephrem.
Photo courtesy of DeSales Media

CENTENNIAL OF DYKER HEIGHTS PARISH: St. Ephrem Roman Catholic Church marked the opening of the centennial year of its founding last Sunday, with the Most Reverend Nicholas DiMarzio, Bishop of Brooklyn, celebrating the opening noon Mass marking the 100th Anniversary. During the Mass, Bishop DiMarzio also blessed the renovated Church including The Cross, an Altar, the icon of St. Ephrem, the Baptismal Font and the Ambry.

Additionally, new lighting, a sound system, and new coats of paint were also part of the building upgrades, under the leadership of the pastor, Fr. Robert Adamo.

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CHURCH’S HISTORICAL FUN FACT: The St. Ephrem parish anniversary Sunday bulletin contained this history trivia quiz: “On January 12, 1921, this priest received a letter from Bishop McDonnell announcing he would be the founding pastor of St. Ephrem Parish in Dyker Heights.” That priest was Father Robert Kennedy. According to the Jan. 22, 1921 edition of the Catholic diocesan newspaper, The Tablet, Fr. Kennedy celebrated the first Mass of the new parish in Dyker Heights, with 600 in attendance.

That Mass was held at the Coucheau Mansion in Bay Ridge, until a church could be built. The church’s namesake was a 4^th century Syrian who, though himself ordained, wrote poetry and was devoted to God.

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URGES U.S. TO REFUSE TURKEY’S REQUEST FOR MORE FIGHTER JETS: U.S. Rep Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11), the only Republican member of Congress serving Brooklyn and the larger New York metro area, on Monday led a group of bipartisan lawmakers in urging President Biden and Secretary Antony Blinken to refuse Turkey’s request to purchase 40 new Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jets and 80 F-16 modernization kits from the United States Government to modernize its Air Force. Declaring that they cannot afford to compromise U.S. security, the lawmakers wrote, “As long as President Erdogan advances his expansionist project in the Eastern Mediterranean, Turkey will continue to threaten our national security and the security of our closest allies in the region — Greece, Israel and Cyprus.”

However, the letter to President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken did not mention Armenia, against which Turkey had waged a massacre that most of the world recognized as a genocide. It was not until April 2021 that a U.S. President (Biden) formally recognized the Armenian Genocide, a public declaration which coincided with Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. According to the U.S. State Department website, the U.S. has diplomatic relations with Armenia and provides assistance to rebuild the former Soviet republic’s economic and defense forces.