Good Morning, Brooklyn: Wednesday, October 27, 2021

October 27, 2021 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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THREE BROOKLYN INSTITUTIONS FORM RESEARCH YARD: Pratt Institute, New York City College of Technology (City Tech) and the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation (BNYDC) have announced the formation of the Research Yard of Pratt Institute, City Tech, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard (the Research Yard), an advanced research and applied learning facility based in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Construction on the project, which received funding from the New York City Council, Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams and New York State, is expected to be complete by early 2022.

The Research Yard will connect faculty and students from both Pratt and City Tech with the Yard’s ecosystem of more than 500 businesses. The co-location of a public and private university facility within a robust community of businesses will create the opportunity for faculty and entrepreneurs to collaborate on industry-relevant research and new product development.

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RESEARCH YARD GETS $6 MILLION: A total of $6 million has been earmarked for the Research Yard, a joint project of Pratt, City Tech and the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The Research Yard will be headquartered in a 27,000-square-foot space in the Navy Yard’s eleven-story Building 3, originally built in 1918 at the end of World War I. The space, which was configured as a traditional warehouse and fulfillment center, will be transformed by architectural firm Smith-Miller + Hawkinson, LLP into a 21st century industry-education research model supporting the creative economy.

At the same time, the facility will provide much-needed fabrication space for City Tech staff and students.

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REDESIGNING NEGLECTED COMMUNITY PARKS: New York City will invest $425.5 million in new funding over the next 10 years in the Community Parks Initiative, Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYC Parks Commissioner Gabrielle Fialkoff today announced on Tuesday. CPI redesigns and rebuilds community parks neglected by previous administrations, with a focus on high-density, low-income areas and parks that have seen less than $250,000 in investment over the past 20 years. Since launching in 2014, CPI has fully reimagined 67 parks – 62 of which are already open to the public; and the additional funding will result in 10 new CPI sites a year for the next 10 years.

NYC Parks will engage community residents in CPI zones to help design these park projects by joining community input sessions.

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BROOKLYN COMMUNITY PARKS HAVE RICH HISTORY: Two of the first 10 community parks that the aforementioned CPI will redesign are in Brooklyn: Marc and Jason’s Playground, originally Lefferts Playground in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, was renamed for two boys who died in a drowning accident during a school trip. And Jerome Park in East New York is named after Leonard W. Jerome (1817-1891), a prominent and wealthy Brooklyn citizen, father of Jenny Jerome and maternal grandfather of Sir Winston Churchill.

Leonard Jerome was a successful stock speculator, making and losing several fortunes and earning the nickname “King of Wall Street” in the process. He was also principal owner of The New York Times for several years, and founder of the American Academy of Music.

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NEW CENTER MEMORIALIZES ‘THE LIBRARIAN IN CONGRESS’: Members of the Crown Heights community, BFC Partners, NYCEDC, elected officials and Congressmember Major Owens’ family will gather this morning to celebrate the grand opening of the Major R. Owens Health & Wellness Community Center at 1561 Bedford Ave. The Major Owens Center will offer children, families, and seniors a 60,000 square-foot recreation center, complete with a 25 meter, six-lane competitive swimming pool, basketball courts, a half soccer field, a weight room, and wellness center. The center will also be home to several community nonprofits and operators offering youth sports and programming.

Major Owens (1936-2013), a librarian by profession, was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982, succeeding Shirley Chisholm who retired, and stayed in Congress until his own retirement in 2006. Known as “The Librarian In Congress,” Owens advocated for and supported library funding and education issues, in particular public libraries, school libraries and librarianship.

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DEFRAUDING CHILDREN OUT OF THERAPY SESSIONS: Nine therapists have been arrested in a scheme to defraud a program for developmentally disabled children; and a criminal complaint was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging them with stealing more than $3 million from the New York State Early Intervention Program (the “EIP”), including more than $993,000 from Medicaid and more than $1,998,000 from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (“NYC DOHMH”), an agency that receives federal funds. The defendants, Marsiste Adolphe, Margaret Dominique-McLain, Mercedes Falcon, Tracy Gibson, Roselee Johnson, Jeannette Monclova, Manuel Moore, Kikelomo Ogundiran, and Dino Paolicelli, allegedly submitted fraudulent documentation for thousands of EIP therapy sessions that never took place, and collectively received millions of dollars as payments for these non-existent EIP therapy sessions.

Because each EIP recipient is only entitled to a fixed number of sessions, fraudulently billing for sessions that do not take place deprives disabled infants and toddlers of EIP therapy sessions they are entitled to receive.

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ALERT FOR DRUG-LACED CANDY: New York Attorney General Letitia James today issued an alert to New York parents concerning products that are deceptively designed to look like standard snack foods and candy, but actually contain high levels of cannabis and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). These products — which are illegal and unregulated in New York state — can be extremely dangerous to human health.

These misleading products contain a high concentration of THC, the psychoactive compound found in cannabis. According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the most common overdose incidents among children involve ingestion of edible cannabis foods, as such incidents of overdoses are on the rise.

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IRONDALE THEATER REOPENS: The Irondale Ensemble project opens its doors after 20 months with a unique immersive production of alice…Alice…ALICE!, The production, running through November 20, is billed as a journey alongside the strange and whimsical characters from Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice in Wonderland, as a cast of five re-opens the Irondale space in an incredibly unconventional and unique experience, safely exploring the space like never before. Visit https://irondale.org for ticket information.

Part naivety for children of all ages, part political farce and sophisticated social commentary, the evening-length work is seasoned with pure silliness, and a serious message, examining the problems of the world through the lens of a fast-past chase in an upside world of mayhem and madness.

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TRANSGENDER REMEMBRANCE DAYS: Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams spoke at a City Council hearing convened Tuesday to discuss his resolution to officially recognize Transgender Day of Remembrance, November 20, and Transgender Day of Visibility, March 31, as holidays within the City of New York. While both Transgender Day of Remembrance and Transgender Day of Visibility are marked around the country, and specifically in New York, with vigils, protests, forums, and other actions and events, these days are not currently formally recognized by the city.

Williams highlighted the need for the city to go beyond recognition of these days and take action, saying, “Recognizing the violence trans New Yorkers experience means we must commit to ending them…We in New York have led the country in legal rights and services for transgender New Yorkers, but this should not invite complacency in our roles as leaders to find and address gaps in our duties.”

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TEACHER FIRED AFTER SAME-GENDER WEDDING: In the wake of the termination of a well-liked music teacher from St. Joseph Catholic Academy in Astoria, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn has issued a statement. The Associated Press and a New York daily newspaper had reported that Matthew LaBanca, who also served as the music director of Corpus Christi Church in Woodside, was fired after the diocese learned that he had married another man. The diocesan statement, referring to the contract that all Catholic academy teachers are required to sign, reads, in part, “Despite changes to New York State law in 2011 legalizing same-sex marriage, Church law is clear…As a condition of employment, the TEACHER and the Academy are involved in the ministry of teaching and conveying the Roman Catholic Faith. The TEACHER is essential to the ministry of conveying the Faith and acknowledges that she/he is a minister of the Roman Catholic Faith. The TEACHER is to teach and convey the Roman Catholic Faith by being a role model of the Catholic Faith to their students.

The employee handbook also reads, “The teacher shall not teach, advocate, encourage, or counsel beliefs or practices contrary to the Catholic Faith. It is expressly understood that part of the teacher’s evaluation will include an evaluation of the above stated tasks.”