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Good Morning, Brooklyn: Thursday, November 18, 2021

November 18, 2021 Brooklyn Eagle Staff
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 IPS NEWS: BROOKLYN CONGRESSMEMBER SPEAKS OUT ON CENSURE VOTE: Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-7th District) issued a statement following the House of Representatives’ 223-207 vote to censure Rep. Paul Gosar for his jokes about assassinating his Congressional colleague Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-14 Queens-Bronx). “Representative Gosar is a member of this institution as am I and as is Representative Ocasio-Cortez and so are roughly fifty other women of color…We are here to serve our districts and the American people. The graphic video that Rep. Gosar posted violates every sense of mutual respect that we should have for one another. Not only that, but it also dangerously promotes violence towards a sitting member of Congress who is a powerful Latina.”  She added, “Rep. Gosar needs to be held accountable for this and that’s what we are doing today. We need to deliver a message that in the people’s house, this dangerous behavior will not be tolerated.”

Yesterday’s decision to censor Rep. Gosar was only the fourth in nearly 40 years, and is one of the strongest punishments that the House can issue.

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IPS NEWS: REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES ON CENSURE VOTE: Adding his voice to the House’s censure vote is Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-08), chairperson of the House Democratic Caucus: “Inciting violence is unacceptable. Threatening to kill a colleague, the President of the United States or any American is unacceptable. And I rise to make it clear that we have an opportunity today to choose decency over demonization; to choose civility over cynicism, to choose the rule of law over reckless, violent behavior.”

Saying that the House was acting decisively, Hakeem declared, “We cannot normalize violence today. We cannot normalize violence tomorrow.

We cannot normalize violence at any point moving forward in our future. The House will hold Paul Gosar accountable for his violent and deplorable behavior —whether the cover-up caucus likes it or not.”

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MOBILE TESTING FLEET EXPANDS: The mobile COVID-19 testing team fleet will double the number of its units over the next month, announced the NYC Test & Trace Corps on Wednesday, with mobile testing teams having already been deployed to more than 1,400 locations. These mobile testing sites have provided New Yorkers access to fast, flexible, no-cost COVID-19 testing units, which offer PCR as well as Rapid Antigen point-of-care testing —with results available within 15 minutes, and offer dual-flu and COVID-19 testing for both viruses with a single swab. NYC Test & Trace Corps has partnered with 120 organizations, ranging from ethnic and immigrant groups, elected officials, houses of worship, NYCHA tenant associations, to businesses and business improvement districts.

Since the launch of the mobile testing initiative in August 2020, NYC Test & Trace Corps’ mobile testing units have provided 868,000 COVID-19 tests and deployed to 1,400 locations throughout the five boroughs—more than tripling the number of locations since January 2021.

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FUNDING ANNOUNCED FOR PHASE 1 OF BOARDWALK RECONSTRUCTION: Mayor Bill de Blasio has allocated $114.5 million to begin the phased reconstruction of the historic Riegelmann Boardwalk in Coney Island, a project that will launch the boardwalk’s first comprehensive redesign since it was first built in the 1920s. NYC Parks Commissioner Gabrielle Fialkoff joined City Councilmember Mark Treyger on Wednesday for the announcement of the plan — one that emphasizes resiliency and sustainability — to reconstruct the 2.5-mile boardwalk in phases, with new piles and resilient materials. Implementing this approach will allow significant portions of the existing boardwalk to be available to the public during construction.

The Riegelmann Boardwalk’s centennial was the subject of an October 1 2021 article in the Eagle’s “On This Day in History” section.

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URGE SUSTAINABLE WAGES FOR RESTAURANT WORKERS: Organizers from One Fair Wage and New York Communities for Change join forces this morning with local elected officials and ‘high road’ employers to distribute pies to essential service workers in the community. During this event, they will call on Gov. Kathy Hochul to immediately guarantee restaurant workers receive one fair wage with tips on top.  The group charges that tipped restaurant workers are still paid a subminimum wage in New York, even after restaurants reopened following the pandemic’s fiscal crisis.

Those restaurant workers who remain in the industry report overwork and understaffing, earning below the subminimum wage, and are unable to buy food for their families this holiday season.

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HELPING FORMER WOMEN INMATES: A Little Piece of Light (ALPOL), a non-profit dedicated to helping system- and trauma-impacted women and girls launched its new “Lighting the Way: ELLE Initiative” to meet the short-term housing, wellness, education, and employment needs of the women it serves, especially those getting back on their feet after prison. Participants are required to stay for a minimum of six months in order to fully embrace the services offered and can stay up to twelve months to avail themselves in wholistic services, including job skills training, and civic engagement workshops that are also open to formerly incarcerated women in the community who are not residents. In total, ELLE expects to service between 150-200 women annually.

Inspired by criminal justice advocate and ALPOL founder Donna Hylton, who spent 27 years at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility and Rikers Island, the ELLE Initiative recently opened two homes in New York City, located in Brooklyn and Queens, and plans to provide transitional housing for 40-50 women annually.

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CATHOLIC ACADEMY’S COOKIE SALE BENEFITS MARCH OF DIMES: Bay Ridge Catholic Academy’s Home Academy Association hosted a donation dress-down day and cookie sale yesterday in honor of World Prematurity Day. The students, faculty, and staff wore the color purple in solidarity with families who have experienced the premature birth of a child. The school raised $1615 which will be donated to the March of Dimes New York, to support research and programs to assist new mothers and families care for babies born prematurely.

The World Health Organization reports that more than 15 million premature births occur annually throughout the world.  In 2020, preterm births affect 1 in every 10 babies born in the United States, with New York State showing a slightly higher ratio.

Diocese of Brooklyn District Superintendent Michael LaForgia takes part in the World Prematurity Day festivities with students of Bay Ridge Catholic Academy.
Photo courtesy of the Diocese of Brooklyn

 

Olivia Quaglione, who was born premature, with her teacher Ms. Rose Ghiz, showing support for the March of Dimes.
Photo courtesy of the Diocese of Brooklyn

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GRANTS FOR COVID-PREVENTION SERVICES: Brooklyn Communities Collaborative, a non-profit focused on strengthening health, leadership, and economic mobility across Brooklyn communities, has awarded nearly $1M in grants to 14 community-based organizations working to improve outreach around and access to COVID-19 testing and vaccines. This round of grants, totaling $957,000, will be distributed to the following organizations: Arab American Family Support Center, Alex House Project, Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, Bay Ridge Center, Brownsville Community Development Corporation, Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled, Inc., Brooklyn Perinatal Network, Chinese American Planning Council, Christopher Rose Community Empowerment Campaign, Elite Learners, Exalt Youth, Haitian Americans United for Progress, Haitian Centers Council, and Neighborhood Technical Assistance Clinic

This funding marks the second round of grants that BCC has distributed through its Strong Communities Fund since its inception in 2020, with a total of almost $4M to community-based organizations serving Brooklyn neighborhoods and residents most impacted by the pandemic

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FREE LANGUAGE PROGRAM FOR IMMIGRANTS: Riverside Language Program, which provides English classes and support to recently-arrived immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugee adults currently living in New York City, has opened registration (www.riversidelanguage.org), through Monday, Nov. 22, for its upcoming winter session that begins December 6. Considered the only free, full-time English program in New York City, Riverside has worked with more than 30,000 newly arrived immigrants since 1979 when the school opened.

Among the services offered are  English language, civics and IT instruction, counseling on resettlement, conversation practice and job readiness. Counselors and Riverside staff provide interpretation assistance in Russian, Chinese, Spanish, French and many other languages.

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IPS NEWS: LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY IN ADULT PROTECTIVE SERVICES: An audit from State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli’s office shows that the State Office of Children and Family Services is not adequately overseeing adult protective service providers who are responsible for protecting vulnerable adults to ensure they are handling cases properly. DiNapoli’s audit found lack of agency oversight and a failure to ensure providers are doing their job to protect at-risk adults. At a minimum, the state is supposed to review each provider every three to four years.

When auditors examined a sample of 20 reviews, they found 13 (65%) were not done on time (they averaged 5.67 years) and one provider, which had been offering services in the city for seven years, had never been reviewed. In other cases, the reviews were missing critical data on intakes, the number of open referrals and ongoing cases, among other criteria.

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SHIRLEY CHISHOLM RECREATION CENTER: Dedicating the brand-new Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center coming to East Flatbush were Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYC Parks Commissioner Gabrielle Fialkoff, Department of Design and Construction Acting Commissioner Thomas J. Foley, New York State Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, City Council Member Farah Louis, and community members. The planned recreation center is named for Brooklyn-born Shirley Chisholm, who was the first African American woman to serve in Congress. Upon its completion, the project —a part of DDC’s new Design-Build program for public buildings —will offer a state-of the-art recreation center with multipurpose rooms, a gymnasium, walking track, indoor swimming pool, fitness, strength, and cardio rooms, and a teaching kitchen.

The center will also include a media lab named in honor of a local businessman with deep community roots, Dr. Roy A. Hastick Sr. A Grenadian emigrant, Dr. Hastick founded the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and Industry and served on a number of economic development and community boards to advocate on behalf of the East Flatbush community.

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WATERMARK SENIOR LIVING WINS AWARD: Boutique Design New York (BDNY) on Monday unveiled the 2021 winners of the 41st edition of the Gold Key Awards, the competition that recognizes the most influential and innovative design work in the international hospitality industry. Watermark at Brooklyn Heights, an interior project by Andres Escobar, leader of the international firm Lemay + Escobar Architecture DPC- was selected as the winner for Best Senior Living facility. The property at 21 Clark St. in Brooklyn is situated in a 14-story tower and has a long list of amenities.

Watermark has three dining venues, a hair salon, a spa, a library with a wine bar, a performing arts studio, two private cellars, an indoor pool, a gym, and a rooftop with a garden terrace and a club room.

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MESSAGING SERVICE FOR PARADEGOERS: People attending this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade® and other holiday festivities will be able to avail themselves of Notify NYC’s opt-in short message service, available through the NYC Office of Emergency Management. Text the keyword THANKSGIVING or THXGIVINGESP to 692692 (NYCNYC) to receive alerts and notifications about the Balloon Inflation event as well as weather, road closures, traffic delays and more in English and/or Spanish.

The 95th annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade®, which kicks off at 9 a.m. on Thursday, November 25, and which covers 2.5 miles, will stretch from the Upper West Side to Herald Square bringing along its signature giant character balloons, floats, marching bands and performance groups, musical stars and Santa Claus.

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