Good Morning, Brooklyn: Monday, November 22, 2021

November 22, 2021 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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PUBLIC COMMENT SOUGHT ON BQE REPAIR FUNDING: A public comment period begins today, November 22 for proposed amendments to funding for the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway section underneath Brooklyn Heights. Comments can be submitted in writing, by email only, to [email protected], with a deadline of 4 p.m. on Friday, December 3, regarding “proposed amendments to the Federal Fiscal Years 2020-2024 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) including ‘new or additional funding for X77417: Rehabilitation of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway from Atlantic Avenue to Sands Street.’

The proposed FFYs 2020-2024 TIP defines the federally-funded transportation improvement projects proposed for planning, design and/or implementation in the NYMTC planning area during FFYs 2020 through 2024.

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PRATT SYMPOSIUM ON FUTURE OF DESIGN: Pratt Institute on Wednesday hosted the Pratt 2021 Design Symposium: Reinventing Luxury. Held at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the brainchild of award-winning fragrance packaging designer, Marc Rosen, the annual symposium brings together the brightest minds from the fields of design, fashion, and architecture to address major topics about the future of these fields.

Marc Rosen moderated this year’s symposium, which explored how to reinvent luxury for a new generation of consumers who seek brands that place emphasis on diversity, accessibility, inclusion, sustainability, environmental responsibility, and experiential design.

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PITCH YOUR IDEA TO BRIC-TV: Media dreamers have the chance to pitch a television or film project directly to BRIC TV. BRIC’s two Community Media TV Networks—Brooklyn Free Speech and BRIC TV—present the BRIC TV Open Pitch, now in its fourth year, with the goal of turn media dreamers into media makers. Apply via: https://www.bricartsmedia.org/events-performances/bric-tv-open-pitch-2021?mc_cid=b5003decbd&mc_eid=565fcf33ca

Candidates will have 5 minutes to pitch a project to a panel of BRIC producers, filmmakers and managers, who will then ask questions and offer feedback on each pitch.

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BROOKLYN COLLEGE RANKS HIGH IN UPWARD MOBILITY: Brooklyn College was again ranked as a leader in helping students climb the socio-economic ladder, according to the latest Social Mobility Index. The four-year college in Midwood finished number 9 out of 1,549 four-year institutions nationwide on the eighth annual Social Mobility Index (SMI) report for 2021. Brooklyn College joined six other CUNY colleges, ranking second among them.

A creation of CollegeNET, Inc., a leading provider of web-based on-demand technologies for higher education, the SMI ranks four-year U.S. colleges and universities according to how effectively they enroll students from low-income backgrounds and graduate them into good-paying jobs.

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LEAF COLLECTION AND COMPOSTING: Members of the community are invited to take part in the Department of Sanitation’s Fall Leaf Collection Programs, offered in conjunction with the Hoyt Street Association. They will hold a Fall Leaf Bag Giveaway Event on Saturday, December 4, from 1-3 p.m. at the Hoyt St. Garden, corner of Hoyt St/ and Atlantic Ave. Visitors will also receive free paper lawn and leaf bags to set out their yard waste in addition to the brown bins or to set out for seasonal leaf collection.

Attendees can also sign-up for Curbside Composting and learn how NYC food scraps and yard waste become finished compost. Resources for the latter are also available via makecompost.nyc.

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LEAF PICKUP IN COMMUNITY BOARD 10: Likewise, the Sanitation Dept. will service residents of southwest Brooklyn with leaf collection for making compost, Community Board 10 has announced. Residents are instructed to set out their leaves in paper lawn and leaf bags or open, unlined containers for collection on Saturday, December 18th after 4 p.m. Among the items not accepted are plastic bags, branches and yard clippings from hired professionals.

Leaf bags are also available at the Community Board 10 District Office 8119 5th Avenue – Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. while supplies last.

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INTERACTIVE CENSUS FACTFINDER: The Department of City Planning (DCP) announced the re-launch of Population FactFinder with details on the 8.8 million New Yorkers counted in the 2020 Census. The site (https://popfactfinder.planning.nyc.gov/#12.25/40.724/-73.9868) offers comparisons between the 2010 and 2020 Censuses, showing change over time in an easy-to-read format, including the ability to examine data by Community District.

The website offers an interactive map where users can click on a section of their borough to view overall population, age, race and housing data.

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IPS NEWS: ‘PLANTSGIVING’ AT BOROUGH HALL: Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams hosted the fifth annual ‘Plantsgiving’ distribution at Brooklyn Borough Hall, on the eve of the final Thanksgiving of his tenure in this office. Sponsoring the event were Wegmans, UA3, Kate Farms, The Campaign Against Hunger, Men Elevating Leadership, and National Grid, with volunteers helping to distribute more than 5,000 pounds of produce to Brooklynites in need for the upcoming holiday.

The event highlighted Borough President Adams’ ongoing commitment to ending food insecurity while promoting a healthy lifestyle for all Brooklynites, which stems from his health journey of overcoming Type 2 diabetes with a whole-food, plant-based diet.

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NEW LEADERS IN KLEZMER: The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music announced the recipients of its Klezmer New Leaders Fellowship: Musician and writer Melissa Markoff, cellist and arranger Beth Silver and drummer, composer and educator Lorie Wolf. This program, now in its second year, was created for women and nonbinary leaders on the Klezmer scene who want to expand their knowledge of Klezmer repertoire, styles, arranging, improvisation and composition.

Cellist Francesca Ter-Berg helped the fellows receive mentorship from established women and nonbinary musicians in the Klezmer scene including Zoe Guigueno, Cookie Segelstein and Polina Shepherd.

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JAY ST. BUSWAY MADE PERMANENT: The Jay Street Busway in Downtown Brooklyn that was piloted 15 months ago will now be made permanent, Mayor Bill de Blasio and DOT Commissioner Hank Gutman announced on Friday during a celebration of City Hall in Your Borough. Piloted in August 2020 as part of the Better Buses Restart plan, the Jay Street busway operates between Tillary Street and Livingston Street, where only buses and trucks are now permitted between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., and serves 47,000 riders on seven different Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) bus routes, including the B67 to Park Slope, B61 to Red Hook and B65 to Crown Heights.

 The Busway pilot begun last year has sped up bus movement for 47,000 daily riders by 47% The permanent busway caps a transformation of Jay Street under Vision Zero. The de Blasio administration has removed most private vehicle traffic from the previously gridlocked corridor.

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ADA IMPROVEMENTS FOR BROADWAY JUNCTION COMPLEX: The Broadway Junction Station Complex in East New York will benefit from $15 million that the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority will receive, according to an announcement from U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. The project, which is one of three that the Biden Administration will award in the state of New York through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) discretionary grants program, will make Brooklyn fully ADA-accessible by installing seven new ADA-compliant elevators and associated elevator machine rooms, adding stairs, ADA-compliant ramps and handrails, and completing necessary structural, architectural, communications and electrical work.

The capital is expected to help eliminate accessibility gaps, improving circulation, and provide direct access between transit lines at the Broadway Station complex, and to improve access to jobs, health care and other essential services.

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IPS NEWS: SENATORS’ STATEMENTS ON BROADWAY JUNCTION PROJECT: Both U.S. Senators from New York have praised the award of funds that will help the state’s transportation projects. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said, “From reconnecting communities in New Rochelle and the Bronx that have been divided by highways to making critical safety and accessibility upgrades at the Broadway Junction subway station, these projects will advance equity and accessibility for all New Yorkers.” Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said, “This is an important investment in equity in our cities and transportation systems. These RAISE awards will help ensure that public transit is accessible to people with disabilities, make cities friendlier to pedestrians and cyclists and rethink past infrastructure projects that disproportionately harmed minority communities.”

Majority Leader Schumer expressed pride that Secretary Buttigieg has heeded his calls to “fund these important investments for the Empire State.” And Sen. Gillibrand pledged “to keep fighting for infrastructure initiatives that revitalize our communities and create opportunity for all.”