Good Morning, Brooklyn: Wednesday, December 8, 2021

December 8, 2021 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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DIOCESAN TREE LIGHTING AT GRAND ARMY PLAZA: The Most Reverend Robert J. Brennan, Bishop of Brooklyn, will join DeSales Media at the official Diocesan Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony this evening at 5 p.m., Wednesday, December 8, in front of the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch at Grand Army Plaza. The 27-foot Christmas tree has been decorated with 16,000 multi-colored LED lights to represent the diversity of the Diocese of Brooklyn, often referred to as the “Diocese of Immigrants.”

Monsignor David Cassato, Vicar of Catholic Schools for the Diocese of Brooklyn, will speak about the recent success of the 70 schools and academies and the newly adopted social justice curriculum. St. Saviour’s Catholic High School Choir will give a musical performance.

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HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MISSING CHILD?: The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and the New York City Police Department are seeking the public’s help in finding a critically-missing 14-year-old girl, Samaria Beckett, who disappeared from Forest Hills, New York on October 13, 2021. Samaria, who is 5’7” tall and 157 lbs., with brown eyes and brown hair, may be in the local area, or she may have travelled to Manhattan, Harlem, or Brooklyn, her family believes.

Anyone with information about Samaria Beckett is urged to contact the New York City Police Department at 1-646-610-5030 or the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST, that’s 1-800-843-5678.

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PRESENTATION ON LAW COVERING GAS PIPING SAFETY: Community Board 7’s Housing Committee will be discussing Local Law 152, which pertains to gas piping systems in buildings, when it convenes next Tuesday. Local Law 152, which City Council passed as part of a gas safety legislative passage, requires mandatory inspections for natural gas systems, intended to enhance safety and prevent future catastrophes following deadly explosions in East Harlem and the East Village in 2014 and 2015. Specifically, the law requires property owners to have gas piping systems in all buildings (except for buildings classified in occupancy group R-3) inspected by a Licensed Master Plumber, or a qualified individual working under the supervision of a Licensed Master Plumber, by December 31 of this year.

This Community Board 7 committee meeting for property owners in Windsor Terrace and Sunset Park will focus on the obligations of building owners/managers and the risk of non-compliance to Local Law 152. Attendees can register for the virtual meeting via the Community Board 7’s calendar web page.

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DISASTER DRILL SCHEDULED FOR DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN: Safety personnel from the NYC Fire and Police departments will conduct a Fire/Disaster Drill tonight, Wednesday, December 8, between 6:30 and 9:30 p.m. According to NOTIFY NYC, a text messaging service, the drill takes place at Cadman Plaza East & Red Cross Place, in Downtown Brooklyn.

Fire/disaster and similar drills are conducted routinely at this site and others around the city.

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VIRTUALLY EXPLORE FLOYD BENNETT FIELD’S HISTORY: NYC guide Lloyd Trufelman brings Floyd Bennett Field to life in an hour-long visual tour, as part of a series of talks with the Center For Brooklyn History. Floyd Bennett Field, which is nestled on Barren Island along the shores of Jamaica Bay, opened in 1930 as New York City’s first municipal airport. The field, which is now part of Gateway National Recreation Area and managed by the National Park Service, played a role as a naval air station, and made history with visits by Amelia Earhart and Howard Hughes. Register for this virtual presentation, taking place Thursday, December 9 at 6:30 p.m., through the Center For Brooklyn History website.

Lifelong New Yorker, Lloyd P. Trufelman is a licensed NYC tour guide whose affiliations have included the Municipal Arts Society, New-York Historical Society, Big Apple Greeter, New York Adventure Club, the City Reliquary and Open House New York.

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ARTIST MENTORS AT SENIOR CENTERS: The Brooklyn Arts Council, wanting to help older adults to tap into their creativity, offers an information session for the SU-CASA 2022 Creative Aging Program. SU-CASA is a community arts engagement program that places artists in residence at senior centers across Brooklyn, getting the seniors involved in an art project or series of cultural programs over the course of the residency. Applications become available on December 13; the December 15 information session will offer information for artists interested in applying to the program. Register via https://www.eventbrite.com/e/aie-su-casa-info-session-tickets-220106312907

Brooklyn Arts Council will accept applications from Brooklyn-based individual artists seeking residencies at participating senior centers in Brooklyn.

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REMOTE WORK AND PLAYSPACE FOR PARENTS: BrookLearn, NYC’s first ever coworking/playspace is officially opening its doors in Carroll Gardens, at 380 Court St., just steps from the Carroll Street subway, to help working parents. Already operating in soft launch mode, BrookLearn, which former Kidville founder John Lehman created, boasts a combination kids play gym and state-of-the-art adult coworking space, all in one facility.

Parents who start a membership (via BrookLearn’s website) are encouraged to drop off their children in a staff-supervised playspace, and then can avail themselves of a workspace equipped with two small lounge areas, high speed WiFi, printers, private soundproof phone booths for Zoom calls and more.

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ICE SKATING AT INDUSTRY CITY: The Industry City Ice Rink is the perfect festive outdoor activity. The ice rink will be open during the winter season every Thursday-Sunday. Moreover, Frying Pan Brooklyn will be operating an outdoor bar by the rink serving hot cocoa and snacks for the little ones, and cocktails for adults, making it the perfect outdoor spot to celebrate the holidays for all ages this year. Ice skating tickets are $12 and can be purchased on Industry City’s website.

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GIFTS CREATED BEFORE YOUR EYES: Industry City also encourages Brooklynites to shop local at the Makers Guild, a collection of local artisans based out of Industry City who create their goods on site, such as handmade candles, stationery, jewelry, ceramics, or even a tattoo, Open Friday-Sunday on the second floor of Building 5 for holiday shopping.

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CAROLERS ENHANCE THE MOOD: The Jolly Holidays Caroling Company will be spreading holiday cheer at Industry City every Sunday before Christmas from 1-4 p.m. (Christmas Day falls on a Saturday this year). The Jolly Holidays Caroling Company singers have spent previous holidays caroling at iconic New York areas such as Arthur Avenue (Little Italy in The Bronx) as well as One World Observatory.

And for the kids: Rooftop Films will be hosting a Holiday Kids’ Screening Program that is free for families in Five-Two-A every Saturday through December 18 from 1-3:30 p.m. at Industry City. This program will feature kids holiday movie shorts and crafting.

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YOUNG COMPOSERS: The Brooklyn Public Library, in collaboration with the ETHEL Foundation, presents the Young Composers Festival. Performance dates and times are Saturday, December 11 / 4 & 6 p.m., and Sunday, December 12 / 4 & 6 p.m., at the Central Library’s Dweck Cultural Center.

From its founding, ETHEL has collaborated with and commissioned a long list of composers and musicians, recognizing the importance of being part of current compositional thought and practice, and of supporting the work of emerging artists.

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BILLIONTH BOOK CHECKED OUT: The Brooklyn Public Library in July marked its billionth checkout with the loan of The Time of Green Magic by award-winning author Hilary McKay. The book, published by Margaret K. McElderry Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, centers on a newly-blended family making their way in eerie ivy-covered house filled with magic and of course, lots of books.

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NO MORE LATE FEES: The Brooklyn Public Library in October permanently eliminated late fines, making a momentous shift toward realizing BPL’s ideals of access and equity. Removing this antiquated barrier in partnership with The New York Public Library and Queens Public Library, enables all New Yorkers to more freely access knowledge and opportunity.

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BROOKLYN RESISTS PROJECT CHRONICLES RACIAL PROTEST: Brooklyn Public Library’s Center for Brooklyn History in June launched Brooklyn Resists in June. The ongoing, multifaceted public history project explores racial protest in Brooklyn from the beginning of the civil rights era to today and was mounted in response to the killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and the long history of Black Brooklynites experiencing the persistence of racism and state violence, including police brutality.

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STAGED READINGS OF ONE-ACT PLAYS: Molière in the Park, in partnership with Prospect Park Alliance and LeFrak Center at Lakeside, will present free staged readings of two one-act plays, Gaël Octavia’s FAMILY, translated by Katharine Woff and Lucie Tiberghien, and Richard Wilbur’s translation of Molière’s THE IMAGINARY CUCKOLD, directed by Lucie Tiberghien directs both readings, which take place on Thursday, December 9 and Friday, December 10, at 7 p.m. both days. Venue is the historical Picnic House in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, behind Litchfield Villa.

The cast for both plays features Emmy and SAG Award winner Samira Wiley (Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black,” Daphne’s Dive at Signature Theater), Kaliswa Brewster (Showtime’s “Billions,” ABC’s “Time After Time”), Lizzy Brooks (Storming Heaven at Playwrights Horizons, Diablo Love at SummerStage), Alanna Darby (Actors Theater of Louisville, ACT), Lisa Gorlitsky (CBS’s “FBI,” NBC’s “Law & Order”) and Nate Miller (Junk at LCT, India Pale Ale at MTC).

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IPS NEWS: DISAPPOINTMENT ON MISSING CYBERSECURITY LANGUAGE: Rep. Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY), chair of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, & Innovation; and Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), chair of the Committee on Homeland Security, expressed disappointment after the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2022 Conference Report was finalized without cybersecurity incident response language. A provision in cybersecurity incident response legislation, which had been included in the House NDAA which passed in September, would have required the DHS Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to establish requirements and procedures for covered critical infrastructure owners and operators to report covered cybersecurity incidents to a new Cyber Incident Review Office, to be established within CISA.

The Congressional colleagues, who had hoped to send the bill to President Biden’s desk for signature in time for the one-year anniversary of the discovery of the SolarWinds supply chain attack, wrote “There were intensive efforts to get cyber incident reporting done but ultimately the clock ran out on getting it in the NDAA. There was dysfunction and disagreement stemming from Senate Republican leadership that was not resolved until mid-morning today – well past the NDAA deadline,