Good Morning, Brooklyn: Thursday, February 24, 2022

February 24, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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NEW CEO AT NAVY YARD: Mayor Adams tapped Lindsay Greene to serve as CEO of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, where she will be the first Black woman and the first openly LGBTQ+ person to serve in the role. As CEO, Greene will oversee the workforce development and urban manufacturing campus, which is home to more than 500 businesses and 11,000 employees. Greene will also deepen and expand the Navy Yard’s mission, investing in the jobs of the future and creating pipelines for underserved communities to fill these jobs.

Greene, who herself previously served as chief strategy officer of the NYCEDC, is part of a larger team who will focus on building an equitable recovery across all sectors of the city’s economy and bringing New York City back following COVID-19.

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SENTENCING IN MURDER CASE: A Brooklyn man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison following his manslaughter conviction for stabbing a Greenpoint man to death, in front of his wife, in 2017, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez has announced. The District Attorney identified the defendant as Gary Correa, 24, of Brooklyn, who was found guilty of first-degree manslaughter on January 20, 2022, following a jury trial. Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Jane Tully sentenced Correa to 20 years in prison and five years’ post-release supervision.

District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This was a brutal and unprovoked attack that left an innocent man dead and his wife forever traumatized. Nothing will bring George Carroll back, but with today’s sentence we have obtained a measure of justice and ensured that this defendant will no longer be a threat to anyone else in our community.”

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SLUM LANDLORDS BUSTED: A Brooklyn-based slumlord’s operation has been shut down and a victory scored for tenants’ rights, thanks to New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York Attorney General Letitia James. The Mayor and NY Attorney General announced a $2.25 million settlement — constituting the largest monetary award ever for the city stemming from a case against an illegal short-term rental operator — with Gennaro Brooks-Church and Loretta Gendville — the owners of 1214 Dean St. in Crown Heights, who had illegally evicted tenants in 2020 and run an unlawful short-term rental operation for four years across nine Brooklyn buildings.

The settlement compels the owners to forfeit the $2 million property, which will be converted into affordable housing for New Yorkers.

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WORKSHOP ON RESTORING THE VALE: The Prospect Park Alliance, in partnership with Hester Street and Grain Collective, present an interactive workshop and community meeting to share the vision for restoring the 26 acres in the park’s northeast corner. The online workshop (free with registration required https://www.prospectpark.org/news-events/events/restoring-the-vale-virtual-community-workshop/) will chronicle how community input shaped the design vision, allow participants to share their ideas for the use of the space and help the Alliance shape its plan as the design phase begins.

This vision was created through an intensive community design process in 2017-2018, and in 2021; last year the city allocated $40 million in funding in the New York City capital budget to make this vision a reality. Workshop participants will be entered into a raffle to win a Prospect Park Alliance membership.

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INVESTIGATION OF PANDEMIC PRICE-GOUGING: The New York City Comptroller’s Office has released an audit finding that the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection DCWP received more than five thousand complaints in March 2020 regarding inflated prices on Personal Protection Equipment and hand sanitizer. The audit – spanning March 4 – Nov. 16, 2020 – found that DCWP investigated 28 percent of price gouging complaints it received, and it took an average of 43 days to conduct those inspections.

DCWP also received 38,010 complaints from March 2020 through February 2021, a 114% increase from the previous, pre-pandemic year. In some areas hit hardest by the pandemic, an eight-ounce bottle of hand sanitizer was being sold for $28, a ten-pack of face masks went for $300 and one N95 face mask sold for $20.

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CONSOLIDATING THREE AGENCIES ON CLIMATE: New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday announced the appointments of his climate leadership team that will focus on environmental protection and environmental justice across New York City. Mayor Adams appointed Rohit T. Aggarwala as chief climate officer and commissioner of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Vincent Sapienza as chief operations officer of DEP, and Kizzy Charles-Guzman as executive director of the new Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice (MOCEJ) — which consolidates multiple city agencies into one.

The new office will consolidate the Mayor’s Office of Climate Resiliency and the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Sustainability, as well as incorporate the Mayor’s Office of Environmental Coordination and the Mayor’s Office of Environmental Remediation.

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BHA COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARDS: The Brooklyn Heights Community Fridge, which has served Brooklynites in need from outside First Presbyterian Church, will receive one of the Community Service Awards at tonight’s annual meeting of the Brooklyn Heights Association. The BHA, which is holding the 7 p.m. meeting virtually because of pandemic precautions, will also present a Community Service Award to Amerika Williamson for spearheading the annual tree lighting ceremony on the Promenade.

Keynote speakers at the BHA meeting will focus on climate: Eugene Linden, an award-winning journalist and the author of The Parrot’s Lament, The Future in Plain Sight, and several other books on animals; and Leslie Kaufman, an award-winning journalist and a climate change reporter for Bloomberg Green, covering the people, politics and science reshaping U.S. climate policy.

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BLACK-OWNED BRANDS AT ALBEE SQUARE MARKETPLACE: Honoring Black History Month, DA SPOT NYC has partnered with City Point BKLYN at 445 Albee Square West to host a vibrant and curated marketplace highlighting creativity of local Black and POC-owned creative brands. The Black Creatives + Culture Market, an indoor event, takes place at City Point BKLYN this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 26 and 27, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The market will feature 50+ curated, local, Black-owned and POC independent creative brands, a live art exhibition, a conversation series with guest panelists, and live DJ music. In addition, DeKalb Market Hall will be open for some tasty treats.

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ARTWORK DRAWN IN BLOOD: Artist Jordan Eagles debuts “Our Blood Can Save,” an art installation created with blood donated by gay, bisexual & queer men, to confront the FDA’s discriminatory blood donation policy during a national blood crisis. The event on March 4-5, taking place at the Major R. Owens Health & Wellness Community Center in Brooklyn, will include a Blood Drive held in partnership with New York Blood Center, inside the Brooklyn Community Pride Center there.

The Major R. Owens Health & Wellness Center in Crown Heights makes its home at Bedford Ave. and Union St.

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IPS NEWS: TRAFFIC SIGNAL APPROVED FOR DUMBO INTERSECTION: A stop light will be installed at the Dock Street Middle School in DUMBO, reports City Councilmember Lincoln Restler. The Department of Transportation approved his office’s request for a traffic signal at the intersection of Dock and Front Streets, thanks to the school’s PTA, for the safety of middle schoolers taking the bus to and from the Dock Street School.

Restler said the students have had to cross what is considered a dangerous intersection without benefit of crosswalks, stop signs, or traffic signals.

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IPS NEWS: FIGHTING STEEP ELECTRIC BILLS: Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams was scheduled to join advocates and elected leaders on Wednesday to call for emergency utility debt relief after Con Edison bills for New Yorkers spiked this month. Noting that their constituents have struggled to pay increasing bills amid the pandemic, Williams and the group continue to demand that the utility and the State of New York protect consumers against these increases and renew the office’s call for public power.

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IPS NEWS: WARNS THAT CON ED RATE SPIKES WILL DRIVE NEW YORKERS AWAY: Likewise, Assemblymember William Colton (D – Gravesend, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, and Dyker Heights) says that recent Con Edison delivery rate hikes will drive New Yorkers to move out of their homes and leave NYC for good. Pointing out that New Yorkers already pay the highest prices for electricity and gas in U.S. and had to deal with ongoing hardships when the pandemic hit, Colton said, “Con Edison already put a great burden on people by raising their rates without the approval of the Public Service Commission. But it didn’t stop them in January of 2022 to file a plan with the Public Service Commission asking for $1.2 billion more for their projects, which would result in an estimated 11% bill increase for electric and gas customers.”

“If these rate hikes will continue, then it will be impossible for residents to afford their rent and utilities,” Colton continued.

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TAPPED TO LEAD ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORP.: Andrew Kimball, CEO of Industry City in Sunset Park has been appointed president and chief executive officer of the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), Mayor Eric Adams announced yesterday. Kimball will be responsible for delivering on the mayor’s economic development vision, creating good jobs in burgeoning fields, such as cybersecurity and life sciences, and creatively using the city’s assets to promote equitable growth. (See page 1.)

According to an article last week in Crain’s New York Business, before he became chief executive of Industry City in 2013, Kimball headed the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp. for eight years, where “he spearheaded the Navy Yard’s transformation from a derelict shipping ground into an economic hub of tourism and workforce development.”

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DEFENDANT’S JOB WAS TO SAVE LIVES: Tariq Witherspoon, who has been charged with homicide in the May 2021 hit-and-run that killed a beloved Greenpoint schoolteacher, was a veteran FDNY EMT technician. Witherspoon already had been involved in other crashes when he was nabbed Tuesday for an off-duty fatal hit-and-run crash that killed PS 110 teacher Matthew Jensen as he crossed Bayard St. near McGuinness Blvd. in Greenpoint. (See page 24.)

Witherspoon, who was a first responder for 11 years, has been suspended from the FDNY without pay, according to the New York Post.