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Good Morning, Brooklyn: Wednesday, March 2, 2022

March 2, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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BROOKLYN BISHOP’S FIRST LENT IN NEW DIOCESE: The Most Reverend Robert J. Brennan, in his first Ash Wednesday as the Bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn, will celebrate two Masses today, March 2, to mark the start of the holy and penitential season of Lent. Bishop Brennan will preside at a 9 a.m. Mass, and distribute ashes, at Cristo Rey High School in East Flatbush. At noon, he will celebrate Mass (being broadcast live on the Brooklyn Diocesan Cable Channel, NET-TV) at St. James Cathedral Basilica, 250 Cathedral Place, in Downtown Brooklyn.

Bishop Brennan will distribute the ashes on the foreheads of congregants during both Masses. As is customary, the ashes used on Ash Wednesday are made by burning the blessed palms distributed in the previous year’s Palm Sunday.

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SERIES ON LENAPE CULTURE AND SCHOLARSHIP: Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) has launched a series of programs and a forthcoming anthology of Indigenous scholarship to accompany the first-ever Lenape-curated exhibition in New York. The roster of programs, which runs through the end of April, features events with scholars and activists, including a March 14 panel discussion with Gloria Steinem that will focus on the missing and murdered Indigenous Persons crisis, which will address the crisis of violence, often gender-based, against Native Peoples.

Titled Lenapehoking¸ that exhibit recently opened at BPL’s Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center in partnership with The Lenape Center.

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POLICE PENSION FUND VOTES TO DIVEST FROM RUSSIA: The trustees of the New York City Police Pension Fund voted Tuesday to approve a resolution that directs the NYC Comptroller to execute divestment of the Fund’s Russian-issued securities, of which $42.2 million was held at the close of business on February 25. The Comptroller will prioritize those funds that the U.S. government has identified as financing, supporting or enabling the Putin regime. Comptroller Brad Lander brought the resolution to the pension board, which is composed of union representatives and elected officials.

The New York City Police Pension Fund is one of the nation’s largest municipal retirement funds in the United States with over 85,000 active members and retirees.

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SERIOUS VIOLATIONS IN HOUSING CONDITIONS: Brooklyn has the second-highest number of residential buildings with various violations, with 119 buildings/1,837 homes, that have been placed in the City’s Alternative Enforcement Program, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) announced on Tuesday. The AEP initiative heightens enforcement against the city’s most distressed multi-family buildings, including those with open code violations involving mold, evidence of rodents, lead-based plaint, lack of utilities, and leaks or holes in plaster or sheetrock.

Buildings where corrections are not made within the first four months of the initial notice are also subject to significant fees.

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IPS NEWS: ELECTED LEADER TOURS NYCHA HOUSING: — Related to housing maintenance violations, Assemblymember Mathylde Frontus led reporters on a tour of an apartment in NYCHA’s Gravesend Houses that has been allowed to fall into unsanitary, deplorable conditions over the past dozen years. The tenant, whose name the Assembly District office has withheld to protect against retaliation) has dealt with severe deterioration of her apartment including extensive mold, peeling, and inadequate electricity. As a result of these conditions, the tenant’s health and well-being has been negatively impacted and her son has been forced to live with relatives to avoid becoming sickened by the mold

As a result of Assemblymember Frontus’ advocacy, including a letter to NYCHA requesting that its CEO Gregory Russ also visit the apartment, the agency has agreed to move the resident to another unit for several weeks while her apartment is fully cleaned and renovated.

The conditions in part of a NYCHA Gravesend Houses apartment.
Photo courtesy of Assemblymember Mathylde Frontus’ office.

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IPS NEWS: WAIVING FEES FOR HOLOCAUST REPARATIONS —State Sen. Zellnor Y. Myrie (D-20^th District) and Assembly Member Simcha Eichenstein (D-48^th District) have announced new legislation that would, if enacted, require the Department of Financial Services to maintain an updated list of banks that agree to waive wire transfer or other processing fees for Holocaust reparation payments. While, in December, the Department of Financial Services requested that state-chartered banks voluntarily waive wire transfer and processing fees associated with Holocaust reparations payments, and published a list of the banks that have agreed to do so, the new legislation would require the Department to maintain and annually update a list of all banks, posting it publicly on its website.

New York City is home to an estimated 20,000 Holocaust survivors, many of whom live in poverty. Many banks charge foreign transaction or wire fees ranging from $15 to $40 per transaction. Fewer than five percent of New York banks currently waive these fees for survivors.

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IPS NEWS: INTERACTIVE STIMULUS FUND TRACKER: —City Comptroller Brad Lander, who has repeatedly called for clear goal-setting and tracking of Federal stimulus funding, yesterday unveiled an interactive public dashboard (https://www.checkbooknyc.com/stimulus) tracking the spending from FY 2022 onward of nearly $11 billion in Federal pandemic relief funding for New York City. The tracker shows that through mid-February the City has spent $1.16 billion of $3.30 billion in planned State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF) spending for Fiscal Year 2022, and $1.7 billion of $3.0 billion in FY 2022 funds specifically awarded for education.

The stimulus tracker released on Tuesday is considered to be a major stride towards transparency regarding the amount and categories of spending, enabling the public to download planned and actual spending by agency, unit of appropriation, budget code and object code.

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IPS NEWS: NEED WEATHER ALERTS IN MORE LANGUAGES: — New York Attorney General Letitia James is calling for expanded language accessibility for severe weather alerts. Currently, warnings from the National Weather Service (NWS), which are issued in advance of a severe weather event, are accessible only in English and Spanish.

Hurricane Ida last September caused 18 deaths in New York, with most of the victims being of Asian descent and whose primary languages were not included in the NWS warning system.

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INDOOR BLOCK PARTY: —The 4th BKLYN INDOOR BLOCK PARTY is returning to City Point this weekend, after a two-year hiatus. Brooklyn Bridge Parents and City Point are co-hosting the uber-popular BKLYN Indoor Block Party, a family fun day geared towards kids 1-10 years old and their parents, and that will feature reading events, games, crafts, and cultural activities from local arts organizations, and sports clubs and, of course, a Bouncy House.

The event, on Saturday, March 5 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 445 Albee Square West, will include drum circles with Cumbe Center for African and Diaspora Dance, the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music mini piano lessons, and DJ Mike spinning for the crowd.