Good Morning, Brooklyn: Tuesday, March 15, 2022

March 15, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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BROOKLYN COLLEGE, HOME TO UKRAINIAN AND RUSSIAN IMMIGRANTS, HOLDS FORUM: Russia’s War in Ukraine, of special concern to Brooklyn’s and New York City’s large population of Ukrainian and Russian-speaking people, will be the subject of a free online panel discussion that Brooklyn College is hosting next Monday, March 21. Registration is required ( https://tinyurl.com/24v3syvz) and registrants will receive the start time and passcodes.

With City University of New York having one of the largest Ukrainian and Russian-speaking student populations, Brooklyn College faculty with expertise and experience in these countries will present the historical and political contexts, answer questions, and discuss effective ways of offering assistance to those touched by the war..

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MUST PAY RESTITUTION FOR DECEIVING ITS CUSTOMERS: Family Energy, which offers electric and gas products throughout New York State, is being required to pay $2,150,000 in restitution to impacted consumers, thanks to New York Attorney General Letitia James’ securing these funds following an investigation of the company. The Office of the Attorney General found that Family Energy exhibited dishonest business practices, which included luring consumers with false promises of savings, misrepresenting itself as the consumers actual utility and then punishing them when they tried to terminate their contracts under grievance.

The OAG received hundreds of complaints from consumers who wound up paying hundreds of dollars more annually through this third-party servicer than they would have paid to their utilities.

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ENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY POSTAL VEHICLES?: An investigation needs to be launched into the Postal Service’s compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act when issuing the contract for Next Generation Delivery Vehicles according to a letter that Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-12), who chairs the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and her colleagues on other committees sent to U.S. Postal Service Inspector General Tammy Whitcomb. Expressing strong support for the purchase of electric vehicles for the Postal Service’s fleet, “which would significantly cut emissions and position the Postal Service as an environmental leader,” the letter stated, “Given the substantial public interest in this acquisition and the significant deficiencies in the EIS identified by EPA, it is critical that Congress understand whether the Postal Service properly met its statutory environmental obligations.”

The NGDV contract represents a substantial investment and could lead to the Postal Service’s acquisition of up to 165,000 vehicles over ten years.

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SETTLEMENT IN ICE ROUNDUPS: People who were taken into custody and incarcerated by ICE (the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency) now have the right to a fair release assessment. The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) and The Bronx Defenders reached a settlement in Velesaca v. Decker, their 2020 lawsuit challenging what they said was ICE’s secret practice of automatically and indefinitely incarcerating thousands of people that agents arrested between 2017 and 2020 for alleged immigration offenses, and found that ICE ignored mitigating factors such as ties to the community, family bonds and employability or the agents manipulated data so that release was not an option.

Under the settlement, ICE must consider release in every case, including alternatives to detention, like bond or remote monitoring, and must consider a person’s disability and financial circumstances.

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PROTECTING BLACK COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES: Protecting and supporting Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the face of recent threats to their students and faculty is foremost on the mind of Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-12). She and colleague, and Rep. Jamie Raskin, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, will hold a hybrid hearing this Thursday, March 17 to examine ways the federal government can support the HBCUs.

Since January 2022, at least 36 HBCUs—more than one third of the nation’s 101 historically Black academic institutions—have been targeted with violent bomb threats, which the FBI has announced are being investigated as “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism and hate crimes” and stated that the investigation was of the “highest priority.”

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SUNDAY HOURS RETURN!: Visitors to branches of the Brooklyn Public Library are encouraged to continuing wearing masks inside BPL facilities, even though the mask mandate has ended. They can also celebrate the return of Sunday library hours, starting on March 20.

Indoor programming has also resumed for adults and teens, while younger children will be offered their programs virtually, with the calendar available on the BPL website.

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ROUNDTABLE ON PARKS: Several Park Friends groups, including Cadman Park Conservancy and the Fort Greene Park Conservancy, will participate in a virtual roundtable that Community Board 2’s The Parks & Recreation Committee is holding next Monday, March 21. This annual roundtable, for which more information is available on CB2’s calendar webpage, provides data and insights for this Committee’s contributions to the Statement of District Needs and Budget Requests.

Several new Parks Friends groups are also in development.

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LINDEN TERRACE EAST STARTS PHASE 2: Lindon Terrace East will open 548 new affordable apartments in East New York, with a ribbon-cutting and groundbreaking scheduled for this afternoon, March 15. New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC), Radson Development, Real Builders, and Spring Management are celebrating a ribbon cutting and lease up of the first building, fronting Linden Boulevard with 234 units.

Ground will be broken on this occasion for phases 2 and 3, with 159 and 155 apartments, respectively.

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WILLIAMS: NEW CITY BUDGET MUST ADDRESS HOUSING CRISIS: The ongoing housing and homelessness crisis throughout the five boroughs must be addressed in the city’s upcoming budget, urges New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams in testimony he submitted to a hearing of the Committee on Housing and Buildings on Monday. The Public Advocate’s stressing the need to make major investments to help tenants, homeowners, and homeless New Yorkers recover from the pandemic in safe housing, comes as five unhoused people in New York and Washington D.C. were recently attacked — two fatally — by a gunman.

Williams added that New Yorkers are also facing another crisis that threatens their safety and housing security: catastrophic fires.

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FATIMA STATUE VISITS BAY RIDGE PARISH: Our Lady of Angels parish in Bay Ridge received a visit last weekend from the International Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima. The statue is one of six blessed by Pope Francis to travel the world to promote devotion to the apparitions of the Blessed Mother in Fatima, Portugal, in 1917, with this particular statue traveling throughout North America.

The 21-hour stop, geared to worshippers who may not have yet had an opportunity to make a personal pilgrimage to Fatima, included an overnight prayer vigil, private veneration (worship), investiture with the brown scapular, and processions.

Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima. Photo courtesy of Ed Wilkinson

Fr. Kevin Abels and other clergy and lay leaders participate in prayer services surrounding the visit of the International Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima.
Photo courtesy of Ed Wilkinson

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LAWSUIT: COMMISSION ENSURES PORT’S SAFETY: New Jersey cannot, for reasons of safety and security, terminate the Waterfront Commission that New York and New Jersey created for the port that the two states share, according to legal action that Attorney General Letitia James and Gov. Kathy Hochul have filed in the U.S. Supreme Court. The complaint invokes the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction t to prohibit New Jersey from breaching the congressionally approved Waterfront Commission Compact between New York and New Jersey.

The bi-state Waterfront Commission, created in 1953 to address organized crime at the port, which spans areas in both states, has for more than six decades worked to investigate, deter, combat, and remedy criminal activity and influence and to ensure fair hiring and employment practices at the port.

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MAYOR ENDORSES BRIAN CUNNINGHAM: State Assembly candidate Brian Cunningham has received a prize endorsement from Mayor Eric Adams in the Election race for the 43^rd District, with early voting already underway. “I’ve seen firsthand the level of commitment Brian has to improving the lives of the people of Brooklyn and that’s why he’s exactly the kind of leader District 43 needs in Albany,” said Mayor Adams, who strongly urged voters to select the Democratic line for that district, line next Tuesday, March 22nd.

Cunningham has already received endorsements from the Brooklyn Democratic Party, State Senator Kevin Parker, NYC Council Member Rita Joseph, former Assembly Member Karim Camara, former Assembly Member & DNC Vice Chair Michael Blake, former NYC Council Member Robert Cornegy, New York Progressive Action Network, and the Brooklyn Progressive Alliance.