Good Morning, Brooklyn: Wednesday, March 23, 2022

March 23, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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BULLET GRAZED SMALL CHILD: Yesterday’s shooting in Coney Island that injured a 7-year-old girl and that was part of a recent spate of shootings in the neighborhood’s west end brought condemnation from Assemblymember Mathylde Frontus, who represents that district. A bullet grazed the girl, who was standing with her mother at the intersection of Surf Ave. and W. 30th St.

Assemblymember Frontus, who said she is “in close communication with the 60th Precinct, community groups, and local leaders to address the causes of gun violence,” declared: “I know that this is a complex issue for which there are no easy solutions. But that doesn’t mean we will accept this as our reality in Coney Island.”

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PROGRAM TO HELP WITH PAST DUE WATER BILLS: The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is encouraging New Yorkers with delinquent water and wastewater service bills to apply for up to $5,000 in assistance through the New York State Low Income Household Water Assistance Program (link: https://otda.ny.gov/programs/water-assistance/). Eligibility for this program, announced by Governor Kathy Hochul at the end of 2021 and administered by New York State’s Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, is based on income, household size and the delinquency amount.

For example, a household of four would need to have a gross monthly income of $5,249 or less to qualify, but DEP reminds customers that water is not shut off due to delinquent payments.

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LEGAL AID SOCIETY: STOP SEIZURE AND STORAGE OF DNA: The illegal, secret seizure and storage of DNA material from New Yorkers — including children — must be stopped, demands The Legal Aid Society, which has filed a class action lawsuit in United States District Court Southern District of New York against the City of New York and the NYPD. The Legal Aid Society alleges that the police have secretly collected DNA without the knowledge or consent of suspects and placed the specimens in an illegal, unregulated database run by OCME called the “Suspect Index,” and the advocacy group further charges that the NYPD’s established practice of unlawfully collecting, analyzing, and indexing the DNA of New Yorkers in a “perpetual genetic lineup” constitutes an unreasonable search in violation of the Fourth Amendment.

The Legal Aid Society claims that, by illegally seizing DNA from thousands of New Yorkers, the NYPD’s mass DNA collection efforts support the use of its new and invasive investigatory technique that can be used to investigate family members of suspects as well.

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THREE SONGS FOR EACH BOROUGH: Each of New York City’s five boroughs will have its own song, making their world premiere on April 21 at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Library, Dweck Cultural Center. The Five Boroughs Music Festival and On Site Opera present the premiere of Five Borough Songbook, Volume III, a new Cycle of 15 songs, duets, and ensemble works by 15 composers, with three songs each about Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island. Song texts were drawn from a variety of sources – written by the composers themselves; drawn from existing poetry by Joseph Tusiani, Amy Lowell, and Walt Whitman; or featuring newly commissioned words in Arabic by Firas Suleiman, in Spanish and English by Noel Quiñones, and by Valerie Seeley. (Tickets: Free with reservation

Link: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/calendar/five-borough-songbook-central-library-dweck-20220421)

The new song cycle was commissioned in honor of 5BMF’s 15th Anniversary and On Site Opera’s 10th Anniversary seasons, and marks the third installment of 5BMF’s critically-acclaimed flagship Five Borough Songbook project.

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GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION SUMMIT: The GodSquad, Clergy for Safe Cities, convened for the first ever Faith Leaders’ Gun Violence Summit at Nyack College and Alliance Theological Seminary (ATS) last Wednesday, bringing in more than 300 community and interfaith leaders. They focused on building local precinct relationships, establishing partnerships, offering bereavement and victim support services, and creating an action plan to combat the rise in gun violence during the summer months.

“You knew it before everyone else,” said NYC Mayor Eric Adams, a keynote speaker. “You knew we had a gun violence problem because you were at the funerals burying the young people.”

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GODSQUAD VISITS NATIONAL CATHEDRAL: The GodSquad visited the Washington National Cathedral for the National Faith Leaders For Gun Safety inaugural gathering. The clergy joined a diverse group of leaders across the country, who are united with the same goal of creating a first-of-its-kind brave space to mobilize ecumenical work around the issue of gun violence.

Mike Martin from Colorado leading in his Mennonite faith as Founder of RAWtools, where he became a blacksmith to turn guns into garden tools, shared his belief with us that “turning swords into plowshares requires a comprehensive approach to gun violence.”

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DON’T FALL VICTIM TO SCAMMERS: Just a day after President Biden urged the private sector to strengthen their cybersecurity, NY Gov. Kathy Hochul is urging New Yorkers to be on the alert for any kind of fraudulent activity, particularly involving aid to victims of the war in Ukraine, charity scams and increased cybersecurity threats related to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The New York State Division of Consumer Protection has learned of fraudulent requests for charitable relief money to support victims of the war, and cautions consumers to thoroughly evaluate any request for money and verify charities prior to donating money or supplies.

Scammers often make contact via social media, unsolicited emails, phone calls, or text messages. They may ask to send money through a payment app like Cash App, Venmo or Zelle, wire the money to an offshore bank account, or send prepaid gift cards, or they demand payment in cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum.

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BROOKLYN PROGRAM WINS ‘MAKE IT AWARD’: Brooklyn-based Adapt Ability is one of four winners of the “Make It Awards,” announced last Friday. The program, which is a partnership with the New York Knicks and Squarespace, provides grants to four tri-state area entrepreneurs and creators that are dedicated to helping their communities. Adapt Ability is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that provides custom adaptive bicycles for, and donates them to, children with special needs, with each bicycle tailored to the child to provide mobility, a source of exercise, a therapeutic tool, and make it possible for them to enjoy riding a bike.

The winners, announced publicly at last Friday night’s New York Knicks Game, each receive a $30,000 grant, a one-year subscription for Squarespace, use of select Squarespace marketing inventory, including an annual Unfold Pro subscription, a feature segment on MSG Networks, and more.

Adapt Ability won a grant.
Photo credit: MSG Sports

The four grant-winning organizations
Photo credit: MSG Sports

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ERA’S GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY: Marking the 50th anniversary of Congress passing the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), Congressmember Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) participated in the Democratic Women’s Caucus virtual roundtable celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the ERA’s passage. “Exactly 50 years ago today, a group of incredible women, and some likeminded men, in Congress pulled off a miracle. Under the leadership of Representative Martha Wright Griffiths, these Congressmembers banded together and got the ERA out of the Judiciary Committee — where it had been held hostage for years. They accomplished this with a discharge petition that sent it to the House floor for a vote. Then they lobbied tirelessly for the ERA, and it ultimately passed in the House by far more than the two-thirds vote required by the Constitution,” said Maloney.

Congressmember Maloney is the lead House sponsor of the Equal Rights Amendment and the lead co-sponsor of a resolution to recognize that the ERA has met the requirements of the Constitution and become valid in all intents and purposes as a part of the Constitution.