Good Morning, Brooklyn: Friday, March 25, 2022

March 25, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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GRANTS TO 10 TREATMENT PROGRAMS: Ten community-based organizations that offer substance treatment programs will receive portions of a grant package totaling $2.2 million, thanks to a plan from State Attorney General Letitia James and the Brooklyn Community Foundation. The 10 recipients are: Hours Project, Ali Forney Center, Brooklyn Community Housing and Services, Community Counseling & Mediation, Global Trauma Research, Housing Plus, Lantern Community Services, New York Therapeutic Communities – Stay’n Out, The Family Center, and VOCAL-NY.

These grants will provide $217,500 over three years to each of the 10 beneficiary nonprofits for dignity-centered direct services that are designed to prevent and treat substance misuse and abuse; expansion and innovation of harm-reduction programs and services, to help people with addiction and those who are in recovery.

The Wellness and Recovery Fund of the Brooklyn Community Foundation was established last year after Attorney General James dissolved another organization, Canarsie A.W.A.R.E., for exploiting some of New York’s most vulnerable residents and defrauding Medicaid.

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SUNSHINE ACT’S PASSAGE WOULD HARM JEWISH PRAYER, SAY RELIGIOUS LEADERS: Permanent Daylight Saving Time would undermine the daily Jewish communal prayer cycle, say Jewish advocates who are determined to fight the Sunshine Protection Act, reports the Religion News Service. According to Jewish law, morning prayers must take place after sunrise. “It will affect our religious life, our professional life and our family life,” said Rabbi Abba Cohen, vice president for government affairs for Agudath Israel of America, who added, “If congregational and personal prayers begin after 8 in the morning, how will people get to work at 9 a.m. or earlier?”

Unlike previous legislation on seasonal time changes, leaders of the Jewish community say, lawmakers didn’t inform them that the issue was on the Senate’s agenda, or that it would be fast-tracked through a procedure called unanimous consent.

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HOLY HOUR FOR UKRAINE AND RUSSIA: Bishop Robert J. Brennan, Diocese of Brooklyn, will lead a Holy Hour of Prayer for Peace this morning, Friday, March 25, at 11 a.m. The service, taking place on the Roman Catholic Feast of the Annunciation, will be held at St. James Cathedral-Basilica, and will continue as Bishop Brennan consecrates Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary at noon, and then celebrates Mass for the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord.

In the Catholic Church, to consecrate something is to make it sacred or holy. In the consecration of Ukraine and Russia, the Church is appealing to God, through the intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to answer prayers for an end to the war in Ukraine.

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SENTENCING IN SEX TRAFFICKING CASE: An East Flatbush man has been sentenced to 8½ years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted sex trafficking of a child by forcing a 16-year-old girl to have sex with men for money and then turn over that money to him. According to an announcement from Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez’s office, the defendant, identified as Jermaine Taylor, 37, had already pleaded guilty to assaulting a pregnant woman who tried to rescue the teen, and received 8½ years in prison and five years’ supervised release from Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun.

This indictment marked the first time in Brooklyn a defendant was charged under the sex trafficking of a child statute, which was signed into law in November 2018.

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VIRTUAL TOUR CELEBRATES OLMSTED’S BICENTENNIAL: Join Prospect Park Alliance and Turnstile Tours as they hold a virtual tour in celebration of Frederick Law Olmsted’s 200th birthday that explores two of his New York City masterpieces — Central Park and Prospect Park. Registration is required for the April 12 event; there is a nominal $10 fee. (https://www.prospectpark.org/news-events/events/olmsted-200-parks-in-conversation-virtual-tour-of-central-park-and-prospect-park/)

Frederick Law Olmsted was born on April 27, 1822 in Hartford, Connecticut. His obituary, published 91 years later in the Brooklyn Eagle of Aug. 28, 1903, pointed out, “When Prospect Park was planned, Mr. Olmsted showed that the construction of an ideally-natural park or the most complete approximation that could be attained within city boundaries to such a park, was as easily possible with him as the more artificial establishment, which had been the foundation of his fame.”

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B’EARTHDAY BASH AT PROSPECT PARK: Join Prospect Park Alliance hosts B’Earthday Bash, a fun and festive day in the park — to celebrate Earth Day, the Prospect Park Audubon Center’s 20th Anniversary, and the birthday of two legends: naturalist John James Audubon, and… the 200th anniversary of the birth of landscape architect and Prospect Park’s creator, Frederick Law Olmsted!

Participants will have the chance learn more about Olmsted’s important work by viewing select panels from Frederick Law Olmsted: Landscapes for the Public Good, an exhibit that focuses on his life story, major landscape commissions and their relevance to contemporary society.

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RALLY TO SAVE SUNY DOWNSTATE: State Senator Zellnor Myrie (D-20^th District) and labor leaders are making an emergency appeal to include critically-needed funding in this year’s State Budget to make SUNY Downstate Hospital whole, after being designated in March 2020 as a “COVID-only” hospital. This designation required the hospital to divert all non-COVID inpatient cases to other facilities, cancel all elective and emergent surgeries, close all clinics, and divert all obstetric patients to other hospitals.

As a result, the hospital has sustained monthly revenue losses, even after the designation was lifted, and has ballooned to a COVID-related deficit of over $150 million.

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NEW DEVELOPMENT IN WILLIAMSBURG: SCALE Lending, one of New York City’s most active lenders for construction financing, has completed an $87.6 million combined acquisition and construction loan at 575 Grand St. in Williamsburg. The nine-story, 175,000-square-foot development will include 186 new units, 30 percent of which will be set aside as affordable housing under the Affordable New York program.

This loan marks the latest closing for SCALE Lending, a Slate Property Group affiliate. Most recently, SCALE Lending closed on a $137 million loan at 555 Broadway in Williamsburg and a $55 million construction loan at 959 Sterling Place in Crown Heights.

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MALLIOTAKIS: LIFT VACCINE MANDATE ALTOGETHER: U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-11) says that the vaccine mandate should be lifted for all workers, not just for athletes and performers. Responding to Mayor Eric Adams’ decision to roll back the city’s vaccine mandate for professional athletes, but not for law enforcement or city employees, Malliotakis urged Mayor Adams to “immediately rehire the city workers who were fired and lift the vaccine mandate on all public and private-sector employers that has led to people losing their livelihoods at a time when we have a labor shortage.”

Malliotakis said that the same standard should be applied to police, firefighters, teachers, sanitation workers, and other private-sector employees.

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RALLY TO SAVE VA HOSPITAL: Former Congressmember and combat veteran Max Rose joined Local Veterans, the American Federation of Government Employees, who have endorsed his campaign for Congress and represent the workers at the VA System, for a rally to save the NYC VA system from the proposed changes put forth by the Asset and Infrastructure Review Commission. “I stand here not just as a former Member of Congress who fought for resources for this facility. I stand here as a combat veteran, and for me this is personal. I’m a patient who comes here once a week,” said Max Rose.

Also participating in the rally which, according to Facebook Live, took place yesterday afternoon, were City Councilmember Justin Brannan and State Senator Andrew Gounardes.

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Tazin Azad, Brooklyn representative on the NYC Panel for Educational Policy.
Photo courtesy of BP Reynoso’s Office

NEW SCHOOLS-POLICY REPRESENTATIVE: Tazin Azad has been appointed as the Brooklyn representative to the NYC Panel for Educational Policy, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso announced yesterday. In this appointment, Azad will work with the Department of Education Chancellor and the other fourteen members of PEP, serving as an advocate for students, parents, and teachers.

Azad, who has worked in various capacities in school advocacy groups, parent associations, and school leadership for the past eight years, will also continue to be a leader in promoting language access and a culturally responsive social and emotional environment to New York City’s school children.