Good Morning, Brooklyn: Tuesday, March 29, 2022

March 29, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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DIRTY STREETS, RATS, TOP SANITATION CONCERNS: The office of Councilmember Lincoln Restler recently launched a survey to learn more about sanitation issues affecting residents of District 33, and which asked constituents to highlight their top sanitation concerns. Restler’s office received 296 survey responses to the survey, highlighting dirty streets (29.2 percent) and sidewalks as their top concerns, the proliferation of rats (16.8 percent), overflowing litter baskets, and concern over litter in shared and public spaces, frustration with a shortage of available litter baskets, garbage bags blocking and dirtying pedestrian corridors, dog poop on sidewalks and illegal dumping.

Constituents also sent requests for more recycling opportunities in public spaces and the expansion of the city composting initiative.

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SOLVING RAT PROBLEM THROUGH COMPOSTING: Now that he’s received survey results on sanitation, the office of Council Member Lincoln Restler is implementing District 33 Clean Up Plan in partnership with the Department of Sanitation and the city’s 311 complaint bureau. They plan to address one of the top concerns, rats, through a Composting for All program that aims to eliminate the rodents’ food sources, and are launching a campaign to enroll 1,000 neighbors in curbside composting this year, where the City will bring compost bins to buildings in the district and service them every week.

Moreover, Restler’s office points out that the Health Department runs Rat Academy trainings to educate neighbors about how to combat rats. Sign up here: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/services/rats-control-training.page.

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PARK NAMED FOR PIONEERING PHYSICIAN UNDERGOING $7 MILLION RENOVATION: A park that opened as a paved play area in 1963 and that was renamed two years ago for pioneering African American physician Dr. Susan Smith McKinney Steward is undergoing a renovation fitting of its new namesake thanks to a $7 million donation. An online meeting has been scheduled for this Wednesday, March 30, at 7 p.m. to introduce the new design, mark the formation of a new Friends group and welcome ideas from members of the community.

Several local organizations have joined forces to establish the Friends of Susan Smith McKinney Steward Park, including Adams Street Library, Brooklyn Bridge Parents, Dock Street School, DUMBO Action Committee, Farragut Stakeholders Group, and PS 307.

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COLTON CONDEMNS PUTIN’S ‘WAR CRIMES’: State Assembly Member William Colton (D-47/Bath Beach, Bensonhurst and Gravesend) has publicly condemned what he says are Vladimir Putin’s war crimes. “As state and local elected officials, we must acknowledge that we have little worldly power to stop Putin’s war crimes. But we can appeal to and unite with the moral conscience of our local communities to rise, together with that of local communities all over the world, in demanding and praying for the end of the horrific war crimes being committed in Ukraine,” Colton stated.

He added, “We are not powerless morally or spiritually to make our consciences heard in support of the great people of Ukraine, as they continue their courageous fight for freedom against the powers of tyranny.”

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HONORING NOTABLE WOMEN OF 46^TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT: Assembly Member Mathylde Frontus (D-46^th District) will honor 16 notable and inspiring women this Wednesday evening as part of Women’s History Month. Women from across Bay Ridge, Coney Island, Dyker Heights and the rest of the district will be recognized for their contributions to southern Brooklyn and their work to build stronger neighborhoods.

The event, being held this Wednesday at the Coney Island YMCA, will feature the presentation of New York State Assembly proclamations to each honoree highlighting their wide-ranging contributions and achievements.

The celebration will also include cultural performances.

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BIKE STATION RELOCATED DURING ADJACENT CONSTRUCTION: The Citi Bike station currently at Kent Avenue and South 11th Street will have a planned relocation, according to announcements from NYC DOT and Brooklyn Community Board 1, serving North Brooklyn.

The building at 470 Kent Ave., will undergo construction and, as a result, the adjacent Citi Bike station adjacent to the building will be relocated, in accordance with DOT policy to provide replacement sites, to the intersection of Kent and Division avenues, beginning after the turning lane extending south.

The station will be located there for the duration of the construction project, which is expected to take 2.5 to 3 years. Once construction is complete, DOT anticipates returning the Citi Bike station to its original location at South 11th Street.

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VIRTUAL FAIR FOR TENANTS’ RIGHTS: Brooklynites can learn more about their rights at a Virtual Tenant Resource Fair taking place this Thursday, March 31, from 6 to 8 p.m., announced Community Board 16. The NYC Dept. of Housing, Preservation and Development, the St. Nicks Alliance and a group called Communities Resist will present the fair, (for which Zoom information is available through the NYC HPD website: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/hpd/events/index.page) covering the topics of housing protection during COVID-19, rent protection for low-income, rent-regulated senior citizens, veterans and people with disabilities

The Fair will also provide information on the “Housing Connect” process through HPD, and housing-discrimination protections, eviction-protection programs and when to utilize Housing Court.

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INTERFAITH CELEBRATION: The Bridge Multicultural and Advocacy Project, recognizing that Ramadan, Passover and Easter are all observed during April, will host its annual United Interfaith celebration for faith leaders around Flatbush and wider Brooklyn on Sunday evening, April 10. The Interfaith celebration will incorporate religious readings and prayers, and kosher and halal foods.

This year, Ramadan begins on Friday, April 1. Passover begins at sundown on Friday, April 15. Easter falls on Sunday, April 17 for Latin Rite and Protestant Christian denominations; however, Eastern Orthodox Christians will mark Easter a week later, on April 24 (for them, on the first Sunday after first full moon in Spring after Passover).

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IPS NEWS: 14.5 THOUSAND PETITIONS ON FREE JAIL CALLS: Advocates from the New York Connecting Families coalition delivered 14,590 signed petitions to Gov. Kathy Hochul, urging her to allocate $21.6 million in the state’s budget to make prison and jail communication free across New York. Today’s action comes in the midst of budget discussions, with the state Assembly’s proposed state budget released March 14th including $9.9 million to make communication free in New York’s state prisons.

Advocates point out the urgency based on the recent budget proposals from the Governor and Senate, which they say are silent on the issue.

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ASIAN AMERICAN CELEBRATION WITH BROOKLYN NETS: The Brooklyn Nets will celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) during the team’s home game at Barclays Center tonight, March 29, against the Detroit Pistons at 7:30 p.m. Ahead of the game, on Monday, March 28, the Nets were scheduled to host an AAPI Night Market powered by Panda Express, the largest Chinese American restaurant concept in the world, on the SeatGeek Plaza at Barclays Center.

Brooklyn is home to more than 300,000 residents of Asian and Pacific Islander descent and the Nets will honor the many cultures and ethnicities that comprise the AAPI community.

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IPS NEWS: HEARING ON HEALTH CARE REFORMS: Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-12^th District), chair of the committee on Oversight and Reform, will hold a hybrid hearing today, to evaluate the need for reforms that would expand access to affordable health care by taking significant strides toward universal coverage — including proposals to establish a national, single-payer health insurance program, such as Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s Medicare For All Act.

The hearing will also evaluate reforms that would expand access to affordable health care to historically marginalized communities in the United States —including people of color, people with disabilities, members of the LGBTQ+ community, people in rural communities, and move the U.S. toward universal coverage, including the Medicare For All Act.

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IPS NEWS: CENTERING BLACK WOMEN IN POLICYMAKING: The Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls, of which Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-9^th District) is co-chair, has released its report, “An Economy for All: Building a ‘Black Women Best’ Legislative Agenda” a 133-page comprehensive policy framework for how to center Black women at the root of policymaking, to achieve a more equitable and just future for all. The Black Women Best report argues that Black women are among the last to recover from economic downturns and last to benefit during times of economic growth.

The report includes a number of specific policy solutions to close the gaps facing Black women including instituting a guaranteed income, closing the Medicaid gap, and funding community-based organizations to combat the maternal mortality crisis, and a Federal Homes Guarantee.