Good Morning, Brooklyn: Friday, April 1, 2022

April 1, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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LUNA PARK SEASON OPENS TOMORROW, APRIL 2: The amusement park season begins earlier than usual this year, as Luna Park in Coney Island opens its gates to the public starting tomorrow, Saturday, April 2. Opening celebrations begin at 11 a.m. with the annual egg cream christening of the Coney Island Cyclone, which turns 95 this year. The following Sunday, April 10, Deno’s Wonder Wheel Amusement Park will follow suit with their decades-long tradition of the “Blessing of the Rides” ceremony on their official opening day of Palm Sunday.

As part of the park’s annual charitable tradition for opening day, Luna Park will host children from three local organizations. Children of Promise, the Coney Island Sharks, and Operation H.O.O.D., to highlight their contributions to the community and support them with donations from opening day proceeds.

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RISES ON LIST OF BEST GRADUATE ENGINEERING SCHOOLS: NYU Tandon School of Engineering has risen 47 positions in the U.S. News and World Report’s annual Best Graduate Engineering Schools rankings. That’s farther and faster than any other school on the list, with the meteoric rise continuing this year with another jump of 3 positions to #33. In the 15 years since New York University and Polytechnic University joined forces to form the foundation of NYU Tandon School of Engineering, the school has also seen major accomplishments, including the development of a new Sustainable Engineering Initiative, a tangible approach to climate change that brings in experts from across the school to focus on engineering for avoidance, mitigation, remediation, and adaptation.

The school’s many accomplishments also include Institute Professor Maurizio Porfiri’s first-ever data science-driven firearms study backed by a $2 million National Science Foundation grant; and the naming of André Taylor, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, among the most inspiring Black Scientists in America.

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Nikhil Gupta
Photo courtesy NYU-Tandon School of Engineering

HONORS FOR NYU TANDON PROFESSOR: Dr. Nikhil Gupta, professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at NYU Tandon School of Engineering, has been elected as a fellow of the Society of ASM International, (formerly the American Society for Metals). Gupta, who is also affiliated with the Department of Civil and Urban Engineering, and the NYU Center for Cybersecurity, received the honor — among the highest in materials engineering — for his pioneering contributions to the science and technology of lightweight polymer and metal matrix composites.

Among Dr. Gupta’s accomplishments are the development of a method that hides secret codes as 3D features in printed parts, but only when printed by a trusted facility, verifying the part’s provenance; co-developing a 3D printing cybersecurity curriculum at NYU Tandon, with a three-year NSF grant; and exploring how lithium-ion batteries can become a sustainable resource, with support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

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NEW CURATORS AT BROOKLYN MUSEUM: The Brooklyn Museum has appointed two new staffers to its Curatorial Affairs team: Ernestine White-Mifetu as Sills Foundation Curator of African Art, and Abigail L. Dansiger as Director of Libraries and Archives. White-Mifetu will be instrumental in developing permanent galleries dedicated to the Museum’s Arts of Africa collection, one of the largest of its kind in the nation. As Director of Libraries and Archives, Dansiger will utilize the Museum’s vast Libraries and Archives to engage the public, advance research, and promote equity by broadening access to information and scholarship. (See page 1.)

Abigail Dansiger’s ties to Brooklyn are already strong, as she says, “I was raised by two proud Brooklynites and lived here myself for 10 years before venturing out West. I am beyond thrilled to return to a city so dear to my heart and join the amazing team at the Brooklyn Museum.”

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FROM DeVRYING PAN INTO THE FIRE?: New York students who attended the now-defunct DeVry University, including at its Montague Street location, are being encouraged to apply for a federal loan discharge if they believe they were deceived by the university when they applied. New York Attorney General Letitia James today sent letters to thousands of former students who attended DeVry University or DeVry/New York, Inc. (DeVry) to encourage them to apply, by submitting claims to the Department Of Education (https://studentaid.gov/borrower-defense/ in a process known as borrower defense to repayment.

State and federal investigations into DeVry found that the university inflated its job placement statistics and salaries in marketing materials to lure students, and the DOE recently started to review and approve federal loan discharge claims made by former students, who are eligible even if they received restitution from prior settlements with DeVry.

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BILL TO UNCLOG RECORDS BACKLOG FOR VETERANS: The Access for Veterans to Records Act, a bill that would help provide resources to address the backlog of requests for records at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), which currently stands at 600,000, was introduced yesterday in Congress. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-12/Northern Brooklyn) who is Chair of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, introduced the legislation which would, if passed, help expedite the processing of veterans’ records requests, require the National Archives and Records Administration to submit a plan for eliminating the backlog to the above-named House Committee and the Senate within 60 days of the enactment of the bill, and other stipulations.

National Personnel Records Center houses records — most of which are not digitized — that are essential for veterans to receive service-related benefits, including medical treatment, unemployment assistance, and emergency housing services.

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HONORING TRANSGENDER DAY OF VISIBILITY: Brooklyn Borough Hall, City Hall and other municipal buildings in Queens and the Bronx were lit light blue, pink, and white Thursday night to commemorate International Transgender Day of Visibility, per a directive from Mayor Eric Adams. The observance is considered an important occasion on which to celebrate all transgender people and to acknowledge that many continue to face discrimination, violence, and harassment.

Interestingly, Brooklyn Borough Hall was lit in blue only; and Staten Island’s Borough Hall was not on the list of participating buildings.

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PUBLIC WORKSHOP ON POTENTIAL PLAZA: NYC DOT and FAB Fulton invite all neighbors to join the first public workshop tomorrow, April 2, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. to discuss the design and programming of the potential plaza space on Gates Avenue between Fulton Street and Vanderbilt Avenue. Participants are welcome to stop by to meet DOT staff, review design proposals, complete a survey, and leave comments.

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NEW DISTRICT MAPS RULED UNCONSTITUTIONAL: A judge has ordered New York’s Democratic-controlled Legislature to redraw the state’s congressional and legislative district maps after finding they were unconstitutional, reported the Associated Press late yesterday. Steuben County Surrogate’s Court Judge Patrick McAllister ruled that maps redrawing the state’s congressional districts were gerrymandered to benefit Democrats, and he ordered those districts to be redrawn, along with the legislative districts, in a manner that receives bipartisan support. (See page 1.)

Judge McAllister set an April 11 deadline for the redrawn maps. Meanwhile, leaders in the state legislature vowed to appeal the ruling.

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CITY SUES ONE OF WORST LANDLORDS: The city has filed a lawsuit against Moshe Piller, a building owner who has amassed more than 1,900 violations across 15 buildings he owns throughout Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx, announced Mayor Eric Adams yesterday. Piller has been identified as one the city’s worst landlords — ranking number 28 on the New York City public advocate’s 2021 “Worst Landlord Watchlist” — and has been criticized by numerous tenant organizations, including the Flatbush Tenant Coalition and the South Bronx Tenants Movement. The city’s lawsuit seeks to compel Piller to repair his properties or face tens of millions in civil penalties.

Similar conditions were found to exist at 730-760 Rogers Ave. (also known as 155 Linden Boulevard) in Brooklyn for which more than 200 violations have been issued from the Housing Preservation and Development, the Dept. of Buildings and the Fire Department/New York, for situations such as broken doors that should be self-closing to contain fires, illegally converted units, installation of gas and water lines without a permit and cracked masonry.

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STREET CO-NAMING FOR PILLAR OF COMMUNITY: A street co-naming at Butler and Bond streets today will honor the memory of Rita Saunders, during her lifetime a pillar of the Gowanus community. After her parents died when she was just 17, Rita stepped up to take care of her six siblings, petitioning to become their legal guardian when she became of age and raising them as her own. And then she treated the wider neighborhood as her family, running food banks for anyone who needed a meal, helping merchants secure their storefronts, intervening in street fights and opening her home to displaced persons.

When Rita’s, sister, Sheila was collecting petition signatures for the renaming, neighbors lined up around the block eager to participate.