Good Morning, Brooklyn: Monday, April 25, 2022

April 25, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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$59 MILLION FOR CLEAN GREEN SCHOOLS INITIATIVE: Governor Kathy Hochul has made available $59 million in funding for the Clean Green Schools initiative, which will improve indoor air quality and reduce emissions for more than 600 under-resourced public Pre-K-12 schools across the state. All public school buildings across New York State that are designated as high-needs by the New York State Education Department or located in a disadvantaged community will be eligible to participate in the program.

First announced during Climate Week 2021, the initiative was developed with input from education leaders and low carbon building experts and builds onto the Fiscal Year 2023 Budget, including the expanded Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act, as well as New York’s first-in-the-nation requirement for all new school buses to be zero-emission by 2027.

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NABBED FOR GHOST GUN POSSESSION: A Bushwick man who allegedly purchased over $10,000 worth of gun parts online to build illegal, untraceable firearms known as ghost guns, has been arrested and indicted on 37 counts of criminal possession of weapons. Kings County District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said that, following an investigation, members of the New York City Police Department identified Taylor as having ordered numerous ghost gun kits and component parts from various online retailers that were allegedly shipped to the defendant’s address on Eldert Street, and which were recovered when a search warrant was executed at the defendant’s apartment on April 6.

The arrest and arraignment late last week of Dexter Taylor, 51, before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Phyllis Chu, follows the Justice Department’s establishment earlier this month of a new rule to eliminate the scourge of illegal guns across New York City and the U.S.

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ELECTRIC BUSES FOR DEPOT AT EAST NEW YORK: The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) will deploy 60 zero-emission electric buses at six bus depots serving all five boroughs, Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Friday. The Brooklyn depot in East New York has been designated, as it serves more than a dozen bus lines, including the B12, B14, B15, B17, B25, B42, B45, B65, B82, B83, B84, Q24, Q56.

As approximately 75 percent of MTA bus depots in New York City are located in low/moderate-income communities, and transit bus routes run disproportionately through these neighborhoods, the deployment is believed to deepen the MTA’s commitment to equity and environmental justice by prioritizing communities with high asthma and air pollution rates.

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WEEKEND DISRUPTIONS ON J & M SUBWAY LINES: The MTA will also be doing major switch and track work along the J and M lines in Brooklyn and Queens during Spring and Summer 2022 as follows: shuttle buses will replace normal J train service during the Memorial Day weekend, and during the weekends of June 3-5; June 17-19; June 24-26, starting late night on Fridays until 10 p.m. those Sunday nights. Shuttle buses will also provide service on the M train route during the same weekends, plus June 10-12.

This capital project investment will result in safer and more efficient service along the J and M lines.

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DISCUSSION OF SECOND ADA ELEVATOR FOR BROOKLYN SUBWAY STOP: The upcoming construction of the second ADA elevator for the 8th Avenue station on the N line in Brooklyn will be an agenda topic item for the Community Board 10’s Traffic and Transportation Committee, which convenes virtually on Monday May 9. The 7 p.m. meeting, to be livestreamed via – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPueX4MsL5dhnFZ-wqDwvKw, will include a presentation from NYC Transit Authority representatives.

According to the website NYMetro Parents, the ADA elevator in the 8^th Avenue station in Brooklyn serves only the Manhattan-bound platform.

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CAREMAX ENTERING NY HEALTH CARE ARENA, CHOOSES BROWNSVILLE: Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood has been chosen as the first New York location of CareMax, a health care program which will celebrate the grand opening with a ribbon-cutting and tour later today, April 25. Guests at the new East New York Avenue location will be introduced to CareMax’s Whole Person approach to health care. CareMax is partnering with two local organizations in New York to address the need for senior-focused value-based care in urban settings: The Jewish Association Serving the Aging (JASA), providing enhanced social and navigation services; and the Related Companies, under a previously announced agreement, advising CareMax in locating centers within and near affordable senior housing communities to alleviate health care deserts.

A statement from CareMax explains that its model has resulted in a 52 percent improvement in hospital admissions and a 66 percent improvement in emergency room visits, and that their lower doctor-to-patient ratio allows physicians to spend more time with their patients.

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MAKING CITY’S 1-MILLION PLUS BUILDINGS GREENER: New York City Mayor Eric Adams has launched ‘Building Action NYC,’ a new citywide campaign to promote steps to make New York City’s buildings greener and more resilient while fostering a healthier future for the city and New Yorkers. The city’s more than one million buildings — covering more than five billion square feet — constitute the largest source (almost 70 percent) of the city’s emissions. The website https://accelerator.nyc/building-action gives overviews for several categories of New Yorkers: building owners, managers and developers; residential and commercial tenants (who can refer their buildings); industry professionals, such as service provider, architect, builder, capital provider, or other building professional and community organizations.

The work to limit building emissions will be a critical component of the city’s work towards reaching carbon neutrality by 2050.

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BAY RIDGE WOMEN ORGANIZE RELIEF DRIVE FOR UKRAINE: Community Board 10 Member Carmen Feliciano joined women from the Home League, at the Brooklyn Salvation Army HQ to organize a supply drive to help the people of Ukraine. Thanks to outreach and community support, they filled 15 boxes within two weeks with medical supplies blankets, and toiletries.

Members of the Bay Ridge Senior Center, First Evangelical Free Church and Carmen’s knitting group ‘Woven Hearts’ also donated 20 beautiful handmade scarfs and 11 blankets.

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IPS NEWS: SPONSORING NO-COST MAMMOGRAMS: No-cost mammograms will be made available for women ages 40-79, thanks to an event that State Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Council Member Justin Brannan are sponsoring, in conjunction with the American-Italian Cancer Foundation. According to an announcement made through Community Board 10 (serving Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights), a mammogram bus will be located outside Senator Gounardes’ Office, 8018 5th Ave., between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on Friday, May 20.

Appointments are necessary (call 718-238-6044 or 1-877-628-9090) and are open to women residing in NYC whose last mammogram was more than 12 months prior.

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IPS NEWS: PATHWAYS TO CAREERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE: State Senator Zellnor Y. Myrie (D-20/Central Brooklyn) honored Earth Day through the announcement of funding for an innovative partnership to connect young people from New York City to career pathways in climate and environmental science. SUNY’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry and CUNY’s Medgar Evers College will jointly lead this program that will invite students to the Adirondack Park for an innovative summer experience and introduction to environmental and climate science, an exploration of intersectional careers, and addressing systemic issues of access from an equity and justice perspective.

New York’s Adirondack Park was a cradle of the early civil rights movement, dating back to the mid-1800s. Specifically, Timbuctoo, outside of Lake Placid, was the site of an early Black suffrage settlement, one of eight known settlements in the Adirondacks that enabled 3,000 Black men to meet the property requirements granting them the right to vote in New York.

IPS NEWS: TEAMSTERS ENDORSE REP. MALONEY FOR RE-ELECTION: Friday, Teamsters Local 237 has endorsed Congressmember Carolyn B. Maloney for re-election to represent New York’s 12th Congressional District in Congress. “Carolyn Maloney has been a hardworking and effective member of Congress. She knows how to get things done in Washington,” said Gregory Floyd, President, Teamsters Local 237 and Vice President at-Large on the General Board of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Mr. Floyd added of Rep. Maloney, “She has ushered into law countless bills and spearheaded policy initiatives and committee investigations and oversights that have demonstrated not only her responsiveness and understanding of the needs of her constituents, but the needs of all New Yorkers.”