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Good Morning, Brooklyn: Monday, May 23, 2022

May 23, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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LUNA PARK AWARDS FUNDS TO 3 YOUTH-CENTERED CHARITIES: Today, Luna Park in Coney Island hosted a check presentation ceremony to benefit three local Brooklyn charities — all of which benefit Brooklyn’s youth — as a result of the 2022 Opening Day sales. Children of Promise, NYC in Bedford-Stuyvesant (Bed-Stuy), Brooklyn, which assists children of incarcerated parents and empower them to build brighter futures; the Coney Island Sharks, which offers a free athletics program that also incorporates life skills through mentoring and tutoring; and Operation H.O.O.D. (Helping Our Own Develop) Cure Violence Initiative in Coney Island identifies and mediates conflicts among high-risk youth, will each receive $25,000.00 from Luna Park in Coney Island which will go towards supporting their respective programs.

Luna Park in Coney Island officially opened for the 2022 Season on April 2 and proceeds from all wristband sales made on Opening Day will support these three local organizations as Luna Park continues to highlight their important contributions to the Brooklyn community.

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DCP: 3 MILLION NEW YORKERS LIVE NEAR WATERFRONT: Department of City Planning (DCP) Director Dan Garodnick today released Assessing New Yorkers’ Access to NYC’s Waterfront, a report that chronicles which waterfront communities offer good public access to the shore and those where access is more limited – and an update to DCP’s Waterfront Access Map. Using detailed walkability and transit analyses, the report found nearly three million New Yorkers live within a half-mile of the waterfront and that approximately two million of them live within walking distance of a waterfront park or open space. The remainder, about 800,000 people, do not.

The report also found that more than 80% of New York City’s 8.5 million residents are just a 30-minute bus or subway ride away from the waterfront.

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MEETING WILL UPDATE ON OCEAN SIDE FERRY STATUS: Assemblymember Mathylde Frontus (D-46^th District/Coney Island/Seagate) and Coney Islanders for an Ocean Side Ferry are co–sponsoring a public meeting tomorrow, May 24, to provide updates to the communities of Coney Island and Sea Gate on the status of the ferry project and creek-related news. In late 2021, the de Blasio administration’s plans to run a ferry to Coney Island from Manhattan’s financial district was stopped after local residents observed the city’s Economic Development Corporation’s (EDC) dredging contractor breaking numerous permit safety violations. The permit included conditions intended to protect the local environment from risks inherent in handling toxic dredge spoils.

Tomorrow’s meeting, at PS 329 in Coney Island (2929 West 30th Street, between Mermaid & Surf Aves.), various speakers will be giving an update on the delays, which included a projection that the ferry service would begin late in 2022, at the soonest.

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PUBLIC ADVOCATE’S OFFICE GOES REMOTE AGAIN: As COVID cases again rise and the city moves to a “high” COVID-alert level, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams is moving his office to remote work for the next 30 days to prevent another onslaught of COVID. He is also calling on all other government officials to do the same where practical.

“In addition to working remotely, New Yorkers should be strongly encouraged to wear masks indoors to prevent further spread of this highly contagious variant,” said Williams, adding, “We must reduce our burden on the already over-taxed health care system and prevent further restrictions and losses; in life and economic.”

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BROOKLYN BUNDLE II HOUSING REVITALIZED: A $434 million full-scale revitalization of nine public housing developments across Brooklyn has been completed, under the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program, Mayor Eric Adams announced on Friday. Known as the Brooklyn Bundle II, the nine public housing developments span 37 buildings and over 2,600 apartments, which are home to more than 6,000 NYCHA residents.

Property managers are the PACT partner team, which includes the Arker Companies, Omni New York, LLC, Dabar Development Partners, and the Bedford- Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation.

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SCHOLARSHIPS FOR BROWNSVILLE STUDENT: The Lois E. Rochford $1,000 Scholarship Award application process is open to students residing in Brownsville or East New York. The scholarship, which memorializes the Senior Executive Pastor & First Lady of New Life Cathedral in Brownsville, is open to students who have a minimum 2.5 GPA or 80 average, are enrolling in a degree or vocational program, and submit a short essay on the topic “How will you use your education to give back to the community?”

A Brooklyn native, Lois Elaine Rochford was raised in Brownsville, graduated from Midwood High School, furthered her education at CUNY’s Baruch and York Colleges, eventually becoming an entrepreneur. She died of cancer in 2014.

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ENACTING CENTRAL BROOKLYN: The Center for Brooklyn History presents “Enacting Central Brooklyn,” an in-person theatrical experience that gives voice to the lives of Central Brooklynites, past and present. Drawing its inspiration from oral histories from Center for Brooklyn History’s collections, the writings of participants from Center for Black Literatures’ Writing Workshop for Elders at Medgar Evers College, and the poetry of current Medgar Evers students, “Enacting Central Brooklyn” reflects on childhood, memory, injustice, generosity, police brutality and protection, and the meaning of community. (RSVP Link)

During May and June the Center for Brooklyn History at 128 Pierrepont St. opens its doors for limited, live programs, before renovations to the ground floor begin. Grand reopening of the building will take place later this year.

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IPS NEWS: REIMBURSEMENT FOR MENTAL HEALTH PATIENTS: New York Attorney General Letitia James has announced the completion of $13.6 million in payments to consumers who were denied mental health care coverage under her landmark agreement with United Healthcare, the nation’s largest health insurer. The payments, a result of an agreement that Attorney General James reached in August 2021 that resolves her federal lawsuit against United for illegally denying coverage of outpatient psychotherapy for thousands of members, total $13.6 million nationwide, with almost $8 million to more than 20,000 New Yorkers with behavioral health conditions who received denials or reductions in reimbursement.

New York and federal law requires health insurance plans to cover mental health and substance use disorder treatment the same way they cover physical health treatment.

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IPS NEWS —WILLIAMS: HOLDING POLICE ACCOUNTABLE: New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams today called on the New York Police Department to ensure that its training, signage, and internal policies are fully in compliance with the Right to Record Act, legislation he passed in 2020 codifying New Yorkers’ right to safely record police officer activity. The Right to Record Act codified into local law a person’s right to record New York City police officers or peace officers acting in their official capacity, from a safe distance and while not interfering with police activity.

This new inquiry from the Public Advocate comes after reporting that then-61 year old Ms. Patricia Rodney was forcibly detained, and her arm broken, in December of 2020 after saying she would record officers’ activity while at the 62nd precinct. There have also been additional public discussions in recent months about the right to record being questioned or impeded in street encounters.

IPS NEWS — COLTON ASSERTS SHELTERS DO NOT END HOMELESSNESS: Assemblymember William Colton (D-47^th District/ Gravesend, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, and Dyker Heights) last Thursday held what he called “a very successful zoom meeting” with updates regarding homeless shelters at 137 Kings Highway and 2147 Bath Avenue. He reported on a meeting with Mayor Adams earlier this year, in which Colton said “the community is united and that we will not give up until this project is officially terminated.”

“Homeless shelters are not a solution as they do not help end homelessness but do harm the quality of life. Affordable housing is what these people need. The City Administration is basically warehousing homeless people; these shelters are not supervised. Homeless shelters are money-making machines for the developers and operators,” Colton added.