Good Morning, Brooklyn: Wednesday, June 15, 2022

June 15, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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CONVENING PARTNERS IN COMMUNITY HEALTH: Brooklyn Communities Collaborative (BCC), a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing health, wealth and local leadership in Brooklyn, on Monday hosted its first convening event, “Connecting Partners, Strengthening Communities” at Medgar Evers College. The daylong event connected BCC’s partners with citywide health care experts to discuss health equity, economic opportunity, and other challenges facing the borough.

The inaugural conference featured a special fireside chat between LaRay Brown, CEO of One Brooklyn Health System, and Kenneth E. Gibbs, President and CEO of Maimonides Health, with a focus on ways to increase procurement commitments to minority- and women-owned businesses and enterprises’ designated suppliers.

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NYPD BROOKLYN SOUTH ANNUAL MEMORIAL MASS: The Most Reverend Robert Brennan, Bishop of Brooklyn, will be the main celebrant of the NYPD Patrol Borough Brooklyn South’s Annual Memorial Mass today at 11:00 a.m. at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, located at 7201-15th Ave. in Bensonhurst. The Mass is dedicated to the members of the service who lost their lives in the line of duty within the confines of the precincts of Patrol Borough Brooklyn South. The memorial Mass will include a reading of the List of Heroes.

Monsignor Robert Romano, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe, is an Assistant Chief Chaplain of the New York City Police Department.

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G TRAIN MAINTENANCE ON FASTRACK: Riders of the G train will have to deal with disruptions and alternate service starting next Monday, June 20, when service on this line is suspended weeknights from 9:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. The MTA has announced that maintenance, cleaning, and repair work will be performed along the G line as part of NYC Transit’s FASTRACK program. Such work typically entails removing debris from tracks, repairing or replacing tie blocks and running rails, cleaning and removing debris from under and around the third rail; performing general maintenance on signals and switches, optimizing performance of closed-circuit television monitors and cameras, and inspecting and testing public address system equipment; and station maintenance, such as elevator and escalator repairs.

Between June 20 and the project’s scheduled July 8 conclusion, F trains will make G train stops between Bergen St. and Church Ave., and that free shuttle buses are being provided between Court Square in Queens and Jay St – MetroTech in Downtown Brooklyn, to connect customers with F train service.

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COMMUNITY BOARD MEETINGS RETURN TO IN-PERSON: Starting tonight, June 15, Brooklyn Community Board 2 is returning to in-person board and committee meetings, now that the Executive Order during the COVID state of emergency expired yesterday. Tonight’s ULURP Public Hearing & Land Use Meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m., will have no remote option; the same is true for these committee meetings: Transportation & Public Safety, 6 p.m. on Thursday, June 16; Youth, Education & Cultural Affairs, 6 p.m. on Wednesday, June 22; Executive Committee, 6 p.m. on Monday, June 27, all at BKLYN Studios Event Space @ City Point (entrance at 300 Flatbush Ave. Extension, SW corner of Flatbush Ave. & Willoughby St.), which has a seating capacity of 500 and 700 standing capacity.

During July and August, Community Boards will be on summer recess citywide.

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GUILTY VERDICT IN SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF MINOR: A federal jury in Brooklyn yesterday, following a week-long trial,, returned a guilty verdict against a teacher, Jonathan Deutsch on four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and six counts of attempted sexual exploitation of a minor. Until his arrest, Deutsch was a teacher at Leon M. Goldstein High School for the Sciences.

United States District Judge Frederic Block will preside over the sentencing which would be a minimum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment.

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MUNICIPAL RETIREES RALLY TO KEEP CURRENT HEALTH COVERAGE: Municipal retirees and elected officials will rally near City Hall Park in Manhattan on Thursday, urging Mayor Eric Adams to drop his court appeal to privatize their Medicare plan. Retirees will deliver a blown-up letter signed by two dozen city and state elected officials calling on Mayor Adams to halt all efforts to force retirees off their traditional Medicare into a privatized Medicare Advantage program, which, according to a recent federal study, routinely denies coverage for medically-necessary treatments.

The Adams Administration is appealing a court ruling that currently prohibits the City from charging retirees stiff monthly premiums to keep their current Medicare coverage. If the city wins its appeal, a quarter-million retirees would be forced into a Medicare Advantage plan that would impose prior authorization requirements for commonplace medical procedures.

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BROOKLYNITES ATTAIN ACADEMIC HONORS AT SUNY POTSDAM: The State University of New York at Potsdam recently named several graduating seniors from Brooklyn to its President’s List, in recognition of their academic excellence during the Spring 2022 semester. The students, their zip codes and majors are: Kayann Williams (11203), majoring in Graphic Design and New Media; Aysha Benjamin (11233), majoring in Theatre; Shaneese London (also from 11233), majoring in Speech Communication; Nyree Chrispin Harris (11234), majoring in Dance; and, also from 11234, Ashanae Maxwell, majoring in Community Health; Cheyenne Sybblis, majoring in Business Administration; Gerdine Elie (11205), majoring in Psychology; Aliaksandra Reutovich (11229), majoring in Biology (11229); Lenaya Sharp, (11236), majoring in Psychology; and Kayla Mcdonald (11239), majoring in Psychology

A number of rising seniors and juniors also made the President’s List, which requires a GPA of 3.5 or higher.

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STUDENTS WEAR LIME IN BENEFIT FOR CLASSMATE: Our Lady of Grace Catholic Academy in Gravesend hosted a “Wear Lime Green” donation dress-down day on Tuesday to show their support and raise money for 7th grader Marco Wiley, who has recently been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. The fundraiser included the sale of desserts and treats donated by Frost-A-Cake, and a basketball tournament for the students of grades 4-8, featuring a Free Throw and Three-Point contest.

Financial donations to support Marco’s family and cover medical expenses are still being accepted and can be made by sending a check payable to Our Lady of Grace Catholic Academy in Brooklyn with “Marco” written on the envelope, or through Venmo @OurladyofGraceschool-AlumniAss.

Schoolmates of 7th grader Marco Wiley took part in a basketball tournament as part of a fundraiser on his behalf.
Photo courtesy DeSales Media

The dessert treat table.
Photo courtesy DeSales Media

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IPS NEWS: COLTON OUTRAGED AT BUDGET CUT TO SCHOOLS: Assemblymember William Colton (D-47 – Gravesend, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, and Dyker Heights) is “outraged” that the city’s new Fiscal 2023 budget cuts $215m in funding for the public schools, even as the State Education Budget has provided a historic $2.1 billion increase, with a $600 million increase was allocated toward the NYC schools. Colton asserted these cuts will prevent mandated reduced class sizes and expansion of gifted and remedial programs.

Colton, a former educator, declared, “It is unacceptable to have cuts in school budget in a year when the state has given $600 million aid to NYC schools. Therefore, I demand that this historic state school budget aid must reach our classrooms.”

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IPS NEWS: COMPTROLLER LANDER ALSO DENOUNCES SCHOOL CUT: City Comptroller Brad Lander echoed the school budget cuts in his remarks”: “Our schools have endured the hardest two years and need every penny to provide the social, emotional, and academic supports that all our students deserve this summer and fall. Yet the DOE is making cuts, totaling in the millions, to individual school budgets — despite the fact that they have several billion dollars in unspent federal stimulus funds.”

Lander said that while the city needs to address enrollment declines and should revisit the Fair Student Funding formula, schools should not be forced to implement sharp cuts to their budgets this summer.

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IPS NEWS: MAYOR RELEASES BLUEPRINT TO TACKLE HOUSING CRISIS: New York City Mayor Eric Adams has released ‘Housing Our Neighbors: A Blueprint for Housing and Homelessness,’ his comprehensive blueprint to tackle New York City’s affordable housing crisis and get New Yorkers into safe, high-quality, affordable homes. Crafted in direct collaboration and coordination with New Yorkers who have experienced homelessness, Mayor Adams’ plan represents the first city housing plan to build on the creation and preservation of affordable housing with transformative reforms for the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), as well as the elimination of paperwork and processes that retraumatize New Yorkers and families as they find a home they can afford.

The blueprint is the result of an extensive stakeholder, industry, and community engagement process, which, for the first time, included direct engagement with New Yorkers who are experiencing or having experienced homelessness, and outlines major steps the Adams administration will take.