Good Morning, Brooklyn: Thursday, July 14, 2022

July 14, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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LIQUOR LICENSE SURCHARGE SUSPENDED FOR BUSINESSES: A new law that suspends the city’s liquor license surcharge and puts money back into the pockets of small business owners is getting praise from Mayor Eric Adams and the legislation’s sponsors in City Council. Mayor Adams, along with key sponsors — City Councilmembers Keith Powers and Justin Brannan — pushed for the law, which suspends the city’s 25 percent surcharge businesses pay on state liquor licenses for a year and is retroactively effective June 1, 2022.

The legislation, estimated to help businesses citywide save $6.5 million over the next year, fulfills a key commitment made in Mayor Adams’ “Renew, Rebuild, Reinvent: A Blueprint for New York City’s Economic Recovery” plan that was released earlier this year.

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NY’S SUICIDE AND CRISIS LIFELINE BECOMES FULLY OPERATIONAL: New York’s 988 Suicide And Crisis Lifeline has been successfully implemented, Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Wednesday. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which includes a chat feature via its website (988lifeline.org), will be able to connect people experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis to a trained counselor who can address their immediate needs and help connect them to ongoing care. It will also reduce use of law enforcement, public health, and other safety resources, and meet the growing need for crisis intervention, among other goals.

New York State reports that it has secured full coverage of all 62 counties for the launch of 988, the new three-digit number to call or text to be connected to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

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STATE HEALTH DEPT. STILL REVIEWING QUEST’S MONKEYPOX TEST PLAN: New Yorkers will have to wait longer for Quest Diagnostics to test here for monkeypox, while the rollout for the rest of the U.S. began yesterday, July 13. The medical diagnostics company has developed a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test that uses patient swab specimens to qualitatively detect non-variola orthopoxviruses and monkeypox virus DNA. The service is expected to become available in New York at a later date, pending the New York Department of Health’s review of the laboratory-developed test, according to a story that Quest provided to Cision/PR Newswire.

For more information on the company’s monkeypox testing, visit https://www.questdiagnostics.com/healthcare-professionals/about-our-tests/infectious-diseases/monkeypox. The latest CDC information on monkeypox is available at www.cdc.gov/monkeypox.

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PRE-QUALIFIED LIST FOR MINORITY AND WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESSES: NYC Department of Design and Construction (DDC) Commissioner Thomas Foley yesterday announced the city government’s first Pre-Qualified List (PQL) that is limited to M/WBE (Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprises) general contractors. Firms on the list have the exclusive right to bid on the agency’s general construction projects valued from $500,000 up to $2.99 million. A Pre-Qualified List allows DDC to speed up projects by reducing the time it takes to review vendors’ backgrounds and qualifications prior to awarding construction contracts.

A Pre-Qualified List is a tool for City government procurement in which companies are pre-screened for their ability to complete certain projects, as well as their history of regulatory compliance.

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PROPERTY TAX LEVY AGAIN CAPPED AT TWO PERCENT: Property tax levy growth will again be capped at two percent for Fiscal Year 2023 for local governments that operate on a calendar-based fiscal year, according to data that State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli released yesterday. This figure affects tax cap calculations for all counties, towns, and fire districts, as well as 44 cities and 13 villages.

“Just as local governments are receiving their final round of federal funding under the American Rescue Plan Act, they are facing economic challenges that will likely drive costs higher than expected,” DiNapoli explained.

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ARTIST COMMISSIONED FOR NEW MURAL IN LENAPE PLAYGROUND: The Marine Park Alliance has commissioned local artist Danielle Mastrion, known for her vivid entrance mural for Shirley Chisholm State Park, to paint a mural in Lenape Playground. The commission is part of the Alliance’s initiative to bring more artistry to Marine Park for visitors to enjoy; including the opportunity to see the artist in action.

The Marine Park Alliance assists NYC Parks with a mission to provide cultural, environmental and volunteer programming, hopes to officially unveil the artwork to the public at a date in the near future.