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Good Morning, Brooklyn: Wednesday, August 3, 2022

August 3, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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MISSING CHILD: Aunisty (“Aunee”) Elliott, 14-year-old girl, with brown eyes and brown hair, 5’-5”, was last seen on 07-27-2022, near Prospect Place (Crown Heights), within Brooklyn Community District 9. She was wearing a black t-shirt displaying a pink background with yellow letters, “The Fresh Senior” MYS 2022 on the front, blue jeans, and the slippers shown above.

Please call 911 if you see her; or call Detective Coates at 718-735-0610 or 917-523-9696.

Aunistry (Aunee) Elliott, last seen in Crown Heights
Photo credit: NYPD

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INVESTIGATE AIRLINE CANCELLATION/DELAY RATES: The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) must take action to address the widespread airline cancelations and delays, which have disrupted travel plans for millions of consumers nationwide, urges State Attorney General Letitia James. New York City’s area airports have endured the highest summer cancelation rates in the U.S., with LaGuardia ranking second, after Newark Liberty

Attorney General James reported that, during the first half of 2022, 2.8 percent of flights were canceled, a 33 percent increase from the same time in 2019.

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SALVATION ARMY IN BROOKLYN OFFERS FREE COOLING CENTER: New Yorkers should prepare for dangerous heat conditions impacting all five boroughs and many regions throughout the State, tomorrow, Thursday, August 4. High temperatures and humidity will cause heat index values to reach or exceed 100 degrees, which could cause heat stroke in some medically vulnerable persons.

The Salvation Army Greater New York has teamed up with the New York City Emergency Management to offer a free cooling center at its Brooklyn Bedford Corps Community Center, 701 Lafayette Avenue, on Thursday and Friday, August 4-5.

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NEW LIDL SUPERMARKET FOR PARK SLOPE: Park Slope will get a new supermarket to replace the former Key Food at Fifth Avenue and Sterling Place that closed last August. The William Macklowe Company and Senlac Ridge Partners—joint developers who last year bought the site at 120 Fifth Avenue, have signed a 25,000‐square‐foot lease with Lidl US to operate a new community supermarket as a centerpiece of the residential project. The new Lidl supermarket in Park Slope will fully adhere to the provisions of a Cooperation/Community Benefits Agreement executed by the owners of 120 5th Avenue and the Community Stakeholder Group, comprised of ten leading local civic organizations, including the Boerum Hill Association, Fifth Avenue Committee, the Park Slope BID, the Park Slope Civic Council and the Park Slope BID. in 2017.

Based in Arlington, Virginia, with 25 stores in New York State, Lidl has gained an outstanding reputation for fresh, high‐quality food at affordable prices and has gained ranking as a “Top 5 U.S. Grocer” in USA Today’s 2021 and 2022 10 Best Readers’ Choice Awards.

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BROOKLYN MERCHANT SELLS WINNING TAKE 5 TICKET: Thriftway Church Ave Drug Corp at 1621 Church Avenue in Prospect Park South is one of two New York merchants that sold one of the top-prize winning tickets sold for the August 2 Take 5 Evening drawing, the other store being on Queens Blvd in Forest Hills. TAKE 5 numbers are drawn from a field of one through 39, with two televised daily drawings, at 2:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.

The winning ticket in Brooklyn is worth $12,574.00. Winners have one year from the date of the drawing to claim their prizes.

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PUBLIC ADVOCATE TO CITY: ADOPT LASTING HYBRID WORK: New York City must find a way to embrace a hybrid work model as the “new normal, writes Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who has stated this need in an Op Ed published in today’s edition of the New York Daily News. Williams pointed out that workers are leaving municipal jobs “an alarming rate” during the latest COVID waves, and that private employers, having already adapted to offer hybrid and remote work models, are luring away New York’s top talent, leading to a major vacancy in municipal jobs.

Williams added that his office is working on legislation to require that a detailed analysis be conducted of municipal positions, identifying areas where hybrid models are feasible and urgently implementing them where possible. “While clearly not all municipal jobs have the potential for hybrid work — emergency services, sanitation, mass transit and others will always require a physical presence, as will most public education jobs — exploring and enabling hybrid systems wherever possible is essential for a safer city and stronger workforce.

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FORMER PRISON OFFICER CHARGED WITH SMUGGLING: A former correctional officer with the United States Bureau of Prisons has been charged with attempting to provide contraband to prison inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. As alleged in the complaint, Monk worked as a correctional officer at the MDC from May 2020 until he resigned on April 18, 2022. Three days before he resigned, on April 15, MDC staff learned that Monk was supposed to be paid $10,000 by inmates to smuggle contraband, specifically drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, into the MDC and leave it in a staff restroom.

Arrested Tuesday morning, Jeremy Monk was scheduled to make his initial appearance in the afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Vera M. Scanlon.

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SPECIAL MEETING CONVENED ON PLANS FOR WILLOUGHBY, GATES AVENUES: Intense public interest has spurred a special meeting of Community Board 2’s Transportation & Public Safety Committee next Tuesday regarding the survey results on the Willoughby Avenue Open Street and the Gates Avenue Shared Street and Pedestrian Plaza proposal. Last December, DOT had implemented a series of traffic-calming measures along this corridor which included curb extensions to assist pedestrians, mid-block traffic calming to enforce a 5MPH advisory speed limit, and new traffic signage for the Willoughby Avenue corridor, the longest Open Street in Brooklyn Community District 2, and the only one operating 24/7.

The Committee will engage in further discussions regarding the Gates Avenue Plaza design proposed by the DOT and FAB Fulton, as well as the extended DOT Shared Street Proposal, with a 45-minute limit for the public commentary section.

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GUN MANUFACTURER SUBPOENAED: Smith & Wesson Brands’ president and CEO has been subpoenaed for his refusal to cooperate with the Congressional Committee on Oversight and Reform, on the company’s manufacture and sale of guns. Committee Chair, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-12/northern Brooklyn), rebuked CEO Mark P. Smith in her notification letter to him, excerpted here: “Despite the enormous harm inflicted by your product, your company informed the Committee that it makes no effort to track or monitor injury, deaths, or crimes associated with the AR-15-style rifles you manufacture, even though this data is included in a tracing process run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.”

The letter also pointed out that, “…Despite these horrific mass shootings, Smith & Wesson’s marketing campaigns have consistently contained dangerous themes and messages. As shown in the Committee’s July 27, 2022 memorandum, your advertisements emphasize the AR-15-style rifle’s military roots and seek to appeal to consumers’ masculinity.”

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INVESTMENT IN NEW HEAT PUMPS FOR NYCHA HOUSING: The New York City public housing facilities could soon get new heat pump units, now that NYCHA, the New York Power Authority and New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) are moving forward with the Clean Heat for All Challenge. The program is made possible through a planned $70 million initial investment in the development and production of 30,000 new heat pump units.

Last week, the NYPA Board of Trustees awarded the funding through two seven-year contracts to Midea America and Gradient for the development and delivery of cold climate packaged window heat pump units.

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‘PINT FOR A PINT’ DRIVE: GIVE BLOOD, GET BEER: The Brooklyn Brewery, Haley’s Comets at the Greenhouse Café are among the Breweries participating in the New York Blood Center’s “Pint for a Pint” campaign, which runs from August 1 through September 10, at all donor centers and community blood drives (https://donate.nybc.org/donor/schedules/zip). As a part of this campaign, all presenting blood donors will receive a voucher to redeem a free pint of beer, cider, wine, or soft drink at their local participating brewery or restaurant.

The heat wave, summer vacations, and never-ending COVID impact have all contributed to a dramatic decrease in donations in July. There were 2,500 fewer blood donors as compared to pre-pandemic.

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BRIEF FILED TO PROTECT DIVERSITY IN COLLEGE ADMISSIONS PRACTICES: New York Attorney General Letitia James and a coalition of 20 attorneys general have filed a multi-state amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reject a request to overturn a four-decade precedent that encourages diversity in college admissions practices. The precedent has allowed higher education institutions to consider race or ethnicity as part of holistic admissions processes. The brief, filed in the cases Students For Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College and Students For Fair Admissions, Inc v. University of North Carolina, urges the court to reaffirm its prior rulings that found a holistic race-conscious admissions policy is constitutional and helps promote the educational benefits of diversity.

The brief highlights disparities that reversing this precedent will exacerbate, citing as an example the disproportionally low number of Black physicians to the populations they serve, and the need for more Black and under-represented communities to be able to pursue medical, law or other professional degrees.

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CAMBA AWARDED $9.9 MILLION TO BUILD PERMANENT HOUSING: CAMBA Housing Ventures, Inc. & CAMBA, Inc. was awarded $9.9 million from New York State to develop 146 units of permanent supportive housing in Brooklyn, Governor Kathy Hochul announced yesterday. Supported through the state’s Homeless Housing and Assistance Program, these projects include developments that will create an additional 332 units serving the elderly, individuals with a history of substance-use disorder, individuals with developmental disabilities, young adults and those suffering from serious mental illness.

Part of a $31.5 million in state funding, CAMBA’s is among those seven projects that will provide permanent supportive housing to New Yorkers experiencing homelessness.

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CRACKDOWN ON FOREIGN-BASED ROBOCALLS: New York Attorney General Letitia James is cracking down on rampant robocalls, particularly those originating outside the U.S. She and a coalition of 50 attorneys general are forming a nationwide, bipartisan Anti-Robocall Litigation Taskforce to investigate and take legal action against telecommunications companies responsible for enabling a majority of foreign robocalls into the United States, and to cut down on illegal robocalls, such as scammers impersonating government agencies or well-known companies made to consumers nationwide.

The Task Force has issued 20 civil investigative demands to 20 gateway providers and other entities that are allegedly responsible for a majority of foreign robocall traffic. Gateway providers that bring foreign traffic into the U.S. telephone network have a responsibility to ensure the traffic is legal, but the coalition says these providers are not taking sufficient action to stop robocall traffic.

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BUDGET UPDATE SHOWS NY BOLSTERING RESERVE FUNDS: The first quarterly update to the Fiscal Year 2023 Enacted Budget Financial Plan has been released from Governor Kathy Hochul’s office. The Plan update reflects clear signs of economic distress in the national economy, which trickles down to the State economy; but the State has continued to strengthen reserve funds that serve as a bulwark against precipitous service cuts or tax increases during an economic downturn.

At the close of Fiscal Year 2022, the State’s principal reserves totaled nearly $9 billion. Over the next three years, additional deposits of $10.4 billion will bring reserves to $19.4 billion, equal to 15 percent of State Operating Funds spending.

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SENIOR COUPONS FOR FARMERS MARKETS: Starting this week, the Department for the Aging’s network of community-based partners will begin distributing Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program coupons to more than 40,000 eligible older New Yorkers across the five boroughs. The coupons with a $25 value can be exchanged for locally grown fresh fruit and vegetables at farmers markets and farm stands.

Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program coupons will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis and is open to all eligible older adults, at least age 60 with incomes at certain tiers depending on size of household.

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FROM BROOKLYN TO ISRAEL: TOYS AND A NEW HOSPITAL PLAYROOM: Brooklyn and Israel have always shared a bond, and it was bolstered on Tuesday with the ribbon cutting for a Pediatric Playroom, an oasis of video games, books, and toys for patients and their families, at the Assuta Ashdod Hospital south of Tel Aviv. Making this Playroom possible is Brooklyn-based JJ Hecht II, president of Toys for Simcha, an extension of Toys for Hospitalized Children, the non-profit established by his grandfather, known occasionally as Rabbi JJ.; and by Lillian & Solomon Barnathan, Stewart Rahr, Deborah & Asher Zamir, all of New York, and designed by Shaya Shor www.yeshayashor.com. Now, in this kid-friendly space, young patients and their families can find some joy in this light-filled playroom, featuring a video game corner, a reading library, a foosball table, a play kitchen, and toys or tech for toddlers to teens.

Rabbi JJ (Jacob J.) Hecht, who lived from 1924-1990, was the assistant and translator of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Shneerson (the Lubavitcher Rebbe), and a leading Chabad rabbi, educator, writer and radio commentator.

A Brooklyn non-profit helped create this new Playroom at Assuta Ashdod Hospital near Tel Aviv, Israel.
Photo credit: Toys for Simcha

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BROOKLYN JESUIT PREP’S 10K STEPS EVENT CELEBRATES PARTNERSHIP WITH CONNECTICUT SCHOOL: Brooklyn Jesuit Prep and Fairfield University celebrated their partnership last week, with a kick-off walk last week on the scenic East Flatbush campus for the school’s 10,000 Steps for BJP event. The University community gathered at the Egan Chapel of St. Ignatius of Loyola Plaza, with visiting Brooklyn Jesuit Prep students.

Students from Brooklyn Jesuit Prep were on campus for the month of July for a three-week Summer Leadership Academy that Fairfield University holds annually. The leadership camp builds upon students’ academic work and offers enrichment, outdoor sports and activities, leadership skill development, community building across grade levels, and the opportunity to experience life on a college campus.