Good Morning, Brooklyn: Wednesday, September 28, 2022

September 28, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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TWO OF THREE ASSAILANTS IN CHURCH ROBBERY ARRESTED, ARRAIGNED IN COURT: Two men involved in an armed robbery at a church in Brooklyn have been arrested and are scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Ramon E. Reyes, Jr. Defendants identified as Juwan Anderson and Say-Quan Pollack a/k/a Say-Quan Pollock, as well as a third co-conspirator (still unapprehended), on July 24 entered a church where a worship service was in process, and snatched jewelry from the pastor and his wife.

Earlier today, US Attorney also asked the court to give permanent detention to Pollack on the grounds that he was considered dangerous and a flight risk.

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HOSPITAL SYSTEM MUST COMMIT TO HEALTH EQUITY IN BROOKLYN AND QUEENS, SAYS HEALTH DEPT: The NY State Health Department is requiring a hospital system to spend $50 million on health care in Brooklyn and Queens in order to open an $8.4 million heart transplant center in Manhattan, in what is considered a provocative flex of executive power, The health department outlined the requirement in a July 14 letter to NewYork-Presbyterian’s Weill Cornell Center, received through the Freedom of Information Act. Although the department’s Public Health and Health Planning Council had in June voted to recommend approval of the project subject to certain conditions, the July 14 approval letter added a major new condition – that NewYork-Presbyterian must demonstrate “its commitment to health equity in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens,” specifically by forming a partnership with the One Brooklyn Health hospital system or another local provider “to expand access to primary care and cardiology specialty care.”

The letter states NewYork-Presbyterian must also invest $50 million over five years “in primary care physician and advanced practice provider recruitment, program development and network expansion” in Brooklyn and Queens.

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INNOVATIVE SENSORY GYM OPENS FOR CHILDREN WITH LEARNING CHALLENGES: The Brooklyn Kindergarten Society along with members of the New York City Council, launched the first-of-its-kind sensory gym to help children in Central Brooklyn with learning differences and developmental delays, including Autism Spectrum Disorder. The Sensory Gym represents an exciting new therapeutic intervention that provides children from NYCHA housing developments and under-resourced communities access to occupational, physical, and speech therapies that focuses on supporting children with learning differences, and developmental delays, and help with the early identification of children on the Autism Spectrum for BKS’ pre-k students.

Brooklyn Kindergarten Society is a Community Based Organization that operates 7 early childhood educational centers throughout the Central Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bedford Stuyvesant, Brownsville, and Crown Heights has provided high-quality early education and enriching experiences to families throughout Brooklyn for 131 years.

Brooklyn Kindergarten Society’s Sensory Gym. Photo: Brooklyn Kindergarten Society.

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62 MILLION FREE COVID TESTS DISTRBUTED IN NY: The NYC Test & Treat Corps’ At-home Test Distribution Program has distributed 62 million free at-home tests to New Yorkers, approximately seven at-home tests for every City resident, the agency announced today. The program’s network of over 1,200 distribution partners — which include City libraries, NYC Parks facilities, cultural institutions and community- and faith-based organizations — have established distribution sites in 88 percent of New York City zip codes. New Yorkers can find the at-home test distribution location most convenient to them and site hours of operation by visiting the City’s COVID-19 testing page.

The network includes all neighborhoods that the City’s Taskforce on Racial Inclusion & Equity (TRIE) determined were hardest hit by the pandemic.

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RALLIES URGE CITY TO COMPLETE SEWER UPGRADES: Sewer lines along 10^th Avenue in Dyker Heights must be completed without further delay, says U.S. Rep Nicole Malliotakis (R-11^th District/southwestern Brooklyn) and a member of the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure. Yesterday Rep. Malliotakis joined local officials to urge the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) and City Hall to finish this project with funding provided through the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

A separate rally with State Senator Andrew Gounardes, City Councilmember Brannan and Community Board 10 District Manager Josephine Beckmann also took place yesterday. Read more here.

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SENTENCING FOR LANDLORD IN FATAL FIRE: The owner of an illegally subdivided Flatbush apartment building has been sentenced to six months in jail and five years’ probation in connection with a fatal two-alarm fire in December 2019 that left one tenant dead and six others injured. Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez identified the defendant as Evener Leon, 63, of Flatbush who was convicted in May following a bench trial. Evidence showed that Leon owned 1776 Nostrand Avenue, a three-story, two-family dwelling with a commercial space that had no gas or heat, and with a third-floor apartment divided into four illegal apartments, and occupied by a total of seven adults and four children.

A July 2022 Google Maps image shows that the building at 1776 Nostrand Ave. with construction shed bearing the name of a company and a website referring enquirers to the NYC Department of Buildings.

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PREVAILING WAGES OWED TO WORKERS ON CITY-FUNDED PROJECTS: More than 1300 workers are entitled to payments totaling nearly $3 million from prevailing wage settlements with several companies that worked on City-funded projects, City Comptroller Brad Lander announced yesterday. Prevailing wage laws require employers to pay workers a wage and benefit rate set annually by the New York City Comptroller, when those employees work on City public works projects in construction, such as renovating public schools, or building service contracts, which includes security guard and custodial work.

The Comptroller’s Office Bureau of Labor Law sets and enforces prevailing wage and benefit rates on New York City public works projects and attempts to find workers who are owed wages from these settlements.

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ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING STATION PLAN AHEAD OF SCHEDULE: New York’s Electric Vehicle (EV) Infrastructure Deployment Plan has been approved ahead of schedule under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program, established and funded by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Biden-Harris Administration has announced. New York’s Electric Vehicle charging plan outlines how the state will grow its emerging charging network of approximately 8,588 public charging ports, with a first priority for the state being the placement of high powered chargers along the approximately 2,034 miles of Designated EV Corridors within New York.

Today’s announcement unleashes roughly $63.3 million in Fiscal Year 22 and FY23 funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for New York to take key steps in building out a convenient, affordable, reliable, and equitable charging network.

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WANTS TEST RESULTS TO GAUGE PANDEMIC’S LEARNING LOSS: The legality and appropriateness of the New York State Education Department’s (NYSED) attempt to delay access to important student performance metrics is being challenged in a formal appeal of an Empire Center Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request. Expressing concerns about the effect of COVID learning loss during the pandemic, the Empire Center earlier this month had submitted a FOIL request for the most recent results of the mathematics and English Language Acquisition (ELA) exams taken last year by students in grades 3-8, after NYSED publicly announced in August that it had shared the exam results with individual schools and parents.

Last spring’s exam results are of heightened interest and concern as it was the first full, statewide administration of the exam since the 2018-19 academic year — prior to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The new exam data is widely expected to give the public its best window yet into the extent of any Covid learning loss statewide.

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FIGHTING SCHOOL LOTTERY ADMISSIONS POLICY: Declaring, “Our children are not lottery tickets,” Assemblymember William Colton (D-47^th District) is fighting to reinstate fairer admissions process for middle and high school students. Identifying as a longtime educator, Colton denounced the NYC Department of Education’s new admissions process in which each student is assigned a random lottery number that determines their admission to a school, instead declaring that students’ grades, test scores and attendance must be considered in the admissions process.

Colton, who represents Gravesend, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst and Bath Beach, will take part in a Community Organizations Rally this Thursday at J.H.S. 259 William McKinley School on Fort Hamilton Parkway.

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TAKING NEXT STEPS TO SAVE NEW YORK’S VA HOSPITALS: Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-11^thDistrict) is leading the New York City Congressional Delegation in a bipartisan, bicameral letter to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Dennis R. McDonough regarding next steps to support VA Healthcare facilities in New York. The letter follows a group of Senators committing to block the VA’s Asset and Infrastructure Review (AIR) Commission from acting on recommendations to close VA hospitals in New York City and across the U.S.

Malliotakis has also spearheaded Congressional efforts to save New York City’s VA hospitals, including the one in Dyker Heights, leading two rallies with local veterans and elected officials outside the Staten Island and Brooklyn VA clinics to protest the closures.

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LAUNDRY AND LITERACY DAY COMES TO BROOKLYN: Four New York-based Clean Rite Centers, two of them in Brooklyn, will host a Free Laundry and Literacy Day, Wednesday, October 10, in partnership with the LaundryCares Foundation. During the event, which runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., guests can enjoy complimentary laundry services and cleaning products, fun activities for children and adults, and free meal boxes donated by ESD® Payment Systems for Vended Laundry Equipment, from 11 AM to 3 p.m., with no limit to the amount of clothing and linens that guests can have laundered for free.

Participating Clean Rite Center laundromat locations include their sites at 314 McDonald Ave, in Windsor Terrace (zip coded 11218) and 8905 Flatlands Ave, in Canarsie (zip code 11236).

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LIVE FALL FESTIVAL ON BAY RIDGE’ 5^TH AVE: The Bay Ridge Friday Night Live Fall Festival takes place this weekend, on September 30 with the 5th Avenue BID and local restaurants and retail outlets. The Fall Festival runs along 5^th Avenue from 72^nd to 85^th streets, from 5 to 10 p.m.

Another Live Fall Festival takes place on Friday, October 28.