Good Morning, Brooklyn: Tuesday, October 11, 2022

October 11, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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POLICE SEEK VANDAL OF GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH: Police continue to hunt down a man who vandalized Three Hierarchs Greek Orthodox Church on Avenue P, within the 61^st Precinct, back in July. The individual hoisted a ladder in the rain and defaced the exterior of the building and a banner with black paint.

Three Hierarchs Church, which serves both the Greek Orthodox and the wider Orthodox community in southern Brooklyn, was founded in 1922 and named in honor of three laymen who helped establish the parish. As the business leaders’ first names were Vasilios, Ioannis and Gregorios, the corresponding Greek patriarchs became the church’s patriarchal namesakes: Saint Basil the Great, Saint John Chrysostomos and Saint Gregory the Theologian.

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RALLY TO SUPPORT CLIMATE ACTION SCOPING PLAN: City Councilmember Lincoln Restler and colleagues are organizing a rally on the steps of City Hall this Thursday morning, October 13, to support Resolution 169 ahead of hearings scheduled for later that day. Resolution 169 calls on the Climate Action Council to draft, and the Governor to implement a final Climate Action Council Scoping Plan that would also implement environmental justice action in New York.

Other Brooklyn elected leaders who are expected to join Councilmember Restler include Councilmember Sandy Nurse, Assemblymember Emily Gallagher. Representatives from Sierra Club, We ACT, Jewish Climate Action Network and Food & Water Watch will also participate.

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OCTOBER 11 IS GENERAL PULASKI MEMORIAL DAY: President Joe Biden today proclaimed October 11, 2022, as General Pulaski Memorial Day to honor a Revolutionary War hero who led a skillful counterattack to slow the British advance, and helped save George Washington’s life. Known as “Father of the American Cavalry,” Brigadier General Casimir Pulaski ultimately gave his life fighting for independence and democracy.

The Pulaski Bridge, a drawbridge over Newtown Creek that connects McGuinness Boulevard in Greenpoint to 11th Street in Long Island City, Queens, bears the namesake of General Pulaski, in homage to Greenpoint’s significant Polish-American population. Another bridge named for Polish Revolutionary War hero is the Kosciuszko Bridge, which also spans Newtown Creek, but is situated further from the mouth of the East River.

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FIREFIGHTERS FROM BROOKLYN MEMORIALIZED: Two Brooklynites were among 11 FDNY personnel were memorialized today during the 25th Annual New York State Fallen Firefighters Memorial Ceremony with Governor Kathy Hochul. Lieutenant Joseph W. Maiello, 53, who died on December 26, 2021 at his stationhouse in Staten Island, was a Brooklyn native, graduate of Xaverian High School in Bay Ridge, and had attended Brooklyn College and Brooklyn Tech. Probationary Firefighter Vincent Malveaux, 31, collapsed and died during a training exercise on Randall’s Island in 2021, only six weeks into his career with the FDNY.

Maiello and Malveaux’s names were added to the New York State Fallen Firefighters Memorial, which recognizes 2,631 individuals from across the state who died in service to their communities.

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NEW LAWS BENEFIT MINORITY AND WOMEN-OWNED COMPANIES: Governor Kathy Hochul has signed into law two bills that Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn sponsored to benefit Minority and Women-Owned Businesses. The Assemblymember’s sponsored legislation (A.10459/S.9351) allows New York City to increase the award amounts that MBWEs can get from City contracts from $500,000 to $1 million without a formal competitive process. And her legislation (A.6420/S.571) now allows businesses in New York to use funds from the Minority- and Women-Owned Business Development and Lending Program to refinance existing debt.

New York’s MWBE utilization rate is the highest in the nation, with nearly $3 billion in State Contracts awarded to MWBEs.

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PRIVAT EQUITY CAPITAL IMPACTS RECOVERY AND RENTAL MARKET: Inflows of Private Capital into Existing Rental Real Estate are cited as a factor in both the city’s economic recovery and in the number of reported evictions, according to City Comptroller Brad Lander’s monthly report, “New York by the Numbers.” Private equity firms spending billions of dollars on acquisitions and “emerging as one of the biggest forces in the city’s post-pandemic recovery as multifamily investment reaches levels not seen since … the peak of the last cycle,” Comptroller Lander’s report indicated, quoting a September article from The Real Deal.

However, rent-paying tenants in multi-family buildings throughout the city, including in Brooklyn, started receiving eviction notices shortly after new private equity acquisitions, further lowering the availability of affordable housing.

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DEPUTY BOROUGH PRESIDENT OUT, REPORTS DAILY NEWS: Brooklyn Deputy Borough President Diana Richardson, a former state Assemblymember representing Crown Heights, has been reportedly terminated from her job, reports the Daily News. Richardson, who had been widely credited with helping Borough President Antonio Reynoso win his election, was reportedly the subject of complaints from her staff and constituents.

Alicia Boyd, leader of the anti-development Movement to Protect the People, was quoted as crediting Reynoso and Richardson as being “a good team…Richardson got a large percentage of her constituents to vote for him because she supported him. He bought her into his administration as a way of paying her back.”

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WANTED IN CONNECTION WITH HOMICIDE: The NYPD is searching for the individual pictured in connection with a homicide that took place over the weekend. Early Saturday morning, October 8, within the 77^th Precinct, the assailant approached a 35-year-old male victim, engaging him in a verbal dispute, displaying a knife, and stabbing the victim multiple times, before fleeing on Franklin Ave. toward Eastern Parkway. The victim, later identified as Kerwin Cox of Baltic St. was taken to Interfaith Medical Center, where he died.

The assailant is described as a male, approximately 5’8″ in height and approximately 185 lbs. in weight, and was last seen wearing a blue hooded Nike sweatshirt, blue jeans, a blue baseball hat, and blue/white Nike sneakers.

The NYPD asks the public’s help in tracking down this individual (NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) in connection with a homicide over the weekend.
Photo credit: NYPD

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APPEALS RESTRAINING ORDER ON CONCEALED CARRY LAW: New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday, October 10 filed a motion to appeal a temporary restraining order on New York’s recent the Concealed Carry Improvement Act (CCIA). The CCIA, which was passed during an extraordinary session of the Legislature and enacted earlier this summer in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, strengthens requirements for concealed carry permits, prohibits guns in sensitive places, requires individuals with concealed carry permits to request a property owner’s consent to carry on their premises, enhances safe storage requirements, requires social media review ahead of certain gun purchases, and requires background checks on all ammunition.

Members of a gun rights group sued New York State over what the plaintiffs say are privacy violations, particularly the provisions on mandatory social media and household information disclosure.

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REQUESTS ZONING AMENDMENT FOR CONEY ISLAND AVE. SITE: An application for a mixed-use zoning map amendment will go before Community Board 12’s Zoning & Variance Committee on Monday, October 24 via hybrid meeting. This application is for a zoning map amendment from C8-2/OP to C4-5A/OP on a site at 1880-1888 Coney Island Avenue in Midwood, and a zoning text amendment to map a new Mandatory Inclusionary Housing for a new two-building eight-story, mixed-use development.

The buildings, though attached, would be on separate zoning lots within Tax Block 6617, with both residential and commercial space.

A Google Maps view of the construction site at 1880-1888 Coney Island Avenue in Flatbush
Google Maps photo

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PINK RUNWAY FASHION SHOW FOR BREAST CANCER SURVIVORSS: Maimonides Health will host its 2022 Pink Runway at Dyker Beach Club this Thursday, October 13. Maimonides breast cancer survivors participate in a fashion show where they showcase donated dresses on the runway, with proceeds from the event ( https://gopinkrunway.org/) will benefit state-of-the-art breast cancer treatment and research at the Maimonides Breast Center.

Dr. Patrick Borgen, Chair of Surgery at Maimonides Medical Center will emcee the event, which several elected officials, including Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon, State Senator Simcha Felder, City Councilmember Ari Kagan and Assemblymember Steven Cymbrowitz are expected to attend.

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BROOKLYN DIOCESE’S MULTI-CULTURAL ROSARY RALLY: Students at schools around the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn on Friday took part in the Rosary Rally in an event that DeSales Media debuted.

During the rally, which honored Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, Bishop Robert Brennan prayed the Rosary with school children from the Diocese in five languages: English, Spanish, Creole, Polish, and Mandarin.

Said Bishop Brennan, “It was moving to see the students in the large round sanctuary, who created a living, multicultural rosary. It showed the international flavor of our schools as the students prayed in the language of their heritage with confidence.”

A wide shot of the circular Rosary Rally
Photo credit: DeSales Media

Students take their turn leading the Rosary prayers.
Photo credit: DeSales Media

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STOP & SHOP CAPITAL INVESTMEN EXPANDS KOSHER OFFERINGS: Residents of southern Brooklyn now have access to almost 1,000 Kosher products at the Stop & Shop on Avenue Y in Sheepshead Bay, the first Brooklyn store to be upgraded as part of the supermarket chain’s $140 million capital investment across New York City. The Avenue Y store’s Aisle 3 is now a 160-foot section offering nearly 1,000 kosher products; and marking the second-largest Kosher assortment across Stop & Shop’s 400-plus stores.

A core enhancement to the upgrade is an expanded product assortment catering to the diverse neighborhood each store serves.

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EMERGENCY DONATION DRIVE FOR ASYSLUM SEEKERS: The Bridge Multicultural Project in Flatbush is partnering with the Mayor’s Officed of Faith & Community Partnerships for an emergency donation drive to help the growing influx of asylum seekers. The Bridge will collect donations at its 1894 Flatbush Avenue location Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Most urgently-needed items are new packaged, warm clothing for children and adults, particularly long-sleeve shirts and pants, socks and underwear; and toiletries, diapers, baby wipes and menstrual products.