Good Morning, Brooklyn: Tuesday, October 25, 2022

October 25, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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MAIMONIDES MEDICAL CENTER AWARDED RECOGNITIONS FROM HEALTHGRADES: Healthgrades, a leading online platform for finding a doctor and in healthcare transparency, has named Maimonides Medical Center in Borough Park as one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Surgery and Surgical Care, as well as one of America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Orthopedic Surgery. Maimonides Medical Center is the only hospital in New York State to receive the 2023 America’s 50 Best Hospitals for Surgical Care Award™ and the only hospital in New York City to receive the America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Orthopedic Surgery Award™ for two consecutive years. (2022-2023).

Maimonides Medical Center also received: Five-Star Distinctions in: Valve Surgery, Defibrillator Procedures, Pacemaker Procedures, Total Knee Replacement, Hip Fracture Treatment, Prostate Removal Surgery, and Treatment of Diabetic Emergencies.

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BACK TO ITS ROOTS AS BROOKLYN WOMEN’S EXCHANGE OPENS ON MONTAGUE STREET: The 168-year-old Brooklyn Women’s Exchange has opened their new storefront at 137 Montague St. in Brooklyn Heights. The store specializes in adorable hand-knit items including baby blankets and quilts, hand-decorated children’s clothing, jewelry, holiday items, linens, books, toys and more. The not-for-profit was formerly located for years at 55 Pierrepont St., in a building owned by Catholic Charities, which informed the organization it wanted the space for its own purposes.

When the Women’s Exchange was founded, women needing to earn a living were limited to the “gentle art of needlework” or cooking items like breads, cookies, candies and jellies. It remains the oldest continuously operating Women’s Exchange in the country, and operates using a staff of roughly 40 volunteers. Shop hours this week, while they are putting the finishing touches in, are: Wednesday: 12 – 4 p.m.; Thursday: 12 – 7 p.m.; Friday: 12 – 4 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday: 12 – 6 p.m.

This is not the first time the organization had its home on Montague Street. Read the amazing history of the Brooklyn Women’s Exchange, and how the Brooklyn Heights Association and Thomas and Chris Calfa, owners of the Lassen & Hennigs deli, helped bring about this neighborhood win-win, here.

Brief by Mary Frost

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MOTORIST CHARGED ON MULTIPLE COUNTS IN PEDESTRIAN’S DEATH: A motorist has been charged in the death of a pedestrian in a collision last night on Eastern Parkway near Schenectady Avenue, in Crown Heights within the 77^th Precinct bounds. Jefferson Springer, 26, who is unlicensed, has been arrested, was found to be unlicensed and has been charged on several counts, including: Manslaughter, Criminally Negligent Homicide, Reckless Driving, Failure to Obey Traffic Device, and Speed Violation: Imprudent Speed. The victim, 56-year-old Walter Gonzalez, had been standing within a painted median when Springer drove into it, striking the pedestrian and knocking him to the pavement.

Springer, who was driving a 2017 Chevrolet Silverado was traveling westbound on Eastern Parkway, remained on the scene after the collision, which took place around 6:30 p.m. Both men were resided in Brooklyn.

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CHARGED IN SCHEMES TO THWART FEDERAL CRIMINAL PROBE: Two Chinese intelligence officers from the People’s Republic of China have been charged with obstruction of justice in a scheme to bribe U.S. government employee and steal documents related to the federal prosecution of a company based in that nation. According to court documents, Guochun He, also known as “Dong He” and “Jacky He,” and Zheng Wang, also known as “Zen Wang,” who are still at large, allegedly orchestrated a scheme to steal files and other information from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York related to the ongoing federal criminal investigation and prosecution of a global telecommunications company based in the PRC.

The intelligence officers allegedly paid about $61,000 in Bitcoin bribes to a U.S. government employee whom the defendants believed had been recruited to work for the PRC. However, the federal employee was in fact a double agent working on behalf of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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HEARING ON ZONING AMENDMENT FOR FORT GREENE TAX LOTS: Borough President Antonio Reynoso is convening a Uniform Land Use Review Process (ULURP) hearing tonight, Tuesday, October 25, on a zoning map amendment to change the project area of 446-448 Park Avenue, at the southwest corner of Franklin Avenue in Fort Greene. The application, which affects all of part of 12 tax lots on the southeast and southwest corners of Park and Franklin avenues, is for zoning text amendment to allow the development of a

coterminous Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) area, and enable a six-story residential development with 11 units (three of which would be affordable, pursuant to MIH).

Testimony at the hearing, which will be recorded for public transparency, is limited to 3 minutes, unless extended by the Chair. The Borough President welcomes written testimony on all agenda items, with a submission deadline (email to [email protected]) of Tuesday, November 1, 2022.

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SUPERSTORM SANDY RALLY TO DEMAND CLIMATE CHANGE: Climate activists tomorrow will herald the 10-year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, which they declare was a consequence of climate change, and will demand that new climate policies be implemented, including a ban on fracked gas in new buildings. The activists will rally outside the New York gubernatorial debate at Pace University, demanding Governor Hochul commit to bold climate policies, which would also include a stop to liquefied natural gas (LNG) vaporizers in North Brooklyn, and her signature on legislation establishing a moratorium on crypto-mining powered by fossil fuels.

The rally and gubernatorial debate comes days before the 10-year anniversary on October 29 of Superstorm Sandy which in 2012 killed hundreds of people, left millions without power, and caused billions of dollars in damages.

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NEW LIAISON FOR COUNCILMEMBER’S KENSINGTON OFFICE: City Councilmember Shahana Hanif (D-39^th District) has opened a satellite office at 118 Beverley Road, at a popular Bangladeshi community space in the main Kensington commercial corridor. A staffer with experience in community organizing and familiarity with the neighborhood and the Bangladeshi community has now come on board as Hanif’s Kensington Liaison.

The new Kensington office has seen more than 50 constituents, and has handled complex and detailed cases on immigration, public benefits, and housing assistance.

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STREET CO-NAMED TO HONOR GROWING BANGLADESHI COMMUNITY: An intersection in Brooklyn’s Kensington neighborhood was co-named last weekend as “Little Bangladesh” to honor pioneer merchants Shahid Ullah and the late Abul Kashem. City Councilmember Shahana Hanif (D-39) led a co-naming ceremony at the intersection of McDonald and Church avenues, making it a permanent part of this community for generations.

Ullah and Kashem opened Asian Oriental Grocery in Kensington nearly 40 years ago as one of the first lifelines to halal meat, Bangladeshi vegetables, spices, and more, within the community.

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WEBINARS FOR NATIONAL LEAD POISONING PREVENTION WEEK: The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has joined forces with the Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), and other local partners to observe National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, which runs through this Friday, October 28. These agencies are collaborating with the NYC Department of Environmental Protection and the Consumer Product Safety Commission to host multi-lingual webinars on how to prevent lead poisoning. Information will be provided to families, tenants, building owners and managers, and contractors.

In addition to daily webinars, the agencies are conducting in-person outreach in nine different priority zip codes to distribute lead poisoning prevention educational materials.

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STREETS WILL BE MAGICALLY PEDESTRIANIZED ON HALLOWEEN: Nearly 100 Open Streets and other newly pedestrianized streets, including at least 18 in Brooklyn, will be car-free next Monday evening, October 31st, from 4-8 p.m. for ghoulish “Trick-or Streets” events that will allow families more public space in celebration of Halloween. Mayor Eric Adams and NYC Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez announced that, for the first time, Open Streets will expand its hours into Halloween night, when families with children will be welcome to enjoy “fa-boo-lous fun” on select car-free streets.

Several streets in Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO, Downtown Brooklyn, Red Hook, Prospect Heights and Williamsburg are among those affected. Visit Trick-or-Streets map for more information.

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PUBLIC HEARING FOR INDIVIDUAL LANDMARK HERSTORY ARCHIVES: The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) will hold a public hearing today, October 25, on the proposed designation of The Lesbian Herstory Archives at 484 Fourteenth Street in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The proposed individual landmark is culturally significant as the home since 1991 of the Lesbian Herstory Archives, the nation’s oldest and largest collection of lesbian-related historical material.

As a nationally important collection of LGBTQ+ historical materials, the Lesbian Herstory Archives plays an essential role in telling the story of a mostly unseen community of women who contributed to America’s cultural, political, and social history.

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BROOKLYN COLLEGE HOSTS BREAST CANCER SYMPOSIUM: Brooklyn College Cancer is holding its second Brooklyn Breast Cancer Symposium this Thursday, as part of the nationally-observed Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The symposium includes scientific talks among health care professionals, an educational component for students and a community outreach event that is free and available online via Zoom from 2:30 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. Register via https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwpcuCuqjwqHdWQJX7ouhQIskV0sEhMuEly

Co-hosting the symposium are BCCC-CURE and Maimonides Health, with the participation of SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), Weill Cornell Medicine, and Mount Sinai Tisch Cancer Center, American Cancer Society, and Johnson & Johnson.

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Photo: Self-portrait of Lenny Lipton, licensed under the Creative Commons license.

IN MEMORIAM: LENNY LIPTON: Brooklyn-born Lenny Lipton (né Lipschitz), who wrote the lyrics to the now-iconic song “Puff the Magic Dragon” while a physics student at Cornell University during the mid-20^th-century, died earlier this month, reports an obituary by Clay Risen in the New York Times. Lipton used his friend Peter Yarrow’s typewriter to write out the lyrics, inspired by a 1936 poem by Ogden Nash. Yarrow later found Lipton’s poem and composed music for it, and recorded the song with his group, Peter, Paul and Mary.

The royalties that Lipton earned from “Puff the Magic Dragon” enabled him to finance a passion from his youth —3D filmmaking — which led to his obtaining 70 patents for uses in several industries, including the military and NASA space exploration.