What’s News, Breaking: Monday, December 5, 2022

December 5, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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CON EDISON MAINTENANCE TEAM DOES A FLYOVER: Brooklyn is apparently included in a flyover that Con Edison’s Transmission Line Maintenance Section is conducting through about 3 p.m. today, Monday, December 5. The energy company’s blue and white helicopter, tail #402 TD, will patrol the areas from Dover to Pleasant Valley and all areas south towards and including Staten Island.

Con Edison provides electrical transmission service only (but not gas) to portions of the metropolitan area that include Brooklyn, Staten Island and parts of Queens.

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CADMAN PLAZA PARK’S NORTHERN OVAL SECTION CLOSES THIS MONTH FOR REFURBISHMENT: The oval section of Cadman Plaza Park (which is closest to Cadman Plaza West and Middagh Street) will be closed for a year starting Monday, December 19 for repairs. According to a schematic plan design available on the official website of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, the oval will get a new 12-inch wide granite curb, and new Spring Flowering Understory, the walking track will be replaced, the steps and pavement at the base of the Mayor Gaynor monument will be replaced and a new water supply line will be installed, among other work.

The Parks Department also hopes to finish the in-house reconstruction of the public bathroom in the basement of the Cadman War Memorial building in early 2023.

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PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD FOR NEW LINKNYC KIOSK SITES: The public comment period deadline for the new LinkNYC Kiosk Locations in Brooklyn Community District (Board) 2 is next Friday, December 16. The city’s Office of Technology & Innovation, which is restarting the deployment of LinkNYC kiosks, is collecting public comments (email [email protected]) about its proposed new sites around the city, including locations within Community District 2, which includes Brooklyn Heights and Downtown Brooklyn.

The kiosks provide free high-speed Wi-Fi, free nationwide calling, free charging ports for mobile devices, and 911 and 311 access.

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HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR WANTED TO REPRESENT COMMUNITY EDUCATION COUNCIL: Community Education Council 15 seeks a high school senior who can participate in school board discussions and engage in the community. The student must be able and willing to attend two in-person meetings per month, through June 30, 2023 (apply via email to [email protected]).

Community Education Council 15 encompasses public schools in Carroll Gardens, Red Hook, Gowanus, Boerum Hill and Sunset Park.

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BAY RIDGE LEGISLATORS WILL DENOUNCE MTA’S PROPOSED FARE HIKE: Reminding the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of Governor Kathy Hochul’s promise that there would be no fare hikes or service cuts in 2023 or 2024, U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-11/southern Brooklyn) and Assemblymember Michael Tannousis (R-64^thDistrict/southern Brooklyn) will denounce the transit agency’s recently-announced plans to raise fares and tolls, during a noon rally to take place at a Bay Ridge subway station today, Monday, December 5. The MTA announced last week that it plans to raise fares and tolls by 5.5 percent next June in order to compensate for a $600 million budget deficit blamed on decreased ridership, which is attributed in part to the rise in subway crimes.

The elected officials will urge New York State to cut “wasteful spending from its own books” and Rep. Malliotakis will also highlight her legislation that would require an audit of any federal assistance the MTA receives.

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SEVERAL BROOKLYN NYPD CHIEFS PROMOTED TO LEADERSHIP ROLES: When Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell on Friday elevated 31-year-NYPD veteran Jeffrey Maddrey to Chief of Department, she also promoted several other NYPD Commanders serving in Brooklyn to leadership positions: Chief Thomas P. Galati, who will serve in the newly created position of Chief of Intelligence and Counterterrorism from his previous position as Chief of the Intelligence Bureau; Assistant Chief Miguel A. Iglesias, who will serve as Chief of the Internal Affairs Bureau from his previous position as an executive in the Detective Bureau, and who has served in the Narcotics and Vice Enforcement Division, both in Brooklyn North, among other assignments; and Deputy Chief John Chell, who will serve as Chief of Patrol from his previous position as Executive Officer in the Patrol Services Bureau, and who has also served in several Brooklyn precincts, and in Narcotics Borough Brooklyn South, Patrol Borough, Brooklyn South, Detective Borough Brooklyn North, and Brooklyn South Auto Larceny.

Moreover, Deputy Chief Charles McEvoy, will serve as the Commanding Officer of Patrol Borough Brooklyn South; and Deputy Chief Scott M. Henderson is ascending within Patrol Borough Brooklyn North, to the position of Commanding Officer, from his previous position as that patrol borough’s Executive Officer.

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BQE SEGMENT CLOSED OVERNIGHT BETWEEN BROOKLYN BRIDGE AND ATLANTIC AVE.: As the NYC Department of Transportation’s Division of Bridges continues work on Interstate-278 (BQE). one lane will be closed overnight in the (westbound) Staten Island-bound direction, from the Brooklyn Bridge to Atlantic Avenue. The closures, which included the cantilevered roadway under the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, take place on Wednesdays, December 7 and 14, and Fridays, December 9 and 16, from 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m.

For all NYC non-emergency services, including inquiries regarding NYCDOT construction projects, like the one indicated above, readers may dial 311.

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SHIRLEY CHISHOLM BUILDING IN BOERUM HILL NAMED AS HOLIDAY GIFT COLLECTION SITE: New York’s annual statewide holiday donation drive has begun, and The New York State Office of General Services has set up drop-off locations across the state — including one in Brooklyn — for businesses and individuals to bring the new unwrapped toys, coats and school supplies, which will be distributed to families in underserved communities. Brooklynites can donate a wish-list of items, including new, unwrapped toys, coats and school supplies to the Shirley A. Chisholm State Office Building, 55 Hanson Place, near Atlantic Terminal, through December 16.

The goods will be distributed to assist community-based organizations during the holiday giving season.

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PUBLIC ADVOCATE QUESTIONS LACK OF GUIDELINES, PROTOCOL IN MAYOR’S NEW MENTAL HEALTH PLAN: Following Mayor Eric Adams’ Tuesday announcement of his new mental health initiative plan which includes involuntary hospitalization of persons in the public arena, Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams has continued to question several elements of the proposal – including its intentions, implementation plan, and investment levels, which he laid out in a letter to the administration. Among the questions are how funding will be allocated to underwrite the initiatives, the percent to be allocated to the NYPD, EMS and mental health professionals; whether private hospitals would be incorporated in first response; the establishment of guidelines involving removal of persons for mental health evaluations; and who would pay for the medical treatment of those placed on an involuntary hold.

Public Advocate Williams also asked about the treatment of persons deemed mentally ill: “How will police officers and EMS be trained on how to recognize people who would fall under involuntary removal given that it is deemed subjective?”

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NYS HEALTH COMMISSIONER RESIGNS; RETURNING TO HARVARD FACULTY: New York State Health Commissioner suddenly announced her resignation in a Tweet, stating that she will be returning to the faculty of Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Calling this a very “difficult decision,” Dr. Bassett stated in her Tweet, “I am leaving now so that the next commissioner can have the chance to lead this great department for a full 4-year-term under the leadership of Gov. Hochul.”

A native New Yorker, Dr. Bassett has served as director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Center for Health and Human Rights and FXB Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights in the department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, according to the school’s website, which also indicated that she was “on leave as of December 1, 2021.”