What’s News, Breaking: Thursday, December 29, 2022

December 29, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

Share this:

PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD BEGINS FOR BROWNFIELD CLEANUP ON UNION ST.

GOWANUS – The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), in consultation with the New York State Department of Health, is proposing an expedited cleanup of contamination at the 514 Union Street site, just east of Nevins St. The NYSDEC is conducting a public comment period because this Interim Remedial Measure is likely to represent a significant part of the cleanup for the site, with expedited cleanup activities expected to begin in February 2023 and last about three months.

NYSDEC is accepting written comments about the proposed plan for 30 days, from December 28, 2022 through January 27, 2023. Send to Richard P. Mustico, Project Manager, NYSDEC at 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233; call (518) 402-9647; or email [email protected].

✰✰✰

MORE ALLEGED MALFEASANCE IN PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN – One of the nation’s largest wholesale pharmaceutical distributors is accused of violating federal law with regard to controlled substances, according to a civil complaint filed on Thursday, December 29, in Brooklyn federal court. The Department of Justice alleges that AmerisourceBergen Corporation and two of its subsidiaries, AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation and Integrated Commercialization Solutions, LLC (together “AmerisourceBergen”) — collectively one of the country’s largest wholesale pharmaceutical distributors — distributed controlled substances to pharmacies and other customers across the country, thus contributing to the prescription opioid epidemic.

The complaint alleges that this unlawful conduct resulted in at least hundreds of thousands of violations of the Controlled Substances Act, and the Justice Department seeks civil penalties and injunctive relief.

✰✰✰

CONGRESSIONAL REPORT SHOWS POSSIBLE ETHICS VIOLATIONS, RUSHED APPROVAL PROCESS FOR ALZHEIMER’S DRUG

STATEWIDE – The Alzheimer’s disease drug Aduhelm is at the center of an investigation that Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-12/northern Brooklyn) led for the past 18 months, in her role as chair of the Congressional Oversight and Reform Committee. The report, released on Thursday, December 29, just days before Rep. Maloney leaves office, found that the FDA broke numerous rules and possibly engaged in unethical conduct in rushing to accelerate approval of a very expensive Alzheimer’s drug despite numerous red flags and the medical review committee’s lack of approval for its general use.

The report also investigated countless undocumented meetings between FDA staff and company executives, a violation of ethics regulations.

✰✰✰

MAYOR CALLS DISPENSARY OPENING ‘MAJOR BOON’ TO ECONOMY

CITYWIDE – Meanwhile, Mayor Eric Adams, who was previously Brooklyn Borough President, applauded the opening of the state’s first legal cannabis dispensary in Manhattan, viewing it as an economic boon to the city. “Today marks a major milestone in our efforts to create the most equitable cannabis industry in the nation. “The opening of the first legal dispensary in our state right here in New York City is more than just a promising step for this budding industry — it represents a new chapter for those most harmed by the failed policies of the past,” said Mayor Adams.

The mayor added, “The legal cannabis market has the potential to be a major boon to New York’s economic recovery — creating new jobs, building wealth in historically underserved communities, and increasing state and local tax revenue.”

✰✰✰

FEDERAL LAW BANS LEGAL SALES BY INDIVIDUALS OF MARIJUANA IN BROOKLYN

BOROUGHWIDE – Reminder: Marijuana cannot be legally sold in Brooklyn or certain other regions of New York State, unless through an approved dispensary, nor can an individual sell it to another party, explains Abrams Fensterman, Brooklyn’s largest law firm with a specialty in the growing cannabis industry. Adults 21 years or older can share cannabis with other adults aged 21 or older without compensation, “but cannot make that ‘gift’ as part of another service or commodity that is for sale.”

It is also illegal for cannabis to be transported across state lines.

✰✰✰

KIDS GET BOOKS AND PAJAMAS THROUGH ‘BROOKLYN FOR ALL PARTNERSHIP’

BOROUGHWIDE – A new local private-public partnership is gifting children’s books and pajamas to hundreds of kids living in shelters throughout Brooklyn neighborhoods, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso announced on Thursday, December 29. Working with Reynoso’s city-affiliated charitable organization Brooklyn for All, Inc., the Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn Book Bodega and Target joined forces to give a book and pajama set to about 450 Brooklyn children – ranging from infants to pre-teens – who are currently living in shelters.

Distributions began on December 17th at a partnering church in Bed-Stuy and continued through the month in partnership with eight local organizations and family shelters located across various Brooklyn neighborhoods, including Brownsville, East New York, Bed-Stuy and Williamsburg.

✰✰✰

MTA SERVICE CHANGES AFFECT CONEY-ISLAND TRAINS

SOUTHERN BROOKLYN – Brooklyn riders who travel the N and D subway lines to and from Coney Island should brace for service changes during January, during which the MTA has scheduled to facilitate post-Hurricane Sandy repairs and flood mitigation work along Coney Island Creek Bridge, and to complete routine switch and track maintenance. During the first two weekends of January, N trains will run from Astoria-Ditmars Blvd to Kings Hwy in Brooklyn, with free shuttle buses made available for customers needing to travel between Kings Hwy and the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue terminal. Moreover, on Tuesday, January 17, N trains will run from Astoria-Ditmars Blvd to 86th Street in Brooklyn, with free shuttle buses available for customers who need to continue their commutes between 86th Street and Coney Island-Stillwell Ave.

Commuters can sign up for alerts online, and consult the MTA website or the MyMTA app for the latest service information and alternative service options.

✰✰✰

CYCLIST CRITICALLY INJURED IN FLATLANDS CRASH

FLATLANDS – A 70-year-old cyclist is clinging to life, according to news reports, following an early-afternoon collision in the southeast Brooklyn neighborhood of Flatlands. The 70-year-old male cyclist was riding an e-bike eastbound on Avenue J in Flatlands on Wednesday, December 28, around 1:35 p.m. when a 69-year-old woman driving a Nissan along Schenectady Ave. crashed into him.

The cyclist in Flatlands was reportedly not wearing a helmet, taken to Brookdale Hospital and in critical condition as of press time. The driver remained on the scene.

✰✰✰

SAHADI’S TO JOIN HISTORIC REGISTRY

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS – Longtime local Middle Eastern dry goods and delicacies store Sahadi’s will be placed on the New York State Historic Business Preservation Registry, thanks to Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon, who sponsored the nomination. “Brooklyn is blessed and honored to have Sahadi’s right here – for four generations!” wrote Simon in a press statement.

While the Atlantic Avenue store has been a Brooklyn staple since 1946, the Sahadi family has operated its grocery in New York since 1895, and was mentioned in an 1899 edition of the New York Times as being “A wonderful shop, this of the merchant Sahadi, with native wines and liqueurs, American groceries, swords and lamps, glass bracelets of many colors, Oriental embroideries, water pipes (hubble bubbles) and their ‘fixings.’”

✰✰✰

CITY COULD TAKE DOWN 10K AIRBNBS

CITYWIDE – A new law supported by Mayor Adams could potentially take 10,000 illegal short-term rental units off Airbnb when it goes into effect in January, according to NPR, against the protests of the company, which has faced criticism as city rents skyrocket and housing shortages squeeze home-seekers. The law would require Airbnb owners to register their units with the city and provide proof that they reside there and that the unit follows all applicable regulations, or pay fines of up to $5,000.

An email sent from Airbnb to its customers asking them to protest the measure read, “short-term rental accommodations for travelers like you will be dramatically reduced to hotels and a shared room with no locks. This will restrict travel options outside popular tourism areas and hurt small businesses throughout the city.”

✰✰✰

NURSE STRIKE DRAWS CLOSER AS DEADLINE LOOMS

CITYWIDE – The 17,000 nurses of the New York State Nurses Association and their private hospital employers (including Brooklyn Hospital Center, Interfaith Medical Center, Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center and Maimonides Medical Center, among others) are locked in negotiations as their Jan. 1 contract expiration deadline approaches, according to insiders, who say that if a new contract cannot be decided on by December 31 the union intends to give a 10-day notice to employers and then halt work. The nurses say that they cannot continue under the current conditions at their current rate of pay and benefits, as the so-called COVID-flu-RSV “tripledemic” rages across the country.

“You cannot continue to ask a nurse to work in the medical surgical unit where she should have five patients [and] now she’s carrying 12 patients,” NYSNA president Nancy Hagan told CBS News.

✰✰✰

SENIOR WOMAN FATALLY STRUCK BY TRUCK

CROWN HEIGHTS – A 75-year-old woman was struck and killed in a tragic accident on Wednesday while crossing busy Utica Avenue in Crown Heights. The victim, who had been crossing in the crosswalk when a flatbed truck hit her, was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency responders.

The identity of the victim has not been released, pending family notification.

✰✰✰

FUNERAL FOR NYC FIREFIGHTER KILLED IN ACCIDENT

BROOKLYN – The funeral of firefighter William Moon II, who passed away earlier in the month after an accident during a training exercise at Brooklyn’s elite Rescue Company 2, will be held on Thursday at 11 a.m. at St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church in Bay Shore, following a wake on Wednesday. Mayor Adams will deliver remarks at the funeral, which will be streamed online.

The firefighter’s family elected to donate his organs after his tragic death, prompting the mayor to call him “a hero twice over.”

✰✰✰

CONEY ISLAND MENORAH DESTROYED IN VANDALISM ATTACK

CONEY ISLAND – A menorah in Coney Island has been destroyed by vandals in another attack in the wave of antisemitic hate crimes causing fear and uncertainty in New York’s Jewish community, according to a Twitter account cataloging the offenses. The account on Wednesday shared a picture of the Coney Island Chabad Menorah in pieces on the ground.

Antisemitic hate crimes have been surging this year, as Brooklyn’s Jewish community grapples with how to handle the increase in violence and negative rhetoric in the media and in their neighborhoods.

✰✰✰

COVID TESTS TO BE REQUIRED FOR ALL COMING FROM CHINA

NATIONAL – The CDC announced on Wednesday afternoon that everyone flying to the U.S. from China will be required to show a negative COVID test starting on Jan. 5. The decision comes as news of explosive growth in COVID cases in newly reopened China has alarmed the global community and U.S. health officials.

The new wave of COVID currently affecting China began after the nation relaxed its strict “zero COVID” regulations, abandoning the strict lockdowns that had previously characterized its pandemic response and allowing international travel to resume even as its hospitals are reportedly overwhelmed with new infections.

✰✰✰

BROOKLYN MOTORCYCLIST THROWN, KILLED IN CRASH

WILLIAMSBURG – A motorcyclist was killed in Williamsburg on Wednesday morning, according to police, who said that the driver, Gerardo Cielo Ahuatl, 46, of Ocean Hill, lost control of his bike and was then struck by a pickup truck attempting to make a turn into an intersection. He was transported to Elmhurst Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased.

The driver of the pickup truck remained at the scene and was not injured, and the investigation is ongoing.

✰✰✰

FAMILIES REPORT BEING HAPPY WITH ACS SERVICES

CITYWIDE – About 94 percent of families to whom the NYC Administration for Children’s Services provides support reported being happy with their experience, according to key findings from its survey that the agency released on Wednesday, December 28. The findings, from the annual ACS Prevention Family Experience Survey, showed that its participants believed that the services — designed to help families overcome challenges that ultimately help keep their children safely at home and in their communities — have helped them achieve their goals, and that they would recommend the services to a friend or family member.

Survey participants were asked also to suggest ways that ACS might improve prevention services, with the most frequently selected suggestions being the need to provide families with more information about services; explaining the length of services, providing more basic necessities and giving families more voice and choice in the services they receive.

✰✰✰

NEW LAWS SET COURSE FOR MORE MUNICIPAL ‘COMPLETE STREET’ DESIGNS

STATEWIDE – Pedestrians, bikers and transit riders across New York State will receive stronger support from a legislative package that Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law on Wednesday, December 28. These new laws will increase Department of Transportation support for municipal “Complete Streets” projects, which incorporate a holistic approach to street design to consider the safe, convenient access and mobility of roadway users of all ages and abilities.

This bill increases the state’s share of funding for municipalities that incorporate “Complete Street” features, and will require regional transportation boards to include voting seats for transit-dependent individuals.

✰✰✰

BOUNTY REWARDS INCREASE FOR REPORTING PANDEMIC-RELATED FRAUD

STATEWIDE – A new set of laws cracks down on pandemic-related fraud and increases the financial rewards for reporting it. Governor Kathy Hochul on December 28 signed a legislative package that increases rewards for reporting fraud and increasing penalties for fraud occurring during state emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic. Whistleblowers are now eligible to receive additional money if the fraud was perpetrated during a declared state of emergency, imposes monetary penalties on any partnership, corporation, company, trust or association, or individual who commits such fraud, and empowers the state Attorney General to take action for civil penalties against these entities.

Up to this point, private citizens could file civil lawsuits on behalf of the government to help recover defrauded money and may be rewarded a percentage of the money recovered. New Yorkers have already lost over $80 million to pandemic-related fraud.

✰✰✰

COMPTROLLER LANDER PRAISES NEW LAW ADDING FLEXIBILITY FOR CITY AND STATE PENSION FUNDS

CITYWIDE – Comptroller Brad Lander is praising a newly-signed law for which he advocated, that increases by ten percent the share that City and State pension funds can invest in private market asset classes. The legislation, whose sponsors were Assembly Member Peter J. Abbate, Jr. (D-49^th District/Sunset Park to Bensonhurst) and State Senator Robert Jackson (D-northern Manhattan), makes changes to the “basket clause,” by providing additional flexibility for public pension funds in New York State — including the five New York City Retirement Systems.

The new law increases the share of their portfolios that pension funds can allocate to private markets investments (including infrastructure, real estate, private equity, opportunistic fixed income, hedge funds, venture capital and some foreign equities) from 25 percent to 35 percent.

✰✰✰

NYPD: BEWARE RISK OF FAKE BARCODES ON GIFT CARDS

STATEWIDE – That gift card may be a fake, warn the NYPD and Brooklyn Community Board 11, which are alerting the public to check barcodes before purchasing these cards. Technology is partly responsible for this recent scam, in which individuals can print out their own fraudulent barcodes and place them over the real barcode on gift cards at local retailers. When an unsuspecting consumer purchases these tampered gift cards, the fake barcode is scanned and the money gets routed into the scammers’ account.

The NYPD’s Crime Prevention bureau advises New Yorkers guard themselves against this fraud by first inspecting the barcode to make sure it does not peel off, ensuring that the barcodes on the card and its packaging match, and by observing when the cashier scans the card — and canceling the transaction if there is no match.

✰✰✰

POLICE SEEK SUBWAY PURSE THIEF

Police ask the public’s help in finding this man, pictured holding his victim’s purse, and described as having a medium complexion, being approximately 5’6″ tall, 150 lbs., with medium build and black short hair; last seen wearing a black jacket, black pants with white lines on the sides and brown boots. Photo: MTA via NYPD/Crimestoppers.

SUNSET PARK – Police are seeking a man caught on subway video exiting the turnstile with a purse he had just stolen from a woman in the 59^th St. station of the N/R line in Sunset Park (within the 72^nd Precinct) late Monday night, December 26. The man snatched the purse, reported to contain about $500 in cash and a credit card, from the bench seat where the 24-year-old female victim, on the southbound end of the platform, was awaiting a train around 11:10 p.m. that night.

No injuries were reported and the perpetrator fled on foot topside to parts unknown.

✰✰✰

NEIGHBORS HELPING NEIGHBORS AWARDED $100K GRANT TO DEVELOP BILINGUAL CURRICULUM ON AIR QUALITY

GOWANUS – One of the Brooklyn organizations receiving a $100,000 Environmental Justice Community Air Monitoring Capacity Building grant from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is Neighbors Helping Neighbors, Inc., which has a presence in Gowanus and Sunset Park. This project, to deliver a bilingual (English-Spanish) curriculum to educate and develop local resident leaders on air quality issues in partnership with an affiliate of the organization, will be based in and target the neighborhoods of Sunset Park, Gowanus and Red Hook, which have some of the highest air pollution burdens in the borough.

Neighbors Helping Neighbors, Inc. maintains offices on 32^nd St. in Sunset Park and on 621 DeGraw Street in Gowanus, the latter of which is also the primary office of NHN’s parent affiliate, Fifth Avenue Committee, who will serve as a partner and contractor on the project.

✰✰✰

PUBLIC HEARING TO ADDRESS FIRE SAFETY IN PROPOSED LITHIUM BATTERY STORAGE SYSTEM

WILLIAMSBURG – A January 10 public hearing with Brooklyn Community Board 1 will aim to address fire prevention and safety in a Battery Storage System proposed for the residential loft building at 315 Berry Street, near South 3^rd St. in Williamsburg. During the 6 p.m. virtual meeting (for which speakers must register online) representatives of the NYC Fire Department and the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice will answer questions on how lithium battery fires can be properly extinguished.

The 315 Berry St. apartment building has been in the news frequently as its tenants have voiced safety concerns over a precedent-setting and climate-conscious city proposal to allow an energy company to install lithium-ion batteries atop a residential building.

✰✰✰

LUXURY BUILDING RESIDENTS ON RENT STRIKE

GREENPOINT – Eighty-seven residents of a tony apartment building in Greenpoint, some of them living in affordable housing units, have begun a rent strike this month as they struggle with ongoing heating, hot water and gas outages, even as temperatures are well-below zero, reports Gothamist. The residents fear that years of unaddressed gas leak issues may have damaged their health, and despite management claiming to have solved the problem, the units may still be unsafe to live in.

The building benefits from low taxes despite its luxury trappings and high rents thanks to its participation in the controversial 421-A program, which expired earlier this year but is expected to be brought back by Gov. Hochul in the next legislative session.

✰✰✰

ADAMS STRIKES BACK AT PRESS OVER STORM DISAPPEARANCE CRITICISM

CIVIC CENTER – Following days of questioning regarding his disappearance during the holiday storm that saw temperatures plummet to dangerous lows and caused 34 deaths statewide, Mayor Adams lashed out at reporters during a press conference, saying that a two-day trip to the Virgin Islands had been necessary to balance the stresses of his mayoral duties and the difficulty of spending a second Christmas without his mother, who passed away in 2021. “After 365 days of commitment to this city, I decided to take two days to reflect on mommy [sic], and to watch how you responded to my two days out of this city was really alarming. I deserve a good work-life balance like you do,” Adams told the media.

The brouhaha comes as the mayor’s first year in office comes to a close, having generated mixed reactions from the media and the public for several controversial new policies.

✰✰✰

GOLDMAN CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION OF SANTOS’ FINANCES

BENSONHURST – Incoming U.S. Rep. Daniel Goldman, who will be taking over the NY-10 seat from Jerry Nadler following a redistricting, has issued a statement calling for an investigation of future colleague Republican George Santos’ finances, after a New York Times report revealed numerous serious discrepancies in his alleged history. “Given Santos’s pattern of lies and deception, and the suspicious circumstances surrounding the Devolder Organization, the federal election and law enforcement authorities must investigate whether the Devolder Organization was created simply as a pass-through entity through which Santos funneled illegal campaign contributions,” wrote Goldman in a press release, referring to a charitable organization created by Santos around which funding questions are swirling.

The debate surrounding Santos’ resume continues, while Santos has admitted to “embellishing,” GOP representatives mostly stay silent on the issue.

✰✰✰

FLATBUSH APARTMENT ROBBED IN HOME INVASION

FLATBUSH – The NYPD is looking for three burglars who are on the run after committing a violent home invasion on the afternoon of December 22. The thieves burst into a Flatbush apartment as a young woman was exiting, demanding money and punching another occupant in the face before fleeing with nearly $6000 in cash, jewelry and marijuana.

Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782) or to log onto the Crime Stoppers website or to Tweet @NYPDTips.

If you recognize any of these men, don’t hesitate to reach out to police with any information you can share. All tips are strictly confidential.

✰✰✰

HISTORIC BLACK SECRET SOCIETY FIGHTS TO SAVE HEADQUARTERS

BED-STUY – A historical society of Black women with roots stretching back to before the Civil War is fighting to save its Bed-Stuy headquarters from being sold, reports the New York Times. The United Order of the Tents, whose mission is to “care for the aged, respectfully bury the dead and promote sisterhood,” faces a tax battle to keep the crumbling mansion as a result of years of dwindling membership depleting its coffers, although its leaders are hopeful thanks to a recent surge of interest in joining among young women with a passion for history.

The Order’s crowdfunding campaign to help with its fight to keep and maintain the headquarters, which contains generations of historical memorabilia, can be found on its website.

✰✰✰

POLICE INVESTIGATE DEADLY FIRE IN CROWN HEIGHTS

CROWN HEIGHTS – While responding to a fire at a Crown Heights townhouse, first responders discovered an unresponsive and unconscious 54-year-old woman inside, who was transported to a local hospital where she was pronounced deceased. The authorities are now attempting to determine both the cause of the fire and the cause of death, and the investigation remains ongoing.

The identity of the deceased is pending proper family notification