What’s News, Breaking: Tuesday, January 24, 2023

January 24, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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PENSION FUNDS URGE BANKS TO SOLIDIFY EMISSIONS-REDUCTION TARGETS

CITYWIDE — Four banking institutions with a strong presence in New York are being urged to set and publish their interim science-based reduction targets for 2030, in shareholder proposals that City Comptroller Brad Lander and three of the New York City Retirement Systems (the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, Teachers’ Retirement System and Board of Education Retirement System announced on Tuesday, Jan. 24. The shareholder proposals, made at Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Royal Bank of Canada, call for an absolute reduction target aligned with a science-based net zero emissions pathway — a widely-recognized standard for evaluating whether companies are genuinely on a path to meet net-zero commitments.

While some other major U.S. and foreign banks have set absolute emissions reduction targets, the proposal state these four banks have only set targets to reduce the intensity of their emissions. Intensity reduction targets do not capture whether the company’s total financed emissions have decreased in the real world.

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PRESENTATION TO CB7 ON PLANNED INSTALLATION OF LINK NYC KIOSKS

SUNSET PARK/WINDSOR TERRACE — The installation of LinkNYC kiosks within Brooklyn Community Board 7 will be a focus of the board’s Transportation Committee on Wednesday, Feb. 1. NYC Office of Technology & Innovation and CityBridge will give a presentation on LinkNYC, an innovative communications network that has replaced pay phones across the five boroughs. Each LinkNYC structure provides super-fast, free public Wi-Fi, phone calls, device-charging, and a tablet for access to city services, maps, and directions; and gets its revenue through advertising.

The committee’s virtual meeting agenda also includes a discussion on neighborhood loading zones in Community Board 7 and is accessible to interested parties via the CB7 website and YouTube channel.

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GLOBAL SCHOLARS SCHOOL HOSTS BREAKFAST ON NYC KIDS RISE SAVE FOR COLLEGE PROGRAM

SOUTHERN BROOKLYN — The P.S. 748 Brooklyn School for Global Scholars in School District 20 on Tuesday, Jan. 24, hosted and celebrated a NYC Scholarship Month event for families with students in kindergarten and first grade who are eligible to participate in the NYC Kids RISE Save for College Program. During the breakfast presentation about the Save for College Program, school staff worked with families to activate and view their students’ NYC Scholarship Accounts and to learn ways in which the Save for College Program is supporting their children’s college and career training in the future.

So far across geographic School District 20 — covering Bay Ridge, Borough Park, and Bensonhurst West — participating kindergarten and first graders already have over $650,000 saved for their college and career futures.

Nicole Perry, Chief Platform Officer at NYC Kids RISE, welcomes families to an NYC Scholarship Month event at P.S. 748K in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, where they received support to activate their children’s free NYC Scholarship Accounts (Jan. 24, 2023). Photo: Jonathan Patkowski for NYC Kids RISE.

NYC Kids RISE staff member supports a parent/guardian to activate and view their child’s NYC Scholarship Account at an NYC Scholarship Month event organized by the School Team at P.S. 748K, in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn (Jan, 24, 2023). Photo: Jonathan Patkowski for NYC Kids RISE.

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IRONDALE’S PRODUCTION EXPLORES BROOKLYN’S ABOLITIONIST HISTORY

FORT GREENE — Irondale Ensemble Project, marking its 40th anniversary offers a free performance of its original musical, “Color Between the Lines”— a work that uncovers the unknown stories of Brooklyn’s abolitionist struggle. “Color Between the Lines,” which was created as part of In Pursuit of Freedom, a collaboration with the Brooklyn Historical Society and the Weeksville Heritage Center, will be presented on Saturday, Feb. 4, at Irondale, resident in the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church at 85 South Oxford St. in Clinton Hill.

The ensemble has created a hyperlocal history lesson that explores racial tensions of past and present; and will perform the show in four parts, with discussion in between about how this time shaped the familiar Brooklyn of today—the people, the landmarks, and the streets that hold significant historical significance.

A performance of “Color Between the Lines.” Photo: Irondale Ensemble Project.

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GOOGLE BEING SUED FOR ALLEGED MONOPOLY IN ONLINE DIGITAL ADVERTISING

New York Attorney General Letitia James has sued Google LLC (Google), charging that the Internet giant is monopolizing the digital advertising industry. She and the U.S. Department of Justice, and a bipartisan coalition of eight states allege that Google has engaged in a 15-year, organized campaign so it could obtain outsized influence at all levels of the ad tech industry, and has used its power to reduce competition and innovation, harming website publishers, advertisers, and consumers.

Through this lawsuit, the government plaintiffs are seeking to stop what they call Google’s anticompetitive practices and order it to sell off various ad tech tools to restore a competitive balance in digital advertising.

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BROOKLYN RANKS 2ND-HIGHEST IN UNEMPLOYMENT FOR DECEMBER 2022

BOROUGHWIDE — Not so good to rank high: Brooklyn came in second-highest in New York’s unemployment rates, according to preliminary figures for December that the state Department of Labor released on Tuesday, Jan. 24. While New York State’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment held constant at 4.3% in December 2022, The Bronx came in highest, at 7.5%, followed by Brooklyn (Kings County) at 5.5%, followed by Hamilton County (upstate in the Indian Lake and Lake Pleasant area) at 5.3 % and Staten Island (Richmond County) at 5.0%.

Rates are calculated using methods prescribed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The State’s area unemployment rates rely in part on the results of the Current Population Survey, which contacts approximately 3,100 households in New York State each month.

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SUNY DOWNSTATE DOCTOR BECOMES PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP SCHOLAR

EAST FLATBUSH — A doctor and professor at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, Brian McNeil, MD, MBA, FACS, has been named to the Class Of 2023 Presidential Leadership Scholars. Dr. McNeil, who is Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs & Associate Professor at SUNY Downstate, is part of a cohort that began this year’s program on Jan. 24 in Washington DC, where they will travel to participating presidential centers to learn from former presidents, key former administration officials, business and civic leaders, and leading academics about a variety of leadership principles and exchange ideas to help maximize their impact in the communities they serve.

The SUNY downstate urologist is among 60 national scholar leaders.

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NAVAL CULINARY SPECIALIST SERVES UP SOME COMFORT FOOD

BROOKLYN — A naval cook from Brooklyn, Culinary Specialist Seaman Messiah Prince, is serving aboard Independence-class littoral combat ship USS Oakland (LCS 24) as the ship sails in the Natuna Sea Culinary Specialist Seaman Prince’s ship, Destroyer Squadron 7, is on a rotational deployment operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operation to enhance interoperability with partners and serve as a ready-response force in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

The Natuna Sea is the southernmost portion of the South China Sea and mostly within the territorial waters of Indonesia, also geographically divides the nation of Malaysia.

Culinary Specialist Seaman Messiah Prince, from Brooklyn, New York is pictured from Jan. 18, preparing burgers on the grill in the ship’s galley. Photo: U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Sang Kim.

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PLANNED FLYOVER TODAY ABOVE VERRAZZANO BRIDGE

FORT HAMILTON — Brooklynites near the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge and other viewers have been notified of a planned military flyover at 12:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 24, according to an alert from Notify NYC. Two F-18 aircrafts will fly at 2,500 feet over the Verrazzano Bridge to West Point.

This event is a Hudson River fly-by, which often involves spectators and is a ceremonial military occasion.

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JEFFRIES TO DELIVER FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS AS HOUSE LEADER

FORT GREENE — U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, unanimously elected as Democratic House Leader in December, will deliver his tenth annual address at a Community Inauguration on Sunday, Jan. 29, at Brooklyn Technical High School. Other elected officials will also be in attendance, and members of the public who wish to join can RSVP for the speech on Jeffries’ official website.

Doors will open at 3 p.m. on Sunday.

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GOLDMAN CALLS OUT GOP’S STEFANIK ON SANTOS LIES

COBBLE HILL — U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman (Brooklyn Heights-Cobble Hill-Redhook) issued a strongly worded press statement on Monday calling for House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (Adirondacks) to answer some tough questions on the extent of her knowledge of George Santos’ lies about his background. Goldman asserts in the statement that a top political aide for Stefanik was closely involved in campaigning for Santos in the most recent election cycle and that she personally helped convince suspicious donors that the freshman GOP rep was trustworthy, and demanded that she cooperate with the investigation launched in part by himself two weeks ago.

“It is one thing for a fabulist like George Santos to defraud the voters to get elected to Congress. It is altogether something different if he does so with the aid and support of top House Republican leadership. Ms. Stefanik owes it to the American people to come clean about what she knew and when she knew it,” concluded Goldman.

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SCHOOLS TO USE NEW FUNDING FORMULA FOR DISADVANTAGED KIDS

CITYWIDE — The Department of Education and the mayor on Monday announced several proposed changes to the city’s schools budget for the next year focused on increasing equity within the public school system. The changes, which will be applied to the Fair Student Funding formula, will increase resources for kids who are living in temporary housing and who are struggling with special needs, such as disabilities or English language learning.

The City Council praised the move, with Speaker Adrienne Adams and council Education Chair Rita Joseph releasing a statement in support, saying “Today’s announcement should be a start of efforts to ensure resources are invested in our system where they are most needed. It is critical that the voices and vital insights of parents, students, and educators guide the department to meet the needs of our school communities.”

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CITY TO LAUNCH FUND FOR PANDEMIC-HIT SMALL BUSINESSES

CITYWIDE — Mayor Eric Adams and Department of Small Business Services commissioner Kevin D. Kim, in partnership with Goldman Sachs and Mastercard, on Monday announced the creation of the $75 million NYC Small Business Opportunity Fund, the largest public-private loan fund directed at small businesses in the city’s history, which will offer approximately 1,500 local businesses loans up to $250,000 at a below-market rate of 4%. Flexible terms will address historic barriers to ensure broad access to the fund by eliminating credit score minimums, not requiring application fees, serving start-ups and leveraging the deep roots of local organizations to reach businesses in historically disadvantaged and immigrant communities.

“Our efforts to cut red tape and jumpstart our recovery are already delivering results: We saw 13,600 new businesses open in the first half of 2022, including 1,800 new storefronts. This new loan fund will help us build on that progress and represents the next great step forward in our city’s partnership with our entrepreneurs and small business owners,” said Mayor Adams in a press statement.

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TWO MEN SHOT IN FLATLANDS, ONE DEAD

FLATLANDS — On the night of Saturday, Jan. 21, police responded to a 911 call of shots fired in Flatlands, where a preliminary investigation determined that two males had been struck by gunfire at the location. Both victims were transported by private means to Mount Sinai Brooklyn, where the first victim, a 30-year-old male who had sustained a gunshot wound to the torso, was pronounced deceased; while the second victim, a 28-year-old male who had sustained a gunshot wound to the right shoulder, was in stable condition.

Police say that the identity of the deceased is pending family notification; there are no arrests in regard to the ongoing investigation.

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CENTRAL BK HARD HIT BY EVICTIONS SINCE BAN LIFTED

CROWN HEIGHTS — Central Brooklyn neighborhoods have been among the hardest hit by evictions since the pandemic-era moratorium was lifted last year. Patch reports that while evictions are overall below pre-pandemic levels across the city, instances have steadily increased every month since the ban’s end, reaching 660 in November for a year total of more than 4,400.

The neighborhood with the most evictions was Crown Heights north, closely followed by Flatbush and Prospect Lefferts Gardens.

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LION DANCERS TO PERFORM AT ALBEE SQUARE

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — The Choy Lay Fut Lion Dance team will be performing at Albee Square in celebration of the lunar new year this upcoming Saturday, Jan. 28. Attendees who snap a selfie with the dancers and post it on Instagram will also have a chance to take home lucky red envelopes containing small prizes.

The dancing will begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 28 at Albee Square, and is free to attend.

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FIRE CLAIMS TEEN’S LIFE IN FLATBUSH

FLATBUSH — On the morning of Sunday, Jan. 22, emergency responders answered a 911 call about a residential fire at an apartment building near Holy Cross Cemetery. After FDNY extinguished the fire, three people were removed from the scene and transported by EMS to a nearby hospital — a 50-year-old woman and 21-year-old man are both in stable condition while 13-year-old Dillon Waldren-Dickson succumbed to injuries sustained in the fire and was pronounced deceased.

The FDNY Fire Marshall will determine the cause of the fire, and the investigation is ongoing, say police.

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FIRST WOMAN APPOINTED AS APPELLATE TERM’S PRESIDING JUSTICE

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — The Hon. Wavny Toussaint has been appointed as Presiding Justice of the Appellate Term of the Supreme Court, Second Department, which covers Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. Justice Toussaint, who replaces now-retired Justice Thomas Aliotta, becomes the first woman and first person of color to serve as this bench’s Presiding Justice.

Justice Toussaint’s appointment was made after consultation with Hon. Hector LaSalle, Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division, Second Department, which hears appeals from the lower courts and is authorized by the state constitution (Article VI, paragraphs 4 and 8) to establish appellate terms.

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NEW CLIMATE-FRIENDLY SOLAR PANELS FOR FDNY FIREHOUSES

SOUTHERN BROOKLYN — Three FDNY firehouses in Brooklyn now have newly-installed solar photovoltaic (PV) systems as part of a dual project, totaling $2.4 million, to reduce emissions from city government operations and ensure that critical infrastructure remains operational during emergency situations, including electrical outages. Engine Company 254 & Ladder 153 in Gravesend, Engine Company 236 in East New York, and Engine Company 309 & Ladder 159 in Flatlands join three more in Queens where the new solar photovoltaic systems will generate emissions-free energy and use battery storage to ensure that the firehouses remain operational during blackouts, brownouts, or storms.

Unlike generators, the solar PV panels with batteries can provide quiet and continuous energy regardless of a fuel shortage.

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MAYOR OPENS DIRECT LINE TO CONSTITUENTS

CITYWIDE — New Yorkers now have a way to communicate directly with Mayor Eric Adams, who on Monday announced a new initiative that provides updates on services that his administration provides. Those who sign up online will receive digital communications directly from Mayor Adams with information about new initiatives and policies, local events, and more.

As part of this initiative, the administration will facilitate a new series of email communications to New Yorkers that are specific to their locations and interests.

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NEW BILL WOULD BAN FIRINGS WITHOUT JUST CAUSE

CITYWIDE — The “Secure Jobs Act,” newly-introduced legislation from primary City Council sponsor Tiffany Cabán (D-Queens), would ban employers from terminating employees without just cause. The bill, to which Comptroller Brad Lander gave vocal support, and whose co-sponsors include several Brooklyn City Councilmembers, would require employers to give workers advance notice of termination, provide a written explanation of their firing and give workers fired without a good reason the opportunity to appeal the decision and be reinstated.

The “Secure Jobs NYC” coalition includes a wide array of groups, from labor unions (Amazon Labor Union, Teamsters Local 804 and UAW Region 9A). The Brooklyn co-sponsors include Councilmembers Lincoln Restler (D-33/Red Hook to northern Brooklyn) Sandy Nurse (D-37/Bushwick), Shahana Hanif (D-39/several neighborhoods), Charles Barron (D-42/eastern Brooklyn), Alexa Avilés (D-38/Sunset Park), Jen Gutiérrez (D-34/northern Brooklyn, Chi Ossé (D-36/Bed-Stuy and Crown Hts.) and Farah Louis (D-45/Flatbush).

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LEGAL AID SOCIETY: CRUISE TERMINAL’S FLOOD ZONE LOCATION MAKES IT UNSAFE FOR SHELTER

RED HOOK — The Legal Aid Society criticized Mayor Eric Adams’ January 21 announcement the city will soon open a “humanitarian relief center” at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal for homeless men, saying that this tent city’s location in a flood zone will jeopardize the men’s safety and health, especially during the cold months. Legal Aid stated that “the city must utilize existing voucher programs, such as CityFHEPS, to help homeless New Yorkers move into permanent housing, thereby allowing shelters to accommodate new entrants.”

The statement added, “Continuing to move asylum seekers around the boroughs like chess pieces is callous and indicative of City Hall’s failure to competently manage this crisis, and it’s especially frustrating that Mayor Adams continues to disregard the alternatives we have recommended since this crisis broke last year.”

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SEN. BERNIE SANDERS’ NEW BOOK CRITICIZING CAPITALISM IS FOCUS OF BAM DIALOGUE

FORT GREENE — U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Dr. Cornel West are coming to Brooklyn for a dialogue at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Feb. 20. They will be discussing Sanders’ new book, “It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism” and the tough questions he believes the American people must ask in these turbulent times.

Tickets for this event, which BAM and the Greenlight Bookstore are co-presenting, go on sale this Thursday, Jan. 26 (Jan. 24 for BAM Members and Patrons) at BAM.org.

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CAMPAIGN TO SAVE BUS LINES IN SOUTHERN BROOKLYN

SOUTHERN BROOKLYN — Several bus lines proposed for cuts or elimination — as part of the MTA’s initial Brooklyn Bus Network Redesign Plan — are the focus of a community campaign that City Councilmember Justin Brannan is spearheading. Brannan opposes changes to and elimination of routes, including of the B36, B74, B16, B37, B63, and B64 buses, which he says are crucial local lifelines for southern Brooklyn residents spanning Coney Island and Bay Ridge. Brannan is also against proposed stop removals and service cuts to Bay Ridge’s beloved X27/X37 express route, and to the complete elimination of X28/X38 stops in Coney Island.

Councilmember Brannan is circulating an online petition where residents can voice their objections to southern Brooklyn cuts: https://bit.ly/NoMTAcuts, and is encouraging Brooklynites to testify at the MTA’s upcoming virtual hearings, which will take place in mid-February for southern Brooklyn. Residents can register to testify via: https://new.mta.info/project/brooklyn-bus-network-redesign.

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CITY HOLDS EVENT TO PROMOTE EXPANSION OF CAR-FREE STREETS PROGRAM

CROWN HEIGHTS — New York City is holding an event at the Weeksville Cultural Center in Crown Heights on Tuesday, Jan. 24, to urge cultural organizations and community groups to become Open Streets partners during 2023, and is committing $5 million in annual funding for this purpose. Featuring performances by musical, arts and cultural groups, this event has the goal of encouraging the organizations to host, manage, and program activities along New York City’s growing network of Open Streets, with the first application deadline being Jan. 31 due online.

As DOT expands its network of car-free streets and pedestrian plazas, the question arises of how delivery trucks for merchants and other essential vehicles, including emergency personnel) would be able to access the roadways.

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CITY AND GODSQUAD CO-SPONSOR TALK ON SAFEGUARDING ONE’S RIGHTS

FLATBUSH — A conversation on “Understanding Your Rights: Exercising Your Right to Exist” takes place this Thursday, Jan. 26, at 6:30 p.m., thanks to sponsorship from the GodSquad/67th Precinct Clergy Council and the NYC Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes. Hosted at the Lips Café on Nostrand Avenue in Flatbush, this community event will be an intentional conversation on citizens’ expanding their awareness and understanding of one’s civil and constitutional rights. A panel of community leaders will share what one should do in encounters with the NYPD, and in bias crime situations.

Online registration is required.

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ADAMS PLANS TO HOUSE MIGRANTS IN RED HOOK TENTS

RED HOOK — Mayor Eric Adams on Saturday announced the city will soon open a “humanitarian relief center” that will house around 1,000 single adult men in tents at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal and will offer services and relocation assistance before theoretically closing in the spring prior to cruise season. As well as offering shelter to new arrivals, some migrants will be moved from their current hotel rooms into this new camp, drawing condemnation from the Legal Aid Society, which slammed Adams’ plan as “callous” and called on him to instead utilize vouchers to help the migrants move into permanent housing.

The city has been struggling to accommodate the wave of migration that has seen more than 41,000 newcomers arrive in the city from the southern border since last spring, prompting Mayor Adams to travel to Texas last week to draw attention to the crisis.

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NY ELECTEDS URGE FEMA, BIDEN TO SENT AID FOR MIGRANTS

CITYWIDE — In a letter sent to President Biden and FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell earlier this week, a majority of NYC elected officials urged the federal government to accelerate funding to municipalities to support arriving asylum seekers, pressing for NYC to get its due share of the $800 million in assistance for municipalities allocated by Congress to FEMA in December, as well as other categorical grants. The letter also urged the federal government to move quickly to accelerate work authorization for recent arrivals, noting that significant backlogs in immigration courts could mean those arriving in recent months might have to wait years before receiving work permits.

The letter, organized by New York City comptroller Brad Lander and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and signed by borough presidents Vanessa Gibson, Mark Levine and Antonio Reynoso, as well as 28 members of the City Council, is available on the comptroller’s website.

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NJ DEM CROSSES AISLE TO PROTEST AGAINST CONGESTION PRICING

NEW JERSEY — U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey announced legislation on Thursday striking back at New York’s congestion pricing plan, introducing a bill called the Anti-Congestion Tax Act that would strip the MTA of billions in federal funding and give commuting drivers a federal tax credit should New York go through with the plan to toll cars entering lower Manhattan. The congestion pricing plan has drawn criticism from New York Republicans, including Brooklyn’s lone GOP Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, who in October teamed up with Gottheimer to formally demand a congressional hearing on the subject.

Gothamist reports that Governor Hochul expressed confidence that the bill had no chance of making it past Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer.

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MAYOR ORDERS VENDORS REMOVED FROM BROOKLYN BRIDGE

DUMBO — Street vendors selling their wares on the Brooklyn Bridge are facing a crackdown reportedly on orders from Mayor Adams, reports Streetsblog, who interviewed several of the affected vendors after they were unceremoniously booted off the pedestrian walkway last week. While some sellers blamed each other for taking up too much space, others slammed the city, saying that the situation was in part caused by a long-standing cap on the number of street-selling licenses, preventing newcomers from being able to operate legally despite promises from officials to issue more permits.

“You’re investing so much into enforcement, and you’re not investing in creating the new system that a lot of people are waiting to get one of those permits to formalize their business,” said Mohamed Attia, the leader of a street vendor advocacy group.

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BROOKLYN MAN WHO JOINED ISIS TO FACE CHARGES

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — The trial of Ruslan Asainov, 46, who in 2013 left behind his Brooklyn family to join ISIS in Syria as a sniper, is set to begin this week in federal court in Brooklyn, with charges including conspiring to provide material support to ISIS resulting in death. The New York Daily News reports that Asainov, a native of Kazakhstan who moved to Brooklyn in 1998, was praised by ISIS leaders as one of their best trainers, and had pledged allegiance to the now-slain Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Opening statements were expected to begin at 11 a.m.,Monday.

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MOTHER CABRINI HEALTH FOUNDATION AWARDS $22M TO BKLYN PROGRAMS

BROOKLYN — The Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, a private nonprofit named after a Catholic saint that is focused on healthcare needs for underserved communities, on Monday announced it has awarded 538 grants totaling $165 million to support nonprofits addressing the health-related needs of low-income residents across New York state in 2023, including more than $22 million in funding to Brooklyn-based organizations. The grants include $1 million to Futures in Education for Brooklyn and Queens, a scholarship and tuition assistance program; another $1 million to St. John’s Bread and Life, an expansive emergency food hub and mobile food marketplace; and $300K to Housing Plus Solutions Inc., an organization providing mental health services and support for justice-involved women and families; along with smaller grants to another 63 Brooklyn groups.

“When Mother Frances Cabrini arrived in New York as an Italian immigrant in 1889, she dedicated herself to serving fellow immigrants and underserved New Yorkers. This year, New York has welcomed tens of thousands of new immigrants seeking a new home, and the Foundation is proud to follow in our namesake’s footsteps by increasing our support for nonprofits helping immigrants and migrant workers,” said Msgr. Gregory Mustaciuolo, Chief Executive Officer of the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation.

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BUSHWICK GALLERY MOVES AFTER MORE THAN A DECADE

BUSHWICK — ART News reports that the Clearing Gallery, at the forefront of Brooklyn’s art scene since 2011, has decamped in favor of a spot on the Bowery in Manhattan, where it will take up more than three floors of space close to other Lower East Side art institutions. The gallery’s owner stated that while he was initially drawn to the trendy Brooklyn neighborhood due to its relatively low real estate prices, the “novelty effect” of the area has worn off, and he expects to see more foot traffic in the new location.

Clearing’s move is not the only loss for the Bushwick arts scene in recent years — the closing of Signal in 2018 sent shockwaves through the neighborhood’s arts community.