What’s News, Breaking: Thursday, February 16, 2023

February 16, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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NYU TANDON PROFESSOR ADVISES UPDATING DEVICE SOFTWARE PROMPTLY

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — There are major risks in procrastinating on software updates to iPhone and Android devices, says NYU Tandon School of Engineering’s Associate Professor Justin Cappos. He advises, in a CNBC article that was summarized on the NYU Tandon news roundup, “For the normal user, within a few days to a week is likely fine…updating to a new model of your phone every year to every few years can help you stay ahead of the security curve.”

Many users choose to delay these updates because the alerts pop up during urgent phone calls or texting chats or other times deemed inconvenient.

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INTERNSHIP GIVES BROOKLYN COLLEGE STUDENTS CHANCE TO HELP PROTECT FLATBUSH AFRICAN BURIAL SITE

FLATBUSH — Brooklyn College students, who are working with the Flatbush African Burial Ground Coalition, gave a tour of the site to City University of New York Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez on Thursday, Feb. 16. The Flatbush African Burial Grounds, a burial site for enslaved Africans in the 1700s. This Black-led multiracial coalition works to protect the site as part of a semester-long paid internship to align their studies in anthropology and sociology to the present-day struggle for racial justice in the heart of Brooklyn.

The internship program is among 126 projects that are part of CUNY’s Black, Race and Ethnic Studies Initiative, launched last March. More than 22 CUNY colleges have received awards to fund projects thanks to a $3 million grant from The Andrew Mellon Foundation.

Flatbush African Burial Grounds Coalition President Samantha Bernardine (left), CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez (second from left) and Brooklyn College President Michelle J. Anderson (right) join student interns at the burial grounds on Thursday, Feb. 16. Photo: City University of New York/Marcus Beasley.

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BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY WINS TWO ANTHEM AWARDS FOR FIGHTING CENSORSHIP

GRAND ARMY PLAZA — The Brooklyn Public Library on Thursday was presented with two Anthem Awards for its programs to fight literary censorship. The BPL’s Books Unbanned initiative, a program to provide young people free and easy access to books amid an alarming rise in censorship, won top honors in the national awareness campaign category. And the Library’s flagship podcast, titled Borrowed, won bronze in the audio category.

The Brooklyn Public Library was selected from nearly 2,000 entries in 43 countries worldwide for this award, which recognizes individuals and organizations who are sparking social good.

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CITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION SUPPORTS ‘GOOD CAUSE’ EVICTION LAW

CITYWIDE — The City Council has introduced a resolution that codifies and supports a statewide “Good Cause” eviction law, and received immediate praise from The Legal Aid Society for doing so. This budget-neutral legislation, if passed, would equip tenants in unregulated units with basic protections to defend them against unwarranted evictions and rent increases. City Councilmembers Sandy Nurse (D-37/Bushwick, East New York) and Gale Brewer of Manhattan sponsored the legislation, which would also cap rent increases at 3% or 1.5% of the consumer price index, whichever is higher, would shield tenants from displacement and allow them to advocate for repairs without the fear of retaliation.

The Legal Aid Society last month released an analysis of city data revealing that, since the statewide eviction moratorium lapsed last year, executed evictions in New York City have increased almost every month.

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NYU TANDON SCHOOL ENGINEERS BRING TALK ON CHATGPT AND AI INTO PUBLIC ARENA

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — Conversations about Artificial Intelligence are taking place in the academic field, with NYU Tandon School of Engineering professors and researchers being key leaders in bringing ChatGPT and AI into the everyday conversation through webinars and news media interviews. Among them are Brendan Dolan-Gavitt (Assistant Professor, Computer Science and Engineering), who recently gave a talk during a NYC Media webinar on the impact of education and workforce development; Siddharth Garg (Institute Associate Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering) at NYU Tandon, who spoke with NBC about security implications for ChatGPT and code; Yann LeCun, (Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering), who discussed ChatGPT’s novel launch of language models into popular discourse — rather than a revolutionary innovation of the technology itself.

Moreover, and Chinmay Hegde (Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering) spoke with the New York Post about Artificial Intelligence’s impact on jobs.

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AUDIT: CITY NEEDS GUIDELINES AND POLICIES FOR USING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

CITYWIDE — New York City lacks needed guidelines and policies for agencies’ use of artificial intelligence (AI), leaving it vulnerable to misguided, inaccurate or biased outcomes in several programs that can directly impact New Yorkers’ lives, according to an audit released on Thursday from New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. The audit, which examined governance policies on AI use at four agencies: the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), the Department of Education (DOE), the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and the Department of Buildings (DOB), found significant shortfalls in oversight and risk assessment of artificial intelligence.

Just last year, the Mayor’s Executive Order 3 established the Office of Technology and Innovation and charged it with oversight and governance of AI, which in the previous administration had been under an Algorithm Management and Policy Officer; that work had been left unfinished as well, DiNapoli’s audit found.

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SWORD DANCE FESTIVAL COMES TO BROOKLYN

CADMAN PLAZA — Half Moon Sword will present its 37th annual New York Sword Dance Festival on Feb. 18 and 19, featuring nine performing troupes from across the northeastern U.S. in an exciting weekend of English-style sword dancing exhibitions and live folk music. Sword dancing is a winter tradition with ancient roots that is practiced in the farming and coal-mining regions of northern England, where the annual visit of the local sword dancers to the village homes was thought to guarantee good luck for the year.

The free-to-attend festival’s Brooklyn schedule includes Saturday performances at 1:30 p.m. at the Brooklyn Heights Library and at 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. at the Pacific Library; and, Sunday performances at 12:30 p.m. at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, 12:45 p.m. at the Old First Reformed Church in Park Slope and a grand finale at 2:30 p.m. at the Brooklyn Waldorf School in Clinton Hill.

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BROOKLYN HEIGHTS LIBRARY TO UNVEIL NEW SCULPTURE

CADMAN PLAZA — Sculptor Jean Shin will debut her latest work, “Something Borrowed, Something Blue,” at Brooklyn Heights Library later this month, marking the official completion of the new library. “Something Borrowed, Something Blue” takes the form of a gravity-defying inverted tree whose contours form a map of Brooklyn, with each leaf representing a zip code and a neighborhood with a local BPL branch.

The sculpture, constructed of reused denim and electronics collected by the artist from librarians and library patrons, renders the data of the last 125 years of BPL book-borrowing into a living record; each leaf is inscribed with the title of the most circulated book in the year that its respective branch opened.

Concept art of “Something Borrowed, Something Blue,” by Jean Shin. Photo: Jean Shin.

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HOCHUL ANNOUNCES $658M IN HEALTH CARE FUNDING

STATEWIDE — Governor Hochul on Wednesday announced awards of more than $658 million in state funding for a wide variety of healthcare projects across New York state, including more than $58 million for 11 different providers in Brooklyn. Notable awards include $15 million to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center to upgrade a site to focus on diabetes and obesity care, $12 million to ODA Primary Health Care Network to construct a new Health Center to expand care in an underserved area, and $5 million to Woodhull Medical Center to upgrade its emergency room.

The funding was awarded under the Statewide Health Care Facility Transformation Program, which has so far awarded nearly $1.68 billion in total, with an additional $1.15 billion still set to be awarded later this year, and a further $1 billion requested in the governor’s 2024 budget plan.

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ACCUSED KILLERS OF JAM MASTER JAY TO FACE HEARING

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — The two men accused of murdering hip-hop legend Jason Mizell, better known as Jam Master Jay of the group Run-DMC, in 2002 face a hearing in federal court on Thursday afternoon, as prosecutors push for an expedited trial following the death of a witness in the case and allegations of witness intimidation. Karl Jordan, Jr. and Ronald Washington were originally set to stand trial this month for the murder, thought to be related to a narcotics deal gone bad, but a judge in January pushed back the start date to January of 2024.

Mizell performed as the DJ of the legendary 80s hip-hop group Run-DMC, credited with breaking hip-hop and rap into the mainstream and serving as an inspiration for countless later artists.

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BROWNSVILLE AFFORDABLE HOUSING COMPLEX SECURES REFINANCING LOAN

BROWNSVILLE — The Community Preservation Corporation, a nonprofit finance company, on Wednesday announced together with partner Proto Property Services the $100 million refinance of Riverdale Osborne Towers, a 525-unit affordable housing complex in Brownsville that also contains a preschool and the only full-service grocery store in the area, according to a press release from the companies. This new refinancing will ensure that the property remains financially stable, preserving the long-term affordability of all 525 homes, as well as funding renovations to modernize the tenants’ kitchens and bathrooms.

The two development partners were selected by Catholic Charities to manage the complex in 2007, and have since conducted a $39 million tenant-in-place renovation of the units, as well as constructing a new central lobby and undertaking necessary repairs to the building’s nonfunctioning elevators and other systems.

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NYU STUDY FINDS NEW DENTAL TREATMENT PREVENTS 80 PERCENT OF CAVITIES

MANHATTAN — An NYU study begun in 2019 of nearly 3,000 NYC elementary school kids found that a single application of a liquid called silver diamine fluoride to the teeth worked to prevent 80 percent of new cavities from forming and to halt the worsening of 50 percent of existing cavities — delivering results comparable to dental sealants, the current standard of care for kids’ teeth, but with a significantly simpler and cheaper application process. The study was begun shortly before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and resumed two years later when researchers were allowed to return to the participating schools and examine the results of the treatment on the teeth.

“I know of no other dental preventive intervention that had this great a beneficial impact across the pandemic,” said Richard Niederman, professor at NYU College of Dentistry and senior author of the study.

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BROOKLYN LUXURY RENTALS TAKE OFF IN 2023

BROOKLYN — Brooklyn’s rental market is reaching new heights, reports the New York Post, with record amounts of ultra-luxury properties hitting the market and average rents across the borough skyrocketing. Data from Corcoran indicate that the average rent in Brooklyn for January 2023 was $4,220 a month, up more than 30 percent from January of last year, and thought to be driven by high asking prices in new luxury buildings.

“Brooklyn is having its moment in the luxury sun. It’s become a destination with renters moving in from the Lower East Side, the Village and Chelsea, and scooping up luxury properties,” local real estate agent David Chang told the Post.

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MAN SENTENCED FOR 2021 ANTI-GAY ASSAULT

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — A Bedford-Stuyvesant man who pleaded guilty to attempted murder as a hate crime in connection with an anti-gay attack against two men was sentenced to 10 years in prison, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced on Wednesday, Feb. 15. Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun presided at the sentencing of 38-year-old Christopher Clemente who, with an accomplice, assaulted and stabbed both victims at a Bushwick bodega in 2021, causing collapsed lungs and other numerous injuries. Justice Chun issued a full order of protection for the victims.

Clemente pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted murder as a hate crime on Jan. 25; however, the case against his co-defendant, 33-year-old Jonathan Carter of Ocean Hill, remains pending.

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BQE SURVEY TO RECORD COMMUNITY FEEDBACK ON TWO STRETCHES OF BELEAGUERED HIGHWAY

SUNSET PARK/WINDSOR TERRACE — As the city moves forward to repair the Brooklyn Queens Expressway in Kings County, it is distributing a survey on BQE North and South, to understand the issues faced by the community and the future vision, Brooklyn Community Board 7 announced on Wednesday, Feb. 15. This survey, for which responses are due by Feb. 24, focuses on the BQE segments north of Sands Street to the Kosciuszko Bridge and south of Atlantic Avenue to the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. An earlier survey for the BQE Central that runs under Brooklyn Heights, has already been closed.

There are also community events and workshops being planned in person and virtually online, afternoons and evenings, to collect input, with organizations including Community Board 7’s Transportation Committee, the Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation (SBIDC) and the NYC DOT.

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STATE SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE DECIDES TO MOVE FORWARD WITH LASALLE NOMINATION

ALBANY/BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — The New York State Senate’s Judiciary Committee, in a surprise move, voted on Wednesday, Feb. 15, to advance the nomination of Appellate Court Presiding Justice Hector LaSalle, with a full vote to be scheduled soon, reports New York 1 News. The Judiciary Committee had rejected LaSalle’s nomination last month — with some Democrats in the chamber saying the nominee, who is currently Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division/2nd Dept., is too conservative — but received pushback from both fellow Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul and from Senate Republicans, who have sued over the issue.

Wednesday’s State Senate vote could potentially mitigate a judge’s ruling in the Republican lawsuit.

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NYC TAKES FIRST PLACE IN LIST OF MOST WALKABLE CITIES

CITYWIDE — New York tops the list of the nation’s most walkable cities, according to Smart Growth America and Places Platform’s 2023 Foot Traffic Ahead report. NYC scored a perfect 100 on the report’s metrics, which include factors like density, proximity to public transit and distance between points of interest, easily beating out the competition – second-place finisher Boston scored only 74 on the same scale.

Brooklyn’s high standard of living contributes to this score – Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill, DUMBO, Prospect Heights and Park Slope all tie for third place on Walkscore’s rankings of the most pedestrian-friendly NYC neighborhoods.

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ADAMS ORDERED TO PAY RAT FINE FOR BROOKLYN TOWNHOUSE

BED-STUY — Mayor Adams failed to beat his most recent ticket for a rodent infestation at his Bed-Stuy townhouse, reports the AP, after a hearing officer on Tuesday ordered him to pay a $300 fine for not following proper procedures for disposing of garbage. A second summons related to rodents at the same property was dismissed, however, as were earlier tickets issued in 2022 for similar offenses.

In a statement, the mayor’s spokesperson said he was considering fighting the fine, adding: “One decision is clear, however: The mayor still hates rats.”

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SUBWAY TRACK PUSHER ARRESTED

CROWN HEIGHTS — Police announced on Tuesday the arrest of Corey Walcott, 44, a homeless man accused of shoving a 66-year-old victim onto the tracks at the President Street subway station on Saturday. Officers speaking at a press conference said that prior to the push, Walcott had approached the victim and told him “I’m going to kill you,” before chasing him through the station.

Walcott has been charged with assault; and has 19 prior arrests, including for assault, for criminal possession of a weapon and multiple charges of forcible touching.

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SARATOGA LIBRARY REOPENS IN BROWNSVILLE

BROWNSVILLE — Brownsville’s historic Saratoga Library reopened on Monday after being closed for two years for maintenance, including a replacement of the building’s HVAC system and a fresh coat of paint, reports BK Reader, which got a sneak peak at the new library before its reopening. The library also features a new teen tech center that will host after-school activities like a robotics club and coding classes.

“I’m just so happy to be back, and the staff is too; it’s like a family,” Branch Manager Monica Williams told BK Reader.

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FILMMAKER SOLICITS MEMORIES FOR DOC ON ICONIC RED HOOK BAR, SUNNY’S

RED HOOK — Local filmmaker Nick Fitzhugh is searching for longtime patrons of iconic Red Hook bar Sunny’s to share their stories and memories, in an effort to produce a documentary on the area mainstay, which has operated in the same location near Red Hook’s docks since the 1890s. “The plan for the film is to chronicle the history and magic of one of the greatest bars in the world and one of New York City’s oldest,” Fitzhugh told Time Out New York, inviting visitors to submit their recollections online.

Neighborhood residents and comers from afar paid tribute to the bar’s namesake, Sunny Balzano, great-grandson of its founder, after his passing in 2016 following a lifetime spent at the establishment – the lone holdout from Red Hook’s days as a bustling port.

Sunny Balzano’s truck, decorated with flowers from mourners.

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PROSPECT HEIGHTS COMPOST BINS ARE TOO POPULAR, SAY RESIDENTS

PROSPECT HEIGHTS — Area residents are complaining that the new smart composting bins in Prospect Heights, which require an app to open, aren’t big enough to meet the local demand for food waste disposal and fill up by mid-morning, reports Patch, causing would-be composters to simply dump their waste on the street instead. The Sanitation Department said that the area’s bin usage was significantly higher than other neighborhoods, and that service levels were under review, as the department works to roll out Mayor Adams’ citywide compost program, announced last month.

“People don’t care if they leave food because it doesn’t affect them. This is a horrible idea, and the rats and birds basically have a bunch of dinner tables now,” one resident told Patch.

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PROSPECT PARK TRACK CLUB HOLDS ANNUAL CHERRY TREE RACE

PROSPECT HEIGHTS — The Prospect Park Track Club will hold its 28th annual Cherry Tree 10-Miler & Relay Race on Saturday, Feb. 19, in Prospect Park, which will see runners of all ages and abilities run three loops around the park, or one loop per person for relay teams. The race will also host professional racer Roberta Groner as she attempts to set a new American record for women ages 45-49 for the 10-mile distance.

Registration for the race costs $45 and will stay open on the PPTC’s website until Feb. 18, or until all slots are full; all participants will receive medals, hats and refreshments afterwards, with winners taking home cash prizes and mugs.