What’s News, Breaking: Thursday, August 31, 2023

August 31, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

Share this:

GRAFFITI PIONEER AL DÍAZ’S ART
FEATURED AT EXHIBIT, BOOK SIGNING

INDUSTRY CITY — THE BROOKLYN MADE STORE WILL JOIN FORCES on Friday, Sept. 1, with Collect With Lulu and Silvertuna Studio to bring globally-recognized graffiti pioneer Al Díaz’s new artwork to the Corner Gallery at Industry City. The Brooklyn-based legend will appear at the store’s gallery as part of the exhibit opening for a book signing at the new Brooklyn Made Store. Born and raised in New York City, Al Díaz gained fame by age 15 as a prolific and influential, first-generation subway graffiti artist. Díaz is best known for his friendship with Jean-Michel Basquiat and collaboration on SAMO©, (a late 70s Avant-garde graffiti tag project), which has gained a place in contemporary art history.

The Brooklyn Made Store, an enterprise of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce that opened at Industry City in May, showcases the work of Brooklyn artists, makers and creators.

✰✰✰

BP FUNDS TWO NEW AMBULANCES FOR BROOKLYN HATZOLOH SERVICES

WILLIAMSBURG/BORO PARK — BOROUGH PRESIDENT ANTONIO REYNOSO on Thursday announced he is allocating $575,000 in capital funding to Hatzoloh Incorporated, a volunteer Orthodox Jewish EMS service, to buy two new all-electric ambulances — one to cover the Boro Park area and the other to cover the Williamsburg area. “Growing up in Williamsburg, I saw firsthand how Hatzoloh enhances the health of entire neighborhoods,” Reynoso said in a statement. Councilmember Kalman Yeger said the BP’s allocation would supplement the $885,000 he was providing for an additional three ambulances.

Rabbi Hershel Weber founded Hatzoloh in 1969 during a time when ambulances often took more than 20 minutes to reach patients, according to Flatbush Hatzoloh.

Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso puts his John Hancock on a symbolic check for $575,000 which will fund two new electric ambulances for the borough’s Orthodox Jewish Hatzoloh EMS services.
Photo: Office of the Brooklyn BP

✰✰✰

COST TO RENT AN APARTMENT IN BROOKLYN JUMPED 1% IN ONE MONTH

BROOKLYN — OVER THE PAST MONTH, the average rental price in Brooklyn has increased by 1.07%, from $3,636 to $3,675 in August 2023, according to Brooklyn-based MNS Real Estate. The neighborhoods with the largest month-over-month increases include Brooklyn Heights, where rent on a two-bedroom increased an eye-popping 9.7% in one month, from $5,880 to $6,452; and Fort Greene, where studios increased from $3,018 to $3,312. Apartment rents in Borough Park and Sunset Park bucked the trend, however. In these neighborhoods, rent actually decreased 6.8% for a one-bedroom, from $2,241 to $2,087.

The most expensive studios, one- and two-bedrooms in August were in DUMBO, with prices averaging $3,877, $4,951, and $7,161, respectively. August’s least expensive studios are located in Bay Ridge, with prices averaging $1,665.

✰✰✰

NY HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUMS TO INCREASE, BUT NOT AS MUCH AS INSURANCE COMPANIES WANTED

STATEWIDE — NEW YORK STATE APPROVED SMALLER health insurance premium rate increases than the insurance companies asked for, according to a Thursday release from the NYS Department of Financial Services. Insurers requested an average rate increase of 22.1% in the individual market, which DFS cut to 12.4% for 2024. They also requested an average rate increase of 15.3% in the small group market, which DFS cut to 7.4%. The state said the smaller increases saved consumers and small businesses almost $732 million.

Fidelis also filed to withdraw from the Brooklyn market. DFS says it has worked with Fidelis to reverse these changes and “avoid significant disruption to policyholders and the market in Kings County,” which means that after a review period, their rates will likely increase.

✰✰✰

JUDGE HALTS ALREADY SLOW LEGAL WEED ROLLOUT, POTENTIALLY JEOPARDIZING ENTIRE PROGRAM

STATEWIDE — AN UPSTATE JUDGE HAS PUT THE STOP SIGN ON AN ALREADY SLOW ROLLOUT of legal cannabis in a case that could jeopardize the entire weed industry before it burgeons, reports the Daily News. Although Albany Supreme Court Judge Kevin Bryant had initially given cannabis shops the green light to open, in an exemption to an injunction that has placed a pause on the opening of new dispensaries, on Monday, Aug. 28, he reversed his decision after ruling that the state’s Office of Cannabis Management failed to comply with the court. However, Judge Bryant did rule that applicants who had received the necessary approvals before Aug. 7 would be allowed to proceed with their openings.

A factor in Judge Bryant’s decision was a disabled veterans’ lawsuit claiming that the Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensary program (CAURD, which prioritizes granting retail licenses to people with past marijuana convictions and their family members), did not align sufficiently with a broader 2021 Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, which legalized marijuana in New York.

✰✰✰

BROOKLYN-BASED ICE CREAM HOUSE RECALLS
ALL ITS DAIRY AND PAREVE PRODUCTS

BOROUGHWIDE — THE ICE CREAM HOUSE, with stores in Borough Park, Flatbush and Williamsburg, is voluntarily recalling all Dairy Ice Cream Products and non-dairy [parve] frozen dessert products due to a potential health risk with Listeria monocytogenes. The products being recalled, which are no longer being made or distributed, were sold at the Ice Cream House in Brooklyn (kosher products) and through retail supermarkets in New York, New Jersey and Ohio. This latest recall is related to the Soft Serve on the go cups which had been previously recalled by Real Kosher Ice Cream, Inc where two cases of illnesses requiring hospitalization have been reported in New York and Pennsylvania (see Brooklyn Eagle coverage of Aug. 11.

Listeria monocytogenes is an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.

✰✰✰

MAN WHO FELL OFF MOPED WAS HIT & KILLED BY CAR DRIVEN BY UNLICENSED DRIVER

SUNSET PARK — A MAN RIDING A MOPED on Third Avenue in Sunset Park just before 1 p.m. on Wednesday fell off the scooter as he approached the intersection at 51st Street, where he slid into a passing Honda Civic, suffered severe head trauma and died, police said. A preliminary investigation conducted by the NYPD Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad determined that Waki Knight, 41, was operating the 2022 Jiajue unregistered moped just blocks from his home on 52nd Street. The man driving the Honda Civic, Justin Vargas, 26, a resident of Coney Island, was taken into custody and charged with driving without a license.

Knight was transported by EMS to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn where he was pronounced deceased. The incident remains under investigation, police said.

✰✰✰

BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN COMMISSIONS
ADDITIONAL MUSICAL COMPOSITION

PROSPECT HEIGHTS — ACCLAIMED COMPOSER KAMALA SANKARAM, who is the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s 2023 Artist in Residence, has been commissioned to compose an additional work to premiere this fall. Earlier this summer, the BBG introduced Ms. Sanskaram as this year’s Artist in Residence, to blend her musical gifts with a study of the Garden’s trees. Vocal sextet ensemble The Western Wind will perform the first work, Cultivar, which has five movements, each focused on a different BBG tree: The Garden, in which Sankaram sings and plays the sitar will incorporate audio from her interviews with BBG staff members and community members, collected on her quest to learn more about how the Garden’s collection of trees is maintained and appreciated.

The live performances of Kamala Sankaram’s Cultivar and The Garden will take place at Brooklyn Botanic Garden on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 at 2 p.m. Tickets are included with Garden admission. Visit bbg.org to reserve tickets.

✰✰✰

WAPO INVESTIGATION CONFIRMS: BROOKLYN PIZZA IS BEST IN COUNTRY, MAYBE THE WORLD

BROOKLYN — A JOURNALIST FROM THE WASHINGTON POST made the trek from D.C. to Brooklyn on a matter of national importance: to see if New York City — specifically Brooklyn — really has the best pizza in the entire country. “I’ve spent years writing about food, and I was still skeptical the gap between New York and everywhere else could be so large,” WaPo’s Deputy Editor Gabe Hiatt wrote on Thursday. Now, he says, Brooklyn’s passionate pizzamakers “helped me see the light.”

Hiatt took a self-guided crawl through Brooklyn’s single-slice landscape, visiting six pizza shops in one day. “They were right. Consider this crawl my capitulation,” he concluded. Hiatt’s journey to wisdom can be found online.

✰✰✰

SENATOR PARKER HOSTS BACK-TO-SCHOOL HARVEST FEST

FLATLANDS/CANARSIE — KIDS GOT FREE BACKPACKS and school supplies at a community event that State Senator Kevin Parker (D-21/Kensington to Mill Basin) hosted last Saturday, Aug. 26, at Paerdegat Park near Jamaica Bay. The neighborhood’s 16th Annual Harvest Fest Back to School Celebration brought in a large turnout of parents, teachers and community members, and offered, in addition to the school supplies, interactive health workshops, games and of course, food. This tradition celebrates the end of summer and aims to prepare families for a successful school year.

One vendor, Tunu Thom, author of “An Unexpected Dream” was excited to share her experience at what she called: “An amazing event. The people I met, the energy and activities for the kids were exceptional.”

✰✰✰

CANARSIE-ROCKAWAY L TRAIN STATION
GETS LATEST SPRUCE-UP WITH MTA’S RE-NEW-VATION

CANARSIE — THE CANARSIE-ROCKAWAY PARKWAY L TRAIN STATION is the latest to get repairs and spruce-ups, as part of the New York City Transit Authority’s Re-NEW-Vation Program, which utilizes planned weekend service outages to perform upgrades & repairs within a 55-hour window. During the weekend of Aug. 25-28, workers made extensive repairs to leaky and damaged roofs to keep customers dry during inclement weather. They also installed a new rubbing board protecting 1,400 ft of the platform from damage caused by trains brushing against it, and they installed new LED lighting installations to brighten dark areas, made repairs to concrete tripping hazards on platforms, rehabilitated platform benches and removed outdated signage, among other work.

The next Brooklyn station to get Re-NEW-Vation will be the L train’s Atlantic Ave. stop. Subsequent Brooklyn stations will be the 7th Avenue B/Q stop in Prospect Heights and the Hoyt-Schermerhorn A, C and G stop in Downtown Brooklyn, with an estimated 50 stations to be completed by the end of 2023.

✰✰✰

BROOKLYN WOMAN RESCUED FROM MOUNTAIN BY HELICOPTER

ULSTER COUNTY — A 25-YEAR-OLD BROOKLYN WOMAN WAS AIRLIFTED BY HELICOPTER off of Wittenberg Mountain in Ulster County on Saturday after suffering an ankle injury that left her unable to make it back to safety. Forest rangers alerted by the woman’s hiking party climbed 3,300 feet up the trail to provide first aid, and turned to state police for assistance due to the remoteness of her location, near the summit; after lifting her into the helicopter, she was flown back to the mountain’s visitors center to be evaluated by paramedics.

Forest rangers then escorted the rest of the hiking party back down the mountain, arriving several hours later.

An injured hiker was rescued by helicopter on Saturday after suffering an ankle injury.

✰✰✰

CHANEL PERFUME DINER TO COME TO WILLIAMSBURG

WILLIAMSBURG — FANS OF THE FRENCH FASHION HOUSE, CHANEL, will have a new destination in Brooklyn’s hipster mecca, Williamsburg. From September 8–10, Chanel is hosting a pop-up, pastel pink-and-green diner storefront dubbed “The Lucky Chance Diner,” but there’s no slices of apple pie or burgers involved, at all. Customers can expect to find only aromatic fragrance products instead of the usual American staples. Chanel’s temporary diner will be inside of the building previously home to the historic Wythe Diner at 225 Wythe Avenue, and reservations are encouraged (but walk-ins are OK too).

While there is no physical food, there will be refreshments available at the Chanel diner, according to the New York Post.

✰✰✰

VOLUNTEERS GIVE SOUTHERN BROOKLYN ‘A CLEAN SWEEP’

BATH BEACH TO GRAVESEND — A NEIGHBORHOOD CLEANUP BROUGHT IN ABOUT 40 VOLUNTEERS last Saturday, Aug. 26, to sweep, clear catch basins and bag trash, in parts of Bath Beach, Bensonhurst and Gravesend. Organizing the cleanup was Assemblyman William Colton (D-47), who represents these neighborhoods and coordinates such service events regularly. Last Saturday, the volunteers, which included about 30 teens and a team from the Chinese American Social Services Center, worked from Bay 25th Street and tackled parts of Kings Highway, Avenue U, and Bay Parkway. Assemblyman Colton and his chief of staff Susan Zhuang (currently on unpaid leave) have organized neighborhood cleanups focusing on local commercial areas for about 10 years. Another cleanup is planned for Saturday, Sept. 30, and prospective volunteers are welcome to contact Assemblyman Colton’s office via email at [email protected].

Part of this area was scheduled for road milling during the week before Labor Day, according to information from Community Board 11.

✰✰✰

SENATOR PARKER HOSTS BACK-TO-SCHOOL HARVEST FEST

FLATLANDS/CANARSIE — KIDS GOT FREE BACKPACKS and school supplies at a community event that State Senator Kevin Parker (D-21/Kensington to Mill Basin) hosted last Saturday, August 26, at Paerdegat Park near Jamaica Bay. The neighborhood’s 16th Annual Harvest Fest Back to School Celebration brought in a large turnout of parents, teachers and community members, and offered, in addition to the school supplies, interactive health workshops, games and of course, food. This tradition celebrates the end of summer and aims to prepare families for a successful school year.

✰✰✰

CANARSIE-ROCKAWAY L TRAIN STATION GETS LATEST SPRUCE-UP WITH MTA’S RE-NEW-VATION

CANARSIE — THE CANARSIE-ROCKAWAY PARKWAY L TRAIN STATION is the latest to get repairs and spruce-ups, as part of the New York City Transit Authority’s Re-NEW-Vation Program, which utilizes planned weekend service outages to perform upgrades & repairs within a 55-hour window. During the weekend of August 25-28, workers made extensive repairs to leaky and damaged roofs to keep customers dry during inclement weather. They also installed a new rubbing board protecting 1,400 ft of the platform from damage caused by trains brushing against it; and they installed new LED lighting installations to brighten dark areas, made repairs to concrete tripping hazards on platforms, rehabilitated platform benches and removed outdated signage, among other work.

The next Brooklyn station to get Re-NEW-Vation, will be the L train’s Atlantic Ave. stop. Subsequent Brooklyn stations will be the 7th Avenue B&Q stop in Prospect Heights and the Hoyt-Schermerhorn A,C and G stop in Downtown Brooklyn, with an estimated 50 stations to be completed by the end of 2023.

✰✰✰

GOT A PROBLEM WITH BROOKLYN?
DESIGN-A-THON CREATES SOLUTIONS

BOROUGHWIDE — WHETHER IT’S CONFUSING PARKING RULES, poorly-lit streets filled with trash, or bringing in a supermarket, the Brooklyn Public Library’s Business and Career Center’s Flex into UX crew is soliciting ideas from the public for our upcoming User Experience (UX) Design-a-Thon. Flex Into UX is a series of free classes offered by BPL’s Business and Career Center in collaboration with Kingsborough College’s Center for Workforce Development. Participants have spent the summer learning the tools and techniques of user experience design, a field that focuses on creating products and digital environments, taking into consideration the needs of the person using the product or service. The UX Design Crew will select one problem from among those submitted online by Friday, Sept. 8.

Teams from the Flex into UX program will present their ideas on Sept. 30 to a panel of judges at BPL’s Business and Career Center at the Central Library, 10 Grand Army Plaza.

✰✰✰

HEALTH DEPARTMENT TO SPRAY SOUTHERN BK FOR MOSQUITOES

SOUTHERN BROOKLYN — THE CITY HEALTH DEPARTMENT ON MONDAY ANNOUNCED that following the discovery of West Nile virus in three city patients last week, workers will conduct further mosquito spraying in marshy areas of southern Brooklyn for mosquitoes. Spraying with the insecticides Anvil 10+10, Duet and/or MERUS 3.0 will begin on Thursday, Aug. 31, at 8:30 p.m. and last overnight until 6 a.m. on Friday, and will be delayed until Tuesday, Sept. 5 in case of bad weather. According to a press release from the department, the risks of these pesticides in low doses are minor, but those who are sensitive to spray ingredients or who have respiratory conditions may experience eye or throat irritation, rashes or other effects. Residents are advised to stay indoors, consider using the recirculation function on air conditioners and wash exposed skin, clothing or produce with soap and water.

In addition to using approved insect repellents and installing window screens, the most effective way to beat mosquitoes is to eliminate any standing water, in which mosquitos lay eggs, and monitor places that may collect water, such as empty barrels, roof gutters, pools and pool covers. Residents can report standing water and find more information about West Nile virus by calling 311 or visiting the Health Department’s West Nile city webpage.

A rough map of the areas expected to be sprayed for mosquitoes, including parts of Bergen Beach, Brighton Beach, Coney Island, Flatlands, Georgetown, Gerritsen Beach, Gravesend, Madison, Manhattan Beach, Marine Park, Mill Basin, Old Mill Basin, Seagate and Sheepshead Bay.

✰✰✰

MISSING SENIOR IN FLATBUSH

FLATBUSH — POLICE ARE ASKING THE PUBLIC TO HELP LOCATE MISSING FLATBUSH WOMAN Sonia Marie Jean Charles, 81, who was last seen on the afternoon of Monday, Aug. 28 inside her East 28 Street residence near the Beverly Road 2/5 station. Jean Charles is described as Black, around 5’4” and 125 pounds, with a medium complexion, prescription eyeglasses, brown eyes and orange hair, and was last seen wearing Adidas track pants, black sandals and a silver necklace.

Anyone with information regarding 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). The public can also submit tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org.

Missing woman Sonia Marie Jean Charles. All tips submitted to police are strictly confidential.

✰✰✰

SPEAKING WITH HURRICANE-STRICKEN STATE GOVERNORS, PRESIDENT BIDEN DIRECTS STORM-RESPONSE SUPPORT

WASHINGTON D.C. AND SOUTHEASTERN U.S. — AFTER HURRICANE IDALIA’S LANDFALL Wednesday morning on Florida’s Gulf Coast, President Joe Biden called the governors of the four states thus far impacted to offer his full support to storm recovery efforts. Speaking with Florida Governor DeSantis of Florida, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster and Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina, the President had directed the federal government prior to landfall, to preposition personnel and resources for the immediate response and recovery efforts. Biden also told the governors that federal teams will continue to work closely with the first responders and local officials in their states as the storm progresses.

As of 2:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 30, a tornado warning had been issued for Statesboro, Georgia, which is about 55 miles northwest of Savannah; and, several coastal counties in North Carolina are also expecting 80 mph winds and rain by mid-afternoon. School districts in North Carolina are switching to remote classes for Thursday.