What’s News, Breaking: Thursday, November 30, 2023

November 30, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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SEN. GILLIBRAND REVIVES BILL ON ROBOCALLERS,
BOLSTERING PENALTIES

NATIONWIDE — SAYING, “DON’T DIAL IF YOU DON’T WANT A TRIAL,” U.S. SENATOR KIRSTIN GILLIBRAND on Thursday, Nov. 30, held a video conference to reintroduce the Deter Obnoxious, Nefarious, and Outrageous Telephone Calls (DO NOT Call) Act to establish new criminal penalties for robocallers. The DO NOT Call Act strengthens criminal penalties for intentional violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which regulates the use of telemarketing calls. Under the DO NOT Call Act, repeated violations of telemarketing prohibitions are punishable by a prison sentence of up to 3 years, and the fines are doubled — from $10,000 to $20,000 — for falsifying caller ID information. Gillibrand also urges the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate and track potentially devastating AI-powered scams.

“Robocalls are obnoxious and disruptive at best and mechanisms for insidious scams at worst,” said Senator Gillibrand. “Scammers should not be allowed unfettered access to New Yorkers at all times of day and night.”

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AMICUS BRIEF DEALS WITH LAW RESTRICTING
LARGER-CAPACITY GUN MAGAZINES

NATIONWIDE — AN AMICUS BRIEF THAT NY ATTORNEY GENERAL LETITIA JAMES AND A COALITION OF 19 ATTORNEYS GENERAL ACROSS THE U.S. HAVE FILED supports a California law that restricts large-capacity gun magazines. The amicus brief, filed Tuesday, Nov. 28, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in California, is for the case Duncan v. Bonta, dealing with the constitutionality of a California law that allows for the possession and sale of firearms magazines that accept up to ten rounds of ammunition, but prohibits larger capacity magazines. Attorney General James and her counterparts argue that California’s large-capacity magazine law is a constitutionally permissible restriction. They assert that states have widely adopted reasonable restrictions on the public carry, possession, and sale of many types of weapons, accessories, and ammunition deemed unsuitable for self-defense and that undermine the public’s safety.

The coalition also asserted that the Second Amendment does not protect large-capacity magazines because they are not “arms,” and they are not commonly used or suitable for self-defense.

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MAYOR’S NEW STRATEGY ON TRAFFIC SAFETY
INCLUDES BETTER INTERSECTION ‘DAYLIGHTING’

CITYWIDE — JUST DAYS AFTER ANNOUNCING DEEP CUTS TO THE NYPD AND PUBLIC SAFETY BUDGETS, Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday, Nov. 30, announced a strategy to make improvements to at least two thousand intersections annually. The plan includes the addition of lifesaving sight lines (known as daylighting) to at least a thousand intersections, and the expansion of safety technology pilot in city vehicles, particularly in contractor and licensee heavy-duty vehicles, similar to the one that killed a 77-year-old Holocaust survivor in Midwood on Monday. The plan also calls for the NYPD to include traffic violence data in regular CompStat reporting for the first time, treating traffic safety as a core public safety issue. “One traffic fatality is one too many,” Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi said at Thursday’s announcement. Yet, Brooklyn alone has experienced several pedestrian fatalities during November alone, according to various news reports covering the collisions.

The day after 77-year-old Erika Wajsman was killed while crossing Avenue P, Transportation Alternatives released a report indicating that SUVs have accounted for 34% of NYC pedestrian deaths since 2022, including one in Borough Park on Nov. 14.

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TWO SIDES OF KISSINGER
PAST SECRETARY OF STATE REMEMBERED
FOR PROTECTING US INTERESTS ABROAD

WORLDWIDE — FORMER US SECRETARY OF STATE HENRY KISSINGER, WHO DIED WEDNESDAY, NOV. 29, is being remembered both as a shrewd and skilled leader who protected United States interests overseas, and also as a war criminal who turned his back on critical human rights violations when he believed doing so was necessary, even if it tore other nations apart. Kissinger, who reached his hundredth birthday on May 27, had as a Jewish youth fled the Nazis, then fought against them in the US Army 84th Division. He later earned his bachelor’s and advanced degrees at Harvard, before teaching International Relations there for two decades. Kissinger was credited with engineering new US relations with China, navigating America’s exit from Vietnam, and building power relationships with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He also negotiated the end of the Yom Kippur War, according to a statement that his consulting firm released on Wednesday.

Kissinger advised 12 Presidents, including the current US leader, Joe Biden, Jr., and was the author of 21 books on national security.

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ADAMS’ PRESS SECRETARY WAS A FOREIGN AGENT FOR TURKISH TRADE GROUP IN 2021

CITY HALL — ANOTHER TURKISH COMPLICATION FOR ADAMS: A year before joining the mayor’s office, Amaris Cockfield, one of Eric Adams’ press secretaries, registered as a foreign agent for a trade group linked to the authoritarian regime of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, The City reports. Brianna Suggs, Adams’ chief fundraiser who was recently raided by the FBI as part of an investigation into whether Adams’ 2021 campaign conspired with the Turkish government to obtain illegal donations, was paid about $100,000 by a political action committee called Striving for a Better New York, which is run by Cockfield’s father, Rev. Al Cockfield II.

PAC advisory board member, Brad Gerstman, told Politico the organization’s main function is to push back against “the left-wing” of the Democratic party.

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EMT FREDERICK WHITESIDE COMMEMORATED BY FDNY MEMBERS, CITY OFFICIALS

STARRETT CITY — BAGPIPES PLAYED AND DOZENS OF FDNY MEMBERS AND CITY OFFICIALS STOOD AT ATTENTION to honor veteran EMT Frederick D. Whiteside at a solemn service on Wednesday. Whiteside, 43, died earlier this month of cardiac arrest while working at a 911 dispatch center in the Bronx. The celebration of his life was held at the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn. “He lived a full life. He laughed, he smiled, he gave back, he believed. He produced a beautiful child who is going to go on to do great things,” Mayor Eric Adams said. “There was only one role that Frederick took more seriously than being an EMT, and that was being a father to his beautiful daughter, Jaylynn,” Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said.

The full service may be viewed online.

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STATE GETS NEARLY $24M TO BOLSTER
ELECTRICAL GRID AGAINST EXTREME WEATHER

STATEWIDE — NEW YORK STATE HAS BEEN AWARDED NEARLY $24 MILLION in federal funding to strengthen and modernize the State’s electric grid, Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Wednesday, Nov. 29. The funding will help mitigate the impact of extreme weather and natural disasters on the grid. The US Department of Energy’s Grid Resilience and Tribal Formula Grant, under the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will provide support for New York projects that help ensure the reliability of the State’s power sector infrastructure and access to affordable and clean electricity for New Yorkers. The NYS Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) will launch a competitive selection process in the first quarter of 2024 for projects that address goals in compliance with the award, which include: storm hardening, predictive analytics, climate justice, energy affordability and job creation.

New York is one of nine states and five tribal nations that were awarded a combined total of $125 million as the seventh cohort of Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants.

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BROOKLYN RESIDENT CONFIRMED AS FEDERAL JUDGE

CAPITOL HILL — THE U.S. SENATE ON TUESDAY, NOV. 28, CONFIRMED BROOKLYNITE MARGARET GARNETT AS A DISTRICT JUDGE ON THE U.S. DISTRICT COURT for the Southern District of New York. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, also from Brooklyn, had nominated Garnett and endorsed her candidacy. Garnett is currently Deputy United States Attorney for the Southern District, where she oversees the court’s criminal and civil divisions. Sen. Schumer spoke from the Senate floor just before the confirmation vote, calling Garnett “a proud resident of Brooklyn, a brilliant legal thinker, and someone whose entire life story has been defined by public service.” According to the website Senate Democrats, Schumer highlighted Garnett’s decade-plus experience prosecuting a range of cases, particularly having tried the nation’s largest tax fraud case. Schumer added, though, that “Ms. Garnett is also a fierce defender of the rights of the accused.”

The 49-46 vote was mostly along party lines, with only two Republicans — both women — voting Yes. Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted with Democrats to confirm Garnett. Some Democrats were absent or didn’t vote.

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REP. GOLDMAN URGES PROBE OF REAL ESTATE TOOL THAT USES RAW DATA TO INFLATE RENTAL PRICES

WESTERN BROOKLYN — BROOKLYN CONGRESSMEMBER DAN GOLDMAN IS URGING THE STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL to probe a Texas-based real estate logistics company for manipulating market rental rates at a time when affordable housing is scarce. Rep. Goldman (D-10) sent a letter on Nov. 28 to New York Attorney General Letitia James calling for her to investigate the multinational company RealPage Inc., which has been accused of anticompetitive behavior and manipulating market rent rates through their price optimization software named YieldStar. Among their suite of products is a software tool targeted to landlords which analyzes large swaths of rental data from competitors operating in the same market and recommends artificially inflated rent prices based on non-public pricing information. Goldman added that RealPage and its algorithm are the subject of legislators’ scrutiny and several state lawsuits.

An investigation by ProPublica in 2017 revealed that “RealPage discourages bargaining with renters and has even recommended that landlords in some cases accept a lower occupancy rate in order to raise rents and make more money.”

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LAWMAKER REBUKES MAYOR ON BUDGET CUTS TO NYPD, PUBLIC SAFETY

BAY RIDGE AND CITYWIDE — BROOKLYN CONGRESSMEMBER NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS IS DENOUNCING the planned budget cuts to the New York City Police Department, which Mayor Eric Adams announced earlier this month. A former police captain, Adams had campaigned on a pledge to reduce crime and make New York safe. Instead, the budget cuts are expected to impact the NYPD and public safety the hardest by the end of Fiscal Year 2025. Malliotakis said in a Nov. 29 statement, “Mayor Adams’ plan to slash NYPD ranks by more than 4,500 officers and reduce the force to 1990s levels is a preventable disaster that will cause irreparable damage to public safety in New York City…The reduction of police and school safety officers will certainly have an impact at a time when crime rates are much higher than where they were just a few years ago,” said Malliotakis, who added that the mayor should place first priority on the citizens and not migrants.

“The Mayor has repeatedly claimed he would not do anything to make our city less safe, but his actions speak louder than his words,” Malliotakis stressed.

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TEAM AT SUNY DOWNSTATE AWARDED $2.1M TO STUDY COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IN RESEARCH

EAST FLATBUSH — A RESEARCH TEAM AT THE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH AT SUNY DOWNSTATE, led by Dr. Thomas I. Mackie, chair of Health Policy and Management, has secured a $2.1M award for a pilot study focused on ways to empower underrepresented community members to engage in the preparation, implementation and dissemination of mental healthcare research. The study will be co-led by Dr. Karen Tabb from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

“True progress in advancing mental health equity will require the active participation of individuals from the communities most affected by mental healthcare disparities, both as researchers and as research partners,” Dr. Mackie said in a statement.

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FORT HAMILTON ARMY BASE HOSTS ANNUAL HOLIDAY MARKET DEC. 8

FORT HAMILTON ARMY BASE — THE US ARMY GARRISON AT FORT HAMILTON, the only active military installation in New York City, will host its annual tree lighting and Holiday Market. This event, one of about four each year that welcomes the public to the base, will be held on Friday, Dec. 8, from 4-8 p.m. The Holiday Market, which opens at 4 p.m. at Colonel’s Row near the 101st Gate (Main Gate), gives the wider Brooklyn community the chance to explore unique gifts created by local artisans and artists, traditional food, carousel, meet Santa and more. The Tree Lighting starts at 5:30 p.m. Free online registration is required.

The event, originally scheduled for Dec. 1, was postponed in advance after inclement weather was forecast.

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FUNERAL FOR BELOVED FDNY CHAPLAIN, MSGR. DELENDICK, TAKES PLACE FRIDAY

PROSPECT HEIGHTS — BROOKLYN’S CATHOLIC AND FIRE DEPARTMENT COMMUNITIES will bid farewell this Friday, Dec. 1, to Monsignor John Delendick, longtime Fire Department Chaplain and pastor of several parishes in the diocese, who died last week. The Tablet Diocesan newspaper reported on Wednesday, Nov. 29, that Bishop Roman Brennan will be the main celebrant for the concelebrated funeral Mass, taking place at Co-Cathedral of Saint Joseph, 856 Pacific Street in Prospect Heights, with Bishop Emeritus Nicholas DiMarzio as one of the celebrants. A Vigil Mass will also be offered the evening before Msgr. Delendick’s funeral — at Shrine Church of Saint Jude, 1677 Canarsie Road — where he served as pastor during part of his ministry.

Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, a fellow FDNY Chaplain, told The Tablet, “Msgr. John Delendick arrived in Heaven on Thanksgiving Day. He was, using a Latin phrase, ‘primus inter pares,’ first among equals. He was a person of faith who respected all faiths of the human family. I will always remember his steadfast courage and commitment as he served our first responders daily at Ground Zero.”

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MORE THAN 5 MILLION VISITED BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK IN 2023

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS WATERFRONT — BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK AND ITS CONSERVANCY REPORTED on Wednesday that that park has seen more than 5 million visitors to date in 2023, which is about the same number who visited last year. Visitors came to relax, barbecue, engage in sports, or take part in hundreds of Conservancy-led recreational, cultural, volunteer, and environmental education programs along the waterfront, including movie nights, yoga and dance classes, birdwatching and numerous special events.

The park also celebrated the start of the reconstruction of its Pier 1 entrance, which will include a new visitors center and bathrooms, and the opening of the Glide Brooklyn Bridge Park ice skating attraction.

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FOUR NEW LEASE SIGNINGS AT INDUSTRY CITY

SUNSET PARK — INDUSTRY CITY ANNOUNCED FOUR NEW LEASE SIGNINGS at its 35-acre mixed-use complex in Sunset Park. New deals include: Kinolime, a community platform producing and financing films and television pilots; Dowbuilt, a Seattle-based residential construction company dedicated to fine craftsmanship; Prudential Insurance, relocating its insurance brokerage office from Bay Ridge; and KYHA Studios, an Australia-based bridal design brand that blurs the line between fashion and bridal.

Industry City is home to more than 70 film and media-related businesses, plus architecture and design studios, homewares shopping, furniture retailers and makers, and fashion brands.

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NYPD RELEASES PHOTOS OF PROSPECT PARK SHOOTING SUSPECTS

PROSPECT PARK — POLICE HAVE RELEASED PHOTOS OF FOUR SUSPECTS wanted in the broad daylight shooting of a 37-year-old man in Prospect Park. At 3 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 19, the four individuals engaged in a dispute with the man, then shot him in the leg before fleeing the park on foot. The victim was transported by EMS to New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in stable condition.

Anyone with information 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 by visiting Crime Stoppers online.

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DATA SHOWS MOST DELAYED SUBWAY LINES OF 2023

CITYWIDE — ONLY 71% OF SUBWAY TRAINS ON THE F LINE RUN ON TIME, and trains on the A and C lines were on time only 72% of the time, according to the New York Post, which compiled a list of the city’s most delayed subway lines of 2023. The N train running between Astoria in Queens and Coney Island in Brooklyn came in third most delayed, with only 73% of trains running on schedule. The most on-time train? That would be the L train with 93% of trains running to schedule. The L tunnels under the East River were upgraded in 2020, which helped improve service on the line.

Maintenance worker Jamilla, 54, who lives in Brooklyn, told the Post that train delays are so frustrating they often cause people to “get crazy.”

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NYC’S HEAVY TRUCKS TO TRANSITION TO RENEWABLE DIESEL

CITYWIDE — NEW YORK CITY WILL BE THE FIRST CITY ON THE EAST COAST to transition its fleet of heavy-duty vehicles — such as garbage trucks and ambulances — from fossil to renewable fuel, Mayor Eric Adams and Department of Citywide Administrative Services Commissioner Dawn Pinnock said Wednesday. The city’s fleet includes more than 12,600 on- and off-road trucks and specialized equipment that currently operate on standard diesel fuel. By the end of FY2024, they will all operate on renewable diesel, made from fats and waste cooking oils.

The administration is also moving to electrify the city’s fleet. DCAS expects to operate over 5,000 electric vehicles by the end of 2023, an increase of 49% in FY2023.

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HOUSE BILL WOULD END JUNK FEES FOR RENTERS, REQUIRE MORE TRANSPARENCY FROM LANDLORDS

NATIONWIDE — RENTERS WOULD ALSO BENEFIT BY A BILL THAT CONGRESSMAN DAN GOLDMAN (D-10) HAS INTRODUCED TO END the growing number of excessive and predatory junk fees. Joining Congressional Democrat colleagues Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida and Jimmy Gomez of California, Rep. Goldman introduced the ‘End Junk Fees for Renters Act,’ which would ban application and screening fees; end late fee profiteering by requiring them to be applied as a credit toward the next month’s rent; and prohibit credit score screening in the rental application process. The bill would also require that landlords disclose in their rental contracts past and present litigation with tenants, ongoing pest and maintenance issues, a history of rent increase percentages over the past decade, and a clear statement of the total amount due each month, meant to end surprise fees.

Rep. Goldman indicated that the average monthly rent in Brooklyn is $3,909 — a 13% increase from the pre-pandemic February 2020 levels.

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SEN. GILLIBRAND TAKES AIM AT AI-GENERATED ROBOCALL SCAMS

NATIONWIDE — NEW YORKERS REPORTED RECEIVING MORE THAN 238 MILLION ROBOCALLS DURING OCTOBER, prompting U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand to draft a bill aimed to crack down on them. She will announce the legislation during a video conference on Thursday, Nov. 30, to crack down, particularly on scam robocalls and robotexts, many of which are AI-generated. Gillibrand is expected to express particular concern about voice cloning, which enables a scammer to mimic or impersonate the voice of an individual’s loved ones in order to steal money or information.

As artificial intelligence grows more sophisticated, so do phone scams, which are believed to comprise a large percent of the four billion robocalls that Americans deal with every month.