What’s News, Breaking: Monday, December 18, 2023

December 18, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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LACK OF COLD STORAGE IN RED HOOK LEADS TO NEEDLESS TRUCK TRAFFIC, BK OFFICIALS SAY

RED HOOK — BECAUSE RED HOOK, A MAJOR FREIGHT HUB, HAS NO COLD STORAGE FACILITIES, produce shipped into the Red Hook Marine Terminal must be trucked to locations outside of NYC where it can be refrigerated. Once the produce is ready for distribution, it is often transported right back into Brooklyn, increasing truck traffic on already jammed streets, Brooklyn officials who represent the industrial waterfront said Monday. To alleviate this situation, Rep. Dan Goldman, state Sen. Andrew Gounardes, Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes, Brooklyn BP Antonio Reynoso and Councilmember Alexa Aviles urged the NYC Economic Development Corporation to sublease a facility at Pier 11 that will include cold storage capabilities.

“The availability of Pier 11 presents the ideal opportunity to establish an adequate cold storage facility at the Red Hook Marine Terminal that would immediately and simultaneously reduce the volume of truck traffic plaguing the neighborhood and eliminate severe supply-chain inefficiencies,” the officials wrote in a letter to EDC.

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BIG CHIEF SMOKE SHOP SHUTTERED
FOR SELLING CANNABIS WITHOUT LICENSE

BAY RIDGE — AN UNLICENSED CANNABIS SHOP IN BAY RIDGE HAS BEEN SHUT DOWN, NY Attorney General Letitia James announced on Monday, Dec. 18. Big Chief Smoke Shop of 3rd Avenue and 73rd St. in Bay Ridge sold unregulated cannabis and ignored repeated orders to stop operating without a license. Investigators from the Office of Cannabis Management and the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, inspecting the store on two occasions, confiscated more than 600 pounds of cannabis and cannabis products that OCM had not tested. Attorney General James and OCM are seeking penalties from both the store owner and the building owner out of which Big Chief had operated, the latter for an unlawful business to operate on the property. The store’s owner could also face millions of dollars in penalties as a result of today’s action.

The closure of Big Chief marks the ninth unlicensed cannabis store that Attorney General James and OCM have shuttered.

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CUSTOM HOUSE RECEIVES PLAQUE
FOR LONGSTANDING TOY DRIVE

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — CUSTOM HOUSE, A POPULAR RESTAURANT AND BAR in Brooklyn Heights, and neighborhood parish St. Charles Borromeo again teamed up for the 12th Annual Toy Drive to support Catholic Charities Brooklyn. The drive began on Nov. 24, and Custom House patrons were encouraged to bring in an unwrapped toy or gift card for children between the ages of 2 and 14. The bar offered a complimentary beer as a token of appreciation. Moreover, Catholic Charities awarded the restaurant with a plaque for this commitment.

At last week’s toy distribution, Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens already served over 1,600 children at two toy distributions held at St. Vincent Ferrer Roman Catholic Church in East Flatbush.

To show gratitude for Custom House’s generosity each year, Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens gave them a plaque to hang up on site to share with Custom House patrons. Pictured from left to right: John O’Malley, St. Charles Borromeo Roman Catholic Church; Red Davis, Owner of Custom House, and Gordon Le, Associate Director Community Outreach Services, Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens.
Photo: Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens

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SEN. GILLIBRAND TO ANNOUNCE EXPANSION OF
CYBER SERVICE ACADEMY SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

CAPITOL HILL — THE CYBER SERVICE ACADEMY SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM, which U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) created to address a widespread shortage in government cyber personnel, will be expanded, thanks to the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act. Sen. Gillibrand on Tuesday, Dec. 19, is scheduled to officially announce the program, which encourages students to apply for free college in exchange for public service. The program aims to develop a talented cyber workforce; students who are accepted into the program commit to public service in a cyber-related discipline in the Department of Defense or the intelligence community after graduating.

The scholarship award will include full tuition, select books and fees, a stipend, purchase of a laptop and other benefits.

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NEW YORK FIRMS BARRED FROM MAKING
ADULTERATED DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — TWO NEW YORK COMPANIES AND A DELAWARE FIRM ARE ENJOINED FROM MANUFACTURING AND DISTRIBUTING ADULTERATED AND MISBRANDED DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS as part of a settlement, the Department of Justice, FDA and Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York announced on Monday, Dec. 18. A civil complaint was filed against the three companies and their owner, Mohammed Islam, for manufacturing and distributing adulterated and misbranded dietary supplements, in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA). The civil complaint alleges that Mr. Islam and the TBN companies failed to establish product specifications for the finished batches, manufactured the products without testing or examining the finished batches to verify that they met product specifications and used dietary ingredients without first testing or examining them to verify their identity. Moreover, violations were found during four inspections held between 2017 and the current year.

Mr. Islam and the TBN companies agreed to settle the suit and be bound by a consent decree of permanent injunction.

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NEW BILL AIMS TO INCREASE NYPD
TRANSPARENCY ON POLICE STOPS

CITYWIDE — A NEW BILL THAT NYC PUBLIC ADVOCATE JUMAANE WILLIAMS AND CITY COUNCILMEMBER ALEXA AVILÉS (D-38) ARE CO-SPONSORING would prevent discriminatory and unconstitutional policing. Named the “How Many Stops’ Act,” this legislation would address the underreporting of police stops, on which the Federal Monitor for the NYPD has regularly raised concerns, ensure that officers are only making stops with the proper legal justification, and identify patterns of abuse to enable policy-makers to make informed decisions about what future reforms are needed. It would also set the stage for increased NYPD accountability and to repair the harm done by decades of unconstitutional and racially motivated enforcement practices.

A copy of the bill made available to the news media clarifies that reporting would be required only on formal Level 1 police pedestrian stops and investigative encounters, not casual interactions, such as giving directions or quick greetings.

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BEAN SPROUTS BRAND RECALLED
FOR LISTERIA CONTAMINATION

NORTHEASTERN U.S. — NEW YORK CONSUMERS WHO HAVE BAGS OF CHANG FARM BRAND MUNG BEAN SPROUTS in their refrigerators are alerted to a recall from the Food & Drug Administration and the USDA. The organism Listeria monocytogenes has been found in the 12 oz Nature’s Wonder Mung Bean Sprouts with a sell-by date of Dec. 13, 2023. The code for the affected product, which was distributed to stores in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts, is 12/13, present on the back inside the white box, labeled under the Chang Farm Brand as Nature’s Wonder Premium Bean Sprouts, as pictured.

Listeria monocytogenes can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women, serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. It also causes short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headaches, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea in healthy persons.

Labels from the recalled Chang’s Farm Mung Bean Sprouts.
Photo: U.S. Food & Drug Administration

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BROOKLYN COLLEGE, ALREADY ON AUSTERE BUDGET,
ORDERED TO FIND MORE CUTS

FLATBUSH/MIDWOOD — BROOKLYN COLLEGE IS AMONG SEVERAL City University of New York (CUNY) schools that have been ordered to slash their budgets. The college, whose sprawling 35-acre campus is located in Flatbush/Midwood, has had its operations already plagued by a financial shortfall, with library cuts and a shuttered cafeteria. Brooklyn and Queens Colleges have been ordered to submit “enhanced deficit reduction plans” that find savings and boost revenue both for the current 2023-24 and the following academic year, the Daily News has reported. The order is in the wake of last month’s $23 million cut to the city’s public university system in the revised municipal budget. Worsening the situation is that CUNY will also be losing federal COVID aid. Previous budget cuts have already impacted the campus library’s houses and ended financial assistance to faculty for customary expenditures like chalk, paper and department graduation parties for students and advisees.

Moreover, reported the Daily News, the college cafeteria has been shuttered for nearly the entire semester due to a rat infestation. Campus food trucks are more expensive, with meals averaging $15.

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FDA EXPANDS RECALL OF PRE-CUT CANTALOUPE

SHEEPSHEAD BAY NATIONWIDE — THE FOOD & DRUG ADMINISTRATION HAS EXPANDED ITS RECALL OF CANTALOUPE. The recall was originally announced in November after TruFresh brand pre-cut cantaloupe from recalled fruits sickened several hundred people. As of Dec. 15, 2023, the Centers for Disease Control reported 302 cases from 42 states, with the latest onset date of Nov. 28, 2023. Based on the CDC’s epidemiological data, 107 of 145 cases report exposure to cantaloupe and 56 people specifically report eating pre-cut cantaloupe. An updated list of stores includes a Stop & Shop location in Brooklyn, at 1710 Avenue Y in Sheepshead Bay.

Several other stores in the metropolitan region were also selling this project, including in Staten Island, Nassau and Suffolk Counties, and the Hudson Valley.

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SUBWAY REHAB WORKS PROGRESSES
ON J & Z LINES IN BROOKLYN

BUSHWICK — THE MTA’S J AND Z LINE Structural Repairs and Paint Project is still underway in the Broadway Junction area of Brooklyn, reports Community Board 4 in its weekly newsletter. For the rest of this year, work will be completed on the portion between DeSales Place and Alabama Avenue. Crews will then move westward along that line. The scope of this project, which was first announced in February, has included rehabilitated platforms to minimize the gaps to trains, structural repairs to the mezzanine levels and extended canopies over stairs, providing better weather protection. Windscreens are also being upgraded, with laminated glass artwork from MTA Arts & Design.

Last year, the MTA also reconstructed a section of the J/Z track at Archer Avenue.

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PARKS DEPT. OPENS GATEWAY ESTATES GREENSPACE WITH RIBBON-CUTTING

EAST NEW YORK — A BRAND-NEW GREENSPACE IS NOW OPEN IN the Gateway Estates development in East New York. NYC Parks Brooklyn Borough Commissioner Martin Maher and City Councilmember Charles Barron on Thursday, Dec. 14, cut the ribbon on a brand-new park, the culmination of an $8.2 million project built on an acre of new parkland in the Spring Creek Urban Renewal Area. The green space is complete with sports amenities, a skate plaza and fitness equipment. The new park is also equipped with security lighting, drinking fountains, seating, fencing and plantings. The Parks Department has constructed accessible routes from the park entrances to the activity spaces, seating areas and drinking fountains.

The new park is located within the Gateway Estates development area, a 227-acre mixed-use community near Spring Creek where the Dept. of Housing, Preservation and Development has spearheaded the creation of approximately 2,660 housing units.

The large new greenway at Gateway Estates
Photo: NYC Parks-Malcolm Pinckney

The green space includes fitness equipment and seating
Photo: NYC Parks-Malcolm Pinckney

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NYCHA COMPLEX TENANTS VOTE TO JOIN NYC HOUSING PRESERVATION TRUST

SHEEPSHEAD BAY — RESIDENTS OF THE NOSTRAND HOUSES, A NYC HOUSING AUTHORITY APARTMENT COMPLEX IN SHEEPSHEAD BAY, HAVE VOTED TO JOIN the New York City Housing Preservation Trust, a state-created public entity that will help them access more private and public funding for urgently-needed capital repairs. Spectrum News NY1, which covered the start of a 10-day voting period on Nov. 28, explained that the Nostrand Houses tenants had two other choices in addition to the Preservation Trust: the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) initiative, or to remain in Section 9 public housing. Both the Preservation Trust and PACT are components of a strategy to deal with NYCHA’s capital repair needs which are estimated to be $78.3 billion within the next two decades.

The NYC Preservation Trust will enable the Nostrand Houses to lease units, transfer them to a more financially stable housing program and raise funds for rehabilitation. As part of the program, the apartments remain publicly owned and tenants are given protections.

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MOM GETS 15-YEAR PRISON SENTENCE IN BEATING DEATH OF CHILD

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — A CROWN HEIGHTS WOMAN HAS RECEIVED A 15-YEAR PRISON SENTENCE for beating her 9-year-old daughter to death. Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Donald Leo sentenced the defendant, whom Kings County District Attorney Eric Gonzalez identified as Shemene Cato, 50, of Lincoln Place. She had pleaded guilty to manslaughter in October in an incident in which she beat her daughter, Shalom, and another 13-year-old daughter for over two hours with an electric cord and broom during an argument over a missing tablet device.

Shalom tried hiding under a bed, but the defendant lifted that furniture and used it as a deadly weapon. An autopsy on the 9-year-old revealed the cause of death was blunt force trauma. The elder sibling, who survived the beating, was treated at Brooklyn Hospital for lacerations and contusions over her lower body.

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SENTENCED FOR SHOPLIFTING, ASSAULTING MODELL’S EMPLOYEES

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — A WILLIAMSBURG MAN WILL SPEND THE NEXT 10 YEARS IN PRISON FOR ASSAULTING TWO MODELLS’ SPORTING GOODS EMPLOYEES when they caught him shoplifting. The defendant, whom Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez identified as 43-year-old John Whichard, was convicted of first-degree assault and second-degree assault on Oct. 26, in a jury trial for the February 2020 attack inside the Modell’s Graham Avenue store. A store manager attempted to retrieve the merchandise that Winchard and his accomplice, Gerald Rowlett, had put in their bag. Two 20-year-old male employees attempted to intervene on behalf of the store manager.

Rowlett, the 53-year-old co-defendant, also of Williamsburg, was convicted of petit larceny and sentenced to six months jail time.

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DISASTER LOANS AVAILABLE TO COVER DAMAGE FROM 9/29 FLASH FLOODING

BOROUGHWIDE — BROOKLYN RESIDENTS AND BUSINESSES WHO SUSTAINED DAMAGE IN THE SEPT. 29 FLASH FLOODING EMERGENCY MAY APPLY FOR for low-interest disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration, Assemblymember Robert Carroll (D-44) announced on Friday, Dec. 15. Carroll reported hearing from many constituents in his district, which stretches from Prospect Heights to Midwood, about how costly damage from the severe flooding has been. The filing deadline to submit applications online is Feb. 2, 2024, for physical damage, and Sept. 4, 2024, for economic injury.

The loans are available to eligible homeowners and businesses in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and Staten Island.

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SHORT-CIRCUIT CAUSES BRIEF POWER OUTAGE, EXPLOSION AT CON ED’S BROOKLYN SUBSTATION

CITYWIDE — A SHORT CIRCUIT IN SOME HIGH-VOLTAGE ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT at a Con Edison substation in Brooklyn caused an explosion and lights around the city to flicker just before midnight, a Heights resident told the Brooklyn Eagle. According to The New York Times, which covered the incident, at 11:55 p.m. a large flash occurred at the substation near the Manhattan Bridge, which Con Edison attributed to the short-circuit and a power surge. Matthew Ketschke, the utility company’s president, told the Times that an existing protective system activated and isolated the failed equipment; this safeguard led to the voltage dip that caused lights to flicker, but area residents who witnessed the incident said the flickering happened first. Con Edison workers were restoring a transmission line at the substation, according to an NYPD spokesperson about that department’s preliminary investigation.

However, even brief disruptions can cause major problems with sensitive equipment such as elevators, which were thrown out of commission and had to be reset. The Fire Department was responding to these outages as of early Friday.

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HOCHUL: HISTORIC VOTE ‘PAVES WAY FOR MAJOR IMPROVEMENTS’ AT NYCHA BUILDINGS

ALBANY — CALLING THE NOSTRAND HOUSES TENANT VOTE “A BOLD STEP toward strengthening public housing in New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday, Dec. 15, praised the residents for joining the New York City Housing Preservation Trust. “This vote will not only improve living conditions for the hundreds of residents at the Nostrand Houses — it paves the way for major improvements at more than 25,000 apartments across the NYCHA system,” said Hochul. The governor had previously convened a meeting of stakeholders to create the first-in-the-nation trust and signed legislation to fund critical repairs.

“The Nostrand Houses’ historic vote reflects years of partnership between my office, the Mayor, NYCHA, and the tenant community, and I look forward to continuing to work with them as we start this new chapter for public housing in New York,” the governor said.

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DINAPOLI: NY STATE HAD GOVERNMENT WORKER DECLINE; NOW CITY PREPARES FOR JOB CUTS ALSO

STATEWIDE — THE NUMBER OF FULL-TIME LOCAL GOVERNMENT WORKERS EMPLOYED OUTSIDE OF NEW YORK CITY shrank 7.9% from 491,102 to 452,298 during 15 years starting before the Great Recession of 2008, according to a new report from State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. His report shows the state’s full-time local government workforce outside New York City decreased by 50,000 workers (11.1%) since the end of the Great Recession. While this was similar to the national trend, New York experienced more year-over-year volatility and a longer period of overall economic decline. Two key events during this time — the Great Recession of 2007-09 and the COVID-19 pandemic — impacted state and local government workforce levels the most. New York’s decline in local government employment stands in contrast to the nation as a whole, which saw a 2% increase in the number of full-time employees over these 15 years.

Meanwhile, within NYC, recently announced city budget cuts will mean the elimination of more jobs, more than 2,000 of these already vacant. More than 2,000 vacant positions in the municipal workforce are being eliminated as part of the city’s recently announced budget cuts. City departments are also projected to slash their budgeted headcounts by 2,873 positions, according to City Hall, as reported in The Chief, a Voice for Workers last month.