What’s News, Breaking: Wednesday, December 20, 2023

December 20, 2023 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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PUBLIC REVIEW OF MONTAGUE ST. BUILDING’S
TERRA COTTA REPLACEMENT APPLICATION

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — FAÇADE IMPROVEMENTS AND REPAIRS FOR A MONTAGUE STREET BUILDING GO BEFORE PUBLIC REVIEW at Community Board 2’s Land Use Committee meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 20. The building, at 105 Montague St. between Hicks and Henry streets, has been covered in scaffolding since September 2022. According to the Certificate of Appropriateness application documents, 105 Montague was built in 1885, and is “a small co-op of 8 stories and 25 units, plus ground floor commercial space.” The exterior front has black masonry and ornamental terra cotta. The application is to remove the terra cotta units and replace them with pre-cast concrete, for safety and timelines.

The Certificate of Appropriateness pointed out that terra cotta is considered a strong but brittle material that can fail without warning and is subject to freeze-thaw cycle damage in colder climates. Moreover, there remain only two terra cotta manufacturers in America.

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PROPOSED BUILDING ON GRACE COURT ALARMS NEIGHBORS

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — A PROPOSED GRACE COURT DEVELOPMENT IS ALARMING RESIDENTS OF THIS BLOCKLONG STREET to attend Community Board 2’s Land Use Committee Meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 20, according to a notice posted Tuesday on the Brooklyn Heights Blog. Documents on the Land Use Committee’s web page indicate the meeting agenda includes a public review of the Certificate of Appropriateness for a three-story building where a garden now stands. According to the rendering, the firm handling the design is Ryall Sheridan Carroll Architects. The Brooklyn Heights Blog entry quoted Grace Court resident Lucy Small, “We are opposed to this project because it will change the historic landscape of our street, obliterate the garden and cause major disruption during construction.” Small urges her neighbors to attend this meeting, being held at 350 Jay St., 8th Floor, starting at 6 p.m.

Community Board 2 indicates that all board and committee meetings are open to the public, per city law.

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RITE AID BARRED FROM USING FACIAL RECOGNITION
TECHNOLOGY THAT PRODUCED FALSE-POSITIVE IDS

NATIONWIDE — RITE AID WILL BE PROHIBITED FROM USING FACIAL RECOGNITION technology for surveillance purposes for five years as part of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC charges that the retailer, which operates several stores in Brooklyn, failed to implement reasonable procedures and prevent harm to consumers in its use of facial recognition technology in hundreds of stores. According to the complaint, Rite Aid contracted with two companies to help create a database of images of individuals — considered to be “persons of interest” because Rite Aid believed they engaged in or attempted to engage in criminal activity at one of its retail locations. The FTC alleges that this system generated thousands of false-positive matches, leading store employees to confront customers and unjustly accuse them of shoplifting or other crimes. The proposed settlement order will require Rite Aid to implement comprehensive safeguards to their automated systems to prevent these types of harm to consumers.

Rite Aid operates several stores in Brooklyn, including in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Sunset Park and Marine Park, although the FTC didn’t specify whether these locations were involved.

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NY ATTORNEY GENERAL: SIRIUSXM RADIO
REFUSED CUSTOMERS’ CANCELLATION PLEAS

NATIONWIDE — SIRIUSXM RADIO, INC. IS THE DEFENDANT IN A LAWSUIT from New York Attorney General Letitia James for trapping consumers in subscriptions and maintaining deliberately long and burdensome cancellation processes. Attorney General James filed the lawsuit following an investigation that found NYC-based SiriusXM forces its subscribers to call or chat online with an agent to cancel a subscription, then deliberately refused to complete the cancellation. Furthermore, the Office of the Attorney General also found that the company trains its agents to not take “no” for an answer when customers try to cancel, instead pressuring them with other offers. Through this lawsuit, Attorney General James seeks restitution, penalties and disgorgement from SiriusXM for violating New York’s business laws.

The OAG’s lawsuit charges that SiriusXM violated state and federal laws concerning subscriptions that renew automatically by failing to provide subscribers with a cancellation mechanism that is simple, timely and easy to use. The OAG’s lawsuit also alleges that SiriusXM engaged in fraud and deception by misleading subscribers seeking to cancel the service.

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MORE THAN $179,000 RAISED AFTER BICYCLE DEATH OF BK COMEDIAN KENNY DEFOREST

CROWN HEIGHTS — A FUNDRAISER BROUGHT IN MORE THAN $179,000 TO HELP THE FAMILY cover the medical bills of noted stand-up comedian Kenny DeForest, who died Dec. 13 after a tragic bicycle accident in Brooklyn. DeForest, 37, drove into a parked vehicle at the intersection of Saint Marks and Rogers avenues in Crown Heights while riding an electric Citi Bike on Dec. 8, police told the Brooklyn Eagle. He underwent neurological surgery to remove a piece of his skull and relieve pressure from a brain bleed at Kings County Hospital, according to Ryan Beck, organizer of the Gofundme.

“He died at Kings County Hospital surrounded by his parents, family, and friends,” Beck wrote. His organs were donated to give the gift of life to others.

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POLICE SEARCHING FOR MISSING 14-YEAR-OLD SHEEPSHEAD BAY BOY

SHEEPSHEAD BAY — POLICE ARE SEARCHING FOR A MISSING 14-YEAR-OLD BOY who was last seen leaving his home on Nostrand Avenue in Sheepshead Bay on Sunday, Dec. 17, around 6:15 p.m. Keron Jones is described as Black with brown hair, brown eyes, approximately 5’1, and approximately 90 lbs. He was last seen wearing a blue jacket, grey sweatpants, a black and red sweatshirt and red sneakers.

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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‘LAY OUT’ HOLIDAY MARKET FEATURES 70+ BLACK-OWNED BUSINESSES

ATLANTIC TERMINAL — THE LAY OUT MARKET, FEATURING A ROTATION OF MORE THAN 70 BLACK-OWNED BUSINESSES including The Printing Block, Baked N’ Full, Furkat & Robbie, Plantdad by Moobience and more, is offering a festive shopping experience at Atlantic Terminal Mall, 625 Atlantic Ave., this weekend and next, with extended hours through Christmas Eve. Shop alongside caroling from Sirens of Gotham Chorus, photo ops with Santa Claus and performances from the Brooklyn Music School Youth Orchestra.

Founded in 2020 with the mission of uplifting Black culture and businesses, the Lay Out operates throughout the mall’s ground floor from 1 – 7 p.m., with carolers from 1 – 3 p.m.

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LEGISLATION WOULD ENSURE VOTING WHEN ELECTIONS ARE DISRUPTED

STATEWIDE — STATE SEN. ANDREW GOUNARDES (D-26) HAS INTRODUCED A BILL TO REMEDY POTENTIAL ELECTION DISRUPTIONS. As New Yorkers approach another federal election year, Senator Gounardes on Tuesday, Dec. 19, introduced a bill that would allow bipartisan election officials to adapt in real-time to election disruptions, extending time for balloting at impacted polling places if necessary. Responding to the lack of a functional framework in New York for rapid response solutions to address natural or human-caused incidents that interrupt voting at poll sites, the bill would ensure that voters are still able to vote for the full amount of time the Board of Elections had previously allotted.

Elections disruptions have reportedly spiked in recent years: Last year, a bomb threat targeted the Jackie Robinson Educational Complex in Manhattan’s East Harlem neighborhood, with the NYPD evacuation robbing voters of at least two hours of early voting during the 2022 general election. And the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attack aborted New York City’s primary election that day, as polls had already opened.

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LEADING BROOKLYN ENGINEERING SCHOOL PARTICIPATES IN NATIONAL CYBER SERVICE ACADEMY SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

CAPITOL HILL AND DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — NYU Tandon School of Engineering in Downtown Brooklyn is participating in U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s newly-expanded Cyber Service Academy scholarship program through the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act. During a video press conference on Tuesday, December 19, Sen. Gillibrand said this program aims to remedy a widespread shortage in government cyber personnel, rendering the U.S. vulnerable to cyber-attacks by foreign adversaries. As the Eagle reported yesterday, the program will provide free tuition to accepted students in exchange for a public service stint in cybersecurity. The deadline to apply to NYU-Tandon or another of the 20 eligible NY schools for the next academic year is February 1, 2024.

Academy students will be required to serve in the DoD or in the Intelligence Community for one year per year of scholarship, up to five years. They are also expected to serve in internships during school breaks.

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ARBITRATOR RULES NYU LANGONE HOSPITAL-BROOKLYN UNDERSTAFFED NURSES

SUNSET PARK — AN INDEPENDENT ARBITRATOR RULED THAT NYU LANGONE HOSPITAL-BROOKLYN understaffed nurses in its medical-surgical unit and exceeded the nurse-to-patient ratios required by a union contract, THE CITY reported Tuesday. Arbitrator Howard Edelman found that the medical-surgical unit at the Sunset Park hospital was understaffed 47 times from May to August 2022.

The affected nurses would receive about $37,000 total as part of the arbitration award, which stemmed from grievances that the nurses’ union filed against the hospital.

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KINGS PLAZA MALL EVACUATED AFTER BOMB THREAT ON TUESDAY

MILL BASIN — CHRISTMAS SHOPPING WAS DERAILED AFTER A BOMB THREAT AT KINGS PLAZA SHOPPING CENTER prompted the evacuation of the mall on Tuesday, Patch reported. The shopping center on Flatbush Avenue and Avenue U in Mill Basin, Brooklyn, was evacuated out of an “abundance of caution” at about 11:20 a.m., Patch said.

No one was injured, and the NYPD Bomb Squad remained at the scene Tuesday afternoon.

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NEW BILL WOULD PROVIDE SENIORS WITH MEDICALLY-TAILORED MEALS

CAPITOL HILL — New bipartisan legislation in Congress would establish a nationwide pilot program through Medicare to provide medically-tailored meals to seniors with diet-impacted diseases. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-11/southwestern Brooklyn) has joined with her colleagues, Republican Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Democrats James P. McGovern (Massachusetts) and Chellie Pingree (Maine) on Tuesday, December 19 to introduce the Medically Tailored Home-Delivered Meals Demonstration Pilot Act (H.R. 6780). The law would test various Medicare payment and delivery models to improve health outcomes for some of the nation’s most vulnerable seniors, reduce the rate of hospital readmissions, and increase access to healthy foods, while saving the Medicare program, and taxpayers, money.

“The large majority of seniors 60 years of age and up are living with one or more chronic health conditions that can limit their ability to shop or cook for themselves,” said Congresswoman Malliotakis. “By establishing a Medicare-covered pilot program to deliver nutritious and medically tailored meals to homes, we can provide our vulnerable seniors with peace of mind, improve their overall health and lower their healthcare costs by reducing their hospital readmission rates.”

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LEADING BROOKLYN ENGINEERING SCHOOL PARTICIPATES IN NATIONAL CYBER SERVICE ACADEMY SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

CAPITOL HILL AND DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — NYU Tandon School of Engineering in Downtown Brooklyn is participating in U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s newly-expanded Cyber Service Academy scholarship program through the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act. During a video press conference on Tuesday, December 19, Sen. Gillibrand said this program aims to remedy a widespread shortage in government cyber personnel, rendering the U.S. vulnerable to cyber-attacks by foreign adversaries. As the Eagle reported yesterday, the program will provide free tuition to accepted students in exchange for a public service stint in cybersecurity. The deadline to apply to NYU-Tandon or another of the 20 eligible NY schools for the next academic year is February 1, 2024.

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NYC APPROVES DIGITAL GAMING INCUBATOR AT NYU TANDON IN BROOKLYN

DOWNTOWN — NYC ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORP. HAS APPROVED THE CREATION OF A DIGITAL GAMING INCUBATOR at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering in Downtown Brooklyn, EDC and NYC Media Lab announced on Tuesday. The program will be led by startup incubator NYU Tandon Future Labs, which will tap into the growing digital game development industry. The Adams administration has identified digital gaming as an economic development priority and wants to make a NYC digital gaming hub, EDC said.

The industry is responsible for 7,600 jobs, $762 million in wages, and $2 billion in economic output, according to the 2021 NYC Digital Games Industry Economic Impact Study, conducted by the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.