What’s News, Breaking: Tuesday, February 27, 2024

February 27, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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PRESCHOOL APPLICATION DEADLINES CLOSING SOON

CITYWIDE — THE DEADLINE FOR NYC’S FREE PUBLIC PRE-K AND 3K PROGRAMS is quickly approaching: parents of children born in 2020 and 2021 will need to have their online applications filled out by Friday, March 1, to enroll. Seats are still available at full-day programs, which help introduce children to building blocks like colors, shapes and numbers, as well as teaching basic school skills like waiting in line and taking turns. Application forms and more information can be found online through the city’s NYC MySchools portal.

As parents apply for preschool seats, advocates have begun to warn of serious budget shortfalls that could lead to major cuts in funding for the popular program next year. The powerful UFT teachers’ union filed suit against Mayor Adams in December, seeking to restore funding to schools.

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FATAL SHOOTING AT CROWN HEIGHTS BODEGA

CROWN HEIGHTS — A STORE EMPLOYEE AT A CROWN HEIGHTS BODEGA WAS SHOT and killed on Monday afternoon after refusing a demand for free cigarettes, reports the Daily News. Police say Nazim Berry, age 36, was found with a gunshot wound on the sidewalk outside of the Amin Deli on Franklin Avenue and was later pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital. The victim’s mother, Danette Hollie, told the Daily News that a man had asked Berry to buy him cigarettes, then became angry when Berry said no and left before returning with a gun, shooting him in the back of the head. Police had not made any arrests in the case as of Tuesday afternoon but are searching for the shooter, who may have wounded himself in the attack.

“He was my heart. I called him Pop. He had an old soul. Everybody loved him … It was senseless. I knew it had to be over something stupid because I knew his heart,” Hollie said. Neighbors have set up a memorial for Berry outside the deli.

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LAWMAKERS CALL FOR COLLEGE DISABILITY FUNDING

ALBANY — TEACHERS AND STUDENTS FROM ACROSS NEW YORK STATE JOINED advocates and elected leaders, including state Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon, in Albany on Monday to call for increased aid for college students with disabilities. The group championed a $15 million earmark for college student support services like academic coaching, accessibility retrofitting, professional development and mental health services, as well as $4.7 million for the CUNY system and a proposed state bill that would allow students with intellectual disabilities enrolled in transition programs to be eligible for Tuition Assistance Program funds. The state, in recent years, has allocated between $2 million to $4 million a year for such services – an amount advocates say isn’t enough to meet the needs of the nearly 95,000 students with disabilities currently pursuing college degrees. Governor Hochul in January announced a $10 million accessibility investment at SUNY campuses statewide.

“As a former teacher of deaf and deaf-blind students and disability civil rights attorney, I have witnessed firsthand the transformative power of quality, accessible education for all … to provide an accessible and inclusive institution of higher learning welcoming of students with disabilities, you need money and resources. Students with disabilities should not be an afterthought,” Assemblymember Simon said.

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METROHEALTH PLUS OFFERS FREE TAX PREP
FOR ELIGIBLE PATIENTS, COMMUNITY MEMBERS

FLATBUSH — METROPLUSHEALTH WILL OFFER FREE TAX PREP SERVICES to New York, the network announced on Tuesday, Feb. 27, just a few days after Mayor Adams announced that NYC Health+Hospitals, the city’s public hospital system, is doing the same. Eligible patients and community members will be able to access free, in-person and virtual tax preparation as part of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection’s (DCWP) NYC Free Tax Prep initiative and in partnership with BronxWorks, Grow Brooklyn, Urban Upbound and Code for America’s GetYourRefund initiative with MetroPlusHealth. The Brooklyn location is 2221 Church Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11226 in Flatbush, Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Appointments can be scheduled via calling (347) 682-5606 or online.

Services are available for New Yorkers who earned $85,000 or less and file as a family, or those who earned $59,000 or less and file as an individual or couple without dependents.

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TA PUSHES CITY ON MAKING
VISION ZERO CORRIDORS SAFER

WILLIAMSBURG — THE ADVOCACY GROUP TRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVES IS DENOUNCING THE UNSAFE ROAD CONDITIONS THAT IT CLAIMS CAUSED two traffic fatalities in Williamsburg within a 24-hour period. Transportation Alternatives reported that a driver struck and killed a cyclist riding a CitiBike at the intersection of Lorimer St. and Broadway, near Intermediate School 318, on Tuesday morning, Feb. 27. Just hours before, also on Lorimer St., a speeding driver who ignored a steady red traffic signal collided with a bus, killing a rear-seat passenger. Transportation Alternatives’ Executive Director Danny Harris, stated, “Traffic violence has already killed 35 people less than 2 months into 2024.” Pointing out the Lorimer/Broadway intersection as particularly dangerous, and that Broadway is a Vision Zero Priority Corridor, Harris lamented the 20 serious injuries on the road since 2022, including eight serious bicycle injuries.”

Harris added that TA is “horrified that children witnessed the impact of a fatal crash during their morning trip to school. We send our thoughts and condolences to their community and their loved ones.”

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PASSENGER EJECTED AND KILLED IN
HIGH-SPEED COLLISION WITH MTA BUS

WILLIAMSBURG — A MALE PASSENGER IN A MERCEDESS BENZ WHOSE DRIVER SMASHED INTO AN MTA BUS WAS KILLED on impact, and abandoned by the vehicle’s other occupants, reports the Daily News. Video on Monday night, Feb. 26, around 9:45 pm, had captured the driver racing through a red light at the Harrison Avenue-Lorimer St. intersection in Williamsburg, within the 90th Precinct, when an MTA B-48 bus struck the rear-right passenger side, ejecting a 33-year-old man through the rear window. The NYPD’s Collision Investigation Squad and MTA sources said the Mercedes then struck an MTA Bus whose driver was a 31-year-old male traveling eastbound on Lorimer Street. The collision forced the bus onto the sidewalk where it struck a Citi Bike kiosk.

The Mercedes’ other occupants fled the scene. First-responders rushed the victim, identified as Alex Caba-Gutierrez, to NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue where he was pronounced deceased. The bus driver and a passenger were transported to other hospitals and were listed in stable condition as of press time on Tuesday.

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STATE SENATOR MYRIE ORGANIZES RALLY
TO SAVE SUNY DOWNSTATE MEDICAL CENTER

EAST FLATBUSH — STATE SENATOR ZELLNOR MYRIE (D-20) IS ORGANIZING A LEAP-YEAR DAY RALLY TO SAVE SUNY Downstate Medical Center. He and advocates for the hospital are fighting a transition plan that they say would result in the closure of SUNY-Downstate Hospital. The Brooklyn Eagle’s Raanan Geberer reported on Jan. 24 that the “transformation plan” for chronically underfunded SUNY Downstate Medical Center in East Flatbush would secure “a sustainable future for Downstate for years to come.” However, critics — particularly the unions that represent SUNY Downstate employees — charge that the transition plan would lead to downsizing that would disrupt their ability to provide medical care and would eventually cause the hospital’s closure. The noon rally to save SUNY Downstate takes place on Thursday, Feb. 29, at the hospital, 450 Clarkson Avenue.

Sen. Myrie urges constituents to contact Gov. Hochul and SUNY Chancellor John King urging them to save the hospital.

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RETIREE GROUPS SUPPORT EACH OTHER AS THEY
ASSERT MEDICARE FIGHT IS AT CORE OF TAKEOVER

CITYWIDE — MEANWHILE, ANOTHER MUNICIPAL RETIREES GROUP ALSO FIGHTING THE MEDICARE ADVANTAGE PLAN has articulated solidarity with the DC37 Retirees Association. Marianne Pizzitola, President of the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees, last August won a victory when Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Lyle E. Frank “permanently banned” NYC from switching to the Medicare Advantage plan (a development reported in the Brooklyn Eagle and The City). She has circulated the DC 37 Retirees Association statement, which pointed out that the non-profit documents were given to their accountant and the IRS never informed them of any problems. It adds that its membership voted to resume contributions to help Ms. Pizzitola’s group in their successful fight against the Medicare plan, but that administrator Anne Widger “sent us a threatening memo warning us not to continue our contributions.”

While Widger asserted in her statement to the union membership that the current issue is not about the Medicare plan, DC 37 Retirees answered, “that the healthcare issue is exactly what this takeover is about.”

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DC 37 RETIREES’ PARENT UNION TAKES
ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL DURING
FIGHT OVER MEDICARE PLAN SWITCH

CITYWIDE — THE PARENT UNION OF DISTRICT COUNCIL 37 RETIREES ASSOCIATION has been given emergency jurisdiction over the chapter, on the grounds that the required paperwork on its nonprofit status was never filed. But the retirees allege this move is in retaliation to their protest of an unpopular Medicare Advantage plan they say is being foisted on them. According to the news website, The City, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is now the administrator for The Retirees Association of District Council 37, which the parent union alleges failed for several years to file the required 990 form with the Internal Revenue Service detailing basic salary and expenditure information — even though retirees collect pensions rather than salaries.

The takeover, which happened last week, comes in the midst of an opposition fight against Mayor Eric Adams’ mandating a switch to Medicare Advantage that retirees worry will reduce their health coverage.

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BK OFFICIALS PUSH FOR FEDERAL FLOOD & STORM INFRASTRUCTURE GRANTS

CITYWIDE — BROOKLYN ELECTEDS JOINED REP. JERRY NADLER IN A LETTER TO FEMA Admin Deanne Crisswell and Homeland Security Commish Jacqueline Bray in support of NYC’s applications for nearly $117 million in funding through the federal ‘Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities’ and ‘Flood Mitigation Assistance’ grant programs, the group announced Monday. Ten projects would increase coastal protection and cloudburst infrastructure, tackle stormwater flooding and sewer back-ups, and plan multi-hazard projects for facilities across the city. These facilities include 11 DOHMH health center facilities; five HRA centers, including two in Brooklyn; City Hall, borough halls, courts and administrative buildings and others. A scoping study of the Flatlands-Fairfield Industrial Business Zone (IBZ) in southeast Brooklyn is also planned.

Signing the letter were Rep. Dan Goldman (NY-10), Rep. Jerry Nadler (NY-12), along with Reps Bowman (NY-16), Clarke (NY-09), Espaillat (NY-13), Jeffries (NY-08), Meng (NY-06), Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) and Velázquez (NY-07).

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36 CLINICIANS AT SOUTH BROOKLYN HEALTH WIN AWARD FOR HIGH-QUALITY PATIENT CARE

CONEY ISLAND — CLINICIANS’ ATTENTION TO PATIENT CARE HAS WON for NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health the New York State Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) designation. This award, from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), a private, nonprofit organization, goes to 36 clinicians from the complex’s primary care department being recognized for delivering high-quality, patient-centered care. The PCMH designation is granted to primary care practices that have implemented a delivery model of care that ensures access, communication and shared responsibility among a cross-section of providers, including doctors, nurses and social workers, who must work together to improve patient health outcomes. The NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home is a primary care model that evaluates clinicians and practices that use teamwork and information technology to improve care and patients’ experiences.

NYC H+H’s South Brooklyn Health campus includes the new Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospital — named for the late Supreme Court Associate Justice from Brooklyn — which opened in early 2023.

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80 PHYSICIANS FROM MAIMONIDES MEDICAL CENTER RECOGNIZED AS TOP DOCTORS IN NATION

BOROUGH PARK — MAIMONIDES MEDICAL CENTER AND 80 OF ITS PHYSICIANS ARE BEING RECOGNIZED as Top Doctors by Castle Connolly, with 40 unique specialties represented among the awardees. Moreover, six Maimonides physicians were recognized as Top Doctors this year for the first time, in areas of specialty including orthopedic surgery, emergency medicine, otolaryngology, and gastroenterology. Maimonides made the announcement on Monday, Feb. 26, explaining that all awardees are peer-nominated, and thoroughly vetted by Castle Connolly’s physician-led research team. Doctors are meticulously selected based on achievement of excellence in clinical care as well as other criteria like interpersonal skills.

“Fourteen percent of Maimonides doctors were named to this list that represents the top 7% of doctors in the country,” said Dr. John Marshall, chief medical officer, Maimonides Health. “Maimonides doctors continue to raise the bar in patient care every day.”

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COLUMBIA FORUM RECOGNIZES INNOVATIONS OF BLACK ENERGY-SECTOR LEADERS

CLINTON HILL — COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY’S CENTER ON GLOBAL ENERGY POLICY IS CO-SPONSORING A PANEL DISCUSSION FOCUSING ON THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF BLACK LEADERS IN THE ENERGY TRANSITION movement, Brooklyn Community Board 2 has announced. The invitation-only panel discussion, to be held at a Clinton Hill Church this Tuesday, Feb. 27, will bring together innovators within the Black community who have made contributions in the energy sector with its diverse disciplines, particularly those who have contributed significantly to promoting energy equity and addressing the social and economic justice issues related to climate change and the energy transition. Speakers are Aaron Choo, National Grid’s Vice President of Gas Field Operations & Capital Programs; Retha Fernandez, Strategic Engagement Manager, National Grid Ventures, Community Offshore Wind; and Andrew Kamau, Managing Director, International Programs, Energy Opportunity Lab, Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia SIPA.

Participants will brainstorm solutions to ensure that future leaders have the awareness and access to educational opportunities necessary to drive progress in the energy sector.

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RIDERS: DESPITE NEW BUS LANE, BROOKLYN’S B41 STILL TOO SLOW

DOWNTOWN — SERVICE IS STILL SLOW ON FLATBUSH AVENUE’S B41 BUS ROUTE, and some customers have to take dollar vans instead to get to a subway station — despite a bus lane redesign completed last month on Livingston Street, BkReader reports. Issues like slow speeds, infrequent buses and “bus-bunching” (when multiple buses arrive at a stop at the same time in bunches) continue to frustrate riders, who say there still aren’t enough B41 buses running.

“Our redesign of Livingston Street has transformed what was a congested, double-parked corridor into two-way fully protected and dedicated bus lanes to get bus riders where they’re going faster — while also preserving access and enhancing safety for everyone,” said city Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez in a release after the lane was installed.

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SUSPECT STABS MAN, STEALS TRUCK AT CHURCH CONSTRUCTION SITE

EAST FLATBUSH — A PERPETRATOR ON FRIDAY, FEB. 23, SLASHED A 60-YEAR-OLD MAN INSIDE A CHURCH BUILDING CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION in East Flatbush, before making off with the victim’s Chevy pickup truck, reports 1010 WINS News. The victim allegedly got into an argument with the stabber, who had entered the building at 888 East 56th St., identified by 1010 WINS as the future home of Rehoboth Open Bible Church of Avenue D in East Flatbush. After the argument grew violent, the suspect stabbed the victim twice in the neck with an unidentified object before fleeing in the victim’s Chevy pickup truck. The victim was taken to Brookdale Hospital Medical Center where he was listed in stable condition as of press time.

According to the congregation’s website, Rehoboth Open Bible Church was founded in December 1978, as part of the national Open Bible Churches, Inc. based in Des Moines, Iowa. The congregation moved to its current location in 1981, and the website indicated a “location opening soon” on East 56th Street.

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LEGAL WEED RETAILER IN COBBLE HILL LEFT IN LIMBO AS ROGUE SHOPS FLOURISH

COBBLE HILL — A COBBLE HILL WOMAN WHO HAS FOLLOWED ALL THE RULES to open a legal cannabis shop has been left to twist in the wind by the state as illegal shops flourish all around her, abc7ny reports. Iris Ladao, a neighborhood resident and social equity applicant, jumped through all the paperwork hoops and received unanimous support from the community board and the union. She took out a long-term lease for a space at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Court Street. Now she pays rent and waits, with no license in sight and conflicting messages from the state. Meanwhile, within five blocks of her location, a dozen illegal smoke shops flourish.

“This isn’t sustainable. I can’t do this for that much longer,” she told abc7ny.

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WEAPONS AND NARCOTICS TRAFFICKER GETS 10-YEAR PRISON SENTENCE

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — A BROOKLYN MAN WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR TRAFFICKING FIREARMS AND NARCOTICS IN THE BOROUGH AND SELLING THEM to an undercover NYPD officer has been sentenced to a decade in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reports. United States District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall in federal court here on Friday, Feb. 23, sentenced 48-year-old Ronald Delaespada to 10 years in prison for his role in a firearms trafficking scheme and for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine. The defendant then wound up selling the items in the vicinity of Prospect Park South to a buyer who turned out to be an NYPD undercover officer.

Delaespada’s two co-defendants, both from Brooklyn, have pleaded guilty: Rayon Lovett pleaded guilty to firearms trafficking charges in February 2023 and was sentenced in October 2023 to 85 months imprisonment, while Owen Welch pleaded guilty to firearms trafficking charges in July 2023 and is currently awaiting sentencing.

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BELOVED FULTON HOT DOG KING IN D’TOWN BK CLOSES, MAY REOPEN ON ELM

DOWNTOWN — CENTURY-OLD FULTON HOT DOG KING HAS LOST ITS LEASE and is temporarily closing its doors, News12 reports. Serving the community in different Downtown Brooklyn locations for more than 100 years, its storefront has been a fixture at 492 Fulton St. since the 1980s. The business is eying a move to 25 Elm Place, just down the street.

“That location has been supplying hot dogs since I was a kid over 60 years ago when Abraham and Strauss was around, May’s Department Store, Woolworths, Martin’s Dept. Store and a few more that I can’t remember,” said one local on the NextDoor website.

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NYS CONSERVATIVE PARTY DESIGNATES TRUMP AS ‘PRESUMPTIVE NOMINEE’

DYKER HEIGHTS — AT A MEETING OF ITS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE IN DYKER HEIGHTS, Brooklyn, the NYS Conservative Party announced Saturday that former President Donald Trump is its “presumptive nominee” for president in 2024. With 56% reporting, remaining county committees are expected to fall in line. “While some counties have yet to confirm their nominee, it’s abundantly obvious that Mr. Trump will again be our candidate for President,” said state Conservative Party Chairman Gerard Kassar. According to the Board of Elections, the party had roughly 164,826 members statewide as of February 2024, with 4,861 in Brooklyn, where it is headquartered. (This is versus 6,404,069 Democrats and 2,903,144 Republicans statewide.)

The party’s state legislative agenda includes the abolition of migrant-friendly sanctuary cities; the repeal of criminal justice reforms; the repeal of mail-in early voting and no-excuse absentee voting; and the repeal of congestion pricing. The party also opposes free college education or the forgiveness of student loans and holds other conservative notions.

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BROOKLYN NATIVE SERVES ABOARD USS HIGGINS WARSHIP

BROOKLYN TO PHILIPPINE SEA — BROOKLYN NATIVE TYSHANE DUNCAN is serving in the US Navy as an Operations Specialist Second Class. He is pictured establishing communications with the repair lockers during a General Quarters drill. He’s been serving aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins (DDG 76) while operating in the Philippine Sea. Higgins is forward deployed and assigned to Commander, Task Force 71/Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 15, the Navy’s largest DESRON and the U.S. 7th fleet’s principal surface force.

Guided missile destroyers are warships that provide multi-mission offensive and defensive capabilities.

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THE APPLICATION PERIOD OPENS FOR CITY’S GREEN FUND PATHWAYS GRANT PROGRAM

THE 2024 NYC GREEN FUND PATHWAYS GRANT PROGRAM IS NOW OPEN FOR APPLICATIONS, THE CITY PARKS FOUNDATION announced on Monday, Feb. 26, via Community Board 7 (serving Windsor Terrace and Sunset Park). The City Parks Foundation conducts fundraising and administers this grant program (with grants of up to $150,000 awarded) to support and encourage communities to invest in their local parks and open spaces. As part of the two-step application process, interested groups should first contact the Green Fund’s administrator to schedule a consultation, via email to [email protected]. Applicants then submit a Letter of Inquiry, for which the deadline is Thursday, March 7, at noon. Those invited to the next step will then submit a full application.

The Green Fund’s Pathways grant program enables sustained funding for New York City’s parks and open spaces and their non-profit partners by implementing system-wide policies and programs that bring long-term sustainability for non-governmental partners.

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NY SENATOR GILLIBRAND WILL GIVE CONFERENCE ON LEGALLY PROTECTING IVF CONCEPTION METHOD

CAPITOL HILL — RESPONDING TO AN UNPRECEDENTED DECISION FROM THE ALABAMA STATE SUPREME COURT that declared frozen embryos to be children, US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York is convening an emergency video press conference on Tuesday morning, Feb. 27, to push for legislation to protect access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) and other assisted reproductive technology services. Combined with Alabama’s already strict anti-abortion laws, this ruling would impose harsh penalties on anyone responsible for destroying the embryos, even if inadvertently. The Alabama court’s decision particularly and adversely impacts in vitro fertilization (also known as IVF, available since 1978), which ironically means that couples wishing to conceive by IVF would be in danger of violating anti-abortion laws.

State legislatures have scrambled over the past week to draft bills that would protect in vitro fertilization by limiting the definition of frozen embryos being children to those already implanted in a mother’s uterus.