What’s News, Breaking: Thursday, March 7, 2024

March 7, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

Share this:

LOSS OF GRANTS SPELLS TROUBLE FOR OPEN STREETS

PARK SLOPE — TWO POPULAR OPEN STREETS ARE STRUGGLING after the loss of government financial support for outdoor street closure programs, reports Streetsblog: the Fifth Avenue BID will not be able to sponsor this year’s 16-block weekly event, while on nearby Vanderbilt Avenue, the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council has cut its open streets schedule down, going from April-October to May-September and shortening Sunday hours. Both groups say that they are no longer receiving grant money from the city’s Department of Transportation, Department of Small Business Services or pandemic recovery funds, which is needed to pay workers to organize, set up and clean up at the popular weekend events. PHNDC Director Gib Veconi told Streetsblog, “Those were tied to the American Recovery Plan Act, and those funds have been exhausted.”

While a DoT spokesperson told Streetsblog that the city expects to find another sponsor for the Fifth Avenue event, right now, its status is in limbo, say organizers — and with programs in well-to-do neighborhoods like Park Slope struggling, the future looks uncertain for other events citywide, who face similar funding shortages.

✰✰✰

POPULAR SCHOOL MENU ITEMS TO RETURN

CITYWIDE — HUNGRY STUDENTS REJOICE: PUBLIC SCHOOL CAFETERIAS WILL ONCE AGAIN feature popular menu items like chicken dumplings, french toast sticks and bean and cheese burritos starting later this month or in April, reports Chalkbeat, caving to strong student demand. The decision to re-add the items to lunch menus comes after widespread outcry earlier this week following City Council testimony from the Office of Management and Budget that these and other dishes were cut because students were spending more time in school lunchrooms and eating too much, and assertions from Department of Education staff earlier in the year that budget cuts meant schools would not be able to provide the meals.

Not all the missing menu items are back — chicken drumsticks, guacamole, bagel sticks and cookies are still gone for now, although the DoE told Chalkbeat that it was looking at returning those dishes to cafeterias in the future.

✰✰✰

GOVERNOR ANNOUNCES FREE TAX PROGRAM

STATEWIDE — GOVERNOR HOCHUL AND CODE FOR AMERICA ON WEDNESDAY announced the upcoming launch of a free online tool designed to help New Yorkers file their state taxes seamlessly. The pilot of FileYourStateTaxes is designed to integrate with the IRS’s new online Direct File tax preparation pilot program, and will allow New Yorkers to export their federal tax information and complete a state return “within minutes.” The two tools are designed to help lower- and middle-income households avoid overpaying, claim credits and save on tax preparation fees, and will open to the public on March 12, although since both are pilot programs, not all taxpayers may be eligible to use them, particularly those with more complicated needs.

More information on Direct File can be found online on the IRS’s webpage, along with eligibility requirements; more information on FileYourStateTaxes can be found on the program’s website, FileYourStateTaxes.org.

✰✰✰

BOY TAKEN INTO POLICE CUSTODY
AFTER SCHOOL FINDS GUN IN HIS BAG

EAST NEW YORK — AN EIGHT-YEAR-OLD BOY WAS TAKEN INTO POLICE CUSTODY ON THURSDAY, MARCH 7, AFTER BRINGING A GUN TO HIS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, P.S. 158 in East New York, report 1010 WINS/CBS 880 and the Daily News. School officials were investigating a complaint from the parent of another 8-year-old child who had been threatened with the weapon, when they found the gun in the student’s backpack around 10:30 a.m. Thursday. NYPD officials told the Daily News that the .380 caliber handgun was in working order but unloaded.

The boy was then taken to the local NYPD precinct, where he was questioned and released to his parents, in accordance with NYPD policy on juvenile incidents. A letter was sent to the parents of the other students at PS 158, also known as the Warwick Community School.

✰✰✰

GOVERNOR TOUTS NY’S ‘FULL ECONOMIC RECOVERY’
AS STATE GAINS 8.34M PRIVATE-SECTOR JOBS

STATEWIDE — “NEW YORK IS BACK!” DECLARED GOVERNOR KATHY HOCHUL, WHO IS CELEBRATING WHAT SHE SAYS IS THE STATE’S FULL ECONOMIC RECOVERY from the pandemic. The governor and the NYS Department of Labor on Thursday, March 7, announced data showing a total statewide private-sector job count of 8,346,200 jobs — the highest level on record. According to the new data, the state gained 47,000 private-sector jobs in January 2024 with key sectors like private education and health services, leisure and hospitality, and professional and business services driving job growth. The milestone follows signature initiatives by Gov. Hochul to help businesses and workers recover from the pandemic — including a $1 billion Small Business Rescue Plan and $450 million “Bring Back Tourism, Bring Back Jobs” recovery package — and builds on the Governor’s commitment to making New York the most business-friendly and worker-friendly state in the nation.

Overall, the state has recovered 1,935,600 private-sector jobs since the height of the pandemic in April 2020.

✰✰✰

MTA SIGNS PLEDGE ON EQUITY IN
AWARDING CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS

CITYWIDE — THE METROPOLITAN TRANSIT AUTHORITY ON THURSDAY, MARCH 7, SIGNED THE ‘EQUITY IN INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT’ PLEDGE to further its commitment to inclusion when awarding contracts for construction projects, Governor Kathy Hochul announced. The pledge affirms the MTA will ensure participation on at least $1 billion of work by Minority- and Women-owned (MWBE) or Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) firms every year, award larger contracts to small businesses, as well as expand the pool of MW/DBE firms with which the MTA will work. The pledge will also increase discretionary contracts for design and engineering MWBE firms by 20% over the next five years.

The pledge-signing ceremony took place at the 14th Street subway station that serves the West Side’s 1, 2 and 3 trains. The station is currently undergoing Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility upgrades, utilizing the expertise of more than two dozen minority- or women-owned firms, with over $45 million in contracts to those firms.

✰✰✰

STATE SEN. CHU INTERVENES IN PROBLEM
WITH SPOILED, PROTEIN-LESS SCHOOL MEALS

BOROUGHWIDE — SPOILED DAIRY PRODUCTS AND MOLDY FOOD at several Brooklyn schools — including Brooklyn Tech, Edward R. Murrow and Midwood High School — have gotten the attention of State Senator Iwen Chu (D/WF-17), who has been inundated by constituents’ complaints within her far-stretching district over the matter. Sen. Chu, who represents a swatch of Brooklyn from the South Slope eastward to Kensington and southward to Gravesend, told NBC News 4 New York that families have sent her photos of some of the food, which has included moldy cream cheese, and a “gray mushy matter,” being served at some of the borough’s most academically-rigorous public high schools. The students told her also that meatless pizza is served very frequently, and other proteins are absent. “We need to provide quality nutrition, fresh lunch — not moldy oranges or moldy cream cheese,” said Chu.

Senator Chu sent a letter to both the mayor’s office and the city’s Department of Education (DOE) interrogating them over the meals, but is still awaiting explicit answers on “what exactly is the issue.”

✰✰✰

NEW BUSINESS ACCELERATOR COMING TO NAVY YARD
WILL FOCUS ON WOMEN AND BIPOC ENTREPRENEURS

BROOKLYN NAVY YARD — A NEW $25 MILLION STATE-OF-THE-ART MANUFACTURING, INCUBATOR, AND ACCELERATOR FACILITY, coming to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, will focus on helping launch and expand businesses in the health and beauty industry, especially those with Black, indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) and woman owners. Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday, March 7, joined Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic, and Workforce Development Maria Torres-Springer, and Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation President and CEO Lindsay Greene for the announcement of the business development facility — AYO Labs at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. They announced also that R.F. Wilkins Consultants has been selected to develop and operate the project, which is expected to create over 900 direct and indirect jobs in the first five years, as well as strengthen the city’s position as a leader in the $450 billion health and beauty industry.

Once complete, AYO Labs will be one of the country’s largest Black woman-owned contract manufacturing facilities anchored in a business incubator and accelerator.

✰✰✰

STATE COMPTROLLER INITIATES SAFEGUARDS
TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION VALUES

STATEWIDE — VARIOUS INITIATIVES ARE BEING PUT IN PLACE TO ADDRESS DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION where some companies have scaled them back or faced allegations for doing so. State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli on Thursday, March 7, announced the initiatives, targeting issues at portfolio companies, aiming to safeguard these policies at a time when corporate leaders are deprioritizing these efforts. Comptroller Di Napoli, who is doing this in his role as trustee of the New York State Common Retirement Fund, has filed shareholder proposals at Tesla Inc., Wells Fargo and Co., Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., and United Health Group Inc. — corporations that have been impacted by allegations of discrimination or harassment — asking them to publicly report on their efforts to prevent harassment and discrimination, including the number of pending complaints, the number and dollar amounts of recent settlements, and the number of enforceable contracts that contain concealment clauses that restrict discussion of harassment or discrimination.

DiNapoli points out that diversity, equity, and inclusion are fundamental values of companies with sound, sustainable and profitable long-term strategies.

✰✰✰

MAIMONIDES’ SURGERY DEPT. HEAD IS CHAIRING NATIONAL BREAST CANCER CONFERENCE

BOROUGH PARK AND MIAMI — DR. PATRICK BORGEN, CHAIR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF SURGERY AT MAIMONIDES MEDICAL CENTER AND HEAD OF THE MAIMONIDES BREAST CENTER, WILL SERVE AS PROGRAM CHAIR for the 41st Annual Miami Breast Conference, taking place now through Sunday, March 10, at the Fountainebleau Miami Beach. The conference’s extensive practice-focused educational programming emphasizes clinical care, introducing and refining innovative breast cancer treatments from the field’s foremost experts to benefit patients receiving care across the country. Physicians’ Education Resource® organizes the conference, which brings together more than 1,000 of the top breast oncologists and surgeons from around the country, and is the largest and longest-running meeting of breast cancer care professionals in the United States.

A national leader in breast cancer care, the Maimonides Breast Center, which opened in 2005, is the only fully accredited Breast Center in Brooklyn, offering a full range of multidisciplinary treatments.

Dr. Patrick Borgen
Photo courtesy of Maimonides Medical Center

✰✰✰

CITY PLANNING COMMISSION APPROVES MASSIVE ‘CITY OF YES’ PACKAGE

CITYWIDE — THE NYC PLANNING COMMISSION APPROVED THE ADAMS ADMINISTRATION’S ‘CITY OF YES’ proposals on Wednesday, sending the massive, three-part package of commercial zoning reforms to the New York City Council, the administration announced in a release. The reforms would allow retail on upper floors and above residential apartments; create new zoning for large warehouses in industrial zones; expand places where science labs, indoor farms and small manufacturers can operate; allow new small retail stores in residential areas and much more, according to the Commercial Observer. Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation President Lindsay Greene called the approval “a win-win for government, sustainability, urban manufacturing across the city, and economic mobility.” Regina Myer, president of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, said, “These much-needed zoning changes will modernize and streamline regulations for businesses, support growing sectors and keep our streetscapes vibrant.”

A few members of the CPC shared reservations with some community boards about safety issues, such as fumes in residential buildings with communal air and plumbing systems, and concerns about strangers coming into residential buildings, “especially in buildings that don’t have a doorman or security system that’s robust,” Commissioner Gail Benjamin said.

✰✰✰

‘ROGUE’ SMOKE SHOP IN BROOKLYN HEIGHTS ROBBED AGAIN

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — AN ILLEGAL WEED SHOP IN THE AREA was robbed at about 12:27 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 26, police said on Wednesday. The Exotic Smoke Shop at 64 Henry St. has been robbed several times in the past, including on April 15, 2023, at 8:50 p.m. In the latest robbery, two unidentified men entered the shop and ordered a 22-year-old male employee to move away from the register. The employee locked himself in a storage room in the rear of the store and the robbers removed approximately $670 worth of merchandise. The shop has a long history of fines and cannabis seizures by the city, but continues to operate.

The suspects were described as having dark complexions. One was wearing a white T-shirt, black pants and black mask. The other was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, black vest and sunglasses. Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or visit Crime Stoppers online.

✰✰✰

GROUP USED HAMMER TO SMASH INTO SMOKE SHOP ON ATLANTIC AVE.

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — POLICE ARE LOOKING FOR FOUR PEOPLE who used a hammer to burgle a smoke shop on Atlantic Avenue near Henry Street in Brooklyn Heights in the early morning hours on Saturday, March 2. At about 6:36 a.m., a woman approached Love Joy Convenience shop at 109 Atlantic Ave. and struck a window and the front glass door of the location with a hammer. The woman and a man then entered the location and forcibly removed a quantity of merchandise, police said. An additional two men acted as lookouts outside the location. The individuals then fled on foot westbound on Atlantic Avenue toward Hicks Street with the stolen merchandise.

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or visit Crime Stoppers online.

✰✰✰

SPECULATION OVER MYRIE MAYORAL RUN

CITYWIDE – RUMOR IS BUILDING OVER THE POSSIBILITY OF STATE SEN. ZELLNOR Myrie running for mayor, reports Gothamist, after the Brooklyn senator delivered a rousing speech on Sunday at an influential Harlem church known for political activism, focusing on the importance of New York’s John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act, which Myrie sponsored, and participation in democracy. Several notable figures joined Myrie in worship at Abyssinian Baptist Church, including Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg, Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright and Assemblymember Landon Dais. Although Myrie has reportedly begun raising money from donors ahead of the 2025 election, he did not confirm or deny the rumors that he could be aiming to unseat embattled Mayor Adams, whose position appears unsteady as an FBI investigation into corruption allegations expanded last week.

Myrie is currently focused on organizing in support of SUNY Downstate, which unions say faces potential closure after the release of a “transformation plan” that could downsize the hospital.

✰✰✰

OSCAR-WINNING PRODUCER IN RESIDENCE AT BROOKLYN COLLEGE

MIDWOOD – BROOKLYN COLLEGE ON WEDNESDAY ANNOUNCED THAT PRODUCER BRUCE Cohen, winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture for “American Beauty” and nominated for “Milk” and “Silver Linings Playbook,” will serve as filmmaker-in-residence during the spring semester at the college’s Barry R. Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema. Cohen will lead workshops focused on effective production techniques, conduct set visits supervising student films and provide one-on-one mentoring sessions for students in his role; the position at the CUNY school is funded by a grant from the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.

Brooklyn College in a statement wrote that Cohen’s decades of experience will help the school in its mission to “mentor the next great diverse generation of cinematic storytellers.”

✰✰✰

NYPD, POLICE ACROSS NATION SEEK CHURCH BURGLAR WHO’S IMPERSONATING A PRIEST

BAYSIDE AND NATIONAL— THE NYPD IS ASKING FOR THE PUBLIC IN IDENTIFYING A MAN WHO, IMPERSONATING A PRIEST, ON SUNDAY, MARCH 3 ROBBED A BAYSIDE PARISH, which is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn. According to the NYPD, a 63-year-old male at American Martyrs RC Church called the police after giving access to a man who claimed to be a priest, who took $900 in cash from the victim’s bedroom. A spokesman for the diocese told the Brooklyn Eagle via email that the same man also attempted to rob St. Thomas Aquinas in Flatlands on October 1. The suspect told the sacristan he was a visiting priest who had left behind his keys; but the sacristan checked with the pastor, who said there had been no visitors. The Tablet newspaper, covering the March 3 burglary, indicated that the man is also wanted in the Houston-Galveston area after robbing a church in that Archdiocese; and he is sought in California as well.

Clergy in the Diocese of Brooklyn have been alerted. Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).

The pictured individual, who was wearing dark clothing but not a clergy collar, fled in a dark-colored sedan.
Photo: NYPD/CrimeStoppers

✰✰✰

GOVERNOR’S NEW STIPEND PROGRAM AIMS TO BOLSTER THE VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER CORPS.

STATEWIDE —A NEW PROGRAM THAT GOVERNOR KATHY HOCHUL LAUNCHED ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5 AIMS TO STABILIZE AND BOLSTER NEW YORK’S VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER SERVICE. The state budget includes $10 million to offset the costs of training courses volunteer firefighters are required to complete, Stipends range from $500 to $1,250 depending on completion of various training courses, including basic exterior firefighting operations, self-contained breathing apparatus / interior firefighting operations and fire officer skills. Stipends are for first-time course completions of the listed OFPC course or equivalency as determined by OFPC. The program’s draft regulations were accepted following a 60-day public comment period.

Volunteer fire departments serve approximately nine million New Yorkers, nearly half of the State’s population. In recent years, however, more than three-quarters of these departments have reported a decrease in the number of individuals willing to volunteer and serve.

✰✰✰

INDIE GUNS HIT WITH $7.8M JUDGMENT FOR SELLING GHOST-GUN COMPONENTS IN NY

NATIONWIDE —STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL LETITIA JAMES HAS SECURED A $7.8 MILLION JUDGMENT AND PERMANENT INJUNCTION AGAINST GUN RETAILER INDIE GUNS, LLC for illegally selling ghost gun components in New York. The Florida-based company, which specializes in selling the parts used to make ghost guns, will also be permanently banned from selling unfinished frames and receivers in New York. The judgment is the result of a major lawsuit that Attorney General James filed against Indie Guns and nine other ghost gun retailers in June 2022 for selling tens of thousands of illegal, unfinished frames and receivers to New Yorkers that were assembled into untraceable handguns and assault-style weapons.

The judgment resolves the Office of the Attorney General’s lawsuit against Indie Guns during other ongoing litigation against the remaining nine defendants.

✰✰✰

BAG CHECKS, CONDUCTOR CABIN CAMERAS ARE PART OF GOVERNOR’S 5-POINT SAFETY PLAN

CITYWIDE —THE NATIONAL GUARD AND STATE POLICE WILL BE DEPLOYED TO THE NYC SUBWAY SYSTEM as part of a Five Point Plan that will utilize state resources to protect New Yorkers on the subways, Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Wednesday, March 6. The plan, which is a response to a recent upsurge in subway assaults, will surge State personnel to assist with NYPD bag checks, and legislation that will authorize judges to ban individuals who have been convicted of assault within the transit system from utilizing it. The plan will also add new cameras to protect conductor cabins, increase coordination between district attorneys and law enforcement, and increase the number of Subway Co-Response Outreach (SCOUT) teams throughout the system

A currently-existing provision allows a transit ban as a term of sentencing for individuals who assault transit workers, and under Governor Hochul’s plan. As part of the plan, the same provision would be extended to include assaults of anyone — including commuters —within the system.

✰✰✰

MAYOR: NYPD WILL STEP UP BAG CHECKS THROUGHOUT NYC SUBWAY SYSTEM

CITYWIDE — GOVERNOR KATHY HOCHUL’S FIVE –POINT PLAN TO PROTECT NEW YORKERS ON THE SUBWAY FOLLOWING RECENT VIOLENT ASSAULTS ties in with Mayor Eric Adams’ directive to have the NYPD escalate bag checks in the subway system. The mayor did not disclose which stations would be pinpointed for the bag checks, but said that a 940-bag screening team would be dispatched to 136 stations each week, according to a Daily News story, published Wednesday. Mayor Adams said during a press conference that the bag checks will be “random” and that the Police Department won’t engage in any “profiling.”

The NYPD is trying to reduce a 16% jump in assaults at city subway stops and trains since the start of 2024, with 97 assaults this year alone. According to several news reports, the most recent separate incidents both happened on Tuesday, March 5 when straphangers were hit over the head with metal objects, including an umbrella. Two days ago, teens pushed a 64-year-old man onto the tracks.