What’s News, Breaking: Monday, April 15, 2024

April 15, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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LATEST ROUND OF ARTISTS CHOSEN
FOR HOSPITALS’ COMMUNITY MURAL PROJECT

FLATBUSH AND BED-STUY — NYC HEALTH + HOSPITALS’ ARTS IN MEDICINE DEPARTMENT TODAY HAS SELECTED SIX ARTISTS to create new murals at its facilities, including two in Brooklyn, in the latest round of its expanding Community Mural Project. The artists will design the murals through focus groups with hospital staff and the community, followed by “paint parties” to create the mural. Fitgi Saint-Louis, who holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from, and teaches at, the School of Visual Arts, has been selected for a mural at NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County in Flatbush. Ms. Saint-Louis explores the African diaspora and her Haitian heritage across various mediums, and is a respected dancer and educator who has taught at prestigious institutions like the Alvin Ailey Extension Program and Peridance Capezio Studio. Artist Ebony Bolt will work on NYC H+H’s mural at Woodhull Hospital in Bed-Stuy. She brings a background as a CAD Print Designer in the fashion industry to create vibrant prints and patterns inspired by the city’s energy.

The new murals will build on the 35 murals already created through the Community Mural Project, made possible with a grant from the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund.

Artist Fitgi Saint-Louis, one of the new artists for the Community Mural Project, shown here in front of her mural Our Matriarchs (2022).
Photo courtesy NYC Health + Hospitals

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STATE TAX COLLECTIONS FOR LAST FISCAL YEAR
CAME IN MORE THAN $2B HIGHER THAN FORECAST

ALBANY — TAX COLLECTIONS FOR STATE FISCAL YEAR 2023-24 TOTALED $106.4 BILLION, over $2 billion higher than the Division of the Budget had forecast in the most recent financial plan, according to the latest March State Cash Report from New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. Tax receipts also exceeded the projection in the Consensus Economic and Revenue Forecast Report, which estimated $1.35 billion in additional receipts above Division of Budget estimates through the end of SFY 2024-25. Consumption and use taxes, which includes sales tax, totaled $21.9 billion, exceeding the prior year total by $1.3 billion or 6.2%.

But tax collections for SFY 2023-24 were $5.2 billion lower than the previous year, due, in part, to a decline in Personal Income Tax receipts resulting from lower middle-class tax rates and lower payments related to tax year 2022 annual returns.

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GOVERNOR’S OFFICE SENDS OUT LETTERS TO HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS, PRINCIPALS ON FINANCIAL AID PROCESS

ALBANY — LETTERS ARE BEING DISTRIBUTED to HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS to provide them with helpful tips and resources to complete their Free Application for Federal Student Aid, Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Monday, April 15. Letters will also be sent to high school principals urging them to make sure each senior student has the resources needed to access financial aid. The mailings are a part of Financial Aid Awareness Month, which Governor Hochul launched at the beginning of April. Moreover, the state and city public university systems, SUNY and CUNY, have taken several steps to assist students and their families in applying for financial aid to make college more affordable, by delaying deposit deadlines at state operated campuses until no earlier than May 15 and June 1 for commitment day at CUNY campuses, so that families have time to make an informed decision with their financial aid offers. SUNY AND CUNY are also holding information sessions across the state.

Last year, New York’s high school students left over $200 million in federal aid unclaimed by not filling out the FAFSA, which is free. FAFSA opens the door to federal and state aid, including Tuition Assistance Program and Excelsior Scholarship, as well as other college funding awards.

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NO JURORS YET IMPANELED FOR HISTORIC
CRIMINAL TRIAL AGAINST FORMER US PRESIDENT

MANHATTAN — NO JURORS WERE SELECTED YET IN THE HISTORIC hush-money trial case against former President Donald J. Trump, reports the Associated Press and other media. The trial’s first day was focused on the often challenging process of selecting a jury for a case in which the defendant is world-famous and a current front-runner in the 2024 Presidential campaign. New York County State Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan presided over the selection of jurists, known as voire dire. The central issues in this particular jury selection are whether prospective jurists have strong opinions about Trump and whether they believe they could be impartial in hearing evidence presented during trial. More than half of this jury pool was dismissed after acknowledging to Judge Merchan that they could not be fair and impartial.

Meanwhile, Trump’s lawyers insist that the jury pool in overwhelmingly Democratic Manhattan is biased against the former President, and had pushed to have the trial moved to another jurisdiction.

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MAIMONIDES DESIGNATED AS A CARE PARTNER HOSPITAL

BOROUGH PARK — MAIMONIDES MEDICAL CENTER HAS BEEN DESIGNATED as a Care Partner Hospital, the only hospital in Brooklyn to receive this prestigious accreditation from the Eastern U.S. Quality Improvement Collaborative, and one of five in New York State to be so recognized. As a Care Partner Hospital, Maimonides aligns with the New York State CARE Act’s mandate for hospitals to allow patients to designate a caregiver who serves as a compassionate companion for patients. As a Care Partner Hospital, MMC staff helps patients designate an appropriate person, such as a family member, friend, neighbor, or paid assistant, to support the patient during and after a hospital stay. These partners become integral members of the healthcare team, working with the patient to ensure they receive their desired care, and helping ensure a smooth transition out of the hospital.

The benefits of the care partner model include decreases in hospital readmissions, improvement in patient health and wellness, safer care environments, a reduction in time responding to patient’s requests, and an improvement in pain management.

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PROTEST DISRUPTS BROOKLYN BRIDGE TRAFFIC

BROOKLYN BRIDGE — A PROTEST ON THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE ON MONDAY AFTERNOON, April 15, is causing widespread traffic delays on that East River span and a heavy presence of emergency personnel. Notify NYC, the city’s emergency notification system, indicated that the protest is on the bridge itself, between Brooklyn and Manhattan. Commuters are being advised to use alternate routes. One witness living in Brooklyn told the Eagle that there was no visible Manhattan-bound traffic and that a helicopter is circling the area.

This is a developing story. The NYPD’s X (formerly Twitter) feed video shows a group of pro-Palestinian protesters rushing onto the bridge, as of 4 p.m. Stay tuned for updates.

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CITY TO TRANSFORM BOERUM HILL PARKING LOTS INTO ‘DEEPLY’ AFFORDABLE HOUSING

BOERUM HILL — THE CITY PLANS TO TRANSFORM two nearby parking lots in Boerum Hill into deeply affordable housing, the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development announced Monday. The agency called for developers and service providers to submit proposals for each site: 153 Nevins Street for rental housing, and 108-114 Third Avenue for affordable senior housing. Anticipating roughly 60 homes per site, HPD will select the most promising proposals by 2025. ”We don’t need more parking lots for a handful of private cars on city owned land, but we certainly do need more affordable homes in Boerum Hill,” HPD Commissioner Adolfo Carrion Jr. said in a statement. The deadline for submissions to the RFP is July 19, 2024.

Formerly in Councilmember Lincoln Restler’s district, the sites were recently redistricted into Councilmember Shahana Hanif’s district. Both council members support the plan, which will also include amenities such as a grocery store with fresh produce.

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NYPD UPS SECURITY FOR JEWISH SITES FOLLOWING IRAN STRIKE ON ISRAEL

CITYWIDE — NEW YORK CITY’S JEWISH COMMUNITIES AND SYNAGOGUES are receiving additional NYPD attention following Iran’s retaliatory drone strike on Israel, Mayor Eric Adams announced Saturday night. “While there is no direct or imminent threat to NYC at this time, we have directed the NYPD to deploy additional resources to Jewish communities and houses of worship citywide out of abundance of caution,” Adams said in a statement. Roughly 300 projectiles were downed by Israel, the U.S., U.K., France and Jordan on Saturday, BBC reported. Iran said it has achieved its objective of retaliation for Israel’s assassination of an Iranian senior commander in Damascus and has concluded the operation. An Israeli war cabinet minister, however, says the country will “exact a price” from Iran.

President Joe Biden reaffirmed America’s “ironclad commitment” to Israel’s security, but told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. would not participate in any Israeli escalation, Reuters reported.

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13-YEAR-OLD BROOKLYN GIRL MISSING SINCE FRIDAY

NEW LOTS — POLICE SEEK HELP IN LOCATING A 13-YEAR-OLD GIRL who was last seen at roughly 6:50 p.m. Friday, April 12, leaving her home on New Jersey Avenue in New Lots, Brooklyn. Kyasia Devon is described as approximately 5’1″ inches tall, 110 pounds, with brown eyes, black hair and braces. She was last seen wearing a purple hooded sweatshirt, red and black pajama pants and white 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). The public can also submit tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website.

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ELECTEDS DEBUNK ADAMS’ CLAIM THAT PEOPLE NEED APPOINTMENT TO TALK TO THEM

CITYWIDE — MAYOR ERIC ADAMS OUTRAGED LAWMAKERS TWICE in the past week: First by saying he would require elected officials to fill out a new three-page online form before his administration would meet with them, then by falsely claiming that constituents can’t just walk into their council member’s offices without an appointment. In a Friday interview on Pix11, Adams tried to justify his controversial new meeting policy. “You don’t just walk into a council person’s office, there’s a process that they have in place to meet with them,” the mayor said. After an amNewYork reporter posted Adams’ comments on Twitter/X, more than a dozen council members reacted angrily, most pointing out their offices are open for walk-ins four to five days a week.

Brooklyn Councilmember Sandy Nurse (D-Bushwick, East New York) called Adams’ comments “ridiculous,” amNewYork reported. “I get calls at 7 a.m. and after 10 p.m. They walk in without appointments all the time and we engage them. Communication is part of the job.”

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GREEN-WOOD’S HISTORIC CHAPEL TO FILL WITH MUSIC MELDING IRAQI AND AMERICAN JAZZ TRADITIONS

GREENWOOD HEIGHTS — THE GREEN-WOOD CEMETERY’S CENTURY-OLD HISTORIC CHAPEL WILL BE AWASH with the marriage of Middle Eastern music and American jazz later this month. Green-Wood launches its Phantom Waves series of boundary-breaking performances with trumpeter and composer Amir ElSaffar. A master of the Iraqi Maqam, ElSaffar merges this ancient Middle Eastern musical tradition with the contemporary sounds of American jazz. Acclaimed performer Gelsey Bell is curating this set of ticketed performances scheduled for April 24-25.

The Phantom Waves series brings musicians with experimental approaches to voice, instrumentation, and composition to the distinctive acoustic spaces of the Catacombs and Historic Chapel.

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LAWMAKERS WILL INTRODUCE BILL TO REPEAL CONGESTION PRICING

BAY RIDGE — AN EFFORT TO REPEAL CONGESTION PRICING WILL BRING TOGETHER SEVERAL elected officials from the local through national levels on Monday morning, April 15. Assemblymember Michael Tannousis (R, C-Staten Island/Brooklyn) is holding a press conference to introduce a bill that would repeal congestion pricing, on the grounds that traffic would increase disproportionately on Staten Island and the Bronx, leading to increased pollution in those areas. The group will also point out that congestion pricing will exacerbate the skyrocketing and non-discretionary cost of living and commuting in New York City. Expected to participate are Congressmember Nicole Malliotakis (R-11/southwest Brooklyn), who has been a staunch critic of congestion pricing, and a City Councilman and Assemblymembers who represent Staten Island.

Congestion pricing still faces some lawsuit resolutions before it can take effect. Monday’s press conference will take place on the sidewalk adjacent to the Staten Island entrance to the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.

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WILLOUGHBY AVE. OPEN STREETS HOURS SLASHED

FORT GREENE — THE POPULAR WILLOUGHBY AVENUE OPEN STREET in Fort Greene, which is currently closed to through traffic 24/7, will have its hours cut in half this summer, reports Streetsblog. The Department of Transportation this week announced that the section of the street between Washington Park and Washington Avenue will soon be open to through traffic between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Local residents expressed dismay at the proposal, noting that the car-free street — currently open only to parking, deliveries and city and emergency traffic — is heavily used by parents dropping off schoolchildren, joggers, dog walkers and others during the early morning hours. The DOT countered that the partial reopening was intended to aid elderly and disabled residents, but did not provide further details.

A spokesperson for Councilmember Crystal Hudson said in a statement that her office was tracking the situation, writing that she “has raised the issue of adequate, safe implementation by DOT given that people are now accustomed to its 24/7 status.”

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BIPARTISAN BILL WOULD REQUIRE FDNY TO GIVE BODY ARMOR, DEFENSE TRAINING TO MEDICS

CITY HALL — THE CITY COUNCIL VOTED ON THURSDAY, APRIL 11, TO ENHANCE SAFETY MEASURES for emergency medical services workers by requiring that the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) provide body armor, as well as de-escalation and self-defense training, to its Emergency Medical Services (EMS) employees. The bipartisan bill (now in committee) that Minority Leader Joseph Borelli (R-Staten Island) is sponsoring has two components. Introduction 126-A would require the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) to provide body armor to employees within the Bureau of Emergency Medical Services (EMS), a measure that would largely codify existing practices and establish requirements that protective equipment meet the ballistic and stab-resistance standards of the National Institute of Justice. Introduction 127-A would require that FDNY provide deescalation and self-defense training to EMS workers. EMS workers have historically faced health and safety risks, including threatened and actual assaults, leading to high employee attrition rates.

Thirteen City Councilmembers, including two from Brooklyn — Kalman Yeger (D-44) and Mercedes Narcisse (R-46) — are sponsoring this bill. Councilmember Narcisse is a registered nurse.

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STATE COMPTROLLER WILL HONOR SEVERAL AT IRISH HERITAGE EVENT

MANHATTAN — AN IRISH HERITAGE EVENT that State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli will host on Tuesday, April 16, will honor the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement of April 10, 1998, and the contributions of Irish men and women to New York and America. During the event, being held at Hunter College, DiNapoli will honor Consul General of Ireland in New York Helena Nolan, President & CEO of the Staten Island Economic Development Corporation Michael J. Cusick, and TWU International President John Samuelsen.

DiNapoli will also give an update on the New York state pension fund’s commitments in Northern Ireland.

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BILL WOULD PROVIDE CHILD CARE FOR POLICE DEPTS. WITH HIGH ATTRITION RATES

CAPITOL HILL/LOWER MANHATTAN — A NEW BIPARTISAN BILL TO MITIGATE WORKFORCE SHORTAGES in the NYPD due to a lack of childcare will be introduced this Sunday. U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on Sunday, April 14, will hold a press conference at the Detectives’ Endowment Association in lower Manhattan to announce the bill’s introduction: the Providing Child Care for Police Officers Act, of which Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) is a co-sponsor, would provide $24 million in federal funding for child care services to support the men and women who risk their lives, working nontraditional hours, to keep communities safe. Recent surveys show that more than 20% of police officers considered leaving their departments, while more than half reported having to leave or miss work due to a lack of access to child care services. The NYPD has had its lowest head count since 1990.

Through her bill, Sen. Gillibrand aims to increase public safety by reducing barriers to a career in law enforcement and by ensuring the best talent is recruited into the nation’s police departments.

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NEW BILL WOULD CALL FOR REVISING AREA MEDIAN INCOME METRIC FOR INCLUSIVENESS

CAPITOL HILL — A BICAMERAL AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND AREA MEDIAN INCOME FAIRNESS ACT OF 2024, which Brooklyn Congressmember Yvette D. Clarke introduced on Friday, April 12, is a multi-pronged approach to confront some of the core challenges, including a calculation flaw in the Area Median Income (AMI) metric, that has led to a severe lack of affordable housing in our nation’s urban areas. While the housing crisis has many causes, it is the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s AMI metric that has proven harmful due to its current calculation methods that exclude low-income families from the affordable housing intended for them. The Area Median Income Fairness Act of 2024 addresses these challenges by directing HUD to conduct an assessment of more inclusive calculation methods of the AMI and to submit a report to Congress detailing its post-assessment findings and recommendations for reforming or eliminating the metric’s use.

The legislation also authorizes $5 billion for various housing programs nationwide to combat these issues.

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BROOKLYN CONGRESSMEMBER JOINS VOTE TO REAUTHORIZE FISA, MINUS WARRANT REQUIREMENT

CAPITOL HILL — THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ON FRIDAY VOTED TO REAUTHORIZE SECTION 702 of The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, including a key measure that allows for warrantless surveillance of Americans. Among the lawmakers voting for the measure was Brooklyn Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-11). This law — which is considered controversial because it not only authorizes far-reaching monitoring of foreign communications but has also led to the collection of messages and phone calls among U.S. citizens — was passed 273–147, with some Democrats voting for what the Biden administration has called a vital counterterrorism tool.

Rep. Malliotakis wrote, “Not only does this bill strengthen our national security, it includes significant reforms to protect Americans’ privacy, such as restricting political appointees from conducting queries, establishing a zero-tolerance policy with accountability standards and criminal penalties for query violations, and requires the FBI to submit regular reports to Congress regarding their internal disciplinary standards for those who abuse the system.”