Golden’s Annual September 11 Memorial
Bay Ridge State Senator Martin J. Golden tonight will host his annual September 11th Memorials to commemorate the 14th anniversary of the terrorist attack on America.
First Golden will host a memorial at 6 p.m. at 3000 Fillmore Avenue in Marine Park by the flagpole, and then move to Bay Ridge, where at 7:30 p.m. he is inviting residents to attend the memorial at the American Veterans Memorial Pier on Shore Road and Bay Ridge Avenue.
The memorial ceremonies will feature a patriotic program that will include a 21-gun salute and a candle lighting vigil.
Butler Invites Brooklynites To America’s Journey For Justice
As an Executive Board Member and the Chair of the Labor Committee of the Brooklyn NAACP, Butler feels the public and politically active people should not only support this landmark event, but also collaborate with organizations such as the NAACP that have spent decades fighting for justice and equality for everyone.
“It is vital that VIDA is involved at both the local and national levels as the policies at every level of government have profound implications for our community. Our struggle for fairness for all extends beyond the borders of our local neighborhoods, and we must come together in unity to create the positive changes we want to see in our nation,” said Butler.
The bus is slated to leave at 4 a.m. from Downtown Brooklyn next Wednesday, Sept. 16. For more information and to RSVP email contactus@BrooklynNAACP.org or visit www.BrooklynNAACP.org.
Clarke Hails Obama’s Exec Order For Paid Sick Leave
Flatbush Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke lauded President Obama’s recent executive order requiring contractors with the federal government to provide workers with as many as seven days of paid sick leave each year. The executive order will become effective in 2017.
“Today, more than 43 million workers in the United States are denied access to paid sick leave. As a result, individuals who need to recuperate instead must work or risk the loss of income, threatening other workers and customers – particularly in food service – with communicable illnesses. All workers should have the ability to participate in our economy without fearing that an illness will result in termination. We should not as a society require people to choose between health and job security. The health and safety of our employees must always remain a priority,” said Clarke, who co-sponsored H.R.932, the Healthy Families Act, which requires all companies with more than fifteen workers to provide paid sick leave.
“I am proud that New York City has been a leader in establishing paid sick leave as a right for all workers. Now, Congress has a responsibility to act on behalf of working families by enacting the Healthy Families Act to expand access to paid sick leave,” she added.
NYCHA Starts Wyckoff Engagement; Launches NextGen Neighborhoods
The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) this week kicked off their citywide NextGeneration (NextGen) Neighborhoods program at the Wyckoff Gardens in Gowanus/Boerum Hill along with the Holmes Towers on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Centered on resident engagement and community input, NextGen Neighborhoods intends to create 50 percent affordable and 50 percent market-rate units on the site of underused NYCHA land, generating revenue to be reinvested back into NYCHA.
“As we start this comprehensive, inclusive process and engagement moves forward, we cannot forget our purpose and why we are doing this—we must save NYCHA today and for tomorrow; we can no longer kick the can further down the road to address our finances, resident concerns and pressing infrastructure needs,” said NYCHA Chair and CEO Shola Olatoye.
Engagement is central to NYCHA’s approach on this program, and the agency is reaching out to residents to inform them about the program and benefits this week with briefings and resident forums in the next few weeks.
Wyckoff Gardens includes three 21-story buildings on 5.81 acres of land. About 1,150 residents live in nearly 530 units in the three buildings, which covers about 12.3% of the NYCHA-owned land at the development. Completed in 1966, the development has nearly $45 million in capital repair needs in the next five years. Proposal: Replace two underutilized parking lots with mixed-income housing buildings consisting of about 550-650 units. (225 to 325 units of which would be affordable.)
