De Blasio, Bevy Of Electeds Turn up For TJ Club Dinner
When Kings County Democratic Party Boss Frank Seddio has an event, you can bet on it that every major elected official in the city will be on hand.
And last night was no exception, when Mayor Bill de Blasio led a parade of elected officials and district leaders that attended the Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club’s annual dinner dance at El Caribe in Mill Basin. The powerful Canarsie club is Seddio’s center of power, and the fundraising gala drew more than 500 people.
De Blasio, who kicked off his 2017 mayoral election campaign last week, exhorted the crowd of revelers of the importance of the Brooklyn Democratic Party sticking together and uniting behind their candidates before leading a rousing chorus of “Lets Go Mets.”
Also honored at the dinner were Assemblyman Joe Lentol, the dean of the assembly, Ingrid Martin, the chief executive assistant in Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams’ office and Ian Gaynor, the club’s communication director and editor of the club’s Jeffersonian newsletter.
Treyger Leads Electeds In Call For Better Transit in Southern Brooklyn
Coney Island City Council Member and Brooklyn Delegation co-chair Mark Treyger, along with Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, State Senator Diane Savino, Assembly Member William Colton, other City Council members, and community activists will gather at the Neptune Avenue station of the F-line on at 11:30 a,m, this morning to call for the restoration and institution of important transportation services for Southern Brooklyn.
With the recent announcement of the funding agreement for the MTA’s Capital Program, the elected officials are urging the MTA to make the following improvements, many of which were services originally available to the residents of Southern Brooklyn before being cut:
– Express trains on the F-line, a heavily-congested subway line that runs through increasingly populous neighborhoods.
– An elevator at the Neptune Avenue station of the F-line, located within a NORC community that is also a major evacuation zone with a high concentration of disabled persons and senior citizens.
– The return of Saturday service on the x28 express bus in Coney Island and Bath Beach.
– The return of the x29 express bus, a route that ran from Coney Island through Gravesend, Kensington, and Midwood to Manhattan.
– Improved service on the B1 bus route, a heavily-used route that takes residents to and from Kingsborough Community College.
– Improved service on the B82 bus route.
“We are not asking for luxury, we are asking for necessities,” said Treyger. “We matter, too. Southern Brooklyn was shut out of the mayor’s initial ferry plan, but the residents of our communities deserve to have these services restored, and our seniors and disabled people deserve to have every option available to them in the event of an emergency.”
Adams Launches Computer Science In Classrooms Initiative
Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams today will launch Code Brooklyn, his initiative to give every public school student in Brooklyn the opportunity to learn how to computer code.
His five-point plan includes a call for every district school in the borough to participate in the Hour of Code, a global effort in over 180 countries to help demystify coding, during Computer Science Education Week this December.
The announcement will be made in the library of PS/MS 282 Park Slope School, a Title I institution serving a significant number of low-income families; their students will participate in the Hour of Code and will benefit from Borough President Adams’s Fiscal Year 2016 capital investment in the school’s coding initiative.
Among the speakers at the press conference will be New York City Chief Technology Officer Minerva Tantoco and Computer Science Education Week National Chair Diane Levitt, as well as PS/MS 282 Park Slope School Principal Rashan Hoke and one of his students.
The press conference is slated for 1 p.m., today at PS/MS 282 Park Slope School, 180 6TH Avenue.
Cymbrowitz Bill Signed into Law
A Sheepshead Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz-sponsored bill reforming the insurance industry in New York State with regard to claims involving sewer issues and flooding has been enacted into law. Governor Cuomo signed the legislation (A.453) last week on the third anniversary of Hurricane Sandy.
“With large storms hitting New York State becoming the new normal, insurance policies must evolve to adequately address the needs of homeowners,” said Cymbrowitz. “Many homeowners were denied damage coverage after Hurricane Sandy because insurance providers claimed no connection between the storm outside and the sewer backups inside. This legislation will ensure that the State can properly direct insurance companies to provide the coverage when concurrent damage occurs and, in the future, prevent denial of coverage.”
The bill, which Bay Ridge Senator Marty Golden introduced on the senate side of the aisle, pertains to “anti-concurrent causation” clauses in relation to homeowners’ insurance coverage for sewer backups. These clauses have been used to deny coverage whenever an excluded peril (such as flooding) directly or indirectly causes loss or damage, even if a covered peril contributed to cause the loss or damage.
In the wake of Sandy, many homeowners’ sewer backup claims were denied by their insurance companies using anti-concurrent causation clauses. In those cases, even when sewer backup occurred when systems were shut off before the storm’s arrival, insurance companies claimed that by the time adjusters could inspect the loss or damage, flooding had also occurred. Therefore, insurance companies denied the claims, saying that the loss or damage caused by the sewer backup could not be distinguished from the loss or damage caused by flooding.
This new law requires the Department of Financial Services (DFS) to examine and make recommendations concerning the treatment of these clauses in relation to homeowners’ insurance coverage for sewer backups. The Superintendent of DFS must also submit a report to the Governor and the Legislature by January 1, 2017.
Richardson Offers Free Housing Assistance
Crown Heights/Prospect Lefferts Gardens Assembly Member Diana Richardson today and Thursday is offering constituents with housing problems in-person consultation with professional housing advocates.
The consultations are part of a cooperative venture with Housing and Family Services of Greater New York.
“It is our privilege to serve you, and making sure the constituents of this district live with housing security is job number one. Please take advantage of this opportunity to speak with informed professionals, and help us help you live stably and securely in Central Brooklyn. We look forward to seeing you,” said Richardson.
The sessions start from 2-5 p.m. today and from 10 a.m. -2 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 19 at Richardson’s office, 1216 Union Street. Appointments are recommended, but walk-ins will be accommodated. In order to make an appointment, please call Richardson’s office at (718) 771-3105, or send an email to yohannesm@assembly.state.ny.us
