Cornegy Promotes Pedestrian Safety Awareness
City Council Member Robert E. Cornegy, Jr. (D-Bedford-Stuyvesant, Northern Crown Heights) today is promoting Pedestrian Safety Awareness Day & the “One Ear, One Life” Campaign.
The idea behind the initiative is to promote pedestrian safety through the arts featuring art work from students from the Pathways in Technology Early College HS, Middle School 267, Bedford Academy High School and Madiba Prep Middle School.
According to the latest numbers from a city Department of Transportation report pedestrians accounted for 52 percent of traffic fatalities from 2005-2009. According to a report by SafeKids Worldwide, it is estimated one in five high school students and one in eight middle school students cross the street while distracted and it can lead to deadly results. Teens now account for half of all pedestrian deaths among children 19 and under.
“When you are walking and have headphones in your ear, it can be a fatal distraction. You may not be able to hear your surroundings or have the focus that you may need to stop for moving traffic. At the minimum, we want to alert citizens of the potential risks of wearing headphones while walking where moving vehicles are present,” said Cornegy.
“Through the use of students, young people have vividly captured why wearing headphones is hazardous. We look forward to sharing the SafeKids Moment of Silence video and the display of our young people’s contributions in this important public safety campaign.”
The campaign is slated to kickoff from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., today, April 7 at the Weeksville Heritage Center, 158 Buffalo Avenue, between St. Marks Place & Bergen Street in Crown Heights.
Colton Statement Regarding Gravesend Bay Oil Spill
Assemblyman Bill Colton (D-Bensonhurst, Bath Beach) this week announced his outrage to the De Blasio administration and Department of environmental Conservation (DEC) for continuing to show an indifference to a long pattern of environmental disasters in Gravesend Bay on and near the Southwest Brooklyn Garbage Station site.
The words took especially strong meaning in light of the news this week that of a spillage of 27,000 gallons diesel fuel oil in Gravesend Bay.
“I specifically cited in my Assembly speech the history of the finding of asbestos on the site just weeks ago without notifying me or other elected officials or the public, as well as failure to give public notice to the dredging incident that caused the release of contaminants in the Southwest Brooklyn Waste Transfer Station waters in 2015, release of ponding waters from the site, and the blowing off of a large piece of the roof from the construction site, which landed on the adjacent nearby property and almost hit a person and a car,” said Colton.
I criticized the failure of the city and DEC to give notice to the public and likened such outrageous conduct to the handling of the situation that led to the disaster at Hossick Falls. I praised the Assembly Speaker for supporting this $2.5 billion budget item, but I blasted the indifference of both the City and DEC for creating the need to remediate such incidents.”
Brooklyn Pols React To Gravesend Bay Oil Spill
City Council Member Mark Treyger (D-Coney Island, Bensonhurst, Gravesend), Public Advocate Letitia A. James, City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer, Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams, Senator Diane J. Savino, Assemblymembers William Colton and Pamela Harris will gather in Bath Beach today to condemn a lack of transparency between city, state and federal agencies in regard to not notifying anybody following the 27,000 gallon diesel fuel spill that occurred in Gravesend Bay last week.
The group will also call for accountability in the form of severe consequences for Bayside Fuel Oil Depot, the party responsible for the spill.
Last fall, local elected officials and community members learned that the Beach Haven apartment building complex was illegally dumping approximately 200,000 gallons of raw sewage waste into nearby Coney Island Creek for an undetermined period of time, possibly years. DEC and DEP failed to publicize this information despite being aware of the issue for approximately two years. DEC continues to be vague about their plan of action for the Creek and how they plan to hold the party responsible accountable.
The electeds will hold a press conference press conference at 10:30 a.m., today April 7 on the Gravesend Bay Promenade adjacent to Caesar’s Bay Shopping Center, 8949 Bay Parkway.
Mosley Statement On Rogers Avenue Homeless Shelter
Assemblyman Walter T. Mosley (D-Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights) yesterday said while it is admirable that the de Blasio administration is working towards closing homeless cluster facilities that do not have the proper resources to help homeless people get back on their feet, he is wary of turning the building on Rogers Avenue into a homeless shelter.
“An additional homeless shelter in Crown Heights, an area already packed with shelters, is not a long-term solution to the homelessness crisis our city is facing,” said Mosley. “People are homeless not by choice, but because of circumstances that make it challenging to afford housing. People with full-time jobs are finding it almost impossible to have stable and affordable housing. In a city facing the worst housing crisis since World War II, we have to focus on ensuring affordable housing for people in the long-term, or we will not solve this homelessness crisis.
“To create a homeless shelter instead of affordable housing for low-income people is to sidestep the root cause of the homelessness problem. I will not deny that New York needs more places for homeless people to live, but there are many more people who need affordable housing. Instead of creating a homeless shelter, the city should convert this building to affordable housing and begin the long process of ending homelessness in our city and state.
Finally, the community was given very little notice about the opening of this shelter. It is unacceptable for the city to spring this on the community, with little regard for the people who are already living here. I am working on a bill at the state level to codify the notification process. As we saw in Masbeth and we continue to see in our own community, the lack of notification leads community members to feel blindsided when shelters are put in our neighborhoods. If the city is not willing or able to give notice for new shelters, we must change our laws to ensure community members have the information in advance of a shelter opening.”
Adams Proclaims April As Financial Education Empowerment Month in Brooklyn
Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams yesterday proclaimed April as Financial Education Empowerment Month in Brooklyn.
The month will highlight Adams’ fourth annual month-long program of activities to coincide with National Financial Literacy Month.
Partnering with organizations in the financial services, grassroots, and small business communities, Adams’ administration has organized and supported hundreds of free educational opportunities across the borough since 2014, which have taught more than 1,200 residents the necessary skills to make wise everyday financial decisions.
Two years ago, out of concern for the level of debt Brooklynites carry comparative to the rest of the nation, Adams announced an aggressive goal for reducing Brooklyn’s credit card delinquency by four percent in four years. According to Adams, data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that, between the second quarter of 2015 and the fourth quarter of 2016, Brooklyn’s delinquency rate dropped by 1.6 percent while the national rate rose by 0.5 percent. He hailed the progress of this boroughwide initiative and the positive impact that raising the profile of this issue has had.
“Striving to get ahead in life is much more difficult when you feel helpless under a sea of suffocating credit card bills, mortgage payments, or student loans,” said Adams. “The numbers don’t lie — Brooklynites benefit when we arm ourselves with the tools to get ahead in our personal finances. This means balancing the over-proliferation of dollars committed to consumer marketing with resources that empower families with the skills to make smart budgeting decisions, avoid financial scams, and monitor their expenses. I’m proud that this initiative is giving residents with the knowledge to get on the right track.”
