Golden Offers Spring Cleaning Services For Apartments & Homes
State Sen. Marty Golden (R-Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Marine Park, Gerritsen Beach, Gravesend), in the spirit of Spring cleaning, announcing two events he is organizing to keep Brooklyn clean and help residents clean out their apartments and homes of clutter scheduled for mid April.
Golden is partnering with a number of non-profit and government agencies to offer free shredding services, E-Waste recycling, clothing and fashion collection, an opportunity to safely dispose of medication, and offer rain barrels at no charge.
“I am excited to host these events that will give residents an opportunity to get some of the unwanted items around their house properly disposed of. I trust that many in our community will take advantage of the chance to dispose of expired or unwanted medicine, shred the old papers, donate clean used clothing, or get rid of the old televisions, computers and electronics we can no longer put out with our regular garbage collection,” said Golden.
The events will be held during the weekend of April 22 and 23 with the first slated for between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., Saturday, April 22 in the St. Anselm Church Parking Lot (4th Avenue and 82nd Street). The second event will also be from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sunday, April 23 in Marine Park at the Avenue U Parking lot (between East 33rd and Stuart Streets).
Homeowners that want free rain barrels must reserve them in advance. For more information on the events, or to reserve a rain barrel, call Senator Golden’s office at (718) 238-6044.
Harris Lauds Raises For Direct Care Workers And Support Staff
Assemblymember Pam Harris (D-Coney Island, Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights Gravesend) this week praised the recently passed FY 2017-18 state budget for including a $14 million allocation in 2017-18 and a $146 million allocation in 2018-19 to fund a two-year, living wage initiative for direct care workers with the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, the Office of Mental Health and the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services.
Direct care workers and direct support staff will receive a 3.25 percent raise on Jan. 1, 2018. In addition, direct care workers, direct support staff and clinical staff will receive a 3.25 percent increase on April 1, 2018.
“Direct care workers dedicate their lives to looking after New Yorkers who aren’t able to care for themselves. Sadly, many are forced to leave the field due to low wages, putting our most vulnerable community members at risk of losing the quality support services that help them lead full, independent and healthy lives. I fought to boost direct care wages and strengthen the profession to ensure these invaluable and dedicated workers can make ends meet,” said Harris.
Ortiz Pushes Bill For “Textalyzer”
Assemblymember Felix Ortiz (D-Sunset Park, Red Hook) along with State Senator Terrence Murphy (R-Westchester) alongside representatives of the Alliance Combating Distracted Driving, yesterday announced an aggressive push for New York’s “Evan’s Law” (Senate Bill S6325A/Assembly Bill A3955), which would allow police stop motorists to use a “Textalyzer.”
A “Textalyzer,” is the technology solution allowing police to determine whether a device was being used around the time of a crash, without accessing private content and with the ability to differentiate between legal hands-free use as opposed to illegal touching and swiping.
The bipartisan bill introduced in 2016, is designed to protect innocent people from distracted driving by formalizing an investigative mechanism for law enforcement. This first of its kind legislation to battle distracted driving, has progressed through its first committee votes with widespread support.
According to the Alliance, while there are numerous laws against texting while driving, none provide an effective policy or option to enforce those laws once a crash or damage has occurred. There is a popular misconception that this law is unnecessary as law enforcement will either examine a phone or subpoena the phone records at a crash scene. But due to limited jurisdiction and resources, this is simply not the case.
“The proposed law carefully borrowed on what makes a Breathalyzer legal and constitutional. All fifty states have implemented sobriety tests based on the legal principle of implied consent where drivers agree to sobriety tests or lose driving privileges,” said Ortiz. “The distracted driving impairment is equal to the drinking impairment and needs to be dealt with in a similar manner. At a minimum, the behavior needs to be understood at a crash site, which this legislation specifically addresses. The idea is to have an efficient but very respectful investigation.”
Gillibrand, McCain Announce Bipartisan Legislation To Combat Opioid Abuse
U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and John McCain (R-AZ) yesterday announced bipartisan legislation to combat opioid addiction by limiting the supply of an initial opioid prescription for acute pain to seven days.
Many individuals become addicted to opioids after taking prescriptions for acute pain, such as a broken bone or wisdom tooth extraction. This federal legislation is modeled after laws in several states, including New York and Arizona.
“Our bipartisan bill would target one of the root causes of the opioid addiction crisis, which is the over-prescription of these powerful and addictive drugs for acute pain,” said Gillibrand. “Too many lives have been destroyed, too many families have been torn apart, and too many communities all over New York are suffering because of this tragic epidemic. I am proud to join with Senator McCain in this urgent fight against the over-prescription of opioids, and I look forward to seeing it pass through the Senate as quickly as possible.”
Under current federal law, a medical professional must receive a license from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in order to be allowed to prescribe a schedule II, III, or IV controlled substance in the United States. This registration must be renewed every three years. This legislation would require medical professionals to certify, as part of their DEA registration, that they will not prescribe an opioid as an initial treatment for acute pain in an amount that exceeds a seven-day supply, and may not provide a refill.
This limit does not apply to the treatment of chronic pain, pain being treated as part of cancer care, hospice or other end of life care, or pain treated as part of palliative care.
