BP Adams, Mayor Announce 15 BK Schools To Participate In Meatless Mondays
Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams alongside Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña announced yesterday that 15 Brooklyn schools will participate in Meatless Mondays next spring.
The program will provide participating schools with healthy, all-vegetarian breakfast and lunch menus every Monday. Department Of Education’s (DOE) Office of School Food will engage school communities across the borough to finalize the schools that will participate in the program based on interest and ability to incorporate an all-vegetarian menu. Schools included in the program will receive customized menus each with vegetarian entrees with no additional cost to the City.
This initiative builds off the plant-based health advocacy of Adams, who has committed himself to combating poor nutrition following his successful battle against Type 2 diabetes last year. Additionally, Meatless Mondays is part of the DOE’s Free School Lunch for All program, which launched this school year, that provides free school lunch to all public school students in New York City. In 2015, less than 20% of NYC children aged 6-12 ate 5 or more fruits and vegetables a day. Eating fruits and vegetables provides important vitamins and nutrients and can reduce the risk for heart disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity.
“Cutting back a little on meat will help make our City healthier and our planet stronger for generations to come. Chirlane and I are excited to participate in Meatless Mondays at home, and we thank Borough President Adams for leading the charge behind this healthy and sustainable initiative,” said de Blasio.
“I am living proof of the power of a plant-based diet to transform one’s health. I believe that Meatless Mondays is an extremely significant initiative that has the power to transform the health of thousands of our city’s students, as well as open the door to a powerful conversation that children can have with families on nutrition and wellness. I thank Mayor de Blasio for working with me on this mission to change our relationship with food and tackle nutritional health in a real way. As Hippocrates said, ‘let food be thy medicine,” said Adams.
Greenfield To Oversee Committee Meeting On Zonings & Franchises
City Council member David Greenfield (D-Borough Park, Bensonhurst, Midwood) will oversee the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises’ hearing today.
Greenfield, chair of the Committee on Land Use, alongside Council member Donovan Richards (D-Queens) will hold a hearing on rezonings along Linden Boulevard, Myrtle Avenue, Prince and Tillary Street, as well as the controversial Pfizer Site Rezoning.
The hearing is slated for 1 p.m., today, Oct. 24, in the Council Chambers, at City Hall in Lower Manhattan.
Espinal, Hamilton Applaud Tech Hub Challenge Launch In Brownsville
City Council member Rafael Espinal (D-East New York, Bushwick, Brownsville) and State Senator Jesse Hamilton (D-Central Brooklyn) applauded the city’s launch of the NYCx Co-Lab Challenges, the world’s first municipal program to transform urban spaces into hubs for tech collaboration, research, testing and development in Brownsville yesterday.
The announcement invited startups, entrepreneurs and independent teams to propose tech solutions to address priority needs in the area. The program will also give community partners and local youth a chance to advise the City on areas of opportunity where technology can play a role in improving neighborhood quality of life and local economic development.
The first challenge: Safe and Thriving Night Corridors calls for creative solutions to enhance public experience, encourage use of public spaces during evening hours, and increase night activity and community safety while boosting economic, civic and cultural opportunity for neighborhood residents. The second challenge: Zero Waste in Shared Space calls for creative solutions that increase resident participation in recycling and waste-reduction opportunities while reducing trash and litter in the common areas in public housing.
Challenge respondents have until December 15, 2017 to submit proposals for solutions. Winners will receive funding, access to urban infrastructure and support from City agencies to deploy solutions in Brownsville neighborhood spaces in 2018. The City also announced that the NYCx Co-Labs program will is expected to expand to all five boroughs by next year.
“In an ever increasingly technological world, we must do all we can to ensure New York stays up-to-date and technologically competitive. There is no place better than Brownsville, Brooklyn, which for so long has been denied the investments it deserves, to be the site of these investments and our city’s future innovation,” said Espinal.
“We need public and private sector cooperation to act as a spur to inclusivity and innovation in tech. Founding the first tech and wellness hub at a public housing site in the United States last year in Brownsville alongside, City, State, and community partners, advanced that vision. This announcement today of NYCx Co-Labs is a welcome step further. Community-based engagement with the tech sector will help both technologists and neighborhood residents innovate and include more voices in guiding that innovation,” said Hamilton.
Cuomo, Schumer Say Proposed Fed Tax Cut Hurts NY’s Middle-Class Families
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo (D) and U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) yesterday launched a statewide push across congressional districts to urge New York’s delegation to stand up for this state’s middle class and oppose the repeal or reduction of state and local tax deductions.
Cuomo and Schumer urged every New York House member to fight against any effort to repeal or reduce the state and local tax deduction, which thousands of Upstate New Yorkers rely on. If the Republican tax plan were to pass, many New Yorkers could be saddled with a tax increase of thousands of dollars.
“While Washington is considering a ‘tax cut’ plan, what it really amounts to is a “tax increase” plan for New York,” Cuomo said. “The elimination of State and Local Tax deductibility is a death-blow to New Yorkers and our economy. The current plan only makes it possible to cut taxes for other states by using New York and California as the piggybank. Every member of our Congressional delegation must do everything they can to stop this devastating proposal.”
“Whether the savings from these deductions becomes money for home repairs, groceries, school supplies or even the yearly vacation, it belongs in the pockets of New Yorkers, period,” said Schumer.
