BP Adams Looks to Do Outreach On New Parking Regulations
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams yesterday hailed the de Blasio’s recent spate of tickets and new enforcement rules for commercial vehicles double parking while making deliveries.
Adams said the Stipulated Fine Program, as established by the Bloomberg Administration, flew in the face of Bloomberg’s Vision Zero initiative. It effectively codified double parking fines as a cost of doing business, while creating a more crowded and treacherous condition for others who use the city streets.
“The reforms agreed to by City Hall, at the urging of those of us in the safe streets advocacy movement, will properly penalize dangerous parking behavior,” said Adams.
“In the months ahead, I ask the New York City Department of Finance, in collaboration with neighborhood partners, to conduct an extensive education and outreach campaign that supports our business community in adapting to this programmatic change. We all share our streets, and we all need to adjust our usage of these streets if we are going to continue to grow as a city. The time to tackle congestion and implement Vision Zero is now, and the conversation must involve every stakeholder,” he added.
Treyger Helps Deliver $125 Million Investment for Fair Student Funding
City Council Member Mark Treyger (D-Bensonhurst, Coney Island, Gravesend) chair of the Council’s Committee on Education, joined Mayor Bill de Blasio, Council Speaker Corey Johnson, and fellow Council Members at City Hall yesterday in announcing a $125 million dollar investment to increase Fair Student Funding, providing tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional resources for over 850 City schools.
The Mayor’s announcement came on the heels of the Council’s response to the Mayor’s preliminary budget proposal, a response that included a need to bring all of the city’s school to 100 percent Fair Student Funding levels.
Treyger, a former educator, advocated diligently for the Fair Student Funding increase to be a key component in the Council’s budget response, while also making the case for why the increase was critical to help the city’s students and working families in meetings with officials from City Hall and Albany.
“As chair of the City Council’s Committee on Education, I have advocated intensely for increased Fair Student Funding for all of our city’s schools, and am grateful for the support of Speaker Corey Johnson, Council Finance Chair Danny Dromm, and my colleagues,” said Treyger. “Fair Student Funding gives principals the flexibility to address the unique needs of their schools, from hiring more social workers and guidance counselors, to providing valuable enrichment programs. While 100 percent Fair Student Funding for all schools must be on the horizon, this is a positive step forward toward ensuring that each student in New York City is getting the equitable, quality education they deserve.”
Ortiz Joins In Final Push To Ban Conversion Therapy
Assembly Member and Assistant Assembly Speaker Felix W. Ortiz (D-Sunset Park, Red Hook) yesterday joined social workers and social work students from across the state to pass legislation (A.3977/S.263) that would prohibit mental health professionals from practicing conversion therapy with patients under the age of 18 for the purpose of changing their sexual orientation or gender identity.
“The attacks coming from the White House denying dignity and equality for all Americans have heightened the spate of hate speech, bullying, and outright discrimination in our communities and schools. Fear doesn’t change people from gay to straight. It harms everyone,” said Ortiz.
Persaud Holds HealthFirst Host Educational Leadership Awards Ceremony
State Sen. Senator Roxanne J. Persaud (D-Canarsie, East New York, Brownsville, Mill Basin, Sheepshead Bay, Bergen Beach, Marine Park, Flatlands, Mill Island, Georgetowne, Ocean Hill) today will honor honors educators and educational service providers at the Educational Leadership Awards Breakfast.
The Educational Leadership Awards breakfast will bring together guidance counselors, parent-teachers coordinators, coaches, librarians and parent teacher association presidents from across Central and Southeast Brooklyn to be honored for their demonstrations of leadership and commitment to the educational needs of our children and the parents and families of the students in Brooklyn.
The event is slated for between 8:30 a.m. – 12 noon, today April 27 at the Tropical Paradise Ballroom, 1367 Utica Avenue in East Flatbush.
Gillibrand Decries Trump’s Ban On Transgender Service Members
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), the Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee, yesterday led a bipartisan group of 49 Senators in a letter to Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis opposing the Trump Administration’s ban on transgender service members and decrying the Secretary’s implementation recommendations for the ban.
The Senators’ letter follows statements by the chiefs of the Army, Navy, and Air Force and commandant of the Marine Corps asserting that open transgender service has had no negative effect on unit cohesion, discipline, or morale. The statements were made in response to Senator Gillibrand’s questions at four recent Senate Armed Services Committee hearings.
“The recommendations and report break faith with the men and women serving in our military by establishing a new “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” for transgender service members, permitting them to serve only if they are willing to forego any chance of living as their true selves,” the Senators wrote. “Just as our mistaken policy regarding lesbian, gay and bisexual service members harmed readiness and ultimately was repealed, the implementation of your recommendations will also harm our nation’s military. Accordingly, we are opposed to the implementation of this discriminatory policy.”
Malliotakis Provides Conservative Voice at Latina Leadership Conference
Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-Bay Ridge, Staten Island) will be a panelist at a women’s conference hosted by Latino Leadership this weekend at an event dubbed ‘Seat at the Table.’
The panel will include several female elected officials and community leaders who will discuss their careers, challenges they have faced and urge more participation in city politics.
Malliotakis serves as the only female Republican legislator in the city and will be the one conservative perspective represented on the panel. The daughter of a Cuban immigrant, Malliotakis has been asked to share her experience as a Latina woman in politics, particularly where it concerns her career in the State Assembly, her recent mayoral run and her insights into raising funds in a predominantly male arena.
“I’m participating in this forum to discuss my experience in government and the challenges I have overcome and, hopefully, encourage other women to get involved and perhaps even run for office. Politics is still very much a male dominated field and women shouldn’t wait until they are asked to run for office because they most likely never will be. If they want a seat at the table, they must take one,” said Malliotakis.
The event is slated for 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Saturday, April 28 at 125 Barclay Street in Manhattan.
Golden Joins Colleagues To Improve Animal Protections
State Sen. Martin J. Golden (R-Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Marine Park, Gerritsen Beach) recently joined colleagues in the state senate in passing a bill that would prevent animal abusers from working in positions that place them in direct control of animal care.
The bill, S. 2937, promotes the protection and humane treatment of animals in animal shelters. Specifically, it prohibits persons convicted of animal cruelty from being a dog or animal control officer, or working at an animal shelter, pound, humane society, animal protective association, or Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Currently, there is nothing preventing animal abusers from remaining in these positions, or being hired in the future. Furthermore, the bolstering of animals protections is needed because research shows a connection between animal cruelty and domestic violence, mental health, and child abuse.
“This bill will help protect animals across New York State from abuse. Too often people who have been convicted of abusing animals work or obtain jobs at shelters intended to protect animals and this should not be. We don’t allow child abusers to work in daycare centers and we should not permit animal abusers to hold positions in which they oversee the care of dogs, cats or other animals,” said Golden, himself a dog owner.
