BP Adams Applauds Mayor’s NYCHA STAT Announcement
Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams applauded Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York City Housing Authority Chair Stanley Brezenoff in announcing a new housing development initiative aimed at improving repairs at the embattled authority.
Earlier this week, the Mayor alongside Brezenoff announced the NYCHA Stat initiative. The project will deploy a real-time tracking system to accurately and efficiently track all building repairs across all public housing developments.
The technology will be implemented with assistance from the New York Police Department (NYPD), who were the first to use the revolutionizing technology for the highly successful CompStat crime data. According to the Mayor, once the system is up and fully running, its data will be made public on a regular basis.
“I applaud Mayor de Blasio and NYCHA Chair Brezenoff for committing to initiate NYCHA STAT, following months of internal discussion we’ve shared and public advocacy we’ve engaged in to best harness public housing data for real-time accountability and transparency. Rent-paying residents deserve to know the hard facts on efforts to improve the developments they call home, and NYCHA employees need to see where to mobilize resources for repairs,” said Adams.
“This effort will build positively upon the digital dashboard that our offices collaborated on launching earlier this year to publicly track heat and hot water service. Just as CompSTAT began to improve policing performance decades ago, I believe a data-driven approach to asset management can improve NYCHA’s performance in serving its tenants,” added Adams.
CM Williams Questions Amazon HQ2 Deal
City Council Member Jumaane D. Williams (D-Flatbush, East Flatbush, Midwood), Deputy Leader, question representatives from Amazon and the NYC Economic Development Corporation (EDC) at yesterday’s City Council hearing.
Local lawmakers have been voicing their concerns over the multi-billion dollar deal over its plan to give subsidies and tax breaks to the technology giant. Williams most recently announced legislation aimed at preventing city officials from signing non-disclosure agreements with corporations doing business with the city, similar to those used in the controversial Amazon HQ2 deal struck by Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo.
“Today the Council, and the people of New York, had an opportunity to bring the Mayor and Governor’s secret deal out into the open at a public hearing. When the light shines on this deal, it looks even worse.
As my colleague Council Member Van Bramer noted, Amazon is eager to focus on its big promises and hypotheticals, but not on the cost-financial and otherwise. The administration won’t focus on the cost of displacing affordable housing or inviting gentrification, the cost of neglecting NYCHA or the MTA to hand money to the richest man in the world, the cost to struggling small business owners in New York City. Amazon created a cutthroat bidding system, and the administration acquiesced to it.
The Governor and the Mayor clearly feared that once the people knew more about their deal, they would oppose it, so they hid behind closed doors and circumvented the process. But now, we’re watching,” said Williams.
Deutsch To Host Street Co-Naming In Honor of Local Rabbi
City Council member Chaim Deutsch (D-Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan Beach, Brighton Beach, Homecrest, Midwood) is hosting a street co-naming ceremony in honor of Rabbi Eli Greenwald this week.
Rabbi Eli Greenwald, who passed away in March of 2016, presided over the Ohel David and Shlomo synagogue in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, for 50 years. He also served as a member of Community Board 15, a chaplain to Coney Island Hospital, and a teacher and principal at the Manhattan Beach Jewish Center.
The corner of Shore Boulevard and Ocean Avenue will be named in honor of Greenwald.
The event is slated for 1 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 16, at 710 Shore Boulevard in Manhattan Beach.
Treyger’s Education Funding Package Passes City Council
City Council member Mark Treyger’s (D-Bath Beach, Bensonhurst, Coney Island, Gravesend, Sea Gate) package of bills that would bring more equity and transparency to Fair Student Funding passed the City Council this week.
Fair Student Funding is the flexible funding stream that school administrators use to address the specific needs of their students.
The package of bills include Int. 1040, would require the DOE to produce an annual report detailing all spending allocations, including Fair Student Funding, to schools across the city. The bill aims to make school funding more transparent, reveal inequities in funding at particular schools or in particular areas, and make analysis easier and more accessible.
Also Int. 1174, which would give stakeholders a voice at the table where critical school funding is concerned. Once signed into law, the legislation would create a task force made up of parents, advocates, representatives from Community Education Councils, teacher and school administrator union representatives, and DOE officials. The Task Force would review Fair Student Funding and make recommendations to the DOE on how to update and improve the formula to better reflect the needs of students.
Treyger’s Res. 569 , which calls on the DOE to factor in poverty as a weight in the Fair Student Funding formula for schools beginning at fourth grade or later , was also included in the package. Schools currently receive additional Fair Student Funding when students in the third grade or under are living in poverty. The measure calls for the DOE to include students living in temporary housing as an indicator of poverty and expand the poverty weight to include students in fourth grade or above, which would provide more schools with additional FSF allocations.
“Fair Student Funding is a critical funding stream for our schools, giving school administrators the flexibility to provide the social and emotional supports or enrichment programs that best meet the needs of their respective student populations. My legislation will give stakeholders a seat at the table and help ensure meaningful equity and transparency in the distribution of these important resources,” said Treyger.
Persaud to Host Toy Giveaway with City, Local Groups
State Senator Roxanne J. Persaud (D-Canarsie, East New York, Brownsville, Mill Basin, Sheepshead Bay, Bergen Beach, Marine Park, Flatlands, Mill Island, Georgetown, Ocean Hill, Starrett City) will be giving out toys to children at a church in her district with city organizations and a local group today.
Persaud partnered with the New York City District Council of Carpenters (NYCDCC), the Carpenter Contractor Alliance of Metropolitan New York (CCA Metro) and No Kids Left Behind, Inc. to host a toy giveaway.
“There is no better time to be charitable and spread cheer than now, during this season of giving, and perhaps no greater feeling than seeing a child’s face light up when given a brand new toy. No kid should be without a present for the holidays,” said Persaud.
The event is slated for 7 pm., today, Dec. 13 at Hebron Baptist Church at 450 Fountain Avenue in East New York.
Eugene Funds Acquisition of New Surgical Da Vinci Robot
City Council member Mathieu Eugene (D-Flatbush, East Flatbush, Lefferts Gardens) attended the unveiling of the new Da Vinci Robot Surgical System at New York City Health + Hospitals Kings County this week.
The surgical robot will allow the hospital to expand its ability to perform invasive and microscopic surgery. The Da Vinci Robot Surgical System allows surgeons to perform minimally invasive and complex surgical procedures with precision and dexterity, using smaller incisions which reduce blood loss and the need for transfusion, and a faster recovery time.
Kings County Hospital is the third facility in the NYC Health + Hospital network to acquire the groundbreaking medical technology. The robot, made possible in part through funding from Eugene, is expected to expand surgical care and improve patient outcomes at the hospital.
“I am a longtime supporter of Kings County Hospital because of the tremendous work they do here. I am so honored to have this great institution in my district, because I have the utmost confidence in this medical staff to improve the quality of life of the patients under their care. I have been fighting in the City Council to make sure that we can provide our medical facilities with the best equipment and resources available in order for them to save lives,” said Eugene.
“Healthcare has always been my top priority, because I know that without our health, we can’t enjoy anything that we have. If you look back at what I have done in collaboration with the leadership of this great institution, you will see that I have been privileged to provide funding to Kings County Hospital in order for them to purchase several pieces of advanced medical technology that are working to save patient lives in the community,” added Eugene.
