BP Adams, Lander Applaud Launch of Meatless Mondays Citywide
Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams alongside City Council member Brad Lander (D-Park Slope, Kensington, Windsor Terrace) applauded yesterday’s announcement that all New York City public schools will have “Meatless Mondays” beginning in the 2019-2020 school year.
The program, which was first piloted in 15 schools in Brooklyn in Spring 2018, will provide students with healthy, all-vegetarian breakfast and lunch menus every Monday. The food program builds on the City’s efforts to provide free, healthy meals to all students. This initiative will be part of New York City’s Free School Lunch for All, which launched in the 2017-18 school year and provides free, nutritious, healthy breakfast and lunch to all participating New York City schools.
In the 2017-18 school year, more than 150 million breakfasts and lunches were served free of charge. Each summer, the DOE provides free breakfast and lunch to any New Yorker under 18 through the Summer Meals program. Since 2015, New York Thursdays have provided schools with locally sourced or produced food.
Meatless Mondays is a national movement focused on healthy, environmentally friendly meal options, and it was piloted in 15 Brooklyn schools last year in collaboration with Adams, who has championed plant-based diets. This fall, the pilot was brought to schools across the City in order to evaluate student feedback on a broader scale. The expansion will be cost-neutral, and the DOE’s Office of Food and Nutrition Services will meet with students to get qualitative feedback before the menu for next fall is finalized.
“In less than eighteen months, we can announce that Meatless Mondays has spread to more than one million children at every school across the city, putting us on the path to make our kids, communities, and planet healthier. I could not be more energized by our progress and more ready to take on the work ahead,” said Adams.
“I’m excited that Meatless Mondays will officially launch at NYC public schools for the 2019-2020 school year. They’ll help improve the health and wellness of our students and serve as an important way the city can address environmental sustainability,” said Lander.
Rose To Host South Brooklyn Town Hall
Congressman Max Rose (D-South Brooklyn, Staten Island) in keeping his promise to regularly hold Town Halls, will host his first two public town halls next week including one in South Brooklyn.
Since being sworn into Congress in January, Rose has passed his first piece of legislation to provide a long-term easement of federal lands allowing construction and maintenance for the East Shore Seawall on Staten Island.
Additionally, Rose is leading a bipartisan effort to build support for fully and permanently funding the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, and just last week helped pass the most comprehensive anti-corruption legislation through the House of Representatives, which included his legislation to close the Lobbyist Loophole.
Rose serves on the House Committees on Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security, and is Chairman of the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence.
“There’s been a lot going on both in New York and in Washington—from passing legislation allowing construction of the East Shore Seawall, to fighting for the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, to just last week keeping our promise to clean up corruption by passing H.R. 1. So I’m looking forward to hearing how I’m doing, and more importantly, what I can be doing better because showing up and being held accountable is the most important part of this job,” said Rose.
The event is slated for 3 p.m., Saturday, March 23, at Fort Hamilton High School, at 8301 Shore Road in Bay Ridge.
Carroll To Host Budget Town Hall
Assembly member Robert Carroll (D-Windsor Terrace, Kensington, Park Slope) will host his second Town Hall focused on the New York State legislative and budget agendas next week.
The event is the second in a series and will give local residents and constituents an opportunity to hear about the budget, important legislation and to express their opinions.
The event is slated for 6:30 p.m., Thursday, March 21, at P.S. 10, at 511 7th Avenue in Park Slope.
Menchaca Applauds Industry City Decision To Delay ULURP Application
City Council member Carlos Menchaca (D-Sunset Park, Red Hook) alongside Community Board 7 Chair Cesar Zuniga applauded Industry City’s decision last week to postpone their application for rezoning that would have initiated the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP).
In March 2015, the owners put in an application to change part of the Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Business Zone to allow for a hotel, large-scale retail, and academic facilities. They estimate the rezoning has the potential to create 15,000 new jobs and millions more in revenue for the neighborhood. Industry City officials were expecting to get final certification on their rezoning application yesterday, March 11, at the City Planning Commission meeting.
Industry City officials made the decision to delay the ULURP process after mounting pressure from Menchaca, Zuniga and Democrats U.S. Reps. Nydia Velazquez (D-Brooklyn, Queens, LES) and Jerrold Nadler (D-Western Brooklyn, Manhattan’s West Side) and State Senator Zellnor Myrie (D-Central Brooklyn).
Menchaca and Zungia claim that before the public review process can begin on the rezoning a more comprehensive evaluation of the waterfront and concerns about displacement and gentrification must first be addressed.
“This is the right call and we thank Industry City for living up to its prior commitments to engage with the Sunset Park community by delaying its ULURP application. In addition to needing time to complete the community engagement process started last year, a critical and transparent analysis of the rezoning proposal’s possible impacts on displacement must be analyzed before starting ULURP. We look forward to working with Industry City in a community-led process to ensure the rezoning proposal benefits the entire Sunset Park community,” read a joint statement from Menchaca and Zuniga.
