BP Adams Launches New Online Tool Offering BK Residents Insights Into Local Nabes
Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams and Localize.city, a real estate knowledge platform, yesterday announced a partnership to offer Brooklynites a new online tool that provides unparalleled insights into every residential building in Brooklyn.
The new online tool will give Brooklynites a look at a building’s maintenance history, its location within a flood zone, dangerous intersections nearby, and even how much sunlight a building receives.
Localize.city’s team of more than 150 data scientists, urban planners, cartographers, journalists, and geographic information system (GIS) experts have developed an artificial intelligence (AI)-based “Insights Engine.” The breakthrough technology, now available as a resource on Adams’ website, analyzes tens of thousands of datasets to give residents a fuller view of what is happening at and around every address in Brooklyn.
Featured insight topics, with content curated by Localize.city, include community, education, livability, nuisances, planning, safety, and transportation.The platform provides invaluable knowledge to Brooklyn residents about what is happening at homes and neighborhoods, both today and in the future.
“Knowledge is the most valuable currency we have, and knowledge empowers our communities to be safer places where we can raise healthy children and families. I hope Brooklynites will find Localize.city’s incredible online tool to be a meaningful tool in their civic engagement toolboxes. We all want better schools, cleaner air, safer streets, and an enhanced quality of life. Our website’s new widget can help in improving access to some of the facts and feedback that are impactful in shaping our borough,” said Adams.
Espinal, Council Jewish Caucus Rally To Secure $4 Million For Holocaust Survivor Initiative
City Council member Rafael Espinal (D-Bushwick, East New York) and the Council’s Jewish Caucus will rally together today to call for the expansion of the Elie Wiesel Holocaust Survivors Initiative.
The budget initiative will go toward supporting the City’s survivors living at or below the federal poverty line with a wide range of services with $4 million in funding. The initiative is named in honor of Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, who passed away in July 2016.
Elie Wiesel was a brave Holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate who dedicated his life to defending human rights and promoting tolerance.
The event is slated for 10 a.m., today, May 29, on the Steps of City Hall in Lower Manhattan.
Colton To Host Meeting To Protect Specialized High Schools & SHSAT
Assembly member William Colton (D–Gravesend, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, Dyker Heights) District Leaders Charles Ragusa, Nancy Tong, together with community leaders Nino Magali and Dr. Tim Law, will host an upcoming meeting to protect the City’s specialized high schools and keep the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT).
In the last year, the city’s eight Specialized High Schools (SHS) have been the target of controversy as low numbers of Black and Latino students have been admitted over the years.
The rally comes as the De Blasio Administration plans to change the admissions requirements to further diversify the population of these schools. This includes doing away with the rigorous SHSAT exam and replace it with a system that would reserve seats for the top students in middle schools across the city. This would increase offers to both Latino and black students, as well as provide a better representation of students from each borough. Currently, of the 15,540 students that attend specialized high schools, half are low-income. The demographics of the schools are 62% Asian, 24% white, 6% Latino and 4% black.
The de Blasio plan has received much pushback from the Asian community, other academic advocates and a number of lawmakers that argue that the exams are color and culture blind. That doing away with them may both dumb down the schools, and create a system where students can get in for who they know as much as for what they know.
The SHSAT has been in place since 1971, when New York State law mandated a test-based entrance to specialized high schools. SHS high schools include Stuyvesant and Brooklyn Technical High School in Brooklyn. This past March, Stuyvesant offered only 7 out of 895 slots in the freshman class to black students.
“Come out and be a part of this important event. Make sure your voice is heard, learn what you can do on to keep Specialized High Schools Admission Test and help us fight to improve the quality of education for gifted children in NYC schools. Together we can make a difference; we will not give up until we prevail in our fight against the bureaucratic agencies,” said Colton.
The event is slated for 11 a.m., Saturday, June 1, at 29 Bay 25th Street (between 86 Street and Benson Avenue) in Bath Beach.
Menchaca Announces No Cost Measles Vaccine Event
City Council member Carlos Menchaca (D-Sunset Park, Red Hook) in partnership with Family Health Centers at NYU Langone announced a no cost measles vaccine event for adults this week.
The event will offer a measles vaccine to members of the community at no charge on a first come first serve basis.
The event comes just days after the NYC Department of Health (DOH) announced that four more measles cases have been identified in the Sunset Park neighborhood of South Brooklyn, as part of a larger measles outbreak across the borough. In total, there were 13 new cases reported citywide this week, including 12 in Brooklyn.
Just last month, Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a public health emergency in select Williamsburg zip codes -11205, 11206, 11211, 11249- following a measles outbreak affecting the Orthodox Jewish community.
The event is slated for 12-noon, today, May 29, at 352 42nd Street (at 4th Avenue) in Sunset Park.
Cumbo Announces Senior Affordable Housing Opportunity
Majority Leader City Council member Laurie Cumbo (D-Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Crown Heights) recently announced application opening day for Senior Affordable Housing for today.
The senior housing opportunity includes over 110 units of affordable senior housing, located at 112 St. Edwards Street, at the corner of Myrtle Avenue and St. Edwards Street. The 6-story building is situated on Ingersoll NYCHA property, which is brand new construction, and will have a state of the art senior center on it’s lower level. The affordable housing opportunity includes no fee is smoke-free and LGBTQ+ friendly.
Applications are accepted First-Come First-Served, so people must apply the moment the application goes live on the Internet.
The application portal opens at 11 a.m., today, May 29, online at HTTPS://SELFSERVE.NYCHA.INFO/INGERSOLLSECTION8. Only the first 2000 people will have the opportunity to put in an application through the online portal.
Those looking for more information or to apply can also visit Cumbo’s office at 55 Hanson Place in Fort Greene.
