BK Lawmakers Call For Improved Healthcare In East Brooklyn
Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams, Assembly member Latrice Walker (D-Brownsville), Majority Leader City Council member Laurie Cumbo (D-Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, Crown Heights) and City Councilwoman Alicka Ampry-Samuel (D-Brownsville) will join One Brooklyn Health System Brookdale Hospital and NYC Department of Health (DOH) this week in hosting a meeting to address the disparities that residents within the East Brooklyn communities face in health, housing, education and employment.
The meeting aims to have these organizations help the residents and partner with them to make a difference. Each attendee at the meeting will have an opportunity to go into breakout sessions based on the different issues at hand (Premature mortality, health, housing and food and nutrition).
The event is Free and is a “CALL FOR ACTION” for all residents within the East Brooklyn
Communities to take ownership of their future.
The event is slated for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, April 27, at P.S. 156 Waverly, 104 Sutter Avenue Brooklyn in Brownsville.
Those looking to attend should RSVP here.
Levin Introduces Legislation To Increase Jail Diversion, Address Health Disparities
City Council Member Stephen Levin (D-Williamsburg, Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, DUMBO, and parts of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Clinton Hill, Greenpoint, Downtown Brooklyn, Gowanus, Park Slope) today will introduce legislation to increase opportunities for jail diversion for people with health needs and improve access to treatment in the criminal justice system.
The bill would expand Correctional Health Services’ Enhanced Pre-Arraignment Screening Unit (EPASU) to all boroughs’ central booking facilities, providing a critical resource to people in need of care.
According to the Vera Institute, more than 40 percent of people in the city’s jail system receive some type of behavioral health service, evidence that more must be done to detect health care needs before a person enters the correctional system and connect them to appropriate services. This legislation would help New York City reduce its jail population and improve access to community-based services.
The EPASU model was first launched as a pilot program in the Manhattan detention center in 2016. The program has since enabled thousands of individuals to access needed treatment and has helped public defenders identify clients who would benefit from diversion. Expanding the program citywide would allow for a thorough two-tiered pre-arraignment screening, where, with a patient’s consent, clinicians and social workers would screen for acute medical and behavioral health needs, improving detection of undiagnosed health needs, better care coordination, and opportunity for diversion.
“As New York City works to close Rikers Island, we need to do everything we can to divert people out of jail who are there unnecessarily and connect people to treatment and community supports that work. A person’s zip code should never dictate their access to services– it’s time we enact this model citywide,” said Levin.
Deutsch Announces Passover Trash & Recycling Changes
City Council member Chaim Deutsch (D-Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan Beach, Brighton Beach, Homecrest, Midwood) yesterday announced changes in the trash and recycling collection services to happen over Pesach (Passover).
The following are the collection changes for the upcoming holiday:
ALL of Community Board 14 and 15 will have recycling collection on Friday morning, April 19 between midnight and 11am. Recycling can be placed outside from 4pm to midnight on Thursday.
Community Board 14: (approximately between Coney Island Avenue and Nostrand Avenue – from Prospect Park to Avenue P)
- If you reside between Coney Island Avenue and Flatbush Avenue NORTH of Avenue H, you will receive an additional trash collection on Thursday, April 18. Trash can be placed outside beginning at 4pm on Wednesday.
- All other Community Board 14 residents will have trash collection on Friday, April 19. Trash can be placed outside beginning Thursday at 4pm.
Community Board 15: (approximately between McDonald Avenue and Gerritsen Avenue – from Avenue P to the water)
- All Community Board 15 residents will receive trash and recycling collections on Friday, April 19. Trash and recycling can be placed outside beginning Thursday at 4pm.
- All pickups will be completed by 11:00am of Friday, April 19, 2019.
Refuse collection sites will be open for delivery starting early morning Friday, April 19 to public Department of Sanitation dumpsters arranged at the following locations:
- James Madison High School – Quentin Road (between Bedford Avenue and East 26th Street)
- I.S. 240 – Andres Hudde JHS – 2400 Nostrand Avenue
- City Park Adjacent to Derech Hatorah – 2810 Nostrand Avenue ( Between Kings Highway & Avenue P
- Rabbi Rokeach’s Shul 3302 Avenue P ( on East 33rd Street)
- Marine Park Jewish Center – 3311 Avenue S
Please do not place any burning objects in to dumpsters – Please observe fire safety while burning chametz by making sure children are not left unattended and extinguishing the flame thoroughly after burning is complete.
SPECIAL COLLECTION:
The Department of Sanitation requires appointments for removal of refrigerators, water coolers and air conditioners. Appointments must also be made for all electronics such as televisions, and computers, which will be collected on the Friday after you schedule. Call 311 or visit www.nyc.gov/sanitation to make these collection appointments.
Lander, Espinal, Levin To Rally For Climate Mobilization Act
City Council members Brad Lander (D-Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Kensington), Rafael Espinal (D-Bushwick, East New York) and Stephen Levin (D-Williamsburg, Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, DUMBO, and parts of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Clinton Hill, Greenpoint, Downtown Brooklyn, Gowanus, Park Slope) today will rally in favor of the Climate Mobilization Act.
The legislative package is centered around Intro. 1253, the Clean Tower Plan, which will be the largest carbon emission reduction ever mandated by a city. The measure tackles the small share of large buildings that emit one third of New York City’s greenhouse gases every year.
Other legislation in the environmentally conscious package includes measures to promotes clean, renewable energy while also determining whether any of New York’s gas-fired power plants can be feasibly replaced with green power. Several bills promote green roofs, making it easier to install greenery, solar panels, and small wind turbines on top of buildings.
The full New York City Council is expected to vote on these bills at its stated meeting today. If enacted, they will be among the most significant climate policy to ever go through the City Council.
The event is slated for 11:30 a.m., today, April 18, on the Steps of City Hall in Lower Manhattan.
Cymbrowitz To Hold Rent Regulation Hearings
Assembly member Steven Cymbrowitz (D-Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan Beach, Brighton Beach), Chair of the Assembly’s Housing Committee, will lead three public hearings in May — in New York City, Albany and Rochester — focusing on rent regulations and tenant protections.
The announcement comes as state laws that govern rent-regulated apartments are set to expire on June 15. The series will kick-off in the city next month and will examine will examine the renewal and reform of the rent regulation laws along with steps the Legislature can take to protect tenants of regulated and market-rate units across the city and state.
There are 2.1 million rental units housing nearly 5.5 million tenants in New York City, with nearly half of those units being subject to rent regulation, according to Cymbrowitz’s office.
“While finding and paying an affordable rent are challenges for most New Yorkers,
the cost and sudden spikes are most difficult to bear for low-income households – including
many rent-regulated households,” said Cymbrowitz.
“In fact, about one-third of all city tenants are considered rent burdened, paying more than half of their income toward housing. For these renters in particular, harassment, steep rent hikes and unjust evictions can be devastating,” added Cymbrowitz.
The NYC hearing is slated for Thursday, May 2.
Espinal Green Roof Legislation To Pass City Council
City Council member Rafael Espinal’s (D-Bushwick, East New York) bills to mandate the installation of green or solar power on the rooftops of new buildings will soon become mandatory across the five boroughs.
This week the series of bill are set to pass the city council and will require 100% of new residential and commercial roofs to cover all available rooftop space in green or solar rooftops.
Green roofs offer myriad benefits for cities and building owners: they cut energy costs by insulating buildings, mitigate Urban Heat Island Effect, reduce storm-water runoff, absorb air pollutants, provide sound-proofing, and create much-needed greenspace for communities. Green roofs also offer an opportunity for job creation. The city already partners with nonprofits on green infrastructure job training programs for at-risk youth and formerly incarcerated individuals, which will be able to expand through this legislation.
Currently, a small fraction of rooftops in New York City have green roofs, and an existing property tax abatement program has proven ineffective in spurring their growth. Several prominent buildings throughout the city have already installed green roofs, including the Javits Center, the U.S. Post Office Morgan Processing and Distribution Center, Brooklyn Steel, the Barclays Center, and others. These roofs are already yielding positive results for these buildings and the environment around them: on the Javits Center, for example, the roof functions as a wildlife sanctuary allowing biodiversity to flourish.
“There is about 1 billion square feet of rooftop space overall in our city, most of them currently absorbing heat, which means New York has a unique opportunity to make significant investments in this technology and make our city more livable for future generations,” said Espinal.
