Oona Milliken, Author at Brooklyn Downtown Star

Fort Greene Park Redesign Slated to Begin Construction in 2024

Oona Milliken on November 17, 2023

By Oona Milliken | omilliken@queensledger.com

Fort Greene Park’s large-scale plan to improve accessibility and remove invasive tree species is moving forward, despite community pushback and two lawsuits.

The capital works plan is back on track to making the park more accessible, renovating the sidewalks and entrance on the northern side of the park, updating the park’s playground, basketball court and outdoor gym as well as preventing flooding. However, the most controversial part of the redesign remains centered around the park’s most treasured asset: trees.

The capital works plan, originally launched in 2017, was held up in court until 2020 after locals sued the Parks Department in 2018 and in 2019 for not sharing internal documents on the health of trees in Fort Greene, as well as avoiding an environmental impact statement. The community has long opposed the plan’s proposal to remove 83 trees, now brought down to 78, in order to pave a plaza at the northwestern entrance.

On Aug. 23, 2023, the Department of Environmental Conservation released a “negative declaration” on the park stating that none of the redesign proposals, including the plaza at the northwestern corner, would have a detrimental environmental impact, thereby allowing the plan to move forward.

On Thursday, Nov. 9, the Fort Greene Conservancy, a non-profit organization that partners with the Parks Department in maintaining the park, hosted a tour of their upcoming capital works plans in order to update community members on the status of the redesign as the plan is set to move forward again. Despite 78 trees being removed, there will be 200 new trees added, though no plan has been formalized on where these trees will be, or what species will be planted. Construction is slated to begin in late 2024.

Sudip Mukherjee, a resident of Fort Greene since 2016, said he attended the tour because he lived facing the park and wanted to know what he would be looking at every day. Mukherjee said he was not opposed to the plan as a whole but did not want any healthy trees removed.

The contested northwestern corner of Fort Greene Park. The area is a part of the Parks Without Borders plan introduced by former Mayor Bill De Blasio. Photo credit: Oona Milliken

“The community is in support of fixing the sidewalk and drainage and everything like that. But it’s not in support of cutting down any trees,” Mukherjee said in an interview. “[The conservancy staff] mentioned 70 plus trees that are being removed. That’s a lot. And more importantly, from the community’s perspective, 58 of those trees are in the northwest corner, and they’re all healthy.”

The northwestern plaza is a part of the Parks Without Borders plan, an initiative introduced by former Mayor Bill de Blasio that sought to remove barriers and fences between park limits and city sidewalks. When the plan was initially released in 2016, community members and residents of Fort Greene were notified of the plan to cut down the trees in the northwestern corner to make room for the cement plaza.

Ling Hsu, President of Friends of Fort Greene, an advocacy group that aims to maintain the canopy of the park, said her neighbors were alarmed by the proposal to remove so many trees at once and decided to take action. According to Hsu and Mukherjee, the Department had originally told the community that the trees were being removed because they were at risk of disease.

In 2017, Friends of Fort Greene submitted a Freedom of Information Law Request on the health of trees in the section of the park and found that 49 out of 58 trees in the northwestern corner were being removed for design purposes, not safety or health reasons. Hsu said the information from the FOIL request was what prompted the subsequent lawsuit in 2018 to get more information from the Parks Department.

“First, we were wondering how come the trees on the corner are dying, because they look fine to us. We FOIL’d the internal tree reports from the Parks Department. It took six or nine months to get the information, and shockingly, the tree report from the Department said most trees are healthy,” Hsu said. “We were seriously shocked by the discovery, so we got a pro-bono attorney Michael Gruen and started to demand even more information about the project.”

Hsu said she was disappointed in the way that the Parks Department has handled the redesign and wishes that the Department would work more closely with the community in reimagining the northwestern corner.

“To be honest, this plaza design proposal feels like it was done by people who don’t live here and have no clue how residents use the park or by people who know, and simply don’t care about the well-being of our neighbors and the environment,” Hsu said.

Rosamund Fletcher, the Executive Director of the Conservancy, said the Parks Without Borders initiative was an opportunity to break down obstacles between the park and the community. In an interview with Fletcher and Shakara Petteway, Director of Park Projects and Programs, Fletcher said there was a lot of misinformation about the capital works plan swirling around the community that she wishes to clear up. Aside from their capital works tour, the conservancy is hosting virtual office hours throughout the month of November to communicate with Fort Greene residents.

“Our main point is that we want everyone to look at our website and look at the actual plans, talk to us and come on our tour. It’s very hard to look at a single rendering or a single plan and understand the scope and scale of this project,” Fletcher said. “It’s definitely not a situation where the many trees that people love in the park, the alley of trees, the trees over the barbecue area, all those beautiful London plane trees, those are not coming down. And I think a lot of people think they are. That’s what I would like them to understand.”

Though 58 trees are set to be removed in the northwestern corner, it is unclear how many will replace them. According to Fletcher and Petteway, a little under half of the trees are invasive species and are being removed due to their impact on neighboring trees. However, without the final plan from the Parks Department, Fletcher said she cannot give a final answer on what the finished treescape will look like.

Note: this article is edited from a version that appeared in print on Thursday, November 11, 2023.

Brannan Beats Kagan in Brooklyn’s District 47 Election

Oona Milliken on November 16, 2023

By Oona Milliken and Matthew Fischetti | news@queensledger.com

While the race for City Council District 47 was largely projected to be a close one, Democrat Justin Brannan easily sailed to re-election against Republican challenger Ari Kagan with a healthy 17 point lead, according to unofficial election night tallies.

The two incumbent councilmen faced off in the race after City Council District 47 was redrawn to cover both Coney Island and Bay Ridge, the former being Kagan’s home turf and the latter being Brannan’s home nabe. While Kagan had been involved in local Democratic politics for around a decade, he switched to the Republican party to vie for the council seat.

Shortly after the race was called, Brannan strutted into Brooklyn Firefly in Bay Ridge with the Beastie Boys classic No Sleep Till Brooklyn blaring over the sound system with a large cadre of democratic supporters, city politicians ranging from Comptroller Brad Lander to Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and campaign staff filling the tiny bar and restaurant.

In his victory speech, Brannan emphasized the importance of the win, noting how Bay Ridge used to be considered a solidly Republican area.

“People thought that Bay Ridge and Democrat was an oxymoron. It wasn’t that long ago. We’ve made great strides,” he said. And I think this race reminds us that all the gains we have made, could be taken away like that. We’ve got to fight harder than ever to keep that progress moving forward.”

While Brannan emphasized the electoral significance of retaining a Democrat seat in the nabe, he also shared a message against “political tribalism” and working for constituents regardless of affiliation.

Brannan celebrating his win on election night. Photo credit: Matthew Fischetti.

“So, tonight, the campaign ends. Tomorrow, the work really continues. And I am a proud Democrat, but we’re public servants first and foremost,” said Brannan.

Later on in the night, Brannan told press that the Kings County Democratic Party Chairwoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn has “gotta go.” Shortly before the election, the Brooklyn Democratic Party released a statement criticizing Brannan by using an old allegation of harassment and bullying against a former coworker in the city council, when Brannan worked in former Councilman Vincent Gentile’s office. Michael Bistreich attempted to sue the city and Gentile for $10 million though a judge dismissed Gentile from the suit and the city settled for $850,000 in 2021. Brannan was not implicated by name in the settlement and has pushed back against the allegations by calling them cynical.

While the energy was high at Brooklyn Firefly, the atmosphere was subdued inside Bay Ridge Manor at Ari Kagan’s City Council election party on Tuesday Nov. 7 after the incumbent Republican lost to contestant Justin Brannan. The two were pitted against each other after a redistricting that changed the landscape of all City Council districts across the city. Kagan lost the vote by 17 percent, according to unofficial election night tallies. Kagan conceded on election night, and sent out a post on X around midnight, formerly known as Twitter, acknowledging his defeat.

“Though we didn’t achieve the result we wanted, I am proud of our campaign. We sent a powerful message that Southern Brooklyn strongly supports law enforcement, lower taxes & merit based education. Lucky to have wonderful family & so many supporters. TY very much!” Kagan wrote in an X post.

Kagan at his election night event. Photo credit: Oona Milliken

Christopher Leon Johnson, a politically active community member who identifies as a Democrat, said he supported Kagan due to his support for the NYPD and his critique of the migrant crisis in New York. Until 2022, Kagan was a registered Democrat, but switched before the election that landed him his City Council post.

“I support his campaign, I love him as a person, he does great stuff with his district, that’s why I’m here to support him,” Leon Johnson said. “He’s a moderate Republican, he has common sense values. He’s pro-cop, he’s pro-quality of life, he’s against the migrant crisis, a lot of things. So I’m sticking by him.”

Kathie and Barry Bistreich said they were out to support Kagan, partly because of his views on street safety and the NYPD, but also because their son, Michael Bistreich, claimed to be tormented by Brannan, and other staffers, during his time working in City Councilmember Vincent Gentile’s office.

“We’re here to support Ari because my son is working for him right now. He’s working on the campaign,” Kathie Bistreich said. “He was abused by Ari’s opponent, Justin Brannan.”

“Stronger police, safer streets, any number of things that he’s said that I can’t remember because I’m 75,” Barry Bistreich added.

Paul Rodriguez, another Republican candidate for city council in Brooklyn, said he was hopeful about the future of the Republican party in New York City, despite Kagan’s loss. Rodriguez also lost his race for District 38. Rodriguez pointed to the race in the Bronx where conservative Republican Kristy Marmorato beat Marjorie Velázquez, the first Bronx Republican to do so in 40 years.

“So, it’s maybe not the desired outcome but necessarily nothing that changes the narratives or changes the enthusiasm that we feel that things are moving,” Rodriguez said on the Kagan loss. “I’m optimistic and there’s another race in two years.”

DOT Wraps Up First Phase of Community Outreach for BQE Redesign

Oona Milliken on November 16, 2023

By Oona Milliken | omilliken@queensledger.com

The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, also known as the BQE, is long past its lifespan. Now, the highway is due for an overhaul, led by the Department of Transportation.

The DOT has launched a three-part series of community meetings for the Central, North and South parts of the BQE. The third and final workshop series for BQE North and South ran from Oct. 30 to Nov. 8 and allowed for DOT officials, community members as well as designers, engineers and architects of the redesign gathered to discuss the future of the BQE. Julie Bero, Chief Strategy Officer for the DOT, said in an interview that the new administration was focused on bringing unheard voices to the forefront of the conversation.

“This administration is really focused on equity, which I think has been really inspiring to me. In the past, a lot of focus has been on the city or portion, which is in one of the wealthier neighborhoods in the city. And so we’re saying, ‘No, we’re gonna look at the full corridor here,’” Bero said. “I think we’ve gotten good feedback, that was really welcome. There are a lot of communities that haven’t been listened to or engaged for a long time.”

During a Oct. 30 meeting in Williamsburg, Bero said that the DOT has three timelines in which the department is organizing the redesign.

One, a short term project timeline for ideas that might be implemented in the next few years, such as bike lanes along the highway, street improvement initiatives, repaving, and building pedestrian plazas. These projects are all covered by DOT funding and would not require additional state funds.

DOT’s Chief Strategy Officer Julie Bero speaking at a BQE North meeting. Photo credit: Oona Milliken

Two, a medium timeline with projects like moving the curb line, adding rain gardens or street trees or constructing new larger plazas with lighting, benches and other amenities.

Lastly, the DOT’s third timeline is of long-term projects that will require city, state and federal coordination to complete. According to Bero, these might include building “caps” across the BQE on which parks, housing or pedestrian bridges might be built.

Solveig Entwistle, a Williamsburg resident who attended the workshop, said she appreciated the community feedback sessions and is excited to get some of the smaller changes to the BQE started as soon as possible. Entwistle said she wanted to see short-term changes implemented as the BQE redesign begins, rather than waiting decades to see an impact.

“My biggest hesitation is the fact that it might take decades to deck over. I would rather see something this year, or in 2024,” Entwistle said. “Much of the things that they were talking about, they are long term goals, which are absolutely important to have, but I would like to see paint on the street on a small portion where the city actually controls rather than having to engage with state conversations and work with the federal government.”

Kevin LaCherra, a transportation and road safety activist based in Greenpoint, said he was also most concerned with the shorter term projects, particularly those that minimize street accidents. LaCherra also said he was interested in decreasing parking and contributing LaCherra similarly.

“With DOT and WXY they’ve been listening to a lot of folks in the community through the process,” LaCherra said. “We want policies implemented as soon as possible, around things like daylighting, safe intersections, the reimagining of the parking fields to be public amenities, public spaces, the narrowing of the roadway to knit the community back together.”

DOT has hosted another previous two rounds of workshops hosted in both North and South Brooklyn prior to this most recent series. As this one concluded on Nov. 8, a community input report will be drawn up and released by spring 2024. According to the DOT’s website, the department is investing $500,000 into garnering community input into the redevelopment ahead of any construction. Bero said the local organizations, funded by the DOT, have conducted over 100 community engagement events.

North Brooklyn Angels to Host Third Annual Thanksgiving Drive

Oona Milliken on November 16, 2023

By Oona Milliken | omilliken@queensledger.com

The North Brooklyn Angels, a non-profit dedicated to providing free meals to the North Brooklyn community, are hosting their third annual Neighbors Giving Thanks event for Thanksgiving. Kendra Chiu, the Executive Director for North Brooklyn Angels, said the event is one of their biggest volunteer-driven events of the year.

This year, there will be three Thanksgiving day meals provided in Greenpoint, Williamsburg and East Williamsburg on Nov. 23 and one on Tuesday, Nov. 21 in Bushwick. Chiu said the drive began in 2020 and has grown from there.

“We’ve expanded this opportunity, which began during the pandemic because of how much the pandemic highlighted food insecurity, especially in North Brooklyn, and we’ve just kept the tradition up since,” Chiu said. “We decided ‘How can we provide a dignified Thanksgiving experience for our neighbors in need?’”

Neighbors Giving Thanks will provide 1,000 frozen turkeys for people to take home in the week leading up to Thanksgiving, and 630 warm meals on Tuesday and Thursday during Thanksgiving week. Chiu said there will be around 100 volunteers helping package and distribute the meals, which are catered by local restaurants.

Chiu said that the program is catered to those without a place to go during the holiday and that many senior citizens and homeless people from nearby shelters end up eating with the North Brooklyn Angels on Thanksgiving. This year, the North Brooklyn Angels are expecting an influx of migrants.

“The ideal audience would be the ones who don’t really have a place to go during Thanksgiving, and we can provide them a dignified experience. They may or may not have family to go to,” Chiu said. “I think we’re going to see an uptick in participation of families joining our meals, especially with the rise in migrants.”

During the first two years of operation, the North Brooklyn Angels hosted the Thanksgiving Day meal at the Brooklyn Exposition Center in Greenpoint, but have since partnered with various churches and community groups to geographically spread out the meals and make them more accessible to those in need. Chiu said that the volunteers are what make the whole event possible.

“Unsurprisingly, we continue to be wonderfully mobbed by people who want to volunteer,” Chiu said. “So what happens is the volunteers volunteer from the morning, and then we’re wrapped up and cleaned up by like 1:30-2 pm. This way they can go home and enjoy Thanksgiving with their families.”

The North Brooklyn Angels mission is for neighbors working with neighbors to “want to work together to fight hunger, food insecurity, and poverty,” according to their website. Chiu said the organization is focused on bridging the inequality gap between Brooklyn residents, which she said was particularly widened by the pandemic and the continuing effects of gentrification in the area. However, Chiu said the organization wanted to do so in a positive way.

“North Brooklyn Angels is around to highlight this great income disparity that does exist in our area without applying shame to it because it’s a macro-issue. What can a family do, what can volunteers do, what can young professionals do to build a community? By volunteering they have the ability to humanize and not live in a bubble,” Chiu said. “I think that’s part of our mission, to kind of remind and engage folks to understand and humanize what can easily be a very easily forgotten or neglected population.”

After Oct. 4 Rollout, Marijuana Legislation Begins to Take Shape

Oona Milliken on November 8, 2023

By Oona Milliken | omilliken@queensledger.com

The Office of Cannabis Management began its rollout of general marijuana licenses on Oct. 4. Currently, the Office is holding informational sessions across New York State to get the word out about their licenses, a total of five, and to ensure that information on how people can get started in the cannabis industry is readily available. At a meeting on Wednesday Nov. 1 at Medgar Evers College in Crown Heights, two OCM representatives, John Kagia, Director of Policy, and Jason Salmon, Director of External Affairs, gave a two-hour presentation, informational session and Q&A for those interested in acquiring a marijuana license. Though the application is open for everyone, Salmon said the OCM is trying to prioritize communities disproportionately impacted by arrests, convictions and police presence related to marijuana enforcement.

John Kagia discussing the rollout and the new cannabis licenses.

“What does that mean? That means that your arrest rate in your community is higher comparatively to other parts of the state. I’ll use myself as an example. I grew up in Clinton Hill, Fort Greene. From the time that I was born in ‘86 to about when I was 16, 17, I lived in a CDI [Community Disproportionately Impacted], I lived in an area that was targeted by the police that had a high number of arrests,” Salmon said.

The new licenses available to be applied for are Cultivator, Processor, Retail Dispensary, Distributor and Microbusiness, according to Kagia and Salmon. The first round of applications open for businesses with an existing store location will close on Nov. 17, and the second for those without an existing store location will close on Dec. 18. Kagia said he was excited about the future of the marijuana industry and was looking forward to getting more licenses out there. More importantly, Kagia said that creating the parameters of a new market meant making it as equitable and open as possible.

“The idea of social equity isn’t about being exclusionary to the groups that have historically been a significant part of this industry but it’s to provide opportunities for weaker diversity of stakeholders in this market. Generally, when you have greater diversity, the data is clear, you tend to have better consumer experiences,” Kagia said. “One of the things that’s most exciting to me is the idea that several years from now, we will be looking out at a market that is the most diverse in the country. And one that truly reflects the amazing cultural and socioeconomic diversity that is New York.”

A slide show featuring the different Adult-Use License types open for application.

Connie Chang, an attendee of the event who runs a food packaging business, said she was interested in a processing license. Chang said she was excited about the future of cannabis and wanted to partake in such a massive new market. Though Chang said the meeting was helpful, she said she still had a lot to learn about the process of obtaining an OCM license and starting her own business.

“I think if I could get [a license] then I would just be hitting the ground running, finding a space, getting insurance, getting a bunch of different things lined up, and that’s when it does start to feel overwhelming,” Chang said in an interview. “It’s cool, it’s just scary, but it’s exciting. Maybe this is what it felt like during the Gold Rush or something.”

Chang said she is a long-time cannabis user and has been tracking the developing legal cannabis market in different areas for a while.

“I’ve been a cannabis user throughout my life, and have always been kind of entrepreneurially minded, or consider myself to be, and I’ve watched the weed, cannabis space growing across the US, you know visited different states and countries where there’s different levels of adult recreational use happening and I’ve always just been curious what a business role for me in this space could look like,” Chang said. “I was really excited when the New York rollout started.”

A line of prospective licensees waiting to ask questions at the presentation.

Monique Chandler-Waterman, NY State Assembly Member for Brooklyn’s District 58 and the Chair of the Cannabis control board, said she was excited about the new legislation because her district, a majority Black and brown community, had historically been impacted by over-policing. Chandler-Waterman said she was excited to usher forward a new way of marijuana policy.

“Our premise at our office is that we know our community members who have been most impacted, justice impacted, making sure they have a seat at the table in opportunities like this. I’m happy to work in partnership with the Office of Cannabis Management to make sure we get information to our community members,” Chandler-Waterman said during the presentation.

Angel’s Cafe Announces New “Breakfast Blessing” Card

Oona Milliken on November 8, 2023

By Oona Milliken | omilliken@queensledger.com

Though Angels Cafe in Williamsburg might seem like a regular bagel shop, it has a hidden secret: the cafe donates 40% of its profits to North Brooklyn Angels, a local non-profit that’s dedicated to providing meals to Brooklynites in need. The two North Brooklyn organizations have partnered since Angels Cafe opened its doors to the public in April 2022. Since then, Angels Cafe has committed to various ways of giving back to the community, both through North Brooklyn Angels and providing their own forms of charity.

Now, the cafe is creating a gift card system so that people in the community can give out a free meal to anyone who might be hungry. People can purchase an Angels Cafe gift card to take home and give to someone they know or they can put it in a box to be given out at a North Brooklyn Angels food drive where the card will go out to community members. Ana Maria Camejo, a co-founder of Angels Cafe, said that the program was a pivot from previous food drives at the cafe so that people could pick up a free meal from the cafe whenever they wanted.

The Breakfast Blessing Card box. The card can be given out to anyone that might want a free meal. Photo courtesy: Oona Milliken

“We launched that a month ago, and this is how it works. So online, or in the store, people buy this card. It’s only one price, $9.99,” Camejo said. “I give it to the customer, and I ask, ‘Do you want to keep it for yourself or give it to someone as a gift card? Or do you want to put it in this box?’”

In the month since the program has been launched, that box has accrued more than 61 gift cards that will be handed out by the Brooklyn Angels.

Angels Cafe was started by Francesco Tamburriello and Ana Maria Camejo, partners in the cafe and in life, because the pair wanted to find a way to connect with their neighborhood and give to those in need.

According to Camejo, her husband first started volunteering in the kitchen of North Brooklyn Angels and found himself wanting to get more involved from there. Camejo said the non-profit traditionally only does lunch services, so Camejo and Tamburriello started out by providing North Brooklynites with breakfast. The physical store, Angels Cafe, emerged as a result.

Patrons at the cafe can also “pay it forward” and provide a free meal for another customer who comes along. Camejo said the idea came from an old Italian tradition of paying for a stranger’s coffee. Her husband is from Italy, Camejo is Colombian and Italian, and she said that the pair thought it would be nice to incorporate it into their restaurant, alongside their partnership with the North Brooklyn Angels.

“We say, ‘Why not mix it up the both ideas?’ Instead of just a coffee, why not create a breakfast program that customers can pay for a breakfast and we partner with the North Brooklyn Angels, they are giving to people and they are helping us in the production and logistical aspects,” Camejo said. “Give us like a freewheel to go into communities and give breakfast to people.”

Workers behind the counter of the bagel shop. Photo courtesy: Oona Milliken

Neil Sheehan, the Chairperson and Co-Founder of the North Brooklyn Angels, said he was grateful for the partnership with North Brooklyn Angels and enjoyed seeing young people get involved in helping out their community.

“I think the demographic is important. If you look at some studies of younger people, people are looking for a way to do good, if they could find a way to do good and eat, I think they’re fine spending $15 or an extra $10 to feed someone,” Sheehan said.

Lawyer Michele Mirman Champions Women’s Rights

Oona Milliken on November 2, 2023

70-year old Michele Mirman is about as Brooklyn as it gets.

The lawyer, a practicing attorney for 45 years, was born and raised in East Flatbush and Mill Basin and said that her background has allowed her to connect with her clients due to their shared living experience.

“Having grown up in Brooklyn and lived here all my life, I use all the same services my clients do, subways, buses, the parks, the streets – I’m familiar with all the hospitals,” Mirman said. “Anything that my clients go through, I’m familiar with. It’s not a surprise to me, it’s not a shock.”

Mirman is the founding partner of the firm Mirman, Markovits & Landau, PC, established in 1977, whose practice deals with cases ranging from medical malpractice to worker’s compensation to personal injury cases of all kinds. She received an undergraduate degree from Sarah Lawrence College in 1973 and a law degree from Antioch University (now The University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law) in 1976. Mirman said her law school, primarily focused on civil practice, inspired her to embed service into her everyday work.

“People are hurt everyday of the week by other people’s carelessness. It doesn’t rise to the level of crime, because it may not be intentional, but that does not mean the victim is not hurt,” Mirman said.

She said she became interested in public interest law from a young age, particularly from being raised during a politically active period. She said that there were opportunities to get involved with Freedom Schools down South, anti-war demonstrations opposing the Vietnam war, as well as President Nixon’s controversial presidency.

Mirman started practicing law at a time when there weren’t many women in her field. As a young trial lawyer in the civil courts of Kings County, she said her other colleagues didn’t take her seriously. Mirman said the idea was that women were thought of as temporary fixtures in the courthouse, on their way to get married, have kids and never come back to the lawyering lifestyle.

“That really wasn’t my idea about my life. My idea was that I was going to work, I was going to try cases, I was going to try bigger cases, better cases. I also write, I wrote a lot of appeals. I really realized my dream,” Mirman said.

Mirman was only 23 when she started practicing, a result from skipping eighth grade and completing her undergraduate degree in three years. She said she was ready to begin her career and wanted to prove herself in a field that was male dominated at the time.

“I wanted to work, I wanted to get out there and actually work, so I was practicing at a fairly young age. Between being female and being young, I really got it from all sides. You know, what doesn’t kill you makes you tougher, right?”

Mirman said she has always supported women and has tried to counsel young women starting out in their career for as long as she’s been a lawyer. She said she also tried several sexual assault or rape cases at a time when it was not as common to take them on. More than anything, Mirman said all women should try to support other women in their respective fields.

“I also have to say that I’ve always promoted women. I’ve always mentored other women from taking young women in high school and teaching them how to be paralegals. Some of my women who have worked for me have gone on to college and have gone to law school and become lawyers,” Mirman said. “I think it’s something that we all should do.”

City Announces Free Tax-Filing Service for Freelancers

Oona Milliken on November 1, 2023

By Oona Milliken | omilliken@queensledger.com

The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, alongside the Freelancer’s Union, announced on Thursday, October 26 that New York City would provide free tax preparation for freelancers and self-employed filers. Vilda Vera Mayuga, the Commissioner of the Dept. of Consumer and Worker Protection, said she was proud to announce the new program in order to help self-employed filers who might not know how to navigate paying their taxes.

“We take a lot of pride in the services we are providing, our partners are serious organizations who are really committed to delivering a high quality service by having volunteers who are certified by the IRS to complete these tax returns,” Mayuga said during the press conference. “It’s all about supporting [freelancing and self-employed] New Yorkers who often face barriers to filing taxes and managing financial record keeping.”

Freelancers in New York can visit nyc.gov/taxprep or call 311 to be referred to the services and find an assistance station near them. The services will be offered in English, Spanish, Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Korean. Rafel Espinal, the Executive Director for the Freelancers Union and a former city council member for the 37th District, said freelancers are particularly vulnerable and that offering free tax services is a way to help self-employed workers navigate the system.

“It’s a big deal. Taxes are probably one of the most complicated aspects of becoming a self-employed individual. Everything from paying a self-employment tax to understanding what aspects of your daily routines you can claim on your taxes as a business expense, to understanding how much money you’re gonna owe,” Espinal said in an interview. “One, the education and the access to the program is important just because of the financial implications freelancers can face to get their taxes on time. Two, is to ensure that they are making use of every tax break and every tax incentive that’s available to them and making sure that they’re aware of them.”

Eduardo Almonte said that he was a freelance web developer, a creative director and “seven other things, like everybody in the city.” Almonte said he started getting into freelance web developing around 2014 and did not understand the challenges of working for yourself at first. Almonte, a first-generation immigrant from Puerto Rico, raised in Douglas Houses on the Upper West Side, said he faced setbacks during his career as a freelancer and that any help from the government was appreciated.

“As I started to get older, I recognized that [freelancing] wasn’t as I first imagined, number one. Number two, the barrier of entry to a sustainable business, and the bureaucracy tied to it, it was kind of gargantuan,” Almonte said. “I suddenly recognized that I didn’t have as much social mobility as I thought I did.”

Almonte said he thought the city was doing the best they could but that a lot of freelancers have traditionally been figuring out how to navigate the system themselves.

“It’s nice that we’re bouncing back with the jobs that were lost [during the pandemic]. But a lot of people who are freelancers are really figuring it out by themselves. For example, I just filed my taxes, and I don’t remember the correct number, but there’s like $3,000 tax on top of what I needed to pay.” Almonte said. “That’s serious money for people like me.”

Espinal said he wanted to spread the word about the free tax service so that self-employed workers did not unnecessarily spend money on a certified accountant or misfile their taxes. Eduardo said the Dept. of Consumers and Workers Protection were attempting to target low-income freelancers that would most benefit from the service.

“The most important thing that they should know is that it’s a free resource. You know, hiring a CPA can cost hundreds of dollars, especially especially at a time when when the city’s cost of living continues to increase, this is this is another way in which a freelancer can save money and ensure that they are that they are receiving all of the all the benefits and resources they need when it comes to filing their taxes,” Espinal said.

Brooklyn NYCHA Community Programs Receive $108k

Oona Milliken on November 1, 2023

By Oona Milliken | omilliken@queensledger.com

During a breakfast meeting at the Red Hook Initiative on Friday, Oct. 25, the Brooklyn Borough President announced his decision to allocate $108,000 of discretionary funding to support community programs at NYCHA Tenants Associations in Brooklyn. Reynoso told a gathering of Brooklyn Tenant Association Presidents, alongside other public housing residents, over bagels, coffee and pastries that each NYCHA development would be given up to $3,000 to cover programming costs at their respective facilities. In total, 69 out of 74 housing developments will receive funding. In a press statement, Reynoso said he wished he could give more money but that it was a good start to give NYCHA community programs a boost.

“This is a very small amount of money, I know it is. I’m not saying I’m going to be changing the world with it, but this has never happened in Brooklyn,” Reynoso said in a press conference. “This is just a little breathing room here, give you guys a little more breathing room, gives you a couple of extra activities that you’re able to do throughout the year, closes the gap on maybe getting uniforms for kids in our basketball program, whatever it is, we’re going to have that.”

During the press conference, Reynoso thanked NYCHA for aiding the process and ensuring that the funding would come through. Leroy Williams, the Vice President of Resident Services for NYCHA, said the money has been allocated and is on its way to various developments across the borough. Williams also gave thanks to the TA Presidents for their hard work.

“I did make sure we already put in for the funds for you to receive it as soon as I got it, I made sure it was going out, so you should be receiving it very very shortly,” Williams said in the press conference. “I’ve been doing this type of work for a long time, and I just want to say, hats off to you. I know your jobs are hard.”

Antonio Reynoso during the press conference. Photo courtesy of the Brooklyn Borough President’s YoutTube.

Reynoso said that the Adams administration has disinvested from public housing, referring to recent budget cuts announced by the Mayor’s office in Sept. 2023. Reynoso thanked the TA President’s for dealing with the conditions of their developments and said he appreciated all the work that they did despite a shortage of funds.

“We’ve known the disinvestment and the neglect that years of the governorship and the mayoral team has made, which means we have undignified conditions in many of these places, folks dealing with mold, leaks,” Reynoso said. “In some cases, we have some NYCHA developments that went a whole winter without heat, the water goes out, the water is not able to get hot, gas.”

Francis Brown, TA President for Red Hook East, thanked Reynoso for the additional funds and urged Brooklynites to vote for the Borough President in the next election.

NYCHA residents and Tenant Association Presidents gathered for the breakfast press conference. Photo courtesy : Oona Milliken

“Last year, me and my husband, we spent $2,000 buying turkeys for the residents of Red Hook East, and we took it out of our pocket,” Brown said during the press conference. “This is for my community, it’s not about me, it’s about my community. I fight hard for my community.”

Arthur Warren, the Resident Association President for Long Island Baptist in East New York, said the funds could cover barbeques, tickets for children to go on outings as well as

“The money that we got from the borough president, we’re going to use that money to actually cater Thanksgiving for Long Island Baptist Housing, especially for the residents that don’t have gas,” Warren said during the press conference. “I give out turkeys every year. I can’t even give them turkeys, so that other building can get turkeys, and other people want to come, they will actually eat Thanksgiving dinner, thanks to the borough president.”

BRIC’s Ninth Annual JazzFest Keeps Brooklyn Grooving

Oona Milliken on October 30, 2023

By Oona Milliken | omilliken@queensledger.com

Jazz lovers flocked to Downtown Brooklyn for BRIC’s ninth annual “JazzFest” this Thursday Oct. 19 through Saturday Oct. 21 at their Fulton Street BRIC House. The three-day festival kicked off with a hip-hop & jazz panel on Thursday alongside performances from artists such as Isiah Collier, Terrace Martin and Endea Owens and the Cookout.

Musician Miki Yamanaka during her performance. Photo credit: Oona Milliken

The festival had performances in both the ballroom space of BRIC House as well as their main gallery stage. On Friday, the band Strings n Skins started off the evening in the gallery and finished off Georgia Ann Muldrow in the ballroom. Saturday rounded off the festival starting with Nite Bjuti feat. Candice Hoyes, Val Jeanty, and Mimi Jones alongside performances from B. Kool Aid and the Claudine Myers Trio. On the last night, attendees from all walks of life mingled at BRIC House to watch the various acts perform their sets.

Attendee Roxanne Young, a professional dancer, could be found in the ballroom dancing to Sarah Elizabeth Charles. Young said she loved the JazzFest because it allowed her to discover new artists.

“This is my third time coming to BRIC JazzFest, I find it very interesting the artists that they bring into this program, it’s all different every single time,” Young said. “It’s like a cuisine, cuisines of jazz, you get different flavors and you taste it and you’re like ‘Oh man, I didn’t know it could taste that way.’”

Beuford Smith, a prominent photographer in his early 80s, said he has been listening to jazz since he was 15 or 16 and has been photographing jazz musicians for decades. Smith, who is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio but came to New York 50 or 60 years ago, said BRIC was important to both the community and the world, because of their cultural events. Smith’s work, notorious for chronicling Black life in NYC during the 1960s, has been shown in MoMA and the Virginia Museum of Fine Art. When asked if he liked jazz, Smith was offended by the question.

Photographer and jazz lover Beuford Smith. Photo credit: Oona Milliken

“Yes! You insulted me by asking me about that, I wasn’t kidding about that one,” Smith said. “The rhythm and truthfulness of it, the improvisation and the camaraderie of the musicians. I could go on and on.”

Much like Young, Sage Oss, a music producer, also came to JazzFest to discover new artists, but for a more professional reason. Oss, a music producer, said he was in an artistic rut and appreciated BRIC’s event because they showcased artists that he might not have heard of before.

“I’m a music producer, and I came today for some inspiration to get out of a writer’s block phase that I’m in,” Osse said. “[Jazz] pushes boundaries, it doesn’t have any rules, and it communicates emotion very effectively.”

The crowd in the gallery space at BRIC House. Photo credit: Oona Milliken

John Legum, swaying to the music of Miki Yamanaka’s “Origami Project” said he loved coming to BRIC because the music at the event was cutting edge.

“I like the improvisation aspect of it, the intuition, the in time being present and connecting in real-time,” Legum said. “[At BRIC] they’ll see the new talent, they won’t see the old. They’ll see the avant-garde, the cutting edge.”

Musician Nite Bjuti during her Saturday performance. Photo credit: Oona Milliken

Others just wanted to try something new. When asked why she was attending the event, Winnie Nelson, taking a break from dancing and standing by leaning up against a wall, said she came to the festival on a whim.

“[I came] because I get the emails and it sounded interesting,” Nelson said.

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