News

Christmas at the Danish Seamen’s Church

BQE Admin on November 27, 2024

By Jack Delaney | jdelaney@queensledger.com

The Danish Seamen’s Church threw its yearly Christmas Fair last weekend, on November 23rd and 24th, drawing a crowd of expat Danes, second-gen Scandinavians, and Nordophiles alike to the church’s brownstone in Brooklyn Heights.

Julie Sløk, pastor since 2006, said that the market is the church’s major fundraiser of the year. The tradition has been carried on for over forty years, and the church itself has existed since the late 19th century, counting photographer Jacob Riis among its congregants.

In the backyard, volunteers Anne Wallen and Carsten Holm doled out ample helpings of pancake balls called aebleskiver, paired with strawberry jam and powdered sugar, to a stream of customers. And even as the event wound down on its final day, a dozen market goers sat conversing in animated Danish along two rows of long wooden tables.

“It’s a wonderful community,” Carsten said. “For Danes in North America, this is a unique place. The confirmation classes have people coming from all over the U.S.” (and even Canada, Anne added.)

There are only about 10,000 such Danes currently living in the tri-state area, said Marianne Beresford, co-owner of the popular supplier Scandinavian Butik in Norwalk, CT, as well as a board member of the church and the event’s joint organizer with Sløk. But the meager numbers belie, or perhaps contribute to, a tight-knit camaraderie.

“Every Dane should go abroad for at least two years,” she said. After a beat she explained, half-joking: “So they know how good they have it.”

The market’s large turnout this year is also a testament to the resiliency of both the church’s leadership and its community. Like many other houses of worship, the Seamen’s Church, or Sjomanden Kirke in Danish, shut down all of its in-person operations when the pandemic broke out. Yet with typical good cheer, Sløk and her team shifted to virtual offerings, and sought for upsides.

Despite all this, the board’s annual report read, 2020 was a good year for the Seamen’s Church. We have found out how much we mean to each other and to the Danes here. It must follow the motto that nothing is so bad that it is not good for something.

City of ‘Yes, But’: Landmark Housing Deal Squeezes Through to Full Vote, with Caveats

BQE Admin on November 26, 2024

A map depicting the new plan for parking mandates: red zones will see them rolled back completely, while residents in the yellow and blue areas will experience partial reductions to the requirements. (Credit: New York City Council)

By Jack Delaney

New York City’s most sweeping housing plan in decades cleared a crucial hurdle this week, as the City Council pushed forward changes to zoning laws and other regulations so that 80,000 new units can be built across the city.

Last Thursday, the Council’s Land Use Committee voted 8 to 2 in favor of a revised version of ‘City of Yes,’ a slate of modifications to citywide rules that has been a key part of Mayor Eric Adams’ agenda and that is intended to alleviate the city’s acute housing shortage. The original plan aimed to create 109,000 units in the next 15 years, but it was amended after backlash among some electeds over hot-button issues such as the abolition of parking mandates.

There haven’t been major changes to the city’s zoning laws since 1961, and pressure for reforms has mounted in recent years as the housing crisis has worsened. A particularly dire indicator is that as of 2024, the rental vacancy rate had dropped to an abysmal 1.4%, the lowest on record since 1968 and a marked decrease from a pandemic-era level of 4.5% in 2021. “The data is clear,” said Mayor Adams in February. “The demand to live in our city is far outpacing our ability to build housing.”

Down to the wire

As of the morning of the vote, it remained unclear whether a deal would be struck. If the council had declined to vote, the plan would have passed without amendments. The vote itself was delayed by over five hours, as council members hashed out a workable compromise. In the end, it took an unexpected injection of $1 billion from Governor Kathy Hochul to ensure that the amended proposal would be approved.

Since City of Yes was first announced in June 2022, Mayor Adams and his allies have characterized it as “a little more housing in every neighborhood.” Though the Council’s amendments still pave the way for a substantial amount of housing, they represent a more Balkanized tack, in which some neighborhoods will bear a greater share of development thanks to regulations that vary based on borough and distance from transit hubs.

The two most contentious facets of the original plan — parking mandates and ADUs, or accessory dwelling units — were accordingly the focal points for the compromise deal.

Rather than discarding the minimums completely, the deal creates a three-tiered system based on geography. In almost all of Manhattan, and much of western Queens and Brooklyn — dubbed Tier 1 — Parking mandates would be eliminated entirely. For Tier 2, which covers swaths of Brooklyn and the Bronx, mandates would be lowered substantially, cutting the number of required parking units by three-quarters across the zone. And in Tier 3, largely contained to Queens, minimums for standard projects would remain in place, but would be lifted for ADUs), transit-oriented districts, and town centers as long as new construction contains fewer than 75 units.

The agreement also ratcheted up regulations on ADUs, a key component of the City of Yes plan, as well as small apartments in backyards, garages, and other spaces on existing properties. The compromise would prohibit ground-floor and basement ADUs in coastal and inland flood-prone areas, while disallowing backyard ADUs in historic districts and certain areas designated for single-family homes.

Too Much, Not Enough

Council Member Bob Holden, who has been part of a vocal opposition, called the deal “a terrible plan” and said that his constituents “reject the idea of giving real estate developers a blank check to overdevelop our city.” He and other Republican lawmakers had expressed concerns about potential overcrowding, strain on infrastructure, and the impact of large-scale developments on ‘neighborhood character.’

For their part, progressives like State Senator Zellnor Myrie criticized the proposal for not going far enough. “With today’s carveouts, an already modest step forward has slowed to an even more hesitant pace,” Myrie said. “Every housing unit cut from this proposal represents another family that will have to leave New York City.” He added that he hoped the full Council would approve the changes without further amendments during its stated meeting next month.

Even so, many housing advocates have reacted positively to the amended plan. Some argued that critics who initially focused on concessions were losing the forest for the trees, and praised what they saw as a paradigm shift. “Essentially, this is fantastic,” said one representative, who asked to remain anonymous. “City of Yes was never going to be the fix to our housing crisis. But what this does, which has never been done before in New York City, is to recognize that a zoning change is essential to providing affordable housing.”

The plan will now return to the City Planning Commission for review before proceeding to a final vote by the full City Council in December.

Juice, Judo, and a Runway: Brownsville Orgs Show Out for Food Equity

BQE Admin on November 21, 2024

Clarissa Sims demos an easy-to-make yet nutritious juice for attendees. Photo: Jack Delaney

By Jack Delaney | jdelaney@queensledger.com

“We the undersigned,” the petition begins, “are tired of living in a neighborhood that is systemically deprived of healthy choices.”

On a sunny Sunday afternoon, the Brownsville Heritage House played host to an array of community leaders and entrepreneurs who showed up in support of a bid for $200,000 in state grants to create a new hub for fresh, nutritious food in the neighborhood.

The petition, launched by nonprofit Seeds in the Middle, would combine an affordable farmers market with a community cafe, all run by Brownsville residents. Customers using SNAP benefits at the market would get double value up to $20 per day, and the cafe would serve as a one-stop shop for nourishing meals, juices, and snacks, as well as items made by local creatives.

Seeds in the Middle founder Nancie Katz says the state money would help address a problem that’s currently acute. Brownsville has been called a ‘food desert,’ though recently the term has given way among experts to ‘food swamp’ — an area that is flooded by access to unhealthy food, without a convenient or cheap means of buying alternatives. This lacuna has knock-on effects: 41% of adults in Brownsville are obese, per Foodscape data, which is nearly 20% higher than the city average and much worse than the 32% the neighborhood recorded in 2011. Residents also face rates of diabetes and infant mortality, the risk of which is tied to chronic health conditions, that are among the highest in the city.

At first, a sparse group of about ten attendees sat scattered on folding chairs throughout the room, reticent. But dozens more began to stream in around 3 p.m., and before long the space was buzzing.

The event kicked off with a tour of the recently renovated Brownsville Heritage House by Miriam Robertson, its Executive Director. The 40-year old community center and museum, located on the second floor of the Stone Avenue Library, was started by legendary historian and trailblazer Mother Gaston out of her own living room.

Next was a crash course in self defense taught by Gabriel Eugene, owner of the Lucian Dojo on Maple Street. His good-natured volunteer, Divine Pollard, threw mock blows and patiently weathered a variety of headlocks as Eugene walked the crowd through the optimal ways to defend against punches, baseball bats, and knives.

Then came a demo by Clarissa Sims of Liquid Vibes, a juice company based out of Staten Island. A year earlier, Sims underwent surgery for breast cancer, a frightening experience which spurred her to place more emphasis on her health. On stage at the event, carrots, oranges, and apples went into a juicer along with a knob of ginger — attendees were enthusiastic about the juice, but did have thoughts on the strength of the last ingredient: “The juice,” said one older man, “is very spicy.”

Sims was unfazed. “Ginger is amazing, amazing, amazing for your body,” she told onlookers, while stressing that it’s more important to add in healthy foods, at least initially, than it is to go scorched earth through dieting. “By embracing healthier habits, I’m not just transforming myself,” she wrote on Instagram. “I’m on a mission to impact the lives of my family and community.”

The lack of healthy food in Brownsville isn’t a fluke. Silvia Radulescu, a researcher at the Georgetown University Law Center, explains that “there are racial disparities in food access in Brooklyn; white residents have better access to healthy [meals] than Black and Hispanic residents.” She argues that this gap isn’t only the product of current income inequality, but “result[s] from twentieth-century segregation policies and practices—such as redlining, blockbusting, and predatory lending.” In other words, Brownsville residents have been forced into unhealthy habits over the course of decades, and by design.

“I don’t even know where to say to get it, to get fresh stuff,” said Cynthia Bishop, who was born in Wilmington, NC, and moved to Brownsville when she was five years old.

At the Brownsville Heritage House, organizer Cherokee La Dickens asks questions as Chef Shibumi Jones explains her tips and tricks for a delectable green curry. Photo: Jack Delaney.

Cooking demos followed Sims’ gingery juice. The first was a green curry how-to by veteran chef Shibumi Jones, who runs a locally sourced farm-to-table supper club in the Hudson Valley.

“It’s very important to start with your aromatics,” Jones said. Another tip for maximum flavor? Try deglazing with water, which helps incorporate “all the good stuff that’s stuck on the bottom of the pan” into the dish. And she urged the audience to try using homemade pumpkin puree as a base: “Anything you can put tomatoes in, you can do with pumpkins as well.”

Her final tip was a tactic to cut down on salt, by way of a science lesson. Acidic seasonings do the trick, because “adding acid is the same thing as adding salt, as far as where it hits on your palate.”

After a second demo on how to make the perfect pared-down Mediterranean salad by mother-daughter duo Estelle and Mona Raad, young essayist April Webster read her piece on food justice, to rousing applause.

Also present at the event was Dante Arnwine, District Manager for Brooklyn Community Board 9, who is planning to run for the City Council next year in District 41. He echoed organizer Cherokee La Dickens’ sentiments regarding the need to bridge generational divides to build a movement around adequate nutrition, which affects everyone.

“Unfortunately, people are so busy that they don’t have the time to get fresh produce,” he noted. “You’re worried about just [getting] food on the table. You’re not particularly worried about whether it’s healthy or not. And so being able to bring this to where people are is essential, right? We really need more programming like this.”

Arnwine also pointed to the intersections between issues like housing and nutrition, and saw the mayor’s citywide initiative to increase housing stock as an opportunity to advance other causes, too. “As the city continues to build under ‘City of Yes,’ or whatever that looks like, the conversations have to be had between elected officials and developers: ‘Hey, when you’re moving into communities that are clearly food deserts, they need fresh produce.’”

Models drawn from the audience, including Divine Pollard, Cynthia Bishop, and Chef Shibumi, Jones show off designer John Cheek’s latest collection. Photo: Jack Delaney

For chef Jones and wife Alix, who live in Brownsville, the push for access to healthy food is important not only in the context of a neighborhood that is starved of resources generally — including sluggish response times from city agencies for routine requests like removing abandoned cars, which Alix had experienced firsthand — but also within the broader picture of the country’s food systems.

“You see these companies putting all kinds of crap in the food that they, number one, don’t have to tell us about. And number two, it’s just not good for our health, and it’s just not good for the environment.” So Jones was supportive of any opportunity to “encourage any sort of awareness and just to take a step back and re-examine what we’re eating.”

The evening came to a dramatic close with a fashion show curated by John Cheeks, a local dance instructor, designer, and corrections officer who lost his mother, who had also been his business partner, to Covid during the pandemic.

And as residents filed out of the Brownsville Heritage House with full stomachs, still blinking the runway’s dazzle from their eyes, the limelight returned to expanding local access to high-quality produce.

“We would love to have farm to table experiences here in Brownsville,” said La Dickens. “We want healthy food options too, so we’re right here, right now.”

BK Start-Ups Pitch Next Big Thing in Transportation Tech

BQE Admin on November 14, 2024

Damir Gilyaz, founder of EZGlyd, attempts to woo an accomplished panel of judges at Make It In Brooklyn’s Future of Transportation Pitch Contest. Photo: Jack Delaney

By Jack Delaney | jdelaney@queensledger.com

On Tuesday, a Shark Tank-esque competition pitted fledgling Brooklyn tech companies — hawking drones, battery stations, and scooters — against each other for a shot at a check, and a stamp of approval for molding New York’s future transit systems.

The venue was auspicious. In 1807, seven years after inventing a usable submarine for Napoleon, the engineer Robert Fulton launched the world’s first commercially successful steamboat up the Hudson, putting New York City on the map as a center for innovative transportation. Over two hundred years later, and only one block away from a street bearing Fulton’s name, a handful of start-up founders were hoping to channel some of his magic.

The Future of Transportation Pitch Contest, which took place in the stylish rafters of Hana House in Downtown Brooklyn, had narrowed the field to just four finalists. The event was organized by Make It In Brooklyn, a Dowwwntown Brooklyn Partnership initiative to support the borough’s entrepreneurs that has given out over $120,000 in seed funding to date.

After an introduction by Downtown Brooklyn Partnership President Regina Myer, the evening was ushered along by emcee Jared Ais, an urban planner with a TikTok following (his handle is @TransitTalks). Filling out the roster were judges Phil Hwang of Dollaride, Judy Chang of the charging infrastructure company Itselectric, Dulcie Canton of CLIP!, NYCDOT veteran Dr. Jannie Gao, and Patrick Knoth, General Manager of Citi Bike.

The first presenter to brave the judges’ questioning was Damir Gilyaz, founder of EZGlyd. He said his product arose from a simple question: “What happens to your cargo scooter when it’s not in use?” The answer came to him while he was waiting for his daughter after her weekend math classes in Manhattan, watching traffic and musing over parking. He decided to design his own scooter, one that could “meet unmet needs for family and small business owners in high density areas,” he said, by using less space. The key features are that the vehicle can be folded vertically, has two removable batteries, and sports strong weather protection.

One judge asked how much the bike would cost to create. About $1,200 for manufacturing, Gilyaz replied, with a retail price starting at $2,400 to factor in other costs. He also fielded a question about his vision for the company’s future, to which he said that he was eager to expand to other cities in the Northeast if the pilot went smoothly in New York.

Avol founder Nate Poon and DBP President Regina Myer pose with the prize-winner’s check. Photo: Jack Delaney

The second challenger to approach the dais was David Hammer, President and co-founder of Popwheels.

“Right now in New York City,” Hammer said, “your pad thai is being schlepped by somebody on an e-bike.” Actually, he went on, that bike is probably one of two models, and they likely comprise one of the largest e-bike fleets in the world — over 100,000 vehicles, potentially. “This shows,” he said, “that electric mobility is not just for bougie Brooklyn dads, and I say this as [one], nor is it just for rich jerks. No, it’s for everybody. It’s for working people to be able to get their jobs done.”

But in Hammer’s telling, e-bike riders have two big problems. They’re plagued by battery fires, and the high cost of owning and operating a bike is also an issue. His company’s fix is to create a citywide battery swapping network, so that e-bikers and specifically delivery workers can recharge their batteries without having to return home.

When his presentation concluded, judges asked whether he was prepared for battery models to change. What if a new type of battery was incompatible with his kiosks? “There aren’t any new chemistries,” he answered, “that are likely to become online in the next five years that are going to radically reshape and increase by an order of magnitude the kind of the needs that meet micro mobility today.”

Third on deck was Nathan Poon, CEO and co-founder of Avol. Tall and lanky, he took a deep breath, then launched into his pitch for drones that can deliver blood, medication, and biopsies between medical centers.

“Medical deliveries are extremely slow,” he said, explaining the need for his invention. “There’s about 44 million of these deliveries every year, but almost all of them are done by car, which means they take a really long time. They’re limited by roads, traffic and weather conditions, and they’re limited by coordinating drivers. This results in about $30 billion worth of losses every year, just because blood, kidneys, and medications aren’t where they need to be when the patients actually need them.”

Drones had already been proposed to solve for this, he noted, but most models are heavily regulated. The trick is to design a drone that is light enough to avoid triggering regulation, yet heavy-weight and sturdy enough to carry the necessary materials over long distances. So that’s what Poon did, based on his PhD research. The result is a novel aircraft that “fits in the same regulatory class as a traditional quadcopter, but has five times the range and twice the payload volume.”

How do you deal with the fact that different municipalities may have different regulations for drones? Poon said that Avol gets around this issue by landing drones a mile or so outside of the target cities, and then paying couriers to ferry the medical supplies the rest of the way.

The fourth techie to take the stage was Victor Oribamise, CEO and co-founder of Kquika.

His company wants to minimize the amount of time that planes are out of commission, which Oribamise says costs airlines $3000 per plane, per hour. To accomplish this, he and his partners have designed an artificial intelligence-powered model that helps predict when a plane will need maintenance, before it actually does. “How does it work?” he asked, rhetorically. “We do real time data processing, and we have six behavior models to be able to predict all of these problems.”

As might be expected for an AI-driven product, a judge asked whether Oribamise’s software would replace human jobs. He replied that there aren’t currently enough maintenance engineers to go around, so his model would simply supplement the missing labor force.

The presentations were finished, and the crowd wandered off to the bar with their free drink tickets. Finally, after fifteen minutes of deliberation by the judges, emcee Ais announced that the winner was… Avol! Poon was swept to the stage, where he posed with a physically enormous (and financially modest) check for $5,000 to support his company’s growth.

It’s unclear if any of these ventures will take off. But if years from now you get a life-saving blood transfusion delivered to your hospital by drone, remember: it may have started here, just off Fulton St.

42 Hotel to host Jazz Night featuring tastes from Celebrity Chef Eric LeVine

John on November 7, 2024

Jazz, wine, and unique tastes from Food Network’s Chef Eric LeVine at 42 Hotel in Williamsburg, Brooklyn

by Molly Sword

On Thursday, November 21st, 75 lucky people will experience jazz, wine, and a unique tasting menu of passed hors d’oeuvres from Food Network’s celebrity guest Chef Eric LeVine at 42 Hotel in Williamsburg.

This is a free event, however, it will only be open to the first 75 people who secure their tickets at this link.

LeVine is a restaurateur, caterer, cookbook author, multi-award-winning chef, and food network “Chopped Champion.” As a six-time cancer survivor, LeVine knows hard work and perseverance, and he shares his story to support and inspire others.

The 21st of November will be a glimpse into the creative mind of Chef Eric, as he has carefully curated a unique menu exclusively for the Tasting Event.

LeVine’s successful restaurant, 317 Main Street, has received prestigious awards, such as “Best Long Island Burger”, “Best Restaurant”, and “Best Chef” from various media publications.

“I was born in Brooklyn, so this event at 42 Hotel is a full circle moment for me,” said LeVine, who worked his way from the back of the kitchen to a celebrity chef.

Below is the exclusive hors d’oeuvres menu of the night, created by Chef Eric LeVine:

Smoked salmon with daikon radish +,mustard aioli
Seared tuna loin on wasabi spoon
Soba noodle salad with Asian chicken cup
Grilled Chicken Sausage Skewers with grilled scallions
Shredded pickled slaw with olives + roasted garlic aioli cup
White bean, Tomato + Basil Salad cup
Fried dumplings with scallion Asian sauce
Ricotta, Prosciutto Crostini with balsamic tomatoes

The night will not only feature LeVine’s incredible food, but also include a jazz band, unique house wine, and draft beer.

42 Hotel is the result of the diligent work of Nik Patel, who with his partner, Milan Patel, have worked tirelessly to create a luxury environment in the heart of the upcoming South Williamsburg area.

As Nik and Milan grew up without the privilege of wealth or status, they understand the value of hard work and inspire others through their story. The number 42 means a lot to Nik and Milan, as it reflects how their family came from one of the 42 villages in the state of Gujarat in the western part of India.

Tap this link to reserve your free ticket to enjoy LeVine’s culinary genius, exceptional jazz music, and a great choice of wines at 42 Hotel, located at 426 South 5^th St. in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

NYC Has a Unique Deal with the EPA to Avoid Filtering Its Water. Losing It Could Cost Taxpayers Billions.

Clare Baierl on November 7, 2024

Water spills down the side of the New Croton Dam in Cortlandt, New York, which was built in 1907. Credit: Fifi + Hop.

By JACK DELANEY | jdelaney@queensledger.com

In 1997, a complex tangle of interests that included the EPA, Albany, the City Council, a coalition of upstate towns, and a group of environmental nonprofits came together to see if a special deal could be struck: could New York City avoid filtering its water?

The benefits were clear. Per the 1974 Safe Water Drinking Act, any city that relies on surface waters — basically, reservoirs fed by river streams and precipitation — is required to filter that supply before it reaches residents. But filtration is an expensive process, and that’s especially true when a water system is on the scale of New York City’s, with 1 billion gallons of water drawn daily from three watersheds, covering over 1,000 square miles, that are carried down to the five boroughs via 7,000 miles worth of delivery infrastructure.

So the obscure 1997 agreement, known as a Filtration Avoidance Determination (or FAD), was billed as a way for taxpayers to save billions of dollars. If the reservoirs could pass an array of stringent tests, the EPA would waive the requirement that they be filtered. And for 27 years, satisfied by the New York Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) efforts, it has done just that.

That job is getting much more difficult, as NYC confronts a mounting water crisis. The city is currently undergoing its first drought watch in 20 years, and officials plan to shut down one of its main aqueducts this winter, because a section of tunnel under the Hudson River is ‘massively leaking,’ as reported by NBC, and needs repairs. Separately, flooding continues to plague Southeast Queens, where historical disinvestment has left many households with no answers for overflowing groundwater. Facing a headache-inducing panoply of things to fix, experts are relying on the FAD to keep costs manageable.

But this arrangement is fragile. Only six watersheds in the U.S. have been granted FADs by the EPA, and in June of this year one of those cities, Portland, Oregon, lost it. It’s now embarking on a $2.1 billion project to filter out cryptosporidium, a parasite spread by animal feces, and to protect against the threat of wildfire ash mixing with chlorine.

To many, these concerns might seem remote. Aside from the red skies of last year’s downward-drifting Canadian smoke, which briefly gave New York City the dubious honor of having the worst air quality in the world, wildfires are less of an ever-present reality here, for now.

But at a City Council hearing last Wednesday, the head of the DEP, Rohit Aggarwala, acknowledged that New York’s reservoirs also contain significant levels of cryptosporidium. Luckily, current infrastructure already incorporates a UV treatment that ensures that the germs can’t reproduce, rendering them harmless to humans.

Yet the case of Portland “reinforces the fact that we have to be vigilant,” Aggarwala said, noting that the filtration system they were required to build “is less than 110th the size of the plant we would need,” which officials estimate could cost between $20 and $40 billion.

This is especially true, given NYC’s odd position among the handful of cities that are still holding onto a FAD. Unlike its peers, its watersheds are populated. Consider this: in 2023, the DEP paid $165 billion in local taxes on its upstate properties. It’s the second largest taxpayer in Westchester, and in many counties north of the city its payments prop up entire school systems. When engineers in Seattle want to renovate its water infrastructure, they don’t have to think about giving a parking lot to a nearby town as a concession. Yet that’s exactly what the DEP must do, as it balances the politics of local economic development with its mandate to keep water safe for roughly 10 million people.

The next negotiations over the FAD are slated for 2027, and the hearing served in part as a rehearsal of the many variables that could go wrong before then.

The department operates its own police force to patrol the watershed for illegal contamination, replete with an academy, a detective bureau, an emergency service unit, a canine unit, and an aviation unit. But it has struggled to fill its openings. One sticking point is that DEP officers are technically classified as civil service rather than law enforcement, for pension purposes. This means that they can’t retire until age 63, whereas peers in other bureaus can do so after 25 years of employment.

Workers pose on the tracks of the Rondout pressure tunnel in 1910, showing off its newly-set concrete lining. Credit: New York Public Library.

“We are constantly losing our officers to other forces, in large part because of this massive disparity in the pension,” Aggarwala explained. “We currently have nearly a 20% vacancy rate, despite doing everything we can to recruit and maintain these [employees.]”

Another existential threat? Ducks, geese, and gulls. As DEP Assistant Commissioner David Warne outlined, an area of special concern is Kensico Reservoir, where scat from wildlife threatens to recreate Portland’s disease-fueled bind.

The Westchester Airport poses another risk for pollution, as does runoff from the hundreds of local farms around the reservoirs. Councilmember James Gennaro, Chair of the Committee on Environmental Protection, Resiliency, and Waterfronts, also worried that state government might hypothetically pressure DEC to use these reservoirs for flood control, sacrificing their role as a water supply.

But ultimately, the obstacles for the FAD may be much grander, and more intractable, than staff shortages or errant animals. As climate change hastens the spread of disease and worsens flooding, whether the city can safeguard its money-saving deal with the EPA — at a moment when there’s an acute need for funds to overhaul the city’s aging water infrastructure — remains to be seen.

Subway Surfing’s Fatal Consequences: City Leaders Speak Out Against Rising Trend

Clare Baierl on November 7, 2024

Courtesy NY.GOV

A tragic incident on October 27 claimed the life of 13-year-old Krystel Romero, marking the sixth death from subway surfing in New York City this year.

By MOHAMED FARGHALY

mfarghaly@queensledger.com

A tragic incident on October 27 has brought renewed attention to the perilous trend of subway surfing in New York City. Krystel Romero, a 13-year-old girl, was pronounced dead at the scene after being struck by a train at the 111 Street subway station, marking her as the sixth person to die from this reckless activity this year alone.

The New York Police Department responded to a 911 call regarding the incident, which has added to the growing concern surrounding subway surfing, an act where individuals ride on top of moving trains. This dangerous trend has seen a disturbing increase within the last few years. The current year’s toll underscores an alarming pattern that has caught the attention of city officials and advocates alike.

During a press conference, Janno Lieber, chair and CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), issued a stark warning.

“Listen, this is not like a video game. You don’t get another chance; you can’t just reboot,” Lieber said. “This is one chance – if you do something stupid, you’re going to lose your life. Please, parents, teachers, other caregivers, make sure kids understand this is not a game. They cannot take chances with their lives.”

In response to the rising incidents of subway surfing, the MTA has been proactive in implementing measures aimed at curbing this behavior. A campaign titled “Subway Surfing Kills – Ride Inside, Stay Alive” was launched to educate young people about the dangers associated with this reckless act. Shanifah Rieara, senior advisor for communications and policy at the MTA, addressed the ongoing efforts during a media roundtable earlier this year.

Rieara noted that the MTA started a campaign a year ago, using digital messages and voice recordings to warn students about the dangers of subway surfing. While the campaign has been effective, they plan to update it with a new version to further strengthen the safety message. Rieara emphasized the importance of ongoing outreach and collaboration with social media companies.

The city’s commitment to safety extends beyond educational campaigns. Mayor Eric Adams, alongside NYPD Interim Commissioner Thomas G. Donlon and NYC Public Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos, has urged New Yorkers to call 911 if they witness subway surfing. The NYPD is employing data from these calls to deploy joint drone and field response teams to areas with the highest reports of subway surfing incidents.

The deployment of drones in the fight against subway surfing has emerged as a critical tool for enhancing public safety in New York City. Utilizing data from 911 calls, the NYPD has implemented drone surveillance to monitor and respond to incidents of subway surfing in real time. This innovative approach allows officers to identify individuals riding on top of moving trains and intervene before potential tragedies occur. To date, this program has proven effective, helping to save the lives of 114 individuals, with ages ranging from nine to 33 years old and an average age of 14. By combining technology with community engagement, the city aims to curb this dangerous trend and protect its youth from the severe risks associated with subway surfing.

“Subway surfing is a deadly trap, one that is endangering more and more young people who see others doing it on social media,” said Mayor Adams. “But those five minutes of online fame could lead to years of regret and pain, or a lifetime of trauma and heartbreak for a family that loses a child. Think about what riding on top of trains really means: the possibility of death and your family, in grief, wondering what more they could have done to protect you. Subway surfing kills — ride inside, stay alive.”

The city’s ongoing campaign, which launched in September 2023, includes a multifaceted approach involving the NYC Department of Education, the NYPD, and the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development. The initiative has been designed for and by New York City teenagers, putting their voices front and center in a peer-to-peer effort to deter dangerous behavior. The campaign’s messaging has reached all 1,800 New York City Public Schools, with posters and palm cards distributed to schools near the J, M, Z, and 7 train lines, which experience the most complaints regarding subway surfing.

Courtesy NY.GOV

In response, officials are ramping up safety campaigns and using drone surveillance to combat this dangerous trend, urging parents and young people to recognize the life-threatening risks involved.

As part of this comprehensive effort, various materials, including public service announcements recorded by students, digital signage in subway stations, and social media posts, are being utilized to spread awareness. The campaign’s effectiveness is bolstered by partnerships with major tech companies like Meta and Google, which have made space on their platforms to amplify the messaging. The collaboration aims to counteract the viral nature of subway surfing content that has proliferated on social media.

Amid these initiatives, concerns about the role of social media in promoting dangerous behaviors have prompted further action from the city. In February, Mayor Adams announced a lawsuit against several social media companies for their negative impacts on young people, citing subway surfing as a key example. This lawsuit, filed in California Superior Court, seeks to hold companies operating TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and YouTube accountable for their roles in creating the youth mental health crisis in New York City. The lawsuit alleges that these companies intentionally designed their platforms to manipulate and addict children and teens to their applications.

“Views on social media are not worth losing your precious life. Six young people have tragically died from subway surfing in 2024, including a 13-year-old girl on the 7 train earlier this week. The city must invest in more after school programs that give young people an engaging safe space and an outlet to grow their interests outside of the classroom,” said New York City Councilmember Julie Won. “In 2023, five young people died from subway surfing, and these deaths continue to increase every year. Last year I wrote a letter to the MTA New York City Transit urging them to take immediate action to prevent subway surfing, including locking train doors. As a mother of two young kids, I urge the state to revisit this request to protect our children and prevent future fatalities from subway surfing.”

A subway train passes through the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn on Wednesday, October 18 , 2017. Edwin J. Torres/Mayoral Photography Office.

As the city grapples with this escalating crisis, the loss of young lives continues to serve as a somber reminder of the dangers inherent in subway surfing. With city officials and community leaders rallying to combat this trend, the hope remains that through education, outreach, and active intervention, future tragedies can be prevented, ensuring the safety of New York City’s youth.

“Subway surfing, fueled by social media, has led to innumerable tragedies that have stolen far too many of our young people just entering the prime of their lives,” said Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. “I commend any effort to protect young people by stopping them from engaging in this extraordinarily dangerous trend, and I look forward to working with our partners in education and law enforcement to combat this crisis.”

New Grants Seek Local Answers to Brooklyn’s Maternal Health Crisis

BQE Admin on November 7, 2024

Brooklyn Communities Collaborative convenes leaders in Brooklyn maternal health for a roundtable discussion (Credit: Brooklyn Communities Collaborative).

By Jack Delaney

A new influx of grants is looking to empower a range of local Brooklyn nonprofits to address the nationwide maternal health crisis from the ground up.

On October 30, health equity nonprofit Brooklyn Communities Collaborative (BCC) announced that it was doling out just under $1 million in grants to 10 community-based organizations throughout the borough, with a focus on equipping mothers with better care, supplies, and information.

This money comes as alarm bells sound at all levels of government over health data that shows little progress is being made in reducing serious complications and fatalities suffered by women during childbirth, a problem few other affluent nations face.

In Norway, the maternal death rate is a non-issue: statistically, zero women die per 100,000 live births. In Switzerland, that number is one. Sweden, the Netherlands, Japan? All hover around three.

Yet the U.S. clocks in at 22, the most significant maternal death rate of any high-income country. This rate worsens if you live in New York City, rising to 43. In fact, the greatest determinant of health outcomes for mothers isn’t geography, but race: Black women in the city are nine times more likely than white women to die during pregnancy.

This gap can be explained in part by a deep-seated history of sexism and racism in the healthcare industry, tracing back to slavery. James Marion Sims, the so-called “Father of Gynecology,” developed his techniques in the 1840s through horrific experiments which two enslaved Black women, Lucy and Anarcha, as well as many unnamed others, were forced to undergo without anesthesia. Sims’ statue was on prominent display in Central Park until 2018, when public outcry finally led to its removal — though not without backlash.

This history extends to the lack of access to midwives and doulas in the U.S., which persists despite the fact that both figure prominently in most countries with lower maternal death rates. “Gynecologists pushed women out of the field of reproductive health by lobbying state legislatures to ban midwifery and prohibit abortions,” writes Professor Michele Godwin of UC Irvine for the ACLU. “Doing so not only undercut women’s reproductive health, but also drove qualified Black women out of medical services.”

Today, the enormous discrepancy in maternal health outcomes between Black and white mothers is perpetuated not only by ongoing structural racism in the health system, said Shari Suchoff, Executive Director of BCC, but by chronic disinvestment in many areas.

“It isn’t just a healthcare crisis, it’s not just a nutrition crisis, it’s not an access crisis, it’s not an education crisis,” she noted. “It’s all of those things together. And the only way that we can solve complex problems is by working together with people outside of our immediate sector.”

To that end, the grants engage hyperlocal organizations that collectively represent a constellation of approaches.

One of these is Seeds in the Middle, which is getting $50,000 to offer mothers prenatal movement and yoga classes, breathing classes, emotional support services, and a fresh food pantry.

“Your baby can crawl around. You can have a cup of tea or coffee, something that helps mental health,” said Nancie Katz, the organization’s Executive Director, of creating a space where mothers can access healthy food while decompressing. “It’s preventative. What we know to be true in Black and Brown communities is that the rates of diabetes, heart disease, obesity, premature death, infant mortality, and maternal death are two or three times that of any community that’s wealthier, particularly white communities.”

Suchoff also highlighted the importance of prevention. “So much of this crisis really starts many years before women are pregnant,” said Suchoff, referencing the toll that chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension can take during childbirth, if mothers don’t have access to preventative measures or medication. “I think that’s why we took a broad approach with this grant program.”

Other grantees, like the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, which is receiving approximately $120,000, are tackling the issue through outreach and community-building initiatives.

The Institute was founded by its namesake, the influential tennis pro Arthur Ashe, and “utilizes a model of community health empowerment and engagement to promote health equity and social justice through strategic partnerships, innovative community-based health promotion and research programs, and the preparation of a more diverse and inclusive workforce of health professionals.”

In this case, that model means meeting residents where they are. “We’re going to be collaborating with barbershops and salons to educate folks on the maternal health crisis,” explained Faven Araya, the Institute’s Director of Community Engagement and Health Equity Research. “Oftentimes, pregnant women are dealing with a lot of changes in their body, and some are abnormal. What are the things that should be concerning? What are the things that you should pick up the phone and call your doctor for? What are some of the things that you should go to the emergency room for?”

Aside from information about recognizing warning signs, the barbers and stylists will also be trained to communicate the rights that residents have around getting connected to appropriate care, and the different venues and spaces that are available to them.

BCC is awarding the largest grant is the Brooklyn Perinatal Network, which will receive $250,000 to “invest in studies of upstream and downstream factors impacting the availability and access to community and social services that address health related social needs.” Other big recipients include the Alex House Project, which will “continue providing career opportunities, comprehensive doula services and mental health, case management and psychotherapy/education sessions,” and the Caribbean Women’s Health Association, which has a mandate to “strengthen community outreach, workshops, and counseling services surrounding sexual health, birth control, and chronic disease management.”

This is the third round of grants awarded through BCC’s Strong Communities Fund, which has given nearly $5 million to local public health groups since it launched in 2020 during the pandemic. Funding for this latest slew of grants drew support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which Suchoff pointed to as a significant development.

“Robert Wood Johnson, a very large national foundation, working in this space is really exciting,” Suchoff said, “because it’s giving up their power to the community to put the money where they think it’s most important. So it represents a real shift in the general funder-fundee power dynamics.”

These local intercessions are especially important, given that a recent report by SUNY Downstate found that the ‘epicenter’ of New York’s maternal health crisis was Central Brooklyn. One hospital in particular, Woodhull Medical Center in Bed-Stuy, has been rocked by claims of malpractice.

But the problem is more systemic than a single hospital. A Department of Health report earlier this year found that “Brooklyn’s communities of color and high-poverty neighborhoods have fewer health care professionals and less hospital capacity per capita than the borough’s wealthier and predominantly white ZIP codes.” And it concluded that wealthier residents went to Manhattan for care, while those on Medicaid were stuck with underfunded local facilities.

City and state officials haven’t been sitting idly by. In 2018, DeBlasio launched a $13 million initiative to close maternal health gaps through implicit bias training, better data collection, support for hospitals, and partnership with community organizations. In 2021, the New York City Board of Health declared racism a public health crisis amid a pandemic that exacerbated longtime inequities, laying them bare.

Governor Kathy Hochul has been proactive on the issue, too. In January, she announced a six-part plan to improve barriers to adequate maternal healthcare, then in May passed a bill making New York the first state to mandate paid prenatal care leave. She penned in $1.6 million for maternal mental health initiatives in the 2025 budget. And in August, she earmarked $27.5 million for maternal and pediatric care at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, following $8 million in funds for the Morris Heights Health Center in the Bronx to build a state-of-the-art maternal health center.

Like the BCC, the government is also starting to look beyond the hospital system for answers to the crisis. As of March 1, New York State Medicaid covers doula services — and the Doula Expansion Grant Program will allow the Department to award $250,000 to community-based organizations for the recruitment, training, certification, support, and mentoring of community-based doulas.

Even so, the latest statistics suggest that the maternal health gap may be growing nationwide, even as other countries make strides in closing it.

Ultimately, Suchoff noted that there’s no “silver bullet” for the crisis. But in her view, the local approach may be an increasingly important component of the solution.

“This is a model that’s worked really well,” she said. “We’ve been able to fund really small organizations who have trouble accessing funding from bigger foundations which can be burdensome to work with, and also created a really nice community of community-based organizations who are working together and trying to break down some of the silos that exist inherently in this work.”

Brooklyn Borough Resident Antonio Reynoso agreed. “For too long, Black and Brown mothers in Brooklyn have been disproportionately impacted by the maternal health crisis,” he said, lauding the grant program. “We cannot secure better outcomes for mothers and infants without first addressing this disparity and identifying the parts of our borough that are most vulnerable. By investing in CBOs that work directly with the most impacted communities, Brooklyn Communities Collaborative is empowering smaller organizations to tackle this crisis and improve maternal health in their own neighborhoods.”

Industry City Fashion Show Celebrates Brooklyn’s Multicultural Design Talent

BQE Admin on October 31, 2024

A runway look from Adeleke Sijuwade’s “L Collection” featured in a “A Very Brooklyn Fashion Show.” Credit: Nicholas Gordon.

By NICHOLAS GORDON

Brooklyn’s multiculturalism and visionary styles were on vivid display at the second annual “A Very Brooklyn Fashion Show” at Industry City in Sunset Park on October 15. It was a kaleidoscopic night of bright fabrics and bold patterns, cool silk and tough denim, graffiti, beads, jewelry, ruffles, and fringe worn by an eclectic medley of fashion models strutting their stuff to a musical playlist as diverse as the borough itself. Hosted by the Brooklyn Made Store during Brooklyn Fashion Week, the show featured the work of over ten local designers with heritage from countries across the globe, including Haiti, India, Nigeria, and Ukraine.

“I love seeing all of these different kinds of models and designers in a fashion show,” said Catherine Schuller, founder of Runway the Real Way, and a curator of the show along with Rick Davy, creator of Fashion Week Brooklyn. “We’re thrilled to be part of an event that honors the spirit and diversity of our community,” Schuller added, in an interview after the show.

As a pioneering plus-size model in the 80’s, Schuller said she was “bit by the diversity bug” and has thrived on creating inclusive catwalks ever since. As a designer herself, Schuller marries comic books with fashion, creating upcycled jewelry and accessories that she describes as “power pieces of heroic adornment,” several of which were featured in the show.

Catherine Schuller, founder of Runway the Real Way and a curator of “A Very Brooklyn Fashion Show,” addresses the audience on October 15. Credit: Nicholas Gordon.

Designer Adeleke Sijuwade delivered a bracing streetwear collection set to the throwback track “Jump” by 90’s hip-hop duo Kriss Kross, mixing elements of hip-hop, basketball, westerns, cartoons, and Sijuwade’s Nigerian roots.

“A lot of the things I create for the runway are things I love, and I draw inspiration from things I’m fascinated with,” Sijuwade said, in a phone interview. “It’s natural for me to be attracted to bright colors and patterns with a lot of details, because these are things African people wear everyday.”

Born in Nigeria, Sijuwade moved to the U.S. at age 6. He visits Nigeria a couple of times each year, he said.

While he enjoys being bold and playful with his creative choices, such as by adding Victorian ruffles, wide collar flares, suspenders, sports jerseys, or overalls to his signature baggy looks, Sijuwade said he is always focused on making clothes that are comfortable and accessible for a broad spectrum of humanity.

“It’s about bringing together different design elements in casual structures, clothing that’s wearable for everyone, no matter what shape you’re in,” Sijuwade said.

Several of Sijuwade’s garments featured powerful images of hiphop icons such as Biggie Smalls hand-painted by African artists that he’d collaborated with on trips back to his motherland of Nigeria.

Sijuwade said his goal is to take his painter-designer collaboration to the next level by exhibiting new pieces at a local museum.

Paying homage to heritage through collaboration is a potent approach for designer Renuka Malhi too, whose work was featured in the show under her brand name of “Re’Malhi.”

“Collaborating with other artists really elevates you,” Malhi said, in an interview after the show. “We uplift each other. It’s a different spirit when we work together with other designers because there’s so much to learn.”

Though for her brand she often makes couture gowns for the red carpet, Malhi said she wanted to change it up for this show with a line called “Little Black Secret,” evoking a mysterious autumn vibe.

In addition to collaborating with shoe designers and Schuller who had some pieces from her line “Power Pieces x S Designs” in the collection, Malhi also teamed up with an artist from Kashmir, India, on a handmade black and white jacket that took several months to complete.

Designer Roselyne Shiyenze takes to the runway with one of her models at the conclusion of the show. Credit: Nicholas Gordon.

“The jacket is coming from the land where artists embroider by hand, sew every single flower, using silks and a lot of fusion with different fabrics,” Malhi said, noting that with her Indian background she’s a huge fan of great textiles and brocades. Malhi was born and raised in Punjab, India, and moved to the U.S. at age 20.

Deeply inspired by the work of her fellow designers in the show, Malhi said she has great appreciation for the creative diversity teeming in Brooklyn and on display in the collections.

“I thoroughly believe that every designer is unique in their designs, everyone brings a story that’s attached to their collection, and I enjoy that,” Malhi said. “I’m looking forward to working with more diversity in the future.”

New Brooklyn Festival Highlights Creole Artists

BQE Admin on October 30, 2024

“What’s beautiful about discovering Creole culture is that you have to embrace multiplicity,” says Kréol Fest organizer Natie.

The idea for Kréol Fest, an upcoming arts bash at Cafe Erzulie in Bushwick on November 3 that aims to celebrate the intersections of Creole cultures through music, dance, visual arts, fashion, and food, came to its organizer, who goes by the mononym Natie, in stages.

The first was in 2020, during the Black Lives Matter protests in Brooklyn. “I felt really lost,” Natie, a classically trained violinist who toured with Beyoncé before launching her solo career in 2018, remembered. “I wasn’t marching, I wasn’t posting about it on social media, and I thought, is this me not being a part of the fight?” But an art curator whom she was friends with told her that while it was important to be fighting injustice, there was also a role for those who could “build something to come back to.” Expanding from that kernel, Natie decided to create a weekly jam session called Sunday Art Hang, based out of the Clinton Hill bar Izzy Rose.

“It was right after the lockdown,” she said, “and it was about creating a community so that artists wouldn’t go crazy in their heads by themselves. They would have an afternoon to share what they were doing, where they were at, what they were struggling with. It was for us to hear each other and support each other.” Sunday Art Hang is now in its third year, and recently expanded to a new space at another Brooklyn bar, Umbra.

Yet back during the pandemic, Natie, who is from Réunion, a French department off the coast of Madagascar, found herself for the first time in a bubble with only American friends. “It was a super fun group,” she said. “But when it came to conversations about race, it was really tense.”

“I felt misunderstood, but I realized I also had a lot to learn and understand about the dynamics here: what does ‘Black’ mean, what does ‘white’ mean in this context? That was the awakening of my sense that there is so much to talk about — and without sounding like I’m preaching, I think there’s something to be shared from where I come from, another way to look at how we live together.”

Then, in 2023, Natie connected with a percussion group from Réunion called Rouler Killer that was visiting New York, and convinced them to come to Sunday Art Hang for a night of improvised music. “It was so special,” she said. “That was a preview of what Kréol Fest could be like — that moment really fueled me.”

The third and final component settled into place when Natie’s partner relayed a conversation he’d had with a Haitian artist, whom he was telling about her Creole roots. To the artist, the fact that she came from Réunion seemed disqualifying. “But,” the artist said, “they’re not Creole!”

A recent jazz night at Cafe Erzulie, which will be the venue for Kréol Fest.

It’s in this crucible of questions — about race and belonging, the far-reaching resonances of the term ‘Creole,’ and the role that art has to play — that the festival has taken shape. Running from 6 p.m. until midnight, it will assemble ten artists (including saxophonist Kafele Bandele, visual artist Watson Mere, and fashion curator SA-RA) from a wide range of disciplines, representing five different countries: New Orleans, Réunion, Guyana, Trinidad, and Haiti. The event will kick off with a panel discussion, followed by live performances and an array of vendors.

“What’s beautiful about discovering Creole culture is that you have to embrace multiplicity,” Natie stressed. “Because by nature it is a blend. It’s even more important now, in such a divided climate. Everything is polarizing, a binary choice, and when you engage with Creole culture you have to expand that vision and embrace the fact that it’s this and this and this, and it coexists.”

Ideally, Natie hopes the event will extend beyond this initial installment to become something more. “I want Kréol Fest to exist in ten years,” she said. “I want it to travel. The idea is to uplift each other, and through this shared history see where we can grow stronger as a community.”

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