News

Notorious B.I.G Statue Unveiled in Downtown Brooklyn

glendaleregstg on August 9, 2023

By Oona Milliken | omilliken@queensledger.com

On Cadman Plaza, nestled amongst a cluster of institutional buildings like the Brooklyn Borough Hall, the County Clerk’s office and various other courthouses criminal and otherwise, stands an institution in its own right: Brooklyn’s own Biggie Smalls. A nine-foot tall interactive sculpture of the late rapper was unveiled on Wed. Aug 2 and was celebrated with speeches from Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and other community leaders, a dance performance by Victory Music & Dance Company as well as a marching band concert.

Sherwin Banfield, the artist who created the sculpture, said he was inspired to make the piece because of his connection to Biggie’s creativity and artistry.

“I was exposed to Biggie my first year of Parsons School of Design, my next door neighbor, he invited me over and said ‘You’ve got to hear this, this album just dropped,’ this was in 94, it was ‘Ready to Die,’” Banfield said. “When I listened and I heard it, I was completely blown away. It was completely unlike anything I’d ever heard before. It was cinema, cinema as music.”

The sculpture, dubbed “Sky’s the Limit in the county of Kings,” is cast with Biggie’s face in bronze, complemented with a variety of different materials such as resin, stone and stainless steels and also includes an audio component powered by solar panels that run alongside Big’s back. Hip-hop is not just being honored in Cadman Plaza: there is a world-wide movement to celebrate 50 years of hip-hop music, with multiple events happening in New York City this summer. Banfield said he was heavily inspired by hip-hop music, and that he wanted to mix different artistic mediums to mimic the genre’s amalgamating of different sounds and musical styles. In an interview, he also said he wanted the statute to inspire young people.

“This sculpture is not for everyone, but for kids that find themselves in unusual circumstances that are hurtful, or they might feel like the world is against them,” Banfield said. “You know, they can look towards this sculpture as an achievement for someone that took their talents, that took their God-given talents, and ran with it. Biggie said, ‘If you find something that’s in you, just develop it.’”

Biggie Smalls, who also went by the Notorious B.I.G, Biggie or just Big, was born 1972 as Christopher George Latore Wallace in Clinton Hill. He is often named by critics and other musicians as one of the best rappers of all time. Biggie was multi-faceted, and touched upon deeper subjects like struggle, depression, compassion, love, and suicide in a way that other hip-artists at the time would not speak about publicly. Oftentimes, he was also vulgar, rapping bluntly about sex, violence and drugs, and was controversial for the darkness of his lyrics. Overall, his rumbling voice, melodic lyricism and gritty storytelling came to represent East Coast hip-hop alongside peers such as Nas and Jay-Z.

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said that hip-hop was incredibly important to young people growing in the city, and it was heartwarming to be celebrating such an influential artist in his birthplace.

“Hip-hop was, and is, the soundtrack of our lives,” Williams said. “To see the impact hip-hop has is amazing. To be celebrating 50 years [of hip-hop], to be able to unveil a Biggie Smalls, Notorious B.I.G bust and statue in front of Borough Hall…who would have thought that it going to be what it was when we were bumping our heads on the train, on the bus, listening to “Ready to Die,” listening to Biggie. It’s just amazing.”

An attendee of the event who goes by K.C., short for King Crust, went to the same school as Biggie, and said that watching someone from Brooklyn become such a big name in the music industry inspired others from the neighborhood to follow their own passions. According to King Crust, Biggie represents the essence of Brooklyn.

“Hip-hip is life, hip-hop is everything. The rhythm of how you carry your everyday is hip-hop,” King Crust said. “Biggie Smalls is the illest. That should be known all across the world. He was the illest to ever do it.”

The statue will be available for viewing on Cadman Plaza until November.

Carroll Gardens Residents Rally Against Eviction

Oona Milliken on August 3, 2023

By Oona Milliken | omilliken@queensledger.com

Organized chants of “Save Our Homes!” and “Irving Langer: Shame, Shame Shame!” rang throughout the street on Tuesday July 25 in Carroll Gardens as speakers at a rally in the neighborhood urged the people attending to fight against the end of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program at 63 Tiffany Place. The end of the program is expected to trigger a wave of evictions of people from the building as the current landlord Ivan Langer, recently dubbed one of the worst landlords in the city, will be permitted to impose rent hikes on tenants.

Photo courtesy of NYC Comptroller Brad Lander’s office

John Levya, who has lived in the apartment complex for three decades, said the tenants have been dreading this moment for years. When Levya moved into the building after it first opened in the early 90s, he said the rent for his apartment was $604, now it’s $1,142 per month, a rare and almost fantastical price for the leafy Carroll Gardens neighborhood, where median rent for a one bedroom market rate apartment runs around $4,000. Levya said that many of the renters cannot afford to stay in the neighborhood without rental protections, and will have limited options for housing if prices are increased.

“People who moved in their 30s, 40s and 50s are now 60, 70 and 80. We even have a 90-year-old-couple that lives here. Where are they going to go? It’s just horrible,” Levya said. “At least three people have broken down and started crying here with me. Everybody has a dark cloud over their head, and that’s all we talk about in the elevator.”

The apartment building is currently a part of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, which provides a “dollar for dollar reduction in federal income tax” for owners and developers of housing designated for low-income people. Rents under the program cannot exceed 60% of area median income, which means that current landlord, Langer, has to cap rents at $1,590 for a one bedroom apartment, less than half of the median rent price for a one bedroom at Carroll Gardens’ marketplace value.

However, the program is temporary. After 30 years, renters will no longer be protected by the Low-Income Tax Credit Program. For 63 Tiffany Place, that day is coming up in December of this year.

Ben Fuller Googins, deputy director of the Carroll Gardens Association, a non-profit organization striving to keep Carroll Gardens accessible to people of all income levels, said one of the inherent problems with the program is that it only provides safeguards to tenants for a fixed period of time.

“One of the major programs, not only in New York City, but in the country for creating affordable housing, is this Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, and it’s inherently problematic because it has an expiration date,” Fuller-Googins said. “There is a more fundamental problem, where we need to create a system that’s actually for low-income people, and is permanent.”

Longtime Tiffany Place Tenant Joy Foster said in a speech that New York City had become a hostile city to renters, especially low-income ones, due to rising prices across the city.

“When I moved here 25 years ago, what I paid for rent was actually quite close to the norm … and now those rents have increased over ten fold. It’s not commensurate with people’s salaries,” Foster said. “It’s a sick and twisted game that is being played for the very few, the few at the top.”

According to the United Way of New York City, half of New York households can not afford to live in the city, and “do not have incomes that cover basic needs, such as housing, food, health care, and transportation.” After the pandemic, rent payments in New York City grew double the national rate at 33 percent between January 2021 and January 2022, as reported by the NYTimes.

This is true too in Carroll Gardens as prices have skyrocketed around 63 Tiffany Place since the tax program was implemented. According to the NYU Furman Center, rates in the area have risen 38.3 percent since 2006, swiftly outpacing the slower 7.1 percent change in income levels over the same time period.

Tiffany Place was originally surrounded by old factory buildings and other low-rent housing. Now, the neighborhood is filled with bakeries and shops, designer dogs on expensive leashes and renovated brownstones that sell for millions of dollars. According to Levya, the people in the building were pioneers in the area when the neighborhood was much less affluent.

“You know, we built a great community. When we first moved here, it wasn’t as nice as it is now. You couldn’t really walk around at night. It was really desolate, dark out here,” Levy said.

Some residents will be able to remain in the building after December. Linda Bell, resident of Tiffany Place for 29 years, said she has had to file a form every two years and travel an hour away to get her paperwork stamped by an office in Jamaica, Queens in order to renew her lease. Because of her efforts, Bell now has a short-term rent-stabilized lease that is valid until 2025, but many residents do not. Levy said he has not been given a lease by the landlord in eight years. In a phone call, Bell said she thinks the lack of lease renewals might have been intentional on the landlord’s part.

“I assumed it’s because they are trying to get rid of all of [the tenants],” Bell said. “[The tenants] think they have rights because they’ve been paying the same rent since 2012, but that is not so.”

Jenny Akchin, an attorney specializing in housing for local activist group TakeRoot Justice, also said she thinks that the landlords decision to let the tenants’ leases lapse was deliberate as it leaves the residents with very little legal protections from eviction or rental increases.

“We’re a little nervous about what’s going to happen in December when the tax housing credit program expires with all these tenants who don’t have leases. We think this is definitely part of the plan,” Akchin said.

Akchin said her organization is trying to provide tenants with rent stabilization protections to keep their rents lower after the tax credit program expires, though some residents will not be eligible. So far, Akchin said they have managed to get about a dozen tenants rent stabilized, but are aiming for 25 to 30. According to Akchin, the landlord has been appealing their rent stabilization requests because of a legal gray matter based on uncertainty around whether the building is classified as a condominium or apartment complex. As a general rule, condominiums are ineligible for rent stabilization.

“The really infuriating thing is that when we’ve applied to have tenants rent stabilized in the past, the landlord has actually appealed the decision saying that they can’t be rent stabilized because the building is a condominium,” Akchin said. “But [previous owners] never successfully converted it into a condo.”

E&M Associates, led by Langer, is notorious across several different boroughs for a high number of violations and evictions. Despite the work from tenants, activists and elected officials, it is unclear what will happen in December when the tax credit program expires unless Langer and E&M decide to either resyndicate the agreement or enter another affordable housing preservation program that will keep rents low. Almost 70 families and single people living at 63 Tiffany Place are at risk of losing their apartments.

Photo courtesy of NYC Comptroller Brad Lander’s office

Neither Langer nor any representatives for E&M attended the rally, and E&M Associates have not replied to requests to come to the table in order to negotiate a way to stabilize the rents.

In a phone call, Richard Walsh, a lawyer representing Langer and E&M, said there is no obligation for his client to negotiate any rent-stabilization measures or resyndicate the tax credit program. Walsh also said that the claims from the tenants are overblown.

“It’s voluntary, and we don’t have to extend it,” Walsh said. “We don’t know who’s making these claims up, they’re wrong. There’s no mass evictions on the horizon.”

Walsh said that his client cannot raise rents to unconscionable levels, or the company is at risk of being sued by tenants, at which point a judge would decide if the price increase is unconscionable or not. According to Walsh, a tenant can only be evicted with “good cause,” which includes not paying rent, illegally subletting an apartment, or being a nuisance. If rents at 63 Tiffany Place are converted to market prices in December, tenants who cannot afford the new payments can either choose to fight eviction proceedings in court or move elsewhere.

City Comptroller Brad Lander said that Irving Langer could keep the apartments affordable while still turning a profit. According to Lander, Brooklynites should come together to fight predatory landlords and maintain the atmosphere of their communities and neighborhoods.

“That’s really what’s at stake here, the families in this building, but also the vision of a Brooklyn where diverse people can live together, where working class and middle class families can afford to live in beautiful neighborhoods like this one,” Lander said.

Park Slope Flower Shop Receives Historic Business Award

Oona Milliken on August 3, 2023

By Oona Milliken | omilliken@queensledger.com

Fonda Sara, owner of the flower shop Zuzu’s Petals on 374 5th Ave. in Park Slope, feels flowers in her body.

“I have a physical reaction to flowers and growing-things, when I see a beautiful flower or an interesting flower in an incredible color, I literally have a visceral reaction,” Sara said. “I physically feel a jolt. I feel it in my body, it’s a thrill, an excitement.”

Exterior of Zuzu’s Petals. Photo courtesy of Fonda Sara

After 50 years of delivering flowers to the people in Park Slope, Zuzu’s Petals was recently added to the New York State National Historic Business Registry. Sara said she applied because it felt like a tremendous accomplishment to have survived being a small-business owner for five decades. However, according to Sara, the designation is mostly just a social media buzzword to use for marketing purposes: she said the real satisfaction comes from fostering her team of workers and seeing the impact her business has had on the community.

“I feel that the designation as a historic business is important as a handle for social media. For me, the richness of my life experience is enough to make me feel that I’ve lived a good life. But in terms of external tools to promote my business, it’s just another handle,” Sara said.

Sara said she also loves mentoring young creative people who might need a restorative break from a rigid career path, such as her manager Rebecca Brinkley, who she said will hopefully take the reins of Zuzu’s eventually. Brinkley, a former actress, said she started working at the flower shop during the pandemic when all her acting gigs dried up. According to Brinkley, she took a position as a salesperson with her friend and ended up staying long term even after her friend moved on to other things because she enjoyed work so much.

“I stayed here. And, I just liked it so much better,” Brinkley said. “As a creative person, it’s really nice to do something that’s physical. Also, the people that flowers attract are so much more pleasant to be around than anything else. Coming from the theater industry, it’s a relatively abusive place. What’s so nice about this is you go to the market, and all the florists are trying to help each other out.”

“[Park Slope] was a nurturing environment for people to do things that weren’t the norm,” Sara said.

Photo courtesy of Fonda Sara

After a fire broke out in their original location on 9th Ave. in 2004, Zuzu’s went through a round of fundraising to move to their current location on 5th Ave.. Sara said the hardship she experienced from fire, as well as the time spent in the neighborhood, pushed her to feel that Zuzu’s deserved to be added to the historic registry.

“The definition of someone who qualifies to be on the registry is that you have to be in business in a neighborhood and that you’ve had to contribute to the neighborhood,” Sara said. “ I’ve lived in Park Slope for most of my adult life, and I feel it’s my heart and soul. It’s where my people are.”

Council Grills Officials on Air Quality Response

glendaleregstg on July 19, 2023

By Carmo Moniz

news@queensledger.com

The New York City Council committees on oversight and investigations, health & environmental protection and resiliency and waterfronts questioned city officials on their response to last month’s air quality emergency at a hearing Wednesday, with many politicians criticizing the timeliness and effectiveness of city agencies’ emergency communication.

In early June, New York City’s air quality index — which measures air quality on a scale from zero to 500 — rose to 460 due to smoke from Canadian wildfires, posing health risks to the public. Some councilmembers criticized officials for being slow to warn the public of the situation and being inconsistent in its emergency messaging.

“When smoke descended on New York last month, New Yorkers were shocked to see the sky blotted out and find the air was dangerous to breathe,” Councilmember Gale Brewer, who chairs the committee on oversight and investigations, said in the hearing. “They looked to state and local leaders for guidance during this unprecedented incident, however to many people it appeared that our local executives and agency chiefs had little advice to offer on how to stay safe or aid to provide.”

The council’s questions were mostly addressed to Office of Emergency Management commissioner Zachary Iscol, who defended the city’s response to the emergency. Iscol said that city agencies used Notify NYC, a citywide alert system, along with other avenues of communication to get information about the emergency to the public, distributed hundreds of thousands of masks and coordinated response efforts across agencies.

“We will continue to pivot and shift our response to ensure New Yorkers are best served and protected,” Iscol said. “That said, I am incredibly proud of our robust response.”

Iscol said that the city did the best it could with the air quality data it had available. He said that AQI forecasting is especially difficult for smoke, and that the information is only available less than 24 hours ahead of time from the Department of Environmental Conservation.

Iscol also said that forecasts did not project “hazardous” air quality levels, where the AQI is 301 or higher and the general public is “more likely to be affected” by pollution, until June 7, the first day Mayor Eric Adams held a press conference. He also said that public messaging around the crisis began June 1. While an air quality alert exists for June 1, it warns against poor air quality caused by Ozone rather than smoke pollution.

Lynn Schulman, a councilmember from Queens who chairs the committee on health, noted that the air quality emergency was a new challenge for the city and that city agencies had limited reliable air quality data to work with.

“We’re facing a new norm now, so the city did the best that it could do but we can always do better,” Shulman said in an interview.

Samantha Penta, an associate professor of emergency preparedness at the University at Albany, said that while the speed of public messaging in emergency situations is important, the accuracy and detail of the information should also be a priority.

“It wasn’t necessarily like New York City starting from scratch, they have a long history of emergency management and risk communication, but just because you have experience with it doesn’t mean it isn’t still an undertaking,” Penta said in an interview. “Inherently we’re talking about systems under stress and that always poses an additional challenge for the folks whose job it is to help people survive those moments of stress.”

Councilwoman Jennifer Gutiérrez, who represents parts of Williamsburg, Bushwick and Ridgewood, asked what would be done for communities living near manufacturing areas with already lower air quality in an emergency, such as in North Brooklyn.

Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Deputy Commissioner for Environmental Health Corinne Schiff said that the agency will be sharing the public recommendations made during the emergency on its website, and that it worked with community and faith centered organizations to share information.

“We know that these burdens are not distributed equally throughout the city,” Schiff said. “We were, all of our agencies including the health department, messaging to communities that are disproportionately burdened by air quality and conditions like asthma, we were doing outreach to those communities and we’re going to continue to do that.”

A committee report created prior to the hearing included recommendations for how to handle future air quality emergencies from press outlets and public experts, including providing more advance notice of the emergencies and using subway system announcements and police car loudspeakers to alert the public. They also recommended issuing a Code Red warning, which is usually used in instances of dangerous heat, so that outreach workers can help get homeless individuals into shelters.

Lincoln Restler, who represents parts of North Brooklyn, said that the California government sets up public clean air centers in air quality emergencies, and criticized Iscol for not implementing a similar system or calling a Code Red.

Iscol said that Department of Social Services outreach teams were deployed to encourage homeless people to enter shelters and hand out masks during the emergency, similarly to in a Code Red. He said that a Code Red includes heat emergency specific protocols, such as sending out cooling buses and distributing sunscreen, that would not make sense in an air quality emergency.

“The most important thing during an event like this is taking care of our city’s most vulnerable, and we did that,” Iscol said.

“I disagree,” Restler said in response.

A day after the hearing, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine and Councilman Keith Powers announced a package of new legislation addressing indoor air quality in schools and municipal buildings at a press conference.

The first of the four bills would require the Department of Education to update the standards of regulation for indoor air quality in public schools, and another similar bill was proposed for city owned buildings. The other two bills would create five-year pilot programs for monitoring air quality in other buildings, one for commercial buildings and another for residential buildings.

Schulman, who is a sponsor of the new legislation, said that the bills will help provide the public with air quality education and improve air quality in schools and public buildings.

“We have these wildfires that are proliferating around the globe, and they’re creating dynamics where it creates unhealthy air quality for people that breathe it in,” Schulman said. “It’s important now to be on top of that and have legislation that will help to enhance air quality moving forward.”

The legislation has been in progress for almost a year, but became more urgent due to the recent air quality crisis. Councilmembers Pierina Sanchez, Rita Joseph and Mercedes Narcisse also helped sponsor the package.

“When we came out and saw our sky was orange, it was a panicked time for us, wondering what was going on,” Narcisse, who represents parts of South Brooklyn and chairs the committee on hospitals, said at the press conference. “The air we breathe is so important, so we’re going to continue to hold those accountable to make sure we have the best air quality inside of school buildings, inside of hospitals, inside of offices and wherever we are.”

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Feast Returns to Williamsburg For Its 136th Year

glendaleregstg on July 12, 2023

The Giglio stands over the crowd in front of a cloudy sky, facing another structure with a wooden boat on it.

The Giglio stands before the crowd.

By Carmo Moniz | news@queensledger.com

Hundreds gathered in Williamsburg on Sunday to celebrate one of the oldest existing Italian American traditions, the Our Lady of Mount Carmel and San Paolino di Nola Feast.

The 12-day-long feast features plenty of food stands, carnival-style games and community traditions, including the lifting of the Giglio — an 80-foot-tall and 7,000 pound structure decorated with statues of saints and flowers.

Anthony Croce, who guided the Giglio through the festival, said that the structure honors an event dating back to 406 A.D.

“It was wonderful, it was one of the greatest days of my life,” Croce said. “It’s a show so I’m glad they’re happy and they’re cheering.”

The festival is a celebration of the return of San Paolino di Nola thousands of years ago after he was taken on a pirate ship. The saint had offered himself in exchange for the freedom of a young man captured on the ship, and was later released when word of his selflessness reached a Turkish Sultan. According to the legend, the residents of Nola welcomed him with lilies when he returned, marking the beginning of an annual tradition.

Just before the event began, Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello, a pastor at nearby Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, led the crowd in prayer, after which a band played the national anthem.

“Summer doesn’t begin in Williamsburg until the opening of the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel,” Gigantiello said in a statement. “The highlight of the Parish of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel is our feast! It is the pulse and showcase of our parish family.”

This Sunday’s celebration involved around 100 men lifting the structure and moving it through the streets of the festival in what is called the “Dancing of the Giglio.” Another, shorter structure featuring a boat was also carried through the crowd, and the two met at the intersection of North Eighth Street and Havemeyer Street.

Nick and Andrew Conte, two brothers who helped lift the Giglio this year, said that they have been taking part in the tradition for many years.

“Our dad grew up around here so we’ve been doing it since we were big enough, and he’s been doing it since he was a kid,” Nick said. “It’s just tradition, family tradition, family, friends, every year it’s a good event to look forward to in the summer.”

Louis Passaro, who was also on this year’s lifting team and attended the festival with his daughter, said that he has been lifting the Giglio for 42 years. He said he had been unable to take part in the lift in the last two years due to a hip injury, but was finally able to return this year.

“My daughter loves it, and we’re going to keep the tradition going,” Passaro said.

A child sits on the shoulders of a man watching the Gilgio's procession. The child wears a headband with a unicorn horn and holds an inflatable mermaid doll in each hand.

A child looks on as the Giglio makes its way through the crowd.

Musicians and singers were aboard each structure, putting on a show for the crowd as they made their way to their destination. The afternoon saw scattered rain hit the festival, but the performers and crowd continued the celebration through the bad weather.

Other attendees were newer to the festival, like longtime Brooklyn resident Gil Moreno. Moreno had never attended the festival before this year, but said that he had been able to see the Giglio before all the way from the highway, due to its height.

“It’s been at least 30 years and finally I made it,” Moreno said. “The atmosphere is good there’s lots of food — too much food I think — it’s definitely a good time.”

Debbie Ferrara, a Williamsburg resident whose grandfather brought the Giglio tradition from Nola, said that she attends the festival every year and that people come from around the world to take part in the celebration.

“It gets better and better as you age, it’s like a fine wine,” Ferrara said. “It’s who we are, it’s our lifeblood. This is our Christmas in July.”

What is the LLC Transparency Act?

glendaleregstg on July 12, 2023

Assemblymember Gallagher stands in a neutral-toned room, wearing a blue blazer over a white shirt.

Emily Gallagher is one of the sponsors of the LLC Transparency Act (Credit: NY State Assembly)

By Carmo Moniz | news@queensledger.com

The New York legislature recently passed an act that would require those operating or profiting from limited liability companies, a type of business that shields the owner from personal consequences over debts and other liabilities, to disclose their names, addresses and other information, some of which would be included in a public database.

The new legislation, called the LLC Transparency Act, is meant to target money laundering and other financial crimes by publicly identifying beneficial owners of LLCs. The act was co-authored by Greenpoint Assemblywoman Emily Gallagher and State Senator Brad Hoylman.

“LLCs are used in a variety of ways, and because of their anonymity, they’ve really opened up the door to people not taking responsibility for certain things that their business does, as well as using LLCs as a mask to do illegal activities,” Gallagher said in a recent phone interview. “That’s pretty wide ranging, everything from wage theft, to tenant problems to drug trafficking.”

The act, which Governor Kathy Hochul is expected to sign into law, is similar to the federal Corporate Transparency Act that will go into effect this coming January. Unlike the CTA, however, which requires all corporations to disclose beneficial owner information to a confidential database, the LLC transparency Act would create a database searchable by the public, with the names and business addresses of beneficial owners.

The public database is likely to be beneficial for tenants, many of whom do not currently know their landlords’ identities if the owner of their building is filed under an LLC. Anonymous LLCs can also be used by landlords to evade code inspections, according to Gallagher’s legislative director.

“It’s insane that we bestow that legal privilege upon people anonymously, but that’s been the norm thus far,” the director said. “We have to adjust expectations of what should be expected of corporations doing business in New York, and I think it was a public policy mistake to let corporations do business in New York with only a P.O. box.”

The legislation would make it easier for tenants to take legal action against their landlords in the case of negligence, according to Yana Kucheva, an associate professor of sociology at the City College of New York and an expert in housing policy. Kucheva said that the act would also allow tenants with negligent landlords to find other buildings owned by their landlord and organize with tenants across properties.

“If something bad is happening to you, chances are that your landlord, if they own another building somewhere else, they might be neglecting that building as well,” Kucheva said. “This type of law would shift the balance in who might have the upper hand in a court if you can actually find your landlord more easily.”

Roberto Rodriguez, a tenant in Williamsburg, said he thinks the act will make it easier for tenants to resolve issues with their landlords and that it is a necessity that tenants know who their landlord is.

“It gives tenants that piece of leverage because now you know exactly who to go after in the courts,” Rodriguez said. “Right now there’s nothing we can do in the court system to protect ourselves, and knowing who owns the building is great.”

The act would also help create better housing legislation, according to Gallagher, as it would give lawmakers a better idea of how many buildings people own on average.

LLCs are relatively new in the United States, with the first one having been established in the late 1970s. Gallagher said that these kinds of corporations have been badly abused, and are currently easier to get than a library card.

“This is not something that is baked into the origins of American business,” Gallagher said. “Transparency is a really good thing that we should be seeking and protecting, and it’s terrible that folks who are cheating, either consumers or other businesses, have had such an advantage for so long.”

Under the act, beneficial owners of LLCs would also be required to disclose their date of birth and a unique identification number, such as from a passport or driver’s license, to the government. A beneficial owner is a person who controls or profits from an LLC, with some exceptions listed in the act. The 23 exceptions to the definition, which are the same as those in the CTA definition of a beneficial owner, include minors, banks, credit unions and governmental authorities.

Many countries outside the United States have long had corporate transparency laws like the CTA and LLC Transparency Act in place. In 2014, the European Union established a transparency rule similar to the CTA, and in 2016 the United Kingdom created a public register for beneficial owners of corporations.

Samantha Sheeber, a real estate attorney at Starr Associates LLP, said that she doesn’t see the act discouraging property ownership under LLCs, but that she thinks it is not clear enough what would count as having a significant privacy interest, which would allow a beneficial owner’s information to remain confidential. She also said she thinks the goals of the act could be accomplished without a public database.

“What they were trying to accomplish here, really could have been accomplished by having this same database, the same requirements, but not on a public scale,” Sheeber said. “They could have done all the enforcement, they could have had all the registration requirements done in a capacity that law enforcement or regulatory enforcement could have been enforced, but it wouldn’t be on a public open domain.”

Gallagher’s legislative director said that the legislation is less specific because the details of what counts as a significant privacy interest are being put under the responsibility of the department of state, and that there will be a period for comment before the agency implements regulations.

The director also said that there are many benefits to the database of beneficial owners being public, including that it would allow the public to flag illegal behavior by beneficial owners and help lawmakers make more informed public policy decisions.

“Among the motivations of the bill is the fact that the benefits that beneficial ownership transparency can bring to the public, to government and to civil society and to the business industry, are dependent upon that information being public,” the director said. “This bill creating a public database is the main motivation, the federal government’s already going to be collecting this information, but it does a disservice to the public to have it be private.”

James Vacca, a former New York City Councilmember and a distinguished lecturer at Queens College, said that he had pushed for LLC transparency during his time in office, but that he was unable to pass anything because LLCs are state entities and were therefore outside of his jurisdiction.

“They’ve been used to circumvent transparency and accountability, so anything that sheds light, anything that gives citizens information and gives sunlight to where there was none before, I think is a step in the right direction,” Vacca said. “The transparency that a law like this provides is invaluable.”

Greenpoint Assembly District Lines Approved

glendaleregstg on April 27, 2023

New Maps Restore Original Boundaries

By Matthew Fischetti

mfischetti@queensledger.com

Greenpoint is no longer on the chopping block!

On Monday, Gov. Kathy Hochul approved the “newly” redrawn lines for the state assembly, which in large part represent the same boundaries.

As the Greenpoint Star has previously reported, the Independent Redistricting Committee had proposed lines back in February that would have split Assembly District 50 in half along McGuinness Boulevard. Nearly a dozen Greenpoint residents showed up to a redistricting town hall, vehemently opposed to the IRC’s proposed lines, saying that the bifurcation of the district would dilute their representation for critical community issues.

Now the current boundaries practically mirror the original district, besides two blocks (Division Place and Beadel Street along Porter Avenue.)

“Greenpointers spoke up and New York’s Independent Redistricting Commission listened! With final approval by the legislature on April 24, it’s now official: Greenpoint will remain whole and in one Assembly District, as it should be and has been for decades,” Assemblywoman Gallagher said in a statement to the Greenpoint Star. “This simply would not have happened without the hundreds of residents and organizations who submitted testimony or attended a hearing. Once the Redistricting Commissioners were able to hear about our history, our shared problems and vision for the future, they couldn’t not be persuaded. I am so excited and honored to continue representing every single Greenpointer.”

Restler Rallies for Stalled Bike Legislation

glendaleregstg on April 27, 2023

Citizen enforcement of blocked bike lanes and notice requirements discussed in hearing

By Matthew Fischetti

mfischetti@queensledger.com

Greenpoint and Downtown Brooklyn Councilmember Lincoln Restler rallied for two pieces of transit related legislation that have stalled in the council, prior to a hearing on the potential laws on Monday.

The first piece of legislation, Intro 417 would reform the notice requirements for bike lanes in order to eliminate 90 day delays, the byproduct of a 2011 law that safe street advocates say purposely delays the implementation of bike lanes.

Intro 501-A would create a $175 fine for illegal parking in bike lanes and sidewalks and would allow citizens to report the impediments via an app, similar to the vehicle idling program – where citizens can report vehicles that idle for more than three minutes. The original legislation, introduced last year, would have created a bounty system where citizen reporters could receive a 25 percent commission of the fines but has been nixed from the current version of the legislation.

Both bills have a majority of the council as co-sponsors.

“The sausage making process of getting legislation through isn’t always pretty. And we definitely made some compromises, to move it forward and to secure the hearing that we have today. But I think that the compromises that we’ve made make it a stronger bill,” Restler said at the press conference.

During the hearing, Restler highlighted the NYPD’s lack of self enforcement regarding parking violations as a reason for the creation of the civilian reporting program.

“If the NYPD officers are not following the law – and they are not – how can we expect there to be enforcement against the public?,” Restler said.

NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell refused to accept the framing that the NYPD is doing nothing regarding the issue, highlighting how the issue is a personal “pet peeve” and it a “top topic” in his borough commander meetings and has instituted over 5,000 inspections. Chell also noted in his testimony that he has issued 39 command disciplines for violations, a punitive action that can result in up to ten days of lost vacation time.

Restler questioned the utility of the inspections due to the ubiquitousness of the issue across the city.

“The idea that there is any enforcement around this issue is a joke,” Restler quipped, highlighting how he personally sees the issue everyday in his district.

According to a recent study, 70 of the 77 precincts the author visited had illegally parked vehicles on the sidewalk by officers.

At the City Hall testimony, New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez signaled support for Intro 417 but held off on whether the agency supports Intro 501-A.

NYPD brass expressed concern regarding Intro 501-A, citing assaults and harassment against Transit Agents. Restler questioned the framing, highlighting the difference of highly visible uniformed officers issuing ordinances versus citizens taking photos from a distance.

Transportation Chief Kim Royster noted that she was not aware of any complaints filed for harassment or assaults of citizens recording idling trucks, when pressed by the Councilman.

“I think considering the, frankly, failure of the police department to enforce on these issues,” said Restler. “It’s clear that it’s time for citizens to step up and make our streets safer.”

Progressive Caucus Debuts Budget Priorities

glendaleregstg on April 27, 2023

By Matthew Fischetti

mfischetti@queensledger.com

The Progressive Caucus is putting up a fight.

Last Wednesday, the 20 members of the left leaning city council caucus debuted their budget priorities: which include building and preserving affordable housing, expanding mental health and substance use support as well as blocking education cuts.

Back In January, Mayor Eric Adams unveiled his preliminary $103 billion budget for Fiscal year 2024. Recently, Eric Adasm has suggested $1 billion in annual budgets cut for four years citing the migrant crisis, slowing economic growth and proposals in the state budget, per the New York Post. The cuts would reportedly impact government services such as library hours and education.

The Progressive Caucus has dubbed Mayor Adams’s proposals as “fear-mongering” and a “manufactured crisis”, saying that the city is expected to end the current fiscal year with a surplus of $4.9 billion and substantial reserves.

“In a month-long discussion and a process that entailed a survey, we asked our members of the caucus: what will our fight this cycle look like? And so in collective collaboration, we determined these three urgent priorities that also pushed back against the mayor’s austerity budget,” Progressive Caucus Co-Chair and Park Slope Councilwoman Shahana Hanif said at the rally.

In terms of housing, the caucus’ budget would invest $4 billion to expand and preserve affordable housing, including $2b in capital funding for the Housing Preservation and Development Department as well as the New York City Housing Authority. Additional funding for housing would come in the form of $351 million for Right to Counsel to ensure legal representation for people facing eviction in Housing Court and increasing supporting housing funding by $60 million.

In order to expand mental health and substance use support, the Progressive Caucus would like to see $4 million added to Crisis Respite Centers – which are alternatives to hospitalization for people experiencing emotional crises where people can stay for up to a week – to increase the quantity from eight to 16 across the five boroughs. The caucus also wants to open 24/7 overdose prevention centers in every borough with wraparound services. Specifically, the budget priorities say that the budget should add $20 million to expand two existing centers in East Harlem and Washington Heights to operate 24 hours a day, and open 4 additional centers in each borough.

The caucus’s final priority is to block education cuts by fully funding Universal 3K and prevent any cuts to individual school budgets.

“Our budget proposal is upstream thinking, investing in housing, education and mental health services are the solutions that we need to keep our community safe. Do you want to know what the definition of downstream thinking is? Cutting education, cutting houses, getting access to food – this is how we drive crime in New York City,” Progressive Caucus Co-Chair and north Brooklyn councilman Lincoln Restler said at the rally. “By failing to address the root and invest in the root causes that prevent violence.”

In an interview with the Brooklyn Star, Bushwick Councilwoman and Progressive Caucus Vice Chair Jennifer Gutiérrez said that the diminished caucus size (15 members of the progressive caucus had previously left over language in their statement of principles regarding reducing the size and scope of the NYPD) allowed them to have more robust conversations about budget priorities.

Last year several members of the Progressive Caucus voted no on the final budget for Fiscal Year 2023 while a majority of the caucus voted for the budget.

“We haven’t had the conversation in that way,” Gutiérrez said regarding whether the priorities represent a red line for how the caucus would vote on the upcoming budget. “But absolutely, I think every single caucus member who participated in these priorities, has strong convictions around what we need to do.”

Mayor Adams has yet to release the executive budget, which is an updated proposal after the council provides their response. The final city budget must be approved before July 1, the beginning of the fiscal year.

New York General Business Law 249 Vs 350 Vs 218 Explained

webadmin on April 13, 2023

New York General Business Law is a set of regulations and rules that govern business operations in the state of New York. Business owners and entrepreneurs must understand the various sections of this law to ensure they comply with its provisions. If you want to open a business in New York this article will help you learn more, read on as we explore three sections of the New York General Business Law: 249, 350, and 218. Buckle up as we’re about to take Brooklyn Business Law fans on a wild ride that will clarify the in’s and out’s of everything related to these laws.

New York General Business Law Section 249

Section 249 of the New York General Business Law is commonly referred to as the Deceptive Acts and Practices (DAP) statute. This law prohibits deceptive business practices in New York. Deceptive practices are defined as any act that is likely to mislead consumers or cause them to take an action that they otherwise would not have taken. The law also prohibits the use of false advertising, deceptive labeling, and other fraudulent business practices. Section 249 applies to any business operating in New York, regardless of its size or industry. This means that small businesses and large corporations alike must comply with this law. Violating Section 249 can result in civil penalties, including fines and injunctions, as well as criminal penalties, such as imprisonment in extreme cases.

New York General Business Law Section 350

Section 350 of the New York General Business Law is commonly referred to as the General Business Obligations (GBO) statute. This law requires businesses to meet certain obligations when selling goods or services to consumers. Some of these obligations include providing clear and concise descriptions of products or services, disclosing all material facts related to the sale, and delivering products or services as promised. Section 350 applies to any business selling goods or services to consumers in New York. Violating Section 350 can result in civil penalties, including fines and injunctions, as well as criminal penalties, such as imprisonment in extreme cases. To avoid violating Section 350, businesses must ensure that they provide consumers with clear and accurate information about their products or services

New York General Business Law Section 218

Section 218 of the New York General Business Law is commonly referred to as the Business Corporation Law (BCL) statute. This law governs the formation, operation, and dissolution of corporations in New York. It outlines the requirements for incorporating a business, the duties and responsibilities of directors and officers, and the procedures for dissolving a corporation. Section 218 applies to any corporation operating in New York, regardless of its size or industry. Violating Section 218 can result in civil penalties, including fines and injunctions. To comply with Section 218, businesses must follow the procedures outlined in the statute when incorporating a corporation in New York.

In conclusion, understanding the provisions of the New York General Business Law is crucial for businesses operating in the state. Sections 249, 350, and 218 are just a few of the many provisions that businesses must comply with. By following these laws, businesses can ensure that they operate ethically and lawfully, while protecting consumers and shareholders.

Contributed With Help From:

Fisher Stone, P.C. NYC Corporate, Small Business & Trademark Lawyer 115 Broadway Floor 5, New York, NY 10006 (212) 256-1877 https://fisherstonelaw.com/

Fisher Stone Small Business & Real Estate Lawyers Of Brooklyn, P.C. 88 Suydam St Suite A, Brooklyn, NY 11221, United States

Citizen enforcement of blocked bike lanes and notice requirements discussed in hearing

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