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Legendary Player, Coach Lenny Wilkens Dies at Age 88

BQE Admin on November 13, 2025

By Noah Zimmerman

noah@queensledger.com

The basketball world mourned the passing of Brooklyn native and legendary player/coach Lenny Wilkens, who died on Sunday. Dubbed the “Godfather of Seattle Basketball,” Wilkens was inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame three different times. He was honored as a 9-time All-Star point guard, again as one of the winningest coaches in league history, and once more for helping coach the USA in the 1992 Olympic Games.

Wilkens was a legendary playmaker, adding tremendous flair in the 1960’s and early 70’s. In the 1967-68 season he averaged 8.3 assists and 20 points per game, finishing 2nd in MVP voting to the legendary Wilt Chamberlain.

“He influenced the lives of countless young people as well as generations of players and coaches who considered Lenny not only a great teammate or coach but also an extraordinary mentor who led with integrity and true class,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.

“Even more impressive than Lenny’s basketball accomplishments, which included two Olympic gold medals and an NBA championship, was his commitment to service – especially in his beloved community of Seattle where a statue stands in his honor.”

The illustrious career was forged on the playgrounds and asphalt courts of Brooklyn. While he didn’t play until his senior year Wilkens was able to impress at Boys High School after drawing attention outdoors. He went on to dominate at Providence College. Wilkens became one of the greatest to grace the floor for the Friars, leading them to the NIT Tournament as a junior and senior. He was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player in 1960, also claiming All-American honors that year and the season prior.

After his time in Rhode Island, Wilkens was selected in the first round of the NBA Draft by the St. Louis Hawks. He spent the first 8 years of his career there before joining the Supersonics in the Pacific Northwest. He was an All-Star in three out of four seasons in Seattle, also setting career highs in assists and points per game.

Less than a decade later Wilkens was back on the floor as a coach, helping lead the Supersonics to their lone NBA title in 1979. In his coaching career he became the all-time leader in games coached, as well as the first of now 10 to pass the 1,000-win mark. He remains the coach with the most games in charge in NBA history, leading his teams in 2,487 contests.

“The thing that I’ll always remember, he was such a great gentleman, and such an eloquent human being, along with being a super competitive coach. He is still way up there in all-time victories. Very, very special man. He’ll be missed but he’ll be remembered,” Indiana Pacers Head Coach Carlisle said. “I ended up following him as president (of the NBCA), he did a lot of things to further the profession; the pension, benefits, coaching salaries rose significantly during his time. He was a great representative to the league office.”

Brooklyn History: Was the BQE worth it?

BQE Admin on September 10, 2025

The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway under construction in Brooklyn. Photo via the Brooklyn Heights Association.

By Cole Sinanian

In a 2024 interview with the Governor’s Island-based nonprofit, the Institute for Public Architecture, architect and Bay Ridge native John di Domenico recounted life in his neighborhood before the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway:

“The block was very important to you as a child growing up,” he said, “and when summer came along you played games in the street, you played stoopball, stickball.”

It was the basic unit around which urban life was organized. One could imagine, then, the strife brought by its utter destruction when the BQE came through Bay Ridge in the 1960s.

“I think its biggest effect to a 10 or 11 year old was noting at the end of a school year that some students didn’t return because they had to relocate over the summer,” di Domenico said.

The BQE was the infamous New York City urban planner Robert Moses’ magnum opus, a sprawling, highway designed to cut car travel times between Brooklyn and Downtown Manhattan. Built from 1937 to 1964, there was scarcely a Brooklyn community spared from the BQE, which divided tight-knit neighborhoods and sent communities scattering— a demographic shift the borough has yet to fully recover from.

Now, decades after its visionary’s death, the highway is a noisy, crumbling relic of a bygone era. One particular section, the triple cantilever over Furman Street in the Brooklyn Heights, was at risk of collapsing under heavy traffic loads by as early as 2026, until the City reduced the number of traffic lanes from three to two. The City’s Department of Transportation has plans to spend $4 billion to rebuild it in 2029, although the project has brought up questions about the future of the BQE as a whole.

Part of the larger Interstate-278 route, Moses took charge of constructing the Brooklyn portion of the highway, beginning in Greenpoint in the 1950s. Construction passed through Williamsburg, then populated by mostly working class Eastern European, Italian, and Puerto Rican immigrants, according to architect and urban planner Adam Paul Susaneck in his blog, “Segregation by Design.”

After passing through the historic core of Downtown Brooklyn, the highway — cutting diagonally through the city’s grid-structured neighborhoods — dipped into South Brooklyn, where it severed the Red Hook Houses, then home to working-class Black and Italian-American communities, from the rest of the borough via what Susaneck calls a “massive, traffic-choked and exhaust spewing trench between it the rest of the city.”

All told, Moses’ projects from the 1920s-1960s would displace over 250,000 people. Although Moses promised to relocate displaced families to public housing projects, later studies found that the percentage of families actually relocated was minimal. As the BQE cut its way through Brooklyn, a pattern emerged, later identified by Robert Caro in his Moses biography, “The Power Broker.”

Caro writes: “If the number of persons evicted for public works was eye-opening, so were certain of their characteristics…Remarkably few were white. Although the 1950 census found that only 12 percent of the city’s population was nonwhite, at least 37% of the evictees and probably far more were nonwhite.”

It’s worth noting that Moses, the great champion of the highway, did not, according to Caro, have a driver’s license. Furthermore, he spent much of his time in the city being driven around in a “chauffeured limousine,” functioning as a sort of leathery, upholstered office.

“It was in transportation,” Caro writes, “the area in which RM was most active after the war, that his isolation from reality was most complete: because he never even participated in the activity for which he was creating his highways—driving—at all.”

All of this displacement and destruction for a highway that failed to make travel between Manhattan and Brooklyn quicker. In the modern era, traffic has only worsened, as variables that didn’t exist during Moses’ lifetime have stressed the 20th century structure. E-commerce has brought a surge in heavy delivery trucks and the pandemic led to a bump in car travel in the city. Traffic on the BQE, as New York Times reporter Winnie Hu explains in a 2022 interview, seems to be compounding on itself, making for ever-slower, more frustrating travel:

“There have been complaints about more truck traffic in neighborhoods around the B.Q.E. as trucks and cars have gotten off the highway, looking for alternative routes on local roads when the B.Q.E. was backed up.”

Was it all worth it? di Domenico isn’t so sure.

“All of this was the result of this notion that moving across the city was so important, and that the end justified the means,” di Domenico said. “That it was getting through New York that was really important, even if it meant destroying all these individual neighborhoods along the way.”

Banner at Barclays: Liberty Celebrate 2024 WNBA Title

BQE Admin on May 20, 2025

Cloud scores 22 in debut as New York beats Aces in Season Opener

By Noah Zimmerman

Noah@queensledger.com

The Liberty lifted the first pro basketball championship banner in NYC since the 70’s (Photo: NY Liberty)

A professional basketball championship banner has been lifted in New York City for the first time since the 1970s. On Saturday afternoon the New York Liberty held a banner and ring ceremony in Brooklyn ahead of their season opener against the Las Vegas Aces.

The team received their championship rings, designed by Jason of Beverly Hills in collaboration with local designers from L’Enchanteur. The stunning bling has homages to the franchise’s storied and bittersweet 28-year history as an original WNBA franchise. Some touches include a jeweled design of a leaf sprouting through cracks and a pair of gold Liberty earrings.

The championship rings were designed by Jason of Beverly Hills in collaboration with L’Enchanteur (Photos: NY Liberty)

A design of a leaf sprouting through cracks pays homage to the Liberty’s 28-year quest for a title.

On the floor, the Liberty got set to face the Aces. Two seasons ago it was Las Vegas ending the Liberty’s championship dreams in four games, but last season New York got their revenge in the semifinals en route to their first championship title.

Making a statement in the 2025 opener was new Liberty guard Natasha Cloud. The former Mystic star spent 2024 in Phoenix before being traded to Connecticut and later New York in a dramatic offseason.

Natasha Cloud was dominant in her Liberty debut, scoring 22. (Photo by Brandon Todd)

Cloud was seemingly everywhere on the court, blending in seamlessly on both sides of the game. She picked up 22 points and 9 assists on the offensive end, with 3 steals, 2 blocks, and 6 rebounds on defense.

New York held a 14-point lead at halftime but reigning MVP A’ja Wilson kept Las Vegas in it as they outscored the Liberty 25-16 in the 3rd quarter. Wilson scored 18 of her game-high 31 points in the second half, finishing with a 16-rebound double-double.

2024 Finals MVP Jonquel Jones recorded a double-double of her own with 17 points and 10 rebounds for New York. Breanna Stewart scored 25 on 10/14 shooting and pulled down 8 boards as the Liberty began 2025 with a 92-78 win.

2024 Finals MVP Jonquel Jones stares down 2024 regular season MVP A’ja Wilson on defense. Both finished with double-doubles. (Photo by Brandon Todd)

This week New York hits the road to take on the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever, both ripe with young talent and veteran stars. They’ll play former Liberty guard Courtney Vandersloot, Angel Reese, and the Sky on Thursday night before taking on Caitlyn Clark, Aliyah Boston, and the Fever on Saturday afternoon.

The Liberty return to the Barclays Center after Memorial Day as the Golden State Valkyries make their first trip to New York in their debut WNBA season. They will play a pair of games on Tuesday, May 27 and Thursday, May 29, both at 7pm.

CSL and APSL Title Races Reach Deciding Points

BQE Admin on April 30, 2025

Polonia SC takes on NY International in Brooklyn

By Noah Zimmerman

Polonia SC and FC Sandzak battled at Randall’s Island to a 1-1 draw last Wednesday night. The CSL title race remains razor thin. (Photo: NZ Media)

The top division of the Cosmopolitan Soccer League has been locked into a wild title race since the opening weeks of the season. NY International FC, Polonia SC, FC Sandzak, and Central Park Rangers II have been separated by just a few points for months, with multiple clubs spending time atop the D1 table.

With just a few matches remaining, Polonia and International have been trading places at the top of the league. After last weekend’s matches, NYIFC held a three point lead with one more match played than the other title challengers.

With a win over Borgetto FC this Thursday night, Polonia would match International with 45 points, but their 3-1 win in the Fall would propel them back into a lead, as head-to-head serves as the first tiebreaker.

The real tiebreaker is coming up this Sunday in Brooklyn when NY International visit Polonia at their longtime home at McCarren Park. The two top dogs of the CSL will face off to likely decide who ends up lifting the league title. The league winner will also earn promotion to the American Premier Soccer League (APSL).

Kickoff will be at 10am on Sunday on what should be a beautiful morning in Brooklyn. The McCarren Park soccer field, located on Lorimer St between Driggs Ave and Bayard St, is open to the public. You can also watch the match live on Game in Frame, who have been broadcasting the CSL title race alongside their coverage of academy, amateur, and semi-professional soccer in the Northeast.

“Sunday’s title battle has a special feel to it, we’ve covered a lot of great matches, but it’s rare you get a game where an entire season rides on one result,” said owner and commentator Josh Pratt. “These teams have been fighting for the CSL D1 title dream and promotion to the APSL since September, the emotions will be high, we are looking forward to broadcasting the drama.”

Livestream coverage will begin just before kickoff at www.gameinframe.com as well as their YouTube page.

Sandzak took on FC Ulqini on Tuesday night in Staten Island with a chance to pull within four points of the leaders. CPR II will play their game in hand next Thursday against KidSuper Samba AC II, who are locked into a relegation battle with Manhattan Celtic II.

Hoboken FC 1912 II held 1st place for a good portion of the Fall, but a 7-game losing streak dropped them down to 5th. They are still in reach of the Division 1 playoffs; 34 points with three matches to play.

Pancyprians close in on APSL Metro title

Meanwhile in the APSL, the NY Pancyprian Freedoms are close to lifting the league title, up three points on the NY Greek Americans with a game in hand. They’ve only conceded a remarkable 14 goals in their 18 matches. Four of those goals were scored by the Greek Americans, coming in a 1-1 draw and a 3-1 win, the only defeat suffered by Pancyprians this season.

Pancyprians head to Staten Island on Sunday night for a match against newly promoted Richmond County FC, who won CSL Division 1 last season. Richmond are close to securing safety in their debut APSL season, a rare feat in a very competitive league. They’ll take on the Greek Americans the following week before finishing the season against SC Vistula Garfield.

NYGA will take on Doxa FCW at their home field at Hofstra University. After that they’ll only have two matches remaining to catch Pancyprians, who would need to drop points to open a window for a late title push.

The relegation battle is also razor thin, with the bottom four of Vistula, KidSuper Samba AC, Doxa, and Central Park Rangers separated by a few points. Richmond sits just one spot ahead of them in 8th.

Hoboken FC 1912, NY Athletic Club, and Zum Schneider FC 03 sit in the 5th, 6th, and 7th positions respectively. They are all out of reach of the APSL playoffs, but well clear of the relegation battle.

Greek Kitchen Opens in Greenpoint

BQE Admin on April 29, 2024

By John Sanchez & Yasin Akdag

New Fast-Casual Mediterranean Restaurant, Greek Kitchen, delivers a healthy alternative on a block lined with fast-food chains

The Brooklyn Star News team visited Greek Kitchen, a new Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant at 912 Manhattan Ave.in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Led by partners Lukas Georgiadis and George Konstantaras, Greek Kitchen is a sit-down restaurant that offers fresh Mediterranean cuisine with a modern Greek-themed interior.

Greek Kitchen is passionate about representing Greek culture, and it truly shows in the effort that was put into its interior design. As soon as you step foot inside, the bright blue and white colors and the photos of Greece make you feel as if you have been transported to Greece.

Cooking is a tradition in their families, and many Greek Kitchen recipes were handed down by the yia-yias (grandmas) in the family.

With over 25 years of experience in the food and hospitality industry, Georgiadis and Konstantaras have built strong relationships with the best food vendors in the country; including Optimo and Mega.

“Sourcing ingredients such as virgin feta cheese, organic honey from Crete, olives, and oregano straight from Greece helps us attain the high quality that our customers deserve“, said Georgiadis.

“There aren’t a ton of fresh and organic food options on this block, so we’re excited to bring a fresh Mediterranean experience to Greenpoint – right next to the G train,” said Konstantaras.

The stars of Greek Kitchen‘s menu are The Gyro and The Souvlaki; loaded with fresh and generous cuts of lamb and chicken, respectively, creamy tzatziki, onion, and crispy french fries.

I loved the tantalizing blend of flavors and textures of The Classic Lamb Gyro, and John indulged in the juicy marinated meats of a Chicken Souvlaki. Each bite was a “symphony of Mediterranean goodness,” John exclaimed.

Definitely don’t sleep on Greek Kitchen’s Whipped Spicy Feta—a creamy blend of tangy feta cheese and fiery spices that packs a punch. We spread it on warm pita bread and it was a uniquely delicious kick to the mouth.

Greenpoint is populated with many European immigrants, especially Polish residents, but as the community continues to grow, Greek Americans and other nationalities have found their way to Brooklyn.

Beyond the food, Greek Kitchen embodies the spirit of community and culture. “It’s not just a place to eat; it’s an immersive cultural experience that invites guests to savor the flavors of Greece while celebrating the diversity of Greenpoint,” said Georgiadis.

Georgiadis and Konstantaras brought on long-time friends, Manny Lazanakis and Jimmy Stathakis, to become partners in Greek Kitchen; and all of the partners add value in unique ways.

With its dedication to quality, flavor, and community, Greek Kitchen is poised to become a beloved neighborhood institution.

Be sure to visit Greek Kitchen located at 912 Manhattan Ave in Greenpoint for more tasty Greek food!

Angel’s Cafe Announces New “Breakfast Blessing” Card

Oona Milliken on November 8, 2023

By Oona Milliken | omilliken@queensledger.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The BK Borough Based Jail is Moving Forward, But Where?

Oona Milliken on October 25, 2023

Ambiguity of what a post-Rikers NYC will look like complicates new plan

By Oona Milliken | omilliken@queensledger.com

As many New Yorkers know, Rikers is set to close its doors by Aug. 2027 after former Mayor Bill de Blasio committed to shutter the jail after years of criticism of violence and poor living conditions. In its place, the plan is to construct four smaller borough-based jails in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx and Queens in order to create modern facilities and more humane conditions for incarcerated individuals.

At a meeting in front of Brooklyn’s Community Board 2 on Wednesday Oct. 18, the Department of Design and Construction and HOK, the architectural firm designing the building, presented their initial plan for the Brooklyn location before their submission to the Public Design Commission for review.

The jail is set to replace the existing Brooklyn House of Detention on Atlantic Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn. However, with a growing jail population, a looming deadline to shut down the facility and Mayor Eric Adams asking for a “Plan B” to close Rikers, the future of prisoners in New York City is ambiguous.

Though Rikers is set to close in three years and ten months, it is unclear what will happen to those incarcerated at Rikers until the new borough jails are constructed. There were initially expected to be between 3,300 inmates at the four jails, according to the DDC’s website, lower than the 5,559 inmates at the Rikers facility as of 2022, as per the mayor’s annual report. Currently, all jails are expected to be expanded to a total of 4,160 beds across all four facilities according to Council Member Lincoln Restler, a number that still does not account for the discrepancy between beds and inmates.

On Wednesday, the DDC and architectural team outlined a plan that includes green landscaping, design choices that will match the architecture of the surrounding brownstones, soundproofing so that residents do not have to hear the inner goings of the jail as well as transportation for those coming in and out of the facility. Though this is their first time in front of the community board, the DDC hosted one introductory event and two design workshops with the local Brooklyn community in order to address the needs of local residents.

The Department of Design and Construction’s timeline of the Brooklyn Borough Jail facility. Photo courtesy of DDC.

The lead designer for the building, Ken Drucker, the Design Principal and the lead designer for HOK, said the firm was set to collaborate with the community in order to create a humanitarian building that is knitted into the fabric of the Brooklyn community.

“This is a normative building that creates equity and a civic building here in Brooklyn. It is important that we understand that we’re dealing with human needs, we’re dealing with community needs and we’re dealing with the fact that civic buildings create spaces that will be in existence for the next 50 to 100 years,” Drucker said in a meeting.

The main issues raised at the meeting pertained to the impact the jail would have on the surrounding area of Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill, Downtown Brooklyn and Cobble Hill. Many attendees brought up concerns about adequate parking so as to not clog up the surrounding streets, as well as safe transportation of prisoners to and from the jail. The parking will only accommodate 100 spots, down from 300 parking spaces, which is not enough for all the workers of the jail and does not account for police officers and visitors visiting the location. One community board attendee said that the parking would spill onto the street and congest the area surrounding the jail.

“Just from a neighborhood perspective, and I’ll be quiet after this, but you know [police officers, jail visitors and staff] will park on the street. There’s been promises and promises for the city to provide parking for their agency staff and it’s not happening so it’s become a problem in the neighborhood,” the community member said.

Ian Michaels, Executive Director of Communications and Policy for the DDC, said the DDC is committed to moving forward with the borough-based jail plan and taking steps to improve the living conditions of those incarcerated at Rikers.

“Have you ever been to Rikers? One of the things they do, when you start building jails, is they make sure you go to Rikers to see what you’re trying to improve upon, so I’ve been there a couple of times,” Michaels said. “I know what we don’t want to build because I’ve seen it myself.”

The project in Brooklyn is anticipated to be completed in 2029. In July of this year, the city expanded the number of beds in the Brooklyn jail by about 150, reducing the number of therapeutic beds intended for those with mental health issues. Michaels and Restler both said the jail in Brooklyn, expected to cost around $3 billion, is further along than the other borough-based jails.

Mock-up of what the facade of the jail will look like. Photo courtesy of DDC.

“I think the Brooklyn community has been receptive to the facility, that’s not necessarily the case at every location that we’ve been trying to build,” Michaels said. “We’re actually farther along with this facility than we are with any of the other three.”

Restler, who has been heavily involved in the fight to close Rikers, said he was frustrated by Adams’s failure to take the borough-based jails project seriously. Restler said Adams’ administration has increased arrest, summons and number of incarcerated people, both amongst minors and adults, which would not work under the new system. Adams has recently expressed skepticism about the plan and said it was flawed from the beginning.

“These are policy decisions we can control. We can invest in preventative measures, we can invest in alternatives to incarceration, we can invest in supervised release,” Restler said. “We can invest in justice-involved supportive housing, or we can fill up our jails. Mayor Adams is choosing to do the latter.”

In the CB2 meeting, Kiumars Q. Amiri, the Executive Director of Capital Projects at the Mayor’s Office, in contrast with Restler’s comments, said the city was attempting to reduce the overall prison populace in order to address this discrepancy.

“The goal is to reduce the overall population with more smart policies that would sort of disrupt recidivism patterns, provide more stable programs for folks not to be caught in the system, alternatives to incarceration, electronic monitoring to constitute supervised released programs. There’s a whole host of programs that go hand in hand with this, this building, this borough-based jail program is one bubble of the bigger system,” Amiri said.

Restler said it was imperative to move forward with the borough-based plan despite any challenges. The council member acknowledged that the Brooklyn jail had some hurdles in order to be constructed, including figuring out a lack of parking and the removal of therapeutic beds, but said that Rikers was an unacceptable space for New York’s incarcerated population.

“[Rikers] is a despicable hell hole. It is an embarrassment for every resident of New York that we’ve sent people there to rot on a daily basis. We have, over the last 30 years, during the Giuliani, Bloomberg and De Blasio administrations safely reduced the number of people who are incarcerated in New York City while achieving record-low crime rates. We can continue to drive down crime, improve public safety and reduce incarceration if we have the political will to do it,” Restler said.

After the plan is submitted to the initial Public Design Commission for conceptual review, the plan will undergo further evaluation as well as a preliminary PDC review before it is resubmitted for final review to the PDC in the spring of 2023. The last step before launching construction of the jail will be a community presentation, also in the spring of 2024.

On the Record: Halil Kaya

Oona Milliken on August 30, 2023

By Oona Milliken | omilliken@queensledger.com

Despite the gray weather in Downtown Brooklyn, Halil Kaya was smiling inside the ice cream truck parked outside Albee Square. After selling five strawberry smoothies to a large family and one rainbow sprinkled cone to a mother-daughter duo, Kaya stopped serving and said he loves selling ice cream because of how happy it makes people.

“I just love to make people happy, you know? To see the kids happy. That’s the best job I want to do,” Kaya said.

Kaya, whose favorite ice cream flavor is chocolate vanilla twist, said it can sometimes be hard to stay positive in such a hectic area. According to Kaya, Albee Square is bustling with people from all over Brooklyn, and people can be rude and abrasive when he’s working the window.

“Sometimes people like to give you a hard time about the ice cream, or the prices, but otherwise I like it,” Kaya said.

Because of this, Kaya said he wanted people to spread positivity, and remind people to stay polite during ice cream rush hours.

“Just be polite to others with whatever you do. You should just try to make people happy everyday. Yeah, just be polite,” Kaya said. “Share the happiness.”

On the Record: Siyuri Zen and Ange Musoni

Oona Milliken on August 23, 2023

By Oona Milliken | omilliken@queensledger.com

Siyuri Zen and Ange Musoni in McCarren Park

Taking a deep breath can be a luxury sometimes, according to friends Siyuri Zen and Ange Musoni, who met up to spend quality time together and relax in inflatable bean bags at the entrance of McCarren park.

“It’s kind of a friend’s date, we met when we were working, so we were always in spaces of working and being on a schedule so we don’t often get the time to catch up and get to know each other, so when we have those days, it’s really nice,” Musoni said.

The pair met working for a security company at Yankee Stadium, but have since switched to other roles at different companies. Now, their schedules can be conflicting, so they said that they appreciate the time to hangout. According to Zen and Musoni, carving out time for leisure is important. Zen said that it’s rare for her to be able to take some time to slow down her breathing.

“Relaxation to me is a moment to take a deep breath, it’s like being in a situation where you don’t have to take shallow breaths, if that makes sense,” Zen said.

According to Musoni, relaxation can be a way for her to access parts of herself that she does not get to on a regular basis.

“For me, relaxation can be a way to tap into certain parts of yourself that you don’t get to tap into everyday in your routine. I’m personally learning how to just be by myself alone, and relaxation plays a big part of that,” Musoni said.

Brooklyn State of the Borough returns

Matthew Fischetti on January 18, 2023

By Matthew Fischetti

mfischetti@queensledger.com

The State of the Borough is back in Kings County.

After a decade of not having one, elected officials and members of the public attended Brooklyn Beep Antonio Reynoso’s first State of the Borough last week at the New York College of Technology.

Maternal Health Care

One of the main focuses of Reynoso’s first term as Borough President has centered around improving the maternal health conditions in Brooklyn. A 2021 report from the city found that a third of all New York City pregnancy deaths occur in Kings County.

“One in every three pregnancy-related deaths in New York City are happening here, in our borough.Right here in Brooklyn, Black women are dying at 9.4 times the rate of their White counterparts because of pregnancy-related complications.It’s one of the greatest inequities, greatest injustices that we’re bearing witness to,” Reynoso said in his speech.

In order to tackle the issue, Reynoso has allocated the entirety of his 2023 funding, which totals $45 million, to funding maternal healthcare improvements across the borough’s three public hospitals. Reynoso also instituted a maternal task force back in April made up of eight black women OBGYNs, mental health workers, doulas and other experts to inform policy.

The Borough President’s office has also spent $250,000 on a public health messaging campaign this year to connect at-risk residents with a resource guide influenced by the task force’s recommendations. Most recently, Reynoso was able to help provide 500 free baby boxes that contained baby materials as well as post-partum resources after giving a $100k grant to

Comprehensive Planning

One of the other major accomplishments Reynoso highlighted in his speech was the launching of the borough’s comprehensive planning effort. Reynoso criticized the status quo of New York not having one, unlike many major metro areas.

“Yet, despite being the most populous city in the country, New York City is noticeably lacking a plan like this–and instead of planning, we have a piecemeal zoning approval process that we all know isn’t getting the job done,” Reynoso said.

Reynoso emphasized that his comprehensive planning will center around public health and housing outcomes.

“The key to comprehensive planning is to have a clear objective, and our focus is set squarely on the intersection of housing and public health. Because of decades of racist city planning and a long legacy of segregation, our communities of color are clustered in the areas with the poorest housing conditions, the least access to resources, and the worst health outcomes,” Reynoso said.

In his speech, Reynoso also emphasized that building wouldn’t be limited to nabes that have seen development in recent years – like Downtown Brooklyn, Williamsburg or East New York – but would also focus on areas that have not had rezonings in decades.

“It’s no coincidence that 90 percent of childhood lead poisoning cases involve children of color,or that our neighbors in eastern Brooklyn are dying sooner, with the highest rates of premature mortality in the entire borough,” he added.

Looking forward

Reynoso outlined four major policies for the upcoming year, including: providing permanent houses for nonprofits, increasing Black-owned business in Brownsville, Community Board Reform, and a “solar saving plan”.

In terms of providing permanent homes for nonprofits, Reynoso said the move was so that the organizations could eliminate wasted time on finding facilities or negotiating with landlords, and focus more on providing their services.

“Because listen, the people of Brooklyn can’t keep building a better life for themselves, their families, and their communities when their money is all caught up in just surviving. And that applies just as much to our nonprofits as it does to our low-income tenants,” he said.

Reynoso said in his speech that he would be working with the Central Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation to help spurn new business. Of the first groups selected in the program, a smaller group will be selected to receive free space on underused commercial corridors in Brownsville.

“Black unemployment in New York City stands at 9.7 percent compared to 5.5 percent of their White counterparts. At the neighborhood level, Brownsville alone has an exceptionally high black unemployment rate of 11.2 percent,” Reynoso said in his speech.

Reynoso’s solar plan focuses on providing a “large-scale” central solar plant to help lower-income New Yorkers who cannot take advantage of roof solarization. A 2019 report from the Mayor’s office found that 32 percent of Brooklyn families in 2017 were “utility burdened,” spending more than 6 percent of their income on utilities – prior to recent rate increases.

The last major policy Reynoso said he looks to work on this year is related to community board reform. Reynoso stated that he wants to reform the unclear responsibilities divided between mayoral agencies and the borough president’s office. The new guidance from the Beep’s office would Reynoso also emphasized that his office wants to provide greater diversity, in all aspects of the word.

“I’m not just talking race and ethnicity. I’m talking about interests, education, or ability status. Do you drive a car or take public transportation? Do you own a home or are you a renter? Are you a single parent? Are you a NYCHA resident?Nearly one-quarter of Brooklyn is 18 years old or younger, but most applicants and appointees to community boards last year were ages 45-64. So, we’re also talking about age,” he said.

Reynoso also noted that he is specifically looking to place two members between 16 and 18 years old on each of the borough’s 18 community boards. Applications for the community board are open until February 14.