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City Rolls Out New Gun Violence Prevention Plan

glendaleregstg on August 16, 2023

A woman in a light blue suit sits at a large wooden round table, between a man in a dark gray suit and anothe man in a whte polo shirt. Behind her, the New York State flag and the bottom of a large painting in a gold-plated frame are visible, along with a fireplace.

First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright and “Man Up!” co-founder A.T. Mitchell explaining the blueprint.

By Anna Di Iorio-Reyes and Carmo Moniz | news@queensledger.com

The city’s most recent investment in gun violence prevention, totalling $485 million, will go toward youth programs, employment opportunities, housing and mental health care in its most vulnerable communities.

Mayor Eric Adams’ administration announced the new plan, called “A Blueprint for Community Safety,” on July 31. It is an extension of Adams’ previous “Blueprint to End Gun Violence,” which was released in early 2022.

The blueprint designates six precincts, four in the Bronx and two in Brooklyn, as priority areas for funding. These areas are responsible for 39% of recorded shots fired in the city, and were chosen based on factors like childhood poverty rates, rent burden, unemployment, income and school absenteeism, according to the blueprint. 

While the blueprint boasts an impressive budget, most of its funding is not new. Of the $485 million included in the plan, $443 million had already been planned for use, according to Gothamist.

At a roundtable event, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright and “Man Up!” co-founder A.T. Mitchell, who co-chairs the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force that created the blueprint, said that every city agency was asked to contribute to the plan.

“It will mean nothing if we don’t apply these and make sure that these things are real,” Mitchell said. “Those communities out there are waiting for us, they are counting on us for this administration to get it right.” 

The plan has seven focus areas: navigation and benefits, housing, employment and entrepreneurship, trauma-informed care, early intervention, community and police relations and community vitality. Of the seven, early intervention and employment programs take up the most funding, at $118.3 million and $118.5 million, respectively. Community-police relations received the least funding of all the focus areas, at $2.6 million.

Funding for early intervention, designed for young people at risk of becoming involved in gun violence, will go toward support for parents, gun violence education, mentorship initiatives and other programming. The blueprint also includes programs to help young people and formerly incarcerated people access job training and employment. 

The plan’s housing budget will go toward improving the quality and security of public housing and developing 3,000 affordable homes by 2025. While housing takes up a significant amount of the funding in the blueprint, those $57.5 million are only a fraction of the over $78 billion the New York City Housing Authority, which runs the city’s public housing, has said it needs to renovate its buildings.

Throughout February and March, the task force took input from Brooklyn and Bronx residents to inform the blueprint.

Wright said that the task force will monitor the number of housing units being built, employment rates, shooting deaths and other factors in each of the six most affected precincts to determine the success of different programs over the next several years.

“We’re going to be working on the ground with the community, making sure that we’re accountable for results,” Wright said. “We’re gonna evolve and get better and better.”

In addition to more extensive monitoring, the blueprint also proposes meetings where local residents in the six prioritized precincts can review collected data and engage with the results directly.

“This is a living document, and no two plans for those neighborhoods will look alike, because they will be tailored specifically for those neighborhoods in those communities,” Mitchell said. “Rome wasn’t built in a day. These communities have suffered decades of disinvestment and we can’t expect miracles to happen overnight.”

Migrants Being Housed in Brooklyn Rec. Centers Amid Crisis

glendaleregstg on August 16, 2023

A red brick building with columns at the entrance stands in front of a blue sky. The U.S., NYC Parks and New York State flags hang off the building. The words "Sunset Play Center" are written on the building's facade, and people can be seen walking up the steps to the entrance.

The Sunset Park Recreation Center.

By Carmo Moniz | news@queensledger.com

As New York City’s migrant crisis continues, the city has taken to housing the influx of asylum seekers in unconventional locations, most recently in the recreation centers of Brooklyn’s McCarren and Sunset parks. 

Over a hundred asylum-seekers are being temporarily housed in the centers as shelters and emergency hotel space in New York City have exceeded capacity. In a statement, a City Hall spokesperson said the number of asylum-seekers coming through the city’s intake system has left it to deal with a national crisis on its own. The spokesperson also said almost 100,000 asylum seekers have passed through the city’s system since last spring.

“We are constantly searching for new places to give asylum seekers a place to rest their heads, and recently located a wing of the McCarren Recreation Center and the Sunset Park Recreation Center in Brooklyn to house adult asylum seekers,” the spokesperson said in the statement.

The new shelter spaces, which have been met with mixed reactions from local residents, will house around 80 and 100 migrants, respectively. Those housed in the centers receive three meals per day and have access to onsite shower and bathroom facilities.

When a group of 60 or so migrants moved into the Sunset Park center last week, around 100 local residents protested their arrival, while others offered them food and other resources, according to Gothamist.

Councilmember Alexa Avilés, who represents Sunset Park, said she asked those planning the protests to instead focus their efforts on community funding and problems with the immigration system in a statement.

“Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity,” Avilés said in the statement. “I recognize community frustrations and share them over a lack of communication from the Mayor’s Office and a temporary disruption of services, but we must not fear monger. Whether you’re the Governor of Florida or a local, I will not stand for the use of human beings for political gain.”

A group of six city, state and federal Brooklyn politicians, including assemblymember Emily Gallagher, councilmember Lincoln Restler and councilmember Jennifer Gutiérrez, said they were notified that the McCarren Park center would be used to house asylum seekers ahead of time and that access to pool and fitness facilities would remain open in a joint statement.

“We will continue pushing to secure more appropriate facilities to house people in need and expedite moving New Yorkers from our shelter system into vacant permanent housing,” the statement reads. “In the interim, we will do whatever we can to galvanize compassion and support for our new temporary neighbors.”

Benjamin Rodriguez, an asylum-seeker staying in the Sunset Park center, said that he came to New York from Peru seven months ago, and that he was previously being housed in a hotel. He said that while he has been able to find employment in the city, many others have not and would benefit from more government assistance with employment, such as work permits.

“We have a roof to live under, and for that I give thanks,” Rodriguez said in Spanish. “We know we are going through a very difficult situation, but it will pass one day.”

Mohammed Yamdi, who traveled to the city from Mauritania and is also staying in the Sunset Park center, said that there is little work available for migrants. He also said he has been told his request for asylum could take six months to a year to be processed.

“I want to bring my family here,” Yamdi said in French. “My children would learn to write and go to school and be alright, not like in Mauritania.”

Currently, there is a backlog of over two million cases in U.S. immigration courts, according to a 2023 Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse report. The average wait time for a hearing is more than four years, and receiving a final decision can take even longer.

Luke Petrinovic, a city employee who lives near Sunset Park, said he had worked in a migrant shelter in El Paso, Texas last summer, and he thinks it is important to be welcoming of asylum seekers.

“It’s talked about like it’s a crisis, but migration is a fact of human civilization,” Petrinovic said. “People oftentimes get very discouraged because it’s an unsolvable problem, but that means it’s the sort of thing that you have to accept and learn to be a good person in that circumstance.”

Opioid Use Treatment Center Opens in Downtown Brooklyn

glendaleregstg on August 9, 2023

Mayor Eric Adams stands before eight other politicians and advocates, many of whom are wearing suits. He wears a white polo shirt and stands behind a small podium with a microphone attached. A television screen behind the group reads "Center for Community Alternatives."

Mayor Eric Adams at the new center.

By Carmo Moniz | news@queensledger.com

Treatment for opioid addiction can be difficult to access, but a new center in downtown Brooklyn is looking to remove barriers to care.

The new wellness center, which is run by the Center for Community Alternatives, will provide opioid use disorder treatment through medication, counseling, employment support, court advocacy and other services at no cost to patients. The center is a part of a New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports project that will create up to 39 of these programs across the state. 

Mayor Eric Adams attended the ribbon cutting ceremony for the center on 25 Chapel St. this past Friday, praising the De Blasio administration’s past efforts to curb drug overdoses and voicing concerns over the rise of fentanyl. Assemblymember Jo Ann Simon, State Senator Jabari Brisport and Deputy Brooklyn Borough President Kimberly Council were also in attendance.

“Because you’re at a bend in the road, it’s not the end of the road, as long as you allow it to make the turn,” Adams said. “On the other side of addiction, we see viable, healthy New Yorkers that want to give back.”

There are currently 35 other outpatient centers for substance use disorder licensed by OASAS in Brooklyn, but this will be the first center to take a holistic approach to treatment.

Mayor Eric Adams stands in front of a crowd of around 10 people, holding a pair of comically large scissors behind a large ribbon. The ribbon is navy blue and has white text reading "GRAND OPENING" on it twice.

Adams cutting the ribbon at the center’s opening.

Carole Eady-Porcher, a former opioid user who now serves on CCA’s board, spoke about her experiences with drug use and how difficult it was for her to find help. She said that she lost her job due to her drug use and was eventually arrested for selling drugs while pregnant. 

Eady-Porcher said that she had sought a treatment program from a judge in her case, but that when her request was accepted the center she was sent to shamed patients for their past drug use. She eventually enrolled in a CCA program for women, which gave her access to employment and counseling. 

“Across this country, people who use opioids are overrepresented in jails and prisons, and after at least they are the most likely to overdose due to their reduced tolerance,” Eady-Porcher said. “What New York has needed for a long time is an integrated opioid treatment program that is tailored to the needs of people who’ve been impacted by the criminal injustice system.”

Eady-Porcher said that while treatments for opioid use disorder have existed for years, they have not been widely accessible. She said that if she had had a program like what’s offered at the new center when she was first struggling with drug use, she might have avoided using and being homeless for 12 years. 

Black and Latine people are the most common demographics for drug-related arrests in New York City, according to 2023 arrest data. So far this year, there have been around 3,400 arrests of Black people, more than 700 of Black hispanic people and just under 2,000 of white hispanic people over drug-related offenses. 

Council spoke about the role mass incarceration and criminalization play in drug addiction, as well as her own experiences with drug use in her family. She said her father was a drug addict and that she lost her sister to a fentanyl overdose last year.

“The thing that brings us here today is a very big deal. The Center for Community alternatives is showing up for Brooklyn in a major way,” Council said. “When we leave from this place of love and care, that's when we turn the tide in the opioid crisis. That's when we put an end to the senseless preventable deaths incurred by our failure to show up in a real way, for those who need our support.”

OASAS commissioner Chinazo Cunningham, who is also a physician and professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, said the center aims to improve access to treatment for underserved communities, including minorities and justice-involved people. She said a person dies from an overdose every 90 minutes in New York, and that justice-involved people are up to 40 times more at risk of overdosing than the general public.

“We know we're in a historic place in terms of the overdose epidemic. This is the worst we've ever experienced in this country, in this state and in this city,” Cunningham said. “This work happening here at CCA is so important, more important now than ever before, and specifically for the population that it serves.”

New Legislation Introduces Speed Limiting Device Proposal in Brooklyn

glendaleregstg on August 9, 2023

By Oona Milliken | omilliken@queensledger.com

At the Brooklyn Heights intersection where Katherine Harris was hit and killed by a speeding driver in April of this year, Senator Andrew Gounardes and Assemblymember Emily Gallagher introduced legislation that would impose hindrances on drivers going more than five miles per hour above the speed limit. According to a press release, the bill would mimic the model of drunk driving legislation where convicted drivers must prove that they are sober by blowing into a device before they can start their car. Similarly, the legislation would only impact driver’s with six or more speeding tickets in one year. 

In a statement, Assemblymember Gallagher said the bill is important to take precautionary measures to ensure that people like Katherine Harris do not have to die. 

“As more Americans continue to die from motor vehicle crashes than in any other country in the world, we need to take proactive and common sense measures to reduce traffic violence,” Gallagher said. “Cars and trucks can act as weapons when used recklessly, and people who have repeatedly demonstrated they will endanger lives while operating vehicles should be limited in how fast they can drive.” 

According to Kate Brockwehl, the survivor of a near fatal car crash and an advocate for the organization Families for Safe Streets, the legislation is a big step in reducing serious car accidents and deaths. Brockwehl said that many people in the United States think of traffic fatalities as just an unfortunate part of life, something unpreventable, and said she wants people to understand that serious car crashes can be avoided by infrastructure like this bill. According to Brockwehl, she was hit by a speeding car as a pedestrian in 2017, and spent a year and a half in recovery from the incident. 

‘I’m a huge fan of the bill,” Brockwehl said. “To me, this bill is incredibly straightforward. It doesn’t remove your keys, it doesn’t affect your ability to drive, you can go all the places you need to. It says you can’t go more than ten [sic] miles over the speed limit. You don’t get a ticket until that point.” 

According to Brockwehl, bills such as the one that Gounardes and Gallagher are putting forward were nonexistent in the United States until recently because the technology to safely slow down cars did not exist in American markets, though some form of speed reduction technology has been used in the European Union on all new cars since 2022, according to Autoweek Magazine. 

Under the new legislation put forward by Gounardes and Gallagher, offending drivers that try to go more than five miles will have their speed reduced by intelligent speed assistance . The bill has a precedent in an ISA pilot program installed on New York City fleet vehicles, in which 99 percent of vehicles successfully remained within the speed limit parameters. 

Brockwehl said that the legislation is just one step in fighting traffic violence, and said that Families for Safe Streets is also pushing to introduce alternative street configurations that would slow down drivers, including something called a “road diet” which would add more room for bicycle paths and turning lanes. Brockwehl said that her ultimate goal is for fatal and near fatal traffic incidents to be a thing of the past. 

“There’s nothing preventing my being killed next time, or like someone I love, unless I never go outside again in my life,” Brockwehl said. “I think we’re just so incredibly used to [traffic deaths] in the United States to the point that it affects so many more people than people who are involved in Families for Safe Streets, but I think people don’t realize it yet.” 

In a statement, Councilmember Lincoln Restler said that, if passed, the legislation will ultimately lead to safer and more habitable streets. 

“Too many New Yorkers are victims of traffic violence due to reckless drivers,” said Restler. “I’m excited to support Senator Gounardes’ and Assembly Member Gallagher’s common sense legislation that will increase accountability on the most dangerous drivers, make our neighborhoods safer, and ultimately save lives.”

CEO of WATCH GUARD 24/7 Will Be Honored at This Year’s Catholic Charities Gala

glendaleregstg on August 9, 2023

John Rafferty (far right), Is Being Honored It This Year’s Catholic Charities Gala. Photo Courtesy of John Rafferty.

By Queens Ledger Staff | news@queensledger.com

For former NYPD Lieutenant, John Rafferty, to protect and serve means a lot more than simply providing the community with security. He wants to make a difference.

This September, Rafferty, founder and CEO of WATCH GUARD 24/7 will be receiving the Bishop’s Humanitarian Award by Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens.

Giving back is something that seems to be ingrained in Rafferty. Even early on in life as the president of a youth club, he was involved in giving back to the community. 

Growing up with a strong catholic upbringing, he learned from a young age the impact that giving could have. “I always just try to do good and right by people,” said Rafferty.

Rafferty went through a catholic education program from grade school until graduating from St. John’s University with a Bachelor’s in Criminal Justice. A path that eventually led him to join the NYPD in 1996. Upon his retirement from the NYPD, Rafferty was one of the most decorated Lieutenants, and was the recipient of the second highest honor of the police department; the Combat Cross.

But in 2009, Rafferty retired from the NYPD due to an injury and started WATCH GUARD 24/7. He transcended the hard work and dedication that he developed in the police department into his own company. Rafferty looks at security as an extension of law enforcement and puts his heart and soul into the business. 

From focusing on a top-down approach in management, strong mentorship programs, and building a strong culture within the company, WATCH GUARD 24/7 has grown to become one of the largest privately owned security companies in New York, with over a thousand employees.

From WATCH GUARD 24/7’s involvement in the Summer Youth Mentorship Employment Program, charities within the inner cities, running an annual toy-drive, starting the annual Tunnel to Towers New York Golf Classic, to supporting numerous charities, Rafferty uses action to align his company with charities he believes in.

His work eventually attracted the attention of Catholic Charities, who asked for WATCH GUARD 24/7 to propose to be their new security provider on their properties. Rafferty was thrilled to be aligned with a company that had similar values to his own. “Good people surround themselves with good people. And that’s how I look at it with Catholic Charities,” he explained.

The organization, much like Rafferty, is set on making a mark in the community. Since 1899, Catholic Charities has been providing a range of social programs to Brooklyn and Queens. They operate clinics, housing programs, food pantries, and senior living homes, to name just a few.

Each year, Catholic Charities gives out the Bishops Humanitarian Award, awarded to someone recognized for impactful work within the community. When Rafferty learned he would be honored with the award at this year’s Gala, he was thrilled.

“I was absolutely humbled,” he said. “I felt that it was one of the first times since leaving the police department that I felt like I was making a difference. This is truly an honor.”

Boyband Rocks Crowd at Maspeth Federal Concert

glendaleregstg on August 2, 2023

Four banmd members wearing white pants and sparkly silver vests over white t-shirts sing and dance on a black stage. They are under a white tent, and a warm orange light shines on them. A white and green sign above them reads "SPONSORED BY MASPETH FEDERAL SAVINGS."

The band performs at Maspeth Federal Bank’s Forest Hills Branch.

By Carmo Moniz | news@queensledger.com

Fans of boybands ranging from the Beach Boys all the way to One Direction gathered in the parking lot at Maspeth Federal Savings’ Forest Hills branch for a concert Wednesday evening, with many dancing through the night to iconic songs like “End Of The Road” and “I Want It That Way.”

The concert, which is one of a series being hosted by the bank this summer, featured Larger Than Life, a cover band calling itself the “#1 Boyband Experience.” The band delivered on that promise during the concert, performing elaborate choreographed dances to some of the most popular songs of the last few decades, clad in sparkly silver vests to boot.

The concert series has been a tradition for the bank for over 50 years, according to Maspeth Federal spokesperson Gloria Benfari.

“The summer concert series here at Maspeth Federal Savings is a long-standing tradition,” Benfari said. “We’re happy year over year to always give back to the community and provide wonderful entertainment to both customers and the surrounding community.”

Local favorite Mamita’s Ices was also present at the event, and offered iced treats free of charge to the crowd of more than a hundred concertgoers. 

“Mamita’s Ices is a family, women and minority owned business, which loves to support and help communities!” the dessert shop’s owners said. “We are honored to support and give back to the community with our participation in the Maspeth Federal Savings concert series.”

The crowd was filled with people of all ages, many of whom stood up to dance near the stage as the concert progressed. Warisa Hossain, who attended the event with a friend who had seen the band perform five years ago, was among the dancing concertgoers.

“It was amazing, starting from the drummer, the bassist, the vocalists — they were so amazing,” Hossain, who especially enjoyed the band’s Backstreet Boys numbers, said. “They’re a people pleaser, they kept the crowd pumped up.”

Near the entrance of the parking lot was a small orange booth operated by Big Reuse, an organization that runs composting sites in Queens and Brooklyn. The organization is partnering with the the City of New York Department of Sanitation to educate New Yorkers on how to compost before the practice becomes mandated in October. 

“I’m giving away yard waste bags because now we’re going to have to separate them for the fall,” Natalie Seow, a member of the organization who was working at the booth, said. “We have information to help people understand how to compost and what is going into their compost.” 

Carrie Lee, another concertgoer and a Forest Hills resident, said it was her first time attending the concert series.

“I know every single song they’re singing,” Lee said. “They have high energy, it’s great for the community. There’s a really great crowd here and the music is terrific.” 

Bike Mechanic Training Program Helps Formerly Incarcerated Find Stable Jobs

glendaleregstg on August 2, 2023

A group of around 20 people poses for a group photo during the graduation ceremony. Many of them hold white certificates in thin black frames.

The graduates of the program during the ceremony.

By Carmo Moniz | news@queensledger.com

A program that helps connect justice-involved people with stable jobs welcomed its most recent graduating class, which will work to maintain the Citi Bike fleet all across New York City, at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on Friday.

The program, called Bike Path, teaches participants how to maintain bikes and become certified bike mechanics in just five weeks, providing them with a direct path to employment afterward.

“This is a lifeline for me, personally,” David Bonet, one of the recent graduates, said. “I’ve been going through a lot of health issues and I’ve been out of work for some time. My daughter passed away in 2019 so I haven’t been fully there, but I’ve been looking to go back to the workforce for some time and this is allowing me to do so.”

The group of 18 graduates began working at their new jobs on Monday, according to Bike New York community outreach manager Jeremy Lockett. Lockett said that graduates spend four days per week learning in the five-week course, and that the positions they are going into are union jobs that pay weekly.

“This can be one of the best workforce development programs for those that are coming back from primarily being formerly incarcerated, and it’s been a success so far,” Lockett said. “It’s an incredible program, and we just want to expand it.”

The Bike Path program came from a 2019 partnership between One Community, an organization working against inequality in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, and Bike New York, which looks to increase access to biking and ridership across New York City. The two groups created an intensive bike mechanic training program which would help formerly incarcerated people find stable employment.

Justin Vega, another graduate of the program, said he found out about it through a friend of his, and that he enjoyed learning about the importance of different bike parts and getting to know the others in his class.

“I can’t wait to get started on this,” Vega said. “I see where I can do good as much as the next person, just like fixing an apartment, fixing a bike — everybody uses a bike everyday. For me to fix something and be proud of knowing that I fixed that, and somebody is going to ride it safely, that’s my biggest goal.”

More recently, Bike Path has educated participants on how to repair and maintain the Citi Bike fleet in the city. The program partnered with the organization that oversees the maintenance of these bikes — Motivate — to allow participants to work on the Citi Bike maintenance team once they graduate.

Ben Goodman, an instructor in the program, said that this is his favorite group of students in his 15 years of teaching people how to fix bikes.

“This is the first program I’ve ever taught that is directly related to an employment program,” Goodman said. “I’ve done a lot of teaching for high school students and some adult programming, but it’s just a thing they do in the summer, just for the fun of learning. This is great because there’s an end goal that’s more than just the education, its actual opportunities for them. That’s the best.”

In their new jobs, graduates start with pay at $23.25 per hour, and are eligible to work full time and overtime, and they are eligible to become union members after 30 days, Lockett said in an email. Lockett also said that there are roughly 600 bike mechanics employed at Motivate, which is the largest bikeshare company in the United States. He added that there have been around 200 graduates of the program since 2020, and of the 55 that graduated this year, 46 are hired.

The union representing Citi Bike mechanics, Transportation Workers Union Local 100, negotiated the first union contract in the country for bikeshare workers in 2015, securing wage increases and paid parental leave, vacation time and holidays for union members.

Graduate Rasheem Benjamin said he is looking forward to working for Motivate, and also hopes to learn more about the inner workings of electric bikes in the future. He said that most of the graduates in his class will be on the same work shift, so they’ll continue to see each other in their jobs.

“Day by day I’ve learned something new, and by now I feel like I can make an entire bike with my eyes closed,” Benjamin said. “I very much would like to put other people on, try to let them know about this program. In five weeks you can literally learn a skill, something that you can utilize anywhere, not in just New York City. You can go somewhere else and fix your child’s bike. That feeling, to be able to use my hands and craft something, is something great — it’s powerful.”

New York City Remembers Tony Bennett

glendaleregstg on July 27, 2023

Native Son of Astoria and Legendary Singer Dead at 96

By Matthew Fischetti
mfischetti@queensledger.com

Tony Bennett may have left his heart in San Francisco but his soul belonged to Astoria.
The 96-year-old legendary crooner known for his ballads, jazz and pop tracks passed away on July 21 after battling Alzheimers. While his tracks broke billboard records, the singer started from humble stock. Bennett came from a working class Italian immigrant family, the son of a butcher and seamstress in Queens.
People who knew Bennett over the years said that he never forgot those roots.
Many may remember Bennett for his many accolades and illustrious decades long career, but Kevin Breslin said that he was defined by the little things and not the big ones.
Kevin Breslin’s first memory of Bennett was when he was around six-years-old, sitting on the kitchen counter watching his father, legendary New York City columnist Jimmy Breslin, turn up the transistor radio and slow dancing to “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” with his wife Rosemary Dattolico.“I thought that was kind of charming and it always stuck in my head, of a husband and wife – but Tony Bennett was a part of it.”
It was his Mother’s favorite song. Years later, as Dattolico was battling cancer at Lenox Hill Hospital, Bennett called her to sing her favorite song shortly before she passed away.
“The dancing in the kitchen was always spectacular. And then calling her at this hospital – the little things become the big things,” said Breslin.
Former City Council president and fellow Astoria native Peter Vallone Senior warmly remembered Bennett in an interview.
Vallone knew Bennett from the neighborhood. While Vallone was eight years younger than Bennett, he said that his cousin Joseph Petralia, was particularly close with the late singer due to their shared interest in music.
Vallone continued to say that his father, who was president of the civic association at the time, even got Tony Bennet his first singing performance at 14 years old, after listening to his renditions.
Out of the things Vallone remembers Bennett for, one of the biggest was his role in helping get the Frank Sinatra School in Astoria built.
Vallone helped secure funds in order to build the school at 35-12 35th Ave. which Bennett was a large supporter of and helped raise millions of dollars for the arts high school.
Vallone emphasized Bennett’s humility as he refused to let the school be named after him, despite Vallone’s insistence.
“The school probably wouldn’t exist without you, so we’re going to name it the Tony Bennett school,” Vallone recalled saying.
“No! I won’t do it,” Bennett said back. “You have to name it the Frank Sinatra school.”
“Tony, there would be no school without you. I love Frank Sinatra too. He’s a very nice guy. But he has nothing to do with this school.
“I’m not going to allow that,” Bennett said. “He was my mentor, I love the guy and want to do this.”
“Look at the humility of Tony Bennett,” Valone emphasized in the interview.
Maria Cuomo Cole, the daughter of former Governor Mario Cuomo (who had a close relationship with Bennett), remembers Bennett as someone who was a close and supportive friend and mentor to her family.
“Tony Bennett was a hero, friend and mentor to our whole family, and had a very deep, meaningful friendship with my father. And my mother, who was is 91 and loves him very, very much and was a very close friend of our parents,”
Cuomo Cole emphasized the long standing relationship between her family and Bennett, whether it was being a supporter of her brother and former Governor Andrew Cuomo or his interview.
Cuomo Cole also noted that an important part of Bennett’s legacy was how his career spanned generations, with his highly regarded duets with contemporary artists.
“With the love and support of his children, and Danny [Bennett’s son, who managed his father] celebrating his talent with contemporary talent, the years of his duets with contemporary artists and serving as a mentor for them – that process helped to make him a more contemporary figure,” said Cuomo Cole.
“I was really struck by that. I really think his children celebrated his life in the most important way, the most meaningful way and keeping him healthy to keep him highly relevant. He brought so much to our culture for three generations.”
When reminiscing on Bennett’s legacy, Kevin Breslin deferred to a quote his father used to always say.
“I’ll never forget the quote from my father: ‘singers win hands down.’ And Tony Bennett won hands down.”

City Council Grills Officials on Air Quality Response

glendaleregstg on July 20, 2023

Four people in suits stand in the entrance to a grand beige city building. The floor is tiled beige and brick red, and there is a small podium with a microphone in front of them.

Politicians announce new air quality legislation.

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.”

Councilmember 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.”

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