What’s Up at Borough Hall BROOKLYN-USA.ORG
Recent happenings at the People’s House
MARCH
Colorectal cancer awareness hit
a home run when Borough President
Adams joined baseball great Darryl
Strawberry on Tuesday, March 5th at
The Brooklyn Hospital Center (TBHC)
in Fort Greene to co-host the hospital’s
kickoff of Colorectal Cancer Awareness
Month. Strawberry, a colorectal
cancer survivor, advocated for the public
to rally around getting screened for
the disease, while Borough President
Adams reminded Brooklynites that
colorectal cancer is curable, treatable,
and preventable - messages he has promoted
through his #NoButtsAboutIt
campaign. Later the same day, Borough
President Adams moderated a
panel discussion at Brooklyn Brewery
in Williamsburg. The event, titled “BQX
Conversations: Real Impacts on Local
Business” and hosted by the Friends
of BQX, drew local residents and entrepreneurs
to hear from a panel of small
business owners and advocates from cities
such as Kansas City, MO and Seattle,
WA, who shared their experiences with
streetcar projects such as the Brooklyn
Queens Connector (BQX) proposal,
which promotes using streetcars to connect
a direct route between Astoria and
Red Hook.
Mayor de Blasio, Borough President
Adams, and Schools Chancellor Richard
A. Carranza jointly announced on
Monday, March 11th that beginning in
the 2019-2020 school year, all New York
City public schools will adopt “Meatless
Monday” menus. The program, which
was spearheaded by Borough President
Adams at 15 schools in Brooklyn in 2018
and served as an impetus behind the
now-citywide initiative, will provide
vegetarian breakfasts and lunches to
students every Monday. Borough President
Adams issued a statement acknowledging
that he stood beside the
mayor and then-Chancellor Carmen
Fariña in 2017 to announce the Brooklyn
“Meatless Monday” pilot, and in just
18 months, the initiative expanded to
more than one million children at every
school across the city, putting Brooklynites
on the path to making our children,
our communities, and our planet
healthier.
On Thursday, March 28, Borough
President Adams celebrated the launch
of a pilot program organized in partnership
with the New York City Department
of Education (DOE), and his colleagues
in the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, and
Staten Island. Small non-profi ts across
the city were encouraged to apply for
the Extended Use Hardship Waiver Pilot
Program, an effort to provide community
organizations with greater access
to school facilities. This $2 million
initiative to ensure greater space use access
for small, not-for-profi t, communitybased
organizations (CBOs) that provide
26 ONE BROOKLYN | SUMMER 2019
Borough President Adams listened to students discuss their joint participatory
budgeting process, which was focused on school safety. Borough President’s offi ce/Erica Krodman
services to young people was created after
years of advocacy in Brooklyn from
Borough President Adams. This limited
pilot program permits applications for
events up until Sunday, June 30th. To be
eligible, CBOs must be not-for-profi t, in
compliance with Chancellor’s Regulation
D-180, and be able to demonstrate fi -
nancial hardship. To apply for a waiver,
CBOs must meet the program’s stipulations,
outlined at infohub.nyced.org/
resources/school-programs/extendeduse
hardship-waiver-program.
APRIL
Borough President Adams supported
the “educate, empower, enlighten” mantra
of My Time Inc. when he hosted parents
and other caregivers of children
with autism and developmental disabilities
in commemorating National
Autism Awareness Month on Tuesday,
April 2 at Brooklyn Borough Hall. The
group, in partnership with the Smart-
Fit and Shining Star organizations, acknowledges
the importance for caregivers
of special needs children to have a
safe space that offers information, resources,
and support that benefi ts their
children, as well as themselves. After
signifi cant community concerns were
raised by residents and community
leaders — including Borough President
Adams — about the City’s plans to replace
the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway
(BQE) triple cantilever, Mayor de
Blasio announced on Wednesday, April
3rd that he would convene a new expert
panel to evaluate a range of options for
its reconstruction. The approximately
1.5-mile section of the BQE between the
Atlantic Avenue interchange and Sands
Street is among the most complex highway
structures in the country, and includes
the triple-cantilever structure of
which the Brooklyn Heights Promenade
is the top-most tier. This news came the
same day as a town hall co-hosted by A
Better Way and the Brooklyn Heights
Association (BHA) at the Plymouth
Church in Brooklyn Heights. At the
town hall, Borough President Adams
expressed that he views the fi ght for a
better BQE, including the successful efforts
to secure design-build authorization
for the project and to establish this
new panel, as a case study to be followed
by other communities in Brooklyn seeking
to improve their environment. More
information on this project is available
at bqe-i278.com.
Borough President Adams and the
Participatory Budgeting Project (PBP)
collaborated on a fi rst-in-the-nation participatory
budgeting (PB) vote focused
on school safety. High school students at
the Acorn/Gotham Campus in Crown
Heights and John Jay Educational Campus
in Park Slope got to decide how to
spend more than $1 million on ways
to make their schools more safe and
supportive, including capital projects
funded by $500,000 per campus from
Borough President Adams’ Fiscal Year
2020 (FY20) budget — the largest-ever allocation
to schools for any PB initiative
— and $10,000 per campus in expense
projects funded by their school administrations.
Additionally, for the fi rst time,
students were able to craft and vote on
policy proposals to be implemented campus
wide that advanced school safety.
On Monday, April 8, Borough President
Adams announced the winning projects,
a list that included a new basketball
court, bathroom renovations, and
fi ltered drinking foundations.
On Thursday, April 18, Borough
President Adams partnered with Grow
NYC to host a free Stop ‘n’ Swap event at
Brooklyn Borough Hall. Brooklynites
were invited to bring clean, reusable,
portable items such as clothing, housewares,
electronics, books, and toys they
no longer needed, while having the opportunity
to take away new-to-them
items they wanted. And, as a kickoff to
Earth Week, Borough President Adams
invited fellow cyclists and safe street advocates
to join him for his fi fth annual
Bike-to-Work ride on Monday, April 22.
The ride, which started at Zion Triangle
in Borough President Adams’ native
Brownsville, highlighted the positive
impact New Yorkers can have on
their local environment by using pedal
power.
MAY
Elder care took center stage in
Brooklyn throughout the month of
May when several senior-centric events
were hosted at Brooklyn Borough Hall.
On Tuesday, May 7th, Borough President
Adams, in partnership with Age
Friendly Bay Ridge and Bay Ridge Center
NNORC, welcomed senior residents
to come and experience hands-on technology
that improves their quality-oflife
and assists with daily tasks, featuring
everything from computer basics
to cutting-edge products and services.
The Caregiver Expo, hosted by Borough
President Adams in partnership
with Circle of Care, was held at Brooklyn
Borough Hall on Wednesday, May
8th and offered seniors valuable information
on how to care for themselves
as they age, as well as resources available
to those caring for a family member
or friend. On Tuesday, May 21, Brooklyn’s
older adults were celebrated at the
fourth annual Older Americans Month
Celebration, in which attendees were
invited to “Connect, Create, and Contribute”
through a resource fair, musical
performances, swing dance fashion
showcases, and more.
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