March 13–19, 2020 Brooklyn Paper • www.BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 260-2500 11
Crown Heights’ dirty fi ght
By Ben Verde
Brooklyn Paper
Talk about dirty work!
A Brooklyn Supreme
Court Judge ordered the developers
of a contested Crown
Heights project to restore all
of the dirt they’ve already
excavated from the Carroll
Street site, after checking out
the site himself.
“Go out and correct that
mistake, restore the dirt,”
Judge Reginald Boddie
told representatives of Carroll
Plaza Development at
an emergency hearing on
Thursday.
The site, along with other
sites in Crown Heights affected
by a 2018 rezoning,
has been under a temporary
restraining order since April
2019 that prohibits the disturbance
of soil or the pouring
of concrete, after neighborhood
activists sued the city
claiming they failed to conduct
an adequate environmental
review process prior to approving
the rezoning.
The soil was excavated
while the restraining order
EDUCAT ION PROF I LE – A DV E RTI S E M E NT
Which New York City school is
leading the way in STEM education?
STEM (science, technology,
engineering and mathematics)
fields are some of the fastest
growing in New York and
across the country. But there’s
a huge opportunity gap for
young people – particularly
students of color and low-income
students – to break into
these lucrative industries.
One way the opportunity
gap plays out is that science is
not consistently offered in elementary
and middle schools
serving low-income students.
Given how quickly the tech
industry is growing, this puts
students at a severe disadvantage,
and contributes to the
lack of diversity in the field.
Today, 84 percent of STEM
professionals in the U.S. are
White or Asian men. Black and
Latino people make up only
five percent of the workforce
in top tech companies. Here in
New York City, data shows that
we still have a long way to go to
truly expand access to STEM
careers for New Yorkers from
low-income communities.
One New York City charter
network is tackling the problem
head on.
KIPP (Knowledge is Power
Program) NYC was founded in
the South Bronx in 1995 with a
mission to help low-income children
develop the knowledge and
skills they need to lead choicefilled
lives. Now a network of
15 free, public charter schools
in the Bronx, Washington
Heights, Harlem and Brooklyn
serving nearly 8,000 students
and alumni, KIPP early on recognized
the need to equip their
students with both the 21st century
skills and the confidence
they need to succeed in fastgrowing
STEM fields.
Four years ago, KIPP committed
to growing its science
program so all students receive
consistent science instruction.
By exposing young students
to STEM instruction and programming
in the classroom,
KIPP hopes to instill students
with a passion for science and
math that they will carry with
them for the rest of their lives.
In August, KIPP NYC launched
its first STEAM school – KIPP
Elements – that offers a handson
STEM curriculum, including
robotics lessons, to 80 kindergarteners.
In order to help
students see themselves in the
world of STEM, KIPP also implemented
Computational Thinking
and Data Science curricula
for elementary school students.
However, KIPP also recognized
that many compelling
STEM opportunities exist outside
of the classroom, and too
often are reserved for students
in wealthier school districts.
To help address this disparity,
in 2018, KIPP NYC applied
for and was awarded a $50,000
grant from FIRST to launch 18
robotics teams across their K-8
schools. Thanks to the success
of the program, KIPP secured
an additional $25,000 for the
2019-2020 school year to help
expand robotics programming
to even more students across
New York City.
“FIRST has already impacted
students’ mindsets
around STEM,” says KIPP
NYC Director of Science Chéla
Wallace, “when polling our 50
participating elementary students,
almost half now state
they want to be an engineer or
scientist due to their experience
with FIRST.”
KIPP NYC believes that
children from urban communities
are creators, thinkers and
explorers. Through innovative
STEM programming in and
outside of the classroom, KIPP
will continue to empower the
students they serve to become
the next generation of great
scientists, engineers, thinkers
and innovators. Our young
people deserve no less.
Judge orders to restore disturbed land on contested site
was in place, which lawyers
for the developers claimed
happened because builders
did not know the restraining
order applied to them.
After the petitioners in the
case alerted the judge to activity
at the site between Franklin
and Washington Avenues
that they deemed suspicious,
he took a trip to the site himself
on Wednesday where he
said he saw “more than a little
bit” of extracted dirt.
The judge also revoked the
Photo by Ben Verde
developer’s work permits,
making any activity at the
sites illegal, other than restoring
the dirt.
Boddie originally demanded
that developers restore
the contested dirt by
no later than March 10 at 5
pm. However, a lawyer for
the developers explained that
it would be impossible to secure
the necessary certification
to introduce new soil to
the site under environmental
regulations, prompting Boddie
to extend the deadline to
March 12.
Activists celebrated the
decision, saying the decision
marked a turning point
against the development.
“We are absolutely thrilled
over the fact that the court is
finally taking a stand with
these developers and saying
enough is enough,” said antigentrification
advocate Alicia
Boyd, who is representing
herself in the case against the
city. Boyd also lauded Boddie’s
visit to the site. “You got
your 25 lawyers all showing
up and saying things but the
evidence is sitting right there
in front of you.”
Boyd and other activists
have charged that the buildings
along the swath of rezoned
land would harm plant
life at the nearby Brooklyn
Botanic Garden, but the garden
has not taken a public
stance on any of those developments
and maintains
that the proposed mega-development
at 960 Franklin
Avenue is the only project
it opposes.
Alicia Boyd and other activists at Brooklyn Supreme
Court.
Proposed relief for Verrazzano toll
By Rose Adams
Brooklyn Paper
A southern Brooklyn lawmaker
wants to give commuters
a discount on the bridge
with the country’s most expensive
toll.
The Tax Relief for Bridge
Tolls Act, introduced on
March 5 by Congressman
Max Rose, would provide
a credit to commuters who
spend over $1,000 on the Verrazzano
Narrows Bridge annually.
The legislation would
save Staten Islanders about
$215 and Brooklynites $1,091
each year, Rose announced
at a press conference on Saturday.
“This bill will put hundreds,
if not thousands of
dollars back in the bank accounts
of Staten Islanders and
Brooklynites,” said Rose, a
Democrat whose district encompasses
Staten Island and
a swath of southern Brooklyn.
The legislation would allow
drivers to collect a 50
percent credit on all money
spent on tolls over $1,000,
and would apply to commuters
who travel on bridges
with a peak toll free of $11
or higher, including New Jersey’s
Outerbridge Crossing,
Goethals Bridge and Bayonne
Bridge.
The Verrazzano currently
charges E-ZPass
holders $12.25 and non-EZPass
holders $19 to enter
Staten Island, while allowing
Brooklyn-bound drivers
in for free. The one-way tolling
system, which was created
in the 1980s to reduce traffic
on the Staten Island side, is
the only federally-mandated
one-way toll in the country,
but legislation passed in December
will split the toll in
two. Once the Metropolitan
Transit Authority installs the
new tolling infrastructure, EZPass
holders will fork over
$6.12 and other drivers will
pay $9.50 — but the MTA
has a long way to go before
installing the new toll system,
Staten Island Advance
reported in late January.
As is, Brooklynites who
commute to Staten Island every
weekday pay $3,182.40 annually
with an E-ZPass and
$4,940 without one, while
Staten Island residents with
the resident discount pass
pay $1,430 annually, according
to Rose. Drivers will pay
the same rate once split-tolling
goes into effect, but the
rep’s new bill would cut down
Brooklynites’ annual toll fees
to about $2,091 and Staten Islanders’
to $1,215.
The proposal comes almost
a year after a group of state
legislators introduced legislation
that would give Brooklynites
the same resident discount
on the Verrazzano that
Staten Islanders receive.
In April of 2019, State Senator
Andrew Gounardes and
Assemblywoman Mathylde
Frontus introduced legislation
offering Brooklynites
who cross the bridge 10 or
more times per month a resident
discount, charging them
$5.50 per ride as opposed to
$12.25. That proposal is still
awaiting a vote in the committees
of of the upper and
lower chambers of the legislature.
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