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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, JUNE 28, 2020
BY JESSICA PARKS
Demonstrators gathered
outside Sunset Park’s
Industry City on June 18
to protest the hub’s alleged
“ruthless” treatment of essential
workers — including
threatening a whistleblower
who spoke up about
unsafe working conditions,
according to one rallygoer.
“This treatment is a
demonstration of the way
Industry City operates,”
said Jeremy Kaplan, a Sunset
Park resident. “They
have billions of dollars,
why are they trying to fi re
an employee in the middle
of a pandemic?”
Robert Stevens, a security
guard at the Sunset
Park business complex,
claims he confronted management
in early March for
failing to implement proper
safety measures and to notify
employees that some
co-workers and patrons
had tested positive for the
novel coronavirus.
“I brought to the attention
of a few offi cials from
management in emails
concerns about COVID-19
when we initially had the
state of emergency,” said
Stevens, who added that he
Sunset Park community members marched into Industry City offi ces on June 18 to protest what they
called poor working conditions at the complex during the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo by Paul Frangipane
received a response from
one manager saying he
“wouldn’t suggest licking
the fl oor of the subway to
get 14 days sick pay.”
After no protective measures
were implemented,
Stevens said he fi led a complaint
against the employer
— which, he says, led management
to slap him with
his fi rst-ever demerit on
his disciplinary record on
the very same day that the
state’s Department of Labor
confi rmed receiving
his complaint.
“I’ve had a very pristine
record of service, no
blemishes,” Stevens said.
“Suddenly that same day,
management was issuing
disciplinary action against
me.”
Couple allegedly stole Yorkie from Marine Park pet store
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
It’s a dog-gone shame!
A pair of thieves allegedly
stole a puppy from a
Flatbush Avenue pet store
in Marine Park on June 15,
and the store owner is worried
that the tiny dog’s life
is in serious danger without
its regimen of life-saving
medicine.
“The dog needs to have
regular care,” said David
Dietz, the owner of Puppy
Paradise, near Troy Avenue.
“If they don’t do that
the dog will only last 48
hours or die.”
A man and his girlfriend
came into the pet haven
just after 5 pm on June 22 to
look at the dogs, and while
the woman was distracting
the salesperson, her beau
took the one-month-old,
one-pound, female Yorkie
named Covina and ran out
the door toward Avenue P,
according to Dietz.
A spokeswoman for the
police department confi
rmed the account and
added that the cops are investigating
the incident.
Covina needs regular
sugars, dietary supplements,
and vitamins daily
to help with her early development,
along with a constant
supply of water, according
to Dietz, who said
he and his staff are worried
for the pup’s life.
“We’re extremely concerned
at this point,” he
said.
Dietz claims that the
man’s girlfriend pressured
him to steal it, with surveillance
video showing her
pushing him to take it.
“It wasn’t the man that
wanted to steal the dog, it
was the girlfriend that is
coaxing him,” he said.
The low penalties for
stealing a dog has long been
a source of anger among
pet owners, as their furry
friends are considered personal
property — making
dognapping similar to
stealing a cell phone or a
television.
But Covina’s owner said
that he doesn’t care about
criminal prosecutions —
even adding that he is willing
to drop any charges the
bandits face if they return
the puppy soon.
“I’m not interested in getting
this person convicted.
We just want to get the dog
back,” he said. “I’m willing
to drop any charges.”
Anyone with information
can email Dietz directly at
david2582342@gmail.com.
Otherwise, anyone with
information in regard to
this incident is asked to call
the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers
Hotline at 1-800-577-
TIPS (8477) or for Spanish,
1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
The public can also submit
their tips by logging onto
the CrimeStoppers website
at www.nypdcrimestoppers.
com, on Twitter @NYPDTips.
Following the initial demerit,
Stevens said he was
routinely written up by
his supervisors for eating
on duty and using his cell
phone, which he said is required
for his job, and had
never been enforced previously
— eventually leading
to two suspensions.
“So now, they are writing
me up on things that
have never been enforced
before,” said Stevens, a
soon-to-be father-of-two
who Sunset Parkers might
recognize for speaking out
against his employer’s decision
to hire an exterminator
to forcibly remove a
colony of 20 feral cats from
the premises in 2017.
Organizers with Protect
Sunset Park, a neighborhood
activist group, scheduled
Thursday’s protest to
coincide with a planned
management meeting to
discuss Stevens’ possible
termination.
After rallying outside of
the waterfront complex on
Second Avenue, protesters
moved indoors in search
of the alleged meeting, but
were unable to fi nd its location
and turned back in
search of the offi ce of Industry
City’s CEO Andrew
Kimball. Their efforts
were ultimately unsuccessful,
but demonstrators say,
their intentions were as
clear as the complex’s.
“We need to demonstrate
that this behavior
is really their true side,
this is how they treat their
workers, this is how they
treat the community,” Kaplan
said. “They are going
to want us to forget about
all of this during the rezoning.”
The complex’s developers
are currently seeking
approval on a controversial
rezoning application that,
if approved, would allow
Kimball to develop 1-million
square feet of space at
Industry City into big-box
retail, academic spaces and
hotels among other amenities
as part of a $1-billion
redevelopment plan.
Community activists
contend the redevelopment
will lead to the increased
gentrifi cation of Sunset
Park and result in a spike
in rents in the neighborhood,
while the project’s
supporters laud the jobs
the project is expected to
bring to the area.
In a statement, the manufacturing
hub denied Stevens’
claims of retaliation,
calling the “false allegations”
an “unneeded distraction”
as management
works to safely transition
into phase two of the city’s
reopening.
“There is absolutely no
truth to any claim made by
anyone that suggests an employee
of Industry City or, as
in this case an employee of a
contractor, was suspended
or terminated based on any
retaliatory practice.,” the
statement read.
A man and a woman stole a one-month-old Yorkie from a Marine
Park pet store on June 15. Photo by Puppy Paradise
Fed up on the frontline
Protesters rally for fair treatment of Industry City’s essential workers
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