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JULY 21, 2019, BROOKLYN WEEKLY
BY AIDAN GRAHAM
Borough President Eric
Adams climbed the steps
of City Hall on Friday
flanked by an unlikely
entourage of yoga gurus,
wellness experts, and police
union honchos to demand
meditation classes
for New York’s Finest
amid a rash of suicides.
“The stress and
trauma that our police officers
face on a daily basis,
where they are frequently
forced to make
life-or-death decisions,
are all too familiar,” said
Adams, who served as a
city police officer for 22
years, retiring with the
rank of captain. “Just as
we teach police officers
how to use a weapon, we
should be teaching them
how to use mindfulness
to manage stress.”
Adams hosted his July
12 press conference after
firing off letters to Mayor
Bill de Blasio and Police
Commissioner James
O’Neill urging them to institute
semi-annual meditation
courses, arguing
that eastern mindfulness
techniques aren’t a bunch
of hippy-dippy nonsense,
but a proven method of
providing psychological
benefits that translate to
happy, high-performing
cops.
“Secular meditation
and mindfulness-based
stress reduction are evidence
based practices
that have been scientifically
proven to decrease
anxiety, depression, hostility,
and stress, while
increasing attention and
focus, ethical decisionmaking,
and even happiness
scores,” wrote Adams.
This year, six city cops
have taken their own
lives, including veteran
officers Joe Calabrese
and Steven Silks , who
shot themselves one day
after the other in June.
And the beep — a noted
fitness fanatic , who meditates
twice each day —
said he hopes Brooklyn’s
boys in blue won’t let their
masculinity stand in the
CHILL: Borough President Eric Adams holds a press conference on the steps of City Hall on July 12 to
demand meditation training for city cops. Photos by Aidan Graham
way of his flower-power
healing routine, saying
there’s nothing manly
about allowing your mental
health to deteriorate.
“Policing is a macho
occupation,” he said.
“Meditation and self-help
is considered almost a
sissy response.”
The Patrolmen’s Benefit
Association — a labor
union representing officers
within the NYPD —
threw its support behind
Adam’s call for mindfulness
training, with President
Patrick Lynch claiming
it’s never been harder
to be a cop and never more
important to support first
responders.
“The job of a New York
City police officer has always
been a stressful one,
but policing today is more
mentally and emotionally
taxing than ever before,”
said Lynch.
The city has not been
idle amid the tragedies,
and Adam’s zen-like advocacy
comes on the heels
of a newly formed mental
health task force , which
will provide peer counseling
at police precinct
citywide, as well as training
for commanding officers
on how to recognize
mental health problems
among officers.
The beep has been on
something of an eastern
wellness kick recently,
and early this week suggested
the city offer prisoners
at the Brooklyn
House of Detention yoga
classes amid a public review
process for a mayoral
scheme to expand
the Boerum Hill holding
facility.
FOR RENT: The new building offers 93 rent-subsidized
apartments awarded based on a lottery system.
Housing Development Corporation
Affordable housing
lottery opens in
Crown Heights
BY AIDAN GRAHAM
Brooklynites looking to
escape the borough’s brutal
housing market — but
not the borough — have
until Sept. 13 to enter a
lottery for a new Crown
Heights development’s socalled
“affordable housing”
component.
The newly constructed
nine-story apartment
building — located at 1336
Bedford Ave., between
Dean and Pacifi c streets
— features 93 affordable
units offered at monthly
rents between $590 and
$3,060 that are available to
lucky lotto winners with
annual incomes between
$22,800 and $204,270.
Would-be renters are
categorized based on the
size of their family, their
annual salaries, and how
those earnings relate to
the city’s median income
— a citywide fi gure that
pegs the average income
of a three-person family
at $96,100 per year.
The building contains:
• 10 units available for
tenants earning 40 percent
median income — between
$22,800 and $49,530
• 9 units available for
tenants earning 50 percent
median income — between
$28,938 and $61,900
• 28 units available
for tenants earning 100
percent median income
— between $49,200 and
$123,800
• 64 units available
for tenants earning 165
percent median income
— between $76,629 and
$204,270
The lowest-earning
group includes six onebedroom
apartments for
$590 monthly, three twobedroom
apartments for
$718 monthly, and one
three-bedroom apartment
for $821 monthly.
The next incomebracket
up offers fi ve onebedroom
units and three
two-bedroom units for
$796 and $933 per-month,
respectively. The remaining
75 units demand
monthly prices between
$1,069 and $3,060.
The development is
part of the New York City
Housing Development
Corporation’s Mixed
Middle-Income program
— which offers government
subsidized rents at
private developments to
make them available for
lower-income residents.
Under program rules ,
half of the available
units must be allotted
to current residents of
Community Board 8 —
which includes Crown
Heights and Prospect
Heights. An additional
seven percent of units
are reserved for those
with disabilities.
Applications can be
submitted online at a806-
housingconnect.nyc.gov/
nyclottery/lottery.html.
NAMA-STAY HEALTHY
Adams calls for meditation training for cops following suicides
SUPPORTIVE: PBA Second Vice President Joseph Alejandro speaks
in support of the Borough President’s plan, saying meditation is a
“simple tool that has existed for thousands of years.”
/housingconnect.nyc.gov