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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, NOVEMBER 24, 2019
Greenspace gurus to open new
Bushwick community garden
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Bushwick is due for a new
$720,000 community garden courtesy
of state revitalization funds,
which will serve the neighborhood
as both an oasis for green thumbs
and an outdoor events center, according
to a project rep.
“People would like a space
where they can do some gardening,”
said Gary Dearborn, an architect
with New York Restoration
Project, told Community Board 4’s
Parks and Recreation committee
meeting on Thursday. “They’re
also interested in, ‘Can we host our
organization on your property?
Could we host a jobs fair? Could we
host a composting demonstration
for other like-minded folks?”
The nonprofi t garden builder
currently uses the 50-by-200-foot
space on Aberdeen Street between
Bushwick Avenue and the Evergreens
Cemetery to store trucks
and equipment used to maintain
other community lawns in the
area, according to Dearborn.
Now, the greenery advocates
want to revamp the lot into a
sprawling communal space courtesy
of Governor Cuomo’s “Vital
Brooklyn” initiative — a $1.4 billion
revitalization fund that features
$3.1 million earmarked for
20 community gardens across
the borough — with construction
starting in fall 2020, and wrapping
by the end of that year, Dearborn
said.
According to a draft design
Dearborn presented at the committee,
the planned new park will
be divided into three parts — including
a section for fruit trees and
bordering Aberdeen Street.
In the middle of the space, the
group is hoping to build an open
plaza with picnic tables and a restroom
inside a shipping container
— which would also have a canopy
extending out of it to provide shade
on sunny days.
The rear section of the space
would continue to provide car
parking and storage for the organization,
but that area could be
cleared for special events, Dearborn
said.
Once completed, the park will
be open for at least 20 hours a week
— and the gardeners plan to give
neighbors with keys to access and
tend to the space, Dearborn said.
Bushwick residents enjoy less
open space as compared to the rest
of the city, with a ratio of only 0.7
acres per 1000 residents, compared
to the citywide average of 1.5 acres,
according to a recent study.
Green space advocates want to transform
an overgrown lot into a community
garden. New York Restoration Project
Deadly fungus
Continued from page 1
two hospices. Nearly all major
hospitals and nursings homes,
such as Maimonides Medical
Center, Coney Island Hospital,
and NYU Langone have treated
patients with the infection.
Offi cials say that they decided
to disclose the facilities — making
New York the fi rst state in
the nation to do so — in an effort
to bring attention to the rapidly
spreading infection, which the
Center for Disease Control labels
an “urgent threat.”
Despite the dire fi ndings,
health experts urge patients to
continue visiting medical facilities
that treat patients with C.
auris, claiming that many do a
good job containing the infection
and aren’t currently treating affected
patients.
Health offi cials also argue
that the state is taking steps to
mitigate the spread of C. auris by
conducting onsite inspections at
healthcare facilities, providing
infection control education, and
monitoring facility compliance
with infection control recommendations,
among other precautions.
And local hospitals say that
they’re doing their part to contain
the disease.
“Protocols include close
monitoring of hand hygiene,
using contact precautions
(wearing gloves and gowns),
using effective disinfectants,
and ensuring that our laboratory
can rapidly identify C. auris.
Use of these extra steps reduce
spread of C. auris,” said a
representative for Mount Sinai
Brooklyn, which has treated C.
auris patients.
A strain of C. auris at CDC labs.
Center for Disease Control