Despite Claims At Meet, Sessions Are Open
Police have clarified statements made during Brooklyn Community Board 4′s meeting last Wednesday, May 20, which suggested members of the press may not attend the board’s Public Safety Committee meetings.
During the session at the Hope Gardens Senior Center in Bushwick, P.O. Damarys Franco, a member of the precinct’s Community Affairs Unit, said Public Safety Committee Meetings were closed to the press.
“The only time press can attend the 83rd Precinct, is during the 83rd Precinct Community Council meeting, which is separately [sic] from an SLA (State Liquor Authority) or a public safety meeting,” Franco said. “These are the guidelines I have to follow in regards to our DCPI (Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Public Information). In regards to the SLA request or public safety meetings, although the press would not be allowed to attend, it is open to the public, which means if you live or work in the Bushwick community, you are allowed to attend the meeting. If anyone there is observed with any kind of press credentials, you will be kindly escorted out of the precinct.”
In a phone interview with the Times Newsweekly on Wednesday, May 22, Franco explained she was referring to meetings between liquor license applicants and the community affairs unit-not the Public Safety meetings where the community board’s committee votes to recommend approving or denying applicants.
According to a spokesperson from DCPI who spoke with the Times Newsweekly on May 20, Public Safety Committee meetings are open to both the general public and the press. In order to preserve attendees’ anonymity, recording devices, such as voice recorders and cameras, are not allowed, DCPI officials said. Possession of such a device is grounds for removal, officials noted.
Meetings where a vote is taken by a public body-be it a community board or a committee-are subject to state open meeting laws. The 2010 Handbook for Community Board Members makes this distinction.
“The actions and procedures of Community Boards and their committees are governed by the applicable provisions of the City Charter … and the New York State Open Meetings Law (OML, Sections 100-111 of the New York State Public Officers Law) and Freedom of Information Law (FOIL, Sections 84-90 of the Public Officers Law),” the handbook states.
“The Open Meetings Law applies to ‘public bodies,'” according to the New York Department of State’s website. “That term is defined to include entities consisting of two or more people that conduct public business and perform a governmental function for New York State, for an agency of the state, or for public corporations, such as cities, counties, towns, villages and school districts. Committees and subcommittees of these entities are also included within the definition.”
Since informal meetings between Community Affairs officers and local merchants do not constitute performing a “governmental function” (i.e. creating legislation, allocating public funds, etc…), such meetings are not subject to open meeting laws.
Starting in September, the board will hold two Public Safety Committee Meetings per month-one to address general safety concerns; the other to address SLAs, according to District Manager Nadine Whitted.
Whitted said last Wednesday the committee is too swamped with SLAs to address other public safety issues.
“It’s unfortunate that we’ve been focusing all our efforts on one specific issue,” she said.
The board voted on eight such applications during its April meeting, and four during its March meeting.
During the meeting, the board voted on and approved one application for a liquor, beer and wine license for Dillinger’s Cafe, located at 146 Evergreen Ave..
Public Safety Committee meetings are typically held at 6 p.m. on the first Tuesday of the month at the 83rd Precinct’s station house. Due to a scheduling conflict, the board’s next Public Safety Committee meeting will take place Tuesday, May 28-the time and location will be the same, according to the board’s chair, Julie Dent. The committee’s recommendations will go before the board during its June meeting, she said.
Board elections
The board held its yearly executive officers’ election. The results left the cabinet largely unchanged.
Dent ran unopposed and was reelected unanimously by the board. It was noted she has served several consecutive terms and needed to a twothirds vote to remain chair.
Martha Brown and Victoria Fernandez were re-elected to first and second vice chairs respectively.
Correspondence Secretary Virgie Jones, Treasurer Avellar Hansley and Parliamentarian Odolph Wright were all re-elected without challengers.
The board filled an opening for recording secretary, electing Cirilo Nunez, who was previously the financial secretary-the vacancy he left was filled by the only new officer, Elisio Ruiz.
“Shape Up Bushwick” Parade
Whitted and board member Mary McClellan told residents about the neighborhood’s Brooklyn-Queens Day Parade, called Shape Up Bushwick, which will focus on educating residents about healthy lifestyles.
The parade will start at 10 a.m. on Chauncy Street, moving from Chauncy Street to Evergreen Avenue, down Weirfield Street to Wilson Avenue, and ending at Irving Square Park.
In the park there will be ar array of healthy foods donated by the Wyckoff Heights Hospital and Food Bazaar, McClellan noted.
“Every year we challenge ourselves to do something differently. We’re really different this year-we used to have hot dogs and hamburgers, but this year, we’re going to try to stay healthy,” Whitted said.
There will also be yoga, aerobics, Zumba and other fitness instruction. Bogopa Corp.-Food Bazaar’s parent company-will provide a voucher for food, according to Whitted.
The board is looking for volun- teers to help transport food from the store on June 5 and to help set up the park on June 6. The board is also asking for coolers to helps store the food for the event. Vendors, organizations and volunteers are asked to arrive at the park by 9 a.m. Cars are needed to help transfer the food, Dent noted. Volunteers can call the board’s office at 718-628-8400.
This is the eighth year the neighborhood has conducted the parade, according to Whitted, who said it was conceived as a way to unite the neighborhood and create more positive forces in the area.
“There was such a long time that there wasn’t a lot of positive publicity about our neighborhood, so we stared honoring ourselves,” she said. Updates from the District Attorney
During her district manager’s report, Whitted told the board she met with Kings County District Attorney Charles Hynes to discuss several issues in the neighborhood.
She reported that police recently arrested 41 members of the True Bosses Only gang. Nine gang members have pled guilty to allegations brought against them, and 18 remain incarcerated, she said.
Several unoccupied buildings that were acting as havens for prostitutes have been sealed or occupied, she said .
The three-story residential buildings at 14 Woodbine St. and 30 Woodbine St. have been sealed. The building at 22 Woodbine St. is now occupied, she added.
Since 2011, there have been 339 prostitutes arrested in the precinct, she noted.
Whitted said the suspect wanted for several sexual assaults, mostly along the northern border of Bushwick, is still at large, and the NYPD has stationed a “tremendous amount of NYPD officers in the area,” which borders the 104th Precinct in Ridgewood. The NYPD has increased its presence at the Halsey, Myrtle-Wyckoff and DeKalb L subway stations, she noted.
Summer emergency meeting
The board will hold an emergency meeting in July or August to address two Uniform Land Use Applications (ULURP) in the district, according to Dent’s chairperson’s report.
The applications have not been certified by the Department of City Planning, so no dates have been set, it was noted. District Manager Nadine Whitted told this paper she had no additional information about the ULURPs.
Follow the Times Newsweekly for updates regarding any proposed zoning changes in the area.
Two new charter schools
There will be two public hearings in June regarding public charter schools that want lease space from and operate in public school buildings in Bushwick.
PAVE II, the proposed second location for PAVE Academy Charter School of Red Hook, would co-locate with I.S. 347 and I.S. 349. The hearing will be held at 5:30 p.m., June 11, in building K111, located at 35 Starr St.
There will also be a hearing for the co-location of Achievement First North Brooklyn at P.S. 377. The charter is proposing a K-4 program. The hearing will be held at 6 p.m., June 13, at P.S. 377, located at 200 Woodbine St.
Greenest block in Brooklyn
Whitted also told attendees about the Greenest Block in Brooklyn contest, which is organized by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
The free-to-enter contest promises gardening tools and cash prizes between $100 and $300 for winners, she said.
Whitted noted there are several blocks in the neighborhood that she thinks could win.
The competition features categories for best window box, greenest storefront, best street tree beds and best community garden streetscape, her report noted.
Entries must come from block associations, civic groups or neighborhood associations, and the deadline to apply is June 1, according to the BBG’s website. There are also categories for commercial blocks.
So far three blocks have registered in Bushwick, according to the BBG’s website.
The BBG also offers free gardening clinics for block associations and other civic groups. More information, including registration forms, can be found at www.bbg.org/greenbridge/ greenestblock.
The next Brooklyn Community Board 4 meeting is scheduled to take place on Wednesday night, June 19, at 6 p.m. at the Hope Gardens Senior Center, located at 195 Linden St., off Wilson Avenue, in Bushwick.
