Bronx Council for Environmental Quality - Greening the Bronx Conference 4.10.19 6-9 PM

SAVE the DATE
Join us at our Annual Meeting

April 10, 2019 6 pm to 9 pm  

Manhattan College’s
Leo Engineering Building

3825 Corlear Ave. at 238 St, Bronx, NY 10463.

rsvp@bceq.org

Greening the Bronx: Clean, Capture and Soak-In Rain

Greening the Bronx with Green Infrastructure is a simple way to clean our water, capture it before it wears out our streets, from flooding or freezing, and help any rainfall/snow to soak into the land, lawns, and flowering rain gardens.   Protecting Land and Shores with Green Infrastructure, is an approved nature-based management practice.  Kindly respond that you will attend (especially if you plan on eating the light meal) to rsvp@bceq.org your name, phone#, and affiliation.  Check our web page for more detailed information and changes to the program.

HELP TURN FORT INDEPENDENCE PARK INTO A SPONGE

Help turn Fort Independence Park into a sponge! Enter the Park into Sponge Contest by sending an email to parkintosponge@bceq.org with your name, phone, & affiliation or if it is school project, your professor/teacher. Provide a short description of your ideas and the method of your presentation.  You will be expected to give a 5-minute talk on the design. Be the City’s imagination and prepare Green Infrastructure drawings based on the photos of runoff damage supplied in the registration packet. Or use your own park and take your own photos and prepare GI to turn your Park into a Sponge. Bring your final exhibit, on either a poster, power point, or storyboard to the meeting (set up is 5 pm on April 10). Winners will be announced in at our Environmental Education Awards Board Meeting on June 8, 2019.

Participate in Government - Send Comments and/or Attend Meetings

Save Wetlands - follow the Riverkeeper's letter writing campaign  https://secure3.convio.net/river/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=567   The BIG WALL is coming. Come to the meeting that the Army Corps of Engineerings are holding - NYNJHAT.  https://www.nan.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Projects-in-New-York/New-York-New-Jersey-Harbor-Tributaries-Focus-Area-Feasibility-Study/ Check our web page for updates and sample comments.

CITY ANNOUNCES $2.8 MILLION IN FUNDING FOR OVER 175 CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS FROM METROPOLITAN MUSEUM ADMISSIONS REVENUE AGREEMENT

   Today, the de Blasio Administration announced that $2.8 million in additional funding will be allocated to over 175 cultural organizations in underserved communities in all five boroughs. The new funding is being made available thanks to an agreement allowing the Metropolitan Museum of Art to charge mandatory admission to visitors from outside of New York State in exchange for sharing a portion of the new revenue with the City. DCLA committed to use this revenue to support the goals from the CreateNYC cultural plan, which identified cultural funding equity as one of its top priorities.

“New York is the cultural capital of the world not only because of our hallmark institutions, but because of the smaller museums, shows, and organizations throughout the five boroughs,” said Mayor de Blasio “They deserve meaningful investment too. This agreement has allowed the Met to thrive while giving us a unique opportunity to increase cultural investment in our underserved communities - allowing us to support the diversity that makes our city great at no additional cost to taxpayers.”

·         Cultural Development Fund increase: $1.4 million of the funding was earmarked for Cultural Development Fund recipients. More than 160 groups received increases in their FY19 grants. Groups that received increases either are located in or provide services to high-need neighborhoods identified by the Social Impact of the Arts Project’s report “Culture and Social Wellbeing in New York City.” Groups receiving increases ranging from $1K to $40K include Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center in the Bronx; Weeksville Heritage Center in Brooklyn; Harlem Stage in Manhattan; Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens; and St. George Theater in Staten Island.

·         Cultural Institutions Group increase: The remaining $1.4 million will be distributed to members of theCultural Institutions Group (CIG) located in underserved communities. The goal is to build on the City’s long term relationship with the members of the CIG and provide greater equity among its members. The funding increases range from $25K to $175K. The 16 members of the CIG receiving increased funding include the Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning, El Museo del Barrio, Studio Museum in Harlem, Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Staten Island Children’s Museum, and Bronx Museum of the Arts.

The funding comes from an agreement between the City’s Department of Cultural Affairs and the Metropolitan Museum of Art implemented in 2018. Under the terms of the agreement, the Met was be permitted to charge mandatory admission to visitors who are not residents of New York State. In turn, the Met would share a portion of its admissions revenue in the first year of its implementation.

After that, DCLA will permanently lower the Met’s annual subsidy proportionally based on the admissions revenue and direct this funding to other cultural organizations based on the priorities and recommendations in the CreateNYC cultural plan, namely to increase cultural funding for historically underserved organizations and communities.  These increases were targeted to communities identified by the Social Impact of the Arts Project, which mapped cultural assets across the city.

This marks another step toward fostering a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive cultural sector that serves all New Yorkers. Related efforts include the Department of Cultural Affairs’ initiative to promote a more diverse cultural workforce. DCLA has also created a number of new programs aimed at engaging historically underserved populations, including people with disabilities and non-English speakers. To learn more about CreateNYC, visit DCLA’s website.

“New York invests more in its cultural institutions than any other city in America,” said Cultural Affairs Commissioner Tom Finkelpearl. “While the returns on this investment are nothing short of transformative for communities across the city, we’ve looked for ways to address historical lack of cultural assets and investments in underserved communities. This agreement with the Met has paid dividends for NYC’s cultural community: stabilizing one of our City’s major institutions with increased admissions revenue, while providing a much needed boost to organizations that anchor communities across the City.”

“The admissions policy is performing precisely as we hoped it would – our Museum is welcoming record levels of visitors, the increased revenue is supporting our always ambitious exhibition and education programming, and New Yorkers are continuing to enjoy pay-as-you-wish pricing.  It is wonderful to see how the partnership that New York City and The Met began 149 years ago is bringing to our City even more support of arts and culture,” said Daniel Weiss, President and CEO, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Friends Of Pelham Parkway Clean Up and Mulch For Spring

  The Friends of Pelham Parkway led by Roxanne Delgado, students from the Collegian Academy of the Columbus Campus, Councilman Mark Gjonaj, and even a couple of Bronx Park workers converged on the Pelham Parkway area by Wallace Avenue for a spring cleaning and mulching of the area. 

  Rakes, shovels, gloves, and even a truckload of mulch was brought by Partnership for Parks and the Parks Department. Mulch was brought over to trees to be placed around as many as possible by the group. Dead leaves were picked up, and rose bushes were trimmed for the upcoming spring warm weather. 

Above - Councilman Mark Gjonaj picked up a shovel and with one of his staffers were filling up wheelbarrows with mulch to be placed around the trees in the area.

Below - Once the mulch was placed around the trees students from the Collegian Academy of the Columbus Campus raked it down and around the trees. 

Above - This trio of intrepid workers took time out to pose for this photo as the started to clean up.

Below - As the day went on many bags were filled with dead leaves and mulch was placed around the rose bush area area. The rose bushes was later trimmed down by the Parks Department.

Fraudulent Political Action Committee Operator Sentenced To Two Years In Prison

  Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that WILLIAM TIERNEY was sentenced to two years in prison for conspiring to defraud tens of thousands of victims of more than $1 million in connection with political action committees falsely purporting to support causes including autism awareness, law enforcement support, and the pro-life movement.  TIERNEY was also ordered to pay more than $1.5 million in forfeiture and restitution to victims, as well as an additional $50,000 fine.  TIERNEY pled guilty on November 2, 2018, before United States District Judge Jesse M. Furman, who also imposed the sentence.

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said:  “The successful prosecution of William Tierney demonstrates the commitment of the federal government to rooting out fraud and corruption in political action committees.  Today’s sentence sends a clear warning to anyone engaged in fraudulent political fundraising:  Scam PACs are a crime and those perpetrating them will go to prison.”

According to the Information, other filings in Manhattan federal court, and evidence presented in court at sentencing:

TIERNEY defrauded tens of thousands of donors to six political action committees that he established, controlled, and operated.  These scam PACs were fraudulent entities operated to enrich the defendant, targeting victims across the country to raise funds on the basis of false and misleading representations.  The scam PACs purported to support voter education regarding – and the political campaigns of those who supported – various causes, including autism awareness, law enforcement, and pro-life causes, including through purported “coast to coast” education and advocacy campaigns, working with local groups and organizations, and “investing every penny . . . in the big races to come.”  In truth, virtually all of the money raised was either paid to TIERNEY or used to perpetuate the fraud through additional telemarketing, fundraising, and overhead expenditures.  Less than 1 percent of the money obtained by the scam PACs was contributed to candidates for office.

TIERNEY carried out the fraud through a web of shell pass-through entities utilized to conceal and disguise the scheme.  Donated funds were transferred to these shell entities, which were given names that suggested activities related to marketing, consulting, and communications efforts, including for issue-specific causes.  As a result, payments to the shell entities appeared to be for legitimate expenditures, including when publicly disclosed in Federal Election Commission (“FEC”) filings.  In at least one instance, a website was created for one of the shell entities, falsely stating that the entity provided direct marketing and political consulting services to trade associations, candidate campaigns, political action committees, and nonprofit organizations.  In fact, these and the other shell entities TIERNEY created had no active operations or employees, were retained by no outside “clients,” and served only to funnel and disguise financial transactions involving money donated to certain scam PACs.

To facilitate the fraud, TIERNEY used the false identity “Bill Johnson” when meeting and corresponding with certain vendors.  Another fake identity, “Emma Smith,” was used in fundraising solicitations, and was described as a “Volunteer Coordinator” for one of the PACs.  In fact, neither Emma Smith nor the position of “Volunteer Coordinator” actually existed.  TIERNEY also undertook efforts to avoid press coverage of the scam PACs more generally, despite the scam PACs’ claims in solicitation materials of national advocacy and awareness campaigns. 

In addition to the prison term, Judge Furman ordered TIERNEY, 47, to pay restitution in the amount of $1,175,417.23, forfeiture in the amount of $410,649.18, and a fine in the amount of $50,000.  TIERNEY was also sentenced to one year of supervised release.

TIERNEY pled guilty on November 2, 2018, to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Mr. Berman praised the outstanding investigative work of the Special Agents of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and thanked the Federal Bureau of Investigation for its contributions to the investigation.

Former Public Administrator Employee to be Sentenced for Stealing Over $78,000 From Estates of Eight Decedents

Used Stolen Funds on a Cruise, Bills, Shopping and More

  Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, together with New York City Department of Investigation Commissioner Margaret Garnett, today announced that a former case manager at the Office of the Kings County Public Administrator has pleaded guilty and will be sentenced to make full restitution and serve five years’ probation following a 60-day jail term that he began today. He admitted stealing more than $78,000 from the eight deceased individuals whose estates his agency was administering.

District Attorney Gonzalez said, “I am committed to thwarting corruption and abuse of power and holding accountable those who betray the public trust. This defendant was entrusted to administer the estates of deceased individuals, but shamelessly chose to steal from them instead – causing additional grief to their loved ones.”

Commissioner Garnett said, “This public servant abused his authority as a representative of the Public Administrator’s Office by stealing tens of thousands of dollars from the estates of several deceased persons and lining his own pockets. Now, he has a criminal felony conviction and will pay back in full the money he stole. DOI thanks the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office for their partnership and prosecution of this case.”

The District Attorney identified the defendant as Fitzroy Thompson, 37, of Park Slope, Brooklyn. He pleaded guilty to second-degree grand larceny on January 9, 2019 before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun, who today remanded the defendant to serve 60 days in jail. When he completes the jail term, he will be formally sentenced on May 15, 2019, to five years’ probation and must make full restitution by the end of the probationary term.

The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, the defendant was employed as a case manager at the Office of the Kings County Public Administrator, which administers estates of those who die without a last will and testament or without family members able to administer their estates. Between July 2017 and April 2018, the defendant stole a total of $78,325 in funds from estates being administered by the Public Administrator.

The defendant used credit cards and checking accounts belonging to estates of eight decedents whose cases he handled or could access to make various purchases and payments. In January 2018, he booked a cruise with Carnival Cruise Line, using one of the decedent’s credit cards to pay a $2,741 fee, the investigation found. He also used estate funds unlawfully to make ATM withdrawals exceeding $35,000, to make lease payments on a 2017 Nissan Pathfinder and a 2016 Nissan Altima, to make rent payments in connection with two properties, to pay phone and cable bills, to buy JetBlue airline tickets to Nassau, Bahamas and to make purchases at Walmart, Fingerhut and other retailers.

The defendant was arrested in March 2018 after the executor of one estate noticed charges on his deceased relative’s account, including the cruise payment, and filed a police report. A subsequent investigation discovered the additional larcenies. The defendant was suspended upon his arrest and resigned from the Office of the Public Administrator.

District Attorney Gonzalez thanked the Kings County Public Administrator’s Office, its staff and Public Administrator Richard Buckheit for their cooperation and assistance with this investigation. The case was also investigated by New York City Police Department Detective Mitchell Eisenberg of the 60th Precinct Detective Squad.

Long Island Chiropractor Pleads Guilty to Multi-Million Dollar Health Care Fraud

Admits Billing Under Names of Other Providers to Evade Review

 Raymond R. Pellegrino, a chiropractor, pleaded guilty to health care fraud.  The plea took place before United States District Judge Joseph F. Bianco.  When sentenced, Pellegrino faces up to 10 years in prison, as well as restitution of $2,110,000, forfeiture of $504,444 and a fine to be determined.

Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, announced the guilty plea.

“Pellegrino abused his position of trust as a health care provider by billing millions of dollars in fraudulent claims for services that doctors never provided,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue.  “Today’s guilty plea sends the message that those who engage in such criminal conduct will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”  Mr. Donoghue expressed his grateful appreciation to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New York State Department of Financial Services for its assistance in the case.

Pellegrino operated chiropractic offices in West Hempstead and Hicksville, New York.  He hired medical doctors for part-time work and then billed Anthem Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield under the taxpayer identification numbers of those doctors for osteopathic manipulation and other services purportedly provided to beneficiaries.  Between December 2013 and September 2014, Pellegrino was paid over $2 million for fraudulent claims filed with Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield, billing for medical services that he knew the doctors had not provided.

The Defendant:

RAYMOND R. PELLEGRINO

Age:  50

McKinney, Texas

CONSTRUCTION COMPANY EXECUTIVE INDICTED FOR DEFRAUDING NEW YORK CITY SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION AUTHORITY

Defendant Allegedly Failed to Pay Workers the Prevailing Wage on Public Works Projects

 A 22-count indictment was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging Rakesh Kumar, the President of Orba Construction Company (“Orba”), with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and 21 counts of mail fraud and wire fraud.  The charges stem from Kumar’s alleged misrepresentations to the New York City School Construction Authority (“SCA”) regarding the number of hours worked and wages paid by Orba to employees on New York City public school construction projects.  Kumar was arrested today and is scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Ramon E. Reyes, Jr.     

Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Margaret Garnett, Commissioner, New York City Department of Investigation, and Michael Mikulka, Special Agent-in-Charge, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, announced the charges.

As alleged in the indictment, between 2014 and 2018, Kumar submitted false certified payrolls to the SCA for work performed by Orba employees on SCA-funded projects.  These payroll forms falsely stated that Orba had paid its employees the prevailing wage, as required by the New York State labor law and labor agreements with the SCA, when in fact the employees had been paid far less, often in cash or by checks issued by a related company owned by Kumar.

“As alleged, through his actions, Kumar cheated laborers, who toiled many long days at manual labor, out of their honest and hard-earned wages,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue.  “This Office and our law enforcement partners will vigorously pursue employers who illegally enrich themselves at the expense of their workers.”

“An important mission of the Office of Inspector General is to investigate allegations of fraud related to union members’ wages and benefits,” stated DOL OIG Special Agent-in-Charge Mikulka.  “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate these types of allegations.”

“Theft of wages has far-reaching effects – stripping hard-working employees of their rightful pay, jeopardizing the financial security of all those who rely on the wage-earner’s income, and creating unfair advantages over companies that do right by their workers,” stated DOI Commissioner Garnett.  “In this case, Orba Construction Corporation for five years siphoned workers’ pay through underreporting hours on doctored payroll reports, according to the charges. DOI will continue working with its partners like the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York to investigate bad actors who steal their employees’ wages.”

The charges in the indictment are allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

If convicted, Kumar faces up to 20 years’ imprisonment for each of the mail and wire fraud charges.

The Defendant

RAKESH KUMAR (also known as “Rikki”)

Age:  64

Basking Ridge, New Jersey

BRONX MAN SENTENCED TO 25 YEARS TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR MURDER OF INNOCENT FATHER OF THREE

Defendant Shot Victim Thinking He Was a Rival Gang Member 

  Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a Bronx man has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for fatally shooting a man he thought was a rival gang member. 

 District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant senselessly took the life of a man who happened to be in his mini-van in front of a corner deli. The defendant shot the victim six times because he thought he was in a rival gang. We hope today’s sentence brings some closure to the victim’s family in this brutal killing.” 

 District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Fredrick Jones, 29, of 1106 Adee Avenue, a Bloods gang member, was sentenced today by Bronx Supreme Court Justice David Lewis to 25 years to life in prison for second-degree Murder and 15 years in prison for second-degree Criminal Possession of a Weapon, to run concurrently. The defendant was found guilty of the charges by a jury on October 12, 2018.

 According to the investigation, in the early morning of May 4, 2016, in front of 706 Faile Street, the defendant shot Jose Ingles, 37, of Manhattan, causing his death. The victim was sitting in his car double-parked in front of a deli when the defendant approached the vehicle and shot him six times, striking him in the face, chest and abdomen. Jones shot the victim thinking he was a rival gang member, but he was actually a father of three who was looking for alternate side of the street parking at the time. The incident was caught on video surveillance.

 District Attorney Clark thanked NYPD Detective Francis Orlando from Bronx Homicide and NYPD Detective Frank Diaz of the 41st Precinct for their assistance in the investigation.