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Monday, April 10, 2023
Bronx River Art Center (BRAC) - APRIL 2023 Newsletter
Bryan Erwin Named Chair of State Council of Parks
Governor elevates Long Island State Park Commission Chair to leadership post
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation today announced that Governor Kathy Hochul designated Bryan Erwin of Mattituck the new Chair of the State Council of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
“Bryan Erwin has an endless passion for New York’s state parks and historic sites,” said New York State Parks Commissioner Erik Kulleseid. “We thank and congratulate Bryan for his service and know that we will keep him busy during this historic time celebrating New York State Parks’ Centennial. I am grateful to Bryan for stepping into this role first in an acting and now official capacity.”
Erwin is the current Chair of the Long Island State Park Commission, first appointed in December of 2008. He was reappointed in June of 2021 for a second seven-year term. In January of 2022, he was named acting Chair of the New York State Council of Parks. With his acceptance to the post, he also takes a seat on the board of the Natural Heritage Trust and the New York State Board for Historic Preservation.
“I am grateful to Governor Hochul for her confidence in my ability to lead the State Council of Parks,” Erwin said. “This is a very exciting time as we celebrate the Centennial of the New York State Park system. I always enjoy my time in our state parks and historic sites and look to build on a legacy that offers endless recreational and educational opportunities for visitors.”
Erwin has a master’s degree from Cornell University in International Trade and Finance. He was selected by President Obama in 2010 to run the Trade Advocacy Center to facilitate U.S. Government advocacy on behalf of U.S. exporters. A long-time advocate for State Parks, Erwin hails from the North Fork on Long Island where he and his wife, Danielle, are raising two daughters.
Erwin succeeds Lucy R. Waletzky, who served as chair from 2007 to 2021. Previous chairs have included Robert Moses and Laurance Rockefeller.
The New York State Council of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation consists of the Chairs of the eleven regional park commissions, the Commissioner of State Parks, the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation, and the Chair of the State Board of Historic Preservation. The function of the council is to advise, make recommendations and report on the progress of all matters affecting state parks, recreation and historic preservation.
New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees more than 250 individual parks, historic sites, recreational trails, and boat launches. For more information on any of these recreation areas, call 518-474-0456 or visit parks.ny.gov, connect on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.
MAYOR ADAMS APPOINTS TWO NEW MEMBERS TO RENT GUIDELINES BOARD
New York City Mayor Eric Adams today appointed two new members to the New York City Rent Guidelines Board: Genesis Aquino as a tenant member and Doug Apple as a public member. Aquino and Apple collectively bring decades of experience working to provide high-quality, affordable housing to New Yorkers.
“Doug Apple and Genesis Aquino bring an invaluable combination of policy expertise and on-the-ground experience to serve as stewards of our rent-stabilized housing on the Rent Guidelines Board,” said Mayor Adams. “Their decades of service in government and nonprofits exemplify their deep commitment to their neighbors and communities, and I know they will draw on the totality of their experiences to serve New Yorkers well on the Rent Guidelines Board.”
“Doug Apple and Genesis Aquino are two New Yorkers who care deeply about housing quality and affordability,” said Chief Housing Officer Jessica Katz. “The Rent Guidelines Board combines research and testimony from a broad array of New Yorkers and makes deeply considered decisions about how to adjust rent in rent-stabilized apartments. With long careers in government and nonprofits, Doug and Genesis are exactly the public-minded people we want on the Rent Guidelines Board.”
“As a longtime rent-stabilized tenant and housing justice advocate, I am honored to serve on the Rent Guidelines Board on behalf of thousands of low- and moderate-income New Yonkers whose livelihoods depend on rent stabilization,” said Genesis Aquino. “I look forward to working with my fellow board members to preserve and protect our biggest stock of affordable housing and do our best to keep New York City as a place where people from all walks of life can put down roots and build strong, stable, dynamic communities.”
“I am honored to have been selected by Mayor Adams to be a public member of the board,” said Doug Apple. “I am looking forward to working closely with Chair Davidson and the entire board as we closely review the data and make decisions critical to so many New Yorkers. Over my career in government and the nonprofit sector, I have always used data to make and assess policy decisions and will do the same here.”
About Genesis Aquino
Genesis Aquino is the executive director of Tenants & Neighbors, a grassroots membership organization that works collaboratively with tenants to preserve and protect affordable housing in New York state. She is a staunch tenant advocate with over 10 years of advocacy and community organizing experience.
Previously, Aquino worked with Housing Court Answers, where she advocated for fair treatment of unrepresented litigants in the Housing Courts and to expand access to legal representation for low-income New Yorkers. She also worked as the director of social services for a member of the New York City Council. Aquino currently serves on the board of directors of the Laundry Workers Center and as the co-chair of the Brooklyn Community Board 7 Housing Committee.
Genesis received a B.A. in social work and urban community development from Lehman College.
About Doug Apple
Doug Apple is the president and CEO of 1811Consulting, representing clients with real estate, health care, and project management services. He works on a range of supportive and transitional housing development projects as well as commercial real estate sales, leases, and acquisitions.
Apple previously served as executive vice president and chief operating officer of Samaritan Daytop Village, overseeing more than 50 programs focused on housing, behavioral health, and human services. During his tenure, the organization grew fourfold and acquired or merged with three other nonprofit organizations.
Before working at Samaritan, Apple served in city government for 27 years, including as first deputy commissioner for the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development and as general manager and chief operating officer of the New York City Housing Authority. He has also worked in the Department of Juvenile Justice, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Mayor’s Office of Operations.
Apple received a B.A. from Boston University and attended the Wagner School of Public Administration at New York University.
Tech Company CEO Sentenced To 42 Months In Connection With Fraud Against His Former Employer
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that SUNI MUNSHANI, the former Chief Executive Officer of a Connecticut-based technology company (the “Victim Company”), was sentenced to 42 months in prison for his participation in a scheme to defraud the Victim Company of millions of dollars. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Suni Munshani believed that he could ransack a company that had put its trust in him. He lied for years — even impersonating his deceased uncle — to steal from an organization he was supposed to lead. His sentence shows once again that crime doesn’t pay, and that this Office will bring to justice those who flout the law, even if they have the top job.”
According to public court filings and statements made in Court:
Between 2011 and 2019, SUNI MUNSHANI was the CEO of the Victim Company, which provided data security services to its clients. Within six months of his appointment as CEO, MUNSHANI and others began an approximately eight-year scheme to defraud the Victim Company. During the scheme, MUNSHANI, among other things, created an email account in the name of his deceased uncle but controlled by MUNSHANI. MUNSHANI, posing as the uncle, used that email account to correspond with the Victim Company and to obtain payments from the Victim Company totaling at least approximately $3 million dollars for services that were never provided. These purported services were falsely represented to have been rendered by the uncle as well as others, including a marketing executive who had met MUNSHANI in social settings but had never worked for MUNSHANI or the Victim Company and had no idea his identity was being used by MUNSHANI. MUNSHANI also caused the Victim Company to issue a $3.5 million check for a purported tax liability, which check MUNSHANI then deposited into an unauthorized bank account created by MUNSHANI in the name of the Victim Company.
In addition, MUNSHANI defrauded the Victim Company through fraudulent licensing and reseller agreements between the Victim Company and two other companies (the “Licensing Company” and the “Reseller Company,” respectively). Among other things, MUNSHANI instructed another individual to set up the Reseller Company “in the same way as [the Licensing Company],” and then helped create and submit fraudulent invoices from the Reseller Company to the Victim Company.
In addition to his prison term, MUNSHANI, 61, of Easton, Connecticut, was sentenced to three years of supervised release. The Court reserved decision on the amount of restitution.
Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New York Office.
ANGELLYH MARIEH YAMBO WAY
Angellyh Marieh Yambo Way
By Robert Press
It was one year prior that this sixteen year old was killed by senseless gun violence while on her way home from school at 1:45 PM. She was a couple of blocks from her high school University Prep when shots rang out killing her and injuring two other students from the school campus who were according to police caught in a gang crossfire.
In front of 3440 Bailey Avenue where Angellyh Marieh Yambo grew up was a new street sign to be unveiled with the signs Bailey Avenue and Bailey Pl. A street sign Angellyh Marieh Yambo Way to honor the young girl who wanted to be a doctor as requested by her parents and family at the place she grew up, and not the place she was murdered. That was done by City Council members Rafael Salamanca Jr. and Pierina Sanchez.
New York Mayor Eric Adams, Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark, City Council member Salamanca and Sanchez, family members, friends, and others joined in to celebrate this street co-naming for Angellyh Marieh Yambo to remember a fine young girl who grew up in the neighborhood.
Each of the family members and elected officials spoke decrying this senseless killing. Councilman Salamanca hosted the event and explained the process of street co-namings. Mayor Adams said in his speech that he wants to get guns off the streets, because they are killing people and there is no place for them in our society. Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson said it is a day to celebrate a life that was cut short, a bright young student cut down in her prime, and that this cycle of violence must be broken. Bronx District Attorney Clark said that she will get justice for the family.
Mayor Adams mentioned that the gun used was a 'Ghost Gun' that is a problem now in the city as 'Ghost Guns' are untraceable, but that the NYPD was able to recover this 'Ghost Gun' that was used.
The new street sign Angellyh Marieh Way is unveiled exactly one year after her senseless killing.
News, updates and more from NYC Council Member Rafael Salamanca, Jr.
ANNUAL EASTER EGG-STRAVAGANZA
I congratulate the 41st Precinct Council President, Ray Arroyo, and PSA 7 Precinct Council President, Barbara Holmes, for their commendable work putting on these wonderful events for our community.
ANGELLYH MARIEH YAMBO
Rather than allowing Angellyh’s light to disappear after this tragedy, her family turned their grief into purpose, devoting her legacy to the incredible work currently being performed by the Angellyh Yambo Foundation.
With the unveiling of ‘Angellyh Marieh Yambo Way’ — located across from her childhood home — Angellyh’s spirit lives and shines on.
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