MAYOR DE BLASIO, CITY COUNCIL LAUNCH MAYOR’S OFFICE TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE

New York City already has lowest incidence of gun violence of any major U.S. city: 2016 had the fewest shootings in over 30 years

   Mayor de Blasio today announced the creation of the Mayor’s Office to Prevent Gun Violence. Housed within the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, the new Office will oversee an expansion of effective, innovative violence intervention strategies. The City is investing $22.5 million this fiscal year, split between the Administration and the City Council. In the future, the Administration is investing  $16 million annually.

“When I talk to people across this city, it’s clear that New Yorkers in every neighborhood are united in their desire for safe streets,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “Law enforcement is critical in reducing gun violence, but we also need to change a culture in which conflicts too often escalate to shootings. Today, we are inviting all New Yorkers to become our partners in this fight – together, we can make it clear that gun violence has no place in New York City.”

“2016 was the safest year on record in New York City history. The Office to Prevent Gun Violence – along with neighborhood policing – will enable us to further reduce crime. I’m grateful to the effort from law enforcement, the Mayor, the Council, and most importantly our local communities who continue to work collectively with us to keep our neighborhoods safe,” saidPolice Commissioner James P. O’Neill.

Eric L Cumberbatch, Executive Director of the Mayor's Office to Prevent Gun Violence said, “The launch of the Mayor's Office to Prevent Gun Violence is a true testament to the power of government and community working hand in hand to promote safety and synergy from within. OPGV will coordinate, amplify and organize community based efforts to develop and deploy innovative strategies to continue to reduce gun violence citywide. OPGV will do this by working together with our justice partners, community based organizations, clergy, residents, and credible messengers to meet the complex challenges of gun violence, which are multifaceted and go way beyond the gun.”

“Gun violence has dropped to thirty-year lows and driving it down further will require innovative strategies that include traditional law enforcement and extend beyond to engage residents and neighborhoods as partners in fighting crime,” said Elizabeth Glazer, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice. “The new Mayor’s Office to Prevent Gun Violence will be the backbone of these innovative strategies, overseeing an expanded City commitment to deploy ‘credible messengers’ who work tirelessly to interrupt conflict before violence erupts  and increasing support and resources in neighborhoods with a historically high concentration of gun violence.”

New York City is already at the forefront nationally in the fight to end gun violence: the City has the lowest incidence of gun violence of any major U.S. city, has enacted some of the strongest gun laws in the country, and pioneered a data-driven policing model that helped to drive an 83 percent decline in homicides between 1993 and 2016. Since the start of Mayor de Blasio’s administration, gun arrests are up 19 percent in New York City while the number of stop-and-frisks has fallen 93 percent. Reducing the remaining gun violence in the city will require not only the continuation of these strategies, but also innovative approaches that extend beyond traditional law enforcement to shift social norms and activate New Yorkers to help prevent shootings. The Office announced today will serve as the backbone of these innovative efforts.

The first new strategy the Office will pursue is expanding effective violence interruption strategies developed by Crisis Management System – over the last three years, the City has deployed teams of credible messengers who use the Cure Violence model to mediate conflicts on the street and connect high-risk individuals to services that can reduce the long-term risk of violence. This approach contributed to a 15 percent decline in shootings in the 17 highest violence precincts in New York City since Mayor de Blasio took office.

Under the direction of Eric Cumberbatch, the new Executive Director of the Mayor’s Office to Prevent Gun Violence, the Office will add the following new services to the Crisis Management System:

·                  Intervention workshops in juvenile justice facilities. In several Close to Home facilities and in the two secure detention facilities for juveniles in New York City, credible messenger teams will conduct weekly workshops and one-on-one mentoring to arm young people with the skills to diffuse conflicts without violence.

·                  Help neighborhoods rebuild after takedowns. The days immediately following a “takedown” or other major law enforcement action can be volatile, and helping a neighborhood to rebuild can be a critical step in ensuring that previous violence is not repeated. To help neighborhoods stabilize peacefully, the Mayor’s Office of Gun Violence is partnering with the NYPD to hold open debriefs with residents after major takedowns to answer questions and share information about the enforcement action. After takedowns, the Office will also saturate affected neighborhoods with resources to prevent future crime, including legal services, therapeutic mental health services, and links to employment, using funding from the Crisis Management System budget.

·                  Launch a Community Toolkit and Safe in the City grants to activate New Yorkers in helping reduce gun violence.The new Office is rolling out a guide to help New Yorkers connect to anti-violence activities already available on the ground in neighborhoods across the city, provide information about how to report information about a crime safely and anonymously, and offer resources to help families and neighborhoods in the aftermath of a violent event. Additionally, the Office will provide small grants to residents to support neighborhood-driven anti-violence efforts.

The Mayor’s Office and the City Council jointly fund the Crisis Management System; in the current fiscal year, the funding is $22.5 million, half of which is funded by the Council. In the future, the City is investing an additional $4.5 million in these efforts.

Overwhelmingly, the norm in New York City is peace. In even the highest-crime precinct in New York City, over 99 percent of residents have never been a suspect in a shooting case, and New York City is on pace to have the lowest number of shootings in over 30 years; year-to-date, shootings are down 20 percent compared to last year and 83 percent compared to an all-time high in 1993.

Today’s announcement was made at Queensbridge Houses, North America’s largest public housing complex. Since the start of Mayor de Blasio’s administration, murders and shootings in public housing developments are down 17 percent and 9 percent respectively. There has not been a shooting at Queensbridge Houses in over a year. Last year’s 998 shootings marked the fewest ever in New York City.

The Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice Cure Violence program – which has an office located Queensbridge Houses property – has deployed teams throughout New York City since 2015. Its members work to intervene in conflicts before violence erupts and ensure that individuals at risk of being involved in violence are connected with effective programs and services that can help lead to lasting peace.

Queensbridge is one of 15 NYCHA developments targeted by the Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety, a comprehensive initiative to reduce crime and strengthen neighborhoods in the 15 New York City Housing Authority developments that accounted for 20 percent of all violent crime in the City’s public housing in 2014. In 2014, as part of the Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety, the City allocated $13.6 million for the installation of permanent, state-of-the-art safety lighting. The installation is underway.

The Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood safety also funds a series of initiatives aimed at increasing pathways to opportunity and creating more connected public housing communities, including mentoring and jobs programs for young adults and Community Center programming for seniors.

In addition to launching public safety initiatives to further reduce crime at public housing developments citywide, the de Blasio administration and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced in July 2015 a $10 million investment in free high-speed broadband service for five public housing developments citywide, including Queensbridge North and South. The Mayor also recently announced $1 billion in allocated funding for new roofs on over 700 NYCHA buildings as part of the FY18 Preliminary Budget.

Additional City investments in the Queensbridge Houses community include:

·                  $14.7 million for installation of CCTV and higher-security Layered Access Control (LAC) Doors, which are operated by computer system and fob keys

·                  $1.65 million for grounds improvements, including upgrades to recreational spaces

MAYOR DE BLASIO APPOINTS TWO JUDGES TO FAMILY AND CIVIL COURT

   Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced the reappointment of Judge Catherine DiDomenico to Family Court and the appointment of Judge Alison Hamanjian as an interim Civil Court Judge. As an interim Civil Court Judge, Judge Hamanjian will be assigned to the Family Court and serve a one-year interim term. The judges appointed have years of experience serving New Yorkers in both the public and private sectors.

“New Yorkers deserve honest judges who will fight for the provision of justice and equality to all,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “I look forward to working with Judge Hamanjian, and I welcome back Judge DiDomenico. I am confident that these highly qualified appointees will uphold the values of this city and will work for the best interests of all New Yorkers.”

About Judge Catherine DiDomenico:

Judge Catherine DiDomenico was appointed as a Family Court Judge in 2006 after serving as an interim Civil Court judge in 2005. Prior to her appointment, she served as an Administrative Law Judge and an Impartial Hearing Officer for the New York City Board of Education. She began her career as a federal law clerk and later had her own practice after being an associate for a law firm. Judge DiDomenico has been presiding in Richmond County since her initial appointment. She is a graduate of Fordham University and Fordham University School of Law where she is an adjunct Professor of Law.

About Judge Alison Hamanjian:

Judge Alison Hamanjian began her career as a prosecutor in the Domestic Violence and Sex Crimes Bureau of the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office. She then worked for the Urban Justice Center Domestic Violence Project as a Supervising Attorney. For the past 12 years, she has been with the New York State Unified Court System first serving as Principal Law Clerk to Judge Michael Corriero in New York County Supreme Court’s Youth Part, then as Assistant Deputy Counsel in the Office of Policy and Planning and most recently as a Court Attorney-Referee in Family Court, Richmond County. Judge Hamanjian graduated from CUNY Hunter College and New York Law School.

Rep. Engel Statement On H.J. Res. 36

  Congressman Eliot L. Engel, a leading member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, issued the following statement on H.J. Res. 36:

“I am outraged by House Republican efforts to overturn substantial environmental policies of the Obama Administration, including and especially the Methane Waste Prevention Rule. This rule caps, for the first time, the amount of methane that oil and gas producers operating under federal leases are allowed to ‘flare,’ or burn as waste.  It also prohibits operators from releasing or ‘venting’ natural gas into the atmosphere, and requires them to replace equipment that allows large amounts of methane to ‘bleed’ into the air.  This rule would result in 175,000 to 180,000 fewer tons of methane emissions each year, which is equivalent to removing nearly 1 million vehicles from our roads.

“As a leading member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, I have long been a champion for a cleaner, healthier environment for all New Yorkers and the American people. I have relentlessly fought to close Indian Point, oppose the Spectra Algonquin Pipeline, and resist the plan to anchor barges carrying crude oil along the Hudson River. 

“I will continue fighting to stop Republicans in Congress from undermining our environmental regulations and turning back the clock to a time when corporations could pollute unchecked.” 

NYLCV Slams Newly Introduced Senate and Assembly Bag Bill Moratorium

  Today the New York State Senate and New York State Assembly introduced S.4158 / A.4883 to delay implementation of New York City's carryout bag fee until January 2018. In response, NYLCV President Marcia Bystryn issued the following statement:

"Let's call this amended bill what it is: an unfunded mandate that pre-empts New York City's law, which is set to go into effect in just 12 days. Last year the New York City Council moved back the enactment date so that we could avoid the situation we are up against. The State Legislature has had seven months to work on changes and now, when New York City has purchased 400,000 reusable bags and is putting the final touches on implementation, the Senate and Assembly are moving to change the goal post again in the eleventh hour. 

"New York City should have the power to make decisions about how best to reduce its waste stream. It takes 7,000 garbage truck trips to send NYC's bag waste to landfills at a cost to taxpayers of $12.5 million, not to mention the price of cleaning them from trees, streets, clogged storm drains and dredging them out of waterways. How can the State Legislature claim to have the best interests of New York City in mind when it refuses to account for this in its pre-emption effort?

"Instead, Albany is aiming for yet another delay, this time until after a new City Council is seated in 2018. The Legislature's new bill prevents this Council from amending or reauthorizing their own law, clearly hoping that the next Council will not have the political will to stand up to Albany's bullying.

"We are extremely disappointed in the Senate and Assembly for advancing a bill that is bad for the environment, bad for New York's budget, and just plain bad policy by unfairly singling out only New York City. For these reasons, Governor Cuomo must veto this bill if it makes it to his desk."

EDITOR'S NOTE:

This announcement must be met by the following rebuttal -  

  The NCLV claims that the cost is $12.5 million dollars to the taxpayers, but the NCLV does not mention that the five cents per bag is completely going to store owners and not one red cent to help the environment. The customer will not get five cents back for every bag returned such as is the case with plastic beverage containers. 

   New York City has shown time after time that it can not govern itself properly. Be it monetary, educational, housing, homelessness, etc..., the state and or federal governments have had to either bail out or take over control of certain New York City functions. Just because some 'Ideological' City Council members and a similar like minded mayor (who have to much time on their hands) today want to start a five cent bag fee, just how will that fee progress over the years. Since the New York City bus and subway fare is now $2.75, no one today can probably remember that the New York City bus and subway fare began at five cents. 

   The NCLV also forgets that in 2018 the state legislature as well as all three statewide positions of Comptroller, Attorney General, and Governor will be all up for election or re-election.

    

The Bronx Chamber of Commerce and Ridgewood Savings Bank invite you to "Get Your Red On!" at our Valentine Networking Party

February 2017 at KRVC

Mark your Calendars! 

Don't miss these great KRVC events coming up this month!  

February 2017 at KRVC

STATEMENT FROM ASSEMBLYMEMBER MARK GJONAJ Re: Go Red For Women Day

  "Today, on Go Red for Women Day, a day of women heart health awareness, I was glad to meet with doctors and patients of NY Cardiac Care Associates, one of the largest heart clinics in the Bronx, affiliated with Montefiore.Together we are working on a district awareness campaign of screenings, healthy eating demonstrations, educational talks, and workshops designed to promote women's heart-health, free and open to all," said Assemblymember Mark Gjonaj. 

Assemblymember Mark Gjonaj meets with patients and doctors of NY Cardiac Care and Montefiore who are working on a women heart health awareness initiative. 

THE NYS ASSEMBLY REMAINS INDIFFERENT TO THE CITY OF NEW YORK’S FIVE-CENTS PLASTIC BAG FEE

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW 
By Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz
32nd Senatorial District, Bronx County, New York 

You should know that the Members of the New York State Assembly are apparently being indifferent and will allow the City of New York to impose a five cents (5 ¢) fee per plastic bag on its residents and shoppers.

This new law, approved by Members of the New York City Council, will affect senior citizens, the poor, the needy, shelter families, struggling families, and everyone who uses plastic bags when shopping for groceries.

As you know, there were only 10 Democratic Senators, together with myself, who joined the Republicans in the Senate to support a bill sponsored by Senator Simcha Felder, to reject the City of New York’s five cents (5 ¢)per plastic bag fee to shoppers in the five boroughs.  

These are the Democratic Senators who joined me and voted against the (5 ¢) per plastic bag fee: Joseph Addabbo, Tony Avella, Leroy Comrie, Simcha Felder, Michael Gianaris, Jeff Klein, José Peralta, Roxanne Persaud, Diane Savino, and David Valesky.

Thanks to our efforts, the New York State Senate voted in favor of stopping New York City from charging this five cents (5 ¢) fee. 

However, in order for it to be stopped, it is necessary for the Members of the New York State Assembly to follow the lead of the Senate and also vote against the imposition of this new tax.

It is very important for you to know that as of this moment, the Members of the New York State Assembly have been indifferent and have not even taken a vote, joining the Senate, to stop the City of New York from imposing this extra burden on our most vulnerable and needy people.

My dear reader, the irony of this story is that starting Wednesday, February 15, the day after Valentine’s Day, the residents of the City of New York will receive this post Valentine’s Day gift, unless the New York State Assembly takes a position to stop it, as the Senate already did.

I am Senator Reverend Rubén Díaz and this is what you should know.

Editor's Note:

It is hard to believe that State Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz Sr. has no influence with the Speaker of the Assembly Carl Heastie who he and his son helped become the Bronx Democratic County Leader in 2008.

It is also hard to believe that State Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz Sr. has no influence with Assemblyman Marcos Crespo who replaced Carl Heastie as the Bronx Democratic County Leader. 

It is also hard to believe that State Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz Sr. has no influence with the new Bronx Democratic County Committee Chair Assemblywoman Latoya Joyner.

One might be able to believe that State Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz Sr. has no influence with the former Bronx Democratic County Committee Chair Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz of Riverdale. 

So State Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz Sr. where is your influence with the State Assembly since we know that you have no influence in the State Senate. 

And State Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz Sr. the voters of the 18th City Council District should know that you will have no influence in the City Council. 

State Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz Sr. has not been able to bring valuable resources to his district, and will not be able to bring any more resources to the council district than his predecessor. 

By the way State Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz Sr. there are only three other Republicans in the New York City Council.

That is what the voters of the 18th council district need to know.