WILLIAMS CALLS FOR ANSWERS, ACCOUNTABILITY FOR EMPTY MENTAL HEALTH DIVERSION CENTERS

 

 Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams called for the de Blasio administration to account for the under-utilization of mental health 'diversion centers,' and to provide guidance on how the administration will use the centers. These requests follow recent reporting that of two Support and Connection Centers contracted in 2017 at a cost of over $100 million, one remains unused and one has only seen 45 clients throughout its operations. The centers are intended to be sites for police to bring people in mental health crises, alternatives to hospitals or jails.

"It is with dismay that I learned of recent reports detailing that New York City's Support and Connection Centers have done little to follow through on their promise to provide safe harbor and resources to New Yorkers in need, all while police precincts partnered with these centers continue to respond to hundreds of mental health calls every month, said Public Advocate Williams in a letter to Mayor de Blasio this week. "There is no lack of demand for these services, but there appears to be a substantial lack of delivery."

He also acknowledged both the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic may have posed in these operations and the urgent to overcome these and other challenges, saying "I fully realize that the COVID-19 pandemic threw budgets and timelines into disarray, but there are clearly other factors causing these significant delays and inefficiencies. Whatever the reasons, New Yorkers continue to struggle with mental health crises and continue to be placed into harm's way by preventable interactions with law enforcement." 

The Public Advocate questioned the administration on a number of points, including when the Bronx facility will be fully opened, to what extent they expect the centers to be utilized, and what metrics are being used to determine whether the programs are successful. 

The full letter to the Mayor is below, and can be downloaded here.

Dear Mayor de Blasio:

 

Four years ago, your administration signed a contract to build and run the city's first "diversion center," meant to be a sanctuary of support and safety for New Yorkers experiencing mental health crises. Now known as Support and Connection Centers, these were intended as an alternative to people in emotional distress being taken to jails and emergency rooms. It is with dismay that I learned of recent reports detailing that New York City's Support and Connection Centers have done little to follow through on their promise to provide safe harbor and resources to New Yorkers in need, all while police precincts partnered with these centers continue to respond to hundreds of mental health calls every month. There is no lack of demand for these services, but there appears to be a substantial lack of delivery.

Of the two Support and Connection Centers meant to be fully operational by now, one remains empty, and the other has only met a sliver of its initial goals. Recent reports indicate that the East Harlem center, now operational for six months, has served as few as 45 people, despite the administration's estimates of more than 1,200 people being served annually - at the current rate this facility is on track to hit less than 10% of its goal. The other center, in the Bronx, has yet to serve anyone, despite promises that it would open more than 18 months ago. I fully realize that the COVID-19 pandemic threw budgets and timelines into disarray, but there are clearly other factors causing these significant delays and inefficiencies. Whatever the reasons, New Yorkers continue to struggle with mental health crises and continue to be placed into harm's way by preventable interactions with law enforcement. 

I would like to inquire as to why the stated goals are so far from being met and how invested resources have been allocated. 

• When do you expect the Bronx facility to fully open for operations? 
• Does the delay in opening the Bronx facility affect the contract with Samaritan Daytop Village? 
• Do you still estimate that each facility will serve 1,200 people per year? If so, when do you expect intake numbers to be on track to reach this target? 
• What criteria will be used to determine if the Support and Connection Centers have
• been a success? 
• How many staff have been hired? What are the planned staffing levels at each of theSupport and Connection Centers? How many discharge planners, counselors, outreach workers, mental health peers, psychiatric nurse practitioners, and security guards will there be? 
• What types of services have the 45 clients that have been served thus far been connected to? 
• What does client follow up look like post-discharge?

I look forward to receiving your response within 14 days as we work together to make our city a safer and more healthy place. Please direct any questions or further discussion toward First Deputy Public Advocate Nick E. Smith, at nsmith@advocate.nyc.gov. 

Thank you. 

Sincerely,

Jumaane D. Williams

Public Advocate for the City of New York

Governor Cuomo Announces 63% of New York Adults Have Received at Least One COVID-19 Vaccine Dose

 

54% of New York Adults Have Completed Vaccine Series

51% of All New Yorkers Have Received at Lease One Dose; 43% of All New Yorkers Completed Series

145,291 Doses Administered in the Last 24 Hours       

863,635 Doses Administered Over Past Seven Days     

Vaccine Dashboard Updated Daily on the State's Vaccine Program Here

 Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today updated New Yorkers on the state's vaccination program. 145,291 doses have been administered across the state's vast distribution network in the last 24 hours, and 863,635 doses have been administered statewide over the past seven days.       

"Even as we continue to lift many restrictions and resume a number of activities across our state, we have to remember that COVID is still out there and the vaccine remains the best weapon we have against it," Governor Cuomo said. "We are continuing to do everything we can to make the vaccine accessible to every New Yorker, and we are doubling down on creating incentives for anyone who still needs to get vaccinated because we cannot get complacent with our vaccination efforts. In order to protect all the progress we have made thus far, we all need to roll up our sleeve and get this vaccine."    

All New York State mass vaccination sites are now open to eligible New Yorkers for walk-in vaccination on a first come first serve basis. The walk-in appointments are reserved for first doses only with second doses to be scheduled automatically after administration of the initial shot. In addition, all vaccine providers are encouraged to allow walk-in appointments for eligible New Yorkers. People who would prefer to schedule an appointment at a state-run mass vaccination site can do so on the Am I Eligible App or by calling 1-833-NYS-4-VAX. People may also contact their local health department, pharmacy, doctor or hospital to schedule appointments where vaccines are available, or visit vaccines.gov to find information on vaccine appointments near them.                                          

 

STATEWIDE BREAKDOWN

Total doses administered - 18,170,406

Total doses administered over past 24 hours - 145,291

Total doses administered over past 7 days - 863,635

Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with at least one vaccine dose - 63.0%

Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with completed vaccine series - 54.0%

Percent of all New Yorkers with at least one vaccine dose - 51.3%

Percent of all New Yorkers with completed vaccine series - 43.3%  

Meet Only a Few of the Bronx City Council Candidates on BronxNet- Where are the Full City Council Debates

 

What Is This? 

Just a Bronx Borough President and One City Council Forum with Only Three Candi5ates From the 14th and Three Candidates From the 15th City Council Districts Only?

Where are the rest of the candidates?

No debates for the 11th, 12th, 13th, 16th, 17th, and 18th City Council Districts?

Bronxnet is Public Television, and Receives Public Funding. Bronxnet Therefore must have all the candidates on since Bronxnet receives Public Funding.

Call Bronxnet at 718-960-1180, Ask for Michael Knobbe and demand all Bronx City Council races have debates, with all candidates in each City Council District.

Or Contact: viewerquestions@bronxnet.org. and Demand that all Bronx City Council Districts have debates with all the candidates that are on the June 22nd Primary Ballot.

Bronxnet Television is Public Television Receiving Public Monies, and must have all candidates on the ballot. 

BronxTalk: Bronx City Council Candidate Forum On the next episode of BronxTalk Host, Gary Axelbank will moderate the Bronx City Council Forum. Gary sits down with six City Council candidates and asks questions about policing, financial issues, available grants, street vendors, the Burnside B.I.D., and Jerome Avenue rezoning. Participating candidates include Haile Rivera, Pierina Ana Sanchez, and Yudelka Tapia from the 14th CD and Ischia Bravo, Oswald Feliz, and John Sanchez from the 15th CD. The guests and questions were selected by BJT Bronx. Tune in Monday, May 24th, at 9:30 PM on BX OMNI channels 67 Optimum/ 2133 FiOS in the Bronx and online at bronxnet.tv to watch. BronxTalk: Bronx City Council Candidate Forum The Bronx Borough President Candidates Education Forum The Bronx Borough President Candidates Education Forum is presented by The Bronx Education Consortium and hosted by BronxNet with BronxTalk host Gary Axelbank as the moderator. Axelbank asks four candidates for borough president questions about vocational training, elementary school education, grant funding, gifted and talented programs, chronic absenteeism, school safety, and more.  Participating candidates are Fernando Cabrera, Vanessa Gibson, Sammy Ravelo, and Luis Sepulveda. Candidate Nathalia Fernádez had prior commitments. Tune in on Tuesday, May 25th, at 7:00 PM on channel 67 Optimum/2133 FiOS in the Bronx and online at bronxnet.tv. The Bronx Borough President Candidates Education Forum

If Bronxnet Does not Provide All the Full City Council Debates as they have Each Election, Then Boycott Brontalk PM and Bronxnet, and call the FCC to have Bronxnet's license to Broadcast Revoked for not doing their job as a Public Television Station.

Is Ray McGuire Runnong for Mayor of New York City or Nassau County?

 

Here is the Ray For Mayor schedule for Saturday May 22, 2021

Stop # 1 is in Nassau County

RAY FOR MAYOR - PUBLIC CALENDAR FOR SATURDAY, MAY 22 - SUNDAY, MAY 23, 2021

For Immediate Release Saturday, May 22, 2021 Ray McGuire Meet & Greet Sherwood Diner - 311 Rockaway Turnpike, Lawrence 11:00AM - 12:30PM Ray McGuire Neighborhood Visibility Wavecrest Shopping Center - 239 Beach 20th St., Far Rockaway 12:45PM - 1:15PM

 We sent the campaign an email to see if Ray McGuire knows that Lawrence is part of Nasau County and not part of New York City, asking why is Ray campaigning outside of the city. We await an answer from his campaign.

226 Days and Counting - Did they Cheer Mayor de Blasio or Mayor Lindsay?

 

I went up to the Bronx yesterday to help break ground for the New Hip Hop Museum. I am with my favorite Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., talking about what we are going to do comes January 2nd next year when new people replace us. 

Ruben, all I had to do was throw out a few names of Hip Hop legends, and how great this is going to be for the Bronx and city. They loved me here today.

No Bill, they are still stoned from the old days, and think you are former Mayor John Lindsay. 

Groundbreaking for Bronx Point and the Universal Hip Hop Museum

 

Fat Joe, LL Cool J, Chuck D, Lil Kim, Naughty By Nature, Grandmaster Flash, EPMD, Slick Rick, and Michael Bivins to name only a few of the many many Rap Hip Hop stars that were on hand for the groundbreaking for the official launch of the 'Universal Hip Hop Museum' Capital Campaign, that will be the legacy of Hip Hop and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.

The site, called Bronx Point, will include in Phase One 542 units of permanently Affordable Housing to the lower Concourse neighborhood, along with approximately 2.8 acres of public open space. An early childhood space run by BronxWorks, and outdoor science programming run by the Billion Oyster Project, in addition to the new Hip Hop Museum. The Bronx Point runs from East 138th Street up to East 150th Street, and is across the street from the new Target shopping Center which is in the background of some of the photos.

BP Diaz Jr. has a check for $4.2 Million dollars he gives to Rocky Bucano the Executive Director of the Universal Hip Hop Museum.

Rapper Fat Joe was called up to say a few words about growing up in the Boogie Down Bronx.

LL COOL J came up to say a few words about being a Hip Hop legend.

Mayor Bill de Blasio came up to say a few words on how Hip he is.

Were they talking about the Yankee No-Hitter the night before, or about life when 2022 rolls around.

It was time to hit the dirt, to throw out that first shovelful of dirt.

More photos of the event.

RAY MCGUIRE CALLS ON MAYOR DE BLASIO TO IMPLEMENT WAGE SUBSIDY PROGRAM

 

McGuire Says Implementing Wage Subsidy Now Would Create 25,000 Jobs & that City Can’t Wait for January As Unemployment Stays High  Following today’s release of the New York State Department of Labor unemployment data, which showed that 11.4 percent of city residents are still out of work, Democratic mayoral candidate Ray McGuire called on Mayor Bill de Blasio to take immediate action by implementing a city-funded wage subsidy program.   This effort would get 25,000 New Yorkers back to work and lay the groundwork for McGuire’s economic recovery plan, which would start by creating a city-funded subsidy to cover 50 percent of a worker’s salary for one year. The plan would get 50,000 New Yorkers back to into the workforce and could be extended as needed, based on the rate of recovery.   “Far too many New Yorkers are still struggling to find work, even as the city reopens and many elected officials are looking beyond the pandemic,” McGuire said in Chinatown today. “These individuals cannot afford to wait until I am elected mayor and take office in January; they need help now.”   “Those out of work are predominantly New Yorkers of color, who paid a disproportionate price – both financial and physical – during the COVID crisis. The city needs to step up and deliver real results now,” McGuire continued. “A robust wage subsidy program would help tens of thousands get back to work as quickly as possible.”   McGuire made his call for a wage subsidy against the backdrop of the iconic and now permanently closed Chinatown restaurant Jing Fong, where he also embarked on a neighborhood tour with representatives of local workers.   Chinatown’s struggles are representative of the devastation facing residents and businesses in neighborhoods across the five boroughs. Minority-owned businesses like Jing Fong received just 30 percent of the funding from the Paycheck Protection Program despite their location in some of the hardest-hit communities in New York and across the country. Worse, 70 percent of all jobs lost once belonged to workers of color.   McGuire’s plan would pay for the program using American Rescue Plan funding and would continue into 2023 depending on the rate of recovery. The subsidy is part of McGuire’s overarching economic recovery plan, which is focused on a three-pronged approach to: 1) Provide a stimulus for struggling small businesses;  2) Transform the city’s approach to business; and,  3) Create jobs and address urgent infrastructure priorities through robust capital spending.

Former CEO Of Real Estate Private Equity Investment Firm Pleads Guilty To $58 Million Securities Fraud

 

 Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that ERIC MALLEY, the founder and former chief executive officer of real estate private equity investment firm MG Capital Management L.P., pled guilty today to a securities fraud scheme in which he fraudulently induced hundreds of individuals to invest a total of approximately $58 million in two real estate investment funds by, among other things, lying about his own prior experience and investment track record and about the nature and characteristics of those funds.  MALLEY pled guilty before United States District Judge Edgardo Ramos.

U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said:  “As Eric Malley has now admitted, he lied to his victims to induce them to invest approximately $58 million in his investment funds, promising victims they would reap the benefits of owning equity in Manhattan real estate and falsely touting his prior experience.  Those lies continued for years, all while Malley enriched himself.  As today’s plea demonstrates, our Office remains committed to protecting investors from investment professionals’ deceptive and fraudulent conduct.

According to the allegations contained in the Complaint and the Information and based on statements made in Manhattan federal court:

MALLEY founded MG Capital Management L.P. (“MG Capital”) in approximately January 2013, and served as its chief executive officer and chief investment officer from that time until approximately December 2019.  During that time, MALLEY formed two real estate investment funds (collectively, “the Funds”) – MG Capital Management Residential Fund III (“Fund III”), in approximately February 2014, and MG Capital Management Residential Fund IV (“Fund IV”), in approximately September 2017.

MALLEY promised, when soliciting investors and throughout the life of the Funds, that the Funds would provide investors with the opportunity to own an equity interest in hundreds of luxury income-producing properties across Manhattan, following a debt-free investment strategy informed by sophisticated proprietary analytics that MALLEY had developed over the course of his career in real estate.  MALLEY touted two purportedly extremely successful prior funds he had formed, Fund I and Fund II; assured investors that the Funds would be and were debt-free; and represented that the properties held by the Funds would be and were leased primarily to corporate tenants, including, among others, well known technology companies and a prominent university based in New York City.  But MALLEY’s representations were false.  His claims about the existence and performance of Funds I and II were largely fabricated; the Funds were not debt-free, but instead held mortgaged properties; the properties that made up the Funds were almost entirely leased to individual, not corporate, tenants; and the Funds held far fewer properties than MALLEY had represented.

Through these and other fraudulent misrepresentations and omissions throughout the life of the Funds, MALLEY induced approximately 335 investors to invest a total of approximately $58 million in the Funds.  The Funds together incurred millions of dollars in losses, yet MALLEY distributed at least $278,000 to himself in his capacity as general partner in connection with Fund III, and did not disclose Fund IV’s losses until approximately two years into Fund IV’s operation.

MALLEY, 50, of New Canaan, Connecticut, pled guilty to one count of securities fraud, which carries a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison.  The maximum potential penalty is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.  Sentencing has been scheduled for September 16, 2021, at 11:00 a.m. 

Ms. Strauss praised the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and thanked the New York Regional Office of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.