One Brooklyn
November 2, 2016
BROOKLYN, NY, November 2, 2016: Yesterday, Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams unveiled more than half a million dollars in new investments from Brooklyn Borough Hall’s Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17) budget to advance public safety and community-police relations in the borough. He made the announcement at the New York City Police Department (NYPD)’s 90th Precinct Stationhouse in Williamsburg, home to an innovative partnership that offers an alternative to suspension for local students facing school disciplinary action through mentorship and tutoring from police officers; this program, NYC Together, will benefit from $37,000 in funding from Borough President Adams to outfit a multimedia learning center for use inside the precinct. Borough President Adams, a 22-year veteran of the NYPD, also highlighted his continued investment in safeguarding neighborhoods across Brooklyn from crime, highlighting partnerships to expand security camera deployment and enhance building safety measures at several sites in the borough.
“Public safety is a prerequisite to prosperity,” said Borough President Adams. “This capital budget and investments I have previously undertaken are a testament to our top priority: making Brooklyn a safer place to raise healthy children and families. I am particularly excited about our partnership with NYC Together and the 90th Precinct. This is what policing is about in the 21st century.”
NYC Together works with the Grand Street Campus, Frances Perkins Academy, and the NYPD’s 90th Precinct to implement a comprehensive alternative-to-suspension program for students facing school disciplinary action. In lieu of traditional disciplinary measures, students participate in skill-building sessions and community service projects, led by NYC Together staff and local police officers.
“Because of Borough President Adams’ commitment to forward-thinking programming that engages the community and tackles problems that others deem too tough — like disengagement from school and the achievement gap — NYC Together is implementing state-of-the-art technology to bolster its alternative-to-suspension intervention,” said Dana Rachlin, founder of NYC Together. “Coupled with our unique collaboration with the NYPD in Brooklyn, there is no other precinct in the city that will have a program like this or technology integrated in this manner, and we firmly believe that this should be the model for the rest of the city.”
Also in Williamsburg, Borough President Adams allocated $250,000 to support a call for neighborhood security cameras made by the United Jewish Organizations (UJO) of Williamsburg and North Brooklyn in response to hate crimes in the area. This grant adds to his ongoing commitment to expanding security camera coverage across Brooklyn, including his successful advocacy for increasing the number of security cameras in the borough’s NYCHA properties and the $100,000 for security cameras in Bensonhurst that he awarded in FY17, in partnership with Council Member David G. Greenfield, as part of his first-ever cycle of participatory budgeting. Additionally, security cameras have proven effective through Operation Safe Shopper, Borough President Adams’ groundbreaking initiative to fund local business improvement districts and civic organizations for the purchase of low-cost security cameras to be used by local police precincts to improve safety along commercial corridors. Operation Safe Shopper assisted the NYPD in arresting a suspect connected with a series of robberies in Crown Heights this summer.
“Seventeen months ago, when the community suffered a rash of bias attacks, we made a call for funding for security cameras,” said Rabbi David Niederman, president of the UJO of Williamsburg and North Brooklyn. “With a background in law enforcement, and a penchant for stretching the borough’s dollars to get the most of the buck, Borough President Adams was quick to answer that call, knowing that these are of the best crime prevention tools. The community is grateful for this worthwhile investment, and it’s another example of Borough President Adams’ sensible and innovative leadership to make a Brooklyn a better place for all its residents.”
Borough President Adams also awarded $250,000 to the Sephardic Community Center in Gravesend in order to support building security upgrades, including an access control system for the early childhood center and the reconfiguration of the lobby to decrease the vulnerability of guests, members, and staff to outside threats. He expressed this allocation as an extension of his continued focus on better safeguarding so-called “soft targets,” such as community centers and entertainment venues, with investments in better infrastructure as well as security partnerships with the NYPD SHIELD program.
“SCC is honored that, once again, Borough President Adams has recognized the crucial work that SCC does in our community, through an allocation of City capital funds to help SCC advance our mission of service to our Brooklyn community,” said Gary S. Lipman, CEO of the Sephardic Community Center (SCC). “Knowing the limitations of City funding and the competitive environment for these funds, we are grateful to Borough President Adams for his support of this request, for his ongoing support of SCC, and for all of his work in making Brooklyn such a wonderful place to live and work. The people of Brooklyn and the members of SCC are truly privileged to have such an outstanding public servant working on our behalf to build and strengthen community.
Joined by beneficiaries of his capital grants, including local youth, police officers, community leaders, and NYPD leadership, Borough President Adams presented giant checks symbolic of his investment in public safety.
“I am very pleased that Borough President Adams has allocated the necessary funding to install security cameras in Williamsburg,” said Dealice Fuller, chair of Brooklyn Community Board 1 (CB 1). “These cameras will be a deterrent to crime and aid in improving the public’s safety. CB 1 looks forward to this new partnership between the community and the local precinct.”
PHOTOS
Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams presented honorary checks to organizations from across the borough as he unveiled the details of his public safety capital budget for FY17, an investment of more than $500,000 in projects throughout Brooklyn; joined by community advocates, police officers, local youth, and neighborhood leaders including Deputy Brooklyn Borough President Diana Reyna (first row, second from left) and Assembly Member Joseph Lentol (first row, third from right), he made the announcement in front of the NYPD’s 90th Precinct Stationhouse in Williamsburg, which will benefit from $37,000 in funding from Borough President Adams to outfit a multimedia learning center for use by NYC Together.
Photo Credit: Stefan Ringel/Brooklyn BP’s Office
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