Day: September 17, 2024

All-Star Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu likened it to a “punch in the mouth”. Reigning WNBA Most Valuable Player Breanna Stewart said afterward that the league-leading Liberty just “aren’t good enough”. New York coach Sandy Brondello ever went so far as to admit that her team got “smacked in the head” by Minnesota Sunday. Following a […]

The post Liberty look to recover from ‘punch’ appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.

Since the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, Coney Island resident Freyda Markow has embarked on a yearly pilgrimage across New York City every Sept. 11 to honor the memories of those who lost their lives on that fateful day and in its aftermath.

On the 23rd anniversary of the attacks, Markow began her day at the annual memorial ceremony at Ground Zero, carrying photos of victims she has come to know over the years. Among them was her cousin, Firefighter George Cain, who died while responding to the South Tower.

Markow told Brooklyn Paper that this year was especially tough emotionally, as the families she has gotten to know have begun to send the next generation to represent them in their absence.

“I know a lot of the parents are getting older,” said Markow. “They can’t make that visit, so a lot of the children have taken over to represent the families they lost, the family that they never met. It’s up to the next generation to take over what the parents used to do, what they can no longer do.”

Markow refers to the friends she has made over the years as her “Ground Zero family.” This group supports each other year-round and continues to grow as more people lose their lives to diseases associated with the dust and smoke from the collapse of the towers.

The World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP) was established by Congress in 2011 to provide medical monitoring and care for those with 9/11-related health conditions. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the WTCHP now serves over 127,000 people and has recorded 6,781 deaths from illnesses linked to time spent in Lower Manhattan on or after 9/11.

On the morning of the attacks, Markow was at home in Coney Island instead of at her Manhattan office, having randomly taken the day off. She watched the “horror movie-like” events unfold on television and knew she had to help her fellow New Yorkers.

That urge to help led to nine months of volunteering at a Ground Zero relief center.

“It is just something you couldn’t walk away from, even if you were helping a little bit, one person at a time, it made a difference,” she said. “You were a source of comfort in a place that didn’t know anything about comfort and hope, and that’s what we gave them: a sign of hope that New Yorkers will come together and be there for our fellow New Yorkers.”

Twenty-three years later, Markow continues to dedicate her time to supporting the families of victims and keeping their loved ones’ memories alive. She regularly volunteers with both the Brooklyn 9/11 Wall organization and the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.

After the ceremony at the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum, Markow continues her pilgrimage of remembrance to Coney Island’s Asser Levy Park, where a ceremony is held annually on Sept. 11 for local residents who died in the attack.

Reflecting on this year’s ceremony, Markow said, “you realize these people just don’t come to remember one day out of the year — this is their life, missing loved ones like everybody else, and it tugs at the heart.”

“That’s something that you could pack away till next year. You carry it on with you,” she added. “ You make memories for them and share memories of them so people don’t forget, so the community doesn’t forget, so the children never forget, so our leaders never forget.”

Each year, Markow’s day ends at the the Brooklyn 9/11 Wall of Remembrance by Maimonides Park for a private moment of reflection, watching loved ones arrive to pay their respects, leave mementos, candles and pictures of the departed.

“As hard as it is to remember, it will be way worse if people forget. So that’s what we do. We try to remember. We try to spread the word,” she said. “We have to hold their memories in our hearts, not just one day out of the year. We have to teach our children, we have to teach future generations what happened here so nobody ever forgets. That’s the biggest honor we can give the the men and women who lost their lives.”

Additional reporting by Erica Price

1. NYPD says officers recovered wrong knife from police subway shooting in Brooklyn  Gothamist
2. Brooklyn cops shoot alleged fare-beater, also hit 2 bystanders and officer  NBC New York
3. NYPD says officer shot in friendly fire as police sought to subdue fare evader  ABC7 New York

1. NYPD says officers recovered wrong knife from police subway shooting in Brooklyn  Gothamist
2. Brooklyn cops shoot alleged fare-beater, also hit 2 bystanders and officer  NBC New York
3. NYPD says officer shot in friendly fire as police sought to subdue fare evader  ABC7 New York

Making New York City a safer and more affordable city has always been the mission of our administration. Every day, we fight to ensure that New Yorkers can pursue their dreams without fear for their safety and with a better quality of life. I am proud to say that New York remains the safest big city in America, and we are continuing to get safer each day.

As a result of our administration’s successful public safety strategy, our streets and our subways are safer. New York City has seen eight straight months of overall crime reduction across the five boroughs, realizing a significant 6.4 percent decrease in crime citywide for the month of August compared to the same time last year. Overall crime continues to trend downward and is down year to date as well. Additionally, last month, we had the fewest shootings of any August since the NYPD started tracking crime through CompStat in 1994.Homicides are down double digits for the year and for last month. Car theft is also down double digits. And burglaries are down, too.

Our public transit system is the lifeblood of our city, so keeping New Yorkers safe on the subway is key to ensuring that New York remains the safest big city in America. That is why we surged more than 1,000 additional officers in the subway system in February and introduced additional technology, including cameras and data driven officer deployment. As a result, overall transit crime has been down for seven cumulative months, and robberies are at the lowest point in recorded history. These numbers don’t lie, our safety strategy is on track and working.  

We know that community input is critical to improving public safety and that every community has its own unique needs. That is why we are bringing partners from across the city together to find innovative approaches to reducing crime and improving quality of life. Issues like illegal vending, retail theft, substance use, the mental health crisis, scaffolding, and unlicensed cannabis shops have no place on our streets. And our administration refuses to tolerate an atmosphere where anything goes.

That is why we launched our “Community Link” initiative, which works with multiple agencies, as well as community partners, to make our city safer and more livable for all. We have Community Links established across the city, including on 14^th Street on the Lower East Side, 125^th Street in Harlem, Central Park near 110^th Street, and around Washington Square Park — all areas in which we have seen unacceptable quality-of-life issues take hold. This approach works hand-in-hand with the community to bring tailored city services right to their doorsteps.

Just last week, I was happy to convene members of the NYPD, the Department of Sanitation, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Department of Parks and Recreation, and others to launch “Operation Front Door,” a targeted operation focusing on quality-of-life issues in and around Times Square, the front door to the world. In one night, we seized 36 illegally operating pedicabs, issued 45 summonses, and shut down six food trucks for various health and safety violations.

Times Square is the welcome mat to our city, a place where the hospitality, entertainment, tourism and business industries meet. Millions of tourists continue to visit Times Square and are often targeted by illegal vendors and pedicabs. The unsafe and unregulated practices of illegal vendors and pedicabs not only put tourists’ safety at risk but undermine legitimate business trying to make a living. With Operation Front Door, we are taking decisive action to keep Times Square safe for New Yorkers, tourists, and businesses.

We came into office with the clear goal of making our city safer, more affordable, and more livable for all New Yorkers. We are making improvements that New Yorkers feel every day. And ensuring that New York remains the safest big city in America. 

ON THIS DAY IN 1862, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “We have received from the publisher, Carlton, 413 Broadway, New York, four volumes of Victor Hugo’s great work ‘Les Miserables.’ No book published in our day has excited greater interest. Its author intends to rest his claim to immortality upon it. It not unfrequently happens […]

The post September 17: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.