Day: November 4, 2024

Brooklyn’s political figures gathered once again for the annual Cheesecake Breakfast hosted by former district leader Steve Cohn at Junior’s.

The post Steve Cohn’s annual breakfast keeps Brooklyn’s political tradition alive appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.

New York City officials on Monday explained several measures residents of the five boroughs should take to conserve water days after City Hall declared a “drought watch” following a historically dry October.

Rohit Aggarwala, the city’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) commissioner, said Monday that after getting very little rainfall over the past 10 weeks, the Big Apple is facing a six-inch precipitation deficit. He said the dry weather so far, taken together with forecasts that the next couple of months will continue to be drier than usual for this time of year, led the city to initiate a drought watch — its first phase of drought prepardness.

In order to stave off moving to the final stage of drought preparedness, “a drought emergency,” Aggarwala outlined several ways New Yorkers can cut down on their water use.

“If we can cut our water consumption by only 5% today, every 20 days we do that, that buys us another day of full water supply later on,” Aggarwala said during the mayor’s weekly off-topic press conference. “We’re really urging all New Yorkers to be conscious of water consumption.”

Aggarwala’s recommendations include reporting leaking fire hydrants to 311, shortening shower times, flushing the toilet less often and not running the water while brushing your teeth.

“The biggest source of water waste in homes is actually leaking toilets,” the DEP commissioner said. “People do not understand how much water a running toilet can actually consume, you don’t think about it. But it is hundreds of gallons in a week or two.”

City Emergency Mangement Commissioner Zach Iscol added that the dry conditions mean there is an increased fire hazard risk. Those conditions led to a two-alarm brush fire in the Bronx’s Van Cortlandt Park on Monday, Iscol said.

Iscol said the last update on the fire as of late Tuesday morning was that it is under control.

“They’re starting to, they brought a couple additional resources up there, but really just because of exhaustion, and because of the firefighters doing their job, but right now it probably will hold,” Iscol said, using FDNY jargon to indicate the fire is contained.

Aggarwala said that based on the city’s last drought in 2001 and 2002, the drought watch stage will not last very long. The city will likely move into the next preparedness phase, the “drought warning,” in the coming weeks.

The warning stage would require city agencies to reduce their water usage, including measures like reducing the washing of city vehicle fleets and checking city-run buildings for leaks.

City officials said a drought emergency would carry mandatory restrictions on water usage that would be enforceable by fines and sanctions. It would also mean a moratorium on restaurants serving water to customers unless they request it, the watering of golf courses and athletic fields, and the operation of pools.

Aggarwala said the emergency restrictions can be particularly limiting during the hot temperatures of the summer months.

“You’re not allowed to water your lawn. You’re not allowed to do things that are often outdoors,” Aggarwala said. “And our water consumption as a city is generally higher during the summer than it is during the winter.”

A woman and two men were named in a 25-count indictment in which they are charged in connection with anti-Semitic incidents.

The post 3 charged with hate crimes for defacing, vandalizing homes of Brooklyn Museum execs appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.

The New York City Subway has logged its billionth rider in 2024, achieving the milestone at a record pace for the post-pandemic era.

The MTA admits determining who the billionth rider was isn’t an exact science; the stranger deemed the lucky number 1 billion was Michael Carrasquillo, a Brooklyn resident who was getting on the train at Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center.

A multi-modal New Yorker, he was taking the train Monday afternoon en route to pick up his car, which he would drive to pick up his friend and bring her to the doctor.

At the same time, MTA officials estimated the billionth rider would enter the system at 2 p.m. Workers stopped Carrasquillo and informed him he was the billionth customer, at which point he was “flabbergasted” and “humbled.”

“Riding the MTA almost every day really really impacts my life and everyone else’s life,” said Carrasquillo. “And we just really appreciate everything that the MTA’s doing to just make everyone’s life that much more convenient and that much better.”

To celebrate his achievement, Carrasquillo was gifted a tote bag, T-shirt, hat, and most notably, an OMNY card loaded with a month of free rides, a gift which left Carrasquillo with mouth agape.

The subway has still not fully recovered from the pandemic days, when ridership plummeted as New Yorkers were told to stay home and stop the spread of the coronavirus. The MTA has blamed this on the normalization of working from home, even as auto traffic over MTA bridges and tunnels regularly exceeds pre-pandemic figures.

Ridership continues to trickle up, however; average weekday ridership on the subway was over 4 million in October. The subway reached the billion milestone early this year: in 2022, it was not reached until Dec. 27, while in 2023, it was Nov. 14.

Asked his thoughts on being a “one-in-a-billion” subway rider, Carrasquillo used his 15 minutes of fame to plead with everyone to be nice to each other, preferring that over his newfound title on the eve of the presidential election.

“If I could be [one in] one billion anything,” he said, “it would be [to] continue to be a decent human being, kind to everyone, selfless and transparent.”