Day: March 3, 2025

A swath of Brooklyn nonprofits will benefit from the nearly $60 million Cultural Development Fund announced by Mayor Eric Adams and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA).

The record-breaking fund will support more than 1,000 cultural organizations across the five boroughs, bolstering visual arts, theater, film, dance and other artistic initiatives.

“Simply put, there is no New York City without the cultural sector that strengthens our communities, drives our economy, and makes us the creative capital of the world,” said DCLA Commissioner Laurie Cumbo. “The work that goes into making our cultural sector thrive starts with the 1,000+ nonprofits that we’re proud to support through the Cultural Development Fund.” 

The annually awarded fund has expanded its efforts to support individual artists, smaller nonprofits, people with disabilities, and English language learners. Organizations receiving additional funding include the Language Access Fund, the Disability Forward Fund and the CDF Equity Fund.

“It brings confidence that New York is reinvesting into the arts when the arts are nationally at risk,” Rasu Jilani, executive director of Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC), told Brooklyn Paper. “So for me, it is a mark of value that our Mayor is investing into the arts.”

Last year, BAC awarded $602,490 to Brooklyn cultural organizations, supporting 177 grantees. Jilani expects the Council to assist even more artists with funding from the Cultural Development Fund.

“ That’s really helpful for us because it fortifies New York City as the central creative ecosystem of America, quite frankly, the world,“ Jilani said.

This year’s Cultural Development Fund exceeds the city’s previous record of $58 million awarded to grantees in 2023.

“To make New York City the best place to raise a family, we need good-paying jobs and vibrant cultural organizations; these grants will help us support both by bolstering our museums, music venues, and much more,“ Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement.

Some of the awarded Brooklyn Nonprofits include Brooklyn Music School, Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium, Art of Brooklyn Festival, Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, Brooklyn Steppers, Brooklyn Youth Music Project, Brooklyn Art Song Society and Brooklyn Book Bodega, among others.

The complete list of funding awarded organizations can be found on the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs Fiscal 2025 Cultural Development Fund Awardees page. 

President Donald Trump announced Monday that tariffs on Canadian, Chinese, and Mexican imports — which could seriously damage New York businesses and personal bank accounts — will take effect on Tuesday. 

Trump’s announcement immediately sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) into a spiral; it ended the business day Monday down 1.5%. Other financial markets also took a hit; the NASDAQ finished Monday dropped 2.6%, while the S&P 500 tumbled by 1.7%. 

The president said Canada or Mexico could not avoid the 25% tariffs, which took effect Tuesday, and no deal would be reached on potentially limiting fentanyl smuggling at the borders. A 20% tariff would also be implemented on some Chinese imports. He added that reciprocal tariffs would take effect on April 2 on countries that impose duties on U.S. products.

“They’re going to have to have a tariff. So what they have to do is build their car plants, frankly, and other things in the United States, in which case they no tariffs,” Trump said at the White House. 

Trump also said reciprocal tariffs would take effect on April 2 on countries that impose duties on U.S. products.

CEOs and economists say the tariffs, covering more than $900 billion worth of annual U.S. imports from its southern and northern neighbors, would seriously damage the highly integrated North American economy.

Everyone pays

Unlike taxes, tariffs are imposed when an importer brings goods into the country. Basically, any company that imports goods at first pays the tariff at customs.

But once those goods have passed through the ports of entry, you, the consumer, cover the importers’ tariff costs through higher prices for the imported goods you’re buying. When the tariff goes up, so does the price of the items you buy.

Trump explained that the higher tariffs on Canada and Mexico aimed to increase border security and boost domestic production. However, tariffs have also historically increased prices for goods because importers passed on the extra costs to consumers. 

Tariffs enacted during the Great Depression a century ago also further deteriorated the global and domestic economies. 

The potential impact on New York

According to a 2024 report from the Canadian Consulate General, New York imports $22.8 billion in goods from Canada, a third of which are minerals and metals (pearls, gems, precious metals, jewelry, aluminum), followed by agriculture at 13% and energy and transportation at 10% each. 

Trade with Canada, the consulate general’s report noted, helps support 520,600 jobs in New York.

The Empire State also exports $29.8 billion worth of goods to Canada, including more than $10.3 billion worth of services in the financial and business sectors. 

As for Mexico, trade with New York was mutual in 2023, with $3.5 billion in imports and exports exchange. The Mexican Embassy reported that most of New York’s imports from Mexico include beverages, electrical equipment and components, computers, plastic products and navigational, medical and control instruments.

On the other hand, New York sends products to Mexico, including engines, turbines, power transmission equipment, resin and synthetic rubber/fiber products, plastic products, and general-purpose machinery.

Trade with Mexico, according to the Mexican Consulate, supports 328,000 jobs in New York state.

A collection of topical political cartoons from various artists curated by the Brooklyn Eagle editorial staff.

The post Cartoon Sketchbook: March 3 appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.

City Comptroller Brad Lander this week released an update to a 2023 report on lack of heat complaints in buildings across the city.

The post Lander urges city to address heat complaints appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.

Mayor Eric Adams said on Monday that New York City needs to be saved from ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, marking his first clear rebuke of the state’s former top executive since launching a bid for mayor over the weekend.

“Yes, I do believe we need to be saved — from him,” Adams said, referring to Cuomo, during his weekly news conference on March 3.

Hizzoner’s remarks were in response to Cuomo’s central campaign message that he is the one to “save” the city from the chaos that has erupted under Adams’ three-plus years as mayor.

Cuomo, who resigned from the governorship in 2021 amid multiple allegations of sexual misconduct that he denies, introduced the “save our city” line in a 17-minute campaign launch video released on Saturday. The former governor slammed the city’s current leadership without naming Adams and argued that he was the one to right the ship.

The former governor is already facing a barrage of attacks from his rivals over his treatment of New York City as the state’s chief executive and the scandals that led him to resign.

In response to Adams, Cuomo’s spokesperson, Rich Azzopardi, simply said, “We will let the voters decide.”

‘Get an original idea,’ mayor tells challengers

During Monday’s news conference, Adams also claimed that Cuomo, as well as many of the other candidates challenging him, have modeled their campaign platforms after the issues he has prioritized in office. He said that includes reducing crime, improving the city’s economy, and building more housing.

“Look at what I ran on and what I completed, and look at what they now are shifting to run on,” he said. “All I’m saying to all of them, get an OI, an original idea. Get your originality. Don’t run on what Eric ran on and accomplished. You’re gonna continue what I’ve down.”

Yet Adams declined to offer many more thoughts on Cuomo’s candidacy, insisting that he cannot campaign during his official mayoral press conferences at City Hall. Instead, he said he would save his attacks on Cuomo’s record and scandals for the campaign trail.

Nevertheless, Adams did hint at plans to blast Cuomo over the high COVID-19 death toll in New York’s nursing homes, which many allege stemmed from the former governor’s order to readmit patients to the facilities after they were discharged from the hospital. Cuomo has also been accused of purposefully undercounting the state’s coronavirus nursing home deaths.

“I met with some of the nursing home family members and advoctes, there are some things we want to do with them,” Adams said. “But he has to answer that question on the trail.”

Cuomo’s team has fiercely disputed that he mishandled COVID-19 in nursing homes. Azzopardi has pointed to a January 2025 Justice Department inspector general’s report that he says shows Trump’s first White House had attempted to smear Cuomo’s handling of the deadly virus’ spread in nursing homes, in an apparent effort to influence the 2020 presidential election.

“The DOJ inspector general released a report definitively stating that federal employees corruptly used DOJ resources to go after New York even though they knew that New York was following the federal guidelines and that other states had far worse COVID infection problems in their homes,” he said. “This was all political to help in the 2020 election, and it’s there in black and white in that report.”

Cuomo has come into the race as a frontrunner, rolling out his campaign with endorsements from key supporters, including pols like US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx) and the District Council of Carpenters. He has led the Democratic primary field, including Adams, in a series of public polls in recent weeks and will draw support from the same base of older Black and Latino voters as Adams.

Meanwhile, Adams’ chances of getting re-elected appear to have grown ever slimmer.

The embattled mayor has refused multiple calls to resign following President Trump’s Justice Department’s move to drop his federal corruption charges. Those calling for his ouster allege that Adams is compromised after agreeing to do Trump’s bidding on immigration enforcement in exchange for dismissing the charges against him.