Day: July 22, 2026

A parking lot may not be the first place you’d expect to hear the sounds of a live ensemble, but that’s exactly what the Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra has planned for Bay Ridge this summer.

As part of the neighborhood’s annual Summer Stroll on Third Avenue, the Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra will transform the Citizens Bank parking lot at 9201 Third Ave. into an open-air concert venue on Aug. 7, offering a free evening of orchestral music beneath the summer sky.

The concert begins at 7 p.m. and is presented in partnership with Citizens Bank. Taking place during one of Bay Ridge’s busiest summer events, the performance is designed to bring professional live music into the heart of the community, where thousands of residents gather to shop, dine and explore local commerce.

The performance will feature a 30-piece professional orchestra alongside Broadway and opera vocalist Amelia Milo and clarinetist Yu Ting. The program will feature recognizable favorites, including “The Star-Spangled Banner,” Aaron Copland’s “Hoe Down” from “Rodeo,” George Gershwin’s “They Can’t Take That Away from Me” and “Summertime” and other selections from Broadway.

Philip Nuzzo, music director and conductor of the Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra, emphasized the need for accessibility in music settings, an idea that closely aligns with their mission.

“Great music doesn’t only belong inside concert halls, it belongs wherever people gather,” he said. “That’s why we’re excited to transform an everyday parking lot into an open-air experience where neighbors can come together, enjo a summer evening and discover the joy of live orchestral music.”

Nuzzo founded the orchestra in 2002 as the borough’s resident professional chamber orchestra presenting a regular subscription season. The parking lot orchestra is a first for this orchestra. The ensemble has put on a variety of shows, including the works of Beethoven, “The Phantom of the Opera,” Spanish influences, Christmas performances and more.

Admission to the Aug. 7 concert is free. The performance will take place in the Citizens Bank parking lot in Bay Ridge beginning at 7 p.m. Organizers encourage attendees to bring lawn chairs and blankets to settle in for an evening filled with free music.

The concert is just one of the many attractions planned for this year’s Summer Stroll series.

The car-free Friday night festival will run from 6 to 10 p.m., with the first stretch between 82nd Street and Marine Avenue on July 24 and Aug. 7, and the second stretch between 68th Street and 82nd Street on July 31 and Aug. 14.

One in eight women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime, and this year alone, approximately 382,640 women are expected to receive a diagnosis, according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Thanks to advances in early detection and treatment methods, breast cancer survival rates have significantly increased in recent years. The five-year survival rate is over 99% when breast cancer is caught in its earliest, localized stages, and there are currently more than 4 million breast cancer survivors in the United States.

Recognizing that many survivors struggle to navigate what comes after treatment ends, Maimonides Health officials and local lawmakers celebrated the launch of its new Breast Cancer Survivorship Program and the opening of its state-of-the-art Mammography Suite at the Maimonides Breast Cancer Center on July 20.

Located on the center’s second floor, the new Mammography Suite provides life-saving screening and diagnostic services with new 3D mammography and ultrasound equipment, two changing rooms and a patient-centered design to make visits more comfortable and convenient.

Expanded weekday appointments from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. allow the center to see more patients — up to 45 daily — and reduce appointment wait times from approximately four weeks to about one week. Patients can also schedule appointments through the MaimoCare app.

The Breast Cancer Center has also reduced turnaround times for imaging results from as long as 30 days to no more than 10 days. Patients with suspected malignancies are contacted immediately and offered expedited appointments.

A critical aspect of the center is its integrated risk assessment program. When scheduling an appointment, patients provide information such as their personal and family medical histories, age, ethnicity, lifestyle factors, genetic mutations and the presence of dense breast tissue. The assessment helps identify whether patients are at high risk of developing breast cancer within the next five years or over their lifetime.

Most mammography facilities do not assess lifetime risk. However, screening guidelines differ for high-risk patients, who are placed in the high-risk screening program and receive expedited imaging services.

Dr. Patrick Borgen, chair of surgery at Maimonides Health and director of the Maimonides Breast Cancer Center, was recently named a 2026 Giant of Cancer Care by OncLive. Borgen told Brooklyn Paper that the center has treated more than 8,000 patients since it opened in 2011. The center is Brooklyn’s first fully accredited breast cancer center.

The cure rate for stage 1 breast cancer is about 98%, and the survival rate for stage 4 breast cancer at Maimonides is 50% better than the rest of the country, Borgen explained, noting that every new patient’s case is evaluated by a tumor board of 30 medical experts, rather than just one.

The challenge, Borgen said, is matching the treatment to the exact disease in the breast since there are 80 different types of breast cancer.

“That’s where this tumor board comes in. You’ve got experts looking at it from different areas, and the outcomes are extraordinary. We look at every case from genetics, GYN, breast, medical oncology, radiation, surgery, and we put together a comprehensive plan from all of those disciplines. That makes all the difference in the world,” Borgen explained. “In terms of the advanced breast cancers, I think the difference is we don’t stop. There are centers who will try a couple of treatments and then say, ‘Gee, maybe it’s time to get your affairs in order.’ We don’t ever do that. We’re going to stay with you in the fight.”

In addition to the latest 3D mammography equipment, the center also utilizes a high-resolution 3-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, providing faster exam times and higher-detail images. It also has a tomosynthesis stereotactic biopsy table for tissue biopsies, using 3D imaging to guide a needle into a suspicious area of the breast.

While acknowledging that it wasn’t the “most pleasant experience in the world,” Borgen shared that the 10-minute procedure had saved 5,000 women a trip to the operating room.

“When we operate, it creates a scar in the breast that stays for years, and so when someone has had a breast operation, it can be harder in the future to find an [abnormality]; they can hide in the scar tissue. So we’re pretty fanatical about only going to surgery if it’s necessary,” he explained.

Borgen noted that the investment in women’s health reflected Maimonides’ commitment to caring for patients through every stage of their breast health journey.

“Whether a patient comes to us for a routine screening mammogram, a breast cancer diagnosis, treatment, or years after completing therapy, she deserves expert, coordinated care in an environment designed specifically for her needs. These enhancements allow us to deliver that care more efficiently, more comfortably, and with greater personalization,” Borgen said.

Most mammograms are analyzed by general radiologists. At Maimonides, all patients’ mammograms are interpreted by a radiologist trained in breast imaging, such as Dr. Jessica Torrente, a board-certified radiologist with fellowship training in breast imaging who specializes in diagnosing breast cancer and other benign breast conditions.

“We took an extra year, sometimes two, to get expertise in really interpreting all the different modalities and performing all of the different types of procedures. So we’re not a cookie-cutter place. We are able to offer all types of services for all types of people under all types of circumstances, and that’s something I’m really proud of,” Torrente said. “And not every center can say that every single image, from screening mammography to MRI to your biopsy, [the] presentation at tumor board, all of that is being done by breast specialists.”

The new Breast Cancer Survivorship Program caters specifically to patients previously diagnosed with breast cancer who are five or more years past treatment. It offers specialized care that bridges oncology and primary care, recognizing the unique long-term health needs of survivors. Patients have access to the latest imaging equipment and a team of medical professionals familiar with their health history.

A team of primary care physicians and nurse practitioners works closely with each patient’s care team to develop individualized long-term plans that address surveillance for recurrence, medication management, bone health, sexual health, fertility concerns, chronic pain, hormonal changes, mental health and other survivorship needs.

Dr. Joshua Feinberg, chief of the Division of Breast Surgery at Maimonides Health, noted that the new Mammography Suite and Breast Cancer Survivorship Program demonstrate the wide range of breast cancer care offered by the Maimonides Breast Center.

“Our job is to make care and screening as accessible as possible. And so, with the mammography suite, that’s what we’re trying to do. And hopefully, we will increase that impact and provide more care and make it more accessible,” Feinberg said. “So whether a woman is coming to us for her first mammogram or 5, 10, or 20 years beyond treatment, we want her to know that Maimonides is here at every stage of that treatment.”

Monica Taitt is the imaging manager at Maimonides Breast Cancer and has also been screened at the center for breast cancer for the past 16 years. Because of her dense breast tissue, or “lumpy boobies,” the screening intervals vary.

“Depending on what they’re seeing, you’ll come back every six months, and then once it is stabilized, then you come back once a year,” Taitt explained. “They’ve taken good care of me over the last 17 years. It’s never proven to be anything sinister, but when they tell me to come back in three months or six months, I’m back. If anything ever were to develop, we have an excellent surgery team. They have my full faith.”

Taitt, whose regular screenings have not shown any signs of cancer so far, urged women to schedule their yearly mammogram and seek medical help immediately when they notice abnormalities such as a lump or nipple discharge.

“Don’t put it off, because the worst thing you can do is have a fear of something and not take care of it,” she said, noting that early detection was key. She found a lump during an at-home breast exam when she was 26.

“I went to a doctor in the city. He did a biopsy, and it was benign, but it was enough for me to say, ‘Okay, this is something that I need to stay on top of,’” Taitt said.

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, state Sen. Stephen Chan, Assembly Members Marcela Mitaynes and Lester Chang, and Council Members Mercedes Narcisse and Susan Zhuang expressed their gratitude to Maimonides Health and their dedication to ensuring accessible breast cancer services for Brooklynites.

“Today’s opening of the new mammography suite and launch of the Maimonides Breast Cancer Survivorship Program will connect residents with lifesaving resources and care,” Williams noted, while Reynoso, Mitaynes and Narcisse highlighted the importance of quality health care close to home, including women’s health care.

“Maimonides’s new Mammography Suite and Breast Cancer Survivorship Program will ensure that more of our neighbors can access the screenings, support, and care they need, right in their own community,” Reynoso said.

“By expanding access to advanced breast cancer screening and providing continued support for survivors, Maimonides is helping save lives and ensuring that patients receive the care they deserve at every stage of their journey,” Mitaynes said.

“I’m also proud to see the Breast Cancer Survivorship Program launch alongside it, because caring for patients doesn’t end when treatment does,” Narcisse said.

Zhuang lost two aunts to breast cancer, which is why she always wears pink, the signature color of breast cancer awareness.

“This issue is deeply personal to me and my family. That’s why I’m especially grateful to Maimonides for expanding breast cancer services in our community and for ensuring compassionate, accessible care in dozens of languages so every patient feels seen, supported, and cared for,” Zhuang said.

New York City owns nearly 15,000 parcels covering roughly 14% of the five boroughs, but as of 2025, only about 31 megawatts of solar power had been installed across 187 city-owned facilities, according to a new report from City Comptroller Mark Levine.

Levine is calling on the city to make better use of that sprawling real estate portfolio by installing solar panels and battery storage on more rooftops, parking lots, fleet depots and other public properties.

Rather than developing projects one site at a time, the report calls for the city to bundle them into a coordinated portfolio. Levine’s office argues that the approach could attract long-term investors, lower financing and procurement costs, support electric-vehicle charging, and ease grid pressure during peak demand, such as summer heat waves.

“The July heat wave underscored the urgency of strengthening New York City’s energy resilience,” Levine said in a statement. “Localized outages and emergency conservation measures showed why every neighborhood needs more reliable, distributed sources of power.”

The report highlights four properties to illustrate the possibilities: the parking lot next to Queens Borough Hall, the Orchard Beach parking field in the Bronx, the Staten Island Teleport campus and the MTA’s East New York Bus Depot.

Their rooftops and parking areas cover more than 3 million square feet, or about 69 acres — nearly five times the footprint of a 12-megawatt solar canopy being developed at Kennedy Airport’s long-term parking lot.

The four sites are conceptual examples and have not undergone technical feasibility studies. The report does not estimate how much power they could produce, what construction would cost, or how long development would take.

At Queens Borough Hall, the report points to a 302-space municipal parking lot covering about 122,360 square feet, or nearly three acres. A solar canopy could generate electricity without eliminating parking, while batteries could store power during the day and release it later, when electricity use tends to peak.

The power could be used at Borough Hall or help ease pressure on the surrounding grid. A community-solar arrangement could also provide credits to nearby residents, affordable housing developments or nonprofit groups, though that would require further legal, financial and procurement review.

The Orchard Beach parking field is much larger, with more than 5,600 spaces spread across more than 1.8 million square feet. Solar canopies and battery storage over even part of the lot could generate electricity and lease revenue, reduce peak demand and provide resilience benefits during emergencies, the report says.

On Staten Island, the report points to the roughly 81-acre Teleport campus, which is being transferred from the Port Authority to the city’s Economic Development Corporation. The property has an electrical substation, data-center infrastructure, surface parking and about 31 undeveloped acres that could make it suitable for a larger solar-and-storage project.

The East New York Bus Depot belongs to the MTA rather than a city agency, but Levine included it as an example of how publicly controlled transportation properties could double as energy infrastructure as the MTA electrifies its fleet.

A National Renewable Energy Laboratory study for the MTA found that pairing electric-bus charging with properly sized solar and storage systems could cut utility costs by more than 35% and save about $15 million at a depot over 20 years, according to the comptroller’s report.

NYC’s power grid under growing strain

Levine released the report after a punishing stretch of heat and storms that brought localized outages, voltage reductions and emergency calls to conserve electricity.

Con Edison reported 80,000 outages across the five boroughs between July 2 and July 3, according to Levine’s office. The figure rose to 173,700 between July 2 and July 5 when Westchester County was included.

The strain included targeted service cuts and voltage reductions intended to prevent wider failures. Con Edison said it temporarily cut power to nearly 10,000 customers in southwest Queens on July 3 and reduced voltage to nearly 400,000 customers in Brooklyn and Queens as crews made repairs. Another roughly 148,000 customers faced a voltage reduction two days later.

Demand is expected to keep rising as buildings, cars and municipal fleets shift away from fossil fuels. The New York Independent System Operator projects annual electricity use in the city could increase by 25% to 30% by 2050, from roughly 50,000 gigawatt-hours today to nearly 65,000.

Solar still supplies only about 1% to 1.5% of the city’s electricity. New York City has about 641.5 megawatts of installed solar capacity overall, roughly 64% of its 2030 target, while 84 battery-storage facilities total about 115 megawatts.

Batteries do not generate electricity. They charge when power is available and discharge when demand climbs, such as on hot afternoons when air conditioners are running across the city.

Pairing them with solar panels on public property could reduce peak demand, cut reliance on expensive fossil-fuel “peaker” plants and put off some costly upgrades to substations and other infrastructure, according to Levine’s report.

The report also comes as the Champlain Hudson Power Express remains offline. The $6 billion transmission line entered commercial operation in May and was built to carry Canadian hydropower into the city’s grid in Astoria, Queens.

The 1,250-megawatt line can supply as much as 20% of New York City’s electricity. It is expected to remain out of service through the end of July because of a cable problem, Reuters reported.

NYISO said it was not counting on the line to meet demand this summer even as statewide power reserves remained “extremely tight.” Reuters also reported that the city relied more heavily on fossil-fuel generators as temperatures neared 100 degrees.

A July 14 NYISO assessment identified a 189-megawatt New York City power deficiency during the 2026 summer peak without the hydropower line having demonstrated its planned capacity. That calculation assumed fossil-fuel generators on the Gowanus and Narrows barges would remain in service.

NYISO said grid operators would likely have to use emergency measures more often until other planned projects become available, including public conservation appeals, demand-response programs, voltage reductions, emergency power purchases and cuts to operating reserves.

The grid operator also found that the early July heat wave brought roughly two to three times as many generator outages in New York City and the Lower Hudson Valley as planners typically account for, along with several transmission outages. NYISO said the conditions pushed the grid “well beyond established planning criteria and practices.”

Levine’s report describes the Champlain Hudson line and the forthcoming Empire Wind offshore project as essential, but warns that large transmission projects alone cannot solve every local bottleneck or reliability problem.

Battery projects face neighborhood resistance

Battery energy storage systems, known as BESS, have become contentious in several parts of the city, with proposed facilities drawing protests in Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island over fire risks, their proximity to homes and schools, noise and a lack of community input.

One ongoing fight is in Middle Village, Queens, where NineDot Energy is pursuing a facility across from PS/IS 128 and near homes, a daycare center and an animal hospital.

More than 100 residents, educators, business owners and community leaders rallied against the project in June, calling for it to be moved to a less residential area. The Department of Buildings said at the time that the application remained under review, although foundation work had been approved and permitted.

NineDot says the site would contain four Tesla Megapacks and meet FDNY requirements, including around-the-clock monitoring, heat-sensing cameras, fire-rated walls and systems designed to shut down overheating cells. The company also says none of the more than 30 BESS facilities operating in the city has experienced a fire-safety incident.

FDNY officials have strongly defended the city’s oversight. At a City Council hearing last year, Bureau of Fire Prevention Chief Thomas Currao called the department’s review system “the benchmark for the safety of urban energy storage systems,” pointing to full-scale fire testing, plan reviews and inspections.

Officials said industrial storage systems are highly engineered and fundamentally different from the uncertified batteries commonly associated with e-bike fires.

But hazardous-materials chief Joseph Loftus also acknowledged that firefighters may contain a battery-storage fire and allow it to burn rather than immediately extinguish it because trapped gases could create an explosion risk.

Levine’s report similarly credits the city and the FDNY with developing one of the country’s most rigorous battery-storage safety frameworks. But it argues that lengthy reviews, changing technical requirements and limited transparency can slow projects and drive up costs, and calls for more predictable permitting without weakening safety standards.

Scaling up existing efforts

The city has already begun pursuing projects along those lines championed by the comptroller.

The Department of Environmental Protection is advancing a 10-megawatt solar installation paired with 10 megawatts of battery storage at its Wards Island wastewater treatment facility. The Department of Citywide Administrative Services has installed a solar canopy at Rikers Island that supports electric-vehicle charging and sends power to the grid.

The city’s PowerUp NYC plan identified about 400 megawatts of potential battery-storage capacity on city-owned parking lots and vacant land, with roughly 300 megawatts already passing an initial agency review, according to the report.

However, Levine wants the city to move beyond those isolated projects and treat multiple properties as one coordinated portfolio. The report calls for planning across city agencies and Con Edison and argues that bundling projects could attract private investment.

His report also backs City Council legislation that would direct the FDNY to establish an expedited permitting process for certain small and medium-sized residential battery systems while maintaining safety standards.

A separate proposal would require the city to identify municipal properties suitable for battery storage and set deployment targets for city-owned lots.

Interconnection poses another obstacle. The report says Con Edison has paused new large-scale battery projects across 85% of its territory following a surge in requests, while restricting large connections and shifting attention toward smaller systems located behind customers’ meters.

Levine is also calling on the city to pursue available state and federal incentives and create a central “Direct Pay Dashboard” to track eligible projects and maximize federal reimbursements across agencies.

Eligible battery-storage projects can generally receive tax credits worth up to 30% of their costs through direct payments to municipalities, with additional incentives available for some projects, according to the report.

The proposal does not come with a price tag or construction timeline. But an analysis cited in the report estimated that expanding solar and storage could deliver nearly $481 million in annual avoided energy costs downstate by 2035, with average annual savings of about $46 for residential customers – including those who do not own solar panels or batteries.

The popular cannabis brand Anthem is bringing a one-of-a-kind showdown to Brooklyn next week.

After successful events in Phoenix and Chicago, Anthem’s Sunset Showdown is making its way to Brooklyn Roots Collective, located at 255 Randolph St. in East Williamsburg, for an evening of cowboys and cannabis. 

The free event aims to bring an elevated experience with a Western charm, with plenty of activities to take part in while guests partake in Anthem pre-rolls available on-site. Guests can also take a ride on the mechanical bull, try out some line dancing, engrave a personalized Anthem lighter, get a free tattoo by Three Kings Tattoo, and more!

Guests will have opportunities to get prizes and giveaways throughout the night. The event will also have live music and a variety of food and drinks to help keep the party going.

You must be 21+ to attend the event, and guests are encouraged to wear their best rodeo-inspired Western wear.

 To reserve your spot, visit www.eventbrite.com/e/anthem-sunset-showdown-ny-tickets-1992789195127.

Details

What: Anthem Sunset Showdown Brooklyn

Where: Brooklyn Roots Collective, 255 Randolph St., Brooklyn

When: July 29, 6 – 10 p.m.

Price: Free, must be 21+

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