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0408bkaskthebpbblock_2024-04-08-19-22-23

Welcome back to ask the borough president here on news to Brooklyn with BP Antonio Reynoso. The conversation continues and if you have a question, grab your phone and dial that number 7188616800. Right now we do have our first caller of the night. I believe Ken from Williamsburg is on the line. Ken. Great to have you with us. No, not hearing Ken there, Ken. Can you hear us? Yes, I can. Great to have you with us here on ask the BP. What's your question? Thank you for having me. Um My question is, um, I'm a resident of Williamsburg and uh my mom also lives in the Fort Greene Clinton Hill area of Brooklyn. I discovered in the last 10 to 15 years of living here that the traffic say from Myrtle Avenue and Bedford going all the way to Flatbush Avenue, coming around to uh Lafayette back to where my mom lives on Skillman Street. Um during certain times of the day, especially in the morning when I get up to move my car to go visit my mom because I also can't get for her there is constant or a lot of bus, school, bus traffic and there's also open the side of the street. There's no, there's not enough parking because I noticed that in the area, the there is uh the Hasidic Jew community who lives in that area, they park all over the um they don't acknowledge the open side of the street parking. They don't change the uh park when they supposed to park, they block the street and it's hard to migrate in that area during early morning and late afternoon. This is something that has been going on for some time and I contact the mayor's office, uh uh uh different agencies in New York City and nothing seems to have changed over the years. And I want to know as, as you being the borough president of Brooklyn, what kind of plan do you think you can implement to help us that live in this community? Be able to get around and safely? Like, even one time I tried to get it, I had to call the EMS for my mom and they weren't able to get through the street because the school buses were blocking the street. So it's become a safety issue as well. And it's something that I think that needs to be addressed as borough president. What would you, what can you do to help our community resolve that issue? Thank you, Ken. Yeah. So, uh the first thing is uh in the Hasidic Jewish community and, and around where he's talking about, there's a significant amount of yeshiva. Um And most kids get bussed to their local yeshiva. Uh So there is a significant amount of traffic. We actually had a conversation with the local rabbis in Williamsburg to deal with the early morning traffic that we see. Uh and one thing that we were able to do and accomplish was uh working with the DS Ny. We asked that they pick, they pick up trash before, uh, six in the morning or after 11 in the afternoon, um, in an effort to make it so that they're not competing with buses, um, for, for streets, uh, while they're picking up trash. Um, and that helped a bit. Uh, the other issue is, uh, single occupancy vehicles. There are people that are driving, you walk down right now, you can go down Myrtle and stand on Myrtle and look at the cars passing by more than 90% of those vehicles are gonna be individuals driving somewhere during rush hour. So I just say, um, you know, the people in the vehicles are causing the traffic at the end of the day. It's just not a wise decision to make to get in your vehicle in that area of Brooklyn, specifically where we have a significant amount of, um, options when it comes to alternatives when it comes to public transportation. Excuse me, just not smart to take your vehicle out. You should get on the train, you should ride a bike. Um, you should take a bus and use all these alternatives that'll get you there. But so long as you're competing with these buses that have to be on the road to take these kids to school, you will lose. Um, so I think one solution was moving the, the vehicles or sanitation and that helped a bit, but ultimately, it's not wise, don't go down that route. You know, folks usually modify. Um And that is an issue and then when it comes to emergency vehicles, we do need to have a better conversation about how they move through traffic. Um we give so much priority and so much authority to vehicles that we would allow for a ambulance or any emergency vehicle to have to slog through traffic because of the congestion that we have. And again, the over prioritization of the car culture that exists in our city. So I've been fighting against that my entire career telling people to get out of their vehicles, telling folks to move into the buses, uh public transportation and their trains um and cycling. And it's the only way we're going to solve for this because the problem is we have too many vehicles in the city. We're talking about congestion, of course, what comes to mind for so many congestion pricing which is going to an effect in the coming months. Do you think that will have a positive effect long term on these issues that we see locally in our communities. I think so. I think we are one of the last large cities, I guess, or modern cities in America that hasn't figured out that vehicle, vehicles being the primary means of transportation through a city center is not the most efficient and best way to get through uh everywhere else. Whether it's in Spain, whether it's Colombia, the city centers are being come like uh the positive walkable cities and have been and brought in so many people to wanna live in Barcelona, in Bogota. Uh But we don't do that here. We work backwards. We still are using the vehicle as a primary means of transportation. Congestion pricing is gonna make it so that it, it shouldn't be, it should never be. But now it really shouldn't be your primary means to get into the central business district. Every single train runs through the central business district, find a way to get access to that and then get inside of it. That is the goal. And what we're gonna do in return is use that money that we would be making from these tolls um to improve the service, make sure it's cleaner, it's safer, it's more reliable. We can do all that with the money that we would get from congestion pricing so that we can give you a ride that you're more comfortable with. Because the number one excuse people give for is I don't wanna take the train, it's dirty. It takes forever. It's unsafe. Well, we can deal with all that if we got more people in it paying to get in now, we can start fixing it and making them, making them feel a lot better. You tell people that perhaps they're a little bit more accepting of the upfront cost. Yeah, this is, this is more like medicine though at this point. Uh, you know, it's hard for people to see it until it gets there. More conversation to come here on ask the borough president after this don't go anywhere. We'll be right back.

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0408askthebkbpcblock_2024-04-08-19-29-30

Welcome back to ask the borough president with BP Antonio Reynoso, more conversation on the way and calls that will be taking too. So call in right now. 7188616800. If you have a question for BP Reynoso, but I wanna talk about what a fun time of year this is for Brooklyn. We were just covering the return of Luna Park back open for this season. We've got Brooklyn Night Market coming up smorgasbord, which was back this past weekend. A lot of opportunities to get out, enjoy the borough and then support local and small businesses at the same time. 100%. It's just uh everyone's out. Like today, we talked about the, the solar eclipse and everyone's out and about and it just feels good. The energy in Brooklyn is amazing. Um I think about uh Coney Island and I was there. Uh I can't ride, I can't ride the cyclone anymore and I, and I can't be on the and I can't be on the one I'm afraid of heights and it's just so much, but even it was a little chilly and it was cold and people were just out there and it just, the energy in Brooklyn is amazing and people are just ready. They're so excited to start the day. So, hopefully, uh, everyone in Brooklynn is going out, they're enjoying themselves. Uh, the, the smorgasbord is coming out. So the food is always gonna be amazing. It's just, it's just great. Brooklyn is, is a happening place. It's, it's where you wanna be. Uh, and I can't wait for spring to start officially and that we're all out and about having the great time in the greatest borough in the city of New York. It's just so fun to even watch the video of the ceremonial first ride and everything back in business. So not only a great opportunity for Brooklynites and also obviously draws a lot of visitors to Brooklyn too, but also the exposure that it gives for these mom and pops that are participating in all of these festivals you go anywhere in uh you're not seeing these uh chain restaurants or anything like that. What we're seeing is local, uh Brooklyn artistry, Brooklyn food, uh Brooklyn, just Brooklyn businesses. So when you go out there and you're supporting anyone on the boardwalk or even a hot dog, you're supporting someone that started out here locally. So 100% please go out there, enjoy uh the local market. Uh enjoy the, the, the food which is amazing. Uh You know, stay away from the chains for, for, for a bit, uh, and enjoy the Brooklyn love and the Brooklyn joy that is gonna be expressed uh through the work that's happening all over the borough. Um But again, go out of Coney, everyone should go out to Coney Island one day. You're from Brooklyn and you don't go to Coney Island in the summer. So something's up your, go to Nathan's Order. I onions and onions and sauerkraut. I'm a mustard gal, but I also need the cheese fries. The first crunch of that, you know, French fry that covered in the cheese wedge. I'm all in. I hear you. My onions and sour kraut just like a sloppy and just like very happy. So that the way to do it, Brooklyn through and through all the way, always awesome more conversation to come here on. Ask the BP call in now if you haven't already, we'll be right back.

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0408askthebkbpdblock_2024-04-08-19-45-22

Thanks so much for being with us here on ask the borough president with Brooklyn BP. Antonio Reynoso, the calls are coming in. So let's dive right in and I believe Trina from Brownsville is on the line. Trina great to have you with us this evening. Thank you for having me our pleasure. What's your question for the BP? Ok. My question is ok, being that the rent is going up all around and you have residents that live in nature. Now, when we get our little income or whatever, our little raise or whatever niche already knows. So we have all these affordable housing buildings that's going up. What is your um proposal if you know, you take two or three of those buildings and set them aside for people who receive disability and social security income? Yeah, so, so on a couple of issues there first, uh the affordable housing that is built by the city of New York is deeply subsidized and uh a lot of them are section eight based housing. Um and, and of that sort and they do get a preference for disability. I believe 5% of the apartments have to go to people with disabilities. Uh And the other one that she was talking about was, uh, people uh, that only have like social security. That's a little different. There is a program, it's called the SA A program that is for senior citizens, but a building is not sustainable under the income of a social security, um, income or a uh income from disabled people. Uh, somebody with a disability that's also receiving um, some sort of social security. It's just not enough. You have to think about the maintenance of a building and how much it costs and the city could subsidize the development of the building but not the everyday maintenance of it. So even with section eight, even with these programs, uh what ends up happening is we get these buildings into significant disrepair and then they end up becoming a burden uh to, to the residents, to the city and then we have to spend a lot of money fixing them. You just gotta think about nature. Nature is an example of a uh a structure of one. I wanna say the most successful affordable housing program in the country is what we've done with nature. So it's a successful program overall, but right now it's falling into deterioration because the only way to sustain its ma it's maintenance is through city is through government funding. And as soon as a mayor, a governor and a president, which is exactly what happens. They wanna cut a little bit of that budget out. We start seeing these buildings fall into this repair. So what you wanna do is have a sustainable building model where you have rents that are a little higher rents that are in the middle and rents that are low. And then the, the, the formula within that building um starts working itself out and you can sustain it long term, whether or not the city is gonna be invested or government money is gonna be invested, but it is not sustainable to build a building where you're getting 2 $300 a month in rent from somebody with social security. There are special cases where the subsidies do exist but they're very few and limited because it's a deep subsidy. We're talking about an apartment where the average rent could be $4000 and you're paying $300 a month. The city has to find $3700 a month per apartment to pay in perpetuity is not a sustainable system or model. So we again try to find balance in diversifying the incomes in one building. I believe. We also have Helen on the line from East New York. Helen. Can you hear us? Great to have you with us? What's your question? I have a water problem. I called about a few weeks ago, I called the, the pre borough president's office about the situation. I got an answer from your office saying that dep would be taking care of it, it's still going on. So we're just talking about that when we heard that your call was coming in. Uh, this is one I wanna personally follow up with. Uh, I know the DP responded. It doesn't seem like their response came with a outcome or conclusion. Uh, I don't know if they went to go see it or what exactly their action or their follow up action was. So if you guys, you can give me one more time here, Helen, you're gonna have to call one more time next week. Um, hopefully you don't need to call or you're calling us with a congratulations. But, um, I know they went out, I just don't know what we got back and can't report on it just right now, but this is some one that I'm gonna personally be calling the commissioner for. It's one of those circumstances where just government works slow, it's disconnected. Um, and she talked about this leak existing for a significant amount of time and we just haven't done the work to solve for it. Um, it looks like dep showed up but we still don't have a resolution to the problem. And at the end of the day, people wanna know things are being worked on, but ultimately, what they really want is for the problem to go away. So I wanna be able to do that for you. So if you could just give me one more, go here and see if I could finally resolve this issue and, you know, the calls won't happen because we're both happy. Hopefully, Helen's next call is saying, thanks so much. I saw the cruise and finally, finally a let's hope that the government is here for us. So we shouldn't be hoping. Let's make it happen. I, I'll stay on top of this one for sure. Love to hear that. Let's get to our next caller. We have Nigel who's also on the line from Karsi Nigel. What's your question? Hey, how you doing? Good afternoon. Good evening y'all. Uh My name is Nigel Dupree. I'm also a bubble president out of housing development. I just wanted to thank the borough president Reynoso for the hard work. He do how he attacked mental health because um in my development book of Housing, my main concern was mental health and physical health and I see how you talk about it all the time and I appreciate you. Another thing I was wondering how can we attack the um continuous trauma um that housing residents become numb to about the things we see every day and the things we encounter every day. How can we attack the, the mental health and within the New York City Housing Authority overall? Yeah, he, he's absolutely right. So a couple of things thank you for, for the shout out in the work that we're doing on mental health. Um I it's a crisis and I feel like we don't treat it as such. Uh You know, when the COVID existed, everyone was locked into their homes and they were given vaccines. There was so many you had to do. We have a mental health crisis and what we instead of uh supporting it and doing the work that needs to happen to address the issue. We cut back on its budget every single year and it's just a sad thing. A sad state of affairs. I actually believe our crime problem that uh the, the pro the supposed crime problem that is here in the city of New York comes mostly from our inability to deal with the mental health crisis. That's before us. Uh The, the consistent trauma that exists or the numbing of the trauma of the, of what you see and not being able to react to it. If there's a shooting every day, you stop being affected by it. So what we do is we have these pure violence groups. A big part is every time there's a shooting or someone is killed, anything happens, we go to the block where it's happening and we make a ton of noise. We, we wake people up. We let anybody know that's listening that might have caused the shooting, know that we're here. We're not gonna normalize this. This is not something we're gonna let you walk away from and we're also not gonna act like it didn't happen. It happened, it's here on this corner, it shouldn't have happened. You were wrong, we can help you. We have resources, stop this from happening. That is deeply important. I think a lot of people don't know the value of just showing up and letting people know that we're not gonna normalize it. So Nigel, we're gonna keep doing that work. Um And hopefully in time we'll deal with this gun crisis. You mentioned that this is an area that sees cuts to its budget. And I wanna kind of circle back. We were talking state budget earlier, city budget, also a conversation that's ongoing. Now we saw the city council propose its response to the mayor's budget last week and in it, they really did focus on a lot what they call these crime prevention and, and getting at the root of the problem before it becomes an actual crime. What did you think about their response? Also, you talked about cutting budget, they're saying you don't need to make the cuts that the mayor has proposed uh when you keep that in mind and, and also kind of their, their holistic approach to the issue. Yeah, I think um when the mayor has done a good job at creating crisis that doesn't necessarily exist, what we've seen is a budget that ballooned to like $7 billion in its deficit. And then four months later, it's down to 3 million, we found 3 billion, we found 4 billion out of thin air it's either terrible accounting or an intentional, you know, creation of a crisis. Um, so that you could either save the day, I guess. And I can't stand for it. It's, it's a frustrating thing because a lot of the reasons why they said the financial crisis was existing or why we were in need of making these cuts was because of the influx of migrants. And now we're seeing, now we're seeing that it's not as big as they said it was that there is no emergency. All of a sudden there's no emergency and I'm not happy with the messaging that the mayor is pushing out. I think we could do a much better job, including with crime and talking about it in a realistic way. What actually is happening, how safe should we be feeling? And that is not the conversation we have, we overplay the amount of crime that's in the city. We overplay the migrants crisis uh as it hurting the city of New York when no one has been affected by the migrants in any way, shape or form, you haven't lost a school seat, you haven't lost any money. Nothing's happened. These people have not affected um New Yorkers in any significant way outside of being able to see them. So, so I just think that the council did a good job of being able to push back on this mayor and saying a lot of this stuff you're doing is either frivolous it's not, it's not necessary. Uh, it's all for not and we were panic making people panic. We're scaring people unnecessarily. Uh, especially when you call back all these budget cuts that didn't need to be made in the first place. Um, they've done a really good job at talking about what actually saves us or brings down crime. They put 750 National Guard people in the train and two days later, somebody get shot in the train because that doesn't solve for crime. That doesn't stop that shooting from happening. What that person needed was mental health support long before he got in the train. But we don't give him that and then they get in the train and cause this, this crisis or harm to others and harm to themselves. It's another example of playing uh the short game, you know, reacting to things instead of having a real plan. So I think the council did a great job. I think the mayor should take note of how do we prevent crimes from happening versus this. Um This idea, this visual representation of safety that doesn't actually make you safe. It'll be interesting to see how those conversations unfold from here year and perhaps what becomes sticking points between the mayor and the council in the months to come. It's gonna be exciting, exciting budget time for sure. We're gonna be talking a lot about it in the months to come here and ask the VP more conversation to come here. Call in. If you haven't already. A reminder, the number is 7188616800. More. Ask the borough president right after this.

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0408askthebkbpeblock_2024-04-08-19-52-35

Thanks so much for sticking with us here on as the borough president, here on news to Brooklyn with BP Antonio Reno. So, so many great calls already. And we do have another caller on the line this evening. Let's get to Caroline from Crown Heights. Hi, Caroline. Can you hear us? Yes, I can. Good evening. Good evening. Great to have you with us. What's your question? My question is, I'm a senior citizen and I take my morning walks, um, up and down Bedford Avenue, Eastern Parkway, a me park place. All the places that used to have benches when, when COVID came, all the ones, the benches were taken away. People my age have challenges, physical challenges, health challenges. Those are life saver. I know it's a small little thing, but it's a big thing when you're trying to get 10 blocks and you're out of breath and you can't really handle it. And I noticed that I saw what got to me is that I have the same issue, but I, I actually had to help a lady that's like a senior citizen down the block walk because she had been walking two blocks and she still couldn't make it before COVID on Franklin Avenue. They had put those nice little metal benches on each side of the street and Franklin and, and park place, they removed them. They were on the other side on Bedford and Prospect, they removed them. So I asked questions and they said it happened because of COVID. I was wondering, are they gonna bring them back? I read someone else told me that they had a bench program about five or six years ago and that's how we got the benches. But now that because COVID came, they took it away. Can we get them back now? Thank you so much, Karen for your call. I wasn't even aware that this was happening. So it is very interesting and I agree. I don't think this is a small issue. I think accessibility is a big problem in our city or the lack thereof. Uh We just don't have, we're not as accessible as we should be. We don't take care of people with disabilities. Um We need to make sure that the elderly do have a place to sit, take a break or a mom walking around with a stroller might need a break. There's no reason why if it existed in the past, we can't bring it back. It might have been an issue with uh COVID uh that they didn't want people sitting too close to each other or this encourage people sitting close to each other. Uh but now, um as we do a better job at handling that crisis, uh maybe it's time we bring these back. Uh we're documenting the specific areas that you mentioned. Uh And that they took these away. Uh But I'm gonna talk to the Department of Transportation to see if this is something that uh is more uh commonplace or that we've seen happen in more areas. Uh because this is the first time I'm hearing of it. And this is why this show is so great because you and ask me these questions and maybe under other circumstances, we would have never figured out that there was a problem with uh benches being taken away and not being put back. And we were just talking about with the warmer weather, everyone gets outside. It kind of brings a new spirit. So of course, those benches are very important to that equation. I do wanna get to a question that we got on social media a little bit earlier today if we could pull that up right now and take a closer look at the question that was coming in. It was with regards to the skate park that has been proposed over at Mount Prospect Park. Um There's been a lot of conversations about that. I believe the question that we had online was asking you to elaborate a little bit more about your support of that project, especially because a lot of the conversation surrounding it has been about the fact that it takes a, away from green spaces here in Brooklyn as you can see here. Yeah. No, like I see it, it's a, it's a, it's a tough conversation to have. Um, uh, right now one of the biggest fights I have or one of the toughest thing, the toughest things that we have to do is finding spaces for young people to enjoy themselves. Uh, countless conversations about the kids have nothing to do. They never have anything to do. Where is the programming? Uh The kids are always in, in, at home playing video games are causing trouble. Uh And then I look at the skaters that are in Borough Hall in front of the park. Uh Originally in Borough Hall, it was a big nuisance and we've made it very open and comfortable space for them. It's a diverse group of young kids that are not causing any trouble. They're skating back and forth. Uh I, I lose, uh, the limestone on the steps need to be replaced every once in a while, but it's a sacrifice. I'm more than happy to make to see these young kids enjoying life, seeing the joy and having something to do. Uh, in this area, there is not a park for like a mile either way. Um And it's an ideal location for a skate garden is what they're calling it. Um So, uh these folks that are asking for us to not pave over it it's just that, uh, we need to diversify our park space right now. It seems more like a, a dog park. It seems like the dogs are really running through these spaces. So if you go right now, the green spaces will be far and few in between because dogs destroy everything they walk on. We should build the dog park for them or have them go there. But another thing is this is right next to Prospect Park, the largest green lawn and the largest open space in anywhere, anywhere in Brooklyn. Uh It's right across the street. Uh So the folks that enjoy green spaces and love those type of environments. They exist, the people that are looking to skate, they don't have a space right now. So I just thought it was a good move to have here. Um It's, uh, it's not easy, it's never easy to see change. Uh But I think that, uh in 10 years we're gonna be celebrating this, the people that are concerned. I think that they're gonna be celebrating it when they see the joy and that the kids are being busy doing productive things versus what we, we traditionally scold them for or always hold them accountable for, which is, you know, causing trouble in the streets. I know that we've covered some forums where a lot of people have packed the room with a lot of different opinions on this topic. Where does the process stand right now? And how do you expect it to play out from here? Like I, I do, I do wish that the process was a bit better. Uh, Tony Hawk came in and gave us a ton of money and said, I wanna both gate parks, we were a very support of it where exactly those parks were gonna be. We kinda left it to the department, uh, to the parks department because they're the experts. They know exactly where they should go and they outline these spaces before anyone was able to say something. No one was able to volunteer and say we would take a park or it, it just kind of like where they thought the most ideal locations were. So my, what I would do agree with a lot of folks is the process makes it hard for you to wanna love it. You wanna believe in it because it wasn't born with you. It was told to you. Uh, but it doesn't make the location less than ideal. Um It is the right location, uh right now where we are, is that the money is in, uh, we're, they're moving forward with another park first, but this is one of the parts that is going, it looks like it's gonna be moving forward. Um Not so much because of me, but because the local council member there said she thought it was a good idea. So we should be seeing this move towards development more sooner than later. I appreciate that update and more conversation to come here on ask the borough president will be right back after this.

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0408askthebkbpfblock_2024-04-08-19-59-30

Thanks so much for sticking with us here on, ask the borough president so much ground that we covered during this conversation tonight. It was great to have you with us. Always fun, always fun. One thing I did want to touch on that didn't come up in conversation yet. Is that deadly subway shooting that we saw since the last time you were here with us in the time since we've also seen the mayor announce that there's going to be a pilot program where he introduces these gun detection, scanners into certain subway systems or subway stations rather. Excuse me. What are your thoughts on, uh, on, on that approach? Well, the first thing I want folks to notice and I think New York sees it. Uh, this young man was, you know, emotionally disturbed, he was a, he had a mental health crisis. Uh, and we deal with that by providing services to those people so that they never get to a point where they harm themselves or harm others. That was the problem. Uh Somebody that's mentally stable doesn't get into a position where that happens. So the answer there was not more cops, which is what existed when he got into the train and jumped the turnstile. Uh And then this, this issue here is that the mayor is now moving into a narrative or setting a narrative that this city is safe. It either it's either safe or it's not. And the mayor has to make a decision um and stick with it uh because he's making us all scared, he's making us all worry and if the city is safe and he says the subway is safe and people should ride it, adding these metal detectors will not make you feel that way, they're going to make you feel less safe. Um And, and that's my issue is here. So we gotta figure out what we wanna do and we gotta figure out if it works. Another thing is the process. Uh You know, I hear the process was tainted and how we got here and sometimes you don't know if someone's doing something because they wanna address an issue or they're doing it because their friend owns the company. Um And that process is a big, that's a big problem and he, that needs to just be clarified and we need to fix the RFP process to make sure people feel that we're doing this for the, the good of the people versus the good of a person. Um So, so those are things that, that I get concerned about. Also how good is this detection software if I walk in with a phone and it makes a mistake and says that it's a gun. These police officers are going to approach me like a person with a gun. And at that point, we know how things escalate and the trouble it can cause. Um So unless there's 100% certainty that these things can detect guns and nothing else, why even take that risk. So I have layers of concerns about this. It sends the wrong message. Uh The mayor has to decide whether the city is safe or not. Um And then I don't know if this detection software is as safe as it should be. Um And we don't know where it's uh if we're doing it for the people versus a person and we'll have to see as that deployment rolls on out. I'm sure a lot more conversation on that to come to. Thank you all so much for tuning in to this edition of Ask the borough president. Great to have you with us and we look forward to the next one. Have a great evening.

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News 12's Amanda Bossard sits down with Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso to answer YOUR pressing questions for this month's edition of Ask the Borough President. 

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