Ask Your Advocate Jumaane D. Williams: June 2025

Ask the Brooklyn Borough President: June 2025

Ask Your Advocate Jumaane D. Williams: April 2025

Ask the Brooklyn Borough President: April 2025

Ask the Brooklyn Borough President: May 2025

Ask Your Advocate Jumaane D. Williams: March 2025

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News 12 Staff

0311askthebkbpbblock_2024-03-11-19-37-32

Welcome back to ask the borough president right here on news 12, Brooklyn BP, Antonio Reynoso with us here for this hour to answer all of your questions. And of course, we want to get to as many of them as possible. Still plenty of time to call in the number right there at the bottom of your screen. You ready to take some calls? I'm ready. Let's go here. Let's go to the phones right now. We've got Demetria joining us tonight from Karsi. Thanks for calling in. What's your question for the borough president? Good evening, Mr Borough president. And thank you for accepting my call. Um My question is regarding the ferry system that was promised to Karsi residents some years ago. And uh I just wanted to know, is there any update as to when the ferry is coming to Karsi? Um I just think that, um I'm just so glad that everything is going on in New York and we're getting them everywhere, but I just feel that um Karsi, we really need it and there are other places that have gotten it and they have uh better uh transportation, right? Um Than we do So I just wanted to know, um do you know anything about as to when we will be getting it? Yeah, Demetria. Thank you so much for the question. A great one. Yeah, first I just wanna preface it by saying great job, Demetria like explaining the value of the ferry system to a place like Karsi. Uh I'm always talking about moving people away from vehicles. You can't do that if there's no valuable alternatives, no good alternatives. A ferry in Karsi that could get people to, uh, the, the west side of Brooklyn or to Manhattan faster would be deeply valuable. I'm 100% supportive of a fiery system. There's a lot more work to do this complications. I wanna say some of them are political but most of them are monetary and just, um, it being off the bay, it just being off the, the, the ocean side, um is not as easy to build peers off of that in a meaningful way. But the, the information I have is, is deeply limited. I would have to come back next month and have a more like in type answer because I think this is a deeply important issue and something that I care deeply about. Um, and the last information I got was a money issue, but I will follow up and make sure that that's right. I mean, if it is a much issue, let's solve for it because this is something that would be deep valuable for Conery. All right, I'll put down there. We'll talk about the ferry system next month and we'll do that Demetria. Thank you for that question. We will follow up uh, next month with you and of course, the borough president will get more information for you. We got another caller on the line for you right now though. And let's go to Angela from bed Stuy. She's calling us tonight, Angela. Thanks for joining us here on news 12. What's your question for the borough president? How y'all doing Mr Reno? So I'm so proud of you. Thank you for being our voice for the borough. Brooklyn. Look, I'm in bed stock. Not gonna tell you what building I live in. I'm gonna just tell you Bainbridge. Ok. But guess what? Howard trees don't have any tree guards around them and everybody seems to take their dog and poop in it and those trees are very beautiful. How can we get tree guards around those 34 trees on the corner of Bainbridge? And, and how can we get tree guard to save our trees cause everybody else saving their trees. But these folk trees I've been living here 29 years and they never had a tree guard. We wanna plant flowers and stuff and be five neighborhoods. Tell me how we can do that. Angela. Thank you. Thank you so much there. You know, I love the Brooklyn Joy and the Brooklyn energy and the enthusiasm for sure. I love it. I love it. So the first step is you, you just did it. Um The first thing is finding an elected official that cares about these things and is willing to do something about it. Yes. So we are gonna, I hope you're still on the line. We're gonna get your information to know where your block is. Um I will start talking to the local council member and see if there's an opportunity here to, to invest in tree guards in your neighborhood. Uh And we do wanna say especially in Bed Stuy. Uh We have a comprehensive plan that speaks about the power of trees and the value of it. And when it comes to heat index and health outcomes where, where there's more trees, we see people live longer than where there are less trees. So in Bed Stuy, which is a population that is mostly black, uh a black community or history of it being a black community. Um And those are the folks that have hypertension diabetes that are historical health complications that heat make worse. Having trees has deep values or having healthy trees has a deep value and tree guards protects that it keeps it cleaner, it keeps it safer healthier. Um So if I can help, I will, we're gonna take your information down and the next next month is gonna be a good month. We're gonna talk about what we can do. Um Because I wanna have a solution for you. I wanna show you that, but you've done the right thing you've asked me. It's something I care about and something I wanna handle. Um, so we're gonna see if I can get back to you next month with a surprise for your block. There you go, Angela, thank you so much for calling in with the question there. We will of course, pass your information along to the borough president and his office there. She, she get it done for him. She wants those tree guards. I, my, my staff tells me never to commit to things on the spot. It's very dangerous. So that's what I'm doing. But Angela's Angela's enthusiasm has me. I wanna, I wanna build some tree guards. Let me tell you. So, I'm excited. I'm excited. All right, you're excited. Absolutely. Hey, listen, while you're excited, why I don't want to talk to you real quick about something else. You got a lot going on this month. You got a bunch of Saint Patrick's Day parades coming up. Uh You know, whether it's Park Slope, Bay Ridge, Garretson Beach, and I'm sure I'm forgetting a couple of them across the park. But you know, what do you really enjoy most about this time of year when you get a chance to kind of get out there, get out there with the community and you know, take part in some of these events first. I feel like Saint Patrick's is the, the beginning of, of the beautiful weather, the beginning of, of the sun to come out. And it's just, uh, first it, it's a, it's a gorgeous time then just Brooklyn culture and just the culture, especially in South Brooklyn. I'm actually gonna be in Park Slope for the parade there and I'm just excited to celebrate the diversity of our, of our borough. Everybody talks about diversity and whether or not, uh, you know, it's value and, and I think a lot of people just say it, but Brooklyn specifically, uh it's diversity really makes us powerful all over the world. It doesn't matter where you go in the world, someone will know someone from Brooklyn. And the only way to know that is if you accept everyone with open arms and you celebrate their history, their culture and their contributions. Um So I'm deeply excited for Saint Patrick's Day. Um I'm ready to wear my green and I'm excited that the good weather is and, uh, it's nothing like Saint Patrick's Day to, to kick it off. Do you know how many parades you'd be in on attending? You're gonna be at? No, I'm gonna try to make all three, but II, I am, I'm busy, I'm a family man. Maybe if I could bring a couple of my kids with me, but I'm definitely gonna make at least one and I'm hoping to make two, a lot of important commitments there on that side for Sure. All right. Well, we got more, we wanna talk about with you and we're gonna take more of your phone calls here on News 12 in just a couple of minutes. So stay with us more. Ask the borough president in just a couple of minutes right here on News 12. We're local matters.

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0311askthebkbpcblock_2024-03-11-19-37-36

Welcome back to ask the borough president right here on news 12, Brooklyn VP. Antonio Reynoso with us again. And we've got a lot of people waiting to speak to you right now. So we're gonna head right back to the phone lines. Get to as many questions tonight as we can. And we've got Miss Stevens calling in tonight. She's calling us from Crown Heights, Miss Stevens. Thanks for calling in. What's your question, MS Stevens, are you there going on? All right, we'll try to get M Stevens back on the line in just a couple of minutes. So we'll see what we can do there. Um Let's go. Let's see. I think we got Mohammed from Brighton Beach. He's on the line with us. Mohammed. Are you there? Yes, sir. How are you please here. What's your question for borough president Reynoso? Thank you. Thank you, Mr President. The reason I'm trying to involve for the community, the reason that I owe a lot of things to do for, I live in Brighton Beach. I apply for a community board member position. So how long is going to take time to process the complete? I'm so eager to involve with the community. Ok. That's what you wanna hear from. Oh, yeah, the community listen. One of the so community boards first for the folks that don't know, they're like the, the beginning on the foundation of civics in our city. It's where folks go to, to fight for the tree guards, fight for the streets for the education. There's so much value in being on community boards. We're actually having some trouble with meeting quorum in some of these community boards because not enough people show up after they're appointed. But if somebody is willing to call uh News 12 and say that they're so eager and waiting to get on is something that is meaningful to me. So our application process is actually due on Friday. So uh been a couple of extensions, right? Yeah, we're done with the extensions. We got all the applications so you can't apply anymore unfortunately. So we're appointing people now. So having Mohammed call me um and this one, this one I'm gonna, if I have a vacancy, I'm not gonna wait until next month. Mohammed, you called up today. Um Your enthusiasm was high. The fact that you care enough about community boards to call into the show because you wanna be on it. Um If there is a vacancy, you will be on community board, you will be appointed. So there you go. We we don't need to wait for next month. You're putting people on the community board right here from the desk. That's it. If there's an, if there is an open slot because we need a vacancy, I will make sure Mohammed is on it. Ok. Fair enough. So there you go. Mohammad. Congratulations. Way to call in and get what you needed there. Big time. Great job calling. Keep calling. We do you know who else called you? I got to Mayo talk about Mayo Day here. This was something that was really cool that happened here. Uh Just this last month. Yeah. So for Mayo Day, uh what we wanna do is we want anyone that um has influence or any significance or contributions to Brooklyn. Um, reach out to our office. What we're trying to do is celebrate people through service. Uh Mayo Day is gonna be a day when we go out into the community, whether it's painting gates, cleaning streets, helping young people, uh a whole, a whole plethora of things that we can do, but we wanna do service and Mayo has committed that on his mother's birthday in August, we're gonna be together and we're gonna do something that's great for the community and we're gonna continue to honor people through service. Um And he's one of the people that committed to doing that. So we're really excited about it. We have other people in mind that we wanna celebrate as well. But if you guys wanna nominate anyone, let us know whatever it is. If we can get folks that are willing to do work through service. That's what we're looking for. And Mayo was one of the first people that said he's willing to do that. I think the bottom line here is for people who are looking to provide a service for the people here in Brooklyn and you know, coming together there's, it's all positive stuff. That's what we're looking for. That, that's what it is. It's less about the recognition and more about what that recognition comes with, which is giving back to Brooklyn. All right. Well, listen, we've got much more phone calls we wanna take tonight. We've got more people, we're gonna see who we can speak to tonight. You're calling in the numbers right there at the bottom of your screen. And of course, we've got more questions for, for President Reynoso coming up in just a couple of minutes. Stay with us.

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0311askthebkbpdblock_2024-03-11-19-42-07

Welcome back to ask the borough president right here on news 12 Brooklyn borough president Antonio Reynoso with us here for the next half hour. The first half hour has been very eventful. So I wanna see the callers keep that up here in the second half hour. A reminder that the phone number is right there at the bottom of your screen. You can call to ask those questions of BP Reynoso, but we have some callers waiting for you right now. So I wanna go back. We're gonna try Miss Stevens one more time. See if she's with us right now, Miss Stevens from Crown Heights. Thanks for calling in. Are you with us? Yes, I am. Oh, perfect. So great to hear from you. Can you give us your question tonight for BP Reynoso? Yes. My question is, is uh regarding the subway surfing. Can we do more, put more attention to this uh situation? The young people are dying? Can we make more preventive measures? Parents need to get involved? What can we do more attention to this? M Stevens? Thank you so much for calling in and getting that question to us. Yeah, we mentioned uh some, there's something just took place in Park Slope. Yet another incident, thankfully that 14 year old appears like it's gonna be ok. But as she mentioned there yet another subway surfing incident here in the borough. I I it's a terrible thing and it's a terrible fad. And in, in some cases, you know, there's cultural or generational distinctions as to like whether something is cool or not, we're not talking about music, We're not talking about, you know, stopping kids from listening to rap music or anything like that. We're not, we're not doing that. We're talking about saving lives and the subway surfing is so dangerous and, and, and we need to do more. II, I think we need like a public uh campaign to let people know how dangerous it is. I think these kids don't know the harm that is coming to other Children. Um Are they hearing these stories because it's just so scary. It's a dangerous thing to do already. But now we're seeing kids die, we're seeing people be injured. You talked about this young man is going to be alive, but we don't know if his life is forever changed. Correct? We don't know what harm has come to, to, to that young man. Um And it, and it worries me. So I agree there should be some type of public ad campaign done by the city to really uh inform the public about the real dangers of subway surfing because it is something that I can't get, I can't get past. Uh, it is so deeply dangerous and the kids are, are, they're doing it. Uh And it is a problem, preventative measures. This is difficult. We're talking about kids climbing up in open air portions of the subway and climbing up on top. Um What, what can we do? We gotta be very careful about making it more dangerous. We can't make it slippery, we can't make it impossible and we gotta be very, very careful. Um And folks are, these kids are risking their lives for, for clicks uh which is very scary and limiting access to social media or going that route. Then you just open up a door for some other problems too. So it's like you said, it's very tricky. You have to be very careful how you approach this. It is and the social media is a part of it, right? I wish uh the social media folks at like tiktok and Instagram and Twitter would be able to monitor these type of things and really try to prevent from uh reposting or having any algorithm that allows for this to be viewed in a positive way. Um But the controls we have are deeply limited because of free speech. Um But uh you know, the president did talk about tiktok on, on the state of the Union and I think people are taking these technologies a lot more serious because it is encouraging them to do more. Absolutely. All right. Well, Miss Stevens, thank you so much for the question. They're great one tonight and we're getting great questions tonight from Crown Heights. So I wanna see if I can keep that rolling. We've got another caller joining us tonight from Crown Heights. This is Miss Smith joining us, Miss Smith. Thanks for calling in. What's your question tonight? For borough president Reynoso? Thank you. You too. You got it. What's your question, Miss Smith? Did we lose you? Hi, Miss Smith, how are you? Fine, thank you. Good, good. Well, did you have time to ask the question? Go right ahead. Yes, I'm calling about the um, possible closing of downstate hospitals. Yes, I'm here. Go right ahead. Yes, I'm calling about Downstate hospital and how we can prevent uh, the closing because the neighborhood needs that hospital. We, we depend on that hospital and um, we really need to take action. We can't afford to leave this hospital. Yes, this is a huge issue. Yeah, I mean, absolutely. I know. I miss Smith. Thank you so much for the question there. But yet another thing I spoke with, with, uh, Senator Myre, who's, this is his district and he's very passionate about this, but we've heard a lot about Suny Downstate and what's gonna happen and what to play out. I think we've talked about it for a couple of months. But how do you address these kind of concerns? And what can be done. Look, I, it's a, it's a very unfortunate thing. Suny Downstate has been deteriorating because of a lack of investment for years. Uh, and they're taking away 1 million at a time and before, you know, it, it's disrepair. Uh, it costs a lot more than 300 million that the, that the governor has put forth to fix the capital issues. We're talking about $100 million a year in the deficit that they have to pay out just so I could stay afloat. We have a lot of issues with downstate. Uh But I wanna, I wanna be clear downstate as a performing hospital uh needs to do a lot better. So we're hoping to do as a coalition of elected officials um that are representing Suny downstate is we don't just want to save Du Suny downstate and nothing more. We wanna save it and do better. There's no reason why in central Brooklyn, we can't have a state of the art medical facility now that Medicaid is taken in these private hospitals like NYU Langone Presbyterian and my monies, a lot of people are choosing to go to the private hospital side. They no longer relegated to have to go to the hospitals in their neighborhoods just because they're going to the best hospitals. Why can't we have a public hospital that is state of the art, saves black women's lives through maternal health. Does the kidney work that it does. It's just so much value in this site. Um And what we're hoping to do now is not save it alone, but save it and invest and I'm really excited about that fight that we're gonna be doing with. Again, Senator MRI Brian Cunningham, the assembly member. Um, we've talked with, uh Yvette Clark, the congresswoman. We've been having these conversations, they've been deeply meaningful and I'm hoping that Central Brooklyn will see the future of Suny downstate be bright and, and new uh versus what we're hearing now from the governor, which is um to do away with it. All right. So I guess the message for Miss Smith and others in Crown Heights is just stay tuned to what's been going on there. Your elected officials are working and doing what they can and trying to get uh Suny downstate's future to be a little bit brighter no matter what we end up with right there. But thank you so much for the question there. We've got another question for you coming in right now. We're gonna go to East New York right now. Helen is joining us tonight. Helen, thank you so much for calling in with your question. What is your question for BP Reynoso? Yes. Good afternoon. And thank you for taking my call. I'm having a problem with water in my block that's coming out of the sidewalk. I've called 311. I've called the Community Board Dep has been out several times, but so far it has not been fixed, the water is still running. This has been going on since January 27th. So, um, Helen, so this is, uh, this is an issue that I wanna get resolved as soon as possible. Um, if, when, while you're on the line, if you could give me the exact location of where this is happening and I'll make sure that we get dep on it or the DP tells us why it is that they can't shut this water off or what this water issue is, uh, because it seems like, uh, a big problem to have going on for three months now or 2.5 months. Um, so please, uh, if you can, uh, stay on the line, get us your, your information, uh, your information and we'll make sure that we do everything we can to go out there and, and see what's up. Yeah, absolutely. We'll, we'll grab all your information. We'll pass that along here to the borough president's office because again, nobody should have water running there out on the sidewalk since late January when we talk about these sort of situations, but we'll pass it along and see if we can get that fixed. Thank you so much for calling in there, uh, with what's been going on. Um, let's start talking about something else that's been happening and I really would love to mention the Brooklyn Navy Art facility because this is something the mayor announced. This is something that's been going on here, talking about a $25 million facility that is aimed at helping black and female owned businesses, not just get started but be successful. Tell us a little bit more about what's gonna be happening here. Well, uh the mayor's office is now making a $25 million investment into the Navy yard to allow for a site in which young entrepreneurs are. Entrepreneurs should have said young, but entrepreneurs can take work that they've thought about or have been doing. Um and see it come into production. It's a um you know, a young woman thinking about uh making lipstick can now go to the navy yard and actually see her, her product come, come to fruition and like not only dream about it but get it done. So there's a lot of potential here for Brooklyn and for the city of New York. But before Brooklyn and we're really excited about it, I also wanna give a shout out to Crystal Hudson, the council member and Lincoln wrestler. These are two folks that thought uh that were a part of this idea initially and we're pushing it and now we're seeing the mayor's investment. I think it's gonna be amazing. The navy yard is a perfect place for it. It's where jobs get done. I also wanna advocate for manufacturing in general. Too many people think that in New York City we don't build anything anymore and we don't do work and that is not the case in New York City, we still have great manufacturing districts and we need to do more to preserve them so we could give opportunities like this to the residents of Brooklyn, uh, and New York City. So I'm really excited about this announcement and it's also important, I think to stress the fact that help them be successful, like starting a business is one thing that's hard enough, but to help them to be successful, that's an important investment too. Right. A absolutely. They're gonna be coaches, there's gonna be folks invested in them doing well. Um, so I'm excited to, to see that the first product that comes out of the line, I'm gonna see if I could bring it here, made in Brooklyn off of that, uh, the Brook Navy Art, you know, just making promises like that right over here. It's one of those shows. Ok. Well, we've got more calls tonight, so make sure to call in. We're gonna get to you in just a minute more with borough president right now. So, in just a bit.

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0311askthebkbpeblock_2024-03-11-19-56-25

Welcome back to ask the borough president here on News 12 Brooklyn. I wanna get to more of your calls and more of your questions for BP Antonio Reynoso right now. And we're gonna get right back to the phone lines. We've got Douglas from East New York joining us right now. Douglas. Thanks for calling in with your question. Borough presidents right here. Go right ahead. Douglas. Are you with us? Yes, I'm here. Hey, Douglas, how are you? I'm good for now. If we can get this taken care of, I'll be better. Go ahead. What's the problem? All right. Listen, um, I live in East New York, Brooklyn in an area that they just built a bunch of, um, um, a bunch of apartment buildings and, um, the corner of Fountain Avenue and Vandalia. I was wondering if they can somehow get a bus stop there. The reasons being is that the bus stops approximately, well, four blocks from where I live, I'm 45 years old and I have a bad hip and the building I live in, you have to be 62 or older to live in. And there's three other buildings in my neighborhood and I'd say 50% of them are elderly people and we all go through the same thing. I don't understand why the nearest bus stop for me is four blocks away and the closest building is 2.5 blocks away. I mean, it doesn't really make any sense, especially the bus that I take the, um, Q eight and the B 13. When I ride those buses, they have one block, one stop on Linden Boulevard. That's actually a half a block from it. You got 11 bus stop on, I believe it's uh Euclid and Linden. And then the next bus stop is like a half a block from there. And yet where there's a bunch of elderly people, we have to walk. Like I said, I, I do bus stops are not, not, not an easy thing to come by, but I, that sounds like a real struggle for him, but it, it should be easier to come by and there's a bus redesign plan going into effect right now. So if there was ever a time for us to speak to this issue, it would be now, um And what we're trying to do is right now, the centers of like winters burg and downtown Brooklyn, central Brooklyn, we have a robust like bus network but the areas that need the buses are in the outer portions of the borough and being able to connect them to uh su the subway has a lot of value in it. So if he's in East New York, I know exactly where he's located, I'm gonna see what we can do and see if the bus uh new, the redesigning of the, the bus network. If there is an opportunity for us to have a bus stop that is closer to him, so we can communicate that. Uh But this is, it's, it's true. Uh If you're in the senior building, the last thing you should have to do is walk four blocks to get to your nearest bus station. Um And, and I get the subway system, it's not something that's valuable and that we could just move stops around. But as bus system is to do just that it's a plug in the holes where they exist because of a lack of a subway system. And this is an example of that. So we'll look into it. Um I'm not 100 percent sure about what the bus redesign looks or how it's looking to address this, but we're looking into it. All right, Douglas, we've got your information there. We'll make sure the VP gets that. So thank you for calling in tonight. We got another caller for you right now. We got Valerie calling us in. She's in Karsi tonight. Valerie. Thanks for calling in. How you doing? Doing? Fine and very good. Thank you for calling here on News 12 and the borough president Reynoso is right here. What's your question. OK. My question is when the, um, for the summer for the, I'm doing fine and yourself? It's OK. A little delay on the TV. That's all right. Go ahead. What's your question? Ok. My question is when the Children come home, the college students come home for the summer, we're looking for internship programs and it's very hard for us to get, it's very, it's very hard for us to get contact with and to get information for these kids to get internships. How would I, how would I go about getting that information for them? All right, Valerie. Thank you so much for the question though. Yeah, we're getting ready for the summer here, which is gonna be right around the corner. So one thing we do know is that the City Council in my time and recently has made it so that anybody that's under, I believe it's under 17 years old um in the city of New York. If you're under 17, you want a job in the summer, you will get one through Syep for the summer program which works as a internship type style programming. But it's a job for, for young people if we're looking at folks that are coming from college or, or are in need of an internship. Um I, I do wanna say there are resources for this in their local colleges. Um And they should have systems by which they can uh attain internships. Now, if you don't have one. We're more than happy to get that information. We have relationships with uh uh non for profit organizations like O BT opportunities for a better tomorrow that do great work connecting young people with these great jobs and opportunities. Um So that's my, my guess would be to talk to these non for profit organizations that do this work to help young people that are not, that are 17 and older find internship. So send me the information. I'll see if I can be helpful. Uh But again, these colleges do a great job of connecting their students with internships. Absolutely. And Valerie, once again, we've got your information. We'll make sure to pass that along so that the borough president can follow up with you, try to get something done here for the summer. So thanks for calling in here tonight. Speaking of the summer, I know a lot of people are focused on what's gonna be going on at Coney Island. Uh Luna Park will be open uh very, very soon. We, we got word of, you know, Coney Island's Mermaid Avenue. They're gonna be getting uh uh quite a pick up for their trash. They're gonna cut an improvement here seven days a week starting March 25th. That according to council member Justin Brennan, now, look, this is not gonna be done through the city, this is being done through the uh ace programs. Um sanitation I know is your thing here. So what do you think of this plan if it's clean? I love it. Uh It, it's just, it, it speaks so well to, to council member Justin Brandon, he, he'll fix your pothole, you know, he'll do anything for, for, for his local, he's a very local council member and it's really extraordinary, but this is Great Mermaid Avenue. The summer's coming. It gets really dirty. Uh I uh uh dirtier than any other area. Um We're not just talking about folks asking to clean up their block just for the sake of it. These are folks that are dealing with amount of tourists and people coming from all over the borough to go to Coney Island. I think this is great. It's fantastic. I'm glad Ace is doing it. Ace is also a uh organization that helps people that have issues in the past, find them jobs. So this is gonna work for everyone, the people working the residents of Coney Island. And I just wanna thank uh uh co uh council member Justin Brennan and maybe I can get in on that and we could say we both, we both that's how it works. I would love some credit for that. We'll see what we can do about that. Listen, we're gonna preview your state of the borough address. We're gonna preview something else too in just a bit. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back

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0311askthebpfblock_2024-03-11-19-57-52

All right, this is, ask the borough president here on News 12 Brooklyn, but we are talking baseball here to wrap up the night with good reason. You know, I asked you what you wanted to do tonight. You said I want to talk about baseball. I wanna talk about the Mets specifically. I can get on board with that. We talked last year about the Mets. You had a pretty bold prediction that did not work out. I'm a Mets. Oh, are you? No, no, we make bold predictions all the time like we're done in the playoffs this year. Ok. All right, because the work that Alonzo specifically, Peter Alonzo and Jeff mcneil had atrocious years last year, there's no way they're gonna do that again. Edwin Diaz is back. I think people are underestimating our, our pitching staff, which I think is gonna do fine. Andorra is gonna do well, optimism. I, I'm excited for it. You've been excited about the Mets and what's gonna happen here the entire time through? Good job. No, that's fine. Thank you. Well, let me put it this way. You have a prediction. You think they'll make the playoffs this year. What worries you about the team or uh about the Mets? Um Nothing worries me about the Mets. I, I think we're gonna be great. I wanna say this, uh, look, we didn't have any big signings this year and I appreciate it. I don't wanna go all in right now, have a team that can fall apart and then we're in the hole for $400 million and it's just hard to get out of right now. We build it slowly, we build it the right way and then we have years of success versus these one shot. So I'm, I'm comfortable with the path we're going to, I don't need instant gratification. I don't need to go to the World Series this year. Good expectations. Everybody do your job. Sign Peter Alonzo. That's the work that we need to be doing if the pitching does. Well, I think they'll be at a much better spot. I think they'll do better than they did last year. All right. That's a bold prediction too though. I would like to do better than they were last year. I think that's enough. Let me ask you this for the Yankee fans out there because they're very excited. The Yankee fans are excited. They got Juan Soto who I know you like, Juan Soto. I do like so yes, that is a good pick up. So what do you think? What do you think about the Yankees? Give them, give them a little bit of love here. What do you think about how they're going to do this year? II, I wanna say this, the Yankees are for a long time, have had an outstanding team on paper and it just doesn't seem to be able to produce when it comes to the playoffs anymore. Right. They're like the Cowboys of, of baseball, right. A great, great team want SOTO is gonna be able to, uh, cover a lot of the flaws that exist in that lineup. So look, I think they make the playoffs. I think they have to make the playoffs, but this is a team that's being favored to win the championship outside of L A. So I would just say that if they don't make the play the, the World Series, it's a disappointment but don't make the playoffs. Maybe a second round exit is how I'm seeing it. How many Met games you're gonna try to get to this year if I can do like 18. That's like a, yeah, I'm, I'm trying to do eight. I, I got kids now. I gotta get them excited. Um, before, before we got to indoctrinate them. They need to know what misery is and how to suffer the right way. And I gotta do that. It builds character. Kurt, most people start with like three or four. You're like 18 games. That's what you need. 18. All right. Well, listen, let's try to get to one of those, the same game or together, I'm down, I'll make that happen. I mean, if we're gonna do this, we might as well at least pass one of the games this season together. One more thing I wanna talk about with you before we let you go. We got the state of the borough coming up. Uh This was, this was obviously uh postponed, but now we're gonna finally get to it here. Uh What can people expect and how much are you looking forward to finally giving this dress? Yes, I, I'm very excited. I think, uh what we need to be doing in the state of the borough, state of the city, uh state of the nation. We need to be projecting the, the great things that are happening, right? I think that for too long, we've been in a funk with COVID, um, the, the crisis after crisis, but specifically in Brooklyn, we don't make excuses. We get things done. And what you can expect in the state of the borough is that we're ready to get to, to work and making sure that we could get back to where we were in Brooklyn before COVID. Well, I wanna thank all of our callers tonight for calling in great questions. I wanna thank the borough president for being here with us and I'll end it the way I think I want to. Let's go Mets

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News 12's Kurt Semder sat down with Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso to answer YOUR questions for this month's edition of Ask the Borough President. 

Ask the Brooklyn Borough President: March 2024

News 12's Kurt Semder sat down with Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso to answer YOUR questions for this month's edition of Ask the Borough President.

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Another cool, cloudy and damp day; warmer weather returns by midweek for Brooklyn