WHAT'S BROOKLYN'S STATE?

BP MARKOWITZ DELIVERS 2009 STATE OF THE BOROUGH ADDRESS AT KINGSBOROUGH COMMUNITY COLLEGE

On February 12, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz was joined by City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and more than a thousand guests for the 2009 State of the Borough Address at Kingsborough Community College. 

Among the major initiatives and updates outlined by BP Markowitz:

 

•The Brooklyn Academy of Global Finance. Opening this fall at M.S. 57 in Bedford-Stuyvesant under the guidance of school leader Lena Borst, the Brooklyn Academy of Global Finance, spearheaded by the Brooklyn Borough President's Office, will incorporate instruction in international finance and prepare students for rewarding financial and business careers. Classes will also be offered in the Chinese language. The Brooklyn Academy of Global Finance joins the High School for Innovation in Advertising and Media, conceived by BP Markowitz and opened this past fall.

 

•Mayoral Control. BP Markowitz stated his support of mayoral control and looks forward to working with lawmakers to "guarantee more opportunities for meaningful parental and community involvement at every level of the system."

 

•"Brooklyn-nomics"--Jobs are "Job One." The Brooklyn Borough President's Office will be aggressively reaching out to employers about moving to Brooklyn, and will co-host, along with Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber, an economic roundtable at Borough Hall on February 23 for business leaders and employers.

 

•Supermarkets Initiative. BP Markowitz will continue an initiative begun last fall, which brings together commercial landlords and supermarket owners in an effort to attract supermarkets and healthy food options to underserved neighborhoods of Brooklyn.

 

•210 Joralemon Street. Called for the City Department of Finance to move out of the Municipal Building at 210 Joralemon in Downtown Brooklyn and become an anchor tenant at City Point, scheduled to open next year. The move would open the building to retail and community uses, suitable for tenants such as Crate and Barrel, Nordstrom Rack or Saks Off 5th.

 

•The Borough President's Office. At a time of budget cuts and tabloid editorials calling for the elimination of BP offices, BP Markowitz explained the vital role of the office in ensuring that Brooklyn gets its "fair share" and that residents have an advocate at the borough level. Successes of the past year include the scrapping of a City plan that would have forced the closing of dozens of senior centers in Brooklyn, as well as the saving of the maternity and pediatric units at Long Island College Hospital (LICH). BP Markowitz also discussed the need to continue the fight against any efforts by the Department of Homeless Services to move its main intake center to the Bedford Avenue Armory in Crown Heights.

 

This year's State of the Borough Address focused on "The Real Brooklyn"--from Brooklyn-based reality television such as MTV's "Real World: Brooklyn" and Bravo's "Real Housewives of New York City" to the economic realities facing Brooklynites and New Yorkers. Said BP Markowitz, "Believe me, I know that many of you are, as I am, worried about the future in this economic climate. But I also know that each time we go through a rough patch, we only get stronger. Brooklyn is still the land where legends are made and dreams do become real."

BP Markowitz also paid tribute to Brooklynites lost in 2008, including Bensonhurst bakery owner Salvatore Alba; C.A.P.E. (USA) leader Amir Abdul-Akbar; Police Athletic League coach Lance Johnson; Archbishop Wilbert McKinley of Elim International Fellowship; artist Onnie Millar; educator and activist Sheila Nelson; Seamus O'Toole, co-owner of Eamonn Doran; Odessa Skeene, founding member of the Brooklyn section of the National Council of Negro Women; and civil rights activist Mildred Scott. Also remembered were Nyasia Pryear-Yard, a 17-year-old honors student killed by gun violence, as well as military personnel from Brooklyn who made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan.

# # #

Photo credit: Stephen Lipuma