for our Spring Cleaning event. Tasks will include spreading mulch, raking, weeding, and painting. These cleanup events are not just an opportunity to tidy up and beautify our park, it’s an opportunity to get to know your neighbors. As usual, we will provide hand, sanitizer, face masks and gloves, and there will be coffee and breakfast treats.
The dog park is maintained solely by volunteers, and is funded by charitable donations. If you are unable to participate in this event, please consider supporting our efforts by making a tax-deductible contribution to the Marcus Garvey Park Alliance. When donating, please make sure to indicate that your donation is to support the Dog Park.
For more information, or to get more involved, email [email protected]
This year Congressman Espaillat brought home nearly $8 billion from the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to fund the Second Avenue Subway expansion, rebuild our city’s crumbling bridges, repave our decades-old roads, and so much more to make transit routes safer and more accessible for all New Yorkers – but he needs our help to monitor and ensure infrastructure service requests and outages are made public and repairs are handled as timely as possible.
This interactive tool developed by his office allows residents to pin a location on the leftward map or type in a specific address to report any infrastructure issues that need immediate attention in your neighborhood and across New York’s 13th congressional district. The more issues or ongoing projects that you report, the more information he will have to help redirect federal funding to these projects.
In the last month, I have seen, first-hand, your tireless, great work on behalf of New Yorkers. And I have received valuable feedback on the January 3rd Memorandum.
The January 3rd Memorandum was intended to provide ADAs with a framework for how to approach cases in the best interest of safety and justice. Our collective experience, however, has been that the Memorandum has been a source of confusion, rather than clarity.
As I emphasized in my remarks to the office, you were hired for your keen judgment, and I want you to use that judgment – and experience – in every case. Therefore, I am issuing this letter to memorialize the key elements that I conveyed in our office-wide meeting on January 20:
1) The position of this Office on a case will be presented exclusively by the Assistant who appears on the case. The January 3 Memorandum provided guidance internal to this Office and it has been, and will continue to be, supplemented and superseded through oral and written guidance, including in this letter. The January 3rd Memorandum did not create any rights, substantive or procedural, in favor of any person, organization, or party, nor did it place any limitations on the lawful prosecutorial prerogatives or discretion of the District Attorney and his Assistants.
2) A commercial robbery with a gun will be charged as a felony, whether or not the gun is operable, loaded, or a realistic imitation. A commercial robbery at knifepoint, or by other weapon that creates a risk of physical harm, will be charged as a felony. In retail thefts that do not involve a risk of physical harm, the Office will continue to assess the charges based on all of the aggravating and mitigating circumstances presented.
3) Gun possession cases are a key part of our plan for public safety. People walking the streets with guns will be prosecuted and held accountable. The default in gun cases is a felony prosecution. We also will use gun possession cases as an opportunity to trace the sources of illegal guns and build cases against gun traffickers.
4) Violence against police officers will not be tolerated. We will prosecute any person who harms or attempts to harm a police officer.
Your feedback for Gothamist’s review of NYC dog runs made it onto their site:
The dog run in Manhattan that got the most mixed reviews was Marcus Garvey Dog Run, located near Madison Avenue and E. 120th Street. One reader said it was not a very good space for smaller dogs in particular.
“There is a small, very long and thin area for small dogs with nothing there but a broken bench; it’s an afterthought, and sitting in it would feel like an insult. In both areas, the ground is covered by dirt over which large (about 3 inches) bits of wood are spread. Maybe that’s fine for large dogs, but small dogs are soon filthy after running around in that muck. I can’t understand a way to go there with a small dog without needing to bathe the dog immediately after visiting, and since it’s not good to bathe dogs too frequently, how can small dogs use that dog run for daily exercise?”
A New York City Police officer, who died following a shoot out in Harlem, has saved five lives after donating his organs.
Officer Wilbert Mora, 27, donated his heart, liver, two kidneys, and pancreas to five patients in need of life-saving organ transplants, according to a statement from LiveOnNY. Three individuals lived in New York and the other two lived outside of the city.
“Two of our NYPD heroes tragically lost their lives while protecting and serving their beloved city. When Officer Wilbert Mora’s family was notified of his passing, his family knew their brave and dedicated son would want to continue to save lives, even in death,” said Leonard Achan RN, MA, ANP, President and CEO of LiveOnNY in a statement.
NYPD Officer Mora, left and NYPD Officer Rivera, right.
Mayor Eric Adams called Mora a hero who “gave his life for our safety.”
“Officer Mora’s final gift was the gift of life to others in need. He was transferred from Harlem Hospital to NYU Langone Health, where we have honored the family’s wishes for him to be an organ donor hero, so that he may ‘Live On’ while saving the lives of others,” Achan said.
Got Dogs?
Gothamist is asking for your help to identify the best and worst public dog runs across the five boroughs. (Note: There are also dozens of private dog runs, but they’re only looking at those managed by the city.)
Email them at[email protected] (subject line: Rate Your Dog Run) or@Gothamist on Twitter using the hashtag #RateYourDogRunand include: the name, location, and neighborhood of your dog park, a photo (if you have one), and a letter grade you would give your dog park (A, B, C, D, F), along with some details as to why you chose that grade.
The Sanitation Foundation Wants to Hear from You
The Sanitation Foundation, the non-profit partner of the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) is interested in gaining insight on how community clean-ups currently operate and what they can do to better support resident-led groups across the City.
If you are interested in sharing your thoughts and ideas in a virtual focus group, please take a couple of minutes to complete the Pre-Qualifying Survey. They will select participants based on the information gathered from this form. Please complete the survey before January 31, 2022 to be considered.
You will receive a confirmation email with meeting details, if you are selected to participate in one of the groups. Focus group participants will each receive a $100 gift card. Note: Only complete this form if you have volunteered with at least one clean-up.
National Croissant Day
Le Petite Parisian (on Lenox Ave between 117/118) is celebrating National Croissant Day with a free croissant with every purchase.
