Ban the Scan

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Hi Friend,
* Bike the Block in Kensington: join us on June 23rd from 11 AM to 3 PM! Experience car-free streets on Beverley Road between East 2nd Street and Ocean Parkway, with local access maintained. Enjoy bike safety tips, group rides, free repairs, and community activities celebrating neighborhood diversity. For residents with cars, be advised, there will be no parking along Beverley Road during the event; vehicles may be towed.

Our New District Office is Open!

We are officially moved into our new office located in Boerum Hill and ready to welcome constituents. The space is bright, accommodating, and easily accessible for those around District 39. Here are the details:
* Address: 197 Bond Street 1st Floor in Brooklyn, 11217
* In Person Constituent Appointment Hours: Monday-Thursday 10 AM to 4 PM
* To Make an Appointment, contact our Constituent Services Director Bryan Gross at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .

We strongly encourage constituents to make an appointment to guarantee they will be seen! Walk-in appointments will be made available on a case by case basis. Our office will continue to be available over the phone or via email Monday-Friday 9 AM to 5 PM.

Our office is a short walk from multiple subway stops including the:
* F/G Trains at Bergen Street
* A/C/G Trains at Hoyt-Schermerhorn Streets
* 2/3/4/5 and D/N/R at Atlantic Avenue/Barclays Center

While we’ll miss our long-time home in Park Slope, we’re very excited about being in the Boerum Hill/Gowanus area. It’s an opportunity to interact with people, businesses, and institutions from a different part of our district on a daily basis. We are grateful to be near three public housing campuses, the Gowanus Houses, 572-574 Warren Street, and Wyckoff Gardens, which will keep us even more connected to the day to day public housing issues that face our constituents. We hope that this new location fosters even more opportunities for community engagement and that our office becomes a staple to our neighbors.

Council Member Shahana Hanif celebrates with her staff and community members as the new D39 Office is opened.

Welcoming Our New Constituent Service Director!

We’re excited to welcome Bryan Gross as our new Constituent Services Director. Bryan has years of experience working in constituent services, building a vast array of skills that will make him an invaluable asset to our office. He previously served as a Community Advocate with our close colleague, Council Member Alexa Avilés. Bryan is fluent in Spanish and Mandarin Chinese. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, reading, and traveling. Bryan hopes to bring his vast range of community outreach skills to this role. For any constituent service needs, reach him at [email protected]. He looks forward to serving District 39 constituents!

Legislative Update

This week, two of my bills were heard in committee in the Council Chambers. At committee legislative hearings, the Administration, issue experts, and members of the public are given the opportunity to provide testimony in support of or against the bills on the agenda. This is the first step that a bill must go through in order to be eligible to be voted on and passed.

Intro. 217: Ban the Scan

On Monday June 10th, the Committee on Technology heard my bill Intro. 217, also known as Ban the Scan, which would prohibit retail stores, performance venues, and other public facing businesses from using facial recognition and other biometric surveillance tools to identify customers. This is a basic privacy measure—people should have a right to access essential places like grocery stores without having their personal biometric information collected, used, and sold. It is also essential to combatting wrongful discrimination, as evidenced by the Federal Trade Commission’s recent finding that Rite Aid used facial recognition technology to falsely and disproportionately identify people of color and women as likely shoplifters in its New York City stores. Thankfully, Rite Aid is now prohibited from using biometric surveillance for the next five years, but we shouldn’t need a federal investigation to prohibit other businesses from replicating this practice and victimizing more New Yorkers. While
industry lobbyists claim that this technology is needed to prevent theft, it is clear that tools with consistently high rates of inaccuracy for women and people of color are not useful security measures. See video of the hearing here.

Intro. 216: Reforms to the IDNYC Application Process

On Tuesday June 11th, the Committee on Immigration heard my bill Intro. 216, which would reform the IDNYC application process. IDNYC is a municipal identification card available to all New Yorkers. For immigrants who lack access to other forms of identification, IDNYC is an essential resource that can be used for everything from applying for a work permit to entering government buildings. However, due to the Administration’s failure to properly operationalize the application process, many who need an IDNYC are currently unable to get one. The Department of Social Services ended walk-in applications and as you can see on the IDNYC site, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to make an appointment. Intro. 216 would address this issue by requiring DSS to supply enough application slots to meet the demand for the card, including walk-in appointments. It would also improve training for IDNYC workers and the appeals process for application denials. See video of the hearing here.

Council Member Shahana Hanif leads the Ban the Scally rally at City Hall this past week

Community Bulletin
* Starting June 27th all children (18 years old and younger) will be eligible to receive free breakfast and lunch meals at sites across the City, including schools, parks, and pools, in all five boroughs. No identification or application is required and meals will be available Monday through Friday. Breakfast will be served from 8 AM to 9:15 AM and lunch will be served from 11 AM to 1:15 PM at designated sites. More details here ([link removed]) .
* The NYCDOT has alerted us that Queens bound nighttime single lane closures will continue between Atlantic Avenue to Washington Street until about June 30th to allow for the finalization of the roadway surface and additional related work. Midnight to 5 AM.
* If you’re interested in learning more about NYC Parks’ concession opportunities and/or would like to be added to Parks’ solicitation mailing lists so that you receive notice of when new opportunities become available, please contact Parks’ Revenue Division by emailing [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) . Alternatively, you can fill out the online form here ([link removed]) .
* Brooklyn Org is currently accepting applications to support nonprofits that are doing impactful work in Brooklyn – learn more and apply here ([link removed]) .
* Kane Street Synagogue in Cobble Hill is hosting an e-waste recycling event on Sunday, June 23rd at 10 AM to 2 PM at 236 Kane Street.
* CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities is seeking Bangla speaking organizers in New York for their Astoria Tenants Union. Learn more about the two positions here ([link removed]) .
* Prospect Park Alliance and Heights and Hills are hosting free fitness walks for those ages 60 and above. To learn more and RSVP, see here ([link removed]) . Dates and locations below:
+ June 18th: Grand Army Plaza
+ June 25th: 9th Street
* There will be a free pop-up piano concert ([link removed]) on Kensington Plaza June 21st, 7-8 PM with Álvaro Torres, hosted by Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.

In Solidarity,

Shahana
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New York City Council
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