What’s Happening In Brooklyn: Boro Park Protest, The Red Zone, Crashes

We are already a week into October! We wish we had some good news, but coronavirus cases are rising again. Some neighborhoods in “red zones” in certain zip codes are starting to be shut down. Our editor and publisher Liena Zagare wrote an op-ed about Mayor de Blasio’s “misleading zip code talk.” Just last night, a man was beaten in Boro Park after he was advocating for people wearing masks. Residents started a fire and were burning masks to protest Cuomo’s new restrictions; elected officials, on the other hand, remained silent.

Just a few hours before the protest, four elected officials penned a statement to Governor Cuomo saying, “We are appalled by Governor Cuomo’s words and actions today. He has chosen to pursue a scientifically and constitutionally questionable shutdown of our communities.” Please stay safe and remember to socially distance yourself. And of course, don’t forget to wear your masks.

Remember 10-year-old Enzo Farachio, the little boy who was killed waiting at a bus stop in Midwood last year? Well, the Brooklyn District Attorney is declining to prosecute the driver, Streetsblog reported. At the time, the SUV had four tickets for speeding in a school zone, we found.

“An extensive investigation into this tragic case determined that the driver suffered a syncope (temporary loss of consciousness) at the time of the fatal collision. His conduct wasn’t intentional or reckless and he was obeying all traffic laws prior to the medical episode,” said a DA spokesman told Streetsblog. “A review of his medical records found that, unlike in the case of Dorothy Bruns, he was never instructed not to drive. Accordingly, there were no viable criminal charges.”

Speaking of crashes, we have had several this past week. A 20-year-old woman died after crashing into a USPS truck just before 2:00 a.m. yesterday. Over the weekend, Clara Kang had been working the overnight shift NYU Langone Hospital where she was a nurse. A few days before that, seven-year-old Sama was crossing the street on her scooter, when a truck driver struck her. She died from the impact, cops said. And just a few days after that, a four-year-old was crossing the street on a scooter when he was struck by a driver in Gerritsen Beach. He survived and is in the hospital fighting for his life.

Streetsblog also reported that the survivor of a 2017 bike crash on the Brooklyn Bridge “just won a $75,000 settlement after suing the city — and the court’s decision is proof that the Department of Transportation must immediately create adequate space for cyclists and pedestrians on all East River spans, according to the attorney representing the victim.”

We have two more women running for office! Quanda Francis is running for mayor and we spoke to her all about it. She is progressive and is running as an independent. “I love this city and I’m unhappy with the way things are going. I’m unhappy with the 8.5% voter turnout,” she told us. “I’m unhappy with, you know, the current administration and this policy. But, you know, some of the policies on the ground have been around long before the de Blasio administration. I feel like it’s time for new leadership. Because things are going to continue to get worse if we tackle the problems that we have with the same solutions that we know just don’t work.”

Then we have Jo Anne Simon running for Brooklyn Borough President. She announced it last week outside James Madison High School, holding a small doll figurine of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. “Let’s make it clear. Women’s issues are economic issues. They are health issues. They’re education issues. They are small business issues. They are social and economic and environmental justice issues. they are LGBTQ issues,” she said. “All issues are women’s issues. But as long as we are sidelined by the rubric of women’s issues those we love and support will continue to suffer. And that doesn’t change unless you keep changing it.”