A few of Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso’s initiatives that he highlighted for the year 2023 during his State of the Borough speech on Tuesday, January 12, at New York City College of Technology; include providing employment in Brownsville, building affordable homes in Brooklyn Heights, Bay Ridge, and Midwood and constructing a climate-resilient Coney Island.
“When you have the high unemployment, the gross inequities, and the unaffordable, unfit housing we have; When you have the displaced families, under-resourced schools, and over-policed neighborhoods we have… When you have problems like these, you don’t get away with not planning ahead,” Reynoso noted.
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“You don’t get away with not having big, bold solutions to really change things for the people who call this borough home.”
Mayor Eric Adams, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, his fellow Borough Presidents, and several other local, state, and federal elected leaders were present for the first state of the borough speech in almost 10 years.
The gathering was led in prayer by Reverend Edward-Richard Hines of the GodSquad, a neighborhood anti-violence non-profit, after remarks by Brooklyn’s own Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Attending the occasion, Brooklyn’s 46th district councilwoman Mercedes Narcisse told BK Reader media that she fully supports Reynoso’s ambitious maternal health initiative.
Narcisse expressed, “I’m excited to be here, because I know the Borough President wants to address inequities in our community, especially with maternal health. As a nurse for over three decades, I’m in, 110%.”
Reynoso gave Brooklyn’s three public hospitals $45 million from his capital FY2023 budget during his first year in office to improve the safety of childbirth there.
To enhance the outcomes of pregnancies for pregnant people of color, he created a maternal health task force composed of Black women doulas, OB-GYNs, and other professionals. Reynoso also developed the “Born in Brooklyn” boxes, which are filled with diapers, clothing, and other supplies for post-partum families, as well as a public education campaign on safe pregnancy that provides life-saving information to expectant women in a number of languages.
Alejandro, his kid, and his wife Iliana were in the front row supporting him.
Reynoso also started Brooklyn’s first-ever comprehensive initiative to formulate principles and suggestions for fair development in Brooklyn using the public health framework. The new plan, which will be completed and made public in the autumn of 2023, unifies land use, budget, and urban policy choices under a single heading.
Reynoso promised to put solar panels on a sizable portion of the low-income housing stock so that tenants may cut their energy utility expenditures while also being environmentally friendly. A 2019 City study, he said in his address, revealed that 32% of Brooklyn tenants were “utility-burdened.”
In order to improve community boards’ access to the cash and resources they require from City agencies in order to properly operate, he also pledged to restructure Brooklyn’s 18 community boards. By including youth, Reynoso also hopes to increase the representation of the communities they serve on community boards.
Reynoso promised to support the growth of Black-owned businesses, jobs, and ownership in Brooklyn in two ways: by providing funding for neighborhood non-profits to open permanent brick-and-mortar locations in the communities they serve; and by launching the careers of Black entrepreneurs by offering free retail space to applicants with compelling proposals in Brownsville’s underutilized commercial areas.
“There are big new ideas right in front of us. I see them,” Reynoso noted.
He addressed the grouping with word encouragement, “and tonight is about proving what Brooklyn can really be when we take back this borough and boldly rebuild it for the people who call it home.”
