Conserving, Speaking, Applying

Unless you know something I don’t, I can’t imagine anyone referring to 2020 as a “typical” year. It’s involved various crises, calls for change and a search for the best of difficult ways forward.

Unless you know something I don’t, I can’t imagine anyone referring to 2020 as a “typical” year. It’s involved various crises, calls for change and a search for the best of difficult ways forward. We’re still figuring out schools, dining out, recreation, and even a greeting as simple as a handshake is so yesterday. The path ahead is informed by our view of the moment, our values, and by previous experience. It requires serious study to arrive at acceptable answers.

For example, we already have 3,000 permanently closed businesses across the city , is there something that can be done to prevent further losses? I’ve mentioned it before, but it is worth repeating that Assemblymember Robert Carroll, has a bill that would go a long way toward stemming the tide. His bill would require insurance companies that are sitting on billions in excessive reserves to payout to their insureds on “Business Interruption Claims”. Many businesses have been paying premiums for years. How much do we value such things as independent restaurants, shops, and nonprofits as part of a post-pandemic city? 

During these contentious times, how deeply do we value freedom of speech? The organization Vocal NY which was to open a headquarters here in BKCB6, after leading protests against the recently adopted FY21 budget had their previously approved funding rescinded.

If this revocation is a matter of absolute necessity, it is understandable. However, there are serious concerns that it was done as a form of retribution for the protests . The group received the funding based on previous work they had done, and protesting doesn’t change that work and, unless we want to limit speech, it shouldn’t impact their future work. In support of that proposition, not as an evaluation of what they protested, but in support of their rights to do so, we wrote a letter to the New York City Council Speaker, Corey Johnson asking the funding to be restored.

I think it’s a safe bet that nobody wants to have the post-pandemic world be a place in which people must fall in line to continue what was acknowledged to be good works. Speaking of speech, it's a safe bet that you have heard enough from me for today, so keep scrolling down and enjoy the rest of your Thursday. 

This is the web archive of a newsletter originally sent by email to Brooklyn Community Board 6 subscribers on Thursday, July 30, 2020. The email edition may contain additional event listings and links.