Community Magazine July 2019

86 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE Last month the State Senate finally passed a bill that will offer some relief from high bridge tolls, especially for those Brooklyn residents who travel to Staten Island for work or to visit family. A reduced fare plan has been in effect for Staten Island residents who commute daily across the bridge to work in Manhattan or one of the boroughs. That same discount has never applied for Brooklyn residents who do the reverse commute. According to State Senator Marty Golden, the legislation would provide Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge toll relief to Kings County residents who utilize E-Z pass and who cross the bridge three or more times per month. “The residents of Brooklyn, and in particular Southern Brooklyn, realistically have only one way to enter Staten Island and/or parts of New Jersey for employment, visiting relatives, and use of vacation properties,” Golden said. “Our families and businesses simply cannot afford to shoulder the burdens forced on them by the tolls at the Verrazano Narrows Bridge any longer.” Brooklyn residents with E-Z pass pay $11.52, a 32% savings on the $17.00 toll. Staten Island residents pay $5.50. Golden said that this issue has been a constant complaint from borough residents. “On a very regular basis, Brooklyn residents express concerns about the regular rising cost of the Verrazano Bridge toll, and see no end in sight to these increases,” Golden said, calling on his colleagues in the Assembly to “make this the year toll-relief happens.” Before any discount plan can take effect, the bill must be passed by the State Assembly. It would then be sent to Governor Andrew Cuomo for his signature. To culminate their year-long theme of the Ten Commandments, MDY’s GEMS and Sparks enjoyed a special breakfast last month. The boys had a siyum for finishing the masechet they learned in their gemara classes. Awards were given to the students who showed special aptitude, and minyan awards were given as well for the boys who showed leadership skills during tefilah . Then MDY participated in the Israel Parade. The theme of this year's Celebrate Israel Parade was “Only in Israel,ˮ and Magen David Yeshivah High School was proud to represent IsraAid – an Israeli based humanitarian organization that travels the world to help communities in distress. On behalf of our grateful community, the Flatbush Jewish Community Coalition thanks the FDNY for their heroic efforts in rescuing the families from the massive fire last month. We also wish to express our appreciation to the numerous members of Flatbush Hatzolah and FDNY EMS for their early morning response, as well as FDNY FireMarshals and the NYPD for finding and arresting the accused arsonist. We are relieved and grateful that there were no serious injuries, despite the fast-moving blaze. We again urge all homeowners and tenants to make sure their smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are in perfect working order. Smoke alarms played an integral role in saving lives in this incident. Also, it is important for all renters to have adequate renter’s insurance, which is available for only a few dollars a month. We also wish to thank Mayor Bill de Blasio, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, Councilman Chaim Deutsch, and NYPD commanders for personally reaching out immediately after the fire to offer assistance and security. The financial and personal losses of those affected are staggering, and we strongly encourage and ask everyone to assist the families by donating to the community fire fund. This fund has been set up primarily to provide support to the families that were renting apartments and had no insurance, or had only minimal renter’s insurance. Please make checks payable to: Khal Beth Abraham - mail to 1496 East 18 Street, Brooklyn, NY 11230. Please visit the following link for more information: https://donate.thechesedfund.com/cause/fire-in-flatbush-please-help-the-families. co mm unity HIGHL IGHTS Senate Passes Verrazzano Toll Discount for Brooklynites FJCC Thanks FDNY and Other Agencies After Devastating Flatbush Fire Magen David Yeshivah HS Highlights