The Broadway Junction station has always been a functional yet rhythmic chaos of transfers between the A/C, J/Z, and L trains. Mayor Eric Adams, along with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), is sinking $500 million in investments to revitalize the station into an inclusive and accessible space for commuters.
“I fought to bring investments to this community when I was Brooklyn borough president, and as mayor, I am proud to say that we are getting it done,” Adams said in a statement.
The large subway station serves six largely residential, predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhoods: Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brownsville, Bushwick, Cypress Hills, East New York, and Ocean Hill.
As part of the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) plans, the city will create two new public plazas on either side of Van Sinderen Avenue and Fulton Street. The city will invest $95 million into better lighting, signage, benches, and bike infrastructure, and the plan aims to make the junction more Americans with Disabilities Act- (ADA-) friendly with $400 million toward upgraded elevators and escalators. The plan also includes a new entrance with direct access to the L train on the east side of Van Sinderen Avenue.
“At one of Brooklyn’s busiest transit hubs, commuters deserve a fully accessible Broadway Junction complex that is surrounded by welcoming, attractive public spaces and safe infrastructure,” said Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez in a statement. “We’re working closely with the EDC and MTA to support their vision for the neighborhood and look forward to building on the street safety work DOT has done in the area.”
Deborah Williams, a nine-year Community Board (CB) 16 member, resident of Ocean Hill, and previous transit worker, said that the changes were a long time coming and widely welcomed.
“Today’s historic commitment to Broadway Junction is a victory and a direct result of the years of organizing and advocacy by East New York residents,” said Councilmember Sandy Nurse in a statement. “These investments are decades overdue.”
Nurse said that the process has been led by the people who live nearby, and her administration is completely committed to keeping the community’s residents front and center.
Supposedly “affordable” housing will be constructed near the station, as well as a business district.
The city said more than 433 homes have recently been completed or are under construction, with more than 1,700 additional homes projected or permitted. Nearly all of the 433 homes are meant for families earning less than 80% of area median income (AIM), and nearly 60% will be for families earning less than 50% of AIM.
At least 35% of design and construction contracts for the public space around the junction will be set aside for Minority and Women Business Enterprise (MWBE) businesses. The Department of Small Business Services (SBS) will also partner with NYCEDC, the MTA, and other employers on targeted outreach and marketing through upcoming training and recruitment events at the East New York Workforce 1 Center and throughout the Workforce1 system to meet hiring goals.
Planning and design will kick off this summer with community workshops. Groundbreaking is anticipated in 2027 and completion by 2030. Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visitinghttps://bit.ly/amnews1.
If President Biden’s numbers continue to plummet, and the Gallup and more recent Washington Post-ABC News polls offer no relief, even the Black vote will not rescue him as it did in 2020. The ABC News poll showed that 56% of adults disapprove of Biden’s job performance while only 36% of adults approve of what he’s been doing.
More alarming, 54% percent of adults say Trump handled the economy better than Biden did. Okay, who are these people responding to these polls, where do they live, and what race or ethnic group do they belong to? To be sure, if these are respondents in red states, then we know what to expect. Even so, the numbers should be of concern for Biden and the Democratic National Committee (DNC), which hasn’t yet revealed a campaign strategy to offset the terrible numbers.
You always take polls with a grain of salt and a recognition of the margin of error, and we’re still a number of months away from when they begin to truly matter. Of deeper concern for Democrats is the diminishing support from potential African American voters.
It must be distressing for Biden to learn that if the election was held today, Trump would trounce him. But this may just be the kind of alert he and the party needs to rally the troops and begin pushing an agenda to convince the nation’s electorate of how wrong they are about the current polls.
Biden, of course, can point to several positive developments over the last year or so, particularly on the economic and employment front, and certainly when it comes to reaching out to comfort struggling marginalized communities. The rash of mass killings is disturbing, but he can point to the reluctance on the part of GOP members to do anything about background checks and other measures to keep assault weapons out of the hands of mentally distressed citizens.
It’s no time to relax, with even more trouble having loomed on the horizon with ending Title 42 and the confusion at the southern borders. And where is Vice President Harris, who has to step up her game in dealing with a multitude of pressing issues?
Nope, the polls are not good, but they are only a momentary barometer of a relative pool of pollsters, and as candidates know so well, all you need to turn things around is the next poll or intensification of the ongoing conflict in the GOP.
Seven-time Olympic medalist Simone Biles married Houston Texans safety Jonathan Owens on May 6 at Nobu Los Cabos in Mexico in front of 144 guests, according to Vogue magazine. This was the second ceremony for the newlyweds, who officially tied the knot in April at the Harris County Courthouse in Houston, Texas. For the Mexico nuptials, the bride wore a gown by Galia Lahav. She was escorted down the aisle by her father as a cellist reportedly played in the background…
Two-time Grammy winner and Stellar winner Kiera Sheard-Kelly released her second book, “The Vibes You Feel.” In the inspiring book for teens and young women, Sheard-Kelly invites readers to uncover what it means to have the Holy Spirit in your life, and how listening to the vibes that are sensed in certain situations can help steer everyone toward the future God intends. Sheard-Kelly’s seventh studio album, “All Yours,” is also currently available…
The producers of “New York, New York,” the new Broadway musical, nominated for nine Tony awards, including “Best Musical,” have announced the show’s original Broadway cast recording will be released digitally on June 9. CD and vinyl versions are planned for later this year. Like the show, the album will be a love letter to New York City. The album is released through the Wine & Peaches label and produced by Michael Croiter, Sam Davis, and Lin-Manuel Miranda. “New York, New York” is currently running on Broadway at the St. James Theatre…
According to Variety, Marvel Studios shut down pre-production of “Blade” due to the ongoing writers strike. Mahershala Ali is set to portray the vampire hunter alongside Delroy Lindo and others. Production was scheduled to start sometime this month in Atlanta…
The search for Power—lifelong Lower East Side resident Power Malu—started in hip-hop. Recognizable by his big hair, the Afro-Boricua New Yorker was a staple “Where’s Waldo” cameo in 1990s music videos like Digable Planets’ “9th Wonder” (Blackitolism) and De La Soul’s “Itzsoweezee.”
These days, Malu is mostly sought by the city’s incoming migrants as a grassroots organizer known for connecting them to resources and championing family reunification. He spoke with the Amsterdam News at the Port Authority as he greeted newly arrived asylum seekers, his trademark hair often the first thing they see as they get off the bus.
Beyond cameos and advocacy, Malu has done seemingly everything, from hosting MTV shows to influencing run meets in Yugoslavia to operating the city’s first plant-based community fridge. His “CVS receipt” of a résumé is best broken down by the name of his organization: Artists Athletes Activists.
“From a young age, I was always a mediator—I got along with the entire neighborhood,” he said. “I would roam the streets and I would know people from different blocks. By default, sometimes people have issues with each other. We would be in a park or another location [with] both parties…they saw that whatever beef that they had, it would be squashed organically.”
Pounding the pavement soon opened more doors for Malu, who ended up handing out fliers in clubs. He found himself hosting shows and developing friendships with artists coming into New York City. His community-building skills led to a public access show where Malu interviewed high-profile artists and DJs. Malu soon found himself invited to music video sets, where his cameo became a “stamp of approval.”
But he said he’s stepped away from the “ego system” in favor of the ecosystem. Malu’s advocacy now largely forms around what current issues are—the son of a boxer, he learned to pivot at a young age, so when southern border states started busing asylum seekers to New York City last year, he stepped up.
“The emergency is really when people are here and they’re not getting access to services or then there’s no outreach being done,” said Malu. “People are coming back here to the Port Authority for services, information, and help with their asylum cases, help with enrolling their kids in school, [and getting] culturally sensitive food.
“We have moms [whose] babies are being born here in New York City. We’re helping them get to their appointments. We’re helping them get food.”
His work is only more pressing with the recent lifting of Title 42, a measure used by both the Trump and Biden administrations to restrict asylum seeker entry under the pretense of COVID-19 safety. A recent Mayor’s Office memo asked for potential emergency site ideas to address dire housing needs for the more than 36,500 migrants in the city’s care. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg for Malu.
“You have people here in New York City [who] are just sitting in hotel rooms, or sitting in their shelters because they can’t travel,” he said. “They want to work. They’re not legally allowed to work, so they’re getting exploited, a lot of them, when they actually do find work. We’re constantly advocating to keep families together. We’re advocating to be able to support these families. The majority of them are people [who] have already been in the system, but they’re not receiving the services. They’re not getting the services that they need.”
More about Malu’s work can be found at https://artists-athletes-activists.org/. Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member and writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visitinghttps://bit.ly/amnews1.
When India Bradley steps onstage at Lincoln Center to dance in George Balanchine’s “Agon”this season for the New York City Ballet (NYCB), she will bring the same sparkle to this well-known masterpiece that she has brought to other roles since joining the company several years ago, but this performance will offer a little something extra.
This season, Bradley dances one of the work’s fast-paced, intricately structured pas de trois, bringing to it her brisk, long-legged attack and adding another dazzling dimension to this exciting ballet masterpiece and another important milestone in dance history.
Bradley joined New York City Ballet in 2017 after attending the Academy of Russian Classical Ballet not far from her Detroit, Michigan, home before coming to New York, first to attend Dance Theatre of Harlem’s Summer Program in 2012 and enter the Professional Training Program under the direction of Andrea Long-Naidu In 2014, she attended the summer session at the School of American Ballet (SAB), the NYCB’s official school, before enrolling as a full-time student later that year. In August 2017, she became a NYCB apprentice and in August 2018, she joined the company as a member of the corps de ballet. In addition to “Agon,” her slightly shortened season due to a slight injury, includes dancing in Justin Peck’s “Partita”and Balanchine’s “Swan Lake.”
Not only is “Agon”known for what in 1957 was viewed as Balanchine’s revolutionary interracial casting, pairing Arthur Mitchell, the company’s first and, at the time, only Black dancer, in an intimate and evocative pas de deux with a white ballerina, Diana Adams. It also has an Igor Stravinsky score, specifically created for the NYCB.
In a recent conversation, Bradley’s commitment to ballet and her excitement about this current NYCB season were obvious as she touched on a range of topics that included life as a Black ballerina at the predominantly white NYCB, her experience as a young aspiring dancer studying briefly at Arthur Mitchell’s Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH), and the realization that her determination to pursue her passion is also meaningful to other budding young Black ballerinas. Here is what she had to say.
On joining NYCB: As a young ballerina, I remember telling everyone, there is no other option for me other than getting into New York City Ballet. That was just my thing. I had other companies I wouldn’t have minded dancing for, but I didn’t have a Plan B, so frankly, I remember being very excited at being chosen to join NYCB.
On being an aspiring young Black ballerina: I knew my whole life I was going to be an artist. I was dancing from 3 or 4 years old, but I was a very nonchalant kid. I loved ballet, but I wasn’t ready to make it my whole life. But, when I got into SAB, I was like, “Oh, I want to be better than everyone else.” The first time I remember saying I was going to be a ballet dancer I was around 14. As for race and racism, when I was young, I just had no idea. I wasn’t ignorant of racism, of course, but I had a really good support system behind me and my parents were very supportive and Andrea Long (a teacher at DTH who had danced with the NYCB) was the first person who told me I needed to go to SAB. I think, too, my innocence…at the time it didn’t occur to me that it wouldn’t happen because I was Black. I just knew that I wanted to get into the company.
On studying at Dance Theatre of Harlem: I was really young and I remember the company was still on a hiatus. Virginia was there—she was the one who told me to come. I was dancing with the DTH Professional Training Program and I think you had to be 17 or 18 to be in that program, but I was 13 going on 14. Everyone was older than me. And we did a ton of performances. EndalynTaylor choreographed for us. Francesca Harper came. It was a lot of fun.
The first time I met Virginia Johnson, she was teaching at a college. I was 11 and that was when she told me to come to the summer program…
I also remember conversations they had with my mom about possibly a future in the company at DTH, but DTH as a company was still on hiatus. But my time at DTH was great. I always say that I could not have attended the school of SAB had I not spent that time at DTH. When I went to DTH, like every Black kid who studied ballet in predominantly white ballet schools, I was like “Oh, I didn’t know it could feel like this at all.” It felt like family.
On Arthur Mitchell’s advice: Oh, my gosh! At DTH, he would come in and watch class, but for him, watching class meant offering his input every 5 seconds, so it was more like taking his class. In addition to classes, we did a ton of studio showings and performances in small venues here and there. I was only 13 years old, but I learned a lot working with Mr. Mitchell. Of course, he was a very demanding teacher. I would cry. I would cry during. I would cry after. I would cry before his critique, out of fear. I was so young—a child—and I didn’t always understand what tough love was. I think I’m a very tough person. I don’t think anybody who knows me would call me emotional, but Mr. Mitchell would get the waterworks going.
Then, as I got older, during my apprenticeship at NYCB, I would work with him, and he would give me advice. I learned so much. Once, when we were having lunch a few days before he passed away, he told me, every time I walk into a room, I’ve got to walk in like I’ve got Double G cups…“You don’t have anything there, but every time you walk into the rooms at NYCB, you’ve got to walk in like you’ve got Double G cups ’cause people need to see you.” I was like “OK, (pause) sure.” He was wonderful!
On being at New York City Ballet in the era of diversity, equity, and inclusion: NYCB when I was 18 is very different from NYCB now. Obviously, before I wouldn’t say I was naïve; I was just a very nonchalant teenager and young person, to a point where I wanted to be a people pleaser. I wanted everyone to be happy. I wouldn’t say I was a very outspoken activist type as a younger person, but you know, racism was different in 2017 than it is now. When I first got into the company, it wasn’t always to the surface and things would happen and I just didn’t always realize they were intentionally and unintentionally saying things that shouldn’t be said, or doing things that were kind of passive-aggressive. Since I’ve gotten older and with all these meetings on diversity, equity, and inclusion lately, after the pandemic, things have changed…Jonathan Stafford (artistic director with associate artistic director Wendy Whelan) and I have had a lot of interesting and really good conversations.
I think City Ballet did a lot of work to try to come back to a place that wasn’t hurtful to people of color and was sensitive to people who wanted to be considered with different pronouns, trying to take certain things out of certain productions. Things that make you look better as an institution.
On being a Black ballerina with the New York City Ballet: I have thought long and hard about my place in this company and not just my place, but about my friends in the company and the young Black girls coming after us. There are only three or four of us here in the first place in terms of women of color. It’s so weird that we’re having this conversation. I looked around at “Agon”—it used to be just me in the studio, and now there’s another girl—one of my closest friends, another Black girl—in the room and it’s just us. When I think of when it was just Andrea Long-Naidu, or Debra Austin, or Aesha Ash—it had to be lonely for them.
A few days ago, I went to the Dance Theatre of Harlem season at City Center and there was a little girl who goes to the DTH school. She came up to me with tears in her eyes during intermission and she said, “I had to tell you, you’re the entire reason I started doing ballet. I just had to tell you that.” I was like, “Oh my God!” I almost started crying. It’s such a generic answer, but that’s literally the only thing you could want. It made me realize there is still so much to do. Sometimes, even when I’m having a terrible day, like Arthur Mitchell used to say, [I remember that] this has to do with so much more than just me—my being at New York City ballet is about so much more than just me.
