COVID-19: Supporting Local Businesses this Holiday Season

Updates and Resources from the office of Councilmember Brad Lander [View this email in your browser]( Dear {NAME} We are kicking off winter in earnest today with the first big snow of the season, which I have to say I’m a bit excited for despite the stress and challenges that a pandemic winter brings. City sanitation workers are gearing up for clearing roads, Alternate Side Parking is suspended, and all students will be learning remotely tomorrow. Please check in on your neighbors, especially older ones, and help shovel their sidewalk if you can. Aside from looking forward to a snowy walk in Prospect Park, two huge milestones are giving me hope this week: the vaccine is here and already being distributed to health workers across NYC and this week, the Electoral College officially voted to affirm the next step in our democratic transfer of power. Let's use that hope to compel us to action now: Neither the arrival of the vaccine nor the impending changes in government are excuses to let up on our collective commitment to the social distancing, or the community care and the advocacy needed to get us through this health and economic crisis. This is going to be a long winter, for people out of work, for struggling small businesses, and for so many families far apart from each other. The virus is still spreading alarmingly, and we must take stronger action together to keep each other safe. Locally and individually, we must continue to renew our commitment to stronger social distancing to help save lives. While we’re doing that, we should also do all we can to support small businesses in our neighborhoods by ordering take out (and tipping workers generously), shopping for holiday gifts at local stores, and buying [gift cards for local businesses]( through the 5th Avenue BID. Collectively, through policy and organizing, we must continue pushing for a federal stimulus package that includes direct cash assistance and aid to local governments and small businesses, for protections for essential workers, for small business recovery leases, for a real moratorium on evictions to keep people in their homes. We will keep fighting together for the resources at the federal, state, and city levels that we need to get through this. I hope your holiday celebrations, smaller though they may be, still bring joy and light to you and yours. Brad Updates and Resources - Latest Virus Data: In NYC, there were 2,785 new cases reported yesterday with 195 people admitted to hospitals. We have lost 24,561 people in NYC from the virus, including sadly 35 in the last few days, and 367,198 total cases have been identified in the city since the start of the pandemic. The citywide 7-day rolling average of positive test rates is 5.71%. - DOE Brooklyn North Family Town Hall Tonight: The Brooklyn North Family Town Hall event is tonight from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. Spanish, Mandarin, and Bengali interpretation will be available. Zoom information: Dial In 646-558-8656, Meeting ID 840 0884 7551, Passcode: 848154 - Snow Resources and Updates: NYC Sanitation workers will be out clearing snow tonight and tomorrow. Alternate Side Parking is suspended. Open Restaurants have been asked to close this afternoon and city COVID-19 testing sites are closed until noon tomorrow. Follow updates at: [nyc.gov/severeweather](. If our office can be helpful, please be in touch at lander@council.nyc.gov. - NYC Public School buildings will be closed tomorrow Thursday, December 17. All students will learn remotely, and are expected to log on and engage with their work from home as they do on other remote days. All DOE Meal Hubs will also be closed. Learning Bridges and Learning Labs, after-school programs, adult education, and YABC programs will be canceled. For safety reasons, yellow bus service for charter and non-public school students will not operate tomorrow. - Kindergarten Applications Open: The kindergarten application is now open! Families with children born in 2016 will start kindergarten in fall 2021. The application deadline is January 19. Online with []( or by phone at 718-935-2009. Learn more: [( - Get Tested: You can now look up wait times online at Health and Hospitals sites. Find a site [here](. Help us[spread the word]( about sites in Brooklyn. [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [Website]( Contact us: District 39 456 5th Ave Ste 3Brooklyn, NY 11215-4076 [Add us to your address book]( lander@council.nyc.gov 718-499-1090 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](.