Diverted NYPD Budget To Fund New Brooklyn Community Center: Mayor

FLATBUSH, BROOKLYN — A portion of the millions of dollars cut from the NYPD's 2021 budget will be used to build a new community center in Brooklyn, aimed at helping with a recent surge in gun violence, officials have announced.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and Brooklyn elected officials unveiled plans Monday for a new community center at Nostrand Playground in East Flatbush, which will be named after Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress.

The new facility — which will include a pool, running track and tech center — is officials' latest attempt at addressing a spike in shootings that has plagued the five boroughs, particularly Brooklyn, this year.

East Flatbush's 67th Precinct, where the center will be located, has had more than double the number of shooting incidents in 2020 when compared to this time last year, NYPD data shows.

"This will help us curb gang and gun violence," Council Member Farah Louis said at a press conference. "This is how we’re going to stop shootings and save lives."

The community center will use a portion of NYPD funds that were diverted from the department's budget following weeks of protests — including an encampment outside City Hall — calling for police reform, de Blasio said.

"This is about our priorities," de Blasio said Monday. "This is an example of resources we took from the NYPD budget and are putting into young people...To put them on the right path to stop problems before they begin."

The mayor has claimed New York City's $88.1 billion budget cut $1 billion from the NYPD and invested it in other services, including youth programs and education. Critics have argued, though, that many of the cuts are superficial, including an overtime cap that the NYPD is already expected to blow by $400 million.

Elected officials said Monday that The Shirley Chisholm Community Center will also help address disparities laid bare by the coronavirus pandemic. East Flatbush saw one of the highest rates of infection and fatalities for COVID-19, Assembly Member Rodneyse Bichotte said.

"Our community has faced an uphill battle this year," Bichotte said. "Racial disparities in our education, housing and healthcare systems have been highlighted by the pandemic...For years, children in our neighborhood have been looking for a place to go."

The center comes as Flatbush and East Flatbush are slated for two major housing projects that also promise to bring more services to the neighborhood.

Both the community hub in one of the housing projects and the new Nostrand Playground facility's technology center will be named for Dr. Roy Hastick, who founded the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and Industry and died from the coronavirus in April.

De Blasio said the city will start getting feedback from the community in the fall about the specifics of the Nostrand community center.