Brooklyn's Progress
June/July 2005

Bridal Giant Enters Into A New Commitment With Brooklyn
George Fina, Charles Fina, Steven Fina, Michael Fina, Jeffrey Fina, and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, cut the ribbon during the grand opening of Michael C. Fina in Brooklyn on April 17.  The Manhattan ultimate bridal and specialty retailer celebrated the opening of their second retail location at 8211 Fifth Avenue in Bay Ridge. More than half of the store is dedicated to featuring an assortment of engagement rings, wedding bands, and bridal party gifts, and showcases Michael Fina’s new private label tabletop collection.

Affinity Health Plan Opens Brooklyn Community Service Center
Affinity Health Plan celebrated the opening of a Brooklyn community service center at 2230 Church St. near Flatbush Ave. on April 14.  The center will provide information to residents about the health plan’s programs and offer workshops, health screenings relating to prenatal and newborn care, asthma, HIV/AIDS, childhood obesity other health-related issues.

Broker Makes Top 20 Lists
Greiner-Maltz is pleased to announce CoStar Group Inc., the nation's largest independent provider of commercial real estate information, has named that senior director, Dmitri Belyi, one of the “Top 20 Industrial Leasing Brokers.”

For over 10 years, Mr. Belyi has specialized in industrial and commercial real estate in the metropolitan area, with a solid focus on Brooklyn and Queens. He is a member of the real estate and development committee at the Brooklyn Chamber Of Commerce.

Qué Fácil: Spanish Online Banking
To enhance the convenience and user friendliness of it’s free award-winning online banking site, Commerce Bank has launched a Spanish language version of Commerce Online Banking, http://www.commerceonline.com/. The Spanish language version of commerceonline.com enables customers to pay bills, transfer money and manage accounts, absolutely free. The site also enables them to send and receives email messages and inquiries in Spanish to Commerce customer service professionals; access a live Spanish speaking customer service professional via Commerce’s call center, open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and read banking product and service information in Spanish.

To access the Spanish site, consumers should go to http://www.commerceonline.com/, scroll down to the bottom and click on “En Espanol.”

Now The World Watches Brooklyn’s Fashion Trends
Ounce upon a time New York fashion stylemakers had to travel to Paris to see the latest hot fashions parade down the catwalk. On May 17th, they came to the Brooklyn Museum for the third annual Fashion on Fulton & Friends gala show benefiting Brooklyn Community Housing and Services, Inc. (BCHS).

Over three hundred compassionate, fashion conscious Brooklynites and friends watched as fourteen designers showed their work including past favorites like Brenda Brunson-Bey of Tribal Truths, Courtney Washington Fashion Studio, Moshood, Yvonne Chu of Kimera and many exciting newcomers, like Steven Daniels, Cassandra Broomfield and others.
 
This event wasn’t just about the clothes. The evening honored Eric Deutsch, president and chief executive officer of the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Doris Clark, BCHS executive director, who is retiring after 23 years with the agency.

Globalization The Line With Sky VoIp Communications
Eriksen Translations and its use of the immensely popular Skype VoIp technology, which offers free voice calls over the Internet to other Skype users anywhere in the world, is featured in Thomas L. Friedman’s best-selling book, The World Is Flat. In this book, Mr. Friedman chronicles Eriksen’s use of Skype to connect with its 5,000 freelance linguists around the world. Mr. Friedman is a Pulitzer prize-winning author and the foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times. His book, which discuss how the lowering of trade and economic barriers and the revolution of the digital age has created a “level playing field” (thus “flat”) for once developing countries, currently # 1 on The New York Times Best Sellers List for Hardcover Non-Fiction.

New Tax Payer Friendly Bill
Finance commissioner Martha E. Stark recently announced passage of a taxpayer friendly bill that will benefit all types of property owners and make it easier for the agency to administer the property tax. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg signed the bill on June 6.  The bill changes include:

• Allowing owners of property assessed values of 80,000 or less to payments for quarterly, even those who pay their ways taxes through a bank or other escrow agent.
• Reducing the interest rate on late payments for virtually all homeowners and more owners of cooperative and condominiums.
• Preventing interest charges on misapplied payments
• Creating a bigger incentive to pay property taxes early.

Altria Group Excels In Diversity
The only national survey of its kind, Diversity Inc.’s ranking is based on an analysis of a company’s human capital, CEO commitment, corporate communications and supplier diversity initiatives.  More than 200 corporations participated in this year survey. Altria Group’s operating companies include Kraft Foods and Philip Morris USA.

The list was released on http://www.diversityinc.com/.  Details of all the listings, the methodology and the diversity strengths of the winning companies will appear in the June issue of DiversityInc magazine.

Altria also ranked first in the Top 10 Companies for Recruitment & Retention, second for African-Americans, second for Asian-Americans, third for executive Women and sixth in the Top10 Companies for Supplier Diversity.

Monteli Travel, Inc. Win U.S. SBA Award
Myrna Franceschis, owner of Monteli Travel, received Minority Small Business Champion of the Year Award from the New York District Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Ms. Franceschis attributes most of her success to cost-effective advertising and the fact that she is perpetually networking. She attends every networking opportunity she can to schmooze and exchange business cards, and makes a point of patronizing her fellow business owners in her neighborhood.

Ms. Franceschis was recognized during an awards ceremony at 26 Federal Plaza on April 22.

HITE Improves Access To Health Information
Greater New York Hospital Foundation (GNYHF) has launched the health information tool for empowerment (HITE) – the first and only online directory that connects uninsured and underinsured New Yorkers with available resources. Millions of uninsured individuals as well as social service professionals can now access information through HITE about thousands of free and low-cost programs and services in one free, easy-to-use directory, at http://www.hitesite.org/.

CMT IT Solutions Partners With Tech Giants
CMT IT Solutions of Brooklyn-Avenue U has joined forces with three tech giants – Symantec, Intuit and Dell – which now opens the doors for their customers to a virtual one-stop shopping center for IT services and technology. CM IT Solutions offer a wide range of IT services and solutions specifically for small and medium-sized businesses.

Brooklyn Chamber Selected For Ticket To Work
The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce and Catholic Charities Community Services, Archdiocese of New York have been selected by the National Alliance for Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Program as one of the eight organizations to serve as “Sustainability Champions” in five communities across the U.S.  The Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Program is an employment program for people with disabilities who are interested in going to work.

Brooklyn Students Are College Bound!
Project Reach Youth hosted more than 500 students and parents for a college fair April 14. Students and parents were able to hear firsthand about academic programs from participating college representatives and workshops designed to assist them with the college application and financial aid process. They also heard from a group of current college students about what college life can be like. Four $500 scholarships were awarded by lottery at the fair.

This Credit Union’s President Has A Lot Of Heart & Soul
People’s Alliance Federal Credit Union’s (PAFCU’s) President/Ceo, Nicholas M. Lacetera, was honored at the Chamber of Commerce of the Greater Ronkonkomas Heart & Soul Award Dinner on May 11. The event honored those in the community who unselfishly give their time and talent to make their town a better place to live. Mr. Lacetera was not only honored for his work at the Ronkonkoma Chamber, but also by local and state government officials, for his dedicated and loving work for Canine Assistants.

SUNY Downstate Medical Center President Receives Imagine Award From Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers
Dr. Pamela Straker, President and CEO of Brooklyn Psychiatric Centers, presented John C. LaRosa, President of SUNY Downstate Medical Center, with the agency’s Imagine Award at the organization’s Friendraiser held May 17 at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The Imagine Award is designed to recognize those who are making a difference in the lives of people of the New York Community.