FULL: Brooklyn building collapse press conference

Abrams Gerber, I'm from JCRC, and on behalf of JCRC and Jewish Partners UJA and Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, The Bridge and others, we're very sorry to be here today but glad that we can represent and be here with our friends and partners from throughout Brooklyn and New York. I wanted to share a prayer that is traditional in the Jewish community. First, I wanted to say our hearts go out to the families of those who were lost in this tragedy and our prayers Go out to those who have been injured and fighting to recover and all those who have been impacted by this terrible incident. This prayer is called the Hashkiveinu prayer and it goes as such. Grant, O God, that we lie down in peace and raise us up, O our guardian, to life renewed. Spread over us the shelter of your peace. Guide us with your good counsel for your namesake. Be our help. Shield and shelter us beneath the shadow of your wings. Defend us against injury, hunger, displacement, and sorrow. Distance us from wrongdoing. For you, God, watch over us and deliver us. For you, God, are gracious and merciful. Guard our going and coming to life and peace evermore. Amen. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for being here. My name is Assemblymember Renice Bichotte-Hermelin, and I represent this community along with Senator Kevin Parker and Councilmember Farrah Lewis. I want to thank everyone for being here. It is very triggering for all of us. This is a very emotional time. We do have members of the family who are here that you're going to hear from. We have a number of elected officials here. We have our council speaker here, Julie Menin. You will be hearing from our Attorney General, Letitia James, first. We also have a semi-member Jamie Williams. We also have, we have God Squad. We have a number of clergy members that we will announce. We also have a number of unions like the Building Trades and the Carpenters. We have the Borough President's Office here, Deputy Borough President Kim Council. We have Community Board 17 here. We also want to thank, first of all, first and foremost, Flatbush YMCA. Let's give them a round of applause for being, being the center. Being the center of healing here. And being one of the first responders, we want to thank, of course, FDNY, the mayor's office, New York City OEM. We want to thank the 67th precinct, I see our commanding officer, Beauvoir here. We want to thank Brooklyn South, Precinct 70th, clergy councils, Pastor Thornton. We want to thank also Pastor Alfred Joseph, who you will hear, who also opened up his church. To their families. So we have so many other people to thank that we will thank. But for now, we would like to hear from our fighting, our representative who's been such a force in this nation, advocating for all the people, our Attorney General, Letitia James. I want to thank my colleagues in government, Assemblywoman Renice Bichotte-Hermelin, Senator Parker, and, of course, Councilmember Farrah Lewis and all of my colleagues who are here today and this afternoon. I also want to thank all of the clergy and all of the community members who are standing with us today. What happened here was a tragedy. I'm praying for all of those who lost their lives and the families who are grieving them at this point. I'm praying for those who were injured. and for the loved ones who are by their sides as they recover. I want to thank the first responders who rushed to help and specifically FDNY who basically thought of others before they thought of themselves, who put their lives on the line, who searched for hours for survivors. We owe a debt of gratitude to FDNY and we want to thank them as we stand here today. All of us here take building safety very seriously. And we are committed to making sure workers have the training and equipment they need. And if the Department of Buildings requires additional resources to hire more inspectors, all of the elected officials here will support that budget increase. It's important that owners and contractors follow safety rules, and that when a worker sees something dangerous, they can speak up and be heard without being disciplined. The Department of Buildings will conduct a full investigation into this tragedy. And my colleague, the District Attorney of Brooklyn, Eric Gonzalez, has also indicated to me that he is also launching an investigation into this incident. And if any of those individuals seek the assistance of the Office of the Attorney General, we are available. The families in this community deserve answers about what led to this collapse. and I have faith that the investigators will follow the facts and that anyone found responsible will be held to account. In the days ahead, I ask all of us to keep these families in our prayers and to keep showing up for them. What I am concerned about most at this point in time are scammers. We've already seen individuals take advantage of these families. Whenever there is a tragedy, sharks come out and I want all of those criminals to know that we will monitor the internet, social media, and if you take advantage of any of the families that have been injured or any of the families who have lost loved ones, you will be held to account. As we go forward, we must keep insisting on safe job sites and safe buildings, not only here in Brooklyn but all throughout the city of New York. And last but not least, A number of individuals have said that the families need X, Y, and Z. They need supplies. What we need to do is set up a fund, and hopefully the mayor's office or the borough president's office can set up a fund for these families who are struggling right now to make ends meet. I thank again all of my colleagues. I've come here again to offer the assistance of the Office of the Attorney General and to let everyone know that we stand with them as we seek. Safety for the workers, safety for New York City, safety for all residents, and we pray for those who were impacted by this terrible tragedy. Thank you. And now we would like to hear from our New York City Council Speaker, Julie Menion. Thank you so much. I first of all want to thank Assemblymember Radnice Bouchard-Hermelin, Senator Parker, and my colleague Councilmember Farah Lewis for organizing this important press conference and for being on the ground. I also want to thank all the labor unions who are here, all of the workers, my other colleagues in government, and our faith-based leaders. You're seeing a real unity coming together. But most importantly, our hearts go out to the family family members, their grief. Their loss, their tragedy is truly unspeakable and for them to be able to come here today to muster the courage to be able to speak to us is truly extraordinary and unbelievably moving. These families who lost loved ones were co-workers, they were cousins, they were roommates, they were sons, they were daughters, they were children. They were Juan Salvada and Gabriel Thank you. And two cousins who lived together, Mamadou Ndaye and Mamadou Barry. They were Nicole Salvalla and Kevin Reyes, another set of young cousins. They were Edgar Sapon, a construction worker who has a wife and a six-year-old son. They were Jose Caguna, who would pick up his four-year-old son from preschool and whose wife is expecting a second child soon. May we know their names today and remember their names always. We are thinking about the families that grew up with them and the families that they were going to build. We will ensure that their names are never forgotten. We also will ensure That we strengthen the building codes, the building rules and regulations. Right now the building department has an eight to nine percent vacancy rate. We must and we will ensure that every single one of those positions is immediately filled and as our Attorney General said if the building department needs more resources, more inspectors, we will make sure That that happens. This is an unspeakable. Horrendous tragedy and we must meet this moment. Thank you. Good morning everyone. Good morning. I want to thank everyone for being here today. Attorney General James, Speaker Menion, Assembly Member Basharat Hermelin, Senator Kevin Parker, our colleagues in government, our faith leaders, advocates, and most importantly the families impacted by the Flatbush building collapse. Since Wednesday afternoon, our community has been living through a nightmare. At least eight of our neighbors are gone, including two children, ages nine and ten, whose lives were stolen far too soon. I have been in direct contact with the young husband and his six-month pregnant wife that was pulled alive from the rubble by the sheer heroism of the FDNY first responders. While we are praying over her recovery, he shared with me yesterday that they have roommates who remain unaccounted for that were found yesterday. It is painful to, is a painful reminder that these families lost everything. To everyone and every family member displaced from 1321 to 1327 Flatbush Avenue. And everyone, excuse me, to every family member displaced. From 1321 to 1327 Flatbush Avenue, we are praying for you and we stand by you. My office is here alongside my colleagues and city agencies and community partners to make sure you get the shelter you need, the relief you need, and the resources you need to build back again. At the same time, grief without accountability is not enough. Buildings do not simply collapse without systemic change. Failures, especially when records show a building with nearly 100 open violations sitting next to an excavation site cited for violating a stop work order. I welcome the Brooklyn District Attorney's criminal investigation into this tragedy. I continue to demand aggressive oversight into this matter. to ensure every negligent owner, contractor, and entity is held fully accountable under the law. I want to step aside and turn the microphone over to one of the impacted families today so you can hear directly from them. I now call up the Coleman family. We will be hearing from Zariah who's going to speak about her experience. So basic. So basically, when I first came home, I realized, when I first came home and I see what happened to my house, the first thing I thought about was my cat. He was inside there and I tried to go under the tape to try to go, I was going to go get him, but I realized I didn't know what I was going to face. And before all this happened, we used to feel shakes in our building, like it used to start shaking when they was working and stuff. So... And I just I just really hope they come and get our cat because he's inside the house right now and they said they they said they were inside the house to try to find them but I don't think they really did. He's hiding from them and I think he's scared of him and I just really want them to come and get our cat. And they put a lot of lives in danger. Do you want to talk to the next person? I want to speak about the situation. Like a sensor, like in two weeks, they try to do the construction. I tell them that, like, the construction, what they do, like, the kid was sleeping. And they still doing the construction. Nobody didn't listen to guys. That's the situation happened. And then my wife is still crying, but I can't. And the police, like they didn't do their job, like let the people have the damage going inside. They're pushing the boy to come out. And their family was enjoying, like being traumatized all day. And the police didn't do their job, too. I wanted to, I need the care for my wife. And the other people, I want you guys to make sure to go to the hospital, speak with them, their family, all that. That's all that I have to say for you guys. Thank you. We thank you for being brave and coming here to share your most tragic experience. And now we would like to have another family member to come up, Ms. Lawrence Coleman, who also was there when everything happened. And her husband right now is in the hospital as he was traumatized, videotaped the whole thing. And he's stable. But we want to thank Ms. Coleman, Ms. Lawrence, for, again, having strength to come here to tell the world how she's feeling. Ms. Lawrence. This feeling is indescribable. I am alive. If we were alive, I was right here. Oh, my God. This was a very traumatic experience to see everything crumbled down in front of us. Just to be in a state of shock, you'd be like, oh my goodness, what is going on here? I took the day off that day. He went to work. I was tired, so I called him from work and I told him that I need to rest because I had a headache. And I usually sleep in the dark, so... I kept telling myself that you have to go to rest. You took the day off, so go to rest. And I don't know what it is. I just couldn't go to sleep. And about three o'clock sometime, I said, go, you have to go to sleep. And I went in the room and I turned off the lights and I'm a hard sleeper. So I think I dozed off. But during this whole time, these people have been Demolishing or doing whatever they were doing next door to us, it was traumatizing. They were doing construction next door. You would hear that thump and that movement in your soul, whether it's five o'clock they start in the morning and that thump, boom, and you would just jump. And you try to get used to it, but it wasn't normal. And I kept saying to my neighbors and my And my husband, something is wrong. Because they would turn on that hydrant, Maybe 8 o'clock, I'm 7.30 I leave out or something, and you would go out and you would see that hydrant turn on. When you come back, it could be 9, it's still running in there, we don't know why. Something was just not right, so again, when I finally doze off and I heard that thump. I try to ignore it because I get accustomed to it a little. I tell myself, but some things say open your eyes because I turned off my light, and when I opened my eyes, it was just light everywhere, and I kept saying, what is this? So I got up, and I couldn't believe I was seen outside of my box. So as that's happening she frantically calls me but because I just arrived at work I picked up my phone and saw several missed calls from her. I dropped everything and picked up my phone and she's staring at me and I'm like my love what's going on? She stood there in a state of shock and I said tell me what's going on? As soon as she turned the camera around I just dropped everything and raced out of work and ran straight home to her. I ran through red lights one way just to race to her. And I made it home to her. This is us and you know as they're taking me evacuate me from the building I could see my neighbors coming out of the shelters they were already dead that's crazy like what happened we didn't deserve this we didn't bother these people they killed us they came to kill us and it's like why you know I used to see a Spanish family they will come on all the time they're a large group And before, you know, I used to be, because she was fussy about the children. And I just learned about them and would just move out the way and let them go to work or school. And when I saw that lady and I didn't see the family, I knew it was them. And they're good. Help me! We don't wish this experience on anybody, let alone for this to happen to us. I don't know if this is God's. It's a way of saying something, but as you see, she's very, it's like, we don't wish this on anybody. We don't wish this on anybody. So it's, this is something that, you know, it's going to be unforgettable. You know, guys, I'm strong, I'm a strong person, I promise you. But I think what breaks me every day becomes realer. You starting to see? You know, I can look up in that building and I can see my stuff, but I can't get it. This is what I left out. And this is all this is all I have to. This is all we have. I don't have an ID. ID, no, nothing. We don't have anything. We don't have anything. But we are alive by the greatness of God. And after all this, I ended up I ended up collapsing and passing out and had to go to the hospital because one minute everything is fine. Fine, when I woke up. I just see the paramedics and EMTs in front of me. I'm like, what's going on here? They said, you passed out. And I said, really? Just like that. So by the grace of God, we okay. Thank goodness. But this is going to be an unforgettable experience. And we just saw the lives lost, our hearts go out, but to us remaining survivors. My name is James Alexander Williams, and this is my wife, Kyola Lawrence. We're the survivors of the building collapse. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. May God be with you. As we continue to call up on families, I will tell you that day we saw FDNY pulling out a pregnant woman and we were there consoling her husband. who kept asking, where is my wife? Where is my wife? She's in there. And I felt that no one was listening to him. He felt that no one was listening to him. FDNI was working, was working on it. And you've heard the story of many black women dying, giving birth. That was triggering for me, having lost a child. She survived and her husband is here today to come to speak to us and the family Tiano Ba. Ibrahima Ba. We want to call on you and the Guinea Alliance for Families. We want to call on you. Oh, you're taking a mask off? Yeah. I'm taking a mask off. That will be a lot of work to do. Hi. Good morning, everybody. My name is Mamadou Saliou Diallo. I'm the president of the Guinean community in New York. We call it Gika, Guinean Community of America. On my right here, we have the family of the two deceased, Mamadou Boyi Barry and Mamadou Boyi Ndiaye. This is the family. On my left, we have Mr. Mohamed Mukhtar Baldi, who was the husband of the pregnant lady that was Rescued. And I'm here I'm speaking on their behalf and if the husband would like to add something he will speak in French. In my religion we always start by saying Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajiun. It is with profound sadness and heavy hearts that we address the tragic building collapse in Brooklyn on November 11, 2026 which has claimed the life of several individuals and left others injured Among those who lost their lives are two young Guinea nationals, Mamadou Boy Barry and Mamadou Boy Ndiaye. These two young men came to the United States less than five years ago in pursuit of better opportunities and a brighter future. Sadly, their lives have been cut short by this devastating tragedy. We also confirm that another Guinea national, Mrs. Fatoumata Ba, was among the injured victims. Mrs. Ba is pregnant, and by the grace of God, both she and her unborn baby are alive. However, she sustained serious injuries and is currently receiving medical care at the hospital. We prayed for her recovery and the safe delivery of her baby. On behalf of the Guinean community in New York, we respectfully call upon the city of New York Relevant agency cities and our elected officials to extend their support and assistance to the grieving families of the two young men and all who lost their lives. Specially, we ask for their intervention in facilitating the travel of the parents of the deceased from Guinea to the United States, so they can be present to honor their sons and participate in their final funeral rites. We also call upon our elected representative and appropriate authority to ensure that this tragic incident received the necessary attention, that its circumstances are thoroughly investigated, and that the families and victims receive the support and answers they deserve. Our thoughts and prayers are with all the family affected by this horrific tragedy. We extend our deepest and most sincere condolences to the family who have lost their loved ones. May the soul of the departed soul rest in peace and may God grant strength, comfort, ...and healing to those who are affected. The Guinean community in New York stands in solidarity with the victims, their family and everyone impacted. May Allah grant the departed eternal peace and grant the injured a speedy and complete recovery. Do you want to say something? The husband would like to speak in French. Je m'appelle Baldem Ahmad Mokhtar. Je viens de la Guinée Conakry. I will add a little bit about what the president of Guinea in the United States has just said. I am the husband of the woman Fatoumata Bintaba who was saved in the tragic collapse of the building where we live at 1321 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, New York. It is today with a close heart that I stand in front of you. To explain this event, last Wednesday, after having spoken with my wife, I left to do this for us. Five minutes after I left the building, the earthquake happened. At the time I was leaving, we were living with two young men, all from Guinea-Conakry, whose memory I remember today. The first is called Mamadou Ndiaye, and the second... My name is Mamadouboui Bari. We all lived in the same apartment. After I gave my wife a good-bye to go and do this for us, I found that Mamadouboui was cooking. Mamadouboui Ndiaye was sleeping. At the time of my wedding, I opened the door of the apartment where we lived. Mamadouboui Ndiaye had already done this online, and the guy had done the delivery for him. When I opened the door, The guy who came to make the delivery asked Mamadou, I said, yes, my name is Mamadou. He said, Mamadou Ndiaye. Then I called Mamadou Boy, who was finishing his kitchen. I said, Mamadou Boy, you have a package here. Then he turned the curtain. He said, Tokora, your package is here. Mamadou Ndiaye, who was lying down, he got up. I see him today in my heart, wearing this dress. When I opened the door, my mother-in-law took her package and we got into a fight. Five minutes after I got out of the building, the explosion happened. I went to continue doing my assa. On my way back, I found the New York City, the fireman, the Red Cross, the police, and all the families were gathered to see how to save the people who were in the building. After I turned around, I asked myself, what's going on here? I thought it was an accident of the traffic, but unfortunately, a woman told me there was an explosion. When she told me there was an explosion, I didn't feel where I was anymore, because I knew that our building was at the border with this site. I said, my wife is inside, my friends are inside. When I came, I asked, I didn't see my wife, I didn't see my neighbors. I didn't feel where I was anymore, I didn't know where I was. I would like to thank the firefighters, the police, the Red Cross, and all the people who have invested to save the population in the building. I would also like to salute the memory of all the people who have died in this tragic moment. I would like to thank you all. I'm going to be quick. I'm just going to translate a little bit of what he said. He explained the last moments that he had with the two young men who passed away. Five minutes prior to this incident, he left the apartment telling his wife that he's going to buy groceries. And he left the two young men, one of them was on the couch, The other one was cooking. As he opened the door... He met a delivery man who was delivering something that Mr. Njai had bought online. He asked, who is Mamadou? He said, I am Mamadou, but he said, Mamadou Njai. Then he called Mamadou Njai to come pick up the delivery. And right after he left, five minutes later, he was on his way back. He found out this tragedy had happened and he started asking questions because he knew he left his pregnant wife inside the apartment and two other friends. That's when he started asking, saying, my wife is in there, my wife is pregnant. Where's my wife? He didn't know what to do. And he appreciates, he thanks each and every one, especially the elected official who have initiated this press conference and the firefighters. Thank you. He's the uncle of the two young men who passed away. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for everybody for being here this morning. My name is Jalo Mamadu. I am the uncle for two deceased, Mamadou Njai and Mamadou Ibari. They gone very kid, but God give and God take it. We don't have lot to say. All we ask Guinean community and the city is this for the justice. All we ask, it is the justice, we ask for the negligence, anything happen there. We are, the family is very sad today. It's very painful disease we have today. We have a heart, broken heart. But what we can do that God did, that God willing. We as Muslim, any tragedy we see, we give to God. But we ask the city. ...and the Guinean community to stand for us to have a justice for this tragedy. I have here the brother, direct brother for Mamadou Njai. He's a big brother. Hello, everybody, and thank you for coming. We thank everybody. Like my uncle said here, we are behind the city and the community of Guinea for everything. Yeah, and we thank everybody, everybody. Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you very much. Stay here. We have one more family member, Winston Sanchez, who's representing the Ecuadorian, and we have Reverend Al Sharpton. We also wanna recognize President of the JCRC, Mark Trager, who's here with us. We'd like to call... Al Sharpton, Reverend Al Sharpton. Okay, and we have Sanchez. Sanchez is going to say a few words. He represents the Ecuadorian construction workers who died. I just want to say this. In 2022, the state assembly passed Carlo's Law. It was about an Ecuadorian construction worker who was instructed to go into the pit, and he died. And his family was only limited to $10,000. Since then, we've worked really hard in making sure that we enforce safety in the construction site in the name of Carlos' law, and that any developer or owner or general contractor who has a construction person who dies on site due to negligence are fined $300,000 to $500,000. It's a bill that I sponsor that I hold very close to my heart. And here, once again, Another tragedy of Ecuadorians dying in a construction site. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. It is a sad day, not only for the Ecuadorian community, but for many families here in New York City and in different countries. It is a sad day because not only collapsed the building, it collapsed the lives of many relatives, brothers, fathers. One of the wives is going to get birthed on Sunday. Never going to see the father of Luis Caguana. That is what we hear today, not only in solidarity, but also demanding the authorities, the city, city officials to do more to protect our workers, to protect our people, our residents. Regardless of the immigration status, the life that doesn't cost $200,000 or $300,000. It costs more because we build the greatest New York City, many Latinos daily, but greedy people, developers, real estate, different construction companies, they're making a lot of money with the blood of many construction workers. It's unacceptable. I hope the city, on behalf of the families, will do more to protect our construction workers. I know I'm also a construction worker as an electrician. And I know how the mine looks out there. So please, hopefully the authorities do more to protect our construction workers. Thank you. Good morning, I'm State Senator Kevin Parker, represent the 21st District here in Brooklyn. Let me first just add my voice to those who are mourning the loss of these New Yorkers who were senselessly killed in what we see as a preventable accident. And certainly, as you've seen, the impact is, you know, great for those who have lost people, but those who have survived it are also suffering a great deal as well. We want to also thank Mayor Mandani and his... You know, entire government response to this. We've had almost every major commissioner involved and deputy mayor in the community, on the ground, you know, helping us with this response. Certainly, Grateful to Eric Gonzalez, the Brooklyn DA, for bringing forth investigation, and we hope that the proper criminal penalties will be doled out in this case, and certainly looking forward to the assistance of the Attorney General who has joined us here today. But it is my pleasure, I wish under better circumstances, to bring back to a community that he knows very well, Has lived here, has gone to school here, and someone who has been a champion for those who are in need, Reverend Al Sharpton, the president of the National Action Network. Thank you, Senator Parker. Let me say that we are facing in the city a moral challenge. If we are in a city where authorities can grab people. And say they're doing it to protect us and their ICE workers and grab innocent people and find out their status. Then why are we not in a city that we do not know that workers and residents are protected and inspected that would lead to this tragedy? How do you ride past buildings that could collapse looking for migrants that are not here wrong? But you can't find builders and those that work for developers that may have buildings that can collapse in the middle of the night. This is a human catastrophe that most likely could have been avoided had we been as vigilant protecting the lives of those that were lost as we are grabbing people, telling them to prove themselves to be in the country legal. The fortunate part is that there are people that will stand up. When Rodanese texted me and said she wanted me to come, and Attorney Al Fracker said I'll represent, I said, no, I want to come myself. We have the best attorney general in the United States. I don't care who won another state Tuesday. We have a good district attorney that will get to the bottom of this because this is an act that demands all of the human rights, civil rights, and faith leaders. To back law enforcement because somebody felt that it was better for their profit line than for the lifeline of those that have been lost. And we must find out who that is, if there are violations, and they should face that. Yes, we must mourn at the funerals of this. And when I heard this story, this man whose wife was pregnant, this could have been any one of us. This could have been anybody that watches your newscast. We cannot tolerate that in the city of New York. And I'm assured with those that are standing here, the city council president and us, Councilwoman Farrar and others, that it won't. So National Action Network is with you, whatever we need to do. We'll be there, but I wanted to raise this to a human and civil rights issue and a moral challenge to this city. This should not go for two or three days of mourning and then we go on about our business because we don't know where the next house could collapse and where the next developer will think they can cut corners. Thank you. And before... Before we, we're going to, we're going to have a couple of more things before we close out and take questions. We do want to give acknowledgement to the New York Immigration Coalition, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, UJA, JCRC, Africana, Little Haiti BK, Pastor Alfred Joseph, Part 9/11, with Benjamin Pinchuski, and the Aleph Dakaris, FDC. Flatbush Development Corporation, the Bridge Multicultural Center with Mark Appel, Ganica Ganica, New York, the Ghanaian Community of America. We would like to now close out but before just two more families okay I'm sorry forgive me we have two more families here we have I have Mariama Jallo, Mama Duba. Fatuma Mata Diallo. And they are here. They are the cousins. We're going to hear from them. Then we're going to hear from Kendall from the Flatbush YMCA. And then we're going to close out with Alfred Joseph, Pastor Alfred Joseph. Okay, interpret. Oh, interpreter, okay, come. My name is Nyirawa, I am a member of the group. We are seven members. My name is Mariama Jallo. She is Mariam Diallo, also sister of the two deceased. Thank you very much. Talking about how sad the family is, and they were young kids. They didn't know this would happen to them at the right time. It happened. So they are very, very sad, and this is a very sad day for the family. She used to live there with them. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. May Allah give you the courage. The Guinea embassy is here because the other person didn't want to have a seat. All right, we, okay, may I have Kendall, Cardinal Charter, the executive director come, can we have Mark Trager from JCRC to come? And can we have Pastor Alfred Joseph to come? We're going to close out. The public advocate is on his way, so when he comes in while we're taking questions, we'll have them speak. But Kendall, then Mark Schrager, and then you'll close out. We do, and we want to also mention that we have a drop-off location for CB17 at 4112 Farragut Avenue. We have accepted items of masks, toiletries. We're also doing this drop-off at Clarendon Road Church, Alliance Tabernacle 3304 Clarendon. Also Lenox Road Baptist Church, which is 1356 North Strand Avenue. Also at the Multi-Bridge Cultural on Flatbush. And also here at Flatbush YMCA, we are only accepting gift cards as well as... Mask, right next, let me see. Okay, also- The mayor's office has set up an emergency relief fund. So I would urge individuals to contribute money to this fund. It's the emergency relief fund under the mayor of the city of New York, thank you. All right, Kendall. And the Flatbush YMCA remains a beacon to the community. Our doors are open to anyone to come in and support. We're saddened by what has occurred in our community. Our doors are remaining open, so any support that you can provide, certainly stop by. We're here to support the community. Thank you. Mark. Mark, before anybody goes. Thank you, Assemblymember. I just want to say, my name is Mark Trager, CEO of JCRC New York. With here also our partners from UJA Federation of New York and One Crown Heights. What happens on Flatbush Avenue reverberates down Surf Avenue in Coney Island, where I live. It reverberates in the workplaces of all of our faith-based organizations and community organizations, whether it's JCRC, whether it's our Christian, Muslim, Catholic groups, because we are one New York. These are not just some people whose lives were turned upside down. These are our people. These are our neighbors. These are our families. And I remember vividly after a superstorm, I remember vividly during a pandemic, it was community people, grassroots people, organizations, local officials, clergy from all faiths that rallied together time and time again. When they themselves are inundated with tragedy, their doors remain open. That's who we are. That's Brooklyn, that's New York. And so today we're about aid and comfort, but plus accountability. Because justice makes sure that these families, these victims are cared for, but they also get answers and accountability on behalf of everyone who was impacted. The residents, the workers, the communities. We're in solidarity with you today. And yes, when the cameras leave, the needs don't go away. We're going to be with you every step of the way in solidarity. God bless you.