Courts and Law Brooklyn Boro

Commission for the Blind helps people find jobs in Brooklyn’s courts

October 10, 2017 By Steven Ferraro Special to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Patrick Piccirillo at his stand inside the Criminal Court at 120 Schermerhorn St. Eagle photos by Steven Ferraro
Patrick Piccirillo at his stand inside the Criminal Court at 120 Schermerhorn St. Eagle photos by Steven Ferraro
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The Brooklyn court system is one of the busiest in the country, with everything from terrorism trials to complex civil litigation, to misdemeanor criminal cases. There are people working nearly around the clock serving Brooklyn citizens.

And what about the people who serve them? Inside a number of Brooklyn courthouses, there are stores that sell drinks, snacks and other supplies that the people working in the courts, as well as the general public, rely on. These stores are staffed through a program run by the Commission for the Blind.

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The Commission for the Blind is an organization that allows the visually impaired and blind to own and operate these stores through something called the Business Enterprise Program (BEP). BEP has a mandatory training course in place before assigning the participants to regulated sites all around New York. This was made possible through the Randolph-Sheppard Act of 1936, which gives the visually disabled work opportunities as vendors.

The Commission makes it possible for these men and women to generate a steady income rather than rely upon disability. Jermaine Mack, a BEP participant, said he is grateful for the program every day.

Mack and his son Dominique run the store at the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse. The father-son duo were born albino. As a result, they live with a condition called pendular nystagmus, which makes it difficult for them to have complete control over the movement of their eyes. The pair doesn’t let their disability decide the course of their lives, though.

“Just because you’re disabled doesn’t mean you can’t do anything,” Mack said. “So many people at home disabled think that they can’t do anything, and the Commission says otherwise … There’s no limit to what you can do.”

Mack typically works the morning shift as the assistant manager, while his son comes in during the afternoon as the facility’s manager. He shows his love for his job through simple things like knowing each of his customers and what their normal purchases are.

Mack likes to be on a first-name basis with everybody who walks in his store. That doesn’t exclude the famous. Mack recalls when Martin Shkreli, the infamous “Pharma Bro,” frequented his store during his trial for security fraud this past summer.

Shkreli would often buy cups of hazelnut coffee and joke with Mack, and one time asked if he would be found guilty or innocent, to which Mack replied, “You’re going home. People with money always go home.”

Mack anticipates the upcoming Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the alleged Mexican drug lord whose trial has attracted quite a lot of attention and security, as a trial that could provide more unique experiences.

“I’m tired of watching Maury Povich,” Mack said while discussing the prospect of being at home every day.

Patrick Piccirillo was diagnosed with diabetes around 1990 and became legally blind as a result. Piccirillo has been involved in BEP since 1999. After suffering from a heart attack in 2000, Piccirillo decided to continue his training with the program. By 2003, he was running the stand on the first floor of the Brooklyn Criminal Court, where he still works today.

The Commission for the Blind, he said, provides him with income and a job he enjoys. His workplace environment is what makes it all worth it for him. At 65, he also finds joy in teaching students that work at his stand in a program designed to show them the ropes of running a small business.

“I love it here. Everybody here is like family to me,” Piccirillo said. “In my 15 years that I’ve been around, I might have taught 100 students. I say that out of 100 of them, 50 percent of them got their own stands today.”

Piccirillo, like Mack, doesn’t run his business alone. His wife acts as an assistant and his daughter Jennifer also occasionally works at the stand with him.

“My wife has a lot to do with my business,” Piccirillo said. “She helps me a lot … My wife helps me go shopping. When I do need her, she’s here for me. She watches my back. She’s a big part of my business.”

According to the Commission for the Blind’s website, there are roughly 2,500 blind vendors across the country, including 75 BEP-regulated operations in New York state.


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