Anne Ehart

Passers-by stepped into a single-file line where the sidewalk narrows on Bedford Avenue and briskly walked past the construction fence in front of Goorin Bros. Hat Shop last weekend. The sidewalk is so thin that the staff has not been able to set up the shop’s advertisement board since crews began revamping entrances to the Bedford Avenue L train station this November, according to its manager, Shanice Brown.

The State Assembly Committee on Health heard testimony from 48 people on Thursday regarding a bill allowing medical aid in dying, or physician-assisted suicide. The bill would allow for terminally ill patients with a prognosis of six months-or-less to live to take a “cocktail” of drugs to end their life. It would also allow them to pick up the “cocktail” up from their pharmacy once approved by two doctors and confirmed by two independent witnesses.

It has been years since NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County provided psychiatric services in the G building, but thanks to a redevelopment, the site is once again caring for residents like Clarissa Martin. Martin, 58, credits her apartment in the new CAMBA Gardens II with helping her stay on top of her physical and mental health and bond with neighbors. “It’s a bridge back to life,” said Martin, who was previously in the homeless shelter system. “It’s a steppingstone.