Bronx News Roundup, June 18

Bronx teens Rashawn Birthwright, 17, and Javon Maldonado, 17, were stabbed to death yesterday in two unrelated incidents. Maldonado died on the doorstep of the NYPD's 41st Precinct station house in Hunts Point hours after Birthwright was stabbed on Gunther Avenue and died at Jacobi Medical Center. The Daily News has the story.

12-year-old Bronx twins Jason and Corey Grant have started a Facebook-page campaign to persuade LeBron James to play for the New York Knicks. In four days, the site has tracked one million votes in support of LeBron's switch.

After giving birth three times with the help of Bronx midwives, New York state assemblywoman Amy Paulin is seeking to pass a bill that will afford other women a similar, though safer, experience. The bill would repeal the requirement that midwives have a “written practice agreement” with a doctor or hospital, thus allowing them to travel and still have access to doctors and medical facilities.

"Reflections of a Heart," a play about black soldiers who fought in World War II, depicts Isaac Woodard Jr.'s experience in the post-war Bronx. Read the full review here.

The Parks Department and the Bronx River Alliance is inviting New Yorkers to paddle down the Bronx River with their dads this Sunday during the Father's Day Paddle. Participants will canoe through Bronx River Forest, the Botanical Garden, and the Bronx Zoo. Find out more here. [The event appears to be sold out, but you can sign up for the waiting list.]

Former boxing champ Juan La Porte will bring fighters from his Bronx gym to an amateur boxing card hosted by Billy Costello. Now battling lung cancer, Costello continues to spotlight NYC fighters and host matches on NYC turf.

Obama has chosen Rev. Susan Johnson Cook, the senior pastor of Bronx Christian Fellowship Baptist Church in New York and executive director of the Multi-Ethnic Center Inc., for the position of ambassador for international religious freedom. The Catholic Review has the full story.

Bronx resident Edda Lopez-Lennards was featured in the Daily News this morning for her housing struggle involving the Bank of America. Read Norwood News' coverage here.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the premiere episode of Comedy Central's 'Portable Lounge,' a roaming online talk show featuring rising comedians, will take place in the Bronx. Here's more on this show.

Backed By Bronx Activists, A 'Small Victory' for Edda Lopez

Edda Lopez Speaks at Rally from Alex Kratz on Vimeo.

[Update, 5:55 p.m., Tuesday: Spoke earlier today with Justin Haines, Lopez's lawyer. My brain still hurts. This thing is a million times more complex than I thought, but this post will at least give you an idea of what's going on here. We'll have a more fleshed out version of the story in next week's Norwood News. Also, apologies to Councilman Fernando Cabrera, who we left out of the first draft of this post. Cabrera, who showed up with at least two staff members -- Greg Faulkner and Zellnor Myrie -- said he canceled an event to be there and spoke at the rally.]

Everything was going great for Edda Lopez 15 years ago. You could say she was living the American Dream here in the Bronx. She had a good job, a good husband and a family. She became a homeowner.

But her world quickly began to crumble (see video above), starting with the death of her husband from diabetes complications. Soon, she became ill herself and eventually lost her job.

In an effort to keep her home, Lopez attempted to refinance her mortgage, but says she was swindled by a mortgage broker into accepting a so-called "balloon" mortgage. The monthly loan payments eventually ballooned to the point where she couldn't keep up with them, although she continued to make partial payments.

Recently, Lopez took advantage of a new federal program called the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), which gives banks incentive to modify the terms of loans in order to make them more affordable for homeowners like Lopez.

Despite keeping up with her new payment plan, Lopez found out from Bank of America (which owns her mortgage) that her house was going up for sale and that she would be evicted in just two weeks. She says she had only found out because she called the bank for another reason.

That's when leaders of her church, New Day, teamed up with organizers and activists from the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition to fight her eviction. They enlisted the help of lawyers from the Legal Aid Society, Councilman Fernando Cabrera, the Borough President's Office and staffers from Congressman Jose E. Serrano's office and then organized a rally in front of the Bank of America on the corner of Fordham Road and Valentine Avenue, last Thursday afternoon. (Watch video of New Day Pastor Doug Cunningham at the rally below.)


Doug Cunningham at B of A Rally from Alex Kratz on Vimeo.

Before the rally even began, a Bank of America vice president in North Carolina, called Lopez's lawyer, Justin Haines, and said they were not familiar with the loan modification terms or Lopez's payment history as the bank had only acquired it (when it acquired Wilshire Credit Corporation) in March. Haines also said they wanted to set up a meeting to talk about the terms of the loan, which local Coalition activist Jospeh Ferdinand hailed as "small victory."

“Bank if America is the new loan service, so they have to get up to date with all the cases that Wilshire left them with,” Haines said at the rally. Haines said that, unfortunately, homeowners like Lopez who are facing swift eviction with little notice or understanding is not uncommon. Fortunately, he said, Lopez had the support of local organizations like her church and the Coalition and elected officials.

Brad German, a spokesperson for Freddie Mac, said Bank of America should have had all of Lopez's loan information and payment history in a file provided by the previous lender.

Bank of America could not immediately be reached for comment.

Fire Aftermath Update

The Daily News reported yesterday that among the businesses "destroyed" in Monday's fire on East 204th Street in Norwood, was McKeon Funeral Home. That is totally incorrect as we reported here on Monday. In fact, owner Bill Curran just told us that he has a funeral scheduled today. McKeon suffered a little bit of water and smoke damage, but the newly renovated funeral home survived largely intact. McKeon Funeral Home is located at 3129 Perry Ave. and the phone number is 718-655-6464.

We're a little short-staffed on this almost-holiday work day. Can anyone tell us whether Bank of American on the corner of East 204th Street and Bainbridge Avenue is open for business? The Daily News said that business was destroyed as well, and while we don't think that's the case -- the building appeared completely intact the day of the fire -- we wanted to make sure of  the bank's current status before we posted anything about it. 

Also, we wanted to provide a better phone number for residents wanting to order groceries by telephone from Foodtown --718-293-3032.  The other 718 number in our previous report is for Pricebusters, which will, in the next few weeks, provide some groceries. Residents can also order groceries for delivery on-line at www.foodtown.com. If you use either service, please let us know about your experience so we can share it with our readers and your neighbors.


We'll have a News Roundup and a little more news on the blog as the day progresses.