Bronx News Roundup, Tuesday, May 24 (Updated)

Welcome to the show, Bronx people and cognoscente. To the news!

Weather: My shirt was drenched with sweat by the time I made it into the office today. It's hot and muggy and cloudy and we're in for a wildly unpredictable day and evening. There's a 60 percent chance of precipitation, which means, with these conditions, we could be looking at anything from a drizzle to thunderstorms to hail.

Story of the Day: Hunts Point Market to Stay in the Bronx, For Now
On Sunday night, Crain's NY reported that the Hunts Point Market (full name: Hunts Point Terminal Produce Cooperative Market) were not close to signing a long-term lease, but were "hammering out a short-term extension while they haggle over a 30- or 40-year lease that would include a $320 million revamp of the antiquated facility, the country's largest wholesale produce market." New Jersey is aggressively wooing the market cooperative, offering them tax incentives to jump across the Hudson. But the city and state have formed a negotiating team that includes Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy, the Empire State Development Corp. and the city Economic Development Corp. and other Bloomberg officials (where is the Bronx borough president on this?), and are ramping up their efforts to keep the market in the Bronx. One union official told Crain's that about 40 percent of the 47-member cooperative are leaning toward a move to Jersey, but others think they might lose customers if they do. Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. has said keeping the market and it's 8,500 jobs in the Bronx is one of his top priorities, but according to Crain's, it doesn't appear that he will have much say in the matter.

(Update: John DeSio, a spokesman for the borough president's office says that Diaz is, in fact, in regular contact with Duffy and that Marlene Citron, the head of the Bronx Overal Development Corp., the BP's development arm, is in constant contact with the city's EDC. DeSio says Diaz was also instrumental in bringing New York's two U.S. senators into the fold.)

Quick Hits:
Lots of wrongfully accused Bronxites trying to cash in these days. In one case, a Bronx man who was arrested after police thought his Snapple beverage was something a little stronger and then was thrown in jail for 40 hours, is suing the NYPD. 

In another case, a Bronx teenager who was acquitted of criminal mischief charges is suing the city for falsely arrest, malicious prosecution and violation of civil rights.

A Bronx police officer copped to ticket-fixing at a drunk driving trial. Defense lawyers are going after any police officer involved in the ticket-fixing scandal as a way to undermine their credibility. It's working.

The lion triplets born in the Bronx Zoo last January are getting soooo big!

A new Bronx housing project, Fordham Village, provides housing for low-income and homeless veterans. 

A talented Bronx high school basketball player at Wings Academy, Deonte Houston, was acquitted of robbery charges.

Bronx-born photographer Ken Regan has a new book out documenting Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue Tour in 1975.

Following Mr. Tambourine Man Into the Woodlawn Cemetery

If you walked up Webster Avenue past Woodlawn Cemetery on Thursday it may have seemed as if you stepped back in time a few decades. That stretch of Webster is currently packed with Chevys, Fords, and Pontiacs from the 1950's and 1960's (see photo).

The cemetery was being used as a film set for a new movie called "Mr. Tambourine Man." The film will star J.K. Simmons (of "Law and Order", "Oz", and "Juno" fame) and Julia Ormond ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button").

The famous Bronx cemetery will be the setting for Simmons’ character’s funeral. The independent production company will also be using the Mt. St. Ursula School on Bedford Park Blvd. for both interior and exterior shots on Friday.

Usually a very tranquil area of the Bronx, the cemetery was inundated with teamsters, trucks and filming equipment.

"Mr. Tambourine Man" will be a film adaptation of an Oliver Sacks (the author of "Awakening") case study called "The Last Hippie." It is a true story of a man name Gabriel who suffers a brain tumor and can only communicate to others through the music of Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead.

Production of the film was also done Wednesday on West 3rd Street in Greenwich Village.