Bronx Events: Crotona Community Cleanup This Saturday

(File photo by Jeanmarie Evelly)

This Saturday, August 13, the youth group at the Mary Mitchell Family and Youth Center and members of Community Board 6 are hosting a neighborhood cleanup event from 12 to 2 p.m., along Mapes Avenue outside the community center between 178th and 179th Streets. 

The group will be picking up trash, and staff from the city's Department of Sanitation are installing a new wastebasket on the street. If you're interested in joining the effort, call CB6 at (718) 579-6990.

New Street Name Honors Longtime Local Bishop

Editor's Note: this article was first published in the July edition of the Tremont Tribune, out and online now.

The section of Crotona Parkway in front of St. Thomas Aquinas Church is now
 Bishop Francisco Garmendia Place, in honor of the parish’s late pastor.
(Photo by Jeanmarie Evelly)

A busy stretch of Crotona Parkway was renamed last week to honor the late Bishop Garmendia Francisco, the first Hispanic bishop to serve the Archdiocese of New York and a longtime presence in East Tremont, known through the years for his work with the neighborhood’s new immigrant populations.

“He loved his people,” said Betty Cleary, who worked for years as Garmendia’s secretary. “He would go to door-to-door through the neighborhood. Everybody was his family.”

48 Precinct Community Meeting Moved

Just a quick programming note: the NYPD 48 Precinct's Community Council meeting, happening tonight at 7 p.m., has changed locations. It will now be held at Phipps West Farm Technology and Career Center, 1071-A East Tremont Avenue, near Boston Road (next to Twin Donuts). Call the precinct’s community affairs office at (718) 299-4522 for more information.

Happy Land Fire Remembered

Photos by Fausto Giovanny Pinto


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Last Friday, March 25 marked the 21st anniversary of the tragic fire at the Happy Land Social Club, on Southern Boulevard in East Tremont, where 87 people lost their lives after an arsonist set fire to the building.

Each year, Community Board 6 hosts a memorial mass at nearby St. Thomas Aquinas Parish and at the Happy Land memorial site. These pictures were taken during the service last week by Tremont Tribune reporter Fausto Giovanny Pinto.

Liquor Authority’s Mistake Paves Way for Bikini Bar

Community leaders are fuming over The Luxury Box,  a new bikini bar in West Farms (Photo by F. Pinto) 

Editor's note: this article first appeared in the latest issue of the Tremont Tribune, which is on the streets and online now.

By FAUSTO GIOVANNY PINTO

The Luxury Box Sports Bar and Cabaret, a bikini bar that recently opened at 1101 E. 177th St., received its liquor license even after Community Board 6 sent a letter of disapproval, a mistake the Liquor Authority acknowledges.

“We didn’t recommend this,” said Ivine Galarza, Community Board 6’s district manager. “We don’t want this type of place next to a residential building.”

In a statement, the Liquor Authority admitted it screwed up. Even though they received the Board’s letter, it wasn’t scanned into the file, spokesman William Crowley said.

While community board approval is not needed to obtain a liquor license, a letter of disapproval would have sent The Luxury Box’s application before a three-member panel — and those letters weigh heavily on the board’s decision.

Bronx Events: Community Board 6 Youth Talent Show

Tomorrow night, Community Board 6 will have its second annual youth talent show, this year inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr., and his message of peace. Here are some more details:

"The theme of the event is 'We Have a Dream.” One youth group will perform a skit on the topic of teenage dating and the hardships many youth of our time silently suffer. Along from the singing, dancing and poetry that will be showcased, we will have the five (5) youths that will receive this year’s Yankee Council Award read an excerpt of the 'I Have a Dream' speech as this conference is in honor and remembrance of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream for peace and equality."

The show is tomorrow night, at CS 211 at 1919 Prospect Avenue, from 6 to 9 p.m. Call Community Board 6 for more information: (718) 579-6990.

More events are below, in our community calendar.

Editor's note: What did we miss? Send details to bronxnewsnetwork[at]gmail.com.

Residents Split Over Phipps’ Housing Plan

This lot, at East Tremont Avenue and Lebanon Street, is the proposed site of a controversial affordable housing project. (Photo by J. Evelly)

Editor's note: This article first appeared in the December issue of the Tremont Tribune, which is on the streets and online now.

By JEANMARIE EVELLY

A not-for-profit developer’s plans to build three affordable housing complexes in the West Farms neighborhood has upset a number of residents who live nearby.

The project, approved by Community Board 6 at a tense public hearing on Dec. 8, is planned for lots on both sides of East Tremont Avenue, bordered by East 178th and Lebanon streets, on what was once the site of train tracks owned by the MTA—steel trestles still sit on the property’s overgrown grass lot.

Phipps Houses, the developer, is one of the city’s largest affordable housing owners. Its affiliate group, Phipps Community Development Corporation, runs a number of social service programs in the immediate area, like GED courses and career training.

The proposed developments have pitted nearby homeowners, who are worried about an influx of new neighbors and the buildings’ heights—eight to 10 stories—against other community members who praise the organization for its work in the neighborhood.

“I know Phipps. I’m a product of Phipps,” said Sandra Carter, who said she lived in another Phipps-owned building. “They develop the community. They’re good for people. If they don’t get the application, someone else will, and we’ll get some shelter. We have enough of that here—we need affordable housing.”

But a group of homeowners adamantly opposed the plan, saying that the proposed 141 affordable housing units will decrease their property values and add to already serious litter and crime problems around their homes.

“With more units comes more people, and with more people comes more crime,” said Stefan Leonard, who lives on nearby Bronx Park Avenue.

Nominate a Bronx Youth Leader in CB6!

Community Board 6 is inviting the public to submit the names and biographies of community-minded youths to be considered for nomination to the New York Yankee Community Council Youth Leadership Corp--an annual award doled out by the Yankees to five young people in the Bronx who have volunteered their time to civic activities and worked to make their communities better.

Awardees will receive a $750 stipend. To be considered for nomination by CB6, the young person must meet the following criteria:

• Live in the boundaries of Community Board #6, which encompasses Bathgate, Belmont, Bronx Park South, East Tremont, Crotona Park North and West Farms
• Be no older than 18
• Have a history of involvement in civic activities and helping to improve their community
• Willing to commit to working with Bronx CB6 in the preparation of its June anti-violence talent show

 The nomination form is below, and should be returned to CB6 by the Friday, Nov. 5 deadline to: 1932 Arthur Ave., or to brxcb6@optonline.net, or faxed to 718-579-6875.

Nomination Form