Toxins Send PS 51 to Crotona

Editor's Note: This story first appeared in the latest issue of the Norwood News, out now.

Bronx New School, housed on Van  Cortlandt Avenue East in an old lighting factory,
will have a new home in a former Catholic school two miles away in Crotona.
(Photo by Adi Talwar)

By Ronald Chavez

At a tense public hearing last week, the Department of Education announced it will be moving Bedford Park elementary school PS 51, known as the Bronx New School, to a new building two miles south—the result of a discovery earlier this summer that its current site contains hazardous levels of a chemical toxin linked to cancer.

“I apologize to you. It will not happen again,” Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott told a crowd of seething parents at the Aug. 18 meeting at the Bronx High School of Science.

Bronx News Roundup, Aug. 18

Weather: Cool and mostly cloudy with on-and-off rainstorms predicted.

On to your Bronx news!

Story of the Day: DOE Meeting Tonight to Discuss 'Toxic' P.S. 51
Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott and other city officials will  be in the Bronx tonight to meet with parents and members of the community to discuss P.S. 51, the Bedford Park elementary school that's being moved because its current building was found to be contaminated with high levels of Trichloroethylene--an industrial solvent that can potentially cause serious health problems that affect the central nervous system, including the liver, kidney, and the immune system, according to the EPA.You can read more coverage on the situation here; details about tonight's meeting are here.

The DOE said there are no immediate health risks posed to students at the school, but that doesn't seem to have done much to ease parents' concerns. "All parents in this school should have their children tested because as you can see from this issue the Board of Education can't be trusted to tell the truth," one BxNN reader and PS 51 parent commented. We'll be covering tonight's meeting and will keep you updated.

Quick Hits:
The funeral for Christina Santiago, killed this weekend in Indiana when a concert stage collapsed, takes place today in the Bronx.

Great story in the Times this morning about parents who are caught with minor amounts of marijuana--not enough to charge them with a crime--getting  subject to extra scrutiny from child welfare on accusations of neglect.

Bronx News Roundup, Friday, Aug. 12

Happy Friday folks. Let's get down to Bronx business. To the news!

Weather: Not a cloud in the sky today and tomorrow, with temperatures staying relatively mild in the mid-80s. Look for Sunday showers to break the loveliness.

Story of the Day: Striking Workers Bash Verizon Scab Practices
Yesterday, the Village Voice found a handful of striking Verizon union workers in the South Bronx criticizing their scab worker replacements for shoddy and unsafe work practices. At least a few Bronx politicians, including State Senator Jeff Klein and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, have voiced their support for the 45,000 members of the Communications Workers of America who say Verizon is unfairly "dictating" (not negotiating) terms for a new contract. Here's video the Voice shot yesterday:


Quick Hits:

Meeting to Discuss Bronx New School Relocation, Thursday, Aug. 18 at Bronx Science

There will be a community meeting to discuss the closing of the Bronx New School building and the school's relocation on Thursday, Aug. 18 at 6 p.m. at the Bronx High School of Science auditorium, 75 W. 205th St., between Paul and Goulden avenues.

High levels of trichloroethylene contamination was found in the Bedford Park elementary school earlier this year. The DOE only recently told parents about the contamination and relocation to an unknown destination in a letter last week.

For more background, click here and here.

Breaking News: PS 51, The Bronx New School, To Be Moved Because of Contamination

[Update 4:17 p.m.: Just heard from the DOE. Spokesperson Marge Feinberg says the school will be moved, not closed. The TCE was found during a inspection of the property as the DOE was looking to renew its lease on the Jerome Avenue building. A copy of the letter is included after jump.]

This week, the Department of Education and the principal of PS 51, the Bronx New School, sent out a letter to parents saying the Bedford Park elementary school will be closed moved due to Trichloroethylene contamination.

The letter sought to assure parents that there were no immediate health risks and referred questions to the city Health Department. It said the school would be moved, but it did not say where to. It did say parents would be updated regularly about the relocation.

Parents: Tell The DOE What You Think

Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott is asking New York City parents what kind of information they want from the DOE about their child's school and education. Here's the link to the survey; deadline is July 25. Check out the flier below for more info.

Bronx News Roundup, Wednesday, June 29

Late speed roundup today, folks.

Weather: Sunny today, might rain tomorrow afternoon. 

Quick Hits:

A post-graduation ceremony brawl in a parking lot near the Bronx's Lehman College ended with the stabbing death of Isayah Muller, a star running back for Truman High School. His father, who was also apparently involved in the fight, was charged with assault, while two parking lot attendants were questioned but not charged. I know, this makes very little sense. Hopefully we'll get some clarity soon.

Three of the four men convicted for plotting to bomb two Riverdale synagogues were sentenced to 25 years a piece, less than the life sentence prosecutors were seeking. 

Students Hit The High Seas for New Learning Initiative

Editor's Note: this story was first published in the latest edition of the Mount Hope Monitor, out now.

Students from PS 306 went fishing, part of a "Classroom Without Walls,"
 learning initiative. (Photo by F.G. Pinto)

By FAUSTO GIOVANNY PINTO

At noon on a recent Friday, while most students across the city were hitting the lunch line, the students at PS 306 were busy tossing out fishing lines and reeling in fish onto a boat bobbing in the Long Island Sound.

As part of a new learning initiative that takes kids out of the classroom and into the real world, the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade Special Education students at PS 306 set sail on a day-long fishing trip. It marked the culmination of this year’s Classroom Without Walls program.

Bronx News Roundup, June 28

Apologies for the lateness of today's roundup--we're busy going to press with the latest Norwood News, which will be out tomorrow. Here are some other Bronx headlines to keep you up-to-date in the meantime.

Weather: Cloudy and around 80 degrees this afternoon, with thunderstorms expected later tonight.

Gay Bronxites and their straight allies are basking in Friday's historic decision by the state legislature to legalize same-sex marriage. Last week, Bronx Community Pride Center became the first local LGBT group to ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

Bronx News Roundup, Friday, June 17

Happy Friday folks and welcome to our Friday edition of the Bronx News Roundup. Let's get to the news!

Weather: Cooler, periodic bouts of rainfall, high in the upper 70s. Should be nice most of the day Saturday, then rain is expected to return Saturday night and into Sunday.

Story of the Day: So, Who Owns The Land Near Lehman HS?
The Bronx is on the front page of today' edition of the NY Times (and it has nothing to do with Pedro Espada or hate crimes!) with a story about the protracted football field at Herbert H. Lehman High School. The field is 80 yards long, too short for regulation football, soccer or lacrosse games. It forces the school to struggle with scheduling all of its home games in these sports on other schools' fields. The DOE's School Construction Authority is in the middle of a $5 million renovation of the field, but is not planning on expanding it so Lehman's celebrated football squad, one of the best in the city, can play home games on campus. The DOE says they couldn't expand the field because the land would need to be acquired from the Army Corps of Engineers and the agency had no interest (or resources, they say) to purchase it. But the Army Corps says it doesn't own the land and has no clue how that idea was implanted as fact in the collective minds of the DOE. So, again, we ask, who owns the land? And why didn't the city take the time to give Lehman an extra 20 yards of field?

Quick Hits (click Read More for the rest of the Roundup):

Fight Over Worship at Schools Puts Bronx Church in Spotlight

The Bronx Household of Faith has held services in PS/MS 15 for the past nine years.

[Editor's note: This story appears in the latest issue of the Norwood News, which hits local streets today. Just a quick warning: this story is long and easily could have been longer. I'm planning a follow-up post to tackle some of the angles we couldn't fit into this original piece.]

By Alex Kratz

When the leaders of Bronx Household of Faith, an evangelical Christian congregation based in University Heights, first approached the city, in 1994, about using its public schools to hold worship services, they didn’t think much of it. They certainly did not think they would find themselves, 17 years later, fighting for freedom of religion and speech as part of a back-and-forth legal case that could end up in front of the Supreme Court.

“It’s taken on a life of its own,” said Bob Hall, Bronx Household of Faith’s head pastor.

Pride, Relief and an Uncertain Future for Lehman College Graduates

“Why does King Lear suffer? What is a neutron?” poet Billy Collins asked a crowd of 3,000 anxious graduates, proud parents, and supportive friends, during his speech at Lehman College’s commencement ceremony last Thursday morning in the Bronx's Bedford Park neighborhood.

“It’s not about knowing the answers to these questions,” Collins said. "It's about having the intelligence to know how to think."

Emphasizing his point, Collins quoted the biography of Noah Webster, founding father of Webster’s Dictionary. For Webster, Collins said, “completing the requirements for his degree would signify not that he was a learned man, but that he had acquired the necessary tools to become one.”

Gloriana B. Waters, a vice chancellor at the school, echoed Collins' theme. “Your time here has not only given you the education but the knowledge and with hard work and tenacity you can accomplish anything. You are all success stories!”

Aside from acquiring the tools necessary to be successful, another theme hammered home during the ceremony was pride.

Collins said communal pride is part of any graduation ceremony, “but it’s more poignant here [in the Bronx, at a commuter school where many students have families of their own] because you have had to work for it. Instead of throwing a frisbee on the leafy campus of some New England college, you were getting on the 4 or the 6 [train] to get to your job on time. Instead of playing Quidditch, which I’m told is a game you play with a broomstick between your legs, you were picking up a child at the daycare center or racing home to let in a younger sibling.”

Bronx News Roundup, Wednesday, June 1

Welcome to June, Bronxophiles. Here's today's lineup of Bronx news!

Weather: The National Weather Service is issuing a "hazardous weather outlook" warning, which could amount to nothing, or severe thunderstorms. After a high of 89 today, it's supposed to cool off tomorrow, down to a less stifling 76 degrees. 


Story of the Day: Education Leaps Should Be Taken with a Grain of Salt
Education guru Diane Ravitch writes an op-ed in today's NY Times dispelling the myth of huge short-term gains at schools that have been re-vamped/re-started/re-invigorated by some manner of policy or strategy shift. On the 10th anniversary of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which set a goal of having every child in the United States reading at or above their grade level by 2012, Ravitch says this "utopian mandate" is mission impossible. The public (and news media) should be wary of political attempts to show gigantic leaps in performance at urban schools who cater to traditionally low-performing students.

Which brings us to the Bronx. In 2005, Mayor Bloomberg trumpeted the success of his DOE takeover by holding a press conference at PS 33 on Jerome Avenue, just south of Fordham Road. The school boasted a ridiculous 49-point jump in its percentage of fourth graders who had met state standards in reading -- from 34 percent in 2004 to 83 percent in 2005. By 2010, that number was back down to 37 percent (where many Bronx schools are at).

Ravitch says we can close and re-open schools and/or fire teachers and principals as much as we want, but if we really want to improve education, we need to focus on improving families, "our most important educators." She goes on to say: "If every child arrived in school well-nourished, healthy and ready to learn, from a family with a stable home and a steady income, many of our educational problems would be solved. And that would be a miracle."

Quick Hits:
The two fledgling Bronx beer start-ups -- the Bronx Brewery and the Jonas Bronck's Beer Company -- are preparing to unleash their suds at city bars this summer (the Bronck's Woodlawn Weiss perhaps as early as next week). Neither company, however, will actually brew its beer in the Boogie Down.

Speaking of the nectar of the gods, the Bronx's first beer garden, Nicky's BBQ & Beer Garden, is scheduled to open this week on East Tremont Avenue. 

Here's an architecture review of the new Poe Park Visitor's Center, which is set to open soon (I guess, we'll look into it).

Last weekend's outbreak of gun violence makes this weekend's gun buyback effort that much more urgent.

The Times' Clyde Haberman writes that while the outbreak is unsettling, we're nowhere near the dark days of the early 1990s when the city's murder count was 2,245. For the last decade we've averaged 547 murders.

The city's Department of Small Business Services is going to focus on diversifying retail at four commercial districts, one of which will be Southern Boulevard. They want less nail salons, more food options. 

Rent reform advocates in the state senate, including Bronx Democrats Ruth Hassel-Thompson and Adriano Espaillat, are making a final push to strengthen rent regulations by the June 15 deadline.

Bronx State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr.'s outspoken efforts to keep gay marriage unlawful is leading to backlash from gay rights groups, websites and bars (one Brooklyn gay bar is hosting a "F--- Ruben Diaz festival") and, he says, has led to death threats being called into his district office.

Bronx Events: Conference for Parents of English Language Learners

The Department of Education is hosting a conference tomorrow aimed at the parents of English Language Learners students that will focus on preparing for college. "College and Career Readiness: The 21st Century Includes You," will run from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Fordham University's Keating Hall.

From the DOE: "Today's young people need to become 21st century thinkers, able to recognize and understand the challenges and opportunities they will encounter and the complex environment in which they will arise. Encourage the families of your students to attend this conference to learn what they can do to help prepare their children for post-secondary education and careers in the exciting but challenging world they will face."

Translation services and complimentary breakfast and lunch will be provided. For more info, call the DOE's Division of Students with Disabilities and ELLs at 212-374-6072.

For other Bronx events taking place this week, check out our community calendar, below.

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

Bronx Sports: MS/PS 279 Team Dominating Foreign Game, Improving Grades in the Process

MS/PS 279's extraordinary success on the rugby field (or court, as the case may be) has translated into academics as well. (Photo by F. Pinto)

 Editor's Note: This story appears in the latest print edition of the Mt. Hope Monitor, out on streets in Community District 5 now.

By Fausto Giovanny Pinto

In the concrete courtyard of PS/MS 279 in Morris Heights on a school day afternoon, coach Mike Rosario screamed at the Bronx’s most successful youth rugby team. “You already know!” he yelled. “Yes! Yes!” a varying range of pubescent middle school boys and girls yelled back, as two teams of five lined up for a drill.

Rosario tossed what looked like a bloated and misshapen football at the kids, who were all wearing what appeared to be oversized karate belts around their waists.

While the players went at each other, tossing the oblong ball at odd angles (never forward) amongst each other while defenders sought to strip them of their karate belts, local residents stopped at the school fences, curious and fascinated to see the foreign game of rugby being played by a group of mostly Hispanic youngsters.

“You get a lot of people from the neighborhood who stop and ask, ‘What’s going on?’ and when I tell them, they are like, ‘Rugby?’” said Rosario, a PE teacher at the school for 12 years now.

Yes, rugby. While many don’t associate the Bronx with rugby, PS/MS 279’s recent success is putting a spotlight on a sport that enjoys most of its popularity in countries like South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Rosario’s team recently won four trophies in two separate tournaments, prompting local Councilman Fernando Cabrera to honor them with a city proclamation.

The MS/PS 279 rugby team with coach Mike Rosario (top left). (Photo by F.G. Pinto)

Bronx News Roundup, Thursday, May 19

Home stretch of Bronx Week(s). Let's get down to business. To the news!

Weather: Brief reprieve from monsoon season right now, but more rain and thunderstorms are possible this afternoon.

Story of the Day: A Bronx Underground Rock Scene Emerges
In a Throgs Neck church basement, the seeds of a Bronx rock movement are taking root. A decade ago, a trio of young Bronx musicians and music lovers -- Dave Rose, Anita Colby and Adam Fachler -- made a simple observation about their borough's music scene: It sucked. So they decided to build one themselves, creating Bronx Underground to put on and promote rock concerts in a borough identified as the birthplace of hip hop. For a few years, they used venues on City Island and other east Bronx locales until finding a permanent home at First Lutheran Church, near Country Club, where a growing list of bands are finding a fan base. Marc Makowski, an assistant music director at Sony, compared the scene to England in the 1960s. "Just like the Beatles," he told a writer for NY Press, "one band is going to break out and the rest will follow." Here's a 2009 clip from A Moment's Worth, one of the Bronx Underground-grown bands that could blow up:


Quick Hits:
We knew City Island's Engine 53 firehouse was on the chopping block, but now, after the mayor released the list of firehouses slated for closure, we know that two other Bronx firehouses could be gone as well: Engine 46 at 460 Cross Bronx Expressway (Mt. Hope) and Engine 60 at 341 East 143rd Street (Mott Haven).

In response to the investigation into widespread ticket-fixing by Bronx cops, the NYPD announced it will form a unit dedicated to preventing it from happening in the future.

While eight Bronx schools got a reprieve from closure and will be "re-started" with independent oversight, the teacher's union is suing the city to stop other schools, including the Bronx's John F. Kennedy High School, from being closed.  

Speaking of school closures, state officials say the Kingsbridge Innovative Design School, a charter school that just opened last year, will be closed at the end of year because of financial mismanagement. And St. Dominic's School in the Bronx's Van Nest neighborhood will also close, but the church will stay and get a facelift.

The hotel maid, who police say was sexually assaulted by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the now former head of the International Monetary Fund, is a widow and single mother from Guinea who lives a quiet life in the Bronx's Concourse Village neighborhood.

The NYPD was upset with the cancellation of the Bronx Puerto Rican Day Parade on Sunday. In the same column, Bob Kappstatter says Ruben Diaz Sr.'s anti-gay marriage rally drew about 1,500 folks, much less than the 10,000 that were expected.

A fundraiser is being held tonight for Assemblyman Nelson Castro, who survived a re-election bid last fall despite the Bronx Democratic party's best efforts to replace him. Apparently, other candidates are already lining up to take him on in 2012. 

Singer Johnny Mathis performs at Lehman Center this weekend.

Bronx News Roundup, Friday, May 13

Eery start to this Friday the 13th at Bronx News Network. As you can tell, we've experienced some technical difficulties of late. Our website administrator went down last night and all posts from Tuesday on were removed. We're told the posts will be restored soon. We just received access to the site at about 12:30 p.m. In any case, we're back. On to the news!

Weekend Weather: Cloudy and warm today. Tomorrow, a foggy morning  might give way to some drizzle in the afternoon. The real rain is supposed to hit Sunday, just in time for the Bronx parade collision (more on this in Story of the Day). 

Story of the Day: Bronx Parades on Collision (Con)Course
On Sunday afternoon, the Bronx Puerto Rican Day Parade will party its way down the Grand Concourse from E. Tremont to E. 167th Street. Just six blocks south, the face and outspoken mouthpiece of New York's anti-gay marriage movement, Bronx State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr., will be leading a group of other like-minded gay marriage opponents in a "Rally to Defend Marriage." Diaz, who was born in Puerto Rico, says he did not consider changing the route or date of his rally and the president of the Puerto Rican Day Parade, Francisco Gonzalez didn't seem to have a problem with it.

But gay marriage advocates and AIDS activists do have a problem with it. Diaz's anti-gay marriage rally will coincide with the annual New York AIDS Walk in Central Park, leading the state senator's critics say the rally will stunt acceptance of gays and the cause of wiping out AIDS. "We are distressed that Sen. Diaz would focus his attention on increasing homophobia," Marjorie Hill of Midtown's Gay Men's Health Crisis told Metro. A counter-protest is taking shape, which could mean fireworks on the Concourse. Diaz, who has two gay brothers and a gay niece, denies the homophobic label and say he is expecting a love fest on Sunday, telling the Daily News: "We're respecting our love for life and humanity in the Bronx."

The Tremont Tribune, a BxNN publication, has this editorial on the matter. 

Quick Hits:
Drivers navigating the Bronx’s Claremont neighborhood beware, the city is reducing its speed limit on a quarter-mile stretch there to 20 miles per hour, 10 miles less than the city's default speed limit of 30 m.p.h. That pilot program coincides with another speed-reduction effort: the installing new electronic signs that will tell drivers to slow down, using an ominous digitized skeleton, to drive home the point.

At an attempted murder trial in the Bronx, an officer testified that ticket fixing was "a common courtesy" dealt with by union reps.

A Bronx man who won $18.5 million in a lawsuit against the city after spending two decades in prison for a rape he didn't commit, had the award taken back by an appeals court.

Nine city schools, including the Bronx's Herbert H. Lehman High School, Banana Kelly High School, Bronx High School of Business, Grace H. Dodge Career and Tech, will be Re-Started last year, rather than closed.

John Rose is hoping to overcome cerebral palsy and win a seat on the Co-op City board of directors.

Bronx Schools: Making Reading Fun, One TIGER Day at a Time

2nd graders at PS 94, where just 29% of students read at or above grade level, enjoy TIGER Day.

Editor's note: This story first appeared in the April 21 edition of the Norwood News.

About halfway through his pivotal starring role as a life-sized, book-loving tiger at Norwood elementary school PS 94, Joe Lawliss removed his foam-rubber mascot head and breathed deeply. It’s all worth it, he thought.

Lawliss runs an after-school tutoring program at PS 94. He has two kids of his own. He realizes how important reading is for the development of young minds. It’s the reason he doesn’t have a TV at home and is willing to dress up in a cumbersome tiger costume that makes him feel like he’s living in a sauna. It’s why he will spend the entire day prancing around to various classrooms at PS 94 preaching: Reading is fun!

Parent Coordinator Miriam Seminario started T.I.G.E.R. (Together In Getting Everyone Reading) Day — an initiative developed by the nonprofit Literacy Inc. (LINC) — when she first arrived at PS 94 in 2003. It’s her programmatic baby. She spends an inordinate amount of time preparing for it each year: organizing administrators, teachers, parents and staffers as well as recruiting readers, media and, of course, a tiger.

“For me it’s important because the future is our kids,” Seminario said, while racing between PS 94’s two buildings in knee-high leather boots.

It’s also something that will hopefully encourage students to read at PS 94, where just 29 percent of third, fourth and fifth graders tested at or above grade level in reading on state exams last year, according to Principal Diane Daprocida.

Bronx News Roundup, Friday, April 15

Happy Tax Day! If you're freaking out because you haven't gotten your, um, stuff together, then freak not, you still have three more days to file! The deadline to file has been extended this year to Monday, April 18, so you have the entire weekend to continue procrastinating.

Weekend weather: It should stay nice and sunny today, though a little cooler than yesterday. Rain and wind will rule Saturday, with the sun supposedly breaking through on Sunday afternoon.

To the news!

Story of the Day: Woodlawn Weiss and other Bronck's Beer
How could I not make this Riverdale Press story about a Woodlawn man who is turning his basement brewing hobby into a beer-making enterprise the story of the day? (Ok, don't answer that, but just look at the photo; so refreshing and inviting. But I digress.) Anyway, Steve Nallen, a Woodlawn resident whose family runs deep with Bronx blood, introduced two of his Bronck's Beer Co. creations -- Woodlawn Weiss and Pelham Bay IPA -- to thirsty patrons at the The Bronx Ale House in Kingsbridge last week to rave reviews. Nallen's efforts (named after the borough's indirect namesake, Jonas Bronck), combined with those of The Bronx Brewery, could give the borough a much-needed economic boost -- a mini Bronx beer stimulus package, if you will. Happy Friday and drink responsibly.

Quick Hits:
Authorities arrested 16 people for their alleged involvement in a massive Bronx-Yonkers cocaine distribution ring.

Ticket fixing scandal update: A Bronx cop who works in the 46th Precinct testified to a grand jury that union delegates helped her take care of at least two summonses, according to the Daily News.

In the wake of the deadly tour bus crash in the Bronx last month, transportation officials say more than 100 drivers have been pulled off the road for various violations.

In response to reports of rampant prostitution around PS 6, Bronx State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr., aka The Rev, is introducing legislation that would stiffen penalties for illegal sex traders who operate near schools.

Deliberations began in the trial of two Bronx female cops who were charged with beating a motorist. 

The old Willis Avenue Bridge, which once connected 70,000 vehicles a day between the Bronx and Manhattan, was taken to New Jersey this week to be recycled.

Former Schools Chancellor Joel Klein responded to Jonathan Mahler's NY Times Magazine profile of the Bronx's MS 223, which we broke down in Monday's "Story of the Day," saying the writer unfairly characterized the presence of more charter schools as one of the reasons why many public schools are struggling to succeed. 

Fordham University professor Mark Naison talks about the Bronx's musical history.

Many Bronx public school students are not responding to the DOE's annual survey, which contributes to each school's overall grade.

Bronx News Roundup, Wednesday, April 13

Weather: Nasty, cold, windy, drizzly. I think I saw my breath this morning. If we can make it through today, tomorrow is supposed to be beautiful -- warm and sunny.

Story of the Day: Environmental Injustice!
The Bronx has long fought against the idea that it is simply a dumping ground -- for city-funded homeless shelters, massive (and over-budget) water filtration plants in our parks and, of course, actual garbage. Some 60 percent of the city's garbage is dumped in two areas saturated with waste transfer stations: Newton Creek in Brooklyn and Hunts Point here in the Bronx. Manhattan produces 40 percent of the city's garbage, but has no transfer stations. Five years ago, Mayor Bloomberg said he would make the garbage distribution more equitable and open three new transfer stations in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn. That plan has now been shelved (Bloomberg pulled the funding, but a spokesman said he's still "fully committed" to trash equity, whatever that means), leading advocates to cry foul. "This . . . tale of two cities needs to end," Kelly Terry-Sepulveda, executive director of The Point Community Development Corporation in Hunts Point, told the Daily News. "We were moving in the right direction. Let's not backtrack."

Quick Hits: 
We'll start with the bad news. Police say a 17-year-old opened fire on East Burnside Avenue last night, killing 16-year-old Dontae Murray, who was shot in the head, and injuring another man who was struck in the hand.

One of the two female Bronx cops who stand accused of savagely beating a motorist while off duty said their accuser went "ballistic" and ripped open her shirt during their tussle. The NYPD is being sued for $25 million over the incident.

Tenants, advocates and elected officials say the New York Community Bank is irresponsibly dumping several Bronx apartment building mortgages that have reached foreclosure. They would rather see the bank sell to a vetted nonprofit organization.[link fixed]

By April 30, 18 Bronx schools identified by the state as low-performing, including Banana Kelly High School, MS 391 and Fordham Leadership Academy, will learn whether or not they will face closure. 

Police arrested and charged a man with the murder of a Bronx grandmother who was stabbed to death three months ago.

OK, now for some more positive stories. More alewife are being found in the Bronx River, an indicator that the river's water quality continues to improve.

Mott Haven residents are enjoying the city's Garden and Greening program. 

The city's Ghanaian population, much of it concentrated in the Bronx, turns funerals into party destinations and fundraisers.

The Times profiles Paul Sliva, the down-to-earth golf pro who plies his trade at the Bronx's Van Cortlandt Golf Course.  

And finally, as we reported yesterday, Soundview native and college basketball star Kemba Walker is taking his game to the next level, announcing that he would enter the NBA draft this year rather than return to the University of Connecticut for his senior season. Walker's on pace to graduate a year early in May. Here's some shaky video (but no ads) of his press conference yesterday.