Bronx News Roundup, Nov. 1

The head of Skanska USA, the multi-national general contractor overseeing the troubled filtration plant project in Van Cortlandt Park took some questions from The New York Times and acknowledged there was a federal investigation into the use of disadvantaged business enterprises as subcontractors in public works projects and vowed it wouldn't happen again. He said: "It had to do with the use of disadvantaged business enterprises as subcontractors. We wound up settling with the Department of Justice for around $19 million. Believe me, we’ll never have that issue ever again!"

Two Bronxites have launched an effort to make the Cross Bronx Expressway less crowded, polluted and dangerous. (We'll put up the video of last night's BronxTalk, where the initiative was announced, as soon as it's available).

Savor the Bronx, the borough's Restaurant Week, which actually goes through Nov. 13, starts today. Check out some of the participating restaurants.

A construction worker in Soundview was killed when the building he was working in collapsed.

NAACP chief Ben Jealous announces his support for living wage legislation in the City Council that resulted from the defeat of the city's mall plan for the Kingsbridge Armory. He will attend a rally for the bill, which the mayor opposed and Council Speaker Christine Quinn is undecided on, at Riverside Church on Nov. 21.

High school students in the Bronx Youth Journalism Initiative interviewed Norwood merchants and residents about what they'd like to see take root in the large Bainbridge Avenue lot leveled by fire two years ago. (Includes video.)

Frustration Bubbles Over at Reservoir Access Meeting

(Editor's Note: this article was first published in the latest edition of the Norwood News, on the streets and online now.)

By JORDAN MOSS

After a long-delayed report that essentially denies the community greater access to the Jerome Park Reservoir was issued last week, activists and officials are feeling powerless, particularly because a Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) official assigned to report to the community on its findings refused to answer any questions.

The Facility Monitoring Committee (FMC), an advisory body that meets monthly at the DEP’s community office on Jerome Avenue to keep tabs on the Croton water filtration plant in Van Cortlandt Park and related projects, includes the chairs of the three surrounding community boards, Councilman Oliver Koppell, and representatives of the Parks Department and the borough president’s office.

But despite all that civic firepower, Fr. Richard Gorman, the committee chair, says it has “no juice” in getting the answers it needs. He argued for a higher-level hearing, organized by the borough president’s office.

The last straws appear to be the continued lack of progress in hiring Bronxites to work on the project and the report which, citing security concerns, essentially closes the door on community hopes to have greater access to the path inside the two chain-link fences that ring the reservoir.

Bronx News Roundup, March 23

Weather: Snow, then rain, maybe a little more snow, rain, a little sleet thrown in for good measure, more rain.

Story of the Day: Friends Wrongly Thought They Pulled a Fast One
Busted! Last summer in Highbridge, police say a group of eights friends came up with a money-making scam. In the middle of the night, they piled into three cars, drove around searching for a secluded block and then coordinated a fender bender. Though there wasn't much damage, police said all eight claimed injuries to the insurance companies. Skeptical invesigators eventually found videotape of the allegedly staged crash and discovered that the group of eight were all pals. The Daily News has video of crash released by the NYPD:


Quick Hits:
Last few hits have been filled with crime and gore. A little relief today. 

The First Lady of the Dominican Republic, Dr. Margarita Cedeño de Fernández, will deliver the 42nd annual Lehman Lecture at Lehman College's Lovinger Theater. Not able to make it to Bedford Park this morning. No problem.Watch live on the school's website.

More on the arrest of Eddy Coello, who was charged with murdering his wife, Tina Adovasio, on the day of her funeral.

A Massey Knackal broker, David Simone, is starting his own real estate brokerage firm focusing on the Bronx and Northern Manhattan.

Here's a fun fact: A breakdown of New York City school names reveals that "Bronx" appears in 65 names, the most appearances of any borough, by far.

DN columnist Michael Daly rails against Bronx Council member Fernando Cabrera for his residency flap.  

Montefiore Medical Center will announce a campus-wide no smoking policy today.

For all you science geeks out there, this website breaks down the new technology being used at the Croton Water Filtration Plant that is taking shape in Van Cortlandt Park. [Link fixed]

Bronx hip hop duo Camp Lo are teaming up with producer Pete Rock on a new album titled, "80 blocks from Tiffany's," a shout out to the recently released documentary about 1970s Bronx street life.

Bronx Weekend News Roundup, Feb. 21 (President's Day edition)

And we're back for a President's Day edition of the news roundup, which will include everything we didn't get to last week as we made a final push for your much-needed support. First, though, a hearty and well-deserved thank you to everyone who contributed during our six-week fund-raising appeal. At last count, you had contributed $4,318 toward making our organization, and everything we do, stronger.

Starting today, we will get back to our daily news roundups, weekly features and our continuing mission to bring you invaluable local information and original reporting. (Important side note: Your ongoing support is still important. If you haven't donated yet or want to donate again in the future, just click on our "Donate" button on the upper-right hand corner of this page.)

OK, that's it, we're moving on! To the news!

Story of the Day: 
The Daily News editorial board was awed by the feat of technology and engineering going on in Van Cortlandt Park that will allow New York City to filter between 10 and 29 percent of its daily water supply, but says that the city should never do this again. The city's Department of Environmental Protection is on the verge of completing the network of tunnels connecting the Croton Water Filtration Plant in VC Park to the Croton Watershed upstate.

There is still work to do -- most notably, the routing and laying of a waste water pipe from the filtration plant to Wards Island -- but this hulking facility and its side projects should be completed by the end of next year. In the end, the project's price tag will be at least triple the original estimate, not to mention the priceless loss of scarce public parkland. It's all too much. We can't do this again, the DN says.We will be happy not to write about this again, BxNN says.

Quick Hits:
One of the saddest stories last week was the death of 11-year-old Russell Smith, who police say was clipped by a Honda CRV as he was crossing the Grand Concourse at E. 183rd Street. It was the same place a 12-year-old girl was killed by a motorist in 2005 and the Concourse remains a danger zone, residents say.

The "last in, first out" law that requires the city to lay off public school teachers based on seniority could lead to serious problems at new successful schools like the Bronx's Urban Assembly School for Applied Math and Science, which is on pace to graduate 95% of its senior class this year. Some 60% of the school's 47 teachers have less than three years in the classroom. The cuts could also include second-year Bronx teacher, Stany Leblanc.

Ex-Bronx State Senator Pedro Espada spent $1.2 million on a staff and office expenses between April and September last year. His expense total was tops in the state. Not too far behind: the Bronx's Jeff Klein.

A 16-year-old was shot and killed last night on E 184th Street.

"Transformers" actress Megan Fox and "Mad Men" star Jon Hamm are working on their new movie, "Friend with Kids," in the Bronx.

Long-time Bronx DA Dan McCarthy died last week.

We'll let Gothamist sort out the story of the wife of a Bronx precinct commander who lied to police about getting attacked. 

A Bronx teen who spent three years in Riker's Island before being acquitted of murder charges, is suing the NYPD and the Bronx DA's office for allegedly suppressing evidence that kept him locked up.

Finger prints and a long rap sheet led to the arrest of a Bronx man wanted on rape charges.

Bobby McFerrin's son, Taylor McFerrin, is teaching beat boxing to students at the Lavelle School for the Blind in the north Bronx.

A Bronx jeweler says he went into "survival mode" when he fended off armed robbers in his shop last week.

Two young children were saved on Friday afternoon by firefighters after a blaze broke out in the apartment they were staying in at Concourse House, a transitional home for single mothers. The kids suffered smoke inhalation, but were listed in stable condition.

The Elder Avenue and Saint Lawrence Avenue stations on the 6 train line will be closed for renovations starting Feb. 28.

Contractor on Bronx Water Filtration Plant Admits to Fraud

One of the primary contractors that worked on the enormous Croton Water Filtration Plant being built in Van Cortlandt Park admitted last week to committing fraud in reporting its sub-contracting of minority and women-owned businesses.

Schiavone Construction, which performed much of the tunneling and trucking during the early phases of the filtration plant project, agreed to pay the federal government $20 million in penalties. The company now doing the bulk of the construction work on the filtration plant, Skanska, is also under investigation for similar misdeeds.

Members of Community Board 7 who worked with Skanska in putting together a class to help minority and women-owned businesses get competitive for big city contracts wondered how this could have happened on such a large, heavily-scrutinized project. They're also wondering: what else might be going on?

There is a meeting of the Croton Facilities Monitoring Committee next Wednesday and this is sure to be a hot topic for discussion. 

New from the Norwood News

Thanks for your patience. As a reward, and if you haven't already read them in print, check out all the latest stories from the Norwood News, which are online now. Here's a quick preview:

More than 14 months later, the Valentine's Day murder of Norwood native Michael Lorge remains unsolved. In our narrative, we take you from the events leading up to the early morning execution-style slaying through the investigation and aftermath.

As State Senator Pedro Espada fends off charges by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, two Democratic challengers have thrown their hats in the ring.

A local immigration help center says it is doing its best to educate immigrants on the value of filling out their census forms.

Montefiore Medical Center is vocally joining city and state health officials, unions and advocates, in the  push to implement the so-called "soda tax."

We take a look inside the half-built $3 billion Croton Filtration Plant project in Van Cortlandt Park.

Dozens went on a bike ride in the memory of health advocate Megan Charlop who died in a March bike accident. 

Plus, our high school baseball preview and much more.

Enjoy!

IBO: Drilling for Natural Gas in the Catskills Could Lead to Higher Water Bills in the City

The City's Independent Budget Office has a new report out on the impact drilling for natural gas in the Catskill/Delaware watershed would have on water rates, mainly because of the need for another filtration plant. The plant currently under construction in Van Cortlandt Park is only for filtering water from the Croton watershed -- the source for only about 10% of the City's water.

The State is considering allowing private companies to begin drilling for natural gas in upstate New York, while the City is shelling out more than $630 million between now and 2017 on "filtration avoidance" by protecting the Cat/Del watershed, where 90% of our water comes from. If the companies are allowed to drill, they will utilize a procedure known as hydraulic fracturing that would likely lead to contamination in the watershed and the need for another, even larger filtration plant.

Opinion: Axelbank on Filtration

Beginning with this opinion segment from veteran Bronx talk show host Gary Axelbank, the Bronx News Network introduces video to the blog. Gary will provide occasional commentaries on important Bronx issues. This is just the beginning. You'll be seeing more video on the blog throughout 2009. We hope you'll comment and participate in the dialogue. It's what this blog is all about!
Jordan Moss,
Executive Editor
Bronx News Network

Park Alienators Unite!

So, Bronxites aren't the only ones perturbed by the government's taking of public parkland for non-park purposes (see Croton filtration plant and Yankee Stadium).

Me and my family are in Budapest, Hungary for a couple of months and around the block from our flat is a lovely park with a big, beautiful playground that we frequent often with our daughter, Devin. But a chunk of the park is blocked off to construction, home only now to giant cranes.

I'm told this graffiti (see above) on the walls basically means, "You're Making a Desert of Our Park!"

The construction is for a new subway line and, we're told by some locals, that parkland will be restored once the station is built. Sound familiar?

And, the cranes don't seem to be too busy these days, so we wonder how long the locals will be without use of the full park.

Of course the situation is probably quite different to those in the Bronx. After all, you can't build a subway station in an unpopulated area, as NYC could have and should have with the filtration plant.

Still, the parallel's were too rich to pass up.

Mount Hope Playground's Sluggish Transformation

Mount Hope Playground, at Walton Avenue and East 177th Street, is being renovated - slowly.

It was supposed to re-open last summer, but as the above shot (taken today) shows, there's still much work to be done. Granted, a delay of nine months or a year isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things, and the playground is likely to be fantastic when it's finished (there's going to be a basketball court, trees, benches, and a play equipment). But the delay's disappointing, for local kids especially, in a part of the Bronx bereft of open space.

The playground's restoration is possible thanks to a $200 million package allocated to Bronx parks a couple of years back, in compensation for Van Cortlandt Park housing the massive and deeply unpopular Croton Water Filtration Plant.

The filtration plant's myriad problems and construction delays have been well documented. I wonder how many of the promised park and playground renovations (70 are planned in all) are also falling behind schedule?

Bronx News Roundup for Sept. 4

In today's Metro, Patrick Arden has the story on how, a full-year after the new Yankee Stadium's groundbreaking ceremony, the non-profit that was supposed to dole out $800,000 to other Bronx non-profits (a kind of compensation package for the borough's loss of parkland), has yet to be set up.

Mayor Bloomberg has announced that all Bronx residential and municipal waste will now leave the Bronx by train not truck. In theory this will improve air quality and traffic congestion.

On Saturday night, a woman and four men died in East Tremont after the SUV they were travelling in crashed and slammed into a lamppost.

There were numerous upbeat back-to-school stories in today's papers. This article in the Daily News paints a darker picture of students' academic futures. Dropping out remains a "persistent and pervasive problem" in much of the Bronx, says the paper.

Also in today's Daily News Bronx Boro section, is this piece about Dominicans leaving Washington Heights for the Bronx. In the past few months there's been several stories about this trend. See here and here. Both examine how high Manhattan rents are responsible for the migration. Today's story says Dominicans are also moving because the Bronx is safer, and because there's a better quality of life on offer.

Again in the Daily News, there's more on the mayor's congestion pricing proposal. Apparently there's been grumblings that the Congestion Pricing Committee doesn't have a single Bronx elected official on it. And here's an opinion piece by Assemblymen Jeffrey Dinowitz on the Croton Filtration plant fiasco.

News Roundup for Aug. 29

Surprise, the gap between rich and poor is yawning in New York City, where the Grand Canyon-like chasm is wider than in any other major metropolitan city, according to a 2006 census report. The Bronx remained the poorest borough with 29.1 percent of people living in poverty (though it was down from 29.2 in 2005!). The NY Times article didn't mention the Bronx, except to say that an astounding 54 percent of South Bronx kids are living in poverty.

Here's a funny (actually, sad) post from a Palm Beach Post sports reporter heading back to somewhere "nice" in the Bronx on the 10 bus after the U.S. Open (Riverdale, we assume). The post from his blog is titled: "The Scenic Bronx at 2 a.m." Bronxites are used to this kind of crap, but you'll want to read this anyway. It takes mindless Bronx bashing to a whole new level.

The Daily News scooped us with this story on millions of gallons of underground water being pumped into the overworked sewer system from the Croton Water Filtration Plant project in Van Cortlandt Park. The DEP insists it was prepared for this, but it's yet more fuel for outspoken filter plant critics who wanted the plant built above ground in Westchester rather than below ground in the NW Bronx.

According to the article, Jim Morgan, an NYU professor, predicted the water issue, writing a letter to former DEP commish Chris Ward, saying: "What you're buying here, if you persist on building this thing in Van Cortlandt Park, is the mother of all leaky basements."

We'd also like to point out that the Daily News story, although it doesn't mention her, originated with the activism of Karen Argenti, a relentless Bronx environmentalist, who filed a Freedom of Information Law request (FOIL) with the state Department of Health. The info about the millions of gallons of water at the site would never have seen the light of day, if she hadn't exercised her rights as a citizen and requested the information. Nor would it have gotten any ink, had she and other like-minded activists not badgered reporters about it. Good work, Karen.

In the Norwood News

The latest issue of the Norwood News is on the streets now. Here's a rundown of the stories that you can find online.

After promising to build two new schools at the Kingsbridge Armory, the DOE is now saying there is no plan to build schools there because there is no need. Activists and elected officials disagree. Read more.

Since a shooting in early May injured four young men outside of Tracey Towers, community stakeholders (elected officials, community groups, tenant associations and residents) from two rival neighborhoods have been working to alleviate some of the underlying tensions. Read more.

Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz met with DEP chief Emily Lloyd hoping to get some answers pertaining to the massive cost overruns in the building of the Croton Water Filtration Plant in Van Cortlandt Park. Read more.

To read more about the controversial filtration plant, click here.

Restaurant workers press Council Majority Leader Joel Rivera. Read more.

Pinnacle, a controversial and fast-growing ownership and management group, is being sued in federal court by a group of tenants. Read more.

Our next issue comes out August 23, but check here for more news posted daily.