Community Centers Hit Hard By Govt. Budget Cuts

By JEANMARIE EVELLY

Major cutbacks in government spending, on both the local and federal level, have left several community centers in the northwest Bronx struggling to make ends meet this year.

Mosholu Montefiore Community Center (MMCC) in Norwood, which runs dozens of after-school sites, a senior citizen center, and other programs serving more than 28,000 Bronxites each year, has been appealing to neighbors for donations over the last few months in an effort to keep the center afloat.

“Bottom line, we are probably close to a million dollars in cuts,” said Executive Director Donald Bluestone. “We’ve been closing programs, laying off staff. It’s a serious problem.”
MMCC relies largely on funding from legislators and government agencies that have seen their budgets slashed in the face of ballooning deficits.

“The staff here didn’t have a raise last year, and we’re probably looking at the same situation this year,” Bluestone continued. “It’s just a very bad time.”

The center is losing out this year on federal funding in the form of member items or earmarks — money provided by legislators to projects or organizations in their home districts — an act banned this year by Congress in an effort to cut back on spending.

Christmas Tree and Lights Grace Featherbed Lane for the First Time

Local children, wrapped up in hats and hoods, sang carols at the tree-lighting ceremony. (Photos: J. Fergusson)

Kathryn Speller has lived in Morris Heights since the '60s.  This year, she says, is the first time holiday lights have been put up on Featherbed Lane, one of the neighborhood's few commercial strips.

"It's making a lot of residents happy," said Speller, a BronxWorks employee and Community Board 5 board member. "To me, it's a symbol that the community is being revitalized... that it's on the upswing."

On Monday evening, 30 or so community residents and leaders - Speller included - gathered in the bitter cold at the intersection of Featherbed Lane and Macombs Road to light the Christmas tree, another first for the street. It's a real tree, planted about five years ago, that's never before been decorated.

But there was a hitch. Actually, two hitches. Because of the last minute planning, the city's Department of Transportation was unwilling to hook up the tree's lights to the main line. To get around this, organizers borrowed a generator so they could keep it lit during the ceremony. The problem this time: the generator failed.

The event went ahead anyway. James A. McGraw, pastor at the First Bible Church of the Lord’s Mission in Mount Hope, said a prayer, and children from a nearby shelter for homeless families sang carols.  Each child received a party bag for their efforts.


Featherbed Lane, a small commercial stip off University Avenue, is home to about 40 businesses


Organizers included Community Board 5, local resident Amelia Ramos, and Davidson Community Center, which is leading an effort to create a business improvement district (BID) on Burnside Avenue. The street lights, which extend to parts of Macombs Road and University Avenue, cost between $7,000 and $10,000 to rent. Affinity Health Plan, a non-profit health care provider, came up with the money.

Featherbed Lane is home to about 40 businesses, including an Internet cafe and a Rite Aid Pharmacy, as well as a brand new co-op building.

Local merchants are hoping the lights will encourage Morris Heights residents to shop local this holiday season.

And while pizza may not be a traditional Christmas food or gift, George Soydan Akkum, owner of My Pizza on University Avenue, said he liked the new look because it made the neighborhood "feel more upscale."  He said he felt "proud" to be a merchant in the area.

 James A. McGraw, a local pastor, gives a prayer

In Wake of Bias Attacks, a Push to Build a More Tolerant Bronx

Earlier this month, gay rights advocates and a few dozen Bronx residents and community leaders met in Morris Heights to discuss ways to combat hate and promote tolerance in the borough. 

The town hall-style meeting was held on Dec. 9 at Davidson Community Center, a short walk from the vacant house on Osborne Place where several young men were were viciously beaten in early October. Police say they were assaulted because they were gay or perceived to be gay.

While condemning the attacks, the Bronx Community Pride Center, one of the non-profits behind the event, hopes some good can come of them; that the attacks can kick-start a borough-wide conversation and ultimately prevent future hate crimes. 

At the meeting, Ephraim Cruz, co-founder of the political group Bronx for Change, said it was time to call out the politicians and religious leaders who spout hate speech about homosexuals.

"The hate speech is a precursor to the violence," Cruz said. "If young people see our politicians speaking ill about gays and no one checks this, it sends a message."

I don't think Cruz mentioned him by name, but he was clearly referring to Rev. Ruben Diaz, Sr., the outspoken state senator and gay marriage opponent who once compared homosexuality to bestiality. Cruz, it should be said, has a vested interest in seeing Diaz hurt politically; another of Bronx for Change's founders, Charlie Ramos, challenged Diaz in September's Democratic primary. Cruz has previously criticized the reverend's son, Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., for not standing up to his father on this issue.

Others at the meeting, while supporting the need to challenge bigotry, advocated a more conciliatory approach, saying it was important to engage those with opposing views, not shut them out.

Dirk McCall (file photo by Alex Kratz)

Dirk McCall, the Bronx Community Pride Center's new executive director, and one of the panelists, said that while he and, say, a Pentecostal minster, may never see eye-to-eye on gay marriage, they should be able to find some common ground, and agree that the attacks, and all violent acts, are wrong. "If we can get them [churches] on the record saying the attacks are wrong, then that's a start," McCall said.   

Added an audience member: “Personally, I hate it when people say ‘Let’s agree to disagree,” because that’s when the conversation is over."

Davidson CC Launches Healthy Eating Initiative

A very happy Angel Caballero, the center's executive director (Photo: Alma Watkins)

Davidson Community Center has received a $200,000 grant to launch a healthy eating initiative aimed at battling obesity and diabetes.

The funds, secured by State Senator Pedro Espada, Jr., will help stock a food pantry, among other things.

More here.

A BID for Burnside Avenue

Davidson Community Center, working with Mount Hope Housing Company and others, is hoping to establish a Business Improvement District, or BID, on Burnside Avenue.

On April 2, Bronx elected officials, community organizations, and local residents, will gather for a "Taste of the BID" event to announce the beginnings of a campaign to bring on board 116 area business owners. The Atlantic Development Group will hold a steam blasting/graffiti removal/sidewalk washing exhibition - a demonstration of what local merchants could expect with a fully functioning BID. The event begins at 10 a.m. in front of Foot Locker (on Burnside between Jerome and Walton).

According to a provisional press release, the BID will revitalize the shopping district. "As with other commercial strips in the Bronx, the Target Area has too many 99 cent/discount stores, no major national chain, (only fast food national chains)," the release said. "Residents of the Target Area complain of the lack of variety in goods and services which prompts them to shop in other locations in the Bronx or other boroughs in the city." More about BIDs here and here. There are currently six BIDs in the Bronx. In the west Bronx there's Fordham Road and Jerome-Gun Hill.

Photo taken from the Burnside Avenue subway station at Jerome Avenue, looking west.

The BID aside, change is already coming to Burnside Avenue. Morris Heights Health Center is building a new center on an abandoned lot on the corner of Harrison Avenue. St. Barnabas Hospital is in the process of demolishing the former Elks Lodge at Burnside and the Grand Concourse, and building a 10-story outpatient facility. East of the Concourse, near Valentine Avenue, the Atlantic Development Group is building affordable housing. (Atlantic were/are in the running to develop the Kingsbridge Armory but have possibly/probably lost out to another developer.)

UPDATE: The event is being held April 2, NOT March 26 (as was published earlier today. Apologies for the confusion)