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.

Vacca and Palma Sponsor Blizzard Bill

It's hard to think about snow right now, with the weather outside hitting a sunny 73 and the Mister Softee trucks finally making their rounds through the neighborhood, but try to remember that post-Christmas blizzard that dumped two feet of snow on the city, leaving a string of stranded MTA buses--and perturbed residents--in its unplowed wake.

To avoid another snow fiasco like that one, Bronx City Council Members James Vacca and Annabel Palma sponsored a bill, passed last week, that requires the Department of Sanitation to prepare and publish snow-removal plans each winter for all five boroughs.

"Last December’s blizzard revealed how woefully unprepared the City was to deal with these kinds of major storms," Palma said in a press release.

The required plans must include a list of primary, secondary and tertiary streets (the terms the Sanitation Department used to classify blocks in order of plowing-importance) to be published online, along with criteria for each ranking.

"During the December blizzard, we heard a lot of talk about tertiary streets and how they were the lowest priority for snowplows. Well, tertiary streets are where taxpayers like you and I live, and many of us didn’t see plows until days after the blizzard was over," Vacca said.

"That’s unacceptable. This bill will put the City’s feet to the fire so that they are forced not only to have a plan but also to explain why they chose to have the plan they chose to have."

During this winter's blizzard, some outer borough streets and neighborhoods went unplowed and snowed-in for several days, to the frustration of those who lived there.

The new law also requires the Sanitation Department to provide detailed plans for removing snow from bus stops, an inventory of snow management equipment and personnel by community district, and contact information for personnel that residents and elected officials can call on.

Bronx News Roundup, Jan. 13

Two teenagers were shot, one fatally, inside a deli on Westchester and Wheeler Avenues in Bronx River early this morning. One victim, 18, was pronounced dead at the scene while another 19-year-old is in stable condition at Jacobi Medical Center.

This spat of youth violence comes just days after another boy, 14-year-old Philip Johnson, was shot to death in Williamsbridge Monday night during a fight organized by two groups of feuding teenagers via text message.

More bad health news for the borough: the Bronx had the worst health stats almost across the board in 2009 compared to other parts of the city (with the exception of heart disease, which is most prevalent in Brooklyn).

So far, Sen. Jeff Klein and the three other Democrats who split from the party's conference last week have been denied spots on any Senate committees, though the Republicans can still dole out assignments to them and other Democrats (here's a list of committee assignments Democratic leader John Sampson released a few days ago).

Former NFL star and Giants player Lawrence Taylor is fighting charges that he paid a 16-year-old Bronx girl for sex. Taylor has rejected a plea deal, and could go to trial this month.

More controversy over plans to build a 911 call center on Pelham Parkway, which city Controller John Liu has called out for wasteful spending and the fact that the project is way over budget.

David Gonzalez takes a look at the work of Bronx-native photographer Martin Cohen, in a post for the Times' Lens Blog.

A Bronx man who was hired to shovel snow outside of a Department of Sanitation garage in Inwood fell through a metal sidewalk grate, suffering a head injury. Eric Pagan, 20, was in stable condition yesterday at Harlem Hospital.

Montefiore doctor Alexandra Bastien looks back on her trip to Haiti to help out after the earthquake. The one year anniversary of the disaster was yesterday.

Two people were injured during a fire that broke out yesterday in the basement of an apartment building in Claremont.

Computers that were stolen this summer during a burglary at PS 35 were replaced this month, after HPD and non-profit housing developer Blue Sea Development organized a computer drive for the school.

Send in the Plows

The wheels of a backhoe are lifted up into the air as it attempts to pull a stranded sanitation truck at the intersection of LaSalle Avenue and Gillespie Avenue (photo by Lenny Shutterman)

It's been three days since a blizzard dumped nearly two feet of snow on our fine borough and the rest of New York. Since then, the Sanitation Department and Mayor Bloomberg are getting  flak from just about everyone for the city's handling of the storm, as reports of still-unplowed streets and slow subways continue to roll in (though the MTA's website says most lines are back to regular service).

Nicholas Sbordone, a spokesman for the city's Department of Technology and Telecommunications, said the city's 311 line received 11,680 calls yesterday about snow or ice-blocked roads. That may sound like a lot, he said, but it's not too bad in the grand total of 182,477 calls the city took for the day.

The New York Times and WNYC are asking readers to report whether or not their streets have been cleared, with the latter mapping neglected areas.

We don't see many Bronx responses at either of those links, so let's ask you, our readers: has your street been cleared yet? BxNN advertising rep. Shenise Crawford says that her block in Baychester--Bivona Street at Boston Road--has yet to see a plow. Share your stories/complaints/tirades with us in the comments section.

Bronx News Roundup, Dec. 22

A four-alarm fire that forced the evacuation of a building on the Grand Concourse yesterday was caused by a burnt batch of Christmas cookies, according to a neighbor.

Bronx teenager Justin Tavarez, 19, who was charged with a hate crime this weekend after a late night scuffle in a diner, told friends he was provoked by the victim, who was taunting him over a girl.  Tavarez allegedly smashed a plate over the head of a 42-year-old man while making racial comments, according to police.

John Martinez, the man accused of robbing a number of women in Co-op City and Manhattan while wielding an ice pick, pleaded not guilty yesterday.

The recently indicted Sen. Pedro Espada, Jr., submitted paperwork earlier this month to cash in on his $9,000 a year state pension.

A new bill introduced in Congress this week would provide federal funding for the removal of PCBs, a dangerous construction material, from the city's public schools. This summer, tests found elevated levels of the chemical in three schools, including PS 178 in Co-op City.

A Bronx woman was sentenced to 25 years to life yesterday in the Bronx Supreme Court for the 2003 murder of a 91-year-old woman.

A city sanitation worker was struck by a car and killed yesterday while crossing the street in Castle Hill. Angel Roldan, 39, worked with the Sanitation Department for 11 years; he leaves behind a wife and two children.

The suspected Bronx church burglar, who was busted by police last weekend, says he targeted the houses of worship because he was angry over pedophile-priest scandals. Nathaniel Linden, 51, is believed to be responsible for a string of church break-ins over the last month.

More Bronxites, and residents across the city, are opting to worship from their homes instead of a traditional church, according to ABC.

A&P, the supermarket chain which owns Pathmark, Food Emporium and Waldbaum's, filed for bankruptcy earlier this month. The future of all these stores is uncertain, though the company says it's refinancing and hopes to turn things around over the next year.

Bronx-born actor Steve Landesberg, known for his role on the long-running sitcom “Barney Miller,” died in Los Angeles Monday from colon cancer. He was 74.

Bronx News Roundup, July 7

Bronx mom Carmen Huertas rejected the opportunity to take a manslaughter plea yesterday for killing 11-year-old Leandra Rosado in a drunk driving accident. If Huertas does not take the plea by Aug. 10, she will go to trial.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo sued Bronx landlords for not showing available units to black applicants. Cuomo says the discrimination is a violation of housing and civil rights laws.

Mavon Chapman, 19, was gunned down at E. 149th St. and Morris Ave. in Mott Haven at 4 a.m. yesterday morning. He died before he arrived at the hospital.

Francisco Cruz, the principal of Clara Barton P.S. 50, may lose his job after redirecting after-school funding to a company whose trademark he jointly owns. The Daily News has the story.

"It's just no fun in the sun," 14-year-old Miguel Pena and 13-year-old Vincent Quiles of the Bronx told the Associated Press. Yesterday marked one of the hottest days in the past decade in the New York.

The Times reports that amidst the heat yesterday were mounds of garbage, across Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx.

Bronx native Jonathan Tropper was featured in The Dallas Morning News this morning, for his critically-acclaimed 2009 novel "This Is Where I Leave You."

Congressman Joseph Crowley secured a $50,000 grant for the Centro Civico Colombiano, which has been used to purchase computers for after-school activities, homework preparation and high school equivalency training, citizenship prep tests and job training programs.

New York City Announces Plans to Drain the Mott Haven Swamp

After multiple complaints about the unsightly and unsanitary swamp in Mott Haven, the New York City Department of Sanitation and the Department of Environmental Protection have agreed to drain and clean up the flooded, trash-ridden mess of abandoned railway. The swamp is about one mile long and contains swarms of mosquitoes, packs of rats, piles of trash and an overwhelming stench.

Many newspapers have covered the swamp's numerous health code violations, wretched smell and negative effects on local businesses. Click here and here for articles.

This morning, Deputy Mayor Edward Skyler, the Department of Sanitation commissioner, the Department of Environmental Protection Acting Commissioner and the Community Affairs Unit Commissioner traveled down into the swamp to inaugurate the beginning of the draining process. According a press release from City Hall, in the next two to three days 150,000 gallons of water will be drained from the swamp and into the sewage system where the water will be treated.

After the draining process is finished, the Department of Sanitation will clean up the trash in the area and analyze it for the causes of the flood. The cleanup should take approximately one week. The Department of Sanitation also plans on closely monitoring the swamp to prevent further flooding incidents.

The only controversy remaining after the cleanup will be who will be footing the bill. Since the swamp is located on private property, the City of New York is not legally obligated to pay for the swamp cleanup. In City Hall's press release, the Department of Environmental Protection's Acting Commissioner, Steven W. Lawitts, said, "This is a case where a private property owner has abandoned his responsibility to maintain his property and in so doing has imposed a tremendous burden on his neighbors."

According to Jason Post, a spokesman for the Mayor, the city does not know who owns the swamp, but they are investigating Amtrak, the MTA, Midtown Trackage Ventures, Metropolitan 47th LLC and other railroad companies. The cleanup could cost "hundreds of thousands of dollars," says Post.

Since no private property owners have responded the government's demands to pay for the cleanup of the site, the New York City Department of Finance plans to foreclose the property and eventually receive compensation for the cleanup.