Bronx News Weekend Roundup, June 13

Weather: Partly cloudy and cool today, with a chance of light showers later this evening.

Quick Hits:
State Sen. Ruben Diaz, Sr. says he's received death threats for his fierce opposition to same-sex marriage, according to this AP piece about conservative gay-rights opponents who claim they've been "bullied," for their views.

Meanwhile, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is holding a special strategy session in Albany today, as he prepares to make one final push for a same-sex marriage bill before the legislature adjourns at the end of this week.

A 15-year-old girl was shot in the back of the head outside of a party in Fordham Heights Saturday night. Yvette Marie Torres, a student at DeWitt Clinton High School, is in critical condition at St. Barnabas Hospital. So far, there have been no arrests.

Anti-hunger advocates and Bronx Assemblyman Jose Rivera want New York to rename its food stamps program to its federally-known moniker--the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)--in an attempt to reduce the stigma attached to applying for the benefits.

The federal government is pushing for state courts to curb medical costs by encouraging judges to settle malpractice cases way before they get to trial. The tactic, known as judge-directed negotiation, started locally in the Bronx State Supreme Court and is being expanded to other counties.

The Bronx Academy of Art and Dance, aka BAAD!, is hosting its 11th annual "Out Like That!" festival this week; there's a schedule of performances and events at the link.

A Long Island construction company that received millions of dollars from the MTA to install security fences around the authority's warehouses and transit depots has been found guilty of grand larceny, after supposedly submitting bogus or inflated invoices for years. 

Police have released surveillance footage of three men believed guilty of shooting four people--including a pregnant woman--at a BBQ in Castle Hill last week.

Another bout of gun violence left a 5-year-old boy and a 30-year-old man wounded on Friday. The victims of both shootings survived.

A 62-year-old man collapsed and died following a scuffle with police officers at a Morrisania homeless shelter on Friday, and autopsy results are pending.  Police had been called the the Webster Avenue shelter by administrators who said the man had been fighting with other residents.

The annual Riverdale Riverfest took place yesterday.

A 12-year-old Bronx boy has been missing since Friday; photo at the link.

Editor's Note: BxNN will keep posting this clock in our daily news roundups -- tallying the days until the NYPD releases neighborhood sector crime stats, which we requested from them via a Freedom of Information Law request last year. For some background, see our Norwood News' editorial here.

Food Stamp Use at Farmers Markets Doubled This Year

The City Council announced yesterday that the number of low-income New Yorkers using food stamps at the city's outdoor greenmarkets is higher than ever before. Residents spent over $500,000 in food stamps to buy fresh fruits and vegetables at the markets last year, double the amount spent in 2009.

City politicians and food advocacy groups have been campaigning for more greenmarkets to accept food stamps, seeing it as one way to increase access to healthy foods in neighborhoods where they're usually hard to find. This fall, the greenmarkets at Bronx Borough Hall, Lincoln Hospital, the New York Botanical Garden and Poe Park all accepted EBT card purchases--at Poe Park, over $500 a day came in via food stamps.

Local markets will open up again this spring and summer, though there are several in Manhattan that operate year-round. Locations and schedules can be found here.

Bronx News Roundup, Nov. 26

We hope everyone had a happy, and delicious, Thanksgiving! Here are some Bronx news headlines from the past few days:

Students from P.S. 51 on Jerome Avenue watched a live re-enactment of the first Thanksgiving dinner, transmitted via webcast from Plymouth, MA, and broadcast across the country. Bronx student Stephen Molina told ABC he learned "that the pilgrims didn't have any refrigerators," back then.

While our Thanksgiving predecessors were able to break bread in peace (even without a fridge!) a poll released this week says the majority of New Yorkers would refuse to share a turkey dinner with Mayor Mike Bloomberg. He's the least welcomed in the Bronx, where 60 percent of those asked said they wouldn't share a meal with the mayor.

Shoppers across the city are hitting the stores today in hopes of some Black Friday bargains, as the holiday shopping season officially kicks off.

While overall crime in the city is down this year, the number of violent crimes--muggings, rapes and murders-- is up. Nearly half of the robberies that took place in the city this year happened in the Bronx.

The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal offer different profiles of Corey Fisher, the Bronx native who's now a star player for Villanova's basketball team. As a teenager, Fisher once scored a stunning 105 points in a single game, according to the Journal. The Times contrasts Fisher to his infamous great-uncle of the same name, a Harlem crime boss during the 1970s. 

A new report released this week says the demand for food in the Bronx has increased this year by 74 percent, while stimulus funding upped the amount of money for food stamps in the city by $458 million.

Merchants around 161st Street say business is still in the slumps since the new Yankee Stadium opened a few years ago.

Local bodega owners are still buying untaxed cigarettes from illegal vendors for their cheaper prices, despite the city's efforts to crack down on the trade.

Ongoing inspections of the dilapidated and now-infamous Bronx Milbank properties found 1,200 new violations in the 10 apartment buildings, according to HPD--that's in addition to the 3,577 open violations that were already on file.

A Bronx sanitation company says celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey owes them $25,000, the bill for several months of garbage removal at Ramsey's Manhattan restaurant The London.

A pregnant woman is suing the NYPD for what she claims was a false arrest and three days spent in jail. Stephanie Badillo, 19, was arrested in Tremont earlier this month in what police said was a drug bust; she was kept at the 48th Precinct station before later being released because of insufficient evidence.

Community Board 11, which includes Bronxdale, Pelham and Morris Park,  is looking for a new district manager. 

Two buildings in Riverdale--Cambridge Mews on Cambridge Avenue and the unfinished Tulfan Terrace on Oxford Avenue--were built by developers with ties to the mob.

Note: start a discussion about any of these stories, or anything else on your mind, in our readers' forum.

BxNN Story of the Day: Should Soda Be Off Limits to Food Stamp Recipients?

The Norwood News' 'Be Healthy!" section takes a deeper look at the controversy surrounding the Bloomberg administration's proposal to prohibit the use of Food Stamps for the purchase of soda.

Bronx News Roundup, Nov. 30

Another Bronx teen, 17 year-old Issi Dominguez, was shot to death early yesterday morning in Fordham at 182nd Street and Valentine Avenue. Dominguez, who had no criminal record, was shot in a crowd of people. Police suspect the shooting occurred as a retaliation for a previous stabbing.

The Bronx DA Robert Johnson was criticized for charging a man who beat his wife to death with a misdemeanor. The victim's family is pushing the DA to charge the husband with a more serious crime.

Residents of six run-down buildings in Morris Heights and Soundview are protesting against Dime Savings, the bank that holds the mortgage on the buildings.

Bronx county leads the country in the percentage of residents receiving food stamps.

In similar news, the Daily News reports that more Bronxites are eating at soup kitchens and food pantries.

This weekend, Muslims in the Bronx celebrated Eid al-adha, the feast of sacrifice.

The Bronx Zoo is collecting toys and winter clothes as donations for those in need in the Bronx. Donors will receive free admission to the zoo.

The driver who is suspected to be responsible for a hit-and-run accident on Baychester Avenue on Friday had a suspended license. 40 year-old Sonya Powell was killed by the suspect's car as she was crossing the street.

Quinn Visits Botanical Garden Greenmarket

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (pictured) was at the New York Botanical Garden's popular greenmarket this morning, to bring attention to the growing number of farmers markets that accept food stamps.

"Right now there's a real issue with obesity and hunger in New York City," Quinn said. "They're two sides of the same coin." Quinn, who's toured several markets over the past weeks, said that readily available fresh produce can only have a positive affect on the community's health.

In the past, market vendors didn't have the technology to take food stamps, even if they wanted to. Now, thanks to $300,000 in additional funding from the City Council, many markets (including this one) are equipped with wireless scanners which shoppers use to swipe their EBT cards in return for tokens.


"You can't put a price on quality," said Perry Avenue resident Melinda Mendoza, who was at the Garden earlier today picking up greens for the six kids she has living at home. (She has nine in all.) "Over here it's all fresh and crisp... I was by the broccoli and you could really smell it, it's not like that in a supermarket."

The market - one of only half a dozen or so in the Bronx - is open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Wednesday through October. Set up in 2002, it's been a big success say vendors. "The traffic here is fantastic," said Joseph Bates, who runs The Little Bakeshop, which sells pies, brownies and quiches. "I always sell out, this is the place to be."

Bates, who's based in Rockland County, likes the Garden too. "At most farmers markets you're standing in a parking lot, here it's different," he said, eyeing the trees.

Quinn, for the record, bought some green beans and a melon.

(Photos by James Fergusson)