Bronx News Roundup, Aug. 27

The quarter-finals of the Bronx Open, a women's tennis tournament, are being held today. The New York Times says:

Recognizable players from the women’s tour, in competitive, sometimes controversial matches, with fans watching from about a yard away, in an outer borough park — only it’s not the United States Open qualifying but the EmblemHealth Bronx Open, which is taking place this week on the hardcourts in picturesque Crotona Park.

There's no admission charge today or tomorrow.  Watching Sunday's singles final will set you back $10.  The US Open itself starts on Monday.

NY1 wraps up its week-long "Once Upon a Time In The Bronx" series with a look back at the storied history of Van Cortlandt Park.

The daughter of a Bronx woman who died at Jacobi Medical Center is suing the hospital for allegedly harvesting the deceased woman's organs without permission.

In court yesterday, the defense lawyers representing four men accused of trying to blow up two Riverdale synagogues, continued to paint their clients as dupes, cynically lured into a plot they would never have devised on their own.

Police say a 21-year-old man was shot dead in Mott Haven around 4 a.m. this morning.

Carl Paladino, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, received a warm welcome in the Bronx yesterday from State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr. and other Hispanic ministers. Diaz also wants to meet with Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. So far, Cuomo hasn't shown much interest.

Michele Carlo, a Brooklyn-based writer of Puerto Rican heritage, has written a memoir - "Fish Out Of Agua" - about her childhood years in the Bronx. Here's Carlo's website.

The Great Van Cortlandt Park Debate: The City Stirs Controversy by Creating Park Conservancy

First, here's an opinion piece on why the convervancy is a bad idea.

But now let's back up for a minute in the interest of fairness.

There's a parks debate heating up in the Bronx, mostly in Riverdale, about the city's decision to create a public-private conservancy for Van Cortlandt Park. (There are also conservancies for Central Park and Prospect Park)

Why create this conservancy, critics of it say, when there's already a nonprofit organization, the Friends of Van Cortlandt Park, advocating and raising money to maintain, enhance and provide programming at the huge northwest Bronx park. Well, Parks says the conservancy will only add to what Friends does, rather than diminish what it does. And the conservancy will be able to hire supplemental staffers and throw money at capital projects the city can't afford to fund on its own.

The Riverdale Press' N. Clark Judd first reported about this in December.

Here's last week's story in the Press, with more details about how the conservancy will work.

This week, Parks Commish Adrian Benepe wrote a rebuttal, objecting to what he said was Judd's mischaracterization of the conservancy and also to quiet some of conservancy critics.

Finally, here's the previously-linked-to opinion piece by another critic of the conservancy, former Community Board 7 chair and now dedicated environmental activist Karen Argenti. She says the new conservancy undermines what the Friends of VC Park have been building for years. (This was supposed to run in this week's issue of the Norwood News, but alas, we ran out of space.)

Another interesting twist is that 11th Council District hopeful Tony Cassino is on the board of the new conservancy. How will this affect his standing with Riverdale voters? Will incumbent Oliver Koppell risk criticizing the city and Parks to win over conservancy critics? Does Ari Huffnung, another Council candidate, have a position?

The VC Park debate is officially open here on the Bronx News Network blog. So, read up and let us know what you think.