Bronx News Roundup, Wednesday, June 15

Welcome to the Wednesday early afternoon edition of the roundup. I'll be your humble host and guide today as we navigate through the latest Bronx news. 

Weather: Just downright lovely out here in the Boogie Down. Should stay this way until Friday.

Story of the Day: The New Downtown Bronx?
Pop quiz: Where's downtown Bronx? Give up? OK, you guessed correctly. There is no designated, or even unofficial, downtown Bronx area.There's no one place where borough commerce can congregate and entice even more corporations and businesses to set up shop. That could change with the coming expansion of the Hutchinson Metro Center near Westchester Square. Joseph Simone, president of New Rochelle-based Simone Development Companies, is building on the success of the Metro Center's first building, a renovated and updated version of a former residential treatment center. A new nine-story office building is set to open across the street from the original building this summer and is already 90 percent leased, mostly by medical groups and law firms. Construction on a twin tower is expected to begin this summer as well. When fully completed, in an estimated five years, the complex will have 2 million square feet of office space. The kicker: the final tower will supposedly include a high-end hotel and conference center.

Bronx News Roundup, May 26

Weather: Another warm one. Partly cloudy for most of the day, with temperatures in the high 70s.

Story of the Day: Budget Cuts Threaten Firehouses (Again)
Mayor Bloomberg's proposed city budget could shutter 20 FDNY firehouses across the city, three of which are in the Bronx: Engine 60 in Mott Haven, Engine 46 in Bathgate and Ladder 53 on City Island. The move has spurred neighborhood protest rallies and one angry column from Daily News Bronx bureau chief Patrice O'Shaughnessy, who says the mayor should focus on fixing his budget instead of his "Orwellian" city park smoking ban (which went into effect yesterday).

It's not the first time the city has threatened to shut firehouses: much like the budget dance over senior center closures, Bloomberg has threatened the FDNY before only to restore funding at the last minute. Eddie Brown of the Uniformed Firefighters Association called it a "budget game the mayor plays with the Council, using the people as pawns."

Quick Hits:

A first-class hotel and banquet hall could be coming to the Hutch Metro Center in Pelham Bay, according to director Joseph Kelleher, per Bob Kappstatter's column. bringing a major hotel to the borough has long been a dream of Bronx political leaders, including Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr.

Two Bronx high schools--John F. Kennedy and Herbert Lehman--are among five chosen by the city to get solar panels installed on their roofs. 

The Bronx River Art Center is showing off its students' work with a free reception and opening exhibit tomorrow afternoon,  at 4 p.m. at the BronxArtSpace, 305 E. 140th St.

Livery cab drivers in the outer boroughs are worried about competing with yellow cabs, as the city looks to increase their number outside Manhattan.

A fire broke out on the third floor of a Claremont nursing home yesterday, injuring two people.

In a poll, researchers at Baruch College found more people in the Bronx fear becoming the victim of a hate crime than in the rest of the city. The survey also found that Hispanic New Yorkers are the most fearful of being attacked.

A Bronx man was sentenced to seven years in jail for sexually abusing one of his patients at a nursing home in Morningside Heights, where he worked as a nurse's aide.

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.

Bronx News Roundup, Feb. 4

Usually, I enjoy my 25 minute walk to work every morning. Today, I skated, slipped and shimmied my way to the Keeper's House, aka BxNN headquarters on the Williamsbridge Oval in Norwood. On the plus side, I was heartened by a team of folks helping a man pry his car out of an iced-in predicament and enjoyed seeing the sun hitting untouched patches of snow, making the surface look like glazed marshmallow frosting. Now, I'm hungry.

Today's forecast calls for clouds and a high of 34 degrees, with snow possible in the middle of the night and into Saturday morning. Super Bowl Sunday is supposed to be sunny and above freezing!

Story of the Day:
Steve Finkelstein, a Scarsdale-based property owner, has put in a bid to take over the 10 rapidly deteriorating Bronx apartment buildings abandoned by Milbank Real Estate. Finkelstein is offering about $28 million for the debt and the deed to the apartment buildings, but there is still the matter of striking a deal with tenants. Finkelstein says he will put $6.8 million into repairing the dilapidated buildings, which HPD Commissioner Rafael Cestero called the worst he's ever seen. A report commissioned by the City Council late last year said the buildings needed $26 million in repairs. Lawyers for the tenants are skeptical. 

For more on the Milbank mess, click here.

Story of the Day, Part 2:
After pounding the nails in the coffins of 10 city schools on Tuesday, the Panel for Education Policy voted last night to shut down 12 more schools, including the Bronx's John F. Kennedy, Christopher Columbus, Performance Conservatory and Global Enterprise high schools, Frederick Douglas III Academy Middle School and PS 102. Ten of the 22 schools approved for closure are from the Bronx. Vehement protests and criticism have accompanied the panel's votes, with some resulting in arrests, as we reported on Wednesday.

Quick Hits:
Remember this name: Nuha Dolby. Nuha, a 10-year-old fifth grader at the Bronx's PS 24 in Spuyten Duyvil, composed an original piece of music, "Voice of Darkness" (sounds like the next M. Night Shamylan film), that will be performed today at Lincoln Center by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. After hearing it played by the orchestra for the first time earlier in the week, Nuha told the Daily News, "It was, like, amazing. It was fantastic and so cool."

The ice covering the sidewalks outside of the Pelham Bay subway station and bus stop is making trips to and from ridiculously treacherous. City agencies, it appears, are all passing the buck on who should remedy this danger zone.

In that same vein, it appears the Parks Department isn't removing ice near Matthews Park. (I'd like to add that the DEP should be doing something about the ice on Sedgwick Ave. outside of the Jerome Park Reservoir.)

A Westchester developer is moving to the Hutchinson Metro Center in the Bronx.

[Editor's Note:] Just a reminder to our readers that the Bronx News Network is in the middle of our annual fundraising appeal. If you value quality local journalism, please consider donating so we can continue to bring you news and features, like our daily roundup or our borough events calendar. More details on how to contribute can be found here

Bronx News Roundup, June 14

It's Monday! Time to get back to business and some BX news you may have missed. Enjoy!

In-Tech Academy, in the South Bronx, is currently under investigation by city education officials on charges claiming that students were disciplined by being assigned janitorial duties, such as cleaning toilets.

Jury selection on the case against the four men who allegedly plotted to bomb Riverdale synagogues is set to begin today.

A 4-year-old boy died after tumbling over the railing of his terrace, and falling down 23 stories, in Co-op City. For a story on the father's reaction click here.

The Hutchinson Metro Center, in the Bronx, has agreed to shine the colors of Mother Teresa's order on August 26, in honor of her 100th birthday, after Empire State Building officials said no.

State Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. has stuck to his guns, and refuses to vote on any more budget cuts, even with the threat of a state government shutdown. The Daily News has more.

Some senate leaders are confident that a government shutdown will not be happening. Read more here.

The 32-year-old man who received a rare heart and liver transplant at Montefiore Medical Center, was able to return home to his family on Friday.

Nearly 600 high school students rallied outside of City Hall on Friday in support of free student MetroCards, which the MTA has threatened to take away.

John H. Reynolds, the Green Party candidate for NY State Senate, in the 33rd senate district, spoke out on a number of issues, including worker's rights and the need to empower communities of color, at the South Bronx Community Congress meeting held at Hostos Commuity College, earlier this month.

The New York Public Library's Summer Reading 2010 Program, kicked off at the Bronx Library Center in Fordham, on Friday. Read more here.

The New York Yankees Museum reveals its 'Subway Series' exhibit.