Deadly Shooting of Young Mother Spurs Community Concern

Editor's Note: This story was first published in the June edition of the Tremont Tribune, out now.

Family and friends erected a shrine for Claudia Millan on the street corner where she died. (Photo by Jeanmarie Evelly)

Summer started off on a tragic foot this year, as an exceptionally warm Memorial Day weekend saw the horrific and fatal shooting of a young mother in the Bathgate neighborhood.

Claudia Millan, 29, was shot in the head on the corner of Park Avenue and East 178th Street on Sunday, May 29. According to the New York Times, Millan was walking with her 2-year-old son in tow at the time of the incident, which occurred around 10:30 p.m. as she made her way towards her home on E. Tremont Avenue.

Opinion: Money for Neighborhoods, Not for War and Bailouts

Editor's Note: This Op-Ed originally ran in last month's issue of the Tremont Tribune. The author, Heidi Hynes, is executive director of the Mary Mitchell Family and Youth Center in Crotona.

By HEIDI HYNES 

In September, the City of New York demanded that the Mary Mitchell Family and Youth Center start paying the Department of Education rent for use of our building on Mapes Avenue. It turns out that the city which is home to Wall Street and an Education Department with a budget larger than some towns, needs the children living in the poorest urban Congressional district in the country to forgo services so that we can pay the City $30,000 per year.

Since that time I have spoken to a priest about the cuts to senior programs at his parish. I’ve been contacted to join an emergency committee of after-school program providers to stop the proposed cut of 17,000 child care vouchers for families on public assistance. I was asked to travel to Albany to testify at a public hearing in opposition to proposed cuts to Medicaid. I was provided a list of elected officials to call in response to cuts proposed for the Health Department. A coworker approached me to find out how she could get involved in any effort to save Head Start. The director of a non-profit housing company predicted that the number of apartment buildings that will go into foreclosure is going to skyrocket. And, like every other public school parent, I’m just waiting to find out how a system that is already struggling is going to handle deep budget cuts.

With all this worry and organizing to stop the cuts, it is easy to think that we are in a budget crisis. There is not enough money to provide social services, we all need to tighten our belts, the trouble is grandma’s pension or public school teachers getting paid to sit in the “rubber room.” That is one load of manure.

More Money Woes for the Mary Mitchell Center

The Mary Mitchell Center,
at 2007 Mapes Ave.
(Photo by James Fergusson)

Staff at the Mary Mitchell Family and Youth Center in Crotona are facing another financial hurdle this month, as the Health Department is demanding upgrades be made to the center's kitchen to comply with licensing laws.

The center serves hot, healthy meals each afternoon for students in its popular after-school program. Now, the city says they have until February to purchase and install a new stove, with a fire suppression system that meets Health Department requirements, to avoid losing their childcare license.

"It's a big expense," said executive director Heidi Hynes. "It's just not something that we can do."

The Department of Education, which owns the building and runs a GED program there, told Hynes that it would buy and install the stove, but at the cost of approximately $35,000.

The center is already struggling to pay the city another $30,000 to cover maintenance fees on the building, which had been waived for over a decade in an agreement with the DOE since the Mary Mitchell Center officially opened in 1997. This summer, however, the city announced that it could no longer afford the fees.

"Given the current fiscal reality, we are asking community organizations who have not been paying for these services to begin covering these costs," a DOE spokeswoman said last month.

Hynes says she has already had to cut the center's operating hours to afford the monthly maintenance payments. To buy the new stove, they will have to redirect more money from the budget that was originally intended for after-school programming. The center still needs to raise an additional $15,000 over the next month to pay the costs in full.

"Basically, we have between Thanksgiving and Christmas," to come up with the money, Hynes said.

New Tremont Tribune Out & Online

The latest issue of the Tremont Tribune is out on the streets and online now! The Tribune is a monthly, bilingual community newspaper published by the Bronx News Network that covers the neighborhoods of Tremont, Belmont, Bathgate, West Farms, and Crotona.

Visit our website or pick up a copy today to read about the ongoing battle over permit fees at the Mary Mitchell Center, a new hotel opening on Third Avenue that's irked the local Community Board, a local vocational high school that's struggling to stay afloat, and much more.

The Mary Mitchell Center's Future is Uncertain; Staff Are Meeting With the DOE Today

More than 100 people, mostly parents and children, attended a rally last week in the center's playground (Photos: J. Fergusson)

For Laquanda Walker, the Mary Mitchell Family and Youth Center in Crotona has been a godsend. Her 8-year-old son, Isacc, is enrolled in its 'Enrichment Program,' giving him somewhere to be after school, and her peace of mind.

"This is the only safe place for him in the neighorhood," said Walker, a Parks Department employee. She added, "The food is wonderful, he does his homework, it's not just play, play, play. There are many opportunities for my son to grow here."

These opportunities could be cut short, however; the center and its many programs face an uncertain future.

In July, the city's Department of Education, which owns the building and provides maintenance, contacted staff, demanding that they now pay to use the space.

The Mary Mitchell Center

The DOE is requesting more than $70,000 a year, according to the center's executive director, Heidi Hynes. "We'd have to fire people that are working with children in order to pay this," she said.

Asked for comment, the DOE, which runs a GED program in the building, released a statement. It said: "There are real costs associated with the maintenance of any DOE building... Given the current fiscal reality, we are asking community organizations who have not been paying for these services to begin covering these costs."

The fees were waived during the summer months, after Councilman Joel Rivera and Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. reached out to the DOE. But on Sept. 21, with no payment forthcoming, the city locked Hynes, her staff, and the children they serve (some 300 a week) out of the center. (They were allowed back in two days later, when another temporary waiver was granted.)

Last Friday, Hynes organized a rally in the center's playground. The message to the DOE: it's our building, give it back.

Tomorrow: Rally to Save the Mary Mitchell Center

On Tuesday night, the city abruptly closed the Mary Mitchell Family and Youth Center in Crotona, following a disagreement over permit fees. Tomorrow, staff, local residents, and others will rally outside the building to protest the decision.

The Department of Education took over the building's lease in 2000. At the time, a deal was struck allowing the center to continue running its programs after school and on weekends, Mary Mitchell staff say. The DOE also agreed to maintain the building and waive the permit fees for the space.

Now, ten years later, the department's gone back on its word, says the center's Executive Director Heidi Hynes. When payment was requested - and not received - DOE custodians locked the center's staff out of the building.

Located on Mapes Avenue near East 178th Street, the Mary Mitchell Center serves hundreds of children each week. It also supports other local groups and organizations (including one of our newspapers, the Tremont Tribune, whose reporter has desk space there), and has long been a force for good in the neighborhood. The center has played a key role, for example, in raising awareness of, and drawing attention to, gun crime in the area. And it's been raising funds to build a new community center in a nearby park where a derelict building currently stands.

Check out the flier below for details of tomorrow's rally. We'll be there and will have more coverage next week. 

Rally Details

White House "Drug Czar" Visits The Bronx

Gil Kerlikowske, the White House "Drug Czar" (center, in white) stands with students and staff beside an anti-drug mural outside the Mary Mitchell Family and Youth Center in Crotona.

The director of the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy visited the Bronx yesterday, holding a press conference at the Mary Mitchell Family and Youth Center in Crotona to officially launch a new nationwide anti-drug youth campaign.

R. Gil Kerlikowske, who serves as the 6th ever “drug czar,” under the Obama administration, was given a tour by Mary Mitchell staff and other community leaders, stopping off at one of the Bronx’s most notorious drug-ridden areas—a neighborhood in Fordham-Bedford Park—as well as a more positive visit to the Garden of Happiness, a community garden on Prospect Avenue and East 181st St.

Kerlikowske’s trip was part of a greater, nationwide campaign from his office aimed to keep teenagers away from drugs. Dubbed the “influence project,” its goal is to engage young people in talking about the positive and negative pressures that influence their behavior.

The drug czar met with students from the Mary Mitchell Center and the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club to talk about what keeps them drug-free.

“I heard stories about how important their parents were to them, in guiding them,” Kerlikowske said. “I heard stories about how they felt a true responsibility for their younger siblings to make sure they didn’t get involved in drugs.”

Drug Czar To Visit Mary Mitchell Center in Crotona

Gil Kerlikowske, the director for the White House Office of Drug Control Policy, will be visiting the Mary Mitchell Family and Youth Center on Monday to launch a nationwide anti-drug campaign.

Staff at the Mary Mitchell Center, at 2007 Mapes Ave., have been in touch with Kerlikowske's office since last November, when several drug-related shootings took place nearby--with one happening just beside the center's playground, where students from the after-school program were playing at the time. Later that same day, at nearby 2000 Prospect Ave., a burst of gunfire left 19-year-old Felix DelValle dead. Another teen, 17-year-old Phillip Carr, was arrested and charged with the murder.

Since then, the Mary Mitchell Center staff have stepped up their efforts to draw citywide and national attention to the issues of drug and youth violence that plague many low-income neighborhoods.

On Monday, Kerlikowske will take a tour of the center and then hold a press conference to announce the launch of the "Influence Project," a nationwide anti-drug program that aims to engage teens in conversation about the pressures that influence their decisions.

Check back on Monday for our coverage of the event.

Borough President Visits Mary Mitchell Center

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. visited the Mary Mitchell Family and Youth Center, a neighborhood staple in Crotona, on Feb. 11^th.  

He took a tour of the building, which included a stop to watch a badminton game and help color a Valentine’s Day card with some of the students at the center’s after school program.

Staff and board members at Mary Mitchell also briefed the Borough President on their plans to build a state of the art, environmentally friendly community center on two baseball fields on Mapes Avenue, between East 180th Street and East 181st Street.

Youth Center in Violence-Plagued Crotona Wants Action From Bloomberg

Children from the Mary Mitchell Center gather on the steps of City Hall to protest violence in Crotona (Photo by Ashley Villarreal)

On Dec. 14 the Ghost of Christmas Future visited City Hall.

Playing the parts of characters from “A Christmas Carol,” 50 children from the Mary Mitchell Family and Youth Center’s after school program climbed the institution’s steps to let Mayor “Scrooge” know that if things don’t change, they too risk becoming victims of violence in the Bronx.

In the fall, the 48th Precinct in the central Bronx had been heralding the passing of two months without one reported shooting. But two shootings in early November were followed by another incident on Nov. 16, when gunfire erupted right outside the Mary Mitchell Family and Youth Center’s playground, at 2007 Mapes Ave., where dozens of children were playing. Later that day, 19-year-old Felix DelValle was shot dead and two others were injured in the courtyard of nearby 2000 Prospect Ave.

The Mary Mitchell Center’s Executive Director Heidi Hynes wanted answers. On Nov. 24 she organized an emergency meeting of local politicians, police and community organizations, to discuss measures to prevent gun violence. And in a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, she requested he come live at 2000 Prospect Ave. for the month of February to familiarize himself with the community’s mounting concerns.

“The mayor has been great on gun control but he needs to also start focusing on the culture of violence,” Hynes said. “You can’t just take away guns, people are violent beyond that, and we need to work on creating a neighborhood safe for every child.”

With no reply from the mayor, the center’s staff decided to bring the children to City Hall to put on a play in protest of the violence.

More here in the Tremont Tribune.

Reporting and writing by Ashley Villarreal.

New from the Tremont Tribune

The newest Tremont Tribune hit streets yesterday and is online now. Inside:

A series of shootings in Crotona on November 16 left a 19-year-old dead and two others wounded, and launched a community effort to find ways to combat the violence (an effort which will head downtown later today, when the students at the Mary Mitchell Family and Youth Center, who witnessed some of the shootings, will stage a skit on the steps of City Hall to ask Mayor Bloomberg to come visit their neighborhood).

The mother of the slain 19-year-old remembers her son.

A local mosque is stepping up and reaching out to the community, jarred into action by recent violence in their neighborhood.

Gil Teitel, 71, speaks about his legendary store, Teitel Brothers, the Arthur Avenue institution entering its 95th year.

Aida Haddock, president of the 48th Precinct Community Council, offers her take on crime and community.

Plus: A police officer convicted of perjury, photos from Thanksgiving and Albanian Independence Day in Belmont, and, as always, our listing of community announcements and events.

Take a look.

Shooting Outside Community Center in Crotona Sparks Quest for Funding, New Policies

Sensei Will Lawton of the Mary Mitchell Center's after-school program with Shareyana, who lives in the building where a fatal shooting took place last week. (Photos by Rachel Waldholz)

At about 5 p.m. last Monday, Sensei Will Lawton was standing on the basketball court behind the Mary Mitchell Family and Youth Center, where dozens of kids in the Center's after-school program were playing. Suddenly, he heard gunshots, and then saw, just outside the fence, three figures running up the street, one of them "just blazing away," said Lawton, who runs the Center's  martial arts program.

"[It was] like watching a western in your living room on a 50-inch television," he said.
The 5 p.m. shootout was followed within hours by another on the same block, this one fatal. Lawton and other staff had no sooner walked some of the kids home to their apartment building at 2000 Prospect Avenue, which neighbors the Mary Mitchell Center, when a gunman shot three people outside the building, killing Felix DelValle, 19 and wounding two others, including the apparent target, Angel Rivas, 42.

Community Meeting Tomorrow in Aftermath of Prospect Avenue Shootings

Last week was a violent one in the Bronx, with 2 serious shootings on Monday. And while media attention has focused on the case of 15-year-old Vada Vasquez, a separate series of shootings here in Tremont have prompted community members to organize a public meeting tomorrow to discuss what can be done to halt the violence.

Last Monday at about 5 pm, community residents heard gunshots and then witnessed a man walking up 178th Street between Mapes and Prospect Avenues, shooting back towards Mapes Avenue. He continued shooting as he walked beside the playground at the Mary Mitchell Family and Youth Center, where about 50 kids in the Center's afterschool program were playing outside.

The police came about half an hour later, residents said, and then left. But within three hours another man had walked into the courtyard of the apartment building at 2000 Prospect Avenue, on the same block, and fired into a crowd, killing Felix DelValle, 19, and wounding at least two others, according to the Daily News.

The Mary Mitchell Center, which stands next door to 2000 Prospect, is holding a public meeting tomorrow, Tuesday, Nov. 24, at 4pm. The Center is inviting the general public, community residents and organizations, local elected officials, and the NYPD to discuss community actions to prevent more violence.

Center Director Heidi Hynes said she hopes those attending the meeting will think about the larger context behind shootings like last Monday's.

"The overall thing is the government needs to invest in poor neighborhoods. We have a culture of violence because we have generational, concentrated poverty," said Hynes. "And what we deserve is safe, sustainable neighborhoods."

The Mary Mitchell Center is located at 2007 Mapes Avenue, on the corner of 178th Street.