BP Diaz's Testimony From Last Night's Muller Center Hearing

The public hearing over the future of the Muller Army Center in Wakefield took place last night, at P.S. 21 on 225th Street.

BxNN reporter Alex Kratz was there and will post a more detailed account later, but he said the majority of those who attended--a strong showing of Wakefield and Woodlawn residents, and many members of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition--are against the city's plan to fill the building with a homeless shelter, and support the idea of moving the National Guard from an annex at the Kingsbridge Armory into the Wakefield site to free up school space (you can read some more background in yesterday's news roundup).

Kratz said that Father Richard Gorman of CB 12 got the crowd going with an impassioned speech that took several hilarious digs at Mayor Bloomberg. Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., who sits on a panel overseeing the building's redevelopment, also testified--you can read his full statement in the document below.

A Street Named Inspiration: Kingsbridge and Davidson Now 'Phyllis Yvonne Reed Plaza'

Editor's note: this story appeared in the last issue of the Norwood News. One correction: we mistakenly spelled Reed's name wrong in the original article. The correct name is "Phyllis Yvonne Reed."   

By Alex Kratz

The more Allison Richardson sees and hears about her mother Phyllis Reed’s impact — on the lives she touched and the community she loved — the more she feels guilty.

In the years leading up to Reed’s death in the fall of 2009, Richardson, an only child, tried in vain to keep her mother close and safe during her battle with cancer. Mostly, she just wanted to spend time with her mom. But Reed was often too busy empowering young people to chase their dreams, fighting for the rights of the disadvantaged or tending to her beloved public garden in the shadow of the Kingsbridge Armory.
Richardson resented this until recently, when she realized, her mother “fed and thrived on other people’s dreams,” she said.

Last month, thanks to the efforts of Councilman Fernando Cabrera, the city officially recognized Reed’s indelible impact by re-naming the corner of Davidson Avenue and Kingsbridge Road “Phyllis Yvonne Reed Plaza.” The signage hovers over Reed’s Armory plot like a guardian angel.

Bronx Activists Arrested at DOE Protest

Leaders from Sistas & Brothas United, the youth organizing arm of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, were among those arrested Monday night during a protest against the Department of Education's controversial plans to close 25 public schools across the city.

Sistas & Brothas United helped organize the press conference and rally, outside of DOE headquarters on Chambers Street in downtown Manhattan. Director Maria Fernandez and four other leaders from the group were among those arrested for making a human chain to block the sidewalk outside the DOE's building, in what Fernandez described as an act of "civil disobedience."

"You shut our schools down, we shut your streets down," Fernandez said. "It was 23 of us lined up on Chambers Street. We linked arms, and we had 300 students, parents and allies chanting and cheering us on."

NYPD officers read them their rights, she said, then brought the group to a nearby police precinct for about an hour. Also arrested were City Council Members Jumaane Williams and Charles Barron, of Brooklyn. Fernandez said she received a citation to appear in court in April.

The DOE's Panel for Educational Policy voted last night to shut down 10 schools for poor performance, including four in the Bronx: School for Community Research and Learning, Urban Assembly Academy for History and Citizenship for Young Men, New Day Academy and Monroe Academy for Business/Law High School.

The panel will hold another hearing tomorrow to decide the fates of another batch of schools, including the Bronx's John F. Kennedy High School, Christopher Columbus High School, Global Enterprise High School, P.S.102 and Performance Conservatory High School.

City Launches Housing Initiative, Inspired by Milbank Mess [VIDEO]

Mayor Bloomberg Announces New Housing Initiative from Bronx News Network on Vimeo.
Above, Mayor Bloomberg discusses a new way the city plans to drive landlords to repair housing violations.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg was in the Bronx today to announce a new city housing initiative largely inspired by the Milbank properties--the now infamous 10 neglected apartment buildings in the northwest Bronx that have been falling apart since foreclosure two years ago.

The Mayor made the announcement this morning at Our Lady Of Angels Church, on Webb Avenue in Kingsbridge Heights, before a crowd of Milbank tenants and organizers from the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, who have been fighting for almost a year to draw the city's attention to the deteriorating buildings (here's a short summary for some background.)

The new "Proactive Preservation" program will essentially allow the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to more aggressively identify and inspect distressed properties, intervening to make repairs if necessary, in the hopes of preventing another Milbank scenario from taking place.

"While the work our housing inspectors do is very good, it can sometimes be too little, too late, or both," Bloomberg said.

HPD Will Now Be "Proactive" in Repairing Milbank Buildings

Just a little followup to Greg's post below, about HPD's promise for extensive inspections and emergency repairs on the Milbank properties, a portfolio of crumbling Bronx apartments that went into foreclosure in 2009.

As Greg said, HPD Commissioner Rafael Cestero and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said today that the city will more aggressively address Milbank's plight by making thorough inspections, issuing violations and starting repairs on the most health-threatening problems, like apartments with lead paint in them.

Cestero, who took a tour of three of the buildings this week with tenant leaders and organizers from the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, said the conditions are some of the worst he's ever seen.

"I have to say, in my 21 years working in the affordable housing industry in this great city, I have never been more shocked, angered and frustrated," he told reporters on a conference call this morning.

HPD normally sends out inspectors to look at an apartment when someone lodges a housing complaint with 311. But officials said today that taking this "proactive" approach with Milbank--going in to make an inspection in an apartment even if no one has complained about it yet--will make the difference in turning the buildings around.

"That should send a message to any potential buyer," Quinn said. "HPD is going to be on the owner 24/7."

HPD Increasing its Role in the Milbank Buildings

Crain's has a new article about HPD's increased role in the 10 Milbank building portfolio out this afternoon.

While the headline, "City takes control of rehabs of 10 Bronx buildings" may exaggerate slightly, HPD is promising roof to cellar inspections and is sending out its Emergency Repair Program unit to make repairs. Equally important, they are sending a forceful message to potential buyers of the buildings that they are going to be intensely involved with the buildings for the foreseeable future.
 

To fill in a gap in the story, the building tours HPD went on earlier this week were organized by the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition.

Finally, at least two out of three other Milbank buildings that are part of a separate financing package (originally with Dime of Williamsburgh) have gone into foreclosure. Dime had already sold the debt on the buildings to 1026-30 Woodycrest Debt LLC and 1535 Taylor Debt LLC, both with addresses listed under the law firm Kriss and Feuerstein LLP. There is no indication on ACRIS of whether the mortgages were sold at a discount.

Foreclosure actions were filed against 1030 Woodycrest Ave and 1535 Taylor Ave at the beginning of October for $1,519,229 and $1,921,345 respectively. A third building, 828 Courtlandt Ave, isn’t listed in our foreclosure listings yet, but it also had its debt sold to the same outfit.

In a bizarre move, the California Business Bank recently provided Milbank an additional nearly $2.5 million dollars of financing on these three properties on October 1st. One has to wonder if the bank knows what it is getting itself into.

Tenants Hold Prayer Vigil; Demand Change

Residents at a portfolio of foreclosed and dilapidated buildings hold candles at a prayer vigil last night. (Photo by Jeanmarie Evelly)

Tenants from ten crumbling Bronx buildings gathered in the courtyard of 2770 Kingsbridge Terrace last night for a an emotional candlelit prayer vigil, fed up with conditions in apartments that many describe as unlivable. Their homes have been in foreclosure proceedings for over a year after private equity firm Milbank Real Estate defaulted on its $35 million mortgage.

"We shouldn't have to live like this," said Sergio Cuevas, whose apartment at 2785 Sedgwick Ave. is plagued by leaks, mold and rotting floors. "I don't invite anyone over to my home."

His neighbor, Chuck Davie, says he won't let his four-year-old son use their bathroom because the mold is so severe. He showers every morning at Bally's Gym to avoid using his leaky bathtub at home.

The vigil was held just hours after a Bronx Supreme Court judge ordered LNR Property LLC, the servicer to the loan that oversees the portfolio of buildings, to pay $2.5 million within the next 30 days on repairs. Housing advocates hailed the decision as a milestone step.

"As far as I know, this is the first decision of this kind," said Jonathan Levy of Legal Services-NYC, which filed a motion on behalf of the tenants to hold LNR or Wells Fargo, the bank that serves as the trustee on the mortgage, financially responsible for fixing the buildings.

City Council Releases Report on Milbank's Woes

Council Speaker Christine Quinn at City Hall last week, announcing a new strategy to deal with distressed buildings like Milbank's (Photo by Jeanmarie Evelly)

Members of City Council and a number of housing advocacy groups unveiled a plan last Thursday to deal with the city's growing number of distressed, overleveraged properties--including 10 Bronx apartment buildings owned by Milbank Real Estate, which have been in worsening states of disrepair since the company went into foreclosure on the properties last year.

The program will elicit the help of pro-bono engineers and architects to assess the damage in properties like Milbank's so that tenants can have a detailed list of their building's problems, and better hold landlords accountable for making repairs.

"We believe it's important for residents to be armed, so they can advocate for their own solutions," said Andrew Reicher, executive director of the Urban Homestead Housing Board, which has been working with Milbank tenants for the past several months.

The first property survey, done by Baer Architect Group and the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, is a nightmarish list of 3,300 housing violations in the 10 Milbank's properties, which are scattered throughout the northwest Bronx. The study confirms what tenants have long been saying.

Complaints include leaking walls and ceilings, broken elevators, rotting floors and months without a working toilet in some apartments. It calculated that the cost of repairs for all the buildings could add up to over $24 million.

"It's reprehensible," said Charlene Barton, who lives in one of the properties at 1576 Taylor Avenue, and says she's been fighting a mold infestation for almost a year. "Why manage a building if you're not going to take care of it?"

Tenant Activists: HPD Must Block Sale of Milbank Buildings to Mystery Buyer

Milbank Memo

The Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition fired off a memo to HPD Commissioner Rafael Cestero earlier today, asking that he block a mystery buyer's attempts to purchase 10 rundown apartment buildings.

The memo, which is also signed by several of the buildings' tenants associations, warns:

Every indication is that these buildings are being purchased for the sum of $ 35,000,000, the original cost of the mortgage. We view this as an unsustainable sum that will produce further deterioration of these properties.

The buildings, which combined have 3,336 housing violations, were previously owned by Milbank Real Estate, a private equity firm which defaulted on its loan.

For background see here, here, and here.

Tenants in Rundown Creston Ave. Building Demand Action

VIDEO: Standing in her living room, Vanessa Santiago describes conditions inside her apartment

Last night, Creston Avenue resident Vanessa Santiago fought back tears as she spoke to reporters and local politicians about the litany of problems inside her basement apartment.

When it rains, she said, water seeps under her front door and into the living room, meaning she can't have furniture. There are holes in the walls and ceilings, she continued, and mice, cockroaches and other bugs are a common sight for her, her husband, and her five kids. Her toilet doesn't work properly, neither do the faucets in the bathroom sink, and most of the electrical sockets in the two-bedroom apartment are broken. The list goes on.
"My kids cannot keep living like this," Santiago sobbed.

Making matters worse, her apartment - and the 32 other units in the building - have been without cooking gas since June.

Tenants recently began meeting with organizers from the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition. Last night, tenants and organizers hung banners ("SAVE OUR HOMES" "OUR CHILDREN ARE SICK" "HPD WHERE R U?) from the fire escapes, and held a press conference to bring attention to their plight.

Last night's press conference. The landlord had the banners torn down this morning, tenants activists said. (Photo by Alma Watkins)

The building, at 2229 Creston Ave. in South Fordham, has 270 housing violations, an exorbitant number for its size. 

Tenants say the landlord, Treetop Management, a real estate company in New Jersey which uses the name 2229 Creston Partners LLC for the Creston building, has consistently failed to maintain the apartments, and that HPD is also at fault.  According to NY1, HPD recently made $30,000 worth of emergency repairs - but you wouldn't know it.

Maria Ramos, a first floor tenant, has a huge hole in her kitchen ceiling, after workmen visited in June to inspect the apartment's gas fixtures. Problem is, they never returned to repair it, and now rats are sneaking in.  In her living room a plastic tub collects murky water dripping from another hole in the ceiling, where a lightbulb would normally be. In her bathroom the toilet no longer flushes.

"We're human beings, not animals," Ramos said.

After touring several apartments, Assemblyman Nelson Castro described the conditions as "really horrible."  The building "needs to be repaired ASAP," he said. 

Castro said his office has reached out to HPD and has tried, without success, to contact the landlord.  (We, also, were unable to immediately reach the landlord.)

As they continue to wait for repairs, tenants are considering their next steps.  If help doesn't come soon, Santiago said, she and her family are heading to a homeless shelter.

Other tenants are considering a rent strike, a tenant organizer said.

VIDEO: Jose Santiago, Vanessa's husband, in the family's bathroom

Bronx News Roundup, Aug. 13

TV personality Regis Philbin, who grew up in Pelham Parkway, has spoken out against the removal of 87 trees along the parkway.  Here's the video. 

Police are investigating a murder in Wakefield. The victim, who was not carrying ID and wouldn't tell cops who shot him, died at Jacobi Medical Center early this morning.

Tenant activists, including some from the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, rallied outside Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's midtown offices yesterday, to demand that they take responsibility for their role in the predatory equity crisis and displacement of hundreds of Bronx tenants.

Ireland will get a glimpse of a Bronx high school this fall when former Bronx teacher Nilaja Sun's OBIE award-winning production "No Child" hits the Dublin Theatre Festival.

Bronx basketball stars, Dennis Green, Daniel Dingle, Deonte Houston, and Mussa Kone, will take on the Brooklyn team for the Battle of Boroughs semifinal of the World Basketball Festival at Rucker Park in Harlem starting at 3 p.m. today. After the game, a select group of high school stars will play a team from China.

After he was charged with misdemeanor assault and five other offenses at a Bronx District Attorney's office yesterday, David W. Johnson, and aide of Gov. David A. Paterson, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment.

A new shopping center is coming to Hunts Point. 

The principal of Christopher Columbus High School, a Bronx school slated for closure, has plans to save it by converting it into a charter school.

Espada's Town Hall Meeting Rescheduled

[Ed. note: this post has been updated from its original version.]

The town hall-style meeting at Church of the Mediator featuring State Senator Pedro Espada, Jr., which had drawn the attention of pro-tenant housing advocates who were planning to hold a protest outside of the meeting, has been rescheduled because of safety concerns, said Diego Delgado-Miller, the head pastor of the Kingsbridge area church.

A new date has not yet been determined, Delgado-Miller said.

When asked why the church had decided to reschedule the meeting, Delgado-Miller offered a short chuckle as if he was amused by all the attention the meeting was receiving. "We wanted to make sure it was more secure, more peaceful," he said. "We wanted people to feel safe."

Activists from the Real Rent Reform campaign, which includes several pro-tenant housing groups, including the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition and Housing Here and Now, had planned to protest outside of the church because the meeting was limited to an invite-only crowd and they wanted to highlight Espada's inaction on several key pieces of pro-tenant housing legislation.

Delgado-Miller said he had invited Espada to speak at his church, "Because I wanted to people to know him and what he is doing."

Michael McKee of Housing Here and Now also wanted people to know what Espada is doing, or not doing, as Chairman of the Senate's housing committee.  "He has bottled every single one of our housing bills in his housing committee," he said.

Earlier today, Espada's chief of staff, Alex Diaz, told the Daily News that they needed to limit the town hall participants to those who had registered because of space concerns.

McKee said it was because Espada only likes to participate in events that he can "tightly control" and where he can hand-pick the audience.

Espada just sent out an angry press release about the postponement. "The meeting will be rescheduled for those who registered to attend so their questions can be answered and their concerns addressed in the civil environment that was intended," he said in the release. [Update: these quotes were technically sent out in a joint statement by Espada and Diego-Miller.]

He went on to denounce the protesters as "political rabble-rousers" -- "the same people who are paid a small stipend and a food voucher to some cheap restaurant to appear at events to disrupt, spit on people, use obscene language, intimidate and push people around."

Indeed some of the protesters, including McKee (who said he was about to get on the 1-Train before learning of the cancellation) are from outside of the community, but many were from the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, which is made up of local volunteer activists, most all of whom are from Espada's 33rd District.

McKee said it is actually Espada who buses in and pays people -- such as employees and patients of his Soundview health clinics -- to show up at his events.

Espada is running for re-election this fall. 

We'll have more on this later. Stay Tuned.

Advocates Want Vacant Army Center Used to Free Up School Space

It’s a game of musical buildings in School District 10.

One of the most crowded districts in the city, parents and advocates have been trying for years to have new school space built at the Kingsbridge Armory Annex, a cluster of buildings on West 195th St. For that to happen, the building’s current tenants—the National Guard—would have to move. Organizers have suggested what they see as a perfect new home for the military units: a now-vacate building in Wakefield known as the Muller Army Reserve Center.

But there’s a catch. The Muller Center, at 555 Nereid Ave., is subject to the Base Reassignment and Closure, or BRAC, process—a federally mandated procedure for closing excess military bases and transitioning them for community use. The process requires that priority be given to the needs of the homeless in the area, making it a possibility that the Muller building could be used as a shelter, an idea community members are resistant to.

“I don’t see any way it could benefit the community,” said Father Richard Gorman, chairperson for Community Board 12. There are already two homeless housing projects in the works in this Wakefield neighborhood, he added, saying the area doesn’t need any additional sites.

Gorman said the proposal to move the National Guard into the facility would be a “win-win” for the neighborhood, as it would be an appropriate use for the building and would simultaneously free up space at the Armory Annex for much-needed schools.

A decision on the Muller Center has been delayed by the city, he said.

The building’s future is in the hands of a Local Redevelopment Authority (LRA)—a panel comprised of the Bronx Borough President and two deputy mayors from Mayor Bloomberg’s Administration.

A spokesman from the city’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC), which began accepting Notices of Intent from community groups for use of the building last year, said that no decision has been made yet about the center's future. The deadline was pushed back 270 days to December 15th, according to the spokesman, because the LRA is still reviewing its applications.

Liseth Pérez Almeida, press secretary for Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., who serves as the Chairman of the LRA, said the Borough President is behind the community's efforts to free up space at the Armory.

“The BP strongly supports using it to house the National Guard units from the Armory to facilitate development of schools,” she wrote.

But the National Guard will have to compete with two community groups who are also vying for the space. An article in the New York Daily News last fall reported that the Doe Fund and the South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation (SoBro) were petitioning to use the site.

The Doe Fund, a Manhattan-based non-profit that runs a work readiness program and supportive housing for the homeless, said it could not comment on whether or not it had applied.

Phillip Morrow, SoBro’s president and CEO, said the group had indeed submitted an application for the building in response to the EDC’s Requests for Proposals, but that they hadn’t heard anything about it since.

“You probably know about as much as we do,” Morrow said. “It’s sort of fallen off our radar.”

SoBro had proposed using the space to build a Challenger Center—a mock space shuttle that children could use to learn about the science and technology behind space travel. The rest of the building, he said, would be used as permanent housing for the homeless, which SoBro included in the plan to align itself with the EDC’s request. SoBro has since started looking for other buildings to house their space center.

The EDC spokesman said there will be a public hearing, followed by a period for public comment on the reuse plan and homeless assistance submission, before a decision is made by the end of the year. Dates have not yet been set.

Backed By Bronx Activists, A 'Small Victory' for Edda Lopez

Edda Lopez Speaks at Rally from Alex Kratz on Vimeo.

[Update, 5:55 p.m., Tuesday: Spoke earlier today with Justin Haines, Lopez's lawyer. My brain still hurts. This thing is a million times more complex than I thought, but this post will at least give you an idea of what's going on here. We'll have a more fleshed out version of the story in next week's Norwood News. Also, apologies to Councilman Fernando Cabrera, who we left out of the first draft of this post. Cabrera, who showed up with at least two staff members -- Greg Faulkner and Zellnor Myrie -- said he canceled an event to be there and spoke at the rally.]

Everything was going great for Edda Lopez 15 years ago. You could say she was living the American Dream here in the Bronx. She had a good job, a good husband and a family. She became a homeowner.

But her world quickly began to crumble (see video above), starting with the death of her husband from diabetes complications. Soon, she became ill herself and eventually lost her job.

In an effort to keep her home, Lopez attempted to refinance her mortgage, but says she was swindled by a mortgage broker into accepting a so-called "balloon" mortgage. The monthly loan payments eventually ballooned to the point where she couldn't keep up with them, although she continued to make partial payments.

Recently, Lopez took advantage of a new federal program called the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), which gives banks incentive to modify the terms of loans in order to make them more affordable for homeowners like Lopez.

Despite keeping up with her new payment plan, Lopez found out from Bank of America (which owns her mortgage) that her house was going up for sale and that she would be evicted in just two weeks. She says she had only found out because she called the bank for another reason.

That's when leaders of her church, New Day, teamed up with organizers and activists from the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition to fight her eviction. They enlisted the help of lawyers from the Legal Aid Society, Councilman Fernando Cabrera, the Borough President's Office and staffers from Congressman Jose E. Serrano's office and then organized a rally in front of the Bank of America on the corner of Fordham Road and Valentine Avenue, last Thursday afternoon. (Watch video of New Day Pastor Doug Cunningham at the rally below.)


Doug Cunningham at B of A Rally from Alex Kratz on Vimeo.

Before the rally even began, a Bank of America vice president in North Carolina, called Lopez's lawyer, Justin Haines, and said they were not familiar with the loan modification terms or Lopez's payment history as the bank had only acquired it (when it acquired Wilshire Credit Corporation) in March. Haines also said they wanted to set up a meeting to talk about the terms of the loan, which local Coalition activist Jospeh Ferdinand hailed as "small victory."

“Bank if America is the new loan service, so they have to get up to date with all the cases that Wilshire left them with,” Haines said at the rally. Haines said that, unfortunately, homeowners like Lopez who are facing swift eviction with little notice or understanding is not uncommon. Fortunately, he said, Lopez had the support of local organizations like her church and the Coalition and elected officials.

Brad German, a spokesperson for Freddie Mac, said Bank of America should have had all of Lopez's loan information and payment history in a file provided by the previous lender.

Bank of America could not immediately be reached for comment.

Banks Get A Bronx Cheer At Wall Street Rally

The protestors, pictured here on Broadway not far from City hall, eventually made their way to Wall Street (Photo: J. Fergusson) 

Several thousand people descended on Wall Street last Thursday to denounce the nation’s leading banks who they believe caused the economic crisis, and to demand that the US Senate pass financial reform.

"Because we are one country, when greed runs amok on Wall Street, it means lost jobs and shuttered stores on Main Street," Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, a federation of labor unions and one of the event's organizers, told the crowd.

School Rally Calls for Solution to Overcrowding

Bronx students who say their schools are too crowded fight for space in the Kingsbridge Armory.

Community groups and elected officials rallied on the steps of the Bronx County Courthouse yesterday to draw attention to the issue of overcrowding in Bronx schools.

Students from Sistahs and Brothas United, a youth group associated with the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, held up Easter-themed signs, saying this spring could be a “rebirth” for education in the Bronx.

For years, community organizations have been fighting to secure space for new schools on West 195th street, near the sprawling, long-vacant Kingsbridge Armory. The neighborhood is part of school district 10, which comprises most of the Northwest Bronx and is one of the most crowded districts in the city.

Fatima Daffen, a senior at DeWitt Clinton High School who attended the rally, said it isn’t unusual for students to fight over seats in a classroom or for teachers to run out of books.

“Just getting inside the building is a hassle, there’s so many people,” said Daffen.

Diaz Calls Economic Development Fight at Armory ‘A New Civil Rights Movement’

Bronx B.P. Diaz delighted the crowd with his demand for living wage jobs at the Armory.
(All photos by Adi Talwar)

Speaking before a crowd of at least 1,000 people who mobbed the gym floor at St. Nicholas of Tolentine School last Sunday, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. said the battle for living wages jobs at the Kingsbridge Armory was the beginning of a movement for economic justice in the borough, calling it “our new revolution here, our new civil rights movement.”

The Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition organized the forum, called “A Blueprint for the Bronx,” to lay out their agenda on a broad range of issues at the federal, state, and city level, including immigration reform, universal healthcare, vacancy decontrol, and overcrowded schools. But most of the crowd said they were there to support community efforts to ensure living wage jobs and school space at the Kingsbridge Armory.

People came from all over the Bronx, and many came straight from church. They arrived singing hymns in English and Spanish and carrying homemade signs and banners with the name of their congregations. Many arrived on buses organized by their church.

"We're protesting about the armory. We want to make the decision about what goes in the armory," like a school, said Greg Miller, who came on a bus with, he estimated, 60 other people from Walker Memorial Baptist Church on East 169th Street. "We have enough stores around here," he said.

"We don't need any more stores in the Bronx," agreed Idrena Adams of the East Bronx, who came with members of her congregation from St. James Church nearby. "We want better jobs, better pay."

A group from University Heights Presbyterian Church arrived and stood outside singing hallelujah and clapping as they waited to sing in and enter the gym. Rev. Brenda Berry said they had come "In support of the Armory project, to fight for full-time jobs for the Bronx and a whole new focus on what the Bronx needs." She was expecting 100 members of her congregation to show up.

The Tolentine gym was filled to capacity.

Inside, people packed the gym in the basement of the Tolentine Church, filling folding chairs, bleachers, and standing along the walls, waving small flags that read "Blueprint for the Bronx." Signs on the walls said, "Say no way to poverty pay!" and "Save our jobs! Vote No!"

Up on stage, elected officials and clergy members sat facing the audience, and for two hours, NWBCC organizers, local clergy, and local elected officials spoke, interspersed with music, dance, and a poetry recital. Members of the NWBCC pulled elected officials up to the microphone and asked them to answer straight on the coalition's agenda, ranging from banking reform to, of course, the armory.

Switching back and forth between Spanish and English for the benefit of the crowd, Diaz focused on the Armory, and what he called, "our new revolution here, our new civil rights movement."

"I want to do business in the Bronx,” Diaz said, [but] “it is not radical to simply say, a) we should protect surrounding businesses and b) we should have jobs and living wages," Diaz said. ""You want to do business, we can do business. But business has to be good for everybody. "

‘Bronx has my back!’

Diaz added that the political pressure on him to support the deal with Related before a community benefits agreement has been signed has been intense. "But I know the Bronx has my back!" he shouted, bringing the crowd to its feet in a din of cheers and whistles.

After his speech, Diaz told the Bronx News Network he didn't yet have the support of the full Bronx delegation in the City Council, which will vote on the project next month. "If Related does not want to negotiate, I will ask the City Council to vote no," he said, adding that he had a three-hour breakfast with the Bronx delegation on Saturday. But, he said, "I'm not willing to guarantee that the entire delegation is together" right now.

Diaz said the vote earlier this month at the City Planning Commission, in which two other borough presidents directed their representatives to vote with him against the plan, was encouraging: "I think the tone is changing,” he said. “I think they [Related] realize we have a lot of support outside the borough."

As for the Council members present at the forum, Joel Rivera, the Council’s majority leader who represents the 15th District, promised to vote no on the project unless Related negotiates with KARA. Asked about her position when she left the meeting, Melinda Katz of Queens, who chairs the Council’s Land Use Committee, was noncommittal. “I’m here to support the Coalition,” she said.

[We were not able to approach Councilman Oliver Koppell, who represents the northwest Bronx and has long taken an interest in the Armory, and Robert Jackson of Manhattan for their positions before they left.

Council Member Maria Baez, who was defeated for reelection in the September primary and will leave office at the end of this year, was not in attendance, even though Tolentine and the armory are in her district.]

March to the Armory

After the forum, the remains of the crowd marched to the Kingsbridge Armory, breaking into intermittent shouts of "Si, se puede!" and "Yes, we can!"

Queens councilman Tony Avella, chair of the City Council's Zoning & Franchises committee, turned up to tell the crowd, "Until you get what you want, I'm voting no."

Councilman Tony Avella of Queens spoke to the crowd at the Armory.

As the crowd dispersed, NWBCC organizers passed out small 'prayer cards' with residents' wishes for the armory written on them, for protesters to tie to the armory fence.

As she fastened a string of the prayer cards to the fence, Anne Gibbons, a Kingsbridge resident who came with members of her congregation at New Day Church, said she was hopeful that momentum was building around the issue. "This could be the start of a new direction across the city," she said, when elected officials "take a political risk in favor of the people for a change."

--This story was reported and written by Rachel Waldholz.

Bronx News Roundup, Oct. 16

At a hearing in Manhattan on Wednesday, a slew of Bronxites, including several representatives from the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, urged the Federal Reserve and the government in general to do more to help struggling homeowners.

A front page story in the NY Times about the tribulations of the housing and organizing group, Acorn, starts off with former city housing commissioner Shaun Donovan praising the group for its work on a South Bronx affordable housing development. Lots of interesting stuff in this article, including its ties to the Working Families Party, which has wielded a lot of political clout in Bronx and city races this fall.

Here's the Stella D'oro cookie factory closing story from the workers' side. Here's the story from business/owners' side.

The state released its September unemployment figures yesterday. The Bronx unemployment rate jumped one-tenth of a percentage point to 13.3 percent. The overal city unemployment also jumped one-tenth of a point to 10.3 percent. The state rate is 8.9 percent.

A Bronx woman is suing a Manhattan club for excluding her because of her race.

The Bronx's JFK High School girl volleyball team improved to 6-0 this year.

DeWitt Clinton's football squad is ranked 8th in the city, according to the latest poll in the NY Post. Clinton play rival JFK, at JFK, this afternoon at 5 pm.

Wet Festival at Williamsbridge Oval

The Williamsbridge Oval Festival took place last Saturday, Aug 22nd. The event was sponsered by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz.

With a mind of its own the weather tried to throw a wet blanket on the festivities. Spirited Norwood residents still went ahead and had a good time. The Shameless Manipulators played groovy music till the rain came to crash the party. While the band and the audience ran for cover, children and some adults ran out into the rain. Next Ibrahim Gonzalez and his Latin jazz band performed on the dry steps of the Park House. Between the rain and dry spells Loony Toony the clown kept the children busy and entertained. I made these photographs trying to keep my camera dry. I hope you enjoy them.

End Game at Kingsbridge Armory; And Hey, What About Schools?

Tonight formally opens the public review known as the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) as Community Board 7 convenes a required public hearing on the redevelopment of the Kingsbrige Armory. The meeting starts at 6:30 at Lehman College. Click here for details. The Board itself will vote (which is only advisory) on July 14.

But this is closer to the end of a long saga than the beginning of a land use battle. The Norwood News has been writing about this issue for 16 years (here's a link to archive of Norwood News armory stories dating back to 1998). I began writing about it as a freelancer for the Norwood News in 1993 when the National Guard first vacated the main building (the head house and drill hall) and then-District 10 Superintendent John Rehill proposed turning the entire facility into an education complex.

If you're new to the subject, this overview in the New York Observer covers most of the essential issues and conflicts, the main one being the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance's demand that retailers at the development pay workers a "living wage." Alex Kratz wrote about the living wage issue in the Norwood News a couple of months ago.

Speaking of the living wage issue, three pastors involved with KARA penned an op-ed in the latest issue of the Norwood News (will hit the streets and the Web by tomorrow morning) calling on Community Board 7 to vote no on the Related Plan since it doesn't include a living wage provision.

Meanwhile, Community Board 7 chair Greg Faulkner has indicated that the Board will probably vote for the Related proposal with conditions. He feels that's the only way to have leverage with Related when a Community Benefits Agreement gets crafted. If they just vote no, he believes the developer will just move on to the next level of review and ignore the community.

What everyone seems to agree on is that this massive landmark shouldn't be redeveloped into just a shopping mall and that a big chunk of community space should be in the final plan. Though the Rehill fantasy of transforming the facility into a giant complex of public schools obviously never materialized, getting public schools into the mix was a driving force for local parent activists. The Armory, after all, is at Ground Zero for the worst crowding in District 10, which in turn has long been the second or third most crowded district in the city. Three short blocks away, kids at PS 246 are still crammed into classes that were designed as dormitory rooms in a home for the blind. Somehow they've managed to fend off the portable classroom craze that has sucked up almost every other school yard in the district.

Foor a long time, it seemed that while schools wouldn't be allowed inside the armory (the Landmarks Commission definitely wouldn't have allowed developers to punch holes in the facade to allow for the necessary light, etc.) the annex buildings and the property they're on behind the armory could accommodate two or three public schools. It was a major priority for the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition until the Department of Education poured cold water on the ideas more than a year ago.

The RFP (request for proposals) didn't include the annex buildings behind the armory because the Guard still occupied them. But it seems like the Guard may have a new home in Wakefield. Schools at the Armory may happen after all -- but probably only if KARA brings as much heat to this issue as they have to the living wage.

We'll be there tonight. So will peace activist Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary fame -- who Community Board 7 has enlisted to attend. Stay tuned. We'll have frequent updates on the blog in the coming days and weeks.