Bronx News Roundup, April 10

Happy Friday everyone. Not a whole lot in the way of Bronx news out there today, but a couple of must-read stories. 

Here's a lovely northwest Bronx story from the NY Times: A group of 32 PS 86 (Kingsbridge Heights) students are heading to Germany after spending the year studying the Holocaust. 

And this fantastic column by the Daily News' Juan Gonzalez about how the city and the Yankees are allowing the community to suffer while making every effort to make sure the stadium was done on time and in grand fashion. I want to quote Gonzalez's indictment, because it gets right to the very heart of the story, which we've followed and trumpeted in this space with our "Tear Down Yankee Stadium" campaign:

"Somehow, the new stadium has opened on time, the new Yankee garages are on schedule and the new Metro-North station is done. [The station actually won't open until mid-May]  

"Only when it comes to replacing the community's lost parkland are huge delays acceptable to the Yankees and Mayor Bloomberg's people. After all, its just thousands of poor black and Hispanics who will suffer." 

[Blog note: Check back here every Wednesday for updates on the Yankee Stadium replacement parks and other news about the club's often contentious relationship to the community. And later today, reporter Graham Kates will write about the team's rough start to the season (though looks like they won yesterday).]

A little sports news from Five Boro Sports. Bronx Science pulled out a crucial victory earlier this week to keep pace in the Bronx A division.

The Columbia Spectator writes about the Bronx Art Museum's Grand Concourse exhibit. 

Finally, the Spectator writes that Salsa is making a comeback. 

Replacement Park Spin

Just heard from Geoffrey Croft of New York City Park Advocates who says the Parks Department asked media to tour some of the "replacement parks" that were supposedly being renovated/constructed to mitigate the impact of the new Yankee Stadium being built on top of city parkland.

Croft says the parks they showed off were not part of replacement park plan at all. Needless to say, he's a little disgusted with city's "spin" efforts.

We should find some more about this and other park and river issues today at the Bronx Council on Environmental Quality's annual water conference today.

In fact, I need to run to get there.

As Stadium Rises, Neighbors Wait for Replacement Parks

In 2005, the city said it would cost $116 million to replace two parks swallowed up by the new Yankee Stadium. As of last week, that figure had shot up to $195, some of which has yet to be explained.

Another concern - a more immediate one for local residents - is that the replacement parks won't open for some time, because of construction delays. Meanwhile, the stadium is expected to be finished ahead of schedule. Jose de Jesus, a high school student in the Norwood News' youth journalism program, has the story.