Bronx News Roundup, July 26

Weather: Sunny and in the mid-80s today.

Story of the Day: Are Bronx Subway Stations the Ickiest?
A new report out of the MTA found that the Bronx's many subway stations are the dirtiest  in the city, plagued by garbage, leaks and rodents. MTA board member Charles Moerdler, who lives in Riverdale, told his fellow board members that some local stations were in such bad shape they could be condemned, a sentiment echoed by Borough President Diaz who says the Bronx is tired of waiting for much-needed station renovations.

Which made us want to ask you, our dear readers: what do you think is grimiest subway station in the Boogie Down? Where would you most like to see a makeover? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Bronx Crime Watch: Police Seek Attempted Robbery Suspects

Police released this surveillance video of two men trying to rob a parking garage attendant in the South Bronx last month.



The two suspects, one armed with a knife, entered the garage at 260 E. 143 St. on April 24, shuffling with and stabbing the attendant in the torso. The victim was treated at Lincoln Hospital and later released.

Anyone with information in regards to this attempted robbery is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS. The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers Website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or texting their tips to 274637(CRIMES) then enter TIP577.

New Children's Health Center Opens in the South Bronx

Employees from the Children's Hospital at Montefiore and Children's Health Fund, along with elected officials, cut the ribbon on their new site on Monday. (Photo by Monika Graff)

A medical clinic that will focus on the effects of stress on childrens' health opened in the South Bronx on Monday, at 890 Prospect Ave.

The Center for Child Health and Resilience is the joint effort of the Children's Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center and Children's Health Fund, a pediatric mobile healthcare provider for low-income families.

According to a  press release, the clinic will look to address health disparities that affect South Bronx children--including high rates of obesity and diabetes--by trying to manage stress factors that lead to such  health problems over the long term. Services like parent education programs and stress management workshops will be offered in addition to regular doctor visits.

Bronx Sports Update: HS Tourney Update; Monroe Teams Eye Nationals (Updated)

Monroe's Jeff Early

Quick update from the BxNN sports desk (which is shockingly close to the BxNN crime desk):

Both the men's and women's basketball teams from Monroe College -- strong junior college programs that routinely graduate players to bigger basketball programs -- took care of business last weekend and will be playing for births into the national junior college tournament this weekend.

Both teams will be tested on the road. The Lady Mustangs travel to Scranton, PA to take on Lackawana College, while the male 'Stangs, led by guard Jeff Early (pictured), will be in Maryland taking on a Hagerstown Community College team that defeated them earlier this year in double overtime.

Apparently, you can follow the games live on CyberSports USA. (UPDATE: The men's game, which starts at 1 p.m. Saturday, will also be streamed live on the website for Hagerstown radio station 1240 AM WJEJ. Click on the link on upper left-hand side of the home page.)

After a week off, the PSAL high school playoffs resumed last night. The Bronx fared decently.

Walton, which we wrote about last Friday, saw its championship dreams die after enduring a tough 60-64 loss to fifth-seeded High School for Graphic Arts Communication in Manhattan.

Meanwhile, DeWitt Clinton, Evander Childs, South Bronx and Alfred E. Smith all moved into the round of 16. Clinton and South Bronx face off at the Mott Haven Campus gym tomorrow night. Evander has the pleasure of meeting top-seeded Midwood on Midwood's home court, while Smith draws Brooklyn Collegiate at home.

In tonight's action, third-seeded Christopher Columbus hosts Manhattan's High School for Environmental Studies and Bronx Science stays home for its match against New Dorp High School. Both games start at 5 p.m. If both win, as expected, the Bronx will have six spots in the Sweet 16.

Bronx News Roundup, Feb. 15

We'll get to a few news links in a minute, but first I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about why you should click on this link right here and pledge your support to the nonprofit Bronx News Network today. You may have noticed we didn't post a roundup yesterday. It broke my heart, but it had to be done and it was not just because I spent a large chunk of my day out on the streets delivering the Norwood News, a BxNN affiliate, in my car.

We're taking this last week of our annual fund-raising appeal to remind you why we're here and to ask for your support in keeping this valuable Bronx resource going and growing. Just like how NPR puts on an annual pledge drive to ask people to financially back "listener-supported" radio, we're doing our pledge drive to enlist your help in backing reader-supported news!

Without your support, we won't be able to continue to sift through, gather, read and put all the Bronx news into an easily digestible roundup every day. Let alone produce the original reporting that tells you not just that some old Bronx lady died in a fire last week, but that the woman who died was Mary Mullen, a former teacher at PS 5 in Port Morris who lived near Poe Park for the past 30 years, ate at Louie's Dale Diner on 231st Street, worshiped at St. Philip Neri on the Concourse and dressed to the nines even after a stroke late in her life.

We can't do this for all the fire, gunshot or car accident victims, at least not yet. But, and this is our pledge to you, we will do our best.

Here's another pledge from us, just so you know you're getting something for your hard-earned money: We will follow the stories you want us to follow. All you have to do is ask -- leave a comment or send us an e-mail at bronxnewsnetwork@gmail.com -- and we'll do our best to find out what's going on. This website and our programs isn't just fueled by your dollars, but also by your suggestions, tips and desires.

Bottom line: We need your help and can not do this without you.

If you're reading this right now, for whatever reason, then please, take a minute to click on this link and donate to Bronx News Network. This is the last week we'll use this space to appeal to you, our readers, for help financially. Anything you can spare -- $5, $10, $20 -- will put us in a better position to continue our programs and grow as a nonprofit organization. Help us reach our goal and help us provide the type of news and information that makes the Bronx a better place. 

OK, now a few Bronx news links (next week we'll return to our regular roundup format, we promise):

Bronx News Roundup, June 17

The Bronx International Film Festival kicks off today (we're one of the festival sponsors). We've been posting trailers for some of the films being screened, so check back here later. And click here for more info, or to reserve tickets.

An off-duty Bridges and Tunnels cop fired his gun at a group of attackers during a road rage scuffle following an accident on the Major Deegan.

Gothamist showcases a collection of striking photographs from the LIFE image archive of the South Bronx during the early 1950s dubbed the "Bronx Slums."

Make sure you buy a ticket--and keep your recceipt--before boarding the Bx12 bus. Transit officials are cracking down on fare-beaters who've been taking advantage of the MTA's "pay at the curb" option, where tickets are purchased before riders board the bus.

The owners of a Westchester building that was the source of an oil spill in the Bronx River on June 2nd will be footing the bill for its cleanup.

The Huffington Post profiles Edda Lopez, a University Heights resident who is taking on Bank of America in a foreclosure battle (the Norwood News ran a story on Lopez earlier this month, as did this blog. Read here and here.)

The Huffington Post also chronicles, through photos, one blogger's trip to a Bronx recycling facility.

Paul DeRienzo, a South Bronx elementary school teacher, writes that charter schools--largely concentrated in the South Bronx and Harlem--could be making our school system more racially segregated.

Police are investigating two fatal stabbings that happened yesterday. 

The South Bronx has seen one of the highest jumps in subway ridership in recent years, according to a survey (the Aqueduct Racetrack stop, in Queens, has the lowest ridership, with a 72 percent drop-off over the past decade).

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.

Bronx News Roundup, Oct. 7

Jayson Stark of ESPN.com proclaims that the Yankees will win the World Series this year, after a nine-year dry spell.

Omar Freilla, a co-founder of Green Worker Cooperatives in the South Bronx gave a talk on how his organization works to cut down on pollution and promote the creation of environmental and community-based businesses at the University of Texas. Green Worker Cooperatives works with entrepreneurs in the South Bronx community to establish neighborhood businesses that reuse the waste that other industries create.

Adolfo Carrión Jr., who resigned as Bronx borough president in February to join the Obama administration as director of the new White House Office on Urban Affairs, is still keeping an eye on Bronx politics.

The Stella D’oro bakery plant in Kingsbridge will shut down within the next couple of weeks, costing 155 jobs, because the brand is being sold to Lance Snacks.

Bronx News Roundup, September 2

Yesterday, an unnamed owner of the recent Mega Millions winning lottery ticket claimed their prize of $166.5 million. The winning ticket was purchased at Fordham Grocery and Convenience Store on West Fordham Road.

As the new Gateway Mall in the South Bronx begins to open big-box stores such as Target and Home Depot this summer and fall, local residents and politicians have expressed different views on the success of the development. While some store managers in the mall are happy about their new profits, other Bronx residents, such as Bronx BP Ruben Diaz, Jr. believe that the high price of parking will drive away customers.

A new, innovative theater performance presented by the Foundry Theater Company is set on an unpredictable stage--a tour bus traveling through the South Bronx. The performance, "The Provenance of Beauty," allows the audience to view past and present South Bronx landmarks while listening to actors tell their stories of the area via headphones. Of course, the performance requires a considerable amount of improvisation due to traffic and weather conditions, but this makes each showing of "Provenance" unique. Performances are scheduled to take place on the weekends through October 25. Click here for more information and tickets.

In the past week, there has been a series of three assaults against men in Tremont. In each instance, the attackers voiced anti-Mexican slurs. On Sunday, the victim of one of the assaults, a 53-year-old man, was stabbed.

After viewing a hit-and-run incident in Pelham Bay Park, a tow-truck operator chased the driver in the accident eight miles throughout the Bronx before he succeeded in holding the driver for the police.

Protesting the Yankees: 'It's About Respect,' Activists Say

-PHOTO SLIDESHOW BY ADI TALWAR

Yesterday, a group of South Bronx activists braved the oppressive afternoon heat to re-energize a campaign to hold the Yankees baseball club accountable for promises they made to community for the right to build a new $1.5 billion stadium on public parkland.

In exchange for taking its parkland, soaking up taxpayer dollars (in the form of subsidies and tax breaks) and bringing more traffic congestion and parking woes to the area, the Yankees (and the city which backed the project) promised to provide local jobs, quickly restore parkland and give back money to community groups and programs on annual basis.

But the local jobs didn't materialize. Replacement parks haven't been built, mostly because the old stadium (where the new parks are to be built) is still standing and collecting moss. And the money, which is being dispersed through a specifically-created nonprofit fund, has been slow in getting back into the community, not to mention racked by controversey and possible corruption.

"All we're asking is that they be good neighbors," said Ramon Jimenez, one of the organizers of the protest who has helped create a short-hand friendly group called 4DSBxCoalition (For the South Bronx Coalition). "They promised everything. They have given us nothing."

Jimenez is a Harvard-educated lawyer with offices in South Bronx. Last year, Times reporter David Gonzalez wrote about how Jimenez, a longtime Bronx activist, was critical of Assemblyman and then-Democratic County Chair Jose Rivera who was facing challenges to his leadership of the party. Rivera's since been ousted as party chair and Jimenez is now back taking on the powers that be.

"We want to revitalize this whole [Yankee Stadium and the lack of community benefits] issue," Jimenez said, sweating in his suit underneath the 4-Train line on 161st Street and River Avenue, along with about 30 equally sweat-soaked supporters.

Specifically, the Jimenez and the Coalition, which held a similar protest at the new stadium in early June, want: the old stadium torn down by the end of the year; one represtentative of their organization on the advisory board that distributes the $800,000 in community funds; the replacement parks to be built safe and green (no artifical turf, they say); and for the community to share in the profits of memorabilia sold from the old stadium.

(The city sold the Yankees the rights to all the memorabilia for $11 million earlier this year. Some say this was a good deal for the city, but it's unclear if that money will go back into the community in any way. )

Hector Soto, another lawyer who helped organize the protest, said, "We're trying to re-energize a campaign that was started by the community before the stadium was even built. The issues were never addressed . . . the community has not been compensated at all."

"It's about respect," Soto said later.

The Coalition created a Web site to highlight all the Yankees' broken promises.

Others in attendance included a host of other recognizable faces, including Rafael Alequin-Martez, a blogger/activist/journalist who got into a dust up with Pedro Espada's son during the state senator's campaign last year. (Alequin-Martez refused a judge's plea offer of restitution for his busted camera and is holding out for harassment and assault charges, he says.)

Also marching with the Coalition was the dapper young City Council candidate, Carlos Sierra, who is challenging Helen Foster in the 16th District, which includes both stadiums, and Public Advocate candidate Norman Siegel. Joyce Hogi, a longtime critic of the new stadium and its gobbling of parkland, was also there. A Green Party member, Tom Syracuse, railed against the new Yankee Stadium, not to mention all the mainstream politicians who allowed it to be built.

Meanwhile, dozens of tourists, looking for a glimpse inside one of the world's most expensive sports complexes, continued to side-step the protest and enter the stadium.

Bronx News Roudup, August 3

A Bronx woman, Angela Murray, has been arrested for the murder and robbery of Guido Felix Brinkmann, a Holocaust survivor, Manhattan resident and owner of a popular nightclub in the 1970s. Police are still searching for Murray's male companion in the crime.

Monroe College graduate, Trina Thompson, is suing her college for her inability to find an appropriate job after receiving her degree in information technology. Thompson is demanding that Monroe repay her $70,000 spent on tuition because the college did not provide adequate career services. I wonder, does Thompson think she is the only college graduate struggling to find employment today?

On Saturday, a crowd of more than 150 South Bronx community members gathered to honor the late Hilton White, an inspirational community leader and basketball coach. During the celebrations, the playground where White once coached basketball was renamed Hilton White Playground and the adjacent street was renamed Hilton White Way. Many of White's protegees, including professional basketball players, doctors and lawyers, gathered at the event to reflect on White's positive influence on the neighborhood.

The New York Daily News declares Judge Sonia Sotomayor the Bronx's latest cultural icon. Her inspirational story is compared with those of other Bronxities Colin Powell and Jennifer Lopez.

Early Saturday morning police shot and killed a man on Southern Boulevard in the Bronx. The man, later identified as Oswaldo Sevilla, fired multiple shots at police before he was shot.

Bronx News Roundup, Feb. 5

With former community organizer Barack Obama now president of the United States, grass roots groups, including the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition are getting a chance to have their input heard at the highest level of government.

Bronx Assemblyman Ruben Diaz, Jr. continues to raise funds for a run at the borough presidency, though he's yet to formally declare and current B.P. Adolfo Carrion's future is still in doubt.

Carrion is rumored to be in line for a position with the new Obama administration and has also raised more than $1 million for the city Comptroller's race. If Carrion gets a job with Obama, it would lead to a special election, which could pit Diaz, Jr. against fellow Bronxite, Council Majority Leader Joel Rivera. East Bronx Councilmember Jimmy Vacca might also be in the running. Rivera froze his campaign funds a month ago, but would probably move to unfreeze them if Carrion bails for Washington.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is suing a South Bronx fertilizer company that residents have complained about for years.

More from Crain's on the massive re-zoning of South Bronx neighborhoods near 149th Street and the Grand Concourse, which could give the area a major facelift. It would essentially change the area from a manufacturing zone into more of a residential and retail hub.

Bronx News Roundup, Jan 13.

After distributing 795,883 report cards in 2008, the New York City Transit has evaluated eight subway lines, including four lines that make stops in the Bronx: the 2, 4, 5 and B (during rush hour). Most subway lines received average grades, while the 4 train received the lowest grade, a D-, for overcrowding during rush hour.

The New York Assembly committee that is currently investigating the use of millions of dollars of public funding to build the new Yankees stadium has issued subpoenas to Randy Levin, the team’s president, and Seth Pinksy, an official at the city economic development office. Levin and Pinsky are expected to testify tomorrow before the committee.

Another Bronxite comes out in favor of Caroline Kennedy.

The NYPD has released statistics reporting a drop in almost all major crime categories in the Bronx in 2008. But shooting incidents were up across the borough, with 405 total, an 8.5% increase from 2007.

Yesterday we noted the protests against the partial closing of a firehouse on City Island, housing Ladder Company 53. As a sidenote, the Daily News reports that one of the firefighters in the company is charged with 'falsely reporting fires' for orchestrating a series of fake calls to the firehouse after learning of the planned cuts.

Bob Kapstatter reminds us that the Obama Administration had better hurry up and decide whether they want Borough President Adolfo Carrion in the White House: this Thursday is the deadline to declare to the city Campaign Finance Board whether he will be running for City Controller or a third term as BP.

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's yearly "Community Health Profile" reports that the South Bronx has among the highest asthma rates in the city and the area around Morrisania has a diabetes rate twice the city average, at 16%.

A new name for the South Bronx?

The Times' David Gonzalez has an article on the City Room blog about recent efforts to re-brand parts of the South Bronx "Downtown Bronx." Not everyone, he reports, has warmed to the idea, including Bronx Congressman Jose Serrano.

“I know the South Bronx was once a bad word,” Serrano told The Times. “But it changed. Imagine you have a guy who ran into trouble when he was young but he straightened his life out. Would you change his name — unless he was in the witness protection program? So why change the name of the neighborhood?”

On a similar note, many residents, it seems, are reluctant to use the "SoBro" moniker. "SoBro just sounds awkward to me," commented one BoogieDowner reader. "Not every neighborhood can become a portmanteau. Before you know it you will be able to go from SoBro, north through MoHi, hit BePa and then end up in KiBri."

Talking of neighborhoods names, we received a press release this afternoon about a new restaurant that's opening in Manhattan on 137th Street, near 12th Avenue. That's West Harlem, right? Not according to the release. Apparently, the BODY Lounge and Restaurant is located in the "Harlem Meat Packing District."

More on congestion pricing. Serrano blasts Yankee Stadium parking "loophole" as counter productive

Now, onto some updates. In our congestion pricing story, we noted that Helen Foster was the only Bronx council member not to vote for the plan because she was absent. Well, it turns out she was in Vegas attending a mysterious "family" event. She meant to get back, she said, but her plane was delayed. It also turns out that she was vehemently against congestion pricing and would have been the only Bronx CM to vote against the plan.

Here's a few snippets from Foster's press release: "It is clear that asthma, traffic pollution, congestion, and transportation infrastructure are problems that need to be addressed...While congestion pricing may help with downtown Manhattan congestion, it may well transfer congestion and higher asthma rates to the South Bronx...I am disappointed that the Council passed congestion pricing, but I am still hoping that the Legislature and the Governor will reject the measure."

Furthermore, Foster says: "Experience shows that asthma and truck traffic did not seem to concern the Mayor and other elected officials when they approved the construction of the new Yankee Stadium."

Speaking of Yankee Stadium, State Senator Jose M. Serrano, who shares constituents with Foster, sent out a letter last night to the Mayor and media saying he supported congestion pricing, but worried that a loophole concerning the new Yankee Stadium parking garages might defeat the whole purpose of congestion pricing -- reducing congestion and pollution from cars commuting into the city.

For now, the stadium's parking garages are only open on game days, 81 days a year. But apparently the Yankees may be able to open up the garages year round, possibly turning it into what Serrano called a "park and ride" for commuters and a parking destination for people working in the South Bronx who normally use mass transit.

"Expanding commuter parking defeats the purpose and spirit of congestion pricing, the whole point of which is to encourage commuters to leave their cars at home and to enhance mass transit. "

Serrano said a decision on the new parking lots will be made by the city in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, the state legislature is wrangling with the congestion pricing beast as we speak. It will be interesting to see if Serrano makes a stand against congestion pricing if the Yankee Stadium loophole remains open.