BxNN Story of the Day: Mural Project Brightens Hunts Point

Bright, colorful  murals are lighting the way from some of Hunts Point's most industrial blocks to other parts of the community. The Point CDC is overseeing the project, called a "Village of Murals" to "brighten the route from residential Hunts Point to the South Bronx Greenway and Barretto Point Park."  (Photo by Alejandra Delfin)

Read more here in the Hunts Point Express.

Bronx News Roundup, July 21

Veterans at the Bronx Veterans Affairs Hospital, in Kingsbridge, are learning to channel their post-war tension into music as volunteers teach them to play musical instruments.

Ruben Diaz Jr., ex-Yankees Roy White and Darryl Strawberry and Yankees scout Cesar Prescott, gathered to remember late team owner George Steinbrenner before a baseball tournament on Randall’s Island yesterday.

Don Coquí, an authentic Puerto Rican restaurant in New Rochelle, is celebrating its first anniversary this month. Its owner, Jimmy Rodríguez, is the founder of Jimmy's Bronx Cafe and the son of the founder of Marisco del Caribe in the Bronx.

The city Administration for Children's Services will fund Rosalie Hall, a center for pregnant teens, for another year. Although the number of beds must be reduced from 16 to 10, the funding may allow the center to provide birthing services and full-time residency for young mothers and their children.

Christopher Benfey, a professor at Mount Holyoke and contributor to the New York Review of Books, wrote about his experience attending “Emily Dickinson’s Garden: The Poetry of Flowers,” at the Botanical Garden on the New York Review of Books website this morning.

The Point, a community development organization in the South Bronx, which reclaimed vacant land in the city for a 400-square-foot garden, is setting an example for Detroit and other American cities. The Center for American Progress released an article about the benefits of urban farms today.

Bronx native Latisha Ryer, 35, was arrested on charges of possessing and selling crack cocaine in Port Jervis today.

The Daily News reported that teens jumped fences to swim in the Bronx River yesterday, in spite of the recent deaths in the area.

Story Of The Day: Shakespeare In Hunts Point

Students from the Hunts Point Shakespeare ensemble act out a scene from "As You Like It." The group spent the last eight months studying the classic works of William Shakespeare under the program,  and will be performing the play for free at The Point CDC in Hunts Point on June 5 and a matinee showing at the Five Angels Theater in Manhattan on June 6. Click here to read the whole story by reporter Hannah Rappleye in the latest issue of the Hunts Point Express.

Bronx News Roundup, July 1

Welcome to July, everyone.

This month begins with more of the same up in Albany: complete and total paralysis as Republicans (plus Bronx Senator Pedro Espada, Jr.) remain at an impasse over leadership.

The Times writes that Republicans are desperate to hold on to relevance in the Senate as voting trends are tilting toward Democrats.

The Voice's Tom Robbins says powerful state lobbyists are to blame for the mess in Albany as many reform bills have died as a result of the leadership stalemate.

Federal authorities arrested nine Bronxites for stealing the identities of Puerto Rican residents.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner went to The Point, a community center in Hunts Point, on Monday to discuss $90 million in stimulus funds that are being made available to help residents and businesses in low-income urban areas.

On Monday at about 10 pm, a 30-year-old man was shot in the head on Bronxwood Avenue.

A Bronx-bred goalkeeper is trying to catch on with the NY Red Bulls.

Hunts Point Express July issue is out

Shakespeare in the South Bronx? You bet. Farms in Hunts Point? Coming soon. But the economic crunch is squeezing residents--making conditions in some apartments intolerable, and lengthening the lines at food pantries. Find stories about these issues and a guide to grocery shopping in hard times, rowboating on the Bronx River, a look back at the Fish Parade and more in the new issue of The Hunts Point Express.

A Photo to End the Day With ...

I took this shot of my daughter, Devin (right) and her friend, Shoshana, after our tour of the American Bank Note Building in Hunts Point, part of the Open House New York festivities under way throughout the city that day. This photo is outside The Point CDC (a multi-faceted community organization that has helped spur the revival of that south Bronx community).