Milbank Tenants Still Waiting for Repair $; HPD Plans to Take Action

Milbank's portfolio of Bronx properties have been in varying states of decline since foreclosure started in 2009.  (File photo by Jeanmarie Evelly)

It's been nearly a month since a Bronx Supreme Court Judge ordered LNR Property Corp., the servicer that oversees a now infamous, dilapidated portfolio of foreclosed Bronx buildings, to start paying for repairs on the apartments (for some background, see here, here and here.)

But while LNR's 30-day deadline for making the payment approaches this week, they haven't put any no money into repairs so far, according to advocates working on the case.

"In a lot of ways, we're waiting, which is uncomfortable," said Dina Levy of the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB). LNR's lawyers are preparing to appeal the judge's payment order, she said. 

LNR was told they had 30 days to fork over $2.5 million toward renovations--much less than what experts say the actual repairs will cost, but still a milestone victory for the tenants and housing advocates who had been fighting for months to get something done.

Meanwhile, a proposed deal to transfer the mortgage on ten of the properties to a mystery buyer--which Crain's identified as Riverdale-based Chestnut Holdings--has yet to close.

Bronx News Roundup, April 26

It's a cloudy day in the BX, perfect for catching up on some Bronx news!

While filming for Channel 2's "Eye of New York," embattled State Senator Pedro Espada exited the building mid-interview when confronted with allegations that he isn't a Bronx resident.

Top Democratic donor Bill Samuels announced that he will direct up to $250,000 toward defeating Senator Espada in this year’s election. Samuels heads the New Roosevelt Initiative.

No more free rides for a Bronx man who held an illegal copy of an all-access- subway key. He was caught by the police peddling $2 rides for people waiting in line for a MetroCard.

An apartment complex on Grand Avenue in Morris Heights might be in for an new look thanks to Bronx-born Francine Kellman of Pacific Housing Advisors. She plans on renovating the building without replacing tenants or raising rent.

After two decades of calling Bronx Community College's campus home, University Heights High School is to be relocated to the South Bronx, against the wishes of parents, students and teachers. More coverage here in the Mount Hope Monitor.

The Bronx motorcycle club "Legion of Doom" lost its vice president early Saturday when he hit a pothole on Magenta Street in Bronxwood.

Environmentalist Majora Carter plans on infusing a Hunts Point apartment building with a fragrance that will make it smell like green grass rather than the local sewage plant.

A Bronx fisherman was rescued just in time after spending 40 minutes in the chilly waters of Eastchester Bay.

School Chancellor Joel I. Klein is in a high-stakes battle with the teachers' union over seniority rules. If the rules remain, the newest teachers will be the first to lose their jobs if the expected layoffs go through.  Klein wants to change this, the union wants to keep things the way they are.

ATM scam artists are targeting Bronx residents. Read more here.

Andrew Cuomo would prefer Bill Thompson over Adolfo Carrion as his lieutenant governor, Crain's reports.

News Roundup, Feb 24

Here's some interesting news going on in the Bronx:

Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson predicts that the merging of Bronx Criminal and Supreme courts will bring nothing but chaos.

The convictions of the two former owners of a Bronx building where two firefighters were killed in 2005 were overturned yesterday due to the lack of evidence. A judge ruled that the owners were not aware of illegal partitions within the apartments. Read more here.

Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada, Jr. and the Bronx Board of Elections were served with another subpoena by AG Andrew Cuomo in search of 2008 senate petitions.

Nine-year veteran Officer Frank Palestro is now known as an NYPD whistle blower for reporting allegations of corruption at the 42nd precinct. "I was the PBA delegate, and now I'm labeled a rat for doing what I was supposed to do."

A long-awaited 18-hole PGA-level golf course at Ferry Point, the site of former dump, is said to be ready by fall of 2011. Mayor Bloomberg has handed the project over to the Parks Department, which is now looking for a firm to manage the course once it's completed.

Yankee fans lost another battle in trying to save Gate 2 from being demolished in June. After it's gone, the Parks Department will then begin the building of the long-delayed Heritage Field Park.

Bronx politcal leaders are gathering their petitions to begin the election war for state assembly, Senate and district leadership slots.

Bronx News Roundup, Jan. 6

Two NYPD detectives were injured in a friendly-fire incident last night during an attempted Fordham Road drug bust. Detectives Thomas Guarino and Thomas McHale are being treated for bullet grazes at Jacobi Medical Center after their partner fired at a charging pit bull.

A lawsuit claiming $750 million in misspent money aimed at decreasing class sizes in overcrowded public schools is being held at the Bronx Supreme Court.

Tenants of Riverview Apartments in the Morris Heights section of the Bronx cheer on a victory over rent hikes and regulation, citing a deregulation ruling from March for Manhattan's Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village.Tenants are still waiting on a response to their complaint about the landlord's right to read submeters, rather than ConEdison.

Shelter for struggling families hosts ceremony for the expansion of their children's library, thanks to the donation of hundreds of books from Kumon learning center.

The Bronx Underground, a music booking and promotions company, announces brand new hourly and monthly rehearsal space for Bronx musicians. Open House and launch party will be held on January 16th. There will be live music and refreshments will be served.

Bronx News Roundup, Nov. 20

Happy Friday everyone! And, don't forget, if you're looking for something to do this weekend, check out our Bronx Events listing, which you can find here at the beginning and end of every week.

The NY Times follows the mother of the 16-year-old boy accused of firing shots that severely wounded one young man and hit a 15-year-old girl in the head on Monday afternoon. (While the young man is improving, 15-year-old Vada Vasquez remains in a coma.) Prosecutors say the 16-year-old, one of five young men who were implicated in conjunction with the crime, admitted to his part in the shooting. But the kid's lawyer says his client wasn't responsible. The Times talks with some of the mother's relatives at their home in East Crotona Park.

The Streets Blog bemoans the DOT's extensive $266 million plan to widen the Major Deegan, while neglecting an serious work on possibly tearing down the little-used Sheridan Expressway.

Tenants at a University Avenue apartment building are suing their landlord for dangerous living conditions.

Four Bronx Teachers are being honored for their outstanding work in teaching math and science.

A man filed a lawsuit in Bronx Supreme Court after emergency service workers threw out a piece of his ear, which a dog had ripped off.

A Columbia Spectator writer visits the Parkchester neighborhood where his father grew up.

The love story of an Upper Eastside hand model and a porter from the Bronx is generating headlines around the city. The hand model is suing her building's superintendent for a torrent of mental and physical abuse (the suit alleges that the super's wife drunkenly hit the porter in the testicles with a hand bag, causing a contusion), which began after she fell in love with the Bronx boy.

Students at the Bronx Preparatory Charter School mail out college applications.