Report: Suicidal Woman Jumps in Front of 1 Train in the Bronx

The Riverdale Press describes a gruesome scene that played out this morning on the elevated 1 train at 231st Street when, police and witnesses say, a "middle-aged woman" intentionally jumped onto the tracks and waited for an oncoming train to strike her. She died with her unnaturally contorted body in view of many onlookers. "The foot was above the torso," one witness told the Press. 

Bronx News Roundup, Wednesday, Aug. 3

Weather:  Not too hot today, sunny with a high of 81. Tonight, thunderstorms in the forecast with temperatures in the high 60s.

Story of the Day:
15 people were injured yesterday afternoon when an MTA bus collided with a livery cab and a sports car. The accident occurred around 2:30 p.m. when a Bx55 bus, moving southbound on Third Avenue, made an unscheduled stop. The bus hit both the cab and sports car at the intersection at East 170th Street. EMS Deputy Chief Howard Sickles said that none of the injuries are life threatening.

Quick Hits:
The principal of Our Lady of Mount Carmel elementary school has been fired for his writings on white supremacy. Frank Borzellieri, who has ties to a group called American Renaissance, wrote a book titled "The Unspoken Truth: Race, Culture and Other Taboos," which talks about the "the myth of integration" and "multicultural madness."

Bronx News Roundup Monday,, Aug. 1

Welcome to August, Bronx people. Let's get to all the non-debt-ceiling-related Bronx news now. We'll start with sweat.

Weather: Hot today in the Boogie Down. High of 92 predicted, with severe thunderstorms possible from 4 p.m. on.


Story of the Day: 'White Supremacist' Principal Hire Eventually Causes Outrage
Two years after Frank Borzellieri became principal at Our Lady of Mount Carmel elementary school in Fordham, school officials and the Archdiocese are being criticized for hiring the controversial former school board member. Borzellieri served on the city's school board from 1993 to 2002 and distinguished himself with a series of racially divisive actions and stances, including an attempt to ban a biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. In 2004, the Queens resident who contributes to a white supremacist publication, wrote a book, "Don't Take it Personally: Race, Immigration, Crime and Other Heresies," that claimed "diversity is a weakness." Former colleagues question the content of his teachings. And now parents are coming forward at the 200-student school (made up of mostly black and Latino faces), saying that now that they know who he is and his views, they're not comfortable having him as principal of their kids.

Quick Hits:
The body of a partially-clothed dead Bronx woman was found floating face down in the Bronx River early Saturday morning. Later, city medical examiners deemed her death a murder, saying the unidentified woman was beaten to death.

Bronx to Get $11.5 Million in Federal Transit Funding

The Bronx is about to receive an $11.5 million injection of federal money to fund two borough projects, according to a press release sent out earlier today by Congressman Jose Serrano.

The bulk of the money, $10 million, will go toward funding the reconstruction of the Fordham transit hub, which sits above the Metro-North line and across the street from Fordham University. The other $1.5 million will "fund the creation of a vision plan for the Sheridan Expressway and Hunts Point area."

Serrano wasn't shy about taking credit for obtaining these grants.

About the Fordham transit hub, he said: “The Fordham transit plaza is one of the key transportation hubs in the Bronx and one of the busiest in the city. With many rail lines, buses, and subways coming together, it serves a huge number of residents daily. Reconstruction will facilitate their use of this key hub in our community.”

About the Sheridan Expressway/Hunts Point plan, he said: "We are eager to remake this area into a livable, walkable and green section of our community, and this is the first step towards achieving that goal."

I assume that means somehow eliminating the expressway (or transforming it into some kind of Highline-ish park), which local activists have pushed for.

MTA Cuts Revised

Bronx bus riders can, for the time being, breathe a slight sigh of relief. The MTA originally planned on cutting the Bx18, which has the borough's fourth-highest ridership and runs from Tremont to Morris Heights.

Although the MTA has a $758 million deficit, a large public outcry caused them to rethink the proposed cuts.

Today they revealed a new plan that would eliminate $8 million in service cuts.

The Bx18 bus alone costs $1.2 million a year to run.

However the Bx14 bus, which runs from Country Club to Parkchester, will be cut. Instead, the Bx8 bus will go along the same path to the Pelham Bay Park subway station.

Service cuts to the Bx33 buses have also been restored. The Bx33 carries passengers from Port Morris to Harlem.

Riders in the northwest Bronx were also spared, as the Bx34, which connects the central Bronx to Woodlawn, and Bx10, which connect Norwood to Riverdale, were left off the list.

To view the revised MTA plans visit the NY1 Website.

Bronx MTA Hearing Met with Protests

Students rallied outside an MTA public hearing to protest the elimination of student MetroCards.

A flood of outraged residents and elected officials lined up to voice their concerns to MTA board members last night at a public hearing at the Paradise Theater on the Grand Concourse. The transit agency has proposed drastic service cuts and fare changes to cover it’s nearly $400 million budget shortfall.

Speakers at the hearing conveyed their anger as well as a sense of déjà vu, having made the same pleas  to stop service cuts last year, when the MTA faced a similar deficit.

Some of the most troubling changes stemmed from the proposed elimination of student MetroCards—which provide three free rides on school days—as well as reduced Access-a-Ride service for the disabled and elderly and the discontinuation of the Bx18 bus, which runs between Undercliff Avenue and the Grand Concourse.

Borough President Rueben Diaz, Jr. was the first to take the podium, telling MTA chairman Jay Walder and other board members that they were underestimating the role mass transit plays in the lives of Bronx residents, the majority of whom don’t have access to a car.

“I’m glad you’re here, Mr. Chairman, but maybe one day you and I could take a walk around the Bronx,” Diaz said. “People need these buses.”

His testimony was followed by similar speeches from Council Members James Vacca and Oliver Koppell, Assembly members Jeffrey Dinowitz and Vanesssa Gibson, and representatives from the offices of several other Bronx officials.

“You’re picking on the elderly, the disabled and the students,” said Dinowitz, adding that the MTA should look inward first as it looks to make cuts. “I’m sure you’ve got a lot of people in the MTA who make more than the governor.”

A seemingly endless line of residents approached the microphone with stories of transit woes: the high school student who gets up at 5 a.m. to take two buses to get to school on time; the disabled woman who relies on Access-a-Ride to get to her doctor appointments in Brooklyn.

Assessing The Bronx's 'Most Dangerous Road'

 

 In a recent study, Gun Hill Road, especially the section between Bainbridge and Webster Avenues in Norwood, was named the Bronx’s most dangerous street for pedestrians and drivers. (Photo by Adi Talwar)

By Alexander Gibbons

In 2006, Ellen McHugh, 66, was struck by a city bus while crossing the intersection at Bainbridge Avenue and Gun Hill Road. She died soon after. Six weeks before that, another senior, Kenneth Filacchione, was killed in a hit-and-run accident at the same intersection. A total of five pedestrians were killed on Gun Hill Road in 2006 and 2007.

Because of this cluster of deaths and a total of 57 serious accidents between 2006 and 2008, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign (TSTC) named Gun Hill the most dangerous street in the Bronx, with the intersection at Bainbridge Avenue being particularly perilous.

The Grand Concourse and Broadway (where two women were struck by a vehicle last Friday) were named the Bronx’s second and third most dangerous roads, respectively.

While acknowledging the inherent dangers associated with Gun Hill Road, some local observers contend the traffic safety issues are compounded by impatient drivers and pedestrians putting themselves and others in harms way.

The Gun Hill Road corridor snakes, east to west, through the north Bronx for 3.5 miles, ending just short of Mosholu Parkway. Along this route are several schools, a Metro North stop, a hospital, a nursing home, and over 250 businesses.

Cars, trucks and buses jockey for position on the busy 4-lane road while hurried pedestrians cross during lulls in traffic, regardless of whether or not they see a “walk” sign.

Maribele Gonzales, a crossing guard with the 52nd Police Precinct who overlooks the corner of Kings College Place and Gun Hill Road, sees the congestion every day. “There’s too much traffic, in the morning and in the afternoon,” says Gonzales.