Bronx News Roundup, May 5

Happy Cinco De Mayo! Now here's some BX news for you:

Bronx Supreme Court Justice George Villegas was back in the courtroom yesterday after going AWOL for a couple of days. Villegas is facing a law suit filed by a former law school colleague that claims Villegas owes her $500,000, which he borrowed to pay back a gambling debt.

Special needs students from the New York League for Early Learning's Harry H. Gordon School got a taste of Little Italy yesterday as the pre-preschoolers ventured through restaurants on Arthur Avenue.

The Bronx district attorney's office has dropped all charges against the four Bronx boys who were accused of hitting an off-duty police officer with a snowball.

Eighth graders from the Learning Tree Cultural Preparatory School in the Bronx took a two-week trip to Kenya to trace President Obama's roots.

Just for a day, the chronically ill teenagers from the Children's Hospital at Montefiore were able to forget their pains and enjoy their first Prom Night.

During his battle with the state legislature over the state's financial crisis, Governor Paterson offered lawmakers the choice of either giving him authority to furlough more than 100,000 state employees or face a shut down of New York's government.

As part of "Affordable Housing Day," city officials announced in the Bronx on Monday that 100,000 affordable homes have been completed. They have a goal of completing 165,00o by 2014.

The city announced it will be building a new complex in the Melrose that will have green roofs, along with a series of gardens where residents can plant vegetables.

Coloring the South Bronx Green: New Apartments Use Wind to Generate Power

Free on-site employment, education and health counseling. Wind turbines that generate clean energy. ENERGY STAR appliances. Clean air ventilation systems. No smoking. Affordable rent.

These are just a few of the state-of-the-art features showcased at the most recent addition to the collection of affordable and environmentally-friendly apartment buildings in the Bronx: The Eltona Apartments.

Yesterday, the Eltona’s proud developers (Blue Sea Development Company) joined the New York City Department of Housing, Preservation and Development, the Housing Development Corporation and Bronx BP Ruben Diaz, Jr. to officially open the newly completed, energy-efficient building.

Located in the South Bronx between East 156th and 157th Streets, on Melrose and Elton Avenues, the Eltona is five stories tall and has 63 rental units. Families whose incomes fall below 60 percent of the median income for the area will fill the units.

When residents move into the Eltona, they will participate in a research study performed by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine tracking the health of asthma patients. The study hopes to prove that non-smoking, “green” buildings will improve breathing conditions and overall quality of life.

Besides the research study, the Eltona will also offer free job counseling provided by the Wildcat Service Corporation (a workforce development organization), open recreation space and a community garden next to the building.

The most unique feature of the Eltona is the 10 wind turbine electricity generators located on the top of the building. These generators are just one of the many "green" elements that helped the building gain a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certification—the first in New York State.

The Eltona is part of Mayor Bloomberg’s New Housing Marketplace Plan, an initiative that expects to provide affordable housing to 500,000 New Yorkers. So far, the plan has generated 31,000 housing units in the Bronx.

“The Eltonia exemplifies HPD’s [Department of Housing Preservation and Development] neighborhood approach to investing in affordable housing,” said HPD Commissioner Rafael E. Cestero, in a press release. “By applying a local lens to this project we are able to put hardworking families into fantastic new, eco-friendly homes.”

The New York Daily News also covered the Eltona’s opening ceremonies. Read the article here.