Bronx News Roundup, Jan. 3

Happy New Year everyone.  Here's some Bronx news from the last few days:

The Riverdale Press looks back at the year that was in Riverdale and Kingsbridge.

The Times has an article about prostitutes plying their trade near an elementary school in West Farms. It was written by a student at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, and was developed from a piece she wrote for Bronx Ink.

State Sen. Jeff Klein has resigned as Democratic deputy minority leader. He claims he was "disgusted" with the conference's actions under John Sampson's leadership. Some Albany insiders, however, say Klein was pushed out. Regardless, Sampson looks likely to hold onto his job.

Parking meter rates in Manhattan and Queens are about to be raised. The new rates won't hit the Bronx until March.

Police have charged an ex-con with attempted murder and other offenses after he allegedly tried to shoot another man following a parking dispute in Harlem on Saturday. The intended target was uninjured, but one of the bullets grazed the head of a 13-year-old boy.

Last Wednesday, a Bronx teen was knocked down and killed after straying onto the Bruckner Expressway. Police say Malik Jenkins, 18, was being chased by a group of young men intent on harming him.

A Bronx grandmother was struck and killed on the Hutchinson River Parkway on Saturday.  Marcia Clarke-Hinton was being driven by her daughter when their car span out. She was hit when she exited the vehicle.
A five-year-old boy from the Bronx who was seriously injured in a hit-and-run accident four months ago, has finally been released from hospital.  At the time, doctors feared Joshua Saunders wouldn't survive.

A woman was found murdered in her Longwood apartment last Wednesday.  Police believe her husband was responsible, and are asking anyone with information about his whereabouts to call Crime Stoppers.

Alan Grayson, a congressman from Flordia who was raised in the Bronx, is leaving office on Wednesday, and has parting shots for Democratic and Republicans alike.

A hike through Manhattan and the Bronx by way of the sewer system. See here and here.

Michael Benjamin, the now-ex assemblymember, says the long-vacant Kingsbridge Armory should have been turned into a mall. He told Crain's: “We can't constantly keep saying no while making unreasonable demands. We need to put out the signal that the Bronx is a good place to do business.” The Crain's article is subscription only, but you can access it by Googling the headline: "New tack needed as Bronx bombs."
(Most Bronx pols say the City Council was right to reject Related Companies mall plan in late 2009. A recent Norwood News editorial makes the same argument.) 

Two blogger claims NIMBYism ("not in my backyard") is motivating those opposing plans to turn the Muller Army Reserve Center into a homeless shelter.  You can read more about the opposition here.

A year ago, The Times profiled a group of Bhutanese refugees living in a University Heights apartment building. Now, many of the families have made the decision to move on. 

The city's Environmental Protection Agency has released new guidelines for schools handling and removing  light fixtures contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). In 2009, a Bronx mother filed a lawsuit after high levels of the toxin were found at a Co-op City school. 

More on the ongoing renovation of the Edgar Allan Poe cottage, including plans for a "wacky" visitor center.  You can read the Norwood News' coverage of the renovation here.

Editor's note: To receive a daily e-mail blast of BxNN posts, sign up to our RSS feed.

$1 Million Restoration Brings Poe Cottage Into the Future

Angel Hernandez of the Bronx Historical Society looks out from the porch of Poe Cottage, which is undergoing a million dollar facelift. (Photo by Rochana Rapkins)

Editor's note: This story first appeared in the latest edition of the Norwood News. 

By ROCHANA RAPKINS

When British journalist Mary Grove visited Edgar Allen Poe’s cottage outside the village of Fordham, she described it as cozy and neat, with “floors as white as wheat.” The cottage was situated on a hill, and surrounded by creeks, rivers and farmland.

Today the 198-year-old cottage still stands -- although it’s now a few hundred yards away from its original location -- at the intersection of Kingsbridge Road and the Grand Concourse. What was once Millbrook Creek is now Webster Avenue. A stone’s throw away, children play on playground equipment and residents sit on benches in what is now Poe Park.

Ironically, when the Bronx County Historical Society kicked off a million-dollar restoration of the 198-year-old building this year, some local kids literally threw rocks to see if they could shatter the windows.

“You can still see some of the rocks up on the roof,” said Eric Stalzer, vice president of Apple Restoration, the company hired to do the job. “It was a shame.”

(Photo by Rochana Rapkins)

When it is completed in six to eight months, the garden will showcase plants and flowers mentioned in Poe’s works. All of the period furniture -- much of it currently on exhibit at the Museum of Bronx History -- will be returned. Angel Hernandez, and educator with the Historical Society, envisions holding poetry slams and readings of Poe’s work in the evening.

Poe in the Bronx, and Other Events This Week

This week, the anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe's death, the Borough President's Office and the Bronx Historical Society will host a screening premiere of Edgar Allan Poe in The Bronx: His Life & Times at Poe Cottage, a documentary look at how the Bronx influenced the renowned writer's life and work.

The video, created by Emmy-award winning Derek Woods of BronxNet Television, will be part of a temporary Poe exhibit at the Bronx County Historical Society’s Valentine-Varian House Museum. Poe spent the end of his life at his cottage in the Bronx, now located at Kingsbridge Road and the Grand Concourse and currently undergoing renovations.

“The Bronx is an important part of the personal history of Edgar Allan Poe, one of America’s greatest literary masters,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., in a press release.

A  reception debuting the video will take place tonight at the Valentine-Varian House, 3266 Bainbridge Avenue at East 208 Street, from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. This and more Bronx events this week can be found below, or anytime in our What's Going On? section on the right side of this page.

Editor's note: What did we miss? Send details to bronxnewsnetwork[at]gmail.com.

Bronx Events Through Jan. 25

"Aurora," a wooden sculpture on display at West Farms Square Plaza

Pianist Stewart Goodyear and saxophonist Christopher Sacco will be performing chamber music at the Bronx Arts Ensemble at 5000 Goodridge Ave on Monday, January 24. Tickets cost $25 and doors open at 3 pm. For more information call (718) 601-7399.

The Barnes & Noble on 290 Baychester Ave. will be holding a 'writer's workshop' on Jan 22 (Friday) with author Maria Romano. Romano will field questions about writing, getting started, and getting published. The event begins at 7 pm. For more information call (718) 862-3945 or visit www.barnesandnoble.com.

Folk/pop singer Roger Silverberg will be performing at the Starving Artist Cafe at 249 City Island Ave. The event begins at 8 pm. For more information call (718) 885-3779.

The Mosholu Library at 285 E. 205th St. will be hosting 'Polar Opposites' on Jan. 23 at 11 am for preschool and young children. For more information, call (718) 882-8239.

The Jerome Park Library at 118 Eames Place will be hosting Yoga for Parents and Preschoolers, Jan. 22 at 11 am. For more information, call (718) 549-5200.

The Lehman Center for the Performing Arts, located at 250 Bedford Pk. Blvd. E., presents Salsa Lebron y La Trompeta de Perico, Jan. 23 at 8 pm. Ticekts are $35 to $50 and the event begins at 8 pm. For more information, call (718) 960-8490/8833.

Wave Hill, located at West 249 Street and Independence Ave., will be hosting a family arts project titled "The Colors of Winter." Participants will create a collage of winter plant materials. The event takes place in the Kerlin Learning Center from 1 to 4 pm. For more information, call (718) 549-3200 or visit www.wavehill.org.

The Bronx River Art Center presents an abstract wooden art sculpture, Aurora, 14 feet tall, 11 feet wide, and 11 feet deep, at the center of West Farms Square Plaza located at the base of the West Farms Square/East Tremont Ave. subway station on the corner of East Tremont Ave. and Boston Road. For more information, visit www.nyc.gov/urbanart.

Two exhibits, one a comparison of the Bronx of today with that of the 19th century, the other a celebration of Edgar Allan Poe and his time spent in the Bronx, will be on display at the Museum of Bronx History, located at 3266 Bainbridge Ave. For more information, call the Bronx County Historical Society at (718) 881-8900.