Bronx News Roundup, Feb. 4

Usually, I enjoy my 25 minute walk to work every morning. Today, I skated, slipped and shimmied my way to the Keeper's House, aka BxNN headquarters on the Williamsbridge Oval in Norwood. On the plus side, I was heartened by a team of folks helping a man pry his car out of an iced-in predicament and enjoyed seeing the sun hitting untouched patches of snow, making the surface look like glazed marshmallow frosting. Now, I'm hungry.

Today's forecast calls for clouds and a high of 34 degrees, with snow possible in the middle of the night and into Saturday morning. Super Bowl Sunday is supposed to be sunny and above freezing!

Story of the Day:
Steve Finkelstein, a Scarsdale-based property owner, has put in a bid to take over the 10 rapidly deteriorating Bronx apartment buildings abandoned by Milbank Real Estate. Finkelstein is offering about $28 million for the debt and the deed to the apartment buildings, but there is still the matter of striking a deal with tenants. Finkelstein says he will put $6.8 million into repairing the dilapidated buildings, which HPD Commissioner Rafael Cestero called the worst he's ever seen. A report commissioned by the City Council late last year said the buildings needed $26 million in repairs. Lawyers for the tenants are skeptical. 

For more on the Milbank mess, click here.

Story of the Day, Part 2:
After pounding the nails in the coffins of 10 city schools on Tuesday, the Panel for Education Policy voted last night to shut down 12 more schools, including the Bronx's John F. Kennedy, Christopher Columbus, Performance Conservatory and Global Enterprise high schools, Frederick Douglas III Academy Middle School and PS 102. Ten of the 22 schools approved for closure are from the Bronx. Vehement protests and criticism have accompanied the panel's votes, with some resulting in arrests, as we reported on Wednesday.

Quick Hits:
Remember this name: Nuha Dolby. Nuha, a 10-year-old fifth grader at the Bronx's PS 24 in Spuyten Duyvil, composed an original piece of music, "Voice of Darkness" (sounds like the next M. Night Shamylan film), that will be performed today at Lincoln Center by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. After hearing it played by the orchestra for the first time earlier in the week, Nuha told the Daily News, "It was, like, amazing. It was fantastic and so cool."

The ice covering the sidewalks outside of the Pelham Bay subway station and bus stop is making trips to and from ridiculously treacherous. City agencies, it appears, are all passing the buck on who should remedy this danger zone.

In that same vein, it appears the Parks Department isn't removing ice near Matthews Park. (I'd like to add that the DEP should be doing something about the ice on Sedgwick Ave. outside of the Jerome Park Reservoir.)

A Westchester developer is moving to the Hutchinson Metro Center in the Bronx.

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