Bronx News Roundup, Dec. 8

The Mount Hope Community Center's opening is delayed due to a problem the size of three-eighths of an inch. The city claims that the building extends less than an inch on their property and thus refuses to issue the center its permanent certificate of occupancy. Read about some previous delays in opening that we published in the Mount Hope Monitor.

The Daily news highlights some of northern Riverdale's best finds.

A Daily News columnist, provides a glimpse into the crusade of a Bronx woman's tireless anti-gun crusade.

Another Daily News columnist hints that many Bronx politicians have hopes of assuming leadership positions on City Council.

The Department of City Planning has proposed the rezoning of an L-shaped area in the Tremont and Bathgate neighborhoods running along Third Ave. to spur growth in the area.

A developer has big plans for an area in East Tremont, including the construction of an 18-story building and a possible bowling alley.

A Bronx homeowner continues to be slapped with littering tickets for unsightly messes in her front yard that she blames on trash being blown from a nearby bus stop.

The Daily New's latest coverage of the Armory's living wage stand-off reports that the mayor's office offered a compromise. Stay tuned for our posting on the developing story later today.

Two Bronx schools have been added to the Department of Education's closure list.

Police have survellience video of the gunman in an attempted robbery shooting on Grant Avenue in Concourse Village.

Police continue to investiage the shooting a of a Bronx mother who was killed yesterday outside her home in front of her two daughters.

Bronx News Roundup, September 29

Refugees from Bhutan have come to find a new home in the Bronx. Although many Bhutanese refugees are scattered throughout the Bronx, a large population is concentrated in one apartment building on University Avenue, according to The New York Times. The eight Bhutanese families living in the building share meals, job tips and more. Bhutanese refugees started moving into the United States in 2007 when Nepal refused to give them citizenship. The United States agreed to resettle 60,000 of these refugees and so far, about 170 Bhutanese have moved to New York.

The New York Times recently published a piece about Bronx residents lamenting the possible closing of the Botanical Station post office in Bedford Park. The Norwood News published an article about this issue in August.

If you are looking for an affordable, pleasant-looking apartment, The New York Times suggests looking in Mount Hope.

Bronx Assemblyman and Democratic Party chair Carl Heastie is teaming up with the Brooklyn Democratic Leader, Vito Lopez, to see if they can round up the 26 votes on the City Council needed to oust City Council Speaker Christine Quinn from the speaker's chair, according to the New York Post.

Speaking of Carl Heastie, the Assemblyman almost came to blows with Parkchester Assemblyman Peter Rivera last Thursday at a judicial nominating convention, according to the Daily News' Bob Kappstatter. The fight concerned Rivera's charges that Heastie was including him in decisions over judicial nominations for state Supreme Court. Kappstatter reports that the row could be a precursor to an effort to depose Heastie from the chairmanship.

Tom Robbins at the Village Voice also weighs in on the judicial nominating convention, pointing out that Stanley Schlein is still in the thick of things, despite from being barred from receiving court-appointed cases in 2006.

Meanwhile, a Heastie staffer is getting is getting noticed. His chief of staff, Marricka Scott-McFadden, was named as one of the newspaper City Hall's Rising Stars: 40 under 40. Also included in the list was another Bronx Assembly Member Vanessa Gibson.

Consultants hired by Morton Williams supermarket have come down hard criticizing the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) released by Related Companies, the developer for the Kingsbridge Armory. The consultants claim that the development will cause overwhelming amounts of traffic congestion.

Reclaiming a Crime-Ridden Neighborhood

Yesterday, an army of kids, a handful of cops, and a bouncy castle took over a troubled Mount Hope block.

More here.

Thoughts from Iraq

In February, the Monitor profiled William Perez, a 29-year-old Mount Hope resident who’s serving in Iraq. We spoke with him while he was on leave – the only one he'll get during a 15-month deployment – and he was pretty upbeat (considering he was about to leave his fiancé behind and head back to Baghdad).

Recently, however, Perez has had a difficult time. On April 28, his good friend Cpl. David McCormick, of Matagorda County, Texas, was killed by rocket fire.

Perez has been keeping a diary of sorts in regular emails home to his mom, Nitza Vera. Nitza wanted me to post some of these e-mails, "so the youth, and others, will know what it is really like right in the middle of a war. We take a lot for granted, and he doesn't even know if he will see the sun rise the next day. He feels at least he is sharing his deepest thoughts with his neighbors. No gang, or police brutality can compare to what he is going through right now without a warm hug in site, or a familiar face."

Here are the e-mails:

May 5
I thought today of all days we would have a day off because we were to have a memorial for my friend that passed away. Of course I was sadly mistaken because we
have such an enemy threat here that we work day in and day out- put ur feelings to the side and we will get to them when we see fit. Numbing, all is numbing-
After my mission of receiving small arms fire with in 100 meters from where i was resting my head in a humvee that had to be at least 110 degrees, I prepared for a memorial that I thought I was prepared for. The Chapel filled up slowly, every one spoke soft, the tone was meek and sorrow was felt throughout the room. A big picture of Corporal McCormick was to the right of the altar and a screen just to the left of it so the projector could show pictures through slides. In the middle of the altar were McCormick’s weapon, boots helmet and dogtags. I was ok until they started calling out random names of our PSD-(personal security detail for the SGT MAJOR) As the 1st Sergeant called names soldiers responded with 'Here 1st Sergeant' but when they got to Corporal McCormick there was no answer - 1st SGT called him 3 times and it echoed throughout the walls.. We waited as if he would say 'here 1st sgt but no 1 answered. That's when I broke, I started crying. I have not cried in such a long time that it felt new to me. I could not stop, I just kept thinking of him and how that could be any 1 of us up there. Just so you know, we all are aware that this job is not an easy 1 to swallow but we are at least on guard and awaiting an attack when we roll out the wire. McCormick died while he was asleep, while he slept a rocket shot by the enemy hit him. I don't even know if I am gonna wake up the next morning anymore so I make my prayers extra special for family and friends. We have been taking indirect fire for some time over here and it has gotten real close that our rooms shake and we wake up because of the blast but no 1 was ever a casualty, now it hit home. It is a reality...I wish 2 come home 2 u to have a normal life again...

May 7
Today was a weird day, I woke up feeling lost, where have I been for these past 6months. I have so many mixed feelings, was my situation so bad that I really needed to join? This separation has taken a toll on my sanity, not able to hold and feel my loved ones. My son, my family and definitely my wife with child on the way. I need to leave this place, it only reminds me of death. It only serves the lies this nation has fed us. My friend died because of this 'lie' or maybe it was for 'gas' and 'oil' His life and so many others mean more than that, to say terror was the cause, we never found the weapons of mass destruction, maybe Osama has them where ever he is. I am so tired of this place that it takes me down. My emotional status is on a slide going downward. I need my sanity- I need my wife-son-family.. things that make life worth living, I do not need to be here with strangers that only know ranks and treat you like the paygrade you recieve. I really don't care anymore, I argue with these SGT's without regard to who they are.. little by little they get more of me with out the military bearing- what a famous quote---- ' A mind is a terrible thing to waste' they should replace waste with 'lose'

May 8
This is my friend (pictured), I worked with him for a yr. I saw him day in and out, did endless missions and joked with him. He was stop loss which means if his contract is over 3 months before we deploy again or after 3 months from us deploying he will have to stay another tour in iraq, which is exactly what happened. If it was not for that he would be with his family right now. He is a good man and an even better soldier, pray for his family- this could be ur brother or father or loved one.. honor his death by praying for his family. He is the reason we can buy gas and oil or whatever reason we are here.. i at least know its not 4 mass destruction....

Talk About a Fixer Upper ...

Front page of the New York Times Home section from Wed. features the incredible story of this mansion in Mount Hope and the brave family that is moving in and rehabbing it. (NYT photo by Christian Hansen)

Keeping Cool in the Neighborhood

With tempertures climbing in the 90s last Tuesday, Mount Hope residents (and pets) looked for ways to beat the heat. (Photos by Laura Sayer)

Community Board 5 elects new Chair

Community Board 5 board members voted, this evening, to oust current chairperson, Beverly Smith, and replace her with Bola Omotosho, a Nigerian-born doctor currently working out of Jacobi Medical Center. Omotosho officially takes over in September. He won by 16 votes to 4.

Smith, who works for the civilian arm of the NYPD, has been on the Board for 17 years and the chair, an unpaid position, for the last two. Her future plans include running for City Council. She says she has her eye on Council Member Helen Diane Foster's District 16 seat in the South Bronx. (Due to term limits, Foster's time is up at end of 2009.) Smith says she'll quit the Board for good in January to start campaigning.

Omotosho, a quieter less authoritative figure than Smith, describes himself as a good listener. Prior to the vote, he talked briefly about the "desperate need for new leadership," and how he wants to "work with everybody" and bring back "dignity and trust." Later, he said he had great respect for Smith, who he described as an "encyclopedia of this community." (Smith has lived in the neighborhood for four decades.)

The margin of victory suggests Omotosho has the Board behind him. He may have a harder time winning over the core group of local residents who attend the Board's monthly public meetings. Several, clearly disappointed to see Smith go, talked over his acceptance speech. "He doesn't have the experience," lamented Louella Hatch, the 46th Precinct's passionate (and outspoken) community council president. "He'll do whatever they tell him do to." By "they" Hatch said she meant the Board's district manager, Xavier Rodriguez.

Community Board 5 serves Mount Hope, Morris Heights, and parts of University Heights and Fordham. They'll be more about Omotosho, and his plans for the district, in the next print edition of the Mount Hope Monitor coming out July 25.

Community Board 7, in the northwest Bronx, is also going through a transitional period, following district manager Rita Kessler's recent decision to retire. Tomorrow's Norwood News looks back at her 17 years at the helm. We'll link to the story when it's on-line.

Man Dead Following Fall From Building

A man is dead after apparently falling from the roof of a six-story Grand Concourse apartment building at approximately 9 p.m. this evening. Police were at the scene in minutes, but there was clearly little they could do. Someone placed a white sheet over the body. As a crowd gathered, rumors began to swirl. One man said the dead man jumped. Another said he was he was being chased by a cop and toppled over the edge. The deceased has yet to be identified. One bystander described him as 30-something-year-old black male, who lived on the building's fourth floor. The building is at 1900 Grand Concourse, in the Mount Hope section of the Bronx. Check back for updates.

Update: According to the Daily News the man, James Harris, fell from a fourth floor window, not the roof, after climbing onto an air conditioning unit while trying to escape cops who had knocked on his apartment door to serve an arrest warrant.

Out Now! The first print edition of the Mount Hope Monitor has been published

The first print edition of the Mount Hope Monitor - a free bilingual community newspaper serving Mount Hope, Morris Heights, University Heights, and South Fordham - has been published.
Pick it up at local banks, stores, restaurants, community organizations, and libraries. If you're struggling to find it, let us know and we'll point you in direction of the nearest drop-off point. Or e-mail your address to mounthopenews-at-gmail.com, and we'll send you a copy for free, while supplies last. Please let us know what you think!
Until now, the Monitor, a project of the West Bronx News Network, has only been available on-line. It was created last summer to bring news to a part of the Bronx with no local newspaper.
We're hoping to bring out a second print edition in May or June.

Chávez's Cheap Oil Returns to the Bronx

Hugo Chávez, George W. Bush's "tormentor-in-chief," is again pumping oceans of discounted heating oil into poor Bronx neighborhoods, including Mount Hope. Regardless of the Venezuelan president's motives, he will be saving thousands of families hundreds of dollars each this winter.
Read more about the fuel-assistance program here, in a new article in The Nation. Last year, when Chávez's gesture started a media storm, there was this article in The New York Times. And there was this in the Norwood News.