Bronx Borough President Calls for Immediate Action on PCBs

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. sent a letter this week to Dennis Walcott, Bloomberg's deputy mayor for education and community development addressing the results of a recent test conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency on PS 68 in the northeast Bronx that showed high levels of PCB contamination.

In his letter, Borough President Diaz calls for immediate action to remedy the situation at PS 68 and an investigation of possible PCB contamination in all public schools within the next 18 months.

PCB or Polychlorinated Biphenyls is a tasteless, odorless, organic compound whose production was banned by the United States Congress in 1979. Some of the effects to exposure from PCB may include headaches, coughs, skin sores, irregular mentstrual cycles, fatigue and rashes. Some studies have even linked PCB to certain kinds of cancer.

“PCBs are a serious threat to the health of both our children and the teachers, custodians and other staff that go to work every day in our public schools. The City must protect the health of these individuals, children and adults alike, and begin the immediate testing of all school buildings that may be at risk of PCB contamination. We cannot tolerate any further delays, too much is at stake,” Diaz Jr. said in a statement.

Read the letter after the jump.

Bronx News Roundup, July 29

Bronx mom Micaela Jackson, 37, fatally shot her 12-year-old son and then killed herself in her Morris Heights home yesterday. Read the story here.

A Bronx judge threw out a summons issued against a Bronx local for wearing drooping pants that exposed his underwear.

Only traffic coming into the Bronx was allowed on the Throgs Neck Bridge this morning, when the bridge was closed due to an abandoned SUV. After police investigated, the bridge was declared safe and reopened.

Accused Bronx slumlord, Sam Suzuki, does not have to return to jail since he has been fired from managing the building at 1585 E. 172nd Street. Judge Jerald Kleinin of Bronx Housing Court ruled that he is not accountable for the repairs of a building that he does not own. The Daily News has the details.

The Time's City Room blog covered Governor David A. Paterson’s handling of a domestic violence case involving his aide this morning.

Producers Cool and Dre urged Fat Joe to draw inspiration from his Bronx roots while creating his newest album. Released two days ago, Darkside, Vol. 1, is already expected to debut on the Billboard 200.

Will Eisner's Bronx-based book, A Contract with God, is being made into a movie. The flick will give audiences a glimpse of a Bronx tenement in the 1930s.

The Gotham Gazette referenced PS 179 in the Bronx in its review of public schools this morning. In the article, Schools Matter cited that the proficiency in math of third grade students at the school dropped from 91 to 21 percent in one year.

Diaz Says Schools Will Suffer Without Aides

The city’s decision to layoff over 700 public school aides and other support titles has angered Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr.

“I am calling on Mayor Bloomberg to rethink this move, in light of the negative effect it will surely have on the public school students of the Bronx and the entire City,” Diaz said.

According to a press release from the Borough President’s office, 714 employees will be laid off city wide, including 208 workers in the Bronx.

Job titles in jeopardy include: lunch workers, schools aides, Substance Abuse Prevention and Intervention Specialists, community associates, community assistants, and community coordinators.

Cupcake-gate

Last night, Halloween night, Bronx Assemblyman Michael Benjamin appeared on the Daily Show. He was interviewed as part of a tongue in cheek piece (Is there any other type on the Daily Show?) about the New York state ban on cupcakes in public schools.

Ex-Saturday Night Live performer Rob Riggle does the interview, which doesn't make Benjamin look too ridiculous as he talks about the merits of cupcakes. Benjamin is sponsoring a bill (A09446) that would make the cupcake New York's official state children's snack.

In the justification section of the bill, it says: "This bill would protect the cupcake from being banned at schools in New York. The recent ban in New York public schools will restrict fundraising capabilities for school activities that rely on cupcake sales and the presence of cupcakes at birthday parties."

This, of course, begs the question: what's the official state children's snack of New Jersey?

One thing's for sure, it's not cupcakes, which are banned in Jersey and California schools as well.

If you know the official state children's snack of any state, please let us and everyone else know by posting in our comments section. But first, watch the Daily Show video. Hilarious. I won't ruin it for you, but Benjamin ends the segment by discussing herpes with Riggle.

Norwood News Out Now

Peep the new issue of the Norwood News, out on the streets and online now. (We're still working out some issues with the pdf copy and a couple other things, but for the most part, it's good to go.)

Here's a quick preview:

Kingsbridge Armory activists say it's not too much to ask retailers who set up shop in the soon to be renovated facility to pay their workers a living wage, or $10 an hour.

Part One of our annual School Preview. Part two (high schools and private schools) will be in our next issue, which comes out Nov. 1.

A new environmentally-friendly affordable housing development was unveiled on Webster Avenue here in the Bronx on Monday. Somehow movie stars Edward Norton and Owen Wilson involved.

An update from the trenches of the war against graffiti here in the northwest Bronx.

Editorial: Why we need to be actively protecting our neighborhoods from unwanted developments.

Check out all these stories and more on our Web site.

[Quick congratulations to James Fergusson, the editor of the Mount Hope Monitor. This exciting new paper received some great news today and will now be bringing more stories and information to the news-deprived Mount Hope area (Community Board 5) and on a more consistent basis. Look for more updates from James here on the blog. Cheers, mate!]

Dept. of Education Info Session Tomorrow

From Inside Schools:

"Ask Martine and Friends" is an information session for families who have questions about the Department of Education and the upcoming school year. The event provides the most up-to-date information by bringing together public school families and DOE personnel to listen to their concerns and suggestions, as well as answer questions.

Chief Family Engagement Officer Martine Guerrier and DOE personnel will each give a three-minute overview of their offices and share contact information with families. Following the remarks of DOE personnel there will be a Q&A session where question cards written by parents in the audience will be answered by the panel.

6-8:30 p.m.
Bronx School For Law, Government and Justice
244 E 163rd Street, Bronx

News Roundup for August 2

This week's New Yorker includes a Talk of the Town item on a nonprofit kennel club for hunting dogs run by the New Tabernacle Church near the Cross Bronx Expressway.

State Senator Jeff Klein weighed in on the Spitzer scandal and the possibility of appointing a special prosecutor, according to the Journal News.

Governor Spitzer signed over 100 bills into law today and vetoed 27, City Room reports.

Streetsblog reports that famed Danish urbanist Jan Gehl was hired as a consultant for Mayor Bloomberg's PlaNYC initiatives. Some of Gehl's goals are to make the city more pedestrian-friendly and improve public transportation.

NY Sun education reporter Elizabeth Green looks at the city's aggressive plan to close a bunch of public schools to make space for more charter schools.

News Roundup for July 31

Apparently the United Nations is just as problematic a construction project as the Croton Water Filtration Plant. After some false starts, the Swedish construction firm Skanska AB, one of the contractors involved in the filtration plant, was selected by the UN to manage the renovation of its headquarters in Manhattan. Reuters has the details of the $7 million initial contract that could yield $1 billion for Skanska over time.

Gotham Gazette has a feature by a high school student from New Youth Connections , about efforts to expand mental health services and counseling in the public schools.

The New York Post looks at Joel Klein's five years as schools chancellor and his accomplishments so far. None of his predecessors has lasted that long since the post was created in 1970.

A Daily News story reports on another uninhabitable city-subsidized apartment. Tenant Steven Berry was forced to move his asthmatic kids out of the Valentine Ave. apartment because the power was cut off and he can't plug in the kids' nebulizers. Councilman Joel Rivera is calling for the Department of Homeless Services to withhold rent in situations like this.

And Bob Kapstatter reports in his Bronx Boro News (supplement to the Daily News) column (not on-line yet) that Bronx District Attorney is running unopposed again, at this point, and that Adolfo Carrion has been fined $6,875 by the Campaign Finance Board for campaign finance violations.