Cabrera Rips the DOE Over High School's Relocation

Councilman Fernando Cabrera (right) and University Heights Secondary School students held a press conference on Monday (Photo: R. Thomas)

By REBECCA THOMAS

Councilman Fernando Cabrera had harsh words on Monday for the Department of Education, which continues to be unreceptive to his proposal to keep University Heights Secondary School in his district.

"The DOE has been duplicitous in their dealings with my office and our constituency,” said Cabrera in a statement released that morning. “They never intended to prevent the move of University Heights and falsely gave the impression that they were willing to negotiate with CUNY and the community in order to provide the best for the kids. It is time they be held accountable.”

The school is located on the Bronx Community College campus in University Heights, but will have to leave because BCC - a CUNY college - needs the space in time for the new school year.

On Monday afternoon, the councilman and 13 students from the school gathered at the corner of 179th Street and Jerome Avenue for a press conference. They stood outside a newly constructed four-story building that Cabrera described as “ideal” for the school but which the DOE has rejected in favor of the South Bronx High School campus in Morrisania.

Cabrera says he suggested the 179th Street site in January after the DOE had said that the lack of suitable buildings was the obstacle to keeping the school in the local area. The building is a five-minute walk from University Heights Secondary School's current site, but Cabrera's proposal was greeted with inaction.

“They asked me to find a building. I found a building, but now nothing!” he said at the press conference. “Don’t ask me to do something if you know at the end that there is no hope!”

Bronx News Roundup, Oct. 13

Bronx Borough President, Ruben Diaz, Jr., continues to oppose the proposed Kingsbridge Armory agreement.

Some Bronx bridges may finally get much needed repair.

Renovations at Jerome Park Reservoir are on hiatus while the Parks Department and Department of Environmental Protection duke it out over control of the area.

In more Parks Department news, the agency announced that Heritage Field, the park replacing the old Yankee Stadium, is behind schedule and will not be completed until Fall 2011.

Instead of going for the Department of Environmental Protection's original plan to build huge egg-shaped sewage digesters in Hunts Point, the city is going to refurbish existing digesters, to the relief of community leaders.

NPR highlights the plight of tenants in an old, badly maintained apartment building on University Avenue that they attribute to the real estate crash.

The Daily News reports that the daughter of the Bronx woman who crashed her car on Sunday while driving drunk pleaded with her mother to "slow down." In addition to the daugher, there were five other young girls in the car at the time of the crash, one was killed.

The Daily News lists a slew of bargains to be found at stores in Pelham Bay.

State Sen. Jeffrey Klein proposed legislation to expand the police DNA databank.

Klein is also busy drafting legislation that would ban the fad of "fish pedicures," deeming the practice unsanitary.

The South Bronx High School football team is hoping for a better end of the season than last year.