Tenants in Rundown Creston Ave. Building Demand Action

VIDEO: Standing in her living room, Vanessa Santiago describes conditions inside her apartment

Last night, Creston Avenue resident Vanessa Santiago fought back tears as she spoke to reporters and local politicians about the litany of problems inside her basement apartment.

When it rains, she said, water seeps under her front door and into the living room, meaning she can't have furniture. There are holes in the walls and ceilings, she continued, and mice, cockroaches and other bugs are a common sight for her, her husband, and her five kids. Her toilet doesn't work properly, neither do the faucets in the bathroom sink, and most of the electrical sockets in the two-bedroom apartment are broken. The list goes on.
"My kids cannot keep living like this," Santiago sobbed.

Making matters worse, her apartment - and the 32 other units in the building - have been without cooking gas since June.

Tenants recently began meeting with organizers from the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition. Last night, tenants and organizers hung banners ("SAVE OUR HOMES" "OUR CHILDREN ARE SICK" "HPD WHERE R U?) from the fire escapes, and held a press conference to bring attention to their plight.

Last night's press conference. The landlord had the banners torn down this morning, tenants activists said. (Photo by Alma Watkins)

The building, at 2229 Creston Ave. in South Fordham, has 270 housing violations, an exorbitant number for its size. 

Tenants say the landlord, Treetop Management, a real estate company in New Jersey which uses the name 2229 Creston Partners LLC for the Creston building, has consistently failed to maintain the apartments, and that HPD is also at fault.  According to NY1, HPD recently made $30,000 worth of emergency repairs - but you wouldn't know it.

Maria Ramos, a first floor tenant, has a huge hole in her kitchen ceiling, after workmen visited in June to inspect the apartment's gas fixtures. Problem is, they never returned to repair it, and now rats are sneaking in.  In her living room a plastic tub collects murky water dripping from another hole in the ceiling, where a lightbulb would normally be. In her bathroom the toilet no longer flushes.

"We're human beings, not animals," Ramos said.

After touring several apartments, Assemblyman Nelson Castro described the conditions as "really horrible."  The building "needs to be repaired ASAP," he said. 

Castro said his office has reached out to HPD and has tried, without success, to contact the landlord.  (We, also, were unable to immediately reach the landlord.)

As they continue to wait for repairs, tenants are considering their next steps.  If help doesn't come soon, Santiago said, she and her family are heading to a homeless shelter.

Other tenants are considering a rent strike, a tenant organizer said.

VIDEO: Jose Santiago, Vanessa's husband, in the family's bathroom

Start Your Own Green Cart Business

(Photo by Ivonne Salazar)

Calling all Bronx entrepreneurs: nonprofit WHEDco is partnering with the NYC Green Cart program to host a free business workshop on Tuesday, Aug. 24, to recruit and train potential green cart owners. Learn the in and outs of owning your own fruit and vegetable stand business, and get help with the application process.

No business experience is necessary and the session is open to anyone--the idea is to help Bronx residents profit financially their own business ventures, while also increasing healthy food options throughout the borough.

The workshop will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. on Aug. 24 at WHEDco's Intervale Green Office, at 1330 Intervale Ave. (between Jennings St and Freeman St). It's free, though you should call to reserve yourself a seat. RSVP to Cassandra Flechsig at (212) 337-4311, or call for more information.

Questions Raised About Espada's Campaign Staff

Last week, the BoogieDowner blog posted a list of employees who are on the payroll of Pedro Espada, Jr., eliciting a pretty good discussion in the comments section about the Senator’s rather large staff of 39 people.

The State Senate website posts a payroll list every two weeks; you can download it here and search for representatives by name. Espada's staff largely outnumbers most other reps -- Senator Jose M. Serrano, for example, employs just seven people, and even Espada’s buddy Rev. Ruben Diaz, Sr., has a staff of eleven. (Espada's doubled his staff since becoming Majority Leader last year, and told us in March through a spokesman that the new hires are necessary to help fulfill his role as leader, and as a member of various Senate committees.)

One commenter on BoogieDowner noted that a number of Espada's State-employed staffers were also listed on his campaign website--www.voteespada.com--as members of his campaign staff. These names were then, curiously, removed from the site just a few days later.

A savvy reader e-mail pointed out that you can still see the old version of the website through Google cached pages (Google takes backup snapshots of websites, which you can see by clicking the "cached" link that comes up under the site on a Google search). Here's a version of the site before it was changed, and here's what that staff page looks like now.

Espada's campaign staff has yet to reply to an e-mail inquiring about why the names were removed.

By our comparison, 10 of the eleven names that were listed as "staff" on the campaign site were also on the State's payroll list as regular Espada workers. (The one exception being Pedro Gautier Espada, Espada's son, whose title is "campaign manager.")

There's nothing necessarily illegal or improper about having staff members double as campaign workers, though, as long as they're doing that work off the State time clock.

"If you have somebody on your public payroll, and if they're doing work on the weekend for you, you can compensate them for that," said Jon Conklin, the public information officer at the State Board of Elections.

Election law does not regulate how candidates use staff members or for what purpose, Conklin said. If staff members were campaigning on the public dime, it would fall to the Attorney General's Office to investigate.

In the civil lawsuit that Attorney General Andrew Cuomo brought against Espada in April, the Senator was accused of having employees from his Soundview health clinics illegally work on his campaigns while they were being paid by the clinics.

What's Going On?

Here's our daily listing of Bronx happenings:

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

Bronx News Roundup, August 19

On the political front: former Bronx Borough President Freddy Ferrer will announce his endorsement of Gustavo Rivera today, according to a press release sent out this morning. Rivera is one of two candidates challenging Senator Pedro Espada, Jr., and he's been racking up a good amount of political support lately. We'll be covering the announcement this afternoon, so check back later for more details.

In a local Assembly race, candidate Luis Sepulveda is turning his attention to the borough's growing population of Bangladeshi residents in order to unseat longtime incumbent Peter Rivera.

Activists rallied outside of a Bronx catering hall last week, where Sen. Rev. Ruben Diaz, Sr. was holding a fundraiser, to protest the senator's anti-gay agenda.

Personal contributions from outside their legislative districts make up most of New York candidates' campaign funds, according to the Star-Gazette. Sen. Pedro Espada and Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson were among those mentioned.

An 18-year-old South Bronx student, originally from war-torn Sierra Leone, was honored last night by the Yankees during the team's 2nd annual "Hope Week."

The Times reviews Manuel Acevedo's exhibit, on display at the Bronx River Art Center until Aug. 28.

The Daily News follows up on yesterday's Village Voice piece on Pedro Espada's overdue tailor's bill.

An inspection of the city's supermarkets found that many are overcharging customers for items, with the highest number of violations happening in five Bronx neighborhoods.

Tenants in a Creston Avenue apartment complex are asking for help in getting their building's many violations repaired by a negligent landlord. We were there and will post some video this afternoon. One apartment in particular was in a terrible state.

Thanks largely to the efforts of a plastic surgeon at Montefiore Medical Center, state law now requires doctors to inform breast cancer patients facing surgery about breast reconstruction options.

Elevated levels of the toxic construction material PCB were found in three city schools inspected recently, including P.S. 178, on Baychester Avenue.

The Mysterious Death of Norwood 'Fixture' Billy (Peanut) Murphy

Born premature on Aug. 25, 1962, Billy Murphy was a tiny baby who looked like a little "peanut," one of his older brothers said at the time. The name stuck. Even as a grown-up, everyone knew him as "Peanut."

Last Wednesday night, a gimpy-legged "Peanut" Murphy walked out of Whalen Park, on the corner of 205th Street and Perry Avenue in Norwood, where he drank Cobra malt liquor -- on most nights and days for the past two decades -- to pick up some more beer. Probably from the Family Grocery, near Rochambeau Avenue, where we worked for a time (and was paid in beer and cigarettes, according to a friend).

The next day, Murphy lay brain dead at St. Barnabas Hospital, his face and head swollen to the point that he was nearly unrecognizable. Vicar Bob Rainis of Epiphany Lutheran, where Murphy often slept and received the sacrament, said Murphy was so badly beaten and bruised, he mostly identified him by the shamrock tattoo on his forearm.

Rainis read Murphy his last rites on Saturday and he died early Sunday morning, at the age of 47, just 10 days before his birthday.

While most believe Murphy fatally hit his head as the result of bad fall, many believe that even if he did fall (which he was prone to as a heavy drinker with bad legs, the result of a scaffolding accident that left him permanently hobbled.), he was savagely beaten beforehand. In other words, Murphy was murdered.

Police could not be immediately reached for comment, but we'll keep trying.

McKeon Funeral Home, located just a block from Whalen, is taking care of all the funeral arrangements. There will be a wake starting at 5 p.m. tomorrow at Epiphany Lutheran on E. 206th Street, just down the street from Bainbridge Avenue.The funeral service will begin at 7 p.m.

By all accounts, Murphy was a nice guy who struggled mightily with alcohol and stubbornly refused any public assistance aside from the kindness of friends and the congregation at Epiphany Lutheran.

"He's the sweetest man I ever met," said Jeanie Brady, one of Murphy's friends, who lives near Rochambeau and 206th Street. "He used to help everyone but himself."  

Brady called Murphy a "piece of fixture in the neighborhood."

"Believe it or not," Rainis said, "Billy was one of our greatest ambassadors. He would talk to people walking by the church and say, 'You coming to church on Sunday? You should. You're going to love this place.'"

Rainis, a former cop, said he's not sure if police have classified Murphy's case as a homicide, but he and many of his friends at Whalen Park believe it was just that.

"I believe he was killed," said Savcho Sanev in a thick Bulgarian accent. Earlier today Sanev, who calls Murphy his "brother," and four of Murphy's other friends, sat on a bench at Whalen Park, drinking Cobras and mourning their loss.

Some speculated that Murphy's beating may have come at the hands of opportunistic teenagers who saw the small drunk homeless man as an easy target. Others said it could have been a gang initiation. Others said maybe he fell really really hard this time.

But Murphy's Whalen Park friends say police told them they were treating the case as homicide and that they told them that Murphy sustained 10 broken ribs, not something likely to happen from a simple fall, however intoxicated he may have been.

"I'm so (expletive) sad," Sanev said. 

West Farms Library Closed Until November

The West Farms branch of the New York Public Library, at 2085 Honeywell Ave. (between E. 179th and 180th Streets), is being closed for four months while construction crews replace all of the building's windows, according to a library spokesman. The current windows are "old and not energy-efficient," he said.

The local branch shut down July 1 and won't open its doors again until Monday, Nov. 1. In the meantime, patrons can pick up items at the Tremont Branch, at 1866 Washington Ave., which will be housing the library's reserve collection. They can also use the nearby Belmont Library, located at 610 E. 186th St. 

32BJ Endorses Assembly Candidate Hector Ramirez

Hector Ramirez (center), pictured here talking with local residents in a Mount Hope bodega yesterday, has picked up several important endorsements

Here's a mini-exclusive: 32BJ SEIU, the largest private-sector union in the state, has endorsed Hector Ramirez in his race against Nelson Castro, the incumbent assemblyman in the 86th Assembly District.

In a statement, the union said the endorsement "follows an extensive membership-screening process, in which Ramirez received overwhelming support from members for his commitment to affordable housing, creating good jobs and economic development."

Mike Fishman, 32BJ's president, said in the same release: “Through his work in the community, Hector Ramirez has shown a strong commitment to working people. 32BJ is proud to get behind candidates like Ramirez who will make New York a state that works for working people.”

The union represents security officers, doormen, porters, maintenance workers, bus drivers, window cleaners and food service workers, among others.

Ramirez has also received endorsements from the Bronx Democratic Party, Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., the Working Families Party and others.

Another powerful union, 1199 SEIU, is also expected to back him.

We've been following this race closely and will have more in the coming days.

Eva Moskowitz's Organization to Open Two Charter Schools in the Bronx

The Success Charter Network (SCN), the organization behind four high-performing charter schools in Harlem, is coming to the Bronx.

Bronx Success Academy 1 (located in Mott Haven at 510 E. 141st St.) and Bronx Success Academy 2 (in Morrisania at 968 Cauldwell Ave.) will open on Wednesday, Aug. 25. To begin with, each will have 188 students, all in kindergarten and first grade.

"For years we've had requests from families in the Bronx to bring this successful model to their neighborhoods," said Jenny Sedlis, SCN's director of external affairs, in a telephone interview. "We're really very excited."

Bobby Sanabria's Big Band Plays 52 Park

One thing we forgot to include in the previous "What's Going On" post (OK, now it's in there) is the free concert at 52 Park/El Teatro Miranda (Kelly Street, between Avenue St. John and Legett Avenue) at 7:30 tonight. Bronx Walk of Fame member and salsa percussionist legend Bobby Sanabria's Big Band is a must see.

It's part of Lincoln Center's "LC in the BX" (or "Lincoln Center Celebrates the Bronx") campaign. Click here for more information.

What's Going On

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

Bronx News Roundup, Aug. 18

The Village Voice's Tom Robbins continues to shed light on the dealings of State Senator Pedro Espada Jr. with a story about how a Manhattan tailor is suing Espada for failing to pay for $7,200 worth of custom-tailored suits.In a sworn statement, Espada said he returned the suits for being "defective," but the tailor says he's seen Espada on television wearing his suits.

Robbins also writes about Gustavo Rivera's efforts to unseat Espada (no mention of fellow challenger Dan Padernacht) and again points out Espada's numerous connections to the real estate and landlord lobby, including how his part-time spokesman, Steve Mangione, was paid $270,000 to produce radio ads for the Rent Stabilization Association, the city's largest landlord group.

The Bronx Zoo is shipping 100 rare Kihansi spray toads to Tanzania where the species is near extinction.

The Bronx detective who solved the Happy Land fire case, Kevin Moroney, retired yesterday after 42 years on the job.

The NY Times has used the word "hipster" in stories more than 250 times in the past year. They used it in connection with the Bronx "only a handful" of times, but they used it in connection with Brooklyn 96 times, Manhattan 87 times, Queens 33 times, and Staten Island, just twice. Thought you needed to know this.