Landlord denies Nos Quedamos claims

Miriam Rodriguez, managing agent for Alliance Housing Associates II, contacted the Highbridge Horizon Friday to deny recent claims made by the Bronx housing advocacy group Nos Quedamos.

Lucy Martinez, a project coordinator for Nos Quedamos, told the Horizon last week that Rodriguez had contacted her pretending to be a tenant in order to gain information about a meeting of actual Alliance Housing Associates II tenants being held at the offices of Nos Quedamos . (Rodriguez did not attend the meeting, and neither did most tenants, causing it to be postponed).

In a statement emailed to the Horizon, Rodriguez not only denied placing a call to Nos Quedamos, but said she was unfamiliar with the organization, and unaware that her tenants were meeting there. "I have been in business for many years," Rodriguez wrote, "and have never disguised myself in order to gain information that pertained to me or my business."

Rodriguez also responded to the statement of Yolanda Gonzalez, executive director for Nos Quedamos, who said that several voice messages seeking to meet with Alliance Housing Associates II about Vasquez case were not returned.

"The reason why she did not receive a response is because we did not receive a call," Rodriguez wrote. "As far as I am aware, she did not call or leave any messages with my staff."

Rodriguez also suggested Gonzalez should have tried contacting her by email or regular mail if she was not getting through by phone.

Rodriguez closed her email by indicating her latest statement to the Horizon will be the last on this topic for the foreseeable future: "At this point, I have consulted with my attorneys," Rodriguez wrote, "and have been advised not to respond to further questioning."

Lawyer in eviction case: "I'm nobody."

Three days after city marshals evicted her and changed her locks, Woodycrest Avenue resident Carmen Vasquez was in court on Monday, along with attorney Eric Pilotti, arguing that her eviction should be set aside and her home should be restored to her.

An attorney for Vasquez' landlord, Alliance Housing Associates II, was in the courtroom as well, though her presence there was apparently news to her: Following a roughly 15-minute proceeding that ultimately resulted in Judge Pierre Turner adjourning the case until Thursday, a reporter approached the lawyer and asked for her name.

She replied, "I'm not the lawyer. No comment. I'm nobody. I don't count," before quickly exiting the courtroom.

Following the exchange, Carmen Villa-Lugo —court attorney for Judge Turner—confirmed that, in fact, the woman in question was the attorney for Alliance Housing Associates II. Villa-Lugo identified her as Marybeth Hotaling, of the Brooklyn law firm Cohen, Hurkin, Ehrenfeld, Pomerantz, and Tenenbaum.

Check out the most recent Highbridge Horizon

While the next issue of the Highbridge Horizon is right around the corner, check out our most recent issue here. We've got stories about the city's comprehensive lawsuit against landlord Hamid Kahn, the owner of a building on University Avenue that racked up more than 2000 open violations from the city; the efforts of a Woodycrest Avenue resident to put her past history of drug use behind her, rebuild her life and regain custody of her granddaughter; and an update on the construction of replacement parks and recreational facilities as part of the new Yankee Stadium project.

You will also find three hard-hitting opinion pieces: Tawana Prunty's column about the recent fatal police shooting of Fermin Arzu, an unarmed Honduran immigrant ; Maria Simmons' piece expressing frustration with what she sees as poor communication and lack of planning on the part of the local community board in relation to the recent closing of the Highbridge library; and Vanessa Truell's call for the city to pursue construction of a new middle school in Highbridge with the same vigor that it pushed for a new baseball stadium and other development ventures.

News Roundup for August 7

The Daily News has two stories today on school construction plans in the Bronx with very different outlooks. Patrice O'Shaughnessy's column looks at a plan by the nonprofit New Settlement Apartments to open a k-12 school on a neglected strip of W. 172nd Street.
The front page of the Bronx Boro News section covers the neighborhood's reaction to the Kingsbridge Armory plans that are moving forward with no schools included. The Norwood News's coverage of this issue is available here.

Gotham Gazette examines whether NYC's fiscal boom is reaching neighborhoods outside Manhattan.

NY1's Dean Meminger reports on $3 million in grants to South Bronx nonprofits from Venezuela's Citgo Oil Company. Congressman Jose Serrano deflected criticism for opening the doors of the Bronx to Venezuela and Citgo.

City Limits shows the obstacles facing some of the 22,000 people who received NYCHA Section 8 vouchers when the list was reopened after 13 years.

SheridanSwap Blog Launches

A new Bronx blog has been launched by the groups organizing to get the little-used Sheridan Expressway decomissioned and dismantled. The goal of the SheridanSwap Blog and the groups behind it is to transform the land occupied by the highway into affordable housing and open space along the Bronx River. Some of the groups involved include the Southern Bronx River Watershed Alliance (Mothers on the Move, Nos Quedamos, Sustainable South Bronx & Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice) along with the Pratt Center for Community Development.

News Roundup for August 6

A Kingsbridge tenant survived a two-alarm fire yesterday at 2840 Bailey Ave., the Post reports.

The Post also profiles Montefiore surgeon Samuel Weinstein, who donated his own blood to an 8-year-old child he was operating on in El Salvador.

Gotham Gazette looks at the congestion pricing debate in the City Council, with a detailed list of council members and where they stand. Joel Rivera and Helen Foster are undecided, and Maria Baez and Oliver Koppell are leaning in favor of it. Rivera and other undecided pols say their support depends on mass transit improvements.

Mommy Poppins, a New York parents' blog, recommends the Bronx Trolley for families looking to explore new neighborhoods. Click here for details on the weekend trolley.

And NY1 reports on Senator Schumer's warning that New York's bridges and tunnels are underfunded.

Highbridge resident fights to overturn eviction

In the May and June issues of the Highbridge Horizon, we wrote about Carmen Vasquez, a Woodycrest Avenue resident fighting to stay in her home of roughly ten years. Vasquez' landlord, Miriam Rodriguez, moved to evict Vasquez after she said her tenant failed to recertify her eligibility for public assistance (Rodriguez therefore raised Vasquez' rent from $277.00 per month to the full market value, $1132.00, a sum Vasquez says she cannot afford).

Vasquez, on the other hand, alleges that she did in fact submit recertification documents in a timely fashion, but that her landlord deliberately stalled in submitting these documents to the city until the deadline had passed. Vasquez also says Rodriguez refused to schedule an interview to discuss her recertification.

A judgment of possesion was entered against Vasquez in early 2007 in Bronx County Housing Court, and since then, the eviction has been stayed several times while she has lived in fear of city marshals coming to order her out of her apartment.

This past Friday, that finally happened -- Vasquez was evicted and marshals changed the locks to her home.But the final word on the matter has not been written.

Even after she was kicked out of her home, a Bronx County Housing Court judge stayed the eviction and ordered both Vasquez and her landlord back to court on Monday morning at 9:30 am.

Read about all the latest developments in this story here

News Roundup for August 3rd

NY1 reports a pregnant Bronx mother and her boyfriend face charges that the pair abducted the mother’s six children form their grandmother’s custody. Madeline Cotto, 28, of Burke Avenue, and her boyfriend, Malik Martin, 24, were arrested in Baltimore yesterday, where they had been living with the children.


This week the Daily News highlighted the 55 open building violations of 2126 Valentine in Tremont and the housing woes of former residents, the Berry family. City Councilman Joel Rivera has vowed to help the family, long deprived of electricity, with relocation efforts.


The New York Blood Center is calling on Bronx residents to help replenish the city’s blood supply. A Daily News article talks about the blood shortage and local donation drives.

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.

In the Norwood News

The latest issue of the Norwood News is on the streets now. Here's a rundown of the stories that you can find online.

After promising to build two new schools at the Kingsbridge Armory, the DOE is now saying there is no plan to build schools there because there is no need. Activists and elected officials disagree. Read more.

Since a shooting in early May injured four young men outside of Tracey Towers, community stakeholders (elected officials, community groups, tenant associations and residents) from two rival neighborhoods have been working to alleviate some of the underlying tensions. Read more.

Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz met with DEP chief Emily Lloyd hoping to get some answers pertaining to the massive cost overruns in the building of the Croton Water Filtration Plant in Van Cortlandt Park. Read more.

To read more about the controversial filtration plant, click here.

Restaurant workers press Council Majority Leader Joel Rivera. Read more.

Pinnacle, a controversial and fast-growing ownership and management group, is being sued in federal court by a group of tenants. Read more.

Our next issue comes out August 23, but check here for more news posted daily.

Upscale Nightclub Coming to Tremont Avenue

New in the Mount Hope Monitor is a story by Joe Hirsch about Daddy O's, an upscale nightclub that is coming to 369 E.Tremont Ave.

News Roundup for August 1

Gothamist interviews Omar Freilla, founder of Green Worker Cooperatives in the South Bronx.

Last week on Bill Moyers Journal, he interviewed poet Martin Espada, who worked with students at Dreamyard Prep, a small school in the former Taft High School building. The transcript is available here, or you can watch the interview.

The founding president of Lehman College, Leonard Lief, died Monday at the age of 83, the Daily News reports. Under his tenure, Lehman expanded to include 62 bachelor's degree programs and 29 master's programs, in addition to a doctoral program in plant sciences.

And Newsday reports that the Transit Authority will now provide online alerts to tell commuters which elevators and escalators are out of service in the subway system, good news for people who depend on elevators to get in and out of the stations.