Love Gospel Assembly, the Grand Concourse church gutted in a July 25 fire, is ramping up its fund-raising efforts and asking the public for help as they work toward rebuilding.
In a letter, Assembly head pastor Bishop Ron Bailey asks "Fellow Co-Laborers in Christ" to "stand with us prayerfully and financially during this critical time in the life of our ministry."
Considered by many congregants to be a beacon of a light in the community -- the church is located on the Concourse between 183rd Street and Field Place -- Love Gospel Assembly has some 600 parishioners and also operates a soup kitchen out of its basement.
"We have the awesome privilege of ministering to the poverty-stricken and homeless of our community," Bailey wrote. "Yet now, we are without a home. With the help of God and others, we can be restored and rebuilt so that we may continue to see broken lives transformed by the power of God."
The church has set up the "Love Gospel Assembly Operation Restoration Fund," which people can donate to by going to the church's website: lgabronx.com, clicking on "Donation Tool" on the left side of the page and then scrolling down to click on "Operation Restoration."
On Saturday, the church is holding a fundraiser at Lehman Center's concert hall from 1-3 p.m. where people can donate in person. And you can also donate by mailing a check payable to "Love Gospel Assembly" to 2435 Grand Concourse 2nd Floor, Bronx NY 10468. Put "Attention: Operation Restoration."
Love Gospel Assembly is currently holding services on Friday evenings and Sundays at Walker Memorial Baptist Church, 120 E. 169th St., between the Grand Concourse and Walton Avenue.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Love Gospel Assembly Seeking Help to Rebuild After Fire
Bronx News Roundup, Aug. 16
This past weekend in the Bronx began where the previous weekend left off -- with violence.
Just after midnight on Friday night, a car pulled up to a group of teenagers in Williamsbridge on Fenton Avenue and opened fire, killing 16-year-old Tashawn Bromfield of Connecticut. Tashawn was in town visiting his father. No one else was injured. Police said Tashawn was not the intended target and that it may have been the result of a gang initiation. More from NY1.
A few hours later, at about 7:15 Saturday morning, more tragedy struck the borough as 19-year-old Kevin Mejia was killed after falling from the roof of a six-story apartment building on University Avenue. Police are treating Mejia's death as an accident, saying the teenager lost his footing. It's unclear what he was doing on the roof of an apartment building blocks away from his own.
On Friday afternoon, a battery exploded at the Longwood Ave. 6-Train station.
Bedbugs are thriving in all the five boroughs, a new poll suggests.
Pedro Espada Jr. may benefit from a crowded 33rd Senate District race this fall.
Scholars worry that the writings of a legendary Yiddish author, Chaim Grade, will be trashed by Bronx bureaucrats. The Bronx Public Administration took the writings after Grade's widow, who lived in the Amalgamated Houses, died in May and left no will.
Now, in some more inspiring, sports-related news, Bronx native and Villanova senior guard Corey Fisher set what appears to be a new street basketball record when he dropped 105 points during a summer league game at Watson Gleason Playground. Former NYC hoops star Howard Garfinkel called Fisher a "pathological scorer."
A team of Bronx high school all-stars beat their Brooklyn counterparts in the Nike World Basketball Festival's Battle of the Boroughs. The Boogie Down takes on either Queens or Manhattan next weekend for the championship.
NBC reports on the Bronx's wildly successful Rocking the Boat youth program.
Here's some more coverage of Justice Sotomayor's visit to Lehman College on Saturday. NY1.
Sotomayor Honored During Bronx Children's Museum Event at Lehman College
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| Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor reads to kids at Lehman College on Saturday. |
If you've never heard of the Bronx Children's Museum, it's because it only exists as an organization, which was founded in 2005 by then-borough president Adolfo Carrion. It was incorporated in 2008 and is slated to move into a building on Mill Pond Road near Yankee Stadium and the Gateway Mall in 2013. Current Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. has pledged $3 million for the project.
In the meantime, as part of its mission, the Children's Museum is organizing various literacy and arts-based efforts. This summer, it collaborated with BronxWorks and The Point to work with youth to produce an art exhibit, which included everything from photography to puppetry, for Saturday's event at Lehman College. The exhibit opening was highlighted by music from the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, which was accompanied by musicians from the Celia Cruz Bronx High School of Music.
“Your library card is your passport to anywhere you want to go,” Sotomayor told kids at the event. “Tell your parents Justice Sotomayor told you to pester them to take you to the library.”
Friday, August 13, 2010
Events in the Bronx This Weekend
Street Trees Need Public Attention
In case you haven't noticed, this summer has been hot and dry. Now, that dry, hot heat has put at risk thousands of recently planted trees in the city, including the 250 new "street trees" planted in Norwood through the mayor's MillionTreesNYC initiative.
The "street trees" -- trees planted along city sidewalks -- need weekly attention and watering to remain healthy and the Parks Department is calling on the public to help out. "We can use all the help we can get," explained Hector Aponte, the Bronx Parks Commissioner. "Anybody with a bucket of water can pitch in."
Friday morning, across the street from Williamsbridge Oval Park (and outside the offices of the Norwood News), Aponte, along with Jennifer Beaugrand and her horticultural crew from the Mosholu Preservation Corporation (MPC) demonstrated how to creatively and efficiently keep street trees watered.
The demonstration stressed a gradual process of hydration, a week-long technique of watering trees through water conservation. Quinn Cushnie, a crew member from MPC, showed how a 15-gallon bucket of water, fixed with two small holes at the bucket's bottom and placed strategically next to a tree, would slowly drain water into the soil and roots of a tree as needed. "It is a slower process that gives the tree water when needed instead of drowning the top soil all at once," Cushnie said.
Cushnie also showed how the newly planted "street trees" were equipped with irrigation bags - small green bags attached to the base of trees - which function similarly to the slow water-letting of water buckets. The bags allow for crews to fill them up with water once a week and then forget it until they need refilling the next week.
Aponte and MillionTreesNYC offered an assortment of tips for residents on how to exploit excess water throughout the home to water their local street trees. Excess water from bathtubs, melted ice from coolers and dripping water from air-conditioning units can be used to hydrate trees without wasting water from a hose.
MillionTreesNYC has more tips on watering "street trees" on its website: milliontreesnyc.org.
Bronx News Roundup, Aug. 13
TV personality Regis Philbin, who grew up in Pelham Parkway, has spoken out against the removal of 87 trees along the parkway. Here's the video.
Police are investigating a murder in Wakefield. The victim, who was not carrying ID and wouldn't tell cops who shot him, died at Jacobi Medical Center early this morning.
Tenant activists, including some from the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, rallied outside Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's midtown offices yesterday, to demand that they take responsibility for their role in the predatory equity crisis and displacement of hundreds of Bronx tenants.
Ireland will get a glimpse of a Bronx high school this fall when former Bronx teacher Nilaja Sun's OBIE award-winning production "No Child" hits the Dublin Theatre Festival.
Bronx basketball stars, Dennis Green, Daniel Dingle, Deonte Houston, and Mussa Kone, will take on the Brooklyn team for the Battle of Boroughs semifinal of the World Basketball Festival at Rucker Park in Harlem starting at 3 p.m. today. After the game, a select group of high school stars will play a team from China.
After he was charged with misdemeanor assault and five other offenses at a Bronx District Attorney's office yesterday, David W. Johnson, and aide of Gov. David A. Paterson, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment.
A new shopping center is coming to Hunts Point.
The principal of Christopher Columbus High School, a Bronx school slated for closure, has plans to save it by converting it into a charter school.
Giovanni's Closed by the Health Department
Bronx blog Welcome to Melrose is reporting that Giovanni's, a popular Italian eatery on the Grand Concourse at East 150th Street, has been closed by the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Tenants PAC Endorses Gustavo Rivera; Rescinds Supports for 3 Dems
Tenants Political Action Committee (PAC) announced its support this morning for Gustavo Rivera in his bid to unseat incumbent Pedro Espada, Jr. in the 33rd Senate District. It adds to a growing list of endorsements for Rivera, who is also being supported by several unions and prominent elected officials.
“In contrast to the incumbent, Gustavo Rivera is a true progressive and a person of integrity who is concerned about the welfare of the people of the 33rd State Senate District, not in lining his pockets,” said Tenants PAC board member Michael McKee.
Tenants PAC is essentially the political arm of the Real Rent Reform Campaign, which is an umbrella organization of pro-tenant groups, including the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, that advocates for tenant protection legislation.
In addition to announcing its support for Rivera, Tenants PAC also rescinded its endorsements of three incumbent Democratic State Senators -- Brian Foley, Daniel Aubertine and David Valesky -- after they voted against two smaller tenant protection bills on Aug. 3.
Espada, who is chairman of the housing committee, also voted against the bills. McKee, who is executive director of the Real Rent Reform Campaign, has long accused Espada of being a puppet of real estate and landlord groups. “Just look at Espada’s campaign disclosure reports and you will see why he fronts for the landlords,” said McKee in a statement. “His contributors are a Who’s Who of the real estate industry.”
According to the Bronx News Network's own analysis, Espada has received more than $178,000 in contributions from the real estate industry and landlord groups. This year, his nine housing committee meetings lasted an average of 3 minutes and 45 seconds.
Here's our story on Espada's tenure as chairman of the housing committee.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Looks Like Gustavo Rivera's Going to Make Ballot; Padernacht To Meet With Beep [Updated]
The Riverdale Press' Kate Pastor is reporting that a judge's initial report says that 33rd Senate District candidate Gustavo Rivera, who is being vigorously challenged by incumbent Pedro Espada, Jr.'s lawyers, has enough valid signatures to make the ballot.
In other news, fellow Espada challenger Dan Padernacht (who's got a new sign and bunting outside of his Sedgwick Ave. campaign office) says he will be meeting with Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. next week. On Monday, Diaz met with Rivera. While he wouldn't commit to supporting Rivera then, he did say he's decidedly against the re-election of Espada.
Update: I wrongly stated above that a "judge" had settled the petition case. It was actually a "special referee" appointed by the Bronx Supreme Court. Also, Rivera's campaign released a statement last night slamming what they considered Espada's "frivolous" challenge of his petition signatures.
"Instead of fighting for our community, Pedro Espada tried to intimidate his own constituents and take away our right to vote for change," said Rivera in the press release. "But the Bronx is still a democracy and our community will have a chance to elect new leadership on September 14th."
We're waiting on word from Espada's camp.
Take Care of Your Bronx Street Trees
The presence of trees in your neighborhood can often make all difference in the world. When describing so-called "nice" neighborhoods, reporters like me and my colleagues often use terms like "leafy" or "tree-lined." It just makes places look and then sound nicer. Plus, trees help clean the air of pollution and cool sidewalks.
With this in mind, the city has (smartly) planted thousands of trees (375,000, according to city officials) throughout the five boroughs over the past few years as part of the mayor's MillionTreesNYC initiative.
(A good example of this is on Bainbridge Avenue near Williamsbridge Oval Park in Norwood. The corridor looks much better after trees were planted there last year.)
But those trees are still mostly young saplings in need of a little TLC -- which basically entails only the occasional bucket of water poured into their thirsty roots and not running over into them with your car. This dry and ridiculously hot summer has put those trees in greater peril.
Fortunately, the city is attempting to protect its investment by encouraging residents to take ownership of and water their neighborhood street trees.
Tomorrow morning in Oval Park at the park's northern entrance at 10:30 a.m., Bronx Parks Commissioner Hector Aponte along with Jennifer Beaugrand and her horticultural crew from Mosholu Preservation Corpation will be demonstrating some "creative" watering techniques and encouraging residents and merchants to water the trees in front of their homes and businesses.
(Note: not quite sure how "creative" you can get with watering, I'm just quoting the press release, but we'll report on it afterward and let you know.)
In any case, we'll have more tomorrow. But come to the Oval if you're interested. Because doesn't the "tree-lined streets of Bainbridge Avenue" sound so much better than "the hot concrete streets of Bainbridge Avenue"?
Victory for foes of Hunts Point jail
Opponents of a city plan to build a 2,000-bed jail in Hunts Point are celebrating. Citing the economy, the city has decided not to build it. And as a bonus it's moving the jail barge anchored near the Fulton Fish Market to Rikers Island. The whole story is in The Hunts Point Express.
New Exhibit Captures Bronx Parks 'Before They Were Parks'
The exhibition features 19 vintage and contemporary photographs of Bronx locations, including properties condemned for the Henry Hudson Parkway and the historic burial plot of the Van Cortlandt family, and over 100 images total of all the boroughs from the New York City Parks Photo Archive and other collections.
“'Before They Were Parks' tells the untold stories behind many of New York City’s green spaces through photography, artifacts and memorabilia,” Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said in a statement announcing the collection. “The exhibit...invites viewers to take another look at their favorite neighborhood parks and strengthen their appreciation for the city’s leafy oases.”
The public is welcome to witness the tale of their the city's parks weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Central Park’s Arsenal Gallery through Sept. 9. The Arsenal Gallery, which dedicates itself to examining themes of nature, urban space and wildlife, is located on the 3rd Floor of the Arsenal at 64th Street and Fifth Avenue in Central Park. Admission is free.
