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Officer Maces Walton Student
December 30, 2004
By Heather Haddon
A police officer from the 52nd Precinct maced a 17-year-old Walton High School student on school grounds on Dec. 17 in an incident that advocates believe is the latest consequence of the Kingsbridge school’s rampant overcrowding.
The incident, involving an African-American boy whose name was not disclosed by the police, took place around noon. The student was treated at Montefiore Medical Center. There was no update on his condition.
Whether or not the incident should have required the use of Mace, a pepper or tear gas spray that causes intense burning in the eyes, depends on whom you speak to. The New York Police Department says the officer and a school safety agent observed the student wandering through the school’s halls. When they approached him, the student punched the agent, police said. The officer maced the student after he resisted arrest. He was charged with disorderly conduct, obstructing governmental administration, and resisting arrest.
The Department of Education corroborates that account, and said that the student’s suspension is pending.
But students who witnessed the incident claim their peer was a victim of overly aggressive policing. “They kept trying to get him to take off his fitting,” said Vanessa Cage, a Walton student, about the stocking caps that many teens wear. When the student refused to remove it, Cage said she saw the officers tackle him and spray him in the eye.
Chanel Graves, 17, who also says she saw the altercation, thinks the police target students with hats. “Every day they are snatching off people’s hats,” said Graves, a Walton student from University Avenue.
Students of Walton and the three smaller high schools housed on its third floor were visibly agitated on Friday afternoon during a press conference organized by Sistas and Brothas United, a local youth alliance working with Walton students. “If they could do it to him [use Mace], they could do it to me, too,” said Javonne Hurd, 15, a Walton student from Soundview.
Hurd says that officers, now more prevalent at Walton and other city schools that have ongoing safety problems, often spray Mace into crowds of students to control fights. “They sprayed my brother’s friend and he had to go to hospital,” said Hurd, whose older brother also attends Walton.
Neither DOE nor the police would comment if Mace was typically used at Walton or other high schools.
But many advocates and students believe hostile incidents like the one two weeks ago, stems directly from Walton’s intense overcrowding. “We have a crisis here,” said Adaline Walker-Higgins, parent of a student at Celia Cruz High School of Music. Walker-Higgins and many other Cruz parents were angered when the school moved last year from DeWitt Clinton High School to the already cramped Walton.
“They promised small schools and they are not here,” said Walker-Higgins, who called for a day of mourning over the overcrowding situation.
Sistas and Brothas met with students last Tuesday to strategize about how to improve Walton’s safety situation, including creating more exits and reducing the overcrowding. Representatives from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund were also present to discuss possible legal ramifications of the incident.
Proposal Would Close MS 143
December 30, 2004
By Heather Haddon
Local Region 1 has submitted a proposal to the city Department of Education (DOE) to close MS 143 and, in its place, create a new middle school and allow a small high school currently sited there to expand.
After four years of failing to bring up student test scores, Irma Zardoya, Region 1 Superintendent, said the drastic step at the Kingsbridge Heights school was necessary.
“We gave them enough time to improve,” said Zardoya at the Community District Education Council 10 meeting earlier this month. “We needed to make a hard decision that may seem a little radical.”
Under the proposal, MS 143 would close by 2006. No new students would be admitted to the school in the fall, and the current 97 sixth graders would choose a new school next year. In 2006, the 434 eighth graders and 73 special education students would constitute MS 143’s last class.
A smaller middle school would take root at the school, serving 751 students instead of MS 143’s current population of 1060. Beginning next fall, an estimated 100 sixth graders, 284 seventh graders, and 73 special education students would attend the new facility.
Officials have yet to determine a theme for the school, but Zardoya said that DOE has developed a number of designs for small middle schools that local parents, teachers and the regional administration would choose from.
The school will be divided into two “learning communities” based on how it is zoned. Only PS 310 on West Kingsbridge Road sends a sixth grade to the school, and these students would stay with the same teachers throughout their time there. The seventh and eighth grades, which include students from PS 86 on Reservoir Avenue, PS 246 on the Grand Concourse, PS 340 on West 195th Street, and PS 360 on Kingsbridge Terrace, would maintain their own teachers in a separate network.
Students could also apply to the Marie Curie High School for Nursing, Medicine and the Allied Health Professions, now housed at MS 143, which will expand to serve grades seven through 12. The small high school, formed in partnership with the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center, will house 75 students per grade with a total population of 450.
“Marie Curie has had good success,” said Zardoya, noting that the school maintains an attendance rate above 90 percent.
MS 143 has remained on the state’s list of schools needing improvement for the past four years. To address this, officials broke up the West 231st Street school into two smaller academies two years ago and new administrators were hired.
But the school’s state test scores barely budged. Last year, 14 percent of students passed the English test and 20 percent passed math. In 2003, prior to the redesign, the school’s average passing rates were 15 and 16 percent in English and math, respectively.
“MS 143 has a long history of underperformance,” Zardoya said. “How do you change a reputation of a school with parents not wanting to send their children there?”
But a group of MS 143 parents and teachers who confronted Zardoya after the Council meeting weren’t happy with her decision. “Is this the most effective way?” asked Tobie Buford, MS 143’s Parent Association president. “DOE has redesigned several schools and they are still ineffective.”
Dennis King, a local parent and DOE employee, was also upset. “There are a lot of great teachers who are former MS 143 students who came back to teach at the school,” King said. “When it’s redesigned, we’ve got to keep in mind that some things worked.”
Buford was confused about where MS 143 would end up during the transition, and she thought the proposal was more a product of DOE’s citywide overhaul than MS 143’s particular problems. “With [DOE] changing their ways, it’s leaving kids caught in the middle,” she said.
Most Council members did not comment on the proposal, but representative David Rivera was disappointed that it wouldn’t relieve overcrowding in other district areas.
DOE will decide on the plan by the end of January. If approved, MS 143 parents and teachers will convene to discuss the proposal. Zardoya, who is firmly behind the plan, also intends to involve the Council in promoting the plan to the community.
“I agree to work with you to identify the next steps of your involvement,” she said.
Joan Prince, a regional administrator whose husband attended MS 143, was saddened by the news. “He will be upset to hear that it no longer exists,” said Prince, whose husband attended MS 143’s first class in 1958. “It was a showplace at the time.”
Disappointing Politics in ’04
December 30, 2004
By Editorial
2004 was not the borough’s finest hour in the public policy arena.
Most Bronx politicians in the machine’s fold continued to support the construction of the filtration plant in Van Cortlandt Park. The project will adversely affect Norwood and surrounding communities in numerous ways. The Eastview site in Westchester was much more suited to an industrial facility of this kind, but the politicians were seduced by more than $200 million in park improvement funds offered by the DEP in exchange for their support.
But even that kind of money does not justify destroying parkland, and endangering area residents, particularly those with, or prone to, asthma.
Barring any last-minute legal heroics, the construction of the plant will begin in earnest (site preparation work is under way now) in 2005. We can only hope that the plant’s prime political supporters will be as zealous in monitoring the construction and proper distribution of park funds as they were in supporting the precedent-setting disruption of parkland.
This year also saw the implementation of an awful pilot program to radically change the way meals are prepared and delivered to Bronx senior citizens. Once again, machine Democrats appeared to favor politics over people, in this case vulnerable seniors.
These deals may have been good for politicians’ personal agendas but not for the people they represent.
The New Year is an opportunity for reflection and improvement. We call on our political leaders to listen to their better angels in 2005.
Tower Wins a Round Filtration Comittee Named
December 30, 2004
By Jordan Moss
While an initial step toward final approval, the board’s decision is only advisory. The city’s Board of Standards and Appeals must still review the plan before it grants a permit, which is necessary because the tower is not on Fordham’s campus. The Federal Communications Commission must also give its OK. The tower, which will rise 160 feet above the top of the building, has already been approved by the Federal Aviation Administration. Fordham officials hope to commence with the construction of the tower by summer or early fall. Construction will require three three-day lifts of concrete, steel and other material from a crane on the street to the roof. The work within and on top of the building will take six months.
If the project gets final approval, the deal will end a decade-long tiff between Fordham and the New York Botanical Garden. As Fordham began to build a freestanding radio tower on its campus, the Garden objected, saying it obstructed bucolic views from its grounds. Ten years of lawsuits, hearings and unsuccessful negotiations followed until Montefiore offered the use of its building earlier this year.
Plant Committee in Formation
Community Board 7 announced that Norwood resident and community activist Lyn Pyle will be a member of the Facility Monitoring Committee being formed by the city’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for the filtration plant construction in Van Cortlandt Park. According to a resolution passed by the City Council in 1999, “the FMC shall meet at least quarterly and shall advise DEP on all aspects of the design and construction of the filtration plant and all mitigation measures set forth in the” final environmental impact statement.
The resolution indicates that the FMC shall include the chairs of Bronx Community Boards 7, 8 and 12 or their designees. Pyle, a founder of the COVE youth center on Gates Place, was named as a designee.
Asked if the board’s designee could participate in FMC meetings if the chair were also present, DEP spokesman Charles Sturcken said, “Yeah, sure, but we don’t want mobs. If they both want to go, I’m sure that’s fine.”
Other members of the committee will include representatives of DEP, the Parks Department, and Council Member Oliver Koppell. At press time, Sturcken said he had not yet heard from any of the community boards. Koppell, however, already informed the DEP that he will assign staff member Joe Gordon, an engineer, to the committee.
Sturcken also said that DEP is creating a Web site that will include construction schedules and other details of the project.
Three lawsuits seeking to halt construction are still being heard in a state Supreme Court in Queens. However, there are no restraining orders in effect, and the DEP has already begun to prepare the site for construction, including the removal of trees along the 233rd Street exit off the Major Deegan.
News Wins Awards
December 30, 2004
By None
For the second straight year, the Norwood News received awards for its coverage from the Independent Press Association-New York at the organization’s annual conference and awards dinner on Dec. 15.
Jordan Moss, the paper’s editor, and reporter Heather Haddon won a first-place award for “best investigative news story” for their article of the Meals on Wheels controversy. The paper was the first to report that one of the nonprofit organizations to benefit from the restructuring of the program has close ties to the Bronx Democratic Party.
Moss and Haddon also shared an honorable mention in the same category for a report on a federal probe of state Senator Efrain Gonzalez’ ties to three Bronx nonprofits that employ family and associates of the Democratic lawmaker.
In the “best editorial/commentary” category, Moss received a second-place award for an editorial detailing the problems with the Meals on Wheels pilot program and commending Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion for coming out in opposition to the plan.
Another second-place award in the “best public affairs article” category was given to Haddon for her in-depth article on the ongoing crime problems in North Fordham. Haddon also scored a third place award in the arts category for her profile of Norwood storyteller Bobby Gonzalez.
Free-lance photographer and regular Norwood News contributor David Greene was also recognized with an honorable mention in the “best photograph” category for his picture of the Mexican Folkloric Dance Competition at the Lehman Center for the Performing arts.
IPA-New York, founded in 2000, is a nonprofit association of ethnic and community newspapers. The group also operates AllCAS, an ad placement service for newspapers, and publishes Voices That Must Be Heard, a weekly Internet publication translating the best of the city’s ethnic and community press.
In Public Interest
December 30, 2004
By Jordan Moss
Funds for Green Projects
The borough president’s office infused some additional green into several Bronx conservation projects earlier this month. Through the Bronx Initiative for Energy and the Environment, 14 groups received over $2.1 million to plant 15,000 trees, install solar panels on buildings, and embark on other environmental endeavors in the borough.
“We can make enormous strides in cleaning up the environment, creating jobs in new green industries, and providing a better future for our children,” said Bronx Borough President Aldofo Carrión in a statement.
One local recipient, Fordham Bedford Housing Corporation, is constructing a nine-unit apartment building with innovative, and unusual, materials. A vacant building on Webster Avenue and 182nd Street, now gutted, will include a covering of plants on top of its roof.
By absorbing rainfall, the green roof will help insulate the building and curb street flooding, much like a lawn.
“It could have a real positive effect on sewage overflow into the streets and the Bronx River,” said Pat Logan, Fordham Bedford’s director of policy and planning.
Eight other grant recipients plan to build green roofs. Fordham Bedford’s project is the furthest along, and stands to be one of the first completed in the northeast, according to Logan.
The units of affordable two-bedroom apartments also will feature energy efficient windows and flooring made of bamboo, a renewable wood.
The Bronx River Alliance also received funds for its work preserving the river. In addition to the grants, Carrión’s office is also making a $2 million revolving loan fund available for groups to borrow money at zero percent interest for green projects.
BP Details Investment
As Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión sees it, 2004 was the year of the building boom. The borough was bustling with an unusual number of construction projects, mostly for new housing.
“The borough is exploding in terms of growth and development,” said Carrión during a year-in-review press breakfast. “We can’t build housing fast enough.”
The rate that his office’s Bureau of Topography issued addresses for new projects nearly doubled between 2003 and 2004. In the first half of 2004, they gave out 650 addresses as compared to 774 for all of 2003. Roughly 685 addresses were issued in 2001 and 2002.
Construction projects in the Bronx over the last few years tended to be institutional in nature, but 95 percent of this year’s developments were housing. Over 600 housing projects were under way in the beginning of 2004, 32 of which were in Community District 7.
Carrión co-sponsored a handful of the developments, which include apartment buildings, houses, and senior complexes, but the bulk came from private companies. “Developers have discovered a pent-up demand for housing,” he said.
Zoning changes, mostly in industrial areas, paved the way for some projects. Others, especially locally, came from squeezing small developments between two existing buildings.
With housing construction at full tilt, Carrión hopes that commercial development will keep up. He was pleased to see the city’s plans for development of the Bronx Terminal Market and the new fish market. Carrión himself is pushing multi-use complexes, such as a renovated Yankee Stadium and the Bronx Olympic Velodrome — a bowl-shaped facility for high-speed biking.
“It’s usable beyond the Olympics … as an indoor sporting and special events space,” said Carrión, who hopes city colleges will hold their graduation exercises there.
But the construction picture is not entirely rosy. Carrión appeared particularly frustrated by the snail’s pace of local redevelopment along the Harlem River waterfront.
“They need a push,” said Carrión about the developers of an unrealized housing project south of the Major Deegan Expressway on-ramp, near Fordham Road. “I wish we were more directly responsible for working with them.”
Serrano Honored
Congressman José Serrano celebrated his three decades in politics on Dec. 16 with a tribute event at Hostos Community College. City college presidents and elected officials joined Serrano in unveiling a permanent exhibit at Hostos’ library with memorabilia documenting his 16 years in the state Assembly and 14 years in Congress.
“Congressman Serrano has been a tireless advocate for the people of the Bronx and New York City,” said Ricardo R. Fernández, Lehman College’s president.
In Helping Speaker, Koppell Seeks Clout
Oliver Koppell is coming in from the cold, in more ways than one.
On a frigid Thursday morning two weeks ago, the local Council member spent the day shuttling City Council Speaker and mayoral hopeful Gifford Miller to schools and community centers in his district.
On the Norwood leg of the trip (they spent the morning in Norwood and the afternoon in Riverdale), they read to children at PS 280, visited a computer lab at adjacent MS 80 made possible with Council funding, and kibbitzed with seniors at the Mosholu Montefiore Senior Center.
This all would make for a rather routine photo-op were it not for the fact that Koppell has sat on the far back bench during two two-year terms in the Council, thanks to his unwillingness to play ball with the Bronx Democratic organization. Miller owes his position, at least in part, to regular Bronx Democrats who supported his ascension to speaker. In return, Miller made party chair Jose Rivera’s son, Councilman Joel Rivera, majority leader at age 23.
But Koppell, a former state attorney general and assemblyman, is working hard to mend fences. Hungry for the opportunity to bring home more pork for his district than the occasional funding for a park or arts group, Koppell has started making overtures to the elder Rivera and his allies. He endorsed machine-supported Jeff Klein in his successful bid to replace Guy Velella in the state Senate. And, going even further, he endorsed Naomi Rivera, Rivera’s daughter, in her campaign to replace Klein in the Assembly.
Koppell is quite popular in the district, particularly in Riverdale, so he may have something to offer Miller by introducing him to likely voters. Whether Koppell’s efforts are successful in netting him more of a role in the Council will be determined in January, when Miller doles out committee leadership posts.
As for the mayoral race, Miller may have some fence-mending of his own to do in the area. Though some seniors at MMCC were charmed by Miller’s rendition of “Young at Heart,” at least one angrily buttonholed him on the filtration plant.
“Why do they take a poor neighborhood like this and build a filtration plant?” Adele Cohen, a member of MMCC’s senior center, pointedly asked Miller as he walked around the room distributing his business card.
Miller said building a plant is a federal mandate, but local opponents of the project insist that an industrial site in Westchester is more suitable than a residential neighborhood like Norwood.
In Twins’ Recovery, Local nurses Played Critical Role
December 16, 2004
By Jordan Moss
Together Patty Doyle and Lisa Concelacion have decades of nursing experience. Still, neither had seen anything like the Aguirre brothers, the world-famous conjoined twins who were successfully separated after four surgeries in 2003 and 2004 at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore.
But soon, the two Bronx residents were among a large team of primary caregivers for the most famous patients in the universe.
Because Carl and Clarence’s medical situation was so complicated, the surgeons were more involved in their post-operative care than usual and they changed the bandages on the boys themselves. But working with the brothers was still challenging. “Everything you learn in school comes into play,” Doyle said. The nurses were responsible for neurological checks, testing operative sight, regularly moving their extremities and checking their motor skills.
It wasn’t hard for the two to become attached to the two boys. Doyle said the playful brothers were “a riot to watch.” Concelacion, who lives just around the block from the Children’s Hospital, laughed as she demonstrated how the boys would fight by throwing their arms up over their shoulders.
“They act like typical toddlers,” said Doyle, a resident of Throgs Neck But she added that “they had a very special bond and were very protective of one another.”
“When you stuck one of them [with a needle], they both cried,” she said.
Despite the rarity of the boys’ condition and the fact that no hospital in New York had ever even attempted to separate twins joined at the head, the nurses said they were confident the Aguirre twins would pull through.
“I felt strongly that they would recover,” said Concelacion. “Everyone thought they would make it.”
Doyle said she was “in awe of” Dr. David Staffenberg, chief of Pediatric Plastic Surgery and Dr. James Goodrich, director of Pediatric Neurosurgery.
Dr. Goodrich returned the compliment.
”Our biggest concern in dealing with the twins post-op was care of their heads which now lacked a skull covering,” he said in an e-mail. “Through all of this period, the care was superb. [There was] meticulous attention to the details of handling them. In addition, close attention to their medical and postoperative needs was key — how to position them in bed, managing their airways along with a host of other issues.
After the final surgery, Doyle got the news that the separation was complete and apparently successful while she was home watching the news on TV.
“I flipped the news on and they were right there, separated!” Doyle said. “It was an honor to be a part of it.”
St. Brendan’s Music School Begins on High Note
December 16, 2004
By Alex Kratz
By CHELSEA LEHMAN and HEATHER HADDON
Once home to quiet prayer and meditation, the second floor of the convent at St. Brendan’s Church now resonates with the tickling of piano keys and strumming of guitars. The Norwood institution realized a long-held dream last month when its music school opened in the school’s former convent.
While the school is non-sectarian and open to the public, its founders talk about their new home for vocal and instrumental music with a particular zeal. “Our mission is to spread music,” said Renee Harris, the school’s director of music.
Teaching music at St. Brendan’s elementary school since 2001, Harris knew there was a need for a dedicated facility. “Many students and parents asked me to give them private piano lessons,” said Harris, who runs the local Cantabile Concert series. “I had a two-year waiting list for lessons.”
Harris began floating her ideas with the school’s administration about converting the convent, which, like many neighborhood Catholic churches, no longer houses nuns. Both Principal Paricia Gatti and the church’s former pastor, Pat Hennessy, supported the idea.
While plans slowed after Hennessy died last summer, his successor, Father George Stewart, kept the ball rolling. “[Harris] immediately brought it up to me, and I thought it was a great idea,” said Stewart, who joined the church in June. “But first I wanted to see how feasible it would be.”
With the dominance of video games and other digital entertainment, one might doubt that local kids would line up to learn the subtleties of a Bach prelude. But Harris is confident. “There is a great demand for music here,” she said.
Though still in its infancy, the school already boasts nearly 50 students of various ages and abilities. Ten teachers offer lessons in piano, violin, guitar, voice, movement, and group violin sessions. Due to the demand, Harris recently hired new instructors to teach flute, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.
All the school’s teachers are professional musicians, many of them from the Manhattan School of Music. Harris chose the instructors based on their musical skill, and their ability to make learning pitch or chord progressions fun. “The teachers are not only very talented but they are also very good with children,” she said.
Putting together the music school was a community endeavor. St. Brendan’s recruited its own maintenance chief, Jorge DeTomas, to do the bulk of the renovations. Three of their choir students, Tara McDermott, Denise O’Leary and Natalia Orzel, pasted up advertisements around the community. And Harris and her husband Larry, a former professional football player turned concert opera singer, secured substantial donations from national and local businesses — including many of the Bainbridge Avenue and 204th Street merchants.
“She’s been tapping into her connections in the music industry,” Stewart said. Steinway Piano Company loaned a new piano to the school and Harris is currently in the process of trying to attain more instruments from them. Her husband is working on getting additional funds through National Football League arts grants.
Harris is also busily writing grants in hopes of offering scholarships to students who can’t afford the school’s rates—which, at $18 for 30 minutes, are quite affordable. She also dreams of a possible expansion to the convent’s third floor to house the louder instruments.
The school’s immediate success not only bodes well for its longevity, but a sign that the desire for musical expression is alive and well in area young people. “With the great stress on technology today, it’s nice to see the rise of a program that is dedicated to music and art,” Stewart said. “That will be beneficial for the community, and us as well.”
Tenants’ Rights at Stake
December 16, 2004
By Editorial
Scores of Bronx tenants lost their rights over the last year and they probably didn’t even know it.
That’s because a Bronx Supreme Court judge, Sallie Manzanet, prevented community organizers from entering five neglected buildings, negotiating with banks to enforce the good repair clause of mortgage contracts, or even discussing the problem buildings with the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD).
The case has its roots in an electrical fire that claimed the life of 7-year-old Jashawn Parker, a Norwood resident, in 2002. The building where he lived with his father and brother, 3569 DeKalb Ave., had racked up more than 300 housing code violations. Tenants had spent two years in housing court with little to show for it.
As organizers with the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition began to help the tenants get an outside administrator appointed to run the building, they learned that another troubled building, 15-19 West Mosholu Parkway, was connected to Frank Palazzolo, as were nearly 100 other Bronx buildings. They began to organize tenants in the buildings, meet with Washington Mutual Bank, the mortgagee for many of the properties, and work with HPD.
That’s when two of the property managers (they claim to be the landlords but mortgage records point to Palazzolo) sued the Coalition and another Bronx nonprofit, the Highbridge Community Life Center. A Westchester judge issued a restraining order against the groups, who then argued for a change of venue to the Bronx. They won that motion but Manzanet kept in place the restraining orders.
The plaintiffs preposterously claimed that the Coalition wanted to take over the buildings, even though they have owned no property in their 30-year history. It’s a sloppy case and its sole purpose is to frighten community organizations from doing the critical work that has for decades saved buildings, blocks and whole neighborhoods.
Even if the Coalition wins, the suit has already had the desired effect of chilling the organizing and advocacy work that is the last defense against negligent landlords.
At a court hearing last week, Manzanet lifted a restraining order blocking the Coalition from talking to Washington Mutual, but they have been unable to talk to the bank about any building for the last year, even ones not part of the lawsuit.
The organization has stopped organizing in the Palazzolo buildings, meaning that few if any of them have a viable tenant organization. This, despite HPD’s determination that Palazzolo is one of the city’s worst landlords.
Manzanet has seen for herself the conditions in the five buildings. At last week’s court hearing she dressed down plaintiff Steven Tobia, who manages four of the buildings, and his lawyer, Robert Gottlieb. “What this court saw has not been forgotten,” she said. “I will go back [to the buildings]. They better be fixed.”
That’s all well and good, but the greater meaning of this case is not how the judge eventually rules, but that she handcuffed community organizations from providing critical assistance to tenants in need.
The next time a landlord sues a community organization, will they settle quickly and withdraw from the buildings they were organizing in? Or will they even enter the building of a notorious, but powerful, slumlord in the first place?
This case has not gotten the attention it deserves. Aside from the parties in the suit, the courtroom was empty last week.
There are at least four more court dates in January and February before Manzanet rules. Those who care about tenants’ rights should be there to send their own message to negligent landlords that they will not be cowed.
Devoe Park Renovations Celebrated
December 16, 2004
By Heather Haddon
Bronx officials and kids wasted no time making use of the new amenities at Devoe Park.
City Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe was fast on his feet during an inaugural game of hoops at Devoe Park’s renovated basketball courts, though local teens gave him a run for his money.
Benepe and a bevy of officials came to the University Heights park on Nov. 30 to mark the completion of major capital improvements for the green space.
“I am very excited to be in the Bronx,” said Benepe before cutting the ceremonial ribbon on $477,000 worth of renovations. Other attendees included Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión; Council Member Maria Baez; Hector Aponte, the newly appointed Bronx parks commissioner; and Community Board 7 members.
The allocation, made by Baez, went to relocating two basketball courts to the east so as to avoid the large trees that had grown on their perimeter. The courts were redesigned with new fencing and drinking fountains. With space freed up in Devoe’s center, a long, open grassy area was added along with new pathways and a better drainage system.
The construction began in 2003 but was delayed by contractor issues and a long, wet winter. Devoe advocates were happy to see the project finally come to an end.
“It is great to see the redesign of the park completed and I look forward to having a park that more people will use,” said Paul Vonseckendorff of Friends of Devoe Park, a volunteer group.
Children from the nearby Tolentine Zeiser Head Start program, which uses the park’s play space, came out to cheer its opening. “It’s another great day when we get to open up a park for children,” Carrión said.
Before shooting hoops, Benepe made reference to the $240 million that the city promises for Bronx parks in exchange for siting the filtration plant in Van Cortlandt Park.
“This is a small example of what we hope to do over the next five years,” said Benepe, who mentions the windfall often these days. “We hope to change a lot of neighborhoods … and green [Bronx] parks.”
Construction Boom in University Heights
December 16, 2004
By Heather Haddon
University Heights is in the midst of a housing building boom the likes of which it
hasn’t seen in decades.
At least seven projects are under way or in the works in a neighborhood that developers have historically ignored. Many of the projects, which range from three-family homes to high-end rentals, already have waiting lists.
“The demand is absolutely there for quality, affordable housing that’s newly built,” said Jack Guttman, the developer of one of the condominiums.
Densely-populated Community Board 7 (CB7) has grown considerably over the years. The area saw a 10 percent population increase between 1990 and 2000, according to the census. Only 6.2 percent of CB7 was vacant land as of 2001— compared to 11.3 percent citywide — and that total has undoubtedly shrunk in the last three years.
The growing need for housing, along with a sense that the neighborhood is worth investing in, has encouraged developers to give the area a fresh look. Guttman, who has built 30 other high-end condo projects, chose University Heights for his first Bronx development. He is targeting professionals who work in the area, and said that potential buyers are already lining up.
“There hasn’t been much building in the area for years, and that’s why there is such a demand,” Guttman said.
Though the area is dominated by six-story apartment buildings, many of which are rent-controlled or subsidized, most of the new projects are for high-end renters or homeowners. Tony Freda, the designer of a three-family home project, says he already has a waiting list of 50 for his units despite their considerable price tag.
Freddy Gorant, a resident of 190th Street, thinks small-scale buildings are a healthy local addition. “People would rather live in three-family homes than in high-rise apartment complexes,” said Gorant, who feels that smaller homes are safer.
While Fidel Williams also supports new construction, he worries about taxing an already packed area. “The schools here are overcrowded … and where will all these new residents park their cars,” asked Williams, an Aqueduct Avenue resident. “University Heights is a small area that is already overcrowded.”
But most residents interviewed by the Norwood News agreed that new, safer housing was a positive trend. “There is a demand for housing here, so why shouldn’t we build?” asked Rowena Ishakut, a Kingsbridge Heights resident.
Here’s a brief look at seven projects in various stages of completion in University Heights.
Three-family housing—
2549 Grand Ave.
This development is the furthest along and should be completed in the next two to three months. Units in the eight buildings of three homes each are for sale at $100,000. According to a spokesperson for Bimod Realty. Bimod acquired the property last February, tearing down several old two-story homes and clearing a large, overgrown lot. This is the first project taken on by Manhattan-based Bimod.
People have already expressed interest in the units, according to the spokesperson. Bimod is also acquiring another parcel of land in the neighborhood to build additional homes of a similar price and style.
Three-family housing—
2282 Sedgwick Ave.
This development of three three-family houses, begun in September, should wrap up by March. The homes are more luxurious than the Grand Avenue development, and include two to three bedrooms, two baths, balconies, a cathedral ceiling on the top floor, and two parking spots, according to Tony Freda, the designer. Such luxury will come with a steep $650,000 to $670,000 price tag per house, but owners will be responsible for renting out the two other units in their house.
Housing in development—
2529 Grand Ave.
This lot once held a two-story home, which was demolished earlier this year. The property owner, Pedran Ryan of Queens, sold the space recently but had no information on its new owner. Given the parcel’s zoning, the space will probably house another three-family home.
Condominiums—
233 Landing Road
The Harlem River waterfront will get a facelift if a 230-unit condo complex, near Fordham Landing Park, gets the green light. Currently the site of parking for the former Jimmy’s Bronx Café, the development would wrap an ambitious L-shaped building around the park.
“It’s a beautiful building and a beautiful project,” said Jack Guttman, the project’s developer.
Guttman acquired the lot two years ago, and is in the process of obtaining permits for the project. He presented the idea at CB7’s last meeting, and was met with a favorable response.
The Board was especially pleased that the design includes one parking spot per unit in a high-security garage, and full-time building security. The complex also boasts a gym, meeting room, exterior landscaping, and a lobby with marble floors.
The units, which will include sweeping views of the Harlem River, will rent for between $1,200 and $2,000.
If the deal is sealed, Guttman promised to make a 20-year commitment to improving Fordham Landing. He estimated that it will take a year to secure permits for completion by 2006.
Upscale Rentals—
2455 Sedgwick Ave.
Fordham Hill Owners Corporation realized a long-standing dream this year in acquiring the abandoned Department of Motor Vehicles building, a
25,000-square-foot site that sits across the street from the co-op complex. Empty for eight years, the three-story building will house 29 new units of upscale apartments by next year.
The project broke ground in October, and half of the building’s apartments already have takers, according to Everton Moore, the corporation’s general manager. The units will range in size, but all will include a video intercom system and other luxury amenities.
The building will also feature a laundry room on each floor and a community room.
Fordham Hill’s board has not authorized the price range for the units, according to Moore, but corporation president Elizabeth Tillary said that they will be priced for middle class tenants.
Six-story housing—
2620 University Ave.
The Kenneth Gladstone Building, a six-story complex commissioned by the Jewish Home and Hospital, will house low-income senior residents. Work began last summer, and the façade is now up on the 50-unit rent subsidized facility. The Hospital estimated that construction will be complete by next fall.
The building, funded by a $7.4 million federal grant and a private contribution, is intended for seniors aged 61 and older. Amenities will include medical and social services, programming, community space and centralized security. The Hospital plans to build a small parking lot and an exterior seating area.
Community space—
2206 Andrews Ave.
After two decades planning for an expansion, the Bronx Household of Faith is building a youth center and assembly hall. The three-story building is already in construction and co-pastor Robert Hall hopes it will be completed next year.
The church, located at 2235 University Ave. for the past 30 years, acquired the lot in 1994. It’s taken a decade to raise the $900,000, primarily from the church’s 85 regular congregants, necessary for the construction.
“It’s a lot more than we thought it was going to cost,” said Hall, a neighborhood resident since 1972.
Hall intends to use the space to further the church’s work in youth ministries.
Judge Dismisses Filter Plant Suit
December 16, 2004
By Jordan Moss
A judge has dismissed one of the four lawsuits brought by opponents of the filtration plant planned for Mosholu Golf Course in Van Cortlandt Park.
On Dec. 3, State Supreme Court Judge William Wetzel, dismissed a suit filed by the Friends of Van Cortlandt Park, which argued that the city failed to rezone the parkland for industrial use.
In a terse, three-page decision, Wetzel said that the city’s 4,000-page environmental impact statement “negates any possibility that any relevant issue was overlooked or given anything other than a ‘hard look.’”
The suit also argued that the city broke the law when the deputy mayor wrote a letter authorizing an “override” of the city’s zoning laws. But Wetzel shot that down as well.
“…[T]he zoning override was a legally permissible alternative and made eminent good sense,” Wetzel wrote. “Furthermore, the suggestion that the zoning override was a means to avoid giving any review opportunity to the City Council is puzzling since this project has in fact received the approval of the City Council.”
But advocates were quick to point out that the Council has only voted on the distribution of $243 million in mitigation funds that will be used to improve Bronx parks.
“The City Council has not ever reviewed and authorized the zoning change of creating an industrial site of larger than nine football fields in a park, and immediately adjacent to residential buildings, community health facilities and schools,” said Elizabeth Cooke-Levy, a Friends board member.
Levy also assailed the judge’s reasoning on the zoning override issue.
“He implied that if the city and the community went through a ULURP [Uniform Land Use Review Procedure], you’d force the city to go through a process and nothing else would change,” she said. “And we feel that the zoning review, in and of itself, would provide opportunities for a public review, and even a possible modification of DEP’s [Department of Environmental Protection] plans, that we have never been able to have.”
As an example, Cooke-Levy cited the worker parking lot that will be built on the site. “Why does DEP need a parking lot for its own employees when there’s a municipal parking garage across the street?” she said.
Karen Argenti, a veteran opponent of the plant, said the judge’s handling of the zoning issue has disastrous implications. “The idea that the city doesn’t have to follow zoning and can simply override it with a memo threatens the whole democracy of the New York City Charter,” she said. “It goes to the heart of whether the public can participate effectively in their governance.”
At press time, the Friends and their lawyers had not yet decided whether they would appeal Judge Wetzel’s decision. The DEP did not return a call requesting comment.
Meanwhile, three other groups filing lawsuits agreed to a city motion to consolidate their cases in Queens Supreme Court, according to Jim Bacon, an attorney for the Croton Watershed Clean Water Coalition. That group believes that the city failed to consider new filtration technologies that could make the plant significantly smaller and less expensive for water rate payers.
The town of Eastchester in Westchester County has also filed suit, saying that it will need to build its own filtration facility if the plant is built in the Bronx, rather than upstream in the town of Mt. Pleasant. The town says the city never consulted with them about this.
And a group of local residents coming together under the banner Bronx Environmental Health and Justice (BEHJ), aided by the Environmental Law Clinic at Columbia University, maintains that the city was discriminatory in choosing a densely populated minority community for the project, rather than the more isolated Eastview site in Mt. Pleasant.
BEHJ held a meeting attended by about 70 residents at the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center on Dec. 4, followed by a candlelight vigil and procession to the plant site.
PS 8 Remembers Teacher Who Died in Accident
December 2, 2004
By David Greene
Suzana Dedivanaj-Spruck’s abrupt death earlier this year sparked media attention across the tri-state area, but last month it was those closest to the dedicated teacher — her colleagues, her students and her family — who took time out to remember the young educator who returned to work at the school she had gone to herself.
Dedivanaj-Spruck, 31, and her husband Stephen, 27, were killed when a 50-year-old tree struck their SUV as they drove along the Saw Mill River Parkway near Hastings-on-Hudson in April. Miraculously, the couple’s 6-month-old child, Kristina, survived the horrific accident.
Students and faculty at PS 8, located on Briggs Avenue in Bedford Park, recalled their teacher in a moving service on Nov. 22, when the school auditorium was dedicated to Dedivanaj-Spruck, a lover of music and performance.
“I watched her become an experienced teacher with much insight into her students’ individuality,” said Robin Rosen, a teacher and co-worker of Dedivanaj-Spruck. “But it was her own competency and drive that inspired her friends to be their best. How she died is immaterial to who she was.”
“Most new teachers are nervous and unsure of their abilities,” added teacher Elyse Mahoney. “Suzy, on the other hand, was like a ball of fire. She had an amazing attitude.”
The victim’s sister, Kristina Dedivanaj, said the dedication for her sister was appropriate. “Suzy always loved performances and choruses,” she said. “She loved them. She always dragged my mother to the performances … and she was very proud of all the children."
Choking back tears, Dedivanaj said her sister’s legacy would live on in her daughter, whom she described as “a little firecracker.” The girl watched the dedication ceremony from the first row.
After unveiling a memorial plaque, students performed “Schota,” an Albanian dance that celebrates life and culture.
Soldiers, Get Home Safe
December 2, 2004
By Editorial
In this issue, we report on a National Guard unit based at the Kingsbridge Armory that will soon be headed for Iraq.
If the Iraq war seemed far away for any of us, it is no longer. These are people from our city, our borough and our neighborhoods who are going to a very dangerous place that sadly seems to get more violent with each passing day.
We will be thinking of these brave men and women and we wish each of them a safe tour and a speedy return home to their loved ones.
Think Local, Shop Local
December 2, 2004
By Editorial
Once again, we urge our readers to shop locally this holiday season wherever possible.
Sure, we have a selfish interest in thriving local business districts; this newspaper wouldn’t exist without them. But we all should care about keeping our commercial areas healthy. When they are, it’s a good sign that our neighborhoods are in good shape, too.
Even if you might save a couple of bucks on a toy or bottle of perfume at a mall in Westchester or Manhattan — and in most cases you’ll get a better buy in your own backyard — spending money here is an investment in your community.
We ask you to particularly pay attention to the advertisers in this newspaper who are themselves investing in better neighborhoods by supporting our work.
We look forward to seeing you on the checkout line!
Finally, Scooter Sanity
December 2, 2004
By Editorial
If there is a certain measure that Mayor Bloomberg is out of touch on a particular issue, it is when all 51 members of the City Council vote for something that he opposes.
This happened recently when the Council voted unanimously to override the mayor’s veto of legislation to ban city sales of motorized scooters.
Maybe they were less prevalent in the mayor’s toney Upper East Side neighborhood, but scooters plagued virtually every other community in the city last summer.
The mayor said that a law already on the books to prevent scooter use on public property was sufficient.
It is true that local cops did, to their great credit, confiscate dozens of scooters over the summer, but all that effort expended on the scooter beat means less manpower available for more serious crimes in our already understaffed 52nd Precinct.
The scooters, which have been a problem in many cities across the country, are also extremely dangerous. They are responsible for thousands of emergency room visits annually because they ride so low to the ground where drivers can’t see them and because people who ride them tend not to wear helmets. And, since they run on gasoline and are often illegally stored in apartments, the scooters are a serious fire hazard.
We commend the Council for truly representing their constituents and standing up to Mayor Bloomberg on this issue.
Guard Unit Bound For Iraq from Armory
December 2, 2004
By David Greene
Nearly 200 soldiers from the 145th Maintenance Company of the Army National Guard, based out of the Kingsbridge Armory, said their goodbyes on Nov. 19, and will shortly be headed for an unknown destination in Iraq.
The soldiers began gathering on West Kingsbridge Road around 7 a.m., and spent the day packing and moving gear as they prepared for their journey to the U.S. supply line that keeps the troops armed and fed during wartime. Members of the 145th will fix weapons, equipment and vehicles in the war zone.
Staff Sergeant Christopher Perkins, 31, a Belmont resident whose mother still resides on Hull Avenue where he grew up, said shortly before departing, “I went to South Carolina for basic training, but this is the first time I’m going to war.”
”I want it over with,” Perkins said. “It’s been hanging over my head for over a year, so I knew it was coming. I just want to go and come back and get on with my life.”
Perkins spent his last evening of semi-civilian life downloading music for his MP3 player and chatting with friends on the Internet. Perkins expects to be gone for 18 months.
Others talked of the abrupt change to their daily lives.
“I’m just going to miss my family, my wife and kids,” said PFC Eddie Figueroa before getting on a bus that would take him to a military base upstate. He and his fellow Guardsmen are already in Georgia for training and they are expected to ship out to Iraq sometime in January.
Specialist Reginald Atkins of Brooklyn was recently transferred from Manhattan’s 1569th. “I only had a couple of days’ notice,” he said. Atkins called home on his cell phone. “I just wanted to let them know I’m OK, and to say goodbye.”
For Atkins, it will be his first trip to a desert, but he said, “I’m just going to take it day by day.” Atkins had been in the Air Force before joining the Army National Guard.
Specialist Marcia Martines wasn’t shipping out, but made the trip to the armory to say goodbye to her husband, Joseph, who was heading for his second tour in Iraq, and her friend, Specialist Bernadette Barrios.
“I’ll stay home with the kids, but I’ll miss my husband,” Martines said. “The kids are not taking this well. I just hope they all come back safe.”
VC Park Begins to Resemble Construction Zone
December 2, 2004
By Jordan Moss
Though four lawsuits have now been filed in an attempt to stop the construction of a filtration plant at Mosholu Golf Course in Van Cortlandt Park, the city has already begun preliminary work at the site.
On Monday, a work crew began clearing the area of the park adjacent to the 233rd Street exit ramp off the Major Deegan Expressway. They were removing brush and some pine trees, which the city says it will replant elsewhere in the park. The exit road will be expanded to make extra room for the daily parade of construction trucks to the site.
Park advocates say the city should not be acting so hastily while the courts have made no final decision on the four suits. Two prior temporary restraining orders have been lifted, however.
“I don’t know why they are doing this stuff so quickly,” said Paul Sawyer, executive director of the Friends of Van Cortlandt Park. “It makes no sense to any of us. Our case is still pending.”
The city’s Department of Environment Protection (DEP) does not agree, however. “The courts have lifted any stays, which legally entitles the parties to move forward,” said Charles Sturcken, a DEP spokesman.
Meanwhile, a group of community residents plans a vigil to protest the city’s plans.
Koppell Will Face Primary Challenger
December 2, 2004
By Heather Haddon
Council Member Oliver Koppell, a Democratic favorite son in Riverdale politics for decades, will face a primary challenge next September from someone he has appointed to important community positions.
Ari Hoffnung, an investment banker and longtime Riverdale community activist, announced his candidacy for the Council last Tuesday. With overlapping bases of support, Hoffnung could become a formidable challenger to the veteran lawmaker. In addition to Riverdale, the 11th District includes Kingsbridge, Norwood and Woodlawn.
“I have the utmost respect for Oliver Koppell,” said Hoffnung who, at 31, is roughly half Koppell’s age. “But people are really frustrated at his inability to get things done. The district needs an effective advocate.”
With nine months until the primary, Hoffnung is already slamming Koppell for failing to bring money to the district or secure power in the Council. Koppell was taken aback by Hoffnung’s decision to run.
“I’m just dumbfounded,” said Koppell, who faces his first Council primary since elected in 2001. “I’m surprised on a human level that he would jump up and run against me.”
The soft-spoken but sharp-tongued challenger is steeped in neighborhood work. He serves as the co-president of the Riverdale Jewish Community Council (Hoffnung is an Orthodox Jew), chairs the Parks and Education committees of Community Board 8, and sits on the Kingsbridge Riverdale Van Cortlandt Development Corporation’s board. “My real passion is coming home at night and serving the community,” said Hoffnung, who is married without children. “I’m pretty much at meetings every night of the week.”
Ironically, Hoffnung has Koppell to thank for at least two of his leadership positions. Koppell appointed him to the Community Board and Development Corporation roles, and they have worked together on issues in the past.
“I’d like to think that when he recommended me to these distinguished positions it was because of my qualifications,” Hoffnung said. “But I was wrong. They were decisive moves so I wouldn’t run against him.”
Koppell said he was disappointed by the “nasty” tone he says Hoffnung has adopted. “He’s someone I regarded as a friend and ally,” he said.
In addition to their Riverdale background and Jewish faith (Koppell is not Orthodox), the candidates are also in the same political club. Hoffnung sits on the executive board of the Riverdale-based Benjamin Franklin Democratic Club, which Koppell has belonged to since he entered politics in the 1960s. Hoffnung says he reached out to the other members and will seek their endorsement.
Koppell had one word for that bold effort: “Foolhardy.”
The candidates’ policy differences may be few but they are stark on one signature issue — the filtration plant. Koppell is an outspoken critic of siting the plant in Van Cortlandt Park, while Hoffnung supports the proposal. “He doesn’t represent the will of the community,” Koppell said.
Hoffnung says he would be more effective in advocating for the district given his work bridging “diverse communities,” pointing to his seat on the borough president’s Jewish-Hispanic Leadership Committee. While campaigning on quality-of-life issues, he has not outlined specific proposals yet.
Koppell defended his record, pointing to the $2 million he brought to the district last year. “I don’t think there’s a social service agency in the district we haven’t funded,” he said.
Koppell’s political muscle has suffered, however, from his inability to become chair of any of the Council’s many committees. But Koppell has recently made deliberate efforts to come in from the cold by making overtures to the Bronx County Democratic organization. “That situation is going to change,” said Koppell about the committee appointments, which are doled out by the Council speaker in January.
Hoffnung is taking the race seriously, as is his staff. His campaign manager, Mik Moore, has overseen a number of campaigns, including Assemblyman Jeff Klein’s successful bid for the state Senate. And though he’s realistic about the powers of incumbency, Hoffnung says he’s not going to let Koppell’s campaign funds — already at $60,000 — intimidate him.
“I’m not going to let that scare me away,” said Hoffnung, who is running his campaign out of his apartment. “I’m a very frugal guy.”
MPC Launches ‘Cut the Crap’ Campaign
December 2, 2004
By Dart Westphal
Mosholu Preservation Corporation, the nonprofit that publishes the Norwood News, works to make our neighborhoods nicer places to live and work. We were founded to make the area nicer for Montefiore, but we also make it nicer for everyone. We work alongside numerous organizations to improve things in as many ways as we can.
Most of us here at MPC live within walking distance of our offices at the Keeper’s House in Norwood. So, in talking to our neighbors over many years, we’ve learned that if there is one thing that people believe makes our neighborhoods not nice, it’s what many dog owners allow their dogs to leave behind.
So, hard as it is, we have resolved to try to do something about dog droppings — and a number of other things that make our communities less pleasant than they should be.
We are bluntly calling this initiative the “Cut the Crap” campaign.
To start with, we’ve purchased “dogi-pot” plastic bag dispensers, which the Parks Department has installed in Williamsbridge Oval Park. We encourage dog walkers to use them and to dispose of their dog’s waste, properly wrapped, in trash containers rather than leaving it lying around for people to step in. We will work with others in the Community District 7 area to eventually have dispensers installed throughout the communities served by the Norwood News.
We will also have the sidewalk near the Mosholu Parkway No. 4 station power washed regularly to remove what the pigeons leave behind. If it proves cost effective, that service will be expanded too.
We often write about trees and all the people, ourselves included, who work to have more trees planted. That effort will continue. In addition, we are developing a program to more regularly improve and maintain the garden areas of our parks. You will see more about that in future issues.
Finally, there’s litter. Lots and lots of people spend lots and lots of time and money picking up litter that doesn’t have to be there. Just because elected officials like soon-to-be state Senator Jeff Klein funded the Doe Fund to clean 204th Street, and the Jerome-Gun Hill BID and soon the Fordham Road BID clean their respective streets, doesn’t mean it’s OK to throw trash on the street. People still get tickets for dirty sidewalks, too.
Yes, the city sweeper comes around twice a week per side. But a piece of trash thrown on the street on Tuesday afternoon lies around until Friday and it’s disgusting. There are actually neighborhoods in this city where people don’t have to move their cars because the streets are always clean. And, yes, some of those places are in the Bronx.
In the coming weeks, we will let you know how you can help, and we will soon set up a special e-mail address because we want your input. In the meantime, you can e-mail norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or write to: MPC, Cut the Crap Campaign, 3400 Reservoir Oval East, Bronx, NY 10467.
So, come on Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights — Let’s “Cut the Crap!”
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