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New School Proposal Adds to Walton Worries

By Heather Haddon

Region 1 Superintendent Irma Zardoya is pushing to create yet another small school in Walton High School, potentially furthering the intense overcrowding that has fueled tensions between the schools housed there.

Zardoya submitted a proposal to the city Department of Education (DOE) last month to open a bilingual high school at the Kingsbridge Heights facility. The school would use a dual language model geared toward new immigrants, similar to some schools in Queens, according to Zardoya.

If approved early this year, the new transplant would constitute the fourth small school established at Walton since 2002. The city sees the smaller schools forming within many large Bronx high schools as the key to turning them around.

“We feel very strongly … that they [small schools] have more accountability,” said Zardoya, during last month’s Community District Education Council meeting.

While they might be better in theory, many are unhappy with how the schools have played out in Walton. “Sometimes I don’t want to come into the building,” said Cheyenne Garcia, a senior at the High School for Teaching and the Professions (TAP), Walton’s first small school. The Decatur Avenue resident says her fears increased when a Walton student punched a TAP teen in the jaw last month, sending him to the hospital.

During the last school year, Walton logged 12 major crimes and 265 other crimes, ranging from assault and weapons possession to disorderly conduct and loitering. The major crimes were similar for a school of its size, but Walton had twice the average for other crimes.

Walton’s violence problem landed it in the city’s “impact” program, joining 15 other schools whose hallways were flooded with police officers. The city announced with much fanfare earlier this month that major crimes were down 43 percent and overall crime had decreased 33 percent at the impact schools. But during the same time frame, Walton’s figures didn’t budge.

That’s no surprise to Mica Inoa, a parent of a Walton 10th grader. “Every day there is a problem in that school,” said Inoa, a Villa Avenue resident.

After her daughter was repeatedly harassed by a group of Walton girls, Inoa took out a restraining order against one of them last October. She is now waiting on a transfer for her daughter, and if that doesn’t pan out, Inoa is considering something more drastic.

“It’s getting so ridiculous I might keep her home and home-school her,” she said.

Last month, a 17-year-old Walton student allegedly punched an officer after he asked him to take off his hat. Seven students were arrested after a scuffle earlier this month. Garcia, a polite and articulate teen, says she was almost jumped recently.

“You have to walk tough,” she said.

Some Walton students feel like the extra policing has worsened the situation. “There are benefits to having more security, but it also causes lots of problems,” said Ammery Urema, 17, from East Tremont. Urema says that the police often round up innocent students when a fight breaks out.

“They say it’s procedural, but they just want to take you to jail,” she said.

Overcrowding crisis

Some students complain that Walton has more than its fair share of students who landed there as a last resort school. The school also has a large group of under-performing freshmen who are under evaluation.

Much of the friction, though, seems to stem from Walton’s overcrowding. Walton was already one of the city’s most squeezed schools last year at 171 percent over capacity. This year, given the same number of possible seats, it’s at 198 percent.

Many complain that the school’s hallways are jammed during class changes. That crunch was somewhat eased when dismissal times were staggered between Walton and the small schools, which include Discovery High School, the Celia Cruz High School of Music, and TAP. This year, classes change all at once, creating a potential powder keg in Walton’s hallways.

“Students are always jumping each other in the halls,” said Mark Stern, a Walton biology teacher. Alan Ettman, the school’s teachers union representative, agreed that Walton needs a better strategy for its hallways, but he also alluded to a gang element at the school.

Walton’s situation has attracted a barrage of attention from officials and the media. Council Member Oliver Koppell sent a letter to DOE last month requesting that the agency address the school’s gang activity and its lack of lockers. Responding to parent requests, Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott made periodic visits to Walton this year. Just two weeks ago, the official overseeing Walton’s security was fired.

“We are aggressively addressing Walton’s issues,” Zardoya said.

Zardoya’s top solution to Walton’s problems is to phase it out. DOE officials have proposed to stop taking new Walton students after this year, and create a campus of five schools — including a smaller Walton — of 450 students each. That would reduce Walton’s total population from the current 3,631 to 2,500, with a portion of the extra students going to alternative programs.

Meanwhile, Walton staff and administrators attempt to calm the situation. Walton started an inter-school council of parent association and student council members to discuss issues on a monthly basis. Inoa says Walton maintains many good teachers — for now.

“Morale is low,” said Stern, who is considering transferring to another Bronx school.

The school’s own efforts can yield only so much. Garcia said that because of the security issues, a campus-wide dance was scrapped. “They had to cancel it,” she said, sadly.

Is Filter Activism ‘Misplaced’ or Well-Placed?

By None

By Fay Muir, Lyn Pyle and Gil Maduro

The Norwood News editorial in the last issue (January 13-26, 2005) suggests Bronx Environmental Health and Justice (BEHJ) has acted with “misplaced activism.”

We’d like to defend a sister organization. The mission of BEHJ is to educate, litigate, and mobilize neighbors against environmental threats to the neighborhood. BEHJ has brought a lawsuit that could stop construction of the filtration plant in this neighborhood. The suit, an Article 78 petition charging fraud, seeks a permanent injunction to stop the city’s construction in Van Cortlandt Park. Right now, they have a temporary restraining order (TRO), which means no work can be done by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). They were scheduled to argue their case before the judge on Jan. 25.

The suit charges that the (DEP) failed to comply with the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), because they relied on a factually inaccurate and biased Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that minimizes impacts at VC Park and exaggerates impacts at an industrial site in Eastview. Check the Web site handsoffourparks.org for a fuller explanation, because the inaccuracies and biases are too numerous to detail here. BEHJ claims the environmental review process was fatally flawed and must be redone.

The BEHJ lawsuit then raises the environmental justice implications of choosing to construct the water treatment plant underground in a community park surrounded by a low-income neighborhood, when a less discriminatory alternative exists. Such discriminatory action is illegal.

But is there, as the Norwood News suggests, danger we’ll get the plant and no $200 million for Bronx parks? The Bronx Democratic Committee now has their $200 million deal written into state legislation, and has gotten the City Council to approve a Memorandum of Understanding that lists how much money each park will receive. After all their promises, if we get the plant, will they let that money disappear? We think not.

If our allies rush in for their piece of the parks pie, they join the city, with all its power and media resources, as it tries to create the impression of a “done deal.”

Why else did the DEP last month cut 40 towering oak trees the day before Christmas? The city tells us if they don’t hurry, the federal government will make them pay fines.  That’s untrue. The city’s own EIS schedule set site preparation for April 2005, and the city has a supplemental federal Consent Decree, dated September 2004, that says they don’t have to finish site preparation until July 2007. Their rush to cut trees is not about fines.

Spending the $200 million looks like an end to the deal. And if it’s already “done,” judges are unlikely to rule against the city in the four lawsuits now in court. We ask our allies to wait until the lawsuits are considered on their merits and settled.

As for the editorial’s other suggestions, we agree:

If the city insists on filling our air with dust and particulate matter, our community should pressure the city to pay for care of children (and adults) with asthma. The city is legally required to mitigate (that is to avoid or make less severe and painful). Instead, although they admit in the EIS to at least a 2 percent increase in death and incidents of asthma, the city claims “no significant impact” to our neighborhood, therefore no need to mitigate!

We must organize to monitor what is happening in our corner of Van Cortlandt Park. A committee must form to be vigilantly aware of the legal requirements, and every step of the way hold the DEP to what they are required to do about air quality, traffic, noise, and rats running through our bedrooms and stores.

We ask all who have fought this fight for years: do not fall away now. And those who have until this moment been too busy with your job and family, step forward. Support BEHJ’s effort to stop the plant in court, and support efforts to force the city to pay for and follow the rules for mitigation. Activism in both efforts is well placed!

We do this with firm conviction in the merit of the BEHJ lawsuit, and although we know the opposition is formidable, we look forward to justice.

 

Advice for Carrión Speech

By Editorial

It’s that time of year again. Every elected official from the president down to the speaker of the New York City Council steps up to their respective podiums to make a speech about the “state of” whatever jurisdiction they’re in charge of. These types of addresses are an opportunity to set a clear agenda and rally support for it.

On Feb. 3, it will be Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión’s turn, when he will make the fourth and final address of his first term in office.

In an election year, when most of the media will be focused on the mayoral race, it will be more important than ever for Carrión to speak clearly, simply and loudly.

We have a few suggestions for how Carrión can make the most of the state of the borough.

Make it much shorter. Last year’s speech at Evander Childs High School was 21 pages and close to two hours long. Much of the crowd began to file out long before Carrión finished. We understand the need to speak to all constituencies and the temptation to list every single accomplishment. But if no one is there to hear it, what’s the point?

Emphasize just a few goals. Does anyone really remember what the borough president’s major goals in last year’s speech were? Maybe something about education? Something else about jobs? This is not to say Carrión didn’t have anything important to say about these and other issues. He did. But they were muffled by an endless laundry list of initiatives, grants and programs. This speech should be about major projects. If it addresses, say, 10 big issues, it is more likely to resonate with Bronxites and the media.

For instance, we think Carrión should stress the development of the Kingsbridge Armory, since it so clearly fits in with his education and economic development goals. Last year, he detailed the plight of the borough’s desperately overcrowded high schools. This has serious consequences as our ongoing coverage of the crisis at Walton High School demonstrates. The armory and the school space it could provide could help solve this problem.

Be clear. We know that Yankee Stadium and Harlem River development are important to the borough president, but what are the details of his proposals? This is a chance for Carrión to flesh out his ideas in these areas.

 The borough presidents have much less power now than in the days when they sat on the old Board of Estimate. Their main tool now is the bully pulpit. When Carrión hops into his on Feb. 3 at Lehman College, he stands more of a chance of getting his message across if he keeps it short and sweet and loud and clear.

Projects Rise in Norwood and Bedford Park

By Heather Haddon

Developers continue to break ground on new construction projects in the northwest Bronx at a furious pace. As the Norwood News reported last month, University Heights is in the midst of a building boom like it hasn’t seen in years. But the entire area, including Norwood and Bedford Park, are receiving an unusual amount of attention from developers.

 
The Bronx borough president’s office issued a record number of addresses for new projects in 2004, almost double the rate of 2003. All but 5 percent of the projects were for housing. As Assemblyman Jose Rivera quipped earlier this month, “Iraq has oil, the Bronx has housing development.”
 
While the construction is mostly housing of various types, two of the six developments profiled here include office space.
 
Housing—3121 Villa Ave.
Now a vacant parking lot, the corner of Villa Avenue and East 204th Street will be home to a 10-story apartment complex by 2006. The Van Zandt Agency acquired the large space for $725,000 last April, and construction on the tower should begin soon.
 
The 99 apartments will be geared toward middle-income renters. “The majority of them will be two-bedrooms with some ones and threes mixed in,” said Richard Rodriguez, the company’s vice president. The building will also include an 8,000-square-foot storefront property. Van Zandt hopes to house a medical facility there, but he has not yet identified a specific tenant.
 
Based in the Pelham Parkway area, the developers have built projects in that community and in Throgs Neck, but this is their first undertaking locally. Van Zandt has been in the construction business for four years.
 
Housing—3080 Villa Ave.
Wedged between other Villa Avenue homes, this slim eight-family building is nearly complete. Work should wrap up in the next month or two, according to a worker at the site last week. Each of the four stories contains two one-bedroom apartments, and small balconies face the street.
 
The property was formerly owned by the Assumption of St. Anthony Realty Corporation, which operated a social club and neighborhood patrol out of the building. Though defunct, the organization is still associated with Castaldo Play-ground, a boarded-up plot which community advocates have long wanted the city to turn into a playground.
 
Mustafaj Fatos, the current owner, acquired the lot from the city in 2003. A Villa Avenue resident, Fatos could not be reached for comment.
 
Housing—189 St. Georges Crescent
Three four-story rental buildings will rise on this little hook of a street lodged between Van Cortlandt Avenue East and East 206th Street. The exterior brick, a tawny color that matches the surrounding buildings, was completed as of last week. Begun last May, the project should be complete in April.
 
The 27 units are all two-bedrooms with one-and-half baths each. They will rent for between $1,250 and $1,300. Charles Celaj, the project’s owner, says he can hardly keep up with the interest. “Every day I get calls from people asking, ‘When, when can I get an application?’” he said.
 
Celaj said applications will be available by the end of the month for the development, which is his first.
 
Housing—3335 Hull Ave.
Bulldozers just began clearing this vacant lot on a dense stretch of Hull Avenue near East 209th Street for three eight-family buildings. The units will consist of one- and two-bedroom rentals ranging from $1,000 to $1,500, according to Carmine Della Cava, the owner. The four-story buildings will include air conditioning and a laundry facility.
The lot, which changed hands a few times before Cava acquired it, went for $615,000.  Cava hopes to finish the project in a year.
 
In the business for about 15 years, Cava says he’s completed many other projects in the Bronx. Cava Construction is based in Westchester.
 
Office Space—3199 Bainbridge Ave.
The steel beams rose last year on this professional office building, but work slowed as the project hit some serious snags. One of the few vacant sites remaining on the packed Bainbridge Avenue merchant strip, a house on the site was purchased by the Slingsby, Sanders, and Pagano law firm back in 1992. Their offices were in the house until several years ago when a fire gutted the structure. Near East 207th Street, the office building will rise four floors and include a basement space.
 
Chris Pagano did not have information on when the construction would conclude or how much the spaces will rent for.
 
The project has been plagued by violations, the most alarming of which occurred last fall when un-secured materials flew off the site and damaged property in the adjacent lot.  The developers had to stop work last September for failing to sufficiently safeguard the site for pedestrians, and they received multiple complaints for working during the weekends without a permit, according to city records.
 
Pagano said that the scaffolding problems were fixed. “It appears to me that everything has been secured,” he said. “What isn’t encased in cement is encased in a mesh netting that will prevent anything from falling.”
 
 
Office Space—301 E. Gun Hill Rd.
Work has just begun on this nine-story building, which will include offices and commercial space. On the corner of Perry Avenue, the complex will be home to Perry Realty Management, lawyers offices and a few other private businesses.
 
“I have a bunch of people who are interested,” said Luciano Victor, Perry’s president and the developer.
 
The site is zoned for a mixed-use building, which can include retail, offices and housing. Victor did not say whether the complex would also include apartments.
 
The site was acquired for $750,000, and it will house 29 units with parking in the basement. In his 24 years in the realty business, Victor says he’s previously completed construction projects in the south Bronx.

State Plays Role in Guard Shift

By Heather Haddon

 

The key to progress on the Kingsbridge Armory’s redevelopment appears to now reside with the state. While the city’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) technically oversees the development, advocates are now pressuring state officials to find a suitable location for the Armory’s two remaining National Guard units.
 
“We’re trying to get the governor to visit the armory,” said Assemblyman Jose Rivera earlier this month. Governor Pataki is indeed aware of the issues surrounding the project, according to Rivera.
 
EDC has said repeatedly that it is in discussion with the state to find a suitable location for the Guard’s 300 members, but those talks have not yet borne fruit. The Guard, now housed in a facility behind the armory, needs an inexpensive 50,000-square-foot space where large vehicles can be repaired. “They can’t afford a lot,” said Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión last month.
 
Peter Fine, a real estate developer from Riverdale, is reportedly being recruited by advocates and officials as a possible developer for the Guard’s space. Since 1999, Fine’s Atlantic Development Group has built several affordable housing projects in the Bronx through the use of city tax abatements and other state subsidies.
 
The Richman Group, a real estate developer that has partnered with the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition on their proposal, has been in discussions with Fine about working together on the project. Bill Taylor, Richman’s president, wouldn’t say specifically what role Fine would play, but did refer to the Guard issue.
 
“There’s a long list of things that need to be done before we can move the armory along, and one of those things is the National Guard,” Taylor said. Richman has not previously worked with Atlantic Development.
 
Fine did not return calls seeking comment.
 
Ronn Jordan of the Coalition, which is advancing the currently favored development proposal, thought Fine would be very helpful. “Given his experience, he probably has ideas about where to house the Guard,” Jordan said. The Coalition’s proposal includes a mix of retail, education and recreational space.
 
In addition to real estate experience, Fine is well connected. He donated handsomely to the Republican National Convention when it came to New York last year, and also steered $3,400 to Rivera’s reelection fund last summer, according to state records. Fine and his wife both contributed $3,000 to Naomi Rivera’s successful Assembly bid last year.
 
Jose Rivera, who is Naomi’s father, said he had met Fine in the past, but wouldn’t comment if he was working with him on the armory.
 
Coalition members met with Fine last month, and they are now following up with him. “This guy knows how to get things done,” Jordan said.

In 2004, Shootings Down Sharply in 52nd Precinct

By Jordan Moss

Though crime was down a modest 2.71 percent overall in the 52nd Precinct last year, police are trumpeting their success in curtailing shooting incidents. There were 23 in 2004 compared with 44 in 2003, for a decrease of 47.7 percent. Murders were also significantly down from 13 in 2003 to eight in 2004.

 
There were also fewer robberies in 2004 — 560 vs. 650 in 2003.
 
“The officers are stopping the right people and being visible out there,” said Deputy Inspector Joseph Hoch, the precinct’s commander. Hoch said shootings and robberies are significant crime categories to watch because they involve “street violence.”
 
In addition to getting guns off the streets, Hoch said that enforcement of quality of life violations like loitering, public drinking and disorderly conduct were also partly responsible for the drop in serious crime.
 
The precinct tracks robbery patterns closely, Hoch said. “We track [them] on a daily basis, and when we sense a trend, we deploy our resources accordingly,” he said. In December for instance, Hoch said he shifted personnel to the midnight tour when the precinct identified a trend of robberies where the victim was knocked down from behind. Police then arrested a suspect who was subsequently identified in five different lineups.
 
A significant uptick in grand larceny, however, leveled off to some extent what would have otherwise been a remarkable downward plunge in overall crime in the Five-Two. Criminal impersonations and cell phone fraud were among the types of crime responsible for the increase in that category, Hoch said.
 
Steve Bussell, president of the 52nd Precinct Community Council, was pleased with the drop in violent crime.
 
“The way they’re concentrating on certain areas has been very helpful,” Bussell said. “The worst crime areas are getting the most attention.”
 
An infusion of 70 new rookie officers this month, which Hoch expects to last through the year, would appear to put the precinct in a good position to build on last year’s successes. Forty-eight of those cops will be deployed in a new Operation Impact Zone, from Fordham Road to East 198th Street, and from the Grand Concourse to Decatur Avenue.  Much of that area has been covered by Impact in the past, but it is going further north this time, Hoch said. This is an area that, crime trends notwithstanding, has been plagued by drug dealing as far back as most residents can remember.
 
Meanwhile, 12 rookies and two training officers will patrol Fordham Road from Webster to University avenues.
 
And two teams of eight officers – three senior cops and five rookies – will be assigned to return to former Impact zones in University Heights.
 
The infusion of new cops will also allow Hoch to deploy his evening tracer team of one sergeant and four officers to problem blocks in the northern part of the precinct, such as Rochambeau and DeKalb avenues and Knox and Gates places in Norwood.

Judge Halts Filter Plant Work in Park

By Jordan Moss

Queens Supreme Court Justice Marguerite Grays ordered the city Tuesday to stop construction work on the filtration plant in Van Cortlandt Park until she made a final decision in the matter of whether the filtration plant could go forward.

 
Bronx Environmental Health and Justice (BEHJ) brought the suit, charging the city failed to conduct the proper environmental reviews before choosing the park site. The organization, which is being represented by the Columbia University Environmental Law Clinic, argues that the city’s study minimized the impact in the largely minority community of Norwood in order to avoid building the plant in the more remote, industrial Eastview site that the city owns in Westchester.
 
“We want her to rule that the EIS [Environmental Impact Statement] was inadequate, that the construction should be stopped and [that the city] has to do an adequate EIS,” said Edward Lloyd, who directs the Columbia clinic.
 
Grays had originally issued a temporary restraining order on Jan. 12, but city officials said they could go ahead with the work while they appealed. But a week later the state Supreme Court’s Appellate Division ruled in BEHJ’s favor and told the city to stop work until the case was decided by Grays.
 
“The wheels of justice will turn and we’ll await the outcome,” said Charles Sturcken, a DEP spokesman.
 
Lloyd said the judge said she would try to rule on the case as soon as possible.

Girl Makes Jump from Bronx to Broadway

By Chelsea Lehman

It takes most actors decades of hard work and hundreds of auditions to get to Broadway. Ten-year-old Zipporah Gatling is already there.

Since August, Zipporah, who lives in the Fordham Hill Cooperatives in University Heights with her family, has played the role of young Nala in Disney’s Broadway production of “The Lion King.”

But, in a way, she’s been preparing for the role all her young life. Zipporah began singing at her church when she was only two and a half. When she was 8 and looking for something fun to do on Saturday, her mom, Melody Gatling, took her to Brooklyn to work with YAIDTS (short for Young Artists with Integrity Destined to Succeed), an organization that coaches inner city youth in fine arts and performance.

It was at YAIDTS — where Zipporah won the All Around Artist Award for her talent in drama, dance, voice, and modeling — that she caught the eye of Cathy Hutcherson, a YAIDTS agent. Hutcherson encouraged Zipporah to audition for the role of Nala. It would be her first audition but Hutcherson was confident that Zipporah had a good shot at landing the role.

“She has star quality,” Hutcherson says. “Not so much so in terms of her ego, in terms of her talent alone. Her voice is very mature for a 10-year-old and her personality is as well. It grabs you as soon as you see it.”

At the four required auditions, Zipporah sang “I Just Can’t Wait to be King,” and acted out the hunting scene. Over a thousand children auditioned for the two Nala parts and the two Simba parts. Out of the four kids picked, Zipporah was the only one that had no previous experience in the industry. In July, she began intense rehearsals that lasted between five and six hours a day. The rehearsals ran for about a month before Zipporah debuted on Aug. 18.

To turn herself into a lion cub for each performance, Zipporah wears an elaborate costume consisting of a hand-beaded corset, hand painted pants, and jazz shoes. To create the illusion of cub ears, her hair is braided and positioned on the top of her head. Peach face makeup and dark eye makeup make Zipporah complete the transition from school kid to lion cub.

“It’s very fun,” says Zipporah. “I’ve made some new friends, and I’ve met a whole bunch of people.”

Despite all the excitement, acting is still a challenge for the youngster. “It is hard work,” Zipporah said. “I have a real job.” Each week, she performs in four shows and understudies four shows. Her demanding schedule (she performs on Wednesday and Friday nights and on Saturday and Sunday nights) requires Zipporah to manage her time wisely and do homework on the weekends.

She is a conscientious fifth grade student at PS 6 on East Tremont Avenue. Zipporah’s teacher, Mr. Zinteman, has been very accommodating of her busy schedule. He gives Zipporah extensions when she needs them, and demands the best from her. In addition to schoolwork and performing, she also loves sketching and drawing. She considers herself a tomboy, and she loves running track and playing all sports.

“I am really proud of her,” said her mother. “She works hard on stage and she gets all of her homework done. This has been an awesome experience.”

Zipporah’s current contract as Nala runs through 2005, but it has been renewed for another season.

Hutcherson says this is just the beginning of Zipporah’s show-biz career.

“After this, we’re looking forward for her to do motion pictures,” she says. “She’s going to California to audition for some sit-coms and motion pictures and work with Disney. She’s looking forward to an exceptional career.”

MS 80 Evacuated After Oil Spill

By Jordan Moss

 

Students and teachers were evacuated from MS 80 Monday following an oil spill in the basement.
 
Teachers who arrived early in the morning said there was a bad smell throughout the school and that a fellow teacher vomited.
 
Dozens of firefighters and emergency workers arrived at the school at about 11:30 a.m. after some kids complained of shortness of breath and headaches. The cause was a 20-gallon oil spill, according to officials.
 
According to the Department of Education (DOE), EMS transported 12 people to Montefiore  Hos-pital and 18 to North Central Bronx Hospital. All were later released.

Most of the students from the school were led to sidewalks on Rochambeau Avenue and Van Cortlandt Avenue East.
 
The DOE said the students were eventually transported to nearby schools PS/MS20, PS 56 and PS 8. Students re-entered the school at 2:39 p.m., according to the DOE.
 
MS 80 teacher and United Federation of Teachers representative Marsha Silberman complained that school officials waited too long to evacuate the school and that school should have been cancelled for the day.
 
“Nobody can make a decision in this army,” she said outside the school.
 
A DOE spokesperson denied the charge that officials didn’t act fast enough, but did not respond before press time with further details on proper procedures in such an incident.

Misplaced Plant Activism

By Editorial

The work on the Croton filtration plant has begun. The city has started clearing trees at the site, building access roads, etc. Visitors will no longer recognize the vast area they once knew as the Mosholu Golf Course and Driving Range.

Opponents of the project still hope that the three lawsuits now being heard in Bronx Supreme Court slow the project down or stop it altogether. The fate of the plant has moved from the political arena to the legal arena.

This does not mean there is no longer any place for community activism. To the contrary, we need an army of vigilant community residents to make sure that the massive construction project does as little harm as possible to the surrounding area.

But we are more than a little perplexed by the actions taken by some activists in recent days. A revived political organization, 100 Bronx Democrats, and Bronx Environmental Health and Justice, a local organization that formed over the last year to fight the plant in court, showed up at a Community Board 7 Parks Committee hearing to tell Bronx Parks chief Hector Aponte not to spend any of the $240 million the city agreed to spend on parks in return for siting the project in the Bronx.

The meeting was cancelled at the last minute, but if they get their way, and they obviously won’t, we could have the worst of both worlds – a filtration plant and no money for park improvements.

Here are a couple of concrete ways these groups could actually have an impact. Why don’t they visit the DEP’s new community office on Jerome Avenue, introduce themselves to the people working there, and put them on notice that they will relentlessly monitor their work? Or how about petitioning the city to track and provide medical care to local children with asthma and make sure they are not harmed by the project?

As anyone who has read this paper over the last decade knows, we vigorously opposed the construction of the plant in the Bronx. But the bulldozers are now at work. We should retool for the task at hand.

 

Getting Things Done

By Editorial

In two community victories on and around Reservoir Oval in 2004, there is a disturbing lesson to be learned: It takes a very long time to get small things done.

Our neighbor and Norwood News contributor Janet Norquist was noted in more than one press report when she was able, after months of letter writing and calls to elected officials, to get an incorrect street sign changed on her block.

And many Norwood residents were relieved when a speed bump was installed on the West side of the Oval. Community groups met with and requested the changes from two successive Bronx Transportation commissioners over the course of about two years.

Both of these improvements were welcome and their champions are to be congratulated. But we wonder why getting simple improvements to our communities is so hard.

The fact that city officials make us jump through so many hoops just to get small things accomplished and require so much effort from our fellow citizens means that there is less time and energy to get the really big important things done.

We need to set our sights higher and have greater expectations as a community. We should expect the street signs to be right, and the streets around our parks to be safe for children. But we should also expect significant improvements to our long-neglected subway stations. We should expect a useful redevelopment of the Kingsbridge Armory and the Loew’s Paradise Theatre.

As we press for solutions to small problems, we also need to consistently project the big picture on the city’s, and our neighbors’, radar screens. When we work with city officials on small but important issues, we should not miss the opportunity to tell them that we expect and deserve much more effort on the even more important big-ticket items.

Let’s exhibit more of that big-city attitude Bronxites are famous for.

 

Some Surprises, and Status Quo, in Bronx Politics

By Heather Haddon

It was an exciting year for the followers of Bronx politics with two heated local races, a rash of political scandals, and some unexpected new alliances.

The year started with Bronx Democrats fighting over whether another hearing should be held on the Kingsbridge Armory, pitting Assemblyman Jose Rivera or Council members Maria Baez and Joel Rivera against Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión. The divide over who would control the armory’s fate widened during the year, as Assemblyman Rivera appeared to take the lead in negotiating where to relocate the armory’s remaining National Guard units.

Rivera further consolidated his power by successfully advancing his daughter, Naomi Rivera, to an open Assembly seat last fall. The jockeying began when Assemblyman Jeff Klein abandoned his 80th District post to run for the Senate in the 34th District. That seat became available when former state senator Guy Velella stepped down after pleading guilty to bribery charges. In a four-way primary, Rivera faced another political boss’ progeny — Anthony Friedman, son of former Bronx Democratic Party leader George Friedman — along with community activist Joe Thompson and lawyer Anthony Chiofalo.

Rivera ultimately triumphed, along with all local incumbents, in a primary characterized by poor voter turnout. Klein won the Senate seat in a closer race.

State Senator Efrain Gonzalez also prevailed against his challenger, former state senator Israel Ruiz, despite damaging press right before the primary. Last August, reports circulated that federal prosecutors were investigating Gonzalez for improperly funneling campaign contributions and government grants to three nonprofit organizations that employ his family and associates. Two of the organizations share Gonzalez’ office and one, the West Bronx Neighborhood Association, racked up hefty expenses despite employing no staff. Gonzalez denied any wrongdoing.

Congressman Jose Serrano also found himself in some hot water last August when news accounts revealed that an arts group he funded, and whose Board he allegedly had ties to, had little to show for his support. Serrano allocated $1.7 million to the House of Artful Expression to build a Puerto Rican heritage museum in the Bronx, but after three years, they had made little headway on the project. Serrano moved to reclaim a portion of the money, and he denied any allegations of contract steering.

While Bronx Dems fought off the bad press, Council Member Oliver Koppell
unexpectedly reached out to the machine. Long aligned with the Riverdale side of the Bronx Democratic political split, Koppell made the unusual move last August to endorse Naomi Rivera in her Assembly bid and Jeff Klein in his race for Senate. Koppell admitted the move was meant to gain favor with the organization, and more specifically, a Council committee leadership post. Council Speaker Gifford Miller should assign the chairmanships later this month.

The new alliance also resulted in Koppell and Jose Rivera agreeing last fall to work together on the Kingsbridge Armory’s redevelopment.

Carrión was busy making overtures to the borough’s Jewish community this year, visiting Israel last May with a delegation of Hispanic and African-American clergy. “The explicit motive was to build strong ties between the Hispanic community and the Jewish community,” said Carrión last month. After the trip, he established the Jewish Hispanic Youth Council, which took 30 young people on a cross-cultural trip last November.

Koppell will face a challenger for his Council seat next fall from within the ranks of his own Benjamin Franklin Democratic Reform Club. Ari Hoffnung, an investment banker and Riverdale activist, stepped up to run against his former mentor last month.

Tower Dispute Settled

By Heather Haddon

Three major Bronx institutions were all smiles last May when Montefiore Medical Center announced that it had brokered a deal in the decade-long tiff between the New York Botanical Garden and Fordham University. Montefiore offered the roof of its Montefiore II residential high-rise, located at 3450 Wayne Ave. at Gun Hill Road, to host a 142-foot tower for Fordham’s public radio station, WFUV.

If approved, the solution would finally end the longstanding feud between Fordham and the Garden over the university’s existing structure. Many argue that the 260-foot uncompleted tower on Fordham’s campus mars the views inside its institutional neighbor. Fordham would dismantle the structure once the new one is built.

Last October, Fordham completed the environmental impact assessment required by city and federal agencies. Fordham contends that the slim antenna would create little, if any, impact on local health, aesthetics or radio reception. It will have a visual impact, however, as Fordham estimates it will be prominent within a five-block radius and visible for up to half a mile.

Community Board 7 gave its nod to the plan at last month’s public meeting, and the city Board of Standards and Appeals is now assessing the impact statement. They must schedule a public hearing before issuing the project a special permit, and then the plan moves on to federal and state agencies.

Long List of Local Anniversaries

By Heather Haddon

It was anniversary season this year, with several venerable organizations and institutions marking their tenure. The youngsters of the bunch, BronxTalk PrimeTime and Bronx Talk AM, celebrated their 10th and fifth years, respectively, of bringing news and views to borough residents. As of last October, the cable programs, which air on BRONXNET channel 67, had logged over 1,100 segments of live discussion with officials and leaders, airing residents’ phone calls, and delivering valuable community information.

Also in October, Tolentine Zeiser Community Center celebrated 25 years of providing vital services to University Heights residents. Tolentine estimates about 2,000 daily visits to its senior programs, daycare, ESL classes, youth center, transitional housing, and other crucial services.

In June, the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition marked 30 years of fighting for decent housing, advocating for better schools and parks, and galvanizing residents to win important victories locally and beyond. The Coalition’s track record of getting things done is remarkable, but so is its ability to empower community residents.

St. Ann’s School rang in 75 years in February. Its population may have changed, from Irish and Italian to largely Hispanic, but the Norwood school still fosters a homey environment where many graduates go on to enroll their own children.

The year’s oldest anniversary was at the Briggs Avenue firehouse, which marked a century of service last October. Current and former firefighters, family members and residents came out en masse to the commemorative ceremony, which was presided over by clergy from St. Philip Neri Church. The church has the companies to thank for responding to a fire that devastated the church in 1997.

Education Councils Ramp Up

By Heather Haddon

District 10’s new Community District Education Council led one of its first public meetings last fall from a long table on PS 85’s auditorium floor. The move down from the stage where their predecessors, the more insular community school boards, reigned, was a symbolic gesture to bring themselves closer to parents.

What they got was an earful of complaints and the ushering in of their difficult and ambiguously defined new roles (within a few months, their names had changed from Community Education Councils to Community District Education Councils). But after five months, local Council 10 is beginning to find its voice.

Councils citywide have struggled to define themselves since replacing the boards. They’ve also fought to get more access to schools and support from the Department of Education (DOE).

Comprised of parents elected by parent association leaders, the councils have had to find their way with little training in the nuts and bolts of school administration. “The focus of the training was how to work together as a team,” said Marvin Shelton, Council 10 President, at the Dec. 16 public meeting. “I don’t know if we really needed to get a group hug. I wish we had gotten more data [about the school system].”

Many school principals have also been unclear about the councils’ roles, and not altogether welcoming of their visits. Council 10 is working with their regional administrator, Joel DiBartolomeo, to work out these kinks.

Not all of the councils have played nice with DOE. A consortium of them banded together last month to sue the city for obstructing their efforts to gain access to schools and support parents.

Shelton said that Council 10 decided against joining the suit. “We’re not satisfied with the progress per se,” he said, “but other districts are not doing as well as we are.”

Some Bronx councils aren’t even up and running, according to Council 10 Member Davon Russell. “We never have a meeting with less than a quorum,” Russell said. “It shows our commitment to making this work.”

Many members seem to be developing a friendly rapport with each other, and with DiBartolomeo. Regional Superintendent Irma Zardoya’s decision to show up to this month’s meeting to discuss a controversial restructuring proposal shows that the region takes them seriously.

“Irma and I do seek your advice,” DiBartolomeo said.

Still, the council has a way to go. The public meetings are poorly attended and sometimes lack focus. Some members seem alert and engaged, but others are consistently silent.

But the Council is slowly settling in, and is even planning for next year. Shelton intends to make recommendations on how future members are trained. “Next year, we should expect more from DOE,” he said.

Despite Battle, Meals Revamp Under Way

By Heather Haddon

The Bronx’ Meals on Wheels program underwent a huge shakeup this year that altered the service for homebound seniors which had operated, basically untouched, since the 1970s. The process of implementing the controversial pilot pitted Bronx Democratic regulars and the city against advocates and other officials in a nasty fight over a program many would consider politically untouchable.

Service providers began last year with a protest of the request for proposals (RFP), which consolidated the Bronx’ 17 contracts into two and shifted at least 40 percent of seniors to weekly delivery of frozen meals instead of the daily, hot food service. The city Department for the Aging (DFTA) postponed the issuing of an RFP for new vendors until July. But the pilot, called Senior Options, rolled out as planned in October.

Things got off to a rocky start when many seniors failed to receive their meals until very late in the evening, if at all. Most of these kinks were worked out in the first week, according to DFTA, and complaints are now down.

In the months before the RFP was issued, Bronx Democratic regulars were repeatedly attacked by other officials and advocates for their dogged support of the pilot. The situation came to a boil in March when politicians blasted the city for allegedly steering the contracts to non-union agencies, and the Norwood News revealed connections between the machine and a politically-connected Bronx agency which received two of the contracts. RAIN, the current local provider, denied the allegations, as did the city.

“I actually find it quite offensive that some elected officials have made an issue out of that [the contracts],” DFTA Commissioner Edward Mendez-Santiago told the Norwood News last October. “I am proud to say that we have one of the better procurement processes in the city.”

Critics were further incensed when the pilot debuted with another twist. Instead of freshly preparing the requested hot meals, the vendors were just reheating the frozen meals. Some seniors have complained that the reheating makes the food watery and unappetizing.

Protest over Senior Options has calmed in the face of DFTA’s adamant refusal to reverse it. But Council Member Oliver Koppell, one of the lead opponents, introduced a bill last month to require that vendors deliver fresh meals to seniors who request them.

“My office, as well as those of other elected officials and senior centers, has been inundated with complaints about the quality of the food,” said Koppell in a statement.

“In many cases, they [seniors] said the food was so inedible they threw most of it out.”

The pilot will run for a year with an option of renewal in the Bronx. If it passes an assessment, the program would expand to the rest of the city.

If that happens, the city could be in for an even bigger fight. Many providers from Brooklyn and Queens surveyed by the Norwood News said they are opposed to Senior Options.

Filtration Construction Begins

By Jordan Moss

2004 ended like no other in the decade-long battle over the Croton water filtration plant, with work beginning in Van Cortlandt Park, the site the city has preferred for the project for at least five years.
 

The die was cast in the summer of 2003 when the state legislature, led by Bronx Democrats, voted to allow Mosholu Golf Course in the park to be used for the project. The city gained the support of state lawmakers from the borough by promising the expenditure of $240 million on Bronx park improvements. Nevertheless, the community and park organizations that had long fought construction of the plant in the borough were unbowed. They banded together and told anyone who would listen that the Eastview site in Westchester was much more suitable for an industrial facility of this size. Over the summer, they met with members of the City Council, which was responsible for approving the details of the plant-for-parks deal, and even took some of them to see the Eastview site.

But that effort had disappointing results when the Council overwhelming approved the city’s plan in the fall.

Plant foes were given good reason to hold out hope, however, when a judge issued a restraining order in a suit brought by the Friends of Van Cortlandt Park. But the judge eventually lifted the order and dismissed the suit entirely. The Friends are considering an appeal while three other suits, brought by Bronx Environmental Health and Justice (BEHJ), the Croton Watershed Clean Water Coalition, and the town of Eastchester, are still pending.

Meanwhile, the bulldozers press on. The city is in the process of constructing what it calls an “ornamental” construction fence on Jerome Avenue and it has already set up a DEP office in a former storefront across the street.

But the city’s determination, and legal right, to proceed with the work, has not stopped the protests. Members of BEHJ and a political group calling itself 100 Bronx Democrats turned up for what was planned — it was cancelled late in the afternoon — to be a meeting with the new Bronx Parks commissioner Hector Aponte with signs denouncing the plant. They wanted Aponte to promise not to spend any of the $240 million until the lawsuits were settled.

Meanwhile, as required by law, the Department of Environmental Protection is setting up a Facilities Monitoring Committee that will meet quarterly. Representatives of the three surrounding community boards will sit on the committee, as will a designee of Council Member Oliver Koppell, whose district the site is in.

Armory Advances at Glacial Pace

By Heather Haddon

Last January, advocates descended on the Kingsbridge Armory to demand, as they have for several years, that schools be included in its redevelopment. While frustrating hurdles remain, the dream came much closer to fruition in 2004.

During a hearing in June, which finally brought together residents and officials to discuss the project, the city agreed that schools were a feasible addition to the armory’s redevelopment mix. Advocates were overjoyed to learn that the Economic Development Corporation (EDC), which oversees the project, and the Department of Education finally were behind putting schools on the site of the armory’s rear annex.

“We would love to have that space,” said Jamie Smarr, who oversees the city’s Educational Construction Fund, during a community district education council meeting last month. “We could probably put two or three schools on that property.”

But the city has yet to issue a request for proposals (RFP) for the project. The city refuses to release an RFP until the two National Guard units remaining in the armory’s annex, located on West 195th Street between Jerome and Reservoir avenues, are relocated. The state is willing to move the companies, but the city must take the lead in finding a location.

EDC has not been particularly eager to spearhead that search. Assemblyman Jose Rivera indicated last fall that he would flex his political muscle to get the state and city to sit down together, but a meeting has yet to occur.

But the armory, one of the largest and most frustrating local development projects, finally seems to be weighing on local officials’ minds. Rivera and Council Member Oliver Koppell, not typically political collaborators, have been talking about finding a suitable location for the Guard.

“We are hoping to work together on it,” Koppell said. “We think the concept of putting schools on the periphery makes sense.”

Koppell said last November that he and Rivera had discussed the armory over a business lunch, and he indicated last month that things still looked hopeful. “There may be light at the end of the tunnel,” Koppell said.

Members of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, who helped formulate the redevelopment proposal now favored by Bronx politicians, have continued to meet with Rivera. They hope the influential Bronx County Democratic leader can use his connections to real estate developers to find a possible location for the Guard.

In other armory news, one of the Guard units, the 145th Maintenance Company, shipped out for training last November before its 200 members are deployed to Iraq. The Company, charged with fixing weapons, equipment and vehicles, was expected to leave for the Middle East next month.

 

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