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Community Groups Rally for School Safety
February 24, 2005
By Gabe Ponce de Leon
“What do we want?” Teresa Anderson, of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC), asked the spirited, standing-room only crowd of over 200 parents, students, educators and community activists.
“Safe Schools,” scores of impassioned voices responded in unison.
“When do we want them?”
“Now!”
The event, a rally held at the Our Lady of Refuge Parish Center in North Fordham, was organized by the Community Collaborative to Improve District 9 and 10 Schools to kick off a petition campaign. The current goal of the Collaborative is to collect 50,000 petition signatures in the hopes of pressuring the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) and the City Council to enact a 15-mile-per-hour speed limit in school areas and to allocate funding for additional speed humps around schools, and crossing guards and police foot patrol at dismissal time. The group hopes to have the signatures collected by mid-March when it will reconvene to discuss strategies for moving forward.
Ocynthia Williams, a parent leader in District 9, heralded the meeting as “a history-making event” and said it was time to expand the organization to include schools throughout the borough.
The Collaborative includes a number of community groups including ACORN, Citizens Advice Bureau, Highbridge Community Life Center, Mid-Bronx Senior Citizens Council, New Settlement Apartments, and the NWBCCC. The organization has its roots in a project developed a few years ago by New Settlement to address concerns in District 9 schools. District 9 and District 10, both in the west Bronx, comprise Region 1. The Collaborative works closely with the United Federation of Teachers and the city Department of Education.
On an evening in which several parents and educators shared past achievements and present concerns regarding school safety, Ronn Jordan, the president of the NWBCCC’s board, put forth the case to act decisively. Jordan told the audience that being hit by a vehicle was the leading cause of death and injury among New York City kids ages 5 to 9. He stated that the Bronx has the second highest rate of pedestrian injury in the state and cited a string of statistics illustrating that the likelihood of pedestrian death in accidents correlates to the velocity of the vehicle.
“We have a deadly problem that needs to be fixed and needs to be fixed now,” Jordan concluded.
The current focus on traffic dangers is just the first phase of a broader effort aimed at tackling a wide array of safety issues in schools, including gang violence and environmental hazards.
“No issue is more important than the safety of children going to and from school,” said Ray Rosemberg, the deputy superintendent of Region 1. “Your message is going to get out loud and clear tonight.”
Denise Montcreif, a parent, insisted that “numbers are power” and urged members of the audience to not only have friends and family sign the petition, but to offer them petitions to circulate as well.
“Every signature you get on this is an ‘I Love You’ to the children of the Bronx,” she said.
Local Catholic Schools Safe for Now
February 24, 2005
By Heather Haddon
For now, local parents can rest assured that area Catholic schools will not suffer the same fate as dozens of Brooklyn and Queens institutions that will close this year. But many northwest Bronx schools, reflecting a citywide trend, are struggling to stay financially afloat and keep classrooms full.
“Numbers are down everywhere,” said Patricia Gatti, principal of St. Brendan’s School on East 207th Street. “We’re all feeling it.”
The Diocese of Brooklyn, which oversees Brooklyn and Queens parochial schools, announced two weeks ago that it will close 26 elementary schools with low enrollment. Diocesan officials said rising operating costs and changing demographics prompted the difficult decision.
Many local parents were alarmed by the news. “It brought back flashbacks,” said Serena Muñiz, 29, whose daughter attends St. Philip Neri on the Grand Concourse. Muñiz was a 10th grader at St. Nicholas of Tolentine’s high school, located on Andrews Avenue, when it closed in 1990.
“I remember being really affected emotionally,” she said. “I really had an attachment to my school.”
The New York Archdiocese — which manages schools in the Bronx, Manhattan, Staten Island, and the counties of Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester — has no immediate plans to close any of the Bronx’ 79 schools. The Archdiocese does, however, continuously look for enrollment shifts, according to Nora Murphy, a spokesperson.
“Obviously, there have been some changes,” said Murphy, who grew up in the Fordham area. “But these schools are still part of thriving communities.” Murphy thought that fluctuations in Bronx registration were less drastic compared to other boroughs.
Many local schools said they had witnessed some decrease in enrollment over the past few years. Our Lady of Refuge School (OLR), on 196th Street, had to cancel its pre-kindergarten program last year after only 16 families signed up.
“We are hoping to reinstate it this year,” said Monsignor John Jenik, the church’s pastor. To increase numbers, OLR and other local schools conducted more extensive advertising campaigns this year.
Our Lady of Mercy School no longer uses an entire wing of its Marion Avenue building, and instead, a public high school will take root there this fall. “They have downsized,” Murphy said.
While maintaining a “healthy” enrollment, as Gatti put it, classroom sizes have shrunk over the years at St. Brendan’s. “Gone are the days when there were 40 kids in class,” said Gatti, whose classrooms now average around 30 students. “That’s a significant drop.”
Remaining financially stable is a struggle even for schools that have not experienced enrollment declines. “The cost to educate a student is much higher than the tuition,” said Anna Ramos, who oversees fund raising at the Academy of Mount St. Ursula on Bedford Park Boulevard. Tuition rates at the Academy are $5,300, but Ramos estimates that it costs over $8,000 to educate a student. Grants, alumni contributions, and fund-raisers supplement that gap.
Few elementary schools are lucky enough to have full-time fund-raisers, and instead rely more heavily on parent contributions and in-school fund-raisers. Tolentine, which is seeking grants for capital improvements, started a parent and alumni board in 2003 to help in that regard. St. Brendan’s teamed up with area public schools to apply for federal funding under the No Child Left Behind Act. The Archdiocese also provides some assistance to struggling schools.
But as tuitions rise, parents can’t always keep up. “It’s very difficult,” said Muñiz, who works in marketing. “But you think, at the end of the day, there is more stability and discipline at parochial schools.”
Like Muñiz, many parents who attended Catholic schools when they were young want the same experience for their children. St. Brendan’s has also seen an influx of new immigrants, primarily from Albania, according to Gatti.
But given economic pressures and cultural changes, that seamless transition to parochial schools is no longer a given. “There was a period when people automatically sent their children to Catholic schools,” said Murphy, who contends that many still do.
While the pressures to stay competitive are intense, most local schools seemed confident they would persevere. “We’ll probably all see smaller enrollments,” said Gatti, speaking about local parochial schools. “That’s just a reality. But we can all adjust to it.”
Let the Sunshine In
February 24, 2005
By Editorial
Information is the lifeblood of our democracy. Yet, too few citizens know that they have the right to see much of the information that our government produces.
The American Society of Newspaper Editors and dozens of other press organizations hope to change that with the introduction of Sunshine Week on March 13.
It can’t come soon enough, as more and more public information is being declared off-limits by government agencies, especially at the federal level.
Though it’s sponsored by press organizations, this is an event for all New Yorkers and Americans to participate in.
Why? Because secrecy in government is antithetical to American democracy and is harmful to its citizens.
Here’s a very local example. In the mid-1990s, the Norwood News investigated repeated delays in the construction of PS 20 on Webster Avenue. The school was supposed to take about three years to build, but ended up taking six. By filing a request under New York State’s Freedom of Information Law, known as FOIL, this newspaper was able to acquire documents that revealed severe problems at the site, including construction piles being driven into unstable parts of the ground, and lapses in oversight. We believe that our dogged reporting on this issue prevented further delays at PS 20 and provided an incentive for the School Construction Authority (SCA) to finish several other area schools on time in subsequent years. Much of that reporting would not have been possible without the FOIL.
Reporters all around the country use state and federal freedom of information laws to gather information that sometimes has life-and-death consequences.
But it’s not just the Norwood News and other news media that have used FOIL requests effectively. Community organizations and private citizens have successfully used the FOIL to get public documents about a variety of community projects including the water filtration plant and the Kingsbridge Armory.
Many government agencies have begun to clamp down on information, using the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 as an excuse. We hope it will become clear to most Americans that withholding public documents and choking off the flow of information threatens our democracy. These are not the rights of newspapers or TV stations. They are the rights of all of us. And, as with a muscle, these rights will atrophy if they are not regularly exercised.
Education about the right to information, and how to secure it, should begin in grade school. Kids can learn how many housing code violations their apartment buildings have by looking up their address on the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s Web site. They can look up how their precinct is doing on crime prevention by viewing the weekly CompStat reports on the Police Department’s Web site. And if there’s information that’s not available on-line, they can call the appropriate city agency. If that is unsuccessful, they can file a FOIL request. Sunshine Week would be a great time to try this out (more information at www.sunshineweek.org).
The state’s Committee on Open Government, a public entity that was formed in 1974 by the Freedom of Information Law, publishes a pamphlet entitled “Your Right to Know” that explains the FOIL and provides a sample letter to government agencies.
We’ll give James Madison, the fourth U.S. president and shaper of the Constitution, the last word here.
“A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy — or perhaps both.”
CB7 Combines Committees
February 24, 2005
By Heather Haddon
Community Board 7’s chair and district manager made a surprise announcement last week that the organization’s 11 committees will be consolidated after a history of poor attendance and ineffectiveness. As part of the shift, committees will be required to conduct additional reporting to the district manager, and members who miss several meetings will be reprimanded.
“You who are chairing committees and you who are sitting on committees are falling down on the job,” said Nora Feury, Board chair, during the Feb. 15 full-Board meeting. “You promised to come to all the committee meetings, and that is not happening.”
The shake-up consolidates the Board’s 11 committees into seven, which roughly break down to: economic development and long range planning, housing and land use, human services and health, parks and cultural affairs, personnel and law, public safety and transportation, and sanitation and environmental protection. Each committee will maintain a chair, and many will now have co-chairs.
Committee chairs will be required to send their agendas 10 days in advance of their monthly meetings to Rita Kessler, the Board’s district manager.
Many Board members agree with Feury and Kessler, who orchestrated the changes, that the committees aren’t currently working. “There are only a handful of people that are involved in the committees,” said Gregory Faulkner, a Board member. “We’re looking to do things differently, and I think that’s healthy.”
Committees are supposed to convene monthly with local agencies and other community stakeholders to discuss local issues, and suggest motions to bring before the full board. Last week’s meeting, which had no committee-sponsored motions, was a strong indication that the committees aren’t functioning, according to Feury. The session also lacked a quorum.
While open to change, many Board members felt slighted that they had no input on the decision. “This came as a total surprise,” said Andrew Laiosa, a Board member. “Questions about this were never raised. The people who are affected by this were just told about it.”
Laiosa wished the matter had been proposed before the Executive Committee, which monitors attendance and conducts other administrative duties. Others questioned whether the changes violate the Board’s bylaws, where the committees are stipulated.
“I think there are some constitutional issues here,” Faulkner said.
Kessler said the rearrangement was within the rules since no committees were eliminated. The Board will try out the new configuration for this spring, adding new members when they are selected in the coming months, Feury said.
Some Board members questioned whether lumping together committees would help in attendance. “Part of the problem is the community board facilities are inadequate for more than one committee to meet at once,” said Don Bluestone, a Board member, about the Board’s cramped Bedford Park office. Kessler said during the meeting that committees could assemble off-site, though that practice has not been encouraged in the past.
Members debated whether a uniform date and time for committee meetings might help attendance. Bluestone also suggested that chairs, including him, should do a better job of calling members after they missed a meeting.
Laiosa thinks more should be done to increase the accessibility of the District Service Cabinet meetings, where city agencies discuss service delivery with the district manager. Kessler suggested that chairs should form their committee agendas from issues raised at the meetings, but as they are held during the day, many members can’t attend them.
“Seventy-five percent of the Board’s agenda comes from that,” said Laiosa, who thinks the meetings are poorly advertised. “If that’s such an important thing, wouldn’t we want to make it more publicly accessible?”
Despite some reservations, most members were open to the committee experiment. “It’s a first step,” Faulkner said.
***
Two new parks personnel introduced themselves during the Board meeting. Keisha Garnes is the new district manager for Community Board 7 parks. Kathleen Walker is the new director of the St. James Recreation Center, which is now undergoing a major renovation of its facilities.
Work Resumes on Plant
February 24, 2005
By Jordan Moss
Work resumed on the Croton filtration plant in Van Cortlandt Park two weeks ago after an appellate court lifted a lower court’s temporary restraining order on the city. The lower court, presided over by Justice Marguerite Grays, has yet to issue its final decision.
The lawsuit, brought by Bronx Environmental Health Justice, charges that 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 environmental impact 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.
Edward Lloyd, director of the Columbia law clinic, said Justice Grays said on Tuesday, during a hearing on the introduction of an affidavit, that she had read through about one-third of the paperwork in the case and that it was going to take her “a little while” to get through it all.
Meanwhile, a Queens Supreme Court justice denied a motion to consolidate several lawsuits regarding the plant into one. Lloyd said he requested that the motion be denied.
In other plant-related news, the city’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced that the first meeting of the Facility Monitoring Committee (FMC), which includes area officials and community resident Lyn Pyle, would take place in early March at the Croton Community Office at 3660 Jerome Ave. A DEP letter sent to participants in the committee inquired as to their availability for different times on March 1, 2, and 3.
According the letter, the meeting is not open to the public.
“The meeting, which will discuss format and protocols for the FMC, will be open to FMC representatives and alternates only,” states the letter from DEP Acting Commissioner David Tweedy.
DEP spokesman Charles Sturcken said it would be up to those attending the first meeting as to whether future meetings would be public.
“It’s an organizing meeting,” he said. “They will decide then amongst the participants how they want to proceed as to the public nature of the meetings. They’ve got to do business and figure out how they want to do business.”
Gun Hill Traffic Nightmare?
February 24, 2005
By Heather Haddon
The perennial traffic congestion on East Gun Hill Road will get far worse in the coming months, with the reconstruction of the bridge spanning the Williams Bridge Metro-North stop and the Bronx River Parkway.
Beginning in April, Gun Hill Road will narrow from four lanes to two on the bridge, which spans from Webster Avenue to Bronx Boulevard. The southbound Gun Hill exit from the Bronx River Parkway, which empties onto the bridge, will be closed for the nearly three years of work.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) has deemed the bridge unusable due to age and weathering, and it will be completely reconstructed. DOT estimates the project will conclude by December 2007.
Concrete barriers were erected on the roadway’s edges last week. Workers will soon enlarge Gun Hill by removing a portion of the sidewalk. Starting in April, the center part of the bridge will be demolished, traffic will narrow to two lanes, and the southbound Bronx River exit will close.
DOT has not yet said how they will mitigate traffic congestion during the roadwork. “They’re still working that out,” said Craig Chin, a DOT spokesperson.
Chin said specific information on traffic mitigation will be available in April. A traffic light hung last week at the 233rd Street exit from the Bronx River Parkway, the exit before Gun Hill Road, will presumably help ease extra traffic there.
A construction field office has been established at 3478 Webster Ave., just south of Gun Hill Road. The staff includes a community liaison, Thomas McCarley, who will answer public inquiries.
The East Gun Hill renovations are part of a larger DOT initiative to rebuild city bridges, many of which have been neglected. Most city land and waterway bridges are over 50 and 75 years old, respectively. The Gun Hill overpass was built almost a century ago.
But the need for the reconstruction will do little to offset the frustrations of thousands of drivers who pass through the intersection and exit ramp daily. Many employees at Montefiore Medical Center and North Central Bronx Hospital commute from Westchester and other counties in upstate New York.
“I don’t think it’s fair,” said Crysta Jones, a Montefiore employee who commutes 40 minutes each way from Westchester. “I understand they have to make repairs, but it’s going to create a situation that no one wants to be in.”
Since the filtration plant construction began, many Montefiore employees park in a lot on Webster Avenue instead of at Shandler Recreation Area in Van Cortlandt Park. Employees take a shuttle bus from Webster, and Jones worries that the trip, already 20 minutes during rush hour, will become unbearable.
Many buses also run along Gun Hill, including the busy Bx Nos. 28 and 30 to Co-Op City. “That is a nasty intersection no matter how you look at it,” said Janet Norquist, a Norwood resident who teachers in a Co-Op City middle school.
Andrew Laiosa, a Community Board 7 (CB7) member who works on traffic issues, was also concerned. “There’s already a major bottleneck there,” he said. Laiosa was especially outraged that the DOT has shown little concern about the impact on all the institutions concentrated in the area. “It’s just mindboggling,” he said.
DOT has done little to publicize the changes. Laiosa said he was invited by DOT to a meeting to discuss the proposal about a month ago, but it was canceled. He was not informed about the subsequent date, but said that Rita Kessler, CB7’s district manager, attended the session.
Kessler did not return calls for comment.
Chin said that a fact sheet about the project was distributed to community boards and the public. He said that DOT also met face-to-face with the boards. There was no mention of the project at last week’s Board meeting.
Monte Doc’s Unique Approaches to Pain
February 10, 2005
By Jordan Besek
Leon Margolin gets a lot done in a week.
As a resident in the Outpatient Rehabilitation and Pain Clinic at Montefiore Medical Center, he works the usual crazy hours of a young doctor. But somehow Margolin, 31, finds the time to work on promising medical inventions and other scientific pursuits.
Lately, Margolin has been working on a new device that relieves headache pain, which he began researching as a medical student. “Headaches are a big issue in pain management,” said Margolin, a Russian immigrant, in his 10th floor Norwood apartment. “There are many medications, but all have side effects and are expensive and also have tolerance effects. People use more and more medications, and as they do, they have more side effects. This becomes a vicious cycle.”
Margolin’s new device is a headache mask that is non-invasive, easily portable and designed for self-use. It is based on a non-invasive technique, similar to that of acupuncture. Margolin says the device has no side effects and is “very efficient.” He also stresses that, unlike acupuncture, there are no needles. The device simply uses the same principles as acupuncture, that of reflex points on the body. The device recently won the Kaye Prize for Scientific Innovation and the Pfizer Scholars in Pain Management award. Now, Margolin is in negotiations with research firms interested in developing the invention further. Margolin was also recognized for his work in November, when he won the Resident/Fellow Research Award of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain.
Margolin’s passion for medicine has its roots in his Moscow childhood. He had dreams of attending the University of Moscow and, as a high school student, even won awards from the university in a national science competition. But when Margolin applied to the university, he says he was rejected because he was not involved in a young Communist league. Instead, he had connections with the Democratic and Jewish undergrounds.
In 1991, when Margolin was 16, his family emigrated to Israel, where he attended Hadassah Medical School and graduated with high honors. This led to an internship in Internal Medicine at Staten Island University Hospital and subsequently to his Montefiore residency.
Professor Avital Fast, who is chairman of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Montefiore, said Margolin’s accomplishments are impressive. “He is a bright physician who is doing everything expected and more,” Fast said. “He has a great future ahead of him [and] his device looks very promising.”
In addition to the headache mask, Margolin has another obsession of late. He is studying the use of maggots for chronic wound care. “It’s been known since the time of the American Civil War that injured soldiers with maggots do better than soldiers without,” Margolin explained. “Maggots eat dead tissue and then become immobile, so you can simply collect them from the wound.” Maggots also kill bacteria, Margolin said, and therefore help to stop infections from spreading. He thinks it can help patients with diabetes, which is the number one cause of non-traumatic amputations. The maggots could stop the infection, eat all the dead tissue and perhaps help the patient avoid amputation.
Margolin is an active member of Young Israel of Mosholu Parkway and he often spends part of his Saturdays visiting Jewish patients at Montefiore, who might otherwise not have visitors due to the custom of not driving on the Sabbath.
Margolin lives in Norwood with his wife Lina, and their two children, Danielle, 2 and Michelle, 8 months. Margolin admits that dividing his time is difficult, but he seems to know what is important. “I find time to sleep and time for my family, don’t worry,” Margolin said.
VC Park’s New Chief
February 10, 2005
By Jordan Moss
If you looked at John Herrold’s career trajectory you might call him the accidental parks administrator.
After all, his career began in the petroleum industry and then he became a freelance photographer, doing weddings, portraiture and architectural work.
But Herrold’s love of parks is no accident. The new adminstrator of Van Cortlandt Park always had a love of the outdoors that was nurtured by wilderness property his parents owned in Pennsylvania.
And as a high school student in New Jersey, he participated in efforts to transform old family estates and unused municipal properties into parkland.
Herrold’s extracurricular passion became his career gradually. When he was 30, in the middle of his photography freelancing, Herrold began volunteering in his Upper West Side neighborhood at Riverside Park. That led to a part-time job working with the Riverside Park administrator.
And then, in the spring of 2001, he became the full-time on-site manager of Madison Square Park, which had just reopened.
Herrold, 45, is the first administrator to be hired solely for Van Cortlandt Park, the city’s third largest at 1,100 acres. Previously, that job also included overseeing Pelham Bay Park, the largest city park. Herrold says the job was particularly appealing to him because the Parks Department was going “to make a dedicated administrator for this park and Pelham Bay, so I knew that I could really focus on what was going on” in Van Cortlandt.
Herrold takes charge of the park at a controversial time. Community residents are suing the city in an effort to stop the construction of a water filtration plant at the Mosholu Golf Course in Norwood.
But Herrold hopes residents can focus on the eventual benefits the plant will bring.
“My feeling is that it’s a good thing that we’re going to get this money from it,” Herrold said, referring to the $43 million earmarked for Van Cortlandt as part of the filtration plant deal. “It’s going to let us do some things that the park needs, hopefully in the shorter term. This kind of money would not come all at once normally. This way it’s really a windfall. I’m eager to really leverage this opportunity to fix up the park.”
Still, he recognizes that it will be a challenge to recruit community members to the cause at this time.
“If there’s a silver lining, it’s [that] people are paying more attention to the park. It might be the opportunity to say, ‘Yes, I understand, [but] would you work with me and look down the road and help me? Let’s take this corner here that so eventually it’s better.’”
Herrold says he knows that the southeast corner of the park in Norwood, where Jerome Avenue and Gun Hill Road meet, has special needs.
“That is a key entrance of the park, or it should be,” he said. “That’s a vital location, and I want to make sure that area is manicured and is welcoming and inviting.”
Herrold sees parks as something of an antidote to our daily urban lives. He enjoys seeing hawks, owls, raccoons and other wildlife in the park.
“Parks are where we go to depressurize from the city and that’s how many of us use them,” he said.
New Area Schools Announced
February 10, 2005
By Heather Haddon
The city unveiled another major push to create small schools last week that includes four highly-anticipated local projects: a high school focusing on community activism, a bilingual high school, a new middle school at MS 143, and permanent status for the Jonas Bronck Academy. The new initiatives, which will be housed in preexisting facilities, joined 49 other projects citywide that will debut in September. The Bronx gains the lion’s share of the new schools.
“[We] are focused on developing high-quality educational options for students and communities that have been traditionally underserved,” said Alicia Maxey, a Department of Education (DOE) spokesperson.
Perhaps the most anticipated development is that Jonas Bronck, a small middle school located on a leased site on Manhattan College’s campus in Riverdale, will finally become its own school. Parents and staff have struggled for years to have Jonas gain formal status as a middle school since it opened in 1997. The school of choice automatically admits Bronx New School students after graduating fifth grade, and is open to local students by lottery.
Parents will be disappointed to learn, however, that Jonas will not expand into a high school or gain a new facility, at least not immediately. It will remain on the college’s campus for the foreseeable future, with a proposed enrollment of 400, and continue to house grades six through eight. The city’s 2005 capital plan for schools lists construction of a new building for Jonas starting in 2007, but that still needs final approval.
Still, parents were thrilled to learn that Jonas will finally become its own school, gaining more autonomy over its operations. “People were clapping at the [parent association] meeting,” said Marcela Torres, the school’s parent coordinator. “This whole thing has been a struggle.”
Sistas and Brothas United, a youth group associated with the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, was successful in its pursuit of a small, themed-based high school centered on community activism. The Leadership Institute will have a social justice emphasis, and students will conduct annual community activism projects. Fordham University is partnering with the Coalition in the endeavor.
The Institute’s first class will be housed in an annex off Our Lady of Mercy School, located at 2510 Marion Ave. just south of Fordham Road. The Catholic school hasn’t used the three-floor, seven-room building in years, according to the Coalition. The Archdiocese of New York and the School Construction Authority are finalizing negotiations with regards to the site.
In a unique arrangement, the Institute’s subsequent classes will be housed up the street in the Fordham Library building, located at 2556 Bainbridge Ave. (The New York Public Library is constructing a new building for the borough’s main branch on Kingsbridge Road.) The-two floor building holds roughly 20,000-square-feet of space, which is smaller than a typical high school.
The creation of a bilingual small school in the already cramped Walton High School will constitute the fourth small school started on Walton’s campus. The Kingsbridge International High School will serve recent immigrants who speak little English. Faced with rising criticism about overcrowding, officials said that Walton will not accept a new ninth grade next fall to make room for the small schools.
Walton’s newest addition is sponsored by International Partnership Schools, an organization that has opened six similar schools since 1985. One of these, the International High School at LaGuardia Community College, is highly regarded for getting new residents up to speed. Using an interdisciplinary approach, students are taught in teams and assessed through portfolios. Internships will be required.
In another region-led shift, a new middle school will take root at MS 143. The Region moved to close the Kingsbridge Heights school this year for poor performance, and it will be phased out by 2006. The School for Leadership and Journalism will open in the fall, beginning with an estimated 100 sixth graders, 284 seventh graders, and 73 special education students.
Delores Paterson, principal of PS 306 on West Tremont Avenue, was recruited to lead the new school. PS 306 is undergoing reorganization, and its performance has significantly improved recently.
The Marie Curie High School for Nursing, Medicine and the Allied Health Professions, now housed at MS 143, will also expand to serve grades seven through 12. The small high school, formed in partnership with the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center, now teaches ninth through 12th grades.
Filter Plant Will Benefit Community
February 10, 2005
By None
By RICHARD FITZSIMMMONS
Nearly every month, your newspaper features negative articles and editorials against the siting of the Croton filtration plant and related parks projects in the Bronx. I would like to present a different view to your readers.
The Norwood News has noted the recent building boom in the northwest Bronx. Do you really think that developers would break ground on all these apartment houses if they thought no one would buy them because they thought these neighborhoods were going to be devastated by the construction of the filter plant? In fact, Bronx construction workers who are paid prevailing wages on projects like Croton help drive the local housing market. They spend money in Bronx stores and they spend their healthcare dollars in Bronx hospitals like Montefiore, the sponsor of this publication.
Some people seem to feel that the loss of a driving range is simply unacceptable. I, too, enjoy golf, but it makes little sense to claim that a driving range is more important than a project that best protects our water supply and puts local people to work.
Years ago, the NYS Department of Health and the US Environmental Protection Agency concluded that water from the Croton system must be filtered in order to meet federal public health standards. It was only after extensive analysis that it was determined that the best way to ensure that this water remains safe to drink is to filter at the Moshulu site.
Residents of some Bronx neighborhoods rely exclusively on Croton drinking water. It would be irresponsible to build the plant at a different location where the water’s purity could not be assured.
The savings that the city will realize by building under Mosholu will benefit parks in many Bronx communities including Norwood, Bedford Park and Woodlawn, where my office is located. Once the plant is completed, the city will restore the driving range and will invest $43 million to make Van Cortlandt the kind of park our neighborhood deserves. There will be employment opportunities for many Bronx residents. This is a win-win situation for everyone.
The city has made a correct choice to build under a Bronx park, as it has built many other water facilities under parks such as Central Park. In each case, the park areas are restored to the point where few people know or can detect today what is going on underground.
The neighborhoods were not ruined in the process.
Members of my union worked on the City Water Tunnel No. 3 in the north end of Van Cortlandt Park and this project didn’t wreck Woodlawn. In the same way, construction at Mosholu will not ruin Van Cortlandt Park. My members risk their lives every day building and rebuilding this city. The only lives at risk when we do our work are the lives of construction workers, not residents of nearby communities. My local alone has lost 28 workers in since 1970 when we began building the water tunnel. The headquarters of the Tunnel Workers Union, Laborers Local 147 (known as the Sandhogs) is on Katonah Avenue in Woodlawn, not far from Van Cortlandt Park. We are a Bronx-based union and have been in this great community for over 20 years now. As part of this neighborhood, I can assure you that we will work safely and will take state-of-the-art measures to minimize impacts on the community. And I agree with those who oppose this plant that the DEP must be held accountable to their commitments regarding traffic, noise and air quality as the project moves forward.
Banding Together for Safer Schools
February 10, 2005
By None
BY Susan Slivia and Ronn Jordan
Our schools have seen many changes over the last several years: a new governance system, new curriculum, new initiatives and programs in local schools, and the restructuring of many low performing schools.
One thing hasn’t changed. Many of our schools have safety issues. Children often face dangerous traffic, street crime, and even violence around and inside our schools. These conditions threaten the physical and emotional health of our children, and make learning difficult. Solutions to many of these problems are simple and affordable.
It’s time we came together to demand action. We’re starting with a petition drive and a community meeting on Feb. 15, and we invite you to join us. Our children deserve it.
Being hit by a vehicle is the leading cause of death and injury for children aged 5 to 9 in New York City. The Bronx has the second highest rate of pedestrian injury in the state. Many streets around our schools are designed for fast driving, and we have a shortage of crossing guards. The best way to improve traffic safety around our schools is with traffic calming devices such as speed humps, which will reduce the speed of passing vehicles. In Oakland, California, studies have shown that children living on blocks with speed humps have up to 60 percent less chance of being injured or killed by motorists. The city’s Department of Transportation is permitted by law to reduce speed limits around schools to 15 miles per hour.
PS/MS 95 is a good example of how these issues play out in District 10 schools. Gang activity and dangerous traffic have been the main safety issues at the school. Cars often speed down Sedgwick Avenue, where the school is located, in an attempt to make it through the light on the corner of Van Cortlandt Avenue. The bus stop that many students use is across Sedgwick from the school in the middle of the block – a situation that leads many students to cross at mid-block. The school has two annexes, and students face traffic hazards when moving from one building to another. Traffic calming devices could make a big difference at PS/MS 95.
Street crime is common on the blocks around many of our schools, even during daylight hours when children are going to school or returning home. We need police foot patrol to keep school zones quiet and safe. Over the long term, we need more after school programs and jobs in our communities.
Safety issues also exist within our schools. A shortage of security guards leaves many schools unable to oversee their many busy entrances at the beginning and end of the day.
Schools also need to have a clear and decisive evacuation plan in place to deal with emergencies such as the oil spill that recently occurred at MS 80. No child or staff member should be overwhelmed by fumes and need be hospitalized, before a decision to evacuate is made.
Schools need a clean environment, where all facilities are properly serviced. They need to develop a school culture that is orderly, respectful, and engaging, and school and regional emergency plans that work. Students, parents, teachers, administrators, and security personnel need to work together.
Our children’s safety is at risk, and we need to take action. The Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, the Community Collaborative to Improve District 9 Schools, and the United Federation of Teachers, working in collaboration with Region 1 and Transportation Alternatives, are starting an effort to make Region 1 streets and schools safe for our children. Please join us for our kickoff community meeting and rally on Tuesday, February 15, at 6 p.m. at Our Lady of Refuge Church on 196th Street between Bainbridge and Briggs avenues. Help us launch a petition drive to collect tens of thousands of signatures to protect and support our children. Together we can make the change!
For more information, call Ronn Jordan or Clay Smith at (718) 295-0900.
Year of the Armory
February 10, 2005
By Editorial
Sometimes, it’s what politicians don’t say that is significant.
In his spirited State of the Borough address last week, Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión conspicuously omitted any mention of the Kingsbridge Armory – conspicuous because he spoke of many current and future Bronx redevelopment projects. And in last year’s speech, Carrión firmly stated that it’s time to stop studying and start acting on the armory.
We can only assume that the borough president was mum on the long-delayed project because he has passed the political baton on this to Assemblyman Jose Rivera, chairman of the Bronx Democratic Party. In a recent issue, we reported that Rivera has been in discussions with a developer who may be able to help remove the final obstacle to the project by building a new facility for the remaining National Guard members who still use the buildings to the rear of the armory for training.
Rivera hasn’t had much to say on the matter, perhaps because the deal he’s trying to broker is in a delicate stage.
But as long as there’s movement this year on solving this problem and moving ahead with a development plan, we can do without talk.
The armory is important for several reasons, not the least of which is the school space the project is likely to provide, which is critical as the Education Department implements its policy of creating smaller high schools. The district is also perennially overcrowded with no new school construction on the horizon.
Rivera is at the peak of his power, with two of his children in elective office and virtually every elected official in the borough is in his machine’s fold or at least willing to work with it.
It’s been more than a decade since the state ceded control of the landmark facility to the city. Now there is only one more hurdle to clear.
Bronxites are counting on Jose Rivera to make 2005 the Year of the Armory.
Planning for Development
February 10, 2005
By Editorial
The bulldozers are at work in Community District 7. A surge of development – mainly of housing units – is apparent throughout the area. This is good news, as it is evidence that our neighborhoods are desirable and convenient places to live.
But the clear vote of confidence in Norwood, Bedford Park, North Fordham and University Heights also presents challenges.
New housing brings additional stresses on our already overutilized schools. And obviously, new residents mean more cars and an exacerbation of an already impossible parking situation.
We urge every local governmental body to discuss and address this situation. Community Board 7, School District 10 and Region 1 should raise these issues and suggest potential mitigation measures. Certainly, the housing boom provides more ammunition for the community’s case for more schools.
Elected officials can also get into the act. For example, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz held a recent forum on the problem of parking in Riverdale, where development is also on the rise. We urge Dinowitz to organize a similar forum in the Norwood section of his district.
New housing in this area is a good thing. But with it must also come proper planning.
Armory Soldiers Arrive in Middle East
February 10, 2005
By David Greene
After the 200 or so soldiers of the 145th Maintenance Company of the Army National Guard departed the Kingsbridge Armory on Nov. 19, they were unexpectedly given two leaves from duty for Thanksgiving and Christmas before eventually departing for the Middle East.
Captain Robert Zizolfo, who took command of the unit in October, described the logistics. “It was a nice collaboration between the state and the active duty chain of command, and it all happened at the last minute,” he said.
Zizolfo, who lives in Rockland County, said the return was a mixed blessing. “For some of us it was nice to go back home, but then you have to go through everything again,” he said.
As he prepared his troops for deployment, Zizolfo said before departing, “There’s always a bit of anxiety when people leave their families behind for what could be a year or more, but we’re a good company.”
On one of their last nights of civilian life, the Norwood News joined two soldiers, Sergeant Chris Perkins of Belmont and Specialist Xiomara “Sammie” Thomas, at the Land and Sea Restaurant on Broadway.
Thomas, a single parent who had to leave behind her 4-year-old son, Enrique, with her mom in Morris Park, explained, “I wasn’t a single mom when I enlisted in 1996. I just woke up one day and decided to do it.”
Thomas, a utilities repair expert, said shortly before departing, “Besides my family, I’ll miss the Bronx Zoo and the Botanical Garden.”
Members would soon be training at Camp Smith in Putnam County, where they practiced basic first aid while dressed in protective suits designed for a chemical weapons attack. They boarded a plane in Georgia on Jan. 21, and members arrived in Kuwait 16 hours later.
When contacted via the Internet on Jan. 25, Perkins said from Kuwait, “The food is good, actually. It rained before we got here so it’s like walking around in wet cement.” He added, “We have nothing but time. We have been given this time to [get acclimated] and get over the jet lag.” From an Internet cafe in Kuwait, Perkins said, “We are sleeping all day and watching movies, shopping and getting all of our paperwork straight.”
Perkins, who grew up on Hull Avenue in Norwood, said his unit was expected to depart Kuwait for a three-day training exercise on Jan. 27, and expected to be headed for Iraq shortly after that.
Zizolfo, Perkins and members of the unit have agreed to stay in touch with the Norwood News to share their thoughts and experiences from the supply lines, where they will fix weapons, radios, jeeps and tanks in the campaign for the next 12 to 18 months.
Radio Tower Plan Breezes Through Hearing
February 10, 2005
By Heather Haddon
The proposal to site the Fordham University radio tower on top of a Norwood building appeared to clear a major hurdle last week when it sailed through a city hearing to decide whether it will gain a required permit.
After waiting hours to present their case, advocates for the new site were thrilled when members of the Board of Standards and Appeals tossed out only a few softball questions on the design. The hearing lasted about half an hour. The Board is expected to issue its decision on the permit by March 1.
“The proposal really speaks for itself,” said Rosemary Ginty, the New York Botanical Garden’s associate vice president for Government and Community Relations, explaining why it didn’t meet any opposition from the Board.
Montefiore Medical Center announced last May that it would offer the roof of its Montefiore II apartment building, located at 3450 Wayne Ave. and East Gun Hill Road, to house the radio antenna for Fordham’s public radio station, WFUV. The alternate site promises to end a 10-year feud between Fordham and the Garden over the tower’s current location on Fordham’s campus, which critics say mars the Garden’s pristine landscapes.
The roughly 10 people who came to the hearing were all project supporters, including representatives from all three institutions. Many Board members, who are commissioners from each borough, had presided over the issue years ago.
“It’s nice to see this project come to a conclusion,” said Satish Babbar, the Board’s vice chair.
Board members only called on a few speakers to discuss the tower’s aesthetic impacts and efforts to inform the community about the proposal. Babbar asked if the slim, 161-foot-tower, which will be made of steel, could be painted a different color. He seemed satisfied when Leonard Franco, the architect, explained that the silver-colored structure would reflect light and tend to blend into the cloud cover.
Joe Muriana, Fordham’s associate vice president of Government Relations, briefly discussed efforts to secure approval from elected officials and Community
Board 7. Muriana described this as a significant accomplishment. “This is not an especially quiescent community about community projects,” he joked, alluding to the controversy over the filtration plant.
Tom Breglia, assistant vice president for facilities at Montefiore, said that Montefiore II’s residents had been notified about the proposal, and that, so far, none had raised objections.
Board members did not ask about health concerns or radio interference, which, according to the environmental impact statement for the design, are in line with federal standards.
Last December, the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation certified that the design did not interfere with aesthetics within a 1.5-mile radius. If the Board issues the special permit, the proposal will move on to the city Department of Buildings and the Federal Communications Commission for final authorization.
Muriana hopes that the approval process will conclude over the summer, in which case construction could begin by fall. About 12 workers will build the tower over a span of six months.
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