Lightning Storms into March Madness

March 8, 2007

By Matt Anderson

Before the madness finally ended, a jolt of March basketball excitement surged through the northwest Bronx with the Lehman College women’s team’s victory over top-seeded Baruch College two weeks ago in the CUNY championship.

The Lightning’s thrilling upset win, 52-51, marked the school’s first CUNY Championship and its first birth into the Big Dance – the NCAA Division III National Tournament.

Unfortunately, the Cinderella story ended in the first round as Lehman lost 64-43 last Friday to the University of Scranton (Pennsylvania), the second ranked Division III women’s team in the country playing on their home court.

The loss ended a brilliant run to end the season for the Lightning.

Lehman stormed into the CUNY conference tournament, winning six out of their final seven regular season games.

The team relied on a balanced and deep scoring attack. Six Lehman players averaged at least 10 points a game, and two others averaged nine.

The tough win over Baruch displayed the team’s depth and perseverance. Despite their large fan support, Lehman spent the entire first half of the game down. The second half showcased Lehman’s defensive intensity. Baruch only scored two points in the final 11 minutes as the Lightning scored 14 of the last 16 points of the game.

Senior Kathy Santiago and sophomore Sally Nnamani, the CUNY player of the year, led the Lightning throughout the season, both averaging nearly 21 points a contest. But it was other less heralded players that stepped up in the CUNY championship.

Sophomore Tiara Carroll scored 14 points and made the tournament all-star team, while sophomore Monique Sampson extended her efforts during the conference tournament and earned the most valuable player award.

“We won this game with our heart,” Sampson said. “Along with my teammates, I’ve come full circle from my first two seasons playing for Lehman.”

“The unsung heroes made this win happen for us tonight,” said Lehman coach Eric Harrison, who won CUNY coach of the year honors this year. “Monique Sampson and Tiara Carroll played great in the second half, and we won in spite of a poor shooting night.”

Harrison has guided Lehman for the past seven years and has now been named CUNY coach of the year twice. He consistently attracts local talent and maintains a winning spirit at the northwest Bronx school.

“I want Lehman to be able to contend every season,” Harrison said. “It is a goal of mine to have our student athletes continue to be successful, both in the class and on the court, year after year.”

Lehman’s season ended with hope, even though they were outplayed by Scranton.

In fact, the game was in reach in the first half as both teams struggled with poor shooting. But Scranton was able to gain a rhythm, while Lehman continued to shoot poorly.

Nnamani led Lehman with 13 points, topping the 1,000 point mark for her career. Santiago added 11, but that wasn’t enough to overcome Scranton’s onslaught of second half scoring. Lehman ended its season 19-10, while Scranton moves on to face Hamilton College in the next round.

In the end, Lehman couldn’t find its characteristic late-game surge, but with only two seniors graduating, the Lightning are sure to strike again next year.

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Why the Beaver’s Important

March 8, 2007

By Alex Kratz

Not too long ago a coyote was spotted at Woodlawn Cemetery. Turkeys patrol the woods of Van Cortlandt Park. Hawks soar over Tracey Towers.

But no animal sighting has stirred as much national – and international – buzz as Jose the beaver, who has taken up residence in the Bronx River near the Bronx Zoo. Google the little guy and you’ll find there have been over 600,000 news items and almost 1,200 blogs mentioning the beaver.

Beavers are in the city’s DNA. They’re on the official municipal flag and seal – but none have been spotted within the city limits in two centuries.

Enter Jose. One far-away newspaper categorized his appearance under the heading “Weird News.”

But it’s not weird. The beaver’s return comes after decades of people power clad in hip waders, aided and abetted by significant government largesse (most recently courtesy of river fan Congressman Jose Serrano, for whom the beaver is named).

Long past the stage of abandoned car and tire removal, the river’s restoration is now within range of being swimmable, by people as well as beavers. Former state attorney general Eliot Spitzer, who stopped institutions and towns from releasing sewage into the river, helped make this possible. Riverbank and flood plain restoration have also breathed new life into the river. And perhaps most importantly, Bronx River Restoration and its successor, the Bronx River Alliance, have led this magnificent renaissance by marshalling the forces of volunteers and community organizations.

The beaver’s return to the Bronx is a wonderful metaphor for the borough’s ongoing resurgence in several areas – housing, culture, the environment, etc. Great things are happening here, and great people from all walks of local life are making them happen.

So, Jose the Beaver is not a freak of nature. Like a lot of other great Bronx things, he’s the fruit of our collective labors.

Endangered Pedestrians

Eva Schweitzer, 82, was a Holocaust survivor and Woodlawn resident who loved playing cards at the Riverdale Y.

Kenneth Filacchione, 62, was a security guard at Manhattan College.

Ellen McHugh was 66 years old.

Sixty-seven-year-old Abdul Choudhury was a Knox Place resident who sold newspapers for a living.

Patrick Patrisso, 58, lived on Boston Road.

What do all these people have in common?

Each of the five was a pedestrian struck by a vehicle and killed on Gun Hill Road since January of last year. The first three were killed at the intersection of Bainbridge Avenue and Gun Hill Road. The last two were struck near the intersection of Gun Hill and Webster Avenue.

In November, Community Board 7 District Manager Rita Kessler called for urgent action at the Bainbridge intersection in a letter to the Department of Transportation.

Within the last couple of weeks, “Turning Vehicles Yield to Pedestrians” signage has been installed, and signs urging pedestrians to “Wait for Walk” have been repositioned.

This is a good step. But there is much more to do.

It shouldn’t take three months to install signs at an intersection where three people have died.

And, according to the nonprofit advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, in addition to the two killed at the Webster/Gun Hill intersection, there have been 21 injuries at the same location. Do we have to wait for a three months study to get signs there as well?

In 2006, 166 pedestrians in the city were hit by cars or trucks and killed. Over 10,000 were hit and injured.

TA points out that Mayor Bloomberg has spoken out on other threats to public safety, like transfats, gun violence, and cigarettes.

The mayor may need his hand forced on the issue of traffic safety. Hundreds of New Yorkers turned out for a rally organized by TA at City Hall a few days ago to do just that.

“Ten percent of city intersections account for over 50 percent of all fatalities and injuries,” says TA. “The city knows where the most dangerous intersections are, it knows how to fix them, and it must fix them without delay.” Hear hear.

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Black History Honor for Pilgrim-Hunter

March 8, 2007

By Cassandra Lizaire

Desiree Pilgrim-Hunter lived in University Heights’ gated community of Fordham Hill for 20 years before becoming a local activist. But in the three years since she joined the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, she has championed vital issues such as school overcrowding, economic revitalization and voter registration.

On Friday, Feb. 23, Pilgrim-Hunter was among four New York City leaders honored by Congressman José E. Serrano and State Senator José M. Serrano during a ceremony commemorating Black History Month. Each received a State Senate proclamation and a statement to be placed in the U.S. Congressional Record.

“I was very shocked when I found out because I don’t do this work for any awards,” says Pilgrim-Hunter, whose desire to connect with her neighborhood set her on the unlikely path of “community organizer.”

But for Pilgrim-Hunter, whose mother worked for the United Nations, leadership was part of her pedigree. Born of Guyanese parents in London, England, she jokes about how by the age of 20, she had “lived in six countries on three different continents.” She’s been permanent resident of New York since 1971.

A graduate of New York University, Pilgrim-Hunter has worked in cosmetic and fashion retail, as a mentor coordinator, and as a welfare-to-work career counselor. The latter, sometimes “depressing” work, she says, gave her a deep awareness of inner city economic disparity, where families were generations deep in welfare dependency.

But awareness wasn’t enough; something was still missing.

The wealth of responsibilities she’s recently taken on has filled this void. Appointed to the Coalition’s board in January 2007, Pilgrim-Hunter works toward Kingsbridge Armory redevelopment, advocating transparency in contract negotiations and for living wage jobs beyond the renovations to stimulate neighborhood revitalization.

Pilgrim-Hunter is also leading negotiations for four new schools on the back end of the Armory. In particular, she says the two new high schools would address the “rampant overcrowding” in Bronx schools. The city is only planning to put two new schools for middle and elementary school students at the Armory.

Pilgrim-Hunter has also started the Concerned Shareholders of Fordham Hill in response to controversial decisions by the board of directors, including plans to cut security staffing. Her main goal there is to “establish a new board that will respect the community, and act according to the best interest of the shareholders.”

Of her tireless efforts, Coalition staff organizer Ava Farkas says, “Desiree is a leader in the true sense of the word. She is an incredibly strong woman who is never deterred [nor] easily intimidated.”

Pilgrim-Hunter, who lives with her husband, Robert, and the younger of their two daughters at Fordham Hill, is dedicated to her family and to her community. More than the recognition, the ceremony represents for Pilgrim-Hunter, a confirmation that “I am doing the work I was meant to do.”

But that work is far from finished and Pilgrim-Hunter has big goals.

Busy with several causes, she hopes to see the Grand Concourse restored to its heyday as the “Park Avenue of the Bronx,” and to improve educational and economic opportunities in her community.

In keeping with her father’s motto, she says: “When my time is up, I want to know that I leave this place better off than I found it.”

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The Good Side of Member Items

March 8, 2007

By Alex Kratz

Despite a reputation for secrecy and abuse, it appears most member item allocations – grants handed out by state lawmakers for projects and organizations in their districts – actually do find their way back into local neighborhoods, funding vital art, social and economic development programs.

By definition, member item grants go toward specific projects that benefit the community. Of course, that doesn’t always happen (see Part 1 of this series), but after talking to some of the local groups that receive member items, it’s clear communities are being served in most cases.

Following are the stories of how four groups used their member item funds this past year.

Teaching a Lost Audience

Bill Scribner founded the Bronx Arts Ensemble in 1972 to bring music and musical education to the northwest Bronx. He’s been around so long, he can’t even remember when he first started to appeal to his state legislators for funding help. But he does remember that he wrote several letters and proposals before a politician finally decided to support his cause.

Before, he used the money to put on classical concerts in the northwest Bronx. But now, with arts funding in public schools at anemic levels, he uses the $10,000 grant from Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz to put musical instruments back in schools. Dinowitz contributes to several Bronx arts organizations and usually gives money to Scribner because he not only provides instruments, but also helps schools find music teachers.

Scribner, who partly funds his organization by putting on classical concerts, says the American orchestra is dying because of lack of education.

“How do you have an audience, if you don’t teach the youngsters?” Scribner says.

With member item money, Bronx Arts Ensemble can help a little to fill the gaping hole left by the school system, Scribner says, but he simply can’t fund every school.

Getting Lucky

“There’s no real rhyme or reason or science to this,” says Wally Edgecombe about the member item process. As the Hostos Community College Arts Director, Edgecombe says he’s received four state member item grants in his 25 years at the school.

Last year, he saw Assemblyman Jose Rivera at one of the many concerts his department puts on. Rivera was filming the concert with his trademark hand-held video camera. Edgecombe asked him if he was enjoying the performance and if he’d like to help out with some money. “Sure,” Rivera said.

Next thing Edgecombe knows, Rivera said he can give him $50,000. The lawmaker called again later, saying he found an additional $10,000. Rivera’s only request was that Edgecombe reprise his December concert celebrating the Puerto Rican flag, which was designed in New York City. Edgecombe did just that and didn’t charge admission. Rivera showed up with his camera. With money left over, Edgecombe is putting on a bilingual play in March and another big concert in May.

Like Scribner, Edgecombe fights for every arts funding scrap he can get. “Any source of money that is regular, that you don’t have to hustle for, is great,” he says. “I have a payroll that I have serious insomnia about, but we’re big boys and girls, we can handle it.”

Augmenting Critical Programs

The Mosholu Montefiore Community Center is indispensable to the Norwood community and beyond, providing everything from senior services to day care. Because it commands a $17 million budget, a few thousand dollars in member items isn’t vital to executive director Don Bluestone’s organization, but the money nonetheless helps to augment its arsenal of critical community programs.

Not so long ago, before the districts were gerrymandered, when Norwood was the heart of the 81st Assembly District, Bluestone says he used to receive $180,000 in member items. Now, he receives smaller amounts from three different representatives. He used $6,000 from Dinowitz to put on free concerts; $5,000 from Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera to extend the Center’s satellite Tracey Towers’ youth program to include Friday nights; and $10,000 from embattled State Senator Efrain Gonzalez for college prep classes for high school students.

Bluestone laments the fact that Norwood is now the “armpit of Riverdale,” meaning that so little of any of its state representatives’ districts is in the neighborhood, but he appreciates any help he can get.

“Could we use more? Yes. And would they be put to good use? Yes. And of course, they won’t be going to cheese museums or anything like that,” Bluestone said, referring to a state-funded cheese museum upstate that is often cited as a symbol of member item abuse.

‘A Step Further’

Located just down the block from Bluestone’s center is Mosholu Preservation Corporation (MPC), a non-profit community development organization that also manages the Jerome-Gun Hill Business Improvement District (BID) and publishes the Norwood News.

Roberto Garcia is the director of economic development at MPC and the BID’s executive director. MPC received $10,000 from Gonzalez and $35,000 from Dinowitz, and the BID received another $10,000 from Gonzalez. Garcia is using the money for a wide variety of beautification and enhancement projects designed to “give the whole district and the roads leading up to it a good, clean, wholesome and inviting feel,” Garcia says. “It makes people feel good about living and shopping here.”

Garcia says the bigger picture, for all non-profit groups that receive member item money, is that “it allows us to take projects a step further and take steps to make the community better as a whole.”

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Impasse Continues Over Armory ‘Gag Order’

March 8, 2007

By Alex Kratz

City and local Bronx officials continue to butt heads over a controversial confidentiality agreement that is threatening to delay, or even derail, the long-anticipated redevelopment of the Kingsbridge Armory. The Armory Task Force, an advisory group created by the city’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) and made up of local elected officials and community leaders, was supposed to review and discuss the three Armory redevelopment proposals at a Bronx meeting on March 1. But it quickly became apparent that most task force members and all of the elected officials would not sign a pre-requisite confidentiality agreement as it was written and that no one at the meeting would be looking at the Armory proposals. While Council Member Oliver Koppell left the meeting to attend to other matters (one of his representatives stayed), the rest of the task force – including Assemblyman Jose Rivera and representatives from other local officials (each elected official has appointed a community member) – stayed to discuss a confidentiality compromise. According to Gregory Faulkner, a task force member who is chair of Community Board 7, the discussion lasted an hour and a half and ended with EDC officials saying they would rework the agreement and send it out to task members to sign within the next few days. As reported in the last issue of the Norwood News, in the days leading up to the meeting, task force members Koppell, Congressman José Serrano and others said they would not sign the confidentiality agreement, saying it infringed on their ability to relay valuable information to their constituents. In response to mounting opposition to the agreement, EDC officials changed the language in hopes of placating skeptical task force members. The new agreement proposed by the EDC, however, remains a strict document that prevents officials or their representatives from talking to the public, press or anyone outside of the EDC or task force, until either the contract is finalized or the land review process is completed, whichever happens first. While this isn’t the indefinite period designated in the first draft, it could still mean possibly two years of official silence about anything related to the selection process. Desiree Pilgrim-Hunter, a Fordham Hill resident who represents Serrano on the task force, said the agreement amounts to a gag order. But Pilgrim-Hunter added that the task force is still very much committed to being involved in the selection process and wanted to work out a compromise with the EDC. The EDC claims the confidentiality agreement is necessary to maintain the competitiveness of the review and procurement process, but Koppell and others aren’t convinced. “This should be an open process,” Koppell said a couple of weeks ago about his refusal to sign the agreement. After the meeting, the EDC agreed to rework the language of the agreement, but insisted that something must be in place to protect the integrity of the process. “We are working closely with the task force members and are confident that we will reach an agreement regarding confidentiality,” said EDC spokesperson Janel Patterson in an email. Patterson said a new meeting date would be scheduled soon, but did not give any specifics. Ultimately, City Hall will make the final call on which developer is chosen, but the EDC has allowed the task force to participate in an advisory role since the agency began drafting a Request for Proposals (RFP) last July, giving the local community an unprecedented voice in a massive city project. Editor’s note: This article has been corrected from an earlier version that appeared on this Web site and in the print edition. The original version mistakenly said that the entire task force walked out of the meeting when an agreement couldn’t be reached. It also mistakenly stated that Pilgrim-Hunter is a representative of Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion on the task force when, in fact, she represents Congressman Jose Serrano. The Norwood News regrets the errors.

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