Shelter Storm

October 30, 2008

By Alex Kratz

For two years, local leaders and residents have demanded the vacant old Fordham Library building be turned into something that benefits the underserved and densely populated community. But recently, the city quietly gave control of the 27,400-square-foot structure over to the Health Department for use as an animal shelter.

Community leaders are not happy, saying they feel the city went behind their back without consulting anyone locally about the animal shelter plan despite full knowledge that residents wanted the building for community space.

“This is outrageous and a slap to the community,” said Community Board 7 Chair Greg Faulkner, whose board has made the library renovation its number one budget priority for the past two years. “We won’t accept an animal shelter at that location.”

Over the summer, Health Department officials floated a plan to turn the old library into an animal shelter, but the community widely denounced it.

Mark Daly, of the Department of Citywide Administration Services (DCAS), said the building was turned over to the Health Department on Oct. 1. He said the Health Department had sent a letter requesting the building.

Last week, a month after gaining control of the building, Health officials sat down for a meeting with Faulkner and CB7 District Manager Fernando Tirado. Faulkner said he flat out told them the board would not support an animal shelter at the Old Fordham Library and offered up an alternative site, an old Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) building on Webster Avenue.

The Health Department confirmed it had procured the property to turn it into an animal shelter, pending approval by CB7 and the City Council.

That approval seems a long shot at best, considering Faulkner’s stance and City Council Majority Leader Joel Rivera’s consistent support of the location to be used for community space, such as a youth or senior center, a hub for social services, a job training facility or a free computer lab.

Jorman Nunez, of the youth group Sistas and Brothas United (SBU), said the news came as a shock. SBU recently submitted 10,000 petition signatures to the city in support of returning the building for community use.

Earlier today, Faulkner, Nunez and Rivera’s staff were still trying to find out how this had happened without anyone being notified.

Nunez said he’s not sure it’s a done deal. He said SBU would work to ensure that the city council and community board would shut the animal shelter plan down if it comes up for approval.

Faulkner couldn’t contain his frustration. “The city has done something completely dishonest,” he said. “We made it clear [making the library community space] was our number one priority. If this is how the mayor does business then we will take that into account when other big projects come through our area for approval.”

For Nunez, the vacant library is a scarce commodity. “We need to keep the community space we have because the city’s not going to be building us any more in the near future,” he said.

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Neighborhood Notes

October 30, 2008

By None

Democracy 101

The Bold Eagle Association will hold a presentation on Democracy 101 at the Bronx Library Center, 310 E. Kingsbridge Rd., Oct. 30 at 6:30 p.m. Guest speakers include Ursula P. Morgan and Julio E. Muñoz. For more information, call (646) 322-6698.

Holocaust Lecture

The Manhattan College Holocaust Resource Center is presenting a free lecture on the Holocaust given by Pulitzer Prize winning author Dr. Samantha Power. The lecture is open to the public and will be held on Thursday, Oct. 30 at 7:30 p.m. in the school’s Smith Auditorium. For more information, call (718) 862-7129 or email holocaust.center@manhattan.edu.

Tree Planting Day

MillionTreesNYC will have a volunteer planting day, Nov. 8, to plant over 15,000 trees in several forest restoration projects in parks citywide. In the Bronx area, the MillionTrees team will be planting in Pelham Parkway at Burr Avenue. For other locations or more information, visit the MillionTreesNYC website at www.milliontreesnyc.org.

Speech Program at Ursula

The Mt. St. Ursula Speech Center, 2885 Marion Ave., is now accepting applications for its fall program. The center has openings for children ages 2 to 5 who are in need of speech and language services. Medicaid and other insurances accepted. For more information, call (718) 584-7679.

Teen Center

The Boys and Girls Club of Mosholu Montefiore Community Center at the Fort Independence Houses announced that memberships are being accepted for the fall Teen Center program for boys and girls ages 12 to 16. The center is open Monday through Friday nights from 6:30 to 9 p.m. and offers a variety of teen activities. For more information and/or registration, call Israel Rosario at (646) 358-6096.

Free After School Program

Mosholu Montefiore Community Center is accepting applications for its free Fort Independence Site after-school program, which serves kids in kindergarten through sixth grade, Monday through Friday, 3 to 6 p.m. The program offers a variety of activities. For more information, call Israel Rosario, (646) 358-6096.

Learn the Internet

St. James Recreation Center at 2530 Jerome Ave. offers free classes in Microsoft Office, Resume/Cover Letter Writing, Computer Basics, and much more. For more information, call Justin Young at (718) 367-3659.

Free Civics Classes

Prepare for the U.S. Citizenship Exam. Classes are free and limited to 20 people. Those interested must register in person and be able to speak English at an intermediate or higher level. Register at the Mosholu Library at 285 E. 205th St. (near Perry Avenue). There are classes on Saturdays, Nov. 1 and Nov. 8. For more information, call (718) 882-8239.

Adult ESL and Computer Classes

PS 94 on Kings College Place will offer ESL levels 1 and 2 and Computer Skills classes through summer 2009. Both classes meet Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Computer classes will be taught in English and will include lessons on keyboarding, Microsoft Word and other programs. Registration is first come, first served. For more information, call Ms. Seminario, the parent coordinator, at (347) 563-4772 or (718) 405-6345.

English Classes

The New York Public Library is offering free classes in English for speakers of other languages at the Bronx Library Center, 310 E. Kingsbridge Rd. (off Fordham Road). For more information on other locations, call the Library’s Office of Community Outreach Services at (212) 340-0918 or visit www.nypl.org/calendar.esol.html.

Farmers Market

The North Central Bronx Hospital and Harvest Home Farmers Market, Inc. have opened a farmers market on the east side of the park below the Mosholu Parkway Station on the No. 4 line on Jerome Avenue. The market operates every Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., through mid-November. Vendors will feature fresh produce from regional farmers, as well as baked goods and specialty items. For more information, call Mike Heller at (718) 918-3826.

Epilepsy Seminars

A series of free epilepsy seminars will be held the second Wednesday of every month: Nov. 12 from 3 to 4 p.m. “Epilepsy in the Classroom”; Dec. 10 from 3 to 4 p.m., “EEG Testing: Procedure & Outcomes.” The seminars will be held at the Northeast Regional Epilepsy Group; Medical Pavilion, 4256-1 Bronx Blvd. For more information, contact Dawn Brace at (718) 654-6184 or dbrace@epilepsygroup.com.

Quality of Life Screening

The Psychosocial Oncology Program of the Montefiore-Einstein Cancer Center is conducting a survey study in order to learn about the physical and emotional stresses faced by cancer survivors. Participants will have to fill out questionnaires and have the opportunity to participate in free/low-cost programs and support services within the program. For more information, call (718) 430-2380.

Breast Oncology Program

The Breast Oncology Living Daily Program also known as BOLD Living, offers a variety of free educational, support, and mind-body workshops. They are designed to empower and nurture breast cancer patients, survivors, and loved ones, but are open to all. For more information or to register, call (718) 430-3613 or visit outreach@aecom.yu.edu.

Alzheimer’s Support Group

The Alzheimer’s Association’s New York City chapter provides a support group in Norwood for Spanish and English speaking caregivers who have relatives with Alzheimer’s disease or another type of dementia. The support group meets on the first and third Wednesdays of the month from 5 to 6:15 p.m. For the location or more information, call Mark Goodwin at (718) 920-7377.

Seeking Artists for Aging Project

The Bronx Council on the Arts is seeking artists who are interested in exploring the link between creative expression and the quality of life of older people. BCA is offering unique opportunities in the field of Creative Aging. If interested, send resume and letter of interest to Ed Friedman, Bronx Council on the Arts, 1738 Hone Ave., Bronx, NY 10461 or email info@bronxarts.org.

Karate Classes at MMCC

Mosholu Montefiore Community Center, located on Gun Hill Road and DeKalb Avenue, will be offering a wide selection of Karate classes for elementary school students, teens, and adults starting in the next few weeks. The classes are offered for all levels on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Classes are affordable and discounts are available. To register or for more information, call Luis Morales weekdays at (718) 944-3290 or MMCC at (718) 882-4000 ext. 0.

After School Child Care

Registration is now taking place for the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center’s after-school child care programs at 3450 DeKalb Ave., for children in kindergarten through 6th grade. The Discovery Club is offering staff escort from PS 94, PS 280, St. Ann’s, MS 80 and van service from PS 8, PS 94 Annex, PS 56 and 56 Annex, St. Brendan’s, St. Philip Neri, PS 41, Visitation, and PS 95. For complete information or to register, call Ruth Moore weekdays at (718) 944-3207.

Free GED and Business Courses

The State University of New York’s North Bronx Career Center located at 3950 Laconia Ave., at East 224th Street, is now accepting applications for the fall semester. Classes offered are GED Prep and basic to advanced MOS Certification Computer classes, free training in Business Office Technology (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), Job Readiness (Resume, Cover Letter, Interview Skills) and Pre-Certification Training in various careers (Child Care, Security and more). All students wishing to apply must meet state income and academic guidelines. This is an HRA-approved program. Classes began in September. To begin the application process or for more information, call (718) 547-1001.

Aphasia Clinic Accepting Clients

The Lehman College Speech and Hearing Center, which provides therapy on a sliding scale payment schedule, is now accepting new clients in its recently expanded aphasia clinic. The clinic will provide individual and group therapy sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays from noon to 1 p.m. and 2 to 3 p.m.; group therapy sessions also take place on Tuesdays from 1 to 2 p.m. Diagnostic and therapeutic sessions will be supervised by faculty members who are licensed by the NYS Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology and certified by ASHA (American Speech Language Hearing Association). For more information, call Wanda Adams at (718) 960-8138.

Bronx Forum Panel Discussions

The Bronx Forum will be holding panel discussions on “Youth & Public Safety: Keeping Our Children Safe” on Dec. 9 and a “Youth & Education: Keeping Our Children on the Track for Success” on January 13 of next year. For more information, call Monica Merlis at (212) 983-4804.

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Out & About

October 30, 2008

By Judy Noy

Onstage

The Lehman Center for the Performing Arts Concert Hall, located at 250 Bedford Park Blvd. W. presents Filarmonia Brasileira, featuring jazz and classical saxophonist Branford Marsalis, Nov. 1 at 8 p.m. (tickets are $10 to $25; $10 for children 12 and under); reggae artist Sean Paul on Nov. 8 at 8 p.m. (tickets are $55 to $90); and Parranda Navideña, a Latino musical Christmas celebration featuring a variety of performers, including Yomo Toro, José Miguel Class “El Gallito de Manati,” and Odilio Gonzalez, on Nov. 15 at 8 p.m. (tickets are $20 to $45). For more information, call (718) 960-8833.

Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture at Hostos Community College presents Grupo Folklorico y Experimental Nuevayorquino, Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m. The Center is located at 450 Grand Concourse at 149th Street. Tickets are $25 and $35. For more information, call (718) 518-4455.

The Mass Transit Street Theatre presents Ain’t Easy at Hostos Center for Arts & Culture located at 450 Grand Concourse at 149th Street. The piece focuses attention on five Bronx teens who tell their stories about violence and alternative ways to deal with conflict. Performances take place on Oct. 30, Nov. 6 and Dec. 11 at 10 a.m. and noon, and Dec. 3 at 4:30 and 7 p.m. Tickets are $6. For more information, call (718) 512-8519 or email ainteasy08@gmail.com.

The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD), located at 841 Barretto St., presents The BlakTino Performance Series, a festival celebrating works by Black and Latino artists, through Nov. 8. Tickets are $15 to $20 or $45 for a festival pass. On Nov. 1 at 8 p.m., there will be The Motion of Bodies and Souls, a mix of choreographers presenting a variety of dance. The final performance on Nov. 8 at 8 p.m. will be Indiosyncrasy, a one-man play written and performed by Indio Melendez mixing rhyme, verse, song, and dance movement, followed by a Yoruba/Afro-Cuban drumming jam (tickets are $15). For more information, call (718) 842-5223.

The Wave Hill House, located at West 249th Street and Independence Avenue, hosts the Ben Monder Trio performing American jazz on Nov. 9 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 for members, $24 for non-members and $21 for students and seniors over age 65. Advance purchase is recommended. For more information, call (718) 549-3200 ext. 385.

Events

As part of its BlakTino Performance Series, a festival celebrating works by Black and Latino artists, As We Speak, featuring authors reading and discussing their work, will take place, free, at the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD), located at 841 Barretto St., on Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. For more information, call (718) 842-5223.

Saint Ann’s Church, 3519 Bainbridge Ave., will hold a flea market on Nov. 1 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call (718) 547-9350.

The Bronx Museum of the Arts, in the south wing, lower gallery, at 1040 Grand Concourse at 165th Street, will hold a First Fridays program, Africa 2K: The Griots Invazion, a metaphorical expression of modern African culture. On Nov. 7 from 6 to 10 p.m., a free film, African Underground: Democracy on Dakar, will be shown, followed by a panel discussion with filmmakers and African artists, and a live music performance by African hip-hop group, the African Underground All Stars. For more information, call (718) 681-6000 ext. 120.

Wave Hill offers up two family art projects: Dances With Leaves, to make a crown or costume from fall leaves, followed by a parade, on Nov. 1 and 2 from 1 to 4 p.m.; and Cornhusk Creations, to hear history of cornhusk dolls and make a corn figure or family, Nov. 8 and 9 at 1 and 2:30 p.m., both in the Kerlin Learning Center. Wave Hill is located at West 249th Street and Independence Avenue. For more information, call (718) 549-3200 or visit www.wavehill.org.

The Bronx Culture Trolley presents a dynamic range of visual on Nov. 5 from the Hostos Art Gallery, 450 Grand Concourse (at 149th St.) at 5 p.m., followed by three trolley departures at 5:30, 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. Three approaches to photography are on display at the Haven Arts Gallery, with works by Aurelija Cepulinskaite, Iannis Delatolas and Robert Flynt. Two sneak peeks at the Point, include one of the upcoming release of the DVD “Mambo to Hip-Hop,” the work of six photographers. Also, there’s a Synthetic Zero Loft Event featuring experimental film, performances, and visual art. For more information or to confirm, call (718) 931-9500 ext. 33 or log on to www.bronxarts.org.

Exhibits

Fort Apache Connection, an exhibit containing works by contemporary Apache artists, is on view at the Longwood Art Gallery at Hostos Community College, located at 450 Grand Concourse at 149th Street through Nov. 10. For more information, call (718) 518-6728 or (718) 931-9500.

Street Art, Street Life: From the 1950s to Now, on view through Jan. 25, is a collection of photography, is a documentation of performances, events, and artwork at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, located at 1040 Grand Concourse at 165th Street. The museum is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, and from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays. Suggested admission is $5 for adults, $3 for students and seniors and is completely free on Fridays. For more information, call (718) 681-6000.

The New York Botanical Garden presents Moore in America, featuring approximately 20 pieces of installation pieces by Henry Moore, through Nov. 2, running concurrently with “The Art of Henry Moore,” the documentary film shown Fridays to Sundays at noon and 2 p.m. in the Arthur and Janet Ross Lecture Hall. Children can create works of art, including a collage and clay sculptures, in the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, Tuesdays through Fridays from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Also visit Kiku: The Art of the Japanese Chrysanthemum, through Jan. 11, in the LuEsther T. Mertz Library. As part of the exhibit, there will be a 13-piece taiko drumming performance on the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory lawn, and Kiku for Kids in the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden. For more information, call (718) 817-8700.

Holiday Events

Halloween Fun for Children will be held at the Mosholu Library, 285 E. 205th St. on Oct. 30 at 4 p.m. Celebrate the holiday with games, stories and treats, and don’t forget your costume. This event is recommended for ages 5 to 10. For more information, call (718) 882-8239.

The Bronx Library Center, 310 E. Kingsbridge Rd. off Fordham Road, is offering several holiday events, including Halloween Treat Bag, Oct. 30 at 4 p.m. and Halloween Story Time, Oct. 31 at 5 p.m., both for children; and Boo at the Library!, Oct. 31 at 4 p.m. for young adults. For more information, call (718) 579-4244/46.

The Jerome Park Library at 118 Eames Place, hosts Boo at the Library!, Oct. 30 at 4 p.m., for young adults. For more information, call (718) 549-5200.

Learning

The Bronx Library Center has events for all ages:

For children and preschoolers, there are films on Nov. 5 and 12 at 4 p.m.; Preschool Romp, Oct. 30, Nov. 6 and 13 at 11 a.m.; Family Bonding, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m.; and Family Time, Nov. 8 at 11 a.m.

Also, for school-aged children, there are The BLCs, Nov. 3 and 10 at 4 p.m.; Click on the Web, Nov. 6 at 4 p.m.; and Just Like Stained Glass, Nov. 13 at 4 p.m.

Young adults can attend Poker Tournament, Nov. 3 and 10 at 4 p.m.; and Music Discovery, Nov. 7 at 4 p.m.

For adults, there is McCullough Sons of Thunder, Nov. 1 at 2:30 p.m.

The Center is located at 310 E. Kingsbridge Rd. off Fordham Road. For a detailed schedule, call (718) 579-4244/46 or visit www.nypl.org.

The Mosholu Library offers free Civics Classes, Nov. 1 and 8 from 1:30 to 4 p.m. for adults and young adults. Prepare for the U.S. citizenship exam, register in person and plan to attend both sessions. Also there is Toddler Time, Nov. 6 at 10:30 a.m. and Preschool Story Time, Nov. 13 at 10:30 a.m., both for children and preschoolers. The library is located at 285 E. 205th St. For more information, call (718) 882-8239.

The Jerome Park Library at 118 Eames Place, hosts Chinese Ribbon Dance Workshop, Nov. 4 at 3:30 p.m. for children and preschoolers. For more information, call (718) 549-5200.

Daylight Savings Time ends Nov. 2 at 2 a.m. Turn clocks back one hour.

NOTE: Items for consideration should be received in our office by Nov. 3 for the next publication date of Nov. 13.

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They’re Our Parks!

October 30, 2008

By None

Some 200 volunteers showed up for last Saturday’s "It’s My Park Day" celebration, part of Mosholu Preservation Corporation’s (publisher of the Norwood News) Embracing our Parks Initiative. At the Mosholu Parkway "gully," between Decatur and Webster avenues, volunteers from the group Building with Books worked on general cleanup, mulching and composting, planting bulbs and creating two entrance gardens. Other volunteers did similar work at the Williamsbridge Oval. On Sunday, New Life Outreach International Church and members of the Riverdale YMCA helped out at St. James Park.

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Kennedy Quells Clinton Uprising

October 30, 2008

By None

Kennedy Quells Clinton Uprising: In a matchup of the best two high school football teams in the Bronx 10 days ago, the Kennedy Knights defeated the Clinton Governors, 14-8. Kennedy had ruled this rivalry for several years, but Clinton came into the game with a 5-1 record and an upset in mind. Last week, Clinton rebounded with a win over Lehman and Kennedy beat Christopher Columbus. Both teams should make the Cup Division playoffs.

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Lovable Clinton Bowling Over Competition

October 30, 2008

By Falon Perez

[Update: On Wednesday, Oct. 29, the Clinton boys team defeated perenial bowling powerhouse Lehman High School to run their record to 11-0 and secure the title of the Bronx's best bowlers. With a victory in their final match next week, Clinton would finish the season undefeated for the first time ever.]

Tables clutter around the entrance to Gun Post Lanes, the Bronx bowling alley that hosts most of DeWitt Clinton High School’s varsity matches. Toward the back door, there’s a small empty bar and a TV showing football highlights. The quiet scene is interrupted by a crash, followed by shouts of joy.

It’s the sound of victory for Clinton’s thriving bowling program, including an undefeated boys team and winning girls team. For years, Clinton bowling has lagged behind the competition. But this year, they’re destroying the competition with a lovable cast of characters.

Taking the stairs to the left, following the sounds of shouted encouragements and pins knocking, a small girl comes out of nowhere wearing a ’70s pink poodle skirt and a red DeWitt Clinton T-shirt and joins her teammates.

It was ‘70s Day at Clinton and she had rushed to the game without changing.

Before the next match begins, a young man wearing a black Clinton shirt comes up to the giddy group of girls and says, “Good luck.” The girls reciprocate wholeheartedly.

The young bowler walks over to his fellow teammates and their coach Mark Morey huddled in the corner. Morey gives a quick pep talk and after a team chant, it’s game on.

“We all support each other,” senior Frendy Tejada says. “The girls come support us and we support the girls.”

“We all enjoy doing this and it brings all of us closer together,” adds senior Jason Diedrick.

The players of both the girls and boys bowling teams are positive role models, Morey says. The majority of both teams are seniors and getting ready for college. Most take advanced placement classes and take part in other extracurricular activities.

“These are great kids,” Morey says. “I would not take a team picture without the whole team. These are really great kids.”

Bowling may be a sport for them, but it’s also a stress reliever.

“We all do a lot,” says the girls senior captain Omaira Jeiada. “But for me, knowing that I will be bowling later and being with my friends gets me through the rest of the day. It’s a great way to get rid of stress, in a good way,”

Both teams won their games that day at Gun Post Lanes. The girls team recently lost to traditional bowling power Lehman, with two forfeits also on their resume. They are now 4-3. But the boys continue to win big.

“Last year we went 9-3,” said boys senior Nikola Kesar. “So our goal is to be undefeated for the season. We are seniors and that would be the best way to finish up our last year.”

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Catholicism and Voting

October 30, 2008

By Norwood News

My husband recently found an anonymous note on our front gate challenging the “Catholics for Obama” sign in our window. The challenge is based on Obama’s being pro-choice.

I have never before worn a T-shirt or a button in support of any presidential candidate. Thus I have thought long and hard and researched the position of my church on voting according to a well formed conscience. The Catholic Bishops of the United States say that the three principles upon which to judge a candidate are sanctity of life, the common good and care for the poor and vulnerable.

In “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” the bishops say: “A Catholic cannot vote for a candidate who takes a position in favor of an intrinsic evil, such as abortion or racism, if the voter’s intent is to support that position. … At the same time, a voter should not use a candidate’s opposition to an intrinsic evil to justify indifference or inattentiveness to other important moral issues involving human life and dignity. There may be times when a Catholic who rejects a candidate’s unacceptable position may decide to vote for that candidate for other morally grave reasons.”

For me, other morally grave reasons include immigration, the environment, poverty, health care, homelessness, war, the death penalty and social welfare programs that protect the most vulnerable, especially the elderly and single women trying to raise children.

The US Catholic Bishops’ statement is available at: www.faithfulcitizenship.org/ church/statements.

Lois Harr

Bedford Park

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The Problem With Espada

October 30, 2008

By None

Out of 311,000 residents, less than 8,400 citizens voted in the Democratic primary for the 33rd Senate District. We must question the legitimacy of such an election by any democratic standards. Who, exactly, is represented by a candidate with so few supporters?

Further putting the legitimacy of this primary result into question is the issue of residency. It is clear that Espada’s primary residence is Mamaroneck despite a technical residency clearance by the Board of Elections. How could anyone believe Espada’s primary residence is in Bedford Park when he owns a house in Mamaroneck? Where is/are his car insurance, income taxes, kids’ schools, electric/gas bills, bank accounts and credit cards registered? Why, with his income, would he live in such a small apartment, when he has a sizable house well within reach of his “primary residence”? I challenge anyone to find someone who believes that his Bedford Park primary residence is authentic. It goes against anyone’s sense of socio-economic reality.

And why would he spend $100,000 on this campaign? And on what? One hardly saw a campaign poster. Maybe the money went to fund campaign “jobs” that will garner him influence to boost his medical businesses in the Bronx?

Why should we trust someone whose workers were convicted for diverting $40,000 to his campaign from his own business? It is impossible to believe that he had not been aware of it.

And then there’s Espada’s amorphous party membership. It is clear that he will be an unreliable Democrat. According to the Norwood News, Espada has told “the New York Times that he doesn’t know what party he’ll align himself with when he takes office.” He was selected by the few primary voters who came out because of his Democratic membership.

Now we are stuck between voting for a Conservative party member totally out of touch with our community and a self-serving dishonest pseudo-Democrat.

We, as a protesting community, should come up with a write-in candidate who could run against Espada in order to give us a fighting chance for authentic representation.

Martin J. Olivieri

Norwood

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Your Voting Guide

October 30, 2008

By Norwood News

In the excitement over the presidential race, local races have been somewhat obscured to say the least. But there are local races for Assembly, state Senate and Congress, despite their low profile and the usual lack of competitiveness in a heavily Democratic borough.

Here are all the candidates for these offices. Incumbents are noted and candidates are listed in alphabetical order. Don’t forget to vote on Nov. 4!

78th Assembly District: Robert Lupo (C); Jose Rivera (D-incumbent); Jose Torres (R)

80th A.D.: Louise DeLucia (R); Patrick McManus (C); Naomi Rivera (D–incumbent)

81st A.D.: Jeffrey Dinowitz (D-incumbent); Jeffrey Klapper (C)

33rd Senate District: Pedro Espada (D); William Sullivan (C)

16th Congressional District: Ali Mohamed (R); Jose Serrano (D-incumbent)

17th C.D.: Eliot Engel (D-incumbent); Robert Goodman (R)

Voter information

For more info on these candidates, go to the League of Women Voters Web site at: lwvny.www.capwiz.com/election/guide/ny.

Don’t like any of these candidates? Well, then you have the right to write in the candidate of your choice. There are instructions on the far left side of the ballot that explains how to do this. They are a little complicated. If you need help, ask a poll worker to show you.

To find your polling place, go to www.vote.nyc.ny.us and click on the poll site locator button (second button at left). To make sure you’re registered, check www.canivote.org (a national site that checks local registrations across the country). And www.866ourvote.org has tons of information state-by-state on your voting rights and what to look out for.

Important phone numbers:

(866) VOTE-NYC. Board of Elections hotline. Call to check your registration status or have any problems on Election Day.

(866) OUR-VOTE (connected to the Web site listed above). Largest national election protection hotline. For Spanish, call (888) VE-Y-VOTA.

(212) 822-0282. This NYPIRG hotline has specialists trained in NYS election law available to assist voters from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Election Day.

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School Roundup: Educators Set Goals for New Year

October 30, 2008

By Norwood News

The Norwood News spent the past six weeks calling our local public schools to see what’s going on this year and get a glimpse inside our varied campuses. Many are introducing new programming and faculty. Many are dealing valiantly with overcrowding problems. All are trying to challenge the minds of our youth.

These are the schools we were able to get in touch with. If your school isn’t included, feel free to give us a call and fill us in, (718) 324-4998. We will get to the private and parochial schools in an upcoming issue.

PS/MS 20 (3050 Webster Ave.)

Through a balanced partnership of teachers, students, staff, parents and the community, all of PS 20’s students are guided to take responsibility for their own learning, Principal Carol Carlsen says. The school is focused on developing independent and responsible children.

Carlsen says “The school had an exemplary school opening and they are moving seamlessly from last spring into the new fall work,” and introduced one new faculty member. Already, the school held a fall festival Oct. 23, followed by a fall dance for the middle school students on Oct. 24.

The school received a B on its progress report grade for last year and Carlsen is determined on getting that grade to an A for the next report. Even with this goal in mind, Carlsen says, “A school grade is only a portion of what really goes on in a building.” Education, she says, is “a collaboration between the child, the parents, the community, and our school.”

—Jorge Manana

IS 206 (2280 Aqueduct Ave.)

Principal David Neering, who came to the Bronx from Michigan a few years ago, said his fourth school year at IS 206 is going along swimmingly so far. The primary goal, which was set upon his arrival, was an improvement plan to move kids ahead in all subjects. Specifically, Neering said the aim is to help kids achieve more than a year’s educational growth for each year of instruction.”

IS 206 received an A on its progress report for the ’07-’08 year. Neering says this means “the school improvement plan is working.” The school is currently at capacity but Neering claims “enrollment is down in the 5th grade level.” This year, IS 206 has introduced new teachers to the staff and is looking forward to maintaining their progress report success.

Neering is also excited about the after-school STEM program dedicated to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. The program extends the school day and continues the learning experience for many interested students.

Neering is also pleased with how the school is managing its resources including the addition of new SMART (technologically enhanced) white boards, courtesy of a grant from the “Children to Children Foundation.” Neering is “looking forward to the day a smart board is in every classroom.”

—Jorge Manana

MS 80 (149 E. Mosholu Pkwy. N.)

MS 80 on Mosholu Parkway North is working this year to get parents and the community involved with the students and the school. Parent Coordinator Miriam Alejandro says, “Parents have to be the driver in their child’s life.” A survey has been sent to parents to find out what interest or hobbies the parent is willing to share with the students and any activities they would like to participate in.

Other attempts at getting the parents involved include the Parents as Art Partners Grant from The Center for Arts Education. This allows parents to partake in art activities in the school with their children.

—Falon Perez

IS 254 (2452 Washington Ave.)

At 500 students, Parent Coordinator Edwin De Los Santos admits space is “a little tight.” But at the moment, the only overflow IS 254 is concerned with is managing a tidal wave of resources.

This September, in association with SES (Supplements of Education Service Providers), the Belmont area school supplied free computers to the 180 students of the incoming 6th grade.

TOS, which stands for “Time Outside of School” offers both academic and recreational activities such as photography, arts and crafts, basketball, volleyball and football. The ACDP (Community Association for Progressive Dominicans) will provide entertainment after classes end. On the weekends, The Saturday Academy helps students get in shape for the three statewide tests (in literacy, math and science). Also on Saturdays, at Bronx Community College, IS 254’s Talent Search Program plans to offer “positive” experiences to widen students’ vision of the world. The program, which in the past led students to Africa, Hawaii and Washington D.C., “shadows kids from the sixth grade all the way to college.”

And finally, the Astor Program will provide free screening of students’ mental health.

—Ariel Elghanayan

H.S. OF AMERICAN STUDIES AT LEHMAN COLLEGE (2925 Goulden Ave.)

The High School of American Studies at Lehman College was recently named one of the top 100 high schools in the country; the only school from the Bronx on the list. Principal Alessandro Weiss proudly admits “We always want to be outstanding at everything we do,” and with an enrollment of 350 students, the program remains strong.

The school is at full capacity and its overall goal is to prepare students for admission to highly competitive colleges. Currently, the school is trying to expand its science curriculum and has also introduced four new teachers to the staff.

All students engaged in the three-year chronological study of American History benefit greatly from using the Lehman College’s vast resources, Weiss says.

—Jorge Manana

DISCOVERY HIGH SCHOOL (2780 Reservoir Ave.)

Discovery High School continues to provide a unique educational environment for its students, fusing regular academic subjects with life lessons. The goal for Discovery Principal Rolando Rivera is to provide students with a chance to learn through the arts and about the arts. Teachers are encouraged to use visual art, music, theatre art or creative writing in all classes. Art courses are taught each year to stimulate creativity and provide an alternative to dry lecture classes. Each year at the Walton Campus School, students will “discover” various aspects of themselves, their peers and the world around them.

—Jorge Manana

P.S. 51 (3200 Jerome Ave.)

Principal Paul Smith says his school’s opening for the 2008-2009 academic year was “extremely smooth. One of our best ever.”

The Bronx New School received a B letter grade (up from a C last year) on the Department of Education’s latest progress reports. They also increased enrollment. Up 20 percent since last June, Smith admits that at 291 students, PS 51 is “close to capacity,” but assures that the expansion of the student body has not created issues with overcrowding.

Smith is more concerned with incorporating its new music and sports programs. Financed by a grant from the VH1 Save the Music Foundation, the Bronx New School band will look to make its inaugural performance this spring under the direction of third-year music teacher Caroline Barnes.

The new tennis club, made possible through a gift from an anonymous Bronx resident, gets under way soon.

—Peter Mullin

PS 246 (2641 Grand Concourse)

Principal Beverly Miller is starting this school year with a few new teachers and a positive attitude. “It was a smooth opening, not much complications,” Miller says. According to Miller, the main goal for this year is getting the ELL (English Language Learners) population in the school to perform at grade level. Miller says the school’s recent progress report grade of a B “accurately reflects the school at the moment.” Still, Miller says, the program looks forward to a better grade on the next assessment. —Jorge Manana

PS 56 (341 E. 207th St.)

Priscilla Sheeran, the principal of PS 56, the Norwood Heights elementary school, doesn’t let any of the difficulties of work get her down. “We have the usual issues,” Sheeran says. “We’re always overcrowded.” But, she says, it’s also “always going great” at PS 56.

The music program plays a significant role in the daily activities of the school’s 550 students. That program, Sheeran says, will expose her students to both string and wind instruments by the time they leave. Using Bronx Arts Ensemble members as instructors, first graders are taught recorder and second graders learn keyboarding, before moving on to more advanced instruments. In addition, the school’s choral program, with help from the Metropolitan Opera Guild, will have two concerts this year, starting with their holiday event this winter.

With two new assistant principals this year, PS 56 should be better equipped to provide more structure and efficiency within the classroom for its ever-increasing student population. But for Sheeran, it comes down to only one thing: “You always need to challenge the children,” she said. “The most important thing is [for the students] to do better than their last best.” —Peter Mullin

PS 94 (3530 Kings College Pl.)

“This year’s been going well,” says Diane Daprocida, principal of Norwood’s PS 94, with an enrollment of over 1,000 students. The school just opened up a new computer lab and, through the nonprofit New York Cares, will see its hallways painted, flowerbeds planted, and a wall cleaned for a mural the students will paint come springtime.

While these renovations continue to improve the school, construction of the Early Childhood Center on the site of its former playground is under way and set for completion by September 2010, says Daprocida. Not only looking to improve physically in the upcoming months, PS 94 has set its sights on improving the reading scores of its students. As Daprocida explains, the goal for students is “not only to decode more of what they’re reading, but also to improve their comprehension strategies.”

Improving their reading scores could improve the school’s progress report letter grade in next year’s assessment. This year, the school scored a C, but Daprocida stressed that improvements had been made. “We have made progress in these areas. Just not enough to get out of the C grade range.” —Peter Mullin

PS 8 (3010 Briggs Ave.)

Every Thursday morning, the smells of seasonal dishes exude from the first grade classrooms of PS 8. Inside, students engaged in Cook Shop learn how to make a good applesauce, and more importantly, the values of eating healthy. For Principal Rosa Maria Peralta, Cook Shop is one of the many programs and workshops taking place at the school that make it “a very positive place.”

The new Learning as Partners workshop is another program that extends to parents also. The Saturday program invites parents to come with their child and engage in different workshops centered on science, math and reading. “It’s really a lot of fun for them,” said Peralta. “It’s a different way for a parent to enjoy quality time with their student. And, what better place to do it than in your community school?”

With over 1,100 students in a building built for 800, there is no denying that overcrowding is an issue at the Bedford Park school. “We try as much as we can, but it is overcrowded,” says Peralta, who is quick to credit her staff for any of the school’s success. “We have a lot of dedicated people working here, trying to give the students the best that we can,” she said. “We’re all working to the same purpose and it shows.”

—Peter Mullin

Bronx Academy of Health Careers (800 E. Gun Hill Rd.)

For Bronx Academy of Health Careers at the Evander Childs Campus it is business as usual, says Assistant Principal Rog Thruce. The goal for this year is making sure students pass their classes and the Regents state examination needed for graduation.

Tutoring, credit recovery and workshops are only some of the programs that will help students achieve their goal. School administrators will not only be focused on student instruction but also on the assessment of teachers and students, Thruce says. —Falon Perez

Bronx Theater High School (99 Terrace View Ave.)

“We have had a beautiful beginning of the school year,” says Principal Deborah Effinger of Bronx Theater High School at the Kennedy H.S. Campus. The school is working as hard as possible to get students ready for the SAT.

While keeping up with academic standards, there have also been a handful of new additions to the faculty.

As a theater school, performances highlight the school season. Students are working on “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” —Falon Perez

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Public and Community Meetings

October 30, 2008

By None

• The Bedford Mosholu Community Association meeting will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 5 at 8 p.m. at 400 E. Mosholu Pkwy. So. (Apt. B1 – Lobby Floor).

• The Croton Facility Monitoring Committee will meet on Thursday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. at the DEP’s community office, 3660 Jerome Ave. For more information, call (718) 231-8470.

• Community Board 7 will meet on Tuesday, Nov. 18, at 6:30 p.m. For location and more information, call (718) 933-5650.

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Bike-Friendly Goal Set For Bronx

October 30, 2008

By Peter Mullin

Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión wants to make the Bronx the most bike-friendly borough in the city. By increasing the number of bike racks in the Bronx, Carrión hopes to encourage more commuting and recreational riding throughout the borough.

With that goal in mind, Carrión launched “Bike The Bronx” in conjunction with the recently held 14th annual Tour de Bronx. As part of the campaign, residents can go to the Bronx Borough President’s website, www.bronxbp.org, to submit suggestions as to where bike racks should be installed.

“Installing more bike racks in the Bronx will significantly increase the number of people who bike to work,” Carrión said in a press release. Biking “decreases traffic congestion and reduces pollution, is great for one’s health, and saves money.”

According to a report released by Carrión, the Bronx has far too few bike racks when compared to its 1.4 million residents. Per every 700 Bronxites, there is only one spot at a bike rack, the report found.

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Bronx Rep Engel Helps Obama in Florida

October 30, 2008

By Alex Kratz

With mere days remaining in the presidential campaign, Bronx Congressman Eliot Engel spent some time campaigning for fellow Democrat Barrack Obama in Florida.

Engel spokesman Joe O’Brien said the Obama campaign reached out to Engel “because of his appeal to transplanted New Yorkers now living there.”

“I am very familiar with the area since my mother used to live there and I visited her often,” Engel said in a statement. “Carrying Florida is vital to getting elected to the presidency, and I was glad to be able to meet and campaign with Senator Obama, and hopefully to help him carry the state.” —Alex Kratz

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Council Races Take Shape Following Term Limits Vote

October 30, 2008

By Jordan Moss

Lost, or at least partially obscured, in the tussle over term limits is the reality that the incumbents who are now eligible to run for a third term, including the mayor, have to actually run.

Many local insurgent candidates launched Web sites and have been fund-raising for months.

Now faced with the probability of facing well-financed, well-known incumbents, candidates are reassessing their campaigns. A couple have already dropped out or signaled their intention to do so.

But after surveying the post-term limits political landscape in the 11th and 14th Council districts, it appears most candidates have not been cowed, meaning some spirited and competitive races may be coming next fall.

In the 11th District, which covers Riverdale, Kingsbridge, Norwood, Bedford Park and Woodlawn, Council member Oliver Koppell was a prime advocate of efforts to change the term limit law. His staff counsel, Jamin Sewell, ended his bid to succeed Koppell immediately after the extension was approved. Koppell hasn’t publicly announced his plans, but Sewell’s withdrawal indicates Koppell will run for a third term, further extending a career in public office that began in 1970 in the state Assembly.

Sewell pledged loyalty to Koppell, calling him a “mentor,” and took some parting shots at his former rivals.

Anthony Cassino, an attorney and former chairman of Community Board 8, and Ari Hoffnung, a managing director at Bear Stearns, are keeping their hats firmly in the ring.

“I’m looking forward to another good race with Oliver and hopefully the results will be different this time,” said Hoffnung, who ran previously in 2005.

Cassino is opening his campaign office on Sunday in Riverdale.

Helen Morik, a vice president for community and government affairs at Columbia University, said she would reevaluate her campaign after Koppell makes an official announcement.

“Oliver hasn’t made his plans known yet,” she said. “So I’m still running.”

In the 14th District (Mount Hope, University Heights and Kingsbridge Heights), none of Maria Baez’s previously announced opponents seem scared off by the prospect of facing the incumbent.

“We’re moving forward,” said candidate Fernando Cabrera, pastor of New Life International Church in North Fordham. “There is a need, a vacuum of leadership in District 14.”

Yudelka Tapia, a city auditor, is still committed to the race according to spokesman Jorge Javier. “Yudelka Tapia’s campaign is still going and she still plans on running for City Council in District 14,” Javier said.

Hector Ramirez, Democratic leader in the 86th Assembly District, was not available for comment by press time.

The battle for leadership of the Democratic Party will influence this race as well.

Tapia was expected to seek support from Jose Rivera, but now that his close ally (and former chief of staff) Baez is back in the race, it may not be coming her way.

Also, because of Baez’s relationship with Rivera, the leadership of the Rebel faction challenging Rivera, including Assemblymen Carl Heastie and Jeff Dinowitz, may make this race a priority. The Rebels reportedly back Ramirez. (A hearing to determine the fate of Bronx’s Democratic Leadership was taking place as we went to press. Look for updates online at westbronxnews.blogspot.com.)

Baez told the Mount Hope Monitor recently that she will run again and that the term limits extension will “give an opportunity for members like myself to finish projects.”

-James Fergusson contributed to this report

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Packed House for St. Brendan’s 100th

October 30, 2008

By Chloe Tribich

The parish of the Church of St. Brendan in Norwood wrapped up its centenary celebrations last Sunday with a multilingual standing-room-only Mass that included a homily by Cardinal Egan and drew the attendance of over two dozen guest clergy and about 1,100 worshippers.

The year of commemoration included a multicultural festival, a dinner dance and a fund-raising effort that secured $230,000 for the church’s physical renovation, including roof restoration and electrical upgrades that will ensure the parish’s future as a pillar of the Norwood community well into its second century.

“I couldn’t put a dollar amount on being here,” said Rory Mullins, 29, a former parishioner who once served as a St. Brendan’s altar boy and flew in from Florida for the Mass.

Old and new parishioners crammed into St. Brendan’s upper church as the Mass opened with a procession led by Cardinal Egan and St. Brendan’s pastor, Rev. George Stewart. Later in the service, parishioners read blessings in six different languages, including Tagalog and Albanian. A children’s choir and two adult choirs sang hymns from several national traditions.

“I am humbled to be a part of this,” said Stewart, reflecting on the church’s history and on its founders. “I’ve always admired how people will give away what little they have to secure a future for their children.”

At the time of the church’s founding in 1908, its 642 parishioners were primarily poor Irish immigrants. Nevertheless, Pastor Denis O’Donovan was able to raise $2,000 – the equivalent of $46,000 in 2007 – from his struggling congregation for the down payment on a parcel of land on 207th Street and Perry Avenue.

In May 1909, the cornerstone was laid. New residential construction and expanded public transportation increased the parish population, and by the 1960s, the structure was bursting at the seams. A new building — intended to evoke the shape of St. Brendan’s ship as he sailed to the new world — was dedicated in 1967.

Today, the church’s several dozen groups include the children’s choir, a teen group, and a senior exercise club. Services include ESL and a food pantry. For many loyal parishioners, this is what gives St. Brendan’s its character.

“For me, it’s not just about going to the service,” says parish council member Pat Kennedy. “It’s about helping other people, feeding the homeless and the poor.”

Even the school is flourishing, bucking a national trend of declining Catholic school enrollment. It opened in 1912 with 96 pupils and now counts 342 in addition to the 175 children who attend Sunday school. “The school is doing quite well,” said Stewart. “The numbers are what they ought to be.”

Today, as in 1908, the parish is comprised of immigrants. In May 2007 an internal parish census tallied representation from 46 countries. Other than Ireland, Spanish speaking countries were the most numerous, followed by Italy and the Philippines.

Josefina Bueno, mother of two daughters, came to Norwood from Mexico 12 years ago. She first attended St. Brendan’s because it offered a Spanish Mass, but stayed involved because she enjoyed the diversity. “There are so many groups here,” she said, “Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans — but they all come together at church.”

She is also inspired by the energy and dedication of Pastor Stewart: “When you see someone like that, you have to help.”

Even more than usual, the centenary celebrations have united older and newer parishioners. “For me, the highlight of the year was the multicultural day,” said parish leader Rose Moran. “We had dancing and food from parishioners’ home countries. It showed such a wonderful spirit, especially in the younger people.”

Moran, a Bronx native, moved to Norwood from Concourse Village in 1974. She co-chaired the 100th anniversary dinner dance and is active in fund-raising and in teaching new Catholic adults.

Reflecting on the parish’s accomplishments, Moran said, “We look to the past, because that is what we inherited, but we are working for the future. It’s always been a highly motivated parish — many of us come in daily to volunteer. It is a truly wonderful feeling to be a part of that.”

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Mounting Costs, Changes Rile Filter Foes Anew

October 30, 2008

By Alex Kratz

As the enormous water filtration plant project in Van Cortlandt Park moves farther away from the original plan outlined in 2003, the project’s monitoring committee, local activists and city planning experts say it’s becoming glaringly apparent that the plan didn’t account for significant impacts on the community.

Changes from the original design may have led to the project’s soaring cost and changes in construction plans could lead to unforeseen environmental impacts.

The design for the Croton Water Filtration Plant is “dramatically” different than the one presented by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in 2003 to the public and politicians in the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), said George Sweeting, a deputy director at the Independent Budget Office (IBO), which conducted an analysis of the project’s budget.

It’s unclear exactly what changes were made, but Sweeting said the DEP told the IBO it was at least 30 percent different.

One immediate result of the design change is that the DEP is now planning to gobble up additional parkland that was supposed to be returned to the public. It’s unclear how much parkland the DEP is taking, but it’s significant enough that local activists and the local community board have formally requested the land be returned and the design changed.

The price tag for the plant has more than doubled from an original estimate of $1.3 billion to the tune of over $3 billion and the DEP can’t account for nearly 50 percent of the overruns, according to the IBO’s report. The IBO said the design change was probably a significant factor, but didn’t go into detail.

The DEP did not address specific questions for this article, but said in a statement: “The IBO recognized that a number of factors, including general inflation in the construction industry and the highly competitive construction market in New York City, contributed to the rise in construction costs for the Croton Plant. The IBO also noted that the scope of the plan evolved, as is the case with all major construction projects.”

Apart from the design changes for the plant, the DEP is now planning to employ controversial methods of excavation and debris removal for a connected, but separate, project at the Jerome Park Reservoir. Those methods were never mentioned in the original plans.

Greg Faulkner, who chairs the filtration plant’s oversight committee, said he’s especially concerned with the DEP’s plan to truck hundreds of cubic feet of rock from the Reservoir site, which he says will lead to more traffic congestion in densely populated neighborhoods. The original plan was for debris to be trucked through a tunnel and out of the site in Van Cortlandt Park, a less populated area.

“They need to do a new EIS,” Faulkner said. “They’ve made significant alterations without saying how it’s going to impact the community.”

In the past, the DEP has maintained it doesn’t need to do a supplemental EIS to address changes in the plan.

Karen Argenti, an activist and one of the project’s most vigilant watchdogs, believes the FEIS, which is supposed to include all project plans and studies of all its negative impacts (physically and economically), has become irrelevant.

Argenti and local residents mounted a legal effort to stop the DEP from blasting away rock at the Reservoir based on the fact that it was a significant change from the original plan. But the DEP backed away from blasting and a legal judgment was never made. Instead, the DEP plans to use a drilling method called hoe-ramming, a method also left out of the FEIS.

Tom Angotti, a city land use expert and a professor at Hunter College, said city agencies are loath to do supplemental environmental impact studies during major construction projects. The only way you’ll see an additional study is if a judge orders an agency to conduct one, he said.

“Once a project is approved and the final EIS is approved, there is a tendency among everybody [in government] to not look back,” Angotti said. “There’s no systematic follow-up by an independent part of government.”

The skyrocketing cost of the project, and the IBO’s declaration that much of it can’t be accounted for, upsets project watchdogs who say it’s evidence the DEP deliberately underestimated the cost of building at the Van Cortlandt Park site.

Local activist Anne Marie Garti said she’s convinced the DEP hid costs in the FEIS to make it more competitive with other similar sites. Whether the agency deliberately lowballed the numbers, Garti said, we will probably never know for sure. “They’ve probably done a pretty good job of covering their tracks,” she said.

The DEP’s actions may not be illegal, but that doesn’t mean it’s right, Angotti said. “It is unethical to force an unpopular project on the public without a full understanding of the cost involved,” he said. “That is an environmental impact, the economic impact.”

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Crime Down in Area But Chronic Hotspots Persist

October 30, 2008

By Alex Kratz

A couple of weeks ago, two brothers walking down Valentine Avenue, near East 194th Street, were viciously attacked by a handful of unknown assailants. Both siblings suffered serious stab wounds. One required some stitches in his back and remains in the hospital, police say.

Crime statistics remain down overall in the 52nd Precinct (Norwood, Bedford Park, University Heights and North Fordham), including a significant drop in murders and shootings. But this violent incident, in a perennial high-crime area, is a reminder that the precinct’s hotspots are resilient and don’t always jibe with precinctwide statistics.

Gauging crime in specific precinct sectors isn’t possible without a statistical breakdown, which the NYPD won’t willingly provide. Precinct officials said the Norwood News would have to file a Freedom of Informational Law (FOIL) request for the information. The request is pending.

But there’s no mistaking the precinctwide numbers, which are much better than the boroughwide figures.

Boroughwide, crime is up; murders (up 8.1 percent, from 98 last year to 106 this year), rapes (up 11.1 percent, from 243 last year to 270 this year), and robberies (up 6 percent, from 3,539 last year to 3,754 this year) have all increased.

But in the 52nd Precinct, murders fell by nearly half (11 last year, to six this year), rapes by 7.6 percent (26 last year, to 24 this year), and robberies by 5.8 percent (428 last year, to 403 this year). Shootings have also dropped from 29 at this point last year, to 20 so far in 2008.

“We’re actually doing better than any other precinct in the borough,” said Lieutenant Charles Hammer of the 52nd Precinct.

As for persistent crime in local hotpots, without a neighborhood breakdown, the only indication is anecdotal evidence wearily provided by community leaders or individual incidents cited by police.

In sector D (police divide the precinct into sectors for statistical purposes), a hotspot that includes the area north of Fordham Road between the Grand Concourse and Jerome Avenue, two young men were shot on Oct. 5. Both are expected to survive.

Sector D also includes St. James Park where local residents say the prostitution trade is bustling. One local mother, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, said prostitution had slowed earlier this year, but was back in full force. Both young women and men hang out on the streets surrounding the park at all hours of the night looking for johns, she said.

“It’s been going on since my son was in elementary school, and he’s now a junior in high school,” she said.

Community Board 7 District Manager Fernando Tirado said his office has received several complaints about prostitution at St. James. “Some of these girls, people are telling me, are 12 or 13 years old,” he said.

Monsignor John Jenik, an outspoken critic of the NYPD and the pastor of Our Lady of Refuge Church, which is in the middle of Sector G (north of Fordham, between Webster and the Grand Concourse), said that crime is as bad as it’s ever been in his area. He said his congregation is full of victims.

Several people in the area, which is where the brutal stabbing of two weeks ago, occurred, acknowledged its violent history, but said they didn’t notice it getting any worse, or better.

Hammer acknowledged the troubles in Sector G and said police try to keep extra patrol cars in the area. Still, he said, it’s hard to say which sector is the most crime-ridden because it tends to move like a defensive boxer.

“We hit them in one spot and they move on,” Hammer said.

Tirado gets the monthly sector breakdowns. He was directed by the NYPD not to give out the stats to the public, but he did offer some analysis from looking at them.

“If you look at [sectors] D and G together, that’s where the vast majority of our crime is happening,” Tirado said. He added that the area around Williamsbridge Oval Park, in Norwood, is showing up as another hotspot.

“We have to do something to increase our presence in and around our parks,” he said.

With the city’s economy faltering and valuable programs in danger of being cut, some are anticipating an increase in crime and gang activity.

Don Bluestone, who runs the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center in Norwood, the biggest youth center in the area, said this past summer was one of the quietest he’s seen in years. But lately, he’s noticed an increase in gang-related activity and worries that if critical programs are cut, it will leave more kids on the street.

Tirado agrees.

“Just from a historical perspective, crime tends to go up when economic times are bad,” he said. “But there should be an attempt to help the kids. We need to do our part to keep them off the streets.”

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New Administrators at Ursula

October 16, 2008

By Peter Mullin

Change begins at the top for the Academy of Mount St. Ursula in Bedford Park. With new appointees to the positions of president and principal, two new faces will be given their opportunity to shape the next chapter of the 153-year history of the all-girls catholic high school.

Fr. John Vigilanti, taking over as school president, culminates an almost 25-year association with both the Ursuline Sisters and their Bronx school. A longtime educator, Vigilanti began teaching part-time at the school in 1984. His teaching career at the Academy continued for nine years before the Diocese transferred him to another location. But in returning to Mount St. Ursula, Vigilanti “brings a visionary leadership that embraces the traditions of this unique institution,” the Academy said in a statement.

The new principal, Dr. Joseph S. Fusco, comes to the Mount by way of Bergen Catholic High School in Oradell, New Jersey. Fusco, who was principal at the all-boys school from 1994 to 2006, brings nearly two decades of education administration experience to the Bedford Park school. “It is our goal to ensure that the young ladies gain the skills that will make them successful, confident contributing members of society,” the principal said in a letter to parents earlier this year.

The two new administrators will be available to meet with the public during the school’s upcoming fall open house on Sunday, Oct. 26 from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

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Norwood Woman Celebrates 100th Birthday

October 16, 2008

By Falon Perez

Last month, on a Saturday afternoon, friends surprised Norwood resident Louise Ertel with a party to celebrate her 100th birthday.

Ertel, a longtime Bronx resident, was born September 20, 1908 on her family’s farm in Steinbach, Germany, a small community about an hour from Frankfurt. Ertel’s hardworking mother ran the farm while her father managed the local post office.

After receiving an invitation from her older sister 82 years ago, Ertel came alone to New York and has remained here ever since. Only a few years into Ertel’s new life in America, her sister and brother-in-law returned to Germany to help manage the family farm. Ertel made the tough decision to stay in the States.

Those challenging years were followed by happy memories. In 1935, Ertel married her husband. They shared a warm and happy life together for 47 years. Some of her happiest memories, she says, are of times spent with her husband and friends, sharing food, conversation and singing.

People at the event said they see Ertel as a friend, role model and community elder and felt her life should be celebrated. —Reporting by Adi Talwar

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Out & About

October 16, 2008

By Judy Noy

Onstage

The Lehman Center for the Performing Arts Concert Hall, located at 250 Bedford Park Blvd. W. presents Song and Dance Ensemble of West Africa, Oct. 19 at 4 p.m. and Ballet Flamenco de Jose Porcel, Oct. 26 at 3 p.m. (tickets for each are $20 to $35, $10 for children 12 and under).

Lehman College’s Theatre Program presents the Greek tragedy Medea in their studio theatre through Oct. 26. Performances are Wednesdays at 3:30 p.m., Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 3 p.m. (no performance on Oct. 22). Tickets are $10; $8 for seniors and non-Lehman students; and free to Lehman students with a valid ID. The college is located at 250 Bedford Park Blvd. W. For more information, call (718) 960-8025.

The Bronx Library Center hosts Doo Wop with the Valentinos, Oct. 18 at 2:30 p.m.; and Retumba, Oct. 25 at 2:30 p.m. The Center is located at 310 E. Kingsbridge Rd. off Fordham Road. For a detailed schedule, call (718) 579-4244/46 or visit www.nypl.org.

Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture at Hostos Community College presents Grupo Folklorico y Experimental Nuevayorquino, Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m. The Center is located at 450 Grand Concourse at 149th Street. Tickets are $25 and $35. For more information, call (718) 518-4455.

The Bronx Museum of the Arts hosts a free concert, Serenades for Winds, featuring the Bronx Symphony Orchestra performing classical music, Oct. 26 at 3 p.m. The museum is located at 1040 Grand Concourse at 165th Street, south wing, lower gallery. For more information, call (718) 681-6000 ext. 120.

The Mass Transit Street Theatre presents Ain’t Easy at Hostos Center for Arts & Culture located at 450 Grand Concourse at 149th Street. The piece focuses attention on five Bronx teens who tell their stories about violence and alternative ways to deal with conflict. Performances take place on Oct. 21 at 10 a.m. and noon; Oct. 23, 30, Nov. 6 and Dec. 11 at 10 a.m. and noon, and Dec. 3 at 4:30 and 7 p.m. Tickets are $6. For more information, call (718) 512-8519 or email ainteasy08@gmail.com.

The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD), located at 841 Barretto St., presents The BlakTino Performance Series, a festival celebrating works by Black and Latino artists, through Nov. 8. Tickets are $15 to $20 or $45 for a festival pass. Some events are free. Oct. 17 at 8 p.m. there’s a free show, Chisholm ’72 – Unbought & Unbossed, about the first woman and person of color to run for president; and for $15, there’s Amor Cubano: In a bottle, a tube and a small packet, a theatrical comedy from the west coast on Oct. 18 at 8 p.m. For more information, call (718) 842-5223.

Wave Hill presents Bradley Brookshire, New York harpsichordist performing Bach compositions, Oct. 19 at 2 p.m. at the Wave Hill House, West 249th Street and Independence Avenue. Tickets are $15 for members, $24 for non-members and $21 for students and seniors over age 65. Advance purchase is recommended. For more information, call (718) 549-3200 ext. 385.

Events

Saint Ann’s Church, 3519 Bainbridge Ave., will hold flea markets, Saturdays, Oct. 18, 25 and Nov. 1, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call (718) 547-9350.

Wave Hill offers up two family art projects: Natural Color Concoctions, to collect plants and paint with flowers, roots and leaves, Oct. 18 and 19; and Glowing Monster Plant, to make a Halloween mask that glows in the dark, Oct. 25 and 26, both in the Kerlin Learning Center from 1 to 4 p.m. Wave Hill is located at West 249th Street and Independence Avenue. For more information, call (718) 549-3200 or visit www.wavehill.org.

The New York Botanical Garden’s Tulip Tree Allee hosts its Farmers Market, Wednesdays through Oct. 29, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. It offers seasonal produce, home-baked goods and natural products from New York State farmers and merchants. There will be free demonstrations and educational and fun programs from noon to 2 p.m. on the first and last Wednesday of each month. The Garden is located at Bronx River Parkway and Fordham Road. For more information, call (718) 817-8700.

Exhibits

Fort Apache Connection, an exhibit containing works by contemporary Apache artists will be held at the Longwood Art Gallery at Hostos Community College, located at 450 Grand Concourse at 149th Street through Nov. 10. For more information, call (718) 518-6728 or (718) 931-9500.

Street Art, Street Life: From the 1950s to Now, on view through Jan. 25, is a collection of photography, documentation of performances, events, and artwork at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, located at 1040 Grand Concourse at 165th Street. The museum is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, and from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays. Suggested admission is $5 for adults, $3 for students and seniors and is completely free on Fridays. For more information, call (718) 681-6000.

The Bronx Library Center hosts an exhibit of photographs by Arlette Landestoy called Weekend Visitors to Inwood Park Hill (The Dominican People), presented by En Foco, through Oct. 31. The Center is located at 310 E. Kingsbridge Rd. off Fordham Road. For more information, call (718) 579-4244/46 or visit www.nypl.org.

The New York Botanical Garden presents Moore in America, featuring approximately 20 pieces of installation pieces by Henry Moore, through Nov. 2, running concurrently with “The Art of Henry Moore,” the documentary film shown Fridays to Sundays at noon and 2 p.m. in the Arthur and Janet Ross Lecture Hall. Children can create works of art, including a collage and clay sculptures, in the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, Tuesdays through Fridays from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Also see Kiku: The Art of the Japanese Chrysanthemum, Oct. 18 through Jan. 11, in the LuEsther T. Mertz Library. As part of the exhibit, there will be a 13-piece taiko drumming performance on the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory lawn, and Kiku for Kids in the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden. For more information, call (718) 817-8700.

Surprisingly Natural: the Nature of the Bronx, a photography exhibit at Wave Hill, located at West 249th Street and Independence Avenue, through Nov. 30, celebrates the places Bronxites know and love on Sundays, holidays and afternoon walks – the borough is actually 25 percent parkland. The artists will discuss their works at Lehman College, 250 Bedford Pk. Blvd. W. on Oct. 16 from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. For more information, call (718) 549-3200 or visit www.wavehill.org.

Learning

The Bronx Library Center has events for all ages:

For children and preschoolers, there are films on Oct. 22 and 29 at 4 p.m.; Preschool Romp, Oct. 16, 23 and 30 at 11 a.m.; and Story Fun for the Very Young, Oct. 18 at 2 p.m.

Also, for school-aged children, there is The BLCs, Oct. 20 and 27 at 4 p.m.; Click on the Web, Oct. 16 at 4 p.m.; Read Aloud: The Remix, Oct. 21 at 5 p.m.; Baby & Me, Oct. 25 at 11 a.m.; and Halloween Treat Bag, Oct. 30 at 4 p.m.

Young adults can attend Mario Kart Tournament, Oct. 20 and 27 at 4 p.m.; E-Books and Beyond, Oct. 22 at 4 p.m.; and Kawaii Club, Oct. 29 at 4 p.m.

The Center is located at 310 E. Kingsbridge Rd. off Fordham Road. For a detailed schedule, call (718) 579-4244/46 or visit www.nypl.org.

The Mosholu Library offers free Civics Classes, Oct. 25, Nov. 1 and 8 from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Prepare for the U.S. citizenship exam, register in person and plan to attend all three sessions. The library is located at 285 E. 205th St. For more information, call (718) 882-8239.

The Jerome Park Library at 118 Eames Place, hosts Halloween Crafts, Oct. 28 at 3:30 p.m.; and Gustafer Yellowgold, Oct. 29 at 3:30 p.m., both for young children. There’s also a movie afternoon, Oct. 23 at 4 p.m.; and BOO! Oct. 30 at 4 p.m., both for young adults. For more information, call (718) 549-5200.

NOTE: Items for consideration should be received in our office by Oct. 20 for the next publication date of Oct. 30.

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Neighborhood Notes

October 16, 2008

By Norwood News

Fun Fair and Flea Market

The Bedford Park Congregational Church, located at 309 E. 201st St. on the corner of Bainbridge Avenue, will hold its Annual Fun Fair and Flea Market on Saturday, Oct. 25, from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Congregation invites all to join them for bargains, food, fellowship, raffles and prizes. For more information, call Rev. Dr. Christopher Ponnuraj at (718) 367-8996.

Tour de Bronx

The 14th annual Tour de Bronx will be held Sunday, Oct. 19, which includes a 25-mile and 40-mile cycling ride with a grand finale festival at the New York Botanical Garden. This is a free event organized by Transportation Alternatives, Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion and Montefiore Medical Center. Rain date is Oct. 28. For more information or to register, visit www.tourdebronx.org or call Roberto Garcia at (718) 324-4946. On-line registration ends on Oct. 16.

Speech Program at Ursula

The Mt. Saint Ursula Speech Center, 2885 Marion Ave., is now accepting applications for its fall program. The center has openings for children ages 2 to 5 who are in need of speech and language services. Medicaid and other insurances accepted. For more information, call (718) 584-7679.

Business Workshop at Lehman

The Small Business Development Center at Lehman College, 250 Bedford Pk. Blvd. W., hosts a free workshop, “Writing a Successful Business Plan,” on Oct. 22 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. For registration and more information, call (718) 960-8806.

Latino HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

Montefiore Medical Center’s AIDS Center, along with the Bronx HIV CARE Network, will hold their 6th annual Latino HIV/AIDS Awareness Day event on Friday, Oct. 24 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Free HIV counseling and testing, blood pressure screenings, and educational materials on HIV and disease prevention will be provided. Musical performances and special guest speakers will also be featured. The event takes place in the Cherkasky Auditorium of Montefiore Medical Center (enter at Gun Hill Road). For more information, call (718) 231-3296.

Teen Center

The Boys and Girls Club at the Fort Independence Houses of Mosholu Montefiore Community Center announced that memberships are being accepted for the Fall Teen Center program for boys and girls ages 12 to 16. The center is open Monday through Friday nights from 6:30 to 9 p.m. and offers a variety of teen activities. For more information and/or registration, call Israel Rosario at (646) 358-6096.

Free After School Program

Volunteers Needed

New York Cares gives Bronx residents hundreds of ways for residents to get involved in their community through volunteering. On Oct. 22 and 29 orientations will be held at the Bronx Library Center at 310 E. Kingsbridge Rd. from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.nycares.org or call (212) 228-5000.

Youth/Health Panel Discussion at Hostos

The Bronx Forum will be holding a youth and health panel discussion on “Keeping Our Children Healthy,” Oct. 28 from 9 a.m. to noon at Hostos Community College, Savoy Building multi-purpose room, 2nd floor, 120 Walton Ave. at 149th Street. There is a $10 registration fee that can be paid the day of the event. Registration and breakfast is at 8:30 a.m. For reservations or more information, call Monica Merlis at (212) 983-4800 ext. 122.

Learn the Internet

Epilepsy Seminars

Quality of Life Screening

Free Civics Classes

Prepare for the U.S. Citizenship Exam. Classes are free and limited to 20 people. Those interested must register in person and be able to speak English at an intermediate or higher level. Register at the Mosholu Library at 285 E. 205th St. (near Perry Avenue). Plan to attend all three classes on Saturdays, Oct. 25, Nov. 1, and Nov. 8. For more information, call (718) 882-8239.

Adult ESL and Computer Classes

Breast Oncology Program

MetroCard Bus/Van

MTA New York City Transit has announced that MetroCard buses and vans will make scheduled stops in the Bronx during the month of October. Stops will be at Fordham Road and the Grand Concourse on Oct. 24 from noon to 2 p.m.; Scott Tower, 3400 Paul Ave. at West 205th Street on Oct. 27 from 1 to 3 p.m.; and Van Cortlandt Village, 3880 Sedgwick Ave. on Oct. 24 from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Persons with disability and senior citizens with proper ID can apply for a reduced fare MetroCard. For more information, visit www.mta.info or call (212) METROCARD.

Tree Planting Day

MillionTreesNYC will have a volunteer planting day, Nov. 8, to plant over 15,000 trees in several forest restoration projects in parks citywide. In the Bronx area, the MillionTrees team will be planting in Pelham Parkway at Burr Aveue. For other locations or more information, visit the MillionTreesNYC website at www.milliontreesnyc.org.

English Classes

Alzheimer’s Support Group

Farmers Market

Seeking Artists for Aging Project

Karate Classes at MMCC

After School Child Care

Free GED and Business Courses

Aphasia Clinic Accepting Clients

Identity Theft Awareness Day

Ridgewood Savings Bank at 1770 E. Gun Hill Rd. will host “Identity Theft Awareness Day” on Oct. 18 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The community program will offer free shredding of documents as a way to help bank customers as well as the community to avoid identity theft. For more information on Identity Theft prevention, visit www.USAShred.info or call 888-SHRED77.

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Tirado Makes Mark on Community Board 7

October 16, 2008

By Jordan Moss

In July, Community Board 7 organized a forum for residents and community activists to brainstorm the future of the Kingsbridge Armory.

A couple hundred people showed up and shared their ideas — a great success.

But Fernando Tirado, the Board’s district manager since last January, saw another opportunity he couldn’t let pass. As the crowd headed for the exits, he pressed upon them these dollar-shaped leaflets called Health Bucks — each good for a discount on Farmers Market items. Now that there are three farmers markets in the area — including the latest on Jerome Avenue and Mosholu Parkway — the discounts are particularly useful to neighborhood residents. But Tirado is more than just a big fan of the program. During his 13-year tenure at the Department of Health, including a stint at the Bronx district public health office, he helped revive the program — which once was only geared toward seniors — for a general audience.

Tirado, who lives on Mosholu Parkway in Bedford Park with his wife and three children, also directed the DOH’s Window Fall prevention program.

Born and raised in Washington Heights, Tirado, 38, has deep Bronx roots. He attended Mount St. Michael Academy and visited friends and family often in the borough. In 2006, he moved here from Queens to be closer to those friends and family.

After serving as a Board member on Community Board 7 for only six months, Tirado applied for the paid position of district manager after Rita Kessler retired. He was chosen for the job by Board Chairman Greg Faulkner and the rest of the Board’s officers and members.

Tirado has ushered in technological change at the Board office — introducing wireless Internet access and up-to-date computers. He’s eager to have a new Web site up-and-running soon — he pointed to existing Board sites Manhattan and Queens he thinks are a model — though that project has moved forward slower than he had hoped.

He’s passionate about quality-of-life issues, and while he believes that the city’s 3-1-1 system is good for registering complaints and forwarding them to the appropriate agency, the Board staff take things to the next level by following up and dealing directly with agency officials.

“You’re not going to get the same quality of service,” he said, offering the example of how the Board can advocate on behalf of a parent who runs into bureaucratic hurdles when trying to transfer their child to a different school.

He says he wants to make the Board office a “welcoming environment for folks.” The office now opens at 8 a.m. so residents can stop by before work and the gates on the Board office are open all the way unveiling flyers for various community programs and events posted by Board staff in the window. Previously, only the front door would be visible from the street.

In the same vein of making the Board and its activities more accessible to the public, Tirado has hired a consultant to do media outreach.

Board members, who are community residents appointed by the borough president in consultation with local Council members, are increasingly feeling like they can make a difference, Tirado said.

“People like to be on the Board now that their issues are being pushed to the forefront …,” he said. “I think that the Board is currently very involved with things that are happening in the community and we have a lot of issues on our plate that have drawn a lot of community interest.”

The Board has also shown an interest in directly helping community institutions where it can.

At the end of their fiscal year, the Board had a little bit of money left over in its budget. Rather than carry it over, it decided to donate the money to PS 56 in Norwood, which used it to buy 100 recorders, musical instruments played by young children.

You could say that Community Board 7 is singing a new tune.

Ed. note: Community Board 7 is located at 229A E. 204th St., between the Grand Concourse and Valentine Avenue in Bedford Park. The phone number is (718) 933-5650.

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Mom-and-Pop Wallpaper Shop Thrives on Webster

October 16, 2008

By Peter Mullin

The brown sign with the orange and white lettering hanging above 2737 Webster Ave. in Bedford Park nearly says it all: “Webster Wallpaper, the Largest in Stock Selection of Wallcoverings in the U.S.A. at Discount Prices.” But, after nearly six decades of doing business in the Bronx, their selection and prices are only half the story.

Walk through the front door and prepare to be met with a smile. Immediately, the voice behind the counter beckons from the right. “Good morning,” it says. “How you doing today?” “Not bad,” is the reply. “Is Ed around?” Moments later Edward Nerenberg, the store’s owner, arrives in true mom-and-pop fashion, emerging from a back room ready to tend to any need. Try that at Home Depot.

Unlike the sign adorning the façade, this scene is not unique. Rather, it has been the norm through two generations. And with a recent boost from a major brand name supplier, the family store may have just ensured its success for future generations.

It all started when Nerenberg’s mother, Tessie, now 95, founded the business in 1950. A recipient of the Bronx Chamber of Commerce’s “Pioneer Woman” award more than 20 years ago, she has watched her business grow and expand to become the one-stop resource for interior wallcoverings it is today. Under her son’s leadership, the 5,000-square-foot facility carries the full line of Benjamin Moore paints along with an astounding array of wallpaper, designer wall coverings, applicators and window blinds.

To Nerenberg, this surplus is one of the many advantages his store has to offer. The wide variety of products available on location – from cartoon character wallpaper to custom-mixed paint (they say they can create any color imaginable) — means extra shipping charges and restocking fees can be eliminated, he explained.

“We have such a large stock, we can turn the savings over to the customers,” Nerenberg said.

But savings means nothing if the end result fails to meet the customer’s desires. Nerenberg ensured that through a step-by-step consultation, he and his Benjamin Moore-certified staff can guarantee customers will walk out feeling satisfied.

Picking paint is so much more than just choosing a color, he explained. It involves deciding on the right primer, the right gloss, and even the right wallpaper, so that, in the end, all the colors and textures in the room come together. To make sure customers are happy, “we’re going to coordinate everything,” he said.

“We have a tremendous amount of pride and care in dealing with customers,” said Nerenberg, who attributes his store’s good customer relations to the fact that it’s family owned and operated. That mom-and-pop aesthetic keeps them coming back, he said. “We have multi-generational return customers,” said the proud owner. “You’d be surprised just how many times you hear customers mention the phrase, ‘I remember coming here with my parents.’”

Backing up that claim was Fran Giallorenzi of Riverdale, who said she remembered going to Webster Wallpaper as a child with her mother. She said she returns for the customer service. “They talk to you,” said Giallorenzi. “You walk in the door and someone comes right over and talks to you. They care about you.”

Nerenberg could not be more pleased with that type of customer response. “The best advertisements are word of mouth,” he said. And according to Kevin Granger, who stopped by to pick up a can of paint, it’s incredibly effective. “It came highly recommended,” Granger said. “The service is superb. The place has been here forever.”

And Nerenberg wants to make certain that Webster Wallpaper is here to stay. This September, his store became a Benjamin Moore Signature Store, undergoing an interior remodeling to complement and show off its full line of Benjamin Moore products, which are considered tops in the business. “The signature store, I like to say, is a lifestyle,” he said. Technically, the signature store creates an enjoyable shopping experience that’s also “locally owned and operated by a member of your community,” according to Benjamin Moore’s Web site.

But what about the store’s claim to fame, emblazoned on its sign? “It’s ancient history,” Nerenberg said. “It dates from when we were the largest Wall-Tex supplier in the country.” Today, the only fame Webster Wallpaper is concerned with is within their community, among their customers. “Remember, you can advertise all you want, but you don’t stay in business this long on claims alone,” he said. We’re “a 60-year-old company that does business the old fashioned way.”

Ed. Note: Webster Wallpaper is located at 2737 Webster Ave. in Bedford Park, between East 195th and East 197th streets. Free parking is located across the street. For more information, call (718) 367-0055.

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Bronx Democracy at Risk

October 16, 2008

By None

The attempt to nullify term limits is a disgusting attempt to override the will of the people and to establish a permanent “ruling class.” The success of this action would totally undermine the purpose of voting and make democracy a sham in this city.

Almost lost in all of the attention paid to Mayor Bloomberg is that ending term limits would enable Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion and the present Bronx City Council delegation to remain in their current offices. Such a development would be tragic for democracy and would result in the demoralization of Bronxites.

Over the past four years, democratic and community rights have taken a severe battering in the Bronx, as a quick review of the Yankee Stadium project demonstrates. The original sack of Macomb’s Dam Park was done without the community’s knowledge. A stadium was foisted in the middle of a residential community already beset with health problems and now, the richest team in baseball is seeking a bailout from the taxpayers! All with the enthusiastic support of most Bronx elected officials.

Particularly dictatorial and contemptuous of the people was Carrion. He mocked the sanctity of a public hearing and the right of public expression by packing the Bronx County Courthouse with stadium supporters early and then locking out the community in severe winter weather.

Carrion also removed every Community Board 4 member who voted against the project. Subsequently, he had the audacity to declare that board members had to pursue “his vision” in voting. At the same time, his office tells new board members that their vote is sacred and that they are to vote their conscience! As a result, Bronx community boards are so intimidated that none will touch “alienation legislation” to protect seizure of more Bronx parks for development. Carrion’s crowning achievement in the project was to impose a Community Benefits Agreement which gave almost nothing to the affected community but promises generous rewards to Bronx organizations in areas unaffected by the construction.

Proponents of abolishing term limits are taking advantage of economic troubles and touting their experience. Experience doing what? Collecting pay for absences? Giving their relatives and friends employment? Who can forget the congestion pricing battle? The Bronx City Council delegation could have reaped enormous mass transit benefits for the Bronx by forcing the dedication of congestion pricing revenues for projects in the outer boroughs. What did they do? They gave the MTA a blank check to spend revenue for suburbanites, business people and the wealthier sections of Manhattan! What did they ever do for Bronx mass transit?

Bronx civil society has almost disappeared, young people are disillusioned, residents feel hopeless and helpless to change things and many are at a point of despair. This civic and spiritual death has been brought about by Bronx elected officials most of whom are now pummeling the foundations of democracy. This notorious and self-serving power grab must be fought in any and every legitimate way possible. It must and will be stopped!

John Rozankowski

Bedford Park

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Why the Democratic Party Fight Matters

October 16, 2008

By Editorial

If you happened to show up at the historic showdown between the two warring factions of the Bronx Democratic party three weeks ago at the Paradise Theater, you surely would have been entertained. It was a great show.

But amid all the shouting and the bush-league stunts (like Jose Rivera’s supporters cutting the juice on the microphones and Council Member Maria Baez ignoring the “no” votes), it would have been almost impossible for most Bronxites to see how any of it mattered in their lives.

But it does matter. Politics matters – or at least it should.

Party organizations like the Bronx County Democratic Committee have a huge influence on who we send to Albany, City Hall and even Washington. Once they get there, they’re supposed to represent our interests in the legislative process and make laws that address the most pressing issues facing Bronxites and their fellow New Yorkers.

Yes, there are endemic problems with the democratic process in Albany that block the constructive participation of everyone except the most senior lawmakers.

But that’s all the more reason we need to send strong leaders there and to every other level of government. We need intelligent, activist politicians who can join and lead the fight for reform.

We “hire” these politicians to make laws. That’s why we call them “lawmakers.” We should remember this when we vote. Too often, we praise and honor politicians only when they allocate funding to our favorite local organizations and public projects. We should remember that this is our taxpayer money they are redistributing; they are not philanthropists reaching into their personal bank accounts.

A good legislator is worthy of our esteem. Anyone can hand out checks.

But it’s hard to hire a person appropriate for the job of lawmaker — and easy for someone unqualified to win — when so few people participate in the Democratic primary, leaving the decision up to a relatively few people. In the 86th Assembly District, Nelson Castro won the Democratic nomination (tantamount to election in the heavily Democratic borough) with only 1,513 votes — and he would have won had he gotten only 904 votes!

So, how the Democratic Party is organized and conducts itself is important. The Party organization has done little voter outreach and supports lawmakers like Maria Baez who have atrocious legislative attendance records (she didn’t even show up at last week’s important public hearing for the Kingsbridge Armory, a giant economic development project in her own district) and clearly no interest in doing the job they were elected to do.

The fact that the Party leadership-in-waiting appears to be a diverse power-sharing coalition from all over the borough is a reason for hope, as are their promises to expand the voter rolls by bringing more Bronxites into the process.

But only time will tell if this group will truly represent us above petty parochial interests and cronyism by recruiting and running outstanding candidates who understand their role as lawmakers and truly represent the best of our great borough.

We’ll be watching closely. You should be, too.

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Keeping Bronxites Looking Sharp for 60 Years

October 16, 2008

By Carey Dunne

The motto of Cornelia and James Pappas, owners of Allen Cleaners on Bedford Park Boulevard is simple. “Either you do it right, or you don’t do it at all,” they say. Allen Cleaners celebrated its 60th anniversary more than a month ago, evidence that the Pappases have done it — and continue to do it — very right.

Cornelia Pappas’ father started Allen Cleaners in 1948. She has been working there for 40 years, and her husband, James, for 35. Allen Cleaners offers tailoring services, garment preservation, leather and suede work, box storage, dry cleaning, a wash and fold service, and a self-serve laundromat.

“We’re not an average dry cleaner,” James Pappas says. “We’re a cleaner’s cleaner. Cleaners come to us to get their clothes cleaned.”

In addition to offering cleaning services, the Pappases are very active in the community. Allen Cleaners annually hosts Coats for Kids, a citywide coat drive. They do outreach at women’s shelters, help with clothing drives at Montefiore Medical Center, and sponsor Little League teams. In 2001, the Bedford Mosholu Community Association honored James Pappas with the Jack Kelly Memorial Award, a “Recognition of Exceptional Service to Our Community.”

“It’s our responsibility, I think, to help people out,” Cornelia Pappas says.

The cleaners know their customers well. Many who have moved from the neighborhood still come back regularly. Cornelia Pappas says that, every two weeks, a woman now living in Delaware stops in.

“They have the policy that they’ll clean an American flag for free,” says Barbara Stronczer, an Allen devotee and president of the Bedford Mosholu Community Association. “They’re always the first to try out a new [charity] program. We’re very fortunate to have them in the neighborhood.”

James Pappas tells a story that illustrates the cleaners’ significance to its customers, wherever they happen to end up. “One day, I received a letter in the mail from San Quentin, a prison in California,” he explains. “A [young man] was being released, and he was looking forward to getting his clean clothes back from Allen Cleaners. His lawyer contacted us to have him ship his clothes to him. He even had his ticket numbers.”

The Pappases shipped the former Bronx resident’s clothes to California. They still have the man’s letter in a file, written on yellow lined paper, dated April 1994.

As a long-standing business, Allen Cleaners has seen a lot of changes. When it started 60 years ago, Allen charged $2 to clean a suit. Now the cost is $10.75. Hangers now cost nearly 10 cents apiece. The price for insuring garments has gone up so much that they no longer store furs, not wanting to charge customers for insurance.

But the most amazing kind of change they’ve seen in 60 years, Cornelia Pappas says, is people coming in first as infants, and then as customers, grown up and married.

“That in itself is an amazing story,” she says. “To see that happen, you get to know the families, their problems, their happiness and their joys.”

Ed. note: Allen Cleaners is located at 387 Bedford Park Blvd. E. The phone number is (718) 584-9270.

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Police Report

October 16, 2008

By Alex Kratz

Woman Survives 4-Story Fall

A woman miraculously survived a four-story plunge from the rear of a six-story building near the Woodlawn #4 train station. Police were called to the courtyard of 25 E. 213th Street, at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 8. The unidentified woman, who either fell or jumped, from the window was said to be conscious and alert. She was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital with multiple injuries, but was expected to survive.

Fordham Bank Heist

Police were called to the Washington Mutual Bank at 257 E. Fordham Rd. after bank officials reported a holdup. The incident was reported at 10 a.m. on Oct. 8.

Woman Falls Into Sidewalk Hole

Rescue officials were called to 3335 Decatur Ave. after a woman fell into a two-foot hole on the sidewalk. The incident was reported at 7:15 p.m. on Oct. 8. The unidentified victim was reported to have been walking across some planks said to have been left from a Con Edison excavation of the street. The woman was rushed to a nearby hospital. The extent of her injuries is unknown.

Cop’s Car Catches Fire

A car belonging to an off-duty police officer caught fire and burned on the northbound Bronx River Parkway at East Gun Hill Road at 6:45 a.m. on Oct. 12. The unidentified officer made it out of the vehicle in time and was not injured.

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Public and Community Meetings

October 16, 2008

By None

• The Croton Facility Monitoring Committee will meet on Thursday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. at the DEP’s community office, 3660 Jerome Ave. For more information, call (718) 231-8470.

• The Community District 10 Education Council will meet Thursday Oct. 16 at 6:15 p.m. at PS/MS 399, 120 E. 184th St. For more information, call (718) 741-7092.

• The 52nd Precinct Community Council will meet on Thursday, Oct. 23 at 7:30 p.m. at Monroe College, 2501 Jerome Ave. For more information, call (718) 220-5824.

• Community Board 7 (CB7) will meet on Tuesday, Oct. 21 at 6:30 p.m. at the Scott Tower Auditorium, 3400 Paul Ave. For more information, call (718) 933-5650.

• The CB7 Health and Hospitals Committee will meet Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 6:30 p.m. as will the CB7 Youth Services Committee. The meetings will be held at the community board office at 229A E. 204th St.. For more information, call (718) 933-5650.

• The Bedford Mosholu Community Association meeting will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 5 at 8 p.m. at 400 E. Mosholu Pkwy. So. (Apt. B1 – Lobby Floor).

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Local Pols Support Term Limits Extension

October 16, 2008

By Alex Kratz

At a recent public hearing in North Fordham, Jose Rivera, the 72-year-old assemblyman and embattled (perhaps deposed) boss of the Bronx Democratic Party, weighed in with his thoughts on the City Council extending term limits to include a third four-year term, something Mayor Bloomberg is pushing hard for.

“It really doesn’t matter what I think. I’m sure it’ll go through,” Rivera said, rubbing imaginary dollar bills between his fingers. “It’s all about the money and he’s got all the money.”

Well, that and the support of the Council, which is clearly conflicted about the idea. According to the NY1 running tally as of Tuesday afternoon, 19 Council members oppose the plan, 15 said they supported it and 17 were on the fence.

Council Speaker Christine Quinn recently endorsed the plan while trying to dispel rumors that she cut a backroom deal for her support. And all three Council members that represent the Norwood News coverage area — Joel Rivera, Maria Baez and Oliver Koppell — have endorsed the plan. All three were facing a job change or unemployment after 2009.

As reported two issues ago in this paper, Koppell was actually the first Council member to introduce a term-limits extension bill. Rivera, who was planning a run at the borough presidency, has said he would happily suspend his bid (and retain his Council seat) in support of another term for current BP Adolfo Carrion.

In a rare telephone interview with the Mount Hope Monitor, Baez said she’d like to see the law changed. “I’m definitely in support of it,” she said. “It gives an opportunity for members like myself to finish projects.”

For Baez, those projects include the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club, currently being built in University Heights, and Mount Hope Housing Company’s new community center — efforts she helped fund.

In recent times, however, Baez is better known for what she hasn’t done. According to city records, Baez attended less than 50 percent of Council meetings in the first half of 2008, the worst attendance of any other Council member.

Of the other Bronx Council delegates, only Larry Seabrook of the east Bronx has said he supports the extension. James Vacca and Annabel Palma have voiced their opposition, while Helen Foster is still undecided.

Proponents say the extension will allow Bloomberg to see the city through the worst financial crisis it has seen in decades. Critics say the people voted twice to enforce the two-term limit and should not be overruled by the mayor and City Council, at least without a popular vote.

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Pushing the Overcrowding Issue

October 16, 2008

By Norwood News

As the city’s Department of Education begins crafting its next five-year capital plan, which will determine where new schools will be built and which schools will receive renovations, Council Member Oliver Koppell wants to make sure his district’s overcrowding issues are adequately addressed.

“I have repeatedly called for building additional schools in Norwood, and around the Kingsbridge Armory to relieve the chronic and painful overcrowding in my district,” Koppell said in a statement. “I am now insisting that DOE’s new Five-Year Capital Plan address this critical issue.”

District 10, which encompasses Koppell’s constituency and all of the Norwood News coverage area (same as Community Board 7’s boundaries), is the third most crowded district in the city, according to the comptroller’s office.

In Norwood, Koppell pointed out that PS 56 has 593 students in a building with capacity of 475. He added that teachers are forced to hold intervention sessions in school hallways and the school nurse is sharing office space, compromising confidentiality.

Also in Norwood, PS 280 houses first graders in deteriorating portable classrooms. And in Bedford Park, PS 8, which has a capacity of 800, is currently housing 1,147 students, Koppell said.

Two years ago, in the middle of the current Five-Year Capital Plan (2005-2009), the DOE cut more than 1,700 seats that were supposed to be built for Bronx students, predicting a decline in enrollment.

The DOE has since acknowledged overcrowding problems in District 10 and says they will address them in the coming capital plan (2010-2014).

Koppell said the Council’s Bronx delegation has scheduled a meeting with Deputy Schools Chancellor Kathleen Grimm, who oversees capital projects.

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County Dems Battle in Court

October 16, 2008

By Jordan Moss

The struggle over who will lead the Bronx Democratic Party has, as expected, landed in court with both factions trying to invalidate each other’s half of the meeting to elect officers at the Utopia Paradise Theater. The case will come before a state Supreme Court judge on Monday, Oct. 27 at 2 p.m.

If Assemblyman Jose Rivera, the incumbent chairman were to succeed in getting a judge to scrap the results of a vote that appeared to elect Assemblyman Carl Heastie, Rivera would still seem to have a steep hill to climb as 15 out of 24 district leaders support Heastie and the so-called Rainbow Rebels. Even if all the officers of the Party’s Executive Committee favored Rivera, the district leaders supporting Heastie would outnumber them.

Meanwhile, Heastie and his allies wasted no time in setting up shop in a temporary south Bronx office, kicking off their efforts to get out the vote for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

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Hoops and Books Combo Reaching ‘New Heights’

October 16, 2008

By Carey Dunne

Jay Wright, the head coach of men’s college basketball power Villanova University, stood in front of about 50 Bronx middle schoolers earlier this summer at the Riverdale Country School gym flanked by one of his star players, Corey Fisher, a Bronx native with NBA potential.

“Happy are those who dream, and are willing to pay the price to make those dreams come true,” Wright told the rapt crowd of starry-eyed kids, all wearing red and blue T-shirts emblazoned with “New Heights Summer Academy. Leaders. Champions. Student Athletes.”

The assembled kids were all members of New Heights New York City, a non-profit organization based in University Heights that provides athletic and academic after-school, summer, and weekend programs year-round for 155 middle and high school students.

Since its founding in 2001, New Heights says it’s seen 100 percent of its members graduate from high school and enroll in college (80 percent of those, they say, will be first-generation college grads). Its core program, College Bound, combines basketball with individual high school and college counseling, test prep, school visits, and one-on-one tutoring.

Both boys and girls are accepted into New Heights based on a tryout, an interview, and an application process.

“Basketball is the hook,” says New Heights Executive Director Richard Souto. “We use basketball to help kids stay focused on their academic achievement.”

Funded by a combination of foundation and corporate grants, individual donors, and special events, the cost to participants of the program is “relatively free.” As Ted Smith, the New Heights program director, explains, the program is “free, but we ask and expect them to help fundraise.”

“New Heights was the biggest factor in my life. I don’t know what I’d be right now without New Heights,” says Jose D’Oleo, 18, a counselor at the summer academy in Riverdale who started at New Heights in sixth grade.

D’Oleo remembers a day in ninth grade when a volunteer at New Heights’ Saturday Skills program suggested that he apply to boarding school. The following fall, after working with New Heights counselors, D’Oleo was playing basketball at the George School — a prestigious boarding school in Pennsylvania — alongside Emmanuel Tapin, 19, another original New Heights member.

This year, D’Oleo and Tapin became freshmen at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania.

While the two are moving on to pursue careers outside of sports, they remain devoted to the program that helped get them where they are. “Now [we’re] back here working [as the 7th grade group leaders at the Summer Academy] to tell the kids that without academics you can’t do basketball,” Tapin said over the summer.

The New Heights Summer Academy, which runs five days a week, eight hours a day for five weeks, fills mornings with classroom learning and afternoons with slam dunks and jump shots on the court.

In 2005, New Heights developed a partnership with the private Riverdale Country School, which now shares its superb athletic facilities with the Summer Academy. Ruben Montilla, the Summer Academy program coordinator, says establishing the Riverdale partnership was one of New Heights’ greatest breakthroughs, allowing kids “to see there are great schools here in the city.” Montilla is a self-described New Heights “pioneer” — the first to venture to boarding school — and a recent graduate of Georgetown University.

Success stories like Montilla’s, D’Oleo’s and Tapin’s are prevalent among New Heights’ graduates.

Souto explains the phenomenon: “Reason one is that a student athlete is recognized as a special person in their community, in their school. Two is that they’re future focused, always looking for the next level they can get to. And three is that through sports, they’ve developed a set of values, like teamwork, hard work, and learning to both win and lose. There’s a tendency to avoid bad stuff [like drugs] if you’re committed to your sport.”

Success was the theme of Wright and Fisher’s visit. Wright told Fisher’s story as an example. As a “chubby” teenager in the Bronx, “Corey said to himself, ‘I gotta get outta here. Cause I’m not gonna make my dreams come true if I stay here.’” Fisher then stopped eating at McDonald’s, got in shape, and once at Villanova, stayed on campus in summer months to study.

“Corey’s dream is to be in the NBA. His dream is also to get a college degree,” said Wright, emphasizing the balance between sports and school. “Every night,” Wright added later, “when your head hits the pillow, ask yourself, what do I have to do to make my dream come true?”

One of New Heights’ dreams for the future is to expand and “serve more people,” Montilla says. “To improve New Heights would be to get more resources. We could bus kids from different neighborhoods, pay for their MetroCards. Some people don’t have four dollars a day to get their kids here.” Montilla says.

“[New Heights] put us in situations where we can succeed,” Montilla continues. “New Heights gave us the opportunity to take advantage of our unfulfilled potential.”

Ed. note: New Heights is located at 2336 Andrews Ave. The phone number is (718) 933-1177. Their Web site is at www.newheightsnyc.org.

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What Will Become of the Kingsbridge Armory?

October 16, 2008

By Norwood News

Redevelopment plans for the Kingsbridge Armory will almost certainly undergo significant changes in the coming months as the developer, the Related Companies, shepherds their plan through the land use review process and negotiates with community stakeholders. But here’s where things stand so far:

What Related plans to put in the Armory

• 897,860 square feet of new uses

• 377,235 square feet of retail and restaurant space (some local, some national chain stores, the ratio is unclear)

• 164,285 square feet for parking

• 57,485 square feet for a new cinema

• 33,240 square feet for a fitness club or gym

• 27,000 square feet of community space

What the community wants (from testimony at recent public hearing):

• A guarantee to provide living wage jobs at all establishments inside the Armory after construction ($10 an hour, plus $1.50 in benefits)

• Union labor during construction and the opportunity to unionize workers after construction

• A plan to mitigate traffic and pollution during and after construction

• Healthy food options (maybe a new supermarket)

• A free technology center for youth and adults

• Affordable recreation space

• More community space for local groups

• Help for the businesses surrounding the Armory

• Stores inside the Armory that won’t compete with those outside of it

• A binding agreement guaranteeing some of these wants

Ed. note: Schools are no longer part of the Armory plan, as the Department of Education has taken them off the table, but residents continue to push for them to be put in the Armory’s annex buildings, which currently house a National Guard unit. Eliminating severe overcrowding in schools is still a pressing local priority.

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KARA Shows Its Strength at Public Hearing

October 16, 2008

By Alex Kratz

The Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance dominated the first official public hearing to discuss community hopes and concerns regarding the massive renovation of the 100-year-old landmark.

In doing so, the Alliance (otherwise known as KARA), organized by the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition and consisting of local groups, residents, clergy, labor and retail unions, hoped to advance its efforts to become the voice of the community as it negotiates a benefits agreement with the developer, The Related Companies.

The hearing — the first of several to be conducted by the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) — marks the beginning of the city’s extensive land review process (known as ULURP) and will help determine the scope of the city’s environmental impact statement (EIS). Residents delineated how they felt the project would impact the community so that their concerns would be studied in the EIS.

Before the hearing even started, a group of about 40 KARA supporters stood out in front of the Bronx Library Center, just blocks from the Armory, holding up signs, talking to television reporters and chanting slogans.

Inside the library’s basement auditorium, the hearing began with words from Jesse Masyr, Related’s lawyer and spokesman, who gave a short overview of the “Shops at the Armory” project, which will include 897,860 square feet of new uses, including retail stores, a cinema, fitness center, restaurants and community space (see sidebar).

Bronx Council Members Joel Rivera and Oliver Koppell followed Masyr. Both mentioned the hard work of KARA and called for the signing of a binding agreement to assure that the community benefits from the project.

Members of Community Board 7 also stressed the importance of a benefits agreement, raised concerns about traffic and parking, and made a plea for the inclusion of healthy eating options, perhaps including a new supermarket.

Both CB7 and KARA say they’re interested in getting some tangible community benefits in writing and want (and are opposed to) many of the same things, though the new supermarket is a CB7 idea. The owners of Associated Supermarket, who are located across the street from the Armory and members of KARA, are adamantly opposed to that idea.

After the community board, KARA members dominated the rest of the testimony. One by one, they spoke for the allotted three minutes about what they wanted (local jobs, good wages, more community space, place-holders for local businesses) and what they didn’t want (more traffic, congestion, chain stores, gentrification) out of a revamped Armory.

Local resident Marvin Almengor spoke with the seasoned eloquence of a practiced politician, quoting Robert F. Kennedy and saying the community is “standing on the precipice of history.” Doug Cunningham, the pastor of a new local church, worried that the mall would encourage more consumerism. And Pat Jewitt, a union representative, called for a Project Labor Agreement in addition to a community benefits agreement.

Masyr said he left the hearing deeply impressed with the community’s knowledge of the original scoping document and how sophisticated and articulate their comments were. He said two issues stood out from the developer’s perspective: environmental concerns, specifically how increased traffic will impact a borough besieged by asthma, and socio-economic concerns, such as how local businesses will be affected.

KARA activist Desiree Pilgrim-Hunter said the hearing gave KARA an “opportunity to remind Related that we represent the community and that we have serious concerns.”

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Armory Could Bring More Than a Shopping Mall

October 16, 2008

By Alex Kratz

With every large-scale urban development project, like the overhaul planned for the Kingsbridge Armory, comes the inevitable question: How will the community benefit? The answer varies depending on factors such as the project’s popularity, the number of jobs created and the public land use review process.

It’s also increasingly about the community getting the developer to sign a binding agreement, offering certain benefits to the community — such as local hiring preferences, job training programs for local residents, or money for local service programs.

Known as community benefits agreements, or CBAs, these pacts are gaining momentum across the country. Over the last decade, after the first such agreement was signed in Los Angeles, community groups have enjoyed pockets of CBA success.

That has not been the case in New York City, where the recent handful of CBA-type accords for big development projects, such as Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, and the new Yankee Stadium and Gateway Mall projects in the Bronx, have come with one glaring flaw — a lack of actual community involvement.

Big Hopes for Armory

The Kingsbridge Armory, a massive landmarked building, vacant since the National Guard left in 1993, is being turned into a giant mixed-use development smack in the middle of the densely populated Kingsbridge/North Fordham neighborhood, where nearly a third of residents live below the poverty line. The developer, The Related Companies, plans to fill the space with 897,860 square feet of new uses, mostly retail stores, but also a cinema, restaurants, some community space and a fitness center. It will be called Shops at the Armory.

The Armory project represents what many consider New York’s best chance to produce a substantial, enforceable and community-driven CBA. That cheery outlook is based mostly on the existence of the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA), a coalition of community and church groups, unions, elected officials and local residents organized by the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC) in 2005. The NWBCCC has pushed for community-driven redevelopment of the Armory since 1998.

Specifically, KARA wants living wage jobs ($10 an hour plus $1.50 an hour in benefits) with hiring preferences for local residents during and after construction, a pledge to protect unions, more community space, affordable recreational opportunities and environmental protections.

“[KARA]’s the first campaign to come out of New York City that has created a strong coalition of community groups,” said Amy Lavine, an attorney at the University of Albany Law Center who focuses on community development and writes a blog about CBAs. “They resemble the successful coalitions in other parts of the country and have real potential to create a strong community benefits agreement.”

The California Model

Many of those successful coalitions were created in the CBA hotbed of California, where the term “community benefits agreement” was coined. Community groups forged the first CBA in Hollywood in 1998.

Three years later, during development of a massive sporta and entertainment complex downtown, a broad coalition of community groups forged what Lavine and others consider the most comprehensive CBA to date.

They secured developer guarantees to create permanent affordable housing, institute local hiring preferences, make park improvements, implement a local parking plan, ensure environmental protections and a commitment to providing other needed services in the area. Monitoring committees were set up to oversee the CBA and ensure its implementation. By all accounts, it’s been a huge success.

Other California CBAs have ensured living wage jobs, something KARA is pushing hard for at the Armory.

Julian Gross, a Bay area-based lawyer who works exclusively on community benefits agreements and is advising KARA, doesn’t see any legal or procedural reasons that make California a better arena for CBAs than New York. But, for a variety of reasons, in California the process has been more community driven and has resulted in stronger, more enforceable agreements.

The Problem With New York

Gross and others say one reason for the disparity is that the CBA movement has only recently hit the Big Apple, meaning community groups, elected officials and developers are behind the learning curve. Second, Mayor Michael Bloomberg doesn’t encourage CBAs and advocates say he even uses them as a smokescreen for community support. Meanwhile, Bloomberg’s city planning commissioner has stated he’s against CBAs, believing development projects should be judged on their own merits.

“[Bloomberg’s] not a fan of any of it,” said Richard Lipsky of the Neighborhood Retail Alliance. “His position is that development in itself is mutually beneficial.”

“Generally, I would say the city hasn’t been very interested or supportive [of CBAs],” said Neil Stevenson of New York City Lawyers Alliance, a nonprofit also working with KARA.

Bloomberg hailed the Atlantic Yards benefits agreement, which he called the first of its kind in New York, as well as the Gateway Mall agreement, as landmark accords. To be fair, Lavine said, both of those agreements achieved tangible, if insufficient, benefits, but neither resulted from genuine community participation. Bloomberg has also shown he’s willing to step in to offer benefits when a development project runs into opposition, as he’s done with Columbia University’s expansion in Harlem and a massive redevelopment of Willets Point in Queens.

Bettina Damiani of Good Jobs New York said the city’s handful of agreements amount to little more than publicity stunts for elected officials and blames them for the lack of strong CBAs. “I don’t think we have any community benefits agreements in New York,” she said. “For the most part, the community has been locked out of the process.”

A Cautionary Tale

Damiani said the CBA signed for the Gateway project, another Related effort, should serve as a cautionary tale for KARA.

After the Yankee Stadium CBA, which Lavine calls a “complete joke” because community groups were not included at any stage of its creation, it appeared the Gateway project, a complete redevelopment of the old Bronx Terminal Market, might lead to a more inclusive pact.

In 2006, Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, who had already been criticized for getting little in return for the lucrative Yankee Stadium deal a year earlier, reached out to 18 community groups for help drafting a Gateway agreement. But the groups had no experience with CBAs and were given little direction. On the day of the Council vote on the project, the completed agreement, signed by only three organizations, was e-mailed to all 18 groups. Lipsky said seven groups abstained from the agreement in protest.

While the agreement included $3 million for job training and some compensation for displaced merchants, very little space was reserved for local and minority vendors, and the penalties for Related’s non-compliance with the agreement were considered negligible by Gross, Lavine, Damiani and others.

“The first thing to know about the Gateway CBA was that it was drafted by Carrion and Related without any community input whatsoever,” said Lipsky, who advocated for the displaced merchants at the Bronx Terminal Market and later called the accord a “sham.”

(Carrion refused to answer questions for this article, but noted in a statement that he would work with Related and the community to help ensure that the neighborhood benefits from the Armory project.)

Jesse Masyr, who is Related’s development lawyer and worked extensively on the Gateway deal, disagreed with Lipsky. He cited the task force of community groups created by Carrion and praised the work of other Bronx elected officials. Masyr said the agreement lacked more signatures because they were rushing to get it done the morning of the Council vote.

Without assigning blame, Gavin Kearney, an attorney for New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, said the problem at Gateway was that the process did not come out of strong community organizing from the beginning. “It wasn’t an organic process,” he said.

“When people talk about community benefits agreements, they think it’s some kind of magic trick, but it’s really the fruits of a successful organizing campaign and the memorializing of that effort in a quality CBA.” Kearney, Gross and others agreed that in the other New York cases, a strong organizing presence was absent.

The Armory End Game

Kearney and others interviewed for this article, however, said they believed KARA has waged that kind of successful organizing campaign and is poised to forge a California-like CBA.

Masyr said he believes some kind of benefits package will emerge from the process, but wouldn’t go into specifics. He praised KARA and the community in general for being actively engaged in the Armory project from the beginning and said Related would listen to any community voices as the benefits agreement process goes forward.

Desiree Pilgrim-Hunter, a local activist with both NWBCCC and KARA, said she thinks Related recognizes KARA has proven itself to be the strongest voice in the community and deserves a seat at the table.

“We’ve been effective in proving that we have the entire community behind us,” Pilgrim-Hunter said. “We are unified and reasonable and very serious. We can produce huge numbers of people (see story on page 6) and we will be there at every opportunity. We want a partnership with the developer because we feel we’re fighting for the very lives of the people in this community.”

Pilgrim-Hunter said KARA has worked diligently with Gross to make sure there’s precedent in other cities for their demands. Masyr cautioned against comparing development deals in different cities, mainly because the Bloomberg administration doesn’t like CBAs.

Given the city’s stance on CBAs, Masyr said Related is actually a pioneer among New York City developers even if there was poor community involvement in previous deals. “We’re early on [benefits agreements],” he said. “We’re all kind of walking a delicate line on this. There are a lot of city agencies that don’t want them in this [land review] process.”

Though Related appears amenable to signing an agreement, that doesn’t mean Related is going to “jump out and agree to everything we want,” said Jeff Eichler, who represents the retailers union on KARA. “I think we’re in the beginning stages of a long dance.”

KARA may not be the sole negotiator. The local community board, CB7, held a community brainstorming session for the Armory project and believes a benefits agreement should be in place. “We’ve developed a very good working relationship with Related,” said CB7 Chairman Greg Faulkner, adding that CB7 and KARA share many of the same goals, in terms of jobs and community space. “But we’re not mesmerized. [Related] has an agenda and we do, too.”

Regardless of its role in any binding CBA, Faulkner’s board is the first stop in the critical land use review process known as ULURP that will help determine the fate of the project. Having a CBA in place, Faulkner said, would let the board know Related is acting in good faith with regard to the community.

Both KARA and CB7, along with Assemblyman Jose Rivera, Carrion, Council Member Maria Baez and representatives from the mayor’s office, are included in an Armory advisory group created by the city’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC), which oversees the project. Janel Patterson, a spokesperson for the EDC, wouldn’t comment specifically on CBAs. “We feel that collaborations such as [the advisory group] are the best way to make sure that a project serves the needs of all stakeholders — the local elected officials, the community, the city and the developer,” Patterson said in an e-mail.

Masyr pointed to the advisory group meetings as an arena where benefits-related talks might play out. “We’re learning that there are no exclusive remedies to making these things happen,” Masyr said.

Pilgrim-Hunter still isn’t sure what the advisory group’s role is, but community benefits agreements have not been high on its agenda, she said.

Whoever ends up hammering out an agreement, the goal is “marrying the wishes of the developer making money and the community getting some great benefits, and creating one of the most unique draws in the Bronx,” Pilgrim-Hunter said.

“Politicians and developers are going to move on, but we’re the ones who have to live with this,” she added.

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No Bailout – Support Communities Instead

October 2, 2008

By None

Letter to the Editor: No Bailout — Support Communities Instead

I realize, of course, that this is a local paper, dedicated to local news, yet I thought that we might want to chat about the economic situation via the Norwood News since this “crisis” and our government’s response is going to impact all of us.

I say, “No Bailout!” because the people involved with this “crisis” knew what they were doing and do not deserve to be “saved.” The banks made unscrupulous housing loans to people who could not really afford them but were duped by low initial interest rates. Then the banks packaged and sold these mortgages to investors, thereby creating a tangled web with no accountability between borrower and lender. Finally, as prices were dropping, these investor companies refused to adhere to any regulation and so instead of stopping the downward plummet, they let the market run amok.

I do not trust this administration. Like Bush’s intervention in Iraq, the bailout has no “exit strategy” and when the economy really sinks, after the bailout, the federal government will be useless, having gone even further into debt than it currently is and losing any chance of recuperation or borrowing power. This is more of the same. Keep in mind the no-bid contracts that gave millions of dollars of taxpayer money to Halliburton, Cheney’s old firm. Now we’re getting ready to gift millions and billions to Goldman Sachs, Paulson’s old firm. And speaking of Paulson, why would we trust him? Paulson got his start working for Ehrlichman, who was convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and purgery in the Watergate scandal. Paulson then went on to work for Goldman Sachs for the next three decades where, according to a quick Wikipedia check, he did quite well. Paulson is worth $700 million, after receiving compensation packages from Goldman Sachs of $37 million in 2005 and $1.6 million in 2006.

Let’s try bottom up finances for a change. Let’s cap all mortgage rates at 2 or 3 percent. That would allow homeowners to pay their mortgages and give the banks some cash. It would stabilize housing prices, after some adjustment, and stabilize whole neighborhoods. If we want to spend billions of dollars we don’t actually have, let’s spend it on infrastructure — bridges, mass-transit, re-designed streets with bicycle paths, more school buildings, gardens and playgrounds for children, all the things that we’re always told we can’t afford. These things would bring us something real for our tax dollars, things that we need to build a safe, environmentally clean future along with many economy-boosting employment opportunities.

Looking forward to the discussion.

Megan Charlop

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Neighborhood Notes

October 2, 2008

By None

Community Health Fair

The North Division of Montefiore Medical Center will hold a Community Health Fair on Saturday, Oct. 4 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Bronx Boulevard between East 229th and East 233rd streets. The fair will offer medical screenings, voter registrations, light refreshments and the Harvest Home Farmers Market. For more information, call 1-800-MD-MONTE.

Family Fitness Festival

PS/MS 20, with help from the 52nd Police Precinct, is putting on a fitness festival for community members on Saturday, Oct. 4, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Frish Baseball Field (Webster Avenue and Mosholu Parkway). Events include softball, tug of war, and relay races. Admission is $1 per person (children under 4 are free). Groups of 5 or more are $5. For more information, call (718) 515-9370 ext. 3155.

Free Civics Classes

Prepare for the U.S. Citizenship Exam. Classes are free and limited to 20 people. Those interested must register in person and be able to speak English at an intermediate or higher level. Register at the Mosholu Library at 285 E. 205th St. (near Perry Avenue). Plan to attend all three classes on Saturdays, Oct. 25, Nov. 1, and Nov. 8. For more information, call (718) 882-8239.

Speech Center Program

The Mt. St. Ursula Speech Center is accepting applications for its fall program. The Center, located at 2885 Marion Ave., has morning and early afternoon openings for children ages 2 to 5 who are in need of speech and language services. Children can work in small groups or individually. Medicaid and some types of insurance are accepted. For more information, call (718) 584-7679.

Tour de Bronx

Join the Montefiore Team on Sunday, Oct. 19 (rain date Oct. 28) as they promote healthy living by participating in New York’s largest free cycling event. The Tour de Bronx includes both 25-mile and 40-mile rides with a Grand Finale Festival at the New York Botanical Garden. To register online, visit www.tourdebronx.org and write MonteTeam in the comment box. For more information, call Roberto Garcia at (718) 324-4946.

Adult ESL and Computer Classes

PS 94 on Kings College Place will offer ESL levels 1 and 2 and Computer Skills classes beginning in September through summer 2009. Both classes meet Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Computer classes will be taught in English and will include lessons on keyboarding, Microsoft Word and other programs. Registration is first come, first served. For more information, call Ms. Seminario, the parent coordinator, at (347) 563-4772 or (718) 405-6345.

English Classes

The New York Public Library is offering free classes in English for speakers of other languages which began in September at the Bronx Library Center, 310 E. Kingsbridge Rd. (off Fordham Road). For more information on other locations, call the Library’s Office of Community Outreach Services at (212) 340-0918 or visit www.nypl.org/calendar.esol.html.

Annual Latino HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

The Montefiore Medical Center’s AIDS Center, along with the Bronx HIV CARE Network, will be holding their 6th annual Latino event on Friday, Oct. 24 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Free HIV counseling and testing, blood pressure screenings, and educational materials on HIV and disease prevention will be provided. Musical performances and special guest speakers will also be featured throughout the day. The event will take place in the Cherkasky Auditorium of Montefiore Medical Center, 111 E. 210th St. (entrance on Gun Hill Rd). For more information, call (718) 231-3296.

Alzheimer’s Support Group

Farmers Market

Fun Fair and Flea Market

The Bedford Park Congregational Church, located at 309 E. 201st St. on the corner of Bainbridge Avenue, will hold its Annual Fun Fair and Flea Market on Saturday, Oct. 25, from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Congregation invites all to join them for bargains, food, fellowship, raffles and prizes. For more information contact Rev. Dr. Christopher Ponnuraj at (718) 367-8996.

BCA Seeks Bronx Writers and Recording Artists

Karate Classes at MMCC

The Mosholu Montefiore Community Center, located on Gun Hill Road. and DeKalb Avenue, will be offering a wide selection of Karate classes for elementary school students, teens, and adults starting in the next few weeks. The classes are offered for all levels on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Classes are affordable and discounts are available. To register or for more information, call Luis Morales weekdays at (718) 944-3290 or the MMCC at (718) 882-4000 ext.0.

After School Child Care

Registration is now taking place for the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center’s after-school child care programs at 3450 DeKalb Ave., for children in kindergarten through 6th grade. The Discovery Club, located at the main building on Gun Hill Road and DeKalb Avenue is offering staff escort from PS 94, PS 280, St. Ann’s, MS 80 and van service from PS 8, PS 94 Annex, PS 56 and 56 Annex, St. Brendan’s, St. Philip Neri, PS 41, Visitation and PS 95. For complete information or to register, call Ruth Moore weekdays at (718) 944-3207.

Cancer Survey

In order to improve the support services for all those affected by cancer, the Psychosocial Oncology Program of the Montefiore-Einstein Cancer Center is conducting a survey about the physical and emotional stresses related to surviving cancer. Open to all those whose lives have been touched by cancer, participants will fill out a short questionnaire and will have the opportunity to participate in free/low-cost programs and support services. For more information, call (718) 430-2380.

Free GED and Business Courses

The State University of New York’s North Bronx Career Center located at 3950 Laconia Ave., at East 224th Street, is now accepting applications for the fall semester. Classes offered are GED Prep and basic to advanced MOS Certification Computer classes. Free training in Business Office Technology (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), Job Readiness (Resume, Cover Letter, Interview Skills) and Pre-Certification Training in various careers (Child Care, Security and more). All students wishing to apply must meet state income and academic guidelines. This is an HRA-approved program. Classes began in September. To begin the application process or for more information, call (718) 547-1001.

Aphasia Clinic Accepting Clients

The Lehman College Speech and Hearing Center, which provides therapy on a sliding scale payment schedule, is now accepting new clients in its recently-expanded aphasia clinic. The clinic will provide individual and group therapy sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays from noon to 1 p.m. and 2 to 3 p.m.; group therapy sessions also take place on Tuesdays from 1 to 2 p.m. Diagnostic and therapeutic sessions will be supervised by faculty members who are licensed by the NYS Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology and certified by the ASHA (American Speech Language Hearing Association). For more information, call Wanda Adams at (718) 960-8138.

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A Giant Leap for Lehman

October 2, 2008

By Jordan Moss

Talk about scientific advancement.

In 2011, aspiring science students and faculty at Lehman College will move from Gillet Hall, a 1930s building that was never really designed for laboratory work, and other disparate campus quarters, to a stunning new “green” structure that will rise in the leafy campus’s northwest corner near the APEX gymnasium.

The new 69,000-square-foot Science Building will bring all of Lehman’s scientific disciplines under one roof. Lehman’s president, Dr. Ricardo Fernandez, said there had been little interaction among students and researchers in different disciplines, but that the new building will “allow us to bring the sciences to one location.”

It helps scientific discovery and collaboration, he said, to have chemists rubbing shoulders with physicists, biologists and even psychiatrists, Fernandez said at a groundbreaking last Wednesday.

The facility will be home to the undergraduates, graduate and doctoral students, and even aspiring science teachers.

The project is the first new laboratory building in what is being called the CUNY Decade of the Sciences. And the structure will also be a showcase of sustainable engineering. It will collect and filter stormwater for maintenance. A native grass wetland in the main courtyard will serve as a teaching and research tool, while using the same filtered stormwater. And solar hot water panels will convert sunlight to energy.

The building, designed by the firm Perkins and Will, will be completed in two phases, totaling 207,000 square feet and $276 million. The second phase, which will include additional dry and wet labs, classrooms and a lecture hall, is slated for completion in 2015. And a third phase will eventually modernize Gillet Hall and join it to the new building with an elevated walkway.

The entire project is the most significant one undertaken during Fernandez’s 19-year tenure at Lehman. While the bulk of the APEX was completed after he started at Lehman, it was planned by his predecessor, Leonard Lief.

“This one I had to work for,” he said, referring to the Science Building, which he began pushing for in the late 1990s.

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Out & About

October 2, 2008

By Judy Noy

Onstage

The Lehman Center for the Performing Arts Concert Hall, located at 250 Bedford Park Blvd. W. presents a salsa concert featuring Eddie Palmieri and his Orchestra, soloist Giovanni Hidalgo, and The Latin Giants of Jazz, Oct. 11 at 8 p.m. (tickets are $35 to $50); and Song and Dance Ensemble of West Africa, Oct. 19 at 4 p.m. (tickets are $20 to $35; $10/children 12 and under). For more information, call (718) 960-8833.

Lehman College’s Chamber Players will perform a free concert of classical works in Lehman’s Music Building Recital Hall, 250 Bedford Park Blvd. W., on Oct. 5 at 2 p.m. Featured performers include cellist Andre Emelianoff and pianist and Lehman music professor Diana-Mittler Battipaglia. For more information, call (718) 960-8247.

The CUNY Institute for Irish-American Studies presents Irish Musicians and Dancers, performing at Lehman College, 250 Bedford Park Blvd. W., Oct. 12 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 to $50 ($5 off with student ID). For more information, call (212) 864-5400.

The Bronx Library Center hosts An Afternoon of Puerto Rican, Cuban and Dominican Folkloric Music, performed by Cuatrisimo, including salsa and merengue, Oct. 4 at 2:30 p.m. Moving on to Spain, there’s Flamenco Music and Dance by Arts Flamenco, presenting the history of flamenco, including an explanation of the instruments used and dance performances, Oct. 11 at 2:30 p.m. The Center is located at 310 E. Kingsbridge Rd. off Fordham Road. For a detailed schedule, call (718) 579-4244/46 or visit www.nypl.org.

Wave Hill presents a three-concert series, Blue Notes at Wave Hill. The second concert, Ignacio Berroa Quartet, features a Latin take on jazz on Oct. 12 at 2 p.m., at the Wave Hill House. Tickets are $15 for members, $24 for non-members, and $21 for students and seniors over age 65. Advance purchase is recommended. Wave Hill is located at West 249th Street and Independence Avenue. For more information or to reserve, call (718) 549-3200 ext. 385.

Events

Viva Bronx Festival, a 12-day celebration of the borough, from Oct. 1 through 12, will feature numerous activities, including the Bronx Latin-American Biennial Exhibition and the Bronx Hispanic Festival featuring art exhibitions, films, tournaments, crafts, music, food, and theatre. A Hip-Hop Theatre Festival featuring Danny Hoch’s free one-man show on gentrification, Oct. 1 to 4, will be held at Hostos Community College, 450 Grand Concourse. Other activities will feature multi-cultural performances, vendors, stick walkers, clowns, and children’s rides, Oct. 5, at 500 Grand Concourse. For more information, call (718) 931-9500 or visit www.bronxarts.org.

JASA Van Cortlandt Senior Center, located at 3880 Sedgwick Ave., presents Alex Epelman performing big band sounds on his keyboard, featuring ballroom and popular dance standards, Oct. 12. A holiday meal will be served at noon. Suggested contribution for lunch and entertainment is $3. Fore more information, call (718) 549-4700.

The Bronx Council on the Arts’ (BCA) Longwood Arts Project presents Fort Apache Revisited, a panel discussion, including visual references, about the Apache people and the movie, ”Fort Apache, the Bronx.” The discussion will be held at the Longwood Art Gallery at Hostos Community College, located at 450 Grand Concourse at 149th Street, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m., in conjunction with the Fort Apache Connection exhibit, at the gallery through Nov. 10. For more information, call the gallery at (718) 518-6728 or BCA at (718) 931-9500.

Wave Hill offers up two family art projects: Structures With Plants and Rugs, to construct a sculpture from wood, cardboard, recycled materials, soil and growing plants, Oct. 4 and 5; and Animal Families, to view videos of penguins, sea birds and other polar inhabitants, and help you sculpt a family of creatures from the Antarctic Peninsula, Oct. 11 and 12; both in the Kerlin Learning Center from 1 to 4 p.m. Wave Hill is located at West 249th Street and Independence Avenue. For more information, call (718) 549-3200 or visit www.wavehill.org.

The New York Botanical Garden’s Tulip Tree Allee hosts its Farmers Market, Wednesdays through Oct. 29, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. It offers seasonal produce, home-baked goods and natural products from New York State farmers and merchants. There will be free demonstrations and educational and fun programs from noon to 2 p.m. on the first and last Wednesday of each month. The Garden is located at Bronx River Parkway and Fordham Road. For more information, call (718) 817-8700.

Exhibits

Fort Apache Connection, an exhibit containing works by contemporary Apache artists presented in conjunction with the Fort Apache Revisited panel discussion on Oct. 4, will be held at the Longwood Art Gallery at Hostos Community College, located at 450 Grand Concourse at 149th Street through Nov. 10. Its Opening Reception will take place on Oct. 3 from 5 to 9 p.m. For more information, call the gallery at (718) 518-6728 or BCA at (718) 931-9500.

Street Art, Street Life: From the 1950s to Now, on view through Jan. 25, is a collection of photography, documentation of performances, events, and artwork at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, located at 1040 Grand Concourse at 165th Street. The museum is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, and from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays. Suggested admission is $5 for adults, $3 for students and seniors and is completely free on Fridays. For more information, call (718) 681-6000.

The Bronx Library Center hosts an exhibit of photographs by Arlette Landestoy called Weekend Visitors to Inwood Park Hill (The Dominican People), presented by En Foco, through Oct. 31. The Center is located at 310 E. Kingsbridge Rd. off Fordham Road. For more information, call (718) 579-4244/46 or visit www.nypl.org.

Take a peek into the story of Freedomland – New York City’s Disneyland, through Oct. 19, at the Valentine-Varian House or Museum of Bronx History. The exhibition tells the story of the American History-themed amusement park opened in 1960 on the 205-acre site now home to Bay Plaza and Co-op City. The museum is located at 3266 Bainbridge Ave. at East 208th Street. For more information, call (718) 881-8900.

The New York Botanical Garden presents Moore in America, featuring approximately 20 pieces of installation pieces by Henry Moore, through Nov. 2, running concurrently with The Art of Henry Moore, the documentary film shown Fridays to Sundays at noon and 2 p.m. in the Arthur and Janet Ross Lecture Hall. Children can create works of art, including a collage and clay sculptures, in the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, Tuesdays through Fridays from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. For more information, call (718) 817-8700.

Learning

The Bronx Library Center has events for all ages:

For children and preschoolers, there are films on Oct. 1 and 15 at 4 p.m.; Preschool Romp, Oct. 2, 9 and 16 at 11 a.m.; and Family Time, Oct. 11 at 11 a.m.
Also, for school-aged children, there is The BLCs, Oct. 6 at 4 p.m.; Click on the Web, Oct. 2 and 16 at 4 p.m.; Gourd Heads Craft, Oct. 9 at 4 p.m.; and Peter Pan, Oct. 11 at 2 p.m.

Young adults can attend Music Discovery, Oct. 3 at 4 p.m.; Mario Kart Tournament, Oct. 6 at 4 p.m.; and Reading Podcast, Oct. 15 at 4 p.m.

Adults can attend Hispanic Genealogy Fair, Oct. 4 at 10 a.m.

The Center is located at 310 E. Kingsbridge Rd. off Fordham Road. For a detailed schedule, call (718) 579-4244/46 or visit www.nypl.org.

The Mosholu Library presents Toddler Time, Oct. 2 at 10:30 a.m.; Preschool Story Time, Oct. 9 at 10:30 a.m.; and Far Out Physics: Electricity, Oct. 14 at 4 p.m., all for young children. The library is located at 285 E. 205th St. For more information, call (718) 882-8239.

The Jerome Park Library at 118 Eames Place, hosts Big Jeff Music Celebrates Halloween, Oct. 8 at 3:30 p.m.; and Once Upon a Storytime, Oct. 14 at 3:30 p.m., both for young children. For more information, call (718) 549-5200.

NOTE: Items for consideration should be received in our office by Oct. 6 for the next publication date of Oct. 16.

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Do School Report Cards Miss Full Picture?

October 2, 2008

By Alex Kratz

Principal Eddice Mebane-Griffin, whose school, PS 15 in University Heights, scored better than 94 percent of all New York City public schools on Education Department latest School Progress Reports, isn’t going to let the achievement go to her head.

“I wouldn’t say I’m ecstatic,” Mebane-Griffin said in a phone interview last week when asked if she was excited to learn about her school’s “A” on the city’s Progress Report’s controversial new grading system implemented last year by Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. “I’d say we’re doing the best that we can possibly do.”

That’s generally about the level of excitement you’ll find from the city’s public school administrators about the new progress reports, which assign each school an overall letter grade (the highest being A, the lowest an F) based mostly on the school’s test scores in state math and English language arts exams. The grades will be used to either reward or penalize schools based on their results.

A number of advocates and education policy experts have criticized this test-centric approach by the Department of Education (DOE). But Andrew Jacob, a DOE spokesman, says that, according to the department’s research, those scores often determine a student’s ability to succeed in high school. “A student who scores a three and a half [students are tested on a scale of 1 to 4] at the eighth grade level has a much better chance of graduating high school than someone who scores a one or a two,” Jacob said. “Our job is prepping kids to graduate.”

Opponents of the grading system don’t deny this, but they say the grading system can be misleading.

Leonie Haimson, the executive director of Class Size Matters, a nonprofit that focuses on lowering class sizes among other education issues facing New York City, is not a fan of the new system. The main problem, she said, is that the grading system focuses on students’ and schools’ progress on tests from one year to the next, which can fluctuate dramatically based any number of factors, according to statistical research by a Harvard education professor. Those fluctuations are even more dramatic for smaller schools, the research found.

“You could roll the dice and you’d come out with something as accurate,” Haimson said. “It means more test prep [and less focus on a well-rounded education].”

The DOE, however, has increased the weight of that one-year progress in its grading formula. Now, 60 percent of a school’s grade is based on progress. Another 25 percent is based on test performance, while the remaining 15 percent is based on how well they do in a school environment survey given to faculty, students and parents. Schools earn “extra credit” points for improving scores for its special needs students.

Jacob didn’t address the problem of random fluctuation between a school’s scores year-to-year, but did say he thought the tests were telling because they were looking at the average of all the students at school, not just a select few. He added that progress was weighted more heavily this year because of feedback from teachers and administrators.

Jacob argues that test progress accurately measures how a given student improves in a school from when they first start at the school. For this reason, schools are judged and scored based on comparisons with other “peer” schools. Elementary schools are clumped mostly by demographic data and middle schools by their students’ previous test score results.

“We’re looking at, say, two kids, with similar backgrounds that come into different schools, but get different results,” Jacob said. “We’re looking at where the students start and seeing how much academic progress they’ve made.”

PS 8 Principal Rosa Maria Peralta’s school scored a solid B for the second consecutive year, but like Mebane-Griffin, she’s not ecstatic either. Two years ago, the state designated PS 8 a school “In Need of Improvement” and it steadily improved its test scores since then. So, for her school anyway, she says, the grading seems fair and accurate. “It’s a clear picture of how we’re doing,” Peralta said. “We actually are moving our students.”

One of the DOE’s main selling points for the grading system is that it identifies groups within a school that aren’t performing or improving. Peralta acknowledged this, but said focusing on improving one group or sub-group comes with dangers. It might lead to the neglect of higher-performing groups or stigmatizing the failing group.

“As a school leader, you should know where you are [in terms of student progress],” Peralta said. “And it’s not only the children in need, but even the ones who are doing well, with the 3s or 4s.”

Both Mebane-Griffin and Peralta say they will use the grades and spend some time this fall analyzing them, but urged parents and the public not to put too much weight into them.

“One particular test on one particular day doesn’t tell the journey that a school has travelled,” Mebane-Griffin said.

Ed. note: To find out how your school scored in the DOE’s latest School Progress Reports, go online and visit www.schools.nyc.gov and punch in the number for your school.

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Khmer, Vietnamese Raise Health Issues With Monte

October 2, 2008

By Rebecca Chao

Health leaders and members of the Bronx’s Southeast Asian community gathered at the Bronx Library Center on Kingsbridge Road on Sept. 18 to discuss the health issues affecting the borough’s Vietnamese and Cambodian populations.

The “Health Justice Forum” was organized by the Youth Leadership Project (YLP), a project of CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities, a Valentine Avenue based non-profit.

The three-hour event sought to bring attention to the community’s poor health, and the need for translation services, culturally competent staff, and herbal remedies at Montefiore Medical Center.

According to the 2005 American Community Survey, approximately 1,000 Cambodians live in the Bronx, mainly in the Fordham Road area. Most came to the United States in the late 1970s to escape the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. The Bronx’s Vietnamese community – which numbers more than 3,000, according to Census figures – arrived in the country after the fall of Saigon in 1975. They, too, chose Fordham as their new home.

For these war-torn refugees, experiences of torture, oppression, and starvation have led to mental health disorders, such as depression and anxiety. They also experience high rates of diabetes and heart disease.

For the past year, YLP has been meeting with Montefiore staff to talk about the community’s needs, as well as resources and funding. But the relationship between the hospital and borough’s Southeast Asian population goes back decades.

In the early 1980s, Montefiore established the Indochinese Mental Health Clinic, to provide services to the newly arrived refugees. The clinic, staffed by a social worker and part-time psychiatrist, still exists at the Montefiore Family Health Center on East 193rd Street, but Montefiore reassigned its two full-time Vietnamese and Khmer translators in 1998, citing financial constraints. Instead they rely on bilingual staff members who do not receive additional pay to translate, and who are not technically required to do so under their employment contracts.

Back in 1998, CAAAV and several Montefiore employees protested Montefiore’s decision, instigating a federal civil rights investigation. While the full-time translators were never reinstated, CAAAV kept the issue alive.

“The problem as we see it is that Montefiore is not hurting for funds and has not invested anything beyond words thus far,” says Shaun Lin of the YLP. “It would not require much on their behalf — a small investment in a full-time translator or training program for the current staff at the clinic — to get the ball rolling.”

At the health forum, Dr. Zach Rosen, the Medical Director of the Montefiore Family Health Center, said that providing full-time translation is a complicated matter. In a telephone interview he said, “I would love to see an expansion of services,” but adds that effective, full-time translators require extensive training in medical language and equipment. Rosen says Montefiore has held meetings with CAAAV for the past year and is “trying to find funding sources.”

Touch Si came from Cambodia in the mid-’80s after losing contact with her 15 brothers and sisters. “I don’t go to appointments because there are no translators,” she said through a CAAAV translator.

Montefiore requires doctors to call an information line operated by Pacific Interpreters when they need help with translations during an appointment. But Si says of phone translators, “You can’t show what is happening to you or where you feel pain.”

Patients often use their children to interpret during hospital appointments, said those at the forum, which can cause problems. YLP Youth Organizer Jimmy Le relates how, as a young child, he mistranslated and told doctors that his mother was “mentally insane.” She was actually experiencing chronic headaches and “mental pain.”

Though it is not written policy, Rosen says that child translators are frowned upon and considered unethical, especially for relaying potentially traumatic medical information.

But even when English is understood, cultural barriers persist.

Heang Tan, of Khmer Health Advocates, a Connecticut-based group, shared a story that recently appeared in the Boston Globe. Cambodian immigrant Heap You told doctors she feared her neck would explode. Thinking she was mentally ill, they put her on anti-psychotics, and referred her to psychiatrist, who discovered that You, like many Cambodians, believed poor circulation of wind inside the body could trigger explosions of air through the neck.

Cambodians treat this problem with “cupping,” placing heated glass cups on the skin to “suck out” excess air. To reassure You, the psychiatrist told her that her neck would not explode and encouraged her to undergo cupping. His cultural sensitivity helped gain You’s trust, and he was able to correctly diagnose her problem. He removed her from the anti-psychotics and prescribed medication to address her insomnia and anxiety.

Tan says that doctors must understand both a patient’s medical history and their cultural history.

Rosen agrees. “Rather than have a patient be ashamed of their traditional medicine techniques, like cupping, they could see it actually offered at the hospital.” He says that culturally sensitive medicine has already been incorporated at Lowell General Hospital in Massachusetts and he’s hoping Montefiore will follow suit.

Lin, of the YLP, said his group is anxious to see action. “Despite Montefiore’s openness to having these conversations, there seems to be a lot of resistance [to change],” he said.

Ed. note: The Norwood News is published by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center.

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Public and Community Meetings

October 2, 2008

By None

• The Croton Facility Monitoring Committee will meet on Thursday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. For location or more information, call (718) 231-8470.

• Community Board 7 will meet on Tuesday, Oct. 21. For location or more information, call (718) 933-5650.

• The 52nd Precinct Community Council will meet on Thursday, Oct. 23 at 7:30 p.m. For location or more information, call (718) 220-5824.

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Calling Card Fraud Bill Advances

October 2, 2008

By Peter Mullin

New legislation attempting to limit the abuses of telephone calling card companies has cleared another hurdle in the House of Representatives, moving it one step closer on its way to requiring stricter government regulation of how the $4 billion industry treats its consumers.

Bronx Congressman Eliot Engel’s bill, the Calling Card Consumer Protection Act, was unanimously passed by a subcommittee on Sept. 16 and will now go for consideration before the House as a whole. If the bill were signed into law, it would require calling card companies to clearly disclose all terms, conditions, and fees in their advertisements and would ensure that the Federal Trade Commission has the ability to enforce these regulations.

“These fees take considerable money out of consumers’ pockets every time they pick up the phone,” Engel said in a statement. “This deception is costing consumers and honest companies hundreds of millions of dollars each and every year.”

According to figures cited by Engel in his statement, on average, calling cards only provide to consumers 60 percent of the minutes they guarantee. And in noting that calling cards are often helpful to those who make frequent overseas calls or who cannot afford regular service, Engel said that the average 40 percent lost especially hurts those who are low-income, minorities or immigrants.

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Seeking School Recognition of Muslim Holidays

October 2, 2008

By Peter Mullin

The Coalition for Muslim School Holidays met recently in the Bronx Courthouse Rotunda in preparation for a City Council hearing on the possibility of the inclusion of the holy days of Eid Ul-Fitr and Eid Ul-Adha in the official public school calendar as holidays.

Citing religious discrimination by the Department of Education, the coalition claims that Muslim students are forced to make an unfair decision between attending school and observing their principal religious holidays.

The Eids, as explained in a flyer distributed by the group, are considered the two most important holidays in the Muslim faith and draw a comparison to Christianity’s Christmas and Judaism’s Yom Kippur. Eid Ul-Fitr is described as a “time of joy and thanksgiving” celebrated at the end of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting which ended last week, while Eid Ul-Adha is “a day of remembrance.”

According to the group’s flyer, New York City is the quickest growing Muslim community in the nation, home to over 600,000 Muslims, including one in eight of the city’s public school students.

Joined by several Bronx politicians at the courthouse, the several-hundred-strong coalition laid out their plan of action and then, as the sun set, communally broke their daily fast.

Two Bronxites, Adeeb Ameen, an English teacher, and one of his students, 19-year-old Moussa Fofana, attended the rally. From Ameen’s experience in the city’s public schools, the issue, he said, is usually more about practicing Islam in school rather than about days off for holidays. “I don’t think [not having the days off] bothers most of the families,” said Ameen. “[They] just take the day off. They’re not held back from celebrating.”

For Fofana, the student, the situation was fairly cut and dry. “I really think they should give [the days off] to us,” he said. “We follow all the school rules and everything. If it’s a school rule we respect it. So if it’s a Muslim holiday we should have that day off, too. Respect one another’s rules.” —Peter Mullin

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Bronx Congressmen Split on Bailout Plan

October 2, 2008

By Alex Kratz

Despite significant pressure from the Bush administration and an imploding financial market, federal lawmakers had yet to reach an agreement on a proposal to use $700 billion in taxpayer funds to bail out Wall Street banks and investment firms as of press time on Monday night.

Lawmakers in both houses appeared to reach a tentative agreement on Sunday and on Monday morning, Bush praised Congress for crafting a “bold” rescue plan. But the plan was put to a vote Monday afternoon and was shot down, 228 to 205, causing another plunge in the stock market.

With the Jewish New Year on Tuesday, it appeared a deal wouldn’t get done until Thursday at the earliest.

The rescue plan was supported by a majority of Democrats and opposed by a majority of Republicans, but large swaths of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle voted either way.

In the Bronx, Congressman Eliot Engel (17th District), a Democrat, voted for the bill, while Congressman Jose Serrano (16th), also a Democrat, voted against the bill.

Serrano cited the bill’s failure to offer enough assistance to financially distressed homeowners facing foreclosure. “I understand the need to shore up our nation’s big banks to prevent a larger problem, but I cannot support such an action if it does nothing to help the millions of people facing foreclosure,” Serrano said in a statement. “Leaving them out of this package is shortsighted and guarantees that we will have to address the problem in the next Congress.”

Without help for homeowners, Serrano said, the bill remained a hypocritical piece of legislation. “Where was this concern over the past year when our communities have suffered from the mortgage crisis? For them we were told: ‘They got in over their heads and must take responsibility for their actions.’ But when the rich bankers get in over their heads, we’re told they must be rescued.”

Last summer, Bronxites began feeling the pinch of an impending economic downturn as many of the borough’s neighborhoods, including Fordham and University Heights, were hit particularly hard by the mortgage crisis, causing many homeowners to default on their loans.

Of the 29-member New York delegation, besides Serrano, only three others voted against the bill: Democrats Maurice Hinchey (22nd) and Kirsten Gillibrand (20th district) and Republican Randy Kuhl (29th).

Proponents of the plan say without the bailout, the nation’s economy could spiral into a freefall and increase the likelihood of a prolonged recession. Opponents like Serrano want to know why taxpayers should bail out Wall Street firms whose greed and imprudent decision-making led to their own downfall in the first place, while the majority of the population is left twisting in the wind.

“If this package had been balanced — bailing out Wall Street and Main Street, I would have been more inclined to support it,” Serrano said in his statement. “I am sad to say that it was not balanced.”

Joseph O’Brien, a spokesman for Engel, said in an e-mail that the Congressman thought, “the plan did direct the Treasury Department to implement a plan to mitigate mortgage foreclosures and to encourage lenders to modify loans or mortgages.”

[UPDATED FOR WEB] Later on Monday, Engel released a statement explaining his vote. "I vote for this measure because I believed it was in the best long and short term interest of the nation," Engel said.

He went on to say that although the bill wasn’t ideal, it was a "compromise" he was wiling to accept because it included "Congressional oversight, the elimination of ‘golden parachutes,’ the disbursement of funds in stages, and most importantly, the guarantee that the American taxpayer would receive any profit that came from the sale of the loans to the financial industry."

Several lawmakers across the nation say their constituents have raised significant questions about the bailout proposal. Serrano was one of them.

“Why did several members of my community who work hard and pay their bills come to me and say: ‘Mr. Serrano, we hear about this bailout package for Wall Street, and we have to know, who’s going to bail us out?’ Don’t they deserve a fair shake from the government too?” Serrano said in an earlier statement about the plan.

In his statement on Monday, Engel took a swipe at some of his Congressional colleagues, who, like Serrano, voted against the bill. "Unfortunately, there were other members toady [who] were more interested in voting their ideology saying it was ‘my way or the highway.’ Other members appeared to be certain to vote ‘no’ on any version of the bill."

[Editor's note: this story was updated from an earlier print version.]

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Democratic Leadership Struggle In Limbo

October 2, 2008

By Jordan Moss

A dramatic bare-knuckles battle over the leadership of the Bronx Democratic Party suitably unfolded on Sunday night in the borough’s most famous theatrical venue which now also hosts professional boxing matches.

While it appeared at press time that the party’s longtime leader, Assemblyman Jose Rivera, had been unseated in the high-stakes political showdown at the Utopia Paradise Theater, a judge was expected to have the final say later in the week.

A significant number of the borough’s elected officials broke ranks with Rivera, the veteran chair of the Bronx County Democratic Committee, over the last several months, fed up with what they say is Rivera’s failure to broaden the party and support leaders who are not Hispanic.

The Rebels picked up steam earlier this month when they successfully backed Elizabeth Taylor, an African-American judicial candidate for Civil Court to challenge Rivera’s choice, Maria Matos, in the Democratic primary. They also defeated each of the Assembly candidates Rivera put up to challenge the incumbent lawmakers.

Two meetings

Confusion reigned at press time because there were basically two meetings at the Paradise Sunday night. At the first one, Council Member Maria Baez, the committee’s first vice chair, presided over the meeting, ignoring those challenging Jose Rivera for the chairmanship. Assemblyman Carl Heastie, Rivera’s challenger, sat quietly behind Baez at a table with Stanley Schlein, the party lawyer, who severed his longtime allegiance to Rivera recently and joined forces with the so-called Rainbow Rebels. The word from the rebel Assembly members who were milling around the audience was that they were just patiently waiting for the end of what they considered an illegal meeting to begin their own meeting, which is exactly what they did.

Baez, and later Council Member Larry Seabrook, asked for a voice vote on the leadership motions, but they only acknowledged the ayes even when the no votes were significantly louder than the yeses. Rivera gave a brief, defiant acceptance speech and then led all of his supporters out of the theater.

Then the Rebels took over and went through a number of procedural motions, which ended in the election of officers, including Heastie as chairman of the executive committee, replacing Rivera. Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, one of the architects of the takeover, was elected chairman of the County Committee, which is the position Heastie held previously. Assemblyman Michael Benedetto was elected treasurer, and Assemblyman Michael Benjamin was elected parliamentarian. Assemblywoman Aurelia Greene retained her position as secretary. (On the other team, Council Member Oliver Koppell was elected parliamentarian to reward his staunch backing of Rivera, a puzzlement to many in the Dinowitz contingent, who are also Koppell’s core constituency.)

Registration books

Rivera may face an uphill battle because even though he had bused hundreds of supporters to the hall, very few of them had the yellow wristbands that identified them as registered members of the County Committee that would authorize them to vote in the deliberations. Dinowitz, Heastie and Benedetto had bused in hundreds of registered committee members who signed their names in registration books supplied by the Board of Elections — much like a registered voter would in a regular election or primary.

Committee members run on slates with district leaders and Assembly members, but while an Assembly district might have 300 or so slots for County Committee members, many of these slots go unfilled in some districts, or are occupied by people who no longer participate.

At one point there was a scuffle onstage over the registration books. It seemed that Rivera’s supporters had taken possession of them, but eventually Schlein got them back — a little rumpled but intact — with the help of some security guards.

Without the registration books or any official record of the first meeting, Rivera may have his work cut out for him. The Rebels, on the other hand, had the registration books in their possession, a stenographer’s record of the proceedings (they hired one for the occasion), and a previous court ruling (the one that prohibited them from scheduling their own County Committee hearing at Co-op City last week because the venue wasn’t large enough) that authorized Heastie, the committee chairman, to run the meeting. Dinowitz argued in an interview on Monday that Baez didn’t call the necessary executive committee meeting to re-elect Rivera, and wouldn’t have had the votes if she tried since 15 of 24 district leaders —key votes on the executive committee — stood with the Rebels.

If Rivera is unseated as party leader, he will still be an assemblyman, but he will lose the power of the office to support his preferred candidates, including his son Joel Rivera, the Council majority leader who is running for borough president and his daughter, Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera.

At press time on Monday evening, the outcome of the leadership fight was unclear. Any potential court action would likely take place later in the week due to the Jewish holidays. There was no answer at Rivera’s County Committee office on Monday afternoon.

Asked Monday if he had any news, Dinowitz said, “I don’t know what news there is. I’m the chair of the county committee. If they refuse to give up the reins of power, then legal action could very well become necessary.”

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