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Neighborhood Notes

By Norwood News

Free English and Citizenship Classes
The Kingsbridge Heights Community Center, 3101 Kingsbridge Terrace, is enrolling students for free English as a Second Language (ESL) and Citizenship classes. Classes run from Feb. 17 to June 30. For more information, call Aisha Abdul-Wahhab, program director, at (718) 884-0700 ext. 191 or 132.

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.

MS 80 Needs Love
MS 80 is asking parents and community members to show some love and volunteer for just an hour each week. The school needs mentors, math and reading tutors, part-time coaches and volunteers to help with cafeteria duty. For more information, call Ms. Alejandro (718) 405-6300 ext. 111.

Flea Market Needs Donations
The Bedford Mosholu Community Association needs donations for its flea market, to be held on March 7. Please bring old and new items to the BMCA office at 400 E. Mosholu Pkwy. S., #B1 (lobby floor). Donations will be accepted Feb. 25 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., Feb. 28 from 1:30 to 4 p.m. and March 4 from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Free Summer Vacations for Kids
The Fresh Air Fund is currently registering boys and girls, ages six through 12, for free summer vacations in the homes of volunteer host families throughout the northeast or at one of five Fresh Air Fund summer camps in upstate New York. To find out how to register, call (800) 367-0003 or go to www.freshair.org.

Dominican Celebration and Concert
The Bronx’s official Dominican Heritage Celebration is on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 5 p.m. at Hostos Community College, 500 Grand Concourse. Admission is free. RSVP (718) 590-3989. The celebration, featuring live entertainment and traditional food, will be followed by a concert by Fernando Villalona “El Mayimbo.” Concert tickets can be purchased through Hostos box office at (718) 518-4455.

Free After School Program and Evening Teen Center
The Mosholu Montefiore Community Center is accepting registration for their free after school program at Tracey Towers, 40 W. Mosholu Pkwy. The program meets Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. and is open to children in the third through sixth grades. From 6:30 to 9 p.m. the free Teen Center is open for youth from 12 to 18. Programs include homework help, computers, arts and crafts, sports, acting, and quiet games. To register, stop by the Youth Community Room on the second floor of Tracey Towers and speak to Antonie Fields, or call him at (917) 482-5039.

Seeking Foster Parents
The Foster Care Network is urgently looking for adults who want to become foster parents to provide a stable home and guidance to children in the upcoming year. For more information, call Jacob Kramer, outreach coordinator at (800) 454-3727 ext. 129.

Free 2009 Parking Calendars
Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz is offering free New York City Parking Calendars to community residents. To receive one, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to his office at 3107 Kingsbridge Ave, Bronx, NY 10463, or stop by the office in person.

Join Local Education Council
The Bronx Borough President’s Office is interviewing candidates to fill its vacancy on Community Education Council District 10. Members are unpaid volunteers and serve for two years. The right candidates will have experience in business, trade or education. E-mail resume and cover letter to the Borough President’s Director of Education Policy, Mr. Jesse Mojica, at jmojica@bronxbp.nyc.gov or fax documents to (718) 590-4690.

Free Career Workshops
The State University of New York, located at 3950 Laconia Ave., is offering free career workshops, including job readiness training, resume and cover letter preparation, help with job searches and computer skills, job placement assistance, an Office Skills Certificate Program, college prep and more. For more information, call (718) 547-1001 or visit www.NBX.SUNYEOC.org.

MetroCard Bus/Van
The MTA’s MetroCard buses and vans will make scheduled stops at Fordham Plaza (Fordham Road and Third Avenue) from 2:30 to 4 p.m. and at Fordham Road (Grand Concourse) from noon to 2 p.m., both on Feb. 27. Another stop will be at Scott Tower, 3400 Paul Ave. (at West 205th Street), from 1 to 3 p.m. on Feb. 23. Reduced MetroCards will be available for senior citizens and persons with disabilities. For more information, call (212) METROCARD.

English Conversation Program
Intermediate Level, is offered free for adults 16 and older, on a first come, first served basis, at the Mosholu Library, 285 E. 205th St., led by volunteers from New York Cares. The program will be held Tuesdays through March 10, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. For more information, call Library’s Office of Community Outreach Services (212) 340-0918.

Marketing Workshops for Business Owners
The Small Business Development Center is offering workshops on marketing to small business owners. “Preparing Marketing Materials” is on Feb 24. Workshops are held at Lehman College, 250 Bedford Park Blvd West. Please register at (718) 960-8806 or email clarence.stanley@lehman.cuny.edu.

After School Programs
The Mosholu Montefiore Community Center is now accepting enrollment at its after school programs at the Bronx New School, P.S. 16, and P.S. 24. The programs serve children in kindergarten through 6th grade and offers a variety of activities. For more information, call Ruth Moore at (718) 944-3207 on weekdays.

Boxing, Karate and Self-Defense Classes
The Mosholu Montefiore Community Center, 3450 DeKalb Ave., still has openings for children, teens and adults who are interested in Boxing, Karate, and Self-Defense classes. For more information, contact the center at (718) 882-4000 x 0.
      
Schizophrenia Study Seeking Participants
A research study seeking new treatments for schizophrenia is looking for patients in the Bronx. Candidates must be 18 to 65 years old, diagnosed with schizophrenia at or before age 35 and currently on certain medications for schizophrenia. Patients can enroll through the first half of 2009. For more information, call (888) 988-6736 or go to www.cognitivestudy.com.

Free Workshops for Children With Special Needs
Resources for Children with Special Needs, Inc. is offering a series of free community workshops for families of children, youth and young adults with disabilities. The next workshop is “Transition from School to Adult Life” on Mar. 4, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Workshops are held at the Jewish Child Care Association, 555 Bergen Ave. For more information, call Gary Shulman at (212) 677-4650 or email gshulman@resourcesnyc.org.

Job Opportunities
On Dec. 1, Mayor Bloomberg announced the expansion of free job placement services through New York City’s Workforce1 Career Centers. The centers provide personalized career counseling, interview training, resume/cover letter assistance, workshops and ESL classes. For more information, call the Bronx Workforce1 Center, 358 E. 149th St., (718) 960-7099.

After School Care
The Mosholu Montefiore Community Center, 3450 DeKalb Ave., provides after school care for children in elementary school. Children are transported from their schools in Norwood, Bedford Park, Williamsbridge and Van Cortlandt Village. The center provides a snack, help with homework, and an array of activities to keep children busy. Financial aid is available. For more information, call Ruth Moore, Program Registrar, at (718) 882-4000.

Computer and English Classes
Fordham University, 557 E. Fordham Rd., is currently holding free computer and English Language classes for parents on Mondays through Thursdays and on Saturdays. Classes can either stand alone or as an 8- to12-week series. For more information or to register, call (718) 817-3503.

Wii Games for Adults and Seniors
On Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4 p.m., adults and seniors can enjoy free Wii video games at the Mosholu Library, 285 E. 205th St. To sign up, go to the Adult Information Desk. For more information, call (718) 882-8239.

Place for Teens With Issues
The Power Project is a free program for teens ages 12 to 18 who are dealing with substance abuse and other problems. Located at 3464 Webster Ave., Power Project provides case management, individual and group counseling, trips, and is just a place to get away from it all. For more information, call (718) 515-7971.

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.

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.

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. 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.

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.

After School Child Care
Registration is now taking place for the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center’s after-school childcare 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.

Preschool New Enrollment
The Mosholu Montefiore Community Center now has more space available for childcare. There are new classrooms for 2- to 4-year-olds at the center, located at 3450 DeKalb Ave. For more information, call (718) 882-4000.

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.

Free Respite Program
Kingsbridge Heights Community Center (KHCC) is offering free after-school services to families with mentally retarded or developmentally disabled children ages 5 to 21 from 3 to 6 p.m. KHCC is also offering a Saturday Respite Program for ages 15 to 25, and on Sundays another Respite Program is provided for ages 18 to 65. Weekend Respite Program hours are from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. They are held at the KHCC, 3101 Kingsbridge Terrace (near Sedgwick Avenue) at West 230th Street. To register or for more information, call Hanna Gabris at (718) 884-0700 ext. 202.

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 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.  

Foster Parents Needed
The Foster Care Network is asking families to open their hearts and homes to foster children. For more information, call (800) 454-3727.

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.

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.

 

Out & About

By Judy Noy

Onstage
 

•  The Lehman Center for the Performing Arts presents The National Acrobats of China, including martial arts, illusion and traditional music from China, March 8 at 4 p.m. (tickets are $20 to $35; $10 for children 12 and under) in the Concert Hall at 250 Bedford Pk. Blvd. W. For more information, call (718) 960-8833.

 

•  Lehman College, 250 Bedford Pk. Blvd. W., presents two free performances: The Con Brio Ensemble performing chamber music in the Recital Hall/Music Building 306, Feb. 19 at 12:30 p.m.; and Jorge “Fable” Pabon featuring hip-hop and its history, Feb. 26 at 12:30 p.m. For more information, call (718) 960-8715.

 

•  The Bronx Library Center, located at 310 E. Kingsbridge Rd. off Fordham Road, hosts Cuban Tribute to Charlie Parker by Hot House Band, Feb. 21; and Mariachi Real de Mexico, Feb. 28; both at 2:30 p.m. For more information, call (718) 579-4244/46 or visit www.nypl.org.

Events

•  The JASA Van Cortlandt Senior Center at 3880 Sedgwick Ave. will host soprano Sigal Chen and pianist Jonathan Dzik, performing Broadway, Hebrew and classical music, Feb. 19; and the Island Breeze Caribbean Ensemble, Feb. 22; both at 1 p.m., preceded by lunch at noon. The suggested contribution for each is $3. For more information, call (718) 549-4700.
•  Revolution!, produced by Bronx musicians and artists, is a new rock ‘n roll dance party, to be held Feb. 21, 10 p.m. till late, at the Bruckner Bar & Gallery, 1 Bruckner Blvd. at Third Avenue, featuring live music and art ($7; $5 with flyer). For more information, RSVP to www.going.com.

 

•  The Bronx Culture Trolley, a replica of a 20th-century trolley, transports visitors on the first Wednesday of every month, to Bronx hot spots, ending at Sweetwaters Bar & Grill for jazz, food and drink. A reception is held at 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. New attractions are added monthly. Trolley ride is free. The next trip is on March 4. For more information, call (718) 931-9500 ext. 33 or log on to www.bronxarts.org.

Exhibits

•  The Bronx Museum of the Arts, 1040 Grand Concourse at 165th Street, presents an exhibition series commemorating the Grand Concourse’s centennial. March 5 through July 20 features The Grand Concourse at 100, which deals with the past. For more information, call (718) 681-6000 or visit www.bronxmuseum.org.

 

•  The Orchid Show: Brazilian Modern, designed by landscape architect Raymond Jungles, will take place in the New York Botanical Garden’s Haupt Conservatory from Feb. 28 through April 12.  During this exhibit, a complementary hands-on children’s program, Chocolate and Vanilla Adventures, will be held in the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, to learn about the plant origins of these two sweet treats, including making and tasting these products. Call for schedule (718) 817-8700.

 

•  The Young and the Restless, an exhibition of six emerging artists based in New York, featuring painting, sculpture, and photography, will be held at the Gordon Parks Gallery, 332 E. 149th St., Feb. 21 (with an opening reception from 4 to 7 p.m.) through May 3. For more information, call (718) 665-1310 or (914) 654-5427.

 

•  The Bronx River Art Center, located at 1087 E. Tremont Ave., presents two solo exhibitions through March 14, featuring New York artists Jillian McDonald in Gallery 1 and Jennifer Grimyser in Gallery 2. For more information, call (718) 589-5819.

 
Learning
 
The Bronx Library Center has events for all ages:

• For children and preschoolers, there is Preschool Romp, Feb. 19, 21.
• Also, for school-aged children, there is The Peanut Prince: George Washington Carver, Feb. 22 at 2 p.m.; The Thespian’s Gym, Feb. 23 at 4 p.m.; The Remix, Feb. 24 at 5 p.m.; Arts & Crafts: Stick Puppets, Feb. 26 at 4 p.m.
• Young adults can attend Halo 3 Tournament, Feb. 23 at 4 p.m.; Kawaii Club, Feb. 25 at 4 p.m.; Super Smash-A-Thon!, Feb. 27 at 4 p.m.
• For adults, there is Wii Bowling for Seniors and Adults, Feb. 27 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 Jerome Park Library, at 118 Eames Place, presents Stories and Tales From Around the World, Feb. 20 at 2:30 p.m.; Arts & Crafts, Feb. 24 at 4 p.m.; and a film, March 3 at 4 p.m.; all for children; and Mardi Gras Party, Feb. 26 at 4 p.m., for young adults. For more information, call (718) 549-5200.

NOTE: Items for consideration should be received in our office by Feb. 23 for the next publication date of March 5.

If Adolfo Goes to Washington

By Alex Kratz

In the mid-1990s at a meeting about the fate of the then recently abandoned Kingsbridge Armory, we were chatting with School District 10 official Bruce Irushalmi about the new councilman for the area, Adolfo Carrión.  “He could be governor some day!” an impressed Irushalmi said.

You don’t hear that much anymore.  Carrión is still ambitious and may still be headed for the political stratosphere, but it’s been a long time since Bronxites talked like that or rooted for him to be governor or mayor or anything else.

That’s largely because he has promoted large, unpopular development projects by running over community opposition. 
Only three of 18 community groups signed on to the Gateway Mall Community Benefits Agreement because the rest considered the process a sham. 

And he kept his stadium opponents out in the cold (literally, on the occasion of one critical public hearing where supporters were bused in) and then threw those who didn’t do his bidding off the community board.

This brand of leadership is not the kind practiced by Carrión’s prospective new boss, President Barack Obama, who encourages dissent to strengthen his own ideas and programs.  Obama knows he’s smart but also knows he doesn’t know everything.

If Carrión makes it to the White House, we hope and expect that he will be a strong voice for the Bronx and urban needs and that he learns valuable leadership lessons from Obama.

In the meantime, we wish the borough president and his family well and look forward to following his important work at such a critical time in our borough’s, and our nation’s, history.

Robust Flavors Flow at La Familia

By Jennifer Mitchell

Presentation, as evidenced by the décor and obvious pride with which the food is prepared and served, is important at La Familia Mexican Restaurant and Bar in Norwood.

This relatively new restaurant, located at 334 E. Gun Hill Rd., a couple of blocks west of Webster Avenue, strives to accommodate patrons and succeeds in creating a warm and welcoming environment. For example, insisting that tap water just wouldn’t do, a staffer ran next door to get an ice cold bottle of water for me on my second visit. 

The narrow dining area is painted in soothing terra cotta. Dark and shiny wooden tables are surrounded by glass-backed chairs. The wooden bar is mirrored and features a variety of beer and wine selections as well as a flat-screen TV (which typically shows Telemundo sports for the working men taking a lunch break).

That day’s lunch was tacos: the chorizo (Mexican sausage) and carne asada. Beautifully displayed with lime and radishes, the soft tacos came double-wrapped in melt-in-your-mouth corn tortillas. Each was filled to the brim with meat and topped with bits of crispy lettuce, onion and tomato (chopped into the smallest pieces imaginable) and carefully dressed in a light cilantro and vinegar dressing.

La Familia’s chorizo is cooked like crumbly ground beef, different from, and more lean than, its West Texas counterpart, which tends to be more like chunky sausage. The spicing of the chorizo is robust and intense. The carne asada was a mixture of chorizo and very tender and thin pan-fried pork. Both came with salsa verde, a thin, yet spicy, spring green sauce that you can drizzle over your meal. And you should, it produces tons of good spicy flavors.

The chicken soup, which I also tried, is just as good. A rich broth, topped with bits of cilantro, is home to a chicken leg and thigh, lots of thick cut carrots and potatoes, a little celery and green beans, and half an ear of corn. It’s served with a small platter of finely chopped sweet onions, parsley and lime, along with corn tortillas.

From breakfast to fruit shakes and juices, the menu is fairly extensive. There are also Ecuadorian options, such as guatita, a tripe stew in a potato peanut sauce and seco de pollo, a chicken soup made with vegetables and beer.

Ed. note: La Familia Mexican Restaurant and Bar is open seven days a week (hours may vary) and offers delivery and catering service. The phone number is (718) 515-9848.

Riders Make Final Plea to Stave Off Transit Cuts

By Chloe Tribich

Wielding signs reading “rescue the riders” and “Access-A-Ride should be free,” an angry crowd occasionally broke into chants and spirited applause at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) final hearing on proposed fare hikes and service cuts in the Bronx.

About 450 people packed the auditorium at Lehman College on Feb. 4 to protest the MTA’s plan, which includes elimination of the Bx34 bus, overnight Bx10 service and station customer assistants at stations throughout the city, including the 205th Street D train station.

A host of speakers spoke passionately against a proposed Access-A-Ride fare hike, which would raise the cost of van rides for seniors and disabled people from $2 to $5 or $6.
“You’re taking and you’re not giving us anything,” said Joyce Hume, 75, a dialysis patient from Soundview who said she uses Access-A-Ride 10 times a week.

Bernarda Rivera-Velez, an advocate from Staten Island Developmental Disabilities Services, trekked from the other end of the city to show opposition to the Access-A-Ride fare hikes. “It’s not fair,” she said. “We need to keep the fare where it is.”

“Please, please, please save Access-A-Ride,” said Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum. “I beg of you.”

Andreeva Pinder, vice president of the Station Department of Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 100, attended to protest the possible elimination of station staff. “It’s not just for riders,” she said. “Sometimes people come in from off the street when they’re being accosted because they know someone is in there.”

Others focused their opposition on the MTA’s proposed cuts to bus routes and base fare hikes. In addition to the Bx34 and Bx10, other Bronx lines slated for elimination or reduction are the Bx33, Bx4, Bx8, Bx14, Bx19, and Bx20. A single ride could be raised to as much as $3.

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, who spoke at the hearing along with a handful of other Bronx politicians, said he supports many recommendations of the Ravitch Commission, the governor-appointed panel that advised tax increases to avert the worst service cuts and fare hikes. But he was angry that the state legislature, which is responsible for enacting these tax increases, had been forced into the position of saving public transit service.

“It’s offensive to me, them saying ‘tell your legislators [to fix the transit budget],’” said Dinowitz. “The deficit is partly their own incompetence.”

The legislature must act before the MTA’s final vote, but MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said the date for the vote is in flux.
“It’s likely the board will meet and vote in early March,” he said, adding that the nature of final cuts will depend on the actions of the state legislature. Implementation of service cuts would be staggered throughout the spring.

Gene Russianoff, a spokesman for the New York Public Interest Research Group’s (NYPIRG’s) Straphangers ampaign who testified at Lehman, said the State Senate would be holding its own hearings on Feb. 18 in Brooklyn and Feb. 19 in Harlem.

“The [state] Assembly is more likely to take action quicker” to pass the Ravitch recommendations, he said. “The margin of victory in the Senate is [more] narrow,” but he said he expected the worst of the cuts would be averted.

By the start of the hearing, lines to pass through two metal detectors snaked through the hallway. Some riders waited until midnight to testify, though by that time, MTA CEO Elliot Sander, who was the target of much of the crowd’s animosity, had left the building.

Public and Community Meetings

By None

•    CB7 Committee Meetings: The Traffic and Transportation Committee will meet on Monday, Feb. 23. The Parks Committee will meet on Thursday, Feb. 26. Both committees meet at 6:30 p.m. at the Community Board office, 229A E. 204th St. For more information, call (718) 933-5650.
•    The 52nd Precinct Community Council will meet on Thursday, Feb. 26 at 7:30 p.m. at the Fordham Methodist Church, 2543 Marion Ave. For more information, call (718) 220-5824.
•    The Croton Facility Monitoring Committee will meet on Thursday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. at the Department of Environmental Protection office, 3660 Jerome Ave. For more information, call (718) 231-8470.
•    The Bronx Coalition for Parks and Green Spaces is celebrating its 15th annual Bronx Parks Speak Up! on Saturday, February 28, noon to 5 p.m. at Lehman College in the faculty dining room. Registration will begin at 11:30 a.m. and lunch will be provided for all participants. For more information and to RSVP, email bronxspeakup@hotmail.com.

Baez Yet to File Finance Reports

By Ivonne Salazar

Though she’s yet to file financial disclosure forms with the Campaign Finance Board, Council Member Maria Baez confirmed to the Norwood News that she is indeed running for a third term in the 14th District, which is now crowded with candidates who want her seat.

Observers were left wondering whether Baez was running for a third term when she neglected to file mandatory financial reports with the Campaign Finance Board by the Jan. 15 deadline. The reports, which are required by law from every candidate, include campaign finances from July 12, 2008 to Jan. 11, 2009, and are reviewed by the Campaign Finance Board to determine if candidates are eligible to receive 6 to 1 matching funds. The reports are required even if candidates are not interested in funding.

When asked if she would file, Baez said, “Of course. I can’t do it alone,” referring to the public funding provided by the Campaign Finance Board. Baez did not say when she plans to file.

Eric Friedman, a spokesman for the Campaign Finance Board, wouldn’t comment on Baez’s case, but did say candidates who neglect to file by the Jan. 15 deadline face penalties ranging from $25 to several hundred dollars for every day after the deadline passes. In addition, Friedman said the board would not provide funds to candidates who miss the deadline.

Baez came under heavy media scrutiny in 2008 for having the worst attendance record in the entire City Council, a 2007 cell phone bill that totaled $17,765 and her support of a pro-landlord bill in a district filled with renters.

Baez did file financial reports with the Board of Elections — also required for every candidate — that indicate her campaign raised $15,740 in 2008, and $69,214.51 over the past three years.
“Disclosure is a very important part of the process to provide the public with a view into the candidate’s finances,” said Friedman. “If they fail to provide that transparency, there are consequences.” The next deadline is March 15.

Baez faces competition from several other candidates, including Yudelka Tapia, a community activist and city auditor; Fernando Cabrera, a pastor and Mercy College professor; and Yesenia Polanco, the former chief of staff for Council Member Annabel Palma.

“It’s time for new leadership,” Cabrera said. “[Baez] has the worst attendance record. I have yet to hear anything positive about her [from the community]. She’s going to run because she has nothing to lose.”

Baez admitted missing meetings last year, but explained that responsibilities to seven committees, as well as an ongoing illness, affected her attendance record.

With regard to re-election, Baez said, “It’s the community’s decision and whatever the decision is, I will respect it.”

Housing Bills Put Spotlight on Espada

By Rachel Waldholz

The New York State Assembly passed a package of bills last week aimed at preserving affordable housing and expanding tenants’ rights, including a repeal of vacancy decontrol, the top priority for New York City affordable housing advocates.

The fate of the bills now rests with the State Senate, and particularly with newly elected State Senator Pedro Espada, Jr. (Bronx, 33rd District), chair of the Senate’s Housing Committee. Espada has expressed support for many of the bills’ provisions but has yet to sign on to a new bill repealing vacancy decontrol, the first of the package to reach the Senate.

Michelle O’Brien of Housing Here and Now, an alliance of affordable housing and tenants’ rights groups, called the repeal of vacancy decontrol “the single most important thing the State Legislature could do in 2009 for affordable housing.”

Vacancy decontrol affects all apartments subject to rent regulation, the largest affordable housing program in New York. Tenants in rent-regulated apartments have more rights, and landlords are subject to strict limits on the amount and frequency of rent increases. Vacancy decontrol, passed by the legislature in 1997, allows landlords to withdraw apartments from rent regulation once the monthly rent reaches $2,000. Landlords can then charge market rate, which is usually much higher. The Assembly bill would end vacancy decontrol and “recapture” units which have left the system, reinstating limits on rent increases and expanding tenant protections.

Housing advocates argue that vacancy decontrol makes bad behavior profitable for landlords. 

“As well as the loss of affordable apartments, [vacancy decontrol] gives landlords an incentive to reach that decontrol threshold through tenant harassment, inflated apartment improvements and illegal rent increases,” said O’Brien.

Similar bills have passed the Assembly before, but died in the Republican controlled Senate. But the new Democratic majority in the State Senate, the first in 40 years, means it now has a chance. Bronx Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz said the new Democratic majority campaigned on housing reform, and has a responsibility to pass the bills.

“We’ve been hoping for years that Democrats would take the Senate, and this was one of the main reasons why,” Dinowitz said.

In an interview last month with the Norwood News, Espada called the creation of affordable housing his top priority, and expressed particular support for the repeal of vacancy decontrol. But he has not taken a position on the current bill.

Although it is early yet, 22 of the 32 Democrats and one Republican have already signed on as co-sponsors. O’Brien said that activists hope Espada will throw his weight behind the bill, pointing out that he has 76,000 rent-regulated tenants in his district, more than all but two other districts in the city. Espada didn’t return calls requesting comment.

Joseph Ferdinand, a housing advocate with the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, said he met with a very non-committal Espada two weeks ago in Albany with several other local activists.

“He was double-talking us to death,” Ferdinand said. “Whenever we brought [vacancy decontrol] up, he would change the subject.”
Espada did commit to continued dialogue with the Coalition, Ferdinand said.    

Risk-Taking Leader Sparks Center’s Turnaround

By Alex Kratz

Even in a borough full of immigrants from distant lands, Eva Bornstein, the charismatic head of the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts, is still rather exotic.

With her thick Polish accent and dry European wit, Bornstein stands out. But far from being a detriment, Bornstein says her outsider status has helped her lead the borough’s only performing arts center back to relevance.

Her experience as an outsider, however, doesn’t stem from her childhood in Poland, her early career in Ontario or her ability to speak Russian, German and French. In fact, she says, the biggest adjustment was coming to the Bronx from her last job as executive director of a performing arts center — in suburban New Jersey.

“In so many ways, this opportunity at Lehman is a totally new challenge for me,” Bornstein says.

The Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, NJ, where Bornstein previously worked, was well-established and performances were well attended.

That was not the case at Lehman Center, when Bornstein took the job in 2005.

Since her arrival, however, Lehman’s enjoyed a dramatic turnaround. Attendance at the Bedford Park concert hall has doubled in the last three years to 25,000. The operating budget has also doubled from $1 million to $2 million. And renovations, including a new state-of-the-art sound system and new carpeting, have made the venue considerably more inviting.

Much of that can be attributed to Bornstein’s efforts.

“The turnaround was completely Eva,” says Charles Rice-Gonzalez, Lehman Center’s soon-to-be departing marketing director who has worked there since 2001. “At that time [2001], it was inconceivable we could get to the point where we are now.”

Bornstein, 54, says the most important thing she’s done is learn about the community. “What I did was take stock of my surroundings and thought about what people would want to see, what they would pay to see.”

What she found was a large Latino population and so she started booking salsa shows, which have become staples of the center’s annual lineup. Now, in addition to the 10 or so cultural shows, such as the Moscow ballet or the Dublin Orchestra, the center puts on around 10 salsa shows a year.

She’s also not afraid to take risks.

“We don’t play it safe here,” Bornstein says. “We try to pick groups and performers that add a new dimension.”

This past December, Bornstein brought in reggae pop star Sean Paul, who is popular with younger, MTV-watching, audiences. Though it wasn’t a total disaster, Bornstein said they didn’t sell nearly enough tickets to break even.

Still, Bornstein says she’d do it again, just differently.

Sometimes her risk taking also leads to big-time success, like when she brought in Latin jazz legends Gato Barbieri and Jose Feliciano to be co-headliners in January. Co-headliners cost more money, representing an even bigger risk.

The show, which was the first either Barbieri or Feliciano had ever played in the Bronx, turned out to be one of the most successful in the center’s history. Rice-Gonzalez says the show’s success was typical Eva. “Sometimes, when she brings something up, we think, ‘how can we possibly make that work,’ and then it becomes wildly successful.”

Bornstein says she relies heavily on her talented and versatile employees, who she says are more like family than staff.

She says she hasn’t had to cut any of that staff or reduce her budget, despite the recent economic downturn and cuts in funding — the Department of Cultural Affairs recently slashed the center’s annual grant from $300,000 to $97,000. To compensate, Bornstein says she cut the center’s youth series.

Despite the economy, Bornstein has not scaled back her big plans for the center’s future. She’d like to continue building the local audience and also have Lehman become a destination venue for a diverse audience throughout the city and surrounding suburbs (free parking and close mass transit will help, she says).

“As Obama would say, we want to create a rich fabric of ethnicities and nationalities and combine them under one roof,” Bornstein says.

Man Shot Dead in Car on Decatur

By David Greene

A longtime resident of Decatur Avenue in Norwood was shot dead early on Valentine’s Day as he was getting into his car to go to work.

Police say they discovered Michael Lorge, 42, sitting behind the wheel of a red Mitsubishi with two bullet holes in his head at 5:43 a.m. The car, which belonged to his companion Paul Garrison, was parked just across the street from where the couple lived at 3228 Decatur Ave.

Though some neighbors heard at least one loud gunshot, police were responding to a report of an unconscious person sitting in his car, according to police reports.

At the crime scene, Mark, a 42-year-old resident of the block who declined to give his last name, said he was a lifelong friend of Lorge’s and attended elementary and middle school with him at St. Brendan’s School. He watched as medical examiners laid out the victim’s body on the sidewalk beside the red Mitsubishi.

“He was a really smart guy,” Mark said. “I want to find out what happened. Was it a mugging or a vendetta? I knew the guy my whole life.”

Detectives do not believe robbery was the motive as Lorge’s wallet and other valuables were not touched.

Later that day, Garrison, 38, who was briefly taken to the 52nd Precinct for questioning, talked to reporters from the front door of the home the two shared. “His boss called me and asked me where he was, and I saw his car was still there and the police told me what happened,” Garrison said.

Visibly shaken and distraught over the loss of his companion of 14 years, Garrison called the killing “senseless.” He added, “My life ended when his did, he was everything to me.”

Garrison later left the home and returned with a bouquet of roses, which he left on the sidewalk near where Lorge had died.

One of Lorge’s neighbors, who declined to give his name, said it was common knowledge in the neighborhood that Lorge was involved in a long-term dispute with his landlord over rent. “The apartment was rent controlled but they wanted to make it rent stabilized,” the man said. “He was supposed to be in court on Tuesday. I understand they shot him as he got into his car.”

Garrison confirmed that Lorge had been battling his landlord, Ndue “Tony” Gelaj, 63, the owner of Fishman Realty, which has its offices on East 208th Street, in Housing Court over the rent of the 5-room apartment. Lorge had been paying just $257 a month, and was due back in court on Tuesday, Feb. 17.

Someone attacked Lorge just before his last Housing Court date, in April 2008, Garrison said. Lorge suffered a broken nose, but was not robbed during the attack. He filed a police report, but no suspects were apprehended, Garrison said.

Since then, Garrison said Lorge had kept all the documentation from two previous Housing Court cases in a red briefcase, which police found alongside his bloody body in the red Mitsubishi.

Repeated calls to Fishman Realty and the Yonkers home of the landlord were not returned.

More evidence may be forthcoming. At least one video camera was spotted on a private home across the street from the shooting and residents claim there are several on the block. One resident claimed there were two young women who live in a nearby building and may have witnessed the killing.

Lorge was a dispatcher for a Yonkers cab company and also hosted a radio show for a nonprofit Web site on Mondays and Saturdays. He also played keyboards and was a big train buff.

A service for Lorge will be held at St. Brendan’s Church on Thursday, Feb. 19. Police said the investigation is ongoing.

Reactions Vary as Carrión Eyes White House Post

By Chloe Tribich

When the 40-year-old Adolfo Carrión was sworn in as Borough President in January 2002, his political career appeared bound for the stars.

The Bronx Democratic machine, led by Roberto Ramirez, had selected Carrión, a young, articulate City Council member, as its candidate over party veteran Jose Rivera, a state assemblyman who had mentored Ramirez and other young Puerto Rican political leaders.

The decision paid off. Carrión, in just his second political campaign, narrowly prevailed over well-known Democratic competitors Pedro Espada, Jr. and June Eisland.

At Carrión’s inauguration, City Comptroller Bill Thompson said, “We’re looking at another citywide elected official.”

Destined for Big Stage?

Carrión’s career now seems poised on the brink of advancement beyond city politics. In December, during a speech at Yale, he announced he would soon be accepting a top position in the Obama administration, throwing his candidacy for this year’s City Comptroller race (for which he’s raised more than a $1 million) into question.

Rumors swirled about Carrión becoming secretary of Housing and Urban Development, but with that post now filled by Shaun Donovan, the city’s former housing commissioner, the borough president is reportedly Obama’s choice to head a new White House Office on Urban Policy.

At press time, Obama had not named his urban policy czar. Valerie Jarrett, a senior presidential adviser, said in an e-mail that “no decision has been made” on the post. [Update: the Daily News is reporting that Carrion will become President Obama's new director of urban policy.]

With term limits extended, the borough president could still decide to stay where he is. But with his hat still in the ring for comptroller and the White House rumors on full boil, Carrión has scheduled what will probably be his final State of the Borough address for Feb. 20 at Lehman College.

Carrión’s rise has been steady. The son of a Pentecostal preacher, Carrión graduated from the evangelical Kings College, serving a stint as an associate pastor before earning his master’s in Urban Planning from Hunter College. He began his political climb as district manager of Community Board 5 in the west Bronx. In 1997, backed by the party machine, he was elected to the City Council in the 14th District. He served only one term before running for borough president.

With little formal policymaking role, the borough president is primarily the borough’s advocate-in-chief. (Before the City Charter revision in 1989, borough presidents wielded tremendous power over budgets on the Board of Estimate.). So, it’s difficult to quantify Carrión’s performance over the past seven years. Still, during his tenure, Carrión has overseen a handful of controversial big-ticket development projects that will likely define his Bronx legacy.

Boom or Bust?

Carrión often highlights the borough’s progress in development, telling audiences that the “Bronx is booming.” Like the rest of the city, during Carrión’s tenure, the Bronx enjoyed a construction boom, including three mammoth projects: the new Yankee Stadium, Gateway Mall and the Croton Water Filtration Plant.

On the filtration plant, Carrión mostly ceded the political stage to Assemblyman and Party Chair Jose Rivera, who cut a controversial deal that resulted in over $200 million for Bronx park rehabs and paved the way for the vastly over-budget and highly controversial project in Van Cortlandt Park. But he was the cheerleader-in-chief for the Yankee Stadium and Gateway Mall projects and took heat for his handling of both.

In his 2007 State of the Borough address, Carrión highlighted the “Yankee Stadium Neighborhood Development Plan,” which included “a community benefits agreement (CBA) between the Yankee organization and the neighborhood for community based programming.”

Although the agreement does include some tangible benefits, including an $800,000-a-year fund for local nonprofit groups, it was criticized for being crafted behind closed doors without input from community leaders or grassroots groups. The local community board opposed it. The agreement, which included exaggerated job creation projections, was also faulted for being unenforceable.

Meanwhile, the new stadium is being built with the help of hefty public financing on the neighborhood’s primary parkland and the old stadium has yet to be razed to make way for replacement community ballfields. Many other promised replacement parks are far behind schedule.

“He neglected the community in favor of giving the Yankees what they wanted,” said Joyce Hogi, a longtime community leader who fought the plan.

Lukas Herbert, one of several former Community Board 4 members who opposed the stadium project and whose term was subsequently not renewed by Carrión, has e-mailed the White House expressing opposition to a federal appointment for the borough president.

“Displacing many acres of parkland to give a parking lot to one of the richest sports teams in the world, if that is what you stand for — that is insane,” he said, referring to the Yankee Stadium deal.
Carrión also promised a new ice skating rink — its status is unclear — and a sports-themed high school, which never got off the ground.

Still, the stadium has some local supporters. D. Lee Ezell, now the chair of CB 4, has known Carrión since the mid-1980s. She insisted the media coverage of the deal was unfair and cited Carrión’s work opposing the construction of schools on contaminated sites in Mott Haven as one example of his community credentials.

“I don’t think the president could make a better choice when it comes to urban policy,” Ezell said.

Still, the CBA for the Gateway Mall was also widely criticized for being crafted without much community input, and advocates say penalties for the mall’s developer, The Related Companies, for non-compliance is negligible.

The CBA for that project “was so bad that most people ran away from it,” said Richard Lipsky of the Neighborhood Retail Alliance. Only three of the 18 community groups involved from the beginning of the project signed off on the agreement.

Related officials admitted the agreement wasn’t perfect, but said the community would still benefit from it, mostly through job training and placement programs.

Carrión refused interview requests for this article.

Housing, Schools and Jobs

Aside from the signature big development projects, Carrión’s administration has also touched on many other areas of public policy.

The creation of affordable housing — particularly his efforts at promoting environmentally-sound development — have drawn Carrión praise. “Adolfo has put the Bronx on the vanguard of green affordable housing,” said Nancy Biberman, founder and director of the Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation, adding that WHEDCo’s latest building, Intervale Green, received funding through one of his initiatives.

Ronn Jordan, a leader and former president of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC), a major grassroots group in the borough known for pressuring and placing “demands” on elected officials at public meetings, praised Carrión, commending him in particular for allocating $66,000 to the Leadership Institute, a high school designed by the Coalition’s youth arm.

Lenny Caro, CEO of the Bronx Chamber of Commerce, said the borough president’s online job bank, “Bronx at Work,” is “tremendously helpful.” However, at press time there were no current job postings on the Web site (due to the bad economy, Caro said). Links to “news” and “event alerts” were also blank and the link to “internships” appeared broken.

“I’ve rarely heard of anyone using [Bronx at Work],” said South Bronx businessman Julio Pabon. “So many people here don’t even have computer access,”

Carrión is widely credited with boosting the ranks and consequently the activism of the borough’s most local form of government, the volunteer community boards, by encouraging residents to apply for membership.

“[Carrión] opened the process by empowering new people to come on,” said Greg Faulkner, chair of Community Board 7, which covers a chunk of the northwest Bronx. Faulkner also gives Carrión credit for not objecting to the board’s choice of Fernando Tirado to be the board’s new district manager, a position that often goes tosomeone with political connections.

On the other hand, Carrión was widely criticized for refusing to renew the memberships of Herbert and the other CB 4 members who opposed the Yankee Stadium plan.

Looking to the Future
Regardless of Carrión’s performance on any number of issues as borough president, most of his political colleagues, even those he’s had tensions with, offer their blessings.

“We all try in different ways to look out for the needs of the Bronx,” Jose Rivera said. “I wish [Carrión] well. I think he would never forget the Bronx.”

State Senator Pedro Espada, Jr., Carrión’s onetime rival, loves the idea of an Obama post for Carrión.

“It’d be wonderful to have two Bronxites, one in Albany and one in D.C., to plan and establish urban policy and deliver resources,” Espada said, referring to his own posts as Housing Committee chair and vice president of the Senate for Urban Policy.

But Fernando Ferrer, who preceded Carrión in office and took a tougher line with the Yankees, was somewhat reluctant to speak.
“I don’t make it a practice to comment on my successor,” Ferrer said, finally adding that “sustainable development and green roofs are two of the better things [Carrión has] done.”

Council Member Helen Foster, who represents the neighborhood surrounding Yankee Stadium, was one of the few elected officials who opposed the new stadium.

“I don’t have any disparaging remarks,” she said. “As Borough President he had to, or should have, listened to the masses, but in this [federal] job his responsibility [would be] directly to the president — it’s like apples and oranges. Time will be the judge.”

By Norwood News

Free English and Citizenship Classes
The Kingsbridge Heights Community Center, 3101 Kingsbridge Terrace, is enrolling students for free English as a Second Language (ESL) and Citizenship classes. Classes run from Feb. 17 to June 30. For more information, call Aisha Abdul-Wahhab, program director, at (718) 884-0700 ext. 191 or 132.

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.

MS 80 Needs Love
MS 80 is asking parents and community members to show some love and volunteer for just an hour each week. The school needs mentors, math and reading tutors, part-time coaches and volunteers to help with cafeteria duty. For more information, call Ms. Alejandro (718) 405-6300 ext. 111.

Flea Market Needs Donations
The Bedford Mosholu Community Association needs donations for its flea market, to be held on March 7. Please bring old and new items to the BMCA office at 400 E. Mosholu Pkwy. S., #B1 (lobby floor). Donations will be accepted Feb. 25 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., Feb. 28 from 1:30 to 4 p.m. and March 4 from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Free Summer Vacations for Kids
The Fresh Air Fund is currently registering boys and girls, ages six through 12, for free summer vacations in the homes of volunteer host families throughout the northeast or at one of five Fresh Air Fund summer camps in upstate New York. To find out how to register, call (800) 367-0003 or go to www.freshair.org.

Dominican Celebration and Concert
The Bronx’s official Dominican Heritage Celebration is on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 5 p.m. at Hostos Community College, 500 Grand Concourse. Admission is free. RSVP (718) 590-3989. The celebration, featuring live entertainment and traditional food, will be followed by a concert by Fernando Villalona “El Mayimbo.” Concert tickets can be purchased through Hostos box office at (718) 518-4455.

Free After School Program and Evening Teen Center
The Mosholu Montefiore Community Center is accepting registration for their free after school program at Tracey Towers, 40 W. Mosholu Pkwy. The program meets Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. and is open to children in the third through sixth grades. From 6:30 to 9 p.m. the free Teen Center is open for youth from 12 to 18. Programs include homework help, computers, arts and crafts, sports, acting, and quiet games. To register, stop by the Youth Community Room on the second floor of Tracey Towers and speak to Antonie Fields, or call him at (917) 482-5039.

Seeking Foster Parents
The Foster Care Network is urgently looking for adults who want to become foster parents to provide a stable home and guidance to children in the upcoming year. For more information, call Jacob Kramer, outreach coordinator at (800) 454-3727 ext. 129.

Free 2009 Parking Calendars
Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz is offering free New York City Parking Calendars to community residents. To receive one, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to his office at 3107 Kingsbridge Ave, Bronx, NY 10463, or stop by the office in person.

Join Local Education Council
The Bronx Borough President’s Office is interviewing candidates to fill its vacancy on Community Education Council District 10. Members are unpaid volunteers and serve for two years. The right candidates will have experience in business, trade or education. E-mail resume and cover letter to the Borough President’s Director of Education Policy, Mr. Jesse Mojica, at jmojica@bronxbp.nyc.gov or fax documents to (718) 590-4690.

Free Career Workshops
The State University of New York, located at 3950 Laconia Ave., is offering free career workshops, including job readiness training, resume and cover letter preparation, help with job searches and computer skills, job placement assistance, an Office Skills Certificate Program, college prep and more. For more information, call (718) 547-1001 or visit www.NBX.SUNYEOC.org.

MetroCard Bus/Van
The MTA’s MetroCard buses and vans will make scheduled stops at Fordham Plaza (Fordham Road and Third Avenue) from 2:30 to 4 p.m. and at Fordham Road (Grand Concourse) from noon to 2 p.m., both on Feb. 27. Another stop will be at Scott Tower, 3400 Paul Ave. (at West 205th Street), from 1 to 3 p.m. on Feb. 23. Reduced MetroCards will be available for senior citizens and persons with disabilities. For more information, call (212) METROCARD.

English Conversation Program
Intermediate Level, is offered free for adults 16 and older, on a first come, first served basis, at the Mosholu Library, 285 E. 205th St., led by volunteers from New York Cares. The program will be held Tuesdays through March 10, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. For more information, call Library’s Office of Community Outreach Services (212) 340-0918.

Marketing Workshops for Business Owners
The Small Business Development Center is offering workshops on marketing to small business owners. “Preparing Marketing Materials” is on Feb 24. Workshops are held at Lehman College, 250 Bedford Park Blvd West. Please register at (718) 960-8806 or email clarence.stanley@lehman.cuny.edu.

After School Programs
The Mosholu Montefiore Community Center is now accepting enrollment at its after school programs at the Bronx New School, P.S. 16, and P.S. 24. The programs serve children in kindergarten through 6th grade and offers a variety of activities. For more information, call Ruth Moore at (718) 944-3207 on weekdays.

Boxing, Karate and Self-Defense Classes
The Mosholu Montefiore Community Center, 3450 DeKalb Ave., still has openings for children, teens and adults who are interested in Boxing, Karate, and Self-Defense classes. For more information, contact the center at (718) 882-4000 x 0.
      
Schizophrenia Study Seeking Participants
A research study seeking new treatments for schizophrenia is looking for patients in the Bronx. Candidates must be 18 to 65 years old, diagnosed with schizophrenia at or before age 35 and currently on certain medications for schizophrenia. Patients can enroll through the first half of 2009. For more information, call (888) 988-6736 or go to www.cognitivestudy.com.

Free Workshops for Children With Special Needs
Resources for Children with Special Needs, Inc. is offering a series of free community workshops for families of children, youth and young adults with disabilities. The next workshop is “Transition from School to Adult Life” on Mar. 4, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Workshops are held at the Jewish Child Care Association, 555 Bergen Ave. For more information, call Gary Shulman at (212) 677-4650 or email gshulman@resourcesnyc.org.

Job Opportunities
On Dec. 1, Mayor Bloomberg announced the expansion of free job placement services through New York City’s Workforce1 Career Centers. The centers provide personalized career counseling, interview training, resume/cover letter assistance, workshops and ESL classes. For more information, call the Bronx Workforce1 Center, 358 E. 149th St., (718) 960-7099.

After School Care
The Mosholu Montefiore Community Center, 3450 DeKalb Ave., provides after school care for children in elementary school. Children are transported from their schools in Norwood, Bedford Park, Williamsbridge and Van Cortlandt Village. The center provides a snack, help with homework, and an array of activities to keep children busy. Financial aid is available. For more information, call Ruth Moore, Program Registrar, at (718) 882-4000.

Computer and English Classes
Fordham University, 557 E. Fordham Rd., is currently holding free computer and English Language classes for parents on Mondays through Thursdays and on Saturdays. Classes can either stand alone or as an 8- to12-week series. For more information or to register, call (718) 817-3503.

Wii Games for Adults and Seniors
On Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4 p.m., adults and seniors can enjoy free Wii video games at the Mosholu Library, 285 E. 205th St. To sign up, go to the Adult Information Desk. For more information, call (718) 882-8239.

Place for Teens With Issues
The Power Project is a free program for teens ages 12 to 18 who are dealing with substance abuse and other problems. Located at 3464 Webster Ave., Power Project provides case management, individual and group counseling, trips, and is just a place to get away from it all. For more information, call (718) 515-7971.

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.

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.

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. 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.

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.

After School Child Care
Registration is now taking place for the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center’s after-school childcare 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.

Preschool New Enrollment
The Mosholu Montefiore Community Center now has more space available for childcare. There are new classrooms for 2- to 4-year-olds at the center, located at 3450 DeKalb Ave. For more information, call (718) 882-4000.

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.

Free Respite Program
Kingsbridge Heights Community Center (KHCC) is offering free after-school services to families with mentally retarded or developmentally disabled children ages 5 to 21 from 3 to 6 p.m. KHCC is also offering a Saturday Respite Program for ages 15 to 25, and on Sundays another Respite Program is provided for ages 18 to 65. Weekend Respite Program hours are from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. They are held at the KHCC, 3101 Kingsbridge Terrace (near Sedgwick Avenue) at West 230th Street. To register or for more information, call Hanna Gabris at (718) 884-0700 ext. 202.

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 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.  

Foster Parents Needed
The Foster Care Network is asking families to open their hearts and homes to foster children. For more information, call (800) 454-3727.

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.

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.

 

By Judy Noy

Onstage
 

•  The Lehman Center for the Performing Arts presents The National Acrobats of China, including martial arts, illusion and traditional music from China, March 8 at 4 p.m. (tickets are $20 to $35; $10 for children 12 and under) in the Concert Hall at 250 Bedford Pk. Blvd. W. For more information, call (718) 960-8833.

 

•  Lehman College, 250 Bedford Pk. Blvd. W., presents two free performances: The Con Brio Ensemble performing chamber music in the Recital Hall/Music Building 306, Feb. 19 at 12:30 p.m.; and Jorge “Fable” Pabon featuring hip-hop and its history, Feb. 26 at 12:30 p.m. For more information, call (718) 960-8715.

 

•  The Bronx Library Center, located at 310 E. Kingsbridge Rd. off Fordham Road, hosts Cuban Tribute to Charlie Parker by Hot House Band, Feb. 21; and Mariachi Real de Mexico, Feb. 28; both at 2:30 p.m. For more information, call (718) 579-4244/46 or visit www.nypl.org.

Events

•  The JASA Van Cortlandt Senior Center at 3880 Sedgwick Ave. will host soprano Sigal Chen and pianist Jonathan Dzik, performing Broadway, Hebrew and classical music, Feb. 19; and the Island Breeze Caribbean Ensemble, Feb. 22; both at 1 p.m., preceded by lunch at noon. The suggested contribution for each is $3. For more information, call (718) 549-4700.
•  Revolution!, produced by Bronx musicians and artists, is a new rock ‘n roll dance party, to be held Feb. 21, 10 p.m. till late, at the Bruckner Bar & Gallery, 1 Bruckner Blvd. at Third Avenue, featuring live music and art ($7; $5 with flyer). For more information, RSVP to www.going.com.

 

•  The Bronx Culture Trolley, a replica of a 20th-century trolley, transports visitors on the first Wednesday of every month, to Bronx hot spots, ending at Sweetwaters Bar & Grill for jazz, food and drink. A reception is held at 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. New attractions are added monthly. Trolley ride is free. The next trip is on March 4. For more information, call (718) 931-9500 ext. 33 or log on to www.bronxarts.org.

Exhibits

•  The Bronx Museum of the Arts, 1040 Grand Concourse at 165th Street, presents an exhibition series commemorating the Grand Concourse’s centennial. March 5 through July 20 features The Grand Concourse at 100, which deals with the past. For more information, call (718) 681-6000 or visit www.bronxmuseum.org.

 

•  The Orchid Show: Brazilian Modern, designed by landscape architect Raymond Jungles, will take place in the New York Botanical Garden’s Haupt Conservatory from Feb. 28 through April 12.  During this exhibit, a complementary hands-on children’s program, Chocolate and Vanilla Adventures, will be held in the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden, to learn about the plant origins of these two sweet treats, including making and tasting these products. Call for schedule (718) 817-8700.

 

•  The Young and the Restless, an exhibition of six emerging artists based in New York, featuring painting, sculpture, and photography, will be held at the Gordon Parks Gallery, 332 E. 149th St., Feb. 21 (with an opening reception from 4 to 7 p.m.) through May 3. For more information, call (718) 665-1310 or (914) 654-5427.

 

•  The Bronx River Art Center, located at 1087 E. Tremont Ave., presents two solo exhibitions through March 14, featuring New York artists Jillian McDonald in Gallery 1 and Jennifer Grimyser in Gallery 2. For more information, call (718) 589-5819.

 
Learning
 
The Bronx Library Center has events for all ages:

• For children and preschoolers, there is Preschool Romp, Feb. 19, 21.
• Also, for school-aged children, there is The Peanut Prince: George Washington Carver, Feb. 22 at 2 p.m.; The Thespian’s Gym, Feb. 23 at 4 p.m.; The Remix, Feb. 24 at 5 p.m.; Arts & Crafts: Stick Puppets, Feb. 26 at 4 p.m.
• Young adults can attend Halo 3 Tournament, Feb. 23 at 4 p.m.; Kawaii Club, Feb. 25 at 4 p.m.; Super Smash-A-Thon!, Feb. 27 at 4 p.m.
• For adults, there is Wii Bowling for Seniors and Adults, Feb. 27 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 Jerome Park Library, at 118 Eames Place, presents Stories and Tales From Around the World, Feb. 20 at 2:30 p.m.; Arts & Crafts, Feb. 24 at 4 p.m.; and a film, March 3 at 4 p.m.; all for children; and Mardi Gras Party, Feb. 26 at 4 p.m., for young adults. For more information, call (718) 549-5200.

NOTE: Items for consideration should be received in our office by Feb. 23 for the next publication date of March 5.

By Alex Kratz

In the mid-1990s at a meeting about the fate of the then recently abandoned Kingsbridge Armory, we were chatting with School District 10 official Bruce Irushalmi about the new councilman for the area, Adolfo Carrión.  “He could be governor some day!” an impressed Irushalmi said.

You don’t hear that much anymore.  Carrión is still ambitious and may still be headed for the political stratosphere, but it’s been a long time since Bronxites talked like that or rooted for him to be governor or mayor or anything else.

That’s largely because he has promoted large, unpopular development projects by running over community opposition. 
Only three of 18 community groups signed on to the Gateway Mall Community Benefits Agreement because the rest considered the process a sham. 

And he kept his stadium opponents out in the cold (literally, on the occasion of one critical public hearing where supporters were bused in) and then threw those who didn’t do his bidding off the community board.

This brand of leadership is not the kind practiced by Carrión’s prospective new boss, President Barack Obama, who encourages dissent to strengthen his own ideas and programs.  Obama knows he’s smart but also knows he doesn’t know everything.

If Carrión makes it to the White House, we hope and expect that he will be a strong voice for the Bronx and urban needs and that he learns valuable leadership lessons from Obama.

In the meantime, we wish the borough president and his family well and look forward to following his important work at such a critical time in our borough’s, and our nation’s, history.

By Jennifer Mitchell

Presentation, as evidenced by the décor and obvious pride with which the food is prepared and served, is important at La Familia Mexican Restaurant and Bar in Norwood.

This relatively new restaurant, located at 334 E. Gun Hill Rd., a couple of blocks west of Webster Avenue, strives to accommodate patrons and succeeds in creating a warm and welcoming environment. For example, insisting that tap water just wouldn’t do, a staffer ran next door to get an ice cold bottle of water for me on my second visit. 

The narrow dining area is painted in soothing terra cotta. Dark and shiny wooden tables are surrounded by glass-backed chairs. The wooden bar is mirrored and features a variety of beer and wine selections as well as a flat-screen TV (which typically shows Telemundo sports for the working men taking a lunch break).

That day’s lunch was tacos: the chorizo (Mexican sausage) and carne asada. Beautifully displayed with lime and radishes, the soft tacos came double-wrapped in melt-in-your-mouth corn tortillas. Each was filled to the brim with meat and topped with bits of crispy lettuce, onion and tomato (chopped into the smallest pieces imaginable) and carefully dressed in a light cilantro and vinegar dressing.

La Familia’s chorizo is cooked like crumbly ground beef, different from, and more lean than, its West Texas counterpart, which tends to be more like chunky sausage. The spicing of the chorizo is robust and intense. The carne asada was a mixture of chorizo and very tender and thin pan-fried pork. Both came with salsa verde, a thin, yet spicy, spring green sauce that you can drizzle over your meal. And you should, it produces tons of good spicy flavors.

The chicken soup, which I also tried, is just as good. A rich broth, topped with bits of cilantro, is home to a chicken leg and thigh, lots of thick cut carrots and potatoes, a little celery and green beans, and half an ear of corn. It’s served with a small platter of finely chopped sweet onions, parsley and lime, along with corn tortillas.

From breakfast to fruit shakes and juices, the menu is fairly extensive. There are also Ecuadorian options, such as guatita, a tripe stew in a potato peanut sauce and seco de pollo, a chicken soup made with vegetables and beer.

Ed. note: La Familia Mexican Restaurant and Bar is open seven days a week (hours may vary) and offers delivery and catering service. The phone number is (718) 515-9848.

By Chloe Tribich

Wielding signs reading “rescue the riders” and “Access-A-Ride should be free,” an angry crowd occasionally broke into chants and spirited applause at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) final hearing on proposed fare hikes and service cuts in the Bronx.

About 450 people packed the auditorium at Lehman College on Feb. 4 to protest the MTA’s plan, which includes elimination of the Bx34 bus, overnight Bx10 service and station customer assistants at stations throughout the city, including the 205th Street D train station.

A host of speakers spoke passionately against a proposed Access-A-Ride fare hike, which would raise the cost of van rides for seniors and disabled people from $2 to $5 or $6.
“You’re taking and you’re not giving us anything,” said Joyce Hume, 75, a dialysis patient from Soundview who said she uses Access-A-Ride 10 times a week.

Bernarda Rivera-Velez, an advocate from Staten Island Developmental Disabilities Services, trekked from the other end of the city to show opposition to the Access-A-Ride fare hikes. “It’s not fair,” she said. “We need to keep the fare where it is.”

“Please, please, please save Access-A-Ride,” said Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum. “I beg of you.”

Andreeva Pinder, vice president of the Station Department of Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 100, attended to protest the possible elimination of station staff. “It’s not just for riders,” she said. “Sometimes people come in from off the street when they’re being accosted because they know someone is in there.”

Others focused their opposition on the MTA’s proposed cuts to bus routes and base fare hikes. In addition to the Bx34 and Bx10, other Bronx lines slated for elimination or reduction are the Bx33, Bx4, Bx8, Bx14, Bx19, and Bx20. A single ride could be raised to as much as $3.

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, who spoke at the hearing along with a handful of other Bronx politicians, said he supports many recommendations of the Ravitch Commission, the governor-appointed panel that advised tax increases to avert the worst service cuts and fare hikes. But he was angry that the state legislature, which is responsible for enacting these tax increases, had been forced into the position of saving public transit service.

“It’s offensive to me, them saying ‘tell your legislators [to fix the transit budget],’” said Dinowitz. “The deficit is partly their own incompetence.”

The legislature must act before the MTA’s final vote, but MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said the date for the vote is in flux.
“It’s likely the board will meet and vote in early March,” he said, adding that the nature of final cuts will depend on the actions of the state legislature. Implementation of service cuts would be staggered throughout the spring.

Gene Russianoff, a spokesman for the New York Public Interest Research Group’s (NYPIRG’s) Straphangers ampaign who testified at Lehman, said the State Senate would be holding its own hearings on Feb. 18 in Brooklyn and Feb. 19 in Harlem.

“The [state] Assembly is more likely to take action quicker” to pass the Ravitch recommendations, he said. “The margin of victory in the Senate is [more] narrow,” but he said he expected the worst of the cuts would be averted.

By the start of the hearing, lines to pass through two metal detectors snaked through the hallway. Some riders waited until midnight to testify, though by that time, MTA CEO Elliot Sander, who was the target of much of the crowd’s animosity, had left the building.

By None

•    CB7 Committee Meetings: The Traffic and Transportation Committee will meet on Monday, Feb. 23. The Parks Committee will meet on Thursday, Feb. 26. Both committees meet at 6:30 p.m. at the Community Board office, 229A E. 204th St. For more information, call (718) 933-5650.
•    The 52nd Precinct Community Council will meet on Thursday, Feb. 26 at 7:30 p.m. at the Fordham Methodist Church, 2543 Marion Ave. For more information, call (718) 220-5824.
•    The Croton Facility Monitoring Committee will meet on Thursday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. at the Department of Environmental Protection office, 3660 Jerome Ave. For more information, call (718) 231-8470.
•    The Bronx Coalition for Parks and Green Spaces is celebrating its 15th annual Bronx Parks Speak Up! on Saturday, February 28, noon to 5 p.m. at Lehman College in the faculty dining room. Registration will begin at 11:30 a.m. and lunch will be provided for all participants. For more information and to RSVP, email bronxspeakup@hotmail.com.

By Ivonne Salazar

Though she’s yet to file financial disclosure forms with the Campaign Finance Board, Council Member Maria Baez confirmed to the Norwood News that she is indeed running for a third term in the 14th District, which is now crowded with candidates who want her seat.

Observers were left wondering whether Baez was running for a third term when she neglected to file mandatory financial reports with the Campaign Finance Board by the Jan. 15 deadline. The reports, which are required by law from every candidate, include campaign finances from July 12, 2008 to Jan. 11, 2009, and are reviewed by the Campaign Finance Board to determine if candidates are eligible to receive 6 to 1 matching funds. The reports are required even if candidates are not interested in funding.

When asked if she would file, Baez said, “Of course. I can’t do it alone,” referring to the public funding provided by the Campaign Finance Board. Baez did not say when she plans to file.

Eric Friedman, a spokesman for the Campaign Finance Board, wouldn’t comment on Baez’s case, but did say candidates who neglect to file by the Jan. 15 deadline face penalties ranging from $25 to several hundred dollars for every day after the deadline passes. In addition, Friedman said the board would not provide funds to candidates who miss the deadline.

Baez came under heavy media scrutiny in 2008 for having the worst attendance record in the entire City Council, a 2007 cell phone bill that totaled $17,765 and her support of a pro-landlord bill in a district filled with renters.

Baez did file financial reports with the Board of Elections — also required for every candidate — that indicate her campaign raised $15,740 in 2008, and $69,214.51 over the past three years.
“Disclosure is a very important part of the process to provide the public with a view into the candidate’s finances,” said Friedman. “If they fail to provide that transparency, there are consequences.” The next deadline is March 15.

Baez faces competition from several other candidates, including Yudelka Tapia, a community activist and city auditor; Fernando Cabrera, a pastor and Mercy College professor; and Yesenia Polanco, the former chief of staff for Council Member Annabel Palma.

“It’s time for new leadership,” Cabrera said. “[Baez] has the worst attendance record. I have yet to hear anything positive about her [from the community]. She’s going to run because she has nothing to lose.”

Baez admitted missing meetings last year, but explained that responsibilities to seven committees, as well as an ongoing illness, affected her attendance record.

With regard to re-election, Baez said, “It’s the community’s decision and whatever the decision is, I will respect it.”

By Rachel Waldholz

The New York State Assembly passed a package of bills last week aimed at preserving affordable housing and expanding tenants’ rights, including a repeal of vacancy decontrol, the top priority for New York City affordable housing advocates.

The fate of the bills now rests with the State Senate, and particularly with newly elected State Senator Pedro Espada, Jr. (Bronx, 33rd District), chair of the Senate’s Housing Committee. Espada has expressed support for many of the bills’ provisions but has yet to sign on to a new bill repealing vacancy decontrol, the first of the package to reach the Senate.

Michelle O’Brien of Housing Here and Now, an alliance of affordable housing and tenants’ rights groups, called the repeal of vacancy decontrol “the single most important thing the State Legislature could do in 2009 for affordable housing.”

Vacancy decontrol affects all apartments subject to rent regulation, the largest affordable housing program in New York. Tenants in rent-regulated apartments have more rights, and landlords are subject to strict limits on the amount and frequency of rent increases. Vacancy decontrol, passed by the legislature in 1997, allows landlords to withdraw apartments from rent regulation once the monthly rent reaches $2,000. Landlords can then charge market rate, which is usually much higher. The Assembly bill would end vacancy decontrol and “recapture” units which have left the system, reinstating limits on rent increases and expanding tenant protections.

Housing advocates argue that vacancy decontrol makes bad behavior profitable for landlords. 

“As well as the loss of affordable apartments, [vacancy decontrol] gives landlords an incentive to reach that decontrol threshold through tenant harassment, inflated apartment improvements and illegal rent increases,” said O’Brien.

Similar bills have passed the Assembly before, but died in the Republican controlled Senate. But the new Democratic majority in the State Senate, the first in 40 years, means it now has a chance. Bronx Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz said the new Democratic majority campaigned on housing reform, and has a responsibility to pass the bills.

“We’ve been hoping for years that Democrats would take the Senate, and this was one of the main reasons why,” Dinowitz said.

In an interview last month with the Norwood News, Espada called the creation of affordable housing his top priority, and expressed particular support for the repeal of vacancy decontrol. But he has not taken a position on the current bill.

Although it is early yet, 22 of the 32 Democrats and one Republican have already signed on as co-sponsors. O’Brien said that activists hope Espada will throw his weight behind the bill, pointing out that he has 76,000 rent-regulated tenants in his district, more than all but two other districts in the city. Espada didn’t return calls requesting comment.

Joseph Ferdinand, a housing advocate with the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, said he met with a very non-committal Espada two weeks ago in Albany with several other local activists.

“He was double-talking us to death,” Ferdinand said. “Whenever we brought [vacancy decontrol] up, he would change the subject.”
Espada did commit to continued dialogue with the Coalition, Ferdinand said.    

By Alex Kratz

Even in a borough full of immigrants from distant lands, Eva Bornstein, the charismatic head of the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts, is still rather exotic.

With her thick Polish accent and dry European wit, Bornstein stands out. But far from being a detriment, Bornstein says her outsider status has helped her lead the borough’s only performing arts center back to relevance.

Her experience as an outsider, however, doesn’t stem from her childhood in Poland, her early career in Ontario or her ability to speak Russian, German and French. In fact, she says, the biggest adjustment was coming to the Bronx from her last job as executive director of a performing arts center — in suburban New Jersey.

“In so many ways, this opportunity at Lehman is a totally new challenge for me,” Bornstein says.

The Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, NJ, where Bornstein previously worked, was well-established and performances were well attended.

That was not the case at Lehman Center, when Bornstein took the job in 2005.

Since her arrival, however, Lehman’s enjoyed a dramatic turnaround. Attendance at the Bedford Park concert hall has doubled in the last three years to 25,000. The operating budget has also doubled from $1 million to $2 million. And renovations, including a new state-of-the-art sound system and new carpeting, have made the venue considerably more inviting.

Much of that can be attributed to Bornstein’s efforts.

“The turnaround was completely Eva,” says Charles Rice-Gonzalez, Lehman Center’s soon-to-be departing marketing director who has worked there since 2001. “At that time [2001], it was inconceivable we could get to the point where we are now.”

Bornstein, 54, says the most important thing she’s done is learn about the community. “What I did was take stock of my surroundings and thought about what people would want to see, what they would pay to see.”

What she found was a large Latino population and so she started booking salsa shows, which have become staples of the center’s annual lineup. Now, in addition to the 10 or so cultural shows, such as the Moscow ballet or the Dublin Orchestra, the center puts on around 10 salsa shows a year.

She’s also not afraid to take risks.

“We don’t play it safe here,” Bornstein says. “We try to pick groups and performers that add a new dimension.”

This past December, Bornstein brought in reggae pop star Sean Paul, who is popular with younger, MTV-watching, audiences. Though it wasn’t a total disaster, Bornstein said they didn’t sell nearly enough tickets to break even.

Still, Bornstein says she’d do it again, just differently.

Sometimes her risk taking also leads to big-time success, like when she brought in Latin jazz legends Gato Barbieri and Jose Feliciano to be co-headliners in January. Co-headliners cost more money, representing an even bigger risk.

The show, which was the first either Barbieri or Feliciano had ever played in the Bronx, turned out to be one of the most successful in the center’s history. Rice-Gonzalez says the show’s success was typical Eva. “Sometimes, when she brings something up, we think, ‘how can we possibly make that work,’ and then it becomes wildly successful.”

Bornstein says she relies heavily on her talented and versatile employees, who she says are more like family than staff.

She says she hasn’t had to cut any of that staff or reduce her budget, despite the recent economic downturn and cuts in funding — the Department of Cultural Affairs recently slashed the center’s annual grant from $300,000 to $97,000. To compensate, Bornstein says she cut the center’s youth series.

Despite the economy, Bornstein has not scaled back her big plans for the center’s future. She’d like to continue building the local audience and also have Lehman become a destination venue for a diverse audience throughout the city and surrounding suburbs (free parking and close mass transit will help, she says).

“As Obama would say, we want to create a rich fabric of ethnicities and nationalities and combine them under one roof,” Bornstein says.

By David Greene

A longtime resident of Decatur Avenue in Norwood was shot dead early on Valentine’s Day as he was getting into his car to go to work.

Police say they discovered Michael Lorge, 42, sitting behind the wheel of a red Mitsubishi with two bullet holes in his head at 5:43 a.m. The car, which belonged to his companion Paul Garrison, was parked just across the street from where the couple lived at 3228 Decatur Ave.

Though some neighbors heard at least one loud gunshot, police were responding to a report of an unconscious person sitting in his car, according to police reports.

At the crime scene, Mark, a 42-year-old resident of the block who declined to give his last name, said he was a lifelong friend of Lorge’s and attended elementary and middle school with him at St. Brendan’s School. He watched as medical examiners laid out the victim’s body on the sidewalk beside the red Mitsubishi.

“He was a really smart guy,” Mark said. “I want to find out what happened. Was it a mugging or a vendetta? I knew the guy my whole life.”

Detectives do not believe robbery was the motive as Lorge’s wallet and other valuables were not touched.

Later that day, Garrison, 38, who was briefly taken to the 52nd Precinct for questioning, talked to reporters from the front door of the home the two shared. “His boss called me and asked me where he was, and I saw his car was still there and the police told me what happened,” Garrison said.

Visibly shaken and distraught over the loss of his companion of 14 years, Garrison called the killing “senseless.” He added, “My life ended when his did, he was everything to me.”

Garrison later left the home and returned with a bouquet of roses, which he left on the sidewalk near where Lorge had died.

One of Lorge’s neighbors, who declined to give his name, said it was common knowledge in the neighborhood that Lorge was involved in a long-term dispute with his landlord over rent. “The apartment was rent controlled but they wanted to make it rent stabilized,” the man said. “He was supposed to be in court on Tuesday. I understand they shot him as he got into his car.”

Garrison confirmed that Lorge had been battling his landlord, Ndue “Tony” Gelaj, 63, the owner of Fishman Realty, which has its offices on East 208th Street, in Housing Court over the rent of the 5-room apartment. Lorge had been paying just $257 a month, and was due back in court on Tuesday, Feb. 17.

Someone attacked Lorge just before his last Housing Court date, in April 2008, Garrison said. Lorge suffered a broken nose, but was not robbed during the attack. He filed a police report, but no suspects were apprehended, Garrison said.

Since then, Garrison said Lorge had kept all the documentation from two previous Housing Court cases in a red briefcase, which police found alongside his bloody body in the red Mitsubishi.

Repeated calls to Fishman Realty and the Yonkers home of the landlord were not returned.

More evidence may be forthcoming. At least one video camera was spotted on a private home across the street from the shooting and residents claim there are several on the block. One resident claimed there were two young women who live in a nearby building and may have witnessed the killing.

Lorge was a dispatcher for a Yonkers cab company and also hosted a radio show for a nonprofit Web site on Mondays and Saturdays. He also played keyboards and was a big train buff.

A service for Lorge will be held at St. Brendan’s Church on Thursday, Feb. 19. Police said the investigation is ongoing.

By Chloe Tribich

When the 40-year-old Adolfo Carrión was sworn in as Borough President in January 2002, his political career appeared bound for the stars.

The Bronx Democratic machine, led by Roberto Ramirez, had selected Carrión, a young, articulate City Council member, as its candidate over party veteran Jose Rivera, a state assemblyman who had mentored Ramirez and other young Puerto Rican political leaders.

The decision paid off. Carrión, in just his second political campaign, narrowly prevailed over well-known Democratic competitors Pedro Espada, Jr. and June Eisland.

At Carrión’s inauguration, City Comptroller Bill Thompson said, “We’re looking at another citywide elected official.”

Destined for Big Stage?

Carrión’s career now seems poised on the brink of advancement beyond city politics. In December, during a speech at Yale, he announced he would soon be accepting a top position in the Obama administration, throwing his candidacy for this year’s City Comptroller race (for which he’s raised more than a $1 million) into question.

Rumors swirled about Carrión becoming secretary of Housing and Urban Development, but with that post now filled by Shaun Donovan, the city’s former housing commissioner, the borough president is reportedly Obama’s choice to head a new White House Office on Urban Policy.

At press time, Obama had not named his urban policy czar. Valerie Jarrett, a senior presidential adviser, said in an e-mail that “no decision has been made” on the post. [Update: the Daily News is reporting that Carrion will become President Obama's new director of urban policy.]

With term limits extended, the borough president could still decide to stay where he is. But with his hat still in the ring for comptroller and the White House rumors on full boil, Carrión has scheduled what will probably be his final State of the Borough address for Feb. 20 at Lehman College.

Carrión’s rise has been steady. The son of a Pentecostal preacher, Carrión graduated from the evangelical Kings College, serving a stint as an associate pastor before earning his master’s in Urban Planning from Hunter College. He began his political climb as district manager of Community Board 5 in the west Bronx. In 1997, backed by the party machine, he was elected to the City Council in the 14th District. He served only one term before running for borough president.

With little formal policymaking role, the borough president is primarily the borough’s advocate-in-chief. (Before the City Charter revision in 1989, borough presidents wielded tremendous power over budgets on the Board of Estimate.). So, it’s difficult to quantify Carrión’s performance over the past seven years. Still, during his tenure, Carrión has overseen a handful of controversial big-ticket development projects that will likely define his Bronx legacy.

Boom or Bust?

Carrión often highlights the borough’s progress in development, telling audiences that the “Bronx is booming.” Like the rest of the city, during Carrión’s tenure, the Bronx enjoyed a construction boom, including three mammoth projects: the new Yankee Stadium, Gateway Mall and the Croton Water Filtration Plant.

On the filtration plant, Carrión mostly ceded the political stage to Assemblyman and Party Chair Jose Rivera, who cut a controversial deal that resulted in over $200 million for Bronx park rehabs and paved the way for the vastly over-budget and highly controversial project in Van Cortlandt Park. But he was the cheerleader-in-chief for the Yankee Stadium and Gateway Mall projects and took heat for his handling of both.

In his 2007 State of the Borough address, Carrión highlighted the “Yankee Stadium Neighborhood Development Plan,” which included “a community benefits agreement (CBA) between the Yankee organization and the neighborhood for community based programming.”

Although the agreement does include some tangible benefits, including an $800,000-a-year fund for local nonprofit groups, it was criticized for being crafted behind closed doors without input from community leaders or grassroots groups. The local community board opposed it. The agreement, which included exaggerated job creation projections, was also faulted for being unenforceable.

Meanwhile, the new stadium is being built with the help of hefty public financing on the neighborhood’s primary parkland and the old stadium has yet to be razed to make way for replacement community ballfields. Many other promised replacement parks are far behind schedule.

“He neglected the community in favor of giving the Yankees what they wanted,” said Joyce Hogi, a longtime community leader who fought the plan.

Lukas Herbert, one of several former Community Board 4 members who opposed the stadium project and whose term was subsequently not renewed by Carrión, has e-mailed the White House expressing opposition to a federal appointment for the borough president.

“Displacing many acres of parkland to give a parking lot to one of the richest sports teams in the world, if that is what you stand for — that is insane,” he said, referring to the Yankee Stadium deal.
Carrión also promised a new ice skating rink — its status is unclear — and a sports-themed high school, which never got off the ground.

Still, the stadium has some local supporters. D. Lee Ezell, now the chair of CB 4, has known Carrión since the mid-1980s. She insisted the media coverage of the deal was unfair and cited Carrión’s work opposing the construction of schools on contaminated sites in Mott Haven as one example of his community credentials.

“I don’t think the president could make a better choice when it comes to urban policy,” Ezell said.

Still, the CBA for the Gateway Mall was also widely criticized for being crafted without much community input, and advocates say penalties for the mall’s developer, The Related Companies, for non-compliance is negligible.

The CBA for that project “was so bad that most people ran away from it,” said Richard Lipsky of the Neighborhood Retail Alliance. Only three of the 18 community groups involved from the beginning of the project signed off on the agreement.

Related officials admitted the agreement wasn’t perfect, but said the community would still benefit from it, mostly through job training and placement programs.

Carrión refused interview requests for this article.

Housing, Schools and Jobs

Aside from the signature big development projects, Carrión’s administration has also touched on many other areas of public policy.

The creation of affordable housing — particularly his efforts at promoting environmentally-sound development — have drawn Carrión praise. “Adolfo has put the Bronx on the vanguard of green affordable housing,” said Nancy Biberman, founder and director of the Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation, adding that WHEDCo’s latest building, Intervale Green, received funding through one of his initiatives.

Ronn Jordan, a leader and former president of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC), a major grassroots group in the borough known for pressuring and placing “demands” on elected officials at public meetings, praised Carrión, commending him in particular for allocating $66,000 to the Leadership Institute, a high school designed by the Coalition’s youth arm.

Lenny Caro, CEO of the Bronx Chamber of Commerce, said the borough president’s online job bank, “Bronx at Work,” is “tremendously helpful.” However, at press time there were no current job postings on the Web site (due to the bad economy, Caro said). Links to “news” and “event alerts” were also blank and the link to “internships” appeared broken.

“I’ve rarely heard of anyone using [Bronx at Work],” said South Bronx businessman Julio Pabon. “So many people here don’t even have computer access,”

Carrión is widely credited with boosting the ranks and consequently the activism of the borough’s most local form of government, the volunteer community boards, by encouraging residents to apply for membership.

“[Carrión] opened the process by empowering new people to come on,” said Greg Faulkner, chair of Community Board 7, which covers a chunk of the northwest Bronx. Faulkner also gives Carrión credit for not objecting to the board’s choice of Fernando Tirado to be the board’s new district manager, a position that often goes tosomeone with political connections.

On the other hand, Carrión was widely criticized for refusing to renew the memberships of Herbert and the other CB 4 members who opposed the Yankee Stadium plan.

Looking to the Future
Regardless of Carrión’s performance on any number of issues as borough president, most of his political colleagues, even those he’s had tensions with, offer their blessings.

“We all try in different ways to look out for the needs of the Bronx,” Jose Rivera said. “I wish [Carrión] well. I think he would never forget the Bronx.”

State Senator Pedro Espada, Jr., Carrión’s onetime rival, loves the idea of an Obama post for Carrión.

“It’d be wonderful to have two Bronxites, one in Albany and one in D.C., to plan and establish urban policy and deliver resources,” Espada said, referring to his own posts as Housing Committee chair and vice president of the Senate for Urban Policy.

But Fernando Ferrer, who preceded Carrión in office and took a tougher line with the Yankees, was somewhat reluctant to speak.
“I don’t make it a practice to comment on my successor,” Ferrer said, finally adding that “sustainable development and green roofs are two of the better things [Carrión has] done.”

Council Member Helen Foster, who represents the neighborhood surrounding Yankee Stadium, was one of the few elected officials who opposed the new stadium.

“I don’t have any disparaging remarks,” she said. “As Borough President he had to, or should have, listened to the masses, but in this [federal] job his responsibility [would be] directly to the president — it’s like apples and oranges. Time will be the judge.”

Neighborhood Notes

By Norwood News

Free Tax Preparation
Mosholu Preservation Corp., West Bronx Housing and University Neighborhood Housing Program have teamed up, along with corporate sponsors, to provide northwest Bronx residents earning less than $45,000 with free tax preparation. From January to March, free tax preparation will be available at the Refuge House, 2715 Bainbridge Ave.; Mosholu Preservation Corp., 3400 Reservoir Oval East; and Ridgewood Savings Bank, 3445 Jerome Ave. Available by appointment only. For appointments at Mosholu Preservation Corp., call (718) 324-4461 and ask for Brenda Lucio. For appointments at the Refuge House and Ridgewood Savings Bank, contact Jumelia Abrahamson at (718) 933-2539, ext. 12 or e-mail jumelia@unhp.org.

Feb. 8 Traffic Advisory
Due to the NYRR Half Marathon Grand Prix: Bronx the following roads will be closed to vehicular traffic from 7:15 to 11 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 8:
•    Goulden Ave./Reservoir Ave. between Sedgwick Ave. and 195 St.
•    Mosholu Pkwy between Sedgwick Ave. and Marion Ave./Hull Ave.
•    Grand Concourse between Mosholu Pkwy and E 178 St.
•    Paul Ave. between Bedford Park Blvd and Mosholu Pkwy

MS 80 Needs Love
MS 80 is asking parents and community members to show some love and volunteer for just an hour each week. The school needs mentors, math and reading tutors, part-time coaches and volunteers to help with cafeteria duty. For more information, call Ms. Alejandro (718) 405-6300 x.111.

Blood Drive Feb. 8
St. Brendan’s School, 268 E. 207th St, is holding its annual blood drive on Feb. 8 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the school cafeteria. Donors must be between 17 and 75 years old, or 16 with written parental consent. A picture ID is required. For more information, call (718) 547-6655.

Flea Market Needs Donations
The Bedford Mosholu Community Association needs donations for its Flea Market, to be held on Mar. 7. Please bring old and new items to the B.M.C.A. office at 400 E. Mosholu Parkway South, #B1 (Lobby Floor). Donations will be accepted Feb. 18 and Feb. 25 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., on Feb. 28 from 1:30 to 4 p.m. and on Mar. 4 from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Learn Microsoft Word
The Mosholu Branch of the New York Public Library is offering a free introduction to Microsoft Word on Feb. 11 from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Learn to create, edit, print, and save documents. Register in person. The Mosholu Branch is at 285 E. 205 St. For more information, call (718) 882-8239. 

Free ESL and GED Classes
MS 80 is offering free ESL and GED classes. You must be 21 or older to register. Registration will take place on Saturday, Feb. 14, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at MS 80, 149 E Mosholu Parkway North. For more information, call Mrs. Alejandro at (718) 405-6300 x.111.

Charter School Accepting Applications
The Bronx Community Charter School, located at 2348 Webster Ave., is now accepting kindergarten applications for fall 2009 (spaces for 1st and 2nd graders may also be available). Meet the co-directors, see students and teachers in action and take a tour at 9 a.m. on the following dates: Feb. 12 and 24; March 5 and 19. For more information, call (718) 584-1400 or visit www.bronxcommunity.org.

Free Summer Vacations for Kids
The Fresh Air Fund is currently registering boys and girls, ages six through twelve, for free summer vacations in the homes of volunteer host families throughout the northeast or at one of five Fresh Air Fund summer camps in upstate New York. To find out how to register, call (800) 367-0003 or go to www.freshair.org.

Free Career Workshops
The State University of New York is offering free career workshops, including job readiness training, resume and cover letter preparation, help with job searches and computer skills, job placement assistance, an Office Skills Certificate Program, college prep and more. For more information, call (718) 547-1001 or visit www.NBX.SUNYEOC.org

Free After School Program and Evening Teen Center
The Mosholu Montefiore Community Cneter is accepting registration for their free after school program at Tracey Towers, 40 West Mosholu Parkway. The program meets Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. and is open to children in the third through sixth grades. From 6:30 to 9 p.m. the free Teen Center is open for youth from twelve to eighteen. Programs at both times include homework help, computers, art, sports, acting, and quiet games. To register, stop by the Youth Community Room on the second floor of Tracey Tower and speak to Antonie Fields, or call him at (917) 482-5039.

Marketing Workshops for Business Owners
The Small Business Development Center is offering workshops on marketing to small business owners. The four workshops can be taken serially or individually. The series begins with “Strategic Planning, Creating the Right Message” on Feb. 10, and “Preparing Marketing Materials” on Feb 24. Workshops are held at Lehman College, 250 Bedford Park Blvd West. Please register at (718) 960-8806 or email clarence.stanley@lehman.cuny.edu.

After School Programs
The Mosholu Montefiore Community Center is now accepting enrollment at its after school programs at the Bronx New School, P.S. 16, and P.S. 24. The programs serve children in kindergarten through 6th grade and offers a variety of activities. For more information, call Ruth Moore at (718) 944-3207 on weekdays.

Schizophrenia Study Seeking Participants
A research study seeking new treatments for schizophrenia is looking for patients in the Bronx. Candidates must be 18 to 65 years old, diagnosed with schizophrenia at or before age 35 and currently on certain medications for schizophrenia. Patients can enroll through the first half of 2009. For more information, call (888) 988-6736 or go to www.cognitivestudy.com.

Free Workshops for Children with Special Needs
Resources for Children with Special Needs, Inc. is offering a series of free community workshops for families of children, youth and young adults with disabilities. The next workshop is “Transition from School to Adult Life” on Mar. 4, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Workshops are held at the Jewish Child Care Association, 555 Bergen Ave. For more information, call Gary Shulman at (212) 677-4650 or email gshulman@resourcesnyc.org.

Join Local Community Board – Apply by Feb. 6
The Bronx Borough President’s Office is accepting applications for all 12 Community Boards. Applicants should live or have professional or other significant interests in the Bronx. Applications are due Feb. 6, and are available at your local Community Board office or online at bronxboropres.nyc.gov. Applicants can also call the Borough President’s Community Board office at (718) 590-3914.

Free 2009 Parking Calendars
Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz is offering free New York City Parking Calendars to community residents. To receive one, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to his office at 3107 Kingsbridge Ave, Bronx, NY 10463, or stop by the office in person.

Join Local Education Council
The Bronx Borough President’s Office is interviewing candidates to fill its vacancy on Community Education Council District 10. Members are unpaid volunteers and serve for two years. The right candidates will have experience in business, trade or education. E-mail resume and cover letter to the Borough President’s Director of Education Policy, Mr. Jesse Mojica, at jmojica@bronxbp.nyc.gov or fax documents to (718) 590-4690.

Job Opportunities
On Dec. 1, Mayor Bloomberg announced the expansion of free job placement services through New York City’s Workforce1 Career Centers. The centers provide personalized career counseling, interview training, resume/cover letter assistance, workshops and ESL classes. For more information, call the Bronx Workforce1 Center, 358 East 149th Street, (718) 960-7099.

After School Care
The Mosholu Montefiore Community Center, 3450 DeKalb Ave., provides after school care for children in elementary school. Children are transported from their schools in Norwood, Bedford Park, Williamsbridge and Van Cortlandt Village. The center provides a snack, help with homework, and an array of activities to keep children busy. Financial aid is available. For more information, call Ruth Moore, Program Registrar, at (718) 882-4000.

Capoeira Dance Classes
The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, 841 Barretto St., is offering capoeira classes every Saturday in January, from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Cost is $7 per class. For more information, call (718) 842-5223 or visit www.bronxacademyofartsanddance.org.

Computer and English Classes
Fordham University, 557 E. Fordham Rd., is currently holding free computer and English Language classes for parents on Mondays through Thursdays and on Saturdays. Classes can either stand alone or as an 8- to12-week series. For more information or to register, call (718) 817-3503.

Wii Games for Adults and Seniors
On Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4 p.m., adults and seniors can enjoy free Wii video games at the Mosholu Library, 285 E. 205th St. To sign up, go to the Adult Information Desk. For more information, call (718) 882-8239.

Place for Teens With Issues
The Power Project is a free program for teens ages 12 to 18 who are dealing with substance abuse and other problems. Located at 3464 Webster Ave., Power Project provides case management, individual and group counseling, trips, and is just a place to get away from it all. For more information, call (718) 515-7971.

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.

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.

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. 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.

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.

After School Child Care
Registration is now taking place for the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center’s after-school childcare 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.

Preschool New Enrollment
The Mosholu Montefiore Community Center now has more space available for childcare. There are new classrooms for 2- to 4-year-olds at the center, located at 3450 DeKalb Ave. For more information, call (718) 882-4000.

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.

Free Respite Program
Kingsbridge Heights Community Center (KHCC) is offering free after-school services to families with mentally retarded or developmentally disabled children ages 5 to 21 from 3 to 6 p.m. KHCC is also offering a Saturday Respite Program for ages 15 to 25, and on Sundays another Respite Program is provided for ages 18 to 65. Weekend Respite Program hours are from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. They are held at the KHCC, 3101 Kingsbridge Terrace (near Sedgwick Avenue) at West 230th Street. To register or for more information, call Hanna Gabris at (718) 884-0700 ext. 202.

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 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.  

Foster Parents Needed
The Foster Care Network is asking families to open their hearts and homes to foster children. For more information, call (800) 454-3727.

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.

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.

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.

 

Contest: Meet the Pointer Sisters!

By None

Meet the Pointer Sisters!
—and celebrate Valentine’s Day
with the one you love.

Enter for your chance to win
2 free tickets to see:

The Pointer Sisters
(and meet them before the show!)
and Kool and the Gang
 
together in concert at
Lehman Center for the Performing Arts’ Concert Hall
250 Bedford Park Blvd. West
Saturday, Feb. 14 at 8 p.m.

To enter, e-mail the Norwood News at norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org with “Pointer Sisters” in the subject line. Include your name and daytime telephone number. If you do not have e-mail, call 718-324-4998 and ask for Brenda.

The deadline is 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 10 and 2 winners (2 tickets each) will be notified by phone the following day.

Out & About

By Judy Noy

Onstage
 

• The Lehman Center for the Performing Arts presents Break: The Urban Funk Spectacular, featuring a variety of hip-hop dance, Feb. 7 at 8 p.m., (tickets are $20 to $35; $10 for children 12 and under); and The Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra, performing both classical and Irish music, Feb. 15 at 4 p.m. (tickets are $10 to $25; $10 for children 12 and under); both in the Concert Hall at 250 Bedford Pk. Blvd. W. For more information, call (718) 960-8833.

 

•  The Wave Hill House, located at West 249th Street and Independence Avenue, will host a concert, New Perspectives: The Romantic Violin, featuring violin prodigy Laura Lutzke, Feb. 15 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 for members, $24 for non-members, and $21 for students and seniors ages 65 and over. For more information, call (718) 549-3200 ext. 385.

 

•  The Bronx Library Center, located at 310 E. Kingsbridge Rd. off Fordham Road, will host several events, including: African Dance, for children, Feb. 7 at 2 p.m.; and events for adults at 2:30 p.m., including A Musical Tribute to Sam Cooke, performed by NYC jazz/pop vocalist Cody Childs, Feb. 7; and Flamenco Music and Dance by Flamenco Latina, Feb. 14. For more information, call (718) 579-4244/46 or visit www.nypl.org.

 

•  A Musical Tribute to Sam Cooke, performed by NYC jazz/pop vocalist Cody Childs, will take place at the Mosholu Library, located at 285 E. 205th St., free, on Feb. 14 at 2:30 p.m. For more information, call (718) 882-8239.

Events

•  The JASA Van Cortlandt Senior Center at 3880 Sedgwick Ave. will celebrate Tu Bishvat (Israel Arbor Day) with musical performers Phyllis, Rose and Meir, Feb. 13; and soprano Sigal Chen and pianist Jonathan Dzik, performing Broadway, Hebrew and classical music, Feb. 19; both at 1 p.m., preceded by lunch at noon. The suggested contribution for each is $3. For more information, call (718) 549-4700.

 

•  English Conversation Program for Speakers of Other Languages, Intermediate Level, is offered free for adults 16 and older, on a first come, first served basis, at the Mosholu Library, 285 E. 205th St., led by volunteers from New York Cares. The program will be held Tuesdays through March 10, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. For more information, call Library’s Office of Community Outreach Services (212) 340-0918.

 

•  Wave Hill offers two family art projects: Zigzag, A Book of Winter Wonders, to construct a handmade nature journal of sketches and watercolors, Feb. 7 and 8; and Handmade Hearts, to make valentines, Feb. 14 and 15; both from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Kerlin Learning Center. Wave Hill is located at West 249th Street and Independence Avenue. For more information, call (718) 54903200 or visit www.wavehill.org.

Exhibits

•  The Bronx River Art Center, located at 1087 E. Tremont Ave., presents two solo exhibitions through March 14, featuring New York artists Jillian Mcdonald in Gallery 1 and Jennifer Grimyser in Gallery 2. For more information, call (718) 589-5819.

 

•  The Wave Hill House, located at West 249th Street and Independence Avenue, will feature Naturally Inspired, a selection of art produced in workshops for adults and at the weekly Family Art Project; and Flora & Fauna, an installation of a vine that winds along the wall of the staircase, through Feb. 22. For more information, call (718) 549-3200 or visit www.wavehill.org.

 

•  The Neuberger Museum of Art, at 735 Anderson Hill Rd., in Purchase, NY, will exhibit Great Women Artists, featuring two sculptures by Barbara Korman, of Norwood. The show runs from noon to 5 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays, through Feb. 22. For more information, visit www.bkormanstudio.com.

Learning
 
The Bronx Library Center has events for all ages:

• For children and preschoolers, there is: Preschool Romp, Feb. 5, 12 and 19 at 11 a.m.; and Family Time, Feb. 14 at 11 a.m.
• Also, for school-aged children, there is The Thespian’s Gym, Feb. 9 at 4 p.m.; Arts & Crafts, Feb. 12 at 4 p.m.; Story Telling, Feb. 14 at 2 p.m.; Tales of Africa and the African Diaspora, Feb. 15 at 2 p.m.; Migration Sensation, Feb. 17 at 2 p.m.; and Snowman, Feb. 18 at 2 p.m.
• Young adults can attend Halo 3 Tournament, Feb. 9 at 4 p.m.; Get Real! Love and Relationships, Feb. 11 at 4 p.m.; Music Discovery, Feb. 6 at 4 p.m.; Card Magic, Feb. 11 at 4 p.m.; and Choc-O-Thon, Feb. 18 at 4 p.m.
• For adults, there is MOMA Presents Jack Lawrence and the Migration Series, Feb. 9 at 6 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, located at 285 E. 205th St., presents Toddler Story Time, Feb. 5 at 10:30 a.m.; Chinese Ribbon Dance Workshop, Feb. 10 at 4 p.m.; and Preschool Story Time, Feb. 12 at 10:30 a.m.; all for children. For more information, call (718) 882-8239.

 

•  The Jerome Park Library, at 118 Eames Place, presents Arts & Crafts, Feb. 10 at 4 p.m.; and a film, Feb. 20 at 2:30 p.m.; both for children; and Valentine’s Day Craft, Feb. 12 at 4 p.m., for young adults. For more information, call (718) 549-5200.

NOTE: Items for consideration should be received in our office by Feb. 9 for the next publication date of Feb. 19.

PS 56 Tribute To Change

By Rachel Waldholz

The day after Barack Obama was sworn in as President of the United States, students at PS 56 were treated to an inaugural celebration of their own.

In honor of both Obama’s inauguration and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the PS 56 Chorus gave a concert and a series of readings for their classmates. Titled “Celebrating our Historical Journey,” the program evoked Abraham Lincoln, in addition to Dr. King and President Obama.

Fifth graders Rufino Lopez, Elham Chowdhury and Junaid Ahmed gave rousing recitals from the Gettysburg Address, King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, and Obama’s election-night acceptance speech.
Their classmate, Nadia Budhu, introduced the speakers, reminding the audience that America “is as diverse as the people in this room, this school, this neighborhood, this city, this country, on this earth.”

Principal Priscilla Sheeran had tears in her eyes as she told her students that Obama’s election should encourage them to work hard and follow their dreams. Chorus Director Sondra Boozebailey had her students open the concert with the civil rights standard, “We Shall Overcome,” and asked all of their classmates in the audience to stand up and sing along. The audience gladly obliged.

The PS 56 choral group had performed at the 11th Annual Martin Luther King Interfaith Celebration for Religious and Racial Harmony at St. Bartholomew’s Church in Manhattan on Sunday, Jan. 18. They were the only children’s chorus to perform in the festivities, Sheeran said.   

 

Bronx Boot Camp: ‘A Girl’s Night Out’

By Ivonne Salazar

Group exercise classes usually conjure up images of tedious and demanding workouts in a room full of strangers.

But that’s not the case for the small army of women who exercise together on a weekly basis in the gym at the Holy Nativity Church in Norwood.

They’re all participants in the Belin Challenge Fitness Camp, a month-long series of “boot-camp” style classes that promote a personalized, holistic approach to getting in shape.

The fitness camp began offering women’s-only classes in August 2008 at the Lutheran Church of the Epiphany, but relocated after a January fire destroyed the building’s basement. The new location at Holy Nativity provides twice the size of the former location.

Whether racing around cones or doing jumping jacks and yelling the names of healthy foods, the classes are designed for fitness — and fun. The women in the fitness camp have become friends. They laugh and encourage each other through difficult exercises, creating a safe and positive environment.

Then there is the instructor. Wearing a whistle around his neck, and a T-shirt with the words “boot camp” on his back, Todd Belin is the program director for the Belin Challenge Fitness Camp in the Bronx.
To some people, Belin might be intimidating. But participants say they admire him and appreciate his motivational approach.

Michele Hayes, 31, lives in Norwood and is enrolled in her third consecutive fitness camp. Trying to explain why she keeps coming back, Hayes says, “It’s the women and the motivation of Todd. It’s supportive, it’s warm, and it’s fun. There are great women here, and Todd is inspirational.”

The fitness camp was once the best kept fitness secret in the north Bronx, but the camp has been gaining popularity with the community.

“We are different than most boot camps,” Belin says, explaining his approach to fitness. “We provide personal training in a fun group setting. Living a healthy, active lifestyle is the goal we try to push.”

After moving to New York City from Washington, D.C .in 1999, Belin began working as a certified personal trainer at New York Sports Club. In 2003, he began organizing exercise classes at his church, Bethel Gospel in Harlem. There, he honed what he refers to as a holistic approach to fitness, covering the mental, emotional, spiritual and physical needs of participants. Last year, when Belin and his wife moved to the Bronx, he convinced his brother, the owner of the Washington-based Belin Sports and Fitness, to expand the business and try Norwood as the next fitness camp location. They chose to start with women-only classes based on community feedback.

“We realized that women felt more comfortable [in women-only classes],” Belin says. “The fastest growing fitness center, Curves, is all women. [Women] say they like [the classes]. It’s like a girls’ night out.”
 On the first day of camp, Belin assesses the fitness level of each participant by measuring their body fat content, muscle mass, hydration level, weight, and abdominal fat. Based on these measurements, students receive a final report at the end of the camp and are regularly updated on their progress throughout the camp. 
The classes combine simple cardio and resistance training exercises and primarily utilize a person’s own body weight. “Muscles do not know the difference between weight and non-weight,” said Belin. “The only thing they register is tension.”

Belin alters each workout for beginner, intermediate, and advanced students, and says he’s sensitive to the needs of students with injuries or other chronic issues.

The fitness camp is four weeks long and can be taken from one to five days a week. The classes cost $15 per class for up to two classes a week. If you take between three to five classes, you pay $11.95 per class.

To keep students entertained, Belin reserves one day a week as “fun day,” where participants play games such as tag, hula-hoop or “musical mats” (musical chairs with yoga mats). 

Participants see dramatic changes, Belin says.

“He definitely taught us how to change our lifestyle,” said Camelle Fraser, 28, who is completing her fifth fitness camp as she prepares for a summer wedding. Fraser, along with her maid of honor, Sherie Newell, 29, both Norwood residents, have lost a total of 100 pounds together, through the class.

“Todd invests a lot in us,” said Newell. “He sets goals and he expects to see change. Todd is a fitness guru.”

Belin is planning to start a men’s fitness camp soon. He is also planning to expand the fitness camp to Manhattan in the spring. Classes are currently indoors, but will be scheduled outdoors once the weather gets warmer. 

According to Belin, there is a simple solution to change your health and fitness outlook: staying positive. “I tell my students, change your words, thoughts, and actions,” says Belin. “Once someone says, ‘I can’t do it,’ they usually end up saying, ’I quit.’ The mind controls the body, [and] the body doesn’t know what its limits are.”

Ed. note: For more information on the Belin Fitness Camp, call (917) 476-9352.

Obama Fallible Too

By None

As we welcome our nation’s first African-American President, let us remember not to put him on any higher a pedestal than we did our previous ones for he is just as fallible as they were and he, too, has his flaws.

Let us try not to be more or less critical of him because he is an African-American. No one can please everybody all of the time.
And though he has shown us that “We Can,” our journey does not end there. It is now up to us to show ourselves that we will continue and with each day, be better than we were the day before.

Tracy Wm. Heyward

MTA Spending Wasteful

By None

The MTA is taking advantage of the legal requirement to balance its operating budget to secure more money for pursuing their wasteful and unnecessary projects.

The payroll tax proposal alone is sufficient to prevent a fare increase, subway and bus line eliminations, and the other proposed cuts.  Even though the payroll tax has considerable political support, MTA chief Elliot Sander, insisted on tolls for the Harlem and East River bridges as well.

Smarting over the defeat of congestion pricing, the MTA sees a great opportunity to grab control of the bridges and to extract more money for continuing business as usual: computerized trains, lavish station renovations in wealthy neighborhoods, more benefits for consultants and executives, enhancing the Manhattan skyline with a soaring Fulton Transit Center, new luxury headquarters on the West Side, etc. While tolling would benefit the wealthy areas of Manhattan by reducing traffic and pollution, working class residents from the outer boroughs would be paying and receiving nothing!  Last spring, I suggested legally dedicating revenues from congestion pricing for subway projects in the outer boroughs. Even though the idea was well-received, the feckless Bronx politicians voted to give the MTA a blank check!

Tolling the bridges creates another problem. Everyone agrees that it would add many new riders to an already overwhelmed transit system. During the congestion pricing debate, no realistic and comprehensive plan for the subway enhancement was ever developed. Instead, the MTA hurriedly put forth a massive express bus expansion plan. In 2008, federal money would have covered it, but now the Ravitch Commission proposed that revenues from the tolls would pay for it — a classic case of placing the cart before the horse! Common sense dictates that the system must be enhanced before tolling begins and there is no money to fund express bus expansion.

Comptroller William Thompson proposed a tax increase based on the weight of cars which would place the burden on everyone, not just residents of the outer boroughs. Any revenue from this idea, however, must be legally dedicated to projects which have strong public support.

The core of the problem is the MTA itself. It has total control of mass transit and pursues policies which most people oppose. Councilman Tony Avella has proposed a solution in his City Council Resolution #44: the city must control its own subways and buses. If the City Council had real power over New York’s mass transit, ideas such as eliminating subway and bus lines, closing token booths, one person train control and wasteful projects such as the Fulton Transit Center would never see the light of day.

It’s necessary for the people of the Bronx to get together and to join their fellow citizens in the outer boroughs in fighting for city control over its subways and buses.

John Rozankowski
Bedford Park

Kenyans Embrace Obama

By John M. Reilly

If there is another place on earth as focused on our inauguration today as we are, it is the small East African nation of Kenya. The home of President Barack Obama’s father, Kenya declared a national holiday after Obama’s election in November. Since then their pride and interest has continued to grow.

I had the opportunity to visit Kenya earlier this month. It is a place of great natural beauty and stifling poverty where people are struggling to find ways to support themselves and their families.  Kenyans are proud of what Americans have done and amazed at the same time.  They are quick to tell Americans how remarkable the world sees our popular election of a member of a minority group as our chief executive.

Beyond this pride and amazement, Kenyans are hopeful. They are hoping Obama’s election will mean good things for democracy in Kenya and throughout Africa and the developing world.

Our hosts during my visit were the DeLaSalle Brothers, a Catholic teaching order. Their schools in the United States include Manhattan College here in the Bronx. They have run schools and programs in Kenya for more than 50 years. A large number of young Kenyans have entered the order in recent years and, in speaking with them, I sensed their hope as well as their pride.

They are fascinated and encouraged with the smooth transition of power in the United States. Kenya went through a crushing period of post-election violence a year ago. Their hope is that Africans will be watching this transition in particular because of Obama and that it will lead to progress in elections in Kenya and the rest of Africa. They are watching the process in Ghana where it appears power is about to transfer peacefully after recent national elections.

We attended a meeting of landlords and tenants in a Nairobi slum called Mathere. A year ago violence flared in the slums as tenants attacked landlords of differing ethnic groups. It is remarkable to see these two groups now sitting down in a small church building, trying to work out their differences in an organized manner. I reminded the participants that Barack Obama’s first job was as a community organizer, working to help residents of Chicago to find solutions to neighborhood issues.

As a young child I recall the excitement created by John Kennedy’s election, the first Irish Catholic President. It had an impact for Catholics across America, but it also set forth a burst of pride in Ireland which was displayed when Kennedy visited.

Kenyans can’t wait for President Obama to visit.  I think it’s a pretty sure bet that he will.

-John Reilly is the Executive Director of the Fordham Bedford Housing Corporation and a life-long Bedford Park resident.

Tear Down the Stadium – Now!

By Editorial

The list of injustices emanating from the deals surrounding the construction of the new Yankee stadium is long and depressing.

But the greatest civic offense is the theft of invaluable public green space and the broken promises to provide replacement parkland to the community in a timely fashion.

Several parks were promised as replacements for the centrally located Macombs Dam and Mullaly parks now occupied by the new stadium. None are on-line and most have experienced delays.
The most substantial of the replacements, a waterfront park on the Harlem River, has run into repeated delays, as Jose DeJesus, a student in our youth journalism program reported in the most recent edition of Bronx Youth Heard.

As journalists Gary Axelbank and Harvey Araton recently commented, perhaps the grandest monument to the city’s unforgivable heist of green space in a community struggling with asthma and other public health problems, is the old Yankee Stadium, which still stands despite city promises it would be razed to make way for new baseball fields, so local kids can start running the bases again.

The city says the Yankees needed their old offices while constructing the new stadium.

Araton, a New York Times sports columnist, points out that it’s somehow acceptable that kids all over the city can learn in trailers hogging schoolyards in perpetuity. But the Yanks can’t spend a few months in similar quarters?

And the city says tearing down the old Yankee Stadium “requires a complicated public procurement process.”
So, how is it that the city had no problem getting a wrecking ball at Shea Stadium in October?

“Why was it more important to ensure that the Mets have ample parking for their new stadium in time for Opening Day than it is to give Bronx families the parkland they’ve been promised in time for spring?” asked Axelbank, in a video commentary on the Bronx News Network.

We have one more question: Why is it that only reporters are making noise about this? Is there not one elected official who considers this important enough to at least issue a press release, especially since every elected official save one supported the project? Our fax machine hums with elected officials’ press releases on issues they have little if any control over, but when it comes to a situation where taking a stand might accomplish something? Nada.

“Our elected officials are missing in action,” says Joyce Hogi, a veteran Bronx activist and parks advocate who lives on the Grand Concourse. “They were supposed to be watching. All they did was sign off on the parks and they haven’t done anything since.”

We, and many Bronxites, are tired of this crap. We’re tired of city officials railroading unwise projects through the land use process. We’re tired of the broken promises. And we’re tired of our elected officials – and we can’t think of any exceptions in this case – abandoning their duty to represent the public interest.

So, we’ll step into the breach once again, as we did with the languishing Kingsbridge Armory project. With this issue, we inaugurate the “Tear It Down” clock. The clock will measure the days since the wrecking crews arrived at Shea Stadium and it won’t stop until the cranes show up for work on River Avenue. We’ll update it bi-weekly in every issue of the Norwood News and more frequently on the Bronx News Network blog (westbronxnews.blogspot.com).

If you want to add your voice, simply call the mayor’s office (212-788-3000) and tell Mayor Bloomberg, “Tear It Down. Now!”

Funding Loss Leads Monte to Reduce Sickle Cell Services

By Peter Mullin

Spurred by reductions in federal funding, Montefiore Medical Center has restructured its treatment plan for patients suffering from sickle cell disorders. The new plan, which officially went into effect on Jan. 12, means outpatient services have been relocated and patients suffering from flare-ups will have to rely more on emergency rooms for immediate care.

From now on, services for sickle cell patients will be housed on the second floor of Montefiore’s Medical Arts Pavilion, on Bainbridge Avenue just across from Montefiore’s main Moses Division campus in Norwood, where the services were previously provided in the Bronx Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center.

The center was previously open five days a week, but the restructuring means specialized care at the new location will only be available by appointment on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

In its previous form, the center was hailed by sickle cell specialists around the country as the model for quality and personalized care.
Despite the loss of funding, Montefiore pledged to continue offering “specialty care at the highest level” in a letter addressed to patients of the center.

Montefiore also issued a statement addressing the issue. “These changes were made necessary due to a drastic cutback in National Institute of Health funding for Sickle Cell Programs across the country,” the statement read. “In these difficult financial times, Montefiore maintains its strong commitment to continue its Sickle Cell services to ensure the health needs of all our patients are met.

Donnette Carroll, who lives with the disorder and is president of the Sickle Cell Thalassemia Patients Network, says the shift in the treatment plan leaves patients without a means to receive adequate attention.

Michael Quane, a Montefiore spokesperson, said the new schedule will still be able to accommodate the 20 outpatients per week the center averaged, with “minimal waiting.”

But Bruce Blount, a patient from Throggs Neck who frequented the center for more than 25 years, said the figure of 20 outpatients is misleading. “All sickle diseases are not the same,” he said. “The overall number of weekly visits to the center depends on the severity of each patient’s disease. It was very important to the community. A lot of people depended on the center.”

Most patient anxiety stems from the new model’s emphasis on emergency room visits for immediate care. Carroll claims reliance on emergency staff removes the familiarity between patient, doctor, and social worker necessary for swift and successful pain management. “You’re out on your own now,” she said.

“The staff at the sickle center knew us like the back of their hand,” said 30-year-old Hunts Point resident Dance Fountain, who frequented the center from the age of 17. “We miss having that personalized care. Now when you go to the emergency room, you’re nothing but a random face.”

One patient from Bedford Park, Desiree, who declined to give her last name, said she waited more than five hours until 4 a.m. on Jan. 12 for treatment of a pain crisis.

It’s unclear how many people in the city suffer from sickle cell disorders, but they afflict some 80,000 people nationwide, according to the National Human Genome Research Institute.  African-Americans and Hispanics are disproportionately diagnosed with the disease.

Sickle cell disorders affect a person’s red blood cells, causing the normally disk-shaped cells to take on a crescent form. The misshapen cells constrict already narrow blood vessels, causing severe pain that can last from days to weeks and often requires hospitalization.

“This is chronic pain,” said Carroll, in reference to the disease’s most common symptom, “It doesn’t go into remission. You live with this for the rest of your life.”

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

Public and Community Meetings

By None

•    The Community District 10 Education Council will meet on Thursday, Feb. 12 at 6:15 p.m. at MS 45, 2502 Lorillard Place, in the auditorium. For more information, call (718) 741-5836.

•    Community Board 7 (CB7) will meet on Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 6:30 p.m. in the basement of the Bronx Library Center, 310 E. Kingsbridge Rd. For more information, call (718) 933-5650.

•    CB7 Committee Meetings: The Landmarks Preservation Commission will meet to discuss Perry Avenue on Thursday, Feb. 5. The Youth Committee will meet on Monday, Feb. 9. The Traffic and Transportation Committee will meet on Monday, Feb. 23. The Parks Committee will meet on Thursday, Feb. 26. All four committees meet at 6:30 p.m. at the Community Board office, 229A E. 204th St. The CB7 Land Use Committee will meet to discuss rezoning Webster Avenue on Tuesday, Feb. 10 at 6:30 p.m. at the Bedford Park Senior Center, 243 E. 204th St.. For more information, call (718) 933-5650.

•    The 52nd Precinct Community Council will meet on Thursday, Feb. 26 at 7:30 p.m. at Fordham Methodist Church, 2543 Marion Ave. For more information, call (718) 220-5824.

•    The Croton Facility Monitoring Committee will meet on Thursday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. at the DEP’s outreach office, 3660 Jerome Ave. For more information, call (718) 231-8470.

Rivera Challenges Gillibrand on Immigration

By Rachel Waldholz

Over the past couple of weeks, City Council Majority Leader Joel Rivera has been speaking out against new U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s positions on immigration issues.

On Feb. 1, Rivera attended a meeting with Gillibrand and other New York lawmakers intended to address concerns about her voting record on immigration during her two years in the House of Representatives.

After the meeting, Gillibrand, an upstate New Yorker, suggested she might be willing to change some positions and pledged to consult with the group on upcoming immigration policy decisions.

Rivera, however, remains unsatisfied. After the meeting, he declined to stand with Gillibrand at her press conference and instead held a press conference of his own, saying, “We cannot afford to stand with someone who will make no commitment [to us]. We have been given a lot of rhetoric over the years. We need action.”

His spokesman, Angel Audiffred, said that the action Rivera would most like to see from Gillibrand would be her support for an executive order stopping all deportations of immigrants. Rivera believes such deportations often separate families, dividing American-born children from their immigrant mothers, Audiffred said.

He added that Rivera remains upset about specific Gillibrand positions, including legislation she co-sponsored that would require local police to take on immigration enforcement duties, her support for English-only policies, and that Gillibrand “appeared to oppose any path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.”

“Now that she will be representing a far broader and more diverse constituency, Senator Gillibrand must reconsider her positions on immigration,” Rivera said in a statement.

Several other Bronx politicians have been highly critical of Gillibrand’s positions on immigration, including Assemblyman Peter Rivera, who led the initial charge against Gillibrand, Assemblyman Jose Rivera and Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito.

Bronx Greens Face Hurdles

By Rachel Waldholz

The Bronx County Green Party, newly established in July 2008, declared its intention to wade into Bronx politics, but is facing an uphill battle.

The party, which has its headquarters in a small Norwood building near Williamsbridge Oval Park, stepped onto the political field last week with a press release blasting proposed MTA fare increases. Party members planned to attend the Bronx public hearing on the fare increases at Lehman College on Feb. 4.

The Bronx Greens point to what they call the “MTA doomsday budget” as symptomatic of a larger problem, which is that many Bronx politicians run for office unopposed. They say the proposed 23 percent MTA fare hike is the fault of sitting politicians who have neglected substantial issues in favor of playing politics over issues like gay marriage (see: Ruben Diaz, Sr.).

“This has got to stop,” said Lukas Herbert, a Green Party official.
The Green Party wants to field candidates in upcoming local elections, Herbert said, but faces a number of challenges. The party lost guaranteed ballot status when it failed to get 50,000 votes in the last gubernatorial election — the required standard for an official party in New York.

Without ballot status, running for office can be difficult, Herbert said. Candidates hoping to run on a Green Party line have to collect a large number of signatures just to get on the ballot.

In addition, the City Council recently extended term limits, which means that in many council districts, potential Green Party candidates looking to run for open seats would now face incumbents.
The party still hopes to recruit candidates for City Council runs in 2009, but the big goal now, said Herbert, is to get enough votes in the 2010 gubernatorial election.

Campaign Finances Disclosed; 2009 Races Take Shape

By Peter Mullin

On Jan. 15, with nine months to go until the 2009 citywide elections, candidates for office were required to file campaign finance reports.

Based on the reported figures, some local races are beginning to take shape, while others remain unsettled. 

Another disclosure report is required by June 15. The primaries are on Sept. 15.

Through an optional program operated by the New York City Campaign Finance Board, candidates can receive public funding in return for adhering to voluntary spending limits and restrictions during the election cycle. Candidates who want to participate must get at least 75 contributors and raise at least $5,000. If candidates qualify for the program by the end of the next reporting period in June, funds will be dispersed at a rate of 6 to 1 for the first $175 contributed by each individual donor.

In the 11th City Council District, Anthony Cassino, Ari Hoffnung and incumbent Oliver Koppell filed the required statements with the CFB. Hoffnung reports contributions of $80,000, while Cassino, who officially remains undeclared, raised $90,000. Technical problems within Koppell’s filings delayed the availability of his financial information, but a spokesman for the board, Eric Friedman, does not consider the action “willful disregard” on the part of the campaign. 

In the 14th Council District, represented by Maria Baez, at least five candidates, not including the incumbent have made their financial information available. Only two candidates, Fernando Cabrera and Yudelka Tapia, meet the thresholds established by the board to receive public funding. Though she’s indicated her intention to run and reportedly held a fund-raiser this past fall, Baez’s office did not report any financial activity during the last two filing periods. 

The 15th District’s lone filer, Jose Padilla, raised $480. Incumbent Joel Rivera reported no financial activity in the Council race, but reported raising $207,000 for a potential race for borough president. Those funds were frozen in the fall, when Rivera suspended his campaign to see whether the incumbent, Adolfo Carrion, who may take a job in the Obama administration, would run again. With Carrion’s future in doubt, so is Rivera’s.
    —Peter Mullin

Schools Rezoned to Ease Overcrowding

By Ivonne Salazar

The Community District 10 Education Council unanimously approved a Department of Education proposal that would rezone seven local schools, an effort the agency hopes will help alleviate overcrowding problems in the district.

On Monday, Jan. 26, at a special meeting, Education Council members voted 6-0 in favor of the proposal.

The vote occurred just months after the DOE released its Five-Year Capital Plan for the years 2010 to 2014 in November 2008. Despite widespread overcrowding issues, the plan only called for the creation of two new schools in District 10.

To further address overcrowding in the district, the DOE hopes to reduce the number of students at PS 8, PS 56, PS 86, and PS 246 by redefining the areas where the schools currently admit students. At the same time, the DOE plans to use previously unzoned schools, PS/IS 20, PS 54 and PS 340 to enroll additional students.

PS 8 in Bedford Park was designed for 800 students, but 1,147 students are currently crammed into the school. PS 56 in Norwood is similarly cramped, housing 593 students in facilities intended for a maximum of 475 students.  

“Some of these schools are really overcrowded,” said Marvin Shelton, president of the Education Council in District 10. “Something needed to be done,” Shelton said, adding that the Education Council worked with the DOE to create a plan that would be the least disruptive to students and parents. In many cases, the zoning changes will enable students to attend schools closer to where they live, he said.

The DOE first organized a public hearing on Jan. 7 at PS 54 in North Fordham to unveil the proposal and accept questions and comments from the community. Five parents and two community members attended, though none had children attending the schools that would be affected.

The DOE says it has worked closely with District 10 to ensure that parents and families will not have to make unreasonable sacrifices as a result of the changes.

“By rezoning certain schools in District 10, [the DOE] will be more equitably distributing students,” said William Havemann, spokesperson for the DOE. “We know that [overcrowding] was a concern and [the DOE] has been in a long process with parents and elected officials to resolve that.”

The zone changes will only affect incoming students for fall 2009, mostly new kindergartners, and will not affect students currently enrolled in school, Havemann said.

Ed. note: The Norwood News will provide the boundaries for each new school zone in an upcoming issue.

Homeless Shelter Surprise Riles Bedford Park

By Alex Kratz

Bedford Park residents are livid about a new homeless shelter that began operating in December without notifying anyone about it. The shelter will remain, city officials said, unless it can be proven that the building’s owners forced out previous tenants through harassment.

“[The Department of Homeless Services] was recently made aware by the community and the Community Board of possible forceful move-outs of prior tenants and takes this very seriously,” DHS spokesperson Heather Janik said in an e-mail. “The department finds this type of behavior unacceptable and plans to listen carefully to the community and fully investigate any formal concerns on this topic.

In early 2008, Briggs Realty, took control of 3001 Briggs Ave. — a building with a history of housing code violations and landlord neglect. By the end of the year, the building was nearly empty as the new owners began renovating the apartments to make way for the shelter.

Sally Dunford, the director of West Bronx Housing, said it was clear previous tenants had been forced out of their homes, but illegal harassment would be difficult to prove.

When the previous landlord sold to Briggs Realty, many tenants owed months, if not years, of back rent, Dunford said. The new landlord began evicting tenants for not paying back rent, which, according to state law, should have been kept in escrow accounts.
Many of them, Dunford said, didn’t save the money.

“Most tenants there were poor, didn’t know their rights and spent their money on other things,” Dunford said. 
Evicting tenants for failing to pay back rent is perfectly legal, Dunford said.

It’s also, ultimately, very lucrative for those now in charge of the building. The Department of Homeless Services pays the shelter’s manager, Aguila Inc., $96 per unit per day. That’s almost $3,000 a month or nearly triple the amount per unit previous tenants paid. Aguila wouldn’t say how much per unit it pays Briggs Realty.

DHS spokesperson Linda Bazerjian said if there is evidence of harassment, DHS would pull out of the building . DHS recently withdrew from a Queens building because of harassment issues, she said.

Regardless of whether the shelter stays or goes, Bedford Park residents are irate that there was no public process and that the shelter is located across from PS 8.

Peter Rivera, director of Aguila, Inc. whose father is the Bronx assemblyman of the same name, said he meant to inform the community. He later called it an “oversight.”

Around 100 people, mostly parents of PS 8 students with their children in tow, showed up at Community Board 7’s housing committee meeting two weeks ago to declare their opposition to the shelter, which set up shop on Christmas Eve without informing the school or community board.

There are now 83 formerly homeless people (31 parents and 52 kids) occupying 17 units in the 25-unit building. DHS hopes to fill another four units with more families (up to three families per unit). There are still four units in the building occupied by previous tenants.

Many worried the shelter would bring a dangerous element to the neighborhood.

Rivera, who runs several other similar facilities, said the shelter’s inhabitants would be parents (mostly single mothers) with children.
Nonetheless, DHS reps at the meeting said they couldn’t guarantee the residents would not have criminal records, but that Aguila would provide 24-hour security and a full-time social worker. 

Geraldine Salvatorelli, who grew up in the building and whose 91-year-old father, Lou Salvatorelli, is one of the few remaining non-transitional tenants, said the building is much better off than it was before. “You should have seen this place 10 years ago,” she said.

Still, some worried about the larger implications of the building’s transformation.

Cynthia Pachelli, a veteran PS 8 teacher, said the overcrowded  school would be overwhelmed by new students from the shelter.  But Department of Education (DOE) spokesperson Marge Feinberg said the city would not force homeless students into overcrowded schools.

DHS said only one of the shelter’s 52 children had enrolled at PS 8.

Bedford Park resident Lois Harr said turning affordable housing (all of the building’s units were previously rent-stabilized) into transitional housing perpetuated homelessness. Harr and others pointed out that the Bronx was already overburdened with homeless shelters. DHS said 45 of its 133 (34 percent) homeless facilities are in the Bronx.

Aguila hopes to open a similar facility just down the road at 2903 Valentine Ave. This time, however, they’re planning to ask for community support at the next Community Board 7 meeting on Feb. 17 at the Bronx Library Center. Most residents in attendance at the housing committee meeting said they didn’t need to wait to hear all the details. They were already against it.

Success and Controversy Follow New State Senator

By Alex Kratz

Sitting in his office at Soundview Health Center, one of four Bronx health centers he’s created, Pedro Espada, Jr. looks like a success.

At the head of a wooden, oval-shaped conference table, the new state senator in the 33rd District is wearing a sharp navy suit and burgundy tie, the French cuffs of his pink striped shirt monogrammed with his initials. He’s surrounded by happy family photos (he’s married and has three sons and five grandchildren), artwork and sports trophies.

Twice, the people of two different Bronx state senate districts have voted him into office, this time including much of the west Bronx. He’s also served in the City Council (see sidebar). For 30 years, his health centers have employed hundreds of people and provided care for thousands.

So, why is it, he wants to know, that the media and his political rivals always focus on the negative aspects of his political career?
The list of negatives includes a larceny indictment for diverting money from a health plan to pay off campaign expenses in 1996 (he was acquitted in 2000), repeated fines for campaign finance infractions, being admonished for earmarking state funds for his health centers and the conviction of three of his health center executives for illegal use of the health center’s funds. But Espada says that’s all in the past.

“People will always have to go back many years to find the missteps,” Espada says. Later, he says, “This is a new more mature Espada.”

He sums up his past transgressions by saying, simply, “This is a dirty business that we call politics.”

If that’s true, then you could call Espada’s return to politics a muddy resurrection. He won an ugly (on both sides) primary battle with incumbent Efrain Gonzalez, who was running while awaiting trial for fraud.

During the campaign, he survived charges that he faked his residency in the district (he has a house in Mamaroneck and still won’t say how much time he spends at his Bedford Park co-op), that he used health center resources to campaign, that his son attacked a journalist (who was being paid by the Gonzalez camp), and that he was really a Republican (he took campaign donations from GOP leaders).

After winning the general election, Espada and two other state senators (Ruben Diaz, Sr. and Carl Kruger) infuriated top Democrats when they withheld their support for Democratic leader Malcolm Smith, who was poised to become Senate majority leader, the first time a Democrat would hold that title in Albany in 40 years. Smith eventually cut a deal that gave Espada chairmanship of the Housing Committee and an assignment with the powerful Rules Committee. He is also now vice president of the Senate.

“I’ve landed in an incredibly historic positioning with the Senate,” he says. “The west Bronx will now have the most senior Hispanic official as vice president of the State Senate.”

Espada says the financial crisis is an opportunity for some real “out of the box” thinking.

Espada admits he doesn’t have all the answers and will spend the next few months trying to figure out the best course of action. But he does think there’s several redundant city and state agencies that can be consolidated, such as the Dormitory Authority and the School Construction Authority.

“These are agencies that have commissioners with huge budgets and high salaries,” Espada says.

He’s also in favor of higher taxes for the wealthiest earners in the state. “I’m not anti-wealthy or anti-rich,” Espada says. “But in bad economic times, poorer people endure a disproportionate amount of pain.”

Espada says his top priority is creating more affordable housing. He also says he’s against vacancy deregulation and wants to create stiffer penalties for tenant harassment, both priorities for housing advocates who will be watching Espada closely now that the Assembly has passed several pro-tenant measures into his lap in the state Senate. 

For his Bronx colleagues, the jury is out on whether Espada will deliver the goods. New Bronx Democratic Chairman and Assemblyman Carl Heastie, who helped broker the deal that put Smith into power, says only time will tell, but for now, he’s giving Espada the benefit of the doubt.

“The people elected him and I hope he does a good job,” Heastie said. “As far as I’m concerned, I’ve wiped the slate clean.”

Espada still doesn’t have a district office. For now, he’s asking constituents to call his Albany office or his Soundview business office (which is well out of the district’s boundaries) if they need assistance. He says he hopes to have an office set up, perhaps at the newly renovated Sears building on Fordham Road, by the end of February.

Espada says he’ll scale back his business duties to make more time for his Senate work. But he has another time management secret. “I don’t party,” he says, with a twinkle in his eye. “It’s amazing how much you can do if you just stay active and don’t party.”

By Norwood News

Free Tax Preparation
Mosholu Preservation Corp., West Bronx Housing and University Neighborhood Housing Program have teamed up, along with corporate sponsors, to provide northwest Bronx residents earning less than $45,000 with free tax preparation. From January to March, free tax preparation will be available at the Refuge House, 2715 Bainbridge Ave.; Mosholu Preservation Corp., 3400 Reservoir Oval East; and Ridgewood Savings Bank, 3445 Jerome Ave. Available by appointment only. For appointments at Mosholu Preservation Corp., call (718) 324-4461 and ask for Brenda Lucio. For appointments at the Refuge House and Ridgewood Savings Bank, contact Jumelia Abrahamson at (718) 933-2539, ext. 12 or e-mail jumelia@unhp.org.

Feb. 8 Traffic Advisory
Due to the NYRR Half Marathon Grand Prix: Bronx the following roads will be closed to vehicular traffic from 7:15 to 11 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 8:
•    Goulden Ave./Reservoir Ave. between Sedgwick Ave. and 195 St.
•    Mosholu Pkwy between Sedgwick Ave. and Marion Ave./Hull Ave.
•    Grand Concourse between Mosholu Pkwy and E 178 St.
•    Paul Ave. between Bedford Park Blvd and Mosholu Pkwy

MS 80 Needs Love
MS 80 is asking parents and community members to show some love and volunteer for just an hour each week. The school needs mentors, math and reading tutors, part-time coaches and volunteers to help with cafeteria duty. For more information, call Ms. Alejandro (718) 405-6300 x.111.

Blood Drive Feb. 8
St. Brendan’s School, 268 E. 207th St, is holding its annual blood drive on Feb. 8 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the school cafeteria. Donors must be between 17 and 75 years old, or 16 with written parental consent. A picture ID is required. For more information, call (718) 547-6655.

Flea Market Needs Donations
The Bedford Mosholu Community Association needs donations for its Flea Market, to be held on Mar. 7. Please bring old and new items to the B.M.C.A. office at 400 E. Mosholu Parkway South, #B1 (Lobby Floor). Donations will be accepted Feb. 18 and Feb. 25 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., on Feb. 28 from 1:30 to 4 p.m. and on Mar. 4 from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Learn Microsoft Word
The Mosholu Branch of the New York Public Library is offering a free introduction to Microsoft Word on Feb. 11 from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Learn to create, edit, print, and save documents. Register in person. The Mosholu Branch is at 285 E. 205 St. For more information, call (718) 882-8239. 

Free ESL and GED Classes
MS 80 is offering free ESL and GED classes. You must be 21 or older to register. Registration will take place on Saturday, Feb. 14, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at MS 80, 149 E Mosholu Parkway North. For more information, call Mrs. Alejandro at (718) 405-6300 x.111.

Charter School Accepting Applications
The Bronx Community Charter School, located at 2348 Webster Ave., is now accepting kindergarten applications for fall 2009 (spaces for 1st and 2nd graders may also be available). Meet the co-directors, see students and teachers in action and take a tour at 9 a.m. on the following dates: Feb. 12 and 24; March 5 and 19. For more information, call (718) 584-1400 or visit www.bronxcommunity.org.

Free Summer Vacations for Kids
The Fresh Air Fund is currently registering boys and girls, ages six through twelve, for free summer vacations in the homes of volunteer host families throughout the northeast or at one of five Fresh Air Fund summer camps in upstate New York. To find out how to register, call (800) 367-0003 or go to www.freshair.org.

Free Career Workshops
The State University of New York is offering free career workshops, including job readiness training, resume and cover letter preparation, help with job searches and computer skills, job placement assistance, an Office Skills Certificate Program, college prep and more. For more information, call (718) 547-1001 or visit www.NBX.SUNYEOC.org

Free After School Program and Evening Teen Center
The Mosholu Montefiore Community Cneter is accepting registration for their free after school program at Tracey Towers, 40 West Mosholu Parkway. The program meets Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. and is open to children in the third through sixth grades. From 6:30 to 9 p.m. the free Teen Center is open for youth from twelve to eighteen. Programs at both times include homework help, computers, art, sports, acting, and quiet games. To register, stop by the Youth Community Room on the second floor of Tracey Tower and speak to Antonie Fields, or call him at (917) 482-5039.

Marketing Workshops for Business Owners
The Small Business Development Center is offering workshops on marketing to small business owners. The four workshops can be taken serially or individually. The series begins with “Strategic Planning, Creating the Right Message” on Feb. 10, and “Preparing Marketing Materials” on Feb 24. Workshops are held at Lehman College, 250 Bedford Park Blvd West. Please register at (718) 960-8806 or email clarence.stanley@lehman.cuny.edu.

After School Programs
The Mosholu Montefiore Community Center is now accepting enrollment at its after school programs at the Bronx New School, P.S. 16, and P.S. 24. The programs serve children in kindergarten through 6th grade and offers a variety of activities. For more information, call Ruth Moore at (718) 944-3207 on weekdays.

Schizophrenia Study Seeking Participants
A research study seeking new treatments for schizophrenia is looking for patients in the Bronx. Candidates must be 18 to 65 years old, diagnosed with schizophrenia at or before age 35 and currently on certain medications for schizophrenia. Patients can enroll through the first half of 2009. For more information, call (888) 988-6736 or go to www.cognitivestudy.com.

Free Workshops for Children with Special Needs
Resources for Children with Special Needs, Inc. is offering a series of free community workshops for families of children, youth and young adults with disabilities. The next workshop is “Transition from School to Adult Life” on Mar. 4, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Workshops are held at the Jewish Child Care Association, 555 Bergen Ave. For more information, call Gary Shulman at (212) 677-4650 or email gshulman@resourcesnyc.org.

Join Local Community Board – Apply by Feb. 6
The Bronx Borough President’s Office is accepting applications for all 12 Community Boards. Applicants should live or have professional or other significant interests in the Bronx. Applications are due Feb. 6, and are available at your local Community Board office or online at bronxboropres.nyc.gov. Applicants can also call the Borough President’s Community Board office at (718) 590-3914.

Free 2009 Parking Calendars
Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz is offering free New York City Parking Calendars to community residents. To receive one, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to his office at 3107 Kingsbridge Ave, Bronx, NY 10463, or stop by the office in person.

Join Local Education Council
The Bronx Borough President’s Office is interviewing candidates to fill its vacancy on Community Education Council District 10. Members are unpaid volunteers and serve for two years. The right candidates will have experience in business, trade or education. E-mail resume and cover letter to the Borough President’s Director of Education Policy, Mr. Jesse Mojica, at jmojica@bronxbp.nyc.gov or fax documents to (718) 590-4690.

Job Opportunities
On Dec. 1, Mayor Bloomberg announced the expansion of free job placement services through New York City’s Workforce1 Career Centers. The centers provide personalized career counseling, interview training, resume/cover letter assistance, workshops and ESL classes. For more information, call the Bronx Workforce1 Center, 358 East 149th Street, (718) 960-7099.

After School Care
The Mosholu Montefiore Community Center, 3450 DeKalb Ave., provides after school care for children in elementary school. Children are transported from their schools in Norwood, Bedford Park, Williamsbridge and Van Cortlandt Village. The center provides a snack, help with homework, and an array of activities to keep children busy. Financial aid is available. For more information, call Ruth Moore, Program Registrar, at (718) 882-4000.

Capoeira Dance Classes
The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, 841 Barretto St., is offering capoeira classes every Saturday in January, from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Cost is $7 per class. For more information, call (718) 842-5223 or visit www.bronxacademyofartsanddance.org.

Computer and English Classes
Fordham University, 557 E. Fordham Rd., is currently holding free computer and English Language classes for parents on Mondays through Thursdays and on Saturdays. Classes can either stand alone or as an 8- to12-week series. For more information or to register, call (718) 817-3503.

Wii Games for Adults and Seniors
On Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4 p.m., adults and seniors can enjoy free Wii video games at the Mosholu Library, 285 E. 205th St. To sign up, go to the Adult Information Desk. For more information, call (718) 882-8239.

Place for Teens With Issues
The Power Project is a free program for teens ages 12 to 18 who are dealing with substance abuse and other problems. Located at 3464 Webster Ave., Power Project provides case management, individual and group counseling, trips, and is just a place to get away from it all. For more information, call (718) 515-7971.

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.

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.

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. 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.

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.

After School Child Care
Registration is now taking place for the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center’s after-school childcare 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.

Preschool New Enrollment
The Mosholu Montefiore Community Center now has more space available for childcare. There are new classrooms for 2- to 4-year-olds at the center, located at 3450 DeKalb Ave. For more information, call (718) 882-4000.

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.

Free Respite Program
Kingsbridge Heights Community Center (KHCC) is offering free after-school services to families with mentally retarded or developmentally disabled children ages 5 to 21 from 3 to 6 p.m. KHCC is also offering a Saturday Respite Program for ages 15 to 25, and on Sundays another Respite Program is provided for ages 18 to 65. Weekend Respite Program hours are from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. They are held at the KHCC, 3101 Kingsbridge Terrace (near Sedgwick Avenue) at West 230th Street. To register or for more information, call Hanna Gabris at (718) 884-0700 ext. 202.

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 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.  

Foster Parents Needed
The Foster Care Network is asking families to open their hearts and homes to foster children. For more information, call (800) 454-3727.

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.

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.

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.

 

By None

Meet the Pointer Sisters!
—and celebrate Valentine’s Day
with the one you love.

Enter for your chance to win
2 free tickets to see:

The Pointer Sisters
(and meet them before the show!)
and Kool and the Gang
 
together in concert at
Lehman Center for the Performing Arts’ Concert Hall
250 Bedford Park Blvd. West
Saturday, Feb. 14 at 8 p.m.

To enter, e-mail the Norwood News at norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org with “Pointer Sisters” in the subject line. Include your name and daytime telephone number. If you do not have e-mail, call 718-324-4998 and ask for Brenda.

The deadline is 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 10 and 2 winners (2 tickets each) will be notified by phone the following day.

By Judy Noy

Onstage
 

• The Lehman Center for the Performing Arts presents Break: The Urban Funk Spectacular, featuring a variety of hip-hop dance, Feb. 7 at 8 p.m., (tickets are $20 to $35; $10 for children 12 and under); and The Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra, performing both classical and Irish music, Feb. 15 at 4 p.m. (tickets are $10 to $25; $10 for children 12 and under); both in the Concert Hall at 250 Bedford Pk. Blvd. W. For more information, call (718) 960-8833.

 

•  The Wave Hill House, located at West 249th Street and Independence Avenue, will host a concert, New Perspectives: The Romantic Violin, featuring violin prodigy Laura Lutzke, Feb. 15 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 for members, $24 for non-members, and $21 for students and seniors ages 65 and over. For more information, call (718) 549-3200 ext. 385.

 

•  The Bronx Library Center, located at 310 E. Kingsbridge Rd. off Fordham Road, will host several events, including: African Dance, for children, Feb. 7 at 2 p.m.; and events for adults at 2:30 p.m., including A Musical Tribute to Sam Cooke, performed by NYC jazz/pop vocalist Cody Childs, Feb. 7; and Flamenco Music and Dance by Flamenco Latina, Feb. 14. For more information, call (718) 579-4244/46 or visit www.nypl.org.

 

•  A Musical Tribute to Sam Cooke, performed by NYC jazz/pop vocalist Cody Childs, will take place at the Mosholu Library, located at 285 E. 205th St., free, on Feb. 14 at 2:30 p.m. For more information, call (718) 882-8239.

Events

•  The JASA Van Cortlandt Senior Center at 3880 Sedgwick Ave. will celebrate Tu Bishvat (Israel Arbor Day) with musical performers Phyllis, Rose and Meir, Feb. 13; and soprano Sigal Chen and pianist Jonathan Dzik, performing Broadway, Hebrew and classical music, Feb. 19; both at 1 p.m., preceded by lunch at noon. The suggested contribution for each is $3. For more information, call (718) 549-4700.

 

•  English Conversation Program for Speakers of Other Languages, Intermediate Level, is offered free for adults 16 and older, on a first come, first served basis, at the Mosholu Library, 285 E. 205th St., led by volunteers from New York Cares. The program will be held Tuesdays through March 10, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. For more information, call Library’s Office of Community Outreach Services (212) 340-0918.

 

•  Wave Hill offers two family art projects: Zigzag, A Book of Winter Wonders, to construct a handmade nature journal of sketches and watercolors, Feb. 7 and 8; and Handmade Hearts, to make valentines, Feb. 14 and 15; both from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Kerlin Learning Center. Wave Hill is located at West 249th Street and Independence Avenue. For more information, call (718) 54903200 or visit www.wavehill.org.

Exhibits

•  The Bronx River Art Center, located at 1087 E. Tremont Ave., presents two solo exhibitions through March 14, featuring New York artists Jillian Mcdonald in Gallery 1 and Jennifer Grimyser in Gallery 2. For more information, call (718) 589-5819.

 

•  The Wave Hill House, located at West 249th Street and Independence Avenue, will feature Naturally Inspired, a selection of art produced in workshops for adults and at the weekly Family Art Project; and Flora & Fauna, an installation of a vine that winds along the wall of the staircase, through Feb. 22. For more information, call (718) 549-3200 or visit www.wavehill.org.

 

•  The Neuberger Museum of Art, at 735 Anderson Hill Rd., in Purchase, NY, will exhibit Great Women Artists, featuring two sculptures by Barbara Korman, of Norwood. The show runs from noon to 5 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays, through Feb. 22. For more information, visit www.bkormanstudio.com.

Learning
 
The Bronx Library Center has events for all ages:

• For children and preschoolers, there is: Preschool Romp, Feb. 5, 12 and 19 at 11 a.m.; and Family Time, Feb. 14 at 11 a.m.
• Also, for school-aged children, there is The Thespian’s Gym, Feb. 9 at 4 p.m.; Arts & Crafts, Feb. 12 at 4 p.m.; Story Telling, Feb. 14 at 2 p.m.; Tales of Africa and the African Diaspora, Feb. 15 at 2 p.m.; Migration Sensation, Feb. 17 at 2 p.m.; and Snowman, Feb. 18 at 2 p.m.
• Young adults can attend Halo 3 Tournament, Feb. 9 at 4 p.m.; Get Real! Love and Relationships, Feb. 11 at 4 p.m.; Music Discovery, Feb. 6 at 4 p.m.; Card Magic, Feb. 11 at 4 p.m.; and Choc-O-Thon, Feb. 18 at 4 p.m.
• For adults, there is MOMA Presents Jack Lawrence and the Migration Series, Feb. 9 at 6 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, located at 285 E. 205th St., presents Toddler Story Time, Feb. 5 at 10:30 a.m.; Chinese Ribbon Dance Workshop, Feb. 10 at 4 p.m.; and Preschool Story Time, Feb. 12 at 10:30 a.m.; all for children. For more information, call (718) 882-8239.

 

•  The Jerome Park Library, at 118 Eames Place, presents Arts & Crafts, Feb. 10 at 4 p.m.; and a film, Feb. 20 at 2:30 p.m.; both for children; and Valentine’s Day Craft, Feb. 12 at 4 p.m., for young adults. For more information, call (718) 549-5200.

NOTE: Items for consideration should be received in our office by Feb. 9 for the next publication date of Feb. 19.

By Rachel Waldholz

The day after Barack Obama was sworn in as President of the United States, students at PS 56 were treated to an inaugural celebration of their own.

In honor of both Obama’s inauguration and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the PS 56 Chorus gave a concert and a series of readings for their classmates. Titled “Celebrating our Historical Journey,” the program evoked Abraham Lincoln, in addition to Dr. King and President Obama.

Fifth graders Rufino Lopez, Elham Chowdhury and Junaid Ahmed gave rousing recitals from the Gettysburg Address, King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, and Obama’s election-night acceptance speech.
Their classmate, Nadia Budhu, introduced the speakers, reminding the audience that America “is as diverse as the people in this room, this school, this neighborhood, this city, this country, on this earth.”

Principal Priscilla Sheeran had tears in her eyes as she told her students that Obama’s election should encourage them to work hard and follow their dreams. Chorus Director Sondra Boozebailey had her students open the concert with the civil rights standard, “We Shall Overcome,” and asked all of their classmates in the audience to stand up and sing along. The audience gladly obliged.

The PS 56 choral group had performed at the 11th Annual Martin Luther King Interfaith Celebration for Religious and Racial Harmony at St. Bartholomew’s Church in Manhattan on Sunday, Jan. 18. They were the only children’s chorus to perform in the festivities, Sheeran said.   

 

By Ivonne Salazar

Group exercise classes usually conjure up images of tedious and demanding workouts in a room full of strangers.

But that’s not the case for the small army of women who exercise together on a weekly basis in the gym at the Holy Nativity Church in Norwood.

They’re all participants in the Belin Challenge Fitness Camp, a month-long series of “boot-camp” style classes that promote a personalized, holistic approach to getting in shape.

The fitness camp began offering women’s-only classes in August 2008 at the Lutheran Church of the Epiphany, but relocated after a January fire destroyed the building’s basement. The new location at Holy Nativity provides twice the size of the former location.

Whether racing around cones or doing jumping jacks and yelling the names of healthy foods, the classes are designed for fitness — and fun. The women in the fitness camp have become friends. They laugh and encourage each other through difficult exercises, creating a safe and positive environment.

Then there is the instructor. Wearing a whistle around his neck, and a T-shirt with the words “boot camp” on his back, Todd Belin is the program director for the Belin Challenge Fitness Camp in the Bronx.
To some people, Belin might be intimidating. But participants say they admire him and appreciate his motivational approach.

Michele Hayes, 31, lives in Norwood and is enrolled in her third consecutive fitness camp. Trying to explain why she keeps coming back, Hayes says, “It’s the women and the motivation of Todd. It’s supportive, it’s warm, and it’s fun. There are great women here, and Todd is inspirational.”

The fitness camp was once the best kept fitness secret in the north Bronx, but the camp has been gaining popularity with the community.

“We are different than most boot camps,” Belin says, explaining his approach to fitness. “We provide personal training in a fun group setting. Living a healthy, active lifestyle is the goal we try to push.”

After moving to New York City from Washington, D.C .in 1999, Belin began working as a certified personal trainer at New York Sports Club. In 2003, he began organizing exercise classes at his church, Bethel Gospel in Harlem. There, he honed what he refers to as a holistic approach to fitness, covering the mental, emotional, spiritual and physical needs of participants. Last year, when Belin and his wife moved to the Bronx, he convinced his brother, the owner of the Washington-based Belin Sports and Fitness, to expand the business and try Norwood as the next fitness camp location. They chose to start with women-only classes based on community feedback.

“We realized that women felt more comfortable [in women-only classes],” Belin says. “The fastest growing fitness center, Curves, is all women. [Women] say they like [the classes]. It’s like a girls’ night out.”
 On the first day of camp, Belin assesses the fitness level of each participant by measuring their body fat content, muscle mass, hydration level, weight, and abdominal fat. Based on these measurements, students receive a final report at the end of the camp and are regularly updated on their progress throughout the camp. 
The classes combine simple cardio and resistance training exercises and primarily utilize a person’s own body weight. “Muscles do not know the difference between weight and non-weight,” said Belin. “The only thing they register is tension.”

Belin alters each workout for beginner, intermediate, and advanced students, and says he’s sensitive to the needs of students with injuries or other chronic issues.

The fitness camp is four weeks long and can be taken from one to five days a week. The classes cost $15 per class for up to two classes a week. If you take between three to five classes, you pay $11.95 per class.

To keep students entertained, Belin reserves one day a week as “fun day,” where participants play games such as tag, hula-hoop or “musical mats” (musical chairs with yoga mats). 

Participants see dramatic changes, Belin says.

“He definitely taught us how to change our lifestyle,” said Camelle Fraser, 28, who is completing her fifth fitness camp as she prepares for a summer wedding. Fraser, along with her maid of honor, Sherie Newell, 29, both Norwood residents, have lost a total of 100 pounds together, through the class.

“Todd invests a lot in us,” said Newell. “He sets goals and he expects to see change. Todd is a fitness guru.”

Belin is planning to start a men’s fitness camp soon. He is also planning to expand the fitness camp to Manhattan in the spring. Classes are currently indoors, but will be scheduled outdoors once the weather gets warmer. 

According to Belin, there is a simple solution to change your health and fitness outlook: staying positive. “I tell my students, change your words, thoughts, and actions,” says Belin. “Once someone says, ‘I can’t do it,’ they usually end up saying, ’I quit.’ The mind controls the body, [and] the body doesn’t know what its limits are.”

Ed. note: For more information on the Belin Fitness Camp, call (917) 476-9352.

By None

As we welcome our nation’s first African-American President, let us remember not to put him on any higher a pedestal than we did our previous ones for he is just as fallible as they were and he, too, has his flaws.

Let us try not to be more or less critical of him because he is an African-American. No one can please everybody all of the time.
And though he has shown us that “We Can,” our journey does not end there. It is now up to us to show ourselves that we will continue and with each day, be better than we were the day before.

Tracy Wm. Heyward

By None

The MTA is taking advantage of the legal requirement to balance its operating budget to secure more money for pursuing their wasteful and unnecessary projects.

The payroll tax proposal alone is sufficient to prevent a fare increase, subway and bus line eliminations, and the other proposed cuts.  Even though the payroll tax has considerable political support, MTA chief Elliot Sander, insisted on tolls for the Harlem and East River bridges as well.

Smarting over the defeat of congestion pricing, the MTA sees a great opportunity to grab control of the bridges and to extract more money for continuing business as usual: computerized trains, lavish station renovations in wealthy neighborhoods, more benefits for consultants and executives, enhancing the Manhattan skyline with a soaring Fulton Transit Center, new luxury headquarters on the West Side, etc. While tolling would benefit the wealthy areas of Manhattan by reducing traffic and pollution, working class residents from the outer boroughs would be paying and receiving nothing!  Last spring, I suggested legally dedicating revenues from congestion pricing for subway projects in the outer boroughs. Even though the idea was well-received, the feckless Bronx politicians voted to give the MTA a blank check!

Tolling the bridges creates another problem. Everyone agrees that it would add many new riders to an already overwhelmed transit system. During the congestion pricing debate, no realistic and comprehensive plan for the subway enhancement was ever developed. Instead, the MTA hurriedly put forth a massive express bus expansion plan. In 2008, federal money would have covered it, but now the Ravitch Commission proposed that revenues from the tolls would pay for it — a classic case of placing the cart before the horse! Common sense dictates that the system must be enhanced before tolling begins and there is no money to fund express bus expansion.

Comptroller William Thompson proposed a tax increase based on the weight of cars which would place the burden on everyone, not just residents of the outer boroughs. Any revenue from this idea, however, must be legally dedicated to projects which have strong public support.

The core of the problem is the MTA itself. It has total control of mass transit and pursues policies which most people oppose. Councilman Tony Avella has proposed a solution in his City Council Resolution #44: the city must control its own subways and buses. If the City Council had real power over New York’s mass transit, ideas such as eliminating subway and bus lines, closing token booths, one person train control and wasteful projects such as the Fulton Transit Center would never see the light of day.

It’s necessary for the people of the Bronx to get together and to join their fellow citizens in the outer boroughs in fighting for city control over its subways and buses.

John Rozankowski
Bedford Park

By John M. Reilly

If there is another place on earth as focused on our inauguration today as we are, it is the small East African nation of Kenya. The home of President Barack Obama’s father, Kenya declared a national holiday after Obama’s election in November. Since then their pride and interest has continued to grow.

I had the opportunity to visit Kenya earlier this month. It is a place of great natural beauty and stifling poverty where people are struggling to find ways to support themselves and their families.  Kenyans are proud of what Americans have done and amazed at the same time.  They are quick to tell Americans how remarkable the world sees our popular election of a member of a minority group as our chief executive.

Beyond this pride and amazement, Kenyans are hopeful. They are hoping Obama’s election will mean good things for democracy in Kenya and throughout Africa and the developing world.

Our hosts during my visit were the DeLaSalle Brothers, a Catholic teaching order. Their schools in the United States include Manhattan College here in the Bronx. They have run schools and programs in Kenya for more than 50 years. A large number of young Kenyans have entered the order in recent years and, in speaking with them, I sensed their hope as well as their pride.

They are fascinated and encouraged with the smooth transition of power in the United States. Kenya went through a crushing period of post-election violence a year ago. Their hope is that Africans will be watching this transition in particular because of Obama and that it will lead to progress in elections in Kenya and the rest of Africa. They are watching the process in Ghana where it appears power is about to transfer peacefully after recent national elections.

We attended a meeting of landlords and tenants in a Nairobi slum called Mathere. A year ago violence flared in the slums as tenants attacked landlords of differing ethnic groups. It is remarkable to see these two groups now sitting down in a small church building, trying to work out their differences in an organized manner. I reminded the participants that Barack Obama’s first job was as a community organizer, working to help residents of Chicago to find solutions to neighborhood issues.

As a young child I recall the excitement created by John Kennedy’s election, the first Irish Catholic President. It had an impact for Catholics across America, but it also set forth a burst of pride in Ireland which was displayed when Kennedy visited.

Kenyans can’t wait for President Obama to visit.  I think it’s a pretty sure bet that he will.

-John Reilly is the Executive Director of the Fordham Bedford Housing Corporation and a life-long Bedford Park resident.

By Editorial

The list of injustices emanating from the deals surrounding the construction of the new Yankee stadium is long and depressing.

But the greatest civic offense is the theft of invaluable public green space and the broken promises to provide replacement parkland to the community in a timely fashion.

Several parks were promised as replacements for the centrally located Macombs Dam and Mullaly parks now occupied by the new stadium. None are on-line and most have experienced delays.
The most substantial of the replacements, a waterfront park on the Harlem River, has run into repeated delays, as Jose DeJesus, a student in our youth journalism program reported in the most recent edition of Bronx Youth Heard.

As journalists Gary Axelbank and Harvey Araton recently commented, perhaps the grandest monument to the city’s unforgivable heist of green space in a community struggling with asthma and other public health problems, is the old Yankee Stadium, which still stands despite city promises it would be razed to make way for new baseball fields, so local kids can start running the bases again.

The city says the Yankees needed their old offices while constructing the new stadium.

Araton, a New York Times sports columnist, points out that it’s somehow acceptable that kids all over the city can learn in trailers hogging schoolyards in perpetuity. But the Yanks can’t spend a few months in similar quarters?

And the city says tearing down the old Yankee Stadium “requires a complicated public procurement process.”
So, how is it that the city had no problem getting a wrecking ball at Shea Stadium in October?

“Why was it more important to ensure that the Mets have ample parking for their new stadium in time for Opening Day than it is to give Bronx families the parkland they’ve been promised in time for spring?” asked Axelbank, in a video commentary on the Bronx News Network.

We have one more question: Why is it that only reporters are making noise about this? Is there not one elected official who considers this important enough to at least issue a press release, especially since every elected official save one supported the project? Our fax machine hums with elected officials’ press releases on issues they have little if any control over, but when it comes to a situation where taking a stand might accomplish something? Nada.

“Our elected officials are missing in action,” says Joyce Hogi, a veteran Bronx activist and parks advocate who lives on the Grand Concourse. “They were supposed to be watching. All they did was sign off on the parks and they haven’t done anything since.”

We, and many Bronxites, are tired of this crap. We’re tired of city officials railroading unwise projects through the land use process. We’re tired of the broken promises. And we’re tired of our elected officials – and we can’t think of any exceptions in this case – abandoning their duty to represent the public interest.

So, we’ll step into the breach once again, as we did with the languishing Kingsbridge Armory project. With this issue, we inaugurate the “Tear It Down” clock. The clock will measure the days since the wrecking crews arrived at Shea Stadium and it won’t stop until the cranes show up for work on River Avenue. We’ll update it bi-weekly in every issue of the Norwood News and more frequently on the Bronx News Network blog (westbronxnews.blogspot.com).

If you want to add your voice, simply call the mayor’s office (212-788-3000) and tell Mayor Bloomberg, “Tear It Down. Now!”

By Peter Mullin

Spurred by reductions in federal funding, Montefiore Medical Center has restructured its treatment plan for patients suffering from sickle cell disorders. The new plan, which officially went into effect on Jan. 12, means outpatient services have been relocated and patients suffering from flare-ups will have to rely more on emergency rooms for immediate care.

From now on, services for sickle cell patients will be housed on the second floor of Montefiore’s Medical Arts Pavilion, on Bainbridge Avenue just across from Montefiore’s main Moses Division campus in Norwood, where the services were previously provided in the Bronx Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center.

The center was previously open five days a week, but the restructuring means specialized care at the new location will only be available by appointment on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

In its previous form, the center was hailed by sickle cell specialists around the country as the model for quality and personalized care.
Despite the loss of funding, Montefiore pledged to continue offering “specialty care at the highest level” in a letter addressed to patients of the center.

Montefiore also issued a statement addressing the issue. “These changes were made necessary due to a drastic cutback in National Institute of Health funding for Sickle Cell Programs across the country,” the statement read. “In these difficult financial times, Montefiore maintains its strong commitment to continue its Sickle Cell services to ensure the health needs of all our patients are met.

Donnette Carroll, who lives with the disorder and is president of the Sickle Cell Thalassemia Patients Network, says the shift in the treatment plan leaves patients without a means to receive adequate attention.

Michael Quane, a Montefiore spokesperson, said the new schedule will still be able to accommodate the 20 outpatients per week the center averaged, with “minimal waiting.”

But Bruce Blount, a patient from Throggs Neck who frequented the center for more than 25 years, said the figure of 20 outpatients is misleading. “All sickle diseases are not the same,” he said. “The overall number of weekly visits to the center depends on the severity of each patient’s disease. It was very important to the community. A lot of people depended on the center.”

Most patient anxiety stems from the new model’s emphasis on emergency room visits for immediate care. Carroll claims reliance on emergency staff removes the familiarity between patient, doctor, and social worker necessary for swift and successful pain management. “You’re out on your own now,” she said.

“The staff at the sickle center knew us like the back of their hand,” said 30-year-old Hunts Point resident Dance Fountain, who frequented the center from the age of 17. “We miss having that personalized care. Now when you go to the emergency room, you’re nothing but a random face.”

One patient from Bedford Park, Desiree, who declined to give her last name, said she waited more than five hours until 4 a.m. on Jan. 12 for treatment of a pain crisis.

It’s unclear how many people in the city suffer from sickle cell disorders, but they afflict some 80,000 people nationwide, according to the National Human Genome Research Institute.  African-Americans and Hispanics are disproportionately diagnosed with the disease.

Sickle cell disorders affect a person’s red blood cells, causing the normally disk-shaped cells to take on a crescent form. The misshapen cells constrict already narrow blood vessels, causing severe pain that can last from days to weeks and often requires hospitalization.

“This is chronic pain,” said Carroll, in reference to the disease’s most common symptom, “It doesn’t go into remission. You live with this for the rest of your life.”

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

By None

•    The Community District 10 Education Council will meet on Thursday, Feb. 12 at 6:15 p.m. at MS 45, 2502 Lorillard Place, in the auditorium. For more information, call (718) 741-5836.

•    Community Board 7 (CB7) will meet on Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 6:30 p.m. in the basement of the Bronx Library Center, 310 E. Kingsbridge Rd. For more information, call (718) 933-5650.

•    CB7 Committee Meetings: The Landmarks Preservation Commission will meet to discuss Perry Avenue on Thursday, Feb. 5. The Youth Committee will meet on Monday, Feb. 9. The Traffic and Transportation Committee will meet on Monday, Feb. 23. The Parks Committee will meet on Thursday, Feb. 26. All four committees meet at 6:30 p.m. at the Community Board office, 229A E. 204th St. The CB7 Land Use Committee will meet to discuss rezoning Webster Avenue on Tuesday, Feb. 10 at 6:30 p.m. at the Bedford Park Senior Center, 243 E. 204th St.. For more information, call (718) 933-5650.

•    The 52nd Precinct Community Council will meet on Thursday, Feb. 26 at 7:30 p.m. at Fordham Methodist Church, 2543 Marion Ave. For more information, call (718) 220-5824.

•    The Croton Facility Monitoring Committee will meet on Thursday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. at the DEP’s outreach office, 3660 Jerome Ave. For more information, call (718) 231-8470.

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