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Gay Bronx Couples Waste No Time in Making History

By Jordan Moss

The signs of a highly unusual Sunday at the Bronx County Courthouse, where profound new rights were being conferred on a large group of New Yorkers, were hard to miss.

Staff of the mayor’s office, sporting orange baseball caps, warmly greeted anyone who came within 50 yards of the courthouse’s Concourse entrance. There was no crammed lineup leading to the metal detectors. Cameras, forbidden from courtrooms and confiscated for the duration of one’s visit if found, were waved on through.

History, after all, was waiting for its close-up.

Another gantlet of helpers led people to the correct elevator to head down to the marriage bureau in the basement. About a couple of dozen gay couples calmly waited in a courtroom on the ground floor on the west side of the courthouse to be married on the first day it was possible, as allowed by a law passed by the state legislature and signed by Governor Cuomo a month ago. Many were with family and friends, and some were ust happy to be with each other on a day no one in the room would likely ever forget. There were delays in getting couples to the “altar” (a small office near the courtroom), but impatience was scarce.

Rhea Greenberg, a disability analyst for the state, and Janice Glock, a retired postal worker, met on a blind date and have been together for almost 12 years, living in Spuyten Duyvil. The couple, who jokingly referred to each other as “Spouse A” and “Spouse B,” which is how they had to classify themselves on the marriage license forms, chose not to get married in nearby states like Connecticut or Massachusetts which preceded New York in allowing gay marriage. They held out hope for the Empire State to fall in line.

“This is where we’ve lived our lives,” said Greenberg, who expressed relief that there were no protesters outside the building. “This is where we have roots, family, friends, and this is where we want to get married.”

Though they know they’re going to be together forever, there are practical considerations, Greenberg said. “I want to know if anything happens to me, that she is as protected as possible.”

“We plan to stay together,” Glock said. “We’ve worked out all the kinks. This is one more way of uniting ourselves.”
On their anniversary on Aug. 12, they will gather with family and friends to celebrate their marriage at Silvio’s, an Italian restaurant in Yonkers, where they also marked their domestic partnership about five years ago.

“Give them a plug,” Greenberg told a reporter regarding Silvio’s. “We told them we’d try to get them gay wedding business!”

A few rows back, Mott Haven residents Karen Cofield and Gwendolyn Williams also waited patiently, willing to endure some bureaucratic delays after five years together.

They met in a rehab center upstate and have been a support to each other ever since.

A reporter asked Cofield, a maintenance worker at Memorial Sloane Kettering, what being married meant to her. She hardly skipped a beat.

“Everything,” said Cofield.

She added: “There’s no question in our mind that we’re going to be together. It’s just another level for us.”

Twenty seven couples tied the knot that day in the Bronx, 823 in the city as a whole.

Earlier in the morning, Criminal Court Judge Efrain Alvarado, assisting the other judges in managing a very unusual Sunday of legal proceedings, told the packed courtroom:

“We have a historic day today. Not just because it’s the first time in New York State, but because we have come full circle in recognizing the equality and equal justice deserved by all.”
David Greene contributed to this story.

New Webster Ave. Plans Bring Cheers and Jeers

By Jeanmarie Evelly

Change is coming to Webster Avenue.

The gritty, industrial stretch that runs through the neighborhoods of Norwood and Bedford Park was rezoned by the City Council this past March, with a plan designed to encourage more retail stores and residential housing in an area now largely composed of parking lots and auto body shops.

Though not necessarily a direct result of the city’s change—zoning plans are more like gentle hands that shape a neighborhood, and depending on market conditions, it can take years before any real changes are seen—new projects already under way or in the pipeline along Webster are a portent for what the street could look like down the road.

Two developers are eyeing the avenue as the site of separate affordable housing complexes. One is already under way, in a lot technically located in Community Board 12, along the south end of Woodlawn Cemetery and just north of Gun Hill Road. Jackson Development Group is constructing over 400 new apartments in four buildings, calling the massive development “Webster Commons,” and advertising the rentals for low and moderate-income tenants.

The project, subsidized by a number of city and state affordable housing programs as well as $839,000 in capital funding from Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., has drawn criticism from some community members.

“As the first projects on [a rezoned] Webster Avenue, I believe it’s a poor decision to put in so-called affordable, low-income housing,” said Andrew Laiosa, a member of Community Board 7 who openly describes himself as “anti-development.”

He voted against both Webster Commons and another affordable housing complex planned for Webster Avenue, just north of 204th Street. That project, pitched to the community board several months ago by housing development groups Azimuth and Sebco, would be on a much smaller scale — 60 apartment units, a portion of which would be set aside for formerly homeless families and a first floor that would be leased to a for-profit daycare company.

Laiosa said he would rather see a developer with private money come to Webster Avenue, rather than government-subsidized projects aimed to house low-income tenants, which he said “sets a bad precedent.” “What we need to do is have a diversity of incomes in the Bronx,” he said. “We can’t just become a dumping ground for all poor people in New York City.”

The rezoning adopted for Webster Avenue this spring intentionally creates incentives for affordable housing, and a City Planning spokesperson compared it to a similar plan approved years ago in Morrisania—a south Bronx neighborhood that’s subsequently been transformed by a building boom over the last decade, where brand new, low-income housing complexes have sprung up like dandelions.

The city and the Bloomberg administration heralds this growth as “revitalizing” to communities; the mayor has even set a goal of creating or preserving at least 165,000 units of affordable housing by 2014, part of his New Housing Marketplace Plan.

But some critics say policies like this don’t address fundamental housing problems, like skyrocketing city rents, and instead create an incentive for building and overdevelopment that doesn’t consider the bigger picture.

“It just doesn’t make sense to build that big in the Bronx,” said Kristin Hart, a Kingsbridge Heights resident who heads a local neighborhood association and is adamantly opposed to Jackson Development Group’s plan. “In my opinion, they’re building a giant city.”

She fears the massive complex might remain largely vacant, or eventually fall into foreclosure.

“Most people in the Bronx are not going to be able to afford or qualify for these apartments, so what are they trying to accomplish?” she said. “The developers honestly don’t care if it succeeds or if it fails. They just want to build.”

But Eli Weiss, Jackson’s finance director, said other projects in the Bronx that are similar to Webster Commons, like one on Decatur Avenue and another on St. Ann’s Terrace, have gotten “fantastic” responses from renters and have near-zero vacancy rates.

“The demand is really there,” he said. Rents at Webster Commons would start at around $859 a month for a studio apartment, he said.

Richard Gorman, who chairs Community Board 12 where the project is located, said he supports the plan and doesn’t understand where the opposition is coming from.

“It was something we welcomed. That’s an area of the district that’s empty, vacant land,” he said, adding that the location was plagued for years by people illegally dumping their garbage.

“They’re doing a complete redevelopment of Webster Avenue,” Gorman said, referring to the goals of the recent rezoning. “The best way to get shoppers [there] is to have people living nearby.”

Creston Ave. Crew Busted in Drug Raid

By Alex Kratz

Over the past several years, the area around Creston Avenue, just north of St. James Park, has built a reputation as a hot spot for the drug trade. Periodic violence highlighted the turf wars that accompanied it. Earlier this month, however, local and federal authorities made a big dent in curbing Creston’s infamous image.

Culminating a year-long investigation by the FBI and NYPD with an early morning raid on the so-called “Creston Avenue Crew,” police arrested eight people in the Bronx and three in Puerto Rico. A handful of others were already in custody, while two other Bronxites and a mysterious man named Fnu Lnu (no address was given), also known as “Jesse,” remain at large. In total, according to a 17-page federal indictment, charges were filed against 20 people for drug trafficking, firearms and money laundering.

In the course of the raid, authorities discovered three guns, pounds of marijuana, marijuana growing equipment, scales, a police scanner, cocaine and thousands of dollars in cash. It amounted to a fraction of what the organization brought in and distributed over the past five years, law enforcement officials said.

“These defendants allegedly built a drug empire in the Bronx, using guns and violence to protect their operation and terrorize a neighborhood,” said United States Attorney Preet Bharra.

The Creston Avenue Crew had a hand in two recent murders near St. James Park, according to the federal indictment. Standing in a crowd of bystanders, three of whom were also shot, 27-year-old Christopher “Gremlin” Santiago was murdered in June 2006. In 2009, Carlos Lorenzo was shot and killed on Creston Avenue.

Last year, a young father was shot and killed in the late afternoon while walking out of St. James Park near Creston Avenue. No one has been charged in his murder and it was not mentioned in the indictment.

This bust comes roughly one year after authorities took down the infamous La Perla Organization, which controlled a stretch of Valentine Avenue, just blocks away from Creston Avenue and St. James Park.

Mail Employees Go postal On Closure of Bronx Plant

By Alex Kratz

James Perez, a Kingsbridge Heights resident and 24-year veteran of the United States Postal Service, is having a hard time imagining working outside of the Bronx. But he might not have a choice.

By the end of the fall, his position and at least 231 others at the Bronx mail processing plant will be eliminated as the USPS consolidates all of the Bronx’s mail processing and distribution into the Manhattan plant. Perez and his coworkers may end up in Manhattan, but they could be transplanted to any postal location within 50 miles of the five boroughs.

The USPS, citing budget concerns due to a “dramatic” drop in mail volume, said this is a done deal, but the postal workers union is not giving up without a fight.

They organized a rally to protest the elimination of the Bronx plant for Wednesday afternoon, July 27. It will start at the recently-closed Oak Point station on East 149th Street and end at the Bronx General Post Office (where the processing plant is located) at East 149th Street and the Grand Concourse. There, at 11:30 a.m., along with Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., the union will list the reasons why eliminating the borough’s processing center is a bad move and should be reconsidered.

“There is nothing good in it for anyone,” said Chuck Zlatkin, the legislative and political director for the New York Area United Postal Workers Union.

In addition to all of the displaced workers, Zlatkin said mail delivery to the borough will be delayed, delivery trucks from Manhattan will mean more pollution and traffic for the Bronx and local businesses around the processing plant on East 149th Street will suffer.

“I understand our employees’ concern over this move,” said New York District Manager William J. Schnaars in a statement, “but the consolidation makes sense given the fiscal realities.”

The USPS says the move will result in $8.8 million in annual savings and that delivery will not be affected.
Zlatkin and others say there is no way mail delivery will not be affected because the Manhattan plant is nine miles away from the Bronx plant and traffic will invariably affect delivery.

The consolidation comes on the heels of the USPS’s decision earlier this year to close two Bronx post offices — Oak Point and Crotona. The agency also decided to close the Van Nest office, but community outrage has suspended that move for the time being.

Zlatkin said the USPS fiscal crisis cited as rationale for these closures and consolidations is “manufactured.” For years, he said, the USPS overpaid, to the tune of $50 million to $75 million, into federal and civil service retirement funds. That, plus a new policy that forces the USPS to pre-fund retirement, is largely responsible for the budget gap, Zlatkin says.

In the past, Zlatkin said, Bronx Congressman Jose Serrano was able to stop the USPS from closing the borough’s processing plant.

In a recent letter to the postmaster general, Serrano said the Bronx was “being asked to bear a disproportionate burden of your intended cost-cutting.”

The Bronx plant is the only outer-borough plant being phased out, although a spokesperson for the USPS said the plant in Staten Island was being reviewed and others may be consolidated in the future.

ITPI: BP Asks Feds to Intervene in Muller Center Dispute

By Alex Kratz and Jeanmarie Evelly

In a letter to federal authorities, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. said the mayor’s office blatantly skirted the formal process meant to determine a new use for the vacant Muller Army Reserve Center in Wakefield in order to push its own agenda — the creation of a 200-bed men’s homeless shelter at the center.

Because of this, and what he characterized as a complete disregard of public sentiment, Diaz asked the two agencies responsible for approving a plan for the Muller Center — the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Office of Economic Adjustment (OEA) — to reject the shelter plan and to “convene a meeting amongst the parties to determine how, if possible, a conforming submission could still be provided.”

If this doesn’t happen, Diaz says, “I will have no choice but to pursue legal action.”

This is the latest turn in a nearly two-year battle over the future of the Nereid Avenue site, which was in the hands of a Local Redevelopment Authority (LRA) consisting of Diaz and two of Bloomberg’s deputy mayors. Earlier this month, the city submitted its shelter recommendation to the federal government, saying that a majority of the LRA had voted in favor of it last November, though Diaz, who intentionally skipped meetings of the panel out of protest, contends that an actual vote never took place.

Meanwhile, Yonkers Mayor Philip Amicone sent a letter to Bloomberg urging his administration to reconsider its “seriously flawed” shelter plan because of the negative impact it would have on Yonkers, which shares a border-line with Wakefield that lies just 250 feet from the Muller Center.

The mayor’s office has insisted the site become a homeless shelter, saying there is a need for more beds and the Bronx isn’t doing its part in housing homeless men. The federal process that mandates how a military base should be redeveloped requires that the city consider the needs of the local homeless population, a Bloomberg spokesman said.

At the same time, Diaz, other elected officials (city, state and federal) and local Bronx residents say that Wakefield is already overburdened with supportive housing. Hundreds of people turned up at a public hearing in June to oppose the shelter plan.

“Their actions are absolutely incomprehensible, and reprehensible,” said Father Richard Gorman, who chairs Community Board 12.  “If the city is really serious about helping homeless folks, they’ll let every part of the city do its share.”

Shelter opponents say they have a better and cheaper plan for the Muller Center: use it to house the National Guard units currently occupying the Kingsbridge Armory annex buildings. That would clear the way for those buildings to be turned into badly-needed schools.

It’s now up to the federal government to decide the center’s fate; neither HUD nor the OEA have publicly responded to the borough president’s letter. A spokesman from HUD’s regional New York office confirmed the agency received the city’s application and said it is “under review.”

Long Time Resident Killed in Decatur Blaze

By David Greene

A Saturday afternoon fire on the top floor of a five-story Decatur Avenue building in Norwood claimed the life of 37-year-old resident Chris Podesta who died of smoke inhalation, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Press officers for the Fire and Police departments could not confirm the death by press time, but neighbors confirmed that it was Podesta who had died in the fire.

One resident of the block, who declined to give his name for this article, stood in shock after firefighters removed his friend Podesta from the building.

“They brought him out and he was all full of smoke and they were performing CPR on him,” the resident said.

Another resident, a young woman in her 20s who also declined to give her name, said Podesta will be missed. “He was always the guy who would watch and defend us,” she said.

A Fire Department spokesman could only provide a few basic details, saying that the fire, “was still under investigation.” He did not know if someone had died in the fire.

The spokesman did say the FDNY responded to calls of a fire at 3212 Decatur Ave. at 1:30 p.m., on Saturday, July 23. Arriving units discovered the top floor apartment of the five-story building engulfed in flames. A total of 12 units and 60 firefighters were used to bring the fire under control.

Office of the City Medical Examiner’s spokeswoman Ellen Borakove confirmed Podesta’s death, saying, “I have a 37-year-old white male. He died from (a) smoke inhalation accident at that location.”

Podesta was pronounced dead at Montefiore Medical Center. One firefighter was also treated for minor injuries at St. Barnabas Hospital.

Services for Podesta were scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday at McKeon Funderal Home. A funeral service is scheduled for Thursday at. St. Brendan’s Church at 10:45 a.m.

Two Wounded in Bedford Park Shooting

By David Greene

A wild early morning shootout on Tuesday in Bedford Park sent two victims to the hospital, police and witnesses said.

The incident was reported at 1:15 a.m., on Tuesday, July 26. Upon their arrival, police discovered two people shot outside of 264 E. 199th St., near Briggs Avenue. According to a NYPD source, one victim was shot in the leg and the other in the arm. Both were transported to St. Barnabas Hospital and were expected to fully recover.

A second police source said detectives were looking for a black male wearing a purple jacket who was seen running from the scene. One resident of the building, who declined to give her name, said, “They were arguing. It was horrible. One of the victims was in front the building until the first two gunshots went off.”

 The resident said a second person was shot a minute or two later, a short distance away.

By late Tuesday morning, police still had no suspects in connection to the case.  

New Program Targets Bronx Asthma Rates

By Jeanmarie Evelly

Local State Sen. Jeff Klein is teaming up with the Department of Education to combat sky-high childhood asthma rates in the Bronx, saying the breathing disorder is not only hazardous to children’s health but to their education, as the ailment is a leading cause of chronic absences in schools.

The senator launched an initiative this month, in partnership with New York City Schools Chancellor Denis Walcott, that will attempt to more effectively monitor and reduce factors that cause asthma, and increase awareness of the disease.

“This affliction has not only taken our children’s health hostage, it is holding their education for ransom,” Klein said of the program, dubbed the NYC Asthma Friendly Schools Campaign. “What we have developed is a comprehensive strategy to detect local environmental triggers that cause asthma attacks, educate parents on how to treat asthma at home, and keep kids in the classroom and out of the hospital.”

The Bronx has an an asthma hospitalization rate that is 70 percent higher than the rest of the city and 700 percent higher than the rest of the state, according to a press release.

Klein and Walcott’s plan includes the recent installation of temporary air monitors at two locations in Throggs Neck, a neighborhood in the senator’s district where he says asthma pollutants are high but where the air quality has never been studied.

The program will also train students, parents and schoolteachers on better asthma management techniques, strengthen school health teams that deal with the disease, and set up a special asthma unit for the city’s 311 hotline to answer parents’ questions.

Klein also introduced legislation he says will help lower childhood asthma cases across the state. If passed, it would mandate training programs for schoolteachers, create stricter bans on idling cars that emit exhaust fumes near school grounds, and limit the use of asthma-triggering chemicals in school buildings.

Norwood Walks Aim to Build Community, Commerce

By Alex Kratz

On Sunday, hundreds of local residents spilled onto the middle of East 204th Street for the Summer Streets event, which included shopping, face painting, fitness instruction and lots of kids playing in an open fire hydrant courtesy of the Fire Department.

Hosted by Community Board 7 and Mosholu Preservation Corporation, Summer Streets is a city initiative designed to bring community and commerce together on streets throughout the five boroughs. East 204th Street, a two-block stretch between Bainbridge and Hull avenues, was blocked off for shopping and a host of other activities.

Lowell Green, the chair of Board 7’s transportation committee, first learned about the Weekend Walks program last summer and signed the board up to help host the event over the winter. Green, however, was skeptical that the board could pull it off without a co-host. In the early spring, Mosholu Preservation Corporation (MPC), a nonprofit that manages affordable housing and promotes economic development in the Norwood area (and also publishes the Norwood News), teamed up with Board 7 to help organize and promote the event.

Michael Lambert, the deputy director of MPC, said he hopes Summer Streets will help build momentum and interest for an East 204th Street business corridor beset by two tragic fires in the past two years.

Representatives from several area businesses, including Ridgewood Furniture, Foodtown, Freilich Jewelers, McKeon Funeral Home, Papa John’s Pizza and the new Beso Lounge, participated in the event.

Summer Streets continues the next two Sundays, July 31 and Aug. 7, from noon to 5 p.m. See our Out & About Editor’s Pick.

At New Dance Studio, Empowerment in Pole Dancing

Jeanette Cardona originally planned on naming her new Webster Avenue dance studio and boutique Casa Cardona. But considering the studio’s offerings, which include instruction in both belly and pole dancing, Cardona decided instead to take a risk and be bold, maybe even a little risqué, in naming her new business.

Armed with a catchy new name, RizzQue Studio and Boutique, and a diverse arsenal of dance clothing as well as traditional, risqué and kid-friendly dance classes, Cardona’s Norwood-area studio is thriving.

“Yes, I make sexy clothes, but it’s not about being erotic,” she says, “it’s about pushing yourself and unleashing your most inner self.”

Cardona, better known as “J,” worked for 17 years creating dance, fitness  and yoga wear, as well as lingerie, and dance costumes. Her dance studio offers Salsa and Hip Hop classes for kids and Belly Dance, Zumba, Yoga, Pilates, and Pole Dance Fitness classes for adults.

“It’s 2011,” Cardona says. “Pole dancing has gone mainstream. Years ago people only associated it with strip clubs, but it’s not degrading, it is an art and dance form. It’s about pushing yourself to your limits as an athlete.”

pole dancing combines elements of modern dance, gymnastics, and ballet, Cardona says.

“It’s so hard!” RizzQue regular Paulina Vilchez says, laughing. “I can’t climb the pole, but I’m trying!”

Anna Marin, who also takes pole dancing classes at the studio, says, “It’s just awesome. They are the only ones in the Bronx offering pole dancing.”

Cardona says her biggest challenge was installing the poles. After a lot of research and planning, she finally figured out how to install six removable poles that can hold up to 250 pounds a piece. Since business is booming, she now plans to install four more.

Cardona had initially planned to open a clothing boutique, but when she saw 3037 Webster Ave., she knew the space could be more. With the help of her mother, Myrna Colon, the two women transformed the former karate studio into a dance studio, as well as a clothing boutique.

Not a dancer by trade, Cardona employs professional instructors for her dance classes, which she also takes part in. Meanwhile, she is in the process of receiving her certification in Pilates and Yoga instruction.

RizzQue opened inauspiciously on Dec. 4 at the beginning of a rough winter. “The snow storms didn’t help,” she says, shaking her head. But word of mouth is slowly building her clientele.

Cardona hopes RizzQue will be a place where people feel good about themselves. “Life gets in the way,” she says, “and a lot of women forget to make time for themselves. I want people to be able to come here for an hour and have it be all about them.”

Vilchez says that’s exactly why she comes. “I can totally relax when I come here,” she says.

As a lifelong Norwood resident, Cardona wanted to add something positive to the neighborhood.

“I’ve always loved this area, because it’s such a melting pot,” she says. One participant, she says, offering an example, is a little girl from Bulgaria who doesn’t speak a word of English, but loves to dance. Cardona says, “Dance is something that can be translated in any language.”

Ed. Note: Although most of the adult classes are geared towards women, the kid’s classes are co-ed and are intended for children ages 5 -15. For more information, call ( (718) 882-1000 or visit www.rizzque.com.

This story was updated from an original version on 7/25/2011.

Missing Piano Helps Nabe Find Its Voice

By Jordan Moss

In the end, it was all about community.

The story line of the saga of the missing pop-up piano in Williamsbridge Oval Park shifted as the facts came out.

But when every last note was played, the result was a civic ballad celebrating what makes a neighborhood a neighborhood.

As the Norwood News reported two weeks ago, the pop-up piano provided by the nonprofit, Sing for Hope, in Williamsbridge Oval Park was reported stolen after consulting with local Parks Department staffers . But a few days later, detectives from the 52nd Precinct learned from witnesses in the park that that a Parks Department sanitation crew picked up the piano, thinking it was a discarded instrument.

After an inquiry form the Norwood News, the Parks Department confirmed they were responsible and issued this statement: “Parks workers unknowingly discarded the piano which appeared to have been vandalized and was lying on its side. We were just alerted to this today and we send our apology to the community and sing for hope if any trouble was caused by this.”

But before that admission, some reactions on the Bronx News Network blog illustrated a lack of surprise that a piano could disappear from a Bronx park.

“I wish you could bet on things like whether a pop-up piano left out unattended in the Bronx would be stolen, and if so, how long it would take,” said one commenter.

“This type of activity continues to give the Bronx a bad name and will make it difficult to bring any type of activity to parts of the Bronx that is not called Riverdale,” said another.

But the day-to-day story of the piano and what happened after it went missing didn’t fit that stereotype of an apathetic community prone to lawlessness at all.

It was volunteers from a resurgent Friends of the Oval volunteer group , who looked after the piano, and brought it nightly behind the gates of the tennis court. (It was not in the courts the night it was removed, because one of the volunteers thought it was unstable and worried that moving it might damage it further.)

And it was the Friends who decided that the potentially pilfered piano couldn’t stifle the neighborhood’s musical mojo. They posted an ad on craigslist and got the word out that they wanted a replacement. Someone responded to one of the news stories and donated it to the Friends, who rented a U-Haul to go downtown and pick it up. The next day they invited children in the park to paint it. Whenever it occupied space next to the tennis courts, kids were drawn to playing it.

“My son and I tickled the ivories this morning,” said park lover Annette Melendez on the Norwood News’ Facebook page. “Thanks for having faith in us.”

(The piano, though property of the Friends, will need a new home as participants recognize the piano will be vulnerable once the novelty wears off.)

There was another wrinkle to the story – as the Sing for Hope truck that picked up the 60-plus pianos throughout the city made its rounds, they mistakenly picked up the Friends’ piano, too, but returned it a day or two later.

Despite all the drama that everyone could have lived without, park advocates say the good news is that people want to make their park better:

“People are dying to have a reason to get involved and contribute to neighborhood cohesion,” said Elieen Markey a member of Friends of the Oval. “There were people who came out of the woodwork to help.”

And the piano was only one way the Friends got things done this summer. For weeks the group, fed up with months of delays, nudged, called and cajoled in person the Parks Department and its contractor to finish and open up the new playground and the spray showers that were supposed to have been completed last January. They wanted it open by the last day of school — and that’s what happened.

There are inevitable tensions between park advocates and the Park Department, but Markey says it doesn’t always have to be that way.

“They have a huge job to do with an ever-shrinking budget and we have a lot of passion and hopefully those things can work together,” she said, pointing out that with advocates behind them, the agency is better able to make a case for more resources.

On Monday, the Friends were holding up their end of the bargain, planning an impromptu trash pick-up party for that evening to get more people in the habit of keeping the park clean, especially the new playground which has been attracting litter.

Markey said on the group’s increasingly active Facebook page that there might even be some guitar music to make the task a little more pleasant.

Singing for hope, along with some old-fashioned community organizing, appears to be not just a program but an ongoing soundtrack for the Oval’s renaissance.

A Place Where Mexican Cowboys Can Suit Up

By Fausto Giovanny Pinto
Along the ethnically-diverse enclave that is the stretch of the Grand Concourse between 182nd Street and Fordham Road, lies African grocery stores, Dominican barbershops and a scene out of a Mexican-flavored Wild West movie.

Spurs, heavy-duty rope (to lasso bulls) and countless styles of cowboy boots and hats fill the shelves and walls that make up the niche clothing shop, Rudy El Vaquero.

“Here they have what I want, for good prices,” said Angelica Valerio, who has been shopping at the store for over a year. “And whatever they don’t have, they will get.”

The business opened 10 years ago as a record shop. Owner Mario Martinez said people were travelling as far away as Queens and New Jersey to get their Mexican music fix and he wanted to offer these tunes closer to home.

Then one day after the record shop opened, Martinez brought in a pair of cowboy boots, a style popular among native Mexicans, Martinez included.

A pair of boots grew to a few. Soon he had hats, shirts and a growing demand. Six years ago, he moved the record shop two stores down to a smaller location and opened Rudy El Vaquero in its stead.

According to the 2010 Census, Hispanics make up more than 50 percent of the Bronx population, including a fast growing number of Mexicans. From 2001 to 2009, the Bronx’s Mexican population nearly doubled, from 38,454 to 69,717. Martinez’s shops are a testament to that.

Originally from Puebla, Mexico, Martinez says business has doubled since his cowboy shop first opened. Families often come in together looking for clothes to wear at big celebrations, where more formal Mexican cowboy attire is often required.

While some people only prefer to dress the cowboy way on special occasions, Martinez says there are some such as himself who wear this type of clothing everyday. Recently he has noticed younger customers.

Rudy’s embroidered clothing is especially popular, Martinez says. Many regional Mexican bands come from as far as Connecticut and New Jersey for embroidered shirts, and hats adorned with hand-stitched logos.

Out of his shop, Martinez also advertises and sells tickets to shows, whether its bull riding in New Jersey or Ranchera-style music show shows along the Concourse.

Since opening, a new store has popped up nearby selling similar items. Martinez takes this as a compliment, saying, “When you do something right people will copy you.”
Ed. Note: Rudy El Vaquero is located 2359 Grand Concourse. They are open Monday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Woodlawn Cemetery Named National Landmark

By Justin Bodden and David Greene

On June 30, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that Woodlawn Cemetery, along with 13 other sites across the country, was designated a National Historic Landmark.

The title recognizes Woodlawn’s role in preserving and celebrating those who have helped shape the world, according to a press release. The prestigious title has been designated to less than 2,500 places, putting the Norwood-area cemetery in rare company.

The 150-year-old, 400-acre Woodlawn Cemetery is the final resting place to some significant people in our nation’s history, including jazz legend Miles Davis and former New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia.

Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. was one of many who advocated for the cemetery to become a National Historic Landmark.

“The Woodlawn Cemetery is the final resting place for many famous Americans and it is vitally important to preserve our nation’s history for ourselves and for the generations to come,” said the borough president, who submitted a letter that supported the cemetery’s designation back in October of 2010.

“Without our history we do not know where we came from and we do not know where we are headed,” Diaz continued.
The cemetery was recently the backdrop to Diaz’s “Bronx SalsaFest,” which he hosted in collaboration with the Bronx Tourism Council — a week of Bronx events celebrating the musical genre.

On Saturday, July 9, the cemetery led a free walking tours to honor Celia Cruz, a legendary Cuban-born Salsa performer who was laid to rest at Woodlawn.

Brian Sahd, executive director of the Friends of Woodlawn Cemetery, said they were eager to participate in the festival once they heard about it.

“I said, ‘we have to do something, we’ve got to get involved, because who’s here? The Queen of Salsa is here,’” Sahd said.

Govt. Hopes Gruesome Warnings Will Scare Off Smokers

By Jeanmarie Evelly and Justin Bodden

A series of new and graphic warning labels will start appearing on cigarette packages this fall, part of a federal effort to encourage more Americans to quit smoking and deter new smokers from taking up the habit.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration unveiled the new labels last month, which include images of nicotine-damaged lungs, rotting teeth, a corpse and a man breathing from an oxygen tank—each picture paired with warnings like, “cancer can kill you.”

“These images are pretty scary,” said longtime Bronx smoker Ronald Wagenknecht, who said he’s trying to quit for the second time, but isn’t sure the new labels will make an impact.

“After 25 years, I just can’t put one down,” he said. “I need more than just images on the box.”  

Starting this September, every box, carton of cigarettes and cigarette ad will be required to feature one of the nine approved warnings, along with the phone number for the smoking cessation hotline 1-800-QUIT-NOW.

The label changes — the first in 25 years — are required by the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which President Obama signed into law in 2009.

“These labels are frank, honest and powerful depictions of the health risks of smoking and they will help encourage smokers to quit, and prevent children from smoking,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, in a press release. “President Obama wants to make tobacco-related death and disease part of the nation’s past, and not our future.”

 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tobacco use is the leading cause of premature and preventable death in the United States, and kills 443,000 people each year.

‘Renaissance Man’ and Activist Ozzie Brown Remembered

By Alex Kratz

Ozzie Brown, a colorful, loquacious and dedicated member of Community Board 7 who was also active in the civil rights movement and an advocate for diabetes awareness, died last week after a battle with cancer. He was 67 years old.

Locally, Brown was best known for the active role he took as a member of the community board. But Brown was much more than that, a “true Renaissance Man,” said former Bronx Borough President Adolf Carrion, one of Brown’s best friends.

“Ozzie was a worldly person,” Carrion said. “He brought a mix of experiences that many people would be surprised to hear about. He was a musician, a promoter of music, a philosopher, a lover of the arts.”

Carrion, who met Brown when the two lived in the same Fordham Hill building in the early 1990s (Brown lived there until his death), said their families were close and they spent many vacations together over the years. As borough president, Carrion appointed him to a Harlem River redevelopment task force and later to Community Board 7.

“I knew he was the right man for the job,” Carrion said, “because he cared about the community, about the people of the Bronx who had been marginalized.”

Brown earned a reputation for offering extended, and often eloquent, speeches during board meetings and hearings. In recent years, he was in the middle of the board’s efforts to expand its role in the community and played a crucial role in shepherding several land use projects, including the re-zoning of Webster Avenue. (Brown said he envisioned the industrialized strip as a bustling commercial and residential area full of “cultural” destinations like galleries, restaurants and bookstores.) Read more

Missing Piano Helps Nabe Find Its Voice

By Jordan Moss

In the end, it was all about community.

The story line of the saga of the missing pop-up piano in Williamsbridge Oval Park shifted as the facts came out.

But when every last note was played, the result was a civic ballad celebrating what makes a neighborhood a neighborhood.

As the Norwood News reported two weeks ago, the pop-up piano provided by the nonprofit, Sing for Hope, in Williamsbridge Oval Park was reported stolen after consulting with local Parks Department staffers. But a few days later, detectives from the 52nd Precinct learned from witnesses in the park that a Parks Department sanitation crew picked up the piano, thinking it was a discarded instrument.

After an inquiry from the Norwood News, the Parks Department confirmed they were responsible and issued this statement: “Parks workers unknowingly discarded the piano which appeared to have been vandalized and was lying on its side. We were just alerted to this today and we send our apology to the community and Sing for Hope if any trouble was caused by this.” Read more

HS Football Star Dies After Parking Lot Brawl

By David Greene

A bizarre and tragic confrontation in a Bedford Park parking lot in late June left a star high school football player stabbed to death and his father charged with assault.

After attending his high school commencement ceremony at Lehman College, on Tuesday, June 28, Isayah Muller, 19, a star running back for the Truman High School Mustangs, and his family, left M.T. Jerome Town Corp. Parking Lot at Jerome Avenue and 198th Street.

While heading to City Island for a celebratory dinner, police say Isayah’s father, Andre Muller, discovered that an expensive bottle of cologne was missing from the car. He immediately turned the car around and went back to the parking lot to confront the attendants.

Surveillance video from the parking lot shows Andre Muller growing increasingly angry with a pair of parking attendants who allowed Muller to search their drawers and personal bags. At one point, Muller punches one of the attendants. He then throws a bicycle and charges at them with snow shovel, while Isayah looks on.

After departing briefly, both Andre Muller and Isayah come charging back into the attendant booth, fists flying. One attendant is shown wielding a machete. Video then shows the two Mullers leaving abruptly. It is at this point, police say, that one of the attendants pierced Isayah’s heart with a makeshift knife.

With Isayah’s mother and girlfriend in the car, Andre Muller rushed Isayah to a nearby clinic. He was later transferred to St. Barnabas, where he died.

The teen’s father was arrested the following day and charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon. He was not charged in his son’s death and pleaded not guilty to the charges. No charges are expected to be filed against the parking attendants.

Meanwhile, Andre’s attorney, Lawrence Fredella, told Fox News that viewers were not given the entire surveillance video, so the entire story has yet to be told. Read more

So Far, So Good on Milbank Repairs, Say Tenants

By Jeanmarie Evelly

Two and a half months ago, when Steve Finkelstein took over the infamous Milbank buildings—10 formerly foreclosed properties in the northwest Bronx that made national headlines last year for their terrible living conditions—he had a lot of eyes watching him.

The plight of the Milbank tenants, as the group came to be known, captured the attention of countless city groups, the mayor, the City Council and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), all of which vowed to monitor the new owner to make sure conditions at the buildings improved immediately.

Finkelstein, a Scarsdale-based landlord who owns dozens other of Bronx buildings, bought the properties for $28 million at the end of April after months of negotiations with tenants and the city.

Today, things seem to be going according to plan—or, according to some, even better than planned.

“It’s pretty strong work,” said HPD spokesman Eric Bederman, who said the 10 buildings, which had 4,805 housing code violations between them when Finkelstein took over, now have just 1,838.

“The new owner and his workmen are fantastic,” said Gloria Thomas, who has lived at 2505 Aqueduct Ave. for nearly 30 years. “I’m very, very pleased with everything going on with Finkelstein. They’re working on all the apartments diligently.”

On a recent visit, Thomas’ building and two others nearby—2500 University Ave. and 75 W. 190th St.—were a whirl of construction, smelling of sawdust and wet paint as work crews outfitted apartments with new parquet wood floors and kitchen tiles.

The improvements are a sea change for many tenants here, who say they’d fought for the past several years to secure basic amenities like hot water and locks on the front door. Now, security cameras monitor nearly every floor. Read more

Rally Kicks Off Campaign to Catch a Shooter

By Fausto Giovanny Pinto

As a small crowd gathered in front of 2396 Valentine Ave. chanting, “No more guns! No more violence!” clusters of onlookers gathered on nearby stoops and poked their heads out of window perches above.

Organizers of the anti-violence rally hoped one of those onlookers might come forward with information about the shooting of Yvette Torres, a 15-year-old DeWitt Clinton High School student, who remains in critical condition after being shot in the head in front of 2396 Valentine Ave. on June 11.

Yvette was shot after confronting a gunman who was denied access to a party at the building, friends and family say.  There is speculation that witnesses were present but are apprehensive to come forward because they fear retribution or becoming labeled a snitch or a rat.

“We are here today to show we can’t stand for something like this,” said Robert Rios, an event director for Being Latino, a Hispanic lifestyle blog who helped organize the Rally for Yvette, “especially in the hood where you can’t snitch, people are fearful [to come forward].”

Yvette’s mother, Dorris Torres, who bears a strong resemblance to her daughter, briefly spoke to the crowd before fighting back tears.

“My daughter has been a fighter since day one. Now she needs someone to fight for her,” she said. “Just say what happened. All we want is for someone to step up and help. Snitch rules don’t apply. Think if it was your family.”

Members of Bronx-based Affinity Church came out to the rally, setting up a small stage with speakers. Affinity Pastor Dimas Salaberrios said he has been leading his congregation to scenes of recent violence, such as the stabbing death of Truman H.S. football star Isayah Muller in Bedford Park (see page 3) and 21-year-old Aisha Morales who was recently gunned down in Longwood.

“We want people to know if you commit a homicide in the borough we love, we are going to come out against this,” said Salaberrios.

Assemblyman Jose Rivera, who helped print 1,000 flyers for the event, was the only politician in attendence. He questioned the source of the gun violence problem.

“We have to take these guns away from criminals,” Rivera said. “They are being sold to them. Someone has to be responsible. [Perhaps] the manufacturer?”

A June 19 article in the New York Post reported that a suspect had been arrested and charged in the shooting of Yvette. The NYPD refuted that story, saying no one has been arrested and the investigation remains open.

Rios said the Post article might have deterred potential witnesses, who figured the investigation was over, from coming forward,. “The Post did more damage than good,” he said.

Still, volunteers and organizers at the rally were preparing for a drawn out campaign. They plan to canvass the area distributing flyers every Saturday until someone comes forward with information.

Organizers, who grew the rally using Facebook, found hope, support and manpower in the Shy-Shy Foundation, whose members came all the way from Brockton, Mass., to be part of the rally.

The foundation, which aims to stop gang violence, was created by Stephanie Matiyosus after her 16-year-old daughter, Chantel “Shy-Shy” Matiyosus, was shot to death while leaving a baby shower in 2009.

After two years of passing out flyers and holding outreach events, a witness came forward, which led police to make an arrest and charge a man with Chantel’s murder earlier this year. Now the foundation is branching out to help others facing similar situations.

As of deadline, Yvette was slowly making progress at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital. She is out of the Intensive Care Unit, breathing on her own, and blinking, said family friend Nelson Figueroa, who came up with the idea for the rally.

Ruben Bonet watched the rally from the front of his building nearby. A resident there for more than 40 years, Bonet has seen the best and worst of the neighborhood.

“A lot of things happen here and nothing gets resolved,” he said. “This is something positive. It shows that the family and the neighborhood don’t accept this.”

Preacher Wants to Bring Prosperity Gospel to Armory

By Jeanmarie Evelly

Critics of a recently-released report on possible uses for the Kingsbridge Armory said it lacked for funding sources. There were lots of ideas, but no money to make any of them happen.

Enter Creflo Dollar, a man with a vision and the resources to bring it to reality.

An evangelical preacher from Georgia, known for his lavish lifestyle and for touting the spiritual benefits of wealth, Dollar is proposing to take over the long-vacant Armory, according to the report released by the Bronx borough president’s office last month.

World Changers Church International, an Atlanta-based, nondenominational parish led by Dollar and his wife, Taffi, has proposed turning the 575,000 square-foot West Kingsbridge Road building into a “state of the art church facility,” fit with administrative offices, daycare and afterschool program space, a gymnasium, food and clothing banks and a recording studio.

The proposal was one of more than 20 submitted to Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., and a task force he appointed last year to consider future uses for the space. World Changers presented to the task force in January, and said their center, if approved, would be open to use for all community members, regardless of religious affiliation.

Dollar (yes, that’s his real name, according to a “frequently asked questions” section on the church’s website) is a controversial figure in the religious world, known for preaching “prosperity theology,” or the idea that God rewards believers with wealth and financial bounty.

“Jesus came to restore abundance and prosperity in our lives,” Dollar wrote in a column on his website. “Simply put, we don’t have to be poor once we grab hold of the Word of God.”

Bob Hall, head pastor of Bronx Household of Faith, a conservative evangelical Christian church in University Heights, called Dollar’s ministry “crap,” and said his focus on wealth and affluence gives Christianity a bad name.

“This is what frustrates me about the mega churches,” he said. “If we had just a tenth of their landscaping budget, just think about how much good we could do.

Dollar’s budget is big enough for World Changers’ New York affiliate to rent out mega venues like Madison Square Garden and the Javits Center for services and World Changers is noticeably beefing up its presence in the Big Apple.

According to their proposal, the church has 8,000 active members and says that 1,600 of those live in the Bronx. Last year, The Ambassadors of Change, the parish’s outreach organization in the tri-state area, hosted a Women’s History Month event with the South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation, and teamed up with the group for a job fair in Manhattan last month.

A public relations firm representing Dollar did not return calls for comment.

A Guide to Your Local Farmers Markets

The warm weather means the return of outdoor markets, offering a variety of fruits, vegetables, baked goods and other farm-fresh items. Here’s our list of local spots.

New York Botanical Garden Green Market
Where: The Mosholu Gate, on Southern Boulevard between Mosholu Parkway and Bedford Park Boulevard
When: Wednesdays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Poe Park Green Market
Where: 192nd Street, between Grand Concourse and Valentine Avenue
When: Tuesdays, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Kingsbridge Heights Youth Market
Where: West Kingsbridge Road, between Reservoir and Aqueduct avenues
When:  Fridays, 1 to 8 p.m.

Montefiore Medical Center Farmers Market
Where: Outside the main entrance of Montefiore’s Moses Division, East 210th Street and Rochambeau Avenue
When: Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Harvest Home North Central Bronx Market
Where: Mosholu Parkway North and Jerome Avenue
When: Wednesdays, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

—Justin Bodden

Govt. Hopes Gruesome Warnings Will Scare Off Smokers

By Jeanmarie Evelly and Justin Bodden

A series of new and graphic warning labels will start appearing on cigarette packages this fall, part of a federal effort to encourage more Americans to quit smoking

and deter potential smokers from taking up the habit.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration unveiled the new labels last month, which include images of nicotine-damaged lungs, rotting teeth, a corpse and a man breathing from an oxygen tank—each picture paired with warnings like, “cancer can kill you.”

“These images are pretty scary,” said longtime Bronx smoker Ronald Wagenknecht, who said he’s trying to quit for the second time, but isn’t sure the new labels will make an impact.

“After 25 years, I just can’t put one down,” he said. “I need more than just images on the box.”

Starting this September, every cigarette box, carton and cigarette ad will be required to feature one of the nine approved warnings, along with the phone number for the smoking cessation hotline 1-800-QUIT-NOW.

The label changes — the first in 25 years — are required by the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which President Obama signed into law in 2009.

“These labels are frank, honest and powerful depictions of the health risks of smoking and they will help encourage smokers to quit, and prevent children from smoking,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, in a press release. “President Obama wants to make tobacco-related death and disease part of the nation’s past, and not our future.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tobacco use is the leading cause of premature and preventable death in the United States, and kills 443,000 people each year.

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Latest from Breaking Bronx

• Tomorrow: Live Coverage From The Bronx BP’s State of Borough Speech Wed, Feb 22 at 5:27pm
• Bronx Nabe Note: Become Your Own Boss Workshop, Thursday Night Wed, Feb 22 at 4:35pm
• Wednesday’s Bronx News Links Wed, Feb 22 at 3:17pm
• Local Initiative Puts Focus on Teens’ Reproductive Health Wed, Feb 22 at 12:33pm
• Bicycles and Basketballs Could be in the Armory’s Future Wed, Feb 22 at 5:58am

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