Consumer Costs

Morris Heights: HPD Launches Housing Lottery for Units at St. Francis Commons

By SÍLE MOLONEY
NYC Department of Housing, Preservation & Development (HPD) has launched an affordable housing lottery for units at St. Francis Commons, a 7-story, mixed-use building at 1544 Shakespeare Avenue in the Morris Heights section of The Bronx, as reported by YIMBY.   St. Francis Commons is an affordable housing project located in Bronx Community District 5 in the neighborhood of Morris Heights. The building consists of 85 newly constructed units; 45 one-bedroom units, 34 two-bedroom units, and 6 three-bedroom units distributed throughout the seven-story building. St. Francis Commons is closely located to the 4 and D subway stations, as well as


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Annual Bronx Anti-Prom Held at Grand Concourse Library to Celebrate Pride Month

By MIRIAM QUIÑONES
New York Public Library (NYPL) hosted the annual Bronx Anti-Prom event this year at Grand Concourse Library on Friday, June 9.   Each year, NYPL organizes an Anti-Prom event in each City borough at different locations as an alternative to the traditional local high school proms for students celebrating the end of high school, to celebrate Pride and who may feel more comfortable in a different setting. NYPL had encouraged members throughout Pride Month to explore its world-renowned collections. The Library has one of the largest collections of LGBTQ+ history and activism, including hundreds of thousands of letters, manuscripts, photographs, posters,


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DOT Launches Initiative to Reduce Package Theft & Negative Environmental Impact of Truck Deliveries

By SÍLE MOLONEY
New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez announced on June 30 that the agency will launch LockerNYC, a pilot program this summer to cut down on package theft and reduce delivery truck trips. The LockerNYC pilot program, which will run for one year, will allow New Yorkers to conveniently receive and send packages using secure lockers on public sidewalks, DOT officials said.   The pilot will include 15 locations and offer customers free 24/7 access, according to DOT officials. They said the program will be available to anyone who is interested and, unlike other delivery lockers, the LockerNYC program


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Op-Ed: Millions of New Yorkers Will Need to Take Action to Keep Health Coverage

By VINCENT MARCHELLO
  Building healthier communities requires deliberate action every day to improve individuals’ lives. Every time a person goes to a doctor for a check-up or gets important immunizations, health outcomes improve, and communities grow stronger. Ensuring people have access to quality, affordable health coverage is one of the most important ways to help accomplish this goal.   During the COVID-19 pandemic, enrollment in Medicaid and Child Health Plus increased 23.4% to about 9 million people in New York State, according to the State Department of Health.   Those 9 million people will need to act soon to keep their health


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Bronx Town Hall Touts Public Banking Benefits to Locals

By JOSÉ A. GIRALT
  At a public meeting billed as a “Boroughwide Town Hall on Public Banking,” representatives from ten Bronx-based groups joined various elected officials to push for State and City legislators to build upon efforts to promote worker-owned businesses, increase community land trusts, and facilitate access to more local credit unions as an alternative to big commercial banks.   On May 11, inside the auditorium of the Bronx Library Center, located in Fordham Manor, attendees viewed video and slide presentations describing how these actions could improve economic conditions in the borough.   Listed as expected attendees on the press release announcing


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