Tips for Enjoying Low-Calorie Holidays

It’s December, the season of holiday parties, endless office cookie trays and general excess. People tend to eat and drink more between Thanksgiving and their New Year’s resolutions, and the overindulgences can have negative health consequences. “We see so many people who have problems maintaining their health and weight at this time of year,” said Dr. Ernest Patti, a senior Emergency Room physician at St. Barnabas Hospital, who says many patients, especially diabetics, find themselves seeking medical treatment after months of holiday bingeing. “They eat and drink too much and, at the very least, feel sluggish, gain a few pounds and may not feel like themselves,” Patti said. “No one says you can’t party around the holidays, but moderation is the key.”

City Continues Plans for New School on Webster

The Department of Education has completed design plans to construct a new elementary and intermediate school on Webster Avenue, according to spokesman Jack Zarin-Rosenfeld, who says the project should be completed by 2014.

Op-ed: Should Parks and Beaches Be Smoke-Free?

As a child I always enjoyed going to our Bronx beaches and parks with my family. While affluent children enjoyed collecting seashells by the seashore, I remember fondly picking up cigarette butts so we could spell out our names with them. Little did we know of the harms of secondhand smoke and the impact discarded cigarette filters would have on our environment. The facts are indisputable and alarming. Smoking kills more New Yorkers each year than AIDS, drugs, homicide and suicide combined, and the Bronx has one of the highest rates of tobacco use in the city. Secondhand smoke is a known Class A carcinogen. Even brief exposure to secondhand smoke can lead to more frequent asthma attacks in asthmatic children. Cigarette butts are toxic, slow to decompose, costly to manage and growing in volume; 75 percent of the litter found on NYC beaches is cigarette butts, and it takes over a year and a half for a cigarette filter to decompose.

Neighborhood Notes

Prescription Drug Cost Help Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and its Bronx partner organizations will provide information to Medicare beneficiaries and their caregivers through the Medicare low-income subsidy (LIS) or “Extra Help” Program, May 26, from 10 a.m. to noon, at the Bronx River Senior Center, 1619 E. 174th St. Those who qualify may receive help in paying for prescription drugs. For more information on the program, visit www.medicare.gov, or call (800) 633-4227. St. Brendan’s Auction/Raffle St. Brendan’s leisure club will host a “Chinese Auction/Raffle and More” on June 6 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the school


Read More

Neighborhood Notes

Forum on New Healthcare Bill The public is invited to a free forum hosted by the Northwest Bronx for Change and the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club on the new healthcare legislation in Tibbott Towers’ community room, 3130 Irwin Ave. (north of 231st Street), on April 24 at 11 a.m. Learn about the immediate and future changes to healthcare. March for Babies Fund-raiser The March of Dimes NY Division will hold the second annual March for Babies in Van Cortlandt Park’s Parade Ground on May 2 at 8 a.m. The walk begins at the Tortoise and Hare sculpture at 246th


Read More

Bronx Jazz Scene Back in Swing at Historical Society

Bronx jazz venues like Club 845 and the Blue Morocco are long gone, but the stories of the musicians who put them on the map are now living on at the Bronx County Historical Society, thanks to David Carp, a prominent music journalist and librarian, who officially handed off his collection of 200 interviews at an event earlier this month.

Chen’s Immigrations Experience Shared by Many

Ming Kuang Chen, the Chinese food delivery man trapped in a Tracey Towers elevator for four days, had reportedly paid $60,000 to be smuggled into America. While illegal immigrants like Chen often end up with large debts and long work hours, many are willing to endure such hardships in pursuit of the American dream.

Tracey’s Mine Canary

No one would have wished it on him or anyone else, but the plight of Ming Kuang Chen, the Chinese delivery man who suffered an involuntary lost weekend in a stuck elevator at Tracey Towers three weeks ago, might serve as an impetus for change at the troubled development.