Free Snuggies and More as Retailers Gear Up for Holidays

Local retailers from Fordham Road to Gun Hill Road and Jerome Avenue kick-started the holiday shopping season last weekend with late-night preparations and Black Friday bargains. Garl Robinson, the general manager of P.C. Richard & Son, the electronics emporium on the Grand Concourse and Fordham Road, said that he was up at 3 a.m. on Black Friday getting the store ready while customers were already forming a line outside. “It was fantastic,” said Robinson. “Everything went well.” His main goal was to have every customer leave the store with a P.C. Richard bag in hand. Unlike most stores that have


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Filter Plant Contractor Admits to Fraud

One of the primary contractors that worked on the enormous Croton Water Filtration Plant being built in Van Cortlandt Park admitted on Monday to committing fraud in reporting its sub-contracting of minority and women-owned businesses. Schiavone Construction, which performed much of the tunneling and trucking during the early phases of the filtration plant project, agreed to pay the federal government $20 million in penalties. The company now doing the bulk of the construction work on the filtration plant, Skanska, is also under investigation for similar misdeeds.

Teen Fitness Program Wins $20,000 Grant to Expand

On a recent Tuesday afternoon, about a dozen teenagers darted back and forth across the gymnasium at PS 8, their sneakers squeaking on the polished floors. Running drills were followed by several minutes of jumping jacks, then a game of basketball. Despite what looked like rigorous exercise, the kids were joking and smiling. The teens are part of “B’N Fit,” a year-round intensive fitness program run by Montefiore Medical Center and the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center that aims to help adolescents lose weight and embrace a healthy lifestyle. This month, the program scored $20,000 from the Coca-Cola Foundation to expand its service — part of a $300,000 pot of funds that the beverage company gave out to organizations this year in the form of “Healthy Active Living” grants.

Monroe Soccer Places Fourth Nationally

In its most successful season ever, Monroe College’s men’s soccer team came within two games of winning the national junior college championship. At the national tournament in Tyler, Texas, in mid-November, the second-seeded Monroe Mustangs won their first game against Otero Junior College (Colo.), before going down in the semi-final to Cincinnati State, 2-1, in double overtime. “We lost to a deep and classy team,” Coach Marcus Dibernardo told the Monroe Mustangs website. “Yes, it doesn’t feel very good now, but soon we’ll realize that we had a great season.”

Local Churches Targeted In String of Break-ins

Detectives continue to hunt for the individual or people responsible in a string of break-ins and burglaries of churches and Catholic schools in Bedford Park, Norwood and Kingsbridge Heights. The thief or thieves responsible have netted thousands of dollars in cash and electronics. On Monday morning, Our Lady of Refuge, on 194th Street and Briggs Avenue, became the fifth church or Catholic school targeted in the last three weeks when church officials found that someone had broken in through a basement window and stolen a pair of laptop computers, a video camera and $1,300 in cash.

Espada Misses Vote on Housing Bill

State Senator Pedro Espada’s absence at a special Senate session in Albany on Monday was a conspicuous one. The Majority Leader failed to make the trek to the capitol, while the man who will replace him in a month, Gustavo Rivera, did. Also making the journey to Albany? A group of city housing advocates intent on supporting an important housing bill to extend current rent stabilization laws until 2018 — a lobbying effort that ultimately failed, as the bill fell a few votes short of the 32 needed to pass. Espada missed the vote on the bill despite the fact that he, as chairman of the Senate’s housing committee, happens to be the legislation’s main sponsor.

Black is the New Schools Chancellor, Bronx Pols Divided

After much debate and political maneuvering, Cathleen Black, the veteran publishing executive, is the city’s new schools chancellor. She replaces Joel Klein. Black was put forward for the job by Mayor Bloomberg in early November, but her candidacy had been in jeopardy after the State Education Commissioner David Steiner questioned her lack of related work experience. Schools chancellors need a professional certificate in educational leadership and other qualifications. Black has had a successful career in business and publishing — she’s been called the “First Lady of glamorous glossies” — but she’s never been a teacher, and her resume boasts just a single day as a guest principal in the Bronx.

Public and Community Meetings

• Community Board 7 will meet on Tuesday, Dec. 21 at 6:30 p.m. at Dallas BBQ Restaurant, Cellar Level, 283 W. Fordham Rd. For more information, call (718) 933-5650. For all the Board 7 committee meetings, click here. • The 52nd Precinct Community Council will meet on Thursday, Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. at the New York Botanical Garden, across from Fordham University. Come at 5:30 p.m. and see the Holiday Train Show for free. The Council will also be collecting unwrapped toys to donate to local charities. For more information, call (718) 220-5824.

Faith Leaders Throw Support Behind Living Wage Bill

Clergy members from the Bronx and across the city led a silent march on City Hall on Nov. 17 to voice their support for the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, or “Living Wage Bill.” The legislation, sponsored by Bronx Council members Oliver Koppell and Annabel Palma, would require most development projects that receive public funding to pay workers employed there a living wage — $10 an hour with benefits or $11.50 an hour without. The bill was sparked by a contentious debate last December over the redevelopment of the Kingsbridge Armory, when the City Council — backed by a fierce coalition of Bronx advocates and Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. — voted down plans for a shopping mall at the hulking Kingsbridge Road landmark.