Nearly 150 people of all ages, races and backgrounds gathered at Shoelace Park at East 219th Street and the Bronx River to participate in the 9th Annual Amazing Bronx River Flotilla on Saturday, May 10.

Quick, what are the first and last names of the three officers acquitted in the killing of Sean Bell? I’ll give you a few seconds…

Give up? The answer is: Marc Cooper, Gescard F. Isnora, and Michael Oliver. Now, given that Sean Bell was murdered nearly 18 months ago, and that the court case and acquittal of his killers has been a prominent news story for two months, why didn’t you remember these names? Because, whether in the major media or in the courtroom, it was never the three officers who were on trial. It was Sean Bell and his friends.

Before and after the verdict, the legal proceedings at hand were dubbed: “The Sean Bell trial.” This is strange terminology, considering that Bell is the victim. (How many articles have you read about the “Ronald Goldman trial?”)

This language betrays the very reasons that Cooper, Isnora, and Oliver walked out of a Queens courtroom and into the long tradition of officers who have killed unarmed men of color with impunity. When, in November of 2006, news first broke of a 23-year-old black man gunned down on his wedding night by officers who fired 50 shots, it was so clearly heinous that those who are at once rational, empathetic, and unfamiliar with the American legal system could be forgiven for wondering: How are the officers possibly going to get themselves out of this one?

Stonecrest Management is about to demolish the gazebo in the courtyard at 3224 Grand Concourse. I have tried to discuss the matter with building manager Avi Finkelstein, but he refused. I also left messages for building owner Joshua Goldberg, but he has not replied. I am concerned because the building is in the Grand Concourse Special Preservation District and therefore [the gazebo] should be saved. It has received temporary shoring using stage scaffolding and steel I-beams, so it is in no imminent danger of collapse. There is no more unique and special architectural component in this part of the Bronx

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I just wanted to vent a bit regarding the graffiti problem along Bainbridge Avenue from East 208th to East 206th streets. Do these people graffiti up their own rooms, their mom’s room, their kitchen, living room and bathroom? If so, that’s fine, but why mess up everything outside their own home and ruin it for everyone else in the neighborhood? How do I convince my kids that this is so wrong, when it is in their face, in their building, on their block, all the time? Please tell me this is not a lost cause.  Annette Melendez

An RV, painted white with large blue letters reading “Mobile Mammography,” sat outside the Union Community Health Center on 188th Street and Valentine Avenue on May 1. The truck, which is owned by St. Barnabas Hospital, travels around the Bronx to raise awareness of the need for routine breast exams, and to provide them to the uninsured. Sister Maureen McCarthy, a nurse practitioner who performs the breast exams in the RV, says Mobile Mammography tries to “aim for the uninsured.” McCarthy added that most of her patients are immigrants. Earlier this year, McCarthy says, because of a mammography performed in

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A listing of programs, activities and events in the northwest Bronx and beyond.

A listing of events in the northwest Bronx.

After months of delay, speculation and rumors, city officials confirmed last week that the Related Companies, a major Manhattan development firm, has indeed been selected to redevelop the long-vacant Kingsbridge Armory into a retail shopping center.

“Build more schools! Build more schools!” about 100 Bronx residents shouted in unison at a rally on the steps of City Hall on April 24, three days after the city officially announced its selection of Related Companies to redevelop the Kingsbridge Armory. They hoped to send the message to the city and developer that a community benefits agreement still needs to be negotiated before construction begins.