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New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito along with Council Member Dan Garodnick have started to petition demanding that the federal government pay the over $1 million a day it will cost NYC taxpayers to secure Trump Tower for president elect Donald J Trump and his wife Melania and son Barron who will remain behind in NYC. 

Trump has stated he will split his time between Washington and NYC creating not just gridlock chaos in the city but deplete our funds as each month will cost us over $350 million to do so. 

The following is the full text of the petition, please distribute widely! 

Federal Government—Not NYC—Must Cover Trump Tower Security Costs

At an estimated $1 million per day, protecting you, your family and your home at Trump Tower will total over one billion dollars during your four-year term. This represents an extraordinary financial burden for New York City taxpayers.

We the undersigned, including the Speaker of the New York City Council, Melissa Mark Viverito; your local City Council Member, Dan Garodnick; and the many, many ordinary New Yorkers whose taxes contribute to New York’s budget, strongly believe that the provision of security services for Presidents-elect must be the obligation of the federal government.And accordingly, we believe that the cost of that obligation must be borne by the federal government, not the City of New York.

We already stretch our municipal budget to provide basic services— like police, sanitation, and the education of 1.1 million public school students.  These services would suffer if we must divert funds to police protection.

Further, should you or your family members choose to reside in Trump Tower for any length of time following your inauguration, the cost of security for that time also should be borne by the federal government.  While NYPD is both equipped and able to participate in ensuring your and your family’s protection, we must not allow this cost to blow a massive hole in New York City’s budget.  

Let’s end the suspense: We ask you to commit the necessary federal funds to reimburse New York for all costs of protecting you and your family— both before and after your inauguration as President of the United States of America.

As a lifelong New Yorker, you understand the importance of a vibrant local economy, and one that has the resources to operate. Make it clear today that New York City is not going to get stuck with the bill.

SIGN THE PETITION PLEASE!

Because developing the Special Harlem River Waterfront District along with Somerset’s planned 6 towers in Port Morris isn’t enough, New York State Empire State Development released a request for expressions of interest to deck almost 13 acres of our waterfront to see developer interest—with the full blessings of Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. 

In Crain’s New York, Diaz says,”New deck construction has the potential to bring transformative development projects to many Bronx neighborhoods,” Diaz said in a statement. “I look forward to examining the level of interest this [request] brings to the Harlem River Yards and how that interest could inform future opportunities for platform projects.”

Rents and property values in the immediate area are skyrocketing—a neighborhood dominated by New York City Housing Authority where more and more businesses continue to open their doors yet out of the reach of the majority’s pockets. 

It’s becoming more apparent that the neighborhood is turning into a literal tale of two cities; a neighborhood where luxury is found on one side of the highway and a few blocks over, thousands of residents live in poverty at NYCHA’s Mill Brook and Mitchel Houses. 

Rather than focusing on the Bronx Borough President’s gentrification agenda, New York State needs to invest in our residents to help lift them from poverty. 

Our schools are still performing terribly, our kids have practically no access to after school sports programs compared to kids in affluent areas of the city. 

Our adults are either unemployed or underemployed as opportunities for decent living wage jobs are scarce. 

New York State and our borough president need to refocus their properties rather than trying to turn our borough into the “New Bronx” or the next Brooklyn. 

What started as a small neighborhood block cleanup in Parkchester years ago by Bronxite Nilka Martell, eventually turned into a community of service to many of our borough’s green spaces—literally an army of grassroots activists. 

This Sunday, the organization will host its last cleanup as Getting Involved, Virginia Avenue Efforts (aka G.I.V.E) before dissolving and coming back bigger and stronger than ever next year under the name of Loving The Bronx. 

From 11AM to 2PM, volunteers will be raking leaves and planting daffodil bulbs at Virginia Park and Hugh Grant Circle right next to the Parkchester 6 Line station. 

Even though I personally know Nilka, I can’t thank her enough for all the work she does to make our borough even more beautiful and better than it already is. 

She is the embodiment of what it means to be from The Bronx not relying on our city to get things done and isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty to do so. 

Oh, and in the greenest borough of NYC with the most parkland of any borough, she’s also the fiercest, and strongest parks ambassador and ally we have and this is why (one of many reasons) we’re so excited to see what’s in store next. 

So join G.I.V.E this Sunday, December 4th from 11AM to 2PM for a fun day of service! 

While scrolling through Bronx related news today, I was surprised to see Welcome2TheBronx and myself mentioned and quoted in E!News on a story about Jennifer Lopez aka JLo or simply, Jenny.

E!News writes:

“Yes, J. Lo donates millions to charities, particularly dealing with women and children’s issues but what about the Bronx? Sure it’s her money and yes she can decide what to do with it but at some point isn’t it almost a responsibility to give something back to the community who’s [sic] name you invoke all the time and essentially use?” Ed García Conde wrote in July 2013 on Welcome2TheBronx.com in response to Lopez’sW spread.”This is a topic that has been on Bronxites minds for quite some time. If Jenny from the block is reading this, I’d love to sit down and chit chat with her, invite her back home and talk about the issues that ail her fans at her home base and what we can do to partner up.”Conde didn’t have to wait that long, at least for Jenny to come home. Less than a year later, news that Lopez would be doing her first show in the Bronx effectively made any bad blood so much water under the Triborough Bridge.

Read the rest: What Jenny Has Done for the Block: Inside Jennifer Lopez’s Love Affair With the Bronx | E! News

Or just scroll through the images below from her first (and only) Bronx concert at Orchard Beach two summers ago:

Ever since The New York Public Library published their Digital Collections of thousands of old photographs of NYC, I’ve been constantly searching the archives which provide a window into our past and needless to say it’s full of amazing pictures of The Bronx.

While 1930s Melrose has packed with the same office buildings along 149th Street that stand today, Throggs Neck is filled with pastoral scenes of empty fields and barely recognizable today.

Software engineer Dan Vanderkamp decided to take the archives a step forward and created a database where all you have to do is click on a dot on a map and up pops a photograph (or more) that was taken at that location. (Head over to OldNYC and see for yourselves but be prepared to spend a lot of time there!)

Here are just a couple of images you will see on your journey but be warned: Make sure you have the spare time because this is HIGHLY ADDICTING!

For the past eight years, Colbert Nembhard has been bringing books to homeless children in The Bronx according to a wonderful article in The New York Times.

Mr Nembhard, a librarian who’s been the manager of the Morrisania branch of the New York Public Library for 25 years, has been on a mission to making literacy a constant in their wandering and ever changing lives.

The New York Times reports:

“It’s a pleasure to come in here,” Mr. Nembhard began on that Wednesday, never removing his jacket during a presentation that was just short of a Mr. Rogers routine.

He began to sing, “Good morning to you,” and followed with “Wheels on the Bus.” The children joined in with a chorus of “round and round, round and round.”

Toddlers, fidgeting in their chairs or in their mothers’ arms, suddenly became fixated. They could not wait to flip open “Dear Zoo,” by Rod Campbell, a lift-a-flap book, to discover an elephant, a giraffe, a lion and other animals.

Then came Mr. Nembhard’s magical blue glove — magical thanks to Velcro and the five monkeys attached to it — and later he brought out finger puppets. Avani Blair, 2, and Taniyah Blair, 1, stared in amazement.

“I like it, too. I feel like a big kid,” Aaliyah Blair, 24, their mother, said. She said they had become homeless about two months ago after an eviction.

Mr. Nembhard knew most of the children by name. “You build relationships with them so that when you see them they feel comfortable,” he said.

And thanks to Mr Colbert Nembhard, this model he started at the Crotona Inn homeless shelter is now at 30 shelters.

Mr Nembhard’s selflessness is an inspiration for many to be the change they seek in our communities

A 21 year old Bronx woman went to North Dakota to join hundreds of protesters and Native Americans fighting to save their land from environmental disaster as greed is pushing to build the Dakota Access Pipeline. 

Sophia Wilansky was hit with a concussion grenade and rubber bullets when law enforcement agents decided to attack over 400 protesters with water cannons in freezing temperatures claiming they were starting fires and throwing fuel canisters. 

According to PBS:

Donna Hushka, a spokeswoman for the sheriff’s department, confirmed to journalist Jenni Monet that law enforcement had used water as “crowd control” against the protesters, who had also started multiple fires around the barricade. Fire trucks at the scene doused those fires and the land around them to prevent them from spreading, she wrote.
Jade Begay, a spokeswoman for the Indigenous Environmental Network, told The Guardian that two bonfires were lit by activists for warmth and cooking, but that any others were started by weapons from law enforcement.

Her father, Wayne Wilansky, told the Daily News, “In America. She’s hit with a grenade. She’s not in Iraq or Afghanistan … And they’re trying to kill her.”

A medical Gofundme campaign was opened yesterday for Sophia and in 21 hours has raised over $225,000.

Watch:

Sophia, you’re in our thoughts. 

Starting next month, young NYC LGBTQ adults between the ages of 21 and 30 who are homeless will now have a safe place to stay as the city gears up to open an 80 bed shelter in the Bathgate area of The Bronx. 

It will be the first of its kind in New York City to deal with this extremely vulnerable segment of the homeless population which according to some studies, roughly 40% of homeless youth are LGBTQ. 

Many people may question why should there be a separate facility for the group but the painful reality is that they face many dangers and violence within a traditional shelter—a situation especially dangerous for transgender youth. 

According to the Daily News, the shelter will be administered by Project Renewal who will provide medical services including a psychiatrist and HIV care. 

Up to this point, New York City only provided such facilities up to the age of 24. 

An exact date hasn’t been announced but the 80 bed facility is slated for opening next month.

A big thanks to Councilman Ritchie Torres, The Bronx’s first openly gay Council member for making this happen. 

The awesome Nathan Kensinger over at Curbed has published a beautiful photo essay of a very overlooked part of the Bronx River topography and ecology: Westchester Creek.

If you’ve ever paddled or canoed down The Bronx River towards its mouth or Rocking The Boat, then you know where it is. Not only are the waters deeper and murkier, but it is noticeably dirtier and poluted as the Cross Bronx and Bruckner Expressways bisect it and with it, a toxic brew of pretty much anything that leaks out from cars and trucks dripping down into the delicate river.

Nathan writes:

Cut off by highways, lined with barbed wire and filled with sunken barges, much of Westchester Creek had been made invisible. But the lure of the water was powerful, and fishermen had found their way in, peeling back fences, clambering down steep embankments and up handmade ladders, pushing through the tall marsh grasses. At the edge of its shore, they perched on precarious rubble and abandoned boats, savoring their small islands of solitude, surrounded by an industrialized landscape of rumbling trucks and dusty lots.

Even the most bastardized waterways in New York City have beauty hidden along their lengths, and Westchester Creek is no exception. Once described as “the Bronx’s version of the Gowanus Canal,” its forgotten shoreline has been heavily polluted by decades of raw sewage, gasoline leaks and illegal dumping, and most of its original course has been filled in or rerouted, concealed behind warehouses, fuel oil depots, tow yards, and parking lots. Down its dead end streets, however, a fringe of vibrant green marshland has taken root, and several upcoming infrastructure projects may soon help bring its neglected waters back to health.

The current path of Westchester Creek runs about two miles into the Bronx, as the tidal inlet flows from the East River between Clason Point and Ferry Point to its truncated end near Westchester Square. “It used to go much further inland, but a lot of the creek was filled in,” a tugboat captain stationed along its length observed. “It has a long history, going back more than 300 years.” Originally settled by the Siwanoy tribe and then colonized by the Dutch and English in the 1600’s, one of the early skirmishes of the Revolutionary War, The Battle of Westchester Creek, was fought along its banks in 1776.

In the ensuing centuries, the creek was mainly used for shipping, industry, and bootlegging, and eventually was reshaped to make way for the Hutchinson River Parkway, neighborhood development, and several industrial zones. Landfills, communal dumps, and empty lots have lined its length for decades, including along Pugsley Creek, a small spur off of its western bank where a large public park remains mostly undeveloped and closed off to the public due to pollution. “This has been a dump for years. I can’t imagine what’s buried in there—cars, trash, boats,” said one local resident who was walking his dogs along the shore of Pugsley Creek. “If they ever cleaned it up, who knows what they would pull out. From a distance, it looks real nice. But I wouldn’t eat anything out of it.”

Head over to Curbed and check out the entire article and photoessay: In the Bronx, finding nature along a hidden, polluted waterway – Curbed NY