Resilient.

If there’s one word to use to describe Bronxites it’s resilient. We’ve been through proverbial hell and back and by the grace of our community members and leaders we’ve lifted ourselves from the dark days.

On Wednesday, Libertad Urban Farm was vandalized and burglarized erasing years of hard work put in by its founder, Tanya Fields of The Blk Projek.

Tanya put out a video where she was in tears and devastated by what had happened which soon went viral.

The next day, Bronx residents rallied to rebuild what was lost.

Community that sticks together is stronger together. Check out the video below:

This is one historic tour you don’t want to miss next week Wednesday, August 10th at 6PM

Join the Historic Districts Council as we explore the past, present, and future of the Bronx Civic Center’s magnificent range of 20th Century architecture!

Guests will first be treated to a brisk walk with Adrian Untermyer, Deputy Director of the Historic Districts Council, with stops at the Art Deco Bronx County Building, the Grand Concourse Historic District, two Urban Renewal-era housing developments, and more.

Guests will then be treated to an intimate walk-through of the Grand Concourse’s mid-century Executive Towers with architect and Historic Districts Council Board Member Françoise Bollack, who is currently coordinating the lobby’s restoration and reconfiguration. Designed by architect Philip Birnbaum between 1959 and 1963, Executive Towers was touted in real estate brochures as “the first luxury skyscraper in the Bronx.”

The evening will conclude with wine and conversation in a high-floor apartment in the Executive Towers featuring exquisite views of the neighborhood.

$20 General Admission and $10 for Friends of the Historic Districts Council

Click here to register 

Meeting Details:
Thursday, August 4th | 5:30PM – 7PM
Hostos Community College (Savoy Room – 2nd Flr)
120 E. 149th Street & Walton Ave.

PLEASE RSVP HERE!

As we reported several weeks ago, New York City somehow decided that it could take away land mapped and slated for parkland development, which was promised to the community, and now hand it over to developers so that they can construct “affordable” housing along our waterfront.

The lot, now known as Lower Concourse North, is sandwiched between Mill Pond Park and the 145th Street Bridge at 149th Street and was promised as part of the extension to Mill Pond.

The city has issued a request for interest expressions of interest (RFEI) and has stated that they will rezone the lot to accommodate up to a 40 story tower and a 26 story tower on the lot.

Although The Bronx is the greenest borough in all of NYC with 25% of our land dedicated to parkland and open spaces, The South Bronx has one of the worst access to green spaces and every acre added matters and is important for our health and well-being.

Fact is, we can’t breathe concrete!

So come out tomorrow and let folks know how you think this land should be developed, after all, it is public land and yes it was promised and slated for development as park land so you should have a voice in the matter. Don’t forget to RSVP!

17 months after it was first announced that Hollywood director, Baz Luhrmann was teaming up with Netflix to produce a musical series based on the 70s in the South Bronx and the nascent days of hip-hop, we were finally treated to the finished product at the world premiere screening of the first episode right here in The Bronx.

Held at The Old Bronx County Courthouse in Melrose and hosted by the Universal Hip Hop Museum, roughly a hundred people—mostly from The Bronx—attended the premiere along with stars from series, including Jaden Smith (yes, that Jaden, son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith), Justice Smith who plays the main character and of course Luhrmann himself.

I honestly didn’t know what to expect from the series. Last year when it was announced, we (along with many others) voiced our concerns that it wouldn’t be true to the era and more importantly true to the South Bronx and the people of the South Bronx. There was also the issue that when the initial cast was announced, there appeared to be very little to no Latino representation something which was troubling considering that during that time and era, Puerto Ricans were the largest group and played an integral role in Hip Hop’s birth and evolution.

After watching the first episode, I can confidently say that it was worth the wait and they got it right. Not perfect, but the look, the feel, the vibe, the music, every little thing seemed just right as I remembered the late 70s to be.

From the fires to the rubble but more importantly to the LIFE that was going on amidst the devastation, it was captured beautifully as one would expect Baz Luhrmann to do. From the opening scene to the landscape of the South Bronx of the 70s brought to life on a big (or small) screen gave me goosebumps and was a very emotional journey for me to witness this.

We lived and survived those years but we also remember those who didn’t survive, something that you can’t help but remember while watching ‘The Get Down’.

The story feels like a South Bronx Romeo and Juliet with a couple who seem destined for each other but their lives and ambitions driving them apart.

You also get a lot of humor thrown into the first episode and some clear nods to the Blaxploitation movies of the 70s—an indication not to take the entire series so seriously and also a clear acknowledgment that YES there was life in the South Bronx.

In the first episode, we start to get to know the main characters a bit and Justice Smith’s acting was excellent, who plays Ezekiel “Books” Figueroa as was most of the cast including his leading lady, Herizen F. Guardiola who plays his love interest, Mylene Cruz who’s father is a devout Christian and pastor who vehemently disapproves of her singing disco and “straying” from the church.

We’re also introduced to Papa Fuerte aka Francisco Cruz, played by Jimmy Smits, who’s a huge community leader tugging at City Hall’s strings with the power he sways over the communities he takes care of. There’s no doubt at all that this character is loosely based off real life Bronxite, the late Ramon Velez.

Oh and let’s not forget the scenes in St Mary’s Park made folks smile and laugh with excitement at seeing our local landmarks in a major series.

Which brings me to the point of historical accuracy etc. This is a television series, not a documentary, so clearly there are gonna be many loose interpretations of actual people of that era but one thing that remains true, at least in this first episode, is that feel for the era seems right and somehow they captured it well.

And that’s not by luck but purely by design as photographer Joe Conzo Jr, who was referenced as taking hip hop’s baby pictures by David Gonzalez of The New York Times in a 2005 article, and also a part of Seis del Sur collective and legendary graffiti artist, John “Crash” Matos were eventually hired as consultants to the series. This was after there were community outcry and concern that our stories may not be told the right way.

“I was touched personally by what I saw of the first episode,” said Joe Conzo Jr, “I could identify with many scenes and so did my wife who grew up in a Pentecostal household so she could see herself in the scenes with the pastor and his daughter.”

But not everyone is thrilled or happy about the series even though they haven’t watched the first episode. Many have already written it off completely and some even chose not to attend the premiere.

If you’ve been following our coverage of The Get Down since it was first announced, you know we’ve been cautious about passing any sort of positive, glowing review until we saw the finished product.

“To the naysayers, just fucking relax!” added Joe Conzo Jr, “Be happy that so many of our Latino BBoys and BGirls straight from the concrete floors of DA BRONX  got to be a part of this project. Is it a bit glorified at moments? Of course, it’s Hollywood.”

Crash aka John Matos also seemed pretty pleased with how the first episode turned out.

“I like how they incorporated all the main characters, the music, dance, and everything else,” said Crash who, like Conzo Jr, has been on board consulting with the creators of The Get Down.

He added that “There’s always room for improvement and that will come when they dive deeper with the main characters, the neighborhood. It’s still being written but the best part is how they listen to our suggestions and rewrite scripts to get things right. To me, that says a lot.”

And that’s a key element in making it as authentic as possible. Here you have two icons from the Era. Joe who documented the nascent scene and Crash who also lived it through his graffiti bombing of trains and the likes. 

They both have helped convey a sense of authenticity and realness to the production. 

And yes, there’s always room for improvement but I was pleasantly surprised with the first episode. I was left wanting to see more to see where these ragtag crew of kids would head to next.

I’m definitely looking forward to binging on the rest of the series when it comes out.

‘The Get Down’ premieres Friday, August 12th, only on Netflix.

Please join community residents and leaders at The Bronx Documentary Center today, Monday through July 25th at 6:30PM to be a part of a coalition to face gun violence in our neighborhoods by creating a gun-free zone in the South Bronx. 

What this will entail and look like is up to YOU, our local neighbors and residents so PLEASE spread the word and bring a friend. 

Another person was shot and killed in the 40th Precinct on 153rd and Courtlandt Avenue and our Precinct has now exceeded the murder count from last year. 

We cannot just sit back and watch people continuously being murdered. 

Tell a friend! Bring a friend! 

The Bronx Documentary Center is located at 614 Courtlandt Avenue at 151st Street. 

Update July 20, 2016 10:22AM: An earlier version reported that speeds would be slower in The Bronx and outer boroughs, however, a spokesperson reached out letting us know that all will have same, fast speeds. 

Back in 2014, it was announced that old New York City  payphones would be removed and in their place a super fast WiFi and charging kiosk would be installed at 7,500 former public phones. 

The system has been slowly rolling out throughout Manhattan and now LinkNYC has arrived in The Bronx—and surprisingly enough—before Brooklyn (and Queens and Staten Island too!) 

I spotted them a couple of weeks along the Concourse in the Fordham Road area but the one that was active was on 149th Street across from Hostos Community College at Walton Avenue (As of this moment, only the West Bronx has them).

The first thing I did when connecting to the free system was to test the speed since the Daily News reported that most of the kiosks in The Bronx would have the slower speeds thanks in part to the tale of two cities we’re still living in. 

According to LinkNYC spokesperson, however, all LinkNYC systems will provide super fast WiFi access, not just Manhattan’s links so we’re happy that this digital divide is no longer the case. 

The LinkNYC kiosk at 149th Street and Walton is definitely one of the faster ones with download speeds reaching 106 megabytes per second and upload speeds reaching 156 megabytes per second. To put it into perspective, that’s 4 times faster download speed with Optimum Internet and 35 times faster uploading speeds. 

Using them as wireless WiFi hot-spots aren’t the only thing LinkNYC is good for. You can plug in your phone to charge in one of several USB “fast charging” ports where the company claims you can get 10% battery in just 1 minute (no, we didn’t get a chance to verify that). 

If you’re out if juice and need to make a phone call you can simply plug in your headphones and voila, you can make free phone calls. 

The kiosks also serve as an information booth where you can use it to look up city services and even push the red button to call 911 in case of an emergency. 

In a perfect world, there would be enough kiosks to blanket the city and provide this free and needed service which pays for itself by advertising on the 55″ digital displays on either side of the LinkNYC system but alas the range isn’t all that far. 

You can connect within 150 foot range although claims are made that 400 foot range is possible, our connection didn’t go beyond 100 feet before severely degrading and ultimately dropping. 

Let us know if you’ve used it yet and what you think! 

For 112 years, the New York City subway system had changed with the times but now it’s about to take a giant forward leap. 

The subway cars of the future have been unveiled complete with WiFi and charging ports for your energy hungry devices along with new station design elements. 

1,025 new subway cars are coming and of those, 750 are expected to be open ended—from front to back it will be just one long open train. 

Doors will also be wider to increase the flow of passengers on and off much faster (in theory, in practice we won’t hold out breath). 

Besides WiFi and charging ports, security cameras (smile!) and digital ad displays are also coming (can you imagine Dr Zizmor ads if he were still in business?) 

But that’s not all. For decades, subway entrances have fairly been unscathed by progress’s touch but even that will get a major face-lift along with virtually every inch of the 31 stations slated to close for these upgrades and renovations (7 are in The Bronx so get ready). 

The MTA has a timeline of having these upgrades completed by 2020 (again, we’re not going to hold our breath) and gone will be the green and red globes we’ve come to know for most of not all of our lifetimes. 

The entrances will be sleek with canopies and provide real-time updates on service so you don’t have to go all the way down (or up) only to find out that yet again, trains are not running due to some excuse like say, rain. 

Lighting elements will be upgrades to provide for safer and brighter stations and two things I’m happy about is that artwork will be a component of these renovations and even more importantly, the architectural legacy of stations will be considered and sensitivity to historical elements will guide the renovations of stations. 

Oh, did we mention that Metrocards will also be phased out? At least the subway token lasted for 50 years before being discontinued. 

So what do you think about these planned  upgrades? Let us know!