With nor’easter Jonas approaching New York City, warnings have been issued and Bronx residents should take precautions especially our residents in the East Bronx particularly Throggs Neck, Country Club, City Island, Edgewater Park, and Silver Beach.
According to the marine forecast, tides will be 1-3 feet higher than normal starting tonight and into Sunday in the coastal areas of The Bronx on the Long Island Sound.
The warning is in effect starting tonight at midnight and currently will remain into effect until 7 AM and the forecast now calls for possibly 10 to 18 inches of snow with 30-40mph winds and gusts reaching up to 55mph so please do be careful if you have to go out due to white out conditions expected.
If not, just stay warm, indoors and read a good book or watch Netflix (I highly recommend Rita).
Meanwhile, Con Edison is already sending out robo-calls stating that there may be power outages in the area due to high winds, down trees and power lines and recommend anyone in susceptible areas that are on life saving medical equipment to check into a hospital as a precaution (when I heard that my first question was, will they foot the bill?).
Be safe out there and stay tuned to local channels and weather channels to keep up to date on the progress of the storm.
New York City Councilman James Vacca, aka Jimmy to his constituents and those who know him, has come out of the closet and declared himself a gay man.
Vacca said in a tweet, “After talking w/ my friends & family I’ve decided to come out publicly as a gay man. Now back to the Golden Girls! #outandproud#comingout” in his courageous announcement now makes a total of 7 New York City Council members that are publicly out identifying as gay.
For Bronx residents of the LGBT community this is especially important as our borough now has not one but TWO visibly out elected officials joining the ranks with Councilman Ritchie Torres who was a former aide to Vacca before running for office in 2013.
Vacca’s district 13 is the largest geographic council district in The Bronx and covers a swath of conservative neighborhoods like Pelham Bay, Morris Park, Throggs Neck, and City Island making him stand out even more in this area.
After talking w/ my friends & family I’ve decided to come out publicly as a gay man. Now back to the Golden Girls! #outandproud#comingout
Rumors have swirled around his sexuality for decades despite once having been married and a father but in a statement, he said, “Every person has their own journey and I am fortunate to be able to make the decision to come out on my own terms. My orientation is an innate part of who I am and I want my friends, family, colleagues, and constituents to share in this part of my life,”
As a gay man, I understand the importance of coming out at your own time. It is your decision and your decision alone. It is a scary one and one that is not easy so kudos to him for his bravery.
New York City Council Speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito, said in a tweet, “I’m beyond proud. You serve as an inspiration to all those, particularly our youth, who struggle with coming out.”
Vacca now joins Councilmembers Corey Johnson and Rosie Mendez of Manhattan, James van Bramer and Daniel Dromm of Queens, Carlos Menchaca of Brooklyn and of course Ritchie Torres from The Bronx.
Staten Island, the biggest bastion of conservative New Yorkers, is the only one without an out councilmember.
Cheers to your bravery, Jimmy!
I’m beyond proud. You serve as an inspiration to all those, particularly our youth, who struggle with coming out. https://t.co/BSrkz6rMPp
Gill, who is currently a partner at the Bronx-based GillWright consulting firm, says in the letter that, “What is now known as the Yankee Stadium area could become New York City’s year-round Sports Village USA. Restaurants, other establishments, condos and hotels further propelling the already well-advanced revivification of the South Bronx won’t be far behind. Before long the next generation of young professionals will want to live there or nearby.”
Besides area residents not wanting to foot another bill for a sports complex, one of the primary concerns was the extra traffic it would bring and the soccer stadium would have only hosted a little over a dozen games a year.
He talks about the “revivification” of the South Bronx yet such sports complexes and projects have proven not to have such positive economic impacts in neighborhoods.
An article in The Atlantic last year say sport stadiums don’t deliver on economic promises:, “The basic idea is that sports stadiums typically aren’t a good tool for economic development,” said Victor Matheson, an economist at Holy Cross who has studied the economic impact of stadium construction for decades. When cities cite studies (often produced by parties with an interest in building the stadium) touting the impact of such projects, there is a simple rule for determining the actual return on investment, Matheson said: “Take whatever number the sports promoter says, take it and move the decimal one place to the left. Divide it by ten, and that’s a pretty good estimate of the actual economic impact.”
Gill goes on to talk about the impact of traffic the arena would have on the neighborhood and says, “Getting to Yankee Stadium is an easy and fun ride on the subway or Metro-North—an instant-camaraderie experience for fans. Plus, it’s time to take advantage of the close-by, easy-walking-distance of the Harlem River. Imagine the fun and the visual splendor of arriving for a game by ferry.
“For fans who prefer to drive, the area has plenty of parking. Moreover, the highways and streets won’t be as jammed for a 20,000-fan basketball or hockey game as for a 50,000-fan baseball game.”
Easy and fun ride on the subway? Has he ever been on a regularly packed rush hour 4 train? Has he ever taken a ride on the 4 train during rush hour AND there’s a game going on?
Vehicular traffic is already pretty abysmal given the courts in the area and when the Yankees are playing residents and local employees are forced to find alternate routes to the Major Deegan as 161st Street us closed off from Sheridan all the way west towards the stadium.
Gill also conveniently leaves out that it’s not just sporting events that take place but concerts and and the circus take place year round. Imagine the nightmare of say 80,000 people or more descending at the same time in the area.
As nice as this idea may sound for creating a major sports complex in The Bronx, we should, instead of fantasizing and having our heads in the clouds, learn from history and the mistakes of the past and think of true economic development that will uplift our residents not displace them further.
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr grinning ear to ear next to Stacey Dash at last year’s Bronx Ball/Image via Office of The Borough President
Last year Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr gleefully had actress and Fox News Commentator, Stacey Dash, inducted into The Bronx Walk of Fame despite her controversial stances on major issues.
The actress, who ironically is best known for her role in the hit movie, ‘Clueless’, is now calling for the abolishing of Black History Month.
This all came about when she said the call to boycott the Oscars for its lack of nominations of Blacks for a second year in role was “ludicrous”.
Dash went on to say that “We have to make up our minds,” she said. “Either we want to have segregation or integration. And if we don’t want segregation, then we need to get rid of channels like BET and the BET Awards and the (NAACP) Image Awards where you’re only awarded if you’re black.
“If it were the other way around, we would be up in arms. It’s a double standard.”
She then added that, “Just like there shouldn’t be a Black History Month. You know?” she said. “We’re Americans. Period. That’s it.”
WATCH Stacey Dash in yet another ‘Clueless’ moment:
Mark Naison, PhD, professor of African American Studies at Fordham University told Welcome2TheBronx, “Black History Month has been a time of celebration, discussion, and solidarity with those involved in justice struggles ever since I began teaching 45 years ago. And those involved in planning these events do research on Black History 12 months of the year.
“I see nothing to be gained by abolishing Black History Month and much to be lost.” added Dr Naison.
Beverly Rhett, a Bronxite who went to school with Dash’s mother had this to say, “Having attended JHS 136 ( Walter J. Damrosch ) with Stacey’s mom Linda, and seeing Stacey for the first time when she was five-years-old and living around the corner from me on Jesup Place, it dismays me to hear her “pandering” to the conservative, right-wingers, who view FOX NEWS as a source of balanced truth.
Rhett further added, “Having her own opinions is fine, but misrepresenting the truth is not. Stacey should be more thoughtful about the impact her words will have on the community that nurtured her. No one is suggesting that we should all think alike; just be mindful of the hurt your words can create.”
Having Dash on The Bronx Walk of Fame was a mistake in the first place considering her disparaging remarks against women (remember when she said women should work harder to get equal pay as men?) and a host of other guffaws.
It’s an insult to the African American community that is part of our beautiful tapestry here in our borough. African American history should be celebrated all year round but sadly it isn’t in our schools and is relegated to one month making it that much more important for our youth.
Last year Diaz said of Dash’s nomination to the Walk of Fame, “We are excited about inducting the charismatic Stacey Dash into the Bronx Walk of Fame,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. “Our newest member of The Bronx Walk of Fame is a multi-talented and distinguished Bronxite who represents the fearless spirit of our borough to the fullest, whether it is in movies such as the 1995 classic ‘Clueless,’ or speaking her mind as a television commentator and writer.”
Stacey Dash was quoted in that press release as saying, “I am very grateful to have been chosen to be a part of such an important and significant event in the borough of my birth, a place that left an impact in my life and made me who I am – Bronx Strong,” said Dash. “This borough is very special to me and I truly appreciate being inducted into The Bronx Walk of Fame.”
The borough that is very special to her yet she disparaged not only her own roots but the over 40% who identify as African American in The Bronx.
Dash’s comments coupled with our celebrity obsessed Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr, who honors individuals not worthy of being role models for our borough—especially our youth—highlights just out of touch the man is with our borough and our people.
This isn’t the first time he celebrates someone with a dubious history, after all he added Fat Joe who was convicted with tax evasion.
Makes us wonder who truly is Clueless…Stacey Dash or Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.
Edgar Allan Poe lived in The Bronx when it was still Westchester County back in 1844/image via Wikipedia
207 years ago today, one of The Bronx’s most notable residents was born—the poet Edgar Allan Poe who once lived in what was known as the Village of Fordham in what was once Westchester County.
The famed writer and poet, one of the most important in American history, moved to The Bronx when his wife Virginia became ill from tuberculosis and he thought the fresh country air would help her condition.
They moved into a cottage constructed in 1812 which still stands today on the Grand Concourse in Poe Park.
Below is an excerpt from The Smithsonian Magazine which published an article on Poe and Poe Cottage in the Bronx. It’s wonderful when a globally recognized cultural institution and national treasure like the Smithsonian writes about our borough’s rich and diverse history.
Read the excerpt below and follow the link to the full story!
When Edgar Allan Poe Needed to Get Away, He Went to the Bronx
The author of ‘The Raven’ immortalized his small New York cottage in a lesser-known short story
Once upon a morning dreary, I left Brooklyn with eyes bleary, Wearily I took the subway to a poet’s old forgotten home.
In 1844, Edgar Allan Poe and his young wife Virginia moved to New York City. It was Poe’s second time living in the city and just one of many homes for the peripatetic author. Unfortunately, after two years and several Manhattan addresses, Virginia fell ill with tuberculosis. With the hope that country air might improve her condition, or at least make her final days more peaceful, Poe moved the family out to a small, shingled cottage in the picturesque woods and green pastures of Fordham Village – better known today as the Bronx.
The six-room cottage was built in 1812 as worker’s housing for farm hands. Poe rented it from landowner John Valentine for $100 per year – no small sum for the constantly struggling writer who sold The Raven, his most famous work, for a flat fee of $8. During his time at the cottage, Poe cared for his ailing wife, who died three years after they moved in, and wrote some of his most celebrated poems, including the darkly romantic “Annabel Lee”.
After Poe’s death in 1849, the cottage changed hands a few times and gradually fell in disrepair as the pastoral countryside became more and more urban. The area’s upper class residents came to see it as an eyesore and an obstruction to progress, and by the 1890s Poe’s house seemed destined for demolition. The growing controversy surrounding the cottage’s future was well-reported by The New York Times, which published a passionate article arguing in favor of preservation:
“The home of an author or a poet, whose memory has been marked for the honors that posterity alone confers, becomes a magnet for men and women the world over….The personal facts, the actual environment, the things he has touched and that have touched him are part of the great poet’s wonder-work and to distort them or to neglect them is to destroy them entirely.”
Crespo, Diaz Jr, & Heastie are part of a political disease in The Bronx that needs to be cured/Image via NILP
Next month on February 23rd, thanks to former City Council member Maria Del Carmen Arroyo prematurely vacating her seat, there will be an opportunity for Bronx residents of the 17th New York City Council District in The Bronx to SAY NO MORE CORRUPTION!
For far too long the Bronx political machine has had a stranglehold on who WE as residents of The Bronx get to vote for rather than the other way around.
Although there are approximately 10 candidates running for this seat only one person has a proven track record with constituents in the district and that person is Julio Pabón who’s running for the vacant city council seat in district 17.
Before I continue, I must declare that I am volunteering for Julio Pabón’s campaign as I did in the past in 2013 when for the first time, Arroyo was challenged and people of the district spoke out with their votes and Pabon garnered and impressive 32% of the votes against a powerful incumbent.
Why?
Simply because Julio Pabón understands our district and borough and he knows that The Bronx is not for sale to the highest bidder.
“By the time Julio Pabón got called in for his interview with the Bronx Democratic County Committee, he had heard all the chatter. Political insiders were saying that party leadership had already chosen a candidate. What’s more, Pabón had seen a telling flyer for a Christmas event to be held at a local public school. It had been emailed, on Dec. 8, from the state Senate account of Ruben Diaz Sr. At the head of the flyer were portraits of New York Republican Party Chair Ed Cox and the senator himself, alongside a relatively unknown community board manager—Rafael Salamanca—the rumored choice of the county organization in the upcoming special election for the District 17 City Council seat, from which Maria del Carmen Arroyo recently resigned.
In Pabón’s retelling, Crespo opened the interview with an assurance that, contrary to what he may have heard, the committee was yet to settle on a candidate. It was how the interview ended, however, that further cemented Pabón’s belief that the opposite was in fact true. Crespo asked him, Pabón recalled to Gotham Gazette, whether he would step aside if the committee chose to support another candidate.
One week later, on Dec. 18, at a holiday event hosted by party leaders in the Bronx, Diaz Sr. and Crespo all but endorsed Salamanca, whose candidacy was still unofficial, before the assembled crowd. Pabón, in the meantime, got word from an influential stakeholder that the county chair had called to solicit support for the district manager. On Dec. 29, Diaz Sr. sent another flyer, this one for a Three Kings Day event, with Rafael Salamanca alongside the senator, Crespo, and Assemblymember Luis Sepulveda.
“I put in work to get to where I’m at,” the Community Board 2 district manager said. “And I’m pretty sure…I went through the interview process just as everyone else went through the interview process, and I had to wait to get a phone call to tell me, ‘Hey Raf, the committee has met and decided that you are the best-qualified individual for the seat.’ I was home sweating like, ‘Oh my God, what’s going on?'”
Jullio Pabón for City Council District 17 in The Bronx
For Pabón, however, there was never any suspense. Earlier in the year, he had met Crespo for lunch to discuss his interest in running for the District 17 seat in 2017, when Arroyo would have been term-limited. During that meeting, Pabón told Gotham Gazette, the newly minted Democratic chair asked him: “What would happen if we were to endorse you and you have a different position than the borough president or my own?”
“They are totally afraid of differences,” said Pabón (pictured below), a community activist and entrepreneur who, in 2013, challenged the incumbent Arroyo in the Democratic primary for the District 17 seat. “They want a candidate they can easily mold, rather than one who thinks independently. They think their plan for the Bronx can only happen if they have total control.”
“My contention has always been that it’s a facade,” Pabón said. “County leadership is trying to show that they are different from past organizations, which were all about exclusion and nepotism. But where else do you have a borough that is essentially run by four families? Where are the reformers in the Bronx?”
The article goes on to say a lot of which we already know:
“For the most part, there has not been a major change in terms of how inclusive the whole process is,” Angelo Falcón, a political scientist and founder of the Institute for Puerto Rican Policy, told Gotham Gazette. “It’s not necessarily a process of democratization, but more a transition from one set of elites to another. You have a certain disruption: new players come in, old players move out.”
“In the Bronx,” Falcón added, “you still have a relatively small number of politicians controlling everything, and mechanisms like community boards are not very strong.”
Critics of the Bronx establishment argue that community boards serve as rubber stamps for the borough president, currently Ruben Diaz Jr. “Salamanca is, in essence, already an employee,” said Aubrey-Eric Smith, vice president of the South Bronx Community Association, who is advising the Pabón campaign. “[Salamanca] serves at the pleasure of the borough president.” – Read the entire article: Special Election Spotlights Machine Politics in The Bronx
The Bronx political machine is AFRAID of a candidate like Julio Pabón because he is not a career politician but an activist since he was in his teens. He is not someone that the machine can mold into their own agenda which is why the establishment will do anything to keep control of all political seats in The Bronx.
The Bronx is NOT for sale.
That’s why on February 23rd, if you live in Council District 17 in The Bronx (you can check if you live in the 17th district at New York City Council’s website) you need to come out and have your voices heard and for myself, Julio is the one who can truly be allied with the community and not special interests of politicians, developers, and others who look to destroy the fabric of our communities.
If you believe that The Bronx is not for sale then please stand with Julio Pabón.
Want to help the campaign? You can do so by volunteering, host an event, or even making a secure donation online. Every little bit goes a long way towards defeating corruption in The Bronx and truly taking control of our destiny.
In this brief clip put together from a variety of sources (movies, etc) you get a visual representation of what the South Bronx looked like in the 1980s and when you look at it now in 2016 you see that this version, which still lives on in the minds of many, is gone.
I can vividly recall the smell of the rubble scattered throughout the neighborhood; the smell of decay, wet, burnt wood, and dust.
It was the power of the people of The Bronx that resurrected the borough. Blood, sweat, tears created a space that we cherish so deeply after being abandoned by government and pretty much everyone else.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cpn9G9SN4A
What you see here is devastation but what came out was forged in fire. What was plentiful was life in all that misery others saw. Arts, music—so much was birthed during those times perhaps out of a sheer will to survive just as life clings even in the most unlikeliest of places.
Perhaps this is why we fight against outside interests and gentrification so hard because we rebuilt The Bronx when no one cared about us. This is why you’ll continue to see us fight against displacement and everything else that comes with gentrification because where were they when we were left to our own devices?
Anyway, The Bronx is beautiful and always has been even. Even through our worst years there was beauty to be had and seen.
Thanks to Dawn Michelle aka @cullin738 on Twitter for tagging us in the video!
Several of the 28 semi-detached landmarked homes within the Clay Avenue Historic District
Located in Morrisania on Clay Avenue between 165th and 166th Streets, this tiny historic district has been selected by New York City’s Historic District Council’s ‘Six to Celebrate‘ which, unbeknownst to many, sits on the former Fleetwood Trotting Track, a horse racing course.
Entering it’s fourth year, the program highlights six areas as the agency provides year long support not just in shining a spotlight but also helping with issues the district or organization may be facing.
Clay Avenue Historic District is definitely one in need of some TLC. Historic District Council writes, “In recent decades, economic disinvestment has plagued the block, but local residents are working, under the name Clay Avenue Historic District, to improve public safety, encourage building restoration, and cultivate support for neighborhood beautification.”
Designated as an historic district in April of 1994, the block contains 32 residential buildings of which 28 are beautiful two family semi-detached row houses built between 1901. The remaining buildings were constructed between 1909 and 1910 and a single family home built in 1906 by a local hardware manufacturer by the name of Francis Keil.
“The early residents of the houses and apartment buildings in die historic district represent a cross-section of the population that came to settle in the Bronx in the early twentieth century. The original owners of the two-family houses tended to be middle-class professionals, while the renters appear to have been somewhat less prosperous. The apartment buildings, erected a few years after the two-family homes, were built for working-class households.
While the greater Morrisania area was later built up almost entirely with large multiple dwellings, the section of Clay Avenue forming the historic district retains its well-preserved architectural character as a distinctive enclave dating from the early period of urban development in the Bronx.”
A good send off,-go!: Goldsmith Maid, American Girl, Lucy and Henry, trotting at Fleetwood Park, Morrisania, N.Y. July 9th 1872/Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
With reference to the area and the Fleetwood Track:
“Until the turn of the century no development took place on what is now Clay Avenue or in its immediate vicinity since this was the site of Fleetwood Park, a trotting track maintained by the Driving Club of New York.4 Historians have traced horse racing in Morrisania back to about 1750 when the relatively level land was used by General Staats Long Morris as a race course. It is not known if any horse racing occurred in the vicinity of the historic district in the late eighteenth century or first seventy years of the nineteenth century, but in 1870 William Morris leased property on his estate to [Mr.] Dater Brothers who opened a race track on June 8, 1871. Brothers’s venture failed, and the property reverted to William Morris in 1880. During the following year, the race track was leased to the Driving Club of New York which ran a track on land that today is roughly bounded by East 165th Street on the south, East 167th Street on the north (the angle of the street generally marks the route of the race course), Sherman Avenue on the west, and Webster Avenue on the east. The track was open only to the select membership of the Driving Club, including such socially prominent horsemen as William K. Vanderbilt, William Rockefeller, William C. Whitney, and Leonard Jerome. Fleetwood Park consisted of the track itself, stables and other facilities for the horses, an impressive covered grandstand that curved in alignment with the track, and a French Second Empire style clubhouse that also overlooked the track. Scenes at Fleetwood appear in several lithographs by Currier and Ives and in some early drawings by Frederic Remington published in Harper’s Bazaar.”
Previous Bronx ‘Six to Celebrate’ areas are (in no particular order):
Check out some additional photographs of Clay Avenue Historic District:
Inside the Fulton Apartment building on the Southwest corner of the district, one of 3 apartment buildings that make up Clay Avenue Historic District
The Fulton
Clay Avenue Historic District in The Bronx
A good send off,-go!: Goldsmith Maid, American Girl, Lucy and Henry, trotting at Fleetwood Park, Morrisania, N.Y. July 9th 1872/Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
Baron Ambrosia posing with the History Channel sing in the background. Now it’s been reduced to the letter H and soon will be gone forever.
For years The History Channel neon sign has been a beacon to millions of travelers crossing the Harlem River into The Bronx.
Now the iconic sign is coming down for good according to Interstate Outdoor Advertising and filings with Department of Buildings.
The company said in a telephone interview that it will be replaced with a new sign and available for advertising January 18th of this year. The representative also confirmed that The History Channel will not be renewing its contract to advertise at that location, however, representatives from A&E Networks which owns The History Channel were unable to confirm this.
The building which held the sign for so long, 20 Bruckner Boulevard, has been under major capital renovations for several years as it is renovated for office spaces although no clue as to who will occupy the building.
Department of Buildings work order showing the approved permit to remove the sign.
In a quickly changing borough and city, like Brooklyn’s Domino Sugar neon sign and many others like it, we have lost such an iconic part of our skyline.
It might not seem like much to many but for others it was a sign that we knew we were home.
David Bowie performing in The Bronx at Jimmy’s Bronx Cafe on October 17, 2002 as part of his Heathen Tour/Image via songkick.com
Folks woke up today to the news of the passing of the legendary David Bowie this morning in Manhattan surrounded by his family.
The transcendental icon once performed in The Bronx at the former Jimmy’s Bronx Cafe back on October 17th, 2002 as part of a 5 borough Heathen tour he did here in his home city of NYC and across the world. Although born in London, New York was Bowie’s home on several occasions and was his home for the last 22 years until his untimely passing due to cancer.
Last week, just a day before his 69th birthday and the release of his last album, ‘Blackstar’, he released the video Lazarus saying goodbye to the world in one of the most poignant videos ever. He was a class act until the very end.
“Look up here, I’m in Heaven, I’ve got scars that can’t be seen” opens the video and song, Lazarus by the late David Bowie.
He was battling cancer for the past 18 months but alas the scourge has claimed yet another life too early on its journey.
Lazarus, and indeed his album Blackstar, takes on an entirely different meaning with his death today.The song is from his last album, Blackstar, which was released on Friday, the day of the icon’s birthday.
“David Bowie’s last release, Lazarus, was ‘parting gift’ for fans in carefully planned finale
The producer of Blackstar confirms David Bowie had planned his poignant final message, and videos and lyrics show how he approached his death”
The entire song and video can be seen as that of a man suffering and resigned to his fate which he can’t escape—thinking that this was his way of bidding the world adieu isn’t so far out considering the type of artist David Bowie was on the world stage.
In one version of him he’s on what can be interpreted as his death bed and in his other incarnation he’s scribbling fast with such urgency in a notebook like a man running out of time.
The London born New Yorker who was married to supermodel Iman for the past 22 years, has left an indelible mark in the world of pop culture and his influence will be felt long after his departure.
In Lazarus, he ends the song by singing:
“This way or no way You know, I’ll be free Just like that bluebird Now ain’t that just like me
Oh I’ll be free Just like that bluebird Oh I’ll be free Ain’t that just like me”
Here’s to you, Major Tom, Ziggy Stardust, The Goblin King and so many other names. You never stood still, your image and style ever-changing almost afraid of stasis.
Thank you for teaching us it’s ok to be us, it’s ok to change, it’s ok to be different, it’s ok to create our own destinies, it’s ok to live our lives as we choose.
The landmark Enid A. Haupt Conservatory in the background.
As our beloved Bronx institution The New York Garden celebrates its 125th anniversary this year, they will be doing so by starting out with the 14th Annual Orchid Show next month.
If you’ve ever been to the Orchid Show, you know that up with The Holiday Train Show (which is still running until January 18th so you still have time!), it’s one of the most exciting times at NYBG as thousands of orchids are artfully arranged for all to enjoy and see one of nature’s most beautiful creations.
This year’s show is called ‘Orchidelirium‘ which as NYBG describes it:
“The 19th-century craze sparked by a single orchid bloom, which came to be known as Orchidelirium, is the inspiration for The New York Botanical Garden’s 14th annual Orchid Show, which opens on February 27 and runs through April 17, 2016. Visitors to the landmark Enid A. Haupt Conservatory will be transported on an epic journey that engages all of the senses and underscores the allure and intrigue of these exquisite beauties. Thousands of orchids in a stunning array of colors, sizes, shapes, and textures will be showcased, highlighting the far-flung adventures of daring explorers who risked life and limb to secure these captivating and exotic flowers from danger-laden jungles around the world for determined collectors. From its origins in England as a symbol of power, wealth, and opulence, the frenzied fascination with orchids underpins the exhibition, which illustrates their transition from the wild to their display and cultivation as well as the Garden’s important role in their conservation today”
What’s wonderful about the Orchid Show is that it is more than a display but it’s also extremely educational where you can learn about the beautiful flower—and let’s not forget the popular Orchid Evenings for adults so that parents or loved ones can have a nice date night or just bring your friends and have a drink at the Conservatory in the evening.
The New York Botanical Gardens are special any time of the year but it’s especially magical at night so this is one of the best ways to experience the show. During the exhibition, which runs from February 27th through April 17th, 2016, the following is a list of programming for ‘Orchidelirium’:
Orchid Evenings on Saturdays (March 5, 12, 19, 26, April 2, 9, 16), Friday (April 8), and Thursday (April 14, LGBT night) bring a nighttime cocktail experience to The Orchid Show: Orchidelirium. One of New York City’s most romantic date night activities, Orchid Evenings start at 6:30 pm and include a complimentary cocktail, as well as live music in the Pine Tree Café. Visitors can also upgrade to V.I.P. status and enjoy an Orchid Lounge. Non-Member $35/Member $25 (Adults 21 and over) Advance tickets recommended.
In partnership with the Poetry Society of America, Poetry for Every Season: Ada Limon features poems in the landscape celebrating spring, flowers, and beauty.
World Beat: Music and Dance Around the World of Orchids brings live performances from cultures around the world on Saturdays and Sundays throughout the exhibition.
On weekends during the exhibition, orchid care demonstrations with topics such as “Easy Orchid Care,” “Fantastically Fragrant Orchids,” and “Orchid Tips for Amateurs” show visitors how to care for their own orchids.
Cell phone tour stops at NYBG Shop will be available to provide answers to frequently asked orchid questions and allow visitors to dial up care tips on watering and feeding, reblooming, and repotting for several specific types of orchids. Thousands of top-quality orchids, from exotic, hard-to-find specimens for connoisseurs to elegant yet easy-to-grow varieties for beginners, are available for purchase at NYBG Shop, along with orchid products and books.
For 125 years, The New York Botanical Garden has been an amazing oasis and a world renowned leader in botany right here in our very own borough. In a press release, NYBG writes:
“In 1888 the Garden’s founders, Dr. Nathaniel Lord Britton, a Columbia University professor of botany and geology, and his wife, Elizabeth Knight Britton, an avid and respected scholar of mosses, traveled to London and visited the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Inspired by what they saw, the Brittons returned to New York determined to create a similar institution. On April 28, 1891, the Legislature of the State of New York passed an act incorporating The New York Botanical Garden, providing for the building and development of “a public botanic garden of the highest class” on 250 acres of land in northernmost New York City “for the collection and culture of plants, flowers, shrubs and trees, [and] the advancement of botanical science and knowledge…and for the entertainment, recreation, and instruction of the people.”
Check out some of our images from NYBG including last year’s Orchid Show and the record smashing Frida Kahlo exhibition:
Isn’t the conservatory just splendid?
The beautiful Enid A. Haupt Conservatory — a New York City and National Landmark
Lauren Click, Director of Community and Public Programs at The Bronx Museum was one of my fellow judges. Of course she had to come into character for the event!
Can we talk about the adorable children who entered the contest?
Cannot HANDLE the cuteness in this picture with Frida and Diego in the children’s contest!
So many Fridas yet only a few could be chosen as winners. This was hard. Oh so hard.
Frida contestant and child.
Is this fun or what? These two Fridas are originally from The Bronx but now live in Yonkers came to join in the fun.
One of the winning Fridas who one not only for props and looks but the authenticity she gave us!
1st Place winners of the couple’s contest. Look at Frida gazing into Diego’s eyes.
All our Fridas patiently waiting for the announcement of the winners.
And the winner is…
A Frida look-alike contest with her daughter at NYBG this past Saturday.
110 East 149th Street between Gerard Avenue and Exterior Street will be a 10 story Hampton Inn Hotel with a rooftop lounge. / Rendering via Dattner Architects
The development and construction boom continues (frankly it hasn’t stopped since the rise of Melrose Commons which reached a crescendo in 2011 and picked up again last year) in The South Bronx and now yet another hotel is coming to the area along with a 12 story and a 13 story mixed-income “affordable housing” apartments.
All of this is occurring on 1 block within the Lower Grand Concourse area in Mott Haven which was rezoned back in 2009 and is bound by 149th Street to the north, 146th to the south and wedged between Gerard Avenue and Exterior Street—directly adjacent to the Major Deegan Expressway and the proposed Special Harlem River Waterfront District.
Area of Detail
Already rising on the block is the hotel at 500 Exterior Street at the corner of 146th Street and now a Hampton Inn will join that hotel on the 149th Street side where once stood a tire shop and an African food market which was displaced from just a couple of blocks north when dozens of food supply stores were evicted from the Bronx Terminal Market to create the mall with the same name now on that site along with Mill Pond Park.
Back in 2014 the above lots were for sale for $3 million (This is where the Hampton Inn is slated to be constructed.)
The Hampton Inn Hotel reportedly will have 152 rooms making it the largest yet in the South Bronx exceeding The luxury boutique Opera House Hotel, also on 149th Street, by almost 100 rooms. According to YIMBY, the 10 story hotel will also have a rooftop lounge along with commercial space—all at the foot of the 145th Street Bridge right into Manhattan which is used by thousands of pedestrians a day.
As for the “affordable housing” units, one building will be located at 530 Exterior street at 13 stories with 157 units and a second building at 12 stories with 136 units will be located on the other side of the block at 491 Gerard Avenue.
530 Exterior Street/Dattner Architects
YIMBY states that according to the developers, the residential developments will be mixed-income (which has been the trend in “affordable” housing in the area).
Why “affordable”? Simply because developers use the misnamed Area Median Income which one would think takes into account the immediate area’s median income but sadly it doesn’t. Its calculated using not just the incomes from The Bronx and NYC but also surrounding affluent suburban areas skewing the numbers ever upwards.
This creates a situation where the units aren’t affordable to local residents. In fact, an article in the Gothamist back in 2013 pointed out that in the general South Bronx area, these units are unaffordable to 81% to 100% of the population.
491 Gerard Avenue/Dattner Architects
Anecdotal evidence seems to support this data as there are many complaints from area residents who apply for these apartments but are denied because they make too little. What ends up happening is that then these applicants are stuck paying much higher rents creating a rent burdened household of upwards 50% of income spent on rent.
These developments will be approximately the 5th through 7th within the Lower Concourse Rezoning Area to date that have broken ground and or completed since 2009.
There needs to be deeper affordability to these units for area residents to be able to enjoy the fruits of these developments coming into the area, otherwise it’s just simply gentrification under another name.
