Image Via Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame 10/3/2013 Los Angeles, CA TNT Rita Moreno 2014 SAG Life Achievement Award recipient Photo: Mark Hill
Watch Puerto Rican born, Bronx raised Rita Moreno talking about her legacy as she takes a walk through The Bronx with CBS News as she’s set to receive Kennedy Center Honors this Sunday, and a new express SBS bus service to speed up travel between The Bronx and Queens.
“The 38th annual Kennedy Center Honors will be awarded Sunday evening and broadcast on CBS on December 29th. Over the next few weeks we will introduce you to each of the 2015 honorees, all of whom are being recognized for a lifetime of artistic achievement.
Rita Moreno is one of only 12 performers to have achieved an EGOT by winning the grand slam of show business awards – an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and a Tony. Generations remember her for her unforgettable turn as Anita in the 1961 classic West Side Story. But she has had a thriving acting career for the better part of six decades and has been a trailblazer for Latinos in entertainment — a legacy she is most proud of.” – Read the rest over at CBS
Q44 Select Bus Service Rolls Out to Ease Commute Between Queens and Bronx
Select Bus Service on the Q44, aimed at decreasing commuting time betweenJamaica, Flushing and The Bronx, launched Sunday.
The city is hoping to speed up travel for Q44 riders by 15 to 23 percent by having passengers purchase their tickets before boarding buses that use dedicated lanes along certain portions of the 14-mile route, according to the Department of Transportation.
The route, which serves about 42,000 riders on a daily basis, “is a vital inter-borough transit link, connecting the Bronx and Queens,” according to the MTA. It also provides “connections to several subway lines and the Long Island Rail Road” and “connects two thriving commercial neighborhoods in Queens, Flushing and Jamaica.” Read the rest over at DNAinfo
PIX11 News reports that New York State has a whopping $14 billion in unclaimed funds with New York City’s take at over $2.75 billion alone (The Bronx’s share is approximately $250 million).
The unclaimed funds come from a variety of sources such as security deposits on utilities, forgotten savings accounts, and others, and, to date, New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli has returned over $437 million in 2015 and according to his website, the office returns $1 million each day.
In New York City the number of accounts and funds owed are as follows:
BRONX 444,807 accounts owed a total of $250,113,166
KINGS 976,617 accounts owed a total of $562,224,676
NEW YORK 1,504,626 accounts owed a total of $1,432,882,027
QUEENS 958,554 accounts owed a total of $486,783,809
RICHMOND 132,588 accounts owed a total of $59,961,516
Total 4,017,192 accounts owed a total of $2,791,965,194
Check out the informational video below on how to search the database to see if you have money that is owed to you and check out the link below for more information.
The DreamYard Project is nurturing Bronx youth through the arts in hopes of changing the world, some of the works of the late Tony Award-winning Bronxite Boris Aronson who began his career in Yiddish theatre, and the greenest borough’s best hiking spots, all in this evening’s Bronx PM Links.
The New Yorker has a wonderful story on a great community based organization in our borough called The DreamYard Project.
Ian Frazier writes, “The DreamYard Project has a patriotic attachment to the Bronx. Two young actors, Jason Duchin and Tim Lord, founded it, twenty-one years ago, to teach public-school kids in grades K through twelve by using the arts. The idea was to recruit teachers from among working artists of Duchin’s and Lord’s acquaintance in New York and match them with schools whose funding for arts education had been cut. Through a few changes, that has been DreamYard’s basic mission from the start. For some years, the teaching program was in several boroughs, but today it’s only in the Bronx, where DreamYard-sponsored artists in forty-five schools teach about ten thousand students.
DreamYard also holds poetry contests between local kids and kids in other countries via Skype, makes posters for political protests, supplies art work for parks and other public spaces, holds acting workshops for adults, helps to paint designs on local apartment-building rooftops in heat-reflecting paint, and runs arts festivals. It believes that art can save the world.
At its headquarters in the Olivos’ building, which it calls the Community Arts Center, it also teaches classes in all kinds of arts after school, on Saturdays, and in the summer, almost every day. About thirty administrators and teachers work at the center. (Some of them are also among the teaching artists who go into the schools.) Everything DreamYard provides at the center is free. Some of the students there are from the neighborhood, but many come from farther away in the Bronx or from other boroughs. Of the kids who participate long-term in the center’s on-site programs, ninety-eight per cent graduate from high school and go on to college—an achievement, considering that the over-all rate of high-school graduation in the Bronx is just above fifty per cent. In 2012, DreamYard won a National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award as one of the best out-of-school arts programs in the country. Michelle Obama presented the award at the White House. In the center’s street windows are pictures of people from DreamYard posing with her and looking ecstatic.” – Read the full story over at The New Yorker.
Via NJ.com: A maquette for a set design from “The Tenth Commandment” at the Irving Place Theatre in 1926, depicting hell as all within the human mind. (Courtesy Marc Aronson)
“The late Boris Aronson was best known for designing the avant-garde Broadway sets of the 1950s and ’60s: the mirrored set for “Cabaret” that used the theatre audience as a backdrop; the transparent rectangles in “Company”; and the pastel shtetl surrounding the revolving stage in the 1964 “Fiddler on the Roof.”
Over those years he won six Tony Awards, the last one for “Pacific Overtures”in 1976.
Aronson was a Modernist when the faith in the modern was at its cultural height, creating increasingly abstract designs that underlined stage themes graphically.
But before those dramatic successes, Aronson worked for years in New York’s Yiddish theatre, designing costumes and sets for the thriving Russophile subculture in the city that included at least 1.5 million New Yorkers in the 1920s.
Through Dec. 23, the Vallois America gallery on East 67th St. is hosting “Preparing the Miracle: From the Bronx to Broadway, Boris Aronson and the Yiddish Theatre,” showing dozens of Aronson’s recently restored watercolor costume designs and set elevations. Most of the paintings have been sitting in flat files in Aronson‘s glass-and-wood-panel home built into a hillside overlooking the Tappan Zee near Nyack for half a century or more.
“Preparing the Miracle” grew out of an exhibition at Galerie le Minotaure in Paris three years ago, but maintaining the trove of watercolors has been the responsibility of Aronson’s son, author and assistant teaching professor at Rutgers University Marc Aronson, who lives in Maplewood.
“My father was interested in emancipating Jewish tradition by bringing its folk style into the Modern movement,” says Marc Aronson. “Of course, it helped that they were interested in pre-perspective art, because so many of the folk traditions were about flat color, too. There were a lot of visual artists in Kiev and later Moscow with similar aims — like Marc Chagall.” – Read the full story over at NJ.com
Atop Vault Hill in Van Cortlandt Park you can overlook the Parade Ground, The Bronx and the New York City skyline.
People within The Bronx, let alone those outside our borough, rarely think about our neck of the (literal) woods as a hiking destination within the country’s largest city. Fact is, that among the almost 25% of parkland that covers our borough are some great hiking trails and perhaps even some of the best in the city given the hilly terrain of The Bronx.
BioPhilicCities, a project of the University of Virigina’s School of Architecture, writes about such trails right here on the mainland.
They write:
Pelham Bay Park is the largest park in NYC at 2,765 acres, making it more than three Central Parks. “The Kazimiroff Trail is well known among other beautiful historical buildings, beach, and forested areas and also takes you through Hunter Island,” says Leou. The trail is about two miles with a topographic transition from forest to views of Long Island Sound. In total, the Park has 13 miles of saltwater shoreline.
Van Cortlandt Park is the third largest park in NYC at 1,146 and is host to a variety of habitats including the Sachkerah Woods and is popular for cross-country hiking. “[Van Cortlandt] is easy to get to by public transportation and you can also visit the Van Cortland House Museum in the park,” notes Leou.
The Bronx is home to the New York Botanic Garden, often touted as one of the top destinations in the City. “The 50-acre native forest at the New York Botanical Garden makes you feel like you are not in New York City,” says Judith Hutton, Manager of Teacher Professional Development at NYBG. “The history of the organization is tied closely to the preservation and management of this tract of forested land. It is used by visitors for running and hiking and is also a site for active forest restoration and research.”
Roberto Clemente State Park is most known for a wide variety of recreational activities, but the oldest State Park in NYC is a 25-acre park borders the Harlem River and has a waterfront esplanade ideal for a short, scenic walk. The Park is also a mark of the importance of parkland for improving waterfront resilience. According to the Wall Street Journal, it is the first park to get a complete storm resiliency redevelopment. It’s estimated that Roberto Clemente absorbed 3 feet of stormwater during Sandy, protecting nearby homes. Check out the rest of the post over at BiophilicCity’s website.
During the course of the past year, as speculative purchases artificially inflated values in the South Bronx neighborhoods of Port Morris and Mott Haven, area residents have been hard at work at developing a document of principles of which developers will be using to see how these companies are truly working with the community—or not.
South Bronx Unite writes:
The Mott Haven-Port Morris Waterfront and Statement of Principles for Private Development
Statement of Principles on Private Development
In response to the wave of real estate speculation threatening the South Bronx and that will open the doors to hyper-gentrification, we present below a Statement of Principles on Private Development. These principles have been in the making for upwards of a year by members of the Mott Haven-Port Morris Community Land Trust (in consultation with experts in each area) in response to the decades of “development” without community engagement that has caused a health epidemic and now threatens mass displacement. As some of our elected officials choose to deny the existence of gentrification, many developers have already bought land, filed plans and erected buildings “as of right”, and many are not requesting any zoning changes, variances or government subsidies that would trigger wider accountability. Over the coming weeks, members of the community will be assessing adherence to these principles of each developer – from Carnegie, Cheskel Schwimmer and Chetrit to Hornig, JCAL, Savanna and Somerset, among many others – and sharing the information publicly so that we can best direct the breadth of efforts to protect and uplift our community.
I. Jobs. As a community facing one of the highest unemployment rates in the city, we call upon all real estate development construction opportunities to be given to union workers (with preference to South Bronx residents) with a significant percent to be given through apprenticeship programs to South Bronx residents of color in all building trades. Commercial enterprises developed as part of real estate development should hire a significant percent of its long-term workforce from the South Bronx and pay at a living wage or prevailing wage standard, whichever is higher.
II. Housing. Guided by a history of disinvestment and displacement that caused the loss of 80% of South Bronx housing stock and where residents are now facing high rent and higher rent increases, we call upon all private developers in the South Bronx to set aside a significant percent of any new residential rental and for sale development for local residents at an affordability rate based on the current average median income of the South Bronx. We also call upon developers to provide ongoing contributions to an anti-displacement fund to develop tenants’ rights materials and outreach, to assess displacement-related impacts of development projects and to further affordable housing construction and other community needs.
III. Environmental Justice. As an environmental justice community facing severe health inequities (which cause asthma rates eight times the national average) from the decades-long over-saturation of waste transfer stations, fossil fuel power plants, industrial facilities and other diesel truck-intensive business, we back the Principles of Environmental Justice and the creation of green space and public waterfront access and call upon all real estate developers to support the community-designed and -driven Mott Haven Port Morris Waterfront Plan (before ground is broken on their own development projects) as well as the reduction of the 850 acre significant maritime industrial area in the South Bronx, the largest in New York City, which currently restricts the community’s waterfront access.
IV. Empowering Local Arts, Artists, and Communities. We will enforce a new paradigm in the South Bronxthat counters the cynical relationship between real estate and art, and that victimizes artists as disposable collateral. We will look critically at developers and creative clusters that more easily become mechanisms to employ our street and social credibility for dis-location and consumerist overcrowding rather than nurturing drives that weave themselves into the wider fabric and respect the character of the neighborhood in which they exist. We insist that private developers and businesses sponsor and assist in nurturing our artistic community through anti-displacement strategies and initiatives such as: (i) community-driven projects to develop multi-use artistic venues and multi-sectoral incubators; (ii) funding for projects and entrepreneurial activities that feature artists in leadership roles and engage community members as equal partners; (iii) studio residency or work-space programs that focus on creative practice development for emerging artists; and (iv) funding for local small non-profit organizations that support artists of diverse disciplines, practices, cultural backgrounds and career stages.
V. Promoting Community Cohesiveness. To prevent a tale of two neighborhoods from developing as a result of building high end residential developments along the waterfront edges of one of the poorest economic but richest cultural districts in the country, we call upon all developers to provide meaningful contributions to the broader community to bridge inter-connectedness, including support for community gardens and urban farms and space set-asides for community groups, youth and senior programming and other needs of the community.
VI. Local Economic Development. We call upon all developers to enact a local South Bronx preference policy with respect to material purchasing, contracting, servicing, selling/leasing and all other business activities related to residential and commercial development in the South Bronx, including a significant percent favoring South Bronx businesses that are truly minority and women owned business enterprises (MWBE).
VII. Health Equity. Residents of Mott Haven and Port Morris suffer from high rates of asthma, diabetes, and heart disease. Because of these and other factors, life expectancy for community residents is 10 years less than that of residents of Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Neighborhood conditions can play a key role in addressing these disparities, but without a deliberate focus on health equity in the planning and design of new developments, buildings and open spaces can unintentionally widen health inequities. Developers should analyze the health impacts of their projects, and use documents likeThe Active Design Guidelines and Enterprise Green Communities Criteria to guide their design process to create spaces that promote health.
VIII. Public Private Projects. With respect to private development projects receiving city subsidies, zoning variances, land use changes or in any other way involving the government and thus requiring community input and/or approval, these principles should be enforced with the full weight of the government, who should also ensure timely notice and meaningful public engagement in the planning, building and maintaining of such projects. Additionally, we would like to see the city work with affordable housing developers to erect more 100% affordable housing in the South Bronx, and all publicly-owned vacant and/or available real estate should be prioritized for community-driven development initiatives, including transferring such real estate to local land trusts.
Folks gather at The Bronx Documentary Center to listen to fellow Bronxites’ migration stories/ Image Courtesy Mott Haven Herald/Christina Thornell
This morning on Bronx AM Links, you’ll read about Bronx immigrants who recently shared their migration stories at the Bronx Documentary Center, the move to have deer crossing signs installed on Shore Road in Pelham Bay Park, and Bronx born and raised author and queen of suspense, Marry Higgins Clark, still has it. You’ll also find how a rise in African immigrants in our borough has led to an increase in demand for interpreters, and an Upper West Side veterinarian who spays and neuters Bronx dogs and cats for free.
On November 21st, the Bronx Documentary Center was packed with folks who came to listen to the various tales of migration from their own fellow Bronxites who made their way to America and ended up in The Bronx.
The Mott Haven Herald writes:
“Miriam Kone migrated from Mali in 1994 when she was 16-years-old. As a young girl in Mali she was expected to marry at age 13, but she had other plans. She convinced her mother, who had left Miriam to her grandmother’s care, to help her go to America. “You have to be a fighter,” she told the audience. “You can’t give up.”
About 40 people gathered at the Bronx Documentary Center on Nov 21stto hear immigrants share their experiences. Stories from Mexico to Mali, both deeply personal and of universal resilience had their moment in the limelight. If there was one common thread woven through each story, it was the deep desire to have a better life built on personal achievement.
Kone is no exception. When she was a little girl, she shared a single pot of food with her siblings but if she were too slow or timid would miss out on lunch. Now, in the Bronx, she often reminds her three children how easy it is to get food with a fridge at home. Or how much easier it is to get an education. “I tell my children they are going to college for me,” Kone said.” Read the rest at the Mott Haven Herald
After several accidents and years of advocacy, it appears that the city Department of Transportation is now seriously considering the installation of deer crossing signs in Pelham Bay Park.
According to City Island Civic Association board members, DOT has informed them that it may be dropping its opposition to deer signs and is reviewing Pelham Bay Park sign locations.
This comes on the heels of at least three accidents between motorists and deer this year on roads traversing the park, said John Doyle, CICA corresponding secretary. Read the rest at The Bronx Times
CNBC takes on one of our favorite notable Bronxites: Mary Higgins Clark. In an article and video, the news channel posts:
“Once I know the people, they tell me where to go now and what’s the next,” Higgins Clark said. “I mean, I can be writing and a character will say, ‘I don’t belong in this scene, I’m getting out.’ And that’s when writing is fun.”
Yet the path of the “queen of suspense” wasn’t direct. She had a couple of stops early on in 1949 and 1950, when she worked as a Pan American World Airways flight hostess.
“That was extremely glamorous in those days,” Higgins Clark told CNBC, “I mean, flying was still so new.” She worked Pan Am routes to Europe, Africa and Asia, and recounts that the experience was rare, “for 21 years old, to be all over the world in those days was pretty nifty.”
Before that, the Bronx, New York-born author had a stint as a telephone operator at a Manhattan hotel. “Hotel Shelton, Good Afternoon,” she described how she would operate the switchboard.
“And then I’d listen in” on phone calls, Higgins Clark said with a laugh. There was the “lady of the house” at the hotel and she’d always listen in on her, “because I loved to hear her make her dates.”
Fast forward to her early 30s, and Higgins Clark was married with a family. She was writing then, but having a hard time getting published. “There was no market for short stories,” she said. Read the rest over at CNBC
“Animals become a part of you. They become a part of your heart,” Astacio told PIX11. “When you put the care of your pet with a vet who cares so much, it’s great.”
To many in the Bronx, Dr. Kaplan is a hero, but to this unassuming vet, he is just doing what he was put on earth to do.
“It hurts me to know that animals are dying in shelters because they don’t have homes. If I can do something about it then I am going to try,” Dr. Kaplan said.
“Conversations were still bubbling when Afua Atta-Mensah took the microphone and welcomed everybody to the African Community Town Hall, held in the basement of the Bronx Museum of the Arts this month. “Ete sen?” Ms. Atta-Mesah, the program moderator, shouted in one of Ghana’s primary language groups, Twi. The crowd of 300 cheered. She had simply asked, “What’s up?” According to a new report released last month by the United States Census Bureau, more than 192 languages are spoken in the New York metropolitan area, making the city the most linguistically diverse in the country. The rise in African languages significantly contributes to this panoply, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the Bronx. According to the Census Bureau, more than 16 African languages are spoken in the Bronx, a number that is quite likely far lower than what is actually spoken in homes in the borough, linguists say. In West Africa alone there are more than 800 languages.” Read the rest over at The New York Times
For decades, residents have been demanding that the MTA restore elevator service that was once available at 149th Street and Grand Concourse on the 2, 4,and 5 subway lines—the borough’s 4th busiest with 4,536,888 riders in 2014 which saw a 2.5% increase from the prior year.
Now, in the MTA’s proposed 2015-2019 Capital Program, 149th Street and Grand Concourse, along with Bedford Park Boulevard and Grand Concourse on the B and D line, and Gun Hill Road on the 5 Dyre Avenue line, stand a chance at finally getting elevator access at these critical locations in our borough—if approved.
Being able to bring subway stations into ADA compliance is a daunting task but more so when they’re underground where utility lines and the likes have to be rerouted.
Stations like 149th Street and Grand Concourse are an engineer’s nightmare (or delight if they’re up for a challenge) due to the nature of the station’s multiple levels and platforms which has a price tag of $45 million for restoration of 1 elevator and installation of a new one.
Although this is great news once approved, it will take a long time before all stations are accessible to those with mobility issues.
Next week on Tuesday, December 1st, South Bronx Community Congress will hold a press conference regarding this victory at 12pm in front of 149th Street and Grand Concourse station on the 2, 4, and 5 subway lines.
Here’s looking towards the day that the system is equitable for all—hopefully within our lifetimes!
In the distance, The Beethoven Piano building where last month the Piano District Macabre Suite gentrification party was held and site of proposed one of several 25 story market rate residential towers.
This morning on the Brian Lehrer show, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr said that he thinks gentrification is wrong for our neighborhoods but when a caller by the name of Collin questioned him on what’s happening in our borough, Diaz became dismissive and rude. Here’s our list showing how gentrification is real and alive in The Bronx.
Here’s a brief transcript from this morning’s show (my comments in parentheses):
Collin: “I live in the South Bronx and went to a meeting Saturday night and about 100 or so people, young people, from around the borough came together to talk about issues surrounding gentrification. People are not happy at all especially with the political leadership that is going on right now from the Borough President’s office. We really think that he’s out of touch with what’s going on. People are being pushed out daily, people do not have services in the neighborhood, um, even um I’m a veteran I’m in unstable housing…”
Brian Lehrer cut in and said, “Speak to your borough president,” and Collin continued.
“Mr Diaz you need to wake up and see what’s going on The Bronx, people are not getting an education, people do not have jobs…”
Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr responded by being dismissive and saying, “I think he’s misinformed unfortunately…about everything (when Lehrer asked about what part of what Collin said). First of all we’ve done 14 rezonings since I took office and no one can prove to me that there has been any gentrification…Lastly I want to say this, the individuals who have been against this proposal (Mandatory Inclusionary Housing and Zoning for Affordability and Quality) who have said that they didn’t like the Mayor’s proposal well we had a hearing that we didn’t have to have a week ago, I listened to more than 50 testimonies, over 300 people came out (a hearing Diaz Jr didn’t attend) and we voted unanimously against these. Now it’s incumbent upon the mayor, his leadership his city council person to strike these down so for him to come out and put out false information and say that I’m not listening is just not uh reality. With regards to the Mayor’s response what I would say is this, again we have not seen any gentrification in The Bronx….”
Afterwards Collin was asked to give specific instances and he asked if Diaz was in reality to which Diaz responded are you and Diaz insisted that it was not happening in The Bronx. You need to point to me where in The Bronx, like other parts of the city and in the country have we experienced gentrification, no one can prove to me that we force one community out to bring another one in.
He blamed Collin and said he wasn’t in reality and that there are unfortunately people with an agenda.
Diaz again said, “let me be clear, gentrification is bad and what we’re seeing here is that in that particular area first of all we’ve listened to the community and I’ve been against remaining it the Piano District and that is just not happening. In fact the developer has already said he’s gonna drop that cause and we’re happy about that…#2, the area there where they’re proposing market rate apartments, we believe in The Bronx that for decades what happens is that you get a professional working class that whenever they make it they whenever they get a good career they cut and run.
So Diaz really is totally out of touch and just as tone deaf as the gentrification party he attended last month which is heralding gentrification in our borough with the proposed 25 story residential market rate housing.
Mr Borough President Diaz, you asked for someone to point out that gentrification is happening in The Bronx, well here goes:
55 Bruckner Boulevard: Market rate building constructed by JCAL with a 2 bedroom listed for a whopping $3,300 a month rent. It should also be noted that JCAL is constructing 3 market rate residential buildings around the corner on Alexander Avenue where rents will be set well above the area’s average.
407 E 160th Street: Market rate housing going up in Melrose, the first in a neighborhood of “Affordable Housing” some of which are about to phase out and can go to market rate.
Bronx Bricks: First market rate condominiums in The South Bronx which went to market in 2007 with apartments going from the $388k range to $789k range and selling just shy of asking. Last year an apartment went on the market for $900,000.
Starbucks in Melrose: Yes, a Starbucks opening up in Melrose on 161st, even if it makes sense due to being in the heart of Bronx courts and the “downtown” area, still is an indicator as landlords can now demand higher rents simply with a presence of a Starbucks.
There are more instances to add to this list but it’s a start showing just how gentrification is already happening in The Bronx contrary to our Borough President who is the one that sadly is misinformed.
Then you have speculative purchases with properties being sold at way above market values for the neighborhood during the past year.
Take the following for example:
304 Grand Concourse in Mott Haven sold for $3,250,000 on 10/8/2015 at $1,015 a square foot. The median price per square foot for the neighborhood is $166.
221-227 E 138th Street (2 properties combined) in Mott Haven sold for $2,800,000 on 9/4/2015 with an avg of $559 per square foot where the median is $166 per square foot.
148 E 151st/640-646 Gerard Avenue (multiple properties) in the Concourse area sold for $2,300,000 on 8/6/2015 with an avg of $796 per square foot. Again, the median per square foot is $166.
458 Southern Boulevard in Mott Haven, a parking lot, sold for $2,250,000 on 5/15/2015 at $1,442 a square foot with a median for the area of $166 a square foot.
198 E 135th Street, a vacant lot on the Special Harlem River Waterfront District sold for $15,470,000 on 5/12/2015 at $316 per square foot. Plans are to construct a 25 story market rate residential building on this land.
The above mentioned properties are all selling at 80% higher per square foot than the area average of $166 per square foot.
I didn’t even report on the speculative purchases happening at the Jerome Avenue Study area which are also considerably above market rate.
Last year The Daily News reported of a ‘Tenant Relocator’ who was harassing tenants to push them out of rent-controlled apartments so that landlords can get higher rents. The Daily News reports:
“Tenants of rent-controlled apartments say Michel Pimienta follows them, accuses them of illegal activity and pushes them to move out so landlords can score higher rents. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman got Pimienta to agree to pay a $40,000 fine and give up his ‘relocation’ efforts.
On the frontlines of New York City gentrification, tenants of rent-controlled apartments view “tenant relocator” Michel Pimienta as a hired gun.
They say he threatens eviction, accuses them of illegal sub-letting — anything to get them out so the landlord can start collecting hefty market rate rent in gentrifying neighborhoods.
Over the last decade, he’s been accused of following tenants to work and questioning their colleagues about the tenants’ living situations. He’s allegedly told tenants the decrepit conditions they endure won’t be fixed anytime soon, so they might as well just get out.
And as of this week, he’s out of business.
Pimienta is the first casualty in state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s new campaign to end the scorched-earth tactics of so-called “tenant relocators.” Fielding dozens of complaints from frightened tenants, Schneiderman last week got Pimienta to agree to pay a $40,000 fine and give up his “relocation” efforts.
Schneiderman says Pimienta harassed tenants on the Lower East Side and in Gowanus, Brooklyn — both neighborhoods with raging real estate prices.
He alleges that for years, Pimienta operated illegally without the required brokers license in more than 60 rent-regulated buildings in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx.
Then there’s the story of the landlord illegally jacking up rents on tenants:
“Tenants from a building in the shadow of Yankee Stadium have declared war on their landlord, accusing him of illegal and exorbitant rent increases they say are designed to force them out of their gentrifying neighborhood.
Eighteen residents of 1111 Gerard Ave., a six-story, 122-unit building near the Grand Concourse, say in a lawsuit expected to be filed Monday in Bronx Supreme Court the building’s owner has raised their rents by as much as 60% in recent years even though the biggest hike permitted for rent-stabilized apartments was 4.5%.
Even worse, according to the suit, the landlord is notifying tenants their units will be exempt from rent-stabilization laws starting next year when a 25-year, 421-a tax abatement on the property expires.
And what about the harrassment in Kingsbridge surrounding the armory? CityLimits writes:
“Community organizations in the Bronx say residential and commercial tenants in areas around the Kingsbridge Armory and the proposed Jerome Avenue rezoning are seeing higher rents and more harassment.
“Many landlords seem to use lately as their business model pushing tenants out of their apartments, taking people to court when they don’t actually owe money, not providing services, threatening tenants who organize a tenants’ association or even something as simple as call 311 to make a complaint,” said Margaret Groarke, a member of the Northwest Bronx Community Clergy Coalition. “We want to say that we need to put a stop to this and we need housing court to take these reports of harassment seriously and do something to make it cost landlords when they harass tenants.” Development Spurs Tenant Harassment in Bronx, Groups Say
All of this together is the beginnings of gentrification and is what pushes rents up to where residents from within the areas can no longer afford them. It’s called the ripple effect. Same thing with our small businesses.
So yes, Mr Borough President, you do need to wake up, open your eyes and acknowledge that gentrification is indeed happening in our borough. You need to stop being so dismissive of your constituents for they are the ones on the ground experiencing it day to day. It is clearly you who is misinformed, not your constituents who are brave enough to call you out in public.
For Ruben Diaz Jr to partake in a gentrification party and and then deny that it is happening to us is an insult to our intelligence. For once, stop trying to defend yourself and humble yourself in listening to your citizens. Or is it the over $150,000 in real estate monies he’s received for his 2017 campaign run that has him flip flopping?
I can keep on with more and more evidence but rather than embarrass you, I’d like to educate you on your major faux pas this morning on the Brian Lehrer show by having the audacity to say gentrification doesn’t exist in our borough. And you are seriously considering a run for mayor?
The time for foolery is over and the time for you to act like a real leader is NOW.
Worst landlords and buildings in The Bronx/Screen shot from Public Advocate’s Office
This morning’s top stories (we didn’t forget about you yesterday, there just wasn’t enough newsworthy items for a list!) are the abrupt resignation by the scandal plagued Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo, more great restaurants along the 2 (and 5) train, and the worst slumlords in The Bronx as Public Advocate Letitia James took a tour of one of the worst buildings. (See the full list in the link)
This one caught some folks by surprise and others think it’s a set up to install yet another puppet of The Bronx Democratic Machine.
Either way, democracy is at stake and we must insist on a candidate that will truly be the people’s choice and not one shoved down our throats. Read more on our previous post.
The Daily News continues a series on what to eat along the 2 subway line in The Bronx (although for this leg of their journey they need to rename it ‘Eating along the 2 and 5 line).
The Bronx is not a stranger to slumlords. According to a new list issued by Public Advocate Letitia James, there are over 900 apartments on the worst of the worst list (although we suspect that number to actually be higher considering not everyone reports poor living conditions in fear of reprisals from their slumlords.
Most of the worst offending properties were located in the West Bronx (see link for full details or the list below)
News 12 The Bronx wrote:
“Public Advocate James released a list Monday of the city’s most notorious landlords, ranked by the number of violations accrued in their building.
There are over 900 apartments in the Bronx on the worst apartments watchlist.
According to the list, the worst buildings in the Bronx include 2075 Wallace Ave., 750 Grand Concourse, 20 West 190th St. and 875 Longwood Ave.
“Landlords often hide behind this veil of secrecy, so we need to pierce the corporate veil,” said Public Advocate Letitia James. “We need to make sure we get the correct names of individuals who unfortunately are allowing seniors and children to live in horrendous conditions.”
One building in particular raked up more violations than any other building in the borough. The building received 544 violations, predominately of the class-B variety, which can include poor lighting in public areas or failure to remove vermin.” Watch the video over at News12
Maria del Carmen Arroyo (Credit: William Alatriste for NYC Council)
Welcome2TheBronx has just learned from The Observer that New York City Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo—the politician from The South Bronx who scandals have a penchant for following her—has announced late today that she will be stepping down from office as of December 31, 2015.
We CANNOT allow The dirty politics of The Bronx Democratic machine to take over this democratic process and install one of their puppets yet again.
This comes to many as a huge surprise for someone who fought so hard to hang on to her council seat through methods deemed less than savory which even landed her in court when during last elections in 2013 she had celebrities such as model Kate Moss and former Yankees Derek Jeter on her ballot petitions.
According to the Observer:
“Bronx Councilwoman Maria Carmen del Arroyo announced late today that she would be stepping down at the year’s end.
The Puerto Rican-born South Bronx politician was vague on her reasons for stepping down, citing only “pressing family needs.”
“After much consideration and discussion with my family, I have decided to resign from the City Council effective December 31, 2015,” Ms. Arroyo said in a statement sent out this evening. “I will always be thankful to my colleagues in the Council for their continuous support, along with my friends and supporters who have made it possible for me to serve the people of the Bronx.”
One source, however, told the Observer that Ms. Arroyo may be leaving for a position in the private sector.
Ms. del Arroyo is the daughter of long-serving Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo, and has sat in the Council since 2005, when she won a special election to replace newly-elected Congressman Jose Serrano.
The resignation will trigger another special election for the seat, which Mayor Bill de Blasio will have to declare within three days of the vacancy, and which will likely be held on February 16.
In March of last year, three of Ms. Arroyo’s 2013 campaign workers were arrested on charges of forging names to ballot petitions.”
At Calvary Hospital’s kick-off event for the restoration of a historic Torah Scroll, Rabbi Moshe Druin from Sofer On Site educated the audience about the Torah restoration process. / Via Daily News
A Torah scroll from 1880 that originated in the town of Domazlice, Czech Republic, has made its way to Calvary Hospital in The Bronx.
According the The Daily News, the Torah was damaged when Nazis took away religious and cultural artifacts from Jewish communities in Europe during World War II.
Although still damaged, the scroll will be restored with care at Calvary Hospital and then will be able to be used in ceremonies for its Jewish patients.
The Bronx might seem like an unlikely place for the Torah to make its way to but at one point our borough was the most Jewish borough in all of New York City.
The Daily News writes:
“So-called Scroll No. 515, taken from a synagogue in the Czech town of Domazlice, is on permanent loan to Calvary from London-based Memorial Scrolls Trust, an organization that has been mending and distributing Torah scrolls to congregations worldwide since the 1960s.
“When a Torah is no longer able to be used, it’s either buried like a person or restored,” said Calvary Hospital Rabbi Rachmiel Rothberger.
“The beauty of the whole project is that when the scribes inspected the Torah, they found it could be repaired. The fact that they were able to repair it and bring it back to life is a special honor.”
The Calvary scroll, housed at the hospital’s Bronx campus in Eastchester, is being worked on by a rabbinical restoration team from the organization Sofer On Site that is painstakingly fixing the many creases, tears and holes, as well as re-inking words and letters originally written with a quill feather.
The restoration may cost as much as $100,000, a Calvary spokeswoman said. Once enough money is raised, remaining funds will go toward benefiting patients and families regardless of faith.
The Calvary Torah is undergoing careful restoration/Image Via Daily News
The hospital, which provides end-of-life care for cancer patients of all faiths and others with serious illnesses, has set up a Web page for contributions at calvaryhospital.org/torahrestoration.
The Torah scroll isn’t only valued for its religious and historical significance; it’s also a symbol of Calvary’s outreach to the Jewish community.
While it isn’t ready yet for services, Rothberger said the scroll has so far been a source of inspiration and peace for many of its Jewish patients.
Legionnaires update on the second outbreak in The Bronx in Morris Park, Puerto Rican Heritage Month’s Artist and Book Expo at Hostos Community College, and Migration Stories at The Bronx Documentary Story are part of this evening’s Bronx PM Links roundup.
So many questions, so little real answers. We’ve covered the original Legionnaires’ Outbreak in the South Bronx which was the largest in NYC history and probed and asked the questions no one else was. After the outbreak was declared over and we were continuously told that our drinking water supply was safe (but the city hadn’t tested it) several buildings show up with their drinking water supply contaminated in Melrose at Melrose Houses NYCHA development. Then come fall and Morris Park in the East Bronx suffers an outbreak and a death (although in much lower numbers than this summer’s toll).
What exactly is happening? Well the Daily News reports that water cooling towers are still being blamed (despite CDC, EPA, major agencies and scientists and physicians who have intimate knowledge of the disease who state that the vast majority of infections arise from our drinking water supply.
The Daily News reports:
“A cooling tower at the Bronx Psychiatric Center was identified as the likely source of the city’s latest Legionnaires’ disease outbreak, officials said Friday.
As part of the Bronx Documentary Center’s programming around the Via PanAm exhibition, tomorrow evening at 6PM, the center will host a migration stories event where locals will share their migration experiences.
Please join the BDC, MASA and Mano a Mano: Mexican Culture Without Borders for a night of Bronx community members sharing their migration stories. Free and open to all. The BDC is located at 614 Courtlandt Avenue at 151st Street- See more at the BDC’s website:
10th Annual Comité Noviembre Puerto Rican Artisan Fair & Exhibition along with the 4th Annual Puerto Rican Authors Book Expo
In what has become a favorite event of the year for Puerto Ricans and Bronxites alike, tomorrow is the 10th annual Comité Noviembre fair celebrating Puerto Rican heritage and culture. The event is filled with live performances and tons of art to buy (perfect for the holidays) by local artisans and those straight from Puerto Rico. This is a perfect event to find that unique gift for your loved ones.
The event is located at Hostos Community College at 450 Grand Concourse and runs from Noon to 7PM, tomorrow, Saturday November 21st.
From left to right, New York Restoration Project’s Executive Director, Deborah Marton, along with the organization’s founder, Bette Midler, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr, Mayor Bill de Blasio, Councilman Mike Levine and Chair of the Committee on Parks, New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, and US Congressman Jose E. Serrano.
Today was a special day in The Bronx at Joyce Kilmer Park on 161st Street and The Grand Concourse. Local school children gleefully joined residents, elected officials, NYC Parks employees to celebrate the millionth tree which was planted last month at the park as part of the MillionTreesNYC program initiated by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
When the millionth tree was planted last month at the park, it was 2 years ahead of schedule as 2017 was the target date for completion of the project to green up New York City—especially the areas which lacked greenery and green streets such as The South Bronx where the ceremony took place.
The Bronx actually received the 2nd most number of trees with a total of 276,600 adding to the greenest of the five boroughs of New York City. Queens received the highest number of trees but only by a little over 8,000 more trees at 284,755.
Last month’s planting was supposed to have happened with today’s fanfare but the celebration was postponed after NYPD Officer Holder was tragically killed in East Harlem the day before of that planting.
The local school children from PS 35 Franz Siegel School were so excited that when Mayor de Blasio said good morning to the crowd, the children all shouted in unison, “Good morning Mayor de Blasio!”
It was especially nice to see the children get to help plant the 1,017,634th tree at Joyce Kilmer, an American Linden, after Bette Midler, and local elected and city officials did their ceremonial shoveling in for the planting.
School kids from PS 35 Franz Siegel School helped plant the 1,017,634th tree, an American linden, during today’s celebration.
In a press release issued by the mayor’s office, Bette Midler says, “There are now one million more reasons why New York is the greatest city in the world. Nine years ago, planting one million trees was a far-fetched idea. Today, we’ve done the impossible. One million trees means that every single New Yorker has a little more green space in their life. I’ve always loved this city, but I’ve never been more proud to call it home. Tonight, we’re lighting the Empire State Building, New York’s most beloved skyscraper, in forest green to symbolize the city becoming more sustainable and a healthier place for all of its citizens.”
The release goes on to say:
“MillionTreesNYC has not only transformed our City’s green spaces – it has also helped reduce our carbon foot print and made New York more equitable for all New Yorkers, in all five boroughs,” said Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. “This critically important initiative builds on the Council’s on-going efforts to make our City more sustainable and environmentally friendly and I thank Mayor Bloomberg, Mayor de Blasio and all of our partners for making this program a tremendous success.”
“I want to thank Mayor Bloomberg for helping us build a more resilient, greener city for all New Yorkers. This one millionth tree highlights what New Yorkers can do when we work together for the greater good of our city, and is a strong example of the impact that volunteers are having in and around our communities every day,” said Mayor de Blasio. “Today is a major achievement in this city’s vision for a healthier, more sustainable city, and one that we are carrying forward through OneNYC.”
“We planted tree number one just down the road eight years ago and we’ve added one million more thanks to the dedication of so many: Mayor de Blasio and his team who carried the work through, our founding partner Bette Midler, the New York Restoration Project, dozens of members of our Administration and more than 50,000 volunteers,” said 108th Mayor of New York City Mike Bloomberg. “Each new tree planted makes our city a little more beautiful, the air we breathe a little cleaner, and our carbon footprint a little smaller. MillionTreesNYC was an important part of our comprehensive sustainability plan, which has led to New Yorkers breathing the cleanest air our city has had in 50 years. We worked extremely hard to expand and strengthen our parks, particularly in low-income communities. Seeing tree number one million take root is something we can all be proud of.”
“We are enormously grateful to the thousands of volunteers, sponsors, and partners who donated time, energy, and funding to make MillionTreesNYC so successful,” saidParks Commissioner Mitchell Silver, FAICP. “MillionTreesNYC was an unprecedented initiative in New York City and has become a renowned greening model used internationally. It has led to a host of valuable research regarding urban greening efforts and has transformed acres of parkland and streets into new, ecologically healthy, multi-story forests that provide benefits to all New Yorkers. Through the Mayor’s Community Parks Initiative (CPI), we will continue to make strides in creating an environmentally equitable city, engage New Yorkers in their parks in new and exciting ways, and reimagine our open spaces together.”
Bette Midler has been a personal inspiration for me for I remember when 20 years ago she adopted 2 miles along The Bronx River Parkway in our borough in an effort to help clean up our borough. It was something she didn’t have to do but she saw the disinvestment in places like The Bronx and decided to do something about it.
Eventually, through her organization which she found, The New York Restoration Project, it went steps further and protected community gardens from development by purchasing them—a move not always popular with everyone—so as to prevent development on such sacred spaces.
These green spaces that the organization now owns, along with the green thumb gardens are spaces that could have been developed but instead turned over to nature and community to be stewards of the land. They have become places where urban farmers have grown, cultural spaces where traditions are passed.
To all who made this possible, from local residents and grassroots organizations, to the elected officials who stood behind this, Bette Midler for her vision along with her organization, The New York Restoration Project, and most of all the volunteers and stewards who take care of these trees and have helped plant them, a big thank you is in order.
Who would have thought that such a feat would be possible?
I live in Melrose and our neighborhood has been transformed. Before the first tree was planted in October of 2008, you could go blocks and blocks and only encounter a handful of trees. Now you can walk by tree-lined streets that go on for blocks on end.
Thanks for sprucing up our borough and city along with our quality of life and health.
From left to right, New York Restoration Project’s Executive Director, Deborah Marton, along with the organization’s founder, Bette Midler, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr, Mayor Bill de Blasio, Councilman Mike Levine and Chair of the Committee on Parks, New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, and US Congressman Jose E. Serrano.
The millionth tree which was planted last month at Joyce Kilmer Park in The Bronx.
Bette Midler and crew of elected and city officials threw in the ceremonial dirt for the planting of the 1,017,634th tree.
NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito chats with Bette Midler and Congressman Jose E. Serrano.
I finally was able to personally thank Bette Midler for all the advocacy she’s done and joined local communities to help us save our green spaces.
Yes, shameful plug. I was very happy to meet someone I have admired since my youth because of her advocacy for green spaces especially for equity for green spaces in areas that are economically at a disadvantage like the South Bronx.
School kids from PS 35 Franz Siegel School helped plant the 1,017,634th tree, an American linden, during today’s celebration.
