Welcome2TheBronx

South Bronx Unite Meets with Mayor de Blasio and Speaker Mark-Viverito to Discuss South Bronx Environmental and Health Crisis, Including FreshDirect

Ed García Conde

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October 13, 2015

South Bronx Unite Meets with Mayor de Blasio and Speaker Mark-Viverito to Discuss South Bronx Environmental and Health Crisis, Including FreshDirect

debb — Back in May, local community residents and members of South Bronx Unite ran into Mayor Bill de Blasio at La Morada Restaurant in Mott Haven where the mayor agreed to meet with the group.

The battle for our community continues as South Bronx Unite members, including Welcome2TheBronx, met with Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York City Council Speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito as well as senior members of New York City’s Economic Development Corporation.

From South Bronx Unite:

Last week, members of South Bronx Unite met with Mayor Bill de Blasio, Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and senior members of the city’s Economic Development Corporation to discuss the environmental and health crisis in the South Bronx. The neighborhood, surrounded by an 850 acre industrial area and three highways, suffers from asthma rates eight times the national average, and such disproportionate rates of respiratory illness were cited last month as among the causes of the deadly Legionnaire’s outbreak that claimed 12 lives and infected over 100.

Within the last month alone, residents of the over-industrialized nabe have been challenging the re-permitting of two fossil fuel power plants (with routine violations of emission levels) and the expansion of a 3,000 ton per day waste transfer facility (also with routine permit violations).

“For decades, economic development dollars have been given over to industries that are hurting our community,” said Mychal Johnson, member of South Bronx Unite. “But if we can’t breathe, we can’t work.”

Meeting participants addressed the nearly four year fight against the proposed relocation of FreshDirect, a company which stands to add upwards of 1,000 additional diesel truck trips through the neighborhood every day.

“You know that the Speaker and I did not want the FreshDirect project to go forward,” said the Mayor during the meeting. He and his team took notes on the health and environmental impact of the proposed project (which relied on a 21 year old environmental impact statement) as well as the substantial changes the project has undergone since the subsidy approval was passed, potentially triggering the need for a new inducement resolution from the NYC Industrial Development Agency.

“We told the Mayor that while he was telling us he was against the project, Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen was having private email conversations with FreshDirect lobbyists promising support for the $140 million subsidy if the company could deliver on living wage jobs, but more than half of FreshDirect’s workforce remains below living wage,” said Harry Bubbins, Director of Friends of Brook Park and member of South Bronx Unite.

The group also presented the breadth of projects for which the community has been advocating to change the tale of two cities, including the Mott Haven-Port Morris Waterfront Plan, comprised of seven interconnected waterfront projects. The project has already received draft priority status by the State Department of Environmental Conservation Open Space Committee Region 2 (pending approval by Governor Cuomo), and two of the projects have been taken up by New York Restoration Project as part of its Haven Project. Another project of the group presented to the Mayor is the Mott Haven-Port Morris Community Land Trust, a dynamic vehicle owned and controlled by the community to acquire vacant city-owned property to provide space for displaced community organizations as well as affordable housing.

“Solutions are found in the community,” said Ivelyse Andino Austria, member of South Bronx Unite. “All of these problems have been developed because the community has been excluded from the decision making process, while our solutions are routinely and mistakenly overlooked.”

The group ended the meeting by also imploring the administration to establish a long-term partnership with the community to address the South Bronx environmental and health crisis – from enacting a change in policy that allows routine siting of industrial and diesel truck intensive facilities in environmental justice communities without thorough environmental review – to a reduction of the South Bronx’s disproportionately large maritime industrial area – to heightened enforcement of the recurring violations of designated truck routes, among other areas.

Fordham University Professor Wants to Turn Home of Late Jazz Legend, Maxine Sullivan Into A Cultural Center

Ed García Conde

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October 12, 2015

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Fordham University Professor Wants to Turn Home of Late Jazz Legend, Maxine Sullivan Into A Cultural Center

The following is a guest post from Dr Mark Naison and syndicated from his blog.

Turn Maxine Sullivan’s House into a Cultural Center Honoring the Bronx’s Jazz Traditions

Today, I had the honor of participating in a street naming ceremony to honor the great jazz singer, radio personality, and community leader Maxine Sullivan. Neighbors, elected officials, jazz musicians and educators came from all over to pay tribute to this giant in the world of jazz who opened her home to neighborhood children, became chair of her local school board and in the middle of a time of devastation in her Bronx neighborhood opened a community center – The House That Jazz Built- which became a safe haven for neighborhood youth.

The renaming of Ritter Place in honor of Maxine Sullivan is part of series of initiatives to publicize and reclaim the musical heritage of the Morrisania and Hunts Point communities, who during the 1940’s 1950’s and 1960’s produced more varieties of popular music than any place in the US with the possible exception of Treme in New Orleans.

But there is an irony in this process of cultural reclamation. Now that the once devastated areas of the Bronx have been rebuilt, and the Bronx’s great musical heritage is being recognized, not only here, but around the world, there is a danger that developers might come in and push out the very people who created the music and rebuilt the communities that were once endangered.

Today, we all felt that threat when we saw for sale signs outside Maxine Sullivan’s beautiful house-818 Ritter Place. And in response, the great jazz pianist and educator Valerie Capers came up with an idea- Why doesn’t the Bronx Borough President buy the house and turn it into a cultural center to honor the Bronx’s jazz traditions.

I think this is a GREAT idea. And through this post, I am inviting all people who love the Bronx, love its people, and love its culture, to work together to make this happen
If you are with me on this, weigh in here and contact your elected officials- including the Borough President- to help make this a reality!!

Mark Naison is a Professor of African-American Studies and History at Fordham University and Director of Fordham’s Urban Studies Program. He is the author of three books and over 100 articles on African-American History, urban history, and the history of sports. The Bronx African-American History Project, Dr Naison’s most recent venture, was launched collaboratively with the Bronx Historical Society in the Fall of 2002 . Since that time, Dr Naison has conducted over one hundred and fifty interviews with African-American professionals, community activists, business leaders and musicians who grew up in Bronx between the 1930’s and the 1980’s. . Naison is currently working on two books related to the BAAHP, a collection of oral histories and a memoir written by Allen Jones entitled “The Rat That Got Away.” When not doing historical research, Naison likes to play tennis, golf and basketball, and make periodic forays into the media. He has appeared on the O’Reilly Factor, the Discovery Channel’s Greatest American Competition (as Dr King’s advocate), and on the Dave Chappell Show, where his “performance” has been preserved on that show’s Second Year DVD.

Doctor Who Found Legionnaires in Patients’ Drinking Water Fired; NYC DOH Needs to be Held Accountable for Gross Negligence

Health

Ed García Conde

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October 12, 2015

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Since the beginning of the largest Legionnaires outbreak in New York City’s history occurred in the South Bronx, we have been adamant that our drinking water supply systems must be tested as per recommendations by various agencies and scientific journals.

New York City Department of Health Commissioner Dr Mary T Bassett responded to us at the first town hall meeting in The Bronx this past summer by saying there was no need to test because they didn’t see a pattern.

Dr Bassett AGREED with the data that we presented which states that the majority of cases arise from public drinking water supply systems.

Watch the video where we questioned DOH Commissioner Bassett at 1:42:30 mark in the video:

Two weeks after the outbreak was announced over, Melrose Houses, a NYCHA public housing development, turned up with their water drinking supply systems contaminated by legionnaires—in a development where several individuals had fallen ill during the outbreak.

Now a physician who worked at Lincoln Hospital for over a decade has been fired because he took it upon himself to do what the city was neglecting to do and that was to test the water supply systems of the homes of patients who became ill or victims who passed away from legionnaires—and he FOUND the deadly yet curable bacteria in their faucets.

As an infectious disease physician, Dr Michael Skelly was at the core of the team treating the patients infected with Legionnaires and knew that the city was wrong for focusing in cooling towers.

Erin Brockovich, the famous environmental advocate who came to fame after Julia Roberts portrayed her in the movie which landed the actress an Oscar, has been on top of this since day one.

According to City and State:

“It is an outrageous gesture of contempt for this community that HHC [New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation] would persecute and fire Dr. Skelly simply because he acted to protect Bronx residents in the middle of an outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease,” said Gregory Filosa, Skelly’s lawyer. “We cannot wait to try this case before a jury of residents of the Bronx.”

Filosa plans to file the lawsuit on Friday.

Skelly, who worked in the infectious disease department at Lincoln Hospital for 13 years, was part of a small team that helped oversee the treatment of legionella patients during the outbreak. He decided to independently culture faucets and shower heads in patients’ homes, because he believed the health department decision not to test their drinking water was wrong.

Skelly says his direct supervisor was aware of his testing and agreed with what he was doing.

“We knew there was a problem,” Skelly said of the health department’s policy of only testing cooling towers and not testing the patients’ home water supply. “Especially when they were identifying the Lincoln Hospital cooling tower as a source as well. We knew that wasn’t a source.”

Skelly suspected the patients’ drinking water.

After consulting with Dr. Victor Yu, a leading legionella expert who runs the Special Pathogens Laboratory in Pittsburgh, Skelly began going to patients’ homes and requesting to take water samples to test for legionella. The tests showed that out of 37 patients’ homes Skelly tested, legionella was present in six, Filosa said.

The results are significant, says Dr. Yu. “There is evidence that he was right.”

A health department official called Skelly’s supervisor a few days after he began the testing, according to a claim Skelly filed against HHC last month. “‘They know what you’re doing and they expect it to stop immediately,’” Skelly remembered his supervisor saying.”

Dr Yu’s recommendations were exactly what we presented at the town hall meeting and were told it wasn’t necessary YET we continued to ask how can they declare our drinking water supply systems to be safe without actually testing them?

In an interview with the New York Daily News, Dr Skelly says, “I called patients and asked if I could come,” he said. “I told them who I was and of my concern that the water inside the apartment might be part of the problem.” He said most people welcomed him in.

This is a huge failure on NYC’s Department of Health and its commissioner as well as our Mayor Bill de Blasio for allowing this to happen given all the evidence stating that cooling towers are not the sole culprits nor the source in the vast majority of cases historically.

Erin Brockovich acknowledges our conclusions which have been based on scientific data and research.

For our complete coverage of this deadly Legionnaires outbreak, head over to our archives.

Exhibition Explores The Complexities of Dominican and Haitian Relations Through Art

Ed García Conde

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October 9, 2015

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Exhibition Explores The Complexities of Dominican and Haitian Relations Through Art

Tonight at the Andrew Freedman Home from 6pm to 9pm ‘La Lucha II DOM & HTI: Visions of Tomorrow, One Island’ opens up and continues the conversation it began earlier this year on the complex relationship between two countries that have similar shared histories and an island: Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

The first exhibition earlier this year was extremely popular considering the climate between the two nations as the Dominican Republic began the process of stripping away Dominican citizenship for hundreds of thousands of people of Haitian descent.

“The last exhibit received a lot of support from the community and it also brought many heated discussions. There were people protesting the first night simply because they couldn’t accept that Dominican and Haitian artists were in the same space; however the majority was very positive.” said Yelaine Rodriguez, curator of this exhibition, in an interview with Laura James, one of the founders of Bx200.

The exhibition brings aboard 15 artists from the original exhibition and an additional 13 to create this dialogue through various artistic mediums such as sculpture, painting, video, screen printing, and photography which focuses on the aspect of immigration.

The Dominican and Haitian artists featured in this exhibition are: Alex Guerrero, Anthony Louis-Jeune, Carlos Jesus Martinez Dominguez, Ezequiel Taveras, Fermin Ceballos, Francks Francois Deceus, Jose Arias, Jules Joseph, Kishner Deprinvil, Kenny Rivero, Klode, Leslie Jimenez, Maria Monegro, Mc Alexander S. Ciceron, Miguel Luciano, Mildor Chevalier, Nadine Lafond, Patricia Encarnación, Pepe Coronado, Rejin Leys, Rene de los Santos, Sable Smith, Sasha Huber, Scherezade Garcia, Shakespeare Guirand, Sophia Domeville, Vladimir Cybil Charlier.

We’re extremely happy that this important conversation continues and double the size of the original.

The exhibition opens tonight from 6pm to 9pm at the Andrew Freedman Home located at 1125 Grand Concourse and runs through November 6th.

Young Women Rock! FREE Mentorship Program To Start 2nd Year in The Bronx

Ed García Conde

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October 8, 2015

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Young Women Rock! FREE Mentorship Program To Start 2nd Year in The Bronx

Image courtesy of The Women Worldwide Initiative Facebook Page.

Attention young ladies and women seeking to mentor our future: The Women Worldwide Initiative‘s ‘Young Women Rock!’ is set to begin their yearlong mentorship program on Saturday, October 17th at St. Mary’s Community Center.

The program runs every Saturday from 1PM-3PM and is seeking Bronx girls ages 14-18 to participate in this program (click the link to apply to become a mentee) where these young ladies will be paired up with a mentor for these weekly one-on-one sessions. (Mentors are also needed so make note-click link to apply to become a mentor!)

According to the press release issued by The Women Worldwide Initiative:

“We encourage their ambition and empower their confidence, but most of all, the mentees and mentors in our program are shown the power of sisterhood, community and self-love,” says Founder and Executive Director, Uraidah Hassani. The philosophy behind the YWR! curriculum is to empower young women by having them think critically about themselves, their identity and their goals, while breaking down negative messages fed to them by society and the media.

A curriculum based, group, and one-on-one mentorship program, Young Women Rock! (YWR!) is dedicated to strengthening the lives and communities of adolescent girls in impoverished neighborhoods. Following the length of the academic year, the program provides participating girls with one-on-one matches with screened and trained mentors in addition to benefiting from weekly group sessions and monthly culturally-enriching outings. YWR! sessions foster self-respect, leadership skills, creativity, critical thinking and collaboration while discussing curriculum topics, including: Self-Esteem and Self-Confidence Building; Sexual Health and Decision-Making; Broader Women’s Issues and Future Options; and Community Service and Global Citizenship.”

Bronxite, Jani Rosado, who is an organizer and intern for the program told us that, “As a young girl in The Bronx, my potential was recognized. I received a stellar education from a Manhattan private school via Prep for Prep. But I didn’t live up to the challenge. I lived in a psycho-social box. I slammed against the glass ceiling. I couldn’t envision myself becoming anything more than what the streets told me I was and that internal discord didn’t allow me live up to the challenge. I had no role models to guide me.”

“When I saw what Ms. Hassani was doing I leapt at the chance to provide assistance, performing at a fundraiser for WWWI. THIS program was exactly what I needed 20 years ago. I believe that this was the factor that would have allowed me to achieve my goals. 18 years after leaving high school I’m completing my Bachelors degree in Human Services and was asked where I’d like to do my internship and this was where I thought my efforts would be most useful. I know their story. I was these girls. It makes the struggle I went through as a girl worth it. Every single Young Women Rock! mentee has graduated from high school and gone on to college. It’s a dream come true to be able to accomplish my goals, while uplifting young women from my community in the process.” added Rosado.

Bronxite Jani Rose (2nd from left) is one of Young Women Rock! mentors. (Image courtesy of The Women Worldwide Initiative Facebook Page)

This is a wonderful opportunity for our young ladies, especially those that are underserved, to participate in a program that will enrich their lives and forge relationships with their mentors to help them every step of the way so please take advantage and thanks to Bronx Works for sponsoring the program.

Once again:

To apply and become a mentor and make a difference in a young woman’s life, click here (there’s still room for more mentors!).

To apply and become a mentee and become connected with a mentor, click here.

St Mary’s Park Community Center is located at 595 Trinity Avenue

From The Bronx to Brazil & Back: How One Bronxite Inspired Artists Across the World

Ed García Conde

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October 7, 2015

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From The Bronx to Brazil & Back: How One Bronxite Inspired Artists Across the World

Photographer Ricky Flores, born and raised in The Bronx during our most tumultuous times had a front row seat to what was happening—along with his camera.

Ricky’s work from those times are not just of the devastation that happened but the humanity that was present and how alive the areas were with people, culture, and art despite all of that.

Decades later and the advent of the internet into the mainstream, his photography was available to the larger audience of the web and this is where 8 years ago 2 graffiti artists from Brazil, Ananda Nahu and Izolag, became so enthralled and connected to the images that they began to use them as templates for creating beautiful murals in Brazil.

Once Ricky got wind of this, conversations began to happen between the 3 which at first was more about the fact that his images were being used without his permission but once he heard their story and how they loved all that the South Bronx represented to them (and in many ways shaped their artistic careers), a friendship between this unlikely trio began to blossom.

8 years after their first contact, this friendship turned into a collaboration and Ananda and Izolag came and stayed in The Bronx for one month this past summer and created a series of murals across Mott Haven and Hunts Point using iconic photographs by Ricky Flores as their inspiration thanks to Casita Maria and their sponsorship for this endeavor.

During their stay they also had an exhibition at the Bronx Arts Space where they showed some of the portraits they had done and even tagged up two of the walls in the gallery.

Each time they were ready to throw up a new mural we would run to that location to document the process, something to me which was fascinating to see how they both worked in tandem or separately.

During a chat with Izolag, he said something very powerful. I asked how did it feel to be in The Bronx doing what he loved in a place that he admired so much.

Izolag told us it was a bit bittersweet because The Bronx is the birthplace of such a movement with graffiti yet he didn’t realize the amount of red tape one has to go through now to express themselves through the art form and even now are you really expressing yourself if you have to get permission and approvals of what you’re putting up?

And it’s true for the most part you don’t have this great freedom of expression that you once did.

By the time Ananda and Izolag were done leaving their mark in the Bronx using Ricky’s photography as inspiration, they had been embraced by the community during their month long project.

They brought the people in Ricky’s photographs alive once again and for a wider audience to experience in an entirely different way.

It’s a great feeling when you have international artists come to our borough to show respect to the millennia old craft that was honed in The Bronx in modern times and set the world on fire as a form of expression.

It’s even better to see it as a collaboration with one of our borough’s own and to know that Ricky’s photography has had such a deep impact across the globe. ‘Faces From The Block’, as the residency and exhibition is called, did just that.

Click the gallery below to check out some of the works they left in our borough as well as their exhibition at Bronx Art Space.

International Artists Begin Work on a Mural Project Spanning The South Bronx & El Barrio

Ed García Conde

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October 5, 2015

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International Artists Begin Work on a Mural Project Spanning The South Bronx & El Barrio

Several years ago, ‘Los Muros Hablan’ (Spanish for The Walls Speak) project came to El Barrio and The South Bronx by way of Puerto Rico thanks to City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito who brought this urban art project from San Juan to our neighborhoods.

This year, the project is called MONUMENTART and is bringing an eclectic mix of artists from around the world From Puerto Rico to Mexico to South Africa and even Argentina, these artists will be tackling the topic of immigration, especially as it pertains to our city as the capital of the world and destination for those from every corner of the globe, in their murals.

MONUMENTART is an evolution of Los Muros Hablan and is also sponsored by New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and also is a project presented by La Marqueta Retoña which has transformed the famous La Marqueta in El Barrio into not just a marketplace, as it has been for well over 100 years to various ethnic groups, but to an important artistic and cultural venue as well.

The importance of this project goes beyond the complexities of immigration and the international artists who will be leaving their own interpretations behind but it is about two communities who’s histories have been intertwined for over a century.

The South Bronx and East Harlem populations have historically mirrored each other during this span.

When East Harlem had a large Italian and Jewish population and Puerto Ricans were migrating from the island into the neighborhood, the same was happening in the South Bronx especially in Port Morris, Mott Haven, Melrose, Hunts Point, Longwood, and others.

In recent decades, as the Mexican America population increased in El Barrio, the same thing happened this side of the river.

These are communities that, although are located in two separate boroughs, share very similar histories, people, social issues that go beyond political boundaries and the river that separates them and the many bridges and council district which unites them.

It’s extremely fitting that the artists who will be doing The Bronx mural at 138th Street and Grand Concourse are a Puerto Rican and Cuban duo who go by the name of ‘Dos Alas’, or two wings in Spanish as a reference to the famous Puerto Rican poem known as ‘A Cuba’ (To Cuba) in which the late Puerto Rican poet Lola Rodríguez de Tío calls both islands two wings of one bird.

And that’s exactly what the South Bronx and El Barrio are. Two wings of one bird with shared, similar trials and tribulations.

Welcome2TheBronx is excited to present this project to our borough so stay tuned as we will bring you the finished products along with a handy map as well as places to visit along the way as you take this journey in the outdoor museum that is the South Bronx and El Barrio.

MONEMENTART is curated by Puerto Rican born and based artist, Celso Gonzalez.

Check out the artists’ bios below:

First Fatality in 2nd Legionnaires Outbreak in The Bronx—Or Is It Still The Same Outbreak?

Ed García Conde

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September 30, 2015

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First Fatality in 2nd Legionnaires Outbreak in The Bronx—Or Is It Still The Same Outbreak?

The 2nd outbreak of Legionnaires in The Bronx, which is centered in the East Bronx neighborhood of Morris Park has claimed its first victim as 13 are confirmed infected.

Although city officials claim that this isn’t related to New York City’s largest outbreak of Legionnaires in history that occurred this past summer in the South Bronx and claimed 13 lives and sickened hundreds, one has to wonder of that is truly the case.

Barely two weeks after New York City Department of Health Commissioner declared the outbreak to be over and insisting that our drinking water supply was safe, 4 NYCHA buildings at Melrose Houses in the outbreak zone were found to have their water supply systems contaminated as well as individuals who were treated for the deadly yet treatable disease.

This was after I asked the Commissioner at the first town hall meeting, “How can you insist that the water supply is safe without testing them?” after she had admitted that the city had not yet tested them.

Are these two separate incidents or still the same?

Symptoms

It is important to know that this is not a communicable disease transferred from person to person contact and equally important to know the symptoms and get treatment immediately as this is a very curable infection.

Symptoms include: fever, cough, chills, muscle aches, diarrhea, loss of appetite, confusion, fatigue, and headaches.

11 people are currently hospitalized and one individual has been discharged. How many more people must die or get sickened before the city admits incompetence? Why The Bronx?

According to WABC the following sites have been listed as having contaminated cooling towers, although we already know based on scientific evidence that they are not the sole source nor the source for majority of cases as per EPA, CDC, and other scientific research data.
–2725 East Tremont – Chase Bank
–1740 Eastchester Road – Calvary Hospital
–2964 East Tremont – Lehman High School
–1500 Waters Place – Bronx State Psychiatric
–1199 Sackett Ave – Einstein College
–1845 Eastchester Road – Einstein College
–1301 Morriss Park Ave – Einstein College
–1250 Morris Park Ave – Einstein College
–1865 Eastchester Road – Einstein College
–1925-1935 Eastchester Road – Einstein College

Yet another town hall meeting is planned for tomorrow, Thursday October 1st at Maestro’s at 8pm sharp located at 1703 Bronxdale Avenue.

7 New Cases of Legionnaires in The Bronx, This Time in Morris Park

Health

Ed García Conde

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September 28, 2015

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7 New Cases of Legionnaires in The Bronx, This Time in Morris Park

Weeks after the city declared New York City’s largest outbreak of Legionnaires to be over, which occurred in the South Bronx killing 13 people and sickening hundreds, NYC Department of Health has releases a statement that 7 new cases have come up, this time in the East Bronx neighborhood of Morris Park.

The City has been adamant that it’s not in the water yet earlier this month 4 cases of Legionnaires popped up at Melrose Houses NYCHA buildings where it was found to have the water supply systems contaminated.

What is going on in our water in The Bronx, why are we experiencing these cases of Legionnaires which DOH says are unrelated to the South Bronx outbreak?

NY1 reports:

“The city Department of Health on Monday confirmed they are investigating seven new cases of Legionnaires’ disease in the Morris Park section of the Bronx.

According to a press release, the DOH says they were notified of the new cases between September 21 and September 27.

The DOH says they are working to identify a potential source.

Health officials say the cluster is unrelated to the outbreak in the South Bronx over the summer that was later linked to bacteria found in the cooling tower of the Opera House Hotel.

The DOH says patients in this latest cluster live or work in the Morris Park neighborhood, range in age from 45 to 75 and are all currently hospitalized.

There have been no deaths.

In a statement, Health Commissioner Mary Bassett urged residents with respiratory symptoms such as fever, cough, chills and difficulty breathing to seek medical attention and says the department is “taking immediate steps to determine the source and protect the people who live and work in Morris Park.”

She says the department is taking immediate steps to determine the source and protect the people who live and work in Morris Park.

NY1 will continue to follow this developing story.”

We’ll continue to keep on top of this issue which we’ve been hammering at since first announced in July.

Port Morris Distillery Severs Partnership With FreshDirect After Community Protests

Ed García Conde

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September 28, 2015

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Port Morris Distillery Severs Partnership With FreshDirect After Community Protests

Tweet from Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr celebrating the partnership between Port Morris Distillery and FreshDirect which was severed once the community protested about the deal.

Last Thursday an event was held at Port Morris Distillery with The Bronx Brewery, Ruben Diaz Jr, FreshDirect, Marlene Cintron, Executive Director of the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation to celebrate the newly formed business partnership between PMD and FreshDirect.

Our borough president began tweeting and even sent out a press release as a victory of sorts in the many attempts his administration has attempted to divide our communities on the issue of FreshDirect coming to The Bronx.

Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation Executive Director, Marlene Cintron

But it didn’t work.

Members of South Bronx Unite, which was founded immediately after a FreshDirect move and sweetheart deal was announced as a done deal without community, gathered quickly to protest against Port Morris Distillery’s new partnership and to boycott the beloved business.

It wasn’t an easy decision to call for an immediate boycott a small business we have all grown to love but within minutes of announcing what had happened, hundreds of people began spreading the word through social media and joined the pledge to not support PMD.

I posted my disillusionment with both small businesses and the vast majority of hundreds of comments were of disappointment and solidarity in joining the boycott. It was shared by many and others joined in including the disappointment because these are business beloved by many.

Even some events that were planned at the space were pulled.

The Bronx Brewery wasn’t immune either. Yesterday’s BX Bike Swap which brought over a hundred people together was to be held at the brewery but was immediately cancelled and moved to Brook Park once it was revealed that they too have been partnering with FreshDirect and selling their beer online.

You see, Ruben Diaz Jr and his administration consistently call South Bronx Unite a small but vocal minority against the dirty deal that would allow FreshDirect to create an environmental disaster in an already overburdened Port Morris and Mott Haven with an extra thousands of truck trips running through the streets.

But Ruben Diaz Jr is a liar not to be trusted for you see, South Bronx Unite is an alliance of over 50 Bronx community and non profit organizations representing all corners of our borough and thousands upon thousands of Bronxite who oppose this deal.

Almost 4 years since the deal was announced and the people of The Bronx are still in litigation against the FreshDirect move which is not a done deal yet regardless of the construction going on.

Within hours of our call to boycott these two Bronx businesses, contact was made with Port Morris Distillery and they agreed to meet with concerned community members the following day including myself.

We met on Friday at Brook Park to give them a chance to explain their decision and they in turn listened to our side and position of why we do this as children played in the garden.

We fight this fight for our children and our community that has been a victim and dumping ground for the city’s unwanted polluting industries for decades creating some of the dirtiest air in the city clearly divided among racial and economic lines.

We are not anti development or anti jobs. South Bronx Unite is pro quality jobs where our residents don’t have to work in poor conditions for up to 12 hours and still qualify for public assistance because companies like FreshDirect do not pay living wages.

Several hours after our meeting with Port Morris Distillery I was contacted by them that they had reached a decision and wanted to meet again.

It was on Saturday that Port Morris Distillery, less than 48 hours after celebrating their new partnership with Ruben Diaz Jr bragging about it across social media, that they came to an agreement to sever that partnership and join the community.

Port Morris Distillery will no longer fulfill any orders with FreshDirect and that is a victory not just for the group and community but a victory for a small business that made a tough decision to end a partnership which could have made their lives easier but it would have been on the backs of the community.

For us, it was a weight lifted from our shoulders for we were being pitted against our brothers and sisters in our own community and borough by an unscrupulous borough president who was and continues to use these businesses not for their benefit but for his own political gain.

Mychal Johnson, a local resident, former Community Board 1 member, and founding member of South Bronx Unite said, Sure. “I’m glad PMD is aligning with the community and not allowing any semblance of division from those with ulterior motives.”

Monxo Lopez, another local resident and founding member of South Bronx Unite added,” The South Bronx, including its local businesses, remains steadfast in its opposition to the proposed FreshDirect relocation; any manipulation by the boro president to make it seem otherwise its doomed to fail in a heartbeat.”

The fact that Ruben Diaz Jr was bragging on social media clearly shows what that he was using them and issuing a press release about it further illustrates that Diaz Jr continues to play dirty and will stop at nothing.

This is a message loud and clear to our borough president: our community stands together and we will not stand idle when you use our people and small businesses for your gain and against us.

When PMD told us they were severing the relationship we immediately took to social media to let folks know about their decision to stand with the people of The Bronx and it was an instant celebration online from folks ecstatic to hear the news.

People immediately began reposting the news and tagging their friends that an outing was in order to Port Morris Distillery to celebrate.

On Saturday, less than 48 hours after Ruben Diaz Jr, FreshDIrect and co celebrated the partnership between the two companies, Port Morris Distillery founder Ralph Barbosa announced that they were severing their partnership with FreshDirect after meeting with community members and South Bronx Unite.

We may not be a small, mediocre online grocer like FreshDirect able to deliver straight to your homes but we are thousands strong and a fiercely loyal community that will protect and make sure our small businesses survive without having to sell themselves to the highest and dirtiest bidder.

Now it’s time for The Bronx Brewery as well as the others who have sided with FreshDirect to listen and see what the community can do united. We still haven’t heard back from The Bronx Brewery after contacting them and tagging them in comments but we do hope they’ll see this as a moment to truly stand by the borough they chose to call home.

For now, please boycott The Bronx Brewery until they stand by our borough not against it.

In the meantime, go celebrate with Port Morris Distillery and drink their pitorro and thank them for doing what’s right.

Hugo Chavez, an Oil Company and the Beautiful Sound of Bronx Youth

Ed García Conde

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September 25, 2015

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Hugo Chavez, an Oil Company and the Beautiful Sound of Bronx Youth

The following was written by our friends, Liza Austria and Richard Miller via CityLimits and they kindly allowed us to syndicate this beautiful story.

When we first started our music program with a handful of kids in 2009 we only dreamed of one day having an orchestra full of youth from the South Bronx. Now, not only does such an orchestra exist but it’s had the incredible good fortune to travel to Venezuela for a week of intensive study and performance with El Sistema, the world-renown Venezuelan system of youth orchestras and choirs that inspired us to start UpBeat NYC six years ago.

UpBeat NYC is a free community music program in Mott Haven now serving 150 South Bronx residents ages 5 to 21. We share the philosophy of El Sistema that the study of music is a human right that has the power to transform lives and should be made accessible to all. Through intensive musical training and performance we hope to open our students’ hearts to a world of possibilities, igniting a spark in them to work hard to seek beauty throughout their lives. Like El Sistema, UpBeat’s goal is not only to develop professional musicians but rather to create community through music and to empower our young people to shape their own lives and their communities, giving them the skills they need to succeed in whatever they may choose to pursue.

The Venezuelan-Bronx cultural exchange continues this weekend when the National Youth Orchestra of Caracas comes to Crotona Park for a free outdoor concert open to the public. The 160-piece orchestra will also be performing this weekend at the United Nations for its 70th anniversary celebration. It is noteworthy that this renowned orchestra, one of El Sistema‘s most important orchestral and educational achievements, will be holding its public concert in the South Bronx, a community rich in its own culture but so often overlooked and underserved.

The concert will commemorate the 10th anniversary of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s visit to the South Bronx, where he made a commitment to help local people. The realization of Chavez’s initiative has been brought about by the CITGO’s Simón Bolívar Foundation, sponsor of Sunday’s concert and a strong supporter of our work at UpBeat NYC as well as a tremendous array of other community-based work in the South Bronx.

Every few years there is a buzz about the South Bronx being “revitalized,” about changing the image of urban blight created when the borough was burning in the 70s. While we may see some changes in the form of gentrification—money being put into luxury housing and restaurants to lure newcomers to the area—real, lasting change for the people who have lived and worked here for decades has been harder to find. More evident is this wave of new development’s glaring cultural and economic tone-deafness, ignoring the value of the area’s dynamic diversity and pushing longtime residents out by charging higher rents.

By contrast, the initiative begun here by Chavez has recognized and bolstered projects for and by the community. Through sustained support of grassroots organizations that provide services and advocacy for marginalized communities, CITGO’s impact here is significant. Against the odds, these groups have for years fought to meet the critical needs of the South Bronx: affordable housing, fair jobs, alternatives to incarceration, organizing against police violence and providing food and shelter to those living in dire circumstances. [Editor’s Note: The Bolívar Foundation also supports City Limits’ Bronx Investigative Internship Program.]

Sunday’s concert will be unlike any you have ever seen. The Latin-American selections on the program are played by the National Youth Orchestra of Caracas with electricity, passion and expression. The classical pieces are played with just as much energy and excitement. One reason we model our work after Sistema is because the Venezuelan kids are not being taught classical music to change them into buttoned-up musicians, but rather are encouraged to come into themselves and transmit that identity through their music.

Our students noticed this deeply personal expression in every peer they performed with in Caracas: Our kids wrote and spoke about the way their Venezuelan counterparts moved when they played, expressing their emotions, playing with passion. And they noted how easily connected they felt to those fellow musicians, both through their shared music and through their similar lives.

This youth orchestra will not look like the elite classical orchestras we are used to seeing in New York City. It is a diverse orchestra made up of young people of color. This is of huge importance for our young people to see – musicians who look like them, who come from similar challenging backgrounds. Come to be inspired by these youth, come to support these youth and come to support the movement that we are working to create here in the South Bronx to give everyone the opportunity to experience the power of and to be empowered by the beauty of music.

The concert on Sunday, September 27 is at 4 p.m. at Crotona Park. Click here to see video of the Youth Orchestra of Caracas performing, and here for a film about the UpBeatNYC’s visit to Venezeula.

Liza Austria and Richard Miller are husband and wife and the co-founding directors of UpBeat NYC.

Celebrating A Bronx Woman Who Selflessly Gives So Much To The Bronx

Ed García Conde

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September 25, 2015

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Celebrating A Bronx Woman Who Selflessly Gives So Much To The Bronx

Superwoman Bronxite, Nilka Martell who's being honored this coming Tuesday September 29th by The Bronx River Alliance at their "Upstream Soiree"/ Photo taken by her son Isaias — Superwoman Bronxite, Nilka Martell who’s being honored this coming Tuesday September 29th by The Bronx River Alliance at their “Upstream Soiree”/ Photo taken by her son Isaias

The Bronx is full of activists and people who are always doing things for our beautiful borough, always giving back.

But there’s one special woman who does so much without much fanfare, and oftentimes goes unnoticed by many since fame or fortune isn’t her endgame.

It’s about leaving The Bronx, our beautiful borough, a better place than we inherited it from our previous generation so that future generations can live safely, in an environmentally sound Bronx.

That woman is Nilka Martell.

Before I even continue, it is only right and fair that I fully disclose that I have become friends with Nilka over the course of almost two years now. I am also on the host committee for ‘An Upstream Soirée‘ where she will be honored thus coming Tuesday at the a fundraising event at The Bronx Zoo for The Bronx River Alliance.

She was also one honored earlier this year as one of the 25 influential Bronx Women of 25 years.

That being said, all of that doesn’t impact how I feel about this woman of The Bronx and appreciate all she has done for us without ever even expecting a thank you.

I put my biases aside as best as someone in my position could and asked myself what would I say if Nilka Martell was someone I did not know but knew the work she did?

The answer was simple: It would be the same.

Nilka Martell, Image by her son Isaias Vargas

Whether it’s beautifying her neighborhood, planting trees, cleaning up garbage or organizing major cleanups of The Bronx River and our waterways, having over 200 trees planted in memory of our beloved activist, friend, historian, and environmentalist, Morgan Powell or supporting the many institutions that make our home borough a wonderful place, Nilka is there.

In 2010, shortly after losing her job, and after years of volunteering, she decided to start an organization which became known as G.I.V.E. (Giving Involved Virginia Avenue Efforts)

which began small and cleaning up her block in a campaign of beautifying where she lives.

This adventure eventually took a life of its own with the non profit receiving grants and awards to further their efforts.

It became and continues as a way of Nilka engaging our youth and putting them into action while learning and caring for their environment.

In such a short time, she forged alliances with the many organizations and people who serve to protect The Bronx not just with her passion but her charming personality making her someone pretty much everyone in The Bronx knows or has heard of.

To me, she is the type of Bronxite above and beyond, that we should be celebrating for she doesn’t just talk about it, she IS about it by constantly, literally getting her hands dirty doing what many won’t do but it’s these very people she’s inspired to get their hands dirty as well.

It’s for this and many more reasons that Nilka Martell is well deserving of this recognition and many more. She is someone who loves our borough and understands what it means to truly love it.

Loving The Bronx, as she often hashtags her images and even has an Instagram account with that name (not to mention her I Love The Bronx column in The Bronx Free Press) is a complex thing for to truly love our you accept it for what it is and try to help it without changing the very fabric of our borough’s culture.

You love it and bring about socially responsible change that would uplift everyone not displace folks and that’s what she’s about, walking that delicate balance.

I’m proud to call Nilka Martell my friend, I’m proud to join countless others in celebrating this wonderful, selfless woman of The Bronx.

Tickets are still available for this event which will benefit The Bronx River Alliance, an organization that has done so much to clean up our River to the point where we now have the first beavers in NYC in over 200 years and even installing a fish ladder for migratory fish to return to their spawning