“If you see me walking down the street And I start to cry.. each time we meet.. Walk on by.. walk on by.. Foolish pride That’s all that I have left, so, let me hide The pain and the hurt that you gave me When you said goodbye.. You walked on by..”
Growing up in The Bronx in the late 1980’s you couldn’t escape the beats and lyrics of Slick Rick’s hip-hop songs. Everywhere you went someone was either playing it on their boomboxes or you heard his songs, of the relatively nascent genre, on the airwaves.
Now, The New York Times has published an interview by David Gonzalez taking us into the living room of Slick Rick, his wife, and this legend’s life.
Gonzalez writes:
“But like a storyteller used to improvising new endings, Mr. Walters does not dwell on those rough spots. He still tours and composes songs. He leads a low-key life, living in the same northeast Bronx neighborhood that he settled into with his Jamaican mother and his sister when they moved from England in 1976. For someone who is considered to be among the pivotal figures of hip-hop’s golden age, what better place to be than in the borough that spawned a global culture?
“People always want to hear about the Bronx,” Mr. Walters, a Grammy-nominated artist, said. “It’s the essence and the ambience of the culture. It’s my little English accent with the slang, it’s the shoes, the jewelry. The swag. It’s the whole essence of representing the Bronx.”
In the interview, Slick Rick, aka Ricky Walters says of Hip-Hop:
“Hip-hop disrupted the order of things,” he said. “It was the pulpit, and if you put the right person in front of the pulpit, they can speak for the youth of the planet. Instead, it was altered and diluted. What you see now are performers who have been broken to fit into a mold. They are not going to disrupt the order of things.”
The Pseudomonas stutzeri bacterium, commonly found in soil, was the most prevalent subway microbe. Lower Manhattan was its prime hangout. Mason/Cell Systems 2015
As most native New Yorkers, we tend to often not think about all the germs, microbes, and fauna that coats the subways and bus system we ride daily and depend on. We’re in such denial about them that it’s like breathing — we don’t think about it.
A new study from conducted Weill Cornell Medical College now reveals, that after 18 months of swabbing and collecting samples at every single subway station in New York City (except 2 in Brooklyn which were closed), The Bronx has the most diverse microbes (much like our population) in the entire system. But no need for alarm since most are not considered a danger with only 12% in that category but even then, researchers claimed there wasn’t enough of them for concern.
One surprising discovery among the 562 microbes that were identified throughout New York City’s subway system was that 48% were previously unknown so I guess NYC really is the center of the universe and the world’s capital.
“The metropolitan area of New York City (NYC) is an ideal place to undertake a large-scale metagenomic study because it is the largest and most dense city in the United States; 8.2 million people live on a landmass of only 469 square miles. Moreover, the subway of NYC is the largest mass-transit system in the world (by station count), spreading over 252 miles and used by 1.7 billion people per year (APTA Ridership Report, 2014). This vast urban ecosystem is a precious resource that requires monitoring to sustain and secure it against acts of bio-terrorism, environmental disruptions, or disease outbreaks. Thus we sought to characterize the NYC metagenome by surveying the genetic material of the microorganisms and other DNA present in, around, and below NYC, with a focus on the highly trafficked subways and public areas. We envision this as a first step toward identifying potential bio-threats, protecting the health of New Yorkers, and providing a new layer of baseline molecular data that can be used by the city to create a ‘‘smart city,’’ i.e., one that uses high-dimensional data to improve city planning, management of the mass-transit built environment, and human health.”
NY1 reported, however, that NYC Department of Health considers the ‘deeply flawed’:
“The MTA says the report shows the subway is no more dangerous, at least from germs, than the environment above ground.
A Health Department spokesperson went further, saying, “This report is deeply flawed. The interpretation of the results is misleading, and the researchers failed to offer alternative, much more plausible explanations for their findings, which is a common best practice for scientific papers.”
149th Street and Grand Concourse on the 2/4/5 trains:
Enterococcus italicus:Associated with Italian cheese. Often found in raw cow’s milk, a species of bacteria called Enterococcus italicus is used in a variety of artisanal Italian cheeses, such as Toma Piemontese cheese and Robiola Piemontese cheese.
Lactococcus lactis: Associated with Mozzarella cheese. Lactococcus lactis is used in production of mozzarella and many other cheeses, including Brie, Camembert, Colby, Gruyère, Cheddar, Parmesan and Roquefort. (Hmm…I wonder if the fact that Giovanni’s Italian Restaurant being located 1/2 a block from the station?)
Yankee Stadium – 161st Street on the 4/B/D trains:
Italian cheese yet again!
Acinetobacter baumannii: Associated with Antibiotic resistance. Acinetobacter baumannii is one of a group of pathogens with a high rate of antibiotic resistance that is responsible for many hospital-acquired infections. The microbe has become known as ‘Iraqibacter’ due to its seemingly sudden emergence in military treatment facilities during the Iraq War.
East 180th Street on the 2/5 trains:
Leuconostoc citreum: Associated with Kimchi and sauerkraut. A species called Leuconostoc citreum is widely used in the fermentation of the Korean dish kimchi and is also used to ferment cabbage to make sauerkraut
Baychester Avenue on the 5 train:
Aerococcus viridans: Associated with Urinary-tract infections. A bacteria species called Aerococcus viridans can cause urinary-tract infections, especially among elderly men or people whose immune systems already have been weakened by other ailments. The bacteria also can cause heart-valve infections.
Stenotrophomonas maltophilia: Associated with Respiratory ailments. Stenotrophomonas maltophilia can cause lung infections. They frequently grow on breathing tubes, such as endotracheal or tracheostomy tubes, and catheters. The bacteria are naturally resistant to many broad-spectrum antibiotics and are dangerous to people whose immune systems have been compromised by other illnesses, such as HIV infection or cystic fibrosis.
Pelham Bay Park on the 6 train:
Acinetobacter radioresistens: Associated with Radiation resistance. The bacteria belonging to Acinetobacter radioresistens can withstand relatively high levels of radiation and have developed a powerful ability to acquire many different forms of resistance. Some strains are resistant to all commercially available antibiotics.
Woodlawn on the 4 train:
Cronobacter sakazakii: Associated with Meningitis. Cronobacter sakazakii is one of 14 bacteria species associated with meningitis and its symptoms that researchers detected at dozens of subway stops. It causes meningitis and blood stream infections among infants and a wide variety of infections among adults. It can survive up to two years on a dry surface. It’s been linked to contaminated infant formula, prompting several product recalls in recent years.
Van Cortlandt Park – 242nd Street on the 1 train:
Bacillus cereus: Associated with Food poisoning. Bacillus cereus can cause foodborne illness, causing severe nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. B. cereus is also known to cause difficult-to-eradicate chronic skin infections. Researchers recently concluded that the species may be indistinguishable from a soil bacteria species called Bacillus thuringiensis, which is a natural insecticide widely used for commercial pest control.
Acinetobacter radioresistens: Associated with Radiation resistance. The bacteria belonging to Acinetobacter radioresistens can withstand relatively high levels of radiation and have developed a powerful ability to acquire many different forms of resistance. Some strains are resistant to all commercially available antibiotics.
Some of the bacteria found throughout the city and many Bronx stations that can actually be helpful were:
Pseudomonas stutzeri: Associated with Toxic cleanup. The bacteria of the species called Pseudomonas stutzeri, the most prevalent bacteria species identified so far in New York City’s subways, essentially live on pollutants. With an appetite for carbon tetrachloride and toxic metals, the bacteria are a prime candidate for wastewater treatment applications. The bacteria can be infectious but rarely cause disease.
Pseudomonas putida: Associated with Oil cleanup. A bacteria species called Pseudomonas putida can break down organic pollutants such as toluene and oil. It is the first patented organism in the world, and, because the bacteria are living creatures, the patent was fought all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. Some strains can live on pure caffeine.
So for now, let’s not panic and take things into perspective. These things have obviously been lurking and living around us and we’ve still survived. Maybe it’s best to go back to not thinking about this and BREATHE.
The 70s was the decade that South Bronx became the poster child for urban decline. It’s when Howard Cosell, during the 1977 World Series at Yankee Stadium told the world, “Ladies and gentlemen, The Bronx is burning,” It was the decade that our borough lost over 20% of its population (more than 300,000 had fled) — most of it concentrated in The South Bronx.
Now, coming in 2016, a new Netflix series called ‘The Get Down’ will focus on a group of teenagers during that tumultuous era and the creativity that blossomed during those days giving way to hip-hop in all its forms from the music, to the dance, the graffiti artists and much more.
‘The Get Down’ is the creation of Shawn Ryan (creator of The Shield and The Chicago Code) and Baz Luhrmann who is known for such films like ‘Strictly Ballroom’, ‘Moulin Rouge’ and most recently, ‘The Great Gatsby’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEbRXzKu__8
TVLine says:
“The hour-long drama will be set in 1970s New York City and focus on a rag-tag crew of South Bronx teenagers with no one to shelter them – except each other, armed only with verbal games, improvised dance steps, some magic markers and spray cans.
Traveling from Bronx tenements to the SoHo art scene, from CBGBs to Studio 54 and the just-built World Trade Center, The Get Down promises “a mythic saga of how New York at the brink of bankruptcy gave birth to hip-hop, punk and disco — told through the lives and music of the South Bronx kids who changed the city, and the world… forever.”
Variety wrote:
“The Sony Pictures TV project is set in New York City in the late 1970s amid the explosion of hip-hop, punk and other innovative music and art that coincided with a surge in crime, violence and urban decay. “Get Down” focuses on a group of crafty teenagers from one of the hardest hit areas, the South Bronx.
Luhrmann said he’s been working on the concept for the series for 10 years. Netflix’s commercial-free environment and reputation for giving creatives wide berth in storytelling made it a natural home for “Get Down,” he said.
“I’ve been obsessed with the idea of how a city in its lowest moment, forgotten and half destroyed, could give birth to such creativity and originality in music, art and culture,” he said. “I’m thrilled to be working with my partners at Sony and collaborating with a team of extraordinary writers and musicians, many of whom grew up with and lived the story we’ve set out to tell.”
“Baz conjures worlds we may not recognize initially, but once there, realize they are infused with the same dreams of every person — to belong, to matter, to live life to its fullest,” Holland said. “We are thrilled to support Baz, Catherine and Paul and their team in their quest to illuminate those same dreams through the artists who came of age in the cauldron of the Bronx in the late 1970s.”
Although Netflix may be the first to produce a series about that era, they (along with Luhrmann and Ryan) are not the first to tell that story. With so many talented filmmakers in The Bronx and from The Bronx, I’m not sure how I feel about outsiders, yet again, controlling our narrative (look at the disaster that was Fort Apache).
For the first time, the story of the South Bronx during those decades was told by our own people through their own eyes.
“We know that the South Bronx has had a profound impact on world culture. Through the distortion of time our experience, the brutality of it, somehow has canonize our people into legend”, said Ricky Flores, of Seis del Sur, when asked about ‘The Get Down’. “The problem with that is that it minimizes that experience and doesn’t take into account how that era still affects our community” added Flores.
And that is a recurring theme when the story of The Bronx and The South Bronx is told. Often times so much is left out that we’re left with either glitz and glamour or doom and gloom that ignores humanity of those years.
Edwin Pagán, also from Seis Del Sur and director of ‘Bronx Burning’ said of the upcoming Netflix series, “Baz Luhrmann has shown a strong propensity for entertaining musical ensemble films, but New South Wales, Australia is a long way from the South Bronx. Let’s hope the forthcoming Netflix series shows the people of the South Bronx as full-dimensional human beings and not merely caricatures that only serve as maligned dramatic plot points. If that is the case, Netflix and Luhrmann will hear from the community and those who stand with it. So far the teaser doesn’t look too promising. At this point, it’s wait and see; Netflix can still surprise us with great and balanced entertainment.”
From among this collective of photographers, it was Joe Conzo, Jr that was at the center of this creativity that was flourishing in the South Bronx.
Long before Seis del Sur coalesced into the collective that they are today and even before some knew each other, David Gonzalez of the New York Times (and of course, Seis del Sur) called Conzo, “The Man Who Took Hip-Hop’s Baby Pictures” in an article by the same title and wrote, “Despite whatever personal crises he was fighting – and despite the devastation that was sweeping over the borough during those years – his photographs exude a tender, almost innocent love for the music and streets of his boyhood. During the days of furry Kangol caps, fat laces and white-gloved b-boys, he was never far, snapping away in the wings while rappers dueled with tongue-twisting rhymes set to dizzying breakbeats.”
Maybe it would be prudent for Netflix, Ryan, and Luhrmann to consult with Seis del Sur and others who lived that era, documented it, and understand the complexities that went along with it.
Flores added, “I think it is a phenomenon that is both fascinating and horrifying at the same time. We know that what took place is having an profound effect in the world today even after all these years. It is disconcerting to those of us who went through it and the worlds perception of that. The reality was far more grimmer then what the people today perceive it to be. That part seems to get left out of the narrative. What they take from it was the culture that was born in reaction to that but not what drove it.”
When the Cromwell-Jerome Study Area Jerome Avenue Study Area (City Planning has since changed the name) was announced last year, it stirred a lot of controversy as residents saw it an attempt to rebrand existing neighborhoods of the West Bronx and pave the way for gentrification via rezoning — a tool often used by the previous administration often without regard to community residents who lived in the areas. The study area grew from 57 blocks to a massive 73 blocks.
Now, as the Jerome Avenue Study Area was announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio as one of the 6 areas slated for rezonings, community groups and even local elected officials are getting residents together to discuss the future and fate of their neighborhoods at a meeting scheduled for March 5th — after all, these are the very people who will be impacted by any zoning changes the city eventually will implement to increase density.
United Auto Merchants Association will be one of the hosts of the forum (auto body shops along Jerome Avenue represent the largest type of business in danger of being pushed out by the rezoning), along with Mothers on The Move and others and the forum is endorsed by Council Member Vanessa Gibson and Assemblywoman Latoya Joyner who’s district is part of the study area. (I must applaud these elected officials for listening to their constituents concerns and being at the table alongside them.)
There is a lot of fear, and valid at that, when neighborhoods are rezoned. Speculators come in and begin purchasing land and buildings at prices previously unthinkable in those neighborhoods. One doesn’t need to go far and see what’s happening right within our own borough in the South Bronx neighborhoods of Mott Haven, Port Morris, Melrose and the Lower Concourse. Properties are being snatched for far above what they would have fetched prior to rezoning.
No longer called Cromwell-Jerome Study Area, City Planning has changed the name to simply ‘Jerome Avenue Study’. Many residents were upset at the original name as it represented a re-branding of existing neighborhoods to many of them. The study area went from a 57 block area to a 73 block area. Click here for a full view of the map (warning: PDF FILE!)
Then you often times have unscrupulous landlords who upon seeing the values go up in their areas, begin to implement tactics to evict or make conditions miserable for their tenants to leave so that they can then jack up the rents to the newer economic demographics that are attracted to these areas.
de Blasio said of these landlords:
“First, there are the slumlords – the folks who refuse to make repairs…letting housing decay…making apartments uninhabitable.
Then, there are predatory landlords – the people who take advantage of a red-hot real estate market – employing ugly tactics to push out moderate-income tenants to make room for wealthier ones.
These predatory landlords harass tenants by, say, intermittently turning off the heat or hot water, or by refusing to address simple matters of safety or sanitation.
That doesn’t just violate the law; it violates our values as New Yorkers.”
But he didn’t just state an obvious problem, he also proposed a possible solution and new tool for residents to defend themselves and this is ESPECIALLY critical for those in the Jerome Avenue Corridor Study area to be aware of:
“So today, I’m announcing that in any of the areas in which the city rezones, if we find evidence that tenants are being harassed, we will supply those tenants with legal representation, at no cost, to take their case to Housing Court…to seek justice before a judge.
Protecting our tenants – through whatever means necessary – isn’t just the moral thing to do. It’s a critical step in making New York City a more affordable place for everyone. And we should thank the City Council for their historic support of legal services for tenants.
All of the steps on housing that I’ve spoken about today – from responsibly building UP; to placing new demands on developers; to providing affordable housing to New Yorkers who need it most; to targeting predatory landlords – it’s all part of our new rules for helping people find a home they can afford.”
City Planning insists that this will be a ground up community discussion and community decision making in the process so the meeting, spearheaded by New Settlement Apartments Community Action for Safe Apartments (CASA) and several other community organizations, will be a test of City Planning and the Mayor’s administration commitment for community engagement.
This is your community, this is our Bronx and we must be at the table to decide the fate of our future.
Once again, the meeting will be held on Thursday, March 5th from 7PM – 9PM and will be held at LPAC (Latino Pastoral Action Center) located at 14 West 170th Street at Jerome Avenue. Refreshments will be available along with Spanish/English interpretation. Childcare will also be available for this important meeting so please be sure to call ahead of time at 609-879-2782 for more information.
Here’s a fun story with Bronx history we found via The Atlantic about a Bronx Jewish businessman who was able to overcome some odds to become the top distributor of those little soy sauce packets we all know so well.
After all these years of soy sauce packets staring me in the face, little did I know this was the brainchild of a fellow Bronxite! Oh and did you know that soy sauce appears to go back as far as the year 160AD?
The Atlantic writes:
“Right now, whether you’re at work or at home, in a drawer somewhere near you is probably a packet of soy sauce—a squishy, likely clear pouch of transclucent saltiness left over from a late-night Chinese-takeout binge or a hurried workday lunch. These packets are remarkably common: In terms of sales, soy sauce is the third-most-popular condiment in the U.S., behind only mayonnaise and ketchup.
Even though the soy-sauce packet’s origin is an unsolved mystery, the story of how it became popular is not. That’s the story of Howard Epstein, who, as the founder of the dominant soy-sauce brand Kari-Out, is seen as the ambassador of packaged American soy sauce.
Epstein became interested in food packaging because his father manufactured the long, flimsy plastic packaging for freezer pops. Epstein’s first venture into his father’s trade was a popcorn-packaging business, which he bought for $5,000 over 50 years ago.
That business failed to gain traction, and Epstein, now 81, was looking for a change when one of his father’s salesmen, who sold tea bags, suggested he consider the soy-sauce-packaging business. In 1964, Epstein founded Kari-Out, and he says he arrived to the industry right as it was becoming commercially viable. He ran his new business out of the popcorn factory he owned.
At first, Epstein was regarded with suspicion, primarily because he, a Jew from the Bronx, was different from most people in the industry.
“No one trusted me because it was the old times. The Chinese ran the business,” Epstein says. His attempts to sell his packets to wholesalers were met with apathy and even cold-shouldered silence.
“I had one potential customer,” he says. “I went in and asked him if he would be interested in selling my soy sauce. He didn’t speak. He never talked to me.”
But Epstein persisted, and his familiarity with freezer-pop packaging proved helpful in solving the problems with soy-sauce packets at the time: They leaked and they were too flimsy. “The only difference is a freezer pop has a much longer bag,” Epstein says.
Cheap airfare also allowed Epstein to travel the country in search of new customers. He was scouting at a time when Chinese takeout joints were becoming as commonplace as nail salons and convenience stores in strip malls around the country.
“Chinese business was growing at this time because China was not as business-friendly,” he says. “People were leaving China and coming into the United States to open a restaurant and cook. The industry was booming.”
He soon built up a widespread network of customers, and Kari-Out’s products appeared in the Chinese restaurants across the country. Now, he estimates that Kari-Out has a 50 percent market share. The company’s soy-sauce packets remain ubiquitous—Epstein recalls finding Kari-Out packets at a concession stand in rural Iceland a couple years ago.
“We’ve survived 50 years,” Epstein says. “I never get sick of Chinese food or soy sauce.”
I am one of hundreds of East Harlem artists denied housing at Artspace PS109.
The Promise
In the summer of 2014, 53,000+ people applied to live in 89 affordable apartments at Artspace PS109. This has become an all too common scene in New York City’s housing market. Decades of public subsidies and assistance for luxury development in NYC have increased property values and rents all across the city. This rise has led to the displacement of working- and middle-class families. The main “community benefit” in return for publicly assisted displacement has been the opportunity to enter an affordable housing lottery and hope Yolanda Vega calls your number, allowing you to remain. Mayor Bill de Blasio has continued along the same path, pushing for taller and denser private developments in working-class communities of color and offering 80,000 “affordable” lottery tickets in exchange.
In his State of the City address, the mayor also promised to include 1,500 new affordable live-work spaces for New York City artists by 2024 as part of his 80,000 “affordable” unit pledge. East Harlem, one of the neighborhoods the mayor has targeted for rezoning, has just completed an affordable housing complex for artists: PS109.
The Artistic Soul of a Community
Over 500 East Harlem artists have spent from five months to a decade hoping and praying they’d win an affordable Artspace apartment. To date, hundreds of El Barrio artists have been rejected, many never even heard back on the status of their application.
In the shell of an abandoned public school, Artspace, thanks to much government help, is about to become (by far) the best funded art institution in East Harlem. While only requiring 50% of apartments go to East Harlem artists, it has already begun to play a major role in what messages are sent out from —and on behalf of— the community. Which artists and community groups have access to new space, top donors and which do not?
When I first got wind of Artspace three years ago, instead of trying to be one of the lucky few to win a lottery, I spent two years trying get on the “artist panel” that would decide who would get into the building. Here I thought would be the real decision-making power. I wouldn’t be able to bid for an apartment, but I’d be able to help other East Harlem artists get in and report on the selection process from the inside. Unfortunately, that never happened.
Every time I asked about how to get on the artist panel, it became clear I’d brought up a very uncomfortable topic of conversation. Public meeting after public meeting, Artspace’s Vice President of Asset Management Bill Mague and Asset Manager Naomi Marx brushed off the same question by telling me, “a representative body of artists from the community will decide who gets into Artspace” and “sign up for the email list.” I was beginning to lose hope of ever getting an answer.
In 2013 El Museo Del Barrio decided to screen my film El Barrio Tours: Gentrification in East Harlem and invite Shawn McLearen, Artspace’s Vice President for Property Development, to join our conversation.
I thought I’d finally find out how to get on the “community artist panel.” Unfortunately, Shawn canceled just hours before the screening. When I asked El Museo director Gonzalo Casals why, he looked frustratingly at me and said, “You know why.” I didn’t know what that meant, but we weren’t on great terms ourselves. Community pressure had recently pushed El Museo to screen my film, something El Museo’s program director denied in 2012 stating El Barrio Tours “didn’t talk enough about the good of gentrification.”
The information for applying to be on a “community” artist panel never arrived.
I Applied
After my failed attempts to join the panel, I decided to apply for an apartment at PS 109. If I got in, I could do my part to ensure its huge amount of resources actually went to the community. Whether I got in or not, I’d be able to shine a light on the application process. Not to mention, since quitting my job as a paralegal to screen El Barrio Tours across the country and create a piece on displacement nationwide, I’d been sleeping on my parents’ couch. A studio in my community at $494 would be dope.
I Was Selected for Interview
After my number was called in August 2014, I was surprised. I met the income guidelines, but I never thought I’d actually have a shot. Getting an affordable apartment in NYC isnothing short of winning the lottery, and I had one of the lowest lottery numbers—119 out of over 53,000 applicants. Given my record as an artist born and raised in East Harlem (whose family has been here since the 1950’s), El Barrio Operation Fight Back (EBOFB), Artspace’s community partner and co-developer, assured me, “You’re exactly the type of artist we want in this building.” If I had a dollar for each time I heard this over the past three years, I wouldn’t be applying for affordable housing.
“You’re Exactly the Type of Artist We Want in This Building”
After reviewing the Artspace checklist, I realized they didn’t want my artist portfolio. Instead, they needed my financial statements. A lot of them. Tax statements, bank statements, copies of every check I’d received working at universities, every screening fee, DVD sold, etc. No piece of financial information was too small.
Me: “Do you need my blood too?” I asked.
PS109 Property Manager : “I know it’s a lot of documentation, but we have to approve your financials first before you have your artist interview. Don’t worry, you’re the type of person this project was designed for.”
In total, it took three months and over 10 trips to the EBOFB office to get all of the financials Artspace needed. As November arrived and my birthday neared, I finally received word:
PS109 Property Manager: “We approved you, Artspace approved you, our auditors approved you, we just are waiting on HPD. But Andrew, you’re in, we can’t say that you’re in, but all that’s left is your artist interview and “You’re exactly the type of artist we want in this building!” Get your portfolio ready, the artist interviews will begin next week!”
My Artist Interview: 10 Minutes
Being an artist in this process mattered for a total of 10 minutes, if that. But I didn’t care. I recognized the two community members on the artist panel and felt relieved. I realized, despite holding multiple photo shows, screening across the country and raising money for a nationwide documentary, no one had ever asked me to share my portfolio before. I’d never been given the opportunity or the time to look at all I’d created and present my career as an artist.
I ended with a trailer for my nationwide project on displacement in America.
They all agreed.
“You’re exactly the type of artist we want in this building. We just have to wait for HPD.”
I’d heard it all before… but this time was different. I felt proud, accomplished and after walking the halls of the newly finished building, I for the first time thought, hey, I might get in here.
Three Weeks Later I Was Rejected
HPD (Housing Preservation and Development) gave the following reasons:
$1,500 below income
Six weeks away from meeting the two-year requirement for being a self-employed artist. (Since the rejection two months ago, I now meet the two-year time test for being a self-employed artist.)
Three Years of Misinformation
I was angry.
In the three years of information sessions and public ads Artspace and Operation Fight Back ran, they stated said artists would be judged on their gross income. It wasn’t until late November of 2014 that Fight Back admitted qualifying income for self-employed artists would be calculated after taxes and expenses. Self-employed artists had to prove a higher income than artists with traditional income, and traditionally employed artists didn’t even have to make their main income from art. This made little to no sense for an Artspace in El Barrio, considering how many artists were self-employed, and that 80% of US artists that make their main income from art, are white males.
Despite all this, I couldn’t help but feel hopeful. While routinely working at low or no cost for underfunded schools and grassroots community organizations, my hourly rate at largeinstitutions like Harvard is higher than the $494 a month I’d have been expected to pay at Artspace.
I knew from visiting Artspace’s home town of Minneapolis in 2014, that out of 30+ Artspaces across the country, the vast majority of their resident artists were not people of color. But this project was advertised to be different. I felt my history in El Barrio and success as an artist from it could and should carry me through. So I appealed.
The Appeal
The night I sent in the appeal I had a dream…
I got an apartment
That Artspace apartment
But somehow, the whole community had gotten in
I had a room for my bed
A living room
A separate kitchen
I had a view
Sun scorched the air so bright
Floating dust looked magical
It was beautiful
I felt normal again
I thought…I could create here
Then I woke up
Four weeks into my appeal I asked Gus Rosado, Executive Director of Operation Fight Back, why HPD wouldn’t accept applicants that they, the community developer, had already approved. He responded:
As the neighborhood organization we don’t have the power to say, “This artist is in.” We don’t approve applicants, we simply suggest they be approved. HPD makes the final decision. When you use other people’s money, it comes with strings. You lose control.
The timing of your email to HPD officials is good since very recent exchanges have been had on your behalf. If you have any influential or political backing, now is the time to have them advocate on your behalf.
Eight weeks of Silence
It’s been eight weeks since I appealed and still no word from HPD or Artspace. Only Operation Fight Back has contacted me. They said HPD rejected me again, but have yet to show me the forms they sent advocating “on my behalf” to HPD.
We hired an auditor, a nationwide expert, out of our own pocket, to review our files after we had. We wanted her to make sure that neighborhood people met HPD standards. But it ended up being a waste. She (the auditor) said the level of scrutiny HPD put our files under, to see if applicants could pay $494 dollars in rent, was higher than any she’d seen in the country.
—Gus Rosado, Executive Director of Operation Fight Back
This was kinda like a forced marriage. When Artspace wanted to come here 10 years ago, people were pissed, it was then that they were forced to make a community partner. That’s where Operation Fight Back came in. This is how gentrification works. I just can’t help but feel like this project never would have happened, had we never helped…
—Property Manager, El Barrio’s Artspace PS109
The Struggle Is Real, The Spin Is Not
In the coming weeks, you will hear testimonials from artists whom this project saved from couches, substandard living conditions and the intense strain that living in NYC places on us all. The struggle is real and no artist should be attacked for escaping it.
But you may also hear an attempt to blame the individual artist for why Artspace is not 100% or maybe even 50% El Barrio residents, as was repeatedly pledged and promised at community meetings.
Things like:
We tried to find artists in El Barrio, but so many had left already.
Artists applied late.
We just couldn’t find enough qualified applicants.
Why did local elected officials, Operation Fight Back and Artspace, hold badly run “information sessions” blindly guiding El Barrio applicants to meet HPD’s draconian financial standards, instead of working to change them?
Was Artspace Meant to Prevent Gentrification in East Harlem, or Promote it?
Artspace will preserve a small number of the artists that made El Barrio what it is today (and add a bunch of new ones),but will Artspace collaborate with residents to fight displacement? Or work to promote El Barrio a “destination,”, holding art crawls and further fueling land values in a community where 93% of residents rent?
Will Artspace artists use their privilege to help fight speculators from descending on El Barrio? Or will they act as “community partners” for outside development?
Will projects like Artspace in El Barrio trickle out into communities of color facing gentrification throughout the country?
Marina Ortiz at East Harlem Preservation is currently compiling a list of rejected East Harlem artists for profiles. She would love your input. If you or someone you know is a long-time artist in El Barrio that was rejected from Artspace please reach out to her at:marina@eastharlempreservation.org
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Andrew J. Padilla is a Puerto Rican artist, educator and independent journalist from East Harlem trying to give a voice to NYC’s working class. You can follow Andrew@apadillafilm6 and learn more about him on AndrewJPadilla.com.
Hostos Community College has partnered with its neighbors throughout the years and this latest partnership has several students jumping for joy: Neighborhood favorite Ceetay, the sushi restaurant in Port Morris is now on the lunch menu on campus.
Welcome2TheBronx first learned about the offering from Alejandro Brown, an aspiring city planner who is currently an honors senior at Hostos as well as President of the Public Administration Club.
“On February 2nd an email blast went out to all students and faculty letting us know sushi is now an option at the café,” said Brown
“Being a sushi lover I got really excited but am always hesitant to jumping at any sushi. When I entered the café to grab some lunch to my surprise and excitement the sushi comes from Ceetay, a neighborhood favorite of mine!” he added.
The offerings are modest with 12 items including 2 snack sized servings of edamame and seaweed salad and it seems Alejandro Brown isn’t the only one happy since the Ceetay Express refrigerator was almost empty when he sent us some pics. I’m pretty sure the faculty and staff is also happy to have another option in an area that doesn’t have many healthy options to begin with.
Thanks to Alejandro Brown for the good news! Oh and make sure you follow him on Instagram @dearmrjack as Brown is an avid photographer with some excellent pics of our beautiful borough and other places.
Zaro’s only Bronx location in Parkchester for years has served its delicious cakes and baked goods to generations of Bronxites / Image Credit Unknown
I remember as a child, my parents would drive to Parkchester so mom could pic up a cake from Zaro’s — especially the carrot cake which was (and is still) one of our favorites — for special family occasions and gatherings.
A trip to Parkchester for me was always magical because it meant I got to see the beautiful buildings and architecture of this city within a city within a city.
Zaro’s, which has been in business since 1927, has 9 stores, including the Parkchester location and 4 within Grand Central Station, 1 on 7th Avenue in the Fashion District, 2 at Penn Station and 1 in Newark but what they all have in common is that all these delicious goods comes from The Bronx at their headquarters on Bruckner Boulevard in Port Morris.
The baked goods have been coming out from The Bronx to all their stores since the 1930s making them one of our beloved mom and pop businesses.
Check out what they’ve done with their building and how they decided to turn a warehouse into a beautiful work of art:
The entire mural was done by artist R. Nick Kuszyk at Zaro’s headquarters.
The entire mural was done by artist R. Nick Kuszyk at Zaro’s headquarters.
The entire mural was done by artist R. Nick Kuszyk at Zaro’s headquarters.
Several affordable housing buildings being constructed in The Bronx are still accepting applications online or via mail but don’t wait as deadlines are quickly approaching for the Norwood and Longwood developments.
Westchester Point at 899 Westchester Avenue
Deadline February 25th, 2015: Westchester Point, located at 899 Westchester Avenue features 140 “affordable” housing units for low to moderate income families with such amenities as a sun terrace, children’s playroom , and an outdoor courtyard. Rents will range from as low as $494 for low income studios and $785 for middle income studios to $743 for low income 3 bedroom units and $1,175 middle income studious. Income requirements range from $18,618 – $58,440 depending on size of household. Qualifications for this development are as follows:
Webster Commons
Deadline February 20, 2015: Webster Commons A & B in Norwood at 3560 and 3580 Webster Avenue has a total of 201 “affordable” housing units for low and middle income households. Rents will range from $845 for low income 1 bedroom units and $1,214 for 1 bedroom middle income units to 3 bedroom low income units at $1,179 to $1,692 for middle income 3 bedroom units. Income requirements are from $30,686 – $97400 depending on household size. Qualifications are as follows:
Don’t forget you can apply by mail or online at HPD’s website.
4 properties in the Special Harlem River Waterfront District in the Lower Concourse Rezoning District have fetched $157,234,000 in sales over 2 1/2 years with 3 of the properties selling or under contract within the past 2 2/12 months. / Image From Google Earth
Real Estate Weekly reported that The Bronx saw a record breaking increase in sales of multifamily properties reaching $2.4 billion in transactions in 2014 as per data published by Ariel Property Advisors’ Bronx 2014 Year-End Report.
According to REW, “Investment sales transaction volume increased by 11 percent to 342, and the number of properties traded increased 20 percent to 577 in 2014 compared to 2013,” a number of those transactions took place in Melrose, Mott Haven, Morrisania, and Tremont accounting for 2 million square feet of buildable space in just 24 properties alone.
The report also detailed Related Companies purchase of 35 building portfolio building in the northern Bronx to a tune of $253 million indicating that the sales were not just confined to the South Bronx.
However, it is in the South Bronx where the big plans and sales are when you look at the transactions at a price per square foot basis as the Cherit Group’s purchase of 101 Lincoln Avenue for $32 million for an 83,000 square foot building with a 133,700 square foot lot sold for $385/sq ft.
The rezoning of the Lower Concourse allows this lot, and two additional adjacent lots that the Cherit Group is in the midst of acquiring, to construct up to 25 story residential buildings. One of the lots, 2401 Third Avenue (pictured below and outlined) is reportedly being sold to Cherit for $26 million. A couple of buildings over is 2417 Third Avenue which is under contract for $31 million to developer Hornig Capital. That brings a total of $89 million dollars in sales for these 3 properties (accounting for a combined 257,000 square feet for an average of $346/sq ft) located across from each other in just a little over 2 months.
2 1/2 years ago, CubeSmart Storage company purchased 200 E 135th Street which is behind 2417 Third Avenue and next to 2401 Third Avenue for $68,234,000. That property currently has 214,560 square foot building along with a 6.3 acre waterfront lot. According to public record, this lot can accommodate almost 2 million square feet of development and is zoned as M13/R8/MX1 allowing for residential development.
2401 Third Avenue, which the Cherit is reportedly under negotiations to purchase, sits across from their recent purchase at 101 Lincoln Avenue. Combined with that property and another parcel which the group is purchasing, the developer is planning six 25 story towers along the waterfront of market rate housing and even condominiums.
From the northern borders of Melrose on 165th Street all the way south to the waterfront of Port Morris, Mott Haven and the Lower Concourse, change is moving at such a fast pace. Although most of the residential developments have been “affordable” housing, such housing, which was built under the Bloomberg administration, will start seeing their affordable rents expire within the next couple of years.
Once that happens, the developers or owners can begin to charge market rate rents in these buildings and then what will happen to those thousands of tenants that moved in to these developments? Will they be displaced?
Mayor de Blasio announced that a $200 million capital investment of the Special Harlem River Waterfront District in the Lower Concourse Rezoning District, “can stimulate the development of 4,000 new units of housing – much of it affordable — and provide the parks, schools, and commercial development that support a growing, thriving population.”
He went on to say:
“Another transformative opportunity lies in the Lower Concourse neighborhood on the waterfront in the South Bronx, a section of our city that was for so long synonymous with urban decay.
But the South Bronx is coming back strong, and waterfront development will be a big step forward.
When we look at this project, we don’t think about what used to define the Bronx; we think about all that will define the Bronx in the future.
We look forward to partnering with Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and our colleagues in government to make an investment that will bring hope and opportunity to a place with enormous potential.”
Originally, many feared that the Special Harlem River Waterfront District would be mostly market rate but this commitment from the City strengthens that the 4,000 units will have a bulk that is affordable but as always, the question remains, affordable for who? What percentage of the total number of units will go towards truly affordable housing? The plans that Welcome2TheBronx reported on also includes ferry service in this area so at least this would hopefully include the same level of affordability that the Mayor stressed for the new routes along the East River.
The Mayor also spoke about the controversial rezoning for the Jerome Avenue Corridor (missing was the Cromwell-Jerome name which many, including myself, saw as a rebranding of existing neighborhoods. In these areas, de Blasio insisted that it will include mandatory inclusionary zoning where developers will be required to build affordable housing and under this administration that means that a portion remains permanently affordable.
Also as discussed in the State of the City address were issues to “ending chronic veterans homelessness by the end of the year,” and also provide 10,000 units of housing for our aging, senior population across the city.
As for the arts, 1,500 units of “affordable” live/work space will be created for artists including 500 “dedicated affordable workspaces for the cultural community.”
Minimum wages was also a strong part of his speech as the Mayor indicated a strong push to make New York City’s minimum wage $13/hour by 2016 and $15/hour by 2019 — a very ambitious plan but much needed to help pull our Bronx residents from the cycle of poverty as well as residents from the rest of the city.
For the first time ever in my memory, gentrification was discussed by any Mayor in any State of the City address although what de Blasio said was rather walking the middle of the line quite safely and nothing really aggressive to address the realities of gentrification.
From left to right (background) King Lewis, Michael Bonnah and Rokiatou Sissoko (foreground) Jhony Flores, Samuel Owusu and Sherly Quezada. / Image Credit: Verizon
The Bronx really does it best.
Six 13 year old students from The Bronx who attend the Bronx Academy of Promise edged out 350 other teams across the country for a chance to create a math app in a contest sponsored by Verizon. Now these industrious Bronx children have an increased thirst for the STEM field (Science, Technology, Engineering and mathematics) where people of color make up less than 10% of the workforce in this industry and they will also be featured in a Verizon ad that will run all month long for Black History Month.
During a month in which schools around the country will open their textbooks to explore the lives of the first black inventors, scientists, or astronauts, there are six black and brown students who are turning the page, making a bit of history of their own.
These kids from the Bronx beat out more than 350 other teams across the country to create their own math app for Google Play. The competition, backed by Verizon, encouraged students to learn computer code and develop applications for mobile devices.
Their competition came from wealthier schools and whiter districts, but it was the work of 13-year-olds Rokiatou “Rokia” Sissoko, Michael Bonnah, Samuel Owusu, Sherly Quezada, Jhony Flores and King Lewis that prevailed above all.
“I was overwhelmed because I doubted that we would win. It was a long run,” Rokia said. “And when I found out that we won, I was happy because all of the work that we did – staying after school, coming to school early.”
For their efforts, the students were awarded Samsung Galaxy Tablets and the Bronx Academy of Promise won $20,000 dollars. The students also star in a Verizon campaign that will run all month, in which they make a good point, “We can’t sit back and watch history, we have to create it.”
Rokia, Michael, Samuel, Sherly, Jhony and King were all mostly 11, attending Bronx Academy of Promise Charter School in New York City, when they started their journey of learning code and creating their app, QuestMath for the competition back in 2012.
The six of them were part of a Greek Mythology club at the school that they helped create. Selected by a teacher to participate in the app-making competition, the sextuplet combined their fascination of the stories of Zeus and Perseus with their love for math, engineering an app meant to help both children and adults brush up on their computation skills.
