“Affordable” Housing developments built in Melrose in recent years.
Money Magazine, a publication under Time Magazine, just published an article on the top 15 least affordable counties for millennials to rent or purchase and the Bronx tops the list for renters and places purchases at number 4 on the list. This shouldn’t come as a surprise as we just reported days ago that a listing in the South Bronx neighborhood of Port Morris in the Clocktower building is asking $1,775 for a 1 bedroom loft and $2,500 for a 2 bedroom loft.
The data in their article comes from a recent report by RealtyTrac, which provides comprehensive housing data and analytics for the real estate and financial services industries…”
“When it comes to least affordable counties to buy a house, four of NYC’s five boroughs take up almost a third of the list, with Manhattan (New York County), Brooklyn (Kings Country), the Bronx (Bronx County), and Queens (Queens Country), each “earning” a spot.
In terms of renting, the picture changes—but only slightly. Bronx county is the least affordable of the nation’s millennial-heavy areas, not because three-bedroom rent—averaged at about $1,850 a month—is particularly expensive, but because median incomes are relatively low. In 2014, the median Bronx household is estimated to make only $32,891.”
Cern in the South Bronx / Image: by Street Art NYC, Dani Mozeson & Tara Murray
Check out this poem in which the writer, Alexander The Griot, takes us across our beautiful Bronx through a journey of words hitting all corners of our borough.
So Boogie Down
I’m so Bronx I go back before Crown
When the Chicken spot was Sunshine,
When you didn’t use the same word twice
For the A-B scale in your rhyme.
When Olympics was the diner after the club,
Letting her rock your name chain meant you were in love.
Going to the movies in Parkchester circle,
And then holding hands with wifey in the oval.
Walking from Hayes to The Wiz on Third Avenue,
Yeah the Maroon and Gold long before I became a que.
Buying bootleg tapes from the Nigerian,
Talking him down from $3 each to four for ten.
Wonder bread stores on Conner Street and 233rd
Partied at the same spot from Fever to Rhumba,
Ate the best pastries at Sal & Dom’s with my Gumbas.
So Bronx I got my fade from Patty and Bo Butta at 6 Corners,
Before the Royal Coach, Baychester diner was the truth like Sojourner.
So Bronx I still get my Pizza from Nick’s on Gun Hill,
Something about a TGIF there seems so unreal,
Hit home runs from Van Courtland to Castle Hill.
Remember when the whole Intervale station got burned down,
When lyrics meant more than sales to claim the emcee crown.
Shrimp Box and Johnson’s had the best food,
Long before the retail chains like Bronx BBQ.
When people were scared to go to Yankee Stadium
Before the chips, The Captain and the Core Four,
When it was sexier to root for Daryl and Straw.
And people would joke and call us the burnt down Bronx.
Before new malls and condos on the White Plains Rd water
When murder and mayhem were the Bronx borders.
About Alexander The Griot aka Cream:
Alexander The Griot is a writer, poet, speaker and musician from the Bronx, New York. His name is a combination of his given first name Alexander meaning “leader of men” and the term “Griot” which is a West African term for a tribe member’s role as historian, storyteller, praise singer, and poet.
His writing spans religion, love, politics, life experience and erotica under which he pens his work as Cream Omega. Alexander, or Cream as many friends call him, has opened for Jazz acts such as Spyro Gyra, been retained for speaking engagements at Hampton University for Tony Brown’s Scripps Howard college, rallied for justice for Amadou Diallo at the Bronx Supreme Court, been recognized with awards such as the Hip Hop Palace UMA for Best Spoken Word Artist, writer for Drumtide magazine, and was recently a featured and awarded artist at Atlanta’s BPC Black Poetry Fest.
Alexander The Griot is a charter member of the ACTIVE Collective poetry group. His goal is to use artistry as a common denominator to unite people to understand the similarities in their plights rather than the negative associations highlighting our differences. Alexander hosts a monthly show in New York City at Ashford & Simpson’s Sugar Bar and features monthly in Harlem at Farafina Café & Lounge
Mayor de Blasio has not yet responded to over 200 calls/emails asking him to stop the proposed $137M subsidy of 1,000+ daily diesel trucks trips through South Bronx Asthma Alley.
The Tale of Two Cities will not change until we insist it changes. If you have not yet contacted the Mayor, please do so today. If you have not yet received a response, please call and email again (and ask 5 friends to do so as well.)
* * *
ACTION ALERT –
TELL MAYOR DE BLASIO
TO STOP THE FRESHDIRECT DEAL
For two and a half years, together we prevented (then) Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Cuomo from giving FreshDirect a single dollar of a (then) promised $127 million subsidy to move its trucking operation to a South Bronx waterfront flood zone, bringing 1,000 daily diesel truck trips through an overburdened community already plagued with asthma rates 8 times the national average. In 2013, we voted a progressive administration into office to change the tale of two cities and reverse course on decades of double standards and hazardous dumping on the South Bronx. We have patiently waited more than six months for our newly elected leaders to deliver on their campaign promises, but our community’s health can no longer afford to be a back burner issue. So today, we are asking all of you and everyone you know to call, email, tweet and facebook the Mayor and tell him to stop the FreshDirect deal. Ask him to back his campaign for change with action!
“Mr. de Blasio railed against the city’s economic development subsidies, singling out a $130 million tax break for FreshDirect to support creating low wage jobs – a deal he called a ‘mistake.'” -Crains
“Fresh Direct would never have gotten more than $100 million in government subsidies to stay in New York City if he ran City Hall, Bill de Blasio said.” –NYP
“The FreshDirect deal – giving away $130 million in taxpayer money to support low-wage jobs, all in response to the company’s empty threats — was a mistake. And it’s a symbol of how upside down our economic policies have been. By reforming New York’s incentive programs, we will free up resources to support entire industries and small businesses in all five boroughs – and begin to reinvest in real pathways to economic opportunity…” -Speech as Public Advocate
Also remind Mayor de Blasio that the FreshDirect project has changed in size and scope as well as in amount and type of subsidies. Allowing FreshDirect to receive an undemocratic gift of (now) nearly $140 million in subsidies to move its trucking operation to a waterfront flood zone in the South Bronx would mean:
1,000+ additional truck trips every day through South Bronx “asthma alley” where the community already suffers asthma hospitalization rates 21 times higher than other NYC neighborhoods
Allowing a company to rely on a 21 year old environmental impact statement to build in a community globally known for environmental injustice and despite a well-documented asthma epidemic linked to the diesel truck-intensive industries and highways saturating and surrounding the South Bronx
No living wage requirements attached to one of the largest corporate subsidies to be given in NYC history.
Rewarding an anti-union, anti-immigrant employer that is not right for the South Bronx, with a record of discriminatory and unfair labor practices and a lawsuit by workers against the company for $50+ million in unpaid tips and overtime.
Perpetuating back room deals with no community input.
Subsidizing a business model that parks diesel truck refrigerated warehouses on city streets for 14 hours a day that act as grocery depots across the city, especially in UES, UWS and Tribeca (instead of paying taxes like all other brick and mortar grocers.)
NYC Parks has just announced camping plans for Pelham Bay Park — NYC’s largest park!
From NYC Parks:
8/9/2014, 6:00 p.m.–7:00 a.m.
Location: Pelham Bay Park
We camp to create lasting memories, connect with the natural world, and bond with our families. Camping affords us the opportunity to unplug from the diversions of everyday life and to laugh and play with our families. Tent will be provided. Participants are chosen by lottery. One entry per family.
30 spots available
As a reminder, this is how our lottery system operates:
The lottery will be open to submissions for a 24-hour period.
We permit one registration entry per household per program. If you enter more than once, you will be disqualified from the lottery.
The lottery closes at 11:59 p.m. Soon after, a list of attendees is randomly generated by computer. If you are selected, you will receive a phone call to confirm the day after the lottery.
In the case of cancellation, we will select and notify the next eligible group on the (also randomly generated) waiting list.
Rents at the Clocktower building in Port Morris, on the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Bruckner Boulevard are fast on the rise. A new listing for a 1 bedroom is asking for a whopping $1,775/month for the privilege of living in this loft building which was one of the first in the area to convert to residential.
Another listing for a 2 bedroom loft in the same building is asking for $2,500.
Seven years ago, when I was first looking in the area, rents for a 1 bedroom began in the $900’s and have since then almost doubled.
The building, along with the surrounding area has shown tremendous growth and transformation. Recently, the Clocktower had its huge rooftop upgraded with new pagodas and furniture as well as some green astroturf giving it a nice, cozy feeling with great views of the Bronx, Manhattan, The Harlem River.
Downstairs you have Charlies Bar and Kitchen, a block away there’s Bruckner Bar & Grill, Ceetay and a host of many, many more local restaurants.
What do you think about these rents? Clearly, with rents that are almost double what you would pay for in the surrounding area, these rising rents and new amenities are budding signs of gentrification in the neighborhood.
Check out some more pictures from the listing on craigslist:
In an interview on CBS our beloved Bronx Historian, Lloyd Ultan, gave viewers several places of interest outside the typical tourist attractions of the borough to consider visiting.
The Professor, as Ultan is affectionately known by many Bronxites, also spoke about a new tour book he’s coauthor of which will be a first for The Bronx. According to the Professor, the book should be out by year’s end or early next year.
Boston Market has signed a ten year lease a for 2,600 square foot ground floor space at Triangle Plaza in Melrose on 149th Street between Brook and Bergen Avenues which is currently under construction. This will be the borough’s second location of the popular restaurant chain.
The $35 million Triangle Plaza is slated to finish construction by Spring of 2015 and already Metropolitan College of New York is on board to move its headquarters to the development and occupying the upper level and a Fine Fare supermarket will be located at the site as well. Rendering of Triangle Plaza
According to the Commercial Observer, the asking rents are $75 per square foot (for anyone interested in the math, that means that Boston Market will be paying $195,000 per year or $16,250 a month in rent for such a prime location.)
Triangle Plaza is located directly across the Opera House Hotel, which is the Bronx’s first luxury boutique hotel and opened last August. The hotel has been extremely successful and often finds itself fully booked. The hotel even boasts a Crunch gym on the ground floor, occupying 18,000 square feet.
The development will fill in a gap in the northern side of 149th Street which has long been underused, most recently as a parking lot.
Developments such as Boricua College and The Northrose, Eltona, Via Verde, Orion Condominiums, Aurora Condominiums and many others that have built along and off the Third Avenue corridor have spurred commercial growth beyond E 153rd which was the de facto end of the commercial district. Beyond that street, it was filled with empty lots with a sprinkling of a few buildings leading up to 161st Street and the Old Bronx Courthouse.
One newcomer at the Orion Condominiums on 3rd Ave and 156th Street My Wellness Solutions, a high-end wellness spa opened up about 4 years ago and is wildly successful. The mom and pop shop provides a wide range of services such as massages, facials, and homeopathic therapies. (Mom is a regular client and is happy she no longer has to leave the neighborhood for such services.)
For years residents have clamored for a wider variety of services and retail options but with their arrival, along with new stores and boutique hotels, will commercial rents skyrocket along Melrose and other streets off the main shopping district in a ripple effect?
Only time will tell. In the meantime, let’s continue to support or local mom and pop shops as well.
Update: original article incorrectly stated monthly rent to be over $187,000 a month. The yearly rent is in fact $195,000 per year or $16,250 a month.
He was a beanpole. Six foot two, a hundred forty pounds. Johnny had light-blue eyes, a thin face and crooked front teeth. When he smiled, his upper gums showed. Johnny had a crescent-shaped scar on the bridge of his straight thin nose; it was a visible reminder of a time in Taft’s dustbowl when he’d gotten too close to Tommy D when Tommy was swinging a baseball bat, and the bat clipped him.
Johnny was two years older than me, four years older than my best friend Josh. He was a rare Protestant in a Jewish neighborhood. His parents were divorced, which was unusual in our neighborhood in the early fifties. He lived on the top floor of the apartment building next to mine with his father, his brother Miltie, and his grandmother, Mrs. F, a short, frail woman in her mid-eighties. She was blind in one eye, and one of her eyeglass lenses was frosted and bound with clear tape to hold it in place.
The family acquired a gray and white alley cat one day when old Mrs. F went into the hallway to throw out a bag of garbage. When she opened the dumbwaiter door, this scared little kitten was on the platform. The cat walked right into her outstretched arms, and it was love at first sight. The kitten grew up to be the scrawny runt she named Blinkie.
Whenever anyone came into the apartment the cat would arch its back and hiss and spit. Blinkie did his business in the bathtub. He spent most of his time on the kitchen windowsill. The window was five stories.The cat’s favorite victim was Josh, whom Blinkie used to terrorize by jumping out of hiding and clawing at him. There were a lot of times that Josh and I wanted to nudge Blinkie off the windowsill. One of us probably would have done it if Johnny hadn’t been our friend.
The Family F’s neighbor, Mrs. Schoenstein, was a friend of Johnny’s grandmother. One June day she came into their apartment and complained that her dinner was missing. She’d broiled a chicken and put it out on the windowsill to cool off. When she went back to get it, the chicken wasn’t there. Mrs. Schoenstein was convinced that a hobo had taken the chicken.
Johnny didn’t say a word, but he doubted that a hobo would scale a five-story apartment building or climb down ten feet from a roof façade to steal a chicken. Johnny went up to the roof and found Blinkie hunched over a pile of chicken bones, licking his chops. Johnny never told Mrs.Schoenstein about Blinkie and the chicken.
Johnny had spent some childhood summers with cousins in Nova Scotia. They’d taught him to fish and to set crab and lobster traps. He passed some of those lessons on to Josh and me. Most city kids never got a chance to learn about things like that. We considered ourselves pretty lucky. Johnny was always going on some outdoor trip; fishing or crabbing or hiking. He knew the names of trees and flowers, and was better than anyone in the neighborhood at catching butterflies or capturing fireflies in glass jars. As a result, we dubbed him “Nature Boy,” after a popular Nat “King” Cole song of that name.
On a late afternoon in May, he decided it was time for us to learn about setting crab traps. Johnny was fourteen, Josh ten, and I was twelve. We set out for New Jersey on foot. It was a six mile hike that took us about two hours. We were weighed down by flashlights, official army issue canteens (from the Army and Navy store on 170th Street) filled with water, penknives, three burlap bags, three metal crab cages, and some rope.
Johnny had a pair of rubber hip boots tied together and slung across and We walked across the George Washington Bridge, and then turned north for about a mile to reach the cliffs of the Palisades. We carefully climbed down the steep natural staircase of jagged rocks that led from the roadway to the bank of the Hudson River. We reached the riverbank a little past six in the evening. The shoreline glistened with small moist round rocks set in wet slimy sand. Seagulls circled above waiting to dive and scoop up any fish that might break the water’s plane.
“Okay,” said Johnny. “Everything’s perfect. The tide’s ready to go He showed us how to tie the rope to the crab cages and set their springs. Josh and I worked on the cages while Johnny put on his hip boots and waded into the water to secure the other ends of the ropes to moorings that were about five feet out in the river. We dropped the cages into the At about ten o’clock my toes began to get wet. I moved back a couple of feet. Josh and Johnny were standing at the base of the cliff, about twenty feet behind me. Johnny was smoking a Lucky. I could make out two orange dots of light. That meant Josh was smoking, too.
Judging by the odor the wind carried toward me, it was one of his asthma cigarettes. He had a hacking non-stop cough, and I knew that the damp, freezing wind was affecting him. But Josh was too stubborn to admit to any I took a few steps back to get away from the advancing water. My socks were wet and my feet were freezing.
“I’ll be damned if I’m going to say anything,” I thought.
A minute later, although I hadn’t moved again, the water was up to “I’ll be damned if I’m going to say anything,” I silently reiterated, and took a few more steps back. Within five minutes I was ankle deep in water “Hey, Johnny! I think the tide’s coming in!”
They both ran over from the cliffside.
“Shit,” Johnny said. “The moorings are under water.”
The ends of the ropes that Johnny had tied to the moorings were under ten to fifteen feet of water.
“What do we do now,” I asked.
“We wait,” Johnny said.
“Until the tide goes back out.”
“When will that be?”
“Probably about one o’clock. By then we’ll have some crabs. High tides are the best times to catch them.”
By a quarter past one, the tide had receded enough for Johnny to wade out to the moorings and pull the traps in. They were filled with blue claw crabs. About thirty of them.
“Okay,” Johnny said, “put them into the bags.”
“No way I’m touching those things,” I said.
Johnny picked up a crab and told Josh to shine a flashlight on it.
“Hold it like this and it’s helpless. There’s no way it can do anything.”
“No touchee, no crabee,” Josh said.
“Then you carry the ropes,” Johnny said.
Once the crabs had been loaded into the bags, we started climbing up the cliff. It was much more difficult going up than it had been coming down. Josh and Johnny were each lugging a burlap bag full of crabs behind them. The bags kept swinging against the rocks. The wet ropes were in my burlap bag. It was so heavy that I lost one step for every two I gained. A cold wind plastered my wet clinging clothes to my body and caused my hands and feet to grow numb. My teeth were chattering.
I looked at Johnny when we’d finally reached the top. His teeth were chattering, too. Then I looked toward Josh. His teeth weren’t chattering. They were clenched. He was shivering so much that his whole body was shaking. I figured that was only because he couldn’t clench his whole body. Josh was a pretty stubborn guy. It was a genetic trait.
When we got up to the road it was past 2:30. It took us about an hour to struggle across the bridge. Every time Josh or Johnny took a step, the burlap bags banged against their legs and a pair of crab claws pinched at them. When we finally reached the New York side of the bridge there was a bus.
”Let’s take the bus,” I said.
“No, we walk,” Josh said, through tightly clenched teeth.
“We take the bus,” Johnny said.
Johnny got on the bus first. He tripped on the second step and fell flat on his face. He got up slowly, chuckling away his embarrassment. Once they realized he was all right, the ten or so people on the bus, including the driver, began to laugh. No one laughed harder than Josh and I. We knew Johnny’s history. If there was going to be a mishap within a mile of him, he was almost certain to be involved in it. Johnny had always been an accident waiting to happen.
We paid our ten-cent fares and walked down the aisle to the long padded bench at the rear of the bus. We were all exhausted, and fell asleep the moment we flopped down on the bench.
We were jolted awake when the bus driver slammed on the brakes. Josh and I lurched forward. We were able to brace ourselves by holding onto the seatbacks in front of us. But Johnny flew off the bench and down the aisle, careening off the sides of seats, until he came to a stop about halfway toward the front of the bus. He lay sprawled on his back in the aisle. His long legs were sticking straight up in the air, and his arms were thrashing about to find something to grab for support. He struggled for a minute or so before he was able to right himself and get up off the floor.
A seam on his burlap bag had split. Crabs were crawling all around.
They were in the aisle, crossing the aisle, and under the seats. The poor creatures were running for their lives. Most of the people on the bus were standing on their seats. Some of the women were screaming.
“Get those crabs off this bus,” the driver shouted. A smile almost Josh and Johnny ran up and down the aisle corralling the crabs and stuffing them on top of the ropes in my burlap bag. When they’d succeeded in capturing all the crabs, we got off the bus. It was past four in the morning. Luckily we were only three or four blocks from the neighborhood.
As we turned right from 170th Street onto Sheridan Avenue, thirty-five or forty people were milling around in the street. Two police cars were there. I later found out that my mother had summoned them. We’d been reported missing, and a search party had been sent out to find us.
Someone shouted, “There they are!” People started pointing in our direction. Suddenly there was a herd of people running down the hill
Josh’s father, Burch, sprinted out of his apartment with a belt in his hand and started chasing Josh around the street. Josh kept ducking and dodging him, which only made Burch angrier. Josh ducked and dodged one time too many. He ran smack into his brother. Rube picked him up by his shirtfront and held him for Burch. Josh was suspended in mid-air, his feet still moving. Burch came over and grabbed Josh by the collar. He boxed his ear and dragged him across the street toward their apartment.
Josh’s mother was holding the door open. He stumbled going up the stairs, and Burch whacked him across the ass with his belt. Josh tumbled into the foyer, and Rube closed the door behind them.
Johnny’s father, Mr. F, grabbed Johnny’s hair and started pulling him toward their building. Johnny’s grandmother grabbed Mr. F’s arm and tried to free it from Johnny’s head. Mr. F’s arm swung around, and he knocked the old lady’s glasses off. She got down on her knees in the middle of the street and felt around for them. Johnny was struggling to get away from his father. Mr. F, turning around in an attempt to restrain Johnny, accidentally stepped on the old lady’s glasses. She got up and grabbed his arm again.
My mother was crying. She tugged at my arm and urged me into our building. Within moments I was in my apartment wrapped in a blanket and sipping hot chocolate. It took about fifteen minutes for my mother’s hysteria to subside. My father had slept through everything.
“I don’t want you ever going with that wild one again.”
“But, Mom, he’s my friend.”
“He’s crazy,” she said.
============
About Bob Grand:
Passover 1948 at 1348 Sheridan Avenue at Bob’s childhood home.
Bob Grand was born in the Bronx in 1938. He lived at 1348 Sheridan Avenue until 1959. For the outlandish rental of $ 65 per month they had a three bedroom one bath apartment in which, for the first ten years of his life, Bob lived with six other people – his Mom’s two sisters, his mom and dad, his older brother, and his widowed grandfather.
He went to P.S. 88, P.S. 90, JHS 22, Taft H.S., and then Hunter College in the Bronx (now Lehman). He mostly attended Hunter at night, graduating in 1966. When he started at Hunter, it cost $25 per semester.
In 1959 he and his family moved to 2325 Morris Avenue. It was an elevator building, something they had longed to live in for many years. It would have been a “step up” if not for the fact that, after all those years of waiting and longing, the apartment was on the ground floor of the elevator building.
Miller’s at the Corner of Jackson Avenue and E152nd Street
He left the Bronx in 1967 to move to Manhattan, feeling very much at home in a 6th floor walkup (remember, he was younger then) studio apartment in the east 60’s for which he paid the huge sum of $ 135/month.
Bob now lives in Monticello, NY, but the Bronx will always be his home. He visits the Bronx often, and is thrilled to see a new generation of Bronxites enjoying living and raising their children there (he has five children and five grandchildren of his own). He wishes they were able to share the joy of neighborhood movie houses and candy stores and what they meant to the culture of his youth and his experience of growing up Bronx.
Longtime resident of the area for 20 years, Janice, says she likes the idea of being able to sit to wait for the bus while listening to music.
Thanks to Elena Martinez of the Bronx Musical Heritage Center folks will have a spot to sit while waiting for the bus — and enjoy a variety of musical selections specially curated by Martinez herself.
Located at the Freeman Street Subway Station on the 2/5 line on the corner of Southern Boulevard and Louise Niñe Boulevard, ‘Boogie Down Bench’ is a project intended to give life to otherwise dormant spaces throughout the city and was one of the projects selected, specifically in areas under the subway El, bridges and overpasses.
Some of the songs you can listen to while sitting down at the booth are from folks such as Bronx Grammy winning Will Calhoun, and Circa ’95.
Janice, who’s lived in the area for 20 years loved the idea. “It gives me a place to sit down and wait for the bus for the first time since I’ve lived here,” She said. “The music is nice too,” Janice added.
You can experience the musical delights of the Boogie Down Bench until September 15th when the installation project runs until.
We told you that Bronx Fashion Week is going to be full of fun and surprises and we meant it!
On Saturday, September 6th during the second day of Bronx Fashion Week, we’ll be hosting a Skateboard competition!
Categories will be as follows:
Best Ollie On Flat
Best Trick
Best Grind
Best Trick Off Steps
Game of S.K.A.T.E
Registration for the competition is from 9AM – 12PM on that day. Practice runs will be held from 10AM – 12PM and the competition itself will start at 1PM and end at 4PM.
For more information, email BronxFashionWeek@hotmail.com
We’re holding a casting call for Bronx Fashion Week and we wanna know do you have what it takes to become The Bronx Fashion Week’s First Top Model. Come down and meet the Bronx Fashion Week Team…
Bronx Fashion Week Model Casting Call Sat July 19th and Sun July 26th
9am – 11am
Yotel Hotel
570 10th avenue
42nd street and 10th avenue
Female Models
✔ 5’8″ and up (without heels)
✔ Size 0 to 6
✔ Wear little to no makeup and tied up hair
✔ Please wear something fitted, plain in color and 6″ high heel Shoes
✔ Bring your comp card, a regular non-professional full length and head photo of yourself.
Male Model
✔ Age 18 and up
✔ 6′ and up (without shoes)
✔ Good Shape
✔ Please wear something fitted, plain in color
✔ Bring your comp card, a regular non-professional full length and head photo of yourself.
*Full Disclosure: Welcome2TheBronx is on the Advisory Board for Bronx Fashion Week
Per Scholas / Doran Jones UDC facility is well under construction and slated to open this fall. Image Courtesy Per Scholas
The financial services IT consulting firm, Doran Jones, is moving its headquarters from Wall Street to Port Morris this fall as we mentioned last April. Doran Jones is building an Urban Development Center along with Per Scholas, a nonprofit IT training company to the tune of $1.2 million dollars.
When construction is complete in the fall, Per Scholas will begin training hundreds of underemployed or unemployed adults, 18 years or older with a High School diploma or a GED. According to an interview Welcome2TheBronx conducted in April, Jessicah White of Per Scholas said, “We will have at least 6 software testing classes in 2014 with at least 20 students per class.”
The classes are 23 weeks long and unpaid but once the students successfully complete the program, they will then begin working at Doran Jones which will be housed in the same building and receiving salaries of anywhere between $35,000 to $40,000 per year.
Zero Tax Incentives and Subsidies
Unlike FreshDirect which seeks over $140 million in tax incentives and subsidies to move to our waterfront and pollute our roadways with thousands of trucks and over 3,000 vehicular truck trips, Doran Jones and Per Scholas has neither applied nor received any monies from the city or state according to Ms White of Per Scholas.
Partnerships such as Doran Jones and Per Scholas are the kinds of job creation opportunities we should be supporting and nourishing for their wages lift the unemployed and underemployed from poverty, teaching them a skill and a trade that will allow them to continue to grow within their fields.
It is important to note that the jobs FreshDirect promises are low wage paying jobs that hover above $8/hour to slightly above $9/hour — which many FreshDirect employees cannot survive on and simply have to apply for government assistance.
The vast majority of jobs that FreshDirect is offering are pickers & packers and drivers of which the average salaries for those positions are $18,720 and $22,800 respectively. Pickers & Packers are expected to work at temperatures of 38 degrees Fahrenheit and be able to pick up to 40lbs and be able to work shifts of 8-12 hours per day. Which job would you want to work at?
The Importance of Living Wage Jobs
In order to lift people from poverty, it is imperative to create jobs that offer living wages. This is not rocket science.
Doran Jones and the likes are what our Borough President needs to advocate for in our communities for these are the types of jobs that will help uplift the community.
Once the newly trained employees of Doran Jones begin working at their new headquarters in Port Morris, the economic impact of 120 new workers will help the small neighborhood mom and pop shops thrive. The salaries of just these individuals alone will collectively be $4.2 million to $4.8 million affording them more disposable income to put back into the very community they work in — something that salaries that FreshDirect provides cannot compare to.
In a neighborhood that is filled with small businesses and mom and pop shops, this will be a boon to folks who live and work there. Places like Bruckner Bar & Grill, The Shoppe Bx, Charlies Kitchen & Bar, Ceetay, The Bronx Brewery, Port Morris Distillery, Tirado Distillery and so many others will benefit from such high wage jobs for Bronxites.
Let’s encourage our local elected officials to support these types of jobs and economic development and not those that will keep our communities in poverty.
To apply for the programs:
According to Per Scholas: “Our base criteria for new applicants is adults 18+ who are unemployed or underemployed with at least a GED or high school diploma. All applicants must be New York City residents (5 boroughs) and authorized to work in the U.S. Most importantly, the candidates must have a passion to learn software testing and technology. More on the characteristics and skill set we seek can be found on our application page: http://perscholas.org/experience/software-testing-education-program-step-new-york/ ”
