This article in the Daily News clearly shows what a tale of two cities we are. Manhattan and Riverdale residents, along with elected officials are battling LG’s plan to build a 100+ foot tower in the Palisades that will tarnish the pristine views along the Hudson. Meanwhile in the South Bronx, residents are battling against the State of New York and FreshDirect, demanding that they deserve better than a 21 year old environmental impact statement which the company is relying on to move into the neighborhood.
Don’t get me wrong – Riverdale’s views are beautiful and are worthy of fighting for but what about something that actually impacts the quality of life and health of thousands of South Bronx residents? Where are all these politicians crying foul for us in our very own state and not something across the river and in New Jersey?
We should be getting as much support in the South Bronx as we are in Riverdale if not even more because we are talking about people’s lives at stake here. We should be united as a borough against environmental injustice being done in our own backyard.
Several weeks ago I had the pleasure of receiving an invitation to Daniel Hauben’s opening reception at the Andrew Freedman home for his latest exhibition: Expanding Views: The Art of Daniel Hauben.
The exhibition is quite breathtaking as I’ve never had the pleasure of seeing his works up close. The paintings capture the essence of the Bronx so clearly that it is no wonder why Bronx Community College commissioned 22 paintings by Hauben for their new North Hall and Library.
Daniel Hauben has recreated scenes from the wild cacophonous landscape and its people that is our beautiful borough for several decades now, including the “burning” days. The exhibition, although mostly Bronx-centric, does contain several other powerful pieces such as one based on 9/11 and also a towering masterpiece titled ‘The Fifth Crusade’ which was, “…Hauben’s passionate response to the US invasion of Iraq and the looting of the Baghdad museum…”.
Where in the Bronx did you grow up and which schools did you attend?
Until age nine I lived at 3458 Fenton Avenue in Hillside Homes (now Eastchester Heights), I attended PS 78. When we moved, it was towards the end of 3rd grade, and I finished the year at PS 95. We moved to Fort Independence Street in the Kingsbridge section of The Bronx and I suffered through 7th, 8th, and 9th grade at JHS 143.
What is it about the Bronx that calls to you as an artist to use it as the subject of your artwork?
It is the extreme density of the Bronx, its throbbing activity, multitude of cultures and the resultant visual explosion, that I find so captivating and challenging as a subject for my paintings. No conscious plan could have created this extraordinary layering of architectural styles, this visual arrangement of forms which is constantly being torn down and rebuilt again. The Bronx is changing before our eyes, yet vestiges of all its incarnations remain. Today I walked down a Bronx street and saw a row of track houses (hastily erected in the 1980s), next to a vacant lot with a solitary burnt-out building at its center. An old Jewish man wearing a black overcoat and top hat strolled by a Puerto Rican mango vendor and disappeared into a 99cent Store. These incongruities, these unpredictable juxtapositions – sometimes astonishing, sometimes amusing, and sometimes depressing, but always captivating and provocative – are the fuel for my art.
If you could choose one of your pieces, which is your favorite, and why?
(Urban Idyll, 33″ x 240″ oil on canvas, unfinished)
Happily, my favorite painting is almost always my most recent one. This is because I am constantly challenging myself to build on previous experience, and take my work to places it hasn’t been before. A painting that fits this category at the moment , is a large, 6-panel painting I have been working on for a year and a half, entitled ” Urban Idyll”. I am using an unusually strong color palette to animate this sprawling urban panorama. It has been very exciting for me to share this (unfinished) painting with the public in my current exhibit: Expanding Views at the Andrew Freedman Home.
What were some of the greatest obstacles you faced growing up in the Bronx?
My obstacles came later in life, in trying to develop an art career:
-No gallery directors would ever come up to The Bronx.
-When I invited my college-mates to my graduation party in The Bronx, their common refrain was
“I don’t do The Bronx”.
-When I had my first solo show at a Manhattan Gallery, the director took me out to dinner
the night before the opening, at which time he suggested that I start painting Manhattan.
-I have yet to be taken seriously by the Manhattan Art World.
How do you feel growing up in the Bronx prepared you for the world?
Growing up and making friends with children from such a diverse range of backgrounds was a wonderful thing. Until I travelled to other parts of the country where life is so much more homogeneous, I assumed that it was like this everywhere. Amongst my friends growing up were Italians, Irish, Jews, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Black Americans, Greeks, Japanese, Chinese, etc. When I visited friends, I was exposed to the different customs, languages, music, and especially the foods of so many cultures. This experience opened my mind to the richness of all cultures, and a life long interest in travelling, painting, and connecting to all kinds of people.
Any words of wisdom that you’d like to share with budding artists out there?
If you have to paint, paint! Find a way!
Make your way to the Andrew Freedman Home located at 1125 Grand Concourse at 166th Street to catch this wonderful exhibit. The exhibition runs through April 24th, 2014 and is open Mondays through Fridays from Noon to 10PM and Saturdays from 11AM – 4PM.
Check out the flyer below for more events where Daniel Hauben’s work will be featured!
“It was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden there lived whom you may know By the name of Annabel Lee; And this maiden she lived with no other thought Than to love and be loved by me.” – From Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe
2. Edgar Allan Poe called the Bronx home and you can still visit his cottage. It was here that Poe wrote Annabel Lee and several other of his famous poems.
No trip to Belmont is complete without going to The Bronx Beer Hall in the heart of the Arthur Avenue Market / Image Credit: Richard Perry/The New York Times
Lewis Morris, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence of our country, was born in the Bronx. / by Ole Erekson, Engraver, c1876, Library of Congress
Laverne DeFazio, played by Bronxite Penny Marshall / LAVERNE & SHIRLEY – Gallery – Shoot Date: December 18, 1975. (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/ABC via Getty Images) PENNY MARSHALL
6. Penny Marshall, better known as Laverne DeFazio from the hit comedy show, Laverne and Shirley was raised right here in the Bronx and lived on the Grand Concourse. Marshall attended the former Walton High School. Besides her acting career, she has directed such hit movies like, Big, Jumping Jack Flash, A League of Their Own, and Awakenings.
Span of Lenape Territory / Wikipedia
7. Before our borough’s namesake, Jonas Bronck, set foot upon the our land, it was known as Rananchqua by the Siwanoy, a group of Native Americans of the Lenape Tribe. It was a land divided by the Aquahung River (Today’s modern-day Bronx River).
The Bronx and its towns and villages before it was the Bronx and was still part of Westchester County. / Wikipedia
8. Did you also know that The Bronx was once part of Westchester County? The Town of Westchester, which was to the East of the Bronx River was the first town established in Westchester County and was its county seat. In 1874, the towns west of the Bronx River became part of New York City and the lands to the east of the Bronx River were annexed to New York City in 1898.
Woolworth’s Mausoleum at Woodlawn Cemetery / Flickr / https://www.flickr.com/photos/starik39/
9. Woodlawn Cemetery is perhaps the final resting place of more famous people than any other place in the world. Among the most notable names are: Rowland H. Macy, founder of Macy’s Department stores, James Cash Penney, founder of, you guessed it, JC Penney, legendary latin artist Celia Cruz, FW Woolworth of Woolworth Department Store fame, composer, Irving Berlin, Jazz musicians such as Duke Ellington, Miles Davis.
As we continue to celebrate throughout the year the 375th anniversary of Jonas Bronck’s arrival to our borough as the first European settler and the 100th anniversary of the creation of Bronx County, we will continue to provide you with these little fun factoids and trivia. Have any suggestions for future postings on this topic? Send them in to submissions@welcome2thebronx.com !
Thousands of of people have read the article and have shared it through their various networks, now we’re asking you to please sign the petition to Mayor Bill de Blasio, Public Advocate Letitia James, and Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito asking them to help in this cause.
Unfortunately this is isn’t news to Bronx residents and in particular, the people of the South Bronx: Schools located in lower income neighborhoods are severely lacking in Arts Education or do not have any arts-based programs at all.
A new report issued by New York City Comptroller, Scott M. Stringer, shows that The Bronx and Brooklyn account for nearly 50% of schools without an arts program. The report, which identifies schools throughout the city that suffer the same fate is a first step in rectifying the situation.
“The benefits of arts education are many: in addition to higher GPAs and test scores cited in the Comptroller’s report, studies from the National Institutes of Health and Americans For The Arts have shown that arts education helps with motor skills, language development, decision-making, visual learning, creativity and inventiveness, and cultural awareness.”
Yankee fans came out today to bear witness for an historic moment – Derek Jeter’s last opening day at the stadium and the beginning of the end of his almost 20 year career.
Jeter began playing for the Bronx Bombers in 1995 and since his debut, he’s been a one of the most popular players ever. Known as a consummate ball player, ESPN wrote about Jeter last year,
“The Yankees’ Derek Jeter has defied the impact of the two most influential elements of his time: the institutional shift toward quantitative analysis and the cynical lust for home runs, fueled by performance-enhancing drugs. For now, he’s stuck at 3,304 hits, sidelined until after the All-Star break with an ankle injury. But with Jeter, the visual has always been better than the numerical — and there’s never been a better time to appreciate that than in his absence, which only underscores his longevity.
For years, most stats guys never liked him as much as his All-Star rivals at shortstop: Alex Rodriguez, Nomar Garciaparra and Miguel Tejada. Jeter, now 38, has outlasted them all at the position and created a more compelling legacy. (Rodriguez and Tejada will always be drug-tainted, and Jeter likely will finish with twice as many hits as Garciaparra’s 1,747.)”
As I was taking my morning walk with my dog around Melrose, I noticed that several cherry blossoms and other trees are starting to bloom.
Have you noticed Spring forcing its way through? We’d love to see your pictures and feature them on a future post showing the beauty of our green borough in bloom!
Use the hashtag #bloomingbronx or #welcome2thebronx in Instagram, Twitter, and all other social media or you can simply send your pictures to: submissions@welcome2thebronx.com
Make sure to let us know the location / neighborhood of the image as well as how you would like us to credit it!
A feeling of security is a vital issue for most people and determines where they live, where they send their children to school, etc. In subway station entrances, the station agents provide this feeling of security and the MTA is scheming to remove all of them.
As Bronx subway riders are fully aware, the conditions at the entrances where station agents have been removed are a showcase for retaining them. These entrances are gathering places for drug dealers, drug users, gangs, the homeless and other menacing individuals. Garbage quickly accumulates accompanied by a very pungent odor. In some instances, riders are forced to pay a fare of $2.75 and even $3.00 when extortionists gum up all of the turnstiles, except one through which they swipe their victims.
Crimes, mostly theft, are taking place although many are not reported and there is plenty of verbal harassment. What decent citizen would want to go through there? Who would send their son or daughter into such a dangerous environment? The critical feeling of security is completely destroyed and in general, riders use these entrances only during rush hours when there is some safety in numbers.
In stark contrast, a staffed entrance is a completely different world. Unsavory characters are absent and the people feel safe. Particularly popular are the off-hour waiting areas. Riders wait under the watchful eye of the station agent and then proceed to the subway car with the train operator or the conductor. Without station agents, the off-hour waiting areas would be useless!
Now, rumors are plentiful that the MTA wants to get out of the fare collecting business which would mean the end for station agents. Without station agents, safety would be severely compromised and the overall feeling of security would be forever destroyed. When people no longer feel secure in a building or neighborhood, they move. If there were no station agents at any entrance, there would be no escape!
Latest from the MTA
Those familiar with transit are aware that the MTA wants to change the MetroCard in the near future. The agency contends that the present MetroCard is obsolete and the vending machines, which the MTA states are difficult and expensive to maintain, will soon come to the end of their useful life.
The MTA plans to create a new card called “tap & go.” The big improvement here is that this card would be scanned rather than swiped so that entering the subway or boarding the bus would be much faster. This is a good idea which could be done relatively quickly.
The MTA, however, wants to go further. An unknown amount of public money is being spent to develop an “open payment” system in which the fare would be paid by credit cards, debit cards, and pre-paid fare cards. These pre-paid cards would be available in news-stands, pharmacies and other stores. Whether “unlimited rides” would continue or whether station agents or even new vending machines would sell them are open questions. It possible that a rider would no longer be able to purchase a fare card at a subway station! In this way, the MTA would be out of the fare collection business.2
An Ominous Trend for Station Agents
The easiest way to abolish a job is to take away duties from the job-holder until the worker has nothing to do and the job becomes obsolete. The duties of station agents have been heading in this direction for years. Consider:
A station agent can’t sell a one-way ride, provide receipts and process credit card payments. Only the vending machine does this. The height of absurdity is the fact that a station agent can’t replace a defective MetroCard even though they can see the exact amount on the Card. Riders have to fill out a form and wait a month for a replacement.
Unknown to most New Yorkers, the MTA has been installing blue lighted “help kiosks” in which a rider presses an intercom button to ask for directions, etc. The “help kiosks” would be connected to an MTA Information Center. This is the MTA’s solution to riders’ concerns that with the removal of station agents, no one would answer their questions!
The “help kiosks” can be seen at the IRT Brooklyn Bridge and 23rd St. stations. The cost of installing these devices at these two stations was $300,000.00. Plans are in place to expand them to 102 more stations and eventually all stations! Imagine the total cost for 468 stations. Yet the MTA claims that it’s saving money by removing the station agents!
The conclusion is obvious if pre-paid fare cards are sold outside the system and “help kiosks” would answer riders’ questions, what duties would remain for the station agent? Just about none and the MTA would have the perfect excuse to remove them.3
Lessons from History
How would the MTA remove the rest of the station agents? A brief look at the past reveals the answer.
When the original MetroCard arrived in 1997, there were already rumors that the MTA’s ultimate objective was to remove the station agents. Very few paid attention until the MTA suddenly announced that 177 token booths would be closed in late 2002.
Keep the Token Booths Open coalitions were quickly formed and the public overwhelmed the public hearings held in early 2003. As a result the MTA reduced the number of proposed closings to 62. The matter was taken to court and the MTA ultimately won.
The MTA waited a year for the coalitions to disperse and in late 2004, suddenly announced the closing of 164 more token booths. To dampen opposition, the agency shifted some agents to outside these booths as “roving customer service reps.” Then the MTA closed the 164 booths in the summer of 2005 by closing a few in each borough every month throughout the summer. The MTA demolished the closed token booths in breath-taking speed to be able to plead poverty at any attempts to restore them. Would the agency attend to other matters so quickly!
The “roving customer service reps” lasted until 2010 when the MTA suddenly announced their dismissal to save money? This is the same trick that the MTA plans to use again with the 25 stations and it’s critical not to fall for it.4 Station agents must continue to sell subway rides from token booths. Re-deploying them as customer service reps outside the booths is a scam and a step in the removal process.
The pattern is very clear:
1. The MTA hopes that the public will be oblivious to the warning signs.
2. The MTA will make a sudden “proclamation” usually in conjunction with a fare increase thus giving people no time organize a major protest.
3. The MTA will wait for any protests to subside and carry out their objective.
4. The agency will close a few booths at a time in widely scattered locations throughout the City to impede the formation of any organized protest.
5. The agency will redeploy some agents as customer service reps for show, only to dismiss them later.
This Is the Time for Preventive Action
Removing the remaining station agents would be the greatest blunder in New York City transit history. It would place riders at the mercy of criminals and forever destroy a feeling of security in riding the subways.
Waiting and hoping for the best is not a solution. The thinking that the MTA would never do this is an excursion into fantasy. The agency is clearly planning it NOW!
Locally elected officials can’t wait on the sidelines until the “surprise” announcement. The best place to begin is in the City Council. The Public Safety and Transportation Committees should call a joint hearing, demand straight answers and force the MTA to stop spending our money on results that we do not want!
With respect to any ideas of removing or redeploying station agents, New York City must send the MTA a very clear message: DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!
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Notes
1 On November 6, 2013, the New York Daily News revealed that in contract negotiations with TWU Local 100, the MTA is proposing a pilot program for 25 stations where the station agent will be placed outside and the token booth demolished.
2 In order to get the latest information on the MTA’s plans for fare collecting, I attended a “Problem Solvers” session at the NYC Transit Museum on March 19, 2014. Ben Kabak from the 2nd Avenue Sagas blog was the host and Michael DeVitto, Vice President & Program Executive for Fare Payment, from the MTA made the presentation.
3 No oral questions from the audience were permitted. Questions had to be written on an index card. My question was “what will be the role of the station agents in the new fare payment system?” Kabak did ask it and DeVitto ducked by answering that the MTA Department of Subways will determine the ultimate fate of the station agents.
4 Only a small number of stations without any agents would be enough to set a legal precedent making it easier to remove the remaining agents.
About John Rozankowski, PhD
Although born in Brooklyn, John Rozankowski, PhD spent most of his life in the Bronx and received his Ph.D. in history from Fordham University at Rose Hill.
After selling his rental property, John became a community activist fighting against the new Yankee Stadium, the term limit extension, the Kingsbridge Armory Shops-in-the-Armory proposal and for Bronx Borough President Reuben Diaz’s living wage campaign. Last year, he was a volunteer in the Letitia James for Public Advocate campaign and continues to campaign in Queens for the reactivation of the Rockaway line.
John has a very strong interest in mass transit issues especially relating to the subways and buses. The outer boroughs have always been shafted and it’s high time that Bronxites did something about it.
In addition, he is a writer and blogger on New York City issues.”
Dr Rozankowski has lived in the Bronx for 58 years and currently resides in the Bedford Park neighborhood of the Bronx.
Disclaimer:
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Welcome2TheBronx encourages reader submissions for consideration for publication on our site. It is our mission to be able to provide a platform where Bronx residents can have their voices broadcasted to a wider audience.
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Wonderful news! Kickstarter has selected the Bronx Documentary Center’s campaign as the project of the day and is featuring it on their front page today!
If you haven’t donated yet, make your way over to their site and make a donation! No donation is too small!
In 2014 The Bronx is celebrating two major anniversaries: The 375th anniversary of the first European settler — and our borough’s namesake Jonas Bronck, to call our great borough of the North home, and the 100th anniversary of the creation of Bronx County, New York State’s 62nd and last county created.
In the spirit of history, we’ve decided to compile a list of things you may not (or may) know about the Bronx.
4. Contrary to popular belief, Central Park is NOT the largest park in New York City. That honor goes to Pelham Bay Park. At 2,765 acres, Pelham Bay Park swallows up Central Park’s 843 acres and is more than 3x its size.
5. Speaking of parks, the Bronx has 3 of the largest parks in NYC while that other borough *cough Brooklyn cough* has one. Besides the aforementioned, Van Cortlandt Park is the 3rd largest in the city and Bronx Park at 7th.
6. Patience and Fortitude, the world famous and iconic lion statues standing guard at the New York Public Library’s main branch on 5h Avenue and 42nd Street in Manhattan, were also made in the Bronx by the Piccirilli Brothers in Mott Haven. Did we mention that they also carved #2 on our list?
8. Ralph Lauren was born Ralph Livshitz and also raised in the same neighborhood in the Bronx. He also attended the same school, PS 80, as Calvin Klein did.
11. While we’re on the subject of space, the final frontier, planetary scientist Carolyn Porco was born and raised in the Bronx attending Cardinal Spellman High School. Porco began her career in exploring the outer solar system with the voyager missions and currently leads the imaging team on the Cassini mission orbiting Saturn.
