The New York Times recently published a heartwarming story and slide show in the Lens Blog on a same-sex couple in Mott Haven who have successfully raised 20 foster children — with no signs of stopping.
You may remember that a report released in 2008 showed that same-sex couples in the Bronx were more likely, than any other borough in the city and perhaps county in the nation, to have children so it shouldn’t be surprising to Bronxites.
“…Ms. Scarborough-Harris and her partner, Paris Harris, had been foster parents to some 20 girls and young women at their South Bronx home in Mott Haven. Many had some form of disability, and a few identified as L.G.B.T. Some might think the Bronx’s blue-collar and immigrant neighborhoods make it an unlikely place for a lesbian couple to help raise more than 20 children. But a 2008 report by the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, showed same-sex couples in the Bronx were actually more likely to have children than in any other New York City borough — and maybe more than in any county in the country.
According to Gary J. Gates, one of the report’s authors, black and Hispanic same-sex couples are likelier to have children than similar white couples. The Bronx’s affordability and higher percentage of black and Hispanic residents, Mr. Gates said, could account for its large number of same sex parents.
Ms. Scarborough-Harris said they felt compelled to shelter and nurture youths whose lives had already endured enough hardship and uncertainty.
“We believe the service we give is the rent we pay to stay on the planet,” Ms. Scarborough-Harris said. “It’s been 10 years and 20 kids, and it just doesn’t look like it’s going to end.”
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.
To submit an article, email us at submissions@welcome2thebronx.com
Updated to include quote and link from Borough President’s Press Release
During Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr’s State of the Borough address today, he publicly called upon the city to issue a new Request for Proposal for PS 31 and to truly explore whether or not it needs to be demolished.
It seems the Borough President has listened to our cries for the building to be salvaged since our petition to save the building was addressed to him among others.
Diaz called it a disgrace that the city let the school fall into such repair.
The southern Grand Concourse was also discussed at length, as Borough President Diaz called on the city to issue a new request for proposals for the P.S. 31 site, and to continue to explore whether or not the existing building could be saved.
“It is an absolute disgrace that the City allowed P.S. 31, one of the most iconic school buildings in our city and my own alma mater, to fall into such disrepair that it is scheduled to be torn down,” said Borough President Diaz. “With that said, it is time for innovation. The city must issue a new RFP for the P.S. 31 site. This RFP should examine whether or not the building can be saved, and should also explore a wide variety of uses for the site in order to stimulate street life and blend in with the neighborhood.”
We made a lot of noise and the media took notice. Our petition which has been signed by almost 800 supporters (if you haven’t signed it, please do!) was instrumental in getting the attention of Landmarks Preservation Commission and used in their decision to deny Department of Building’s request to strip the beloved school of its landmark status so that it could be demolished.
The department of buildings cited safety concerns and said the building probably couldn’t withstand another weather event yet PS 31 still stands with all the record snow that had fallen this winter while buildings across the city have suffered roof collapses — newer structures which had no history of safety concerns.
Lower Concourse Waterfront District
As you know, PS 31 sits amid the rezoned Lower Concourse District which went from manufacturing to residential.
The borough president has also called for the creation of a waterfront district in the area stretching from 138th Street up to 149th Street.
Did you know that Bronx Community College occupies one of the highest points in the whole Bronx? Do you know how this school came to occupy that location? 2014 is the 40th anniversary of Bronx Community College’s (BCC) first full year at the campus we know today. A distinguished African-American educator oversaw the move from scattered buildings around Jerome Avenue to the high and architecturally distinguished place it now occupies; his name was Dr. James A. Colston!
Bronx River Sankofa believes it’s crucial to find connections among the many strands of Bronx African-American environmental history. 1974 was a year of growth and change in society. Examples connect the Bronx like a constellation:
BCC received public funds for a series of ten seminars on the Bronx River,
Bronx River Restoration Project, Inc., the first civic group since the 1920s to dedicate themselves to continuous river recreation and rehabilitation, began under the leadership of former Catholic missionary Ruth Anderberg (then recently retired from Fordham University),
Mid Bronx Desperadoes (now MBD Housing) who rebuilt much of the central Bronx began,
Jose E. Serrano first ran for elective office in the NYS legislature when Evelina Antonetty refused popular wishes she fold her successful activism into political office!
“The Commencement that will honor your graduation this year is significantly different from all previous such ceremonies in the college’s history. It will be held outdoors in a beautiful, park-like campus setting to mark a new era at Bronx Community College.
You have been fortunate to have experienced the excitement and thrill of moving to a “new” campus, and it is my sincerest wish that the uplifting experience you have had during this first year at the University Heights campus will provide the impetus to your post-BCC phase, be it at a four year college or in the world of work. I hope you will come back to visit us and bring that “special” feeling you have as the first graduates of the Heights campus to a reinvigorated Alumni Association.
Of course, we hope to welcome you back not just as alumni but as subscribers to the life-long learning process. Your degree does not close the book on benefits you can derive from BCC. There are many programs and courses, both credit and non-credit, that can help you toward a better career and a better life.
All of us cherish fond memories of the “Old Building” and the mad dashes under the Jerome Avenue El to get to class on time. In those widely separated facilities, we created an inner campus of “spirit.” Even though we now have a real campus, we have all profited from the fortitude that enabled us to transcend our surroundings and achieve education and closeness. You are special because you have experienced the best of both worlds.
If there is any lesson to be drawn from your unique experience, it could be that a consciousness of one’s past is the only reference point for determining the future. A life motivated in escaping the past, no matter how humble, will abort any real sense of purpose. We release ourselves from the enslavement of escapism by recognizing the essential connection between past, present, and future. [4/4/74]”
This story was originally published by Morgan Powell at Bronx River Sankofa on February 19th, 2014 and subsequently submitted for reprint to Welcome2TheBronx as part of African-American American History Month.
About Morgan Powell:
Morgan Powell is a Community Researcher with the Bronx African American History Project. As a landscape designer and sustainable agriculture activist for over a decade, he’s also been a volunteer on numerous environmental efforts throughout NYC, especially power point talks under the name Bronx River Sankofa.
His talks and walking tours have been received by over 1,300 New Yorkers at venues like the New York Public Library, Cornell University and the City University of New York. Morgan writes for the national website Outdoor Afro and other blogs. His on-line videos and other media celebrate the history of African-American New York beyond cliché facts, historical figures and neighborhoods with an eco-twist.
Disclaimer:
Comments, views, and opinions are that solely of the author and should never be misconstrued as that of Welcome2TheBronx or any other authors of this site. Welcome2TheBronx only edits articles submitted by readers for grammar and spelling leaving fact checking up to the author.
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.
To submit an article, email us at submissions@welcome2thebronx.com
Last year there were 156 pedestrian fatalities on the streets of New York City representing an increase from 2012 as well as 2011. According to an analysis done by the Daily News of NYPD statistics, there were 7 pedestrian related deaths during the first 12 days of this year and if this trend were to continue it would put us on pace to hit well over 200 fatalities this year.
With such an alarming increase of these incidents, Mayor De Blasio and his administration has launched Vision Zero Action Plan, a massive multi-prong and interdepartmental initiative to make the streets of New York City the safest of any big city in the world. This is only the beginning steps of what will be a more comprehensive plan as time progresses and the program evolves.
In the Bronx we all know too well that many of our streets are dangerous with cars exceeding speed limits as well as poorly designed crossings across major roadways like the Grand Concourse, Fordham Road, White Plains Road, and the Bruckner Boulevard.
Data from New York City Department of Transportation collected from 2008 through 2012 revealed the following factors related to pedestrian fatalities:
—55% were a result of dangerous driver choices.
—37% were a result of dangerous pedestrian choices.
—17% were a result of dangerous driver and pedestrian choices.
nyc.gov
Vision Zero Action plan will establish a permanent Vision Zero task force at the Mayor’s office in City Hall. The plan will pool resourced from City Hall, NYPD, Department of Transportation, Taxi & Limousine Commission, Department of Citywide Administrative Services, Departament of Mental Health & Hygiene, and ultimately we the citizens of New York City to accomplish its goals of reducing pedestrian fatalities.
The Vision Zero Action Plan is only a beginning for Vision Zero in New York. It defines the initial steps that the City Police (NYPD) and Transportation Departments (DOT), Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC), the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) and other agencies will take. These initiatives will be continually analyzed for their effectiveness. Other innovations will be sought and added.
City Hall
—Establish a permanent Vision Zero task force in the Mayor’s Office of Operations
—Launch a Vision Zero website to gather input from New Yorkers and coordinate information about the City’s Vision Zero plans, upcoming events and provide data
—Conduct Vision Zero presentations across the city
—Publish crash and safety data on a regular basis in user-friendly format(s)
—Partner with industry groups and vehicle manufacturers to educate fleet drivers and explore design changes to their automotive fleets
—Lead a state legislative campaign to give the City the power over the placement of speed and red-light cameras, the power to reduce the citywide speed limit to 25mph, and to increase the penalties associated with dangerous driver behavior.
Police Department
—Increase enforcement against dangerous moving violations, including speeding, failing to yield to pedestrians, signal violations, improper turns/disobeying signage, and phoning/texting while driving
—Increase speeding enforcement at the precinct level
—Purchase advanced speed detection equipment (LIDAR guns), upgrade speed detection technology available to precincts and train additional personnel
—Increase the Highway Unit to 263 personnel
—Expand Collision Investigation Squad cases to encompass all crashes with critical injuries
—Modify precinct-level traffic plans to increase focus on pedestrian safety
—Update technology for capturing crash data
—Enhance training for officers to better record and preserve crash details and site evidence
—Broaden recruiting efforts for School Crossing Guards
Police Department + Department of Transportation
—Conduct intensive street-level outreach and enforcement on safety problems and traffic laws, focused in areas with known crash histories
—Convene monthly meetings of DOT Traffic Division and NYPD Transportation Bureau to review traffic safety performance and set strategy for improvement
—Develop data-driven citywide enforcement strategy
—Develop borough-wide safety plans in close coordination with community boards, community organizations, and the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit
—Conduct targeted outreach in 500 schools each year, educating students about protecting themselves as safe pedestrians and working with their families for safer school zones
Department of Transportation
—Implement safety engineering improvements at 50 intersections and corridors
—Create 25 new arterial slow zones
—Implement eight new neighborhood slow zones
—Install speed cameras at 20 new authorized locations
—Install 250 speed bumps, including in neighborhood slow zones
—Enhance street lighting at 1,000 intersections
—Enhance maintenance of street markings
—Install traffic signals where needed for speed control via coordinated arterial signal time
—Additional street reconstruction safety projects
—Survey national and international best practices to expand potential strategies
—Hold workshops for major street design projects
—Undertake a high-quality ad campaign aimed at reducing speeding, failure-to-yield and other forms of reckless driving
—Increase extent of “Choices” anti-DWI campaign
—Double number of programmable speed boards for intensive education/enforcement initiative
—Make effective, age-appropriate safety curriculum available to schools throughout the city
—Partner with senior centers to increase communication and get specific feedback from aging New Yorkers about street safety improvements
—Increase the number and visibility of hands-on safety demonstrations
—Add safety flyers and messaging in DOT mailings such as Alternate Side Parking regulations and construction permits
Department of Transportation + Taxi & Limousine Commission
—Issue summonses to TLC drivers identified by red light cameras (in addition to summonses currently issued to vehicle owners)
—Update taxi school to account for new streetscape features and alert drivers to higher-crash street types
Taxi & Limousine Commission
—Create TLC safety enforcement squad, equipped with speed radar equipment, to enforce speed and safety regulations
—Pilot program to place black box data recorders in TLC-licensed vehicles
—Implement more comprehensive, taxi-specific, driving curriculum for initial licensees
—Pursue requirement of additional behind-the-wheel driving instruction for drivers involved in frequent crashes, and continued driver safety education
—Pilot technology that alerts passengers and drivers that they are traveling over the speed limit
—Explore in-car technology that limits vehicle speed, warns drivers of impending collisions or that reduces the fare when the driver speeds
—Introduce street safety PSAs on Taxi TV
—Use driver information monitors to send safety reminders to taxi drivers
—Add safety flyers and messaging in TLC mailings to drivers
—Include left turn reminder stickers in TLC-licensed vehicles
—Create publicly accessible Honor Roll of safe TLC drivers
—Enhance enforcement against drivers offering for-hire service without TLC licenses
—Explore vehicle design requirements to improve safety
Department of Citywide Administrative Services
—Ensure all City fleet vehicles are equipped with technology that record speeding and other dangerous driving behaviors, by the end of 2014
—Upgrade the collision tracking system for the citywide fleet through the new NYC Fleet Focus fleet system
—Oversee a citywide expansion of Defensive Driver training courses for all employees driving City vehicles
—Recommend safety related devices and designs, such as high visibility vehicles, back-up cameras, and rear wheel side guards, for City vehicles and other vehicles under City regulation
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
—Conduct public health surveillance on traffic-related hospitalizations and fatalities
—Provide Vision Zero task force with public health data to help target traffic safety interventions
—Include traffic fatalities and injuries and prevention messages in public health reports
—Engage community public health partners in promoting Vision Zero goals
—Promote research on walking, driving, motorcycling, and bicycling behaviors and patterns in the city
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.
To submit an article, email us at submissions@welcome2thebronx.com
Back in 2010 during renovations at the Bronx County Courthouse, several historical murals depicting Jonas Bronck and local Lenape Native Americans were severely water damaged.
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr complained to the city on numerous occasions but the years went by and the decay worsened.
Now the city finally has done right by the Bronx and the murals and work will begin to restore the historical works of art.
FLORESCU VIOREL FREELANCE NYDN
In the story reported today by the Daily News, “The murals have been languishing since the courthouse renovation; at one point, Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. accused the city of turning its back on the historic pieces. But on Monday, Diaz said he was “thrilled” that the city was moving forward with the repairs.”
As I say all the time, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Thanks to Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr, Steve Nallen and all who made noise to get these murals the proper attention they deserve.
The Bronx’s History is just as important as that of any other part of the city.
The Bronx County Historical Society has just published a new book, by Bronx historian Lloyd Ultan, on Blacks in the Bronx during colonial times —a first of its kind.
According to the Society’s website:
For the first time in over three and a half centuries, the story of people of African descent in the colonial Bronx, the northernmost borough of New York City, is being told. Discovered in over fifty scattered places, 210 separate accounts written by participants and witnesses from 1664 to 1783 in letters, government documents, court records, wills, memoirs and newspapers are brought together in one volume for the first time. The noted historian and author, Lloyd Ultan, puts these statements and accounts from the era into context, telling what they mean and tying them all together in a revealing narrative.
The timing of the publication of the book during Black History Month couldn’t be more poignant as the relatively recent discovery of an African slave burial ground in Hunts Point.
The discovery of the burial grounds, now known as the Hunts Point Slave Burial Ground, came to be by the intrepid students and teachers at PS 48 when they came across an old photograph from 1910 labeled, “Slave burying ground, Hunts Point Road”. The photo was released along with an archive of 50,000 other photographs by the Museum of the City of New York back in 2010.
Slave burying ground, Hunts Point Road / Museum of the City of New York
“Last September, a team of scientists from the United States Department of Agriculture used ground-penetrating radar at the site and found “anthropogenic features,” suggestive of skeletal remains, about six feet beneath the parkland. On Friday, students and staff from P.S. 48 — which is also named for Joseph Rodman Drake, a poet who lived from 1795 to 1820 — were joined at a news conference by state elected officials and community leaders to call on the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to officially recognize the burial ground.”
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Time6:00pm until 7:00pm
Description
Barnes and Noble at Bay Plaza will host a panel discussion celebrating Black History Month on February 27, 2014, from 6-7 pm. The Bronx Borough Historian Lloyd Ultan will join the discussion and also discuss his new book. The address is 290 Baychester Avenue, Bronx, N.Y. Please call (718) 862-3945 for more information.
When my friend gave me tickets to ‘The Closet Bitch’ (written and performed by Shana Solomon) at Stage Left Studio in Chelsea, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect except that I was going to watch another autobiographical one woman show.
Well halfway through the show I was glad that my friend Tommy had gotten me the tickets.
The play is a riveting look into the rough life of a Bronxite who beat all the odds stacked against her; a schizophrenic mother banished from her life by a drug addicted and dealer of a father, all told with humor which softens the blow of her story.
Yes, I know many are thinking, “here we go again another woe is me, the Bronx is rough” story which has been done ad nauseum but I promise you it’s much more than that.
‘The Closet Bitch’ is about the aforementioned autobiographical story on the surface but it digs a lot deeper and gets into very relevant topics. Shana Solomon questions her identity on so many levels; as a woman, as a woman of color, what it feels like to be a Bronxite in corporate America.
Solomon deftly shows us all the masks she had to wear in life in order to survive in all these circumstances and their related stigmas.
There’s a point in the play which will resound with many Bronxites at some point in their life: feeling ashamed about where they’re from instead of pride. Something which the media helped shaped in not just our consciousness but the global consciousness and perception of the Bronx as well.
I highly recommend this show to anyone whether you’re from the Bronx or not as it is a story that could have come from anywhere.
Details after the interview on location, times, and dates as well as a link to purchase tickets.
Besides this autobiographical one woman show, Solomon has appeared on television in various shows as a lead including several national commercials where she was also the lead.
Read our exclusive interview with Shana Solomon below!
‘The Closet Bitch’ is a pretty raw and self-exploratory piece. What made you want to share such an intimate story with the world particularly that of your parents and their own personal demons?
If I didn’t tell this intimate story of all of the times I wish I would have spoken up in life, then I never would have evolved into the bold woman I am today. I was taught to hold my tongue and smile through the pain. I was “daddy’s little girl” and that title blinded me from seeing the truth in so many people. As women, we hide our truth because we’re taught to be “nice and sweet”. So, I reveal family demons such as, my fathers drug dealing and using lifestyle, his young Puerto Rican mistress and mothers mental disability to relate to an inspire women with their own demons to see things clearer and stand on what they believe in. Women come up to me after the show every night, crying and emotionally touched because they say; my story inspires them to be stronger. I love that! What better reason to embarrass my family and myself every night?
Why ‘The Closet Bitch’ as the title?
Haha, my favorite question!
The “CLOSET” is a metaphor for the rules women are taught to obey in life and the “BITCH” is what we get called when we break those rules. I lived in the closet most of my life. Afraid to go against the grain and stand on what I believed in regardless of what others thought. Now I live by my own design.
Where in the Bronx were you raised and how long did you live there? Which schools did you attend?
I moved to the Bronx (Co-op City) when I was about 3 years old. I moved back and forth from Co-op to the South Bronx when I was a teenager living in Jackson Projects and 169th street & Freeman Avenue. I lived in the Bronx for 26 years.
I attended P.S. 153 elementary school, M.S. 180 (Dr. Daniel Hale Williams) and Harry S. Truman High School for almost two years until I was forced to leave because I was a troublemaker, I had a terrible napoleon complex. I signed up for Arturo A. Schomburg Satellite Academy high school and attended Lehman College all in the Bronx, New York.
Do you still live in the Bronx?
I left the Bronx three years ago but I’m there about once a week to see my parents and friends. I get home sick.
How do you feel growing up in the Bronx prepared you for the world?
The Bronx is located in one of the most powerful, fast paced cities in the world, so I took advantage of that! I learned how to hustle up a dollar and survive living in the Bronx. The Bronx taught me how to be independent. At 11 years old I was taking the 12 bus to Fordham Road to see the excitement. The biggest lesson I got from the Bronx was how to communicate with different people. I feel totally comfortable traveling anywhere in the world because of it.
Tell us about when you knew acting was what you wanted to pursue.
I knew I wanted to act when I performed the ghetto version of “Cinderella” in my 4th grade class called “Cindy”. I forgot to leave the glass slipper for my prince to find me. Backstage I heard the prince say, “Here is her glass slipper…” I looked down at my feet and realized I had both slippers on. I quickly took one off, got in my quarter back stance and threw the slipper perfectly to knock him in his head. He picked the slipper up, repeated the line and got tons of laughs! Those laughs made me realize, I could do this for the rest of my life.
What are some of the obstacles you’ve encountered on your journey in pursuing your career?
I think I hold the world record for obstacles of an actor because I take so many risks. I’ve heard exactly 300 “no’s” from casting directors, my mother keeps an excel sheet of all of my auditions, she’s the cutest. But I kept on going. I knocked on every agents door in NYC, they all told me no. I kept knocking. I’ve tried to start a web series and improv group with fellow actors but it fell through every time. I kept searching. I co-wrote a short film, spent my inheritance on the production and it wasn’t accepted into festivals. I kept writing and pushing until I wrote The Closet Bitch. Those obstacles have been my biggest teacher.
Do you have any advice or words for budding Bronxites seeking a career in acting and the arts?
The Bronx has so many artistic outlets. As a kid I would go to “The Point” to audition and perform. I was always involved with the art of acting in some way. Whether it was class, an audition or reading a book on one of my idols, I made sure I stayed busy in acting. If you want to become great at acting, study it, immerse yourself in it and become obsessed until you master it. There are resources all around you. And last, I wish someone would have told me when I was growing up, regardless of the slang you speak, the extra dip in your walk or what you believe people see when you walk in the room, make all the noise you can with acting and make the world respect your individuality by believing in yourself! And always remember where you’re from, but more importantly focus on your destination like a hawk!
‘The Closet Bitch‘ is running every Monday until March 24th at 7:30PM at Stage Left Studio located in Chelsea at 214 W 30th Street on the 6th Floor between 7th and 8th Avenues.
Stage Left Studio is easily accessible via subway on the A, C, E, 1, 2, 3, B, D, F, N, Q and R trains to 34th Street as well as the PATH train to 33rd and 6th Avenue.
Can anyone guess the Bronx train station where this is located? This is only a portion of one mosaic mural of eight at this particular station (four on either side).
Well this time along the 2 and 5 Line at the East 180th yard in the Bronx, several cars were spotted that were bombed last month and it appears it was done by crew from Spain in Barcelona.
Bucky Turco of Animal has informed us that this photo was shot by photographer Aymann Ismail, who was on the scene after this and another subway car were spotted with tags in the yard. Animal had reported that “at least two trains had been tagged by the likes of SEN, ORUS and SHADE SNAQUE. The graffiti experts we spoke to said the style of the pieces were definitely not indigenous to the city, or good, and after some Internet sleuthing, we feel comfortable in reporting that they’re from Barcelona’s OTP crew. These writers continue a long held tradition of coming to New York and painting a train just for the flick.”
In case you’re wondering, no we’re NOT hurtling back to those “dark and dreary” days in the 70s and 80s. This happens throughout the year but the MTA pulls the trains out of service and scrubs the “offending” cars clean.
So this happened overnight…a 1 Train was graffiti bombed all in the name of Trump and not against but what seems to be FOR the disgusting, misogynistic, racist candidate. STYLE WARS
The College of New Rochelle in Melrose at 332 East 149th Street between Courtlandt and Morris Avenues has put its 50,000+ square foot, 9 story campus / office building for sale with an asking price of $10.5 million (the former location of the old Savemart electronic store for you history buffs).
School officials said sale of the building will enable the college to enhance academic offerings and improve facilities, as well as generate significant cash flow, which will increase financial reserves, provide additional income, and reduce operating expenses.
“This sale-lease-back transaction demonstrates prudent financial management and provides a unique opportunity for the College to exchange a fixed asset for a more liquid asset that can be redirected to further strengthen its academics programs and its financial position,” Judith Huntington, president of the college said in a statement. “In conjunction with the implementation of the College’s current strategic plan, this will aid in creating a vibrant and compelling institution, allowing us to thrive and our students to be successful.”
The College of New Rochelle’s property sits in an area that is rapidly growing and has transformed from one of blight to one that is highly desirable due to strategic location.
Confidence in the area by the commercial and retail real estate sector is quite evident and all you have to do is walk around to see what’s happening.
Directly behind Triangle Plaza will rise one of five buildings that will make up the massive, 985 mixed income unit, La Central development that is scheduled to break ground sometime in the summer of 2015 (a 48,000 square foot YMCA with 2 swimming pools will be located in this building).
With all the activity in the area in all sectors of the real estate industry, The John Cardinal O’Connor Campus of the College of New Rochelle probably won’t be on the market too long.
Tomorrow, Wednesday February 12th at the Bronx Museum of the Arts there will be a community meeting at 6:30PM to discuss the possibility of closing a stretch of the Grand Concourse from 165th Street to 167th Street for three Sundays this August in an attempt to revive a smaller version of a beloved Bronx tradition: Boogie On the Boulevard.
Boogie On the Boulevard was started by former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer in 1991 and ran from July through November. The center lanes of the Concourse were shut down on Sundays to vehicular traffic to allow biking and residents to gather along a stretch of the famed roadway for over 3 miles.
Sadly, the popular tradition was ended by former Mayor Giuliani in 1996.
Transportation Alternatives, along with community activists, is looking to restart the tradition and hopefully if it all works out well eventually expand as time progresses.
So far they’ve succeeded in garnering over 1,400 petition signatures (PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION) as well as broad community support.
According to an article in the Daily News, “If approved by the 44th Precinct this month, the event would close down Grand Concourse’s center lanes between 165th St. and 167th St. for interactive art exhibits, fitness classes and live music on Aug. 3, 10 and 17.”
Would you like to see this become a reality once again?
—Attend tomorrow’s meeting at the Bronx Museum (Wednesday, February 12th at 6:30PM) located at 1040 Grand Concourse at East 165th Street. (Meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month)
—Share this article with your friends, family and networks as well!
Be involved in your community so that we can all continue to make the Bronx a better place.
In what’s become a holiday tradition at the Bronx Documentary Center, this Friday from 5pm to 7pm Bronx residents will be able to receive a free 8×10 portrait for Valentine’s Day. Each additional print is available for $5 each.
Non Bronx residents can also participate with the first portrait at $10 and each additional portrait at $5 each as well.
Contact the BDC at: info@bronxdoc.org
TO GET TO THE BRONX DOCUMENTARY CENTER
Subway 2 & 5train to 3rd Avenue-149th Street
Bus BX2,BX6, BX13, BX 15, BX 19 BX32, BX41
Car 24-hour parking available directly next door to BDC
614 Courtlandt Avenue (@ 151st St.) Bronx, NY 10451
Below are some pictures from last year’s Christmas Holiday Portraits at the BDC.
