Welcome2TheBronx

Aldi Food Market Opens In Melrose Bringing With It Deep Savings For Local Residents

News

Ed García Conde

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October 30, 2013

Aldi Food Market Opens In Melrose Bringing With It Deep Savings For Local Residents

This past Monday the German based international food market, Aldi, opened its fifth New York City store (and second Bronx location) in Melrose on 3rd Avenue in the former space occupied by Staples between 154th and 155th Streets.

Aldi promises deep discounts by simply switching to their own brands vs the costlier label of national brands and after looking at their prices it seems like local supermarkets are in for some serious competition.

I took their challenge and was easily won over as the quality of their products down to the ingredients are equal to if not better than the national brands on most occasions which shouldn’t be too much of a surprise considering that Trader Joe’s is owned by them.

To give you an idea of what you can expect to save, I compared the prices to the nearest Pioneer Supermarket just 3 blocks away and below is what I found.

Gallon of milk
Pioneer: $3.59
Aldi: $2.89

Silk Almond Milk
Pioneer: $3.99
Aldi ‘s brand: $2.49

64 Oz Florida’s Natural Orange Juice
Pioneer: $3.99
Aldi’s Brand: $2.29

Kelloggs Cornflakes 12oz
Pioneer: $4.19
Aldi’s Brand: $1.49 for 1.125lbs

Cheerios 15oz Box
Pioneer: $4.99
Aldi’s Brand: $1.69 (yes you read that correctly and I tried them with the almond milk and the taste was better.)

Apples (all varieties)
Pioneer: $1.79/lb
Aldi: $1.79 for a 3lb bag.

The above list is simply a fraction of what you’ll save by shopping at Aldi as they do carry hundreds of other common everyday items. Although

Although their produce selection is very limited, I am happy to say that the quality is definitely good with some organic choices to be had. A family easily get double to triple the amount of fruits and vegetables than they can at their local supermarkets.

You’re not going to necessarily find every single item (or rather the equivalent) you typically purchase at other stores but if you’re looking to save major bucks then you won’t mind coming in for what you CAN get at Aldi.

Don’t forget to bring your own bags as they do charge 11¢ per bag as part of how they are able to offer such great deals on their items.

Let us know your thoughts on Aldi, we’d really like to know! Are you a regular Aldi shopper at other locations? Let our local residents know your favorite items!

Oh and if you’re looking for employment, they’re having a hiring event this Friday from 9am until 2pm. Cashiers start at over $12/hour and store managers can make up to $80k / year.

Coming To See Banksy’s ‘Ghetto 4 Life’ In The Bronx? Here Are Some Places You Should See While You’re Here

News

Ed García Conde

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October 23, 2013

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Coming To See Banksy’s ‘Ghetto 4 Life’ In The Bronx? Here Are Some Places You Should See While You’re Here

Like the vast majority of Banksy lovers, you probably have never walked the streets of the Bronx let alone the South Bronx. You probably thought you’d never come up here too.

Well now that Melrose, the South Bronx and heck the rest of the borough has your attention (and it’s not even because of a Yankee game or the world series) we’d like to invite you not to rush back to the comfort zone of your own neighborhoods and typical haunts and explore this vibrant and very much culturally alive slice of New York City.

Immaculate Conception Church on East 150th and Melrose has been serving Melrose since it was just a village and a part of Westchester County; the Bronx didn't even exist back then!

Once you’ve seen the Banksy, head over to Xochimilco on Melrose between 152nd and 153rd Streets just one block from the mural, one of the best Mexican restaurants in the Bronx. Xochimilco has become the go to spot for even the local Mexican population for some good, real home cooked meals.

If you’ve already been here then you know how easy the commute is and what a stone’s throw from Manhattan Melrose is located.

Most of you arrived at 3rd Ave and 149th Street via the 2 and 5 express trains and upon exiting the station, you probably didn’t know that you were standing at the busiest intersection outside of Times Square. Over 200,000 visitors walk by the Hub each day.

The Hub, as the business district is known as well as Melrose – the neighborhood it’s located in – is going through a major transformation. As of the 2010 census, it was the fastest growing neighborhood in the Bronx and 3rd fastest in the city.

Melrose is also home to the ONLY certified LEED Neighborhood District in the State of New York thanks to the dozens of “green” developments that have been built here like Via Verde which is one of the country’s most talked about green developments in the country.

The first luxury boutique hotel recently opened here this summer at the old Bronx Opera House. The Opera House Hotel has quickly become a favorite destination for global visitors to our city looking for luxury accommodations at affordable prices while still remaining conveniently located from major tourist attractions.

If you come to the neighborhood don’t forget to visit the Bronx Documentary Center which is 3 blocks away from the Banksy. The BDC, as it’s affectionately known, is at 614 Courtlandt Avenue at the corner of East 151st Street.

Currently at the Bronx Documentary Center you can view Gabriele Stabile’s first New York City show called ‘Refugee Hotel’ (open Thursdays & Fridays from 3PM to 7PM and Saturdays & Sundays from 1PM – 5PM until December 1st) which documents refugees’ arrival in America from their first few hours on US soil to a few years later after they settled in their final destinations across the country.

Make sure you sign the guest list at the BDC because each month you can always find screenings of award-winning documentaries followed by panel discussions. The Bronx Documentary Center has quickly become the place to be for the city’s photographers due to the quality of the work exhibited here as well as the intimacy of the space. There are also free photography classes on Friday!

From there, head south on Courtlandt and on 150th Street you can see a collaborative mural between several artists on the building housing Neighborhood Cycle.

Wanna see a Tats Cru mural? Walk another 2 blocks to East 148th Street between Courtlandt and Morris Avenues and you’ll come across two murals by some of the most recognized names in urban graf culture. There’s a wall by Tats Cru and right next to it you can view a collaboration between How & Nosm with Aryz.

After you’re done there turn on Morris Avenue and make a left onto 149th Street and head towards the Grand Concourse just another couple of blocks away.

There you will find 3 major cultural gems 2 of which are easily accessible. The first is the main Bronx Post Office right at the intersection. It is a landmark building currently for sale and inside the lobby you will see some of the best public works murals by Ben Shahn and his wife. The 13 murals are currently not landmarked but the community is working hard on it.

After you’re done at the post office you can head on south of 149th Street and on your left you will see the entrance to the Longwood Gallery at Hostos Community College. If the gallery isn’t open, at the very least you will be treated to the rotunda which is a gallery in and of itself.

Head back north and West just another 3 blocks to Walton Avenue between 149th and 150th Streets you’ll find Pregones Theater which has been serving the community for over 30 years now and providing Puerto Rican And Latino based preforming arts.

Make sure to check out their website to see what’s going on and perhaps you can coordinate a trip up here with one of their performances.

So there you have just a small taste of what we have to offer in just one small slice of our beloved Bronx and I didn’t even get into that just ten blocks south into Mott Haven and Port Morris you have a thriving community of artists. I could have also gone further north along the Grand Concourse (which is its very own cultural and legendary icon with the largest collection of Art Deco buildings in the world) and within 10 blocks you would have hit the Bronx Museum of Art and the Andrew Freedman Home.

When you come to see “Ghetto 4 Life”, do yourself a favor and stick around and see what we have to offer. As always you can email me with any questions!

Day 3 of ‘Banksygate’ – A Gate Protects Banksy’s Bronx Piece

News

Ed García Conde

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October 23, 2013

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Day 3 of ‘Banksygate’ – A Gate Protects Banksy’s Bronx Piece

I wonder if they'll start charging soon?

The absurdity in Melrose just increased a few notches. The building owner has installed a gate to cover and protect Banksy’s “Ghetto 4 Life” piece on East 153rd and Elton.

Here sits a really beautiful building vacant for decades – with the exception of ground floor commercial space – and rather than fix up the building for residential units, the landlord would spend the money to protect a Banksy.

I bet he wouldn’t have done it for a Tats Cru. Oh wait, that’s right. Because Tats Cru is respected and no one would deface it, you see, they’re part of our family here in the Bronx and not just some globetrotting individual who obviously has the financial means to do what he does.

Head on over to the New York Times for a little history and art lesson on street art aka graffiti. David Gonzalez, a real South Bronx hero and cultural icon, wrote a wonderful story in the Lens Blog:

Street Art From The South Bronx to Soweto

Someone slapped this sticker right next to the Banksy on E 153rd and Elton in Melrose. It pretty much sums up how locals feel and yes they do know who Banksy is but having grown up in the heart of where graff was born, we tend to look at this as rather pedestrian.

‘Soledad Speaks’ From The Deepest Past To Better Understand Our Present So We Can Forge A Better Future

News

Ed García Conde

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October 23, 2013

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‘Soledad Speaks’ From The Deepest Past To Better Understand Our Present So We Can Forge A Better Future

Two weeks ago I was privileged enough to witness the opening night of what would be a week-long journey for 6 talented Latina artists – a few with strong Bronx ties – to a sold-out crowd on most nights.

‘Soledad Speaks‘ is self-described as “spoken word theater at its best,” but after coming to terms with what was presented, I find that too limiting.

The work is the brainchild of award-winning writer Linda Nieves-Powell who masterfully wove the words and talents of four poets and the choreography of one dancer, who’s works speak to your very essence, into a multidimensional and multifaceted introspective journey on identify particularly when looked through gender and racial biased lenses.

Through the intimacy of the small space at IATI Theater and the spoken word works of the four actresses, Nieves-Powell stirred powerful emotions, forcing us to ask questions and confront societal demons which we generally try not to deal with.

Soledad Speaks shows the viewer the effects of slavery and colonization on the women of Puerto Rico and how they perpetuate today but most importantly, the work is transcendent and speaks to all of us regardless of where we come from for the underlying message of acceptance is what you see here.

Meriam Rodriguez, Maria Rodriguez, Peggy Robles-Alvarado and J.F. Seary – together and separately – deliver a performance that comes from their own personal experiences so what you see is, raw and very real.

Through her choreography and dance, Milteri Tucker (Soledad) delivered a believable performance as an enslaved person who is kidnapped from her homeland and dragged thousands of miles across the ocean to foreign lands.

Tucker also delivered beautifully choreographed interludes as the rest of the cast is backstage prepping for the next scene.

In one scene, Milteri Tucker is poked, prodded and ridiculed for her ‘blackness’ as the 4 other cast members portray a “typical” day in a beauty salon where Latinas spend their hard earned money to wash away their heritage and conform to European edicts of standards of beauty.

‘Soledad Speaks’ is a must see and it is a shame that the show was only on for one week. The lessons taught during this performance and which the audience leaves with need to be part of a curriculum.
The many issues which the play deals with develop at a very young age and if we had our youth introduced to such plays as ‘Soledad Speaks’ we would be creating a brighter tomorrow.

The little girl with curly hair who’s bullied because of her strong, African features can walk with her head held high and proud of her ancestry rather than be ashamed of it.

The gay child who loves differently than what society says we should can continue to love without feeling bad or evil because of it

‘Soledad Speaks’ to each of us and forces us to be happy, proud and accept who we are.

While Banksy Fanatics Invade Melrose In The South Bronx, Residents Question Why

News

Ed García Conde

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October 22, 2013

4

While Banksy Fanatics Invade Melrose In The South Bronx, Residents Question Why

Whenever major art exhibits come to the city, oftentimes the Bronx is not going to be a stop on the tour so it was to many Bronxites’ surprise when a Banksy appeared overnight in Melrose.

Well over a thousand fans flocked to our neighborhood to photograph the latest Banksy and take selfies with it.

They came from as far as Westchester or Brooklyn, the way the faithful flock to Our Lady of Lourdes in France.

Yesterday I expressed that I wasn’t quite sure how I felt for the piece and its tag of “Ghetto 4 Life”. I still think that of all words to use in his Bronx stop, ghetto may not have been the best choice but then again it’s Banksy and he does like to stir the pot.

Jeffrey Guard, founder and creative director of The Bronx Art Exchange had this to say on his website, “What Banksy, who is presumed to be both white and English, may not have realized is that in American culture, a white person using the word, “ghetto” can be perceived as racially charged, in that it suggests a not-so-subtle perjorative towards people of color meant to implicitly infer low-class, uneducated and criminal in nature. It’s analagous to people of color using the word “gentrify” as a racially charged perjoartive to subtley infer that white people are greedy, untrustworthy and lack a social conscience.”

Then you have my friend Karah Shaffer who was quoted in the Daily News saying, “It’s lazy and it’s ridiculous. Having a kid with spray paint and his butler writing ‘Ghetto 4 Life’ in the South Bronx is an easy way to perpetuate the way people think about the South Bronx…It’s disrespectful. Nobody comes here to be ‘ghetto,’”

But I’m not here to talk about the piece itself but more importantly the throngs who ran up to our home borough of the Bronx.

To many residents, they could not escape the dichotomy of thinking how cool it is that a world renowned artist left his mark in Melrose and the heart of the South Bronx and at the same time feel quite insulted that with decades of major street art, murals and our own homegrown and world-renowned graf artists it took an outsider to bring folks in.

Coming into the global ground zero of street art, graffiti, hip hop and urban culture to gape and awe at an outsider’s work makes me scratch my head and ask of them, “Where have you been? Why don’t you support your fellow urban brothers and sisters from the Bronx with such avidity.”

Perhaps that was Banksy’s intent, to poke fun of the folks who would otherwise never step into the neighborhood, and cast a light on cultural appropriation? To bring the sheep in to the most maligned borough and show the world it’s ok?

I live in a predominantly latino and African-American neighborhood so to see white people coming in by the hundreds throughout the day you can’t help but make that obvious observation.

Several individuals took offense that I saw it to be quite comical but they missed the entire point of my statement. I, in no way, shape or form am saying that a group of people shouldn’t come to the ‘hood to experience art, I am simply asking said group to think long and hard of why they never came before. Lynn Roberts, on Facebook, summed it up perfectly when a reader, who is white, found my comments disturbing. The reader couldn’t look beyond that I said ‘white’. Roberts went on to say:

“…the overwhelming majority of the white people who are flooding the hood just to see Banksy’s work would not venture there otherwise. I also doubt they are spending their money in local businesses while there. Your individual actions simply do not compensate for the hundreds of others who are otherwise disinterested in visiting “the hood.”…If you want art to be for all, then whose art are you talking about? Banksy gets paid big bucks for his knock-off “art” while the original artists in the hood have had to scratch to make a dollar and/or risk arrest.”

So if Banksy did something big in the South Bronx, it’s that he opened up an important dialogue between the locals and the outsiders. Many, myself included, challenged a number of the visitors to come back for some truly local artwork and see what we’ve been doing for decades before Banksy was a household name.

A number were eager to see more. Almost every single one had never been to the Bronx other than maybe Yankee Stadium or simply just driving through.

A few admitted that they were scared of coming up here having been brainwashed by the media and were pleasantly surprised to see that the Bronx was not this monster waiting to chew them up and spit them out.

Whether we like Banksy or his piece in Melrose doesn’t change the fact that it was an historic event

Banksy’s Melrose Wall in The Bronx Now Features Security

News

Ed García Conde

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October 21, 2013

1

Banksy’s Melrose Wall in The Bronx Now Features Security

The building owner has now placed police tape around the piece and hired two security guards to watch over it during the night.

Let the insanity begin.

Banksy Strikes Melrose In The Bronx

News

Ed García Conde

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October 21, 2013

3

Woke up today and my block is abuzz as Banksy left his latest mark in the Melrose neighborhood of the Bronx.

Walked down the block to see his latest piece which has the tag “Ghetto 4 Life” which I still don’t know how I feel about it, however, my friend and neighbor
Karah Shaffer says it’s lazy and the tag does a disservice to the neighborhood.

My friend and neighbor, Karah Shaffer interviewed by Bronx News12

If you wanna catch it before it’s gone, come to East 153rd Street between Melrose and Elton Avenues less than a 5 minute walk from 3rd Ave and 149th Street Station on the 2 and 5 trains.

Update: I have mixed feelings about his choice of words…Ghetto 4 Life? What exactly is he saying here? Several residents have expressed similar concerns. Our neighborhood is filled with so much art and culture, murals and graff and no one really comes to experience it so it’s disappointing to see so many sheep flocking over because it’s supposedly “hip”.

Bronx Mural of The Day: Graffiti Artists How & Nosm With Aryz

News

Ed García Conde

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October 18, 2013

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Bronx Mural of The Day: Graffiti Artists How & Nosm With Aryz

Sometimes I like to change things up a bit and I’ll take a different route during my walks through my neighborhood and the Bronx.

In doing so I usually stumble upon the beauty that is right in my neighborhood waiting to be discovered.

Check out this mural done in collaboration with New York based Spanish graffiti duo How and Nosm and the Spanish graffiti and street artist Aryz who hails from Barcelona.

If you want to go check it out, it’s conveniently located on East 148th Street between Morris and Courtlandt Avenues.

Why Do You Love The Bronx? Tell us!

News

Ed García Conde

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October 17, 2013

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For the past 30 to 40 years the Bronx has received much negative press and it never seems to end.

What has ended is the fact that we, as Bronxites, no longer will remain quiet when our hometown is bashed, particularly without any real world and real-time facts.

I can go on forever on why I love the Bronx but this is really about you, the reader!

We want to know, in your own words, why you love the Bronx. You can post the comments below, you can email us at info@welcome2thebronx.com and it doesn’t just have to be just your words! Tell us in pictures or videos or Vines using the hash tag #whyilovethebronx on Instagram, Vine, twitter and Tumblr. Make sure to tag us too Welcome2TheBronx and #welcome2thebronx

This will be an ongoing project and we will feature one response a week so check back often to see if your response made it!

Bronx Residents Slam Seattle Publicist Patricia Vaccarino For Poor Journalism & Trashing Our Borough

News

Ed García Conde

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October 16, 2013

1

Bronx Residents Slam Seattle Publicist Patricia Vaccarino For Poor Journalism & Trashing Our Borough

"Up In the Bronx Where The People Are Fresh"

Yes, it happened again. An individual felt the need to not only trash talk about the Bronx but to publish their article as fact.

Meet Patricia Vaccarino, a Seattle publicist who thinks she’s an expert on all things Bronx yet she lives thousands of miles away and her only defense for the article was that she was here in November of last year.

During that time she says, “I was in the Bronx last November. I spent the day on Arthur Avenue and I didn’t see any cultural attractions except a whole lot of statues of St Francis of Assisi and bunches of guys standing around in big groups with their hands stuffed in their pockets.”

A commentator by the name of Joe responded by writing, “…if you were truly on Arthur Ave. and looking for cultural facilities you could not have helped but notice the Fermi Cultural Center which is at least a third of a city block in size and consists of one of the largest collection of Italian literature and artifacts this side of the Atlantic. And if you happened to be looking east away from the Fermi Center you would be looking in the direction of Fordham University one of the largest and more diverse Jesuit centers for learning. ”

So let me get this straight, she was in the middle of the most authentic Little Italy in New York City which has been written about countless times but she saw nothing positive to write about?

It shouldn’t be too surprising once she responded with that because after reading her poor attempt at journalism it becomes quite evident that she didn’t even bother to research her work. The article was clearly written by an individual who saw the Bronx through the lens of someone who experienced it in the 70s and 80s.

But enough about her and her sloppy, poor and dare I say unethical journalism – which Vaccarino excitedly tweeted about that she’s now a journalist with her first article.

I’m here to talk about how proud I am at this very moment of my fellow Bronxites who immediately set the record straight on such journalistic trash.

Jeffrey Guard, founder and creative director of The Bronx Art Exchange said,

“Pray tell, Ms. Vaccarino, what reality are you currently inhabiting. Your story is, at best, deeply offensive and lacks any in-depth research or actual facts.

“Please tell, all of us, when in fact you reportedly observed, “huge groups of gangstas hanging out on the streets look[ing] like happy tourists.” What street, when? And did you seriously just reference Mayor Ed Koch? You do know he hasn’t been mayor since 1989–right? Furthermore, Ms. Vaccarino, are you honestly suggesting that his assessment of the Bronx is still relevant, today in 2013?
… you seem to be wedded to the idea that the Bronx has to be something that it no longer is–I guess that’s because it makes for good copy and you were paid for writing bilge like this.But for you, that’s sad, because you’re honestly missing one of the most amazing organic transformations happening in NYC. Now that would have been a story worth reading.”

Olga Luz Tirado, Executive Director of the Bronx Tourism Council also chimed in and challenged Patricia Vaccarino to come back to the Bronx:

”

Patricia, I am deeply disappointed that someone who obviously has the capability to compose a series of words and turn them into an article, did so without first conducting the appropriate research. The fact of the matter is that The Bronx is up and coming, whether your limited time here suggests otherwise. Pray tell, what were you doing when you “spent a day” on Arthur Avenue?

Perhaps your jaded view of the borough prevented you from venturing out to the New York Botanical Gardens or some of the other wonderful places some of my fellow Bronx lovers mentioned in the comments section.

That the Grand Concourse was fashioned after the Champs Elysee does not suggest that the architect intended the Concourse to look like Paris. Among many reasons, he was simply designing a boulevard that would be able to accommodate automobiles as well as horse and buggies. If you would have asked, one of us would have been happy to tell you.

There are fine restaurants here and a lot of wonderful things to do and see. I personally invite you to come back to The Bronx, but really come back to The Bronx. I would think that a true professional who has done his or her due diligence would be less likely to spew erroneous information. ~ Olga Luz Tirado,Executive Director, The Bronx Tourism Council

”

This wasn’t the first piece written about the Bronx with such a negative and erroneous slant on our borough and it won’t be the last. What Patricia Vaccarino didn’t count on was that the Bronx has a voice and we defend our own – loudly.

Viewing your company’s website and press kit as well as your bio, one would be led to believe that as a successful publicist (or was that part simply just “spin” on your part to make you look good?), you would research extensively that which you would write about.

So Patricia, do come back to the Bronx. Perhaps you can stay at the Opera House Hotel smack dab in the heart of the South Bronx. The luxury boutique hotel, which opened in August, has received nothing but rave reviews from guests from all across the country and globe.

Folks like you who had a myopic view of a Bronx that no longer exists due to irresponsible journalism such as you decided to churn out.

Bronxite José Roldán, Jr Awarded ‘Outstanding Solo Performance’ By HOLA

News

Ed García Conde

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October 14, 2013

1

Bronxite José Roldán, Jr Awarded ‘Outstanding Solo Performance’ By HOLA

Bronx born and raised HOLA award winner for Outstanding Solo Performance, José Roldán, Jr

The Hispanic Organization of Latino Artists (HOLA) is recognizing one of our borough’s very own this year in their 14th annual award and benefit gala on October 21st. During the same event, HOLA will also be honoring such widely recognized names as Bobby Cannavale, Nadine Velázquez, and Vanessa Verduga

José Roldán, Jr, born, raised and currently residing in the Bronx, wrote ‘Father Forgive Me For I Have Sinned’ – for which he is receiving the HOLA award for Outstanding Solo Performance – as an autobiographical piece on growing up in the South Bronx during the 1980s and ’90s and dealing with his own sexual identity in an all too familiar latino household ruled by a father’s machismo softened by the love of a mother.

After missing the performance several times before, this summer I was fortunate enough to go on this journey with José as he performed this one man show and I will say that I was not prepared for what I witnessed.

José Roldán, Jr masterfully takes you on this journey and paints the scene for you with such clarity that you ARE sitting with him and his family, watching as the drama unfolds.

When he gets into one of the many characters that is his family, you are not watching José but instead you are witnessing Bruja Tía or the his sister, the queen of Freestyle.

Being an out, gay male who grew up in the South Bronx I could easily identify with the trials and tribulations which José Roldán, Jr went through but the core message of acceptance by your family transcends the gay world and you can easily see how this show relates to many different aspects of our family lives.

You can catch José perform his award winning ‘Father Forgive Me For I Have Sinned’ on the following dates:

October 26, 2013:
THE UNDERGROUND THEATER @ THE @6:30PM – GET YOUR TICKETS HERE
Tickets are $8.00 but hurry before it’s sold out!

November 21st, 2013:

LEHMAN COLLEGENOVEMBER 21 @ 12:30PM -CONTACT TICKETS@JOSEROLDANJR.COM FOR TICKETS

You can also follow the show on Facebook for the latest information!

Once again, congratulations to our very own José Roldán, Jr!

Yolanda Gonzalez Charged With Stealing $900,000 From Nos Quedamos – A Lesson Why We MUST Stay Vigilant

News

Ed García Conde

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October 11, 2013

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Yolanda Gonzalez Charged With Stealing $900,000 From Nos Quedamos – A Lesson Why We MUST Stay Vigilant

Yolanda Gonzalez, the former chief of the nonprofit group Nos Quedamos, left a police precinct on Wednesday, charged with stealing nearly $900,000 from the charity. She pleaded not guilty.YANA PASKOVA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Yolanda Gonzalez, the former executive director of Nos Quedamos has been arrested and charged with stealing almost $900,000 from the nonprofit.

I was approached by someone about Gonzalez several years ago. The individual was concerned about the same shady dealings Yolanda Gonzalez has been charged with. Shortly after my conversation with my source, a trusted friend was appointed to the Board of Directors and assured me it was going to be handled with immediately.

Nos Quedamos was founded by her late mother, Yolanda García, when the long time residents of Melrose where threatened by redevelopment.

City Hall wanted to bulldoze most of the neighborhood above 149th Street and create developments strictly middle and high income families. They saw the rubble as a way to clean house but they didn’t count on such strong resistance from the community.

Today, Melrose stands as the fastest growing neighborhood in the Bronx and one the 3rd in all of the city.

The myriad of mixed-income developments – no longer segregating families of different means – is a testament to Nos Quedamos’ fight so that we would not be displaced rampant development as has happened in countless gentrified neighborhoods across our city.

Our green developments which make us the ONLY certified LEED neighborhood in the state of New York is a testament to the hard work of the people at Nos Quedamos and other local residents – they are not all “Yolanda Gonzalezes”

As residents of the Bronx and particularly the South Bronx, we must be ever vigilant and keep a keen eye on our community leaders. Report any wrongdoings immediately. We cannot let our very own people get away with this.