The office of Community Board 1 became a cauldron of body heat and enflamed tempers, in the latest bitter clash between angry Mott Haven residents, board members and staff and lawyers and lobbyists for FreshDirect.
About 60 residents squeezed into the board’s tiny headquarters in Melrose on July 10 for the board’s vote on the online grocer’s plan to move to the Harlem River Rail Yards in Port Morris.
Many thought the board would vote on whether the plan violates a 20-year-old agreement between the state and the Galesi Group, which leases the rail yard from the State Department of Tranportation. That agreement calls for freight train service as a key features of any use of the property. It also says new businesses in the yards should not contribute to traffic problems.
Amid the pandemonium, Chairman George Rodriguez called for a vote — though board members weren’t sure what question was actually before them.“Fresh Direct!”
Rodriguez said, tossing away Roberts Rules of Order and holding an ad-hoc yes-or-no, thumbs up-thumbs down, for-’em-or-agin-’em roll call.
MOTT HAVEN — For the second time in two weeks, chanting protestors and shouting community board members nearly derailed a board meeting on FreshDirect’s planned move to The Bronx — but on Wednesday, the fractious session ended with a vote overwhelmingly in favor of the project.
The Washington Post just issued a news alert that theHouse has passed the Farm Bill without funding for the Food Stamp program otherwise known as SNAP or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
House Republicans have threatened to reduce funding for the program and it appears they are carrying through with their promises.
What does this mean to the Bronx which is home to the poorest congressional district in the nation?
It means that if and when the cuts are made, Bronxites who depend on the program to feed themselves and family, will have a greater difficulty in doing so. This is simply unacceptable for folks who suffer from food insecurity issues and children are already going hungry.
Congressman Jose Serrano D-NY who represents the Bronx said on twitter that, “Republicans…are turning their backs on the poor and the hungry.” While Senator Kristen Gillibrand D-NY thanked her colleagues in the House on twitter for, “…fighting against the GOP’s unprecedented step of splitting [the] #farmbill to remove #SNAP funding from bill.”
What does it say about a society when we treat our most vulnerable population with such disregard? How are families to make ends meet?
Just last week we spoke about this very issue and SoBro’s plan to save the building with Goldman Sachs who is interested in partnering to do so.
Now the Daily News reports that Bronx Borough President, Ruben Diaz Jr wants the city to strip the decaying yet beloved PS 31 of its landmark status and have it demolished.
What is going in here? We reported how eager the city was at last month’s Community Board 1 meeting to pressure the board to accept to have the building demolished saying that it was beyond rescue. This was in direct opposition to SoBro’s finding when they hired an engineer who’s report says that the building, although badly damaged, is not in danger of collapsing and can be salvaged but will be costly. That’s where Goldman Sachs comes in.
The building sits smack in the middle of a 30 block area that was rezoned from commercial and manufacturing into residential. This rezoning exponentially increases the value of the land for any developer interested in the site which is one block from the 2, 4 and 5 subway station at 149th Street and Grand Concourse – 15 minutes to midtown.
Sounds like Ruben Diaz Jr, once again, has no voice of his own and is allowing Bloomberg’s administration to dictate what happens in our borough in direct opposition to community wants and wishes.
I wonder which, if any, developer is greasing our elected officials’ palms?
Gregory Tsougranis, bottom left, appears to get cozy with Desiree Joy Frias, who he transferred ownership of the BoogieDowner to, as she sits next to her mother, Marlene Cintron, Executive Director of Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation.
Two weeks ago, 16 months after FreshDirect’s sweetheart deal was announced as a done deal, the company came to the community for the first time.
The meeting with Community Board 1 was not only announced at the last minute but on the very day of the meeting the location was surreptitiously changed not once but twice in a clear attempt to stifle those opposed to the deal.
In that meeting, Bronxites came out in numbers that overwhelmingly spoke they are against FreshDirect’s plan to move to our borough. Only a handful of supporters of the sweetheart deal showed up.
Yesterday evening was no different at the second meeting which this time was held in the cramped quarters of CB1.
About 5 minutes before the start of the meeting, a police officer announced that we had reached capacity and as per Cedric Loftin, District Manager, no one else was to be admitted. This all happened as there were still dozens of local community members coming into the office. Shortly thereafter, Mr Loftin marches into the conference room with 5 or 6 uniformed FreshDirect employees to which community members, including myself, challenged him because the crowd was just told that no one else could come in.
This was but one of many incidents of the evening where we were blatantly lied to and misinformed. When roll call began, community residents who were forced to wait outside the conference room demanded to know what was going on and asked for the second door to be opened so that they could all hear.
The room broke out into shouting match with board members yelling at the residents to be quiet but eventually over 90% of the room began chanting to, “Open the door! Open the door!” until they had no choice but to open the door. It was a simple and legitimate request from citizens of the neighborhood, yet Cedric Loftin was staunchly opposed to budging.
During the first half of the meeting, only 2 individuals testified in support of FreshDirect. One lives in Queens but owns a successful bakery business in Port Morris which FreshDirect buys from and another was a Bronx resident, although his home neighborhood wasn’t discussed.
3 community residents spoke out against the deal including Corrine Kohut, a resident of the immediate affected area and a member of the opposition group South Bronx Unite (of which I am proudly a member of as well) addressed the board and told them that she is very aware that calls have been made to individual board members and pressuring them to vote in favor of FreshDirect.
Julio Pabon address members of Community Board 1
Julio Pabon also spoke but not as a candidate for City Council District 17 In CB1 but as a concerned resident. He spoke when one of the FreshDirect supporters was running late. He approached the board and immediately said he wasn’t the other individual, he introduced himself and said he’d speak since the other individual hadn’t arrived.
After telling the board that this is an unacceptable project for the community based on previous projects where promises made to the community were never kept, that we deserve waterfront access like any other waterfront neighborhood across the city, Cedric Loftin then proceeded to tell the room that Julio Pabon had lied and said he was the other individual.
This was a flat out lie from Loftin which the crowd immediately began yelling and correcting him that that wasn’t the case.
The meeting proceeded with many interruptions from residents whenever a FreshDirect representative misinformed the board with skewed data.
FreshDirect mentioned the 1,000 new jobs they promise to bring in addition to the over 2,400 they already employ which is the ONLY argument from their camp as to why we should accept them. As he spoke about the jobs, the reality of the “promise” is revealed: the jobs won’t be new ones at first but would most likely be replacing staff who cannot relocate. What is the time line you ask? Mid to late 2016.
I don’t know but Bronxites need jobs now, not 3-4 years from now. Furthermore, they are caught in their own web of lies because the thousand jobs will not begin until much later than 2016 if ever.
Board members questioned them about the trucks, traffic and pollution and once again they misrepresented the data. They claim that in the beginning, they will only be slightly over 100 trucks in the area and eventually just under 300 and that they wouldn’t interfere with traffic because their peak hours are 5AM to 6AM and 3PM to 4PM.
First of all, the roads are already busy in the area from folks commuting from Westchester and Connecticut as they head in during the morning hours using Buckner Boulevard as a shortcut into Manhattan to avoid the tolls on the highway. Also, the afternoon hours that are their busiest are the BEGINNING of our afternoon / evening commute rush hour. The streets are choked with traffic and exhaust and school buses. How are hundreds of trucks going to help?
They also neglect to speak about the fact that trucks will be coming in and out round the clock as their goods are delivered from various vendors.
On changing their vehicles to electric, we were told that that wouldn’t probably happen until 2021. Let that date sink in along with the word “probably”. They claimed that the technology just doesn’t exist for them to do it sooner and they anticipate the technology to be ready around then. Notice the pattern? Already two of their promises on the memorandum of agreement are not definite but probabilities.
Bronxites are promised jobs and clean trucks but when questioned directly by the community board and residents, they could not and would not provide a definite answer and commit to their promises which aren’t legally binding.
After FreshDirect was done with their misinformation session, Cedric Loftin announced that he was going to go around the table in seat order so the board could comment or ask questions to FreshDirect.
Linda Ortiz, a new board member immediately asked to be recognized and Mike Brady, also a new member acknowledged her which according to parliamentary procedures in the city charter of New York, she was in the right to speak regardless of what Cedric Loftin or Chairman George Rodriguez ordered.
Just like the previous meeting which the New York Daily News said the board bungled the forum, the process was railroaded by the District Manager and chair. The room erupted in support of Ms. Ortiz but she sat down and allowed Loftin to proceed in spite of his being in direct violation of city charter.
After several board members declined to comment, Linda Ortiz stood up and began to speak. She was once a supporter of the move but after the debacle of the last meeting she didn’t hesitate to switch against the deal based on how she saw the chair and District Manager trying to force them to vote in favor of FreshDirect. Once she was done, she handed over the floor to Mike Brady, as per protocol which allows her to do so and again Loftin and Rodriguez refused to do so.
The crowd’s response was as expected with more shouting at Loftin and Rodriguez to follow procedures rather than making up their own rules.
When it got to Brady’s turn to speak, after 3 members spoke before him (both pressed FreshDirect hard on their promises and demanded more concrete and binding word from them), he proposed to the board to vote yes on the resolution he began to pass along to the board to turn down FreshDirect’s request for a variance on the proposed site – a variance that is in direct violation to restrictive covenants placed on the land. Once again Loftin and Rodriguez usurped Brady and any city charter procedures by ignoring a motion that was seconded. Not only that but they refused to circulate Brady’s motion to the rest of the board.
Chaos ensued amongst confused board members and eventually the meeting was once again derailed. Residents asked George Rodriguez to disclose his loyalties and accused him of receiving considerable compensation for his organizations for having steered the board to the will of the Borough President’s office.
It was another evening spotlighting our incompetent leaders and the rampant corruption in Bronx politics. Marlene Cintron, who was appointed the head of the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation by Ruben Diaz Jr was on hand and at one point was mouthing instructions to Loftin and Rodriguez. I immediately told her to stop it because this wasn’t her meeting nor the Ruben Diaz Jr’s and it belonged to the people.
Gregory Tsougranis, former owner of the BoogieDowner immediately defended Marlene, who has close ties with Tsougranis and told me that I will, “…Never amount to anywhere near Marlene’s accomplishments.” I wasn’t aware that I was aspiring to be like Marlene and although she has been successful in her own right, I simply responded that I don’t want, “to be a sellout like her.”
Gregory Tsougranis gets uncomfortably close to Monxo Lopez (Courtesy of News12 the Bronx)
Tsougranis at one point jumped up from his chair and got directly in the face of Monxo Lopez who indicated that Gregory is also a sellout and doesn’t even live in the community (watch News12 the Bronx’s footage) . The stationed police officer made his way across the room and ordered Tsougranis to sit down immediately.
Before the meeting began, he asked who I was and he introduced himself and immediately began accusing me of slandering him because I said Ruben Diaz Jr made him head film location scout of the borough. In that entry he was referring to I never said that. I simply said that his loyalty was rewarded by Diaz and Cintron when they approached him to put together a film festival.
After the meeting was over and the crowd was ordered to exit the building, I was speaking to a local resident who attended the meeting who said it was the worst meeting she ever attended and far worse than she could imagine I was approached by Tsougranis and he immediately began to harass me asking me to apologize. I had no reason to apologize and the police officer was standing near us. I asked the officer to remove him from my presence due to the fact that he was harassing me and the officer immediately asked Gregory to move away.
It is almost 3AM as I sit here and write this and I can’t believe these events actually happened. Aren’t elected officials supposed to work for us and not the other way around. A good solid 95% of Bronxites who attended are against FreshDirect’s plan. Those in attendance who favored were FreshDirect employees, a lobbyist and representatives of the Borough President’s office.
What does that tell you? Over 40 organizations have signed on to South Bronx Unite’s platform against this plan and only 6 organizations are for it.
Clearly, the people have spoken. If we are a a vocal minority as FreshDirect and Ruben Diaz Jr call us then why is it the community supporters are dwarfed at each meeting? Why does FreshDirect have to bring in employees to show support?
16 months after the battle for our community began it is far from over.
As a contemporary fellow Bronxite of Jennifer Lopez, I grew up looking at her and admiring her many accomplishments.
She made it out of the Bronx. But was her life really as hard as she claims?
J. Lo lived in the Castle Hill neighborhood of the Bronx which was and is worlds apart from the burning South Bronx of our youth. Castle Hill has been a hard working middle class community since I could remember and more suburban in nature than urban. The only burning you saw there were of the grills on a hot summer day in the backyards of the thousands of houses that make up the community.
Lopez attended private, Catholic schools for 12 years including the all girls Preston High School – a rather idyllic school directly on the waterfront on the Long Island Sound.
This is far from that horrible Bronx image that she conjures up whenever speaking of making it from the Bronx. Ms. Lopez makes it seem as if she grew up in the projects in the middle of burnt out buildings with nothing but rubble strewn lots as a playground. Although she doesn’t actually say that, for millions of fans around the world that don’t know the Bronx, that is what is assumed. And she never corrects them.
She constantly uses our beloved borough in the narrative of her life but she’s often too busy to come to us and help the borough that she claims helped shape who she is and responsible for her impetus to achieve success.
Yes, J. Lo donates millions to charities, particularly dealing with women and children’s issues but what about the Bronx? Sure it’s her money and yes she can decide what to do with it but at some point isn’t it almost a responsibility to give something back to the community who’s name you invoke all the time and essentially use?
This is a topic that has been on Bronxites minds for quite some time. If Jenny from the block is reading this, I’d love to sit down and chit chat with her, invite her back home and talk about the issues that ail her fans at her home base and what we can do to partner up.
Folks in the Bronx have a rather negative view of Lopez and I would like for her to rectify it. Perhaps donate the ill-gotten money she received for performing (as Mother Jones puts it) at the, “… birthday bash of Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, the 56-year-old president—and human-rights-quashing, personality-cult-driven dictator—of Turkmenistan.”
I know at least of a dozen organizations that money can go to to make a real positive impact.
As I always, I turn the conversation back to you folks. Thoughts?
Sarah Burd-Sharps and Kristen Lewis, Co-directors of Measure of America had an entry published in the Huffington Post today which not only discusses the great divide of inequality which plagues our borough and leads to environmental racism but uses the Bronx as a case of what happens to economically disadvantaged neighborhoods in the shadows of their more prosperous siblings.
We know the story all too well. We have a borough president willing to fight for the views of affluent Riverdale (note: I love Riverdale as do many of us with its rich, colorful history, gorgeous architecture and unique community) and then push to destroy the environment and waterfront of Mott Haven and Port Morris – a neighborhood that is in the poorest congressional district in the nation. A neighborhood that suffers some of the highest rates of asthma in the country and Ruben Diaz Jr pushes for thousands of more polluting truck trips on our streets.
The report goes on to mention that Manhattan, with less than a 5th of the city’s population, goes on to produce over half of the city’s waste yet has not one waste disposal site but the Bronx is saddled with an unimaginable 19 of these sites. One of them directly adjacent to where FreshDirect wants to overtake our waterfront and pollute our air.
There is absolutely no way to ethically and morally justify such inequalities which produces dire consequences for the population. Health, safety, education, employment are all at risk when confronted with these ills.
If you are tired of such inequalities then speak up! Act! Current political establishment (with a handful of exceptions) does not care about our borough for they are the very ones selling our borough to the highest bidder.
Tomorrow you have one such opportunity to mobilize against injustice at Community Board 1 meeting as FreshDirect representatives return to plea their case for wanting to harm our communities.
PLEASE MAKE EVERY ATTEMPT TO ATTEND THIS MEETING!!!
Where: Community Board 1 Office – 3024 3rd Avenue, Bronx
From The Huffington Post:
Sarah Burd-Sharps and Kristen Lewis, Co-directors of Measure of America of the Social Science Research Council. Their most recent report, Measure of America 2013-2014, is now available at www.measureofamerica.com.
$30 bucks in advance or $40 on Saturday from 11AM – 8PM will give you access to amazing deals at 20 participating Bronx watering holes as well as unlimited transportation between them during the first ever Great Bronx Bar Tour! The journey will take you across the borough along with folks from the Bronx County Historical Society for an informative journey into our borough.
From 16oz jumbo drinks to free hot dogs, these spots are sure to serve up something for ya.
The tour is organized by none other than our friends at the Bronx Beer Hall along with Jolly Tinker Bar so be sure to check out those two as well! The food at the Bronx Beer Hall is amazing!
In another victory for the community against the FreshDirect sweetheart deal move to the Bronx, CB1 will reconvene this Wednesday as FreshDirect representatives return to answer to the board – something which they were undemocratically prevented from doing almost two weeks ago.
Although the full board was not to meet until September and several senior board members preferred a closed and private executive members only meeting to discuss the issues – without FreshDirect present – this is a clear message to FreshDirect, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr and the rest of the city, that this is a done deal. At the last meeting, not one single resident of the district showed up in favor yet dozens and dozens showed up against the move.
PLEASE MAKE EVERY ATTEMPT TO ATTEND THIS MEETING!!!
URGENT – FreshDirect Returns to CB1 This Wednesday
When: Wednesday, July 10, 5:30 pm
Where: Community Board 1 Office – 3024 3rd Avenue, Bronx
We need everyone to come out to the CB1 office this Wednesday, July 10, at 5:30 pm, to show FreshDirect that the community REJECTS their request for a land use plan modification to build a 500,000+ square foot warehouse/parking lot on our waterfront that will bring 1,000 more diesel trucks every day through our asthma-saturated community. Wear your “STOP FRESHDIRECT” T-shirt, or email us if you didn’t get one last time.
The community board is being reassembled this Wednesday to address and provide comments to the City Planning Commission on the narrow issue of whether FreshDirect should be allowed to have a land use modification in light of a restrictive covenant placed on the land they propose to occupy.
City approval of FreshDirect’s proposed land use modification depends upon a finding that the proposed changes will:
(1) Not cause “overutilization of adjacent street systems”;
FreshDirect violates this requirement. Fresh Direct will cause overuse of already congested local roads and bridges: Despite their self-serving traffic analysis that treated their large diesel trucks as if they were cars, considerable concerns persist as to the impact Fresh Direct’s 2,000 daily truck and vehicle trips will have on local traffic and traffic inside the Yard (not to mention the air pollution).
(2) Not result in excess bulk and density on any portion of the Yard;
FreshDirect violates this requirement. Fresh Direct will result in excess bulk and density: Fresh Direct would occupy twice the acreage (13 acres) and building square footage (a 500,547 s/f warehouse) of the originally designated Wholesale Flower Market (5-7 acres). To make matters worse, the Yard is in a flood zone. With the certainty that additional and more extreme flooding will occur at increasing rates, such development (including its underground parking and refueling station) is ill-advised and dangerous.
(3) Not conflict with the project objectives of reducing local and regional truck traffic by importing goods into the City via rail while providing economic development benefits to the South Bronx and the City.
FreshDirect violates this requirement. Fresh Direct conflicts with the public objectives established for the Yard. Since it prevents operation of the intermodal terminal, will intensify congestion on local roads, and fails to offer living-wage jobs, Fresh Direct fundamentally conflicts with the City’s and State’s public objectives for this state-owned land.
(4) Not materially interfere with the operation of the intermodal terminal;
FreshDirect violates this requirement. Unlike the originally-planned Wholesale Flower Market, Fresh Direct plans to locate a truck parking lot entirely within the 28 acres reserved and zoned solely for the intermodal terminal. Fresh Direct’s traffic, including its need to access the Yard through Alexander Ave., would prevent the operation of the intermodal terminal.
South Bronx Unite | an alliance of South Bronx residents, organizations, and allies.
Last month I mentioned that on Community Board 1’s agenda, other than FreshDirect, was the future of PS 31 on the Grand Concourse and East 144th Street – the grand landmarked yet abandoned school affectionately known as the Castle on the Concourse.
After the heated FreshDirect session, representatives for SoBro came up and gave a compelling report as to why the edifice should be saved. The organization has received word from Goldman Sachs that they are interested in saving the distressed property which SoBro has had engineers perform various inspections. According to those engineering reports, although the building suffered damage from Superstorm Sandy, it is still salvageable.
SoBro says that they have a solid plan to develop the property into a mixed use residential apartment complex with mixed income residents as well as possible ground floor commercial and or community space.
The immediately surrounding area has been rezoned under the Lower Concourse Rezoning Plan which is bounded north by East 149th Street, south by East 135th Street and the Major Deegan Expressway, West by the Harlem River and east by Morris and Lincoln Avenues. [note: the block on the Grand Concourse containing Hostos Community College directly south of 149th Street was omitted from the rezoning].
This massive area encompasses 30 city blocks that mostly have been dormant for decades. Already a new development is rising as a direct result to the new rezoning just 4 blocks from PS 31 and if SoBro gets its wishes granted, this may be the turning point in a long abandoned neighborhood.
The area is full of architecturally rich empty warehouses just waiting to be turned into residential lofts and with the Bronx the fastest growing borough, the demands need to be met.
The plan isn’t without opposition although it comes from the city and not the community. The community appears to be in vast agreement that the building should and needs to be preserved.
After representatives from SoBro gave their testimonies, much to the applause of residents attending CB1’S meeting, came representatives from mayor Bloomberg’s office. Along with the Deputy Mayor, an engineer with the Department of Buildings, testified that the building poses a serious threat to the community and their recommendation is to tear it down. This is in direct opposition to the SoBro engineer who’s report says the contrary.
When pressed by the community board of the building will be torn down the representative only gave vague responses that they would not act without consulting with the board again.
Personally, with my 15 years experience in the real estate industry, I think it is the city’s responsibility to do whatever it takes to save this landmark building all the while preserving public safety which unfortunately trumps anything else.
A third, independent group should request an engineering report to see what is going on at the site since both parties have their own agendas but it should come at the city’s expense who is responsible for letting this architectural gem collapse into its current deplorable state.
The administration should be ashamed of themselves that yet again, they let the people of the Bronx, particularly the South Bronx, down again by abandoning something that meant to us.
Just days before Bloomberg went off on a rather racist and privileged rant that stop and frisk disproportionately stops whites, ProjectBronx had posted a video asking Bronxites about the controversial practice. Most agreed that it is an unfair practice.
Anyone who’s walked the streets of Manhattan, particularly downtown, has at one point or another walked through a cloud of marijuana from folks freely walking by and smoking it but nary a cop can be found in sight let alone a stop made.
In places like the Bronx, however, in predominantly black and latino neighborhoods, young men are stopped for simply standing in front of their building or walking about their business. The cops use the excuse that they look suspicious or match the description of someone who just committed a crime yet 90% of these stops yield nothing but embarrassment and harassment of law abiding citizens.
Can we justify the way the program is carried out based on the results over the past decade? Can we agree that there is a problem here? How do you feel about stop and frisk?
Don’t forget to watch ProjectBronx asking our residents on the issue!
Is it just me or is Goya’s name a wee bit too large on the statue’s base honoring Roberto Clemente, an important son and hero of the Puerto Rican community as well as Latinos?
I’ve been mulling this over since I first saw the pictures last week but the reaction is still the same: I am very offended by the audacity that Goya had to make their name in a much larger font than Clemente’s. Puerto Ricans and Latinos already worship at the house of Goya with their kitchen cabinets serving as makeshift altars to the company so was it really necessary to make a mockery of our hero?
Let’s face it, Goya doesn’t need marketing in our community since their products are like water to fish – we’re swimming in the stuff. I’ve seen many artistic installations made possible through the generosity of a corporate sponsor but who are we honoring here? While we’re at it, why not change it from Roberto Clemente State Park to Goya State Park?
Our community placed Goya where they are now so in essence, we built that statue since we’re so loyal to the brand. I strongly think Goya should not only apologize to the community, they should pay for a new pedestal AND perhaps fund a local community center or two to help keep kids off the streets and perhaps have a chance at becoming a hero like Clemente.
