With the 41 bus line up and down Webster and Melrose Avenues the latest to get the express Select Bus Service, the Department of Transportation is already toying with the idea of extending the route from the HUB in Melrose to Laguardia Airport. Currently, Manhattanites (as usual) , are the only ones who can take a bus straight to the airport using the M125 bus.
Select Bus Service is a form of express bus service where you pay before getting on board and everyone gets on the bus without having to swipe. This allows for a much faster boarding. That, coupled with limited stops and dedicated bus only lanes gives riders a much quicker commute.
This comes as a blessing to the Webster Avenue corridor as residents have to walk long blocks to the subway or deal with an arduous commute up and down the 41 line which was declared the worst of all bus routes.
With thousands of new apartments in Melrose bringing along thousands of new residents, extending the bus into Queens to get to the airport not only makes sense and will alleviate congestion at the subway stations but will also offer a quicker way into Astoria and beyond as the boroughs, although right across from each other, suffer from poor interborough mass transit connection.
Let’s encourage the DOT to do the right thing, folks!
The Bronx art world made huge news last week when it was announced by the Bronx Museum of the Arts that it had raised $1 million to expand its art collection. In a typical year, the museum only has anywhere between $10,000 and $50,000 to purchase art, however, as prices in the art world rise, this severely limited the ability of the museum to make any purchases.
Earlier this week, a last minute meeting (at least from the community’s perspective) was announced that FreshDirect may be attending the Community Board 1 meeting on Thursday. South Bronx Unite and concerned residents immediately sounded the klaxon call to make sure everyone was aware and to make sure they attended the public meeting.
The original meeting had been scheduled to be held at CB1’s office in Melrose on 3rd Avenue and 155th Street, however, at the last minute it was relocated to Hostos Community College on the Grand Concourse and 149th St. The change was never mentioned publicly and if several community residents did not check in earlier, we would not have known of the changes.
After attendees began to arrive at Hostos it immediately began to turn into a confusing situation as the location was switched yet again two blocks away at another building at Hostos. Although the start of the meeting was scheduled for 5:30PM it did not begin until much later as scores of residents had to sign in before being seated.
The meeting began with the usual approving of the agenda and the minutes of the previous meeting. Cedric Loftin, District Manager began to call those signed up to speak and the first testimony was given by Reverend Ruben Austria, a resident of Mott Haven and member of South Bronx Unite.
Rev. Austria, rather than barrage the board with facts, chose to simply implore the board to listen to the testimonies from the residents with their hearts, to think of those they are selected to represent. He went on to stress that he wants to raise his family here without the worries that come with a fleet of a thousand trucks invading our already congested streets.
Testimonies continued for over an hour from residents of the community in opposition to the deal, providing concrete facts and highlighting the misinformation provided by FreshDirect as well as our current leaders at Borough Hall. There was even a testimony welcoming FreshDirect, just not to Mott Haven but to perhaps another, more suited area.
When Christina Giorgio, a lawyer from New York Lawyers for Public Interest who is representing South Bronx Unite, got up to speak she immediately noted that she would much rather have spoken after FreshDirect son that she could properly counter their presentation but she made do regardless. At the end of her testimony she announced that they were going to appeal a recent decision where the lawsuit against FreshDirect was dismissed to a resounding round of cheers and applause from the audience.
Ivelyse Andino, who lives just several blocks from the proposed location challenged FreshDirect’s claim that they are bringing much needed access to healthy food to the district. She did a little price comparison between FreshDirect and Western Beef, a local supermarket, and found that FreshDirect’s prices were more than DOUBLE that of local supermarkets.
How does that translate to as a benefit in the poorest congressional district in the nation?
It is important to note that not one single resident of the area came to testify in support of FreshDirect. The several that did speak did not live anywhere near the area and in fact were from far up in the North Bronx.
Stephen Ritz a South Bronx teacher and of Green Bronx Machine came up and spoke in favor of the company’s move to the Bronx. He opened up his talk with the disclaimer that he is not a paid advocate of FreshDirect but what he FAILED to disclose was that he in fact was part of a school project which was funded and hosted by FreshDirect.
Steve Ritz stands with school and team members holding $10,000 check from FreshDirect for a project his company was involved in. In complete contradiction to his testimony stating he has no financial ties to the company.
A local Reverend also provided testimony in Spanish due to his lack of English and provided a powerful testimony as to why we must welcome FreshDirect with open arms and take the jobs. His translators (the first a staunch supporter of FreshDirect and head of New York State’s Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the second, the board’s secretary) often left out the Reverend’s comments also holding FreshDirect and the board accountable.
For instance, in his closing statement he said to the board that a study should be done (referring to the 20 year old environmental impact statement that FreshDirect and the city is relying on) to address the issues of what the current impact will be and of it’s good for the community then it’s good but if not then no. He ended it with saying toothed board that they need to cut their strings and not be manipulated like puppets.
The board secretary did not translate any of that and proceeded to say that the Reverend was done. At this point I asked for the microphone to finish the translation and was met by objections from the FreshDirect team because I am in opposition. I acknowledged that we were on different camps however, what he said needed to be heard. Although the Reverend was in favor of FreshDirect, he cautioned the need for a new study and for the board to be free from political influence.
When it came time for FreshDirect’s representatives to present, they simply reiterated their misinformation regarding their commitment to the Bronx and the environment. They failed to mention when over 100 trucks from their fleet were damaged in Superstorm Sandy, they dragged them from Queens and dumped them on the Bronx waterfront. They also mentioned how competitive their prices were yet did not respond to Ivelyse’s findings.
After they were done, several board members had questions but were blocked by Cedric Loftin, District Manager who said that due to time constraints, they would be unable to do so. He also failed to note that this was the only time they would be able to ask questions since they had two weeks to submit comments in support or against. Once again the democratic process was derailed.
The evening became incredibly tense and after the last agenda on the item, the fate of PS 31 on the Grand Concourse which we will discuss in another post, more misinformation was presented to the board by Cedric Loftin. He began instructing the board on next steps on the PS 31 issue and ordered the board to have comments in by Tuesday but after speaking in the issue for almost 10 minutes he was asked what specifically he was talking about and then he “corrected” himself and said it was on the FreshDirect issue.
Immediately the residents, including myself created an uproar over this because Loftin had railroaded any possibility of the board to question the company’s representatives since they had already left. Then a senior member placed a motion on the floor that the executive board meet in private over the issue. That’s when Mychal Johnson and everyone erupted in shouts of “No backroom deals!” Over and over again.
George Rodriguez, chairperson of Community Board 1, along with Cedric Loftin continued to block any attempt by opposing members of the board to voice their concerns over such actions. What was worse was that they even lied and said time was up because Hostos was asking us to leave due to the time and the representative from Hostos who was in the room assisting with the AV system said he said no such thing and that it was someone on the board who signaled to begin shutting down the room.
At this point the situation became chaotic as angry residents began shouting at the board to do the right thing and demand another public meeting with FreshDirect so that they can question them. Eventually the chants became so loud that perhaps for the first time in CB1’s history, they knew that the public meant business. At least half of the board that remained agreed with us that another meeting MUST be held before comments can be submitted. Other board members had left since the meeting was unofficially closed by George Rodriguez.
Another board member reminded him that meetings cannot be ended with motions on the floor of which there were three. Rodriguez feigned ignorance of the motions and eventually kept calling the meeting closed. Since he did not follow procedures, the meeting is still going on.
The events of the leadership of Community Board 1 and District Manager Cedric Loftin shows how true it was when Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr’s office said in a nutshell that community board members were there to serve his office when they were questioned about the removal of former board member A. Mychal Johnson, a vocal opponent to the FreshDirect move.
This meeting is testament to FreshDirect’s contempt it has for the community for it took them 16 months to come to the very community they want to heavily and dangerously impact with their over 1,000 trucks and taking away of our much needed public land. Total disregard for the community was apparent when the administration announced this as a done deal back in the beginning of February 2012 when in fact it wasn’t.
We need to continue to speak up and not let our voices be silenced. Let the record show that the meeting was packed with local residents, those opposing the backroom deal who live in the affected area, and not one individual residing in the community defended FreshDirect. If the board goes along with the sweetheart deal then it will be against the community’s wishes on record.
Riverdale, one of the great neighborhoods that make up the Bronx lies perched up high overlooking the Hudson River and the rest of the Bronx. It is also one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the outer boroughs.
LG Electronics is planning to build its new headquarters, a 143 foot tower, in Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Yup, you read that right NEW JERSEY. The pristine views of the Palisades that Manhattan and the Bronx enjoy are threatened so Ruben Diaz, Jr, the Bronx Borough President, has decided to step in and join his Manhattan counterpart, Scott Stringer, in sending a letter to New Jersey governor Chris Christie to stop the headquarters from being constructed.
Apparently views are far more important than the health of thousands of disenfranchised residents of the South Bronx who are threatened by FreshDirect wanting to relocate on our waterfront and adding thousands of truck trips through our residential streets in a neighborhood that is plagued by asthma. A move that our Borough President fully endorses and supports financially.
Folks, it is pretty evident here that Ruben Diaz, Jr is part of the problem in our Borough and its ills. Rather than help the disenfranchised, he goes where the money flows. It’s not to say that Riverdale should be ignored. Far from it for they are an integral part of our community as are the rest of our wonderful patchwork of neighborhoods but how does one choose to endorse an environmentally unsound plan for the South Bronx yet go to battle over a building across the river and in another state that will have ZERO environmental impact on our borough?
This is yet another entry showing how we all live in a Tale of Two Cities.
Last week, Bloomberg told the citizens of the Bronx and particularly the South Bronx that we’re not good enough for other than being used as a dumping ground. Ok so he didn’t actually use those words but as the old adage goes; actions speak louder than words.
At the opposite end of the city, in the usual pomp and circumstances of groundbreaking ceremonies on major city projects, Mayor Mike Bloomberg broke ground on the New Stapleton Waterfront development project in Staten Island. As described on his website, it is,
“a major community-driven project that will create new housing, retail and a waterfront esplanade at the former Homeport site on Staten Island. Ironstate, which was selected in 2009 to lead the project after a competitive bid, will invest $150 million to construct approximately 900 units of residential housing, 20 percent of which will be affordable, as well as 30,000 square feet of ground floor retail, and 600 parking spaces. The City is committing $32 million towards the project for infrastructure improvements and the construction of a new waterfront esplanade providing the public with waterfront access.”
This plan sounds great and congratulations to the communities on Staten Island that made this happen. But what about the South Bronx? Oh that’s right. Our waterfront is only good for waste transfer stations and industry.
Our community has long been denied access to the waterfront with only a snippet here and there offered to us and the amount of publicly accessible waterfront in the Bronx is in stark contrast to the plethora available in all the other 4 boroughs. We suffer epidemic rates of asthma, diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease. Would it not be prudent to help the population with least access to the waterfront and parks that suffers these ailments by building such an amenity?
Apparently the Bloomberg administration, along with our Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr, doesn’t think so. Instead a whopping 100 acres is set to be given over to FreshDirect along with over $127 MILLION SUBSIDY to move their operations over from Queens and onto our flood prone waterfront (as Superstorm Sandy proved). As with Stapleton, we have a coalition of over 40 community based organizations signed on to our platform for a vision of a healthier waterfront whereas those who want FreshDirect to move in have a paltry 6. Oh, they’re offering a 1,000 new jobs which are at slave wages considering the work to be done. Wages far below a living wage and close to being minimum. Where is the democracy in that?
Oh that’s right. This deal was a backroom deal without zero community input and was announced as a done deal before a public hearing was even held. What’s worse is that FreshDirect is relying on a 20 year old environmental impact statement to move in. When the the EIS was completed, the area in question as well as the neighborhood had a significantly smaller population. A few years later, the area was rezoned from manufacturing to residential which created a flood of new residents.
That initial rezoning was so successful that it was expanded by rezoning even more manufacturing zones to residential and that’s when the flood gates opened. A new waterfront residential development was constructed with over 400 units, artists and professionals priced out of Manhattan and Brooklyn began to move in and bringing I am desperately needed money and income to the area.
So why, can someone please explain, would you want to drop a 500,000 square foot warehouse in the middle of all this and add thousands of truck trips through a neighborhood clogged and congested already from the highways bisecting the area? Does this make any sense whatsoever? And furthermore, why would you rely on a severely outdated environmental impact statement that ONLY was designed for the neighborhood as it was then and never taking into account the thousands and thousands of new residents in the area? Oh that’s right. Because FreshDirect said that a new EIS would kill the deal.
Straight from the horses mouth, folks. FreshDirect admits this is not an environmentally friendly project by today’s standards so they would put our health and lives in jeopardy on a 20 year old report – A report that could not even forsee a superstorm Sandy type storm so soon in history.
Are you ready to fight for our land and for what is right? It is never to late to join the battle against corporate welfare and backroom deals designed to help corporate interests over human needs.
This Thursday, June 27th at 5:30 pm we expect Freshdirect to come to Community Board 1 and present their plan of bringing misery to our community. We need everyone available to come to that meeting, not to disrupt, but to demand the facts be made public. The biggest advantage we’ve always had are the facts. Let’s not allow another polluting industry to come to our community with lies of how they will bring salvation.
COMMUNITY BOARD 1 -SAY NO TO FRESHDIRECT’S PROPOSED MODIFICATION OF THE LAND USE PLAN AT HARLEM RIVER YARDS
1) FRESHDIRECT WOULD BRING NEARLY 1,000 DIESEL TRUCK TRIPS THROUGH OUR NEIGHBORHOOD EVERY DAY, WHERE ASTHMA RATES ARE ALREADY 8 TIMES THE NATIONAL AVERAGE. IF SOMEONE IN YOUR FAMILY OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW IN THE SOUTH BRONX HAS ASTHMA, SAY NO TO FRESHDIRECT!
FreshDirect will try to focus your attention on one particular hour’s worth of traffic, but there will be diesel trucks running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Their truck route maps are not even accurate – they have their trucks going the wrong way down one way streets. SAY NO to FreshDirect!FreshDirect will give lots of promises of converting to a “green fleet”, but those are just promises.
When Hurricane Sandy destroyed more than 100 of their trucks last October, they had the opportunity to convert to electric, but they did not. The 10 electric trucks they claim as evidence of their green commitment are 100% taxpayer funded. SAY NO to FreshDirect!
Ten years ago, Congressman Serrano sponsored the South Bronx Environmental Health and Policy Study, which exposed the link between the asthma crisis in the South Bronx and the community’s oversaturation of industrial facilities and highways. The solution was open space – not more city-subsidized projects bringing more trucks. SAY NO to FreshDirect!
The reason the community lost the lawsuit against FreshDirect (even though we are considering appeal) is because the judge said that a 20 year old environmental impact statement was good enough for our community. We continue to say that it is not. SAY NO to FreshDirect!
2) FRESHDIRECT WOULD RECEIVE A $127 MILLION SUBSIDY TO CREATE LOW WAGE, PART TIME JOBS. SAY NO TO FRESHDIRECT!
FreshDirect often cites an “average” wage of $11.25, but they do not explain how the majority of their recent job postings were for $8/hour part time positions. SAY NO to FreshDirect!
FreshDirect has a disturbing record of unfair labor and employee discrimination claims, and they do not accept employees with a criminal record. SAY NO to FreshDirect!
FreshDirect spent hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying city council and the mayor to be excluded from the living wage legislation, which says that any private development project accepting $1 million or more in taxpayer subsidies must pay employees a living wage of $10/hour with supplemental health benefits or $11.50/hour without benefits. SAY NO to FreshDirect!
Imagine if 127 small businesses in the South Bronx received a $1 million subsidy package each! Our local businesses, who have been employing our local residents for decades deserve a subsidy – not a company like FreshDirect, which is run by a former investment banker. SAY NO to FreshDirect!
Only $19 Million of the $127 Million subsidy is attached to job creation. So, if no jobs are created, they still get to keep more than $100 Million in subsidies. SAY NO to FreshDirect!
3) FRESHDIRECT IS AN OVERPRICED GROCERY WAREHOUSE THAT IS MORE EXPENSIVE THAN OUR LOCAL GROCERY STORES. SAY NO TO FRESHDIRECT!
In the company’s ten year history, they never bothered to deliver to our zip code until we made that an issue and a rational disagreement for the subsidies.FreshDirect’s prices are inflated. If you were to go grocery shopping at Western Beef for 3 pounds of ground beef chuck, 2 dozen eggs, 2 pounds of ground turkey, a 2 pound bag of onions, 2 sixteen ounce bags of black beans and a pound of strawberries, you would pay $21.03. The exact same food basket would cost $46.78 at FreshDirect – more than double!Current acceptance of food stamps is only a pilot program, which is not permanent and is only offered to our zip code to lure our community into accepting 1,000 daily diesel truck trips.
4) FRESHDIRECT WOULD DESTROY THE POTENTIAL FOR A VIBRANT SOUTH BRONX WATERFRONT. SAY NO TO FRESHDIRECT!
The Mott Haven-Port Morris Waterfront Plan was just placed on the list of high priority projects by The New York City – Region 2 Advisory Committee for the New York State Open Space Conservation Plan – a move that would preserve as open space seven interconnected projects lining the South Bronx shoreline, including the Bronx Kill Waterfront Park, the Park Avenue Boat Launch, the Lincoln Avenue Waterfront Park (with Alexander Avenue Extension), the East 132nd Street Pier, the Historic Port Morris Gantries and an overall connecting path. The full plan is available here.
The high priority status of the project was made following a series of meetings led by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) with representatives from all five borough presidents’ offices and the New York City Departments of Parks and Recreation, Environmental Protection and City Planning, among others.Hurricane Sandy demonstrated that we have to have a creative new vision for our waterfront, where we already have a 5,000 ton per day waste transfer station, a fossil fuel power plant and other truck-intensivewarehouses that are designed to benefit Manhattan – not us.
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD DESERVES SOMETHING BETTER THAN THE SAME OLD PROMISES. SAY NO TO FRESHDIRECT!
Folks, let’s face it. When it comes to equality, we’re still living in the dark ages and women still are our unequal partners.
Please take a quick moment of your time and call Senator Klein and urge to pass WEA!!
Here’s a handy script of a sample message and feel free to use! Calls do work!
Sample message for calling legislators:
Hello, I’d like to leave a message for Senator/Assemblymember_________. My name is ____________ and I am a constituent who lives in [your neighborhood or town]. I want to see the Women’s Equality Act passed this legislative session.
Thank you!
Let’s Pass the WEA TODAY!
The Final Hours in the Fight to Pass the WEA! Assembly passes all 10 Points!
On Thursday the Women’s Equality Coalition rallied in Albany, fighting in the final hours of the legislative session to pass the Women’s Equality Act. Our coalition has given our full support to this bill for months, and time is nearly out.
WEA passed in the Assembly on Thursday and now it is on to the Senate for a vote on Friday.
We’re calling on the Republicans and Independent Democratic Caucus to bring all 10 planks of the WEA to the Senate floor for a vote. We want every Senator’s vote on the record and see where they truly stand on women’s equality.
We have been discussing this bill for months. The time for debate is over. The time to vote is now.
Help Pass the Women’s Equality Act!
1. Call Senators
Sen Klein:
(518)455-3595
Sen Skelos:
(518) 455-3171
####
NEW YORK WOMEN’S AGENDA (NYWA) is a coalition of women professionals, organizations, and community activists who support the diversity and interests of NY women through collaboration, advocacy, and education.
New York Women’s Agenda
P.O. Box 8419, FDR Station, New York, NY 10150-8419
Justice Sonia Sotomayor comforted a student during her visit to her childhood school, Blessed Sacrament in the Bronx, in March. The school is closing. OZIER MUHAMMAD/THE NEW YORK TIMES
Today David González, of the New York Times, published an article which transported me back to 2nd grade at St. Anselm’s elementary school on Tinton Avenue in the South Bronx. The smell of pencil shavings and erasers permeated the air mixed with that of chalk dust. I didn’t know it then but I owe my life to the Catholic School education system and to the sacrifices my parents – papi y mami – made to make sure I received the best education possible.
David González writes about our wonderful leaders that came from the Bronx, folks of color just like myself and the majority of the borough, and were also products of the New York Archdiocese Catholic Schools. These folks such as Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer (both graduates of my alma mater, Cardinal Spellman and Ferrer also graduated from St Anselm’s as well) came from working class families who also sacrificed to send their children to parochial schools so that they would have a chance at the best possible education.
During the not so pleasant days in our borough’s past, these schools were havens that gave those who attended a chance at brighter future since almost 100% went on to attend college. In St Anselm’s and Cardinal Spellman High School it was never an option not to go or at least it didn’t seem to be. Since as young as I could remember in St Anselm’s, it was drilled into our heads that we were to go on to higher education. The same went through high school which also from day one we were prepped for that eventuality.
It wasn’t all roses and of course we had several teachers who had no right being in that profession but it provided structure and stability where there was none to be had beyond those gates and outside of our own homes. Catholic schools tend to host pre kindergarten or earlier straight through the 8th grade so one ends up growing up with the same folks in school, something public schools can’t relate to. Then there’s also the issue of a relatively small class size offering a more intimate approach to education.
I hated the uniforms and rigidity of the schools and always felt like an outcast on my block since many in my building did not attend parochial school. Many of us were bullied by public school kids to and from school making it a bitter pill to swallow. Lots of us would often wonder why our parents tortured us so by sending us to such schools. Those same bullies today either never finished high school, didn’t attend college, in dead end jobs or are dead today.
It wasn’t until many years later after college (which was also Catholic) that I realized what a world of opportunity I had been given by attending catholic schools all my life. I had never seen the inside of a public school thanks to the major sacrifices of my parents and papi driving the 5 train overtime to make sure that not only I had the best possible education but that we were also comfortable at home.
The education I received was top notch and let me explore worlds that seemed off limits to a Puerto Rican kid from the South Bronx because we were always encouraged to explore them.
Although I broke up with the Catholic Church decades ago and I do not agree with the Church on so many issues, if I ever have kids I do know that I will not hesitate in putting them in Catholic schools.
Please do not forget to read this wonderful article by David González on the Catholic school closures that our affecting our communities:
For months we heard about it. For months we knew it was coming yet assumed that eventually it would spread beyond lower Manhattan and the general downtown Brooklyn area but right before it launched, we were told that Bronxites shouldn’t even bother waiting for the program to come up here Citibike, the wildly popular and successful bike share program.
Already the 2nd expansion phase is being planned but not for the Bronx. Queens of all places, with only ONE bridge connecting it to Manhattan is getting Citibike before the Bronx. You would think that the Bronx, having the most bridges to Manhattan (about 8 pedestrian friendly bridges followed by Brooklyn with only 3 bridges) would be included in the 2nd phase.
The current stations as well as future expansion areas are located in predominantly white neighborhoods yet the current make up of the city is far from that. At $99 a year, Citibike is a great savings to those who pay over $100 a month on metro cards to get to and from work. This would be a boon to folks in poorer neighborhoods who do ride bikes and would like to save major money.
Let’s also not forget that we have some of the highest rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease as a result of lack of exercise and poor diet. The city and and Citibike have a moral obligation to these folks and not leave them in the dust. Imagine having Citibike kiosks at 161st and Grand Concourse with access to Yankee Stadium and most courts and government offices? How about at Boricua Village and Northrose so residents no longer have to wait for buses to the subway that are infrequent and are crowded to inhumane extremes?
Locations to all our great destinations like Fordham Road, The HUB, Bronx Zoo and the New York Botanical Garden. Orchard Beach, City Island, Throggs Neck, Port Morris, Mott Haven, Arthur Avenue, I mean the list goes on and on. It would provide an excellent alternative to our current miserable intraborough transportation system which, like for every other borough, designed to be Manhattan-centric.
We’re also a borough of colleges and universities with that base alone you would open the borough to these students as well!
So as awesome as the Citibike concept is, I have no choice but to give it an epic fail along with a Bronx Cheer for the sheer systemic racism of the design this model continues to perpetuate when it comes to the Bronx, the outer boroughs and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods.
This also goes to our politicians who let this happen. They had the option of insisting this would be equal opportunity and access but instead, as usual, sold us to the highest bidder. Get your act together!
Let us know below how you feel about this program! Likes, dislikes, don’t care? We always want to know!
This is a major offense since 501-3(c) non profits are prohibited from campaigning on behalf of any candidate. Will Arroyo truly stop at nothing to continue her life in crime politics?
Students at Hostos-Lincoln Academy of Melrose win the Grand Prize in a science contest. Not only are the students from the Bronx but they are also from ethnic groups that are underrepresented in the science and technology industry.
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, the organization which sponsored the experiment says:
“Kids are hungry for hands-on science and technology experiences and it is the mission of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s DNALC to make genetics accessible to them,” said CSHL President and CEO Dr. Bruce Stillman
The students collected ants from St Mary’s park and proceeded to catalog them based on their DNA barcodes. The resulting data showed a rich biodiversity of the ant population in just one park.
Check out the link for more information and videos about this exciting victory for a South Bronx school.
Congratulations to students Kavita Bhikhi and Hillary Ramirez !
NYC just released the new Hurricane Evacuation Zones which now includes an additional 600,000 New Yorkers.
This is the long awaited and revamped map since we were struck by superstorm Sandy last year which left us with unprecedented damage and destruction which our city and our region are still recovering from. Gone from the map are zones A, B, and C which have been replaced by zones 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.
Hurricane season is well under way so it’s a good thing that it was finally released.
Make sure to read the rest on Gothamist as they have a pretty neat breakdown of the new zones, what they mean as well as important links for more information.
