For 171 years, Immaculate Conception School in the Melrose section of the South Bronx, has been educating the children of the neighborhood ever since they opened their doors in 1854 when the area was a small village and still part of Westchester County.
Now, along with Sacred Heart School in Highbridge, the Archdiocese of New York announced that both schools will cease to operate as Catholic institutions of learning and taken over by Brilla Schools Network, a system of public charter schools in the borough.
Immaculate Conception School, which has been serving the community since 1854, will end its 171 years as a Catholic School at the end of the school year.
According to a press release issued by the Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of New York, Sr. Mary Grace Walsh, ASCJ, Ph.D., Superintendent of Schools, stated in a letter to parents, “While this marks the end of these campuses as Catholic institutions, education of children will not end here.” Sr. Mary Grace further added the Brilla Schools Network plans to operate the closed schools as public charter schools in collaboration with Seton Education Partners, which will also offer an optional Catholic extended-day program.
The closing of these two educational institutions as Catholic schools is a trend that has been going on within the Archdiocese of New York for the better part of the decade which has seen over a dozen Catholic schools shuttered.
Many of these school closures have also come with the closing of their churches and merging with other parishes to make way for affordable housing like was in the case of St Augustine in Morrisania and Our Lady of Pity in Melrose.
According to the Office of the Superintendent of Schools of the Archdiocese of New York, Brilla School is providing a guaranteed lottery preference for all current students of Immaculate Conception School and Sacred Heart School and will also be extended to their siblings. In order to be considered, families are required to complete the formal enrollment process.
More, detailed information on the process will be provided by Brilla in the coming days. For parents wishing for their children to continue at a Catholic school within the Archdiocese, they are encouraged to visit their website for updated information, speak with the principal, or contact the Office of the Superintendent at super.intendent@archny.org for further guidance.
“We recognize that this announcement may bring mixed emotions—gratitude for the decades of Catholic education and sadness as we close this chapter in these schools’ history,” Sr. Mary Grace wrote to parents.
“With faith, we may also see this time as a gift of the Holy Spirit, guiding us toward an opportunity that will continue to serve our children and communities with care, love, and dedication.”
While the general area on the side of the Bruckner Boulevard that the proposed 2,200 migrant shelter is sited is mostly industrial, it is within walking distance of at least half a dozen schools.
New York City’s plan to close 13 migrant centers by June is being overshadowed by the proposed opening of a massive 2,200-bed migrant shelter for men in the South Bronx and many residents aren’t happy—and rightfully so.
For far too long, the South Bronx has been disproportionately overburdened with such facilities for the homeless for the entire city.
The area the site is located on Bruckner Boulevard is being touted by the city as a rather industrial and isolated area , the fact is that there are no less than six schools within walking distance—just blocks away—from the proposed site that will house up to 2,200 migrant men.
Councilmember Diana Ayala, who represents the district where the proposed shelter site is located mentioned that she was caught by surprise, despite having recommended the site several years ago when councilmembers were asked to identify such sites, by the announcement of the coming shelter to her district as she only learned of it by way of a press release from the city.
According to the city, many of the migrants will be coming from the Randall’s Island tent shelter that is scheduled to close by next month but congregating such a large, vulnerable population under one roof isn’t the answer let alone a burden The Bronx should shoulder.
In a quoteto the BronxTimes, Councilmember Rafael Salamanca Jr, who previously represented the area where the shelter is coming, said, “Once again, the South Bronx is carrying the weight for homelessness in the city of New York. It’s a never-ending saga.”
While migrants deserve the dignity of shelter and needed services, it should never come at the cost of our communities that are already overburdened with issues of our own that residents are desperately working to improve.
A couple of hundred migrants at a location are manageable but the city shouldn’t expect one neighborhood to host thousands.
The Economic Development Corporation’s pick of Maddd Equities and Joy Construction elevates hopes that decades of revival schemes finally come to fruition — and concerns about a contractor’s safety record.
The city Economic Development Corporation has selected 8th Regiment Partners LLC, a joint venture between real estate firm Maddd Equities LLC and Joy Construction Corporation, to develop the 570,000 sq. ft. Kingsbridge Armory, the public-benefit corporation told THE CITY on Monday.
Dubbed “El Centro Kingsbridge,” the repurposed century-old armory will include a state-of-the-art event venue, a dedicated community space, a recreation center, an educational facility focused on workforce development, cultural and commercial spaces, sports fields and more.
The selection of the developer in a bidding process that launched last September marks a major turning point for a national landmark that has been vacant since the city took over the property in 1996. A previous attempt to turn it into a national ice center collapsed after years of legal battles.
The new development partnership comes as the borough is in the midst of a development boom, including a recent rezoning that potentially allows for 7,000 apartments near four new Metro North train stations in the East Bronx and waterfront projects along the Bronx and Harlem Rivers in Mott Haven, Soundview and University Heights that have sparked concerns about the possibility of displacement of longtime residents and small business owners.
“After a competitive selection process, we are thrilled to announce 8th Regiment Partners as our partner to redevelop the historic Kingsbridge Armory,” EDC president and chief executive officer Andrew Kimball told THE CITY in a written statement, adding that the group’s “proposal embraced the community’s vision plan for the Armory and demonstrated through their thoughtful design, programmatic uses, and financial viability that, in partnership with the city and state, they can finally deliver the economic engine and community amenities that the Bronx wants and deserves.”
An EDC spokesperson said construction is anticipated to begin in 2027 with a goal to complete it by 2032, and that its event space would hold 13,000 people at events including concerts and college graduations.
Construction Fatalities
Joy Construction and Maddd Equities are bound by a project-labor agreement that Mayor Eric Adams announced with the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York late last year. It ensures union labor is guaranteed on this and other major city construction projects.
“We know we can’t get things done in this city without unions,” Adams said at the Nov. 21 announcement. “The Building and Construction Trade Council and the rest of our brothers and sisters in organized labor keep New York strong.”
Joy Construction, however, has been repeatedly targeted by Laborers Local 79 over the firm’s use of non-union labor and for what the union says is its poor safety record.
In December 2022, one worker was killed and another hospitalized with an amputation when the bucket of an excavator struck them both at a Joy Construction job site. Lindon Samuel, who was killed in the impact, and the other worker were building a state-funded affordable housing complex in Tremont. Federal investigators probed that incident and ultimately issued Joy Construction a $10,550 fine, records from the federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration show.
Last February, Local 79 and several local elected officials led calls for Joy Construction’s removal from the Edgemere Commons project in Far Rockaway after two workers were injured in back-to-back incidents.
In a statement sent shortly after this article was published, Joy Construction principal Eli Weiss said that “the sad incident you raised resulted in a fatality caused by a mechanical issue,” noting that “Joy no longer uses or rents machinery made by that manufacturer [and] continues to take significant measure to address worker safety on our job sites since that ill-fated accident.”
Weiss noted that the firm is not on the city Department of Buildings top 25 list of the contractors with the most accidents and violations, and said that “With over 10,000 apartments built over its tenure, the statistics are pretty clear that Joy’s safety record is quite strong.”
Local 79 did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the Kingsbridge Armory deal.
Maddd Equities is headed by Jorge Madruga, a Bronx businessman who, with a previous venture, developed 20 Bruckner Boulevard in the South Bronx. Three workers died at that job site between 2018 and 2021, making it the city’s deadliest project since at least 2003, according to a New York Times investigation.
Madd Equities did not respond to THE CITY’s request for comment.
More than $200M in Public Funds
The EDC estimated in June 2023 that redeveloping of the armory would cost up to $500 million, with much of that going towards remediation. Built in 1917 for the National Guard, the building has critical infrastructure needs that include addressing plumbing, HVAC, electrical and flooding issues.
Approximately $216 million in city and state funding awaits Joy Construction and Maddd Equities, including $100 million each from Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul, with the rest coming from the City Council and Borough President Vanessa Gibson. That money from the mayor and governor, previously available as loans, carried over from the plan to establish an ice center.
The EDC and community groups consulted with some 4,000 residents, students, workers and business owners on the project concept, published as the Together for Kingsbridge Vision Plan in August 2023. It proposed the armory be used as a community-owned space for, among other possibilities, film and television productions, sustainable manufacturing, vocational training and a small business incubator along with spaces for community gatherings, sustainable food systems and a museum on the culture and history of The Bronx.
Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks about plans to redevelop the Kingsbridge Armory, Aug. 8, 2023.
The Northwest Bronx Clergy and Community Coalition (NWBCCC), a local group advocating for racial justice and economic democracy that has led community-driven development proposals for the armory since 1997, led much of the grassroots engagement.
“We are convening a coalition of accountability that’s made up of faith institutions, community organizations, labor unions and small businesses that are going to continually monitor and advocate for what was in the vision document,” NWBCCC executive director Sandra Lobo told THE CITY Monday evening.
She emphasized the need for quality union employment, high environmental standards, some form of community ownership and averting displacement.
“There’s very little information that we have” about how the community space in the development will actually be used, said Lobo. “We’re cautiously optimistic that the EDC has chosen a developer that has taken the vision document seriously, and that wants to uphold those standards.”
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Construction has begun on what will be the South Bronx’s tallest building at 355 Exterior Street just south of the 145th Street Bridge.
Almost overnight, the South Bronx grew a glittering skyline of market rate luxury rental towers along the Harlem River with many of them rising as tall as twenty five stories as the gentrification of Port Morris and Mott Haven began several years ago.
Now, the slowly growing sprawl of luxury towers is creeping further north along the Harlem River as construction begins on a 43 story development in what will be the tallest building in the South Bronx and second tallest in the borough once it’s completed (River Park Towers are currently the tallest).
First announced in late 2020, construction has begun at 355 Exterior Street, a waterfront property that was once owned by Verizon and billed as the largest development site available in New York City at the time which sold for a whopping $59 million in an all cash transaction a year prior in 2019.
The site sits right between the 145th Street bridge at 149th Street and the Madison Avenue Bridge at 138th street an is within walking distance to the 149th Street and Grand Concourse subway station along the 2, 4 and 5 lines, and the 138th Street and Grand Concourse on the 4 and 5.
355 Exterior Street residents will have to access the building under the Major Deegan Expressway.
While no details have recently emerged on the development from the owners, The Lightstone Group, when the sale was finalized, it was reported that the development would include 2,000 units of housing of which 30% would be set aside for “affordable” housing and the remaining units would be market-rate luxury.
Rendering of the development posted at the construction site at 355 Exterior
According to plans filed with New York City Department of Buildings, the 43 story building will reach a height of 400 feet (the same height as Tracey Towers up in the North Bronx) and will have 710 residential units spread across 554,846 square feet with an additional 10,651 square feet of commercial space.
Plans also include for parking for 325 vehicles as well.
The face of the South Bronx is changing and will continue to change and in a decade, it will be completely unrecognizable.
While there have been only a handful of truly affordable apartments available on New York City’s Housing Connect portal over the past two years, every now and again a development pops up that truly can be called affordable housing.
One such development is Bedford Green House Phase II in the Bedford Park section of The Bronx.
Bedford Green Phase II / Via Housing Connect
The development has 116 units of which almost half will be set aside for seniors but in this latest lottery, there are a number of units with no age restrictions and rents starting as low as $454 a month for studios for qualifying applicants meeting the income guidelines for such units.
The development also accepts Project Based Vouchers for some studio and one-bedroom units.
According to the listing on Housing Connect, Bedford Green House Phase II is a pet-friendly development with WIFI available in common areas, a gym, community center, a recreation room, a children’s playroom, outdoor terrace, package locker room, and gated access.
Breakdown of available units and income requirements are as follows (see website for full details and household size requirements):
30%AMI
$454 a month for studio units for households making $18,480 – $37,290
$577 a month for 1 bedroom units for households making $23,109-$41,940
40%AMI
$654 a month for studio units for households making $25,338-$49,720
$827 a month for 1 bedroom units for households making $31,680-$55,920
60%AMI
TENANT PAYS 30% OF THEIR INCOME IN RENT FOR STUDIO UNITS FOR HOUSEHOLDS MAKING $0-$74,580
TENANT PAYS 30% OF THEIR INCOME IN RENT FOR STUDIO UNITS FOR HOUSEHOLDS MAKING $0-$83,880
$1,581 a month for 2 bedroom units for households making $58,595-$100,620
Please note, for each unit, there are other requirements such as number of people per household and further income requirements based on household size so refer to the Housing Connect website for further details.
How to Apply
For those interested in applying, you have until December 30, 2024 and you can do so online or you can request an application by mail by sending a self-addressed envelope to: Bedford Green House II Lottery c/o Settlement Housing Fund, 247 West 37th Street, 19th Floor, New York, NY 10018
Remember, you can only apply ONCE and you may not apply both online and by mail. Applying more than once can and will disqualify you according to the lottery rules.
Also, please note: We are NOT connected with this or any other real estate developments and cannot assist you in obtaining an apartment so please do not contact us regarding these units.
For over a year, there have been less and less truly affordable housing developments opening up in The Bronx that the majority of local residents can actually afford let alone qualify for due to income requirements that are often beyond the reach of the average household in the borough.
And now, almost every development that has been offered on New York City’s Housing Connect portal where affordable housing lotteries are announced are anything but affordable.
For a time, most of these (un)affordable housing units were located mostly in the South Bronx, with over 95% of them within Mott Haven but now as of late, we’ve seen more and more miles away and further north from the borough’s ground zero of gentrification.
Rendering of 2077 Ryer Avenue via Housing Connect
Located at 2077 Ryer Avenue in the Fordham Heights section of The Bronx, the new development is offering “affordable” one and two bedroom units ranging from $3,515 a month for one bedroom units to $4,376 a month for a two-bedroom unit.
For the record, the typical two-bedroom unit in the area list for anywhere from $1,800 to $2,400 a month.
In order to qualify for these units, your household income needs to fall anywhere from $120,515 a year to no more than $218,000 a year depending on your household size.
The brand new development is located in Bronx community board 5 which has a poverty rate of 37% which is almost twice the poverty rate of New York City which sits at 19.7%.
How then, are these units affordable or advertised as such when the majority of residents in the neighborhood and borough cannot afford them?
The median household income in The Bronx is $47,260 as of 2022 according to NYU Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy and for Bronx renters that number is even lower at just $38,680.
For comparison, the two bedroom units at 2077 Ryer Avenue are on average $500 MORE expensive than the luxury, waterfront Bankside development on the Harlem River in the South Bronx where you have a host of amenities like concierge services, outdoor rooftops and swimming pools, fitness centers and the likes.
2077 Ryer has nothing to justify even half the rent they’re asking for.
The affordable housing program and system in New York City is broken and we can’t continue to pretend that they’re offering any rental relief to the average Bronxite and New Yorker.
So remember developments like this when the next time Mayor Eric Adams touts all the supposed affordable housing that has been constructed during his tenure as mayor.
For the past several decades, The Bronx was considered to be one of the ‘bluest’ counties in the US with an overwhelming majority of the electorate as registered Democrats and consistently and overwhelmingly voting for the Democratic candidate in presidential elections.
In 2008, almost 89% of Bronx voters voted for Obama with almost 92% voting for him for his re-election in 2012 solidly locking in The Bronx as one of the most Democratic counties in the country.
In 2016 when Trump was first elected, the trend continued to be roughly the same with 88% voting for Hillary Clinton and only 10% for Trump but in 2020, the total percent of voters for the Democratic ticket dropped by 5 percentage points swinging over to Trump who managed to get 15.9% of voters.
But last Tuesday, The Bronx took a dramatic shift to the right with a whopping 27% of the electorate voting for Trump and representing by far the largest increase in New York City from the previous presidential cycle with a 35% jump from 2016 with Kamala Harris only receiving 73% of the vote.
While many people, especially the Democratic establishment are in shock at the dramatic shift across the country and here in our own city and borough, it really shouldn’t be too surprising and perhaps the canary in the coal mine was the defeat of Democratic Councilmember Marjorie Velasquez last year by Republican Kristy Marmorato who became the first Republican elected in The Bronx in almost 50 years.
For decades, Democrats have banked on the immigrant community of New York City and The Bronx as a solid, liberal voting block but the results of the 2024 elections have upended those notions not just in our home borough but perhaps across the country as well.
America voted and decided to elect a convicted felon and a rapist as their leader. Someone who has been conning people for decades and he has now once again conned his way to the most powerful position on the planet.
With Republicans controlling every branch of our government come January, the consequences of the most consequential election in our lifetimes will soon be felt and known across the country and the world.
The wait is finally over for Bronx residents to get a taste of the wildly popular discount European supermarket Lidl located at The Bronx Terminal Market.
And to celebrate the grand opening of their first store, Lidlwill be offering gift cards to the first 100 customers so make sure you get there before the 7:40AM opening time on Wednesday, October 23rd!
Lidl is similar to Aldi, which Bronxites are very familiar with five stores already having opened across the borough with the most recent opening in Fordham this past summer.
Both are discount grocery chains that began in Germany and are known for offering deep discounts on a wide range of products. Both stores primarily carry store brands rather than national brands, which helps keep prices low. While Aldi sticks more closely to store brands, Lidl offers a wider selection of national brands.
Lidl’s no-frills approach extends to its store layout and operations. Products are often displayed in their original shipping cartons to minimize handling costs, and the checkout process is designed for speed. By focusing on a limited but high-turnover product range, Lidl can maintain efficiency and keep prices competitive.
Lidl at The Bronx Terminal Market
The first Lidl opened in the United States back in 2017 in Virginia with the first NYC location opening up the following year on Staten Island.
Now Bronxites will have yet another deeply discounted supermarket to help stretch their food budget and feed their families without breaking the bank.
With the borough being home to the highest percentage of low and extremely low income households such stores offer a much welcomed relief compared to the high prices of traditional local supermarkets.
We’re looking forward to shopping at Lidl next week and hope to see you there!
In the beginning, there was only 212 across all the land that is known as New York City. It was one of the first area codes in the country assigned in 1947 and was considered the easiest to dial on rotary phones.
Then, in 1984 with the rise of fax machines coupled with population growth, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island were split from the good ol’ 212 and thus gave rise to the 718 for these three boroughs while The Bronx and Manhattan remained the historic and coveted 212.
But that didn’t last too long because by the early 90s, it was determined that once again, the 212 area code would run out of numbers so in order to prevent that, The Bronx was pushed out and lumped into 718 along with a new 917 area code that covered the entire city in 1992.
Now, 32 years and four additional area codes later, New York City is once again facing another number shortage and in order to prevent that from happening, a new area code has been proposed for the outer boroughs of The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island (along with Marble Hill section of Manhattan).
While the new number hasn’t yet been decided upon nor has the plan been approved as of yet since there has only been one public hearing that took place last week on October 1st, if and when it is approved, the new area code would be added and begin use some time in 2026.
Until then, we’re good with the current SEVEN area codes that we have in New York City, the 212, 718, 917, 347, 332, 646, and 929.
It’s hard to believe that 15 years ago, Welcome2TheBronx was born as a hobby based on a deep love for all things Bronx.
When I first put pen to paper, or rather fingers to the keyboard, I began with Welcome2Melrose to help combat the negative stereotypes of my neighborhood of Melrose in the South Bronx that was being perpetuated in the media for several decades too long.
A Bronx right-of-passage
I remember clearly how it started: I was searching Google for some local images but the only thing that would come up was images of a Bronx that no longer existed in 2009.
Everything that kept coming up was of the burning Bronx of the 70s and 80s but nothing was coming up about all the recent strides the borough had made in the subsequent decades since those years.
Everything that was reported about The Bronx in local and national (and even international) media was always negative so I took it upon myself to begin documenting the good things that were happening on the northernmost borough of New York City.
Within a month, the blog had caught the attention of local media and they began highlighting our efforts as well as amplifying some of the stories were were writing about.
And by the next year, Welcome2Melrose had evolved into Welcome2TheBronx as we decided to make sure that the entire borough was celebrated.
Throughout the years, many of our original stories made headlines across the city, nation, and the world and along with all of our supporters and like-minded content creators, we were able to tell a different story of The Bronx and teach the world what our borough was really all about.
This isn’t to say that we don’t talk about the issues we need to tackle like income inequality, education, true affordable housing, crime. We just want others to know that there’s more to us than just that.
It’s been a wonderful ride getting to know our borough even better through all those years and meeting the heartbeat of The Bronx that is its people who I firmly believe is the most important resource of our borough.
Anyway, I say all of this to say THANK YOU to everyone who has stuck with us since the beginning and all the newcomers that join us every day across our social media accounts.
Without you we wouldn’t be able to celebrate 15 years of Welcome2TheBronx and all things about this amazing borough we call home.
23 years ago, I woke up and began my quotidien morning rituals, like millions of my fellow New Yorkers.
I walked to the 149th Street and Grand Concourse Station and grabbed the 2 train to Midtown and was at my office before 8AM, long before the rush of commuters arrived that would swamp the area for the rest of the work day.
As the morning went by and I enjoyed working in the stillness before the offical 9AM start time at the office, the quietness of the that time was punctured with a scream from one of the Senior VPs at the firm who had just arrived and raced to the conference room shouting, “AN AIRPLANE HIT THE TOWERS!”
The handful of early risers that were at the office with me each morning all jumped from their desks in unison, myself included, and we ran right behind him straight to the conference room where the TV was already on showing smoke billowing out of the World Trade Center where the plane hit the building.
Tribute in Light/King of Hearts, Wikipedia
We sat there in shock, debating the size of the plane that hit it. Was it a standard airliner or was it a smaller plane?
Then the unthinkable happened right before our eyes.
The second airplane slammed into the South Tower and it was at that very moment, I think, that any shred of “innocence” if you will, was forever lost to even the most jaded of us New Yorkers.
It was at that moment that the tears began to flow along with a panic that being in Midtown that we could be next given that it was an obvious attack.
A few minutes later, another colleague walked into the office and straight to the conference room and when she saw the horror of what was unfolding, she ran out of the office screaming, “MY FATHER! MY FATHER!”
Unfortunately, her father was one of almost 2,800 who perished at the World Trade Center as well as other colleagues who lost family members that day.
A half hour later, when the third plane crashed into the Pentagon, we were in full-blown panic mode. The FAA shut down the entire United States airspace ordering all aircrafts to land immediately at the nearest airports and forbidding international air travel from entering the country’s airspace.
Our biggest fears were coming alive before our very eyes: America was under attack.
And then, as if things couldn’t get any worse, the South Tower collapsed before our very eyes.
Less than thirty minutes later, as we’re all still glued to the TV in tears, the North Tower collapses.
Shortly thereafter, most of decided to leave and figure out how to get home as all subway lines had shut down and there was no way to get back to The Bronx except to walk.
I decided to walk to my best friend’s apartment in the West Village rather than trekking back home.
Everywhere I turned, as I made my way down 7th Avenue and saw the billowing smoke pouring out from the scar where the towers once stood, people were crying and seemingly strangers consoling each other.
When I got to my friend’s place on Bank Street, his brother who across from the towers had just arrived covered from head to toe in soot and toxic dust from the collpasing towers.
Later that afternoon, we went up to the rooftop of my friend’s apartment building and just watched the helicopters and listening to the neverending wailing of ambulances rushing back and froth between St Vincent’s Hospital which was just two blocks away.
And then one minute we’re staring at 7 World Trade Center and the next, we saw as it collapsed right in front of us as many of us just screamed in disbelief in unison with what seemed to be everyone else on rooftops who had just witnessed the same.
Eventually when the some subway lines reopened, I decided to make my way home to my parents. It was an arduos journey of taking trains that wouldn’t even leave me anywhere near home leaving me to walk several miles to my final destination.
When I got home, I collapsed into my mother’s arms in tears as she herself was crying. My father, who was a train operator on the 5 subway line, eventually made it home after being stuck in Brooklyn when the subways were shut down.
He had just pulled out of downtown on the 5 train that morning and when he pulled into Brooklyn, he was notified of what had just happened.
Who knows what would’ve happened had he been a few minutes behind.
These are the questions that lingered on many people’s minds.
If you didn’t live in NYC or were here, you will never comprehend 8:46AM on 9/11
You won’t understand what it feels like to spontaneously just cry your soul out.
You may have watched it on TV and read about it, saw the horrific images but if you didn’t live here or were in New York City when it happened, you cannot comprehend the trauma.
This isn’t to diminish your suffering.
This is simply a perspective; MY perspective on it during the past 23 years.
From hundreds of conversations (maybe thousands by now) with folks who weren’t near the areas or even region, I’ve been able to make this observation.
You just don’t really get it or comprehend the severity and magnitude of what we suffered that day.
We New Yorkers know with just a look and generally don’t need to put it into words.
Chances are you also don’t suffer from some sort of mental illness as a result whether it’s anxiety, depression, PTSD or any combination thereof.
I miss how we were so united afterwards. Sadly it only lasted for a brief moment.
Oh and never forget that people are still dying. Over 2,000 have died since 9/11 as a result of 9/11 related illnesses and over 10,000 first responders have been diagnosed with cancer.
And let us not also ever forget the innocent millions of civilians who lost their lives in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries in the Middle East as we were led by lies to retaliate against these countries in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
Let us never forget the ensuing anti-Muslim hysteria that gripped the nation and the world that continues to have a lasting and damaging impact on their lives today.
A new lottery has launched for brand new affordable housing in The Bronx via New York City’s Housing Connect portal.
The development, known as Belmont Cove, is located at 656 E 176th Street in the Tremont neighborhood of The Bronx, features amenities like a shared laundry room, bike storage lockers, a playground, a recreation room, an outdoor terrace, and even a storage room.
A rendering of Belmont Cove
Rents at Belmont Cove are truly affordable, at least for a portion of the units, compared to other recent offerings at Housing Connect in the past year that weren’t truly affordable, with rents starting as low as $465 a month for a studio, $591 for a 1 bedroom unit, $700 for a two-bedroom apartment, and $800 for a three-bedroom.
A breakdown of available units and income requirements are as follows (see websitefor full details and household size requirements):
30% of Area Median Income
$465 a month for a studio for households making $18,480-$37,290
$591 a month for 1 bedroom units for households making $23,143-$41,940
$700 a month for 2 bedroom units for households making $27,738-$50,310
$800 a month for 3 bedroom units for households making $32,023-$54,030
50% Area Median Income
921 a month for studio units for households making $34,115-$62,150
$1,159 a month for 1 bedroom units for households making $42,618-$69,900
$1,383 a month for 2 bedroom units for households making $51,155-$83,850
$1,589 a month for 3 bedroom units for households making $59,075-$96,300
70% Area Median Income
$1345 a month for studio units for households making $48,652-$87,010
$1,689 a month for 1 bedroom units for households making $60,789-$97,860
$2,018 a month for 2 bedroom units for households making $72,926-$117,390
$2,323 a month for 3 bedroom units for households making $84,240-$134,820
Please note, for each unit, there are other requirements such as number of people per household and further income requirements based on household size so refer to the Housing Connect website for further details.
How to Apply
For those interested in applying, you have until October 21, 2024 and you can do so online or you can request an application by mail by sending a self-addressed envelope to: 1465 Nelson Avenue, Suite A, Bronx, NY 10452
Remember, you can only apply ONCE and you may not apply both online and by mail. Applying more than once can and will disqualify you according to the lottery rules.
Also, please note: We are NOT connected with this or any other real estate developments and cannot assist you in obtaining an apartment so please do not contact us regarding these units.
