Welcome2TheBronx

Meet Meisha Ross Porter, New York City’s New Schools Chancellor

Y ALEX ZIMMERMAN, CHALKBEAT; CHRISTINA VEIGA, CHALKBEAT AND REEMA AMIN, CHALKBEAT

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March 2, 2021

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Meet Meisha Ross Porter, New York City’s New Schools Chancellor

Alex Zimmerman, Christina Veiga, and Reema Amin, THE CITY

This article was originally published on Feb 28 at 3:21pm EST by THE CITY

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news organization covering public education. Sign up for their newsletters here: ckbe.at/newsletters

Meisha Ross Porter, who rose through the education department’s ranks as a teacher, principal, and executive superintendent, will become the first Black woman to lead the nation’s largest school system.

Her appointment comes after the surprise resignation of Chancellor Richard Carranza Friday morning and just 10 months before Mayor Bill de Blasio will leave office.

But even if Porter’s tenure may be brief, as a new mayor is likely to pick a new chancellor, she will not simply be turning out the lights on the remaining months of the mayor’s term.

*Meisha Ross Porter, a veteran education department official, will be the first Black woman to lead New York City schools.; | Courtesy of the New York City Department of Education*

She is inheriting a system that has been rocked by the coronavirus pandemic, and she will immediately face enormous responsibilities: determining how much in-person instruction schools can offer in the coming months, developing a plan to catch up students whose education has been derailed by the pandemic, and gaining buy-in from bitterly fractured communities of families and educators.

“I promise we’ll do everything to reopen schools, starting with high schools, we’re ready to go,” Porter said at a news conference, hinting that she may jumpstart reopening high school campuses, which have been shut down since November, even as elementary and middle schools have reopened.

“We’ll expand the learning opportunities and do more to address trauma and academic needs, because we know that that is very real.”

*New York City Department of Education Chancellor Richard Carranza speaks at City Hall about the importance of mayoral control of the schools, March 7, 2019.*

Porter is well respected among many of the city’s education leaders and known for building trust with parent leaders and principals, according to people who have worked with her. She also brings a deep understanding of the school system, a labyrinthine bureaucracy with roughly 150,000 employees and a $34 billion annual budget.

‘Someone Who Understands’

“For the first time in a number of chancellors, principals and superintendents are gonna feel like they have a friend, someone to talk to and someone who understands them,” said Richard Kahan, founder of Urban Assembly, a nonprofit that has created 23 public schools, and hired Porter for her first teaching job. “It hasn’t been that happy a place for principals for a long time.”

Raised in South Jamaica, Queens, Porter graduated from Queens Vocational and Technical High School, where she majored in plumbing.

Porter was about 17 and leading an anti-drug organization for teenagers when Kahan, then overseeing an urban planning effort for the Bronx, approached her to help his team craft policy ideas, he said.

Shortly after, Kahan tasked Porter with helping to plan Urban Assembly’s first school, Bronx School for Law, Government, and Justice. When the school was established, Kahan hired Porter to oversee its outside partnerships, unaware that she was studying to teach. Porter was later brought in to teach at the school, rising several years later to principal.

She was able to build relationships with students quickly and often saw opportunities to connect their learning to real-world issues, according to David Banks, the school’s founding principal.

‘The kids adored her and they saw her as one of them.’

After a student commented on a cigarette advertisement that faced the school building, Porter pushed to incorporate lessons about the effects of smoking. She also encouraged a letter-writing campaign pressuring then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani to sign a bill that would ban advertisements for tobacco near school grounds, Banks said. Giuliani signed it into law, though it hit legal roadblocks.

“Those kids felt like they had something to do with it,” said Banks, who is now president of the Eagle Academy Foundation. “She’s not that traditional stuffy school leader. The kids adored her and they saw her as one of them.”

During a visit to the school when Porter was principal, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. recalled feeling struck by how she had students settle escalating disputes: They held a trial with student attorneys, a jury, and a judge.

Promotion Party Drew Fire

After 18 years at the school, she left her post as principal to become a regional superintendent for Bronx District 11. Three years later, in 2018, Carranza tapped her as one of his newly created executive superintendents, overseeing all Bronx schools.

Porter drew some criticism in 2019, when the schools watchdog received a complaint that she had enlisted subordinates to fundraise and organize a party to celebrate her promotion. The office later dropped its investigation.

Porter’s sense of what to prioritize when the pandemic hit exemplified her leadership style, according to principals and nonprofit leaders.

Luis Torres, principal of P.S. 55, said Porter helped bring to life his idea to create educational programming for children on public access television station BronxNet by rallying support among schools in the borough, so that teachers and administrators could create pre-recorded lessons for the program.

And when some students across the Bronx were still deviceless in January, Porter pushed elected leaders for help, said Torres, who said he has known and worked with Porter for 15 years. Torres said it helped fill the gap at his own school.

*Meisha Ross Porter, left, helps distribute donated devices for remote learning this past January with Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., center.*

“Whatever it takes to get things done, this is what Meisha will do and I’ve seen it with my own eyes,” Torres said. “That’s why people appreciate her, because even though she was the executive superintendent, she gets her hands dirty, and she’s never forgotten where she came from.”

In another instance, Porter tapped New Visions for Public Schools, a nonprofit group that manages a network of district and charter schools, to help build out its data tools so that principals could better track whether students were failing to submit assignments in Google Classrooms or even whether they lacked devices for remote learning.

“She requested that we provide support and worked with us to make sure those supports complemented the greater work she was trying to do,” said Mark Dunetz, the president of New Visions. “She is somebody who is just very clear and effective.”

Lauded by Parents

Bronx parents have praised Porter as an ally. The New Settlement Parent Action Committee, or PAC, an advocacy group based in the South Bronx, got word in 2018 that the education department was setting up new teams to focus on equity issues in District 9.

The team’s goals targeted many of the same issues the committee had been focusing on for years: pushing for culturally relevant curriculum that reflects the borough’s diversity, discipline reform, and more.

PAC wanted to join the equity teams, to bring the perspectives and support of parents to the mix. But they ran into roadblocks and excuses about why they couldn’t. Until they reached out to Porter, who had recently been appointed executive superintendent.

“Meisha Ross Porter went to bat for us. She told the equity team we must be at the table — that there’s no equity team without us,” said Ronnette Summers, a parent advocate in District 9 for more than two decades.“She was just really, really receptive. Surprisingly receptive.”

Throughout the pandemic, parents and school officials on the equity teams have worked together to make sure students have internet connections and devices, with parents passing along the names and contact information of hard-to-reach families whenever officials ran into dead ends or struggled to learn the extent of the need.

‘She understands the needs of families in the city.’

Porter is a fixture at meetings and other events like town halls — a constant presence that Summers called “unheard of” in all her tenure as a parent advocate.

Aide Zainos, another member of PAC, said she is particularly appreciative of Porter’s help ensuring parents have school materials and meetings translated in their native language, whether that’s Spanish or African dialects.

“She understands the needs of families in the city,” Zainos said in Spanish, adding that the equity teams have included “all cultures and languages.”

De Blasio Looms Large

But Porter may not have a lot of runway to execute her own vision, especially as de Blasio’s propensity to micromanage his agency chiefs is well known. One factor in Carranza’s resignation, according to The New York Times, was growing tensions with the mayor about how to handle admissions to the city’s Gifted & Talented program.

At a press conference on Friday morning, Carranza left her with one piece of parting advice: “Do you, be you, lead with the heart that you’ve led in every one of the assignments that you’ve had in New York City.”

Summers credited the outgoing chancellor with helping Bronx parents advance issues important to them, even in the face of “pushback from some of the affluent places that weren’t ready to give up stuff.” Throughout his tenure, Carranza, who is Mexican-American, faced racist rhetoric while pushing for school diversity and anti-bias training for teachers.

Summers predicted that Porter will come up against some of the same challenges, but said the new chancellor won’t stand alone.

“There’s going to be a lot of pushback for her being a woman, and a woman of color. But I think she’s capable of taking that on,” Summers said. “We’re going to have her back.”

THE CITY is an independent, nonprofit news outlet dedicated to hard-hitting reporting that serves the people of New York.

Coat Giveaway at Bronx Terminal Market Helps Restore Some Faith Within Community

Henry Danner

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March 1, 2021

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This past Friday, the power of community and mutual aid was on full display at the Bronx Terminal Market. Hundreds of people lined up and waited in 40-degree weather to receive brand new winter coats handed out at a coat giveaway event organized by Assemblywoman Latoya Joyner of the 77th district, in partnership with the Bronx Terminal Market and New York Cares.

Amidst a pandemic that continues to wreak havoc on the nation’s economy, Bronx residents have experienced the worst symptoms of the virus.

And as vaccine efforts ramp up due to the Biden administrations push to vaccinate 100 million Americans in his first 100 days in office, food insecurity, a burgeoning housing crisis and soaring unemployment rates are but a few of the most dominant side-effects Bronx residents are dealing with.

Events, such as Friday’s coat drive and a concurrent food drive just a few doors down, help to restore faith in a community that has endured the worst the pandemic had to offer.

*Local resident Kendall Wright came to the coat giveaway to secure coats for her family/©Henry Danner*

Kendall Wright, a local resident, attended the giveaway to secure coats for her family members. Ms. Wright expressed her gratitude for the leaders of the community providing resources: “It’s really about the community helping each other out … Some people don’t have access to the necessary things that they need so it’s good to have individuals like a politician that’s giving this out to say that they care, that they’re concerned. It’s very helpful”

*Noticing that the porters working in his building had worn and battered coats, Edwin Guerrero went searching to find new coats for them./©Henry Danner*

Edwin Guerrero stopped by the coat giveaway to secure coats to give to the porters in his building on 164th street and the Grand Concourse. Last week, Guerrero noticed that the porters’ coats appeared to be battered and unable to keep them warm during the recent frigid temperatures.

After realizing he had no coats to personally donate to the men, Guerrero serendipitously received robo-call voicemail from Assemblywoman Joyner’s office earlier this week alerting him of the coat giveaway.

*“You see somebody down, extend your arm and lift them up,” said James Godbold, a volunteer at the giveaway and a resident of a local homeless shelter./©Henry Danner*

James Godbold, a resident of a homeless shelter near the Bronx Terminal Market, volunteered at the coat giveaway. He helped out with crowd control and spread positive energy as he shared jokes with those waiting in line.

Godbold expressed that this pandemic has revealed just how much alike we all are as people across social and economic classes continue to suffer due to its impact. He added that we need to be show each other more compassion.

“You see somebody down, extend your arm and lift them up,” Godbold said.

About the author: Henry Danner is a NY state licensed Social Worker and visual storyteller. Using his camera as a tool to influence change, Henry wields the power of photojournalism and documentary photography to highlight poetic nature of everyday life, display the power of community and share stories that heal. Henry is a member of Columbia University Journalism School’s class of 2022

Thousands Face Eviction in The Bronx as $1 Billion in Rent Goes Unpaid in NYC Due to COVID-19 Pandemic

News

Ed García Conde

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February 24, 2021

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Thousands Face Eviction in The Bronx as $1 Billion in Rent Goes Unpaid in NYC Due to COVID-19 Pandemic

The economic crisis as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has hit many but nowhere is it more apparent than The Bronx.

At one point during the crisis, unemployment reached a staggering 24.7%, the highest seen since the Great Depression and perhaps even higher than that.

Now, according to reporting by WABC, there is $1 billion in unpaid rent in New York City as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and economic crisis and although landlords are prevented from evicting people during this time period, that hasn’t stopped them from filing the necessary paperwork so that they can do so once the moratorium is lifted.

And nowhere is this looming crisis greater than The Bronx where almost 10,000 eviction notices have been filed, according to data compiled by the Eviction Lab at Princeton University, impacting tens of thousands of Bronxites.

*Most of The Bronx is bright orange and red indicating the areas with high numbers of eviction filings /via WABC*

The Bronx also has the most eviction filings by zip code with 10468, which covers Bedford Park, Kingsbridge Heights, and parts of Fordham Manor, Fordham Heights, and University Heights, leading the city with 1,001 filings.

Many of the zip codes in the West Bronx, covering neighborhoods like Highbridge, Morris Heights, and Morrisania, are also among the highest with eviction filings in the city an area that has historically already had some of the highest rates of rent burdened households and residents just one paycheck away from homelessness.

As with what we’ve seen with the COVID-19 pandemic, this housing crisis is also greatly impacting households of color than any other group.

WABC also reports that NYC’s lower income zip codes have five times more eviction filings than the wealthier parts of our city showing further how the pandemic has impacted these communities disproportionately.

This is clearly evident when you look at the map and you see areas that have a lower population of families of Blacks and Latinos, also have lower eviction filings. Although many of those areas tend to have more owner occupied homes, there are still a large portion of the population that are renters.

Zip codes covering areas like Riverdale, Spuyten Duyvil, Throggs Neck, Country Club, Pelham Bay all have under 100 filings each and over on City Island, no eviction filings have been recorded.

This isn’t to say that homeowners aren’t hurting either as many are behind on mortgage payments, however, data on that specific area isn’t readily available.

Watch the news clip from WABC below and you can see how your zip code is doing by going here and using the interactive map.

Lottery Now Open for Brand New Affordable Housing Apartments in Bedford Park

Ed García Conde

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February 22, 2021

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BEDFORD PARK—Applications are now being accepted for over 100 brand new construction affordable apartments in the Bedford Park neighborhood of The Bronx with rents as low as $1,045 a month for two-bedroom units.

Bronxview Apartments, located at 2885 Marion Avenue, is a 114 unit, 8 story mixed-income residential development comprised of one, two, and three bedroom apartments.

*Bronxview at 2885 Marion Avenue/Image via NYC Housing Connect*

Rents start as low as $1,045 for two-bedroom apartment and $1,200 for a three bedroom for those making 50% of the area median income and higher depending on income.

As far as amenities go, Bronxview doesn’t appear to have any besides an advertised shared laundry room which makes this particular affordable housing development kind of lacking in this area compared to other comprable new construction in the area.

But what it lacks in on site amenities, it more than makes up for what’s available within walking distance.

The site is located within a short walk to Lehman College along with its Center for Performing Arts, Fordham University, the New York Botanical Garden, Mosholu Parkway, Bronx River Park and Forest, Van Cortlandt Park, and many others.

Bronxview is also located within several blocks of the Botanical Garden Metro North Station, the B and D subway at Bedford Park Boulevard and the 4 train a few blocks over on the same street not to mention several bus routes that run right by.

Qualifying applicants must make 50, 60, 90, or 110% of the area median income which ranges from $39,018 to $155,100 a year depending on which bracket you land on and household size.

5% of units are set aside for applicants with mobility issues and 2% for those with visual or hearing impairments.

50% of the units are reserved for those who live within Bronx Community Board 7 and 5% for those who work for New York City.

Application deadline is April 20, 2021 and you can apply online or request an application by mail, by sending a self-addressed envelope to:

2751 Grand Concourse C/O Fordham Bedford
Bronx, NY 10468

As per Housing Connect guidelines, do NOT apply online and also send in an application. Only apply ONCE per lottery or you may be disqualified for duplicate entries.

Best of luck!

Please note: Welcome2TheBronx is NOT affiliated with this listing or any other real estate developments nor do we receive any commissions from these posts. We are simply bringing the news to you. Please do NOT contact us as we cannot help you with these listings.

Bronx Woman raises Over $2 Million for Texas Relief in Less Than 24 Hours

Ed García Conde

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February 20, 2021

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Bronx Woman raises Over $2 Million for Texas Relief in Less Than 24 Hours

As millions of Texans suffer due to the severe winter weather related events that have left dozens dead across the state, a Bronx woman has raised over $2 million for relief organizations while Senator Ted Cruz vacationed in Cancun.

Spurred to action by the inaction of the state’s mostly Republican leadership, who refused to help their own residents and told them to fend for themselves, this Bronx woman decided to mobilize a nationwide effort to raise funds for Texan grassroots organizations that are providing aid during this humanitarian crisis.

Often ridiculed by Republicans and the far right for her passionate stance on climate change and its devastating impact on our citizens (which they claim is fake), this hasn’t stopped her from providing the aid that these very people so desperately need—The same aid withheld by leaders from their own party and as Senator Ted Cruz boarded a plane to Cancun to escape the devastation left behind by a rare winter storm and sub-freezing temperatures that killed almost 60 people across the country so far.

While Ted Cruz abandoned his constituents in their most desperate time of need, as they were dying due to hypothermia or because they couldn’t breathe because their life supporting equipment could not function without electricity, she came to their help.

While Ted Cruz made excuses on Twitter for why he fled the country and casting blame on his defenseless daughters, this Bronx woman activated her network and within 4 hours had raised over $300,000 for Texas.

By the end of the night, it was at $1 million, and in less than 24 hours, donations had surpassed the $2 million mark.

And by midday on Saturday, that total had surpassed $3.2 million.

We hit $3.2 MILLION in Texas relief support last night!

One of the places it’s going is the Houston Food Bank. I’m visiting Reps. @JacksonLeeTX18 & @LaCongresista with volunteers to pack meals.

The bank REALLY needs helping hands.

Can you join a shift? https://t.co/93wBfD4YdI pic.twitter.com/62AvCb4CL7
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 20, 2021

That Bronx woman is The Bronx’s own Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democrat from the Boogie Down who, once again, showed the world the Bronx spirit of solidarity and helping those in need despite differences in political ideologies.

And for those cynics who think this is a political stunt, it’s not.

*Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at a diner in Parkchester for a meet and greet with Senator Bernie Sanders in 2019. ©Welcome2TheBronx*

AOC regularly activates her followers and donors to donate to various grassroots organizations that are getting needed work done on the ground.

Work that is desperately needed and moreso now in the middle of the pandemic and economic crisis.

Maybe, just maybe this is how it’s done. Putting people first above party and politics.

The East Bronx is Getting NYC’s FIRST E-Scooter Share Program

Ed García Conde

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February 19, 2021

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The East Bronx is Getting NYC’s FIRST E-Scooter Share Program

The Department of Transportation announced Thursday that the East Bronx, one of the most transit-starved areas of the borough, will get New York City’s first E-scooter share program this Spring.

This will give area residents another option of getting around the neighborhood or making connections to subway stations along the 2,5, and 6 line as well as Metro North stations.

Phase 1 of the pilot program will cover all East Bronx neighborhoods north of Pelham Parkway which includes Co-op City, Baychester, Williamsbridge, Allerton, Edenwald, Eastchester, and Pelham Gardens (except City Island) and Morris Park and Van Nest to the south of the parkway with 2,000 to 3,000 e-scooters.

The northwest Bronx neighborhood of Woodlawn is also included in Phase 1.

According to the press release, the pilot will allow the city for the first time to see how an e-scooter share program would work on city streets and would run for at minimum one year.

“Working closely with the Council, we are happy to deliver the city’s first e-scooter share pilot — crafted to allow Bronx residents to try e-mobility to and from countless critical destinations, from Co-op City to the Soundview NYCFerry terminal,” said DOT Commissioner Hank Gutman in the statement.

Gutman also said that, “…important changes to the streetscape, including new dedicated bike lanes to ease travel for e-scooters as well as bicycles in the east Bronx” will be announced in the coming weeks.

As far as alternatives to transportation goes, this is pretty exciting news given the fact that The Bronx is usually the last borough to get such programs like Citi Bike which took forever to get here.

And the selection of 18 square miles of the East Bronx as the testing ground for this new program is probably not a coincidence given the fact that Citi Bike won’t be expanding this way for quite some time as they are focusing on their Bronx expansion solely in the neighborhoods west of the Bronx River.

Given that the area’s almost 600,000 residents are over 80% Black, Latino, and overall BIPOC, including 25,000 residents who live in NYCHA, equitable access to the pilot will be a priority for DOT which the agency will also monitor.

DOT hasn’t announced yet which company will operate the pilot program but StreetsBlogNYC reported, “…multiple companies, including Bird, Lime, Superpedestrian (with its Link scooters), Voi, Beryl and others, responded to a city request for expressions of interest on operating scooter-share programs”.

Phase 2 of the program will potentially begin in 2022 and will include the rest of the East Bronx including Parkchester, Soundview, Clason Point, Castle Hill, Throggs Neck, Country Club, Edgewater Park, Pelham Bay, and Schuylerville and will increase the e-scooter presence to 4,000 to 6,000 between both phase areas.

No word on why City Island isn’t included but it could be because of the distance required to get there given that the community is isolated and isn’t contiguously adjacent to the street grid.

Local area resident Amelia Zaino said although she’s never ridden on an e-scooter, she is nevertheless, “…excited about it and it would be helpful for traveling distances that are short but long at the same time like getting between Co-op City and Pelham Bay.”

Stay tuned for more information on start dates as well as who will operate this service along with pricing and discounts.

Construction of Bronx Point, Future Home of the Universal Hip Hop Museum, Begins

Ed García Conde

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February 12, 2021

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Construction of Bronx Point, Future Home of the Universal Hip Hop Museum, Begins

On an empty 4.4 acre lot along the Harlem River directly north of the 145th Street Bridge at 149th Street that was once to be part of Mill Pond Park, ground has finally broken ground for Bronx Point, a massive mixed-use development that will bring thousands of residential apartments as well as the permanent home of the Universal Hip Hop Museum and just under 2 miles from where hip hop was born.

First announced in 2016, the development plans eventually went on to include the home for the museum which has been seeking a permanent space in the borough and birthplace of Hip Hop.

*The 4.4 acre site and future home of Bronx Point and the Universal Hip Hop Museum as seen from the 145th Street Bridge*

Phase one construction of Bronx Point will create not just the 50,000 square foot permanent home of the Universal Hip Hop Museum but it will also bring with it 542 units of permanently affordable housing and 2.8 additional acres of Mill Pond Park which will open up more of the waterfront to the greater community.

The Billion Oyster Project will also run an outdoor science program focusing on the Harlem River. The organization just last year installed an oyster reef at the mouth of the Bronx River at Soundview Park comprising of 500,000 pounds of 15 million live oysters.

As for the residential units, there will be 135 studios, 192 one bedrooms, 122 two bedrooms, and 93 three bedroom units with a portion of units to be set aside for the formerly homeless.

Residents will be able to access amenities like a children’s playroom, fitness center, and an outdoor terrace along with a lounge, bike room and even a fitness center.

As for the Universal Hip Hop Museum, or UHHM as it’s known, it will offer a wide variety of programing that will not only serve as to document The Bronx’s place as the birthplace of Hip Hop but to also celebrate our place in history of this genre that was birthed by our borough and went on to become a global phenomenon and endures to this day almost 50 years later.

“For years, we’ve wanted a permanent home in The Bronx—the birthplace of hip-hop—and we are proud to be a part of Bronx Point, which will be one of the great new destinations of the borough,” said legendary Hip Hop artist Kurtis Blow who is also the Chairman Emeritus of UHHM.

“Hip-hop grew from a seed that was planted at a house party on Sedgwick Avenue into a global movement, and our museum will celebrate that journey and the Bronx’s place in its history. For all those who rose with us and followed in our footsteps: this museum will be for you, forever. We can’t wait to open our doors and welcome visitors from around the borough, the city, and the world to Bronx Point and the new home of hip-hop!” he added.

While all of this sounds good, it still doesn’t change the fact that the city stole land that was to be part of Mill Pond Park’s expansion nor should we forget.

Phase 1 and completion of the museum is scheduled to be completed by 2023 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the birth of Hip Hop with the entire development to be completed by 2025 provided that everything goes smoothly.

Report: Parkchester is New York City’s Most Affordable Neighborhood

Ed García Conde

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February 10, 2021

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Report: Parkchester is New York City’s Most Affordable Neighborhood

A new report by PropertyClub shows that Parkchester in The Bronx is New York City’s most affordable neighborhood for home buyers with a median sales price of $195,000.

Data also indicates that overall, The Bronx is the most affordable borough with a median sales price of $519,000 which is significantly less than the $700,000 median sales price for the entire city.

*One of the dozens if not hundreds of statues you’ll find around Parkchester.*

The report looked for the 50 most affordable neighborhoods in New York City by analyzing recorded closed sales for residential properties in 2020 and only neighborhoods that recorded 10 sales or more were included in the report.

Of the 50 neighborhoods that made the list, 12 of them were in The Bronx and are as follows:

Ranking	Neighborhood	Borough	Median Price
1	Parkchester	Bronx	$195,000.00
2	Bedford Park	Bronx	$225,000.00
4	Fieldston	Bronx	$290,000.00
6	Soundview	Bronx	$306,000.00
7	North Riverdale	Bronx	$307,500.00
8	Spuyten Devil	Bronx	$325,000.00
10	Riverdale	Bronx	$330,000.00
14	Kingsbridge Heights	Bronx	$349,000.00
23	Kingsbridge	Bronx	$397,500.00
26	Highbridge	Bronx	$415,000.00
28	Eastchester	Bronx	$420,000.00
50	Allerton	Bronx	$509,500.00

The top ten most affordable neighborhoods in The Bronx as per data compiled by PropertyClub

Perhaps the most surprising on the list is Fieldston, given the estates and mansions in that area, however since those properties rarely sell, only the co-ops were considered for the report which drastically skews the data a bit.

Typical car-free street scene in Parkchester

This isn’t the first time the city within the city known as Parkchester is on the list. Back in 2019 when we wrote about that year’s report which looked at prices in 2018, the median sales price in the neighborhood was $180,000.

Of note, Parkchester is also the only neighborhood on the list that’s under $200,000.

In second place is Bedford Park with a median sales price of $225,000 and much like Parkchester, is a very diverse neighborhood that’s quite reflective of the overall population of our borough.

At the bottom of the list at the 50th spot is Allerton with a median sales price of $509,500, another diverse Bronx neighborhood.

PropertyClub also released a report on the 50 most expensive neighborhoods in New York City and not one Bronx neighborhood made the list so maybe, just maybe, we’re still “safe”.

Borough	Median Sales Price
Bronx	$519,000
Staten Island	$550,000
Queens	$605,000
Brooklyn	$900,000
Manhattan	$1,160,000

Median sales prices in 2020 across the five boroughs as per PropertyClub

To see the full report check it out over here.

Schumer and AOC Get Feds to Pay for Funerals of COVID-19 Victims in NYC and Beyond

Reuven Blau/THE CITY

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February 9, 2021

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Schumer and AOC Get Feds to Pay for Funerals of COVID-19 Victims in NYC and Beyond

Reuven Blau, THE CITY

This article was originally published on Feb 8 at 3:00pm EST by THE CITY

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer and Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced a plan to help families with burial cots for victims of the coronavirus. — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are teaming to help families of COVID-19 victims. | Ron Adar/Schutterstock, Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY

The federal government will help pay for the funeral and burial of COVID-19 victims whose families can’t afford the expenses, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced Monday.

In a rare joining of forces, the two New York members of Congress, who disagree on the Democratic Party platform, said that the Federal Emergency Management Administration will tap into the overall $2 billion national pot of disaster funds to cover the costs.

New York State will get approximately $260 million in funeral assistance funds, according to Schumer. FEMA will cover all funeral expenses, which run an average of $7,000. People can file retroactively for reimbursements dating back to Jan. 20, 2020 to Dec. 31, 2020.

“For families, the unspeakable loss of a loved one is being exacerbated by the substantial costs of funerals and burials that many cannot afford right now,” said Schumer (D-NY), the newly minted Senate majority leader.

Schumer and Ocasio-Cortez announce a plan in Queens to help families with burial costs for victims of the coronavirus, Feb. 8, 2021.

He said he got the idea after Ocasio-Cortez (D-The Bronx/Queens) broached the topic with him in April. The two then called on the federal government to provide similar financial relief for funeral costs like it did after Superstorm Sandy.

“Millions of people across the country and thousands of New Yorkers have lost loved ones due to the pandemic and adding significantly to the emotional and financial burdens they were already dealing with,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement.

Schumer and Ocasio-Cortez are “working to keep the program in place for the rest of the pandemic,” according to a press release.

A Team of Rivals

A family seeking to file for the coverage will need documentation, such as a death certificate or obituary, to verify the person died. Relatives will also need receipts for all the funeral costs. They should coordinate with family members on who will file the application as “next of kin.”

FEMA is creating a call center where caseworkers can assist people applying. Eligible people will be able to upload the documentation into an online portal or submit the paperwork via fax or U.S. mail.

The phone number and online system are not operational yet.

Among the local advocates who pushed for the federal burial assistance: Frankie Miranda, executive director of Hispanic Federation; Nathaly Rubio-Torio, executive director of Voces Latina, and Saeeda Lesley Dunston, executive director of Queens’ Elmcor Senior Center.

Many New Yorkers have struggled to bury their loved ones killed by COVID-19, which has disproportionately hit Black and Hispanic residents of working-class neighborhoods.

Some 2,225 people have been buried on Hart Island since January, the busiest year since the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, THE CITY reported in December. Hundreds more are expected to be laid to rest at the city’s public cemetery in the coming months.

In 1988, when the AIDS epidemic was at its peak, nearly 1,400 adult burials took place on the island, home of the largest mass grave in the United States. In 1918, there were over 22,000 burials during the Spanish flu pandemic.

Nearly 28,000 New Yorkers have died from the coronavirus so far.

Ocasio-Cortez, who up-ended the Democratic establishment with her 2018 win over longtime Queens Democratic leader and Rep. Joe Crowley, has been floated as a potential challenger to Schumer next year.

Schumer recently became Senate leader with the effective Democratic majority, elevating him to his highest position of power following a 45-year-plus political career and giving New York a potentially strong champion with the changeover to the Biden administration.

THE CITY is an independent, nonprofit news outlet dedicated to hard-hitting reporting that serves the people of New York.

After Los Angeles, The Bronx Has Highest Risk From Natural Disasters in the Nation

News

Ed García Conde

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February 8, 2021

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After Los Angeles, The Bronx Has Highest Risk From Natural Disasters in the Nation

A new interactive tool released by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), National Risk Index for Natural Hazards, (NRI), shows that The Bronx has the second-highest risk from natural disasters in the country.

Natural disasters aren’t something that Bronxites might think about outside of the occasional hurricane and nor’easter that hits the region but this new tool analyzes risk to 18 different natural hazards including heat waves, winter weather, cold waves, tornados, earthquakes, and more.

And coming in second in a nation of over 3,000 counties is a bit surreal.

Strong winds, tornadoes, ice storms, and winter weather pose the greatest risk to The Bronx with a 100 score for each (the highest risk rating), followed by coastal flooding (75.34), heat wave (68.36), and yes, landslides (57.33).

In 2018, a report showed that half of NYC’s 12 most heat-vulnerable communities were in The Bronx.

Hurricanes and earthquakes also pose a ‘relatively high’ risk to the borough as well with risk ratings at 30.97 and 32.41 respectively.

Over half a dozen high rises are going up along the Port Morris waterfront (as seen from East Harlem) which once complete, will provide over 2,000 units of luxury housing in an area that was under water as a result of Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

According to FEMA, risk index is calculated by taking the expected annual loss (which measures the expected loss of building value, population, and agricultural value per year due to natural disasters) multiplied by the social vulnerability of an area which is defined as the “susceptibility of social groups to the adverse impacts by natural hazards, and is divided by the community resilience of an area’s ability to, “…prepare and plan for, absorb, recover from, and more successfully adapt to the impacts of natural hazards.”

And it’s the last two that appears to be driving the risk even higher for The Bronx.

Taking all of this into the account, the South Bronx and the West Bronx overall, have a greater risk than the rest of the borough.

As for the rest of New York City, Manhattan came in behind The Bronx at 3rd place for greatest risk from natural disasters and hazards followed by Brooklyn at 6th place, and Queens at 11th placing them all together with The Bronx in the high risk category. Only Staten Island was in the moderate-risk category at 144th place.

Understanding these risks should be a blueprint for local and federal government officials to better prepare the people of The Bronx for not if a future natural disaster strikes but when.

We’ve already seen what happened to The Bronx during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic where we became the epicenter of infections and death as a result from the deadly virus but also one of economic devastation.

Given that it’s an election year, perhaps it would be prudent to question any candidate running for office what they intend to do given these findings.

To take a look at the interactive map and data you can go here or click below.

Hundreds of Bronx Residents Wait in the Cold Rain at Yankee Stadium to Get COVID-19 Vaccine

Ed García Conde

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February 5, 2021

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Hundreds of Bronx Residents Wait in the Cold Rain at Yankee Stadium to Get COVID-19 Vaccine

It was a different kind of opening day at Yankee Stadium today.

They arrived by the hundreds, with many waiting on line as early as 6AM despite the cold rain this morning, to get inoculated against COVID-19 on the first day of a mass vaccination operation at Yankee Stadium for Bronx residents only.

After data revealed that despite making over 50% of New York City’s population, with Black residents making up 24% of the population and Latinos 29%, only 11% and 15% of the that segment of the population (respectively) had received the COVID-19 vaccine.

To ensure that the vaccine is distributed equitably and prevent people from traveling in and taking spots intended for local residents, Governor Cuomo announced last week that Yankee Stadium would become a mass vaccination site exclusively for Bronx residents.

On Wednesday, registration opened up online and by telephone operated by SOMOS Community Care who’s also operating the vaccination site at the stadium and by yesterday evening, all appointments were booked for the first four days of operation.

According to Councilman Mark Levine (D), who represents parts of Upper Manhattan and is the Chair of Council Committee on Health, the mass vaccination site at Yankee Stadium can handle “…2,000+ per day” with many slots at each time interval.

Going by those numbers, it would appear then that over 10,000 residents have made appointments already given that there are no appointments through Tuesday, February 9th.

But not everyone who showed up today had an appointment. At least 50 people, some who claimed they arrived at 6AM said they either didn’t know they needed to make an appointment or couldn’t get through.

Many local activists have been vocal about how the appointment system is not geared to local residents who may not have internet access or cannot easily navigate the website which may be user friendly to many but to someone with limited or no internet access may appear a daunting task particularly for the elderly who are some of the most vulnerable.

These same activists, including Welcome2TheBronx, helped people get their appointments throughout the day yesterday and continuing to make sure everyone that wants one, can get an appointment.

Appointments are still available online or by calling 1-833-SOMOSNY.

Now if we can only get more vaccines rolled out to even more people.

Yankee Stadium Mass Vaccination Site Opens Tomorrow, Appointments Now Being Accepted

Ed García Conde

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February 4, 2021

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Yankee Stadium Mass Vaccination Site Opens Tomorrow, Appointments Now Being Accepted

Starting tomorrow, Yankee Stadium will be open as a mass vaccination site exclusively for Bronx residents and like all vaccination sites it’s free.

The site will be operating by SOMOS Community Care 7 days a week between 8AM and 8PM and currently as of this moment, the majority of the time slots are still open except for tomorrow which is already booked.

Eligibility is currently limited to Bronx residents over the age of 65, front line workers including restaurant workers and taxi drivers which were just added to the list (check here to see if you’re eligible).

In order to prove your Bronx residency, you must provide:

One of the following:

State or government-issued ID;
Statement from landlord;
Current rent receipt or lease;
Mortgage records.

Two of the following:

Statement from another person;
Current mail;
School records.

To make your appointment, click here.

Remember, there are many residents who will not be able to make appointments on their own for a variety of reasons.

It’s also important to help your undocumented neighbors and let them know that they too can get vaccinated at zero cost and risk to their legal status.

Check with your friends and family and offer to make the appointment for them if they’re eligible. Together we can fight against this pandemic.