A new report issued by the New York City Economic Development Corporation shows that the city’s ferry system is, “… primarily used by white, upper-middle class people.”
But thanks to The Bronx’s diversity, this isn’t true for the Soundview Route which was launched last year.
Commuters from The Bronx on the first day of service on the Soundview Ferry route.
According to the New York Daily News, “The new Soundview route, which offers a connection from a transit desert in the Bronx to lower Manhattan in 46 minutes, is the ferry’s most diverse. Two-thirds of its riders are people of color. “
When you think about it, the results aren’t too surprising given the demographics of where most of the ferry routes are.
We’ll see how those numbers change or don’t when Throggs Neck is added in 2021.
When most people think about Dominican food, the last thing they think about is vegan.
But thanks to Bronxite Blenlly Mena, she’s changing that perception through her restaurant, Next Stop Vegan.
The Parkchester based business is actually more of a catering and meal prep service with a couple of days a week open as a restaurant according to this video from WABC.
Check it out and don’t forget to visit their link for the recipe to the Vegan Chimi Patacon!
Did you know that The Bronx’s only distillery is also the only one on the continental United States that makes Puerto Rican moonshine also known as pitorro?
Port Morris Distillery in the South Bronx has been making the best pitorro outside of Puerto Rico for years now and we’re glad that amNY is shining a spotlight on them.
Scheduled to be completed July 2020, the two buildings will provide 496 units of “affordable” housing and will be the home of a new 50,000 square foot YMCA and also another television studio for BronxNet.
There are still two more buildings which have yet two break ground including a 25 story residential tower which will feature an astronomy lab on the rooftop.
626 Bergen (left) is the first of 5 buildings at La Central to be completed and occupancy is scheduled to begin next month.
Once complete, the entire development will provide 992 residential units of housing making it the largest residential development in Melrose to date in recent in decades and will also set aside a percentage of unit as permanently affordable under the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) rezoning.
La Central has already altered the face of The Hub especially as you come down the 2 and 5 train downtown.
Construction of the entire development is still years away with a scheduled date of 2023.
How will this impact The Hub which is already rapidly changing with even a Starbucks coming in?
If the city has money for a Brooklyn/Queens light rail then The Bronx MUST demand that we get a similar public transportation option that would connect the East and West Bronx and all its subway routes which run North and South into Manhattan.
Call it the CrossX.
Using Brand New Subway, created by Jason Wright, we designed what the CrossX could potentially look like.
The CrossX, as we envision it.
Such a system could potentially run over or along the Cross Bronx Expressway much like the Airtrain in Queens linking to JFK and would dramatically ease the burden of intraborough travel in The Bronx. I mean we all know that it’s a task that’s virtually impossible to do without major inconvenience and wasting of time as it is right now.
Our Manhattan-centric subway routes are no longer efficient for a borough who’s population has rebounded from the exodus between 1970 and 1980 and in order to continue to progress into the the future, we need reliable public transportation. It shouldn’t have to be so hard to get from point A to B.
The CrossX would begin in Manhattan connecting the A and 1 train before crossing into The Bronx. This would give Bronxites direct access to Riverdale and Kingsbridge by subway
The way we envision it, it would start at 181st Street in Manhattan and connect with the A train and the 1 line before entering The Bronx snaking its way more or less along the Cross Bronx Expressway.
Once in The Bronx, it would connect with all the lines running into Manhattan as well as creating several stops along the way to provide more transit options in areas where reliable options are lacking.
The CrossX can connect to various, existing subway lines in The Bronx while at the same time creating new stops along the way, particularly in areas with very limited transit options.
It can either end at Parkchester, the easternmost subway line in The Bronx or continue for several stops along the Bruckner stopping at East Tremont and ending near Country Club providing a closer option for those residents who may want to board a subway instead.
While we’re on the topic, we also need the TriboroRx to provide a direct connection between Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx.
East 180th Street on the 2 and 5 line would allow residents on this line to easily get to the other side of the borough without having to travel to 149th Street and Grand Concourse and then catching the 4 to go back uptown.
Rather than spend money on just the Brooklyn-Queens Light Rail, why not spend it on the TriboroRx that would connect THREE boroughs and figure out funding for the CrossX.
While we’re no experts on the subject, we firmly believe this would be a transformative endeavor for residents of The Bronx providing not just better access to existing employment opportunities but opening doors to others.
The line can end at Parkchester on the 6 line, the easternmost subway line in The Bronx, or continue for several more stops along the Bruckner to East Tremont and maybe even up toward Country Club.
We need to be able to travel across The Bronx in a much easier fashion and connect our communities for the greater good of our residents.
At the very least, our local elected officials should push for funding to study the possibility of making the CrossX a reality.
So, should The Bronx get a light rail too?
The CrossX, as we envision it.
The CrossX would begin in Manhattan connecting the A and 1 train before crossing into The Bronx. This would give Bronxites direct access to Riverdale and Kingsbridge by subway
The first stop in The Bronx could be in Highbridge providing tens of thousands of residents in that area with an easier way to get around.
East 180th Street on the 2 and 5 line would allow residents on this line to easily get to the other side of the borough without having to travel to 149th Street and Grand Concourse and then catching the 4 to go back uptown.
The line can end at Parkchester on the 6 line, the easternmost subway line in The Bronx, or continue for several more stops along the Bruckner to East Tremont and maybe even up toward Country Club.
The line could also perhaps extend beyond Parkchester and end at East Tremont or a little further north.
Only 48 stations have been identified as of now and The Bronx stations that will be included in the 2020-2024 Capital Plan are as follows:
Van Cortlandt Park-242 St
Tremont Av *(will be fast-tracked into the 2015-2019 plan)
Parkchester
E 149 St
Brook Av
Mosholu Pkwy
According to the MTA, the stations were chosen based on the following criteria:
Other factors that were taken into consideration included major transfer stations and station complexes, ridership, demographics, and technical and geographic issues that would affect costs and constructability. The selection process was driven by extensive community input, including public engagement events, outreach to advocates and community groups, as well as feedback from thousands of elected officials, advocates and customers with disabilities. Similar outreach will be conducted to identify the next 22 stations, which will be announced prior to the MTA Capital Program Review Board vote on the entire Capital Plan proposal.
Parkchester on the 6 line will finally get an elevator.
New York City subway stations, many of which were built nearly a century ago and predate the Americans with Disabilities Act, were built in densely populated areas that have since been further developed. Technical and geographic issues included evaluations of the area immediately surrounding each station under consideration, such as any need to move utilities, access provided by third parties, acquisition or real estate needs, sidewalk clearances, sidewalk curb depths, clearance within each station on platforms and for machinery or equipment required for the accessibility.
No timeline was given as to when the remaining 22 stations would be selected but we hope that The Bronx gets a decent share.
Which stations do you think the MTA should choose next?
Some say that the mozzarella made at Casa Della Mozzarella is the best this side of the Atlantic outside of Italy.
Recently, the mom and pop shop in The Bronx’s Little Italy, (NYC’s REAL Little Italy) has been getting a lot of attention and now this video from INSIDER is the latest entry focusing on this Bronx-based Italian business.
Carlo Carciotto, making mozzarella which he learned from his father Orazio (left)/Screenshot from INSIDER.
The video is quite touching as son Carlo Carciotto talks proudly about what his father has accomplished since he arrived in America all those decades ago.
Watch the full video right to the end. We teared up!
Despite reassurances last week from the New York City Department of Health regarding two cases of Legionnaires’ disease within the past 12 months at Tracey Towers, DOH arrived again this week to disclose that two more cases of the potentially fatal disease were confirmed at the complex.
So far, the four cases have been contained to the 20 W. Mosholu Parkway N Tower with no cases at the adjoining 40 W Mosholu Parkway N according to the Norwood News.
Health officials are advising that tenants take precautions, particularly the elderly and those with compromised immune systems who are at greater risk to contract the disease.
Tracey Towers is the latest Bronx development to be th3e center of a Legionnaires’ outbreak/Image Welcome2TheBronx
Tenants are being advised to take baths instead of showers due to the fact that Legionnaires’ disease can be contracted through the mist and water vapor created while showering.
In the meantime, the Norwood News reports that shower heads are being replaced throughout the building as a safety measure.
This isn’t the first time that the deadly disease strikes The Bronx.
Here’s another thing we can add to the list of things that ails our borough: Restaurant Health ratings.
According to an analysis done by Renthop, The Bronx has highest rates of restaurants that only received a B or C rating.
Our borough is also the only borough that is below the NYC average with 9.1% of our restaurants having received lower than an A rating with over 200 getting a B or C.
Highbridge placed the worst neighborhood in The Bronx with 24.3% of restaurants receiving B/C grades followed by Kingsbridge Heights with 22.6% of restaurants receiving such grades.
Meanwhile, Co-op City had the best ratings with only 3% of its restaurants having received below an A rating followed by the Soundview/Bruckner corridor at 3.6%.
Check out the interactive map below to see how your neighborhood did.
In Manhattan, 9,188, or 92.9% of the food establishments were given the top grade. StuyTown comes out on top, with all 10 food establishments graded A. Washington Heights North lands the bottom, with 15.7%, or 19 restaurants out of 121, graded B or C.
In Brooklyn, West Brighton tops all other neighborhoods to be the best place in terms of restaurant health, with 17 Grade A food establishments. Rugby-Remsen Village is the least healthy neighborhood, with 15.8% or 12 of its restaurants graded below A.
Restaurant health in the Bronx, unfortunately, falls below the city average (92.7%). Of the 2,059 food establishments in the Bronx, only around 90% of them are Grade A restaurants. Among all neighborhoods, Highbridge has the highest percentage (24.3%) of Grade B/C restaurants. Fordham South is not doing so well, either. Of the 56 restaurants operating there, 17.9%, or 10 of them, are below Grade A.
The number of restaurants failing their cycle inspections went up in the past couple of years. In 2018, 894 food establishments were closed by the Health Department, compared to 500 in 2017. As of September 5th, 654 restaurants have been closed due to violations found during cycle inspections.
What’s more alarming, though, is that the number of restaurant Health Code violations related to mice and roaches has gone up in recent years. Queens saw the biggest jump, with in total 3,138 violations in 2018, 70.5% higher than in 2017.
Needless to say, after that last bullet point: GROSS.
One lucky person in The Bronx purchased the single-winning ticket for the New York State Lottery this past Wednesday, September 11th.
Worth $10.7 million bucks, the lucky buyer got his ticket at TS Stationary in Norwood according to PIX11 News who also said the new millionaire hasn’t come forward.
TS Stationary in Norwood where the winning ticket was sold worth $10.7 million.
A big congratulations to the winner and if you’re reading this, let us know if you need help figuring out which local organizations to make donations to as we have a bunch you can support like The Bronx River Alliance, The Bronx Documentary Center, The Point CDC, Rocking the Boat just to name a few.
Called City of Women, the New York City subway map was recreated to honor women across the city by renaming every single 424 stations for important females in local history.
In The Bronx, women either who either lived in our borough or worked here were selected to rename each and every station.
And the beauty of it is that the names are a diverse reflection of the beautiful mosaic and tapestry that is The Bronx.
From Mary J. Blige to Mary Higgins Clark and Linda Lovelace to Sonia Sotomayor, the map beautifully captures the gamut of powerful, Bronx women including the late Evelina Antonetty, the Hell Lady of The Bronx.
The names are matched as best as possible to where they either lived, worked, went to school or spent a considerable amount of time.
According to Untapped Cities, the map was created”…by Rebecca Solnit and Joshua Jelly-Schapiro with cartography from Molly Roy, a new updated version of the map will be revealed at the New York Transit Museum this month. “
The map itself is important to highlight the dearth of place names after women.
Check it out below and let us know what you think!
Last year saw tens of thousands of pizza lovers descend upon New York City’s REAL Little Italy in the Belmont section of The Bronx for the first ever New York Pizza Festival which was billed as the first of its kind in the country.
Attendees were able to taste some of the best pizza from around New York City and the country and even straight from Naples, Italy as well.
Now the event returns for its second annual festival for two days on Saturday October 5th and Sunday October 6th along Crescent Avenue in Little Italy and is hosted by The Belmont Business Improvement District.
A Bronx staple and favorite, Pugsley Pizza, will be returning to the festival this year/Image Courtesy of New York Pizza Festival
The event itself is free but in order to get your slices and drinks you need to purchase tickets.
Pizza only tickets are $25 bucks for 3 slices or $35 bucks for 6 and beer and wine tickets are $20 for 3 drinks and $30 for 5 drinks (not a bad deal at all considering you’ll be sampling some of the best pizza the country has to offer).
There are a limited number of VIP tickets for $100 bucks which will get you 5 drinks and 10 slices not to mention going straight to the VIP line at each booth. This, by far is the best deal and bang for the buck for pizza enthusiasts.
Brooklyn’s Di Fara Pizza will also be returning/Image courtesy of New York City Pizza Festival
You can check out the list of participating pizzerias here.
Grab your tickets now because you don’t wanna miss out on this amazing event! See you there!
