There is a deadly crisis in NYC as 18 cyclists have been killed so far this year, far surpassing the 10 who died last year.

New York City wants us to be healthier, reduce our carbon footprint and all the good things that come with cycling yet provides little infrastructure to keep us safe.

It gets worse in the outer boroughs like The Bronx which doesn’t have sufficient bike lanes and as a result, the streets can become very deadly.

The folks at Localize.city an AI-driven site which delves into city data and makes sense of the massive web of information available, analyzed NYC’s worst intersection in a new report.

They took a step further and identified the top ten most dangerous intersections in The Bronx for cyclists for Welcome2TheBronx.

By far the worst neighborhoods in our borough are Mott Haven and Melrose who both took up 7 of the top 10 most dangerous intersections.

As you can see, seven intersections tied in for 5th place across the borough each with 5 injuries.

None of these, thankfully, were fatal but the same can’t be said for others across The Bronx and NYC.

This report came in response to NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio’s “Green Wave” initiative to address the crisis of 18 cycling fatalities this year by pumping $58 million into redesigning and renovating 50 of the worst intersections as well as “ramping up” NYPD enforcement.

“Experts and the city already know where the dangerous intersections are and what makes them so unsafe. Our job at Localize.city is to ensure all New Yorkers are informed,” says urban planner Sam Sklar of Localize.city. “If you’re thinking about taking up cycling you should know if the intersections and streets near your home are dangerous. If you’re moving and cycling is important to you, we want you to find a home that will be safe to cycle to and from.”

We already know that NYPD simply tickets cyclists and let motorists get away with murder so we’re hoping that real action actually takes place against these drivers responsible for murder.

The Bronx’s largest employer, Montefiore Medical Center, was just ranked as the 6th best hospital in the New York region by US News & World Report’s rankings for 2019-2020.

According to the ranking, it placed Montefiore at the top 1% in the nation for, “… complex specialty care in cancer, cardiology & heart surgery, neurology & neurosurgery, urology, nephrology, diabetes & endocrinology, gastroenterology & GI surgery, geriatrics and gynecology. “

The hospital also ranked High Performing for congestive heart failure, colon cancer surgery, COPD, and knee replacement according to a press release from the institution.

In terms of patient experience, however, Montefiore did poorly with only 2 out of 5 stars in that category and this is something we’ve seen many of our readers talk about in the past.

At any rate, it’s great to know we have such outstanding healthcare here in our borough.

Now if only we wouldn’t have such a paradox as the state’s unhealthiest borough.

Since opening in 2015, just months before the fascist, white supremacist, racist pig known as Donald Trump announced his presidential candidacy, the Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point has been struggling first with attendance and now financially.

Attendance has been dropping since the first year and now documents show that last year the course lost money for the first time.

According to factual data and not fake news or alternative facts that Trump and his followers like to spew, the course lost $122,000 and all this on top of other Trump golf courses losing money or showing a decline in revenue according to The Washington Post.

The Washington Post reports:

Before last year, the Bronx golf course had managed to turn a profit of about $500,000 per year — helped by the city paying its water bills and not asking for rent.

Last year, however, the club’s expenses rose faster than its revenue, according to the Trump Organization’s filing. It fell into the red.

“He’s managed to do the impossible: Get this amazing gift from the city, and lose money,” said Geoffrey Croft, of the watchdog group NYC Park Advocates. He said one major problem was “the terrible reputation of the Trump name” in New York, after Trump’s rise as a hard-right politician. Croft also blamed the Trump club’s high greens fees, which top out at $224 per round. Most of the city’s other public courses charge $53 at most.

As per usual, the Trump Organization is blaming the city rather than taking the blame themselves.

The Trump Organization is blaming a gas pipe running through the course is inadequate and caused them delays but ConEd disputed this by saying that they provide adequate gas to the site. They further added that they are not part of the dispute and that it’s between the organization and New York City.

Once again, the Bx19 was named The Bronx’s slowest bus in the borough by the NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign and TransitCenter’s annual Pokie and Schleppie Awards.

Last year the Bx19 came was also named the slowest in The Bronx along with the Bx21 as the most unreliable but this year the latter has been replaced by the Bx3 as the most unreliable in our borough according to the report.

The Bx19, which runs between The New York Botanical Garden and Riverbank State Park in Manhattan, runs with an average speed of 4.8 mph and came in as the 6th slowest in New York City.

NYC’s second most unreliable bus route, the Bx3 running between Riverdale and the George Washington Bridge in Manhattan saw 19.2% of its buses arriving bunched which means not spaced apartment according to their schedules but more than 1 or 2 at the same time because of delays along their routes.

But fret not, folks, because this year’s slowest buses didn’t get lower. In fact, they’re faster by 0.1mph faster according to the report (LOL).

We’re hoping that the drastic changes that are being proposed by the Bronx Bus Network Redesign will help with this but not at the expense of cutting certain routes back too much.

So, we know most of you like arguing with data and facts so we’ll ask, do you agree with these two routes being selected as the worst?

Which ones do you think are the worst of the bunch?

Back in the beginning of the year, Welcome2TheBronx broke the news that Yolanda’s Italian Restaurant, which has been serving the Melrose community for 59 years on 149th Street, would close and be replaced with an 8 story residential building with 123 units.

Well the day is almost here when the famed restaurant will temporarily close its doors.

Next weekend on July 27th, the restaurant will close its doors to make way for the new building but fret not as they will return once construction is complete in a couple of years.

According to an interview with News12 The Bronx, the owner said they will come back, “…in our same location just looking a little different, a little more modern and complimenting the neighborhood, that’s our dream.”

Yolanda’s restaurant is one of the last remnants of when the neighborhood was settled by Italian immigrants, mostly from the island of Ponza off the coast of Italy.

The fact that they’re still around long after the vast majority of the Italian community left the Melrose and the South Bronx is a testament to just how good their food is.

We’re looking forward to them reopening in the near future.

Watch the newsclip below:

Last year, Welcome2TheBronx broke the story that the landmarked old Bronx General Post Office was up for sale again after being purchased by developer Young Woo in 2014 for $19 million.

MHP and Banyan Street Capital were in contract to purchase the building for $70 million but have since walked away from the deal.

According to the Commercial Observer, Young Woo failed to provide stipulated paperwork regarding the property by a set date as per the contract giving the buyers the option to walk away from the deal.

The landmark building has been undergoing major work since its purchase, first with the landmarked lobby restored along with its 13 historic Ben Shahn murals as well as the opening of The Bronx’s first rooftop restaurant, Zona de Cuba.

The United States Postal Service still operates a post office within the building occupying a much smaller footprint of 7,500 square feet in the 175,000 square foot building and is located in the north side of the building.

No word as to what will happen or whether it will be up for sale again.

One thing is for sure and that’s the promise to the community of what the building will be is long overdue.

After several years of false promises, Citi Bike officially announced today its plans for expansion into The Bronx.

The expansion will first head into the rest of Manhattan finally going into Washington Heights and Inwood, providing coverage to the entire island, as well as parts of the South Bronx as part of its Phase 3 Expansion starting next year according to comments to Welcome2TheBronx from Citi Bike and their press conference.

While no exact locations have been announced yet where they will begin in the South Bronx, our guess is across parts of Port Morris, Mott Haven, Melrose and perhaps up the Concourse to Yankee Stadium.

After that is done, the remainder of the phase 3 expansion will roll out across the West Bronx covering Highbridge, Claremont, Morrisania, Longwood, Concourse, Mount Eden, Melrose, Mott Haven, and Port Morris by 2023 along with parts of Brooklyn and Queens.

DOT and Citi Bike will work closely with community boards to determine where best to place the new docks.

This is way too slow for residents of our borough who have been wanting this expansion and have been waiting for Citi Bike to get to The Bronx since it first launched 6 years ago in 2013.

Sadly, there is no timeline for residents of the East Bronx as they are not even mentioned during this particular expansion.

In order to create a fair and equitable system, we need to make this accessible to every single neighborhood in the city.

The city also needs to provide the necessary infrastructure such as protected bike lanes so that we may safely ride these streets.

Citi Bike told Welcome2TheBronx that they will be working with NYC Department of Transportation to begin community outreach this Fall for its upcoming expansion.

In the meantime you can head over to this link and recommend where a docking station should go while you wait for the expansion to cross the river.