Loving The Bronx is looking for volunteers to help out for It’s My Park clean up events on Saturday November 11th at Virginia Park and on Sunday November 12th at West Farms Soldiers Cemetery.

From raking leaves to to planting bulbs at these locations, your efforts will help keep your communities beautiful and it’s a wonderful way to meet your neighbors!

Please email nilkamartell@yahoo.com to register for one (or both if you’re ambitious) of these events!

Mark Gjonaj’s campaign to jump from the New York State Assembly into New York City Council was the most expensive in city history spending $1,179,856.46 according to New York City Campaign Finance Board records but after last night’s election, all that money didn’t equal into a major victory.

Of all 51 New York City Council races yesterday, Gjonaj’s race to fill the 13th District City Council seat performed the worst receiving only 48.6% of the vote indicating that a majority of district residents actually rejected him despite his winning.

Gjonaj joins Margaret Chin of District 1 in Manhattan, who received 49.8% of the vote, and Elizabeth Crowley of the 30th district in Queens who garnered 49.6%, as the 3 candidates who did quite abysmally with none of them reaching the 50% mark.

The race for the 13th District in the East Bronx was a crowded one filled yet Republican candidate John Cerini managed to get 35.7% of the votes in what is the most conservative leaning area of The Bronx.

Gjonaj has his work cut out for him with so many people rejecting him at the polls yesterday and if he wants to be a true leader then he has a lot of relationships to mend and bridges to build in order to serve the entire district and not just those who supported him.

The Bronx and New York City deserves better than Gjonaj in City Council but we’re stuck with him for now for better or for worse.

In 1942, Dannon Yogurt was founded in The Bronx in the midst of World War II but America wasn’t quite ready for the taste.

But five years later right here in The Bronx in 1947, an idea came to fruition of you will, and the company’s founder, Daniel Carasso decided to put strawberry fruit on the bottom of the cup of yogurt.

Back in Europe where yogurt was pretty standard un many countries, fruit compote was commonplace but American food safety laws didn’t permit the mixing of dairy with anything due to safety concerns.

Carasso was able to convince the authorities that by putting it in the bottom and not the top, the fermentation process wouldn’t technically mix thus making it safe for packaging.

Soon after, the company had to expand to larger headquarters in Long Island City in 1950 as the demand increased.

Before then, they were producing a few hundred cups a day by hand in The Bronx which were then delivered throughout the borough, Brooklyn, and Manhattan.

Although the company didn’t last long in The Bronx, it’s still great to know that something we take for granted each day started right here in the great borough of The Bronx.

Check out Food & Wine’s article: How Fruit Got to the Bottom of Your Yogurt Cup

When we read the news on Thursday that DNAinfo and Gothamist were shut down just a week after they voted to unionize we were stunned but we immediately realized that The Bronx lost yet another media outlet covering what’s important to the people of our borough.

Perhaps not so much with Gothamist but for years DNAinfo provided broad, localized coverage of The Bronx and oftentimes citing our exclusive content and breaking news articles.

But this isn’t the first time this has happened although perhaps not as drastic.

Other publications like The New York Daily News and even The New York Times have scaled back and even shut down their outer borough bureau offices leaving The Bronx and the rest of the boroughs thirsting for hyper local news.

For the past 8 years we’ve been providing just that and although our journey didn’t begin with the intention of becoming the go to source in The Bronx for what’s going on here, we went with it because you wanted it.

That being said, we will do everything possible to pick up the slack and fill the huge Bronx news void left behind fue to this loss and provide even more content relevant to you our readers.

Don’t hesitate to reach out to us with tips and suggestions as we’re always here to listen and just a click away at info@welcome2thebronx.com or call or text us at 347-926-3576

Let us know what you want to see!

Leapfrog Hospital Safety Guide, the only hospital rating focused exclusively on hospital safety, issued its Fall 2017 ratings giving Jacobi Hospital a D rating for safety―one of the worst in New York City and the worst in The Bronx.

The ratings are derived from an analysis of dozens of national measures of hospital safety which result in a letter grade from the non-profit organization.

A further look at the grades showed that when it comes to patient falls and dangerous blood clots Jacobi received the worst grade of all hospitals on both counts.

For some, the results may be rather surprising. For many years, Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx was considered to be one of the worst hospitals in the system but it has turned around in recent years.

Now, it has received the best rating of all Bronx hospitals with a B, the only such rating in the borough.

Leapfrog Hospital Safety ratings for Bronx Hospital are as follows:

Thoughts? Do you feel safe at your local hospital? 

The New York Times profiled a Dominican eatery called Margarita’s Restaurant in the Longwood area of The Bronx which honors the memory of the owner’s mother who lost her life in the American Airlines Flight 587 to Santo Domingo crash back in 2001.

Margarita Brito’s late mother (named Reyna but known by her middle name which was also Margarita) ran a food truck in the neighborhood for years from March straight through Thanksgiving until that fateful crash.

Shortly thereafter, Margarita and her husband continued running the truck until 2015 when they finally opened up a brick and mortar spot on Avenue Saint John around the corner from where they parked their food truck.

Dominican alcapurrias, pastelillos, tostones, carne de cerdo frita, or sancocho are some of the delicious foods you’ll find here and according to the New York Times, they seem to be some of the best in the city.

Guess we’ll have to head over and see for ourselves!

Check out the full story: A Bronx Takeout Spot Honors the Memory of a Mother

And don’t forget to look at the slideshow: In The Bronx, a Steam Table Loaded With Dominican Favorites

On Tuesday, July 13, 1920, one thousand four hundred and ninety-two vacant lots in what would eventually become Allerton and Pelham Gardens in The East Bronx went to auction starting at just $20 or $50 bucks depending on the lot.

But how would the sale of these lots bisected by streets like Pearsall, Throop, and Allerton Avenues and bounded by Eastchester Road and Burke Avenue would fill the coffers of Harvard University, Vanderbilt heirs and even the heirs of one of the original owners of Tiffany’s?

Lawrence E. Sexton, who was one of the owners of the Eastchester Company that owned the estate and vacant lots had willed his holdings to Harvard University and upon his passing, so did his interests including the land.

Same thing with heirs of Alfred G. Vanderbilt and as for Tiffany and Co? The heirs of Charles T. Cook, one of the original owners of Tiffany and Company as well as one of its presidents also was part owner of the land which even had its own railroad stop within its boundaries at what is now the Gun Hill Road Station on the 5 Dyre Avenue IRT subway line (which was then NY Westchester, & Boston Railroad).

The advertisement for the auction spoke of how these lands were ripe for development due to the rapid pace at which the city was expanding population-wise and that it wouldn’t be too far-fetched to have these lots, “double, triple, and quadruple in value…”.

One thing that should be noted is that this is how many Bronx families and families in general were able to build up wealth in the form of real estate holdings and it was something that people of color, particularly Black Americans, didn’t have access to due to systemic racist policies like redlining prevented them from obtaining a mortgage so you had to have the money not to mention that there weren’t any fair housing laws then so if you happened to be a Black family you could be denied even entry into the auction.

At any rate, many already wealthy families and institutions got wealthier off of sales of land sales in The Bronx and when you look at what’s going on today in the South Bronx developer rush, nothing has changed and that wealth continues to stay within a select and small group of families.

Check out the rest of the auction ad:

First they tried to rebrand the South Bronx as SoBro. Then came NoMa (North of Manhattan) for Riverdale (literally no neighborhood is safe), and more recently, Port Morris as the Piano District.

All were met with resistance from Bronxites and have mostly been ignored by most.

Now, as the market continues to accelerate fueled by luxury housing in the South Bronx and developers are flying overhead like vultures, the Third Avenue BID will host a roundtable discussion on the topic of renaming a neighborhood on Thursday, November 16th at 6PM.

The discussion will focus on the history of rebranding and renaming neighborhoods, their negative and positive impact (there is no positive impact except for developers and real estate interests) as well as a discussion on equitable economic development.
The panel will include:

• April De Simone, Co-Founder and Managing Partner – Designing the We
• Angel Hernandez, Director of Programs and External Relations, The Bronx County Historical Society
• Joshua Weissman, President, JCAL Development
• Javier Medrano, Senior Associate for Public and Private Partnerships, Third Avenue Business Improvement District – Moderator

About the Panel:

April De Simone has over 15 years of experience in strategically designing, developing and launching for-profit, non-profit and government projects. Continuing to advocate for social innovation, Ms. De Simone is co-creator of various for-purpose ventures and initiatives that promote market based solutions to address complex social challenges.

Angel Hernandez is the Director of Programs and External Relations at The Bronx County Historical Society.
The Bronx County Historical Society is a private, non-profit educational and cultural institution, which is dedicated to the collection, preservation, documentation and interpretation of the history and heritage of The Bronx and its people.

Joshua Weissman is the founder and president of JCAL Development Group. In 2006, Mr. Weissman entered the affordable housing marketplace, developing large-scale multi-family buildings, consisting of 32 to 115 units and ranging from 4 to 13 stories. The projects, predominantly located in the Bronx, were developed under the auspices of various government housing agencies with the City of NY under the Mayors Affordable Housing Mandate.

Please RSVP here as space is limited.

Restaurant week in Manhattan is cute but of course in The Bronx we have to have our own to highlight a handful of the many restaurants that we love that give our borough that flavor everyone craves.

This year, 30 restaurants and breweries have joined and for your convenience, we’ve provided a handy map so you can plan out your gluttonous journey from November 6 through November 17 and fill up on The Boogie Down’s epicurean delights.



From new favorites like Porto Salvo in Melrose to Artie’s on City Island, and institutions like Lloyd’s Carrot Cake in Riverdale, there is literally something for everyone (although sadly, I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t point out that not one African or even Jamaican restaurant is a part of this year’s event).

Check out our handy map of all 30 restaurants or you can go straight to the The Bronx Tourism Council’s website for full details!

PropertyShark has released its quarterly foreclosure report for New York City and things continue to look more dismal each day. The Bronx leads NYC with a whopping 145% increase in new foreclosures during the 3rd quarter of 2017 compared to the same period last year with the East Bronx accounting for most.

During the third quarter of 2017, 247 properties were recorded as first-time foreclosures compared to just 101 during the same period in 2016.

The 10469 zip code covering parts of Allerton, Williamsbridge, and Pelham Gardens registered the most at 32 properties followed by 10462 and 10473 both with 29 each.

Only 10455 which covers most of Melrose did not register a single foreclosure during this period.

Overall, the South Bronx and general West Bronx zip codes did better with most only registering foreclosures in the single digits but the East Bronx is quite abysmal representing 62% of all registered first-time foreclosures in the borough.

Read the full article for the rest of NYC data over at PropertyShark.

For over 5 years, The Bronx has been the only borough without a center for the LGBTQ community since the old Bronx Community Pride Center closed its doors but now that may soon change as several community leaders have been in discussion to bring back a new center at the old Sachs building on Third Avenue and 150th Street in Melrose.

The upper floors of the building have been vacant for decades but recently Blink Fitness signed a lease for the 2nd and 3rd floors which will open in a few weeks leaving the remaining 4th, 5th, and penthouse area available―roughly 23,000 square feet of possiblilites.

Each time I passed by the building I felt that it should be the home for the LGBTQ community right on the most visible corridor in The Bronx at The Hub which is the busiest intersection outside of Times Square with over 200,000 pedestrians passing through each day.

It’s time we come out of the shadows of our almost 6 year exile in our borough.

During the beginning of the year, I approached Michael Brady, then newly appointed executive director of the Third Avenue Business Improvement District on how to make it happen.

“Over the past several months the BID has been working to bring LGBTQ stakeholders together, first through small group dinners and conversation, and then through large festivals like the 1 Bronx Festival.” said Michael Brady.

“Of late the BID, has conducted a LGBTQ community needs assessment, worked with district property owners and organizations to identify viable spaces for the center, and retained an architect to give life to a center on the Avenue. The BID has quietly worked with the private sector to secure financial commitments for the center and has worked to have the center included in the participatory budgeting and capital funds process.”

Months later, we got a walking tour of the space and immediately knew this was it.

Along on that tour was architect Anthony Crusor, principle at AQC Architects who was contracted by the Third Avenue BID to come up with some preliminary renderings of what the space could look like and what he has delivered is nothing short of what the Bronx community deserves.

The most striking feature is a skylight prism if you will, made up of the rainbow colors of the LGBTQ flag, that penetrates the roof and goes down through the 5th floor and into a 4th floor conference room.

This would stand as a beacon making the building stand out which is what Crusor’s intention was.

“The location of the proposed center, because it’s not on the ground floor and not visible from the intersection from 149th and 3rd had to have something that was readily identifiable from a distance. ” said Crusor who walked the area looking at the building from different angles and vantage points.

Another feature Mr Crusor thought was important was a green roof garden filled with trees and after seeing the renderings, we thought it would be appropriate to dedicate the garden as a memorial to all LGBTQ Bronx residents who have lost their lives to HIV, transgender violence, and hate crimes towards the queer community.

The new center would also include space for a theater for performing arts, space for community programming from HIV testing, counseling, and a host of other services as well as staff offices.

There are other plans for an LGBTQ Center in the works in the Fordham area at the old library but many in the community feel it’s too out of the way and not close enough to public transportation.

The location at The Hub makes the most sense as it is easily accessible by subway from the east and west Bronx via the 2/5 lines, major bus lines, and the 4 train 1 stop away. It is an area that has already historically served as the center of LGBTQ life with the old center once on 149th Street next to the Opera House Hotel.

But this center is far from definitive but it has the momentum and will power to make it happen.

Perhaps Michael Brady put it best when he said, “For too long has the Bronx been without adequate LGBTQ services, let alone a brick and mortar center run by an LGBT organization. The Third Avenue BID, located in the heart of the Bronx and in a major transportation hub, opens its doors to the LGBTQ community and affirms our commitment to creating a 23,000 sf center in the district.”

In less than a month, the northeast’s first of its kind Diabetes Relief Center will open its doors in the South Bronx at 2825 Third Avenue in the heart of The Hub directly adjacent to the 2 and 5 train at 3rd Avenue and 149th Street and major bus lines with convenient access to most points in The Bronx and just 5 minutes from Manhattan.

Qualified candidates should email cover letter and resume to: Jordis Smith at jordis.smith@diabetesreliefcenters.com

Full-time employment opportunity is available for a Nurse Practitioner and the job description is as follows:

POSITION DESCRIPTION

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Nurse Practitioner shall perform clinical diabetes (diagnostic/therapeutic) functions and procedures as appropriate to the scope of preparation and specialty certification for which competency has been validated and maintained and as reflected in the CRNP protocol approved by Alabama Board of Nursing.  Responsible for the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of patients in collaboration with the instruction of the patient’s physician and the Company’s Medical Director.

KEY AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY: (Essential Functions are noted in italics)

1. Performs APT therapy utilizing the Artificial Pancreas System, for Trina Health of Foley patients according to therapy guidelines, physician prescription under the oversight of the Company’s Medical Director.
2. Educates patients and/or patient’s families about the APT.  Answers questions and concerns and/or directs inquiries to appropriate source; following up as indicated by appropriateness.
3. Maintains legible, accurate, and confidential medical records using prescribed method of retention.
4. Documents all medical evaluations, diagnoses, procedures, treatment, outcomes, education, referrals, and consultations.
5. Facilitates evaluation of records by physician(s) according to protocols; receives and implement constructive directives.
6. Promotes preventive and health maintenance care, including annual physicals, positive health behaviors, self-care skills, and use of prescribed medical treatments and medications through education and counseling.
7. Assists with selection of clinic staff.  Responsible for the oversight and development of clinic medical staff.
8. Assists with clinic administration and operations as needed to ensure a positive patient experience.
9. Ensures equipment is maintained in operating condition by following operating instructions; troubleshooting breakdowns; maintaining supplies; performing preventive maintenance; calling for repairs.
10. Maintains safe, secure, and healthy work environment by following, and enforcing standards and procedures; complying with Safety, OSHA and other legal regulations.
11. Maintains patient confidence and protects operations by keeping patient care information confidential.  Practices HIPAA guidelines at all times.
12. Continually works to grow the clinic business by following up on leads, generating new networks and leads and ensuring a positive experience for the clinic’s patients and their families.
13. Maintains required licensure in good standing appropriate to position
14. Maintains regular attendance to ensure efficient operations
15. Other duties and responsibilities as assigned

POSITION REQUIREMENTS

• Current and clear certification as a nurse practitioner in the appropriate area of practice from a national certifying body recognized by the Alabama Board of Nursing.
• 1+ year clinical nursing experience. Current Alabama CRNP license. Current CPR certification.
• Prior experience in family practice or internal medicine practice is desirable
• Working knowledge of various Electronic Medical Records systems
• Flexible, self-motivated individual who is dedicated to quality patient care and customer satisfaction
• Excellent communication skills; verbal and written
• Works effectively as a team environment
• Projects a positive image and has a “Patients First” attitude
• Possess basic knowledge of PC applications, software, and database management.

PHYSICAL REQUIRMENTS

1. Ability to sit, stand or walk for long periods of time. Full range of motion capability; arms and trunk.  Ability to stoop, kneel, bend, twist, reach and climb.
2. Gross and fine motor coordination to allow the manipulation of equipment utilized in the performance of activities.
3. Ability to lift/carry medium weight (up to 40 lbs.), light pushing/pulling (up to 60 lbs.).
4. Ability to manipulate patients and equipment to facilitate positioning and treatment (with assistance) up to 150 lbs.
5. Ability to hear within normal ranges, vision (corrected if necessary) to allow reading and the discernment of color, and normal sense of touch.
6. Ability to withstand temperature fluctuations normally found within an office environment, and varying weather conditions which may exist while performing outdoor duties such as supporting activities and events.

Qualified candidates should email cover letter and resume to: Jordis Smith at jordis.smith@diabetesreliefcenters.com