Five years ago, Blink Fitness opened their first gym in The Bronx at St Ann’s Terrace in Melrose. Now, the chain is poised to open their 9th and THIRD location in Melrose as they are setting up shop in The Hub at the old Sachs building on 3rd Avenue and Westchester (150th Street).
The old Sachs building, which currently houses a T-Mobile, a women’s clothing store, and an electronic store on the ground floor, has been neglected for decades by its owner as the upper floors remained vacant waiting for a tenant.
Now that Blink is going to occupy the 2nd and 3rd floors of the 5 story building, perhaps the building will be better maintained.
But as with new national chains occupying space at The Hub, we have to ask ourselves, will there still be a place for the mom and pop shops that stayed and thrived while everyone else left in the 70s and 80s? Last summer we reported on the dozens of vacant storefronts in and around The Hub as rents continue to rise and shops are forced to close or relocate further away from the South Bronx.
There has to be a way where these smaller businesses can continue to do business at the oldest shopping district in The Bronx, I mean why should they be pushed out now that it’s suddenly “cool” to be in The Bronx?
Residents of New York City Council District 17 in The Bronx had their first experience with participatory budgeting as Councilman Rafael Salamanca Jr, brought PB to the district for the first time.
Participatory Budgeting has increased from just 3 New York City Council Districts in The Bronx that participated in last year’s 2015-2016 cycle out of 9 districts in the borough to five this year!
Simply put, Participatory Budgeting is one of the most democratic activities our city has to offer by allowing residents of participating districts to vote on which eligible projects should receive funding via your tax dollars and best of all—our youth can vote as voting age is 14 and above!
According to New York City Council’s website:
Participatory Budgeting is a democratic process in which community members directly decide how to spend part of a public budget. It’s grassroots democracy at its best. It helps make budget decisions clear and accessible. It gives real power to people who have never before been involved in the political process. And it results in better budget decisions—because who better knows the needs of our community than the people who live there?
Council Members choose to join Participatory Budgeting New York City (PBNYC), giving at least $1 million from their budget for the whole community to participate in decision-making. It’s a yearlong process of public meetings, to ensure that people have the time and resources to make informed decisions. Community members discuss local needs and develop proposals to meet these needs. Through a public vote, residents then decide which proposals to fund.
This year, you can vote for as many as five of your favorite PBNYC project proposals on your district ballot. Each participating Council Member guarantees funding for the projects that receive the most votes, until their PB funding runs out.
If you live in the following neighborhoods and districts, you can vote online or in person on dozens of projects from now through April 2nd:
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From reconstruction of two clay tennis courts in Van Cortlandt Park, Decorative Street Lighting along Webster Avenue between McClean and E 233rd Street to installation of air conditioning at the landmark Mott Haven Library and installation of lighting at Alfred E Smith High School athletic field to extend use to public into evening hours, these are just some of the dozens of items you can vote on.
Also of note is that you’re not just limited to 1 project in your district but you can choose up to 5 ensuring that the money gets split between multiple items.
So what are you waiting for, spread the word with your friends, family, neighbors and VOTE!
Calling all Bronx entrepreneurs!
MELROSE—Finishing touches are being made at Bronx Coworks, an office sharing space at The Hub in the South Bronx.
Located at 2825 Third Avenue (just below 149th Street) the sleek, modern space is perfect for Bronx start-ups and entrepreneurs looking for co-working space in The Bronx where they can grow their businesses surrounded by the creative energy of other like-minded individuals for considerably less money than renting out your own space in an office building.
Roger Saad, one of the partners of Bronx Coworks thinks that Bronxites deserve to have such services that Manhattan and other boroughs take for granted.
“Bronx Coworks fills a gap in an untapped market in the South Bronx and the entire borough bringing high-end office space for a reasonable price to our community.” Saad told Welcome2TheBronx.
He added, “For the first time, The Bronx is on par in terms of co-working facilities with Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn. Our facility is the perfect example of the private sector market pushing public policy to create an environment where Bronx startups, entrepreneurs, and dreamers can access co-working space without leaving the borough. ”
And indeed the pricing is highly competitive when compared to similar spaces such as WeWork located throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.
Starting from $250 a month for “floating desks” where you plop down anywhere in the designated common areas to work, the fee grants you access to your own personal locker, Wi-Fi, and even use of one of the conference rooms for up to 30 minutes.
For $500 you can rent a private dedicated desk in one of several rooms where you share a long desk with others but you get your own lockable filing cabinet. This also grants you access to your personal locker, printing services, and 60 minutes of conference room time.
Feel like dropping the “big” bucks and getting your own private office? You can do that too with private office spaces starting at $700 a month complete with desks and filing cabinets.
All plans grant you use of amenities such as kitchen stocked with coffee and refreshments, Wi-Fi, mail delivery (extra for floating desks), and conference room use depending on your plan.
There’s even a separate section for you to just sit down and relax in a quiet atmosphere to take a quick break from running your business.
Best of all is access 7 days a week, Monday through Friday 8AM-7PM, Saturday 9AM-6PM, and Sunday 10AM-5PM.
Additional conference room time above your monthly alloted allowance can be rented for $35 an hour for the 10 person conference room to $45 for the 18 person room.
Although not officially open until April 6th, two tenants have taken up space with the Hub Third Avenue Business Improvement District already up and running their operations at Bronx Coworks.
The second business is Dannleen Cleaning Service, a start-up company owned by Bronxite Bernadette Burke of Gun Hill Road.
“I was told by my friend that it’s time to take my business to the next level and move from operating from my home after one year to my own office.” said Ms Burke in an interview after signing her contract.
“I started my business to help put my son through college who’s currently at Albany in pre-med studying to be a doctor.” she told us.
Dannleen currently services mostly Manhattan clients from offices, to residences, and commercial businesses like restaurants too.
Located just steps outside the 3rd Avenue and 149th Street Station on the 2 and 5 line and multiple Buses that run through The Hub, Bronx Coworks is easily accessible from many Bronx neighborhoods and also just 5 minutes and two stop from East or Central Harlem.
We really believe that this is an important step in helping the many entrepreneurs in The Bronx including Bronx women who, according to the Center for an Urban Future report last year were leading New York City in growth and outpacing the other boroughs.
For more information and to schedule a tour of the space, head on over to their website. Tell them you heard about Bronx Coworks from Welcome2TheBronx!
Note: Although there is BXL Bronx Business Incubator (formerly Sunshine) in Hunts Point and the Lehman College run Bronx Business Bridge in Fordham, those entities are run by the city and partnerships with the city. Bronx Coworks is a truly independent enterprise.
Last year I was hired to write a piece for NYC neighborhoods for the Village Voice and it was finally published today!
When you walk through the streets of Melrose, you’ll be hard-pressed to find signs of the urban decay most of the world thinks of when they hear the words “South Bronx.”
Founded in the 1850s and largely settled by German immigrants fleeing the ever-more-crowded conditions on the Lower East Side, the Village of Melrose was carved out of farmland belonging to the descendants of U.S. Constitution preamble author Gouverneur Morris. By the time the Bronx was fully annexed to New York City in 1895 — three years before Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island joined the party — Melrose had already grown into an important gateway to the borough, connected to Manhattan by several bridges and rail lines. Once the subway was extended into the Bronx, in the early twentieth century, office buildings (and even an opera house) began sprouting along 149th Street, a nexus which would become known as the Hub, the Times Square of the Bronx.
The golden years lasted for decades, as Italian and Irish immigrants, and eventually African Americans and Puerto Ricans, settled in. But then things began to change: Federal redlining rules, following the National Housing Act of 1934, led banks to refuse to provide loans to any property owners once a person of color moved in on a block. The result was white flight, as homeowners unable to obtain mortgages for necessary upkeep abandoned their properties, some even committing arson to collect insurance and cut their losses.
By the end of the 1970s, the Bronx had lost over 300,000 residents during the decade, and Melrose was filled with abandoned buildings and rubble-strewn lots. But life continued: Community gardens created by residents overtook vacant space, and the stage was set for one of the nation’s most successful examples of urban renewal. Today, little vacant land is left, and what remains is slated for development. More than 5,000 new units of housing have been constructed since 2000, much of it affordable to low-income residents, and streets once vacant for blocks on end are now tree-lined strips of townhouses. Melrose is now home to 25,000 residents, up from just 3,000 in 1980, among them Puerto Ricans, African Americans, Mexicans, West Africans, and Dominicans.
Take a walking tour of The South Bronx by Loving The Bronx’s Nilka Martell
NY1 called me the “Mayor of Parkchester.” I’ve been there for decades. I love the diversity. And I’m a single mom, so it was really important to know that if something happened on the block, there would be neighbors there to help with my kids. When you’re in a community like that and you form those relationships, there’s no reason to leave.
Arthur Avenue at 186th Street / NYPL Digital Collections
Throughout the history of The Bronx there have been many immigrant groups that make up the beautiful tapestry of our diverse borough.
Italians are no exception with over a century of history in The Bronx that has left an undeniable presence that’s more than just Little Italy and Arthur Avenue in Belmont but in every facet of daily life from politics to entertainment to the arts and science.
The immigrant experience for Italians wasn’t an easy one even in The Bronx with many facing discrimination for simply being different. (sounds familiar? Check out this thoughtful piece on Italian Americans: When We Were The Muslims)
Now, Dr Kathleen LaPenta, PhD of Fordham University is seeking to document the history of Italians in The Bronx as part of the overall Bronx African American History Project.
Known as The Bronx Italian-American History Initiative, the goal is to compile interviews of Italian Americans that lived or currently live in our borough which will provide a wealth of untold stories to add to our historical collective.
Fordham News reports:
“According to Kathleen LaPenta, Ph.D., director of the new initiative and an lecturer in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, the BIAHI seeks to honor the cultural diversity of the Bronx— which was also home to a significant number of Irish, Latinos, Jews, and blacks during the mid-20th century.
“While [it will] very much celebrate the rich Italian-American heritage in the Bronx, it is also about putting that heritage in contact with the heritage of others who were living in the Bronx at the same time, as well as calling to mind the notion that we are all in some way very transitory,” she said.
Gabelli School senior Bentley Brown, a research assistant on the BAAHP and BIAHI teams, said the new initiative is a microcosm of immigrant contributions to American society.
“We’re helping to build a narrative that includes everybody,” said Brown. “Everybody has had a part. Everybody has had a hand in building this country, and the Bronx happens to be a great example of the necessity of multiculturalism in building a country like ours.””
Italian woman as she arrives at Ellis Island in the first part of the 20th century/from New York Public Library Flickr Album: Ellis Island.
“LaPenta said the BIAHI has become imperative, especially since Italian-American neighborhoods that were first established in the 1920s have been declining over the years.
According to figures from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2006-2010 American Community Survey, there are approximately 57,527 Italian Americans living in Bronx County. In 2000, there were about 69,289 Italian Americans in the borough, bureau records show.
“We’re open to whoever wants to be interviewed and has an experience to share,” said LaPenta. “But the urgency of the project is for those people who are elderly, who might not have their stories to offer [because]they are getting up there in age.”
One of the goals of the BIAHI is to bring to light lost narratives from Italian-American immigrants, some of whom were marginalized, when they emigrated to Bronx neighborhoods such as Pelham Bay, Morris Park, Williamsbridge, City Island, Castle Hill, Melrose, and Belmont (“Little Italy”) decades ago.
“What we want to do is try to recapture what was there 50 years ago,” said Naison.”
There is so much we can learn from these histories and untold stories and we only hope that the program continues to expand to capture the voices of everyone.
Connecting with the past gives us a better understanding of our present and guides us towards out future.
For those interested in participating, please contact Dr Kathleen LaPenta Long at klapentalong@fordham.edu
As the city braces for a potentially deadly blizzard, the MTA will be shutting down all bus service and subway service on above ground routes effective 4AM.
For The Bronx that means basically all lines except the B and D which is fully underground in our borough, the 6 line from Hunts Point straight to Brooklyn Bridge, and the 2,4, and 5 lines at 3rd Ave and 149th Street, 149th Street and Grand Concourse, and 138th and Grand Concourse.
If you don’t have to go anywhere, stay indoors, don’t drive, and don’t bother taking mass transit if you’re not one of the lucky few near an operational station.
The second half of Baz Luhrman and Netflix’s The Get Down finally got a release date and we’ll be able to follow up with the gang and see what’s happened since the first half began streaming last August.
Personally, I can’t wait for April 7th to get here so I can binge on the episodes.
The first half didn’t disappoint (at least for me) and magically transported me to my childhood of the late 70s so yes, I’m ready for more! It’s historical fiction so clearly it’s not meant to be a verbatim word for word documentary of what happened to those years so make sure you take off your biased glasses before you watch!
The city has issued a Request For Expression of Interest (RFEI) for a $200,000 public art commission for The Bronx’s new 40th Precinct scheduled to be completed by 2020.
Those interested in applying should do so no later than March 31st. Also, The Bronx Culture Collective will be holding an orientation session this Tuesday, March 14th @ 6pm (see above flier for details).
To RSVP for the orientation session, please email epagan@nosquedamos.org
About the commission:
Open Call: NYC Percent for Art for NYPD 40th Precinct Community Room
Request for Expression of Interest (RFEI)
Permanent Public Art Commission
Budget: $200,000
Deadline: 3/31/17
Open to All Professional Artists
PUBLIC ART COMMISSION
The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) Percent for Art Program, in conjunction with the New York Police Department (NYPD) and the New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC) is issuing this Request for Expression of Interest (RFEI) to engage an artist or artist team (Artist) to create a permanent public artwork for the community room of the new 40th Police Precinct Station House at East 149th Street and St. Ann’s Avenue in the Bronx.
Commissioned by the New York City Percent for Art program, the selected artist will create a permanent artwork within the interior of the new 40th Precinct Station House’s community room. The project team is seeking proposals that include a creative process of social engagement that activates the community room and results in a permanent artwork.
Artists are encouraged to consider some or all of the following goals for the 40th Precinct community room public art project:
Supports NYPD goals for community engagement
Responds to the unique character and history of the South Bronx
Invites social interaction and shared experience
Distinguishes the community room as a special space within the building
Resonates with people of diverse backgrounds, both police and civilian
Is durable and requires little or no maintenance
PROJECTBACKGROUND
The new 40th Precinct Station House is a ground-up 43,000 SF facility designed by Bjarke Ingels Group Architects (BIG) and will replace an existing station house currently located at 138th St and Alexander Ave. Located in the southern part of the Melrose neighborhood in the South Bronx, the new 40th Precinct Station House will serve the complex programmatic requirements of the NYPD.
The community room is a dedicated space for community use, an innovative component of the new 40th Precinct Station House and is the first of its kind to be included in a NYPD capital project. The “community room” space is designed to be flexible and multi-purpose, with information kiosks and an area for classes or civic gatherings. The goals for this new space are to provide a useful resource to the local community, create opportunities for police and community members to engage in a new way, connect the new station house to neighborhood, and support community policing initiatives.
The surrounding neighborhood is primarily residential. The population is majority Hispanic and many residents are low-income, with roughly 20% of the population at or below the poverty line. East 149th Street, where the building entrance is located, is a major thoroughfare, connecting the 40th Precinct with the nearby Hub area and a large swath of retail.
The site is bounded by E. 149th Street to the south, St. Anns Avenue to the east, and Westchester Avenue to the north. An unused railroad right of way borders a majority of the site with the Horizon Juvenile Center and an auto supply store to the west. A de-mapped portion of 150th Street divides two paved parking lots, with the north side of the street defined by a concrete wall overlooking the railroad cut.
SUBMISSIONANDSELECTIONPROCESS
This competition is organized in two phases.
Phase One is a Request for Expression of Interest (RFEI) in which artists may respond with samples of past work and supplementary materials. The City, in partnership with a committee of local arts and design professionals, will select atleast 3 artists as finalists to proceed to Phase Two of the selection process.
During Phase Two, the Department of Cultural Affairs will organize a design charrette or interview with each finalist and a group of project stakeholders. The artist selected to receive the commission will be chosen from among the Phase Two finalists and will have a total budget of $200,000 to realize a public art project at the 40th Precinct in partnership with the City of New York. Each finalist that participates in Phase Two, but is not selected for the commission, will receive a $500 honorarium.
REQUESTFOREXPRESSIONOFINTEREST
This RFEI is open to all professional artists or artist teams. Preferred artist qualifications include:
Experience producing site-specific, socially-engaged, and/or public artworks
Ability to successfully work with diverse communities and stakeholders in a creative process
Demonstrated knowledge of the project area and local community
Availability to complete the project within the given schedule
APPLICATIONINSTRUCTIONS
All artists interested in being considered must apply through the online program at:
Submissions will only be accepted using this online application program. Submissions must be completed by midnight on March31,2017.
Interested artists must submit the following application materials online as described below:
1. Statement of Interest (500 words max)
Provide a narrative description of how your art practice and process of collaboration can be translated to this project and how you might approach this project.
2. Artist’s Statement (250 words max)
Provide a narrative description of your work past work and current practice, including reference to submitted work samples, as relevant.
3. Resume or CV
Provide a current resume or CV, highlighting artistic excellence, any teaching experience, community engagement work, and/or experience working with multiple stakeholders.
4. References
Provide the name, phone number and email addresses of two (2) professional references that have experience working with you as a partner or client on a creative project. Please indicate your relationship to each reference.
5. Work Samples
Provide up to 10 digital images of recent works and/or up to 3 links to video or audio with maximum lengths of 5 minutes. For literary projects, submit samples no longer than 5-10 pages of scripts, poetry, prose or other relevant materials.
6. Work Sample List
Provide a list of submitted work, including title, date, materials and dimensions, locations, and/or running times. Include 1-2 sentence descriptions as needed.
PROJECTSCHEDULE
All Artists submitting to this open call must be available during 2017 to attend meetings in New
York City with the project team, as necessary.
Date Project Milestone
FEB 2017 RFEI Released
MARCH 31, 2017 RFEI Submission deadline
APRIL 2017 Notification of Finalists
MAY 2017 Finalist Interviews
JUNE – SEPT 2017 Conceptual Design Development
SEPT 2017 Bronx Community Board 1 Presentation
OCT 2017 PDC Conceptual Design Review
2018 PDC Preliminary Design Review
2019 Fabrication of Artwork
2020 Installation of Artwork
PROJECT BUDGET AND CONTRACT
The project budget is not to exceed two-hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) and must include all project costs, including but not limited to the following: artist’s fees, design services, community engagement, site preparation, engineering, fabrication, travel, transportation of the work to the site, insurance, permits, installation, documentation of the artwork, and contingency.
The selected artist will enter into a design-build contract with Bjarke Ingels Group Architects and will receive payments from the art allocation as outlined in the contract, and in compliance with New York City procurement and payment requirements.
QUESTIONS
Please direct all inquiries regarding this open call to percent@culture.nyc.gov
Coming soon, over 1,200 luxury gentrification units in The South Bronx
This past week has been a flurry of bitter news for The Bronx. First we find out that of over 30 counties in the tri-state region, 71% of The Bronx is at risk for displacement.
Shortly thereafter came the news that although rents went down 9.1% across NYC, they actually surged in The South Bronx with the area showing the largest increase in rents for 1 bedroom apartments in all of New York City.
Then this week came the renderings of Somerset’s and Chetrit’s 1,000 plus unit gentrification towers on our waterfront at the foot of the Third Avenue Bridge.
But what does it all mean?
Simply put, we’re fucked for a lack of a better word because really there isn’t any other way to describe what’s to come.
The Bronx and on particular, the South Bronx, had always been a haven for immigrant working class communities. Communities made up of a mixture of the working poor struggling to get by and just survive and eventually move on up the socio-economic ladder.
Faces, accents, religious beliefs, languages, country, continent of origin had always changed but there was always one constant: the working class COULD survive here.
And now that’s changing.
Lovers and champions of gentrification always love to harp on the fact that neighborhoods always change and while this is true, it was the fact that here there was still a place affordable enough for the poor.
But stagnant wages and rising rent and cost of living has erased a lot of those securities.
Already, The Bronx is the most rent burdened borough with 55% of households paying well over 30% of their incomes towards rent.
Speaking of rents, affordable housing was supposed to help us and indeed they have rents that are sometimes half to two thirds of what many are paying but because of the way the qualifying area median income is set, the families that need the relief don’t qualify.
Average 1 bedroom rents are already at $1400 in Melrose, Mott Haven, Port Morris and Hunts Point…how are families supposed to afford that when most barely make $20k a year?
And now with these towers on their way, ultra luxury towers in the land of the poorest congressional district in the United States, luxury towers going up 2 blocks and conveniently on the other side of the highway from public housing where the poorest of the poor live, things will only get worse.
They already creating an isolated community of the haves versus the majority who are the have nots.
Landlords are already pressuring tenants to move out of their rent stabilized apartments offering them a few thousand dollars to relocate elsewhere so that the landlords can then legally raise the rents.
Small businesses are also falling prey to gentrification as lease renewals of 10 years are no longer being offered. Instead maybe 5 years but many 2 and 3 year leases are being offered as landlords back on new commercial tenants who can pay twice or more the old rents.
So you see, as the South Bronx continues to change so does the rest of The Bronx and on paper it may look like for the better but in reality we’re simply losing our soul as the one last true borough of NYC.
Sure we’ll continue to fight, I mean that’s what kept us alive all these decades fending for ourselves when the government, banks, landlords all gave up on us hoping we’d kill ourselves off but we showed them.
Not only did we survive but we rebuilt ourselves back from the rubble.
Perhaps too good, though, and maybe, just maybe, we’re simply the victims of our own success.
PORT MORRIS—Renderings for three-25 story residential towers planned for 101 Lincoln Avenue directly across from Mott Haven Bar and Grill and at the foot of the Third Avenue Bridge have been revealed.
826 market rate apartments will be spread across the 3 towers along the waterfront joining the other 3 at 2401 Third Avenue which already have been approved.
Preliminary renderings for approved towers at 2401 Third Avenue. The new renderings for 101 are directly across the Third Avenue Bridge at 101 Lincoln.
While many hail these developments as progress and a sign of acceptance of a long neglected borough, it only increases concern for the over 300,000 households RPA’s report indicated that are at risk of displacement.
Wednesday, March 8th, 7PM-9:30PM at The Bronx Documentary Center:
How To Survive A Plague is the story of two coalitions— ACT UP New Yorkand TAG (Treatment Action Group)—whose activism and innovation turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition. Despite having no scientific training, these self-made activists infiltrated the pharmaceutical industry and helped identify promising new drugs, moving them from experimental trials to patients in record time.
Book signing of David Frances’ How to Survive a Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS will follow the screening.
ABOUT DAVID FRANCE
David France is an American investigative reporter, non-fiction author and filmmaker. He is a contributing editor for New York magazine, former Newsweek senior editor and published in magazines such as The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine and GQ.
