Coming soon to the Port Morris Waterfront: Two 25-story luxury towers in the poorest congressional district in the nation.
Over the past few months, we had the opportunity to speak with Sophia Paliza-Carre and Sarah Hayley Barrett of WNYC on a long-term project they were working on the changing face of the South Bronx as gentrification begins to roll through, particularly Mott Haven and Port Morris.
WNYC reports:
The South Bronx waterfront is industrial, smelly, and inaccessible.
Nearly a third of the city’s garbage goes through Mott Haven and is then transferred to trucks or a train that snakes along the Harlem River’s edge, out to garbage dumps around the region.
“You can smell how horrible it is, that water sitting there, that is all water that leaks from trucks that come by,” said Ed Garcia Conde, a Melrose resident and author of the blog, Welcome2theBronx. “This actually permeates through the neighborhood. On certain days when it’s warm and humid, it stretches around.”
Listen to segment:
Garcia Conde and many other South Bronx residents want the waterfront cleaned up — they want esplanades and green space instead of railroads and highways. They’ve been envisioning what they want the waterfront to become for decades.
The city wants it cleaned up too. In 2006 Mayor Bloomberg announced the South Bronx Initiative, a plan to attract development to the South Bronx. It sought to leverage private development to create a continuous promenade on the Bronx side of the Harlem River that would be publicly accessible.
Now, developers Keith Rubenstein of Somerset Partners, along with the Chetrit Group, are ready to break ground on the first section of the neglected waterfront in Mott Haven. They plan to build six towers on both sides of the Third Avenue Bridge with approximately 1,200 market-rate units.
The Bronx Zoo plans to install a 45 foot high zip line taking you over the beautiful Bronx River from one side to the other and back according to DNAinfo.
Zip lining has increased in popularity over the years as a way for thrill seekers to look at popular destinations from a different perspective as you zoom across the line like a bird using nothing but gravity to control your speed from one side to the next.
Rendering of people zip lining across the Bronx River / Wildlife Conservation Society
At the moment, you can zip line in NYC at street fairs with temporary installations but a search through Google and other sites show that there aren’t any permanent ones installed in the city except one in Queens at Alley Pond Park and it’s pretty short and looks very lame (sorry Queens).
Not only will this be a great way to see the zoo from an entirely different perspective but it will give visitors another way to enjoy New York City’s only freshwater river and see how far along its come from environmental disaster to example of a successful environmental cleanup thanks to The Bronx River Alliance and the many Bronxites who volunteer to not only cleanup the river but also maintaining its immediate surroundings.
The Bronx Zoo expects to have the ride installed by Summer 2017.
In the Bronx, which handles 32% of all of New York City’s waste transfer stations [1], death from asthma rates are three times higher than the national average [2].
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1. The City of New York Department of Sanitation, www.nyc.gov/dsny.
2. South Bronx Environmental Health and Policy Study, 2009: http://www.icisnyu.org/south_bronx/admin/files/NYUWagnerPhaseVIreport.pdf / Via Transform Don’t Trash NYCDear NYC: STOP DUMPING YOUR TRASH IN THE BRONX.
Every single New York City council member of The Bronx (with the exception of Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito who has not yet taken a position) has turned their backs on a bill that would greatly reduce the amount of waste coming into our borough from the rest of the city.
This is thanks to lobbying efforts on behalf of the waste management industry in The Bronx which would stand to lose business if the bill is passed.
According to Politico:
“At the beginning of the year, the measure had at least 26 sponsors,enough to pass the 51-member Council. It now it has 19, well short of the mark. What’s curious about the recent defectors is that all but one are from the Bronx, one of the three boroughs the bill is designed to protect.
Intro. 495 reached its peak number of sponsors in April 2015, before support began to wane earlier this year.
Councilman Ritchie Torres of the Bronx withdrew his support at the end of June, leaving the bill with 25 sponsors, less than a majority. Councilwoman Annabel Palma, also of the Bronx, took her name off in early July. In October, Councilwoman Rosie Mendez of Manhattan withdrew her support, followed by Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson of the Bronx early last month.
Last week, three more Council members from the Bronx pulled their support: Andy King, Andrew Cohen and Fernando Cabrera. None of the 19 remaining sponsors represents the Bronx; all represent parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.
Freshman Councilman Rafael Salamanca Jr. of the Bronx was seen as a crucial get for bill supporters. Metropolitan is in his district and the area is among the most trafficked for trash transfer stations. But a meeting between Salamanca and bill supporters last Friday ended in a stalemate.
Salamanca had questions about the bill and indicated he was not going to sign on.
Council Rafael Salamanca told us that he supports the idea of the bill, however, he’s seeking to improve it. As Intro 495 stands right now won’t make a dent in reducing truck traffic in The Bronx.
But why should corporate economics come before health and environmental concerns of poor and people of color?
This is simply a moral issue of taking care our most vulnerable.
The Bronx handles just over 30% of New York City’s garbage. Let that sink in (stink?).
Sign the petition and tell our New York City Council Members to support this bill—lives are at stake!
Intro 495, if passed, would make waste transfer more equitable across the city instead of overburdening the South Bronx and North Brooklyn which pretty much handles all garbage for all of New York City (roughly 80% of all city trash).
They also happen to be neighborhoods of low income people of color already suffering from hazardous environmental problems such as toxic fumes and exhaust that not only push asthma rates to epidemic levels but also some of the highest in the nation.
With all of these trucks barreling through our neighborhoods 24 hours a day, they are also a factor in pedestrian safety causing traffic fatalities with 1,400 trucks storming through the South Bronx at a rate of 2-3 trucks per hour to cart the 6,000 tons of trash in.
The Bronx cannot and will not continue to be the dumping ground for the rest of the city and we shouldn’t have to handle everyone’s trash.
Mayor Bill de Blasio ran on a platform of ending the tale of two cities and this is exactly what that is—a battle of basic human rights to a healthy environment between those with money and those economically disadvantaged.
While those who are against the bill cite job loss concerns as many waste transfer sites in The Bronx would lose business by equitable distribution of trash burden are valid, the value of a human life, of our children can’t be measured in jobs or money—our rights to a healthy environment is simply non-negotiable.
Last year, The New York Environment Report wrote about this critical issue and said:
“Eighty percent of the city’s waste handling capacity, the Council reports, is located in just three neighborhoods—the South Bronx, North Brooklyn and Southeast Queens. The proposed legislation would also cut the amount of waste processed by transfer stations in those three areas by almost 20 percent.
The severity of the over-concentration of trash processing in low income communities and communities of color is “not just,” said Terry (Kellie Terry, former executive director of the Point CDC in Hunts Point) in an interview outside a waste facility in the South Bronx. Trucks rumbled by continuously as we spoke. “It flies in the face of all of our principles as a society, and especially of this current administration.”
Almost one-third of New York City’s trash is handled at waste transfer stations in the South Bronx, and then trucked or sent by rail to landfills across the region.
The relentless truck traffic, along with the presence of the waste transfer facilities themselves, has exacted a steep price from South Bronx residents.
A 2014 study by the state Comptroller found that the Bronx has the highest age-adjusted asthma death rate “by far” among all counties in New York State: 43.5 deaths per million residents in the Bronx, as opposed to the state average of 13.1 deaths per million.
Exposure to exhaust fumes is a known risk factor for asthma, the study noted.” The Bronx is Breathing
We cannot continue to allow the city to destroy our environment and quality of life!
Whether you live in the South Bronx, North or East Bronx this is an issue that impacts all of us for when one area suffers, the entire Bronx suffers.
Whether they’re coyotes in Pelham Bay and Van Cortlandt Parks or traveling through your backyard in Riverdale, deerson train tracks or even seals off the coast of our borough (not to mention beavers in the Bronx River and BATS!) they’re here.
Hawks are pretty common in The Bronx and the rest of NYC (particularly red tail hawks) but what isn’t an everyday occurrence is one casually on top of a car in Melrose eating away at its lunch: A pigeon.
A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled across a pair in St Mary’s Park and one was feasting on a pigeon. A local resident who had pointed them out said he’s seem hawks in the park since he was a kid and they were usually eating a rat or a pigeon.
I didn’t think much if it except that it’s pretty cool to see wildlife in the middle of the South Bronx.
But then last week I saw a video uploaded to Facebook showing a hawk eating a pigeon in broad daylight and immediately I recognized that it was in The Bronx.
What kind of wild animals have you encountered in The Bronx?
Take a look at the video posted on Roaring Earth on Facebook but warning: It’s pretty gross.
413 E 135th Street in Mott Haven is slated to be luxury condominiums
The gentrification of the South Bronx continues at full speed as a new luxury market-rate condo is slated for construction at E 135th Street near Willis Avenue and next to the Mobile gas station. (Did we mention that in the rendering, there is not ONE person of color? Like ZERO diversity in an area that is over 90% African American and Latino.)
According to filings with NYC’s Department of Buildings, the development will have 22 unites in the 14,985 square foot building—with gorgeous views of the Major Deegan Expressway bumper to bumper traffic and exhaust fumes.
Seriously, who would want to purchase a condo fronting directly onto a highway that’s part of the asthma epidemic in the South Bronx?
Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this development is the owner.
This is not to say that this organization is involved in illicit activities but the coincidence is too close for comfort.
We reached out to the owners but have not received a reply as of yet.
Rather disturbing to see a rendering with zero diversity—not one person of color in a neighborhood that is over 90% African American and Latino
It is difficult to see all these luxury developments being constructed in one of the poorest neighborhoods of the city and the poorest congressional district in the country.
Mom and pop businesses are already being pushed out as developers with deep pockets snatch up leases and can afford operating at a loss.
Will we end up without a soul like Williamsburg and all the other generic gentrified neighborhoods that once housed working class poor and middle income families?
Typical scene at 149th Street and Grand Concourse on the northbound 4 platform.
The dysfunctional organization known at the Metropolitan Transit Authority, aka the MTA, is seeking yet again to hike fares but worry not, you have a chance to tell them what you think about this ill-advised move.
With the cost of living in NYC ever increasing and yet wages, particularly for low-income New Yorkers, remaining stagnant, the MTA needs to figure out other ways to raise revenue instead of doing so on the backs of the working class which keeps this city running.
And what exactly are we getting with a fare increase?
Everyone is packed like sardines in the subway and service definitely hasn’t improved so again, why is this even an option?
Head over to Hostos Community College for today’s hearing starting at 5PM (registration to speak on the fare hike is from 4PM-8PM) and give them a piece of your mind as only Bronxites know how!
Hostos Community College is located on the Grand Concourse and 149th Street right outside the 2/4/5 train station.
“Yo, lemme get a chopped cheese!” is something one hears quite frequently when entering a bodega, whether somewhere in The Bronx or any bodega throughout the city.
But what happens when even your favorite “poor man’s” food gets appropriated and “gentrified”? Is it even possible for food to be gentrified?
It’s a complex issue yet there are plenty of examples of this happening with many foods that were once the staples of various ethnicities.
“First We Feast” takes a look into this phenomenon via the famed Chopped Cheese Sandwich which went from corner bodegas to the mainstream consciousness thanks to appearing on Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown last year and a New York Times article this year.
Image via First We Feast
It’s already being sold in Williamsburg, the capital of cultural appropriation and gentrification for $10 bucks—something that will cost you in a bodega about $5.
First We Feast writes:
“On the surface, that would seem simple. The bodega specialty gets its name from the “chopping” of hamburger patties, which occurs on the griddles in delis throughout Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Harlem. The minced meat is covered in cheese, slipped into a roll or hero, and dressed with standard-issue condiments.
But when we began to peel back the layers and ask questions about its origin story, how it became so popular, and why it’s so difficult to find one in lower Manhattan, we were introduced to a much deeper tale fueled by borough rivalries, hip-hop mythology, and hard-to-swallow truths, giving us a more meaningful glimpse into what makes this city tick.
Since then, the story has evolved from a sandwich hunt to one about why New Yorkers feel protective over it. As more media outlets turned their attention to the chopped cheese, we saw new divisions form. This frustration came to fever pitch when a young Harlem comedian Jeffrey Almonte posted a reaction video that addressed issues of gentrification and “Columbus Syndrome” in his neighborhood, racking up millions of views and ratcheting up the outrage.
Feelings of displacement were only magnified when it was announced back in August that celebrity chef April Bloomfield would be selling her own rendition for $15, roughly 3x the original price, inspiring the hashtag #hoodappropriation. (It has since been lowered to $11.) Now, with the most recent New York Times coverage,it is safe to say that the chopped cheese is no longer a local’s secret. “—The Legend of New York’s Chopped Cheese/First We Feast
And it’s not just the chopped cheese that’s receiving such attention.
Neiman Marcus has a list of specialty foods available for delivery and among them you’ll find empanadas, tamales, collard greens, and yes—even pigs in a blanket aren’t safe!
I guess if you don’t live in a wonderfully diverse neighborhood, you’ll do anything to get your hands on our awesome foods.
This weekend come to The Bronx Museum to shop for the holidays in their biggest market yet!
The Bronx Museum Holiday Market will have over 50 vendors this year showcasing some of the best buys from local Bronx businesses so if you have to shop for the holidays then at least support the crucially important small businesses of our borough.
The Market will be open Saturday and Sunday December 10th and 11th from 11AM to 6PM with special events and performances on both dates.
Saturday, December 10th
FESTIVITIES THROUGHOUT THE DAY
From 12pm to 6pm Ms. Santa and friends join us for photos and holiday face painting
1:00 PM Magic show by Ms. Santa 2:00 PM Performance of Holiday Music by the Girls Prep Bronx Elementary School Choir and Middle School Band 3:00 PM Free gallery tour with guest curator Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy 5:00 PM Performance by Bashma Sheea
Sunday, December 11th
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11 SCHEDULE
FESTIVITIES THROUGHOUT THE DAY
From 12pm to 6pm Ms. Santa and friends join us for photos and holiday face painting
2:00 PM Navidad Flamenca in the Lower Gallery event space
4:00 PM Performance by Bharati of Bharati Dance Academy
A woman holds some serrano peppers after harvesting at Friends of Brook Park, one of the 28 participating gardens who grow the crop for The Bronx Hot Sauce
The Bronx sets a modern record for non-hydroponic urban agriculture!
What started out back in 2014 with less than ten community gardens growing 100 lbs of serrano peppers for The Bronx Hot Sauce has exploded to a record-breaking 1,500 pound harvest this year—a 1,500% increase thanks to 28 participating Bronx community gardens this year according to a press release issued by the company.
If you haven’t tried the hot sauce, you don’t know what you’re missing if you’re a lover of all things spicy and fiery. From the markets throughout Arthur Avenue to Whole Foods and hotels in Manhattan, to hundreds of other locations throughout the tri-state area, you can easily pick up a bottle.
But what’s even better than The Bronx Hot Sauce itself is the model and concept behind it.
The company provides the seeds free of charge to local community gardens and once the harvest is ready for pick up, they purchase it at premium prices providing the gardens with necessary funds to continue their operations.
According to a press release, “The community gardens are such vibrant and overlooked treasures in the City” said John A. Crotty, Senior VP at The Bronx Greenmarket Hot Sauce. “We are really satisfied that a model that helps create a dedicated funding stream for these treasures is working. The Hot Sauce’s award winning taste comes from the tender care each of the gardens and gardeners put into growing each plant.”
“There are so many great things happening in the Bronx to support local agriculture and the collaboration behind the production of The Bronx Hot Sauce is a key part of that ongoing success,” said Commissioner Richard Ball of the New York State Agriculture. “It’s a great example of the benefits that come from working together. We are proud to offer The Bronx Hot Sauce in several Taste NY stores across the state and in Puerto Rico to promote this terrific project and further connect the Upstate and Downstate regions through agriculture. We join the community gardens and The Bronx Hot Sauce in celebrating in this tremendous milestone and look forward to seeing even more peppers planted next season.”
“The Bronx Hot Sauce puts the spirit of the Bronx in a bottle. Bronx peppers, grown by Bronx farmers, benefiting Bronx community gardens” said Marcel Van Ooyen, President and CEO at GrowNYC. “We are so thrilled to be part of something great for our community.”
And it truly is a great thing when people of all ages and walks of life can come together to create a wonderful product, so of course, what better place than The Bronx to do all of that?
I think everyone who has some land in The Bronx whether it’s their own home or
Over 20 languages or language groups are dominant in US census tracts across our borough./Map by Jill Hubley
With over half of Bronx households identifying as Latino, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Spanish, along with English, is the dominant language of our borough.
But what are we left with if we take a look at the dominant languages spoken in any given area if you exclude those two languages?
The first thing one notices is that African languages dominates all corners of The Bronx thanks to the huge influx of African immigrants, particularly from Western Africa. This has also boosted the areas where French is the dominant language mostly concentrated in the South and West Bronx.
When you exclude only English, Spanish is the overwhelming majority with a few pockets of Italian and African Languages popping up/Map via Jill Hubley
Italian is still pretty strong and dominant in many East Bronx neighborhoods like Pelham Bay, Schuylerville, Country Club, Spencer Estates, and Throggs Neck.
Also in Throggs Neck is home to Urdu, the official language of Pakistan which is also widely spoken across Western India. Even Greek is dominant in some parts of the area.
Not surprising is Hebrew and Russian dominating Riverdale side by side with Urdu as well.
When all languages are selected, English and Spanish dominate every single neighborhood./ Map via Jill Hubley
Morris Park still has sections where Italian is also still dominant surrounded by what’s labeled as Indo European languages which we believe is most likely Albanian due to the large population in the general area along with Pelham Parkway.
Overall, The Bronx has about 27 languages or language groups that are dominant throughout areas of the borough but actual spoken languages is much greater than this.
All of this shouldn’t be too big of a surprise since the US Census said The Bronx is the most diverse area in the country and there is an 89.7 percent chance that any two residents, chosen at random, would be of different race or ethnicity.
What language other than English do you speak at home? Head over to the site to explore the rest of the map!
Google has compiled a timelapse of satellite images of our planet spanning from 1984 through 2016 and the results are beautiful and alarming as you can clearly see evidence of climate change.
We decided to take a look at The Bronx (no surprise there) and what we found is pretty amazing. You can see the rebuilding of the South Bronx with empty lots being filled in with new construction, Throggs Neck’s Ferry Point Park, Bay Plaza in Co-op City appearing out of nowhere, the Jerome Reservoir being drained and then filled again, the new Yankee Stadium going up and then the old coming down.
You can even see how narrow Orchard Beach gets before being expanded again!
If you grew up in The Bronx or have lived here a long time, chances are that you know someone who was a “bookie” that took bets or a “runner” who was the go between to the bookie from others.
In Spanish, it’s called “la bolita” or “los números”—the little ball or the numbers—and although the illegal gambling went mainstream with the advent of Off Track Betting, aka OTB, the illegal counterpart of it still remains.
For many it was a way to possibly strike it big and make a better life from the winnings.
To others, just a little fun.
Imagine my surprise when I posted an image of someone’s numbers sheet and racing form and a reader shared their mother’s tale of being a runner in 1934!
Ronnie Smith Bromm writes:
It was 1934, in the midst of the Depression, when I committed my first crime. I was 5 years old and Aunt Carrie was my Fagin. Sure, times were hard for everybody, then. Nevertheless, Aunt Carrie and Uncle Gus never lost hope of someday “hitting it big.” Almost daily, Aunt Carrie spent a nickel playing a number in the illegal numbers game that was so popular in the Bronx at that time. The game is legal now and is controlled by the state. The system is conducted in neighborhood betting parlors and is called OTB, or Off Track Betting. The game is played by betting on a three-digit number that is decided by the results of the pay-off amounts of the daily horse racing results at various race tracks. The pay-off amounts are printed in the next day’s newspapers.
In 1934, when the game was still illegal, bettors had to be very inventive to hide their activities from the Vice Squad. They also had to protect their identity and location of the person who booked the bets, known as “bookies.” Aunt Carrie’s “bookie” was the proprietor of the little candy/soda/newspaper store around the corner. His name was Deafy, for obvious reasons.
Her method of skirting the law was to use me as her runner, or carrier, of her bets. She thought she was very clever in using me because who would suspect a little freckle-faced 5-year-old girl of being a numbers “runner”? She would write her number on a small piece of paper, wrap the paper around a nickel, fold and refold it until it was the smallest possible lump, then place the lump in my palm, and fold my fingers over it to form a tiny fist. Then I was given my instructions.
“Skip down to the candy store,” she’d whisper, “and make sure there ain’t any customers hangin’ around outside or inside the store, and when the coast is clear, run in fast, reach up and slide the lump across the marble soda fountain counter to Deafy, then run out of the store as though you lost your candy money somewhere along the way.” If a customer came in before I could place the bet, I would pretend to be deciding which penny candy I wanted by pressing my face against the glass candy case. Then I was to linger there, “deciding,” until the customer left. Oh, how I loved this dangerous game! I was very much aware of the consequences if we were found out. Deafy and Aunt Carrie would go to jail, and I would be sent to an orphanage! If a policeman ever came into the store while I was there to place a bet, I would take the nickel out of the paper, pop the paper in my mouth, chew and swallow it, and buy some candy to chew and swallow on top of the paper. They’d never find the evidence on me! Aunt Carrie didn’t teach me that trick. I learned it by watching all those 1930s gangster movies at the Saturday matinees.
Now, my job as a “runner” was not over by a long shot. At 6 PM that evening, I was sent back to Deafy’s to find out if we’d hit the number. The 7 Star Final edition of the New York Journal-American printed the race results of that day. All the editions of the daily newspapers were laid out on the wooden newsstand outside the store. The Journal-American very conveniently printed the race results on the front page of its final edition, so I only had to lean against the stand, glance at the race results, and memorize the three significant digits in the totals. Then I would run back home and announce the day’s winning number. Aunt Carrie was seldom a winner, but none of us ever got arrested, and I always felt proud of my performance.
July 16, 2003
About Ronnie Smith Bromm:
Ronnie Smith Bromm was born at Fordham Hospital in 1929, and was raised in the Bronx by her aunt and uncle after the death of her mother in 1930. She graduated from Walton High School in 1947, and played softball with the Alpine Girls in the 1940s. Her future husband, Johnny Bromm, was the team coach. In 1973, she umpired an exhibition game at Yankee Stadium between Mickey Mantle’s All Stars and George Plimpton’s All Stars. She currently lives in Rahway, New Jersey.
Ronnie Smith Bromm
Sure enough, we got more comments after posting that image of the man with his racing form on the subway.
Here are just some recollections shared:
“Big Red Lottery!” My grandmother was what you call a “bolitera.” She ran a number joint on 162nd street and Prospect Ave. It was a “candy store” in the front and numbers in the back. Next door, there was a barbershop, two doors down a Botanica and across the street were two bars. She didn’t have to go too far for her clientele. She also had a “card game” every Friday night. Little did I know she would be my influence in getting an Economics degree. Who knew? LOL.—Herbert R.
“The local number runner in my neighborhood made his rounds daily to the ladies: the seniors, the stay at home moms. They made tea and served refreshments. Sometimes they gathered together in small groups in somebody’s living room and had a grand time. I was at a block association meeting one time when he made his appearance. Meeting was adjourned for 15 minutes so folks could take care of business. Out came the refreshments.” —Lisa From The Bronx
What memories do you have about the old numbers’ game? Or any other Bronx memories? Share away!
