Straphangers Campaign has issued their annual report on the state of New York City’s subway system based on six indicators: scheduled service, service regularity, breakdown rate, crowding, cleanliness, and announcements.

So guess where the Bronx lines fall in the spectrum of the MTA’s 20 subway lines?

Let’s start with the obvious worst of the bunch. (which is pretty much all except one)

The 5 line won the title of WORST subway line of the year (tied with the A train actually for rather crappy overall experience) and according to the Straphangers Campaign, a trip on the 5 line is only worth $1.50 rather than the full fare of $2.75.

Anyone who takes the 4 knows just what a horrible experience that is with severe overcrowding which often translates into delays and headaches for commuters. Due to the messiness of the entire situation that is the 4 line, it placed 18th out of 20 with an overall value of $1.55 out of the full fare of $2.75.

Topping off the worst list are the 2, B, and D lines which all tied for 14th out of 20 with a metro card fare rating of $1.65 per ride

A little better and pretty much in the middle was the JLo’s 6 train with a metro card rating of $1.75 at 11th place.

So that leaves the 1 train and here’s the good news: It’s the best line for 2016 (tied with the L and 7 lines) but even at landing as the best line, as per Straphangers Campaign criteria, it is only worth $2.05 per ride.

Surprised? Not Surprised?

Check out the rest of the report especially if you transfer to other non-Bronx lines.

Now if only we could get a subway system designed to benefit The BRONX!

Each year, StreetEasy—the real estate website—puts out a list of top ten neighborhoods they think will be the next “hot” area and without fail, the media follows and reports it as something that’s based on factual evidence. 

The fact of the matter is that these lists issued by StreetEasy only takes into account its own data and not the entire big picture. 

Although Kingsbridge is attractive to many Bronxites for the reasons listed in their post such as shopping and affordability, that’s pretty much it for other folks searching for something with an easy commute. 

The greatest interest will always be in neighborhoods closest to midtown and downtown Manhattan and that’s something Kingsbridge isn’t by any stretch of the imagination. 

Just like last year they predicted Jamaica, Queens and Pelham Parkway in The Bronx to be the next “it” neighborhoods, this prediction too will fall flat on its face. 

Investors and developers are literally spending over a billion in development in The South Bronx, a figure that represents almost half the Bronx’s total in Community Board 1 covering Melrose, Mott Haven, and Port Morris. 

Kingsbridge hasn’t seen even a fraction of this interest. 

This isn’t to say not to be vigilant as we’ve seen greedy landlords trying to push out long term commercial tenants as they tried once plans for the Armory were  announced—we always have to worry—but gentrification ain’t happening any time soon up there so y’all can breathe a little bit more easily. 

Real Estate websites need to stop this sensationalism and pushing speculators into neighborhoods. 

Yesterday, the first 15 tenants moved into the 15 story Morris Avenue Apartments affordable housing development in Melrose—all homeless veterans with a new lease in life and just in time for the holidays.

Of the 176 units in the building, an impressive 20%, or 35 units, were set aside for homeless individuals and families of which 18 of those units went to homeless veterans. The remainder of the units went to low and middle income individuals and families with a preference for those who live within the area’s Community Board 1, and NYPD, MTA, and other city employees.

We all know that there is a homelessness crisis in NYC and especially The Bronx where many are just 1 paycheck away from becoming homeless.

The apartments are decent in size and all come with separate climate control units for “central” heating and cooling for each bedroom and main living area providing warmth in the winter and cool AC in during the hot summers.

Oh and each apartment comes with a dishwasher and bamboo hardwood flooring.

The lucky 176 individuals and families are paying rents ranging from $788 for studios to $1,638 for 3 bedrooms with qualifying incomes from $28,555 for 1 low income individual to $105,100 for a middle income family of 6.

Sadly, this means that the majority of residents living within the neighborhood do not qualify for such developments as many are far below the required income for these affordable units which always leaves the question in many’s mind, “Affordable for who?”

At any rate, hundreds of families will now have an affordable place to call home as well as 35 who are homeless no more.

Community room on the second floor available to residents of 655 Morris Avenue

Pretty great views of Melrose and the rest of the South Bronx too

Kitchens are open layout into the living rooms and are all equipped with a dishwasher.

Corner apartments benefit from double exposure.

Great views of Manhattan’s skyline as seen from 655 Morris Avenue directly adjacent to 2980 Park

The building’s entrance is off of 153rd Street and is set back considerably.

Morris Avenue Apartments

The greenest borough of NYC is going to get even greener. 

When community leaders, residents, architects and the city were planning the revitalization of Melrose over two decades ago, one of the things people could agree on was the need for green space if thousands of units were to be built in the neighborhood. 

Years and promises passed by and the lot on Melrose between 159th and 160th streets remained vacant as new buildings and townhouses surrounding it rose from the ashes of rubble-strewn lots. 

Now the lot is being prepared for construction for Melrose Commons Park with a scheduled completion date in Autumn 2019.

Once complete, the neighborhood and The Bronx will have a new park and modest in size at 1.07 acres. 

According to NYC Parks, total funding for Melrose Commons Park construction is $5,584,000 provided by the Mayor’s office, Councilman Rafael Salamanca, and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. 

Now if only they’d build a much needed dog run which is something many residents have been asking for. 

The greenest borough of NYC is going to get even greener. 

When community leaders, residents, architects and the city were planning the revitalization of Melrose over two decades ago, one of the things people could agree on was the need for green space if thousands of units were to be built in the neighborhood. 

Years and promises passed by and the lot on Melrose between 159th and 160th streets remained vacant as new buildings and townhouses surrounding it rose from the ashes of rubble-strewn lots. 

Now the lot is being prepared for construction for Melrose Commons Park with a scheduled completion date in Autumn 2019.

Once complete, the neighborhood and The Bronx will have a new park and modest in size at 1.07 acres. 

According to NYC Parks, total funding for Melrose Commons Park construction is $5,584,000 provided by the Mayor’s office, Councilman Rafael Salamanca, and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. 

Now if only they’d build a much needed dog run which is something many residents have been asking for. 

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.

Source: The Long-Awaited Waterfront – WNYC News – WNYC

File this under fun and yes please! 

Soon you’ll be able to soar over the Bronx River like a falcon (or a bat). 

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. 

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. 

So, will you be brave enough to try it out? 

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.

“He doesn’t support 495,” Ryan Monell, a spokesman for Salamanca, said after the meeting. “We don’t see a good amount of evidence that this will take trucks off the road … we’re also concerned about the jobs aspect.” —Lobbying efforts deliver body blow to Bronx support for waste equity bill|Politico

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.

Please remember to sign the petition and distribute widely!

Outside of the Bronx Zoo there is plenty of wildlife in The Bronx.

Whether they’re coyotes in Pelham Bay and Van Cortlandt Parks or traveling through your backyard in Riverdale, deers on 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.

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.)

This will be Mott Haven’s third market rate condo (Bronx Bricks being the first back in 2008, and a new construction development on 138th Street).

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.

Listed as Sobro LLC (no relation to the shady SoBro organization) with an address 5308 13th Avenue in Brooklyn, the address tied to numerous “shell” companies that have been at the center of major multi-million real estate fraud ring.

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.

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?

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.

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.