Piano Waiting For You in Williamsbridge Oval Park

This PS 54 student sat down to play the piano in Williamsbridge Oval Park on Tuesday – exactly the kind of spontaneous music-making organizers of the pop-up piano project have in mind. In fact, shortly after this girl left to hang out with her classmates, a professional piano player named Vadim showed up to play. Part of the program is for pianists to demonstrate the pianos and attract curious people who will then want to tickle the ivories themselves. The piano is only in the park for a couple of more weeks, so get going! (Photo by Jordan Moss)

Bronx Health: Free Prostate Cancer Exams

Montefiore Medical Center will be offering free prostate cancer tests for all men 40 and over at the following times and locations: Wednesday, June 22, 4 to 7 p.m.Moses Division, Gold Zone, Ambulatory Oncology111 East 210th StreetThursday, June 23 4 to 7 p.m.Montefiore Medical Park1695 Eastchester Road, 1st FloorFriday, June 24, 1 to 5 p.m.1521 Jarret Place, 1st Floor According to the latest statistics available from the Center for Disease Control, nearly 30,000 men in the United States died from prostate cancer in 2007. For more information, contact Montefiore’s Office of Community Relations, (718) 920-7744.

Bronx News Roundup, June 21

Happy summer solstice! The season will kick off with some rain showers later this afternoon, and temperatures around 80 degrees. Scattered thunderstorms predicted for tomorrow. Story of the Day: Armory Report ReleasedThe Kingsbridge Armory Task force released a 267-page report today detailing plans for how the long-vacant building should be filled (ideas: a hockey arena, a culinary center and a mega-church). For more on the report, see our previous post here.

Kingsbridge Armory Task Force Releases Report on Potential Uses

The Kingsbridge Armory (Photo by Adi Talwar) The latest formation of the Kingsbridge Armory Task Force (there have been others over the last 17 years since the National Guard vacated the main structure), chaired by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. and Councilman Fernando Cabrera, released its report today – 267 pages actually (much of it background material, thank goodness). We obviously haven’t had time to go through it all, but the bottom line is that the task force is not recommending any one, or combination of, uses. They are instead calling on the city’s Economic Development Corporation, which has overseen all the unsuccessful proposals and plans over the years to issue another request for proposals (RFP). The report includes the findings of the NYU’s Capstone project. Film studios, a megachurch, sports and recreation entrepreneurs, and the sustainable food industry (culinary school, farmers’ markets) all have expressed an interest in the facility.