Bronx News Network

Bloomberg Checks In On Hunts Point Market

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Bloomberg talks with Stephen Katzman, a president of the Hunts Point Produce Market(Photo courtesy of the Mayor’s office)Mayor Bloomberg paid a late night visit to the Boogie Down yesterday to meet with vendors at the Hunts Point Produce Market, taking a tour of the facility and talking to some of the leaders there about the challenges they’re facing.It’s in the best interest of the Bronx and the city that the Mayor stay on good terms with leadership at the market, which employs some 2,400 people and brings in about $2.3 billion in sales each year. A few months ago, it seemed as if the cooperative might pack up and move to New Jersey, tempted by an offer from Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.But the market signed on for at least another three years here in New York at the start of June, and the Mayor said then that they were working on coming up with a long-term deal, which would include a revamping of the market facility.According to spokesman, last night’s visit included a tour of the market, including the refrigerated storage and the sales platform, while workers were unloading refrigerated trucks and getting ready for a business rush this holiday weekend.

Bronx

Crucial Bronx After-School and Drug Prevention Program May Close

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Kids participate in fitness classes at the Featherbed Lane Improvement Association, which is in danger of closing after its funding was slashed. (Photo by Fausto Giovanny Pinto)By FAUSTO GIOVANNY PINTOFor single mother Haile Rivera the time her three young children spend in the after-school program at Featherbed Lane Improvement Association is crucial. She uses the time to attend college classes, run errands, and, after recently being laid off, look for a job.Soon, however, Rivera, 41, may need to find a new place for her kids to go after school. Earlier this month, funding for Featherbed Lane was completely gutted.“We had a contract manager here in April who said she was impressed by the work we do, nobody said we weren’t doing our job,” said Alcee James, the center’s program director. “Then, the next month, they send a letter [saying] our funding is cut.”Featherbed Lane receives funding from the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS).Besides tutoring, computer classes, dance fitness and running summer day camps, drug prevention is one of the organization’s primary goals.

Bronx News Network

Friends of Oval Park to Replace Stolen Piano

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After a community piano in Williamsbridge Oval Park was stolen sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning, the local group Friends of Williamsbridge Oval Park decided not to let a little thing like larceny get their neighborhood down. The group is pooling funds to buy a replacement piano on Craiglist and renting a truck to haul it back into the park.The group just sent out a resilient-sounding e-mail to announce their plan. Here’s a portion of it:”Instead of being helpless victims, our community pulled together to replace what was taken from us. Friends of the Williamsbridge Oval has found another piano on Craigslist, will be pitching in to rent a truck, and investing their time and physical effort to bring the piano back to our park. The Sing-for-Hope piano was painted by an artist, and our neighborhood’s kids will be participating by painting our new piano.This attack on our beloved neighborhood park has only made our community stronger by bringing neighbors together and demonstrating how much our park is appreciated.”If you want to get involved, find the friends on Facebook.

Bronx News Network

Gay Marriage Becomes Law – Diazes React Very Differently

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With the historic passage of gay marriage Friday night in the state Senate and Gov. Cuomo signing the legislation immediately, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. and his father, State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr., the only Democrat to vote against the bill, had very different reactions. “God, not Albany, has settled the definition of marriage a long time ago,” Diaz Sr. said on the Senate floor.In sharp contrast, the borough president, who did not publicly support same-sex marriage, said he looked forward to the wedding of his lesbian niece, Erica Diaz, who made headlines when she crashed her grandfather’s anti-gay marriage rally on the courthouse steps and then took him on in a NY Post op-ed, and his chief of staff Paul Del Duca. He added: “Now that the debate on marriage equality has been resolved, it is time for us to come together and move forward in a positive manner with respect for our fellow Bronxites and all New Yorkers, irrespective of our differences, backgrounds and religious beliefs. We must both celebrate and build upon our diversity for a better and brighter future for all of our hard working families. I also wish to complement Governor Andrew Cuomo for working sincerely and diligently to ensure that the appropriate balance of protections are ensured within the bill.

Bronx News Network

Bronx News Weekend Roundup, June 27

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Weather: Mostly sunny and in the 80s today.Quick Hits: The Times’ David Gonzalez, himself a graduate of St. Martin of Tours School in Crotona, offers this poignant piece on the school’s closing and emotional last day of classes, which was last Wednesday. The 86-year-old parochial school is one of 26 closed this year by the Archdiocese of New York because of budget cuts and low enrollment.NY1 catches up with Reverend Dr. Suzan Johnson Cook, the Bronx Baptist preacher now working as the U.S. Ambassador for International Religious Freedom.A Bronx mother of four was struck by a car and killed on Saturday night while crossing a street in Queens.

Bronx News Network

Bronx News Roundup, June 24

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Good morning, everyone. Feels like Ireland out there with the fine, soft rain (in NYese more of a shpritz). Mix of clouds and sun today with a high of 80 degrees. Chance of thunderstorms this evening.We’re a bit short-staffed today and need to work on getting next week’s Norwood News ready, so this will be a quick and dirty roundup.Story of the DayBronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. has been batted around good in the tabloids this week for releasing a 267-page report by his Kingsbridge Armory Task Force that seems to have muddied his message of coming up with some good ideas for reinventing the landmark structure. The pressure is especially on the BP because he led the charge on defeating a Bloomberg administration plan, developed by The Related Companies, that would have turned the Armory into a giant shopping mall.So, the Diaz camp must’ve been especially pleased this morning with Juan Gonzalez’s column in the Daily News showing that Related and the city have fallen far short of promises on jobs while taking advantage of a sweet deal that requires them to pay comparatively very little in taxes.

Bronx News Network

LGBT Activists Discuss Solutions to Bronx Intolerance

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By Kristen GwynneThrough a series of town hall meetings and other public activities, advocates and organizers are working to promote lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender tolerance in the Bronx, a borough that gained a bad reputation for its intolerance last fall when a group of young adults in Morris Heights were arrested for viciously beating and sodomizing two youths and another man because they suspected the victims were gay.On May 31, at a town hall meeting at the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center, Bronx Community Board 7 and other local community organizers pinpointed lack of advertisement, religion, cultural bias and low socio-economic status as the main causes of the borough’s LGBT intolerance. To navigate these obstacles and improve the borough’s reputation, attendees and panelists suggested working with the police and increasing LGBT awareness, especially in notoriously anti-gay communities.Panelist Francisco J. Lazala, of the Bronx Community Pride Center and Gay and the Lesbian Dominican Empowerment Organization (GALDE), said the goal is to host a town hall meeting in every Bronx-based community board and create a network to distribute LGBT services across the borough.Many attendees expressed discontent with police response to harassment and hate crimes. Detective Jim Duffey, part of the NYPD’s three-person LGBT liaison team of openly gay officers, told the audience to call on his team if things weren’t working out through normal channels.“If you have an incident, call the cops first,” Duffey said. “Those who respond may not be as compassionate. If you feel you are not being treated right, contact us.”In comparison to the other boroughs, panelists and advocates said, the Bronx lacks LGBT advertisement, an effective tool for helping to humanize LGBT persons.