Bronx News Network

Following Piano Theft, Norwood Residents Say 'You Can't Take Away Our Hope' (VIDEO)

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Norwood residents young and old helped paint the new community piano in Oval Park. (Photos by Rachel Sander)Friends of the Williamsbridge Oval Park and a number of helpful local residents gathered today in the park to paint the recently-donated piano that will replace the Sing for Hope Pop-Up Piano that was stolen earlier this week.It remains a mystery who took the piano and how they were able to remove the hulking instrument from the park, but the Norwood community is celebrating today and once again feeling hopeful. More than two dozen kids and adults chipped in to give the piano a bright new paint job. (See video at the bottom of this story.)”It’s really incredible, because even though this was such a bad and depressing story, within 24 hours, the community came together to help fix it,” Ralph Martell said.Volunteers Mayttee Flaz and

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Bronx Business: Browse > Home / Latest, News/Features / A Place Where Mexican Cowboys Can Suit Up A Place Where Mexican Cowboys Can Suit Up

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By FAUSTO GIOVANNY PINTOAlong the ethnically-diverse enclave that is the stretch of the Grand Concourse between 182nd Street and Fordham Road, lies African grocery stores, Dominican barbershops and a scene out of a Mexican-flavored Wild West movie.Spurs, heavy-duty rope (to lasso bulls) and countless styles of cowboy boots and hats fill the shelves and walls that make up the niche clothing shop, Rudy El Vaquero.“Here they have what I want, for good prices,” said Angelica Valerio, who has been shopping at the store for over a year. “And whatever they don’t have, they will get.”The business opened 10 years ago as a record shop. Owner Mario Martinez said people were travelling as far away as Queens and New Jersey to get their Mexican music fix and he wanted to offer these tunes closer to home.Then one day after the record shop opened, Martinez brought in a pair of cowboy boots, a style popular among native Mexicans, Martinez included.A pair of boots grew to a few. Soon he had hats, shirts and a growing demand. Six years ago, he moved the record shop two stores down to a smaller location and opened Rudy El Vaquero in its stead.According to the 2010 Census, Hispanics make up more than 50 percent of the Bronx population, including a fast growing number of Mexicans.

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

New Piano Secured For Oval Park

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Here’s an update in the saga of the purloined piano–BxNN reader Lis says a kind-hearted soul offered to donate an old piano of theirs to to replace it, free of charge (local group Friends of Williamsbridge Oval had been planning to chip in and buy a new one).Now they just need folks to help pick it up in Midtown and load it into a truck. Here are the details from Lis:So we are picking it up tonight and placing it in the park tonight; we need all hands on deck! Those who can help with moving and hoisting a piano, please assemble outside of PS 56 on Hull Ave. at 6 pm this evening (Tuesday night). I will be out there in a bright pink shirt with “I Am the Bronx” logo on it…

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City's Homeless Shelter Plan for Muller Center Blasted By Bronxites

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Editor’s note: We don’t get into this until later in the story, but the big question here is whether Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. will decide to sit down for a vote with the other two members of the local redevelopment authority (LRA), both from the mayor’s office. It’s supposed to happen by tomorrow. He refused to show for a vote in late 2010, preventing the LRA from voting to recommend a shelter as the best use of the center, but Diaz spokesman John DeSio said on Monday he didn’t know what the BP would do. Stay tuned. By Alex KratzDuring his lengthy and impassioned testimony at a public hearing concerning the fate of the vacant Muller Army Reserve Center in Wakefield, Father Richard Gorman compared the Bloomberg administration to A) Josef Stalin and B) a group of slave owners (with Wakefield residents being the slaves).

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.

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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.