Bronx News Network

Bronx Building Workers Reach Deal With Landlords

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Averting a strike, Bronx building workers, represented by 32BJ, reached an agreement with landlords. Here’s an excerpt from the union’s press release. 32BJ and the Bronx Realty Advisory Board (BRAB) reached a tentative four-year agreement this evening for more than 3,000 apartment building workers that provides annual wage increases while maintaining employer-paid family health care and secured pension benefits. The agreement narrowly averted a strike, which would have affected 250,000 Bronx residents throughout the borough including Riverdale and the South Bronx.The whole agreement can be downloaded from the union’s web site here.

Bronx News Network

Bronx News Roundup, March 15

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Looks like mostly sun in the Bronx today with temperatures creeping toward 50. High chance of rain tonight and tomorrow before a blast of warm air hits on Thursday and Friday. To the news!Story of the Day: Bus Driver’s Shady Past Went UncheckedMore disturbing details are emerging about the checkered, trouble-filled past of Ophadell Williams, the driver of the tour bus that crashed into a sign pole on I-95 here in the Bronx, leading to questions (from victims and even the governor) about how he got the driving gig in the first place. Williams served two years on a manslaughter charge in the early 1990s and landed back in prison in 1998, serving four years for forgery. His driving privileges were suspended in 1995 after he ignored tickets for speeding and driving without a license.

Bronx News Network

'Ray of Hope' for Bronx Senior Centers

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The Daily News reports today (article doesn’t seem to be available on their web site) that state legislators are proposing restoring $25 million in funding ti senior centers that Gov. Cuomo was planning to cut from the budget. The commissioner for the city’s Department for the Aging says if the state money is restored then she can absorb any city cuts and still keep the 105 targeted centers open, 22 of which are in the Bronx. For a Norwood News story on the potential closure of the Bedford Park Senior Center, click here.

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Bronx Tenants' Rights Night

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Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition is holding a tenants’ rights night tonight, March 14 at St. Nicholas of Tolentine Gymnasium (corner of Fordham Road and University Avenue). The group is focusing on the tenants of 12 buildings deemed among the most neglected in the community but welcome everyone living in buildings with problems. Topics covered will be leaks, lack of heat/hot water, protection against your rent being raised illegally, landlord harassment and forming a tenants’ association. For more information call NWBCCC’s Housing Hotline at 347-443-9222.

Bronx News Network

Bronx Weekend News Roundup, March 14

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Cool and partly sunny on this Monday in the Bronx, with a hint of wind just to make you realize it’s still not spring yet. Looking ahead, we will probably see rain mid-week and then a dramatic temperature spike on Friday – the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. And with that, to the news!Story of the Day: Casino Bus CrashA tour bus heading back to Chinatown from a casino in Connecticut crashed Saturday morning just as it entered into Bronx territory, killing 14 and injuring another 19. Riders say the bus swerved several times, probably still in Westchester County, before hitting a guardrail, tipping over and skidding into a sign pole that marked an on-ramp to Hutchinson River Parkway. According to the NY Times: “The pole burst through the front window and sheared the bus in half laterally, from front to back, along the passenger window line, the police said.”

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Sunshine Week at BxNN: Your Right to Know

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The Bronx News Network is a proud supporter and participant in Sunshine Week, an initiative started by journalists that seeks to shed light – sun light, if you will – on the importance of open government and freedom of information. Here’s the official tagline: “Sunshine Week seeks to enlighten and empower people to play an active role in their government at all levels, and to give them access to information that makes their lives better and their communities stronger.”In other words, open government equals more accountable government and a more-informed public citizenry. As journalists, it is our goal to shed light on how the government works (or isn’t working) for our communities. Oftentimes, as you might imagine, we run into resistance while working on this quest. Some agencies and elected officials are better than others.

Bronx News Network

Bedford Park Seniors Facing Loss Of ‘Second Home’

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Editor’s note: this article was published in the latest edition of the Norwood News, out on streets now. By Rachel Sander Proposed budget cuts could shut down 105 senior centers citywide this year, 22 of which are in the Bronx, including the Sister Annunciata Bethel Senior Center, also known as the Bedford Park Senior Center, and the Van Cortlandt Senior Center.Local politicians are gearing up for a fight, while regulars at the Bedford Park center, on East 204th Street near Mosholu Parkway, emphasized how devastating the loss would be. Erneszstin Bakos, an 89-year-old member and volunteer for the center, works at the front door, greeting the 60 to 70 seniors that attend the center daily. “I love this place,” she said. “It’s my second home.” “I’m so happy here!

Bronx News Network

Community Centers Hit Hard By Govt. Budget Cuts

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By JEANMARIE EVELLYMajor cutbacks in government spending, on both the local and federal level, have left several community centers in the northwest Bronx struggling to make ends meet this year.Mosholu Montefiore Community Center (MMCC) in Norwood, which runs dozens of after-school sites, a senior citizen center, and other programs serving more than 28,000 Bronxites each year, has been appealing to neighbors for donations over the last few months in an effort to keep the center afloat.“Bottom line, we are probably close to a million dollars in cuts,” said Executive Director Donald Bluestone. “We’ve been closing programs, laying off staff. It’s a serious problem.”MMCC relies largely on funding from legislators and government agencies that have seen their budgets slashed in the face of ballooning deficits. “The staff here didn’t have a raise last year, and we’re probably looking at the same situation this year,” Bluestone continued. “It’s just a very bad time.”The center is losing out this year on federal funding in the form of member items or earmarks — money provided by legislators to projects or organizations in their home districts — an act banned this year by Congress in an effort to cut back on spending.

Bronx News Network

New, Improved Foodtown Rises From the Ashes

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Slideshow: Watch as Foodtown burns to the ground and then opens up last Saturday. (All photos by Adi Talwar)By Jordan Moss and Lulaine CompereNorwood’s popular Foodtown supermarket which was razed in a suspected incident of arson at the end of 2009 is back in business.The store, now 50 percent larger with many more offerings, has taken up two neighboring storefronts that were home to a diner and a dental office that were also destroyed in the blaze. “We expanded the store, we have a bigger seafood department, bakery department, produce department, and we have expanded the deli,” said Noah Katz, a member of the family that has owned the store since 1956. Organic produce and frozen goods are new additions as are an olive and cheese counter and a section with a variety of coffee beans called Brewed Awakening. Katz led the design of the new store, he said, and his pride in the store’s bright, spacious new look was palpable throughout a quick tour on Tuesday.