Talk Bronx New York

Wings junior point guard Kevin Opoku leads seven new players in pursuit of borough title.

Bronx PSAL Boys Basketball Preview

Wings Academy has won six straight division titles and the last three borough crowns. But the 2007-08 team features eight new players and will have to fend off battle-tested Kennedy if it wants to keep both the division and borough streaks alive. The Knights return all but one player from their 2007 squad, which lost to Lincoln in the PSAL quarterfinals. Wings is 5-0 against the Knights over the past three seasons, but that streak could be in jeopardy on Tuesday when the two teams face off in the season opener at Gauchos Gym.

Wings ready to fly sky high

Seven Wings newcomers sprinted, jumped and dribbled their way through drills on Sunday at the Forest Houses gym, trying to get in a few extra hours of practice before Tuesday’s season-opener at Kennedy.

Last season’s starting five is gone, but Wings coaches and players believe it’s only a matter of time before this year’s group gets off the ground.

The general sentiment at the gym; Billy Turnage’s squad will be at top cruising altitude by January, just in time for its annual ascent to the borough crown.

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A new boss in the Bronx

As the parties convene to commemorate the historic document — Alex Rodriguez’s record-breaking contract with the New York Yankees — expect more sanctimony than celebration. This signing will be interpreted like an armistice.

Erstwhile über agent Scott Boras has already been cast as the capitulator, a peculiar role for someone whose client now has a contract worth as much as $300 million. The victor remains less well known: Hank Steinbrenner, the once reluctant heir. Whatever else Rodriguez’s contract portends — whether prescient, profligate or just plain unfair — Steinbrenner’s signature also signifies dynastic change. The new boss has arrived.

It was a job he never much wanted. But a little more than a month into this new reign (he shares power with his kid brother Hal, who tends less visibly to the business side), Hank Steinbrenner has distinguished himself as a worthy, if welcome successor to his father. He is quotable, sure, but also very much in charge.

Just last month, in the wake of Joe Torre’s departure, the sporting press was rife with predictions that the House of Steinbrenner was in for a great fall. It was thought that the beloved and much-admired manager would take with him the aura of stability and success that made the Yankees so attractive. The free agents would flee, it was said. There would be Yankee turmoil reminiscent of the Eighties, when Hank briefly served as an advisor without portfolio before leaving — chastened, disillusioned, and without question, relieved.

But none of those predictions have come to pass. The Yankees hired a much-desired manager for less than half the price of Torre. Jorge Posada will return to the fold for top dollar, as will Mariano Rivera. Still, in relation to those October forecasts, the biggest surprise of all is A-Rod.

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Residents irate over Finance Department move to the South Bronx

An irate crowd stood outside the city Department of Finance’s Westchester Square office one day last week.

Folks in the group had gone there to pay or contest parking tickets, but were told the department had moved to the South Bronx.

“It’s confusing, because everybody’s used to coming here,” said Felix Perez, 28. “I don’t think it’s a good move.”

Be that as it may, the shift to the department’s new Bronx Business Center on Third Ave., near 156th St., will consolidate its two borough locations into the recently completed $56.7 million retail and government office HUB complex.

Parking violation hearings have been held there since Nov. 19, with the full move expected to be completed by Dec. 3.

Borough residents will be able to pay bills and record deeds at the new location, and about 225 city employees are being relocated there as part of a general effort to revitalize the South Bronx. Community Board 1 will also move its office there.

The new Yankee Stadium and the Gateway Center at the Bronx Terminal Market are also expected to bring additional jobs to the area.

“This development helps expand the impact of almost a billion dollars in projects currently underway in the downtown Bronx, Borough President Adolfo Carrión said in a statement.

The new center, which already houses a Staples, Rite-Aid and Forman Mills, and a Nine West and Sleepy’s in the adjacent building, is expected to generate about $35 million in sales and payroll revenue over the next 25 years.

The lot stood empty for about 35 years, according to Vincent Valentino, executive director of Hub Third Avenue Merchants District Management Association.

“[Mayor] Bloomberg, the City Council and the Bronx borough president pushed the developers to come to our area,” said Valentino. “We needed more homes and better businesses. We were the forgotten borough.”

Four years ago, Related Companies won the bid from the city to develop the lot and the adjacent parking lot.

“The city always felt that the Third Ave. commercial corridor is a vibrant shopping district,” said Glenn Goldstein, president of Related Retail at Related Companies. “But as you go north on Third Ave., all the activity would trail off. They hoped this would serve as a northern anchor to the corridor.”

SOURCE: NY Daily News

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 Lewis Gold, owner of New York Beverage.

Using development fund, Bronx business goes off grid with solar panels

Sometimes it can be easy being green.

But environmentally safe power still takes a lot of, well, green.

Lewis Gold, owner of New York Beverage, found that out when he wanted to take his Bronx warehouse off the electric grid.

“At first I looked at using wind power,” said Gold, “but found out that would be very difficult to do in the Bronx.”

He finally opted to go with rooftop solar panels, because the building’s location - just north of the Bruckner Expressway in an area with low-rise zoning - assured maximum exposure to sunlight.

“We actually have the perfect location for solar power,” Gold said.

But the price of a rooftop solar array was sky-high.

Even taking off about $50,000 in tax credits offered to businesses going solar, the 72 panels Gold needed would cost $100,000 out of pocket.

“That’s a lot of money,” said Gold, “especially for a small business.”

Despite being one of the largest retail and wholesale drink warehouses in the city, New York Beverage - which has been forced to add a fuel surcharge for deliveries - just didn’t have the green to go green.

That’s when the Bronx Initiative on Energy and the Environment stepped in. The green development fund is part of a broad push by Borough President Adolfo Carrión to make the borough a model of sustainable development.

The BIEE provided about $100,000 in grants to make sure the plan went ahead.

“Now we hope to have them up and running by early 2008,” said Gold.

Work will soon begin on installing the 15-kilowatt solar array atop the warehouse at 515 Bruckner Blvd. between E. 149th St. and Austin Place.

An analysis by the company installing the system estimates the first year’s energy savings at just $3,197. But over the 25-year life of the panels, the savings will be nearly $168,000.

“When you think about it long-term as a businessman,” said Gold, “it’s a smart thing to do.”

That’s not only true for one local business’ bottom line.

The annual environmental impact of an array the size New York Beverage plans will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 30,089 pounds, according to the maker.

That’s the equivalent of planting 38 trees each year - or recycling 290,384 12-ounce cans like the ones the sun will soon chill for New York Beverage.

ENERGY ASSISTANCE

Businesses interested in getting funds from the Bronx Initiative on Energy and the Environment program can contact the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corp. at (718) 590-3498.

SOURCE: NY Daily News

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 The Bronx Zoo’s rhino sculpture greets visitors with a festive wreath during its annual Holiday Lights event.

 Bronx Zoo has the ‘Light’ stuff

A winter wonderland has descended on the Bronx Zoo, and even some of the animals get to stay up extra late to get in on the fun.

The zoo kicked off its annual Holiday Lights event, now in its 11th year, on Nov. 16. The festivities feature more than 500,000 twinkling lights and larger-than-life lighted animal, dinosaur and holiday sculptures.

Abby Gravatt, 6, and her little sister, Josie, 4, came all the way from New Paltz in upstate New York for opening night, and were excited to ride the Zucker Bug Carousel with their parents.

While Bronx ice sculptor Paul Magnaldi fashioned a peacock from a slab of ice, little Fatima Albino had her face painted with fun, colorful butterflies to match her winter hat.

Holiday Lights, co-sponsored by Hess Corp., also features nightly entertainment, ranging from storytelling to stilt dancers to choral performances.

Children can wander through the Butterfly Garden to follow the children’s classic story “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” while mom and dad do some holiday shopping.

At the Zoo Center, the Children’s Zoo domestic area, Tiger Mountain, the Mouse House, World of Reptiles and Monkey House, the animals are all staying up late to party with their nocturnal guests.

The Bronx Zoo’s Holiday Lights runs nightly through Jan. 6. For more information, visit www.bronxzoo.com or call (718) 367-1010.

SOURCE: Daily News

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