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Break-dancing, as performed by students from P.S. 140 on Saturday, has had a big part in the musical history of the Bronx.

  Students from Public School 140 performing as Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, with Khalil Wilson, center, as Lymon.

Youthful Twist & Dance To Old School Tunes 

Khalil Wilson’s braids bounced as he bobbed his head, snapped his fingers and sang a cappella, his high-pitched voice carrying across the ballroom. The cheers he drew from the audience were nothing new for a boy who has been singing since age 3 and once auditioned for a role in “The Lion King.”

Yet these spectators were excited about much more than Khalil’s precocious performing skills. It was the context of his performance that seemed most captivating.

Khalil, 11, and several of his classmates from Public School 140 in the Bronx were playing the roles of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, doo-wop sensations of the 1950s. Singing the hit “Why Do Fools Fall in Love,” these youngsters were a dancing, singing history lesson.

Bringing history to life was a prevailing theme on Saturday as students from several New York City public schools displayed exhibits and put on performances at the annual convention for the Organization of American Historians, which was held in Midtown Manhattan. This was the first time that students have participated in the convention.

Some considered it a breath of fresh air for an event that can be dull and insular, with scholars spending much of their time reading and discussing their work with one another.

“Now you’re bringing the student work into the convention,” said Mark Naison, a professor of African-American studies and history at Fordham University and an organizer of the exhibition. “It’s like saying history should not be in an ivory tower. History is a place where people can carry on a discussion, which goes from the university to the community college to the high school to the elementary school, and all of these people can communicate with each other.”

Professor Naison, a 61-year-old with round, thick-framed glasses and ruffled gray hair that is receding, perhaps best got his point across when he took to the stage.

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Bronxites Are Excluded from Metro-North Trains, As Congestion Pricing Looms

As New York government officials consider imposing a tax for driving into lower Manhattan, many of the Metro-North Railroad trains which stop to let off suburban riders in the Bronx refuse to take Bronx passengers on board for the last leg of the trip into Grand Central Station.

When these trains stop at the Fordham Road station in the Bronx, the public address system announces that they are “discharge only” and that anyone who insists on getting on will be charged the highest possible fare. Among those excluded or over-charged are Bronxites who have paid over $140 for a monthly pass from Fordham to Grand Central.

This longstanding policy was questioned on March 26 at a public hearing of the Metro-North Railroad president Peter Cannito. Along with questions about allowing more bicycles on the MNRR trains and better policing late-night drunken riders, Inner City Press asked Mr. Cannito to explain why the company he runs, at least until later this year, denies its services to pre-paid customers in the Bronx.

While several of the other MNRR board members present seem surprised that this takes place, Cannito said it is a product of an operating agreement between the states of Connecticut and New York. He said that since Connecticut pays 65% of the New Haven line’s costs, they have requested that no passengers be allowed on the New Haven lines trains which stop to discharge passengers in the Bronx.

When Inner City Press questioned the social, racial and environmental justice logic of keeping paying customers from The Bronx from riding the suburban commuter trains even when they have paid, Cannito said, even if “you don’t accept it,” he had explained it. Another board member interjected that what Inner City Press had raised showed the “regionality of service” which is “something we are keenly aware of and working toward.”

Further inquiry by Inner City Press has revealed as an explanation of the exclusion of Bronxites that the Connecticut and New York lines of the Metro-North system don’t have in place a system to invoice each other for riders like Bronxites riding New Haven line trains south into Manhattan.

The bureaucratic fix appears simple, unless an implicit selling-point of the New Haven line is the exclusion of more “urban” riders. While some intrepid Bronxites have found a way around the MNRR’s policy of exclusion — by buying a holding a ticket from Westchester to Grand Central, as if they had gotten on further north — these games are not accessible to everyone, cost more and should not be necessary, particularly with congestion pricing looming.

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 Former Co-op City Board President Sentenced To Jail Time For Accepting Kickback Payments

MICHAEL J. GARCIA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that IRIS HERSKOWITZ BAEZ, the former President of the Board of Co-Op City in the Bronx, New York, was sentenced today for accepting approximately $10,000 in kickback payments in exchange for her assistance in steering a Co-Op City painting contract worth approximately $3.5 million.

BAEZ, 59, a resident of the Bronx, was sentenced by United States District Judge RICHARD J. SULLIVAN to six months’ imprisonment and one year of supervised release. In addition, BAEZ was ordered to forfeit $10,000. According to the Indictment filed in Manhattan federal court and statements made during BAEZ’s guilty plea and sentencing proceedings:

Co-Op City is a New York State Mitchell-Lama housing cooperative located in the Bronx, New York. As a Mitchell-Lama development, Co-Op City was established for the purpose of providing affordable housing for middle-income residents. To effectuate that purpose, Mitchell-Lama developments such as Co-Op City charge rents that are considerably lower than the rents that qualified residents would have to pay for comparable housing on the open market.

The New York City Housing Authority ( “NYCHA” ) is a New York City agency responsible for, among other things, supervising a Section 8 rental assistance program, which program is regulated and fully funded by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development ( “HUD” ). As part of the Section 8 Program, HUD pays subsidies, typically in the form of vouchers, for people to live in private housing.

Neither HUD nor NYCHA place any restriction on how Co- Op City can spend the federal subsidies. Accordingly, the housing cooperative was permitted to use the federal funds for capital improvements such as renovations to, and painting of, apartment units. New York State, however, imposes certain regulations on how Co-Op City may spend money on capital improvements, such as requiring — for any job in excess of $50,000 — that Co-Op City put the work out for bid, memorialize the agreement with the bid winner in a formal contract, and subject the contract to approval by the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal ( “DHCR” ), which regulates the housing development.

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Bronx Community College Automotive Program Receives National Certification

The automotive training program at Bronx Community College of The City University of New York has received certification by the National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation (NATEF) and The National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE).

To achieve this coveted recognition, the program underwent rigorous evaluation in areas such as instruction, facilities and equipment. The certification in engine performance, electrical and electronic systems, and suspension and brakes is a great boost for BCC’s automotive program that has gone through significant change in recent years.

BCC’s designation to lead CUNY’s sustainability efforts provided the opportunity to refocus the College’s Automotive Technology Program, in existence for nearly 15 years.

Over the last 17 months, Clement Drummond a 35-year automotive industry veteran, has worked to create a leading-edge training program that includes state-of-the-art labs, equipment and teaching facilities; and a comprehensive curriculum for associate in applied sciences degree (A.A.S.), and one-year automotive technician certificate program.
Additional focus on alternative fuel and hybrid cars also expands the scope of the program’s offerings.

In collaboration with the Center for Sustainable Energy and the Office of Institutional Advancement, the BCC automotive program has received three grants in support of curriculum updates as well as facilities and equipment upgrades totaling $1.2 million.

“This is great news for automotive-minded young people,” said Donald Seyfer, NATEF Chair.

“Because this program increases cooperation between local education and industry leaders, it gives added assurance that Bronx Community College’s graduates will be employable entry-level technicians. As a result of the quality education provided by Bronx Community College, the motoring public will benefit since better repair technicians will join the work force.”

Upon completion of the evaluation, NATEF recommended that Bronx Community College be certified by (ASE), a national non-profit organization that tests and certifies repair technicians, in addition to certifying automotive training programs.

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Queens, Bronx Drive Up City Murder Rate

With the year’s first quarter nearly in the books, the murder rate in the city has increased by 20.7% compared with the same period last year, a spike chiefly due to an increase in killings in Southern Queens and the Bronx.

The number of murders has increased to 17 from eight within Patrol Borough Queens South, a command that patrols neighborhoods such as Jamaica, Ozone Park, and Far Rockaway, a 112.5% jump compared to the same time last year, according to the most recent police statistics. In the Bronx, murders have spiked by 42.8%: There have been 30 homicides recorded this year, compared with 21 during the same period last year.

While elected officials that represent the two areas offered differing theories as to why there has been an increase in homicides, most share similar fears regarding the size of the police department.

“New York is the safest it’s been in 40 years,” the president of the Bronx, Adolfo Carrion Jr., said. “These efforts will become increasingly more difficult if we continue to lose veteran police officers to areas outside of New York that offer higher salaries and if our recruiting numbers continue to decrease due to low starting salaries.”

As part of citywide budget cuts, the police department has proposed to shrink its head count by 1,000 officers, a move that would result in the smallest force in 16 years.

The police department’s chief spokesman, Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, said the increases in killings in Queens South and the Bronx are precisely why the precincts there have been targeted by Operation Impact, a program that saturates high crime areas with officers on foot patrol.

“That’s why Commissioner Kelly directed that all graduates of the last Police Academy class be assigned with experienced supervisors to impact zones there and where other spikes were experienced, and why he directed that the previous cadre of impact officers remain in place — effectively doubling the size of impact,” he said.

The trouble spots in Queens appear to be the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica, where murders have jumped to five this year compared with two last year, and the 101st precinct in Far Rockaway, where four murders have occurred this year compared with one last year. The City Council member who represents Jamaica, Leroy Comrie, a Democrat, said Operation Impact has been very effective, but that a majority of the murders recorded this year have been perpetrated outside of the impact zone, which is in the downtown area of the neighborhood.

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