Bronx Letter-Writing Party: Tell Your Elected Officials to Support Congestion Pricing!
Opponents of congestion pricing are doing their best to kill the plan by a thousand cuts. They are cobbling together 11th hour “alternatives” and throwing up roadblocks to keep pricing revenues from flowing to transit projects.
You can bet the hard driving opposition to traffic relief and better transit will make their voice heard. But what about the millions who rely on transit to get to work? What about neighborhoods suffering the daily environmental burden of traffic-jammed streets? Call on your City Council, State Assembly and State Senate representatives to pass a congestion pricing plan by March 31st by sending them the gold standard in official correspondence: a personal, hand-written note.
Transportation Alternatives is hosting this letter-writing party to make sure City Council Members, State Assembly Members and State Senators hear (and read) the voices of their constituents who support congestion pricing. Come out, join us for a beverage and make sure your voice is counted.
When March 12, 2008 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm Where Citizens Advice Bureau
1130 Grand Concourse (at McClellan St.), 4th Floor
The Bronx
”Put The Cuffs On The Kids If They Dont Want To Nap.”
For years, children have disrespected the institution of nap time. With truculent cries of “I don’t wanna sleep” and “I’m not tired,” they flaunt authority with the same flagrance as jay walkers or criminals who cut the labels off of mattresses. But one public school in the Bronx may be putting the lights out on restless preschoolers, with a no-nonsense policy that makes NyQuil seem like warm milk.
The New York Post reports that at least two students at CS 211 were allegedly handcuffed and intimidated when they refused to sleep during nap time. Jaden Diaz and Christopher Brito, both then 4, claim that on Nov. 17, 2006, a substitute teacher took them to an empty classroom, where a school safety officer cuffed their wrists and told them they would never see their parents again.
Now those parents are suing the school. The families’ lawyer claims: “Failure to comply with nap time is hardly an offense that warrants being handcuffed, or threatened, for that matter. Nothing would’ve warranted that.”
Although some parents may feel that that kind of discipline endangers their child’s safety and emotional well-being, they need to wake up and smell the big picture. Midday rest provides well-documented health benefits for children, as well as well-needed respite for educators and classroom pets. By challenging the institution of nap time and the authority of teachers to enforce it, such parents aren’t just doing their children a disservice, they’re hitting the snooze button on society.
9/11 Bronx Paramedic Remembered & Honored With Plaque
A paramedic who worked at a morgue in the toxic dust of ground zero is being honored two years after she died of lung cancer.
A plaque is expected to be unveiled in memory of New York Fire Department paramedic Deborah Reeve at a ceremony Tuesday at Station 20 in the Morris Park section of the Bronx.
Reeve died on March 16, 2006, of mesothelioma, a lung cancer associated with exposure to asbestos. The 41-year-old developed a cough in late 2003 and retired about a year later, too ill to work.
Her death has not been officially linked to exposure from the 9/11 attacks, though her family and doctors say her cancer was caused by her work at the World Trade Center.
Community Boards are the little City Halls of the city, dealing with local issues involving city agencies, and serving an advisory role in zoning and other land-use issues.
COMMUNITY BOARD 1 (Melrose, Mott Haven) meets at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, March 27, at Lincoln Hospital, Conference Room 6, 234 Morris Ave., at E. 149th St. Call (718) 585-7117.
COMMUNITY BOARD 4 (Highbridge, Mount Eden and Concourse) meets at 6 p.m., Tuesday, March 25, at Bronx Lebanon Hospital, Murray Cohen Auditorium, 1650 Grand Concourse. Call (718) 299-0800.
COMMUNITY BOARD 5 (Morris Heights, Fordham, Bathgate and Mount Hope) meets at 6 p.m., Wednesday, March 26, at St. Simon Stock School, 2195 Valentine Ave. Call (718) 364-2030.
COMMUNITY BOARD 7 (Norwood, Jerome Park, Kingsbridge Heights and University Heights) meets at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 18, at Kittay House, 2550 Webb Ave. Call (718) 933-5650.
COMMUNITY BOARD 9 (Soundview, Clasons Point, Parkchester, Bruckner and Harding Park) meets at 7 p.m., Thursday, March 20, at CB9 Office, 1967 Turnbull Ave. Call (718) 823-3034.
COMMUNITY BOARD 10 (Throgs Neck, City Island, Pelham Bay, Co-op City, Zerega, Westchester Square, Country Club and Edgewater) meets at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, March 13, at American Legion Hall, 550 City Island Ave. Call (718) 892-1161.
COMMUNITY BOARD 12 (Wakefield, Williamsbridge, Woodlawn, Eastchester and Baychester) meets at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, March 27, at CB12 office, 4101 White Plains Road. Call (718) 881-4455.
It looks like the borough’s hot residential growth spurt may finally be cooling off.
Despite record amounts of cash poured into local housing, a new report from the city’s housing and buildings departments shows building permit applications plunged 33% in the Bronx in 2007.
Permits were issued for 3,104 new residential units in the Bronx last year, compared with 4,658 in 2006.
A unit can constitute one apartment in a 20-unit building, for example.
Development experts say the decline may be particularly significant because Brooklyn, Queens and the city as a whole saw record increases in new permits issued in 2007.
Christopher Jones, of the Regional Plan Association, cautioned that a few big projects can throw the numbers off, but suggested that the decline in the Bronx is more likely a trend.
With mortgage foreclosures, a slowing housing market and a souring economy, Bronx construction levels may be the first sign of weakness in a city that has largely escaped the national price falloff and slowdown in construction.
“Most people are expecting that the residential building boom is going to start to decline based on what is happening to the housing market,” Jones said. “Given that the Bronx is the poorest of the five boroughs, it might be experiencing some of the problems earlier than the rest of the city.”
Irene Baldwin, executive director of the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development, hypothesized that since so much citywide development is for luxury units, the Bronx may be getting left behind.
“It could be the Bronx is still the borough where there is still a fair amount of affordable housing, while much of the stuff we’re seeing is luxury housing going up,” Baldwin said.
Another development expert suggested builders may be focused on the section 421a program, which gives them tax exemptions for building multi-family housing in certain areas. There are many more eligible buildings in Queens and Brooklyn than in the Bronx.
Extensive rezoning of commercial and industrial areas into new residential-friendly land also drew developers to Queens and Brooklyn in 2007.
Borough President Adolfo Carrion’s office argues the numbers do not represent a leveling off of local housing development, because there were still a record number of dollars invested last year — more than $925 million, compared with $713 million in 2006 and $237 million in 2002.
Carrion’s office said that more “substantial structures” were built in 2007 — including multi-family apartment buildings on smaller parcels of land and more elevator buildings, which cost more to build. The investment dollars also went into significant renovations of buildings.
“It was a great year for housing in the Bronx — the fourth largest year in decades,” said Carrion. “That’s something to take notice.”
He noted, “While actual address numbers are slightly down, investment in residential properties has increased tremendously, and the number of housing units has increased significantly over a period going back to 2002.”
Before 2001, the Bronx had not issued permits for more than 2,000 new units since 1971, said Seth Donlin, spokesman for the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
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