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The Bronx’s Hidden Treasures: A Fisherman’s Paradise Down By The Riverside

A riverside spot on the campus of SUNY Maritime College, by the Throgs Neck Bridge, is definitely a hidden treasure in the Bronx. Many fishermen stop by to try and reel in some fish.

“Bluefish, striper, porgy — sometimes you catch flounders,” said a fisherman.

The spot is not only known for its fishing, but for wonderful views of the Long Island Sound.
From this point in the Bronx, you can see Queens, Long Island and New Rochelle.

Day by day, more and more people are finding their way to this gem.

“People come here from Connecticut, New Jersey, they come all the way here. There are not many spots like this,” said John Lesnick of the SUNY Police. “I don’t think they are taking over anything, they are just happy to be here.”

Visitors who want to get past campus police need a fishing permit from the college.

“You just have to stop by university police and pick up an application, fill it out and turn it in or mail it in,” said Lesnick. “It is $50 for the season, which is pretty good, considering you just come down here and enjoy the campus.”

People who come out here to fish claim to catch big ones, but there are plenty of times when the fish are not biting. So at those times, they catch a nap or sit back on the riverbank and take it easy.

“It is real relaxing, real good, nice. You see the cars come through the bridge. You see the boats, fishing boats, all kinds of boats,” said a fisherman.

If the fish are not biting in the sound, fisherman can try the lagoon near Orchard Beach. Regulars claim that three-feet long fish can be easily caught there.

And if the fish don’t bite at the lagoon, you better believe the mosquitoes will. So don’t leave home without your bug repellent.

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New South Bronx Apartments Named For Local Nun

A once-empty lot in the South Bronx is now the site of new apartments.

The Sister Thomas Apartments at 870 Southern Boulevard in Hunts Point was officially named Thursday.

The abandoned city-owned lot, once a reminder of the crime that plagued the neighborhood in the 1970s, was developed by the South East Bronx Community Organization into 103 units of affordable housing.

“When I came up today in my car and I went through the area, and it was extraordinary,” said former Mayor Ed Koch, who attended the dedication. “It was alive. And I remember when I went through this area when I became mayor and it was dead or dying.”

“And Lord make this home a happy place and bless it from above. So that’s how my new family knows how much I love them,” said Sister Thomas of the Sisters of Charity, whose name graces the apartments.

Sister Thomas was one of those who led the push to clean up the neighborhood and bring housing back to the borough.

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Rumblings of a Bronx Comeback From Espada

He has been out of the political spotlight for a few years. But Pedro Espada Jr. is clearly thinking serious of re-emerging into the raucous Bronx electoral life.

Mr. Espada, a former Democratic state senator and one-time candidate for Bronx borough president, is strongly considering running again for the State Senate. However, Mr. Espada, who represented the Hunts Point and Bronx River sections (the 32nd Senate District), is now looking instead at running in the adjacent 33rd Senate District, which stretches from Kingsbridge to East Tremont. He would be challenging the incumbent, Efrain González Jr.

Mr. Espada has long been a colorful political figure and, for a long time, the most prominent enemy of the Bronx Democratic Party organization. He has also been a lightning rod, of sorts, in the heavily Democratic Bronx because of his announcement in 2002 that he would switch parties and become a Republican.

In the end, however, he never officially changed his registration, although he began to sit with the members of the Republican majority to participate in that party’s conferences.

“My wife and I moved to the Mosholu Parkway area and people started asking me to get more involved in community activities, from visiting schools to participating in Little League activities,” Mr. Espada said. “And most of all, these people kept telling me that there should be an alternative to the present incumbent, Senator González.”

As a result, he said, those residents who urged him to run for the Senate, began circulating petitions to collect signatures to qualify Mr. Espada to get a spot on the ballot for the Sept. 9 Democratic primary.

“As of this moment, I have not announced my candidacy,” Mr. Espada said. “And I won’t until I’m convinced that the residents truly want a change.”

But then, Mr. Espada began sounding very much like a candidate ready for political battle.” There is a huge vacuum of leadership in this area and there is no time to lose,” he said. “And I’m positioned to offer them the leadership that this area deserves.”

Mr. González, the former senator said, is a virtual absentee official. “People have simply not heard from the incumbent,” he added. “And that’s not just in the last two years, but in the last 20 years.”

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