Talk Bronx New York

A proposed 911 call center that would have put a 37-story building in a Bronx flood plain is going back to the drawing board after the cost shot up to almost $1 billion.

The city had for two years estimated the cost of the 400,000-square-foot building at $670 million, but that jumped to $957 million when a proposed contract with Tishman Technologies was published last month.

“We are scaling back the project in order to maintain the essential elements, but at a lower cost,” said Matthew Monahan, spokesman for the Department of Design and Construction. “The early projected numbers were at another time in the city’s economic history.”

The NYPD says the center is a critical relief valve for the city’s 1 million 911 calls each month, which are all routed to MetroTech Center in Brooklyn.

The Bronx center would take half those calls when finished, but could handle all the calls in an emergency - and would be built to withstand an earthquake, a hurricane, a flood or a terrorist bomb.

Design documents say 750 people would work at the 911 center, requiring a 500-car garage. The city had hoped to finish the building by the end of next year.

Neighbors in Morris Park hated the idea of a 363-foot tower on a 9-acre office park site, as well as all those cars coursing through neighborhood streets, said City Councilman James Vacca (D-Bronx), who represents the area. Read more..

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The area around Bathgate Avenue and 174th Street is an industrial park, a contradictory term for a place that has more concrete-covered factory floors than grassy fields. Yet the term is quite fitting, actually, in another way: This ordinary corner of Bronx blue-collar life was once home to Studs Terkel, who earned fame by writing about people who were utterly devoid of it.

Mr. Terkel, who died last week in his adopted home, Chicago, was born in the Bronx in 1912 and, according to the 1920 census, lived with his family at 1721 Bathgate Avenue, just south of 174th. He did not mention Bathgate in his last memoir, referring only to Clinton Avenue, a few blocks to the east, in a few pages, before shifting his memories to Chicago.

He once said the best interview question was the gentlest: And then what happened? Read more..

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                                                                                        Regina Spektor

           Just the Music

 WFUV, November 6, 2008 - Regina Spektor first attracted my attention back in 2006, with her hit “Fidelity.” I, along with many others, immediately fell in love with that wonderfully infectious, quirky song. Seeing her live broke the spell of loving just the one song, and I easily developed a tremendous appreciation for her music.

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Jason Giambi was one of four Yankees players to file for free agency on Wednesday, joining Mike Mussina, Carl Pavano and Damaso Marte.

Mussina is still deciding whether he wants to retire or play, while Pavano is still hoping for a return to New York or a fresh start elsewhere in the alternative. Marte is waiting to hear whether the Yankees plan to pick up his $6 million option.

But what about Giambi? The Yankees need to fill their first-base spot, and while Mark Teixeira would be a good fit there, it’s no sure thing that the free agent will want to come to the Yankees.

I spoke with Arn Tellem, who represents Giambi, during the GM meetings on Wednesday, and he doesn’t believe that the fact that the Yankees declined Big G’s $22 million option automatically spells the end of Giambi’s time in New York.

“It’s early,” Tellem said. “Obviously Jason would welcome the opportunity to go back if there’s interest there, so we’ll just have to see how it plays out and what the Yankees do.” Read more..

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