A playground and a street were named for Hilton White on Saturday. White’s son Derrick, above, and his protégés attended
The small patch of concrete in the South Bronx features slides and swing sets, along with a large fountain where neighborhood youngsters frolic happily through the spray. But the basketball hoops, and the legendary coach and recreational leader who once presided over them, have vanished, part of the ever-changing demographics of this gritty neighborhood.
But every once in a while, some local residents say, the deep baritone of the unforgettable Hilton White can be heard echoing across the old playground, and his muscular, 6-foot-3 frame can be seen stalking the former sideline. For it was here — on a small concrete playground near the intersection of East 163rd Street and Cauldwell Avenue — that the locally renowned community leader and coach taught some of New York City’s greatest 1960s and 1970s basketball players (like the former N.B.A. star Nate Archibald) how to become both outstanding basketball players and responsible adults.
State budget cuts have forced a South Bronx intervention program for drug addicts and people at risk for HIV to close. And advocates there fear it’s the start of a disturbing trend.
“Once you get rid of prevention services, then all the treatment services are just going to become a revolving door,” said Diane Price, with the Center for AIDS, Outreach and Prevention.
The center, operated by the nonprofit National Development and Research Institute, closed its storefront at 912 E. 163rd St. last week.
The nonprofit had received $2.28 million from the state Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse, which had funded the program since 1988. Read more..
Shoppers look for bargains outside stores in new business improvement district along Southern Blvd. in Longwood.
Southern Blvd Gets BID To Help Residents & Businesses Living
A major shopping strip in the South Bronx has become the city’s newest business improvement district - joining such BIDs as Times Square and downtown Brooklyn’s Fulton Street.
On New Year’s Eve, Mayor Bloomberg signed into law a plan by business and property owners in the Southern Blvd. area of Longwood that will increase their property taxes to pay for additional sanitation services, security, graffiti removal, marketing and Christmas lights.
Owners in the new district, which runs from 163rd St. and Hunts Point Ave. to Westchester Ave., also hope to create a parking lot to both raise money and make shopping more convenient, and to add extra lighting on the streets, which will allow businesses to stay open later.
They hope the improvements will attract new and bigger retailers, reduce crime in the area, and make it a more pleasant place to shop.
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