Talk Bronx New York

A Bronx neighborhood lost the latest round in a legal fight against the city’s Department of Homeless Services for quietly putting a homeless shelter in a new apartment building.

Bronx State Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey D. Wright dismissed a lawsuit against the city agency lodged by the Westchester Square Merchants Association and local residents who wanted to shut down the homeless shelter. The lawsuit argued that the city had skirted the city charter by not notifying the community board about its plans for the shelter, and that other social service facilities already saturated the area.

The judge based his decision on past challenges to the law that questioned whether the city could legally provide and pay for homeless housing in the absence of a concrete lease — as is the situation in the Bronx building where the agency pays a $90 per diem rate for each occupied apartment.

The arrangement drew scorn from community board members, residents and elected officials when the building at 1564 St. Peter’s Avenue debuted as a shelter in late August. They also criticized the lack of notification from the city agency. Read more..

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ABC

A Good Samaritan, shown on video dramatically rescuing a child from a Bronx fire, has moved on to another great moment: proposing marriage on live television

 Child is rescued by neighbor Horia Cretan, known locally as “Billy.”

  Horia Cretan’s bravery knows no bounds.

One day after the Good Samaritan pulled a 4-year-old boy from a burning Bronx building, he took a knee Thursday morning and proposed to his girlfriend - on live national television.

And she said yes.

“You know that I’m a handful already, we both know that,” Cretan said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” program. “I promise you one thing, there’s never going to be a dull moment.

“So therefore will you marry me anyway?”

His girlfriend, after agreeing, shared a kiss and a long hug with her new fiancee.

“You’re crazy, you know that?” she asked. “Yes,” he replied. Read more..

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Habitat for Humanity helps install a green roof on the Fox-Leggett Co-op Apartments in the South Bronx.

Habitat for Humanity is breaking new ground - unveiling its first-ever “green roof” in the South Bronx on Wednesday.

The 2,400-square-foot carpet of flowering sedum plants atop the Fox-Leggett Co-op Apartments will insulate the building from the summer sun and absorb an inch of rainfall.

“Green roofs save money and are healthier,” said Josh Lockwood, executive director of Habitat for Humanity/New York City.

“These are such critical elements for low-income families, especially in the Bronx, which has the highest incidence of childhood asthma in the five boroughs.”

Barbara Vargas, who is buying a three-bedroom Habitat apartment for herself and her two kids, spent the morning placing sedums in 4 inches of shale on top of asphalt and a root barrier made of rigid board.

“You can hang out with friends up here,” said Vargas, 41, who now lives in the West Farms section of the Bronx. “It will give them something to talk about.”

Eleven volunteers from Delta Air Lines helped on the green roof installation, and the airline is kicking in $120,000 to sponsor one Habitat apartment. Read more..

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1 hour ago

A New York City middle school teacher barricaded himself in a classroom for three hours before surrendering to police.

Francisco Garabitos had been told not to return to the New Millennium Business Academy Middle School because he was under investigation for reportedly hitting a student on Thursday.

The school’s principal called police around 8:30 a.m. Friday to say he was there. Officers responded, and the standoff ended when the teacher surrendered at about 11:30 a.m. The police department bomb squad was on the scene, but no explosives were found.

The building houses three schools. Hundreds of students in the Bronx building were sent to other schools for the rest of the day.

There are no injuries. Read more..

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Lack of a school library puts senior Luis Figueroa at a disadvantage.

Hundreds of Bronx high school students have been unable to use their library for more than a year because of renovations - and now it’s being stripped of books, computers and furniture.

School Construction Authority architects showed school staff renovation plans in the spring of 2007. Renovations were to be performed during the summer so that the library would be ready to open in the fall of that year, but the work has not begun. Read more..

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