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..

(No Ratings Yet)
 Loading ...
 Email This Post

Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s successful campaign for a third term was widely anticipated, but the results were not without surprises.

Bronx voters supported city Comptroller Bill Thompson, the Democratic nominee, over Mr. Bloomberg, an independent, 60.8 percent to 37.1 percent, the largest borough-wide margin for the challenger. Brooklyn was the only other borough to give Mr. Thompson a victory, and by a much smaller margin of 50.9 percent to 45.3 percent.

Riverdale, though, went for Mr. Bloomberg. Districts 80 and 81, comprising Pelham Parkway, Norwood, Woodlawn and Riverdale, were the only districts in the Bronx to favor Mr. Bloomberg. In district 80, Mr. Bloomberg received 7,041 votes to Mr. Thompson’s 6,377, and in district 81, it was an even bigger gap of 9,698 votes to 6,732, according to polling data. Read more..

(No Ratings Yet)
 Loading ...
 Email This Post

Bronx’s Grand Concourse was a sea of red, white and blue flags for the 20th annual Dominican Parade Sunday.The parade, which celebrates the culture the Dominican Republican and the city’s Dominican population, stretched from East Tremont Avenue to 167th Street.

Organizers said the parade featured about thousands of marchers representing 102 organization, 40 floats and lively Dominican music.

NY1 Noticias reporter Luz Plasencia served as the godmother of the parade and was featured on one of the floats.

“It means I’m doing something right. I hope I can be a role model to the community as well,” said Plasencia.

City and state officials, including Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., Senator Charles Schumer and City Comptroller and mayoral candidate William Thompson, took part in the parade.

“This parade each and every year continues to get bigger and bigger and bigger as we celebrate Dominican culture and Dominican heritage and the contributions that Dominicans have made not just to the Bronx but to New York City. So I would not miss this for the world,” said Thompson.

Those who came to see the parade said they enjoyed the colorful costumes and large amounts of ethnic pride on display.”I like to look at all the colors,” said one spectator.

“It’s fun, it’s about us being together. It’s a family, it’s everything. It’s what us ‘Dominicanos,’ us Dominicans are all about,” said another.

“Our culture is very strong with the music, the food, the politics, everything,” said a third. “We’re just all over and we just want to let everyone know that we’re here and we ain’t going anywhere.” Read more..

(No Ratings Yet)
 Loading ...
 Email This Post

An engraving of the opening race at Jerome Park on June 8, 1868. For 135 years, New York City has been dutifully paying 7 percent annual interest on bonds which financed construction of a road to the park, now a reservoir in The Bronx. On March 1, the owner of one of them is entitled to come forward and collect its face value: $1,000Anyone who has failed to keep track of a winning lottery ticket for all of 12 months may want to consider the efforts of 39 bondholders who have been safekeeping valuable, tissue-thin, New York City securities since shortly after the Civil War.

Next month, one of the bonds, issued in 1868 and thought to be one of the oldest active municipal bonds in the country, will come due. And the city stands ready to retire the debt incurred when Winston Churchill’s grandfather came up with the idea of building a road to one of the nation’s first racetracks, which he had opened in what is now the Bronx.

For 135 years, New York City has been dutifully paying 7 percent annual interest on the bonds, which financed construction of the road. On March 1, the owner of one of them is entitled to come forward and collect its face value: $1,000. Read more..

(No Ratings Yet)
 Loading ...
 Email This Post

Residents of the Bronx will get their chance to sound off on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s proposed fare hikes and service cuts in the agency’s fifth and final public hearing.

The hearing will take place at 6 p.m. this evening at Lehman College in Bedford Park.

The MTA says it would have to raise bus and subway fares as high as $3 a ride if it doesn’t get help from Albany to help close a $1.2 billion budget deficit.

Some bus and train lines would also be eliminated, while others would see drastic reductions in weekend and overnight service.

Some of the proposed cuts affecting the Bronx include the elimination of the BX4, 14, 20, 34 and BxM7B bus lines.

Other bus lines may see a reduction in weekend and overnight hours. Read more..

(No Ratings Yet)
 Loading ...
 Email This Post