Talk Bronx New York

Irene McKenzie, who suffers from allergies, shows letter from Parks Department about free trees she doesn’t want

Stuffy noses have fallen on deaf ears at City Hall.

Irene McKenzie, 76, has been fighting the city trying to stop it from planting two trees in front of her Claremont home because trees kick off her allergies, but to no avail.

She has written Mayor Bloomberg, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum and her local community board trying to stop the trees from taking root outside her Teller Ave. home.

Last week the city told her it plans to go ahead anyway.

A number of other Bronx homeowners have been fighting Mayor Bloomberg’s Million Trees campaign to plant 1 million trees in the city by 2030. Read more..

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Two-year-old Jonaih McKinney’s leg is covered in rat bites

  The mother of a 2-year-old girl attacked by rats in her crib has sued her landlord, blaming him for the rodents that terrorized her family.

Jonnique McKinney claims she had complained about rats and mice since moving into the Clay Ave. apartment building in the Bronx in July 2007.

An exterminator plugged up her radiator with steel wool, but that didn’t stop rats from feasting on her daughter on July 3, 2008, said her lawyer, Charles Green.

“She was sleeping in her bed and she woke up screaming,” Green said.

Little Jonaih was taken to the hospital, where doctors discovered five rodent bites, he said.

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If you’re looking for a place to open a checking account in parts of the South Bronx, don’t bank on it.

Many neighborhoods there continue to have little access to banking services, with Highbridge and Morrisania among the worst.

With an estimated half-million residents, the South Bronx has only 27 banks, giving the area only one bank per 20,000 residents, according to a 2008 study by Fair Finance Watch.

In Manhattan, the study found one bank per 3,000 customers.

On Morrisania’s Prospect Ave. shopping strip from 161st to 167th Sts., there are virtually no bank ATMs, and bodega ATMs charge up to $2 in fees.

The closest banks are more than a mile and a half away. Read more..

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 The economy is tanking, the winter doldrums are setting in, and the tourists and the family are descending, but don’t let that bring you down: pull yourself up by your skinny jeans and hit BowieBall, a glittery, wild-haired, wild-eyed party in honor of the Thin White Duke, in all his gender-bending glory.

Deryck Todd, an artist, fashion designer and David Bowie lover, came up with the idea a few years ago when he was casting about for a party theme. (“I’m a big fan of alliteration,” Mr. Todd, 28, said.) It was an instant hit: by the second ball, at Don Hill’s, there was a line around the block, and the event has been attracting the zip-up-jumpsuit crowd ever since. “It’s gay, it’s straight, it’s bi, it’s hipster, it’s people who are trying to get in with a fake ID, and people who saw Bowie in 1968 in London,” Mr. Todd said. He added, “Bowie gave a voice to so many people, to inspire them to be individuals, to challenge who they are, to pretend they are from other planets and get away with it.” Read more..

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Splashin’ time in Bronx pools

Looking to take a dip? Over the next four weekends, the Daily News will rate the city’s public outdoor pools - revealing which make a splash and which are troubled waters.

News reporter Analis Morales suited up and went exploring from the shallow end to the deep end - and back again. Here are her findings about the Bronx:

VAN CORTLANDT

W. 242nd St. and Broadway

BEST QUALITIES: A swimmer’s dream. Lockers are plentiful, the crowd is well-behaved and there’s lots of room to practice the backstroke. There were also four lifeguards - the most we saw - including one in the water.

ROOM TO IMPROVE: Nothing that we could find.

TIP: The pool is at its most pleasant before noon.

FLOATING POOL at BARRETTO POINT PARK

Tiffany St. and Viele Ave.

BEST QUALITIES: Water so clean and clear that you can see to the bottom. Sprinklers for the toddlers and seven lanes for serious swimmers.

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