About New York; Championing Lady Justice In the Bronx
LADY JUSTICE presides over the entrance to the old Bronx County Courthouse, her sandblasted robes fairly gleaming in contrast to the fenced-in hulk’s soot-encrusted walls. She casts her gaze beyond Third Avenue, over a vista of newly built homes that have slowly brought this section of Melrose back to life.
Yolanda Garcia takes pride in that statue, which she used to see all the time growing up in the neighborhood, where her family runs a carpet business. After all, Lady Justice remained untouched by the scavengers who descended on the building in search of Beaux Arts booty when it was shuttered in the late 1970’s.
”But we still have the statue,” Ms. Garcia said. ”Remember, our statue is not blindfolded. She doesn’t have the scales of justice. She does have a shield and a sword. She knew what was coming. She’s one tough broad.”
As tough as Ms. Garcia and her neighbors, who belong to Nos Quedamos (We Stay), a grass roots planning group that has spent years literally drawing up a new vision of homes, streets and parks for their once-ravaged community. Although the group secured $1 million in government and foundation grants to turn the courthouse into a civic center, the city auctioned it for $130,000 in 1996 to an electrical contractor who never made clear what plans he had for the 1914 landmark structure.
Nos Quedamos unsuccessfully sued the city to try to stop the sale. It became a moot point late last year, when the city repossessed the building after declaring the contractor in default on payments. But rather than try to work out an agreement with Nos Quedamos — whose work has been praised by architects and featured in museums — the city will once again put the building on the block next week.
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