Talk Bronx New York

Iris Negron has worked at Olympia Hearns flower shop for 20 years.

Hop on the 2, 4, or 5 subway line to 149th St.-Grand Concourse in Mott Haven, where you’ll find an array of shops clustered around Lincoln Hospital.

The shops are a great convenience to hospital employees and visitors, as well as residents and commuters. Shoppers can get their hands on a number of daily needs, even medical services, or grab a bite within this block-long strip of 149th St., between Park and Morris Aves.

PHARMACY: Nisar Pharmacy, 299 E. 149th St.; (718) 402-9104

Convenience is the aim of this pharmacy, which offers a little bit of everything. The walls are filled to the ceiling with a gigantic selection of products. Here, you can find over-the-counter medication, vitamins, hygienic products, homewares and décor, as well as toys, all at competitive prices, such as name-brand deodorant at two for $8. You can even have your passport photo taken for the low price of $8 for two photos. There is a huge selection, to “be convenient for our customers,” said Jasmine, an employee. “Everything you need, we’ve got it, and if we don’t, we’ll order it.” Folks there also take pride in customer service, with a multilingual staff that collectively speaks six languages, including Spanish and Hindi. Misar fills Medicaid and union prescriptions. Read more..

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The city is firing 200 medical workers and closing health programs that serve nearly 20,000 needy New Yorkers to stop its budget bleeding, officials announced yesterday.

“I’m losing a lot of sleep over it. I’m sure I’m not the only one,” said Health and Hospitals Corp. President Alan Aviles.

He blamed the steep cuts on a $316 million budget shortfall for the next fiscal year, which was caused by a slash in state Medicaid funds. More pain will follow if Albany doesn’t come up with cash, he warned.

“You cannot provide the services that we provide… without the funding to support it. It’s not done through magical thinking, it’s done through hard dollars,” said Aviles.

The doomsday plan calls for eliminating 400 jobs across the sprawling public health care system, half through attrition and half through layoffs. Pink slips will go to doctors, nurses, social workers and managers, he said. Read more..

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A 6-year-old girl was fighting for her life Saturday night a day after a speeding livery car in the Bronx slammed into the minivan she was riding in, killing the cab driver.

The girl, in critical condition at Lincoln Hospital, was a passenger in a 1993 Nissan Quest driven by a 22-year-old woman and her 28-year-old boyfriend, who were also injured in the crash, police said.

The couple, who had been baby-sitting the girl, were in serious condition at Lincoln Hospital late Saturday. Their names have not been released.

Gregorio Pimentel, 53, was killed in the Longwood crash. The Bronx man, who was alone in the 2004 Lincoln Town Car, died at the scene. Read more..

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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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Community Boards are the little City Halls of the city, dealing with local issues involving city agencies, and serving an advisory role in zoning and other land-use issues.

COMMUNITY BOARD 1 (Melrose, Mott Haven) meets at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, March 27, at Lincoln Hospital, Conference Room 6, 234 Morris Ave., at E. 149th St. Call (718) 585-7117.

COMMUNITY BOARD 4 (Highbridge, Mount Eden and Concourse) meets at 6 p.m., Tuesday, March 25, at Bronx Lebanon Hospital, Murray Cohen Auditorium, 1650 Grand Concourse. Call (718) 299-0800.

COMMUNITY BOARD 5 (Morris Heights, Fordham, Bathgate and Mount Hope) meets at 6 p.m., Wednesday, March 26, at St. Simon Stock School, 2195 Valentine Ave. Call (718) 364-2030.

COMMUNITY BOARD 7 (Norwood, Jerome Park, Kingsbridge Heights and University Heights) meets at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 18, at Kittay House, 2550 Webb Ave. Call (718) 933-5650.

COMMUNITY BOARD 9 (Soundview, Clasons Point, Parkchester, Bruckner and Harding Park) meets at 7 p.m., Thursday, March 20, at CB9 Office, 1967 Turnbull Ave. Call (718) 823-3034.

COMMUNITY BOARD 10 (Throgs Neck, City Island, Pelham Bay, Co-op City, Zerega, Westchester Square, Country Club and Edgewater) meets at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, March 13, at American Legion Hall, 550 City Island Ave. Call (718) 892-1161.

COMMUNITY BOARD 12 (Wakefield, Williamsbridge, Woodlawn, Eastchester and Baychester) meets at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, March 27, at CB12 office, 4101 White Plains Road. Call (718) 881-4455.

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