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New York Real Estate: Morris Park, Bronx

MAP/BOUNDARIES

Morris Park is defined by Pelham Parkway to the north, the Amtrak/Metro-North tracks to the east and south and Muliner Avenue and Bronxdale Avenue to the west.

INTRO

Morris Park’s thriving Italian community is often compared to the better-known Little Italy centered on Arthur Avenue, but that doesn’t mean the locals are any less proud of their neighborhood.

The number of pasticcerie, salumerias, and pizzerias crammed into the area is spellbinding, Italian is spoken in the shops, and even the parking meters are striped with the colors of the motherland’s flag.

But at the turn of the century, Morris Park was famous for something else: its racetrack, which was built by John Albert Morris.

Local development picked up in 1910 when a streetcar line was installed on Morris Park Avenue, and construction of new roads and housing continuing well past World War II. Soon, droves of Italian immigrants began settling in the area.

Though the area’s Italian qualities are prominent, some locals claim there’s more to Morris Park than the Italian community.

“It’s always been a family area, and that’s stayed the same, but now all types of people live here,” said Angela DaBenigno, who moved to Morris Park in 1992. “People move in, people move out, but the area constantly adapts to the changes.”

The neighborhood is now home to significant populations of Albanians, Latinos and Chinese.

“There are a lot of different ethnic varieties, different colors,” said DaBenigno. “Years ago it was much more Italian, but times change.”

Though Morris Park’s population has become more diverse in recent years, residents still have certain things in common.

“It’ll always be a good, regular crowd–down-to-earth, working class people,” said DaBenigno. “No matter how much it changes, it’s still a gem in the Bronx.”

TO EAT & DRINK

Morris Park’s restaurant scene is comprised largely of Italian eateries, with the pizza places considered among the best in the Bronx. Try Emilio’s (1051 Morris Park Ave.); Luciano’s Pizza (1005 Morris Park Ave.); Pasta Pasta (2023 Williamsbridge Rd.); and Federici Ristorante (980 Morris Park Ave.).

• Patricia’s

This extraordinarily popular brick pizza restaurant gets so packed during peak hours that squeezing through to your table can be quite trying indeed. The atmosphere’s unbeatable, and so is the food: sandwiches made with slices of rich and oily focaccia, breadbaskets accompanied by garlicky dips and arguably some of the best pizza in the Bronx (some even say the city).

1080 Morris Park Ave. 718-409-9069

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Zoning Laws Allows For Unwanted Facilities In The Neighborhood 

EVER since Mike and Delfina Franco moved into their prim white brick house in Pelham Gardens in the northeast Bronx 15 years ago, they had enjoyed the expanse of lush shrubbery and evergreens in the backyard of a neighboring property. For Mr. Franco, the pastoral scene on Astor Avenue offered an unexpected hint of country living in an otherwise densely developed borough.

So his suspicions were aroused last fall when the trees were chopped down and the shrubbery cleared. Soon, he heard that the half-acre property had been sold and that the new owner planned to replace the existing single-family house with a free-standing structure containing four doctors’ suites. A demolition permit for the project was issued last month.

“It’s ridiculous,” Mr. Franco, a retired bus maintenance worker, said of the idea. “I would rather have a couple houses put up instead of a medical facility, with people walking in and out and all the traffic and fumes.”

Building doctors’ offices amid houses is not unique to Pelham Gardens or the Bronx. For decades, the city’s zoning law has allowed medical offices, schools, nursing homes and other community facilities in residential neighborhoods, sometimes to the dismay of local residents who worry about increased noise and traffic.

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The Bronx Is Sinking, Not Burining !

DAN RAIA thinks that the Pelham Gardens section of the northeast Bronx is sinking, and as proof he points to the hole in the concrete driveway at his boxy brick house.

Nor was the chasm, 7 feet wide and 4 feet deep, the first sinkhole in that spot. Last April, shortly after part of Tiemann Avenue was repaved by the city’s Transportation Department, a hole appeared in the driveway after a northeaster. Mr. Raia, a 45-year-old facilities engineer who has lived on Tiemann for seven years, scrambled to fill the hole with topsoil.

After another storm, the hole reappeared, at which point he filled it with gravel. Then the rain came again, as did the sinkhole, even larger than before.

Now Mr. Raia has cordoned off the hole with plastic trash bins and yellow caution tape while he tries to figure out who or what is responsible.

“We never had this problem before they repaved the street,” Mr. Raia said, gazing mournfully at the hole through his living room window.

His sinkhole is not the only neighborhood mystery. Since the storm last April, at least a half-dozen people who live within a few blocks of Mr. Raia have reported structural damage to their homes. Paula Gelman’s house, which is across the street, shifted so suddenly during the storm that its basement dropped and its foundation cracked, at which point a Buildings Department staff member ordered her and her husband, David, to vacate the property.

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