Of the 62 counties in the state, the Bronx has been the last on the health rankings list for several years. But efforts to head up the ladder are making some progress, Crain’s reports. The borough just received a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation due to its recent successes. The Bronx “has seen rates of smoking, teen births and AIDS cases fall, according to Montefiore, which coordinated the borough’s application,” the article states.
Bronx Brain Brigade to Run/Walk on Randall’s Island to Fight Brain Cancer Nov. 15
29 OctHi Bronx Friends,
I’m leading a team called the Bronx Brain Brigade to take part in the run/walk at Randall’s Island on Nov. 15. I’d love you take part if you can. I would especially love it if more Bronxites who have brain cancer, or had it, and/or their families would like to sign up and join the team. Following is more information and a link to the sign-up site. Thanks!
Sunday, Nov. 15 will mark exactly 3 years since I was released from the hospital for my brain cancer surgery.
Coincidentally, Voices Against Brain Cancer (VABC), a great, effective group that funds critical brain cancer research, has organized its run/walk on Randall’s Island in NYC on that exact day. That’s meaningful for me as my brain is still clear of cancer according to MRIs. Yet it’s impossible to know what can still happen.
I’m leading the Bronx Brain Brigade for the third time to support VABC which directs its funding to critical research. Who knows if I’ll ever need new drugs, etc., but this WILL be helpful to so many people suffering from brain cancer.
I would love it if you could join the team, in person or from afar, to raise money for this critical work. To make this happen just click here. Feel free to email me or call me if you have any questions at all.
Best and thanks!!!
Jordan
P.S. The event will include walks for families and kids. There will be fun games for kids too.
P.P.S. If you can pass this on to two or three friends who you think might want to join the team and/or support this effort, that would be great!
Beauty of a Bronx Park
27 OctVan Cortlandt Park, which links up the Bronx neighborhoods of Riverdale, Kingsbridge, Kingsbridge Heights, Van Cortlandt Village Norwood and Woodlawn, was rather stunning this morning, as usual. (Both photos by me, Jordan Moss)
NY1 Report: Bronx DA Candidate at Center of Controversial Rikers Case
23 OctThe Bronx Democratic candidate Darcel Clark faces new controversy beyond the fact that she is essentially an appointed successor to retired district attorney Robert Johnson in a borough led only by Democratic elected officials. As a former judge she presided over the case of Kalief Browder, “a Bronx youth who committed suicide earlier this year after he had been held at Rikers Island for three years without trial,” NY1 reports.
Will 2 ‘Worst Landlords’ Stay on the List?
22 OctHere’s an update on my prior post regarding two landlord partners who purchased six buildings in the northwest Bronx:
Some of their buildings are listed on Pubilc Advocate Letitia James’ Worst Landlord’s Watchlist. But in checking the HPD violation data site, the violations on some Brooklyn buildings of those two landlords appear to have been reduced significantly. After asking James’ office about these landlords’ current status on their list, a spokesperson told me that their “full list should be updated in the next month and if the landlords have reformed they will be removed.”
If you have experience living, or working with tenants in, the buildings of landlords Yechel Weinberger and Bernard Miller, please share your experience with Bronx Matters by commenting on this post or emailing bronxmatters-at-gmail.com.
More Bronx Development, More Harrassment, Activists Say
21 OctCity Limits reports (includes a video): Tenants and organizers of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition gathered at the Bronx Housing Court last Thursday to protest what they say is a growing crisis: landlords harassing tenants by bringing them to housing court in hopes of pushing them out and raising rents.
(My wife, Margaret Groarke, long involved with the Coalition, is interviewed in this article and video. She cares a lot about housing in the borough as do I.)
BronxTalk Guests Debate Charter Schools
20 OctBronxNet’s weekly talk show, BronxTalk, featured a discussion about charter schools last night. Click here.
In Fundraiser, Bronx Pol Seeks Big Bucks for Protection or Promotion, Daily News Reports
20 Oct
Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda (bottom right), gathered in 2014 with a crew of Bronx elected officials in Albany for an event organized by Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj (top left) . Photo by Jordan Moss
Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda has only been a Bronx assemblyman since 2013. Yet, as Ken Lovett reported in the Daily News yesterday, Sepulveda is holding a fundraiser tomorrow for $1,000 a head, a good bit more than a state legislator seeks for re-election to the same post. So, Sepulveda may want a bigger political gig already or just protect himself from challenges, Lovett reports, adding that Sepulveda is no pal of borough “regulars” like Ruben Diaz, Jr., the borough president; Assemblyman Carl Heastie (now the Assembly speaker); or the county chairman, Assemblyman Marcos Crespo.
Bronx Matters 