Errol Louis, host of Inside City Hall, interviewed Tom Robbins, former CUNY J-School students Tamy Cozier and Paul DeBenedetto, and former HPD official Harold Shultz, about the City Limits investigation of Frank Palazzolo’s real estate operation. It’s short and informative. Take a look.
Housing Issues Raised in City Limits the Focus of ‘Inside City Hall’ Tonight
23 Mar
Norwood News coverage of the death of Jashawn Parker, 8, in his DeKalb Ave. building in 2002, and other reporting related to the property's owners, led to the investigation in the current issue of City Limits magazine.
The housing issues raised in the current edition of City Limits, which I worked on with veteran investigative reporter Tom Robbins and his class at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, will be discussed on Inside City Hall tonight. Robbins, along with former HPD official Harold Shultz and two students will appear on the show, which airs at 7 p.m. and is repeated at 10 p.m.
The package of stories stemmed from a series of articles that ran in the Norwood News beginning in 2002, while I was editor, when eight-year-old Jashawn Parker died in an electrical fire in his building on DeKalb Avenue. The tenants there had been in housing court for two years trying to get an outside administrator appointed because of dangerous conditions in the building. But that didn’t happen until after Jashawn died.
The investigation explores how the man most associated with 3569 DeKalb and dozens of other problem-plagued Bronx buildings, Frank Palazzolo, managed to escape scrutiny or punishment.
The story about the fire can be read here, and click here for links to the entire investigation.
I’m pleased that the project has begun to spur discussion about how the city, along with Housing Court, and banks who too often make loans without looking, can reform the system so that preventative action can be taken against landlords who let their properties disintegrate into danger zones.
If you watch the show on NY1 tonight, and you have any thoughts, please comment here. Thanks!
-Jordan Moss
Fresh Direct Opponents and Armory Activists Hit the Streets Tonight
21 MarActivists in the south and northwest Bronx are taking to the streets this evening to make their voice heard on two development projects — the Kingsbridge Armory and Fresh Direct respectively.
As Bronx Matters reported yesterday, the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition will be rallying in front of the Kingsbridge Armory tonight at 6 p.m. to call for living wage jobs at the massive landmark, schools in the National Guard building behind the armory, and the creation of space for small businesses and community use
Development proposals are due this week for the Kingsbridge Armory (Photo: J. Moss)
The event takes place at the corner of Reservoir Avenue and Kingsbridge Road. Daniel Beekman at the Daily News reports that a development tea called the Kingsbridge National Ice Center seems to be favored by local politicians like Councilman Fernando Cabrera. More on the rally here.
Activist Harry Bubbins protests the Fresh Direct deal outside the State of the Borough Address in February. (Photo: J. Moss)
South Bronx activists and supporters from other parts of the borough are headed to the upper west side of Manhattan to launch a boycott of Fresh Direct, which is set to build a facility in the Harlem River Yards with an estimated $130 million in taxpayer subsidies. Opponents object that public money is being used to support an effort that they say will deliver more truck traffic to an asthma-prone community and block efforts to build the Harlem River Greenway. More info from the press release after the jump.
Back on Road to Armory Redevelopment?
20 Mar
The Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition will be rallying once again to bring good jobs and community uses to the Armory. (Photo by J. Moss)
Yet another chapter is beginning in the two-decade old development saga at the Kingsbridge Armory. Proposals for the facility are due in later this week and whether this latest try at reimagining the landmark will stick and work is anyone’s guess. The Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, which has been laying down its visions for the Armory since the late 1990s is holding a rally there tomorrow night at 6 p.m (corner of Kingsbridge Road and Reservoir Avenue). They’re calling again for living wage jobs and also for community space, opportunities for small businesses and no big-box retail. All that stuff got a little buried in the push last time around for what ended up mainly as a living wage campaign. That fight successfully buried the mayor’s proposal for a Related shopping mall at the Armory (a la Gateway near Yankee Stadium) as a new borough president, Ruben Diaz, Jr. got in front of an organized, union-backed campaign. The Council defeated the mayor’s plan handily, which is a real rarity in land use issues.
I’ll have a lot more to say about this as I’ve been covering the Armory since 1993 when District 10 Superintendent John Rehill wanted to see a massive complex of public schools there right after the National Guard handed over the keys of the head house and drill hall to the city. In the meantime, if you’re interested, here’s a link to a bunch of stories (67 actually) about the Armory that I and other wrote for the Norwood News, and my detailed take on what was going on at the time the Council defeated the mall plan.
—Jordan Moss
Morning Matters — 3/20/12
20 MarGood morning, everyone.
Here’s some video documenting this year’s annual painting of the giant shamrock on the 231st Street near Broadway for St. Patrick’s Day.
Tenants and advocates will really outside Bronx Housing Court today in support of a bill, sponsored by Council Member Fernando Cabrera, that will require landlords to post a tenants’ bill of rights in their buildings. The legislation has been stalled for a year.
All that redistricting politics was like a big dose of castor oil for most New Yorkers, but now it’s a hard reality, at least in terms of the Congressional lines. Want to see what district you have landed in? Just plug in your home address here.
Congressman Jose E. Serrano tweeted this morning that it was 20 years ago today that he won a special election for his Congressional seat.
Speaking of anniversaries, not Bronx related (though I heard he once appeared in a folk festival at Hunter College, now Lehman, in the 60s): Bob Dylan celebrates 50 years since he first recorded with Columbia Records.
The opposition to Fresh Direct is ramping up with the group South Bronx Unite launching a boycott against the grocer which is planning on building a factory in the Harlem River Yards. For more on the fledgling South Bronx Unite and a recent gathering in Melrose with veteran foes of the Atlantic Yards development, check out this Bronx Matters exclusive story.
For Bronxophiles this is kind of a must-read. Artists have converged on the stately but empty rooms of the Andrew Freedman home on the Grand Concourse to create installations related to the building and what was left in the areas that the Mid-Bronx Senior Citizens Council does not occupy. The creations won’t be permanent tenants but organizers hope to draw attention to the property and the possibilities of it being a business incubator. There are already plans, the Times reports, to fills some of the empty space with a bed-and-breakfast.
The Center for Public Integrity gave New York a grade of D for its predilection for corruption. Believe it or not, New Jersey got the best grade.
Speaking of corruption, alleged we should say, Pedro Espada’s defense attorney infuriated the judge yesterday.
Morning Mattters, 3/19/12
19 MarSpring may be a few days away but with a high of 72 today that doesn’t seem to matter. Here are some news items Bronx Matters finds interesting/important today.
Lead paint violations are still a big problem in the Bronx.
Residents at 1055 Grand Concourse have been without heat and hot water for two weeks.
The new lines for the 29th Senate District, which replaces the 28th and is currently represented by Jose M. Serrano, takes quite the circuitous journey through the Bronx and the east and west sides of Manhattan. (Print version of this article seems to have mistakenly included the photo of Serrano’s dad, Congressman Jose Serrano.)
A Bronx high school near Yankee Stadium isn’t going to get to take any swings this season at the baseball fields that replaced the old stadium.
Tired of waiting for good food and fresh produce to come to the neighborhood, the Mary Mitchell Family and Youth Center on Mapes Avenue in Crotona has started its own fresh food delivery service.
Developers have just a few more days to submit a Request for Proposals for the redevelopment of the Kingsbridge Armory, and the borough president isn’t that happy with what he’s seen so far. [link includes RFP]
State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr. is standing up for his aide who allegedly embezzled $75,000 from a nonprofit Diaz helped to found and assailing Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
Redistricting Update
16 MarAlex Kratz of Norwood News has the latest — including coverage of a community meeting on the issue and mention of State Senator Jeff Klein’s reversal of a pledge to vote against redistricting.
Parks Looking for Music Entrepreneurs at Orchard Beach
16 MarThought this press release from Parks Dept. might interest some readers. The good news for everyone is that more music is in store at Orchard Beach! [By the way, Bronx Matters readers, I’m out of town and the wi-fi at the hotel I’m staying at is sucky, so I probably won’t be posting again until Monday. Thanks! -Jordan Moss]
Parks & Recreation announces that a Request for Proposals (“RFP”) has been issued for the operation of a free, high quality concert series and a maximum of six kiosks at Orchard Beach, Pelham Bay Park, Bronx. “For more than 75 years, Orchard Beach has served as the Riviera of the Bronx, delighting New Yorkers with its 1.1 mile sandy beach and promenade,” said Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe. “No trip to the beach is complete without great music and Parks is seeking a concessionaire with a strong background in concert promotion and marketing to bring free, high quality summertime concerts to Orchard Beach’s visitors.”
Bronx Matters 