By Dan Gesslein
It’s every driver’s worst fear in the age of electric scooters and e-bikes in the city. A driver hit and ran over a woman riding an e-bike from the sidewalk into the crosswalk as the SUV was making a turn in the Bronx, investigators said.
A 67-year-old woman was pronounced dead after she was struck and run over by an SUV in Belmont. The woman was riding an e-bike on the sidewalk and then proceeded to ride across the crosswalk at East 188 Street and Park Av-
enue.
Police released the fi nal fi ndings of an investigation into the September 23rd fatal crash.
NYPD Highway District's Collision Investigation Squad determined that at around 11:30 am on September 23, a 2010 Ford
Escape driven by a 63-year-old driver was attempting to make a right turn onto Park Avenue. At the same time the unidentifi ed woman was riding the e-bike on the sidewalk of East 188th Street.
As the bike went off the sidewalk and into the crosswalk it was struck by the turning SUV. The rider was thrown from the bike and onto the street where she was run over by the SUV. The victim was rushed to nearby St. Barnabas Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
The police have withheld the victim’s name pending family notifi cation.
The driver remained at the scene and has not been charged.
By Dan Gesslein
A Soundview man went postal turning an arguement into a shooting match outside a Bronx Post Office. The rival the man was arguing with apparently didn’t realize the seriousness of the arguement because he brought a stick to a gunfight.
The NYPD released surveillance video of the bizarre shooting in which a man is seen arguing with another man on the street and then fi res at him up and down Gleason Avenue near the Post Offi ce.
folded.
At around 11:30 am
on October 4, a man dressed in a white and blue jacket and red baseball cap is seen arguing with a man on Croes Avenue, a block away from the Sonia Sottomayor Houses. The man with the baseball cap is seen walking down the sidewalk yelling at a man walking down the street with a broom handle.
In front of 1155 Croes Avenue, the man in Police are looking for this man in connection with a shooting outside a Bronx Post Office. The gunman opened fire on a man he was arguing with. He fired his handgun over double parked cars with people inside.
Cops responded to a report of gunfi re from the ShotSpotter system in the vicinity of Gleason Avenue and Croes Avenue. An investigation led to the video which shows how the drama un-
the cap pulls out a gun and fi res several rounds while yelling. The video shows the gunman yelling and fi ring over a car at the man with the stick. As the gunfi re erupted, the driver in the car
where bullets were fi ring over peeled out and drove away. The video then shows the man in the cap walking up the block and the man with the stick who was just shot at following after him.
Despite the fact that bullets were fl ying, the two men continued their arguement to the corner of Gleason Avenue. Across from the Post Offi ce, the gunman opened fi re again.
Despite fi ring off several rounds no one was injured.
Anyone with information should call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Span-
ish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline. org/ or on Twitter @ NYPDTips.
The gunman who stalked and fatally shot a Bronx man, following a dispute the victim was not involved in, will spend the next two decades in prison.
Prosecutors announced the sentencing of Tujuan Ford to 21 years in prison for the fatal shooting of Alberto DeJesus. Ford, 25, had pled guilty to manslaughter in connection
with the shooting.
On June 30, 2019, Ford had gotten into a fight with a group of men outside a food truck on East 149th Street and Southern Boulevard. Prosecutors said
DeJesus was with the group but was not part of the fight. DeJesus left the group and went to a nearby building on Avenue of St. John. Ford followed and shot him at the building.
DeJesus collapsed in the lobby of the building. He died a short time later at Lincoln Hospital.
“The defendant initially got into a fight with a group of people," said Bronx Dis-
Alberto DeJesus was fatally shot for a fight the victim was not involved in.
"After they dispersed, he went to a building where the opposing group retreated to and opened fire. He shot the victim — who was not part of the fight — four times, killing him and putting all surrounding neighbors at risk.”
DeJesus’ death set off a wave of protests in the community. By all accounts the victim was a good man killed by violence he had nothing to do with. At the time neighbors compared his murder to that of Lesandro “Junior”Guzman-Feliz - the teen who was stabbed to death by a group of gang members who wrongly thought he was part of a rival gang.
Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson joined Domestic Violence survivors, advocates, and community partners to officially announce the start of Domestic Violence Awareness Month in the Bronx and to announce the relaunch of the Domestic Violence Advisory Council.
According to the NYPD’s Domestic Violence Report released in 2021, from 2015 to 2020, 8 out of the top 15 Community Boards
with the highest rates of intimate partner homicides citywide, were from the Bronx. Bronx Community Boards 3 and 6 combined caused
concern with data showing 17 intimate partner homicides in neighborhoods that include Claremont, Crotona Park, Mel-
rose, Morrisania, Bathgate and Belmont.
Borough President Gibson outlined the goal of the Adviso-
ry Council, as well as announced a calendar of DV-related events from the Borough President's office for the month of October.
By David Greene
Nearly 200 angry residents of Throggs Neck and surrounding communities protested outside Councilwoman Marjorie Velazquez' office just two days after she voted "yes" on the rezone proposal for Bruckner Boulevard on The City Council Land Use Committee.
After voting for the project, Velazquez said in a statement, "We are in the middle of a citywide housing crisis that is similarly felt by the residents of my district, with seniors and working people facing strains to remain in our neighborhoods. The updated project voted out of the Council's committees today delivers significantly deeper affordable housing for our community, more good jobs for residents, and additional benefits for the neighborhood.”
“Marjorie Valazquez is a liar. She deceived her constituents to get their votes and then betrayed them,” said GOP Congressional candidate Tina Forte, who is running against AOC. “Over 10,000 people signed petitions against the upzoning. She is the reason people do not trust politicians. Marjorie needs to keep her word
by reversing course and stopping this upzoning because it will harm our community.”
Forte’s comments appeared to echo the crowd who held up signs calling Valezquez “gutless” and “throw her out.”
The legislation, which has the support of Mayor Eric Adams, is expected to be voted on this coming week by the entire City Council. If passed, it would clear the way for a 349-unit apartment complex at the site of the Super Foodtown on Bruckner Boulevard, with other projects in surrounding communities likely to follow.
Residents have been protesting for months against the proposal which they say will transform the Northeast Bronx communities from one and two-family houses to high-rise buildings of affordable housing.
Throggs Neck and Pelham Bay residents protested outside the office of City Councilmember Marjorie Velazquez. The elected official supports a plan to change the zoning in the community of one and two-family homes to allow high-rise apartment buildings. Protestors claim that Velazquez is ignoring her constituents to the point where she does not even promote her district office. A sign at the office still bears the name of James Vacca who has not held office since 2017.
St. Helena Church outside Parkchester, celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month with a performance of a Marimba band from Guatemala.
The Talmu'ch Huitan Marimba Group played during the Spanish Mass at St. Helena Church celebrating the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Rafael on September 29. The young members then
played a concert of Guatemalan folk music following the Mass.
The group is from St. Helena’s Piarist Mission in Guatemala, and they have been touring in the United States.
Despite a continued decline in attendees, hundreds of marchers, band members and local officials participated in the 45th Annual Bronx Columbus Day Parade, through Morris Park on October 9.
Enjoying the unseasonably mild temperatures, "Gino," formerly a 15-year resident of Morris Park, still returns every year for the parade. He told the Bronx Voice what he loved most about it, he explained, "The atmosphere and the crowd.”
Meanwhile, wearing an American flag hoodie and a cap designed as an Italian flag, 78-year Morris Park resident Antionette Penta
claimed she has never missed a parade, and added, "Many men dedicated their lives to the parade over the years." Penta said of the dwindling crowd size, "It was much bigger, but now there's not that many people around anymore.”
Setting her sights on local elected officials, Penta fired away, saying, "They destroyed our community. All of them, all around us...
they're all crooks.”
When Assemblywoman Nathalia Fernandez' name came up, Penta replied, "I told her to go away, I told her to go home." Asked about Councilwoman Marjorie Velazquez, Penta fumed, "Forget about it, we haven't seen her in two years, they only come around for elections and they destroy everything around us." Penta was asked why doesn't she just move, when she smiled and replied, "I'm a Morris Park girl.”
At the end of the parade on Williamsbridge Road, Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson told the crowd, "This is an opportunity to come together to recognize the in-
credible contribution of the Italian-American community here in the Bronx." Gibson added, "All of the children and scholars you see here, can make sure they look at all of us... they see the same opportunities we have truly been afforded."
Gibson noted that her office was hosting an Italian Heritage event at Bronx Borough Hall on October 13, recognizing Bronx' Italian-American
"community leaders.”
Apparently speaking to new legislation introduced in the New York State Assembly, that would replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day, U.S. Representative and Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin, stated, "Columbus Day today, Columbus day in the past, Columbus Day always in the future, we will make sure that Columbus Day lives on forever."
Home owners said such a move would not only change these home owner communities but would also be a huge stress on city resources such as sewage and electricity. Not to mention no new schools have been built in TN, Pelham Bay, Country Club and Schuyllerville.
Some other angry homeowners talking to the Bronx Voice off the record wonder how city officials are going to get their tax money.
Pelham Bay, Throggs Neck, Country Club and Schuyllerville are the few remaining home owner communities in which families pay property taxes. Residents say if highrise affordable housing goes up the number of tax payers goes down.
“These guys who own these properties don’t pay taxes,” one angry homeowner said off the record. “They get tax breaks to give them an incentive to build these buildings.
“You got Wall Street and the
upper East Side crowd leaving for Florida. You got tourism down because of crime and now you want to get rid of tax paying homeowners?” The homeowner whose family has lived in Pelham Bay for generations said, “You don’t honestly think homeowners are going to stay and pay high taxes while they put an eight-story building on their block do you?”
Locust Point resident and protest organizer George Hav, of the Spencer Estates
Civic Association, told the crowd, "We are here for a reason, we are here to protect the oasis. The oasis that is always termed as a desert, a desert. A transit desert, a food desert, a housing desert, every kind of desert you name, they call us meanwhile, we are an oasis in the desert of New York City.”
One guest speaker included Samantha Zherka, the Republican candidate for New York State Senate in NY-14,
who is challenging current Assemblywoman Nathalia Fernandez for the seat that is about to be vacated at the end of the year by Senator Alessandra Biaggi.
Zherka told the cheering crowd, "When we complain about the infrastructure decline or our way of life being plummeted, news media and the lying politicians twist it and make it as if we are racists. But what I see here is the crowd in the most diverse neighborhood.”
National Latinx AIDS Awareness Day (NLAAD) is October 15. Coordinated by the Latino Commission on AIDS, NLAAD is observed each year to increase awareness of the impact of HIV/ AIDS on the Hispanic/Latinx population in the United States.
The NLAAD campaign promotes HIV testing, resources for HIV prevention, and provides information on access to care to Hispanic/Latinx communities who may be living with HIV across the nation.
According to the most recent US Census data, the Hispanic/Latinx community makes up over 50% of the population in the Bronx. This group is heavily impacted by HIV, with increasing rates of new infections despite an overall decrease among the gen-
eral population. For example, of the estimated 34,800 new HIV diagnoses in the US in 2019, 21.7% were among Hispanic/Latinx individuals. While this group made up about 18% of the US population that year, Hispanic/Latinx people accounted for 25% of people living with HIV. These statistics highlight the urgency of connecting with the Latinx population and ensuring resources are available to support and care for individuals either at risk for or living with HIV.
Despite a prominent representation among the Bronx community, Hispanic/Latinx individuals remain marginalized with limited access to quality healthcare including HIV treatment and prevention services. Healthcare disparities
are reinforced by, among many other things, income inequality, unstable housing, and poor health literacy. Negative health outcomes are also often compounded by a healthcare system that can seem overwhelming and difficult to navigate.
At the Oval Center at
Montefiore, which is housed under Montefiore’s AIDS Center, we aim to provide multidisciplinary care under one roof. By offering medical, behavioral/mental health, and patient navigation services in the same location, we min
12
imize fragmented medical care. The Oval Center services include HIV treatment and prevention, transgender care, including gender affirming hormone therapy, gynecology services for both ciswomen and transmen, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, social work services, and peer support.
Our office is made up of a diverse staff, who reflect the populations we serve, and medical providers are welcoming, knowledgeable, and ready to address the concerns of the Hispanic/Latinx community. Many of us at the Oval Center are also members of the community with shared experiences, such as those living with HIV and those identifying as LGBTQIA+. Also under Montefiore’s AIDS Center is the Center for Positive Living, the largest HIV clinic in New York State serving more than 3,000 individuals living with HIV. Whether you are a person living with HIV, at risk for HIV,
or sexually active, we encourage you to ask questions and seek the quality healthcare you deserve.
Montefiore has a longstanding commitment to providing care to those most impacted in the Bronx, especially those who identify as Hispanic/Latinx. At the Oval Center and the Center for Positive Living, we advocate for the Hispanic/ Latinx community each day, but it is on NLAAD that we unite as a nation to raise HIV awareness and promote testing. With the availability of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), and undetectable equals untransmittable (U=U) which is also known as treatment as prevention (TasP), we, as a community, can work together to end the HIV epidemic. There are several resources available on NLAAD, and events are held throughout the country. You can visit: www. latinoaids.org or look up information on the CDC website for information in your area.
It has become an annual rite of the culinary. The prestigious Michelin Restaurant Guides have been publishing their ratings internationally, nationally, in NYC, and for the third year, Westchester & suburbs. As always with these guides, there is controversy: who made the list, who did not, and why? It is all kept so secretive.
The ‘Bib Gourmand’ designations (typically more casual eateries of merit), and Stars (high end restos), can be meaningful to a restaurant’s bottom line. There is a group of local spots that made the list. Based on my experience, these are each deserving finalists. Bon Appetit!
Bib Gourmand recipients in the Bronx: Hudson Smokehouse; Da Franco & Tony Ristorante; Patricia’s, Morris Park; Mexicosina; La Morada; Cka Ka Qellu; Enzo’s of Williamsbridge; El Nuevo Bohio; El Molcajete; Beccofino; Liebman’s Delicatessen; Zero Otto Nove; Beatstro; Tra Di Noi; and Roberto’s.
In Westchester: Dubrovnik, New Rochelle; Maria, New Rochelle; Macelleria Italian Steakhouse, Pelham; Tredici Social, Bronxville; Café Alaia, Scarsdale; Burrata, Eastchester; The Southern Table, Pleasantville; Badageoni Georgian Kitchen, Mt. Kisco; Shiraz kitchen & Wine Bar, Elmsford; RaaSa, Elmsford; Rafele, Rye; Boro6 Wine Bar, Hastings-on-Hudson; and The Cookery, Dobbs Ferry. New Westchester additions: Chutney Masala, Irvington; and TVB by Pax Romana, White Plains. The only star recipient in Westchester was Blue Hill at Stone Barns. You can access the full list including
nearby Bronx online: https:// guide.michelin.com/en/us/ new-york-state/restaurants
Three-time winners of Michelin’s prestigious ‘Bib Gourmand’ Award, brothers Peter and Giovanni Cucullo have been causing a stir in New Rochelle, drawing patronage from all over the
Delicious meatballs at Macelleria.
county to their flavorful riff on Italian/global cooking.
Named after Mother, Maria’s has become almost a regular haunt for me. Love their happy hours from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. when they offer some favorite beverages and small plates that are loaded with flavor.
I am already hooked on such eclectic dishes as:
Glazed Pork Ribs, Truffled Green Beans, Grilled Sausage with sweet & spicy Peruvian peppers, Mom’s Meatballs, Cauliflower Fritters, and Roasted Shishito Peppers. Nice dining room and bar filled with artifacts from home. Friendly staff, too. Good networking spot. The family also operates
bustling Fratelli’s Pizza and Pops Café next door.
Maria, 11 Huguenot St., New Rochelle. Take-out & delivery. Closed Sundays. 914-636-0006 www.marianewrochelle.com
Making it into the local Michelin Guide for the second time, this high-end Italian steakhouse serves classic cuts of prime beef and chops along with a hearty helping of Italian/American specialties. Proprietor Tony LaLa and his team will take good care of you. Be seated in the handsomely renovated dining room and bar/lounge and peruse the menu over a good glass of wine from their vintage list.
A recent celebratory meal here started with their fresh made jumbo Crab Cake appetizer served with an herbed mustard sauce, and a perky Arugula Salad, with arugula, navel orange segments, fennel, goat cheese and lemon vinaigrette.
As a main course my beautifully marbled Rib Eye Steak was a tender hit served with a flavorful brandy peppercorn sauce on the side. My companion went for the
big Diver Scallops served with asparagus, mushrooms, leeks, and a touch of truffle butter. Had to have the addictive home fries and garlic spinach as sides. Both entrees were large enough to share. Leftover steak to take home, too. For dessert we shared a most extraordinary house made Tiramisu.
Additional specialties to look for: Steak Tartare, slabs of Canadian Bacon, Spaghetti Carbonara, Pappardelle with Short Rib Ragu, Zuppa di Pesce, even a Classic Burger. Carnivores should consider the Lamb Chops, Veal Chop, or New York Strip Steak. Open 7 days for lunch and dinner. Happy Hours.
Macelleria Italian Steakhouse, 142 Fifth Ave., Pelham. 914-365-2561. Macelleria Italian Steakhouse, 111 Bedford Road, Armonk. 914-219-5728 www.macelleriasteakhouse.com
The Bronx offers a lot of fine international eat and drink these days, so you might want to explore the local culinary landscape. A recent event at Seis Vecinos on Prospect Ave. in Longwood was a tasty revelation. They
laid out a colorful table of appetizing Central American/ Mexican specialties. Cocktail bar. They offer indoor/ outdoor seating all week. Seis Vecinos, 640 Prospect Ave., Bronx. 718-684-8604 www.seisvecinos.com
Here is another tasty nibble. Actor Stanley Tucci has been starring in an appetizing series on CNN entitled: “Searching for Italy.” It is a delicious romp thru the scenic Italian culinary regions. Beautifully filmed and depicted, Tucci visits various cities and towns throughout the boot zeroing in on the incredible food scene in each area. Several new episodes are now airing on CNN, Sundays at 9 p.m.
The new episodes take him thru the distinctive regions of Calabria, Sardinia, Puglia, and Liguria.
Stanley Tucci is originally from Peekskill and grew up in Katonah, attended John Jay High and SUNY Purchase. He has long been a food and wine aficionado, having owned a restaurant called Finch Tavern in Croton Falls back in 2007.
Who can forget his classic culinary-themed films: “Big Night” & “Julie & Julia.”
He hosted a series called “Vine Talk” on PBS. His latest cookbooks: “The Tucci Table: Cooking with Family and Friends” which he co-authored with his wife Felicity Blunt; ‘The Tucci Cookbook’; and ‘Taste: My Life Through Food’. My palate is longing for more.
Check it out: www.cnn.com/
travel/article/stanley-tucci-searching-for-italy-restaurants/index.html
(Morris Gut is a restaurant marketing consultant and former restaurant trade magazine editor. He has been tracking and writing about the food and dining scene in the Bronx and Westchester for 30 years. He may be reached at: 914235-6591. E-mail: gutreactions@optonline.net)
