The Bronx Special Issue

May 13, 2015

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The Bronx Special Issue 2015

May 13, 2015

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

Michael Gareth Johnson Executive Editor

T A FRESH LOOK AT THE BRONX

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By Rubén Díaz Jr.

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The borough president sees a bright future ahead

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POLITICAL HANGOUTS THE BRONX BEEPS

By Adam Wisnieski

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THE RISE OF BRONX POWER

FENDING OFF EVICTION

The housing crisis plays out in a Bronx courthouse

Meet the former borough presidents

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MOVING FORWARD

The Bronx struggles to overcome public transit woes

Where the party likes to party

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SHIFTING DEMOGRAPHICS

Census records give us snapshots of foreign-born populations in the borough

By Kate Pastor

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THE MALL BOOM

Will retail jobs benefit Bronxites?

Will the borough capitalize on its political renaissance?

By Sarina Trangle

By Jon Lentz

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BOUNCING BACK

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THE HEASTIE EFFECT

What the speaker’s ascent means for schools

City & State’s editor-at-large looks back on growing up in the borough

By Geoff Decker

By Gerson Borrero

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VIEWS OF THE MAINLAND

Officials reveal the one thing they would do to make the Bronx better

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‘KIDS’ FROM THE BRONX

Author Arlene Alda collects memories from notable Bronxites

May 13, 2015

Art direction:

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Guillaume Federighi

Photographs:

Arman Dzidzovic Bronx County Historical Society The Library of Congress The Underwood Archives CIT YANDSTATENY.COM

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@CIT YANDSTATENY

Back cover:

Tag by Dazer BTB

46.......

PERSPECTIVES

Alexis Grenell on growing up in the Bronx … Michael Benjamin on the evolving borough

BACK & FORTH

A Q&A with “BronxTalk” host Gary Axelbank

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city & state — May 13, 2015

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he Bronx has reached a moment.

In many ways the borough has rebuilt itself literally from the ashes of the 1970s arsons that laid waste to whole neighborhoods. After decades of decline, there is hope—at least among the elected officials who responded to our query about what needs to be done to improve the borough.

Their responses suggest that more than anything, jobs and economic development are the top priority.

With the ascension of Carl Heastie as Assembly speaker, the borough gained a powerful voice in the annual negotiations over where billions of state dollars will be doled out. Heastie’s rise could not have happened without help from a Bronx Democratic machine that through the years has suffered setbacks and been dogged by controversy. Senior Correspondent Jon Lentz tells this story, focusing on the possibilities and potential pitfalls that come with Heastie’s elevation.

The increased political influence will undoubtedly accelerate the changes the borough has seen in recent years. Change is a theme we wove throughout the magazine, highlighting areas where it is most visible and, at times, controversial.

Reporter Sarina Trangle looks at the rapid development of shopping malls in the borough. Some say they are providing a first step to many residents seeking a way out of the cycle of unemployment, while others argue developers are benefitting far more than Bronxites.

Increasing development has also highlighted the borough’s neglected transportation system. In the Bronx, it’s not just the subways to Manhattan that residents need better access to, it’s the ability to get around within the borough—with buses often getting stuck in traffic along with those commuters lucky enough to have their own cars. In light of those challenges, contributor Adam Wisnieski takes a look at how the borough is rethinking public transportation.

Finally, we display the borough’s transformation visually. On the cover and throughout the magazine we feature archive images from across the Bronx alongside photographs of the same or similar locations today to drive home the borough’s transition from the edgy and urban image it has held for decades to a more modern cityscape.

The concept of change is one that can spur both positive and negative reactions. Most welcome growth and improvement, but when it happens too fast or with unintended consequences, it can leave residents angry or fearful.

And that is the moment the Bronx finds itself in now.

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

A Fresh Look at the Bronx

61 Broadway, Suite 2235 New York, NY 10006 Editorial (212) 894-5417 General (646) 517-2740 Advertising (212) 894-5422 info@cityandstateny.com

CITY AND STATE, LLC Chairman Steve Farbman President/CEO Tom Allon tallon@cityandstateny.com PUBLISHING Publisher Andrew A. Holt aholt@cityandstateny.com Vice President of Advertising Jim Katocin jkatocin@cityandstateny.com

RUBÉN DÍAZ JR. BRONX BOROUGH PRESIDENT

city & state — May 13, 2015

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T

he Bronx has gone through considerable transformative change since I was first elected borough president in 2009. We have a bright future ahead of us, and the foundation of that future is being laid down in the here and now.

Since 2009, our borough has seen more than $7 billion in new development. We have created over 16,000 units of housing of all types, and more than 15,000 new jobs.

New development opportunities are driving our future success. At the Harlem River waterfront, we have put forward a vision for thousands of housing units of all kinds, new waterfront access and park space from just south of the Third Avenue Bridge all the way to 149th Street. At Fordham Landing, we are looking at ways to add mixed-use development— including housing of all types, community space and additional waterfront and park amenities—to this long-dormant slice of waterfront.

In every corner of the borough, there is new opportunity. We are leveraging those assets to make our borough grow and prosper for everyone. Our efforts are bearing considerable fruit. In April, statistics from the state Department of Labor showed that the Bronx no longer had the highest unemployment rate of any county in New York State.

In fact, our unemployment rate has dropped a full five points since 2009.

We are living in safer times, with homicides in the borough dropping below 100 for two straight years for the first time since the 1960s.

Our infrastructure is improving with upcoming projects such as the four new Metro-North stations set for the East Bronx—at Co-op City, Parkchester,

Morris Park and Hunts Point—that will open our borough up to new economic development and housing opportunities, creating new jobs and stimulating more growth.

Every single day we see something new in the Bronx, something that may have been considered unthinkable just years ago.

We have projects like the Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point, like the Kingsbridge National Ice Center—which has attracted the attention of NHL Hall of Famer Mark Messier and Olympic champion Sarah Hughes—and the TV studio in Soundview that will break ground later this year, the largest television and film studio in the state.

Who would have ever thought that the Bronx, the birthplace of hip-hop and salsa, would also be the future home of the greatest ice hockey and figure skating complex in the world? We have our coffee shops, gourmet restaurants, food producers and cocktail bars—just like our neighbors in Brooklyn and Queens.

And we intend to build on our current achievements. It has not been easy, but our community is on the rise, thanks in no small part to the work of those committed Bronx activists who have persevered through our most troubling times, right up to those who are working for a better Bronx today. We are continuing to transform our borough, making it an even greater place to live, work and raise a family.

Nothing is perfect, of course. But what we are doing is working.

Great things are happening in our borough, and there is so much to celebrate as our borough continues to grow. It is time for the world to take a fresh look at the Bronx.

Events Director Jasmin Freeman jfreeman@cityandstateny.com Director of Marketing Samantha Diliberti sdiliberti@cityandstateny.com Business Development Scott Augustine saugustine@cityandstateny.com

EDITORIAL Executive Editor Michael Johnson mjohnson@cityandstateny.com Senior Correspondent Jon Lentz jlentz@cityandstateny.com Web Editor/Reporter Wilder Fleming wfleming@cityandstateny.com Albany Reporter Ashley Hupfl ahupfl@cityandstateny.com Buffalo Reporter Justin Sondel jsondel@cityandstateny.com Staff Reporter Sarina Trangle strangle@cityandstateny.com Editor-at-Large Gerson Borrero gborrero@cityandstateny.com Copy Editor Ryan Somers rsomers@cityandstateny.com Editor-at-Large Kate Pastor

PRODUCTION Art Director Guillaume Federighi gfederighi@cityandstateny.com Senior Designer Michelle Yang myang@cityandstateny.com Marketing Graphic Designer Charles Flores cflores@cityandstateny.com Web Manager Lydia Eck leck@cityandstateny.com Illustrator Danilo Agutoli

City & State is published twice monthly. Copyright ©2015, City and State NY, LLC

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ou’ve got to hand it to them, Bronx officials have a hangout for every occasion.

City & State asked the borough’s state senators, Assembly members and City Council members about their favorite spots to talk shop or kick back after hours. Their responses ranged from diners to alehouses to fine dining establishments. So no matter the mood (or the dress code), there’s never a shortage of places to party with pols. Here are their top picks.

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Political Hangouts

city & state — May 13, 2015

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

HAVANA CAFÉ 3151 E. Tremont Ave.

F & J PINE RESTAURANT 1913 Bronxdale Ave.

GIOVANNI 579 Grand Concourse

cit yandstateny.com

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

DON COQUI 565 City Island Ave.

MAESTRO’S CATERERS 1703 Bronxdale Ave.

THE BRONX ALEHOUSE 216 W. 238th St.

PELHAM BAY DINER 1920 E. Gun Hill Road

THE BRONX BEER HALL 2344 Arthur Ave.

TIBBETT DINER 3033 Tibbett Ave.

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city & state — May 13, 2015

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JACK E. BOUCHER/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

ARMAN DZIDZOVIC

city & state — May 13, 2015

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View at 148th Street and Willis Avenue, 1974 and present day

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The Bronx Special Issue 2015

The Bronx Beeps E

ach of New York City’s five boroughs has a president, an elected official who offers input on the city budget, weighs in on land-use decisions and names appointees to various boards and commissions.

The role was diminished in 1990, when the city abolished the Board of Estimate, a powerful entity made up of the borough presidents and the three citywide elected officials. Some now view the office-holders as little more than cheerleaders-in-chief, but others point to real accomplishments by the city’s borough presidents.

In the Bronx, 13 men have served in the role, from Louis Haffen, who took office in 1898, to current Borough President Rubén Díaz Jr. Here is a look at the past five Bronx BPs—or “beeps”—and what they did after leaving Bronx Borough Hall.

HERMAN BADILLO (1966–1970)

Badillo bucked the Bronx Democratic machine to win election as borough president in 1965. He was then elected to Congress in 1970, becoming the first Puerto Rican-born representative of the House. He also launched a number of failed bids for mayor, coming closest in 1973.

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STANLEY SIMON (1979–1987)

Abrams served three terms in the Assembly before becoming Bronx borough president. After three terms he was elected state attorney general, serving in that role for four distinguished terms. Following a failed bid for the U.S. Senate in 1992, he joined Stroock, a law firm, and has served on a number of city and state commissions.

Simon’s tenure as borough president ended in disgrace in 1987, when he resigned in the face of corruption allegations. He was eventually convicted and sent to prison for his role in a wide-ranging bribery and racketeering scandal that embarrassed Mayor Ed Koch and burnished the reputation of then-U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani.

FERNANDO FERRER (1987–2002)

ADOLFO CARRIÓN JR. (2002–2009)

Ferrer had served in the New York City Council before taking over as borough president after Stanley Simon resigned. During his tenure, he helped spur a revitalization of the troubled, crime-ridden borough. He ran for mayor in 2001 and 2005, but fell short of becoming the city’s first Latino mayor. He is now a partner at Mercury and vice chair of the MTA.

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Carrión served one term in the New York City Council before running for and winning the borough presidency in 2001. After two terms, he joined the Obama administration as director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs and then as a regional HUD administrator. He ran for mayor in 2013, but without a major party line he was unsuccessful.

city & state — May 13, 2015

ROBERT ABRAMS (1970–1979)

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

Will the borough capitalize on its political renaissance?

By JON LENTZ

city & state — May 13, 2015

W

hen the Assembly speakership opened up for the first time in a generation, a handful of contenders for the office was quickly whittled down to one: Assemblyman Carl Heastie of the Bronx. The official vote in early February was a coronation. A Bronx contingent featuring state Sen. Jeffrey Klein and Bronx Borough President Rubén Díaz Jr. gathered in the Assembly chamber to witness Heastie’s ascension as the first Assembly speaker from the borough.

Also on hand was Assemblyman Marcos Crespo, who several weeks later would take Heastie’s place as Bronx Democratic Party chairman.

Assemblyman José Rivera, who was ousted by Heastie as Bronx party boss in 2008, showed no sign of hard

feelings. “My friend, I wish you the best,” Rivera told Heastie. “I think you’re up to it.”

Heastie’s vanquished rivals—one each from Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and upstate New York— were congratulatory. Assemblyman Keith Wright of Manhattan, who dropped his bid for the speakership to clear Heastie’s path, said, “I guess the Bronx has now become the center of the universe.”

Indeed. Heastie is now one of the state’s most influential elected officials.

Klein, who shared control of the state Senate the past two years, continued to participate in backroom budget talks this session. Díaz, the borough president, has cultivated ties in Albany, while Heastie has an ally in Mayor Bill de Blasio, who buoyed his campaign for speaker. Add to that the fact that half of New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito’s district is in the Bronx and that Crespo now leads

the Legislature’s Puerto Rican and Hispanic Task Force, and the borough is starting to look like a powerhouse.

“The most powerful Democrat in each legislative chamber, from the state Assembly to the state Senate to the City Council, is a representative of the Bronx,” said first-term Bronx City Councilman Ritchie Torres, who chairs a high-profile committee overseeing the city’s troubled Housing Authority.

“So that is a level of influence that is historically unprecedented. The election of Carl Heastie in particular as the state’s most powerful legislator in some ways tells the story of the Bronx and tells the story of a borough on the rise. On a whole range of issues, from housing to public safety, the Bronx has made a level of progress that probably would have been unimaginable a few years ago.”

All that remains to be seen is what this renaissance will mean for the Bronx—and for its leaders.

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fficials say that the political resurgence is already yielding dividends.

A variety of developments—a FreshDirect headquarters, a golf course, new malls (see story on page 26)—are in the works or opening. Klein said he capitalized on his leadership position last year to launch the Bronx HIRE program, and that it has already created hundreds of jobs. The party establishment also claims credit for safer streets and the recent population gains and job growth, even if the borough still lags behind the city and the state.

Díaz’s pet project is the conversion of the Kingsbridge Armory into a state-of-the-art ice rink facility, and the latest state budget allocated funds to study how to address the projected increase in traffic. The budget also earmarked $250 million for four new Metro-North stations in the Bronx cit yandstateny.com

MARIST COLLEGE; JOSE ROSARIO; PHILIP KAMRASS/EXECUTIVE CHAMBER; ROB BENNETT/MAYORAL PHOTOGRAPHY OFFICE

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The Rise of Bronx Power

The Bronx Special Issue 2015 Clockwise from top left: Former “Bronx boss” Edward J. Flynn; former Borough President Fernando Ferrer and thenBronx Democratic Chair Roberto Ramírez; Assemblymen Carl Heastie and Jeffrey Dinowitz and former Assemblyman Rubén Díaz Jr. opening new county headquarters after the 2008 “Rainbow Rebellion”; thenSenate Co-Leaders Jeff Klein and Dean Skelos, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver; Assembly Speaker Heastie with Cuomo; Dinowitz, Klein, Borough President Díaz and Mayor Bill de Blasio; former Assemblyman Díaz Jr. on primary night 2008.

(see story on page 18). Another $100 million was designated for the New York City Housing Authority, which will fund repairs for aging public housing developments, including some in the borough.

“I’d say even in this year’s budget, the money for struggling schools— when we did the budget there were 12, and half of those were in the Bronx,” Heastie said. “So I think this is another place where the budget will help the Bronx.”

However, critics like Ramón Jiménez, a lawyer and a longtime opponent of the Bronx machine, argue that residents are not benefitting much from the borough’s political ascent.

He said several high-profile deals have helped developers more than their neighbors, with generous subsidies or terms for Donald Trump’s new golf course, the controversial FreshDirect headquarters and Yankee Stadium.

“The whole subsidize the wealthy and cit yandstateny.com

it will trickle down to the poor is what Rubén Díaz’s approach is, and I’ve got serious problems with that,” Jiménez said.

Others note that the Bronx Democrats have experienced several letdowns in recent years. Klein’s partnership with the Senate Republicans kept the mainline Democrats out of power, which angered many in this heavily Democratic borough and spurred a bitter primary fight last year against veteran politician Oliver Koppell.

Several high-profile picks by the Bronx Democrats—Bill Thompson for mayor, Adriano Espaillat for Congress, Dan Garodnick for Council speaker— have ended up losing.

Mark-Viverito, cited as an example of the Bronx’s strength, wasn’t even backed by the party machine, and thus owes it few favors. When she was campaigning to become Council speaker in late 2013, Heastie, then the Bronx Democratic leader, joined forces

with his borough counterparts— Rep. Joseph Crowley in Queens and Brooklyn’s Frank Seddio—to get behind Garodnick. But Seddio flipped and joined mayor-elect de Blasio in endorsing Mark-Viverito.

“Frank pulled a Judas on them and went for Melissa,” said Bob Kappstatter, a former longtime Daily News Bronx bureau chief and political columnist, something he said would be unlikely to happen again given the Bronx’s new political clout.

“I think that will give them an extra ounce of credibility and strength and a little bit of fear and loathing for what can happen to the other counties if they mess with the Bronx—if in fact Carl stays strong with county,” he said.

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o matter what the latest crop of Bronx leaders accomplish, they are unlikely to match the feats of Edward J. Flynn. Flynn, “the Bronx

boss” for more than three decades starting in 1922, was one of the most powerful politicians of his time—not just in his borough but in the whole city, the state and even the nation.

A product of Tammany Hall, he was a friend and associate of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, helping him become governor and playing a pivotal role in his election to four terms as president.

In 1948, he catapulted Harry Truman to the presidency.

“It is often said that the term ‘in like Flynn’ comes from him, because if he supported you, you won,” said Lloyd Ultan, the Bronx borough historian. “Ed Flynn could open his mouth and say, do this, and people would say, how high should I jump? Carl Heastie cannot do that.

He basically has to rule by respect, and respect for his acumen, that he knows the political scene and what’s possible.”

When Flynn died in 1953, the

city & state — May 13, 2015

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SHANNON DECELLE

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

city & state — May 13, 2015

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Borough President Rubén Díaz Jr. and his father, state Sen. Rubén Díaz Sr.

Party leader Marcos Crespo chairs the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force.

cigar-chomping Rep. Charles Buckley took over as party boss. Buckley was knocked out of Congress in 1964 and died a few years later, amid rising tensions between the Bronx party regulars and a group of reformers.

The reformers—younger, better educated and mostly of Jewish and Italian descent—challenged the Irishdominated old guard, and the split eroded the borough’s clout. Around the same time, Rep. Paul Fino established a foothold for Bronx Republicans, electing a borough president, a councilman, an assemblyman and a state senator. Over the next two decades the borough descended into an era of arson and crime, prompting residents to flee in droves. As announcer Howard Cosell reportedly said over the loudspeaker during a 1977 World Series game at Yankee Stadium, “Ladies and gentleman, the Bronx is burning!”

The following year Stanley Friedman took over as Democratic Party boss, and he established a Bronx judicial district that gave the party more influence. “I don’t believe anybody in the Bronx at the time chaired any major committees or had a high post statewide, but they still had influence and could get things accomplished for the borough,” said Michael Benjamin, a former assemblyman who joined the party organization in 1981. Yet Friedman was toppled in 1986 when he was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison for his role in a corruption scandal that also ensnared Bronx Rep. Mario Biaggi and then-Bronx borough president, Stanley Simon.

said. “That’s Rubén’s target, that’s his dream, that’s the goal, and everything that has happened politically has steered it in that direction. That seems to be a large mantra of the party: that we are going to deliver the next mayor.”

Heastie’s rise could boost the fortunes of Díaz, a close friend and confidante who sat next to him when they served together in the Assembly.

State Sen. Rubén Díaz Sr. followed his son to Albany over a decade ago, and the younger Díaz took on a key role in the fall as co-chair of Cuomo’s reelection campaign.

A protégé of the Díaz clan, Crespo is also rising through the ranks. When Díaz left the Assembly for the borough presidency, Crespo was designated his successor. After becoming Assembly speaker, Heastie handed the reins of the Bronx party to Crespo, a widely respected legislator who also took the helm of the Legislature’s Puerto Rican and Hispanic Task Force this year.

Meanwhile, Klein has charted his own course—and could find himself in a position to rise once again. While pledging allegiance to the Bronx machine, the longtime No. 2 in the Senate thrust himself into a leadership role by forming the breakaway Senate Independent Democratic Conference in 2011. He leveraged his small but pivotal conference to become Senate co-leader in 2013 and 2014, thanks to a power-sharing agreement with Senate Republicans that sidelined the mainline Democrats.

The GOP won an outright majority this past fall and no longer needed the

A turning point came in 1987, when Fernando Ferrer replaced the disgraced Simon and set about restoring and revitalizing the beleaguered borough. Ferrer, who served as borough president until 2001, spearheaded health and education initiatives and a rebuilding plan that led to the creation of 66,000 homes and apartments. Ferrer left office to mount two failed runs for mayor, while party boss Roberto Ramírez made an exit to launch a political consulting firm. José Rivera, who replaced Ramírez, drew criticism for favoring his fellow Puerto Ricans at the expense of other party regulars. In 2007 the party ousted him in a “Rainbow Rebellion” that ushered in the current leadership, headlined by a pair of rising stars in Díaz and Heastie.

“The Bronx has been somewhat united, but not as united as what Carl was able to do,” Klein said. “I think he brought all of the different communities and elected officials together under one Democratic roof, and now I think he’s going to be able to do the same thing in the Assembly in a statewide Democratic conference.”

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f course, political power in the borough is not always as straightforward as it looks on paper. Díaz is deeply entrenched as a member of one of the borough’s dominant political families and as a candidate being groomed for higher office, even though he has little structural power as borough president.

“A lot of this goes toward pushing Rubén Díaz Jr. for mayor,” Kappstatter

IDC to maintain control, but Klein stayed on as one of the “four men in the room.” Corruption charges against former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos could put Klein in an even stronger position, especially if Skelos is convicted, although a renewed partnership with Republicans would risk further alienating Democrats.

The elder Díaz, in a recent “What You Should Know” column, claimed that his fellow Bronxite could even become Senate leader. “The only way—with the scandal of Dean Skelos and the power of Hillary Clinton in play—for the Republicans to keep power is to name Jeff Klein the Leader of the Senate,” he wrote. “This will keep the IDC’s five Democrats supporting the Republicans to control the Senate. Other than that, I don’t see any other way for Republicans to maintain their control of the Senate.”

The odds of Klein leading the Senate, Díaz calculated, are 75 percent.

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he Bronx has a track record of cultivating the next generation of political leaders, such as Díaz, Heastie and Crespo. The borough recently elected Assembly members Michael Blake, Latoya Joyner and Victor Pichardo and Council members Vanessa Gibson and Ritchie Torres— all under the age of 40. “We do have a long tradition of electing them young,” Torres said. “Joel Rivera was the youngest Council member in history.

Rubén Díaz Jr. was the youngest Assembly member since Theodore Roosevelt, and I’m the youngest cit yandstateny.com

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

Bronx power brokers

Congratulations to all the Bronx officials who landed on City & State’s New York City and Albany Power 100 lists this year!

Díaz Jr., New York City Councilman Andy King and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie.

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Bronx advocates and residents are already calling on Heastie to tackle pollution, open up the waterfront and spur more development that creates jobs and helps the community. But it could take years before he can really deliver. “He’s got to solidify his base in the Legislature,” said Bruce Berg, a political science professor at Fordham University. “He’s got to prove to his colleagues that he’s a good leader, that he can work for the betterment of the Assembly as an institution, that he can work well with the governor and the leaders of the Senate, whoever they might be. Only after a couple years of that can we really begin to talk about how is the Bronx going to benefit from all this.”

Heastie is careful to say that he will serve on behalf of the entire state, not just a single borough. But Heastie and other Bronx officials say they are pleased that the borough’s needs and priorities are now less likely to be overlooked.

“Having the previous speaker in the Lower East Side certainly wasn’t a bad thing for the Lower East Side,” said Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, the No. 2 official in the Bronx Democratic Party. “Having a Bronx speaker, if nothing else, it guarantees that we have somebody who understands the needs of the Bronx, the importance of doing the right thing for the Bronx. I’m certain that Carl Heastie’s going to do right by the whole state. Having said that, I’d rather have a speaker from the Bronx than not from the Bronx.”

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JEFFREY KLEIN State Senator, Independent Democratic Conference Leader

RUBÉN DÍAZ JR. Bronx Borough President

MELISSA MARK-VIVERITO New York City Council Speaker

MARCOS CRESPO Assembly and Senate Puerto Rican/ Hispanic Task Force Chairman

city & state — May 13, 2015

elected in the city at the moment, so that’s one more striking feature.”

Of course, some of those seats opened up as the result of another tradition: political corruption.

Pichardo replaced Nelson Castro, who was convicted of perjury, while Blake succeeded Eric Stevenson, who was sent to prison for bribery and other charges. Another young Bronx elected official, state Sen. Gustavo Rivera, was 34 years old when he beat out the incumbent, Pedro Espada, who was later imprisoned for embezzlement.

Heastie—who has faced questions about an apartment that his mother purchased with stolen funds and his ties to various Bronx officials, including former Councilman Larry Seabrook, a convicted felon, and longtime party consigliere Stanley Schlein—was himself elevated only after thenSpeaker Sheldon Silver was forced out due to federal corruption charges.

The record of the long-serving Silver looms over Heastie’s brief tenure as Assembly speaker. Silver stepped aside in January after his indictment on charges that he orchestrated a $4 million fraud scheme.

He had amassed substantial power in Albany, which benefitted his district in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. But Silver’s tale is also cautionary one.

“It’s not only about taking care of the Bronx,” Benjamin said. “We know what happened to Shelly when he began focusing, some say, on taking care of only his district and for the things that allegedly went on during his nearly 20-year reign as speaker.”

CARL HEASTIE Assembly Speaker

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

Bouncing Back

These days, it’s hard to recognize the once-burning borough

By GERSON BORRERO

city & state — May 13, 2015

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WHITE HOUSE

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he Bronx is no longer burning. The fires have been extinguished.

Neighborhoods are living, breathing and functioning again. The borough has gone from a prairie to a tarnished gem working to regain its luster.

The Bronx has risen from the flames and ashes of the profiteers who burned its buildings to collect insurance payouts. The landlords who waited too long to cash out before people of color devalued the worth of their real estate investments are long gone. They filled their pockets and fled.

It was most striking in the South Bronx, where in the 1950s—when white flight began—the neighborhood went from being about two-thirds white (non-Latino) to being twothirds black and Puerto Rican.

Landlords’ greed took over any sense of humanity they could’ve feigned for the newcomers.

Systematically, buildings that landlords couldn’t sell at market price went down in flames. And insurance companies paid.

Some owners were paying junkies to torch buildings because that was more profitable than collecting monthly rent from the hardworking people who inhabited the units within.

The landlords’ avarice left families homeless.

Block by block, neighborhoods were decimated. Very few within the walls of government did anything about it. At best, their actions could be construed as benign neglect. Most just wanted to abandon those newly arrived neoyorquinos—leave them alone to live a nightmare rather than a promising American dream.

Among the hundreds of thousands was my hardworking, newly divorced mother. She came to this city to work.

President Jimmy Carter and New York Mayor Abraham Beame tour the devastated South Bronx in 1977.

She was starting a new life. We came to live in the Bronx in 1955 from La Playa de Ponce, Puerto Rico.

For the first six months, we lived in a furnished room on the West Side of Manhattan.

Moving to the Bronx marked the beginning of a new life for us.

I don’t even have to close my eyes to remember what 576 Fox St. looked like. It was one in a row of more than 20 attached buildings. Our apartment was a fourth-floor walk-up. It was my mother Noelia, my grandmother Julia, my baby brother Victor and me. La familia.

My younger brother Victor and I spoke no English. My mother spoke just enough inglés to get by. There’s no question that we were poor by any societal standard back then or even today—but like so many others

around us, my brother and I didn’t know it. What we knew was that my mother always worked. To supplement her regular jewelry factory paycheck, she sold Avon and Stanley products on the side. We helped her distribute the orders to her customers. Mi santa madre worked as hard as anyone I had ever met then—or since, in over six decades—all because she wanted the best for her children.

Ours was a vibrant neighborhood.

It was where for the first time I met Jews, Italians, Irish and blacks. I always got along with the blacks and Jews.

The first bodega I bought milk, bread, mortadella and cheese from was owned by a couple from Spain. The first knish, pastrami sandwich and matzo ball soup I ever ate was at the kosher deli on the corner of Avenue St.

John and Fox. It was also the neighborhood where for the first time I learned what a gang was. It was an Italian gang. It’s where for the first time I saw a junkie mainlining. He was a white teenager.

I was about 10 years old and I can still remember the black leather belt around his right bicep and his left hand on the syringe pushing the heroin into the protruding vein. He was behind the stairs on the first floor.

Just thinking about it is like I’m seeing him right now. Sometimes it’s hard to forget traumatic moments.

There may not be as much Bronx in me as there is Ponce (the southern Puerto Rican city where I was born).

But I definitely feel comfortable in the Bronx.

It’s the borough where I got into my first fights. I didn’t realize until cit yandstateny.com

The Bronx Special Issue 2015 abandonment that made the borough a symbol of urban decay, it was Cosell’s description of what MLB viewers were seeing at home and in bars that made it real for Americans everywhere.

Carter’s visit highlighted a period of neglect and abandonment that made the borough a shame for New York and the nation. For those who had no choice but to walk that desolate war zone stretch with President Carter, the memory has never left us.

President Barack Obama’s recent visit to CUNY’s Lehman College, where he announced plans to expand the My Brother’s Keeper Initiative, a program aimed at helping men of color stay on the track to success, made me reflect about what has happened in the Bronx over the decades between the visits of these two presidents.

The Bronx has seen some really bad times. There are still problems to be solved and that need to be better addressed. The borough has made much progress, with so much more to come. It would be wise for those who now are reaping the fruits to never forget what some of us still vividly recall.

The Bronx is back. It’s not perfect.

But there’s no denying that the Bronx is on the move.

The new Bronx is full of promise and hope. It’s on the upswing in many ways.

Today, I can say with certainty that if Jimmy Carter were invited back to Charlotte Street he wouldn’t recognize it as the same rubble-filled block that bewildered him less than four decades ago. He’d probably remember, though, that there was nothing but ruins and lost dreams the last time he was there.

Today, the Bronx is on the path to a new day. The transition of neighborhoods has brought the Bronx and its leaders to a realization that no one is running away from its new settlers. There’s no abandoning the Grand Concourse or other enclaves once inhabited by people who fled, out of fear of the arrival of people of color.

There is no other borough in this city that has lifted itself out of what the Bronx has. No people more resilient. No narrative less told … than that of the borough on whose streets I learned lessons and met people who prepared me more than I could have ever possibly imagined.

15 Gerson, right, with his mother Noelia, his brother Victor, left, and a young neighbor.

cit yandstateny.com

profit continued. Then all of a sudden, the blight of the Bronx became national and international news.

It was on Oct. 12, at the beginning of the telecast of Game 2 of the 1977 World Series. The Yankees were facing the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was the first time since 1962 that the Bronx Bombers had been in the fall classic.

An ABC aerial camera had panned a few blocks from Yankee Stadium to a building on fire. The scene became a defining image of the Bronx in the 1970s. I still remember how the eloquent Howard Cosell—whose gift for oratory made him a news icon and masterful interviewer of that period— went on about the burning taking place within blocks of Yankee Stadium.

The Bronx had been on the national news just seven days before, on Oct. 5, 1977, when President Jimmy Carter took the press on a brief walking tour of a desolate stretch of Charlotte Street in the South Bronx.

While Carter’s visit focused the world’s attention on the neglect and

BRONX WEEK 2015 Congratulations to Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. for leading the resurgence of the Bronx.

Best Wishes Patricia Lynch Associates

city & state — May 13, 2015

much later that those white kids didn’t like us. They called us spics. The fights were almost a daily part of my walk home from P.S. 62. I got a few lumps and I also gave a few. But there were no knives or guns in those days. Once in a while a stickball bat was used on me and so I learned to get better with them. I was better at hitting my attackers than the Spalding balls we used to play with. One doesn’t forget certain things.

There are thousands who, like me, lived through and witnessed similar things. Some like to call them “Bronx tales.” There are enough anecdotes to fill volumes of books—that’s for sure.

Some stories are told by the survivors from those tough neighborhoods.

And there were also hundreds who died from bad junk or who overdosed.

Others were killed in stupid gang turf wars.

So the Bronx was changing. It was slowly turning into a place where survival was the daily goal.

In the meantime, the arson for

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

Ebb and Flow The shifting demographics of the Bronx

To understand where the Bronx is today, we have to look back at where it’s been.

One of the most diverse areas in the nation, the borough has undergone radical changes over the decades, especially when it comes to its immigrants and their places of origin.

As seen below, U.S. Census Bureau records give us vivid snapshots of the ever-evolving Bronx.

Bronx 1960

Bronx 1970

Bronx 1980

16 Europe USSR Americas Others

city & state — May 13, 2015

Bronx 1990

Europe USSR Americas Others

Bronx 2000

Europe USSR Asia Africa Oceania Americas Others

Europe USSR Asia Africa Americas Others

Bronx 2010

Europe Asia Africa Americas Others

Europe Asia Africa Americas Others

cit yandstateny.com

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

2013 Albania

Italy

2,622

China

4,655

Bangladesh

1960

10,853

Pakistan

1990 19,972

Nigeria 5,079 Jamaica

2010

6,584

1950

4,371

Ecuador 11,571

Peru

4,188

Mexico 441

1960

1,225

1970

1,739

1980

855

17

84,468 62,611

1970 1980

12,599

1990

9,480

2000

4,907

2010

3,004

Dominican Republic 1980 1990

7,065 20,962 47,164

16,689 59,108

2000

124,032

2010

161,957

city & state — May 13, 2015

1950

37,367

1960 17,947

Guyana

cit yandstateny.com

9,142

Ireland

10,042

Colombia

2010

14,053

2000

4,852

Honduras

2000

26,725

47,751

El Salvador

1990

117,604

1980

4,663

Ghana

161,974

1970

4,150

Philippines

62,407

1950

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

Moving Forward

JACK BOUCHER/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

ARMAN DZIDZOVIC

Historically a hassle to get around in, the Bronx is shifting gears

18 The Third Avenue Elevated Line, seen at left in 1974, was phased out in the Bronx in the ’70s.

By ADAM WISNIESKI

city & state — May 13, 2015

I

f there is one defining piece of transit infrastructure in the Bronx, it’s Robert Moses’ loathsome six-lane behemoth— the Cross-Bronx Expressway.

Its impact on the borough cannot be overstated.

It devastated neighborhoods like East Tremont, and helped turn the Bronx into the city’s poorest borough.

In 1945, Moses saw the CrossBronx as a key connector in his superhighway master plan to link New Jersey, Connecticut and Long Island through New York City. For the city, it was a controversial, costly project, completed years late in 1963, to the tune of $250 million: “the most expensive road constructed in all history,” noted Robert Caro in his 1974 biography of Moses, “The Power Broker.”

For the Bronx, it was a wound that cut through communities, bringing with it a long list of troubles—asthma,

housing issues, transportation woes and a history of underdevelopment.

For many Bronxites, the CrossBronx remains a scar, symbolizing how badly the borough is treated by the city’s brokers of power, and contributing to how tough it is for Bronx residents to simply get around.

Consider this. Say you’re sitting at the Bronx Alehouse in Kingsbridge and want to see where the pale ale you were drinking was brewed. It would take you about the same amount of time to get to the new Bronx Brewery in Port Morris on public transportation as it would to travel twice the distance to Brooklyn Brewery in Williamsburg.

The quickest route to Port Morris— the Bx10 to the 4 train to the 6 train—would force you to travel into Manhattan in order to cross over to the other side of the Bronx.

The Bronx’s train lines have always been flawed. But they succeed at one thing: bringing those Bronx residents lucky enough to have access to a

subway station into Manhattan, and back.

In recent years, though, fewer people are making that traditional commute on one of the eight red, orange or green lines to Manhattan.

Nearly half of all Bronxites (up to 45.2 percent in 2013 from 43.3 in 2005, according to census figures) work within the borough or head to jobs in Westchester and Queens.

As the Bronx continues to build its economy, working within the borough has become a more viable option.

Interborough travel has not kept pace.

Data show that the percentage of Bronx residents commuting by car is the lowest since the Census Bureau launched the American Community Survey in 2005, at 27.3 percent of workers in 2013. While more people are traveling to and from work on public transportation in all five boroughs, the Bronx is the only one where the number of people riding buses is increasing.

With no subway line running eastwest through the borough and many remote residential areas lacking access to stops, ridership on Bronx bus lines has risen 5 percent over the last three years, according to new MTA data.

Bus ridership has declined over the same period in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, and there has been an 8 percent drop-off in Manhattan, the most significant change.

MTA board member and longtime Bronxite Charles Moerdler attributes the increase in Bronx ridership to the new buses the MTA added to alleviate overcrowding.

But there are also other factors contributing to increased bus ridership in the borough. “As far as the reverse commuting is concerned, the Bronx has seen more of that than anywhere—more and more people are traveling from the Bronx to Westchester than ever before,” said David Giles, research director of the Center for an Urban Future. “Nothing cit yandstateny.com

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The Bronx Special Issue 2015

ARMAN DZIDZOVIC

BRONX HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Safer Cycling

L

20

city & state — May 13, 2015

Top: Construction crews build the Cross Bronx Expressway near Castle Hill Avenue.

Bottom: The same spot today.

has been done to alleviate the outer borough commuting and the change in commuting.”

Though there is limited data on workers commuting to Westchester, commuters who work outside of the city limits are also likely contributing to increased bus ridership.

Giles is a proponent of boosting Select Bus Service and implementing a quicker method of paying on all buses.

Right now the Bronx’s best public transit option for traveling across the borough is the Bx12, the MTA’s first Select Bus line and by far the most popular bus line in the Bronx. A second was added to Webster Avenue three years later, and Mayor Bill de Blasio’s OneNYC plan includes another eastwest line in the South Bronx.

These days more than a few of the city’s power brokers hail from the northern borough. Moerdler and former Bronx Borough President Freddy Ferrer sit on the MTA board, and state Assembly Speaker Carl

Heastie calls the Bronx home. So the borough has enough political clout to address transportation issues, if slowly.

After numerous elected officials led

by Bronx Borough President Rubén Díaz Jr. got behind a proposal for four new Metro-North stations in the East Bronx—in Co-op City, Morris Park, Parkchester, and Hunts Point—the plan is on the way to becoming a reality.

Though it will provide a significantly more expensive ride than subway service, it will represent the only alternative to a long bus ride to the train for people living in places like Co-Op City.

Still, commute times for Bronx residents are long and getting longer—42.2 minutes on average in 2013, says the census. Good practice, perhaps, for anyone waiting on new transportation options.

“It’s like trying to turn around an ocean liner in a bathtub,” Moerdler said of the MTA’s approval process.

“It’s slow.”

aura Solis says she can see the difference between the Bronx the other boroughs laid out before her as she rides across the Harlem River on her way home from work in Manhattan each day. After cruising up the painted First Avenue bike lane, she crosses into the Bronx on a pedestrian/bike path over the Willis Avenue Bridge.

“Then I’m in the Bronx and I’m dumped in front of people trying to get onto the Bruckner Expressway,” she said. “There’s no signage to tell me where I should go. There is a sign that says there’s a bike lane, but the paint wore away last winter, not this past winter, the winter before.”

“It becomes very evident there’s an equity problem.”

Solis, 28, a Bronx organizer for Transportation Alternatives, started biking in 2012 and used to take her bike on the subway with her into Manhattan before she had the courage to ride Bronx streets.

“Right now, it only seems like something brave people do,” she said.

The numbers support that argument.

According to the census, 0.4 percent of Bronxites commuted to work by bike in 2013, compared with 1.6 percent in Brooklyn, 0.7 percent in Queens and 0.8 percent in Manhattan. Research shows that additional bike-friendly routes would likely encourage more cycling and create a safer environment for those already riding.

The restored path linking the Highbridge parks in the Bronx and Manhattan is slated to open this summer. But Transportation Alternatives is also campaigning to make the Harlem River bridges more bike-friendly, something former city Department of Transportation policy director Jon Orcutt has pushed the de Blasio administration on.

“The payoff in terms of accessibility and quality of life along the Harlem River, not to mention increased use of the bike network in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx, would be immense,” he wrote on Streetsblog in September.

Solis and other biking activists are looking to Belmont—the Bronx’s Little Italy, in the most dangerous district in the Bronx for pedestrians—in the hopes that it will become the first “bike-friendly” business district in the borough, and a key to connecting disparate biking arteries and making streets safer. Proponents of a “Bike Friendly Belmont” want the city to create a bike path that would connect the far-flung area with other trails, and encourage businesses to offer bicycle parking, discounts for bikers at local businesses and more.

To the north, Solis says, there’s Mosholu Greenway; to the East is Pelham Parkway and Bronx Park. “It would connect a lot of neighborhoods and existing bike paths,” she said.

cit yandstateny.com

city & state — May 13, 2015

ARMAN DZIDZOVIC

THE BRONX COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

21

cit yandstateny.com

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

Fending Off Eviction Citywide crisis plays out in Bronx Housing Court

By KATE PASTOR from CITY LIMITS Adapted from a four-part series with support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.

city & state — May 13, 2015

22

ADI TALWAR/CITY LIMITS

W

hen the Bronx Housing Court was built in 1997, then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani declared it “a proud moment” in Bronx history.

“The new courthouse will restore a level of distinction and significance to Housing Court proceedings that was absent in its previous location,” he said in a press release account of the ribbon-cutting ceremony. More than just a new state-of-the-art building equipped for the needs of the 21st century, Giuliani called it a “symbol of the borough’s resurgence.”

Nearly two decades later, it is more a symbol of stubborn and persistent need in a borough that seems unable to shake housing as its Achilles’ heel.

The 13 courtrooms of the 94,000-square-foot Housing Court on the Grand Concourse cannot withstand the demands of rising costs gradually pushing its way north.

Nearly all Bronxites who end up in Housing Court do so because they are brought there by their landlords for nonpayment of rent. In 2013, the overwhelming majority of petitions filed in Bronx Housing Court were for residential nonpayment.

Bronx Housing Court is crowded for a reason.

Among the five boroughs, the Bronx's portfolio of affordable housing stock is the most robust, with rents that are still cheaper than in other parts of the city.

The borough has the highest concentration of subsidized housing in the five boroughs, and the four ZIP codes surrounding the Housing Court and encompassing Highbridge, Melrose, Mott Haven and Morrisania,

The line at Bronx Housing Court stretches around the corner. Most cases at the court are over residential nonpayment.

have the highest concentration of rentstabilized housing in the city.

But while Bronx rents are known for being cheap, Bronxites remain poorer than their counterparts in the rest of the city. According to a 2013 Rent Guideline Board report, the poverty rate was lowest, at 11.6 percent, in Staten Island. It was 16.2 percent in Queens, 17.8 percent in Manhattan, 24.3 percent in Brooklyn, and 31 percent in the Bronx, which it noted was "consistently the highest rate of the boroughs."

The Bronx also has more people receiving public assistance than any other county and more people receiving Section 8.

Its residents had the highest proportion of low-wage jobs (paying less than $12.89 an hour, or just under $27,000 a year) in 2012—47 percent—according to data published by the Center for an Urban Future in April 2013.

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's March 2014 report on housing affordability found about 50 percent of Bronx residents paid more than one-third of their income in rent, and another recent study by

RealtyTrac.com found it was one of the least affordable counties in the country for its residents.

In other words, the Bronx is the most affordable borough in terms of the actual cost to rent but least affordable in terms of what its residents can afford to pay.

That is why the line in front of Bronx Housing Court on a busy day can stretch for blocks as tenants wait to get inside long after the 9:30 a.m. calendar call.

Though the courthouse serves the entire borough, many who pass through its doors do not come from far. Homebase, a Department of Homeless Services homelessness prevention program, targets Bronx Community District 4 and Community District 1. Housing Court sits in 4; just south is 1—in the path where buildings once burned.

Perhaps it is oddly convenient, then, that those facing a high risk of homelessness and eviction live in the vicinity of the only stand-alone Housing Court, which—situated in the shadow of some of the borough’s shiniest beacons, like Yankee Stadium and the Bronx Museum of Art—is the

center of its own local economy.

Men peddling cell phone plans spread out pamphlets on plastic tables near the curb. And a guy handing out flyers for free moving and storage service from a company that accepts public assistance views the line as a targeted marketing opportunity.

The firm's ad is also featured on the food truck right outside the courthouse.

It reads: “Evictions. Homeless families. Emergency storage. Public assistance. Domestic violence. Shelter residents. Court orders. Fire victims.

Marshal notices,” all watchwords of the crisis that Housing Court oversees daily.

People working inside the courthouse say they are seeing not just the usual need, but also new trends.

Unlike other boroughs, the Bronx has historically not been targeted by the kind of efforts witnessed in Manhattan and hip Brooklyn to deregulate rent-stabilized apartments, because the Bronx market could not bear rents higher than the legal stabilized rent. In fact, many Bronxites in subsidized housing get “preferential rents,” which are below the legal limit.

But close observers of the court say cit yandstateny.com

ARMAN DZIDZOVIC

The Bronx Special Issue 2015 Wares on display at Teitel Brothers on Arthur Avenue.

city & state — May 13, 2015

THE BRONX COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

23

cit yandstateny.com

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

24

more people are coming in because of “preferential rent” increases.

To that point, Bronx Housing Court Supervising Judge Jaya Madhavan said he's seen an influx of first-timers since 2010 with the decline of the economy.

"There's a lot of press given to the rent race between Brooklyn and Manhattan. What you don't hear a lot about is what's going on elsewhere, which I think is that as people are being priced out of the other boroughs, like Manhattan, and Queens and Kings county, they are all competing for affordable housing in the last place that they can find it here in the Bronx," Madhavan said. "So you have the unfortunate stress of having families fighting over housing, which isn't necessarily always in the best shape either."

Kathryn Neilson, a housing attorney at Legal Services in the Bronx, which has a satellite office in the Bronx courthouse, said she is increasingly seeing signs of real-estate speculation in the types of cases being filed by landlords.

They include a rising number of so-called chronic nonpayment holdovers, which is an effort to evict somebody based on prior nonpayment cases and a sign that in a landlord's

TOTAL EVICTIONS, 2006-2013 12,000

Bronx

10,000

Brooklyn Manhattan

8,000

Queens

6,000

Staten Island

4,000 2,000 0 2006

2007

city & state — May 13, 2015

*Source: Housing Court

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

*Source: Department of Investigation cost-benefit analysis, getting the tenant out of the apartment is more important than collecting the arrears.

Those are signs of “early gentrification or pre-gentrification,” she said, with a lot of the chronic nonpayment cases coming specifically from University Heights and the western Bronx.

Positive changes in the borough,

NATURE OF BRONX HOUSING COURT CASES IN FISCAL YEAR 2013

Nonpayment (93.6%)

2008

Holdover (5.8%)

Other (0.5%)

like a reduction in crime and investment in housing, have encouraged families to stay and immigrants to come, helping the borough regain almost three-quarters of the population lost in the 1970s, according to an economic snapshot of the Bronx taken by DiNapoli's office in July 2013.

But the Bronx's resurgent desirability, coupled with the poverty of its residents, could be a recipe for exploitation of vulnerable populations as the market begins to turn around.

With a little help, many tenants could avoid getting evicted or agreeing to a stipulation in which they promise to vacate their apartment or pay more rent. But at Bronx Housing Court, help seems to be both everywhere and nowhere at once. The people there to help can be gruff and impatient. Doors offering legal services are often locked.

Landlord attorneys and tenants alike tell tales of tangled bureaucracies that fuel gratuitous litigation even when they are meant to aid. And the catchphrase echoing through the crowded courthouse is always "more time." It’s the best most tenants are hoping to leave with.

While there are multiple offices inside the courthouse meant to assist tenants—from Legal Aid, to Legal Services, Housing Help and Housing Court Answers—the problem, said Jennifer Laurie, the executive director of Housing Court Answers, is that “the intake process is very limited.” Most people will not get help.

Neilson said about 50 percent of Housing Court clients come through

some kind of referral. “I always have to remind myself that we're serving this tiny, tiny fraction of people,” she said.

That has a particular impact on the Bronx. The number of cases resulting in actual evictions and possessions by marshals have been steadily increasing since 2006 in every borough, but the Bronx has ranked highest for evictions each year from 2006 to 2014.

In 2012, 10,966 evictions were ordered in Bronx Housing Court, the highest number any year since 1997 in any borough. While the number fell slightly in 2013 and 2014, the Bronx still leads the city—with roughly a third of evictions citywide.

Not every court-ordered eviction actually occurs, and the number of those that stick is difficult to track. But evictions account for about one-third of homeless intakes, according to the Department of Homeless Services, a growing number that includes a disproportionate share of Bronx families.

To meet this growing need, the city has multiplied funding for legal services over the last year. The City Council has also floated an idea for a Civil Justice Coordinator Office that would oversee civil court cases, including ones in Housing Court.

Last year, Manhattan Councilman Mark Levine and Bronx Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson co-sponsored legislation that would provide attorneys to low-income tenants facing eviction, but it has yet to get even a scheduled hearing at the City Council, despite its 35 co-sponsors. cit yandstateny.com

C.M. STIEGLITZ/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

Top: Shoppers on Arthur Avenue in 1940 Main: A crowded sidewalk at Fordham Road and Grand Concourse, present day

cit yandstateny.com

city & state — May 13, 2015

ARMAN DZIDZOVIC

25

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

Selling the Mall Boom Shopping centers abound, but will new retail benefit Bronxites?

By SARINA TRANGLE

city & state — May 13, 2015

26

VICTOR CHU/COURTESY BRONX BOROUGH PRESIDENT’S OFFICE

S

tanding on a makeshift stage erected amid a Master Wok, a Sbarro, a Subway and a Dairy Queen, Bronx Borough President Rubén Díaz Jr. launched into his 2015 State of the Borough speech by welcoming attendees to the largest indoor shopping center in New York City.

The scent of fast food wafting through the food court as shoppers began strolling through the gleaming new Mall at Bay Plaza, Díaz highlighted a $7.2 billion surge in Bronx development over the last six years. About 16 percent of that growth has been commercial, according to Díaz’s annual development report, with much of that fresh retail sprouting up inside new shopping centers.

Díaz has made development the cornerstone of his tenure, and retail has been a key focus. Two days after his victory in 2009, he attended the grand opening of the first store in the Gateway Center at Bronx Terminal Market, and he’s taken it from there.

Developers have opened or announced plans to build at least seven shopping centers since Díaz was elected borough president. And while he touts these hubs as much-needed job creators in a county with the state’s second-highest unemployment rate and lower-than-average educational attainment, some argue that inviting low-wage jobs and chain stores does little to address the borough’s most pressing problems.

Between 2007 and 2012, the number of Bronx retail establishments grew from 3,460 to 3,959, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, a 14 percent increase that represents the secondfastest growth rate of all five boroughs.

Though the Bronx had fewer stores than some of its counterparts in 2012, the retail sector made up a larger share

Bronx Borough President Rubén Díaz Jr. delivers his 2015 State of the Borough address inside The Mall at Bay Plaza. of its business establishments, about 23.5 percent, compared with 19.3 percent in Brooklyn and 11.2 percent in Manhattan.

In 2013, Díaz supported the River Plaza expansion, which straddles the neighborhoods of Marble Hill in Manhattan and Kingsbridge in the Bronx. By 2015, he had helped cut the ribbon for the Mall at Bay Plaza and the Throggs Neck Shopping Center in the eastern part of the borough and supported the city Economic Development Corporation’s plans for the Broadway Plaza mall and the Riverdale Crossing shopping center in the northwestern corner.

Over the next three years, The Prusik Group is preparing to open the Crossing at Southern, a retail hub in Hunts Point; Grid Properties and Gotham Organization are scheduled to complete work on Baychester Square, a pedestrian-oriented shopping

square. Youngwoo & Associates is also expected to revamp and add retail space to the Bronx General Post Office in Melrose.

For retail developers, places like the Bronx offer new opportunities as old ones dry up. Younger Americans throughout the country have moved closer to urban cores since the 2008 recession, and shopping centers have struggled in the suburbs, according to industry experts.

Developers have been especially bullish on the Bronx because it offers a strong consumer base with less competition, according International Council of Shopping Centers spokesman Jesse Tron.

Tron said developers are reassessing markets and realizing that even in “poor” areas, retailers can tap into “an aspirational consumer base,” made up of people who covet products that are nevertheless unaffordable to

them.

So far, the Bronx has proven lucrative. The borough president has boasted that a stand-alone J.C. Penney across the street from the Mall at Bay Plaza had the company’s most profitable Black Friday in the nation.

“That’s why Macy’s wanted to go there,” Díaz said of the Bay Plaza mall’s flagship store, in remarks to a group of architects, investors, developers and planners visiting the borough last year.

Retail establishments can serve as anchors by attracting other kinds of commerce and helping to usher in a more vibrant economy, says Jonathan Bowles, executive director of Center for an Urban Future, a nonprofit that has published reports on retail and workforce development in the Bronx.

But Bowles noted that the Bronx has the highest proportion of residents working retail jobs across the five cit yandstateny.com

The Bronx Special Issue 2015 boroughs, as well as the highest percentage of adults with lowwage jobs, defined as those earning $26,818.06 annually. On-the-jobtraining is one way to help people climb out of that cycle, he said.

A retail sales job “needs to be one rung of the career ladder, and not the top one,” he said. “It’s clearly not a great-paying career.”

Díaz made headlines early in his tenure by spurring living wage legislation when he scuttled a developer’s request for subsidies to convert the Kingsbridge Armory into a shopping complex. The deal-breaker was that Related Companies was offering no commitment to hire locally or to pay a “living wage,” now on the books as $13.13 hourly, or $11.50 with benefits.

The living wage law enacted by the City Council requires employers receiving $1 million or more in city benefits to pay workers more, but it only applies to city benefits that are administered on a discretionary basis and does not cover most property tax benefit initiatives.

“Though we have passed the strongest ‘living wage’ law in the

United States, not every project was covered by those efforts,” Díaz said in a statement, adding that his office is still working “to ensure that all developers who do business in the Bronx treat our borough with respect and do well by their employees.”

When asked about the living wage standards at the new malls he’s backing, Díaz said: “I am still a strong believer, and always will be, that if you are a developer and you want to use taxpayer dollars to the tune of $1 million or more, you should pay a living wage.” At Bay Plaza mall, he said, “there was no subsidy.”

But Díaz’s office, by way of its Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation, used its leverage to convince the state to invest in a new exit ramp from a nearby highway to the new mall. And city property records show the developer is slated to receive a property tax exemption worth $4,199,780 in 2016 under the Industrial and Commercial Incentive Program, which offsets increases in real estate taxes for new construction, modernization or rehabilitation of commercial or industrial properties.

River Plaza, built before the living wage law passed, is also scheduled to receive a $17,016,750 exemption under the program. Neither River Plaza nor Bay Plaza has to pay living wages.

While many malls do not have to pay a living wage, Díaz contends developers and retailers alike have hired borough residents, contributing to a drop in the Bronx unemployment rate from 13.9 percent to less than 9 percent since he took office.

Figures provided by his office show the Mall at Bay Plaza employs more than 1,800, people, more than 90 percent of them Bronxites; more than 70 percent of Gateway Center workers are also local. Once fully leased, Broadway Plaza is expected to employ 200, while Riverdale Crossing will employ more than 500, the borough president’s office said.

Nick Iuviene, program director for an initiative by Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Community Innovators Lab aimed at spurring economic development in the Bronx, encourages community benefit agreements to ensure communities get the most out of the surge. CBAs

are deals between developers and communities like the one Díaz helped broker for the Kingsbridge Armory after turning down the mall.

Iuviene argues that the “any job is better than no job” mantra “misses the point of where we need to be going.”

But while the borough president has said he will use his leverage to favor green development and employers who hire locally, it is the market that prevails at the Bronx’s growing network of shopping centers.

S. Andrew Katz said his firm planned a 40,000-square-foot shopping complex in Hunts Point because the area lacked sit-down eateries and national chains. So far, the Crossing at Southern has inked deals with Red Lobster, Bank of America, Dollar Tree, McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts.

For blogger Ed García Conde, who counted two other McDonald’s within walking distance from the site, that doesn’t exactly cut it.

“McDonald’s recently told its own employees that eating their food is unhealthy,” Conde wrote in a post. “So why should we allow another one in the area?”

ARMAN DZIDZOVIC

28 RETAIL ESTABLISHMENTS 4,000 3,900 3,800 3,700 3,600 3,500 3,400 3,300

city & state — May 13, 2015

RETAIL EMPLOYEES 29,000 28,000 27,000 26,000 25,000 24,000 23,000 22,000 21,000 The Bronx Terminal Market was completed in 2009 with 1 million square feet of retail.

2004

2009

2013

ANNUAL PAYROLL ($) 700 K 600K 500K 400K 300K 200K 100K

2004

2009

2013

0

2004

2009

2013

*Source: U.S. Census Bureau

cit yandstateny.com

Everyone deserves to breathe clean, smoke-free air in their homes.

Smoke-free housing protects New Yorkers, especially children from secondhand smoke.

For more information on going smoke-free, or to lend your support, visit SmokeFreeHousingNY.org.

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

Education Enigma What Carl Heastie’s ascent means for schools

By GEOFF DECKER from CHALKBEAT NEW YORK

city & state — May 13, 2015

30

HE’S BEEN A MUTED VOICE ON EDUCATION. Heastie’s predecessor, Sheldon Silver, was a staunch ally of the teachers unions, which have been aggressively organizing against Cuomo’s education plans.

But despite his more than 14 years as a public official, Heastie’s views on education are murky and his legislative record on education issues is minimal.

(That’s not atypical in the Assembly, where most issues are negotiated in a package behind closed doors.) On most hot-button issues, he’s said little.

“He’s a supporter of all public schools,” a spokesman said when asked for his position on last year’s charter-school funding debate. He did not make Heastie available for an interview.

Teachers and principals who work in the northeast Bronx schools that Heastie represents say he’s been a responsive and visible presence,

SHANNON DECELLE

H

e supports charter schools, but deplores the co-location policy that’s allowed them to flourish in New York City.

He voted for mayoral control in 2002, then reversed himself seven years later. And he’s said public schools need a big increase in funding while also sponsoring a bill that would direct funds toward private-school seats.

Carl Heastie, the northeast Bronx legislator and new speaker of the state Assembly, is entering the fray at a critical moment for public education.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants to make dramatic changes to laws governing teacher tenure, evaluations and the number of charter schools allowed to open across the state.

But Heastie’s record on education is sparse and, at times, conflicting. As the teachers unions, charter-school advocates, and the rest of Albany’s power brokers look for an ally, here are five things to know about the speaker.

Teachers and principals who work in the Bronx schools that Carl Heastie represents say he’s been a responsive and visible presence.

batting away co-location proposals they opposed, speaking at graduation ceremonies, and even regularly visiting one school’s student council meetings.

He touts his role in securing funds to build two new schools in his district on his Assembly website.

Despite his previous obscurity outside of the Bronx, Heastie’s rise has excited some who believe the borough’s schools have been neglected for decades.

“Bronx is in the house!” offered Betty Rosa, a former superintendent of Bronx schools who now represents the borough on the Board of Regents.

HE’S SUPPORTED POLICIES THE UNION CARES ABOUT. Under Silver’s leadership, the Assembly remained closely allied with the city and state teachers unions.

Reducing class sizes and school overcrowding were top priorities for Silver, and the unions counted on

him to scuttle or amend legislative proposals they opposed.

Heastie, too, has said overcrowding is an issue and has occasionally spoken out about a need for the state to more adequately fund low-income schools, a perennial issue for the unions and other advocates.

“Resources alone doesn’t teach children, but it goes a long way,” Heastie said in 2012 at a press conference organized by Alliance for Quality Education.

City teachers union chief Michael Mulgrew said he is counting on Heastie to continue pushing Cuomo to meet the state’s court-decided funding targets for city schools.

“I think he understands, as an assemblyman from the city and from his section of the Bronx, that the idea that the state hasn’t met its obligation constitutionally is something he would probably be interested in,” Mulgrew said.

Heastie also kept Queens Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan, an ally of Silver and longtime proponent of increased school funding, as chair of the education committee.

HE HAS BROKEN THE TRADITIONAL MOLD FOR AN ASSEMBLY DEMOCRAT. The lone charter school in Assembly District 83 never had to worry about its representative having its back.

That’s the impression school leader Kevin Brennan was left with last year after he showed up at Heastie’s Albany office. Brennan, who runs the Bronx Charter School for Better Learning, had wanted to know whether Heastie would support some controversial changes to the charter-school law that would help his school get free space.

“Why even bother to come up here?” Heastie told him, Brennan recalled. “You know I already support cit yandstateny.com

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

HIS ASCENT COULD RAISE THE PROFILE OF SCHOOL STRUGGLES IN THE BRONX. The Bronx is the borough with the highest number of English language learners with disabilities — 10,000 — and the highest concentration of students who require language services for more than six years, according to cit yandstateny.com

city figures. In the Bronx, 15.5 percent of third- through eighth-graders were proficient in reading last year, compared with 28 percent citywide, and math proficiency stood at 20 percent, compared with 34 percent citywide.

“I feel that I personally will have a person who will understand the plight of the children in the Bronx,” Regents member Rosa said.

But to some Bronx-based advocates, Heastie’s relative quiet on larger issues has been a disappointment, especially since the borough’s schools are considered the neediest in the city.

Ocynthia Williams, a parent organizer in the Bronx for more than two decades, said public schools are rarely a priority for the borough’s politicians.

“From my experience with Carl Heastie and the Bronx machine, we’ve stayed in the same predicament for a very long time when it comes to schools,” said Williams. “They’re not getting better and I’m not really seeing them fighting to make them better and it’s just business as usual.”

HE KNOWS HIS WAY AROUND A SCHOOL. Interviews with teachers and principals whose schools are in Heastie’s district offer a picture of a representative who excels at constituent services. He visits schools regularly and shows up to speak at graduations, they say, describing him in the same way that his political colleagues have: an unassuming presence who doesn’t appear to have staked out strong political positions.

“I don’t think you’re going to hear him yelling and screaming at people,” said Andrew Turay, the former principal of the now-shuttered Evander Childs High School, where Heastie has spoken. (After Evander closed in 2008, Turay founded one of the new small high schools that opened in the building.)

Linda Resnick, a teacher and coordinator of student activities at Evander Childs before it closed, said Heastie would often attend the school’s student council meetings. At the time, Heastie was still in graduate school at Baruch College, earning his accounting degree while starting his political career.

“He made the effort to come in to talk about leadership and responsibility,” Resnick recalled.

31

city & state — May 13, 2015

you.”

But he also had a hand in scuttling a proposed charter school co-location at J.H.S. 144 in 2013, according to a staff member at the district school.

“I’ve always had problems with charter schools co-located in public schools,” Heastie told the Daily News.

Meanwhile, the charter sector has tried to make inroads in the Assembly.

Last fall, the Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee received a total of $40,000 in donations from Success Academy CEO Eva Moskowitz’s political action committee and Public Prep Chairman Bryan Lawrence, filings show.

Kyle Rosenkrans, CEO of the Northeast Charter Schools Network, described Heastie’s appointment as a new opening.

“I think it’s an opportunity to forge a new relationship and a more collaborative one between the Assembly and charters all over the state, frankly,” Rosenkrans said.

In 2009, Heastie also broke from his conference and voted against renewing mayoral control of New York City schools, which a spokesman attributed to concerns about the independence of the Panel for Educational Policy.

Heastie also co-sponsored the education investment tax credit bill, which would direct some taxpayer dollars toward private-school seats.

The bill incentivizes donations to private school scholarship funds as well as foundations that support public education, a proposal that the New York State United Teachers has likened to a “backdoor voucher proposal.”

Heastie’s support for the tax credit likely reflects the middle-class nature of his district, which includes Catholic schools that would benefit from the legislation. Heastie also supported changes to the charter-school law last year that guaranteed facilities funding to new or expanding schools.

(The Bronx has the second-highest number of charter schools of the city’s boroughs, with 52.)

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

Views of the

Bronx

city & state — May 13, 2015

32

Big things ahead for the Bronx—that’s what lawmakers are saying.

We reached out to every elected official in the Bronx—everyone in Congress, the state Legislature and the City Council—and asked: What’s one thing that would make the Bronx better?

From economic development funding to job opportunities to trees (trees!), their answers painted a picture of a borough in transition, on the path from old to new.

So read on, to find out how they’d build a bigger, bolder, better Bronx.

cit yandstateny.com

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

T

Jeffrey Klein

Mark Gjonaj

STATE SENATOR Democrat 34th District

ASSEMBLYMAN Democrat 80th District

he Bronx bears the dubious distinction of having one of the highest unemployment rates in the state. It currently stands at 8.9 percent.

Job creation in my borough is a top priority, which is why I created

the Bronx HIRE program in partnership with the Bronx Chamber of

J

33

ob creation! Opportunities exist on which this great borough can capitalize. The Bronx is home to so many exciting attractions, including the incredible Bronx Zoo, the Botanical Garden, Pelham Bay Park and

Orchard Beach, shopping on Fordham Road, quaint City Island, Little Italy

Commerce. This innovative program pairs Bronxites with real, good-paying

and of course the legendary Yankee Stadium. A flagship hotel in the vicinity

jobs and provides training, interview and resume-building workshops to job

of the zoo and the Botanical Garden would boost tourism in an existing

seekers. Most importantly, Bronx HIRE eliminates the financial obstacles

transportation hub, and offer tourists an extended-stay opportunity to fully

unemployed residents face through free certifications that are necessary to

experience both parks and all that the Bronx has to offer. This would boost

land jobs in the first place. Bronx HIRE is helping residents obtain licenses—

the local economy and create job opportunities that our borough truly needs.

free of charge—in commercial driving, child care, security, real estate, personal training, home health care and other fields that job seekers otherwise could not afford.

Connecting Bronxites to employment undoubtedly makes our borough better. When I launched this program last year, I congratulated a woman who just got hired at a job fair. After months of looking for work, she had tears in her eyes when she finally landed a great opportunity through our program.

Since then, so many personal success stories like hers have been shared with me, and this wildly popular program has helped hundreds of Bronxites get city & state — May 13, 2015

back into the workforce.

cit yandstateny.com

CAMILO J. VERGARA/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

ARMAN DZIDZOVIC

city & state — May 13, 2015

34

Prospect Avenue and East 149th Street in 1980 (top left); 1992 (top right); 1994 (second row left); 2009 (second row right); and present day (bottom).

cit yandstateny.com

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

WEDNESDAY, MAY 27TH BNY MELLON 101 Barclay Street 10th Floor: West Assembly • New York, NY 10007

BRIEF:

CIT Y COUNCILWOMAN Democrat 16th District

I

love the Bronx and am so thankful to have the opportunity to live here, work here and represent the people of the 16th Council District.

I believe the Bronx is due for a renaissance and that we are on the cusp

of a better, brighter future. Every day, my staff and I work to make the Bronx a better place. I strongly believe that the most pressing issue in the Bronx is the need for community-driven economic development. The Bronx needs access to better employment opportunities. We have to do more to create the kind of career-driven jobs that stabilize communities and help individuals and families rise from poverty. Simultaneously, we must create and preserve affordable housing for working people at all income levels. People who work in the Bronx need to be able to afford to live in the Bronx. Finally, these efforts will only be successful if my colleagues in government and I work together to address the health issues facing the people of this borough. It is simply unacceptable that we are ranked the lowest in health outcomes of any county in the state. Too many neighborhoods are without access to quality supermarkets or even fresh fruits and vegetables. We cannot hope to have healthy communities without healthy individuals. I am committed to fighting for the Bronx and I look forward to working with all of my colleagues at the state and local level as we work to make the Bronx better.

PROGRAMMING: 8:00AM: Registration and Networking 8:45AM: Welcoming Remarks and Word from our Sponsor 9:00AM: Back and Forth with Ram Raju, President / CEO of the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation 9:30AM: Panel of Officials, Advocates and Experts on Major Shifts in Healthcare and Healthcare Delivery • Jason Helgerson, Director of Medicaid and Deputy NYS Health Commissioner More panelists TBA 10:30AM: Back and Forth with Dr. Mary Bassett, Commissioner, New York City Dept. of Health * pending confirmation

Sponsored by:

For more information on programming and sponsorship opportunities, please call Jasmin Freeman at 646-442-1662 or email jfreeman@cityandstateny.com cit yandstateny.com

35

city & state — May 13, 2015

Vanessa Gibson

While many of the major healthcare issues facing New York remain the same as years past, a new make up to the New York State Assembly, the NYS Department of Health and more clarity on which New York City officials are in charge have provided additional clarity on how certain legislation and policy will shift or change in the coming months. City & State convenes leaders in government, business and advocacy for multiple panels on the future of healthcare and healthcare policy in New York.

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

36

T

Jeffrey Dinowitz

Luis Sepúlveda

ASSEMBLYMAN Democrat 81st District

ASSEMBLYMAN Democrat 87th District

he Bronx Billions. This is what we need to really make the Bronx better. Two years ago, the governor put forth an innovative program to turn around a city that had faced difficult times for decades. He

called it the Buffalo Billion. By directing $1 billion of state funds into Buffalo, mainly for economic development, he hoped to jump-start its economy and end decades of malaise, disinvestment and outmigration.

Despite the remarkable progress the Bronx has made over the past several years, our borough faces many major challenges. The Bronx has higher rates of poverty and unemployment than Buffalo, and a population several times its size. What we need is the Bronx billions: a plan for economic development and investment to attract high-tech businesses, build and fix our public schools, and construct thousands of units of housing for the middle class. The governor rightly recognized the dire needs of Buffalo. It would make sense for him to initiate a similarly ambitious program for the Bronx.

The opportunities for our borough are nearly limitless. Relatively cheap land is plentiful in the Bronx, and the Bronx is easily accessible from Manhattan, Westchester and points beyond. However, it will take a very focused effort and significant investment to ensure that the Bronx

city & state — May 13, 2015

renaissance—which is already in progress—becomes a full-fledged economic boom.

O

ne thing that would make the Bronx better is more economic development that looks to bring tourism here. The Bronx is home to a myriad of attractions, such as the Botanical Garden, Wave Hill,

the Edgar Allan Poe house, and, of course, the Bronx Zoo. However, the areas around these attractions do not see the economic development that would make the Bronx an especially attractive draw to tourists.

For example, tourists who visit the Bronx Zoo take the subway to East Tremont Avenue, walk to the zoo, enjoy the attractions, and when they are done they walk directly back to the train station and head back to Manhattan.

The Bronx has an opportunity to keep these tourists in the Bronx if we bring developers into the areas that surround these attractions.

The area around the Bronx Zoo and its subway stops should be filled with coffee shops, restaurants, beer gardens and other small businesses that will keep people here. In addition, these shops will provide jobs for Bronxites who live nearby. It is a win-win for the borough.

It is encouraging that we have seen recently a great deal of economic development in the Bronx at places like the Mall at Bay Plaza; however, the Bronx has an opportunity to be a tourist destination, and it is something that we should be taking advantage of.

So what is the one thing that would make the Bronx better? We need to think big and make up for decades of neglect by the city, state and federal governments. The time has come for such a massive investment to turn the Bronx into everything it could be and should be.

cit yandstateny.com

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

P

Andy King

Andrew Cohen

CIT Y COUNCILMAN Democrat 12th District

CIT Y COUNCILMAN Democrat 11th District

articipation is key. It’s important for Bronx residents and organizations to become actively involved in the decisions that affect our communities and their lives based on education, housing,

employment, citizenship, taxes, voting and respect. No one organization or team can strive and grow with only one person doing the work and everyone

O

ne thing I think the Bronx could use more of is trees. More trees can benefit all neighborhoods by creating a warmer and more inviting community, while helping to produce clean air for our

environment. Strategically placed trees would also help to control noise pollution and increase property values.

else sitting back and watching. To succeed, members of the organization or team must participate, pitch in and help build their community. I like to think of the Bronx as a team, and in order for it to be a winning team the teammates must participate. It doesn’t matter your race, your economic background or education— people pay attention to people who participate.

37

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city & state — May 13, 2015

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The Bronx Special Issue 2015

38

O

Gustavo Rivera

Latoya Joyner

STATE SENATOR Democrat 33rd District

ASSEMBLYWOMAN Democrat 77th District

ne of the main issues facing Bronx residents is a lack of affordable and quality housing. Thousands of Bronxites are severely rent burdened and are often subjected to deplorable housing conditions,

including unsafe buildings, harassment and poorly maintained infrastructure.

W

e have many valuable assets in the Bronx, including the rich cultural diversity of our people, the artistry of the Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York’s oldest standing bridge in High Bridge, the

expansive recreational opportunities at Roberto Clemente State Park and

While my district alone has the second-highest concentration of rent-

one of the world’s most famous sports venues—Yankee Stadium. I join with

regulated units in New York City, 35 percent of all Bronx households are

Bronxites throughout our borough in being justifiably proud of those assets

paying more than half of their income toward rent each year—causing

and so many more, but for the Bronx to achieve its full potential it is essential

significant financial hardship and inhibiting their ability to prosper.

for more to be done to expand the availability of affordable quality housing for

Addressing the affordable housing crisis that plagues our borough and the

all our residents.

entire city will go a long way in making the Bronx a better place for generations

As in so many other communities in our city, families throughout the 77th

to come. However, there is not one simple solution. We need to work toward

Assembly District and in much of the Bronx are facing a daily struggle as the

comprehensive solutions that expand, protect and invest in our affordable

economic pressures resulting from New York’s ongoing affordable housing

housing stock.

crisis are squeezing their monthly budgets and threatening to displace them

This year, we have the opportunity make real progress by expanding and

from their homes. The situation is particularly dire for working and low-

protecting rent regulation laws in Albany. Lax rent laws, such as vacancy

income families and our senior citizens. With our state’s rent regulation law set

decontrol, have reduced our city’s affordable housing stock and left millions of

to expire in the end of June, I am working with my colleagues in government,

New Yorkers, and certainly Bronxites, struggling to afford their monthly rent

advocates and community residents in support of strengthening tenant

and at risk of losing their homes.

protections and expanding the availability of affordable housing throughout

At the same time, we need to address the recurring housing and property

the Bronx.

management issues that are not necessarily governed by rent regulation laws

city & state — May 13, 2015

and that drastically affect the quality of life of Bronx residents. That is why I was very proud to have joined fellow city and state elected officials in forming the West Bronx Housing Coalition. The Coalition will seek to strengthen the housing security of West Bronx residents by building a grass-roots movement and fighting for legislative and local solutions.

Ensuring Bronxites have the ability to secure and maintain safe, affordable and decent homes will make the Bronx a better place to live.

cit yandstateny.com

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

Y

ou should know that one of the most important things we can do to make Bronx County better is to stop trapping our children in failing schools. We have to stop stealing education possibilities from them. The current public education crisis is

denying a future for our black and Hispanic children. Not only is it a state constitutional mandate to provide a “sound basic education in public schools,” it is a moral imperative for us to remedy this situation and end this crisis.

It is a fact that the New York State school system is broken, and that every year 800,000 children fail and the majority of these students are black and Hispanic. Out of the 178 failing schools in New York, 40 are located in the Bronx. It is a crime that these schools prepare less than 1 in 10 of our children to read or do math at grade level, and we cannot accept this failure any more.

I support the public school education system, but I also support the expansion of charter schools. With more charter schools, the children who now attend failing schools in Bronx County could have a better chance for a good education, and we need to do whatever we can to help them.

We need to address how financial resources are sent from Albany to New York City’s enormous Department of Education. Every year this funding does not get to many of the

Rubén Díaz Sr. STATE SENATOR Democrat 32nd District

Bronx’s classrooms in my district. We need to make a big change so Albany will allocate resources to the individual school districts within New York City. This way, money will get into the actual classrooms here in the Bronx where it is most needed to help our children.

Despite this year’s budget, which is flush with surplus money from settlements with banks accused of inappropriate overseas trading, public education still suffers. If funds are allocated to individual school districts, the children of the Bronx may have a chance to break the cycle of neglect they have faced for too long.

39

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city & state — May 13, 2015

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The Bronx Special Issue 2015

40

O

Michael Benedetto

James Vacca

ASSEMBLYMAN Democrat 82nd District

CIT Y COUNCIL Democrat 13th District

ne thing that should be done to make the Bronx better would be for the city to invest in a major upgrade to Ferry Point Park, located beneath the Whitestone Bridge.

Ferry Point Park has, over the years, been neglected and allowed to

T

he one thing that would make the Bronx better is an expansion of its traffic infrastructure. As former chairman of the New York City Council Committee on Transportation, I know the transportation

options many communities throughout the city have to offer and know that

deteriorate. However, its location on Long Island Sound provides magnificent

the Bronx pales in comparison. The lack of these options is hurting the Bronx

views of the New York City skyline. Now, with the new world-class Trump Golf

economically and must be addressed.

Links course on the eastern side of the park and the real prospect of PGA

It is difficult to urge people to use mass transit in the Bronx when we

tournaments coming to the Bronx, it is time to provide all tourists and

cannot even meet reliable service expectations and capacity needs. For

Bronxites with a first-class experience on the western side of Ferry Point.

example, express bus service in my borough is anything but express. These

The city must dress the park up with recreation areas, a scenic promenade

buses sit in the same unbearable gridlock that cars sit in going to and from

and waterfront cafes much as they did in Long Island City. All this should be

Manhattan every day. If we truly intend to encourage people to use mass

capped off with the addition of a new area hotel to service the new arrivals.

transit, there must be dedicated lanes in Manhattan to get these express

In the past, the city has missed out on a chance to provide for economic

buses to fulfill their mission and truly become express! Also, additional trains

development in our borough. The opening of Trump Golf Links provides the

are needed on Bronx subway lines. I take the train to City Hall from my

perfect opportunity to make Ferry Point Park a “go-to” place. The city needs

district and can attest that service is irregular and straphangers are packed like

to act.

sardines during rush hours.

The Bronx waterfront is unused. We are the only borough without ferry service. The mayor’s current plan provides only one ferry stop in the Bronx—in Soundview—and overlooks communities like Throggs Neck and Co-op City,

city & state — May 13, 2015

which are no-brainers.

I was one of the first elected officials to endorse the Move NY plan that reduces the high tolls Bronx residents pay—just to go to Queens! These tolls should be reduced and replaced with a toll for cars entering Manhattan below 60th Street, where congestion is truly crippling our city. This change in toll structure would equalize access to Manhattan, ease traffic and contribute to a severely underfunded MTA.

cit yandstateny.com

JACK E. BOUCHER/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

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BRIEF: This special edition of City & State magazine will highlight the biggest issues in front of the NYS Legislature. This issue also features profiles of the top 10 Albany lobbyists and some other facts and figures about lobbying in New York.

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MAY 25TH SESSION COUNTDOWN: PART 1

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

Bronx Tales A Q&A with author Arlene Alda

A

city & state — May 13, 2015

42

rlene Alda, a Bronx native, attended CUNY’s Hunter College and graduated with honors, becoming a professional clarinetist and playing in the Houston Symphony orchestra before picking up the pen. She is now an award-winning photographer and author, with 18 books under her belt, including “Just Kids From the Bronx”—a collection of memoirs from celebrities and other notables looking back on their childhood in the borough.

In this Q&A with City & State she discusses what sets the borough and its residents apart and what she learned from the Bronx stories she collected.

What gave you the idea for the book?

Many ideas come and go, but I couldn’t let go of a happy experience I had a while ago. One fall day Mickey Drexler, CEO of J.Crew, and I decided to go back to visit the apartment building in the Bronx where we both had grown up. I had just met Mickey a couple of months before, and even though we grew up in the same building, we didn’t know each other at the time. As Mickey and I started trading stories of childhood in the courtyard of our building, he excitedly talked about his family with insights into what kind of childhood he had. Mickey’s humble beginnings and current stature in life were not lost on me, and talking with him was exhilarating. I realized there are so many interesting and accomplished people who grew up in the Bronx whose stories I, and others, did not know.

So I decided to step up to the plate to interview some of them for the book I began imagining. I ended up with 65

varied stories for “Just Kids from the Bronx.”

How did you choose the subjects and how did people react to the idea when you asked them to contribute?

Initially, the subjects for the book were chosen at random. Many of them, like Regis Philbin, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Mary Higgins Clark, Jules Feiffer, Mickey Drexler, for instance, are friends and acquaintances of mine.

I then networked and accessed lists of prominent Bronxites, to round out and update the stories. The ones I ended up interviewing for the book loved the idea and were happy to be interviewed. I would never have asked the subjects to write their own stories.

That would’ve been too much of an imposition in many ways, both for the writers and non-writers alike.

How long did you spend compiling these stories?

I audio taped/interviewed each of the 64 people in the book, (except for Abe Rosenthal’s posthumous piece) transcribed them, then edited them so that each story retained the voice of the interviewee, and was a unique story to that person in his or her time.

I arranged the stories in chronological order, so that one could get a picture of time moving forward, with all the changes in the Bronx, and indeed, the country, that implied. All in all, it took me over four years to complete the book. So basically, I didn’t compile the stories. My work was cut out for me as soon as I started interviewing the wonderful Bronxites.

What was the most interesting thing you learned?

Schools, neighbors, teachers, family members, mentors and role models of all kinds were important throughout the decades. It also appeared that without the intervention and caring of these mentors and role models, some of these “kids” would not have made it … and that included the “kids” from my generation as well.

What common themes, if any, did you notice in these tales?

The importance of education for ensuring a better future, and how important the economic opportunities of the times were. If you grew up in the South Bronx during the ’70s and ’80s, you had a tougher time getting a good education and carving out a path for yourself.

What makes the Bronx different than other boroughs?

As Mary Higgins Clark says, “There are only three places that have a ‘the’ in front of their names: the Vatican, The Hague and the Bronx.”

The Bronx also has more parkland than any other borough (25 percent of the Bronx is parkland). The borough has three major world attractions: the Bronx Zoo, the New York Botanical Garden and Yankee Stadium. But the most striking characteristic, as far as I can see, is that every Bronxite I’ve met, whether having liked or disliked the Bronx when growing up, no matter the age or the ethnicity, was excited to be sharing his or her childhood stories with me. There’s an affinity we Bronxites seem to have for one another.

It’s our shared country of origin, in a metaphoric sense. The people make the borough, and there are a lot of very proud people from the Bronx. And having a winning ball team doesn’t hurt!

How has your Bronx block changed since you grew up there?

I walked my old block very recently, and I would say the buildings themselves look almost the same … but where are the hordes of kids playing in the street?

They’re not there. Times change. TV, air conditioning, electronic games, safety concerns with both traffic and strangers, the dangers of today’s street culture have taken their toll on young kids playing outdoors, unsupervised.

Even so, I feel totally comfortable on my Bronx block, over 60 years later. I still think of it as “mine.” The memories are vivid and palpable and I smile a lot when I go there.

What’s your favorite place to go in the borough and when was the last time you were there?

I’ve always loved Bronx Park, the zoo and the Botanical Garden. I was just at the Botanical Garden last week.

I was too late for the orchid show, but was able to see some of the gorgeous flowering cherry trees and spring flowering bulbs. I also was at the Botanical Garden on May 3, talking about “Just Kids From the Bronx.” Great audience!

In 2015, what is the single thing that would most benefit the borough?

This is not my area of expertise, but I would imagine that jobs are critical.

And then, even more of a cultural presence would liven up the borough appreciably. Artists often lead the way. Lead on! Once people know the Bronx is a destination that is fun and interesting, they will come. For the first time in decades, there are more residents staying in the Bronx than are leaving. That’s a good sign. cit yandstateny.com

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

Meet the ‘Kids’

Alda interviewed dozens of celebrities and notable figures for her book. Here’s a small sample of the stories she collected:

It was beautiful. I mean the world up on the roof. It was like our terrace. I wish I could describe it to you artfully.

It was as close to poetry as I could get. It was spectacular.

The sun would be going down. You could actually stand there and see the Empire State Building and the skyline from the South Bronx. And imagine—all these people who had come from different parts of the world would be up there. And at night—at night, there was this cacophony of voices, especially in the late spring to late summer. You would hear the different accents. We had them all. There were Italians, Jews, Irish, Polish, German. It was like a Eugene O’Neill play.

MELVIN GLOVER (GRANDMASTER MELLE MEL), BORN 1961 RAP ARTIST

The main thing about the generation that I came up in, from the perspective of being a fan and the music we did, I think it’s so commendable that the people all came from the same area. From a four- or five-block radius. We didn’t just settle for what was brought to the table. Brooklyn. The kids call it Crooklyn, but we did music in the Bronx. That was our thing. We are able to go all over the world. 1980, 1990, people all over the world were doing hip-hop. It’s a certified music genre and it’s all because we just wanted to have fun in our Bronx neighborhood. We just wanted to have a good time.

And we knew that a lot of other people could have a good time, and I think that those people have a lot of enjoyment in their lives from what we started back then.

DAVID YARNELL, BORN 1929 INDEPENDENT PRODUCER OF TELEVISION PROGRAMS AND DOCUMENTARIES

“The Bronx? No Thonx!” a poem by Ogden Nash, is one I cynically recited for a good part of my life, but I’ve changed my mind. I have great memories, in spite of the awful rush-hour rides on the loud and squeaky 241st Street IRT subway line.

There were the fragrant, sweet smells from the Saperstein and Snowflake bakeries. No Parisian patisserie produced a more luscious éclair than those two Jewish corners of heaven, especially when you bit into the outer shell and the inside custard released in all its glory. There were the delicatessens with their pickle barrels, the Italian grocery stores, lilacs growing wild in empty lots—yes, lilacs! cit yandstateny.com

A.M. (“ABE”) ROSENTHAL (1922-2006) CORRESPONDENT AND LONGTIME MANAGING EDITOR OF THE NEW YORK TIMES

For seven years, I lived with my five sisters and our parents, Sarah and Harry, among flowers and trees, dancing fountains, wilderness paths, birds singing in their ecstasy and such stupendous quantities of a particular treasure as to send my mother into paroxysms of acquisition greed.

“Fresh air!” she would announce. And then from her lips came the command that rang through every apartment in the Bronx neighborhood every day: “Go grab some fresh air! Out! Fresh air!”

As other American pioneers and gamblers kept moving west, the Jews of New York kept moving north toward fresh air. For Harry and his Pirate Queen the road led from the tenements of the Lower East Side in Manhattan to Decatur Avenue in the Bronx, where young warriors waited in ambush to pounce on the new kids and eventually declare peace. The adult pioneers worked six days a week and every hour of overtime they could get.

They saved every penny with pleasure, looking down from the peak above the sea to the pass above the fruited plain—Mosholu Parkway station, far north, only a few miles south of the New York suburbs boundary line.

Beyond the station, as far as a housepainter’s eye could see, stretched Van Cortlandt Park. The ride on the subway was usually an hour or more each way. Coming home, fresh air awaited, ready to be consumed in large gulps, a reservoir never dry. And during the day, breathing the paint or the lint, a workingman knew that at least at home the wife and the children were breathing that fresh air, all day long.

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MARY HIGGINS CLARK, BORN 1929 AUTHOR OF WORLDWIDE BEST-SELLING SUSPENSE NOVELS

People just don’t get it. I simply say that there are only three places that have a “the” in front of their name: the Vatican, The Hague—and the Bronx, and that so much talent has come out of the Bronx. It’s also so beautiful. Not only is Fordham University there, but there’s also Mosholu Parkway, Pelham Parkway, and the Botanical Garden, for heaven’s sake.

There were also people in my own neighborhood who became well known. There was Jake LaMotta—the “Raging Bull”—the prizefighter who lived down the block from me. I didn’t know it then, but Judith Rossner, who wrote “Looking for Mr. Goodbar,” also lived four blocks from me. And then there was a major counterfeiter who lived down the street from us. We always wondered why his son had such a snappy roadster. We found out he was on the Ten Most Wanted list.

city & state — May 13, 2015

AL PACINO, BORN 1940 ACTOR, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

Bronx Pride ALEXIS GRENELL

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city & state — May 13, 2015

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or many New Yorkers the Bronx is an infamous place of legend, irreparably branded by Howard Cosell’s declaration during the 1977 World Series that “the Bronx is burning.”

And there it sits in the collective imagination, an eternal symbol of urban decline.

The first time I had a friend over from my high school in Manhattan, she clutched my hand the whole way home, a taut bundle of anxiety from 96th Street to 205th Street. I couldn’t understand what was so terrifying about being on the D train. Walking home from the subway, she crossed the street to keep away from an AfricanAmerican man coming toward us. He was my neighbor.

To this day, when I tell people where I grew up, they often assume that I mean Riverdale, the mostly white, affluent enclave just north of Manhattan. I’m used to the awkward silence when I proudly explain that no, I’m from the working class Bronx. One time a woman patronizingly expressed pity for my entire childhood. What’s implied is that homogeneous wealth makes a neighborhood a nice place to live. I’m often mistaken for someone who shares these values, because I don’t look like the people I was raised around.

I grew up the minority in an ethnically and socio-economically diverse community, which taught me that different is more than just interesting—it’s desirable.

I was not, and am not, sorry.

The Bronx is where I learned to speak Puerto Rican Spanish, where Dominican men hanging out in bodega doorways made sure I got home safe at 2 a.m. It’s where my downstairs neighbor, a California go-go dancer turned religious Sikh, taught me to meditate. And where a summer job waitressing morphed into an anthropological survey in which I watched recent Albanian immigrants compete against the Italian old guard to out-tip me.

It shouldn’t take a wave of gentrifiers to prove the Bronx worthy of investment. But the borough is a victim of prejudice, neglect and bad planning, cut off from the economic revival of Brooklyn and Queens and judged guilty for the crimes perpetrated against it by others.

Robert Moses, the creator and the destroyer, slashed through its communities nearly 70 years ago to build the Cross Bronx Expressway.

Later in the 1970s, at the height of the fiscal crisis, New York City’s housing commissioner actually proposed “planned shrinkage” to save the tax base by withdrawing services from its disease-infected limb. Decades of corruption have robbed residents of decent representation and tax dollars, further pillaging the borough’s reputation.

Policies, not residents, are responsible for the Bronx’s comparatively stunted development.

Insufficient infrastructure and investment have nothing to do with

cultural or class differences, despite the prevailing bias.

Take public transportation. The Bronx has a natural geographic disadvantage. Located far from midtown and lower Manhattan, it’s a long commute to the city’s commerce centers. Continuous express subway service could help bridge the divide, reshape the real estate landscape and spur economic development.

Moreover, it would better connect the city to the borough’s existing human

capital and cultural resources.

The Bronx is not a luxury product and it doesn’t have to be to warrant respect for what it is, or investment in what it could be.

In fact, if it were up to me, the rest of the city could stand to be a little bit more like the Bronx.

Alexis Grenell (@grenell on Twitter) is a Democratic communications strategist based in New York. She handles nonprofit and political clients.

Alexis Grenell spent her childhood in the Bronx, and she wouldn’t trade it for anything.

cit yandstateny.com

MICHAEL BENJAMIN

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ifty-seven years ago this month I was born at Bronx Hospital on Fulton Avenue in Morrisania. I am a Bronx guy through and through. So is my younger brother, Larry, an expat Bronxite living in Philadelphia.

Recently, he sent me a T-shirt emblazoned, “You Can’t Scare Me. I’m From The Bronx.” That says it all.

The chip on our shoulder is real and burdensome.

We lived through the tumultuous 1960s, the arson and planned shrinkage of the ’70s, and the crackfueled ’80s. The ’90s birthed the borough’s resurgence and this new century put us on a stratospheric trajectory.

Two phrases from the 1970s and ’80s best convey our sense of embattlement: “Don’t Move, Improve” and “Nos Quedamos/We Stay.” Today, fear of arson and loss of city services has been replaced by fears of gentrification and environmental degradation.

Growing up in a post-Korean War Bronx was a classic best of times, worst of times experience. I recall Jewish, Italian, Irish, Puerto Rican and black storekeepers, neighbors, classmates and two-parent households.

Our harmonious multiracial and multicultural coexistence set us apart.

The Bronx has been a place of transition for every immigrant group that has set down in the borough. The only constant has been the place names. That churning has been both our curse and our blessing.

It has enabled the Bronx Democratic Party organization to smoothly transition from Irish dominance to an Italian-Jewish alliance that accommodated black and Puerto Rican political aspirations.

Today, new nationalities—Dominicans, cit yandstateny.com

Albanians, Mexicans, West Africans— are making their collective way.

Nonetheless, Bronx political activists and residents, by and large, inherently mistrust elected officials.

From abandoning the blighted areas via “planned shrinkage” of city services to closing firehouses to proposing a medical waste incinerator in Port Morris to building a public school above a brownfield, the residents have felt the stinging, callous hand of government.

“It’s their responsibility to make a difference in the lives of their constituents,” said Mychal Johnson, who has been active in the fight against FreshDirect relocating to the Bronx.

“They (elected officials) need to work for the people, not themselves.”

That sentiment obscures the good work and advancement that politics has wrought in the borough.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie’s rise to statewide political prominence is quite remarkable for a county that 35 years ago lost political clout when arson, depopulation and redistricting took away an Assembly district (and Senate district). His recent rise brings with it power that may surpass that of legendary Bronx Democratic leaders Ed Flynn and Charlie Buckley.

Attorney Ravi Batra says that the “Bronx now has power-gravitas” and will blossom with effective deployment of that newfound power and influence.

Former Borough President Adolfo Carrión believes that a generational shift is underway. He likes the youth and professionalism he sees in the new corps of Bronx elected officials, such as Ritchie Torres, Michael Blake, Vanessa Gibson, and Marcos Crespo.

Carrión, like Batra, believes the borough is better positioned politically than in years past. However, Carrion seemed to speak for his former Bronx constituents when he said, “We remain optimistic yet wary.”

I’d like to see this generation of Bronx residents, community leaders and politicians unburden themselves of the chip on our collective shoulder and embrace our place in this new day.

Former Assemblyman Michael Benjamin (@SquarePegDem on Twitter) represented the Bronx for eight years.

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city & state — May 13, 2015

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The Bronx Special Issue 2015

The Bronx Special Issue 2015

Talking the Bronx A Q&A with Gary Axelbank

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city & state — May 13, 2015

City & State: What do you discuss on your show?

Gary Axelbank: Any of the big topics, like the development of Yankee Stadium, the filtration plant, all the development projects we’ve covered.

All of the elected officials have been on this show. The borough president will tell you that he got his first appearance on television, anywhere, through my show.

C&S: When was that?

GA: His first appearance was Feb. 13, 1996, and he debated Pedro Gautier Espada, and he lost actually. It was a special election, and then they came around and I believe they debated again that next fall and then he won that election. Rubén actually as it turns out has been our most frequent guest—I think he’s up to 22 visits on the show. But I don’t want anybody to get the idea that it’s a political show.

C&S: You’ve also looked at the issue of homelessness in the Bronx.

GA: Councilman Andy King and many people in the northeast Bronx are very concerned because shelters are opening up and communities are not having input. In a way, it’s a classic Bronx concern: things going on in our neighborhood that we don’t have input on. Right now, among the things that are of concern is that centers are opening up without either the proper review or a kind of silent review, and the next thing you know, they’ve opened up in our community.

Gary Axelbank is the host of “BronxTalk,” which airs at 9 p.m. Mondays on BronxNet. I’ve moderated 45 or 47 debates, all the elected officials, but we’ve also had all the artists and musicians. People like DJ Kool Herc and Willie Colón and Eddie Palmieri have been on.

C&S: What have your shows focused on recently?

GA: We did three different shows on the city’s Jerome Avenue study, which is that somewhat controversial plan to rezone the lower half of Jerome Avenue. We did a show on standing up to violence. The speaker of the City Council is coming on. And then the week after the Bronx borough historian has a new tour book about the Bronx. So you name it, we’ve done it—music, art, culture, issues, whatever’s been going on in the Bronx.

C&S: Why is the Jerome Avenue rezoning controversial?

GA: The Department of City Planning is hoping to rezone the lower part of Jerome Avenue, about a 74-block area—a lot of people had talked about it for many years—spurred on by the mayor’s housing plan. The mayor said

let’s look at neighborhoods throughout the city where maybe we can build some of this housing. So they looked at this area, which is practically from Yankee Stadium up to Fordham Road, where we’ve got a million auto body shops, etc., and they’re saying let’s take a look at it. The controversy comes in because the people of the Bronx are very self-conscious about other people making decisions for them, and we have a legacy of neighborhoods that were affected by development that they didn’t have input in, like Yankee Stadium. So the people are very concerned that they’re not being included. The city, of course, insists they are. So I did a show with the Department of City Planning, then the next show I did was with community members to talk about their interests, and then two weeks later I did a show with two community board district managers. It was the first time I’d ever done three shows on one subject in a short period of time, but it just felt in terms of getting people an idea, this is what’s there, it’s important to put it on there and see what the options are.

C&S: What would you like to see done or changed in the borough?

GA: The Jerome Park Reservoir is a huge water facility in the northwest Bronx. It happens to be in my neighborhood so I happen to have a very personal interest. It borders on six or seven Bronx communities.

It is a gorgeous facility that is on the National Register of Historic Places, and the people of the Bronx should have access to it. The Department of Environmental Protection treats it as if it’s a private facility that they manage.

There is beautiful park space and beautiful vistas that people can look at and enjoy, and I really think they need to take down the outside fence or at least come up with a plan to begin to engage the people of the Bronx so they can recreate healthfully and have a beautiful space to appreciate their neighborhoods. It’s something that hasn’t got a lot of attention—the DEP has been very good at keeping that down—but I’m hoping to open up that dialogue. And with the Kingsbridge Armory turning into the Kingsbridge National Ice Center a block away, this is exactly the kind of thing we need to emphasize in the Bronx.

To read the full interview, including Axelbank’s thoughts on the state of journalism in the Bronx, go to cityandstateny.com. cit yandstateny.com

BRONXTALK

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ast fall, Gary Axelbank celebrated the 20th anniversary of “BronxTalk,” his cable access show that features discussions on politics, policy, education, economic development, crime, arts, entertainment—or, as he puts it, “anything you have heard or thought of about the Bronx.”

Axelbank has interviewed virtually every notable elected official from the Bronx, and regularly hosts debates with candidates during election season, giving airtime to hot-button issues.

In September, Axelbank will host his 1,000th episode of the show, which airs live every Monday at 9 p.m. on BronxNet, and is rebroadcast several times a day throughout the week.

City & State Senior Correspondent Jon Lentz spoke with Axelbank about Borough President Rubén Díaz Jr., a proposed rezoning in the borough and the opening of homeless centers.

The following is an edited transcript.

A CLEANER, GREENER NEW YORK CITY Thanks to the New York City Council, The Doe Fund’s “men in blue” clean and beautify over 170 miles of streets, sidewalks, and parks each day, all while rebuilding their lives and the lives of their families.

And that means a cleaner, greener, stronger New York for all of us.