Sti Winner of Vol. 71, No. 38
What’s inside?
Thursday, October 29, 2020
n It didn’t all start with just Irish immigrants and some well-to-do aristocrats kbrendlen@riverdalepress.com
Martin kids might not be very old, but they are getting a taste of the business world with their new venture. Page A7
$1.00
Before Van Cortlandts, there were the Munsee By KIRSTYN BRENDLEN
Not just crafts
the Pulitzer Prize
The history of Riverdale and Kingsbridge often seems to start in the 1600s with the arrival of the prestigious Van Cortlandt family. They bought up large tracts of land, including what is now Van Cortlandt Park. It joins a shared history that includes the now-buried King’s Bridge, and the later-arriving Irish immigrants bringing a strong Catholic influence still evident in the schools and churches that dot the neighborhood. Despite their names plastered all over the park and other New York neighborhoods, the Van Cortlands weren’t the ones doing the hard work. Enslaved people built the manor, cleared land for Albany Post Road, and likely built the King’s Bridge. Some are buried in Van Cortlandt Park, near the Putnam Trail. All that work was done in Lenapehoking — Lenape land, which spread from modern-day New Jersey through parts of Dela-
ware and Pennsylvania, and, infamously, Manhatta — later called Manhattan. The people who lived in this part of the Bronx spoke the Munsee dialect.
Duped sellers The “sale” of the island is one of the best-known histories. It’s commemorated in a sculpture in lower Manhattan and taught in schools — Lenape leaders met with Dutch colonists and gave up their rights to the land. “That is a concept that is inappropriate,” said Curtis Zunigha, resources cultural director for the Delaware Tribe of Indians and co-director of the Lenape Center. “That the Lenape just said, ‘Here, buy all of this land, we’ll take a few trinkets and axes and copper plates, and we’ll get in our wagons and go.’ It was not like that at all.” About a decade after that “sale,” a similar deal was struck in the Bronx. Adraein Van der Donck had been put in charge of land north of Manhattan, in what is now the Bronx and Yonkers — land where Lenape people still lived. Van der Donck allegedly struck a deal with two men, Claes de Wilt and Towachkak, to sell the land, Kingsbridge Historical Society president Nick Dembowski said. But the concept of selling the land was
HIRAM ALEJANDRO DURÁN
The Van Cortlandt House museum is one of the oldest homes in the Bronx, and is built on land purchased from the Lenape people. Jacobus Van Cortlandt started developing his estate on what would eventually be Van Cortlandt Park — large parts of which were home to former Lenape homes and burial grounds. “anathema” to the Lenape, Dembowski said. They wouldn’t have intended for it to be the modern understanding of a land sale. “The idea was an exchange of gifts for the purpose of shared occupancy in peace and brotherhood for the purpose of engaging in trade and commerce,” Zunigha said. “And it was the clash of cultures and the clash of cultural values ended up with the
Lenape being in the position of being on the short end of the stick, as they say. And it was simply because they didn’t understand it, and then they were overwhelmed with military might and the sheer number of colonizers.” The deed for this part of the Bronx, Dembowski said, has been lost — it’s not known exactly what was agreed to. Claes MUNSEE, page A4
Creepy and spooky Honoring veterans Herb Barret is where he always is on Veterans Day: Honoring his fellow soldiers. Page A8
Nursing homes are buckling down for a new wave n There are no short memories among nurses who fear what COVID-19 might bring this time By KIRSTYN BRENDLEN kbrendlen@riverdalepress.com
Owed a debt City teachers have waited years for a raise promised by the mayor, but now they’ll have to wait a little longer. Page A11
HIRAM ALEJANDRO DURÁN
A house near Ewen Park in Spuyten Duyvil gets in on the Halloween spirit just in time for the annual holiday. While age-old practices like trick-or-treating will likely be different this year, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, still expect to see many youngsters dressed up and making the best of Halloween. Even Manhattan College won’t give up on the holiday, turning its annual Safe Halloween event into something new and virtual. Learn more on page A10.
The house on West 246th Street that simply isn’t supposed to exist n Neighbors claim housing construction project was never permitted in first place By MICHAEL HINMAN mhinman@riverdalepress.com
Halloween is that time of year when we hear stories about the scary and the unexplained. None of those stories are real. At least we hope they’re not. But there is one very real mystery at 625 W. 246th St., and neighbors — as well as some city officials — are anxiously waiting to solve the ghost house that isn’t supposed to be there. No, it’s not haunted or anything like that. Instead, this home — currently on the market with a listing price well over $4 million — is nothing what the developer originally permitted. In fact, Community Board 8 land use committee chair Charles Moerdler believes the house may actually violate Special Natural Area District Rules designed to protect the greenway through that part of Riverdale. But there might not be much the city can GHOST HOUSE, page A4
HIRAM ALEJANDRO DURÁN
Buyers have been taking a close look at what seems to be a new home at 625 W. 246th St., in Riverdale — especially as it’s the first palatial house anyone sees driving up Blackstone Place. Community Board 8 land use committee chair Charles Moerdler says it could very well be worth every penny of its $4.5 million listing price, but he warns the home still might have legal trouble ahead.
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With a change in seasons and a drop in infection rates, conversation around the coronavirus pandemic shifted over the summer. Where a traumatic spring of overflowing hospitals and hundreds of deaths a day in the city had kept focus on “flattening the curve” and reducing transmission, months of infection rates below 1 percent prompted conversations about the struggling restaurant industry, schools reopening, and vaccine development. As hospitalizations and new cases dropped, so did positive cases and deaths in the state’s nursing homes after more than 6,000 people died, according to the state health department. Those deaths were cause for intense scrutiny. Many criticized Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s decision to have nursing homes accept COVID-positive patients from hospitals, and some of them suspected the number of reported deaths wasn’t quite accurate. Some politicians, including state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, called for special protections for nursing homes to be rolled back. Those protections, implemented in the state budget, raised the standard for civil suits against nursing homes and other health care facilities — which some said insulated them from being held accountable for coronavirus-related deaths. According to the state health department, at least 300 people were confirmed to have died from COVID in Bronx nursing homes as of Oct. 22 — and an additional 187 are presumed to have died from COVID, meaning their symptoms matched those caused by the virus, but they lacked an official diagnosis or positive test. Seven people died at other adult care facilities, like assisted living centers. Those numbers have been relatively stable through the summer, but as cooler weather settles in, New York has seen a small bump in the number of cases and hospitalizations — as have neighboring states like New Jersey and Connecticut. It hasn’t been enough to implement restrictions beyond “hot zones” in Brooklyn, Queens and a few other counties, but it has started fears of a “second wave” in the state — just in time for flu NURSING, page A4
A2 - THE RIVERDALE PRESS - Thursday, October 29, 2020
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HIRAM ALEJANDRO DURÁN
People watching becomes nabe watch A Tuesday evening out took a strange turn Oct. 6 when a man started making his way down Bailey Avenue near West 234th Street, methodically breaking car windows. That included one car owner who watched the windowsmasher use a metal cutting tool to break the windows of his Nissan Altima. He called the police, who showed up and arrested the man on the scene. Officers found that in addition to shattering car windows, they believe he also stole a $120 bottle of cologne, a pair of Crocs shoes, and $20 in cash from the Nissan. Police charged the man with criminal mischief in the third degree.
Nearly home One man was almost safely inside his home when his night, unfortunately, was turned upside-down. It was just before 2 a.m., as he neared his Blackstone Avenue apartment building when a man standing outside pulled a knife, police said, stopping the victim in his tracks. The thief took the man’s phone and wallet, punched him in the face, and ran off. Police arrived on the scene
and searched the area, but couldn’t find anything. And there were no cameras in the area. The victim was physically OK, but was left without his iPhone 8 Plus, which police valued at $700, along with his wallet which held $60 in cash as well as his credit and debit cards. Police are investigating.
Old car, still appealing
It’s always a surprise to come back to your parking spot to find your car is missing. But it might be even more so when that car isn’t particularly new, or particularly fancy. A 1990 Acura parked on the corner of Henry Hudson Parkway and Manhattan College Parkway on the evening of Oct. 9, police said. At 8:30 the next morning, the car was gone. Cameras caught the Acura sailing over the Broadway Bridge toward Manhattan at 6 a.m., although the owner said he has the only key to the vehicle. There were no cameras on the corner, and a search by police didn’t turn up much, although officers continue to investigate.
It is the policy of The Riverdale Press to correct errors of substance and clarify misleading stories promptly. Typically, corrections and clarifications from previous is-
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THE RIVERDALE PRESS - Thursday, October 29, 2020 - A3
One-way or highway? West 238th could get makeover n Traffic flow might change in Kingsbridge Heights neighborhood By ROSE BRENNAN rbrennan@riverdalepress.com
If there’s one thing this part of the Bronx is known for, it’s narrow streets. Sometimes, parking on both sides of the street is so restrictive, it can really only accommodate one-way traffic — even if it’s a two-way street. But for one Kingsbridge Heights street, officially changing its traffic flow might be a viable solution. The road in question is West 238th Street, between Cannon Place and Sedgwick Avenue, on the northeast side of the Shalom Aleichem Houses, which some neighbors say might be better as a one-way. And although drag racing might dominate Community Board 8’s traffic and transportation committee business as of late, it doesn’t mean other street issues are being forgotten. Normally, a request to make a street one way would first go to the community board and then to the city’s transportation department. But not this time. DOT already is studying the possibility of changing the traffic flow of West 238th, which would allow only westbound traffic. It could complement nearby Giles Avenue, which is an eastbound one-way street just a block away. DOT jumped the gun bypassing the community board, borough transportation commissioner Nivardo Lopez told the committee during a recent meeting. And that shouldn’t have happened. Now DOT is bringing the issue before the traffic and transportation committee for its input before considering any changes. “Before we initiate any study for a one-way conversion, we would like to get a letter of support from the com-
HIRAM ALEJANDRO DURÁN
Two drivers barter for space at the mouth of West 238th Street between Cannon Place and Sedgwick Avenue. These three streets were at the center of a recent DOT study to convert this section of West 238th into a oneway street. munity board prior to any study, just so everyone is on the same page with regards to the request and the study,” Lopez told the committee. “Something got lost here.” Still, there’s no hurry to make any changes to West 238th, Lopez said. In fact, the ball is essentially in the committee’s court. “We informed the constituent who made the request that while we made a determination, we are now consulting with the board, and that we will move forward when the board gives us direction,” Lopez said. “I understand they should have no votes happening today. That’s totally fine. We’re not rushing to do this at all.” Lopez also discussed the potential safety issues a narrow street might
Courtesy of Google
play. He didn’t dismiss those concerns, but he said the transportation department’s primary concern was evaluating the broader roadway network.
West 238th is not a hotspot for traffic accidents, Lopez added. “We definitely don’t have any severe crashes or anything,” Lopez said.
“This is not a section or roadway that popped up on our region’s priority list.” Some at the meeting were unsure if turning this section of West 238th one-way was the correct answer. Committee vice chair Deb Travis noted the potential for traffic jams at West 238th and Sedgwick — a complaint Lopez is all too familiar with — and asked the best way to have traffic slowed. When cars are going too fast, she said, the potential for accidents increases. The key, Lopez said, is more signs and street markings, but even more importantly, enforcement by traffic cops. To him, there’s no use installing signs if drivers ignore them anyway. Buzz Roddy lives on that stretch of West 238th, and believes that while his street has problems, two-way traffic isn’t one of them. He’s actually more bothered by noise from the street. “There are some minor traffic jams, but the problem is more with impatient people leaning on their horns,” Roddy said. “The traffic soon clears up. I have not seen more than the odd fenderbender over the 16 years I have lived on the block.” However, if the city’s transportation department does move forward with changing West 238th, Roddy believes traffic should flow away from Sedgwick and Jerome Park Reservoir, not to it. “The noise from the trucks driving in low gear up the hill is bad enough already,” Roddy said. “This would only make it worse.” That works for DOT’s Lopez, who said the street had more traffic in that direction anyway. CB8 doesn’t plan to weigh in on the West 238th issue anytime soon — at least not in 2020. When it does, the transportation department will be listening. “We’re not doing anything at the moment,” Lopez said. “We have this study. We have this recommendation. But ultimately, we are going to take our guidance from the community board.
PRESS POINTS Sister Frances Devine, dies at 102 Mass was celebrated a few weeks back at St. Margaret of Cortona Church for Sister Frances Devine, who died Oct. 5 in Dobbs Ferry. She was 102. Devine was a teacher and history department chair at Cathedral High School in Manhattan’s Midtown East between 1942 and 1960, according to
By Michael hinMan
Catholic New York. Later teaching positions included a 13-year stint at Cardinal Spellman High School in Edenwald, and at Blessed Sacrament in Soundview. Devine entered the Sisters of Charity of New York in 1939, professing final vows in 1945. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the College of Mount Saint Vincent, and a master’s from Fordham University. She
studied theology at Providence College in Rhode Island. She will be buried at the Sisters of Charity Cemetery at the College of Mount Saint Vincent.
Lehman arts center wins design award
The Lehman Center for the Performing Arts, which just completed a $15.4 million renovaton project, has won the 2020
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American Architecture Award for design excellence. The award is presented by the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies as well as the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design. It was one of 130 international winners selected by a jury of Greek architects, according to a release. The performing arts center
has a new, glazed entrance pavilion, with 6,000 square feet of additional program spaces, including an expanded box office, administrative offices, restrooms and support spaces. “The transparent glass pavilion addition contrasts with the solidity of the existing building’s opaque, limestone facade allowing views of the activities within the building,” according to a release. It also gives the
structure a “more welcoming and open appearance.” New ramps, lifts and an elevator provides routes to more accessible seating areas, which have been added to multiple levels within the main performance hall. Unfortunately, there won’t be any programs at the performing arts center for a while, although operations are fully funded through next June.
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A4 - THE RIVERDALE PRESS - Thursday, October 29, 2020
Still lot to learn when it comes to respect for history
MUNSEE from page A1 returned in 1710 to say the Munsee had not received appropriate compensation, and Jacobus Van Cortlandt “paid” in fabric and some money. That exchange seemed to mark the end of the Lenape claim as Van Cortlandt understood it. The Lenape didn’t leave all at once, or all together, Zunigha said. Some left and settled in Indiana and Ohio, only to be forced out once again under Andrew Jackson. Now, there are two federally recognized tribes in Ontario, and three in the United States. The Delaware Tribe of Indians in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, where Zunigha lives and works; the Delaware Nation in Anadarko, Oklahoma; and the Stockbridge-Munsee Community in Wisconsin. In New Jersey, the state government recognizes the Ramapough Lenape Nation, but not federal officials. “It’s a very broad and complex diaspora, and that’s why you’re seeing all ANDRO DURÁNthese different groups and different nx, and islocations,” Zunigha said. “It’s because dt startedwe were forced to move, and we didn’t — largego in one group. In spite of all of that — the genocide, the erasure, we have . survived.”
Peeking at the past to realize the future
While it’s nearly impossible to track exactly what happened to the Munsee Lenape who left what’s now Riverdale, Spuyten Duyvil and Kingsbridge, their history is clearly marked. In the late 1800s, a man named J.B. James snuck onto Vannie’s Parade Grounds, suspecting they contained
native burial sites — and they did. James documented more than a dozen skeletons at the site, running along Broadway in front of the Van Cortlandt Manor. He also found the remains of blankets, fireplaces and pottery. According to a 1935 piece he wrote in the Riverdale News, remains of shells and a child’s skeleton also were found on the grounds of the Horace Mann School. “Some of the artifacts are preserved in the Museum of the American Indian downtown,” Dembowski said. “What happened to the actual human remains is a total mystery to me — it’s not documented, as far as I know.” At the time, the perception of Native Americans by the colonists may not have been very positive, he said, with news of violent wars being fought in the west. “It’s part of the erasure,” Zunigha said. “Indians didn’t have nice big fancy cemeteries with stone monuments and engraved headstones and all of that kind of stuff. What is extremely important to understand is that the belief is the spirit power of these ancestors is still there, in their final resting place. And when you dig that up, you toss those bones off to the side, you have defiled these ancestors’ spiritual journey. “For Christian, Eurocentric people, that concept is inconsequential.” It became so common that, 30 years ago, Congress passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which mandates museums, state agencies and local governments to properly identify and report remains, and transfer them to the custody of modern tribes and ancestors so
they can be properly buried. The Delaware Tribe of Indians consults with the project, Zunigha said, and they’ve traveled as far as Ellis Island when construction workers found remains. “We were involved in the repatriation and reburial of these remains so we could put these ancestors back on their spirit journey,” he said. “That’s how sacred of an endeavor that is for us, that we had to fight for the right for our ancestors’ bones are not tossed aside or sitting in cardboard boxes in museums and universities to be studied by white anthropologists.” The park isn’t the only site of important discoveries. Construction still yields shells, bones, and other artifacts in the Bronx. Dembowski paid a visit to one man who found shells and arrowheads in his yard. But it’s unlikely anyone would be able to access construction sites. And finding remains hasn’t stopped anyone from developing the land and building on top. Land recognition — and acknowledging that modern life exists on stolen land — is a start, Zunigha said, but it can quickly become something that happens at the beginning of a meeting or service with no further action. “I want to be able to feel welcome to come back to the homeland from which my ancestors were pushed off, and to be able to come back to the homeland and feel welcome,” Zunigha said. “I want to not only feel welcome in our homeland, but I want to have a place at the table. I’m using it as a metaphor. I want to have a place at the table of power.”
Courtesy of Cornell University Library
J.B. James thought the Parade Grounds at Van Cortlandt Park might contain remnants of Lenape settlements, and he was right. James found a dozen bodies in the field and shards of pottery and shells — signs of the people who had lived in the Bronx long before the Van Cortlandt family moved in centuries ago.
Will coronavirus instill new fears into nursing homes? NURSING from page A1 season. Those fears are echoed in the nursing home and adult care industries. Data released by the American Health Care Association showed Positive coronavirus cases in nursing homes are inching up for the first time since August across the country,, according to the American Health Care Association, although numbers were still far from their spring peak. Also, deaths didn’t appear to be rising. Still, for some, it’s time to start buckling down for more hard times. Adam Geller is an administrator at a Broadway nursing home he insisted not be identified where he said the last few months have been mostly normal. An asymptomatic positive staff member shut down visitation for two weeks over the summer, but they’ve been able to continue with in-person outdoor visits without issue since then. “When you’re testing 200 to 300 people a week, statistically, you’re going to end up with a positive” test result, Geller said. “So, it happens. But so far we’ve made it through for the past two months.” His facility has started sending out letters telling family members they’re preparing to move visits indoors. However, these interactions will last just 15 minutes, so as to reduce the risk of transmission. “We’re being as strict as possible to start,” Geller said. Nursing homes and adult care facilities were caught off-guard by the pandemic, just like government officials. In May, Kelly Barrett Samara, an attorney at the Buffalo-based Center for Elder Law and Justice, told The Riverdale Press that it may not have been possible for any nursing home to be totally prepared. “There is definitely a recipe for disaster here,” Samara said at the time. Lisa Newcomb, executive director for the Empire State Association of Assisted Living, said summer relief from the virus allowed the facilities she works with to prepare for a “new normal” of sorts. The association itself has been able to form some new support networks to provide adequate personal protective equipment and other resources. One of the biggest changes, she said, is wide-
JULIUS CONSTANTINE MOTAL / File
It was a difficult spring for nursing homes across the Bronx, like the Citadel Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Kingsbridge, which saw eight confirmed and 48 presumed deaths related to COVID-19. After more than 6,000 people died in nursing homes statewide, many have buckled down, preparing for a potential second wave as the weather cools. spread access to testing — and faster results. Where facilities struggled in the beginning to test anyone, waiting a long time for results, they’re now able to test their staff members at regular intervals, and residents where necessary. Even where there were outbreaks, they were much easier to contain. “You know, there was PPE available, and we were able to contain the spread,” Newcomb said. “Some buildings didn’t have any (cases), but some did. And they were able to contain the spread because they had what they needed.”
Assisted living facilities aren’t quite the same as nursing homes. Their residents are generally a little younger and in less need of roundthe-clock medical care like residents in nursing homes. But their populations are still vulnerable, and quality of life for most residents has been severely impacted. “They might need some assistance, but they come and go all the time,” Newcomb said. “PreCOVID, there’s all kinds of activities. They go out with their families. They do outside activities. They’re very into that. And all the sudden, boom,
it was like, ‘Don’t come out of your room.’” Guidance from health departments has become more detailed and more clear, she said. On a recent conference call, Newcomb and other health care leaders talked about the hopefully soon-to-come vaccine and distribution, honing in on the best ways to test. “I know they’re really working 24/7,” she said of the health department. “You know, nobody has the answers to some things, we just don’t know. It has improved, and, you know, we hope to get clear guidance from them.”
Working to solve mystery of home that shouldn’t exist GHOST HOUSE from page A1 do about it. “That building needs to be demolished,” Moerdler said. “Yes, I said demolished. This was supposed to be a remodel of a smaller house, but this is, for all intents and purposes, a brand new building. And they didn’t talk to a single person of authority to make that building happen.” The city’s buildings department agrees. A spokesman for the city agency didn’t specifically comment on what’s been happening at 625 W. 246th, but did say the property’s owners obtained permits in November 2018 to convert an existing single-story house into a two-story home with cellar and attic. Then last August, DOB inspectors headed out to the property after receiving complaints from CB8, finding “multiple instances where the contractors had significantly deviated from the” plans previously approved by both DOB and the City Planning Commission. That included enlarging the driveway and walkway, building additional steps up to the property, removing a retaining wall, relocating two other retaining walls, replacing a rock outcropping with new paving and grass, and other landscaping work. Retaining walls and rock outcroppings are important, since both are specifically protected under SNAD guidelines.
HIRAM ALEJANDRO DURÁN
Laminated DOT work permits were on display at 625 W. 246th St., during its construction work over the summer. But some city officials believe what was permitted and the work that actually happened on this multimillion-dollar home don’t quite match up. The owners of 625 W. 246th did not respond to multiple requests for comment. DOB also found that the roof did not comply with construction documents. That was enough to issue a stop work order — an order that can’t
be lifted until the contractors either amend their current plans and receive approval for these new amendments, or provide DOB with a detailed plan on how they will bring the property into compliance. Many times that means nothing
more than adding trees or doing some other environmentally friendly addition to the property. And for Sherida Paulsen, a local architect and civic advocate, that just opens the door for developers to walk all over SNAD rules in the future. “During those long discussions (last year) about changing the SNAD regulations, there was never a satisfactory response to people who violate SNAD rules,” Paulsen said. “They generally get to keep what they built, and there’s very little the community or the city seems to be able to do right now.” While penalties may not necessarily mean tearing down brand-new multi-million-dollar houses, Paulsen wants the city to have more respect for the greenway many in the community fought hard for just a few decades ago. In her view, every time a developer finds a new way to bypass a SNAD regulation, it becomes a massive blackhole that could threaten the entire Special Natural Area District. “Given the sensitivity of the environment and the need to protect our water resources, land and everything else, finding a better way to enforce the zoning would be very much appreciated.” Right now, enforcement of such codes falls on the city’s buildings department. While they might be quite knowledgeable on many of the laws
governing construction in New York City, SNAD is quite unique — and covers just a small portion of DOB’s overall enforcement area. Because of that, DOB officials out enforcing building rules may not necessarily be aware of different environmental regulations that are specific to Riverdale’s SNAD. There had been a push to upgrade DOB’s enforcement ability when the city was pushing to overhaul the Special Natural Area District last year, but when those plans were abandoned, so too seemed to be any discussion about better training zoning enforcement officials. Moerdler, who has spent nearly his entire career dealing with city construction as both a lawyer and a public servant on the community board, isn’t ready to give up. At least not yet. “This all demonstrates that developers will take advantages that other developers have found,” Moerdler said. “That’s including this one that takes advantage of the fact that (lack of enforcement) has been the attitude of the CPC. “It also demonstrates to me that whoever the next mayor is, they are going to have to do a major overhaul of the philosophy behind the Department of City Planning. From top to bottom. “And if you enforce it, then developers will stop, turn their head, and pay attention.”
THE RIVERDALE PRESS - Thursday, October 29, 2020 - A5
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A6 - THE RIVERDALE PRESS - Thursday, October 29, 2020
Brother Ralph proves there’s angels among us
BUSINESS BRIEFS
n Gallery only available to Manhattan College students, but it is still worth a look
By MICHAEL HINMAN Listings up, sales down in the Bronx
By PETE JANNY Intern
T
he beauty of art is in the eye of the beholder. Its symbolism and mystique can provide solace to anyone who studies it. And on college campuses, the intellectual ethos that pervades the architect is best illustrated through ethereal pursuits like art. Brother Ralph Bucci had similar ideas in mind when he set up his own art exhibit in the school’s library. Situated next to the main doors, the gallery features 18 ceramic sculptures which attract the gaze of students each time they enter or leave the Manhattan College BROTHER Parkway building. The RALpH BUCCI originality and obscurity of the display is an enigma at first glance — before it reveals something deeper. Figuratively speaking, the gallery is a tapestry of spiritual and ancient themes, linking together the supernatural and natural worlds. Bucci, the mind behind the masterpieces, has been a practicing artist since his time as a graduate student in the early 1980s. Now a career development recruitment coordinator at the school, Bucci has mainly built his collection out of clay and stone slabs. It was a craft first introduced to him as a young boy growing up in Cranston, Rhode Island. “I’ve always enjoyed working in my grandfather’s vegetable garden, which then extended to home landscaping and yard plantings,” Bucci said. “Even at the Brothers’ community next door, we have a tremendous roof-top garden with a hundred potted flowering plants, tomatoes and eggplants.” Bucci’s gallery is divided up into four different concepts — dolmens, scapes, closed and winged vessel forms, and messengers. Although each concept is physically and metaphorically different, they all capture the human imagination with equal weight. Bucci’s approach to the molding process is all visual without any sketches or outlines. When engineering his sculptures extemporaneously, Bucci simply trusts his own intuition to deliver a profound message to his audi-
ence. And the same holds true for his current display. The appearance of the dolmen offers a glimpse into prehistoric civilizations like, for instance, like ancient France — said to be the birthplace of these stone monuments featuring two upright posts and a lintel. The definitive purpose dolmens served is nothing more than conjecture, although many believe they were used for burial sites and for cult worship. For the sake of his work, Bucci chose to modernize the look of his diminutive dolmens by giving them their own glow, either with spray paint or fire smoldering. He didn’t forget about the importance of the texture, either, which he welded and paddled with clay so the composite effect creates sort of an illusion for viewers. “This is an abstraction because it takes something we relate to with our experiences and lets us look at it in a different perception,” Bucci says. “The posts of dolmens create negative space and create empty space. It invites you to go on, but then it repels you so can’t. So it’s a pull attraction, but also a repulsive force simultaneously.” The closed and winged vessel forms visually influence the viewer’s perception as well. Among their notable parts is a conically shaped base made from coils, which contributes to the asymmetric complexion at the vessel, manipulating the viewer’s interpretation of shape. The process for this theme includes scoring the edges of the clay to attach the different sides. “All the work has some sort of tension in them, and it may not be obvious initially,” Bucci said. “One of the tensions of the closed vessel is you can’t look into it and put anything in it. The other tension is that nothing is symmetrical.” The shape of the vessels are like fins, Bucci said, making them analogous to certain water animals such as dolphins or whales. This crossover with aquatic life is yet again symptomatic of the spontaneity and ambiguity of Bucci’s work — and that’s what makes it fun for him. “The apparent wings have some aquatic references that simulate water life,” Bucci said. “We can relate to these forms, shapes and textures because of our own collective unconsciousness.” The scapes are representative of topographic features — which, too, fall under the purview of the human experience. Their triangular, geometrical build makes them seem like abstracts of mountainscapes and hillscapes. “It hints at a hill in the distance or mountains in the distance, but they
HIRAM ALEJANDRO DURÁN
Messengers, which represent angels from the Christian Bible’s New Testament, are one of four themes chosen for Brother Ralph Bucci’s art exhibit at Manhattan College. The display remains at the library until the Thanksgiving break. are, of course, abstracted,” Bucci said. “For the scapes, I make two shapes and score the edges that meet together, which is the base. And I also leave the weld mark because it leaves a texture that is interesting.” Each sculpture would lack its unique aesthetic if not for the firing process — and it can’t start until the clay slabs are dry and placed into an electric kiln. Then the magic happens as the heat burns off the paint’s medium as an ember, causing the color oxides to combine with the clay’s surface. It’s similar to the burning of a cigarette. Depending on the type of sawdust Bucci uses, it could take as long as three or four days to be properly smoldered. “The coloring oxides interface with the surface,” he said. “Sometimes it burns off. Sometimes it gets really black. And sometimes it’s red or yellow. I know what the color spectrum is, but you never know what’s going to happen,
which leads to spontaneity.” Through the interaction of various elements like color, texture and shape, the finished products give viewers something they’ve never seen before. The spirit of innovation palpable in Bucci’s work could be especially inspiring to college students, he added, who are trying to become more well-rounded and sophisticated during these years. “I hope students can appreciate shape, form and texture because they are running into it all the time in daily life,” Bucci said. “It’s about seeing something that didn’t exist before. Creation allows different things to happen, and art is an expression of our human spirit. “College is about exposing ourselves to new experiences and subject areas and thoughts that we may not have had before. The university experience is about broadening our perception, and not to close it down.”
New listings are up, but closed sales are down in the Bronx — yet another sign that significant parts of the city might already be a buyer’s market. Some 870 homes in the Bronx were listed for sale in the past three months, according to the New York State Association of Realtors — up more than 49 percent from the same time last year. Yet, just 249 homes sold, a 27 percent drop from the third quarter of 2019. Homes that are selling are at least doing so for more than what they did last year. The median closing price in the Bronx was $426,400, compared to $399,000 in 2019. The borough has 882 listings currently, representing an 8.4-month supply. That’s up 27 percent from a year ago. What’s happening in the Bronx appears to be mostly in line with what’s taking place throughout the rest of the state where closings are down 8 percent, and median sales prices are up 8 percent. The only element different is the number of homes for sale, which dropped more than 21 percent statewide. In Brooklyn, new listings rose 22 percent while closings were off by nearly 47 percent. Median sales prices there rose slightly to $615,000. It was more of the same in Queens, where new listings were up 35 percent while closings were down about the same percentage. Median sales prices there were only up slightly to $589,500. Data from Manhattan was not available in the state Realtors’ report. Westchester County has a rush of new listings, rising 47 percent in the quarter. Sales were up slight — less than 2 percent — but they were still up, compared to its downstate neighbors. Homes are becoming even more expensive in Westchester, however, with median sales prices at $690,000. That’s 22 percent more than a year ago.
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THE RIVERDALE PRESS - Thursday, October 29, 2020 - A7
Martin family redefines, redesigns mask-wearing world n Kids no older than 9 have teamed up to make accessories for good cause
Ready to buy? Learn more about how to support Riverdale Hatzalah at Instagram.com/ martinkidzcrafts.
By PETE JANNY Intern
Arts and crafts are normally carefree, sedate activities, existing more as a hobby than anything else. But that’s not necessarily the case in the business world, where the concept of supply and demand becomes a real-life experience. And in a capitalist society, it’s never too early to start showing your five kids how to think like an entrepreneur. During the downtime from the coronavirus pandemic, longtime Riverdale residents Jon and Yael Martin have done just that. The couple wanted their children to stay productive in a meaningful way during the long and seemingly identical days which came and went in a summer unlike any other. The kids — ranging in age from 1 to 9 — answered the call by launching their own business. Martin Kidz Crafts, as they ultimately called it, is a social-media operated shop selling accessories like mask holder necklaces and bracelets. Maya, 9, took the lead on the project keeping her four younger brothers — Elan, Gabriel, Jack and Adir — busy helping out. Fittingly, the most valuable commodity in their inventory is a beaded necklace which latches onto face masks to avoid misplacing them. “We did it to help people wear their masks, and it helps them look prettier and not lose their masks,” Maya said.
Courtesy of Hedvandan Photography
Martin Kidz Crafts has no plans of slowing down after having already raised $1,800 in sales, all of which will be donated to assist frontline workers at Riverdale Hatzalah. The idea of selling crafts for a good cause percolated in the minds of the family’s five young children — Maya, Elan, Gabriel, Jack and Adir — in the beginning of summer, and they have been going strong since. “We get mask breaks in school for snack or lunch. This makes it easy to have my mask hang from my neck and not worry about losing it.” What makes the Martin family’s shop unique in its own way — beyond the fact it’s run by young kids — is the
Jon and Yael Martin invested in a collection of craft materials for their children, enabling them to make personalized bracelets and mask necklaces. Setting up an Instagram business called Martin Kidz Crafts, their signature offering is a mask necklace, which hooks onto masks to make them less likely to be lost — and more visually appealing. Courtesy of Martin Kidz Crafts
customization aspect of the business. Whether making beaded bracelets or mask holder necklaces, the designs are almost always personalized, giving customers a tangible representation of the family’s love. “Some people like to make up their own designs and then they say they want it,” said Elan, 8, who oversees packaging and labeling. Gabriel is the middle child at 6 whose main task is quality control — which entails inspecting the product’s functionality upon completion and preparing free matching bracelets to also send to customers. Rounding out the team of workers is Jack, 4, and Adir, 1, who, according to Maya, bring value with their “awesomeness and cuteness.” The operations started in early summer when mask-wearing became the new norm. But the youngsters didn’t agree to take things to the “next level” until late July, according to Yael, right around the time they made an Instagram account. To date, Martin Kidz Crafts has amassed around $1,800 in profit — a stark contrast from the $50 profit the newly minted entrepreneurs thought they’d make at the beginning.
Luckily, their customers had other plans for them. “When they made their first hundred dollars, there was a celebration,” Yael said. “And then again when they made $500. I was impressed, because even though they weren’t keeping the profits for themselves, they still felt so accomplished and proud.” All five of the Martin children attend SAR Academy. When state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi visited the school, the Martin children noticed she didn’t have a mask necklace of her own. So they decided to design one for her and mail it to her office as a token of their appreciation. Since the start of the new academic year, the children have had their organizational skills tested as they try to balance school work with the time required to produce the accessories. However, this experience outside the classroom offers its fair share of educational lessons as well — including the introduction of more advanced topics related to their business, like the basics of operating expenses and gross margin. “It gave the kids a lot of insight into how business works,” Yael said. “I told
them I’m happy to spend money on it, but you have to account for your sales and costs.” Although they are busy tracking the influx of funds, the Martin family has no intentions of keeping a penny of what they make. All the proceeds have been given to Riverdale Hatzalah, a non-profit medical emergency corps which holds a special place in the hearts of the Martin family after having to rely on the service for a previous family emergency. “When Jack was six months, he got very sick and Hatzalah helped him,” Maya said. Donating to Riverdale Hatzalah felt right, Yael said, because of the hard work being done by the frontline workers there during the coronavirus pandemic. “And because of corona, we realized that a lot of the Hatzalah workers are helping people everywhere,” Elan said. For the past several months, people all around the world have worn face masks to help limit the spread of the coronavirus. According to the Mayo Clinic, a cloth mask effectively prevents droplets from going airborne when wearers talk, cough or sneeze. That has led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and World Health Organization to include face masks in their list of recommendations. The need for face masks around the world became more apparent once people started to get infected without showing symptoms — making them a touted safeguard, and thus a symbol of respect for the health of every individual. But while some people are tiring of wearing masks in public — a symptom of so-called “pandemic fatigue” — the Martin family hopes its necklace holders make the practice of wearing masks more fun. The goal all along was to make people’s lives more enjoyable during a difficult time in the world — and their success thus far motivates them to continue. And Yael couldn’t be more proud of her little workers. “It kept them busy all summer,” she said, “further enforced the charitable values we are trying to instill in them, and it made mask-wearing exciting and fun for them and their customers.”
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A8 - THE RIVERDALE PRESS - Thursday, October 29, 2020
Veterans Day ceremony returns to Memorial Grove n Now in its 14th year, community honors vets at Vannie Park on Nov. 8
Who’s honored at the Grove? While Herb Barret’s Veterans Day celebration honors all veterans — living and deceased — the grove that hosts the celebration is a bit more specific. Van Cortlandt Park’s Memorial Grove, located near West 246th Street and Broadway, was designed in 1949 and originally honored soldiers who lost their lives during the recently concluded World War II. But as the years passed, the grove gained more plaques and symbols of remembrance for those who fought and died in other wars. One plaque was installed to remember those who lost their lives in the Korean War — in which Barret served. Most recently, in 2018, a plaque honoring those who fought and died in the Vietnam War was added. — Rose Brennan
By ROSE BRENNAN rbrennan@riverdalepress.com
Herb Barret may have served in what’s known as “the forgotten war” — the Korean War — but he wants to make sure his brothers and sisters in arms are never forgotten. And so every year since 2007, Barret hosts a Veterans Day ceremony in Van Cortlandt Park’s Memorial Grove — a quiet, fenced section of the park designed to honor those who lost their lives fighting in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The annual Veterans Day ceremony enters its 14th year, set for Sunday, Nov. 8 at noon. Barret’s service came through the U.S. Marines Corps, where he worked as an airplane engine mechanic — just as the armed forces were beginning to fully adopt jets. The sergeant on the line assigned Barret to inspect the planes, despite his lack of experience with jets. “I had to become familiar, and I guess having the mechanical aptitude, you get familiar really quickly,” he said. “So from being trained on regular piston engines, I ended up being an aircraft mechanic.” Barret stumbled upon Memorial Grove decades after the war, during an opportunistic bike ride through Van Cortlandt Park in 2006. He didn’t know quite what the grove was, but something made him stop to take a closer look. But Barret didn’t exactly find the grove in a state of honor. It was not well-maintained, and some of the plaques honoring the soldiers who were killed in action were covered in dirt. He found one plaque after another representing soldiers that were seemingly forgotten years after their service. “I actually came back and started digging by the foot of the trees that didn’t have monuments,” Barret said.
HIRAM ALEJANDRO DURÁN
Memorial Grove specifically honors soldiers who died in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. But once a year, it’s a place where all service men and women are honored at Herb Barret’s annual Veterans Day ceremony. “I happened to find some monuments that had no plaques on them. And then I found one monument that was completely buried, and it happened to be a World War I monument.” Barret continued his day, but the grove’s condition weighed heavy on his mind. He then met World War II veteran Donald Tannen at The Riverdale Y, and the two quickly bonded over their military service. Barret shared with Tannen his tale of the grove at Van Cortlandt, and it was there the two committed to restoring it and finding a way to honor both the soldiers enshrined there and the remaining veterans in their community. They quickly got to work, recruiting a number of area organizations to restore the grove, including the city’s parks department and local elected officials, calling on them to honor the grove’s legacy. “We did speeches in front of the main community board meeting …
and knocking out different politicians that worked in the neighborhood,” Barret said. “Little by little, we got going. And like I told the community board in one of my first speeches, I said, ‘Get accustomed to me, because I’m going to be a pain in your side.’” One of the ways the men honored their brothers and sisters in arms was by establishing this yearly ceremony. Barret reaches out to many prominent community members and elected officials each year to invite them — regardless of their previous attendance record. Barret also invites the color guards for the respective ROTC chapters in the borough — one for each major branch of the military. Manhattan College’s color guard represents the U.S. Air Force, Fordham University represents the U.S. Army, and SUNY Maritime College represents the U.S. Navy and Marines. Some of them also play a pivotal
This was all well and good in 2012. But eight years down the line, Barret thinks the grove is beginning to return to its previous state. And he thinks there’s more people could do to pay the respect veterans deserve. “I started fighting again with the administration of the park to get some additional signage, and they kind of think a sign on the corner is sufficient,” Barret said. “Memorial Grove … is something like 450 feet long, and there’s not one sign until you reach the 246th Street bus stop.” The year has been particularly trying given the combined tolls of the coronavirus pandemic and a tumultuous presidential election on the horizon. But regardless, Barret thinks honoring veterans — living and deceased — is something that should be done irrespective of a fraught political and social climate. “What’s important is that these veterans need to be honored,” Barret said. “Keep the Memorial Grove alive, and let people know what’s there and why it’s there.”
role in preparing the grove for the ceremony. Barret is 89 and can no longer clean the grove himself. But last week, Manhattan College students took care of it so it could be ready in time for the Veterans Day ceremony. The ceremony might look a bit different this year, although Barret was not exactly sure how. He expected there would be social distancing, and certain attendants would wear masks. And, of course, there will be someone missing, as he’s been for several years. Tannen died in 2014, and now Barret’s effort to make the ceremony a reality each year is a solo one. But the ceremony isn’t the only thing Barret is willing to fight for. From his initial discovery of the grove in 2006, he and Tannen fought for its restoration. And they finally got it in 2012. The city council stepped up to make it happen, replacing memorial plaques, adding new plants, and even constructing a boundary fence.
WHAT’S IN / WHAT’S ON SHSAT strategy sessions begin
whatson@riverdalepress.com
radelman@riverdaleonline.org.
Prep and strategy sessions for eighth- and ninth-graders expecting to take the Specialized High School Admissions Test is set to begin Nov. 7 at Riverdale Neighborhood House. Led by community classes coordinator Rob Adelman, the sessions focus on realistic practice and targeted content review, including a mock exam, time management strategies, and the review of skills and formulas in approaching the test. For more information, email
Ready to get some health insurance? NYC Health + Hospitals offers a series of free virtual health insurance workshops in preparation for the upcoming open enrollment periods. Sessions include: • Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 1 p.m. • Thursday, Nov. 5 at 3 p.m. • Wednesday, Nov. 18 at 3 p.m. The hospital group is expected to collaborate with the Centers for Medicare & Medic-
aid Services, in preparation for the state’s online marketplace. For more information, visit NYCHealthAndHospitals.org.
Broadway comes to the Bronx The Bronx will host one of five outdoor pop-up performances this week hosted by the Mayor’s Office Media and Entertainment, collectively known as “Broadway in the Boros.” The free, outdoor performances by Broadway casts include a show Friday, Oct. 23 at 1 p.m., at Roberto Clemente Plaza, East 149th Street and
Third Avenue, in Mott Haven, led by Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater. Artists and musicians combine Nuyorican pieces with a Dominican fusion of folk and contemporary music. The performance is scheduled to begin with a short poem, “Where Were You,” by Rosalba Rolón read by actress Christin Eve Cato, featuring percussionist Anthony Carillo. This will lead into a trilogy featuring a piece from “Torched,” which is set to premiere next summer. The company’s ensemble is expected to perform Maga-
dalena Gómez’s “Madre de Bomba,” which includes guest band Yasser Tejeda & Palotré. For those who can’t make it out to Mott Haven, video of the performance will be available for free at PregonesPRTT.org.
app. Members are reading the second half of “Outside Agitator.” To join the online discussion, email jone.lewis@rysec.org. • Society leader Jone Johnson Lewis will lead a talk on recognizing trauma Sunday, Nov. 1 at 11 a.m., via the Zoom online videoconferencing app. Lewis will reflect on how people recognize trauma, and how that can influence how they respond and ultimately move toward healing. The discussion can be found online at bit.ly/RYSECPlatform. WHAT’S IN, page A9
Taking an ethical approach to elections It’s a busy expanded weekend at the Riverdale-Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture leading up to Election Day. • The Riverdale Racial Justice Book Group meets Thursday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m., via the Zoom online videoconferencing
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THE RIVERDALE PRESS - Thursday, October 29, 2020 - A9
WHAT’S IN / WHAT’S ON WHAT’S IN from page A8 • An overall discussion on how to protect democracy will begin Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m., through the Zoom online videoconferencing app. Jone Johnson Lewis and other leaders will discuss what Ethical Society groups will need to do to make their voices heard to protect democracy is some of the “worstcase scenarios” happen on Election Day. Details about how to reach that online discussion is available at RYSEC.org.
New exhibits at HRM Hudson River Museum, 511 Warburton Ave., in Yonkers, opens two fall exhibitions: “Women to the Fore” through Jan. 3, and “Landscape Art and Virtual Travel” through next August. “Women to the Fore” explores and celebrates the multifaceted and diverse art works by more than 40 female-identifying artists over a span of 150 years. “Landscape Art and Virtual Travel: Highlights from the Collections of the HRM and Art Bridges” brings together landscape art across media at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has restricted travel and redefined the way people think about tourism. For details, visit HRM.org.
whatson@riverdalepress.com
lu Ave., presents “Looking In and Letting Go: Faces and Places” through Dec. 16. The exhibit features portraits by San Francisco minimalist Jeffrey Palladini, and Texas artists Mitch McGee and Ray Donley. It also features landscapes by Canadian artist Marie Danielle Leblanc, Connecticut’s Dale Najarian, and Columbian artist Alexis Duque. The gallery is open Wednesday from noon to 5 p.m., and by appointment. To learn more, visit ElisaContemporaryArt.com.
The garden beyond the screen The New York Botanical Garden opens its virtual gates with “The Garden at Home,” a project where the entire garden — from its programs to tours of the spring landscape — is available online. Other events include: • A spring walk among the garden’s recently bloomed daffodils. • A virtual tour of the orchid show: Jeff Leatham’s “Kaleidoscope,” hosted by senior orchid curator Marc Hachadourian. For more information, visit NYBG.org.
Art created in pandemic The Riverdale Art Association presents its new online art
‘Faces and Places’ at Elisa gallery Elisa Contemporary Art Riverdale Gallery, 5622 Mosho-
gallery in the form of a video, “Art in a Time of Quarantine,” featuring work by Doris Cordero, Maria Formoso, Thomas Maceranka, and others. For more information, visit RiverdaleArtAssociation.org.
Botanical garden open once again The New York Botanical Garden, 2900 Southern Blvd., has begun the second phase of its post-coronavirus pandemic reopening, with limited indoor access to the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. The new, limited timedentry ticketing system allows the botanical garden to stagger visitor arrivals, promote social distancing, and is designed to mitigate the risk of crowding in high-traffic areas. Advanced purchase of tickets is required, and will be confirmed by email. For more information, visit NYBG.org.
Holiday Lights return to Bronx Zoo The family-favorite Holiday Lights returns to the Bronx Zoo beginning Nov. 20, and continuing until Jan. 10. Previews for zoo members are set for Nov. 17-19. A larger area of the zoo will be included in the event to accommodate social distancing, with some 50 more animal lan-
Wave Hill, 4900 Independence Ave., has reopened for special restricted hours Thursday through Sunday from 10 a.m., to 5:30 p.m. Admission requires advance ticket purchase at WaveHill.org. Also reopened is The Shop at Wave Hill with a reimagined floor plan intended to making safety a priority. It’s open Wednesdays through Sundays from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Wave Hill House is open from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with Glyndor Gallery open
from noon to 4:30 p.m. — both featuring exhibitions to limitedsize audiences. The café is open from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., for limited grab-and-go entrees, snacks and beverages. Although eating indoors is not allowed, seating remains available outside on the Kate French Terrace. Advanced registration is required, and the maximum number of visitors allowed each day is limited. Thursday continues to be admission-free until Wave Hill resumes normal operating hours. Visit WaveHill.org.
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terns compared to last year. There also will be five geographically representative lantern safaris that includes species from different regions of the world. Other entertainment includes holiday-themed music, ice-carving demonstrations, costumed characters, stilt walkers, souvenirs, and seasonal treats like hot chocolate and s’mores. Tickets must be purchased in advance, and are now available at BronxZoo.com/holidaylights. The zoo is located at 2300 Southern Blvd.
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A10 - THE RIVERDALE PRESS - Thursday, October 29, 2020
College’s Halloween event keeps kids safe at home n Fully virtual, but still the same fun — costumes optional, but encouraged
‘We knew it was something the community needed. Especially this year, a lot of parents don’t know what to do with their kids because Halloween and COVID aren’t exactly a good mix.’
By ROSE BRENNAN rbrennan@riverdalepress.com
On a not-so-dark Friday night at the end of October each year, some Manhattan College students walk to the dining hall for dinner only to stumble upon costumed revelry on their campus quadrangle. It would be at the hands of the neighborhood’s children, who’d just gone trick-or-treating in different academic buildings on campus dressed in their Halloween costumes, collecting and eating candy all the while. And more often than not, the event would end with children playing with each other outside on the campus’ main green space, seemingly having the time of their lives during a once-a-year Halloween sugar rush. In 2020, however, Manhattan College’s Safe Halloween event won’t look like it once did. Because of the health concerns surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, trick-or-treating has become more of a controversial practice than in years past. While Mayor Bill de Blasio gave the OK for kids to knock on doors begging for candy this year — provided it was fully outdoors, and everyone wore masks and socially distanced — some parents just aren’t willing to take the risk. And neither is the executive board of Manhattan College’s chapter of Kappa Delta Pi — the national education honor society, which organizes the college’s trick-or-treating event each year. To KDP’s members, inviting children to trick-or-treat on campus might not be the safest idea. But it’s also a beloved annual event — both for the college’s students and the families who visit year after year. And so the honor society committed to nevertheless hosting a Halloween event — although it wouldn’t quite look the same. The first change was to the event’s name. What was “Safe Halloween” was rebranded as “MC Halloween.” And although the name change might indicate a temporary circumstance this year, KDP’s campus and community events co-chair Kelsey Kovacs hopes the name change remains for years to come. “The term ‘safe’ is a little presumptuous, maybe about the community around us not being safe,” Kovacs said. “We just thought that name could be different, and it could be a little
— Patricia Wright
JULIUS CONSTANTINE MOTAL / File photos
Manhattan College’s Safe Halloween event will look a bit different this year. Under a new name — MC Halloween — kids will stay at home and play in a specially designed virtual pumpkin patch filled with games and activities. more fun. This directly says where the event usually is — ‘MC,’ like ‘Manhattan College.’” Planning for MC Halloween itself began as early as last summer. The coronavirus pandemic was just as much of a reality then, and the KDP executive board began conceptualizing what a “remote” or social distancing-compliant Halloween event would look like come October. KDP co-president Patricia Wright considered other non-trick-or-treating options like a book drive, and even considered canceling the event outright. But she soon realized it was such a community staple, they’d need to provide something similar for the neighborhood kids in its place. “We knew it was something the community needed,” Wright said. “Especially this year, a lot of parents don’t know what to do with their kids because Halloween and COVID aren’t exactly a good mix.” Eventually, KDP decided on a fully
remote event. But that didn’t mean less planning went into it. In fact, it was quite the opposite. The honor society pooled its resources into creating two web pages, one of which would launch Oct. 30 — the day the in-person MC Halloween would’ve taken place In keeping with the theme, this year’s MC Halloween will allow children to “walk through” a virtual pumpkin patch from the KDP web page. While traversing digitally, they can click on icons they encounter — each of which links to a game or activity they can participate in at home, like a
word search or a Halloween-themed readaloud. The patch is divided into two sections. One has activities better suited for children 10 and younger, while the other is more for older children. The two separate pages and activities were made, Wright said, so the event could appeal to as many families as possible. “Middle schoolers wouldn’t exactly be entertained or engaged with the child’s readaloud about Halloween,” Wright said. “We have a Macbeth video-type thing in there, too, so I’m sure little kids wouldn’t want to be there.
They’d get creeped out.” Usually, clubs that wanted to participate in MC Halloween would be assigned a room on campus for the event. It would be their responsibility to decorate the room with a theme and provide an activity — and, of course, candy. But the only rooms this year are virtual, allowing these clubs still participate by providing an activity or game for KDP’s virtual pumpkin patch. The pumpkin patch isn’t MC Halloween’s only component. Last Friday, KDP launched a community resource page providing articles and other resources for parents to read and consider when it comes to Halloween — with everything from trick-or-treating safely to other at-home activities for families not quite ready to take that leap outside just yet. Some parents may have decided against trick-or-treating, but that doesn’t mean Halloween should be treated like any other run-of-the-mill day. “Having other activities for your children to do could be really good for them,” said Kelsey Reynolds, KDP’s other campus and community events co-chair. “You could have them dress up, too, and maybe have a virtual Halloween party, where they can meet their friends on Zoom or something.” Wright believes children have a better understanding of COVID-19 and its implications than most adults give them credit for. As a result, she thinks honesty is the best policy if children ask their parents why Halloween feels different this year. “I think it’s important for parents to talk to their kids beforehand (and) make sure that they know the situation and that they understand it,” Wright said. “I think an honest conversation and trying to make them excited about something new they’re doing this year, or starting a new tradition — whether it be a website or not — is the way to go.”
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THE RIVERDALE PRESS - Thursday, October 29, 2020 - A11
Payback time for public school teachers?
SCHOOL DESK
n Teachers receive half of what they’re owed now, the rest next July
P.S. 24 remains closed after positive COVID tests
By ROSE BRENNAN rbrennan@riverdalepress.com
After years of a job well done, Michael Bloomberg saw fit to give most city employees a raise — along with renewed contracts — while he was still mayor in 2009. But there was one cohort of workers left out: public school teachers. They’d get their “raise” sooner or later — but it would be in a different form. Once Bloomberg left office in 2014, Mayor Bill de Blasio worked out another solution with the leadership of the United Federation of Teachers, the city’s public school teachers’ union. Rather than a traditional raise, the city decided to make a retroactive payment from Bloomberg’s 2009 raise. It would come in one lump sum, and because the city wanted to ensure it had enough to pay all teachers what they were owed, they’d have to wait a few more years for that money to accumulate. It was all supposed to pay off this month. But neither Bloomberg nor de Blasio had a crystal ball, with the ability to look into the future and see what the world would be like in late 2020. So the coronavirus claimed yet another victim: Public school teachers would not receive the money they’ve waited more than a decade for. The outcry was nearly immediate. While teachers were split over returning to school during a pandemic, there were no divisions when it came to this lost money. “When you get very conservative teachers who did nothing this summer — marched in no marches (and) no protests — starting to tweet out that they want to strike when their money is snatched, now you know you just made everybody mad,” said Aixa Rodriguez, an English as a second language teacher in Manhattan. COVID-19 or no COVID-19, canceling this long-awaited lump sum payment just continues the Bloomberg policy of treating public school teachers as second-class employees, Rodriguez said. It seems whenever the time comes for budget cuts, one of the first departments on the chopping is education. “We are always asked to sacrifice,” Rodriguez said. “No other union has bent over like this.”
HIRAM ALEJANDRO DURÁN
Due to a massive budget crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the city says it can’t give teachers the retroactive pay it promised back in 2014. But after widespread outcry — and a judge’s intervention — teachers will receive half at the end of the month, with the rest coming next July. Christine Vaccaro notes a double standard between teachers and other city employees, especially when the Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy English teacher considers the gender divide. “I don’t think it’s an accident that we’re dealing with a work force here that’s 75 percent female and we’re having this issue,” Vaccaro said. “I have a hard time seeing this happen with cops and firemen.” It would take arbitration to settle this dispute between UFT leadership and the city. Teachers would receive half of their promised backpay at the end of October. They’d receive the other half next July. And there would be no teacher layoffs during the in-between period. According to Chalkbeat, the city owes its teachers nearly $900 million in backpay. And with that sum essentially just sitting in the coffers — at least until the end of the month — some city officials eyed the backpay as a potential solution to its money woes. While half is probably better than none, many teachers already started spending the money, Vaccaro said, expecting it would soon be in their bank accounts. They made down payments on apartments or houses, for example, with no reason to believe they wouldn’t be paid, despite the pandemic. “For mostly everybody I know, that money has been spent,” Vac-
caro said. “We knew it was coming for years.” Rodriguez taught in city public schools for more than a decade. As a result, she’s personally looking at thousands of dollars in retroactive pay, compared to some of her newer colleagues. It’s essentially operated as an incentive to remain in the system, especially after what was termed an “exodus” of teachers from public schools in 2014. “This backpay was supposed to keep people in the city and stop them from going to other school districts,” Rodriguez said. “A lot of people who would’ve left stayed to get the lump sum that we were waiting for.” There were high hopes with de Blasio, who seemed to have a far more harmonious relationship with UFT than Bloomberg, Rodriguez said. However, that rapport with de Blasio grew more volatile during school reopening negotiations during the pandemic. Nevertheless, union president Michael Mulgrew made a number of concessions to de Blasio, like calling off a threatened strike and compromising on the UFT’s originally proposed reopening plan — which originally mandated coronavirus testing for all students and school personnel. When it came time for the city to return the favor with backpay, Rodriguez said, it didn’t happen.
Rodriguez represents some of the split inside the union as a member of the MORE caucus — Movement of Rank-and-File Educators —within the UFT. While her caucus usually stands opposed to Mulgrew and his own caucus, Rodriguez recognized he was just as surprised by the city’s initial decision to not deliver retroactive pay as the rest of the union. “After really showing his allyship to de Blasio, sitting at a dais with him in solidarity with him by opening the schools, de Blasio hit him with the one-two and snatched that rug from underneath him,” Rodriguez said. The trust between the union and the city may be shattered now. As a result, Rodriguez thinks the UFT will now read new contracts with a finer-tooth comb than they have in the past, almost assuring no contract might be an automatic given now. It’s not just about money, Vaccaro said. Rather, it’s about a broken promise, and the fact that many teachers’ financial decisions have been upended and rearranged by the city reneging on a deal. “Nobody goes into teaching for the money, that’s not why we do this,” the RKA teacher said. “But this was money that was owed to us. It’s money that we earned — many of us, before the students were even born.”
By ROSE BRENNAN
There had been hope P.S. 24 Spuyten Duyvil would reopen its physical campus last Friday. But in the late evening hours the night before, parents received much different news: The school will remain closed until at least Nov. 5. Random coronavirus testing at the West 236th Street school revealed two students were positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, principal Steven Schwartz confirmed to parents Oct. 22. The results were from 125 tests administered to both students and adults on campus, and were initially enough to shut P.S. 24 down for 24 hours. Still, throughout Oct. 22, Schwartz maintained hope that in-person classes would resume at the school the following day. All they needed was a thumbs up from the city’s health department. That approval never came. In fact, it was the opposite, meaning the campus would be shut down for 14 days. “I want to make sure that you know both families — although (they) were taken a little off-guard by this — by all accounts, they are very healthy,” Schwartz said of the two infected students, during a virtual town hall with P.S. 24 parents last week. “They’re asymptomatic. There’s no fever. There’s no sign of any distress.” Schwartz fielded several questions from parents during the town hall before the final decision to close was made. Many expressed concern about attendance, especially in light of the positive cases. As a result, they wanted to keep their children home out of concern for their safety — but only if they would not be marked absent from class. The principal confirmed that as long as children attended remote sessions, they would be considered present. In addition, the school would work with parents who wanted to shift to fully remote classess for the next three months in light of the positive cases. But Schwartz also stressed parents shouldn’t be too worried about their children’s attendance record, as it has minimal impact on their promotion to the next grade. Plus, given the extenuating and rapidly evolving circumstances, attendance was a secondary concern. “We want you to prioritize the safety of you, your family, and of course, the entire community,” Schwartz said. “We will ensure that your child continues their education remotely, and we have many remote-only teachers that will support you and your child if you choose to go the remote-only path.” Even with the physical campus closed for the next two weeks, Schwartz urged the parents not to get complacent, even encouraging them to get tested on their own between the three- to four-week gap in school-based testing. “As a community, we’ve done an unbelievable job in keeping each other safe,” the principal said. “I know the two positives scare everybody, but I also want it to be a reminder that we can’t get lax. We need to continue following all the guidance that’s been given to us to make sure that you’re safe. Make sure your children are safe. Make sure each one of us (is) safe so that we can keep the building open.”
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A12 - THE RIVERDALE PRESS - Thursday, October 29, 2020
Opinion
The Riverdale Press maintains an open submission policy. Opinions expressed in this section do not necessarily represent those of this publication. Submissions can be made to letters@riverdalepress.com.
Editorial
Get into the habit of voting
O
n Tuesday, America will visit the ballot box and decide who they want to be in the White House for the next four years. Well, that is, the part of America that didn’t vote by mail, or at early-voting sites. But there’s another part of America we have to take into consideration as well. And it’s the part that’s always brought up every single election — those who didn’t vote. Nearly 129 million ballots were cast in the 2016 presidential election, so “how could my vote matter?” one might ask. And it’s a good question: One vote will likely make no difference in a contest decided by tens of millions. Except it’s not just one lost vote. It’s not hundreds, or even thousands. It’s millions. Tens of millions. The U.S. Elections Project estimates there are more than 250 million people eligible to vote in the United States. That means in 2016, as Washington Post reporter Christopher Ingraham so eloquently stated just days after Donald Trump claimed victory — “about 100 million people couldn’t be bothered to vote.” Yet, it’s not overall numbers we need to be focused on here. Trump likes to talk about his “landslide” victory in the Electoral College, but you have to look deeper than his 304-227 victory. Trump won Michigan by just 10,000 votes — out of 4.8 million cast. Trump won Wisconsin by 22,700 votes — out of 3 million cast.
Those two states alone were 26 electoral votes. That would not have been enough to win Hillary Clinton the presidency, but it would have brought her extraordinarily close. The sad part? She was expected to win those two states. Polling had even shown as much — but polling is based on a certain number of people casting ballots. If those ballots aren’t cast, then there’s no telling what might happen in the end. We know what you’re saying — “This is New York. Hillary won this state by 1.7 million votes. Surely, whether we vote or not doesn’t matter.” But it does. The simple fact that you’re still going to the polls, even though you really don’t have to, makes a big statement to friends and family who live in states like Michigan and Wisconsin. If they see it’s important to you where the victor is obvious even before the election starts, then it should be important to them. Once the election is over, however, we can’t file away our voter registration cards for four years. This has to be the beginning of a habit to vote in every and all elections. New York seemingly has a special election of some sort every several months. Machine politicians love them because no one turns out, and they can push their candidates through. Don’t let that happen. Become addicted to voting, and do it every time. Your democracy depends on it.
Point of view
City council elections are so white, and so boring
By ADAM NEUFELD
B
efore I left for The Hague in the Netherlands for graduate school to earn a master’s in international governance and development policy in 2018, I was thoroughly looking forward to taking a little break from discussing both local and national politics. From an early age, I always was interested in politics. In 2009, I spent my spring high school internship commuting from Riverdale to Kew Gardens to work for Anthony Weiner’s congressional office. Then in 2012, I worked as a very “average” community organizer in the South and East Bronx for Bill Thompson’s mayoral campaign. While in college at one point, I held the position of class president and student body treasurer. Humbly, I have still lost more elections than I have won. From afar in the Netherlands, I always kept an eye mostly on New York City and Riverdale. My program was international with more than 160 students in my class, representing more than 50 different countries. The United States had complicated relationships with most of these countries. Also, I was the only Jewish student, and there were few Americans in the program. I stopped bothering to follow national news because a lot of my peers would update me and ask questions like, “So who is going to run against Trump?” “Did you hear what Kavanaugh said in his Supreme Court nomination judicial hearings?” Or, most commonly, “Did you see what your president just tweeted?” Practicing this level of “soft diplomacy,” and being “ambassador” to my country’s controversial history and current view of the world was challenging, to say the least. The Chinese students and I were always both bracing for some quip from other students because as the global hegemon, so go the spoils. However, still, my best friend and roommate from Somalia dreams of coming and living in the United States, and said, “Don’t worry. Most of them are just jealous.” Before arriving in Europe, I already did my research, and just in case, looked for my local Democrats Abroad group. The group enabled me to commiserate with other Americans and find a community. Luckily, I did, and volunteered with a few initiatives. From afar, I always kept an eye on the drama of our local congressional, Assembly, state senate and city council mishegas (Yiddish for
“craziness”). However, this upcoming special city council election for Andy Cohen’s seat is far from ideal. Besides costing the taxpayers possibly $1 million to fund this special election in March, when you look at the names of the candidates running, you think you were voting in Scarsdale or Eastchester, and not “da’ Bronx.” We live in one of the most diverse cities in the world where more and more city residents are speaking Spanish at home (and not English), and these are the only candidates? While at least we do have at least 50 percent female representation on the ballot, why is our party and community continuing to fail as a whole to cast a wider net and recruit potential candidates with more diverse backgrounds? It’s bad news about the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club split losing a lot of young, frustrated professionals. The area and party don’t need such factionalism that is reminiscent of the Republican Tea Party movement of 2011. Now more energy, resources and money will be split between these dissenting groups and not unified together. But, so is the price, choice and practice of democracy. Jeffrey Dinowitz and Alessandra Biaggi should strengthen the local Democratic coalition and find reasonable common ground for the sake of their constituents. But, at the end of the day, Andy has a nice house in Riverdale, probably with a big mortgage. You can’t blame Jeff for wanting his son to have a job that pays $150,000. And let’s have the taxpayer front the special election bill. It’s too bad that part of that taxpayer money couldn’t go to public schools throughout the borough that encourages the importance of a strong civil society. This money could be budgeted for possible programs that stress the importance of local government, helping empower/train/pay local high school and college students. Such funding could be directed toward stipends for these students to intern for local candidates and political offices. If we don’t invest now in the next generation of leaders, we most likely will just end up with more of the same. We have a joke about governance that paraphrases a quote from Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s opinion on the threshold test regarding obscenity in 1964. While it is hard to maintain good governance, you know bad governance because “you know it when you see it.” I think we all see it, and these examples are surely multiple signs of bad governance. Oy vey, woe is us, District 11.
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Letters to the editor
Seniors deserve right to vote To the editor: A profound and consequential election is upon us. Much has been discussed regarding the female, minority and youth vote. Yet, an often overlooked and key influencer is the senior vote. Older adults at 65 and above are engaged, involved voters. According to the U.S. Census, older Americans voted at higher rates — 70.9 percent — as compared with younger Americans, 46.1 percent in the 18 to 29 age group. Yet, this year — unlike our campus, which is its own election district — many older adults will not have their voices heard as long-term care facilities, and assisted living and retirement communities have closed their campuses because of COVID-19. More than 3 million older Americans live in long-term care facilities, and assisted living and retirement communities in the United States. These are voters who, in a pre-pandemic world, either went to the polls, or more typically, had the polls come to them through on-campus polling sites and robust volunteer efforts to facilitate registration and voting. In our new reality, campuses have been closed to visitors for seven months, impeding residents’ civil right to vote. We must not lose sight of the importance of their vote. The “greatest generation” who fought in World War II, witnessed the Great Depression, polio and smallpox outbreaks, is not only a reflection of our past, but vital to our future. They have been COVID-19’s prey, which eight out of 10 COVID-related deaths reported in the United States to have been among adults 65 and older.
Trump has destroyed America To the editor: President Trump, you have had nearly four years to lead the United States and have failed us by your own choosing. Whether it be in foreign policy or domestic policy, you have not protected the United States as commander-in-chief. Now comes the latest news about your complete disrespect for our military and total disregard for the COVID-19 virus. We the American people have finally borne witness to what happens when they place an incompetent business leader into the Oval Office. Quality of life is not a business decision, sir, but rather it is a humane choice to be empathetic to those who cannot help themselves. Joe Biden as that empathy, and will return the United States to an era when we were respected internationally because of how we treat our citizens domestically.
Older adults are educated, opinionated, experienced, and have a stake in decisions that affect health care, which is more compelling than ever in this election. They care deeply about the future of this country for their kids, grandkids and great-grandkids. Our nation is plagued with the ageist misconception that men and women of a “certain age” are no longer relevant, no longer in touch with today’s issues, and no longer have the mental capacity to vote. Our elders deserve to have their voices heard, and now is the time. We must make every effort to register and make voting accessible to longterm care, and assisted living and retirement communities through mobile, virtual and safe inperson options. Any restrictions on mail-in ballots will disproportionately affect this population. There is a Greek proverb that states, “A society grows great when elders plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” Older adults are deeply concerned about the future of our world. The vote they cast today will impact generations long after they are gone. We have a moral obligation to preserve this civil right that they fought for decades ago, and do everything in our power to make voting accessible to all. Older Americans deserve no less. Daniel ReingolD The author is president and chief executive of RiverSpring Health, a nonprofit senior health care organization that includes the Hebrew Home at Riverdale.
This election is a clear choice between those who have never had it so good, and those of us who know we can do better. Joe Biden will lead us there. Fellow citizens, exercise your right to vote to preserve your sacred heritage, promote your children’s future, and obtain the blessings of liberty we all cherish. To restore a sense of decency to the United States, rise and vote! Joe Bialek
Thinking of animals To the editor: As evidenced by the ramifications of COVID-19 — which sprang forth from inhumane, unsafe conditions at a wet market in Wuhan, China — our society’s animal policy is inexorably tied to our citizens’ health, our country’s economy, and our national security. To prevent another coronavirus, and to improve the lives of animals and humans
around the world, we must rewrite the contract between people and animals. To that end, American Humane — the country’s first national humane organization — is challenging politicians from both sides of the aisle to adopt comprehensive policies that will improve the lives of animals and people. We are calling it “A New Deal for Animals, People and the World We Share.” Eradicating wet markets, ending the global cat and dog meat trade, and fighting poaching are just a few ways in which policymakers can both improve the lives of animals around the world and the communities they exist alongside. Both Republicans and Democrats are outlining their visions for the next four years. Let us hope some have the moral courage to take up the banner for animals. RoBin ganzeRT The author is president and chief executive of American Humane, an organization founded in 1877 intended to ensure the safety, welfare and well being of animals.
Writers cry out for some unity To the editor: The Kingsbridge Library Writer’s Group meets weekly, these days via Zoom. Our writing prompt recently was the single word “unity.” We are a group of writers who live here in the Northwest Bronx. The word prompt elicited our hopes for a better day as well as our very real anxieties about the future of our nation. Here are my musings on the subject, but there were many along the same lines: Unity. It’s a lovely word, but it’s not a reflection of our current reality. It is the antithesis of the malignant condition that confronts our nation. Not so long ago, things were different. Even folks who didn’t think much of one another were able to join together — albeit reluctantly — to defeat true evil. They called it the “United Front Against Fascism.” For a while, at least, it seemed to be fundamentally working. Today, white boys all over America swig beer
while hoisting the Nazi flag. They call themselves “proud Americans.” Our commander-in-chief cheers them on and shouts “America first.” It sends a chill down the spines of those of us who remember where that phrase originated. It was coined by homegrown American Nazis in the 1930s. They favored Hitler and argued for American isolationism. We want desperately to shake some sense into these particular currentday beer guzzlers. We want to yell, “Hey, don’t you know we fought a war about this?” Sadly, they can’t hear us anymore. They are bloated with the lies and hubris of their leader. He is the occupant of the White House. He and those who are complicit offer only hate. Democracy hangs ever more tenuously in the balance. We hold our breath. Arms linked, we chant “unity” — maybe one last time. Please vote and resist. Silvia BlumenfelD
Riverdale 5.375 X 5.25
THE RIVERDALE PRESS - Thursday, October 29, 2020 - A13
Op-Ed Point of view
A Jewish response to racial tensions: Harriet Tubman
The author is chief executive of The Friedlander Group, a public policy consulting group.
Letters to the editor
Millennials destroyed by PC To the editor: Twitter is, in many ways thankfully, what Tumblr didn’t become. Rest in peace to an iconic social media app of a generation. What I’ve noticed as a young millennial who is primly in-tune with social media as a tool in the general sense is that there is an element of manipulation and bias that haunts each one of them. And it really is no fault to the creators, but mostly maximized by our own hyper-focus on social currency. Political correctness culture is, on its base, a nice tool to possess in day-to-day speech. It officially and rightfully so exists in professional spaces, and can ward off things like hate speech. But on the flip side, it’s creating an atmosphere of young voices that are too afraid to challenge anything. We are, in effect, becoming slaves to what we are told to believe and respect as offensive. Although I’m relatively just fully reaching adulthood at 21, the transformation we have universally taken as a community — especially here in the United States — is evident. As a child in high school, it wasn’t unusual to have discourse that, by today’s standards, would be considered “racist,” or not “body positive” along with whatever else has been shunned as disgraceful by online community standards. In
my opinion, as a woman of color who faced many challenges connected to my culture and class distinction, I wouldn’t have wanted to grow up any other way. Through these trying moments, I learned something that can’t be taught. It’s called grit. Now, people my age — and those even younger — are effectively being pacified. What’s quite amusing is the fact that the presence of those online who have amassed a grand social stature is that of perfection, and not ever someone who might say something borderline contemptuous. But once their phones are put to the side and reality hits, nobody is clocking anyone in real life for having a different point of view, or saying something unfavorable. Now, am I here promoting bad speech or bullying? Absolutely not. But I am also not going to stand by and accept the United States becoming one big “safe space” where everyone cancels each other? The answer is an even greater “no.” That, in my opinion, is more chaotic and frightening than anything someone would say at face value. Dystopian societies can take many forms. Let’s recognize this and correct problems instead of painting over them like glazed pastries. kena Dijiba
Trump is not fit to be president To the editor: Sen. John McCain spent nearly six years being tortured as a prisoner of war. The president said, “He’s not a war hero,” and called him a “dummy.” During his 44 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, Secretary of Defense James Mattis received multiple military awards, including the Bronze Star and Combat Action Ribbon. The president called him “the world’s most overrated general.” The Russians paid to have U.S. troops killed. The president did nothing. Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman served in the U.S. Army for more than two decades, receiving the Purple Heart after being wounded in combat. The president called him “insubordinate” and stated he received poor performance reviews. Sen. Tammy Duckworth lost both legs in combat. The president tweeted a comment calling her a “coward.” Former FBI director Robert Mueller received
the Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his service in the Vietnam War. The president called him “a fool.” When the president was queried regarding his multiple draft deferments, he replied, “You think I’m stupid? I wasn’t going to Vietnam.” The president considers our troops who died in combat as “losers” and “suckers.” As a U.S. Navy hospital corpsman serving as a combat medic in Vietnam, I provided emergency medical care for wounded and dying Marines. These men were not “losers” or “suckers.” Active duty military personnel and veterans know what it means to serve and sacrifice for our country. Service and sacrifice mean nothing to the president. He has no respect for members of the military. He insults veterans. He is not fit to be commander-in-chief. Mike Felker
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n neighborhoods where two of the most persecuted peoples in all of history live sideby-side, harmony and mutual appreciation should be a given. The historic relations between the Orthodox Jewish and African American communities of Brooklyn have admittedly fluctuated in measure. However, while there have been reasons for strife on both sides, now is not the time for blame. Rather, it is the time for action. Mutual understanding and appreciation are the first steps in this process. As an Orthodox Hasidic Jew, Harriet Tubman is a relatable character who can act as the foundation of this understanding. Through the lens of a Moses-like character — to which she has often been likened by those in the African American community — educational material and sessions in the Orthodox community surrounding Harriet Tubman and slavery would be optimal breaking ground to begin such reconciliation programs. As the bicentennial of Harriet Tubman’s birth approaches us in March 2022, it is an auspicious time to educate through her history to foment change for the greater good. Luckily, Harriet Tubman’s heroic life is common knowledge for many Americans. “Many” is quite an accomplishment, but it is nowhere near enough. Harriet Tubman was born into an enslaved family and suffered horrendous abuse at the hands of her oppressors. She escaped slavery at 27 and returned to free not only her family, but many others. She was often likened to Moses by those in her community, highlighting their shared strives in freeing their peoples from the bonds of slavery. Harriet Tubman herself is reported to have even invoked Moses’ name in song while leading her escaped brethren in the Underground Railroad. At the onset of the Civil War, she began covert intelligence operations for the Union, connecting with slaves in order to reveal Confederate war plans. In the heat of the war in 1863, she led the Combahee Ferry Raid in which she successfully liberated more than 700 slaves. This is recorded as the first American military operation led by a woman, foreshadowing her dedication to the suffragette movement. Hate is the deformed byproduct of ignorance. To ensure our joint communal safety and prosperity, we must educate ourselves on the struggles our neighbors have encountered. There is no better way to learn than to relate the new information to information close to our communal heart and deeply ingrained in our communal memory. For this reason, we in the Jewish community must fulfill our obligation to learn about and love our quite literal neighbors through a figure our community can easily understand: Harriet Tubman. The time has come when we must educate the Yiddish-speaking populations and the Jewish community at large of the trials and tribulations
our African American neighbors have endured. We must produce adequate Yiddish and English language materials in order to do so — an unprecedented project of societal acquaintance. Learning her history should not only be completed in order to fill an American history requirement. Additionally, Harriet Tubman was a religious woman. She appreciated the values and lessons of the Bible, and used them as inspiration for her actions. This makes her an even more relatable individual to our community. In fact, she is so highly revered by her community that she is often also likened to Miriam, the prophetess. The African American community has compared her leadership of slaves to freedom in song as Miriam led the Israelites from Egyptian slavery to freedom in song. Historians point to evidence of Harriet’s religious upbringing influencing her so deeply as to compel her to act, risking her life in the name of her people and G-d. Her story may not only serve as inspiration for how to treat our fellow humans who may not look as we do, but also as how we should truly be inspired by our beliefs and morals to the point of full devotion to improving what we can in this world. While I frame this call to action in a format tailored for the Jewish community, it should prove as a foundational structure required in many of our diverse communities in New York City and across the nation. Harriet Tubman is such an ideal role model because of her bravery choosing to re-enter hostile territory to save others despite the risk of enduring more of the same tremendous suffering she experienced in her youth. Many of our numerous communities in New York City were built and flourished by the hands of heroes who, too, overcame terrible suffering to save the lives of others and built the vital infrastructure that allows us all to live our current lifestyles. Ultimately, while understanding and appreciating the struggles and accomplishments of our neighbors is exceedingly important, achieving an in-depth understanding of the history of this nation — of which we are certainly a part — and its implications on life is the end goal. As we grapple with the racial tensions plaguing our nation, and as we desire a better solution than simply allowing the status quo to endure, it is vital we do our part in manifesting a better world absent of such hate. As humans, our reaction to our fellow human’s yearning for equality and yearning for justice should resound within us. As Americans who inherit a beautiful nation designed to pursue justice, this should not just resound with us, it should push us to action. As many anecdotes about New York City go: If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. Let us make an example for the world of how to treat our fellow humans.
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A14 - THE RIVERDALE PRESS - Thursday, October 29, 2020
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Exp'd Home attendant to care for the elderly. Compassionate, reliable. References. Kimberly 718-654-2491
Licensed massage therapist with over 15 years of experience available for home visits in Riverdale, Yonkers, and lower Westchester. Please call Jason for a FREE consultation at (646) 496-5526. COVID precautions in place for your safety and mine.
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Legal Notices Legal Notice IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE UNIFORM COMERCIAL CODE, There being due and unpaid charges for which the undersigned, DUN-RITE SPECIALIZED CARRIERS, LLC is entitled to a lien as warehouseman, on the goods hereinafter described and stored at 1561 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY 10460. And due notice having been given, the owners of said property and all parties, known to claim an interest therein, and the time specified in such notices for payment of such having Expired, there will be sold at public auction, DUN-RITE SPECIALIZED CARRIERS, LLC, 1561 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY on Saturday November 7, 2020, beginning at 10 O’clock in the forenoon of that day the following property, Sculptures deposited by: NATASHA McGILL C/O OLGA BRODSY AND BARBARA PECK. All items, being stored with the said company in its warehouse located at 1561 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY all to be more specifically announced and described at the time of said sale. Goods will be in Exhibition and may be seen at the place of Sale, DUN-RITE SPECIALIZED CARRIERS, LLC, 1561 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY on Friday, November 6, 2020. Should it be impossible to dispose of all these goods on Saturday, November 7, 2020 the sale will be continued on such succeeding sale days thereafter as may be necessary to complete sale. 3351
Legal Notice LEGAL NOTICE UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation 1. Publication Title: RIVERDALE PRESS. 2. Publication No. 466820. 3. Filing Date: October 1, 2020 4. Issue Frequency: Weekly. 5. No. of Issues Published Annually 52. 6. Annual Subscription Price: $36. 7. Complete Mailing Address of Known Office of Publication: 2 ENDO BLVD, GARDEN CITY, NY 11530 8. Complete Mailing Address of Headquarters or General Business Office of Publisher: 2 Endo Blvd., Garden City, Nassau County, NY 11530. 9 Full Names and Complete Mailing Addresses of Publisher, Editor, and Managing Editor. Publisher: Richner Communications, Inc., Stuart Richner, 2 ENDO BLVD, GARDEN CITY, NY 11530. Editor: MICHAEL HINMAN, 2 Endo Blvd., Garden City, Nassau County, NY 11530. Managing Editor: MICHAEL HINMAN, 2 ENDO BLVD, GARDEN CITY, NY 11530. 10. Owner: Richner Communications, Inc., 2 Endo Blvd., Garden City, Nassau County, NY 11530; Clifford Richner, 2 Endo Blvd., Garden City, Nassau County, NY 11530; Stuart Richner, 2 Endo Blvd., Garden City, Nassau County, NY 11530. 11. Known Bondholders, Mortgagees, and Other Security Holders Owning or Holding 1 Percent or
More of Total Amount of Bonds, Mortgages, or Other Securities: None. 12 Not applicable. 13. Publication Title: THE RIVERDALE PRESS. 14. Issue Date for Circulation Data Below: Septmber 24, 2020. 15. Extent and Nature of Circulation: a. Total No. Copies: Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months, 9000; Actual No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date, 8500. b. Paid Circulation (By Mail and Outside the Mail): (1) Mailed Outside-County Paid Subscriptions stated on Form 3541: Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months, 145; Actual No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date, 120. (2) Mailed In-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on Form 3541: Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months, 1848; Actual No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date, 1611. (3) Paid Distribution Outside the Mails including Sales Through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors, and Counter Sales, and Other Non-USPS Paid Distribution: Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months, 2426; Actual No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date, 2514. (4) Paid Distribution by Other Classes of Mail Through the USPS: Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months, 0; Actual No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date, 0.
c. Total Paid Distribution: Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months, 4419; Actual No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date, 4245. d. Free or Nominal Rate Distribution( by Mail and Outside the Mail) : (1) Free or Nominal Rate OutsideCounty as Stated on Form 3541: Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months, 1309; Actual No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date, 1719 (2)Free or Nominal In-County as Stated on Form 3541: Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months, 470; Actual No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date, 0 (3) Free or Nominal Rate Copies Mailed at Other classes Mailed Through the USPS: Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months, 0; Actual No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date, 0. (4) Free or Nominal Rate Distribution Outside the Mail: Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months, 1000; Actual No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date, 1,100. e. Total Free or Nominal Rate Distribution: Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months, 2779; Actual No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date, 2819. f. Total Distribution: Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months, 7198; Actual No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date, 7064.
g. Copies Not Distributed: Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months, 1802; Actual No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date, 1436. h. Total: Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months, 9000; Actual No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date, 8500. i. Percent Paid and/or Requested Circulation: Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months, 61.39%; Actual No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date, 60.09%. 16. This Statement of Ownership will be printed in the October 29, 2020, issue of this publication. 17. Signature and Title of Editor, Publisher, Business Manager, or Owner: Stuart Richner, Owner; Date: October 1, 2020. I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete. I understand that anyone who furnishes false or misleading information on this form or who omits material information requested on the form or who omits material or information requested on the form may be subject to criminal sanctions (including fines and imprisonment) and/or civil sanctions (including civil penalties). 3358 Legal Notice Basically Brew LLC. Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/19/2020 Office location: Bronx County. SSNY
has been designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. The Post Office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is: 9 Fordham Hill Oval, Apt 12B Bronx, NY 10468 . The principal business address of the LLC is: 9 Fordham Hill Oval, Apt 12B Bronx, NY 10468. Purpose: any lawful act or activity. 3359
address are New York, NY. My place of birth is Tenares, Dominican Republic. The month and year of my birth are September 1996. 3361
Legal Notice Park Garden Rehabilitation & Nursing Center, LLC, 6585 Broadway Riverdale New York 10471, a participant in the Medicare and Medicaid Programs does not discriminate in its policies regarding admissions, employment or the provision of services because of race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, handicap, source of payment, religion, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, or age. 3360
Legal Notice Notice is hereby given that an Order entered by the Civil Court, Bronx County on 10/15/20, bearing Index Number NC-000202-20/ BX, a copy of which may be examined at the Office of the Clerk, located at 851 Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY 10451, grants me the right to assume the name of (First) Olga (Last) Guri. My present name is (First) Olga (Middle) Santiago (Last) Casiano AKA Olga Santiago-Casiano, AKA Olga Santiago Casiano-Guri, AKA O Santiago-Casiano. The city and state of my present address are Bronx, NY. My place of birth is Ponce, Puerto Rico. The month and year of my birth are May 1969. 3362
Legal Notice Notice is hereby given that an Order entered by the Civil Court, Bronx County on Oct 08, 2020, bearing Index Number NC-00024320/BX, a copy of which may be examined at the Office of the Clerk, located at 851 Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY 10451, grants me the right to assume the name of (First) Emmanuel (Middle) Daniel (Last) Vargas. My present name is (First) Enmanuel (Middle) Dejesus (Last) Vargas Cabrera AKA Enmanuel D Vargas Cabrera, AKA Enmanuel Vargas. The city and state of my present
Legal Notice Notice is hereby given that an Order entered by the Civil Court, Bronx County on September 30, 2020, bearing Index Number NC-00014320/BX, a copy of which may be examined at the Office of the Clerk, located at 851 Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY 10451, grants me the right to assume the name of (First) Ronald (Middle) D (Last) Young. My present name is (First) Darrin (Middle) Ronnie (Last) Young AKA Ronald D Young, AKA Ronald Young, AKA R. Y. The city and state of my present address are Bronx, NY. My place of birth
is Manhattan, NY. The month and year of my birth are October 1968. 3363 Legal Notice Notice is hereby given that an Order entered by the Civil Court, Bronx County on 10/15/20, bearing Index Number NC-000250-20/ BX, a copy of which may be examined at the Office of the Clerk, located at 851 Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY 10451, grants me the right to assume the name of (First) Ari (Middle) X (Last) Usain. My present name is (First) Ameira (Middle) Shyane (Last) Parnell. The city and state of my present address are New York, NY. My place of birth is Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The month and year of my birth are April 1993. 3364 Legal Notice Notice is hereby given that an Order entered by the Civil Court, Bronx County on Oct 08, 2020, bearing Index Number NC-00023720/BX, a copy of which may be examined at the Office of the Clerk, located at 851 Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY 10451, grants me the right to assume the name of (First) Luka (Last) Sea. My present name is (First) Roxanne (Middle) Symone (Last) Coleman AKA Roxanne Coleman. The city and state of my present address are Bronx, NY. My place of birth is Bronx, NY. The month and year of my birth are June 1994. 3365
THE RIVERDALE PRESS - Thursday, October 29, 2020 - A15
Home of the Week Alan Cutler of Douglas Elliman Real Estate
Beautifully renovated pre-war Fieldston gem
F
ind yourself in a truly unique home, possessing all the pre-war details of 1939 with today’s modern conveniences. A spacious foyer, soaring ceilings, graceful arches, gleaming hardwood floors, picture molding, and an electric fireplace all are part of this one-bedroom, one-bathroom co-op at 3636 Greystone Ave. The renovated eat-in kitchen has to be seen. Marble counter tops give maximum preparation space, a glass back splash, a five-burner gas range, matching stainless steel refrigerator, and rows of cabinets waiting to be filled. The windowed renovated bath is beauti-
fully re-tiled with an extra-large soaking tub. Finally, there are multiple closets throughout to make sure you never run out of space. The Richmond is known for its pre-war charm and how well-maintained it is. The building features a live-in super, laundry room, bike room,waitlisted garage bays, waitlisted walk-in storage lockers, beautiful gardens, and a private entertainment deck that’s great for soaking up the sun. Pet-friendly — at least for no more than two dogs at 40 pounds each —and no car is needed. It’s available now for $229,000.
Note: Each week’s featured home is chosen at random from among houses and apartments offered by Riverdale Press advertisers. The opinions expressed are those of the advertiser and not The Riverdale Press news department. For further information, write to advertising@riverdalepress.com.
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A16 - THE RIVERDALE PRESS - Thursday, October 29, 2020
TrebachRealty.com
718.543.7174
Family Owned & Operated Since 1972
NeW exclusive
NeW exclusive
NeW exclusive
West oF parKWay Web #895 Sylish and light filled 4-bdrm, 4.5-bath brick and stone house with impressive grounds & private association pool on leafy cul-de-sac. Marble center hall, elegant living room, formal dining room, large kitchen and stone gas fireplace om family rm. $2,775,000
West oF parKWay Web #893 Prime renovation opportunity: Completely gutted, sprawling 7,000-Sq. Ft. 5-bdrm, 6-bath stucco and stone house with pool, multi-level patios and spacious yard on double lot. Great room w/ 21-ft high ceilings, fireplace and oversized windows. $3,800,000
FieldstoN Web #885 Stately, secluded georgian revival stone 6-bdrm, 6-full, 2-half bath residence situated on nearly three quarters of an acre. Completely renovated with wide front terrace, large living room with WBFP and french doors to four-season sunroom. $4,900,000
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co-exclusive
FieldstoN Web #839 Stylish and bright 4-bdrm, 3-bath solar modern home with patio and garden. Living room with WBFP, dining room with pass-through to an eat-in kitchen with peninsula. Loft like 2nd floor, family room and office. C/A/C and central vacuum. $1,695,000
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West oF parKWay Web #891 Lavish newly built 8-bdrm, 7.5-bath on 0.29-acres features 2-story center hall with curved staircase, double height great room with gas fireplace, glass doors to wraparound porch, den with wet bar, formal dining room and center island kitchen. $4,495,000
exclusive
NeW exclusive North riverdale Web #892 Two-family, semi-attached brick house with wide entry terrace & backyard with a deck & patio on Cul-de-Sac. $945,000
West oF parKWay Web #880 Grand bucolic beauty and open space classic 6-bdrm, 5.5-bath mansion with wraparound porch on over one acre with grassy lawns. Large center hall, living room with WBF, formal dining room with fireplace and eat-in kitchen. $4,325,000
NeW exclusive
NeW exclusive
south riverdale Web #884 Renov 6-bdrm, 2-full and 2-half bath brick house. Tiled entry foyer, formal dining rm & renov kitchen. $1,395,000
West oF parKWay Web #755 3-bdrm, 2.5-bath center hall colonial. WBFP in living rm, open plan kitchen & dining & finished basement. $1,420,000
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exclusive West oF parKWay Web #883 Renovated 4-bdrm, 3-bath with patio. Entry hall, living rm, formal dining room w/ WBFP & eat-in kitchen. $1,950,000
exclusive
NeW exclusive
NeW exclusive
West oF the parKWay Web #856 Classic 3-bdrm, 2.5-bath house features a center hall, living rm with WBF, formal dining rm and eat-in kitchen. $995,000
FieldstoN Web #894 Pristine, modern and light filled 6-bdrm, 5.5-bath stucco house with patios and grassy yard. Huge room with white-oak flooring, 2 waterfall-edged islands in kitchen, living room with windows overlooking the backyard and family room. $2,890,000
West oF parKWay Web #882 Vacant site of approx 0.37 acres is a rare opportunity to build a home with commanding views of river. $1,495,000
exclusive North riverdale Web #888 Sunny and spacious 3-bdrm, 3.5-bath with sunken living room, dining room with bay windows and deck. $995,000
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exclusive ceNtral riverdale Web #859 4-bdrm, 3-bath detached brick house with high ceilings, living room with brick WBFP & formal dining room. $890,000
exclusive
exclusive
exclusive
FieldstoN Web #844 Classic 4-bdrm, 3.5-bath with front terrace, WBFP in living rm, formal dining room and eat-in kitchen. $1,895,000
estate area Web #855 7-bdrm, 5.5-bath newly built house with open-plan living rm, dining rm, centerisland kitchen and patios. $2,295,000
West oF parKWay Web #846 Spacious 3-bdrm, 2.5-bath house features a living room with bay windows and marble WBF, dining room with sliding glass doors to large level backyard, eat-in kitchen, MBR suite & den with a wet bar. 2-car garage plus plenty of off street parking. $1,549,000
exclusive
exclusive North riverdale Web #889 Renovated 3-bdrm, 2-bath house with side and back yards, patio and garden. Living room with fireplace. $1,095,000
FieldstoN Web #881 Spacious 6-bdrm, 3-full, 2-half bath w/ sunroom, patio & garden. WBFP in living room and formal dining rm. $2,175,000
co-ops, condos and REntals
NeW coNdo exclusive
NeW exclusive
NeW exclusive
NeW exclusive
3800 blacKstoNe ave Web #cc630 Contemporary 2-bdrm, 2-bath duplex penthouse with private roof terraces, laundry & indoor parking. $675,000
3935 blacKstoNe ave Web #cc652 Spacious and Bright 3-bdrm, 2-bath with sunset balcony, majestic river views and 24-hr doorman. $850,000
3935 blacKstoNe aveNue Web #cc648 Spacious, light-filled, low floor 3-bdrm with balcony and 24-hr doorman. Features include an extra large central foyer, living room, dining area with custom built-ins and glass door to 14-ft long balcony, eat-in kitchen and master bdrm suite. $695,000
3001 heNry hudsoN parKWay Web #cc653 Spacious and light filled 3-bdrm, 2-bath in prewar building with part time doorman. Features include an entry hall, large central foyer, sunken living room, windowed dining room and kitchen. Hallway bath with whirlpool tub. $625,000
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No board approval West oF parKWay - 3-bdrm, 2-bath, w/ balcony, L-shaped LR/DR area, DM, fitness room, private playground and childrens recreation room. Dogs OK. Indoor parking available. $515K West oF parKWay - 2-bdrm, 1.5-bath, w/ balcony, L-shaped LR/DR area, DM, fitness room, private playground and childrens recreation room. Dogs OK. Indoor parking available. $420K NeW coNdo excl sold - North riverdale - Renov Jr-4 with entry foyer 3800 blacKstoNe cc651 living rm, dining rm and windowed eat-in kitchen. $299K 2-bdrm, 2-bath condo with sold - ceNtral riverdale - Newly renov studio with modern kitchen, laundry in unit & indr parking. $695K hrdwd flrs, seperate kitchen and sleeping area. $185K
NeW exclusive
exclusive
house For reNt
601 KappocK st cc647 Bright, low flr Junior 4 (converted to 2), 1.5-bath Co-op with drmn and pool. $309K
3616 hh parKWay cc642 Spacious & Bright 2-bdrm, 2-bath, balcony, music room & doorman. Near all. $399K
FieldstoN vic. rr880 Spacious 6-bdrm, 4.5-bth center-hall Colonial w/ patio & yard on cul-de-sac. $8,800
house For reNt
FieldstoN vic. rr871 Picturesque 1920s 3-bdrm, 2-full & 2-half baths with WBFP & grassy yards. $6,500/mo
house For reNt
FieldstoN vic. rr642 6-bdrm, 3.5-bath, 7,500 sq. ft. house w/ Expansive wraparound porch & pool. $19,500/mo
No Fee reNtals West oF parKWay - 4-bdrm, 2-bath corner apartment with balcony. 2 months free rent for new tenants $4,895/mo West oF parKWay - Large and bright 2-bdrm, 2-bath with
NeW exclusive
NeW exclusive
3850 hudsoN m.t. cc644 Low floor 3-bdrm, 2-bath w/ picture window in LR, updated kitch & DM. $449K
3935 blacKstoNe cc646 Spacious 2-bdrm, 2-bath w/ balcony & DM. Entry foyer & updated kitchen. $449K
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exclusive 290 West 232Nd st cc626 2-bdrm with entry foyer, living room, kitchen, dining area and balcony. $305K
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exclusive 3601 JohNsoN ave. cc587 Walk-in level doctor’s office with seperate entrance and reception area. $295K
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NeW exclusive 601 KappocK st cc649 Mint condition, beautifully renovated 2-bdrm with doorman and pool. $289K
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4555 hh parKWay cc650 Bright & renov Jr-4 convt pet-FrieNdly reNtals to 2 with open sunset views ceNtral riverdale - Contemporary 2-bdrm, 2-bath condo and 24-hr doorman. $339K with balcony, laundry in unit and indoor parking. $3,950/mo GreystoNe aveNue - 3-bdrm, 1.5-bath with dining area and yard in multi-family house. $2,800/mo West oF parKWay - Spacious 2-bdrm, 2-bath, balcony, partial river views, doorman and fitness room. Dogs ok. $2,525/mo West oF parKWay - Rent stabilized 1-bdrm, parquet floors,
in
balcony. 2 months free rent for new tenants $3,195/mo West oF parKWay - Luxury 2-bdrm, 2-bath, 24-hr doorman, pool & tennis courts. 1 month free rent $2,795/mo
$1,850/mo
proFessioNal & oFFice space
exclusive
5715 mosholu ave cc635 3755 hh pKWay - the imperial - Walk-in level doctor’s Bright L-shaped 2-bdrm office with reception area and 2 exam rooms. $360K postwar co-op. Hrdwd flrs, North riverdale - Office Space Available. $1,500/mo South & West expos. $208K
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coNdo excl
coNdo exclusive
3875 Waldo ave cc640 Charming & updated Jr4 with large dining foyer and sunken living room. $209K
3816 Waldo ave cc643 Contemporary Condo with balcony, modern kitch, lndry in unit, DM & prkg. $640K
445 West 240th st cc637 Postwar 2-bdrm condo with large entry foyer, living rm & windowed kitchen. $375K
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3515 hh parKWay cc638 Spacious & bright 3-bdrm, 2-bath corner unit. Entry foyer, living rm & renov kitch. $618K
Trebach Realty, Inc. • 3801 Greystone Avenue, Riverdale Open 7 Days • www.TrebachRealty.com
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611 West 239th st cc645 Spacious split-design, 2-bdrm, 2-bath co-op w/ indoor parking, balcony and doorman. $425K