Winner of Vol. 71, No. 8
What’s inside?
Thursday, April 2, 2020
Elevators can’t be installed fast enough for riders needing them most kbrendlen@riverdalepress.com
Neighbors along Palisade Avenue still hate what DOT did to their street. But could a fix be on the way? Page A3
$1.00
Commuters bemoan Spuyten Duyvil accessibility By KIRSTYN BRENDLEN
Street smarts
the Pulitzer Prize
Getting around New York City isn’t too difficult. That is, as long as you’re not dependent on a cane, walker or wheelchair. Sure, every bus in the five boroughs is accessible to those with mobility issues, but only a quarter of subway stations are equipped with elevators. Not only does that make those stations off-limits for many, it also means people with
certain disabilities need to plan out their travel well in advance, even if it means just heading to the grocery store using the subway. Such lack of accessibility isn’t exclusive to subways, however. Metro-North trains — an important source of transportation for those in Riverdale and Spuyten Duyvil — are nearly impossible to board thanks to their tall stairs and lack of elevators. While intended as a commuter rail, it’s used by some as a de facto subway line, carrying riders comfortably and quickly into Midtown, or in other parts of the tri-state area along the Hudson Line. Three stations connect locals with Metro-North trains: the Riverdale station near 255th Street and Palisade Avenue, Spuy-
ten Duyvil near Edsall Avenue and the Henry Hudson Bridge, and Marble Hill beside West 225th Street near the Broadway Bridge. Of the three stations, only one — Riverdale — is equipped with an elevator. At Marble Hill, riders have to take stairs down to the station from the street. And at Spuyten Duyvil, while a ramp does lead from the parking lot up to the northbound platform, the only way to reach southbound trains is to go up stairs to cross a small platform and then back down the other side. That’s not the only complaint frequent rider Diane Ferretti Perillo has about the station. She lived with her husband on Palisade Avenue until about four ACCESSIBILITY, page A4
JULIUS CONSTANTINE MOTAL
Commuters ascend the stairs at the Spuyten Duyvil Metro-North station while others board a Hudson Rail Link bus. Commuters have voiced their frustration about the station’s quality, as well as its supposed lack of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Giving back never stops Seeking
a path forward during a crisis
Virus viral?
By KIRSTYN BRENDLEN kbrendlen@riverdalepress.com
One political outsider with a rather big climb to challenge an incumbent congressman may find help with a virtual town hall. Page A9 JULIUS CONSTANTINE MOTAL
Norma Collado, left, and Carmen Morel pack food for a neighbor at the Kingsbridge Heights Community Center. The organization partnered with celebrity chef Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen to serve as a food distribution center in the neighborhood. KHCC has moved quickly to adapt its services to meet the needs of the community during the coronavirus pandemic.
KHCC enters a strange, new quiet world By JULIUS CONSTANTINE MOTAL
World traveler It’s one thing to journey the globe, and another to change it, as Peter Davies discovered. Page A8
jmotal@riverdalepress.com
I
n a life before the coronavirus pandemic, the Kingsbridge Heights Community Center teems with life from young and old and everything in between. Yet, as the virus that causes COVID-19 tears through the city, it became increasingly clear that things would soon change at the Kingsbridge Terrace center. Soon after Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the public school system was closing until at least April 20, KHCC followed suit,
moving quickly to meet the challenge the pandemic posed. On-site staff was reduced to a skeleton crew, as most of the center shifted to a work-from-home model. And Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s stay home edict meant that KHCC’s halls and rooms would be largely empty. “Walking in here, it’s a really creepy and eerie feeling,” said Roz Rodriguez, program coordinator for KHCConnect, the center’s case management system. “If you come here on a regular day, there’s a lot of noise. You hear kids laughing. It’s really, really busy.”
It is unclear when things will return to normal, but in the interim under the direction of executive director Margaret Della, the center works to meet the needs of the community remotely, as well as inperson in a very limited capacity. “All things considered, we are carrying out our mission in the craziest of circumstances,” Della said. Part of that mission involves a collaboration with celebrity chef Jose Andres’ nonprofit World Central Kitchen, turning the organization into a distribution center. On a recent Friday, a table was set up just KHCC, page A4
There’s usually something going on at the Fieldston Road meetinghouse for the Riverdale-Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture. It all starts with weekly Sunday services and continues with a plethora of other programs — “Ethics on Tap” at An Beal Bocht Cafe, and a recent folk concert on a Tuesday afternoon. And that doesn’t even include many of the organization’s social programs, like its weekly overnight emergency shelter for the homeless. Yet, because of the coronavirus crisis, all of those programs have been canceled, JOHNSON and various meetLEWIS ings — like so many religious services — have been moved online for now as the society adheres to social distancing measures implemented statewide. Some programs have already been livestreaming online, said Jone Johnson Lewis, the local society leader, so moving online in light of the coronavirus crisis hasn’t been a technical difficulty for the overall group. “People arrive a little bit early and it’s kind of like a social time as they greet each other and say hi,” Lewis said. “Many haven’t seen each other now for several weeks.” She has kept the topics of the services mostly the same. “Why We Need Immigrants” and “Liberation Ethics” were on the calendar for the end of March and the beginning of April, and FORWARD, page A4
Before the virus, a family that runs together, stays together By ROSE BRENNAN Intern
Simon Cane is nearly indistinguishable from most other 8-yearold boys. He’s a third-grader at P.S. 81 Robert J. Christen. He is active, and loves playing outside. And he is an animal enthusiast — He loves his dog, Lola, and wants to be a veterinarian when he grows up. But when it comes to saving the environment, everyone else is running to keep up with him. Just last year, Simon began learning about the environment, climate change and humanity’s impact on it. He felt there was more everyone could do to preserve the
planet, including himself. And so it began. He started intervening in little ways, asking his parents to stop using the dryer in order to conserve energy, and picking up litter he would see on sidewalks in his neighborhood. Then, one day, Simon smelled the pollution in the New York City air and asked his father Jonathan, “Dad, can we run to school?” Since beginning the third grade in August — and up until schools were shut down last month because of the coronavirus pandemic — Simon and his father have run from their Waldo Avenue apartment to Simon’s school every day. The distance between the two lo-
cations is about 1.5 miles, and is plagued by Riverdale’s trademark hilly landscape. Jonathan, a running coach, was on board with the idea from the beginning, but he originally doubted the iron will of his young son. “My thinking was we would do this for a couple of weeks and it would rain one day or whatever, and that would be the end of it,” he said. “But now I’ll say, ‘Hey, buddy, it’s raining out.’ He goes, ‘Bundle up, Daddy.’” This running campaign was not without its challenges. Simon recalled a few days which were more difficult than most of the others. RUNNING, page A4
Courtesy of Jonathan Cane
Jonathan Cane and son Simon were working to reduce their carbon footprint by running the 1.5 miles from their home to P.S. 81, where Simon is in the third grade, every morning. That is, until the coronavirus pandemic closed schools.
SOLD & CLOSED 312 West 261st Street // 5645 Netherland Avenue, 3A Ellen Curtin // 718.415.9915
1085095