The Riverdale Press 05-28-2026

Fears for future of Kappock post office

By Michelle Mullen mmullen@riverdalepress.com

As complaints mount over staffing shortages, midday closures and concerns about mail theft, residents and elected officials are urging the United States Postal Service’s Bronx Postmaster Adela Livingston to intervene at the Kappock Street post office, a small branch many in Spuyten Duyvil describe as essential to daily life.

The USPS branch sits along a commercial strip dotted with vacant storefronts, in an area community advocates have spent months trying to revitalize through the Save Knolls Kappock Retail effort. Residents said the post office has increasingly become tied to broader anxieties about neighborhood

decline, accessibility and the erosion of basic local services.

In a May 14 letter addressed to Livingston, U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres and Assembly member Jeffrey Dinowitz called the post office at 562 Kappock St. a “cornerstone” of the Knolls Crescent corridor, serving more than 11,000 residents, many of them older adults without easy access to transportation.

Both USPS and employees at the Spuyten Duyvil branch declined to comment.

The post office rests at the center of a dense residential pocket of Spuyten Duyvil lined with high-rise co-ops and apartment towers, including The Century, The Winston Churchill, Riverpoint Towers and the two Knolls Cooperative buildings.

Spuyten Duyvil local Stephanie Coggins said the post office has become tied to fears about the future of the neighborhood and the services to which residents have access.

For many residents, she explained, particularly seniors without cars, the small branch represents more than a convenience. Reaching alternative post offices in Kingsbridge or central Riverdale often requires bus rides, long walks uphill or additional transportation costs.

Concerns about the branch have lingered for years but have intensified in recent months as residents noticed reduced staffing, inconsistent hours and increasing mail theft.

“There’s a real fear that it’s going to be taken away,” Coggins said. “There’ll be no

Citymeals on Wheels keeps older adults rolling forward

By Michelle Mullen mmullen@riverdalepress.com

As grocery prices continue climbing across New York City, organizations serving greater Riverdale’s aging population say more older adults are struggling to consistently access affordable, nutritious food — a challenge becoming increasingly visible in a neighborhood where many residents are aging in place.

For homebound seniors unable to shop or cook independently, meal delivery programs have become an increasingly critical support system, helping older adults remain in their homes while supplementing limited incomes stretched thin by inflation and rising living costs.

At 104 years old, Riverdale resident Deborah Eiferman still lives independently, supported in part by Citymeals on Wheels deliveries that arrive regularly at her apartment door.

“Citymeals is consistent, reliable, dependable,” she told The Press. “Since they were all of those characteristics, I wanted to stay with them.”

Beth Shapiro, CEO of Citymeals on Wheels, said the Manhattan-based nonprofit currently delivers nearly 2.5 million meals annually to approximately 22,000 older New Yorkers.

The organization was founded nearly 45 years ago after restaurant critic Gail Greene read about seniors going four days without food during a holiday weekend when city-funded meal centers were closed. What began as a one-time holiday effort has since evolved into a citywide network providing weekend meals, emergency food packages, breakfast boxes and mobile pantry programs.

Today, Citymeals leaders say the need is continuing to grow as more seniors live longer while relying on fixed incomes that have failed to keep pace with rising costs.

Bronx institutions push for more tourism support

By Michelle Mullen mmullen@riverdalepress.com

As New York City tourism officials push for a $35 million investment in the city’s budget, supporters say the funding could help attract visitors to the “Boogie Down Bronx” while supporting jobs and economic development across the borough. In the northwest Bronx, it may offer an opportunity to draw people to destinations long left off traditional city tourism maps, including Riverdale’s Wave Hill and the historic Van Cortlandt House Museum in Kingsbridge. Across the borough, projects like the future Hip Hop Museum and the Kingsbridge Armory redevelopment are part of a broader effort to expand the

place for people to go except somewhere else in Riverdale or Kingsbridge, which would require a significant amount of transportation.”

Many neighbors no longer trust outdoor blue mailboxes after repeated reports of stolen checks and glued collection slots that prevent mail from dropping properly. Instead, residents report increasingly handdelivering mail directly inside the branch — particularly when sending checks, rent payments or sensitive documents. On May 9, Coggins sent a letter on behalf of Save Knolls to the Bronx postmaster before reaching out to elected officials, hoping to draw attention to what she and other

Bronx’s footprint.

The debate comes as the city’s tourism industry continues recovering unevenly from the Covid-19 pandemic. According to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Message from the Mayor, released alongside his May 12 executive budget proposal, New York City welcomed 65 million visitors in 2025, a modest 0.2 percent increase from the year before.

The Mayor’s Office did not respond to requests for comment by press time.

Sadie Rosenthal, a spokesperson for NYC Tourism + Conventions, said the tourism and hospitality industry supported nearly 10,000 jobs in the Bronx in 2024,

“There’s the growing population, and there’s growing poverty, increased poverty among older adults, and more people need more food,” Shapiro told The Press. “Sixty percent of those we spoke with are still hungry … They’re running out of food.”

According to research conducted by the organization, roughly 65 percent of recipients live on $15,000 annually or less.

Shapiro said many people misunderstand what poverty among older adults looks like, particularly in neighborhoods like Riverdale, where seniors may have spent decades living in the same apartments or homes.

“The people we serve have worked and contributed their whole lives,” she said.

“They didn’t expect to live this long… It’s very expensive to live in the city on a fixed income.”

For Eiferman, aging has brought physical limitations that made preparing meals

By Olivia Young oyoung@riverdalepress.com

More than $20 million would go toward supporting street vendors as part of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s recently released executive budget proposal, a breakthrough for Council member Pierina Sanchez and thousands of vendors across the city who struggled to obtain licenses. Sanchez, whose district includes parts of Kingsbridge and Kingsbridge Heights, helped champion a package of vendor bills that was vetoed by former mayor Eric Adams, but ultimately pushed forward by the City Council earlier this year, marking a victory for a decades-long movement to balance vendor demand with the number of legal licenses. Under Mamdani’s proposed budget, the measures in the bills would have the funding they need to become a reality.

The Street Vendor Project, part of nonprofit Urban Justice Center, played a key role in recent advocacy. Managing director Mohamed Attia, a street vendor himself for nearly a decade, has been fighting since 2012 for improvements to the system. A handful of city departments are involved in the licensing process, and the $20.5 million would be allocated between them, the Street Vendor Project said. The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene would receive the most substantial amount at $14.8 million, followed by $3.62 to the Department of Small Business Services, $2.15 to the Department of Sanitation and $250,000 to the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, according to the Street Vendor Project.

The bill package added 2,200 new food vending licenses annually through 2031, and will add 10,500 general vending licenses next year. It also established a division of the Department of Small Business Services called the Office of Street Vendor Services to support and educate vendors.

Without licenses, vendors are “operating in the shadows,” Sanchez told The Press. She said the street vendors in her district

Courtesy Citymeals on Wheels

Deborah Eiferman, 104, said meal deliveries from Citymeals on Wheels help her continue living independently.

Courtesy Wave Hill Wave Hill’s ongoing effort to draw a wider audience includes programming like guided birding tours. A limited number of binoculars, monoculars

H. Lois Moyer-Thompson died on April 20, 2026 at the age of 92. She was born in March 1934 in Leaksville (Eden), North Carolina to Robert S. and Kathleen Moyer. Lois worked on the family’s farm to grow vegetables and tobacco until graduation from high school. She moved to New York, NY in 1952 and began building her life and family there. Lois met and married Benny Thompson, moved to Riverdale, and had one son, Bradley. Lois worked at New York-Presbyterian Hospital doing bookkeeping until retirement. She moved to Ohio in 2016 to live her final years with her brother Stanley and niece Sheelah. Lois was preceded in death by her son, brothers (and sisters-in-law) Hoover (Margaret), Stanley (Lillian), Willard, Calvin (Norma), and Jasper Moyer, and ex-husband Benny. Lois is survived by her grandchildren Cherie and Jason Thompson, former sister-in-law Cookie

Thompson, and many nieces and nephews. She was a great example of overcoming adversity and persevering to make your own joy. Her warmth, love, and feistiness will be greatly missed.

The family wishes to thank the staff at Cypress Pointe Health Campus assisted-living center and Legacy facility, Day City Hospice and all those who cared for her during her declining health.

Six injured in Riverdale apartment complex fire

By Michelle Mullen, Alexa Lewis and Rebecca Flisser

mmullen@riverdalepress.com

alewis@riverdalepress.com

At 10:03 a.m. Thursday, May 21, the New York Fire Department received a report of a fire at the Skyview apartment complex at 5900 Arlington Ave. in Riverdale.

Dozens of people, along with their pets and children, stood outside the building as fire personnel rushed inside.

The fire was reported on the eighth floor of the 23-story high rise residential building. The fire department said 21 units with 79 fire and EMS personnel were dispatched to fight the wind-driven blaze, which was brought under control at 11:19 a.m. Two civilians were injured, and one was taken to the hospital, according to the fire department.

Four firefighters suffered noncritical injuries, and three of them were transported to hospitals, the department said.

Brennah Cody, whose mother Dawn lives on the 20th floor, was among those first to witness the chaos that morning. The two had left the apartment for a doctor’s appointment when, on the way downstairs, they encountered smoke beginning to build in hallways and stairwells.

Cody recalled coming outside to hear screaming coming from an eight-floor window, where she saw residents “trapped and screaming for help.”

“Some people that were living in the apartment were like on their balconies, and were crouching down, trying to cover themselves” while firefighters broke the windows, said Cody. She said she immediately called 911.

Stu and Lori Kolinsky, who live on the 12th floor, said they saw the fire trucks arriving from their window, and received a message from building management instructing everyone above the seventh floor to evacuate. As they moved through the building, they encountered thick, black smoke they said they couldn’t see through.

“We had to get through the black, not knowing what was facing us when we opened the door,”

Stu Kolinsky said.

Residents Betty and Jose Figueroa live on the building’s 17th floor. Betty Figueroa said she was on Zoom when she received the message from building management, which also urged residents to close doors behind them to prevent the spread of the fire.

When the Figueroas exited their apartment, the thick smoke raised concerns about Jose Figueroa’s preexisting respiratory condition. As a precautionary measure, Betty Figueroa rushed back into the apartment to retrieve two surgical masks.

“There was a lot of commotion, people were nervous — practically everyone on the phone,” Jose Figueroa said, describing the scene that greeted them once they reached the lobby.

Bennett Pologe, a resident of the building for 20 years, said he first noticed the smoke by its smell.

“It smelled sort of oddly sweet, I thought someone was cooking something a little disgusting.” He said. “And then suddenly, there’s a banging on my door.”

That banging was building staff, telling Pologe he had to leave the building immediately. He had time to grab his backpack with his laptop inside, but said his elderly neighbor left with “just the shirt on her back.”

Cody said the apartment where the fire sparked had been under renovation for some time. Several residents noted work was ongoing most weekdays and told The Press they witnessed construction workers on site the morning of the blaze.

Skyview management did not respond for comment by press time.

POLITICAL ARENA

Former state attorney general Koppell endorses Evers for Assembly

Former state attorney general Oliver Koppell endorsed Morgan Evers, an educator and activist, for Assembly, Evers’ campaign team announced May 20. Koppell also served as a Council member for the greater Riverdale area, as well as Assembly, before being unseated by current Assembly member Jeffrey Dinowitz in 1994. He said in a statement that as a lifelong Democrat who served in the district, he is concerned with the

current federal administration.

“The tides are turning and we need new voices with the ethics that these times demand and which are sorely lacking in this district,” Koppell said. “[Evers] brings not only youth and intellect but a fresh perspective as a teacher, mother and person with a disability. She is tenacious and she is who we need.”

Evers said she was honored to receive Koppell’s endorsement, and is inspired by his lifelong record in public service.

Courtesy H.H. Roberts Mortuary

H. Lois Moyer-Thompson

Michelle Mullen photos

Two civilians and four firefighters were injured in a winddriven fire that took place at a Riverdale apartment complex Thursday, May 21, according to the New York Fire Department.

By Olivia Young oyoung@riverdalepress.com

The June 23 Democratic primary elections are less than a month away, and candidates are vying for the votes they need to represent their communities. Contenders are each backed by one of two competing local political groups — the Unity Democratic Club and the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club — with the exception of Congressional candidates.

The Ben Franklin club has been around since 1960, and was established to build a more “open, responsive and accountable political system,” according to its website. Unity Democratic Club was founded in 2022 as a breakaway from Ben Franklin club, spearheaded by district leaders at the time Abigail Martin and Ramdat Singh, to create a club that is “welcoming to all and offers opportunities for activism and new leadership,” according to its website.

Congress

Congressional District 15 encompasses Riverdale, as well as parts of the south and east Bronx. Congress is made up of two bodies, the Senate and the House of Representatives, who make and vote on federal laws.

U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres

Incumbent U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres was elected in 2020, and was previously the youngest and first openly LGBTQ+ person elected to office in the Bronx. He grew up in public housing, raised by a single mom, and is focused on “affordable housing, social justice and the working families of the Bronx,” according to his website. He has been both celebrated and critiqued for his staunch support of Israel.

Endorsed by: Ben Franklin club, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, House of Representatives Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, among others.

Michael Blake

Michael Blake previously held office as an Assembly member in the South Bronx, and is running to “fight for jobs and justice for everyone in the Bronx,” according to his website, as well as “making

our borough more affordable, safer and fairer.” He is the son of Jamaican immigrants, his mother a manufacturer and his father a labor union member. He’s worked under former president Barack Obama and served as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee.

Endorsed by: New Jersey Mayor Ras J. Baraka, former mayor Bill de Blasio, co-founder of social justice organization Until Freedom Tamika Mallory, and Assembly candidate Jasmin Sanchez, among others.

Jose Vega Jose Vega is a political organizer and associate of the LaRouche Movement. He previously ran as an independent against Torres in 2024, and is doing so again to “bring an end to the two-party system,” according to his website. Vega was raised in the South Bronx, and is focused on affordable healthcare, making the borough the center of reindustrialization of the U.S., and immigration reform. Vega believes the U.S. “must once again become a beacon of hope and temple of liberty to the world.”

Endorsed by: “Due Dissidence” podcast hosts Keaton Weiss and Russel Dobular, Trauma surgeon Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, Integrity Political Action Committee, comedian Jimmy Dore of “The Jimmy Dore Show,” among others.

Assembly

Assembly District 81 includes Riverdale, Kingsbridge and some of Kingsbridge Heights, as well as parts of Norwood, Woodlawn and Wakefield. The Assembly works at the state level, along with the state Senate, to introduce and vote on laws, as well as vote on the annual state budget.

Assembly member Jeffrey Dinowitz

Incumbent Assembly member Jeffrey Dinowitz has led District 81 for more than 30 years. He is chair of the Assembly Committee on Codes, as well as a supporter of addressing public school funding inequities, protecting tenants’ rights, mass transit, and action to mitigate impacts of climate change, according to his website. His website also says that he “believes elected officials should pay particular attention to neighborhood issues and

individual constituent problems.”

Endorsed by: Ben Franklin club, Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres and U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat, among others.

Morgan Evers

Morgan Evers is an educator, community activist and disability rights advocate. Her campaign is centered around serving working families and rejecting donations from corporations. She is looking to preserve affordable homeownership, protect tenants’ rights, ensure access to affordable child care, support local businesses and “fight against the threats to our civil rights,” according to her website. Evers developed a degenerative retinal disease in her 30’s leading to visual impairment.

Endorsed by: Unity Democratic Club, former state attorney general Oliver Koppell, state Sen. Gustavo Rivera, state Sen. Robert Jackson and New York Working Families party, among others.

Female district leader

Democratic party positions like district leader and state committee member don’t make laws, but instead serve as volunteer liaisons between the community and county or state officials.

District leader Abigail

Martin

Incumbent Abigail Martin was elected to district leader in 2022, and is focused on addressing voter apathy and increasing turnout in elections. She has a background in social work, and is executive director of Eleanor’s Legacy, a political organization that supports pro-choice women candidates across the state. According to her website, she is using her voice to “make our democracy more responsive to the people.”

Endorsed by: Unity Democratic Club and state Sen. Gustavo Rivera.

Virginia Krompinger

Virginia Krompinger is a lawyer, president emerita of the Ben Franklin club and vice president of Kiwanis Club of Riverdale. Krompinger previously said she aims to make local and national issues

heard, from empty storefronts on Knolls Crescent to the Trump administration. She also said she helped secure a new supermarket on Riverdale Avenue after the Key Food closed.

Endorsed by: Ben Franklin club, Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, U.S. Rep. Espaillat and Council member Eric Dinowitz.

Male district leader

District leader Ben Jackson

Incumbent Ben Jackson, elected to the position in 2024, is an organizer and lawyer against corporate fraud and union abuse, according to the Ben Franklin club’s website. Since being elected, he has worked to register local voters, get Democratic candidates on the ballot and organized fieldwork against New York Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler.

Endorsed by: Ben Franklin club, Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, U.S. Rep. Espaillat and Council member Eric Dinowitz.

Izaiah “Zeek” Barrow

Izaiah “Zeek” Barrow is the co-founder of Theory 9, a nonprofit that hosts food and toy drives, and other community events like basketball tournaments. He is also a third generation hardwood floor specialist, and founded a youth mentoring program called A Floor Man’s Dream to teach young people the trade. He previously said he aims to fight for progressive change rooted in residents’ needs.

Endorsed by: Unity Democratic Club, state Sen. Gustavo Rivera and state Sen. Robert Jackson.

Female state committee member

State committee member

Johanna Edmondson

Incumbent Johanna Edmondson was elected in 2024, and is also the founder of Female Fight Club NYC, a fitness studio centered around health and women’s empowerment. According to the Ben Franklin club website, she “advocates for civic engagement and more inclusive participation in local politics.”

Endorsed by: Ben Franklin club, Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, U.S. Rep. Espaillat and Council member Eric Dinowitz.

Betsey Knapp Betsey Knapp is the former president of the Unity Democratic Club and cofounder of activist group Northwest Bronx Indivisible. She previously said she is focused on affordability, improving transportation and supporting legislation that helps climate change.

Endorsed by: Unity Democratic Club and state Sen. Gustavo Rivera.

Male state committee member

State committee member

Michael Heller Incumbent Michael Heller came into the role in 2022. He is the former president of the Ben Franklin club, and a longtime member, and also worked as district manager for Bronx Community Board 8. According to the Ben Franklin club website, Heller has been active in community service, public affairs and government.

Endorsed by: Ben Franklin club, Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, U.S. Rep. Espaillat and Council member Eric Dinowitz.

Electeds urge USPS to improve Kappock St. branch

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residents see as a worsening situation.

Similarly, the lawmakers’ letter cited chronic understaffing, closures lasting roughly 90 minutes during the middle of the day and concerns over the security of outdoor mail collection boxes.

Karen Kawaguchi, Knolls Cooperative Section One board member, said many residents have largely adapted to the branch’s limitations because they are more concerned about preserving the post office than criticizing it.

“The biggest concern now is we don’t want it to close down,” Kawaguchi said. “The postal system as a whole is not doing well financially, so I know that they must be looking at branches that they can cut.”

She described the branch as frequently operating with only a single employee handling customers while also sorting mail for the surrounding community. Kawaguchi said she was struck by the difference between the Kappock Street branch and post offices she used previously, where multiple workers were consistently available at service windows.

“For a long time they only had the one person who worked hard, but she’s there alone almost all the time,”

She added. “I’m grateful the service is here, but I wish it was a little bit better.”

Several residents interviewed outside the branch offered more mixed assessments. Some acknowledged frustrations with midday closures and understaffing but said the post office remained significantly more convenient than traveling to larger branches in Kingsbridge or central Riverdale, where lines can stretch much longer.

Others described workers there as friendly and said they appreciated simply having a neighborhood location available, even if service could sometimes be inconsistent.

Freda Tourin, a resident who once used the branch regularly, said conditions there have improved somewhat over the last year, though operational issues remain noticeable.

“They don’t always keep to the hours posted,” Tourin said. “Sometimes where there should be more than one post worker, there’s one.”

Dinowitz said his office has fielded complaints about the branch for years, though concerns have grown more intense in recent months.

cause of the ongoing theft concerns.

typically only one postal worker on the job.

He added that losing the branch would disproportionately affect older adults and residents without cars living in the dense apartment complexes surrounding Kappock Street.

Dinowitz noted that many residents no longer feel comfortable placing important mail in outdoor boxes be-

“People complain that they take these 90-minute lunches when they close the place, which kind of suggests a possible understaffing,” Dinowitz said. “People deserve to have decent service.”

Torres described the situation as part of a broader national decline in postal reliability, but said the impact is especially severe in Spuyten Duyvil because of the neighborhood’s steep terrain, aging population and limited transit access. “The death of reliable service at the Kappock Street post office has been a real hardship on the residents of Spuyten Duyvil, particularly its most vulnerable senior citizens,” Torres said.

In their letter, Torres and Dinowitz urged a review of staffing and operational capacity at the branch, arguing that maintaining reliable service there “is not simply a matter of convenience, it is a necessity for the well-being and connectivity of the community it serves.”

Meal deliveries serve as lifeline for Bronx seniors

increasingly difficult. She said essential tremors eventually forced her to stop cooking regularly.

The organization’s work, Shapiro said, extends beyond simply delivering food. For many recipients, meal deliveries provide one of the few regular points of contact with the outside world.

“It’s more than just a meal,” Shapiro said. “It’s that connection, it’s the check-in that’s really critical.”

Deliverers often become familiar with recipients’ routines and conditions, sometimes identifying emergencies when something appears unusual.

Shapiro recalled instances where staff found seniors injured inside their apartments after missed deliveries raised concern.

Citymeals currently supplements the city’s weekday meal program with additional initiatives aimed at seniors considered most vulnerable to hunger,

including breakfast boxes containing frozen meals, produce and pantry staples. But Shapiro said available resources still fall short of the need.

“The biggest constraint is going beyond one meal a day,” she said. “Recognizing really across the board that for most humans one meal a day is not enough.”

The issue has become increasingly apparent across Riverdale and the northwest Bronx, where local organizations say more seniors are seeking food assistance and struggling to access affordable grocery options.

At the Riverdale Y, Sharon Asherman, director of the New Beginnings older adult center, said monthly food pantry attendance has grown, and buses transporting older adults to supermarkets outside the neighborhood now routinely fill up.

Riverdale’s geography and changing supermarket landscape, she added, have made food access increasingly

difficult for seniors with mobility limitations.

“We are kind of in a food desert, especially the area right in the northwestern section of Riverdale, because the supermarket closed,” Asherman said. “Seniors don’t necessarily have access to, or are able to use, public transportation.”

The Riverdale Y now organizes shopping trips to Trader Joe’s, H Mart and Walmart in New Jersey, where seniors can find lower prices and more affordable staples than many local stores offer.

“We never used to offer food shopping trips,” Asherman said. “This is new to me.”

According to Asherman, demand for those trips has steadily increased as food prices continue rising.

“Everybody who goes food shopping knows the price of food is going up dramatically,” she said. “For people on a fixed income, this is especially hard.”

Despite the challenges, Eiferman

said she remains focused on gratitude and perspective as she continues aging in the same Riverdale community she has called home for decades. “Gratitude affects your attitude,” she said. “If you’re focused on the good things that happen to you, the people you love and love you, you survive.”

on

Proposed funding breakthrough for vendor reform

aren’t a monolith. Some are pushing the city’s rules with little regard, but for others, whether vending is to supplement their income or the primary source to pay rent and feed their families, city scrutiny is detrimental.

“Enforcement actions that we’re seeing right now are overly broad,” Sanchez said, emphasizing the importance of bringing the “city’s smallest businesses” into compliance. “They’re just really hurting. There’s a lot of fear, there’s a lot of pain, there’s a lot of lost income. We really just need to get this right as quickly as possible.”

Waitlists for food vendor licenses were more than 10,000 applicants, and nearly 12,000 applicants for general vendor license applications, according to a 2025 release from Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. The issue arose more than 40 years ago when the city capped food and general licenses, making way for a permit black market. There was

brief progress made in 2021 when a law was passed that added 445 new licenses annually, but it was far short of the demand, Williams said at the time.

Attia said when he was a vendor, a permit from the underground market was going for up to $25,000. He said the funding from the mayor’s office, and the feeling that an administration is supportive, is a “historic” moment for street vendors. He added he hopes the way the money is dispersed within city agencies is balanced between enforcement, licensing, education and outreach.

“[Vendors] deserve the investment in them, just like any other small business, to make sure they not only survive in our city, but we want to see them thriving,” Attia said. “We want to see them really living the American dream just the same way any other communities and any other businesses would have.”

Attia is an immigrant, an identity shared by 96 percent of the city’s 23,000

street vendors, according to the Immigration Research Initiative. Attia came to the states from Alexandria, Egypt in 2008. A spokesperson for the Department of Small Business Services said in a

statement the Office of Street Vendor Services is advancing economic justice by “serving as a central hub for citywide street vendor

Tourism advocates hope funding draws visitors uptown

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underscoring the growing role tourism plays in the borough’s economy. She said additional funding would help strengthen marketing efforts for neighborhood institutions and business corridors that often lack the resources to promote themselves independently.

At the Van Cortlandt House Museum, Giulietta Fiore, executive director of the Historic House Trust of New York City, said many smaller cultural institutions across the borough face challenges attracting visitors. Institutions like the Van Cortlandt House Museum often operate with limited staffing and marketing budgets despite serving as significant cultural resources.

In addition to the Van Cortlandt House Museum, the trust oversees 22 historic sites citywide, including three in the Bronx, and Fiore said additional tourism support could help connect visitors to neighborhoods many New Yorkers rarely explore.

“We really want people to be empowered to take the train up to Van Cortlandt House Museum,” Fiore noted, describing a vision of visitors exploring the museum, walking through the park and supporting nearby businesses. She also pointed to affordability and ADA accessibility improvements, including a new ramp at the museum, as increasingly important parts of attracting broader audiences.

At Wave Hill, marketing director Kathleen Gordon said tourism has likewise become increasingly tied to financial and physical accessibility. Part of

NYC Tourism + Conventions’ network, the public garden now draws at least 100,000 visitors annually.

In recent years, Wave Hill expanded free programming and cultural celebrations tied to Juneteenth, Día de los Muertos and other holidays while working to cast a wider net in its audience. Among the changes are free community events, partnerships with organizations like Carnegie Hall and shuttle service connecting the garden to nearby transportation hubs.

“Our goal is to sort of let people know that it is a place for all New Yorkers,” Gordon said. “Being close to nature is important for everybody, and we want to make sure people feel welcomed here regardless of where they’re coming from.” Transportation remains one of the biggest obstacles for destinations in the northwest Bronx, Gordon said, particularly for older adults or visitors unfamiliar with the area.

Although Wave Hill directs visitors to arrive via Metro-North to the nearby Riverdale station, the No. 1 train to West 242nd Street or several local bus lines, reaching the garden without a car can still prove difficult.

The Riverdale Metro-North station sits less than half a mile away, but the route climbs a steep hill lined with potholes and deteriorating asphalt. The 242nd Street subway station is more than a mile and a half from the garden, requiring visitors to navigate hilly terrain and stretches of uneven sidewalks. While buses shorten the distance,

visitors must still walk portions of the route, often uphill. For Bronx business owners, tourism promotion is also tied closely to changing perceptions of the borough itself.

Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, who serves on the board of NYC Tourism + Conventions, said tourism has become increasingly connected to economic growth, small business support and job creation.

“Many Bronxites need jobs, they need opportunities, and tourism is a part of that,” Gibson said. “It supports our business corridors, our cultural institutions and creates pathways

GARY JEAN-JUSTE photos

Residents said the post office is understaffed, with

Photos courtesy Citymeals on Wheels

Citymeals on Wheels recipients receive deliveries to their doors, part of a growing support system serving homebound seniors across New York City.

Citymeals focuses

providing nutritious, balanced meals to the older adults it serves.

The city recently established a division of the Department of Small Business Services called the Office of Street Vendor Services.

GARY JEAN-JUSTE

Van Cortlandt House Museum recently completed a renovation to make the site ADA accessible, including the addition of a ramp.

Courtesy Anthony Ramirez Anthony Ramirez, co-owner of the Bronx Beer Hall, sells an array of Bronx-themed goods, including t-shirts, button pins, tote bags and more.

GARY JEAN-JUSTE photos

citywide.

At NY Botanical Gar d en, ‘Flower Power’ blooms beyon d nostalgia

By Michelle Mullen mmullen@riverdalepress.com

At the height of the anti-war movement in the 1960s, flowers became more than decoration. They were carried into protests, tucked into hair, painted onto posters and raised as symbols of peace against violence and political upheaval.

Now, decades later, the New York Botanical Garden is revisiting that legacy through its sprawling new exhibition, “Flower Power,” which transforms the garden into a vibrant blend of contemporary art, horticulture and social history. The phrase itself, once associated with the counterculture movement, eventually became shorthand for an entire generation’s vision of activism and radical optimism.

The show starts off in the Art Gallery of the garden’s Mertz Library Building, rather than in the gardens or the Haupt Conservatory. Michaela Wright, director of exhibition content and interpretation, said the exhibit is intended to recover the movement’s deeper political and cultural roots.

“We wanted to start the exhibition with a little bit of historical grounding,” she said, pointing to artifacts such as first-edition copies of influential feminist texts, like Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique.” “Flower Power has some pretty literal origins that we wanted to make sure we nodded to.”

According to Wright, the phrase can be traced back to Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, who in 1965, during the Vietnam War era, published an essay in the underground newspaper “Berkeley Barb.” In it, Ginsberg proposed a different strategy for anti-war demonstrations: protesters carrying masses of flowers to make demonstrations more visually striking and emotionally resonant.

Wright explained that Ginsberg viewed flowers as a kind of visual language, one capable of contrasting the violence of war with symbols of peace, humanity and life itself. The imagery quickly spread through newspapers and television broadcasts nationwide, giving rise to the now iconic image of the “flower child.” As photographs of young demonstrators carrying flowers

circulated through the media, flowers became intertwined with the broader counterculture movement and its ideals of nonviolence and social change.

The exhibition spills across the botanical garden grounds, where towering painted canopies ripple above walkways like oversized petals and crocheted flowers wrap around trees. New outdoor installations by seven artists unfold throughout the garden, while inside the conservatory, kaleidoscopic floral sculptures rise above vibrant tropical greenery. Music drifts through the site, indoors and out, transforming the botanical garden into something closer to an immersive art landscape than a traditional exhibition.

For Patrick Nowak, the garden’s manager of exhibitions operations, the goal was to create an exhibition that explored not only the visual beauty of flowers, but the emotional and cultural meanings attached to them.

“What was most important to me was that we had a balance of artists that we worked with who had a diversity of skills and mediums,” Nowak said. “These issues happen everywhere, and art happens everywhere, and people are inspired by flowers everywhere.”

Among the artists featured throughout the grounds is Carlos W. Encarnación, whose brightly painted van installation sits outside the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. Encarnación said he drew inspiration from the playera flower, which he described as both a tribute to Puerto Rico and to the women who raised him.

“Flower Power, for me, is an invitation to embrace and celebrate the historical, symbolic, and cultural presence of nature in our lives,” he said.

Encarnación created the work using a combination of masking, freehand painting and linocut prints with acrylic and gouache paint, completing the installation over the course of four to five days.

Nearby, artist Carmen Paulino’s colorful crocheted flowers and peace signs are woven directly into fences and wrapped around trees throughout the grounds. Created entirely by hand using yarn and fiber, the sprawling installation took roughly two months to complete.

“When I think of Flower Power, I think about patience, growth, and the beauty that comes from nurturing something over time,” Paulino said. “Just like planting a seed, crochet requires care, time, and trust in the process.”

Among the exhibition’s most striking works are giant suspended canopies created by German artist William Hochweber, whose brightly colored fabric structures stretch above visitors like enormous blooming flowers.

Hochweber, known for immersive festival installations across Europe, said his creative process is largely intuitive, beginning with broad concepts and evolving organically as he paints directly onto fabric without detailed sketches. Using elastic custom fabrics and acrylic paint applied through an airbrush gun, Hochweber hand painted each canopy himself, coating both sides to intensify the color saturation and help the pieces withstand months outdoors.

The result is a ceiling of swirling rainbow tones and organic patterns that shift overhead with sunlight and wind. Hochweber said he wanted the individual canopy pieces to resemble flowers themselves — each slightly different on its own, but visually cohesive together — while also creating an immersive scale that makes visitors feel small beneath them.

Unlike the temporary festival installations Hochweber usually creates, this exhibition will remain on view for nearly six months. To mirror the changing landscape of the garden itself, Hochweber designed three versions inspired by different

times of year, which will rotate throughout the exhibition — beginning with softer spring greens before shifting into vivid summer rainbow palettes and eventually earthier autumn tones.

“The whole garden is constantly changing,” Hochweber said. “All the plants are different in different seasons.”

Alongside the physical beauty of flowers, organizers said the exhibition’s deeper focus remains on how flowers function as symbols — emotionally, politically and spiritually.

Wright noted that by the mid1960s, Ginsberg had become deeply influenced by Zen Buddhism, where flowers already carried longstanding symbolic meaning associated with peace, enlightenment and rebirth. That spiritual symbolism, she said, helped flowers resonate across a range of movements and communities beyond anti-war activism alone.

The show also traces how flowers spread into women’s rights movements and broader liberation campaigns inspired by civil rights organizing and

the Black Power movement. While the various factions of the 1960s counterculture often held different political beliefs, Wright said they were connected by a broader desire to reshape society and imagine alternative futures. For visitors wandering beneath painted canopies and towering blooms this summer, the exhibition offers something both nostalgic and contemporary, Wright said. “Flower Power” will be on display through Oct. 18.

GARY JEAN-JUSTE photos

Artist Carmen Paulino stands beside one of the psychedelic buses featured in the “Flower Power” exhibit, this one created by artist Snoeman.

Vintage clothing and fashion from the flower power era are displayed inside NYBG’s Mertz Library Building.

Painted canopy installations by German artist William Hochweber stretch above visitors at NYBG’s “Flower Power” exhibition.

Crocheted installations by fiber artist Carmen Paulino add pops of color throughout the garden’s grounds.

A groovy peace sign welcomes visitors to the garden at the main entrance, adorned with various plants.

Historic preservationist gives overlooked Bronx sites viral appeal

By Michelle Mullen mmullen@riverdalepress.com

A historic preservationist by trade, Sarah Eccles is the kind of person who notices buildings that others walk past unassumingly, finding joy in the overlooked details woven into the Bronx’s architectural fabric.

Through her Instagram account, @Speccles_, the Riverdale resident has become part historian, part preservation advocate, part unofficial tour guide to the masses, using it as a vessel to introduce thousands of followers to corners of the borough they may have never stopped to notice before.

Her videos, many filmed while wandering through Riverdale, Kingsbridge or the waterfront streets of City Island, blend architectural research with a distinctly personal attachment to places she explores, drawing more than 22,000 followers interested in a side of the borough rarely reflected in the mainstream.

“I really just don’t like the way people speak about the Bronx,” Eccles told The Press while sitting beneath the famed “The Tortoise and the Hare” sculpture in Van Cortlandt Park. “I believe there’s so much to see here, and so much beauty and so much diversity, both culturally and geographically. I think people from the Bronx, we all feel that way, and it’s irritating when people dismiss your borough.”

and traces of the shipbuilding and oyster industries that once shaped the island.

The account originally started as a personal Instagram page where she occasionally posted photographs of buildings she liked. Last year, while walking through Fieldston, she recorded a short video explaining why she found the neighborhood so architecturally unique. She posted it casually to Instagram and TikTok, not expecting much.

“I just thought, like, this is so beautiful here, I want to share it,” Eccles said of the neighborhood. She later posted it on Instagram, where it found its target audience and took off quickly. Soon, strangers were recognizing her videos, celebrities were interacting with her posts and follower counts climbed into the tens of thousands.

As a child, Eccles spent several years living in Ireland before returning to New York and settling in Riverdale. Growing up between Ireland and neighborhoods like Riverdale and City Island, she said, sharpened her awareness of how differently people understood the Bronx from the inside versus the outside.

“People would come to visit you, and you drive them home, and they’d be like, ‘Wait, I thought you lived in the Bronx,’” she recalled. “Like, this is the Bronx. There’s so much to see here.”

ate studies in historic preservation at the Pratt Institute. But unlike many online architecture personalities, Eccles is often less interested in celebrated architects than in the people who physically built the city. Her thesis, for example, focused on the laborers behind New York’s iconic buildings. The stoneworkers, artisans and tradespeople whose names rarely appear in guidebooks.

“I was a little surprised,” Eccles said. “And then I thought, like, maybe that was just a fluke.”

She recalled realizing the account had taken off only after her brother-in-law pointed out she was approaching 10,000 followers in a text, a moment she described as surreal.

Though the account has since grown far beyond what she ever expected, Eccles said the stories she tells online are still deeply rooted in the neighborhoods and history that shaped her own upbringing.

After immigrating to New York from Ireland in 1985, Eccles’ parents first settled in Pelham Bay before eventually moving to City Island, where Eccles was born and raised for several years. Her mother, she said, had fallen in love with the neighborhood’s maritime character — the narrow streets, modest cottages

Places like Riverdale and Van Cortlandt Park also shaped how she understood the borough itself, as both urban and deeply connected to nature and history.

History, she said, was always present in her upbringing. Her father regularly sought out museums devoted to lesser-told histories, especially Indigenous history, whenever the family traveled. By the time she reached school, history had already become her favorite subject.

At Fordham University, where her father worked as an electrician and she attended through a tuition benefit, Eccles began connecting the history she studied to the landscape around her and delved into discussions about political history and landmark buildings throughout New York City. Eventually, that fascination led her to gradu-

“I always found labor histor y to be something that was kind of glossed over,” she said. “People will tell you who the architect was and who designed the building, and they skip over any of the labor that went into it.” That perspective now shapes many of her most popular posts. In one video, she explored the history of the Amalgamated Houses cooperative housing complex near Van Cortlandt Park, originally created by Jewish garment workers through union organizing and collective funding. In another, she examined the lives of Irish domestic workers connected to the historic Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum. Eccles said Sarah Jessica Parker has liked several of her posts, something she described jokingly as “the ultimate seal of New York City approval.”

Still, the audience she cares most about remains local.

“The Bronx isn’t the forgotten borough,” Eccles said. “It’s the dismissed borough. Everybody’s

SAR stu d ents turn sc h ool into gallery wit h en d -of-year arts festival

By Olivia Young oyoung@riverdalepress.com

Salanter Akiba Riverdale Academy celebrated the end of its school year with its May 19 Interactive Arts Festival — a busy evening that showcased months of learning through music performances, hands-on activities and more than a dozen art exhibits by first through eighth grade students.

The academy said its arts education draws from an essay by Rabbi Chaim Brovender, a Torah educator, called “Toward Ahavat Hashem: Art and Religious Experience.” In it, Brovender explains that the study of arts “may be valuable in developing the religious personality and enabling the student to enter dialogue with heaven.”

One of the first exhibits started outside the school, with “Chalk the Walk,” on its entryway sidewalk, inviting passersby to draw their own doodles. Once inside, the room buzzed with families conversing, surrounded by works that spanned graffiti, weaving, photography and sculptures of figures in athletic motion.

Eli Shmuckler was one of the fourth graders who used cardboard, Styrofoam, wire, foil and wood to make a model. Some showed runners, tennis players or skiers, but Eli kept his work close to the heart with a replica of Jalen Brunson, captain and point guard of the New York Knicks, in action.

Eli’s mom, Shimrit Hait, grew up in Riverdale and attended SAR as a kid. She said she appreciated that the acad-

emy supports artistic and musical creativity.

“It’s really about nurturing all the children and making sure to meet everybody’s interests where they are,” Hait said.

Similar thoughts were shared by several other parents, like Edith Englard, who said it is exciting to see the children’s work all come together. Her son, Charles, is interested in art, something Englard said is important to foster.

Charles and other first graders exhibited linework drawings, with unexpected shapes filled in with vibrant color. Charles said he likes art because it’s calming.

Second grader Nessia Howard is also a budding artist, who used oil pastels to create an image of a pear, given depth by highlights and shadows.

Though it was hard to shape the fruit, Nessia said she enjoyed the shading process. When she’s not using oil pastels, Nessia said she “usually doesn’t have the time to paint,” but she does draw a lot.

Other students who weren’t a part of the art program used the arts festival to highlight other talents, such as poetry, singing or playing the recorder. One young poet, second grader Grace Rose Blach, said she took inspiration from her grandfather, Charles Korn, who also liked to write poems. Grace said she wasn’t scared when it came time to recite her poem, and she had fun sharing it.

Korn said it was special that Grace and other kids were given the opportunity to develop

distinct talents, noting similar programs were absent when he was in school himself.

Fourth grade singer Kira Schwab was nervous for her performance, explaining that she was a bit too giggly while she was up on stage.

“My mom was smiling too much, which made me smile too much,” she said.

Her dad, Jonathan Schwab was happy to witness his daughter in action, bringing out an outgoing part of her personality.

“It’s really great to see this side of her that she doesn’t always express at home, but really could develop at school,” Jonathan Schwab said. “And a chance for her to perform it for other people.”

To transform the school into an art gallery and a music hall, it “took a village,” the academy’s director of arts and enrichment, Sharon Black, explained. Black noted that the kids were visibly excited to share the work they had done with their parents, and Black was appreciative that the academy places clear value on the arts.

Art teacher Noel Guessen was also instrumental in pulling the evening together, saying “it starts with a map” to separate disciplines by room, along with help from about a dozen other faculty members. Guessen is the only full-time art teacher, and is able to work with the kids from first grade all the way to eighth grade — time he uses to gradually expand the kids’ skillsets.

“When I’m teaching second

grade observational drawing, I know I’m planting a seed for mechanical drawing in seventh grade,” Guessen explained. He added one of the most interesting exhibits to him is the fifth grade intergenerational family heirloom project, or “Dor L’Dor,” which translates to “from generation to generation.” The kids created digitally layered collages to tell a story, Guessen said. Another

is the sixth grade graffiti exhibit, a two-part project where students draw their own moniker, or tag. One version turns into a digital print, and the other the students draw onto a skateboard using a different technique.

But, at its core, teaching art isn’t just about cultivating future creatives. Most of the students will never go on to become artists, Guessen said, and his job is more to build out abilities kids will use no matter their career paths — how to express themselves, how to present, how to think bigger.

“I don’t really teach art,” Guessen said. “I’m teaching problem solving, I’m teaching perseverance, I’m teaching for the next thing they are offered … Art just happens to be the vehicle for all this other learning.”

Olivia Young photos

Kids gladly took part in the festival’s interactive exhibits, such as one where you could add original doodles with markers.

Students excitedly showed their friends which pieces they created.

The second grade pear project used shading and highlighting to add dimension to the fruit.

Students took part in a recorder performance.

What’s on?

Tune-up Tuesdays

Summer Sing

The Riverdale Choral Society presents Summer Sing on Wednesday, June 17 at 7:30 p.m. David Štech, co-music director, will conduct the chorus, which will sing “Ein deutsches Requiem” by Johannes Brahms. MunTzung Wong, the Society’s other co-music director, will accompany on the piano.

Bring your own score, or one will be provided. Join the chorus to sing or just listen.

At Christ Church Riverdale, 5040 Henry Hudson Parkway E. at W. 252nd Street. Tickets can be bought at the door for $15.

At Kingsbridge Historical Society

Emergence

The Kingsbridge Historical Society hosts artist Daniel Hauben’s exhibit, “Emergence,” until June 30, at 2570 Independence Ave.

The show features the Bronx painter’s monumental cityscapes, sculpted oil reliefs and landscapes, both real and imagined, including the 21-foot “Reflecting on the Familiar” and the 9-foot “Emergence.”

At Wave Hill

Atom Moore: Second Nature

Still life and product photographer Atom Moore presents “Second Nature,” an exhibit centered on the anatomy

of plants in Wave Hill’s living collection. View the series at Wave Hill through July 12.

At Riverdale Neighborhood House

Ballet Fit

The Riverdale Neighborhood House invites you to join its Ballet Fit class on Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m. The class is a training program that combines ballet exercises with fitness exercises. Open to ages 13 and up, it is designed for individuals of all movement abilities. Participants will work on toning and strengthening, coordination, balance and flexibility.

Taught by Azucena Rollan Mas, dancer, performer and certified American Ballet Theatre and Ballet Fit instructor. Register at riverdaleonline. org/classes.

Sing Like A Star

This Riverdale Neighborhood House singing workshop runs every Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. It will introduce participants to vocal techniques such as breathing, posture, tone and singing on key. Students will learn basic music theory, vocal warm-ups, expanding vocal range and developing stage presence. They will sing both acapella and accompanied by live instruments.

Taught by Mike Flanagan, a musician and singer with over 40 years of

experience, the workshop is open to anyone over the age of 15, and is designed for all levels. Register at riverdaleonline.org/classes.

Belly Dance

Riverdale Neighborhood House’s new belly dance class is open for enrollment. Belly dance is a group improvised style with deep folkloric roots. This class is designed for individuals of all movement abilities and it focuses on restorative movement that will increase mobility.

The teacher’s approach focuses on cultural literacy and on empowering students to take the risk of trying a new experience for the first time.

Open to ages 13+, participants can sign up for one class or the whole series. Classes are on Wednesdays from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., through June 10. Register online at riverdaleonline.org/ classes.

Learn Guitar

The Riverdale Neighborhood House’s spring session guitar class has begun. Learn key guitar skills such as chords, scales, music theory and playing songs.

This weekly class runs on Monday nights at 6:30 for beginner and intermediate players ages 8+. Register online at riverdaleonline.org/classes.

Riverdale CSA

The Riverdale CSA, Community Supported Agriculture, is accepting

members for its 2026 season. Deliveries of organic and biodynamic vegetables from Hawthorne Valley Farm are made weekly on Thursdays from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. from early June to November to the Riverdale Neighborhood House.

Full shares and partial shares are available and include seven to 10 vegetables each week. Fruit shares can be purchased that include organic strawberries, blueberries, stone fruits, apples and pears.

Also available are a wide variety of local dairy products, baked goods, meats, poultry and eggs. CSAs are mutually beneficial for farmers and communities.

For more information about this and the current Winter-Spring CSA with Clatter Valley Farm, go to riverdalecsa. org or email riverdalecsa@gmail.com.

Hudson’s Lemonade Stand

Hudson is hosting his second annual lemonade stand in front of the Palace of Japan, 3505 Johnson Ave. on Saturday, May 30 at 3 p.m. Rain date is Sunday, May 31. Hudson is spreading sunshine and smiles one cup at a time, with all proceeds going toward helping him attend summer camp.

At Inner Space Yoga

Anniversary celebration

On Sunday, May 31 from 8 a.m. to

5 p.m, enjoy free classes all day in celebration of Inner Space Yoga’s third anniversary. An open house will follow from 3 to 5 p.m., where light refreshments will be served. Registration is required. Visit innerspaceyogastudio.com.

Pilates Magic Circle On Friday, June 5, from 6 to 7 p.m. with Kara Tatelbaum, learn how to use the Magic Circle to increase core connection, inner thigh work and upper body strength. $55 per person. Visit innerspaceyogastudio.com.

Modern dance workshop Inner Space Yoga’s hour-long modern dance workshop follows the format of a traditional modern dance technique class, led by a former member of the world-renowned Paul Taylor Dance Company, Annmaria Mazzini. $35 per person. Visit innerspaceyogastudio. com.

At Derfner Judaica Museum

Envisioning the Sacred: Modern Art from the Collection “Envisioning the Sacred: Modern Art from the Collection” features 49 prints, paintings and drawings from the museum’s permanent collection by 20th- and 21st-century artists working

Courtesy Van Cortlandt Park Alliance

Join the Van Cortlandt Park Alliance on Tuesday, May 26 to help take care of its Learning Garden. Volunteers will help maintain the garden and compost bins, weed, water and harvest produce.

What’s on?

in a range of modernist styles — from figurative to abstract.

These 21 artists explore stories and characters from the Bible, represent Jewish observances and traditions, or take inspiration from language and legend. Many of the artists express their Jewish identities and relationships to Jewish communal experience through their work.

For some, mysticism and quests for spiritual connection are essential features of their art. It runs until Sunday, June 21.

At

the New York Public Library

Tamuz Nissim Quartet

The Tamuz Nissim Quartet presents a program of original compositions and fresh interpretations of jazz standards at the Spuyten Duyvil Library on Saturday, June 6 at 1 p.m.

Vocalist and composer Tamuz Nissim leads a quartet featuring longtime collaborator George Nazos on guitar, Dan Asher on bass and Nadav Snir Zelniker on drums. The music will highlight both improvisation and storytelling. Their repertoire includes works by jazz greats such as Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and Abbey Lincoln, alongside Nissim’s own compositions.

Baby Fest

Join Baby Fest at the Spuyten Duyvil Library on Saturday, May 30 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Enjoy family activities, baby games, lawn games, giveaways and a special musical storytime in Seton Park, right behind the library.

This event is aimed at soon-to-be parents, babies and toddlers, and families who just want to come have fun in the sun. No registration is required.

Baby storytime

Join baby storytime at Kingsbridge Library on Thursdays at 11 a.m. for a special time to bond with your little one and meet other caregivers.

The program will explore the joy of movement, books and songs in addition to building early learning skills you can practice at home. Come prepared to sit with your child on your lap. Best for children who are pre-walkers or crawlers.

Mixed media art for pre-teens

Join every Tuesday at the Riverdale branch for a session of arts and crafts using different mediums such as acrylics, watercolors, clay, beads, paper and others, such as photograms.

You’ll be simultaneously listening to podcasts like “Stuff You Missed in History Class” and “Night Vale” or just jamming to your favorite playlists. Related books and resources will also be available for checkout to spark your creativity and help you dive deeper into techniques and other crafts. Runs every Tuesday from 3 to 4 p.m.

Vivaldi’s Four Seasons: Spring and Summer Journey through Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with violinist Anna Elashvili at the Spuyten Duyvil library. Vivaldi’s music depicts what we experience during the different seasons, from birds chirping and wind to thunderstorms and stomping through the snow. Learn how a composer makes music that sounds like these experiences and what tools a composer uses to create them. Runs Thursday, May 28th at 3:30 p.m.

Writing Circle Kingsbridge Library hosts weekly writing circle meetings in an intimate

Photography Class

setting where participants can share unpublished drafts and give and receive feedback. Attendees must be at least 18 years old.

Registration is available at nypl.org; the Google Meet code will be emailed the day before the session. The group meets every Thursday from 10 a.m. to noon.

Teaching Ethics

The Riverdale-Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture is hosting “Why Teaching Ethics Matters Now More Than Ever.” Led by Dr. Tinia R. Merriweather, an Ethics Department Faculty Member at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School.

With violent and traumatic headlines filling our newsfeeds on social media platforms, scrolling the bottom of our tv screens, buzzing our phones with news alerts, and crowding our already overwhelmed and overworked minds, it can be challenging to remain hopeful about the future.

The study and practice of Ethics can ground us in principles that we can apply to imagine and build the world where everyone’s humanity is respected and protected. In the Ethics classroom, you can lean into respectful discourse and multiple perspectives, which will help us to co-create a better, safer, more equitable, and more just world that we all deserve to live in.

Runs on Sunday, June 7 from 10:30 to noon, at 4450 Fieldston Road. Free of charge.

Riverdale Art

Association

Association Meeting

The Riverdale Art Association’s last meeting of the season is Tuesday, June 2 at 7 p.m., at Hudson House, 3247 Johnson Ave. The meeting will recap the events of the past year, discuss plans

for the upcoming year and plan a summer get-together. Refreshments will be served. All meetings are open to the public.

Waiting for Summer

The Riverdale Art Association presents “Waiting for Summer,” featuring artworks by members Diana S. Catz, Olga Manthos and Danny Steiner. The exhibit is on view until July at the Riverdale-Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture, at 4450 Fieldston Road.

Diana Catz’s theme is “Exuberance,” Olga Manthos’ theme is “Grillin’ and Chillin’” and Danny Steiner’s is “Flowers of Summer.”

Reduce, Renew and Recycle

The Riverdale Art Association invites you to its exhibit, “Reduce, Renew and Recycle.” Member artists used recycled materials to create unusual artworks that challenge how you see the environment, as well as mixed media, photography, acrylics, watercolor and oils.

The show takes place at the parish hall of Christ Church Riverdale, 5040 Henry Hudson Parkway, and is open Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to noon. It runs until the end of August.

At Yoga Muse

Prenatal yoga

Join Melissa Ramirez in a Yoga Muse class designed to cultivate calm, focus and resilience, preparing both body and mind for labor and delivery.

Runs Saturdays at 9:45 a.m. Visit yogamuse.co to register.

At Van Cortlandt Park

Super Seedlings

Play and plant with your little one on Saturdays at 10 a.m. Super Seedlings is a free, drop-in gardening program for kids ages 3 to 7 and their caregivers. Explore a fun theme at each session

with nature crafts, planting, soil digging and more. Come once, twice or all five weeks for some playing and planting.

Overlapping Empires

Join the Van Cortlandt House Museum to celebrate the opening of “Overlapping Empires,” Jamaica-born, Bronx-based artist Samantha Box’s site-wide exhibit on Friday, June 5 from 6 to 8 p.m. The evening will include refreshments, time to view the exhibition and an opportunity to meet the artist. Registration for this free event is suggested as space is limited. Installed throughout the historic house, “Overlapping Empires” brings contemporary art into direct dialogue with one of New York City’s earliest colonial sites. “Overlapping Empires” will be accompanied by a series of free public programs, including artist-led walkthroughs, talks, focused tours and panel discussions. This exhibit will be on view through August.

Forest Fridays Volunteer with the Van Cortlandt Park Alliance to remove invasive species from Van Cortlandt Park’s Northwest Forest every Friday from 9 a.m. to noon. The work helps promote biodiversity, protect young trees and improve forest health. No prior experience is needed. Tools and gloves are provided.

Trail Work Thursdays

Join the Van Cortlandt Park Alliance and fellow residents every Thursday from 9 a.m. to noon to help maintain trails in Van Cortlandt Park. Tools and gloves are provided for this small-group volunteer event, which is limited to five participants. It’s a hands-on opportunity to give back to the community while enjoying the Bronx’s natural beauty.

Springtime Shindig

The Van Cortlandt Park Alliance is hosting a Springtime Shindig to celebrate the team that facilitated an important milestone in the growth of the organization: It finalized its first license agreement with the New York City Parks Department. The Riverdale Main Streets Alliance, a local nonprofit that supports and volunteers in the park, beautifying the garden at 261st Street, will also be celebrated. Join Wednesday, May 27, 6 to 9 p.m.

At the Kingsbridge Heights Community Center

Group meditation over Zoom

Join the Kingsbridge Heights Community Center for online group meditation sessions in collaboration with the Temple of Enlightenment. It’s a great way to relax and let go during this stressful and uncertain time.

This class is free and runs ever y Monday and Wednesday from 7 to 8 p.m.

Community Board 8 Meetings

Bronx Community Board 8 is in session. All meetings held at the CB8 office are located at 5676 Riverdale Ave., Suite 100. Unless specified, all hybrid meetings will be in the office or via Zoom. To access the Zoom link for CB8 meetings, visit their website, cbbronx. cityofnewyork.us/cb8.

June 1 at 7 p.m. — Land Use

June 2 at 7 p.m. — Economic Development

June 4 at 4 p.m. — Aging CB8 will not hold any meetings from Thursday, May 21 to Friday, May 29.

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Courtesy Riverdale Neighborhood House

The Riverdale Neighborhood House presents a photography class for all camera types and skill levels. Explore how to use a camera to capture your everyday reality, learn photography techniques and try your hand at editing. Each week you will have the opportunity to show and discuss your work. Taught by photographer Bonnie Geller-Geld. Open to ages 16 and up.

A graduation send-off from The Riverdale Press

Throughout greater Riverdale, graduates are walking across stages toward wide-open futures, full of possibilities and unknowns. At The Riverdale Press, each member of our staff remembers the mixture of excitement, relief and uncertainty that graduation brings. Therefore, we hope to offer some words of hope and acknowledgement for those who are embarking on the next phases of their lives.

This year’s high school and college graduates are entering adulthood at a complicated time. They know the world can feel unstable. They have grown up during years shaped by disruption, economic anxiety and the sense that plans can change suddenly. They are realistic about the challenges ahead, and there is nothing wrong with that.

But realism does not need to prevent optimism.

What stands out about many young people graduating this year is their ability to adapt. They learned early that flexibility matters. They know how to recover when expectations fall apart and how to keep moving forward even when the future feels uncertain. Those lessons were not always easy to learn, but they will prove valuable.

There is also reason to feel encouraged by the kind of people many of our local graduates have become. They care about their communities. They speak openly about mental health, balance and the importance of maintaining lives that feel meaningful rather than simply impressive. They are ambitious, but many also understand that success means very little if it comes at the expense of decency, family or personal happiness.

Older generations sometimes talk about today’s young people as though they are detached or pessimistic. That feels unfair. Most seem deeply aware of the world around them and determined to make their own corner of it better, even in modest ways. Not everyone will become

famous or change history. Most people never do. But communities are built by ordinary acts of reliability, kindness and commitment. They are built by teachers, nurses, small business owners, artists, volunteers, parents and neighbors who continue showing up for one another.

Not every graduate has a perfect plan for what comes next, despite the confidence that graduation season sometimes encourages people to display. Some are heading to college with clear goals. Others are still figuring things out. Some will change direction several times before they discover what feels right. This is all normal — and to any graduate who needs to hear it, it’s completely fine not to have it all figured out yet. Adulthood is more about doing the best you can with what you have than finding all the right answers.

Life is a thing built gradually. People grow into themselves over time.

The years ahead will bring disappointments, difficult decisions and moments of doubt. They will also bring friendships, discovery, unexpected opportunities and experiences that cannot yet be imagined. Many graduates will eventually look back and realize that some of the most important parts of their lives came from paths they never planned to take.

But, while it can be tempting, there is no need to dwell over the uncertainty of the future right now. This moment is enough. Finishing school deserves recognition and celebration. So does the determination it took to get here.

To the Class of 2026, congratulations. The world you are entering can be difficult, impatient and unjust. But it is also full of reasons to maintain hope — work that matters, people who will change your life, places you cannot yet imagine yourself ending up. And if you ever find yourself moving down a path that doesn’t feel right, remember you can always change your mind. The future is not set in stone, and neither are you.

By Judy Fletcher

New York has long positioned itself as a national leader in protecting reproductive rights and bodily autonomy. But if our state is going to remain a beacon for reproductive freedom, we must implement policies that safeguard patients’ ability to make informed decisions about their own medical care — including during pregnancy. Pregnancy should never strip anyone of their right to bodily autonomy or informed medical decisionmaking.

Yet across New York, pregnant patients are still being subjected to drug testing during pregnancy and childbirth without their knowledge or consent — a practice that can trigger traumatic Child Protective Services investigations and unnecessary family separations in the earliest days of a newborn’s life.

At a moment when reproductive rights are under attack nationally, New York should not tolerate policies that treat pregnant people as subjects of surveillance rather than patients deserving of trust, dignity, and bodily autonomy

— including this nonconsensual drug testing. These practices disproportionately harm Black mothers and families, deepening longstanding racial disparities in both maternal healthcare and the child welfare system.

As co-chair of the Health Committee for NYCD16/15-Indivisible, I have spent years advocating around inequities in maternal healthcare. One reality has continued to haunt me: Black New Yorkers are more than four times as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes as their white counterparts. Policies that erode trust between pregnant patients and their healthcare providers only worsen those disparities. That is why I strongly support the Maternal Health, Dignity and Consent Act, S845/A860.

This legislation would require that health care providers obtain informed consent before conducting drug or alcohol testing on pregnant or postpartum patients and newborns, except in medical emergencies. It would not interfere with emergency care or child safety protections. Instead, it would establish a basic

standard of transparency and bodily autonomy that should already exist in every healthcare setting.

Fear of being tested without consent can discourage pregnant people from seeking prenatal care. That fear is especially acute for Black women and low-income families, who are disproportionately subjected to these practices despite similar rates of substance use across racial groups. Reproductive rights are human rights. Safeguarding them means protecting the right to parent children in safe and healthy environments without unnecessary government intrusion, punishment or surveillance.

At a time when so many personal freedoms are under threat nationwide, New York must act to uphold and strengthen these rights. The Maternal Health, Dignity and Consent Act would do this by protecting pregnant New Yorkers and their newborns, and we urge the majority leader and Senate to pass it now. Judy Fletcher is the co-chair of the Health Committee for NYCD16/15-Indivisible.

To the editor,

Just a note to say that, last Sunday, a friend and I attended the wonderful performance of “Into the Woods” by the Riverdale Rising Stars, at the Riverdale Y. There must have been a cast

of 40 or so performers, who, in my opinion, performed as well as any Broadway show I ever attended! Having been an amateur thespian myself, I know there is a lot of hard work to bring about a great performance. There is still time to see

these young people perform through the end of May. Go if you can, and you can purchase tickets in advance online. Just Google “Riverdale Rising Stars”, and you can see which seats are available.

PAUL BIRNBAUM

To the editor,

New York City has repeatedly proven that historic park structures — especially those from the New Deal era — can and should be saved. Van Cortlandt Park Stadium is inseparable from the historic, architectural and social fabric of the Bronx. Built by the Works Progress Administration, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia understood that public recreation was infrastructure for democracy itself. Yet the stadium is also a prime example of the art deco style that defines so much of the Bronx’s architectural identity — streamlined concrete forms, geometric ironwork details and functional elegance that captured the optimism of the era.

Recent precedents show that parks department structural evaluations claiming structures are “beyond repair” are not always final and can be successfully challenged or overturned through independent third-party scrutiny and transparency. In the East River Park, two surviving WPA-era art deco buildings — the 1938 to ‘39 Track House and Tennis Center Comfort Station — faced demolition as part of a coastal resiliency plan. Grassroots groups applied for and secured a Determination of El-

igibility from the independent New York State Historic Preservation Office, which recognized their high integrity and “outstanding examples of art deco and WPA moderne design.” This third-party historic review forced serious consideration of mitigation and adaptive reuse, demonstrating how external evaluation can shift parks department plans.

Tragically, the parks department’s own history demonstrates that demolition frequently results in decades-long delays — or even permanent loss — of vital recreational facilities. During the 1970s fiscal crisis, widespread closures, abandonments and demolitions of park structures left entire communities without amenities for decades. More recently, when the George Cromwell Recreation Center on Staten Island was demolished following structural damage exacerbated by Hurricane Sandy, residents endured over a decade without a replacement. Demolishing VCP Stadium risks repeating this exact cycle, leaving the Bronx without its historic athletic hub for years while new construction lags. Independent third-party reviews are essential: historic preservation engineers experienced in 1930s concrete

retrofits, geotechnical experts versed in modern soil stabilization and formal consultation with the Landmarks Preservation Commission or State Historic Preservation Office for designation. Adaptive reuse — salvaging feasible portions while modernizing seating, accessibility, and systems — aligns perfectly with the park’s master plan for the 21-acre sports complex. Financially, preservation is the smarter investment. Historic rehabilitation typically costs less than full demolition and new construction when factoring in debris removal and hazardous abatement.

The community is right to demand better. The park’s master plan already calls for upgrades — the stadium’s historic fabric can and must be part of them. New York City has learned the cost of erasing its past. Let us choose the path of preservation, independent scrutiny, and adaptive reuse. The Bronx’s athletes, families and future generations deserve a stadium that carries forward both the New Deal promise and the borough’s proud art deco

— not a

slate where history once stood. MARK SLOMIANY

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Brophy of Douglas Elliman Real Estate

Hudson views and amenities

Arenovated one bedroom apartment overlooking the Hudson River has hit the market in Riverdale for $385,000, offering buyers a combination of classic architecture, modern upgrades, and convenient access to transportation and recreation.

Located at 2575 Palisade Avenue, Apt. 12C, the residence is situated in a mid-century high-rise built in 1958 along the riverbank. The property blends timeless design with updated interiors and an extensive selection of amenities geared toward comfortable city living.

The home features a spacious layout with an updated kitchen equipped with granite countertops and a gas stove. Crown moldings and skim-coated walls and ceilings provide refined finishing touches throughout the apartment, while air conditioning offers added comfort during warmer months. Eastern and western exposures bring in abundant natural light during the day.

askingpriceof$165,000.Theunitstandsoutforitsspaciouslayout,a rarityamongstudioapartments,providingflexibleoptionsforliving,sleepingandworkareas. Recentlyupdated,theapartmentfeaturesfreshly paintedwalls,refinishedhardwoodfloors,and renovatedkitchencompletewithnewappliances andflooring.Naturallightfillsthespacethrough multiplewindows,includinginboththekitchen andbathroom,enhancingtheoverallbrightness and ventilation the home. Storage,oftenachallengeinstudioliving, a notableadvantagehere.Theapartmentincludes threegenerouslysizedclosets,offeringample roomfororganizationwithoutcompromising livingspace.Locatedinawell-maintainedbuildinginthe

Residents entering the building are welcomed by a lobby adorned with orchids and artwork inspired by painter Mark Rothko, creating an upscale and inviting atmosphere. Amenities include a full-time doorman, live-in superintendent, concierge services, seasonal swimming pool, fitness center, library, playroom, community room, storage lockers, bike and ski racks, modern laundry facilities, elevator access, and a heated garage.

The property is also positioned near several transportation options, with Metro-North Railroad service and city and express bus stops located one block away. Nearby attractions include Wave Hill, Van Cortlandt Park, nature trails, golf courses, tennis courts, restaurants, cafes, and shopping destinations.

The pet-friendly residence allows pets up to 30 pounds, adding additional appeal for buyers seeking convenience and lifestyle amenities in Riverdale.

heartofCentralRiverdale,residentsbenefit fromseveralamenitiesdesignedforconvenience and comfort. These include a live-in superintendent,on-siteporterservices,abike room,andadditionalprivatestorageavailablein the basement. Theproperty’slocation anotherkeyselling point.Situatedjuststepsfromlocalshops,cafes andeverydayessentials,thebuildingprovides easyaccesstoneighborhoodconveniences. Publictransportationoptions,includingnearby busandtrainlines,makecommutingtoother partsofthecitystraightforward.Withitscombinationofspace,recentupgrades,buildingamenitiesandaprimelocation, thestudio 3601JohnsonAvenuepresentsa compellingopportunityforfirst-timebuyers orthoseseeking low-maintenancehomein

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