Winner of Vol. 72, No. 23
What’s inside?
the Pulitzer Prize Thursday, July 15, 2021
$1.00
Bailey Ave church to be reduced to rubble n Battle between synod and Kingsbridge congregation leads to land sale, demolition
‘They’re a bunch of thieves, and I don’t think I’m slandering them. But they took what wasn’t theirs.’
By MICHAEL HINMAN mhinman@riverdalepress.com
A deal nearing? Since closing in 2017, many have pushed to turn Visitation into a new public school. Will that push become reality? Page A3
Delta fears Classrooms will fully reopen in the fall, but could latest COVID variant change plans? Page A5
There had been a time when Kingsbridge Evangelical Lutheran Church had so many people looking to visit their 3130 Bailey Ave., sanctuary on a Sunday morning, they needed two separate services to accommodate them all. But by the time a Riverdale Press reporter visited in 2008, those numbers had shrunk to just over a dozen people. Today, it’s zero. The Kingsbridge church closed its doors for the last time just as the coronavirus pandemic hit last year, and barring any objections from city officials, the strip along Bailey the church once called its own will be reduced to nothing more than a bunch of empty lots. But former church president John Linins says you can’t blame him — or any of the parishioners that stayed until the end. Instead, it was a decision of the Metropolitan New York Synod, and their decision alone.
JOHN LININS
former congregation president
HIRAM ALEJANDRO DURÁN
It’s been a while since any congregation has met inside the 3130 Bailey Ave., sanctuary of the Kingsbridge Evangelical Lutheran Church, and it looks like none will ever meet there again. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s New York synod has taken control of the property, and are set to raze this and neighboring buildings in the hopes of selling the property for $1.2 million. “They’re a bunch of thieves, and I don’t think I’m slandering them,” Linins said of the synod. “But they took what wasn’t theirs.” The synod is part of the larger Evan-
gelical Lutheran Church in America, the nation’s largest Lutheran denomination, which formed by the 1988 merger of three smaller Lutheran church groups. The Kingsbridge church was originally
part of the American Lutheran Church, which boasted more than 2.2 million members nationwide just before the merger. Some individual congregations weren’t keen about becoming the largest Lutheran denomination in the country, so they bowed out of the merger, forming the much smaller American Association of Lutheran Churches. While the Kingsbridge church considered making that move at the time, Linins said, the congregation instead opted to join the ELCA. And for the most part, despite dwindling church attendance, that association was a positive one. That is until around 2009 when the New CHURCH, page A4
Elections create new beginnings Future is female for New York’s city council n Women set to become majority at City Hall with thanks to 21 in ‘21 group By ETHAN STARK-MILLER estarkmiller@riverdalepress.com
Courtesy of New York City Council/Will Alatriste
Vanessa Gibson officially won the Democratic primary for Bronx borough president last week, beating out outgoing councilman Fernando Cabrera. Now she’ll prepare to focus on many of the Bronx problems exacerbated by the pandemic.
All life has value
Dinowitz settles in for long haul after win
A baby skunk got his head stuck in a sewer grate, pulling together a neighborhood together to help get the poor soul freed. Page A8
n Pierina Sanchez also a winner while Vanessa Gibson readies for borough hall trip By ETHAN STARK-MILLER estarkmiller@riverdalepress.com
After what seemed a lifetime over three years, the consecutive races to replace Andrew Cohen on the city council are finally over. And the winner? Eric Dinowitz. For the second time in three months. The former special education teacher and son of Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz
solidified his victory last week in a June Democratic primary once all absentee ballots had been received and counted. Dinowitz keeps the seat he won in a March special election against many of the same competitors. Because of the solidly blue makeup of the Bronx — and much of city — the winners of the Democratic primary are usually assured a November general election victory. In the end, Dinowitz finished with 61 percent of the vote after the six rounds of ranked-choice counting and elimination. The numbers broke down similarly to the first round, where Dinowitz initially led with 42 percent of the vote.
“Twice in the span of three months, voters overwhelmingly supported my election and re-election to the city council,” Dinowitz said. “I believe they voted for someone who has demonstrated his commitment to the community and has gotten things done. As soon as I was sworn in in April, I hit the ground running and started working for the residents of the north Bronx. I’m going to continue to make sure that my neighbors have a voice and that we have an advocate in City Hall.” Like in the special, Spuyten Duyvil nonprofit executive director Mino Lora finished in second place with roughly 39 percent of LONG HAUL, page A4
Jessica Haller was ready to be her neighborhood’s next representative on the city council. She even ran in a competitive March special election to replace Andrew Cohen. Unfortunately for Haller, she lost to Eric Dinowitz, and opted out of a second chance to claim the seat in the primary election a couple months later. As it turned out, Haller still had a hand shaping the makeup of the next city council — not as a councilwoman, but JEssICA leading an organizaHALLER tion that pushed for there to be more councilwomen. Haller took over 21 in ’21, an organization dedicated to electing at least 21 women to a city council that, as of today, has just 14 out of 51 seats. “My personal purview shifted from, ‘I am running to represent this district, and I would have been the first Orthodox (Jewish) woman in the city council,’” Haller said. “And it would have been really exciting. (But) I shifted FEMALE FUTURE, page A4
For RiverWalk couple, key to 70 years of marriage is balance n Rita and Leo Shliselberg have held strong together across the decades, and across continents By MAYA MITRASINOVIC Intern
W
hen Leo Shliselberg first met Rita in 1950, he felt he already knew her. Leo’s friend at work in Tel Aviv, Israel, talked about her family incessantly, and Rita’s upbringing and religious background stood out to him. Both of them spoke German — Leo because he was born in Germany, Rita because she took German classes back home in Albany. But there was a hitch. The first time they met,
Leo was dating Rita’s best friend. Still they hit it off, even prompting Leo to tell Rita in German, “When you know me better, we can get engaged.” In effect, this was Leo’s marriage proposal. As romantic as that was, it also almost derailed their relationship before it started. Rita didn’t know what the word for engaged, “verlobt,” meant in German. She asked her brother-in-law, who refused to translate, instead telling Rita to never see Leo again. But Leo wasn’t going to give up that easily. He waited outside of Rita’s workplace every day, thinking, “That could be my future wife!” Rita didn’t think the same just yet. In fact, she didn’t particularly appreciate this man she barely knew following her. “I refused to see him,” she said. “But I couldn’t ANNIVERSARY, page A4
HIRAM ALEJANDRO DURÁN
Rita and Leo shliselberg recently celebrated 70 years of marriage. After all these years, their secret to success is finding balance between their needs and interests, and ensuring that they don’t stay static.