Winner of Vol. 72, No. 24
What’s inside?
the Pulitzer Prize Thursday, July 22, 2021
$1.00
Dinowitz votes for largest budget in city history n Money earmarked for parks, schools, and even a boost to the New York cops By ETHAN STARK-MILLER estarkmiller@riverdalepress.com
Green schools? Rep. Jamaal Bowman wants sustainable and inhabitable schools, but is White House listening? Page A5
If you could boil Councilman Eric Dinowitz down to one core issue, it would probably be education. That shouldn’t be too much of a surprise since Dinowitz had plenty of firsthand experience in the classroom. He was a special education teacher in a handful of schools in this corner of the Bronx for the past 14 years. Although Dinowitz loved making a difference in the lives of his students, he also realized there’s only so much he could do in that setting. That’s why he decided to leave the classroom, he said, and run for city council in the first place. “One of the things that I said during the campaign was, ‘Yes, I have an impact on the
Courtesy of John McCarten/New York City Council
Councilman Eric Dinowitz says he ran for city council so he could have an impact on the lives of students that extended beyond his ‘45 minutes in the classroom’ when he was a public school educator. lives of my students,’” Dinowitz said. “But there’s only so much I can do with 45 minutes in a classroom with them. As a member of the city council, I can impact thou-
sands and thousands of students’ lives.” And Dinowitz says that’s exactly what he did by voting for this year’s $99 billion fiscal year budget, which included $4 bil-
FOR SALE? SOLD!
Subways filled with people are nowhere near as bad as subways filled with water. What will lawmakers do about MTA flooding? Page A3
By ROSE BRENNAN rbrennan@riverdalepress.com
HIRAM ALEJANDRO DURÁN
Home sales head back to normal They performed online through the pandemic, now these musicians are ready to go live — on a lawn. Page A8
HOME SAL
n Co-op Ride hopes to circumvent controversy that surrounds Uber, Lyft, others
A vacant house is remodeled at the intersection of West 261st Street and Fieldston Road. Despite some claims of a mass exodus out of New York City — especially the Bronx — Realtors are instead seeing home transactions at robust levels not seen since before the coronavirus pandemic.
Yard schtick
lion in additional funding for education. It’s the largest in the city’s history, and the final one to be introduced by term-limited Mayor Bill de Blasio and council Speaker Corey Johnson. After just solidifying his seat on the council for the next two years by winning the June Democratic primary, Dinowitz said it was a moving experience to cast his first vote for a city budget in the council chamber. It was especially powerful because this was the first time lawmakers had gathered there since the start of the coronavirus pandemic last year. “When people vote for you, they put their faith in you,” Dinowitz said. “They put (their) trust in you to go to City Hall and be their voice and make sure that their needs are met, and that their values are expressed. “So, taking the vote — but also being physically in the chamber — was extremely humbling. But it was also a reminder of so much of the pain a lot of New Yorkers and the world has been through.” CITY BUDGET, page A4
Hailing a new, co-op ride-hailing app owned by drivers
Water logged
CO-OP RID
n Realtors see some high demand despite claims of mass exodus from the city By JOSEPH DE LA CRUZ
jdelacruz@riverdalepress.com
Pamela Trebach has plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the housing market — even during a pandemic. A broker in the local family business Trebach Realty, Pamela says she actually sees no end in sight to the high demand of homes in this part of the Bronx, especially in the greater Riverdale and Kingsbridge area. “Closings are a constant,” Trebach said. “More often than not, when I reach
out to real estate attorneys, they are at closings.” Not that there weren’t struggles — especially during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic last year. In fact, there was one point with real estate transactions at historic lows that Trebach feared the market was just not going to make it. “After the lockdown in late June of 2020, we were concerned that buyers had passed us by for Westchester, Connecticut and beyond,” Trebach said. “But much to our surprise, we were incredibly busy. We did not notice a dip in September, which is normally the beginning of a slower real estate season. In fact, the frenzy continued straight through the winter and into the present.” Those initial numbers were discouraging, but some of the chatter around that time also didn’t help — mostly based
‘Houses at the very top of the market — some of which have been sitting around for a while — have all sold now.’ PAMELA TREBACH broker, Trebach Realty
on anecdotal reports of a mass exodus from high-density urban areas like New York City where a dangerous virus could spread like wildfire if left unchecked. HOME SALES, page A4
For better or for worse, ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft have become part of the city’s transportation landscape. But their names also have been in the news for other reasons — among them alleged union busting, at-times exorbitant prices, and general mistreatment of drivers. But in areas like the northwest Bronx and other parts of the city, people who want to get from Point A to Point B might not have another option. Locally, the 1 train line ends at West 242nd Street, and bus service is scant in other areas. On top of that, the hilly landscape might make walking and biking difficult. Co-op Ride hopes to bring all of the convenience of ride-hailing to the city without all that other drama. How? By having the app both owned and operated by its drivers. Ken Lewis co-founded The Drivers Cooperative in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, which ultimately became one of several organizations that made Coop Ride possible. Taxi services have been essential for the upward mobility of the working class and immigrants who call the city home, he said, and Co-op Ride aims to have that profession return to those roots — without Uber and Lyft. “The taxi industry traditionally used to be a way … that immigrants and lowerincome New Yorkers to basically move their families firmly into the middle class,” CO-OP RIDE, page A4
After 20 years, Lois Harr finally looks forward to life after college n What’s next? How about a little teaching, migrant outreach, and maybe even some flower arranging By ROSE BRENNAN rbrennan@riverdalepress.com
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or those of us who choose to go to college, we usually call it quits after eight or so semesters. And maybe some of us voluntarily take on at least a few more for a post-graduate degree. But 46 semesters, for the vast majority of us, is just simply too many. Yet, that’s how many educational cycles Lois
Harr has called Manhattan College home. She’s not a student, of course. In fact, Harr received her undergraduate degree at Manhattan’s crosstown rival, Fordham University. But for more than 20 years, Harr has been instrumental in the development of Manhattan’s campus ministry office. And now, she’s retiring. But then again, this is Lois Harr. And the college can’t get rid of her that easily. In fact, she still plans to teach a class or two as she transitions out of her role as the college’s campus ministry and social action director. “I feel like (leaving) would be really cold turkey otherwise,” Harr said. “But this way, at least for now, I’m kind of weaning myself off of it.” Manhattan College has been her home for LOIS HARR, page A4
Courtesy of Manhattan College/Joshua A. Cuppek
For many years, Lois Harr’s name has been synonymous with Manhattan College. But even prior to working there, she’d experienced a lifetime of Catholic social teaching, including at Manhattan’s bitter crosstown rival, Fordham University.