Winner of Vol. 72, No. 25
the Pulitzer Prize Thursday, July 29, 2021
Electeds make slow, steady return to in-person services
What’s inside?
n Many officials keep offerings remote amid fears of delta variant
Falling down
By ETHAN STARK-MILLER & MAYA MITRASINOVIC of The Riverdale Press
It’s scary to find a notice demanding evacuation, as tenants in a Blackstone Ave building discovered. Page A3
HIRAM ALEJANDRO DURÁN
The 25-year spiritual leadership of the Rev. David Cockcroft was memorialized in a stained-glass window at Riverdale Presbyterian Church when he retired in 1994. Active in many causes — both inside the church and out — Cockcroft died June 3.
Summer school? He’s not mayor just yet, but Eric Adams already is touting an education plan for public schools that some might not be too keen on. Page A6
Sweet victory Christian Amato is convinced politics is just a numbers game, and an election win could prove his point. Page A8
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David Cockcroft never feared speaking, acting from his heart n Longtime Presbyterian church minister remembered fondly by friends, congregants By MICHAEL HINMAN mhinman@riverdalepress.com
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avid Cockcroft never defined himself by his sexuality, but he lived and preached during a pivotal time in LGBTQ history. And helping those who struggled to even get acknowledgement from others while at the same time bringing them a step closer to God is exactly how so many with hearts Rev. Cockcroft touched remember him. The longtime spiritual leader of Riverdale Presbyterian Church died June 3. And many gathered at his old Henry Hudson Parkway church — and online — last weekend to celebrate a life that helped shape a community when it needed him the most. “As a single gay man and Presbyterian pastor, there were too many decades neither church nor culture had welcomed his sexual orientation,” said longtime friend, the Rev. Robert Foltz-Morrison, during Saturday’s service. “He might sometimes appear humble or shy, or even quirky. But when David had a voice on something that was important to him, you knew about it.” One of those very important issues was
AIDS. He was midway through his 25-year stint at Riverdale Presbyterian when what was originally dubbed as the “gay cancer” started spreading through homosexual communities here in New York City as well as California. Many outside the gay community feared it would spread to them or their loved ones, and homophobia poised to take a permanent and prominent place in society. But that never slowed Rev. Cockcroft. He volunteered with organizations like the AIDS Resource Center — changing its name to Bailey House in the mid-1990s — which provided health care and housing for those infected with HIV. It was a cause he stayed active in until DAVID his health made it near COCKCROFT impossible in later years. And Cockcroft had other interests as well, especially those with a social cause. When he retired from Riverdale Presbyterian in 1994, he was still wincing from losing a battle with his congregation over using the church to house the homeless. “He was very disappointed about that,” Rabbi Stephen Franklin from Riverdale Temple told The Riverdale Press at the time. “I think it hit him pretty hard.” DAVID COCKCROFT, page A4
Since Gov. Andrew Cuomo lifted most state-mandated coronavirus restrictions last June, various aspects of life in New York have slowly returned to normal. Well, a “new normal” anyway. Many restaurants and stores have lifted capacity restrictions and other pandemic precautions like mask wearing. At the same time, others are a little more hesitant, nixing some virus prevention measures while keeping others in place. What about elected officials? One might think they would be among the first to restore full in-person constituent services after the governor’s announcement. But many — at least in this area — are either only offering services remotely, or have developed a hybrid model that involves meeting with people outdoors. Still others are allowing people back inside offices, but with varying levels of precautions. What’s causing this hesitancy to
‘I actually like seeing people face-toface, and sometimes it’s more conducive to solving a problem when we can talk directly.’ JEFFREY DINOWITZ Assemblyman
reopen? That would be the delta variant — the most dominant of the coronavirus’ mutant strains. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believes the delta variant spreads more easily and quickly than other forms of the virus. However, the CDC has also said the vaccines currently available appear to protect against this variant. For instance, state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi’s district office has remained closed for in-person services because IN-PERSON, page A4
Long road to transform elections in New York n Biaggi wants to use a constitutional amendment to transform how we vote By ETHAN STARK-MILLER estarkmiller@riverdalepress.com
Last week, Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams officially received the Democratic nomination for mayor after the city elections board certified results from the June primary. With counting now wrapped up in most races across the city, it may be easy to forget that just a few weeks ago, the city elections board made ALEssANDRA a very public snafu bIAggI that some said undermined confidence in the new rankedchoice voting system. That mistake initially added 135,000 test ballots in the early counting pro-
cess, mixed in with actual votes. The error was caught quickly, but not before the damage had been done. The elections board released a corrected tally just a couple days later that didn’t vary much from the first batch. But in the era of Donald Trump’s “big lie,” the confidence erosion was nearly impossible to avoid. Observers, however, shouldn’t blame counting issues on rankedchoice voting, says state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi. “Ranked-choice voting is not the reason why this election was messy, it’s just not,” she said. “And I think that a lot of people really tried to blame ranked-choice voting as the reason why the (elections board) was having a hard time. It’s just not true.” Instead, the blame lies with the board itself, Biaggi said. That’s why she and other critics quickly took to social media to point out other errors over time that could almost easily undermine confidence in an election. That included another recent incident where the elections board mailed hunELECTIONS, page A4
Renew your library card, Riverdale branch is back n After 15 months, Mosholu location reopens, restoring nearly all in-person services By ETHAN STARK-MILLER estarkmiller@riverdalepress.com
When the pandemic first hit the city last year, schools, businesses and cultural institutions all shut down to stop the spread of the coronavirus. And the New York Public Library was no exception. But as more and more people get vaccinated — and after Gov. Andrew Cuomo lifted most pandemic restrictions last month — the library system is slowly reopening its branches. The latest is the Riverdale Library at 5540 Mosholu Ave., across the street from Riverdale Neighborhood House, which finally unlocked its gate earlier this week. After more than a year with the lights off and books collecting dust on its shelves, branch manager Rebecca Brown-Barbier says she’s happy to be back. “I’ve been waiting for 15 months,” Brown-Barbier said. “I’ve been walking by the gate a few times a week, looking in longingly. And I’m just glad that we will be back.”
HIRAM ALEJANDRO DURÁN
After 15 months of closure in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the Riverdale Library will once again offer outdoor programs for children in the area, says branch manager Rebecca brown-barbier. This is one of the many services the Mosholu Avenue branch brought back this week when it reopened to the public. It still felt eerily like March 2020 when Brown-Barbier and her staff first re-entered the building because they had to leave in such haste when everything shut down last year. “It was almost like time stopped,” Brown-Barbier said. “There were still snowflakes on the wall from our March decorations. There were still flyers on
programs that we were planning, like our great paper airplane competition that we do annually.” And Brown-Barbier isn’t alone in her relief. Patrons who spent a lot of time at the library before the pandemic — like neighborhood parent Elizabeth Cecala — are excited, too. “I used to frequent the library quite of-
ten because I have a child,” she said. “And it’s just a great place to go, you know, for books, and to get videos.” Everything will be fully opened at the Riverdale branch except adult programming, Brown-Barbier said, which will be phased back in over the next few months. This means the branch will once again offer open seating, unlimited internet browsing, computer use, laptop loans, and general use of the reading areas. Even better, the library will resume pre-pandemic hours. But society is not quite in a post-pandemic state, which means some safety precautions will stay in place. At least for the time being. “It keeps on changing and evolving, of course, day-by-day,” Brown-Barbier said. “So, right now we require patrons and staff to wear a mask inside. But we’re going to be open full-swing.” And the branch will celebrate the reopening by hosting community days on Friday, Aug. 13 and Saturday, Aug. 14, Brown-Barbier said, inviting neighbors to help weed the garden — which became overgrown during the pandemic. This week they’re also giving out some 200 “summer learning kits” for kids in the community that include a booklet, a book, and other assorted learning materials. LIBRARY, page A4