Winner of Vol. 72, No. 33
the Pulitzer Prize
Thursday, September 23, 2021
$1.00
State government has a corruption problem, Can Sen. Biaggi fix it?
What’s inside?
n After Cuomo, senator’s bill aims to strengthen the ‘They use troubled ethics commission this excuse
Helping the kids
By ETHAN STARK-MILLER estarkmiller@riverdalepress.com
Bowman brings leaders together to keep child tax credit and financial help fully intact. Page A3
Courtesy of Erin McCormick
The lobby of 2727 Palisade Ave., was among several parts of the Spuyten Duyvil neighborhood that was flooded from remnants of Hurricane Ida. Neighbors blame sidewalk construction that was completed two years ago for the mess.
Time to fight What started in a park now has its own studio as Female Fight Club enters the big time with a new Riverdale location. Page A5
Loving grandpa It’s the 60th anniversary of Grandparents Day, and the Hebrew Home knows how to celebrate it. Page A7
It’s been a month since Andrew Cuomo stepped down as governor over sexual harassment allegations detailed in a report from state attorney general Letitia James. But that wasn’t the only scandal Cuomo has faced over the last year. The former governor also was hit by allegations he fostered a toxic work environment, and covered up the true number of people who died from COVID-19 complications in nursing homes across the state last year. Frequent Cuomo critics like state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi argue these problems are hardly new. As a former executive chamber staffer herself, Biaggi said Cuomo presided over an administration rife with corruption for much of his time in office. And it could be a systemic issue inside the office itself since Cuomo’s two predecessors — Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson — were mired in scandals of their own. The main issue, Biaggi said, is an ineffectual enforcement of ethics rules within the executive branch and, to
that they don’t have enough resources. But the reality is that they don’t do their jobs.’ ALESSANDRA BIAGGI
state senator
some extent, even among her colleagues in the state legislature. “Everything you build upon a floor that has no integrity has really no strength in being upheld,” Biaggi said. “In the state of New York, why we continue to repeat corruption is because there’s a failure in our legislature, in our executive branch, to hold people accountable for breaking rules and laws. We have people who leave the chamber in handcuffs, and we just see the same patterns repeated.” But who’s to blame? Biaggi and othJCOPE, page A4
Co-op blames flooding not on Ida, but instead on DOT Who’ll replace captain? n Residents at 2727 Palisade say floods there are caused by Community gets a say the removal of nearby culverts By JOSEPH DE LA CRUZ jdelacruz@riverdalepress.com
Mary Serri is frustrated. Like many at 2727 Palisade Ave., she is not happy with two sidewalks the city’s transportation department constructed back in 2019. Not that she doesn’t want space for the community to walk, but because she blames those very sidewalks for flood after flood her co-operative is experiencing in recent months. “We became frustrated our voices went unheard,” she said. “We’re taxpayers. The DOT just plowed ahead with this (and) ignored our request to please stop construction.” At the time, Serri and others warned DOT if they removed drainage-necessary culverts from the street, the area is going to flood. And it appears those admonitions came true earlier this month after the remnants of Hurricane Ida battered New York, and flooded not only 2727 Palisade, but other properties, too. On top of that, some residents lost their Verizon landline and cable services, because of how the underground wiring was affected.
But while some might point out Ida’s rain was record-breaking, so what should some living in low-lying areas expect, it’s actually the second time the building has been flooded in as many months. Original DOT work two years ago was meant to address a stop sign issue, Serri said. But city officials decided it was either go big or go home, building what she described as two plaza-like sidewalks. “The DOT took a very safe corner where there hasn’t been a pedestrian accident or traffic accident in recent years,” Serri said. “It did not warrant the kind of over-scope it received.” DOT did not return a request for comment. The moment construction trucks arrived, Serri and husband Robert Harrington joined a grassroots effort called the Coalition to Save the Neighborhood in an effort to stop it. And it wasn’t hard to get support. “Everybody was really frustrated at that point,” Serri said. “DOT tried to say that we were notified of this project. Residents in all six buildings in the area said they actually weren’t notified.” In fact, it wasn’t until outlets like The Riverdale Press started airing the group’s views that DOT decided to finally sit down and meet with community members, Serri said. “It was a meeting that (they) listened to DOT FLOOD, page A4
n Dermot Shea considers recommendations for new 50th Precinct commander By ETHAN STARK-MILLER estarkmiller@riverdalepress.com
How much say should communities have in how they’re policed? That’s a question police departments have faced across the country since George Floyd was murdered last year by a former Minneapolis police officer. Floyd’s death sparked protests against police violence in cities well beyond Minnesota, EMIlIo sparking a number of MElENDEz reforms to policing. And New York City was no exception. One of those reforms, which Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office put into effect last January, aims to give communi-
ties a direct say in who leads individual precincts. In the past, who would take over a police precinct was a unilateral process, normally done within the New York Police Department with no input from the neighborhoods he or she would serve. But under the new system, a nominating committee is formed made up of some members of the precinct community council, the local community board and the borough president’s office. The committee interviews up to five candidates nominated by the NYPD. They then rank those candidates, delivering those recommendations to NYPD commissioner Dermot Shea, who makes the final decision. All of this comes at a time when shootings across the city are on the rise, while murder and other violent crime has raised some concerns about public safety. In fact, there is some belief it was Eric Adams’ focus on balancing public safety with police reform that helped him capture the Democratic mayoral nomination last June — and with it, likely the mayor’s office itself. PRECINCT, page A4
Restaurants could keep outdoor dining after COVID n Safety issues, lack of structural oversight have some CB8 members worried By JOSEPH DE LA CRUZ jdelacruz@riverdalepress.com
Unless you’ve been locked down under a rock over the past 18 months, you may have noticed the city’s streets and sidewalks have been breached by outdoor diners. While New York City always has had outdoor dining, the trend exploded when public health officials required restaurants to close indoor dining as a way to curb the spread of the coronavirus. That allowed restaurants to not only commandeer sidewalks, but streets, too. In fact, some 11,000 restaurants are now participating, or have in the past. That, Bronx transportation commissioner Nivardo Lopez said, has saved upward of 100,000 restaurant industry jobs. “By many accounts, the program has been a lifesaver,” Nivardo told Community Board 8’s land use committee earlier this month — “not just to the restaurant industry, but also to the city, which has seen the sort of impact that outdoor dining can
HIRAM AlEJANDRo DURÁN / File
Bronx Alehouse has extended its outdoor dining to West 238th Street, something they started doing in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. But such structures could become part of the longer-term city landscape if the transportation department succeeds in making them permanent. (have on our) streets and sidewalks, and sort of bring those streets and sidewalks to life.” Now the city’s transportation department is exploring making such dining options permanent. To do this, Lopez said, the city will need to remove some of the restrictive language in its zoning laws officials believe discourage businesses owners
from applying for sidewalk use permits in the first place. Despite some challenges, the city has seen success from the outdoor dining program, Lopez said — specifically because no location was off-limits, the process was free and easy to access, and sidewalks provided more space than some establishments could accommodate otherwise.
However, Lopez did acknowledge there are still concerns of how much impact the outdoor dining was having on the rest of the non-dining city. One of those concerns was for the disabled community and the trouble some have had mobilizing around certain areas due to the lack of sidewalk space. “We think the introduction of the roadway option is a tremendous new opportunity for restaurants, especially those who may have narrow sidewalks,” Lopez said. “But we also recognize that there’s been a lot of challenges and a lot of complaints with the roadway seating.” One of those complaints came from the New York Fire Department, which says its trucks sometimes have difficulty navigating turns on corners and being able to spot safety signs due to the obstruction of roadway eateries. The current program, as it is, would last until a permanent program was established — something Lopez estimated would likely happen by 2023. Charles Moerdler, chair of the land use committee, said more thought has to go into the program before DOT can consider any permanent implementation. “There are no known design criteria,” Moerdler said. “And there are no two sidewalk/roadway cafes that bear resemblance OUTDOOR DINING, page A4