Winner of Vol. 72, No. 35
What’s inside?
the Pulitzer Prize
Thursday, October 7, 2021
$1.00
Congestion pricing earns praise, Bronx cheers n Charging a premium for cars in Manhattan could fund MTA improvements
‘Is there a better way to fund the MTA? Let’s tax the rich, let’s do something else. But let’s not do it off the backs of the people in the Bronx.’
By MICHAEL HINMAN mhinman@riverdalepress.com
Out of touch? A new home may be a little too modern for a Fieldston nabe that likes its history. Page A3
It’s a long, slow slog when it comes to implementing congestion pricing. But while all of it is expected to take place in the heart of Manhattan’s financial district, the implications are expected to be felt citywide as state officials look to cure some of the traffic congestion in the densest parts of New York City. Yet despite the fact more households exist without cars than with, those same state officials got an earful from a number of people during a virtual hearing last week who think charging vehicles a premium to enter lower Manhattan would ultimately make traveling by car in that area a function of only the wealthy. “How do we know that places like the Bronx will get the fair benefits of this when it happens?” asked Philip Papaelias. “And that the funds will not just go to places like the Hudson Yards, or expanding the Second Avenue subway into newly
PHILIP PAPAELIAS Bronx resident
JULIUS CONSTANTINE MOTAL / File
Tolls on the Henry Hudson Bridge could be a product of the past for Bronx-based drivers in the near future, if the state fully implements congestion pricing in Lower Manhattan. The plan is to reduce the amount of traffic in the city’s financial district while funneling money back to the MTA. gentrified areas?” Money collected through the congestion fares are intended to fuel upkeep and improvements to New York City’s mass
transit system, while simply implementing the fare could discourage drivers from taking their vehicles downtown, according to Allison de Cerreño, the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority’s deputy chief operating officer. Getting around Lower Manhattan is difficult not just for cars, but especially for buses, she added. Bus speeds throughout the main borough dropped 7 percent between 2010 and 2018. But in Lower Manhattan, those speeds have dropped by 23 percent. And buses aren’t the only forms of transit suffering. “The MTA subway system is over 100 years old, and must be prepared and modCONGESTION, page A4
Another year, another hassle
Landlord struggles to collect rent as building deteriorates
Nabe reclaim There are a lot of vacant lots around the Bronx, but one group has a simple plan: Skip the developer and let them build on it instead. Page A5
n It’s a story heard all too often, except this time renters could make change By JOSEPH DE LA CRUZ jdelacruz@riverdalepress.com
HIRAM ALEJANDRO DURÁN
The tenants of 99 Marble Hill Ave., find themselves in the news a lot — but not for the reasons they like. Their building has been plagued with city violations for years. And now they’re worried they’ll have to endure yet another winter without heat.
Classic dancing You’re never too old to pick up dancing — something an all- new park group demonstrates each week. Page A7
All they want for Christmas is some heat n Cracked walls, collapsing floors still visible at 99 Marble Hill Ave. — even a year later By JOSEPH DE LA CRUZ jdelacruz@riverdalepress.com
He’s always looking up, but not at the stars. No. Pedro De La Cruz — no relation — is staring at the ceiling. Not because it’s some architectural marvel, but instead out of fear it may all come crashing down on him. Again.
“You would think after it happened the first time, my landlord would make sure it doesn’t happen again,” De La Cruz said. “But it’s not the case. They don’t care what happens in this building. De La Cruz had just crawled out of bed last year when the ceiling in his bedroom collapsed on top of the very blankets and sheets that had covered him moments before. The landlord fixed the bedroom ceiling almost immediately. That’s not the problem: It’s the rest of the ceilings in his 99 Marble Hill Ave., apartment that has De La Cruz concerned. “If you look up at the ceiling here in the living room, you can literally see the floor
above looks like it’s going to cave in,” De la Cruz said. “In the bathroom we have a similar situation, where you can see we have a leak coming from my neighbor’s apartment above.” De La Cruz also says both his bathtub and bathroom sink pipes leak, creating a problem that he believes is only making the space between apartment units weaker as it has now accumulated months of water. The cabinets in De La Cruz’s kitchen are falling apart from their hinges. It’s something he describes as an all-too-common feature in many of the 99 Marble Hill apartments. If he opens the cabinet below his MARBLE HILL, page A4
Kevin Brown wants to go home. The only problem is his landlord hasn’t finished repairs on the building he’s lived in for more than two decades. Still. “People say I should just find an apartment somewhere else,” Brown said. “but it’s hard to find an apartment in New York.” A fire last April at his Morrisania apartment building forced Brown into a shelter. He doesn’t have a single hint when he’ll be allowed to return. Absolutely necesHEE YANG sary repairs. A landlord slow to react, if they react at all. It’s become a common mantra not just at 1210 Clay Ave., but across the city where rents are already high, and simply finding an affordable apartment could become a full-time job in of itself. And there might never be progress if it weren’t for Bronx Legal Services and COLLECT RENT, page A4
Voters can make redistricting work better, advocates say n November ballot proposal makes several changes to state’s already-new redistricting process By ETHAN STARK-MILLER’ estarkmiller@riverdalepress.com
In a little over a year, progressive standard-bearer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez very well could represent this corner of the Bronx on Capitol Hill. At least, that’s one possible outcome of the two draft redistricting maps the state’s independent redistricting commission released last month. This first map was proposed by the commission’s Democratic appointees, appearing to move the district currently represented by U.S. Rep.
BALLOT
SESSION
Occasional series featuring candidates, proposals found on November’s general election ballot.
Jamaal Bowman almost entirely out of the Bronx and into Westchester County. At the same time, it would expand Ocasio-Cortez’s east Bronx district to cover Riverdale and Spuyten Duyvil. The other draft map proposed by the commission’s Republican members would incorporate this area into a district that includes upper Manhattan and much of the South Bronx. REDISTRICTING, page A4
HIRAM ALEJANDRO DURÁN
This November, voters have a chance to further change next year’s redistricting process through a ballot proposal. This constitutional amendment would move up the timeline for the state’s independent redistricting commission to submit maps to the legislature, allowing them to be done in time for the June primary.