Winner of Vol. 71, No. 35
What’s inside? Riverdale Living in
UNSUNG
HEROES
Thursday, October 8, 2020
n Human Rights Watch claims police action in June violated rights of protesters kbrendlen@riverdalepress.com
ION 2020-21 EDIT The Riverdale Press
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Riverdale, South Bronx protesters not treated same By KIRSTYN BRENDLEN
Making a real d difference behin the scenes
the Pulitzer Prize
It was just 10 days after the police-involved killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. It had been 10 days of protests nationwide, including in New York City, where crowds flooded the streets each night calling for justice for Floyd and others killed by police in cities across the country. By June 4, after some protests drew ri-
oters, Mayor Bill de Blasio implemented an 8 p.m., curfew, forcing even the most vocal indoors by sundown. That night, hundreds of people marched through the South Bronx. Finding their initial path on Willis Avenue blocked by New GHebReGHioRGis York Police Department officers, protesters re-routed down East 136th Street. As they approached Brook Avenue in
Mott Haven, the protesters found a new barrier: a wall of police officers. It was just before de Blasio’s curfew, and protesters suddenly found all their exits blocked as more officers filled into the street behind them. Observers said it was a police technique known as “kettling,” which prevented protesters from leaving, flanked on both sides. Once the clock struck 8, witnesses said police started pushing into the crowd arresting protesters for what seemed nothing more than violating curfew. More than 260 people were arrested that night, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch — more than any other protest in the city. That same 90-page
study concludes that police behavior that night — like reportedly beating protesters and arresting medics and legal observers — violated international human rights law, and says police response was planned ahead of time. Among those arrested that night was Andom Ghebreghiorgis, who days earlier had suspended his Congressional primary race against Eliot Engel. He livestreamed the protest on Instagram up until he was arrested, later writing and posting a detailed account of the night. He was loaded onto a police bus with dozens of other protesters, taken first to Queens and then Brooklyn, where he was held for about 12 hours bePROTESTERS, page A4
A Bronx Game of Thrones Of the thousands of names residing in the borough, it’s hard to find any as prominent as those of Biaggi and Dinowitz. Both have significant political clout, but which truly has the power to become a Bronx dynasty?
Biaggi
Dinowitz
Lack of certainty Getting kids back into classrooms has become far more difficult than mayor has imagined. Page A9
Alessandra Biaggi
Eric Dinowitz
Mario Biaggi
Jeffrey Dinowitz
Escaping the shadows of larger-than-life leaders By Kirstyn Brendlen, Rose Brennan, Michael Hinman & Pete Janny
Proud support All RoseAnn Hermann wants is for her children to be treated the same as everyone else. And she’ll fight for it. Page A8
W
hen a young Alessandra Biaggi climbed into the oversized chair at her grandfather’s dining room table, the word “dynasty” wasn’t even in her vocabulary. For her, Mario Biaggi was a congressman. He wasn’t one of the most powerful men in the Bronx at the time. He was simply grandpa. Conversations and outright debate would criss-cross that table, and Alessandra would listen to every word. She might not have understood much of what was discussed, but she knew what was happening there, it was important. “The fact that I even grew up around a table where people were talking about politics regularly since I was like so tiny made it so normal for me,” Biaggi said. “I cannot over-emphasize how important that was, when things become really normal for you.”
It’s the kind of discourse missing for many young people, not just because it seems government is constantly underperforming, but also because politics just isn’t considered polite conversation in many social circles. “So much of where we have gone wrong in society is that we don’t make it normal for people to talk about government and politics, even though it is literally the thing that has the most impact on our lives,” Biaggi said. Those conversations made a difference for Biaggi — so much that when it came time for her to seek political office of her own, all the strategy discussion for her state senatorial run took place around the very same table. Yet, that’s the closest Biaggi will ever get to a Bronx dynasty. Her victory over state Sen. Jeffrey Klein came 30 years after her grandfather was forced to step down from Congress after he was convicted in a pair of corruption trials. And Mario died in 2015 when his granddaughter was still working as a lawyer for Gov. Andrew Cuomo in Albany.
Still, Mario Biaggi’s influence over his granddaughter can’t be denied. “I think anybody who is in a family with someone who is really larger than life … it’s amazing in their actual sense of the definition of the word ‘amazing.’” Biaggi said. “To have that much of an impact on so many people is such a really big deal.” Eric Dinowitz can relate. His father has been a key political figure in this part of the Bronx since before he was born, and has served as a state Assemblyman for almost as long as he can remember. While many sons may want to follow the same career path as their fathers, Eric’s decision to jump into the city council race to succeed Andrew Cohen had little to do with Jeffrey Dinowitz’s actual position. Instead, it was more about the commitment to the community he saw not only of his father, but his mother Sylvia as well. Still, it’s almost impossible for anyone to talk about THRONES, page A4
Another COVID casualty: Doughnut shop is closing n High rents and sharp sales drop just too much for Kingsbridge family business By KIRSTYN BRENDLEN kbrendlen@riverdalepress.com
Fernando Rodríguez is struggling. His family owns Kingsbridge Donut Shop on the corner of West 231st Street and Kingsbridge Avenue, but hasn’t paid rent on the space in months. While they haven’t yet heard much from the landlord, Rodriguez knows it’s inevitable the doughnut shop will eventually be kicked out onto the street. But he’s too proud to wait for the inevitable. Instead, Rodríguez — nicknamed “Junior” by his customers — is throwing in the towel. Kingsbridge Donut Shop is closing, for good, before October ends.
It’s the end of a 20-year business venture that’s provided something sweet to the Kingsbridge neighborhood just a couple blocks from the library. This isn’t the outcome Rodríguez wanted, and even a little hope from his cousin Javier just wasn’t enough. Javier, a restaurateur himself, plans to open a taco shop in the neighborhood. Once he heard Junior was considering closing up shop, he started an online fundraiser intended to give the doughnut shop there wherewithal to relocate. They set a lefty goal $18,000. But after a few weeks, only $1,000 had been committed by customers and neighbors. That’s not a small sum, but it’s also not enough to keep the lights on in the restaurant’s current home, or to make the move somewhere else. “We’re just calculating things, it’s just not really working out,” Rodríguez said. DOUGHNUTS, page A4
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outdoor dining hasn’t been enough to save the Kingsbridge Donut shop, and even opening up inside, their small space just won’t generate enough revenue to keep the doors open, owner Fernando Rodríguez said. After 20 years in business, the shop is expected to close for good later this month.