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Winner of Vol. 72, No. 39
What’s inside?
the Pulitzer Prize
Thursday, November 4, 2021
BAILEY IS BURNING
$1.00
Flames refuse to spare apartments, businesses n With no word from their landlord, tenants remain clueless about return home By JOSEPH DE LA CRUZ jdelacruz@riverdalepress.com
Save the Earth There’s been enough talk about climate change — now it’s time to take action, as Bronx groups rally together. Page A3
A musthave Now that it appears the COVID vaccine will be available to young kids, will mandates for students be on the horizon? Page A11
Lillian Vasquez hopes to be home for the holidays. Unfortunately, it’s looking less likely that will be the case since her apartment is just as shambled as it was the day after it and 15 other units at 181 W. 238th St., were ravaged by fire. Yet, it was more water than flames that wreaked havoc on Vasquez’s apartment during ‘It just the Sept. 29 blaze. But that doesn’t happened make her situaso fast. It tion any less frustrating. “I’m stressed busted out out,” she said. some of the “This is taking a windows.’ toll on my health.” It’s been more LILLIAN than a month, yet Vasquez and her VASQUEZ neighbors are still locked out of their homes. And there’s no indication on when they might be able to return. “We’re going through a lot,” she said. “I speak for me and the rest of the tenants there. We took a loss. I lost everything in my apartment.” Vasquez lives two flights below the unit where the fire began in the middle of the Wednesday night. But she was still close enough to have her life turned upside down — and she says she’s lucky to have even made it out alive in the first place. “I’d say if there was an angel out there, it was a gentleman out there on the block,” she said. That gentleman happened to be walking by the building on the corner of West 238th and Bailey Avenue when he first noticed the flames coming from one of the units. He ran to as many doors as he could, Vasquez said, knocking and ringing bells. He even physically helped some out of the building before firefighters arrived. For Vasquez, the whole incident felt BAILEY BURNING, page A4
DAVID HANDSCHUH
More than 160 firefighters converged on the intersection of West 238th Street and Bailey Avenue early Tuesday morning to fight a four-alarm blaze that severely damaged five business from Bailey Deli & Grocery to Best Laundromat. The fire was just across the street from 181 W. 238th St., which displaced tenants in more than a dozen apartments there after a fire a little more than a month ago.
Firefighter injured in four-alarm blaze n Flames reportedly start in take-out restaurant before spreading to other storefronts By ETHAN STARK-MILLER estarkmiller@riverdalepress.com
A four-alarm fire tore through and heavily damaged at least five businesses on Bailey Avenue late Monday night, but of the more than 160 New York Fire Department personnel on the scene, only one was
slightly injured. Investigators believe the blaze was sparked inside Yeung Hing Restaurant at 3650 Bailey Ave., just off West 238th Street, just before 11:30 p.m. By the time first responders arrived, the flames already had spread to neighboring businesses including Bailey Deli & Grocery, Con Sabor Latino restaurant, Tililá Casa Publica & Cocina, and Best Laundromat. The Chinese restaurant and deli appeared to suffer the most visible damage with their front windows blown out and much of their interior space scorched.
Both Con Sabor and Tililá appeared to have some interior damage — although it was unclear how much — while some of the drop-down ceilings in the laundromat collapsed and its front display windows were destroyed. Firefighters say they got the fire under control just after 1:30 Tuesday morning. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, according to the New York Police Department’s 50th Precinct, although police have handed those reins over to the fire department. — Additional reporting by Michael Hinman
Make way for next governor — Tish? Bowman? n Bronx poll has potential to shake up race that’s already delivering some surprises
Raising the flag After years of neglect, the community got together once again to ensure a flag flies near the Riverdale Monument. Page A5
By ETHAN STARK-MILLER & MICHAEL HINMAN of The Riverdale Press
Letitia James is in. Kathy Hochul most likely will run. And both Bill de Blasio and Jumaane Williams are making a lot of noise about mounting their own campaigns as well. It’s officially the state election season now, with the primaries less than a year away. And it looks like it might be a bit of a crowded field in the race to become New York’s next governor — but could there be one candidate looking to change his address from Washington to Albany? U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s name has surfaced for the first time in the gubernatorial race — one of eight potential candidates, including former governor Andrew
HIRAM ALEJANDRO DURÁN / Illustration
The primary to decide final candidates running for governor is less than a year away. Will Gov. Kathy Hochul get elected to her first full term? Could state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi make a serious run for the executive chamber? Or is the position powerful enough to attract even those who have succeeded in going to Washington — U.S. Reps. Jamaal Bowman and Tom Suozzi. Cuomo considered by likely Democratic voters in a Consense Strategies poll in the Bronx last week. While few are surprised
to see the state attorney general, the New York City mayor or even the city’s public advocate vying for the state’s top elected
office, Bowman is not exactly a potential candidate many have thought of. He was just elected to Congress a year ago after defeating longtime U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel in the Democratic primary. He’s just getting his footing on Capitol Hill as part of U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Squad,” and has been balancing exposure at both the local and national levels. But then again, it’s redistricting season, and there’s a good chance Bowman’s current constituents won’t be his constituents for long. With the state legislature poised to regain control of the mapping process — and Bowman not exactly winning support by Bronx Democratic leaders for toppling a longtime ally in Engel — it’s not too farfetched that Bowman might be looking to see what’s next. Except what’s next, at least according to Bowman’s campaign, is another term in the U.S. House. “Congressman Bowman is running for re-election,” campaign spokeswoman Rebecca Katz told The Riverdale Press. He “is GOVERNOR, page A4
Shelter reps are a no-show at CB8 land use meeting n Neighbors are concerned how a proposed men’s shelter could affect their Broadway community By JOSEPH DE LA CRUZ jdelacruz@riverdalepress.com
HIRAM ALEJANDRO DURÁN
Neighbors and Community Board 8 members expressed frustration with the noted absence of city administrators at Monday’s land use committee meeting that was slated to discuss a proposed men’s shelter at 6661 Broadway.
Discussing those experiencing homelessness is starting to become a monthly activity with Community Board 8 — this time with Charles Moerdler’s land use committee having a go at the city’s proposed men’s shelter at 6661 Broadway. The only difference between Moerdler’s committee and Omar Murray’s health and hospitals committee — which discussed details about the
shelter in its October meeting —was that it took place without a single representative from the city’s social services department, or the nonprofit agency tasked with running the shelter once it’s built: the African American Planning Commission Inc. City officials were invited, Moerdler said, but simply declined to attend. ,“I had intended originally to put up an empty chair so that the people could see it. There were those who thought I ought to put up an empty suit.” Others were not as amused by the city’s absence, expressing as much during the meeting’s public comments. “Non-attendance is inexcusable,” said Rosemary Ginty, the board’s most recent past chair. “This is an important issue for this community, and SHELTER NO-SHOW, page A4