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Volume XX • Number 21 • May 23 - 29, 2013 •
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Showdown set on Putnam Trail paving plan
By HAYDEE CAMACHO The Parks and Recreation Committee of Community Board 8 will meet on Wednesday, May 22nd to vote on a long-awaited resolution on whether to pave the Putnam Trail in Van Cortlandt Park. Representatives from the Parks Department will be on hand with models of the proposed design which calls for calls for razing 1.5 acres of trees and increasing the width of the trail from 8 feet to 15 feet. The meeting will take place at Manhattan College in the Fishbach Room located at 3825 Corlear Avenune at 7 p.m. Activists and community organizers against the plan have been mounting a strong campaign since April when a large contingent of members of the group, Save the Putnam Trail attended the full board meeting and spoke out passionately against plans to pave the trail. The group demanded that a resolution either for or against the design be voted on in an upcoming meeting. Will Sanchez, an organizer of the group said members of the Save the Putnam trail, as well as many who use the trail are not against improving the trail. “You can
take away some of the debris,” said Sanchez. “Clean it up. We are just not in favor of widening it because that will destroy some of the ambience.” Members of the group and concerned trail users have stepped up their campaign to raise awareness regarding the environmental impact relating to the potential loss of various bird species from habitat destruction if the proposal is approved by posting videos on Youtube.com, creating blogs and commenting on Facebook. In a recent Facebook posting, the group has charged that Parks Department did not respond accurately to a New York State Environmental Quality Review Application by responding that there would be no adverse impact to several key environmental indicators including air quality, surface and noise levels, that there would be no adverse effects related to a community’s existing plans or goals or a change in landuse or other natural resources, and that there likely be no controversy to potential adverse environmental impacts.
Rain doesn’t dampen Bronx Week festivities
Former New York State Attorney General and Bronx Borough President Robert Abrams is honored with his induction into the Bronx Walk of Fame on the Grand Concourse.--Photo by David Greene By DAVID GREENE They changed the date, but couldn’t shake the bad weather as hundred’s braved a steady drizzle to welcome home former Bronx natives Ellen Barkin, Robert Abrams and Miguel Angel Amadeo and into the Bronx Walk of Fame. For the first time in recent memory there were more mem-
ber’s of the press and family member’s of those being inducted-- than the crowd of spectators who normally attend the event held on the Grand Concourse, outside of the Bronx County Courthouse. During this year’s induction ceremony, held on Sunday, May Continued on Page 2
They charge that the Parks Department responded negatively to the questions to avoid performing an Environmental Impact Statement. An EIS is required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for “actions which significantly affect the quality of the human environment.” According to The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, most projects or activities proposed by a state agency or unit of local government, and all discretionary approvals from a NYS agency or unit of local government, require an environmental impact assessment. “My understanding from the Parks Department is that they applied to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for a permit as they were required to do,” said Bob Bender, chair of the Parks and Recreation Committee. “The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has deemed their application complete as is. That is a matter that could and should be discussed in the presence of the Parks Department representatives where we could get a definitive answer,” he added.
Jessie Dinowitz, 88, was mother of Assemblyman By PAULETTE SCHNEIDER Jessie Dinowitz, the mother of Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, died in Riverdale on Sunday, May 19, surrounded by her family. She would have been 89 on July 4. A sad Jeffrey Dinowitz spoke lovingly of his mom’s dedication to him and his two brothers. “She was terrific,” he said. “She did what she had to do. She raised three sons, mostly alone, because my father died when he was very young. I think she did a damned good job.” Jessie was born in Harlem in 1924 but soon moved to The Bronx, where she resided for most of her life. She met her husband, Abraham, at the age of 16, and the couple married in 1946. They established a home on Evergreen Avenue in Soundview and later moved to the Amalgamated Houses in Kingsbridge Heights. She was a full-time mom when the boys were growing up, but she joined the workforce after the death of her 43-year-old husband when she herself was 42. One of her employers was Fuhrman’s department store on West 231st Street. Blessed with close family relationships, she got regular visits from her grandson Eric, the assemblyman’s son, while he attended the Bronx High School of Science. Eric and his sister, Kara, would tell their grandmother “things that they wouldn’t tell their parents,” Dinowitz said. Until around a year ago, Dinowitz recalled, his mom frequented the Van Cortlandt Senior Center and enjoyed local
shopping excursions. She served as a volunteer in the AmPark School on Hillman Avenue until the end of last school year. She remained quite active until this past March, when she was diagnosed with cancer. She moved into the Hebrew Home at Riverdale, where she received hospice care that was “as good as you could get anywhere.” Dinowitz would visit her at the home right after his gym
workouts at the Y. “I wanted to spend every minute that I could with her—for her benefit, but frankly, also for my benefit,” he said. She told him, “You don’t have to spend so much time here—I know you’re busy.” But he assured her he was there because that’s where he wanted to be. “That’s how she was—she was Continued on Page 2