Riverdale Review, December 13, 2012

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Volume XIX • Number 48 • December 13-19, 2012 •

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Engel and Klein reach for the pinnacles of power

By TESS McRAE Congressman Eliot Engel has been anointed as the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington D.C., and as such he wants to push for peace in the Middle East.

The Foreign Affairs Committee has jurisdiction over bills and investigations related to foreign affairs of the United States. The ranking member acts as a head chair of the entire committee.

“It is a tremendous honor to be chosen by all of your colleagues,” Engel said.

“Many people were vying for this position, and I am honored to have the support from the members of the House.”

Engel boasts extensive experience with the Foreign Affairs Committee—he has been the top Democrat on the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee since January 2007.

But Engel told the Riverdale Review that it isn’t just his experience in Congress that makes him qualified for the position.

“My background being from The Bronx helps as well,” he said. “This is a good position for someone from New York. We are so used to many different cultures.”

Engel, who is replacing Congressman Howard Berman in the post, said he plans to carry on Berman’s tradition and will seek his counsel whenever it is needed.

Though he has dealt with many issues regarding many nations, Engel’s primary goal will be to work toward peace in the Middle East—specifically between Israel and the Palestinians.

“I think we all want to see peace in the Middle East, but you can only have peace if both sides want to make peace,” Engel said. “Palestine refuses to make peace.”

The local elected official also reiterated the importance for the United States of showing solidarity with Israel while not pressuring them too much to resolve issues.

Engel said if we stand strong with Israel, the Palestinians will probably consider negotiations.

“When the US and Israel are standing together, that’s when the Palestinians make their concessions and negotiate with good faith. If they sense tension, they don’t take it seriously,” Engel said.

Engel isn’t the only local politician who has made moves in the government recently.

Local state Senator Jeff Klein, founder of the Independent Democratic Committee, has become the co-majority leader of the New York state Senate after he joined forces with Republican state Senator Dean Skelos last week to make the IDC an official third Senate conference.

Following the November election, Klein, who represents all of Riverdale, and the rest of the IDC kept quiet about which party, if any, they would side with.

Rumors circulated that Klein had been meeting privately with GOP leaders.

The recent move to pair up with the Republicans has led some to question Klein’s motives. Holding the co-majority

leadership with Skelos will mean Klein will have a major say in state policy and will be able to channel millions of dollars into his district.

In a press release, the co-majority leaders said the “bipartisan coalition guarantees a fiscally responsible and fully functional Senate that will produce productive and positive results for New Yorkers.”

The IDC was formed two years ago after the Democratic Party lost majority.

The conference includes Senators Klein of The Bronx, David Carlucci of Rockland County, David Valesky of Syracuse and Diane Savino of Staten Island. State Senator Malcolm Smith of Brooklyn recently announced that he, too, would be joining the IDC. Whether this coalition will in fact force Democrats and Republicans to cooperate as Skelos and Klein say it will or whether it will cause even more of a divide has yet to be seen.

DNA evidence helps local police solve cold case murder

By MIAWLING LAM Detectives from the 50th Precinct finally may have cracked the 1993 murder of a prostitute in North Riverdale, thanks to DNA analysis.

Police said Lucius Crawford, a 60-year-old ex-con from Mount Vernon, last week confessed to the fatal stabbing of Nella West— a crime he allegedly committed nearly two decades ago.

According to police, the body of West, 38, was found by a cab driver face-up outside 5815 Liebig Avenue just after 3 a.m. on October 20, 1993.

The victim, a known prostitute, suffered multiple stab wounds to the head, face and torso, a broken eye socket and a crushed skull during the brutal attack that took her life.

Commanding officer of the 50th Precinct Captain Kevin Burke said the cold case had remained unsolved until fiveoh Detective Chris Boerke and Malcolm Reiman from the Bronx Homicide Squad made a breakthrough earlier this year.

Captain Burke said the pair ran biological evidence from the scene through the current DNA database and found a match. “(Boerke) revealed that there were fingernail scrapings, so he put them through DNA analysis,” he said.

“The information was sent to the crime lab and in July, the results came back identifying the

perpetrator.”

Crawford allegedly admitted to killing West after Bronx police showed up at his apartment on December 4 wanting to question him over the cold case.

The ex-con was not at home, but police made a gruesome discovery—the body of another dead woman lay in his bed.

Police said Tanya Simmons, 41, had been stabbed nine times in the chest. Crawford was arrested three hours later and has since been charged with her murder.

Under questioning, he admitted to killing Learonda Shealy in a Yonkers stairwell on September 13, 1993.

No charges have been filed on either of the two older cases.

Captain Burke said Crawford has a history of violence toward women dating back to the 1970s.

Crawford was imprisoned from 1977 to 1991 for stabbing and wounding five women in South Carolina. He also served time in prison between 1995 and 2008 for stabbing a Westchester woman. He has been on parole since.

Councilman G. Oliver Koppell, who remembered the West case as it unfolded at the time, said the arrest reveals the benefits of New York’s DNA database. The central database was created in 1996—three years after West’s

death.

“DNA has been a tremendous tool, and it’s also had the beneficial effect of finding people who were wrongfully convicted,” Koppell said.

“There seems to be a particular

psychosis with men killing prostitutes. I don’t pretend to know the reason, but I’ve observed over the years that it’s a particular obsession.”

It is not known whether Crawford is responsible for the

unsolved murders of 11 victims, five of whom were prostitutes, found buried in Long Island last year.

As of press time, Crawford’s lawyer could not be reached for comment.

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. joins Rabbi Levi Shemtov of Chabad Lubavitch of Riverdale to light the largest menorah in the Bronx located at Bell Tower Park at Riverdale Avenue and West 239th Street. Following the lighting, which commemorated the third night of Chanukah, Diaz distributed dreidels to student from Kinneret Day School who were in attendance.

Thursday, December 13, 2012 • The RIVERDALE REVIEW

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Local nursing home rocked by sex assault allegation

By MIAWLING LAM The distraught family of an 81-year-old female resident who was sexually assaulted at Hudson Pointe may file a lawsuit against the nursing care facility.

Experienced attorney Cheryl R. Eisberg Moin, who has been enlisted by the victim’s family, accused the facility’s administration of breaching their duty of care toward Gertrudis Munoz.

Police allege Munoz was sexually assaulted by a janitor in the third-floor dementia unit of the Hudson Pointe at Riverdale Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation on November 29.

Jorge Sarmiento, 56, of Washington Heights, has since been arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of an incompetent person and attempted sexual assault.

“We will pursue every civil remedy that there is,” Eisberg Moin told the Riverdale Review.

“There is a patient bill of rights, and people who are in nursing homes are entitled to dignity and safety. And there is a civil remedy when that duty has been breached.

“We expect, in very short time, to be commencing a lawsuit.”

Eisberg Moin said it was still too early to ascertain how much the family would seek in damages but indicated the lawsuit would be filed against the operators of the nursing home.

Meanwhile, the New York State Health Department has launched its own probe into the incident.

Munoz, who has been a patient at the facility for four years, suffers from severe dementia and advanced Alzheimer’s.

Commanding officer of the 50th Precinct Captain Kevin Burke said an employee at the facility called 911 after allegedly finding the victim in a utility closet with her pants down.

“The suspect’s face was in the victim’s immediate crotch area and her clothing was disheveled and upwards,” he said.

Under questioning, Sarmiento, who boasts a clean arrest history, denied the allegations.

“He said it was all a misunderstanding,” Captain Burke said, adding that the case could pose a few challenges.

“The victim suffers from dementia and is nonresponsive and does not communicate well. She can’t articulate what happened, so the burden of proof might make it a challenging case from a prosecution standpoint.”

It is not immediately known whether there are additional victims, but Eisberg Moin said the family was urging others to come forward and hinted that a class action lawsuit could be filed.

Algiers still without gas

By TESS McRAE Residents of The Algiers in central Riverdale remain without gas nearly three weeks after a fire in the south side of the complex forced Con Edison to shut off gas service.

As the Riverdale Review first reported last month, gas was switched off at the 3616 Henry Hudson Parkway when a Con Ed mechanic moved a stove away from the wall in a fifth-floor apartment in order to access the gas valve.

No injuries or hospital transports were reported, but residents have not been able to use their ovens since the blaze broke out before Thanksgiving. Building resident Stephen Budihas confirmed the lack of gas late last week.

Anne Larson, a broker with Goodman Management Realty and the managing agent of the building, would not provide an estimated restoration time and refused to answer questions.

Gas cannot be restored to the south side of the complex until the building hires a plumber to repair the leaking pipe and then passes an inspection from the NYC Department of Buildings, which certifies that all pipes are safe.

As of press time, a certification request from the building was not registered on the DOB website.

“We expect where you see one, there are probably others,” she said, adding that reports of elder abuse are already starting to emerge in other boroughs.

“I believe there are many cases like this.

It gets swept under the rug and people are afraid to come forward, but now is the time,” she said.

Nursing care officials issued a statement last week expressing their regret over the incident.

“We are shocked that an incident of this nature could have occurred at our center. We offer our sincere apology to the family,” the statement read.

According to published reports, Sarmiento had worked at Hudson Pointe for 12 years and passed a criminal background check prior to employment.

Sarmiento is next due to appear in Bronx Supreme Court on January 18.

By MIAWLING LAM The chair of Community Board 8 allegedly violated the state’s open meetings law when he tossed the media out of this month’s executive committee meeting.

CB8 chair Robert Fanuzzi asked a reporter from the Riverdale Review to leave last Wednesday’s meeting after members spent 40 minutes discussing whether the law applied to the executive committee.

The CB8 executive committee is comprised of the four officers of the board and the chairs of all 14 committees. No other members of the public were present at the meeting.

New York’s open meetings law stipulates that every meeting of a “public body” is open to the general public, except in extreme situations where public safety is endangered, pending litigation is discussed or a person’s financial, credit or employment history is disclosed.

The law, in effect since 1977, is designed to promote transparency and encourage public participation in government.

However, Fanuzzi asked the press to leave because he did not have an official ruling from the New York state government about what constituted a public body. He did not have prior notification of the media’s presence.

“We simply did not have answers at the time, and the board was of many different minds and opinions,” he said after the meeting.

“There was really no other way to resolve it so I asked out of courtesy, not on legal grounds, if you would excuse us.

We did not make a final determination one way or another (whether the open

meetings law applied).”

Fanuzzi said a letter has since been sent to the Committee on Open Government asking for a ruling and clarification of the law.

But NYS Committee on Open Government assistant director Camille Jobin-Davis said the open meetings law does indeed apply to the community board.

“The Executive Board of the Bronx Community Board #8, made up solely of members of the Bronx Community Board #8, is a ‘public body’ as defined by the Open Meetings Law, and therefore subject to all of the requirements of the law,” she wrote in an email last Thursday.

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. spokesman John DeSio said that it was also Diaz’s opinion that all board meetings were open to the public, in accordance with the open meetings law.

At least three community boards in Manhattan explicitly refer to the open meetings law in their bylaws and state the executive committee meetings are open.

No such clause exists in CB8’s bylaws, so a fevered discussion erupted during the meeting as members weighed in on their interpretation of the law.

Several members expressed concerns that the informality of the meeting would be lost if it were open, while others were reluctant to overturn existing procedure.

Traditionally, it has been assumed that the executive committee meeting is closed to the public, as notices of the meeting and its agenda have never been widely circulated. The meeting does not even appear on the board’s monthly calendar.

“Our executive committee has served a

purpose of letting us hash out our differences, our ideas, and getting our business straight before we go public. And we’ve done that for 35 years,” Fanuzzi said last Wednesday.

“This is really a big deal for this board, because this really is the first time that the open meetings law has been invoked.

I really feel like this is an alteration—a permanent alteration—in the way we do business here, and it removes a principle rationale, which is the freedom to speak and talk to each other and plan together.”

CB8 law, rules and ethics committee chair Rosemary Ginty declined to comment on the issue after the meeting but said during proceedings that the board’s actions left her speechless.

Ginty said the law was written in plain English and that she was stunned the media was asked to leave.

Meanwhile, CB8 vice chair Maria Khury questioned whether the executive committee even needed to convene if the public were allowed to sit in on their meetings.

“If this is going to be an open meeting, I for one do not see the purpose of an executive committee per se,” she said.

The point was echoed by CB8 budget committee chair Brendan Contant, who said the presence of the media would lead to board matters being prematurely unveiled.

As of press time, New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio had not returned a request for comment.

3 The RIVERDALE REVIEW • Thursday, December 13, 2012

What are they hiding? Review reporter tossed from public meeting

Thursday, December 13, 2012 • The RIVERDALE REVIEW

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Around the schools...

Riverdale-Kingsbridge Academy

The community is invited to celebrate the holidays and experience RKA’s talented band, chorus and dancers at this year’s Winterfest, scheduled for Thursday, December 13, at 7 p.m. in the RKA auditorium. Visual art will also be on display, with some items available for purchase.

The suggested donation is $5.

Kinneret Day School

The student council collected several boxes full of coats for those in need as a result of Hurricane Sandy.

In celebration of Chanukah, firstgraders worked hard on a presentation , kindergartners made potato latkes from scratch, pre-kindergarteners applied what they learned at a cookie-decorating demonstration, and nursery schoolers created usable Chanukah menorahs from clay.

Horace Mann School

Last Saturday’s Caring in Action Day yielded 460 bagged meals for Hurricane Sandy responders, sorting of nonperishable food for the Yorkville Common Pantry and the Westchester Food Bank, sorting of school supplies for the Kingsbridge Heights Community Center and the Marble Hill Community Center, 195 holiday stockings stuffed for Sanctuary for Families, 19 boxes of nonperishable food collected for the Westchester Campaign Against Hunger, 291 toys wrapped for the Riverdale Mental Health Association, KHCC and other organizations, 108 cards written to Sandy first-responders and to those serving in the U.S. armed forces, more than 200 coats donated to NY Cares, and other deeds.

Manhattan College

The groundbreaking ceremony for the new Raymond W. Kelly ’63 Student Commons is on Thursday. The 70,000square-foot building, set to open in 2014, will integrate academics and student life programming and provide space for fitness and wellness programming, dining, study, cultural and community events. Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly will attend the event. “This is an honor beyond measure, which I accept on behalf of the 50,000 uniformed and civilian members of the New York City Police Department.

That the student center will serve as the new ‘front door’ of the campus fits perfectly the Lasallian tradition of opening portals in service to the community,” Kelly said. The $48 million project will create the college’s first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-certified building, located on Manhattan College Parkway in the existing Waldo parking lot. “The Kelly Commons will be at the heart of the campus, both geographically and figuratively,” college president Dr. Brennan O’Donnell said. “It will house our student clubs, student government offices and bookstore, and will be our front door to the community, providing space for gatherings, meetings and events open to the public.”

College of Mount Saint Vincent

Assistant professor of chemistry Dr. Daniel Amarante was recently chosen as a recipient of a 2012 Hamilton Syringe Grant Program. The award offers $1,000 worth of Hamilton syringes, needles, and accessories to enhance Dr. Amarante’s research in the college’s chemistry labs.

“The syringes are used to inject a sample

for analysis into the advanced instrumentation (i.e., gas chromatograph, nuclear magnetic spectrometer) in the chemistry teaching and research laboratories,” explained Dr. Patricia Grove, director of the Division of Natural Sciences. “Multiple syringes will limit the possibility of cross-contamination of samples as well as decreasing the waiting time in the laboratory.”

In response to criticism for rising tuition costs and ongoing need for government funding, the college will discontinue its Institute for Immigrant Concerns.

The institute, located in Manhattan, “has a significant impact on the lives of the clients that it serves—providing immigrants, asylees, and refugees with English language instruction, job placement, and other skills—to the betterment of those individuals, their families, and the New York metropolitan area,” college president Charles L. Flynn Jr. said. Though the institute’s mission coincides with the college’s general mission as an educational institution committed to social justice, Dr. Flynn noted that its work with immigrants is not fundamental to the Mount’s mission as a liberal arts college. “When the College agreed to have the Institute become one of its programs seven years ago, it was with the explicit necessity that the Institute fund all of its direct costs,” he said. “That has not been possible for the Institute in recent years, and the College has had to subsidize its programs. The subsidies have increased to unsustainable levels….The College cannot—and should not—use undergraduate tuition to subsidize the work of the Institute. It is a painful conclusion for those whom the Institute serves and for those who have made the Institute their life’s work. And it is an unfortunate and unavoidable decision the College must make, with immense regret.”

Local Scholars

Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, has announced that Evin Adolph, the daughter of Stephanie and Alan Adolph and a member of the Class of 2014, participated in the College of Veterinary Medicine’s White Coat Ceremony on December 1, receiving one of the most recognized symbols of the development of clinical confidence and competence. “The white coat ceremony marks the transition of students from learning the language and scientific basis of medicine, to learning the art and science of the delivery of medicine,” said Dr. Michael I. Kotlikoff, Austin O. Hooey Dean of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell. “Both elements are an essential part of medical education, and an appropriate dose of each makes a good doctor. But in addition to the scientific and technical skills that are required to succeed, part of learning to be a good and effective doctor is learning to balance what you know with what your patients and clients need.

Students with the most sophisticated and up-to-date knowledge of medicine will be poor doctors if they don’t also learn how to use that knowledge for the benefit of their patients and clients.”

Email education news to:

bxny@aol.com or mail to: Riverdale Review 5752 Fieldston Road Bronx, NY 10471

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Settlement in co-op discrimination suit tant U.S. Attorney Alicia M. Simmons, the attorney handling the case, on four separate occasions African-American testers requested a rental application from Velasco, who told them there were no available apartments but that he would inform Goodman Management of the inquiry. No call was made.

On the same days African-American testers were used, Caucasian testers inquired about the same apartment units.

Velasco informed them that there were open units, gave them each a rental application and called Goodman Management on their behalf.

There were a few instances where Velasco offered apartments at a discounted price to Caucasian testers.

Under the Fair Housing Act, “refusing to negotiate for the rental of, or otherwise making unavailable or denying dwellings to persons because of race or color” is a violation of civil rights.

As of press time, neither Goodman Management nor Gloria Silver, the listed building owner, could be reached for comment.

Under the consent decree, in addition to the fine and notice postings, “Loventhal Silver Riverdale and Goodman Management must implement a policy of uniform, nondiscriminatory standards and procedures for showing available apartments to prospective tenants; educate their employees on federal and state housing discrimination laws; and submit periodic reports to the Government containing information about their rental activities. The United States will monitor the defendants’ compliance with the terms of the Consent Decree for a minimum of three years.”

Those who feel they were victims of discrimination by Goodman Management, Loventhal Silver or Velasco are encouraged to call the U.S. Attorney’s Office civil rights hotline in the Southern District of New York at 212-637-0840. Claims must be made by April 14, 2013.

The RIVERDALE REVIEW • Thursday, December 13, 2012

By TESS McRAE Parties involved in a housing discrimination lawsuit at 3800 Independence Avenue have reached an agreement.

According to a press release from the United States Attorney’s Office, Loventhal Silver Riverdale, Goodman Management and Jesus Velasco allegedly discriminated against African-American apartment seekers.

The release charged that Velasco, the superintendent of the building, admitted he informed prospective African-American buyers that there were no vacant units on the complex.

On the very same day, he informed potential Caucasian buyers that there were available units.

The United States District Court in the Southern District of New York signed a settlement and consent decree on October 16. News of the decision surfaced only last week after the defendants posted legal notices seeking information from those who claim to have suffered unlawful housing discrimination.

Loventhal Silver Riverdale and Velasco are required to pay a $40,000 civil penalty.

The defendants must also place notices about the settlement in Bronx newspapers.

Victims will have five months to contact the United States Attorney’s Office regarding any discrimination by Loventhal Silver Riverdale, Goodman Management or Velasco and any harm they may have sustained as a result.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a press release, “This settlement rectifies blatant racial discrimination by an employee of Loventhal Silver Riverdale LLC and ensures that future prospective tenants will be treated fairly under the law.

“The settlement reflects this Office’s commitment to enforcing the Fair Housing Act and eradicating discriminatory real estate practices.”

According to a complaint filed by Assis-

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history, philosophy and religion. Saint Thomas More, who was executed by British King Henry VIII, was the subject of a play and film entitled “A Man for All Seasons.” The movie was highly rated, by critics and viewers alike, garnering several Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor.

Thursday, December 13, 2012 • The RIVERDALE REVIEW

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Photo Exhibition on the Upper West Side

December 21st till January 1st works by talented photographers and designers from Russia - Anastasia Evseeva, Naira Avison and Yana Yartseva - will be on view in the Parlor room of St. Paul & St. Andrew on West 86th St. between Broadway and West End Ave. The exhibit is organized by The Professionals Liaison Project, whose directors - Craig Dixon and Elena Shtoyunda - expect it will be the first event in a series of programs to showcase new and promising European artists as well as those who have already earned acclaim in their countries.

Works by floral and jewelry designers, documentary and portrait photographers as well as artists of various other genres will be also shown in New York and other US cities.

Riverdale Y’s Gallery 18 to feature Isaac Chavel

Dmitriy Moshkovich earned his equivalent of USA masters degree in painting and graphics from the Moldova State University (former Soviet Union). He began his career as an art instructor at the Chisinau Art School for Gifted Children.

He later worked as a freelance illustrator of children’s books with various publishing houses. Dmitriy also participated in numerous exhibitions organized by the Artistic Association of the Soviet Union.

After moving to the United States in 1995, Dmitriy worked as a decorative

painter, muralist, and freelance illustrator with Real Estate News, Ballet Lover’s Guide, and Harper Collins Publishers.

Dmitriy’s works have been shown at the Masterpiece Gallery in Harrison, NY, and he also had a one-man show at the Dag Hammarskjold Building in Manhattan.

The entire community is invited. The Y is located at 5625 Arlington Avenue.

Israeli Hanukkah celebration at CSAIR

Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale (CSAIR) will present a festive Israeli-style Hanukkah celebration on Saturday evening, December 15, starting at 7 p.m.

The entire community is invited to enjoy a choral presentation, a sing-along of favorite Hanukkah songs, a screening of the film ‘Six Days in June,’ as well as traditional holiday refreshments, including latkes (potato pancakes) and suganiyot (jelly doughnuts). Admission is free.

This event is sponsored by the CSAIR Israel Affairs Committee and by B’nai B’rith.

CSAIR is located at 475 West 250th Street. For additional information on this and other programs, call the synagogue office at 718-543-8400.

Neumann-Goldman Post 69 & Ladies Auxiliary

Jewish War Veterans: All veterans are welcome to participate in the only active Jewish War Veterans post in the Kingsbridge/Riverdale area. Neumann - Goldman Post 69 & Ladies Auxiliary regularly meets on the third Sunday of each month

at the James J. Peters V A Medical Center located at 130 Kingsbridge Road at 10 a.m., in room 3D22, on the third floor of the medical center.

The next meeting will be held on Sunday, December 16. Each January, meetings to not take place. The February 2013 meeting will take place on the 17th.

Registration is not required and members of other posts are welcome or if your original post no longer exists. With advance notice, transportation can be arranged.

Services are held in a 100-year old chapel on the medical center’s grounds.

For additional information, call Mel Saks, Post Commander at 914-337-0277, or Herb Barrett at 718-548-6832.

Newmann-Goldman Post 69 & Ladies Auxiliary is the main supporter of the Memorial Grove Restoration Group’s move to restore the War Memorial located in Van Cortlandt Park at West 246th Street.

Scholar Father Koterski to discuss Thomas More

Father Joseph Koterski, a well-known scholar and writer, will discuss “Thomas More and the Conscience of a Statesman” at a meeting of the “Respect Life Committee” at St. Margaret of Cortona Church at 7:30 p.m., Monday, Dec. 17th.

The lecture will take place in the church’s rectory meeting room, at 6000 Riverdale Ave., near West 260th St. Committee President Barbara Meara said that the meeting is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be provided after the meeting.

Father Koterski is a professor at Fordham University and a versatile speaker on

Riverdale AARP Chapter to meet

The Riverdale Chapter 1546 of AARP will meet on Wednesday, December 19th, at 12:30 p.m. at the Riverdale Presbyterian Church, 4765 Henry Hudson Parkway West. At this holiday meeting we will be entertained by Peter Solomon, vocalist & keyboard. He has 30 years of experience. He has performed with Dion & The Belmonts, Chuck Berry & The Drifters in addition to many other groups. He is also an accomplished songwriter and arranger.

He has performed with many groups in our community, this is his first time with AARP. The community is invited to join us, refreshments will be served.

For additional information, call Manfred Segal at l-718-549-0088.

Fr. Corry to speak at St. Gabriel’s Church

Father Francis J. Corry will be making a series of presentations marking the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council on the Sundays of Advent.

Fr. Corry taught for many years at Cardinal Spellman High School as well as in the Deaconate Formation Program at the Seminary and the Formation Program for Catechists. He currently serves as the Pastor of the Parishes of St. Frances of Rome, St. Anthony and St. Francis of Assisi, all in the Bronx. Fr. Corry is known as an excellent speaker who is well prepared and will take questions after the presentations.

The community is invited to join in what promises to be an excellent series of presentations, which will take place after the 12 noon Mass (approximately 1:15 p.m.) in Walsh Hall of St. Gabriel’s Church, 3250 Arlington Avenue: December 16 - Light to the Nations - Dogmatic Constitution ont he Church in the Modern World.

December 23 - The Constitution of the Sacred Liturgy.

Methodist Home to hold coat drive

Methodist Home for Nursing and Rehabilitation is conducting a Coat Drive to benefit the victims of Hurricane Sandy.

The community is invited to donate a warm coat from December 1 to 31 to: Methodist Home for Nursing and Rehabilitation, 4499 Manhattan College Parkway, Bronx, NY 10471 For further information please contact: Marion Clutchker at 718-732-7112 or Email: mclutchker@mchny.org

North Riverdale merchants weigh BID “We have a beautification project that we want to kick off in the spring,” Fella said.

“There are three phases. One is to find and contract a design firm that will actually come and survey the area and give us a comprehensive plan. The second is to find the funding, and then the third will be the actual implementation, and in the back end of the implementation is to establish a BID.” Under a BID, local property owners and merchants pay a special property tax assessment to the city in order to fund improvements and promote and regenerate their business area.

Monies raised typically help pay for street cleaners, additional security, capital improvements and other pedestrian and streetscape enhancements.

The BID was all about inspiring residents to think local, Fella said.

“If they see us giving effort and putting time and money in the community, hopefully it’ll spread,” he said.

“If people see that we’ve rejuvenated the entire town, a quarter on their taxes won’t be an issue, and it will have a snowball effect.

“If we do our part, we’re going to attract a higher-end clientele, property values will go up and it’s just a win-win for the entire neighborhood.”

News of the possible formation of a North Riverdale business improvement district comes nearly a decade after the Kingsbridge BID was first established.

“It’s great to see the local merchants really participating in the community, and it’s something that we should see more of,’” Koppell said.

STILL GIVING. Beloved philanthropist Brooke Astor set up a permanent fund with The New York Community Trust.

Today, The Trust continues to carry out her philanthropy, and always will.

What are your plans?

Brooke Astor 1902-2007

Consider setting up your own permanent fund today.

Visit stillgiving.org or contact Jane Wilton (212) 686-2563

The RIVERDALE REVIEW • Thursday, December 13, 2012

By MIAWLING LAM Merchants in North Riverdale are in the preliminary stages of establishing a business improvement district in the neighborhood.

The ambitious plan was raised when members of the North Riverdale Merchants Association unveiled the nearly 30 trees that were recently planted as part of the city’s Million Trees program.

Among the varieties planted along Riverdale Avenue and West 259th Street were the callery pear, Japanese pagoda and honey locust.

NRMA co-president Gary Wartels said the new trees would brighten local streets when they bloom in the spring.

He said that in the meantime, officials should be pouring their efforts into helping improve and rejuvenate the entire area.

“Now that we have trees, I would love to see some park benches,” he told Councilman G. Oliver Koppell during the photo call last Friday.

“I really think we’ve got to look at completely rescaping this area. This whole street could be completely redone to make it much more attractive and vibrant and to help the traffic patterns.”

In addition to park benches, Wartels said installing pedestrian islands, painting bike lanes and putting in bike racks would drive economic activity along the commercial strip.

The creation of a BID would also help merchants, according to NRMA co-president Anthony Fella.

He said the BID’s formation was still two to three years away but added that it was part of the NRMA’s bigger plans.

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Thursday, December 13, 2012 • The RIVERDALE REVIEW

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Fuel conversion strains local buildings

By TESS McRAE Building owners and managers are already scrambling to meet their first deadline under the Clean Heat program announced by Mayor Michael Bloomberg last year.

The program requires all residences to convert from No. 6 to the cleaner-burning No. 4 heating oil by 2014. By 2030, all buildings will need to upgrade to the still-cleaner No. 2 oil or to natural gas.

Heating a building with cleaner-burning oil costs more, while gas heating is about 50 percent of the cost. But converting from oil to gas can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

According to Con Edison’s gas conversion procedures, building owners have until January 11, 2013, to submit both an acknowledgment and a load letter in order to participate in the 2013 area growth program.

A load letter requires that a certified plumber examine a building’s heating system and come up with an estimate for the conversion. But with the influx of requests, there are not enough certified plumbers to go around because many are involved with repairs in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy.

Former Community Board 8 housing committee chair Tom Durham has held forums to get out the word about the program and the deadline.

“As housing chairman, I stayed on top of this issue because we were in the middle of doing a conversion in my building,” Durham said.

“We did a forum last year when the plan was initially publicized. I was going to do a second seminar, but I was waiting to hear back on the packages the city was going to give buildings.”

Because the mayor received a lot of negative feedback when the mandate was announced, his office set aside more than $100 million in financing to help buildings covert.

“This was an unfunded mandate at first, but then they came out and said the city would give low-interest loans to do a conversion,” Durham said.

But there has been some speculation over which buildings are actually receiving city aid.

David Gellman of the Association of Riverdale Cooperatives & Condominiums said these packages sound better than they actually are.

“The money only applies to city-owned

buildings,” Gellman said. “I did some digging and I found that out.”

While the Dual Fuel Corporation has been working to convert buildings in the Riverdale area, its president, Joseph Bohm, noticed that Con Edison hasn’t been communicating with building owners well enough about the fast-approaching submission date.

“I’ve met with building owners who didn’t even know there was a deadline,” Bohm said. “This is information that people need to know.”

He also voiced concerns over the packages but mentioned there are other options.

For example, his company has no-cost gas conversions where they will fully fund a conversion project in return for shared savings.

“We also lock in the fuel rate for the length of your contract,” Bohm said, “so the price we tell you when you sign a contract with us will stay the same throughout the three-year contract.”

According the mayor’s office, the change to cleaner fuels will be a boon for the city’s air. Officials estimate that by 2013, soot pollution will be reduced by 50 percent,120 lives will be saved and 300 asthma-related cases will be prevented.

Only 1 percent of the buildings in the city burn the dirtiest oil—No. 6—but they account for 85 percent of air pollution in the entire city.

“When you look up in the sky and you see black thick smoke coming out the top of a building, that’s No. 6,” Bohm said.

Durham said that with the steep prices and the lack of communication among Con Edison, the city and building owners, many people are going to struggle to make the cutoff.

“The mandate was made subliminally,” he said. “Even if you get a plumber to approve everything, you still have to wait for Con Edison since they deal with all of the paperwork.”

Durham said the city should consider extending the deadline by two years to accommodate the lack of available certified plumbers.

“This plan looks good on paper, but this is something that cannot be removed with an eraser. I look around and I know that this money is going to have to come from the working class some way or another. Whether it be through the maintenance or rent, somewhere down the line, all of this is going to have to be paid for,” Durham said.

Spellman charged with manslaughter

By PAULETTE SCHNEIDER Riverdale resident Kevin Spellman, a now-retired NYPD detective, was convicted last Thursday of second-degree manslaughter for the death of Kingsbridge resident Drane Nikac in October, 2009, Bronx district attorney Robert T. Johnson announced.

Witnesses said Spellman drove through a red light on Kingsbridge Avenue near West 232nd Street at around 6:30 a.m. when the victim, a 66-year-old Albanian native, began crossing the avenue with a cart containing bottles and cans for recycling.

The 22-year veteran cop was found to have nearly three times the legally acceptable blood-alcohol level for drivers when tested at Jacobi Hospital five hours after the accident, according to the DA. Spellman had refused a Breathalyzer test at the scene.

Evidence at the trial included beer cans found in the NYPD Chevy Impala he was driving while off-duty. According to police, the detective had ended his shift on the Bronx Fugitive Task Force at midnight.

Nikac “came out of nowhere” as she

tried to cross the street, Spellman reportedly told police.

Defense attorney Peter Brill was critical of the verdict. “We appreciate the hard work of the jury,” he said, “but we think the result was wrong.”

Brill stated that faulty equipment was used to test Spellman’s blood and that the jury took that claim into consideration during more than a week of deliberation, acquitting his client of aggravated vehicular homicide and first-degree vehicular manslaughter.

The second-degree manslaughter charge did not require the jury to find Spellman guilty of driving while drunk, Brill explained.

Spellman, 45, faces up to 15 years in prison and is free on bail awaiting sentencing on February 15.

Nikac’s loved ones were satisfied with the verdict and were glad the trial had finally ended, after more than two months.

“My family and I are emotionally exhausted and grateful that the trial is over so that we no longer have to listen to testimony about my mother’s awful ordeal,” the victim’s daughter, Dusta Juncaj, told reporters on Thursday.

9 The RIVERDALE REVIEW • Thursday, December 13, 2012

Get Tested for Hepatitis C! Hepatitis C is a liver disease caused by the Hepatitis C virus. It is often symptomless but rarely harmless. Anyone who has been exposed to contaminated blood or needles — through drug use, tattoos, body piercing or other contact — can be infected.

Hepatitis C can also be acquired through sexual contact.

Think you may be at risk?

Get tested. It could save your life.

The test is also recommended for anyone born between 1945 and 1965.

Montefiore Medical Center offers simple and effective testing.

Talk to your primary care physician or contact us at 1-800-MD-MONTE ext. 55 for more information.

To watch our video on Hepatitis C or to learn more about our program, visit www.montefiore.org/hepc

Thursday, December 13, 2012 • The RIVERDALE REVIEW 10

Benefit concert at HIR for Sandy relief Madison Square Garden Maccabi Games and at a New York Mets Jewish Heritage Day. Jeff Richter (Bobby DooWah) on lead guitar and backup vocals is well known as a songwriter and children’s entertainer.

The group has teamed up with Dave Revels and his Stand Up America kids’ choirs for community events including a Citi Field performance for veterans.

Other talent will include Riverdalians— the fusion band Pey Dalid, the nostalgia band Midlife, and Israeli singer Sigal Chen—as well as the a capella group The Persuasions, What’s Up’s parody band The Shlomones (see their wildly popular You Tube “I’m Going To a Seder”), Broadway star Craig Shulman (of “Les Miserables,” “Phantom of the Opera” and “Jekyl and Hyde” fame) and TV personality Marc Weiner (star of “Weinerville”).

Rising star Sigal Chen has captivated many an audience with her stunning soprano voice, dramatic delivery and wide-ranging repertoire.

Midlife, a band of men with grownup day jobs who convene for gigs that feature ‘60s and ‘70s hits as well as jazz and “revved-up Jewish music,” includes drummer/podiatrist Tzvi Bar-David, guitarist/litigation attorney David Eiseman, keyboardist/real estate developer David Lowenfeld, saxophonist/divorce mediator Jay Marson, saxophonist/endodontist Alan Rosenthal, and guitarist/family physician Michael Tugetman—all locals—as well as guitarist/insurance man Jerry Leshaw and guitarist/health executive Bruce Rapkin.

Pey Dalid is comprised of the singing Walker brothers Mordechai (rhythm guitar), Shlomo (lead guitar) and Pesach (percussion), who often perform at life cycle celebrations.

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11 The RIVERDALE REVIEW • Thursday, December 13, 2012

By PAULETTE SCHNEIDER A varied lineup of performers will offer a Hurricane Sandy Relief Concert this Sunday, December 16, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale.

Admission is $36, but donations of larger amounts are welcome.

Proceeds will go to a fund administered by the UJA-Federation of New York to help those still in need as a result of the October storm that wrecked several of the city’s neighborhoods.

Featured performers include the What’s Up Band and its children’s choir, under the leadership of event organizer David Backer.

Backer has a track record for running successful benefit concerts. In 2010, he and bandleader Jonathan Cahr raised more than $18,000 for survivors of the earthquake in Haiti.

“We’ve tried to make a difference by using music,” Backer said. “When I went to (HIR’s) Rabbi Exler to ask him about the event, basically I told him that this is the kind of thing I wanted to do,” he said.

Proceeds from the Haiti event were used to build water towers for two Haitian towns. More than 20 synagogues and community centers were involved in that effort, and around a hundred children were trained to be part of the performance.

Backer described his What’s Up Band as a “Jewish kids’ educational rock band” that encourages good deeds and gets children involved in “singing with the show.”

He’s a bass player, songwriter and backup vocalist, producer and recording artist who has performed with Chuck Berry, The Temptations and other rock music legends.

Cahr, on keyboards and vocals in What’s Up, is a choral music arranger and songwriter who composed “L’Shalom B’Yisrael,” a hit performed at the 2009

Thursday, December 13, 2012 • The RIVERDALE REVIEW

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Local workers sought for 230th St. mall construction

dollar development will create more than 300 new full-time and part-time jobs as well as 500 construction jobs.

News of the employment opportunity comes a month after the Riverdale Review first reported that Equity One closed the gates to the city-owned parking lot, which had been operating at the site, on November 18.

Officials have not announced the name of any future tenants but have previously indicated they were talking to a wide range of businesses—including some who could occupy as little as 15,000 square feet and others who would need as much as 60,000 square feet.

Equity One purchased the site from the city for $7.5 million. They also acquired the adjoining vacant lot, formerly a Getty gas station, for $2 million last month.

Subway improvements Riders of the No. 1 subway line will have a briefer wait for the next train and a less crowded commute starting this coming summer.

In response to increased demand, the Metropolitan Transit Authority has included the Broadway line improvement as part of a $2 million scheduling adjustment for 2013, according to a recent report.

Charles Moerdler and Fernando Ferrer, both MTA board members and Riverdale residents, have advocated for an upgrade in service on the No. 1 train.

The MTA states that “schedules are regularly reviewed, evaluated and revised in order to provide passengers with the most efficient and effective service possible” and that “NYC Transit routinely changes service to reflect changes in demand in compliance with MTA Boardadopted subway loading guidelines.”

Straphangers who rely on the 7 and J lines can also look forward to service improvements this summer.

The RIVERDALE REVIEW • Thursday, December 13, 2012

By MIAWLING LAM It will be the $54 million two-story shopping mall that Bronx workers helped to build.

The developer of the Broadway Plaza shopping center has announced that the borough’s tradesmen will have first crack at filling a portion of the construction jobs on offer.

Equity One last week revealed they have started hiring for the project and are seeking resumes from qualified, but currently unemployed, tradesmen who live in the northwest Bronx.

Interested applicants can drop off their resumes at the Bronx Community Board 8 office or at the offices of local elected officials including Councilman G. Oliver Koppell and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz. Resumes must be submitted by January 15, 2013.

Applicants will be vetted and then considered for employment by trade contractors.

The Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation will also host a job fair to solicit additional employees.

Details of the fair will be released in the near future.

Equity One CEO Jeffrey S. Olson said it simply made sense to hire locally as the shopping mall begins to take shape.

“We are strong believers in the benefits that urban retail development can bring to local residents and view this as the first of many steps we will take to make sure we have engaged the community during the development,” he said.

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. implored qualified residents to take advantage of the opportunity, while BOEDC president Marlene Cintron said it represented a huge win for the community.

The Broadway Plaza mall, to be located at the busy intersection of Broadway and West 230th Street, is scheduled to open by the end of 2014.

City officials estimate the multimillion-

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CircusFit® Vacation Week will run December 24, 26, 27 and 28.

The Riverdale Y, in partnership with Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus® will not only offer swimming, martial arts, multiple sports, creative arts and movies—we have also added CircusFit Training incorporating acrobatic/ gymnastics skills and juggling all taught by an actual circus performer. Ages 5-12 years

FOUR-DAY FEE: $320/$260 Y MEMBER DAILY FEE: $85/$70 Y MEMBER Vacation days will run from 9am-5pm with early drop off and late stay options available.

Keep an eye out for our CircusFit After-School enrichment classes beginning in January culminating with an opportunity to perform on opening night of Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus at the Izod Center.

For information, contact Joe Smith at (718) 548-8200, ext. 261 or jsmith@riverdaley.org.

You can register online at www.RiverdaleY.org 5625 ARLINGTON AVENUE BRONX, NY 10471 (718)548-8200 WWW.RIVERDALEY.ORG

The RIVERDALE REVIEW • Thursday, December 13, 2012

Be A Clown...

Be A Clown!!

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Kingsbridge

A CHRISTMAS CAROL 4 p.m. Kingsbridge Branch Library 291 West 231st Street A live theater performance based on Charles Dickens’s classic tale of the old miser Ebenezer Scrooge. Presented by the Traveling Lantern Theatre Company. Recommended for ages 4 to 12 years old. For more information, call 718-548-5656.

Riverdale

CB8 MEETING 7 p.m. Community Board 8 5676 Riverdale Avenue Meeting of the Libraries and Cultural Affairs Committee of Community Board 8. For more information, call 718-8843959.

Friday, December 14 Riverdale

TOT SHABBAT 10:30 a.m. Riverdale YM-YWHA 5625 Arlington Avenue Greg Shafritz, music specialist to the early childhood program, will lead this session twice a month. Children and families will participate in joyous Shabbat songs and the blessings for lighting of candles, challah and wine. For more information, contact Wendy Pollock at 718-548-8200 ext 220.

Riverdale

FUN SCIENCE 3:30 p.m. Riverdale Branch Library 5540 Mosholu Avenue Childern are welcome to come to the Riverdale Branch and learn more about the scienctific process. They will conduct experiments and have fun while learning how the world around them operates. For more information, call 718-549-1212.

Saturday, December 15 Riverdale

CHILDREN’S CHANUKAH ACTIVITIES 10:45 a.m. Chabad of Riverdale 535 W. 246th Street Special Chanukah activities will take place in Junior Congregation for children aged 3-10. For more information, call 718-549-1100.

Riverdale

CHANUKAH PROGRAM FOR WOMEN 12:15 p.m. Chabad of Riverdale 535 W. 246th Street Rebbetzin Sorah Shemtov will be presenting a special Chanukah learning program for women. For more information, call 718-549-1100.

Spuyten Duyvil

ADULT CINEMA 2 p.m. Spuyten Duyvil Branch Library 650 West 235th Street Featuring the movie, “American Beauty,” starring Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening. Lester Burnham’s wife Carolyn hates him, his daughter Jane regards him with contempt, and his boss is positioning him for the ax — the typical suburban nightmare. For more information, call 718-796-1202.

Riverdale

HANUKKAH CELEBRATION 7 p.m. Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel 475 West 250th Street CSAIR will present a festive Israeli-style Hanukkah celebration. The entire community is invited. Admission is free. For additional information on this and other programs, call the synagogue office at 718-543-8400.

Riverdale

KIDS NIGHT OUT 7 p.m. Riverdale YM-YWHA 5625 Arlington Avenue Children ages, 5-12, will get to experience, explore, and enjoy all of the wonderful offerings at the Y. Games, sports, creative and performing arts, talent shows, movies, special events and more. Please contact Joe Smith for further information at (718)548-8200, ext. 261 or email JSmith@RiverdaleY.org

Sunday, December 16 Kingsbridge Hts.

JEWISH WAR VETERANS MEETING 10 a.m. Kingsbridge V.A. Medical Center 130 West Kingsbridge Road Newmann-Goldman Post 69 & Ladies Auxiliary will meet.

For more information, call Mel Saks at 914-337-0277 or Herb Barret at 718-548-6832.

Riverdale

LECTURE 1:15 p.m. St. Gabriel’s Church Walsh Hall

3250 Arlington Avenue Father Francis J. Corry will make a presentation, “Light to the Nations - Dogmatic Constitution on the Church in the Modern World.’ For more information, call 718-548-4470.

Monday, December 17 Spuyten Duyvil

GMAIL FOR SENIORS 9:30 a.m. Spuyten Duyvil Branch Library 650 West 235th Street Got a hankering to merge on the digital superhighway?

Gmail is a great starting point. Easy to set up and learn, it’s the perfect introduction to digital communication and we will show you how to get started! For more information, call 718-796-1202.

Kingsbridge

BOOK DISCUSSION 6 p.m. Kingsbridge Branch Library 291 West 231st Street Get the neighborhood read. Check out what the librarian has recommended, and hear what others think about it. We’ve got the books, now we need you to talk! This month’s discussion will be of the book Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. For more information, call 718-548-5656.

Riverdale

RESPECT LIFE COMMITTEE MEETING 7:30 p.m. St. Margaret of Cortona 6000 Riverdale Avenue Father Joseph Koterski, a well-known scholar and writer, will discuss “Thomas More and the Conscience of a Statesman.”

The meeting is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be provided after the meeting.

Marble Hill

CB8 MEETING 7:30 p.m. St. Stephen’s United Methodist Church 146 West 228th Street Meeting of the Health, Hospitals & Social Services Committee of Community Board 8. For info, call 718-884-3959.

Tuesday, December 18 Riverdale

CB8 MEETING 7:30 p.m. Riverdale YM-YWHA 5625 Arlington Avenue Meeting of the Traffic & Transportation Committee of Community Board 8. For more information, call 718-884-3959.

Wednesday, December 19 Riverdale

TODDLER DANCE PARTY 11:30 a.m. Riverdale Branch Library 5540 Mosholu Avenue Toddlers and their caregivers are invited to the Riverdale Branch to get their groove on. We will Hokey Pokey and have an actively good time, while we learn about music, instruments and rhythm. Shakers and dance scarves will be provided.

Parents and caregivers are expected to participate. For more information, call 718-549-1212.

Riverdale

BRANDEIS GROUP CARD PARTY 11:30 a.m. Riverdale Temple West 246th St. & Independence Ave. The Riverdale Chapter of the Brandeis National Committee cordially invites its members and their friends to a Post- Chanukah Card and Game Party. Guests are asked to bring their own supplies for Bridge, Canasta, Scrabble, Mah Jongg or other games of their choice. Bingo will be available for those who prefer it.

Riverdale

BOOK DISCUSSION 1 p.m. Riverdale Branch Library 5540 Mosholu Avenue This month the group will be discussing The Color Purple

by Alice Walker. Book club participants must reserve copies of each title through the Library’s catalog system. Reserve your copy by placing a hold online at www.nypl.org or visiting your local branch. For more information, call 718-549-1212.

Kingsbridge

TEEN MOVIES 4 p.m. Kingsbridge Branch Library 291 West 231st Street Come join us for this monthly program in which we’ll be showing great feature films selected by our Teen Advisory Group!

For ages 13 to 18 years. For more info, call 718-548-5656.

Riverdale

CB8 MEETING 7 p.m. Community Board 8 5676 Riverdale Avenue Meeting of the Environment & Sanitation Committee of Community Board 8., For more infor, call 718-884-3959.

The RIVERDALE REVIEW • Thursday, December 13, 2012

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The RIVERDALE REVIEW • Thursday, December 13, 2012

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Tale of two politicians Can a local election in The Bronx have serious international repercussions? The answer is yes, as the ascent of Congressman Eliot L. Engel as ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs committee now shows.

As the top Democrat on this key panel, Engel is poised to become chairman should the Democrats retake the House. This is important since Engel is widely considered perhaps the most consistently reliable pro-Israel voice on Capitol Hill.

With the Jewish state under siege, both by terrorist Hamas missiles and by the diplomatic onslaught in the United Nations and Western Europe, and with criticism growing during the past few years over the commitment of the Obama administration to Israel, Engel’s key role within the Democratic Party establishment takes on greater significance.

Turn the clock back a dozen years to the Democratic primary in the year 2000 and you will see just how the events of today were shaped by the bitter local primary election held that year.

Eager to win the endorsement of the Rev. Al Sharpton for thenBorough President Fernando Ferrer’s candidacy in the 2001 mayoral election, Bronx County’s Democratic boss, Roberto Ramirez, pulled the party’s endorsement from Engel, then completing his twelfth year in Congress.

The party’s support went instead to then-state Senator Larry Seabrook, a politician best know for staying just one step ahead of prosecutors and investigators while compiling one of the worst attendance records during his stints in the Senate and Assembly.

This gambit had been well-documented. Sharpton himself admitted as much to the Village Voice’s Wayne Barrett and Tom Robbins later that year when he stated, “If I do not run myself, it is highly likely that I will be for Ferrer. Freddy fulfilled his obligations on the Seabrook race through Roberto. I have no complaints.”

On paper at least, Engel should have been in trouble. The district he ran in was 85 percent black and Hispanic, and elected officials under the thumb of the powerful and dictatorial party leader Ramirez paraded in support of Seabrook.

But Engel won handily. Part of it was that his opponent, Seabrook, had such an awful reputation. We viewed it as our responsibility as a local newspaper to fully inform the voters about what was going on. But who could predict the crazy stories that Seabrook’s antics would generate?

The Daily News revealed during the campaign that Seabrook had secretly divorced his wife, Laverne, while continuing to assert his husbandly prerogatives in the bedroom, illegally continuing to file joint tax returns with his unknowingly ex- spouse, and even getting her to cosign a bank loan for him. This was front-page news, headlined “Divorce Bronx Style” This came on the heels of a memorable Seabrook campaign rally a few weeks earlier. As black elected leaders from all over the city (including the future governor of the state of New York, David Paterson) assembled on a north Bronx street corner to offer their endorsement to their colleague, a crazed woman emerged from the crowd yelling “Larry, Larry, me husband, me husband.” Seabrook escaped by dashing down White Plains Road, leaving the waiting politicos with their jaws hanging and collectively shaking their heads.

Engel won easily, but even five years later, Ramirez was unapologetic. “I didn’t back him (Engel) because he wasn’t the best candidate for the job,” Mr. Ramirez told the New York Sun. “He had been there long enough.” Presumably, with all that everyone by then knew, in Ramirez’s eyes, Larry Seabrook would have still made the better Congressman.

Although Seabrook did narrowly win a seat on the City Council in 2001, his political career came crashing down this year with his conviction on corruption charges. He now awaits sentencing and a significant prison stint. He might be remembered for one telling detail that emerged from this final scandal, the receipt he put in to be recompensed $177.00 for a $7.00 bagel and soft drink. Seabrook is accused of doctoring the receipt.

Last week, by becoming the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Engel is poised to make a difference. A difference for our nation, a difference for our communities, a difference for the State of Israel and for the other states that share the same democratic ideals that we do.

Imagine if the results of that election more than twelve years ago had gone the other way? Perhaps now you can understand why we take these local elections so seriously.

Are Riverdalians second-class citizens?

To The Editor: I would say we are worse than second class-citizens. At the Housing Court Forum on November 26, I asked the panel how we can find out how many co-op shareholders lost their home in housing court. They were surprised by the question but were nice enough to try to give me a method to figure this out since there are no statistics.

They told me I have to take a co-op address and check how many nonpayment or holdover proceedings were filed. I will have to search records for every coop building for every borough to find out how many families lost their co-op home in NYC. A co-op apartment is a home to a family; however, the board can evict us from our home just for a few dollars, especially if it is a mortgage-free apartment.

This is not only happening in NYC but all over the USA. Today the federal government provides help to protect the home of a family. However, we can lose our home just be-

cause the board does not like the way we look or the way we talk or just for a few dollars we fall behind. We have no rights to express ourselves because we becomes victims of retaliation from the board. They bully us, and they add any amount of legal fees they feel like to send the message to other shareholders, “don’t mess up with us.”

Housing and Bankruptcy courts allow this type of abuse by saying “you did not buy an apartment but a certificate of shares.” Well, we were shown an apartment for sale, not a piece of paper for sale.

Legal Aid does not help us either, because we are a co-op owner; we should be able to pay our own lawyer. But lawyers do not want our case because they are too expensive and time-consuming and we have no money to pay them. The department of homeless would help by paying the bill because they understand the co-op is a home to a family.

They would help and place a lien on the apartment. This is a long and painful process; by the

ANDREW WOLF, Editor and Publisher

Note our new address: 5752 Fieldston Road Bronx, New York 10471 (718) 543-5200 FAX: (718) 543-4206

JOEL PAL Production Manager ROBERT NILVA Marketing Director

CECILIA McNALLY Office Manager MIAWLING LAM Associate Editor

STAFF: Robert Lebowitz, Richard Reay, Paulette Schneider, Lloyd Ultan, Daniel R. Wolf

time you get help, the board has added more legal fees on top of the one they claimed first.

We, like many Americans, are having financial problems. The difference is that we co-op owners are not getting help from anyone—not from the courts, not from legal aid, not from the federal government, not from our elected politicians, not from the Riverdale Press, a local paper who refused to publish our problems, perhaps intimidated by the real estate (agents) and powerful people in the area.

(There goes our freedom of the press. Thank God we have the Riverdale Review to protect our freedom.)

We are part of the financial fraud, and the federal government should intervene. We are Americans; we can’t be terrorized out of our co-op home. We don’t even have statistics of how many families lost their co-op home in housing or bankruptcy courts. We are worse than second-class citizens; we are living under slavery in Riverdale or any coop. Housing is a human right.

Our constitutional rights have being violated. We need a class action lawsuit to protect our constitutional and human rights and to protect our home.

Any lawyer or non-lawyer interest can write to me at ROSA. NAZAR@GMAIL.COM to protect our family home.

Rosa Nazar Coop Home Defenders

By MIAWLING LAM Graffiti vandals, be warned: If you plan to tag in Riverdale, it probably won’t stay up for long.

Councilman G. Oliver Koppell has teamed up with CitySolve, a graffiti-removal business, to remove the handiwork of graffiti vandals across his district.

Koppell kicked off the campaign last Friday and personally painted over defaced sections of the West 235th Street Henry Hudson Parkway pedestrian overpass during the launch.

Koppell said he provided a $10,000 grant to the Bronx Jewish Community Council—who in turn enlisted CitySolve’s help—to clean up graffiti-strewn areas.

“One of the things I’ve seen over the years is if you get rid of graffiti promptly, generally speaking it will stay away. If you let it stay there, it encourages more graffiti,” he said.

“We can’t directly engage a private contractor, so the Bronx Jewish Community Council has agreed to be an intermediary.”

Under the program, members of the public are encouraged to call Councilman Koppell’s office to report any graffiti or vandalism they see in the community.

Incidents will be entered into a database and each week, CitySolve’s roving crews will be handed a list of tagged locations to tackle.

CitySolve president Bruce Pienkny denied graffiti vandalism was prevalent only in low socio-economic areas.

“Graffiti is a cultural issue. It has nothing to do with the education level or the income level of a neighborhood,” he said.

“There are graffiti writers in Riverdale.

There are taggers in Riverdale and they do vandalize property, so let’s not think that just because it’s a really nice, educated and well-off area that there’s no graffiti.

“There is graffiti, but this program will enable us to address it in a very aggressive manner.”

Pienkny said taggers favor defacing property in well-trafficked areas, such as step streets, local schools, bus stop areas and streets leading to the elevated subway stations along the No. 1 line.

Despite the prevalence of graffiti in the neighborhood, he said, the practice could be stamped out because graffiti vandals were essentially illegal advertisers who just want their names seen.

“If you take it down quickly and their tag can’t be seen, they get discouraged and they get dissuaded,” Pienkny said. “You break their will, and they give up.”

To report graffiti in your neighborhood, call 718-549-7300.

23 The RIVERDALE REVIEW • Thursday, December 13, 2012

Koppell declares war on graffiti

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