This week's Riverdale Review and Bronx Press

Here are the stories in this week's issue (December 6 - December 12) of the Riverdale Review:

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz demands Con Edison
bury power lines underground to prevent blackouts.

* After Sandy, pols urge Con Edison to bury power lines > Con Edison has vowed to meet with local residents to discuss the feasibility of running power lines underground--instead of overhead--to prevent future electrical outages. The Riverdale Review can reveal the utility provider has indicated it will hold a series of meetings with area residents in the coming weeks to explore the idea of burying cables. Con Edison officials agreed to meet with residents after Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz renewed his call to abolish overhead lines during a press conference in Spuyten Duyvil last Friday.

* Ari Hoffnung edges closer to possible City Council run > Riverdale resident and city deputy comptroller Ari Hoffnung is mulling a run for Councilman G. Oliver Koppell's seat in 2013 citywide elections. Koppell is currently serving his third and final term and must vacate office due to term limit rules. Hoffnung said he remains undecided about whether to jump into the much-anticipated City Council District 11 race but gave the strongest indication yet that his political aspirations were still alive.

 * George Gilbert, photographer, dies at 90 > George Gilbert, a noted photographer and former Fieldston Road resident, died last month at the age of 90. He was living at the Regency Park Assisted Living senior community in Portland, Oregon, near his daughter's home, when he succumbed to lymphoma.

* Honest commuter returns found laptop > The spirit of kindness is alive and well in Riverdale. Local resident Dana Charlton, an employee of the law firm Klein Zelman Rothermel, was on her way to work last Friday when she noticed something on top of the parking meter at the Riverdale Metr0-North station--a laptop and binder. Area commuters soon mobilized to reunite the laptop with its rightful owner.

* At VC Park, you still have to hold it in > The $1 million-plus project to renovate the comfort station and district headquarters in Van Cortlandt Park has been postponed indefinitely. Efforts to refurbish the single-story building, located on Broadway just north of West 242nd Street, were slated for completion this fall. But city officials now say the long-awaited project has been hit with another setback.

* Vinmont Park neglect hit by board > Local residents are mobilizing to establish a "Friends of Vinmont Park" group in a bid to assist city officials with parks maintenance. Community Board 8 is currently seeking volunteers and aims to have the group up and running by spring 2013.

* Sunday's South Riverdale street fair deemed a success despite iffy weather > The holidays came to Riverdale a little early this year. Hundreds turned out to the Riverdale Holiday Festival on Riverdale Avenue between West 236th and West 238th streets last Sunday. The festival featured holiday tunes, pony rides, a petting zoo, the Bronx Culture trolley and face painting.

* Engel gets funding to repair damaged roads > New York State has been granted $20 million in federal funding for the emergency repair of roads damaged by superstorm Sandy, Congressman Eliot Engel announced last Friday.

* Senior centers seek standards > The City Council is proposing that the state begin to regulate all agencies that provide social adult dat services, making Medicaid funding contingent upon compliance with state standards of care. Community Board 8 aging committee supports the Council's proposal and expressed concern at a recent hearing about the proliferation of for-profit facilities that might seek Medicare funding without meeting regulations set forth by the New York State Office for the Aging.

Also, in the Bronx Press:

* Bronx high schools improve on progress reports > Chancellor Dennis Walcott released progress reports for New York City high schools last week, and statistics show a slight uptick for the Bronx. The average letter grade for Bronx public high schools was a B, almost a full letter grade higher than last year. Out of the 116 schools in the Bronx, half received a B or C grade.

Officials unveil the newly-renovated office building
at 1775 Grand Concourse

* Renovated Grand Concourse office building opens for business > Local officials have unveiled the results of a $5 million facelift to a majestic multistory office building in the Bronx. Renovations to the 347,000-square-foot building at 1775 Grand Concourse were revealed during a ribbon-cutting ceremony last Thursday.

* Slain teen laid to rest > The young teenager who was mysteriously found dead in the hallway of a relative's home was laid to rest at St. Raymond's Cemetery on December 3. The body of Destiny Sanchez, 15, was discovered in the hallway of 632 Barretto Streets in the Hunts Point sections on November 23. Investigations are continuing, but police said the popular teen had been strangled.

* Bronx DA convicts unlicensed lawyer > A Bronx woman has been convicted for practicing law without a license. After less than a day of deliberating, the jury found Kehinde Jobi of 1407 Croyona Avenue guilty on two counts of grand larceny in the third degree, one count of grand larceny in the fourth degree and eight counts of judicially disbarred attorney practicing law. Jobi had been suspended in October 2008 for taking money from a victim with an indictment without permission. Despite the suspension, Jobi continued to represent herself as an attorney. A press release from Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson said Jobi stole more than $53,000 from 10 people.

City pulls plug on Bronx skating rink

Here's a story from this week's Riverdale Review and Bronx Press.

By Brendan McHugh 

There will be no ice-skating in the Bronx this winter. 

After months of delays, the Department of Parks and Recreation says the electrical upgrade needed to operate a skating rink will not be completed in time to operate this season.

This puts a black eye on Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy, who partnered together to bring a full-size rink to the Bronx, Bloomberg said in his 2011 State of the City address at the beginning of this year. 

"Parks has explored every possible means of bringing ice skating to the Bronx this winter. The engineering and capital construction issues involved with bringing the power needed for a skating rink make it necessary to forgo, for this season, what we had hoped would be a fun activity for all,” Bronx Parks Commissioner Hector Aponte.

The electrical hookup, needed for a rink of any size, will require the installation of an underground vault that will not be ready this winter.

Jump below for the full story.

Is it time to move power lines underground?

One last story from this week's Riverdale Review.

Power lines are the only thing holding up this fallen tree.
Residents, however, were left without power because of it.

By Brendan McHugh 

Storm after storm has ravaged Riverdale residents, killing tree after tree, which inevitably land on a power line or two. Or more. 

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz is fed up with the situation. 

“This problem has continued for far too long and must be fixed,” he wrote in a letter to Consolidated Edison. “I strongly urge you to move the electrical wires in these areas underground, thereby eliminating the risk of interference by felled trees.” 

As of Monday, over 1,000 Bronxites were still without power, and Con Edison said they hoped to have solved the rest of the outages by Wednesday evening. Dinowitz says that if the electric and gas company would start putting wires in the ground, they could avoid the problem completely. 

“I surmise these power outages are related to the abundance of trees in these areas, and hence the increased likelihood of trees falling down and knocking down electrical wires,” he wrote. “We are in the 21st century, and there is no reason we should continue to rely on an unreliable and antiquated system of delivering power to the affected areas.”

Jump below for the full story.

Snow storm knocks out power for thousands

The snowstorm that blew through the city this weekend knocked out electricity for over 9,500 people, Con Edison said. As of earlier today, a little over 1,000 were still without power. They hope to restore most of what's left by midnight tonight. Judging by the drive I took around Riverdale today, they're going to have a hard time fulfilling that promise.

Driving through leafy Fieldston proved impossible this morning, as Con Ed had crews throughout the neighborhood blocking roads as they cleared up massive amounts of debris. On the other side of the Henry Hudson Parkway, many of the narrow roads were made even narrower by branches that had fallow to the wayside. One tree was hanging over the street, daring drivers to travel underneath it (see photo below).

We haven't received any statements blasting the Mayor or the City for poor performances on storm management (though we haven't received any congratulating them, either), but we did see this on City Councilman James Vacca's Facebook page during the storm:

I've got to say something tonight and say it very clearly. Can you imagine how many people would not be losing power tonight if NYC pruned its trees on a regular basis? Our city's tree maintenance program or the lack of one that meets the needs of its residents comes home to roost when we have storms like this.

He did later thank City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Con Ed and DSNY for reaching out to him to coordinate help for the east Bronx, which took a good portion of the beating from the storm.

Firemen move a power line on Riverdale Avenue during the storm.

A house along Palisade Avenue in Riverdale.

A car is forced to go onto the other side of Palisade Avenue on Monday.

W. 249th Street on Monday. No work appears to have been done by the City to stabilize the tree.
That didn't stop me from driving (quickly) under it.

Fake Con Ed worker-scam migrated to Queens from the Bronx

Remember when people posing as Con Ed workers scammed a handful of Bronxites last year?

Well, one politician is trying to remind people of the scam in hopes it doesn't happen again. Only...it's not a Bronx pol. 

Queens state Senator Tony Avella is out with a press release warning homeowners to not let anyone inside if they're not positive they're from Con Ed.

According to the release, scammers in Queens normally call from “Brooklyn Gas” or “Brooklyn Union Maintenance” companies to schedule “overdue” inspections. Once inside, the so-called inspectors convince the homeowner that emergency repairs need to be conducted immediately and convince their victims to pay for the work in advance.

In the Bronx, the workers would just steal things straight from the house. 

“Unfortunately it is easy to see why people would fall for this sort of scam,” Avella said. “Today homeowners are faced with numerous inspections and fines for things they don’t even realize are their responsibility. Scams like these prey on that lack of knowledge and allow con artists to take advantage of unassuming homeowners that want to follow the rules."

Jump below for the rest of the story.