This week's Riverdale Review and Bronx Press

Here are the stories in this week's issue (November 22 - November 28) of the Riverdale Review:

Andrew Cohen kicks off his election campaign 

* Cohen throws hat in ring for Council run > It's official: Community Board 8 member Andrew Cohen has entered the race for Councilman G. Oliver Koppell's seat in the 2013 citywide elections. Cohen, a Riverdale resident, ended weeks of speculation and declared his intention to jump into the electoral race during a press event on the steps of City Hall in Manhattan on Tuesday. The announcement means Cohen will now be pitted against Cliff Stanton, the only other candidate in the hotly anticipated City Council District 11 race.
* Bidding war erupts as Delafield Estates goes under the hammer > A Long Island-based developer has snapped up the remaining lots in the troubled Delafield Estates development for a whopping $6.375 million. The 22 parcels were sold off as a single lot during a frenzied public auction at the Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale on November 19.
* Community Board approves street renaming > Efforts to rename a local street in honor of James V. Downey has moved a step closer to reality after it got the Community Board 8 nod. Members of CB8 voted 32 to 0 in favor of renaming the stretch of Mosholu Avenue between West 254th Street and West 256th Streets to 'James V. Downey Way.'
* City officials break ice on new Van Cortlandt Park skating rink > The brand-new Van Cortlandt Park ice-skating rink in officially open for business. The Bronx's first public skating rink in nearly 30 years was unveiled by a slew of city officials during a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday.
* Hebrew Home takes in displaced Sandy victims > The Hebrew Home at Riverdale has announced that it will temporarily house 130 adult home residents displaced by superstorn Sandy at its recently acquired Passionist Retreat House, a dormitory formerly used by the Passionist Fathers of Riverdale. The Hebrew Home will host the displaced residents until their permanent homes, damaged by the storm, are fully repaired.
* NYPD Bronx Task Force in Riverdale following Gaza crisis > The NYPD is taking steps to keep Riverdale synagogues safe while demonstrators gather in Manhattan to express their anger at Israel's retaliation for ongoing rocket attacks from Gaza. Officials said eight to 12 police officers from the Bronx Task Force are in the area to supplement precinct staff.
* Diaz to seek reelection as Bronx BP > Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. has abandoned plans to run for office of public advocate and will instead seek to keep his current job during the 2013 citywide elections. In a lengthy email to supporters on Tuesday, Diaz said he would not pursue the city's second-highest post because he still had several loose ends to tie up in The Bronx.
* Local restaurants take advantage of Thanksgiving trend > Restaurants in Riverdale are accommodating guests who don't have time or energy to cook an elaborate Thanksgiving feast by opening their doors on the holiday.
* Local artists exhibits tiny whimsical portraits at library > More than 200 portraits by Riverdale artist Nina Seigenfeld-Velazquez are on display in an exhibition called 'What's Mine is Yours' at the Riverdale branch of the New York Public Library through the end of May.
* Area merchants host food drive > Local politicians and members of the North Riverdale Merchants Association came together to do a little good for the community on November 16. The NRMA spearheaded a new food drive to collect nonperishable items for those in need.
* Bronx residents object to MTA fare hikes during public hearing > The Metropolitan Transportation Authority  held a public hearing on November 13 for Bronx residents to voice their opinions on the proposed fare hikes.

Also, in the Bronx Press:
* Three wounded at funeral home shooting > Three people were wounded when a gunman opened fire on a crowd in the doorway of a Parkchester funeral home. Cops were called to the R.G. Ortiz Funeral Home, located at 2121 Westchester Avenue, at 7:15 p.m. on Sunday, November 18. Police said the three victims were shot in the parking lot of the funeral home, around the vicinity of the parlor's entrance.
* Bronx father sought in bizarre kidnapping > Police continue to hunt for the father wanted in connection with a one-man crime spree that included firing a handgun, setting an apartment on fire, kidnapping his own kids, carjacking a man and fleeing the scene.

Cabrera arrested Thursday morning (UPDATED thrice w/photos)

Cabrera and city pastors pray in front of the law department's building.

City Council Member Fernando Cabrera and a group of around six Pastors from across the city were arrested when participating in a peaceful protest against the New York City Law Department’s stance to evict Houses of Worship from city owned or operated space today.

A spokesperson for Cabrera said they began protesting at 8 a.m., and around 9 a.m. the group was arrested for blocking the entrance.

The Prayer Protest was organized by Pastor Dimas Salaberrios of Infinity New York, which met at the NYCHA Bronx River Houses. The purpose of the rally was to protest the eviction of the Infinity New York Church from the NYCHA Bronx River Houses.

One of Cabrera's New Year's resolutions is to pass legislation that will prevent the eviction of religious groups from public spaces.

After the Supreme Court declined to hear Bronx Household of Faith vs. New York City Department of Education on Dec. 5, 2011, the New York City Department of Education announced it would ban religious worship inside public schools, as permitted by the June 2011 decision of the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. Subsequently, religious groups have begun to be evicted from other public spaces, including Bronx Bible Church from Justice Sonia Sotomayor Houses, and Infinity New York Church from Bronx River Houses.

New York City is the only municipality in the nation that bans Houses of Worship from meeting in public spaces.

“Today we are seeing the first indication that the churches in New York City, and nationally, are awakening,” Cabrera said in a statement. “Together, we will fight these restrictive laws that discriminate against hundreds of thousands of Church-goers.” 

The law department is at 100 Church St., Manhattan. 

UPDATES:

A Cabrera spokesperson told us, "It began as a “prayer protest,” and then became an act of Civil Disobedience as several pastors and congregants knelt in prayer. There was significant police presence, as Infinity NY Church had a permit to be there."

PolitickerNY reports that Cabrera was released from jail and had a brief phone interview with him:

According to Sheila Stainback, a spokeswoman for NYCHA, none of the churches who have used their facilities have lease agreements, so “we have not evicted anyone. That language would be incorrect.”
Instead, she said the churches have operated for years in the common spaces –which during the rest of the week residents sign up to hold birthday parties or block association meetings or the like–and that NYCHA is attempting to systematize how those common spaces get used.
Mr. Cabrera, newly sprung from jail, said in a brief phone interview that he didn’t buy it, that instead all the Bloomberg administration and NYCHA were instead using Supreme Court’s actions as a pretext.
“This particular church has been there for six years. They have been a complete positive impact on the community. Why is this happening now,” he said.

“We are getting the perception that we have an anti-religion mayor. I have never been arrested for anything. I don’t even drink beer. This is how desperate I am.” 

City Councilman Jumaane Williams has these photos posted on his Twitter account:

 

The Twitter account reads:

"@FCabreraNYCC performed his #civildisobedience outside 100 Church Street, #protesting for #NYC's #housesofworship."

Walmart has the second largest active army in the world

Mayor Bloomberg said last week, incorrectly, that his army-the NYPD-is the seventh largest in the world. That wasn't correct, seeing as the NYPD only has about 33,000 people.

Walmart, however, has 2.1 million people, so if they all decided to buy a gun from the superstore (then walk out to their car, put the gun away, walk back in and buy bullets--and yes, that's a rumor I heard that I can not confirm about not being able to buy guns and ammo at the same time in some states), they'd be the second biggest active army in the world, trailing only China.

That's just one statistic out of many in this nice little infographic about Walmart.

Other tidbits include that 96% of Americans live within 20 miles of a Walmart, and that if you lined up every one of Walmart's warehouses, they would cover the entire island of Manhattan.

Check it out after the jump.

Body found in Van Cortlandt Park Lake emphasizes need for more park patrol

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

By Brendan McHugh 

A body was found Monday in the lake.

A body was found in Van Cortlandt Park Lake Monday afternoon, highlighting a lack of patrol in the city’s parks.

Anthony McGurran, 77, was missing from his Bailey Avenue home since Friday. Police say the investigating is ongoing and that the cause of death is not yet known. There were no immediate signs of foul play.

The news of the tragic death, whatever the cause may be, has underlined a problem with parks and crime.

“The Parks Department is responsible for 14 percent of the city’s land and it’s completely unacceptable that the city is not tracking and reporting crime,” said Geoffrey Croft of NYC Parks Advocates, a parks watchdog group.

Jump below for the full story.

Ydanis Rodriguez hit in the head, arrested at OWS this morning (UPDATE)

Occupy Wall Street protesters got booted from Zuccotti Park late last night/early this morning. Nearly 100 were arrested. Among those was City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, who represents Marble Hill and northern Manhattan. Go to 1:50 of the video to see him speaking to a reporter as he's handcuffed.

Also, check out the Storify below the video. It's a list of relevant tweets that came from his office, some of his fellow City Council members and one mayoral hopeful, among others. Constituents and followers of @Ydanis have been reaching out to him via Twitter to wish him well.

Rodriguez was scheduled to attend a press conference at City Hall today, calling for the Council to hold a meeting on public safety in parks that they cancelled when the NYPD told them last week they were too busy with OWS to go to the meeting. Irony at its worst.

UPDATE: From the Twitter of the group that marched from Washington Heights to Zuccotti Park in support of OWS last week (including Rodriguez): @endtoendfor99: Black, Latino, and Asian Caucus of the City Council holding a press conference in support of Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez 2pm Foley Square.

I'll try and get my hands on some video of it and post it. Stay tuned!

Jump below for statements from various organizations/elected officials.

WANTED for robbery

Wanted Poster 65 W Kbridge

Cabrera introduces a bill requiring NYPD to report neighborhood crime stats

City Councilman Fernando Cabrera introduced a bill yesterday requiring the NYPD to report crime statistics by sector in addition to the currently provided precinct-wide stats.

 
This comes after months of editorials from local newspapers in the mid and south Bronx, and would require the Mayor’s Office of Operations to report crime statistics by New York City Police Department sector (the neighborhood demarcations of a precinct). The NYPD would be required to make Sector Stats available on their website and to deliver these statistics to community boards within 10 days of making it public.

"When people hear that there is an increase or decrease in crime, they want to know what that means in their neighborhood," Cabrera said. "They want to know what that means for their family, their corner and their block. And while the NYPD has been aggressive in fighting crime throughout the precincts, our communities can benefit from knowing what’s going on closer to home.

"The NYPD has made these statistics available in the past. What this bill would do is make this information available not just sporadically, but every month so New Yorkers could be better informed and work together with the Department to help keep their communities safe."

Cabrera says he needs the stats to help with the placement of security cameras in The Bronx. The bill will most likely go through months of review and alterations before a vote can be taken.

NYPD has some problems

We all heard about the situation where Brooklyn City Council Member Jumaane Williams was arrested during the West Indian Day Parade last month. Well, it turns out he isn't the only City Council member to have a problem with the NYPD this year. It doesn't have anything to do with Bronx politicians, but the Bronx certainly has its issues with the NYPD, so I thought I'd share this.

I'll be posting something later for a further explanation of the Bronx's issues.

I'll let the letter speak for itself without any setup. Hit the 'expand' button to read it.


Kelly_ Raymond 2011-10-04 NYPD and parades