Bronx

Bronx News Weekend Roundup, May 16

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Weather: It’s a foggy, blustery morning in the Bronx today, with temperatures in the 60s and scattered thunderstorms predicted for this afternoon. We’ll pay for last week’s near-perfect spring weather with rain storms for the rest of this week.Story of the Day: Diaz Family on Opposite Sides of Gay Marriage FightThe Times describes the scene at Sen. Ruben Diaz, Sr.’s anti-gay marriage rally, which he held yesterday at the Bronx Borough Courthouse on the Grand Concourse to protest the legalization of same-sex marriage in New York (You can read an editorial about Diaz’s rally, from the most recent issue of the Tremont Tribune, here.)Among the attendees there in opposition to Rev. Diaz’s stance was his own granddaughter, Erica Diaz, an openly gay 22-year-old who was discharged from the Navy last year after she told her superiors she was a lesbian. The younger Diaz told the paper it was important for her grandfather to know her stance on his politics. “It is in my blood to stand up for what I believe in — regardless of who I am up against,” she said.Quick Hits:Lots of drama at Yankee Stadium this weekend: the Atlantic argues that hitter Jorge Posada’s “hissy fit”-he backed out of Saturday night’s game against the Red Sox after being demoted on the team’s batting lineup-is just one example of rampant bad behavior by sports stars.A psychiatric patient being transferred from a Long Island hospital took off in an off-duty police officer’s car, leading authorities on a wild chase that ended in the Bronx yesterday afternoon. A retired New York City firefighter is accused of owning several Bronx apartment buildings that are illegally divided-a practice experts say is a dangerous fire hazard, and which played a role in a tragic blaze that killed three people in Belmont last month.City budget cuts could close City Island’s only firehouse, Ladder Company 53.

Bronx

Mainland Media Opens Showroom to Show Off Bronx-Themed Goods

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Celebrating Mainland Media’s new showroom were, from left, Jamie Jones of New York Graphic Studios, who shares the space; Paul Ramirez; Anthony Ramirez; John Martin and Felicia Reyes (Photo by Jordan Moss)Around 2004, John Martin and Anthony Ramirez worked at the big nonprofit SoBro and they were looking for Bronx-related posters to decorate their offices with. They couldn’t find any. So, after mulling this for a bit they rented a helicopter – no kidding – and took aerial images of the Boogiedown that they then sold on a website. Mainland Media, named for the only borough that is attached to the rest of America, was born just a year later in 2005.Fast forward six years, and there they were – the Bronx-loving entrepreneurs who first met at Horace Mann High School in Riverdale – presiding over a well-attended opening of their studio in a tenement on East 135th Street around the block from the Bruckner Bar and Grill with their business partner Felicia Reyes, an art director and graphic designer. Ramirez’s brother Paul Ramirez is also a key member of the operation, which features ultra-hip Bronx t-shirts, posters by Bronx artists like painter Daniel Hauben and photographer Ron Terner, mugs, etc.”Everything we sell is creating by Bronxites for Bronxites,” said Anthony Ramirez, who explained that fromthebronx.com is the on-line storefront for all the Bronx-focused gear and artwork.