While statisticians wrestle over whether the decennial count accurately captured New York’s population, CUNY journalism students looked inside the numbers for stories of ethnic change in places like Ridgewood, Queens.
Editor’s Note: This story first appeared in the latest issue of the Tremont Tribune, out now.A development group is proposing to build a series of high-rise apartment buildings and retail shops in West Farms and Crotona Park East, in what the city is calling one of the largest private rezoning projects undertaken in the Bronx for several decades. Signature Urban Properties, a real estate group headed by former New York City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, purchased the five-acre site, which runs along West Farms Road and the Sheridan Expressway and north and south of the Cross Bronx Expressway.The group has requested that the city rezone the 11-block area to allow for residential development in order to construct 10 buildings, each approximately 15 stories high made up of 1,325 apartment units, 663 of which would be affordable housing. The project also calls for commercial shops along the buildings’ first floors, two landscaped public spaces and a children’s playground. The group has offered to donate a portion of the property to the city’s School Construction Authority for the construction of a new elementary school. The neighborhood is currently zoned for manufacturing, and consists mainly of warehouses and abandoned lots.
As we mentioned in the post below, Bronx Assemblyman Jose Rivera-rarely seen without the red light on his hand-held video camera blinking-and Harlem State Sen. Bill Perkins, were among the dozens of protesters arrested this afternoon during a rally for stronger rent laws.Here’s some video footage of the protest, courtesy of the Albany Times Union.
Bronx legislators at a rally for stronger rent laws on Thursday (photos by J. Evelly)Housing advocates and local elected officials are making a last-ditch campaign to strengthen the state’s rent laws, which technically expire on Wednesday. Just this afternoon, dozens of protesters-among them Bronx Assemblyman Jose Rivera and Harlem State Sen. Bill Perkins-were arrested for blocking the entrance to Gov. Cuomo’s office during a rowdy rally. The Emergency Tenant Protection Act guarantees rent-stabilized status for over a million apartments across the city, and hundred of thousands in the Bronx. Sunday night, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos moved to extend the law’s deadline to this Friday, June 17, in the event that a deal isn’t reached before Wednesday.For months, pro-tenant groups and local politicians have been rallying to see that the law is not only renewed, which is likely to happen, but also strengthened-including the repeal of vacancy decontrol, the provision which deregulates apartments once they are vacated if the rent exceeds $2,000 a month. “I would consider a straight renewal a defeat,” said Bronx Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, in a phone interview from Albany.
Photos courtesy Free Arts NYCOn June 2, nonprofit group Free Arts NYC hosted its annual “Art from the Heart,” exhibit at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, on the Grand Concourse.The gallery show featured over 300 works of art done by children, from the Bronx and across the city, who participate in the organization’s art and mentoring programs. Free Arts NYC partners with schools, community centers and shelters to involve low-income children and their families in the creative arts.
Construction on the playgrounds in Tremont Park should be finished by the end of June. (Photo by J. Evelly)
Weather: Partly cloudy and cool today, with a chance of light showers later this evening. Quick Hits: State Sen. Ruben Diaz, Sr. says he’s received death threats for his fierce opposition to same-sex marriage, according to this AP piece about conservative gay-rights opponents who claim they’ve been “bullied,” for their views.Meanwhile, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is holding a special strategy session in Albany today, as he prepares to make one final push for a same-sex marriage bill before the legislature adjourns at the end of this week. A 15-year-old girl was shot in the back of the head outside of a party in Fordham Heights Saturday night. Yvette Marie Torres, a student at DeWitt Clinton High School, is in critical condition at St. Barnabas Hospital.
After being detained by federal border agents, Leticia, 15, faced having to navigate the immigration system—where there is no right to government-appointed counsel—alone. A pro bono attorney stepped up for her. But many migrants aren’t as lucky.
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