DIAZ ATTENDS ANTI-VIOLENCE MARCH
Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. attended the Kings Stop Killing
Kings anti-violence march and rally on Sunday, April 14. The
march, which was inspired by the recent death of rapper and
community activist Nipsey Hussle, took part on the Grand Concourse
starting at Fordham Road and ending at the Bronx County
Building for a rally.
(Above) Diaz (c) called for an end to violence.
Photo courtesy of Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr.’s Offi ce
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, M BT AY 22-28, 2015 71
BY GENE DEFRANCIS
Upcoming important dates
in our community:
Tuesday, May 7 is our next
scheduled executive meeting.
Open to the public so join us
and share your thoughts and
ideas. Doors will open at 7
p.m. and as always will be held
at the beautiful Sanz Banquet
Hall, 815 Allerton Avenue. We
will discuss upcoming events
and the plans for our upcoming
anniversary celebration.
Saturday, May 11 is our
Mothers Day Clean Up. Meet at
the Sanz at 10 a.m. Merchants
and residents will come together
for a great demonstration
in unity and to show that
we care about our community.
Each year our number of participants
grow and it sends a
charge of energy throughout
Allerton when they see everyone,
young and old, come together
to take care of the greatest
mom of all, Mother Earth.
We will break up into three
groups -tree beds, graffi ti removal,
and litter removal. If
we raise enough money, we
will also rent the equipment
to remove sneakers and plastic
bags from trees and also
plant fl owers throughout the
community.
Saturday, May 18 is the
Allerton International Merchants
Anniversary Celebration
at the Sanz Banquet
Hall honoring DSNY Commissioner
Steven Costas. We
made it through another year
and the best is yet to come.
There is still time to get your
tickets to attend and to have
your journal ad promoting
your business and congratulating
award recipients and
honoree.
Monday, May 27 is Memorial
Day and at 11a.m. at Peace
Memorial Plaza (Williamsbridge
Road and Pelham Parkway)
there will be a ceremony.
Please take the time to show
your support and honor those
who gave their life for your
freedom. Reminder that Independence
Day is for all of us.
Veterans Day is for those who
served in the Military. Armed
Service Day is for those currently
serving in the Military.
Memorial Day is a day we remember
and honor those who
lost their life while serving in
the military.
Holiday Lights - Payment
for the deposit is due. During
the conversations that have
been ongoing about a possible
business improvement district
the proposed budget for
said lights were projected at
$20,000. The advanced lighting
design to own and operate
our own lights will come out
to half that cost and the price
will go even lower the longer
they last. We project the lights
will last at least fi ve years and
up to ten years.
Neighborhood Watch -
Attend our upcoming executive
meeting if you would like
to sign up. We are looking for
volunteers to be apart of our
watch. We ask for a minimum
of two days for fi ve hours each
day total ten hours a week
minimum.
Community Garden- This
is something we need in Allerton.
We are raising funds
to operate and maintain a
garden for our community to
come together and grow.
For these and other projects
we have upcoming we
need your help. Join our Facebook
page and fi nd our Pay-
Pal link if any of these projects
excite you. If everyone
did a little, we can do a lot to
improve this community. And
if you make your contribution
by the Sunday, May 5 we will
insert your name in our journal
ad thanking you for your
support.
We need your help because
your community is your business.
BY MARY JANE MUSANO
When our city government
and local electeds ignore the
wishes of the communities
they were elected to serve, it
is the beginning of the decline
of that community. If you
love our community as I do,
you must get involved so that
we, as a community, can stop
the decline and any elected or
government agency that refuses
to listen to and support
what we feel is important to
the well-being of our community.
It has never been more important
for us to unite. It does
not matter what small community
you live in. We are all
part of our larger community.
Every person in each of our
communities must unite. Our
electeds and our city government
must hear our collective
voices and we must not stop
until our voices are heard.
They are called representatives
for a reason. They are
elected to represent us.
So, how serious is this? Let
me begin with Blondell Commons.
Both community boards
11 and 10 voted against the
zoning proposal that would allow
it to be built. The community
at large came out against
it. We did not want the zoning
change. We did not want the
building. Our reasons were
sound. We petitioned our
borough president. Many emails
were sent to City Planning
and every member of the
City Council. We begged our
council member to listen to
and support our concerns. No
one listened. They all voted
with the developers and not
our community. Our council
member could have sided with
us and vote it down as this was
not an as of right proposal, but
he chose to support the developer
instead of his constituents.
We must never forget
this. Our problem is a serious
one. We have a run away government
and electeds that are
being paid by our tax dollars
as they vote against us at every
opportunity. I think they
have forgotten that taxation is
for representation. Certainly,
there are electeds that, for the
most part, support us but after
the last election, we have
mostly been left to fend for
ourselves.
So, what exactly are we
dealing with now? The zoning
on that part of Blondell
has been changed from commercial
to residential. That
sets a dangerous precedent.
You can expect the rest of that
street to eventually have large
buildings in place of the commercial
businesses. People
may lose their jobs and businesses
will close. We will
have more people, more cars,
more overcrowding in our
schools and hospitals. Our infrastructure
will be stressed
even more. More people usually
means more crime. Nothing
good will come of this for
our community.
It will not stop there. If we
do not unite against this, we
will see zoning changes that
allow huge buildings everywhere
in our community. If
this happens, our neighborhoods
will be forever changed.
No community will be safe
from the scourge of overdevelopment.
No community will
have the quality of life that we
expect and deserve.
What kind of housing is
this? Blondell Commons
will be a 6-story ELLA development.
ELLA means extremely
low and low affordability.
This HPD program
is for households earning a
range of incomes from 30% to
60% of Area Median Income
(AMI). ELLA requires that at
least 10% of the apartments be
set aside for the homeless and
an additional 30% must go to
extremely low and very low incomes
between 30% and 50%
AMI. Alternatively, projects
may have 30% of the apartments
set aside for the homeless
and an additional 10% set
aside for households earning
between 40% and 50% AMI.
Projects may include a tier
of apartments, no more than
30%, with rents affordable to
households earning between
70% and 100% AMI.
To be fair and responsible,
we must have some affordable
housing. But it must be balanced
with all types of housing
and that includes one- and
two-family homes, which are
not being built, instead they
are being demolished to make
way for huge, out of context
buildings. Our community
has it’s fair share of affordable
housing. And we have our fair
share of supportive programs,
as well. What we need is balance
and balance is what we
do not have. We are not considering
that all healthy communities
must have a middle
class, too. If our tax base, the
middle class, move away or
is diminished, what will happen?
We will see a decline and
it will affect every part of our
community. We must demand
balance.
I know that the only way to
save our community is to have
the support of our city government
and our council member.
The only way for this to
happen is for us to unite as a
community. We must respectfully
keep the pressure on and
we must not stop until overdevelopment
and upzoning
stops. Our lives as we know it
depends upon it.
In spite of all of this, I have
hope that we can turn things
around. We are a strong and
united community and if we
work together I am sure that
we can convince our council
member to join us. He is a
hard worker and if he chooses
he could be the force that affects
the change we so desperately
need. Let’s not stop until
we convince him to join our
side.