VOLUNTEERS CLEAN UP ALLERTON
Allerton International Merchants Association’s Gene DeFrancis
in conjunction with the 49th Precinct NCO police offi cers Greg
Hernandez and Daisy Rivera and the 45th Precinct graffi ti free
program’s John Provetto held a Allerton Avenue clean up day on
Saturday, May 11 with the community to clean up graffi ti and illegal
signage in the neighborhood.
NCO Hernandez (l) helped removed illegal signage stickers from
crosswalk lights while John Provetto supervised.
Photos courtesy of Bailey Provetto
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, M BTR AY 24-30, 2019 75
BY GENE DEFRANCIS
Some days are easier then
others. Some days it seems
like nothing is going right.
But those are not most days.
The strength of this organization
(and others in our community)
is that we don’t give
up when we run into some of
those bad days. We don’t complain
(well maybe a little), we
buckle down and get into action.
I read somewhere this
week that the goal of education
is not knowledge... its action.
How to use that knowledge.
And sometimes the best
education is after failure or
mistakes. If you own those
mistakes you grow and learn.
When you have the support of
your peers and your community,
your mistakes won’t cripple
the organization.
This past weekend we celebrated
our 6th year of service
to our community. It was
a very special night and some
of our closest supporters and
friends were there. The rest
poured in their love on the
internet and through phone
calls. And it has not gone unnoticed
and it keeps us motivated.
So thank you for your
love. And thank you for your
years of action to making this
community stronger and a
great place to raise a family.
We know not everyone can
afford the price of admission
and we are working on fi guring
out a way to get all our
loved one to the event to celebrate
with us and raise money
for the community at the same
time. We made it a specifi c
point to hire all local vendors.
We host the event in the
community, at the Sanz,
where it all began. And a special
thank you to Richard
Sanz and his team for helping
us pull it all together.
Catering by Migloven Sang,
you may know him as the
owner of Gasolina. He is transitioning
his location to provide
a full menu so support him.
You will love the food and it is
what the community needs.
DJ Spot was (pun intended)
on point. Folks danced the
night away and his music selection
was incredible.
Our journal is beautiful
and we thank all of our sponsors
who took a page, everyone
who went out to fundraiser,
and Veronica who beautifully
designed the journal.
Thank you Larry, Debby,
Pepper, Paul, MaryAnn, Chris
and Shanyia for volunteering.
Thank you Comptroller
Scott Stringer and his offi ce
for your support and presence.
And thank you Councilman
Mark Gjonaj for attending. We
know how busy that night was
fi lled with many events in the
Bronx and your presence and
kind words meant a lot to us.
It was a lot of work but seeing
everyone together letting
loose and coming together
makes it all worth it. I am
looking forward to the next
one and to continuing to grow
the event each year.
Now it’s time to look forward
to the next events.
Saturday, August 17 is the
Annual Allerton International
Food Festival. Please
when sharing the event information
use the proper title... it
is the only International Food
Festival in the Bronx and we
are proud to host it. Anyone
looking to volunteer for this
event please reach out to us via
email AllertonMerchants@
gmail.com.
July 5 is our Freedom
Bingo at Beth Abraham. So if
you heard how successful our
last Bingo was, we know we
will see you there.
We are working hard to
prepare for the holiday lights
and to bring a community garden
to the area. As well as our
vigilance to protect the community
from a new homeless
shelter and drug clinics in our
residential area. And fi nally
the business improvement district
conversation is ongoing.
We insist whether you support
the BID or not that you take
the time to attend. Not voting
is not an option.
Get involved and join our
Facebook page Allerton International
Merchants Association
Inc.
Your community is your
business.
BY MARY JANE MUSANO
Why is it that when it comes
to zoning issues, our community
never seems to win? We
fi ght against overdevelopment
with everything we have but
the developers always win.
Well, the reason we never win
has to do with what we do not
have.
We do not have a fair playing
fi eld. The NYC Department of
City Planning is run by people
in the real estate business and
developers. This is a confl ict of
interests that should make you
angry enough to speak out and
demand change.
The DCP is run by a chair
and 12 appointed commissioners.
Six are developers. One
is a former lobbyist for the real
estate industry. One is a large
donor to the mayor as well as
a hedge fund investor working
on a $75 million real estate opportunity
fund in Brooklyn.
Another manages the Grand
Central Partnership, a big real
estate business improvement
district that drove the heavily
contested Midtown East and
Vanderbilt upzoning. Three
others have prior real estate
experience as real estate developers
for large government
projects that also faced strong
community opposition. Two
have experience as urban planners.
We do not have representation.
Without representation,
we will not win.
When developers want to
change the zoning laws that
they must abide by they go to
the Board of Standards and
Appeals. I have never seen
their requests be denied. Case
in point- the developers of
Blondell Commons requested
a change from commercial
zoning to residential zoning so
that they could build a building
that the community did
not want and both community
boards 10 and 11 voted against.
They were granted the zoning
change.
The Board of Standards and
Appeals approved over 97% of
appeals to them from the real
estate industry in 2011-2012.
The chair of the BSA during
that time went on to serve as
the chair of NYC Landmarks
and Preservation Commission
and then left for a position at a
company that regularly lobbies
both agencies.
The current chair of the BSA
was a partner of a law fi rm that
advises over 50% of the world’s
largest real estate private equity
investors. The current
vice chair comes from a real estate
lobbying fi rm. As you can
see, we have no representation
at the BSA, either. The developers
and those in the real estate
industry are running both
the DCP and the BSA. It is time
that we demand change.
An organization that has
been fi ercely fi ghting overdevelopment
has a great suggestion
“create rules that forbid
people with systemic and professionalized
confl icts of interest
from serving as public servants
on community boards
and city agencies in which an
industry has a stake in their
decisions. This means ruling
out lobbyists, advisors to an
affected industry, academics
who receive industry funding,
and employees of organizations
within the industry who regularly
do business with the city.”
This also means looking into
their donors and their donors
interests.
The other thing we do not
have is representation at the
city council. Our voices have
not been heard. The voices
of developers took preference
even though we as a community
united with our community
boards. Now you know
why we did not win.
Think change will never
happen? Well, there is one
brave assemblymember that
has started to develop legislation
that would close loopholes
that developers use to skirt the
law. Her name is Linda Rosenthal.
She works on the upper
east side. She has carved a
path for other electeds to right
some of the wrongs that we
have been dealing with for too
many years. Perhaps we can
convince our assemblyman to
join the ranks of the brave that
would choose to stand up for
what is right.
Now that you know just how
unbalanced things are. Use
that information to demand
change.
Next Meeting
Our May meeting will be
on Tuesday, May 28 at 7:30 p.m.
at the First Lutheran Church.
Our guest speaker will be staff
from the NYC Department of
Buildings. Please come with
your questions.
The DOB is the enforcer of
the rules that DCP creates. It is
very important to be informed
on these issues. Please tell
your neighbors. Hope to see
you there.
/gmail.com