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Runaway youth shelter a concern: Gjonaj
Vol. 38 No. 52 www.bxtimes.com
December 28-Janiary 3, 2019
Bronx, Westchester offi cials demand clear tracks
The Best Medicine
BP TO AMTRAK:
GET ON BOARD
Continued on Page 67
Continued on Page 67
BY ALEX MITCHELL
Many residents in the
Zerega community are uneasy
regarding the anticipated arrival
of a Covenant House-run
facility, that predominantly
deals with runaway youth, at
1550 St. Peters Avenue.
It’s not the concept of a
youth homeless shelter that’s
bringing tremendous anxiety
from its host community,
though. Councilman Mark
Gjonaj along with members
of Community Board 10 and
others are unhappy with the
lack of transparency shown
by Covenant House.
“Neither the board or
Councilman Mark Gjonaj’s offi
ce were notifi ed (by the organization)
of the plan,” said
CB 10 district manager Matt
Cruz.
“They say they’re coming
here to be good neighbors, but
that starts with notifying the
community board and elected
offi cials,” he added.
That concern is in addition
to what Cruz described as
‘treading in waters that we’ve
never been before,’ as Covenant
House will be the fi rst
shelter in CB 10 specifi cally
placed for youth.
After learning of Covenant
House’s Bronx expansion,
Gjonaj and CB 10 arranged a
meeting with representatives
from the non-profi t on Tuesday,
December 18.
“The city’s decision to unilaterally
locate this program
in the community without at
the very least consulting the
community board, civic associations,
or myself, as the
elected council member, is the
latest step in this administration’s
consistent and willful
neglect of the considerations
of our residents,” Gjonaj said
as an explanation for the Covenant
House meeting.
One major concern from
BY ALEX MITCHELL
He didn’t wear his Santa
hat this time, but Borough
President Ruben Diaz, Jr.’s
sentiment that Amtrak belongs
on the naughty list this
holiday season is unwavering.
Joined by Westchester
County executive George
Latimer, Diaz and other Bronx
elected offi cials once again
aired grievances over the regional
rail line’s delay tactics
regarding negotiations with
the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority over east Bronx
access to Penn Station.
Since the MTA and Metro
North Railroad announced a
Metro North service expansion
that would bring commuters
to Manhattan via the
Hell Gate Bridge earlier in
2018, adding four new Bronx
stations at Co-op City, Morris
Park, Parkchester and Hunts
Point, Amtrak has not cleared
the tracks for the project to
move forward, literally.
The city’s plan depends
entirely on Amtrak allowing
the MTA to use its already
existing right-of-way
that runs adjacent to I-95
in Westchester and the east
Bronx before eventually running
parallel to the Bruckner
Expressway.
“Everyone except for
Amtrak is on board with this,”
Diaz said, referring to the rail
company’s alleged stall tactics
like that of ‘robber barons’ in
the days of Cornelius Vanderbilt.
Some of Amtrak’s reluctance
to ink a ‘memorandum
of understanding’ with the
MTA comes from ongoing negations
that determine which
party is responsible for necessary
repairs to the tracks at
stake.
Diaz cited the Pelham Bay
Bridge and Bronxdale trestle
as two specifi c pieces of infrastructure
that are part of the
MOU’s holdup.
The Bronxdale trestle’s repair
would cost an estimated
$30 million.
Amtrak is insisting that
MTA cover the entire expense
of replacing the two bridges.
“The MTA has been willing
to share the replacement
cost but Amtrak is being a
bully,” Diaz said.
While construction on the
new stations and track repair
was planned to begin in April
of 2019, there’s another pivotal
element of the project that has
the clock ticking - it’s funding.
The project’s $1.3 billion
was allocated in the city’s
Code 1 Training honored its Class of 2018 graduates during its annual
commencement ceremony on Wednesday, December 19. Yanibell
Guiterrez (r) received a congratulatory hug from her family.
See spread on page 26. Photo by Fernando Justiniano
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