- Public Meetings -
Two public meetings for the development
of the Castle Hill Business
Improvement District will be
held on Thursday, April 4, 11 a.m. at
the Ponce Bank, 2244 Westchester
Avenue; and on Thursday, May 16
6 p.m. at Crossroads Tabernacle,
1320 Castle Hill Avenue. All property
owners and tenants in the BID
district buildings are encouraged to
attend. For more information call
(718) 597-4629.
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, A BTR PRIL 5-11, 2019 73
BY GEORGE HAVRANEK
The Shrinking Footprint theory
suggests that neighborhoods tend to
decline from their perimeters inward.
Unwanted and illegal activities around
the perimeters of a community create
quality of life issues. Ignoring these
activities could foster neighborhood
decline and result in shrinkage of the
community’s quality footprint.
Currently, an egregious issue confronting
our charming community is
the illegal parking and days long storage
of tractor-trailers along Bruckner
Boulevard parallel to Pelham Bay
Park.
This illegal and unwanted activity
has made the outskirts of our community
a rouge truck storage zone. Bronx
DOT Commissioner Nirvado Lopez,
Community Board 10 district manager
Matt Cruz, and NYPD all agree
that this activity clearly violates NYC
parking regulations. The Spencer Estate
Civic Association will not allow
our fi ne community to be victimized
by activities that threaten the perimeter
of our quality footprint.
The following short list explains
why the Spencer Estate community is
adamantly opposed to the continuance
of this illegal activity.
1) The illegally parked oversized
tractor-trailers create a partial right
lane obstruction on a portion of Bruckner
Boulevard creating a safety hazard
along this busy roadway,
which also serves
as a bus route.
2) These oversized
eyesores provide excellent
cover for illegal
dumping. In the
past three months approximately 100
old tires, sofas, chairs, mattresses and
other vile rubbish have been dumped
in-between the park’s chain link fence
and the illegally parked trucks.
3) The illegally parked tractor-trailers
take up valuable parking spaces
from park visitors. Those unable to
conveniently park are forced into surrounding
neighborhoods already coping
with limited parking.
4) Most importantly, it is illegal.
Truckers illegally parking and storing
these oversized vehicles on this
corridor are willing to absorb the cost
of a parking violation. Their wanton
disregard for the law is an insult to law
enforcement, our elected offi cials and
the entire Spencer Estate community.
It is evident that ‘wallpapering’ these
illegally parked/stored oversized vehicles
with violations is ineffective. Perhaps
it is time for law enforcement to
use more creative methods to curtail
this community nuisance.
Community Footnotes
CB 10 and our elected offi cials feverishly
work to ensure services are
readily available to our community. If
under utilized, these
services could be dramatically
slashed or
ceased. The best form
of appreciation we can
show these fi ne stewards
of our community
is to use these important services.
The American Red Cross in partnership
with Councilman Mark Gjonaj
provides free smoke alarm installation
through the ‘Sound the Alarm’
program. Remember, a mere two minutes
can be the difference in successfully
escaping a house fi re. Please call
(877) 733-2767 to take advantage of this
important service.
Pat Caruso and our friends at CB
10 inform us that Providence Rest,
3304 Waterbury Avenue will host a
Community Health Fair on Saturday,
April 6 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Free ultra
sounds, free blood pressure, pulse
and BMI readings will be available.
For additional information call (718)
514-8321.
Assemblyman Michael Benedetto
and his friendly staff are readily available
to address community needs. Call
(718) 892-2235 or drop by his offi ce at
3602 E. Tremont Avenue. Reminder:
The assemblyman is chairman to the
State Assembly Education Committee
and is especially well prepared to address
any questions in the area of education.
Our association looks forward
to seeing, a long time friend, Assemblyman
Benedetto at our May 15 meeting.
Each month, Senator Alessandra
Biaggi will host First Fridays’ from
5 to 7 p.m. at 1250 Waters Place, suite
1250. Upcoming dates are April 5, May
3 and June 7. This is an opportunity
for community members to come and
connect with our Senator. For more details
or to address other concerns with
the Senator’s offi ce please call (718)
822-2049.
The next meeting of the Spencer
Estate Civic Association is Wednesday,
April17 at 7:30 p.m. at Knights of
Columbus (corner of Ampere and Research
avenues). Scheduled to address
our association is the knowledgeable
and analytical Bronx DOT Commissioner,
Nirvado Lopez along with representatives
from the 45th Precinct.
The diversity of knowledge from this
group will hopefully bring clarity to
multiple community related issues.
Any area homeowner or renter interested
in membership to the all inclusive
Spencer Estate Civic Association
in box George Havranek on Facebook
or send-email with subject matter Spencer
Estate to gghh55@aol.com.
If we want to ‘keep and reap the
blessings’ of our fi ne quality of life ‘we
must undergo the fatigue of supporting
it’.
Remember: ‘Inclusion brings solutions’
BY MARY JANE MUSANO
Just when we thought the situation
couldn’t get any worse, it did.
The latest on the Blondell Commons
zoning change proposal is that the
building has gone from a mixed income
to a low and extremely low income.
Councilmember Mark Gjonaj has
suggested to our community and
community board that instead of
voting “no” on projects that can hurt
our community, we should offer to
negotiate with the developers.
We refused to do that because
this project is not as of right, will
hurt our community and offers us
nothing but more overcrowding everywhere.
We also know, from experience,
that developers cannot be
trusted.
So, Councilmember Gjonaj tried
to negotiate with the developers during
hearings at the city council. Although
the fi nal decision has not
been made, we have now negotiated a
proposal to a position worse than the
original proposal. Our councilmember
can still vote no as both community
boards 11 and 10 did. He can still
stand with his constituents. Please
contact him at MGjonaj@council.
nyc.gov. and ask him to vote no on the
Blondell proposal.
Our councilmember has also told
us that we cannot vote everything
down. We are a strong, united community
and in order to preserve what
is left of our quality of life, we must
and we will vote down any proposal
that stands to hurt our community.
We do vote for proposals
that make sense and
will add to our quality
of life and property values.
A case in point is
the proposal for Fordham
University to take
over the Westchester
Country Club. We supported
our community that was in
favor of the BSA proposal. Our community
board voted unanimously to
send a letter in favor of this proposal
as it stands so far. We need more proposals
like this but unfortunately
this rarely happens.
We need to work with our councilmember
and we must not give up
until he understands that he must support
the community that elected him.
We are fi ghting for the community that
we love. No negotiations on overdevelopment.
That time has long passed. We
are now in a crisis situation. We need
Councilman Gjonaj to work with us
not against us. His slogan is - because
he cares - and I can only hope that if he
really does care, he will fi ght overdevelopment
with us.
I do have good news. Councilmember
Gjonaj has started a petition on
change.org to fi ght against the Morris
Park Road Diet. It has just been a
few days and already there are close
to 200 names on it. I urge you to help
our neighbors by signing the petition.
If we win, it will set a precedent
and perhaps we can get our road diet
reversed. Go to http://chng.it/MFjdjY4Xx9
to sign this much needed petition.
This is the way government
is supposed
to work. Electeds supporting
the wants and
needs of their community.
And communities
supporting the electeds
that help them achieve
their goals. We must
work together to form a strong and
united front to fi ght the forces that
will hurt our community. Let’s work
hand in hand. It is the only way we
will be successful. Together will we
win. Divided we will fall!.
Next Meeting
Our next meeting will be on Tuesday,
April 23 at 7:30 p.m. at the First
Lutheran Church on Hollywood Avenue.
We are planning an exciting
health meeting. Sherrill Cropper will
be there talking about a new, revolutionary
medical device called the Bemer.
It is used by many athletes and
celebrities and now the general population
is enjoying the many benefi ts
it can provide. The Bemer has been
scientifi cally proven to increase micro
circulation, which in turn supports
immune response. Blood circulation
is the body’s supply system.
It supplies tissues and organs with
nutrients and oxygen while removing
waste. You can see how this has
the potential to improve your general
health as well as specifi c health
issues.
Chrys Napolitano will be there to
speak about the Locust Point CSA as
well as other food programs in our
community. The most important
thing we can do for our health is to
eat safe, nutritious food and Chrys
will help us fi nd ways to do that.
Like our last meeting, this meeting
will have several guest speakers.
Please stay tuned for our guest
speaker list. You can help by inviting
your friends and neighbors.
In the words of Thomas Jefferson,
“Never put off till tomorrow what
you can do today.”
So, please contact Councilmember
Gjonaj, pay your dues if you have not
done so and mark our next meeting
on your calendar- today.
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/change.org
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