op ed BTR letters & comments
HORACE MANN RUNS IN BOSTON MARATHON
Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. recently joined students and
staff Wednesday at Horace Mann School for the announcement
of the annual Grab the Torch scholarships. Horace Mann School
represented Grab the Torch scholarship in the Boston Marathon
on Monday, April 15.
(Above) Borough President Diaz (r) with Horace Mann and Grab
the Torch representatives. Photo courtesy of Grab The Torch
may see the light of day.
Let’s see how they will convince
the MTA to program a
fair share of the billions in future
congestion pricing revenues
scheduled to start in 2021
to support Bronx projects. Will
they be successful in convincing
the MTA to include any of
these projects in the upcoming
$30 to $50 billion MTA 2020
- 2024 Five Year Capital Plan?
What about including these
projects in the MTA 2014 - 2034
Twenty Year Long Range Capital
Plan?
Talk is cheap, but actions
speak volumes.
Larry Penner
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, A BTR PRIL 19-25, 2019 13
Rikers closing plan should
help Mott Haven community
BY ALTHEA STEVENS
If you would have told New Yorkers seven years ago that
the jails on Rikers Island would be closing, they would have
not believed you.
Until recently, shutting down the infamous complex was
roundly dismissed as a radical idea that was not likely to be
achieved during our lifetimes. However, what was once a
dream for many people is now closer to becoming reality.
We must continue to fi ght for the decarceration of New
Yorkers by fi ghting for bail reform and alternatives to incarceration
for all who are awaiting trial or are sentenced to one
year or less in our jails. Over the last year, community conversations
about the plan to close Rikers have shifted to a
debate about the location and heights of the new community
facilities that will replace the jails on Rikers Island.
In Mott Haven, the community I call home, I am part of
community-based organizations that stress the importance
of education, civic participation and economic development
to people of all ages.
I have led educational programs, life-skills development
trainings and have offered individualized support to get atrisk
youth back on the right track.
In fact, three young people who were once labeled as at-risk
and disconnected youth used these programs as an opportunity
to redefi ne themselves into successful young adults who
now give back to their community. I later hired each of them
as program directors and they have become some of Mott Haven’s
most vocal community leaders.
In the coming years, advocating for these programs will
become critically important to overhauling a status quo that
just has not been working.
Additionally, according to the Independent Commission
on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform
New York City will save over $1.6 billion annually if the
jails on Rikers close and a modern, smaller system replaces
them.
Our communities will need to decide how that money is
spent. Advocates must push to have savings from Rikers Island
reinvested back into the communities that have historically
shouldered the cost of our unjust legal system
As the city looks to place jails in areas like Mott Haven,
near my home, we must ensure that these projects include
services and resources that have a positive effect on the community
and reduce the incarcerated population. As a Bronx
Neighborhood Advisory Committee member, this is exactly
what I and other members have been advocating for.
The Bronx Neighborhood Advisory Committee are dedicated
Bronx residents who are working diligently to secure
true sustained investment in the Mott Heaven community.
We have spent months developing recommendations focused
on improving quality of life by ensuring that this neighborhood
receives services and investments in the areas of health,
recreation, economic development, education and housing.
Doing so will help make our children more healthy and
give them a real shot at success in the future while also giving
Bronx community members an opportunity to participate
in our economy, establish businesses and help our community
fl ourish.
We have an opportunity to fundamentally change our justice
system and take a signifi cant step toward ending the era
of mass incarceration.
(Althea Stevens is a Mott Haven resident and part of the
Neighborhood Advisory Council, which has advised the city on
its borough-based jails plan.)
Stop dumping
your trash
Dear editor,
I want to thank the NYC Department
of Sanitation crews
from Bronx 10 on Zerega Avenue
for the great effort they put
into cleaning up constantly
the illegal dumping we fi nd
along the Hutchinson River
Parkway Service Road from
Westchester Avenue down to
Wilkinson Avenue.
That is a long stretch of
road where on the westerly
side of the street along the
fence is where the dumping occurs.
The sad part is that the
items that are mostly dumped
could be easily placed in the
many private or city serviced
trash cans in our area. Coffee
cups, fast food containers and
bags, bottles etc.
As a taxpayer, when this
type of littering and dumping
occurs by my home I take it as
these people are dumping on
me. And they are. They have
no respect for the people that
live here who work hard to
keep their homes up.
I am sure that my neighbors
feel the same way; that
they are being dumped on. I
am told that the once successful
program that offered rewards
to help identify these
culprits has been taken away
by Mayor de Blasio. I think he
made a poor choice in making
this change.
When it comes to illegal
dumping; “If you see something
say something because
they are dumping on you.”
Again, my thanks to the superintendent
of Bronx 10 Sanitation,
the foreman and crews
who help keep our streets neat
and clean.
Steve Franciosa
Whose paying
for the repairs?
Dear editor,
When it comes to public
transportation needs, will
Bronx commuters continue
to be left empty handed, with
no real fi rm fi nancial commitments.
‘Biaggi, Senate
Transportation chair tour
Westchester Square Station,
discuss district needs’ (Alex
Mitchell -- April 12) proves how
diffi cult it is for elected offi cials
to provide any specifi c information
on how they will come
up with funding to implement
many of the following transportation
projects.
The list includes but is
not limited to the Commuter
Rail Fare Equalization Proposal
that would allow New-
York City residents to pay a
$2.75 fare on Metro North and
Long Island Rail Road; Metro
North’s need for an additional
$600 million to fully fund
the new $1.3 billion capital
improvement project which
would provide new service on
the New Haven line from the
East Bronx to Penn Station;
the introduction of either Select
Bus Service; Bus Rapid
Transit; Limited Stop Bus to
Subway or Express Bus Service
to Manhattan; don’t forget
the need for additional
subway and Metro North stations
to become fully compliant
with the Americans for
Disability Act by constructing
elevators.
Where do senators Alessandra
Biaggi and Tim Kennedy
think they will fi nd the cash for
all these projects? If they are
lucky, many years later they
We mourn
again
Dear editor,
My prayers are with the
families of our recent military
members who lost their life in
Afghanistan. Our families,
FDNY family, our city, our
country and all who live in
this great country honor you
our heroes and angels. It is
time for our politicians to stop
fi ghting each other and work
together for the good of all.
Aunt Cathy Praino
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