BY GENE DEFRANCIS
This year’s Allerton Tree
Lighting was a lot of fun.
With all the stress and nonsense
of putting up the lights
this year it was rewarding to
see the community come together
and so many happy
faces. Santa stopped by and
handed out toys for the kids.
Councilman Mark Gjonaj and
Assemblywoman Nathalia
Fernandez visited us as well.
Nathalia brought the cocoa
and cookies and Mark was instrumental
in helping us get
these lights up onto the tree
and the avenue.
Maria Dinardo of Tax
Time was awarded 2018 Merchant
of Year. She was a big
part of our success this year
sharing her offi ce space with
us letting us experiment with
all sorts of fun and crazy
ideas. She even took the time
to bake and prepare meals
for our meetings and other
events. Her friendship and
dedication to AIM and Allerton
is invaluable and we can
never say thank you enough.
And our P.S. 89 Cheer
Squad led us all in Christmas
carols! They are heading
back to Nationals and need
our help again getting there.
Plan on this being an annual
expense for our community.
They are the pride of this
neighborhood and role models
for our kids. Their hard
work and dedication is something
that should always be
promoted and encouraged.
As well as their love and their
support for each other and
this community.
Which is why I asked Vito
at Roma Pizza if he can lend
a hand and he quickly agree.
So for the month of December
when you order a large
pie (plain or with toppings),
$2 will go toward the cheer
squad. Just walk into 725 Allerton
say Cheer Squad and
each large pie you order will
raise $2 to support their trip
to Nationals. Planning a holiday
party, if you order 10 pies
at Roma you help raise $20.
We want to take a minute
to give a special shout out to
our new friends Efrain Gonzalez
and Gail Marie. They
were unable to attend the
Tree Lighting ceremony but
they helped bring joy into
our community this year and
their support can not go unnoticed.
The Sanz as always has
been the Allerton Headquarters.
Plan your next party or
event there at 815 Allerton.
We took hundreds of pictures
with kids and families at our
annual Santa at the Sanz.
Lots of smiling faces and one
lucky young lady took home
a Barbie kitchen set. Maybe
next year she will help Marie
who made cupcakes for all the
kids who took a picture with
Santa and even a few who
were not quite ready to be in
front of the camera.
The plaque dedication ceremony
could not have gone
any better.
In fact it went better than
I anticipated. Veronica, Larry
and I added more road miles
to get the plaque just right to
commemorate WWII Veteran
Bill Suriani. If you recall his
family moved to Allerton in
1928 and the love and support
this community showed them
was truly commendable.
Farenga Brothers Funeral
Home sponsored the plaque
and ceremony. Tax Time gave
us a warm place to gather and
provided warm refreshments
and many came out to show
their love for a great man. He
is still very much missed but
never forgotten. We thank our
elected offi cials and city agencies
that supported our plan
to honor Bill.
The Holiday Street lights
are holding up nicely. The
lights have been lit. No maintenance
issues. No falling
garland or light outages. The
crew who helped us string
them up did a very good job.
We ran into the issue with
weather and it took longer
than it will in future years
because we custom made the
lights this year. Next year
they will come assembled and
will be a simpler hook on. We
will also have time to fi nd an
additional bucket truck since
now we have all year to prepare.
We have had less complaints
about these lights
than the ones we had prior.
We heard you when you said
they were getting old and
tired looking and we were not
going to spend more for the
same lights.
But whether you like this
year’s lights better or not you
are going to love 2019 Holiday
Lights. We have some exciting
ideas to get the stores to
decorate their windows.
Now that we have the time
to prepare we can raise money
and save for lights that will be
the envy of New York. You can
attend our upcoming monthly
executive meetings to be a
part of the discussion.
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, D 60 ECEMBER 21-27, 2018 BTR
Although much better this
year we are still experiencing
some merchants holding off
as long as they can and our
volunteers are going back 3 to
4 times to pick up the check.
This is unacceptable. Please
have your checks ready for
participation every year. We
may have been able to do a
little bit more if we collected
more than $4,000 by November.
You know where to fi nd
us.
You can mail your checks
to 930 Allerton Avenue,
Bronx New York 10469. You
can hand deliver and leave it
at The Sanz, 815 Allerton Avenue.
We are still collecting
because we need as much as
we can on the front end to afford
the best that we can get.
We have one shot to buy them
so we need all the help we can
get. Residents and neighbors
are encouraged to participate
too. Then we will save more
and more each year that follows.
For future collections we
are not going to visit more
than three times. I’ll come
once you tell me a date that
works for you. I’ll come that
day. I’m not going to visit several
times to see if your ready.
You have our contact information.
AllertonMerchants@
gmail.com You have plenty of
notice it’s the same time every
year. You have a responsibility.
We understand that money
is tight. That you have other
bills to pay. Make saving $8.50
a month a priority for the holiday
lights.
We are still collecting for
next year and beyond. We are
pooling our money to buy our
own lights and install them
professionally. No more falling
garlands each year and
busted lights that take days
to repair. No more haggling
with the vendor. And if we
can get more merchants involved
we can even lower the
price although we feel $100 is
more than reasonable.
We also faced an annoying
problem that someone
has been going around to
our merchants in their effort
to promote the Business Improvement
District for our
area stating they don’t have
to pay for the lights because
it will be included in the BID
fees. We know who the individual
is and they have also
gone around questioning how
we spend the money we collect
and suggested we profi ted
off the lights.
We also learned that in an
effort to delegitimize our merchant
association our lighting
vendor was told to up our
price and demand full payment.
Which is why we went
in a different direction this
year and set up to operate our
own lights next year.
We want to be perfectly
clear. Allerton International
Merchants Association is not
a business improvement district.
What the future holds
for Allerton has not been
written yet but any indication
from the last BID meeting it
will not happen soon.
We are aware of the deals
being made without informing
our association and the
BID formation has been less
about what’s best for Allerton
and more about forming the
BID to control Allerton and
it’s shopping corridor.
My associates and I have no
issue waging war on Christmas
Day if it means protecting
the integrity and people of
the Allerton area. In this case
protecting the small businesses
that have supported us
throughout the years.
We have told by the BID
organizers that their job is
to make these select stores
comfortable with the BID
proposal. And what they did
instead was go around their
back looking to out vote them.
All while electing a chairman
of the steering committee
who is not acceptable and
does not have our organization’s
confi dence to lead in
this important decision. We
will not go forward with the
BID nor its conversation as
long as this individual is on
the steering committee, let
alone its chair.
When asked how he obtained
this position the answer
we received was... he attended
all the meetings.
Day in and day out our organization
has been in the
trenches to make Allerton
safer, cleaner, and a more
desirable shopping district.
Which in turn means a more
desirable place to live and
raise a family. We will not be
a sidebar in the conversation
of the business improvement
district. We will be the fi nal
say regarding whether Allerton
becomes a BID or not. Any
suggestion otherwise would
be an attack on our organization
and considered an act of
war and we will respond with
a full arsenal. This is our
home and we will say what,
when and how the future of
our home will turn out.
If this is respected we can
continue with the conversation.
If this is not then the
conversation is over. My personal
preface to supporting
a BID was to ensure a solid
foundation was laid out so
that small businesses can
survive. This has not been
met and no discussions of
such a safety net has been
created. Allerton is home to
small businesses. The BIDs
have a history in the Bronx
of becoming extremely commercial.
Not only do they become
commercial they seem
to hire outside of the Bronx
which is beyond baffl ing.
Our small businesses generally
tend to hire locally.
Allerton will stay small. If
the BID conversation were
to continue it would follow
in the vein of Belmont (Arthur
Avenue). But Belmont
was successful because of its
strong ties prior to the BID.
The only advantage of a
BID as opposed to how our
association is run is absentee
businesses (again namely
corporate commercial businesses)
would be mandated to
contribute.
Our volunteers have city
contacts, which I will add
have been tampered with in
an attempt to push forward
the BID. Our merchants do
a great job maintaining the
front of their property’s now.
And our Councilman, Ritchie
Torres even brought funding
to pay for additional street
cleaning which we do appreciate
tremendously. We are a
fully functioning organization
and won’t be disrespected
as insignifi cant because we
are not a BID.
Allerton is missing a few
key businesses and a few of
our existing businesses need
enhancements to secure additional
foot traffi c and income
to support their participation
in the BID. Otherwise there
will be a mass exodus of small
businesses in our community.
Loyalty is key and I will
not abandon merchants who
have stepped up to improve
our community. Their voices
will not be ignored.
Our community is our business.
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