BRONX TIMES REPORTER, DECEMBER 28 12 -JANIARY 3, 2019 BTR
Founded in 1981 by
Michael Benedetto and
John Collazzi
PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER
Victoria Schneps-Yunis
CEO AND CO-PUBLISHER
Joshua Schneps
BRONX TIMES PUBLISHER
Laura Guerriero
EDITOR
John Collazzi
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Patrick Rocchio
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Will civility
ever return?
Dear editor,
As subway riders, we have
to deal with conductors who
close the doors while commyers
are crossing the platform
to transfer from a local to the
express train. Try looking for
the proper way to depose of
your old newspaper as more
trash cans are removed from
more stations. Riders have
to deal with aggressive panhandlers,
eating as if one is
at home or restaurant, those
hogging two seats, yawning,
coughing or sneezing without
covering up, the release of fl atulence
and acrobatic performers
swinging from subway car
poles. Women are periodically
accosted by gropers while
perverts engage in other unhealthy
sexual activities.
Many have grown tired
dealing with rats, mice and
litter. NYC Transit should
consider installing separate
(The following testimony
was submitted by Sandi Lusk,
representing the Westchester
Square-Zerega Improvement Organization
re Blondell Avenue’s
Affordable Housing proposal.)
Dear Sir:
We are aware of the critical
need for affordable housing.
However, we would like
to call attention to the out-size
scale (9 stories) of this project
in comparison to its surroundings
and the huge impact it
will have on the residents of
Blondell Avenue. Blondell Avenue
is a very narrow, congested
one-way street running
from Westchester Avenue to
Eastchester Road. And, contrary
to most testimony given
at the Community Board 11
hearings, there is a residential
component to Blondell
Avenue as well in addition to
industrial. We have identifi ed
several issues of concern:
Traffi c and congestion:
• What will be the impact of
adding 228 units and 225 parkcans
for recycling newspapers,
plastic and glass along
with regular garbage. Selling
advertising on the side of cans
could generate revenue to help
cover the costs of more frequent
off- peak and late-night
collection and disposal. If
asked, the NYC Department of
Sanitation could do the same
on the street adjacent to subway
station entrances.
Many have long since forgotten
that up until the late
1960s, it was common to fi nd
both penny gum and 10 cent
soda machines dispensing
products at many subway stations.
It was a time when people
respected authority and
law. That generation of riders
did not litter subway stations
and buses leaving behind
gum, candy wrappers, paper
cups, bottles and newspapers.
No one would openly eat
pizza, chicken or other messy
foods while riding a bus or
subway.
Will civility ever return to
our buses and subways?
Larry Penner
TESTIMONY: by Sandi Lusk
Blondell Ave. Affordable Housing Project and zoning change
ing spaces (meaning 225 cars)
to what is now a very low density
already traffi c-congested
street?
• Cars are already double
parked and forced to park on
the sidewalk due to the many
small body shops, bakeries,
and other businesses located
there.
• Ambulances use the street
as a quicker way to get to Einstein
and Montefi ore Hospital
on Eastchester Road on a regular
basis, raising a very real
safety issue.
• Adding so many units
will add many schoolchildren,
many of whom (most likely)
will be taking school buses to
their zoned school P.S. 108 (and
whether or not the school can
take an estimated 300 more
children is an open question),
which is quite a distance away,
as there is no school located
nearby, creating more congestion
for an already congested
street and perhaps blocking
access for the ambulances.
The second issue is it’s
huge scale and impact on the
immediate neighborhood
• Towering over everything
else in the immediate area (except
for the hospitals nearby)
this project does not fi t in the
context of the area. How will
this impact the homeowners
who live on Blondell Avenue?
Many of them have homes that
date back to the late 19th century
and whose families have
lived in them for many generations.
This cannot help but
have a huge disruptive impact
on them. The zoning change
will encourage further development
on this scale in the
future, changing the entire
character of the street and
causing the businesses there
to relocate and creating major
issues for the people who own
their homes there.
The third issue is that it is
a contaminated site with chromium
and heavy metals due
to its industrial past, and sits
directly above the remnants
of Seabury Creek, requiring
massive remediation to become
habitable.
We understand the great
need for affordable housing
in the city, and praise the administration
for seeking to
build this housing. However,
it seems to us that this project
has not been well thought
through in context of practical
realities. There are no
schools nearby and the zoned
school, P.S. 108, is a good distance
away and already overcrowded.
It seems to me that
the lack of infrastructure for
families is clear. Aren’t we
going about this backwards?
Should not the infrastructure
come fi rst (and to that end,
building more schools that
are desperately needed)? Perhaps
the project could be relocated
or, more likely, reconsidered
on a smaller scale? That
is the only fair thing to do for
both the future residents and
the existing community under
these circumstances.
.......AS STATED
The Bronx Times Reporter
received the following two
statements from Bronx leaders
on widely divergent matters.
Speaker Carl Heastie’s
statement on the passing of former
Assembly Majority Leader
Daniel B. Walsh...It is with great
sadness that we note the passing
of former Assembly Majority
Leader Daniel B. Walsh.
Dan’s commitment to public
service began with a tour in Korea
with the U.S. Army’s 7th Infantry
Division. A teacher and
a coach, Walsh began his career
in public offi ce serving in
the Cattaraugus County Legislature.
He later ran for Assembly
and in 1979 was named the
fi rst Majority Leader from upstate
New York. Later, as the
leader of the Business Council
of New York State, he represented
thousands of the state’s
businesses, large and small.
Dan had an ability to reach
across the aisle to get people -
Democrat or Republican - to
work together. He was a dedicated
public servant, relentless
in his advocacy not only for his
community, but for all New
Yorkers.
On behalf of his New York
State Assembly family, I offer
our deepest condolences to his
family and friends.
Statement from Yankees senior
vice president and general
manager Brian Cashman on
the health of CC Sabathia....“We
are thankful that CC was smart
enough to convey his symptoms
to our medical staff, and
in turn they immediately engaged
NewYork-Presbyterian
Hospital, who quickly determined
the root cause of what
ailed him. We are also encouraged
that the (stent) procedure
CC underwent was performed
as planned. He is such a dynamic
person beyond his excellence
on the fi eld, and we will
proceed with his health at the
forefront of our priorities. We
will continue to follow the guidance
and expertise of the doctors
— who have conveyed that
CC will report as scheduled to
Tampa in February to prepare
for the 2019 season.
The Bronx Times Reporter
offers to our readers two statements
recently released by
Bronx leaders on widely divergent
matters.
/cnglocal.com
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/Walsh...It
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