BRONX W www.BXTimes.com EEKLY January 27, 2019 10
Elected offi cials want colonial era lane added to city blocks
Bronxite pens bio about defeating 28-year heroin addiction
BY ALEX MITCHELL
The devastating tale of a young
man’s journey through drug addiction
and its associated criminal
activity, is related in detail by the
survivor.
Kevin John Carroll, who grew
up in the Castle Hill Houses,
spending 28 years addicted to heroin,
penned a 400-page autobiography
chronicling his despair and
misdeeds.
Today, living on Logan Avenue
in Throggs Neck, he is grateful
that his wife, who he married at 17,
stuck with him through the worst
of times.
Titled ‘I Still Can’t Fly,’ Carroll
uses authentic humor to tell a moving
story about what he calls “seeing
the light.”
“I was always getting into trouble
since I was little kid. Usually
those confrontations would end
with me sprinting off,” Carroll
said. “That’s where the book’s title
comes from, I still can’t fl y but I
can sure run like hell,” the author
added.
Carroll began writing the book
after spending a month in rehab
during the early 1990s, fi nally releasing
it in October 2018.
“At fi rst I didn’t want to open up
at all,” he said.
It was only after a moving counseling
session that Carroll began
coming to terms with his torrid
past. He realized writing about it
would be the best therapy to recovery.
“You aren’t allowed to have a
pencil or a phone during the fi rst
30 days of rehab. I waited 30 days
to get a pencil and spent the following
years to write my story down,”
Carroll said, mentioning that he
doesn’t think he’s funny per se but
he in fact “thinks funny,” leading
to his book’s success.
Even though he left school during
eighth grade he attributes his
writing skills to his avid interest
in reading.
It was Carroll’s comical personality
that encouraged Hardball
Press of Brooklyn to publish its
fi rst memoir ever.
That memoir begins with
Carroll in a parochial grammar
school, constantly having his ear
yanked on by nuns, to later working
with the NYC Department of
Sanitation, taking more sick days
than imaginable in addition to
constantly fast talking his way out
of being terminated.
In between those two points
is the scary reality his addiction
brought into Carroll’s life.
While employed by Sanitation
his drug addiction somehow
avoided detection. The book vividly
describes circumstance after
circumstance where he came
within a whisker of ending his
career. Today, remarkedly, he collects
a full city pension.
He literally said one day, after
almost three decades of battling
heroin, “that’s it.”
“I know the way that I broke my
addiction is uncommon, but that’s
honestly how it happened,” Carroll
said.
Originally, Carroll wrote the
book just for himself. It represents
the fi rst thing that he has ever
completed in his life.
While obviously the success
and great feedback he has received
is pleasing, that wasn’t the motive
behind writing the tale
“What I realized after I wrote
this book is that it’s not just for me,
it’s for you, and it’s for someone
that you know who’s going through
this,” Carroll said.
“There is a way out and don’t let
anyone tell you that there isn’t,” he
said.
In his now 23 years of sobriety,
Carroll says he hasn’t faced a single
challenge.
“Not a day goes by that I haven’t
woken up without a smile,” the
born-again Carroll gladly mentioned.
The book’s cover. Courtesy of Kevin Carroll
BY PATRICK ROCCHIO
A boondoggle of a street that’s
a remnant of the borough’s past
is causing some real-life pain today.
A
n unpaved road called Old
Albany Post Road, which may be
part of a colonial era road that
linked New York with Albany according
to neighbors, has fallen
into disrepair and concerned citizens
are urging the NYC Department
of Transportation to take
over the care and maintenance of
the block long stretch.
It is currently unpaved and
recently became prone to fl ooding,
said activist Luis Malave,
adding that the construction of a
retaining wall on a nearby property
may have contributed to the
situation.
The lane, running parallel to
Broadway just steps away from
Van Cortlandt Park, had a water
fi lled crater 15 feet in length not
far from where the road meets
West 251st Street and a clogged
storm drain nearby when concerned
residents notifi ed the city
on Friday, January 18.
Residents use Old Albany Post
Road to access garages at nearby
properties. Until the sinkhole
opened and other fl ooding occurred
over the past year, garbage
pick-up used to take place
there, said Malave.
Malave and some neighbors
brought Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz
and Councilman Andrew
Cohen to the site on January 18th,
both of who are pushing the city
to take over stewardship of the
strip of land.
Dinowitz and Cohen have petitioned
New York state under the
New York Public Land Law Section
34 to sell the land to the city.
A single dollar is all that’s needed
for the city to purchase the land
and turn it over to DOT.
The land is currently under
the jurisdiction of the NYS Offi ce
of General Services, according to
a source.
Dinowitz said that the state is
willing to surrender its ownership.
The assemblyman said that he
believes that the city needs to take
over the care of the road, which
runs north from West 251st Street
for a block, and added he believes
that the city has an obligation to
fi x it, noting that they maintain
all nearby streets.
“The disastrous condition of
Old Albany Post Road has plagued
our community for long enough,”
said Dinowitz.
Dinowitz said that the lengthy
puddle has jolted many an unsuspecting
motorist, sometimes damaging
the vehicles, and that other
motorists have had to contend
with its many large potholes. Illegal
dumping is another concern.
“This stretch of road is a blight
on our community that erodes
people’s faith in government,”
said Dinowitz. “New York City
and New York state must fi nd a
solution without further delay to
bring Old Albany Post into a state
of good repair.”
Cohen said that state has not
been a good steward of the land,
and thinks making it a city street
with local services is the right
thing to do as a practical matter.
“While NYC DOT is studying
it, the people here have an untenable
situation, so we are hoping to
get swift action,” said Cohen, adding
“The city is in better position
to take ownership of this road,
build it out and maintain it.”
The assemblyman added that
the standing water on the road
will become a breeding ground
for mosquitoes and thus a health
hazard.
A spokeswoman for DOT said
they are still studying the issue.
Neighbor Luis Malave gestures towards a sinkhole fi lled with water along the stretch of the state-owned road known as
Old Post Road parallel to Broadway near West 251st Street. Schneps Media / Patrick Rocchio
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