ST. PETER’S: NO
BODIES FOUND
Landmarks’ OK will give
housing complex a ‘GO’
BY PATRICK ROCCHIO
A community group has
formed to investigate the possible
existance of a centuries old
Quaker burial ground where a
developer has announced plans to
build a large housing project, as
the property’s owner vehemently
denies the group’s claims.
The Ad Hoc Committee for
the Preservation of the Friends
(Quaker) Cemetery, believes that
the proposed site of an 11-story
affordable housing complex at
Herschell Street and Westchester
Avenue, located on St. Peter’s
Episcopal Church grounds, may
be landmarked and contain a
Quaker gravesite.
Their concerns are based on
documents they reviewed dating
back to the 1800s and their own
observations of the parcel in question.
They claim that they have located
several small Quaker burial
markers from the late 19th century
on the site.
The AHCPFC has made NYC
Landmarks Preservation Commission
aware of their concerns.
According to the LPC, only
Mott Haven
releases antijail
video
BY ALEX MITCHELL
Diego Beekman, a Mott Haven
affordable housing developer
and its CEO Arline Parks have
set their sights on exposing the
culprits that are responsible for
ramming the jail construction
proposal for 320 Concord Avenue
down the community’s throat.
They have released a 47-second
video targeted at Mayor de Blasio
and Councilwoman Diana Ayala,
the two primary advocates of the
jail plan.
Produced by community advocates
Parks, Walter Nash and
Maria Ortiz, the video is part of
a campaign to educate and organize
Bronx residents against the
jail. Other videos will be released
as the city moves forward with its
plan.
The campaign will also target
state and city elected offi cials including
Councilwoman Vanessa
Gibson, whose successful efforts
to block the jail from going near
the courthouse, led to the current
site being selected.
“Mayor de Blasio, Council
Member Ayala: if you really want
to do what’s safe and fair, put the
jail where it belongs, next to the
courthouse,” Park says in the
video.
“A jail in Mott Haven will move
us backwards, not forwards,”
Nash states in the piece airing on
various media platforms such as
Facebook. “It’s the height of hypocrisy
to say you’re for a ‘fairer’
New York and fi ghting inequality,
and then drop a 26-story jail in a
lower-income community of color.
Mayor de Blasio and Council
Member Ayala clearly do not care
about the people of Mott Haven,
who have been working for years
to clean up their own streets. The
jail must go next to the courthouse.”
Before the adminsitration de-
Unsuspecting truck drivers
surprised by Jerome Avenue wedgie
BY ALEX MITCHELL
It’s a problem that’s been ongoing
and one Bronx assemblyman
says enough is enough.
Trucks getting wedged under
the elevated #4 IRT line structure
has been quite a headache in Assemblyman
Victor Pichardo’s distict
.W
hen a full size large tractortrailer’s
roof was peeled back like
a sardine can at the intersection
of Jerome Avenue and Cameron
Place on Thursday February 7,
Pichardo had seen it all.
Continued on Page 4
“It takes about four to fi ve
hours to clean up the mess afterwards,”
the assemblyman said,
noting how the truck’s removal
snarls traffi c. This instance was
at least the tenth time it has happened
since he became assemblyman
in 2013.
One of the worst occurances
happened when a car carrying
tractor-trailer didn’t clear the
train structure, pushing four vehicles
off the truck to the street
below in 2017.
Your Neighborhood — Your News® February 17, 2019
LOCAL
CL ASSIFIEDS
PA GE 14
Swapping War Stories
The East Coast Doughboys hosted its third annual Great War Swap and
Sale on Sunday, February 10 at the Samuel H. Young American Legion
Post 620. Aidan Palmer was fascinated by WWI and its artifacts. See
spread on page 13. Photo by Silvio Pacifi co
Continued on Page 4 Continued on Page 15
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