COLLEGE CREW
REZONING PLAN
Fordham U. buying WWCA beach club
BY PATRICK ROCCHIO
A plan to bring a fi rstrate
college rowing and
sailing facility to a property
formerly used as
a beach club is moving
ahead.
Community Board 10’s
Housing and Zoning Committee
voted unanimously
to approve a plan initiated
by an anonymous group
of Fordham University
alumni to purchase the
former Westchester Country
Club Association waterfront
club in Country
Club and turn it over to the
university for use by the
school’s sailing and crew
teams.
The committee vote
took place on Thursday,
March 12, and there will
be a public hearing in coming
months that will allow
the public to weigh in on
the matter, said Matt Cruz,
CB 10 district manager.
The date and time of that
hearing are still to be announced.
Cruz said that the community
and committee
were generally supportive
of the idea, pending the
outcome of the public hearing.
The sale of the property
is still pending. The buyer
is seeking a zoning variance
at the Board of Standards
and Appeals that
would allow the university
to operate a rowing and
sailing team in a R2 residential
zone.
The community board
favors the sale because it
would prevent the development
of housing at the attractive
site at 3341 Country
Club Road.
The one building presently
occupying the property
was heavily damaged
Street
naming
for beloved
coach
BY PATRICK ROCCHIO
A street co-naming in honor
of a beloved cheerleading coach
and community volunteer is
coming up shortly.
Michele Muccio, who perished
in a 2018 auto crash, will have a
street co-named in her honor at
St. Theresa and Edison avenues,
on Saturday, April 6 at 11 a.m. in
a public sign unveiling.
The mother of three died when
another vehicle cut her off as she
was travelling southbound on
I-95 near Co-op City and lost control
of her truck in March 2018.
Muccio was a beloved cheerleading
coach who was a prolifi c
volunteer at St. Theresa School
before receiving her coach’s certifi
cate and taking the Cardinal
Spellman High School cheerleading
team, which included
her daughter Nikki Marie, to
national cheer competitions for
the fi rst time, her father Joseph
Giaquinta said.
“She wanted the girls to stay
active, compete, and just be recognized,”
said Giaquinta. “She
put Spellman on the map when it
comes to cheerleading.”
Spellman Cheerleaders were
present at a Mass in Muccio’s
honor at St. Theresa’s Church
on Sunday, March 17, the anniversary
of her passing, said her
father.
Community activist and longtime
friend Victor DiPierro was
recognized during the Mass for
spear-heading the street co-naming
process in motion in honor of
Michele.
Councilman Mark Gjonaj followed
through at NYC City Hall,
helping in the process, which
took a bit longer than expected,
he said.
BPs Diaz, Katz protest mayor’s jail plan
BY ALEX MITCHELL
When Borough President
Ruben Diaz, Jr. said
that he would continue
to make a case why an
NYPD tow pound at 320
Concord Avenue in Mott
Haven is the wrong location
for jail he wasn’t exaggerating.
He teamed up with fellow
Borough President
Melinda Katz of Queens
to send Mayor Bill de Blasio
a scathing letter that
criticized the city’s jail
plan on Friday, March 8.
Specifi cally, the letter
expressed “substantial
concerns” regarding the
plan, while it also condemned
what Diaz and
Katz called a lack of community
input on scoping
from de Blasio’s offi ce,
which has faced scrutiny
from many Bronx offi -
cials for over a year now.
“The affected communities
simply were not
consulted during the development
of the plan,”
the letter stated.
According to the
Continued on Page 4
city’s plan, the abovegrade
Bronx tow pound
parcel will be be leveled
to make way for a 26 story,
1.5 million square foot jail
adjacent to the Bruckner
Expressway by East 138th
Street.
Additionally, the
World’s Fair Borough,
Queens, would also be getting
a 1.9 million square
foot facility in Kew Gardens
as part of de Blasio’s
Rikers Island phase out
plan.
Your Neighborhood — Your News® March 24, 2019
LOCAL
CL ASSIFIEDS
PA GE 18
Living The Dream
Bronx literary lovers’ dreams came true when the
borough’s only book store The Lit Bar hosted its fi rstever
book launch event for Lilliam Rivera’s ‘Dealing in
Dreams’ on Friday, March 15. Rivera signed a copy of
her fast-paced dystopian novel for an adoring fan.
Photo by Kasey Rodriguez
Continued on Page 4 Continued on Page 19
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