LADDER CO. 27 FIREFIGHTER
KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN
Lieutenant Jack Meara (c) speaks to the press about his experience serving with Slutman.
Photo by Fernando Justiniano
HP sit-down discussion held over Mott Haven jail
BY ALEX MITCHELL
A new front has opened in the
war against the city’s attempt to
build a 26-story jail atop an NYPD
tow pound at 320 Concord Avenue
in Mott Haven.
No New Jails, a citywide opponent
to Mayor de Blasio’s community
based jail initiative hosted
an open-air discussion at Hunts
Point’s community center, The
Point of 940 Garrison Avenue on
Sunday, April 7.
Except for a few city-executed
scoping sessions and meetings by
Community Board 1, this is one
of the fi rst public sit down discussions
about the jail, rather than
previously held protests.
The discussion focused around
the question, “What does safety
mean to you?,” regarding the
south Bronx community and its
needs.
A spokesperson for No New
Jails said that the purpose of the
meeting and listening session was
to raise local awareness of what’s
going on with the city’s jail plan,
criticizing the city for a lack of information
on its proceedings.
Some residents called on the
city to do more to meet the ‘safety’
needs of education, clean air and
affordable housing rather than
investing $11 billion into a jail facility
that would end up being an
obtrusive skyscraper in the south
Bronx.
A panel of community speakers
assembled for the meeting,
many sharing experiences of
what it was like to have family
members incarcerated.
The group has publicly supported
the closure of Rikers Island,
but like some Bronx elected
offi cials and community leaders
No New Jails believes that the
Mott Haven jail is an inappropriate
alternative.
Ladder Company 27’s Christopher
A. Slutman was a 15-year-old
FDNY veteran.
Photo courtesy of FDNY
Continued on Page 4
That same spokesperson explained
that 80 percent of Rikers
inmates are there pre-trail, noting
that the group focuses on bail
reform as well.
“We need to do away with Rikers
but don’t stop there,” said Mott
Haven resident Myra Hernández,
She reiterated the organization’s
key talking points that the
Bronx should be focusing on living
wage jobs, clean air, mental
health, and public health care
over a new jail facility.
The group is also pushing to
have Rikers depopulated as an
Biaggi, Senate
Trans. chair
tour WS
Station, discuss
district’s needs
BY ALEX MITCHELL
Stand clear of the chipping
paint.
In an effort to raise awareness
of her district’s dire transportation
needs, Senator Alessandra
Biaggi gave Senator Tim Kennedy,
chairman of the Senate Transportation
Committee. a fi rst-hand
look at the decrepit condition of the
Westchester Square IRT #6 station
on Thursday, April 4.
The elevated station was as
usual, bustling during evening
rush hour as commuters passed
narrowly by walls with dripping
rust stains, others that are missing
chunks of plaster, and what
seemed to be more paint coming
off the ceilings and trestles rather
than what was staying on.
Westchester Square station is
one of the most run down Metropolitan
Transportation Authority
properties in the 34th Senate District
according to Biaggi.
As a matter of fact, the MTA
provided her a price point of ‘hundreds
of millions’ for the station’s
necessary rehabilitation, she said.
That’s just the fi rst car of an
entire train of transit issues that
Biaggi’s east Bronx district is currently
facing, though.
Out of 45 train stations in the
34th SD, only fi ve currently meet
the handicap accessibility standards
of the Americans with Disabilities
Act.
Train stations in her district
are also located in the west Bronx,
serving Riverdale and Kingsbridge,
as well as Woodlawn and
Pelham Parkway.
“That means there’s a literal
limit of where residents with disabilities
can travel to,” Biaggi said
prior to the tour, specially men-
BY ALEX MITCHELL
One of New York and
even America’s ‘Bravest’
was tragically taken from
us while serving overseas
on Monday, April 10.
Christopher Slutman,
a 15-year FDNY member
and United States Marine
Corps Staff Sergeant was
among the three Marines
killed by a Talliban bombing
near Bagrim Airfield
in Afghanistan.
Stateside, the 43-year
old Slutman was stationed
out of Ladder 27, which
sits just beneath the Cross
Bronx Expressway in Claremont.
Ladder 27 shares its
command post with Engine
Company 46, where FDNY
Lieutenant Jack Meara reflected
on what it was like
to be around Slutman during
an operation.
“He was the type of fireman
everyone wanted to
have in their firehouse,”
Meara said. “Chris always
did the right thing, Chris
always stepped up to the
plate, Chris was always
there when you needed
him,” the Lieutenant con-
Your Neighborhood — Your News® April 14, 2019
LOCAL
CL ASSIFIEDS
PA GE 14
Continued on Page 4 Continued on Page 15
Vol. 8 No. 15 UUPPUDDPAADTTAEETDDE DEE VVEEEVRREYYR YDD AADYYA YAA TTA TBB XXBTTXIITMMIEMESSE..SCC.OOCMMOM