First they tried to rebrand the South Bronx as SoBro. Then came NoMa (North of Manhattan) for Riverdale (literally no neighborhood is safe), and more recently, Port Morris as the Piano District.
All were met with resistance from Bronxites and have mostly been ignored by most.
Now, as the market continues to accelerate fueled by luxury housing in the South Bronx and developers are flying overhead like vultures, the Third Avenue BID will host a roundtable discussion on the topic of renaming a neighborhood on Thursday, November 16th at 6PM.
The discussion will focus on the history of rebranding and renaming neighborhoods, their negative and positive impact (there is no positive impact except for developers and real estate interests) as well as a discussion on equitable economic development.
The panel will include:
- April De Simone, Co-Founder and Managing Partner – Designing the We
- Angel Hernandez, Director of Programs and External Relations, The Bronx County Historical Society
- Joshua Weissman, President, JCAL Development
- Javier Medrano, Senior Associate for Public and Private Partnerships, Third Avenue Business Improvement District – Moderator
About the Panel:
April De Simone has over 15 years of experience in strategically designing, developing and launching for-profit, non-profit and government projects. Continuing to advocate for social innovation, Ms. De Simone is co-creator of various for-purpose ventures and initiatives that promote market based solutions to address complex social challenges.
Angel Hernandez is the Director of Programs and External Relations at The Bronx County Historical Society.
The Bronx County Historical Society is a private, non-profit educational and cultural institution, which is dedicated to the collection, preservation, documentation and interpretation of the history and heritage of The Bronx and its people.
Joshua Weissman is the founder and president of JCAL Development Group. In 2006, Mr. Weissman entered the affordable housing marketplace, developing large-scale multi-family buildings, consisting of 32 to 115 units and ranging from 4 to 13 stories. The projects, predominantly located in the Bronx, were developed under the auspices of various government housing agencies with the City of NY under the Mayors Affordable Housing Mandate.
Please RSVP here as space is limited.
