UPDATE 11:00AM, June 20th, 2012 included after last paragraph.

Here’s a statistic we don’t mind: since 1990, reverse commuting for work to points north of the city such as Westchester County and Connecticut, has increased by 150%. Of 8.1 million rides taken last year to and from the Bronx, about 2/3 of these were Bronxites heading to their jobs away from the city. These figures were presented by William Wheeler, director of special project development and planning at the MTA, at a hearing yesterday morning on transportation of the outer boroughs and went on to also add that it is the largest known market in the country for reverse commuting.
Metro North is a critical lifeline to thousands of Bronxites who need to get to work which is why we need a new Metro North line in the eastern Bronx to accommodate residents in that neglected area. It is time we make those 4 proposed stations (Hunts Point, Parkchester, Morris Park and Co-op City) into reality. This would increase our stations to 17 in the borough and help in reducing congestion along the I95 and Hutchinson River Parkway corridors by taking off the road countless Bronxites going to and from work up north.
Manhattan isn’t the only center of employment for the Bronx and it is critical that our government does right by its citizens in expanding our transportation network. But a better link up north isn’t the only area we need to strengthen: we need to foster better transportation alternatives between the outer boroughs. Bronx and Queens residents shouldn’t have to go through Manhattan to get to either one. Same goes for Brooklyn and Queens residents which have just the G train linking them in any meaningful way.
The explosion of economic activity at these new links would benefit all for decades to come. If we don’t act soon, NYC will be left in the dark ages of mass transit.

Dan Beekman of the New York Daily News pointed out a story he wrote back in January regarding a demand for Bronx residents to fill employment opportunities in Connecticut. This further solidifies the argument and demand for this critical extension.

Bronxites! This is a must read for those living in the Northern Bronx in the newly redrawn 13th Congressional District and anyone who’s been following the issue.
Our friends at BronxMatters have written this important piece on major misinformation printed by the New York Times and the New York Post that is highly misleading. Unfortunately, this isn’t something new and we in the Bronx are far too accustomed to such poorly edited pieces when it comes to our borough.
Here’s an excerpt from BronxMatters:

Daily newspapers have an opportunity —and more importantly, a responsibility —to help educate their Bronx readers about an epic change in who will represent them in Congress.

But yesterday, in endorsing Clyde Williams, a former official in the Clinton administration, The New York Times inexplicably listed the south Bronx as the section of the borough in the new district (even while they took pains to list several of the individual Manhattan neighborhoods in C.D. 13).

Be sure to read the post in its entirety since it’s filled with excellent resources! A big thanks to Jordan Moss for always keeping an eye out for Bronxites!

From Gary Axelbank:

TONIGHT! on BronxTalk we’re going to do a show on the Fresh Direct proposal. Recently I brought my (still) camera on a tour of the area and we’ll show those photos so you can see the actual land that’s involved and we’ll talk with… a journalist who has investigated the issue as well as a community activist. It should be a good way to get educated about all the angles in this complex, but important Bronx issue. TONIGHT at 9:00pm. Bronxnet’s channel 67. Here’s a sample photo.

Remember, you can call in and get your voice heard!

It seems that no matter where in the media one looks, there will always be something negative to say about the Bronx. You are well acquainted with the Connecticut attorney who last week trashed the Bronx in his review of “Monet’s Gardens” exhibit at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx and today I stumbled across this gem: A Federal MP in Gold Coast, Australia was shocked to see “Bronx-like” security at a local gas station.
This is funny coming from a country founded as a penal colony where England exiled criminals to live the rest of their dying days.

You hear it all the time from those against immigration and would like to curtail it: “Immigrants are lazy, they sponge off the government” or “They’re just a bunch of freeloaders. ”
We in the Bronx – a borough of immigrants, know this to not be true and here’s more proof to the naysayers: Immigrants are becoming small business owners at a much faster rate than their counterparts.
This is a phenomenon that isn’t just on a local level but on a national level as well according to the Daily News. Statistics show that almost half of entrepreneurs in the city are foreign born. That’s pretty amazing considering they account for 36% of the population.
However, Bronxites shouldn’t be surprised because we are a borough of mom and pop shops, Dominican owned bodegas, restaurants and taxi companies, Mexican owned laundromats, bodegas and restaurants and of course, our own Bronx grown Golden Crust, the Jamaican food franchise that grew from one lonely restaurant on Gun Hill Road 23 years ago and today is a 120 franchise restaurant with 1,600 employees and $100 million in sales.

Be sure to read more in the Daily News.

As the greenest borough, we take pride whenever we are recognized as such and students at P.S. / M.S. 194 certainly have made us proud. The Bronx school beat out 21 other schools in a 6 month citywide competition to save the most energy. In that time, the school was able to cut energy consumption by a whopping 21% thanks to its stud
ents and the non-profit organization, Solar One which put together a curriculum and taught students about how electrical equipment uses energy even when turned off.
Thanks to this wonderful collaboration, P.S. / M.S. 194 won the $12,000 prize. It may not seem like much but that certainly makes a difference in this cash-strapped economy.
Congratulations kids for doing such a terrific job!

We got some heavy rains yesterday and for a while it was quite dark but once the clouds cleared, Bronxites were treated to a wonderful double rainbow. We love the Bronx now matter what others may say.

In a piece published in Litchfield County Times up in Connecticut, “Monet on the Hudson, A Bronx Tale“, attorney and author of the story, Deyan Ranko Brashich, spends more time dissing the Bronx than actually focusing on his review of the beautiful exhibit at the New York Botanical Garden.
The first half of the review is basically Brashich’s myopic view of the Bronx and he spares no details to paint a distorted reality of the Bronx to the point that at times it appears to take rather bigoted undertones.
Like when he refers to Arthur Avenue as, “…Bronx’ Little Italy, now in Sicilian Vespers death throes orchestrated by hard eyed Albanian immigrants, America’s newest version of the Mafia.”
(No shock there since Brashich is from the former Yugoslavia where ethnic Albanians suffered ethnic cleansing with Serbs trying to drive them out of Kosovo). Then there’s a little jab where he’s talking about driving along the Sheridan and all the negative, gritty things you see including, “…up the street, they sell watermelons from the back of trucks as traffic whizzes by.”
The title of the piece is as inaccurate as it gets, Monet on the Hudson? Apparently geography is not his strong point since NYBG is located on the Bronx River not the Hudson. He then  gushes on Riverdale and Fieldston with their manicured estates and they seem to be the only places worthy of praise because the rest of the borough is for the most part, “…Baghdad on the Hudson, or “Bagdad-on-the Subway”, as O. Henry calls it. But flowers do bloom in ghettos and the Bronx now boasts Monet’s sublime water lilies.”
Excuse me Mr. Brashich but in O. Henry’s “What You Want“, the short story opens with the line, “Night had fallen on that great and beautiful city known as Bagdad-on-the-Subway.”
Nowhere in the story does it refer to the Bronx nor modern day Baghdad as a matter of fact but of New York City as a whole and a Baghdad of well over a century ago which he describes as an, “occidental city of romance“.
The Bronx is far from perfect. It is not paradise but it is our home and the place where many of us fought to keep our communities alive when our government, landlords and financial institutions abandoned us out of pure greed.
A better tale to tell when describing the Bronx might be how it is now a vibrant borough where the residents did what the nation and the world thought impossible: make it a place where people want to live and call home. Or that Melrose, once mostly burned out buildings and rubble strewn lots became the first and only LEED Certified Neighborhood District in the State of New York.
Perhaps Mr. Brashich should focus more on the exhibit rather than cowardly, sensationalsitic garbage which he thought his neighbors in Litchfield County Connecticut would be interested in reading.

Last Saturday the residents from the Melrose community and beyond gathered at the Bronx Documentary Center for the launch of Nina Burman’s exhibit, “Bronx Gardens“. (Read Nina Burman’s interview on this project)
The exhibition itself is a journey through community gardens of the South Bronx that documents and tells the story of residents committed to turning rubble strewn lots into mini green oases among the concrete urban jungle landscape. Bronx Gardens is just one of many that are a part the Climate Change projects of the NOOR Foundation which “… is an international non-profit organization creating and distributing compelling photojournalistic works with the aim to raise awareness, enhance an understanding of the world and to contribute to the visual history of mankind.”

The event was celebrated with a good old garden party with eats, face painting for kids and even the next door neighbor providing “coquito helado” (Puerto Rican icees). We arrived promptly at 4PM, the starting time and by the time I left at 7:30PM the party was still quite packed and abuzz with locals just having a good time.

In just a year that the BDC has opened its doors and planted roots in Melrose it has grown to be an integral part of our community and identity in the South Bronx. Not only have they catered to an obvious thirst for cultural and artistic wants and needs of the area but they have become a true part of our very fabric by being exemplary neighbors. This is evident in the amount of locals visible at such events as the garden party. As time has progressed, more and more residents have participated in events clearly showing that BDC is an important part of our family. It is also further proof that local residents want, need and deserve to have such institutions like any other neighborhood in our city.
Bronx Gardens which runs from now through August 16th, 2012 and the garden itself will be used by the Bronx Documentary Center as a platform for workshops for all ages and engage residents in food and environmental justice.
To find out more about how you can help, volunteer and even make a donation just feel free to contact them.

Bronx Documentary Center is located at 614 Courtlandt Avenue and 151st Street in the Melrose neighborhood of the South Bronx.

The Bronx has always been a home of immigrants looking to start their journey in our country and today we bring you three stories from around the web.

New York Regional Chief of the Ashanti From Ghana Is Installed

Our borough is home to the largest population of the African diaspora and Ghanaians make up the lion’s share of this diverse group which is why last month a chief was installed to serve the Ghanaian community. Nana Acheampong-Tieku was officially raised as chief in a colorful and elaborate ceremony bringing a bit of Africa to the Bronx.
Read all about it and catch some great photos of the event:  New York Times

Emerald Isle Immigration CENTER (EIIC) Threatened By Budget Cuts

A little known fact is that the Bronx is home to one of the largest Irish communities in New York City tucked away in the northwestern neighborhoods of Norwood and Woodlawn. The EIIC is currently between a rock and a hard place as it faces cuts in funding while demand for its services have increased. A fundraiser is scheduled tomorrow and another one on Sunday, June 10th to raise necessary funds to keep their programs running.
Irish Central has more information on this story as well as details on the fundraisers.

Honduran Soccer League Unable To Use New Soccer Field They Fought For

Now this bit of news is a tad on the annoying side. Back in the 1990s, the Honduran community of the Bronx (which is more than double the size of any other borough) formed a soccer league to keep the kids off the street and active in the sport of their homeland.
The league eventually grew much larger and within time grew to 25 teams of not just Hondurans but members of the African and Central American communities.
Together they fought and lobbied the Parks Department to get the city to build a soccer field at Crotona Park. Finally, the field has been built but the soccer league which was the reason the field was built in the first place, are not allowed to play there.
Find out why and other details at DNAinfo.

Tonight, Monday, June 4th at 9pm, BronxTalk’s host, Gary Axelbank will be joined by New York City’s Comptroller John Liu to discuss a variety of items and issues close to Bronxites’ hearts and concern – particularly the FreshDirect sweetheart deal which he has essentially called fiscally irresponsible and placed the sole dissenting vote against it. Another sensitive topic on the list to be discussed is the Croton Filtration Plant in Van Cortlandt Park.
The show is LIVE and calls will be taken so make sure to call in early to get your voice heard!
BronxTalk is on live at 9pm on channels 67 (Cablevision) and 33 (FIOS).

For more information on what South Bronx residents are doing to organize against the FreshDirect deal, visit:

http://www.southbronxunite.com/