LATEST NEWS

Popular East Harlem Bakery Opens Bronx Location in Melrose

In the heart of El Barrio aka East Harlem is Capri Bakery on 116th between Lexington and 3rd Avenue since 1984.

Now, after working on opening their second location for over a year, Capri is open for business and is already a hit having only opened this past Thursday.

As I sit here eating a typical Cuban and Puerto Rican pastelito de guayaba con queso—guava filled pastry with cheese—and a nice warm cup of tea, dozens of people have come and gone happily after purchasing their fresh baked delights.

Immaculate Conception Church in Melrose Prioritized for Landmarking After 36 Years Since First Introduced for Preservation

36 years ago in 1980, Immaculate Conception Church in the Melrose neighborhood of The Bronx, along with its convent, rectory, and priests’ residence was calendered for landmarking by New York City’s Landmark Preservation Commission but nothing happened.

Until this past Tuesday.

LPC removed 65 properties from the calendar, many of which sat for decades waiting for action, but kept Immaculate Conception and prioritized for designation as a landmark by year’s end pending further hearings and a vote.

A Bronx Girl Until The Very End Despite Being Thousands of Miles Away From “Home”

I generally don’t call women girls that I never personally but Doris Perlmutter was always proud to call herself a “Bronx Girl”.

Doris Perlmutter, a strong Bronx-born and raised woman through and through despite having moved to California where she lived for almost 40 years since the late 70s, passed away last month, January 20th, much to many of our surprise who knew her through Facebook.

Bronx BP Ruben Diaz Jr To Commit $10 Million for Restoration of Historic Orchard Beach Pavilion

Although Robert Moses created Orchard Beach by destroying LeRoy’s Bay in Pelham Bay Park by filling in 1/3 of the bay with landfill and sand from Sandy Hook in Jersey to create the actual beach, he nevertheless created a gem we love and call The Bronx Riviera.

Now, after decades of neglect, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr announced during his State of The Bronx today that his office is committing $10 million for the restoration of the landmarked Orchard Beach Pavilion, an Art Deco masterpiece.

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Neighborhoods

LATEST NEWS

Groups Reveal NYC is Spraying Bronx and Citywide Parks With Controversial Cancer-Linked ‘Roundup’ Monsanto Pesticide

In 2014, New York City sprayed Monsanto’s Roundup pesticide—now classified as a possible carcinogen by The World Health Organization—2,748 times (more than double the 2013 rate) but only 2,000 locations have been revealed through data released by NYC Parks as a result of a Freedom of Information Law request.

From The South Bronx, to Riverdale and City Island to Pelham Parkway, many neighborhoods were sprayed with this pesticide linked to cancer. Manhattan has the least amount of sites (partly due to incomplete data from Central Park and other conservancies) but Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island have been doused with this pesticide more than our borough.

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A Love For The Bronx Forged by Growing Up in Our Borough

My family moved from Manhattan to the Bronx in 1954. I was raised by my grandparents and we lived in a tenement on Hoe Avenue, near Southern Boulevard. On Saturdays, I would accompany my grandmother, Clara, in trips to the market at Simpson station, serving as translator between her and the meat and produce sellers.

The two schools that I attended were P.S. 75 and P.S. 123. I loved my years at these schools with my favorite teachers, Mrs. Lasher, who taught me English and that you couldn’t use a double negative in a sentence, and Mr. Mathes, who inspired in me an appreciation for science that has always stayed with me.

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NYC Council Has a Big Opportunity to Do the Right Thing

When all testimonies are done, whether in favor or against changes to zoning via mandatory Inclusionary housing (MIH) or zoning for quality and affordability (ZQA), New York City’s Council members have an opportunity to side with their constituents in voting down Mayor de Blasio’s ill-conceived plan that is central to his preserving 120,000 affordable units and creating 80,000 new units of “affordable” housing.

The more controversial of the two, MIH, sounds great on paper. It mandates that affordable housing would be mandatory not voluntary and it would be permanent in districts that would be zoned for MIH. Trick is that it isn’t truly affordable.

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America’s Fukushima? 25 Miles North of The Bronx, Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant is Leaking Radiation Into Groundwater

Is this a sensationalist headline? No.

Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant is considered America’s most dangerous nuclear plant by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) as recent as 2011.

Over the weekend, we learned that radiation leaked out at Indian Point nuclear power plant in Westchester County just 25 miles north of The Bronx border and New York City limits. The radiation leaked into the groundwater wells raising radiation levels by as much as 65,000%. That is not a typo.

65,000%. Let that sink in.

This isn’t the first time there’s an issue at Indian Point.

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Bronx Equality Night: A New Social Event for the LGBTQ Community

One thing The Bronx sorely lacks besides safe spaces for the LGBTQ community and its youth is a place for adults to mingle and call home. The Bronx lacks a single dedicated gay bar but tomorrow night at Lotus Flame Restaurant in Morris Park, get ready for a new event for our community.

Bronx Equality Night is billed as a social event and evening of networking for all genders and people of all sexual orientations with drink specials available to those of legal drinking age.

The event begins at 8PM which means you can take advantage of Lotus Flame’s full food menu until 11PM and then only bar food will be available from 11PM-Midnight.

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