New York City Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett has just announced that The Opera House Hotel was ground zero for New York City’s largest outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease which took the lives of 12 South Bronx residents (although DOH still is not connecting the teacher who died from PS 325 in the impact zone back in April).
Bronx resident Rob Vassilarakis is out on a mission: He’s trying to raise $5,000 to support a wonderful organization called Second Chance Rescue that helps Pit Bull Terriers, among other animals, get just that. A second chance.
Much like The Bronx, Pit Bulls suffer from negative stereotypes and are thought by many as being vicious, fighting animals but that’s far from the truth.
According to an email obtained by Welcome2TheBronx, Hostos Community College, which has an enrollment of over 7,000 students, has tested positive for Legionella, the bacteria which causes Legionnaires’ disease, however it is 10x below the threshold for recommended cleansing action by OSHA guidelines. Still, Hostos Community College went ahead and made sure that all cooling towers were treated and cleaned regardless of the results.
The building sits catty-corner to the Bronx General Post Office which tested also tested positive for Legionella and remained closed for several days while its cooling towers were treated and cleaned and is one of 5 buildings in a 1/2 mile radius from each other as you can see by zooming in on the map below.
Bronx Artists UNITE!
Back in 2009 when The Gateway Center Mall The Bronx The Bronx Terminal Market opened featuring The Bronx’s first and only popular arts and crafts store, Michael’s. Artists and crafts-makers alike rejoiced that they no longer had to trek outside of the Bronx to get their supplies.
Then in 2011 out of nowhere the store closed down and Burlington Coat Factory moved in next door as The Bronx Terminal Market restructured its failed indoor shopping wing.
For the last couple of days, Welcome2TheBronx has had the pleasure of checking out the set and filming of the popular Fox TV Crime Drama ‘Gotham’ based on the Batman franchise.
The Old Bronx Courthouse is serving as the main location set (although we can’t tell you what the scenes are, you’ll have to find out yourself when season 2 begins next month!) with a small scene being shot behind the old Hupfel Brewery on St. Ann’s Avenue.
Medical, mental, and social care for the Bronx’s LGBTQ community took a giant leap forward.
This past Friday, BOOM!Health opened its doors to the public as the non-profit began the process of consolidating its Bronx offices under one roof at the former Brook House Furniture building across from the Old Bronx Courthouse.
Bally’s gambling complex proposal at the former Trump Links in Throggs Neck relies on getting state approval to alienate parkland, but lacks local leaders’ support as the legislative session winds down. By…
Tonight at the Bronx Museum between 6:30PM and 9:00PM, the community has a chance to envision what the Grand Concourse should and can look like.
The Grand Boulevard and Concourse, as it was originally known, is The Bronx’s most treasured thoroughfare as well as the closest we have to a “Main Street”. We were able to preserve part of the Concourse by pushing for landmark status which it received in 2011.
An article in City & State yesterday indicated that medical and health experts agree with exactly what Welcome2TheBronx has been saying since we first found out about the Legionnaires’outbreak in the South Bronx: The drinking water supply in the buildings of those infected should have been tested.
Welcome2TheBronx has been accused of spreading misinformation when we questioned the possibility of our drinking supply not being safe and the need for testing based on federal health and safety guidelines yet experts have come out saying it’s ridiculous that New York City Department of Health hasn’t done so.
The first thing we were told when New York City’s largest Legionnaires Outbreak in its history began in the South Bronx last month was about the people who were most susceptible to contracting the curable yet deadly disease. At the top of the list were people suffering from respiratory issues and those with compromised immune…
The Banknote Building (which half of the building is leased by NYC’s HRA department serving people on public assistance), The Bronx Detective Bureau, Daughters of Jacob Nursing Home, and Department of Homeless Services Intake Center in The Bronx were found to have tested positive for Legionella as it has crossed over into East Harlem in Manhattan and found at Taino Towers as mandatory testing of cooling towers is now in effect.
The Opera House Hotel in Melrose, The South Bronx, one of the sites identified as having had a Legionella contaminated cooling tower in New York City’s largest outbreak of Legionnaires’ in city history, issued a statement today which slams New York City Department of Health due to officials who, “…have refused to provide us with any information.”
The Opera House Hotel also claims that NYC DOH has yet to tell the hotel that their water cooler tested positive.
According to Erin Clark of NY1 as per a press conference yesterday, there were 3 additional Legionella contaminated sites besides Bronx Housing Court and Bronx County Hall of Justice. The Bronx General Post Office, Samuel Gompers High School and another Verizon building have been identified as contaminated and since been disinfected. This is the first time that a school has tested positive for the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease which has infected over 100 and killed 10 not including a South Bronx teacher who died in April from the disease.
What do these buildings all have in common? Our drinking supply. Although our reservoirs may be fine and technically when New York City Department of Health tells us that our supply is safe, it does NOT mean that the systems of which it travels through is.
