During Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr’s State of the Borough address today, he publicly called upon the city to issue a new Request for Proposal for PS 31 and to truly explore whether or not it needs to be demolished.
It seems the Borough President has listened to our cries for the building to be salvaged since our petition to save the building was addressed to him among others.
Did you know that Bronx Community College occupies one of the highest points in the whole Bronx? Do you know how this school came to occupy that location? 2014 is the 40th anniversary of Bronx Community College’s (BCC) first full year at the campus we know today. A distinguished African-American educator oversaw the move from scattered buildings around Jerome Avenue to the high and architecturally distinguished place it now occupies; his name was Dr. James A. Colston!
Last year there were 156 pedestrian fatalities on the streets of New York City representing an increase from 2012 as well as 2011. According to an analysis done by the Daily News of NYPD statistics, there were 7 pedestrian related deaths during the first 12 days of this year and if this trend were to continue it would put us on pace to hit well over 200 fatalities this year.
Back in 2010 during renovations at the Bronx County Courthouse, several historical murals depicting Jonas Bronck and local Lenape Native Americans were severely water damaged.
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr complained to the city on numerous occasions but the years went by and the decay worsened.
Now the city finally has done right by the Bronx and the murals and work will begin to restore the historical works of art.
The Bronx County Historical Society has just published a new book, by Bronx historian Lloyd Ultan, on Blacks in the Bronx during colonial times —a first of its kind.
According to the Society’s website:
For the first time in over three and a half centuries, the story of people of African descent in the colonial Bronx, the northernmost borough of New York City, is being told. Discovered in over fifty scattered places, 210 separate accounts written by participants and witnesses from 1664 to 1783 in letters, government documents, court records, wills, memoirs and newspapers are brought together in one volume for the first time. The noted historian and author, Lloyd Ultan, puts these statements and accounts from the era into context, telling what they mean and tying them all together in a revealing narrative.
When my friend gave me tickets to ‘Closet Bitch’ (written and performed by Shana Solomon) at Stage Left Studio in Chelsea, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect except that I was going to watch another autobiographical one woman show.
The play is a riveting look into the rough life of a Bronxite who beat all the odds stacked against her; a schizophrenic mother banished from her life by a drug addicted and dealer of a father, all told with humor which softens the blow of her story.
Yes, I know many are thinking, “here we go again another woe is me, the Bronx is rough” story which has been done ad nauseum but I promise you it’s much more than that.
MELROSE—The Bronx’s oldest commercial shopping district, The Hub is about to get its first luxury high-rise and it was only a matter of time before it happened given what’s been going on…
You may remember last year when a 4 train emerged from the yard and into service at Woodlawn with a couple of cars tagged up.
Well this time along the 2 and 5 Line at the East 180th yard in the Bronx, several cars were spotted that were bombed last month and it appears it was done by crew from Spain in Barcelona.
The College of New Rochelle in Melrose at 332 East 149th Street between Courtlandt and Morris Avenues has put its 50,000+ square foot, 9 story campus / office building for sale with an asking price of $10.5 million (the former location of the old Savemart electronic store for you history buffs).
Tomorrow, Wednesday February 12th at the Bronx Museum of the Arts there will be a community meeting at 6:30PM to discuss the possibility of closing a stretch of the Grand Concourse from 165th Street to 167th Street for three Sundays this August in an attempt to revive a smaller version of a beloved Bronx tradition: Boogie On the Boulevard.
In what’s become a holiday tradition at the Bronx Documentary Center, this Friday Bronx residents will be able to receive a free 8×10 portrait for Valentine’s Day. Each additional print is available for $5 each.
One of the most glaring transit deserts in the Bronx is Co-op City. This development with some 44,000 residents, as well as the northeast Bronx, is in dire need of a new subway line. And it can become a reality if the abandoned trackways of the Bronx Amtrak line are put to use.
Noted VII Photo Agency documentary photographer and videographer Jessica Dimmock will present her video series from the BDC’s current Too Young to Wed exhibition, created by Stephanie Sinclair, about child marriage around the world. Jessica will present other recent documentary projects as well.
