Against the wishes of the community, New York City Department of City Planning has released what their vision for the Jerome Avenue Corridor—a 73 block area—and what it should look like.
According to documents released, if the zoning is passed, it will lead to the potential creation of 3,250 units and adding approximately 10,000 more residents in an already dense area where basic services such as the subway system along the 4 line are strained and packed to capacity.
From a 3rd generation Jewish shopkeeper, to a Salvadoran auto worker, to an African hairdresser and a Latina nail salon worker, these are the people that the Bronx Documentary Center’s Bronx Photo League have been documenting for many months now for their upcoming exhibition, ‘Jerome Avenue Workers Project’.
Last year, New York City Department of City Planning announced that they were studying the “Cromwell-Jerome” area of The Bronx—an area that doesn’t exist which spurred fears of rebranding and gentrification—for possible rezoning due to rise in population and projected increases in population over the next several decades.
Last night at a meeting for the Croton Facility Management Committee, the Commissioner Emily Lloyd of New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection surprised all in attendance that the agency will move forward with a pilot program granting public access to The Jerome Park Reservoir—one of The Bronx’s greatest treasures that has been cut off from the public for some 20 years now.
One of the hottest topics in Bronx real estate is the proposed Cromwell-Jerome Avenue Study area which has the potential to transform a 73 block area which overlapping two community districts and multiple neighborhoods.
Gary Axelbank, the host of the long running BronxTalk, help a two-part series of discussions on the issues with the first having aired Monday, March 10 with Carol Samol on the show to talk more about the process and the study. On Monday, the second air showed which gave community groups such as CASA and Local 79 a chance to present their thoughts and ideas on the situation at hand.
Watch the videos on the conversation and let us know what you think.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Planning have a rough road ahead with Bronx residents.
Last night, hundreds of residents from within the Jerome Avenue Study Area (estimates had the crowd at at least 400 attending despite the weather), gathered to join in solidarity against a rezoning that the community feels is not about them or with them. Residents and community groups are so concerned yet so organized they have even formed a group and an umbrella alliance of all stakeholders calling themselves ‘Bronx Coalition for a Community Vision’.
The United Auto Merchant Association is holding a volunteer orientation meeting tomorrow at 12PM in order to mobilize auto merchants in the proposed Jerome Avenue Study / Rezoning Area. The orientation will be held at 1332 Commerce Avenue (Next to the Department of Motor Vehicles).
When the Cromwell-Jerome Study Area Jerome Avenue Study Area (City Planning has since changed the name) was announced last year, it stirred a lot of controversy as residents saw it an attempt to rebrand existing neighborhoods of the West Bronx and pave the way for gentrification via rezoning — a tool often used by the previous administration often without regard to community residents who lived in the areas. The study area grew from 57 blocks to a massive 73 blocks.
Now, as the Jerome Avenue Study Area was announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio as one of the 6 areas slated for rezonings, community groups and even local elected officials are getting residents together to discuss the future and fate of their neighborhoods at a meeting scheduled for March 5th — after all, these are the very people who will be impacted by any zoning changes the city eventually will implement to increase density.
Major controversy surrounds the Cromwell-Jerome Neighborhood Study area and Crains New York just issued an article on it. The proposed 73 block study area was the topic of the recent 2nd Annual Bronx Gentrification Conference at the Bronx Documentary Center this past Saturday.
Neighborhood residents are fearful that city planning is coming in to upzone the area and push out long time residents as well as businesses.
Major controversy surrounds the Cromwell-Jerome Neighborhood Study area and Crains New York just issued an article on it. The proposed 73 block study area was the topic of the recent 2nd Annual Bronx Gentrification Conference at the Bronx Documentary Center this past Saturday.
Neighborhood residents are fearful that city planning is coming in to upzone the area and push out long time residents as well as businesses.
Between the screeching of the 4 Train overhead and the sounds of drills and valves, you can hardly find serenity on Jerome Avenue in The Bronx. All of that noise is probably ambiance for the mostly immigrant mechanics who keep one of the last few auto repair zones of its kind Downstate functioning. For all of its noise and environmental pollution, Jerome offers refuge to many. Consumers come there for its cheaper auto repair prices. And the employers keeping it running are some of the few fortunate enough to still hold automotive repair jobs, in a market where those opportunities are increasingly harder to come by.
It’s here that the City is exploring “designing” a new neighborhood, to be called Cromwell-Jerome. According to the Department of City Planning’s website, the initiative will be “a community-driven neighborhood plan centered on affordable housing in Community District 4 and Community District 5 in the Bronx.” Promises are that there will be a comprehensive plan to improve traffic safety, crime rates, and food access for the neighborhood also.
New York City Department of City Planning recently made headlines with the announcement of the Cromwell-Jerome Study Area that straddles the Bronx neighborhoods of Highbridge, University Heights, Morris Heights, Mount Hope, and the Concourse. The study encompasses a massive 57 block corridor with Jerome Avenue as its spine.
DCP invites the public to join Community Walking Tours of the study area. The first tour is scheduled for Saturday, October 18th from 11AM-12PM and will provide a general overview of the study area. The second tour is scheduled for Saturday, October 25th from 11AM-12PM and will focus on transportation and parks in and around the study area. The tours will begin at the NW corner of the Grand Concourse and East 167th Street in front of the High Life Deli and Grocery.
Apparently new land has appeared overnight in The Bronx that will be developed and branded Cromwell-Jerome.
Well that’s not quite what happened but after reading Denis Slattery’s story in the Daily News, about City Planning’s intention to re-christen an existing neighborhood with a new name, it might as well be.
The area in question is carved out of sections of areas of Highbridge and Mount Eden West of the Grand Concourse and Jerome Avenue (and thus the 4 train) acting as the spine of this “new” neighborhood and would be the result of rezoning this 57 block area to promote more residential developments in the area.
You must be logged in to post a comment.