BY MARY JANE MUSANO
The next Waterbury La-
Salle Community Association
meeting will be on
Tuesday, September 24 at
7:30 p.m. at the First Lutheran
Church on Hollywood
and Baisley avenues.
Our guest speaker will be
Captain Fraser of the 45th
Precinct. I urge everyone
to attend this meeting as it
is not often that we can arrange
for our captain to attend
our civic meetings.
Right now there are crucial
issues concerning the
NYPD and this is our opportunity
to ask questions and
let our Captain know how
we feel on the issues.
As you may know, we
have lost nine police officers
from our precinct. There is
a possibility that six may be
replaced. Of course, this is
not at all acceptable. Not
only do we need a complete
replacement of all nine officers,
we need more officers
for this huge precinct.
Even with the new NCO
Program, it is rare to see
a cop on our streets. If we
are noticing that, so are the
criminals.
Another important issue
is the disrespect shown
to the officers of the NYPD.
Even though most residents
of our community respect
our officers, our officers
are still experiencing low
morale as they sympathize
with their fellow officers.
Low morale often is the
reason for slowdowns and
for officers to second guess
their response for each call
for help. So, this problem
affects all of us and the solution
requires a response
from all of us. We must all
speak out against attacks on
our officers. We must call
for the elimination of ordinances
that tie their hands
and we must tighten up legislation
to protect all officers
and allow them to do
their jobs.
In a previous column, I
shared that our association
sent letters to all local electeds
to ask that they speak
out publicly against the attacks
on our officers and
that they tighten up legislation
that would make it a
felony to attack an officer
or try to prevent him from
doing his job even if it does
not result in harm to the
officer. I reported that I received
a response from our
councilman but not yet from
the others. Unfortunately,
I never received the timely
response sent to us from Assemblyman
Michael Benedetto.
I must say that I have
always received a timely response
from our assemblyman.
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, S 44 EPTEMBER 20-26, 2019 BTR
I guess it got lost in the
clouds of the internet.
So, our assemblyman responded
that he shares our
concern about the lack of respect
shown to our officers.
He also agrees that anyone
who attacks police or prevents
them from doing their
job should be punished. In
response to our call for all
electeds to speak out publicly
against this, he feels
that it is incumbent upon
local elected officials in areas
where such incidents
occur to speak out. He suggested
that the police commissioner
develop quick
response teams in each precinct
to be deployed into
trouble spots. This a great
idea but we don’t even have
enough officers to do general
policing as we are down
nine officers.
We have not received a
response from Senator Alessandra
Biaggi and Congresswoman
Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez. When electeds
ignore a community
this must be dealt with at
election time. It is their job
to communicate with their
constituents and if they are
not we need to get someone
in there who will. That being
said, it is my job to keep
trying and you can be sure
that I will.
I hope to see you all at our
September meeting. Please
bring a neighbor with you.
Support and respect our
police.
BY STEVEN GLOSSER
Eyeglass Collection Effort
Yes, there is sight at the
end of the tunnel. On Wednesday
September 4, the Pelham
Parkway Neighborhood Association
has made another delivery
to the Bronx Lions Club
of 364 pairs of used eyeglasses
collected from the generous
Pelham Parkway and Morris
Park community to be donated
to needy adults and underprivileged
children in third
world countries throughout
the world.
There is a tremendous
need for recycled eyeglasses
throughout the world. The Lions
Club International will
have them cleaned, sterilized,
designate the prescription
and then package and
ship them for distribution to
needy groups and and adults
and children throughout the
world. The Lions Club is an
organization that empowers
volunteers to serve their communities,
meet humanitarian
needs, encourage peace and
promote international understanding
through Lions clubs.
The Bronx Lions Club is a
very community-minded organization
and we’re thrilled
to be working with them for
this worthy cause.”
When I fi rst met Bill Gumbel,
secretary of the Bronx Lions
Club, he was very welcoming
to the idea of donating the
eyeglass collection boxes to
my association.
I think it’s great that the
PPNA is branching out into
more humanitarian projects
such as this. We look forward
to working more with Bronx
Lions Club in the future. I
check the collection boxes every
two weeks and am fi nding
a surprisingly large amount
every time.
For this year’s insightful
project, Gumbel, Bronx Lions
Club secretary, provided
ten eyeglass collection boxes
which were strategically
placed throughout the Pelham
Parkway neighborhood.
The response was fantastic.
This is further proof of the
big hearts the giving people of
Pelham Parkway have. Credit
for the tremendous success
goes to the collection sites’
staff members who openly promoted
the cause to their many
customers and parishioners.
It’s wonderful to have so many
businesses who put their community
fi rst.
We encourage other community
and civic organizations
like the boy/girl scouts
to take part in this worthy
cause. All they have to do is
contact the Bronx Lions Club
through their website like I
SUMMER CONCERT AT
BRONX PARK EAST
Councilman Mark Gjonaj recently hosted his Summer Concert Series
featuring the Bronx Arts Ensemble at Bronx Park East.
(Right) Councilman Gjonaj (back ,l) and local youth enjoyed some
tasty hot dogs before the show.
Photo courtesy of Councilman Mark Gjonaj’s Offi ce
did and they will gladly send
you the collection boxes.
The Lions Clubs in the U.S.
alone, collect more than 20
million pair each year. They
are distributed to many sites
all over the world where volunteer
doctors test the vision
of those who either cannot afford
them or have no access to
an eye doctor.
There are 12 major collection
sites in the U.S. The
closest one to us is in West
Trenton, NJ. The donated eyeglasses
are fi rst cleaned and
then are passed through a
lensometer that determines
the prescription. The glasses
are then placed into an envelope
that has the prescription
noted on it.
The eyeglasses that were
collected by the PPNA for this
collection and another 600
pair will be given to one of
The Bronx Lions sister clubs
as the Yonkers Millennium
Lions Club will be making
another of their semi-annual
missions in February. These
eyeglasses will be distributed
to third world countries and
the underprivileged.
The Bronx Lions currently
have collection boxes for used
eyeglasses at 19 locations
within the borough. Founded
in 1923, the Bronx Lions annually
collects in excess of 2,000
pairs of bifocals.
Help make a difference
and improve people’s lives.
Please check for any used eyeglasses
you may have. The
following businesses and organizations
have graciously
donated space for our collection
boxes: Bronx House, 990
Pelham Parkway South; Apple
Bank, 626 Pelham Parkway
South; Pelham Parkway
Vision, 735 Lydig Avenue;
Sterling Optical, 2130 White
Plains Road; Creston Optical,
2169 White Plains Road; NY
Eye Surgery Center 1101 Pelham
Parkway North; and Eye
Care Unlimited, 1086 Morris
Park Avenue..