BY GEORGE HAVRANEK
REMEMBER IDA: This
heartbreaking 3D event
brought damage, destruction
and death to our city; must
not fall by the wayside. The
August 2020 fury of Tropical
Storm Isais inspired statewide
public hearings. The
aftermath of Ida requires
citywide, multiple agency investigations
including examinations
of NYC’s inadequate
infrastructure and plans to
offset predicted increased
inland fl ooding. This important
health and public safety
issue warrants questions, answers
and proper action.
PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS:
A COMMUNITY
THREAT
Perpetual density increases
to Pelham Bay exemplifi
es the impact of
pre-existing conditions. In
Pelham Bay, multiple blocks
with older, long-standing,
apartment buildings unfortunately
did not fi t lowdensity
criteria/context for
previous downzones. The
consequence: many smaller
homes, some bookended by
much taller dwellings, are
zoned at higher density R-6
or R-7 designations. This preexisting
condition set the table
for developers to implement
powerful, unimpeded
As of Right development. As
of Right development is not
subject to Community Board
reviews, City Planning Commissions
or City Council
approval. As of Right seedings
rapidly produce mushroom
fi elds of vertical builds;
markedly change neighborhood
streetscapes and more
often than not, negatively affect
quality of life. Simply, As
of Right development, which
historically follows upzones,
allows unobstructed replacement
of the small with the
very tall.
TNALLC efforts to upzone
segments of Bruckner Boulevard
will ultimately affect every
community. The TNALLC
plan will produce bookend scenarios
found in pre-existing
condition segments of Pelham
Bay. The bookend template
creates pathways for developers
to freely benefi t from “in
context” scenarios leading to
land reviews, upzones, and
tsunamic As of Right development.
Seemingly immune lowdensity
neighborhoods such
as Spencer Estate and Country
Club are prime targets for
undesirable developer activities.
Prosperous low-density
communities require political
immunizations to thwart
the formations of virulent,
developer friendly, pre-existing
conditions. Absent of
political immunities, in locust
like fashion, pre-existing
conditions will trigger
land reviews, community
land trusts, additional dwelling
units (A.D.U.’s), upzones,
and As of Right development
throughout our neighborhoods.
Whether inland, island,
waterfront, waters’ edge
or lined with silver beaches,
no community is immune. Get
the point. The virulent germs
of greed tethered to the Bruckner
upzone must be eradicated
before every low-density community
becomes endangered
species.
If we want to keep and reap
the blessings of our fi ne quality
of life, we must endure the
fatigue of supporting it.
Our community has traditionally
exhibited a “We are
Family attitude.” Communicate;
make that phone call,
text message or email. Please
check on family, friends and
neighbors, especially the elderly
and vulnerable. Any
area homeowner or renter interested
in the Spencer Estate
Civic Association attend our
Dec. 15 meeting or send an
email to spencerestatecivic@
gmail.com
R e m e m b e r :
Community=Common-Unity
and Inclusion brings Solution
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, N BTR OV. 26-DEC. 2,2021 39
BY FRANK VERNUCCIO
Every once in a while, a
politician openly states what
he or she actually believes.
When that rare event occurs,
it causes enormous concern
when it becomes evident how
disdainful the nation’s elites
are to traditional rights.
Virginia Democratic Gubernatorial
candidate Terry
McAuliffe (who previously
served as the states’ chief executive
from 2014-2018) stated
during a debate that “I don’t
think parents should be telling
schools what they should
teach.”
McAuliffe’s position,
which cost him the election,
offended not only parents,
but many educators as well. A
New York City teacher I interviewed
commented that “Parents
are our children’s fi rst,
and most important, teachers.”
McAuliffe broke no new
ground in his arrogant comment.
Attempts to prevent
parents from having a say in
the education of their own
children are a growing trend
on the part of America’s increasingly
leftist-dominated
educational czars.
Examples abound. To cite
just one instance, out of very,
very many: In 2015, notes
the Philadelphia Inquirer,
“School Reform Commission
(SRC) chair William Green
made a unilateral decision,
with no public vote or notifi -
cation, to have police search
the bags and confi scate the
signs of parents and community
members who came to be
heard…”
While the issue has been
brewing for some time, it
erupted into public consciousness
on a massive scale during
the COVID pandemic,
when students received their
education at home, where parents
could overhear and discover
that political indoctrination
was being force fed to
their offspring.
Mothers and fathers across
the country were stunned.
The Independent Women’s
Forum addressed the issue
in June, stating “The intent
is clear… They want to intimidate
parents who might
want to attend a school board
meeting to ask questions, engage
in conversation, fi nd out
why the school is pursuing
certain policies, or express
even slight discomfort with
the political indoctrination
they see in schools… increasingly,
school boards are just
rubber stamps for…corrupt
school leaders…These board
members are clever. They’ve
gone on defense because they
know that, all over the country,
parents are getting wise
to what’s really happening in
schools. And many parents
have had enough. The powerful
viral videos are out there
showing a diverse group of
parents from all races, economic,
and educational levels,
native born and immigrant
to this country, speaking out
against critical race theory,
the 1619 Project curriculum…
other woke school policies.”
A number of organizations
have risen to the challenge.
Parents Rights in Education
believes that “The primary issue
today with public schools
is the shift of infl uence in our
public school system away
from parent involvement. Parents…
care about state and
district policies infringing
on their rights to make decisions
about and with their minor
children. The government
has infringed upon those
rights…” and it’s time to re-establish,
to restore our rights!”
The imposition of any partisan
perspective in a taxpayer
funded educational environment
is unacceptable.
The cramming of discredited
Marxist and openly false,
anti-American curriculum
down the throats of students
is particularly galling.
The Heritage Foundation
notes: “Your children are being
indoctrinated. The education
system designed to teach
them how to think critically
has been weaponized by the
radical left to push an anti-
American agenda… Teachers
will assign work instilling the
idea that the pillars of Western
civilization were evil, and
their memories deserve to be
thrown in the trash.”
From national organizations
to local publications,
alarm bells are being rung.
Mike Rosen, in the journal
Complete Colorado writes:
“The academic left’s collective,
welcoming utopia of fairness,
tolerance, inclusion and
social justice is hypocritically
intolerant of dissenting viewpoints.
And especially unwelcoming
to conservatives and
others who espouse individualism,
limited government,
capitalism, and freedom of
speech and thought. Students
who stand up to these tyrants
have been shamed, harassed,
tried, convicted and punished
before kangaroo courts
of administrators, faculty
and student vigilantes who
deny them due process and
the right to confront their accusers…
This divisive and destructive
mentality has metastasized
and fi ltered down
to K-12 education in public
schools where most teachers
and administrators share the
progressive ideology of academia.
School curricula is increasingly
politicized with a
distinct leftist bias.”
A new and deeply disturbing
assault on moms and dads
has come from the Biden administration.
In an attempt to
suppress parental infl uence,
it issued a memorandum directing
the FBI to investigate
parents whom it maintains
“threaten” school boards. Of
course, any use or threat of violence
is wholly unacceptable,
but this particular move is inappropriate
in two important
ways. First, bluntly, it’s political
purpose is to characterize
all expressions of parental
rights as tantamount to criminal
threats. Second, it seeks
to federalize the oppression
of parents by rogue school
boards.
It is an exercise in elitist
power that should not be tolerated.
CIVIC CENTER
Community Action
Civic Association
CIVIC CENTER
Spencer Estate Civic
Association
Mayor Bill de Blasio Photo Linda Morales
/gmail.com