The Bronx Flat Iron Building Cir.
1914 Photo courtesy of Thomas X. Casey
BRONX TIMES R 58 EPORTER, DECEMBER 11-17, 2020 BTR
CIVIC CENTER
The East Bronx
History Forum
BY COUNCILMAN
MARK GJONAJ
Cases of COVID-19 are
surging in the Bronx, and our
District 13’s very own City Island
has the highest rate of infection
in the entire borough.
Throughout the duration of
the pandemic, the Bronx has
been hit disproportionately
harder in nearly all ways we
can measure the virus’ effects
— medical, economic
and social.
In response, I, in partnership
with Essen Health Care,
am offering free COVID-19
testing and COVID-19 antibody
testing. On two days at
Hawkins Park (located at 285
City Island Ave., Bronx, NY
10464) City Island constituents
can receive an active virus
test or an antibody test.
These tests are free, easily
administered and completely
confi dential. The active virus
test can be received on Dec.
11 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The
antibody test can be received
on Monday, Dec. 14 from
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Especially if you suspect
you have been infected with
COVID-19 and are either 1)
currently experiencing symptoms,
or 2) experienced symptoms
in the past, please come
for free testing. This spike
in City Island can be effectively
reduced if its inhabitants
know whether they are
actively infectious or not (and
thus can determine whether
they need to isolate) or if they
have developed antibody resistance
to it. However, as we
know, sometimes people do
not present with symptoms. It
is possible you may be an active
carrier of COVID-19 and
not feel sick. We implore you,
then, to come for free testing
even if you fall into this camp.
Smart decision-making
informed by viral testing, social
distancing, mask protocol
and other preventive
measures will reduce the
spread of the virus. I want
to thank Essen Health Care
for their partnership in this
community endeavor.
For more information
about these fee testing offerings,
general COVID-19 related
questions, or any other
questions, please contact my
offi ce either at 718-931-1721
or at MGjonaj@council.nyc.
gov. Thank you, be safe, and
if you are resident of City Island,
please come for your free
COVID-19 testing.
BY TONY SALIMBENE
Just a quick note, I think
I know what we all hope for
this Christmas?
Watch your phone and
email for news about our
December meeting as the
COVID-19 situation continues
to change! Keep in
touch with your buddy check
team members.
Please answer your PC Joe
Mazzariello’s toy drive letter
with a nice donation. It’s
not too late, funds are always
needed for various expenses.
Did you do something to help
the less fortunate this season?
Until next time: In case we
can’t get together, the commander,
his staff, me and wife,
hope you have the best Christmas
season possible and remember
the true meaning of
the day!
BY FRANK VERNUCCIO
The overt and extraordinary
bias and partisanship on
the part of far too many leaders
and the media that support
them has led to a form
of moral blindness that has
warped values.
In the comedy movie series
“Naked Gun,” an alien fl ying
saucer lands in New York’s
Time Square. Beautiful aliens
emerge. Leslie Nielsen, who
plays the role of a bumbling detective,
stands in front of the
spacecraft and tells amazed
bystanders, “Move along, nothing
to see here.”
That phrase could well be
the motto of our era.
Much of the world has
turned a blind eye to terrible
assaults on human rights,
particularly barbaric attacks
on Christians. Open Doors
recently published its World
Watch 2020 report detailing
the massive international persecution
that religious group
currently endures.
According to the data presented,
260 million Christians
worldwide suffer high levels
of persecution in at least 50
nations. The Beijing regime
uses sophisticated technology
to catch and convict what
the Communist regime terms
the “illegal spread of Christianity.”
In Burkina Faso,
Christians are fi ghting for
their very survival. Dozens of
priests have been killed. Protestant
ministers face not only
dire threats to themselves but
to their families as well.
Open Doors notes that “In
Sri Lanka, 250 people died
and more than 500 were injured
in attacks on Catholic
and Protestant churches and
hotels on an Easter Sunday.
In Pakistan, radical Islamist
groups have used so-called
“blasphemy laws” to imprison
Christians. Due to relentless
persecution, Christianity is
on the verge of completely vanishing
from portions of the
Middle East.
While the chattering
classes vocally condemn the
concentration camps that
darkened Europe in the 1940’s,
there is only minimal condemnation
of the 21st century version
of those nightmare establishments,
those existing in
China set up for the specifi c
purpose of wiping out the Uyghur
people and culture.
Over the past dozen years
or so, we have been advised
by Washington power brokers
and media barons to ignore
astounding violations of
the Constitution, the law and
common decency. In affairs
both foreign and domestic, on
the streets of our cities, in the
playing fi elds of our stadiums,
in the boardrooms of corporations,
in the courtrooms of
our judicial system and most
prominently in the halls of
government, acts which are
a clear affront to American
values, traditions and statutes,
have been shrouded
by government obfuscation
and censorship of facts selfimposed
by deeply partisan
news organizations.
When the Obama administration’s
FCC representatives
attempted to place federal
monitors in newsrooms,
the move, (fortunately defeated)
didn’t get the level of
aggressive response it truly
warranted. When that same
White House used the Department
of Justice and the
Internal Revenue Service to
harass organizations that differed
from the president, no
one was punished. When Senate
Minority Leader Charles
“Chuck” Schumer introduced
legislation to remove First
Amendment protections from
paid political speech, much of
the media and academia were
stone quiet.
After losing the White House
in 2016 a totally false narrative
of “Russian collusion” was concocted
to cripple the incoming
administration. Despite clear
repudiation of that charge after
years of intensive investigation,
the perpetrators of the plot went
completely unpunished.
As President Trump began
to put his legitimate stamp
on U.S. policy, illicit means to
deny him his constitutional
authority took shape. Courts
on several levels, particularly
the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals,
issued rulings in areas
over which they had no Constitutional
authority in an effort
to stop the lawful exercise of
Executive Branch power. Most
lawyers associations and legal
academic institutions and journals
chose to side with these judicial
usurpers.
Now, we are told that while
there were some irregularities
in the 2020 presidential
election, it’s not enough to
change the outcome or to be
concerned about.
Move along, there’s nothing
to see here.
Editor’s note: Views in this
column refl ect the author’s opinion
and should be verifi ed by
outside sources.
CIVIC CENTER
COMACTA
BY THOMAS X. CASEY
The Huntington Free Library
and Reading Room
is pleased to announce The
East Bronx History Forum
will hold its 150th meeting
on Wednesday, Dec. 16 at 8
p.m., with a Zoom presentation
by Jeff Reuben, “Tops
in The Bronx: Tracing the
Brough’s Tallest Buildings.”
The 1931 Empire State
Building was the tallest
building in the world for 40
years until the World Trade
Center. What about the
Bronx and which building
held the Bronx record, long
past 40 years? Many builders
have claimed their “apartment”
building was the tallest,
such as the 1914 Bronx
Flat Iron, but has it been
surpassed? The Bronx has
seen recent challenges to
the top with all the new construction
since the 1960’s.
Jeff Reuben’s presentation
settles all the arguments up
to 2020, but what is coming
in 2021 and beyond?
Jeff Reuben is a city planner
and works for a private
consulting firm based in
Manhattan. He is also an
architecture columnist for
“Untapped New York,” an
online magazine, where he
writes about planning, architecture
and urban history.
He is the author of “Revisiting
the Bronx’s Early
Twentieth Century Charitable
Residences” and “Tops in
The Bronx” which appeared
in the 2016 and 2018 editions
respectively, of the Bronx
County Historical Society
Journal. He has a Bachelor
of Arts in History from the
University of Colorado and
a Master of Urban Planning
Degree from the University
of Illinois at Chicago.
This presentation is not
to be missed and is limited
to the first 100 members
and friends that log onto
our Zoom meeting. The East
Bronx History Forum will
post the login details on our
web page at BronxNYC.com.
Remember, we will meet
online, 8 p.m., Wednesday,
Dec. 16.
CIVIC CENTER
Korony AL Post 253
COVID tests for City Island
link
/BronxNYC.com
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