City Year NY celebrates MLK
Day by painting Bronx murals
BRUCKNER DETOX
CENTER OPPOSED
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New owner:
I’m developing wellness center
A sense of concern and outrage
is brewing in Throggs
Neck about a possible conversion
of an offi ce building into
an unwanted use.
Commercial tenants at
2800 Bruckner Boulevard received
letters to vacate the
property, and community
leaders have formed a coalition
to fi ght a possible alcohol
Westchester Square reels over vagrants
ulder during a confrontation
Continued on Page 67
Continued on Page 67
BRONX TIMES REPORTER,42 JANUARY 24-30, 2020 BTR
Two volunteers from the program City Year NY work on a portrait mural
inside P.S. 43 in Mott Haven on Jan. 20 to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.
Day. Over 600 volunteers partcipated in the mural painting at the school.
Photo courtesy of City Year NY staff members
MetroCard Van
scheduled stops
Assemblyman Michael Benedetto,
in conjunction with Councilman
Mark Gjonaj, announces that
the MetroCard Mobile Van will
visit the Throggs Neck and Morris
Park sections.
The van will be parked at Morris
Park Public Library, 985 Morris
Park Avenue, on Wednesday, January
29th, between the hours of 10
a.m. and noon. Then it will move to
JASA Throggs Neck Senior Center,
2705 Schley Avenue, from 1 to 3 p.m.
The MetroCard Mobile Van enables:
• Senior citizens 65 years of age
or older to apply for Reduced-Fare
MetroCard and receive a temporary
card on the spot (Bring proof
of age such as a Medicare card and
valid photo identifi cation);
• People with disabilities that
qualify, and who present a Medicare
card and valid photo ID such
as a driver’s license to apply for Reduced
Fare MetroCard;
• Daily riders to add money to
their Reduced-Fare MetroCard;
and
• Everyone to get all MetroCard
questions answered.
For more information, call Assemblyman
Benedetto’s offi ce at
(718) 892-2235
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KYLE VUILLE
Over 600 volunteers joined
former NFL player Chris
Canty, former NBA player Felipe
Lopez and others from various
sponsors to paint vibrant
murals throughout the halls of
a Mott Haven school.
A group of dedicated volunteers
from NBC, Starbucks, TMobile,
Santander Bank and
City Year NY paid P.S. 43 in
Mott Haven a visit on Martin
Luther King Jr. Day to give
back to the community.
“We painted multiple murals
on fi ve levels of the school
to brighten up and inspire the
students and faculty there,”
City Year NY executive director
Laura Hamm said.
City Year NY is an educational
organization that assigns
Americorp workers to do
one on one mentoring in math
and science as well as run after
school programs for underserved
communities.
“We have 200 members in 18
schools and 8 to 12 in each individual
school,” Hamm said.
According to Hamm,
“Schools partnering with City
Year - as compared with similar
schools without City Year
- are two times more likely to
improve on state English assessments
and up to three
times more likely to improve
profi ciency rates in math.”
Hamm wanted to thank all
the City Year NY alumni that
participated in the event as well
as the event’s sponsors: K2 Intelligence,
T-Mobile, Starbucks
and Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
She sees these events as a
way to recruiting for City Year
NY. Anyone from 18 to 25 with a
high school diploma is encouraged
to join.
“We are always recruiting
for the following year,” Hamm
said.
Volunteers were split in
designated groups to work on
individual segments of murals.
Paintings ranging from
inspirational Bronx fl avored
phrases to portraits of Barack
Obama and Dr. King Jr. himself
now have a presence in the
stairwells, along hallways and
rooms in the school.
The school itself, P.S. 53, the
Jonas Bronck School, is a K3
to 5 school with about 500 students.
As for the impact of the murals
on P.S. 43 students, Bronx
Times spoke to Dr. Delucchi,
principal of the school and several
teachers.
“There was an amazing energy
when the students walked
in today,” Dr. Delucchi said.
“They were amazed with the
transformation, it’s really triggering
the children’s imagination
looking at the historical
fi gures.”
P.S 43’s speech language services
teacher, Daebriah Wint,
seconded the importance of
having these historical fi gures
for students to look up and be
inspired from.
“It’s such a great way to
showcase students the work
and a great way to come into
Black History Month,” Wint
said.
Wint mentioned students
fi nd it comforting to look up to
these inspirational characters
in history that refl ect how they
look themselves.
One long-standing faculty
member, special education
teacher for 20 years Jessica
Rivera, said she loved the mural
work to the entrance of the
school and all the Bronx fl avor
incorporated into the art.
“A lot of murals exhibit
Bronx pride like the one of #4
train, the graffi ti with ‘Boogie
Down Bronx’, and the school’s
pledge which the kids recite everyday,”
Rivera said.
She highlighted one mural
piece she fi nds exceptionally
special for the students at P.S.
43 which states, “This is where
our journey begins,” that encourages
learning for years to
come.
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While Bronxites prepared
to take a ‘bite out of crime’
at the annual August 1 Night
Out Against Crime, one crook
turned that around and took
a bite out of a local merchant
who tried to interrupt his
thievery.
A.M.A.F. Fashion business
owner Abdul Sol felt more
than an impact to his quality
of life on the morning of Sunday,
July 9, when a shoplifter
tried to leave his store with
a bag of clothing and Sol sufered
a severe bite on his left
rearm and a dislocated right
with the man.
At his 25 Westchester
Square store, Sol recalled how
the shoplifter had on previous
customer.
occasions
been a paying “He spent money here,
it’s not like I never saw him
before,” Sol said. “He came
around two or three months
ago and bought a pair of
shoes.”
But the Sunday of the assault,
the suspect asked for a
shopping bag, grabbed stuff,
and tried to leave, according
to Sol.
“I told him, ‘No, you can’t
take my stuff.’”
A fi ght ensued and Sol said
he “went to the ground with
him. I hurt my shoulder. He
took a big bite in my arm. I was
at the hospital until 6 o’clock. I
still have pain in my shoulder.
I still can’t lift my left arm.”
Sol said he had seen the
shoplifter associate with patients
from the Bronx Psychiatric
Center, so he fi gured he
was a client.
As Bronx Psychiatric Center,
on Waters Place, continues
to release its patients on
the street during the day, they
interact with homeless people
and drug rehab program.
Complaints have been
fi led with the city about beds
being moved into the building
or illegally converting it
into a residential building,
with some folks planning to
take legal action against the
landlord because they have
leases, according to multiple
sources.
Homeowners and renters
are also circulating petitions
to protest what appears to be
“a substance-abuse rehabilitation
program recruiting
staff” to work in the building
and lack of community notice
or engagement on what
may be sited at 2800 Bruckner
Boulevard.
“The community is defi -
nitely mobilized,” said Steven
Kaufman, an attorney who
is leading the Throggs Neck
Strong coalition looking into
the matter, adding “I believe
with mobilization, we might
be able to stop what they want
to do.”
Tenants in the building
say they got letters over the
last two weeks telling them
to vacate the building by
September, said Bobby Jaen,
Throggs Neck Merchants Association
president and coalition
member.
So far, at least 20 complaints
have been logged with
the NYC Department of Buildings,
including those concerning
“commercial space that is
being turned into residential
space” and those saying tenants
see “beds, dressers, mirrors
and chairs,” being moved
in.
As of press time, a meeting
of the Throggs Neck Strong
coalition has been planned
for the Crosstown Diner on
Thursday, August 3, with Jaen
expecting around 125 people,
following a lot of community
organizing and petitioning
that led to a forceful showing
at an earlier impromptu meeting
on Friday, July 28.
Anthony Mameli, Charles
Ruttenberg Realty’s Bronx
commercial real estate manager,
said the company was
planning a grand opening for
its new offi ce at the building
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