BTR letters & comments
all four tunnels is competed
by 2030.
Enhancing
the story
Dear editor,
It is always a pleasure to
read one of Bill Twomey’s reprinted
Bronx history articles
in the Bronx Times Reporter.
They are always informative
and they remind me of my
dear friend Bill, how much he
meant to me and many others.
It was especially nice to
read the article where Bill
mentioned me and Nick Di-
Brino, whose 80th Birthday
party we recently celebrated.
That story was about the
historic St. Philip’s Protestant
Episcopal Church Parish
House, converted from a
school in 1896. Sadly, only
a photo of the empty lot was
used by Bill that he took on
December 3, 2010.
I have attached a photo of
the Parish House from the
week before, as mentioned by
Bill when we were all there before
it was torn down. I think
your readers would what to
know “ the rest of the story”.
Thank you for keeping Bill
close to us.
Thomas X. Casey
No room for
Metro North
Dear editor,
The new $51 billion 2020 -
2024 MTA Five Year Capital
Plan provides $695 million
which will complete the $1.5
billion funding package to pay
for completion of construction
to support Metro North New
Haven branch new East Bronx
service to Penn Station. Problem
is that service may not
start until 2024 or later.
Here is what elected offi -
cials, MTA and Metro North
will never address. There is
no room to run additional
trains into or out of Penn Station
during rush hours via the
East River tunnels with connections
to Queens. Three of
four tunnels running inbound
during the a.m. and outbound
p.m. rush hours have very
tight spacing between trains.
One tunnel is shared by the
LIRR, New Jersey Transit
and Amtrak for reverse train
movements with equally tight
spacing during rush hours.
This also includes limited
platform capacity at Penn Station
to accommodate any additional
trains. Penn Station is
currently operating at 100 percent
capacity during hours.
The MTA is unable to run
any Metro Metro North trains
BOROUGH PRESIDENT
RUBEN DIAZ, JR
Memoir of a breast cancer survivor
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, O BTR CTOBER 11-17, 2019 13
as stated
BY LISA LOCASIO
Being a stubborn Sicilian
girl from the Bronx, the concept
that one of my own breasts
was secretly trying to kill me
was incomprehensible.
“First, you must sign this
consent form for your mastectomy
today.” The pre-op nurse
handed me a clipboard so I
could read what (besides losing
a breast) I was signing up
for. The fatal risk list included
possible blood clots, heart failure,
anaphylaxis, and infection.
Next,
I got put to bed near a window,
an IV sedation drip stuck in
my arm, curtained in and ordered
to relax. Relax? I decided
to pray instead.
“Hail Mary-…” rolling Rosary
beads between my fi ngers,
each prayer bead rolled
back time, until I found myself
lost in a memory from childhood.
It was the afternoon that
nuns at Sacred Heart grammar
school sent me home with
a sealed note for my mother.
From that day on, I was
girded in a ‘minimizer brasserie’
instead of the undershirt
I had been wearing under my
Catholic School uniform. Obviously,
my mother took notes
from nuns seriously.
The awkwardness of having
large breasts continued
during my teen years. Mercifully,
as a grown woman, I
learned to love my breasts the
day I met my son for the fi rst
time.
The La Leche League, socalled
‘lactation advocates’
who promote breastfeeding to
the point of a political agenda,
were going room to room in
the Einstein Hospital maternity
ward where I had just
given birth. They found me
crying on my newborn’s head
and coached me to nurse successfully.
For several months afterward,
I felt such fulfi llment
whenever I lovingly breastfeed
my son; like being in a
state of maternal grace. Until
he bit me.
Somehow, La Leche League
showed up uninvited at my
house. When I informed them
that I had weaned my toothy
baby, they called me a bad
mother; shaming me for quitting
on my breast.
My mother came to my de-
from the Bronx to access Penn
Station until the LIRR begins
service to Grand Central Terminal.
New Metro North service
from the New Haven line must
compete with LIRR, New Jersey
Transit and Amtrak access
to one of four East River tunnels
along with platform space
at Penn Station before being
able to start service in 2024.
All three agencies have their
own plans for expanded rush
hour services to Penn Station.
This is why any proposed new
services to Penn Station from
the Bronx are challenging to
initiate. Amtrak will not initiate
major repairs and renovations
to the East River tunnels
as a result of major damages
suffered from Super Storm
Sandy in 2011 until 2024.
It will require one of two
tunnels damaged by Super
Storm Sandy in 2012 being
out of service at a time for one
to two years to support this
work. The other two tunnels
will need one year each for
similar work. With only three
of four tunnels available, there
will be a reduction in Penn
Station access and capacity.
To preserve existing service,
some LIRR rush hour trains
will be canceled or combined.
This would make it very diffi -
cult to add new services such
as Bronx Metro North Access
to Penn Station until work on
This week’s As Stated celebrates
the success of FreshDirect
reaching its hiring goal
and contains a rebuke of State
Senator Alessandra’s disparaging
remarks about rural
New York.
Borough President Ruben
Diaz, Jr.’s comments on
FreshDirect reaching its 1,000
employee hiring goal.....“It
was important when Fresh-
Direct announced its move
to the Bronx that the jobs the
company created would go
to Bronx residents. The company’s
hiring statistics make
it clear that FreshDirect has
done the work to provide borough
residents with the opportunities
for jobs and careers
that were not previously available
to them. Our borough has
seen record drops in unemployment
over the past decade,
and FreshDirect is an important
part of that story.
“I commend FreshDirect
for their commitment to local
hiring, and I look forward to
continuing to work with the
company to create new career
paths for Bronx residents at all
levels of their organization.”
A statement from NYGOP
chairman Nick Langworthy
calling on Senator Alessandra
Biaggi to apologize for her
disrespectful comments toward
rural Americans who voted for
Donald Trump..... “The elitist
and dismissive comments
made by Senator Biaggi toward
rural Americans--millions
of whom are residents
of the state she is supposed to
represent--are sadly representative
of today’s entire Democratic
Party.
“The sentiment that anyone
who does not subscribe to an
urban, leftist agenda doesn’t
deserve a voice is eerily reminiscent
of (Governor) Cuomo’s
‘conservatives have no place
in New York’ comment. I invite
Senator Biaggi to leave
the Bronx and come upstate
so she can see how many good,
hardworking New Yorkers are
struggling under her narrow
world view. She owes them an
apology.
op ed
fense by chasing the La La
Ladies, (as she called them)
brandishing a wooden spoon,
(as it was Sunday) back to
Larchmont, “where public
breastfeeding was a sport
and deodorant and bras optional.”
The memory of that day
made me laugh. And laugh I
did; until a lone teardrop escaped
across my face, reminding
me where I was. And why.
In confi nement behind the
curtain in the hospital’s preop,
I tried my best to not cry
whilst awaiting my mastectomy.
“Hail Mary-… yawn.”
Fighting to stay awake, I
looked out of the window at
a wintry scene. A squall of
balmy snow fell from a silvery
sky, each snowfl ake melting
against the windowpane like
so many promises to keep.
A gentle lady leaned in
close, her petal-soft voice vowing
to keep my Rosary beads
safe for me.
Vaguely conscious of being
wheeled into the operating
room, fl uttery, goodbyes
escaped my lips, goodbye my
son …goodbye my parents…
goodbye everyone I’ve ever
loved…even if we… fell out…
of… love.
My hand was on my heart.
Sleep.
Goodbye,…my breast.
(Lisa LoCasio has been cancer
free for over ten years and
will be walking in the upcoming
Making Strides Against
Breast Cancer Walk at Orchard
Beach).
Larry Penner
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