CIVIC CENTER
Waterbury LaSalle
Community
Association
BY ANDREW CHIRICO
This past Saturday we
held our fourth rally and fundraiser
against upzoning. It
was held at Waterbury Park
(Bufano Park). We now have
an offi cial name and website
“The Bronx Coalition Against
Up Zoning” and our website is
www.stopupzoning.com.
The website has our petition
which every member of
your family may sign. This
online petition will send an
email in your name to 50 members
of the City Council, the
mayor, the borough president,
Department of City Planning
and all of our elected offi cials
simultaneously. (Technology
is a wonderful thing). The
website has additional information
and links to other
helpful publications.
Our rally was well attended
by more than 100 concerned
neighbors. We invited
all of our elected offi cials and
all of the candidates running
for offi ce. Some responded,
some did not. Election day is
Nov. 2; polls are open from 6
a.m.-9 p.m.
Two of this year’s candidates
attended the rally, NYC
mayoral candidate Curtis
Sliwa, founder of the Guarding
Angels, and Bronx borough
president candidate
and former NYPD Lt. Sammy
Ravelo, a U.S. Navy Veteran
and founder of Dominican
Veterans of America. Sliwa
supports our efforts 100% to
stop upzoning in our neighborhood
as well as the entire
city, and he is also against the
vaccine mandates our current
mayor has imposed on our citizens.
Sliwa will restore hero
status to our police and allow
all employees the option
to test weekly if they cannot
or will not take this vaccine.
Ravelo also supports us 100%
against upzoning. Ravelo says
“no up zoning and no more
shelters in our city.”
Aleksander Mici, a candidate
for City Council, was
the fi rst to support our efforts
from our fi rst rally and
supports our efforts 100%,
but could not attend because
of a scheduling confl ict. Bill
Pepitone, also a candidate for
mayor also had a scheduling
confl ict, he also supports us
100%, Bill did attend our previous
rally.
State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi
sent her regrets, and did
not indicate support but she
does want to meet with our
coalition. State Assemblyman
Michael Benedetto sent us a
video statement in which he
indicates that he does support
us and he acknowledged the
fi ght for downzoning in 2004
when we were granted our
low-density growth management
status.
Other elected offi cials such
as outgoing NYC Councilman
Mark Gjonaj, outgoing Bronx
Borough President Rubin
Diaz Jr., and U.S. Rep. Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez did not
bother to respond at all; neither
did NYC Councilwoman
Vanessa Gibson, candidate for
borough president, and Eric
Adams, who is running for
mayor.
Marjorie Velasquez, who is
running for City Council, responded
FILE Photo
that she is “against
this up zoning in its present
form.” And would meet
with us only after the election.
Velasquez is endorsed
by a suspicious group called
Open New York, a group that
supports upzoning everywhere
and also wants to ban
one family homes and remove
parking requirements for all
building types everywhere.
How can a candidate for offi
ce have it both ways? I will
leave that answer up to you. If
you want to learn more about
Open New York google search
“Support Housing Champions
for New York City Council,”
which is a link to Open
New York’s endorsements.You
won’t believe it.
To continue our efforts,
The Coalition Against Up
Zoning is having a fundraiser
on Friday, Nov. 5, at
7 p.m. It will be held at The
Strand Beach Club, located
at 658 Clarence Ave. There
will be food, entertainment,
raffl es, door prizes and a
cash bar, and guest speakers.
Donation to enter is $50.
We hope you can attend this
event as we need your support
to raise funds to pay
for a land use attorney and
an engineering fi rm to fi ght
the developers high-priced
legal and lobbying teams.
Your help is still needed.
Please spread the word and
sign the petition at www.
stopupzoning.com. If we
lose our zoning we will lose
our community. “This is not
a done deal.” Special thanks
to The Strand, Barino’s
Market, Cross Town Diner
and Patricia’s of Throggs
Neck.
The Waterbury LaSalle
Community Association relies
on your dues to run our
organization. We don’t get
any help from our elected offi
cials. Please send your $10
yearly dues to Waterbury
LaSalle Community Association,
1145 Hobart Ave.,
Bronx, N.Y. 10461. We are a
501c 3 charity, which means
donations over and above
dues are tax deductible Stay
well and stay safe. We will
get through this.
CIVIC CENTER
Throggs Neck
Homeowners
Association
BY LYNN GERBINO
Thank you to all who attended
our last meeting. We
had a great turnout. John
Cerini did a great job explaining
the situation we have on
Bruckner Boulevard and,
hopefully, more people will
join the fi ght, as it could be
happening next to where you
live.
Our next meeting will be
held on Tuesday, Oct. 26, at 7
p.m. It will be held at the wonderful
Villa Barone and 45th
Precinct Capt. Issac Soberal
will be our guest speaker. We
are looking forward to meeting
him. Please remember you
must be vaccinated to attend.
We will try again to Zoom the
meeting.Log-in information is
as follows:
Topic: Throggs Neck Homeowners
AssociationTime: Oct.
26, 2021 07 PM Eastern Time
(US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meetinghttps://
us02web.zoom.us/j/847529522
12?pwd=bWMvUitoNGt3WGM
0RWVtZCs4ZDltZz09
Meeting ID: 847 5295
2212Passcode: 490899
If you have any questions,
please message us on our
Facebook page: Throggs Neck
Homeowners Association or
call 718-823-0327. See you on
Oct. 26.
CIVIC CENTER
Korony Post 253
BY TONY SALIMBENE
OK! Back at American Turners
NY for our third Sunday
regular meetings. I couldn’t
fi nd any other location in the
area to meet our specifi c needs
or be decided on, so thanks
again 2nd Vice Cmdr. Sal for
staying on it. That’s 10:30 a.m.
for coffee; 11 a.m. meeting; 12
p.m. is lunch with cash bar and
stimulating conversation.
Remember, FEMA can help
with any storm or fl ood damage.
Sign up online at FEMA.
From Councilman Mark Gjonaj
BY MARK GJONAJ
In a jam-packed legislative
and constituent services
heavy weak, my offi ce has prevailed
and continued to represent
the residents of Council
District 13.
On the legislative side, as
a member of the Committee
on Parks and Recreation, we
held a hearing investigating
the city’s fl ood resiliency, the
use of green space and infrastructure
to capture runoff
from sewage overfl ow, and fi ve
bills designed to better equip
the city to handle these crises,
which we expect to be more
numerous per oceanographic
and climate research. It is absolutely
imperative that city
offi cials create the necessary
infrastructure and procedure
to make the city as storm and
fl ood resilient as possible before
the next crisis hits.
This oversight and legislative
hearing was prelude to
this week’s stated meeting,
which saw the successful passage
of a smorgasbord of bills
ranging from child welfare
protections, cutting red tape
on supermarkets and altering
gov for storm damage from
Hurricane Ida. Easy and effi -
cient, even for the government.
Our case worker was a young
legionnaire.
Reminders: Annual Bronx
Veterans Day Parade down
East Tremont on Nov. 14.
Same form up time of 11 a.m.,
same step off at noon from Lafayette
Avenue, with breakfast
TBA? The traditional day,
Nov. 11, we will try to make all
the ceremonies at our neighborhood
monuments. The 21st
will be our third Sunday meeting.
The annual Post Christmas
Party after our December
meeting is being researched
as you read this.I’m proud to
announce Joseph Ronda prior
building gas inspection
requirements. I stand alongside
my colleagues to make
sure New Yorkers are safer,
and less encumbered by regulation
and administrative
agency burdens.
On the constituent services
side of my offi ce, we will be resuming
our community shredding
events, with the fi rst on
Saturday, Oct. 23 at Loreto
Park — Morris Park Avenue
between Haigh and Tomlinson
avenues. For information
about the three other shredding
events in November,
please reach out to my district
offi ce. Constituents can attend
to safely shred confi dential
papers and documents, while
wearing masks and practicing
social distancing.
For more information
about the above event, or any
comments, questions or concerns
related to the district,
please contact my offi ce at
(718) 931-1721 or at MGjonaj@
council.nyc.gov. Thank you
and stay safe. It is my pleasure
to continue serving the wondrous
residents of New York
City Council District 13.
USMC, will be our new SAL
commander. Involved in my
old Sea Cadet outfi t, he’s really
dedicated to teaching our
American principles to young
folks.235 Auxiliary is gearing
up for the Turkey Drive and
the annual Joe Mazzariello
Christmas Toy Drive. Please
help out as much as you can.
We will send up prayers for
our two members, SAL member
and auxiliary member’s
family members suffering
physical ailments. Let’s all try
the power of prayer.Until Next
Time: So much more! The Korony
Post will always be at the
forefront of American Legion
activities. Won’t you join one
of our units?
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, O 44 CT. 22-28, 2021 BTR BTR BRONX TIMES REPORTER, OCT. 22-28, 2021 44
/www.stopupzoning.com
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/council.nyc.gov