oped BTR letters & comments
Veterans Day and the Post 1871 family
BY ADEYEMI LACROWN TOBA
American Legion Post
1871 has established a culture,
a standard culture for
that matter. What started
like a proposition three
years ago had now grown to
tradition. Every year, during
the celebration of the
Veterans Day, Post 1871 has
continuously used the opportunity
Trash could
raise revenue
Dear editor,
There are more important
issues riders have to deal
with than legal or illegal
immigrant vendors selling
Churro and other products
in the subways. The same is
true for transit police.
Riders have to deal with
conductors who close the
doors while crossing the
platform attempting to transfer
from a local to the express
train. Try looking for
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, NOVEMBER 1 BTR 7-28, 2019 13
to affect its community
by series of its programs.
This year witnessed an
unprecedented event tagged
Commander’s Ball where
the American Legion Post
opened its doors to the community
to celebrate. It was
a free dinner event, as Post
1871 celebrated the 100th
year anniversary of the establishment
of the American
Legion across the nation.
Community trooped
out in numbers to enjoy the
eve of Veterans Day with
the Legionnaires in Coop
City’s Section Five.
American Legion Auxillary
seized the moment
to arrange for nice meals
for everyone while the men
took on interior decoration
tutorial to give the venue
a taste of fashion that symbolized
the environment of
military function. It was
such a glamorous evening
to herald the parade and
march past of the real day
in downtown New York.
Apart from the much talked
about free dinner, the post
was busy throughout the
week reaching out to veterans
that are in nursing
homes. And other care centers
in the neighborhood.
This year, the Legends
of Disco flagged off Veterans’
Day with recognition
of the American Le-
American Legion Post 1871 award reciepients.
Photo courtesy of Post 1871
gion Post 1871 at the Lehman
College Arts Center. During
the concert, a member
of the post, Sgt. Norman M.
Thomas, a Vietnam War-era
Marine, was given a prestigious
award. A couple of
days later, the post teamed
up with Councilman Andy
King’s office on November 7
to honor veterans in the 12th
Council District where some
veterans that are serving in
the law enforcement were
honored. On Saturday, November
9 at 4101 White Plains
Road, Post 1871 co-hosted a
Veterans’ Appreciation Day
with the National Council of
Negro Women, North Bronx
Section and three comrades
from Post 1871 were honored:
Commander Adeyemi
LaCrown TOBA, Vice Commander
Thomas and Retired
Colonel Joan Davis
On Sunday, November 10
there was a ball that attracted
family members from around
Co-op City to celebrate with
the veterans. Past and present
commanders of the post
that are still here with
us were given Congressional
Certifi cates by the
offi ce of Congressman
Eliot Engel. These events
precluded the veterans’
day activities where men
and women of the American
Legion visited Regeis
Care Center to meet with
the veterans in that facility.
Commander TOBA
was also a guest speaker
at RAIN Senior Center in
Boston Secor during the
veterans’ appreciation
day event at the facility.
On Thursday, November
14, the New Bronx Chamber
of Commerce honored
three members of the
American Legion in recognition
of the services
by our men and women
who fought to sustain democracy
in this country.
Veterans Day 2019 has
been such an awesome
moment for the post and
we just thank God for
what we have been able to
achieve this year.
the proper way to depose of
your old newspaper as more
trash cans are removed from
more stations. Riders have
to deal with aggressive panhandlers,
eating as if one is
at home or restaurant, those
hogging two seats, yawning,
coughing or sneezing without
covering up, the release
of fl atulence and acrobatic
performers swinging from
subway car poles or homeless
people riding back and forth
with their meager possessions
by their side taking up
several seats. Women are periodically
accosted by gropers
while perverts engage in
other unhealthy sexual activities.
Many have grown tired
dealing with rats, mice and
litter.
NYC Transit should consider
installing separate
trash cans for recycling
newspapers, plastic and glass
along with regular garbage.
Selling advertising on the
side of trash cans could generate
revenue to help cover
the costs of more frequent
off-peak and late-night collection
and disposal.
Larry Penner
The Importance of the MTA’s
Bronx Bus Network Redesign
BY ANDY BYFORD
PRESIDENT OF NYC TRANSIT
We recently released the
fi nal plan for the Bronx bus
network redesign, which was
the fi rst time we closely re-examined
every local, limited,
SBS and express bus route
in the Bronx as part of a unifi
ed network. MTA New York
City Transit inherited a bus
network created decades ago
in a piecemeal fashion: some
routes were old trolley lines,
while others were operated by
private bus companies. No one
had the wherewithal to step
back and comprehensively review
the system boroughwide
– until now.
Under my direction, we
are reimagining the bus map
to better refl ect our customers’
needs and to account for
substantial development and
growth in the Bronx. We invited
Bronx residents to more
than 60 community meetings
so far to gather your feedback
and input and we heard you:
the buses aren’t working and
something needs to be done. To
do nothing is not acceptable.
As my friend, Borough President
Ruben Diaz, Jr., said a few
weeks ago when we announced
the fi nal plan for the Bronx
Bus Network Redesign: “For
us to keep going about providing
bus service in the way it
is now and expect a better outcome,
well that’s the defi nition
of insanity.”
We have completed a datadriven
analysis and found that
some of our Bronx express
routes are only carrying an
average of 2-3 passengers —
while other local lines are over
capacity. As a result, our redesign
adds three new routes, improves
frequency on 11 routes
and nine corridors, and balances
stop spacing to speed up
commutes. We are proposing
increasing frequency on our
most heavily used corridors so
that we can serve the largest
number of customers, and adding
service elsewhere, where
fi scally possible, to make buses
more attractive.
We must use our limited resources
effi ciently and effectively,
which means recognizing
that our Bronx express bus
service requires close attention.
The vast majority of ridership
occurs during peak periods,
and off-peak ridership has
plummeted, we are proposing
to change some service during
off-peak times as a result. I can
assure you, personally, that
we have planned alternative
routes for the small numbers
of customers affected.
I am enormously proud of
our work on the Bronx Bus
Network Redesign. It will increase
service reliability
and intermodal transfers for
675,000 customers throughout
the Bronx. We are adding frequency,
reducing travel times,
speeding up buses and reducing
circuitous routing. In addition
to being customer-led,
we are working closely with
NYC DOT, NYPD, and our labor
partners to harness the onthe
job knowledge of our bus
operators and fi eld staff. Our
bus customers have much to
look forward to: a new modern
fl eet that will become increasingly
zero-emission, new stateof
the-art technology that improves
service management,
improves pedestrian and vehicular
safety, enforces bus
lanes, and coordinates buses
with traffi c signals. We are
rolling out a new contactless
fare payment system to implement
all-door boarding that
will further decrease dwell
times at bus stops. Together
with the bus network redesigns,
we are making every effort
to improve bus service. We
welcome you to give us a try.
LET US HEAR FROM YOU
Letters to the editor are welcome from all readers.
They should be addressed care of this newspaper to
Laura Guerriero, Publisher, the Bronx Times Reporter,
3604 E. Tremont Ave., Bronx, NY 10465, or
e-mail to bronxtimes@cnglocal.com. All letters, including
those submitted via e-mail, MUST be signed
and with a verifi able address and telephone number
included. Note that the address and telephone number
will NOT be published and the name will be published
or withheld upon request. No unsigned letters
can be accepted for publication. The editor reserves
the right to edit all submissions.
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