www.BXTimes.com BRONX WEEKLY January 26, 2020 8
Rodman’s Neck police range
discussion set for next month
BY JASON COHEN
A generation-long battle to install
sound barriers at Rodman’s Neck NYPD
shooting range will continue next
month.
On Wednesday, February 26, the 45th
Precinct Community Council will meet
at 3615 E. Tremont Avenue, where hopefully
a resolution to this issue might occur,
said John Doyle, the precinct community
council’s board member and a
City Island community leader.
In 2017, Mayor de Blasio announced a
$275 million redevelopment to Rodman’s
Neck, yet according to Doyle, the NYPD
is now claiming it needs $100 million
more to soundproof the facility.
The additional money includes $73
million for six fully (sound) baffl ed outdoor
ranges.
“You can hear it (the noise) from anywhere
on City Island” Doyle said to the
Bronx Times. “At the end of the day the
goal is to get this fi xed.”
The redesign of the range is expected
to include sound baffl ing that will muffl
e or block the non-stop gun noise from
the NYPD range.
When asked if this was accurate the
NYPD offered a vague reply.
“The NYPD and the city are committed
to reconstructing Rodman’s Neck
Range to provide much needed improvements
and offer appropriate sound mitigation
for the community,” said DCPI
spokesperson Sergeant Jessica McRorie.
“While we proceed through the design
and construction of the full range,
we are actively pursuing temporary solutions
to reduce noise impacts from the
range.”
Doyle explained that islanders support
the NYPD using the range, but it’s
simply a quality of life issue.
The gunfi re and controlled explosives
are too loud and it needs to be
soundproofed, he said.
It seems that every time they try to
get things resolved the NYPD stonewalls
them and wants more money to fi x
it, Doyle said.
According to Doyle, Rodman’s Neck
was initially going to move into a new police
facility in College Point in Queens in
2007, but those plans were abandoned.
“People have been waiting for decades,”
Doyle said. “I’m sure they want
a 21st century for their offi cers. We’re
not looking to move it. We’re looking to
soundproof it.
The other issue with the range is it
was found to have lead contamination
in 2018.
Three NYC Department of Corrections
offi cers who were assigned to the
NYPD’s Rodman’s Neck pistol range
were taken off the job after they tested
either high or borderline-high for lead
levels, according to sources with knowledge
of the situation.
Barbara Dolenseek, City Island
Civic Association vice president, has
witnessed fi rsthand the disruption Rodman’s
Neck has caused in the community.
She has lived 2,000 feet away from
the range for more than 40 years and
hopes a resolution comes soon.
She stressed that people in Throggs
neck, Pelham Bay and Country Club can
hear the noise, not just City Island.
“I’m right in the line of fi re,” she
said. “They’re (NYPD) not informing us
about what’s going on. I’ve been fi ghting
this for 25 years and there’s no change.”
The issue of soundproofi ng Rodman’s Neck will be discusssed next
month. File Photo
Borough honors Hip-Hop legends at WOHH awards night
BY KYLE VUILLE
Coming on the heels of Notorious
B.I.G.’s induction into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the
Bronx, the birthplace of hip-hop,
honored four of their own.
An event, epic enough to have
the street closed by NYPD, the
Windows of Hip-Hop and the borough
president’s offi ce held their
2019 award ceremony at Beatstro
at 135 Alexander Avenue on
Tuesday, January 14 in the south
Bronx.
The Windows of Hip Hop and
the borough president presented
honorees with the 2020 Element
of Hip Hop Awards for their contributions
to the genre, while celebrating
the rich cultural roots
of hip-hop’s history.
Grandmaster Caz said it best
as he introduced crowd favorite
Fat Joe to say a few words.
“To artists that come from
the Bronx that keep reinforcing
our role and the role we played in
this culture, it could have been
forgotten,” Caz said. “Shout out
to people like KRS-One and all
the other artists who made anthems
and kept the Bronx on
their backs.”
Honorees included owner of
The Source Magazine Londell
McMillian, founder of Fever
Records Sal Abbatiello, VJ and
video director of Video Music
Box Ralph McDaniels, and famous
producer and rapper Slick
Rick.
Another mentionable attendee
was Melle Mel and DJ Red Alert
gave a surprise performance.
“The important part of this
event is to promote and preserve
hip-hop and this is what it is,”
CEO of the Windows of Hip-Hop
Melissa Libran said.
The event kicked off with an
open bar sponsored by Martell
Cognac. Bartenders served cognac
cocktails and savory lip
smacking hor d’oeuvres were
passed out while the in-house DJ
kicked up the jams.
McDaniels said to the Bronx
Times he started his show, Video
Music Box over 35 years ago, in
1983, because no one was playing
hip hop at the time on television
and he felt the call to fi ll the void.
He would interview hip hop
artists at the clubs back then and
put them on his Video Music Box.
On stage, Fat Joe said one of
his fondest memories as a kid
was running home at 3 p.m. after
school to watch Video Music Box.
“Ralph McDaniels gave me a
chance before I even had a record
deal,” Fat Joe said. “He defi nitely
doesn’t get enough credit for what
he’s done for hip hop.”
Fat Joe also praised honoree
Abbatiello for being one of the
true trailblazers of hip- hop.
“I want to shout out to Sal
Abbatiello,” Fat Joe said. “Sal
helped push hip-hop to another
level.”
Abbatiello founded Fever Records
and opened the Disco Fever
in 1976, one of the fi rst hiphop
clubs in the south Bronx.
He pulled in talent like the infamous
Grandmaster Flash from
the streets.
In the coming years, Disco
Fever saw turntable talent such
as Luv-Bug Starski, DJ Hollywood,
Eddie Cheba, DJ Jun-Bug,
Brucie Bee, Sweet Gee, and Reggie
Wells.
The night capped off with a
speech by honoree Slick Rick,
who zealously emphasized the
future is in the hands of true innovators.
“The world is getting boring,
it’s boring us, so we got to use our
gifts to cure boredom,” Rick said.
Members of Windows for Hip Hop and the night’s honorees all pose for a group
shot. The honorees included owner of Source Magazine Londell McMillian, Founder
of Fever Records Sal Abbatiello, VJ and Video Director for Video Music Box
Ralph McDaniels, and Legendary producer and rapper Slick Rick. The honorees all
received the Element of Hip Hop award for their contributions to the genre.
Photo by Kyle Vuille/Schneps Media
/www.BXTimes.com
/www.BXTimes.com
/www.BXTimes.com
/www.BXTimes.com