www.BXTimes.com BRONX WEEKLY March 1, 2020 2
Camba Housing plans affordable living in Bedford Pk
BY KYLE VUILLE
Camba Housing Ventures, a
successful developer of affordable
housing in NYC, now has
its eyes set on a large property
in Community Board 7’s neck of
the woods.
Representatives of Camba
Housing Ventures presented a
proposal for a pair of 11-story
conjoining residential towers to
Community Board 7’s Housing,
Land Use and Development Committee
last Tuesday evening.
The proposed structures
would be built on East 202nd
and East 203nd street between
Valentine and Briggs avenues,
with one of the buildings containing
160 units and the other
163 units. The individual apartments
will range from studios to
three-bedrooms.
David Rowe, executive vice
president of CHV, opened up the
discussion at Tuesday, February
11’s meeting with the company’s
intentions of closing on the
property this coming spring.
“We do not have an ‘ask’,
we’re actually just here to update
you on our schedule, update
you on the project, to let you
know we are looking to close in
the spring, and that we look forward
to working with you all,”
Rowe said.
Project manager Francesca
Brown outlined the aesthetics
and the amenities the buildings
will feature, noting the two
buildings will practically mirror
one another.
Brown highlighted the developer’s
keen interest in the property’s
landscaping. He promised
street tree plantings, planters
around the building’s exterior,
walls covered with climbing ivy
and lushly planted courtyards.
The building will also offer
24/7 security, on-site support
services, on-site laundry, bike
room, computer room, fi tness
center and a teaching kitchen.
Camba does not only deal
with housing, but offers on-site
job opportunities and plans to
fi ll those positions from the immediate
community, Brown and
Rowe explained..
Community support services
will be set up on the premises,
Brown explained to the community
Rendering of the 202nd Street development in Bedford Park.
Rendering courtesy by Camba Housing Ventures
board members.
“We provide on-site social
services to every tenant in the
building whether they’re (part
of the) supportive housing or
not. So if anyone needs any assistance
with benefi ts education,
youth, economic, anything
you need you can come here and
get a case manager and your
case manager will work through
your individual plan to help
you optimize your living conditions,”
Brown said.
One hundred and ninetyfour
units will be set aside for
supportive housing, consisting
of 145 families and 49 single
households. The remaining 127
remaining units will be up for
grabs through a housing lottery.
Fifty percent of those units will
receive CB7 lottery preference.
Questions raised by attendees,
most of them residents, revolved
around how would the
community absorb the added
populations in regards to school
seats and grocery stores in the
area. Others asked what the
rents would look like based on
the project’s average median income.
There are still additional
hurdles to clear before the development
is green lighted. Approvals
are needed from NYC
Housing Preservation and Development
as well as NYC Department
of Buildings for their
design.
Lottery tutorials for Bedford
Park residents are expected to
begin in June 2021.
Bronx Zoo’s Happy the elephant ruled ‘Not a Person’
BY JASON COHEN
The fi ght to determine if Happy
the elephant will remain at the
Bronx Zoo or be relocated to an
elephant conservatory ended last
week.
On Wednesday, February 19, a
judge ruled in favor of the Bronx
Zoo and declared that Happy is not
a person nor is she imprisoned at
the zoo.
“We are pleased with the Bronx
County Supreme Court’s decision
today to dismiss the Nonhuman
Rights Project’s petition,” said Jim
Breheny, director of the Bronx Zoo
and executive vice president of
zoos and aquarium at the Wildlife
Conservation Society. “The court
rejected NhRP’s ill-conceived attempt
to have an elephant at the
Bronx Zoo, Happy, declared a ‘person,’
entitled to protection under
the writ of habeas corpus. In doing
so, the court supported the Bronx
Zoo’s legal position and we believe
this decision is in Happy’s best interests.”
The NhRP, a national animal
rights group, began fi ghting for
Happy in September and spent a
total of 13 hours arguing her case.
Happy’s lead attorney and president
of NhRP, Steven Wise told the
Bronx Times they are pleased with
the judge’s decision. While she did
not rule in their favor, it is a step in
the right direction, he stressed.
“While Justice Tuitt ‘regretfully’
denied the habeas corpus
relief the NhRP had demanded because
she felt bound by prior appellate
court decisions in the NhRP’s
chimpanzee rights cases, “she essentially
vindicated the legal arguments
and factual claims about the
nature of nonhuman animals such
as Happy that the NhRP has been
making during the fi rst six years of
our rights litigation,” Wise said.
The NhRP has already begun
working on its appeal.
“While we lament Happy’s continued
imprisonment, we thank
Justice Tuitt for breaking ground
on the long road to securing liberty
and justice for Happy and other autonomous
nonhuman animals,”
said the NhRP’s executive director
Kevin Schneider. “Happy’s
freedom matters as much to her as
ours does to us, and we won’t stop
fi ghting in and out of court until
she has it.”
Happy resides on an acre of
land, but if relocated to the Elephant
Sanctuary in Tennessee
would have 2,600 acres and be with
10 to 15 other elephants.
“Elephants are incredibly social,”
Wise said. “It’s not hard
to imagine that her life would
change.”
Happy was born in Malaysia in
1971 and spent a few years in California
before being relocated to the
Bronx in 1977.
In her 40 plus years at the zoo,
she has lived with three other elephants,
but for the past 17 years
has been alone.
Happy’s proof of autonomy was
evident in 2005, when she became
the fi rst elephant to ‘pass’ the
mirror self-recognition test, considered
to be an indicator of selfawareness.
The mirror test is a
behavioral technique developed in
1970 by psychologist Gordon Gallup
Jr. as an attempt to determine
whether an animal possesses the
ability of visual self-recognition.
Happy the elephant entertaining visitors at the Bronx Zoo. Photo Courtesy Gigi Glendinning
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