5      BRONX WEEKLY April 19, 2020 www.BXTimes.com 
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 BRUCKNER DETOX  
 CENTER OPPOSED 
  cents 
 New owner: 
  I’m developing wellness center 
 A sense of concern and outrage  
 is brewing in Throggs  
 Neck about a possible conversion  
 of an offi ce building into  
 an unwanted use.  
 Commercial tenants at  
 2800 Bruckner Boulevard received  
 letters to vacate the  
 property, and community  
 leaders have formed a coalition  
 to fi ght a possible alcohol  
 Westchester Square reels over vagrants  
 ulder during a confrontation  
  
 Continued on Page 67 
 Continued on Page 67 
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 While Bronxites prepared  
 to take a ‘bite out of crime’  
 at the annual August 1 Night  
 Out Against Crime, one crook  
 turned that around and took  
 a bite out of a local merchant  
 who tried to interrupt his  
 thievery. 
 A.M.A.F. Fashion business  
 owner Abdul Sol felt more  
 than an impact to his quality  
 of life on the morning of Sunday, 
  July 9, when a shoplifter  
 tried to leave his store with  
 a bag of clothing and Sol sufered  
 a severe bite on his left  
 rearm and a dislocated right  
 with the man. 
 At his 25 Westchester  
 Square store, Sol recalled how  
 the shoplifter had on previous  
 customer. 
 occasions   
 been a paying “He spent money here,  
 it’s not like I never saw him  
 before,” Sol said. “He came  
 around two or three months  
 ago and bought a pair of  
 shoes.” 
 But the Sunday of the assault, 
  the suspect asked for a  
 shopping bag, grabbed stuff,  
 and tried to leave, according  
 to Sol.  
 “I told him, ‘No, you can’t  
 take my stuff.’” 
 A fi ght ensued and Sol said  
 he “went to the ground with  
 him. I hurt my shoulder. He  
 took a big bite in my arm. I was  
 at the hospital until 6 o’clock. I  
 still have pain in my shoulder.  
 I still can’t lift my left arm.” 
 Sol said he had seen the  
 shoplifter associate with patients  
 from the Bronx Psychiatric  
 Center, so he fi gured he  
 was a client. 
 As Bronx Psychiatric Center, 
  on Waters Place, continues  
 to release its patients on  
 the street during the day, they  
 interact with homeless people  
 and drug rehab program.  
 Complaints have been  
 fi led with the city about beds  
 being moved into the building  
 or illegally converting it  
 into a residential building,  
 with some folks planning to  
 take legal action against the  
 landlord because they have  
 leases, according to multiple  
 sources.  
 Homeowners and renters  
 are also circulating petitions  
 to protest what appears to be  
 “a substance-abuse rehabilitation  
 program recruiting  
 staff” to work in the building  
 and lack of community notice  
 or engagement on what  
 may be sited at 2800 Bruckner  
 Boulevard.  
  “The community is defi - 
 nitely mobilized,” said Steven  
 Kaufman, an attorney who  
 is leading the Throggs Neck  
 Strong coalition looking into  
 the matter, adding “I believe  
 with mobilization, we might  
 be able to stop what they want  
 to do.”  
 Tenants in the building  
 say they got letters over the  
 last two weeks telling them  
 to vacate the building by  
 September, said Bobby Jaen,  
 Throggs Neck Merchants Association  
 president and coalition  
 member.  
 So far, at least 20 complaints  
 have been logged with  
 the NYC Department of Buildings, 
  including those concerning  
 “commercial space that is  
 being turned into residential  
 space” and those saying tenants  
 see “beds, dressers, mirrors  
 and chairs,” being moved  
 in. 
 As of press time, a meeting  
 of the Throggs Neck Strong  
 coalition has been planned  
 for the Crosstown Diner on  
 Thursday, August 3, with Jaen  
 expecting around 125 people,  
 following a lot of community  
 organizing and petitioning  
 that led to a forceful showing  
 at an earlier impromptu meeting  
 on Friday, July 28.  
 Anthony Mameli, Charles  
 Ruttenberg Realty’s Bronx  
 commercial real estate manager, 
  said the company was  
 planning a grand opening for  
 its new offi ce at the building  
  
  
 Bronx Times Reporter 
  
  
  
  
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 Bayside, NY  11361 
  
 
				
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