www.BXTimes.com BRONX WEEKLY May 26, 2019 2
Assemblyman Dinowitz (c) joins transportation activists in calling for improved bus service in the
Bronx. Courtesy Jorge Muniz/Riders Alliance
Dinowitz, transit
advocates, steer
MTA bus service fi x
BY ALEX MITCHELL
With an anticipated redesign
of the borough’s bus service
coming in September,
one Bronx elected offi cial,
along with a dozen transit
advocates, are calling on the
Metropolitan Transportation
Authority to steer improvements
in the right direction.
Assemblyman Jeffery
Dinowitz joined advocates
outside of the General Post
Offi ce building on East 149th
Street to announce a list of
demands the MTA should
meet for its planned Bronx
bus network redesign on
Thursday, May 16.
“The fi rst priority is better
bus service,” Dinowitz
said following the transit
rally. “Buses are one of the
only ways to travel east and
west in the Bronx so it is very
important for the service
quality to be improved,” the
Assemblyman mentioned.
The need for the MTA’s
examination of Bronx bus
routes stems in part from
the 6.2 percent population increase
in the borough since
2010, the agency said.
Since that time, there are
now an estimated 675,000
Bronx bus riders every day
waiting patiently for public
transportation that has been
plagued with lengthy delays
on every one of its 57 Bronx
routes, which the MTA faults
on vehicular congestion.
With these Bronx buses
moving at an average speed
of 6.58 miles per hour, it’s
almost pays to walk, rather
than endure what the MTA
confi rmed as the second
slowest moving bus service
in the entire city. “Making
sure that bus lanes aren’t
being blocked by cars is a
big part of it as is making
improvements to curbs,” Dinowitz
said.
He continued that better
bus service could come in
the form of shorter, connecting
lines in lieu of the current
system of lengthy single
line trips.
One route that Dinowitz
specifi cally had in mind
to be split is the Bx10 bus,
which runs from Riverdale
to Norwood.
“Even though riders
would have to transfer, there
could be a reduction in wait
time with a connecting line
on that route,” he said.
Other initiatives that
the assemblyman and activists
are pushing for include:
more direct routes to Manhattan
and Queens from the
Bronx, increasing frequent
service for riders with nontraditional
work hours, plus
better accommodations and
renovations at bus stops.
The MTA intends to release
a draft plan of the redesign
this month, aiming
to increase bus speeds by 25
percent while also adding an
additional 10 to 15 miles of
bus lanes.
Following that release,
the agency will be holding
public scoping sessions in
June to hear what Bronxites
call for from the proposed
new system of busses.
“More Bronx riders board
the buses per hour than in
any other borough, yet its
buses are some of the most
unreliable in the system,”
said TransitCenter advocacy
associate Ashley Pryce following
the rally.
She looks forward to the
proposed redesign, saying
that it could become the “ambitious,
large scale changes
that will bring the faster, frequent,
more reliable service
that riders deserve.”
Dinowitz is also confi dent
that the redesign will be a
success.
CB1 votes down Mott Haven
jail; Arline Parks speaks out
BY ALEX MITCHELL
Community Board 1’s
Land Use Committee, on
Thursday, May, 16 voted
“no” on the city’s plan to
build a 24 to 25 fl oor jail in
Mott Haven at 745 E. 141st
Street to replace the imminently
closing Rikers Island’s
prisons.
That motion was fairly
predictable, given that Arline
Parks, CEO of Diego
Beekman Mutual Housing,
a vicious opponent to
the jail, is the chair of that
committee.
On the evening prior to
the vote, Parks participated
in an information session
at Lincoln Hospital with
the board’s Land Use Committee.
She used that opportunity
to air her many
grievances concerning the
city’s jail proposal.
“What they are doing
is not criminal justice reform,”
Parks said. “Building
a jail in a neighborhood
that has historically
been riddled with crime is
not only wrong, but inhumane,”
she continued, citing
three federal narcotics
raids since the 1990s, in
addition to a major organized
crime bust in 2016,
plus a plethora of local drug
busts.
Parks’ non-profi t organization,
Diego-Beekman,
originally purchased several
depressed properties
for $80 years ago, and now
the renovated housing
structures are worth an estimated
$300 million.
“We have been here
though it all, we have
stayed through it all and
made Mott Haven a better
place to live…nobody from
the mayor’s administration
was here during the very
bad times, but now they
want to take the good from
the people and women that
stuck it out,” Parks said.
The proposed jail is
two miles from the Bronx
Courthouse and the site
is not adequately serviced
by mass transit. She criticized
the city’s suggestion
to use the bus line running
on nearby Cypress Avenue,
calling the street “one of
the most dangerous in Mott
Haven and the city.”
“It’s dangerous conditions
that made people
leave the Bronx in the fi rst
place and I’m already seeing
signs that people will
leave Beekman and Mott
Haven,” Parks said.
Besides opposing the
proposal to construct the
largest building in Mott
Haven, let alone in the
south Bronx, the jail would
be built smack-dab in the
middle of the Beekman’s
properties.
Parks had planned to
acquire the former NYPD
tow yard to construct more
housing before the city
grabbed it.
Her plan for that land
was to create mixed-income
housing with a supermarket
and community amenities,
with apartments set
aside for the homeless.
Parks said that including
tenants of higher income
in the new housing
could cause a ripple effect
that would turn East 138th
Street into a vibrant retail
corridor that in turn would
bring economic stability to
the Mott Haven neighborhood.
“I can’t shop on 138th
Street as it is, it just isn’t
safe,” Parks said.
After the city announced
the plan, the administration
approached Parks to
collaborate on a housing
complex near the jail.
“We told the city that as
long as there wouldn’t be a
jail we would help,” Parks
said.
Currently, the city intends
to build affordable
housing on a portion of the
jail parcel, which will include
other community services.
“It’s essentially our
housing plan but instead of
a retail or manufacturing
facility they’re building a
jail,” Parks said.
CB1’s full board will vote
on the city’s jail proposal
on Thursday, May 23.
Although the vote took
place after this issue went
to press, the board had previously
noted its intention
to collectively oppose all actions
regarding the jail.
Parks (c) joins Borough president Ruben Diaz, Jr. in protesting the Mott Haven jail.
Schneps Media/ Alex Mitchell
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