3 BRONX WEEKLY August 30, 2020 www.BXTimes.com
West Bronx: Bring back the bank
Community protests the closure of Amalgamated Bank on Burnside Avenue
BY ALEX MITCHELL
AND JASON COHEN
The west Bronx community
is outraged at
a bank for planning to
close its doors on Burnside
Avenue at the end of
next month.
Led by the Jerome Avenue
Revitalization Collaborative
(JARC), residents
and Bronx leaders protested
Amalgamated Bank of 94 E.
Burnside Ave. and Chase
Bank at 5 West Burnside
Ave. on Monday, criticizing
its shuttering on account of
the thousands of residents
and over 100 small businesses
that will be left without
“accessible high quality
fi nancial services options at
a time of great fi nancial vulnerability.”
The event was led by fi -
ery District 14 City Council
Candidate Pierina Sanchez,
who had people chanting,
“whose Bronx, our Bronx”
and “invest in the Bronx.”
“Today we oppose the
permanent closure of Amalgamated
Bank,” Sanchez
said at the Aug. 24 rally.
Sanchez, a lifelong Community
Board 5 resident,
recalled how the Bronx,
specifi cally this community,
has been disenfranchised
since the 70s
when the borough was
notoriously “on fi re.”
Then in the 80s, because
there were very few banks
in the west Bronx, her parents,
aunts and uncles were
forced to use check cashing
places. But now during
a global pandemic, the
banks on Burnside Avenue
have left the community
high and dry.
“We are gathered here
today to represent an injustice
in the Bronx right here
in our own backyard,” Sanchez
said. “Finally when
we started to have them
banks around, they turned
the corner as soon as things
get rough.”
Since October 2019, the
nearby Chase Bank has
been shuttered due to fl ooding
and leaks and protestors
wondered why it has taken
nearly a year to fi x the fl ood
damage.
Amalgamated Bank told
its customers not to worry
because they have another
location in Co-op City. Sanchez
was furious and questioned
how the bank can
expect people to travel two
hours by public transportation
during COVID-19.
“We want you back, we
need you back, we can’t afford
the check cashiers,” she
said. “With both Amalgamated
and Chase closed, the
heart of the west Bronx is left
with nothing.”
Jessica Betancourt,
owner of Bronx Optical on
Burnside Avenue and vice
president of BJTBronx Merchant
Association, Inc., expressed
her frustrations
with the banks.
“As a business owner I’ve
been asked many times why
I choose Burnside Avenue,”
she said. “This is a community
that needs help from us
to continue growing. We feel
abandoned and it’s not fair.
The Bronx is not a forgotten
borough. We need a bank
here again.”
Ubaldo Santos, president
of BJTBronx Merchant Association,
Inc., and a client
of Amalgamated Bank,
could not believe how the
bank is treating the community.
“It is unacceptable that
banks abandon this community
and leave consumers
and merchants looking for
ATMs here and there,” Santos
said. “It is unacceptable
to ask merchants to go miles
away from their business in
order to speak to a human
being or fi x a problem. It is
dangerous, demoralizing
and unacceptable.”
Councilwoman Vanessa
Gibson said that the west
Bronx has welcomed the
bank for over fi fteen years,
noting that Amalgamated
Bank is “an institution
founded years ago by immigrants
who realized the
urgent need for fi nancial
services in underserved
communities.”
“We are outraged, disappointed
and feel abandoned
by an entity with whom we
have always supported and
stood by. It’s unfortunate
that when the challenges
are the greatest, Amalgamated
would choose to take its
services elsewhere instead
of continuing its investments
in our community,”
she said, adding she hoped
that the bank would reverse
its closure.
The move also concerned
members of multiple community
boards in the west
Bronx, including Community
Board 5 Chairman Dr.
Bola Omotosho.
“In the 21st century, economic
empowerment of our
constituency is a right, not
a privilege. It is a task that
is long overdue. It must be
done now with collective
responsibility,” he said.
Emmanuel Martinez,
chair of Board 7 said, “In
our daily lives, the steps we
take dictate where we’ll be
as people, so do the steps of
our banks. If they pull out of
our community, where will
our district be 5, 10, 15 years
down the line?”
Board 4 District Manager
Paul A. Philps also
sounded off on the matter,
saying, “Access to fi nancial
services and capital is
a right not a privilege,” adding,
“in a time where thousands
of Black and Latino
owned businesses need the
resources and the reassurance
that accompanies local
fi nancial institutions, it is
quite disheartening to hear
that Amalgamated Bank
will be closing its branch on
Burnside Avenue.”
Protest leaders also
called on a local JPMorgan
Chase to reopen its
doors after 10 months of
closure and for the fi nancial
services industry to
“writ large to better serve
the community.”
The State Department of
Financial Services was also
called on by protestors to
strengthen Banking Development
District program
regulations and oversight of
the industry.
In June, Burnside Avenue
businesses and storefronts
were victims of intense
looting in wake of
ongoing protests around
New York City.
A spokesman for the
bank said Amalgamated
remains committed to the
Burnside community.
“Amalgamated remains
a dedicated bank for Burnside
residents,” the spokesman
said. “Throughout the
pandemic, our team has
proactively reached out to
more than 1,000 Burnside
customers — most of our
Burnside customer base
— to help them gain access
to online and mobile banking,
provide ATM and debit
cards, and provide products,
services and information
on how Amalgamated
can serve them during
these trying times. Amalgamated
remains committed
to providing continued
resources for fi nancial literacy
in the Burnside community
and in our other Bronx
branch location; offering
remote transition services,
including live online trainings,
as well as a dedicated
phone number and email
for Burnside clients to get
support; and, in addition to
the 40,000+ Allpoint ATMs
across the country — 25 of
which are within one mile
of the Burnside Branch —
we are working to get customers
access to Allpoint
deposit accepting ATMs in
the area.”
Residents at the rally demanding banks return in the west Bronx
on Burnside Avenue. Photo by Jason Cohen
Community Board 5 resident
and Council D-14 Candidate
Pierina Sanchez leads the
crowd in rallying for the need
for banks on Burnside Avenue.
Photos and video by Jason Cohen
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