City Council votes to reform operations at Hart Is.
BY ALEX MITCHELL
AMNEWYORK REPORTER
The city’s Potter’s Field on Hart
Island has been the fi nal home to
over 1 million people who couldn’t
be accommodated with proper
burials, instead being laid to rest
by prisoners making minuscule
pay for their agonizing labor.
Loved ones can hardly visit the
public grave due to Hart Island’s
lack of accessibility — partially
due to security measures in place
from the NYC Department of Corrections,
which oversees not just
inmates but the jurisdiction of the
entire island.
On Thursday, the New York
City Council voted on two resolutions
aimed at improving conditions
of the currently dilapidated
island by a vote of 45-2.
One was to transfer Hart Island
from the DOC into the control of
the NYC Parks and Recreation Department,
while the other was to
expand its public accessibility via
ferry service.
One of the only vocal opponents
to the plan was Councilman Mark
Gjonaj, who voted in opposition.
“Something should have been
done a long time ago,” the Hart Island
council representative said in
regards for the conditions of the
Potter’s Field.
Some of Gjonaj’s uneasiness towards
the land transfer to Parks
comes from the agency admitting
that it did not have the proper assets
to manage the open cemetery
in 2016.
“Parks still does not have what
the funding to handle Hart Island,”
he continued.
City Hall sources also say that
Parks was reluctant to take Hart
Island from the DOC because of
graves’ costly maintenance.
Although Brooklyn Councilman
Chiam Deutsch did vote in
support of the Hart Island plan at
a committee level, he turned over
to a ‘no’ after expressing concerns
about graves being disturbed in
ways that would violate various
religious customs.
That, though has been happening
to some degree as waves of erosion
have washed remains from
Hart Island into the Long Island
Sound in past years — an issue
that is now being addressed by
FEMA, which is providing $13.2
million to restore the island’s
shoreline.
As far as getting to Hart Island,
the city could add a cemetery
stop at existing stations around
the city, however, that and other
proposed methods will undergo
stakeholder study over the next
year before a fi nal decision is rendered,
Transportation Committee
Chair Ydanis Rodriguez said. That
method would replace a single
ferry that departs from Fordham
Street in City Island as the sole
public transport to the cemetery.
Gjonaj says he wouldn’t oppose
the transit side of the plan as long
as there’s a concrete safeguard
that would insure that City Island
is not the only point of access to
Potter’s Field. Though, who would
be digging the graves if Parks
were to take over Hart Island?
It would likely be privatized,
according to Melinda Hunt of the
Hart Island project, who’s been a
partner to the city on the plan.
Now, a full plan of action is all
that remains for the future of the
public grave.
(Additional reporting by Alejandra
O’Connell-Domenech)
BRONX W www.BXTimes.com EEKLY November 24, 2019 2
Drone footage of Hart Island. Photo courtesy of Hart Island Project
West Bronx rally decries MTA’s express bus ‘off peak’ cuts
BY KYLE VUILLE
Residents of west Bronx neighborhoods
came out in the mass Monday,
November 18 to protest express bus
schedule changes proposed by the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
MTA officials along with Assemblyman
Jeffrey Dinowitz and Councilman
Andrew Cohen addressed a
concerned crowd of 400 to 500 at the
Riverdale Temple on 4545 Independence
Street.
The MTA released The Bronx Bus
Network Redesign after analyzing
extensive data from the past couple
years. The most recent collection of
data was acquired through Metrocard
registration during the months of May
and June 2019, according to MTA officials.
“The MTA has assured me that
although they are using the phrase
‘final plan’ that there is still opportunity
to make changes.” Dinowitz
said in a press release. “They have
also assured me that even after the
implementation of the redesign next
year, they are able to continue making
changes where necessary.”
The crowd, mostly comprised of aging
Riverdale residents, were primarily
concerned with the service cuts to
the BxM1 and the BxM2 express buses
that run from Riverdale to Manhattan
throughout the day.
Additional cuts will be made to
Bx4A, Bx6, Bx8, Bx11, Bx15, Bx18,
Bx24, Bx26, Bx28, Bx29, Bx30, Bx34,
Bx35, Bx36, Bx38, Bx40, Bx42, Q50 LTD,
M100, M125, BxM2, BxM4, BxM5 (formerly
BxM11), BxM8, BxM10, BxM17,
and BxM18 lines, and additional buses
on the Bx13, Bx22, Bx23, and Bx41.
“The main thing I wanted tonight
was the MTA to see a massive turnout
of people in our district and they saw
it.” Dinowitz said.
MTA officials said the reasoning behind
the earlier cut off times for the express
buses were the results of low ridership
averages during off-peak hours.
The recent studies, conducted by the
MTA, found an average of four people
riding the BxM1 southbound during
the off-peak afternoon hours on weekdays.
Similar averages were shown on
weekends and for other bus routes.
However, reducing the southbound
express buses will directly affect those
who don’t have a normal 9 to 5 job and
those interested in spending the evening
downtown to enjoy a movie or
have dinner, among other activities.
MTA chief officer of Operations
Planning, Mark Holmes, responded to
those concerned about bus routes to
Mount Sinai.
“Once again, I want to reiterate that
we are aware of the Mount Sinai issue
and we are actively looking at alternative
services to Mount Sinai,” Holmes
said.
Riverdale resident Jane Fletcher
received a tremendous, heartfelt reaction
after stating why the afternoon
bus cuts would affect her.
“I was recently widowed and now I
travel on my own and if I couldn’t get
down to the theater or a museum or
see a friend in Manhattan, I wouldn’t
be doing it,” Fletcher said.
Express bus routes in Throggs
Neck, Pelham Bay and Co-op City are
also slated for major cuts in service
during off-peak hours.
According to the MTA, the final express
bus plan won’t be implimented
until late spring, allowing ample time
to make tweeks to the plan.
Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz speaks to the crowd at Riverdale Temple on Nov. 18 concerning the
Bronx Bus Redesign Plan. The public hearing at 4545 Independence Ave. was a chance for the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority to inform Bronx residents about the proposed changes and hear the
public’s opinion on said changes. Photo courtesy of Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz’s offi ce
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