Riverdale’s ONLY Locally Owned Newspaper! Volume XX • Number 4 • January 24 - 30, 2013 • FREE! Stanton campaign raises conflict of interest Stella D’oro shopping mall on track for fall opening By MIAWLING LAM The editor of the P.S. 24 parents association news- letter has been placed on City Council candidate Cliff Stanton’s campaign payroll. The Riverdale Review can reveal that Jennifer Firestone is receiving $1,000 a month from Stanton’s campaign committee for political consulting. Because Firestone is also the editor of the P.S. 24 PA’s Sound- ing Board and has the opportunity to include publicity for the City Council candidate in the public school’s newsletter, her campaign role presents a possible conflict of interest. Firestone does not disclose her ties to the Stanton campaign in the PA bulletins, which she edits on a volunteer basis. According to documents filed with the Campaign Finance Board, Firestone collected $1,000 from Stanton’s campaign committee on each of four separate occasions: September 18, October 17, November 15 and December 20. Each line item payment is listed as a “consulting fee.” Some charge that Firestone’s editing role could be clouding her judgment and that she is giving Stanton favorable editorial coverage in the PA bulletins. In the most recent Sounding Board issue, released this past fall, Stanton is featured in three photographs and rates a mention in six separate articles discussing his in- volvement in the Boo Bash fundraiser, mock presidential election and International Walk to School Day. As usual, however, Stanton is given a half-page column to discuss traffic and safety-related issues in his capacity as the school’s safety committee chair. A separate item refers to the press conference Stanton held on September 10, when he proposed legislation calling for the creation of 20-mph safety zones outside all New York City schools and senior centers. “Stanton has been fighting for traffic-calming measures for the schools along Indepen- dence Avenue for four years,” the news brief states. In contrast, the issue released last spring features no photographs of Stanton and just three editorial men- tions, while the winter issue boasts only Stanton’s traffic and safety column. When contacted on Tuesday morning, Stanton de- clined to comment and said, “I’ll pass on that one,” while Firestone could not be reached before press time. Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz said Firestone’s dual roles represented a clear conflict of interest. “She is getting paid by the campaign, and at the same time, she edits the bulletin, which gives an extraordi- narily high degree of coverage to the candidate whose payroll she is on,” he said. “Unfortunately this gives the impression that many people already have, which is that this parents asso- ciation, which contains so many concerned and active parents, has been highly politicized.” No taxpayer funds are used to produce The Sounding Board—the school relies on advertisements from com- munity organizations and businesses to print the bulletin, published by the P.S. 24 parents association. Although no public money is involved, Councilman G. Oliver Koppell said it was highly inappropriate for Firestone to occupy both positions and called on her to temporarily quit one of the roles. “It is a little troublesome,” he said. “Certainly it should be disclosed, at the very least. “Probably from an ethical point of view, it would be best for her to not be the editor at this time.” As of press time, calls to the Department of Education for comment were not returned. Stanton is hoping to succeed incumbent District 11 Councilman G. Oliver Koppell in this year’s citywide elec- tions. Koppell is currently serving his third and final term and must vacate the office due to term limit rules. As of press time, there were three registered Demo- cratic candidates in the race: Stanton, Community Board 8 member Andrew Cohen and Fieldston School track coach Cheryl Keeling. By MIAWLING LAM Parts of Riverdale Crossing, the $80 mil- lion shopping mall located at the former Stella D’oro cookie factory, could open its doors by as early as October. Metropolitan Realty Associates presi- dent Joseph A. Farkas said the two-story mall would most likely be unveiled in two stages—the north building will open first, with BJ’s Wholesale Club set to follow suit a month later. Farkas revealed the revised completion dates during a brief one-on-one interview with the Riverdale Review last week. “We’re shooting for October for the little building and mid-November for BJ’s. We’re trying to get in before Thanksgiv- ing—that’s our goal,” he said. Once opened, BJ’s Wholesale Club will anchor the 165,255-square-foot shopping center, occupying more than 118,000 square feet in the south building on West 237th Street. All spaces in the north building should also be fully leased and built before fall, Farkas said, but due to co-tenancy clauses in the leasing agreements, businesses may choose to wait for BJ’s to open before serving eager shoppers. National retailer Petco, banking institu- tion Bank of America and casual sports- themed restaurant Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar have already signed leases to occupy space in the north building. “The project is moving along. We just poured concrete, 400 yards, in the ground this week for the north building,” Farkas said. Farkas declined to single out any other future retailers by name but provided a hint of what could come when asked what industries the businesses were in. “It’s a combination of service vendors and restaurateurs,” he said. “We want to bring the project further along so people can visualize what we’re building, and then we anticipate paper- ing the neighborhood and letting people know what’s available. And so we hope there will be a nice mix of national and local tenants.” Meanwhile, Farkas, who made a sur- prise appearance at last Tuesday’s Com- munity Board 8 traffic and transportation committee meeting, allayed residents’ fears that Putnam Avenue West would be turned into a commercial truck route. Locals originally feared that BJ’s delivery trucks would be directed onto Putnam Avenue West after taking the Van Cortlandt Park South exit off the Major Deegan Expressway. However, Farkas said the traffic plan has evolved and that was no longer the case. Instead, he said, trucks would now travel up the Major Deegan Expressway, take the West 230th Street exit, travel north on Bailey Avenue, turn left onto West 238th Street and take a ramp into the mall to unload. Up to 500 free parking spaces will also be provided at the site. “Children’s safety is most important to us,” he said, after hearing the concerns of around a dozen parents who live in the area. “I am very respectful of your situation. There’s nothing that we would ever want to do to adversely impact your neighborhood.” Farkas said BJ’s would make deliv- eries only during off-peak overnight hours, while trucks serving businesses in the north building would make their deliveries using a new cul-de-sac at West 237th and Broadway. Riverdale Crossing is expected to gener- ate around 325 full-time equivalent retail jobs and 500 union construction jobs. Metropolitan Realty Associates purchased the site of the former Stella D’oro factory for $18.75 million in August 2011. Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz hands Riverdale resident Helene Afon a check for $5,000. She lost her husband of 52 years in a fire which destroyed her home.
Transcript
Riverdale’s ONLYLocally Owned
Newspaper!
Volume XX • Number 4 • January 24 - 30, 2013 • FREE!
Stanton campaign raises conflict of interest
Stella D’oro shopping mall on track for fall opening
By MIAWLING LAMThe editor of the P.S. 24 parents association news-
letter has been placed on City Council candidate Cliff Stanton’s campaign payroll.
The Riverdale Review can reveal that Jennifer Firestone is receiving $1,000 a month from Stanton’s campaign committee for political consulting.
Because Firestone is also the editor of the P.S. 24 PA’s Sound-ing Board and has the opportunity to include publicity for the City Council candidate in the public school’s newsletter, her campaign role presents a possible conflict of interest.
Firestone does not disclose her ties to the Stanton campaign in the PA bulletins, which she edits on a volunteer basis.
According to documents filed with the Campaign Finance Board, Firestone collected $1,000 from Stanton’s campaign committee on each of four separate occasions: September 18, October 17, November 15 and December 20. Each line item payment is listed as a “consulting fee.”
Some charge that Firestone’s editing role could be clouding her judgment and that she is giving Stanton favorable editorial coverage in the PA bulletins.
In the most recent Sounding Board issue, released this past fall, Stanton is featured in three photographs and rates a mention in six separate articles discussing his in-
volvement in the Boo Bash fundraiser, mock presidential election and International Walk to School Day.
As usual, however, Stanton is given a half-page column to discuss traffic and safety-related issues in his capacity as the school’s safety committee chair.
A separate item refers to the press conference Stanton held on September 10, when he proposed legislation calling for the creation of 20-mph safety zones outside all New York City schools and senior centers. “Stanton has been fighting for traffic-calming measures for the schools along Indepen-dence Avenue for four years,” the news brief states.
In contrast, the issue released last spring features no photographs of Stanton and just three editorial men-tions, while the winter issue boasts only Stanton’s traffic and safety column.
When contacted on Tuesday morning, Stanton de-clined to comment and said, “I’ll pass on that one,” while Firestone could not be reached before press time.
Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz said Firestone’s dual roles represented a clear conflict of interest.
“She is getting paid by the campaign, and at the same time, she edits the bulletin, which gives an extraordi-narily high degree of coverage to the candidate whose payroll she is on,” he said.
“Unfortunately this gives the impression that many
people already have, which is that this parents asso-ciation, which contains so many concerned and active parents, has been highly politicized.”
No taxpayer funds are used to produce The Sounding Board—the school relies on advertisements from com-munity organizations and businesses to print the bulletin, published by the P.S. 24 parents association.
Although no public money is involved, Councilman G. Oliver Koppell said it was highly inappropriate for Firestone to occupy both positions and called on her to temporarily quit one of the roles.
“It is a little troublesome,” he said. “Certainly it should be disclosed, at the very least.
“Probably from an ethical point of view, it would be best for her to not be the editor at this time.”
As of press time, calls to the Department of Education for comment were not returned.
Stanton is hoping to succeed incumbent District 11 Councilman G. Oliver Koppell in this year’s citywide elec-tions. Koppell is currently serving his third and final term and must vacate the office due to term limit rules.
As of press time, there were three registered Demo-cratic candidates in the race: Stanton, Community Board 8 member Andrew Cohen and Fieldston School track coach Cheryl Keeling.
By MIAWLING LAMParts of Riverdale Crossing, the $80 mil-
lion shopping mall located at the former Stella D’oro cookie factory, could open its doors by as early as October.
Metropolitan Realty Associates presi-dent Joseph A. Farkas said the two-story mall would most likely be unveiled in two stages—the north building will open first, with BJ’s Wholesale Club set to follow suit a month later.
Farkas revealed the revised completion dates during a brief one-on-one interview with the Riverdale Review last week.
“We’re shooting for October for the little building and mid-November for BJ’s. We’re trying to get in before Thanksgiv-ing—that’s our goal,” he said.
Once opened, BJ’s Wholesale Club will anchor the 165,255-square-foot shopping center, occupying more than 118,000 square feet in the south building on West 237th Street.
All spaces in the north building should also be fully leased and built before fall, Farkas said, but due to co-tenancy clauses in the leasing agreements, businesses may choose to wait for BJ’s to open before serving eager shoppers.
National retailer Petco, banking institu-tion Bank of America and casual sports-themed restaurant Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar have already signed leases to occupy space in the north building.
“The project is moving along. We just poured concrete, 400 yards, in the ground this week for the north building,” Farkas said.
Farkas declined to single out any other future retailers by name but provided a hint of what could come when asked what
industries the businesses were in.“It’s a combination of service vendors
and restaurateurs,” he said.“We want to bring the project further
along so people can visualize what we’re building, and then we anticipate paper-ing the neighborhood and letting people know what’s available. And so we hope there will be a nice mix of national and local tenants.”
Meanwhile, Farkas, who made a sur-prise appearance at last Tuesday’s Com-munity Board 8 traffic and transportation committee meeting, allayed residents’ fears that Putnam Avenue West would be turned into a commercial truck route.
Locals originally feared that BJ’s delivery trucks would be directed onto Putnam Avenue West after taking the Van Cortlandt Park South exit off the Major Deegan Expressway.
However, Farkas said the traffic plan has evolved and that was no longer the case. Instead, he said, trucks would now travel up the Major Deegan Expressway, take the West 230th Street exit, travel north on Bailey Avenue, turn left onto West 238th Street and take a ramp into the mall to unload. Up to 500 free parking spaces will also be provided at the site.
“Children’s safety is most important to us,” he said, after hearing the concerns of around a dozen parents who live in the area.
“I am very respectful of your situation. There’s nothing that we would ever want to do to adversely impact your neighborhood.”
Farkas said BJ’s would make deliv-eries only during off-peak overnight hours, while trucks serving businesses in the north building would make their deliveries using a new cul-de-sac at
West 237th and Broadway.Riverdale Crossing is expected to gener-
ate around 325 full-time equivalent retail jobs and 500 union construction jobs.
Metropolitan Realty Associates purchased the site of the former Stella D’oro factory for $18.75 million in August 2011.
Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz hands Riverdale resident Helene Afon a check for $5,000. She lost her husband of 52 years in a fire which destroyed her home.
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Hebrew Home expansion plan bound for a rocky roadBy PAULETTE SCHNEIDER
Homeowners near the Hebrew Home at Riverdale will soon have a chance to present their case regarding the home’s ambitious plan to build a new senior residence on its recently purchased riverfront property.
Hebrew Home CEO Daniel Reingold reached out to the Riverdale Nature Preser-vancy, a group that protects Riverdale’s natural beauty and character, to facilitate community discussion before starting the arduous process of submitting the plan for official approval.
The first major hurdle will be a request to change the zoning designation of the grassy 14-acre property, adjacent to the home’s 19-acre site, from one that permits relatively low-density housing to one that would ac-commodate the scope of the proposed devel-opment—a multi-building 300-unit complex with 500 underground parking spaces.
The home has hired Perkins Eastman, a firm with some experience developing senior living facilities.
The new property’s present R1-1 zon-ing calls for considerable open space and a stringent limit on building size, as measured by floor area ratio on a given lot size. Community Board 8 recently down-zoned that property from R1-2 to the more restrictive R1-1.
The R4 zoning on the home’s original property permits a much higher popula-tion density and less open space.
The dramatic increase in density and the traffic it would necessarily bring are among the main concerns of residents who live in the vicinity of the home.
A group of 30 locals gathered last week to collect their thoughts on the project and plan for a series of two community meetings, called charrettes, sponsored by the Hebrew Home in partnership with Riverdale Nature Preservancy, whose role is to facilitate a meaningful exchange among the parties.
The first charrette, scheduled for Monday, January 28, will begin with a presentation by Reingold. Experts on traffic, land use regu-lations, energy and other environmental matters—some from the home and some from the community—will be stationed at issue-specific tables, ready for discussion.
The public is invited to present ideas and concerns about sightlines, public ac-cess, landscaping, or anything they may consider threatened.
The proposed new residence complex, a continuing care retirement community, would be the first of its kind in New York City. In a CCRC, residents pay an up-front cost—in this case, $500,000 for a one- or two-bedroom unit—plus a contractual monthly charge to cover supportive care for life. Part of the investment is ultimately returned to the resident’s estate.
The type of contract for ongoing services is yet to be determined, but the option of trans-ferring to the home’s existing skilled nursing care facility could be part of the package.
The development plan includes con-version of 150 existing nursing home beds at the Hebrew Home into 75 studio apart-ments designed for assisted living—an arrangement that involves more support services than those offered in independent living but not the extensive care provided in a nursing home environment.
The CCRC model is common in other ar-eas, but few New York City nonprofits have sufficient funding—and property—for this type of development, Reingold explained at a recent CB 8 land use meeting.
Reingold has stated his interest in link-ing the development in some way with the planned development of a mixed-use greenway path along the Hudson River.
At the charrette-planning meeting, Paul Elson, head of Friends of the Hudson River Valley Greenway in the Bronx, said that the greenway would be a ten-year construction project and mentioned pos-sible access to the waterfront through the Hebrew Home’s new property.
Architect Sherida Paulson explained the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure
required by the City Charter of any re-quests for zoning changes. The ULURP, a lengthy, complex process, calls for public comment and participation by the Com-munity Board, the Borough Board, the bor-ough president, the Department of City Planning, the City Planning Commission, the City Council and the mayor.
If a project is not approved following the rigors of the ULURP, a developer still has the option of approaching the city’s Board of Stan-dards and Appeals for a zoning variance.
Those at the planning meeting agreed that this zoning decision could set a prec-edent for other open space in the area.
Reingold said at the land use meeting that if the zoning change doesn’t pass, he’d sell the new property.
A second charette will feature an up-dated presentation that incorporates the exchange of ideas and suggestions yielded at the prior brainstorming sessions.
The R
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The Riverdale Repertory Company Presents
� Book by George Furth � Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Showtimes and Dates:Saturdays, February 2 and 9 at 8:00pmSundays, February 3 and 10 at 3:00pm
Purchase tickets at www.RiverdaleY.org or RiverdaleRisingStars.com
At the door: $20; Online: $18; Seniors & Students: $12
5625 Arlington Avenue | Bronx, NY 10471718.548.8200 | www.RiverdaleY.org
MOSHOLU DAY CAMPOn Beautiful Lake Cohasset in Harriman State Park
Boys & Girls, K–6th Grade | Special Trips 3rd – 6th GradeSpecial Needs Camps | Teen Trailways 7th –10th GradeFree and convenient bus service to and from camp each day.
Activities include: swimming with instruction, boating, sports, art, drama, crafts, ceramics, nature studies and much more!
Call 718-882-4000for a free brochure and to schedule a camp tour
Follow us on twitter @countrydaycamp and “Like ” Mosholu Country Day Camp on Facebook
Making Memories!
Quality Camps at
Affordable Prices!
Mosholu Montefiore Community Center 3450 Dekalb Ave & Gun Hill Rd. Bronx, NY 10467�����������������������������
By TESS McRAEand MIAWLING LAM
The two men charged with murdering Hwang Bum Yang, the local chef who was shot and killed for his iPhone last year, could soon have a trial date.
During a brief hearing at Bronx Supreme Court on January 15, Alejandro Campos, 21, stood next to attorney Richard Williams and received a new hearing date when a possible trial date could be set. Williams was filling in for Campos’ regular attorney, Martin Galvin.
Campos, wearing blue jeans and a gray button-down shirt, emerged from his holding cell and smiled at family and friends sitting in the courtroom before facing the judge.
Campos’ co-accused, Dominick Davis, 20, was also slated to appear, but his case was not heard because his attorney, Kyle
Watters, was not in attendance. Both men entered a plea of not guilty
on the murder and related robbery charges during an emotionally charged court appearance last May.
Yang, a Korean national and Johnson Avenue resident, was on his way home after finishing a shift at the exclusive Modern restaurant in Manhattan on April 19, 2012, when he was confronted at Cambridge Avenue and West 232nd Street.
Prosecutors allege Davis approached Yang, demanded his iPhone and fired a single shot during the altercation. The bullet ultimately struck the victim in the left torso, instantly killing him.
Detectives accuse Davis of stealing Yang’s iPhone, shooting the victim and fleeing the scene in a 2002 white Honda Odyssey getaway car driven by Campos.
The two suspects were arrested on April 26 after they tried to offload the stolen phone on Craigslist, a popular classified website.
At the time, the commanding officer of the 50th Precinct Deputy Inspector Kevin Burke reported that detectives have written and video confessions from the pair.
Hon. John Carter called for the case to be revisted on April 2 and said a decision on motions presented by the defense and a possible trial date decision would be made at that time for both Campos and Davis.
After the hearing was adjourned, Campos’ family left the courtroom to speak with Williams outside and expressed concern over the progress of the case and the well-being of the accused.
Williams assured them that Campos was fine but that all murder cases were slow-moving in the court system. He also said up to two years could pass before a final decision is made on the case.
“Alex is a good kid. He just got stupid and shouldn’t be hanging around guys like this,” Williams said to the family.
“With these types of cases, you get a date to appear in front of the judge and then you get another date, then you get another date. It is going to take a while for a decision to be made.”
Galvin last year told the Riverdale Review that it was unlikely his client would be sentenced before 2015.
The maximum sentence for first-degree murder is life in prison with or without parole; the minimum penalty is 20 years.
By TESS McRAEA man jumped to his death by leaping
out the window of his North Riverdale apartment, according to authorities.
Police said Robert Tavon, 54, jumped from his sixth-floor apartment at 5424 Netherland Avenue just before 2 p.m. last Thursday.
Commanding officer of the 50th Pre-cinct Deputy Inspector Kevin Burke said the man had called 911 seeking help.
“Apparently, he took a bunch of pills and called 911 from the apartment lobby and told them that he took six bottles of medication,” Burke said. It is not known what medication was taken.
But Tavon returned to his apartment before the paramedics arrived at the
scene, Burke said.He then opened his window, which
overlooks a lawn and neighboring apart-ment buildings, and jumped, landing on a patch of grass below.
When the Riverdale Review attended the scene later that afternoon, the lawn was still grooved with tracks from the gurney that wheeled the victim away.
According to an EMS spokesman, the man was still alive but had suffered traumatic cardiac arrest when paramed-ics arrived.
He was transported to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Yonkers and was later pro-nounced dead.
As of press time, no further details about the incident were available.
2600 Netherland Ave • Riverdale, NY 10463718-548-0900 • www.kinneretdayschool.orgPlease call us for an appointment!
P.S. 24In six months, the school has raised
$290 through the Box Tops fundraiser. The yearlong effort is part of the national Box Tops for Education program, an ini-tiative that has helped America’s schools earn more than $475 million since 1996. Parents can help earn cash for their child’s school by clipping Box Tops coupons from hundreds of participating products. So far, P.S. 24 has collected 2,900 tops. Parents are encouraged to help P.S. 24 raise money in an easy and free way by sending the box tops to school with their children. The fundraiser will continue through the end of the school year.
Horace Mann SchoolThe Upper Division Japan Day is on
Friday, January 25. The event consists of plays presented in Japanese by Upper Divi-sion students enrolled in Japanese language classes at HM. A Japanese Festival will also be held in the Fisher Rotunda. Activi-ties will include myriad workshops: tea ceremony, calligraphy, origami, food tasting, mocha and Ya-kisoba, a bake sale, sushi, Japanese tea, snacks, Ramune, and a sta-tionery sale and lunch for the Japanese language classes.
The Student Choreographed Dance Show will be held in the school’s dance studio on Thursday, January 24, at 3:30 p.m.; Friday, January 25, at 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; and Saturday, January 26, at 7:30 p.m. Students created the dances and have complete oversight of the per-formances.
Manhattan CollegeMichael Masch has been named the
college’s president for finance and chief financial officer. The Philadelphia native most recently served as chief financial officer for the school district of Philadel-phia, the nation’s eighth-largest public school system, with 156,000 students in district- operated schools, 46,000 in charter schools, and nearly 20,000 dis-trict employees. In that role, Masch was responsible for all financial administration and operations of the district. Masch also served as vice president for budget and management at the University of Pennsyl-vania. He was accountable for operating and capital budget planning, business development and investment strategy, tuition, and financial aid strategy.
Julie Chen, television personality and host of CBS’ “The Talk” and “Big Brother,” will receive the 2013 De La Salle Medal at the college’s fundraising dinner on Wednesday, January 23. The event will be held at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. The De La Salle Medal Dinner honors people and corporations that embody the principles of excellence, leadership and service to society. Past honorees in-clude former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani; Anne Mulcahy, chairman of the Xerox Corporation; and Eugene McGrath (’63), former chairman and chief execu-tive officer of Con Edison. Before working on her most recent assignments, Chen served as a special contributing anchor and co-anchor of “The Early Show.” Dur-ing that time, she covered several major news stories, including the war in Iraq and conflicts in Kuwait and Qatar.
Local ScholarsThe State University of New York at
Oswego has announced Alamin Saleh and James Tavarez have been named to the dean’s list for the fall semester. Saleh, a psychology major, and Tavarez, a me-teorology major, join the top 25.9 percent
of the school population by making the dean’s list. Students must have a semester GPA of at least 3.30 to qualify. Oswego en-rolls more than 8,000 students in its Col-lege of Liberal Arts and Sciences, School of Business, School of Communication, Media and the Arts, and School of Educa-tion. U.S. New Media group counts SUNY Oswego among the top public regional universities in the North for 2013, and the Princeton Review includes Oswego in its 2013 college guidebook “The Best Northeastern Colleges” as well as its 2013 list of “best value” colleges and universi-ties nationally.
The State University of New York at Potsdam has announced that Annalise Adolphus was recently named to the dean’s list. Adolphus, an early childhood education major, was among 380 students honored for academic excellence in the fall 2012 semester. To be eligible for the
deans’ list, students must have satisfac-torily completed 12 numerically graded semester hours, with a semester grade point average of at least 3.25. SUNY Potsdam has a strong focus on aca-
demics with a long history of excellence in the liberal arts and sciences. Founded in 1816 and located on the outskirts of the Adirondack Park, SUNY Potsdam currently enrolls approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students. Home to the world-renowned Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam is known for its handcrafted education, challenging liberal arts and sciences core, excellence in teacher training and leadership in the performing and visual arts.
Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, has announced that Corey Kamin-sky was named to the dean’s list at the College of Arts and Sciences for the fall 2012 semester. The College of Arts and Sciences is Cornell University’s largest undergraduate college. It provides a high-quality liberal arts education to its own students, and its courses are open to all students at Cornell. The college’s faculty includes national and international lead-ers in their respective disciplines. Cornell University is an American private Ivy League research university founded in 1865. The student body consists of nearly 14,000 undergraduate and 7,000 graduate students from all 50 states and 122 coun-tries. Since its founding, Cornell has been a coeducational, nonsectarian institution where admission is offered irrespective of race or religion.
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Thursday, January 24RiverdaleCB8 MEETING7 p.m. Community Board 85676 Riverdale Avenue
Meeting of the Laws, Rules & Ethics Committee of Com-munity Board 8. For more information, call 718-884-3959.
RiverdaleCARE PLANNING7:45 p.m. Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel475 West 250th Street
Rabbi Mark Popovsky and Dr. Susan E. Cohen will explore the medical, legal and Jewish perspectives on medical decision making in the setting of serious and/or life limiting illness. They will offer practical information on discussing and documenting your ideas, values, and preferences for care and they will engage in discussion on the ethical and Jewish perspectives on such decisions. For more information, call 718-543-8400.
Friday, January 25RiverdaleGENTLE YOGA10 a.m. Riverdale Branch Library5540 Mosholu Avenue
Gentle Yoga is designed for students who have special needs and/or limitations. This class is a variation of basic level I yoga format, moving more slowly and includes attention to the special needs of the individual. For more information, call 718-549-1212.
Children are welcome to come to the Riverdale Branch and learn more about the scientific process. They will conduct experiments and have fun while learning how the world around them operates. For ages 5 to 12 years. For more information, call 718-549-1212.
KingsbridgeTEEN ADVISORY GROUP4 p.m. Kingsbridge Branch Library291 West 231st Street
Let your voice be heard in the Kingsbridge Library’s Teen Advisory Group! TAG meetings will be held on Friday afternoons from 4-5 pm. If you are a 7th -12th grade student, you are eligible to join. For more information, call 718-548-5656.
Saturday, January 26RiverdaleBENEFIT CONCERT12 p.m. An Beal Bocht Cafe445 West 238th Street
Musicians on Call brings live music to patients’ bedsides at hospitals nationwide. Proceeds to Benefit Non-Profit Org. For more information, visit www.musiciansoncall.org and www.purplehatfoundation.org.
Spuyten DuyvilLECTURE2 p.m. Spuyten Duyvil Branch Library650 West 235th Street
Brian Rose, a Professor in the Department of Commica-tion & Media Studies at Fordham University, will discuss the forces that made Hollywood the giant of world film-making, and the special nature of its achievements during its Golden Age. Clips from movies will be part of the lecture. For more information, call 718-796-1202.
KingsbridgeRESUME RENOVATION2 p.m. Kingsbridge Branch Library291 West 231st Street
John Crant, author of the Self- Recruiter series, uses a special lecture-demonstration format and his recruiter’s eye to help you increase the value of the items on your resume by making the necessary cuts. For more information, call 718-548-5656.
Sunday, January 27Van CortlandtFUNDRAISER11 a.m. Van Cortlandt Jewish Center3880 Sedgwick Avenue
VCJC will be holding its annual Variety Show/Lunch/Chi-nese Auction. For more information, call 718-884-6105.
Featuring Hanna Rosin and Sally Kohn who will discuss the topic “Women, Power, and Politics… The End of Men?” Admission is $18, $10 for students. For more information, call 718-548-8200 ext. 200 or visit www.RiverdaleY.org.
Monday, January 28RiverdaleCB8 MEETING7:30 p.m. Community Board 85676 Riverdale Avenue
Meeting of the Housing Committee of Community Board 8. For more information, call 718-884-3959.
Tuesday, January 29RiverdaleCONCERT & LECTURE10:30 a.m. Riverdale YM-YWHA5625 Arlington Avenue
A concert and lecture, titled “Operatic heroes and Villians: From Mozart To Puccini.” with audio clips, singing and piano playing. The entire senior community is welcome to hear this presentation. For more info, call 718-548-8200, ext. 223.
Attention new computer users: Do you want to learn how to open a FREE e-mail account? Do you need help in mastering the computer mouse or learning how to find information on the Web? Come to the Riverdale Library and get assistance on the computers. Practice your new skills at your own pace. Ask questions and learn from doing. For more information, call 718-549-1212.
Thursday, January 31RiverdaleLECTURE8 p.m. Riverdale YM-YWHA5625 Arlington Avenue
Riverdale I-House, the Israeli House at the Riverdale YM-YWHA, will present a lecture “ Shooting Under Fire” by Gil Cohen-Magen, an Israeli photographer. He will discuss the economic and cultural challenges he faced while working for the multinational news agency Reuters. For more information call Hadas Oded at 917-435-0362 or email [email protected].
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Open House for all Riverdale Y Camps
The Riverdale Y will have an open house for their camps on Thursday, Janu-ary 24 between 6:00pm-8:00pm. The Y offers summer programs for children from ages 24 months to 15 years of old. For our younger children, Camp Kulanu offers warmth, energy, love and fun. Activities at Camp Kulanu include daily instructional swim taught by certified instructors, arts and crafts, nature program, outdoor play-ground, air-conditioned Early Childhood classrooms, water play and tricycle riding on safety-surfaced deck, music enrich-ment, weekly Shabbat celebration.
Camp Kehilla, in partnership with Camp Yomi and the 92nd Street Y, is a traditional day camp with contemporary programming, offering something for everyone at our campgrounds in Pearl River, NY. Campers will enjoy Sports, Music, Creative Arts, Instructional and Recreational Swim, Drama, Nature, Mar-tial Arts, Painting, Cartooning, Ceramics, Yoga, Archery, Jewelry Making, Digital Photography, Cooking, High and Low Ropes Courses, Climbing Tower, Zip Line and so much more!
Kehilla Seniors/Yomi Seniors is Every-thing offered at Camp Kehilla, and then some. Tailored towards our older camp-ers, this unique program enables kids to participate in our majors-minors program where they create a schedule based on their own interests. Each week campers will enjoy day trips including water parks, professional baseball games, whitewater rafting, amusement parks, and deep-sea fishing. There are also two overnights and a four-night experience at New Jersey Y Camps during the final week.
Riverdale Rising Stars Summer Stage Camp allows kids to get in on the act with Riverdale’s premier theatre camp experience! Rising Stars Summer Stage gives campers (or, as we call them, Young Artists) a fun, supportive environment where children ages 6 to 14 can nurture their creative impulses while taking an active role in performing and designing a full-scale musical theatre production.
RYDC (Riverdale Y day Camp) @ PS 24 is a full day of non-stop fun and ex-citement for campers who want a wide variety of hands-on activities including creative and performing arts, soccer, basketball, instructional and recreational swimming, floor hockey, music, Ga-ga and field activities. RYDC will also be visited by special guests and include our talent shows, theme days and Olympics.
Teen Travel Adventure Camp... No time to sit - we’re going on a trip! Broadway
shows, broadcast studios, amusement parks, mystery bus rides, professional baseball games, museums and ropes courses are just a small part of our program. Campers will experience various forms of entertainment and the great outdoors in a variety of settings. Past overnight trips have included Club Getaway, Boston, Vermont, Washington DC, Baltimore and Williamsburg. This summer will provide challenging experiences for our teens including stays at overnight camps in addition to exciting new destinations.
There will be discounts on all programs until January 29, 2013 plus additional savings at our open house.
To register for any camp, please contact the Y, 718-548-8200, extension 201. For additional information, please contact Joe Smith ([email protected]) at extension 261 or Roxanne Parets ([email protected]) at extension 229. The Y is located at 5625 Arlington Avenue.
Marble Hill Senior Center announces activities
The following programs are scheduled at the Marble Hill Senior Center in the upcoming week:
On Friday, Jan. 25, keyboard player Rob Barnes will perform the music of Motown at the Center’s monthly Birthday Party beginning at 1 p.m.
On Tuesday, Jan. 29, David Osborn of St. Paul’s Church National Historic Site will lecture about St. Paul’s Church during the American Civil War.
Also on January 29, cabaret performer Maria Neuda will present a program of songs entitled Broadway Baby at 1 p.m. Ms. Neuda will be accompanied on the piano by John Bowen.
All programs are free and open to those aged 60 and older.
The Marble Hill Senior Center is located at 5365 Broadway, between West 228th and West 230th Streets. A hot lunch is offered at noon Monday through Friday for adults aged 60 and older. For more information, call 718-562-8551.
Riverdale Senior Services activities and programs
Clubs, Computer Classes, special events and parties, exercise, meditation, yoga, bridge games, maj jong, Wii bowling are just some of the happenings at the Riverdale Senior Services, located at 2600 Netherland Avenue in the Century Building.
The center will also be offering the following programs:
Wednesdays at 2:45, Yiddish GroupThursday, January 24th at 10:00, Pilates
with MarisaTuesday, January 29th at 1:00. Decem-
ber and January Birthday Party. Enjoy a delicious lunch followed by entertain-ment by Diedre.
The Center is currently registering members for a trip to Macy’s on Wednes-day, January 16th, Lunch at Sammy’s on Friday, January 18th, Empire City on Monday, January 28th and Lunch and Shopping on Arthur Ave on Wednesday, January 30th. Please register in the office for all trips.
The Riverdale Senior Services is funded in part by the NYC Department for the Aging and is open Monday - Friday from 9 - 5. A wide variety of activities are offered daily as well as a hot lunch. New members are always welcome and for more informa-tion you can call 718-884-5900.
Neumann-Goldman Post 69 & Ladies Auxiliary
Jewish War Veterans: All veterans are welcome to participate in the only active Jewish War Veterans post in the Kings-bridge/Riverdale area. Neumann - Gold-man Post 69 & Ladies Auxiliary regularly meets on the third Sunday of each month at the James J. Peters V A Medical Center located at 130 Kingsbridge Road at 10 a.m., in room 3D22, on the third floor of the medical center.
The next meeting will be held on Sun-day, February 17.
Registration is not required and mem-bers of other posts are welcome or if your original post no longer exists. With advance notice, transportation can be arranged.
Services are held in a 100-year old cha-pel on the medical center’s grounds.
For additional information, call Mel Saks, Post Commander at 914-337-0277 (email: [email protected]), or Herb Barrett at 718-548-6832 (email: [email protected]).
Neumann-Goldman Post 69 & Ladies Auxiliary is the main supporter of the Me-morial Grove Restoration Group’s move to restore the War Memorial located in Van Cortlandt Park at West 246th Street - facebook.com/memorial grove.
Fundraisers continue to save the Jewish Center
The Van Cortlandt Jewish Center, lo-cated at 3880 Sedgwick Avenue, will be holding its annual Variety Show/Lunch/Chinese Auction on Sunday, Jan. 27.
Doors will open at 11 a.m., with free admission for the Chinese Auction. From 11 a.m. to 12 noon, anyone who wishes
to can browse the Chinese Auction (oth-erwise known as a pick-your-prize raffle) and enter to win the prizes of their choos-ing. Raffle tickets are in denominations of $1, $2, $5 and $10 for a chance to win an entry for every prize. Winners need not be present; they will be notified. Examples of raffle prizes are gift certificates to restau-rants and other establishments, jewelry, designer handbags, novelty gift items, sports memorabilia and much more.
Lunch will be served at 12 noon, at which time all those who made reserva-tions stay and enjoy a sumptuous hot Chinese-style buffet. After lunch, enjoy two wonderful shows - a full magic show by John Turdo and then a musical inter-lude by Tom Smith.
Top the day off with coffee, tea and dessert, coupled by the drawing of the Chinese Auction raffle prizes. The cost of the variety show, lunch and dessert is only $40 per person, and this includes one free $1 raffle ticket to be used (or upgraded) for the prize of your choice. For reservations (by Jan. 21st) or more information, call 718-884-6105.
If anyone who can’t make the event but still wants to help the VCJC’s fundraising efforts, they can visit www.biddingfor-good.com/vcjc (Jan. 11th-27th) and bid on one of the unique auction items.
Hanna Rosin to speak at the Riverdale Y
The Riverdale Y will present at the Rose Dialogue Series, Hanna Rosin, senior edi-tor of the Atlantic Magazine and founder and co-editor of Double X, Slate’s women’s section and Sally Kohn, a Fox News Contributor and columnist for Slate on the topic: Women, Power, and Politics... The End of Men? on Sunday, January 27 from 7:00pm-9:00pm. Admission is $18, $10 for students.
Men have been the dominant sex since the dawn of mankind. And yet, as journalist Hanna Rosin discovered, this long-held truth is no longer true. At this unprecedented moment, women are no longer gaining on men: they have pulled decisively ahead by almost every measure. In this groundbreaking book, Rosin reveals how this new state of affairs is dramati-cally shifting dynamics in every arena and at every level of society, and profoundly affecting marriage, sex, children, work, and more.
There will be a wine reception and book signing of Ms. Rosin latest book The End of Men: And The Rise of Women after the dialogue.
Childcare will be available at no charge, with age-appropriate activities for children ages 2 - 10. Please reserve your childcare space when you purchase your ticket at www.RiverdaleY.org
For more information, go to our website at www.RiverdaleY.org or call 718-548-8200, ext. 200. The Y is located at 5625 Arlington Avenue.
The Riverdale Y cordially invites you to the Rose Dialogue Series
Women, Power and Politics...The End of Men?
a dialogue with HANNA ROSINand SALLY KOHN
�������Sunday, January 27, 2013
7:00pm-9:00pm
Hanna Rosin is the author of the newly-released book The End of Men, as well as the senior editor of the Atlantic Magazine and a founder and co-editor of Double X, Slate’s women’s section
Sally Kohn is a progressive Fox News Contributor and columnist for Salon
� ����Book signing and wine reception at 7:00pm; Lecture and discusssion at 8:00pm
Tickets: $18; $10 for students
Reservations online at www.RiverdaleY.org or for more information, please contact Cynthia Galik-Riaz at (718) 548.8200, ext. 218
5625 Arlington AvenueBronx, NY 10471(718)548.8200www.RiverdaleY.org
Special Needs Basketball at the Y
The Riverdale Y’s Special Needs Basket-ball program gives kids with disabilities an opportunity to compete in sports in a supportive environment.
Tuesday 6:00pm-6:55pm. $132/$90 Y Members
Next session 2: February 5-March 19; 7 Classes. $154 /$104 Y Members
Session 3: April 9-June 11; 10 Classes. $220 /$150 Y Members
The Riverdale YM-YWHA welcomes retired NBA Player, Felipe Lopez to the Sports and Recreation Department. Coach Felipe will be running our Special Needs Basketball Program for children with challenging emotional, behavioral or cognitive issues who would benefit from a more structured experience. Routine training will build their confidence, self esteem and share in peer unity. This bas-ketball program will teach by following directions, and learning by example and acceptance with group support and en-couragement. No experience or basketball abilities are needed. The ONLY require-ment is the desire to have FUN!! The Y is located at 5625 Arlington Avenue. For more information, please contact Yudi Davis at ext. 240
Hebrew Home seeks volunteer knitters
Do you enjoy knitting or crocheting? Are you looking for your next project? Please consider using your skills to create a lap blanket for a resident at the Hebrew Home at Riverdale. During the winter, the residents enjoy staying cozy with a warm lap blanket and would welcome your contribution. You can join one of the regular knitting sessions on Mondays at 10 a.m. or fashion a lap blanket at home and drop it off at the facility.
The Hebrew Home at Riverdale is one of the largest nonprofit geriatric service organizations in New York state, serving more than 10,000 seniors daily by pro-viding low income housing, community programs, home health care, managed care services, rehabilitation services and our internationally recognized nursing home. For more information, call Connee Kaufman, director of volunteers at the Hebrew Home, at 718-581-1404.
Narainee Mangal receives award from Schervier
Bon Secours New York Health System, Schervier Nursing Care Center, located in the Riverdale section of The Bronx, is proud to announce Narainee Mangal, certified nursing assistant (CNA), as the December 2012 Values in Action award winner.
The prestigious Values in Action award is given monthly to an employee that embodies Schervier’s core values, consis-tently providing the highest quality of service to residents and the community, and often goes beyond their call of duty. Mangal, a dedicated member of Schervier’s nursing department, has earned the utmost respect from residents and staff members alike, due to her compassionate and genuine nature and undivided com-mitment to truly providing ‘good help to those in need.’
‘Narainee is a perfect example of how each of us is called to happily live the mis-sion and values of the Sisters of Bon Sec-ours,’ said Stephen Kazanjian, Director of Mission at Schervier. ‘Humble, professional, and a true problem-solver who can work out even the most difficult of situations, Narainee always cares for our patients with
sincerity and a positive attitude.’Mangal was selected for the award
based on nominations from her peers. She was recognized as December’s Values in Action award recipient at a ceremony held on Tuesday January at 8, 2013, where she was presented with a certificate of excellence and a small gift.
‘Narainee is a role model for other CNA’s at Schervier,’ said Olivia Babol-Ibe, Director of Nursing at Schervier. ‘An extremely devoted employee at Schervier, Narainee proved to be a true team player, especially in the midst of Superstorm Sandy, when she worked collaboratively with her colleagues to ensure safety and
comfort for all of our residents.’Bon Secours New York Health System
is part of Bon Secours Health System Inc., a not-for-profit Catholic health system headquartered in Marriottsville, Md.
Schervier Nursing Care Center is located in the Riverdale section of The Bronx, and is part of Bon Secours New York Health System, whose mission is to bring compassion to health care and to be ‘good help to those in need.’ Informa-tion about Schervier and Bon Secours New York may be obtained from the Admissions Office at 2975 Independence Avenue in Riverdale, by calling (718) 548-1700, and at www.scherviercares.org.
����������������������������������Buy tickets at Ticketmaster.com, Retail Locations,
Arena Box Offices or call 1-800-745-3000
Ages 2-12. Limit four (4) kids’ seats per purchase of one (1) adult seat. All seats $2 more day of show. Additional fees may apply. No double discounts. Excludes Gold Circle and VIP seats.
By MIAWLING LAMThe Benjamin Franklin Reform Demo-
cratic Club voted to support Andrew Cohen in his bid to replace Councilman G. Oliver Koppell in this year’s citywide elections.
Koppell, who represents the 11th Dis-trict, is currently serving his third and final term on the City Council and must vacate the office due to term limit rules.
The club’s predicted endorsement for Cohen came after nearly 100 members heard from all three announced candi-dates during a meeting at Tibbett Towers on January 16.
According to a breakdown of the 99 ballots cast, Cohen secured 84 votes, track coach Cheryl Keeling won five votes and Van Cortlandt Village resident Cliff Stanton, three votes. Six members made no endorsements and one voted for Com-munity Board 8 member Robert Press as a write-in candidate.
The three City Council hopefuls, in-troduced in alphabetical order, had five minutes each to present their case before club members had an opportunity to ask them questions.
Cohen kicked off the proceedings by outlining his credentials, saying it was crucial to elect a leader who could bring people together and form coalitions to achieve common goals.
He singled out education as a key prior-ity of his campaign.
“We have good schools but we need to make them better, and I think one of the
ways we can do that is with more parent involvement,” he said.
“With a new administration, I think somebody who can bring people together and make sure your voices are heard will be vitally important.”
The importance of education was echoed by the race’s latest entrant, Cheryl Keeling.
The businesswoman and certified NYC public school teacher was relatively un-known in the community until she filed a campaign committee with the state’s Board of Elections on January 4.
However, the Ethical Culture Fieldston School track coach of 14 years said she was the right person for the job because she speaks from experience.
She said competitive sports should be pushed at schools because it teaches chil-dren the value of teamwork and how to set goals, strategize and accept defeat.
“The idea of healthy competition is important. It is important in schools be-cause everything we do in our lives, we compete for,” she said.
“We compete for housing, we compete for jobs, we compete for friends, we com-pete for husbands, and yet there is not a single course that children take that is called Competition 101.”
Stanton used his allotted time to speak about his involvement with the P.S. 24 parents association and his ability to lure a charter school to the area.
He also defended his decision to lead a boycott against the Riverdale Review—an action that one club member described as
undemocratic.“I stand by everything I ever did there,”
he said. “Whether you agree with the boy-cott or not… you should take it as evidence that I will fight for this community from what I perceive to be a threat.”
The meeting came a week after the BFRDC drew fire for holding the endorse-ment meeting eight months before the scheduled Democratic primary.
The club usually considers its en-dorsements in April or May but said the process had been moved forward this year because of the strong possibility of a June primary.
“The reason we’re having such an early endorsement…is the uncertainty regard-ing the election schedule,” District Leader Bruce Feld said. “This is not a situation we can gamble at.”
He explained that endorsements for the positions of mayor, comptroller and public advocate would be made at a later date because the club’s actions in those races had “less of an impact.”
Prominent CB8 and BFRDC member Daniel Padernacht and city deputy comp-troller Ari Hoffnung have both publicly stated they are considering a run, but neither has officially announced his candidacy.
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., who is seeking re-election, also won the club’s endorsement after garnering 98 of the 102 votes cast. He is running unopposed.
“I am humbled by the overwhelming support of the club’s members,” Diaz said, “and I will continue to make them proud as we build a greater Bronx.”
No surprises as Ben Franklin club endorses Andrew Cohen
City Council candidate Cliff Stanton (right) defends his decision to boycott the Riverdale Review, as fellow candidate Andrew Cohen looks on.
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Restorative Yoga class offered
Restorative Yoga Class will be held on Sunday, Jan. 27, 5:30-7 p.m., at Sotheby’s Realty (Lower Level), 3732 Riverdale Av-enue. Cost: $20.
Restorative Yoga is a gentle style of yoga in which the body is supported with props in yoga poses, allowing the poses to be held longer and the muscles and organs to release deeply. This practice balances the nervous system, promotes healing, and cultivates profound relaxation. It is a great practice for beginners and expe-rienced yogis alike.
Advanced registration is necessary for this class. Contact [email protected] to register. For more info: www.ground-edgrowthyoga.com
Local practice helps in wake of Hurricane Sandy
In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, re-gional hospitals such as NYU have been damaged and affected. In an effort to assist continuing education of physical medicine & rehabilitation residents in the aftermath of the storm, Dr. Jeff Pavell of The Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Center (The PM&R Center) has opened his doors to NYU and their residents. The partnership will grant residents experi-ence in electrodiagnostic testing as well as daily patient care. The project, which will encourage and promote an optimal
learning experience for residents, will be initiated in The PM&R Center’s Riverdale, NY, and Englewood, NJ locations.
Jeff R. Pavell, DO, has recently been named Chief of the Department of Physi-cal Medicine and Rehabilitation at Engle-wood Hospital & Medical Center.
The PM&R Center has been treating patients with pain and disability for over 25 years. Dr. Donald Liss leads an expert team in his musculoskeletal facility located at 5676 Riverdale Avenue, Suite 103, in River-dale. With services including Physiatry & Pain Management, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy & Hand Therapy, and Certified Lymphedema Therapy, PMR continues to be at the forefront of rehabilitation medicine. To schedule an appointment, please call 718-884-1200.
BCA offers speed writing and open mic
Presented by the Bronx Council on the Arts’ Bronx Writers Center, In Progress: Speed Writing and Open Mic, a free, hands-on workshop, is scheduled for Monday, January 28, 2013, 6:30-8:30pm at the future home of the Bronx Council on the Arts (2700 E Tremont Avenue, Bronx, NY 10461, in the Westchester Square section of the Bronx.) Admis-sion is free and all are welcome. Reserve your seat at http://bronxwriters1282013.eventbrite.com/.
In Progress is a series of free monthly events for writers and readers at the future
headquarters of the Bronx Council on the Arts in Westchester Square.
This two-hour workshop begins at 6:30pm with an hour and a half of Speed Writing. Start the New Year by taking a bold brave new step - writing and shar-ing your work with other Bronx writers. In this unusual workshop, writers will respond to short prompts and share them one-on-one and in small groups. This is an opportunity to write and to meet other like-minded literary types. From 8:00-8:30pm you can perform your work at out open mic session! (2 minutes per reader.) Not everyone has to stand and read, but anyone who wants to is welcomed to claim their voice! Maria Romano, Direc-tor of the Bronx Writers Center, writer and teacher, will lead this workshop. All welcome! Bring a notebook, a pen and your creative energy.
Maria Romano is the Director of the Bronx Writers Center. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Yale University and a Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the New School. She is a creative writ-ing teacher at Fordham University’s Science and Technology Entry Program for middle and high school students and a volunteer at the nationally recognized non-profit, Girls Write Now. She has also worked as an Academic Director for Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions and as a Sales and Produc-tion Manager at Avon Books (now part of Harper Collins.) A Bronx-bred, award-win-ning writer of short stories, essays, she is currently working on a novel.
The Bronx Writers Center’s 2012-2013 workshop series, In Progress, is posted on BCA’s website at www.bronxarts.org. For additional information on this workshop or other events presented by the Bronx Writers Center, call 718-931-9500 x21, e-mail [email protected], or visit the Bronx Writers Center’s web pages at www.bronxarts.org.
Concert and lecture at Riverdale Y
On Tuesday, Jan. 29th at 10:30 am, the Riverdale Y Senior Center will present a concert and lecture with audio clips, sing-ing and piano playing. The title of the concert is ‘ Operatic heroes and Villians : From Mozart To Puccini .
Bass- baritone Frank Barr will present his varied experience ranges from opera, oratorio and musical theater. Mr Barr has sung with the New York Grand Opera, Goldovsky Opera, New York City Opera, and Opera Orchestra of New York.
Among his credits are the New York Philharmonic, Concert in the Parks rendi-tion of Kurt Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins ,as well as that same organization’s Special Editions live recording of Sondheim’s Sweeny Todd, a full stage production which took place at Avery Fischer Hall.
The entire senior community is wel-come to hear this presentation. For more information, call 718-548-8200, ext.223. The Riverdale Y is located at 5625 Arling-ton Avenue.
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JOEL PAL CECILIA McNALLY Production Manager Office Manager
ROBERT NILVA MIAWLING LAM Marketing Director Associate EditorNote our new address:
5752 Fieldston RoadBronx, New York 10471
(718) 543-5200FAX: (718) 543-4206
STAFF: Robert Lebowitz, Richard Reay, Paulette Schneider, Lloyd Ultan, Daniel R. Wolf
ANDREW WOLF, Editor and Publisher
Political club needs to reach out to minorities
After 11 years in charge, Bloomberg has failed us on education
The news over the past week has been dominated by what can only be described as a meltdown of the city’s education establish-ment. Years of negotiations over a new teacher evaluation system came crashing down, as the Department of Education and the United Federation of Teachers failed to meet Governor Cuomo’s (arbitrary and now extended) deadline to come to agreement so that the city would receive $250 million in extra state aid.
Whose fault is this? The powerful anti-UFT lobby led by Mayor Bloomberg and those
who are either on Bloomberg’s payroll or are fearful of his enmity are vigorously trying blame the union. But for once the truth has emerged, this time from state Education Commissioner John King. Here is what really happened: a deal was struck, which was reneged upon by the Department of Education on the direct orders of the mayor.
At the eleventh hour, the administration inserted new scoring metrics into the plan, not allowing enough time for the UFT to evalu-ate these very complicated formulas. Yet the union worked overtime, pressing every asset into place to evaluate these complex calculations. They succeeded, and there was an agreement in place.
But the mayor rejected what was negotiated by his own Department of Education. In a hastily called press conference Thursday, he simply lied in asserting that the UFT made a last- minute demand that a sunset provision be put into the document. The truth is that that provision was already agreed upon by all parties and is a similar clause to that in virtually every other agreement between teachers and districts made throughout the state of New York, hundreds of them.
The lie was compounded on Friday when Chancellor Walcott, writing to the city’s principals, gave yet another excuse, another mythical reason why, he admitted, the city, not the teachers, re-jected the deal.
At the same time, the administration was so deceptive in dealing with its teachers, it showed its weakness in dealing with the school bus strike. This is a simpler matter. Somehow, a generation ago, a system was set up that took the worst aspects of both privatization and government management and combined them into an inefficient and incredibly expensive system that works for no one.
The mayor has the power to void the current contracts since these striking employees don’t work for the city, but rather for the bus companies. Since the contractors are not delivering the services, they are in default and the contracts can be cancelled. But that takes guts, something in short supply in this administration.
The truth is that the schools are in worse shape than they ever were under the old system before dictatorial mayoral control was established eleven years ago. Now is the time to declare that we have failed and return to a more inclusive and democratic system. We need to under-stand that Bloomberg has been in charge of the schools during the entire school careers of most every child in the system. It is time for him to take ownership and responsibility for the failure of his policies.
Introduction of new legislation to increase independent member-ship on the Panel for Educational Policy should be taken up and passed immediately and a commission should be appointed to come up with a permanent new structure.
As we look to the future, Bloomberg and his billionaire buddies are gearing up to maintain this failed status quo. They have set up a political action committee to dominate this year’s municipal elections. They can do this and skirt the spending limits that until this year (with the exception of Bloomberg himself, exempted by law from limits on expenditures on his own behalf) had the effect of leveling the playing field.
We have heard reports of polling done on behalf of Bloomberg’s “Students First” PAC to test the relative strength of two candidates in the eleventh City Council district that will cover the northwest Bronx. They include two potential candidates: censorship advocate Clifford Stanton and current city Deputy Comptroller Ari Hoffnung. Presumably, the candidate they ultimately support will be committed to the Bloomberg agenda of privatization of the school system, an end to home-zoned schools, low academic standards, and deceptive test reporting. The Bloomberg-assisted candidates will certainly be opponents of the teachers of our city and their union.
Needless to say, we can support no candidate with that agenda. We promise tough reporting and will spare no effort to get the truth about what is going on in the schools to you, so that you can weigh the facts and make an independent decision.
To The Editor:“I am a woman of color,”
Cheryl Kneeling said when I first met her. She is very proud of her roots and impressed me with her fluency of the Span-ish language and knowledge of Hispanic culture.
On January 16 at the Benja-min Franklin Reform Democratic Club meeting, eligible members voted to sponsor a candidate for District 11’s Council seat.
There were three candidates present. However, I was impressed by the only female candidate, Cheryl “Shelley” Keeling.
I saw how people approach her at the end of the meeting. Shelley made an impression on them, even when they did not select her name as the candidate to be sponsored by the club, perhaps because they did not have a chance to interact with her like they had with the other candidates. Even then, Mrs. Keel-ing made it second.
The rules for voting seem ar-chaic. I tried questioning them but once I said my name I was ordered to shut up with the excuse that I was not a member of the club.
What I wanted to know was this: Since the club insisted that they are pro-diversity, why did the vote have to be taken today?
I wanted to ask for the eligible-
to-vote members to raise their hands; just to prove that Hispan-ics and African-Americans were not being allowed to vote.
Since so many people attended (perhaps like me for the first time), the right thing to do was to allow them to register and cast their votes a few months later. I believe about 200 attended and only about 98 were eligible to vote.
Why not give a chance for the members to know Ms. Keeling better, like they knew the other candidates? I believe the election is in November. What is the rush?
When I asked if I could vote, I was told I had to be a member for two years; later on one person
in the audience told me “no, it is only two months.”
The club needs to advertise to Hispanic and African-American communities on how to become a member and its benefits. It is not a club for the few; it is a club for every Democrat in the community.
At the end we, the Hispanics and African-Americans, were the decisive vote who put Obama in the White House. It is not too smart to ignore us. Make sure your vote is not suppressed and go out and vote on election date. Ms. Keeling’s candidacy is the first step to introduce diversity in the local political arena.
Rosa Nazar
To The Editor:All of the myriad cuts to educa-
tion have cut kids out of daytime and after school programs in the past. And so this blatant disregard for student safety and health con-tinues as bus transport of students with and without disabilities is not addressed fairly. And once again the education of children is again disrupted. Yet City negotiators seem unscathed as they move toward the negotia-tion table at a snails pace. Hence, the impetus for them to negotiate contracts in a timely manner or
negotiate in good faith is absent. There seems to be no penalty for the City’s negotiators.
There are numerous events planned in NYC each year. And before millions of visitors come to take part in these festivities, the plans are finalized by the City of New York. Negotiations which involve our public schools must be treated in the same way. They must be taken seriously. And that busi-ness must be handled profession-ally... more business-like. Certainly all the events which bring revenue into NYC are negotiated in a timely manner. Thus, Marathons, conven-tions, skyscrapers, and arenas are planned and executed in a timely manner. So one asks: When will the education of our children become a number one priority in NYC?
Negotiate, Now! And as indi-cated by Bronx Borough Presi-dent Ruben Diaz, Jr., “Get a deal done already because 150,000 kids need to get to school!”
Phyllis C. MurrayUFT Teacher
Put children’s education first
The R
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LE REV
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ay, Janu
ary 24, 201315Con Ed addresses chronic power outages in Spuyten Duyvil
By MIAWLING LAMCon Edison has vowed to provide
Spuyten Duyvil with additional power to stem the frequency and duration of electrical outages.
The utility company agreed to the service improvement during a meeting with Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz and affected neighborhood residents on January 11.
An extra power supply, to be installed by December, is designed to address the problem of continual blackouts on parts of Independence Avenue, Kappock Street and Palisade Avenue.
Records indicate that since March 2010, seven buildings in Spuyten Duyvil have reported a total of 16 power outages. The blackouts have lasted anywhere from less than an hour to more than 167 hours following superstorm Sandy.
The response comes a month after Dinowitz held a press conference urging Con Ed to run power lines underground rather than overhead as a way to prevent weather-related electrical outages.
Dinowitz said that considering the utility company’s record of ducking his
demands for several years, he was satisfied with the compromise.
“The net effect will be that if there is a power outage, the power would resume relatively quickly because they will have this additional source to get power from,” he said.
“We wanted to bury the lines alto-gether, and that could still happen in the long term. But in the short term, they will do this.”
Con Ed spokesman Alfonso Quiroz confirmed the action and said the trouble-prone area is slated for a series of enhancements.
Crews have already installed additional switches and system circuit breakers, up-graded targeted sections of infrastructure and trimmed trees near overhead wires in order to minimize future outages, he added.
“There isn’t a silver bullet to stop tree and storm outages on an overhead system, so we are continuing additional planned upgrades,” Quiroz said in a statement.
“We plan on evaluating other improve-ments, including an additional source of supply to the community. These improve-
ments are expected to be made later in the year.”
Jerry Yuchtman, who has lived in River-dale for 16 years, said the announcement represented a win for the community.
“We didn’t expect anything from the meeting, but they actually threw us a bone and it should improve service,” he said.
Yuchtman, who is a former utility worker and resident of 2465 Palisade Av-enue, said the beefed-up service will come from a new, above-ground cable that will service the neighborhood exclusively.
That section of Spuyten Duyvil is now serviced through a cable that powers other
areas as well.If the power goes out on the replace-
ment line, Yuchtman said, new tech-nology would allow Con Ed crews to isolate the problem spot and fix it more quickly.
Despite the positive news, Yuchtman insisted he would not rest on his laurels and planned to continue lobbying the util-ity company to bury the power lines.
“I doubt we will ever get it done, but it doesn’t mean we won’t try,” he said.
Con Ed authorities have said that bury-ing all 35,000 miles of overhead wires in New York City would cost $60 billion.
By TESS MCRAEMembers of P.S. 24’s parents associa-
tion are asking for more security in the school, and City Council candidate Cliff Stanton may have a solution involving ID scanners.
The former PA co-president flagged the idea of placing a scanner to track adults entering and exiting the school during the PA meeting on January 15.
Under Stanton’s proposal, IDs would not be issued to children but to adults wishing to enter the building on a regu-lar basis, including kindergarten parents who enter the school to drop off or pick up their child.
The proposal is still in its early stages and as of press time, no formal proposals have been filed for the scanners or any other school safety funding at P.S. 24.
But Stanton acknowledged that imple-menting the system would not come cheap.
He estimated the project would cost around $16,000 and was hoping to fund the system using City Council discretion-ary funds.
Every year, each City Council repre-sentative is allocated capital funds, often called Resolution A monies, which they can then issue to public schools as they see fit. The money can go toward any number of projects proposed by a school.
Last year, P.S. 24 was awarded $60,000 in Resolution A money for laptops to be used and stored in each classroom.
However, parents may need to warm Councilman G. Oliver Koppell to the scanner idea.
“I recognize why people are concerned, but I don’t want us to overreact,” he said. “It’s a good thing that we have the security guard at the door. But whether we need a scanner, I’m a little skeptical.”
The idea also elicited a similar response from Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz.
“He hasn’t submitted anything to me, but I would want to know how much the scanner would cost for all of the schools. Needless to say, you can’t show favorit-
ism,” he said.“If we were to put them in P.S. 24, we’d
have to put them in all of the schools in the area.”
Stanton said he got the idea when visit-ing a middle school in Manhattan where every student is issued an ID.
Upon entering the building, students swipe their IDs along a scanner system that tracks attendance. Many of the public middle and high schools throughout the city use similar systems.
The current procedure for visiting adults is to check in with the security guard at the front entrance, present a driver’s license and be issued a visitor’s pass.
Stanton said that this system had been compromised, as the building has run out of visitor pass supplies and has not re-ceived replacements in several months.
The demand for stronger security mea-sures in elementary schools is a priority of most PA members and comes as a result of the recent shooting in Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Most parents in attendance at the PA meeting said they didn’t feel having one secu-rity guard for the entire building was enough. Some suggested adding an additional guard or a camera and buzzer system.
“I think it becomes a question of prac-ticality,” Stanton said to the parents.
“We have a pretty thick safety plan, and elementary schools are viewed as less of a risk. Additional guards are placed in middle schools and high schools where additional safety is needed to protect students from students.”
Meanwhile, state Sen. Jeffrey Klein supported the general idea of promoting safety in schools but did not speak to Stanton’s scanner idea specifically.
“I have always supported research into innovative ways of keeping our kids safe in our schools,” Klein said in a statement.
“I would be interested in learning more about the implementation of a new iden-tification system that could help better control and monitor the entry of adults into schools like P.S. 24.”
Proposal to introduce ID scanners at PS 24
To The Editor:Let’s discuss a topic that white people
in general, and white Democratic Party politicians in particular, are either embar-rassed or afraid to bring up: the matter of racist statements directed against whites perpetrated by New York City and state minority politicians.
I will now relate two particular state-ments from previous years that stick in my mind and then proceed to a very recent despicable remark that led me to write this letter.
When Gifford Miller was City Council speaker, our then “pay-to-play” crooked Bronx borough president, Adolfo Carrion (a Puerto Rican) referred to Speaker Gifford and Mayor Michael Bloomberg — the two most powerful politicians in New York City — as “two rich white men from the Upper East Side.”
Charles Barron (a black City Council member) made a statement several years ago — that he has never apologized for — to the effect that it was good for his mental health “to slap a white person.”
But what prompted me to write this letter was a despicable racist statement spewed from the lips of (black) state Sen. Bill Perkins, of Manhattan, who referred to the recent agreement between the In-dependent Democratic Conference (IDC) and the Republicans to share power in the state Senate as “plantation politics” that put Democrats “in the back of the bus.”
For those of you who don’t follow politics, the IDC is a group led by state Sen. Jeff Klein that was formed in 2011. It consists of four white senators, includ-ing Sen. Klein. Recently — and I believe after Sen. Perkins’ vile comment — a fifth state senator, Malcolm Smith, a black, joined the IDC. I guess that makes him an “Uncle Tom”?
Sen. Perkins’ statement implied that the power sharing deal between the IDC and the Republicans was made for racist reasons — that these white politicians wanted to keep black politicians from gaining control of the Senate because of their color. This is a lot of crap!
Mr. Perkins is just extremely angry that he and his cohorts will not gain control of the Senate with all the power, perks and patronage that go with it. Incidentally, Sen. Klein — who also represents a part
To The Editor:This letter is in response to Dr. E.B.
Kelly, who thought the race of the perps who slashed a man walking his dog should not have been mentioned. I have to respectfully disagree.
Yes, the race of the perps should be mentioned. And no, there are NOT hun-dreds of men walking around Riverdale who fit the description. They were criminal interlopers like the cretins who murdered the young Asian man last year.
By the way, I’m African-American, fel-low Riverdalians. Be aware!
C. Clarke
Racism: prevalent among minority politiciansof Yonkers — wrote a very informative and convincing article in the Nov. 12, 2012 issue of Westchester’s Journal News explaining why the IDC made the deal.
Minority politicians are quick to call whites racist, but take absolutely no no-tice of their own blatant racism. I refer specifically to two political organizations that make my point: the New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus and a comparably named City Council caucus.
Both these organizations consist of disparate groups that — although often at odds with each other — have combined forces for the prime purpose of gaining power at the expense of whites. This is racism and brands every member of these two organizations as racist! Think about it!
