Wakefield News: In the dark on Homeless Shelters

Wakefield News: In the dark on Homeless Shelters: Wakefield Area News By Mary V. Lauro BRONX, NEW YORK, September 6- Before we get to the phone call which inspired this column, we mention t...

In the dark on Homeless Shelters

Wakefield Area News

By Mary V. Lauro

BRONX, NEW YORK, September 6- Before we get to the phone call which inspired this column, we mention that with summer's end, meetings will begin again. 

Please mark the dates since postage is expensive and not everyone has e-mail. The League will have its first meeting on September 20 at 7:30 p.m. at Redeemer Lutheran Church on Barnes and Boyd Avenue. The 47^th Precinct Community Council will have its first meeting at 8 p.m. on September 12, also at Redeemer Lutheran which brings us to the fact that the 47's current commanding officer, D.I. DeEntremont has been transferred out of the 47 Pct. to the prestigious Fugitive Enforcement Unit.

We are most appreciative of DI DeEntremont's command of the 47^th Precinct these past three years. Given the fact that he was understaffed, he did a tremendous job in keeping as much peace as possible. He also had a very soothing personality and was most cooperative with the community through the 47^th Precinct Community Council. He did not see the community as an enemy, and, in return, we saw him as a friend.

The bright side to this loss is that we will gain DI Brian Mullen who comes to us after a stint in the 33^rd, 52^nd and 44 Precincts. His reputation is also sterling. If past is prologue, he may continue the good community-police relations that marked the tenure of DI DeEntremont.

Regarding that phone call, the voice was that of an intelligent female. Our number had been given to her by CB 12. She was distraught. How could it be, she asked, that neither she nor her neighbors knew that three homeless shelters were scheduled to be built in the community? Her mother lives on Bronx Boulevard, she said, less than two blocks away from the Muller Army Reserve Center on Nereid and the Balfour building on Bronx Boulevard. And, what about this AID's (Praxis Initiative) center being built opposite Food Town on White Plains Road? Don't we count she asked plaintively? Why have we been kept in the dark?

We explained as best we could all we had done since May 2009 on the three shelters: the petitions, the letter writing, the protests, the busloads of people. We told her how Praxis wooed all our elected officials including our Community Board and how Wakefield was kept in the dark until Praxis had them all in tow.

What about the Community Board, she wanted to know. What did it do? She was told the chair wrote long columns, but the Board never discussed the situation. She wanted to know whether it notified the community and why notices were not placed in store windows or flyers sent to all residents within a certain distance from the shelters. We could not answer but she did.

She said, "That priest does not want to see any community uprising. He doesn't want to lose control. I went to two meetings there and swore I would not go again. It was like a high school class with the priest sitting up front and doing all the talking. The agenda was a joke. Same agenda two times and I understand from other people who have gone that it is the same every month. Neither the Board members nor the audience have any idea what the hot topics are. The community is left out in the cold with no voice at all. It seems the main interest of the Chair is to close the meeting by 9:30”

We'll end here, but we will have more to say.

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Reward Offered to Find Immigrant’s Killers

Gas Station Attendant Gunned Down

By Dan Gesslein

BRONX, NEW YORK, September 6- A $12,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a pair of bicycle robbers who gunned down a hardworking African immigrant at an East Tremont gas station.

Yesterday, police announced the $12,000 reward for information leading to two men suspected of killing a 28-year-old Gambian immigrant inside an East Tremont gas station. The victim had apparently been working at the station less than two weeks before he was killed.

Investigators released a sketch of the gunman who was wearing a NY Giants hoodie at the time. 

At around 8:12 p.m. on September 4, Lamin Sillah, 28, was inside the gas station at E. 182nd Street and Southern Boulevard when the bandits rode up on bicycles. Sillah was counting receipts at RC Petroleum when one of the gunman entered the office and showed a gun. Surveillance video shows that as Sillah puts up his hands, the gunman shoots him in the torso. 

Sillah was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital with three bullets in him but he died a short time later.

Police said Sillah was a hard working immigrant from Gambia whose wife is still living in Africa. It is unclear why the robbers gunned down the attendant.

The gunman is described as a black male between the ages of 20 and 25. He has a stocky build and was last seen wearing a NY Giants hoodie. 

Anyone with information is urged to call CRIMESTOPPERS at (800) 577-TIPS. The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.

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Tiger Cubs Make Their Zoo Debut

(Photo by Julie Larsen, WCS)

BRONX, NEW YORK, September 5– The Tiger Mountain exhibit at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo roared with new activity as three Amur tiger cubs made their public debut.

The cubs were born to mother Katharina and father Sasha. These tigers were bred by recommendation of the Species Survival Plan, a cooperative breeding program designed to enhance the genetic and demographic stability of the tiger population in zoos accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to ensure its long-term viability of the species.

The one male and two females in the litter each weighed an estimated two-and-a-half to three pounds at birth and now weigh approximately 45 pounds. Katharina is 13 years old, and her last litter of cubs was born in May 2010. Sasha is 15 years old, and this is his first litter.

The three cubs will be on exhibit with their mother intermittently for the first few weeks as they acclimate to their surroundings.

“The birth of a rare species like Amur tigers is always an exciting time at the Bronx Zoo,” said Jim Breheny, WCS Executive Vice President and Bronx Zoo Director. “The cubs will play a vital role as representatives for their wild relatives – inspiring zoo visitors to learn more about the threats these majestic animals face in the wild and what we can do to protect them.”

In celebration of the debut of the three tiger cubs, the Bronx Zoo is offering $3 off the purchase of each Total Experience Ticket purchased online. Visit www.bronxzoo.com for more information and to purchase a ticket to visit the cubs.

Amur tigers are also known as Siberian tigers. They are found in the Russian Far East and northeastern China. Male Amur tigers are the world’s largest cat and can grow to weigh 650 pounds. 

Tigers are in trouble. In the last 100 years, the global wild tiger population has plummeted 97 percent to just 3,200 – 1,000 of which are breeding females. Once found in 30 countries across vast areas of Asia, tigers are now just found in scattered fragments across 10 countries.

The Wildlife Conservation Society is on the ground saving wild tigers right now by implementing a “Source Site” strategy to reverse the downward trend. Source Sites are areas in the wild where viable populations of breeding females exist and have suitable habitat to support population growth. Forty-two Source Sites scattered across Asia have been identified as the last hope and greatest priority for the conservation and recovery of tigers.  A WCS delegation is currently attending the World Conservation Congress in South Korea from Sept. 6-13 to fight for tigers and other species at risk from extinction.

As the global leader in tiger conservation, WCS has been conducting ecological studies on tigers since the 1960s and has a long history of protecting these big cats through the establishment of protected areas, increasing enforcement against poaching, and public education.  Wildlife Conservation Society researchers continue their work across Asia safeguarding tigers throughout their range.

For more information on the study and how to help WCS save tigers in the wild, visit www.wcs.org.

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100 PERCENT

By Robert Press

BRONX, NEW YORK, September 3- Before we give you our primary day predictions, a little news first. 

We told you back in May of this year that the MTA was preparing for East Bronx Metro North train service into mid Manhattan. We also said that this service would be going into Penn Station (not Grand Central Station) with stops at four East Bronx communities Coop-City, Morris Park, Parkchester, and Hunts Point. The first meeting on this will take place in Morris Park on Monday, September 10 at the Price Center/Block Pavilion auditorium at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, 1300 Morris Park Avenue (at the intersection of Eastchester Road). An open house will begin at 6:30 p.m, followed by a presentation on the project at 7 p.m. Other community meetings will take place on September 24th in Coop-City, October 2nd in Hunts Point, and on October 24th in Morris Park. All meetings will open at 6:30 p.m and start at 7 p.m.

Since Madonna will be performing at Yankee Stadium, the 161st Street BID is having a Madonna look alike contest before the concert on September 8th. You can go to my blog for more details and to see photos of the contestants at www.100percentbronx.blogspot.com. You can also see coverage of 87th A.D. candidate Luis Sepulveda's fund raiser last week, Senator Jeff Klein's Gloria Gaynor Concert, the growing scandal of Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's admission of maybe doing the wrong thing in approving an alleged $103,000 payment to hush up a Vito Lopez (Brooklyn's now former Democratic County Leader) scandal.

We sit down occasionally to interview elected officials on different topics, and last week we sat down with State Senator Gustavo Rivera 33rd State Senate District to discuss his September Democratic Primary campaign. Gustavo knows that he has a sort of well funded challenger, but is confident that he will be re-elected by the voters of his district. We spoke of the changes to his district where his union support in Van Cortlandt Village, as well as most of Bedford Park and Norwood where he was very strong was redistricted to a different senator. Gustavo picked up more areas to the south of where his district is, which is where his primary challenger is from. Gustavo also said that the current scandals involving Naomi Rivera (same last name, but no relation) should not affect him as he now has only three election districts in the 80th A.D. as compared to before redistricting. The Bronx Democratic County organization has backed Gustavo, and the morning of the interview Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. was out campaigning with Gustavo. He would not give me a figure on his margin of victory, but said that I would not be disappointed with the numbers.

The Bronx Democratic County Annual Barbecue will be held on Sat. Sept. 8th in front of the county Headquarters located on Blondell Avenue at the corner of Eastchester Road starting at 12 PM.

On to our predictions- First in the 33rd State Senate District the only contested state senate district in the Bronx we see the current state senator being re-elected by a 66 – 34 percent margin.

In the Civil Court Judge race we see Eddie McShan winning by at least a 3 – 1 margin, especially with all the backing he has of almost every elected official in the Bronx.

The one minor Democratic Party position we see as interesting is if Bronx County Campaign expert Benny Catala can win his old 77th A.D. Male District Leader position back from Mark Esceffeary-Bay who won the 77th A.D. Male District Leader position in 2010.

There are no assembly primaries in the 79th, 81st, 83rd, and 85th A.D.'s, and in the 77th A.D. we see Assemblywoman Vanessa Gibson winning the primary. In the 78th A.D. we see the race getting closer each and every day with challenger and current 78 A.D. State Committeeman Richardo “Ricky” Martinez closing in on the incumbent Jose Rivera's lead especially since the former county leader 's daughter is involved in what could wind up indictments and possible jail time. By the way Jose was the Bronx County Leader while his daughter Naomi was chosen to replace an ineligible candidate and we will have our prediction next week, because we want to see if any charges against daughter Naomi or father Jose the county leader while the alleged scandals was happening comes out before the primary. The same is true for the 80th A.D. as challenger Mark Gjonaj is about even with the tarnished incumbent, and I don't see the two other challengers Irene Estrada, and Adam Bernudez not getting more than 1 or 2 percent each or total.

In the 84th A.D. we see another victory for Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo. In the 86th A.D. if incumbent Nelson Castro can't win with close to or over 90 percent he needs to look at himself and figure out what went wrong. In the old 76th and now new 87th A.D. two years ago we predicted Luis Sepulveda as the winner. He lost to longtime incumbent Assemblyman Peter Rivera (now State Labor Commissioner) by about 200 votes. With no incumbent this time we predict again that Luis Sepulveda will win, and by a margin of 81 – 19 percent. This even as State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. is home recuperating from knee surgery and can not be out on the campaign with Sepulveda.

Don't forget to check my blog for daily updates, other events, and photos of events covered. If you have any comments about this column or my blog, or would like to have an event listed or covered in this column or on my blog you can e-mail us at 100percentbronxnews@gmail.com or call 718-644-4199 Mr. Robert Press.

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Summer of Bullets Comes to an End as Concerns About Gun Violence Continues

COMMUNITY BOARD

NEWS N’ VIEWS

by

Father Richard F. Gorman

Chairman

Community Board #12 (The Bronx)

  

BRONX, NEW YORK, August 30- Phooey! Labor Day is upon us. Among other things  --  such as students having to return to their regimen of reading, writing and arithmetic  --  it means that the Summer is coming to an end. It has been an interesting Summer this year between the thrill of watching our American athletes winning the gold at the XXX Olympiad in London and the rather blustery, sometimes even turbulent, weather that has visited us.

Equally as stormy has been the crime scene in our area. There have been far too many instances of gun violence in the Borough of The Bronx overall and in Community Board #12  in particular. No one has been immune from the bloodshed.  Young and old, people of all religions, races, colors, and heritages, rich and poor, even infants in their strollers and baby carriages  --  people in all neighborhoods  --  North, South, East, and West  --  have suffered from the scourge of bullets fired from guns in hands which should not have held them. Most frightening of all, too often these illicit weapons were aimed by our children striking out and shooting at their peers, other youth.  This madness defies rational explanation and genuine justification!

Since last writing on this topic a week or so ago, more violence has scarred our Borough and our neighborhood. It has similarly afflicted other Boroughs and locales as well. In response, there have been calls for augmented police action and personnel along with enhanced strategies on the part of the New York City Police Department (N.Y.P.D.) in order to deal with this daunting state of affairs. Neighborhood activists and residents, joined by their elected officials and prominent personalities, have taken to the streets, occupying them from dusk until the early morning hours in an endeavor to “take back” their streets from the hoodlums and the shooters. While I wholeheartedly endorse the tactics of these engaged and enraged fellow New Yorkers, I sadly note that, in our sister Borough of Brooklyn, when activists and residents resolutely positioned themselves in one crime location, a shooting tragically went down only a few short blocks away.  Criminals are like cockroaches  --  the light scatters them, clearing their putrid presence from one place, only to have the little menaces flee and take up refuge in another.

One may honestly complain at this point that nothing can be done to rescue society from the mayhem of gun violence and that there is no possible solution(s) to this pandemonium. I beg to differ. The answer to this problem is staring us right in the face. It looks right back at us each time we peer into a mirror.  The rejoinder to gun violence is our rejection of violence as an acceptable response to disagreements and difficulties in life.  You and I must come to realize that violence, most especially that involving the use of illegal weapons, is not meant to be part-and-parcel of our existence, but anathema to it. Regrettably, you and I, and far too many of our fellow New Yorkers and Americans, have accepted, perhaps tacitly or maybe grudgingly, that we must live with guns and tolerate the violence that they bring. Moreover, there are still too, too many in our society that are willing to accept  --  and even PROMOTE!  --  the possession of firearms, whether in accordance with law or in defiance thereof  --  and to employ them and violence when they feel justified in doing so. Violence will cease when we  --  ALL OF US!  --  renounce it as a legitimate means to end, when, in the messianic vision of the Prophet Isaiah, we “beat our swords into ploughshares.” Illegal guns will be wiped from the streets of America, of the City of New York, of our beautiful Borough of The Bronx, and of Community Board #12 (The Bronx) when each and every man, woman, and young person refuses to tolerate their infection of our neighborhood a single second longer.

I thank my good Friend, The Honorable Efrain Alvarado, Administrative Judge for Criminal Matters of the Twelfth Judicial District (Bronx County) for the enlightening and instructive conversation we had on the topic of social violence and illicit handguns recently. As always, the Justice was an insightful individual as well as an exceptional teacher. 

For those that share his vision and mine of a society in which problems created by people can be solved by people and in which the power of good can ultimately overcome that of evil, I invite you to stand up and speak out about illegal weapons. If you know of one  --  and of an individual who is willing to use it, possibly against you or one of your loved ones  --  I implore you once more  --  PLEASE AND IN THE NAME OF GOD!  --  to pick of the telephone and to call immediately, without fail or any hesitation, 1 - 866 - GUN STOP (1 - 866 - 486 - 7867).  The information you share with the Police will be confidential.  The life that you save may be your own.

Until next time, that is it for this time!

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Huge Win for Hughes

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Redemption for Soriano

By Rich Mancuso

BRONX, NEW YORK, August 29- Rafael Soriano on Monday night was not perfect at Yankee Stadium. The efficient closer for the New York Yankees gave up a three-run homer run in the ninth inning that contributed to an extra inning loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. Tuesday night he rebounded with a perfect ninth as New York evened their series with the Jays, 2-1. 

The Yankees go for a rubber game win Wednesday afternoon in the Bronx in what now has become a tight race in the American League East with the Orioles and Tampa Bay.

Soriano struck out two Blue Jays and preserved a win for Phil Hughes (13-11), his sixth straight win at home.

“The best day I had all year,” commented Soriano who got his 34^th save.

Hughes pitched seven good innings and the only run allowed was a home run off the bat of Adeiny Hechavarria with two outs in the fifth inning, the first of his career. The Yankees produced a run on an RBI single from Nick Swisher in the third, and Curtis Granderson got a run on a sacrifice fly in the fourth.

It was one of those rare games that saw the Yankees fail to hit a home run. They came into the game leading baseball with 199. Manager Joe Girardi used newly acquired Steve Pearce in the cleanup spot of the order as the designated hitter.

With Alex Rodriguez on the disabled list with a broken hand, and Mark Teixeira out for at least a week with strained left calf, two power cogs out of the lineup, his team resorted to small ball off Blue Jays starter and loser Rickey Romero.

Romero (8-12), coming off a bad start against Detroit, yielded five hits in seven innings and had an extra day of rest.

“I’m just going to build off this,” he said.

Pearce walked, went to second on a wild pitch, and advanced to third on a groundout and scored on the Granderson sacrifice fly to center.

“The little guys in the lineup did a nice job in that role,” said Girardi. “We’re a little banged up,” he said about his team that has an important three-game series starting Friday evening in the Bronx w,ith second place Baltimore.

Said Girardi about how Soriano rebounded, “It’s hard when you do your job 95 percent of the time and not as easy when you don’t.”

Email Rich Mancuso: Ring786@aol.com  Listen and watch Rich Thursday night from 10:30pm-12:30am live www.inthemixxradio.com 

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