Community Fighter Remembered

By Dan Gesslein 

BRONX, NEW YORK, JUNE 12- One of the strongest voices defending Bronx communities has been silenced. Community leaders and residents said goodbye to Wakefield Taxpayers Associaton president and Bronx News columnist Mary Lauro. 

Lauro passed away last week after a bout with cancer. The 87-year-old former chemist has been fighting to keep Wakefield and other Communities strong for the past 25 years.

"This is a void that can never be filled," said Carmen Rosa, district manager of Community Board 12.

For years Lauro fought through her organization and her column to correct the issues that were impacting the communities. One such issue was the OTB in Wakefield. She railed against the impact the run down betting parlor had on the surrounding community. The tiny location attracted large crowds that would spill out on to White Plains Road with drinking, garbage and public urination. The community Lauro focused through her column started a letter writing campaign which led to the relocation of the site to a new facility. Eventually OTB was shut down throughout the city.

"Her articles started conversations. Residents would buy the paper to see what Mary had to say this week," Rosa said.

Another major issue Lauro fought was the problem of widespread illegal conversions. In Wakefield and in many Bronx communities, homeowners illegally converted one and two-family homes into multiple family rentals. In addition to the fact that many of these rents are not claimed, the community suffers from lack of services. The populations from these illegal apartments are not counted in the official population and therefore the communities receive fewer services in terms of police and other city services.

"The passing of Mary Lauro is a grievous loss not just for this local Bronx community, but for the borough and city as well because she represented the epitome of what civic involvement is supposed to be about," said Edwin J. Day, Rockland County Legislature. "She was always 'community first' and as a former commander of the 47 precinct detectives and a past civic association president in my hometown, I can make that observation both with absolute certainty and my utmost respect. While Mary will be missed, more importantly she will be remembered as a true beacon for this community."

Friends said even though this month her illness was wearing on her from her hospital bed she was concerned about finishing her latest column.

"I don't know who can take Mary's place," said Elizabeth Gil, president of the 47th Precinct Community Council.

During meetings Lauro questioned beat cops and police commissioners equally when they cited statistics she did believe were accurate.

"Mary was a true believer in community service," Rosa said. "She could have walked away years ago but didn't."

Wakefield News: Searching for Answers

Wakefield News: Searching for Answers: Fire Destroys Shops, Injures 10 in Wakefield (Photos by David Greene) By David Greene BRONX, NEW YORK, May 6- Investig...

Searching for Answers

Fire Destroys Shops, Injures 10 in Wakefield

(Photos by David Greene)

By David Greene

BRONX, NEW YORK, May 6- Investigators continue to sift through the ashes from a devastating fire that wiped-out an entire city block, leaving a row of stores and an apartment building in ash and rubble.

Officials say at least 11 shops were destroyed in the fire that broke out at just after 6 a.m. on May 2. The fire was officially under control by 9 a.m., but firefighters would battle pockets of fire that would flare up, for most of the day.

Destroyed was a cell phone and check cashing store, a deli, a laundromat and a mosque.

Fire officials say the 5-alarm fire started in a garage on E. 225 Street and quickly spread to the shops. The bustling White Plains Road and the overhead subway were shut as the billowing black smoke could be seen for miles on a clear spring day.

Officials say 200 firefighters battled the blaze, leaving 11 with minor injuries. An 11-year old girl was also treated for smoke inhalation.   

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Wakefield News: Wakefield Fire

Wakefield News: Wakefield Fire: Wakefield War Zone Fire Rips Through Businesses Could Lax Rules and Wooden Structures Been the Cause of Blaze? By Dan Gesslei...

Wakefield Fire

Wakefield War Zone

Fire Rips Through Businesses

Could Lax Rules and Wooden Structures Been the Cause of Blaze?

By Dan Gesslein

BRONX, NEW YORK, May 2- As the embers from an early morning Wakefield fire continue to smolder, merchants and residents are trying to piece together how it happened and how to rebuild.

“It looks like a war zone,” said Rev. Richard Gorman, Chairman of Community Board 12 of the damage along White Plains Road. 

Seven stores and apartment buildings as well as a mosque have been gutted by the fire that tore through the wooden structures of East 225th Street. Some 25 to 30 have been displaced by the blaze.

A meeting for merchants affected by the fire will be held at 8 a.m. tomorrow at Community Board 12.

The landlord is helping to relocate his tenants who have been displaced. In the coming days Gorman said civic leaders will work to keep the merchants in the community and help them rebuild their businesses.

“It’s going to have a huge impact. It wiped out a whole of stores,” said Councilman Andy King.

Seven businesses have been impacted including a mosque, a deli, laundromat, salon and check cashing. Fire officials are still assessing the neighboring apartment building to see if residents can return.

King, who sits on the small business committee of the NY City Council, said his office has been reaching out to other businesses in the community who can lend a hand. One of the businesses gutted by the fire is a salon. King’s office has arranged for a nearby salon to have the beauticians work out of there.

They are also working on finding space for merchants to reopen their stores. One thing King stressed was that the displaced merchants will pay market rate rents.

“We’re not going to take advantage of these merchants.”

King has already worked out a plan in which members of the mosque can have services in another house of worship in the community.

The fast moving fire started in a private garage behind the White Plains Road stores. It is unclear if the fire was a result of someone performing car repairs but Gorman said such sights are common in the area. Residents frequently work on cars, sometimes as a business and others as personal repair on the street and in the residential garages in the area.

“This points to a problem of people working on cars out of their own garage,” Gorman said.

News columnist Mary Lauro has frequently documented the problem of illegally converted apartments and people performing tasks in a residential area that they should not be. The fear that in a community of connected wooden buildings a fire could cause serious damage. 

Gorman pointed to an example of a man cooking jerk chicken on an open flame out of the back of a truck. This makeshift food truck posed a potential fire risk since the flames would rise out of the back of the truck near other cars on the street.

“You can’t do that here. People are living closer together and there are things like gas and power lines to worry about,” Gorman said. “The rules are not here to harm but to protect people.”

Gorman said the administration should take notice of how fast the wood framed stores went up in flames. Ladder 39 was two blocks away from the fire and yet the row of stores still were gutted. 

The FDNY moved Ladder 39 out of Woodlawn and up the road from the community of wood-framed houses as a cost saving measure. Gorman fears a fire would be able to spread throughout Woodlawn by the time firefighters arrive.

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Wakefield News: College is not for everyone

Wakefield News: College is not for everyone: Wakefield Area News By Mary V Lauro BRONX, NEW YORK, April 18- Some of the most profound medical and physical discoveries were made...

College is not for everyone

Wakefield Area News

By Mary V Lauro

BRONX, NEW YORK, April 18- Some of the most profound medical and physical discoveries were made during a time when college was not for everyone and yet, no one worried about it. Nowadays, it seems everyone worries about it. Why that is so, is anyone's guess.

First there is the question of money. Colleges cost so much that upon reflection they force couples to choose between having children and sending them to college. The Bachelor of Arts is expensive. The higher degrees are more so. There are no refunds. Children who decide to drop out still have a huge debt which manages to curtail not only their lives, but that of their families and children.

To the normal fertile brain, college study work is not difficult. But, as with other parts of the body, the rate of its development in every person is not the same. A young person may enter college thinking he would like to spend his life as a math teacher only to find it is too difficult for him or it does not interest him at all. A young woman may want to be a doctor but drops out of Pre-med when she realizes she is far more fascinated by History. Why are we spending so much money on what's called higher^, education, when truth be told we are not doing so well on primary education?

Fifty years ago it was believed best to go to work immediately after graduating from High School. Working, it was believed matured the mind and taught the individual that life was not all fun and games. Today, it is the opposite. One is rushed or rushes into college as soon as possible. Whatever for? Does reading more books make one more intelligent?

If that were the case today's elementary school children would be a lot smarter than they were 20 years ago, but that is not the case. Tests seem to indicate the opposite. The blame is placed on the teachers who are accused of caring more for their jobs and wages than the success of their teaching arts.

This is not meant to be another diatribe against the teachers union. Far from it. It is meant to stem the indebtedness thrust on our young by the enormous cost of “higher” education. There are so many ways to earn a living without having to pay for learning it. Many of these are honorable jobs. Unfortunately however, in today's world, they don't earn million or billions, but they do earn sufficient wages to live a good life.

There would be no social order if there were no civil order. So, we may come to understand that a job in Sanitation may be more life serving than one in legal matters. Policing may be more lifesaving than teaching. And how about all those other wonderful jobs too numerous to mention, but all so necessary masonry, painting, plumbing, cooking, driving, cleaning, sewing, etc.

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