Bedford Park News: Nobody Told Us About Outbreak

Bedford Park News: Nobody Told Us About Outbreak: Nobody Told Us About Outbreak Residents Fuming Over Silence on Disease By Michael Horowitz BRONX NEW YORK, MARCH 14- Co-op Ci...

Bedford Park News: Nobody Told Us About Outbreak

Bedford Park News: Nobody Told Us About Outbreak: Nobody Told Us About Outbreak Residents Fuming Over Silence on Disease By Michael Horowitz BRONX NEW YORK, MARCH 14- Co-op Ci...

Nobody Told Us About Outbreak

Nobody Told Us About Outbreak

Residents Fuming Over Silence on Disease

By Michael Horowitz

BRONX NEW YORK, MARCH 14- Co-op City shareholders, speaking out during interviews expressed concerns that they had just found out about two confirmed cases of Legionnaires’ Disease in their building, one from last summer and one from 13 months earlier than that.

Among the Building 27 shareholders who were interviewed, only Teresa Acevedo said that she was not concerned about reports of cases of Legionnaires’ Disease in her building.

Expressing the dominant point of view among those questioned Ariel Jimenez, walking out of his building with his 5-year-old son, Elian, said, “This is really spooky. I’m concerned for the little ones who don’t have fully developed immune systems to fight disease, and, of course, I’m concerned for everyone else in the building. We should have been told about this in December, when management and the city’s Health Department first found out about it.”

Jimenez added, “Like many people in our building, we have had problems with mold in our apartment. Under the circumstances, it should have been even more important for the shareholders in our building to know what was happening in terms of the cases of Legionnaires’ Disease.”

Expressing an even more vocal view, Ethel Minkin stressed, “This whole thing about Legionnaires’ Disease in our building is a shock to me. Riverbay should be sued for this. Co-op City is a nice place, but there are too many secrets. The shareholders have a right to know what’s going on.”

Rena Mena, a former paramedic, added, “We have a whole lot of environmental problems in our apartments. I have toxic black mold in my apartment, which Maintenance workers keep fixing because it keeps coming back. I suffer from asthma, so I’m especially concerned, like Legionnaires’ Disease, that could make it more difficult for me to breathe.”

A shareholder, who wished to remain unidentified, stressed, “We just got through settling an environmental lawsuit in North Carolina, and now, we have to deal with this. I have a 1-year-old daughter, and I’m extremely concerned about our health.”

Bedford Park News: Bronx Ready for March Madness

Bedford Park News: Bronx Ready for March Madness: Bronx Ready for March Madness Manhattan, Fordham, Advance to NCAA Tourney By Howard Goldin BRONX NEWS, MARCH 12- Representati...

Bronx Ready for March Madness

Bronx Ready for March Madness

Manhattan, Fordham, Advance to NCAA Tourney

By Howard Goldin

BRONX NEWS, MARCH 12- Representatives of the Bronx will be participants in March Madness of 2014 as the Manhattan Jaspers men and the Fordham Rams women automatically qualified for the NCAA National Tournament by virtue of winning their conference tournaments. 

The Manhattan Jaspers (25-7) reversed last year’s MAAC Tournament final result by defeating the 1^st seeded Iona Gaels by three points, 71-68, on Monday night, to advance to the NCAA National Tournament. The second seeded Jaspers advanced to the final contest by a win over Saint Peter’s and Quinnipiac in earlier rounds of the tourney.

The victory over Iona advanced the Jaspers into the true March Madness for the fourth time. They last were in the nationals a decade ago, 2004. Prior to that year, they were in the NCAA’s in 2003 and 1993. Interestingly, their current head coach, Steve Masiello was an assistant coach in the successes of 2003 and 2004. 

MAAC Tournament MVP George Beamon led Manhattan with 16 points and eight boards. Rhamel Brown scored 15. Shane Richards, with four from beyond the arc, scored 14. Emmy Andujar netted 12.

One day earlier the women hoopsters of Fordham University (25-7) captured the Atlantic-10 Tournament with a 63-51 victory over the 1^st seeded Dayton Flyers. This tournament title was the first for the Rams in the respected athletic conference. The Rams advanced to the National Tournament for the second time. Their last appearance was 20 years ago, 1994.

At 16:09, Dayton was up by 8-2. A jumper by senior Abigail Corning at 3:05 gave the Rams their first lead of the game. The Flyers, as they had for most of the first half, led at the half, 30-29.

The game was competitive throughput the early minutes of the second half. After a tie at 43 was broken by two free throws by Emily Tapio at 13:07, the Rams never again lost the lead. Stephanie Gaitley, the Fordham head coach, remarked, “They were very focused. Confidence grew as we came down the stretch.”

Three of the starters for Fordham achieved double-doubles. Erin Rooney scored 13 and grabbed 13 boards. Emily Tapio accomplished her fifth double-double in the past eight contests with 10 points and 12 rebounds. The A-10 Tournament MVP, Corning, scored 12 with 10 rebounds.

The seeding and location of play for Manhattan will br announced on Sunday and for Fordham will be announced Monday.

Tags: March Madness, NCAA National Tournament, Fordham Rams, Manhattan Jaspers 

Bedford Park News: Residents Question Need for Monte’s Riverdale Comp...

Bedford Park News: Residents Question Need for Monte’s Riverdale Comp...: Residents Question Need for Monte’s Riverdale Complex Riverdale Report By Robert Press BRONX, NEW YORK, MARCH 7-  After disposi...

Residents Question Need for Monte’s Riverdale Complex

Residents Question Need for Monte’s Riverdale Complex

Riverdale Report

By Robert Press

BRONX, NEW YORK, MARCH 7- After disposing of two applications for home alterations in the Special Nature area of Community Board 8 the meeting became very interesting. 

This month representatives of Montefiore Hospital and Simone Developers were on hand to discuss the progress of the proposed 11 story medical center on Oxford/Riverdale Avenues. The crowd was half the size of previous meetings on the subject, but they were as boisterous as in past meetings. Ms. Lynn Richmond the Chief of Staff of Montefiore Hospital and Mr. Jeffrey Moerdler the lawyer for Simone Developers were on hand, and by the end of the meeting you could almost see the scalping that was given to the two. Since Mr. Jeff Moerdler is a blood relative of CB 8 Land Use Chair Charles Moerdler this part of the meeting was turned over to the Vice-Chair to proceed.

Ms. Richmond (of Montefiore) started off by giving the statistics of how many people in CB 8 use one of the six locations in CB 8 that Montefiore Hospital runs. She said that Montefiore wants to consolidate these six sites into one site where their patients could receive full services rather than having to go to several different locations. She added that Montefiore has asked Simone Developers to find and build such a site.

Mr. Jeffrey Moerdler (representing Simone) said that he was not at the meeting with the local elected officials where there was a mix up in what Simone was going to do. He said that Simone is going to build the medical center, and that the plans were not withdrawn only put on hold. He added that no new plans for the medical center have been submitted as of yet, and that Simone is in dialogue with Montefiore to address the community concerns.

Vice-Chair Martin Wolpoff asked for the data that Montefiore speaks of the community needs, if Montefiore is wedded to this particular site on Oxford/Riverdale Avenues, or could this medical center be built at a different site in CB 8. Ms. Richmond responded by saying that Montefiore is looking at other options, has looked at other sites, but this is the best suited site for Montefiore in CB 8.

Four speakers who are residents around the proposed medical center spoke against the proposal. One said that two days after he moved in the demolition work started, one showed a photo of Oxford Avenue with snow drifts from the recent snow storms, one questioned the need for the medical center, and one was just against the proposal.

Since the state legislatures were in Albany only Councilman Andrew Cohen was on hand to say that both Montefiore and Simone appear to be working together to try to address the community and elected officials concerns, and had representatives at this meeting. Ms. Richmond responded that Montefiore has data showing that Riverdale is an under served in certain areas and in time for an appointment. She added that Montefiore has asked that the project be put on hold to listen to community concerns. Mr. Jeffrey Moerdler then explained as to why the Department of Buildings may have rejected the plans because of the hold and probable changes to the plans.

It was then time for the community board members to respond. A questions of vibrations during construction had no response. A question of the status of the demolition work was answered that the project is on hold, and to shouts from the audience that the house on Oxford Avenue was indeed demolished Mr. J. Moerdler said that he was unaware of it. A question of the board seeing the amended plans before presentation to the D.O.B. was answered YES. A question of another location on Broadway and West 236^th Street was answered that it is not a good site for Montefiore. A question as to where the six sites are was answered in Riverdale and Kingsbridge. A question of if Montefiore is committed to the Riverdale site how can they be looking at other sites was answered that Montefiore is committed to the Riverdale site. A question of funding was answered that Montefiore is not building the medical center Simone is, and that no government funding will be used since the site is not being classified as an under served site. To a statement that Simone is looking to lower the height of the building and having a vehicle entrance on Riverdale Avenue, Mr. J. Moerdler said yes.

The audience was then asked for comments. Former Councilman Oliver Koppell (whose wife is a real estate agent) asked if he found an alternate site would Montefiore consider that site. The answer was that right now Montefiore is working with Simone on the Riverdale site. He said that he uses the Montefiore site on Johnson Avenue, adding that if someone needs additional tests or services that they could go to another Montefiore site that would have that test or service. Koppell then appeared to put on his State Senate candidate hat by making a speech against the proposed site, and saying that if Montefiore does not go elsewhere the local elected officials should turn down any funding for Montefiore. Others spoke against the proposed medical center with a response by Ms. Richmond that some sort of administrative certificate would be needed for the medical center.

Do you have a location in Riverdale that you would to find this paper? If you have any comments about this column or would like to have an event listed or covered in this column otr on my blog you can e-mail us at 100percentbronxnews@gmail.com or call 718- 644-4199 Mr. Robert Press.