25 March 2023
The energy was electric. Breakdancers glided and exploded through the air to the beat, shuffling their feet, twisting on their backs and spinning on their heads. The crowd nodded and awed in a breakdancing battle on the top floor of an inconspicuous Queens apartment building on a Sunday back in October. It’s a scene familiar […]
Posted in Arts, Bronx Beats, Culture0 Comments
23 October 2022
Every Wednesday, Richard Castellano meets four of his friends at Patricia’s restaurant in Morris Park. The friends have a lot in common. They are all of Italian-American descent and are all veterans of the Vietnam War. They enjoy food and wine and discuss traveling back to Italy to secure citizenship. Castellano says they hope to […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods1 Comment
23 October 2022
When asked about graffiti, eighth-grader Alexander Vazquez lights up. For him, painting is a way to escape dark thoughts. “I used to be… not in my good side of my life. So I would do graffiti,” he said. In a twist of fate, after Vazquez was caught painting graffiti in his school’s bathroom, the Bronx […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods0 Comments
20 October 2022
Turning the corner of Alfredo Thiebaud Way, the sounds of Delicioso Coco Helado fill the street as employees and machines work to bring not only a scoop of the infamous frozen treat to the public but also a sense of community. Inside the warehouse-esque complex found in the heart of the Bronx, Sophia Pastora oversees […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods0 Comments
20 October 2022
The alarm rings and it is time for Pandit Vyaas Sukul to prepare to leave for the Bronx on an early Sunday morning. He showers, puts on his kurta (cotton tunic) and an upavita (sacred thread) and tends to his two-month-old baby. The Pandit has no time to eat breakfast. He gets in his car […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods0 Comments
20 October 2022
John Butler pulled at a cluster of vines in Van Cortlandt Park and ripped them out of the ground. It sounded similar to walking on fresh snow, but the volunteers agreed: the sound can’t match the satisfaction of the action itself. “Here’s a tree that is ten years old and we’re giving it a chance to […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods0 Comments
20 October 2022
Since cash bail was eliminated for non-violent felonies and misdemeanors in 2019, debate has raged in New York about the impact the reform has had on communities in the city. The law came into effect on January 1, 2020, then adapted a few months later, in an attempt to reduce pretrial detention and reduce the […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods0 Comments
20 October 2022
Tension exists between mobile car washers, community members, and official car washing businesses in the Bronx. Along Jerome Avenue, dozens of Bronx residents have set up vans, offering car washing services. It is unclear whether they have attained the proper licensing to do so. During a community gathering held on Webster Avenue in April, community […]
Posted in Bronx Beats, Cars, Money0 Comments
20 October 2022
New York City remains steadfast in its position that it did not violate Title II of the American Disabilities Act in the pedestrian pathway class action lawsuit filed by Disability Rights New York on behalf of Bronx residents Carlos and Stephanie Diaz. In its response to the lawsuit, the city stated the Diazes’ complaint of […]
Posted in Bronx Life, Bronx Neighborhoods, Cars, Community Resources, Transportation0 Comments
20 October 2022
Samuel Lee, 43, a poet, sat outside The Bronx Welcome Center, pen and paper in hand. Two weeks ago he was living on the streets, now he sleeps in a bed at a hotel-turned-shelter in Morrisania. “I lost my job,” Lee said. He worked as a food delivery worker, when his landlord evicted him because […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods0 Comments
18 October 2022
At the Bronx Community Board 2 meeting last month, Roland Lopez stood up to complain about lack of notice for pesticide spraying by the Department of Health in his neighborhood, Longwood’s historic district. Lopez, who is the board’s environmental chair, claimed that the DOHMH is not doing an adequate job notifying the public. They’re not […]
Posted in Health, Southern Bronx0 Comments
18 October 2022
On a Wednesday morning in October, the sound of children playing filled the Kingsbridge Heights Community Center, a non-profit organization in the Bronx. Classrooms were filled with dozens of students while strollers lined the sides of the building. Staff members cooked in the kitchen getting the next meal ready for families that may be struggling […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods, Community Resources, Housing, The Bronx Beat0 Comments
18 October 2022
Introduced in 2017 by then New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and hailed as a “groundbreaking proposal” by both Cuomo and Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Excelsior scholarship program intended to help low to middle income students, isn’t getting to the poorest students in the state, according to a report published in May by the Urban Institute, […]
Posted in Bronx Beats, Bronx Neighborhoods, Education, Education, North Central Bronx0 Comments
18 October 2022
In the midst of New York City’s housing crisis, in which Mayor Eric Adams has initiated the construction of a tent city for over 10,000 migrants, a huge silver-colored dome-shaped hut made of rigid steel sits between Rosedale and Metcalf — in the middle of Seward Avenue — in Soundview. It’s a reminder that the […]
Posted in Bronx Life, Bronx Neighborhoods, Housing, Southern Bronx0 Comments
18 October 2022
Reggae music overpowers light chatter in a room where music legends cover the walls; Michael Jackson posters, Taylor Swift CDs and Lauryn Hill vinyl records flank a narrow aisle weaving between the rows of entertainment. Baskets filled with incense and hair conditioners sit near the cash register as Williamsbridge’s older residents chat on the shady […]
Posted in Arts0 Comments
17 October 2022
More than 500 people registered for the Bronx District Attorney’s annual 5k Run/Walk/Jog event last Saturday, as part of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. It was the highest number since the event was created 5 years ago. Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark addressed the crowd which she called a “sea of purple” as attendees dressed […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods0 Comments
15 October 2022
In a public hearing Tuesday, the Committee of Transportation and Infrastructure voted unanimously in favor of urging Mayor Eric Adams to start working towards increasing the number of public bathrooms in the city. All 10 Committee members supported a bill that would create an agency dedicated to creating public restrooms in every zip code. The […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods0 Comments
15 October 2022
On Tuesday and Thursday evenings at the Williamsbridge Oval in The Bronx, kids, some of them as young as six, practice football and cheerleading. But you probably won’t see them. More likely, you’ll only be able to make out the flashlights or glow-in-the-dark footballs they use during practices because the field at the oval doesn’t […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods0 Comments
13 October 2022
A town hall held by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D – NY 14th District) Wednesday night in Pelham Parkway, addressed several issues including the war in Ukraine, immigration, gun rights and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). But for Bronxite Daina Finch, 68, being able to utilize her local post office was her priority. “Locally, we’ve […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods, Politics0 Comments
10 October 2022
After consecutive days of rain, Mayor Eric Adams announced last Monday that his administration would be moving the tents, or Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers as they are more officially known as, designed to temporarily house migrants coming into New York from the southern border, from Orchard Beach to Randall’s Island due to flooding. […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods0 Comments
09 October 2022
Mayor Eric Adams hosted an “African Heritage Reception” at Gracie Mansion last Thursday. He builds on a tradition started by former Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2018. Back then, de Blasio had planned to make the event a yearly celebration, but it had not been held since 2019. The event was organized through MOSPCE, the […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods, Politics0 Comments
08 October 2022
A state bill banning the sale of dogs, cats and rabbits in retail pet shops passed the Senate and Assembly in June but is yet to be signed by the governor. Several pet dealers in the Bronx, there are five licensed in total, now await the decision of whether the “Puppy Mill Pipeline Legislation” will […]
Posted in Bronx Beats, Bronx Blog, Bronx Neighborhoods, East Bronx, Morrisania, Multimedia, North Central Bronx, Northwest Bronx, Politics, Southern Bronx, The Bronx Beat0 Comments
08 October 2022
Almost two years following the COVID-19 pandemic, children, teens and young adults are returning to Morrisania Library for free services including storytime, homework help and art programs like the one held Wednesday, Comic Book Making 101. Colbert Nembhard, Morrisania’s library manager, leads the programs and services geared to re-engage their younger demographic and encourage them […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods0 Comments
07 October 2022
In back-to-back meetings Thursday, City Council’s subcommittee on Zoning and Franchise and committee on Land Use voted unanimously to approve the rezoning of an area across Bruckner Boulevard in Throggs Neck to build more affordable housing for New Yorkers. With a surprise change of opinion, Councilmember Marjorie Velazquez (D-Bronx) announced her support of the Bruckner Site […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods2 Comments
06 October 2022
The Bronx Community Board 8 held a public hearing on the School Construction Authority’s proposed public school at 160 Van Cortlandt Park South, but no one from the SCA came to the meeting which was held via zoom last Thursday. The board invited SCA to attend, but SCA declined. “It’s pretty ridiculous that they are […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods, Education, Education0 Comments
05 October 2022
The “three sisters”— beans, corn, and squash—grow in a semicircle shaped plot at the far end of Edible Academy’s vegetable garden in the Bronx. Beans grow wrapped around corn stems for support. The roots of beans fortify the soil with nitrogen, important for the growth of corn and squash. Orange, yellow, and green squash have […]
Posted in Bronx Beats, Bronx Neighborhoods, Education, Health0 Comments
04 October 2022
Several hundred residents of Morris Park and Indian Village gathered at a public hearing Thursday night to express their outrage at Just Home – a proposed affordable housing unit for formerly homeless or incarcerated people with serious or terminal illnesses. Representatives from NYC Health and Hospitals and from the Fortune Society, a non-profit organization who […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods5 Comments
04 October 2022
Alex Rosenblum, 74, grew up as an athlete playing hockey and tennis. Being active was a huge part of his life until he had his first heart attack at 42. Rosenblum’s cardiologist told him to “take it easy.” Taking his doctors advice Rosenblum bought a place down in Florida and spent his winters there — […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods, Sports0 Comments
04 October 2022
River Park Towers, a housing complex located in Morris Heights in the West Bronx, is home to more than 1,500 rental units. About 7 miles from Manhattan, the dual building complex is sandwiched between the Harlem River and the Major Deegan Expressway, with little else around it. Residents of the 428ft tall buildings have relative […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods, Front Page0 Comments
02 October 2022
On a warm August morning, a class of third grade students were working on their computers, creating animations using the programming language Scratch. Cartoons of animals moved across backgrounds of mountains, seas, and forests on laptop screens. It was only a pre-term meet and greet but the teacher Jayra Sanchez explained that the eight and […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods0 Comments
02 October 2022
City Councilmember Shahana Hanif, (D- Brooklyn) Chair of the Immigration Committee, called Friday’s City Council oversight hearing into session with a bang of her mallet. The packed chamber grew silent when Hanif began her opening remarks. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free,” Hanif quoted The New Colossus, a […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods2 Comments
30 September 2022
Community members in Morris Heights are asking the city to address noise and pollution as it begins the process of renovating the Jennie Jerome Playground. The park, located on Jerome Ave. near the Bronx Expressway, is getting a $4 million dollar facelift. The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation held a scope meeting […]
Posted in Bronx Beats, Bronx Life, Bronx Neighborhoods, Community Resources, Culture, North Central Bronx1 Comment
30 September 2022
Growing up, Earl Jones Sr. was easily distracted and had trouble concentrating. Playing basketball and soccer helped, but they weren’t enough. Soon, his aunt suggested an unlikely solution: cannabis. “I started smoking cannabis, not because I wanted to be cool or apart of the crowd, but because I wanted to feel…comfortable being in crowded spaces […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods0 Comments
29 September 2022
In December 1971 Cornell Benjamin, a member of the Ghetto Brothers, was on his way to negotiate peace between two street gangs in the South Bronx. Before Benjamin could fulfill his quest, a pipe hit him in the skull; he was murdered. Back then, Benjamin’s death only heightened the tension between the gangs, but his mother […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods0 Comments
29 September 2022
Compared to the fast-paced, chaotic borough of Manhattan, Throggs Neck sticks out as an almost suburban neighborhood. Located in the southeastern corner of the Bronx, it’s made up of mostly single, free-standing homes. It can be hard to remember it exists within the boundaries of New York City until making the mile trek to the […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods2 Comments
28 September 2022
Sapna NYC, the first and only non-profit organization in the Bronx that provides services for low-income South Asian immigrant women and provides support to victims of domestic violence.
Posted in Bronx Life, Bronx Neighborhoods0 Comments
28 September 2022
As New York State prepares to take on legal marijuana sales by handing out dispensary licenses, it’s tasked one organization – the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) – with making the process equitable. The OCM’s plan: a program called CUARD, which will give out the state’s first 150 licenses to “justice involved” individuals who have […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods0 Comments
27 September 2022
Earlier this month, the Department of Transportation took Riverdale Avenue and put it “on a diet.” The project known as a “road diet” transformed the avenue from a two-lane traveling road to one. A bike lane and a turning bay were added to the road that stretches from West 254th to West 263rd Street. The […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods, Northwest Bronx, Transportation0 Comments
27 September 2022
The Bronx River is home to dozens of species of fish and crustaceans, including sunfish with golden bellies, blue crabs with lapis claws and oval-mouthed suckers. On a sunny day in September, the water is a blueish brown, with occasional strokes of green that come from the reflection of trees that sometimes border the 23-mile-long […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods0 Comments
25 September 2022
On Southern Boulevard and Westchester Avenue in the South Bronx, more than a dozen people in red shirts filled the intersection Saturday. For the first time in two years, Community Board 2 held its annual AIDS walk. “Everything was focused on covid… AIDS is still an epidemic,” said Luis Marrero, a member of the board’s […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods, Health, Southern Bronx0 Comments
22 September 2022
Bronx community leaders gathered for a night of Monkeypox outreach Wednesday, to raise awareness about the spread of Monkeypox in the Bronx and address the disproportionate impact the disease has on Black and Latino communities. Members of the community were given information about vaccination resources and educational pamphlets on how to protect themselves from Monkeypox. […]
Posted in Bronx Life, Community Resources, Health0 Comments
19 September 2022
Grammy-Award winning artist Eddie Palmieri and his Salsa Orchestra launched the Lehman Center’s 2022-23 season on Saturday evening. Palmieri is a long-time performer at The Lehman Center and his popular presence is in-line with efforts to focus concert programming on reflecting the community’s diversity. Those efforts have been heralded by The Lehman Center’s Executive Director, […]
Posted in Arts, Bronx Beats, Culture0 Comments
19 September 2022
Volunteers removed 47 bags of trash from the Bronx River on Saturday during International Coastal Cleanup Day. The event, which is held yearly on the third weekend of September, was hosted by The Bronx River Alliance.
Posted in Bronx Life, Bronx Neighborhoods, Community Resources0 Comments
19 September 2022
Dozens of families attended the annual Kids Comic Con event held at Bronx Community College Saturday—the first one held in-person since 2019. This year’s convention, named Sci-Fest, was focused on the relationship between comics, science and technology. The event was co-founded and organized by comic book writer Alex Simmons and Bronx Community College Director of […]
Posted in Arts, Bronx Life, Culture, Education, Education, Multimedia, Northwest Bronx0 Comments
17 September 2022
City council members are calling on the parks department to cancel a contract it holds with Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point, a golf course in Throggs Neck. Parks and Recreation Committee Chair Shekar Krishnan and Councilperson Marjorie Velázquez were joined last Thursday by members of 9/11 Justice, an advocacy group for victims and families […]
Posted in Politics, Southern Bronx, Sports0 Comments
17 September 2022
Bronx residents voiced concerns Tuesday, over a proposed development that would include a new school and apartment complex at the site of the former Church of the Visitation at the first in-person Community Board 8 meeting since the pandemic. Tishman Speyer, a real estate investment firm, purchased part of the former site of the Church […]
Posted in Bronx Beats, Bronx Neighborhoods, Education, Housing0 Comments
17 September 2022
A handful of Longwood residents gathered at their latest neighborhood policing meeting Thursday, with their chief complaint being noise in Bill Rainey Park. “The park needs to close at dusk… it’s not fair to us, every night it’s a concert… I got kids going to school,” said Lisa Thomas, who has been a Longwood resident […]
Posted in Crime, Police, Southern Bronx0 Comments
15 September 2022
Members of The Bronx’s Community Board 7 unanimously approved a letter of support in favor of construction on the southern third of Poe Park during Wednesday’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs meeting. The project aims to increase shade, greenery and accessibility in the area immediately surrounding the park’s historic bandstand. The total budget for the […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods0 Comments
15 September 2022
Approximately 400 students in New York’s 36th district will start this school year with new supplies after The Office of State Senator Jamaal T. Bailey hosted a back-to-school giveaway on Saturday. Children from preschool to high school received backpacks, drawstring bags, folders and writing utensils. Katian Henderson, a Bronx resident for over ten years whose […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods, East Bronx, Education0 Comments
15 September 2022
The Office of the Bronx Borough President and the Bronx Supreme Court co-hosted “A Day of Remembrance” on Tuesday, commemorating the lives of the 144 Bronx residents lost during the September 11 terrorist attacks. The event took place at Lou Gehrig Plaza where Vanessa L. Gibson, Bronx Borough President, was in attendance. “Oftentimes, they say […]
Posted in Bronx Beats, Bronx Life, Bronx Neighborhoods, Police0 Comments
14 September 2022
The Civic Engagement Commission (CEC) opened submissions for its “People’s Money” initiative Wednesday, allowing New York residents to propose community-focused ideas that could be implemented by the city and funded by a $5-million portion of the mayoral budget. Members of the CEC plan to gather ideas until Nov. 9, which will then be voted on […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods0 Comments
13 September 2022
At least 125 people attended a government-sponsored job fair in East Tremont Friday, vying for jobs that range from training positions to executive-level roles in nonprofits and in businesses. Meanwhile, less than a mile away, Amazon was hosting its own recruiting event for jobs in its five facilities in the Bronx. Despite the overlap, an […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods0 Comments
10 September 2022
The debate over whether to rezone a section of Throggs Neck to make way for four new apartment buildings continued Wednesday afternoon at a city council committee meeting, with Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson stating her support for the project. The Buckner Site Rezoning Proposal would create 349 new residential units, 168 reserved for low-income […]
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods2 Comments
07 September 2022
Dozens of people gathered Sunday afternoon in Riverdale to honor Ruth Mullen – a neighborhood activist who was killed by an MTA express bus while crossing the street outside her home on Johnson Avenue in early September of last year. Mullen, 68, was an activist in her community, and was a part of a local […]
Posted in Bronx Life, Bronx Neighborhoods, Cars, Transportation0 Comments
22 October 2019
More than 10% of Bronx residents lived in an apartment last year with at least one hazardous housing violation.
Posted in - Housing Court Project Policy0 Comments
14 October 2019
Known as the moral compass of Bronx politics, Serrano is set to retire from Congress after 44 years of serving the borough.
Posted in Community Resources, Front Page, Politics, south bronx, Southern Bronx0 Comments
12 October 2019
"With over 20,000 overdose deaths under Governor Cuomo’s tenure, his legacy will be marked by his choice to either stand with New Yorkers or stand in the way of their survival,” according to an advocacy group for overdose prevention sites.
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods, Community Resources, Featured, Front Page, Health, Politics, Southern Bronx1 Comment
10 October 2019
One fall day, the Bronx Ink counted 26 18-wheelers, five abandoned vehicles, four RV’s, eight parked tow trucks, six cargo vans, five minivans, three double decker buses, two piles of at least six trash bags each, and one dead raccoon.
Posted in Bronx Beats, Bronx Life, Bronx Neighborhoods, Bronx Tales, Cars, Crime, Featured, Multimedia, North Central Bronx, Photography, Police, The Bronx Beat, Transportation, Video0 Comments
19 September 2019
New York’s transit system is the largest in North America. However, only a quarter of its 472 stations are wheelchair accessible. Despite proposals to add more elevators, the planned changes can't come soon enough.
Posted in Bronx Life, Bronx Neighborhoods, Former Featured, Southern Bronx0 Comments
19 September 2019
In the same area as 10 schools, 1,200 discarded syringes and syringe pieces were found scattered in Mott Haven and South Bronx. This ongoing issues has caused community members to mobilize to keep the streets safer for students.
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods, Former Featured, south bronx, Southern Bronx0 Comments
16 September 2019
Majora Carter is concerned that the Bronx is experiencing a talent retention problem, but some Bronx residents would say otherwise.
Posted in Bronx Neighborhoods, Featured, Front Page, south bronx, Southern Bronx3 Comments
