Here are some Bronx-related stories which we've rounded up for you, our lovely readers, while trolling the interweb with our horse and lasso this fine morning:A doctors union will be suing to block stimulus funds from financing the construction of a new 5-story parking garage for St. Barnabas Hospital...They claim that subsidized funds should not go towards any project that eliminates full-time jobs [New York Times]
BD Note: Anyone know if Ruben Diaz Jr. has weighed in on this yet? The project would create 80 temporary construction jobs and the new lot would save the hospital some of the $500,000 it currently spends to manage the old inefficient lot. One would think that money could then be funneled back into improving healthcare. Sam Dolnick even states in his piece that the parking lot attendants don't seem too wary of the construction of a new lot because there are many other lots where they can find employment...One parking attendant even states that the current lot is "way beyond old-fashioned and inefficient." The hospital execs point to the doctors' recent push to join a national union as the real reason for the fight over the lot.Bronx Historian Lloyd Ultan has a new book out that covers the history of the Bronx from its creation through today [Yournabe.com]
Tenants of 2710 Bainbridge Avenue will be taking their slumlord, Frank Palazzolo, to court for utter neglect of the building...Mr. Palazzolo was featured recently in the Village Voice's '10 Worst Landlords' [Village Voice]
The story behind the unlikely name of the public housing project 'Morrisania Air Rights' [New York Times]
City Island residents are again fighting to protect their lone ladder company from FDNY closures due to budget cuts [Daily News]
As a telling sign of our economic times, East Side House Settlement, a Bronx-based charity, was not able to get a luxury automaker to donate a sports car for their annual auto auction and gala this year...Instead, the winner will get a one-week test drive of the Aston Martin Rapide [bloomberg.org]
Governor Paterson filled out his census form here in the BoogieDown yesterday [NY1]
Ruben Diaz Jr. says that the Bronx will be the borough to get the greatest percentage of its residents to fill out census forms this year [Daily News]
~ErLu
3 comments:
My uncle moved into the Morrisania Air Rights last Fall via a housing lottery he applied for 5 years ago. I was really in shock at the condition and the people living here. It is literally filled with society's throw-aways....my uncle included. 50 year old drug addicts, "disabled" from years of drug and alcohol abuse, living freely off government programs, and still doing absolutely nothing with their lives other than be real pains in the asses.
So I was not surprised when I heard about the recent shooting there. It is nothing more than a series of 30 story homeless shelters complete with the usual garbage riddled lobby, graffitti, and stink. You would think all the people hanging out all day doing nothing would take a minute to pick up some of the garbage to make their own home nicer...but that's not the kind of society we have fostered anymore.
And the cycle continues.
According to IRS filings, St. Barnabas Hospital paid over $430,000 in bonuses to its executives during 2008 – a year in which the hospital experienced a $10 million operating loss and a $40 million total loss.
This is the obvious place to find funds which could improve outdated equipment, dilapidated buildings, and low staffing levels at the hospital. If non-profit CEOs earning more than $900,000 aren’t willing to sacrifice, why should NYC taxpayers should give breaks to for a parking garage that will eliminate jobs, and won’t directly benefit the communities surrounding hospital, most of whom do not drive cars?
Heather Appel
Campaign Communications Coordinator
CIR/SEIU Healthcare
Lloyd Ultan's book has actually been available from Amazon for quite a few months now. It is filled with many details of the early history of the area now called The Bronx, which otherwise would be inaccessible to the amateur researcher. A necessary tome for any proud Bronxite.
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