Oliver Koppell Workin' It at the 4 Train

Looks like Councilman Oliver Koppell's challenger Tony Cassino has him a little nervous about his chances for re-election...

This just in from a tipster this morning:

Ollie was glad-handing at the 4 train at 7am when I was going to

work... just an FYI...

Interesting!

~ErLu

Listing of the Day: Bedford Park Co-op Chopped and Staged?

325 E. 201st Street #2D, 1 Bedroom, 1 Bathroom - $139,999

BoogieDowner thinks today's unit is the same as a unit we profiled back in March that was listed for $149,999. The ole BoogieDowner isn't positive, but if you analyze the kitchen pics, the external pics, and the lamps in the bedroom shots it seems like this is the same unit. Clearly the price has been chopped, and it looks as if someone staged it to help move it quicker.

No matter what staging or price choppig has gone on, this is a one bedroom unit in one of the best cooperative buildings in Bedford Park. The building, known as Bainbridge House, is impeccably maintained and has a true community feel to it. This unit itself is 650 square feet and is bright and showered in natural light. An apartment of this size is a perfect bachelor pad or for a young couple. The maintenance on this unit is only $333.04. Plus, living in Bainbridge House would give you the added benefit of being neighbors with ErLu and a State Senator(?).

Bedford Park is a great hood. You've heard BoogieDowner gush about our home nabe before, but I'll just briefly run down the notables again. Lots of green space with Mosholu Parkway and the Botanical garden close by; lots of cultural stuff with Fordham University and Lehman College in the hood; lots of great food with Arthur Avenue close by; lots of shopping with 204th Street, the Jerome Avenue BID, Target, and Fordham Road close by.

Another key part of the allure of the hood is the convenient transportation. The B/D is on Bedford Park Blvd and the Concourse, the 4 is at Bedford Park Blvd and Jerome Avenue, and the Metro North is right at the Botanical Garden.


Here's a little further reading for the more studious types:
New York Times "Living In - Bedford Park"
The Real Deal "Bronx's Bedford Park Hidden in Plain View"
AMNY "Bedford Park, Bronx"

FULL LISTING
~ErLu

Round'em Up

Here are some Bronx-related stories which we've rounded up you, our lovely readers, while trolling the interweb with our horse and lasso this fine morning:

The Silver Fox dishes the good stuff in his weekly Bronx gossip column [Daily News]

Councilman Larry Seabrook spent close to $2K on framed prints for his office [New York Post]

Prez of South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation opposes bill which calls upon developers to pay construction workers the prevailing wage [New York Times]

Math test scores show success at yet another Bronx charter school [New York Post]

Lydig Avenue offers shoppers an array of affordable options [Daily News]

John Patrick Shanley tells College of Mount Saint Vincent grads that he started in the Bronx and will end up in the Bronx [Daily News]

More gripes from CB 7 regarding the redevelopment of the Kingsbridge Armory [Daily News]

~ErLu

Listing of the Day: Little Italy Rental

187th and Beaumont Streets, 2 Bedrooms - $1400/month

A two bedroom in the heart of foodie heaven at $700/month for a share. The apartment has new wood floors and an adequate kitchen. 187th is a stretch with lots of cafes, pastry shops, and "social clubs." There are also butchers, cheese shops, fish mongers, bakeries, and fresh pasta shops up and down 187th and Arthur Avenue.

This hood is very close to the Bronx Zoo and the NY Botanical Garden for fun. Fordham University is also a neighborhood presence with tons of cultural things to offer, and lectures, and lots of goofy white kids in the neighborhood. Another added bonus from Fordham University, on top of stability, beauty and top notch education it brings to the hood, is A-10 division one hoops.

BD Restaurant rundown: My favorite 187th restaurant is Tra Di Noi, but to be honest if you lived here you would be REQUIRED to go to Emilia's on Arthur Ave. - simply the best! And try to get a table at Mayor Bloomberg's beloved Roberto's on Crescent Ave. - very good, but in my opinion, a tad overrated. Also, for BBQ-heads, MoGridder's just opened up a few months ago in Roberto's old location (although ErLu has yet to partake). For brick oven pizza everyone raves about Zero Otto Novo, because it is owned by Roberto of the aforementioned Bloomy favorite, but ErLu prefers Antonio's, which is tucked away on Crescent Avenue. There is a whole host of other restaurants to stop at, but we can't give a review of each...take a trip up here and start eating your way through the hood.

For those who like to cook at home there's the indoor retail market, Borgatti's for ravioli, the Pasta Factory for stuffed shells and tortellini, Casa Della Mozzarella for, you guessed it, mozzarella, and Calandra's for general cheese purchases (although their Mozzarella has been reported to be sub par recently). There are also nice wine stores and great delis like Mike's in the retail market - don't mind the laminated photo of Mussolini hanging in the back - and Tino's.

Ditch some grub impoverished and expensive-ish hood like Bushwick and share a place up in Belmont.

The BX12 bus runs down Fordham Rd. to the B/D at Grand Concourse and further to the 4 at Jerome Ave. There is also a Metro-North station at the Fordham stop at Fordham Rd. and Webster Ave. that can get you in to Grand Central in 18 minutes.

FULL LISTING

~ErLu

Months Keep Passing, Still No District Office for Pedro Espada

BoogieDowner just wants to alert all the residents of the 33rd District of the New York Senate that their Senator, Pedro Espada, Jr., still does not have a district office open. He remains the only Senator in the state not to have such an office up and running - a rather shameful distinction.

(BD note: Senator Espada's office just threw another State Senator under the bus by declaring that Andrea Stewart Cousins of the 35th District also does not have an office open in her district in Yonkers. What made Senator Stewart-Cousins' situation unclear to BoogieDowner in the course of its research is that the Yonkers Senator has a district office listed on her contact page. The only problem is that when you call 914-771-4190, which is listed as her district office, the call gets rerouted to Albany. When I called Stewart-Cousins' office, an angry staffer confirmed that her boss did not have an office open. She said they were "in transition." She did not seem happy that the dirty secret was out! At least Pedro is honest in his disregard for the District. Senator Stewart Cousins beats Petey in deception.)

Repeated calls to Senator Espada's office have yielded nothing except for an angry woman telling me "sometime next week." I must have gotten that response for 5 weeks running. Other calls to Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith's office yielded nothing as well. Apparently no one at Smith's office knows to whom I should speak. Multiple emails and phone calls have not been returned. Please do your part and call Senators Espada's and Smith's offices.

There were promises of a May 1 ribbon cutting, but we are now at June 1. Senator Espada has been in office now for a full 5 months and has known he would need a district office since his election win in early November (to be honest he knew way back when he beat Efrain Gonzalez in the primary - the Bronx being the Democratic bastion that it is). At least Senator Espada now has the address listed on the contact page of his website.

400 East Fordham Road
Fordham Plaza, 7th Floor
Bronx, NY 10458

Notice there's still no phone number... because a functioning office to serve Senator Espada's constituents doesn't seem to exist.

Please call Senator Espada's office in Albany at 518-455-3395 and email Senator Espada at espada@senate.state.ny.us to demand that he open a district office immediately.

Please also call Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith at 518-455-2701 or email him at masmith@senate.state.ny.us to express your disappointment with Senator Espada's disregard for setting up a district office.

~ErLu

Round'em Up

Here are some Bronx-related stories which we've rounded up you, our lovely readers, while trolling the interweb with our horse and lasso this fine morning:

Reporter recommends fishing, drinking, and eating fried seafood when one visits City Island... (you can easily see why we like visiting there) [New York Times]

Here's the fleshed out article on Pedro Espada which we saw a snippet of last week [Gotham Gazette] (BD Note: In reference to his Bronx residency issues, Espada points that his Bedford Park co-op "is not some basement without a phone." Clearly the Bronx DA should call off their investigation... Having a wide screen tv and lactose-free milk in the apartment is a clear indicator of primary residency, right? Right.)

Gawker travels to the BoogieDown to interview Bronxites regarding their feelings about 'Sonia from the Block's' Supreme Court nomination [Gawker]

Rapper/reality TV star Rev. Rev and his wife pitching in to build a playground for the children at Odyssey House on Clinton Avenue [Allhiphop.com]

Many Bronxites taking advantage of summer months to hang laundry out on the line to dry [New York Times]

Morton Williams Supermarkets not happy about the looming redevelopment of Kingsbridge Armory [Crain's NY Biz]

Some snow leopards from the Bronx Zoo find a new home at the Central Park Zoo [Daily News]

Report finds that Bronx Surrogate's Court invested estate cash illegally [Daily News]
Rally for striking Stella D'Oro workers goes largely unnoticed by mainstream media [Daily Kos]

And here's a profile of one of the striking workers... [Norwood News]

Music fest planned for Pelham Parkway South [New York Post/yournabe.com]

A look at the buyers' real estate market in the BoogieDown [Norwood News]

~ErLu

Listing of the Day: Price Chop by the Week, Part 2

180 Van Cortlandt Park South #5C - $254,000

So BoogieDowner has been stalking this property for a few weeks now. When we first profiled it two weeks again it was listed at $265K. Then a week later we saw that it was chopped to $259K. Now it has been copped again, down to $254K. Kind of makes you wonder where the bottom is.

Strangely enough it seems the listing agent found BoogieDowner's LOD and left a few comments. Laura also clarified that the maintenance is $791/month, which is 40-50% tax deductible. I wonder if there are any amenities that come with that maintenance bill beyond the traditional hot water, heat, a super and real estate taxes. Is there any storage? Parking? Also, if you're reading, Laura, would this building take 10% down instead of the traditional 20%?

This is a big unit (950 square feet) at the foot of one of the prettiest parks in the City. The building looks well kept - it even has one of those fancy Co-op names ("the Van Cort" - I guess brevity is their thing). This apartment is also right near Riverdale and all of its amenities.

The kitchen and bathrooms look like they've been updated and the apartment doesn't appear to need that much work. All in all, this is a pretty solid apartment for a pretty decent (and falling!) price (although you'd be crazy to pay the asking price for anything in this market).


The transportation is very nice with the 1 train a block or so away

FULL LISTING

~ErLu