Officials finish a bike lane on the Grand Concourse

  With one last dash of paint, New York became the self-proclaimed “bike capital of the nation” Wednesday.

City leaders gathered on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx to paint the final stretch of a 200-mile, three-year bike lane expansion that nearly doubled the number of bike-lane miles across the car-packed five boroughs.

The project’s completion brings the city’s total street bike lanes to 420 miles and its total bike lanes, including park space, to 620 miles.

City Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan compared the project’s size to a one-way road between New York and Boston, with New York now having double the number of bike-lane miles as Chicago. Bike commuting has increased by 45% since the project began, she said.

Wednesday’s celebration emphasized the all-around benefits of biking, with Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe lauding how new bike paths attract people to city parks, and Dr. Thomas Farley, city health commissioner, applauding the benefits of physical activity and bike lane safety.

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. said this was one time the Bronx “did not mind being last,” getting to host the completion of the project. He encouraged New Yorkers to explore their neighborhoods by bike.

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“I wouldn’t mind seeing it in October,” the Dodgers manager said. “That would be all right.”

With the way the Dodgers are rolling, there’s a distinct possibility Torre could be back in the World Series for the first time in six years. Los Angeles has the best record in baseball at 53-31 after last night’s 5-4 loss to the Mets and just got slugger Manny Ramirez back from his 50-game steroid suspension.

As for the Yankees’ new digs in The Bronx, Torre said he’s not curious about seeing it. He’s heard of its reputation as a launching pad.

“I heard about right field and this, that and the other thing,” Torre said, “but they have some guys that can hit home runs over there. It’s no surprise. If you hit the ball to straight-away right field even in the old ballpark it was pretty friendly.”

The Dodgers will face the Yankees next season, but the schedule is preliminary and it has not been determined where the series will be played.

As for the old Stadium, Torre said he has no plans of going by his old workplace one last time while he’s home. It could be just a memory the next time he’s in New York.

“When I left there I knew it was going to be my last time,” Torre said of the day he cleaned out his office after the 2007 season. “I’d have been very surprised if it wasn’t my last time. I took everything in. I had so many great memories there.” (more…)

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In addition to cash, the Echo Park market accepts food stamps and market coupons.

Organizers Harvest Home Farmers Market, Inc., City Harvest, and the Montefiore School Health Program say the goal is to make more fresh food available in the neighborhood.

“Farmers that I’ve been working with have kind of adapted their plants to come into this community,” said Maritza Owens, founder of Harvest Home Farmers Market. “And they come because they know what we’re trying to do is offer people access to fresh fruits and vegetables and so they’re very happy to come.”

“This is critical to improve the health of the neighborhood,” said Meg Charlop of the Montefiore School Health Program.

“In this neighborhood we see very high rates of obesity, very high rates of heart disease, very high rates of diabetes and very high rates of asthma hospitalizations as well, which correlates with obesity and lack of good nutrition.”

Charlop said that shoppers will not only see a difference in their physical health, but also their mood. (more…)

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With passing trucks and buses honking their support, employees of the Stella D’oro Biscuit Company chanted, “The workers — united — will never be defeated,” as they filed through the gates of the factory in the Bronx on Tuesday.

Their sense of accomplishment was hard-earned: they had walked out in August and kept up a picket line through the fall, winter and spring of a deepening recession. They sued the company for unfair labor practices and prevailed in court, winning the right to return to work, proud that not one worker had broken ranks.

But then they learned, some as late as Tuesday morning, that the owner had already decided to shut the plant for good in 90 days. After striking for nearly 11 months, they stood to be out of work again in three.

The shutdown notice threw a gut-punch into a labor-management tussle that evoked a bygone era, when New York City was a hub of manufacturing and laborers had a strong hand to play in collective bargaining. And the workers’ long, unyielding battle seemed out of place when many of the city’s biggest employers are eliminating jobs in waves and pressing their remaining workers to accept pay cuts and furloughs. (more…)

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The Maldonado family had been living without gas, electricity or hot water, but did not move out until the school year ended.

 As the school year sailed to a close last month, Arielle Figueras crossed the stage in her cap and gown and proudly accepted her fifth-grade diploma.

The next day, she was homeless.

Arielle, a petite 11-year-old, and her parents, brother and sister packed their belongings and arrived at the intake center for homeless families in the South Bronx. Though they had been fighting with their landlord for months and their gas and electricity had long been shut off, they refused to leave their apartment while school was in session.

“She was graduating, so we had to wait,” Arielle’s mother, Marilyn Maldonado, said. “We just didn’t want to disrupt their routines. We couldn’t do that to them.”

Many New Yorkers view summer as a time for vacations, camp and lazy days at the beach. But city officials have been preparing for quite a different summer ritual: the swelling of the population of homeless families.

They call it the summer surge, and say that this year could be the worst yet.

(more…)

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“Last week, a federal judge ordered Stella D’oro to reinstate 134 workers after a protracted 10-month strike. This week, the company invited the workers back. It also announced that it would close the factory in October.”

snip

““The decision to close the Bronx bakery operations has not been made in haste or without significant planning,” a statement from the management said. Operations will be moved elsewhere and the products would continue, the statement said.”

Ah yes. They had plenty of time to figure out how to shutter this factory and move it elsewhere, by refusing to bargain with the union for 10 months and then, easily plan their escape. This looks like a pretty standard union-busting move here: demand massive pay concessions that you know are not fair, and either you get them and break the union, or you get enough cover to plan a move elsewhere and break the union. (more…)

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Saint Augustine’s Roman Catholic Church, also known as the Cathedral of the Bronx, held its final mass today.   The church has seen a decline in attendees and is suffering from its dilapidated structure.

The church was established in 1849 when the Bronx was a rural community.   The parish grew as the Bronx, itself, transformed into an urban area at the turn of the 20th century.  The church was around when the parish was predominantly German and Irish and remained a part of the community as the parish and the community saw an increase in African Americans.

As crime increased in the 1960’s, a portion of the parish left the South Bronx.  The leaders of the Saint Augustine’s Roman Catholic Church accommodated the changes and the issues by incorporating various social services to help the people in the community.

According to News 12, parishioners hope to build a smaller church nearby. (more…)

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Former Secretary of State and retired US General Colin Powell defended Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor from allegations of reverse-racism Powell stuck up for Sonia from the block on Sunday, labeling as bogus the “reverse racist” charges aimed at Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

Powell, who’s from the same South Bronx neighborhood as Sotomayor, said the first Hispanic woman nominated to the high bench should be confirmed in Senate hearings beginning later this month.

Critics have attacked Sotomayor as a “reverse racist” for her ruling as an appeals court judge against white firefighters in a civil service promotion case.

They say “she ought to withdraw her nomination because we’re mad at her,” said Powell on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Sotomayor has “an open and liberal bent of mind,” Powell said. “But that’s not disqualifying.”

It’s unlikely Republicans can muster the votes to block her appointment. (more…)

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