We are still trying to notify everyone in our community about the proposal made by Joseph Bivona, owner of Super Foodtown on Bruckner and Crosby avenues. There are many misconceptions floating around and it is important that we all know the truth. The proposal and what we can do about it will be discussed in detail at our next informational rally. The rally will be on Oct. 16 at 12 p.m., at Bufano Park also know as Waterbury Park. The park is on Waterbury and LaSalle avenues. Please tell your neighbors and be sure to attend.
Basically, the proposal is to upzone the area from Foodtown on Crosby and Bruckner avenues down to Gifford Avenue and into a portion of Tremont Avenue. If the proposal goes through our low-density community will become a very high-density community in that area. It will set a precedent for this to happen all over our community. There are 34 properties that will be upzoned. Right now they are proposing two 8-story buildings, one five-story building and one three-story building. But we can expect that eventually 34 high-rise buildings may block out our sun and clean air. It won’t be a welcomed sight.
We fought very hard for this community to be a low-density community. We won that downzoning because the Community Board, City Council, borough president, city Planning and the mayor all agreed that our infrastructure could not accommodate high-density buildings. They agreed that our schools, Police Department and Fire Department would be negatively affected. Nothing has changed since that downzoning. Therefore, this proposal should not even be considered.
If this community is upzoned, it will change our community forever. We must fight with all we have. Part of that fight must be to get every local politician to say publicly that they are against this upzoning and any other upzoning that may be proposed for our community. They must commit to garnering the support of their colleagues. They must not accept the endorsement of Open NY, whose policy is to upzone everywhere. Every politician that has a vote must commit to voting no on this proposal with no negotiation of any kind. They are either with us or against us. If they are against us, we must vote them out. The politicians that do not have a vote must support our communities wishes. Remember, they work for us. If they are not working for us, we must vote them out and keep voting them out.
That being said, we have the support of many politicians both Republican and Democrat. This is not a race to vote along party lines as some of us do. We must vote for the person who commits their full support, who attends our rallies and who is listening to us. It does not matter what party they are from.
DUES
If you have not yet paid your dues, please do so today. We need your support more than ever with this issue knocking at our door. You can send your $10 dues to Waterbury LaSalle Community Association, 1145 Hobart Ave. If you have not yet donated to our online GoFundMe page you can send a check to the above address. The check should be made out to Bronx Coalition Against Upzoning. It doesn’t have to be a lot. If everyone sent in $5 or $10 we would reach our goal. Thank you so much to our members who not only sent in their dues but included an extra gift. It is very much appreciated. Please know that we are working very hard to maintain the quality of life we all want to enjoy.
VACCINE MANDATES
There are many teachers and nurses that are about to lose their jobs. Teachers and nurses are being discriminated against as they do not have the same option that every other city worker has. All they want is the option to either get vaccinated or get tested once a week. The discrimination goes further as the CDC has said that vaccinated or unvaccinated people shed the virus and contract the virus in the exact same way. So, why are unvaccinated people subjected to a different set of rules? On top of all that, if they leave due to the mandate they cannot get unemployment, which they paid for. So, how are they to support themselves? It’s not science. It’s political and we must resist. I ask for your prayers for the teachers and nurses that have been put in this no-win situation. They desperately need our support.
Until next time, please stay safe and involved.
