Our community has something big to celebrate! Due to the generosity of the members of our community we were able to retain one of the best attorneys in the country. Richard J. Lippes and his associates will now be representing us in our effort to defeat the proposed Bruckner upzoning. Mr. Lippes has more than 50 years of experience in land use and zoning and he has worked on cases in 22 states. He is particularly well suited to work on our issue as he is an environmentalist that has worked on world renowned cases, such as the Love Canal. With the guidance of Mr. Lippes, we are in a much greater position to win. Everyone working on this issue would like to extend their sincere gratitude to every person that donated money or time as this could not have been done without you.
There is more good news. Recently, we met with City Councilwoman-elect Marjorie Velázquez. She was gracious as she reiterated her support on this issue. I believe that she is very aware of that fact that our community does not have the services to support this upzoning and for that reason I believe that we can count on her continued support. We have many other issues to work on with her and she is interested in hearing our concerns. We are working to have her as a guest speaker at an upcoming Waterbury LaSalle Community Association meeting.
Our next civic meeting will be on Dec. 28 at 7:30 p.m. at the Lutheran Church on Hollywood and Baisley avenues. We have asked Capt. Isaac Soberal of the 45th Precinct to attend our meeting along with some of his staff. There is also the possibility that Councilwoman-elect Velázquez will stop by. It should be a very informative meeting. Because this meeting falls between Christmas and New Year’s, we have much to celebrate so please be sure to attend.
If you have not sent in your dues, please do so today. Also, if you have not donated to the GoFundMe page that has been set up to defeat the Bruckner upzoning please consider doing so. We are now a 501c3, so your donations are tax deductible. You can send your dues to 1145 Hobart Ave. If you are sending a check to defeat the upzoning, please make it out to Bronx Coalition Against Upzoning and send it to the same address. If you cannot donate but still want to help, we ask that you volunteer to get signatures on our petition. A huge showing of signatures goes a long way to convincing local elected officials to support us. We need as many signatures as we can get and we need your help to get this done. You can call me for petitions 718 792-6385 or you can stop by John Cerini’s office (Bronx Tax Man) on Tremont Avenue for petitions.
