Every Saturday, The Week in Rewind spotlights a sampling of the wide-ranging editorial work of the Bronx Times.
Heastie calls for solutions to gun violence after drive-by shooting outside Gun Hill Road office
On Monday, a late-afternoon drive-by shooting severely injured a 20-year-old man, who was shot in the head outside state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie’s Gun Hill Road constituency office in the East Bronx. An oft-busy office teeming with staffers and constituents, Monday’s shooting was a sanguineous scene, marked off by police tape and the victim’s bloodstained baseball cap.
The speaker confirmed that he was in Albany at the time of the shooting, and on Tuesday, the longtime lawmaker called for stricter actions to address gun proliferation and violence. Heastie is currently in the thick of state budget talks — originally due April 1 but has since been extended three times by state lawmakers — with debates brewing over Gov. Kathy Hochul’s changes to the state’s bail law, a housing plan and other policy issues the governor had included in her budget proposal.
“Sadly, in this instance, another young person of color has fallen victim to gun violence,” said Heastie in a statement. “As I have said repeatedly, we must stop focusing on the symptoms of crime and treat the disease. We must address the scourge of guns and gun violence plaguing our country, and this is yet another example of the urgent need to act.”
As many as 10 shots were fired from a white BMW sedan on Gun Hill Road and Fenton Avenue at around 3 p.m., with multiple gunmen targeting the unidentified 20 year old, who was brought to Jacobi Medical Center in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the head. His condition was later upgraded to stable, sources said.
Landmarks Preservation Commission not quite sold on new Bronx Museum design
After nearly two years of deliberation, the Bronx Museum of the Arts in Concourse is still waiting for a makeover.
A New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission meeting on Tuesday yielded no immediate action plan for the beginning of the revamp, which seeks to better unite the campus by rebuilding the entrance to the museum.
The proposal, presented by the founder of Marvel Architects Jonathan Marvel, would turn the front of the museum into a multi-story entrance that he said would be more engaging to the public. He spoke about repainting the original exposed brick white for a clean look, as well as installing an art deco-style metal roof that would light up at nightfall.
While the latest proposal has garnered support from different borough agencies and elected officials — including state Assemblymember Latoya Joyner, City Councilmember Althea Stevens and Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson — some of the commission members said Tuesday they still weren’t ready to support the project as it currently stands.
One of those was Michael Goldblum, who felt the design doesn’t fit with the traditional architecture or sentiment of the Grand Concourse.
“I think that when we evaluate new buildings that go into historic districts, the thing that I look for anyway is how a modern building dialogues with the significant portions or certain aspects of the district,” Goldblum said. “For me, this building’s form dialogues the most with the executive towers across the street, which is in my view, a building that is anomalous to the district.”
No arrest made in Morris Park fatal hit and run after driver surrenders to police
A driver who turned himself in to police on Thursday for a deadly hit and run in Morris Park earlier this month has yet to face any charges.
The driver’s lawyer told the Bronx Times he expected his client to be charged when he turned himself in at the 49th Precinct, but was instead let go.
“We anticipated Mr. (Emilio) Berrios being charged with negligent homicide but he wasn’t charged with anything, and after speaking with the detectives we were allowed to walk him out of the precinct,” lawyer Nicholas Ramcharitar said.
The NYPD reported that on April 5, a driver went through a red light “at a high rate of speed” in a white pickup truck at the intersection of Williamsbridge Road and Pierce Avenue, fatally crashing into Morris Park resident Hua Pan before continuing to drive away. Pan, 64, was crossing the street with a green light on an e-bike, steps away from his home, according to information from police. Pan, who was left laying in the road after sustaining head trauma, was pronounced dead at Jacobi Medical Center, according to the police department.
Unsafe conditions, backlash and vandalism stall construction of Kingsbridge charter school
In Kingsbridge, International Leadership Charter School — which opened a high school location in Riverdale in 2006 — saw the perfect place to expand its educational network with a seven-story middle school building between Irwin and Tibbetts avenues.
But ever since getting the go-ahead to build the 4,329-square-f00t, 300-seat International Leadership Charter Middle School in October, the project has hit a myriad of roadblocks. It has not only drawn ire from locals, including a rally of 100-plus residents on April 17, but also a notice from the city to halt construction due to unsafe working conditions onsite.
The city’s Department of Buildings (DOB) issued a partial stop work order — documenting that excessive flooding at the site caused unsafe working conditions — on March 6.
At the time of the DOB’s inspection, officials said an “inadequately maintained sidewalk” created potential tripping hazards and that the present job site conditions did not conform to the approved plan. Additionally, DOB officials and local residents have noted damage to adjoining properties, including a parking lot owned by the Tibbett Towers co-op.
DOB officials told the Bronx Times that the stop work order is still in effect, until changes are made to the worksite.
International Leadership Charter officials claim other factors, including vandalism at the construction site by opponents of the project, have pushed back the completion timeline by six months. Olga Luz Tirado, a spokesperson for International Leadership Charter, alleges that agitators have broken security cameras installed by the developers and tampered with locks to the site, preventing construction workers access.
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