The Week in Rewind spotlights some of the editorial work of the Bronx Times for the week of May 20-May 26.
Yankees fans irked by volume of streaming services needed to watch team
Streaming services for live sports are becoming more and more prevalent these days, and there may be no better group that understands the frustration and financial implications that can have better than Yankees fans. Especially this week.
In a now-viral tweet from River Ave. Blues, the account aptly pointed out that for Yankee fans to watch every game from Sunday to Friday of this week they’d have to have five different subscription services. Sunday’s series finally aired on Peacock, two games were broadcast on YES Network, Wednesday night’s game against the Orioles was broadcast on Amazon Prime and Friday is an Apple TV+ game.
You have to subscribe to four different services to watch the next five Yankees games.
SUN – Peacock
MON – off-day
TUES – YES
WEDS – Amazon Prime Video
THURS – YES
FRI – Apple TV+— River Ave. Blues (@RiverAveBlues) May 21, 2023
The Peacock and Apple TV+ slate of games are part of MLB’s national broadcast contracts with the respective companies, but the Prime games are a deal that the Yankees cut with Amazon. Prime is thought to be in more households than the other two streamers.
Still, it highlights the ongoing shift in sports broadcasting to streaming services and the added costs that it is placing on fans who wish to see their favorite teams. Regional sports networks (RSNs) have been dealing with increasing financial hardships due to cord-cutting from traditional cable packages.
Newly appointed (volunteer) Bronx historian to continue predecessor’s legacy
Bronx history has entered its next chapter with a new borough historian.
Angel Hernandez, the president of
Hernandez isn’t a stranger to gathering history in the Boogie Down.
Hernandez started the Bronx Latino History Project in his former role as the director of Programs and External Relations for the Bronx County Historical Society and he helped secure almost $200,000 in capital funding from former Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.’s office in 2016 to start a digitization project for the society. In 2018, he created BronXcursions, which offers tours of the Bronx.
The Bronx historian is a volunteer role appointed by the Bronx borough president. The historian is responsible for collecting historical data like archives, books and artifacts, analyzing them to determine their authenticity and significance and track historical developments in the borough, according to Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson’s office.
The historian also writes about the borough and educates the public.
‘Mr. Throggs Neck’ memorialized with street co-naming ceremony Monday
Family and friends of Jim McQuade, an active member of the Throggs Neck community throughout his life until his death last year, gathered on Monday to memorialize him with a street co-naming ceremony in the neighborhood.
Coined “Mr. Throggs Neck” by his daughter Jackie McQuade, Jim McQuade was involved in many organizations and agencies throughout the East Bronx. He started the Throggs Neck Volunteer Ambulance Corp., was a member of Bronx Community Board 10, a founding member of the Throggs Neck BID, owned the Schuyler Hill Funeral Home and spearheaded the annual Throggs Neck 9/11 memorial service during his life, according to Jackie McQuade. She said he also was involved with the local FDNY ladder, as well as local hospitals, churches, schools and sports programs.
The street formerly known as Sommer Place is now also known as Jim McQuade Way. He died on May 12, 2022 at the age of 75.
“He so deserves it, that’s for sure,” Jackie McQuade said. “It’s overwhelming, it’s a bit emotional, but now … my dad’s name is there every day and I walk past it.”
Potential first Bronx cannabis dispensary planned for Allerton after CB11 rejection fails
An effort to oppose what could be the first recreational cannabis dispensary in the Bronx failed at a Community Board 11 meeting Tuesday night.
Cousins-turned-business partners Levent Ozkurt and Denis Ozkurt have plans to open the New York City Cannabis Emporium, a retail dispensary at 2460 Williamsbridge Road in the Allerton section of the Bronx. The dispensary is the first location that has been approved by the New York Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) to submit plans to a community board in the Bronx, which is a required step toward opening dispensary doors in the city, an OCM spokesperson confirmed with the Bronx Times.
But members of Community Board 11, which represents the Allerton area, didn’t agree on whether the site was an appropriate location for a dispensary.
The CB11 Economic Development Committee on May 17 voted in favor of a motion to object to the shop location because of its proximity to local schools and concerns about crime in the area. But when the committee brought the motion to the full board on Tuesday night, it failed by a 12-8 vote with one recusal.
Levent Ozkurt told the Bronx Times he estimated that the Williamsbridge Road dispensary could be ready in about two months, as they have started building out the space. He plans to hire about 8-12 local employees.
The building is across the street from the New York City Housing Authority’s Pelham Parkway Houses and is around the corner from PS 89, The Williamsbridge School. There is a liquor store and smoke shop on the same block.
New York state requires cannabis dispensaries to be 500 feet from schools or 200 feet from a house of worship, but the distance requirement only applies if the school is on the same road as the dispensary. PS 89 is 528 feet from the dispensary, according to Google Maps, and while a public playground is across the street on Williamsbridge Road, the school is on Mace Avenue. The Christopher Columbus High School building, which has multiple schools within it, is a few blocks away.
Chris Kirka, a community coordinator employed by the community board, had strong feelings against the location at the Economic Development Committee meeting and claimed there have been many shootings in the area.
“I don’t think this is the right place for the dispensary to be,” he said. ” … it can be anywhere else but in that area.”
Levent Ozkurt assured the board that there will be a security guard and cameras outside the dispensary and those who aren’t at least 21 years old will not be allowed inside. He said that OCM will shut down nearby illegal dispensaries once his legal shop opens, and pointed to an illicit shop down the street. Gov. Kathy Hochul granted OCM additional enforcement power earlier this month.
Dispensaries in New York are required to have security measures in place.
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