Pain in the Gas

(Photos by David Greene)

BRONX, NEW YORK, June 14- We heard of pumping your own gas to save money but this is ridiculous.

Fire department officials were called after a woman's fuel tank ruptured and began to spill some of its 30-gallons of gasoline. The incident was reported along Bedford Park Boulevard at Jerome Avenue. The gasoline was off-loaded by members of the FDNY and the vehicle was towed from the scene.

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Puerto Rican Pride on Display

(Photos by Seitu Oronde)

Bronx politicians and residents once again showed their pride during the annual National Puerto Rican Day Parade in Manhattan.

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BP Blasts Paper for Comparing Bronx to Baghdad

BP Blasts Paper for Comparing Bronx to Baghdad

Calls Bx Albanians Mobsters

Letter to the Editor:

(In an open letter to the Litchfield County Times, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. blasted the paper for what he calls “libelous” attacks on the Bronx and its residents)

To The Editor:

I am writing in response to the libelous and entirely unforgivable opinion piece published in your newspaper last week, “Monet on the Hudson, a Bronx Tale From Deyan Ranko Brashich.” While this piece was written ostensibly to promote an exhibit at the New York Botanical Garden, the author instead spends his time badmouthing the Bronx in outdated ways.

The errors in Mr. Brashich’s piece are numerous, and a simple phone call to my office or any number of other Bronx institutions would have made that clear. Mr. Brashich writes that the Bronx lacks vegetation and that the Bronx River is polluted; ignoring the fact that 25 percent of our borough is parkland, and that the Bronx River is so clean today that beavers have returned to make their homes there.

The author complains that our borough is covered in graffiti, calls the Bronx a “ghetto” and compares our borough to Baghdad. These are disgusting, false descriptions, and serve no purpose other than to denigrate the amazing community myself and 1.4 million others call home.

The list goes on. In perhaps the most disgusting portion of this piece, Mr. Brashich manages to slander the hardworking Albanian community of the Bronx, referring to them as “America’s newest version of the Mafia.” To refer to the proud Albanian community in such a derogatory manner is absolutely disgusting, and it is a characterization that the entire Bronx resents.

To be fair, your newspaper is allowed to publish whatever it likes, no matter how shameful, repulsive or lacking in truth it may be. With that said, one would hope that the articles that run under your banner would meet basic standards of decency, rather than rely on the stereotypes of the 1970s to make a point about a Monet exhibit.

Had Mr. Brashich actually bothered to pay attention to the Bronx during his visit, he would have seen a beautiful place that has made great strides in the areas of housing, economic development, education and public safety, just to name a few. On behalf of the people of the Bronx I demand a retraction of this garbage, and I would hope that your newspaper would not resort to publishing such nonsense in the future.

I would also invite you and your readers to visit ilovethebronx.com, the official website of the Bronx Tourism Council, to learn more about all of the wonderful things that are happening in the Bronx.

Sincerely, Ruben Diaz Jr.

Series Turns into Pitching Duel

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Yanks Prevail over Mets, 4-2; Long Ball is Decisive

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, June 10- As in Game 1 of the Subway Series, a combination of good pitching and home runs accounted for a Yankees victory over the Mets.

In seven innings, Mets starter Dillon Gee gave up only five hits. Three of the hits came off the bats of three of the first four batters Gee faced, Derek Jeter singled to center, breaking a 0 for 18 hitless streak. The Mets killer began the game with a .377 batting average against the Amazins. A balk moved Jeter to second. He scored on single by Alex Rodriguez with one out. The hit was Jeter’s 328^th, the run his 186^th in interleague play and the run batted in was the 189^th for Rodriguez in interleague play. Both raised the numbers as major league leaders in gams between teams of the opposite league.

The next hit off Gee was a two-run homer by Mark Teixeira with two out in the sixth. It was sufficient to give the Yanks enough runs to achieve victory.

The final Yankees run came again via the home run route as Curtis Granderson led-off the eighth with a homer off reliever Bobby Parnell. The long ball ended a string of 18 at bats without a hit for the Yankees centerfielder.

Phil Hughes, the Yankees starter, hurled a very similar game to Gee. In 6.1 innings, Hughes threw 108 pitches, 71 for strikes. Gee threw 70 strikes in 108 pitches.

The only two runs Hughes surrendered came on solo home runs. Mets shortstop Omar Quintanilla hit a four bagger on a 1-1 pitch with one out in the third. David Wright led off the sixth with his eighth homer of the year. Hughes has yielded at least one home run in each of his 12 starts in 2012.

Mets skipper Terry Collins alluded to the relative ease of hitting home runs in Yankee Stadium and the superior power of the Yankees batters in his post-game remarks, “Singles don’t win games in this park. They [Yankees] showed exactly what it was, you can’t make mistakes here. You have to keep the ball in the ballpark.”

Yankees relievers, Boone Logan, Cory Wade, Clay Rapada and Rafael Soriano combined to keep the Mets scoreless in 2.2 innings. Soriano earned his ninth save in nine attempts.

After the contest, Yankees manager Joe Girardi praised his relief corps, “These guys have really stepped up for us. If your pitchers do their job, you really have a good chance to win. Seventh, eighth and ninth were mapped out for us, now it isn’t.”

Yankees starters have won seven of the last nine games and have an ERA of below 2.00 in June. Girardi explained, “When you get consistency out of all five starters, you can get a streak going.”

Mets superstar David Wright concurred, “They [Yankees] have that kind of pitching that gives them a good chance to win.”

The final game of the Subway Series to be played will feature Andy Pettitte (3-2) against Jonathon Niese (4-2).

New Woodlawn Van Service

Riverdale Report

By Robert Press

BRONX, NEW YORK, June 10- In 2010 when the MTA cut back service on the BX34 bus the residents of Woodlawn were the ones who had no weekend bus service. 

Christine Sheridan (President of the Woodlawn Taxpayers Association) with other residents of Woodlawn, asked State Senator Jeff Klein if he could do anything to restore the BX34 weekend service. Unable to restore the weekend BX 34 service Senator Klein did the next best thing by working with New York City TLC Commissioner David Yassky to provide a licensed van service from the Dorcel Edenwald Bus Service for the lost weekend BX34 bus service. Carl Gromes (owner of the van service) said that his company came about when the MTA cut out the old BX14 bus route, and his company has flourished since then. He added that he is happy to service the Woodlawn community in a similar situation. The van service will only be in effect on weekends from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and cost $2.00. Schedules of the new weekend van service will be posted in local Woodlawn businesses.

Saturday was the date of the Mable Hill Clean Up put together by Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez and Community Board #8's Environmental and Sanitation Committee. Tony Edwards of Councilman Rodriguez's office (who coordinated the clean up) told us “The Marble Hill area just needs a little clean up.” Dozens of people showed up to form several teams of people that were provided with brooms, rakes, shovels gloves, and trash bags to make the Marble Hill area a little cleaner. This is done all through out the community board area at different times we were told, as in May the Parks Committee did a similar clean up in one of the community boards parks by the Jerome Park Reservoir.

If you travel by car on Broadway north by West 242nd Street you will see something new at the corner if you are planning to make a left turn from Broadway. While you were able to make a left turn from Broadway to West 242nd Street at any time the light was green, there is now a red turning arrow to prevent a left turn while southbound traffic goes through the intersection. Traffic backed up at this intersection due to the Westchester buses that were parked in the bus stop waiting for their scheduled time to start so the # 9 city bus had to double park often to let passengers off at the bus stop. This left only one lane of traffic to flow north on Broadway which was the turning lane. Now that cars have to wait for the green turning arrow this intersection has become gridlocked at times. Now that summer is here we wonder just how bad the gridlock will get with all the park goers that use Broadway.

Don't forget to visit my blog at www.100percentbronx.blogspot.com for other items that may not make it into this column, more on items may be in this column, or photos of the events. If you have any comments about this column or would like to have an event listed or covered in this column or on my blog, you can e-mail us 100percentbronxnews@gmail.com or call 718-644-4199 Mr. Robert Press.