Slap Happy Crooks Sought by Cops

By Dan Gesslein

BRONX, NEW YORK, JANUARY 9- A slap happy crook, who terrorized at least 11 stores, is being sought by cops. Investigators released surveillance photos and video of the male and female crooks in the hope that someone will recognize the pair. 

Cops say the couple has made off with over $7,000 from the robberies of 11 stores throughout the Bronx. Investigators say the woman canvasses the store prior to the robbery. Then the male gunman will enter the location, threaten the clerk with a gun and demand cash. In the surveillance video, the suspect is seen smacking a clerk upside his head. 

The gunman is described as a black male who is around 25 years of age. He is described as 5 foot 10 and 175 pounds. The female accomplice is in her 20s and is 5 foot 5 and 190 pounds. 

Anyone with information is urged to call CRIMESTOPPERS at (800) 577-TIPS. The public can also submit their tips by logging onto Crime Stoppers' website at www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or by texting their tips to CRIMES (274637), then enter TIP577.

All calls are confidential.

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Elevators Can’t Take the Cold?

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Elevators Can’t Take the Cold?: 20 elevators out of service within 4 days $160K per month Contractor Blames Cold Weather for Outages By Michael Horowitz BRO...

Elevators Can’t Take the Cold?

20 elevators out of service within 4 days

$160K per month Contractor Blames Cold Weather for Outages

By Michael Horowitz

BRONX, NEW YORK, JANUARY 9- Twenty elevators were out of service between last Friday and Monday, leaving Co-op City shareholders in Buildings 12 without any elevator service for several hours on Sunday and leaving shareholders in Building 12 without any elevator service for several hours on Monday, informed sources told  the News this week.

Garages 1, 4, 5, and 8 reportedly had no elevators for several hours on Monday, said the sources, who wished to remain unidentified.

On Monday alone, 14 elevators were out of service for several hours at a time, the sources noted.

There were no reports, as of early this week, of shareholders being trapped in elevators for extended periods of time or of shareholders not being able to receive emergency medical care because of the elevator outages. 

Management officials are reportedly blaming the elevator outages on extreme temperature changes on last week’s snowfall, but critics of management are convinced that the outages resulted from a lack of proper maintenance.

The Ver-tech Elevator Co., Inc. has had a contract to maintain Co-op City’s recently rebuilt elevators since October 1999, but it was unclear, this week, if the elevator company or Co-op City’s management was responsible for the outages. 

Ver-tech is reportedly paid $160,000 per month, or close to $2 million per year, to maintain Co-op City's elevators, which were all reportedly upgraded in recent years. 

Co-op City has 192 elevators, so 20 elevators represent more than 10 percent of the elevators in the local community.

Commenting this week, civic activist Frank Belcher described the extensive elevator outages in the community as “totally unacceptable,” saying, “This is really no surprise to me. I have known, for quite some time, that the people who run Co-op City, who are ultimately responsible, are inept and incompetent. In this case, their incompetence endangered the health, welfare, and safety of the community’s shareholders and exposed the Riverbay Corporation to lawsuits relating to this lack of basic service.”

Belcher added, “You tell me that Co-op City pays an elevator contractor $160,000 per month to maintain our elevators, so we have a right to expect that our elevators will be properly maintained in all kinds of weather. It’s unacceptable for management to blame the elevator outages on the weather.” 

Belcher stressed, “It has been clear to me for years that this place is not properly maintained, so why would we think that the elevators are any different from the rest of Co-op City’s infrastructure?”

The elevator outages that were reported here last Friday were in Building 17, with one car out of service due to a broken hoist rope, and in Building 35, with one car out of service because of an issue with a sheave.

On Sunday, all four elevators were out of service in Building 35 for several hours due to a pipe break in the building’s basement.

On Monday, the following elevator outages were reported: Building 22B, two cars out of service due to a pipe break in the building’s basement; Building 12, all four cars out of  service for several hours due to a pipe break in the basement, and Garages 1, 4, 5, and 8, all eight cars out of service due to electrical boxes shorting out because of moisture.

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Councilman Andrew Cohen

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Councilman Andrew Cohen: (Photo by Robert Press) Riverdale Review By Robert Press BRONX, NEW YORK, JANUARY 9- Before I get to my headline the swearing in of new...

Councilman Andrew Cohen

(Photo by Robert Press)

Riverdale Review

By Robert Press

BRONX, NEW YORK, JANUARY 9- Before I get to my headline the swearing in of new Councilman Andrew Cohen on Sunday January 5^th, the day before a small airplane landed on the Major Deegan Highway northbound before the East 233^rd Street exit. 

This was a Piper PA 28 plane with a pilot and two passengers on board. The three were returning to Danbury Airport after circling the Statue of Liberty. The landing on the Deegan was just north of the Mosholu Parkway extension overpass bridge that is to be replaced starting later this year. There were some DOT workers that had closed one lane of the Deegan northbound to fill potholes for the pre construction of removing the Deegan medium so construction work on replacing the overpass bridge can be done. That will maintain three traffic lanes in each direction during the construction. The workers saw that the plane was in trouble and halted all traffic northbound so the plane could make a landing on the northbound lanes.

The three passengers were taken to Saint Barnabas Hospital with minor injuries and later released. The plane was registered to Mr. Michael Schwartz of South Salem in Westchester County. Just so you know where the exact location is, had the plane veered to the east about 100 feet it could have crashed into the Croton Water Filtration Plant being built in Van Cortlandt Park. You can go to my blog at www.100percentbronx.blogspot.com to read more and see a photo of the plane on the Major Deegan Highway. It was removed in less that four hours and the Deegan northbound was reopened.

On to the public inauguration of Councilman Andrew Cohen. It was a cold dreary misty day with ice forming on the streets and sidewalks outside, but inside the Lehman College Lovinger Theater there was a public swearing in of the new 11^th District Councilman Andrew Cohen. The program was delayed as many of the crowd arrived late due to the bad weather. However once the program started it went smoothly and professionally.

Mr. Bruce Feld the District Leader from the 81^st A.D. welcomed those in attendance and opened the program. The Celia Cruz High School Chorus sang the Pledge of Allegiance, and later came back up to sing “It's Freedom” during a break in the speeches by the elected officials. The National Anthem was done by the Bronx Opera Company, who also came back between speeches. Rabbi Avi Weiss gave the Invocation. Then the speeches by elected officials came. Some said goodby to former Councilman Oliver Koppell, some said hello to new Councilman Andrew Cohen, and some said other things. New City Comptroller Scott Stringer was the first to say goodby to Oliver Koppell, and reminded Councilman Cohen that his mother lives in the 11^th Council District. Stringer said that he has Councilman Cohen's cell phone number. Next up was new Public Advocate Letitia James, who likewise is also embarking on a new position in government.

Not to be outdone Congressman Engel told Councilman Cohen that he also has his cell phone number. Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. said that he is looking forward to working with Councilman Cohen in the Bronx which Diaz calls God’s Country. Diaz then said if you do not believe me look at the miracle yesterday on the Major Deegan Highway. U. S. Senator Chuck Schumer went back in time saying that when Andy Cohen was in high school that he (Schumer) was the congressman for the area in Rockaway where Andrew Cohen the lived. Schumer finished by saying that nobody gave the council seat to Andrew Cohen, but that he earned it the old fashioned way with hard work.

One of my favorite quotes from the inauguration has to be when Bronx Democratic County Leader Assemblyman Carl Heastie said, “County Leaders are thought of as dictators of foreign countries”. 

State Senator Jeff Klein mentioned that it was 18 years ago that he was sworn in as an assemblyman in the very same place at Lehman College. On the other hand, Congressman Charles Rangel said it was good to be back at Dewitt Clinton (his high school). State Senator Gustavo Rivera tried to be funny by saying that he walked over from his nearby apartment, but had to put condoms on his shoes. The reference was to rubbers. Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj warned Councilman Cohen now that you have been elected “be careful of what you have wished for”.

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz said that this is his 20^th year in the state assembly, & mentioned that Councilman Andrew Cohen once worked in his office. Dinowitz then called up Councilman Cohen and State Supreme Court Judge Edgar Walker for the swearing in. Sara Cohen stood at her fathers side as Judge Walker administered the oath of office. Both Cohens raised their hands and repeated the oath of office, and the era of new Councilman Andrew Cohen was official.

Councilman Cohen usually short on words thanked all the elected officials that were in attendance, and then thanked each and every elected official and union who helped on his campaign for the council seat. Cohen said that he was a product of the public schools and that there are many problems that will be coming up in the new city council that he will be attending to. Public schools, parks, homelessness, non-profits, and other areas that will present old and new problems, and that he knows that he has big shoes to fill in replacing Oliver Koppell in the city council. Father Richard Gormen ended the program when he said the benediction. There was a reception at the Lehman College Art Gallery after the inauguration.

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 at 100percentbronxnews@gmail.com or call 718-644-4199 Mr. Robert Press.

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Baby, it’s COLD outside!

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Baby, it’s COLD outside!: Community Board News N’ Views By Father Richard F. Gorman Chairman Community Board #12 (The Bronx) “So very nice  I’ll hold your hands;...

Baby, it’s COLD outside!

Community Board

News N’ Views

By Father Richard F. Gorman

Chairman

Community Board #12 (The Bronx)

“So very nice

 I’ll hold your hands; they’re just like ice.

Baby, it’s cold outside!”

BRONX, NEW YORK, JANUARY 8- Whether sung by Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Vanessa Williams, or Lady Antebellum, these lyrics from the song “BABY, IT’S COLD OUTSIDE!” ring all so true as I pen this initial column for the New Year of Our Lord 2014. The weather has been extreme, to say the least, more characteristic of a polar ice cap region at either the top or the bottom of the Earth rather than the City of New York. Hopefully, the current climatic conditions are merely the appetizer, and not the main course, of what Old Man Winter is serving up for us this season!

Frigid temperatures, snow and ice storms, and slippery streets aside, there are many “warm” circumstances that have bestowed more temperate moments upon us in the first two weeks of our New Year. We have a new Municipal Administration in place at City Hall headed by the City of New York’s 109TH Mayor, The Honorable Bill de Blasio, the first Democrat to hold this office in two decades. He is accompanied at the helm of Municipal Government by our new Comptroller, The Honorable Scott M. Stringer, whose roots are in our very own Borough of The Bronx, and by the first African-American woman ever to be elected to citywide office, Public Advocate for the City of New York Letitia A. “Tish” James. While one of our City Council representatives, The Honorable Andy Cohen, was able to have his public inauguration at Lehman College on Sunday afternoon, 5 January 2014, our other Council Member, The Honorable Andy L. King, had to give way to our opening snow blast of 2014 and postpone his formal taking of the oath of office until Sunday, 12 January 2014. We shall be keeping our fingers crossed that only welcome guests, and not Old Man Winter or Mister Snowman, show up for Council Member King’s happy occasion. By the time that you read this column, the swearing-in of The Honorable Ruben Diaz, Jr. as the Borough President of The Bronx will take place as scheduled and, please God, in slightly warmer environs on Thursday, 9 January 2014.

The sort of extreme weather that has been thrust upon us always

presents challenges, not the least of which is to be faithful to God’s commandment that we be our neighbor’s keeper. There are any number of safety steps that a responsible neighbor should keep in mind and practice, not only in self-interest, but in that of those with whom we share this planet and that portion of it that we know and love so well --  i.e., the Borough of The Bronx. Among them are the following:

GUARD AGAINST FROSTBITE: With wind chills thrusting us into sub-zero degree air temperatures, exposed skin can get frostbitten in minutes and hypothermia is a major threat. Wear mittens instead of gloves, particularly those made of leather; dress in layers of warm clothing; and anyone who becomes wet should retreat indoors immediately. Unless absolutely essential, stay home and, for those venturing into the frigid outdoors, be certain that all body parts are well covered and protected.

CHECK THE CAR BATTERY: Batteries three years of age or older may not be able to get one’s motor vehicle started or to be “jumped” after being exposed to temperatures below zero degrees Fahrenheit (0ºF) for an extended period of time.

TURN DOWN THE THERMOSTAT: Keeping one’s residential thermostat relatively low at sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit (68ºF) saves money on one’s heating bills as well as helps to prevent a power shortage and/or blackout.

BE CAUTIOUS IN UTILIZING SUPPLEMENTAL HEATING DEVICES: Space heaters, stoves, ovens, and kerosene or propane heaters that should only be employed outdoors are an all-too-common cause of carbon monoxide poising or even death and are the origin of approximately 50,000 residential fires and some 150 fatalities per annum.

PROTECT WATER PIPES: Freezing water that expands in pipes causes the pipes to burst so pay heed to any pipes that are exposed to low temperatures (such as those in basements, attics, garages, or crawl spaces) and lines for outdoor sprinklers and swimming pools.

CHECK ON ELDERLY, INFIRM, AND CHALLENGED NEIGHBORS: Do not neglect to make certain that these most dependent of God’s Children are warm, safe, nourished, and in adequate supply of food and water.

Space and the attention span of you, dear readers and friends, prevent me from sharing some thoughts about handling snowfall and the regrettable and somewhat selfish habits and practices of too many of our neighborhood residents with respect thereto. So that they are not lost, especially on those guilty of making use of them, I shall turn attention to them the next time we meet. Suffice it to say in the meanwhile, though, that my good Friend, Commissioner of Sanitation John J. Doherty, and his team did their usual bang-up job of getting our streets salted and cleared of snow last week. Commissioner Doherty has been asked to remain for the time being at the helm of the New York City Department of Sanitation (N.Y.C.D.O.S.) and, if he is willing and Mayor De Blasio so determines, it would be a blessing to see this life-long public servant in N.Y.C.D.O.S. remain behind his desk at 125 Worth Street in Manhattan.

May God bless us all with a Healthy and Peaceful 2014!

Until next time, that is it for this time!