Big ups to BJ’s Wholesale Club. Modest ups, at least.
In 2006, developer The Related Companies and a three-member community coalition signed a benefits agreement at the Gateway Center, a new south Bronx shopping mall. The benefits agreement is hardly perfect. It was negotiated two days prior to a City Council vote, is unenforceable and expires in 2015.
Until Tuesday, September 1, eligible Bronx residents are encouraged to apply for discounted membership.
BJ’s has agreed to offer 2,000 one-year memberships, valued at $45, to low-income Bronx residents for $20 plus tax. Winners will be selected by lottery; only Bronx residents who receive food stamps and are eligible for WIC need apply.
The discount, Diaz Jr. said, “represents a great partnership between one of our new Bronx businesses and the community at large.” The borough president hopes that the many Bronx residents who qualify take advantage of the opportunity, he said.
Applications are available at each of the borough’s twelve community board offices and at BOEDC, the Bronx Chamber of Commerce, the Concourse Village Stock Holders Association, Nos Quedamos, Mid-Bronx Senior Center, Mount Hope Housing Company, the Office of the Borough President, the Office of City Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo and the Office of City Councilwoman Helen Diane Foster.
Applications must be postmarked by Monday, August 31. Over 850 memberships will go to residents of Community Board 4 – Concourse Village, Highbridge, Yankee Stadium and Mount Eden. Another 275 will go to residents of Community Board 1 – Lower Concourse, Mott Haven, Melrose. Eighty-eight memberships will go to Community Board 2,3 and 5 and 83 will go to Community Boards 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12.
Hundreds of Bronx residents attended a BJ’s employment event at the Andrew Freedman Home on the Grand Concourse on Tuesday, June 2, Wednesday, June 3 and Thursday, June 4. Verizon Wireless has added a kiosk inside BJ’s at the Gateway Center. The kiosk is open Monday to Saturday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
