Every Saturday, The Week in Rewind spotlights the wide-ranging editorial work of the Bronx Times.
Brutal cold spells test Bronx public housing residents’ resilience, patience for stalled NYCHA repairs
A polar vortex that swept through the Northeast this past weekend led to a two-day spell of single-digit temperatures that sent an icy chill throughout New York City and tested the limits of its aging public housing infrastructure.
After temperatures reached as low as 4 degrees on a Saturday, Feb. 4, 19-year-old Emily Ayala sprang into action at around 3 a.m. early Sunday morning when a leak caused by a boiler — that was flagged as defective by the NYC Department of Buildings on Jan. 29 — emitted a flood of water and heat vapor into her third-floor apartment, leading her and her younger sister to vacate their apartment in the middle of the night.
The family was able to return to their home on Monday and interrupted heat service was restored before Tuesday morning.
According to a NYCHA spokesperson, the leak in a third-floor apartment came from a ruptured heating line in the apartment’s baseboard causing the line to freeze due to the weekend’s icy temperatures.
When asked by the Bronx Times about the defective boiler, NYCHA officials pointed to aging infrastructure and federal disinvestment in public housing. According to a NYCHA fact sheet, 175 out of NYCHA’s 302 developments are 50 years or older, including 36 developments that are 70 years or older.
NYC’s public housing residents saw a 25% spike in heat and hot water outages as NYCHA experienced 3,605 utility outages during the most recent heat season from the start of October 2021 to the end of May 2022.
A Bronx cop attempts suicide inside the 47th Precinct, highlighting a pattern in law enforcement
On Tuesday at 11 a.m., a rookie police officer attempted suicide inside a station house locker room in the Bronx’s 47th Precinct in the Edenwald section. The 22-year-old cop, who joined the department in December 2021 — suffered a gunshot through the cheek, according to sources — was rushed to Jacobi Hospital where he’s expected to survive his injuries.
But Tuesday’s incident is just one in a disturbing trend in law enforcement where the rate of suicides among police officers is surpassing the rate of officers who die in the line of the duty.
So far this year, two NYPD officers — a reassigned cop who jumped to his death in Elmhurst on Jan. 10 and a cop who died due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a car in Queens on Jan. 20 — have died by suicide. New York state ranks among the top three states in the nation in regards to law enforcement suicides.
While the NYPD was mum on the next steps in the rookie cop’s recovery and subsequent mental health outreach for the precinct’s other officers, the incident weighed heavy on a few Bronx police officers who spoke with the Bronx Times on Tuesday.
One officer from the 46th Precinct who requested anonymity, said that the “weight of the badge” and the high exposure to violence and death takes a toll on any uniformed first responder. That officer said he briefly considered suicide in 2021 after responding to a gruesome murder scene that summer.
“You spent your entire life training to be this police officer who saves lives, but then you feel like a failure when you fall short on one case, or you see the family of a parent who trusted you for answers is still grieving,” said the officer, who has been with the NYPD for roughly four years. “It’s painful. It’s mentally defeating, and a lot of (officers) suffer in silence.”
Legal Aid Society files suit on behalf of Bronxites affected by Fordham Manor fire last fall
A New York City legal aid group filed a lawsuit on behalf of multiple Bronx residents affected by a 2-alarm fire in Fordham Manor last fall, according to a statement from the firm.
The Legal Aid Society said via email that it would be representing 12 rent-stabilized tenants in a Jan. 27 Bronx Civil Court lawsuit against their landlords — individuals Shkurt Dedvukaj and Paul Dedvukaj, as well as Creston Real Estate Advisors Inc., 2490 Properties LLC, and the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) — for “failing to make repairs and neglecting hazardous conditions, including electrical system problems and failing to maintain the emergency exit door in a code-compliant manner.” The complaint also states the respondents “harassed” petitioners by “failing to lift vacate orders.”
The petitioners are seeking “an order to correct conditions” at the building that are affecting their “life, health, and safety,” the suit says, as well as “compensatory damages or $1,000 reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs, and punitive damages.”
Fire investigators said the blaze, which broke out at 2490 Davidson Ave. on Sept. 13, 2022, was an accident — “electrical in nature” and caused by an overloaded power strip in a second-floor apartment.
According to reporting by CBS New York, multiple tenants were unable to escape the six-story building since the back door was bolted from the outside. At one point, tenants told CBS more than 50 people piled up to try to kick down the door.
According to the petition, the respondents or their attorneys are summoned to appear in court on March 8.
‘Defining landmark’: Gibson approves Boston Road rezoning after CB11 rejection
Following rejection from Community Board 11, Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson recommended approval for a rezoning on Boston Road, saying it could set a “gold standard” for the Allerton area.
The proposed rezoning would bring a 10-story development with 333 apartments to the site of the Fine Fare Supermarkets at 2560 Boston Road. Slate Property Group, the applicant, has promised that the supermarket would be temporarily relocated two blocks away during construction and that the project will bring additional retail and community facility space along with a new supermarket.
On Dec. 22, 2022, CB11 rejected a resolution recommending approval of the rezoning by a 17-7 vote. Even if the resolution passed, it would have come with the condition that the city increases school, police and sanitation infrastructure as well as the applicant providing overnight parking to building residents. Two members abstained and two members recused themselves.
Both the community board and borough president’s opinions are advisory. Next, the City Planning Commission will review the proposal before it goes off to the City Council. The commission will hold a public hearing on the application at 10 a.m. on Feb. 15.
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