May
The Bronx Law Library reopened in May for the first time since the start of the pandemic, though it was the last to do so out of all the boroughs, and it wasn’t made clear to the public with a nonfunctional phone line and outdated access information on the court’s website. The city’s law libraries allow members of the public to access what are normally pricey databases to do legal research.
In a win for Castle Hill businesses, Mayor Eric Adams signed off on the neighborhood’s new Business Improvement District, giving the official go-ahead for the local effort.
In a win for commuters, the High Bridge, which historically closed at 8 p.m. over the summer, expanded its hours until 10 p.m. in a summerlong initiative following interborough pressure from pols.
Also in May, New York state politics were upended when a special master drew new redistricting maps after maps created by the state Legislature were thrown out by the court because of gerrymandering in favor of Democrats (the maps were initially going to be drawn by an independent commission in January that failed to come to a consensus).
Progressive State Senator Alessandra Biaggi announced in February that she would run for Congress in a shortlived Long Island Sound district, but with the new maps released in May, she pivoted her focus to the 17th Congressional District, which represents northern Westchester, Rockland, Putnam and southern Dutchess counties. Biaggi was ultimately unsuccessful in her challenge of U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney.
Bronx youth grappled with gun violence in May as Kyhara Tay, an 11-year-old girl, was killed by a stray bullet from the crossfire of a reckless drive-by shooting, a month after 16-year-old Angellyh Yambo was also killed as an unintended target.
A more silent killer was also found in bacteria emanating from a cooling tower in a Legionnaires’ outbreak that ended up infecting 30 people, killing two of them and hospitalizing 28, in what health officials described as the Highbridge neighborhood.
June
The Legionnaires’ outbreak was ultimately tied to a cooling tower on property owned by the Doe Fund on Jerome Avenue, specifically in Mt. Eden, which houses low-income and supportive apartments, as well as a Zeta early childhood charter school. But the school had not been informed about the outbreak until the Bronx Times reached out for comment. The city health department emphasized that since the disease spread from the cooling tower to the air outside, the department notified the broader community through local leaders and residents. But still, families walking in and out of the building were not made aware, and the school’s CEO was not happy about it.
As Bronxites grappled with the outbreak, the Attorney General’s Office announced an agreement with Verizon Wireless over alleged violations of cooling tower laws meant to curb the spread of the disease, which were enacted after a 2015 Bronx outbreak. Out of 225 alleged violations statewide, 30 were in the Bronx.
Because of the redistricting saga, the primary elections were split into two this year, taking place in June and August. In June, longtime incumbent José Rivera was toppled from his Democratic spot by George Alvarez, a Bronx Community Board 1 member and vice president of the Bronx Democratic Party. Rivera, 85, had won reelection in November 2020 with 86% of the vote, and secured the Democratic primary before that with 83% of the vote. But this time, Rivera only garnered 28%, marking the lowest vote of any Bronx incumbent in the June 28 primaries.
Also in June, the Bx29 began running 24-7 in City Island in response to longtime pleas from the island’s residents as part of the Bronx Bus Redesign. Before the expanded hours, the bus cut off service at midnight during the week and 1 a.m. on weekends.
July
But not everyone was pleased with changes that stemmed from the bus redesign, with some residents losing their go-to stops. While the MTA had undergone community outreach when designing the plan, some residents were still caught off guard.
As the impacts of the May Legionnaires’ outbreak lingered, Anita Long, one of the 30 people who caught the disease, spoke to the Bronx Times about how it threw her life upside down. The Bronxite, who said the site of the outbreak was in her regular path, became afraid of even going to the corner store out of fear of catching the disease again and dying. Long filed a lawsuit against the Doe Fund with other survivors of the outbreak.
In the east Bronx, a sinkhole in Morris Park the length of three cars caused a WABC-TV van to sink into the ground, causing local residents to lose water services during a heat wave and intensifying concerns about the impacts of climate change in a flood-prone borough (a 2018 case study in Florida linked climate change to an increase in sinkholes).
July also set the stage for intense pushback from residents of the northern Morris Park’s Indian Village neighborhood against a proposal to house formerly incarcerated individuals with complex medical issues in a vacant building on the Jacobi Medical Center campus.
August
In August, fear ripped through the Bay Plaza Mall when the shopping plaza was evacuated due to reports of an active shooter. But the report, in the end, was false.
In the second primary election of the summer, State Senator Gustavo Rivera, a Progressive, overcame a challenge from first-time candidate Miguelina Camilo, a more moderate option who the Bronx Democratic machine backed over the incumbent. In the face of the heated primary, a poll worker was fired over allegedly calling Rivera a “baby killer.”
Before the district lines were redrawn, Camilo had planned to run in the east Bronx district that would be vacated by Biaggi, but switched to run in Rivera’s district when the maps changed. This set the stage for Assemblymember Nathalia Fernandez to make a state Senate bid in the east Bronx, defeating Christian Amato, a Progressive who sits on Community Board 11.
Montefiore Medical Center planned for the relocation of its Grand Concourse site to Fordham Plaza. Officials from the medical network said that the move will not disrupt patient care or result in a loss of jobs, though the decision caused frustration among patients and providers who felt the community wasn’t adequately informed.
Reach Aliya Schneider at aschneider@schnepsmedia.com or (718) 260-4597. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
