Summer Streets 2012 Concert - Sun. Aug. 5th

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Eli Garcia, President

                T. 917.612.9006

                E. eli@besolounge.com

The East 204^th Street & Bainbridge Avenue Merchants Association Present

Summer Streets 2012 Concert – Sunday, Aug. 5th

August 3, 2012: The East 204th Street & Bainbridge Avenue Merchants Association (E204St & BAMA), in collaboration with the Mosholu Preservation Corporation and Bronx Community Board 7, is hosting its 2nd Summer Streets event series, a Department of Transportation (DOT)-sponsored "Temporary Pedestrian Street/Weekend Walks" program. Last Sunday's event was a huge success featuring DOT Helmet Fittings, Salsa Lessons, a bouncy house and many merchants displaying their products and services.

The intent of the program is to create a recurring, multi-block, pedestrian street to promote local businesses and organizations. The purpose of the Summer Streets 2012 events is to help stimulate the local neighborhood economy and bring community residents together.

We invite you to join us this Sunday, August 5^th, from 12PM-5PM, along E. 204th Street between Bainbridge & Decatur Avenues, to enjoy a fun-filled, family-friendly day in this vibrant community.

The day will feature the Summer Streets 2012 Concert, with DJ Good Times and hosted by Anthony & Eileen of BronxNet's No Offense But... TV show! Highlights include Latin sensation Anayka, Italian Hip Hop Movement artist SALESE, new voice of music W.R.A.T.H, Hugga ROCKZ, rapper Young H, Bachata singer El Happy High, Puerto Rican poet/singer/performer La Bruja, R&B singer Winston Ward, Merengue singer En Alta and Latin Empire Entertainment artists, LoZoneros, a group born and raised in the Bronx bringing a whole new sound to the Latin urban movement, international recording artist Veronica Kole, and Salsa singer Arlene G! Also featuring special performances by ABADA-Capoeira Bronx, BHARATI Dance Academy, KR3TS Dance Company, X Factor Drumline, and Flash Mob 'The Bronx Reign Dancers'.

The day will also feature:

- Red Bull Soccer Team

- Fitness Challenge Demos by Belin Sport & Fitness 

- Outdoor Shopping  

- Face Painting & More! 

Sponsored by Beso Lounge, Assemblymember Naomi Rivera, PL$ Check Cashers, Mark Gjonaj – Democrat for Assembly, Chase Bank, Green Mountain Energy, and Latin Empire Entertainment.

Special Thanks To Bronx Community Board 7, Mosholu Preservation Corporation, A&S Deli, Acevedo Multi-Service Network, Ayden's Barber Shop & Spa, Bronx Foot Rehabilitation Center, C&S Discount, Capital One Bank, La Estrella Bar & Restaurant, Leroy Pharmacy, Norwood Pharmacy, Perry Avenue Family Medical Center, Sal's Pizzeria, T-Mobile, Target, and Tender Tots.

Representatives from the media are invited to cover this event on any of the dates listed below. Please contact Janett Florindo at jflorindo.masmarketingny@gmail.com or at 917.583.2075 to advise of coverage. 

EVENT INFORMATION

WHAT: Summer Streets Weekend Walks 2012

WHO: East 204^th Street & Bainbridge Ave. Merchants Association

DATE: Sunday, August 5, 2012

TIME: 12PM – 5PM

LOCATION: E. 204^th Street between Bainbridge & Decatur Avenues, Bronx, NY 10467

EVENT CONTACT: Janett Florindo, 917.583.2075

BEST TIME FOR PRESS: August 5, 1pm to 3pm

Thanks.

Janett Florindo

Project Manager
Marketing & Advertising Solutions Inc.


3602 East Tremont Avenue, Ste. 206
Bronx, NY 10465

t. 718.676.1626
f. 718.676.1627

e. jflorindo.masmarketingny@gmail.com

Violence Plagues Sweltering Big Apple

By Alicia Cruz

The Black Urban Times

Sizzling temperatures baking the Big Apple over the weekend did little to deter violence within the city, according to reports from several New York City precincts.

Friday night a 911 call in the 113th Precinct in Queens dispatched officers to an alley on Leslie Road, in St. Albans where police found a woman in her 20s dead. The medical examiner ruled her death a homicide and because no identification was found with her body, police are asking the publics help in identifying her. Photographs of tattoos on the young woman's body have been released: One, on her right arm, has the name “Zoe,” with two footprints, and another, on her chest, says “Libra.”

Police told The New York Times that the victim's face was swollen, her back was bruised and her wrists bore marks indicating that she had recently been bound. If you think you may know the woman, please contact the 113th precint.

Another murder in Queens claimed the life of Jose Cortes. Police say around at 2:14 a.m. two people punched and beat Cortes, 41, with a bicycle chain and a leather belt. The attack occurred on 103rd Street and 41st Avenue, in Corona. Detectives say the suspects, Juan Paucar, 24, and Brandon Perez, 23, both of Corona allegedly chased Cortes from a nearby sports bar after an altercation and beat him to death.

Paucar and Perez were apprehended by officers working with the Police Department’s Operation Impact, which floods officers into high-crime areas. Both have been charged with manslaughter.

Over an hour later, in the Morrisania section of the Bronx, 18-year-old Troynisha Harris was stabbed to death as she and a friend sat on the stoop of an apartment building on East 166th Street around 3:40 a.m.

The friend, a 20-year-old man, was stabbed in his stomach, but survived.

Police, who still investigating the stabbings, say a black Lincoln Town Car pulled up where Harris and the man were sitting when a man jumped out and stabbed Harris in the neck, and as he turned on the friend, Harris attempted to flee, but fell.

The suspect drove away after stabbing the male victim, police said. Harris was transported to Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center in the Bronx where she was pronounced dead.

Random Violence Trend in City Continues Second Weekend in a Row

By Alicia Cruz
The Black Urban Times

The murders of three people in Brooklyn, occurring within a six-block radius of one another in Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant, and the murder of a Bronx woman on Saturday seem to follow a bloody trend from the previous weekend when four people from the Bronx, Manhattan and Brooklyn were all killed in what appears to be random acts of violence that occurred within hours of one another.

Police say the first of the three murders began a little after 1 a.m. Saturday when an unidentified woman was found near a pay phone at Hancock Street and Bushwick Avenue bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds. The woman was taken to Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center where she was pronounced dead.

By last week, there had been four murders in the 83rd precinct, down from the same time last year, police told the New York Times.

A 22-year resident of the neighborhood, Carol Vaughn told the New York Times that she was watching television when she heard gunshots.

"At first I thought it was firecrackers," said Vaughn. "The neighborhood has gotten really good. Every now and then there’s something. But it’s not like it was."

Vaughn,57, added that she watched as EMT personnel attempted to revive the 22-year-old woman, whom Vaughn said she did not know.

The next murder followed at 2:39 a.m., on Halsey Street and Wilson Avenue, a mere three blocks from the previous murder. Police arrived to find the body of an unidentified 32-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the back. Hours later, a shrine to the victim had been erected at the scene.

Brookyln's last murder of the night occurred at Halsey Street and Reid Avenue, in the 81st precinct. Officers responding to a report of a stabbing arrived at the scene around 2:46 a.m. where they found 26-year-old Kevin Grandison stabbed in his chest. He was later pronounced dead on arrival at Kings County Hospital.

The victim, who was about to become a father, was stabbed approximately a half of a block from where he lived. His sister, Tonia Williams, said Grandison was stabbed over a "stupid argument."

"I don’t know much more than that," Williams told the New York Times from the stoop of the home she shared with her brother. "I love him, and he will be deeply missed."

Thomas Gilliam, 49, a Grandison's cousin, said he didn't know why his cousin was stabbed, but told reporters that he heard the commotion prior to the stabbing and that he believed the argument had begun a block away. Gilliam said Grandison was due to begin a new job the following week at a warehouse in Manhattan.

"He was a good dude. Everyone in the neighborhood liked him," said Gilliam.

Homicides in the 81 precinct are up this year from nine (by June 20) from six last year around the same time frame.

The last murder occurred on Watson Avenue in the Soundview section of the Bronx. Police say 40-year-old Anna Maria Silva was stabbed to death in her apartment by Fabian Faulkner, 26. Police say Faulkner called 911 to report the stabbing, then turned himself in when officers arrived. He has been charged with murder and possession of a weapon, a knife, which police recovered at the scene.

At press time Saturday evening, police had not reported arrests in any of the Brooklyn murders, which police say they do not believe to be related.

Media Outlets must credit
The Black Urban Times

Subway arrival clocks comin' down tracks

Segar / By the end of next month, NYC Transit will activate the clocks at three No. 6 line stations in the Bronx: Longwood Ave., Brook Ave. and E. 149th St.

BY Pete Donohue
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Finally, something straphangers can count on: Long-awaited countdown clocks telling subway riders when the next train will pull up to the platform are about to arrive at some stations.

By the end of next month, NYC Transit will activate the clocks at three No. 6 line stations in the Bronx: Longwood Ave., Brook Ave. and E. 149th St.

The agency then will roll out the new communications system to nearly 150 other stations along the Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 lines, NYC Transit Program Officer Mark Bienstock said yesterday.

The $200 million project should be completed by the end of next year or early 2011, Bienstock said after an MTA committee meeting where the project was discussed.

"One of the most stressful parts of the daily commute is not knowing when the next subway or bus will arrive," MTA spokesman Jeremy Soffin said. "By providing real-time information we can improve the customer experience."

The No. 7 line is slated to get the communications upgrade as part of another ongoing project. The project was originally supposed to be completed in September 2006 and cost about $170 million. It's now expected to cost about $200 million.

There were problems from the beginning. One major setback occurred when a "fatal flaw" in the software was discovered a year into the project, Bienstock said.

NYC Transit began giving arrival times along the L line in 2007, part of a separate program. It has been displaying bus arrival times along 34th St. since the summer and is looking to expand to the 50th St. route.

Bronx Drug Spots Under Watch

By DANIEL BEEKMAN
Bronx Times-Reporter

The 45th Precinct is eyeing spots where neighbors have reported drug activity. The corner of Philip and Hollywood avenues, near the Throgs Neck Expressway, has been problematic for years, a neighbor who asked to remain anonymous said.
“There are [drug] dealers 24/7,” the neighbor said. “On Fridays and Saturdays it’s like a candy store.”
The corner turned sour more than five years ago, the neighbor added. Dealers and patrons often double-park to do business; most are in their late teens and early twenties, the neighbor said.
The neighbor thinks that the dealers and patrons hail from outside Throggs Neck. The corner of Philip and Hollywood avenues is dark and quiet, the neighbor said.

The neighbor has phoned the 45th Precinct some five times in five years to report drug sales; at least five others have phoned to no avail, the neighbor stated. The neighbor is sympathetic to 45th Precinct personnel issues. Regardless, he wants to see action.
“I know there aren’t enough cops,” the neighbor said. “But what’s going on here?”
45th Precinct Captain Dimitrios Roumeliotis has heard about drug sales at the corner of Philip and Hollywood avenues. Roumeliotis said that the Police Department would look into the problem.
He also said that the Police Department planned to follow up on reports of drug sales on Balcom and Edwards avenues near Lehman High School. A resident of the neighborhood, who also asked to remain anonymous, said that he has seen evidence of drugs used on house steps. Parents need to assume responsibility for young people in the neighborhood, the resident said.

Betances Houses Rat Infestation Major Problem For Seniors

By Alicia Cruz

Senior writer

Theblackurbantimes

The Betances Houses in the South Bronx houses a section of their developement specifically for senior citizens. The average person would expect this area to be safe and more importantly, clean. The senior citizen section is far from either. For several months the residents have had to deal with rats.

In addition to the sounds of gunshots, screams, loud music and fights...and the scratching sounds of scurring rats. Rat feces and urine permeate the halls and in many cases, the apartments. The rodents have gnawed holes through ceilings, then fell down into the apartments.

Sadly, resident behavior has aided the rodents is setting up shop at the Betances. The second story rooftop is littered with everything from chicken bones, junk-food wrappers and take-out food containers, enabling the maurauding rodents to have a field day.
Residents incessant complaints to the NYC Housing Authority brought about an exterminator, but that led to another problem: decaying carcasses. The poisoned laid by the exterminator killed the rats, but now, when residents leave their apartments they are met by the rank stench and site of decaying rat carcasses.

Photo courtesy of / Lindsay Lazarski

“This should be the best kept building in New York. Instead it’s the stinkiest!” said tenant Ernest McNeill, shaking his head. McNeill, a retired mailman who has lived in the building for eight years, said the rats behaved as if they were tenants, walking around, and crossing the street. “They looked like puppies, like little Chihuahuas,” chimed in Herman Escabi, another tenant. Segundo E. Delgado, another resident, said, “They’re big rats, like cats,” as he held out his hands to measure an imaginary rat for effect.

The New York City Housing Authority, which owns and operates the 12-story, 88-unit building, reserved for seniors 62 years old and older, openly acknowledges the infestation and the nauseating smell that followed the dispatch of the exterminator.
“No one should be subjected to that,” said NYCHA spokesman Howard Marder of the odor. NYCHA has since removed the panels of the dropped ceiling and is in the process of sanitizing the space and replacing the ceiling. “It will be done expeditiously,” Marder promised.
But residents say the horrendous smell from the lobby is all too familiar.

The senior building has been nicknamed “Calvary,” after Calvary Hospital in the Bronx, explained McNeill.
“Calvary is where they put you on your death bed. When they can’t do nothing else for you. When your insurance runs out and the city is going to bury you,” said McNeill, who disapproves of the name and expects a better living environment. “We all need to work together,” said Canales. Custodian, Tony Rodriguez, said there is nothing more that can be done.“Rats have been here for the last hundred years, and they are still going to be here,” said Rodriguez. “As long as people are here, rats are still going to be around.”

Weekend Violence Leaves Two Dead in Bronx

BY Phil Molnar, Jonathan Lemire and Simone Weichselbaum
It was a weekend of violence in the Bronx, where cops investigated a stabbing and at least 13 shootings - two of them deadly, police sources said.
The bloody tally left a 25-year-old man and a high school junior dead, police said.
The junior, Juan Acevedo, 19, was hanging out with friends in an apartment two blocks from the new Yankee Stadium early Sunday when he was shot in the chest after a buddy accidentally fumbled a gun, cops and police sources said.
The Theodore Roosevelt High School student had been drinking with friends when someone decided to show off a gun that discharged about 1:30 a.m. inside the E. 164th St. apartment, a police source said.
Paramedics rushed Acevedo to Bronx-Lebanon Hospital, where he died an hour later, police said. "He died in his brother's arms," said his mother, Hilda Acevedo. Her son's killer should face justice, she said. "I hope they catch him."
Three hours later, five men shot and killed an unidentified 25-year-old man on E. 235th St. in Wakefield, police said.
He died at Jacobi Medical Center, police said.
Cops were also hunting for a man who stabbed and critically wounded another man in Tremont.
The victim, whose name was not released, remained in critical condition last night at St. Barnabas Hospital, cops said.
Sunday's slayings capped a violent weekend that also saw at least 11 less serious shootings throughout the borough, police sources said.

Bronx to Sliwa: How about a museum?

The Bronx begs to differ.
Community leaders are objecting to the South Bronx "Underbelly Tour" that raises money for the Guardian Angels crime-prevention network. It focuses on the rough-and-tumble 1970s and lingering crime problems.
The Bronx Tourism Council recommends the Bronx Zoo, New York Botanical Garden, Yankee Stadium, museums and restaurants. Community Board 2 suggests visitors meet residents involved in their borough’s transformation.
Founder Curtis Sliwa says he’s open to partnering with community leaders.
Sliwa, who’s also a radio host, concedes the area has improved dramatically. But he’s said visitors can still "get a flavor of what it was like."

Police shoot gun-wielding man confronting ex-girlfriend in the Bronx

Cops shot and wounded a Bronx man after he confronted his ex-girlfriend with a gun around 1:45 a.m., polics said.
After a fight earlier in the day, Yancy Jiminial, 21, returned to the Mott Haven apartment of his ex-girlfriend Denny Pena, 21, with an unlicensed 40-caliber Smith and Wesson semiautomatic handgun, police and relatives said.
Pena fled the apartment, leaving her 3-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter behind with her brother, Joel. Jiminial is 3-year-old boy's father, police and relatives said. Pena called 911 from outside the apartment, police said.
Joel fought Jiminial with a knife until four officers arrived, a neighbor said. Police fired 12 rounds after Jiminial pointed his gun at officers and refused to drop it, police sources said. Jiminial was hit once in the right hip, police said.
Stunned neighbors saw police take Jiminial from the building on Willis Ave. "It took a lot of them because he was fighting. He was resisting arrest," said Shantel Cherry, 18. He was being operated on at Lincoln Hospital Monday morning and was expected to survive, police said.
Jiminial and Pena had separated a year and a half ago after being together about three years, relatives said. Pena's sister, Diana, 17, said she was shocked by the violence. "He was always a good guy. That's why I'm very surprised. I didn't expect this," Diana said. Diana said Jiminial took care of his son on weekends.
But Jiminial attacked Pena in 2006, a police source said, and had threatened his own mother and grandmother in the past.
Two officers involved in the shooting are being evaluated for stress-related trauma at New York Presbyterian Hospital, police say. The police department is investigating the incident.

YANKEE STADIUM OPENING DAY PHOTOS!

The field dimensions of the new stadium are identical to those of the old stadium

Waiting underneath New York Yankees banners, a long line of employees formed as they waited to start their first day of work April 2, 2009

CHECK IT OUT HERE

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On April 2, 2009, less than seven months after the Yankees played their final game in the old Yankee Stadium, the new Yankee Stadium was opened to the public for the team's first workout there.

Longtime outreach program slashed

BY Tanyanika Samuels

State budget cuts have forced a South Bronx intervention program for drug addicts and people at risk for HIV to close. And advocates there fear it's the start of a disturbing trend.
"Once you get rid of prevention services, then all the treatment services are just going to become a revolving door," said Diane Price, with the Center for AIDS, Outreach and Prevention.
The center, operated by the nonprofit National Development and Research Institute, closed its storefront at 912 E. 163rd St. last week.
The nonprofit had received $2.28 million from the state Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse, which had funded the program since 1988.
But Gov. Paterson's proposed 2009-2010 budget calls on that state agency to trim its budget to $695 million, a 10% drop, and as a result, 28 AIDS-related programs statewide lost funding, including the Bronx group.
"It was a hard choice," said the state agency's spokeswoman, Jennifer Farrell.
"We do recognize the people struggling with substance abuse are at an increased risk for HIV infection," she said. "Though these programs are important, we cannot continue them, given the current fiscal environment."
She said AIDS education and awareness services would continue with health care coordinators at 1,069 substance abuse and gambling programs statewide, including 87 in the Bronx.
Farrell said those who need the next level of care will be referred to services outside the system.
But officials at the Center for AIDS, Outreach and Prevention begged to differ.
Staffers used to canvass the streets in impoverished neighborhoods, reaching out to drug addicts, the homeless and sex workers to direct them to such services as detox treatment or safe needle exchange programs.
Its storefronts - one each in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan - took walk-ins.
The outreach team averages 75,000 contacts a year citywide, about 15% of those in the Bronx.
"What we do is unique," said Bruce Stepherson, the center's director. "We go to the user. We're in the streets every day. The whole thing is ridiculous and unfortunate."
As of today, all the program's storefronts and outreach efforts will cease.
"We were in the community for a long time," Stepherson said. "Now, we have to sit back and watch the destruction of 23 years of infrastructure."

Ex-Jet Jonathan Vilma's L.I. condo raided after two drug slays

Police have raided a Long Island condo owned by former Jets defensive star Jonathan Vilma, searching for clues in a pair of grisly drug retaliation murders.
Cops went to the $900,000 condo in a gated community in Woodbury after finding the bodies of two bullet-riddled men dumped in Brooklyn and Queens.
A law enforcement source said there is no evidence that Vilma, 26, who signed a $34 million contract in February with the New Orleans Saints, was involved in the crimes.
The source said a friend or relative Vilma may have allowed to use the condo could be connected to the double murder.
Vilma's agent Mitch Frankel said he hasn't lived in the condo since November 2007 and thought the place was empty.
"Jonathan has no knowledge of this. He hasn't lived there since Nov. 2007," Frankel said - a fact neighbors confirmed.
The 2004 NFL Rookie of the Year is trying to sell the two-story townhouse and spoke to his Realtor last week, Frankel added.
"To his knowledge, nobody is living there," the agent said. "He is clearly shocked to find out about this." Cops began searching the condo over the weekend and went door-to-door asking neighbors if they noticed anything suspicious.
"They wanted to know if I heard a gunshot, a bang, a noise," one neighbor said.
On Friday, NYPD cops found the body of Sekou Sakor, 31, dumped in the Paerdegat Basin in Brooklyn. That same day they discovered the naked body of an unidentified man on 78th St. and Dumont Ave. in Queens. Both men had been shot in the head execution-style. Detectives suspect the murders were in retaliation for a drug theft.
The killings may have been sparked after a Clay Ave. apartment in the Bronx was robbed by a crew of gun-wielding men who stole a suitcase full of cocaine from Sakor, a Liberian immigrant. It was unclear what role the other victim played.With Kerry Burke

Bronx pizza parlor delivering calzones - and cocaine, say Feds

BY Jonathan Lemire
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
A Bronx pizza parlor was raided for delivering drugs.
"I'll have a large pie, half-pepperoni, half-cocaine."
A Bronx pizza parlor that delivered drugs as well as calzones was busted and six people - including the store's manager - were arrested, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency said Wednesday.
Investigators charged that John's Pizza on Westchester Ave. employed its delivery men as drug couriers and used the supply of cocaine inside the pizzeria to ferry narcotics shipments throughout the city.
"Using their pizza shop as a front for drug trafficking, the dough that this organization made was not from the sale of pizza but rather illegal narcotics," said DEA Special Agent-In-Charge John Gilbride.
"Through concentrated law enforcement efforts this organization's brick ovens have been shut down," Gilbride said.
Federal agents used a wiretap to conduct a 10-month probe into the Parkchester pizzeria and determined that its manager, Benigno Burgos, moved drugs worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from the unassuming storefront with a red-and-green awning.
Some customers traveled from as far as Connecticut to pick up their take-out orders - which were actually pizza boxes stuffed with up to $40,000 of cocaine at a time, officials said.
Agents raided John's and four nearby drug supply houses Tuesday and discovered nine kilograms of cocaine, four handguns and approximately $20,000 in cash, officials said.
At Burgos' home on Taylor Ave., investigators found nine kilograms of cocaine hidden under a child's mattress, officials said.
Burgos and Victor Gomez, his alleged partner in the scheme, were nabbed along with four drug couriers, officials said. Three of the drug ring's customers were arrested last year, officials said.
Investigators from the NYPD, Port Authority and Special Narcotics Prosecutor's Office assisted in the takedown, officials said.

Highbridge Food Pantry No Longer on Borrowed Time

Pantry finds new home:

Church takes in Highbridge group

BY Tanyanika Samuels NY Daily News
The food fight in Highbridge is over.
The Community Food Pantry at Highbridge, which had been locked in an eviction battle with its landlord since last fall, has moved.
"There is a sense of relief," said Nurah Amat'ullah, who heads the pantry. "It was a trial for us."
The pantry is now located in the Highbridge Community Church Annex at 1272 Ogden Ave.
"We're truly appreciative of the church taking us in," Amat'ullah said, "and we'll see where we go from here."
The eviction dispute started in October after the building owners, Highbridge Community Housing Development Fund Corp., demanded the pantry evacuate a 450-square-foot garage at 1362 Merriam Ave.
The pantry's agreement with the nonprofit after-school program Highbridge Voices, a subsidiary of the building owners, had lasted since 2006.
But then the nonprofit's founder, Bruno Casolari, returned to the helm, and the group's attorneys ordered the pantry out by Nov. 6.
Pantry officials challenged the eviction and the landlord's claims of vermin infestation and lack of insurance.
A legal settlement was finally reached this month. Casolari did not return several calls seeking comment. The church annex is one-fourth the size of the previous pantry, roughly 100 square feet. "It's a very tight squeeze, with barely enough room to pack food for the growing number of families we serve," said Amat'ullah, who also heads the Muslim Women's Institute for Research and Development.
The number of people served by the pantry has jumped 20% in recent months to 2,231 households, pantry officials said, while funding has dropped 25%. Some staffers have been furloughed. Meanwhile, the pantry is trying to continue its services, including serving the more than 230 children registered in its Open Market Backpack Program, which provides nutrition education. Staffers remain optimistic. "We've been working hard to get the word out about our new location, posting notes and giving out fliers and relying on a lot of word of mouth," said office manager Denise Richards. "Hopefully, it will all turn out for the best."

Missing Bronx Teen Found Misidentified in Morgue

By Joe Jackson and Alison Gendar

For months, Tiana Rice's parents were told their 16-year-old daughter died of an asthma attack - even though her naked body was found miles from home in an empty building.
Friday, they learned the truth: Cops believe Tiana was lured to a barren drug den, raped and left for dead when the shock triggered her asthma.
"She wouldn't have gone down there on her own. No way," said family friend Marcus Thomas, 27.
The Bronx teen disappeared Dec. 30 after telling her parents she was going out to drop off a Christmas present. Tiana instead headed to Brooklyn to see a man she met on the Internet.
When Tiana did not return home on time, a friend revealed her secret plans. Her frightened mother, Shirley Bird, called Tiana's cell phone that night about 9 p.m. and heard her daughter crying, "Stop! Stop!" before the line went dead.
That was just the beginning of a nightmare that went on for months.
An anonymous call led police to Tiana's body - naked except for a sock - in the Cypress Hills building. She was wrongly identified as a woman in her 20s from a wallet found near the body, so she lay unclaimed in a Brooklyn morgue for more than a month while her parents searched everywhere.
Bird and Tiana's dad, Willie Rice, finally learned on Feb. 3 their daughter was dead. And they never believed she was felled by just an asthma attack.
"I am very angry," her grandmother, Bernadine Caines, said in a February interview. "It could've been handled differently. One of the detectives said, 'All 16-year-olds run away some time - even the rich ones.'"
But Tiana did not run away. Investigators suspect at least three men greeted Tiana when she showed up at the Ridgewood Ave. building, which neighbors said is used by gangs for drug-fueled parties.
The underage girl had sex with two of the men, but when she refused to have sex with the third, cops believe she was held down and raped. The violent assault triggered the teen's fatal asthma attack, investigators believe. Her death was ruled a homicide, according to the city medical examiner's report, which was released Friday.
"We heard it was a setup. The house made out like a chillout spot. She didn't know what she was getting herself into. At the last minute, something went wrong and her untimely death happened," Thomas said.
Even before Friday, Tiana's family blamed the NYPD and the medical examiner's office for bungling the case.
"She was like the perfect child. She was the type to read books and study," said another family friend who gave his name as Cyrus. "Her mother didn't raise her to hang out. She was raised to go to school, do work and get a job. That girl had a bright future."
Friends said Tiana attended the Academy of Scholarship and Entrepreneurship High School and dreamed of becoming a model. In her free time, she performed community service with Scout Troop 1060, a group associated with Emmanuel Baptist Church on White Plains Road.

Bronx EMT Charged for Abandoning Baby at Lincoln Hospital

BY Jothan Sederstrom
EMT charged with abandoning child at Bronx hospital after forging nurse's signature

An impatient medic was arrested Friday for abandoning a 5-year-old boy at a Bronx hospital on New Year's Eve because he didn't want to wait for the paperwork, officials said.
Paul Casson, 28, of the Bronx, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child when he forged a nurse's signature because he didn't want to stick around at Lincoln Hospital, a spokeswoman for the Department of Investigation said.
The boy, whose name is being withheld, was rushed to the Bronx hospital by Casson after a Dec. 31 motor vehicle accident left him with nonlife threatening injuries.
EMTs are required to fill out Patient Care Reports and get them signed by a designated nurse before leaving the hospital, but Casson didn't bother to wait around. Casson left the boy alone "because he didn't want to wait," a Department of Investigation spokeswoman said. Casson faces seven years in prison if convicted.

Westchester Square drug rehab center on the move

Daytop Village readies move to Halperin Avenue
by amanda marinaccio

The Daytop Village Facility ambulatory care site at 16 Westchester Square will soon be shutting its doors and moving its services to 2614 Halperin Avenue, just three blocks away.The move was halted a year ago over issues surrounding the physical expansion of the Halperin site that would have displaced over 20 parking spaces and required a special permit allowing the reduction of its parking from 36 spots to 18, with only six on site.Though the Board of Standards and Appeals granted the special permit, the Department of Buildings denied construction permits in May 2007.After a quiet period of time, on Wednesday, February 18, at a Westchester Square Merchants Association meeting, a Daytop representative confirmed the move for March. The building expansion never occurred.“It is our plan for the very near future to complete the sale and consolidate operations as originally planned without the construction project,” said Steve Winston, Daytop’s executive vice president.

Full story

A Mother's Limited Choices

Boy, 7, taken away because she left him alone to go to work

BY DORIAN BLOCK DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Lillian Lucas-Dixon stares at the Christmas stockings for each of her mostly grown children still hanging on the wall and their portraits on a table in her Co-op City apartment - and she cries for her youngest son, 7-year-old Juan.
Her oldest eight have graduated or are in college or the military. The ninth is in high school.
But Juan was taken away by the city's Administration for Children's Services in mid-December.
Her story is one of a well-intentioned but desperate mother who left her son home alone while trying to keep in good standing for a job promotion.
It's a dilemma many single parents in or near poverty face.
Lucas-Dixon, 52, is scheduled to appear for a fourth hearing in Bronx Family Court later this month in hopes of getting Juan back.
Her predicament is also the story of a city agency with 50,000 cases a year, responsible for keeping children from danger, but also limited by ability and time to help parents like Lucas-Dixon find affordable child care or change work schedules.

"My choice was, do I lose my job or stay home with my son?" said Lucas-Dixon, an Metropolitan Transit Authority subway station attendant.

45th Pct. Explorers take first in competition

By Amanda Marinaccio

The future of the borough is looking bright as Bronx youth from the 45th Precinct Explorers won a citywide competition.On Tuesday, December 30, participants from the 45th Precinct Post 2045 took part in the Citywide Law Enforcement, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. This is a challenging competition that tests the skills and training of young explorers from various precincts throughout the five boroughs. Full Story

A cut above the rest: Father & son barber team share pride with gossip

BY DORIAN BLOCK

The young, the old, the new immigrant and the Bronx-born-and-raised all have a home at Robert's Barber Shop, where you can still get the traditional "shave and a haircut," — though not for two bits these days.
Influenced by 63-year-old owner Robert Castillo's beginnings as a barber in Honduras, the shop at 5824 Broadway in Kingsbridge offers shaves and cuts mixed with some urban banter.
"We do the whole hot towel with the cream. We have a massage machine that massages your face and head after the shave," said Castillo's son and the shop's co-owner, Dave, 30.
"The community comes here. People from Jersey travel to get their hair cut here."
The shop opened in 1994 when there were no other businesses nearby. Men in the community were drawn to a place that took a little more time to pamper customers.
"There was nothing in the neighborhood when we came here," said the younger Castillo. "Nobody ever gave us a shot of making it here."
Fifteen years later, the store was packed during the holiday week — with men waiting for their $12 shaves or $25-$30 shave-cut treatments.
"I love what I do," said the younger Castillo, known to his clients as "Davey Cuts."
"I've been doing this since I left high school. And for my father this was his dream," he said.