Manhattan College Assistant Head of Security Gets Heat About Student Behavior Off Campus

  The photo above should tell the whole story as Manhattan College Assistant Head of Security Peter DeCaro listens to complaints about off campus antics and drinking by residents living around the college at last weeks 50th Precinct Community Council meeting. One after another local residents spoke of loitering, loud noise, public urination, public drinking, underage drinking, and other mischief or pranks that the college students partake in off campus. 

  Mr. DeCaro said that the college can not discipline any students that are not identified. He suggested taking photos of the student acts, but when one resident said they sent him such a video, he answered it was to dark to identify any student. 

  At this point local Councilman Andrew Cohen stood up and said that this has gone on long enough year after year, and he wanted the college to do something about the drinking and behavior problem of the few Manhattan College students off campus. Mr. DeCaro replied 'Mr. Cohen how long have you been in office?' Cohen shot back three years, and this has been going on for ten years now. 

  I then showed Mr. DeCaro a photo of three Manhattan College students from last years Santa Gon who were walking off campus with bottles in their hands. The orange juice bottle I was told was a screwdriver which contained Vodka in it, and I was not able to find out what alcoholic beverage was hidden in the paper bag. DeCaro told me to send him the photo, and I said I would do one better, and put the photos on this blog and in my Riverdale column in the Bronx Voice newspaper I am the Associate Editor of. 

  The last time Mr. DeCaro came to this meeting a few months ago to address several complaints about the college students, I told him that I was in a local deli where a call came in for a delivery of a 24 pack of beer. The worker asked for the address, and then said what dorm room. I asked Mr. DeCaro 'How does the clerk check the ID of the person calling or is the beer left at the front desk so the student can come down to get it?' Just like that time Mr. DeCaro rushed out of the meeting as not to hear anymore complaints about the poor job of controlling student behavior of the Manhattan College students he is doing.

Here is the photo from Santa Gon I am talking about, and I have cropped the photo as not to show the faces of there three Manhattan College students.

640 West 238th Street Construction Mess

Above - The construction site 640 west 238th street the day after concrete was poured for the fourth floor of an eight story building. The Concrete trucks have to back in at an angle in the street to unload since there is no room inside the construction site. Here is where they unload.

Below - This is what can happen when there anyone of several things happen on a poorly planned construction site where you try to build an eight story building where there was only a one family house. Yes that is washed out concrete from one of the trucks which made a delivery to the construction site 640 West 238th Streetup the hill.

Above - That is another trail of cement from one of the trucks that delivered to the construction site at 640 West 238th Street.

Below - It appears that the protective fencing around the island directly across from the construction site at 640 West 238th Street had to be replaced. By the looks of it and the cement on the street one would have to guess that a construction vehicle drove over the island again.

The above photos were sent to the DOT who said they will be investigating the matter.

Barilla Pasta Under the 4 Train

The Barilla Pasta Company came to the Heavenly Vision Christian Church located on Jerome Avenue to give out hundreds of meals to the community as part of its 'Five Borough Fight Hunger Campaign'.

As you can see it was 'Pasta Day' under the 4 train.

Plaque Dedication for SGT. Saul S. Starrett at 50 PCT.

The 50th Police Precinct was finally able to honor one of the fallen officers of the local precinct who gave his life in the line of duty on September 2, 1953. 

The plaque was dedicated in beloved memory of Sergeant Saul S. Starrett of the New York City Police Department 50 Precinct. 

The inscription included the following - 

'No greater devotion to sworn duty can a police officer demonstrate to god and to man than to lay down his life in the line of duty.'

Dedicated by the members of the 50th Precinct.

Current 50th Police Precinct Commanding Office Deputy Inspector Terrance O'Toole stands proudly next to the plaque in memory of fallen Sergeant Saul S. Starrett of the 50th precinct.

Members of Sergeant Saul S. Starrett's family stand with current members of the 50th precinct and representatives of the Bronx Borough Command to honor their fallen family member, and brother in arms.

NYCC - EVENTS

October 6 - 9, 2016 | Javits Center

CITI BIKE BREAKS DAILY RIDERSHIP RECORDS TWICE IN ONE WEEK

  Nation’s largest bike share system hits 60,000 riders for first time on Wednesday, climbs to 61,266 by Thursday

                                                                                                                                                        

  Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced that Citi Bike, New York City's bike-share system, broke new daily ridership records twice this week. For the first time, more than 60,000 Citi Bike rides were taken on Wednesday, with the total number reaching 60,278. By Thursday, that number climbed to 61,266. With more than 9 million rides taken so far in 2016, Citi Bike should exceed the annual record of 10 million rides it achieved during 2015 sometime within the next month.

“Now that it is reaching even more and more diverse neighborhoods in New York City, Citi Bikes are being ridden in record numbers – breaking 60,000 rides for the first time on Wednesday and then hitting a new daily record of 61,266 rides yesterday,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “With 565 stations and counting in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn, Citi Bike is growing and we remain committed to bringing this great transit alternative to even more New Yorkers in the years ahead.”

“In Brooklyn neighborhoods like Park Slope, where Citi Bikes arrived only in the last two weeks, they have become so well-used and popular, it’s already hard to remember what it was like without them,” saidTransportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg. “Getting around brownstone Brooklyn – along with other new Citi Bike neighborhoods like East Harlem and Red Hook – has never been so easy, convenient and affordable.”

"With this new 60,000 trip milestone, Citi Bike is the busiest bike share system in North America and one of the busiest across the globe,” said Jay Walder, CEO of Motivate, which operates Citi Bike. “The system is becoming not just a leader in bike share internationally, but a leader in transit right here in New York – on par with green cabs or the Staten Island Ferry. It is a useful part of our City's transit network, and we encourage everyone to strap on a helmet and give it a try." 

About Citi Bike 

The Citi Bike program is New York’s bike share system. It will have 10,000 bikes at over 600 stations by the end of 2016. Stations are located in Manhattan below 86th Street and in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Downtown Brooklyn, DUMBO, Brooklyn Heights, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Williamsburg, and Greenpoint, and in Long Island City, Queens, with stations located every few blocks. The program is expanding this year into Harlem, Park Slope, Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Gowanus, and Red Hook. Annual members receive an electronic key to undock a bike from any station, allowing unlimited trips up to 45 minutes without incurring any additional costs. Twenty-four-hour passes are available for purchase at any Citi Bike station or through the Citi Bike app, and provide unlimited 30-minute trips. Reduced cost memberships are available for NYCHA residents and members of select credit unions throughout the city, and for IDNYC holders in their first year of membership. For more info visit: www.citibikenyc.com/expansion.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

When you visit the expansion website above you read - 'We’ll be adding more stations to the Upper East Side & Upper West Side in Manhattan and Jersey City, and moving into new Brooklyn neighborhoods'.  

My question is then - When did Jersey City become part of New York City? After all, isn't New York City subsidising the Citi Bike program?

Mayor de Blasio visits PS 154 in the Bronx, a Renewal and Community School Part Two

This is the second grade class which Mayor de Blasio was to visit at 10:45 AM. with Chancellor Carmen Farina. There are only 19 students in this class rather than the normal class size of 30 or more children. That is because this school is a Renewal School, a fancy name for a failing school. The mayor arrived 30 minutes late and it was local Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo and not Chancellor Carmen Farina who was at the school with the mayor. 

Above - The mayor and Assemblywoman greet Ms. Adams the teacher.

Below - The mayor speaks with Ms. Adams while the assemblywoman looks at the future voters.

Above - Mayor de Blasio watches as the students form groups of three or four and then do a lesson by answering among themselves the question the teacher has given them. 

Below - After the lesson is done the mayor gives high fives to all the students.

Above - The mayor Principal and staff walk around to the side of the school to see a school project. That is the Major Deegan Highway in the background.

Below - You can see the mayor is holding a half-dozen fresh eggs which the chickens in the chicken coup behind have laid. Visual Arts teacher Kendra Brown is the teacher in charge of the year round 'PS 154 Chicken Project'. Principal Coviello watches as the mayor asks Ms. Brown about the Chicken Project. The area is cleaned by the school custodian Ms. Lukry Tejeda.

The mayor took no questions, and then departed for the Manhattan school he was to visit followed by the last school visited in the five boroughs in Staten Island.

Mayor de Blasio visits PS 154 in the Bronx, a Renewal and Community School Part One

PS 154 is a Renewal and Community school. 

About the Renewal School Program

The Renewal School Program is a call to action. The NYCDOE will work intensively with each Renewal School community over the next three years, setting clear goals and—with support from Central—holding each school community accountable for rapid improvement. The NYCDOE has selected as Renewal Schools those schools that met all three of the following criteria and others that were added per the Chancellor’s discretion:

1. Were Identified as Priority or Focus Schools by the State Department of Education 

   Priority: The bottom 5% lowest-performing schools statewide

   Focus: The bottom 10% of progress in a subgroup
2. Demonstrated low academic achievement for each of the three prior years (2012-2014): 

   Elementary and middle schools in the bottom 25% in Math and ELA scores 

   High schools in the bottom 25% in four-year graduation rate
3. Scored “Proficient” or below on their most recent quality review                                

   Key Elements of the Plan

   1. Transforming Renewal Schools into Community Schools, with deepened support from and for families and community partners. Partnerships with community-based organizations will enable these schools to offer tailored whole-student supports, including mental health services and after-school programs.
   2. Creating extended learning time – an extra hour added to the school day to give all students additional instructional time.
   3. Supplying resources and supports to ensure effective school leadership and rigorous instruction with collaborative teachers.
   4. Performing school needs assessments across all six elements of the Framework for Great Schools (rigorous instruction, collaborative teachers, supportive environment, effective school leadership, strong family-community ties, and trust) to identify key areas for additional resources.
   5. Bringing increased oversight and accountability including strict goals and clear consequences for schools that do not meet them                                                      

      List of Renewal Bronx Schools                                                                                              07X154 - P.S. 154 Jonathan D. Hyatt

      07X162 - J.H.S. 162 Lola Rodriguez De Tio
      07X547 - New Explorers High School
      08X123 - J.H.S. 123 James M. Kieran
      08X301 - M.S. 301 Paul L. Dunbar
      08X332 - Holcombe L. Rucker School of Community Research
      08X375 - The Bronx Mathematics Preparatory School
      08X405 - Herbert H. Lehman High School
      08X424 - The Hunts Point School
      08X530 - Banana Kelly High School
      09X022 - J.H.S. 022 Jordan L. Mott
      09X117 - I.S. 117 Joseph H. Wade
      09X145 - J.H.S. 145 Arturo Toscanini
      09X219 - I.S. 219 New Venture School
      09X227 - Bronx Collegiate Academy
      09X276 - Leadership Institute
      09X313 - I.S. 313 School of Leadership Development
      09X324 - Bronx Early College Academy for Teaching & Learning
      09X325 - Urban Science Academy
      09X328 - New Millennium Business Academy Middle School
      09X329 - Dreamyard Preparatory School
      09X339 - I.S. 339
      09X412 - Bronx High School of Business
      10X080 - J.H.S. 080 The Mosholu Parkway
      10X085 - P.S. 085 Great Expectations
      10X331 - The Bronx School of Young Leaders
      10X363 - Academy for Personal Leadership and Excellence
      10X391 - The Angelo Patri Middle School
      10X438 - Fordham Leadership Academy for Business and Technology
      10X440 - Dewitt Clinton High School
      11X112 - P.S. 112 Bronxwood
      11X289 - The Young Scholars Academy of the Bronx
      11X370 - School of Diplomacy
      12X092 - P.S. 092 Bronx
      12X217 - School of Performing Arts
      12X286 - Fannie Lou Hamer Middle School
      12X384 - Entrada Academy
      12X463 - Urban Scholars Community School
      12X692 - Monroe Academy for Visual Arts & Design