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Saturday, May 18, 2019
Upcoming Events - Bronx Chamber of Commerce events in May and June!
Bronx Fashion NYC Presents Legacy
Bronx Fashion Legacy was held at the Bay Plaza Mall last Saturday. The fashion show included many outfits from stores inside the Bay Plaza Mall, such as Macy's, J.C. Penny, and H & M. Below are photos of just a few of the clothes the talented models wore. The Fashion Show was hosted by Ms. Caridad La Luz, who is modeling between these two models.
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BX10@cb.nyc.gov (CB) - 3134 East Tremont Avenue
Dear Community:
I am notifying you of the possible purchase of 3134 East Tremont Avenue, Bronx, NY 10461, by Carnegie Hill Institute. Carnegie Hill Institute, according to its website, operates a "substance abuse and chemical dependency treatment center." Its representatives have conveyed to me that they will not be offering "methadone" to its patients at this site. Its Manhattan location (located at 116 East 92nd Street, New York, New York 10128) does offer methadone. I have made clear to Carnegie Hill's representatives that the community will, rightfully so, have reservations and will be concerned. For this reason, Carnegie Hill has asked to meet with a committee at Community Board #10. On my end, I will schedule the meeting and make certain that the public has ample notice to attend.
This is a developing situation. I will be in touch with any new information. Again, the purchase of the building has not occurred nor has Carnegie Hill submitted an offer to the owner of 3134 East Tremont Avenue, but the sale should it happen is between private parties. We will schedule the necessary meeting so that the public hears first hand similar to that of the Miracle City proposal at 2800 Bruckner Boulevard.
As always, please feel free to contact me. 718 - 892 - 1161.
As one would expect, the call volume for a matter such as this will be high, but I will do my best to return each call.
Sincerely,
Matthew Cruz
District Manager
Community Board 10
Wave Hill events May 30‒June 6
Thu, May 30
Join a Wave Hill Garden Guide for a public tour of seasonal garden highlights. Free with admission to the grounds.
Meet at Perkins Visitor Center, 1PM
Fri, May 31
Join a Wave Hill Garden Guide for a public tour of seasonal garden highlights. Free with admission to the grounds.
Meet at Perkins Visitor Center, 1PM
Sat, June 1
The Family Art Project believes in the power of community and wild imagination to nurture nature spaces we know and love. Come celebrate and learn from Wave Hill’s Art, Community and Environment Stewards (ACES) youth interns through artmaking inspired by their exhibition on view in our Gund Theater. Each of these young people will guide you on a story-walk and stop to create art along the way as they share their vision of wilderness. Free, and admission to the grounds is free until noon.
Wave Hill House, 10AM–1PM
Sat, June 1
Tour Glyndor Gallery with Wave Hill’s Curatorial Fellow or Gallery Greeter to get an insider’s view of current exhibitions. Here We Land features three, former Winter Workspace artists, Camille Hoffman, Maria Hupfield and Sara Jimenez, who return to explore narratives about contested space that draw on personal and cultural touch points in their immersive installations. Free with admission to the grounds.
Glyndor Gallery, 2PM
Sun, June 2
On Sundays through July, enjoy the gardens as the setting for your yoga practice as your find your breath and become connected to the landscape. Classes are led by certified Yoga Haven instructors. All levels welcome. Please bring a mat and be on time. This class is rain or shine; the rain location is Glyndor Gallery. $25; Wave Hill Members save 10%. Registration suggested, online at wavehill.org.
On the Grounds, 9:30‒10:30AM
Sun, June 2
The Family Art Project believes in the power of community and wild imagination to nurture nature spaces we know and love. Come celebrate and learn from Wave Hill’s Art, Community and Environment Stewards (ACES) youth interns through artmaking inspired by their exhibition on view in our Gund Theater. Each of these young people will guide you on a story-walk and stop to create art along the way as they share their vision of wilderness. Free with admission to the grounds.
Wave Hill House, 10AM–1PM
Sun, June 2
Join us for a conversation between Amir Hariri and Curator of Visual Arts Eileen Jeng Lynch about his Sunroom project. His sculptural installations—constructed of building materials—connect to his architectural research of the Bronx and Wave Hill. Hariri's project focuses on the visceral and formal qualities of decay as a way to communicate history, memory and experience of particular sites. Free with admission to the grounds.
Glyndor Gallery, 2PM
Sun, June 2
Join a Wave Hill Garden Guide for a public tour of seasonal garden highlights. Free with admission to the grounds.
Meet at Perkins Visitor Center, 2PM
Sun, June 2
Join us for a conversation between Geoffrey Owen Miller and Curator of Visual Arts Eileen Jeng Lynch about his installation in the Sun Porch. Miller creates sculptures of flora and fauna—inspired by Wave Hill—using transparent and colorless plastic. He suspends them upside down from the ceiling over sheets of black mirrored glass. Visitors see prismatic reflections of the hanging plants and animals in upright positions in the glass. Free with admission to the grounds.
Glyndor Gallery, 3PM
Tue, June 4
Tour Glyndor Gallery with Wave Hill’s Curatorial Fellow or Gallery Greeter to get an insider’s view of current exhibitions. The exhibition Here We Land features three former Winter Workspace artists, Camille Hoffman, Maria Hupfield and Sara Jimenez, who return to explore narratives about contested space that draw on personal and cultural touch points in their immersive installations. In the Sunroom, Amir Hariri creates sculptural installations constructed of wood, brick and other building materials—along with a wall drawing—that connect to his architectural research to the Bronx and Wave Hill. In the Sun Porch, Geoffrey Owen Miller suspends transparent, upside down sculptures of flora and fauna—inspired by Wave Hill—from the ceiling over sheets of black-mirrored glass. Visitors see prismatic reflections of the hanging plants and animals in upright positions in the glass. Free with admission to the grounds.
Glyndor Gallery, 2PM
Wed, June 5
Join a Wave Hill Garden Guide for a public tour of seasonal garden highlights. Free with admission to the grounds.
Meet at Perkins Visitor Center, 1PM
Thu, June 6
Join a Wave Hill Garden Guide for a public tour of seasonal garden highlights. Free with admission to the grounds.
Meet at Perkins Visitor Center, 1PM
A 28-acre public garden and cultural center overlooking the Hudson River and Palisades, Wave Hill’s mission is to celebrate the artistry and legacy of its gardens and landscape, to preserve its magnificent views, and to explore human connections to the natural world through programs in horticulture, education and the arts.
HOURS – Open all year, Tuesday through Sunday and many major holidays: 9AM–5:30PM, March 15–October 31. Closes 4:30PM, starting November 1.
ADMISSION – $10 adults, $6 students and seniors 65+, $4 children 6–18. Free Saturday and Tuesday mornings until noon. Free to Wave Hill Members and children under 6.
PROGRAM FEES – Programs are free with admission to the grounds unless otherwise noted.
Visitors to Wave Hill can take advantage of Metro-North’s one-day getaway offer. Purchase a discount round-trip rail far and discount admission to the gardens. More at http://mta.info/mnr/html/
DIRECTIONS – Getting here is easy! Located only 30 minutes from midtown Manhattan, Wave Hill’s free shuttle van transports you to and from our front gate and Metro-North’s Riverdale station, as well as the W. 242nd Street stop on the #1 subway line. Limited onsite parking is available for $8 per vehicle. Free offsite parking is available nearby with continuous, complimentary shuttle service to and from the offsite lot and our front gate. Complete directions and shuttle bus schedule at www.wavehill.org/visit/.
Information at 718.549.3200. On the web at www.wavehill.org.
“Southside” Gang Member Pleads Guilty To Newburgh Club Murder In Connection With Racketeering Conspiracy
Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that TROY YOUNG, a/k/a “Hollywood,” pled guilty today to involvement in a racketeering conspiracy in connection with his membership in “Southside,” a violent street gang that operated in the City of Newburgh, New York. YOUNG also pled guilty to murdering Gevontay Owens-Grant, a gang rival, after an altercation broke out at a Valentine’s Day-themed party at a Newburgh club. YOUNG and others were also injured during the shooting. YOUNG faces a maximum term of life in prison and will be sentenced before United States District Judge Cathy Seibel later this year.
U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “Troy Young has admitted to shooting at gang rivals during a crowded Valentine’s Day party and to killing 21-year-old Gevontay Owens-Grant. This murder demonstrated a disregard for the value of human life that epitomizes these senseless gang rivalries. Young now faces a significant term in prison for this shooting, the type of tragic event that happens too often on our city streets.”
According to the Indictment and other documents filed in the case, as well as statements made during the plea proceedings:
From at least 2014 through June 2017, the Southside gang was a criminal enterprise centered in and around the intersection of South Street and Chambers Street in an area of Newburgh also known as the “Southside.” In order to gain funds for the gang, protect the gang’s territory, and promote the gang’s standing, members of Southside engaged in, among other things, narcotics trafficking, robbery, and acts involving murder. To that end, Southside members sold heroin, crack cocaine, and marijuana in the gang’s territory, promoted their gang affiliation on social media sites such as Facebook, possessed firearms, and engaged in shootings as part of their gang membership.
YOUNG was a member of Southside. On February 12, 2017, YOUNG, aided and abetted by others, murdered Owens-Grant, who was from another part of Newburgh, after a fight broke out during a party at a club. Multiple other people fired guns inside and outside the club that night, and several others were injured, including YOUNG, who was partially paralyzed after being shot the same night he killed Owens-Grant.
YOUNG, 24, of Newburgh, was arrested in January 2018 as a result of a multi-year investigation by the FBI’s Hudson Valley Safe Streets Task Force and the City of Newburgh Police Department into gang violence in Newburgh. On June 14, 2017, Indictment 17 Cr. 364 (CS) was unsealed, charging 20 members and associates of Southside with racketeering conspiracy, narcotics conspiracy, and firearms charges. Superseding Indictment S1 17 Cr. 364 (CS), unsealed in January of 2018, charged YOUNG, added additional firearms charges against certain defendants, and charged four defendants with committing two separate murders as part of their involvement in Southside, including the murder of Owens-Grant. To date, 18 defendants have pled guilty.
Mr. Berman praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco, and Explosives, and the City of Newburgh Police Department. Mr. Berman thanked the Orange County District Attorney’s Office for its invaluable ongoing assistance in the case. Mr. Berman also thanked the Town of Newburgh Police Department, the New York State Police, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, the Town of New Windsor Police Department, and the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision for their assistance in the case.
Ali Kourani Convicted In Manhattan Federal Court For Covert Terrorist Activities On Behalf Of Hizballah’s Islamic Jihad Organization
Ali Kourani Was Trained by Hizballah’s External Terrorist Operations Component and Gathered Intelligence in New York City in Support of Attack-Planning Efforts
Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that a jury returned a guilty verdict today against Ali Kourani, a/k/a “Ali Mohamad Kourani,” a/k/a “Jacob Lewis,” a/k/a “Daniel,” on all eight counts in the Indictment, which charged him with terrorism, sanctions, and immigration offenses for his illicit work as an undercover terrorist operative for Hizballah’s external attack-planning component. KOURANI is scheduled to be sentenced on September 27, 2019, by the Honorable Alvin K. Hellerstein, who presided over the eight-day trial.
U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “Ali Kourani was recruited, trained, and deployed by Hizballah’s Islamic Jihad Organization to plan and execute acts of terrorism in the United States. Kourani’s chilling mission was to help procure weapons and gather intelligence about potential targets in the U.S. for future Hizballah terrorist attacks. Some of the targets Kourani surveilled included JFK Airport and law enforcement facilities in New York City, including the federal building at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan. Today, Kourani has fittingly been convicted for his crimes in a courthouse that stands in the shadow of one of his potential targets.”
As reflected in the criminal Complaint, Indictment, and the evidence presented at trial:
Hizballah is a Lebanon-based Shia Islamic organization with political, social, and terrorist components that was founded in the 1980s with support from Iran. Since Hizballah’s formation, the organization has been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks that have killed hundreds, including United States citizens and military personnel. In 1997, the U.S. Department of State designated Hizballah a Foreign Terrorist Organization, pursuant to Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and it remains so designated today. In 2010, State Department officials described Hizballah as the most technically capable terrorist group in the world, and a continued security threat to the United States.
The Islamic Jihad Organization (“IJO”), which is also known as the External Security Organization and “910,” is a highly compartmentalized component of Hizballah responsible for the planning, preparation, and execution of intelligence, counterintelligence, and terrorist activities on behalf of Hizballah outside of Lebanon. In July 2012, an IJO operative detonated explosives on a bus transporting Israeli tourists in the vicinity of an airport in Burgas, Bulgaria, killing six people and injuring 32 others. Law enforcement authorities have disrupted several other IJO attack-planning operations around the world, including the arrest of an IJO operative surveilling Israeli targets in Cyprus in 2012, the seizure of bomb-making precursor chemicals in Thailand in 2012, including chemicals manufactured by a medical devices company based in Guangzhou, China (“Guangzhou Company-1”), and a similar seizure of chemicals manufactured by Guangzhou Company-1 in Cyprus in May 2015 in connection with the arrest of another IJO operative.
KOURANI, who was born in Lebanon, attended Hizballah-sponsored weapons training in Lebanon in 2000 when he was approximately 16 years old. After lawfully entering the United States in 2003, KOURANI obtained a Bachelor of Science in biomedical engineering in 2009, and a Masters of Business Administration in 2013.
KOURANI and certain of his relatives were in Lebanon during the summer 2006 conflict between Israel and Hizballah, when a residence belonging to his family was destroyed. At some point before 2008, IJO recruited KOURANI to its ranks. In August 2008, KOURANI submitted an application for naturalization in the United States in which he falsely claimed, among other things, that he was not affiliated with a terrorist organization. In April 2009, KOURANI became a naturalized citizen and was issued a United States passport. Despite claiming in his passport application that he had no travel plans, KOURANI traveled to Guangzhou, China – the location of Guangzhou Company-1 – on May 3, 2009. He later claimed to the FBI that the purpose of the trip was to meet with medical device manufacturers and other businessmen.
IJO assigned KOURANI an IJO handler, or mentor, responsible for providing him with taskings, debriefings, and arranging training. KOURANI sometimes communicated with his handler using coded email communications, including messages sent by the handler that informed KOURANI of the need to return to Lebanon. In order to establish contact with his handler when KOURANI returned to Lebanon, KOURANI called a telephone number associated with a pager (the “IJO Pager”) and provided a code that he understood was specific to him. After contacting the IJO Pager, the handler would contact KOURANI to set up an in-person meeting by calling a phone belonging to one of KOURANI’s relatives. The IJO also provided KOURANI with additional training in tradecraft, weapons, and tactics. In 2011, for example, KOURANI attended a weapons training camp in the vicinity of Birkat Jabrur, Lebanon, where he used a rocket propelled grenade launcher, an AK-47 assault rifle, an MP5 submachine gun, a PKS machine gun (a Russian-made belt-fed weapon), and a Glock pistol.
Based on other taskings from IJO personnel, which IJO personnel conveyed during periodic in-person meetings when KOURANI returned to Lebanon, KOURANI conducted operations, which he understood to be aimed at preparing for potential future Hizballah attacks. These covert activities included searching for weapons suppliers in the United States who could provide firearms to support IJO operations; identifying individuals affiliated with the Israeli Defense Force whom the IJO could either recruit or target for violence; gathering information regarding operations and security at airports in the United States and elsewhere, including JFK International Airport in New York; and surveilling U.S. military and law enforcement facilities in New York City, including the federal building at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan. KOURANI transmitted some of the products of his surveillance and intelligence-gathering efforts back to IJO personnel in Lebanon using digital storage media.
KOURANI, 34, of the Bronx, New York, was convicted of providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; conspiracy to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; receiving military-type training from a designated foreign terrorist organization, which carries a sentence of 10 years in prison or a fine; conspiracy to receive military-type training from a designated foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; conspiracy to possess, carry, and use firearms and destructive devices during and in relation to crimes of violence, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison; making and receiving a contribution of funds, goods, and services to and from Hizballah, in violation of IEEPA, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; conspiracy to make and receive a contribution of funds, goods, and services to and from Hizballah, in violation of IEEPA, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; and naturalization fraud in connection with an act of international terrorism, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as the defendant’s sentence will be determined by Judge Hellerstein.
Mr. Berman praised the outstanding efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (“FBI”) New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, which principally consists of agents from the FBI and detectives from the New York City Police Department. Mr. Berman also thanked the Counterterrorism Section of the Department of Justice’s National Security Division.