Have A Blessed T hre e Kin g s D ay
Vol. 55 No. 1
Year In Review, Part 2 If the first part of 2019 was marked in part by trouble in the house of Co-op City that necessitated the removal of a board director, the latter half of the year included instances of the community and its officials coming together to tackle some common problems that originated outside. It was like it is for any family. Siblings can have problems with each other, but an attack on one from outside draws a response from everybody in the family. The primary entity to find this out when it comes to Co-op City in the latter half of 2019 was the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. MTA Bus Redesign As reported in last week’s year in review, part one, the MTA unveiled its plans for redesigned bus routes and schedules for the Bronx in June. This redesign is the first stage in the authority’s plan to revamp bus service throughout the entire city with an eye toward making additions and subtractions in the name of efficiency and streamlining. For Co-op City, redesigning the buses in the MTA’s first draft plan looked a lot more like subtraction by subtraction, practically to the point of paralysis. Most shareholders would have to transfer buses to get into or out of Co-op City. Some routes were curtailed short of Co-op City or otherwise rendered inaccessible to shareholders. Only one bus, the Bx23, would remain as providing service throughout Co-op City. For a community built to rely on its bus service,
Saturday, January 4, 2020
Wind turbine crashes onto 500 Baychester lot, Bartow No injuries or loss of life reported
BY JASON CHIREVAS
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$1.25
The wind turbine at 500 Baychester Ave. collapsed Dec. 30, crushing a car parked on Bartow Avenue, right, and destroying an entire panel of the 60-foot monopole LED sign already on the property on the way down. Even before they collapsed, the sign and the wind turbine were growing concerns for residents in the area. Photos by Toriea McCauseland
Strong winds and heavy rain Monday, Dec. 30, were too much for the turbine recently installed atop the large monopole at 500 Baychester Ave. At around 1:30 p.m., the top of the wind turbine fell apart, along with an adjoining pole, and landed on top of a car BY TORIEA McCAUSELAND
2019 Kwanzaa Celebration
parked outside the small shopping center. The fallen turbine left one vehicle crushed. While falling, the part of the turbine fell onto the neighboring 60-foot, three-sided LED billboard next to it. One entire panel of the sign fell between rows of parked cars in the 500 Baychester lot.
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Co-op City officials demand answers from DOB after wind turbine debacle Linda Berk
President’s Message
President, Riverbay Board of Directors
The Coalition of African-American Churches & Community Organizations of Co-op City celebrates Kwanzaa during its annual event, with hundreds of guests from around the neighborhood and beyond, on Saturday, Dec. 28. (See story on page 3). Photo by Toriea McCauseland
Dear fellow shareholders, was very real. On Monday, Dec. 30, On Dec. 13, several of us 2019, our community averted met with representatives of what could have been a catthe Department of Buildings, astrophic incident with the a meeting coordinated by the collapse of the wind turbine quick movement of Second built on the property of 500 Vice President Rod Saunders. Bartow Ave. It was only At that meeting, I expressed through grace that school was concern the wind turbine, out and holiday shopping was com- swirling a 50-foot structure over 125 pleted. The possibility for devastation (Continued on page 3)