Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community. © Copyright 2010 Co-op City Times
Vol. 45 No. 28
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Extreme heat allows co-generation the chance to prove its worth BY BILL STUTTIG Arguably the hottest week in close to a decade provided the first real test for Riverbay’s new co-generation facility and the plant came through fine. On Sunday, the fourth of July, midafternoon temperatures climbed into the mid-90s and stayed there for much of the week’s afternoons. By Tuesday, temperatures reached record levels, 103 degrees on Tuesday and 100 on Wednesday. Tuesday’s temperatures were three degrees off the all–time record for the hottest day ever in New York City. It was estimated to be the seventh hottest day here ever since record-keeping began 120
years ago. Naturally, the extreme heat put a strain on utilities throughout the region. Con Edison reported more than 42,000 customers losing power at some point during the worst of the heat wave and many communities were forced to endure reduced power to help the region get through the heat wave without a catastrophic region-wide power failure such as the region experienced in 2003. But in Co-op City, where the community’s power plant now produces close of 95% of its own power for electricity and (Continued on page 9)
Jazzmobile comes to Co-op City Monday The Black Forum of Co-op City will present Jazzmobile in two concerts on the Section 5 Greenway this month. On Monday, July 12, Latin Jazz by Jose Obando will be presented. The second concert will take place on Monday, August 16, featuring jazz vocals by Ghanniyya Green. Both concerts will begin at 7 p.m. on the greenway behind Building 33, rain or shine. Bring your chair or blanket and come enjoy Jazzmobile on the greenway. This program is supported by the Riverbay Fund.
Farmer’s market for Co-op open on Greenway lot today BY BILL STUTTIG The freshest produce from New York State farmers, much of it harvested the day before, will be brought to Co-op City and sold to residents here each Saturday from today, July 10th, through November. The weekly Farmer’s Market in Co-op City is one of 21 operated city-wide by Harvest Home Farmer’s Market. The Bronx alone has eight markets operating this summer. This is the third season for the Co-op City Farmer’s Market which features fresh produce from a variety of farmers from upstate and elsewhere selling vegetables and fruits harvested from their farms. The market will operate on Greenway lot number 3, just across from the Co-op City Little League fields. It will continue to be there each Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. until November 20th.
Maritsa Owens, the owner and operator of Harvest Home Farmer’s Market, the only African-American-owned Farmer’s Market operating in the Bronx, said that the idea of her market coming to Co-op City actually began three years ago. She was approached by former Board Director Tony Illis, President of the community group, Black Forum of Co-op City, about the idea after Illis and other members of the group sampled a similar market her company ran at Jacobi Medical Center. “Fresh fruits and vegetable are needed everywhere,” Owens said, “and from what I understand, the supply here is pretty dismal and the density of the population here definitely calls for it.” (Continued on page 4)
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Frank Apollo named Chief of Public Safety BY BILL STUTTIG The Department of Public Safety’s Acting Chief, Frank Apollo, was officially named Chief of the department yesterday. Apollo was named Acting Chief on August 1st of 2009 charged with overseeing more than 100 officers and supervisors who maintain the safety and security of the community on an around-the-clock basis. In announcing his promotion to full Chief of the department to the rest of the Riverbay staff, General Manager Vernon Cooper said: “It is with pleasure that I write this memorandum to officially and formally make Frank Apollo the Chief of the Riverbay Corporation’s Public Safety Department. “It has been a pleasure working with him over the last year in the capacity of Acting Chief. Frank Apollo is a well respected supervisor who has demonstrated an ability to stabilize what had previously been a very fragmented department. “Chief Apollo is a very conscientious person who sincerely cares about and works hard to meet the needs of the community he serves and the people that he works with. Chief Apollo has taken a proactive approach to improving the operation of public safety and his lead by example position has resonated throughout this department.
Frank Apollo “Please join me in congratulating Chief Apollo in his new position and wishing him continued success.” The promotion takes effect immediately. Riverbay’s Board President Helen Atkins said: “After more than 20 years on the job and having worked his way up the ranks within the Co-op City Public Safety Department, Frank Apollo has proven himself to be very well deserving (Continued on page 2)
Baychester library could be closed on Saturdays BY JIM ROBERTS Branches of the New York Public Library system, including the Baychester branch in Co-op City, face the possibility of closing on Saturdays after Labor Day because of city budget cuts. Until Sept. 6, branches will stay open for six days a week, according to Angela Montefinise, Public Relations Director of the New York Public Library. However, there will be budget cuts to some branches after Labor Day that will close those libraries on Saturdays. No decision has been made yet regarding which branches will cut back to five days a week and which ones will remain open for six days. According to the library system, a proposed $37 million cut to the library’s budget was restored enough to avoid closing some libraries completely or having them open as few as three days a week. However, the cuts that remain will
require that service be reduced to an average of five days per week. According to the library, if the full $37 million in cuts had been approved, 736 full-time positions, or 36% of the workforce, would have been eliminated this year and up to 10 neighborhood branches would have been closed. Remaining branches would have been open on average four days a week. There would have been 1.8 million fewer visits to libraries by children. The library said that “130,000 New Yorkers and others wrote letters, donated more than $144,000 online, called elected officials, and raised their voices on the steps of City Hall.” Eighty-eight branch libraries of the New York Public Library system provide access to circulating collections and a wide range of other services in neighborhoods throughout the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island.