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Former Board President Al Shapiro passes
© Copyright 2015 Co-op City Times
Vol. 50 No. 31
BY BILL STUTTIG
Many Co-op City residents and employees are deeply saddened this weekend after news reached the Co-op City community on Thursday that former long-time Board Director and Riverbay President Al Shapiro passed away suddenly Thursday morning while he was briefly hospitalized with a recently discovered illness. His wife of more than 30 years Joyce said that she was devastated by the sudden unexpected loss of her husband who only stepped down from his long-held seat on the Riverbay Board of Directors just two months ago. “I know many people are going to say that Al loved this community and did so much for this community and that is certainly true. But to me, as his wife, his real legacy is as a great husband and great father,” Joyce said. When Al and Joyce married, it was the second marriage for both and they
Saturday, August 8, 2015
brought two children each into the new marriage and raised them as one family. “He was a loving father who loved his family above anything else. We took two families and merged them into one and I think that is the legacy he was most proud of.” Those four children – Mark, Robin, Lori and Jill – were raised in Co-op City by Al and Joyce during the ‘80s and ‘90s and in turn blessed Al and Joyce with 11 grandchildren of who Al, in his later years, always took the time to tell people about whenever he stopped to share a conversation with one of the many Riverbay employees that he had come to know and care about over the course of his many years of his volunteer work on behalf of the people of Co-op City. Riverbay President Cleve Taylor, who served on the Board with Al for many years, said this week, “It is with (Continued on page 4)
Bronx CERT-10 chosen for initial testing of city emergency management radio program New York City Emergency Management (NYCEM) has initiated a Radio Program to enhance the safety, efficiency and inter-operability of NYC CERT in all five boroughs. The key goal of the program is to support CERT teams in the performance of their important roles as community liaisons and support for New York City’s emergency
personnel (NYPD, FDNY, etc.). Co-op City’s Bronx CERT-10 is the first team to obtain radios on loan from NYCEM to supply training to team members. The training will help team members become more familiar and proficient with mobile radio usage and (Continued on page 8)
Khalil Abdul-Wahhab, Assistant Bronx Borough Manager and Team Chief of Bronx CERT 10, helps train CERT members on the use of radios. Members will relay information during emergencies. (Photo contributed by Bronx CERT 10)
25¢
New boiler for Power Plant set to begin long journey to Co-op City BY JIM ROBERTS
A shipping date of mid-August has been scheduled for Co-op City’s new 150-ton boiler, a trip that starts at the manufacturer’s plant in Oklahoma, proceeds via barge to Louisiana, through the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, and arrives at a dock on Co-op
City Boulevard 31 days later. The new high-pressure boiler, built to specifications for the Riverbay Power Plant, will produce 300,000 pounds of processed steam per hour to drive the cogeneration plant’s turbines (Continued on page 8)
One of the three major components of the new custom-built 150-ton boiler that will leave Oklahoma and arrive via barge in Co-op City. The target arrival date at the Co-op City Power Plant is mid-September. (Contributed photo).
See National Night Out pictures on page 3
Public Safety gun arrests in March helped with successful investigation into Bronx gang activities
BY BILL STUTTIG
A key “under the radar” gun arrest by Public Safety officers in March helped provide the NYPD and Bronx DA’s office with information useful in its far ranging investigation into illegal gang activities in the Bronx which led to 23 arrests of gang members last week, including three from Co-op City. The March arrests were internally honored by the Public Safety Department with Cop-of-the-Month recognition given to four officers involved in the arrest, but otherwise kept quiet due to the sensitive nature of the larger wide-ranging investigation. The arrests centered around an investigation into who might have been
responsible for firing a series of shots in Section 5 from a vehicle on March 17th. In the hours after the shooting, which fortunately resulted in no injuries, a description of the suspected vehicle went out to the entire department. Two days later, on the afternoon of March 19th, an officer on routine patrol in the vicinity of the Einstein Shopping Center spotted a vehicle which matched the description and immediately radioed into the dispatcher the discovery. Within minutes, other officers began responding and a Public Safety patrol car began following the suspected vehicle and its occupants. (Continued on page 2)