Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

One 9-year-old Bronx boy is sure to be traumatized for awhile following an incident last Wednesday. NBC reports a man, who appeared to be about 50, pushed the young boy into a wall after following him into his apartment and then robbed him, before making off on a bicycle. The boy, Jacky Saunders, had made a brief errand to a nearby bodega to buy soap for his aunt, and had about $19 in cash in his hand. The robbery took place in the Fordham section of the Bronx, and the perpetrator is still on the loose.

The NY Post is calling this just the latest in a string of crimes, targeting children, a so-called “kiddie crime wave.” Saunders is at least the fourth victim of a crime involving an adult robbing a child, since early July, reports the Post. A 2-year-old and 3-year-old, respectively, were recently robbed around the City of jewelry they were wearing.

—Alissa Fleck

Bye-Bye Brandeis: The Department of Education caught flack when it announced that the long-troubled Brandeis High School would close, with a grade being phased out each year, starting in fall 2009. Critics claimed the high school was struggling, not failing, and decried the lack of public input on the three new schools slated to take its place: Innovation Plus Diploma, Global Learning Collective and Urban Assembly School for Green Careers. Parents were mollified when education officials started collaborating with community groups to launch a fourth school, named after the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former public school teacher Frank McCourt. McCourt High School, a small, selective school, will open in fall 2010 and eventually serve 432 students by the 2013-14 school year.

Fordham Fight: Neighbors fought with Fordham University about an expansion plan that would add nine new buildings to the campus, as well as commercial space and two luxury apartment towers, to help fund Fordham’s endowment. Community Board 7 rejected the plan in January, but Borough President Scott Stringer brokered a compromise that helped advance the proposal to the City Planning Commission, and eventually the City Council. After Council Member Gale Brewer netted a few more concessions from the university in June, the project got full approval.

Rents Dip: If there was one upside to the ghastly financial crash that deferred retirement dreams and demolished college savings accounts, it was that rents on the Upper West Side started to become affordable again, at least by New York City standards. Landlords offered to pay broker’s fees and dangled goodies like free iPods and gym memberships in the hopes of luring tenants to vacant apartments. The new pricing standard for one-bedrooms? $1,700, down from $2,200 in February 2008.

Donut Debates: Although the name may sound enticing, preservationists were anything but happy with the way “donuts,” or the collective backyards of a block that form a central green space, were being incorporated into development plans. Four schools—Dwight, York Prep, Chabad preschool and Columbia Grammar and Prep—petitioned the city for permission to expand into rear-yard areas, while neighbors complained of the erosion of common green space and modifications that were at odds with historic designations. In August, Council Member Gale Brewer contacted the City Planning Commission to talk about ways to protect donuts, calling them a “wisely planned and designed natural amenity.”
Dwight, Chabad and York Prep all ultimately received approval for their projects, and Board 7 is set to evaluate a completely revised plan from Columbia Grammar at its Jan. 5 full-board meeting.

Post Office Saved: The Columbus Circle Post Office was weeks away from closure when West Side pols announced that a deal had been reached with the building’s landlord, Alan N. Locker, to stay in the current space. With the post office’s 10-year lease coming due April 30, Locker had reportedly asked for somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.2 million a month in rent, up from about $400,000 a month, for a new lease at 27 W. 60th St. News of the imminent closure came as a surprise when it was first revealed March 31, spurring local elected officials and community leaders to leap into action.

Swine Flu Fears: The H1N1 virus—better known as the swine flu—was the most talked about illness this year. In April and May, when the number of swine flu cases seemed to be rapidly expanding, more than 16 schools closed their doors. That included St. David’s on East 89th Street, which closed May 18 after several students reported flu-like symptoms, and Horace Mann in the Bronx, where end-of-school rituals like exams were canceled and prom and graduation were threatened. By September, Dr. Craig van Roekens, chief medical officer for Manhattan’s Physician Group and a specialist in emergency medicine, estimated that 80,000 to 100,000 New Yorkers had already been exposed to the H1N1 virus. After taking flak in spring for not clearly explaining the process for closing schools, the Bloomberg administration sought to stay ahead of the flu in September by posting daily reports on school absenteeism and stressing prevention basics: wash your hands, sneeze into your arm and stay home if you are sick.

New York Loses Frank McCourt: Beloved teacher, acclaimed author and lifelong education advocate Frank McCourt died July 19. Although most were familiar with his Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir Angela’s Ashes, this newspaper also came to know McCourt as the emcee of the annual Blackboard Awards events, where he dazzled audiences with tales of his days in the classroom. McCourt, perhaps more than anyone, could articulate the idiosyncrasies of education with humor and warmth, and of course that lilting Irish brogue.

State Senate Dems Take Control, Lose Control: When State Senate Democrats were sworn in this January as the new ruling majority, they boasted of a new progressive era: pro-tenant laws, same-sex marriage, gun control and government reform. But the Democrats, with a slim two-seat majority, could not get their house in order. Infighting made passing bills difficult. The conference split on big issues, such as crafting a bailout package for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority last May. The anemic reform measures that did pass were touted as progress because of the bureaucratic morass that is Albany.
Then the June 8 coup happened.
In a parliamentary maneuver, two Democrats—Pedro Espada and Hiram Monserrate—sided with Republicans to put the GOP back in power. Monserrate eventually came back into the Democratic fold. But a month-long stalemate ensued in the evenly divided chamber, grinding Albany to a halt.
After a shake-up in leadership, the stalemate finally ended in July with the Democrats back in power.

Hudson River Drama: First there was the January “Miracle on the Hudson,” Capt. Chesley Sullenberger’s deft landing of U.S. Airways flight 1549, saving all 155 people on board. But an August crash between a helicopter and small plane killed nine and left elected officials demanding stronger regulations governing the use of Hudson River airspace. The rules, which went into effect in November, created separate paths for local and long-distance aircrafts, required local flights to fly below 1,000 feet and set additional requirements for pilots. U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Jerrold Nadler were not impressed, though, and urged the Federal Aviation Administration to consider mandatory flight plans and requiring controllers to be in charge of airspace below 1,000 feet.
H+H Tax Trouble: New York’s most famous bagel purveyor, H+H Bagels, seemed to be taking an Arthur Anderson approach to its accounting this year. The New York Department of Taxation and Finance shuttered both the West 80th Street and 12th Avenue locations in May because the business allegedly failed to pay $6,803 in withholding tax (the taxes taken out of employees’ paychecks) and $16,482 in sales tax. Both branches quickly reopened, but bagel baron Helmer Toro got in trouble again in November, when Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau indicted him for tax fraud. The stores continue to operate, and bagel lovers everywhere hope Toro shapes up before he’s shut down.

Illegal Hotels, Still: An evergreen story on the Upper West Side continued to make headlines in 2009, with two illegal hotels being targeted by the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement. A brownstone at 262 W. 73rd St.—which had been advertised to tourists as “Kore 73”—was found to have illegally subdivided rooms and was issued a partial vacate order Nov. 4. Farther uptown, the Broadway Hotel, at 230 W. 101st St., was partially vacated Dec. 3 after the Department of Buildings declared it “dangerously overcrowded.” The building’s occupancy is roughly 140, but it was equipped for 600 people, according to the city.

This ends the months-long public review process that started with hearings at Community Board 7.

“We are pleased, naturally, that the City Council recognizes the importance of Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus to the local community and to the city,” said Fordham President Father Joseph McShane, S.J., in a statement following the June 30 vote.

Approval was all but assured once local Council Member Gale Brewer gave her support to the proposal upon receiving concessions from Fordham earlier in June.

The final plan will include six new buildings—including two private luxury apartment buildings—and 1.5 million square feet of academic and dormitory space.

There is no construction timeline yet, but the first phase of the project will be the new law school and interim public plaza.

We must also remember that when the Lincoln Center campus was built, it was as a “satellite” to the 85-acre Rose Hill Campus in a time when few were willing to venture to Fordham Road.

The West Side is being eroded by large-scale projects that will take away a neighborhood filled with the scholars, artists and intellectuals that these universities produce. Universities have changed Greenwich Village, Harlem and now the West Side, but not always for the better.

John C. Jeannopoulos
Upper West Side

Letters have been edited for clarity, style and brevity.

Fordham wants to expand the campus to meet the growing student population, but critics say the design is introverted and created to keep Upper West Siders from using the public space that is to be created in the center of the campus.

“That was a concern we had in the original go-around,” said board chair Helen Rosenthal, referring to Fordham’s original plan introduced two years ago. “That’s been a disappointment.”

The project would add nine new buildings for dormitories, apartments, a library and graduate programs. Commercial businesses would operate on the street level.

Most of these new buildings are on the perimeter of a “superblock”—the area between West 60th and 62nd streets and Amsterdam and Columbus avenues—with the middle of the campus available for public use. The highest buildings along the perimeter reach 550 feet while buildings in the mid-block are around 300 feet.
“The bulk should be distributed in a more neighborhood friendly way,” said State Sen. Thomas Duane. “We have, if not a legal right, a moral right to insist on better distribution.”

An aerial-view rendering of Fordham’s proposal.

Duane and Rep. Jerrold Nadler and Assembly members Linda Rosenthal and Richard Gottfried penned a letter condemning the plan. At the meeting, a staffer to Rosenthal read the more scathing portions of the letter, which was met with applause.

Residents also lambasted the open public space as anything but, due to the need for a staircase to reach the elevated plaza.

For Fordham to complete its vision, the plan must receive zoning waivers for building height, setbacks and curb cuts for parking garages. To help fund the plan, Fordham is looking to construct two 50-plus story towers—on the corners of West 60th and 62nd streets along Amsterdam Avenue—to sell to private developers for residential use. As with any project with a housing component, residents worried that new families would exacerbate the overcrowding problem in District 3.

Critics who testified in front of the committee urged Fordham to build on the property “as of right,” that is, without special zoning permits. The plan would shorten the height of buildings on the perimeter and place taller buildings in center of the campus.

Michael Groll, president of a building co-op at 44 W. 62nd St. and frequent critic of the Fordham plan, told the subcommittee that Fordham should not be given zoning permits.

“Build ‘as of right.’ It’ll be better for the community,” Groll said.

Fordham’s plan has met with criticism since its inception. The university has altered previous versions to meet community demands and concerns, by including new public access points on the front of West 60th Street, redesigning staircases to improve visibility and reducing the height of the Columbus Avenue buildings with more bulk pushed back from the street.

The full board is scheduled to vote on the plan on Jan. 6, 2009, and Fordham said it would not comment until that point. However, the university issued a statement regarding the committee’s hearing.

“The university is engaged in an ongoing discussion with the Community Board and our West Side neighbors about the plan for our Lincoln Center campus,” said Rob Howe, director of communication for Fordham University. “Fordham has addressed specific community concerns in revisions to the plan, and will continue to discuss solutions that serve both community and university needs.”