The Year in Review It was an eventful year in many local arenas, from education and economic development, to the filtration plant and housing. What follows are summaries and updates of some of the most important issues in our area in 2003. Borough Library Moves Forward
The New York Public Library acquired the Con Edison Building on Kingsbridge Road near Fordham Road in 2001. And the funding for the $50 million project soon followed through the cooperative efforts of various state and city officials and a donation from a trustee. In June 2003, architects Richard Dattner and Partners released renderings of the airy and modern new building and library officials announced a January 2004 start date for construction. "We are on schedule with the new Bronx Borough Center Library," Library spokeswoman Jennifer Bertrand told the Norwood News this week. The old building will be demolished in late January or early February and construction will begin in spring, she said. The project should be complete by the end of 2005. The new facility will be double the size of the overcrowded Fordham Library Center, located just around the block on Bainbridge Avenue. The new building will increase the number of computer workstations and the size of the current book collections while adding a new auditorium and a Latino and Puerto Rican Cultural Center. It will be the first "green" building in the library system, utilizing modern technologies to conserve energy and reduce overhead costs. - JORDAN MOSS Change in Meal Program Protested It was a bitter pill for local seniors and advocates to swallow when they learned in October that the Bronx Meals on Wheels program was going to be significantly reconfigured. The number of meals providers would shrink from almost 20 to three under the pilot, and instead of daily hot meals, seniors deemed capable of handling the preparation would receive frozen meals. During a number of public forums, many officials opposed the pilot program which officials hoped would help close a Department for the Aging (DFTA) budget gap. Critics charge that the pilot will remove a key safety net for vulnerable seniors and eliminate almost 200 Bronx jobs. Council Member Maria Baez, who chairs the Aging Committee, met with DFTA officials and meals providers last week to address concerns about the RFP (Request for Proposals) for the three program administrators. "The RFP released by [DFTA] does not call for a reduction in home-delivered meals to our seniors," said Baez in a recent statement, leaving it unclear as to whether or not she supports the agency's plan. Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion was hoping to postpone the RFP's release until further issues were addressed. According to DFTA, the pilot will begin in July. Current meals providers aren't waiting until the summer to protest the plan. The majority of nonprofit meals vendors (10 out of 12) announced a boycott of the pilot on the steps of City Hall last month. "The requirements of the RFP are totally unworkable, and we want DFTA to withdraw it," said Fran Namzoff, meals coordinator at the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center. As stipulated by the RFP, providers must serve 100,000 meals, with 60 percent of them frozen. "This can work only if you are some gargantuan organization," Namzoff said. "DFTA is looking for an impersonal food service, like you get on an airplane." There's been no official response yet to the boycott, but in the meantime, MMCC is informing seniors about their position on the proposed changes. - HEATHER HADDON Dial 311 for Complaints Mayor Bloomberg launched the "311 Citizen Service Management System" in March, and in one stroke streamlined 41 agency complaint lines. About 200 live operators field calls 24 hours a day in 170 languages. Complaints are documented and then forwarded to the appropriate city agency. About one million calls were logged in the first four months, with noise and housing complaints ranking as the top two issues. By year's end, the rate of calls had increased four times over. But the system was not immune from criticism. Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum reported receiving a number of calls from people who were dissatisfied with the wait time on 311. Resolution of the complaints was also slow, she charged. Gotbaum also protested when calls from community board staff to city agencies were also rerouted to 311. A primary function of the boards is to serve as a liaison between residents and city government. This winter, Community Board 7 District Manager Rita Kessler went on the warpath against 311. She wrote letters and spoke to city officials as she felt the boards' relationships with city agency officials were being supplanted by the more impersonal 311. The performance of 311 and the role of community boards will almost certainly continue to be an issue in 2004. - HEATHER HADDON Education Overhaul
The changes can be seen in the classroom and throughout the vast administration of the entire system. There's a new math curriculum (Everyday Mathematics). Instructional time on Tuesdays was lengthened by almost an hour for students, and teachers added time on Mondays for professional development. And students must now apply to 12 high schools rather than the previous maximum of 5. There was also a new language and organizational chart to get used to. Instead of Community School District 10, there is now the gigantic Region 1 -- which also includes the former District 9 for a total of 109 schools. Former District 10 superintendent Irma Zardoya is still at the helm, but she is now the Region 1 superintendent. Under her are 12 local instructional supervisors, each overseeing a group of about 10 schools. Principals are still principals, but they were freed of many administrative duties (getting things fixed, ordering new equipment) which were assigned to six Regional Operations Centers. While the Region 1 administration now occupies the offices of the former District 10 at One Fordham Plaza, room has been made for a Learning Support Center to accommodate parent concerns. Parent coordinators were also hired for each school. Each coordinator was armed with a cell phone and a broad mission -- to help parents get involved, to answer their questions, and to resolve complaints and concerns. Just like all the other changes, the effectiveness of parent coordinators has come under some scrutiny. A survey by Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum found that many coordinators didn't return calls quickly or at all (those in the Bronx were the least likely to call back within a week). But coordinators interviewed by the News seemed helpful, motivated and quite willing to answer questions. Much to the chagrin of Community School Board 10 members, Bloomberg hopes to scrap the boards for "parent engagement boards"-- comprised of 11 voting members elected by parents association leaders, not the public-at-large. Bloomberg had hoped to phase in the new boards by year's end, but this reform is still awaiting approval from the U.S. Justice Department. Until then, Board 10 continues to meet with little direction and even less attendance. In other school news, the mayor unveiled a new five-year capital plan for school construction and renovation in November that included 10 new schools for the local area (within the former District 10's borders). That's good news, as neighborhood schools continued to be plagued by overcrowding, especially at the high school level. But the feasibility of the plan, which relies on Albany to pick up much of the $13.1 billion tab, is a big question mark. - HEATHER HADDON
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It took 15 years to find the site and the money, but 2003 was the year
that plans for a Bronx Borough Center Library moved significantly forward.
Last January, Mayor Bloomberg announced his plan to overhaul the city's
public school system, ending more than three decades of decentralization.
Boldly staking his reputation on education, Bloomberg now has the kind of
control over the schools his predecessors could only dream about. Whether
all this translates into better schools remains to be seen, of course.