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Development, Subway Rehabs Covered at Board Meeting

By HEATHER HADDON

Subway renovations along the No. 4 line and some controversial developments projects were discussed at the Community Board 7 (CB7) District Service Cabinet meeting last week. Agency representatives gave local updates and statistics during the session, which takes place every other month.

Subway Renovations. The MTA has begun a structural repainting of the No. 4 line at the Mosholu Parkway stop. Begun in March, the work will travel up to the Woodlawn stop, and is expected to take a year to complete. Fire Department representatives at the meeting said they were concerned about reaching Knox-Gates and Jerome Avenue in the event of a fire, as traffic has been blocked off at the intersection between Jerome Avenue and Mosholu Parkway North during the painting. Jackie Carter, an MTA representative, said she would provide a work schedule to the Fire Department.

The overhaul of the actual Mosholu platform will begin later this year. The station’s north-bound platform will be closed from Oct. 30, 2006 to Jan. 26, 2007. The south-bound side will shut down from Aug. 4 to Nov. 4, 2007.

Renovations to the Bedford Park stop on the No. 4 line will begin soon. Both sides of the station will be closed from June 17 to Oct. 16. The MTA will provide shuttle bus service from neighboring stops and the D line. The Burnside No. 4 station will also shut down during that time for repair.

Renovations to the Kingsbridge Road and 183rd Street No. 4 stops will begin in 2007, according to Carter. There are currently no plans to rehab the decrepit D line.

The same company employed for the renovations to the Fordham Road No. 4 stop will be used for the other local rehabs. “They complete their projects on time,” Carter said.

Development Projects. Rita Kessler, CB7’s district manager, reported that a homeless shelter has been proposed for Villa Avenue. The site, which is on the corner of East 204th Street, falls adjacent to a large affordable housing development now under construction.

Kessler said the shelter’s developer has not been forthcoming. “He hasn’t returned any of my calls,” she said.

Kessler also said that a juvenile detention facility might move into an existing property on Bainbridge Avenue and East 192nd Street. The building was owned by the city Administration for Children’s Services, but was sold to another agency three years ago, according to Kessler.

“It will house kids ages 7 to 15 who would be going to jail if they were an adult,” she said. Kessler has not been successful in contacting the developer.

Kessler also had concerns about construction projects in the works for Webster Avenue near PS/MS 20 (see p. 3). She was pleased that the development of a five-story, secured parking facility is moving forward. The site is across the street from the new Bronx Library Center on Bainbridge Avenue.

Crime Update. Deputy Inspector Joseph Hoch, the commander of the 52nd Precinct, reported that shootings are up this year. The precinct has begun an investigation into three locations where many of the recent and past incidents, which are narcotics related, have taken place. Hoch would not disclose the locations.

Manpower is down 15 percent at the precinct, mostly from rookie cops moving to better paying jobs in surrounding upstate counties. “We’re not going to be able to continue like this,” Hoch said.

The precinct has made more graffiti related arrests this year. Hoch said a few individuals are responsible for much of the damage. “We’ll arrest one person one day, and the next day he’ll be right back doing it,” he said.

The precinct recently received a power washer, and Hoch encouraged residents to call in requests for graffiti cleanup. The city, which has its own graffiti initiative, hit a long list of local spots last week.

Sanitation Tickets. Cyrus Manley, a city Sanitation Department representative, said the agency issued several summonses last week for garbage along Poe Place and Coles Lane. The two irregular streets in North Fordham are perpetually strewn with trash.

Sanitation is also monitoring cleanliness issues along Mosholu Parkway and Jerome Avenue, where the subway renovations are taking place. They recently addressed a rodent problem at the Bronx High School of Science.

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