In a rare, combined meeting of Bronx Community Board 7’s (CB7) Health & Human Services and Public Safety & Quality of Life committees, attendees heard about the vital role organ donation can play in many Bronxites’ lives, as well as tips to help mitigate crime during the holiday shopping season.

 

The Health & Human Services committee meeting, held virtually on Nov. 16, invited Iliana Almanzar, the community and government affairs liaison for LiveOnNY, to speak on the importance of organ donation. Almanzar said the topic was a very important one which not a lot of people liked to talk about. “But it is something we must talk about, with a thumbs up,” she said.

 

LiveOnNY is a nonprofit working with local hospitals and transplant centers to facilitate organ transplants for nearly 10,000 New Yorkers. Nationwide, more than 106,800 patients are waiting for an organ transplant, with 90,443 of those in need of a kidney, according to the latest available Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network data from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

 

Almanzar broke down the data to local ZIP codes within Bronx CB7, which showed that 51 Hispanic patients in ZIP code 10453 are in need of a kidney. Within Bronx Community District 7 (CD7), she also shared data that showed that 392 individuals were currently on waiting lists for various organs.

 

Almanzar said one of the most important goals of LiveOnNY is to make sure donors have enough information on the topic before they decide to become an organ donor. “Someone dies each and every day waiting for a life-saving organ,” she said.

 

“But then, there are families who don’t have enough information on the subject, so they are unable to make a decision… and they’re overwhelmed with emotion,” she said, adding that superstition can also come into play. “I hope you will all go home and express your wishes [regarding organ donation] to your loved ones, and if you haven’t thought about it, to think about it,” she added.

 

Norwood News recently reported more extensively on the types of organs needed in the Bronx as part of our coverage of Organ Donation Enrollment Day, in October.

If you are planning on ordering your holiday gifts online this year, then follow the below tips to avoid having your package stolen.

📦Provide a shipping address of someone who‘ll be home
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— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) December 2, 2021

 

Meanwhile, the Public Safety & Quality of Life committee invited the supervisor for the 52^nd precinct’s neighborhood coordination officers (NCOs), Sgt. James O’Brien, to address some of the ongoing public safety concerns of the community. Several resident complaints revolved around vehicles, both parked and moving.

 

Chad Royer, chair of CB7’s Veterans Affairs’ committee, said he recently had a close call with a moving vehicle. “I almost got hit by a car that had a temporary plate because he ran the [red] light and wanted to speed just because he could,” Royer said. He asked what police could do about the apparent prevalence of temporary license plates.

 

O’Brien acknowledged that there were some difficulties amid the pandemic in tracking violations related to fake or expired license tags due to the temporary closure of the City’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). “If they’re fake [the temporary license plate], we can make the arrest but last I heard, the Bronx district attorney is not prosecuting forged instruments, which means the fake plates,” he said. Norwood News has reached out to the district attorney’s office for comment. We did not receive an immediate response.

 

“They might have printed them up themselves or made up the dates,” O’Brien added. Even when plates are authentic, if they have expired, O’Brien said it results in a summons. “We have been enforcing it, traffic [cops have] been enforcing it, and it’s a fine, obviously. The days of the DMV being closed are gone,” he added.

 

Meanwhile, community activist, Sirio Guerino, of Guerinos Against Graffitti* expressed his concern about parked cars with no license plates, and asked what the precinct was doing about enforcement. “We can summons them [the vehicle owner]” O’Brien said. “Eventually they can be towed,” he added. However, the sergeant said, in his experience, tow companies have been very slow to respond. “We do have a list of cars ready to be towed,” he said.

 

The NYPD releases statistics on towed vehicles. However, a representative from the NYPD told the Norwood News on Dec. 2, that the latest available statistics relate to 2020.

 

According to the 2020 data, the 52nd precinct which covers Bedford Park, Fordham, Kingsbridge, Norwood, Bronx Park, and University Heights, recorded 132 tows, the 50th precinct, which covers Riverdale, Fieldston, Kingsbridge, Marble Hill, and Spuyten Duyvil, including Wave Hill and Van Cortlandt Park, recorded 76 tows, and the 46th precinct which covers the Fordham, University Heights, Morris Heights and Mount Hope neighborhoods, recorded 168 tows.

 

A breakdown of the latest available “moving violations” data which encompasses violations for driving too slowly, using a cell phone while driving, running a red light, etc are also included above for all three local precincts.

 

O’Brien also shared some tips on crime prevention during the holiday shopping season. For consumers who prefer shopping physically at stores and using their credit cards for purchases, he said keeping an eye on the person handling their cards can help mitigate one method of potentially fraudulent charges.

 

“A lot of times, there’s no reason for the person to take your credit card and leave [the register area], especially at a store,” O’Brien said, explaining that one popular, in-store scam involves employees taking credit cards out of sight of the customer and charging gift cards to customers’ credit cards.

 

In addition, the usual tips for safe shopping still hold true. The sergeant advised residents never to leave shopping bags, full of gifts inside their cars, and when possible, to make several trips to the stores to minimize walking around with multiple shopping bags, as this may attract the attention of thieves.

 

The previous tip is especially true when riding on public transportation, according to O’Brien. He also reiterated the one tip many New Yorkers know and abide by, “If you see something that doesn’t feel right, or somebody next to you that doesn’t feel right, maybe move somewhere else.”

 

Norwood News also recently reported on the options available to the community to address price gouging.

 

More information on organ donation can be found on the LiveOnNY website https://www.liveonny.org/.

 

*Síle Moloney contributed to this story.