We’re back with our first installment of the Bronx Breakdown in 2012, which will include: an argument for keeping churches in city housing projects, readers debating the true meaning of separation of church and state, the worst landlord in the Bronx, a blues playing Bronx defense attorney and what you should do this weekend. Let’s get it started.

The Other Pastor Arrested Yesterday
The biggest story in the Bronx this week was the arrest yesterday of City Councilman Fernando Cabrera who was handcuffed by police and charged with trespassing for kneeling in front of the entrance 100 Church St. in downtown Manhattan, the building that houses the city’s law department, and conducting a brief “prayer protest.”

He was not alone. In fact, Cabrera was one of seven arrested yesterday and was only there to support the organizers of the protest. The primary organizer was Pastor Dimas Salaberrios who heads Infinity New York Church at the Bronx River Houses. Cabrera didn’t go there expecting to get arrested; he had made plans to meet with other church leaders soon after the protest.

Salaberrios, on the other hand, had a pretty good idea police would forcibly remove them from blocking the building’s entrance and take them into custody. And unlike Cabrera, it was not the first time Salaberrios had been arrested.

The 38-year-old Salaberrios says he spent a good part of his youth caught up in the street life and did time in jail for criminal offenses. He isn’t proud of the person he used to be, but says it eventually led him to dedicate his life to preaching the gospel and curbing violence in New York City, which he’s done at the Bronx River Houses for the past seven years.

Completed in 1951 and run by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), the The Bronx River Houses gave birth to a number of hip hop legends (like Afrika Bambaata) as well as entrenched gang rivalries and a legacy of violence.

Although gangs still operate in and around the Bronx River Houses, Salaberrios says there has not been one homicide there for the past six years. His church has had a lot to do with that, he says. In addition to holding services in the community center on Wednesdays and Sundays, Salaberrios’ Infinity Church also volunteers there, organizes an annual family day event and contributed $30,000 to the center for upgrades to the facilities.

“We broke up the gangs there,” Salaberrios says.

Infinity pays NYCHA $350 back into city coffers to rent out space for worship services at Bronx River and Salaberrios says NYCHA officials have praised their calming presence.

But on Dec. 17, Salaberrios received a call from a NYCHA official saying organization would no longer be able to accept the church’s rent after Dec. 31 due to the Bronx Household of Faith ruling, which upheld the city’s ban on worship services inside public schools. Upon hearing this, Salaberrios says his heart jumped into his throat and wouldn’t move. He went to the hospital where doctors told him his heart was stressed, but fortunately not damaged.

Along with Pastor Joseph Fletcher of Bronx Bible Churches, who rents out space at the Sotomayor Houses in Soundview, Salaberrios called up NYCHA to ask them to re-evaluate their stance. They did, according to Salaberrios, saying both churches could remain at their locations until at least Feb. 12 while the agency conferred with the law department and decided what would happen. Believing their fate lay in the hands of a law department that vigorously pursued the Department of Education’s policy against worship in schools, Salaberrios organized the “prayer protest” to bring light to the situation.

Now here’s where it gets murky.

The law department insists it never directed or advised NYCHA to ban worship in its facilities. NYCHA says it hasn’t instituted a worship ban, but does say it is reviewing all of its rental arrangements, religious or not, and has been since the beginning of the year. Officials at NYCHA says the the churches can continue to worship at its facilities for the time being.

So, what’s going on?

Salaberrios says he and other clergy are confused and aren’t getting straight answers. “That’s why we need down to the heart of this thing,” he says.

In any case, Cabrera says the arrests and subsequent publicity may have done the trick. Today, he said NYCHA officials indicated the churches would be allowed to stay indefinitely.

If that doesn’t turn out to be true, Salaberrios says he’s prepared to take the fight back to the law department next Thursday and spend more time in jail if that’s what it takes to stay at Bronx River.

Separation of Church and State Debate Heats Up
Readers reacted strongly on both sides of the issue to our story yesterday about the protests. A little taste:

From reader Bea D: “You want to preach the Gospel, build or find a church, pastors. Public schools are secular institutions, bound by law not to promote any religion, and that’s the way it should be.”

From reader Patricia: “The US Constitution’s “Seperation of Church & State” was written to protect houses of worhsip & churches from the tierney of government. It was intended to keep government out of churches & not the other way around.”

Keep it up, readers. This is your forum to express yourselves and create a dialogue.

The Worst Landlord in the Bronx
According El Diario de la Prensa and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, it’s 1071 Home Corp., which has accumulated 1,178 “dangerous violations” in eight buildings, four of them in the Bronx.

Defense Attorney Sings the Bronx Blues
Love this story, by the Daily News’ Kevin Deutsch, about Bronx criminal defense attorney Elliot Shapiro and blues man who riffs about his experience representing Bronx defendants. Here’s the video piece that accompanies the story:

What You Should Do This Weekend
MulchFest 2012! No, it’s not a black metal rock festival. It’s a chance to turn your Christmas tree into nutrient-rich mulch this weekend at any of 18 different Bronx locations. It’s Saturday and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. I’ll be heading to Van Cortlandt Park, thank you very much. If you hang around for a couple minutes, you can even take some home with you!

Happy New Year from the Bronx Breakdown! Stay tuned…