Bronx Community Board 7 (CB7) held its latest monthly general board meeting on Tuesday, May 28, at Monroe College in Fordham Manor, approving two motions to send letters of support to the Bronx Independent Cinema Center (BICC) and the New York Public Library.

 

During the meeting, CB7’s Parks’ committee recommended that the board provide a letter of support to BICC in the context of their application for funding and grant opportunities for their efforts to foster independent cinema in the borough.

 

BICC launched in October 2022, according to its website. The nonprofit organization currently operates out of CUNY on the Concourse, located at 2501 Grand Concourse also in Fordham Manor, and BICC officials said the group is looking to bring an independent cinema space to Fordham Road, as previously reported by Norwood News.

 

Currently, The Bronx has only one single movie theater left, the AMC Bay Plaza Cinema 13, located in Co-Op City, since the Concourse Plaza Multiplex Cinema, located on 161st Street, closed down permanently after 30 years on May 28. Representatives for the Concourse Plaza Multiplex said the closure was the result of a “business decision.”

 

Barbara Stronczer, chair of CB7’s Parks’ committee said “[Gregory Hernandez, a film maker and executive director of BICC] will also use the funding he receives as a way in which he could help Bronx residents to obtain careers [in independent cinema]. The committee felt that we should send a letter of support with the hope that they will be able to obtain funding.”

 

The award-winning “1.5 Million” documentary by Hernandez, also co-founder of Bronx Film 48, chronicles an intimate journey into the borough’s literacy crisis, and explores the political and economic forces that gave rise to it, including lack of access to books. The board approved the motion.

 

Yajaira Arias, chairperson of Bronx CB7, said, “It’s important that we take on our cultural divisions here in our borough, and in our district, so this motion that we just passed hopefully is the beginning of inviting back the cinema to our district.”

 

The second motion on the agenda came from CB7’s Education committee, who recommended the board send a letter of support for the New York Public Library (NYPL) to local elected officials to ask to stop the proposed City budget cuts to public libraries.

 

Leurys Acosta, chair of the Education committee, said, “Jane Addison of the Mosholu Public Library shared their ‘Better Writing’ campaign to support the New York Public Libraries and protect them from budget cuts. We have three libraries within our district. These are safe spaces where children and everyone has programming available for free. They’re very cherished and valued within our community.”

 

Acosta continued, “So, we’re just [hoping to write] a letter of support to the city council and all those who have the power to avoid the cuts and specifically to have our libraries able to stay open on Sundays.” The board approved the motion. For more information on various services offered by NYPL at Mosholu Public Library for teens, adults and kids, visit https://www.nypl.org/locations/mosholu. Mosholu Library sometimes runs a summer reading program for kids to help support their learning over the summer months.

 

Click on the donation link here for details of Bronx Independent Cinema Center’s campaign to bring independent film to The Bronx. Read our latest story on the topic here.

 

The next General Board Meeting for Bronx CB7 is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, June 25, at 6.30 p.m. at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) located at 2900 Southern Boulevard Bronx, NY 10458.

 

*Síle Moloney contributed to this story.