Joy Syeeda Lafontaine and Police Officer Stephen Echevarria were each presented with awards for their service to the community during the final meeting, before the summer break, of Bedford Mosholu Community Association (BMCA) on June 7, the same day the air quality in New York City was badly affected by Canadian wildfires.

 

Lafontaine, secretary of BMCA, was awarded the Mary Vallati Memorial Award in recognition of her exceptional volunteer service over the year, while Echevarria, community affairs officer at the 52nd Precinct, was awarded the Jack Kelly Memorial Award in recognition of his outstanding service to the community.

 

During the meeting, delivery package theft was discussed with BMCA president, Barbara Stronczer, saying she had been advised that a resident with a disability living at 326 East 201st Street had had packages stolen from in front of her door, and that across the street at a Co-op on 325 East 201st street, a man was photographed stealing mats from the hallway. “I mean, it’s crazy, just crazy,” Stronzer said. There were some jokes made later about people literally taking the word “welcome” too far.

 

Stronzer added that the issue had been reported to police. “He came with a shopping cart and just loaded the shopping cart,” she said. Police Officers Boland and Arias from the 52nd Precinct, who were present at the meeting and who deal with 311 complaints, confirmed they received an email about the issue and were following up. It was mentioned that a mirror had previously been stolen also.

The two Sector C officers, Boland, who said he’s been with the Precinct for nine years, and Arias, who said she’s been there for seven and a half years, then gave an overview of the seven major crimes in the precinct for the prior 28-day period compared to 2022. They said there were seven robberies, up from five from the previous year, 11 felony assaults, up from seven the previous year, three burglaries, down from four last year, 13 grand larceny incidents up from nine last year, and three grand larceny auto incidents, down from four last year.

 

Boland said that e-bike theft fell under grand larceny and scooter theft fell under grand larceny auto. “You guys see them every day, I’m sure. They get stolen at a high [rate], so that’s why those numbers are up a little bit,” he said. Boland said it was important to log calls with 311 as any unanswered calls over an hour are now being flagged to a specific Police Chief John Chell who was now only monitoring 311 calls. Boland said that anything that was flagged as “outside” in a complaint like barbecues or noise got flagged and “body cameras go on right away” so that residents can see what the officers are doing to address the situation. He said the cameras get turned off after enforcement.

 

The officers explained that they also now have an app on their phones where they can read off all 311 jobs. “Usually, we can call if you guys leave a number to ask what the problem is,” Boland said. “Right now, we get a notification on our phone. There’s a police vehicle that is only assigned to 311s. They don’t do 911s and within an hour, it’s supposed to be answered.” He also clarified, “My rule of thumb is if you need 911, you always call 911.”

 

Boland explained that both he and Arias worked every day except Sunday and Monday and handle mostly 311 problems. They encouraged residents to both call 311 and text them and said they will be there within 15 minutes. Boland’s number is (929) 287 7212 and Arias’s is (917) 374 0459.

Local resident Sirio Guerino asked that police monitor for barbecues outside the Orthodox Indian Church in Bedford Park on Decatur Avenue, as he said they were disturbing the church members. Boland went on to explain that on Fridays and Saturdays, the NCO unit do what they call a caravan. “We have about five police cars, and we go around the whole precinct and all we do is answer 311 calls and write summonses,” he said, adding that the summonses were for things like loudspeakers, drinking, public noise, and taking scooters off the streets.

 

Stronzer mentioned about a noisy car wash machine around Botanical Square North and Boland and Arias agreed to follow-up. They mentioned that Harris Field was a hot topic and that they had held a meeting with Councilman Eric Dinowitz (C.D. 11) and were working with the Parks’ department to figure out ways to address the noise and garbage there, especially on weekends.

 

A resident asked if police could still address issues happening inside residential buildings now that cannabis was legal. Boland said residents still can’t smoke in the public areas of buildings and this includes cannabis. He added loitering was also not permitted. He encouraged residents to call 311 in case of any concerns. Residents were also reminded that fireworks are still also illegal and shared fliers that can be posted inside buildings to inform people of this.

A member of the Botanical Square Tenant Association mentioned that the group had had a good history with the 52^nd Precinct. He was encouraged to hear about the Build the Block meetings and that they rotated around the precinct sectors each quarter. Boland explained that such meetings with residents were used for when they don’t get direct calls from residents in order to know what community complaints to address.

 

Stronczer encouraged everyone to vote in the primary elections on June 27. “I will never tell you who to vote for but please go out [and vote], because if we need our elected officials or need something for the community, the first thing they’re going to look at are all those poll rolls to see how many in Bedford Park actually turned out to vote,” she said. “So please, if you need something, you’ve got to vote.” She added, “I often say this because we share our council people with other neighborhoods like Riverdale, Wakefield, Woodlawn, and if we want attention here, we’ve got a vote.”

 

Lafontaine said the annual 52^nd Precinct Community Council fellowship breakfast would be held on Oct. 6. at Monroe College on Fordham and Jerome, and tickets were selling at $20. Representatives from the offices of various elected officials later gave updates regarding local events and legislative matters. The contact email for George Cooke from District 15 City Councilman Oswald Feliz’s office was confirmed as GCooke@council.nyc.gov.

Evan from Assemblyman John Zaccaro Jr’s office confirmed the email for the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), if residents suspected smoke shop violations or had complaints to lodge, as complaints@ocm.ny.gov. He said the assemblyman was working on legislation around illegal cannabis shops.

 

“There’s been a lot of confusion, and so he’s really trying to make that easier for everybody to understand, specifically how it relates to the distance that a smoke shop could be from a school or a place of worship,” he said, adding that it wasn’t always clear how the required minimum 500 feet was being measured.

 

Brent Woodie from Dinowitz’s office mentioned that the councilman had sponsored a number of bills providing support to students with disabilities, supporting the city’s cultural institutions in the aftermath COVID-19, promoting digital literacy for older adults, and expanding employment opportunities for young people.

 

He also addressed the issue of catch basins needing cleaning that had been discussed at the previous BMCA meeting and requested residents to let their office know the priority locations. He also said the issue of “columns” along Mosholu Parkway was being addressed with Parks.

 

Marisa Canapi’s young son, Xavier, in his first time to speak in public, later talked about how he and his school friends had collected various signs that had been hammered to trees in the local area, advertising cash for diabetic test strips. The police explained that it was thought that the strips are given by Medicaid to elderly people who get them for free, and that if they don’t need them, people put signs up to sell them.

Xavier said, in part, “What happened was we saw all these signs and we wanted to save the trees, because it’s not nice for these people who keep putting these on the trees.”

 

The next BMCA meeting will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 6.