Van Nest Neighborhood Alliance September Meeting
Due to the first Monday being Labor Day the VNNA monthly meeting was moved to Thursday. The meeting was also held at St. Dominic’s Church on Unionport Road.
Scheduled guests from the Department of Sanitation and U.S. Census Bureau had to cancel, so VNNA President Bernadette Ferrara went over what happened over summer issues. She said that Community Board 11 (where the VNNA is part of) would have to find space for homeless shelters. She mentioned 200 people, but at the CB 11 meeting in August the number was said to be 809 from the CB 11 area.
The discussion turned to Quality of Life issues with the subject of youth loitering at certain areas. On one block the 49th Precinct had to be called four times to disperse several youths that were on one particular corner. Police officer Sturdivant, the Community Affairs officer of the 49th Precinct explained that due to new laws passed in recent years the police no longer have the power to arrest people for loitering and other minor Quality of Life issues. Crime Prevention Officer Mederos added that police can no longer go into an apartment to check on a complaint, but must now be invited in to see the problem.
During the elected officials reports, the Morris Park Road Diet court case was mentioned as on hold for now. Tom Pryor of Councilman Gjonaj’s office said that the fire department was not responding to requests for information, and that could push the court date back several months. There will be a Bronx State Senate Legislative Update Thursday September 12th at Monroe College (2501 Jerome Avenue) from 6 -9 PM.
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