Uprooting a Dangerous Industry: New York City’s Garbage Reform Explained

Miguel Mondesi has been a garbage worker in New York City for 22 years. He’s only 46, but he says everything hurts — his knees, his ankles, his hips. The father of three starts his shift at 3 a.m. and works for the next 10 to 15 hours. In that time, he’ll make up to […]

NYCHA tenant reps challenge HUD official over housing policy

In their ongoing battle with City Hall, tenant leaders from New York City public housing have become bedfellows with an unlikely partner: the federal government. Following a year-long legal battle with the Housing Authority that resulted in the appointment of a federal monitor to oversee the agency, those NYCHA leaders and other tenants are hopeful […]

Mott Haven LGBTQ leaders unfazed by Bronx lawmaker’s homophobic comments

Prominent local LGBTQ leaders are putting a positive spin on a Bronx councilman’s homophobic statements. It’s no secret that Bronx Councilman Ruben Diaz Sr., who in the past has compared homosexuality to beastiality, harbors controversial views, but the former state senator and pentecostal reverend’s homophobic comments on a Spanish radio station on Feb. 8, have […]

Garbage workers demand back pay from Sanitation Salvage on MLK day

On Martin Luther King Day morning, as the temperatures dropped below 6 degrees Fahrenheit, Kenneth Hernandez was bundled in a black puffer coat outside of the Manida Street headquarters of Sanitation Salvage, the controversial Hunts Point trash hauler that shuttered in November. Hernandez, 27, is a former driver for Salvage. His face fell as he recalled years […]

NYPD sting puts 10 alleged drug dealers behind bars

Detectives from the 40th Precinct arrested 10 suspected drug dealers last week, capping a year-long investigation. Deputy Inspector Brian Hennessy made the sting and subsequent busts public at a community briefing Friday evening. The takedown took place at Perry’s Diner on Third Avenue on Jan. 8. Detectives charged 10 dealers loosely associated with the Latin […]

Mayor comes to Mott Haven to celebrate housing policies

Mayor Bill de Blasio came to Melrose on Wednesday to tout what he said was a record breaking year for the creation of affordable housing in the city. At a press conference at Borinquen Court, a complex built last year on 138th Street with 145 fixed-income apartments for elderly and/or physically handicapped people, de Blasio boasted that […]

NYPD’s arrest of activist shrouded in mystery

The co-owner of La Morada Mexican restaurant on Willis Avenue and her lawyer say she was unlawfully detained by undercover NYPD detectives last Friday evening after they saw her videotaping an alleged sting operation next door. Yajaira Saveedra, who has co-run the restaurant with her mother, sister, and brother since 2009, has earned a reputation […]

Workers, advocates rejoice as Sanitation Salvage announces it will close

Embattled trash hauler’s truck killed two in six months Environmental and labor activists hope that the surprise closing of a controversial, private trash collecting company based in Hunts Point, is a first step to reining in the city’s private trash haulers. Once Sanitation Salvage’s trucks stop rumbling through the South Bronx’s streets, they say, those […]

Tenants fight protracted legal battle with landlords

Soon after reporting a leak in the sink in her apartment at 386 E 139th St., Blonnie Rodgers, 63, said she heard an aggressive knock at her door. When she opened the door the building’s managing agent, Sam Rosen, was standing outside. “He told me, ‘You better watch whose toes you’re stepping on,’” she recalled […]

NYCHA no more: Betances Houses officially converted to RAD housing

The Betances Houses in Mott Haven as of Friday are no longer Section 9 public housing, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced at a press conference at the complex on Monday. The 40 buildings stretching from from 136th Street to 145th Street were converted to the federal Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program, which means they will […]

Public discussion over community land trusts sparks protest

By Rachel Rippetoe and Charlie May on September 25, 2018 at 9:19 am Prominent local businesswoman’s push for “self-gentrification” fuels neighborhood rift Shouting protestors drowned out the advice of bank representatives and developers at a public meeting on Sept. 6, as homeowners in Hunts Point gathered to learn about profiting off their homes amid a swath of […]

Banana Kelly pushes for a land trust ahead of Southern Boulevard rezoning

By Rachel Rippetoe on October 1, 2018 at 10:33 am A nonprofit in Longwood is rallying residents to fight displacement amid the city’s impending rezoning. About 30 people discussed the rezoning of a 130-block area from Longwood north to Crotona Park, on either side of Southern Boulevard, at the Banana Kelly Community Improvement Association on Prospect Avenue […]

Trash piles up after NYCHA loses contractor

SEPTEMBER 27, 2018 BY RACHEL RIPPETOE Some housing complexes have had no pickup for weeks The suspension of garbage hauler Sanitation Salvage last month has created a trash problem for public housing developments across the South Bronx. Bronx Property Management department head Dennis Ovalle confirmed at a meeting of tenant presidents from NYCHA complexes across the area […]

NYCHA tenants cope with aftermath of flooding

OCTOBER 5, 2018 BY RACHEL RIPPETOE A month later, tenants deal with mold and bureaucratic delays A burst pipe on the floor above hers sent water dripping from the crevices of Beatrice Dickerson’s ceiling in August, flooding her Morrisania Air Rights apartment with more than two inches of water. A month later, Dickerson, 76, said the […]

If Sherry Deutschmann were a man, she says she might not have sold her company

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The Boss: United Way’s Brian Hassett was a juvenile delinquent in a family of sports royalty

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Goatrepreneurs: How this family built a business on fun and farm animals

By Rachel Rippetoe – Editorial Intern, Nashville Business Journal Aug 16, 2018, 8:46am After a career building video games in San Francisco, Max Knudsen did what any retired tech guru would do: bought a 47-acre farm in Middle Tennessee and, eventually, began a goat business. Shenanigoats, a goat landscaping and events business that Knudsen founded with partner Jamie […]

Surveys: Metro’s big contractors and minority-owned firms don’t see eye to eye

By Rachel Rippetoe – Editorial Intern, Nashville Business Journal Jul 20, 2018, 8:22am Minority and women contractors better get ready, Mayor David Briley says, because opportunities for work with Metro are coming. Briley spoke Thursday during the 2018 Business Symposium, hosted every year by Belmont Law School. At this year’s event, Bloomberg Associates and the Metro Nashville Business Assistance Office […]

‘We’re building CEOs:’ Nashville’s oldest incubator changes with the times

By Rachel Rippetoe – Editorial Intern, Nashville Business Journal Jul 17, 2018, 8:40am The Nashville Business Incubation Center is undergoing a big shift, and it could mean big things for minority and female entrepreneurs wanting to get in on Nashville’s boom, according to Executive Director Angela Crane-Jones. The incubation center, which is a program designed to help small businesses […]

All dogs allowed: How this luxury hotel is standing out in Nashville’s crowded field

By Rachel Rippetoe – Editorial Intern, Nashville Business Journal Jul 16, 2018, 12:14pm Amid an amenities battle between Nashville’s newest luxury hotels, with pillow menus and special yoga sessions and rooftop bars each quirkier than the next, there is Sasha. Sasha is a unique hotel greeter. She is very friendly and children especially love her. If you give […]