The street views of Mott Haven are preserved in a photo collage by artist Linda CunninghamPhoto by Sergey Kadinsky

Tourists brave cold to find cutting edge work

Barry Kostrinsky paused near the place where the bond trader Sherman McCoy took a wrong turn to the Bronx and disaster in Bonfire of the Vanities, the Tom Wolfe novel that cemented the South Bronx’s reputation as a terrifying place.

Some people still ask him “whether it’s safe here,” Kostrinsky said. But he wants to polish a new image for Mott Haven, showing it off to curious art lovers who may still be a bit timid about walking the streets alone.

“The Bronx Museum of Art is a big spot, and they pick up artists from this area for their shows,” he boasted, as he contrasted reputation and reality.

On a cold January midday, he met 25 tourists on the corner of Third Avenue and East 138th Street.

“There is a lot of curiosity about this area,” said Mary Kay Judy, a preservation consultant. “It’s a big crowd for a cold day.”

Sponsored by the Municipal Art Society and comprised of society members, the tour included few residents of the Bronx, but all had some ties to the borough, from family history to workplaces.

“My father grew up on the Grand Concourse, and I love to see the Bronx,” said Deborah Abel, a kindergarten teacher. “I’ve seen Melrose, but I’ve never been around here.”

Kostrinsky is a Riverdale resident whose family once owned an upscale silver tableware factory in Mott Haven. Since the closing of his family’s firm, he has found new success in the neighborhood as a promoter for local artists through the Haven Gallery on Bruckner Boulevard.

“Artists started moving here when Brooklyn got too expensive,” said Kostrinsky. “It’s only 15 minutes to 86th Street.”

The first stop was a former warehouse-turned-loft condominiums, where owner Linda Cunningham operates a gallery on the first floor.

Twisted metal beams were arranged as plants on the floor. Nearby, a concrete post that once stood on the border between East and West Germany, takes new life as part of an art installation.

On the wall was a sketch a sketch of a Khmer temple overrun by vegetation. For Cunningham, the crumbling border post and the temple reclaimed by nature symbolize the temporary aspects of an urban landscape.

“Linda is about art as transformation,” said Kostrinsky. “It’s one thing to buy expensive art objects, but she reconstructs objects from the street.”

“This is a garden tended by retired men from the housing project,” said Cunningham, pointing at a photo collage of a street scene. “They guard it, and it’s so sweet.”

Fellow resident Carey Clark once had a studio in Manhattan, but as the neighborhood changed, she sought a more inspiring home. “Tribeca was once arty and funky, but in three weeks the suits moved in,” said Clark.

Since 1990, her murals have spanned the width of the Bronx, from the Yankee Stadium subway station to Hunts Point, where she maintains a framing studio and runs the art program at the local community center, The Point.

“Not all artists have cool-looking art spaces,” said Kostrinsky. “Our next artist lives in a small apartment.”

Jeffrey Acea, 57, who is wheelchair bound, lives in Plaza Boriquen, a low-income cooperative on East 138th Street. Prior to his art career, Acea also claims fame as the city’s first handicapped cab driver.

A self-taught artist, according to Kostrinsky, his current project is a series of scenes from the Third Avenue El, the historic elevated railway that was torn down in 1973. “It created a ghost town along Third Avenue up to Fordham Road,” said Acea.

On the south side of the Major Deegan, the tour group climbed five stories to the apartment-gallery of Luis D. Rosado, 28, where a photography exhibit by George LeGare graces the walls.

“The idea was to create an art space where artists can collaborate in a cohesive way,” said Rosado.

The 25 tour participants barely squeezed into the gallery, as a large printer churned out copies of photographs, and participating artists weaved through the crowd.

“I came from a missionary family, so I’m comfortable opening my door to visitors,” said Rosado. “I’ve had guests from Canada, and they never expected this in the South Bronx.”

An alley separating the Mott Haven Branch Library and an apartment building is used to store the library's trash.Photo by Sergey Kadinsky

Trash from other branches in the borough collects in adjacent alley

The Mott Haven Library is the oldest public library building in the Bronx, and one of the architectural gems of the Mott Haven Historic District. But the New York Public Library system uses the alley next door as a dump.

All the borough’s branch libraries–from Riverdale to Highbridge–package their trash and drive it to the alley. Whenever the branches have to dispose of a large item too big to fit in a trash can—a wooden table or chair, a microfilm machine or a bookcase, for example—it, too, winds up in a dumpster parked at the Mott Haven branch.

Library officials won’t explain why.

After numerous phone calls and emails from the Mott Haven Herald, library spokesman Herbert Scher responded only: “The Library has determined that the current location is the best one for centralized collection of bulk trash items.”

Neighbors complain that the dumpster stinks, something library officials deny, saying only certain types trash, not the smelly variety, is deposited there. In addition, residents say, the dumpster is an eyesore in a part of Mott Haven that is becoming more upscale, as homeowners and landlords renovate their buildings.

“There’s no reason why there should be a dumpster here,” said artist Linda Cunningham, who lives two buildings down from the library. “This is a residential area.”

When the National Register of Historic Places listed Alexander Avenue in 1980, it praised the “two fine civic buildings”—the 41st Precinct and the library—for “their harmonious proportions and low scale which blend into the surrounding environment.”

Financed by Andrew Carnegie’s philanthropy a century ago, the library’s design was inspired by the Carnegie mansion on Fifth Avenue and 91st Street, which today houses the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum.

The dumpster arrived in the alley almost four years ago, according to Dorothy Louise, a playwright who lives in a condominium two buildings down from the library. She considers the dumpster an eyesore in an otherwise improving neighborhood.

Louise’s home is a former textile factory and warehouse that has been divided into condominium lofts, settled largely by artists, musicians and other creative professionals. Across the street from the library, a run-down walkup is being renovated, with a new sidewalk tree, courtesy of the city.
The offending dumpster is parked in an alley separating the library from a four-story walkup.

On the ground floor, Stephanie Meza, 19, has a bedroom window facing the alley and the dumpster. “My mother has to put on the fire to get out the smell,” said Meza. “We’ve called 311 because of the foul smell. The trash is over the top.”

Meza also said that noisy garbage trucks empty the dumpster as early as 6:30 in the morning.

“The trucks wake me up,” said Meza. “And the workers are loud and rude.”

“I’ve spoken with the library staff,” said Louise. “And they don’t want it here, either.”
Throughout the week, janitors from the various branches drive the trash to the dumpster. The Sanitation Department collects it from the alleyway.

“The Sanitation Department won’t pick up individual bulk items from a library,” said Scher initially. “They have to pick them up at one location in a dumpster.”

Not so, says the Sanitation Department. “The Sanitation Department does not require the New York Public Library to bring their bulk items to the Mott Haven branch,” said spokesman Matthew Lipani in an email response.

In Queens, whose public libraries are not part of the New York Public Library system, “each location has its trash collected individually,” says Queens Library spokeswoman Joanne King.

While the alley behind the Mott Haven branch is used to store trash, other nearby branches have better uses for their outdoor space. The Morrisania branch has park-like landscaping around its building, while the Hunts Point branch has an unused alley behind it.

Lipani, the Sanitation Department spokesman, defended the way the library maintains the dumpster saying, “the area where the container is stored is clear of debris and does not constitute an ‘eyesore.’”

Neighbors disagree.

“There are a lot of cats here,” said Meza. “And people throwing trash over the fence.”
In response to those complaints and an inquiry from the Mott Haven Herald, the library installed a mesh fence and tarp in early November to cover the alley from public view, which further offended the neighbors.

“That masks it, but we still have garbage out here,” said Tyko Kilhstedt, a painter, pointing at a garbage bag outside the fence. Kihlstedt’s wife Andrea, has also spoken with library staff, and says they share her dislike of the tarp.

The Public Library administration insists the dumpster is necessary and unavoidable. “We do not have an alternative site, and this will be used for the foreseeable future,” said Scher.

“It will still smell,” said Kilhstedt. “It could be a nice small park, but at the moment it’s just an eyesore.”

A version of this story appeared in the Winter 2009 issue of The Mott Haven Herald.

A trash can overflows, while an outdoor recycling container at Mitchel Houses has a fence blocking access to it.Photo by Sergey Kadinsky

Housing Authority facilities make recycling difficult

Glass, metals, apple cores: It’s all the same to Mott Haven residents, according to a report published in the Daily News on Oct. 4. Citing confusion and lack of space for recycling, the report, based on Sanitation Department figures, pegs the recycling rate for Mott Haven, Port Morris, and Melrose as the worst in the city.

Only 16 percent of what should be recycled is, according to the report, compared to the citywide average of 42 percent.

“We don’t have recycling here,” said Princella Jamerson, who has lived in the Mill Brook Houses for 35 years. “We had cans outside for recycling, but people put all of their trash there.”

How much is recycled in the area depends in large measure on the New York City Housing Authority, which operates 17 public housing projects, including Mill Brook, here.

“The Housing Authority tries,” said Andrew Jackson Houses Residents Association president Danny Barber. “But it’s also the people. You have to educate the residents.”

The law requires city residents to sort their trash, putting glass, plastic and metal, paper items and food garbage into separate containers.

Housing Authority spokesman Howard Marder said that efforts are being made to inform residents of their recycling duties.

“We distribute literature, we speak at resident association meetings, we speak with the staff so they know what to do,” said Marder. “If a location needs more receptacles and more signs, we want the staff to tell us and we will provide them.”

When a residential building does not recycle its trash, owners are punished, but tenants are not. For landlords of small private apartment buildings, fines serve as an incentive to recycle. Gregorio Sanchez, a landlord of three units on East 157th Street was once lax about recycling, but an enforcement agent prodded him to be more careful.

“I once got a ticket; it was a black bag kicked by a Sanitation agent,” said Sanchez. “He heard broken glass inside.”

For having glass mixed with his regular trash, Sanchez was fined $25. He could have challenged it, arguing that the glass vase inside was broken into pieces when disposed, but citing a busy work schedule, he paid the ticket.

To prevent future fines, Sanchez put up signs for his tenants, and sweeps his sidewalk. “If we don’t pick it up, they ticket us,” he said.

Even though the Daily News report is based on a Sanitation Department survey from July 2009, Robert Lange, director of the Sanitation Department’s recycling program disputes the recycling report. “It is accurate, but other factors need to be considered,” said Lange.

“No city, recycles everything,” Lange said. Inevitably, some paper, plastic and glass can’t be recycled because the items have been used to store food or clean up after pets.

The best any city has achieved, Lange said, is to divert 55 to 60 percent of its paper, plastic, glass and metal for re-use, instead of burial in landfills.

That still exceeds the 16 percent recycled locally, and Lange believes that local residents have the potential to increase their recycling by a further 30 percent, bringing it closer to the citywide average.

Because private companies collect their trash, commercial properties are excluded from the Sanitation Department’s surveys, but local business owners who belong to The Hub Business Improvement District have their own street cleaners along Third Avenue and East 149th Street.

“My sanitation guys sweep and service the streets,” said Vinnie Valentino, the BID’s executive director. On the corner of Third Avenue and East 149th Street, there are two recycling containers, in a pilot program for recycling in BIDs.

Private housing developers have also taken steps to ensure a better environment. Nos Quedamos, a Melrose-based community development corporation, is the sponsor behind 12 projects consisting of multi-family townhouses and apartment buildings.

“We assisted homeowners along Elton Avenue in securing recycling receptacles from the Department of Health,” said Anna Vincenty, the assistant director of community relations at Nos Quedamos. “Among older buildings, there are special receptacles to keep rats out.”

Alongside its older dwellings, Nos Quedamos also manages recently-built apartment house for seniors and working families. The organization promotes recycling vigorously.

“This happens in all of our buildings,” said Vincenty. “People don’t know what to recycle, so we have seminars.”

Nos Quedamos buildings have recycling rooms with trash chutes on every floor of the properties it manages. NYCHA projects that predate the recycling law only have trash chutes in their hallways. As a result, in order to dispose of their recyclables, residents must go outside and look for special green bins.

“They should have indoor trash recyclables,” said Mitchell Houses resident Mark Scott, 22. Looking at the outdoor green recycling container, Scott said it was unrealistic to expect every resident to recycle, especially during the winter months.

Inside Scott’s apartment building, which was built in 1966, the hallways are too narrow to accommodate a new room for recyclable trash.

“The fire code prohibits storage of anything in hallways or interior entranceways,” said Marder. “Therefore in order to recycle, residents have to leave the building.”

Nevertheless, Marder said that residents can make a difference in improving their communities. In August, the Housing Authority announced the formation of “green committees” for each Housing Authority development. Thirty-eight projects around the city have them, including Mott Haven, Patterson and McKinley.

“It seems simple,” said Anthony Bonilla, 27, a lifelong resident of Mott Haven Houses. “More education needs to be done.”

A version of this story appeared in the Winter 2009 edition of the Mott Haven Herald.

Brothers Ali and Habib Trawaly founded Masjid Ebun Abass a year ago.

A green awning outside the storefront announces Mott Haven’s newest outpost of Islam, the Masjid Ebun Abass on the quiet corner of Alexander Avenue and 141st Street, buffered from the traffic of Third Avenue by a Greenstreet triangle.

A symbol of the Bronx’s newest immigrant group, the mosque “is one of the biggest, and it’s in Mott Haven,” said Mamadou Kamara. Kamara is an assistant imam, the Muslim term for a spiritual leader.

Before the congregation leased its quarters, Kamara would travel to a mosque in Harlem to worship, and sometimes found himself praying in unlikely places. “When I do it on the street, I don’t care who cares,” said Kamara. “I once prayed in the Times Square Church.”

Most of the members of the congregation are West African. Their place of worship is a simple affair. A stepped podium for sermons, a bookshelf, and a poster of the Sacred Mosque in Mecca are the only physical signs of Islam in the mosque’s interior. Painted parallel lines on the carpet indicate the direction of Islam’s holiest city.

Brothers Ali and Habib Trawaly, who are respectively its imam and president, founded Ebun Abass a year ago.

“It was a considerable effort to bring about the mosque,” said Ali Trawaly. At the time, the only other mosque in Mott Haven was at 369 E. 145th Street, an anonymous century-old townhouse, where the only outward sign of Islam is a heavily barred green and white metal fence.

Starting a new congregation “was all about the kids,” said assistant imam Abdurahman Juwara. “They did not fit into the other masjid,” he said, using the Arabic term for mosque.

“We have over 160 kids here,” said Banusi Maha, 45, another of the founding members of the mosque. “We teach them to respect people.”

If it weren’t for the mosque, Maha fears, the children would instead be watching television and learning nothing.  Instead, behind a makeshift curtain, children work on their school assignments and study the Quran.

Maha works an early morning shift as a cook at the Jekyll and Hyde Club, a theme restaurant in Midtown. Having worked as a chef in his homeland, he simply walked into the restaurant and asked for the job.

Like Maha, most members of the congregation hold blue-collar jobs, working long hours for little pay.

“Financially, it is difficult,” said Juwara, who emigrated from Gambia and has lived in the Bronx for 15 years.  “We have a basement, but we don’t have the money to develop it,” said Kamara.

In contrast to the imposing, domed Islamic Cultural Center on the Upper East Side, which was largely financed by Kuwait, Masjid Ebun Abass did not receive funding from any foreign government. “If we had that kind of money, we’d buy the building,” Juwara said.

“This is us: we work in car washes, factories, and drive taxis,” said Degumeh Sillah, 60, an African art dealer.  A Bronx resident since 1972, Sillah expressed pride at the religious transformation of the area. “The mosque on 166th Street,” he said, “that’s a former nightclub.”

Still, his mosque struggles to pay its $5,500 monthly rent. “With electricity, water, and teacher’s salary, that comes to $8,000,” said Sillah.

But the leaders of the congregation remain confident and determined.

“We are looking for a place to buy,” says Omar Trawaly, a cousin of the imam whose  three sons attend classes at the mosque. He said that the landlord has given the mosque two months to consider buying the space. “For sure, we don’t want to be renting,” Trawaly said.

Local Africans often speak of making money and returning to their homelands, but months turn to years. Where it was once acceptable to pray anywhere, there is now a growing need for permanent institutions, including mosques.

“Before, we didn’t think of establishing masjids,” said Soulemane Konate, secretary general of the Council of African Imams. “It’s not easy for Africans to survive in this country, but we’re not leaving.”

A version of this article appeared in the Fall 2009 issue of the Mott Haven Herald.

“They first asked people to accept that there is no god except Allah,” said Djounedou Titikpina, founder of the African People Alliance. “It was very flexible, and little by little, they upgraded their Islam.” Titikpina immigrated from Togo, a country where Christians, Muslims, and adherents of native faiths, generally maintain peaceful relations.

Islam acts as a uniting force for a variety of ethnic groups in West Africa, where everyone prays in Arabic and observes the same fasts, viewing themselves as a single ummah, or community.

To promote local Muslim unity, Soulemane Konate, secretary general of the Council of African Imams founded the Harlem Shura, a council that acts as a bridge between African immigrants and African American Muslims.

The theme of Muslim unity is reflected at Masjid Ebun Abass. Among its non-African members is Adbul Rauf, a Puerto Rican convert who works at the nearby Lincoln Hospital. “Everything you see here is created by Allah,” Rauf said, adding that in his heart, “I was always a Muslim.”

An Islamic lifestyle is a far cry from the Latino cuisine he grew up with, in which pork is abundant and alcohol is permitted.  Habib Trawaly praised the few converts. “When they enter Islam, their hearts are pure,” he says.

The mosque’s attitude towards converts hearkens back to the gradual spread of Islam in West Africa.

This attitude is also evident in the rejection by the local congregation of terrorism. “Islam does not teach force,” said Musa Pokum, a decorative painter. “We know in Africa; we teach to respect people.”

A version of this article appeared in the Fall 2009 issue of the Mott Haven Herald.