Mott Haven residents are hopeful they can convert an abandoned health clinic into a multi-purpose center that would benefit the community before the city allows developers to get their hands on it.
Last Saturday there were signs of life along the usually desolate Lincoln Avenue waterfront, as residents came to enjoy the open space and cool breezes at the 2nd annual Mott Haven-Port Morris Waterfront Celebration. They demanded the city consider public recreational access as a key part of future development plans.
After briefly collaborating with FreshDirect to distribute its unique Puerto Rican liquor, The Port Morris Distillery has changed its mind and decided that the first order of Pitorro moonshine it sends the company will be the last.
Environmental activists are trying to stop a Port Morris power plant from obtaining a renewal for its permit to operate, arguing that the company’s emissions violate state standards and contribute to the area’s famously poor air quality.
While city officials and developers alike are bullish on Mott Haven, residents and activists worry that several ambitious development projects to transform the neighborhood risk creating a community of haves and have-nots.
Some 100 Mott Haven residents locked horns with about as many FreshDirect employees on Nov. 17, at a contentious public hearing on the state’s plans to subsidize the online grocer’s proposed move to the Port Morris waterfront.
An appellate division of the State Supreme Court yupheld a lower court’s decision to throw out a lawsuit brought by South Bronx Unite that would have blocked FreshDirect from building a new facility on the Harlem River Yard.
Bronx environmentalists want to see more people on local waterways, but first they want to know what tomorrow’s Bronx, Harlem and East River shorelines should look like.
