The Route

The 3.5 mile walk up Third Ave

Police Action

A few blocks from Third Avenue and 149th St. a man is arrested outside a check cashing store. Passersby stop, stare, and walk on.

Colorful gestures, colorful clothing

Planting a flag

A tree grows in The Bronx

The Mayor amongst the detritus

Mayor Bill Deblasio on the cover of the newspaper. The mayor ran for office promising to end “stop and frisk” and improve relations between the New York Police Department and African Americans and Hispanics. He won his first term with 73 percent of the vote, winning again in 2017 with 67 percent of the vote.

Clean Halls is Stop and Frisk

The NYPD “Clean Halls” program which started in 1991, allowed owners and managers of private apartment buildings to give police permission to patrol buildings for trespassing. Many viewed the program as violating the rights of black and latino residents. The program was discontinued in 2013 after an incident in the Bronx involving an African American man who was stopped and frisked after being suspected of burglary. His case went to court with the resulting ruling for the man finding that intentional discrimination was part of the City’s “standard operating procedure”.

U.S. Hunger

A man with a local church group unloads a truck with food donations. Goya, the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the U.S. is a major donor.

Nutricion

Much More

Selfies outside the 42nd

The 42nd precinct serves an area of 1.1 square miles known as the Morrisania section of the Bronx, which includes most of the length of the walk. A group of the European tourists got off a tour bus, took photos and quickly got back on the bus. Afterwards, I went inside and asked a cop how things were in the Bronx. The reply was “busy”.

Facts on the ground

Confidential information

Not in service

Food: raw and cooked

Old school and new school

The resplendent Quetzal

These murals, titled “Rise Up” are by the artist Josie Gonzalez. Designed to promote play and encourage physical activity, they were inspired by students in the local “DreamYard” after-school programs. They feature the quetzal bird – a symbol of freedom in Spanish-speaking countries throughout the Americas. (More information at art-bridge.org/play)

Rat Poison / Head Start / Kuwait Loading

Icons

Auto Parts

Homebase

HomeBase is a program of "The BronxWorks" – a social service agency started in 1972. It is designed to help individuals and families of the South Bronx avoid the trauma of homelessness by helping overcome the immediate problems and obstacles that could result in the loss of housing. Program services include legal help, short term financial assistance, mental health and substance abuse services, child care, education and employment.

Cowboy hat AND hard hat

Noches de Copas (Drinking Night)

Dominican food – ribs in sauce. The lunch clientele were mostly local construction workers who held spirited conversations with the women preparing the home cooked foods in the one room kitchen/restaurant.

Estella Diggs Park

This park, opened in 2011 is named after Estella Diggs – a lifelong community organizer. In 1972 she became the first African-American woman to represent the Bronx in the NY State assembly. She was responsible for the first Women’s Infants and Childrens program in the state and the first “sobering-up station” in the Bronx. She died in the Bronx in 2013, two days before her 97th birthday.

Killing many birds with one stone

Vivero

A truck loading waste materials produced in a local slaughterhouse. Live animals are slaughtered on request for people wanting fresh meat.

The ubiquitous Bronx Brick Building

Fading Memories

Ice rescue ladder

The ladder is sometimes used in winter when people need to be rescued from the nearby frozen pond in Crotona Park.

Teens and Learning

The Cary Leeds Center in Crotona Park is a 26.5 million dollar development opened in Crotona Park in 2015. It is a regional facility for competition and recreational tennis that also provides after school programs for local schoolchildren.

Shades of Crotona Green

Crotona Park is 127 acres including a 3.3 acre lake and the Bronx’s largest swimming pool.

Crossing under the Cross Bronx

The Cross Bronx expressway is a major freeway in the Bronx / New York City and the first built through a crowded urban environment in the United States. It is part of I-95, the main interstate highway on the East Coast of the United States.

Three Institutions

The Puerto Rican Family Institute is a “non-profit, multi-program health and human services agency whose primary mission is to prevent family disintegration and enhance the self-sufficency of the underserved community. PRFI offers a comprehensive array of social and health services that are culturally and linguistically relevant”

The Eagle Academy for Young Men is a NYC all boys public school in the Bronx serving young men in grades 6 through 12. It opened in 2004 and moved to this “state of the art flagship facility” in 2009. It has now expanded to all five boroughs of New York City as well as Newark New Jersey and serves 3,000 young men.

The Christ Pentacostal International Church is led by the Reverend Ebenezer Adarkwah, originally from Kade, Ghana. He originally received a visa to travel to the U.S. in 1992. After some time in the U.S. he became dissatisfied with the hardships of the immigrant community in the U.S. and returned to Ghana. Back in Ghana he realized that he had to “fulfill god’s purpose”, came back to the U.S. a year later and became involved with the Church.

Special Loaded

Mattress Warehouse

On Guard

Incurables

The St. Barnabas hospital, originally known as the “Home for incurables” is a non-profit hospital founded in 1866. It moved to this location on Third Avenue in 1874.

Cash for strips

Street food

Street-food vendors along Third Avenue sell everything from oatmeal in the morning to traditional Hispanic foods in the afternoon

Proud of the art

The Second of two slaughterhouses

Fordham Plaza

Fordham plaza marks the end of the walk. It is a major commercial and transportation hub just south of Fordham University.