Three inches of snow on Sunday were enough to create a memorable landscape. Pages 6-7
When grandchildren posted their birthday surprise on TikTok it went viral in a hurry. Page 3
There’s plenty of fun to be had and scholarly pursuits, too, all listed in What’s on. Pages 8-9
By OLIVIA YOUNG oyoung@riverdalepress.com
Snow from Sunday’s flurry still coated the ground as dozens of Bronxites gathered at the Church of the Holy Nativity on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to join together in chorus and honor the civil rights activist’s legacy.
Held by the Bronx Interparish Councils, a coalition of 19 Catholic churches across the East, South and northwest Bronx, the two hour service touched on themes of unity and equality, while also criticizing aggressive actions by Immigration Customs and Enforcement, ICE, agents. º
By MICHELLE MULLEN mmullen@riverdalepress.com
Martin Luther King Jr. is most often remembered through the places that shaped his public legacy — Birmingham, Selma, Washington and Memphis. Less widely known is Riverdale’s role, where he worked, spoke and briefly found refuge during some of the civil rights era’s most pivotal years. His connection to the neighborhood ran largely through Dr. Clarence B. Jones, King’s personal counsel, adviser, draft speechwriter and close friend, who lived in Riverdale for many years. In a 2011 Washington Post essay, Jones described how
Riverdale Y holds a day of service Page 5 Abuse of power, then and now Page 10
schedule keeps getting pushed
Weather has delayed needed repair work — many residents are worried about safety
By OLIVIA YOUNG
and salt scattered to prevent slipping.
The stairway attracts a heavy foot traffic, especially from residents heading to the Knolls Crescent retail strip from nearby apartment buildings such as Riverpoint Towers. A few told The Press they worry someone could be injured. Longtime resident Vik Levitsky was recently walking down the steps in the rain with her husband and noted how deteriorated they had become.
“You could see the amount of just loosened grit and little bits of rock and stuff,” she explained. “It’s an area that has a lot of young kids, people with carriages, a lot of elderly people that use walkers… It’s just safer if the steps are intact and have their edges.”
Levitsky’s nephew, Anthony Buckenberger, lives nearby, and said the stairs worsened from salt and shoveling after last month’s heavy snowfall.
Damage at every level
A few years ago, while on the job as a firefighter, he suffered a knee injury, and has to be especially cautious on the Kappock steps. Buckenberger worries for his young son as well, who at seven is “pretty reckless” and has to be reminded to hold onto the railing while making his way down.
“Since it’s used so greatly, [the department] should just come in and redo the whole staircase, because there’s damage at every level,” he added.
On social media, dozens of residents responded to a post Buckenberger made, encouraging others to file 311 complaints and contact their local elected officials.
Council Member Eric Dinowitz pointed to the Department of Transportation as bearing the responsibility for the stairway remaining in such a rough condition.
“These are the staircases that we use to
Continued on page A5
By MICHELLE MULLEN mmullen@riverdalepress.com
For years, the soccer field at Van Cortlandt Park Stadium has deteriorated under heavy use, riddled with holes repeatedly patched through makeshift fixes. This month, following safety concerns flagged by the Riverdale Soccer Club, Bronx Community Board 8, or CB8, urged the Parks Department to move forward with a longfunded turf replacement approved years prior.
In a sharply worded letter sent to Parks Commissioner Iris Rodriguez-Rosa on Jan. 13, CB8 expressed “dismay” over the continued delay of a state-of-goodrepair turf replacement funded in January 2023, now stalled until at least 2027. Despite mounting risks, the city has continued issuing permits for play, even as referees have canceled matches on a
field they deemed unsafe.
“The band aids are just not enough,” said Debra Travis, chair of CB8’s Parks & Recreation Committee. “We don’t need another band-aid, we need surgery.”
The deterioration of the 13-year-old field has accelerated in recent years, despite the city’s decision to fund a state-ofgood-repair replacement — a designation typically reserved for urgent, like-for-like fixes. In some areas, the turf has peeled back entirely, exposing the stone sub-base beneath. The worst damage is concentrated directly in front of the goals, where players routinely dive, slide and fall.
“Holes are opening up to the point where you can see the gravel underneath,” said Matt Seeman, president of the Riverdale Soccer Club.
“That’s not a playable surface, and it’s not safe for kids.”
Founded nearly three decades ago, the Riverdale Soccer Club serves more than
500 children each fall, with roughly 100 playing or practicing weekly at Van Cortlandt Park Stadium, according to Seeman. As conditions worsened last year, he said the club raised concerns repeatedly with the Van Cortlandt Park Alliance in the spring and summer. After additional complaints in early fall, minor repairs were made that allowed the season to proceed, but those fixes quickly came undone.
“They’ve made so many repairs that they actually left a roll of turf to the side so they can use it to make repairs,” Seeman said. “At first, they were making small repairs, maybe one or two square feet. Then this past year it was so bad that they repaired like 20-by-10-foot sections.” Referees, Seeman said, have increasingly intervened, canceling games after inspecting the field — a dynamic that has heightened frustration among parents and coaches.
“When referees are calling games because the surface is unsafe, but permits are still being issued, something is clearly wrong,” he said.
The soccer field sits inside Van Cortlandt Park Stadium, a 3,000-seat facility constructed between 1937 and 1939 as part of the federal Works Progress Administration. While the stadium itself has undergone periodic upgrades — including concrete repairs in the 1990s, reconstruction of the quarter-mile running track in 1998 and installation of a synthetic turf infield in 2009 — Community Board minutes note that the soccer surface has steadily deteriorated, outpacing routine maintenance. Frustration has been fueled not just by the field’s condition, but by the timeline. Although the artificial turf replacement was funded as a state-of-good-repair project in 2023, Parks officials now say construc-
Continued on page A4
Eric Dinowitz has been named chair of the New York City Council Committee on Education. The appointment was announced by Speaker Julie Menin at a council meeting on Jan. 15. The role will give Dinowitz leadership of council oversight of the nation’s largest school system. It serves roughly 900,000 students and accounts for a third of the city’s budget.
Before his election to the City Council, Dinowitz served for over 13 years as a public school special education teacher, working closely with students with disabilities and their families. He also served as a United Federation of Teachers chapter leader, organizing and fighting for his colleagues.
According to a press release, he used his previous role as chair of the council’s Committee on Higher Education to strengthen the K-12 to college pipeline, passing first-ofits-kind legislation to help students just like his own, and held critical oversight hearings to hold CUNY accountable, addressing issues like college affordability, the literacy crisis, graduation rates, and services for students with disabilities.
“Just as I did as a public school teacher, as Chair of the Committee on Education, I will fight for our city’s students every day,” Dinowitz said, “Under my chairmanship, students will have a fierce advocate in the council, and I will work to advance policies that support them and their families. I carry the stories of my students and their fam-
ilies with me into this new role, and their experiences, along with those of hundreds of thousands of other students in our city, will help shape the way our city provides our children what each and every one of them deserve: a world-class education.”
Dinowitz’s appointment was hailed by a variety of education-oriented groups. He was congratulated by Literacy In Community’s executive director, Shari Levine, who said, “His commitment to addressing the city’s literacy crisis reflects both his lived experience and his vision for a more equitable system. We look forward to working alongside him to ensure all children and families have the opportunities they deserve.”
“City’s First Readers, a coalition of 17 early literacy partners, congratulates Council Member Eric Dinowitz on his appointment.” said Emmanuel Novy, Chief of Strategic Initiatives for the organization, “[He] has been a steadfast champion of our coalition and of early literacy, standing alongside families, educators, and community-based organizations to elevate the urgency of the literacy crisis.
Maria Odom, executive director of Advocates for Children of New York added, “We appreciate having a former special education teacher and NYC public school graduate in this role and look forward to working with him to strengthen education for all students, especially those who are too often overlooked.”
Manhattan University has announced that it is rolling out several new graduate degree programs in healthcare informatics, financial analytics and business analytics as well as digital marketing and analytics — all keyed to the educational concept of STEM. STEM is an acronym for the interrelated teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It was introduced in the early 1990s to emphasize the development of critical thinking, problem-solving and analytic skills among students at every level.
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The university will now offer Master of Science degrees in healthcare informatics, a program that prepares students to improve healthcare quality, patient outcomes, and operational efficiency through technology-enabled data analysis.
Offered through the Kakos School of Arts and Sciences, the online program features accelerated 7 week courses, enabling students to complete the 36-credit degree in approximately 16 months.
Manhattan University’s Low-Residency Executive Education programs blend flexible online courses with limited, curated NYC residency weekends, offering working professionals an accelerated path to advanced degrees enriched by industry access, faculty engagement, and high-impact networking.
Students also complete a twopart capstone consulting experience, partnering with real-world healthcare organizations to develop applied, data-driven solutions.
“Healthcare increasingly relies on professionals who can interpret complex data and use it to improve care delivery,” said Ann Clarkson, Executive Director of Online Learning and Professional Programs. “This program empowers students to do exactly that — combining technical skill with purpose-driven leadership.”
Graduates are prepared to step into critical, rapidly growing roles across the healthcare ecosystem, including careers as healthcare data analysts, clinical informatics specialists, health IT project managers, outcomes analysts, and systems integration analysts. As data continues to reshape healthcare delivery nationwide, demand for highly skilled informatics professionals remains strong
Financial analytics
Manhattan’s STEM Master of Science in Financial Analytics, is aimed at students who want to work at the cutting edge of finance, technology, and data science.
Unlike traditional finance programs, the master’s in Financial Analytics emphasizes machine learning, predictive modeling, and big-data applications in investments, corporate finance, and risk management. Students also gain deep insight into financial theory and instruments, including derivatives, credit analytics, and regulatory modeling. The curriculum ensures that students understand both the “why” and the “how”
behind modern financial decision-making.
Students in the program will have access to Bloomberg terminals, Python, R, Tableau, SQL, and a proprietary financial database — the same platforms used by global banks, hedge funds, fintech firms, and regulators. The hybrid format also supports working professionals seeking to advance or pivot their careers without pausing their professional journeys.
“Financial services are being transformed by analytics, automation, and AI,” said Hany Guirguis, Ph.D., Dean of the O’Malley School of Business. “This program prepares students to thrive in that environment — not just by learning financial theory, but by applying advanced analytics to real-world markets.”
Graduates of the program are prepared to enter high-impact roles across Wall Street, fintech, banking, consulting, and regulatory agencies. According to a Manhattan press release, as financial services continue to shift toward automation and analytics-powered insight, demand for professionals with this specialized skill set remains strong worldwide.
Approved by the New York State Education Department as a Business Analytics program, Manhattan’s new curriculum focuses on statistical modeling, predictive analytics, AI-driven insight development, and real-world applications across industries, such as finance, marketing, technology, and supply chain.
Designed to welcome students from a wide range of undergraduate backgrounds, the program offers a flexible pathway to advanced study in analytics — making it accessible to both recent graduates and working professionals.
“Organizations are looking for graduates who can bridge technical expertise with strategic business thinking,” said Hany Guirguis, Ph.D., Dean of the O’Malley School of Business. “This program develops exactly that combination — preparing students to become leaders in analytics-driven decision-making.”
Manhattan has designed the Digital Marketing and Analytics program to respond to one of the fastest-evolving fields in business — where digital platforms, AI-driven tools, and real-time data now shape how organizations reach and engage consumers. Students will gain a foundation in marketing theory while developing applied expertise in analytics, consumer behavior, campaign optimization, content strategy, and AI-powered marketing technologies.
Key coursework includes Advanced Consumer Behavior for Managers, Marketing Analytics, and AI in Digital Media Marketing, enabling students to interpret complex datasets and design measurable, ethical, data-led marketing strategies.
Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz and Senator Nathalia Fernandez joined fellow legislators, survivors, advocates, and faith leaders alongside the Justice Without Exclusion Coalition to highlight gaps in accountability within New York’s sexual assault laws, as new data show declining rape convictions despite consistently high rates of reported assault.
The coalition renewed calls for passage of S.54-A / A.101-A, legislation that would close the voluntary intoxication exclusion in New York law. Under current statute, lack of consent is recognized only when intoxication is involuntary, such as when a survivor is unknowingly drugged. Survivors who were similarly incapacitated but voluntarily ingested an intoxicating substance are excluded from legal protection, often forcing prosecutors to drop or downgrade charges and leaving survivors without a path to justice.
A glaring gap?
Participants emphasized that New York cannot continue to tolerate a glaring gap in the law that denies survivors accountability. With support from a strong majority of the Legislature, law enforcement officials, and community advocates, speakers underscored the urgency of advancing the legislation to the Governor’s Desk.
S.54-A/A.101-A modernizes New York’s sex crimes law by focusing on a survivor’s ability to consent rather than how intoxication occurred. The bill clarifies that intoxication can never be used as a shield for predatory behavior when a reasonable person would have known the survivor was incapacitated.
“Voluntary intoxication should never be a legal defense. Predators have been allowed to exploit an outdated loophole to escape accountability for some of the most serious crimes. S.54A closes that gap and makes clear that when some-
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one cannot consent, exploita-
tion is a crime, not an excuse,” said New York State Senate Sponsor, Nathalia Fernandez.
Assemblyman Dinowitz said:
“It is unconscionable that in 2026 here in New York whether or not a perpetrator is held accountable for committing sexual assault against a victim who is intoxicated hinges on how that person became intoxicated, whether from their own hand or from someone who unbeknownst to the victim administered them a drug, intoxicant, or other substance leaving them incapable of expressing a lack of consent. It is time to pass my bill A.101 to ensure that survivors get the justice they deserve by holding perpetrators of sexual violence accountable when they commit such heinous acts.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., said:
“For years, our state’s laws have failed to adequately protect New Yorkers who are too intoxicated to reasonably consent to sex. It is long past time that New York addresses its voluntary intoxication loophole that creates an unjustly high bar to hold perpetrators of rape accountable. I thank the advocates and legislators, especially State Senator Nathalia Fernandez and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, who proudly stand with survivors and continue to push for this important legislation.”
“Intoxication is not consent. The Voluntary Intoxication Exclusion Act recognizes that the intentional predatory action of those who sexually assault someone heavily under the influence is a crime here in New York. More than half the country has laws that recognize this already. Over 75 percent of New Yorkers polled in a recent Siena Poll agree this should be the law here. When we look at the data, we find a horrifying truth. Currently 95 percent of rapists get away with it. NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services stats from the last 10
years show this clearly. We can do better,” said Minister Peace, Co-chair of the Justice Without Exclusion Coalition.
“Justice cannot hinge on a technicality that mistakes impairment for consent. When a person is mentally incapacitated, their right to bodily autonomy does not vanish simply because the substance was consumed voluntarily. This bill affirms a fundamental truth: consent is about capacity—not circumstance or blame,” said Senator Robert Jackson. “By closing this dangerous gap in our law, we reject a legal fiction that has long silenced survivors and protected perpetrators. We make clear that accountability belongs to those who prey on vulnerability—not those forced to endure it. New York must no longer allow the method of intoxication to override the meaning of consent.”
“Victims of sexual abuse should never be denied justice because of how a perpetrator exploits them,” said Senator Lea Webb. “Under current law, if someone voluntarily consumes alcohol or drugs, prosecutors often cannot fully pursue charges, even though intoxication still prevents a person from giving consent. A victim’s status should not depend on whether or not they took a substance voluntarily. We must pass this bill so every survivor has a voice, and our criminal justice system holds predators accountable instead of punishing victims.”
A victim is a victim
“If someone is robbed on their way home from a bar, we don’t ask how drunk they were before calling it a crime. Yet when it comes to sexual assault, our laws still allow ‘voluntary intoxication’ to be used to undermine accountability,” said Assemblymember Grace Lee. “Sexual contact without consent is always sexual assault, and someone who is incapacitated cannot consent. I stand with Senator Fernandez and Assemblymember Dinowitz to call on closing this loophole
Michael Dowling is a prominent healthcare leader and advocate on social issues. CEO Emeritus of Northwell Health since October 2025, he previously served more than 23 years as president and CEO, leading major growth and innovation. He advises on public health initiatives while focusing on teaching and writing. Widely honored, he has received TIME’s Global Health recognition, multiple international fellowships, major civic awards and honorary degrees. A former New York State official and academic, Dowling is also an accomplished author on healthcare leadership and reform. A complimentary copy of his memoir, After the Roof Caved In: An Immigrant’s Journey from Ireland to America, will be available to the first 150 attendees
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and ending victim-blaming. “The voluntary intoxication exclusion in New York’s Penal Code is an antiquated and misogynistic relic of the past,” said Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal (D/WF - Manhattan), Chair of the Assembly Committee on Housing. “Under no other circumstance would we suggest that a crime victim could not press charges simply because they had been drinking at the time of the incident, but for victims of rape, our laws continue to protect the perpetrator. I am proud to support Assemblymember Dinowitz’s bill to eliminate the voluntary intoxication exclusion, which would bring New York State in line with more than 20 other states in finally recognizing that rape is rape, no matter if the victim had been drinking.”
Assemblymember MaryJane Shimsky said: “A sex crime is still a crime, whether the injured party was sober or intoxicated. Closing this loophole in New York’s criminal code will allow more victims of rape and other sex crimes to obtain justice through our court system. It will also afford those victims the dignity and respect that comes from knowing the crimes they endured are recognized under our State law. My thanks to Assemblyman Dinowitz for bringing this important bill to the Legislature.”
Advocates emphasized that the legislation does not alter evidentiary standards or lower the burden of proof. Instead, it ensures that New York law reflects a fundamental principle: consent must be freely given, knowingly and clearly, and responsibility must rest with the perpetrator, not the survivor.
S.54-A/A/101-A has passed the New York State Senate multiple times and is supported by district attorneys, survivor advocates and legal experts who argue that closing the voluntary intoxication loophole is essential to restoring credibility, consistency and fairness in the prosecution of sexual assault cases.
The Bronx County Historical Society, BCHS, has announced the acquisition of the William P. Folchi Collection, a significant archive of works by the lifelong Bronx artist. The collection, donated by the Folchi family, will be housed in The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library, ensuring its preservation and accessibility for future generations.
William P. Folchi, who was born in 1922 and died in 1992 was a son of The Bronx, born and raised in the Little Italy Arthur Avenue neighborhood and graduating from Theodore Roosevelt High School. His deep connection to the borough served as a lifelong inspiration for his art. Although he made his living as the owner of automotive repair shops, Folchi was a dedicated painter and draftsman, sketching and painting throughout his life.
His artistic journey began early with classes at the Art Students League. He later studied under the noted Social Realist painter Isaac Soyer and held an intense appreciation for the humanist art of the Soyer brothers. His work reflects a range of influences, from the grand tradition of the Italian Renaissance and Dutch Golden Age to American masters like John Singer Sargent, Albert Pinkham Ryder and Edward Hopper.
Though he never exhibited during his lifetime, Folchi has
his sons to thank for championing his work and organizing posthumous exhibitions at venues including the Hebrew Home for the Aged at Riverdale, the Huntington Free Library in The Bronx and the Cultural Association of the Molise in Long Island City. Individual pieces from his oeuvre are held in the permanent collections of the Hebrew Home for the Aged and the Huntington Free Library.
“The Folchi Collection is a remarkable addition to our archives,” said Dr. Steven Payne, director of The Bronx County Historical Society. “It tells a profoundly Bronx story — one of a working-class individual whose creative spirit flourished alongside his everyday life. His works offer a unique, personal lens through which to view mid-twentieth century Bronx and Hudson Valley life.” The collection, which is being donated in phases, includes hundreds of sketches and paintings as well as personal effects that document Folchi’s artistic process and life. BCHS will catalog and preserve the collection, making it available to researchers, students and the public, aligning with its mission to collect, preserve and interpret the history of the Bronx and its people. A retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Bronx History, highlighting Folchi’s life and work, will take place after the collection is processed.
By MICHELLE MULLEN mmullen@riverdale press.com
In the months after losing his wife of nearly seven decades, 92-year-old David Oshins was settling into a quieter rhythm.
On one day in December, his granddaughters Carly and Emily were set to join him for a quiet dinner — or so he thought.
What he didn’t know was that the rest of his grandchildren had coordinated a surprise.
Sally Oshins died in August after a long illness, ending a love story that began when the two were children. They were together for 75 years, married for nearly 69 of them, and rarely spent a day apart.
One by one, David’s grandchildren appeared at his door. His face lit up with the same shock and joy as the remaining grandchildren arrived unannounced in turns. The moments, caught on video, transformed an ordinary evening into a bond shared far beyond Riverdale.
David and Sally had been childhood sweethearts, growing up blocks apart in the Bronx before building a life together that spanned decades. They were inseparable — partners at home, at work and in the Riverdale apartment they shared.
ner. He didn’t know that all six of his grandchildren had coordinated to arrive one by one, minutes apart.
Throughout the evening, the apartment filled gradually. Carly, 31, traveled from Philadelphia. Jake came from Virginia. Ben and the others timed their arrivals carefully.
“He didn’t even say, ‘Is Ben coming?’ or ‘Is Jake coming?’” Emily said. “He was legitimately surprised every single time.”
Carly, who helped float the idea of filming the moment, said the plan was never about social media.
“We really were just taking the video for our family and friends,” she said. “We just wanted to capture his reaction.”
delight. “He’s 92, but he’s on TikTok,” she said. “He’s reading all of the comments. He’s loving every minute of it.” Amid the flood of responses, viewers fixated on a small detail: the sweatshirt David happened to be wearing. Printed across the front were the words “Papa, Est. 1994,” with the names of his grandchildren running down the sleeves.
“That was a fluke,” David said. “I had no idea my grandchildren were coming. I just happened to put it on that day.” The sweatshirt, a Father’s Day gift made years earlier by Jody and her husband, sparked its own wave of attention, prompting messages from strangers asking how to get one for their own grandparents.
“She was his person,” said their daughter, Jody Oshins Kramer. “They were literally connected at the hip.”
with bile duct cancer in late 2024, the family rallied around her.
“What followed was a year of complete hell,” Jody said.
That closeness shaped the rhythms of their life. Sally spent 48 years working at SAR Academy, becoming a familiar and beloved presence to generations of students and families. Even after David retired as an electrician, he followed her to work each day, helping around the school so they could remain together.
When Sally was diagnosed
FILMMAKER WILFRED LA SALLE
By MICHELLE MULLEN mmullen@riverdalepress.com
Set to premiere later this year, “The Veteran,” by Bronxborn filmmaker Wilfred La Salle, offers a stark look at homelessness, opioid addiction and the failures facing veterans returning home from war. Shot across New York City, the film is grounded in familiar neighborhoods and public spaces, including scenes captured throughout Kingsbridge.
The project continues a pattern that has defined La Salle’s work since he founded La Salle Productions in 2019. He crafts one film each year rooted in a social crisis he believes deserves renewed attention, ranging from gun violence to mental health and drug use.
“All these films that I make [are on a] $0 budget, I don’t have any investors, any sponsors, nothing,” La Salle said. “It’s just me, an ordinary man, trying to do extraordinary things. I say that many times, but that’s the honest truth.”
His most recent film, “The Security Guard,” was released last year and explored mass shootings in America. While “The Veteran” marks a continuation of his independent approach, it grew out of what La Salle described as a deeper sense of responsibility.
“They serve the country and then they’re coming home to get another war,” he said. “I always say that a soldier without stability becomes another statistic.” At the center of the film is Jose Torres, a fictional U.S. Marine whose life fractures after he is injured during deployment to Iraq in the years following Sept. 11. Prescribed opioids through the military and later the Department of Veterans Affairs, or VA, Torres develops an addiction that follows him home. Though honorably discharged, he finds himself unable to secure the benefits he needs.
When his wife and young son are killed in a car accident, grief and heavy drug use intertwine to accelerate his descent into instability and homelessness. His downward spiral unfolds on park benches, subway
platforms and street corners.
“It shows the progression — addiction, homelessness, the VA denying him, telling him to just take more opioids,” La Salle said. “He’s fighting for everything. But it turns into kind of a redemption arc.”
That shift begins when Torres crosses paths with Maxwell Cade, a wealthy executive whose own life has been shaped by loss. Cade’s brother was killed during military service, and his decision to help Torres introduces a tentative path forward. The relationship does not offer easy answers, but instead underscores the film’s focus on dignity, accountability and the uneven process of rebuilding.
Beyond the character’s individual journey, “The Veteran” widens its focus to examine the systems that allow such stories to repeat themselves, centering on the persistent link between housing instability and addiction.
Torres is portrayed by actor Valentin Perez, an Army veteran who served in Iraq, lending real life experience to the performance. Though the character is a Marine, La Salle said the story is meant to represent veterans across all branches, bound by shared struggles rather than rank or uniform.
Yet, as with all his films, La Salle was careful not to frame the work as a political statement. Instead, he attempts to foster empathy across divisions.
“The world is already divided,” he said. “I want to bring people together.”
His projects have drawn increasing national attention, particularly “The Security Guard,” which led to appearances and coverage on NBC and ABC, as well as a distribution partnership with Fox Soul. That visibility has brought his work beyond local audiences, but the recognition has not changed his definition of success.
“People say, ‘You made it,’” La Salle said. “But made it to what? Fame? That’s not it for me. It’s leaving people better than you found them,” he said.
“If my films do that — even a little — then I’m doing what I’m supposed to do.”
Sally died less than a year later. The silence she left behind was profound, especially for David, who was learning how to move through days no longer shaped by shared habits.
As his birthday approached, David’s grandchildren wanted to do something meaningful. Not a party. Not a gift.
“We were trying to decide what was a good present for someone who has given everything to his family and asked for nothing in return,” said Emily Kramer, 26, who lives in Connecticut.
She explained that nothing material felt right. What David needed most, she said, was simply to be surrounded by the people he loved.
Emily told her grandfather she was coming by with din-
The clip, less than a minute long, spread rapidly after Emily posted it to TikTok. By the end of the week, the video had amassed more than 9.5 million views. It aired twice on World News Tonight with David Muir. Messages poured in from around the world, many from people who saw their own grandparents — or what they wished they still had — reflected in David.
“It’s mind boggling,” David said. “I am so overwhelmed by the love I’m getting from people all over the world.”
Jody said her father has embraced the attention, reading through the comments with
“I just made one for someone in London,” Jody, who runs a promotional product business, said. “Someone else asked to have it shipped to Florida so they wouldn’t have to ship to Europe.” After the final arrival, the night slowed. Dinner was eaten. Then the grandchildren gathered to watch Top Gun: Maverick, the volume turned all the way up.
“We ordered food, watched a movie and just stayed,” said Jake Oshins, 25, who lives in Richmond, Va. “It was low pressure. Being together was enough.”
Continued from page A1
tion is not scheduled until 2027.
Instead, Parks has proposed large-scale interim repairs in 2026 — replacing major sections of turf to keep the field playable until the full replacement occurs. Board members argue that approach would only compound disruption while failing to resolve underlying safety issues.
“Closing the field to do ad hoc repairs and then closing it again in 2027 doubles the harm,” the CB8 letter states. “It is difficult to imagine how an ad hoc repair is going to create a uniform, safe surface for matches.”
In a statement, a Parks spokesperson said the department’s in-house services team will make short-term repairs to patch areas of the field “to improve the quality and safety of the playing surface,” with work anticipated to be completed by May 2026.
The department added that a $3 million state-of-good-repair project to replace the artificial turf field and track is currently in the procurement phase, with construction expected to begin in 2027.
Perhaps most troubling to advocates is that permits remain active even as Parks acknowledges the field’s deteriorated condition. In response to questions from The Press, the Parks Department did not directly address concerns about continued permitting or liability.
After complaints escalated this fall, Bronx Borough Parks Commissioner Jessenia Aponte toured the site with staff. According to CB8 meeting notes, Parks officials acknowledged that “very, very large swaths” of turf may need to be replaced even as a short-term fix.
Community Board 8 is now pressing Parks to accelerate the project timeline and provide a clearer explanation for the delay.
Continued from page A1
Rev. Winnie Varghese, dean of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in Manhattan, led a sermon that drew from one of King’s from 1965. In it, he references lynching mobs, police brutality, and poverty, encouraging the congregation to “stand up amid injustice with all of your might … and yet not stoop to hate in the process,”
After concluding King’s words, Varghese said to those in the pews that God has called on them to live out their faith in the present moment.
“This time of ICE in our streets, this time of chaos among our leaders, this time of new hope potential in our city,” Varghese said. “I am convinced that nothing — neither death nor life, nor principalities, nor powers, nor heights nor depths, nor executive orders or threats of detention or armed goons or white Christian nationalists — nothing of this world can separate us from the source of all our dreaming, the source of our very lives, the love of God in Christ, Jesus.”
Chair of the Northwest Bronx Interparish Council, Gloria Lewis, also spoke, and said she hopes listeners will strive to follow King’s teachings of equality in peace. She noted that offerings go towards the MLK Memorial Scholarship Fund, a nonprofit that awards money to graduating high school seniors.
As the service came to a close, a resonant organ echoed throughout the church as attendees’ voices melded together in a rendition of “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.”
Francis Salder, treasurer for the Church of Mediator in Kingsbridge, told The Press she has been attending the Bronx MLK service for more than 15 years, and coming together on the day keeps hope alive.
“We have to remember the struggle has always been there, and that we are part of the struggle for equality in this country,” Salder said. “We have to remind people not to be discouraged, not to give up — it’s a fight, and we have to keep fighting for what’s right.”
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get around our neighborhood, it’s the same with the path,” Dinowitz said, referring to a walkway between 601 and 609 Kappock St. ridden with cracks and potholes. “We deserve for people to walk around our neighborhood safely without worrying about a fall hazard from our city government.”
He added the department seems “uninterested in responding to community needs.”
The department did not respond to this comment directly,
but city agencies typically prioritize projects based on severity and risk to public safety. In responses to several 311 complaints filed about the staircase, the department explained that it needs 365 days to respond to requests involving sidewalk staircases.
An official construction end date has not been confirmed, but repairs are in progress, and status updates will be provided as the department proceeds, a spokesperson said.
A different kind of site for neurodivergent dating
By OLIVIA YOUNG oyoung@riverdalepress.com
After nearly a decade since its launch, Riverdale-native Thomas Sheil is expanding his dating website for neurodivergent people.
Uneepi, derived from Latin and Greek, means “two become one forever.” The platform operates the same way as popular sites like eHarmony or Match, but is made exclusively for those with autism, Down syndrome, ADHD, dyslexia and Tourette’s syndrome.
Sheil, who grew up on Johnson Avenue and now lives in Manhattan, was inspired by a gap in the system. Most neurodivergent organizations focus on child and adolescent development, but provide little support afterwards, especially for navigating romantic relationships.
Instead of throwing a user “into the deep end” as the site describes, Uneepi also offers a coach who helps individuals learn how to present themselves on a date, foster intimate relationships or process rejection.
“A lot of [neurodivergent] people have trouble relating to and dating people that are not neurodivergent, and I feel like a lot of relationships fail because of that,” Sheil said. “We’re just bringing like-minded people together.”
A personal connection
Inspiration for the 37-yearold was sparked by personal connections. The younger sister of a friend of his has autism and growing up he saw her struggle to make and maintain social connections. Wanting to do something for the community, Sheil created a computer game that helped 6- to 13-yearolds learn how to recognize the emotions connected to facial expressions.
Later, after graduating college, Sheil felt moved by a PBS documentary called “Autism in Love,” which followed adults on the spectrum pursuing relationships. Uneepi was born a few months later, and in 2024 rebranded to include all neurodivergent variations in addition to just autism. On Uneepi, users enter their age, gender, sexuality and romantic or platonic preferences when creating a profile. From there, prompts get more focused — “I tend to be the center of attention in social gatherings” to “I have a hard time keeping conversations going.” It’s a violation of health privacy
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his Riverdale home became an unlikely refuge for King — a place where the next steps of the struggle could be planned away from the noise of public life.
“It was the late spring of 1963, and my friend Martin was exhausted,” Jones wrote in his co-authored book, “Behind the Dream: The Making of the Speech That Transformed a Nation.”
The Birmingham campaign had forced the nation to confront the violence of segregation, but it had also taken a severe personal toll. King wanted, Jones recalled, “nothing more than to take Coretta and the children away for a vacation and forget — forget his looming book deadline, the internal politics of his ever-growing Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the constant need to raise funds.”
But the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom had already been scheduled for Aug. 28, and King knew he could not plan an undertaking of that scale amid constant interruptions. If the march was to succeed, Jones wrote, King would have to escape distractions and work from a place where very few people could reach him.
“That would be my house in Riverdale, N.Y.,” Jones wrote. By then, Jones had spent several years advising King as his personal lawyer and one of his trusted speechwriters. Another close adviser, Stanley Levison, was also based in New York, but because of FBI surveillance and internal political pressures, King could not communicate with him directly. Jones instead served as an intermediary, coordinating strategy and logistics while King worked quietly from Riverdale.
To make that retreat possible, Jones and his family temporarily moved out of their five-bedroom rental near West 254th Street, transforming the house into what they called King’s “command post north.”
laws to ask someone their diagnosis, Sheil explained, but specific questions can help pair people up better.
To prevent any possibility of a scammer signing up, Sheil manually vets each profile, and he has programming set up to block and remove a user who sends an inappropriate message.
Thousands of users
Over the years, the platform has attracted 8,000 users nationwide, the founder said, and resulted in over 65 relationships. But the hope is that it’s only growing.
The company will undergo a major revamp in the next couple of months. Its site will be redesigned with a more modern look, in-person mock-dating events — something curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic — will occur regularly, and a mobile app will launch that allows users to search based on preferences, or swipe in a way that is similar to Tinder and Hinge. Uneepi will also roll out biweekly episodes of a podcast, called Loving with Autism, cohosted by dating coach Will Ward.
Ward joined the Uneepi team about four months ago, but has known Sheil since the two were freshman year roommates in college. His career started in law enforcement, and transitioned into working with at-risk youth, including those with autism, on crisis management and communication skills.
Coaching neurodivergent adults on romance was an adjustment, Ward said, but came naturally for him. Aside from personalized conversations that help break down anything from what to wear on a date to how to remove oneself if they feel uncomfortable, the largest factor is often confidence.
“The more you build up the person, the better and more effective they are as an individual, whether they’re alone or in a relationship,” Ward said. “Everyone should be comfortable being by themselves. I want to make sure they’re not just dependent on someone else to bring them happiness.”
Neurodivergent dating is no different than neurotypical dating, both Ward and Sheil insist. While Uneepi is about creating a safe environment for those on the spectrum, it is also about breaking down the stigma of neurodivergence.
“Everyone deserves to find love,” Sheil said.
From there, King worked largely by phone, coordinating with advisers in Atlanta and New York and sorting through transportation logistics, security concerns and the political tensions surrounding the March on Washington.
An endless stream of reports flowed into the Riverdale house. In “Behind the Dream,” Jones noted that even the FBI observed that, away from Atlanta’s daily pressures, King was able to “fully concentrate on the work at hand.” It was during this period that early drafts of what would become the “I Have a Dream” speech began to take shape — not yet final but already marked by the clarity and moral urgency that would soon define the address.
The following year, in 1964, King returned to Riverdale publicly, stepping onto the stage of the Fieldston School auditorium to address a civil rights rally that drew an overflow crowd of more than 1,000 people. The audience spilled beyond capacity, reflecting both King’s stature and Riverdale’s deep engagement at a moment of national uncertainty.
By then, Riverdale had be-
come more than a temporary refuge. It was a place where, as Jones later explained, King’s ideas were tested publicly, refined through conversation and rooted in a multiracial, interfaith community actively engaged in the struggle for civil rights.
The rally brought together students and educators, clergy and civil rights organizers, longtime Riverdale residents and visitors from across the Bronx, standing shoulder to shoulder.
King was joined by the Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker, a key strategist of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and actor and activist Ossie Davis.
Introduced by Dr. Matthew Ies Spetter, leader of the Riverdale–Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture, King received three standing ovations before he began to speak.
Representing the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, King condemned what he called Washington’s “paralysis by analysis,” warning that procedural delays were stalling passage of the Civil Rights Act. He cautioned that opposition mail flooding senators’ offices appeared to be part of an or-
ganized campaign to weaken or kill the legislation, urging residents to write New York’s Senators Jacob Javits and Kenneth Keating to sustain their commitment.
“Better no bill at all than a watered-down bill,” King told the crowd.
He also reaffirmed the movement’s moral foundation, urging continued nonviolence.
“An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind,” King said. Men of good will, he continued, “can help the American dream to become a reality when they recognize the essential reality of segregation, when they get rid of, once and for all, the notion of inferior and superior races, and when they adopt an action program to rid this country of the last vestiges of discrimination.”
The rally was sponsored by the Riverdale–Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture and co-sponsored by a network of local organizations, including the Riverdale Committee on Human Rights, the Riverdale Intergroup Relations Committee, the Northwest Bronx chapter of CORE and the MA-R-K Committee for Civil Rights — reflecting the neighborhood’s
unusually dense civic infrastructure around civil rights advocacy.
Four years later, that same network mobilized again — this time in mourning. As news of King’s assassination spread in April 1968, The Riverdale Press reported that flags were lowered to half-staff, motorists drove with headlights on during daylight hours and many stores closed on the morning of King’s funeral at the request of the local Chamber of Commerce. Churches became the center of collective grief. According to The Press, an estimated 500 mourners marched between St. Stephen’s Methodist Church, St. John’s Roman Catholic Church and the Church of the Mediator, singing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “We Shall Overcome” as ministers in vestments led the procession through neighborhood streets. Residents described neighbors meeting neighbors, both Black and white, marching together in silence and song. By the time the procession reached the Church of the Mediator, the sanctuary was filled beyond capacity.
Top photo, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. day the Riverdale Y hosted a service program in which volunteers gathered from all over the Bronx to pack 20,000 packages of food earmarked for international relief.
Below left, Young and old from all over the Bronx said they were excited to give back in honor of the teaching of Dr.King.
Below right, representatives from organizations like River Spring Health’s Hebrew Home for the Aged joined in supporting the effort.
Riverdale Choral Society
The Riverdale Choral Society will hold open rehearsals for the upcoming 2026 spring season, welcoming singers of all voice ranges, including soprano, alto, tenor and bass. The program will be performed in two concerts in early May in the Riverdale area of the Bronx.
Rehearsals will be conducted by co-music director David Štech. Singers who join the ensemble will prepare for a concert program titled The Seasons of Love, featuring contemporary and traditional music. The repertoire includes folk songs from the English, Irish and American traditions, settings of poetry by Rumi and the Song of Songs, and works by Paul McCartney, Stephen Paulus, Leonard Bernstein and Billy Joel.
Rehearsals take place at Christ Church Riverdale, with on-street parking and access to public transportation.
Open rehearsals will be held on Jan. 14, at 7 p.m. Subsequent rehearsals will be held Wednesdays, at 7 p.m., through early May.
Beginner yoga series
Join Inner Space Yoga’s Kendera Jackson on and Saturday, Jan. 24 at 12:30 p.m.
Designed for the beginner who appreciates a structured approach to understanding the yoga process, the basic poses, the difference between good and bad tension and how to move between poses with ease. Reserve a single class for $30.
At Wave Hill Public gallery tour
Solo and group exhibitions at the Wave Hill House Gallery highlight the site’s connections to art, nature and place. Public exhibition tours offer an in-depth look at the work in the Glyndor Gallery, led by greeters. Each tour lasts approximately 45 minutes and provides attendees with the opportunity to engage with curators and artists and ask questions. Registration is not required, and all are welcome.
Tours run Thursdays and Saturdays, at 2 p.m.
Garden & Conservatory
Highlights Walk Join a knowledgeable Wave Hill Garden Guide for a leisurely stroll in the gardens. Topics vary by season and the expertise of the Guide. Come back for an encore—each walk varies with the Guide leading it. This walk lasts a half-hour to 45 minutes.
Sunday, Jan. 25, from 1 to 1:30 p.m.
Family Art Project: Digging into the Soil Science of George Washington Carver In honor of Black History Month, learn about George Washington Carver, a black scientist who faced many challenges. Find out how soil affects the food we eat by making colorful still-life creations using some of the same things Carver studied, like dirt and dried beans. Families can enjoy a themed storytime program in the Gund Theater. All ages welcome.
Wave Hill will be honoring Black History Month with a reading of the book “I Am Enough” by Grace Byers.
Saturday, Jan. 31, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
At Riverdale Senior Services
Journaling during difficult times
Riverdale Senior Services invites you to Journaling for Creatives During Difficult Times, an in-center class designed to help participants reconnect with their creative voice through guided writing. The weekly group experience is limited to eight participants and requires advance registration.
Led by former NYU journalism professor and author of 25 books Lori Perkins, the class uses short, structured journaling prompts to encourage reflection, creativity and momentum. Participants will write brief personal essays, with the option to share their work in a supportive group setting. No prior writing experience is required, and all creative disciplines are welcome.
Perkins is also an established New York literary agent, founder of an award-winning publishing company, publisher of Romancedailynews.com, and former owner of Uptown Weekly News, a neighborhood newspaper in Upper Manhattan. The class is held every Wednesday.
Non ACBL Bridge with Rich Enjoy duplicate bridge in this pop American Contract Bridge League class. Play 12-18 boards, approximately two hours, in a more relaxed atmosphere where you can ask questions of the director, Rich Marchione. There will also be computer scoring so you’ll know your result as soon as the game is over and hand records that show all four hands and makeable contracts for every hand in the
game. Friday, Jan. 23, from 12:45 to 2:30 p.m.
Horticultural Wellness
Workshops with Barbara Join Barbara Denson for a monthly workshop about all things plant-related. Each month will be something new, whether learning about various plants and plant care or engaging in fun craft projects related to them. Monday, Jan. 26, from 2:15 to 3:15 p.m.
Total Body Sculpt with Sarah from Female Fight Club NYC Join this fun, low-impact mix of cardio and strength for active older adults. This energizing class combines cardio with strength training to help improve balance, endurance, flexibility, and overall fitness. Using resistance bands, light weights, and bodyweight exercises, move at your own pace in a supportive environment. Perfect for staying strong, active, and independent - from head to toe! Female Fight Club is a fitness club that aims for self-empowerment, strength development, self-healing, and the adoption of positive behavioral changes in women through exercise. The founder of Female Fight Club truly believes that exercise becomes more impactful and effective if combined with positive emotion. Every time a woman exercises, she should feel a sense of unity, equality and the ability to protect her mind and live a stronger life Tuesday, Jan. 27, from 11 a.m. to noon
Ethics for kids
The Riverdale-Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture presents “Ethics for Kids.” Facilitated by Naa Pappoe, the program introduces children to social justice, science, history, self-expression and empathy through stories, the arts and play.
The series helps young learners explore what it means to live ethically. Designed for children aged 4 to 10, but open to all. Email growingethicsrysec@gmail.com to RSVP. Sessions are every Sunday at 10:30 a.m.
At Riverdale Neighborhood House Youth market
Stop by the Riverdale Neighborhood House youth market for fresh, local produce straight from the farmers. Other items for sale include sourdough bread from baker Annie Miller. The Neighborhood House accepts EBT, cash, credit, FAMM checks, vouchers, SNAP EBT and Health Bucks, ensuring access for everyone in the community.
The market is open every Thursday, from 1 to 6 p.m.
Masala Bhangra
Masala Bhangra, a high-energy Bollywood-inspired dance class, returns to Riverdale Neighborhood House. Open to ages 18 and older, the class is led by instructor Deborah Kolb, who has been teaching Masala Bhangra for more than 15 years, and is designed to bring some heat to the winter season.
The class is held every Tuesday, from 7 to 8 p.m., until Feb. 3.
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or email today for a free consultation. (646) 859-2028. Website: www. sarahandrewmadisontherapy.com
Early Childhood tours
Tour the Riverdale Neighborhood House’s Early Childhood program for the 2026-27 school year. Learn more about the program while checking out the classrooms and grounds. Tours are for adults only, with a limit of two slots per family.
Held on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Jan. from 10-11:30 a.m. For more information contact RNH at 718-5498100.
Terrific Twos Register for the next session of Terrific Twos at the Riverdale Neighborhood House. This six-week course will include sensory play, live music performances, dance activities, and more.
Open to children 18 months-3 years with options for 1-3 days/week. Runs on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from Jan. 13 through Feb. 24, 9:30-10:30 a.m.
Stretch and Strengthen
Start your mornings this new year with a light movement class at the Riverdale Neighborhood House, Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m
There will also be a social hour with refreshments after class, offering a chance to chat with your neighbors.
At the New York Public Library
Jazz Rogues
Sophisticated Big Apple jazz comes to the Spuyten Duyvil Library. Join for a special concert given by the Jazz Rogues as they perform songs from classic American songbooks. Music will include pieces by George Gershwin, Cole Porter and more.
Starts on Saturday, Jan. 24 at 1 p.m.
Therapy Dog Reading
Once upon a wag, there was a specially trained therapy dog named Tyler. He was wishing that a child would read him a story...and his wish came true at the Kingsbridge Library.
Tyler, a licensed therapy dog, and his owners look forward to you reading them a story. Enjoy one-on-one, no-pressure reading time with a furry friend.
This event runs on Monday, Jan. 26, for ages five to 12. Pre-registration is required for each 15-minute slot. ASL interpretation and real-time captioning available upon request, with at least two weeks notice.
Short Lit, Short Pencils
Two Thursdays a month, the Spuyten Duyvil Library will host Short Lit, Short Pencils, where bookworms read a selected piece – stories, essays, poems and more. You discuss themes, writing styles and create your own short-form works.
Copies of the selected stories will be available at the library front desk. They can also be accessed through nypl.org/locations/spuyten-duyvil. This event is open to those 18 and older. Join on Thursday, Jan. 22., where you will discuss “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” authored by Ursula K. Le Guin.
Writing Circle
Kingsbridge Library hosts weekly Writing Circle meetings in an intima-
te setting where attendees can share unpublished drafts and give and receive feedback. Participants must be at least 18 years old. Registration can be completed at nypl.org to receive the Google Meet code, which will be emailed the day before. The group meets every Thursday, from 10 a.m. to noon.
Kingsbridge Library Book Club Join for a lively discussion of The King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby. You can check out a copy with your library card at the circulation desk.
Saturday, Jan. 24th, at 11 a.m.
Getting More out of Google Google offers much more than just searching and Gmail. Learn more about google maps, google translate and even google advanced. Registration begins January 22 and must register in person. Space is limited to 8.
Tuesday, Jan. 27, from 2 to 3 p.m.
At Van Cortlandt Park Trail Work Thursdays
Join the Van Cortlandt Park Alliance and fellow residents every Thursday from 9 a.m. to noon to help maintain the trails in Van Cortlandt Park. Tools and gloves are provided for this small-group volunteer event, limited to five participants. It’s a hands-on opportunity to give back to the community while enjoying the Bronx’s natural beauty.
Forest Friday Volunteer at with the Van Cortlandt Park Alliance to remove invasive species from the Van Cortlandt Park’s Northwest Forest every Friday from 9 a.m. to noon. The work helps promote biodiversity, protect young trees and improve forest health. No prior experience is needed. Tools and gloves are provided.
Outdoor Skills: Shelter Building Shelter is one of the most important components of outdoor survival. Learn the essentials on how to build an outdoor shelter using foliage, branches and other natural materials. Join the Van Cortlandt Park Alliance on Saturday, Jan. 24, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Brighton Beach Memoirs
In collaboration with Riverdale Temple and presented by the Riverdale Repertory Company, Neil Simon’s beloved coming-of-age comedy follows young Eugene Morris Jerome as he navigates the chaos, charm, and challenges of growing up in a crowded Brooklyn household during the late 1930s. It is the first in an award winning trilogy of successful plays that also became popular films.
With sharp wit, heartfelt family moments, and Simon’s signature humor, “Brighton Beach Memoirs” offers a nostalgic, funny and deeply
relatable look at adolescence, dreams, and the ties that hold families together. Perfect for audiences who love laughter with a touch of warmth. The show runs at The Riverdale Temple on Saturday, Jan 24 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Book Talk: Kissing Girls on Shabbat
Join for an evening with Dr. Sara Glass as she discusses her powerful memoir, “Kissing Girls on Shabbat.”
In this moving story, Glass shares her journey growing up in the Hasidic community of Borough Park, Brooklyn, where her yearning for authenticity and love stood in painful contrast to the expectations of her religious world.
Thursday, Jan. 22 at 7 p.m.
Conversation with Young Leaders from Sharaka Join for a powerful and timely conversation with young leaders from Sharaka, meaning ‘partnership’ in Arabic, a groundbreaking initiative fostering understanding and partnership between Arabs and Israelis. Their mission is to build communities, educate, and facilitate deep engagement around the Abraham Accords.
Sunday, Jan. 25 at 7 p.m.
Honoring the Scraps Join An Beal Bocht for “Hono-
ring the Scraps,” a debut solo exhibition by Bronx-based artist Devon Valentín-Dixon, offering an intimate look into the quiet, often overlooked moments of artistic creation. Enjoy a curated blend of paintings alongside their formative sketches, photo references and collected visual fragments. These “scraps” function as an informal archive, revealing the imperfections, detours and discoveries that shape each final piece. In keeping with the artist’s belief that art should be welcoming and accessible, the exhibition includes works at a range of price points, as well as a print raffle during the artist reception on Friday, Jan. 16 from 6 to 8 p.m. This approach invites visitors to engage with and collect art in ways that feel personal, inclusive, and attainable.
On view until Sunday, Feb. 1 Community Board 8 Meetings
Bronx Community Board 8 is in session. All meetings held at the CB8 office are located at 5676 Riverdale Ave., Suite 100. Unless specified, all hybrid meetings will be in the office or via Zoom. To access the Zoom link for CB8 meetings, visit their website, cbbronx.cityofnewyork.us/cb8 Jan. 22 at 7 p.m. - Land Use Jan. 26 at 6:30
Gerald neuberg, md,
For appointments, please call: 646.317.0130
Kung-Ming Jan, md For appointments, please call: 718.601.4800
david I. sahar, md For appointments, please call: 718.601.3700
ronald Weissman, md
dylan Marshall, md For
By RICHARD L. STEIN
On Monday the nation celebrated the great civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with ceremonies, memorials and calls to service. On MLK Day in recent years, media outlets broadcast paeans to the fallen hero and politicians of every party pause to extol the virtues of a man who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the name of non-violence and rights for all.
But it was not always thus. Although the Congressional Black Caucus and his widow, Coretta Scott King, began the push for a national holiday in his name shortly after King was assassinated in 1968, the first bill calling for the creation of the holiday wasn’t introduced in Congress until 1979 — and it failed to pass.
President Ronald Reagan finally signed it into law in 1983, but another three years passed before the first observance took place on January 20, 1986.
Through the 1990s, several states resisted celebrating and Arizona voters rejected MLK Day altogether in 1993. As a result, the NFL moved the Superbowl to California. It wasn’t until 2000 that every state officially recognized the day. It seems that as a nation we eventually come around to recognizing the good that comes of protests, but they make us uncomfortable while they’re happening.
Then, as now, government actors believed they could trample Americans’ constitutional rights with impunity.
In 1963, instead of aggressively pursuing the white supremacists who had subjected Dr. King to horrific jail conditions in Atlanta and Albany, Ga. and solitary confinement in Birmingham, Ala., the Justice Department and the FBI, led by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, hatched a top-secret plot to tap the telephones of the civil rights leader and his closest advisors, hoping to discredit him as a communist sympathizer.
As Dr. King sat down with his friend, attorney and advisor, Clarence Jones, in Jones’s Riverdale home to begin to shape the iconic “I Have a Dream” speech that King would deliver on Aug. 28, every one of their telephone conversations was being listened to and recorded by FBI agents.
Martin Luther King came to a quiet corner of Riverdale to work on the first draft of his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. Little did he know that the FBI was listening in on all of his phone conversations.
That explains why Dr. King was not universally beloved. Despite his commitment to non-violence, he was arrested 29 times for offenses ranging from civil disobedience to traffic violations, to demonstrating without a permit and even loitering. Even many northern whites expressed sentiments like: “Sure Negroes deserve equal rights, but they should go slow and accept gradual change.”
Dr. King’s oppression — and the deadly violence inflicted on young civil rights organizers like James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner — came at the hands of state and local authorities or Klansmen in the segregated South. Rarely, if ever, were these perpetrators held to account.
Today, even as we celebrate the civil disobedience of civil rights marchers of the 1960s, we are witnessing agents — this time federal officers — using similar tactics against peaceful demonstrators in places like Portland, Ore., Chicago, Ill. and most recently, in Minneapolis, Mn. And we are told by Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem that the ICE agent involved in the killing of a 37-year-old mother peacefully protesting the invasion of her community has “absolute immunity.”
Ironically, Jones had suspected that agents had tapped the phone of a member of the King team, Stanley Levison, who was described in a memo by J. Edgar Hoover as “a concealed member of the Communist Party, USA.” But when he confronted a US attorney about the surveillance Jones was put off and told, “this was something he would have to take up with Levison.”
In 1963, it seems, the Justice Department was more interested in digging up dirt on a dedicated protester who was brutally treated by law enforcement officers than bringing justice to protesters and their families. Today, news reports tell us that the Justice Department is declining to pursue any investigation into the activity of Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who shot Renee Good in the head on the streets of Minneapolis. Instead, they have opened a probe into the activities of Ms. Good and her family, hoping to dig up dirt on them that they can use to blunt the impact Mr. Ross’s behavior. Sound familiar? The more things change, the more they remain the same. How should we react? Not by giving in to hopelessness and fear. We can, indeed, see the fruits of Dr. King’s labors in the civil rights gains this country can point to. And it was heartening to see spontaneous demonstrations of support for immigrants and First Amendment advocates alike from the West 235 Street parkway overpass to the Golden Gate Bridge.Protest does have a price, but as the reverend so eloquently said, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
Richard Stein is a former editor and publisher of The Press.
To the editor: Paul Singer is a big contributor to Donald Trump’s campaign chest, but he has also showered cash on Ritchie Torres. And that should bother us a lot.
A billionaire who grew up partially in the Bronx, Paul Singer first came to prominence by willfully attempting to discredit other people’s suffering. When Owens Corning declared bankruptcy after being ordered to pay damages to personnel who were poisoned at work by asbestos, Singer swooped in to buy what remained of the company and proceeded to smear the victims and endeavor to invalidate their claims. Every penny he clawed back from them went into his own pocket. Among Singer’s other “in-
vestments”: buying defaulted Peruvian loans, then suing for a 400 percent return. He did something similar in Argentina. In 2025, Paul Singer’s firm — Elliott Management — bought Citgo, the US arm of Venezeula’s oil company. Now, with Nicholas Maduro arrested and President Trump stating the U.S. will “run Venezuela.” Paul Singer stands to make a mint… again.
Paul Singer’s a Trump donor. No matter one’s political preference, surely most can agree opportunities for such profiteering are a corruption risk. For Republicans. Democrats, too. As of Jan. 6, 2026, Elliott Management has contributed $76,190 to Rep. Ritchie Torres, making Singer a top five contributor over Torres’ career. Singer’s a smart businessman,
so Bronxites should ask: What about Torres is Singer “investing” in? Why would Ritchie accept money from a vulture capitalist like him?
And Paul Singer’s fingers are in more than “just” the Bronx. Elliott Management also owns Cubic, the company that manages the new MTA OMNY card system which tracks passenger data in concerning ways that the commuter rail and subway system didn’t before.
Do you want Paul Singer squeezing your subway dollar like Venezuela? Do you trust him with your data? Do you want your representative in Congress accepting his cash? Once we know who Paul Singer is, many New Yorkers would answer no.
JANET GOODMANCLARKE
Among the 66 pages of a dossier on the surveillance of Martin Luther King, Jr. was this page. a cablegram explaining that a wiretap had been authorized on the home and office of a close friend, confidant and speech writer for Dr. King. Clarence Jones had offered his Riverdale home to the King family as he prepared notes for the iconic “I Have a Dream” speech.
To the editor: This morning, having (once again) forgotten to turn off my phone, I awoke to the “ding” of a text message.
It was a new video sent by a friend. The short clip showed a disabled young woman being violently ripped from her vehicle. She could be heard pleading with ICE agents. She told them repeatedly that she had to get to her doctor’s office. In response, the masked agents proceeded to damage her car and attack her physically. Meanwhile, neighbors had gathered and cried, “Shame!”. Shame indeed.
It is becoming increasingly clear to humans with intact cognition, that we are losing our country.
As we scroll through media coverage daily, we can become distracted. There is just so much bad news. It has often been described as a fire hose of incoming news.
Yet, the regime benefits when we are emotionally overwhelmed. Communities all across the country are coming together to protect one another.
Here in New York, neighbors deliver food, warn of raids and demonstrate their support to those most vulnerable in many ways. As the new legislative session gets underway in Albany, New York must pass important measures to keep our communities safe.
One such initiative is the NYS MELT Act, Bill#AO8908. This bill would require government agents to wear identification badges and would prohibit them from hiding their identities by the wearing of masks which obscure their faces.
Let’s pass it now!
Our hope for a better day must not die.
SILVIA BLUMENFELD
I will not be quiet, nor should you
To the editor:
I am 97 years old, and I will not be quiet while our democracy is destroyed by a moronic, egomaniac president.
We were quiet as Hitler rose to power, and ships filled with refugees were turned away from our shores.
We were quiet as innocent Japanese Americans were interned in camps, and when Senator McCarthy was destroying lives and careers. We were quiet when Jim Crow ruled the South and lynchings were commonplace.
It is only when we the people are not quiet, that justice will
triumph. We must speak out protesting the atrocities of this administration whenever, wherever, and to whomever we can.
As Senator Booker said, “This is not about Democrat vs. Republican, Left vs. Right, this is about Democracy vs. Dictatorship”.
Governor Pritzker of Illinois has called for civil uprising. We must protest and resist loudly, clearly, frequently, and nonviolently.
If your answer to the question, “ What did you do in 2026 when America was in peril?” is “I kept quiet,”you are complicit in the downfall of democracy”. JOAN HOLLANDER
Mr. Dinowitz: please rethink your legislation
To the editor: Assembly Jeffrey Dinowitz has proposed legislation to close what he terms the voluntary intoxication “loophole” in sexual offense cases. As it stands the law provides that a person may be incapable of consent to a sexual act because they have been drugged without their knowledge, but not because they were voluntarily intoxicated. Dinowitz proposes changing this so that a person may be incapable of consent because of their own voluntary intoxication. However, voluntary intoxication is not a defense to a criminal charge. This leads to the following scenario: A man and a woman go out and get drunk together and have sex. The next morning when they sober up, they are both horrified and go to the police to claim that the other had sex with them without their consent.
Under the Dinowitz bill, a defendant cannot claim that the other party consented when they were too intoxicated to consent, but also cannot claim that the defendant, him or herself, was too intoxicated to realize that the other person was incapable of consent. Thus each is guilty of raping the other (a woman can rape a man when she has sex with him when he is incapable of consent). Mr. Dinowitz: Don’t you think there is something wrong with this picture?
JAMES
FOGEL The writer is a former assistant district attorney for New York County and a retired judge of the Criminal Court.
Trump’s justification for ICE raids is fraudulent
To the editor: The justification the Trump administration has used for flooding Minneapolis and other places in Minnesota with masked, heavily armed thugs -— massive fraud involving millions of dollars in federal funds -— is simply a pretext to terrorize citizens and noncitizens alike and create chaos and confusion.
The justification is belied not only by the obvious fact that the way to identify fraudsters is not through a mass invasion of poorly trained ICE agents but also by the fact that Trump, who himself was convicted of fraud in 2022, has granted clemency to dozens of convicted fraudsters since his inauguration on January 20, 2025.
A search on Jan. 17, 2026
of the Department of Justice website https://www.justice. gov/pardon/clemency-grantspresident-donald-j-trump2025-present, which bears the title “Clemency Grants by President Donald J. Trump (2025-present),” shows that the word “fraud” appears 71 times and applies to the convictions of more than two dozen of those who were pardoned. Each of those people had stolen millions or even tens or hundreds of millions of dollars through one fraudulent scheme or another, and by gaining pardons, they no longer have to repay a penny of the money they stole.
Trevor Milton, for example, the founder and former CEO of the Nikola Corp., was convicted of securities and wire fraud and ordered to pay over $661 million in restitution. By being pardoned, he need not repay a penny of that money. A convicted fraudster named Adriana Camberos, whose sentence Trump commuted in 2021, went on to commit fraud yet again, and she and her partner in crime, her brother, both received pardons from Trump this month.
As Kenneth P. Vogel and Susanne Craig wrote for the New York Times on Jan. 16, 2026, the pardons “strike a discordant note with the Trump administration’s announcement that it was suspending federal funding for programs intended to serve poor people in Minnesota in order to root out fraud.” MIRIAM LEVINE HELBOK
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