Vol. 76, No. 14
What’s inside?
Thursday, April 2, 2026
Hochul urged to tax NY’s wealthy By Michelle Mullen mmullen@riverdalepress.com
UMSV gets new basketball coach
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In the northwest Bronx, calls for Gov. Kathy Hochul to raise taxes on New York’s wealthiest residents and corporations echoed across the Lehman College campus March 29, where Sen. Bernie Sanders urged the governor to take action amid New York City’s widening projected budget gap. The “Tax the Rich” rally took place just days before Hochul’s April 1 deadline to finalize the fiscal year 2027 state budget, as negotiations in Albany over how to address the city’s estimated $5.4 million budget deficit. Progressive lawmakers and advocates pushed for rev-
enue measures backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani — namely, raising income tax on those earning over $1 million annually and increasing corporate taxes on large, highly profitable companies. “Mayor Mamdani has proposed a surcharge of two percentage points on New York City millionaires,” Sanders said at the rally. “That is .7 percent of total city taxes — fewer than 1 percent — which would generate approximately $3 million annually. So let us be clear on the mayor’s proposal, 99.3% of people in New York City would not nickel more in taxes.” Hochul has resisted raising income taxes on the wealthy, and instead proposed allocating about $1.5 billion in
state aid to help address New York City’s projected budget deficit. “I would ask Governor Hochul, ‘Listen to where the people are at,’” Sanders said, looking out at the crowd. Although Mamdani floated property tax increases as a potential fallback to close that gap — a move that requires City Council approval — he has said he wants to avoid doing so, instead urging the state to raise income taxes on New Yorkers earning over $1 million and large corporations. Lois Harr, Riverdale resident and member of Northwest Bronx Indivisible, was in the crowd at the rally, where organizers estimated more than 2,000 people were in attendance.
“I pay my taxes, I’m not a billionaire,” she said. “I’m retired now, and I’m going to pay tax on that. It’s a noble thing to contribute to the common good we all benefit from, all kinds of things like schools, the fire department, the police department, parks.” Yet in greater Riverdale, even among neighbors sympathetic to the message, the question of how to tax the wealthy revealed a more layered set of views. Longtime resident Shelley Simpson said the issue is not about targeting individuals, but rather fixing structural inequities embedded in the existing system, pointing to factors like tax codes TAX ON PAGE A4
After Bronx day care fire, owner left picking up the pieces
Brett Gunning to lead men’s program Page A3
By Michelle Mullen mmullen@riverdalepress.com
more resolve.” At 75 years old, Fletcher said Trump’s policies are beyond her “sense of reality.” Ultimately, she wants Americans to take part in a general strike, which is a largescale work stoppage to pressure a government into change. But her hope now is that Democrats secure a majority in the Senate and House of Representatives ahead of midterm elections. Assembly member Jeffrey Dinowitz took a similar stance at the Lou Gehrig Plaza rally. He told The Press it’s important to stand together with those that are outraged, but voting to flip Republicanheld seats in New York is the only way to make substantial change. “We are really in a dangerous, unprecedented time,” Dinowitz said. “The only way to remove that danger is by winning elections.” Seventy-eight-year-old Merritt Claude,
Flames and thick smoke tore through a Kingsbridge apartment building March 17, destroying a home-based day care that served families for more than two decades. For 23 years, Maria Capellan ran her day care, The Kid’s Room, out of her fourth-floor apartment, at 3410 Kingsbridge Ave., caring for children as young as a few months old and as old as preschool-aged. The concept began as a temporary solution to care for her own children, but into something lasting. Capellan had been working in marketing, but the demands of the job made it difficult to balance work and family. After discovering a nanny was mistreating her children, she said she made a decision that would shape the next chapter of her life. “I said, no, I cannot. I cannot keep doing this,” she said. “So I quit my job.” At first, she planned to return to her career once her children were older. But something shifted as she began teaching and caring for other families’ children. “When I started seeing that the children at three were reading, knowing the shapes, the body parts, I got some sort of high out of it,” she said, “It’s like a drug, and I just developed a passion for it.” Over the years, Capellan built more than a business. She said parents traveled from across the region — “from Jersey, from Queens, from Connecticut, from Westchester,” she shared — to bring their children to her program. The apartment became a place of routine, vibrancy and early learning. That sense of stability was altered in a matter of minutes. On the afternoon of March 17, a fire broke out in a third-floor apartment, according to the New York Fire Department — below Capellan’s unit. Smoke quickly rose through the building and into her day care. Inside, she said eight children were present and napping. As smoke crept into the room, one child — the only one awake — noticed first. “She said, ‘under the table, under the table,’” Capellan recalled. At first, she thought it was an electrical issue nearby. Within moments, it became clear
NO KINGS ON PAGE A4
DAY CARE ON PAGE A4
NYCHA touts historic investments Upgrades on tap Page A3
GARY JEAN-JUSTE
Lou Gehrig Plaza was one of thousands of sites across the country that took part in No Kings, a series of demonstrations against the Trump administration.
Riverdale keeps momentum with third No Kings protest By Olivia Young oyoung@riverdalepress.com
New York, Ukraine kids collaborate Art helps heal trauma Page A5
Riverdale residents joined millions of others nationwide March 28 in the third No Kings protest, a series of demonstrations against President Donald Trump and his administration’s policies. Locals took to Lou Gehrig Plaza on East 161st Street, the Henry Hudson Bridge and Midtown Manhattan to make their voices heard — primarily in opposition to aggressive measures by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, unwanted U.S. military action in Iran and what protesters feel is an erosion of democracy. No Kings is organized by a coalition of more than 300 organizations against what are described by demonstrators as authoritarian actions. The first of the widespread protests were in June 2025, with over five million participants nationwide
according to estimates from the American Civil Liberties Union, and at least 20 from Riverdale. The second wave, in October 2025, brought seven million Americans to the streets, according to ACLU estimates, and more than 600 Riverdalians at Seton Park, according to the New York Police Department. In the South Bronx, members of the grassroots group Northwest Bronx Indivisible raised homemade signs that read “Defend democracy” and “We don’t do kings in the Bronx” while echoing chants, bundled up against the cool weather. Member Judy Fletcher is also a part of NYCD16/15 Indivisible, a group that promotes civic engagement in Congressional Districts 15 and 16. This is her third No Kings protest, and Fletcher said each has been bigger than the last. “People have grown increasingly confident,” she said. “Each protest has led to more activism, more organization and
At 18 years old, Gavin Lam earns Eagle Scout By Michelle Mullen mmullen@riverdalepress.com
After more than a decade of work, 18-year-old Gavin Lam has achieved Eagle Scout status, the highest rank attainable in Scouting America’s Scouts BSA program. Since its inception in 1911, only about four percent of Scouts have earned the Eagle Scout rank, according to Scouting America. To qualify, Scouting America requires that candidates complete a rigorous series of merit badges, take on leadership roles within their troop and carry out a community service project intended to leave a lasting impact on those it serves. Though he grew up in Bayside,
Queens, Lam’s connection to Scouting traces back to Riverdale, where his father was raised and scouted in local Troop 240. That legacy was one of several factors that shaped Lam’s introduction to Scouting. “For me, Scouting was a bit familial,” Lam said. “My dad and uncle are both Eagle Scouts. My two older brothers were in Scouting before me, and so it was like I followed in their footsteps.” Lam joined Cub Scouts at five years old, and later transitioned into Boy Scouts, now called Scouts BSA, before finding his place in Queens in Troop 106. There, he threw himself into the weekly Friday night meetings. In the summers, he attended camp with fellow Scouts in upstate GAVIN ON PAGE A4
Courtesy Felix Lam
Jack Walsh, The National Eagle Scout Association Committee’s Greater New York Councils Chair, left, joined Gavin Lam, right, in a court of honor ceremony for the new Eagle Scout.