Vol. 76, No. 32
What’s inside?
Thursday, August 6, 2026
Rat infestation in Van Cortlandt Village By Olivia Young and Emma Alvarado oyoung@riverdalepress.com
New leadership Local school welcomes new principal Page A3
$1.00
At 3991 Saxon Ave., a two-year-old building in Van Cortlandt Village, rats scurry across the street in broad daylight as tenants and neighbors plead for a solution. For several months, residents at both 3991 Saxon Ave. and 74 Van Cortlandt S., an Amalgamated Housing Cooperative building next door, documented what they call an infestation. Fed up, a dozen of these residents held a press conference July 30 with Council member Eric Dinowitz and Assembly member Jeffrey Dinowitz, demanding action from city agencies and 3991 Saxon Ave.’s building management company. The management company, Alliah Man-
agement, did not respond to requests for comment. The Dinowitzes sent a letter July 31 to management agent Nate Ruby and the property owner listed in city records, Solomon Schwimmer, urging them to work together to resolve the issue. Ruby did not respond to requests for comment and Schwimmer could not be reached for comment. According to a notice posted inside 3991 Saxon Ave., signed “Building Management,” the pest problem was attributed to garbage being left on the sidewalk. Management opened the garbage rooms on each floor for tenant use about a month ago, said Adaysha Givens, a tenant who moved from East Harlem in 2024. Still, the rats persist.
For Givens, who is a student at Lehman College and a mom of two young kids, the rodents were the final push for her to start the moving out process. She told The Press she sees the rats daily, and sometimes hears them scuddling underneath leaves near her back window. Cracks and gaps between 3991 Saxon Ave.’s building structure and the ground were an inviting place for rats to nest, Amalgamated residents said, creating what they believe is now a full-fledged burrow that has spread to the side of their building, too. Videos Givens and Amalgamated residents shared with The Press show the rodents, often in groups, scampering over trash bags, running across the sidewalk and under cars, and dragging food remnants
back toward their burrow. Givens is enrolled in a rental assistance program called City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement, or City FHEPS. She said other tenants in the 3991 Saxon Ave. building are also on a housing voucher program, or are formerly homeless. Most of her neighbors don’t want to speak up, she said, they are just relieved for a place to live and a new opportunity. Givens wanted that too, she said. “This was supposed to be a fresh start for us,” Givens said at the press conference, holding her 3-year-old daughter in her arms. “It’s supposed to be hard, but not this hard.” Longtime Amalgamated resident DebRATS ON PAGE A4
Windsor Swim Club members seek accountability By Michelle Mullen
Salsa festivities
mmullen@riverdalepress.com
Community gathers for dance event Page A5
GARY JEAN-JUSTE
‘Put it on Paper’ Educator releases mindful journal Page A6
The Denishawn House at 67 Stevenson Place served as a modern dance school from 1927 to 1934, led by dancers Ted Shawn and Ruth St. Denis.
Denishawn House demo nears, community efforts to landmark fail By Michelle Mullen mmullen@riverdalepress.com
‘Overlapping Empires’ Exhibit explores local histories Page A7
The Denishawn House, a former dance school in Van Cortlandt Village, is set to be demolished despite community efforts to save the site by designating it a city landmark. Construction workers were seen on the roof of the 67 Stevenson Place building when The Press visited July 30. One worker said they were doing blacktop removal. Before this, Bronx Community Board 8 received a notice from a consulting company that full demolition would start sometime after July 27. It remains unclear what the site will house in the future. No plans had been submitted to the city as of Aug. 4, aside from an application for a construction fence filed in early July. According to the city’s department of buildings, an additional permit still needs to be filed as the final step before the demolition.
The move to alert the community board was not a complete surprise, as the city’s department of buildings approved demolition in late June. But it is a disappointment to those who pushed for the Denishawn House to be recognized as a landmark, including the community board, New York City-based nonprofit Historic Districts Council and Columbia University Professor of Historic Preservation Andrew Dolkart. “We couldn’t save it,” Dolkart, a historian with a passion for dance, said. “It’s just very upsetting.” Last July, the city’s landmarks preservation commission reviewed the site after the Historic Districts Council submitted a request for evaluation. The commission rejected it, citing substantial alterations to parts of the building connected to its time as a school. Alterations included changes to the windows and the demolition of the doubleheight rehearsal and performance space,
a spokesperson for the commission told The Press. Seven years of operation as a dance school was also considered a relatively short period, the spokesperson added. Ultimately, Denishawn House didn’t have the level of architectural quality and historic significance to be considered. After the first rejection, Dolkart compiled more than a dozen letters of support from nonprofits, professors and executives at major dance institutions — Martha Graham Dance Company, New York City Ballet, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Harkness Foundation for Dance and School of American Ballet. But, to no avail, as the commission turned down the site again this past May for the same reasons. Ted Shawn, one of the founders of modern dance in America, and his wife, Ruth St. Denis, established the Denishawn School of Dancing and Related DENISHAWN ON PAGE A4
For much of the summer, The Windsor Apartments of Riverdale’s pool at 4705 Henry Hudson Parkway W. remained locked following a New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene closure, leaving members who paid hundreds of dollars for seasonal access watching the swimming season slip away. Now, weeks after the pool reopened, some members are taking legal action, arguing the 35 percent refund or credit offered by Windsor Apartments, also known as The Windsors Cooperative Apartments, does not adequately compensate them for losing much of the season they paid for. At least one member has filed a claim in Bronx Small Claims Court, and several others told The Press they are preparing to do the same. They argue the Windsor Apartments’s board of directors failed to provide the service they purchased and instead offered what they consider an inadequate refund. The city’s health department issued 10 violations and ordered the pool closed June 16 after inspectors responded to 311 complaints, later clearing it to open on July 18. “The NYC Health Department temporarily closed the swimming pool at The Windsors Cooperative Apartments in the Bronx after an inspection on June 16, 2026, identified that the pool operator was not meeting required chlorination levels, posing a risk to swimmers,” the department told The Press. Inspectors found the pool’s free chlorine level measured zero milligrams per liter while several swimmers were in the water. They also found the pool’s chemical-feeding system was not functioning because chlorine and acid containers connected to the main feeder were empty while operators awaited a chemical delivery. In addition, inspectors determined the pool’s water turnover rate was just 150 gallons per minute — well below the required minimum of 343 gallons per minute. The Windsor Swim Club, located on the grounds of the apartment complex, serves both residents of the cooperative and the public through seasonal memberships that cost about $803 for non-shareholders. It has long been one of Riverdale’s beloved POOL ON PAGE A4
Seemingly abandoned cars plague greater Riverdale By Michelle Mullen mmullen@riverdalepress.com
Across New York City’s 50th Precinct, seemingly abandoned vehicles remain on public streets for weeks, even as 311 reports filed by residents eyeing removal pile up. More than 650 abandoned or derelict vehicle complaints were filed in the 10463 and 10471 ZIP codes between January and August 2026. The Riverdale Press reviewed dozens of complaints and visited the reported locations. At several spots, vehicles were still where residents said they had sat for months despite repeated complaints. Several displayed multiple parking summonses piled up beneath their windshield wipers, typically yellowed and water damaged.
Many bore damage, whether a cracked windshield or dramatic, rusting dents. Some sat on tires long flat, dirt and debris piling up around the wheels. Among them, a white commercial van near 5770 Fieldston Road was reported six times this year alone. Another vehicle on Post Road, parked across from 5235 Post Road, had flat tires, visible body damage and bags of garbage piled inside. One resident said it had not moved since at least January despite numerous 311 complaints. Multiple parking summonses remained tucked beneath the windshield wipers when The Press visited the site July 30. North Riverdale resident Mike Hammond has become one of the neighborhood’s most ABANDONED CARS ON PAGE A4
Michelle Mullen
Many of the vehicles reported abandoned to 311, like this one on West 262nd Street in North Riverdale, sport significant damage.