Northattan

ARC XVI senior center's members use the service to get to the center early in the morning. Photo by Isha Soni/Northattan.

“I am afraid of falling down the stairs and I haven’t used the subway for 20 years,” said 75-year-old Washington Heights resident Leonor Ramos. Another 73-year-old uptown resident, Flerida Custro, said, “MTA makes absolutely no effort to understand the needs of senior citizens.”

Understanding the concern of residents like these, the ARC XVI Fort Washington Senior Center has launched a new service called COASTS, for Coordinated Older Adult Senior Transportation Service. As the name suggests, it is what its organizers call a “door-through-door” transportation service for senior citizens, exclusive to northern Manhattan.

Diana Hernandez, the assistant executive director of the senior center, said that as people age, especially if they have disabilities, transportation becomes one of the biggest challenges. “It affects them psychologically and socially,” she said. “They become alienated, marginalized and invisible citizens and no one sees them except for doctors.”

COASTS runs between 110th Street and 220^th Street in Manhattan. Rides are free for people above the age of 60 and for disabled people over 50, but the riders must be aware of their destination and of their residential address. An aide can assist a member with a mental illness, and, Hernandez said, “If you have a mobility impairment, we have added a mobility facilitator who ensures a member’s safe transfer, door to door.”

On a recent morning, Chris Hernandez, 32, a mobility facilitator, escorted 10 elderly people from their apartment gates to a bus seat and fastened their seat belts. All through the journey, the bus driver and Hernandez chatted with the passengers and made them feel comfortable. Hernandez said she had three weeks of training to become a facilitator, where “I was trained in handling wheelchairs, dealing with senior citizens and how to help them get around.”

Mary Johnson, of Washington Heights, was one of the passengers. She said, “If I didn’t have this transportation today, I wouldn’t be able to use any other transportation and go anywhere.” Another passenger, Cenida Velasquez, said, “I use it for everything: To go to the doctor, to go shopping, to visit the center, and it is very good because the driver and the attendant make you feel like a king and take very good care of you.” Velasquez uses this service up to five times a week.

Currently, COASTS has nine buses, each of which can carry up to16 passengers. It is funded by a combination of public and private funds, including more than half a million dollars from the federal transit administration and local funds of more than $137,000 raised by the ARC XVI senior center with the help of New York City Council and the Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation Inc. The senior citizen center is now preparing to apply for another grant to expand the reach of the transportation service and to buy more and larger buses.

COASTS fills a need, especially acute in northern Manhattan. There are no elevators or escalators for the A, C and 1 train subways in Inwood, and in much of northern Manhattan, hills make walking especially difficult for disabled and older people.

The MTA already supplies some services similar to COASTS, like Access-a-Ride, for people who cannot use the subways or other public transport, but people have complained that those services are not enough. Edith Prentiss, 69, a member Community Board 12’s traffic and transportation committee, says, “New York city transit does not run on schedule. Whether it is Access-a-Ride, or it is the M5, when it keeps the disabled person waiting, it’s a problem.”

“Parkour is just training your body to overcome obstacles,” says “Vert,” who teaches the acrobatic discipline four times a week in Fort Tryon Park.

Grenade found near the MTA service station under the No.1 train overpass in Inwood.

Inwood residents said a grenade was found Thursday afternoon near an MTA maintenance shop under the No. 1 train overpass, 10^th Ave. New York Police Department officers along with bomb squad specialists rushed to the spot and removed the explosive device, after receiving a call about the item at 12:50 p.m., according to a report in DNAinfo.com.

Nicolas Perez, a 22-year-old audio technician at Syntax Communication, a shop opposite the maintenance shop, said that five police cars, with at least 20 police officers,  gathered at the station around 1 p.m. Perez said that the streets were closed and traffic was diverted for an hour.

On reaching the scene, the cops put barricades around the station and started telling curious people to get on the sidewalk. Perez said, “The cops asked us to stay inside the shop and said not to come out.”

Perez said that although he was initially confused seeing the chaos created in this otherwise quiet neighborhood, as the police presence increased, he grew scared. “I was, like, oh my God, what is going to happen?” recalled Perez.

Altagracia Perez, the 57-year-old owner of Syntax Communication, said, “ I reached my shop at around 1:50 p.m. and there still were so many cops in the neighborhood.”. After another hour of chaos and confusion, the barricades were removed and normal activity was restored.

MTA officials have not replied to an email enquiry and the police department hasn’t confirmed the incident at this time.  It was unknown if the grenade was live.

Protestors have taken over Wall Street. Photo by Mayeta Clark/Northattan.

For three weeks now, protesters have filled the area around Wall Street, voicing their anger at the state of the U.S. economy. One theater troupe from Inwood and Washington Heights traveled to Wall Street to add their voices to the mix. But protest wasn’t the only thing on their minds: Their aim was to add some drama to proceedings. Nadine Natour reports

George Espinal, president of the 34th Precinct Community Council, outlines the proposed resolution. Photo by Chiara Sottile/Northattan.

With crime on the rise recently in Inwood, the community could soon have a new police team to patrol the neighborhood. The 34^th Precinct Community Council jumped the first hurdle toward sending more Impact Response Team (IRT) officers, police officers that respond to areas of high crime, to the northern section of the 34^th Precinct.

The council unanimously passed a resolution on Wednesday to request deployment of IRT officers to Inwood after police statistics showed that sending 60 additional IRT officers to a particular area of Washington Heights beginning in October decreased crime there.

“We need cops where there are serious crimes,” said George Espinal, president of the 34^th Precinct Community Council, after the council’s general meeting Wednesday. “We see them in the Heights, but we don’t see them in Inwood.”

The additional 60 IRT officers patrolled Washington Heights between West 181st Street and West 190th Street, from Broadway to Amsterdam, but with no additional patrols sent to Inwood.  The text of the resolution states that areas of Inwood between Dyckman Street and 10^th Avenue, and from Payson Avenue to West 218^th Street, were left “unguarded” with “a feeling of unsafe.”

Even though “there’s shootings, stabbings, there’s assaults,” the area “north of Dyckman didn’t get attention from the IRT,” Espinal said. The resolution seeks to change that. It would maintain “the current increased manpower and enforcement efforts” in Washington Heights through February 2011 and also deploy some of those 60 IRT officers to “sections in Inwood, North of Dyckman Street, in areas where recent car break-ins, muggings and other serious crime have taken place in the past 60 days.”

“We’re hoping that this will push for more officers” in addition to the current 60 members of the Impact Response Team that will now be shared between Washington Heights and Inwood. “This area is forgotten,” said Espinal, emphasizing that budget woes and the precinct’s reductions in manpower were to blame, not the current law enforcement efforts.

Crime in the 34^th Precinct increased almost 25 percent in the 28 days before Oct. 17, with robbery and car theft increasing by 300 percent and felony assault up by 900 percent in one week. There was no comparable spike last year. Now, according to the most recent police statistics for the first week in December, crime in the precinct has decreased overall by 30 percent.

The nonbinding resolution will be reviewed by Precinct Capt. Jose Navarro and then voted on in the precinct’s executive board meeting in January. Espinal said he is “very optimistic” about the resolution.

If passed, it would bring relief to community members like Nadia Pryadko, who was mugged while walking with her 19-month-old son near Inwood’s Indian Road Playground one November evening. Two teenage boys threatened her with a concealed object, ordering her to “Give me all you got and don’t scream!” Pryadko, who no longer enters the park alone after dark, said that the incident made her realize “that the park might be a nice feature of the neighborhood but it attracts crime.”

Another Inwood resident, Joseph Haas, said, “I have seen one or two plainclothes officers, squad cars, but it’s not going to stop crime. We need beat cops.”

Espinal said that beat cops “were taken away by the police powers downtown. Everybody talks about beat cops but we don’t have them anymore.”

Espinal said the resolution was a response to input from residents, including up to 50 weekly e-mails sent via the council’s website.

Although the 34^th Precinct has a population of 120,000 residents and more than 500 acres of parkland, it “has only four sectors each with one radio motor patrol (RMP) car for the entire precinct,” according to the resolution.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Capt. Navarro said, “This is a tough community and you keep me on my toes for sure.”

Northattan reporter Ingrid Rojas contributed to this story.

Dyckman Street in Inwood has become a hot spot for locals.  One block near Seaman Avenue has so many bars and restaurants that angry residents are calling it ‘Alcohol Alley’.  Now they are battling to restore order on the noisy street.

Swindler Cove Park before restoration. Photo by NYRP.

For nearly every famous park in New York City, there’s a powerful and wealthy organization behind it, like the Central Park Conservancy in Manhattan and the Prospect Park Alliance in Brooklyn. Other lesser-known parks in northern Manhattan, however, are not far behind, thanks to the efforts of the New York Restoration Project, a thriving nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring parks and community gardens in underserved areas across New York City.

The New York Restoration Project is the brainchild of Bette Midler, or the Divine Miss M, as her fans call her, an award-winning actress and singer known for hit songs like “Wind Beneath My Wings.” After a long career in California, Midler settled back in New York City. But once here, she was appalled to see the amount of trash in public areas, to the point of stopping her car to pick it up. Using her canyon clean-up experience with the California Environmental Program, Midler started recruiting friends and family to remove trash from Fort Tryon and Fort Washington parks. These grassroots efforts eventually led Midler to start the New York Restoration Project in 1995.

Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse at Swindler Cove Park after restoration. Photo by NYRP.

“We think of ourselves as a conservancy for parks that don’t have the resources that other parks have,” says Amy Gavaris, NYRP’s executive vice president, who has been with the foundation since its inception. “That’s the role that we fill in.”

To date NYRP has transformed 55 community gardens, removed 2,000 tons of garbage from city parks and planted thousands of trees as part of its partnership with the City of New York to plant one million trees by 2017. With a staff of just over 50 people plus over 2,000 volunteers, NYRP runs educational, recreational and environmental programs in the five boroughs. In northern Manhattan, it has played a major role in the revitalization of four parks: Fort Tryon, Fort Washington, Highbridge and Swindler Cove Parks.

New York Restoration Project's parks in northern Manhattan. Map by Ingrid Rojas/Northattan.

NYRP uses a mix of funding for this purpose, including corporate and individual donations and two annual fundraisers through which it raised $11.2 million in the last year alone, despite the recession. Another source of funding comes from the New Leaf, a charming restaurant set amidst Fort Tryon’s lush vegetation in a restored 1930’s stone house.

But NYRP’s crown jewel achievement is the restoration of Swindler Cove Park in Washington Heights along the Harlem River. In collaboration with the city Parks Department, the New York State Department of Transportation and NYRP, the park was transformed from an illegal dumping ground into a flourishing five-acre park. NYRP pitched in 3 percent of the total renovation costs that a 2004 article in the New York Daily News estimated at  $10 million. One of the park’s highlights, the floating Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse, for use by area rowing teams, is the first community boathouse on the Harlem River in 100 years, according to NYRP’s website.

Highbridge Park before restoration. Photo by NYRP.

Currently NYRP has a management contract with Parks Department for Swindler Cove Park’s maintenance — a sign of confidence in NYRP’s work. Adrian Benepe, the parks commissioner, said: “Public-private partnerships are one effective way to engage New Yorkers in the life of their neighborhood parks and community gardens, and we are pleased to have a partner in New York Restoration Project. NYRP has helped to galvanize community volunteers to clean up and bring life back to gardens that have fallen by the wayside.”

Pat Courtney, who has worked as a volunteer at Isham Park in Inwood, says the boathouse project brought attention to the much-neglected waterfront, raising the bar for the community in terms of quality and integrity. “Washington Heights and Inwood already have some of the best parkland in New York City,” says Courtney, “and should have commensurate waterfront access. NYRP has been absolutely critical in the process of providing it to date.”

Another highlight in NYRP’s work was the transformation of Highbridge Park, just south of Swindler Cove Park along the Harlem River. Working in partnership with the Parks Department, together they turned this neglected park from a dangerous, drug-infested place, littered with abandoned cars and thousands of tires, into a 119-acre park with manicured pathways and gardens. While the Parks Department invested millions of dollars in capital development, NYRP contributed with the removal of tons of trash and planting native species.

Millie Seubert has run the volunteer group “Friends of Highbridge Park” since 1999 and she’s witnessed the park’s transformation. “NYRP was key in turning the tide in the restoration of Highbridge Park,” Seubert says. “They came in with a lot of resources, and above all they were focused and committed.”

Highbridge Park after restoration. Photo by NYRP.

For her part, Midler continues to be actively involved in NYRP’s activities as an advocate and spokeswoman. However, like many nonprofits, NYRP has been hit by tough economic times. Gavaris says “there are programs that we’ve had to put on hold, but we were fortunate, we didn’t have any layoffs.” Gavaris expects the organization to be expanding its programs again in 2012.

Gavaris says she doesn’t measure NYRP’s success by the endowment’s size, but by the community’s engagement. “I think we’ve had a significant impact,” says Gavaris, and with the city budget cuts announced recently NYPR expects to be doing much more work in the near future.

This article has been corrected. NYRP doesn’t receive an annual fee from Parks Department for Swindler Cove Park’s maintenance. Also, the transformation of Highbridge Park was carried out in partnership with the Parks Department.

Merchants at the “Off the Map” holiday market celebrated their neighborhoods with distinctively uptown products like limited edition “Inwood Hill Park” poster prints signed by the artist, original photography with Northern Manhattan as its subject and T-shirts with scribbled neighborhood slogans.

Will Alicea is a local T-shirt designer and entrepreneur whose designs show off neighborhood pride. Photo by Chiara Sottile/Northattan.

This first annual market on Saturday afternoon at Inwood’s Bread and Yoga studio, just steps from the 207^th Street subway station, was the first time that small business owners and artists in Inwood and Washington Heights came together to showcase their talent.

A steady stream of neighbors stopped in to support 14 local artists and small business owners and to peruse tables of eclectic handmade goods, from all-natural, vanilla-scented Play-Doh to a holiday wreath made from the pages of a book.

Sasha Schwartz, founder of Scribble Art Workshop, sells homemade, all-natural play-do called "Scribbledo." Photo by Chiara Sottile/Northattan.

Inwood designer Pat Tillery sold this holiday wreath, made from pages of "a bad book." Photo by Chiara Sottile/Northattan.

The market was sponsored by the newly formed Inwood Merchant Association and organized by Leopold Vasquez, artist M. Tony Peralta and Bread and Yoga director Marcela Xavier. Vasquez, who founded The Sound of Art, said the idea behind the market and the Inwood Merchant Association, which he also helped start, is “getting small, local businesses together as a unit” to make a difference in Inwood and Washington Heights. “People have tried to start one before,” Vasquez said, but always without success. He attributes the Inwood Merchant Association’s success to the support of the Audubon Partnership.

These hats were designed for community pride by M. Tony Peralta. Photo by Chiara Sottile/Northattan.

Other projects aimed at supporting local businesses, like Small Business Saturday last month, have also fallen short in Inwood and Washington Heights. “The community is in dire need of this, so we just had to get it jumping off,” Vasquez said.

“It had a good community feel,” Jocelyn Gottschalk, who sold leather purses and bracelets, said of the market. “And it was also good for my business,” she said, noting that she sold far more than she usually does at farmers markets.

Jocelyn Gottschalk helps a customer choose a leather bracelet. Photo by Chiara Sottile/Northattan.

At events like the “Off the Map” market, Inwood feels more like a small town than a New York City neighborhood. And Inwood’s proud of it.

“It’s a hidden treasure,” said Amanda Hall-Smith, a dog trainer and walker. Referring to her fellow young entrepreneurs in Inwood, Hall-Smith said, “We’re all trying to help each other make it.”

Gottschalk greeted friends and neighbors at her table and said, “For me, it was nice to see people that I know.”

Sofia Ramirez handed out handmade confections from her home-based baking company, Batter sweet. Photo by Chiara Sottile/Northattan.

The market’s name is a reference to Inwood frequently being left off city tourist maps. “It’s called ‘Off the Map’ because we are not the Bronx,” Vasquez said. “We are not Harlem. And sometimes, we’re not even Manhattan!”

But while being “off the map” enhances Inwood’s small-town feel, it also means that some residents think they have to venture out of the neighborhood for their holiday shopping. Vasquez thanked visitors for instead “supporting your local business here” and for not showing up with shopping bags from downtown retailers.

Anina Young owns Brazen Lingerie at 253 Dyckman St., where she sells sassy loungewear, including thongs that read “Uptown’s finest.” She joked with market visitors that, “I don’t want Chelsea girls wearing that. Or Midtown” girls, either.

Young says people have pre-conceived notions about her shop “because it’s on Dyckman Street and it’s in Inwood.” When customers tell her that her store is not what they expected from a lingerie shop in Inwood, she replies, “You thought it was a hoochie-momma store, didn’t you?” Young says “the block has been changing and changing” with a burgeoning restaurant and retail scene.

In keeping with the neighborhood theme, artist Sasha Schwartz, who owns the Scribble Art Workshop, offered a canvas bag featuring Inwood staples like Inwood Hill Park and the Dyckman Street subway station. “There are so many artists in this neighborhood and it’s great to get them all together,” Schwartz said.

Sasha Schwartz sold canvas bags adorned with iconic Inwood locations. Photo by Chiara Sottile/Northattan.

Inwood resident Jessica Wells-Hasan left the market with armfuls of handmade goodies, including multicolored, striped Hula-Hoops, custom-made canvas totes and limited-edition prints. Wells-Hasan said, “It’s so much better knowing money is staying in the neighborhood and going to your friends and neighbors,” rather than big brand stores.

Ryan McPartland, 16, sells customized Hula-Hoops that he sells with his business, Inwood Hoops. Photo by Chiara Sottile/Northattan

The community support reached beyond the four walls of the Bread and Yoga studio to Inwood’s vibrant online community. Inwood resident Annie Szymanski posted on Twitter after the market that: “this neighborhood has truly made me understand how community makes a home.”

Since the market was hosted at a yoga studio, attendees were asked to peruse its offerings without shoes. Photo by Chiara Sottile/Northattan.

The Off the Map Market will return to Bread and Yoga next Saturday from 1:30 to 9 p.m. and again on Dec. 18 at the Audubon Partnership Headquarters from 3 to 9 p.m.

Story updated Dec. 8 to include more information about the Audubon Partnership.