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If the street sign that reads “Piccirilli Place” at the corner of 142nd St. and Willis Avenue lacks meaning for Mott Haven residents, it’s because the family it honors is one of the neighborhood’s best-kept secrets.
Almost a century ago, the block was the site where six brothers from the Piccirilli family carved the iconic sculpture of Abraham Lincoln that is now housed at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.
While Hurricane Sandy left the South Bronx waterfront relatively intact, some environmentalists worry that the industrial and brownfield sites along the water could flood in the future and contaminate the neighborhood.
“Whenever there is a risk of flooding, then you have issues with what gets up out of the soil and spreads around the community,” said Gavin Kearney of New York Lawyers for the Public Interest.
When most people think of comic book heroes, Batman and Superman come to mind. Ray Felix wants them to add the Boogie Down to the list.
Felix is the founder of Bronx Heroes, an organization dedicated to promoting comic book arts in the Bronx. The organization’s goal, he says, is to create comic books that celebrate the borough’s rich cultural and ethnic history through the work of local artists, and to help young people become successful comic book artists.
Nearly 200 people lined up outside St. Peter in the Bronx Lutheran Church on East 140th Street on a recent Wednesday afternoon for a bag of red peppers each.
The food pantry at St. Peter is one of many in the neighborhood struggling to serve the community’s hungry in the wake of state and federal budget cuts.
“They don’t give meat, they don’t give cheese,” said Mott Haven resident Sarah Oliver, who was making her first visit to the pantry. “They usually only give canned vegetables.”
