Beekman in the Bronx

NEWS RAIL SERVICE FOR EAST BRONX GAINING STEAM

BY DANIEL BEEKMAN (NYDN)

Imagine a brand new passenger rail line built over the next decade for $1 billion less than the No. 7 subway extension.

It may sound like fantasy, but a game-changing Bronx rail project is on track and gaining steam, transit insiders insist.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Bronx leaders are all aboard a plan to bring Metro-North service to the East Bronx for the first time.

PLANS FOR BRONX SKATING RINK NOW ON ICE

BY DANIEL BEEKMAN (NYDN)

The city is putting its plans for a Bronx skating rink on ice.

The Parks Department has announced it won’t fulfill Mayor Bloomberg’s promise to bring an ice rink to Van Cortlandt Park this winter because it and Con Edison can’t supply enough electricity to power the outdoor facility.

DONALD TRUMP SIGNS DEAL TO RUN BRONX PUBLIC GOLF COURSE

BY DANIEL BEEKMAN (NYDN)

The city has picked The Donald to run its newest public golf course.

Donald Trump's company has signed a 20-year license deal to operate the links-style course under construction at Ferry Point Park in the Bronx, the Parks Department announced Friday.

BRONX FAMILIES WIN APPEAL IN COURT BATTLE OVER BEACH

BY DANIEL BEEKMAN (NYDN)

Good fences make good neighbors, the maxim goes. But on the Bronx waterfront, they make bitter lawsuits.

Throgs Neck residents this week scored a second court victory in their battle over the rocky beach at the end of their narrow street.

STATE CAN BOUNCE ESPADA NETWORK FROM MEDICAID: JUDGE

BY DANIEL BEEKMAN (NYDN)

A Bron judge on Thursday upheld the Cuomo administration’s decision to dump ex-state Sen. Pedro Espada’s Bronx health care network from the Medicaid program.

The decision could spell the end for Espada’s Soundview Health Care Network because Medicaid bucks account for some 70% of its funding.

TENANTS AT MOUNT EDEN BUILDING SUE FOR LACK OF COOKING GAS, REPAIRS

BY DANIEL BEEKMAN (NYDN)

Tenants at a Bronx apartment building that had no cooking gas for Thanksgiving and will have none for Christmas are suing the landlord they call "The Grinch."

More than 30 angry tenants gathered outside 1520 Sheridan Ave. in Mount Eden on Tuesday to protest their treatment by Jonathan Wiener, principal of Chestnut Holdings. The Riverdale-based landlord didn't respond to requests for comment.

MORRIS PARK BEMOANS NO HOLIDAY LIGHTS ON SHOPPING STRIP

BY DANIEL BEEKMAN (NYDN)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in most Bronx neighborhoods, but not in Morris Park.

For only the second time in half a century, there are no holiday lights along Morris Park Ave. and Williamsbridge Road.

PRIVATE CHEN DREAMED OF JOINING NYPD AFTER SERVICE

BY DANIEL BEEKMAN, CORKY SIEMASZKO AND RICH SCHAPIRO (NYDN)

Army Pvt. Danny Chen didn’t fit the mold of the classic tough-as-nails American soldier.

He was soft-spoken and slender — more gentle than tough, more awkward than athletic.

Friends described the only child from the lower East Side as quirky and brainy, with an offbeat sense of humor.

But deep within Chen’s unimposing facade was a warrior.

EIGHT SOLDIERS CHARGED IN DEATH OF DANNY CHEN

BY DANIEL BEEKMAN AND CORKY SIEMASZKO (NYDN)

The best friend of Pvt. Danny Chen, the Chinatown soldier who was allegedly hounded by members of his unit before his death in Afghanistan, said Wednesday he doesn’t believe his pal killed himself.

Raymond Dong spoke out as the Army charged eight soldiers in connection with the death of Chen, whose body was found in a guard tower in Kandahar Province Oct. 3.

“I kind of saw this coming,” Dong told he Daily News. “I knew there had to be something because I can’t believe he would commit suicide.”

UTICA TEEN SHOT DEAD IN THE SOUTH BRONX

BY DANIEL BEEKMAN AND ROCCO PARASCANDOLA (NYDN)

A masked gunman shot and killed an upstate teen who was back home in the Bronx to visit his grandparents Monday night, police said.

Justin Williams, 16, was shot in the stomach by a man wearing a ski mask in Mott Haven about 11:40 p.m., cops said. The gunman fled with an accomplice, also wearing a ski mask, and is still being sought.

ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISTS LAUNCH NEW VISION PROJECT FOR HARLEM RIVER

BY DANIEL BEEKMAN (NYDN)

Where there's a will, there's a greenway - along the Harlem River. Environmental and community activists announced Monday a new plan for the Bronx bank of the neglected waterway.

The Trust for Public Land and Harlem River Working Group have secured a $35,000 grant to carry out a greenway vision project and have hired the Pratt Center for Community Development to help.

On Monday, they kicked off the project with a tour along the hardscrabble channel.

MEDICAL RESEARCHERS LINK SOCCER HEADERS TO BRAIN DAMAGE

BY DANIEL BEEKMAN (NYDN)

Brain researchers from the Bronx are scoring big with some heady soccer research.

The Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center researchers are working to make the popular sport safer for athletes all over the world, using new medical imaging technology purchased with funds allocated by the City Council.

Led by radiologist and neurologist Dr. Michael Lipton, their work has shown that repeatedly heading a soccer ball increases the risk of brain injury. Beyond that, brain imaging and cognitive tests have revealed a never-before-known danger threshold: 1,100 to 1,500 headers per year.

CANADIAN OLYMPIC TEAM HORSES GET FREE RIDE FROM CITY

BY DANIEL BEEKMAN (NYDN)

Talk about a free ride: The city is giving away Bronx stable stalls to horses that compete in the Olympic Games for Canada.

The Parks Department is forgoing boarding fees from 43 stalls at the Riverdale Equestrian Centre in Van Cortlandt Park, including several that house horses owned by Canadian equestrian Ashley Holzer, the Daily News has learned. The agency claims the horses “raise the profile” of the sparkling facility on Broadway.

DEPT. OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION UNVEILS NEW SLUDGE PLAN

BY DANIEL BEEKMAN (NYDN)

The city plans to start trucking its sewer sludge out-of-state, the Daily News has learned.

The Department of Environmental Protection has selected WeCare Organics to transport the sludge generated during wastewater treatment to rural Pennsylvania. Until June 2010, the toxic substance was handled at a stinky facility in Hunts Point, the Bronx.

FIREFIGHTER DELIVERS BABY IN THE BRONX, SAVING INFANT AND MOM

BY DANIEL BEEKMAN (NYDN)

Kaden Bell could be the Bravest baby in the Bronx.

The bright-eyed infant was delivered by a firefighter on the bathroom floor of a Mott Haven apartment on Tuesday morning.

Firefighter Sarina Olmo of Engine Co. 83 coached anxious mother Maybelline Marti through the dramatic birth, cut the umbilical cord wrapped around Kaden's neck and held the tiny baby all the way from E. 141st St. to Lincoln Hospital.

QUACK GETS 8 MONTHS FOR FATAL BUTT IMPLANT SURGERY

BY DANIEL BEEKMAN AND KEVIN DEUTSCH (NYDN)

A "cold and calculating" quack Bronx plastic surgeon whose botched butt implants killed a woman was sentenced to three to nine months in prison Monday.

Elsa Then, 58, broke into sobs when Judge Martin Marcus gave her jail time instead of the probation for which her lawyer begged.

He also admonished her for preying on Hispanic women who frequented her flourishing, but illegal, cosmetology practice.