Category: What’s Happening This Month

BID membership is open to all property owners, commercial tenants and residents within the district boundaries.

Only registered members may vote at the BID’s annual meeting.

Please fill out the registration form. Once we have verified the information, you will be added to the BID registered membership list.

The Throggs Neck BID encompasses all properties along East Tremont Avenue bounded by Bruckner Boulevard on the West and Miles Avenue on the East.

To register, you must be a property owner, commercial tenant or resident of one of the properties included within the District.

Either cut and paste, or print, the form below and return it completed either by mail (Throggs Neck BID, 3800 East Tremont Avenue, Bronx, NY 10465) or email (throggsneckbid@gmail.com)

REGISTRATION FORM

Please Print!

NAME OF BUSINESS________________________________________

(if resident, please write Resident.)

Classification (see below) _______________________________

Class A: Property Owner Class B: Commercial Tenant Class C: Resident

Address of property____________________________________

Mailing Address, if different from above:___________________________________

Your Name: __________________________________________________

Phone Number:________________________________________________

Email Address:_________________________________________________

Signature:__________________________________________________Date Completed: ____________________________________________

Return this form:By Mail: Throggs Neck Business Improvement District 3800 East Tremont Avenue Bronx NY 10465By Email: throggsneckbid@gmail.com

The Throggs Neck BID, along with Community Board 10 and almost all of the local community, oppose NYC’s “Road Diet” plan that would reduce lanes on a portion of East Tremont Avenue and further reduce drive-able space by the addition of a bike lane.

As they have consistently done in other areas that have had unwanted “Road Diets” imposed, the Department of Transportation ignored the overwhelming local opposition. 

Community Board 10 District Manager Mathew Cruz writes:

“NYCDOT will not consider reducing any of the road diets or delaying its implementation until appropriate street lighting is installed. NYCDOT will not consider new speed cameras in replace of any road dieting. NYCDOT will not consider removing the proposed bicycle lanes…Community Board #10 offered real suggestions to which, again, NYCDOT wanted to hear nothing of it. I am told that the projects could commence as early as next week. It is unfortunate the tone city agencies are now taking with Community Boards.”

Does your business use or plan to install an accessory sign in the near future? Then don’t miss the Department of Buildings free webinar on Accessory Business Signs taking place today at 10 AM. The online presentation will focus on City regulations surrounding accessory business signage including, siting, installation, and use. Register today!

Pursuant to Local Law 34 of 2020, cashless establishments are prohibited in New York City, effective November 19, 2020. Establishments covered by the law include:

• Food Stores: Establishments that offer food or beverages to the public for consumption or use on or off the premises, or on or off a pushcart, stand or vehicle; and
• Retail Establishments: Establishments that offer consumer commodities, or where services are provided to consumers at retail. This does not include banks or trust companies.

On November 19, 2020, it will be unlawful for a food store or a retail establishment to refuse to accept payment in cash from consumers, unless payment is in:

1. Cash bills denominated above $20; or
2. Cash for any telephone, mail, or internet-based transaction, unless the payment for such transaction takes place on the premises of the food store or retail establishment.

Additionally, no food store or retail establishment shall charge a higher price to a consumer who pays in cash. The law exempts food stores or retail establishments that provide a device on premises that converts cash, without charging a fee or requiring a minimum deposit amount greater than one dollar, into a prepaid card that allows a consumer to complete a transaction at the establishment.

The economy of the Throggs Neck Bid area is heavily dependent on the many restaurants that grace our community.  The people from across the region that they draw to our abundant selection of excellent dining options represents a key portion of local business.

That reality is why the reluctance to allow New York City’s restaurants to follow the same rules of surrounding areas in Westchester and Long Island that allow indoor dining is so devastating.

The warmer weather is rapidly drawing to a close, and the minor relief afforded by outdoor seating will no longer provide the slim life line to some small degree of financial survival that it has.

The financial impact of this, following the months of the COVID shutdown, is crippling. The danger that this could cause many, if not most, restaurants across the city to permanently close down is very real, indeed, even probable. The New York Post recently noted that “More than 1,000 of the city’s 25,000 sit-down eateries have closed since the start of the pandemic — and a prolonged shutdown without a blueprint to reopen threatens to sink many more by winter’s end.”

It is an illusion to assume that restaurants can be shut down for a long period of time and come back to be the job-creation engine that they have been.  It’s not only the present economy that is at stake. A New York State Department of Labor report found that  “The growth rate for jobs in the dining industry is higher than the growth rate for all industries in New York City.” Keeping these vital businesses closed and jeopardizing their survival could be a mortal blow to both the overall city economy, and the vast number of jobs they create.

Our local community would be among the most detrimentally affected in the entire city if the Mayor does not change course.

Luke Fortney, writing in the trade publication NY Eater, notes that there are “…no concrete plans to bring back indoor dining this year…dining and other indoor activities could be on-hold until at least 2021.”

The reaction by the dining industry is one of shock and dismay. Attorneys Lou Gelormino and Mark Fonte are instituting together a class-action lawsuit on behalf of 100 restaurants in Staten Island and southern Brooklyn against this decision.

The decision to discriminate against dining establishments when schools, museums and even gyms are being allowed to reopen is baffling, particularly when the NYC COVID infection rate has dropped below 1%.

The importance of restaurants to the city economy, and to the lives of the massive number of people they employ must be understood. This action, added to the stringent crackdown by the State Liquor authority on drinking establishments throughout the city, resulting in fines and shutdowns, has severely impacted one of our community’s vital economic building blocks

We at the Throggs Neck BID do not seek to get involved in squabbles with any elected official, or the policies they pursue.  However, when an action is taken that could literally devastate our entire neighborhood, we are forced to act. We will do all that is necessary to protect our community.

To protect the businesses, property owners, and residents of our neighborhood, the Throggs Neck BID has been actively opposing the NYC Department of Transportation’s (DOT) “Road Diet” proposal, which will detrimentally affect the community.

To inform the public of this impending threat, the BID has commissioned a series of ads entitled “We The People” in the Bronx Times Reporter. The name is based on the concept that only the citizens, not the bureaucrats, should decide what policies must be adopted.  Despite staunch opposition from both local organizations and residents, DOT has implemented similar plans in other portions of The Bronx.

The text of the ad:

The NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) has a proposal that may have a negative impact on businesses, residents and shoppers within the Throggs Neck BID.

DOT is seeking to implement a “road diet” plan, which will reduce driving lanes on East Tremont Avenue from the Cross Bronx Expressway Service Road to Harding Avenue, and Harding Avenue from Emerson Avenue to Pennyfield Avenue, from four lanes to three. Drivable space will be even further reduced due to the development of a bike lane. The bike lane will affect parking and delivery services throughout our commercial areas by limiting the lane space for our already busy streets.

 Community Board 10 had announced its opposition when a similar proposal was announced (and unfortunately implemented), on the portion of East Tremont Avenue from Bruckner to Westchester Square, even though the measure was overwhelmingly voted down 29 to 3 by the Board, which represents all of our community, on May 21, 2015.

Our neighboring community, Morris Park, successfully fought against a “road diet” plan that DOT attempted to implement in their area.

We can too! But we need to fight together!! The idea of discouraging vehicular traffic through road diet plans will not work well in a community such as ours.

Those who frequent our shops and restaurants, overwhelmingly, use cars, and that is highly unlikely to change. If parking is hard to find it will affect all of our storefronts. The same storefronts that are still recovering from the challenge of the Covid 19 pandemic. There are many of these businesses that have not been allowed to open fully as of yet in the community. We cannot allow this tyranny to continue…the people have spoken and Government officials need to listen.

 To help, please contact the office of Bronx Borough Commissioner Nivardo Lopez at 212-748-6680, or the New York City Department Of Transportation at 212-639-9675. Let them know our voice matters!

OBJECT TO DOTs “ROAD DIET” PROPOSAL

 IF WE DON’T STOP THE DOT BULLYING NOW, THIS CAN HAPPEN TO OUR ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD!

The recent storm caused a great deal of damage in our area. Have you incurred any problems? Let us know. Contact us at throggsneckbid@gmail.com. Also contact us with any other relevant government-services concerns.