Parkchester residents are planning a rally — for the second time in a month — to call for improved safety in the condos and more involvement from management, who they say has ignored their concerns.
Residents hope the upcoming rally, scheduled for Oct. 13, will generate a response from those who control Parkchester’s large housing developments as well as the dedicated police department. Thus far, they have been frustrated by a lack of responsiveness and transparency. They feel the need to repeat their call for more lighting, cameras and increased law enforcement engagement in the community.
Around 100 neighbors first rallied on Sept. 21 in response to an August incident where a man entered a residential building about a block from the 6 train station and easily kicked a large hole in an apartment door. The man climbed in and wandered around the 27-year-old woman’s apartment while she hid in the bathroom. While the man was arrested and the tenant was not physically injured, she told reporters she no longer felt safe living there alone and planned to move out.
The frightening incident, captured on a neighbor’s doorbell camera video, deeply rattled the Parkchester community, many of whom are longtime residents and heavily invested in their neighborhood.
But they say their requests for safety improvements — which they’ve requested since well before the break-in — have largely been ignored by Parkchester’s dedicated police department, managers of the north and south condos, and the boards of directors.
Peter Hamilton, who informally runs the Parkchester Watch Group on Facebook, said the Sept. 21 rally was well-attended by residents but yielded no presence or response from community leadership. He called their absence “really unacceptable.”
“We just want to improve the community. You’d think they’d be happy to have us,” said Hamilton.
Xiomara Cruz, who has lived in Parkchester with her husband Isaac since 1983, attended the rally and also expressed concern about the lack of communication.
The break-in was a wake-up call for Cruz. Throughout decades in their home, she said she took it for granted that she was safe behind closed doors. Only after the incident did she realize the door is hollow and quite easy to break.
“I’m buying a baseball bat,” Cruz said half-jokingly.
Some neighbors might take more drastic action: someone at the rally said she owned a gun and would just shoot any intruder, according to Cruz.
Now that she and her husband are retired and spending more time at home, they’re paying more attention to what’s happening around Parkchester — and are concerned by what they see.
“I don’t feel as safe here as I used to,” said Cruz.
Lack of communication
Many Parkchester residents interact constantly via email threads and the 900-member private Facebook group. They discuss and post photos and videos of concerns including algae in the park fountain, elevator outages, pests, missing packages, parking, faulty lobby door locks and more.
Through photos, community members have identified specific areas that are poorly lit. While Hamilton said some areas have been upgraded in recent years, parts of East Tremont Avenue remain problematic, along with parts of Wood Road and Virginia Avenue.
On these and other issues, the group has emailed managers repeatedly — and documented months of non-response. The Bronx Times reached out to several of the same entities and did not receive a response.
Residents say that before the neighborhood adds more housing — as is coming under the recently-approved Bronx Metro-North expansion project, which adds a station in Parkchester — managers and developers should first address existing needs.
“If the condo sponsor has the financial capacity to build two new luxury towers, they should have the resources to replace or reinforce our doors at their expense,” said Hamilton in an email to management, board members and others.
The office of Council Member Amanda Farías has been responsive to the group’s concerns, especially about the doors, said Hamilton. The community is slated to receive $195 million in investments supporting the Metro-North expansion, including $500,000 in capital improvements to the north and south condominiums, according to the council member.
But residents like Cruz aren’t quite sure how to proceed in the meantime. She has a doorbell camera and said she might reinforce her door with boards or metal panels as a temporary fix.
Whether more action is needed, Cruz said she didn’t know — which she blamed on a lack of communication from those in charge. For one, she said residents have no information about the budget, staffing and priorities of their dedicated police department.
Hamilton said he requested those documents in April but has received no response. Same goes for board meeting minutes, he said.
“We do our part, and it seems like management doesn’t give a hoot about people in these buildings,” said Cruz.
Beyond safety, the community has faced other issues made worse by a lack of communication. For instance, Cruz said her building did not have cooking gas from May to December. She was given a hot plate for cooking, but there was no apology, reimbursement or even updated estimates for when the gas would come back on, she said.
Hamilton agreed that a lack of transparency is at the root of issues large and small within the community.
Hamilton said maintenance issues in the buildings are often handled in a piecemeal manner that he called “the Parkchester special.” For instance, peeling plaster will be fixed while leaving the underlying water leak unaddressed.
While he understands everything cannot be fixed instantly, the current approach erodes residents’ trust, he said. “It’s not wise or resourceful.”
In bombarding the board and management with emails, “We’re not trying to be enemies with anyone,” said Hamilton. “We need their help to improve things.”
In the meantime, residents are doing what they can to feel safer. Cruz said she and her husband very much want to stay in Parkchester. They’ve lived there for decades, with family nearby, and they say the community offers great access to shopping and daily needs. Many in Parkchester know the community is special — and worth their efforts to help improve it.
“What we have here, you don’t get this anywhere else,” Cruz said.
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
