Inwoodite

NYC Celebrates Bike Month

It's Bike Month in the city, and Inwoodites are fortunate to have a great local outlet for bikes and gear in Tread Bike Shop on Dyckman.

A couple of issues back, Time Out New York featured Tread in its special city cycling section:

The Cloisters cast their shadows over Tread, a decade-old Inwood store that’s both neighborhoody and a shoppers’ destination. Employees are friendly and shun the up-selling that sometimes plagues Manhattan stores. With about 100 bikes on the floor and three certified fitters on staff, you have a good chance of finding what you want, particularly if you’re looking for a flat-bar road bike, one of Tread’s specialties. 250 Dyckman St between Payson and Seaman Aves (212-544-7055)

If you're itching to hit the road, Transportation Alternatives has a comprehensive Bike Month calendar. This Thursday, the NYC Mountain Bike Association will hold the Highbridge Summer Sprints, starting at 6 p.m. at Dyckman and Harlem River Drive. And Friday is National Bike to Work Day, with events across the boroughs.

CopStats: Apr. 28 - May 4, 2008

From the latest 34th Precinct CompStat report:

(WTD/ YTD/ YTD in 2007/ % change from 2007)

Murder:  0/ 1/ 1/ 0.0%
Rape:  0/ 10/ 6/ +66.6% 
Robbery:  3/ 80/ 83/ -3.6% 
Fel. Assault:  5/ 72/ 70/ +2.8% 
Burglary:  9/ 77/ 78/ -1.2% 
Gr. Larceny:  6/ 154/ 117/ +31.6% 
G.L.A.:  4/ 56/ 56/ 0.0% 

Coming Soon: Indian Road Café

Saidy at Manhattan's Peak noticed that the web site for the much-anticipated Indian Road Café is now online. Set to open later this month, IRC will have a main seating area with a bar, and a second smaller lounge area with sofas and wingback chairs. There will be coffee, wine, beer, eats, a market, and "sweeping park and water views."

IRC is a project of longtime friends Jason Minter and Jason Berger.

For updates, sign up for the mailing list. And if you're looking for work, IRC is hiring baristas, wait staff, kitchen help, and delivery people.

So, is it later this month yet?

Farrell to Announce "Reelection" Bid

The Politicker got hold of a letter from Herman "Denny" Farrell inviting folks to a May 31 event at the Tioga Carver Democratic Club, when he is expected to announce his campaign for reappointment reelection to his state Assembly seat.

The letter was written on official letterhead, which is a no-no, but once the press pointed it out Farrell quickly promised to make amends for the error.

Farrell, who has held an Assembly seat since 1974, has said he plans to run for Robert Jackson's term-limited City Council spot in 2009. So if "reelected" he will serve out only part of his term in Albany before picking up a taxpayer-funded gig much closer to home. Assuming, of course, he has no serious challengers for the council seat.

Inwood Lacking Fresh, Affordable Food

The New York Times writes that the shutting of supermarkets in some neighborhoods has significantly diminished access to affordable and fresh foods, threatening to worsen health conditions among populations already struggling with obesity and illness.

Not surprisingly, many of the hardest hit areas are poorer neighborhoods, which are subject to a pernicious cycle:

In some cases, the old storefronts have been converted to drug stores that stand to make money coming and going — first selling processed foods and sodas, then selling medicines for illnesses that could have been prevented by a better diet.

Inwood is not mentioned in the story, but an accompanying map identifies 10034 as one of many Upper Manhattan ZIP codes "in which less than 25 percent of retailers offer fresh food."

Hopefully the city's new "green cart" program will offer some relief.

"Pit Bull of Salamanders" Found Uptown

The long-lost Northern Dusky Salamander had disappeared from Manhattan for 60 years, until 2005, when a City Parks employee found a colony of them right here in the neighborhood.

Recently, naturalist Erik Baard lead a small group to Upper Manhattan to have a look at the Northern Dusky, known as "the pit bull of salamanders" for its relatively muscular build. Web Editor Laura Conaway documented the experience for NPR's new show, "The Bryant Park Project."

Listen to the story, watch the slideshow, and read more about it on Baard's urban wilderness blog.

Photo: Sarah Goodyear

Martinez Directed Cash to Sister's NGO

Northern Manhattan City Council Member Miguel Martinez has directed $406,000 in discretionary funds to the Upper Manhattan Council Assisting Neighbors, a Washington Heights-based non-profit where his sister serves as one of the board of directors, according to a Friday story in the Daily News.

Martinez's sister Maria has been a member of the nonprofit's board since 2005. She is listed in city records as the group's secretary. Councilman Martinez's photo is posted on the group's Web site under the title "Major Sponsor."

Martinez did not return calls seeking comment, but the group's director, Hector Santana, said the councilman's sister was an unpaid volunteer board member at the nonprofit.

Santana said board members decide how to spend the group's money. He said there were no other relatives of Martinez working at Upper Manhattan.

Miguel Martinez revealed this conflict in new disclosure forms required of all Council members for the first time this year.

The form, which has no date, reads, "My sister sits on board of the organization," and attaches a list of nonprofits with a check mark next to Upper Manhattan Council Assisting Neighbors.

Santana acknowledged that Upper Manhattan got little city money in the years before Maria Martinez joined the board.

After that, records show, the Council awarded Upper Manhattan $75,000 in fiscal 2006 and $124,111 in fiscal 2007. This year, it topped $600,000.

This discovery comes as City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is taking heat for a $3.6 million "secret slush fund," as the Post calls it, which was hidden as donations to non-existent organizations so it could be doled out later.

This week, the Manhattan Times will break down the history of handouts by Martinez and fellow Councilman Robert Jackson, and will talk to non-profits that have received taxpayer allocations.

Earlier this year, Martinez was fined for violating city campaign finance laws, a decision he is appealing.