Bronx Social Center

The Bronx Social Center is now closed, but the struggle goes on: stay connected with us by following Take Back The Bronx

Remember the Center and Reject Rezoning, TOMORROW, 4:30pm!

PRESS RELEASE: (Links and receipts provided) Join us at the former location of... Bronx Social Center.. 970 Prospect avenue Thursday, May 9th @ 4:30pm See more

RIP BRONX SOCIAL CENTER. We compiled this document on our eviction to clear up rumors, keep our friends and allies informed, and let folks know how to help. Als...o, to share a lesson: our eviction shows how politicians enforce gentrification through crony relationships with local nonprofit organizations. HOW YOU CAN HELP: sign up for a *monthly* donation, get on our email list, follow us on social media. Most important: JOIN US THIS THURSDAY 5/9, 4:30pm outside 970 Prospect Ave for a rally and press conference.

WE NEED YOUR HELP: The Bronx Social Center has been evicted The Bronx Social Center opposed the city’s plan to rezone (AKA gentrify) Southern Boulevard. We piss...ed off local politicians like Councilman Rafael Salamanca and Democratic party boss Marcos Crespo. They threatened to pull favors and $90,000 in funding from Banana Kelly--the nonprofit landlord housing the Center--unless their critics were silenced. Banana Kelly chose to play enforcer for the politicians, first purging their staff of rezoning critics, and then evicting us. We'll share more info about this in the coming days. This eviction is an attack on everyone who used the Center to make art against gentrification, raise funds for Puerto Rico, and support incarcerated families. But they can't stop us. We will continue to oppose the fake solutions peddled by politicians and their crony nonprofits. The city has yet to release its rezoning plan, and is still holding fake listening sessions to make it look like it has community support. We have a chance NOW to reject the rezoning before it starts. HERE IS HOW YOU CAN HELP US: Come out Thursday, May 9th, outside the former home of the Bronx Social Center. We will rally, move our last belongings out of the space, and march on the nearby city-sponsored rezoning event. *Remember the Center, Reject Rezoning* Thursday May 9th, 4:30pm 970 Prospect Ave, Bronx (2,5 to Prospect Ave. BX6 or BX17 to Prospect and 163rd) Love and solidarity, Take Back the Bronx

Check out this wolf in sheep’s clothing y’all! All his fake ass out!!

Wanda is a lifelong fighter and leader in the BX. She has supported the people of this borough for years: let's return the favor!

STATEMENT ON RAID/ ARREST AT RADICAL IMMIGRANT RIGHTS RESTAURANT LA MORADA IN THE BRONX : (Please come to the press conference tomorrow @ 8AM... information below) Police commandeer highly acclaimed small business in the South Bronx without a warrant or probable cause... On Friday January 11, 2019 at around 4:30 pm the NYPD raided La Morada Restaurant in MottHaven and detained immigrant activist Yajaira Saavedra without issuing a warrant or probable cause. Natalia Mendez, owner and Chef of La Morada believes that Yajaira was targeted due to the family’s political involvement in anti-gentrification support in the Mott Haven community of the South Bronx. I was under the impression that I was in a sanctuary city but more barriers are being place by the mass policing that targets unjustly the working class like my family and local street vendors. This was an example of how cops continue abusing their authoritative power. This injustice could have led to the deportation of Yajaira. Stated Natalia Mendez. Yajaira echo her mother and believes that mass policing is one of the main pillars in Trump’s proposed wall. Join La Morada family, civil rights lawyer Rose Weber, and community members to demand accountability on Monday January 14, 2019 at 8am in La Morada @ 308 Willis avenue For more information please contact Yajaira by email at [email protected]

DONATE TO DEFEND the Bronx Social Center! https://www.gofundme.com/defend-the-bronx-social-center On October 20th, Take Back the Bronx tabled outside a worksho...p where city agencies and politicians were legitimizing the impending Southern Boulevard rezoning. As attendees trickled in, Bronx party boss Marcos Crespo deflected questions from the group outside and began arguing with us. When he exited later that afternoon, Crespo began livestreaming, baiting the residents outside into a confrontation. In his video, Crespo mentions Banana Kelly Improvement Association. We believe this was a direct threat to Banana Kelly, a local affordable housing and social services nonprofit, in an effort to have them bring Take Back the Bronx to heel. Banana Kelly, as Crespo knew, owns the building that the Bronx Social Center occupies, and the Social Center is a space which Take Back the Bronx helps to coordinate alongside other groups. Five days later, we received a call from community members saying the Bronx Social Center's sign had been taken down without notice. Take Back the Bronx members quickly scheduled a meeting with Banana Kelly staff, groups who use the Center such as the Young Warriors Plus, HydroPunk, and the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, and our supporters. At that meeting Banana Kelly denied receiving political pressure from Crespo or other machine politicians. They assured us the issue was a technicality: the Social Center space is currently listed as "storage" on the building plans filed with the city, and that label needs to be changed or they risk fines. Of course we suspect the two events may be connected: the Bronx political machine is a petty fiefdom that shamelessly gentrifies under the guise of "bringing money" or "bringing jobs" into the borough, while marginalizing and punishing residents who oppose their plans. Nevertheless, the Social Center is taking Banana Kelly at their word and is now raising funds to resolve the situation. Months ago, the Center had drawn up the necessary plans and paperwork to change the building's "certificate of occupancy" with the help of an architect comrade. Now we simply need to raise funds to hire an "expediter" who will carry the paperwork through the city bureaucracy. While we do so, Banana Kelly has agreed to consider writing up a lease or memorandum of agreement, which would guarantee the Social Center use of the space if we put this money into the property. We look forward to reaching this outcome. If you are able, please donate to the Take Back the Bronx war chest! It will be used to provide a secure housing situation for the Bronx Social Center, and continue fighting gentrification in our borough. Like the anthem says: "Look myself in the mirror, I say 'we gonna win.' Knocked down nine times, but I get up ten." Donate here: https://www.gofundme.com/defend-the-bronx-social-center

Turn out and turn up! NYC IS NOT FOR SALE!

New Yorkers! Pick up the phone and call. Three minutes max. Please support our family up in Inwood who are fighting like hell to not be displaced! Flood this sellout's phone lines and if you can... show up to city Hall tomorrow @1:30pm to support them as they confront City Hall as they cast their deciding votes on the rezoning. FIGHT BACK DAMN IT!!

It didn't take much prompting from Take Back the Bronx to get the folks in the neighborhood to express their disapproval and anger at the city's charade around the Southern Boulevard rezoning. Folks may not be able to articulate it, but they feel it! We all watched in horror as the city bullshitted their way through the Jerome avenue rezoning. Southern boulevard is the next battle ground. ALL HANDS ON DECK!!!

NO NEW JAILS in the South Bronx! Repost if you agree. De Blasio claims that to close Rikers, the city needs to OPEN new jails across the city for the small numb...er of inmates who will remain after earlier reforms. He claims the new facilities are needed to house inmates closer to their families. The city is trying to expand jails in NYC under the guise of "decarceration." Officials want to divide people who have friends & family locked up--who rightly want easier access to their loved ones--from people who want to end mass incarceration in the city. It's divide and conquer. We won't fall for it. We demand the city close Rikers immediately, WITHOUT expanding jails elsewhere. And we demand the people who would otherwise remain on Rikers be brought closer to their families through existing means: transfer them to already-existing facilities nearby, grant them supervised release, or release them entirely. We won't let the city convince us that to close jails, they have to open them. We can close Rikers AND bring our loved ones home. *** SIGN THE PETITION to demand NO NEW JAILS in the South Bronx: https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-mayor-s-plan-to-build-a-n (Image credit Ronnie Goodman: http://www.creativeresistance.org/prison-plantation/ ) Critical Resistance - New York City South Bronx Unite South Bronx Community Congress People Power Movement - Movimiento Poder Popular