The Manhattan Times

Community news

Lower Heights

Northern Manhattan rapist tied to downtown attack

The man charged with raping four women over the summer in Hamilton Heights and Washington Heights has been connected to another rape downtown.

Vincent Heyward, 21, of Edgecombe Avenue, was arrested on Sept. 20 when tests of his DNA matched evidence left behind at all four uptown crime scenes, ending a police manhunt in the terrorized neighborhood.

According to the Daily News, Heyward’s DNA has matched blood left behind when another victim punched her attacker in the nose on Aug. 23 on Broome Street in SoHo.

The news of this attack, the first outside of Northern Manhattan, came in between the first three attacks on Aug. 1, 10, 18 and the last one on Sept. 7.

In the SoHo attack, Heyward allegedly attacked a 24-year-old woman as she entered her building with groceries, grabbing her from behind and shoving her into the lobby.

She fought him off, pretending to be HIV-positive, before slugging him, splattering his blood on the wall.

In all of the attacks except the Sept. 7 incident, the attacker followed his victims into the building. On Sept. 7 he snuck in through a window.

Central Heights

Young adults head to Dominican Republic for community service

Where the six young adults from the GED program at New Heights Neighborhood Center are going there is no electricity, and the people are desperately poor. Over a period of 45 days, the 17- to 24-year-olds will help teach English, help build houses, and participate in health workshops in Tamayo, in la Provincia Independencia, in the Dominican Republic.

It’s hoped that the trip will be a life-changing event, where the young adults who are at a critical point in their lives gain some perspective about life and reconnect with the culture their parents came from.

“They’re in for an experience,” said New Heights administrator Evelyn Fernandez-Ketcham.

The program, called Reaching New Heights in DR, is a partnership with Global Potential, a side project of Globalhood, a Brooklyn-based non-profit agency. Global Potential has taken high school students on similar, more structured trips, but this is the first time the project has worked with adults.

The idea, said Globalhood Executive Director Frank Cohen, is “to get them out of their environment in such a way they’re doing something positive.”

Making an impact in a small village like Tamayo, Cohen said, will empower these young adults, and make them realize change is possible, even in a huge metropolis like New York City.

“They’re also learning they can receive help from these people,” Cohen said.

Fernandez-Ketcham said he hopes the students come back more determined to get their GED or get out in the workforce, and bridge the culture gap for the second-generation Dominicans, some of whom speak little or no Spanish.

“It’ll address issues about their own cultural identity,” she said. “Our younger generations don’t necessarily have a connection with the Dominican Republic.”

Once a week the team, which leaves on Oct. 2, will post their experience on their blog, and document their trip on video.

To follow the New Heights team online visit www.global-potential.org/blog.

Bronx woman dies after being hit by a car on W. 173rd Street

Police believe 20-year-old Ellen Ulerio, of Hackensack, NJ was drunk when she hit and killed a Bronx woman with her car in the middle of the afternoon.

The accident happened on Sat., Sept. 26 at the intersection of W. 175th Street and Broadway at approximately 2:30 p.m.

Police responding to the accident found Linda Hewson, 50, a Moshulu Parkway resident, unconscious and unresponsive.

Emergency medical technicians sped Hewson to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in critical condition, where she was declared dead on arrival.

Police have arrested Ulerio and have charged her with Driving While Intoxicated and Vehicular Manslaughter.

Inwood

Talk of the 2010 census has begun in Northern Manhattan with a number of events in the last week. On Fri., Sept. 26, CUNY in the Heights held a Community Forum on the 2010 Census in which a number of issues, namely the failure this year to get a regional office located in the neighborhood.

On Sept. 30, the Northern Manhattan Coalition for Economic Development sponsored a discussion with the deputy regional director Ligia Jaque of the Census on how business owners can benefit from and help ensure an accurate count.

On Oct. 1 “Ya es hora !Hagase Contar!” held a press conference in East Harlem, to announce its national campaign to inform and motivate Latinos to fully participate in the ten year census next spring.

On Oct. 14 Community groups and Assembly Member Adriano Espaillat will hold a community forum with officials from the Census at 6:30 p.m. at the Russ Berrie Medical Pavilion on St. Nicholas Avenue and W. 168th Street.

Overcoming the fear many residents have of being reported to immigration authorities is still an important concern in getting a full count for communities with a large Latino community like Northern Manhattan.

Hudson Heights

Alpine Garden Grotto design to be unveiled

Fort Tryon Park is known for the wonderfully restored Heather Gardens. But the gothic green space tucked between Washington Heights and Inwood has another garden.

The Alpine Garden, by design, is not flowery or colorful, but gives the park its dark woodsy feel and is getting some long awaited attention.

On Oct. 7, at 11:30 p.m. at the Dongan Place entrance off of Broadway, the Fort Tryon Park Trust and city parks will unveil the design of the grotto, a cave built into the garden that used to have a flowing pool of water in front of it.

The area has been restored and a new use for the plumbing that made the pool possible will be revealed. A plaque will also be dedicated to the Peter Jay Sharp Foundation whose grant of $500,000 allowed the trust to initiate the garden’s restoration.

CB12

Community Board 12 in midst of attendance crisis

Just over half of the 51 members of Community Board 12 were in attendance at the first general meeting after the board’s two-month summer break. Few of the subcommittees that meet before each month’s meeting had enough members to vote on any resolutions. “We’re having an attendance problem, and I’m going to say that publically,” CB12 Chair Manny Velazquez said after welcoming back the scant quorum of members on Sept. 22. “It reflects on all of us, but on me too as chair.”

Members with poor attendance are being sent letters, he said, and he is prepared to re-constitute committees in mid-session to ensure issues are adequately addressed.

“I’ll put you where you want to serve, but you have to attend,” Velazquez said.

The political board is comprised of members vetted by the district’s two City Council members and Manhattan Borough President. The borough president, however, approves each appointment, and has the power to remove members based on criteria, like attendance.

Northern Manhattan

Uptown Soccer clinic announces year-round program

Uptown Soccer, the free program for youths interested in the sport, has received funding to continue its athletic and community volunteer program throughout year.

During the program’s first summer 30 youth from the neighborhood spent their break from school doing drills and scrimmaging and learning leadership and team skills.

Founder David Sykes said that he is hoping to enroll up to 50 kids for the school-year program. For more information email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit www.webstarts.com/uptownsoccer.