Ask the Bronx Borough President: October 2025

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Welcome back to Ask the borough president here on News 2 The Bronx with Bronx BP Vanessa Gibson. I want to touch now on a story that has really been grabbing so much attention over the last few days since we first brought it to people here on 12, and that's this disturbing video of an attack on an 11 year old girl who was walking her dog. She. Is brutally beat up and her dog is even kicked by one of the attackers. I do want to turn to, I believe her father who has called in tonight, Frank from Olinville with a question. Frank, thank you for calling. I am so sorry for what your family is going through right now, but please ask your question to the BP whenever you're ready. Thank you. Hi. Um, good evening. I'm the father to the 11 year old girl that was attacking Allison. Um, Until now no arrests have been made on this case, and I would like to know. How can we, how can we hold these kids accountable and what kind of assistance can my family receive on this case due to uh it's been A while already and a few days and nothing has been done in the case and these kids are still wandering around in the city like nothing happened. Frank, we're wishing a speedy recovery for your your daughter first and foremost, but I definitely want to give the BP. Yeah, no, my heart goes out to you, Frank, and, and to your wife and the family because what we witnessed was disgusting and to see an 11 year old, um, child herself being attacked by other children is disgraceful and that's unacceptable and it really tears at the fabric of why we do this work for our children. Uh, we know that these individuals in these video in this video are. Young as well we believe they're from the local community um and we know that you know Frank's daughter was a victim of bullying um safety transfers absolutely as the initial um step to get her out of the school that she's currently in and offer the family options on where they would like to send their daughter within the school district if you know if uh that is an option but also counseling um she is traumatized she is you know just a victim and she's attacked. And she feels horrible like she deserved this and she did not deserve this at all um and individuals you know who will be held accountable for this are young people themselves and I think it speaks volumes to what we're doing around conflict resolution and intervention programs and anti-bullying measures which we have across our school districts in the city but what are we doing to make sure that kids that are in our schools that may have a conflict. Or dispute have options and never resort to violence as an answer to it because it's not um and so I know the investigation is ongoing by the forty-ninth precinct the detective squad and obviously we want victims um we want victims to get their justice but we also want any bystanders, anyone that was around, you know, cameras and witnesses, and I wanna commend the bystander that was in her vehicle that got out of her car. to help her and I applaud her because many people would just be so busy filming they would not help someone that is someone's child and no one deserves that so our heart goes out to you, Frank, and we will be there to support you and your family with whatever your daughter needs but I think also it's a couple of things it's the services for the student, the victim, it's the safety transfer, it's the long term support for her as well as she remains in our public school. System and then it's also the accountability piece. What does that look like if the individuals who we suspect that engaged in this violent act are 1112, 13, you know, there are measures in place for juveniles. They're not adults, so they're not going through uh adult criminal court, right? There are different programs in place in family court and so that is the process that will happen here. The district attorney is very much aware of what is going on. This video has gone viral, um. But most importantly, I think it's important for us as a community to be there for Frank and his family. You mentioned accountability. Do you expect there ultimately to be arrests in this case? Likely so, yes, absolutely. And once everyone is identified that was involved, uh, more than one person, as you can see, um, there will be an arrest by the NYPD and good to know that there are support services in place for that family as they continue to weather that storm. I want to get to another caller. I believe we have Jean from Soundview who's dialed in this evening. Gene, go ahead and ask your question whenever you're ready and thanks for the call. OK. I'm calling in reference to the BX 27 and the BX 39 buses, which do not go down to the ferry landing. Some of the BX 27s do go down to the ferry landing, but as a result of having to walk a long block, it causes you to miss the ferry at times unless if your bus is at any time delayed, and on the way home. Then you, you have to walk another long block to the bus, and so sometimes you miss the bus. Rain, snow, sleet, heat, can this possibly be remedied? Alright, thanks Jean for bringing that to our attention. Thank you for bringing that to our attention, and we will speak offline and look into it and talk to our New York uh Trait City Transit, and she said that there are some buses that do go to the ferry landing and some that do not. So we, we will look into that whether it's uh express or local, uh, as well as just the expanded service. I mean with anything we do there is a cost and you know we have the better best but better bus service that's now in place, um, and there have been a lot of changes. Changes with our bus routes and bus stops so we can look into it and find out if it's on City Transit's radar and how we can get that going and I'm certain there are others that are in the same position as well, so we encourage you to please speak up if you agree it just helps us support, uh, the argument that we're trying to make to expand the service for the 27 and 39. Yeah, speaking of public transit, what I thought of immediately was that I think tomorrow the MTA is gonna be considering whether to boost prices for the subway. Way yet again, but then also we have Zoran Mamdani who is campaigning on this idea of free buses. How transformative of an impact do you think that would have here in the borough and would we still have the money to get things like this done if needed, reroutes and extending service? Well, the free bus, uh, idea, you know, started with uh Zoran as he was an assemblyman and we started with a pilot a few years ago and we had the BX 18. That was our free bus and you know everything is monitored by numbers by how many are. Using the bus, free buses sounds great throughout the city of New York, but we have to figure out a way to pay it. It is heavily subsidized already fare hikes are happening, you know, consistently, and so there has to be a give and take to make the entire bus system free, but I, I agree that it's a possibility because we've started something already, but the idea would have to be to expand it and someone has to pay for it all comes back to that issue of affordability that's been front and center in this election. All right, stay with us here on News from the Bronx. We'll be right back after this.

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Welcome back to Ask the borough president here on News 12, The Bronx with Bronx VP Vanessa Gibson, and we've arrived at the point in the evening where we talk about our health tips to come. We're talking about breast cancer awareness. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month where we aim to raise awareness around breast cancer. We are promoting early detection, early screening, and supporting those that are affected by breast cancer. Shout out to all of our breast cancer survivors, um, and we also are promoting early detection for both men and women can truly save lives. Yeah, screening is so key and catching it early on and speaking of screening, it seems like that's a perfect segue into the events that we're looking ahead to in October. Well, this Wednesday, uh, October 1st, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 161st Street at Walton Avenue, we will have free mammograms sponsored by our partners at SBH, uh, uh, Saint Barnabas's Health System, and that's 9 to 5, and we expect everyone to show up. Also on the same day we have our Epower ability job fair for all abilities. In partnership with the mayor's office of the People with Disabilities and Department of Labor, that's Wednesday, October 1st, 100 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Bronx Borough Hall on Saturday, October 4th, we have our Blue Star Families Welcome Week, uh, at the Bronx Zoo at 11 a.m. and that is in partnership with our veterans task force on Tuesday, October 14th, we have Italian Heritage Month celebration 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Fordham University at the McShane Campus Center Great Hall, uh. That's 5:30 again and then on Thursday, October 16th, Hispanic Heritage Month that is 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. and that is going to be at Borough Hall 851 Grand Concourse, and that's it. We have a lot more, but you know we're also doing domestic Violence Awareness Month for October too, so we have a number of events, a lot of events, a lot of causes, and looking ahead to this weekend, you've got an event going on and we've got to the Bronx. This is always so much fun around the borough we are riding with a purpose. First annual Tour de Bronx Sunday October 5th at 10 a.m. we have a 25 mile ride, the 10 mile family friendly advanced 40 mile, and we are excited. We have almost 4000 participants so far. If anyone still wants to join us, you can join us. 10 mile 2540, visit www. I love the Bronx.com. We are excited to see the beauty of the Bronx, and this is for you all at 12 Bronx for being a wonderful um. Media partner, this is for you, a swag bag with a t-shirt. Oh this is so great, everything you need, so please, I hope you join us and we have free bike rentals. This is gonna come in handy on the ride 80 degrees on Sunday. OK, so plan accordingly. Heather Fordham and I are super interested in in participating. It's free and you can rent a bike if needed, you can. All right, I know they've got everything ready to go. BP, as always, thank you so much and thank you all for watching.

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News 12's Amanda Bossard sits down with Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson to answer YOUR pressing questions in this month's edition of Ask the Borough President.

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