There’s no sign that 30 years ago, this was one of the hippest spots in New York City.

For 13 years, the graffiti covered storefront known as Fashion Moda, housed a collective of innovative artists, break-dancers, performers and other creative minds who painted, printed and sculpted, silk-screened T-shirts and sometimes just hung out, feeding on the energy each brought to the spot.

But for 11 days during September, Bronx-based multimedia artist Hatuey Ramos Fermin brought together the work of artists from the past and the present to pay homage to the former artist space and concept known as Fashion Moda.

The name incorporates the word for fashion in four languages–English, Spanish, Chinese and Russian. The idea behind Fashion Moda is that art can be created, shown and appreciated by anyone, anywhere.

So using the walls of On Time, the security guard training school, Fermin curated an exhibit at the former Fashion Moda with the work of 20 artists, five from the past and 15 from the present.  

“We are doing a tribute to the space,” said Fermin. “It was a place for a lot of experimentation, street art and also fine art.  A place where a lot of different artists met and got their names out.” 

When he started Fashion Moda, Stefan Eins, fashion aimed to be trendsetting, something that was current and of the time–an appropriate concept, he believed, for his pioneering and chic art space. 

Born in Austria, Eins founded Fashion Moda in 1978, fixing the broken windows in the front of the building and inviting both neighbors from the community and artist friends from downtown to use the space.  

Eins added that graffiti artist, Keith Haring, was the first to design a T-shirt for Fashion Moda, and used Fashion Moda as a place to show his early work.  

Craig Howard, who owns the On Time Security Guard Training School said he agreed to have his school transformed back into an art gallery for a few weeks because he remembered growing up in the area with friends who painted graffiti throughout the Bronx.

“I just thought it was something good to do and show people out there something different than the regular norm,” said Howard.

As part of the exhibition, one artist created a bust of Howard that now hangs on the wall above his desk and just over a colorful drawing by his 9-year-old daughter. 

“I’m ecstatic,” said Howard with a smile about his sculpture. “Now when things go wrong I don’t really have to look in the mirror because I can look right up on the wall and see myself.”

Jeremy Nadel, an art teacher at a high school nearby, showed his work at Fashion Moda in 1986.  He recalled Fashion Moda as a place that brought together the melting pot of New York City, a place where he felt safe. 

The black and white photographs that hung on the walls of the retrospective, depicting a 1970’s boom box on a rickety park bench and of an oil drum fire reminded Nadel of a different era, a time he remembered when fireworks were lit the sky during the art shows at Fashion Moda and “regular folks” would listen to old school hip-hop music in front of the building. 

Stefin Eins, Hatuey Ramos Fermín, and Sandra Skurvida gather at the opening night of the exhibit Refashioning Moda

Bronx Artist Libertad Guerra, who moved to Mott Haven five years ago from Brooklyn, said she too appreciates the history of Fashion Moda. 

Among the paintings, the hooded sweatshirts covered with graffiti and a collage of Xeroxed prints, Guerra contributed a video installation piece that juxtaposed images from the Bronx with images from the movie Metropolis.  

Guerra, who founded her own artist collective out of her home on Alexander Avenue called Spanic Attack, hosts poetry readings, film parties and even academic discussions about urban issues.

“Fashion Moda is very important–what it meant historically and the imitations that came out of it,” said Guerra, who studied art history at New York University.  “Many of the things that define the canon of alternative art of the New York scene in the 70’s and 80’s were started by Fashion Moda.”

Another Bronx artist who became involved with Fashion Moda in the later years was, Miguelangel (Miky) Ruiz. He walked past the nail and hair salons twice before he realized where the retrospective was. 

“What I like about it is how anonymous it is,” said Ruiz.  “It’s a change of pace from the downtown scenes and the New York cliques.”

The exhibition at the one-time art space brought together the older generations of artists with the newer generations of artist.  

And although Eins, with a feather in his hair, remembers fondly the artists and his work of Fashion Moda’s past, he remarks,  “there is no reason to be nostalgic, because this is happening now.”

A version of this article appeared in the Fall 2009 issue of the Mott Haven Herald.

By Lindsay Lazarski

lindsay.lazarski@motthavenherald.com

When people compare Mott Haven to Williamsburg or call it “SoBro” or otherwise tab it as the next up-and coming-place to live, they almost always follow by mentioning the bars where artist and yuppies congregate. There is G-Bar on the Concourse, Alexander’s Café south of the Major Deegan Expressway, and tucked below two overpasses that merge onto the Third Avenue Bridge, the pioneer of them all, the Bruckner Bar and Grill.

Part restaurant, part art gallery and part karaoke spot, the Bruckner Bar and Grill which opened 10 years ago, has become a hangout for local artists, city workers, and young professionals in business suits and heels on their lunch break and after work. 

A glass garage door that opens during the summer and a woodstove that burns in the winter keeps patrons cozy as they sit at mismatched tables on mismatched chairs and survey the latest art on the walls. With the hum of Coldplay in the background, customers order grilled salmon with mixed greens or the Mediterranean platter with eggplant salsa and Israeli salad. Dressing comes on the side.

At the bar, European soccer plays on one of the televisions and Sports Center plays on the other.  A friendly blue-eyed bartender in a t-shirt that reads “Bronx” greets each guest by yelping hello from across the restaurant as he wipes the wood counter or pulls from one of the six beers on tap. 

“If it feels like downtown, then I accomplished my mission,” says owner Alex Abeles, who plans to expand the restaurant to include an outdoor seating café during weekend brunch.

At the cost of $10 for a specialty cocktail and the “downtown-like” atmosphere, the Bruckner Bar and Grill represents change and gentrification in Mott Haven.

“It used to be a real drug-infested area,” said Christopher Garcia, who has worked at the air-conditioning company next to the Bruckner for seven years.

“You would have homeless people sleeping under the bridge and a lot of drugs and prostitution going on,” Garcia said.  Now, he says, the area has been cleaned up dramatically.   

But with a “for sale,” “for rent” or “for lease” sign affixed to the outside of nearly every building in a three-block radius, the Bruckner Bar and Grill remains a lonely outpost, in its own isolated corner, disconnected from the larger part of the community.

Its menu and its prices make add to the feeling.

The Bruckner charges $10 for a salad, while at La Familia, a Latin restaurant down the block,  $6 buys a plate piled high with homemade stewed chicken and mashed potatoes, but customers and the bar’s owner say the prices make sense.

“It’s different from what’s usually in the area,” said James Skinner, a first timer at the Bruckner who grew up in the Bronx. “This is the South Bronx: there is a lot of ethnic cuisine, Latin, Caribbean, African-American cuisine. Traditionally, you would have to go into the city to go to a bar like this.”

Abeles, who formerly managed, the Coffee Shop, a restaurant in Union Square, does not apologize for the “downtown” atmosphere or the downtown prices. 

He said he took a huge risk in 2006 by investing in a place with zero foot traffic. He needed to make many changes to attract the professional crowd from the Bronx Courthouse and Lincoln Hospital, he added.

He started with a fresh coat of paint on the walls and improved service, and added more options to the menu than just a burger.  The original owners “brought in the wrong crowd,” he said.

“We raised prices, not Manhattan high, but out of certain people’s price ranges.  We lost a lot of the crowd – troublemakers, but it was replaced by other people,” said Abeles.  

“Its nice to see that most of the tables are filled,” said William Jordan, a physician who was coming from a friend’s gallery exhibition.  But he added, “It’s hard for me to say how many of the people who are eating at these tables here actually live in the numerous housing projects that are within a few blocks of here.” 

Steven Gallegos, a regular who owns Sobro Studios, a recording and rehearsal space for bands a few doors away from the Bruckner Bar and Grill, eats at the restaurant three to four times a week. Gallegos, a New Rochelle resident, said he was first attracted to the industrial feel of the neighborhood and patronizes the Bruckner because of the family atmosphere. 

“SoHo gets a name, NoHo gets a name, why not here?” asked Gallegos. “Things have to change at some point. But I would hate to see this place turn into condos and high rises.”       

By Lindsay Lazarski

lindsay.lazarski@motthavenherald.com

For months, residents of the Betances Houses building set aside for senior citizens heard the sound of claws scratching as rats scurried back and forth in the crawl space overhead at night.

Rat urine stained the ceiling. The animals gnawed holes in it, then tumbled through them onto the floor. They darted into the radiator vent beneath the mailboxes in the lobby.

Inside the walls of the building, which is across the street from St. Mary’s Park, the rodents climbed to the second story roof where they feasted on chicken bones, take-out containers and potato chip wrappers thrown from windows.     

Finally, in response to complaints, an exterminator arrived. But when he planted poison, the rats died by the dozens inside the walls, and their decaying bodies began to stink.

Residents covered their noses and mouths with their hands, while they waited for the elevator, hoping to ease the suffocating stench of the decomposing rat carcasses.

“This should be the best kept building in New York. Instead it’s the stinkiest!” said Ernest McNeill, shaking his head. 

McNeill, a retired mailman who has lived in the building for eight years, said the rats behaved as if they were tenants, walking around, and crossing the street.

“They looked like puppies, like little Chihuahuas,” chimed in Herman Escabi, another tenant. 

Segundo E. Delgado, another resident, said, “They’re big rats, like cats,” as he held out his hands to measure an imaginary rat for effect. 

The New York City Housing Authority, which owns and operates the 12-story, 88-unit building, reserved for seniors 62 years old and older, openly acknowledges the infestation and the nauseating smell that followed the dispatch of the exterminator.

“No one should be subjected to that,” said NYCHA spokesman Howard Marder of the odor.   

NYCHA has since removed the panels of the dropped ceiling and is in the process of sanitizing the space and replacing the ceiling. “It will be done expeditiously,” Marder promised.

But residents say the horrendous smell from the lobby is all too familiar.  

McNeill, who has burned cocoa-mango incense to try to mask the smell in the lobby, remembers the foul odor beginning about two years ago.  He is hopeful that NYCHA has taken steps to clean the entryway, but wants to see more improvements made to the front of the building.

“All they did was clean that one room,” said McNeill, referring to the lobby. “It still looks like you’re going into a jailhouse.  And it stinks,” he added, as he pointed to a locked room next to the lobby with the word “incinerator” in bold white letters.

McNeill said he doesn’t like to invite guests, or even his own children, over, because of the condition of the building. The whole front entryway should be renovated, he says. Instead of the prison-like iron grates that cover the doors and windows, he proposes glass, which would allow residents coming in to see the lobby and be sure that it’s safe.

The senior building has been nicknamed “Calvary,” after Calvary Hospital in the Bronx, explained McNeill. 

“Calvary is where they put you on your death bed. When they can’t do nothing else for you.  When your insurance runs out and the city is going to bury you,” said McNeill, who disapproves of the name and expects a better living environment.    

Maria Canales, director of the Betances Senior Center located next-door to the senior building, said the center also has a problem with rats.  She said exterminators come, patch holes in the building, and cover the radiators, but she still sees the rodents.      

“I want the seniors to have a clean, sanitary, safe, place to live and socialize,” said Canales. “They worked hard their whole lives and they deserve the best and that is what we are trying to do here.”

Canales explained that part of problem is people who litter or who throw food from the windows to feed the pigeons. Pieces of bread, orange peel, and juice bottles landing on the roof of the senior center attract and nourish the rats.

“We all need to work together,” said Canales. 

Dominga DeJesus lives on the second floor of the senior building. She said she could not open her windows because of the rats roaming on the senior center roof near her windows at night. 

The senior center’s custodian, Tony Rodriguez, said there is nothing more that can be done.

“Rats have been here for the last hundred years, and they are still going to be here,” said Rodriguez.   “As long as people are here, rats are still going to be around.”

By Lindsay Lazarski

lindsay.lazarski@motthavenherald.com

Elected officials and the Parks Department describe Randall’s Island as an invaluable resource, and boast that its waterfront pathways provide scenic views and “increased access” to recreation “for the neighboring communities of East Harlem and the South Bronx.”

But the island, only a stone’s throw from the Bronx, has been reachable only from Manhattan or by driving over the Triborough Bridge–until now.

In two years the South Bronx Connector; a 1.5 mile pathway for pedestrians and bicyclists, will open under the historic Amtrak trestle on Randall’s Island making  newly- renovated fields, a new tennis center and Icahn Stadium easier for South Bronx residents to reach.

But a controversial decision to restrict use of the fields to private schools on school-day afternoons will keep the facilities off-limits then, despite the new route from Port Morris to the island.

And boaters have complained that the footbridge and Con Edison utility cables underneath the bridge will make navigation at high tide difficult.

Nevertheless construction of the connector nearly a decade after its conception wins applause from local advocates.  

“The South Bronx Connector is long overdue,” said Arline Parks, chair of the Land Use Committee of Community Board 1. “For the first time, we are seeing the kind of development that reshapes our area of the Bronx and gives us an opportunity to have a better hold on the community.”

The connector is part of the South Bronx Greenway project, a network of green streets and waterfront trails and parks in Hunts Point and Port Morris, which has gotten a boost from $22 million in federal stimulus funds and is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2012.

Phase 1 of the connector, a footbridge over the Bronx Kill, located just south of 132^nd street in Port Morris, is nearly done. 

  Construction of the bridge is expected to be completed by the end of the summer, but the pathway will not be open to pedestrians and bikers until the full project is completed in the fall of 2011, said Janel Patterson a spokeswoman for the New York City Economic Development Corporation. 

Con Ed will incorporate new electrical equipment on the underside of the connector to upgrade power for Icahn Stadium, the Fire Department training center, and a water treatment plant on the island, said Con Ed spokesman Chris Olert.

“Con Ed hijacked the bridge project,” charges Harry Bubbins, director of Friends of Brook Park, which is threatening a lawsuit over the obstacle to boaters.

The cables on the South Bronx Connector are not the only source of controversy.

 The Randall’s Island Sports Foundation, a public-private partnership, and the parks department are building new sports fields and renovating existing ones. They will almost double the number of fields on the island, to 66.

But local residents may be barred from using those fields some of the time.

To pay for the maintenance and upkeep of the new fields, the parks department has proposed a concession agreement with 20 independent private schools in Manhattan.

In exchange for $2.2 million, the private schools would receive guaranteed permits for half the fields from 3-6 p.m. during the spring and fall.

Public schools and community-based organization would receive 40 percent of the permits and the remaining 10 percent would be left for other applicants.

The proposal is a second effort to fund the ball fields project through concessions to the private schools.

In 2008, State Supreme Court Justice Shirley Kornreich ruled the plan had not followed the proper public review process and overturned the agreement.  

Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito, whose district includes part of Mott Haven and Randall’s Island, said the new proposal has made some progress, but added she still has philosophical concerns over the privatization of public parkland. 

“It is an issue of access and equity in my eyes,” said Mark-Viverito at a public hearing. “We believe in public-private partnerships, and that is important in this city, but we have to ensure that those public-private partnerships don’t create inequities within our communities.”

Hear Geoffrey Croft's take on the process and environmental impact of the plan

 Geoffrey Croft, the president of New York City Park Advocates, said he did not see much of a difference between the initial proposal and the latest one.  

“The whole definition and purpose of public parkland is that they’re supposed to be public, and not be able to be bought by any group, rich or poor,” said Croft.  “Everyone is into making deals and concessions, but that is not what the purpose of a public park is. They are supposed to be open to everybody.”

But Lou Schlanger, athletic director at the South Bronx Campus high schools and director of the Randall’s Island Kids Summer Camp, defended the arrangement.

“Everybody is not satisfied and wished they had more time, but nobody would have anything without the foundations initiatives.  The island still would have been a sand box with broken glass and everything.” 

“Whatever the deal is,” he added, “It is a win for everybody.”

By Lindsay Lazarski

lindsay.lazarski@motthavenherald.com

Gloria Hidalgo likes living in her quiet building on 142^nd Street. The rent is reasonable; her neighbors are hard-working people, her sister and two nieces live three floors below her and Hostos Community College, where she is studying to become an accountant, is just blocks away.

But a rotten smell, just five stories below her windows may force Hidalgo to move.

The foul odor rises from a river of murky sludge–three feet deep and littered with plastic bags, broken beer bottles, planks of decaying wood, and abandoned basketballs–oozes along four blocks from Southern Boulevard and 142^nd Street to the fields of St. Mary’s Park.

Residents have dubbed the filthy concoction of standing water and garbage the Bronx Swamp.

“It smells horrendous,” said Walter Nash, a community leader who organized a protest on March 27 to demand that the swamp be drained and cleaned of all garbage.

“There is all manner of bugs, rats, and dead animals down there, but the main thing we’re scared of are the mosquitoes. If there is West Nile virus we are going to be the first ones to get it. The bugs are feasting off of the dead animals down there,” Nash said.

“We need help,” pleaded Hidalgo as she pointed out a rat that scurried from a trash can outside of her building to the standing swamp. “I want to live in this area, but if it is like this, I plan to move somewhere else.”

Nash said it’s been seven years since the swamp was drained last and that the city needs to take responsibility for keeping the area clean.

“Had this been down on Park Avenue, Fifth Avenue, or close to the mayor’s office this would have been gone day one,” he said.

The property is owned by a real estate company called Metropolitan 47 LLC, according to the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which sprayed insecticide because of the danger of mosquitoes last year. The firm has been issued several violations for standing water, but has failed to appear at any hearings, according to a health department spokeswoman, Celina De Leon.

Any time there is standing water there is the potential for it to become a breeding ground for insects and harmful bacteria, explained Jamie Stein, an environmental analyst from Sustainable South Bronx.

As for the mosquitoes, Stein said they are always a nuisance and can become a more serious problem. Mosquitoes that feast on dead birds can transmit West Nile Virus, a disease that has killed two dozen New Yorkers over the last 10 years, and cost the city millions in a controversial program of spraying insecticide from the air.

Amando Mendez, a father of three who has lived for 10 years in one of the many residential buildings that overlook the swamp, said the mosquitoes become unbearable in the summertime. He cannot enter the elevator and hallways of his building, or open the windows of his apartment without inviting a swarm of mosquitoes, accompanied by the rancid smell of the swamp.

Blisters and rashes from mosquito bites cover his daughters’ legs bellies and backs come summer, said Mendez.

Lots of young children live in her building, too, said Hidalgo. Her two nieces also get rashes and welts from mosquito bites, and often vomit and become sick with fevers, she said.

Walter Nash calls attention to the swamp and demands that it be cleaned and drained

Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum has called for immediate action to drain and clean the swamp.

“In New York City, no one should have to live near something as filthy, and potentially dangerous, as this swamp,” said Gotbaum.

“In the past 10 years, 28 Bronx residents have tested positive for neuro-invasive disease due to West Nile Virus. This summer will bring swarms of mosquitoes–but we have received no assurances that this area will be safe and free of disease,” she said in a written statement.

Edwin Saltares, whose office is just feet away from the swamp said the area can be cleaned hundreds of times, but the problem will persist and become progressively worse with every rainfall as long as there is no permanent drainage system.

Stein agreed, “The real approach would be to remove the water and regrade the surface so as to not have a problem anymore.”

As for residents who will be plagued by mosquitoes until then, Mendez said he will continue to spray himself with mosquito repellent whether he’s inside his apartment or outside his building and will consider moving his family somewhere else.

Lindsay.lazarski@motthavenherald.com

For years the thumping of fists pounding punching bags, the scuffle of sneakers and the grunts of athletes were the sounds a visitor heard at the Betances Community Center and Boxing Gym.

Now, the scratch of pencils and flip of workbook pages fill the newly renovated center.  Betances has dropped “Boxing Gym” from its name and has a new mission under new operators.

The last four years have been rocky for the community center.  It was considered a home to many boxers and residents who grew up in and around the New York City Housing Authority’s 13-building complex in Mott Haven.  In 2005 the center closed for a gut renovation and the center’s programs were moved to nearby schools or across the street to St. Mary’s Park and center. 

Rebuilt at the cost of $10 million and designed to remain a boxing gym, the community center was praised by architects as one of the best construction projects of 2008.  But the Housing Authority’s fiscal problems forced the center to close its doors after a few months. 

The handsome airy space, which includes features like central air conditioning and heating, a brand new kitchen loaded with stainless steel appliances, and orange bleachers that retract at the push of a button, appeared untouched, until late February.

Through a one-year city contract, ASPIRA, a national Hispanic organization, reopened the doors of Betances.      

Dr. Luis Osorio, the new program director, has high hopes. ASPIRA plans eventually to serve 1,000 children.  Currently close to 100 children are fully enrolled. 

ASPIRA aims for Betances to become a “mecca, ” said Osorio—“a place where children feel they are safe, they are heard, and can develop their minds and bodies.”

Rather than focus on boxing, under ASPIRA the center emphasizes academics and the arts.  Now, after a snack of donuts and grape juice, the participants in its after-school program break into study groups for tutorial sessions in reading, math and spelling. 

Only after their school-work is complete do the kids participate in an organized game of two-hand touch football, practice salsa dance steps or face off across the ping pong table.       

The changes do not sit well with those who ran the program in years past. 

“It pains me–it pains all of us who know the community.  We became a family,” said Edwin Guzman, who served as the Housing Authority’s Community Director for nine years. He had hoped to expand the boxing program, which has produced many Golden Glove fighters. 

Guzman and other former staff members of the center have been reassigned to other locations throughout the Bronx.

Luis Olmo, a former trainer and coach at Betances, said the boxing program was about more than just fighting.  “If there is no boxing program you are pushing kids out on the street,” said Olmo.

“The name ‘boxer’ gives you respect–your attitude changes, you walk differently, you talk differently, you dress differently and you have a dream.  It’s an Olympian sport,” Olmo said.

The permanent boxing ring purchased by Guzman now sits in storage.  In its place will be a portable ring, said Osorio, to leave space for other activities.  

With the emphasis on academics first, Osorio said, the former boxing program will be replaced with “Physical Fitness through the Art of Boxing.”  Kids will exercise through lightweight training, jumping rope and practicing other forms of aerobics, boxing and martial arts.

After 5 p.m. and on weekends, Osorio envisions offering services for adults, such as GED and job readiness classes and financial literacy training. He plans to start groups for young men who want to become better fathers and gain custodial rights of their children. 

Amanda Perez, 21, started going to Betances when she was 6 years old. She recalled its impact on her and worries about the changes coming.

“A lot of talented boxers and dancers came out of Betances,” Perez said. “Kids wanted to go there.” Like Olmo, she said the center was “about taking kids off the street. Hopefully they get the same attention and amount of kids as in years past.”

Osorio said he understands the concern about change. “ASPIRA is not here for the short term.  As long as the city can provide funding, we are here to provide services,” he said. 

He has hired new staff members who are familiar with the community and has tried to reach out to meet with parents and principals at nearby schools. 

Some parents like Wanda Lopez are encouraged by the new direction of Betances.  She has enrolled her 12-year-old daughter in the program and says friends and family members have asked her where they can apply.

“Parents can be put at ease that their children are not in the streets.  As a mother I love it,” said Lopez.

Every Sunday morning for more than 10 years Zena Charin has taken the Bx 4 along Westchester Avenue to attend religious services at the Vishnu Mandir Temple; one of only four Hindu temples in the Bronx.

But she may not have that option any more – the Bx 4 is on the chopping block in the latest round of MTA budget cuts.

Charin, 68, is one of thousands of Bx 4 passengers who would have to climb about 40 steps to the elevated subway platform or find an alternative route if the Metropolitan Transportation Authority follows through with its doomsday plan of service cuts and fare increases to close a $1.2 billion deficit.

With access to only three elevators along the bus and subway routes Charin travels, she worries how she will get to her place of worship, fill her prescriptions at the drug store, and shop at Westchester Square.

“My knees are bothering me and I don’t like to climb up the steps,” said Charin.

The Bx 4 bus is just one of 14 bus lines in the Bronx that will either be completely eliminated or face severe service reductions to help fill the deficit accumulated by the MTA.

The MTA warns that riders will pay more for worse service. Fares will raise an average of 23 percent.

A single ride on the subway or bus would cost $2.50 rather than the current price of $2. A passenger who buys a 30-Day Unlimited Metro Card would pay $103 per month instead of $81.

Melrose resident Aida Mendes, 39, said she already has trouble paying for her reduced-rate Metro Card and her son’s weekly unlimited card.

“I live on a fixed income and have a disability,” she said at a recent community meeting on the fare hikes. “No, this is too much.”

Bx 4 bus driver Eduardo Roman worries about what alternative options his passengers will have if service cuts go into effect.

“The seniors are the ones who will really get hit. They all depend on this bus,” said Roman, who sees a lot of passengers in wheel chairs. “They struggle to get up the two steps on the bus. Imagine them climbing up the stairs for the train,” he said.

“If they are thinking of eliminating a line, the MTA is not going to spend money on elevators.”

To avoid large fare increases and cuts to services, the Commission on Metropolitan Transportation Authority Financing, headed by former MTA Chairman Richard Ravitch devised an alternative plan that would ease the pockets of straphangers.

Instead of a 23 percent fare hike, riders would pay an 8 percent increase. Regional employers would face a new payroll tax. And the MTA would collect tolls on East River and Harlem River bridges. The Ravitch plan must be approved in Albany.

According to the Tri State Transportation Campaign, a coalition of advocates backing the Ravitch plan, only 5.7 percent of Bronx workers would be affected by the new tolls on bridges.

The service cuts are scheduled to take affect next month, and the fare hikes to take hold in June, according the MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan.

“The ball is now in Albany’s court,” Donovan said. “We are strongly lobbying for Albany to act,” he said.

As for the Bx 4 riders, Donovan said the bus route was being eliminated because ridership is low. He said commutes may be longer and riders may have to transfer more frequently but other routes are available.