Lora-Arzu case tragic for both sides

It sounded like a “sawed-off shotgun blast” outside the window.

Raphael Lora, 41, was sitting in his kitchen with his wife, Beatriz, and her friend, Damaris Marrero. Upon hearing the blast, Lora ran downstairs from his second floor apartment on the corner of Hewitt Place and Longwood Avenue in the Longwood section of the Bronx. It was a cool night on May 18, 2007, and the street’s pavement was glistening after a light rain fell a couple of hours earlier. Lora threw on a blue fleece jacket, and attached the holster for his 9 mm Glock semi-automatic pistol to his belt.

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Methadone’s effect on addicts and communites

Eric Alamo shielded his eyes from the sun as he walked out of the Carmen Iris Capeles Treatment Clinic on Westchester Avenue.  It was an unusually hot and humid August day in Hunts Point. Alamo had walked three miles for a fifteen-minute appointment, his shirt drenched with sweat from his trek. It wasn’t much better inside—the air conditioner wasn’t working. Read the full story

Health care gives Espada lots of votes

Photo credit: Rob Sgobbo

Pearl Cabrelea, 46, said she had never voted in an election, until Pedro Espada Jr. convinced her to vote for the first time last November.

“People kept telling me I should get out there, because things needed to be changed in the community,” Cabrelea said. The 15-year resident of Valentine Avenue in the Mount Hope section of the South Bronx said she always thought changes needed to happen in her neighborhood. “People here are poor, you know? But people… you know, politicians… were saying they could bring some good here.” Read the full story

Hunts Point residents keep up the fight

Photo Credit: Rob Sgobbo

Argentina Perdomo, 34, struggled to get into the front door of apartment 4G. With her two young daughters, Maria and Cynthia, ages 12 and 8, by her side, Perdomo tried to unlock the deadbolt, then jiggled the handle, then slammed her body against the door. “Try the lock again, Mommy,” Maria said. Read the full story