Board of 609 Kappock St. respond to tattered path

To the editor:

 We write in response to the letter, “Tattered Kappock Street pathway left in limbo” by Arthur Goldberg which appeared in the April 3 edition of The Riverdale Press. The Board of Directors at 609 Kappock Street has tried for years to get the city to repair the step street going down from Arlington Avenue to Kappock Street. It does not belong to our building and we do not believe we are responsible for it. City maps indicate that originally, Arlington Avenue roadway went all the way down to Kappock Street and a few years ago, a driver tried to do the same, damaging the railings along the path.  

In 1955, the Bronx Borough President’s engineering bureau created a map showing “the change of lines and grades in Arlington Avenue between Kappock Street and 227^th Street by establishing a cul-de-sac with steps." This map pre-dates both 601 and 609 Kappock Street, which were built in the early 1960s. The current configuration, which has a step street between a dead-ended Arlington Avenue and Kappock Street is the result of the 1955 plan. 

Mr. Goldberg considers the street to be the same as a sidewalk and therefore the responsibility of adjacent homeowners. We disagree. The city has cleared the step street after snowstorms. In a letter dated March 1, 2006, Joseph Palmieri, commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation, stated that “our sidewalk management unit has added this location to its repair schedule.” A subsequent letter from Assemblyman Dinowitz refers to this unmet commitment. 

Recently, both Assemblyman Dinowitz and Councilman Dinowitz have urged the city to repair the street regardless of ownership.  We do the same.

Board of directors of 609 Kappock Street