Mosholu Avenue business owners seek brighter streets and clearer safety resources

When darkness falls along parts of Mosholu Avenue, some North Riverdale merchants say business falls off with it.

Poor street lighting, concerns about crime and quality-of-life issues, and uncertainty over how businesses should respond when problems arise dominated a Sept. 15 merchant meeting hosted by the Kingsbridge-Riverdale-Van Cortlandt Development Corporation, or KRVC, where local business owners met with police and community representatives to discuss ways to make the commercial corridor safer.

The gathering brought together merchants from Mosholu Avenue, with several saying safety concerns tend to be more pronounced closer to Broadway, where stretches of the corridor become particularly dark at night.

Andre el-Saieh, head chef at The Bronx Burger House, pointed specifically to an area in front of the restaurant, where a light pole was removed but never replaced. The lack of visibility, he said, discourages customers from parking and visiting the business after dark, particularly later in the evening and on weekends — something other merchants echoed.

Business owners also noted outages around West 254th Street. Cathy Estrella, owner of Bongo Nail Salon, said the darkness can make the area feel especially uncomfortable during the winter months, when night falls earlier and customers and workers are coming and going after dark.

The issue, many said, is not only whether people feel safe walking along the corridor, but whether they are willing to park and visit businesses at night. Some said customer traffic drops off once it gets dark.

The concerns have taken on greater urgency following police reports of the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl near Broadway and West 261st Street on June 23, as well as reports of robberies. The assault incident prompted residents and elected officials to renew long-standing calls for better lighting and security along the northern edge of Van Cortlandt Park.

At the meeting, a representative of Council member Eric Dinowitz’s office said the city transportation department had conducted a lighting study in the area and plans to add pedestrian lighting to additional poles. The representative added that the city parks department would trim trees where necessary to prevent branches from blocking streetlights.

Businesses were encouraged to report individual outages through 311. The representative also said that although the transportation department may give an estimated repair window of several weeks, repairs can sometimes take considerably longer.

Public safety concerns at the meeting extended beyond streetlights. Noreily Lopez, owner of Universal Pet Grooming, raised concerns about people regularly smoking cannabis immediately outside her business, with the smell drifting inside. She questioned when merchants should call police — expressing concerns about how to respond to people experiencing homelessness or practicing substance use outside their stores, which they said can scare off customers.

Laura Levine-Pinedo, executive director of KRVC, said that concern can put establishments in a difficult position.

“Some businesses may be concerned, especially ones that deal with [the New York State Liquor Authority], the sale of alcohol, to keep calling,” Levine-Pinedo said, noting that the number of emergency calls linked to a business may come up during liquor-license discussions. “You don’t want to call for every little thing.”

New York City Police Department Detective Rasha Jamsheer said calls are reviewed in context and that businesses should not avoid contacting police when an incident requires a response. A fight or another serious disturbance, for example, should still be reported.

The conversation reflected a broader problem Levine-Pinedo said KRVC regularly encounters while working with merchants.

“Small businesses do not have the information to access city resources,” she said.

Police representatives also discussed the precinct’s quality-of-life team, which can respond to chronic problems including certain street conditions and complaints that repeatedly come through 311. Merchants raised concerns that they do not frequently see police vehicles traveling through North Riverdale and asked whether officers could spend more time walking the commercial corridor.

One of the more concrete resources to emerge from the meeting was the NYPD’s free crime-prevention survey.

When Jamsheer asked whether the businesses had previously received one, none indicated that they had.

Officers conducting the survey can walk through a business and examine its exterior lighting, surveillance cameras, blind spots, register placement and other security conditions. Jamsheer said the assessment can also help businesses seeking grants for improved cameras or lighting.

That was particularly relevant to The Bronx Burger House, whose staff said police previously sought surveillance footage after an incident involving a customer. Merchants noted that even businesses equipped with exterior cameras can have difficulty capturing useful footage when the surrounding street is poorly illuminated.

For Levine-Pinedo, the meeting was part of KRVC’s broader effort to strengthen its Bailey Avenue Merchants and Broadway Alliance, or BAMBA, and create a more direct line between neighborhood businesses and the agencies responsible for addressing their concerns.

For the merchants, the requests were often straightforward — brighter streets, clearer information and a more visible response when problems persist.