The initiative includes 18 security cameras across 10 locations, funded through the state\u2019s Downtown Revitalization Initiative and 75 solar-powered lighting fixtures installed across 30 storefronts through a $100,000 public realm grant from SBS.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur mission does not just revolve around the tenets of cleanliness and safety,\u201d said Pedro Suarez, the BID\u2019s executive director. \u201cAlso to make sure that this commercial corridor in the South Bronx, which borders the neighborhoods of Melrose and Mott Haven, continues to be recognized as the important historic and economic center that it has always been for the past 40 plus years.\u201d<\/p>\n
The measures come as storefront vacancies within the BID\u2019s boundaries have declined<\/a> by 50% over the past three years, according to Suarez who expects to fill many of them over the coming year.<\/p>\n The BID worked with the NYPD to identify locations for the cameras based on areas with high volumes of 311 complaints and 911 calls, Suarez said. The cameras face storefronts and are intended to help monitor issues including illegal parking, suspected drug sales and situations involving people experiencing mental health or substance use challenges.<\/p>\n The BID will also hire two public safety ambassadors to monitor the district during the week, where they will report quality-of-life<\/a> concerns, conduct wellness checks and can contact first responders when someone needs medical attention. They will also carry naloxone, commonly known as Narcan, to respond to opioid overdoses.<\/p>\n The BID hopes to expand the program over the next two years to four ambassadors providing full-time coverage throughout the week. The organization also plans to extend their hours during the holiday shopping season in November and December.<\/p>\n \u201cOur job is to make sure that this potential and this community has everything possible, so that we\u2019re able to grow,\u201d said Council member Justin Sanchez. \u201cWe have much more to go, but this is a huge step in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n The Third Avenue BID, which contains the Hub, is the first and oldest commercial district in the Bronx. The CDNA released in March highlighted the district\u2019s \u201ceconomic renaissance\u201d and outlined future growth. The district continues to attract new businesses as storefront vacancies decline, with recent openings such as BX Toys and Filipino fried chicken chain Jollibee<\/a>.<\/p>\n The BID is also working to increase community use of Roberto Clemente Plaza, which largely remains closed to the public with the exception of organized events including wellness fairs held on Thursdays.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to have a very intentional and strategic opening of the plaza over the next year. But the goal is to eventually reopen that plaza completely, but there is, I think, a behavior change that we\u2019re looking to see as well,\u201d Suarez said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want the community to use this plaza in positive ways. We want this to be a cultural center of the Bronx, and we also want this to be a celebration of our rich history and culture.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Third Avenue Business Improvement District installed new security cameras, solar-powered lighting as the BID works to improve…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,15133,300,134848,15891,13365,6276,9,24,63,103,39618,73145,308,25042,129,131,130,35352,73147,73148,6707],"class_list":["post-363126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-business-improvement-district","tag-cameras","tag-department-of-small-businesses","tag-justin-sanchez","tag-lighting","tag-narcan","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-nypd","tag-opioid","tag-pedro-suarez","tag-public-safety","tag-quality-of-life","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news","tag-the-hub","tag-third-ave-bid","tag-third-avenue-bid","tag-vanessa-gibson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/image003.jpg\")
New security cameras with NYPD Access have been installed at 10 locations across the district. Photo courtesy of Clearscope Technology Solutions<\/p>\n