Riverdale Press

Last updated
Riverdale Press
Riverdale Press Bwy jeh.jpg
Former office on Broadway
Type Weekly newspaper
Owner(s)Richner Communications
PublisherStuart Richner
EditorGary Larkin
Founded1950;73 years ago (1950)
LanguageEnglish
CityBronx, New York City
CountryUnited States
Circulation 7,152(as of 2017) [1]
Sister newspapersLong Island Herald newspaper chain. Nassau Herald , Wantagh Herald Citizen , The Jewish Star , Oyster Bay Guardian
Website riverdalepress.com

The Riverdale Press is a weekly newspaper that covers the Northwest Bronx neighborhoods of Riverdale, Spuyten Duyvil, Kingsbridge, Kingsbridge Heights and Van Cortlandt Village, as well as the Manhattan neighborhood of Marble Hill. It was founded in 1950 by husband and wife David A. Stein and Celia Stein.

Contents

History

In the 1950s, The Press fought to rezone Riverdale to preserve private homes and open space threatened by development. It played a key role in the creation of new public schools to accommodate the residents of newly built apartments and in rescuing a large tract of land in Spuyten Duyvil for a park. [2] [ failed verification ] Later, it advocated creation of a special natural area district to protect the area's distinctive trees and rocks. [3] [ failed verification ]

In 1978, Bernard Stein succeeded his father as editor, gaining for The Press a reputation as a crusading newspaper. "The Riverdale Press courted controversy and cast a tough, skeptical eye on local officials, who ignored the paper at their peril," wrote The New York Times [4] The Press was the first newspaper to disclose corruption on the city's community school boards; its reporting on the construction of the largest medical waste incinerator in the state in the South Bronx led to the indictment of the chair of the local community board and, eventually, to shuttering the incinerator. For that effort, the paper earned the highest honor of the city's Deadline Club, the James Wright Brown Public Service Award, beating out Newsday and Forbes Magazine, the runners-up. [5]

Bernard Stein's brother, Richard, was the paper's general manager, and also responsible for its design, including the creation of its current flag, used almost continuously since 1971.

On David Stein's death in 1982, the brothers became co-publishers of The Press. [6]

In June 2008, the brothers sold The Press to another pair of brothers, Stuart and Clifford Richner of Richner Communications, publishers of 28 Long Island community newspapers. [7] The Steins remain on the masthead as publishers emeriti.

Michael Hinman was editor between 2017 [8] and 2022, before being promoted to executive editor over more than two dozen publications with the parent company, including The Riverdale Press. [9] During Hinman's tenure, The Press won 40 New York Press Association awards, including top honors for general excellence in 2020 and 2021. [10]

Firebombing incident

At about 5 a.m. on February 28, 1989, two men hurled firebombs at the offices of The Press. No one was hurt, but the first floor of the two-story building was consumed by the flames. [11] [12]

The bombing took place five days after the newspaper published an editorial defending the right to read Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses , while the editorial was still on newsstands. A call to 911 claiming responsibility said the newspaper was bombed in retaliation for its editorial.

The Society of Professional Journalists gave the paper's co-publishers Richard and Bernard Stein its First Amendment Award for their courage in continuing to publish despite the severe damage caused to the paper's offices by the firebombing. [13]

The editorial that enraged the bombers is posted on Bernard Stein's blog. [14] For 10 years on the anniversary of the bombing-for as long as Rushdie remained in hiding-the paper published an editorial about the author, both to call attention to his plight and to demonstrate that the bombers had not intimidated the paper. [15]

Pulitzer Prize

In 1998, Press editor and co-publisher Bernard L. Stein won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for what the Pulitzer judges called "his gracefully-written editorials on politics and other issues affecting New York City residents." [16] He was also a finalist for the prize in 1987 and 1988. [17]

Legacy

Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy, the public middle school and high school that serves Riverdale and Kingsbridge, is named after Riverdale Press founder David A. Stein.

The New York Press Association names its annual award for overall design excellence the Richard L. Stein Award. [18] The Press continues to win this award, most recently in 2021.

See also

Related Research Articles

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Riverdale is a residential neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the New York City borough of the Bronx. Riverdale, which had a population of 47,850 as of the 2000 United States Census, contains the city's northernmost point, at the College of Mount Saint Vincent. Riverdale's boundaries are disputed, but it is commonly agreed to be bordered by Yonkers to the north, Van Cortlandt Park and Broadway to the east, the Kingsbridge neighborhood to the southeast, either the Harlem River or the Spuyten Duyvil neighborhood to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Riverdale Avenue is the primary north–south thoroughfare through Riverdale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Hudson Bridge</span> Bridge between Manhattan and the Bronx, New York

The Henry Hudson Bridge is a steel arch toll bridge in New York City across the Spuyten Duyvil Creek. It connects Spuyten Duyvil in the Bronx with Inwood in Manhattan to the south, via the Henry Hudson Parkway. On the Manhattan side, the parkway goes into Inwood Hill Park. Commercial vehicles are not permitted on this bridge or on the parkway in general.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spuyten Duyvil station</span> Metro-North Railroad station in the Bronx, New York

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spuyten Duyvil, Bronx</span> Neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City

Spuyten Duyvil is a neighborhood of the Bronx, New York City. It is bounded on the north by Riverdale, on the east by Kingsbridge, on the south by the Harlem River, and on the west by the Hudson River, although some consider it to be the southernmost part of Riverdale.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edgehill Church of Spuyten Duyvil</span> United States historic place

Edgehill Church at Spuyten Duyvil is a former United Church of Christ parish church located at 2570 Independence Avenue in the Spuyten Duyvil neighborhood of The Bronx, New York City. Its congregation was founded in 1869 as the mission chapel affiliated with the Riverdale Presbyterian Church, serving the workers at the nearby Johnson Iron Foundry. The church, described by the AIA Guide to New York City as a "picturesque eclectic sanctuary", was designed by architect Francis Kimball in a mixture of styles – Romanesque Revival, Tudor Revival and Shingle style – and was built from 1888–1889. It features stained glass windows designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany.

1989 firebombing of the <i>Riverdale Press</i> Attack on a newspaper office

The 1989 firebombing of the Riverdale Press was an attack in which two firebombs were thrown at the offices of a weekly newspaper, the Riverdale Press, in the Riverdale community of the Bronx, New York City on February 28, 1989. The building was heavily damaged. Two California bookstores were also damaged in similar attacks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Riverdale Monument</span> United States historic place

The Riverdale–Spuyten Duyvil–Kingsbridge Memorial Bell Tower or Riverdale Monument is a memorial tower in Bell Tower Park located in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. It was completed on September 17, 1930 to commemorate World War I veterans from the neighborhoods of Riverdale, Spuyten Duyvil, and Kingsbridge. The plaque attached to the memorial lists the names of those Riverdale, Spuyten Duyvil, and Kingsbridge residence who served in World War I. In 1936, it was moved 700 feet south to make room for the Henry Hudson Parkway which it now stands next to. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 3, 2012.

Bernard L. "Buddy" Stein is an American journalist best known for winning the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for "his gracefully-written editorials on politics and other issues affecting New York City residents." He spent his career as the co-publisher and editor of The Riverdale Press, a weekly newspaper serving the Northwest Bronx.

References

  1. "Newspapers by County". New York Press Association. 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-11-21. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  2. "Seton Park Highlights : NYC Parks".
  3. "Zoning Districts & Tools: Special Purpose District - Bronx - DCP".
  4. Pérez-Peña, Richard (2008-06-04). "Long Island Publisher Buys the Riverdale Press". The New York Times.
  5. "Remembering the adventure".
  6. "David Stein, Publisher of the Riverdale Press". The New York Times. 1982-04-10.
  7. New owners to continue family tradition at Press – The Riverdale Press
  8. "New editor is committed to community news". The Riverdale Press. Retrieved 2017-10-18.
  9. "Michael Hinman becomes Heralds' executive editor". LIHerald.com. Retrieved 2022-05-08.
  10. "Riverdale Press wins 11 state awards, including general excellence". The Riverdale Press. Retrieved 2022-05-08.
  11. Office of Weekly Paper in Riverdale Is Firebombed, By DAVID E. PITT, New York Times, Wednesday, March 1, 1989
  12. Violence against the press: policing the public sphere in U.S. history, By John C. Nerone, Oxford University Press, 1994, p. 204
  13. "Riverdale Press To Be Honored", Tuesday, May 9, 1989
  14. "The tyrant and his chains". 1989-02-28.
  15. "The Pulitzer Prizes".
  16. The 1998 Pulitzer Prize Winners: Editorial Writing
  17. "The Pulitzer Prizes".
  18. https://contest.nynewspapers.com/Docs/2017_ContestRules_newX.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]