Serranos Remember Yolanda Garcia, Praise Her Legacy

Founder of Nos Quedamos Praised For Her Unstinting Belief in the Future of the
Bronx

Bronx, NY
, February 17, 2005—Today, Congressman José E. Serrano and State Senator José M. Serrano marked the passing of Yolanda Garcia, Founder and Executive Director of Nos Quedamos/We Stay Committee, Inc.

“She was a fighter for our community, a leader, and a close friend,” said Congressman Serrano.  “She loved her community fiercely and worked every day of her life to reclaim it and help it flourish.  Yolanda Garcia never gave up believing in the
South Bronx
.”

“We’re saddened by this major loss for the community,” said Senator Serrano.  “Yolanda Garcia fought for the
South Bronx
tirelessly, and refused to give in to pessimism and defeatism.  We’re going to miss her tremendously.”

In the late 1980’s, planners from the NYC Housing and Preservation Department unveiled a huge urban renewal plan for a 63-block area in the Melrose section of the South Bronx. Characterized by large swaths of vacant land and city-owned property,
Melrose
came to symbolize the public and private sector’s wholesale abandonment of the
South Bronx
in the 60’s and 70’s. The proposed redevelopment called for large-scale displacement of long-time residents and businesses in the area. Despite the City’s abandonment of the neighborhood, there were still nearly 6,000 people living in
Melrose
who were determined to remain and fight for their community’s future. These residents and businesses formed the Nos Quedamos Committtee to resist the Melrose Commons Plan (Nos Quedamos is Spanish for “We Stay”).  For several years, led by Ms. Garcia, Nos Quedamos embarked on an intense, weekly series of open community meetings with city officials and politicians to successfully force wholesale revisions to the original plan.

Since then, Garcia turned the organization into a major force for advocacy and community revitalization in
Melrose
and in the
Bronx
as a whole.  Nos Quedamos and their partners have created hundreds of units of housing for seniors, families, and new homeowners.  They have rebuilt entire blocks of abandoned, city-owned land with new, owner-occupied townhouses and multi-family apartments. 

Garcia was also a leader in the
South Bronx
environmental movement who lost a son to asthma and struggled mightily to ensure that other families would not have to suffer from such tragedy.  Her environmental efforts led Garcia to work closely with Congressman Serrano on the South Bronx Environmental Health and Policy Study (on asthma and its environmental triggers), where they have succeeded in focusing public attention on the devastating effects of air pollution on the
South Bronx
.”

“Yolanda was building something very special in a neighborhood that everyone had written off,” said Congressman Serrano.  “But she was so much more than a neighborhood advocate.  She was a builder, a believer, a leader known city-wide for her work on behalf of environmental justice.  She was a source of inspiration, a great friend, and a sister to me, and I’m going to miss her terribly.  Yolanda Garcia was the
South Bronx
’s guardian angel.”

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