Watch CBS News

What's In A Name? Some Bronx Residents Upset Over 'Welcome To Schuylerville' Signs

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A series of neighborhood welcome signs in the Bronx are at the center of a brewing border battle between a community association and some of the people who live there.

The signs say Schuylerville, but most argue it's actually Pelham Bay.

As CBS 2's Janelle Burrell reported Monday, the banners were meant to be a decorative welcome to the Bronx community.

But if you ask most who live here, they'll tell you the "Welcome To Schuylerville" signs have their neighborhood all wrong.

"Everybody says it's Pelham Bay Park," one resident told Burrell.

"Schuylerville, no. Pelham Bay, yeah," another man added.

"I think they're all on drugs. Schuylerville is in Throgs Neck. It's two different parts," a neighborhood resident said.

They said the signage has their part of the Bronx confused for another, a mix-up some see as a slight.

"Throgs Neck has a good property value. We have a better value," resident Anthony Tomei told Burrell.

Mary Jane Musano, president of the Waterbury LaSalle Community and Homeowners Association, told Burrell the signs are accurate.

"I think we need to go with not what we think it is or what we want it be, but what it is," Musano said.

The community association commissioned the signs and based the designation of Schuylerville on city and community board maps, Musano said.

"I really wasn't sure if it was Pelham Bay or Throgs Neck. And it took many, many years; only my association with the community board taught me that it's neither," said Musano.

According to the community association, the intersection at Crosby Avenue and Middletown Road is considered to be the dividing point between the two neighborhoods. But some experts disagree with the mapping.

"I would say you are in Pelham Bay, not Schuylerville, certainly," Bronx historian Bill Twomey told Burrell.

The lifelong Bronx resident said while he thinks the signs are incorrect, there are no official neighborhood designations.

"It's a matter of semantics," he told Burrell.

The city's Planning Department said it does not give communities official name designations.

You May Also Be Interested In These Stories

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.