Photo courtesy of Benny Polatseck/Mayoral Photography Office
“May the Force be with you” was perhaps the underlying message from New York City Mayor Eric Adams to the City’s worst-hit bodega owners when he visited the Tremont section of The Bronx on Sunday, May 4. He was there to announce $1.6 million in funding to equip an estimated 500 bodegas across the five boroughs with new panic buttons which bodega staff can use to immediately call the NYPD in cases of emergency.
Distributed through an emergency grant to the United Bodega Association (UBA), City officials said the panic buttons will be installed in bodegas with the highest levels of crime to improve staff and customer safety. They said the described “SilentShields” will be directly connected to cameras in the bodega and to the NYPD, allowing officers to see crimes unfold in real time, respond faster, and help save lives.
They said they will work in direct coordination with another program the Adams administration launched last year to help local businesses voluntarily share information in real time with the NYPD through existing closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV), as they seek to solve crimes.
Photo courtesy of Photo Credit: Benny Polatseck/Mayoral Photography Office
Included in the latest $115.1 billion, 2026 fiscal year executive budget (and as if taken directly from a Trump playbook) dubbed the “Best Budget Ever” by the Adams administration, City officials said this latest public safety investment in bodega safety will help build a safer city and ensure that critical small businesses that support every neighborhood across the city have the security and support they need to keep both their staff and customers safe.
“Bodegas are part of the heart and soul of New York City,” Adams said in part. “They are on every corner; they are there for us at all hours. This program will bring peace of mind to our bodega owners, while protecting the working-class New Yorkers who work and frequent bodegas. Our bodegas are essential to New York City, and, with this investment, we’re telling these small businesses: Your city has your back.”
Also present at the event, among others, First Deputy Mayor Mastro, Radhames Rodriguez, president of United Bodegas of America, NYPD Chief of Detectives John Chell, Fernando Mateo, Spokesman, United Bodegas of America, and former District 12 City Council Member Andy King. Tremont is based in City Council District 15, represented by City Councilman Oswald Feliz. It is not the first time bodega owners and the NYPD have gathered together to discuss crime, as reported.
For his part, Mateo said of the new initiative, “For too long, bodega workers have suffered in silence, while help was out of reach. But today, that silence ends. Thanks to Mayor Adams, SilentShields will give our workers a lifeline directly to the NYPD. This is about saving lives, restoring peace of mind, and making it clear: New York will no longer abandon its essential bodega workers.”
Meanwhile, Rodríguez said, “We thank Mayor Adams for taking real action. We came to the mayor and he didn’t hesitate to offer his support because our blue-collar mayor knows just how important bodegas are to their communities.”
Photo courtesy of Photo Credit: Benny Polatseck/Mayoral Photography Office
Following the brutal murder of 15-year-old Lesandro “Junior” Guzman-Feliz inside a bodega in Belmont in July 2018, former Bronx City Councilman for District 13 Mark Gjonaj introduced a similar bill proposing the installation of panic buttons in bodegas the same year.
At the State level, Bronx State Senator Luis Sepúlveda (S.D. 32) and former Assemblyman Victor Pichardo for A.D. 86 announced the introduction of the “Safe Havens for Endangered Children” law, nicknamed “Junior’s Law,” alongside community advocates, religious leaders, and some of Junior’s family members outside the bodega where Junior sought refuge but was ulimately fatally stabbed in July 2018.
We asked the senator if the bill ever passed or if not, if it was reintroduced and what the status is. We are also checking on the status of the original City Council bill introduced by Gjonaj, and will share any updates we receive.
The 48th Precinct broadly covers the neighborhoods of Belmont, East Tremont, and West Farms, while Fordham University’s Bronx campus is nestled in the precinct’s northern corner, the famous Arthur Avenue runs down the center, and the Cross Bronx Expressway and Crotona Park form the southern border. The latest available crime statistics for the 48th Precinct are attached further below.
As reported, family and friends of Stefon Barnes, 29, from Harlem gathered at the corner of East Tremont Avenue and Marmion Avenue in the Crotona section of The Bronx on Sunday, April 7, 2024 to pay tribute to the young man, an innocent bystander who was gunned down while picking up some food at a deli at that location on Sunday, March 31, 2024.
For the avoidance of doubt, we asked City Hall if the new initiative just covers bodegas or all small businesses in high crime areas since many other small businesses, particularly those operating late at night like food outlets, jewelry stores, barbershops, and even some tax service businesses have been the target of sometimes very violent crime in the north Bronx. See links further below to some previous stories in this regard. We will share any feedback we receive.
Source: NYPD via Compstat
City officials said UBA will solicit competitive bids for SilentShield technology and aims to begin installation in the coming months.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch later said in a statement that bodegas were essential to life in New York City, and that the people who run them deserve real protection. “With this new technology, we’re giving them a direct link to the NYPD, so we can see what’s happening in real time and respond immediately,” she said. “This is what smart policing looks like: precise, fast, and built on the trust of the communities we serve. Thanks to Mayor Adams’ investment, we’re protecting New Yorkers where they live and work.”
The announcement comes on the heels of “Budget Week,” where investments were announced in housing, “after-school for all,” and thanks to expanded eligibility requirements and continued, close to 35,000 uniformed NYPD officers by fall of 2026.
City officials said that since the beginning of the Adams administration, it has taken several actions to make streets and communities safer, including a $500 million “blueprint to keep communities safe from gun violence,” multiple surges of police officers in subways to help reduce crime in the transit system, multiple plans to crack down on auto-theft and combat retail theft, additional mental health clinicians to support people with untreated, severe mental illness, plans to pilot new technology in the subways to combat crime, expansion of the Saturday Night Lights youth program to keep kids and young people safe and engaged on Saturday nights, and support for a record 100,000 summer job opportunities annually for young people.
To read some examples of Bronx bodega and other small business crime stories, click here, here, here here here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
The mayor’s Bronx visit on Sunday follows an prior visit to Norwood on Friday, May 1. More to follow.
Belated Happy Star Wars Day to all who celebrate.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.