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Board Membership on Rise

Space on Community Board 7 is tight, and getting tighter.

With 34 members currently on a board roster with a 50-member limit, some of this year’s 30-plus applicants will undoubtedly be left to try again next year.

Chairman Greg Faulkner is pleased with the enthusiasm and said his board, which is facing an avalanche of big projects and neighborhood issues, could use the help. He attributes the surge in applications to the board’s increased profile and activism.

“We’re doing stuff,” Faulkner said. “People want to get engaged in things that are very serious and affecting the community.”

He’s welcoming the new recruits with open arms. “More people creates more engagement and it helps bolster the committees,” he said. “We need people on board who will come in and do more. As we start raising responsibility, we could use the people.”

The question is, when will those people be appointed? The office of Bronx borough president, which appoints the member with input from local City Council members, is currently being led on an interim basis by former Deputy Borough President Earl Brown with a special election for the B.P. job set for April 21.

Faulkner said he was told by the borough president’s office that the terms of current board members which end in May, will be extended 60 days and then the new borough president, once elected, will make the appointments in late spring or early summer. A spokesperson for the borough president’s office confirmed that appointments would not be made until a new borough president is installed.

Last time he checked about a month ago, Faulkner said CB7 w

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.

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