A group of restaurant workers showed up at Councilman Joel Rivera’s office last week to urge him to hold a hearing on a bill that would help protect restaurant workers from abuses in the workplace.

At the 2007 Annual Harmony Day Picnic at Harris Field in Bedford Park on Tuesday, a child was the price of admission. More than 5,000 kids turned out to this year’s event, which was organized by the 41st Precinct Community Council. It was their last at Harris Field because the park will be under construction next year.

Three men in a room. Dysfunctional. Corrupt. Yes, these words can and have been used to describe our state government in Albany. And yes, there is more than a little truth in it. But that’s why we feel doubly obligated to draw your attention to a welcome example of a state legislator doing some magnificent legislating.

With this issue, the Norwood News takes a brief hiatus. We skip an issue. Our next publication date is Aug. 23, which will include the first of two back-to-school special sections.

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (r), shaking hands with Governor Eliot Spitzer in June, persevered for three legislative sessions to witness the enactment of his bill creating stiffer penalties for those engaging in forced labor and sexual exploitation.

The Norwood News got its wish (“Not So Fast,” June 28-July 11, 2007 editorial) with the agreement on congestion pricing negotiated on July 19. Before any tolls can be imposed, congestion pricing will be studied by a 17-person commission and its recommendations must be approved first by the New York City Council and then by the state legislature. This provides a golden opportunity to refine the current congestion pricing plan and to make it fair to the entire city.

Blink and you’ve missed him. Herman Tannenbaum is always on the move. He pauses for a lunchtime refuel, but then it’s back to business for Tannenbaum, who designs and produces original greeting cards.

PS 94 will be getting an Early Childhood Development Center to be located on the school’s campus, where portable classrooms currently sit. Although the project is still in the early stages of development, the building is currently slated to be three stories, house Pre-K through third graders and accommodate 428 seats.

Less than two days after a Norwood News article highlighted an illegal club and drug depot being run out of a North Fordham area home, police raided the place and confirmed all the neighbors’ suspicions.