Picture a mega mall on Kingsbridge Road, complete with a multi-screen cinema, food court, gymnasium and several floors of retail stores. It’s being called "a destination" by developers who submitted proposals to turn the landmark Kingsbridge Armory into a local hub of shopping, entertainment and community space.

The Mosholu Montefiore Community Center (MMCC) will add a new school to its roster of Beacon Youth Centers when it begins operating the after-school program at PS 86 this fall.

The bulk of the borough’s political leadership quickly got behind Mayor Bloomberg’s environmental master plan known as PlaNYC, including the controversial congestion pricing proposal. We know the mayor’s in a hurry to get congestion pricing through the state legislature because of a deadline to be eligible for federal funds, but why are Bronx elected officials running all the stop signs to get behind the rest of PlaNYC?

Several of Community Board 7’s new officers and other members gathered together to march in the Bronx Week Parade last Sunday on Mosholu Parkway. 

As we report in this issue, the Board has a lot of work ahead this summer, including reviewing and commenting on proposals for redeveloping the Kingsbridge Armory and hiring a new district manager. We wish the Board the best of luck as they begin addressing critical community issues.

It is an unfortunate fact of life that we no longer live in innocent times. With cable TV, computer porn, and R-rated movies, very little is left to the imagination, and young people, who seem to get younger and younger, are more influenced than ever by what they see, especially teens with raging hormones who are more likely to want to "test the waters."

In 2006, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene issued a report with alarming news for the Bronx community of Highbridge. In almost every health category: premature death, HIV infection, heart disease, drug and alcohol abuse, etc., this community has the worst record in the entire city.

Your recent editorial opinion expressing your conviction that President Bush fails to recognize the importance of a free press or an independent Congress is quite remarkable – not because your assumption is accurate, but rather because it demonstrates, in a way I’m quite sure you never intended, that so much of the press in general, and your editorial staff in particular, has abdicated any pretense at impartiality or journalistic integrity.

I’ve been a resident of the Bedford Park/Bainbridge area for over 25 years. I love this neighborhood for all the beautiful trees in this environment and the wonderful buildings and homes that we have. One thing that I’ve been doing some advocacy about is the situation with the underpass under the Grand Concourse at Bedford Park Boulevard that leads to the D train entrance.

As a resident of Bedford Park for over 40 years, a member of the Board of Directors of the Scott Tower Cooperative and a member of the Jerome Park Conservancy, I attended the June 21 meeting of the Croton Facility Monitoring Committee.