She Helped Thousands With Their Housing Cases, and Now She’s Retired

By DAVID CRUZ

“I’ve always wanted to change the world,” says Sally Dunford, sitting inside a cubicle less than seven hours before capping 28 years as executive director of West Bronx Housing. It’s Jan. 7, and for Dunford—wearing a maroon shirt, black pants, and white shoes– it’s retirement day, a moment she never thought would come, capping a lifetime of housing advocacy that’s kept thousands of Bronx residents in their homes while also empowering them to reclaim their quality of life against unscrupulous landlords. Making her indispensable over the years was her encyclopedic know-how of the daunting housing system, which over the years,

The On-the-Ground Fight to Reverse Overdoses Takes Center Stage at NCBH

By JOSÉ A. GIRALT

When asked the significance of visiting the Norwood area for a second time in nine months, Herbert Quinones, an overdose prevention trainer for the city Health Department, responds with a friendly attitude. “When we’re invited to speak, we go anywhere,” Quinones said before listing the five boroughs. Quinones has just wrapped up a 45-minute slideshow presentation interspersed with questions from the audience at the Opioid Overdose Education Narcan Training Event held at North Central Bronx Hospital (NCBH) on Jan. 10. The event was organized by State Senators Gustavo Rivera and Jamaal T. Bailey, Community Board 7 (CB7), and the Jerome

State of the State: What Your Bronx State Reps Had to Say

By DAVID CRUZ

Governor Andrew Cuomo delivered his tenth State of the State address that received praise and some criticism from the borough’s state legislators covering Norwood. Among Cuomo’s proposals include expanding its tuition-free state college program to families make $150,000 or less, categorizing hate crimes a type of domestic terrorism, and legalizing marijuana, a measure that received intense pushback from critics in the last session. Cuomo also reaffirmed his commitment to revitalizing Hunts Point and seeing the installation of four Metro-North stations to the Bronx. But the Governor stood silent on the issue of bail reform for misdemeanor and nonviolent felonies, where

By JOSE A. GIRALT and DAVID CRUZ

In a crowded race seeking to replace Congressman José Serrano, candidates made their pitches on why they’re the best candidate to succeed Serrano at a Tuesday night forum in the South Bronx. The forum, organized by the Bronx’s LGBT Center Destination Tomorrow, presented the candidates with three different questions of special concern to their community in addition to opening and closing remarks. At a forum largely focusing on the LGBTQ community, Councilman Ritchie Torres, who’s garnered the most donations than any other candidate, reminded the audience of his journey in becoming the first openly gay elected official from the Bronx.

Exposing Veteran/MWBE Business Owners to Emerging Tech, Courtesy of Lehman

By DAVID CRUZ

Kimberly Kendall, workforce education director for Lehman College’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies, will be the first to express her fondness over what technology of the future can do for small businesses. There’s artificial intelligence capable of replicating a customer service rep over the phone (techies call it a “chatbot”), updating one’s supply list in real time, or virtual technology that allows real estate agents to take their clients on a virtual tour of a home without having to step foot in it. “What we have to do is expose small business owners to emerging technologies, not in a

By DAVID GREENE

Officers from the 52nd Precinct had to multi-task as they responded to a call of a robbery and at the same time, a woman fainting at the Chase Bank next door on Jerome Avenue. Police were called to Galaxy, a jewelry and electronics store located at 3412 Jerome Ave., at 1:45 p.m on Jan. 5. It’s believed the two suspects, a man and woman, fled the store with a ring. Police were looking for a black female who fled on foot southbound on Jerome Avenue, she was wearing all dark clothing. The man apparently fled in a tan suburban vehicle,

Neighborhood Notes: Free Immigration Service

By DAVID CRUZ

The Democratic candidates for the 15th Congressional District race will be showing up to a forum tomorrow night to explain their positions. The Bronx’s LGBT Center Destination Tomorrow extended invitations to all the candidates, with Samelys Lopez, Melissa Mark-Viverito, Frangell Basora, Assemblyman Michael Blake, David Philip Franks Jr., Councilman Ritchie Torres, Jonathan Ortiz, and Chivona Newsome, despite not yet filing paperwork to run for the seat, are confirmed. “We hope to focus on…poverty, homelessness, survival sex work, immigration, and police interaction in LGBT communities,” said Redemption L’Ouverture, the forum organizer, who began organizing the discussion back in September. The group,

By DAVID CRUZ

The killing of Edgar Perez in August has finally produced a person of interest. Police at the 52nd Precinct are now tracking the whereabouts of 20-year-old Alexis Flores (pictured left), wanted in the shooting death of Perez during the overnight hours of Aug. 25. Perez had been shot while outside a baptism party for his granddaughter being held at the Church of the Holy Nativity on Bainbridge Avenue between Rochambeau Avenue and East 204th Street. The new lead comes three months after Perez’s son, Edgar Jr., said the police have given him little in the way of an update. Edgar

Tracey Towers Residents Wonder How Their Complex Became Little Ghana

By DAVID CRUZ

Tracey Towers is known for its robust representation of Ghanaian Americans new to the country or second or third generation. And their ample presence—complete with their own tenants association and yearly events highlighting the colorful culture of the West African country—has earned it a cute name among residents: “Little Ghana.” The fun fact has extended beyond the looming towers and to published works, where one book, African & American: West Africans in Post-Civil Rights America, mentions Tracey Towers as being home to “literally hundreds of Ghanaians and became the basis for the development of the most recognizable physical enclave of this