Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson to Seek Judicial Nomination, Potentially Ending Run as DA

By DAVID CRUZ

Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson is looking to step down after a 26-year stint as the borough’s lead prosecutor, opting instead for a judgeship should the Bronx Democratic Party back him. “It is time for a change in my life,” said Johnson, in a prepared statement. Now, Johnson, has prepared a run for Justice of the New York State Supreme Court asking the Bronx Democratic County Committee (BDCC) for support. “The judicial position will allow me to make a career move that provides the change that I seek without giving up public office,” continued Johnson. For years Johnson served as

Editor’s Pick Jerome-Gun Hill Fall Festival The Jerome-Gun Hill BID is holding its free 14th annual Fall Festival, Sept. 19 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., rain or shine, on Jerome Avenue between Gun Hill Road and Mosholu Parkway. Events include live musical performances, chess tournament and lessons, dominos tournament, and basketball clinics. For more information, call (718) 324-4946. Onstage Lehman Center for the Performing Arts, 250 Bedford Pk. Blvd. W., presents A Tribute to the Big Latin Bands, featuring the Machito Orchestra and the Mambo Legends Orchestra, Sept. 19 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $45 to $60. For more

A touch of color has been added to one bland Kingsbridge Heights neighborhood. A mural depicting two trees, one in a day setting, and the other in an evening setting can be seen emblazoned at a step-street between Kingsbridge Terrace and Armand Place. The mural was the result of a collaboration between the Kingsbridge Heights Community Center (KHCC), the Bon Secours Healthy Communities Initiative, and the New York City Department of Transportation. The mural by Spanish-born artist, Laura Alvarez, was painted by the KHCC summer camp and teen volunteers. The theme of the mural, “KHCC Grows,” is supposed to reflect the role KHCC

By VIVIAN CARTER

Elected officials and community activists from the northwest Bronx came together this week to celebrate the opening of Empire State Ambulatory Surgery Center, a brand-new, 11,000 square- foot facility with four operating rooms, preoperative and recovery areas, and a complimentary underground parking garage. The center, located on Webster Avenue south of Gun Hill Road, will be operated by eleven physician-partners, including Medical Director Dr. Arnold Wilson, a sports medicine specialist who will offer arthroscopic procedures for shoulder and knee injuries. Other procedures to be performed by the center’s doctors from major academic institutions in the metro area, include ophthalmologic and

By DAVID CRUZ The latest edition of the Norwood News is out with plenty of community news you can use. We begin with some unexpected news: the resignation of Community Board 7’s District Manager. Read how Community Board members reacted to his resignation. Before we begin with the inside-the-cover stories, we want to remind parents that the Norwood News is accepting applications for a FREE, that’s right, FREE afterschool journalism program called Bronx Youth Heard. It’s a cool writing workshop that lasts through December, and it teaches the fundamental of journalism to Bronx high school students. Check out the link here: http://bit.ly/BYHFall2015. Now

By DAVID CRUZ

Dustin Engelken, Community Board 7’s district manager, resigned as DM at the Board’s first general meeting after the summer hiatus. His resignation, unexpected, the third from a CB7 district manager in the last three years, leaves the Board looking for a replacement, and a widening delay in resolving community issues. “I know that my announcement may come as a surprise to many people in this room so I felt it was important to make clear that the nature of my announcement tonight was not meant to be malicious, but rather I felt it was important to avoid any miscommunication by making the announcement to everyone here all at once and in my own works,” said Engelken, reading remarks before a stone-faced crowd

By DAVID GREENE

The half dozen homeless people who sleep on park benches along Jerome Avenue, near East Gun Hill Road say they were unaware about the city’s new homeless outreach program, acknowledged by officials nearly three-weeks after the program quietly began. The city has so far identified 80 homeless encampments across the five boroughs and has begun to dismantle them, as trained professionals from nine city agencies attempt to assist some of the homeless. The City of New York estimates that 60,000 individuals are currently homeless, and the new program began on August 17, seeking to reduce that number. Jerome Avenue was not identified as an encampment because the closely-knit group has

When a chef and an engineer join forces, it can be a recipe for a rooftop garden. At least, this has been the case in one Bronx nursing home. For about four years, several employees at St. Patrick’s Rehabilitation and Health Center, a skilled nursing facility in Van Cortlandt Village, have grown vegetables and spices out of buckets placed on the roof at 66 Van Cortlandt Park So. The home was founded in 1931 by seven women who would eventually become sisters affiliated with the Carmelite Order. The facility provides 24-hour nursing care and religious support services regardless of a

By DAVID CRUZ

Lehman Center for the Performing Arts will play host to Jazz at Lincoln Center, taking the unusual step in ushering in their season with a one-night performance at the Bedford Park music house. Fittingly, the season will open with a performance by Carlos Henriquez, a Bronx-bred bassist and member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, whose musical flair has taken him to perform in Cuba. Appropriately titled “Carlos Henriquez: Back in the Bronx,” Henriquez is expected to delight an audience with some familiar, velvety tunes alongside the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, and percussionists Bobby Allende