Back-to-School Book Bag Giveaway Event Offers Good Start for Students

By DAVID CRUZ

Students got a good head start in preparing for school with a recent back-to-school book bag giveaway event sponsored by state Sen. Gustavo Rivera. The first of three events happened at Slattery Playground in Mt. Eden, with dozens of children picking up a backpack ahead of the new school year, which is slated for Sept. 5. The event was one of three events sponsored by Rivera’s office. Another events are scheduled for Aug. 15 and Aug. 22. Families living within Rivera’s 33rd Senate District are welcome to receive a backpack and obtain a free health screening. For more information, call

City & State Leaders Look to Reduce Hot Car Deaths Following Kingsbridge Incident

By DAVID GREENE

City and state officials are mobilizing in reducing hot car-related deaths following an incident where a pair of twins died from heatstroke after they were left in a car in Kingsbridge Heights for hours last month. The pair was left behind by their father. Councilman Fernando Cabrera, whose district represents the neighborhood where one-year-old twins were left in a hot car for hours by their father, announced legislation aimed at preventing the deaths of children left to bake in unattended vehicles. Exactly a week after one-year-old twins Luna and Phoenix Rodriguez were left for eight hours, as their father went

The $1 Million in Participatory Budgeting Results Are...

By JOE KONIG

There will not be a special election for the 11th Council District. At least, not this year. The Bronx Democratic Party nominated three candidates to the Bronx Supreme Court at a judicial convention on Aug. 8. None of the nominees were Councilman Andrew Cohen, delaying the long-anticipated campaign to succeed the term-limited councilman for at least another year and squashing theories of party orchestration. Instead, Bronx Democrats nominated Bahaati Pitt and John Higgit to two open seats and re-nominated Wilma Guzman to the seat she’s held since 2006. Gov. Andrew Cuomo appointed Higgit to the New York State Court of

A sandwich has always been an easy go-to option for lunch that is easy to make on your own, or to buy anywhere in the city. For many of us, the most famous is the peanut butter and jelly sandwich we grew up eating, as it was packed in our lunch box, or offered as a quick afternoon snack. As we grow older, the sandwich is still a staple lunch item for a lot of us, but we may look for a far more “sophisticated” version than our childhood PB and J. We have options of different meats, type of

By JEROME GUN HILL BID

Mosholu Optical has been a neighborhood fixture in the Jerome Gun Hill Business Improvement District (BID) since it first opened in 1948. Originally owned by Dr. Irwin Kaskawits, Mosholu Optical has been serving patients and shoppers in the Norwood community for over 70 years. Ed Greenspan, the current owner, has been a part of the business since 1968 when he began working for Dr. Kaskawits. Ed first got his start in the optical business at the original location of Moscot eyewear in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, now one of the oldest businesses in New York City. By 1985 Ed took

By DAVID CRUZ

NEIGHBORHOOD ARTIST LADY K Fever puts the finishing touches on a newly restored column that’s been transformed into an art installation at the southwest corner of Jerome Avenue and East Gun Hill Road. The Jerome Gun Hill Business Improvement District commissioned the work, a total of four columns, within the commercial district’s borders as a way of sprucing it up with help from Councilman Andrew Cohen and ArtBridge. Photo courtesy Maria Estevez

Health Fair Winner!

By DAVID CRUZ

It was a big day for Antonia Ramos, who attended a health fair sponsored by state Sen. Gustavo Rivera and Assemblyman Victor Pichardo on July 26 at Monroe College’s Mintz Auditorium.

Op-Ed: State Public Financing Would Reduce Role of Big Money in NY Elections

Neighborhood Notes: Free Immigration Service

By AMY LOPREST

This is an exciting moment to discuss public financing of elections. New York City’s small dollar matching funds program was designed to reduce the role of big money in elections and make contributions from everyday New Yorkers more valuable. The matching funds program has done exactly that for three decades, and recent changes to the program give small dollar contributors an even larger role. This program has become a model to other jurisdictions as more than a dozen states have adopted their own public financing systems. And with the creation of a state campaign finance commission, New York is the

Joe Franco is incredibly cautious when heading to the back of his building to throw out the trash. “It’s the Bronx Zoo back there,” said Franco, a 40-year resident of the building, who’s noticed a rat infestation in the building, with the critters often spotted hopping over trash cans. It’s on a list of problems at 241 E. 207th St., an 11-unit building between Bainbridge and Perry avenues in Norwood that Franco, along with a litany of residents, want to see fixed. Adding insult to injury is suspicions their landlord is looking to kick the tenants out. The problems have