Out & About: Holiday Tree Lightings

Editor’s Pick Holiday Tree Lightings The public is invited to attend the following community holiday tree lightings: Dec. 6 at 6 p.m. – Hosted by Bronx Community Board 7, at Mosholu Parkway Lawn at the intersection of Mosholu Parkway and Bainbridge Avenue. Featured are caroling, hot apple cider, holiday cookies, goodie bags giveaway and local elected officials. For more information, call (718) 933-5650. Dec. 11 from 6 to 8 p.m. – Hosted by Jerome Gun Hill BID, at Jerome Avenue and East Mosholu Parkway. Featured are free toys for children, holiday shopping guides, pictures with Santa, and hot cocoa. For

By DAVID CRUZ

Dear Fellow Readers! The Norwood News is out with its latest edition covering Bronx communities.With 24 pages of news, let’s get into the coverage. The front page focuses on a $3 million infusion of money for Bailey Houses. Assemblyman Victor Pichardo secured funding for roof repairs. Hear what tenants at the NYCHA property in Kingsbridge have to say about conditions. The paper also has an update to the fire that happened on Hull Avenue on Nov. 20. Thirty-five people making up seven families were displaced. Read how the community, including one state official, is doing its part to help the families.

By JOSEPH KONIG

Assemblyman Victor Pichardo has earmarked $3 million in capital funds for roof repairs at the Bailey Houses, a troubled NYCHA building in Kingsbridge. The news is the latest in a years-long fight by the building’s residents council to better conditions as a leaky roof continues to destroy property and harm residents. “The roof is just absolutely in complete disrepair,” Pichardo, flanked by residents, said at a news conference on Dec. 4. “This isn’t something that’s abstract. People are living with this every day. If there is a leaky roof, it creates mold issues across the entire building.” Pichardo said the

Anger and Questions Linger After Three Post Offices Temporarily Shutter

By DAVID GREENE

The hustle and bustle of the holiday season came to an abrupt stop for more than a week at three local post offices in the Norwood and Allerton sections, after the United States Postal Service (USPS) announced rain from a recent storm flooded the three locations. The three local post offices reopened Dec. 3 after being closed days before Thanksgiving. The Mosholu Post Office at 3464 Jerome Ave. posted a sign on the iron shutter gate reading, “Closed due to flood.” The paper sign was torn in half a day later. USPS spokesman Xavier Hernandez confirmed Mosholu Post Office, along

Neighborhood Notes: Free Immigration Service

By CHRISTY RAE AMMONS

The bike sharing company JUMP looks to expand their pilot program that began in Fordham and Tremont this summer, to another part of the Bronx and hopefully the entire borough. Expansion rests on the city Department of Transportation, which would give the bike sharing company the green light. For now, the DOT confirmed it has extended the program for another 90 days with the agency closing monitoring demand. The program was originally set to last for four months, but rising interest from Bronx residents prompted DOT to extend the program. The pilot program brought 200 pedal-assist bikes to the Fordham

By DAVID CRUZ

Community Board 7 rejected a plan by a social services developer to build two buildings on properties where single homes once existed. The rejection opens the possibility the developer to drastically alter the buildings. Though advisory, the vote to send a letter to the city’s Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) agency represents no confidence in the building projects by Brooklyn-based CAMBA Housing Venture. Over the summer several homes were knocked down at East 202nd and East 203rd streets to make way for the projects, representing the ongoing deterioration of single-family homes in Bedford Park. Two weeks before the vote, neighborhood

After Surviving Cancer, Norwood Resident Gives Back

By JOSEPH KONIG

Dr. Courtney Howard went to the rheumatologist earlier this year for a regular appointment. Howard lives with Sjögren’s syndrome, an autoimmune disease that affects moisture-producing glands like tear ducts and salivary glands. “My rheumotologist was doing her normal lymph node checks and felt a lump around my ear,” Howard told the Norwood News in a recent interview. “She thought it was a lymph node, wasn’t really sure, but thought I’d be okay” Howard, a geriatric psychiatric fellow at Montefiore Medical Center and a resident of Norwood by way of Birmingham, Alabama, is well versed in the symptoms and traits of

New Strategy to Combat Bronx Opioid Abuse Announced

By JOSEPH KONIG

TYRELL JONES OF New York Harm Reduction stresses the importance of making Narcan widely available. Photo courtesy New York City Mayoral Photography OfficeNew York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced new measures to combat the opioid crisis in the Bronx, including $8 million for new mental and physical health personnel and additional funding for Bronx-based faith groups.”This is an epidemic that can be treated,” de Blasio said at a news conference on Nov. 28. “But we’re only going to do it with the people of the Bronx. We’re only going to do it if we get deep, deep into

By JONATHAN CUSTODIO

Every weekend Brandon Montes puts out a crate full of books on East Gun Hill Road between Bainbridge and Wayne Avenues. Books come in and books go out. And it’s all for free. On average, Montes brings 5 to 15 books each time he puts out the crate. In the morning, he chains the book crate to a small tree guard and returns at sunset, usually to an empty box or some new books. Montes wants to address the dearth of brick-and-mortar bookstores in the Bronx and expand upon on the borough’s literary access. “We deserve a literary community. There