Financial Focus: The Price for Peace

By PROFESSOR ANTHONY RIVIECCIO, MBA PFA

Peace, obviously, is a very subjective term. This will be based on your own individual thoughts. Tranquility for one may be silence and/or scary for another. But your “peace” will be at a price! After all, we do live in a capitalist society, right? But again, based on your own definition, it does not have to cost too much. Peace for me, for example, started in the early 1990s, just graduating college and starting on Wall Street as an investment analyst. During those years, there were many early days and late nights. After 15-hour days, I wanted to be in

Twin Children Die After Left in Car for Hours, Father Taken Into Custody

By DAVID GREENE and DAVID CRUZ

A pair of twin babies’ lives was cut short after they were left behind in a vehicle for hours in Kingsbridge on a day when temperatures reached the mid-80s, according to police. The one-year-old victims, identified as Mariza and Phoenix Rodriguez, were found in a Honda Accord that had stopped at the corner of Kingsbridge Road and Kingsbridge Terrace at around 4:08 p.m. after the victim’s father discovered his children inside. The vehicle’s rear windows were tinted, preventing anyone from seeing inside. Then father was identified as Juan Rodriguez, 39, a Rockland County resident and social worker for the James

Torres: Home Seizure Program Has Sights on Black and Hispanic Homeowners

By DAVID CRUZ and MICHAEL TURAY

A city program that takes away distressed homes from owners is doing more harm than good, robbing its owners of its home valued at millions of dollars in market assets, according to an investigation by the New York City Council. And their findings have found the Bronx is among those hardest hit. “Our investigation found that out of 420 properties, 210 of them had no financial distress. The legal standard for financial distress is a 15 percent lien-to-value ratio, those 210 properties on average had a 3 percent lien-to-value ratio,” said Councilman Ritchie Torres at a news conference outlining his findings

Neighborhood Notes: Free Immigration Service

Cellphone Thefts Police have reported eleven linked incidents of cellphone theft from June 8 to July 7 happening within the 52nd Precinct. One of the thefts occurred on 3222 Bainbridge Ave. and was captured by surveillance cameras (below). The suspects also roam East 207th Street, Reservoir Oval, and Perry Avenue, all within the Norwood area. Police are looking for the individuals, who are males and females between the ages of 15-18. Nabbed Necklaces On June 29, a nineteen-year-old was approached by two men on a scooter, who then snatched his necklace. A similar instance occurred on July 4 when two

Empty for More Than a Decade, Developer Looks to Build on Perry Avenue Lot

By CHRISTY RAE AMMONS

The empty lot at 3067 Perry Avenue has been vacant for over a decade, taking up 2,500 square feet of the Norwood neighborhood. At a time when developers have swept into Norwood and its adjacent neighborhoods, building at a rapid clip during this construction boom, the demand for space is critical. The owner, Joe Quintessenza, purchased the lot with a plan to construct a seven-story apartment building with 32 units and a parking garage on the ground floor. But when zoning laws downsized the area, Quintessenza’s plans fell through. “We were planning on building 32 units eleven, ten years ago,

Montefiore Wakefield Campus Hails Decade in Neighborhood (Web Picture)

By JOSÉ A. GIRALT

As the thermometer hit 96 degrees, visitors to the Montefiore Wakefield Community Health Fair on July 20, were glad to see plenty of bottled water, cooling fans, and an invitation by hospital officials like Toni Hayes to rest inside the air-conditioned lobby. “Be sure to stay hydrated,” Hayes reminded visitors. The oppressive heat, however, did not keep elected officials and hospital administration from celebrating Montefiore’s 10th anniversary managing the Wakefield campus. The hospital located at East 233rd Street near the Bronx River Parkway was formerly known as Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center. Montefiore officially took over the former hospital

By DAVID CRUZ

For candidates in the impending 11th Council District race, Eric Dinowitz still leads when it comes to fundraising, building an $80,990 war chest compared to main rival Dan Padernacht, who raised $28,026, according to the latest campaign finance figures. Dinowitz, a school teacher, district leader, and the son of Assembly Jeffrey Dinowitz, also has 50 percent of his donors coming directly from the 11th Council District, which covers Norwood, parts of Bedford Park, Kingsbridge, Riverdale, Fieldston, and Woodlawn. But Padernacht, an attorney, isn’t far behind. Of the 113 donors coming from the Bronx, 84 percent of them live in the

In the last few weeks, the Norwood News has been peppered with calls and personal accounts of the conditions at the neighborhoods nearby parks, namely Mosholu Parkway and Williamsbridge Oval Park. The parks are routinely utilized by nearly every member of the community. From mothers sitting on benches watching their children running through sprinklers, to residents staying fit as they do laps around the track. It’s all there. Yet, despite this precious amenity that’s enriched the lives of many, a troubling aspect is rising two-fold. The first is the apparent neglect of Williamsbridge Oval Park the paper has seen in

By DAVID GREENE

This week we asked readers their thoughts on the city’s proposal to build borough based jails, including one in Mott Haven, as a way of closing Rikers Island. The plan was recently rejected by the Bronx Borough President. Why would they put a jail in the boroughs? Where will it be located? If they put the jail here or anywhere else, how will the relationship be between the jail and the residents? I wonder how it will impact the community and its children; for me that’s a problem. They bring the prisoners to the courts? I didn’t know that. I