Bill Seeks More Accountability on Capital Projects

By DAVID CRUZ

A bill that would create greater accountability on city agencies carrying out long term construction projects, or capital projects, has been introduced. Councilman Andrew Cohen, representing Norwood, introduced the measure amid long delays to capital projects he’s funded since his time in office, including a skate park at Williamsbridge Oval Park. The original completion date for the project, which Cohen earmarked $750,000 in 2014, was this year. So far, nothing has been done. The proposal for a skate park has been in the works since 2004. Much of the delay stemmed from a winning contractor dropping out of the project, according

By DAVID CRUZ

As the Trump Administration toughens its enforcement and policy on undocumented immigrants, with federal agents further zeroing in on immigrant communities, know-your-rights forums have dotted the borough’s landscape. For attorneys at the Legal Aid Society, which offers pro-bono services to immigrants sorting through their status, these forums are critical. After all, many are unaware that every immigrant, undocumented or not, have rights. Those tenets include the right to a lawyer, questioning the legitimacy of so-called “notarios,” and the variety of methods used to prevent deportation. Every case is different, they admit, and the best way to mitigate it is consulting

By DAVID CRUZ

Vital Stats: 35K – Number of children served by the Healthy Steps Program (Source: Montefiore Health System) For parents of developmentally delayed children, time is critical for improving their child’s outcome. But accessing behavioral therapies can be a slow and complicated process, posing a problem for children aged 3 to 5 whose developmental stalls can go overlooked. But a pilot program by Montefiore Health System, set to launch in a few weeks, looks to streamline the process, thanks to a $70,000 grant it received from the United Hospital Fund. Partnerships for Early Childhood Development, as the pilot program is called, intends

By SHANNON MEEHAN of WFUV

The Norwood News and WFUV continue their five-part series profiling ongoing challenges impacting the Bronx. When Dr. Eric Gayle, a family physician, began treating patients in the Bronx 20 years ago, assessing a patient’s ability to comprehend health information, known as health literacy, wasn’t part of his initial health assessment. That changed after a surprising revelation made by one of his long-standing patients. Despite his patient telling him she understood how to read directions he wrote on the back of a prescription, Dr. Gayle soon learned he was misled. His patient didn’t know how to read. “I was stunned,” says

By DAVID CRUZ

The New York State Appeals Court has ruled Junior High School 80 in Norwood receive a $3 million grant that was stripped away by the state last year after officials took the near century-old school off a so-called turnaround list for chronically failing schools. But the grant remains imperiled since the state has one last shot of denying the funds at a hearing in May. JHS 80, resting on a hilltop on Mosholu Parkway North, was part of a class action lawsuit filed last September claiming the state’s budget director illegally froze taxpayer grants intended to improve school performance

By DYLAN CROLL

The NYPD is on the lookout for a suspect who stole $301 in cash from the back pocket of a 59 year-old man inside of a bodega in Kingsbridge Heights. Police say the suspect walked into 77 E. Kingsbridge Rd. around 4 p.m. on March 22. The perpetrator, caught on camera, was identified by police as a male Hispanic ranging anywhere from 16 to 21 years old and estimated to be around 5-4-5’6, weighing 130 lbs -140 lbs. He was last seen wearing a black hooded sweater, black jacket, blue jeans, and black sneakers. Nobody was hurt in the incident.

Editor’s Pick Free Physical Activities Open House The public is invited to a free Inaugural Adaptive Sports Open House at the Williamsbridge Oval, April 1 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. (meet outside the Recreation Center). Events include hands-on equipment demonstrations, participation in sample adaptive sports sessions, educational health materials, and a 1-mile walk around Oval Park with the docs at Montefiore. Adaptive sports offers physical activity for people with disabilities. For more information, call (718) 547-4940. Onstage The Williamsbridge Oval’s Recreation Center hosts William Shakespeare’s “The Twelfth Night,” April 8 at 1 p.m. RSVP to sarah.bishow@parks.nyc.gov. For more information,

Hello Loyal Readers! The latest edition of the Norwood News, covering all things Norwood and its surrounding communities, is out with plenty of news you can use. We begin, of course, with page 1, and a front cover story on issues within the city Education Department’s Gifted and Talented programs. Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., and his counterpart in Brooklyn, Eric Adams, have a task force underway that’s examining these inequalities. Read the lengths parents are willing to make to ensure their kids are in a program that’s seen as a ticket to specialized high schools, which help pave a

Just more than $3 billion in residential, commercial and institutional projects have been pumped into the Bronx in 2016, according to a newly released report, signaling a continued trend of a Bronx on the mend. But the report hedges its bets somewhat, throwing in its report the Kingsbridge National Ice Center project, which was mired in delays and near extinction last year. Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., which drafted the report and presented it at a forum focusing on development projects in the Bronx, included the $350 million project in the report nonetheless. The KNIC project stalled after developers