First Earmarked, Now Advanced, Lawmakers Hail Progress in Metro-North Expansion Plan

The Bronx Develops: A Metro-North Station in a City Within a City

By DAVID CRUZ

The plan to bring four Metro-North stations to the East Bronx crossed a major hurdle today after Governor Cuomo’s office announced that talks between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Amtrak, which owns the existing tracks Metro-North operates, have ended with a deal. Preliminary designs and a feasibility study that determines whether Amtrak can use its tracks on a daily basis will get underway for the project dubbed Penn Station Access, according to Cuomo’s office. Co-Op City, Morris Park, Parkchester, and Hunts Point will receive a station. These Metro-North trains will be re-routed to Penn Station instead of Grand Central Terminal.

By Professor Anthony Rivieccio MBA PFA

Everything! New forms, worksheets, calculations, formulas, and schedule sheets The Trump tax law, in effect over a year ago, is now coming to visit us for the first time this income tax season. Do you think you’re getting the same refund as in the past? Think it should be bigger? Well, let me start with some temporary bad news first. As per the new law, all taxpayers in 2018 should have received (on average) a two percent decrease in tax rates. So, if you made $50,000 in 2018, and say your federal taxes were at 25 percent versus today’s 23

Schumer to Amtrak: Get on the Train for Penn Station Access

By DAVID CRUZ

U.S. Senator and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer is jumping into the latest campaign to press Amtrak into speeding up its negotiations over an expansion plan that would see four Metro-North stations in the Bronx. Schumer is among the growing number of elected officials pushing Amtrak to clear Metro-North to start the long-awaited project dubbed Penn Station Access. “I get a lot of money for Amtrak I am maybe its leading defender in the congress and I am asking Amtrak to step up to the plate,” said Schumer, standing outside Co-Op City’s Section 5, which overlooks Pelham Bay Bridge. “The

Editor’s Pick Last Licks to Extend Holiday Season New York Botanical Garden’s annual Holiday Train Show, featuring miniature replicas of many NYC building replicas made from natural materials including bark, twigs, fruit and pine cones; and All Aboard With Thomas & Friends, featuring a fun-filled sing-along mini-performance adventure (two to four performances daily); end on Jan. 21. For more detailed information, show schedule, rates, and tickets, call (718) 817-8700. Onstage Lehman College’s Center for the Performing Arts, 250 Bedford Pk. Blvd., W., presents Ballet Hispánico, Jan. 19, featuring contemporary dance with a Latin program (tickets are $25 to $55; $75/VIP;

Editorial: Bedford Park Locals Should Consider a No Solicitation Zone

By DAVID CRUZ

Bedford Park stepped closer towards legitimate neighborhood preservation after the Historic Districts Council (HDC) placed it in its ‘Six to Celebrate’ designation. The move will provide community stakeholders free consultation in how it to preserve the neighborhood’s historic side. “This was one way that we could bring publicity to the neighborhood, there will be a lot of work involved but we’re on top of that,” said Barbara Stronczer, president of the Bedford Mosholu Community Association (BMCA). “Unless we preserve some of the best of the past we’re going to be left with no future,” said Simeon Bankoff, executive director of HDC.

Latest Edition of the Norwood News is Out!

By DAVID CRUZ

Dear Fellow Readers! The Norwood News is out with its latest edition covering the Bronx. In our second edition of the year, we bring you the latest! The front page story revisits the Bedford Park Manor, where several tenants have ramped up efforts for improved quality of life. Read what the owner of the properties has to say. In Norwood, two separate corners of the neighborhood saw the discovery of two dead bodies in two separate cases. David Greene looks into this for us. Speaking of crime, the NYPD crime stat figures were released for 2018. It looks like the

Neighborhood Notes: Free Immigration Service

Tenant Support Unit The Mayor’s Tenant Support Unit offers tenant outreach help to New Yorkers at risk of displacement or tenant harassment. Residents can get connected to free legal services, learn about their rights, get help applying for rent freeze programs and more on Jan. 17, 24 and 31, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Office of Assemblyman Victor Pichardo, 2175 Jerome Ave.; Jan. 17, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at UNHP Refuge House, 2715 Bainbridge Ave.; and Jan. 18, 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Office of Assembly Member Jose Rivera, 1 Fordham Plz. For more

Editorial: De Blasio Ratchets Up Progressivism to Pad Resume Ahead of 2020

In the days leading up to his annual State of the City address, Mayor Bill de Blasio turned up the volume on Democratic progressivism, announcing NYC Care, an initiative that offers super affordable healthcare to New York City’s low-income earners, roughly 600,000 in all. Half of those New Yorkers are undocumented immigrants. The announcement happened in the Bronx. The plan will kick off in the Bronx. In his State of the City address this year, de Blasio outlined an overdue but vague plan to draw the “best and brightest” teachers to public schools. The schools to receive new teachers will

By DAVID CRUZ and JOSEPH KONIG

Residents of three fairly new buildings on Webster Avenue that are owned and operated by The Stagg Group have gotten the ear of Community Board 7, which plans to hear from residents at its next Housing, Zoning & Land Use Committee meeting in February. The Stagg Group, a construction and development company with multiple ongoing projects in Bedford Park and Norwood, told the Norwood News they will be sending a representative to the meeting to hear out the tenants’ concerns. The news is the latest in a fight waged by tenants over conditions at the buildings at 2985, 2987, and 2999 Webster