Neighborhood Notes: Sign Up for Summer Youth Employment

Neighborhood Notes: Free Immigration Service

Free GED Class SUNY Bronx Educational Opportunity Center, 1666 Bathgate Ave. (between 172nd and 173rd streets), offers tuition-free class for those 18 and over interested in obtaining their GED diploma. Classes begin on April 16. For more detailed information, requirements, and to register (required), call (718) 530-7000. Summer Youth Employment The Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) provides New York City youth between the ages of 14 and 24 with paid summer employment for up to six weeks in July and August. Participants work in entry-level jobs in a variety of industries including arts and recreation, educational services, financial services, and

Dear Fellow Readers! The latest edition of the Norwood News, covering the northwest Bronx, is out with its latest edition for 2018. We welcome you to check out plenty of stories featured in this fresh edition. We begin, of course, with page one and a story involving a community garden and one headstrong neighbor who refuses to throw in the towel. Read about Elizabeth Carson and her quest for governance at Risse Street Garden. Also, get a sense of how the agency tasked to bring order to community gardens is handling this. Inside the cover you’ll find a recap of

BID to Unveil Norwood Column...And They Need Your Help

By NIALL RIDGLEY

What’s your favorite food? Where do you like to hang out? The Jerome-Gun Hill Business Improvement District (BID) wants to pick your brain for answers to these questions, and others, as part of an art installation slated for placement this spring. The installation, a project, between the BID and the city Department of Transportation (DOT), in the shape of a column, will display posters with quotes solicited from the community. It will be located at the intersection of the Grand Concourse and Mosholu Parkway, one of several gateways into Norwood’s commercial strip. Jenny Hung was commissioned to design the project,

Inquiring Photographer: Rezoning Jerome Avenue

By DAVID GREENE

This week we asked local residents their thoughts on the recent decision to rezone a large chunk of Jerome Avenue, a lofty plan that looks to bring 4000 units of affordable housing in the coming years. Before you rezone the area, where are the parking spaces going to be? You have no parking, the garages are filled, the schools are overcrowded. Before you start rezoning you need to come up with a cohesive plan. This is just taking the people who have been here for 20 or 30 years and throwing us to the sidelines and making it whatever the

Jerome Avenue Approved for Massive Rezoning

By MARY MELLON

After three years of back and forth talks, the Jerome Avenue Rezoning Plan was approved, opening the door for the rezoning of 92 blocks of Jerome Avenue, ushering in 4600 units of affordable housing, of which 1500 will be permanently affordable. The rezoning plan is the largest since the 1970s, and can jeopardize the neighborhood’s existing automotive sector. The plan represents a major win for City Council members Vanessa Gibson and Fernando Cabrera, whose districts cover the area to be rezoned. They believe rezoning will allow current residents to remain in place while adding to the stock of affordable housing.

COMMUNITY LEADERS FROM the various professional sectors were honored at Community Board 7’s second annual Women’s Empowerment Summit, “Powerful Women Share Their Secrets of Financial Independence and Success.” The event happened March 28 at Herbert H. Lehman College and involved panels, mentoring sessions, and workshops about how women can network for success. The event comes at the end of March’s National Women’s History Month. Photo courtesy Marketing and Advertising Solutions

Battle Sprouts at Risse Street Garden

By DAVID CRUZ

In the last five years, Elizabeth Carson has enjoyed cultivating her horticultural passions at Risse Street Garden, a tiny oasis insulated from the malaise of traffic at Jerome Avenue and Risse Street on the tip of Norwood. She’s proud to have put in the time. As a full-fledged volunteer gardener, Carson is entitled to keys to the city-owned garden, allowing her time to work the landscape, tend to perennials and enjoy the therapeutic thrill of seeing the birth of plants. But since last year, Carson’s sense of tranquility at the garden has been disrupted by a war of words with

Free Commercial Lease Help Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition offers free legal help to small businesses in negotiating commercial leases with their landlords. Businesses have to be in New York City, must be non-franchise, have a household income below 500 percent of the federal poverty guideline, and have a new or renewal lease. For more information, contact Evy Viruet at (718) 584-0515 ext. 100. GEDs and Paid Internships Mosholu Montefiore Community Center offers the following for young adults ages 18 to 24: free classes and tutoring sessions to prepare for the exam to get their GED (orientation/registration sessions are

By PROF. ANTHONY RIVIECCIO, MBA, PFA

In our first article focusing on income tax scams and identity theft, we began to cover some of the traditional ways one gets scammed. In 2018, with modern technology and spyware anything is now possible. Two examples are below: The One Where They Steal Your Refund: Someone will file a fraudulent tax return on your behalf, claiming all sorts of benefits and deductions that you’re not entitled to. When you file your real return, the IRS thinks you already filed and presses STOP on everything. In reality, the only thing that will be stopped is your tax refund going to you–the thief