Norwood Residents Unite to Help Hurricane Maria Victims

By DIEGO BARCACEL PENA

As Puerto Rico continues to recover from the effects of Hurricane Maria, leaving many native Puerto Ricans without food, water, and more, Norwood residents and business owners have teamed to donate goods to the island. After hearing a sermon at their local church about the power of giving, Martha Salas and Sylvia Garcia decided to team up with Lexa Bar at 357 E. 204th St. to set up a donation site. “The response has been great,” said Garcia. “We started posting posters on Bedford Park, where we live on 201st Street, and people have filled up three huge boxes already.”

Neighborhood Notes: Free Immigration Service

By AARON MAYORGA

One of the largest city-owned lots in the Bronx is slated to be home to 1,045 new housing units and country’s first hip-hop museum, officials announced. The $200 million project, named “Bronx Point,” is poised to bring a wave of transformation to a previously underutilized stretch of land abutting the Harlem River and just minutes away from Hostos Community College in Mott Haven. Along with the thousand units of market rate and affordable housing, Bronx Point will include a state-of-the-art multiplex theatre, a dedicated programming space for the community organization BronxWorks, and a new waterfront esplanade that will join with

Mary Vallati, Bedford Park Stalwart, Dies at Age 102

By DAVID CRUZ

The Bedford Park apartment home of Mary Vallati, the outspoken community activist who died at the age of 102, captures the character of an altruistic community leader. There’re the portraits of her family, including a vintage photo of her mother, Catholic imagery, personally crocheted items, and proclamations from various elected officials that adorn the walls of her living room. Words like “role model” and “community leader” were the watchwords for Mrs. Vallati. Mrs. Vallati never sought the recognition, wasn’t motivated by it, her daughter Linda McCauley, recalled. Her faith and love lay in the community. “She didn’t want the glory,” McCauley

By AARON MAYORGA

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. did not offer a site over where Amazon can build its so-called HQ2, which would cover 8 million square feet of space.

Bronx to Host Drive for Hurricane Maria Victims

The drive to aid victims of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico is scheduled for Sept. 30. The Bronx is home to some 300,000 Puerto Ricans.

Norwood to City: No Shelter at Sam’s Carpeting

By DAVID CRUZ

Norwood residents are looking to pull the rug out from under a proposed shelter at a carpet store on Webster Avenue. Elected officials, community stakeholders and schoolchildren demonstrated across the street from Sam’s Floor Covering, in front of PS/MS 20, on Sept. 19. The business, also known as Sam’s Carpeting, at 3041 Webster Ave., filed paperwork to convert the business to a homeless shelter. Opponents of the shelter have continued to pressure the city to relocate the shelter, which would be located diagonally across from the K through 8th grade school. Parents fear the shelter would endanger their kids. “This

Vacant Newsstand a Norwood Monolith These Days

By DAVID CRUZ

The newsstand sits at the corner of East Gun Hill Road and Rochambeau Avenue, a heavily trafficked section in the Norwood section of the Bronx.

Neighborhood Notes

Jerome-Gun Hill BID Board Mtg. The Jerome-Gun Hill Business Improvement District will be holding its quarterly board meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 26, at 6 p.m. at the Reservoir Keeper’s House, 3400 Reservoir Oval E. The meeting is open to everyone. For more information, and to RSVP, call Jennifer Tausig, executive director of the Jerome-Gun Hill BID, at (718) 324-4946. Free College Prep Class The SUNY Bronx Educational Opportunity Center is hosting a free college prep course on Oct. 2. Students will be given pre-college level instructions in reading, writing and math. Instructors can also help in the college and financial

By DAVID CRUZ

Community stakeholders are gearing up to protest a proposed homeless shelter at an existing carpeting store on Webster Avenue in Norwood. The move follows weeks of unanswered questions by the New York City Department of Homeless Services, which has remained mum on the project. Sam’s Carpeting Inc. at 3041 Webster Ave. is under consideration to become a homeless shelter. The business is across from PS/MS 20, angering residents who would like to see the shelter placed elsewhere. “We feel strongly that the Mayor’s Office and DHS should work with the neighborhood into finding an appropriate site,” Barbara Stronczer, president of