Behind the JGHBID, New Executive Director Goes on Listening Tour

A roar mixed with a hum dominates the corner of Jerome Avenue and East Gun Hill Road. On Jerome Avenue between Mosholu Parkway and East Gun Hill Road, a calcalvade of regular customers frequent the parade of restaurants, clothiers, and banks that make up the strip. On East Gun Hill Road between Jerome and Webster avenues, the tone is more low-key during the day, with residents grabbing a slice of pizza on the go, flowers for an anniversary, or a prescription at their neighborhood drugstore. It may surprise some storeowners in that vicinity to know they’re operating within the Jerome-Gun


Read More

Park Reservoir Sees New Board Following Battle Over Management Switch

After a bitter battle over a proposal to switch management firms at a Mitchell-Lama complex in Van Cortlandt Village, several members of the Board that pushed for the proposed switch have been voted out, with members favoring the existing management now in power. Among its first orders of business was nixing the plan to remove the longstanding company. “I believe now the plan to come up with a new management company is essentially dead, period,” Gary Axelbank, newly elected vice president of the Park Reservoir Board of Directors, said. Cooperators at the complex voted off four members of its Board of


Read More

Latest Edition of the Norwood News is Out!

Hello Fellow Readers! Happy belated Thanksgiving Day to all our readers. We hope you took the time to pause and reflect on the good things that have come to your lives in 2016 and beyond. We hope one of the good things is reading the latest edition of the Norwood News, which hit newsstands last week. Here, you can sample the latest edition digitally, from the comfort of your computer or smartphone. We begin with a story we’ve been following for several months: the preservation of Bedford Park. Bronx Community Board 7 has begun holding a series of workshops on


Read More

Residents Get Empowered, Envision Their Take on two Bronx Communities

Paula Caplan sat in the Sister Annunciata Bethell Senior Center in Bedford Park, surrounded by a group of concerned community members as they listed gripes for overdevelopment. She listened and watched as her colleague jotted down a vision residents have carved for their neighborhood. As CEO of the Collective for Community, Culture, and Environment (CCCE) and hired by Community Board 7 at a rate of $25,000 to make a compelling argument for neighborhood preservation, Caplan is tasked to argue for what the residents want. She’s expected to take her findings to the New York City Department of City Planning (DCP)


Read More

Financial Focus: President-elect Trump’s Economic Vision

Well, Donald Trump will soon be President of the United States. Thank God our advisors do not talk to our clients about politics; we talk to them about economics. And from a domestic economic perspective, that is tax, spend and trading policies, much of which I can presume is coming in 2017. Individual Taxes “Imagine your paycheck was 40 percent higher than it currently is. What could you do with 40 percent more wealth? How many jobs and opportunities for others could you create?”—President-elect Trump Mr. Trump wants to reshape America’s tax system. His plan has just four tax brackets


Read More

Community Engagement Report Says Norwood Disengaged, Locals Disagree

Things got heated at a Community Engagement Forum where the results of a two-month study on Norwood were unveiled. The findings were surprising, but its presentation irked community stakeholders already aware of its problems. The study by the Public Agenda, a civic engagement think tank commissioned by the de Blasio administration, sparked much debate between the study’s investigator, Nicole Hewitt, and guests who found the study pointless.  “We don’t need people to come and tell us what the problems are, we know what they are. We need solutions,” said Sheila Sanchez, president of Friends of Williamsbridge Oval. Hewitt reviewed the


Read More

Plan for Mosholu Parkway Trees to be Removed Only to be Replanted

  It seems money grows on trees for the Parks Department. The city agency looks to spend several hundred thousand dollars to dig up close to 200 trees along Mosholu Parkway and replant them, leaving those want the young arbors exactly where they are scratching their heads. Parks explained in a letter to Elizabeth Quaranta, president of Friends of Mosholu Parkland, a volunteer advocacy group, that the agency “is currently reviewing its plans for the transplanting of these trees,” adding “no work will be done until the plans are reviewed by and confirmed with the community.” Still, the mere decision


Read More

Campaign to Restore Parking Spaces on Fordham-Bedford Strip Mounts

For neighbors living in one section of Fordham/Bedford Park, scouring for an overnight spot means traveling outside the neighborhood to look for one. In an ironic twist, spots are indeed available overnight in the neighborhood; residents just can’t utilize them. The roughly 80 street spots can be found at East 194th Street, between Valentine and Marion avenues. But a near 15-year parking rule restricts cars from parking there between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., a stipulation instituted after crime spiked so much in the neighborhood it warranted the provision. It was intended to last for one year, but has since stretched for


Read More

Neighborhood Notes

Free Legal Services The Office of Councilman Andy King is hosting a free civil legal services mobile van for Bronx residents in front of his district office, 940 E. Gun Hill Rd., on Nov. 22 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Lawyers will be on hand to assist with family issues, immigration, and more. To set up a required appointment, call (718) 684-5509. Heating Assistance Available Assistance in having your heating bill paid for is available through the state government. Eligible households can receive a one-time benefit of up to $626, depending on income, household size and heating source. A


Read More