New NYPD Top Cop Has Police Roots in Norwood

By DAVID CRUZ

The new police commissioner is no stranger to the Bronx, as are a major number of high ranking brass now helping him run the department. Days before he was named by outgoing Police Commissioner Bill Bratton to succeed him, then NYPD Chief of Department James O’Neill stood before a convention of community and ethnic press invited to hear from him. Asked about noise issues in Norwood, he quickly smiled and revealed he knew Norwood well. He had been the second in command at its precinct. “I was the captain of the Five-Two in 1998,” O’Neill said, referring to his time

Greetings Loyal Readers! The latest edition of the Norwood News is out with plenty of community news you can use. We begin, of course, in the beginning with page one: coverage of the September Primary in the Bronx. It was a pretty predictable ending for the candidates, with no upsets. Typical for incumbents and party-backed candidates in the Bronx. Read up on the five races that could impact residents of the northwest Bronx. Inside the cover you’ll read on the opening of a dormant pizza stand in Norwood, and a stalwart saloon in Norwood that could be serving its last

By DAVID CRUZ, WENDY JOAN BIDDLECOMBE, and JALEESA BAULKMAN

The Bronx political landscape stayed on course in the northwest part of the borough, with incumbents and frontrunners predictably winning in the September Democratic Primary, a contest that closely predicts the outcome of Bronx races in November’s General Election. The victories once again signaled the party machine at work, as major support and campaign money helped secure victories for the favorites. 36th Senate District The 36th State Senate District, covering Norwood, Bedford Park, Wakefield, Edenwald, Co-Op City, and Mount Vernon in Westchester County, saw Jamaal T. Bailey edge out four other contenders in a decidedly easy victory for the young

By DAVID CRUZ

A trio of robbers are on the run and police need the public’s help tracking them. The thieves struck the home on Decatur Avenue near East 211th Street during the overnight hours of Aug. 27, according to police. Police say the suspects shoved their way into the apartment and severely pummeled a 43-year-old man with a five-pound rubber dumbbell. He was rushed to the hospital and is listed in critical but stable condition. The suspects, meantime, walked away with nothing after rifling through the victim’s dresser and closets. Pictures of the suspects (above) were released along with a video:

COMMUNITY BOARD 7 committees are held on the following dates at the Board office, 229A E. 204th St., at 6:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted: Budget, Personnel & Ethics Committee on Sept. 1 at 6 p.m.; Public Safety & Quality of Life Committee on Sept. 1; Education, Youth & Libraries Committee on Sept. 1 at 7:30 p.m.; Executive Committee on Sept. 6; Traffic & Transportation Committee on Sept. 8; Veterans Committee on Sept. 8 at 7:30 p.m.; Environment & Sanitation Committee on Sept. 13; and Health & Hospitals Committee on Sept. 13. For more information, call the Board office at (718)

Greeting Readers! After a brief hiatus (depending on how you ask) the Norwood News is back with its regularly scheduled edition of the neighborhood paper covering plenty of Bronx news you can use. We begin with a story we’ve been following for some time, the saga involving a two-story home on Bedford Park. We bring you up to speed of the aftermath of a fire that impacted the tenants who were in the middle of fighting their landlord in court. Find out how the city is helping to restore the building. In other news: with the September Primary right around

Dear Fellow Readers: How much does your neighborhood mean to you? For some, it’s a place to reside. For others, it’s a place to build a family. Whether transient or a mainstay, we are all products of a neighborhood, charged up by its tempo and space. In the Bronx, a kaleidoscope of communities east and west, north and south, give the borough a uniqueness unlike most of the city. If you look to the west, a bustling Fordham shopping district sees some 80,000 people overrun the ever-growing strip while City Island, resting at the eastern tip of the Bronx, offers

The 52nd Precinct and community members came together as one at the annual National Night Out Against Crime, a nationwide event intended to bring communities and police departments closer together. Check out photos at the August 2 event held at Poe Park in the Kingsbridge/Fordham section of the Bronx. [URIS id=21560]

Fighting a Hospital in Puerto Rico…From 1600 Miles Away

By DAVID CRUZ

Jose Cotto, living a seemingly solitary life on Decatur Avenue for the last several years, replays the circumstances leading to his mother’s death, Santa Torres, at a hospital in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. She died June 6, 2014, a day after undergoing simple surgery on a fractured hip from a fall while seeing her daughter in Puerto Rico. But after receiving several multiple doses of morphine Torres, 89, passed away from a heart attack. Torres’ main residence was in the Bronx. Living with her son for several years, the two were inseparable. These days, the apartment she lived in