Neighborhood Notes

Free Financial Counseling Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. and Phipps Neighborhoods are offering one-on-one free financial counseling for Bronxites at Diaz’s office. Trained counselors will be able to discern and help with your financial challenges, bad credit, identity theft and other concerns. For more information and to schedule an appointment, call (718) 590-3554. “Save Easter” Mission Victorious Warriors III Inc., a nonprofit football club, is looking for financial assistance for their “Save Easter” project that services the Crystal Place Shelter in Ferry Point. The group is asking for $10.00 or more per child, as well as coloring books, puzzles,

Beginning the last week of March, residents living in the neighborhoods of Norwood, Bedford Park, Woodlawn and Riverdale will be able to vote on what community improvement projects will be added to their Council District’s capital budget through Participatory Budgeting. The process, whereby a member of the New York City Council offers residents the chance to decide how to spend $1 million in capital funding, is approaching the final stretch of its process. The office of Councilman Andrew Cohen, who once again hosted a Participatory Budgeting session, has released a voter guide that details the nature and prices of 12

This week we asked readers their thoughts on Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.’s time in office, and asked them to name some of his successes or failures during his administration so far. Well, so far he’s been Borough President for more than four years. It must be more and he’s done a lot of good things. He cleaned up the Bronx River and he’s got us more housing. He’s interested in that stuff, better living and better jobs for us. I think he’s been a good borough president. I think he wants to accomplish a lot for the Bronx and for

By DANIELA BEASLEY

Police need help from the public in tracking a suspect involved in a daring burglary at the Kennedy Fried Chicken in Bedford Park. Police from the 52nd Precinct say the suspect crawled under the security gate and broke the store’s window inside to gain access to the fast food eatery at 25 Bedford Park Boulevard on March 9 at around 5 a.m. The suspect took roughly $800 in cash, then ran off heading west on the largely busy street. “When I came in at 9 a.m. that’s when I see the broken glass and call the police,” said Muhammed Karimi,

By DAVID CRUZ

BP Reflects on Development, Drawing Professional Workers, and Mayoral Ambivalence His innuendos were obvious, if not passive aggressive. But there he stood, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. spending 45 minutes in his seventh State of the Borough address chastising the de Blasio Administration for a number of perceived missteps. For political observers, it was a diatribe that once again stoked the burning question. Does Mr. Diaz want to be mayor of New York City? Can he really run the city? It’s an elephant in the room nurtured by daily speculation from inquisitive media and its propensity for validation. Though

By DAVID GREENE

Six deliverymen from local Chinese takeout restaurants have been robbed at the same Bedford Park block on the Grand Concourse since December, highlighting the oft dangerous work deliverymen take on. In the latest incident, a deliveryman from the Ka Wah Chinese Restaurant on Valentine Avenue was robbed at knifepoint inside 2894 Grand Concourse on March 4. The owner said this was his second deliveryman robbed in the past two weeks. Recalling a similar account at the same building as another victim, the deliveryman explained, “When I got to the fifth floor, I was ringing the bell, but no one opened the door, so I called again. They came up from downstairs, two big guys with big knives.” The victim reported that

Hello Faithful Readers! The digital edition of the latest Norwood News, bringing you plenty of Bronx community news you can use, is out and hitting stands as I write. So many stories, it’s hard to know where to begin. We can start at the front page, with a missing persons case that’s rattled Bedford Park, Kingsbridge Heights and the Bangladeshi communities in the Bronx. Mahfuza Rahman, an aspiring nurse and mother, has not been seen since December. Police are now looking to question the husband, who flew back to his native Bangladesh with their 9-year-old daughter. Find out what representatives from

Report: Missing Bedford Park Mom Could Be Dead

By DAVID CRUZ

Police have spent the last two weeks conducting an active search for a Bedford Park woman they say has been missing since December. Investigators have intensified the search after the woman’s husband and 9-year-old daughter flew to his native Bangladesh a week after the woman was reported missing. Across the Bronx, members of the Bedford Park community are now demanding the husband, Mohammad Chowdury, show himself to answer questions about the whereabouts of his wife, Mahfuza Rahman, last seen on Dec. 8 at around 4:35 p.m. Mohammed N. Mujumder, a lawyer immersed in the Bronx’s Bangladeshi community in Soundview, spoke at

By DAVID GREENE

Police are looking for an individual who stabbed a young man along in Bedford Park following a wild street brawl involving teen thugs. Officers from the 52nd Precinct and paramedics were called to 3201 Grand Concourse, at the corner of Van Cortlandt Avenue East, when they discovered the victim lying on the ground at 8:30 p.m. The suspect, meantime, fled. Offering few details, NYPD spokesman Detective Martin Speechley said, “The victim stated an unknown male stabbed him with an object in the back and he suffered a small laceration and we have no arrests at this time.” A spokesman for the FDNY the victim, believed to