Big Bands and Business Flair: JGHBID to Host 17th Annual Fall Festival

By ARIANA CIPRIANI

The Jerome Gun Hill Business Improvement District is gearing up for its 17th annual Fall Festival, slated for Saturday, Oct. 13. Join the BID for the annual event where Jerome Avenue between Mosholu Parkway and East Gun Hill Road is closed to traffic and full of people shopping, dancing, and celebrating the fall season. “The goal of the festival is twofold,” said Jennifer Tausig, the BID’s executive director. “We want to celebrate the neighborhood and say thank you to all the loyal local shoppers as well as attract new shoppers to the variety of quality goods and services offered in

"Joker" Film Shoot Spotted in Bedford Park

By DAVID CRUZ

Bedford Park Boulevard has gone Hollywood, shooting the upcoming “Joker” film! An Instagram post by fromtheBronx, crediting TMZ, shows extras at the Bedford Park Boulevard B/D station awaiting a subway to pull in. Suddenly extras flee as a purple-suit clad Joker, played by Oscar-winner Joaquin Phoenix, emerges from subway, walking towards the film crew. View this post on Instagram The new Joker movie starting Joaquin Phoenix filming at the Bedford Park Boulevard station. The Bronx, USA. VIDEO: @tmz_tv via @splashnews . . . #regram #thebronx #bronx #fromthebronx #thebronxdoesitbetter #nycgo #seeyourcity #howibronx #nycneighborhoods #thebronxnyc #thebronxusa #thisisnewyorkcity #trueyorkcity

For the Traveling Art Lover All Roads Lead to Fordham

By DAVID GREENE

The spinning wheels inside a young artist’s mind and the wheels from vintage wagons discovered across the Bronx, collided at the intersection of Fordham Road and the Grand Concourse, creating a unique work of art that will be on display until next spring. Welder and artist Colin Nicodemo, 44, of Cold Spring, N.Y., beamed with pride during the unveiling of his ten-foot high a hand-welded, circular shaped statue entitled, “All Roads Lead to Fordham”. Nicodemo was surrounded by family members and members of the Fordham Road Business Improvement District (BID), at the unveiling at the south side of the East

Petitioners Gather Support for Elevator at Mosholu Train Station

By DAVID CRUZ

Ahead of the MTA Board meeting on Sept. 26, petitioners pushing for the installation of an elevator at the Mosholu Parkway No. 4 station stood outside the station just over a week before the meeting to collect signatures. The plan is to present the signatures at the meeting in downtown Manhattan. Jason Caraballo, a manager at Montefiore Health System’s Office of Community & Government Relations, broached the subject with straphangers during the evening rush. Caraballo teamed up with Frederic Klein, an employee at Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz’s office, and Kenny Agusto from Sen. Jamaal Bailey’s office. The petition gathering is part

A Career Change Later a Bedford Park Bakery Opens

By JOSEPH KONIG

Angel Espinal opened Confectionaires, a new bakery at 2961 Webster Ave. and Bedford Park Boulevard, on Aug. 11. For Espinal, the bakery — which serves up a wide-ranging menu of fresh baked pastries, cakes, breads and coffee — is a second career of sorts. After nine years in the personal training industry, Espinal found a new passion in the cake-making business. “What attracted me was the artistry of the pastries,” Espinal said. “I would go into the nice bakeries, Bouchon Bakery, Maison Kayser, Dominique Ansel. It was like they were selling art that you can eat. I always had a

At 76 years Old, Bedford Park Local in Fight for Better Quality of Life

By DAVID CRUZ

All Andrea Ortiz wants is peace and quiet. Sitting on her flowery couch in her fourth-floor one-bedroom apartment on Briggs Avenue, Ortiz is at her wits end, frustrated over the ongoing noise originating from her upstairs neighbor. But the problems didn’t just spring up this year, or the year before, but in February 2015, shortly after the sale of her building to The Related Cos., a multi-billion-dollar real estate firm that purchased a portfolio of properties with funds from the New York City Pension Fund. “From there, it’s been hell,” Ortiz said. Her only theory is that management is attempting

Norwood Local Lobbies Assemblywoman For Domestic Violence Bill

By CHRISTY RAE AMMONS

Local activist and president of Guerinos Against Graffitti, Heather Guerino, met with Assemblywoman Nathalia Fernandez to discuss issues surrounding domestic violence and how it is handled by authorities. The meeting came days after Lisa Marie Velasquez was killed while trying to protect her friend from an abusive boyfriend. In an ironic twist, Velasquez also witnessed the abuse and death of her mother, resulting in Velasquez’s grandmother raising her. Guerino wants to make life safer for victims of domestic violence by retraining police officers on how to deal with orders of protection. Guerino has found the system marred with loopholes that

By MARTIKA ORNELLA

On a rainy Sunday afternoon, neighbors, elected leaders and family members of the late community activist, Mary Vallati, gathered to honor her with the co-naming of the street she resided on. Councilman Andrew Cohen attended and, with help from Vallati’s son Dennis Vallati, and granddaughter Jamie McCauley-Iacocca, pulled the brown covering from underneath the East Mosholu Parkway South and Perry Avenue sign to reveal “Mary Vallati Place.” “I think this is a perfect tribute to her commitment, the really lifelong commitment to this community,” Cohen said at the street co-naming on Sept. 9. “I’m really grateful, and I know that

As Cuomo Supporters Meet at Tracey Towers, Nixon Meets Community Media

By JOSEPH KONIG

The Sept. 13 New York gubernatorial primary is fast approaching and Democratic politicians are making a last-minute push to encourage New York City voters to choose either incumbent Governor Andrew Cuomo or his challenger, Cynthia Nixon. A week before the primary, Nixon sat down with ethnic and community news outlets in an hour-long conversation on issues that intimately affect New York City neighborhoods. The Sept. 6. discussion was hosted by the Manhattan Neighborhood Network, a public access news channel, at their East 104th Street studio. Moderated by campaign surrogate and former New York City council speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito, the candidate