Editorial: Getting a Handle on Oval Park Deviants

In the last few weeks, Williamsbridge Oval Park has experienced a wave of unsettling incidents that include spurts of unsolved fires, ghastly graffiti tags, and daytime fistfights (with at least one reported stabbing of a 17-year-old) among young people. The Oval, as it’s known, is the epicenter of working-class Norwood. It’s the community’s main family-friendly venue ever since it was repurposed from a defunct city reservoir in the 1930s. Activity at the park typically decreases around this time, but warmer temperatures have put that on hold. Incidents, it seems, have ticked up. The latest happened during the last week of

By VIVIAN RATTAY CARTER

The oldest house of worship in the neighborhood, Bedford Park Congregational Church, founded in 1889 and designated a historic landmark in 2000, is receiving an early Christmas gift this year. On Sunday, Dec. 13, for the first time in 10 years, members of the congregation will be able to enjoy the sound of organ music in their sanctuary, as they dedicate a new Rodgers digital organ. Several months ago, the trustees considered completely restoring their 1930s-era Möller pipe organ, which was purchased second-hand from another church in the 1950s. The instrument had endured water damage due to a leaky roof,

To our readers, The Norwood News is out with its latest edition, offering you plenty of Bronx community news you can use. We begin in the heart of Norwood, or as some locals call it, the Jewel of Norwood: Williamsbridge Oval Park. It’s there where a series of vandalistic acts and arsons have creeped out neighbors with big pride of their storied park. Learn what police and the New York City Parks Department are doing about it. We also write some sad news of a longtime piano teacher in Norwood, Mabel Gerber, who passed away last month. Learn about her

The 52nd Precinct has apprehended a teen suspect wanted in a string of nighttime fires at Williamsbridge Oval Park, which has prompted a large response by officers and the New York City Department of Parks, and continues to do so. Police have charged the suspect, a 17-year-old boy whose name is being withheld because of his age, with reckless endangerment after patrol officers caught up with him on Dec. 6, in front of the park’s recreation center before hauling him to the stationhouse. The 17-year-old had already been a person of interest for the rare fire the day before,

By DAVID GREENE

This week we asked readers what is their favorite Bronx eatery. (Editor’s Note: Thanks to Norwood resident Helene Hartman-Kutnowsky, member of Community Board #7, for suggesting this question.) It’s really hard to pick one out because I have so many. I can’t remember which is the best one, but Nicky’s Pizzeria is good. They have pasta and they’ve got meatballs. The meatballs, definitely the meatballs, are my favorite. I think Subway is good, I always get my sandwiches there. Alen Peisel Norwood My favorite restaurant is the Star Restaurant on Webster Avenue. The chicken is good and they have a nice soup over there and they have

By MICHAEL BROWN JR.

Students at the Urban Institute of Mathematics (UIM), a middle school serving grades six to eight in Throggs Neck, visited the Bronx Historical Society (BHS) in Norwood on Nov. 19, to unveil its map of the 18th century, capping a six-course assignment with borough historians. The program, dubbed Map It! Exploring Your School’s Neighborhood, has been around for two years. The BHS project was funded by the New York Community Trust. BHS partnered with the New York City Department of Education (DOE) to fuse the borough’s archaic back story into social studies lessons at participating schools. Students from Throggs

By ADVERTORIAL

Located just a block from Montefiore Medical Center in the Norwood section of the Bronx, Bainbridge Nursing and Rehabilitation Center enjoys a well-earned reputation for providing excellence in person-centered healthcare in a warm and inviting “home-like” atmosphere. We have private and semi-private rooms with access to tastefully decorated recreation areas and outdoor patios where residents can enjoy a breath of fresh air. Guests at Bainbridge enjoy life to the fullest with a variety of activities to choose from; including regularly scheduled leisure outings, games, fitness activities, movies, spiritual, beauty and barber services on-site. Visitors are welcome and encouraged to join

By DAVID CRUZ and ADEDAMOLA AGBOOLA

As senior citizens awaited a pre-Thanksgiving sit-down meal at Mosholu Montefiore Community Center’s (MMCC) Senior Center, inside its sweltering kitchen an assembly line formed with Aaron Domeny topping spoonfuls of greens on an endless stream of plates. For anyone who knows Domeny, who hails from nearby Williamsbridge, they will likely describe him as a timid and shy 18-year-old. But Domeny, whose strait-laced demeanor is broken by the quips delivered by his boss and chef, Michael Tompkins, is also a young man with dreams of working at a five-star restaurant and has a humorous side. MMCC’s kitchen, cheerful and lighthearted as it

By DAVID CRUZ

The recent spate of violence and alleged arson incidents within Norwood’s Williamsbridge Oval Park has one local legislator and the neighborhood’s community board asking police to step it up. Councilman Andrew Cohen, representing the 11th District, which covers Norwood, along with Community Board 7 sent a joint letter to the 52nd Precinct and Parks Department to increase patrols around Oval Park. Both agencies share policing duties at the park. In the last two months, a series of suspected arson fires and violent incidents have taken place at the Bronx park, heavily used by families and neighbors getting a workout. “[T]he