Housing

Keeping DeWitt Clinton Campus Safe, NYC PA Reveals Worst Landlord Watch List: Latest Edition of the Norwood News is Out!

Norwood News Vol. 32 No. 25
By DAVID CRUZ
Dear Fellow Readers, The year’s final edition of the Norwood News is out with plenty of community stories to read and share. We’ve crammed plenty of news into this 28-page paper, so let’s begin with page one! Our top story focuses on improving safety at DeWitt Clinton Campus in the aftermath of a stabbing that happened on Nov. 20. Hear what the commanding officer has to say on the plan to keep students secure. Inside the cover we update you on the 15th Congressional District race, and a much-needed endorsement for candidate Samelys Lopez. Read up on why the New York City


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Worst Landlord Watch List Singles Out Four Bldgs. in Norwood

By MICHAEL TURAY & JONATHAN CUSTODIO
Four buildings in Norwood are among those on the notorious Worst Landlords Watch List compiled by the New York City Public Advocate’s office. On the list is 3366 Decatur Ave., a 60-unit building with 201 violations listed on the city Department of Housing Preservation & Development’s (HPD) website and 14 violations through the city Department of Buildings (DOB) along with three evictions this year alone. The majority of the HPD violations were filed under Decatur Enterprise LLC and Matt Levi, who was listed as the 14th worst landlord in the city. While a stop work order has been activated on


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Squatters Busted, Ousted From Norwood Home After Shooting

By MICHAEL TURAY
Scattered Budweiser cans, shabby clothes, and pieces belonging to a worn out cabinet lay strewn about the front lawn of a two-family home at 290 Reservoir Pl. near East Gun Hill Road. For all intents and purposes, the property appears vacant from the outside. Inside, squatters had invaded, creating an unsettling feeling shared by longtime residents. Things reached a tipping point on Dec. 2 when a shootout happened inside the property, sending officers to the home. Near a second-floor window of the house, multiple bullet holes can be spotted from the shots fired following the nighttime dispute that led to


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Gates Place Tenants Hang Anti-MCI Sign, Ratcheting Up Against Landlord

Gates Place Tenants Unveil Anti-MCI Sign, Ratcheting Up Against Landlord
By DAVID CRUZ
The banner sign that hung diagonally above Silvia Estulillo captured her fellow tenants’ story: “Rent Strike; No Mas MCIs,” referring to Major Capital Improvements that took effect shortly after the landlord’s $1.9 million, top-down renovation of the six-story building on Gates Place in Norwood. It wasn’t easy for Estulillo—who’s joined in the MCI strike—to share her story, bursting into tears after speaking openly on the ongoing strife she and a handful of tenants, fueled by gumption, have had to endure. Last year, the tenants decided not to pay for the MCI fees they say are too costly. “We’re working. We’re


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Rents Starting at $1,025 and Capping at $2,388 for New Stagg Building in Norwood

By DAVID CRUZ
The Stagg Group is on the cusp of finishing its newest building in Norwood, and while a quarter of those units are deemed affordable, it appears affordability is in the eye of the beholder. St. George Gardens, a 68-unit, mixed-income building at 186 St. Georges Crescent, a tiny street near Van Cortlandt Avenue East and the Grand Concourse, boasts 18 affordable units with rents that begin at $1,075 for studio apartments dedicated to renters with a maximum income of $52,290. Those renters fall within the 70 percent Area Median Income (AMI) range. For those at the 130 percent AMI, rent


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A Solemn Goodbye to a Community Activist, MTA Reroute Bus Plan, and More: Latest Edition of the Norwood News is Out!

A Solemn Goodbye to a Community Activist, MTA Reroute Bus Plan, and More: Latest Edition of the Norwood News is Out!
By NORWOOD NEWS
Dear Fellow Readers, The year’s twenty-fourth edition of the Norwood News is out with plenty of community stories to read and share. We have 28 pages packed full of news from this corner of the Bronx, so let’s start with page one! Our top story focuses on the death of well-known community activist Heidi Marie Schloegel Hynes. Hynes lost her battle with cancer at 51 years old on Nov. 24. Though she may have passed, her legacy will continue to inspire many activists across the Bronx, according to her supporters. Inside the cover you’ll read a piece on the MTA’s proposed bus route revamp


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Heidi Hynes, A Model for Community Activism, Passes Away at 51

Heidi Hynes, A Model for Community Activism, Passes Away at 51
By JOSÉ A. GIRALT
Heidi Marie Schloegel Hynes, 51, executive director of the Mary Mitchell Family and Youth Center [MMC] in Crotona died on Nov. 24 after a battle with cancer. She lived in Bedford Park with her husband Brian and daughter Frieda, leaving behind a legacy of community service that inspired many activists across the Bronx. Heidi was born on Jan. 19, 1968 in Kansas City, MO. She married Brian Hynes in 1995 and lived in Bedford Park since then.  “I think the key to understanding Heidi and her commitment to activism came from the realization that there was nothing wrong with the


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A Special Report on the Vanishing Homeowner, Railing Against Express Bus Service Cuts: Latest Edition of the Norwood News is Out!

A Special Report on the Vanishing Homeowner, Railing Against Express Bus Service Cuts: Latest Edition of the Norwood News is Out!
By DAVID CRUZ
Dear Fellow Readers, The year’s twenty-third edition of the Norwood News is out with 28 pages packed full of news from this corner of the Bronx. Let’s begin with page one! Our top story looks at the problem of homeownership in the Bronx, or the growing lack thereof, with more and more limited liability companies snatching up one- to four-family homes across the borough. The Norwood News spent two months delving into the topic, and we’ve got some interesting findings to share. Inside the cover you’ll read a piece on a Norwood man’s mission to change the way the prison


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Special Report: The Vanishing Bronx Homeowner

Special Report: The Vanishing Bronx Homeowner
By DAVID CRUZ
At the Bedford Mosholu Community Association (BMCA) meeting in October, its president, Barbara Stronczer, announced the news with some resignation: another private home came down in the neighborhood. This time it happened at 208 E. Mosholu Pkwy. S. near East 203rd Street, an aged rooming home owned by Arian Borici up until 2017, according to building records. In a few years, an eight-story apartment building will rise, thanks to the neighborhood’s decades-old zoning laws that allow for taller buildings across the community’s intricately tight streets. The home came down the same time as 3008 Perry Ave., just a few houses


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