News Briefs: Deadline for Site Safety Improvements

Neighborhood Notes: Free Immigration Service

Site Safety The city Department of Buildings (DOB) is implementing new safety training procedures for construction workers and supervisors working on large construction projects beginning Dec. 1. Workers are now expected to obtain 30 hours and supervisors are expected to obtain 62 hours of site safety training as required by a 2017 law. This comes a few months after a partial building collapse in Norwood that killed 48- year-old Segundo Huerta, a construction worker at the site on 94 E. 208th Street on Aug. 27. Huerta was on site when the building’s third floor collapsed, crushing and killing him. By

By DAVID CRUZ

Dear Fellow Readers, The year’s twenty-second edition of the Norwood News is out with plenty of community news 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 what’s happening at Bronx Community Charter School on Webster Avenue. There, students took on an ambitious project to understand the neighborhood of Norwood, the players and the issues. Read about one student, Blessing Owusu, who delved deeply into the controversial topic of gentrification. It’s a true story of the power of community

Latest Edition of the Norwood News is Out!

By DAVID CRUZ

Dear Fellow Readers, The year’s twenty-first edition of the Norwood News is out with plenty of community news stories to read and share. We have 24 pages packed full of news from this corner of the Bronx, so let’s start with page one! Our top story focuses on a fatal police-involved shooting, with a sergeant from the 52nd Precinct shooting a driver during a traffic stop that spiraled out of control. Now the family of the deceased driver, Allan Feliz, is suing. Read why the attorney for the family believes they have a case. Inside the cover you’ll read a

By DAVID CRUZ

Dear Fellow Readers, The year’s twentieth edition of the Norwood News is out with plenty of interesting community news 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 an impending sewer rehabilitation project that’s expected to make commuting in Norwood even more problematic. The New York City Department of Design and Construction says the project on Bainbridge Avenue near East Gun Hill Road–an already tough intersection–will last upwards of a year. We ask folks living in Norwood what they thought

By JOSÉ A. GIRALT

At a community meeting held by the city Department of Health (DOH), residents of 20 W. Mosholu Pkwy. S. were told that the water supply system in their building has tested positive for the Legionella bacteria. Although the findings by DOH were announced late last week, this meeting was the first time since then that residents were able to ask questions in person to Ricky Wong, director of Community Affairs with DOH, about actual remediation steps. “The management has submitted a short-term plan to disinfect the water supply. And it’s been approved,” Wong said. RY Management handles the maintenance at

By MICHAEL TURAY

The proposal to convert the old Sam’s Carpeting on Webster Avenue into an annex for the local 52nd Precinct has been scrapped, with speculation the property will be converted to some type of housing. The news comes after Councilman Andrew Cohen committed $40 million to repair the 52nd Precinct and have the NYPD possibly lease the former carpet store that lies diagonally across from the precinct to serve as an annex. The three-story precinct currently houses over 200 police officers, and is overcapacity. At the latest Community Board 7 meeting on Sep. 25, Cohen confirmed that the annex idea will

By PROFESSOR ANTHONY RIVIECCO, MBA PFA

It’s been nearly 100 years in the making. For over 90 years, if one wanted to experiment with the financial markets, all one had to do was call their non-salaried “broker,” place a trade, charge a commission, and off you go. Until the commissions became too high. Then, by the revolution of financial planning in the 1990s, Wall Street mucky mucks came up with another idea: clients would pay financial “brokers” a fee for constructing portfolios and financial planning, typically a percentage of assets under management, and custodians collected interest on clients cash and margin, distribution fees from mutual funds and,

Is It Trespassing? Norwood Neighbors Wage Fight Over Construction Rights

By MICHAEL TURAY

When Michael Acton saw his neighbor digging holes just at the foot of his home, he left his house, and it wasn’t pretty. Police were called to 271 Van Cortlandt Ave. E. and Acton was given a court order for trespassing. And in the space of a month, the feud between Acton and his neighbor, Nazmul Alam had gone from bad to worse after Alam removed the 100-year-old retaining wall that separates the neighbors’ homes. This happened without the approved city Department of Building (DOB) permits, resulting in the agency issuing a full stop work order. For Acton, much of

By JOSÉ A. GIRALT

The discovery of two more cases of Legionnaires’ disease at Tracey Towers is creating two opposing reactions at the sprawling apartment complex. There are now four confirmed cases of the waterborne illness at 20 W. Mosholu Pkwy. S. but none at its twin site, 40 W. Mosholu Pkwy. S. Since the initial announcement more than two weeks ago of a second tenant being infected with Legionnaires’ within a 12-month period, some residents have attended multiple meetings organized by the city Department of Health (DOH) held at the building. DOH regulations mandate an investigation whenever a second case of Legionnaires’ disease