City to Pick Up Tab on Tree-Damaged Sidewalks Near Homes

By DAVID CRUZ

Homeowners will be getting a reprieve from the city which will begin fixing sidewalks damaged by uprooted trees, a constant headache for homeowners. “It will not happen overnight. I mean as much as I appreciate the gratitude, I also know my colleagues and I are all realistic,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference on Sept. 10. He was joined by Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and state Sen. Jamaal Bailey, who represents Norwood, for the announcement at Community Board 12 in Wakefield. The Department of Transportation (DOT) holds oversight of sidewalks. In the past, if a city-owned tree

By JOSÉ A. GIRALT

In July 2018, Whalen Park was reopened amid fanfare with family members of the park’s namesake present. At a cost of $1.8 million, Councilman Andrew Cohen said at the time, “Today we have a park that’s as good as any park in the city.” Now, some residents are worrying over activities inside the park that go beyond just “hanging out,” with some fears the playground may revert back to the days when vagrancy was such a normal occurrence. Indeed, the park had been such an eyesore that it left then-Deputy Borough President Aurelia Greene to declare it was once “plagued

By MICHAEL TURAY

Over two dozen construction workers gathered at the site where a partial building collapsed to honor Segundo Huerta, a construction worker from Ecuador who died in the collapse that crushed him on Aug. 27. The workers assembled a vigil at 94 E. 208th St. near Steuben Avenue, the site of the collapse, that included candles, flowers, a hard hat, and a T-shirt memorializing him. The crowd circled around the very spot Huerta took his last breaths. He was a father of five and had been working alongside other family members at the time of the accident. He was also the

By DAVID CRUZ

The city Department of Health (DOH) is investigating how two people contracted Legionnaires’ Disease in the Bronx’s largest Mitchell-Lama properties, the Norwood News has learned. A meeting is now being scheduled tonight to discuss the investigation. DOH staffers slipped notices underneath the apartment doors of tenants living in Tracey Towers, specifically 20 W. Mosholu Pkwy. S., in Bedford Park alerting them of the investigation, where two people in one of the massive towers were determined to be infected with the fatal disease that is known to be water borne. The bacteria is known to remain active in cooling towers, which has

Latest Edition of the Norwood News is Out!

By DAVID CRUZ

Dear Fellow Readers, The year’s seventeenth 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, capturing all kinds of stuff happening in the borough. And as usual, we’ll start with page one! For our front-page story, we delve into the ongoing heroin epidemic that appears to be a permanent fixture in the Bronx. A report from the New York City Health Department shows an increase in the number of opioid-related deaths in 2018, an eight percent increase. Reporter

Worker Dies After Being Crushed in Norwood Building Collapse

By MICHAEL TURAY

A building under construction at 94 E. 208th St. near Steuben Avenue collapsed, leaving one worker dead and two injured. Police and fire crews flocked to the scene within minutes. The incident took place just before noon on Aug. 27. Multiple eyewitnesses recalled hearing a loud noise, but assumed it was a normal construction protocol. However, cries for help from the workers confirmed otherwise. “Three of them [workers] ran out. The initial person who told us to call 911, he had lacerations to the head, a lot of blood leaking down on his face. I think he was trying to

Neighborhood Notes: Free Immigration Service

Joe Franco is incredibly cautious when heading to the back of his building to throw out the trash. “It’s the Bronx Zoo back there,” said Franco, a 40-year resident of the building, who’s noticed a rat infestation in the building, with the critters often spotted hopping over trash cans. It’s on a list of problems at 241 E. 207th St., an 11-unit building between Bainbridge and Perry avenues in Norwood that Franco, along with a litany of residents, want to see fixed. Adding insult to injury is suspicions their landlord is looking to kick the tenants out. The problems have

By DAVID CRUZ

Dear Fellow Readers, The year’s sixteenth 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, capturing a good chunk of it. And as usual, we’ll start with page one! For our front-page story, we dive into the issue of loud partying at Van Cortlandt Park. Residents are so upset that after logging 165 noise complaints this year that were not heard, they penned and signed a letter of complaint to elected officials. Inside the cover you’ll find

Torres: Home Seizure Program Has Sights on Black and Hispanic Homeowners

By DAVID CRUZ and MICHAEL TURAY

A city program that takes away distressed homes from owners is doing more harm than good, robbing its owners of its home valued at millions of dollars in market assets, according to an investigation by the New York City Council. And their findings have found the Bronx is among those hardest hit. “Our investigation found that out of 420 properties, 210 of them had no financial distress. The legal standard for financial distress is a 15 percent lien-to-value ratio, those 210 properties on average had a 3 percent lien-to-value ratio,” said Councilman Ritchie Torres at a news conference outlining his findings