Special Report: Noise in Norwood and Beyond

By DAVID CRUZ

Beating back the metallic thuds, relentless clacks, rhythmic noise, and bass sounds stands as a daily occurrence in some Bronx neighborhoods, with Norwood and Bedford Park no exception. Unwanted noise, a never-ending nuisance that somehow, despite registering as a top quality of life complaint, remains perpetually prevalent. It is the city that never sleeps, and noise is living up to that adage. And as the holiday season settles in, the uptick in noise complaints usually follows. For the NYPD and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, agencies tasked to respond to aggravating noise issues, the priority to curb

Neighborhood Notes: Free Immigration Service

For this edition, the Norwood News embarked on a journey to understand the culture of noise, specifically incessantly loud noise in the neighborhood with a near 3,000-word article that barely scratches the surface on why the city is unable to blunt this pesky quality of life complaint. Noise, whether it’s loud parties, car horns blaring, or that infernal Mr. Softee ice cream truck that spews that annoying jingle, is pervasive. That noise, unlike the rumble of trains or daytime sirens, fly-by-night noise in the grand scheme of things, can go on for hours, seriously damaging quality of life. For residents,

After a successful year of outdoor movie nights, sidewalk sales, family events, and a huge street fair, the Fordham Road Business Improvement District (BID) wrapped up a terrific year with its 12th Annual Sparkling the Heart of Fordham holiday event on Friday, Dec. 2 at Bryan Park. Over 2,500 people attended and enjoyed live music, free raffles with prizes and 600 free toys distributed by Santa Claus. This year’s presenting sponsors included Macy’s Backstage, Monroe College, local New York City Council Member Ritchie Torres and WellCare. The BID’s 2016 Summer Film Festival was its most successful to date. The festival

Hello Fellow Readers! The latest edition of the Norwood News, bringing plenty of Bronx community news you can use, is out, hitting local restaurants, offices, schools, and parts of Montefiore Health System in the coming days. As usual, we begin with the front page and two events underscoring fear and resentment toward President-elect Donald Trump, set to take office on Jan. 20. Reporters Deborah Cruz (no relation) and Wendy Joan Biddlecombe hit the pavement to gauge the sentiment of some Bronx residents. Further in the story you can read a special report on the topic of noise and what can

By DAVID GREENE

A steady stream of customers old and new have been paying their respects for the last several weeks, as the news spread that Norwood’s iconic McDwyer’s Pub would be closing after half a century. Eamonn McDwyer, or “Eddie” to his friends, was just 29 years old when he opened his saloon on St. Patrick’s Day, 1966, at the corner of East 204th Street and Hull Avenue. In the final days, he was surrounded by friends as workers removed a television and pinball machine, a rarer find in the Bronx. Jeffery Cohen, an attorney who represented McDwyer in his failed battle

By DAVID CRUZ

After a bitter battle over a proposal to switch management firms at a Mitchell-Lama complex in Van Cortlandt Village, several members of the Board that pushed for the proposed switch have been voted out, with members favoring the existing management now in power. Among its first orders of business was nixing the plan to remove the longstanding company. “I believe now the plan to come up with a new management company is essentially dead, period,” Gary Axelbank, newly elected vice president of the Park Reservoir Board of Directors, said. Cooperators at the complex voted off four members of its Board of

Hello Fellow Readers! Happy belated Thanksgiving Day to all our readers. We hope you took the time to pause and reflect on the good things that have come to your lives in 2016 and beyond. We hope one of the good things is reading the latest edition of the Norwood News, which hit newsstands last week. Here, you can sample the latest edition digitally, from the comfort of your computer or smartphone. We begin with a story we’ve been following for several months: the preservation of Bedford Park. Bronx Community Board 7 has begun holding a series of workshops on

Paula Caplan sat in the Sister Annunciata Bethell Senior Center in Bedford Park, surrounded by a group of concerned community members as they listed gripes for overdevelopment. She listened and watched as her colleague jotted down a vision residents have carved for their neighborhood. As CEO of the Collective for Community, Culture, and Environment (CCCE) and hired by Community Board 7 at a rate of $25,000 to make a compelling argument for neighborhood preservation, Caplan is tasked to argue for what the residents want. She’s expected to take her findings to the New York City Department of City Planning (DCP)

By DAVID CRUZ

Employees at a Kingsbridge Heights supermarket woke up to find the place they worked was scorched, following a two-alarm fire sparked by a gas explosion. Fire officials say the blaze at Morton’s Supermarket, one of the few supermarkets on the east side of the neighborhood at 19 E. Kingsbridge Rd., was reported just after around 4 a.m., escalating to a two-alarm blaze. According to the FDNY, the fire was brought under control at 5:10 a.m., the department reported that 106 members from 25 units responded to the call. Fire marshals continue to investigate the cause of the explosion and blaze. John