Bedford Park Tenants Fought the Good Fight, and Left Scattered

By DAVID CRUZ

For the four families who once lived at 267 E. 202nd St., the year of turmoil is over. After living through a year where they were nearly evicted from their home, battled their new landlord in court over repairs as a way to delay eviction proceedings, and ultimately forced out following a devastating three-alarm fire, the tenants have found new lodgings. They’ve also happened to settle their case against their landlord, Peter Fine. Fine, who was in the middle of being sued when the home broke out in flames over the summer, settled the cases with tenants for an undisclosed

Neighborhood Notes: Free Immigration Service

The Norwood News took a look back at 2016’s first editorial, “Welcoming 2016 With Predictions on New Round of Stories,” which forecasted stories for the next 12 months. With that, we look back on these predictions and what really happened: Securing the Oval: 2015 saw more and more police making arrests at Williamsbridge Oval Park, a park frequented by hundreds daily. Fires tormented police for months, but have since subsided. That’s a good thing. Safeguarding the park, a key source of entertainment for a largely working class community, is critical. If a populace fears a park, it will only signal

By DANIELA BEASLEY

Tenants are displaced by landlords using unsavory and sometimes illegal tactics all over the Bronx, oftentimes because the tenants are unaware of the value in having concrete lease agreements when renting an apartment. But in other cases, a change in management of a building leaves the new landlord cleaning up the messes of the previous one. In the case of Rebecca Smith, Paula Matheson, and Haskell Shabi neither the tenant nor landlord regulations could rectify their situation and ended in two evictions and an investment turned into a money pit. The property, 3176 Bainbridge Ave., was once owned by Benedict

Editor’s Pick More Holiday Events The Van Cortlandt Jewish Center, 3880 Sedgwick Ave., presents free Chanukah Celebration, Dec. 27 at 7:15 p.m. featuring pianist, latkes and jelly donuts, a raffle for adults and games and prizes for children. For more information, call (718) 884-6105. The public is invited to a free Parkchester Annual Kwanzaa Celebration, Dec. 30 from 4 to 9 p.m. at St. Helena’s Church, 1315 Olmstead Ave. Free food will be served. Please bring handcraft or educational children’s gifts and games (books or toys). For more information, call (718) 409-5253 or (347) 525-4943. Events The

By DEBORAH CRUZ

A group of business owners gathered in front of Capitol Diner on Kingsbridge Road and Jerome Avenue, to discuss an ongoing heat issues involving six businesses on West Kingsbridge Road. The conversation soon went around the corner, to Com Tam Ninh Kiev, a local Vietnamese eatery also dealing with a landlord issue. The meeting was organized by the Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition, where organizers brought Brooklyn Councilman Robert Cornegy Jr., into the conversation. It made sense. Though from Brooklyn, Cornegy is chair of the Small Business Committee. For more than an hour, organizers heard from business owners’ continued

Dear Fellow Readers! The year’s last edition of the Norwood News is out, crammed with plenty of Bronx community news you can use. Before we begin our summary of stories, some breaking news: A Bronx judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Kingsbridge National Ice Center, which one again signals significant delays for a project envisioned as a game changer. We wrote a lengthy piece on the story that you can find here. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming: Our Page One story focuses on Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj (pronounced jo-nigh), who’s declared a run for New York City Council.

Gjonaj to Receive Bronx Democratic Party Endorsement

By DAVID CRUZ

State Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj, whose 80th Assembly District edges into Norwood, has become the latest candidate to jump into the race for the City Council seat for the East Bronx. Four others have already declared a run in the Democratic Primary for the 13th Council District seat, which covers a portion of Norwood, as well as Throggs Neck, City Island, Morris Park, Country Club, Allerton and Pelham Parkway. The seat is now held by Councilman Jimmy Vacca, who is term-limited. The mudslinging has already begun, with one of Gjonaj’s opponents charging that a Gjonaj win could leave the Assembly District without

By DEBORAH CRUZ

An abundance of red gift bags were spread out on a table surrounded by gold, red, and green stars that decorated the walls of Kingsbridge Terrace, a home for formerly homeless veterans operated by The Jericho Project. Chairs and tables abutted a brightly lit and decorated Christmas tree with a sign that read, “Merry Christmas.” The front of the room filled with volunteers placing plates of sandwiches, cookies, soft drinks, and finger food on the tables. And Tori Lyon, CEO of The Jericho Project, oversaw the room, mingling with staffers at the First Annual Day of Action happening at six

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