Amid Legionnaires’ Cases, Health Official Reassures Tracey Towers Residents

An Enigma of a Parking Spot Surfaces at Tracey Towers

By JOSÉ A. GIRALT

After delivering notices of a second resident contracting Legionnaires’ disease at 20 W. Mosholu Pkwy. S. within the last 12 months, an official from the city Department of Health (DOH) told concerned residents that testing for the bacteria will soon take place. At a meeting Tuesday night inside the building’s community room, Ricky Wong, director of Community Affairs at DOH, informed the tenants of the department’s plan to start testing the building’s water for the bacteria. He said that water testing could “potentially happen at the earliest by the end of this week.” Results from the water samples can take

By DAVID CRUZ

A report released by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. ahead of the first day of school proposes major fixes to the School Construction Authority (SCA), the body tasked to build new schools across the city, pointing out “inefficiencies” at a time when the borough’s public school districts are grossly overcrowded. After examining the SCA, which was created in 1988, Diaz Jr.’s office outlined 10 recommendations needed to streamline the authority. Among them is greater transparency, citing the lack of information that came out of a task force created by the New York City Council last year that studied the

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

MMCC to Bring Head Start Programs Thanks to $2.1M Boost

By JONATHAN CUSTODIO

Mosholu Montefiore Community Center’s (MMCC) Child Development Center (CDC) is opening two new pre-kindergarten sites via federal funding provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Head Start program, which offers early childhood education and support services. The two buildings housing the programs will be named after Natly Esnard and Nora Feury, two long-time employees with MMCC. U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand announced that a total of $9.3 million would be awarded to five community centers in the Bronx, with MMCC receiving $2.1 million. “[Head Start] is an early childhood education program but family comes first,”

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

Neighborhood Notes: Free Immigration Service

By PROF. ANTHONY RIVIECCIO, MBA PFA

I get so tired of hearing it: President Donald Trump did this, he did that. Firstly, as my clients know, I do not integrate politics and finance together. Why? When it comes to personal finance, isn’t it about your money first? Thus, looking at the ending of this last decade, how are we doing? And if you wanted to play politics, who would have the answer? While many yell “fake news,” I tell my clients, “then try to read all news.” So, when you read stats from The U.S. Department of Labor, Goldman Sachs, Federal Reserve Bank, The Wall Street

By BOB KAPPSTATTER

Two men were under arrest in the shooting death of a 27-year-old Bedford Park man after detectives tracked them down through video security cameras, police said. Israel Lagares became the fifth homicide victim in the 52nd Precinct so far this year after he was fatally shot twice in the chest shortly after 10 p.m. on Aug. 16 in front of 2734 Bainbridge Ave., just blocks from his home. He was pronounced dead at St. Barnabas Hospital. After an investigation that a police source said involved scouring through a number of video security cameras in the area, detectives arrested Lucas Chajecki,