Financial Focus: Ready for a Big Income Tax Refund?

Neighborhood Notes: Free Immigration Service

By ANTHONY RIVIECCIO,, MBA, PFA

Holiday time is over! The time for spending has finished! It is time to pay those holiday bills. Maybe you’re thinking your income tax refund will help? In some ways, it can. After all, who isn’t going to need a higher tax refund? Okay, cool. Did you tax plan? Tax plan? What’s that? What is tax planning? No, it is not tax preparation. That can take anywhere from 15 minutes to six hours, based on the preparation of the worksheets and schedules. Tax planning is much more comprehensive. I like to say that the difference between tax preparation and planning

By By DAVID GREENE

This week we asked readers if they believe the accuracy of the most current statewide jobless figure of 5.1 percent and whether these jobs pay enough for a person to pay their bills and grow into the job. I don’t think so. Maybe these jobs can pay a part of a month’s rent. I mean, I’m a college student. They’re not the kind of jobs you can sustain a life by yourself, but if you had a roommate or lived with family, it could help. A lot of these jobs seem like fast-food jobs. I’ve noticed that if you know

“Treecycling” Recycle your holiday tree to nourish parks throughout the city. Free mulch and collection bags will be provided at Van Cortlandt Park’s golf course at Bailey Avenue and Van Cortlandt Park South, Jan. 7 and 8, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Donors may bring trees until Jan. 8 to local drop-off sites for future recycling: Williamsbridge Oval Park, Kossuth Playground at Mosholu Parkway North and Kossuth Avenue, St. James Park at West 192nd Street and Jerome Avenue, or Poe Park at the Grand Concourse between East Kingsbridge Road and East 192nd Street. For more information and additional sites,

By WENDY JOAN BIDDLECOMBE

The long-abandoned two-family house at 3259 Decatur Ave., next to PS 56’s recess yard and considered an eyesore for nearly a decade, is once again legally reoccupied, but is far from fixed up. Elisabeth Von Uhl, a resident in the Norwood neighborhood, has been concerned for a while that the home is an unsafe property that could put school children in harm’s way. Like other neighbors, she’s called 311, and Von Uhl said she reached out to the police and wrote letters to local officials pleading they do something to address the neglected home. A tenant has moved in since

Editor’s Pick Elvis Is in the House The public is invited to go down memory lane with Elvis Presley in one of his best films, “Jailhouse Rock,” on Jan. 7 at 2:30 p.m. at The Bronx Library Center, 310 E. Kingsbridge Rd. For more information, call (718) 579-4244/46/57 or visit www.nypl.org. Onstage The Bronx Library Center, 310 E. Kingsbridge Rd.,

Dear Fellow Readers, The Norwood News, covering the Bronx, is out with its latest edition of the community newspaper, bringing you plenty of news you can use. We begin, of course, with page one, and a retrospective look at 2016, a year filled with plenty of tumult. We look back at some key stories that the Norwood News followed over the year, along with some departures and so longs. Moving ahead into 2017, we have a story on a proposal to revert Mosholu Parkway back to the days when six-story buildings were considered tall in the grassy neighborhood. Hear about one community

By DAVID CRUZ

Anthony Rivieccio, a community activist known to harangue developers chipping away at Bedford Park’s past and present, has a surefire way to stem development: restricting building size. That idea is already being examined by Community Board 7, which hired an urban planning consultant to gather testimonials on neighborhood needs, which appear to trend towards a more suburban-like setting. Her hiring was intended to follow up on a promise the New York City Department of City Planning made to the community in 2011, ensuring that it would revisit a proposal to downzone parts of Bedford Park, which include Mosholu Parkway, the

COMMUNITY BOARD 7 will hold its general board meeting on Jan. 17 at the Bronx Library Center, 310 E. Kingsbridge Rd., at 6:30 p.m. CB7 committees are held on the following dates at the board office, 229A E. 204th St. at 6:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted: Public Safety & Quality of Life Committee, Jan. 5; Education/Libraries & Youth Services Committee, Jan. 5 at 7:30 p.m.; Senior Services Committee, Jan. 11; Parks & Recreation, Jan. 11 at 7:15 p.m.; Traffic & Transportation, Jan. 12; and Veterans Committee, Jan. 12 at 7:30 p.m. For more information, call (718) 933-5650.

Thief Sought for Burglary Crime Pattern in 52nd Precinct

By DAVID CRUZ

The 52nd Precinct needs help finding a burglary suspect who brazenly sneaks into fire escapes and makes off with victims’ belongings. Police say the thief was reported to have struck six times from Oct. 6 through Nov. 24. In each crime, the thief enters the apartment through the fire escape, in some cases with the victims sleeping inside, and steals items. The thief snuck into apartments on Valentine Avenue and Grand Concourse between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. In all, the thief made off with purses, credit cards, sneakers, watches, Apple products, a Beats headphones set, video