New Tracker Allows Public to Better Understand DOB Project Timelines

By SÍLE MOLONEY

On Oct. 14, the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) launched an online Service Levels Tracker, a new tool which allows New Yorkers to see average wait times for DOB services while also, according to DOB, demonstrating the agency’s commitment to both expediency and efficiency. While this information has been available to the public in different forms over the years, the new tracker puts it all in one location, with a clear explanation of the different DOB metrics. Too often, homeowners and the public do not have the tools necessary to understand where DOB fits into the

By SÍLE MOLONEY

The New York Urban League and its partners invite community-based organizations (CBOs) to apply for a NYC Council Communities of Color Nonprofit Stabilization Fund (CCNSF) grant by the new extended deadline of Nov. 6, 2020 at 5 p.m. The New York City Council established the Communities of Color Nonprofit Stabilization Fund (CCNSF) in recent years and has allocated $2.5 million to award grants to support Black, Latino, and Asian-led community-based organizations throughout New York City’s five boroughs. The first New York City Council fund of its kind, CCNSF aims to build the capacity of New York City nonprofits

By Síle Moloney

Eric Dinowitz, Democratic District Leader and City Council candidate in the 11th District race, is calling for future changes to early voting as New Yorkers turn out to vote early in record numbers this week. “New Yorkers are proving what we’ve known all along – early voting is good for our democracy – and when given the opportunity, people will excitedly vote early,” Dinowitz said. “I am proud of the energy, enthusiasm, and, most of all, patience of my fellow New Yorkers as they wait in line for hours, sometimes even in rain. Poll workers have been friendly and

By SÍLE MOLONEY

On Monday, Oct. 26, The New York Civil Liberties Union and The Legal Aid Society filed a lawsuit against Mayor Bill de Blasio, Police Commissioner Dermot Shea, Chief of Department Terence Monahan, the City of New York, and several individual police officers for their roles in what was described as the indiscriminate brutalizing of peaceful protestors during the Black Lives Matter protests which followed the police killing of George Floyd in May 2020. The suit addresses the first month of protests between May 28 and June 28, where “swarming officers used batons, pepper spray, and other aggressive techniques to

By Eliot Schiaparelli & Síle Moloney

Norwood News, in partnership with WFUV radio and BronxNet Television, presents a five-part series on national issues affecting voters in the lead up to the 2020 presidential election, seen through the local lens of Bronx neighborhood communities. Part three looks at health. Health and healthcare were always going to be pivotal to the 2020 presidential election, even before the COVID-19 pandemic catapulted them to the top of the political agenda. According to a recent Pew research poll, 68 percent of voters said healthcare was a “very important” issue to them, second only to the economy. People are rightfully

By DAVID GREENE

Ahead of Election Day 2020 on Nov. 3., long lines of patient voters, some with kids in toe and pushing baby strollers, were seen at a number of voting centers across the Bronx during the first few days of early voting in New York State, which kicked off on Saturday, Oct. 24. On Sunday morning, Oct. 25, the wait time to vote at a temporary Parkchester polling center, a former Boltons store, located at 1380 Parkchester Road, was about two and a half hours, while the outside temperature was in the low fifties. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined about

By Eliot Schiaparelli & Síle Moloney

By Síle Moloney

An educator and social worker, Abigail Martin, candidate for City Council in the 11th District points to equality in education as being key to breaking the cycle of generational poverty. As a student advisor and adjunct professor at Columbia University’s school of social work, she helps train the City’s next generation of social workers. “I mentor them throughout their first year of social work school, and work with them in their placements,” she said. “All my students are usually placed in the Bronx so, I’ve been in a lot of public schools in the Bronx, meeting with my students

By Síle Moloney

As record numbers of New Yorkers vote by absentee ballot in the upcoming Nov. 3 election, many have been dismayed to learn that they need to pay for postage in order to return their ballot. Legislators and advocates gathered virtually on Thursday, Oct. 22, to criticize what they call another de facto poll tax on voters. The discussion was led by State Senator James Sanders Jr., Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, and Dr. Hazel N. Dukes from the NAACP NYS Conference. Prior to the passage of the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, citizens in some states had to pay a