Mayor Outlines Additional Plans to Reopen NYC Schools for 2020-2021 Academic Year

By Síle Moloney

On Wednesday, Jul. 8, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza announced additional preliminary plans for school reopening in September, assuming the City continues to meet all necessary COVID-19 public health thresholds. According to a City press release, the plan was driven first and foremost by the health and safety of school communities. Schools will be provided with specific models to develop schedules for students that include in-person and remote instruction every week. Personalized schedules will be shared with families in August, and the Department of Education will continue to update families so they can plan

By Síle Moloney

Ayaris Perez, and his colleague, Edwin Torres, both filmmakers from Norwood, make up half of the Bronx Film 48 team, a Bronx community film initiative established in March 2019, the goal of which is to increase the number of filmmakers in the Bronx, increase the number of produced films within the Bronx, and connect filmmakers through networking events, workshops and an annual 48-hour film challenge. The group is launching the 2nd annual Bronx 48-hour film challenge on Jul. 10 at 5:00 p.m. This time, it’s an indoor film challenge, requiring all short film submissions to be made indoors. “It

By Síle Moloney

Chief Jeffrey B. Maddrey was appointed the new Chief of Community Affairs on Jun. 24, 2020, and has been given a mandate to reimagine the critically important Community Affairs Bureau within the NYPD. He spent his first few days listening to what his colleagues, and the residents of the neighborhoods he will serve, want and need. He’s visited precinct station houses, held virtual meetings with community and elected leaders, listened at houses of worship and walked the streets over the holiday weekend to hear people’s vision for fair and effective policing in the 21st century. Maddrey takes over the

By José A. Giralt & Síle Moloney

On Apr. 27, citing concerns over the probable spread of the coronavirus, the New York State Board of Elections announced the cancellation of the State’s presidential primary. The Sanders campaign released a statement the same day, describing the decision as an “outrage”. “What the [NYS] Board of Elections is ignoring, is that the primary process not only leads to a nominee, but also the selection of delegates, which helps to determine the platform and rules of the Democratic Party,” the statement read. Bizarrely, the Board chose not to cancel the congressional, state and other special primary elections

By José A. Giralt & Síle Moloney

Over the past few months, most New Yorkers have focused their attention on the public health aspects of the coronavirus. Now that all indicators show a downward trend, and the spread of the virus is relatively controlled, elected officials and community leaders are facing hard decisions on budgets for public services. From Albany to City Hall to all 59 City community boards, officials are being asked to slash previously agreed budgets due to reduced revenue sources like sales taxes. Locally, Bronx Community Board 7 (CB7) is assessing what adjustments may need to be made to its budget. In

By David Greene & Síle Moloney

The “Occupy City Hall” movement gathered further steam over the last week as the City Council vote on the City budget on Jun. 30 drew nearer. Protestors consolidated pressure on elected officials, calling for specific changes to the budget process, with the defunding of police at the top of the agenda. The Occupy City Hall movement appeared to morph out of a month of sustained Black Lives Matter protests across New York City, following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police on March 25, 2020. Despite a series of recently passed State and City

By JOSÉ A. GIRALT

The following article is a two-part feature story on the Black Lives Matter protests. Part I The following stories are all too familiar in the Bronx. On a summer afternoon in July 2016, a man saw a tense situation unfolding between NYPD officers and three people at Morris Houses in Claremont Village. One woman was cuffed, and the arguing escalated. The man thought he could help diffuse the situation, but in an instant, he was thrown against a gate by an officer who later defended his action by saying he felt the sergeant at the scene needed to

By Síle Moloney

A week after Woodrow Wilson was sworn in as the 28th President of the United States, Julia Bizzarri was born in the Bronx on Mar. 13, 1913. In a curious twist of fate, in the same year that now, 107-year-old Bizzarri has astonishingly shown COVID-19 who’s boss, Wilson’s name is to be removed from Princeton University buildings, one of a number of moves by age-old institutions to address the legacy of racism in the country. At 107, Bizzarri has lived through not only one civil rights movement, but what many are calling a second. Like others of her generation,

By Síle Moloney

An extensive, industrial-style, subway clean-up is underway at Norwood’s 205th Street subway station, and will continue throughout the coming days. A professional team of about ten cleaners, suited in protective equipment and masks, began a major clean-up at the station on Jun. 29. The workers were seen getting into all the nooks and crannies in the ceiling and along the walls and stairs using a power spray, and various chemical agents. Initially, because of hoses seen on the subway floor, some people thought that the station had been flooded by the heavy rain which fell late on the