Inquiring Photographer: Sex Abuse Suits

By DAVID GREENE

This week we asked readers their thoughts on the Child Victims Act that became law in New York State, allowing victims to file civil cases against abusers upwards of 50 years from the time the abuse occurred. For 15 or 16 years I have been fighting to amend case law. The legal system, when it comes to victims, they’re more concerned with defending the rights of the accused, who most of the time have actually perpetrated acts of violence against an animal or an individual or a group of individuals. I feel the laws have been too lax. Enough already.

Latest Edition of the Norwood News is Out!

By DAVID CRUZ

Dear Fellow Readers, The year’s seventeenth edition of the Norwood News is out with plenty of interesting community news stories to read and share. We have 28 pages packed full of news from this corner of the Bronx, capturing all kinds of stuff happening in the borough. And as usual, we’ll start with page one! For our front-page story, we delve into the ongoing heroin epidemic that appears to be a permanent fixture in the Bronx. A report from the New York City Health Department shows an increase in the number of opioid-related deaths in 2018, an eight percent increase. Reporter

By DAVID CRUZ and MICHAEL TURAY

Skaters rejoiced at the opening of the much-anticipated skateboard park in Norwood’s Williamsbridge Oval Park, a project many agreed had been a long time coming. Mitchell Silver, Commissioner for the New York City Department of Parks, led a ribbon cutting ceremony that included skaters who had advocated for the park from its very beginning. Even before the park was ceremoniously opened on Aug. 27, skaters were already found zipping and speeding along the park’s concrete slabs. Silver, reading off a list, said the park includes quarter pipes, half bowls, and a manual pad. “I have no idea what I just

Bronx Opioid Crisis, Still Problematic, Gets State's Senate's Attention

By JOSÉ A. GIRALT

Officials from the New York City Health Department announced a three percent decrease in overdose deaths from 2017 to 2018. But of the 1,444 overdose deaths citywide, the Bronx saw an increase with 391 in 2018, an eight percent increase, designating it as the only borough with more than 300 overdose deaths in 2018, continuing the unbreakable trend of opioid-related fatalities. In the written announcement, Dr. Oxiris Barbot, commissioner of the Health Department, said, “The decrease in drug overdose deaths is promising, but far too many New Yorkers are still dying.” The news came three weeks after state senators held

By DAVID CRUZ and JOSEPH KONIG

It was only recently that the Bronx began to see a gender shift in representation on the legislative front, with more women representing districts at all levels of government. Last year, the borough elected state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi to replace Jeff Klein while Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the first woman to represent the Bronx/Queens 14th Congressional District. Nathalia Fernandez and Karines Reyes were also elected to represent their Assembly districts in 2018, doubling the number of women in the Bronx Assembly Delegation. Melissa Mark-Viverito, the former Speaker of the New York City Council, and Marlene Cintron, president of the Bronx Overall

City & State Leaders Look to Reduce Hot Car Deaths Following Kingsbridge Incident

By DAVID GREENE

City and state officials are mobilizing in reducing hot car-related deaths following an incident where a pair of twins died from heatstroke after they were left in a car in Kingsbridge Heights for hours last month. The pair was left behind by their father. Councilman Fernando Cabrera, whose district represents the neighborhood where one-year-old twins were left in a hot car for hours by their father, announced legislation aimed at preventing the deaths of children left to bake in unattended vehicles. Exactly a week after one-year-old twins Luna and Phoenix Rodriguez were left for eight hours, as their father went

The $1 Million in Participatory Budgeting Results Are...

By JOE KONIG

There will not be a special election for the 11th Council District. At least, not this year. The Bronx Democratic Party nominated three candidates to the Bronx Supreme Court at a judicial convention on Aug. 8. None of the nominees were Councilman Andrew Cohen, delaying the long-anticipated campaign to succeed the term-limited councilman for at least another year and squashing theories of party orchestration. Instead, Bronx Democrats nominated Bahaati Pitt and John Higgit to two open seats and re-nominated Wilma Guzman to the seat she’s held since 2006. Gov. Andrew Cuomo appointed Higgit to the New York State Court of

By DAVID CRUZ

Dear Fellow Readers, The year’s sixteenth edition of the Norwood News is out with plenty of interesting community news stories to read and share. We have 28 pages packed full of news from this corner of the Bronx, capturing a good chunk of it. And as usual, we’ll start with page one! For our front-page story, we dive into the issue of loud partying at Van Cortlandt Park. Residents are so upset that after logging 165 noise complaints this year that were not heard, they penned and signed a letter of complaint to elected officials. Inside the cover you’ll find

By SÍLE MOLONEY

Picnics and yoga? Forget about it. It’s more like an open-air rave each weekend at the Gun Hill Meadow inside Van Cortlandt Park, which stretches along West Gun Hill Road and Jerome Avenue. After years of filing 311 noise complaints, residents at Knox Place, Gates Place, DeKalb Avenue, and West Mosholu Parkway say the late-night open-air sprees have gotten progressively worse each year, and are already untenable as the summer surpasses its halfway mark. After 165 noise complaints were logged for the area this year alone, the majority between June and July, 98 residents penned and signed a formal letter