Editorial: Participatory Budgeting Could Work If Only It Weren’t So Slow

The premise is deceptively simple: If you were given $1 million of taxpayer money to build a project for the city, what would it be? With Participatory Budgeting, an initiative that’s become cornerstone to many New York City Council legislators, including Norwood Councilman Andrew Cohen, that wish could indeed come true. The initiative is once again under way, and council members want your help. But in the three years since it’s been instituted in the Norwood side of Cohen’s district, what’s really been lacking in PB is participants. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t exactly make

By DAVID GREENE

A firefighter chief is dead and twelve others were injured following an explosion of a home in Kingsbridge, which is now under suspicion for housing a so-called “grow house.” Battalion Chief Michael Fahy, a 17-year veteran with the FDNY, was struck with debris from the exploding home at 300 W. 234th Street as he directed operations from outside the home. “It’s a terrible loss for the family, for the Fahy family,” FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said at a news conference at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where Fahy was rushed to. “It’s a loss for the Fire Department family. We are a

COMMUNITY BOARD 7 will hold its general board meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 20, at 6:30 p.m. at Sister Annunciata Bethell Senior Center, 243 E. 204th St. CB7 committee meetings are held on the following dates at the board office, 229 E. 204th St., at 6:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted: Housing, Land Use & Zoning Committee on Sept. 21; and Economic Development Committee on Sept. 27. For more information, call the Board office at (718) 933-5650. THE 52ND PRECINCT COMMUNITY COUNCIL will meet Sept. 22 at 2455 Sedgwick Ave. (across from Fordham Hill Oval Cooperative) from 7 to 9 p.m. For

By DAVID CRUZ

The new police commissioner is no stranger to the Bronx, as are a major number of high ranking brass now helping him run the department. Days before he was named by outgoing Police Commissioner Bill Bratton to succeed him, then NYPD Chief of Department James O’Neill stood before a convention of community and ethnic press invited to hear from him. Asked about noise issues in Norwood, he quickly smiled and revealed he knew Norwood well. He had been the second in command at its precinct. “I was the captain of the Five-Two in 1998,” O’Neill said, referring to his time

By DAVID CRUZ

Something old will soon be new again If someone wants to dig up the Bronx’s past, they would have to email the Bronx County Historical Society for assistance. For a fee, a librarian would sift though a trove of aging artifacts, with some in such poor shape that handling them would compromise them even more. For documents available to the public, a trip to the Society’s archives is the only way to access them, depriving out-of-towners the chance for more efficient research of the borough. It’s a reason why the Society, a private not-for-profit, will launch an ambitious archiving project

Greetings Loyal Readers! The latest edition of the Norwood News is out with plenty of community news you can use. We begin, of course, in the beginning with page one: coverage of the September Primary in the Bronx. It was a pretty predictable ending for the candidates, with no upsets. Typical for incumbents and party-backed candidates in the Bronx. Read up on the five races that could impact residents of the northwest Bronx. Inside the cover you’ll read on the opening of a dormant pizza stand in Norwood, and a stalwart saloon in Norwood that could be serving its last

By DAVID CRUZ

Though Tracey Towers, Norwood’s largest cooperative and the borough’s tallest buildings, is home to some 869 families, refurbishing the towers’ lone playground remained low on management’s priority list for years. Sitting atop the towers’ parking garage, the aging centerpiece, a jungle gym, shows plenty of signs of wear and tear. Flaky and rusted, the gym stands unattractive and almost uninviting. A basketball court equipped with concrete risers, meantime, takes up half the rooftop. The playground and court’s sizes could barely accommodate the towers’ adolescent population. “Forty-two years, people. We’ve been trying to get this done for 42 years. It was

By DAVID CRUZ, WENDY JOAN BIDDLECOMBE, and JALEESA BAULKMAN

The Bronx political landscape stayed on course in the northwest part of the borough, with incumbents and frontrunners predictably winning in the September Democratic Primary, a contest that closely predicts the outcome of Bronx races in November’s General Election. The victories once again signaled the party machine at work, as major support and campaign money helped secure victories for the favorites. 36th Senate District The 36th State Senate District, covering Norwood, Bedford Park, Wakefield, Edenwald, Co-Op City, and Mount Vernon in Westchester County, saw Jamaal T. Bailey edge out four other contenders in a decidedly easy victory for the young

By the time the next edition of the Norwood News rolls in, droves of voters will have headed to schools, community centers and the like to cast their ballot for their next legislator this primary election cycle. Or, if the cynical side prevails, they’ll stay home. Voting, it seems, has become blasé and an avoidable chore. Sadly, the Bronx, a borough that’s home to some 619,241 voters facing issues of income inequality, housing and health disparities, only saw 6 percent of its electorate go to the polls in 2015 (coincidentally, Norwood also had 6 percent of its residents go to