Bronx Judge: State Needs to Clarify KNIC Loan Commitment

By DAVID CRUZ

Attorneys in the Kingsbridge National Ice Center (KNIC) lease case agreed with a judge’s order to have a letter sent to state agencies asking to demonstrate, in writing, that they’re fully committed to a loan needed to jumpstart the massive project. KNIC’s strongest ally, meantime, may be found on the bench. “You need to go to the source,” said Judge Ruben Franco, who heard the case involving KNIC developers and the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) at Bronx Supreme Court on May 16. A team of lawyers from the New York City Corporation Counsel, still holding the 99-year lease

By DANIELA BEASLEY

After learning of the recent down zoning of a portion of streets in the neighborhood of Woodlawn, the Fordham Bedford Housing Corporation (FBHC) is now fighting even more for portions of Bedford Park to receive the same outcome. A request was put into the New York City Department of City Planning (NYCDCP) to down zone 202nd and 203rd streets five years back when other areas of Bedford Park underwent rezoning. The request called for R5B or R7B zones to be adopted on these narrow streets, mandating developers to put up structures at the same height as the century-old houses that

Candidates in the race for the 13th Congressional District seat, sprinting to secure votes ahead of the June primary, gathered to address community concerns in a debate framed as a town hall forum. Organized by the Muslim community, the forum featured two hours of outbursts, gang-ups, and comings and goings. The crowded field of candidates, including Mike Gallagher, Clyde Williams, ambassador-at-large Suzan Johnson Cook, state Senator Adriano Espaillat, Sam Sloan, Adam Clayton Powell IV, state Assemblyman Keith Wright, and Yohanny Caceres, converged at the Sanctuary Grand Hall at 2773 Webster Ave. in Norwood to plead their stances at the event

By JASMINE GOMEZ

Residents of 11th Council District should expect new district-wide improvements including bus count-down clocks and security cameras, thanks to Councilman Andrew Cohen’s participatory budgeting process. Cohen gathered with volunteers and community organizers at the Rambling House bar/restaurant in Woodlawn to announce the results of the process in which local residents vote on what community improvement projects to spend a portion of his 2017 fiscal year budget on. In a yearlong process, residents of Council District 11 were able to discuss and propose ideas that would appear on the final ballot after a review by volunteers and city agencies. After the

For anyone who’s lived in the Bronx long enough, they’ll learn it can take an insane amount of time to fix a quality of life problem. So if it’s a busted fire hydrant, perpetually loud neighbors, an overpopulated cat colony, or a lost coin (it’s been known to happen), resolve is almost never instantaneous, a curse that bedevils anyone making a complaint through the city’s 311 hotline. The system, implemented in 2003 during the Bloomberg years, serves as the city’s official customer service line, though that depiction is a stretch, depending on who you talk to. It functions more as

By DAVID CRUZ

Jamaal Bailey, an employee and established protégé of Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, announced his run for the 36th Senate District, a seat currently held by Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson, who plans to step down. The announcement quickly became a major endorsement for Bailey by the Bronx Democratic County Committee (BDCC). Outside Wakefield’s Butler Memorial Methodist Church, where Bailey sometimes speaks, Bailey stood alongside Speaker Heastie and other Bronx legislators, including BDCC chairman Marcos Crespo. “What a time to be alive,” said Bailey, 33, also flanked by his parents, wife and daughter as he delivered a Democratic platform of education reform, criminal justice reform and

Hello Loyal Readers! The ninth edition of the Norwood News, covering community news you can use, is out, hitting over 300 locations throughout Norwood and its surrounding neighborhoods. Of course, we begin in Norwood, at the enormous Tracey Towers. There, residents are supporting a proposal to review the books of its management company’s $40 million renovation. Read why the tenants association are backing an audit proposal. We then recap a meeting involving Norwood’s community stakeholders and the Bangladeshi community. Aldo Perez organized the meeting. Learn why he believes crimes against Bangladeshis and Muslims are under-reported. There’s also a piece on the story

By DAVID CRUZ

There wasn’t quite much talk on bias incidents aimed at a forum for the Bangladeshi community. Instead, the meeting morphed into an information session with a message in mind: the community at large is here to help. The gathering was the brainchild of Aldo Perez, a community activist, who sought to bring representatives from the NYPD, Bronx District Attorney’s office, local Community Board 7, Public Advocate’s office, and the state Assembly Speaker’s office to introduce themselves and the powers each office brings. Two-dozen guests from the Bangladeshi community were at the meeting hearing from representatives. Norwood has seen an ever-growing

By DAVID CRUZ

Manhattan Assemblyman Keith Wright gave a “guarantee” that the Bronx will see a legislative office should he win in the heavily crowded race for the 13th Congressional District long held by Congressman Charles Rangel, who is retiring. “We’re actually looking to open a Bronx campaign office as well as Bronx congressional office after we win,” said Wright, standing beside Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., who endorsed him for Congress before the steps of Borough Hall April 21. Roughly 20 percent of the district, gerrymandered a few years back, is in the west Bronx, which includes Norwood. A long-held bone