Participatory Budgeting Shows District-wide Enhancements

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

By DAVID GREENE

Hundreds of workers with Verizon held a demonstration along the Grand Concourse at East Fordham Road on April 20. Nearly 40,000 workers walked off the job over a week ago after executives declined to negotiate a new contract with retail workers and technicians. Verizon execs also tried to implement a waiver in the new contracts that stated Verizon can change any stipulations in the contract at any time. For Faith Griffith, a three-year Verizon employee living in nearby Tracey Towers for the last five years, the strike signified her “last paycheck” from Verizon the week of April 18. Griffith, a single

By DAVID CRUZ

Developers of the Kingsbridge National Ice Center (KNIC) have shot down a deal with the city allowing them access to the vacant Kingsbridge Armory while their lease remains in escrow, among other things. The development came roughly a week after the city reached out to local and state elected leaders to support its new compromise that remains on the table. In a two-page letter emailed to the media before KNIC saw it, New York City Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen offered developers entry into the armory, with the lease still in escrow, so it can begin some major asbestos removal work. Glen,

With the presidential primary underway, a special hotline has been set up to take in complaints of alleged voter fraud or voter intimidation by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara. The office is on hand to hear complaints at (212) 637-0840 on Tuesday, April 19, 2016: Complaints can also be made to the Federal Bureau of Investigation at (212) 384-1000. Federal laws mandate local election authorities make voting accessible to disabled and elderly voters. Voters who require assistance because of blindness, disability, or inability to read and write have the right to receive such assistance from a person