MMCC Hit Hard By Government Budget Cuts

Major cutbacks in government spending, on both the local and federal level, have left several community centers in the northwest Bronx struggling to make ends meet this year. Mosholu Montefiore Community Center (MMCC) in Norwood, which runs dozens of after-school sites, a senior citizen center, and other programs serving more than 28,000 Bronxites each year, has been appealing to neighbors for donations over the last few months in an effort to keep the center afloat.

New DOE Plan Could Ease Crowding

The Department of Education’s revised five-year plan for school construction includes an increase of more than 1,600 new seats within School District 10 in the northwest Bronx. But it is yet to be determined where the remaining seats will go.

Webster Ave. Rezone Now in Hands of Council

The rezoning of a long, auto shop-strewn stretch of Webster Avenue between Fordham Road and Gun Hill Road is now moving into its final stage — scrutiny from the City Council, which must sign off on the plan.

Norwood Home to ‘Weekend Walks’ This Summer

This summer, East 204th Street, from Bainbridge Avenue to Hull Avenue, will be closed to cars for three consecutive Sundays as the area will host Weekend Walks, a program co-sponsored by Community Board 7 and the Department of Transportation.

Arsenal Found in Villa Ave. Drug Raid

A raid organized by the NYPD’s gang unit has shut down a Villa Avenue drug distribution operation, police said, taking a cache of dangerous weapons off the streets of Bedford Park in the process.

Editorial: Foodtown’s Welcome Return

The absence of Foodtown in Norwood for the last 15 months has been deeply felt by thousands of local residents. The elderly, who were able to walk to the supermarket before the store burned to the ground in December 2009, were particularly burdened by the loss. But the store has emerged bigger and better with a much wider array of offerings and more room for residents with walkers, strollers and shopping carts to maneuver.

New, Improved Foodtown Rises From Ashes

Norwood’s popular Foodtown supermarket which was razed in a suspected incident of arson at the end of 2009 is back in business. The store, now 50 percent larger with many more offerings, has taken up two neighboring storefronts that were home to a diner and a dental office that were also destroyed in the blaze.

Bedford Park Seniors Facing Loss Of ‘Second Home’

Proposed budget cuts could shut down 105 senior centers citywide this year, 22 of which are in the Bronx, including the Sister Annunciata Bethel Senior Center, also known as the Bedford Park Senior Center, and the Van Cortlandt Senior Center. Local politicians are gearing up for a fight, while regulars at the Bedford Park center, on East 204th Street near Mosholu Parkway, emphasized how devastating the loss would be.

Five Schools, One Team, One Walton Campus Spirit

As the seconds ticked down to zero in the Walton Campus’s thrilling 57-53 home court victory in the first round of the boys basketball city tournament, fans, coiled from the intensity of the game, rushed the court, hugging players and coaches and each other. A group of students formed into a circle centered with spontaneous dancers near midcourt. They chanted: “Wal-Ton! Wal-Ton! Wal-Ton!”