Entering their matchup on Oct. 23 at Coach Horowitz Field in Marble Hill, the John F. Kennedy Knights and DeWitt Clinton Governors, two local rivals experiencing growing pains this year, were both looking forward to better days ahead.

New legislation guaranteeing good paying jobs at development projects that receive significant city subsidies is gaining momentum in the City Council. But backers of the bill, including Bronx Councilman Oliver Koppell, say the mayor’s office is stacking the deck in opposition to it.

New York State’s General Election took place on Tuesday, Nov. 2. Results of the election were not tallied by press time, but Democratic incumbents in the Bronx (with the exception of 33rd District State Senator Pedro Espada, who lost to Gustavo Rivera in the September primary) were all predicted to hold on to their seats for another term. Still, voters turned out to their local polling stations to cast their votes.

Orchard Beach, the Bronx’s only beach, is set to get a major makeover in the coming months.

A $13 million restoration project, funded by the Parks Department and federal money secured by Bronx representatives Jose E. Serrano and Joseph Crowley, began at the Pelham Bay beach on Oct. 29.

•    Community Board 7 will hold its general meeting at Kittay House’s Fox Auditorium, located at 2550 Webb Ave. For all Community Board 7 committee meetings, call (718) 933-5650 or visit www.bronxcb7.info.

Community Board 7 and the Department of City Planning are holding a public hearing on Thursday, Nov. 4, as part of the city’s official land use review process as it weighs the merits of a rezoning initiative sponsored by the Board.

Some 5,000 cyclists tackled the 15th annual Tour de Bronx, the largest free biking event in the state, on Sunday, Oct. 24.

Last spring, a portfolio of buildings in the northwest Bronx caught the attention of housing advocates due to an onslaught of complaints from tenants who described horrendous living conditions.

The properties were owned by Milbank Real Estate, a private equity firm based in Los Angeles that purchased the buildings during the boom times with a risky $35 million mortgage. In 2009, Milbank defaulted on the loan, sending the properties into foreclosure proceedings. The buildings are now in the hands of a servicer, LNR Property Corp., which has been looking to sell them to a new owner.

Since foreclosure began, Milbank tenants have seen conditions in their homes deteriorate. The 10 properties have over 3,000 housing violations among them-rodents, mold infestations, leaking ceilings and rotting floors are the norm. For months, at protest rallies, prayer vigils and in the courts, these tenants, with the support of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, have pleaded for help to make their homes livable again.

But there’s some good news.

This year the Tour de Bronx honored the memory of Norwood resident Megan Charlop, a tireless health advocate, who died in a bicycle accident last March.