Bill Samuels has pledged $250,000 to help get Gustavo Rivera elected in the 33rd Senate District, though he’s only ever met the man for 30 seconds, total. Samuels, a businessman whose family has political roots and founded the plastics company Kordite (think Hefty Trash Bags), is on a mission to get State Senator Pedro Espada, Jr., voted out of office.

While there’s been no shortage of talk about the candidates running in the 33rd State Senate District-the seat currently occupied by Pedro Espada, Jr.-we thought we’d provide a rundown of who’s competing in myriad other local races.

In the article “Big Bellies, Big Environmental Boost” (June 17-30, 2010, p. 9), we failed to mention that a substantial amount of reporting in the story was taken from an article written by Peter Jackson in the Hunts Point Express, one of Norwood News’ sister papers and a member of the Bronx News Network. In the article “Gustavo Rivera Get Anti-Espada Backing” (July 15–28, 2010, p. 2), we wrongly stated that U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is running for “re-election.” In fact, Gillibrand was appointed by Gov. David Paterson to replace Hillary Clinton in 2009. She is now running for the

Read More

The owners of the Foodtown supermarket on 204th Street in Norwood that burned down in a horrific fire last winter say they have successfully navigated the city’s building bureaucracy and are poised to begin construction on a new facility. Now, all they need is the steel that will form the framework of the structure.

The Bainbridge Bakery, which was destroyed along with nine other businesses on Bainbridge Avenue last Halloween, has re-opened with a new a name and a new location.

After reports of a foul odor, NYPD investigators discovered a dead body of a man at Harris Field in Bedford Park on July 15.

The Verizon Foundation has given a grant of $2,000 to the Bronx News Network in support of its Bronx Youth Journalism Initiative for high school students. The grant will go toward the publication of Bronx Youth Heard, the newspaper produced by the students. Bronx Youth Heard is inserted into the Norwood News, as well as the Mount Hope Monitor and the Tremont Tribune.

Soon after Pedro Espada, Jr. toppled indicted incumbent Efrain Gonzalez to take over as the state senator in the Bronx’s 33rd District in the fall of 2008, he began negotiating an appointment to chair one of the state’s most coveted committees, the Housing Committee. So began Espada’s stint as head of the Senate Housing Committee, which has managed not to address any of the tenant protection bills favored by pro-tenant groups and the Assembly.

The Fordham Road Business Improvement District (BID) unveiled new evergreen shrubs, flowers and ground covers in outdoor containers at Muller Triangle on East Fordham Road and Creston Avenue at East 190th Street. Sustainable South Bronx’s Best Eco graduates assisted with the plantings earlier this month.