The Bronx is home to about 2,500 Bangladeshis, according to the 2000 census, and the vast majority of those residents live in Norwood.

So it was not surprising that 250 Bangladeshis from across the city gathered at the Church of the Holy Nativity on Bainbridge Avenue in Norwood on Sunday to commemorate the 39th anniversary of their country’s independence

In addition to the 10 Bainbridge Avenue stores that were destroyed in a horrific Oct. 31 blaze, the adjacent Holy Nativity Church was also damaged. But a $100,000 facelift of the church is nearly complete just in time for its 110th anniversary later this year.

We are pleased that Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. has assembled a strong team of well-known professionals and community leaders to serve on a new Kingsbridge Armory Task Force.

We hope they can quickly come up with some creative ideas that break the tiresome mold of cookie-cutter malls that don’t offer the community anything it really needs and do little to lift workers into even the working class.

A tremendous public resource like the Armory should fulfill myriad public needs.

Retail does not have to be excluded entirely, despite the collapse of the Related Companies proposal in the City Council. The beauty of the Armory’s half-a-million square feet is that it can accommodate so many critical community uses like recreation, entertainment, job training, small business incubator and youth development. Stores can be part of the mix, too. Many of these ideas have been on the community’s drawing board for years.

There have been many Kingsbridge Armory task forces throughout the years, and this one has no real authority aside from the bully pulpit. But maybe that’s a good thing.

Millions of Americans have received the 2010 census form in the mail. While we generally dread government forms, we should welcome this one. In a very real way, the census form, which can be completed in five to 10 minutes in most cases, is as powerful a tool as the right to vote or the freedom to assemble, dissent, and express unpopular opinions. Just as those things are part of the U.S. Constitution, so is the mandate for a census to be conducted every 10 years.

On Gun Hill Road, just a few blocks up from the Bronx River, among bodegas, nail salons and pizza shops, is a small, hole-in-the wall pet shop. It may not seem like much from the outside, but inside is a world of tropical fish, turtles, guinea pigs, exotic birds and friendly parrots who welcome you with “hello.”

On Good Friday, April 2, St. Philip Neri Catholic Church held its annual street procession, called the "The Solemn Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion," before the 3 p.m. service. The 45-minute procession went around Bedford Park to Valentine Avenue and 205th Street and ended at the church on the Grand Concourse.

A listing of events, programs, announcements, services and more for all our readers in the Bronx and beyond.

A listing of art, entertainment and recreational events for our readers in the Bronx and beyond.

Megan Charlop, a longtime Norwood resident and mother of four whose life’s work was improving the health and well-being of Bronxites young and old, died on March 17 as she biked to PS 55 along Crotona Avenue. She swerved to avoid an opening car door when a city bus struck her, killing her instantly. Charlop was 57.