In November, after years of what they considered severe landlord neglect, the residents of 3525 Decatur Ave. banded together to fight back. Now, the landlord’s continued unresponsiveness and some confounding legal setbacks have only strengthened their resolve.

Despite a rough year, economically and otherwise, the holiday spirit was not lost on the Barajona family.

Leroy Barajona, along with the help of his wife Shirley, their three children and neighbors, transformed the entire first floor and lobby of their Fordham-area apartment building into a winter wonderland.

Norwood artist Ivan Velez, Jr. often worries about the future of comic books. He says this feeling reflects the reality of a narrow-minded industry that he is actively working to change.

Bank of America at 299 E. 204th St., which suffered some damage in the massive blaze that destroyed three neighboring businesses, is still in the hands of the city.

As Bill de Blasio, the city’s new 6-foot-5 public advocate and a rising star in the Democratic party, made his way to the front of Bronx Community College’s Gould Auditorium for new Councilman Fernando Cabrera’s inauguration, he was stopped by former 11th Council District candidatevTony Cassino.

With a deadline for federal education funding looming, State Senator Pedro Espada, Jr. wants to increase the cap for charter schools in New York.

As a vote neared in the City Council on the Kingsbridge Armory redevelopment, only Oliver Koppell was publicly expressing reservations about joining with the Bronx delegation in rejecting the project.

But when the vote came, he voted with the Bronx delegation and 44 of his colleagues, in a stunning rebuke of the mayor and one of his top outer-borough economic development priorities.

A listing of public and community meetings in the northwest Bronx.

Fernando Cabrera didn’t wait until Jan. 1 to become the councilman for the 14th District. Right after the November general election, without an office, a Council salary or a paid staff, Cabrera attended community meetings and events, met with community leaders, and helped lead the charge for the Bronx delegation in defeating the Bloomberg administration’s plans to turn the Kingsbridge Armory into a shopping mall.

The hard work and passion he has exhibited thus far is promising and fills a giant gap left by his predecessor, Maria Baez, who had the worst City Council attendance record and was rarely seen at important community meetings.

We do worry he will be spread thin by other substantial professional obligations. He is pastor of New Life Outreach International Church on Morris Avenue and he still plans to teach courses on-line for Mercy College, where he has been a professor of counseling. Only time will tell if he can handle it all, but we hope he prioritizes the position he was just elected to. His constituents are counting on him.