The following letter was addressed to Mayor Michael Bloomberg: I am a member of the Mosholu Montefiore Senior Center and would like to express my feelings regarding your plan for senior centers. Closing these centers to handicapped or not handicapped will be a fatal blow. Those who will be deprived of the privilege of this membership will have no place to go. How will the gap be filled? There seems to be money for everyone else but seniors. They have no bailout. This attempt to save money will end up costing more money for additional nursing homes, hospitals and institutions.

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A high note bounces off the considerable walls and ceilings of the sanctuary at the Fordham United Methodist Church, reverberating through the room. It hangs for a beat. Soon, more notes follow and the room comes alive as the familiar sounds of Handel’s “Messiah, Part One,” sung by the church’s choir, animate a local institution whose long history nearly mirrors that of the Bronx itself.

Dart Westphal, president of Mosholu Preservation Corporation and publisher of the Norwood News, was honored by the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) at its 2008 Living Legends awards ceremony on Nov. 13. The award was bestowed upon "four individuals who have dedicated their lives to making the Bronx a better and stronger place." In addition to Westphal, CAB gave the Living Legend Award to Eric Soto, director of Bronx public affairs at Con Edison; Verona Greenland, president and CEO of the Morris Heights Health Center; and Fr. John Grange, longtime pastor of St. Jerome’s Church and current pastor of St. Athanasius Church.

The Women’s Forum, a community of preeminent female leaders in New York, bestowed their prestigious educational award on 10 women this past September, including three students from Lehman College.

Norwood resident Ciaran Groarke, a clerk in Bronx Supreme Court, received two first place awards for his paintings in the New York City Court Employees Arts and Crafts Show on Oct. 29.  His paintings, “Walk on Wate,” and “Boys and Bombs,” each won first prize in the Painting and Graphic Arts categories. Groarke received a $50 gift certificate to Pearl Paint for each of the prizes.

A listing of community programs, services for our readers in the Norwood News.

The Norwood News arts and entertainment calendar for our readers in the northwest Bronx.

For two years, local leaders and residents have demanded the vacant old Fordham Library building be turned into something that benefits the underserved and densely populated community. But recently, the city quietly gave control of the 27,400-square-foot structure over to the Health Department for use as an animal shelter.

Pedro Espada, Jr. emerged victorious in the general election last week to be the area’s state senator on the heels of a bloody primary battle with incumbent Efrain Gonzalez, who was heavily backed by the state’s Democratic leadership. Now, for Espada, it’s payback time.