Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe (3rd from right) was joined by a phalanx of Bronx elected officials and community representatives at Devoe Park on Aug. 14 to celebrate the re-opening of the park after extensive renovations. The park has new spray showers, seating, landscaping and play equipment.  Three other Bronx parks also re-opened on the same day as Devoe: Story Playground, Soundview Park and Aqueduct Lands Playground. The total cost came to $14 million and comes out of a $200 million pool of mitigation funds related to the construction of the Croton water filtration plant in Van Cortlandt Park. 

The daily routine of many Bronx public high school students goes something like this: get to school an hour early to be herded through metal detectors, eat lunch at 10 a.m. in a crowded cafeteria, and go home without having had any art, music, or science classes. Experiences like these brought more than 60 Bronx youth, educators and activists to a press conference and rally on the steps of City Hall on Aug. 7

A listing of local programs, services and events for our readers in the northwest Bronx.

A listing of arts and entertainment events and exhibitions in the northwest Bronx.

An Independence Day shooting at Tracey Towers, a Mosholu Parkway high-rise with a history of problems and violence, left a young man critically injured and tenants searching for answers from police who failed to show up after a 911 call was placed two hours before the incident.

Ideas for a revamped Kingsbridge Armory gushed from the minds and mouths of local stakeholders at a public brainstorming session last week and included everything from a youth center to a community auditorium.

Berta, a 54-year-old Mexican single mother, has sold coquitos y paletas (ices and fruit popsicles) from a cart on the corner of Fordham Road for the past 10 years. This year, Berta secured a vending permit with help from VAMOS Unidos, a street vendor advocacy group.

VAMOS Unidos’ main goal is to increase the available vending permits, which the city has updated by only 1,000 in nearly 30 years. There are an estimated 5,000 to 15,000 street vendors in the city who operate without a permit.

Bronx youth rallied outside Yankee Stadium hours before the All-Star Game on July 15, calling for more and better jobs, and emphasizing the stark contrast between the largely publicly-funded new Yankee Stadium and the daily lives of many poor Bronxites.

In the state’s 80th Assembly District, Irene Rukaj, an Independent candidate, is challenging Democratic incumbent Naomi Rivera. In the 81st District, Riverdale resident Jeffrey Klapper, a registered Democrat, told the Norwood News he was running as a Republican against Jeffrey Dinowitz