The Norwood News would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year! Here’s hoping for a year of good news in the northwest Bronx in 2008.

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Grassroots community groups, including the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, are teaming up with larger national organizations in an effort to push Wall Street into paying up for its role in the mortgage foreclosure crisis hitting the Bronx and every other part of the country.

With renovations coming to two heavily used playing fields in Norwood and Bedford Park, the debate over which surface is better – grass or synthetic turf – is heating up.

The Tenant Protection Act is supported by the majority of the 51-member City Council, including most of the Bronx delegation. Still, not everyone is behind it. Bronx Council Member Maria Baez has sponsored a rival bill (Intro. 638) along with Majority Leader Joel Rivera, another Bronx politician, and five other Council members.

Congressman Eliot Engel slammed the Bush administration’s latest proposal to cut homeland security grants to $1.4 billion for 2009 from the $3.4 billion spent in the 2007 fiscal year. The proposal also includes cutting some rail and port security programs.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced an agreement on new legislation authorizing lien sales for the collection of overdue taxes and water bills.

The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) recently announced the launch of a new housing safety program, called the Alternative Enforcement Program (AEP). This program will allow HPD to name the 200 most unsafe properties in New York City each year and force the landowners to bring these buildings up to code in a reasonable amount of time.

Council Member Oliver Koppell, chair of the Mental Health Committee, said New York City needs to do more to help youth with mental health issues.