Peter Fine, the well-connected developer who is emerging as a top contender to secure the rights to redevelop the Kingsbridge Armory, has cultivated success as well as controversy in other areas of the city. As the Norwood News reported last issue, everyone interested in the armory project generally liked the detailed proposal Fine laid out at a Community Board 7 Land Use meeting on May 31. Fine put wind behind his own sails by securing a Zerega Avenue industrial site, which he would use to relocate the two National Guard units currently housed in the armory.

Sarwar Construction, a Brooklyn-based construction company, has been fined $7,450 by OSHA (the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration), following the death of employee Mohammad Nadeem who fell from scaffolding on Dec. 7 last year while working on a Bedford Park apartment building.

Several community residents have been appointed as new members to Community Board 7, according to the Bronx borough president’s office. The new members are Helene Hartman-Kutnowsky, Cynthia O’Neal Riley, Enrique Vegam, George Berdejo and Waleska Roldan.

New York lawmakers dealt a potentially serious blow to predatory lenders, unanimously passing a bill that would protect vulnerable homeowners, many of them senior citizens, from "foreclosure rescue" scams.

The ninth annual Bronx Walk of Fame induction ceremony capped off the weeklong celebration of Bronx Week.

Plans to build a housing complex for former homeless people and low-income families on the southeast corner of East 204th Street and Villa Avenue in Bedford Park have infuriated local residents and community leaders.

Builder Peter Fine unveiled his colorful and detailed Kingsbridge Armory redevelopment proposal at Community Board 7 two weeks ago, hoping to bypass a laborious city process for choosing a developer. The city plans to issue a request for proposals (RFP) in August that would essentially open the door to any interested firm to present their vision for the mammoth landmark.

Pick up any piece of fruit at a supermarket or bodega and there’s bound to be a sticker on it with its place of origin – Mexico, California, Georgia, etc. But at the 2-year-old Norwood Food Co-op, there are no stickers. What co-op members get instead is fresh, delicious produce delivered every week by upstate farmer Zaid Kurdieh. They learn about vegetables most have never tried before, like fennel, tat soi, and heirloom tomatoes.

Shawn Ramos and Benjamin Berrios were wearing wide grins last Friday at MS 80’s first annual curriculum fair. And with good reason: the seventh graders, together with 53 of their peers, were each taking home a brand new Dell laptop, theirs to keep until they graduate high school.