Second Act For Paradise?

Developers are finally well on their way to flipping the stage lights back on at the Loew’s Paradise Theatre after more than a decade of vacancy. Rehabilitation work at the Grand Concourse landmark began again in earnest earlier this year to pave the way for a large-scale theater predominantly showcasing Latino cultural events.

Lost and Found

The case of a Chinese food delivery man who was missing for almost four days inside Tracey Towers, only to turn up unscathed in a stuck elevator, has police and local residents scratching their heads.

Youth Providers Nervously Await Funding Revamp

Youth organizations are anxiously waiting to see if some of their largest and oldest programs will continue under a massive city reorganization of after-school initiatives. The revamp, consolidating three distinct programming areas for kids, sent area providers scrambling to fulfill its new mandates.

Academy Gives Teens Taste of Teaching

J. R.Qureshi, 15, now swallows his youthful pride and gives grammar his undivided attention. J.R. may not be fascinated with the present verb tense, but he might have to explain it to a classroom of his peers in the near future – or next week.

For New Moms, Group Offers Many Helping Hands

Three-year-old Arianna is having a hard time choosing the next game to play at Chuck E Cheeze in Co-op City. After a few minutes of walking around the store, she sticks a red ticket in the slot of a photo booth, poses for the camera, and jumps up and down as she waits for the machine to print her picture. She smiles at the photo, and then turns to her mom, Roxanne Taylor, 32, who hands her daughter another ticket.

Norwood Artist’s Work a Window Onto Self

Norwood artist Jose Rios has gone from the lows of homelessness to the highs of seeing his paintings showcased in Manhattan galleries, as they will be later this month during his third solo show.

Board 7 Votes To Open Plant Meetings

Community Board 7 voted unanimously last week to support a resolution that recommends that meetings of the committee set up to monitor the construction of the filtration plant in Van Cortlandt Park be open to the public.

New Direction for Housing

Advocates and officials are cautiously optimistic about a new housing inspection program that will target groupings of problem buildings by neighborhood. In its final stages of approval at press time, the program intends to put the squeeze on landlords who fail to correct violations in their buildings.

CB7 Update

Several future and impending construction projects, and a handful of motions, were addressed during Community Board 7’s public meeting last week.