Local commuting frustrations started to simmer last week as a major construction project on East Gun Hill Road caused an exit closure and increased traffic congestion.

In the first major housing complex built on the Grand Concourse in decades, a 10-story building will rise where a former school was knocked down at Bedford Park Boulevard.

Major strategies to develop the Harlem River waterfront, from bike lanes to ball fields, were on parade at the Bronx Council for Environmental Quality (BCEQ)’s fourth annual Water Conference. While most projects are slated for communities south of Community District 7, officials also discussed visions for the local area.

The members of Community Board 7 may have not known it was Sunshine Week when they voted unanimously to recommend that meetings of the committee monitoring the filtration plant construction should be opened to the public. But we can’t think of a better celebration of the week’s principles.

Nearly 100 Bronxites gathered for a peace rally in front of the Kingsbridge Armory last Friday, denouncing the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

At the first meeting of the Facilities Monitoring Committee (FMC) for the filtration plant last Thursday, the participants decided that future meetings, to be held monthly, should not be open to the general public.

You don’t have to be an economic development expert to know that an extra $500 million in the hands of New Yorkers would be a good thing for city residents and the city at large.

In our last issue, we reported that the first meeting of the Facilities Monitoring Committee for the Croton filtration plant would be closed to the public, but that the participants would discuss whether to open up future meetings.

While we’re talking about open government, we’d like to reiterate our support for Sunshine Week, which begins on March 13. Organized by the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Sunshine Week is meant to educate the public about their rights to obtain public information and state and federal Freedom of Information laws.