Assemblywoman Nathalia Fernandez, who formally announced her intention to run for Bronx borough president at the end of August, joined some of her staff members, Friends of Mosholu Parkland and members of the City Parks’ department on Monday Aug. 31 for another park clean-up, as part of the ongoing “Meaningful Monday” initiative. This time it was at Azalea Garden at Jerome Avenue and East Mosholu Parkway in the Bronx.

The campaign which is trending on social media under the hashtag #meaningfulmonday was launched in July by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., in an effort to gather members of the public together each Monday and do something to give back to the local community, primarily by cleaning up public parks.

Speaking on Pix News on Aug. 3, the borough president said he started the initiative in the park opposite where he lives and has been seen in different parks around the Bronx in the intervening weeks, encouraging the public and elected officials to get the word out and get people involved with clean-up efforts.

“We know that people have been cooped up and we know that there’s not too many options for them to go [places] so that our parks are now being over-utilized, believe it or not, and we don’t mind that, but what we want is also for people to be able to come out and channel their energies,” Diaz Jr. said during the interview on Aug. 3.

“We’ve seen that volunteerism is big. People want to do something whether it’s dealing with food insecurity, so [to] a lot of folks we’re saying, ‘Look, if there’s nothing for you to do, being that the City has cut the funding for City parks, they’ve cut funding for some of the youth jobs, just come out here on Mondays, and help us clean up the parks.'”

Diaz Jr. said as one example in a park like Soundview, which has over 200 square acres of parkland, there are only four City Park employees who are scheduled to come out and ensure it’s kept clean on a ongoing basis.

He said because of this, and the amount of trash that had accumulated in the park, about 40 volunteers came out over the course of a couple of weeks to help with the clean-up efforts, and they now have a structured routine in place. They split up into groups, and some deal with the larger piles of trash left under trees, while others go around and pick up individual pieces of garbage scattered throughout the park.

He also used the occasion to explain what the Fresh Air Summer Spaces initiative was about, a program which started on Aug. 3 to create fun, free and safe play spaces around the city for kids to play in. “The Fresh Air Fund partnered up with us a couple of years ago when we saw those images of Junior being butchered by a gang of individuals,” he said, referring to Lessandro “Junior” Guzman Feliz who was murdered in the Bronx on June 20, 2018 by members of the Trinitarios gang.

“Last year, we were able to open up our fresh air [program] in upstate New York [but] because of COVID, those [inaudible] camps are not accessible to our kids [this year],” he said. “We know that the summer months can be hot, not only in temperature but out on the streets, so this is a place now where we’ve partnered up, and we’ve closed down a couple of streets and if you can just go to Fresh Air and have your kids go there, they can have fun, they can educate themselves, and be safe.”

Fresh Air Summer Spaces offers two-hour sessions for children aged between five and 13, at neighborhood-based locations to participate in supervised, fun outdoor activities including arts & crafts, Frisbee, basketball drills and dance parties.

The spaces are open Monday to Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Most program sites are closed for the summer but a limited walk up spot is available at the following Bronx location from Aug. 31 to  Sept. 3:

The Bronx – Belmont: Oak Tree Place from Hughes Avenue to Quarry Road

Wrapping up the topic on the park clean-up events, Diaz Jr. reiterated that while parks should be used, people should clean up after themselves afterwards. “We need the help – all boots on the ground,” he said. “It’s not enough to just complain about it to elected officials or government. It’s not enough to just complain on social media. Come out, and volunteerism will warm your heart with joy.”

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.