It’s going to be hard to imagine The Bronx without the Norwood News. Through its near 40-year history it was a paper that fought for its residents, producing high-quality news that arguably made the borough a better place to live. It also served as an entry point to tomorrow’s journalists.

 

I would know as I oversaw the hyperlocal paper from December 2013 until the eve of the pandemic in March 2020. There was no square foot I didn’t know about Norwood, a community forged around a lush park that stood at its center, the Williamsbridge Oval.

 

For a paper known for such doggedness in bringing quality-of-life issues to the forefront, it was a publication I was proud to helm. Whether it was covering P.S. 95’s annual spelling bee contest, highlighting a rash of thefts along the Jerome Gun Hill Business Improvement strip, or chronicling the state of politics in the borough, the paper served the people. As Dr. Spencer “Spike” Foreman, then head of Montefiore Health System during Norwood News’ early years, said: the paper doubled as the neighborhood antidote. It was a paper, as my predecessor, Alex Kratz, noted, that “gave voice to the voiceless.”

 

That mantra was no more illustrative than when the team covered the issue of housing, where the Norwood News sought to expose deplorable building conditions across its coverage area, drawing attention to decision-makers for solutions. One singular housing story stands out.

 

It came in February 2015 when a Bedford Park resident approached me after the local civic meeting with a tip on poor heating conditions in her building on Valentine Avenue. It was the dead of winter. The temperatures were probably in the high 30s to low 40s. Yet, this building was experiencing the winter from hell. I needed to check this out for myself.

 

The residents met me inside the frigid lobby of their building, an old minimalist-style residence. These were working-class people just getting by in The Bronx. They spoke to me of their new landlord who, after a few months, installed sensors that would automatically turn off when the heat reached what they thought was an acceptable temperature. Acceptable temperatures appeared to be somewhere in the 50s inside the home.

 

This was a story that fit the mold of the Norwood News, giving voice to the voiceless. I stayed with this story. For every interview I conducted, I would learn more about the building, its residents, and the building owner lording over the property. Little did I know the building had some major backers behind it.

 

After peeling the onion on publicly available property records, I learned that the building wasn’t owned by a small-time owner, but a housing development juggernaut. The story got better: a multi-billion-dollar concern was mismanaging a building that shouldn’t have been happening. But then there was another twist.

 

I learned that the building itself was purchased with monies from New York City’s pension fund. This, of course, was not good news (or a good look) for the person managing the city’s pension fund system, then-City Comptroller Scott Stringer. But despite the paper being small, constantly in triage mode (the newspaper operated with a staff of one full-timer: me) – our story got the city’s attention. It was a big win for the paper.

 

That story was one of many pieces driven in service of its residents. They thought they had no place to go, but they found one in the community paper. Other stories of that caliber would follow, including a deep dive into the city’s housing changes, efforts by the local 52nd Precinct to combat a surge of opioid-related deaths, a construction boom born out of major rezoning efforts, nearly all of them coming down to the wire on production day when we put the paper together.

 

With the help of Judy Noy, our consummate copy editor at the time and Mauro DeLuca, our designer, we crammed as much neighborhood news that our pages could fill. It was a Herculean effort, but a roster of interns and freelancers helped us get to the finish line. Every edition felt like an achievement.

 

And there was certainly something for everyone, whether learning about free services in Neighborhood Notes, arts and culture in Out & About or getting answers to our question of the week in our Inquiring Photographer.

 

We also had a public meetings section intended to encourage residents to attend their local community board which, for the paper, was a trove of fantastic leads about goings-on in the neighborhood. There, I would find the community spirit teeming among those who put a premium on their quality of life.

 

It’s hard to think this borough will be down another paper. In an era where misinformation has blanketed social media, it’s so important for there to be a trusted source of vital information. No other borough deserves that as much as The Bronx, which has certainly risen from its days of burnt-out homes, a polluted river running down its spine, and under-investment. I’d like to think a vestige of the Norwood News helped contribute to boosting that quality of life.

 

With the paper reaching its final edition, it’s my hope residents will fill that void in letting everyone know what’s happening in their neighborhood. Attend a community board or precinct council meeting or consider joining it. Volunteer your time for community clean up events. Tell your elected officials what is going on. Participate; it can be a great disinfectant.

 

I know that will happen. Like the heat-deprived Bedford Park residents, Bronxites know when to stand and speak up.

 

David Cruz is the former editor-in-chief of the Norwood News between December 2013 and March 2020.