Latest Edition of the Norwood News is Out!

By DAVID CRUZ

Dear Fellow Readers, The year’s sixth edition of the Norwood News with plenty of community news you can use. We’ve packed 20 pages full of great stories impacting the Bronx. As usual, we’ll begin with page one! Our front-page story brings you to Williamsbridge Oval Park where the Bronx Buccaneers have reclaimed their practice spot just in time for spring. The Bucs nearly lost their spot after the team parted ways with the permit holder. Martika Ornella reports on who the team is tipping its helmet for the good news. Inside the cover you’ll find a follow-up piece what exactly

Report: Majority of Kingsbridge Road Merchants Rent Burdened (Picture)

By EMILY SUZANNE LEVER

Evy Viruet started to think something was up when she kept getting phone calls from business owners on Kingsbridge Road about people coming around and taking pictures. “We figured they were up to something,” said Viruet, a small business organizer for Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC). Owners of Kingsbridge corridor businesses soon found ads on the real estate listing site Loopnet.com that offered 2 through 12 W. Kingsbridge Rd. and 2647 through 2659 Jerome Ave. up for sale, specifying that “existing tenants are month to month.” Many tenants in those buildings also have no commercial leases at all.

By EMILY SUZANNE LEVER

Almost eight years ago, Norwood resident Iris Vega-Ortiz was reportedly awarded $33,000 after the state housing agency found her landlord had overcharged her by $400 a month on rent for several years. A new bill proposed by Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz might make Vega-Ortiz’s case more of a common occurrence. Dinowitz, a Democrat who represents Norwood, Riverdale, Kingsbridge, Wakefield and Woodlawn, has introduced a bill to change the state law when it comes to tenants who wish to file a rent overcharge complaint. Currently, tenants can request their rent history from the state Department of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) and

Norwood Among Nabes Targeted for Lead Awareness Campaign

By EMILY SUZANNE LEVER

City health officials are sounding the alarm about lead poisoning that comes not from peeling paint but everyday foods and cosmetics. The city Department of Health & Mental Hygiene announced a lead prevention awareness campaign—which will include flyers, trainings and outreach through community organizations—targeted specifically at South Asian immigrants, who are particularly at risk. The rollout is part of LeadFreeNYC announced at North Central Bronx Hospital on Jan. 28 by Mayor Bill de Blasio, who pegged it as a roadmap to the “literal eradication” of childhood lead exposure. The initiative includes free blood lead level testing and lead inspections for

Neighborhood Notes: Free Immigration Service

By EMILY SUZANNE LEVER

New York City’s decades-long housing crisis continues, and it’s hitting the northwest Bronx the hardest. Fordham and Bedford Park were among the neighborhoods with the most evictions in the city, according to a report released by the office of City Council Speaker and interim Public Advocate Corey Johnson. From January 2017 through 2019, the Bronx led in evictions, in one eviction for every 79 units. That’s more than twice as much as in the next-most affected borough, Brooklyn, which saw one eviction in every 180 units. The 10458 and 10468 zip codes, which encompass Bedford Park, Fordham and other neighborhoods,

An Awareness Campaign to Combat Lead Exposure Beyond NYCHA

By EMILY SUZANNE LEVER

The fight against childhood lead exposure is about more than just lead paint. Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday announced his new initiative, LeadFreeNYC, which aims to completely eliminate lead poisoning in children throughout the city. “We mean literal eradication,” said de Blasio, at a news conference alongside health experts at North Central Bronx Hospital in Norwood. Children can experience learning and behavioral problems and delayed physical and mental development due to the toxicity of lead, with children 6 and under being the most vulnerable. To make lead exposure “one of those diseases of the past” requires a deeper look

By DAVID CRUZ and EMILY SUZANNE LEVER

Neighborhood chosen for ‘Six to Celebrate’ designation Bedford Park stepped closer towards legitimate neighborhood preservation after the Historic Districts Council (HDC), a nonprofit group specializing in maintaining neighborhoods’ familiar aesthetics and cultural heritage, placed it in its ‘Six to Celebrate’ designation. The group, which lobbies the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission and touts its involvement in the creation of over 100 historic districts in its 49-year history, puts a spotlight each year on six neighborhoods it considers important to New York architecture, culture and history and in need of preservation. In a statement, HDC described Bedford Park as an

Rocking the H-o-u-s-e at the PS 94 Spelling Bee

By EMILY SUZANNE LEVER

The atmosphere was electric in the auditorium at PS 94 Kings College on Wednesday morning while fourth- and fifth-graders faced off in the Norwood school’s yearly spelling bee. A spellbound audience of over 300 students watched for two hours as their peers nailed words like “revolutionary,” “responsibility,” “visualize,” and “microphone.” After seven rounds of competition, the 31 contestants, who had been preparing for weeks for the contest, had been narrowed down to three: fourth-graders Fatima Ali, Mohammed Ali (no relation) and Samuel Yeboah. Fatima Ali, 9, wearing light-up sneakers, secured third place and bowed out after attempting to spell “technique.”