Ischia Bravo

CB7: Permanent Outdoor Dining Fuels Noise Debate, as New Housing Planned for Special Needs Population

By DAWN CLANCY
  Bronx Community Board 7 (CB7)’s Housing, Land Use, and Economic Development Committee have said “yes,” to plans to support the City’s proposal to make outdoor dining permanent, but some residents are wary the move may exacerbate already, unwanted noise levels late at night. The board also gave its support to a new housing development at 3118 Webster Avenue in Norwood, despite some residents’ misgivings over the trajectory of quality-of-life in the area.   At the board’s housing committee meeting, held on Sept. 14, the first such committee meeting to take place since breaking for the summer, a quality-of-life discussion


Read More

Former District 15 City Council Candidate, Troy Blackwell, Forms “Ready for Change” PAC

By SÍLE MOLONEY
Troy Blackwell, an Afro-Latino voting rights activist and former District 15 City Council candidate, as reported, has founded “Ready for Change,” a political action committee dedicated to promoting youth voter education and supporting “forward-thinking Democrats” at the local and state level. According to Blackwell, Ready for Change aims to make democracy more representative by increasing voter participation among youth, especially youth of color.   Blackwell will lead the PAC and oversee potential partnerships. Educational resources will be provided in English, Spanish, Arabic, and French to reach diverse voters, and the key issues the PAC will focus on include climate change,


Read More

Third Yemeni American Day Parade Held in Bronx’s “Little Yemen”

By DAVID GREENE
Several hundred Yemeni Americans and their supporters in the Bronx celebrated the 3rd Annual Yemeni American Day Parade as they marched through the streets of “Little Yemen” on Sunday, Aug. 1.   The parade was led by two NYPD police officers on horseback, followed by an NYPD color guard and marching band, as well as the New York City Police Department’s brass band.   Joining the Muslim American Society of New York (MAS), the organizers of the parade, were members of the Morris Park Business Improvement District, the Morris Park Community Association, and more than two dozen other groups and organizations, as


Read More

New Committee Elected to Bronx CB7 for Upcoming Year

By SARAH HUFFMAN
The election of the various officer positions to Bronx Community Board 7 (CB7) for the upcoming year took place at the last general board meeting of the year on June 23. Most of the incumbent officers were re-elected, apart from one. In addition, four motions were passed on various, different matters. Most had already been reviewed at the board’s June 17 meeting, as reported.   Nominating committee chair, Sandra Erickson, gave each candidate a chance to pitch their candidacy to the board members at the beginning of the meeting before voting took place. Most positions ran uncontested, except for second


Read More

Primaries 2021: July 6 RCV Tabulation for District 15 City Council Race

By SÍLE MOLONEY, DAWN CLANCY & SHANIA DEGROOT
The New York City Board of Elections (BOE) published its second, updated preliminary unofficial report of the ranked choice vote (RCV) tabulation in the 2021 District 15 primary election on Tuesday evening, July 6.   According to the report, incumbent councilman, Oswald Feliz, secured 65.2 percent (4,348 votes) of the vote share after the latest tabulation, beating his closest opponent, district manager for Bronx Community Board 7, Ischia Bravo. The report showed Bravo finishing with 34.8 percent (2,325 votes) after Round 7, and indicated that Feliz had won the race, as reported. A week ago, after the initial RCV tabulation


Read More

June Primaries 2021: An Overview of Election Day, June 22, in Photos & Words

By DAWN CLANCY, RACHEL DALLOO, MIRIAM QUIÑONES & SÍLE MOLONEY
Norwood News caught up with Bronxites at the polls on Primary Day, Tuesday, June 22, to gain some insights into their most pressing concerns, their top choice of candidates, their thoughts on ranked choice voting, and their hopes for the borough’s future. We also scanned social media to see how different candidates were passing the day.   District 14 Race  Emmanuel Sarpong, 51, is a security worker and we caught up with him at P.S. 306 in Morris Heights, located in City Council District 14. “In the Bronx, we’ve been left really far behind,” he said. “I travel around all


Read More

District 15 City Council Race: Candidates Receive Close to Half a Million Dollars in Public Funds

By SÍLE MOLONEY
Close to half a million dollars had been paid out in taxpayer dollars to candidates in the District 15 City Council race, according to a summary by the New York City Campaign Finance Board (CFB), as of Thursday, June 17. Under the CFB’s public matching funds program, participating candidates received a total of $464,181. The summary also shows that, as of June 17, collectively, participating candidates had raised a total of $144,186 in private funds, and had spent just over a quarter of a million dollars, $251,843, collectively, on their campaigns, ahead of the June 22 primary election.   As


Read More

Update: Northwest Bronx Democrats’ 2021 Endorsements & Non-Endorsements of West Side Candidates

By SÍLE MOLONEY
Local community and political organization, the Northwest Bronx Democrats (NWBx Dems) announced their endorsements and non-endorsements of various west side candidates running for City Council Districts 11, 14 and 15 in the upcoming primaries on Friday, June 11. They also announced their picks for Bronx civil court judge and Bronx borough president.   Saying, this year, the NWBx Dems’ endorsement process was dictated by a combination of hope and alleged broken promises by candidates, Anthony Rivieccio, the organization’s founder, confirmed that in the District 14 race, the group endorsed Pierina Sanchez and Yudelka Tapia. In the Bronx borough president race,


Read More

Super PACs Spend $18.6 M on NYC Candidates so far, including Abreu, Bravo & Pierina Sanchez

By SÍLE MOLONEY
The New York City Campaign Finance Board (CFB) announced that “independent expenditure committees,” sometimes referred to as IEs or Super PACs, reported a new collective spending total in the 2021 New York City elections of over $18.6 million, as of Friday, June 11. This was mostly spent on mayoral candidates but also includes cumulative spending on other candidates like District 14 City Council candidates, Adolfo Abreu and Pierina Sanchez, and District 15 City Council candidate and Bronx Community Board 7 District Manager, Ischia Bravo.   A Super PAC is a political campaign that advocates for the election or defeat of


Read More