Editor’s Note: The following is an extended and updated version of the article that appears in our latest print edition.

This week, after some negative comments about quality-of-life issues in and around the Williamsbridge Oval park in Norwood, and in Norwood more broadly, were sent recently to the Office of Councilman Eric Dinowitz (C.D. 11), Bronx Community Board 7, and the Jerome Gun Hill BID from George Lunney of Norwood Residents Association, and other quality-of-life concerns were raised by other local residents, we asked readers for their views on the situation.

 

Complaints highlighted to date in the Oval included broken tennis nets in the tennis courts, too much trash, and an apparent lack of citations for dog poop, while in other areas of Norwood, complaints related to noise, and reduced public parking spaces due to “motorcycles parking horizontally” on Perry Avenue between East 206th and East 207th Streets, and due to plants, Citibikes, ZIP car shares, and garbage containers.

Other complaints related to clogged catch basins in the Oval and the Oval Skate park, which frequently floods after heavy rain, and in Norwood more generally, dirty sidewalks, discarded e-scooters, and planters filled with trash on East Gun Hill Road, litter, and overflowing trash cans.

 

As previously reported, Webster Avenue in Norwood is frequently seen lined with piles of trash, especially along and adjacent to the Metro North train line.

On Monday, May 25, Norwood News photographed several dog poop piles in the dog park in the Oval while a putrid smell filled the air. A laundry basket was left abandoned along Reservoir Oval East on Sunday, May 24, and someone apparently removed a tire lock placed on a scofflaw vehicle and dumped it in the park the same day. We also photographed the referenced broken steps and broken tennis nets on various days.

 

Daniela Beasley, executive director of the Jerome Gun Hill (JGH) Business Improvement District (BID), responded to Lunney on May 20 to say that the BID’s clean team is responsible for the sidewalk and tree pits but not the gutters, and added that the clean team cannot go on side streets or into residential areas of the BID corridor.

Beasley said she would ask the team to focus their efforts more on Webster Avenue and Bainbridge, and added that the BID has brought up the local trash issues with the Sanitation department in the past, asking them to issue warnings/tickets to people sitting in their cars during Alternate Side Parking hours if they can’t access the affected areas. Other residents have long complained about the level of trash between parked cars and the wall perimeter around the Reservoir Oval.

 

Beasley added that the referenced planters were to be serviced the week ending Friday, May 22, with new plants, and are tended to once a month by a vendor when trash is also removed. She added that a graffiti removal service also takes care of graffiti in the area, and explained that the Montefiore planters aren’t within the BID’s scope. Nonetheless, she offered to follow up with Montefiore once advised of specific affected sites.

Karla Cabrera Carrera, district manager for Bronx Community Board 7 (CB7), said on May 21 that the board does everything it can to address and escalate concerns raised by the nearly 147,000 residents in the district and mentioned that Norwood is the most active in terms of residents reporting public safety and quality-of-life issues.

 

Cabrera Carrera confirmed that the City’s Sanitation enforcement team was due to walk through the blocks mentioned and issue summonses as needed. She added that the Sanitation department is not responsible for picking up e-scooters and that such complaints should be reported via 311 here.

She said dog waste or animal waste should be reported via 311 here, and catch basin complaints via 311 here. The district manager went on to say that requests for litter baskets should be logged via 311 here, and added that any 311 complaints can be escalated to CB7 via email or text (including a picture of the issue) or to the councilman’s office.

 

For her part, Jenna Klaus from the councilman’s office followed up with Lunney by phone to address his concerns. Dinowitz had recently organized a clean-up in the park around Earth Day on Sunday, April 19, with local groups and volunteers, including Future of Mosholu Parkland (FOMP), who often organize clean-up events in and around the neighborhood, as had Friends of the Williamsbridge Oval in the past, when that Friends group was more active. Norwood News has also carried out one or two clean-up sessions in the Oval.

Meanwhile, Lunney said he founded the Norwood Residents Association around one month ago, adding that he has offered to provide funding to the Parks’ department to address some of the needed park repairs (capital projects) like the broken tennis nets, the cracked steps and more. He alleged, however, that City bureaucracy is such that even an offer of funding is seen as complicated to process by City officials.

 

Meanwhile, separately, NYC Parks is also asking residents to share their ideas about how to improve the Williamsbridge Oval, as well as ideas on the reconstruction of the park. A virtual meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 3, at 6 p.m.

Register at nyc.gov/parks/input. Registration is required by June 3 at 5 p.m. For more information, contact Katerine Borrome at Katerine.Borrome@parks.nyc.gov or on (718) 430 1801. You can also visit nyc.gov/parks under the Capital Project Tracker section.

 

Another Norwood resident, Kama Linden, also raised concerns with what she described as the “ongoing situation” at 3187 Webster Avenue. On May 27, she said, “The bodega is the site of not just loud, [but] 76 decibel loud, parties. My left ear is still hurting from last night.”

Linden continued, “311 is a joke. It is possible that the police did actually respond last night, but I am not sure if they got there to hear the music. My decibel reader showed 71, then 76 decibels. This has been going on for 10 years.”

She added in part, “Mostly the same people. There is the horrible woman who screams and laughs like a hyena. Now that there are Citibikes, people hang out on those.” She said music was sometimes blasting out of a car, van, or portable speaker.

Linden continued, “The groups will usually be on this corner, but in order to avoid police detection, they will sometimes sit closer to the apt building right next to it on 205th under the awning. Last night was particularly bad. Only Evan from [Assemblyman] John Zacarro’s (A.D. 80) office and Emma from Eric Dinowitz’s office care and try to help.”

Linden said she had difficulty knowing who to reach out to at the 52nd Precinct. Norwood News shared the contact information for NYPD Det. Stephen Echevarria of the 52nd Precinct’s Community Affairs team with her and she confirmed that she has since spoken with him.

Norwood News visited the location in the early hours of Saturday, May 30, and there was no noise or music. We visited again at around 10.45 p.m. on Sunday, May 31, when loud music was playing but not by the group of people seated on the corner outside the deli, who said they sometimes play music but only until 10 p.m.

The music on May 31 was being played at an adjacent building on Webster Avenue next to the deli. Police arrived at the scene around the same time on Sunday night and the music was turned off. Norwood News spoke further with the owner of the deli, the people seated on the corner, and those playing the music. More to follow.

 

Linden later said in part, “On her day off, Officer Acosta Rivera (52 Pct) answered me and sent a message to her contact at the 52. Something is finally being done after 8 years thanks to Officers Ecchevaria and Acosta Rivera.”

In terms of safety in the Oval, after 14-year-old Ángel Miguel Mendoza Hernández was tragically and fatally stabbed in the park on Aug. 5, 2025, followed by some rapes in and around the area, amid grave concern raised by residents, State Sen. Gustavo Rivera (S.D. 33) announced on Dec. 16, 2025, that 20 cameras had been installed all around the Oval recreation center.

Meanwhile, other “Argus” cameras funded by the councilman and Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, have also been installed outside the entrance to the Oval on Van Cortlandt Avenue as well as inside the park near the basketball courts.

Residents had also requested more police and PEP presence in the Oval both before and following Ángel’s death.

NYC Parks staff have been seen in the Oval on different occasions, including on April 4, a day after it was reported that a teenage girl had been stomped on by a group of youths in front of the rec center, the same general area where Angel was killed, though some residents have allege they are not a constant presence.

Meanwhile, Lunney followed up on his initial complaints regarding the Oval on Friday, May 29, saying he and his neighbors now plan to sue NYC Parks, and also raised some additional complaints.

“Myself and about a dozen residents did another walk through of Williamsbridge Oval Park yesterday and found that the park was filthy,” he said. “Rats were seen running around, trash was everywhere, the nets in the tennis court are still broken for over a month as is the entrance gate, there are loose concrete steps behind the tennis court leading to the upper level, paint and plaster are still cracked in the men’s room and several catch basins are still badly clogged.”

Lunney said he had reached out “several times” to the Park’s manager and to the Office of Jessenia Aponte, Bronx Parks commissioner, and alleges he did not receive a response. Lunney continued, “Certain people don’t want neighborhood residents or me to file 311 complaints, yet nothing is done to correct these problems; same outstanding repairs for months.”

 

“We have decided that legal action is our only recourse, a lawsuit against the Parks’ department and several of its local officials,” he said. “We are tired of hearing about staff shortages and budget problems; same story every year.” Lunney went on to allege that “on several occasions” the same week he observed Parks Enforcement Patrol (PEP) officers allegedly sitting in their vehicles on their cell phones in an isolated area while people blasted music that he said could be heard on the other side of the park, drank alcohol openly, and rode motorcycles and mopeds throughout the park.

Loud music is played in the Williamsbridge Oval park in Norwood, The Bronx at around 2 a.m. on Saturday, May 30, 2026. The video was recorded from inside the Keeper’s House so the actual volume of the music was much louder outside. V1

“We also observed a fight between several teenagers all while the parks officer sat in his vehicle and watched,” he alleged. “Oh, and empty heroin bags and dirty drug needles in the dog run.” Norwood News asked where in the dog run he saw the bags and needles in order to photograph them and he said he had already removed them and had not taken any photos prior to doing so. In some other Bronx parks, after similar complaints were raised, more containers were made available for the safe disposal of used needles, as previously reported.

 

Norwood News reached out to both the Mayor’s office and the Parks department for comment on the various issues raised regarding the Oval and a spokesperson responded on Sunday, May 31, saying, “NYC Parks remains committed to keeping Williamsbridge Oval, one of the most heavily used parks in our system, safe, clean, and welcoming for the Bronx communities it serves.”

Parks officials went on to say that it maintains a daily staffing presence at the Oval, with between one and three fixed-post staff on site each day handling trash collection and supplemental clean-up, as needed. They said catch basins throughout the park are regularly maintained to prevent blockages and support proper drainage.

 

They said PEP officers maintain a fixed post at the recreation center, and roving borough PEP officers patrol the park a minimum of two hours daily. They added that officers engage with visitors, educate the public on park rules, and issue summonses where warranted.

Loud music is heard on the Jerome Ave & East Gun Hill Road corner of Van Cortlandt Park in Norwood, The Bronx around 11 p.m. Sunday, May 31, 2026. V1 Video by Síle Moloney

They said the tennis courts at Williamsbridge Oval are among the most heavily used in the area, and Parks regularly submits work requests to repair and replace nets when needed. They said high demand on the courts means repairs are needed more frequently than at lower-traffic locations, and staff work to turn those requests around as quickly as possible.

 

Parks officials said the department currently offers “Kids in Motion” programming at the playground and youth soccer on the field, with programming continuing through the summer. [Norwood News shares fliers on our social media channels from time to time on the various programs offered.]

Norwood News has also reported on the issue of electronic bike racing in the Oval in the past, once notably and seemingly to intimidate those who were holding a healing circle event for local youth outside the rec center following Angel’s death.

On Sunday, May 31, Norwood News observed loud music played by various groups on speakers on the Jerome Avenue and East Gun Hill Road corner of Van Cortlandt Park, also in Norwood.

Loud music is heard on the Jerome Ave & East Gun Hill Road corner of Van Cortlandt Park in Norwood, The Bronx around 11 p.m. Sunday, May 31, 2026. V2

Some residents of nearby Knox Place and Gates Place, which face the park have long complained about excessive noise, barbecue smoke, and music drifting up from the park, especially in summer time. As the location falls on the border of the 50th Precinct and the 52nd Precinct, residents have voiced their frustration in the past when it comes to seeking help to address these quality-of-life issues, especially in summer.

Joseph Ippolito made this same point in response to an earlier version of this article, saying in part, “For well over a decade, the residents of the area [Knox Place/ Gates Place] have been tortured by rock concert volume music, open barbecues and triple parking by people who come to the park from outside of our neighborhood because they know there will be no police or parks department enforcement.”

Loud music is heard on the Jerome Ave & East Gun Hill Road corner of Van Cortlandt Park in Norwood, The Bronx around 11 p.m. Sunday, May 31, 2026. V3

Ippolito alleged nobody in authority cared about the area. “311 complaints are closed within minutes with no evidence of police presence, or [the] police make their approach so obvious that the offenders cover their tracks until the moment that the police pass,” he added in part. “While I personally like Councilman Dinowitz, his staff [have] been totally ineffective in addressing this situation (assuming they even tried) and the 50th Precinct couldn’t care less.”

He concluded, “The same was true [of former] Councilman [Andrew] Cohen [C.D. 11]. CB7 is all too happy to help if an issue involves Mosholu Parkway, but they want nothing to do with harassment of CB7 residents coming from the Gun Hill Meadow [the East Gun Hill Road and Jerome Avenue corner of Van Cortlandt Park].

Around the same time as music was blaring on Sunday night, May 31, a group of police officers were seen further down the Jerome Avenue block outside Jerome Avenue Men’s Shelter but they may have been officers assigned to NYC Department of Homeless Services (DHS) as that was the lettering on an NYPD vehicle parked outside the shelter.

 

An overview of 311 complaints logged in respect of the Williamsbridge Oval since the beginning of the year as of Friday, May 29, is attached in three sections.

Loud music is heard on the Jerome Ave & East Gun Hill Road corner of Van Cortlandt Park in Norwood, The Bronx around 11 p.m. Sunday, May 31, 2026. V4

Elsewhere in nearby Bedford Park on Risse Street, close to Jerome Avenue and Mosholu Parkway, local resident Shannon Lee Gilstad Sucre recently queried why there are so many cars with non-New York State registration plates parked on this street. While it is not illegal, Norwood News counted 18 such cars parked on the street on Monday, May 25, and reached out to the NYPD to see if they had any information on the situation.

 

We received the following response from Echevarria. “We will look into it but if the cars are parked legally not much can be done,” he said. “We don’t have local laws stopping out of state residents from parking in on public streets like in other cities.”

Elsewhere, in Bedford Park, Bedford Mosholu Community Association (BMCA) carried out a clean-up event of Mosholu Parkway on Saturday, May 9, one of many clean-up events the group organizes in the neighborhood.

 

Loud music is heard on the Jerome Ave & East Gun Hill Road corner of Van Cortlandt Park in Norwood, The Bronx around 11 p.m. Sunday, May 31, 2026. V5

They were joined by Sirio Guerino of Guerinos against Graffitti* and other volunteers and collected several large bags of trash which were later seen piled together on Webster Avenue, ready to be collected.

“You cannot come here at night to take a jog, that’s for sure. It’s not too safe. I didn’t even know they just put cameras here. I didn’t even know that. I see garbage, yes. I don’t know if this is a part of the upcoming Zoom, but they should have more entertainment here in the summertime. There is also a rat problem. Otherwise, everything else is fine because it looks like it’s improving.”

Andy Cox,

Norwood

Photo by David Greene

“Oval Park is fine how it is, but it’s just people who just don’t respect the park as much as they should, and they just do whatever and they cause trouble and stuff. The park has a bad reputation about how it is now; that’s the only problem. They should just respect the Oval, how it used to be, because everybody used to come here. I kind of grew up here. My grandmother used to take me here to the playground. I see they have installed new cameras, which is good, but before there used to be problems. I got robbed here too at night; that’s how bad it really was. It’s a little bit better now, but once the kids are here, they still create problems, like the incident that happened with the kid who got stabbed over there. It was very unfortunate. The police come once in a while, but they’re not really here much.”

Chuy Tello,

Yankee Stadium via Norwood

“While I know there is a new effort to recreate the ‘Friends of Williamsbridge Oval’ to hopefully address these problems, long term and short term, all elements of our city agencies, from City, State, federal, even community boards, have not put together any organizational plan. If you look closely, it’s because they are new themselves. Thus, the [problems] you speak of. Today, the Park is a disaster in many ways. When you have people in charge that are newer than the next building going up, you will have destruction, from the trash to multiple homicides.”

Anthony Rivieccio,

Bedford Park

“I walk in the tunnel there and I notice it’s not a clean park, but the garbage is coming from, I hate to tell you, from people who are from outside the neighborhood. Not only that, but it’s also a lot of immigrants who play soccer there. I know the people bring food and they sit there on the benches, and I can see that people leave their junk all over.”

Tony Apostolos,

Bedford Park

“The huge pile of garbage at the entrance at Holt Place is not ideal, but I guess that is where it is picked up. I no longer consider the tunnel at Bainbridge Avenue and Van Cortlandt (Avenue) ‘the pee tunnel,’ as we did back in the day. The restrooms are open during the day now. By and large, I use and appreciate the Oval as a valuable neighborhood resource. I did feel a slight concern when cutting through the park one night recently. Not that it has gotten worse, but I’m not young and invincible anymore.”

Chris Perkins,

Norwood