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Stories by Edition: March 11, 2010 (15 Stories)

Church Vows to Rebound After 'Suspicious' Fire - Immediately after a fire ripped through the vestibule of St. Nicholas of Tolentine Church, causing severe damage last Friday morning, parishioners expressed relief and hopes for a quick rebound. On Sunday, the church held service as usual in their elementary school gym. | Read the Story

Circus Back in Town, Looking for a Home - It's not every day you see basketball-carrying unicyclists playing double-dutch on the Grand Concourse. But there they were, three members of the legendary Bronx-born King Charles Troupe, doing their thing on a windy, chilly Friday morning in front of the Loew's Paradise Theater just south of Fordham Road. Onlookers passed by; most smiling and amused, some just plain confused. | Read the Story

Local Residents Press DOT on Dangerous U-Heights Intersection - William Clark looks at the "T" that makes up the intersection of Sedgwick Avenue and 183rd Street and remembers the gruesome death of an older man who tried unsuccessfully to cross from one side of 183rd Street to the other.

Because of the intersection's proximity to a day care, three elementary schools and Bronx Community College, residents want to see a stoplight installed to regulate traffic and prevent any more pedestrian casualties and car smashups. But so far, the city has been unresponsive. | Read the Story

Diaz Gives First 'State of Borough' Address - Borough presidents may not have as much power as the city comptroller or Council speaker, but you wouldn't know it from the scene last week at the Evander Childs High School campus where those officials and many, many more - including two former Council speakers and former borough president Fernando Ferrer - turned out for Ruben Diaz, Jr.'s debut State of the Borough address. | Read the Story

Cabrera's New Web site - On Monday, 14th District Councilman Fernando Cabrera unveiled a new Web site (councilmancabrera.com) that he says constituents can use to log complaints (using a handy Google Maps application), alert the councilman to problems and find out about policy issues and news. | Read the Story

Two Bronxites Named to Charter Commission - Mayor Michael Bloomberg appointed two prominent northwest Bronxites to a long-awaited 15-member Charter Revision Commission, which will take a look at the entire City Charter and propose any possible changes. | Read the Story

Public and Community Meetings - A listing of meetings for our readers in the northwest Bronx and beyond. | Read the Story

Local Pols, Union Members Rally for Good Jobs - Alba Vazquez immigrated to America in 1977 from her native Uruguay, where a military dictatorship had seized power a few years prior. She settled in the Bronx with the hopes of building a safer, more prosperous life for herself and her young family.

On Monday, she spoke in support of bill which would guarantee decent wages and benefits to cleaners, security guards, and other building service workers at new commercial and residential developments financed by city tax-dollars, and at buildings the city leases from others. | Read the Story

MTA Service Cuts Slammed at Bronx Hearing - A flood of outraged residents and elected officials lined up to voice their concerns to MTA board members last night at a public hearing at the Paradise Theater on the Grand Concourse. The transit agency has proposed drastic service cuts and fare changes to cover its nearly $400 million budget shortfall. | Read the Story

Fire at Tolentine - As if our community hasn't suffered enough from fire in recent months, the suspicious blaze at St. Nicholas of Tolentine Church at University Avenue and Fordham?Road further alarmed residents already shell-shocked from the two horrific blazes in the merchant district of Bainbridge Avenue and East 204th Street.

Luckily, the destruction was limited to the church's large vestibule, and the pastor, Father Joseph Girone, says he expects services to resume in the magnificent sanctuary by Easter.

Still, people are rightly worried that the fire was deliberately set and the Fire Department has deemed the Tolentine fire "very suspicious."

This comes on top of the arrest of an alleged arsonist responsible for the December fire on East 204th Street.

And residents are anxiously awaiting news on what (or who) was responsible for the Halloween blaze that destroyed 10 stores on Bainbridge Avenue just up the block from 204th Street. The Fire Department has yet to issue any findings on its investigation. | Read the Story

The Time is Now for Schools Behind the Armory - As a child, I always heard my mother call herself the lioness and her children were her cubs. I am now a parent and see myself in the same light as she did. So now, as a parent leader of the Education Committee of the Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC), I fight for my children's right to the best education and for the rights of kids in my community. School District 10 is the third most overcrowded district in New York City. The recent report from the city comptroller, "Underprepared for Overcrowding," lets us know just how much we need new schools - Bronx primary schools are 112 percent over-capacity. Yet 1,703 seats were slashed from the previous capital plan, and the current plans to build new schools fall short of the number of seats needed. | Read the Story

Neighborhood Notes - A listing of community events, programs, services and announcements for our readers in the northwest Bronx and beyond. | Read the Story

Montefiore Employees Give Up Wages for Haiti - Montefiore Medical Center presented a $20,000 donation to the American Red Cross in Greater New York at their White Plains office last month, the first in a continuing fund-raising effort by Montefiore associates to aid relief activities in Haiti following the catastrophic earthquake on Jan. 12. | Read the Story

Bronx 6th Grader on Fast Track to the Top - At 11 years old, Mariela Cipriano, a sixth grader at PS 246 in Kingsbridge, has already established herself as one of the premier track stars in all of New York City. | Read the Story

Out & About - A listing of arts, entertainment and recreational activities for all our readers in the Bronx and beyond. | Read the Story