Bronx Week to Induct Four to Walk of Fame

By TATYANA TURNER

The annual Bronx Week celebration, an 11-day extravaganza underscoring the borough’s strengths, is under way in the Boogie Down. At a media preview three days before, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. presented this year’s inductees to the Bronx Walk of Fame, which include a celebrated doctor, actress, DJ, and musician. Roughly 100 guests gathered inside Bronx Borough Hall for a media preview of inductees who’ve achieved significant success in their fields. Their names will be etched along the 106 names that make up the Bronx Walk of Fame, running along Grand Concourse south of 161st Street. This year’s honorees

Neighborhood Notes: Free Immigration Service

By DAVID GREENE

This week we asked readers their thoughts on this week’s rollout of new NYPD body cameras to be worn by patrol officers. Honestly, I think it could go either way, but there are cameras all over. Basically, the NYPD has cameras on every corner, but the body cameras can be used in police brutality cases as evidence of what actually happened at a crime scene as the video shows what happened before or after an event. I think it could cause some privacy issues and people will feel like their rights are being violated. It’s a fact that they sometimes

52nd Precinct Tackles Heroin Amid Fentanyl's Rise in Popularity

By DAVID CRUZ

The commanding officer of the 52nd Precinct stunned his audience with a familiar topic that came with a twist: the local precinct ranks first in fatal heroin overdoses out of all 11 Bronx precincts. Compounding the problem is the mix of heroin with fentanyl, a powerful narcotic described as putting heroin on steroids. “It is so bad that our undercovers and narcotics officers don’t want to touch it without any kind of gloves,” Deputy Inspector Peter Fiorillo, commanding officer of the precinct, said at the recent 52nd Precinct Community Council meeting on April 27. “And it’s very hard for undercovers

The city announced its launched a $1.3 million expansion in legal assistance and training for the city’s immigrant communities, doubling down its commitment to protecting immigrants regardless of status. Beginning this summer, ActionNYC, which has been kicking up immigration services following an aggressive enforcement stance from the federal government, will have a new legal screening site at NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln in the South Bronx opened. ActionNYC will also grant 20 fellowships for legal and outreach training and technical assistance to community-based organizations across the city. “We are committed to expanding services for our fellow New Yorkers, especially in the face of

By JOLIE MILSTEIN

From the Mill Brook Houses to Lafayette Boynton, families in the Bronx have always been on the front line of fighting for affordable housing. That fight has only taken on greater importance as the borough gets less and less affordable for low- and middle-income families who are struggling to make ends meet. Thankfully, the borough of the Bronx – and all of New York – has taken a huge step forward in combating our state’s dire housing crisis, as the Governor and State Legislature recently approved $2.5 billion for affordable and supportive housing. With over 88,000 New Yorkers still homeless

By DAVID GREENE

With the recent closings of several popular stores in Norwood, we asked residents what types of stores the community needs. I think the neighborhood could use a gym and some more clothing stores. I just moved out here, maybe a movie rental store. Millie Sanchez Norwood Of course I noticed the stores closing. The butcher shop is not the same as they used to be. I don’t think the quality of the products is there because they no longer have the clientele of the community, so there’s not as much traffic to the store. So there’s less business.

Power Walk at NYBG Mosholu Montefiore Community Center, Children’s Hospital at Montefiore and J Train Wellness invite the public to join the B’N Fit Annual Power Walk to Wellness at the New York Botanical Garden on May 6 at 9 a.m. rain or shine ($10 p/p; raise $50 and walk free). Event helps educate the community about how to promote a healthy lifestyle and prevent the adverse effects of obesity. Registration is at 8:30 a.m. Whoever raises the most in donations receives $100 gift card and a B’N Fit trophy. Meet at Everett Garden Gate school group entrance. For more

By ADELINE HANSSEN

Covered in student artwork and colorful murals, a renovated basement located between Knox and Gates Places in Norwood serves as the center for Community Organized with a Vision of Excellence (COVE), a local nonprofit that will be home to Dare to Revitalize Education through Arts and Mediation (DREAM!) when the two nonprofits merge this summer. “The combination just makes us a more powerful unit,” said Aisha Norris, who doubles as co-founder of DREAM! and program director of The COVE. The merger of the two nonprofits is somewhat of a no-brainer. The COVE was founded by the Knox Gates Neighborhood Association

NYBG Reopens East Gate Following 10-Year, $3.3 Million Renovation

By ADELINE HANSSEN and DAVID CRUZ

For years, the East Gate was a “pretty rough way of getting to The New York Botanical Garden,” as the institution’s president Gregory Long put it. Now, with the swift snip of a yellow ribbon, the entrance was officially reopened for garden-goers on April 27, intended to increase foot traffic into the garden after a lengthy renovation. The East Gate is one of three entryways to the garden, though it wasn’t it most popular. The gate is found at a geographically obscure section of Allerton, at the corner of Waring Avenue and Bronx Park East. Getting to the gate involves