Be Healthy – Bronx Wins RWJF Culture of Health Prize

By NOAH CALDWELL

Vital Stats: 62 – Health ranking of Bronx County. (Source: New York State Department of Health) The Bronx’s collective goal of improving public health has earned it the highly competitive “Culture of Health” prize from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). After a yearlong application process spearheaded by hospitals, nonprofits, and the New York State Department of Health, the Bronx has been chosen as one of eight winners from a pool of 340 nationwide communities. For health professionals in a county that consistently ranks as New York’s unhealthiest, the prize is a symbol of positive change. “It marks a turning

With some recent high-profile motor vehicle crashes, we asked readers their thoughts on the implementation of Vision Zero and whether pedestrian safety has gotten better or worse. It doesn’t matter because the drivers don’t abide by the law anyway. People complain when you go too slow; they beep you and try and make you go faster and if people don’t see police around, they’re moving. Who wants to do 25 miles per hour? They’re in a hurry. You ever drive 25 and see how far you get? You hold other drivers up. T. Becerra Norwood I believe that traffic has gotten

By VIVIAN CARTER

It’s become a popular post-Halloween ritual in the Bronx—the Pumpkin Smash at Lehman College, sponsored by NYC Compost Project, an initiative of the City Department of Sanitation. On Nov. 4, the community was once again invited to constructively channel their inner goblins, to create compost for greening local parks. The New York Botanical Garden contributed an impressive display of hundreds of fading gourds and pumpkins for dropping, and neighbors could donate their own drooping jack-o-lanterns as well. Participants chose a straight drop from the two-story plaza onto a tarp below, or a catapult rigged to propel the gourds onto

An overwhelming number of Bronx residents vented frustrations over Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Housing New York initiative at a hearing over the plan, tying it to gentrification and framing their plight as a struggle between haves and have-nots. Hundreds packed the pews at the hearing, an optional public forum organized by the Bronx Borough President’s Office, and separate of the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) on Housing New York. The plan, touted by Mayor Bill de Blasio since May 2014, seeks to build 80,000 affordable units while preserving 120,000 already built apartments across the city. That will happen

Editor’s Pick Walk With a Doc The public is invited to join a free one-hour walk in the park with the doctors at Montefiore, Nov. 21 at 1 p.m. at the Williamsbridge Oval. Walking can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, osteoporosis and obesity, improve blood pressure and blood sugar levels, maintain body weight, enhance mental well-being, and more. Meet at the Oval’s Recreation Center. For more information, call (718) 543-8672. Onstage Lehman College for the Performing Arts, 250 Bedford Pk. Blvd., W., presents Lalo Rodriguez, 40 Años de Historia Musical, featuring 17-piece orchestra performing salsa and Latin music,

To our faithful readers, The latest edition of the Norwood News is out and hitting the stands as we write, with plenty (and we do mean plenty) of community news you can use. We go to the epicenter of Norwood, Williamsbridge Oval Park, where football practice has to be cut short for one club that’s working on its plays without any adequate lights. Requests from club organizers have gone unchecked. Read how no lights is impacting their game. We also delve into a growing trend that’s happening across the Bronx: priced out commercial tenants. For rent signs are popping up

By DAVID CRUZ

The gridiron bustle could only be heard, not seen, at Williamsbridge Oval Park. A gruff voice barks “Get up! Get down!” as a sharp whistle signals an invisible command. Tiny helmeted silhouettes buzz about mid-field in a pre-determined pattern, shifting carefully between the goalposts. It’s dusk at the Oval, with virtually no visibility save for distant, orangey glows illuminating over the multi-purpose field. It’s there where Drake Holliday blindly feeds a plug from a generator to a socket. It’s past 5 p.m. on Nov. 3, pitch black after Daylight Saving Time, and practice for the Bronx Knights, a peewee team

Snow Laborers Early registration has begun for part-time emergency snow laborers for the upcoming snow season. Pay is $13.50 per hour, and $20.25 per hour after 40 hours are worked in a week. To register, visit the Bronx Yard at Mosholu Avenue and Broadway in Van Cortlandt Park, Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Applicants must be at least age 18, bring two small photos (1 ½ square), original and copy of two forms of ID and a Social Security card. Free Flu Shots Free flu shots will be administered on Nov. 9 at the Riverdale YM-YWHA at

City To Grant Jerome Park Reservoir Access on May 20 and 21

By DAVID CRUZ

A walk-through of the still-closed Jerome Park Reservoir has been rescheduled for Nov. 14 after city officials postponed it due to severe weather forecasts. The tour of the massive manmade reservoir was supposed to have taken place Oct. 3, following years of prodding by park advocates who have long hoped for the public reservoir access. As it stands, residents are prohibited from walking the reservoir’s scenic two-mile perimeter for security reasons, a position long held by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the agency that holds oversight of the reservoir. A fraction of the city’s drinking water, originating from