Schumer to Amtrak: Get on the Train for Penn Station Access

By DAVID CRUZ

U.S. Senator and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer is jumping into the latest campaign to press Amtrak into speeding up its negotiations over an expansion plan that would see four Metro-North stations in the Bronx. Schumer is among the growing number of elected officials pushing Amtrak to clear Metro-North to start the long-awaited project dubbed Penn Station Access. “I get a lot of money for Amtrak I am maybe its leading defender in the congress and I am asking Amtrak to step up to the plate,” said Schumer, standing outside Co-Op City’s Section 5, which overlooks Pelham Bay Bridge. “The

Editor’s Pick Last Licks to Extend Holiday Season New York Botanical Garden’s annual Holiday Train Show, featuring miniature replicas of many NYC building replicas made from natural materials including bark, twigs, fruit and pine cones; and All Aboard With Thomas & Friends, featuring a fun-filled sing-along mini-performance adventure (two to four performances daily); end on Jan. 21. For more detailed information, show schedule, rates, and tickets, call (718) 817-8700. Onstage Lehman College’s Center for the Performing Arts, 250 Bedford Pk. Blvd., W., presents Ballet Hispánico, Jan. 19, featuring contemporary dance with a Latin program (tickets are $25 to $55; $75/VIP;

Latest Edition of the Norwood News is Out!

By DAVID CRUZ

Dear Fellow Readers! The Norwood News is out with its latest edition covering the Bronx. In our second edition of the year, we bring you the latest! The front page story revisits the Bedford Park Manor, where several tenants have ramped up efforts for improved quality of life. Read what the owner of the properties has to say. In Norwood, two separate corners of the neighborhood saw the discovery of two dead bodies in two separate cases. David Greene looks into this for us. Speaking of crime, the NYPD crime stat figures were released for 2018. It looks like the

Neighborhood Notes: Free Immigration Service

Tenant Support Unit The Mayor’s Tenant Support Unit offers tenant outreach help to New Yorkers at risk of displacement or tenant harassment. Residents can get connected to free legal services, learn about their rights, get help applying for rent freeze programs and more on Jan. 17, 24 and 31, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Office of Assemblyman Victor Pichardo, 2175 Jerome Ave.; Jan. 17, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at UNHP Refuge House, 2715 Bainbridge Ave.; and Jan. 18, 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Office of Assembly Member Jose Rivera, 1 Fordham Plz. For more

Rocking the H-o-u-s-e at the PS 94 Spelling Bee

By EMILY SUZANNE LEVER

The atmosphere was electric in the auditorium at PS 94 Kings College on Wednesday morning while fourth- and fifth-graders faced off in the Norwood school’s yearly spelling bee. A spellbound audience of over 300 students watched for two hours as their peers nailed words like “revolutionary,” “responsibility,” “visualize,” and “microphone.” After seven rounds of competition, the 31 contestants, who had been preparing for weeks for the contest, had been narrowed down to three: fourth-graders Fatima Ali, Mohammed Ali (no relation) and Samuel Yeboah. Fatima Ali, 9, wearing light-up sneakers, secured third place and bowed out after attempting to spell “technique.”

By PHONZ L. REYES

With record number of homelessness still an issue across the city, the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) is once again requesting New Yorkers volunteer to help the agency’s annual Homeless Outreach Population Estimate (HOPE) Survey happening at the end of the month. The overnight HOPE Survey on Jan. 28 provides the agency a chance to collect data that will aid outreach teams in year-round efforts to address street homelessness while providing accurate estimates of un-sheltered homeless individuals in the city, particularly during the year’s coldest of nights when temperatures drop below 30 degrees. “Thanks to increased investment, enhanced coordination, and

Editorial: De Blasio Ratchets Up Progressivism to Pad Resume Ahead of 2020

In the days leading up to his annual State of the City address, Mayor Bill de Blasio turned up the volume on Democratic progressivism, announcing NYC Care, an initiative that offers super affordable healthcare to New York City’s low-income earners, roughly 600,000 in all. Half of those New Yorkers are undocumented immigrants. The announcement happened in the Bronx. The plan will kick off in the Bronx. In his State of the City address this year, de Blasio outlined an overdue but vague plan to draw the “best and brightest” teachers to public schools. The schools to receive new teachers will

By DAVID CRUZ and JOSEPH KONIG

Residents of three fairly new buildings on Webster Avenue that are owned and operated by The Stagg Group have gotten the ear of Community Board 7, which plans to hear from residents at its next Housing, Zoning & Land Use Committee meeting in February. The Stagg Group, a construction and development company with multiple ongoing projects in Bedford Park and Norwood, told the Norwood News they will be sending a representative to the meeting to hear out the tenants’ concerns. The news is the latest in a fight waged by tenants over conditions at the buildings at 2985, 2987, and 2999 Webster

By BOB KAPPSTATTER

When Deputy Inspector Thomas Alps took over as commander of Norwood’s 52nd Precinct this past November, he had his work cut out for him. Overall crime in the precinct covering Norwood, Bedford Park, Kingsbridge Heights, Fordham, and University Heights, was up 5.52 percent last year. Murders, though comparatively lower in number to past history, were up 250 percent, with eight murders last year compared to two in 2017. Broken down, two of the murders were domestic, with at least one involving what Alps said was a stepfather and son, and two domestic partners; four involved disputes, one narcotics and the eighth