Out and About

Street Closures Announced for New Year’s Eve Celebration in Times Square

By SÍLE MOLONEY
The New York City Police Department announced on Dec. 30, a number of street closures, outlined further below, related to the New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square. Street closures and parking restrictions are expected to cause traffic delays, and NYPD officials said the use of public transportation is highly recommended.   Beginning at 4 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 31, Times Square will be closed to vehicular traffic. At approximately 3 p.m. attendees will be directed by police officers to gather in separate viewing sections. When one section reaches capacity, people will be directed to the next viewing section. As


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Norwood: St. Brendan’s Annual Toy Drive Brings Joy to Kids

By SÍLE MOLONEY  
In the spirit of holiday giving, St. Brendan School, a Catholic, elementary school, located in the Norwood section of the Bronx, in the Archdiocese of New York, recently held its annual toy drive for Catholic Guardian Services (CGS).   CGS cares for over 1,000 children in need ranging in age from infancy to 21.   This year, according to school representatives and thanks to the generosity of the school’s students and their families, St. Brendan’s was able to collect 23 bags of toy donations for children to enjoy in time for Christmas.      

UPDATE Friends of Devoe Park Celebrate the Holidays at Tree-Lighting Event

By SARAH HUFFMAN
  Friends of Devoe Park (FODP) hosted the group’s annual tree-lighting event on Saturday, Dec. 11, in Devoe Park, located in the Fordham Manor section of the Bronx.   Attendees at the event were treated to hot chocolate, munchkins, and sugared cookies provided by FODP. The group also handed out Christmas-themed masks, candy canes, and jingle bells to community members. Assemblyman José Rivera (A.D. 78) was also in attendance.   Rachel Miller-Bradshaw, founding member of FODP, said the group wanted to host the event because there wasn’t really any such event marking the holiday season in their local neighborhood.  


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Norwood Community Library Brings Free Books to The Bronx

By SARAH HUFFMAN
Outside the Keeper’s House on Reservoir Oval East in the Norwood section of the Bronx is a light blue library mailbox which, since around July 2021, has been regularly filled with used books, all waiting for new homes. The library mailbox is a recent initiative by “Norwood Community Library,” an outdoor, mutual aid, book exchange program.   30-year-old Brandon Montes is the founder of the volunteer-run library which launched in 2018, and he hopes the addition of the library mailbox will further strengthen his growing engagement with the community, through a love of reading.   “For a long time, we


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Bronx CB7 & Friends of Mosholu Parkland Tree-Lighting Event Brings Back Holiday Cheer

By SÍLE MOLONEY  
  There was plenty of holiday cheer to be had on Mosholu Parkway and Bainbridge Avenue on Tuesday, Dec. 7, as the annual, holiday, tree-lighting event, organized by Bronx Community Board 7 (CB7) and Friends of Mosholu Parkland (FOMP), made a welcome return. Amid the ongoing pandemic, and prior to the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out, last year’s tree-lighting event was carried out discreetly, with no formal gathering.   This year, the event which took place on the Bedford Park/Norwood border, where masks were required, saw about 200 people gather in front of a large stage set-up specifically for the occasion. They


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Inquiring Photographer: Thoughts on Racism Against Puerto Ricans & West Side Story Depiction

By DAVID GREENE
This week, we asked readers if they believe the original West Side Story movie accurately portrayed the racism experienced by Puerto Ricans in New York City at the time the movie was made.   “I don’t know about the racism; that was, like, 50 years ago, but I saw the coming attractions to the new film, and it doesn’t look anything like the original.” Phyllis Butler, Norwood “I guess that was before most people’s time. I’m 73, I grew up in the South Bronx in the 50s and 60s… I was traumatized, man. My brother had to fight and run from


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Victoria Sanabria, Plena Libre, Prodigio Claudio Perform at the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts

By SÍLE MOLONEY
The folkloric sounds of Puerto Rican music will be flowing through the halls of Lehman Center for the Performing Arts as it presents Victoria Sanabria, with Puerto Rico’s number one plena group, Plena Libre, on Saturday, Dec 4, at 8 p.m., with special guest, Prodigio Claudio. Captivating and moving audiences over the course of a 26-year, 15-album career, Lehman Center officials say this fine-tuned ensemble of virtuoso musicians has only gotten better with age, as evidenced by their four recent GRAMMY® nominations and world-wide touring schedule. Lehman Center officials said Victoria Sanabria was born in Guayama, Puerto Rico into a


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POTS & Church Volunteers Serve 600 Free Meals as Physical Thanksgiving Gatherings Resume

By DAVID GREENE
For the 25th consecutive year, volunteers with Part of the Solution (POTS), soup kitchen and food pantry, and the Church of the Resurrection in Rye, New York, joined forces to serve an estimated 350 turkey meals on site to community residents at Our Lady of Refuge Church, located at 290 East 196th Street in Fordham Manor on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 25.   Another 300 or so residents who had concerns about sitting and eating in a public setting amid the ongoing pandemic, or who were unable to provide proof of vaccination to enter the venue’s cafeteria, were provided with a


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Inquiring Photographer: Thoughts on People’s Faith in the Justice System

By DAVID GREENE
This week, following the not-guilty verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, and the guilty verdicts in the Ahmaud Arbery murder trial, we asked readers if they have faith in the criminal justice system.   “The two very different decisions make me believe, more than ever, that when a case is properly prepared and adjudicated with care, the justice system works. The biggest problem with the system, as I see it, is in the people who are responsible for running the courts. Would Rittenhouse have been found guilty with a more thoughtful judge in the case? I don’t know, but we heard


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