Homecoming Concert Celebrates Life, Arts & Culture in “The Boogie-Down”

By JASON GONZALEZ

New York City’s “Homecoming Week” kicked off in the birthplace of Hip Hop, on Monday Aug. 16, when the first of five outdoor concerts was held in Orchard Beach in The Bronx. The music-filled week was launched as a celebration of the City’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, despite health officials warning that more people still need to be vaccinated in order for the City, and country, to advance towards the much coveted state of herd immunity. Citywide, as of Sept. 24, just 62 percent of New Yorkers are fully vaccinated, and in the Bronx, that number is 55

By DAWN CLANCY

Bronx Community Board 7 (CB7) Parks’ committee ushered in their first post-summer hiatus meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 8, with a vote approving the proposed renovations and upgrades to Bedford Park’s Frisch Field. The $5 million project, designed by the City’s Parks’ department, will include the addition of a tee-ball diamond, an enclosed bullpen, an adult exercise station, new water stations with bottle fillers, benches, storage units, as well as upgrades to the field’s existing Little League diamond and the adjacent dugouts. However, the bulk of the funds will be spent underground, on timely repairs in the wake of

By SÍLE MOLONEY

The New York Lottery announced on Friday, Sept. 17, that one top-prize winning ticket was sold in the Sept. 16 TAKE 5 EVENING drawing. The ticket, worth $44,137.50, was purchased at Happy Face Convenience Corp., located at 921 E. 180th Street in the West Farms section of the Bronx. Take 5 players with midday and evening draws on the same ticket must check their numbers at nylottery.ny.gov to determine if they have the winning numbers for the corresponding midday or evening drawing. TAKE 5 numbers are drawn from a field of one through 39. The drawing is televised twice daily at

By DAVID GREENE

Twenty years after 2,753 people were tragically killed when two hijacked jetliners crashed into the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan on 9/11, family members, friends and strangers once again paused to remember them at gatherings held across New York City on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. Those who gathered at the memorial reflecting pool, and around the 16-acre site where the Twin Towers once stood comprised a much smaller crowd this year than the tens of thousands who have come to pay their respect in years past. Joined our first responders at @NYPDTransit Transit District 11 to reflect and

By DAVID GREENE & SÍLE MOLONEY

The relative and literal “calm before the storm” on the afternoon and early evening of Wednesday, Sept. 1, perhaps lured many Bronxites into a fall sense of security that then-impending Storm Ida would not be as extreme as forecast. The consequences of such nonchalance proved to be devastating. Between noon and 6 p.m., the day was overcast, humidity was at 82 percent, temperatures ranged from 68 to 72 degrees F, southwesterly winds were traveling at 11.8 mph but there was no rain. At 6.18 p.m., the National Weather Service (NWS) tweeted that tornado warnings had been issued for

By DAVID GREENE

Many Bronxites across the borough are patiently waiting for the cold weather to arrive so that those prone to carousing outside, blasting loud music from speakers, while in the parks or in cars, will gradually move indoors, and badly affected neighborhoods will return to the once peaceful communities they used to be. For years, despite hundreds of noise complaints sent to 311 by Bronxites across the borough, meetings with elected officials, and enforcement by NYPD officers, the goal of eliminating unwanted noise, particularly over the summer months, has remained elusive. Now, however, a new law, along with new technology,

By SÍLE MOLONEY

Editor’s Pick In 2001, Bronx Documentary Center founder and photojournalist Michael Kamber planned the non-profit from his post in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Center’s inaugural exhibition, in October of 2011, featured work from Afghanistan by the late photographer Tim Hetherington. 10 years later, URGENCY! Afghanistan, a photographic “exhibition in progress” at the Bronx Documentary Center is showing the

By DAVID GREENE

This week, we asked readers their thoughts on U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to end America’s longest war in Afghanistan. “I think it’s about time they did this. I am so happy to hear that they’re doing this. They’ve been in Afghanistan for such a long time, I think it’s about time they do pull them out. No, it wasn’t done the right way. I don’t believe so, but few wars end peacefully. I don’t believe this world learned anything from the occupation. I think it’s gotten worse. We’ve gotten very stupid.” Kendall Levine, Hunts Point “It was a

By SÍLE MOLONEY

New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) announced Thursday, Aug. 12, the official launch of the city’s e-scooter pilot program in the East Bronx. Bird, Lime and Veo, the three companies participating in the pilot program, will bring up to 3,000 e-scooters to the East Bronx during Phase 1 which starts Tuesday, Aug. 17, with an increase to as many as 6,000 in the second phase next year. According to DOT officials, both the department and each e-scooter company underwent an extensive community engagement process to locate sites for the e-scooter parking corrals and to educate the public about