Doris Quinones remembers meeting her new boss, Bronx Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera, more than a decade ago. Quinones was just starting out as the director of the Bronx Tourism Council and Rivera worked for then-Borough President Fernando Ferrer as his director of special events.

Rivera would go on to seek elected office and is now entrenched as the representative of the Bronx 80th Assembly District, which includes parts of Norwood, Bedford Park and almost all of Morris Park. Meanwhile, Quinones continued her work at the tourism council, took up residence in Norwood and then later moved to Morris Park, where she lives with her husband and twin boys.

Late last year, the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation, which runs the tourism council, went through what Quinones described as a process of “re-organization.” That re-organization plan did not include keeping Quinones on as director of the tourism council.

Fortunately for Quinones, Rivera was also going through a similar re-organization and so she invited Quinones to join her as chief of staff. Quinones officially started her new job on Jan. 5, but went up to Albany with Rivera for Governor Andrew Cuomo’s State of the State speech a couple of days earlier.

Quinones speaks with great pride about her tourism council work fighting an “uphill battle” against the stereotypically negative perception of the Bronx over the past decade. Over the last couple of years, Quinones says she noticed a sea change in people’s attitude toward the borough.

Before, Quinones says she would go to gatherings and parties and make small talk about work. When Quinones would say she worked for the Bronx Tourism Council, people would get a funny, “quizzical” look and say, “Oh, wow, really?” In the last couple of years, however, she says people usually say the same thing, only without the quizzical look and questioning phrasing: “Oh wow, really!”

This “amazing transformation” didn’t happen overnight, Quinones says. “Good news takes longer to travel than bad news,” she says.

Obviously, with a high unemployment rate and serious health problems, the Bronx “faces many of the same challenges as other urban communities.” But Quinones says many of the current perceptions — like those portrayed on “American Idol” last winter, which stirred a harshly-worded rebuttal from Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., — are based on “tired myths” that are no longer true.

Quinones says she will be going up to Albany periodically, but will spend much of her time in Rivera’s Bronx district. She wants the people, especially those in the western side of the 80th District, including the areas bordering the north and south of Mosholu Parkway, that Rivera’s office is open and able to help with any number of problems or issues.

“I’m really looking forward to helping the Assemblywoman continue to fight for the needs of our communities,” says Quinones.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.