Criticizing West Bx Housing

 Although I agree that Ms. [Sally] Dunford [executive director of West Bronx Housing] is “on the ball,” there are many factors that disagree with my experiences recently.

The first is that Ms. Dunford or the Mosholu Preservation Corp., did not tell the people of Norwood that they were moving their office to Bedford Park. The new location is also difficult to get to. Having been healing from severe injuries does not make this trek any easier nor were maps indicated in your paper.

Also, I believe the organization is primarily (or was) focused on tenant advocacy, NOT landlord advocacy. I happen to know that Ms. Dunfold told a landlord in the Norwood area to “wait until the warmer weather” so that he could procure an MCI loan, raising rents for new windows to the building.

Well, well, well! This landlord has been aware for over two years that many windows in an apartment were broken; two windows on a fire escape, in particular, DO NOT LOCK. Well, (said the landlord) put “sticks in them!”

And then, after break-ins, Ms. Dunford informed him of the MCI benefits. How nice. If this were her apartment, would she have voiced the same opinion? I think not, aside from the landlord’s foreknowledge of aforementioned problems.

Yes, Ms. Dunford has helped (for over 30 years) the people for Norwood. Now, she’s Bedford Park and has distanced herself and her staff from the people who have helped to keep her flame for justice ignited.

Pro-landlord? Shame on you, Sally!

Name withheld upon request, Norwood Resident

Test Prep Is Not for Everyone

The thought of offering test prep courses to 8th graders so that they will have a better chance of passing the required entrance exam to specialized high schools is a great idea. On paper.

Whether or not a student joins a course for test prep, free or otherwise, in order to take and pass the required exam for specialized high schools, if the student hasn’t acquired and retained enough knowledge after eight years of schooling, one course is not likely to put him over the top.

Passing the entrance exam and being accepted into a specialized high school is only the beginning. In order to remain in the school, the student would have to keep up with the school’s curriculum, which offers advanced placement and honors classes. If the student’s natural academic ability is not strong enough, he would struggle to keep up and possibly not succeed. Such a student might be more successful in a non-specialized school where he may have a better chance of excelling.

In your article about test prep in your March 19 – April 1 issue, Marvin Shelton, president of the Community Education Council in School District 10, said it best: “Test prep is test prep. It’s not knowledge.” My sister, a professional schoolteacher, would say, “You can’t put brains where there aren’t any.”

Ability can be detected in the early grades. If it’s not there, one course after eight years of schooling will hardly make a difference.

Judy Noy, Norwood resident

Solar Energy and Jobs Our Future

With the start of the new season, sunny skies are ahead of us. Spring is all about renewal and re-growth. We should start spring by renewing our commitment to solar energy and growing the industry here in New York. Our solar industry employed 7,284 New Yorkers in 2014, according to the Solar Foundation’s new solar jobs census.

Nationwide, solar jobs grew by over 20 percent for the second year in a row, now totaling over 170,000 jobs. The annual solar jobs census demonstrates that not only is solar good for New York’s environment “for reducing air pollution and tackling global warming,” but it’s also a major economic driver.

Smart, forward-thinking policies have done much to pave the way for the solar industry’s expansion and we have vastly more room for growth. In fact, New York has the technical potential to generate 11 times the amount of electricity consumed in an average year from solar power alone.

With a large and well-trained workforce prepared to advance solar energy in New York, all we need is for our policymakers to lead in order to take solar to the next level. To reap the full economic, public health, and environmental benefits of solar, I urge Governor Cuomo to set a goal of generating 20 percent of New York’s electricity from solar by 2025.

Heather Leibowitz, Director-Environment New York

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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.