Last issue, we reviewed the top stories of 2007. Here, we review the stories of 2008, written from the imaginary vantage point of January 2009. Yes, it is mostly wishful thinking, but it is all in the realm of the possible if citizens, residents and elected officials act in concert in the best interests of our neighborhoods and the Bronx as a whole.

Armory

2008 was the year the Armory got on track toward redevelopment. After months of unexplained delays, the city’s Economic Development Corporation chose a firm – the Related Companies – in late March to transform the giant landmarked facility into a retail complex with space for community organizations and recreation.

In announcing the project, newly minted deputy mayor for economic development Robert Lieber said: “Projects like this may not be as big as the Freedom Tower or Penn Station, but they are no less important to the livelihood of the city’s neighborhoods and the citizens who live there.”

Related Companies returned with an Environmental Impact Statement at the end of September, kicking off the city’s 6-month Universal Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) which will wrap up by early April.

The Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA), a coalition of community organizations, got one seat at the negotiating table where elected officials are hammering out a community benefits agreement with the Related Companies.

KARA is making a long-shot bid to get Related to agree to only recruit retailers who will pay their employees a living wage, an unprecedented provision that would set the Armory up as an example for similar community benefit agreements around the country.

After mounting pressure — from KARA, northwest Bronx elected officials and a newly invigorated Community Board 7 —the Department of Education finally relented and put into the new capital plan two 500-seat schools behind the Armory where two National Guard buildings now stand. The only stumbling block is that the city and state still have not identified a suitable location to move the Guard units to.

Rezoning

In 2008, Community Board 7 — with many new members and its first new district manager in 18 years — pushed along a rezoning initiative on Webster Avenue and on Grand Avenue that should be coming before the City Planning Commission in the first half of 2009. On Webster Avenue, Board 7 seeks to make the area more friendly to small-scale commercial development while preventing unwanted large developments like the controversial Comfort Inn now under construction next to PS/MS 20. CB7 opposed the hotel, but its opinion was only advisory.. Also in the rezoning pipeline is Grand Avenue, the once stately street of attractive large homes that has now been defiled by ugly cookie-cutter multi-family dwellings which obliterate front lawns and trees. The new zoning, if approved, would only allow one- or two-family detached dwellings in the area, which also includes Davidson Avenue.

If the city approves the new zoning, it will be perhaps the Board’s most significant achievement in its history.

Citizen Participation

Maybe it was the activism of a rejuvenated community board, or the inspiration of President-elect Obama, or the just a fortuitous coming together of these and other developments in the public sphere, but 2008 was a year to behold in terms of community involvement. You could see it even on the letters page of this paper, where more readers than ever wrote letters to the editor. (And only one person asked us to withhold their name!) New park groups sprouted to care for newly renovated Devoe and St. James parks. Local high school students held meetings to address issues of violence among them, and adults from their neighborhoods offered their support. This harvest of new community leaders may be the greatest local accomplishment of 2008. It will ensure that 2009 will be even better.