What a year in 2019 for the Bronx!

In keeping with tradition, the Norwood News paused to look back on 2019 with a highlight of several ongoing stories we’ve followed this past year.

Development
Large-scale development became the operative word in 2019, with a flood of projects happening simultaneously in Norwood and Bedford Park, prompting a story recapping readers on those projects on the Vol. 32 No. 11 edition and an in-depth piece entitled “The Vanishing Homeowner” in the Vol. 32 No. 23 edition. The common denominator was simple: the Bronx has become such an attractive place for developers that it’s become a hot zone for residential construction.

But development also became a hazard for one project on Steuben Avenue and East 208th Street, the sight of a partial building collapse that resulted in the death of Segundo Huerta, who had been working on the site when the building came down on Aug. 27, 2019. The city Buildings Department is investigating the collapse and death, the first such construction-related accident in the Bronx for 2019. 

Tenants Battle Stagg Group
For tenants at a trio of buildings owned by the ubiquitous Stagg Group, life wasn’t exactly stellar, and they weren’t taking it lying down. Continuing a battle that began in late 2018—and prompted by the death of fellow tenant Frank Giger, which tenants believed to be a suicide that could have been prevented had the doors to the roof Giger fell from were locked—tenants amplified their ire toward the Stagg Group, taking their landlord to Bronx Housing Court in an attempt to get them to make repairs inside the properties at 2985, 2987, and 2999 Webster Avenue, commonly known as the Bedford Park Manor.

The issues ranged from poorly constructed walls that allowed tenants to hear conversations happening outside the apartments, broken locks, and no heat or hot water. There was also an unreliable elevator that would shut down, prompting visits from the Fire Department. Tenants who were referred to there by social service agencies contracted by the state Department of Health had also lived there, with neighbors claiming they were simply warehoused and unsupervised, allowing them to run amok and cause a further deterioration of the building.

Irking these tenants is the knowledge that the affordable housing residence was built in 2015, nowhere near the aged buildings surrounding it.

Politically, the building was the first such property built following the 2011 rezoning of Webster Avenue, which ushered in these types of affordable housing properties in an area that did not allow for such properties. A lot had been riding on the success of the properties, which were subsequently followed by more properties by the Stagg Group, which opened a mixed-use property at the corner of East 203rd Street and Webster Avenue, and the Doe Fund, which opened an affordable/supportive housing property at East 204th Street and Webster Avenue.

Despite tenants’ claims of a poorly maintained property, Community Board 7—which years ago had advocated for the Webster Avenue rezoning—didn’t find anything that rose to the level of poor quality of life. The same went for Councilman Andrew Cohen, who personally toured the buildings.

But Governor Andrew Cuomo saw problems with the Stagg Group following a story published in the New York Daily News outlining conditions the Norwood News had reported on months before. Cuomo launched an investigation conducted by the state Department of Health into alleged substandard conditions. The results remained to be seen, but it became a win for tenants simply wanting a better quality of life.

Police-Involved Shooting
A fatal police-involved shooting hadn’t occurred within the 52nd Precinct in years, with longtime residents unable to recall whether such a shooting ever happened before. That changed on Oct. 17, 2019 when at 3 p.m. officers from the Five-Two’s Neighborhood Coordination Officer program, intended to bolster improved relations with the public by embedding officers in specific communities they usually refer to as a sector, stopped a Yonkers man for what they claim was driving without his seatbelt on. A police sergeant who supervisors the NCOs was on hand.

The man, later identified as Allan Feliz, a father of a five-year-old boy, was pulled over at Bainbridge Avenue and East 211th Street, just near Woodlawn Cemetery. A run of his license showed he had open warrants for minor offenses, giving cause for officers to arrest him. Feliz, according to officers, had resisted despite one of the NCO officers attempting to do so. A struggle ensued between the officer and Feliz on the driver’s side, with Feliz putting the car in reverse and then drive, according to video that had circulated. On the passenger side, the sergeant had unsuccessfully tased Feliz, but it did not properly activate. A split second after the car was stopped, the sergeant had fired his gun, shooting Feliz in the chest, killing him.

Feliz’s family has since filed a wrongful death lawsuit, claiming the shooting was unjustified. The two officers were reassigned out of the precinct.

Schools
Events centering around DeWitt Clinton Campus served as a recurring storyline for the Norwood News in 2019. The first centered around the city Department of Education’s plan to incorporate another school into the massive campus, a decision met with skepticism and anger from the existing schools, including the eponymous, near 100-year-old school. The anger was not so much directed at the arrival of an impending District 75, but at a time when DeWitt Clinton High School had turned a page, coming out of state receivership after years of dismal academic performance.

In the end, with two advisory groups approving the decision, the D75 school was put in place, with DOE officials citing a low utilization rate of the campus’ common amenities.

Another story followed by the Norwood News was an uplifting HBO documentary dubbed “The Bronx, USA,” which told a parallel story of students at DeWitt Clinton High School’s class of 2017 at a crossroads in their life with that of Norwood’s former neighbor, famed television producer Bob Shapiro. The documentary’s profile of the group of students showed that the struggles from men and women of yesteryear were no different than those of today.

The last story veered into more serious territory as cops were trying to get a handle on the latest episode of violence happening outside DeWitt Clinton Campus when a 16-year-old student from Bronx Collaborative High School, one of four high schools within the school, was stabbed, prompting a response from the 52nd Precinct commanding officer who vowed to keep students and staff there safe.

Politics
Councilman Andrew Cohen’s political ambitions had triggered all sorts of stories in 2019, with the 11th Council District legislator considering a judgeship while also flirting with the idea of running for Borough President. The prospect of a judgeship set the wheels in motion for a potential special election, which never came to pass after the Bronx Democratic Party’s judicial convention did not materialize a judicious spot for Cohen.

This put the political ambitions of Eric Dinowitz and Daniel Padernacht in the backburner, as each were jockeying to replace Cohen. Another candidate, Dionel Then is also running. All three will now have to wait until 2021 when Cohen’s term in office is up.

From a citywide level, all eyes have been engrossed in the race for the 15th Congressional District in the South Bronx, where a large number of candidates look to succeed 15-term Congressman Jose Serrano, who announced he will not be seeking re-election in March. The candidates are decidedly diverse, going from political novices to full-fledged politicos. Among the candidates are community organizers Samelys Lopez, Frangell Basora, and Jonathan Ortiz. Other candidates include Councilman Ritchie Torres, Councilman Ruben Diaz Jr., and Assemblyman Michael Blake, who have been considered the front-runners to the race. The congressional primary is slated for June 23, 2020. Whoever wins will likely secure the seat as long as Serrano.

Kingsbridge Armory
Very little can be said about the Kingsbridge National Ice Center project, which for the last few years has had its completion deadline extended largely because the owner, Kevin Parker, hasn’t raised enough capital to get the project going despite a $138 million loan commitment from the state.

In an interview with the Norwood News in July, Parker signaled that the project will indeed advance, with the final terms of a construction loan hammered out. “I’m very confident we’re gonna get there, it’s just not a straight line, nothing ever is in life,” he said.

It’s one of those wait-and-see instances we’ll just have to keep monitoring.

Bx. Opioid Crisis
Though New York City officials touted a decreased number of opioid-related overdoses, those successes failed to reach the Bronx. Statistics released in July by the city Department of Health showed an increased number of overdose deaths in 2018, with 391, compared to 359 reported overdoses in 2017. The Bronx was sadly the number one borough when it came to opioid deaths. Statistics on opioid-related overdoses for 2019 have not yet been released.

Finding solutions hasn’t happened overnight. In one section of Kingsbridge Heights, an overpass dubbed “The Tunnel” shows the problem of opioid in plain sight, with needles strewn about the area and at least one person confirming that drug use is prevalent there. The 52nd Precinct has acknowledged that area to be problematic, with Deputy Inspector Thomas Alps telling residents at a November meeting of the Bedford Mosholu Community Association that the users are “service-resistant.”

Perhaps 2020 will signal the year the tide will turn on overdose deaths in the Bronx.