In July, Community Board 7 organized a forum for residents and community activists to brainstorm the future of the Kingsbridge Armory. A couple hundred people showed up and shared their ideas - a great success. But Fernando Tirado, the Board's district manager since last January, saw another opportunity he couldn't let pass.

It's hard to believe, but this coming October marks the 20th anniversary of the Norwood News. Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit support corporation of Montefiore Medical Center, launched the paper as a monthly in 1988 so that neighborhood residents and organizations could communicate, raise issues and have a source of information for the news that matters most - local news!

Despite a zillion cable channels and four daily newspapers, most city neighborhoods are starved for local news they can use.

Just take a gander at the newspaper in your hands from front to back. Imagine there were a farmers market in a part of the neighborhood that you don't usually frequent and nobody told you about it. Or what if there was a hearing about blasting at the reservoir and there was nowhere to find out that it was even happening? Ditto a hearing about the fate of a massive vacant landmark like the Kingsbridge Armory. And speaking of the Armory, the Norwood News has been covering the Armory relentlessly since it was vacated by the National Guard in 1993.

Think a developer would have ever been selected if a newspaper hadn't held the city's feet to the fire all that time?

While the city continues to deliberate about which contractor should develop the long-vacant Kingsbridge Armory in the northwest Bronx, community leaders and local elected officials wonder what's taking so long. As the community awaits an answer, speculation is running rampant.

Despite overwhelming evidence that District 10 schools are still bursting at the seams, the Department of Education's (DOE) November amendment to the 2005-09 capital plan brings no relief.

Sadly, it's not a surprise. The DOE cut 1,700 seats from the capital plan last year and is on record saying, with a straight face, that there is no need for additional schools at the Kingsbridge Armory.

Judging the state of overcrowding takes some work but it's not exactly astrophysics. The DOE could learn from Council Member Oliver Koppell, who simply sent a survey to every school principal in his district.

Several of Community Board 7's new officers and other members gathered together to march in the Bronx Week Parade last Sunday on Mosholu Parkway. 

As we report in this issue, the Board has a lot of work ahead this summer, including reviewing and commenting on proposals for redeveloping the Kingsbridge Armory and hiring a new district manager. We wish the Board the best of luck as they begin addressing critical community issues.

With all the major projects and changes facing the northwest Bronx's Community Board 7 - the Kingsbridge Armory redevelopment, a massive water filtration plant construction project and the rezoning of Webster Avenue, just to name a few - the 141,411-resident district is going to need strong leadership.

Leaving his new family behind and putting his life in potential danger, Staff Sergeant Christopher Perkins of Norwood is on his way back to Iraq for a second tour of duty. Perkins spent his first 15-month tour in southern Iraq with his fellow soldiers from the 245th Maintenance Company of the National Guard, a unit based in the Kingsbridge Armory.

From the time it was clear the state would hand over the landmark Kingsbridge Armory to the city in 1993, it took 13 years for the city to issue a request for proposals (RFP). With the help of the Norwood News archives, here's a look at what happened along the way.

Dan Doctoroff, Mayor Bloomberg's go-to guy for development projects, said a request for proposals (RFP) would be issued in August during a May 4 tour of the Kingsbridge Armory.