By KASIA ROMANOWSKA

The leader of a grassroots volunteer group that oversaw the re-opening of the Williamsbridge Park Recreation Center has called it quits.

Elisabeth von Uhl resigned as president of the Friends of the Williamsbridge Oval on Nov. 26. As her resignation letter to fellow members explained, she needed more time “to pursue other things in life.”

“FOTWO was taking up too much time and head space, when I really needed to use those resources to (…) engage in my own writing,” von Uhl wrote in her letter, though she later told the Norwood News she’ll continue to volunteer for cleanup events.

Von Uhl’s sudden departure won’t endanger the building of a skateboard park within the Oval, which Councilman Andrew Cohen allocated $750,000 to build. The funds, according to Cohen’s chief of staff, will go directly to the New York City Department of Parks.

Among von Uhl’s successes for the group was leading a community effort to get the long awaited recreation center opened after four years of renovation delays. Von Uhl spent months haranguing elected officials wondering when the facility will re-open its doors. It finally did in a celebration roughly a year ago.

Other achievements included gaining safer access to the Oval via pedestrian walkways and clean ups placing maintenance worker who cleans the park daily and two PEP officers at the Recreation Center.

“I really do believe these staffing positions were made possible because Friends of the Williamsbridge Oval were vocal in our needs for our beloved park,” she said.

She regrets not finishing the MillionsTrees programs which would replace trees at the Oval. She also looked to secure a grant through the New York Yankees Community Fund, which would’ve been set aside to hire two CityTree pruners and buy maintenance equipment.

“We have been promised new tree plantings this fall by Parks Forestry (via email requests this past year), but we have yet to see any new trees in our park since the finishing of the Recreation Center’s construction,” she said.

She also hopes that the Norwood Halloween Festival for the Children, which debuted two years back, will become a tradition.

“I feel that many children and adults appreciated all the hard work done in making Whalen into a Haunted Forest where children could safely play and celebrate,” said von Uhl.

Her last project would include drafting a summary for the Yankee Community Grant and sending thank you notes for sponsors of the Halloween festival.

A successor has yet to be announced.

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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.