After learning of the recent down zoning of a portion of streets in the neighborhood of Woodlawn, the Fordham Bedford Housing Corporation (FBHC) is now fighting even more for portions of Bedford Park to receive the same outcome.

A request was put into the New York City Department of City Planning (NYCDCP) to down zone 202nd and 203rd streets five years back when other areas of Bedford Park underwent rezoning. The request called for R5B or R7B zones to be adopted on these narrow streets, mandating developers to put up structures at the same height as the century-old houses that make up the suburban look of the neighborhood.

John Reilly, executive director of FBHC, is heading the campaign, having stopped by the recent Bedford Mosholu Community Association gathering to explain recent developments. In a letter sent to Carol Samol, Bronx commissioner for NYCDCP, Reilly said he feels his efforts have been ignored. The lack of zoning, he notes, has caused one developer to begin evicting tenants at a building on 202nd Street off Briggs Avenue. Reilly wrote “developers are now trying to evict some of my neighbors so they can squeeze a way oversized building onto our narrow street.” The developers were identified as Jac Zadrima and Peter Fine, who are not listed as owners of the property, according to a lawyer representing tenants.

The home is divided into six units. Families were sent eviction notices giving them 30 days to leave, resulting in a separate court case demanding repairs be made.

Andrew Darcy, an attorney representing the tenants, told the Norwood News Fine “has proceeded to harass [tenants] by sending men to the building claiming to be the super, flying drones above the block to intrusively take pictures, and doing drilling without a permit in the driveway next to the building to test the concrete. This is an example of the displacement that may be coming to the Bronx.”

“This is a guy who’s made a lot of money,” said Reilly of Fine. “He’s been building 30 million dollar homes in Florida and he comes back to the Bronx after being away for about five years to put up huge buildings on my block?”

Reilly and FBHC have begun circulating petitions against the development of the areas that these developers have recently acquired as well as petitions calling upon elected officials to stand up for the tenants who are being forced out of their homes. FBHC worries political ties these developers seem to have could impact efforts to rezone these areas.

“Our goal in all cases is to be a good neighbor,” said a representative for Fine. “We are still considering our options for the property so it’s premature to discuss our plans. But in all cases we respect the law and that including honoring legal leases.”

Additional reporting by David Cruz

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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.