By DAVID CRUZ

Community institutions, park advocates and neighbors are coming together with a shared goal in mind—pushing the de Blasio Administration to consider revitalizing Mosholu Parkway.

For the Four Bronx Institution Alliance (FBIA), a body made up of Montefiore Medical Center, Fordham University, The New York Botanical Garden and The Bronx Zoo, seeing the major project through requires coalition building.

Community Board 7 agreed, a reason why the Board’s Parks & Recreation Committee voted to draft a letter to their city legislators, hoping they can impress upon the de Blasio Administration the urgency in earmarking monies for the project. The votes were cast at a packed committee meeting on March 25.

“And that’s really why we’re here today—to really try to strengthen this partnership system so when we approach the administration, they rank this higher on their list,” said Eric Henry, Director of Government Relations for NYBG, who led a presentation at the committee meeting that also served as a type of brainstorming session.

The project was originally designed by the New York City Department of Design and Construction in 2007, following an original request from the community and FBIA. That 2007 project was priced at $23 million. Current estimates, when taking into consideration eight years of inflation, put the project at $50 million. But the plan, once touted by the Bloomberg Administration, fell by the wayside. The de Blasio Administration, whose efforts have greatly focused on its signature Vision Zero Plan, has also shown little interest. The administration did not return emails seeking comment.

“We think it’s sort of a shame that so much work has gone into it and it’s sort of been on the back burner,” said Aaron Bouska, NYBG’s vice president, in attendance.

FBIA representatives took the initial steps in revamping the plan, meeting with officials and legislators that included Councilman Andrew Cohen, whose 11th Council District largely represents the Mosholu Parkway area. Cohen shares the parkway with Councilman Ritchie Torres of the 15th District.

Signs of Age
Mosholu Parkway serves as a preferred recreational spot for hundreds of neighbors known to take leisurely strolls, sleigh down the parkway’s hills in winter, or simply take pride in the grassy dale’s prominence. It doubles as a leafy nexus that takes drivers from the Bronx River Parkway, cutting through Norwood/Bedford Park and to the Henry Hudson Parkway, making it an essential roadway to community residents and out-of-towners alike. The parkway’s southern and northern service roads crisscross 12 streets, including some major ones–Jerome Avenue, Webster Avenue and East Gun Hill Road.

But the aging signs of the roadway–crumbling sidewalks, lack of lights, torn down benches and nagging potholes—have become a bane to community residents. It’s regressing to its natural state some (it’s built on top of a brook) with the side pavement of the two-, three-, and four-lane stretch eroding from wear, tear and winter seasons. Multiple agencies are tasked with the upkeep, including the New York City Park & Recreation Department, New York City Department of Transportation, and New York State Department of Transportation, often blurring the line over who’s in charge of the parkway.

“The plan is mainly geared towards safety, increasing the amount of usable sidewalk and pedestrian paths and storm water routing and prevention,” said Henry, adding that bike paths are also in order.

A sidewalk by an overpass on Jerome Avenue would also see a new sidewalk, according to the conceptual plans. It’s currently a grassy patch, with pedestrians often having to walk at their own risk.

The plan only showed some of the changes that the Friends of Mosholu Parkland, a volunteer group serving as sentinels for the park, would want to see. Elizabeth Quaranta, who leads the group, charged that one request not mentioned were guardrails for the parkway, intended to safeguard students who jaywalk to DeWitt Clinton High School or MS 80 that abut the highway.

Indeed, traffic accidents and near-misses have been the norm. Two years ago, Sook-Ja Kim, a Bedford Park woman crossing Mosholu Parkway on March 17, was struck and killed by a driver.

“These intersections, these roadways are dangerous so I think that’s something that we have to keep in the back of our minds aside from the cost factor,” said Roberto S. Garcia, senior director of community and economic development for Montefiore and executive director of Mosholu Preservation Corporation (the Norwood News is published by the Mosholu Preservation Corporation).

But Jay Shuffield, a resident of Norwood, suggested the FBIA group looked to use its influence to ensure the roadways that take passengers to and from FBIA’s bloc of institutions would take priority over the rest of the parkway. Two FBIA members called the criticism a “mischaracterization,” since any city project requires full funding and a plan.

For now, Cohen and Torres, who are on board with seeing the project through, have scheduled a forum this month seeking community input on the plan. “We want to make sure this is an open and inclusive process,” said Cohen in a statement.

Sheila Sanchez, newly appointed president of the Friends of the Williamsbridge Oval, ensured she would keep on Cohen and Torres to ensure the project is considered.

Editor’s Note: The forum takes place at the Bedford Park Senior Center, 243 E. 204th St., April 29 at 7 p.m. not 6:30 p.m. as indicated on the print version of this article. 

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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.