Continuing a tradition established for at least five years, the Norwood News took a look back at its 25 editions it puts out every year to highlight stories that consistently stood in the main pages of the paper. These stories caused plenty of readers to pause and think. Among the recurring themes playing out in 2016 was development of Norwood, which continues to be a hot commodity for wary developers. The stories were among the three following categories:

Armory
The Norwood News opened 2016 with the front page headline, “Ice Project Thawing Out,” referring to the Kingsbridge National Ice Center to be built at the Kingsbridge Armory. These days, the project has entered the ice age, a year following plenty of ups and downs that wound up in the courts.

The year began with developers for the nine-rink center receiving a $138 million loan approval from two state government entities, the Empire State Development Corporation and Public Authorities Control Board. Developers needed the money for the first phase of the project, but it first needed to show the state it had a lease ready in hand. The city, which owns the landmark Armory, kept the lease in escrow until developers showed them the money. It didn’t.

The two sides went to court. Even though Bronx Supreme Court Judge Ruben Franco favored the project, he ultimately sided with the city, ruling it had not breached any contract by not releasing the lease. The news sends the project in even deeper turmoil with no shovel on the ground in 2016, a blow to political stakeholders such as Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. who’ve depended on the project to bolster their image. 

Development
Once again development took center stage in Norwood and Bedford Park, with the two neighborhoods bracing for a population uptick. In some instances, that has already started, thanks to the opening of Concerned for Independent Living, an enormous supportive housing complex at the corner of Webster Avenue and East Gun Hill Road. Up the road, Webster Commons is set to wrap up on a huge, 484-unit affordable housing complex.

Webster Avenue is once again seeing previously mentioned projects such as a supportive housing project by the Doe Fund and Norwood Gardens by The Stagg Group enter the first phase of their development projects. The Doe Fund was announced in 2015, though construction didn’t begin until mid-2016. The same went for The Stagg Group.

Several blocks away, permits to build a hotel were filed by hotelier Nehalkumar Gandhi. Just what kind of hotel remains to be seen, though if history is any indicator, there may be a Howard Johnson’s in the works given Gandhi’s construction of one in New Jersey.

Webster Avenue was rezoned in 2011, with officials from the Department of City Planning (DCP) promising it would return to assess Bedford Park for rezoning. In a forum at Community Board 7 in May, a DCP official said rezoning Bedford Park is likely not going to happen. CB7 responded by hiring an urban planning consultant to conduct its own rezoning study that will later be presented to DCP.

Sparking the study was an eviction proceeding for tenants at 267 E. 202nd St. by an affordable and luxury housing developer, Peter Fine. Fine looked to remove the tenants of the existing two-story building so he could build a taller building, further congesting the neighborhood.

Tenants experienced even more instability after a fire ripped through the building over the summer, forcing them out for good. A settlement was eventually reached (see page 10 for more information) that saw a happy ending for tenants, but signaled an opening for Fine to begin razing the building and constructing a new one.    

Crime
The year saw the departure of 52nd Precinct commanding officer, Inspector Nilda Hofmann, who left the precinct to take a job at Police Headquarters in Lower Manhattan in May. She was replaced by Deputy Inspector Peter Fiorillo, a 25-year veteran who kept crime in a busy precinct relatively the same as it ended in 2015.

As of press time, overall violent crime was even, from 2,070 violent crimes in 2016 to the exact same number the same time the year before. Keeping officers busy is the number of felony and misdemeanor assault cases, which went up 6.4 percent and 8.2 percent respectively throughout the year. Also hurting the policy is the number of so-called fishing scams, where thieves used string and glue to “fish” out mail from mailboxes.

Hofmann left right on the heels of the installation of the Neighborhood Coordination Officer Program, which dedicates beat cops to one particular neighborhood instead of bouncing them around from one call to another. The idea, according to the NCO’s architect, NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill (an alum of the 52nd Precinct), is to forge better relations with the community, serving as a better set of eyes and ears for the Police Department.

Improving relationships remains a struggle. It was made tangible with the shooting death of Deborah Danner, a mentally ill elderly woman fatally shot by an NYPD sergeant. Danner was not armed, prompting Commissioner O’Neill to declare that the NYPD failed her.

Retirements and So Longs
Several folks familiar to Norwood and beyond announced their good-byes to their posts that made them regulars to it. Here are some notable names:

Congressman Charles Rangel: The Congressman who briefly represented Norwood thanks to gerrymandered political lines, finally ended his tenure as Congressman for the 13th Congressional District, which now goes to Congressman Adriano Espaillat.

 

 

Don Bluestone: Donald Bluestone, the executive director of Mosholu-Montefiore Community Center, taking a once $1.5 million nonprofit and turning it into a $26 million social services operation, announced his retirement for 2017. He’s got a couple more months to go before handing it off completely to Rita Santelia, now settling into MMCC’s day-to-day affairs.

 

Steven Bussell: Steven Bussell said goodbye to several volunteer title roles, including vice president of the 52nd Precinct, member of Montefiore Health System’s Community Advisory Board, and member of the Jewish Council, as he announced his retirement from public service. Bussell now lives in Florida.

 

 

Eamonn “Eddie” McDwyer: It was closing time for the proprietor of McDwyer’s Pub, Eamonn “Eddie” McDwyer, who announced the closure of his 50-year-old bar of the same name in November after a dispute with the landlord. McDwyer’s Pub was the last Irish bar in Norwood.

 

 

Santiago Taveras: DeWitt Clinton High School principal Santiago Taveras was let go from the community school after it was proven he doctored student grades to make them look good, creating the false impression the school’s image improved.

 

 

Editor’s Note: The Norwood News wishes everyone a great 2017!