The Bronx News Network was a daily news blog launched in 2008 by the Norwood News. In 2012, City Limits acquired the network and relaunched it as The Bronx Bureau.
Editor’s note: Head on over to the Arthur Avenue Retail Market in Belmont’s “Little Italy,” this afternoon, from 4 to 7 p.m., for the market’s celebration of Bronx Week. Tour the space, meet the vendors, and enjoy free samples and cooking demos.
Editor’s note: A version of this article first appeared in this week’s Norwood News, out today.Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. at a rally last week in support of the living wage bill. (Courtesy Borough President’s Office)The City Council held a long-awaited hearing on a controversial living wage bill last Thursday, with both sides of the debate testifying about the potential effects of the legislation in a session that lasted over two hours. The Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, sponsored by Bronx Council Members Oliver Koppell and Annabel Palma, would require developers of projects receiving taxpayer subsidies of more than $100,000 to pay workers $10 an hour with benefits, or $11.50 without. The bill, which sprang from the living wage fight that derailed a plan to develop the Kingsbridge Armory into a shopping mall, has the support of every Bronx Council member, with the exception of James Vacca, who had said he was waiting for a hearing on the issue before taking a side.“He’s wary of any legislation that might prevent jobs, and I’m not sure he’s convinced,” said Vacca spokesman Bret Nolan Collazzi, in a phone interview after the hearing. “We’re not planning on signing on at this time,” he said.The legislation currently has the support of 30 Council Members; 34 are needed to override a mayoral veto.The assertion that a living wage mandate would kill jobs was put forth in a report released by the city’s Economic Development Corporation last week.
Editor’s note: Been meaning to post this story that first appeared in the May 4 edition of the Norwood News. So here it is. Photo slideshow by Adi Talwar. See more of Adi’s work at rawlat.com/adi.By Lulaine CompereIf not for an official from a faraway West African nation, the Church of the Holy Nativity in Norwood would have seen its 110th birth year come and go without so much as a peep.“One of our wardens from Sierra Leone got us to celebrate our 110the anniversary,” says Richard Kelly, a longtime parishioner.That Holy Nativity, an Episcopalian congregation, was reminded of its lengthy local history by a man from Sierra Leone, says a lot about the state of the church. Some long-standing church members, like Kelly, remain.
Freddy Molano and Catherine Abate (right) of CommunityHealthcare Network, with transgender activistAshley Love, at last week’s conference.(Photo courtesy Community Healthcare Network) On Friday, health care providers and transgender advocates gathered at Lincoln Hospital for a day of discussions on the specific health needs of the borough’s transgender population-a group organizers say is often overlooked by the medical community at large.The event was hosted by the nonprofit health care provider Community Healthcare Network and the Bronx Pride Center, the borough’s only LGBT advocacy organization. “Bringing together over 150 service providers and consumers has put transgender health on the health agenda for the Borough,” said Bronx Pride director Dirk McCall. “We look forward to taking the next steps towards full equality for the transgender community.”Advocates say the transgender population has a unique set of health needs and faces several barriers when it comes to accessing proper care, including a lack of health insurance, using street hormones, self medicating, and significantly higher rates of HIV/AIDS infection.The conference also sought to draw medical providers’ attention to the social barriers and discrimination the trangender people face, and how to address those issues when providing health care.”The city has a transgender population of significant size, and they need someone to advocate for them,” said Dr. Monica Sweeney, Assistant Commissioner for the Bureau of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control.Community Healthcare Network runs a health service program geared specifically for transgendered patients, launched in 2004. Based at the Bronx Health Center on 975 Westchester Avenue, the program offers primary care, hormone therapy, screening and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, mental health services, HIV testing and counseling, workshops, interventions, support groups, and more. For more information, call 718-320-6765.
Sorry, a little late with our roundup today, as we’re going to press with the latest edition of the Norwood News, which will be out tomorrow. Weather: Rain, rain, and more rain. Temperatures in the low 60s.Story of the Day: Bronx Pastor Sworn In as Obama Ambassador Rev. Suzan Johnson Cook, who grew up in Wakefield and founded Bronx Christian Fellowship Church on E. Gunhill Road and Paulding Avenue, was appointed President Obama’s ambassador for religious freedom yesterday-the
? File photo? Former Bronx Borough President and two-time mayoral candidate Freddy Ferrer has been appointed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to the MTA Board, the governing body that oversees the agency (and, most notably, approves all of those fare hikes and service changes).Ferrer served as Borough President of the Bronx for 14 years, from 1987 to 2001, before making a run for Mayor. His most current gig is with public affairs firm Mercury. ??
As part of the onoing Bronx Week festivities, the Borough President’s Office and the Annenberg Institute for School Reform are hosting a special film screening of “Parent Power,” on Thursday night, at the New York Botanical Garden. The documentary chronicles grassroots efforts in the Bronx and other communities of color to improve and reform local schools. Check the flier below for more and for RSVP information. You can see a full calendar of Bronx Week events here. Other Bronx events can be found in our community calendar, here.
Tonight BronxTalk will feature a discussion about how the DOE handles special education.
Celebrating Mainland Media’s new showroom were, from left, Jamie Jones of New York Graphic Studios, who shares the space; Paul Ramirez; Anthony Ramirez; John Martin and Felicia Reyes (Photo by Jordan Moss)Around 2004, John Martin and Anthony Ramirez worked at the big nonprofit SoBro and they were looking for Bronx-related posters to decorate their offices with. They couldn’t find any. So, after mulling this for a bit they rented a helicopter – no kidding – and took aerial images of the Boogiedown that they then sold on a website. Mainland Media, named for the only borough that is attached to the rest of America, was born just a year later in 2005.Fast forward six years, and there they were – the Bronx-loving entrepreneurs who first met at Horace Mann High School in Riverdale – presiding over a well-attended opening of their studio in a tenement on East 135th Street around the block from the Bruckner Bar and Grill with their business partner Felicia Reyes, an art director and graphic designer. Ramirez’s brother Paul Ramirez is also a key member of the operation, which features ultra-hip Bronx t-shirts, posters by Bronx artists like painter Daniel Hauben and photographer Ron Terner, mugs, etc.”Everything we sell is creating by Bronxites for Bronxites,” said Anthony Ramirez, who explained that fromthebronx.com is the on-line storefront for all the Bronx-focused gear and artwork.
Weather: It’s a foggy, blustery morning in the Bronx today, with temperatures in the 60s and scattered thunderstorms predicted for this afternoon. We’ll pay for last week’s near-perfect spring weather with rain storms for the rest of this week.Story of the Day: Diaz Family on Opposite Sides of Gay Marriage FightThe Times describes the scene at Sen. Ruben Diaz, Sr.’s anti-gay marriage rally, which he held yesterday at the Bronx Borough Courthouse on the Grand Concourse to protest the legalization of same-sex marriage in New York (You can read an editorial about Diaz’s rally, from the most recent issue of the Tremont Tribune, here.)Among the attendees there in opposition to Rev. Diaz’s stance was his own granddaughter, Erica Diaz, an openly gay 22-year-old who was discharged from the Navy last year after she told her superiors she was a lesbian. The younger Diaz told the paper it was important for her grandfather to know her stance on his politics. “It is in my blood to stand up for what I believe in — regardless of who I am up against,” she said.Quick Hits:Lots of drama at Yankee Stadium this weekend: the Atlantic argues that hitter Jorge Posada’s “hissy fit”-he backed out of Saturday night’s game against the Red Sox after being demoted on the team’s batting lineup-is just one example of rampant bad behavior by sports stars.A psychiatric patient being transferred from a Long Island hospital took off in an off-duty police officer’s car, leading authorities on a wild chase that ended in the Bronx yesterday afternoon. A retired New York City firefighter is accused of owning several Bronx apartment buildings that are illegally divided-a practice experts say is a dangerous fire hazard, and which played a role in a tragic blaze that killed three people in Belmont last month.City budget cuts could close City Island’s only firehouse, Ladder Company 53.
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