City Officials Mark Affordable Housing 'Milestone' in the Bronx

This affordable housing development in West Farms Square is one
of thousands that was financed this year by the city. (Photo: Jeanmarie Evelly)

Bloomberg administration officials gathered in the courtyard of a West Farms apartment complex this morning to celebrate what they say has been a landmark year for the city's affordable housing stock.

Officials announced that the city is ahead of schedule in Mayor Bloomberg's New Housing Marketplace Plan, which aims to "create and preserve 165,000 units of affordable housing by the end of 2014."

The number of units financed in the last fiscal year, which ended June 30, puts the city three-quarters of the way towards hitting that goal number, a fact hailed by officials as a major accomplishment in light of the recession and the budget restraints of the last few years.

New Bedford Park Housing Complex is a Bridge for Young and Old

The new Serviam Gardens complex sits on the campus of Mt. St. Ursula Academy in Bedford Park. (Photo by Adi Talwar. See slideshow below for more.)

The seedlings in the raised garden beds behind the campus of the Academy of Mount Saint Ursula have just begun to sprout; lettuce and tomato plants sowed over the last few months by an unlikely team: the seniors who live here and the teenage girls who go to class next door.

Residents call this scenic spot the "Intergenerational Garden" because it straddles the space between the historic all-girls' high school and a brand new, $65 million affordable housing project for seniors that officially opened yesterday. Here, the students are encouraged to stop by after class to mingle with the older residents or volunteer their time to help out in the garden.

"The girls love coming over here," said Sister Mary Alice Giordano, a teacher at Mount Saint Ursula's and a member of the Ursuline Sisters, the group that runs the Bedford Park school. "One of them said to me the other day, 'I love learning about the old days from someone who actually lived through it.'"

The Ursuline Sisters leased the property surrounding an unused former convent to the Fordham Bedford Housing Corporation, which, recognizing the neighborhood's need for more senior citizen housing, spent the past several years converting the space--which includes two newly built buildings--into a stunning 296 unit apartment complex, named Serviam Gardens.

Name Your Neighborhood

A little more than a decade ago, when the Norwood News expanded beyond Bedford Park to include another neighborhood to its south in Community Board 7, we wondered what to call it. In the 1970s, the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition called its local affiliated association the Fordham-Bedford Community Coalition, named for the southern and northern street boundaries. And the nonprofit housing company that sprung from that group called itself the Fordham Bedford Housing Corporation.

In the Norwood News, we call the community “North Fordham,” which has long irked colleagues affiliated with both aforementioned organizations. We thought it better described the community north of Fordham Road and south of Bedford Park and its namesake boulevard. We felt like Fordham-Bedford was a confusing conglomeration of the two neighborhood names of Fordham and Bedford Park.

Last week, we got this e-mail from John Reilly, the long-time executive director of Forhdam Bedford Housing Corporation, who reported with no shortage of glee that Wikipedia now has an entry for Fordham-Bedford while North Fordham has none .

Gentlemen: How interesting that Wikipedia now recognizes Fordham Bedford as a neighborhood in the Bronx. It does not seem to reference anything about North Fordham. It would seem that the march of time and popular recognition are gradually winning out and that places are ultimately named by the people who live and work there. Just as “Holy Comforter” is now Concourse House, Fordham Bedford is STILL Fordham Bedford (as it has been for 35 years!)

And, we must admit, he has a point. Even if Fordham-Bedford is a made-up name that relatively few people use, North Fordham is no less made up or infrequently used. It also has the disadvantage of being more recently made up and by people who don’t live or work in the neighborhood.

But detracting from Mr. Reilly's argument is that the Wikipedia entry says Fordham-Bedford comprises two smaller neighborhoods – Fordham and Bedford Park. Our purpose in naming the neighborhood was to give it its own distinct identity, separate from Bedford Park.

So, we put it to you dear readers : If you live between Bedford Park Boulevard and Fordham Road, and between Webster and Jerome avenues, what do you call your neighborhood? And if you don’t feel like your neighborhood has a name, and you tell people you live on the Grand Concourse or Kingsbrige Road, or East 198^th Street, what would you like it to be called?

We’re looking forward to hearing from you.

$23 Million to Preserve Affordable Housing

Fordham Bedford Housing Corporation (FBHC) will acquire and renovate 283 apartments in six buildings, thanks to a $23 million loan from the city's new Acquisition Fund. It's the first major loan made through the $230 million initiative.

Commissioner Shaun Donovan of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, announced the loan yesterday in front of 2825 Webb Ave., one of the buildings acquired through the fund. He was joined by representatives of FBHC, Enterprise, and several banks and foundations that invested in the fund.

The Acquisition Fund was created to help non-profit developers compete with commercial developers, who can often move much faster to buy buildings because of the resources they have.

Here's coverage of the Acquisition Fund in Crain's New York Business. Readers can see more coverage in the July 12 issue of the Norwood News.