National Weather Service: Tornado Hit the Bronx

For the first time in more than 30 years, a tornado hit the Bronx on Sunday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. The Riverdale Press reports that the eye of the storm centered around north Riverdale, but effects were felt throughout the north Bronx, including Williamsbridge Oval Park (pictured above) and Mosholu Parkway (pictured below), where police used a truck to push a tree off the road. If you know of any other downed trees causing problems in your neighborhood, send in photos and we'll follow up with city agencies.

Bronx News Roundup, Jan. 25

How has the Bronx's Christopher Columbus High School been faring with this round of school closings? The New York Times reports on the the current state of things in this 70 year-old school, one of the last large high schools left in the Bronx. Education officials say that the "failures" of Columbus "are self-evident," as enrollment, the student body and graduation rates falter. 

Before the dashboard erupted in flames, a heroic school bus driver, Jamal Richards, carried four disabled children to safety on Saturday on West Mosholu Parkway South, near Jerome Ave. Three of the children were in wheelchairs, and the other used a walker -- none were injured.

Coconut candy was mistaken for crack cocaine, and two Bronx men were taken into custody for possession of the sweet treats. Cesar Rodriguez and Jose Pena are planning to sue the NYPD for $2 million for carelessness and not following protocol.

More than 1200 guns have been taken off the street, thanks to the Bronx gun buy-back program held this past Saturday. NY1 has video on the buy-back as well.

Huge Tree Falls on Mosholu Parkway North

As you've likely noticed, it's a little windy out there. This morning (or late last night), a large tree came crashing down on Mosholu Parkway North, near Tracey Towers, blocking the pathway.

Photo by Jordan Moss.

Farmers Market on Mosholu Parkway & Jerome

The Farmer's Market has returned to Mosholu Parkway North at Jerome Avenue. Every Wednesday July through November from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Here are some photos I took on my way to work this morning.

Bronx Parade and Festival Slideshow

Check out highlights from the Bronx Parade and Festival on Mosholu Parkway last Saturday afternoon (June 20) in this slideshow by Norwood News and Bronx News Network photographer Adi Talwar.

Homeless Shelters in Bronx Apartment Buildings: The Story Behind the Story

Henry Perry, a 68-year-old substitute teacher and Mosholu Parkway resident, is a star today. Not only did he appear in the first paragraph of a NY Times front page story, but also in the first paragraph of the Norwood News' top story on its Web site. (It will appear as a front page story in the Norwood News print addition, which will hit streets tomorrow morning.) Here's our editorial on the situation with Perry's building and others like it.

The Times story and the Norwood News story have some similarities, but also many differences, which I'll get to in a minute, but first let's rewind to see how this story unfolded.

In mid-January, I learned that a homeless shelter had quietly moved into a notorious and poorly-managed Bedford Park apartment building, 3001 Briggs Ave., which happened to be directly across the street from a school, PS 8. Teachers at the school were irate. They contacted the community board, 311 and the Norwood News. On Jan. 22, Community Board 7 invited an increasingly angry neighborhood to weigh in and, wow, did they. On this blog the next day I reported about the meeting and some of the other things I had found out. In the next issue of the paper, I wrote up a more in-depth story about it that focused on how upset residents were and how previous tenants may have been harassed to make way for the shelter.

Soon after that story appeared on Feb. 5, Perry called us to say he too was living in a building, 15-19 Mosholu Parkway, with a homeless shelter and said he would be attending the next Community Board meeting to discuss his situation and express his opposition to it. The Bronx Times published a story about Perry's building and the Bedford Park building on Feb. 27.

Regardless of how it started, we now have a better picture of what the city is doing with its homeless population and how it's affecting tenants.

The NY Times story focuses on the city's new policy of creating so-called "cluster-site" homeless shelters, which are similar to the controversial "scatter-site" policy, which was denounced in the early 2000's as an "expensive failure." It includes some good details and stats like the fact these cluster sites are growing exponentially and mostly in the Bronx.

The Norwood News story focuses more on the events leading up to Perry's building becoming half a homeless shelter -- mass evictions and landlord intimidation, no tenant notification, 3 suspicious fires -- and how it mirrored what happened at 3001 Briggs. We also report that the outcry over this is forcing the city's Department of Homeless Services to rethink its policies.

Combined, they make an even more complete story. And that's our goal as reporters and journalists.

Note: One of our ideas to open up dialogue on this blog is to give some of the back story behind what you see in print or on our Web site and this our first attempt to do that. Let us know what you think. Is it interesting? Does it help you understand the story better? Is it pointless? Whatever the case, we want to know what you think.

Plans from the Four Bronx Institutions Alliance

A few years back, four large Bronx institutions came together to plan ways they could jointly push for improvements, mainly to roadways, in the area. Details from the plan put forth by Montefiore, Fordham University, the Botanical Gardens and the Bronx Zoo are available in the latest issue of Inside Fordham, a publication of the University. These include $11 million dollars already secured to improve East Fordham Road and Mosholu Parkway:

East Fordham Road and Mosholu Parkway will see the first changes:

Traveling north from the Rose Hill campus along Mosholu Parkway will be easier. The parkway’s intersections with Gun Hill Road and Sedgwick Avenue would be reconfigured to eliminate bottlenecks that create northbound traffic backups.

The parkway, meanwhile, would get new plantings to replenish its trees, along with rebuilt curbs and drainage improvements to alleviate flooding.

The FBIA also seeks to remove the Jersey barriers along East Fordham Road east of the campus, from Southern Boulevard to the Bronx River Parkway. The barriers would be replaced by an elevated median with space for greenery.

Those two projects have funding set aside in the city’s capital budget—design funds for both, and construction money for the East Fordham Road improvements.

Many other changes still in the conceptual phase are listed in the article.