New Street Name Honors Longtime Local Bishop

Editor's Note: this article was first published in the July edition of the Tremont Tribune, out and online now.

The section of Crotona Parkway in front of St. Thomas Aquinas Church is now
 Bishop Francisco Garmendia Place, in honor of the parish’s late pastor.
(Photo by Jeanmarie Evelly)

A busy stretch of Crotona Parkway was renamed last week to honor the late Bishop Garmendia Francisco, the first Hispanic bishop to serve the Archdiocese of New York and a longtime presence in East Tremont, known through the years for his work with the neighborhood’s new immigrant populations.

“He loved his people,” said Betty Cleary, who worked for years as Garmendia’s secretary. “He would go to door-to-door through the neighborhood. Everybody was his family.”