New from the Tremont Tribune

November's Tremont Tribune hit the streets last week and is online now. Here's a quick peek at what's inside:

A former industrial site along the Bronx River has been transformed into a park. After a decade of community push, Concrete Plant Park, the newest link in the Bronx River Greenway, officially opened last month between the Bruckner Expressway and Westchester Avenue.

The new pastor at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, one of the pillars of Italian Belmont, talks about keeping Italian traditions alive while welcoming waves of newer immigrants who have reshaped the neighborhood.

A computer lab on Bathgate Avenue is helping Bronxites bridge the digital divide.

The Department of City Planning has unveiled its plan to rezone - and reinvent - large swaths of Third and East Tremont Avenues.

Plus more.

And, as usual, check out our full listing of community events and announcements.

Bronx News Roundup Jan. 14

In the Bronx, Internet cafes are as rare as Starbucks. It's good to hear, then, that one (an Internet cafe, not a Starbucks) is about to be built in Soundview. (More here on the borough's digital divide and what's being done to correct it.)

In the Post today, there's a look at a "murderous gang turf war" that's engulfed several Manhattan high schools. The violence has been fueled by the rivalry of two Dominican gangs, Dominicans Don't Play (aka DDP) and the Trinitarios, says the paper. Washington Heights, in northern Manhattan, has been hit the hardest, but both gangs are active in the west Bronx, too. DDP gang members, for example, have been linked to an incident in which a 12-year-old girl was shot in the back and seriously injured following a house party on Marion Avenue in Fordham, last spring.

Yet another kick in the teeth for opponents of the new Yankee Stadium.

Rates of infant mortality, bucking a city-wide trend, increased in the Bronx from six deaths per 1,000 births in 2005, to seven per 1,000 in 2006, according to a new study. In 2006, the Bronx also recorded the highest percentage of babies born to teenage mothers, at 12 percent of all births. Brooklyn, with 7 percent, was second. More here, in what, above statistics aside, is a mostly positive take on the city's health.

Bronx pol Helen Foster is one of only four Democratic Council members supporting Barack Obama's presidential campaign. The other 48 are in Hillary Clinton's camp.

Bronx Technology Fair

Mount Hope Housing Company's annual technology carnival is being held today. The free community event, on 179th Street between Morris and Walton avenues (three blocks north of yesterday's shooting), boasts computer classes and a video game competition. There's also a barbecue, music, dancing, and a raffle - prizes include a flat screen TV and a Nintento Wii.


The aim of the day is to show local residents how technology - especially computers and the Internet - can help in their everyday lives.

The Bronx, outside of Riverdale, has been slow to embrace the on-line world. Organizations like Mount Hope, who recently wired its 1,250 apartments for high speed Internet access, are working to correct this, and in March, Bronx Community College held a brainstorming conference that looked at ways to bridge this digital divide. (Photos by James Fergusson)

Norwood News On-Line

The latest issue of the Norwood News is on the streets and on-line.
Particularly pertinent to our efforts to bring more local news to more people, especially on-line, through the West Bronx News Network, is Alex Kratz's report on the digital divide. The City Council's Broadband Advisory Committee held it's first hearing in the Bronx and we report on their efforts and those of the Bronx's nonprofit sector.
Other stories you can read 0n-line: Muslim Community Wants Schools to Recognize Holidays; Filter Plant Contractor Bails Out; Planning for a Harlem River Renaissance; and VC Park Group Has New Leader.