Bronx's Bedford Park - A gem in the rough?

[rlrl]

198th and Creston--I imagine it is very borderline-ish

[Commander Beth]

Originally Posted by bluedog2

Both Bedford Park and Norwood seem vastly improved over what they looked like and felt like in the 60's and 70's, when I used to come to NY and spend summers with my aunt and cousins.Can't imagine they were any better in the 80's and 90's when NYC was bottoming either, although I didn't spend any time in those places during those years after my aunt died in the late 70's.If they somehow had some kind of renaissance in the 80's and 90's, while the whole city was on the skids ,then they might be the only neighborhoods in the whole city to do so.

So,as far as I can tell,things are probably better than they have been in 50 years.

Specifically regarding Bedford Park,I looked at co ops there 5 years ago (on The Grand Concourse,Mosholu Parkway South and side streets) and have some friends who have been living there for 8 or 10 years.The area definitely looks nicer than it looked 5 years ago and my friends tell me that they feel as tough it has improved quite a bit since they have been there.I think it's a great neighborhood.

The Norwood area was mostly shielded from the chaos of the decline because of the Montefiore Hospital, which was/is the largest private employer in the Bronx. The hospital tended to be civic minded; Montefiore established the nonprofit Mosholu Preservation Corporation to help building owners with maintenance and renovation and they offered second mortgages to owners unable to get financing elsewhere, and, on rare occasions, they bought important properties that would have otherwise eroded the neighborhood.
Norwood survived mostly intact while the Bronx burned.

[pietrang]

Same can be said for Bedford Park. There are new buildings going up on Webster Ave resulting from the rezoning from the Webster Ave Vision Plan which was the joint work of Community Board 7 and the four major institutions in the area, Montefiore, Bronx Zoo, New York Botanical Gardens and Fordham University.

[Commander Beth]

Originally Posted by pietrang

Same can be said for Bedford Park. There are new buildings going up on Webster Ave resulting from the rezoning from the Webster Ave Vision Plan which was the joint work of Community Board 7 and the four major institutions in the area, Montefiore, Bronx Zoo, New York Botanical Gardens and Fordham University.

Indeed - I called it civic-mindedness above, but there's sensible self-preservation in there for sure.