The Week in Rewind | Bronxites to shape new Harlem River Greenway, vendor breaks glass ceilings in Little Italy and NYCHA residents to receive expanded free broadband internet – Bronx Times

Every Saturday, The Week in Rewind spotlights a sampling of the wide-ranging editorial work of the Bronx Times.

Michael Brady leaves post as leader of South Bronx’s Third Avenue BID

It’s the first week in seven years that Michael Brady isn’t the CEO of the Third Avenue Business Improvement District (BID).

Brady, whose last day was Wednesday, stepped down from the role, saying it’s time for new leadership.

Since starting the post in 2016, Brady brought the BID out of a financial deficit, growing its budget to more than $2 million in a four-year period and multiplying its staff by four-fold, he said. He worked to attract new businesses to the area, led efforts to rehabilitate vacant properties and secured financing for 2,300 units of new housing. He met with community groups, but he also sat in board rooms, working to secure both private and public investment in the South Bronx.

Brady has faced pushback in his role, which he believes comes from distrust — both with him being a white man and from fears he was selling out the neighborhood by meeting with developers, property owners and the MTA. But he believes that those against him have the same end result in mind.

“We want local wealth building, we want people from the neighborhood, people of color who have been disenfranchised for so long to have authentic power within the New York City structure,” he said. “I think we disagreed on how to get there.”

City wants Bronxites to help shape new 7-mile Harlem River Greenway, Adams announces

The city is set to kick off a public engagement process next month for the Bronx Harlem River Greenway project, a new seven-mile bike and pedestrian path slated to be built along the eastern side of the Harlem River, Mayor Eric Adams announced Wednesday.

Exact details have yet to be hashed out for the project that will stretch from Van Cortlandt Park in the northwest corner of the Bronx down much of the Harlem River’s eastern bank to Randall’s Island to the borough’s south, according to the mayor. When completed, however, it’ll offer continuous north-south off-street “multi use paths” and on-street “bike facilities,” all running alongside the Major Deegan Expressway.

During a news conference on the High Bridge, which links the Bronx’s Highbridge neighborhood with Manhattan’s Washington Heights, Adams said the project will connect Bronxites to the waterfront they’ve long been separated from by the Major Deegan — while referencing Robert Moses, the late New York power broker behind much of the city’s current infrastructure, both for better and worse.

“We know what the Major Deegan and other highways have done to our communities,” Adams said. “And now, we’re going to fix the problems that we witnessed in previous years.”

Little Italy’s artisan foods vendor looking to break glass ceilings on one-year anniversary

The word dua means many things in Albanian — want, need, love — which is exactly the sentiment owner Alexandra Lulaj hopes to embody with her store DUA Gourmet Market, located inside of the historic Arthur Avenue Market in the Bronx’s Little Italy.

DUA sells Balkan and Italian items like dried pasta, olive oils, canned fish, meats and cheeses — such as kashkaval and feta. Not only that, it also offers imported baklava and bakes donuts every Saturday, with the Nutella variety as its best seller. Lulaj and her team also do something no one else in the neighborhood is doing — they make fresh zeppoles daily.

However, like any business, it does not come without its challenges. Excluding hair and nail salons, DUA is one of seven exclusively woman-owned establishments in Little Italy, an area in the Belmont section with no shortage of storefronts. Due to its more than a century-old history and businesses passed down through the generations, the area is male dominated.

“Break the glass ceiling and keep it going no matter how much people try to put you down — especially in a male-dominated industry,” she said. “Don’t let it get to you, don’t take it personal.”

Mayor expands free broadband internet plan for NYCHA residents in the Bronx, citywide

New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the expansion of his broadband network initiative Thursday morning, which will provide up to 40,000 new households with free or discounted internet and cable access.

The mayor first announced the initiative — coined Big Apple Connect — at a New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) complex in Brooklyn last September, vowing to connect public housing residents across 200 developments with access to free broadband. The program provides NYCHA residents with bundles consisting of free in-home high-speed internet, including a modem and a router, basic cable TV with a cable box and remote, and common area Wi-Fi hotspots.

The initiative will expand to an additional 67 NYCHA developments, according to the mayor’s office. In total, the city will be providing free or discounted broadband access to 202 NYCHA complexes, reaching approximately 300,000 New Yorkers by the end of the year.

For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes