by Olivia Young
Camelia Tepelus often feels she’s flipping a switch as soon as she enters Morris Park.
Tepelus, born in Romania, is a Spuyten Duyvil resident and the executive director of the Morris Park Business Improvement District since 2019. Since landing in the Bronx after years spent learning across the globe, Tepelus has worked to serve her community and secure critical funding for the betterment of Morris Park.
Morris Park’s everyday business improvement district staff is made up of Tepelus and three to five team members from Streetplus, Tepelus said. Streetplus is a private company providing cleaning and safety services, among other things, according to the company’s website.
The district runs along Morris Park Avenue, between Unionport Road and Amethyst Street to the west, and Williamsbridge Road to the east, according to the organization’s site.
A business improvement district, or BID, is an area where local stakeholders oversee and fund the maintenance and promotion of their district, according to the New York City Department of Small Business Services. This includes efforts such as street cleaning, beautification, business development and public safety.
In May, Tepelus won $750,000 from the state as part of its downtown revitalization initiative. The project proposal, written and championed by Tepelus, aimed to enhance Morris Park Avenue’s streetscape by installing trees, planters, tree guards, banners and other public amenities, according to a May release from Gov. Kathy Hochul. The project was one of 10, totalling $20 million, to better greater Morris Park.
The accomplishment earned Tepelus a spot on City & State’s “Above and Beyond: Protecting New York” list of local leaders released last month. This is one of a dozen public recognitions Tepelus has received over the years, including from the New York State Senate and Crain’s New York Business.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Tepelus advocated for around 300 businesses, helping keep all but two open and resulting in the addition of 11, City & State said in 2021. Some strategic projects she has worked on include advocacy for Metro-North expansion to the east Bronx, which the city said will arrive in 2027, according to the BID website, as well as serving as a community partner on Reimagine the Cross Bronx Expressway. This was a 2025 study released by the city that aimed to reconnect communities divided by the expressway and lessen negative effects on surrounding communities.
While Tepelus has left a lasting mark on the Bronx, her journey began in Romania.
Tepelus said until she was 15, Romania was a communist state. Living in a small, regulated apartment, Tepelus said she always longed for a life of travel. First she got a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in Bucharest, before setting off for Italy to study organic chemistry, and then Sweden, eventually earning a PhD in industrial environmental economics.
She was in Spain for a time as well, working for an organization that aimed to protect children from sexual exploitation and trafficking in travel and tourism. She moved to Brooklyn in 2004 for the same role. The moment Tepelus set foot in the city, New York felt like home, she said.
Tepelus’ debut in the northwest Bronx was through a fellowship for the city’s small business services department, where she worked for the nonprofit Kingsbridge Riverdale Van Cortlandt Development Corporation to expand its reach in Marble Hill. Twelve years ago, she settled in Spuyten Duyvil with her family.
When she applied for a position at the newly created Morris Park BID in 2019, Tepelus said she hadn’t ever gone farther east than the Bronx Zoo or the New York Botanical Garden. She took a drive, and said she found the neighborhood was “underappreciated, underinvested, underserved, under everything.”
“There was no clear scope of work for a new organization,” Tepelus, the BID’s first executive director, said. “There was nobody before me to create a path. So I will be creating the path … I will help this community turn the page from a history that needs to be refreshed.”
Though she was up for it, the role was a challenge. The east Bronx presented a unique diversity of cultures, political views and more, creating a place with a unique blend of needs as well.
Tepelus described the district as having more balance than Riverdale, with more active debate. It’s “alive and moving and evolving,” she explained.
Regardless of any disagreement, residents all have the same basic, fundamental values, Tepelus said. They want their children to be safe, their streets to be clean, their businesses to be thriving and their neighborhood to be something in which to take pride.
Aside from the day-to-day improvements such as making sure sidewalks are swept and trash is cleared, marketing small businesses and monitoring 311 complaints, Tepelus said in June 2024 she spearheaded the project she is most proud of.
“The Pulse” on Morris Park Avenue, on the fence of Loreto Playground between Haight Avenue and Tomlinson Avenue, is a 110-feet long light fixture. It shows two interconnected strings of light, resembling a DNA spiral, around a centered heart shape.
According to the Morris Park Business Improvement District’s site, it “highlights connections between people” and the “perpetual transformation of communities united in shared love for our neighborhoods.” The same year the project launched, it was awarded Honorable Mention at the international LIT Design Awards.
The pride in external recognition isn’t self-serving, Tepelus explained. When the neighborhood is highlighted, it elevates the residents, improves morale and raises their expectations for elected officials.
“People sometimes think you have to be a large organization to get results,” Tepelus said. “I’m not a large organization and I get results.”
Keywords
Camelia Tepelus,
Morris Park Business Improvement District,
Morris Park BID,
Spuyten Duyvil,
Bronx,
Morris Park,
downtown revitalization,
Kathy Hochul,
streetscape improvements,
business improvement district,
Bronx small businesses,
City & State,
Bronx leadership,
economic development,
The Pulse Morris Park