New projects are coming to the East Bronx, including upgrades to parks, schools, libraries and community spaces through $20 million in state funding.<\/p>\n
Advocates say the investments are expected to help improve quality of life and support economic growth across the greater Morris Park area.<\/p>\n
Among the projects announced is a $3.5 million investment to convert the former St. Francis Xavier site into a preschool with a renovated gymnasium.<\/p>\n
Additional funding will support a new community center in Westchester Square, renovations at Bronx Excellence Elementary School and improvements to the Pelham Parkway-Van Nest Library.<\/p>\n
Some of the money will also go toward sprucing up Morris Park Avenue, including the installation of new street trees.<\/p>\n
Leaders also say long-awaited upgrades are planned for Matthews Mulliner Playground, where funding is expected to address flooding concerns and improve accessibility.<\/p>\n
Parents in the area say the projects could make a meaningful difference for local families.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have two kids of my own. They play here every day. We be far away and they wanna come back here. Upgrades here, they definitely going to love it here,\u201d said Angel Garcia, a Morris Park father.<\/p>\n
Children who use the playground said they are excited about the possibility of improvements.<\/p>\n
\u201cI need some new stuff, I\u2019ve been coming here for years,\u201d one child said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s gonna be very nice and I\u2019m gonna be happy,\u201d another child added.<\/p>\n
Still, not everyone is convinced the projects will ultimately be completed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure if it will because I\u2019m a little skeptical. But hopefully it does… feel like it\u2019d really help a lot of people,\u201d one resident said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just not sure if they\u2019re gonna make upgrades,\u201d another resident added.<\/p>\n
News 12 also asked the Morris Park Business Improvement District, which helped secure the state funding, when residents can expect the projects to be completed.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be complete? I mean, they’re very different projects, of course, from, you know, making a whole plaza to upgrades within public parks or educational institutions. So anywhere I\u2019d say, a year to six,\u201d said Carmelia Tepelus, executive director of the Morris Park Business Improvement District.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New projects are coming to the East Bronx, including upgrades to parks, schools, libraries and community spaces through…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236308,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-236324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}