Documenting One Bronx Neighborhood on the Cusp of Change

The de Blasio Administration is eyeing 73 blocks around Jerome Avenue in the Bronx for a rezoning. The city says the goal is to revitalize the area, while protecting existing residents and businesses. With good transit access and space to build taller buildings, officials envision more affordable housing, diverse retail, new green space and safer streets. They’re meeting with stakeholders all summer to get input before releasing a plan this fall. 

But people who own or work at local businesses — florists, locksmiths, barbers — worry about their future in this vision of a new Jerome Avenue. The avenue's many auto mechanics are especially concerned: They say auto shops already have been squeezed out of places Willets Point, and there aren't many industrial areas left for them to move to.

To capture this moment, members of the Bronx Documentary Center have been photographing the businesses and the people behind them, while they’re still there. 

Rebecca and her sister Beatrice Twumasi own the God Is Wonderful Hair Weave & Braiding Center on Jerome Avenue.

(Adi Talwar/Bronx Photo League)

Giovanni Ortega is the co-owner of Mount Eden Muffler on Jerome Avenue.

(Jesus Emmanuel Rodriguez/Bronx Photo League)

Raymond Herskovits at Mel’s Locksmith on East 170th Street. His grandfather opened the store in 1932.

(David “Dee” Delgado/Bronx Photo League)