"While it started off as a term that was geographic in nature, it really morphed and evolved. It became a byword of mythology…. The fact is ‘the South Bronx’ really came to mean a destructive dynamic that was a cycle of disinvestment, arson, abandonment, and then total destruction."

— Joe Muriana, a former director of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition and activist who worked to rebuild the neighborhood after its urban apocalypse.

Tags: Bronx New York City history activism