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Ex-Bronx Senator Pedro Espada Found Guilty of Theft
May 14, 2012
By Marcos Sierra
Ex-Bronx State Senator Pedro Espada, shown following his indictment in 2010, was found guilty this morning on four charges of stealing from the nonprofit healthcare network he founded. (File photo by Jeanmarie Evelly)
Former Bronx State Senator Pedro Espada, Jr. was found guilty this morning on four counts of theft by a federal jury for stealing money from the non-profit healthcare network he helped found. Each count carries a sentence of up to 10 years.
The jury, which has been in deliberations for two weeks, has yet to announce a verdict on the four remaining counts against Espada, including additional charges of theft, as well as fraud and conspiracy. There was also no announcement of a verdict on the counts against Pedro G. Espada, the former Senator’s son, who is also charged with looting Soundview Healthcare Network.
Both are accused of using hundreds of thousands of dollars from Soundview for their own personal use.
For more coverage, here are the stories from NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, Daily News, and DNAinfo.
Bronx Week Hype and Psychedelic Commercial
May 9, 2012
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. kicked off Bronx Week 2012 on Monday with a celebration and press conference at borough hall. As you can tell by the video above, the Beep is all kinds of fired up about this year’s event, hyping the borough’s assets and attractions with some help from Montefiore’s Nicole Hollingsworth (the medical center is one of the events chief sponsors) and jazz artist Valerie Capers, a Bronx Walk of Fame honoree. The Bronx Brewery, Mike Greco from Mike’s Deli on Arthur Avenue and borough historian Lloyd Ultan also make an appearance. At the same time, Diaz’s team released its Bronx Week television commercial (below), which features shots of the Bronx and the BP framed by swirling, psychedelic graphics that may or may not cause you to travel into the future. Bronx Week officially starts Friday, May 12 and culminates with parade and festival on Mosholu Parkway, Sunday, May 20. For a complete listing of Bronx Week events, click here.
City Council Passes Living Wage Bill, With Revisions
May 7, 2012
By Jeanmarie Evelly
Editor’s note: This story appears in the May 3-16 print edition of the Norwood News. It’s an extended version of last week’s post about the bill, which also included video of Council Speaker Christine Quinn walking out of the presser announcing passage of the living wage bill.
After nearly two years of campaigning and many significant revisions, the City Council last week passed a version of the controversial Living Wage bill, which was introduced by two Bronx council members and born out of a 2009 fight over wages at a shopping mall proposed to fill the Kingsbridge Armory.
The bill, which Mayor Bloomberg has vowed to veto, would require some developers that receive significant taxpayer subsidies to pay workers $10 an hour with benefits, or $11.50 without.
“The ‘Fair Wages for New Yorkers’ Act will guarantee that, when major developers take city dollars they will do right by their employees and taxpayers,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., who helped lead the campaign for the bill’s passage. “This legislation will fundamentally improve the way business is conducted here.”
Diaz and other city leaders hailed the bill as “historic,” though its scope was greatly narrowed from its original version. Council Speaker Christine Quinn — planning to run for mayor in 2013 — revised the bill to appease its critics, namely the business community, which argues it will stifle development and kill jobs.
Living Wage Bill Passes, Quinn Walks Out of Press Conference (Video)
April 30, 2012
By Jeanmarie Evelly
After nearly two years of campaigning and many significant revisions, the City Council today passed a version of the controversial Living Wage bill, which was introduced by two Bronx council members, and born out of a 2009 fight over wage requirements at a shopping mall proposed to fill the Bronx’s Kingsbridge Armory. The bill, which Mayor Bloomberg has vowed to veto, would require developers that receive significant taxpayer subsidies to pay direct workers $10 an hour with benefits, or $11.50 without.
We’ll have a more thorough look at the bill’s passage tomorrow and in this week’s print issue of Norwood News, which hits the streets Wednesday, but here’s quick rundown of what happened today. At a press conference this morning before the City Council vote, Council Speaker Christine Quinn walked out after someone in the crowd yelled an insult about Mayor Bloomberg. Quinn, who plans to run for mayor herself in 2013, derided the heckler–who called the mayor “Pharaoh Bloomberg,”–for being inappropriate.
“Congratulations on the bill. I’m not going to participate in name-calling,” she said, before walking away. You can watch a video of the scene, courtesy of Politicker’s Colin Campbell, below.
Quinn has sought to strike a careful balance between living wage supporters and its critics, namely the business community, which argues the wage requirement will stifle development and kill jobs. She significantly revised the legislation in an attempt to appease the opposition–retail workers employed by tenants within subsidized developments are not entitled to higher wages under the bill, something that had largely been the intent of the original legislation, and the issue at the heart of the Kingsbridge Armory argument that inspired it.
In spite of the changes, Mayor Bloomberg says he will veto the bill.
“If you want to encourage a business to open in a particular location that no one has been willing to invest in for decades, you cannot tell them that they have to pay a higher minimum wage than the competitor across the street. They won’t do it. And those jobs will be lost, and so will the tax revenues they would have generated,” he said in a statement last week.
Quinn called Bloomberg’s opposition “disappointing,” but said the bill has enough council member votes to override his veto.
“This year alone, city benefits to businesses and developers will cost taxpayers nearly $250 million,” Quinn said in a press release last week. “All we are trying to do is ensure that taxpayer investment is going to subsidize jobs that pay a reasonable wage.”
Bronx Elections: Potential Candidates Eye Peter Rivera’s Assembly Seat
April 24, 2012
By Jeanmarie Evelly
Potential candidates are emerging to replace Assemblyman Peter Rivera, who is vacating his seat to head the State Department of Labor.
Peter Rivera, who has represented the Bronx in the State Assembly for the last two decades, will be leaving his post this summer to join Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration. He will take over as head of the State Labor Department.
That leaves his 76th Assembly District (to be renamed the 89th, due to legislative redistricting), up for grabs this fall. Two potential candidates have already expressed their interest in running for the seat, which covers the neighborhoods of Van Nest, West Farms, Parkchester and Castle Hill.
Danny Figueroa, Rivera’s longtime chief-of-staff, is throwing his hat in the ring in an effort to fill his bosses’ shoes. He would be likely to face off against Luis Sepulveda, a Parkchester attorney and community organizer who challenged Rivera for his seat in 2010, but lost.
Figueroa, a father of three who grew up in the south Bronx but has lived in Parkchester for the last 25 years, said he hadn’t considered a formal run for office until Rivera announced he would be vacating the seat. He has been the Assemblyman’s chief-of-staff for the last nine years, and says that while his name might not be as recognizable as Sepulveda’s, he hopes his work in Albany and his ties to the community will win him favor with voters.
More Bronx Political Action: Sen. Rivera Has Challenger
April 23, 2012
By Alex Kratz
This from Liz Benjamin’s State of Politics blog on Friday afternoon: Bronx State Senator Gustavo Rivera (33rd District) has what appears to be his first challenger in Manny Tavarez, who “is not a well-known individual,” according to Benjamin. Tavarez worked on District Leader and Bronx Democratic Party loyalist Hector Ramirez’s failed bid to unseat Assemblyman Nelson Castro two years ago.
Bronx Democratic Party Chairman Carl Heastie, who backed Ramirez two years ago and was late in committing support to Rivera when he took on Pedro Espada during that same primary season, says he is firmly in Rivera’s corner this time around.
Last week, Rivera became the first Bronx elected official to officially announce his support for anyone in the newly-drawn Congressional district represented by longtime incumbent Charles Rangel. Rivera is backing fellow state senator Adriano Espaillat, who represents upper Manhattan and a chunk of Riverdale, and is one of three Democrats challenging Rangel.
The Times wrote about the race today, saying Espaillat’s fighting an uphill battle despite the fact that the district is now 55 percent Hispanic. (The Dominican-born Espaillat is the only Latino candidate in the race.) In the article, there’s a juicy little tidbit about discussions involving Espaillat, Heastie, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. and Jeanine Johnson, general counsel for Keith Wright, head of the Manhattan Democrats. It says Heastie and Johnson had “a pointed exchange” over how much say Heastie would have in choosing Rangel’s successor (should he win). Diaz and Espaillat also had an exchange during which Diaz “confronted” Espaillat over his backing of a redistricting plan that was primarily Dominican. The article quotes Espaillat, according to two people at the meeting, saying, “It’s time for us to have what’s due to us.” Espaillat, however, disputes the account.
Let the races begin.
Morris Park Realtor to Challenge Naomi Rivera
April 23, 2012
By Jeanmarie Evelly
Mark Gjonaj, who owns a real estate business in Morris Park, announced yesterday that he plans to run for the Bronx 80th Assembly District, the seat currently held by Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera, which includes Mosholou Parkway, Pelham Gardens, Pelham Parkway, Allerton and Morris Park.
“In life, we have choices,” Gjonaj said in a phone interview today. “We either accept things for the way they are, or we get involved and make the changes that we feel are necessary.”
The potential candidate announced his plans to run yesterday, at the site of his new campaign headquarters on Barnes Avenue in Morris Park. He said hundreds of people turned out for the announcement, in spite of the bad weather.
“It was humbling for me to see so many people not only show up, but stay there during that rain,” Gjonaj said. “I can’t find the words to express my gratitude to those individuals.”
Gjonaj, who is Albanian, was born at the now-defunct Fordham Hospital and raised in the Belmont area, on Arthur Avenue, and in Pelham Parkway. The father of two sons, aged 10 and 12, He now lives on City Island (during redistricting years, state election law allows candidates to run for office in districts outside the one in which they reside, as long as it’s within the same county).
But Gjonaj’s real estate business is based in Morris Park, and he says he has strong ties to the communities that make up the 80th Assembly District.
Bronx Links, Monday
April 23, 2012
By Jeanmarie Evelly
Good afternoon, and welcome back to the work week. It’ll be cloudy and in the low 50s this Monday. Here are a few local news stories we’re following on Breaking Bronx today:
A woman was arrested this weekend on animal cruelty charges for allegedly starving her two pit bulls, which were removed from a Webster Avenue apartment building by the American Society for the Prevention for Cruelty to Animal (ASPCA) back in December weighing a mere 16.4 and 15.2 pounds. Gillian Irving, 27, could face up to two years in prison if convicted.
A baby born nearly four months premature, and weighing just over a pound, is heading home from St. Barnabas hospital this week. Staff at the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit called baby Daniel Annan a “miracle” and planned him a goodbye party.
A fire that broke out in a Marble Hill apartment building Friday afternoon killed Juan Lizardo, 47, and his wife Marilyn Brito, 46. The couple had three foster children, who survived the tragedy.
The corruption trial of former Bronx State Sen. Pedro Espada, Jr., continues, and the New York Post takes a look at the defendant’s dining habits, as detailed by federal prosecutors who charge that Espada billed $103,000 to his taxpayer-funded nonprofit health clinic for meals which appear to be non-business related. Espada spent thousands of dollars at a number of restaurants in Westchester, where he was believed to have lived despite claiming to reside in his Bronx district, as required by law.
Bronx Townhall Meeting to Address Healthcare Disparities
April 18, 2012
Bronx Health REACH, Assemblyman Nelson Castro, Senator Gustavo Rivera, and New York Lawyers for the Public Interest will be holding a Town Hall meeting on Saturday, April 28 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. to discuss inequities in New York’s health care system. “Make Health Equality a Reality,” will include a panel of legislators, doctors, community members, and lawyers. Audience members will be invited to ask questions about health care access. The event is open to all and breakfast and free health screenings will be provided for all attendees.
The event will take place at P.S. 33 in the Bronx (2424 Jerome Avenue). For more information, call Bronx Health REACH at (212) 633-0800, ext. 1232.
State Budget Deal Met With Praise and Criticism From Bronx Pols
April 10, 2012
By Jeanmarie Evelly
State lawmakers in Albany announced last week that they’d reached a $132.6 billion budget deal with Gov. Andrew Cuomo, passing each of the 11 budget bills on Friday — a few days early, before the annual budget deadline of April 1.
The plan decreases overall state spending compared to last year, but increases funding for some agencies and projects that some local officials have hailed as a boost for New York City. Others, including a handful of Bronx politicians, say the budget doesn’t go far enough to address the needs of many New Yorkers
Council Speaker Christine Quinn praised the plan because it will increase money for city schools, fund improvement projects planned by the MTA, launch a program to keep the city’s juvenile offenders in local custody and increase aid to CUNY community colleges, according to a statement.
“City taxpayers are winners today in Albany,” Mayor Bloomberg echoed in a press release.
Bronx State Sen. Jose Serrano, who serves on the Senate Committee for Cultural Affairs, Tourism, Parks and Recreation, said he was “thrilled” with the budget for funding the rehabilitation of state parks, and for an increase in funds to art organizations and museums compared to last year. “These proven economic engines will provide a worthwhile return on our state’s investment,” Serrano said.
Not everyone, however, was pleased with every aspect of the deal.
Bronx Activists Say Do Right or You Can’t Have Our Armory
April 6, 2012
By Alex Kratz
More than 200 community activists rally outside of the Kingsbridge Armory on March 21 to demand that any development coming into the long vacant building benefit the community. (Photo by Adi Talwar)
With proposals for the Kingsbridge Armory on the verge of being vetted behind closed doors, more than 200 local activists made it clear that any developer chosen by the city will have to deal with and provide benefits to the community.
At a lively rally near the Armory’s front entrance on Kingsbridge Road on Wednesday, March 21, the day before the deadline for developers’ submissions, the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA), a group that includes the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, staged a candlelight vigil preceded by songs, chants, fiery speeches and spoken word.
“Whose Armory?” they chanted at various times during the rally, “Our Armory!”
“This Armory must build the wealth of our local residents and not big businesses,” said Reverend English Que from Bronx Christian Fellowship Church in one of the most animated speeches at the rally.
Bronx Links, Wednesday
April 4, 2012
Welcome back to Breaking Bronx. Here are some local news stories we’re reading this Wednesday afternoon:
It’s baseball season! But for some Bronx teams, there are challenges to face before hitting the field. Players at the Bronx High School of Science, and other high school who were hoping to use the sparkling new baseball diamonds at Harris Field, are unexpectedly stuck waiting another season because the grass on the fields is not ready. The Riverdale Press first wrote about the delay in March; the Times‘ School Book blog covered it today, with a video (see below). Students have been without the Harris ball fields since construction started in 2008, part of a makeover financed by the Croton Water Filtration Plant fund. The project was further delayed when ground contamination was discovered at the site in 2009.
In other Bronx baseball news, the new field at Macombs Dam Park–promised by the New York Yankees in exchange for public parkland the team paved over to build its new stadium–officially opened Monday, hosting its first game when All Hallows High School took on Cardinal Hayes. And though players said the fields were “perfect,” resentment lingers over how long it took the Yankees to build the parks, leaving local teams without a field for six years.
“We want to be positive about the future. But we do remember that the Yankees were inconvenienced not for one minute and the community was for years,” former Community Board 4 member Joyce Hogi told the Daily News.
Hundred of Bronx residents turned out at the Bronx Museum of the Arts on Monday for a public discussion about the state’s plans to overhaul how it handles juvenile offenders from the city. Gov. Cuomo’s Close to Home Initiative will transfer young offenders held in non-secure state facilities to the city’s custody starting this fall.
The assistant principal at PS 106, in Parkchester, turned himself in to police on Tuesday after he was accused of fondling two female students at the school.
More damaging testimony coming out of the trial of former Bronx State Sen. Pedro Espada. He had his nonprofit health clinics, Soundview, paying exorbitant monthly fees for janitorial services, spending thousands of dollars on cleaning services that should have cost around $100 a month, a witness said on the stand. The cleaning company getting paid? One operated by Espada’s own son, Pedro Gautier Espada, who is also facing charges with his father.
Police are looking for a robber targeting Bronx beauty salons.
Rivera Says There’s No Plan to Protect The Bronx From Nuclear Disaster
April 4, 2012
By Destiny DeJesus
Surrounded by students from Mosholu Montefiore Community Center, Bronx Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera talks about the need for a better evacuation plan in the case of an accident at Indian Point Energy Center, the nuclear plant just 24 miles from the Bronx. (Photo by Destiny DeJesus)er
The Bronx is just 24 miles from a major nuclear power plant and Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera wants to know why there isn’t a plan in place to protect the 1.4 million people living in the city’s northernmost borough.
At a press conference in Norwood yesterday, Rivera publicly released her letter requesting state hearings on the emergency evacuation plans of local, state, and federal governments in case of a nuclear meltdown at the Indian Point Energy Center.
Surrounded by kids from the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center as well as regional environmental watchdogs, Rivera said she is unhappy with the 10-mile radius emergency plan that Point Energy Center has in place and argued that it leaves millions of New Yorkers in danger.
“The Bronx is the closest borough in New York City to Indian Point,” Rivera said. “Yet our city has no evacuation plan in place.”
Legal Services NYC-Bronx To Open Community Office at the Hub
March 30, 2012
Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. and State Senator Hassell-Thompson with Legal Services NYC-Bronx staff, at the site of the group's future office. (Photo courtesy Legal Services NYC-Bronx)
A group that offers free legal services to low-income Bronx residents will be getting a new and improved home at the busy HUB commercial corridor, at Brook Avenue and E. 149th Street, a number of local elected officials announced last week.
Legal Services NYC-Bronx will move into a commercial condominium that’s being built as part of City-sanctioned development project on a stretch of undeveloped property at the HUB. When completed, the group’s new offices will feature a green space and be fully handicap accessible, according to a press release sent out by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., who is one of several Bronx representatives working in support of the project.
“We at Legal Services NYC-Bronx are overwhelmed by the show of support we have received from Bronx elected officials in our quest for a new home. For years, we have been searching for an office that is large enough for our seventy person staff, for all of our clients to receive services in confidential and dignified surroundings,” said Jennifer Levy, the group’s director.
Legal Services NYC-Bronx serves 10,000 Bronx residents a year, offering legal help to domestic violence victims, disabled and disadvantaged children and assisting in medical access, elder abuse and eviction and foreclosure cases. The group was one of several organizations working last year on behalf of the Bronx Milbank tenants, who were seeking to get conditions in their dilapidated and foreclosed buildings repaired.
It’s Budget Time: City Council Rallies for Restorations, While State Lawmakers Strike a Deal
March 29, 2012
By Jeanmarie Evelly
Council Member Annabel Palma and others rally at City Hall against proposed budget cuts to the city's social services programs. (Photo by William Alatriste, New York City Council)
It’s that time of year again–budget negotiation time, as lawmakers hammer out deals on how much the city and state governments should spend, and on what. City Council members have until the start of the next fiscal year, on July 1, to agree on a plan for the city’s spending. Mayor Bloomberg released a $68.7 billion preliminary budget proposal in February, which he boasted would close a $2 billion budget gap without raising taxes.
But not everyone, of course, is happy with the Mayor’s plan. Bronx City Council Member Annabel Palma, who represents Parkchester, Soundview, Castle Hill, and Classon Point, and heads the Council’s General Welfare Committee, rallied this morning on the steps of City Hall against cuts proposed to a number of the city’s social service programs.
Bloomberg’s budget, Palma said in a press release, would slash the budgets for a number of agencies and programs that serve the neediest and most vulnerable New Yorkers; many cuts that were restored in last year’s round of budget negotiations are again on the chopping block this year.
“Unfortunately, last year’s budget included many one-year fixes and that’s why we stand here today yet again to rally against those cuts that will directly and negatively impact the already-strained programs that many New Yorkers have to come rely on,” Palma said.
The Mayor’s proposal would reduce funding for the city’s Administration for Children’s Services, cutting slots for child care and after-school programs, and laying off about 100 Child Protective staff positions. Funding for case managers and supportive housing for residents living with HIV/AIDS could be cut by several million dollars, as would the budget of the Department of Homeless Services, which runs the city’s shelter system.
Bronx Lawmakers Sponsor Bill to Protect Facebook Passwords
March 29, 2012
By Jeanmarie Evelly
Bronx legislators Jeff Dinowitz and Jeff Klein want to ban the practice of employers asking job applicants for access to their private social media accounts.
Two Bronx legislators are looking to pass a bill that would ban employers from requesting social media site passwords from job applicants, a practice they say is growing in popularity and a threat to the privacy of job-seekers.
“This legislation will address a terrible and growing abuse by certain employers,” said Assemblyman Jeffery Dinowitz, who is sponsoring the version of the bill in the Assembly. “Employers should not be snooping on social media communications that are private, and they certainly should not be given passwords that are supposed to be kept secret. It’s like an employer asking for a copy of your house keys so they can have a look around your home.”
Reports have indicated a growing trend of employers who want to browse the Facebook and Twitter accounts of potential job applicants as part of their hiring process, demanding log-in information. Federal lawmakers, including New York Senator Charles Schumer, are also speaking out on the issue, asking the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Department of Justice to launch a federal investigation into the practice.
“Even in this digital age, turning over your password to an employer is a bridge too far,” said Senator Jeff Klein, who is introducing the state law in the New York Senate.
Former Bronx BP Adolfo Carrion Leaving Goverment for the Private Sector
March 29, 2012
By Alex Kratz
Ex-Bronx BP Adolfo Carrion
Former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, who has spent the past three years working for the Obama administration, is taking a job in the private sector with CSA Group, which bills itself as the “largest architectural, engineering, environmental services, consulting, and construction and program management company in the United States.”
Carrion, who left the borough president’s office in 2009 to become the federal government’s urban affairs czar and then moved on to take over as the regional director of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), will be CSA’s senior advisor for corporate development, according to a press release sent out this morning.
“We at CSA Group are very excited and honored that Adolfo has agreed to join our firm”, stated JJ Suarez, Chairman and CEO, CSA Group. “Adolfo’s proven track record in empowering urban communities throughout the United States, coupled with his economic development experience, will be of vital importance as we continue to position CSA Group as a first-in-class, full service project delivery firm in the Infrastructure and Building markets.”
CSA specializes in large municipal projects in the United States and Latin America. The company received billions of dollars in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA, otherwise known as the economic stimulus package) to do several projects in Puerto Rico.
Bronx Links Wednesday
March 28, 2012
Happy Wednesday, and welcome back to Breaking Bronx. It’ll be cloudy and in the mid-60s today. Here are the news stories we’re following this morning:
Good news for museum-goers on a budget: in honor of its 40th anniversary, the Bronx Museum of the Arts is eliminating its $5 suggested admission fee starting tomorrow.
Is the South Bronx gentrifying? A New York Times piece this week says yes, pointing to an influx of white, middle-class professionals who are making their homes around the Grand Concourse area near Yankee Stadium. UNHP’s Gregory Jobo Lost, in a guest post on the new blog Bronx Matters, says the Times might be getting ahead of itself.
A 2-year-old boy in Parkchester was hit by a car while chasing after an ice cream truck Monday, the Daily News reports. He remains in critical condition.
Former Bronx State Sen. Pedro Espada and his son, Pedro Gautier Espada, are currently on trial for embezzling funds from their nonprofit health care clinics. Their accountant took the stand Monday and testified that the Espadas routinely listed personal expenses as businesses expenses for the company. In one instance, Espada supposedly tried to expense the costs of his grandchild’s birthday party as “community children’s outreach,” according to the Post.
A New York City school administrator resigned this week after it was discovered he’d arranged a job for his wife in a Bronx Department of Education office. Angel Namnum allegedly arranged to have his wife hired as a community coordinator for the DOE, despite evidence that she was not qualified for the job.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo picked Bronx Assemblyman Peter Rivera to be his new Department of Labor commissioner, in spite of his “baggage,” as the Village Voice calls it. A few years back, a nonprofit the Assemblyman largely helped fund was the probe of a federal investigation, and its director, a law partner of Rivera’s, was slapped with corruption charges last year. Former Daily News columnist Bob Kappstatter, now blogging for Bronx Matters, predicts that Luis Sepulveda–an attorney who challenged Rivera in 2010 and lost–is likely to fill his empty seat.
Lawmakers Strike Redistricting Deal; How The Bronx Will Be Affected By Controversial New Lines
March 26, 2012
By Jeanmarie Evelly
Bronx State Sen. Jeff Klein's new district lines will stretch from the far southeast Bronx to Riverdale in the northwest Bronx. Unlike before, Klein's district will not include any parts of Rockland County.
After months of debate, state lawmakers and Gov. Andrew Cuomo approved a redistricting deal last week that will re-set State Senate and Assembly lines for the next decade, and establish an independent commission to take over the process after the next Census in 2020 — a plan that many local leaders are unhappy with.
The new lines, many Bronx leaders and community groups argue, split like-communities across legislative districts, diluting their voice in the political arena and violating the federal Voting Rights Act, which is designed to protect the voting power of minority communities.
“This plan violates federal law that protects minority communities from being split between several districts with the intention of diminishing the ability of minority communities to elect a representative of their choosing,” said Bronx State Sen. Gustavo Rivera in an e-mail. “Despite large population growth in the Latino community in the Bronx, no additional Latino majority senate districts were created.”
Bronx Breakdown: A Redistrict-culous Process
March 16, 2012
By Alex Kratz
Bronx Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz points out some of the issues with the lines that could possibly make up his district when new district maps are finally finalized. (Photo by Alex Kratz)
Here’s what the New York State Legislature wants you to know about redistricting: (silence … birds chirping, crickets singing, the ghost of Guy Velella chuckling)
In other words, nothing.
At a meeting last week at the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center set up by local community groups (with help from State Senator Gustavo Rivera) meant to make sense of what’s going with the new district lines, Lucia Gomez, who works for La Fuente, a nonprofit group that advocates for government reform, said the entire process is done without input from the people it will affect — no, it’s not the lawmakers who are protecting their jobs, it’s the people who live in those districts.
“The whole process is rushed,” Gomez said to an audience of about 20 concerned residents. “And you [lawmakers] want people to have input? No, you don’t!”
Let’s recap what happened before Albany approved new gerrymandered lines on Wednesday night/Thursday morning.
After the 2010 Census came out in early 2011, lawmakers had an entire year to create new maps. When Senate Republicans balked (early) at creating an independent redistricting panel (which many pledged to support before the 2010 election cycle and then just forgot about when it came time to actually doing it), Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he would veto any lines that appeared gerrymandered (created just to protect incumbents no matter how many communities they divide).
Fast-forward a year later. LATFOR, the “bi-partisan” task force made up of lawmakers that draws the new lines, finally releases a set of maps that is blatantly gerrymandered — for Democrats in the assembly and for Republicans in the senate. In the one hearing held in the Bronx, dozens of community leaders and residents came out to verbally rip the maps to shreds, saying they will disenfranchise voters, divide communities and leave many residents voiceless. Nobody listened to them. The maps remained unchanged. Read more
Finance Chief for Nonprofit Founded By Ruben Diaz, Sr., Arrested for Embezzlement
March 14, 2012
Photo courtesy of the Attorney General's Office
Clement Gardner, the financial officer for a charity founded by Bronx State Sen. Ruben Diaz, Sr., was arrested yesterday for stealing $75,000 from the organization, according to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman– funds that were intended for programs to serve Bronx children and seniors.
Diaz, Sr., founded the organization, the Christian Community Benevolent Association, in 1977 and served as the executive director for the nonprofit until 2002, and directed nearly $500,000 in public member item money to the group in 2006 and 2007, according to the New York Times. Diaz told the paper he was “shocked” by the news.
In a press release sent out this morning–one of his now very regular “What You Should Now,” blasts–Diaz addressed the charges and said Gardner, whom he called a “former staff and
close ally,” had brought “shame to one of the best Bronx not-for profit organizations that ever existed.”
According to an article in the Daily News, another charity associated with the Christian Community Benevolent Association, called Christian Community in Action, was investigated by the FBI in 2008 for a home attendant program largely funded with public money secured by Diaz and his son, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., who was a state assemblyman at the time. Both men served on the charity’s board of directors then, according to the article,
Diaz Sr. has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the case against Gardner, according to the Times. He defended himself in today’s press release.
“For now, my dear reader, you will have to wait for the results, but I assure you that if I ever lose my salvation, it will not be for taking money because I am in the business of giving not in the business of taking,” Diaz wrote.
Bronx Links, Wednesday
March 14, 2012
Good morning! Welcome back to Breaking Bronx. We’re in for another beautiful day of spring weather today, with plenty of sunshine and a high of 68. Enjoy it. Here are the local news stories we’re following this Wednesday:
Local leaders and politicians are once again looking for ways to battle the ongoing problem of dog poop on sidewalks here in the Bronx. Raising fines and increasing funding for enforcement of the city’s pooper-scooper law are among the suggestions, according to the Daily News.
Opening arguments being today in the corruption trial of former Bronx State Sen. Pedro Espada. Espada and his son are accused of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the network of nonprofit health clinics they ran.
Bronx student activists, including those from Sistas and Brothas United, the youth arm of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, are protesting what they are calling overly punitive punishments in schools doled out to Bronx students of color. Recently released data showed that nearly half of the 532 summonses that school safety officers issued to New York City students during the last three months of 2011 were written in the Bronx alone.
A grand jury will decide whether or not criminal charges should be sought against the NYPD officers who shot and killed unarmed Bronx teen Ramarley Graham last month.
Students at Bronx Regional High School and Arturo A. Schomburg Satellite Academy, which share a building, are fighting the city’s plan to co-locate a charter school for teens involved in the criminal justice system into the space.
A new Fine Fare supermarket is coming to Williamsbridge, at East Gun Hill Road and White Plains Road. The city is giving $4.5 million in tax breaks to the project under the FRESH initiative, which looks to increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables in neighborhoods that lack major grocers.
Nonprofit group Project Enterprise is helping entrepreneurial Bronxites get their businesses off the ground by providing them with small loans.
Bronx Redistricting Update
March 13, 2012
By Jeanmarie Evelly
Some updates in the ongoing redistricting saga. The federal judge in charge of redrawing New York’s Congressional districts–since lawmakers in Albany couldn’t come to an agreement of their own–released a second draft of maps yesterday.
The new versions make some tweaks in Brooklyn and a few districts upstate but leave the proposed Bronx lines the same as those proposed last week (read our story on this here), potentially merging Kingsbridge and Norwood with a district in northern Manhattan currently represented by Charlies Rangel–which State Sen. Adriano Espaillat is now saying he might make a run for.
Meanwhile, lawmakers are still trying to get Gov. Cuomo to approve their maps for State Senate and Assembly districts. The lawmakers introduced a bill Sunday night that included revised maps, which apparently don’t differ all that much from the old ones introduced last month. Many Bronxites blasted those maps for senselessly carving up the communities of Bedford Park and Norwood--along what many assumed to be racially-drawn lines–between the 33rd and the 34th State Senate Districts.
What’s new in the legislation proposed Sunday is an amendment that would allegedly reform the redistricting process for the next time (which would happen after the 2020 Census), something lawmakers have been promising to do for a while now.
Bronx Survey: How Often Do You Use The Post Office?
March 13, 2012
By Jeanmarie Evelly
The Postal Service has proposed closing over a dozen Bronx post office locations. (File photo)
With the threat of more Bronx post office closures looming, State Sen. Gustavo Rivera is asking residents to fill out a survey about how often they use their local post office locations.
Facing serious budget constraints, the USPS closed three Bronx post offices last year — the Van Nest, Oak Point and Crotona locations — and more closures are pending. In Rivera’s 33rd Senate District, which encompasses much of the northwest Bronx and the Norwood News’ coverage area, two post offices are on the chopping block: the Botanical Gardens Post Office, at 2963 Webster Avenue, and the Van Cott Post Office at 3102 Decatur Avenue.
“With two post offices being targeted in the same community, I am concerned that if thesepost offices do close, it will be a burden for the disabled and elderly,” Rivera said in a press release. “But there is still plenty of time for individuals in the community to voice their concerns and to save these local post offices.”
Results from the survey will be shared with the USPS before the agency makes its final decision on the pending location closures, which will be announced on May 15.
You can fill out Rivera’s survey in English here, or in Spanish here.
Making Sense Of All The Redistricting Madness
March 7, 2012
Several northwest Bronx community groups are convening a forum Thursday night, 6 p.m., at the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center, 3450 Dekalb Ave., to discuss the current redistricting proposals — for state senate, assembly and congressional districts — and how they will affect local communities.
At a public hearing last month, some 50 community leaders and residents came out to blast the assembly and state senate redistricting proposals as blatant gerrymandering that would awkwardly slice and dice the Norwood and Bedford Park neighborhoods.
The forum will include guest presenters Susan Lerner from Common Cause and Lucia Gomez-Jimenez from La Fuente, a group that lobbies on behalf of Tri-State workers.
Representatives from the Bedford Mosholu Community Association, Tracey Towers Committee for Survival, Friends of Williamsbridge Oval, the Kingsbridge Heights Neighborhood Improvement Association, and Mosholu Preservation Corporation will also be attending.
Judge Forced to Draft Congressional Redistricting Lines; Kingsbridge and Norwood Would Merge with Manhattan District
March 7, 2012
By Jeanmarie Evelly
Bronx Congressional districts proposed by a federal judge. If approved, Norwood and Kingsbridge would be absorbed into the northern Manhattan district currently represented by Congressman Charles Rangel. (Map courtesy U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of NY)
A federal judge released a set of maps on Tuesday proposing to redraw New York State’s Congressional districts, an act required this year to reflect population changes based on the 2010 Census count. If approved, the new lines would have the Bronx represented by four different members of Congress, expanding the northern Manhattan district currently represented by Congressman Charles Rangel into the Bronx to include sections of Kingsbridge and Norwood.
Lawmakers in Albany have been sparring for months over how to draw the new maps. They proposed drafts for the State Senate and Assembly lines in February, but were unable to come to an agreement on how to re-draw the state’s Congressional districts, having to eliminate two, from 29 to 27, because of population changes.
With the deadline of the Congressional primary looming in June, a panel of federal judges appointed a magistrate to draft the new maps if the legislature couldn’t come to an agreement of its own. After hearing testimony and viewing map proposals from the public — including the Assembly Democrats, the Senate Republicans, a coalition of Bronx officials and good government groups — U.S. Magistrate Roanne Mann released a set of drafted maps on Tuesday. Her proposal eliminates a district in the Hudson Valley and another that straddles Brooklyn and Queens.
In a letter sent to Mann last week, Bronx Borough President Ruben, Diaz, Jr. and a number of other local elected officials had urged the judge to maintain the Bronx districts of Congressmen Jose E. Serrano and Eliot Engel, something the proposed maps largely do.
“Both Rep. Serrano and Rep. Eliot are lifelong Bronxites who have represented parts of our borough for their entire careers,” Diaz said. “If the Bronx were to lose their collective seniority in Washington — and the clout that comes with it — it would do our borough tremendous harm.”
Tonight: First Meeting of Reconstituted Young Bronx Democrats Club
February 29, 2012
By Alex Kratz
Bronx Democrats will begin creating the next generation of party patrons tonight at the first 2012 meeting of the Bronx Young Democrats, a group only recently reconstituted by party chairman and Bronx assemblyman Carl Heastie. A chipper staffer at the Bronx Democratic County Committee office said doors for the meeting, at the Chippewa Democratic Club (1447 Ferris Place) near Westchester Square, will open at 6:30 p.m. and the meeting will start at 7 p.m.
In a press release announcing the meeting, Lailoni Narvaez, the president of the Bronx Young Democrats, said, “We believe our voice should be among those calling for the re-election of President Barack Obama and our efforts should be dedicated to helping spread the word about the greats of the Bronx’ Democratic Party.”
In State of the Borough Speech, Diaz Touts Bronx Businesses, Job Creation
February 28, 2012
By Jeanmarie Evelly
Photos by Adi Talwar
On Thursday, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., delivered his third State of the Borough address to a packed, darkened auditorium at Harry S. Truman High School. A bevvy of city and state elected officials were in the audience for the 54-minute speech, which covered the usual political topics–schools, health, transportation, crime–and recalled the accomplishments of Diaz’s last three years in office.
But the gist of Diaz’s speech was jobs, jobs, jobs. The Borough President spent much of the first portion of his address reeling off a list of recent economic efforts and business projects that are taking root in the Bronx: the Smith Electric trucking company, the mall project planned at the former Stella D’Oro cookie factory, negotiations for the Hunts Point Produce Market to stay put, Fresh Direct’s move to Harlem Yards and, of course, the potential redevelopment of the Kingsbridge Armory.
As we mentioned in Friday’s Bronx Breakdown, despite all the economic mentions, Diaz opted not to bring up the Bronx’s unemployment rate, which remains the highest in the state at 12.2%. He also didn’t address recent criticism of his financial support for Fresh Direct’s move–$1 million in capitol grant funds, of the $127 million in tax breaks and subsidies the company will receive from the city overall–which many have criticized as too generous for a company that pays 38% of its workers less than $25,000 a year, and doesn’t offer services to most neighborhoods in the Bronx.
There were a couple of Fresh Direct protestors outside Truman last week (see photos, above). You can listen to the entirety of the address in the embedded recording below. What do you think of his speech? Let us know in the comments section.
Bronx State of the Borough by Norwood News
Churches Can Keep Meeting in Schools, Judge Says
February 28, 2012
By Jeanmarie Evelly
Bronx Household of Faith, shown here in the PS/MS 15 auditorium. (Photo by Alex Kratz)
In the latest development in the citywide debate over worship services being held in public schools, a judge ruled late last week that New York City churches and religious groups are allowed to continue meeting in school space, at least until a lawsuit considering the matter gets resolved.
Bronx Household of Faith, the University Heights parish, has been waging a lawsuit against the Department of Education for 17 years for the right to keep holding services at PS/MS 15 on Andrews Avenue. The city has long wanted to end the practice, arguing that it could give the impression that the city was promoting one religion over another, a violation of the Constitution’s Establishment Clause. In its latest legal maneuver, Bronx Household of Faith claims that the city’s policy violates freedom of religion.
Federal Judge Loretta Preska issued the preliminary injunction on Friday, saying Bronx Household has a good chance of winning the case since “losing one’s right to exercise freely and fully his or her religious beliefs is a greater threat to our democratic society than a perceived violation of the Establishment Clause.”
Today! Live Coverage From The Bronx BP’s State of Borough Speech
February 22, 2012
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. is scheduled to deliver his third State of the Borough speech at Harry S. Truman High School today at 11:30 a.m. and we will be there to cover all the action live. You can follow along via our Twitter feed (@norwoodnews) or return to this site where we will provide a running feed of updates.
Bicycles and Basketballs Could be in the Armory’s Future
February 22, 2012
By Jeanmarie Evelly
Photo by Adi Talwar
There’s less than a month left for those vying to take over the Kingsbridge Armory to submit their proposals to the city, and a number of organizations have come forward with ideas for filling the long-vacant, 600,000-square-foot building.
Recently, a group of cycling enthusiasts who have been campaigning to turn the Armory into a giant bicycling center have teamed up with New York Gauchos, a Bronx-based youth basketball program, as well as several other sports-oriented groups, with the intent of converting the structure into an enormous sports, recreation and wellness center.
“There’s a lot of enthusiasm for our vision,” said Rocky Bucano, vice president for the Teamwork Foundation, Inc., the nonprofit that runs Gauchos. “They know the previous roadblocks were the pure retail plans, which were not a good fit for the community.”
It’s been two years since a previous plan to turn the building into a giant shopping mall was killed by the City Council after a tense political battle between the developer and local activists over wages. During his State of the City speech in the Bronx in January, Mayor Bloomberg announced that the city would once again be seeking pitches from developers interested in the Armory, with a deadline of March 22 for submitting proposals to the Economic Development Corporation. Read more
Churches Can Stay in Schools for 10 More Days, Judge Says
February 16, 2012
By Jeanmarie Evelly
A city policy banning worship in public school buildings during non-school hours was put on hold today, after a federal judge issued a temporary injunction this morning that will allow churches and other religious groups to continue holding services in schools, at least for the next 10 days.
The ban was supposed to go into effect Sunday, Feb. 12, following a federal court’s decision last spring that the Department of Education could legally evict the religious groups on the grounds of separation of church and state. Bronx Household of Faith, a small University Heights-based church that has held services in the auditorium of PS 15 since 2002, has been been fighting the city’s policy for over a decade. This week, a Christian legal group representing the church, the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), requested the injunction after the city’s Law Department denied a judge’s request Monday to let the churches remain while the court considered the issue.
“The court’s order is a message of hope for fundamental freedoms in New York City because it means that, for the time being, the city must welcome churches as it does other groups,” said ADF lawyer Jordan Lorence. “ADF will continue to fight this battle relentlessly until the city no longer unconstitutionally prohibits activity for purely religious reasons.”
Opponents of the ban, including many of the city’s religious leaders and Bronx City Councilman and pastor Fernando Cabrera, are hoping to have the issue resolved legislatively, and have been campaigning in support of a state bill that would reverse the city’s ban. The legislation was passed by the State Senate but has not been approved by the Assembly, where it was introduced by Bronx Assemblyman Nelson Castro. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who decides what bills come up on the Assembly floor for a vote, is looking for a more narrow version of the bill than the one that’s been proposed, according to a spokeswoman.
“He feels that the Senate bill is very broad, and would allow any organization to come into the school,” said Sheldon staffer Kerri Biche. “He’s glad it’s being addressed in the court since it’s a constitutional issue. He looks forward to the court’s decision as a guide for any legislation.”
BP Diaz, Bronx Business Leaders Defend Fresh Direct Funding
February 15, 2012
By Jeanmarie Evelly
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., is looking to appease critics of online grocer FreshDirect, which was granted $127.8 million from the city last week in exchange for staying in New York. The company had been considering another lucrative offer to relocate to New Jersey, prompting the Bloomberg administration to counter with an even bigger package of tax breaks and subsidies to convince it to move its headquarters to the Bronx’s Harlem River Yards instead. FreshDirect is currently based in Long Island City, Queens.
Some have lashed out against the deal as too generous to a company that pays 38% of its workers less than $25,000 a year, and doesn’t offer services to most neighborhoods in the Bronx.
“For the cost of this benefits package the city could give 4,385 students full, four-year scholarships to CUNY or hire 1,458 new teachers or pay for 350,000 GED test-prep programs or launch a micro-lending program for minority and women entrepreneurs,” City Comptroller John Liu said in a statement. “The EDC has not clearly justified why this much money should be used to subsidize this company.”
Diaz, who is allocating $1 million in capitol grant funds under his control toward the project, sent out a press release Monday announcing a “Memorandum of Understanding” between his office and FreshDirect, saying the company will make an effort to see that at least 30 percent of its new hires are Bronx residents, that it meet with Diaz by the end of June to discuss expanding its delivery services to more areas of the Bronx and continue efforts to get approval from the state to accept food stamp benefits, along with other provisions (you can read the whole thing here).
City Rejects Judge’s Request for Delay in School Church Evictions
February 15, 2012
By Jeanmarie Evelly
Bronx Household of Faith holds its services in the PS/MS 15 auditorium. (Photo by Alex Kratz)
The city has denied a federal judge’s request to delay the evictions of dozens of faith-based groups that hold worship services in public schools, saying the enforcement of the policy has already been pushed back twice, according to a letter sent by the city’s Law Department.
Yesterday, Judge Loretta Preska asked the city to allow churches and other groups that rent public school space on weekends to continue to use the facilities while she deliberates on the issue. The Department of Education policy banning religious groups from worshiping in school buildings, citing the separation of church and state, was supposed to take effect this past Sunday, Feb. 12. But lawyers with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) filed a lawsuit earlier this month that seeks an injunction against the ban, which the ADF, religious leaders and some Bronx elected officials are calling discriminatory and unconstitutional.
Jordan Lorence, the lead lawyer for ADF, which first began challenging the DOE’s ban on behalf of University Height’s church Bronx Household of Faith in 1994, said yesterday that he’s hopeful Judge Preska will issue the injunction soon if the city refuses to voluntarily delay the evictions.
Court to Hear Appeal on Worship in Schools Ban
February 14, 2012
By Jeanmarie Evelly and Alex Kratz
On Sunday, dozens of religious groups across the city that rent auditorium and cafeteria space in public schools held their (possibly) last services there, as a city policy banning worship in schools went into effect Feb. 12. Breaking Bronx reached out to a few local pastors to see what the plan was for their congregations after getting evicted, and we’re hearing from several sources that the groups could possibly be getting a reprieve.
Pastor Jack Roberts of Bronx Household of Faith, the University Heights church that led a years-long legal fight against the DOE’s policy, said that a Manhattan judge could decide this week to order a temporary injunction against the city’s ban, granting the religious groups more time to try and get the policy reversed by state law, or, at least, to find new sites to hold services.
The injunction was filed by the Alliance Defense Fund, which has legally backed Bronx Household’s efforts to use school space since it first challenged the DOE’s policy in 1994. Read more
Bronx Weekend Links: Final Day for Churches in Schools, More NYPD Fallout From Ramarley Graham Shooting & More
February 13, 2012
By Jeanmarie Evelly
Here are some local news stories we’re following, from this morning and this weekend, here on Breaking Bronx:
Fernando Cabrera and religious leaders protest the city's ban on churches in schools. (Photo courtesy NYC Council)
- Dozens of churches across the city that rent public school space for services will have to find new homes this week, after the Department of Education’s ban on the practice went into effect yesterday. The issue has become a crusade for Bronx City Councilman Fernando Cabrera, who has been campaigning for the State Legislature to pass a bill that would disallow the city’s ban. That bill passed in the Senate but still needs the approval of the Assembly and Gov. Cuomo before it can become law.“It is claimed these small houses of worship are recruiting and evangelizing impressionable children. Yet, the schools are rented only when they are empty. The houses of worship use the spaces when classes are not in session,” Cabrera said in a statement sent out yesterday.
- A Bronx teen was stabbed to death in Brooklyn Saturday night during a scuffle following a game of street football, the Daily News reports. Edgar Soto, 17, lived in Van Nest and was a student at Lehman High School. There were no immediate arrests.
- The NYPD is ordering a review of how it trains of all its street-level narcotics teams, following the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Bronx resident Ramarley Graham earlier this month. The officer who shot the unarmed Graham inside his Wakefield home had not undergone proper training and was not qualified for the detail he was on that day, WNYC reports. His death has sparked outrage and protests against the NYPD in the Bronx and across the city.
- Soundview, the struggling health care network founded by ex-State Sen. Pedro Espada, Jr., is in financial straits this month, laying off employees and facing expulsion from the state’s Medicaid program, while Espada himself continues to collect a paycheck from the nonprofit, according to the New York Post. Soundview is getting banned from Medicaid in part because Espada and his son, who are facing a slew of corruption charges for funneling money from the clinics for their own personal expenses, ignored a judge’s order to cut ties with the organization.
- The teenaged son of a high-ranking NYPD union official has been arrested in connection with a January shooting near Co-Op City. Police arrested 17-year-old Hameed Abdul-Jabbar after a search of his bedroom turned up a gun and drugs. Abdul-Jabbar is the son of Officer Mubarak Abdul-Jabbar, Second Vice President of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association.
Bronx Breakdown: Ridiculous Redistricting
February 10, 2012
By Alex Kratz
The Bronx Breakdown is back this week with perplexing and much less violent (at least compared to last week) news this Friday — the curious redistricting lines drawn between the borough’s 33rd and 34th senate districts. Let’s break it on down.
The Norwood News headquarters is located across the street from the north entrance to Williamsbridge Oval Park. Like the rest of Norwood, it neatly fits inside the 33rd Senate District, currently represented by Gustavo Rivera.
If the new redistricting lines drawn by a legislative task force are implemented, we would still be in the 33rd, but the park, directly across the street to the south, would be part of the 34th District, which Jeff Klein represents. Walk one block north and you’re back in Klein territory. Two blocks east? Klein again. The NN office would essentially be on a Rivera peninsula jutting into a sea of Klein.
The rest of the district borders in Norwood and Bedford Park are similarly schizophrenic. It’s as if the redistricting committee wanted to create a labyrinth out of the 33rd District, a Rorschach test for map readers.
In any case, it’s ridiculous and one of the many reasons why the New York Public Interest Research Group called the new redistricting proposal “clearly the most gerrymandered lines in recent New York history.”
With good reason, the proposal was broadly lambasted at a recent hearing. Read more
Bronxites Blast State Redistricting Proposal
February 10, 2012
By Jeanmarie Evelly
The district lines proposed by a group of lawmakers to define the 33rd State Senate District, currently represented by Sen. Gustavo Rivera, would split jagged pockets of Norwood into Sen. Jeff Klein's 34th District.
A plan devised by a group of state lawmakers to redraw the boundaries of New York’s legislative districts is drawing fire from a number of Bronx residents and groups that are worried the new maps could divide the political power of certain neighborhoods.
A bipartisan panel of Senate and Assembly members, known as LATFOR, is charged with creating the new districts every 10 years based on Census data to keep up with population changes. LATFOR released its proposed maps for the State Senate and Assembly two weeks ago and is holding hearings across the state this month to collect feedback on the plans.
For years, good government groups have advocated for an independent redistricting process, arguing that politicians can’t map their own districts without bias. In the past, the majority parties — Republicans in the Senate and Democrats in the Assembly — have used the process to consolidate power.
At a hearing in the Bronx last week, nearly 50 speakers testified, many of them saying the new maps are gerrymandered and drawn in ways that benefit incumbent candidates.
“The lines were drawn for no other purpose than allowing an elected official to handpick his own constituents,” said Fernando Tirado, chair of Bronx Community Board 7. Read more
Fresh Direct Will Move Headquarters to the Bronx
February 7, 2012
By Jeanmarie Evelly
The Boogie Down comes out ahead–again!–in the latest business battle with New Jersey, with the news that grocery delivery company Fresh Direct will be relocating to the Bronx from their current headquarters in Queens.
The company had been contemplating lucrative tax deals from both New York City and New Jersey, but will build its new site in the south Bronx’s Harlem River Yards after accepting $130 in grants, tax breaks and tax credits from Gov. Cuomo, Mayor Bloomberg and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., according to the Daily News.
Last June, New Jersey tried to lure the Hunts Point Produce Market over the river from its long time Bronx location, but the Market ultimately opted to renew its lease and stay put, at least for the time being.
The News reports that the move will keep the Fresh Direct’s 2,000 current jobs in New York, and will also add 1,000 new jobs by 2020. Its planned 500,000-square-foot new warehouse is estimated to open by 2015.
The article notes that some good-government groups are criticizing the city’s generous tax breaks offerings, citing the fact that Fresh Direct pays 38% of its workers less than $25,000 a year.
In the living wage bill compromise struck last month between City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and supporters of the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, Fresh Direct would be exempt from the mandate required of other publicly subsidized companies should the bill get passed–that direct workers get paid $1 0 an hour with benefits, or $11.50 an hour without.
Weekend Bronx Links
February 6, 2012
By Jeanmarie Evelly
Breaking Bronx’s roundup of local news from today and this past weekend.
Tensions are high here in the Bronx after police officers shot and killed an unarmed 18-year-old, Wakefield resident Ramarley Graham. The Amsterdam News reports that Graham’s family and friends have been rallying today and over the weekend. The Daily News and the Times report that Graham’s grandmother, who was home when the shooting occurred, says she was held for hours by police afterwards for interviews, against her will. Recently released surveillance video footage of the incident shows officers kicking down the door to Graham’s home after the teen had entered it.
In other Bronx/NYPD news:
The Associated Press reports that the lawyer for Jateik Reed, a 19-year-old whose beating at the hands of police officers was caught on tape and went viral, is asking for a special prosecutor to investigate the incident on the grounds that Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson is too close to the NYPD to to be considered impartial.
Fernando Cabrera is taking his fight for churches using public school space to Albany today. The councilman and a number of faith leaders are hoping to garner support for a state law that would reverse a city ban on churches holding service in schools.
DNAinfo profiles the two men behind the Bronx Brewery, the Mott Haven-based beer makers who turn out brews like the aptly named Bronx Pale Ale.
The Daily News profiles Deirdre Scott, head of the Bronx Council on the Arts.
The Department of Education will vote Thursday on whether to close 25 schools on the city’s list of struggling ones, which includes Samuel Gompers, a vocational high school on Southern Boulevard. Four other Bronx schools are on the list of possible closures, and the city wants to eliminate grades at another. You can find the full list here.
Bronx Budget Hearing Date Changed to Feb. 16
February 6, 2012
Editor’s note: Last week we mistakenly reported the Bronx public hearing on the mayor’s proposed budget would be Feb. 1 (the original date). It was rescheduled for Thursday, Feb. 16. Details are below:
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. invites the public to attend The Bronx Borough Board Public Hearing on the mayor’s preliminary budget for fiscal year 2013, and the capital and service needs of the Bronx. The meeting will be held Wednesday, Feb. 16 from 10 a.m. to noon at 198 E. 161st St., in the third floor Litigation Room. Anyone interested in presenting testimony should email their name, title, organization, and telephone number to bmccray@bronxbp.nyc.gov to register in advance, or for more information, call (718) 590-3500.
Bronx State Sen. Klein to Sponsor Minimum Wage Bill
February 6, 2012
By Jeanmarie Evelly
Bronx State Sen. Jeff Klein announced this morning that he is introducing a bill in the Senate to raise the state’s minimum wage, a version of which was first introduced in the State Assembly last week by Speaker Sheldon Silver.
Klein, who broke from the Senate Democrats last year, is currently the head of a four-person Independent Democratic Conference. Most Republicans oppose the idea of a wage hike.
If passed, the bill would raise the minimum wage required in New York to $8.50 an hour, up from the current $7.25, and would tie the minimum wage to the rate of inflation.
“New York is failing to live up to its tradition as a progressive leader as long as this state’s minimum wage remains stagnant,” Klein said in a statement.
“Living on $290 a-week is virtually impossible in this state, yet that’s what thousands upon thousands of New Yorkers are struggling to do each day. I believe we can do better as a state and as a society.”
Mayor Bloomberg came out in support of a minimum wage hike in his State of the City speech last month, and several Bronx elected officials have expressed their support for it.
Read more
Local Faith Leaders Bless Bronx Pride’s New Home
February 3, 2012
By Jeanmarie Evelly
Local faith leaders visited the Bronx Community Pride Center's new building last week (Photo courtesy Bronx Pride)
Last week, the Bronx Community Pride Center celebrated its new home, and eight pastors from varying faiths visited the group’s new building to participate in an interdenominational blessing ceremony for the new site, on Kelly Street in Hunts Point.
“Our clients and staff have strong ties to the faith community and religion has played a large role in their lives and upbringing,” said executive director Dirk McCall. “While we might not always agree on all issues, we want to engage in dialogue and find areas of common ground, working together to improve the lives of all LGBTQ Bronxites.” Read more
Bronx Crime Watch: Children Injured in Two Bronx Shootings
February 2, 2012
By Jeanmarie Evelly
Two shootings that took place this week in different Bronx neighborhoods left a 10-year-old girl and 12-year-old boy recovering from bullet wounds, according to the New York Daily News.
On Tuesday, a gunman opened fire in the crowded basketball court in Vidalia Park, on E. 180th Street and Daly Avenue in West Farms. A 12-year-old boy was injured, as were two 20-year-olds and an 18-year-old. Police believed the assailant was targeting one of the older victims; no arrests had been made as of yesterday. All four injured are expected to recover.
On Wednesday, a 10-year-old girl was nicked in the leg by a bullet while walking home from school after someone opened fire in a Morrisania intersection. She is expected to survive.
Bronx elected officials sent out statements conveying their alarm over the two incidents.
“Innocent children and their families should not be scared nor terrorized to play in their neighborhood playgrounds in fear of becoming a victim of senseless violence,” City Councilman Joel Rivera said in a statement after the West Farms shooting.
State Sen. Ruben Diaz, Sr., responded to the Morrisania shooting.
“I thank the Lord that she is expected to be fine, and hope that she will be able to put this trauma behind her fairly quickly, resume her life as a child, not fear her walk to and from school, and not fear growing up in her neighborhood,” he said.
City Council Hears Testimony on Worship Groups Using School Space
February 2, 2012
The City Council is holding a public hearing today on whether or not to pass a resolution in favor of a state law that would allow churches and other faith-based groups to use public school space, a debate which stemmed from a long legal battle by University Heights church Bronx Household of Faith, which had been fighting for years to continue holding services at PS 15.
The group lost their appeal this December after the Supreme Court declined to review their case, and the city announced that faith-based organizations which currently rent school spaces have until Feb. 12 to find new homes, a decision that many–led in large part by Bronx City Councilman Fernando Cabrera–have been fighting through city and state legislation.
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., expressed his support for the faith-based community in a letter to DOE Chancellor Dennis Walcott last week, saying he thinks the decision to let religious groups use school space should be left to the discretion of principals, and cited the important role that faith groups have played in their neighborhoods.
“The Department of Education should encourage schools to connect with their neighboring community organizations, in order to forge good relationships that can reverberate out into the community-at-large,” Diaz wrote. “Such relationships can have a direct positive effect on the school community and the families of the students they serve.”
Read more
Bronx Hearing Today Seeks Public Input on Controversial Redistricting Process
January 31, 2012
New lines for local legislative districts that were proposed last week
Bronx residents have a chance to weigh in on the state legislature’s controversial redistricting plans today: the task force charged with re-drawing New York’s political district maps is holding a hearing at the Bronx Museum of the Arts this afternoon, one of several public forums being held at different locations across the state over the next few weeks.
Every ten years, following the release of new Census numbers, the state redraws its legislative district maps, intended to update Senate, Assembly and Congressional districts to reflect population changes. The process has long drawn criticism from good government groups, since the parties in power–currently, Republicans in the State Senate and Democrats in the Assembly–are the ones who do the re-drawing, and will create maps that benefit the members of their party.
Advocates, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other legislators, including many Bronx reps, have been calling for the formation of an independent panel to take over the redistricting process, but to no avail. Cuomo has said he will veto any maps put forth by LATFOR, the group of lawmakers currently in charge of drawing the new district lines.
The group released sets of proposed maps last week (see above) which show some interesting changes to a few Bronx districts. Riverdale, for example, which is currently split between three senators, would fall entirely under Sen. Jeff Klein’s jurisdiction under the new lines. Senate Republicans have also proposed adding an extra senate seat, a move many have criticized as an attempt for the party to try and maintain their slim majority in the chamber.
We’ll be at the hearing this afternoon–it’s at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, 1040 Grand Concourse, at 3 p.m.–so stay tuned.
Bronx’s Cabrera Leads Thousands in March Against Ban on Worship in School Buildings
January 31, 2012
By Alex Kratz
Bronx Councilman Fernando Cabrera leads a protest march across the Brooklyn Bridge on Sunday afternoon. (Photo by Joseph Hout)
Bronx Councilman Fernando Cabrera was joined by thousands on Sunday for a protest against a city policy that bans churches and religious organizations from using school buildings during off-hours for worship services. Cabrera said opposition to the city’s policy is gaining momentum as dozens of churches face homelessness when the city stops allowing them to use its school facilities on Feb. 12.
“Communities turned out in mass to show their support,” said Cabrera. “Black, White, Latino and Asian, young and old. Our momentum is growing.”
“Our constitution has an anti-establishment clause and we respect that,” he added, “but it also has a free exercise clause. This policy restricts the right to free exercise by discriminating against religious groups. Our stance against this policy does not ask for special treatment, but for fair treatment.” Read more
Kingsbridge Armory Open for Business; Hockey Group Emerges
January 30, 2012
By Alex Kratz
A late Christmas gift for the Bronx? The possibility of a redeveloped Kingsbridge Armory is once again a reality after the mayor released a request for proposals two weeks ago. (Photo by Alex Kratz)
Editor’s note: This article appears is in the latest print edition of the Norwood News, which you can find now at locations throughout the northwest Bronx.
Two years after the City Council killed a plan to turn the long-vacant Kingsbridge Armory into a giant shopping mall, the city is once again seeking development proposals for the 600,000-square-foot, castle-like structure.
In his State of the City speech at Morris High School in the Bronx, Mayor Bloomberg said his office had received unsolicited interest in the Armory from groups with the resources to revamp the nearly 95-year-old building. Although the new request for proposals, released on Jan. 12, does not rule out the possibility of another mall project, momentum is building for another type of use.
“We’ve heard from a variety of interested parties who want to develop it into recreational space,” Bloomberg said in his speech.
The frontrunner emerging with recreational plans appears to be a group of investors, including former New York Rangers star Mark Messier, who want to turn the Armory into the region’s (and possibly the nation’s) biggest hockey complex. Read more
Bronx Teens: What Presidential Election?
January 27, 2012
Editor’s Note: The following story was originally published in Bronx Youth Heard, a publication of the Bronx Youth Journalism Initiative, a free journalism program for Bronx high school students run by the Norwood News. We are currently accepting applications for our spring semester. To find out more about the program and how to apply, click here. The Bronx Youth Journalism Initiative is supported by the North Star Fund, the Johnson Family Foundation Fund, and City Councilman Fernando Cabrera, and is run in collaboration with CUNY’s College Now program at Hostos Community College.
By Natalie L. Azucena
Teenagers in the Bronx aren’t concerned about the upcoming presidential election next fall. The Republican candidates running for the party’s nomination aren’t even on their radar.
“I know that one of the guys running for president got caught in a 13-year affair,” said Kiana Montero, a junior at Women’s Academy of Excellence in the Bronx, referring to former candidate Herman Cain. That’s all she knows about the race.
“I am not interested in politics,” she added.
Read more
For Some Students, Negative Statistics Are Motivation
January 26, 2012
Editor’s Note: The following story was originally published in Bronx Youth Heard, a publication of the Bronx Youth Journalism Initiative, a free journalism program for Bronx high school students run by the Norwood News. We are currently accepting applications for our spring semester. To find out more about the program and how to apply, click here. The Bronx Youth Journalism Initiative is supported by the North Star Fund, the Johnson Family Foundation Fund, and City Councilman Fernando Cabrera, and is run in collaboration with CUNY’s College Now program at Hostos Community College.
By Anthony Caldwell
This year, Mayor Michael Bloomberg invested $127 million into a new Young Men’s Initiative to address the city’s racial achievement gap. Black and Latino male students in New York City are three times more likely to be in special education classrooms than their white counterparts, and are less likely to graduate from high school, according to a report from the program.
On television, on the radio and in the news, young people often hear that Hispanic and African-American teens don’t do as well in school, or in life. But for many Bronx youth, this data only motivates them.
“Us black people should try not to be another statistic,” said Richard Bennett, a senior at Urban Assembly for Careers in Sports, who says he often sees these statistics play out in his neighborhood.
Read more
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