Speaking of open City Council seats: with Maria Baez leaving her job in 2009 thanks to term limits, her Council spot is already drawing interest.
Last issue, the Norwood News wrote about the potential candidacy of Haile Rivera, an activist from University Heights. Rivera (no relation to the other political Riveras in the Bronx) has since started a campaign committee, Friends of Haile Rivera, and is speaking out on a variety of issues, including the presidential race and the Iraq war.
Two weeks ago, he sent out a press release outlining his concerns about the mayor’s congestion pricing plan (increased traffic and congestion in the Bronx, for one), which the Council’s Bronx delegation is supporting.
Despite the delegation’s support, “we need to be very careful on how we proceed on this,” he said.
Rivera, however, is already looking at competition for Baez’s seat. Dr. Fernando Cabrera, the pastor at New Life Outreach International Church in University Heights, has also formed a fund-raising committee himself after expressing displeasure at Baez’s performance.
Cabrera could enjoy the backing of the Assemblyman Ruben Diaz and his son, Ruben, Jr., both of whom are very popular in the Bronx’s religious community.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.