Despite Election Day for city offices being still almost two years away, local City Council races began warming up this fall.

All three City Council seats in the Norwood News readership area are up for grabs when term limits force out Maria Baez (14th District), Oliver Koppell (11th) and Joel Rivera (15th) at the end of 2009.

In the 14th District, two fledgling politicians with activist roots, Haile Rivera and Fernando Cabrera, declared their interest in Baez’s job.

Rivera (no relation to Joel), who works for the New York Food Bank, officially announced his candidacy earlier in the fall after gaining some notoriety for being chosen to have an intimate dinner with Barack Obama. Though his staff consists mostly of his girlfriend, Rivera is using cyberspace to get the word out, writing his own blog and sending out mass press releases weighing in on issues ranging from the Iranian president’s visit to Gotham (he shouldn’t be allowed at Ground Zero) to indicted State Senator Efrain Gonzalez (he should resign).

Cabrera, the lead minister at North Fordham’s New Life Outreach International Church, began weighing a bid for Baez’s seat over the summer. A former member of Community Board 7, Cabrera has not officially announced his candidacy, but has created a fund-raising committee, the first step in running for office. He enjoys the backing of CB7 Chair Greg Faulkner, who is a member of New Life.

In District 15, a host of possible names have been mentioned, but only Koppell’s lead counsel Jamin Sewell has announced his candidacy. Community Board 8 Chair Anthony Cassino is also contemplating a run and has formed a fund-raising committee to put himself in position. Randi Martos, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz’s chief of staff, is also said to be weighing a bid.

Meanwhile, Joel Rivera, the Council majority leader, is ramping up his run for borough president and has already raised more than $200,000. So far, no one has vocalized their intention to run for his 15th District seat.

In the borough president’s race, Rivera will face off with Assemblyman Ruben Diaz, Jr. and possibly State Senator Jose Marco Serrano, both of whom, like Rivera, have fathers with significant political clout in the Bronx. Ruben Diaz, Sr. is a state senator and Jose Serrano is a powerful congressman.