11th City Council Race: Dionel Then Drops Out, Endorses Dan Padernacht

By SÍLE MOLONEY

Dionel Then has withdrawn from the 11th City Council District race in the Northwest Bronx and is endorsing candidate, Dan Padernacht, for the position, it was announced on Aug. 31. The 11th district comprises the neighborhoods of Bedford Park, Kingsbridge, Norwood, Riverdale, Van Cortlandt Village, Wakefield, and Woodlawn, and the seat is currently held by Councilman Andrew Cohen. The news means there are now five remaining candidates in the race, as reported recently by Norwood News. Marcos Sierra officially filed last month to join Eric Dinowitz, Jessica Haller, Padernacht and Abigail Martin. In a press release coinciding with

By SÍLE MOLONEY

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, member of the senate committee on agriculture, nutrition and forestry, visited three food pantries in Queens, the South Bronx and Washington Heights on Monday, Aug. 31. Gillibrand met with community stakeholders on the frontlines of feeding New Yorkers and announced her bill, the Ensuring Nutrition for America’s Student’s Act. With food pantries across New York facing unprecedented and growing demand, and with schools set to reopen in just a few days, the bill will provide nutritional resources to families who have lost access to free or reduced lunches due to school closures caused by the

By SÍLE MOLONEY

Monday, Aug. 31, marks 30 days before the end of the 2020 census. Without a complete census count, New York City is set to potentially lose billions for COVID-19 relief and up to two seats in Congress and the electoral college, which decides the presidency. In Norwood, the response rate was 60.5 percent (census tract 423) as of Aug. 31. The final 2010 response rate for the neighborhood was 63.2 percent, and the target was to beat that response rate in 2020. NYC Census Director Julie Menin and Executive Assistant Corporation Counsel, NYC Law Department released the following statement

By PROFESSOR ANTHONY RIVIECCIO, MBA PFA

As we get ready to watch the Republican convention and the other side of our democracy, one thing that we cannot forget is what the next president is going to have to deal with, whoever it is: the government is going to need tax money for government revenues when it will try to assist lower paid workers with children. What is Joe Biden’s plan for this? 1. He wants to make corporate taxes higher. Under his tax plan, the corporate tax rate would be increased to 28 percent, almost a 30 percent increase from where it is now.

By PROFESSOR ANTHONY RIVIECCIO, MBA PFA

As we get ready for an electoral, presidential race where we have heard very little so far on proposed policy issues, we heard a whopper of one the other day from our president. Trump said, if re-elected, he’ll get rid of the payroll tax. So, what’s the payroll tax? The payroll tax is a tax withheld from an employee’s salary by an employer who remits it to the government on behalf of the employee. The tax is based on wages, salaries, and tips earned by employees, and is deducted for social security and medicare benefits. The current tax

By Síle Moloney

Phase 3 of the reconstruction of Grand Concourse in the Bronx is completed, as announced on Aug. 11 by the City’s departments of transportation (DOT), design and construction (DDC) and environmental protection (DEP), along with Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., Council Member Vanessa Gibson and advocates. The boulevard is a “Vision Zero” priority corridor as well as one of the four “Great Streets” identified and prioritized by the de Blasio Administration for significant infrastructure and safety improvements. Approximately 3,000 New Yorkers are seriously injured and more than 200 are killed each year in traffic crashes. Being struck

By PROFESSOR ANTHONY RIVIECCIO, MBA PFA

Well, we knew that Congress had been at a stalemate – even way before this pandemic – some would even say, even before Trump was president. We have been living with a divided government for several years now. Democracy is supposed to allow the will of the people to speak, so what happens when too many people speak, and have different opinions, to the point where nothing gets done? Enter congressional COVID stalemate, which means nothing gets done – no help for unemployment insurance, no more help for small businesses, no help for state governments, no help for eviction

By Síle Moloney

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the moratorium on evictions in New York State has been extended to Sept. 4. The moratorium was first put in place in March to protect residential and commercial tenants facing financial hardship due to the pandemic. “As long as we are in the middle of the pandemic, there will be no evictions,” he wrote on Aug. 7. On May 7, amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the governor announced that the state’s moratorium on COVID-related residential or commercial evictions would be extended for an additional 60 days until Aug. 20. He also announced, at that

By DAVID GREENE

For our latest print edition, we asked readers for their thoughts on the recent spike in shootings across the City. I like this area here in Belmont, and I prefer to do most of my activities here because I don’t feel comfortable where I live. It’s safer in Belmont than it is anywhere else around here. I like to do all my shopping. I even come here to do all my laundry and in the other neighborhood I see a lot of homeless people, and homeless shelters spread all over the Tremont Area and yes, I see crazy