Update: D11 City Council Race: Mino Lora Addresses Inwood Development Controversy

By SÍLE MOLONEY

District 11 City Council candidate, Mino Lora, has been facing pressure in recent weeks to explain her alleged support of a controversial, $200 million re-zoning plan, announced in 2018, for the Northern Manhattan district of Inwood, where the candidate’s nonprofit, the People’s Theater Project (PTP) is located. Lora faced criticism from detractors from a number of different perspectives, and has addressed each of them. We will attempt to break them down one by one. Firstly, local Inwood housing activists had objected to the housing component of the plan, concerned they would eventually be “rezoned” or displaced from their

By SÍLE MOLONEY

The New York State primary elections take place on Tuesday, June 22. The New York City Board of Elections (BOE) has released a recap by party of the absentee ballot applications issued and returned to them as of June 21, 2021. We have included the information as presented by the BOE below, broken down by borough, by Bronx council district and by Bronx assembly district. In terms of the timeline for expected election results, the BOE has advised as follows: When Will Results be Reported? Unofficial election night results will be posted at the close of polls on

By SÍLE MOLONEY

The New York City Bar Association announced on June 16 that is has completed evaluations of the following candidates who are running in contested primary elections on June 22 for Civil Court. The review was conducted by the association’s committee on the judiciary. The Committee used two ratings: approved and not approved, and said candidates rated “approved” have affirmatively demonstrated qualifications necessary for the performance of the duties of the position for which they are being considered. Bronx County Civil Court, 2nd Municipal District John Rodriguez — Not Approved Angel Cruz — Not Approved Jessica Flores — Approved Verena C.

By SÍLE MOLONEY

The City Council approved legislation on Thursday, June 17, to create the NYC Mayor’s Office of Ethnic and Community Media, making it the first mayor’s office in the country dedicated to strengthening the relationship between city government and ethnic and community outlets. The legislation, known as Intro. 2313, was sponsored by Council Speaker Corey Johnson, Manhattan Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, Bronx Council Member Oswald Feliz (C.D. 15), and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. Johnson is currently running for city comptroller, and on June 19, was endorsed as second-choice candidate for the role by the Bronx Democratic Party, which had

By ADI TALWAR & SÍLE MOLONEY

District 11 City Council candidate, Mino Lora, took her campaign to Norwood for her second rally since announcing her decision to run for office last year, and was supported on the day by some of New York State’s key, progressive elected officials who view the District 11 seat as another important frontier in the race for transformational change across the State. Despite a strong challenge by Lora in the District 11 special election, held March 23, in which the People’s Theater Project founder and executive director finished second with 3,188 votes, Eric Dinowitz’s final 5,579 votes (which included transfers

By SÍLE MOLONEY

Close to half a million dollars had been paid out in taxpayer dollars to candidates in the District 15 City Council race, according to a summary by the New York City Campaign Finance Board (CFB), as of Thursday, June 17. Under the CFB’s public matching funds program, participating candidates received a total of $464,181. The summary also shows that, as of June 17, collectively, participating candidates had raised a total of $144,186 in private funds, and had spent just over a quarter of a million dollars, $251,843, collectively, on their campaigns, ahead of the June 22 primary election. As

By SÍLE MOLONEY

Local community and political organization, the Northwest Bronx Democrats (NWBx Dems) announced their endorsements and non-endorsements of various west side candidates running for City Council Districts 11, 14 and 15 in the upcoming primaries on Friday, June 11. They also announced their picks for Bronx civil court judge and Bronx borough president. Saying, this year, the NWBx Dems’ endorsement process was dictated by a combination of hope and alleged broken promises by candidates, Anthony Rivieccio, the organization’s founder, confirmed that in the District 14 race, the group endorsed Pierina Sanchez and Yudelka Tapia. In the Bronx borough president race,

By SÍLE MOLONEY

The COVID-19 pandemic hit the Bronx harder than any other borough by several measures, according to an economic analysis released on June 8 by the New York State comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli, with one finding showing that only 61.3 percent of households had reliable internet, compared to a range of 69.5 to 78 percent across the city, as previously reported by Norwood News. To address this, the comptroller’s office reported that as part of a recent deal, the City expects fiber-optic infrastructure to reach 500,000 new households citywide (no deadline was specified), including households in Norwood, Fordham, University Heights, Bedford

By SÍLE MOLONEY

District 11 Council Member Eric Dinowitz released a statement on June 8 in which he renewed his call to the New York City Board of Elections (BOE) to allow voters to cast their ballot at any poll site within the county in which they live. The statement comes on the heels of a confusing situation regarding a poll site change in the Kingsbridge neighborhood of the Bronx. Kingsbridge residents previously voted at In-Tech Academy but were moved to the Bronx High School of Science, a location a good distance away from their homes. The BOE has since updated their

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Politics

Update: D11 City Council Race: Mino Lora Addresses Inwood Development Controversy

NYC Board of Elections Publishes Absentee Ballot Numbers Issued & Returned as of June 21, 2021

Bronx Civil Court Judgeship Election: NYC Bar Assocation Rates Candidates

City Council Passes Law to Create NYC Mayor’s Office of Ethnic & Community Media

D11 City Council Race: Progressives Call for Transformational Change with Lora

District 15 City Council Race: Candidates Receive Close to Half a Million Dollars in Public Funds

Update: Northwest Bronx Democrats’ 2021 Endorsements & Non-Endorsements of West Side Candidates

State Comptroller Releases Economic Report on The Bronx

Eric Dinowitz Calls for Voting Access to any Poll Site in County following Kingsbridge Incident