2010 Year in Review: Espada Loses Seat; Freedom Next?

If 2010 was a terrible year for Pedro Espada, Jr., the soon-to-be former state senator, then 2011 could be even worse. In April, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed a civil suit, charging that Espada had used Soundview HealthCare Network, the nonprofit he founded and runs, as a “personal piggy bank.” He stole $14 million, the suit alleges, spending it on family trips, restaurant bills and, famously, take-out sushi delivered to Espada’s Westchester home.

2010 Year in Review: Armory Fight Spawns Legislation, More Task Forces

If 2009 was the year the city finally voted on a proposal to redevelop the enormous and vacant Kingsbridge Armory, then 2010 was the year everyone tried to figure out the significance of the City Council deciding overwhelmingly, one year ago, to kill a Bloomberg-backed plan to mold the Armory into a shopping mall.

2010 Year in Review: Muller the New Armory?

The Muller Army Reserve Center in Wakefield is fast becoming the new Kingsbridge Armory. As of press time, the mayor’s office and Bronx officials (and activists) are in complete disagreement on how to best fill the vacant Muller Center, which the Department of Defense handed over to the city late last year as part of its BRAC program.

2010 Year in Review: Up-and-Coming Gustavo Rivera Defeats Espada

Gustavo Rivera, an adjunct politics professor and former political aide, took the Bronx political scene by storm this year when he defeated State Sen. Pedro Espada, Jr., for his seat in the 33rd District in the northwest Bronx. Rivera, a 34-year-old Kingsbridge Heights resident and former aide to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, beat out a number of other primary contenders in what quickly became one of the most watched and dramatic races in the state.

2010 Year in Review: Ex-Pol Gonzalez Gets Jail Time

State Sen. Pedro Espada, Jr. wasn’t the first representative in the 33rd District to run into legal trouble. His predecessor, Efrain Gonzalez, Jr., was sentenced to seven years in prison this May for similar federal charges.

2010 Year in Review: Local Senior Center Saved From Closure

In June, seniors who frequent Tolentine Zeiser Senior Center were given some devastating news: The center, and dozens of others around in the city, were to be closed because of budget cuts. Staff took the pictures off the walls and filled several cardboard boxes with Christmas lights and other supplies they’d accumulated over the years. And they readied themselves for June 30, the center’s last day of operation. Then the unexpected happened. Tolentine and about 25 other senior centers in the five boroughs, including R.A.I.N Bailey in Kingsbridge Heights, were handed a last minute reprieve when Mayor Bloomberg and City Council speaker Christine Quinn struck a deal to restore funding.

Pedro Espada and Son Indicted on Federal Charges

Controversial State Senator Pedro Espada, Jr. was indicted by a Brooklyn grand jury on embezzlement and conspiracy charges, along with his son, Pedro Gautier Espada, according to a statement by the United States Attorney’s Office released on Tuesday. Both men are charged with five counts of embezzlement — to the alleged tune of more than $500,000 — and one count of conspiracy. If convicted, they face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for each count of embezzlement and five years for the conspiracy count. It could amount to 55 years behind bars.

The Education of a Councilman: Cabrera Makes Strides in First Year

Councilman Fernando Cabrera’s office on the 17th floor of 250 Broadway, a large municipal building across the street from City Hall in downtown Manhattan, is spartan — the walls a blank canvas, the desk tops free of clutter. There are photos on and behind his desk: of a baby smiling, a close-up of a flower, a beautiful landscape. They are not his photos. They came with the frames. The scene is fitting. As Cabrera enters the final weeks of his first year representing the 14th District, which includes Kingsbridge, University Heights, Morris Heights and Mt. Hope, two things have become

DREAM Immigration Bill Waits for Senate Vote

A bill that would provide a long-term path to citizenship for young immigrant residents passed in the House of Representatives on Dec. 8, but has since stalled in the Senate, as its supporters try to drum up Republican support for the bill in the slim hopes of passing it before the year’s end.