•    The 52nd Precinct Community Precinct Council will meet on Thursday, Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. at the 52nd Precinct headquarters, 3016 Webster Ave. For more information, call (718) 220-5824. •    The Community Board 7 Health and Hospitals committee will meet at 6:30 p.m. at the board office, 229 A E. 204th St. For more information, call (718) 933-5650. •    The Bedford Mosholu Community Association will meet on Wednesday, Oct. 6 at 8 p.m. at 400 E. Mosholu Pkwy. So., apt. B1 (lobby floor). All are welcome.

When Pedro Espada, Jr. stepped down from the podium in the back of La Luna Lounge in Tremont last week after giving a short, fiery and somewhat confusing concession speech, the small but raucous crowd began chanting. "ESPADA! ESPADA! ESPADA!" they bellowed.

One of the most vocal chanters was Mike J. "Hollywood" McCray, "a.k.a ‘Nine Milli,’ but not because I like guns, if you know what I mean," he said. When asked what he thought about Espada’s loss, McCray’s face momentarily dropped. "He lost? I thought he won."

Within minutes of State Senator Pedro Espada, Jr. conceding defeat last week, his victorious opponent Gustavo Rivera arrived at the Monte Carlo Room on Jerome Avenue, where hundreds of his supporters had gathered.

He entered through a side door, to a chorus of roars and cheers, and made for the stage, hugging and high-fiving anyone in his way.

The Rivera family had good reason to celebrate on Sept. 14: Assemblyman Jose Rivera and his daughter, Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera, both came out victorious in their Democratic primary races against two challengers in their respective districts.

The New York Botanical Garden, the largest botanical garden in any U.S. city, is bringing its plants from the garden to the dinner table this fall.

Its exhibit, the "Edible Garden," which is on display until Oct. 17 and includes several sites littered throughout the Garden’s 250-acre campus, shows visitors how growing and cooking their own food can contribute to an overall healthy lifestyle.

It’s well known that incumbent state legislators are more likely to diein office than be defeated on Election Day. Sadly, that’s still true – only two sitting lawmakers lost to primary challengers statewide.

Thankfully, one of them was Bronx State Senator Pedro Espada, Jr. The list of his alleged and actual transgressions is long. The state attorney general accused him of bilking his health care network of $14 million. He held the state legislature hostage by momentarily hopping across the aisle to the GOP and only hopped back when he was promised a leadership position. His main residence is Westchester and he flouted campaign finance rules with abandon. We could go on and on …

Despite all this, we’d probably still be calling him Senator Espada come Jan. 1 if a coalition of citizens, labor unions, and elected officials hadn’t rallied fervently and feverishly behind Espada’s young opponent, Gustavo Rivera.

The jury’s still out on Rivera of course. He lives in the district but he has not participated in community life here.

Cancer survivor Patti Murillo-Casa wants every woman to know they don’t have to go through the nightmarish battle she did.

A 48-year-old Riverdale resident, Murillo-Casa has been cancer-free for almost a year and a half, but she says she nearly didn’t make it through the brutal, exhausting treatments that saved her from cervical cancer, a form of the disease that is now almost entirely avoidable and treatable.

Onstage       The Bronx Library Center, 310 E. Kingsbridge Rd. off Fordham Road presents Echoing Voices: Silver Roots, concert, Sept. 25 at 2:30 p.m. For more information, call (718) 579-4244/46 or visit www.nypl.org. Lehman Center for the Performing Arts, located at 250 Bedford Pk. Blvd. W., presents Eddie Palmieri and Michel Camilo, two masters of Latin jazz, Sept. 25 at 8 p.m. (tickets are $35 to $50). For more information or tickets, call (718) 960-8833. Events The public is invited to an Open House and Free Carnival, Oct. 2, 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., at the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center,

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Green Cart Open House WHEDco is hosting an open house for NYC Green Cart permit holders to discuss all kinds of Green Cart-related issues on Thursday, Sept. 30, from 4 to 6 p.m. at 1330 Intervale Ave., between Freeman and Jennings streets. This for existing NYC Green Cart permit holders only. Bring copies of your NYC Green Cart documents. RSVP to WHEDco at 718-839-1183. Green Cart Application Help WHEDco is hosting workshop to help entrepeneurs apply for permits to become a NYC Green Cart vendor on Oct. 5, from 7 to 9 p.m. at 1330 Intervale Ave., between Freeman and

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