When the 40-year-old Adolfo Carrión was sworn in as Borough President in January 2002, his political career appeared bound for the stars.
Now, with Carrion reportedly poised to become President Obama’s new director of urban policy, the Norwood News takes a look at his performance as borough president and his prospects for success on a national stage.
The New York State Assembly passed a package of bills last week aimed at preserving affordable housing and expanding tenants’ rights, including a repeal of vacancy decontrol, the top priority for New York City affordable housing advocates.
The fate of the bills now rests with the State Senate, and particularly with newly elected State Senator Pedro Espada, Jr. (Bronx, 33rd District), chair of the Senate’s Housing Committee.
The fate of the bills now rests with the State Senate, and particularly with newly elected State Senator Pedro Espada, Jr. (Bronx, 33rd District), chair of the Senate’s Housing Committee.
In the mid-1990s at a meeting about the fate of the then recently abandoned Kingsbridge Armory, we were chatting with School District 10 official Bruce Irushalmi about the new councilman for the area, Adolfo Carrión. "He could be governor some day!" an impressed Irushalmi said.
You don’t hear that much anymore. Carrión is still ambitious and may still be headed for the political stratosphere, but it’s been a long time since Bronxites talked like that or rooted for him to be governor or mayor or anything else.
That’s largely because he has promoted large, unpopular development projects by running over community opposition.
Only three of 18 community groups signed on to the Gateway Mall Community Benefits Agreement because the rest considered the process a sham.
And he kept his stadium opponents out in the cold (literally, on the occasion of one critical public hearing where supporters were bused in) and then threw those who didn’t do his bidding off the community board.
This brand of leadership is not the kind practiced by Carrión’s prospective new boss, President Barack Obama.
You don’t hear that much anymore. Carrión is still ambitious and may still be headed for the political stratosphere, but it’s been a long time since Bronxites talked like that or rooted for him to be governor or mayor or anything else.
That’s largely because he has promoted large, unpopular development projects by running over community opposition.
Only three of 18 community groups signed on to the Gateway Mall Community Benefits Agreement because the rest considered the process a sham.
And he kept his stadium opponents out in the cold (literally, on the occasion of one critical public hearing where supporters were bused in) and then threw those who didn’t do his bidding off the community board.
This brand of leadership is not the kind practiced by Carrión’s prospective new boss, President Barack Obama.
