Thompson Endorses Cohen

Riverdale Report
By Robert Press



This past Friday, former City Comptroller and candidate for mayor Bill Thompson became the third major Democratic candidate to endorse Andrew Cohen for the 11th council seat. The 11th council seat is one of three Bronx council districts that will become vacant due to term limits where the current council member has served the limited number of terms in office. Many people view term limits as good government for New York City, and want to extend term limits to state and federal offices so legislators do not think of their job as permanent.

At the endorsement outside of PS 81 in the Riverdale section of the district, Thompson echoed the words of others who have already endorsed Cohen for the 11th council seat. Thompson said that through Andy’s hard work on Community Board 8 that he knows Mr. Cohen will be an excellent addition to the City Council.

One reason the endorsement was done outside a school could be the fact that Thompson was the President of the Board of Education, and I asked him to comment on how Mayor Bloomberg has done under Mayoral control of the public school system. Thompson said that it is very important that the next chancellor be an educator, there is real transparency, goals and standards are set, and that parents can know and understand what is expected of their children. Cohen thanked Thompson and said that from when he was President of the Board of Education to his days as City Comptroller Bill Thompson has always been a great public servant and strong advocate for all the people of the city.

Thompson and Cohen then walked over to the Riverdale Neighborhood House to meet Mr. Dan Eudence the director of the RNN. They toured the building and outside area while chatting with Mr. Eudecce on the programs offered by RNN, and some of the problems in getting funding to run said programs. You can go to my blog at www.100percentbronx.blogspot.com to see photos of Mr. Cohen and Mr. Thompson, and some photos of the Riverdale Neighborhood House.

Just to be fair there are two other announced candidates in the 11th City Council race as of now Mr. Cliff Stanton and Ms. Shelley Keeling.

You can also find the latest listing of events going on at Wave Hill, and that as the days get longer Wave Hill will be increasing its hours of operation. Starting on March 15th Wave Hill will be open till 5:30 PM.

Also on my blog are comments from those who want to save the Putnam Trail, and stop as they call it “Bloomberg Boulevard” from ripping apart Van Cortlandt Park. On the subject of Van Cortlandt Park it seems that the issue of a pedestrian bridge over the Major Deegan Highway is not going to die as long as Community Board 8 Chairman Bob Fanuzzi is chairing the Croton Filtration Monitoring Committee. The date of the next meeting and agenda of the CFMC will be on my blog as soon as it is sent out.

If you have any comments about this column or would like to have an event listed or covered in this column or on my blog you can e-mail us at 100percentbronxnews@gmail.com or call 718-644-4199 Mr, Robert Press.