Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Bird Brained Subway ‘Gunman’

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Bird Brained Subway ‘Gunman’: BRONX, NEW YORK, August 8- Police nabbed a real bird brain near the Westchester Square Station when a suspect tried to sneak on the s...

Bird Brained Subway ‘Gunman’

BRONX, NEW YORK, August 8- Police nabbed a real bird brain near the Westchester Square Station when a suspect tried to sneak on the subway with a “gun.”

At around 4:30 p.m. on August 7, police were conducting bag screenings at the Westschester Square Subway Station on the Number 6 line. Officers observed a man with appeared to be a handgun in his front pocket.

Sergeant Reinaldo Colon and Police Officer Rafael Baez followed the suspect out of the station and stopped him on the corner East Tremont and Westchester Square. Cops found the suspect to be in possession of a BB gun, which looked very much like a 9mm handgun. 

Police arrested 25-year-old Alexis Santillan of Pelham Bay and charged him with criminal possession of a weapon.

Alice in Wonderland

Wakefield Area News

By Mary V. Lauro

BRONX, NEW YORK, August 8- In a recent editorial, the Daily News suggested that all Member Items be eliminated. We tend to agree. In many cases they are a waste of our money. They are sometimes used, as reported in the case of Councilman Larry Seabrook, to fatten the politician's wallet or reward his friends and relatives or, as is often the case, to buy the good will of a community in order to garner its votes at election time. It is only rarely that a politician will act without self-interest. When he does, he becomes a statesman.

What is a member item? It is an amount of money which an assemblyman, senator or councilperson is able to include in that year's budget for use by a favored group. The favored group must apply and frequently has to jump through hoops before the grant is appropriated. Thus the Bronx Business Alliance (BBA) under the leadership of Margaret Arrighi (CEO) and Kathy Zamachanski (consultant) received beaucoup funds from Albany and the City Council.

As we already reported, in previous columns, Arrighi had contempt for any interference in her alleged schemes. When she decided, and stated in a letter, that the best thing that could happen to White Plains Road was the construction of a 70-unit supportive housing for HIV/AIDs patients on White Plains Road opposite the Food Town Supermarket, it was time to look at corporation papers and By-laws. We found the By-laws were a pastiche of some old merchants association By-laws and the opening clauses of By-laws of the very people who were going to build that 70-unit HIV/AIDs housing! How enormously strange, would you not say?

One of the opening clauses of the By-laws said the corporation had no members which is at it should be, but in later clauses it speaks of members. Indeed, it states that the members of the Board of Directors are chosen on a yearly basis by the members of the organization at the January meeting! Plainly, this whole operation was illicit, yet it was receiving thousands of dollars from various government sources.

John Bonizio and this writer tried to rewrite those By-laws for which consent of the existing BoD was needed. Because Arrighi insisted on retaining Board members who never appeared at meetings, it was not possible to legalize the operation. John Bonizio, a very able and trustworthy person resigned in a year's time.

At this point, I inherited the position of President of the BoD of an illicit operation. Since Senator Klein was one of the main sources of funding for the BBA, I turned to him for assistance in legalizing the operation. Unfortunately, I had to deal with his assistant, John Doyle who, at first saw nothing wrong with the By-Laws which he had obviously not read. When sent to him again at a later date, he insisted that Senator Klein's office did not deal with internal affairs of organization as if Klein's funding a member item of $200,000 was not dealing with internal affairs. Furthermore, at this time, which was during the Woodlawn fracas, Doyle had requested and received a copy of the Woodlawn By-laws which he said was to assist them in becoming a 501C3 organization. He did not consider that as interfering with internal affairs. Did he not know that corporation papers, not By-laws, determine 501C3 eligibility? The point here is that if proper attention had been given, BBA might still exist.

I resigned one day before Arrighi. The BBA is no more. But, I cannot end without pointing out that Arrighi suffered greatly when Governor Patterson froze all member items in the 2009 budget. Arrighi went without pay for two and half years. Her house went into foreclosure. And her health deteriorated.

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): BP Diaz Backs Naomi

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): BP Diaz Backs Naomi:   (Photo by Robert Press) 100 PERCENT By Robert Press BRONX, NEW YORK, August 7- Our headline refers to the majority...

BP Diaz Backs Naomi

 

(Photo by Robert Press)

100 PERCENT

By Robert Press

BRONX, NEW YORK, August 7- Our headline refers to the majority of the people in the Bronx who have been redistricted into one, two, or even three different districts than last year. 

 

We saw this in the congressional race where Congressman Eliot Engel gave up a portion of the West Bronx only to pick up a portion of the East Bronx. In the State Senate the musical chairs continued as Senator Espaillat gave up his Bronx area to Senator Klein. Senator Gustavo Rivera picked up an area to the south while giving up the northern part of his district. 

We saw this also happen in the State Assembly as some areas of assembly districts were cut out while parts of other districts were picked up. So the result was, as we told you in previous columns, there were some people who will have a new Assembly district, new State Senate district, or new Congressional district. Others will have two new districts, and then there are those who will have three new districts. By the way hearings for the redistricting of the City Council districts begins on Monday August 13th in Brooklyn, with the only Bronx hearing on Thursday August 23rd from 5 – 9 p.m. in the Lehman College East Dining Room (of the Music building). Lehman College is located at 150 Bedford Park Blvd., the Bedford Park Blvd stop on the #4 train, or by various bus routes.

We stopped by the Bronx County Building for the endorsement by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. of 80th A.D. Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera this past Monday. Those rumors about Diaz Jr. seeking citywide office in 2013 may be true as he first spoke of the shootings of 6 people in a SIKH Temple in Southern Wisconsin mentioning his sorrow of knowing of the tragedy, and of the large Sikh population in Queens. Diaz then went into why he was endorsing Assemblywoman Rivera stating that she is the driving force behind raising the state minimum wage. 

Diaz Jr. along with Councilman G. Oliver Koppell were the forces in getting the city council to finally pass a Living Wage Bill (even though it was severely watered down by the Speaker of the Council). Diaz added that it was Assemblywoman Rivera who got barriers put up on the Bronx River Parkway by the fatal accident scene recently. 

After Diaz's endorsement Assemblywoman Rivera said “It is an honor to receive the endorsement of my dear friend and colleague.” She then continued about her work in Albany, and said that she wanted to run on her record. She took a few questions, and I asked since she wanted to run on her record “Would you participate in debates this year.” Assemblywoman Rivera tried skirting my question, where as I repeated “would you participate in debates this year.” After again trying not to answer if she would or not debate her opponents she went on to another question.

While the court challenges are still going on as to the September Primary candidates for local office we hope to have the results by next weeks column of just who is on the ballot and for what office. You can check my blog at www.100percentbronx.blogspot.com for the latest updates on the candidates, and other items that may have come in after our deadline.

 

Lastly The Committee of 100 Democrats will be hosting their 8th Annual Free Community Barbecue on August 25th from 12 – 6 p.m. We will have the exact details in next weeks column.

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.



Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Man Shot Dead Around Corner From Police Station

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Man Shot Dead Around Corner From Police Station: (Photo by David Greene) By David Greene BRONX, NEW YORK, August 7- A shooting hit too close to home for cops in East Tremo...

Man Shot Dead Around Corner From Police Station

(Photo by David Greene)

By David Greene

BRONX, NEW YORK, August 7- A shooting hit too close to home for cops in East Tremont, when a man was gunned down around the corner from the police station.

Police were called to 2127 Valentine Avenue at 10:29 p.m., on Saturday, August 4, where officers discovered the victim had been shot once in the head. The victim was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital where he died a short time later.

 

Officers from the 46th Precinct took at least two young men in custody, sparking outrage from several members of the community. As detectives took one suspect into custody a block away from the shooting, a dozen residents surrounded the detectives’ vehicle; one detective then walked the suspect the two blocks to the station house.

 

A second neighborhood source, who wished to remain anonymous, stated the dispute began outside of the Kee Wong Chinese Restaurant, before the gunman pumped one bullet into the head of the victim.

The source claimed it was over a long-running dispute between two local gangs, the Y.G.'s and the 1090's.

Police would later identify the victim as Derrick Richardson, 21, of nearby E. 181 Street. So far the police have not charged anyone in Richardson's death, but the investigation continues. According to the latest NYPD statistics, Richardson is the seventh person murdered within the 46th Precinct this year, down from 12 from the same time period last year