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Thursday, February 14, 2013

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Lost dialogue

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Lost dialogue: --> Wakefield Area News By Mary V. Lauro BRONX, NEW YORK, February 14 -While we wait for the other shoe to drop, we remind you that the...
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Lost dialogue

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Wakefield Area News

By Mary V. Lauro

BRONX, NEW YORK, February 14-While we wait for the other shoe to drop, we remind you that the League will be meeting on Thursday evening at 7:30 p.m. at Redeemer Lutheran Church's Undercroft. Redeemer is located at Barnes and Boyd Avenues. The guest speaker will be Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz. Everyone is welcome. Invite your neighbors. Our meetings are fun. There is an intermission with refreshments. Please make a note. A reminder will not be mailed.

Now which shoe are we talking about? Well, last Thursday, February 7, New York City Comptroller, John C. Liu “rejected a 21 year, $91 million contract for a homeless shelter in the Bronx amid questions concerning the legitimacy of the required approval process represented to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban development ("HUD") in seeking approval for the project. Comptroller Liu's office was unable to verify whether the City properly followed Federal regulations in the disposition of the former Muller Army Reserve Center ("the Center"), located at 555 Nereid Avenue in the Wakefield section of the Bronx. The City wants to use the site, as a shelter for 200 homeless men."

Comptroller Liu's decision answered a lot of prayers since he is addressing the very points about which our Borough president threatened to take the Mayor to court. In any case, we were delighted to have our problem scrutinized by someone outside the Bloomberg cabal.
Sure enough, the very next day, a member of that cabal, Linda Gibbs, a Deputy Mayor and one of the individuals who decided the Center should be a homeless shelter was screaming like a stuck pig that Liu was politically motivated for rejecting the contract and that he had done this to "advance his political ambitions." More importantly, the Mayor's office seems to think that Liu does not have the authority to stop the contract unless there are no funds or corruption can be proven.

That's what we would like to see! Corruption proven. And the corruption we have in mind is the fakery of pretending that the citizens of Wakefield did not vehemently protest the turning of the Center into a shelter for the homeless.

This canard can best be found in a 26 page letter written by New York City Department of Homeless Services Commissioner Seth Diamond to Mayor Bloomberg last December. In it he repeats much of the distortions and inaccuracies present in the studies his Department had already made but he also lists the several meetings, especially the one in June 2011 that included Wakefield and Woodlawn residents. The purpose of listing them was to credit the Mayoral process with including the community in its decision. But, at no time did Mr. Diamond indicate that the community was 100 percent opposed to turning the Center into a Shelter for the Homeless.

Further, Mr. Diamond lists more than once that the community's wanted to use the Center for commercial purposes. He mentions only fleetingly that the community wanted to move the National Guard into the Center.

We think such distortion is corrupt

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Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Forget About That June Primary

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Forget About That June Primary: --> 100 PERCENT By Robert Press BRONX, NEW YORK, February 14- Since those new City Council district lines won't be finalized until sometim...
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Forget About That June Primary

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100 PERCENT
By Robert Press

BRONX, NEW YORK, February 14- Since those new City Council district lines won't be finalized until sometime in March you can forget about a June primary this year. The Board of Elections needs months to make up the new enrollment books, and it is quite possible the books may not be ready for the September primary when petitioning begins in June. 

It appears that current Councilman Jimmy Vacca is trying to increase his sphere of influence beyond his own 13th city council district. In looking at financial disclosure statements for candidates, it appears that the friends of Jimmy Vacca are spreading around the wealth. We have also been told that Councilman Vacca has gotten into the 15th council race by encouraging and even finding a candidate to run. More on that next week along with a recap on the two other open Bronx council seats and mayors race that gets better every day.

Your local community board will be having Public Hearings on the Fiscal Year 2014 Preliminary Budget Capital and Expense budget requests. The explanation is that your local community board has come up with a list of requests for projects that the boards have ranked in order for capital expenditures and service requests that fall into the expense budget. More than often the reply from city agencies is more funding is needed, refer to elected officials. You can call your local community board office for the date of your boards hearing or the Bronx Borough Presidents community board office at 718-590-3500 to find your local community board.

A last reminder that Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. will be giving his “State of the Bronx” address on Tuesday February 19th at 11:30 AM in Monroe High School located at 1300 Boyton Avenue. RSVP to soth@bronxbp.nyc.gov or call 718-590-6116.

On Saturday February 23rd the 19th Annual “Bronx Parks Speak Out” will be held at the Lehman College Faculty Dinning room from 11 a.m.– 5 p.m. On the agenda is a mayoral candidates forum: “The Future of Bronx Parks”, and it is expected that most if not all candidates for mayor will attend.

The Bronx Chamber of Commerce will be holding their Annual African American Heritage Celebration on Wednesday February 20th at the F&J Pines located at 1913 Bronxdale Avenue from 11:30 a.m.– 2 p.m. Seating is limited at this event for members and non members, and you must RSVP to Gabrielle@BronxChamber.org or call 718-828-3908. To view the program go to my blog at www.100percentbronx.blogspot.com and scroll down the archive section on the lower left side to BX. Chamber of Commerce Annual African American Her...

The Bronx Chamber of Commerce has also rescheduled its 10th Annual Awards and Scholarship to Thursday Feb 28th at Marina Del Rey. This event was canceled due to Hurricane Sandy, and will benefit the Empire State Sandy Relief Fund. E-mail Gabrielle@BronxChamber.org or call 718-828-3908 for more information or to RSVP. You can also find more information on the Bronx Chamber of Commerce website at www.bronxchamber.org .

Don't forget to check my blog at www.100percentbronx.blogspot.com for daily information that may come in after our deadline, more details on events listed here, and some of the photos of the events. On my blog the past week were updates on the impending blizzard from the City of New York, the full announcement by the USPS to eliminate Saturday mail delivery, Comptroller Liu rejecting the $91 million Muller Army Reserve Center contract along with comments from Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., and many other announcements and items of interest to all Bronxites You can scroll down the archive section on the lower left side to find the listing of the many different items that are on the blog.

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.


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Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Maritime Drops To Mount St. Mary

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Maritime Drops To Mount St. Mary: --> BRONX, NEW YORK, February 13- The Maritime men’s basketball team lost to visiting Mount St. Mary College Tuesday night at the Riesenb...
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Maritime Drops To Mount St. Mary

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BRONX, NEW YORK, February 13- The Maritime men’s basketball team lost to visiting Mount St. Mary College Tuesday night at the Riesenberg Hall Gymnasium by the score of 69-60. The Privateers fall to 4-17 (3-13 Skyline) on the season, while the Knights improve to 17-7 (13-4 Skyline).
"We worked very hard tonight and committed to our game plan,” said head coach Jake Scott. “Unfortunately, they hit some big shots in the second half. I am very proud of our players."
Senior Ron Bethea (Harlem, N.Y./Humanities Prep.) led all players with 26 points. Sophomore-transfer Sean Corley (Harlem, N.Y./Thurgood Marshall) recorded a double-double with 14 points and a team-high 14 rebounds, while also adding five assists and sophomore T-Vaughn Gibson (Freeport, Bahamas/Sunland Baptist) contributed eight points on the night.
The Privateers fell behind by as many as five points within the first eight minutes of the game, but took their first lead of the night, 15-12, at 10:24 on a three-pointer by Bethea. They held the lead for the remainder of the first half, going into the locker room at halftime up by one point, 29-28.
Mount St. Mary came out very strong to start the second half, spinning off a 21-3 run over the opening eight minutes to take a commanding 51-34 lead. Maritime fought back to within seven, 60-53, after a 19-9 run, but that was the closest the squad would come the rest of the night, as some clutch free-throw shooting down the line for the Knights kept the game out of reach.
Senior Ryan Straub and junior Joe Henain both had 17 points to lead Mount St. Mary and the 6-8 Henain recorded a game-high 19 rebounds. Junior Donte Howell rounded out the game’s double-digit scorers with 11 points.
The Privateers are back in action on Thursday night, Feb. 14, when they will play host to Purchase College. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Riesenberg Hall Gymnasium.





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Monday, February 11, 2013

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Winter Wonderland

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Winter Wonderland: --> (Photos by Dan Gesslein) Bronxites in Pelham Bay enjoyed the snow after Old Man Winter dumped the white stuff all over the borough. I...
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