Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Stringer Weighs in on Council Race

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Stringer Weighs in on Council Race: Riverdale Report By Robert Press BRONX, NEW YORK, February 18- Last Friday Manhattan Borough President (and leading candidate for ...

Stringer Weighs in on Council Race

Riverdale Report

By Robert Press

BRONX, NEW YORK, February 18- Last Friday Manhattan Borough President (and leading candidate for City Comptroller) Scott Stringer came up to the Riverdale Y to endorse Mr. Andrew Cohen for the 11^th council seat currently held by term limited Councilman G. Oliver Koppell. Manhattan BP Stringer is no stranger to the 11^th council district as his parents have lived there for many many years. Stringer however, unlike Councilman Jimmy Vacca (on the term limit vote), said that “This was a non mom decision”. Candidate Cohen thanked Manhattan BP Stringer for his endorsement, and the pair went inside to say hello to some of those inside. You can go to my blog at www.100percentbronx.blogspot.com to see photos of the endorsement, and a few of the people Cohen and Stringer met.

Was last Tuesday's Community Board #8's full board meeting a preview of next year's board. Cb 8 Chairman Bob Fanuzzi was absent, and Vice-Chair Maria Kurry ran the meeting. The meeting opened with a public hearing on the Fiscal Year 2014 Preliminary Budget Capital & Expense requests of the board, and the comments by the city agencies to those requests. Comments by city agencies ranged from the agency will try within existing resources, agency supports request but funding is needed, agency funds insufficient refer to elected officials, can not be funded in FY 2014 resubmit for FY 2015, further study is needed by the agency, and private funding is needed. Some of these community board requests are presented year after year, and receive the same answers almost like the movie Groundhog Day. Some board members wonder when the movie will end.

After a brief gallery session, the presentation of the New York Yankee Youth Leadership Awards where five deserving students from the board area received scholarship awards from Mr. Rosco Brown of the New York Yankee organization took place. When the local elected officials were finished speaking, the board went into committee reports complete with committee resolutions for the full board to vote on.

The first committee to present resolutions to the board was the Economic Development Committee. Three separate Street Activity Permits that failed to pass in committee due to a lack of quorum were brought to the floor. Before any discussion on the resolutions this CB8 and Economic Development Committee member pointed out that there was a mistake on the recorded vote in committee (which was corrected), and I asked that the three Street Activity Permits be brought up separately. Vice-Chair Kurry ruled that the three separate permits be heard as one resolution, and then started discussion on the resolution. 

After most board members were allowed to speak on the resolution the question of “Why if we are going to close major streets was this not heard in the Traffic & Transportation Committee came up. After allowing some board members to speak a second time this board member asked and never got to speak once on the resolution as Vice-Chair Kurry closed the discussion and called for a vote. When the vote was taken there was confusion, and the official vote was never announced to the public.

The meeting continued with more confusion on other committee resolutions with the exception of the two resolutions from the Traffic & Transportation Committee. There was no confusion at the T&T committee level, and no confusion at the full board meeting. I certainly hope that last Tuesday's full Community Board 8 meeting is not a preview of future meetings, as current Cb 8 Chair Bob Fanuzzi had better not turn his back on his current Vice-Chair who seemed very comfortable sitting in the seat of the chair.

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): Former Mayor Dinkins Honored Here

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Former Mayor Dinkins Honored Here: By Michael Horowitz BRONX, NEW YORK, February 20- David Dinkins, the city's only black mayor, was center stage at the borough's Black Hi...

Former Mayor Dinkins Honored Here

By Michael Horowitz

BRONX, NEW YORK, February 20- David Dinkins, the city's only black mayor, was center stage at the borough's Black History Month celebration, which Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., held in Co-op City's Dreiser Loop Community Center auditorium.

Dinkins, the guest of honor at the celebration that an estimated 200 Bronxites attended, stressed that the African-American trailblazers who came before him, most notably the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton, set the stage for his election as the city's first and only black mayor in 1989.

The former mayor stressed that he would not have been elected as the city's mayor if it had not been for the increased voter registration of blacks that was spurred by Rev. Jackson's presidential candidacy and the ground work that former Borough President Sutton laid during his tenure in office.

Fittingly, Lori Stokes, the anchor for ABC-TV Eyewitness News, the daughter of former Rep. Louis Stokes, and the niece of former mayor Carl Stokes from Cleveland, served as mistress of ceremony for the Feb. 13 celebration of black contributions to the nation's vitality.

Stokes, in her introduction for the borough's black-history program, noted that she, like many other African Americans, has “lived black history,” witnessing the notable progress that people of color have made in the U. S. since the 1960s.

“Black history is American history,” Stokes declared. “That is the measure of the progress that African Americans have made, when we can talk openly about the contributions that black Americans have made to the fabric of our country.”

Borough President Diaz, for his part, pointed to the African heritage that he and many other Latinos share in terms of history, as well as physical appearance.

Ticking off the contributions of black to American life, Diaz pointed out that blacks invented the clock, the incandescent electric light bulb, the potato chip, and a new method for cataract-eye surgery.

“We have so much we need to celebrate during Black History Month,” Diaz stressed. “Black History Month is a teachable moment. It is a time to celebrate the progress that we, as individuals, have made, and it is a time to celebrate the progress that the Bronx has made in recent decades.”

Praising Dinkins, Diaz said that the former mayor's “Safe Streets, Safe City” initiative set the stage for the decline in crime that New York City has seen in recent decades.

Dinkins, for his part, stressed, “So much had to change for me to be elected mayor of New York City. I never expected to hold an office higher than borough president. In fact, it took me three tries before I was elected as Manhattan's borough president. I got elected as mayor of the city in 1989 because of all that went on before that election.”

Those honored in the celebration of Black History Month included, in addition to Dinkins, Francine Reva Jones, an African-American activist who serves as a member of Co-op City's board of directors, and Donald Arthur, a heart-transplant recipient in 1996 who lives in the Co-op City community.

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Another One Bites the Dust?

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Another One Bites the Dust?: --> COMMUNITY BOARD NEWS N’ VIEWS By Father Richard F. Gorman Chairman Community Board #12 (The Bronx) BRONX, NEW YORK, February 14 - A...

Another One Bites the Dust?

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COMMUNITY BOARD

NEWS N’ VIEWS

By Father Richard F. Gorman

Chairman

Community Board #12 (The Bronx)

BRONX, NEW YORK, February 14- Amidst all of the bad news as of late concerning the passing of the great, three-term, one hundred fifth Mayor of the City of New York, Edward Irving Koch; the wrath of an epic snowstorm and the dire conditions that remained in its wake; and this morning’s news from the Vatican that Pope Benedict XVI has decided to become the first Pope to resign from office in nearly six (6) centuries, it is somewhat understandable that perhaps a bit of very important good news would appear to have gone unnoticed and by the boards.  Overlooked and disregarded as it might have been, though, this information was as profound in its effect as its announcement was greeted with enthusiasm.  In a decisive action that rapped the knuckles of the Bloomberg Administration and encouraged the residents of Community Board #12 (The Bronx), the Comptroller of the City of New York, The Honorable John C. Liu, announced on Thursday morning, 7 February 2013 that his office was rejecting a contract in the amount of some ninety-one million dollars ($91,000,000.00) to operate a homeless shelter for two (200) hundred men in the now shuttered SARGEANT JOSEPH E. MULLER UNITED STATES ARMY RESERVE CENTER (M.U.S.A.R.C.) located at 555 East 238TH Street/Nereid Avenue in Bronx Community District #12.  The homeless facility was slated to be operated by THE DOE FUND, INCORPORATED, a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization headquartered in Manhattan, whose Founder and President, Mr. George A. McDonald, is a candidate in the upcoming Republican Primary for Mayor.

In refusing to certify the contract between the New York City Department of Homeless Services (N.Y.C.D.H.S.) and Mr. McDonald’s outfit, Comptroller Liu cited as his rationale for so acting the failure of the City of New York to adhere to the process delineated in Federal Law governing the transfer of closing United States military bases to local jurisdictions for projects designed to assist homeless persons.  In other words, the Comptroller was upholding and agreeing with the longstanding assertion of The Honorable Ruben Diaz, Jr., Borough President of The Bronx, that no properly and legitimately convoked meeting of the Local Redevelopment Authority (L.R.A.), the body constituted and empowered by Federal legislation to determine the future use of decommissioned bases, ever took place.  Borough President Diaz, along with Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Linda I. Gibbs and Mr. Tokumbo Shobowale, the Chief of Staff to Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert K. Steel, comprised the L.R.A., whose meetings required a quorum of all three (3) aforesaid members in order to meet and to take action.  The Bloomberg Administration’s two (2) L.R.A. appointees maintained that a duly-constituted meeting did take place at which it was voted to turn the Muller Center over to THE DOE FUND.  Borough President Diaz vehemently denied this, having specifically stated that any gathering with Deputy Mayor Gibbs and Mr. Shobowale was informal in nature only and solely for the purpose of airing differences on the disposition of the M.U.S.A.R.C. Indeed, no agenda was formulated for this gathering and no minutes were either recorded or printed.  Moreover, it was months after the three (3) public officials unofficially met off the record that the Bloomberg folks curiously and abruptly came up with the claim that a bona fide meeting and decision had taken place.  Comptroller Liu’s investigation of this matter failed to produce any solid evidence to support the City’s contention.

Community Board #12 (The Bronx) and its Wakefield neighborhood specifically have been threatened in the past year with a homeless colony consisting of four (4) facilities in close proximity to each other.  If all four (4) facilities were to be opened, Wakefield would be burdened with several hundred homeless individuals, many of whom are afflicted with alcohol and chemical dependencies and/or mental health issues.  Fortunately, a few months ago, after negotiation with Community Board #12, Department of Homeless Services Commissioner Seth Diamond announced that he would not open a shelter on White Plains Road at East 240TH Street in an apartment complex constructed and owned by developer Mark Stagg and his STAGG GROUP.  Comptroller Liu’s action, taken at the behest and in support of the Borough President of The Bronx, holds open the prospect, even if at least temporarily, that only two (2) facilities housing the homeless will be opened in Wakefield.  The Comptroller’s refusal to certify the contract with THE DOE FUND can, and will most probably, be brought by Mayor Bloomberg and his Corporation Counsel to court, where Mr. Liu’s can either be upheld in his determination or ordered by the Judiciary to certify the contract.  Let us hope that the Judge who hears the case is as forthright as our Borough President in standing for the truth and as courageous as Comptroller Liu in standing up to the Bloomberg Administration for its perfidious and fraudulent manner of undertaking what is supposed to be the PEOPLE’S business.

Our accolades and appreciation go wholeheartedly to Messrs. Diaz and Liu for coming together as an effective and valiant tag-team for the hard-working, honest taxpayers of Community Board #12 (The Bronx).  If legal action is to be initiated at this juncture, perhaps it should be to uncover whether or not any Federal statutes were violated by the knowingly bogus and patently counterfeit claims made by officials of the Bloomberg Administration in order to secure possession of the Muller Center for the City of New York in breach of a process required by Federal law.  Such would be a much more pertinent and apropos recourse to the courts on this topic.  Perhaps prior to leaving office at the conclusion of this year, Mayor Bloomberg and friends need to learn that not telling the truth is not only disreputable and dishonest, but also unlawful and illegal.

Until next time, that is it for this time!

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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...