Bronx News Roundup, Mar. 2

Here we go. Bloomberg has set the date for the special election to fill Adolfo Carrion's seat as Bronx Borough President: April 21.

Those running for the seat so far include Assemblyman Ruben Diaz, Jr and Council Majority Leader Joel Rivera; Liz Benjamin adds Councilman Larry Seabrook, and former State Sen. Israel Ruiz has declared himself a possible contender.

Meanwhile, Carrion starts his new job today as first-ever director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs. The Times and the Daily News both published critical looks at his time in office; m0re on that below.

The Green Party has announced that it plans to run a City Concil candidate, Bronx Community Board 9 member Walter Nestler, against Annabel Palma in the 18th District
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Some inside baseball from Liz Benjamin on how Carl Heastie's election to head the Bronx Democratic Party is playing out in city politics.

Last Friday the NYPD arrested a suspect in the 1988 rape and murder of a Bronx woman and her daughter, as a result of work by the Department's Cold Case Squad.

A livery cab smashed into a minivan on Bruckner Blvd. Saturday night, killing the cabdriver and seriously injuring the family in the van, including a 6-year-old girl. And on Sunday a 56-year-old man was struck and killed by a tow truck in Riverdale.

Part of Leggett Ave. in Hunts Point has been named in honor of Bronx boilermaker Arlington Leon Eastmond.

And the Times had a weekend profile of a Bronx man who has spent 22 years piloting an elevator in a 5th Avenue Co-op.