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Thursday, December 24, 2009

Cabrera Sets Up Shop on Burnside; Says Living Wage is Priority


Fernando Cabrera on Primary Day, when he defeated incumbent Maria Baez 
(show in ad at rear). File photo by Adi Talwar

Councilman-elect Fernando Cabrera (14th District) has signed a lease for a district office at 107 E. Burnside Avenue, his incoming chief of staff Greg Faulkner just called to tell us.

The office is open effective immediately, though try not to expect a lot, since a) Cabrera isn't actually the Council member for the district until Jan. 1, and, well, the desks haven't even arrived yet.

The office is a walk-up but there will be elevator access at the rear entrance of the building on Morris Avenue.

Faulkner hopes to be able to use outgoing Council Member Maria Baez's office phone number so that constituents will not have to track down a new number.

Cabrera's priority for his first year in office will be passing living wage legislation, an issue that has come on the citywide radar screen thanks to the battle over living wages at the Kingsbridge Armory,

The living wage issue "was a stumbling block," Faulkner said. Once a law is passed requiring retailers to pay a living wage at projects receiving public subsidies, "then we can look at a full range of options."

Cabrera will have a swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 6 at 7 p.m. in Gould Auditorium at Bronx Community College. The public is invited.

5 comments:

  1. Americans should be happy to work like dogs for table scraps. Just kidding. If Related Properties really wanted their precious little development, they would have agreed to the living wage provision. Better to wait for a less greedy developer to come along.

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  2. To give all a thought.

    losing the development for the armory was not a loss for the community---now--maybe we can see the completion of what is happening there RIGHT NOW!!!!

    A Kingsbridge International Garden-ciuresy of deceased bronxite Phyllis Reid.

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  3. This Monday night at 9pm Councilman-elect Cabrera will be the guest on BronxTalk. People can call in and ask him about the living wage and anything else they want. Cablevision channel 67 and Verizon Fios 33

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  4. It's unfortunate that we have lossed the opportunity to create jobs in these difficult times. The argument for living wage jobs is flawed in the manner in which BP Diaz Jr. and the Bronx Delegation tried to get it.

    The living wage issue is an issue that must be taken care of legislatively. It is absolutely ridiculous that they would try to use "a development" to push the agenda for the issue. All of the elected officials who opposed this have been in office for more than 4 years and none have been successful in introducing or getting enacted living wage legislation, therefore it cannot be that serious to them if they never tried to deal with it legislatively in their respective bodies.

    Cabrera is proposing to introduce the bill as a symbolic gesture, because anyone who knows how the legislative process works knows that they cannot pass that type of bill, especially not right now. If it were that easy it would have been done already.

    GAX maybe one of your questions should be to the Councilman: How does he plan to introduce and get living wage legislation passed in the City Council, more importantly does he know the role the State Legislature must play in a bill of this sort.

    Before you all get excited about living wage, do research on the process to get it passed. After this occurs then please respond and let the public know if it was a good decision to block the project.

    In even more simplistic terms, if your were starving and someone offered you a loaf of bread, but you had a taste for lasanga would you say "no" because they didnt have exactly what you had a taste for. No food is better than some food is the BP's, City Council, and Councilman-elect's argument.

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  5. i will definitely ask him that question. even better... why not call up and ask it yourself?

    second, you might not need legislation to get living wages at the armory if the nature of the project is changed to what the BP is reportedly pushing for. you need legislation if you have outsiders swooping in to suck the blood out of the community as related was preparing to do.

    your analogy is perfect ... if you keep giving this man just a loaf of bread then he will always be a poor, starving beggar. but if you give him something better, he might be able to nourish himself so that he has the strength to change his life and improve his lot. and it's interesting to note that the starving people you say would jump at the loaf of bread are laregly behind their borough president in this.

    critics are acting like related's mall is the only possible idea and the only way to get the armory built. this was a proposal that was manipulated by the bloomberg administration so that their buddies at related could benefit. and there were so many problems with it, from it's concept as a mall to its particulars like traffic and parking. and to rubber stamp it feeds right into the mayor's insidious way of doing business that implies that it's the only way to get things done.

    well, for the first time of his mayoralty, bloomberg has been out- maneuvered and has been rebuffed. and the size of the opposing vote is indication that this is not a concept isolated to the bronx, but that all over the city communities are sick of bloomie's top-down, keep-'em-poor policies.

    so let's watch what happens...

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