Bronx News Roundup, June 14

Morning, Bronxites! Your weather forecast for today calls for some cooler weather, with temperatures hanging around the low 60s, and a chance of rain this afternoon.

Story of the Day: Getting Down to the Wire in Albany
It's the last week of business for our state legislators before this year's session ends on Monday and they adjourn until January--meaning just five more (business) days to tackle a number of high profile issues and turn some bills into law. As we wrote yesterday, a slew of Bronx representatives are pushing to pass stronger state rent laws before the week ends, including Assemblyman Jose Rivera, who was arrested during a lively protest outside Gov. Cuomo's office.

While the rent issue still lingers, the Senate and Assembly quickly passed an ethics reform bill yesterday. The Public Integrity Reform Act of 2011 will supposedly keep a closer eye on lawmakers and lobbyists for signs of corruption and conflicts of interest, establishing an independent ethics commission to keep watch over things, and requiring lawmakers to fully disclose sources of income.

Other items still on the legislative agenda this week: a property tax cap and same-sex marriage. Bronx Sen. Ruben Diaz, Sr., is now the lone Democrat opposing gay marriage. Three other Dems who'd previously been against it, and one Republican, announced yesterday that they now intend to vote yes.

Quick Hits:
Jerome Raguso, owner of Gino's Pastry Shop in Belmont, is taking a delicious stand: he sent City Council members a batch of empty cannoli shells, sans the cream filling, to protest budget cuts to arts and civic groups. The missing cream symbolizes "just how much the city's small businesses need its leading attractions," the Daily News writes.

A 17-year-old boy has been arrested for the weekend shooting of 15-year-old DeWitt Clinton student Yvette Torres.

Residents at a number of NYCHA housing complexes in the South Bronx and Manhattan are demanding that the authority make needed repairs on their apartments.

Giant rats are taking over a neighborhood in Pelham Bay.

The Bronx Re-entry Working Group is trying to help the formerly incarcerated turn their lives around.

A ring of 16 Bronx residents were arraigned yesterday for allegedly scamming car insurance companies out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

Grim LeRogue, the man arrested in October for storming the field at Yankee Stadium and writing threatening notes to player Alex Rodriguez (similar to a bizarre letter sent to one of our publications, the Norwood News), was sentenced to community service yesterday.

A potential strike of union workers at retail department chain Macy's could mean a shutdown for the store's Parkchester branch, and three other city locations.

More drama in the Bronx NYPD ticket-fixing scandal.

Police are looking for a man suspected of robbing and sexually assaulting a South Bronx woman; photo at the link.

Espada Misses Vote on Important Housing Bill

Espada at a rally for his "rent freeze" bill in February (file photo)

Sen. Pedro Espada's absence at a special Senate session in Albany yesterday was a conspicuous one, as the controversial Majority Leader failed to make the trek to the capitol, while his primary election rival Gustavo Rivera--now Senator-elect--did.

Also making the journey to Albany? A group of city housing advocates intent on supporting an important housing bill to extend current rent stabilization laws until 2018--a lobbying effort that ultimately failed, as the bill was just a few votes short of the 32 needed to pass.

Espada missed the vote on the bill despite the fact that he is the chairman of the Senate's housing committee and happens to be the legislation's main sponsor.

"No one believed any of the stories [for why he didn't show up]," said Michael McKee, director of the Tenants PAC and the Real Rent Reform Campaign, who attended yesterday's session.

With Redistricting on the Line, State Senate Results Still Too Close to Call

As the New York Times reported earlier, it’s looking like yesterday’s election results could end in a 31-31 split of Democrats and Republicans in the State Senate, or with the Republicans taking a victory and Democrats losing the slight majority they won in 2008.

Three races--one on Long Island, one in Westchester and another in Buffalo--are still too close to call, and will probably await the counting of absentee ballots.

The stakes are especially high this election, as 2010 Census figures are being calculated and the state legislature will take on redistricting over the next year or two.

Redistricting, or the redrawing of legislative district maps, lies in the hands of the legislature in Albany. Whatever party happens to be in power can lay the groundwork for a victory in the next several elections by ensuring districts work to their party’s favor.

“It’s huge,” said Christina Greer, a professor of politics at Fordham University. “It only happens every 10 years. The party in power really does get to, literally, draw the lines for districts that are the most  advantageous to them.”

State Passes Budget Extender; Bronx's Diaz Sr. Only Dem to Vote Against It

Bronx State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr. was the only Democrat to vote against a budget extender resolution that would allow the government to continue paying employees for at least another week while lawmakers work to pass a budget that is now two and a half months overdue.

Still, the resolution passed because three Republicans voted for it. Diaz's fellow amigo in the Senate (and oddly, former bitter enemy), Pedro Espada, Jr., voted for the measure despite earlier threatening to vote against any further budget extenders.

Diaz and Espada have both said the extenders include cuts that they don't agree with.

Diaz said he understands that his fellow Democrats are angry, but he also says he has a solution to plugging the budget gap with two bills he has introduced that would seek Canadian prescription drug purchases and stricter assessments of credit card taxes.(Not sure exactly how those would make up the difference, but obviously, his colleagues aren't jumping all over them.)

Still, Diaz is sticking to his guns. “The black Puerto Rican with the funny accent and the kinky hair is showing you how simple it is,” Diaz told the Albany Times-Union.

Bronx News Roundup, June 12

Lots of stuff to get to today. Let's get into it.

Want to start out with the Albany standstill, otherwise known in the Bronx as Pedro Espada-gate.

The Republicans, along with Espada and fellow rogue Democrat Hiram Monserrate (Queens), managed to get into the Senate chamber yesterday, but couldn't conduct any business because Monserrate bailed from the chamber, saying he was working to bring more Democrats into the new "coalition" government. Espada stayed.

The Times reports that Espada, who has apparently risen to Senate President in the new leadership structure, would be acting governor if Governor Paterson were incapacitated or were to leave the state, which would have some interesting implications. The Times writes: "it appears the State Constitution gives Mr. Espada the authority to issue pardons -- potentially to himself -- thought there is some doubt about the legal fine points."

It's funny the Times would mention this, since Espada has yet to be convicted of anything, though there are legal investigations surrounding his South Bronx health care clinics and claims of residence in the Bronx.

Yesterday, speaking in the Senate chamber, Espada talked about how his "home" -- in Mamaroneck (Westchester County), not the Bronx -- had been burglarized and saying that it may have had something to do with his recent decision to support Senate Republicans. In the fall, a court ruled that his Bedford Park condo could legally be considered his primary residence, but residents of his building say they've rarely, if ever, seen him there. CBS news reported that Espada's Westchester neighbors say he lives there at least five nights a week.

The Daily News' Juan Gonzalez says Espada's claims of Latino empowerment "the most cynical part of this sordid affair." Gonzalez points out that a key piece of rent regulation legislation -- repealing rent decontrol, which would put 200,000 apartments back under rent stabilization rules and help thousands of Latino tenants -- was on the verge of becoming a reality. Now, it appears to be a long shot.

(This is interesting because on Tuesday, Josephe Starburg, head of the biggest landlord advocate/lobbying group, ironically called the Rent Stabilization Association, praised Espada's move, saying "the crazies" -- by which he means tenant advocates -- were beating him up.

In other politically-related scandal news, City Council member Maria del Carmen Arroyo's nephew, Izquierdo Arroyo, resigned from his post as chairman of a South Bronx charter school after he and an associate were recently charged with emblezzling money from a nonprofit building management company.

In Bronx Supreme Court, a former police officer was sentenced to prison for one to three years for killing a drunk driver in Longwood in 2007.

Bronx News Roundup, May 20

Police are looking for a man they say sexually assaulted two teenager girls in the past 10 days in the same building near the corner of Kingsbridge Road and the Grand Concourse.

According to the NY Post, cops say the man, described as balding, in his mid-30s, 5-9, 180 pounds, attacked an 18-year-old on May 10, but she managed to escape before being raped. But on Monday, cops say the suspect grabbed a 17-year-old girl, dragged her into the same nearby abandoned building as the first victim and raped her.

Police say rapes usually happen domestically, but these are random grab and drag assaults. The first assault happened in the middle of the day. The other late at night.

Here's video and a sketch of the subject on NY1.

On Monday, we wrote that the Armory's developer, Related Companies, is well-connected with the city. Yesterday, Eliot Brown on PolitickerNY.com wrote about how Related managed to not only get the Armory project certified by City Planning, but also its even more gigantic project over the West Side Railyards in Manhattan.

That means both projects will be in the hands of the current roster of Council members and a friendly mayor. Brown writes: "In the wake of November’s elections, the Council’s membership will change somewhat, starting Jan. 1—and perhaps the mayor will, too—adding uncertainty for developers in what can be a highly political process."

Stay tuned.

Scary Albany news that could impact Bronxites and everyone else from the Times: A report by state comptroller says revenue was down 44% from last year, meaning more budget cuts might be needed by the end of the year.

Speaking of cuts, the DOE says schools will have to cut 5% of their budgets for the next school year. The likely casualties: vital after-school and weekend programs.