Bronx News Roundup, July 19

Weather: keep the sunblock handy and the AC cranked on--another hot and sunny one today, with temperatures in the low-90s. The heat will continue through the rest of the week, hitting a peak on Friday.

Story of the Day: Former Council Speaker Turns Bronx Builder
Today's Wall Street Journal takes a closer look at Gifford Miller, a former City Council speaker and one-time mayoral hopeful who, according to the story, "has no interest in ever returning to politics." His new career path--real estate--has brought him to the Bronx, where his firm is attempting to rezone a swath of land  in West Farms/Crotona Park to build a massive affordable housing complex.

We wrote about the $400 million project, which will consist of 10 high-rise buildings around the Cross Bronx and Sheridan Expressways, in the June issue of the Tremont Tribune, and some readers seemed wary of the plan. Read more here. 

Quick Hits:
The family of a 13-year-old Bronx girl say they will sue the Department of Education, claiming the girl was repeatedly raped by a computer repairman employed at her Harlem school.

Bronx News Roundup, Jan 13.

After distributing 795,883 report cards in 2008, the New York City Transit has evaluated eight subway lines, including four lines that make stops in the Bronx: the 2, 4, 5 and B (during rush hour). Most subway lines received average grades, while the 4 train received the lowest grade, a D-, for overcrowding during rush hour.

The New York Assembly committee that is currently investigating the use of millions of dollars of public funding to build the new Yankees stadium has issued subpoenas to Randy Levin, the team’s president, and Seth Pinksy, an official at the city economic development office. Levin and Pinsky are expected to testify tomorrow before the committee.

Another Bronxite comes out in favor of Caroline Kennedy.

The NYPD has released statistics reporting a drop in almost all major crime categories in the Bronx in 2008. But shooting incidents were up across the borough, with 405 total, an 8.5% increase from 2007.

Yesterday we noted the protests against the partial closing of a firehouse on City Island, housing Ladder Company 53. As a sidenote, the Daily News reports that one of the firefighters in the company is charged with 'falsely reporting fires' for orchestrating a series of fake calls to the firehouse after learning of the planned cuts.

Bob Kapstatter reminds us that the Obama Administration had better hurry up and decide whether they want Borough President Adolfo Carrion in the White House: this Thursday is the deadline to declare to the city Campaign Finance Board whether he will be running for City Controller or a third term as BP.

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's yearly "Community Health Profile" reports that the South Bronx has among the highest asthma rates in the city and the area around Morrisania has a diabetes rate twice the city average, at 16%.

News from Hunts Point and Longwood

The latest issue of The Hunts Point Express just hit the streets, with articles on Gov. Paterson's vow to battle the asthma epidemic; the area's own cutting edge theater, the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance; the sour economy's impact on small stores; the Public Advocate's call to close the Spofford juvenile detention center, and much more.

News Roundup for July 31

Apparently the United Nations is just as problematic a construction project as the Croton Water Filtration Plant. After some false starts, the Swedish construction firm Skanska AB, one of the contractors involved in the filtration plant, was selected by the UN to manage the renovation of its headquarters in Manhattan. Reuters has the details of the $7 million initial contract that could yield $1 billion for Skanska over time.

Gotham Gazette has a feature by a high school student from New Youth Connections , about efforts to expand mental health services and counseling in the public schools.

The New York Post looks at Joel Klein's five years as schools chancellor and his accomplishments so far. None of his predecessors has lasted that long since the post was created in 1970.

A Daily News story reports on another uninhabitable city-subsidized apartment. Tenant Steven Berry was forced to move his asthmatic kids out of the Valentine Ave. apartment because the power was cut off and he can't plug in the kids' nebulizers. Councilman Joel Rivera is calling for the Department of Homeless Services to withhold rent in situations like this.

And Bob Kapstatter reports in his Bronx Boro News (supplement to the Daily News) column (not on-line yet) that Bronx District Attorney is running unopposed again, at this point, and that Adolfo Carrion has been fined $6,875 by the Campaign Finance Board for campaign finance violations.