De Blasio Announces Support of Living Wage Legislation

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio has come out in support of the Living Wage legislation, sending a letter yesterday to Christine Quinn, the Council speaker. Quinn has not yet signaled whether she's going to allow a vote on the bill.

Bronx News Roundup, August 30

Police are still looking for the driver of a green Nissan Pathfinder who allegedly hit a 5-year-old kid in Williamsbridge, dragged him 50 feet, paused briefly, and then drove off. The 5-year-old, Joshua Sanders, remains in critical condition at Jacobi Hospital.

An ex-con was arrested and charged with raping a 79-year-old Bronx woman in July.

On Friday, a paid FBI informant testified in the case of four men accused of plotting to bomb two Riverdale synagogues. The informant, who the defense said coerced the four defendants into the bombing plot, said one of the defendants told him he wanted to be a martyr.  

Policed detectives say a convicted murderer may have killed other victims in the early 1980s by luring them with promises of cheap designer jeans. 

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio is launching a new website dedicated to scrutinizing the city's worst landlords.

We linked to this in a Friday post, but this Times story delves into the complicated relationship between Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. and his father State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. Junior is set to endorse Gustavo Rivera in the 33rd Senate District race at 11 a.m., while Senior has already endorsed the incumbent, Pedro Espada Jr. (The pair, Senior and Espada, have become allies after years of animosity -- Diaz took over the  south Bronx senate seat Espada used to occupy).

A new oral test for HIV, which can provide results in just 20 minutes, is being pushed in the Bronx, which is home to one-third of the city's HIV/AIDs cases.

Nelson Castro said the Bronx Democratic County Committee is crossing the ethical line in trying to have him thrown off the ballot for residency issues. But Bronx Democratic boss Carl Heastie said the investigation into Castro's residence was prompted when two pieces of mail sent to his address were returned and added that when a Board of Elections legal team went to the apartment, the name on the buzzer was not Castro's.

Praise and Prayers for Cabrera on Inauguration Day

Fernando Cabrera's ceremonial inauguration last night at Bronx Community College played out like a star-studded spiritual revival as a small army of city politicians lined up to offer congratulations and predict a bright future for the Bronx's newest City Council member.

Although the night was ostensibly about Cabrera, who unseated two-term incumbent Maria Baez last fall, it was also bigger than him.

Speakers, from U.S. Senator Charles Schumer to new Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio to Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., hailed Cabrera's induction into the City Council as another big step in the positive reshaping of the Bronx political landscape.

"Something wonderful is happening in the Bronx," said DeBlasio, going on to praise the "new and dynamic leadership" in the borough.

DeBlasio and others said new B.P. Diaz and new Bronx Democratic Party leader Assemblyman Carl Heastie had made great strides in uniting the borough's historically-fractured gaggle of elected officials.

This manifested itself at the end of 2009 with the Council's nearly unanimous rejection of a Bloomberg-backed plan to turn the Kingsbridge Armory (which sits in the middle of Cabrera's 14th District) into a shopping mall. That wouldn't have happened if it weren't for the Bronx Council delegation's cohesion during the failed negotiations of a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) with the Armory's designated developer, The Related Companies.

During his rousing speech, Diaz, who opposed the Armory plan without a CBA that would include guarantees of good-paying jobs, heaped praise on Cabrera for showing "leadership and courage" in stepping up during the negotiating process in December, though he had yet to take office. That was partly due to Baez's inexplicable absence (she's reportedly ill, but never made an official announcement about what's happened to her), but it was also because Cabrera offered his services and proved to be an asset during the process.

"It was there that he showed that over the next four years, we're going to have a productive time," Diaz said.