Bronx Events: Kids Movie Night at Bronx River Park

It's finally not raining out! In honor of that, head over to Bronx River Park tonight (one of the borough's loveliest parks, in my opinion--it has its own waterfall!) and catch an outdoor screening of the movie "How to Train Your Dragon," starting at 8 p.m.

The film is being shown as part of the Bronx River Arts Center's Movie Nights in West Farms series, sponsored by Councilman Joel Rivera. Bring your own blankets and chairs. Questions? Call 718 430 4665 or go to www.bronxriver.org

Lots of other cool stuff--health fairs, farmers markets, business information sessions--happening in the borough this week. Check out our community calendar below for more.

Editor's note: What did we miss? Send details to bronxnewsnetwork[at]gmail.com.

Three Bronx Firehouses Could Get Axed By City Budget

 Editor's Note: A version of this article first appeared in the June edition of the Tremont Tribune, out now.

Budget cuts have 20 of the city’s firehouses on the chopping block—including local Engine 46 in Bathgate, on the Cross Bronx Expressway and Third Avenue.

In addition to Engine 46, two other companies in the Bronx face a possible closure: Ladder 53 on City Island and Engine 60 in the South Bronx.

Firefighters, residents and elected officials rallied at City Hall on June 3 to protest the potential closures, laid out in Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s budget 2012, which estimates the move would save the cash-strapped city approximately $55 million.

Bronx Events: Free Dental Screenings, and Some Snow Interference

New York University's College of Dentistry is offering free dental screenings for children ages six months to 14 years this month, starting today, at P.S. 163 at 2075 Webster Avenue. The screenings will be offered on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays through the month of January and are open to the public from 3 to 4 p.m. Call Councilman Joel Rivera's office for more information: 718-842-8100.

**An events notice: the impending snowstorm that's expected tonight/tomorrow has forced a couple of community groups to cancel their plans. Community Board 6 has canceled its monthly meeting that was scheduled for tomorrow night at 6 p.m., and the Kingsbridge-Riverdale-Van Cortlandt Development Corp.'s Riverdale meeting, which had also been scheduled for tomorrow night, is being called off. We'll keep you posted on their replacement dates if we hear about them.

More events happening this week in the Boogie Down are listed below in our community calendar.

Editor's note: What did we miss? Send details to bronxnewsnetwork[at]gmail.com.

Bronx Slideshow: Fordham Road Kicks Off Holiday Lights Season

--Photos by Adi Talwar

These festive photos were taken during the Fordham Road Business Improvement's Sparkle the Heart of Fordham event last Friday night. It included appearances by Santa Claus and Council Majority Leader Joel Rivera (sporting a new aerodynamic hair cut).

Schools Chancellor Gets Waiver, Bronx Assembly Members Continue Criticism

Cathleen Black, the veteran publishing executive, is the city's new schools chancellor. 

Black was put forward for the job by Mayor Bloomberg earlier this month, but her candidacy had been in jeopardy after State Education Commissioner David Steiner queried her lack of related work experience.

Chancellors-to-be need a professional certificate in educational leadership and other qualifications. Black's had a successful career in business and publishing - she's been called the "First Lady of glamorous glossies" - but she's never been a teacher, and her resume boasts just a single day as a guest principal in the Bronx.

To get around this, Black needed Steiner to grant her a waiver, and yesterday he did just that, having been convinced that her lack of experience would be mitigated by the appointment of a chief academic officer to serve as her deputy.

Last night, Bronx Assembly members Vanessa Gibson and Marco Crespo released a joint statement slamming Steiner's decision. 

City Comes to Budget Deal; Albany Fight Still On

While lawmakers in Albany have yet to come to an agreement on a state budget for the next fiscal year—despite being nearly three months past deadline—the New York City Council and Mayor Michael Bloomberg agreed on a $63 billion city budget on June 24, and the Council voted to approve the budget today.

In a statement, Bloomberg and the Council announced that the budget was balanced, ahead of its July 1st deadline and doesn’t raise taxes. Still, belt-tightening measures will be taken at every city agency to close a recession-fueled budget gap, the Mayor said in a radio address this weekend.

Bronx Council Members & Committee Assignments

[Updated, Jan. 29, 10:10 a.m.]

City Council members were appointed to their respective committees and chairmanships last week and we thought we would give you an idea of what issues the Bronx delegation will be focusing on and in which areas they will hold some sway.

Click "Read more" at the bottom of this post for a listing of all your Bronx Council Members and their assigned committees and chairmanships.

A few quick notables:

Oliver Koppell of District 11 kept his position as chair of the Mental Health Committee, continuing a streak that dates back to 2006. Also, newly-appointed District 14 council member Fernando Cabrera has become chair of the Drug Abuse Sub-committee. (Drug Abuse is a sub-committee of the Mental Health Committee; it's one-person subcommittee formerly chaired by Annabel Palma.).  Meanwhile, Larry Seabrook (District 12) has maintained his place as chair of the Civil Rights Committee.

Each Council Member receives an additional stipend for those expenses related to the committees which they chair, and yet another if they hold office (although, in the Bronx's case, the only applicable member is Joel Rivera of District 15, who is also Majority Leader).

No Deal Yet, But Bronx Delegation Hopeful

The short-hand version is that there was no deal reached between the city and the Bronx delegation on a community benefits agreement that would include living wage job guarantees ($10 an hour, plus benefits). But things are moving in a positive direction and the delegation is hopeful that a deal will get done that will provide living wage jobs at the Kingsbridge Armory.

That's a far cry from earlier this morning, when the delegation was prepared to kill the project.

Now, the longer version.

The meetings of the Zoning and Franchises and Land Use committees has been pushed back until at least Friday, but possibly all the way until Monday -- the drop dead deadline for a Council decision on the Armory project. This is key because if the Council doesn't act on Monday, then the fate of the project will be up to the City Planning Commission, which approved of it, benefits agreement or not, six weeks ago.

"We won't let that happen," said Council speaker Joel Rivera, who has thrust himself into a citywide spotlight on this issue.

Armory Deal Falls Through, Bronx Delegation Meeting

Just spoke with Council Member Joel Rivera, who was at City Hall getting some coffee and preparing to meet with other members of the Bronx delegation.

The Zoning and Franchises Committee, which Rivera sits on, was supposed to meet this morning to vote on the Kingsbridge Armory mall project, but that clearly isn't going to happen.

Rivera said negotiations with the Armory's developer, the Related Companies (working with the strong backing of the Bloomberg administration and Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber), on a community benefits agreement that would include guarantees of living wage jobs, was no longer "moving in a positive direction."

As recently as last night, Rivera said, "We had a semblance of a deal in place, but then it fell apart." Rivera didn't go into detail on what broke the deal, but he said the ball was in Related's court and he was waiting for them to come back to the table.

If they don't, and no deal on living wage jobs is in place, he said the Council was prepared to vote the project down. But, he added, "the could change in five minutes."

Stay tuned, we'll keep you posted on the latest developments.

With Negotiations Moving, Bronx Delegation Looks to Postpone Armory Vote; Onus Now on Related

Reporting here from Kingsbridge Armory Central.

As Jordan mentioned in our previous post, negotiations for an unprecedented community benefits agreement (with a guarantee of living wage jobs, $10 an hour plus benefits) as part of the Kingsbridge Armory shopping mall project are about as fluid as the Bronx River at this point.

But this is what we know as of 6:08 p.m. on Tuesday, with a vote on the project scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.

The Bronx Council delegation met with Related representatives (the Armory's designated developer) and Deputy Mayor (for economic development) Robert Lieber on Friday. Related/Lieber laid out a proposal they were comfortable with. But the proposal didn't "mandate or guarantee living wage. Not something the delegation was interested in," said Council Majority Leader Joel Rivera in a text message over the weekend.

Yesterday, at a meeting with Related/Lieber at 12:30 p.m., the delegation responded with a deal that would effectively subsidize living wage jobs at the Armory shopping mall without forcing retail tenants to pay the full wage themselves. These were the main points outlined in the deal:

• language in leases mandating participation in providing living wage to all employees (for all retail tenants).
• The City will subsidize the living wage via a funding pot; the full purchase price of the Armory ($5 million) will be the initial funding for the pot.
• And increase of community space from 27,000 sq. feet to 45,000 sq. feet, which would help fund the living wage pot over time.
• 5% of Related's rent profits fromt eh Armory mall to be contributed to living wage funding pot.
  

Now, according to one council staffer at the meeting, Lieber said any mandate that tenants would have to pay a living wage would be a non-starter, which has been the consistent position of Related and the Bloomberg administration since the beginning.

However, the staffer said Rivera told Lieber that the delegation's proposal was not simply a mandate. It would, in essence, be a nonprofit fund created to subsidize wages at the Armory. This would eat into Related's profit, but not the bottom line of retail tenants.

This is where it gets interesting. Related lawyer and lead negotiator Jesse Masyr has made it clear that Related's stance against a living wage mandate wasn't about Related's profit margin, it was about not being able to attract tenants to fill the building.

Masyr has said all along that he couldn't put requirements and/or restrictions on tenants when they could easily set up shop somewhere else (across the street, Westchester County, etc.) in a situation where they wouldn't have to deal with those requirements. And if Related couldn't attract tenants, Mayr reasoned, they couldn't secure a loan for the $300-plus million they would need to build out the shopping mall.

The delegation's plan appears to have rendered Related's argument moot. The burden would be on the city (to give up the $5 million for the sale of the Armory) and Related (to give up additional space and a percentage of rent profits), not retail tenants.

Based on the progress made yesterday, delegation members were looking to postpone the scheduled vote on the Armory to allow for more negotiations. Perhaps until Monday, the deadline for a decision on the Armory project by the Council. Another option, that Rivera has posited recently, would be to modify the proposal and send it back to City Planning, which would push the vote back even further, to Dec. 21.

Today, Related came back with a counter-proposal, though delegation members are keeping quiet about what that contained. Delegation staffers would only say that negotiations were "ongoing."

There's no word as of yet on whether the vote's being pushed back or if a deal has been struck. As Bret Collazzi, a spokesman for Bronx Council member Jimmy Vacca, put it to me in an e-mail, "this may go to the wire."

One other note: The Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA) is treating tomorrow as if the vote will happen and is continuing to urge the Council to vote down the proposal if it doesn't contain a strong CBA that includes living wage job guarantees, among other benefits.

To fortify this effort, they've also undertaken a massive letter writing campaign (incorporating the supportive letters of clergy from throughout the city) outlining their stance on living wage.

They'll also be at City Hall tomorrow, with a press conference featuring Stuart Appelbaum of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Workers Union (RWDSU, KARA's biggest ally) scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

Santa spotted on Fordham Road

Friday, December 4th: The Fordham Road BID organized their fifth annual Sparkling the Heart of Fordham Holiday Lighting event. Special performance by the Fordham University Gospel Choir, refreshments, raffle, holiday music and a Christmas tree lighting finale made this event sparkle with good holiday cheer. Santa Claus took time out from his busy schedule to visit and had gifts for all the children present. Mr.Claus left before I could photograph him on his flying sleigh. Other prominent people present were the Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz and City Council Majority Leader Joel Rivera.

Kingsbridge Armory: Bronx Delegation Taking Push for History-Making Benefits Agreement to the Council

Photo (by Adi Talwar): Council Majority Leader Joel Rivera is helping set the stage at City Hall for an unprecedented community benefits agreement with one of the city's biggest developers.

(This story was written by Alex Kratz and Jordan Moss, with additional reporting by Molly Ryan and Katie Riordan.)

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. and the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA) have been lobbying Bronx City Council members to reject the Related Companies’ plan to redevelop the Kingsbridge Armory into a giant shopping mall unless the firm sits down to negotiate a binding community benefits agreement with elected officials and community stakeholders.

They seem to be having success.

Recently, Bronx Council members have had productive meetings with Related officials and Council Speaker Christine Quinn in an effort to get a community benefits agreement (CBA) signed before the Council votes on the project. Diaz, KARA and members of Community Board 7 sent a draft CBA proposal to Related earlier this fall, but the developer said the demands contained in the proposal, most notably a living wage requirement for all retail tenants at the completed Armory mall, were unreasonable.

Council Member Joel Rivera told the Norwood News on Wednesday that he and several other Bronx Council members are coalescing around the borough president who has taken a strong position on the project. The more united the Bronx Council members are the more likely Council members in other boroughs will follow their lead.

Rivera's position is also important because he is the Council's majority leader and sits on the both Council panels that will review the project – the Zoning and Franchises Subcommittee and the Land Use Committee.

Rivera also said that Council Member Larry Seabrook who is on Zoning and Franchises and Maria del Carmen Arroyo, who is on Land Use, are with him. And Councilmember Annabel Palma, who has been mentioned as a successor to outgoing Bronx delegation leader Maria Baez, told the Norwood News that she is firmly in Diaz's corner.

“The Kingsbridge Armory project presents a unique opportunity for the Bronx to set a new standard of responsible development for all five boroughs of New York City, and perhaps even beyond the city’s borders,” Palma said in a statement her office e-mailed to the Norwood News. “It is essential that the redevelopment plans for the Armory reflect the community's clearly expressed wish for an appropriate mix of educational, retail, entertainment, recreational and service needs.”

She added: “My support of this project is contingent upon project developers agreeing to hire, to the fullest extent possible, local residents and to guarantee them ‘living wage’ jobs, both during the construction period and with the businesses that will occupy the as-built space.”

The living wage requirement ($10 and hour, plus benefits) is a critical element that KARA and Diaz want in a CBA, but it is also the one that Related claims it can never fulfill.

Jesse Masyr, Related’s lawyer and lead negotiator, said if living wage requirements are imposed, it won’t ever get off the ground. Masyr says banks will not bankroll the project because Related won’t be able to attract tenants.

Rivera isn’t buying it. He said Related is using the position as a negotiating strategy and doesn’t believe the requirement would prevent them from attracting tenants. “They’re going to make beaucoup dollars on this,” Rivera said. He added later, “I’m not crying and sympathizing with someone that’s generated an expensive wealth from developments all over the city and around the country. At some point they’re going to have to come around to living wage.”

Both Rivera and Masyr said there was room for compromise.

Sources familiar with the situation say that Council Member Maria Baez is in favor of the project, which is in her district, regardless of whether a benefits agreement is in place. But Rivera, who is close to Baez, said he's trying to work behind the scenes to get her to join with the rest of the delegation. Baez, who hasn't appeared in public in weeks and is said to be in poor health, lost her bid for reelection to Fernando Cabrera, but she'll be in office through the end of the year.

Rivera also said that Council Speaker Christine Quinn told the delegation that she's neutral on the Armory project and shepherding it through the Council is not a priority for her, which is tantamount to allowing the delegation's wishes to carry the day.

Other Bronx Council members are not yet showing all their cards but may yet fall in line with the rest of the delegation.

Council Member James Vacca is supportive of the issues important to Diaz and KARA but fell short of saying that he'd oppose the plan without a CBA.

“The final Armory agreement must speak to meaningful jobs and community improvement,” Vacca said in an e-mail statement. “At this point, the proposal is far from what it should be and we have just begun discussions with Council Speaker Christine Quinn designed to bring our borough’s needs to the table. Community benefits and jobs are very much on my radar.”

Council Member Oliver Koppell says there needs to be a CBA but that he won't commit to a particular formulation on the wage issue.

A Council hearing on the project was set for Nov. 12 but, in what is probably good news for CBA advocates who would like a little more time to get as many Council members on board and possibly even negotiate an agreement, it has been pushed back to Nov. 17. Rivera said Council leaders have agreed to hold the vote on the project until the end of the mandated review period, which would push it into early December at the earliest.

2009 Election Results

Here's a rundown of all the citywide and local election results, according to news reports. The city's board of elections says official certified results will not be released for another two weeks.

Mayor
Michael Bloomberg 51.61%
William Thompson 46.04%

Comptroller
John Liu 75.98%
Joseph Mendola 19.30%

Public Advocate
Bill de Blasio 73.86%
Alex Zablocki 17.93%

Bronx Boro President
Ruben Diaz, Jr. 86.87%
Allison Oldak 13.13%

City Council District 11
Oliver Koppell 79.09%
Stylo Sapaskis 16.54%

City Council District 12
Larry Seabrook 89.87%
Martin Badonsky 10.13 %

City Council District 13
James Vacca 92.78%
Frank Della Valle 7.22%

City Council District 14
Fernando Cabrera 87.11%
Yessenia Duran 10.68%

City Council District 15
Joel Rivera 96.64%
Steven Stern 3.36%

City Council District 16
Helen Foster 92.41%
Tanya Carmichael 6.72%

City Council District 17
Maria del Carmen Arroyo 96.86%
Robert Goodman 3.14%

City Council District 18
Annabel Palma 87.77%
Leopold Paul 7.79%

Primary Postcard: Quiet Polls, Funky Machines?

There's no City Council race here in the 15th District to rally the troops - both challengers to incumbent Councilman Joel Rivera were knocked off the ballot in August - but folks are coming out to vote in the other races, albeit without much enthusiasm.

"I'm just used to voting," said a woman exiting the polls at PS 92 here on the corner of E 179th St. and Crotona Ave. "I think it's important." (We had some shy voters here at PS 92; nobody wanted their names used). Asked if she was excited by any particular race, she laughed.

And that's about the response we got from everyone, including poll workers, who said the turnout so far seemed "extra slow," even for a primary. As of 2:30, about 75 people had voted here.

Adding to the slow day, poll workers said the machines here were down for most of the morning; workers said one candidate (they didn't know who) was left off the ballot, and voters were turned away and told to return later, until the name was added around noon. We put in a call to the Board of Elections to find out what happened; we'll post as soon as we hear back.

Anyone out there hear or experience anything similar?

New in the Tremont Tribune

The lastest Tremont Tribune (the third ever) hit the streets last week. The stories are now on-line. They include:

Putting the Farm Back in West Farms
Kaman Fong first saw Drew Gardens through the windows of the Q44 bus. The garden, a lush, two-acre strip of lawn and community vegetable plots running along the Bronx River on East Tremont Avenue between East 177th Street and West Farms Road, sits behind three bus stops and attracts plenty of attention from riders as they go by. Some stop and ask for a tour. Others get off and garden.

Rivera Runs for Third Council Term, Virtually Unopposed
A lot has changed for Joel Rivera, the two-term city councilman, in the past year. There was the contentious leadership brawl in which his father, Assemblyman Jose Rivera, was ousted as Chairman of the Bronx Democratic Party and replaced by Assemblyman Carl Heastie; Joel’s own stillborn race for borough president, suddenly called off in March; and the challenge for his seat in the 15th district from well-funded Community Board 6 member Radame Perez, which inexplicably dissolved in May.

Local Students Given Film Camp Scholarships
It’s summertime, but hundreds of students stream in and out of the Millennium Public School in lower Manhattan each day. Most of them have paid thousands of dollars for a special filmmaking training camp, hosted by the New York Film Academy and taught by its renowned professors, using state-of-the-art equipment. But this year - for the first time - nearly a hundred students are attending the film camp free of charge.

At St. Barnabas, Actors and Mannequins
The patient is sprawled across the bed, his vital signs ticking loudly on the monitor in the corner. “Please, give me something for the pain,” he moans. “It hurts, it really hurts.”

Community Board Looks to Honor FDNY Hero
If local leaders get their way, a Bronx street will soon have a new name. In May, Community Board 6 voted in favor of renaming a block - East 180th Street, between Park and DeVoe avenues - in memory of fire alarm dispatcher and one-time Fordham resident Dennis Patrick O’Connell, who died last year at age 56.

Bronx News Roundup April 28

Did Councilman Larry Seabrook use his position to advance the career of his sister? That's the question The Times is asking. This isn't first time Seabrook (aka "The Fox") has been accused of looking out for himself rather than his constituents.

More on tonight's PBS documentary which charts the history of a one-time leftish community on Allerton Avenue near Bronx Park East. Bronx Bohemian also has a nice piece about this.

"City Island," a comedy about a dysfunctional family living on City Island, debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival last Sunday.

A Bronx doo-wop band has been making waves in the Middle East.

Because of the UFT, public school teachers are virtually unfireable, according to a Daily News editorial.

The family of Fermin Arzu, the Honduran immigrant who was shot dead in Longwood in May 2007, wants his killer - a police officer - to serve the max.

Bargains can be found at stores and restaurants in Allerton.

Ruben Diaz Jr. will take over the reins at Borough Hall this Friday, according to Bob Kappstatter. Also in Kappstatter's weekly column: the deep-pocketed Radame Perez won't run against Councilman Joel Rivera (15th District) after all.

The owner of Jake's Steakhouse in Riverdale has been found guilty of tax evasion. The NY Post says it best: guilty as "charred."

Bronx News Roundup April 14

The Gotham Gazette takes a look at the borough president's race, and concludes front-runner Ruben Diaz Jr. "practically has a set of keys to borough hall already." The real race, says reporter Courtney Gross, occured months back when the so-called Rainbow Rebels ousted then-Party Chairman Jose Rivera. The 2000-word story also touches on what could be two fascinating City Council races this fall involving incumbents Maria Baez (14th District) and Joel Rivera (District 15).

A five-year-old boy was reunited with his worried mother after hopping on the No. 1 train at the 225th Street and ending up in South Ferry. This story was also picked up in the UK.

Phil Spector, the Bronx-born music producer and songwriter, was found guilty of murder yesterday.

A Bronx nun has been chosen to do a scripture reading at tomorrow's installation mass for incoming Archbishop Timothy Dolan.

Still on nuns, the movie "Doubt," which is set in a Catholic school in the Bronx in the 1960s, came out on DVD last week. Watching it bought back memories (mostly good ones) for Daily News columnist Patrice O'Shaughnessy who went to St. Raymonds.

Affordable housing advocates are having a hard time wooing State Senator Pedro Espada, the Senate's housing committee chairman, as they push for a vote to repeal vacancy decontrol.

Curtis Silwa of Guardian Angels fame has started giving free tours of the Bronx.

Toxic waste in Bronx schools has parents up in arms - and suing the city.

Bob Kappstatter looks at who might replace Assemblymembers Ruben Diaz Jr. and Aurelia Greene should they become borough president and deputy borough president respectively.

The BBC interviews a family who became homeless last summer and now live in a Bronx homeless shelter.

Bronx News Roundup, April Fool's Day

Not surprisingly, the state government failed to meet it's April 1 budget deadline, passing only one budget bill last night.

However, Bronx State Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson, provided some drama and heroics when she was rushed to the hospital, diagnosed with walking pneumonia, and then later returned, accompanied by three paramedics to vote on the one budget bill. Her fellow lawmakers gave her a standing ovation.

From now on, we will call Hassell-Thompson the Willis Reed of New York state senators.

And MTA rescue plan, which was reportedly coming together yesterday, was again derailed by a small group of state senators (this time of the upstate variety) who balked at a higher payroll tax.

Two Liberian immigrants who lived in the Bronx and were killed in the former Long Island condo of football player Jonathan Vilma may have been murdered as payback for a counterfeit money scam they concocted.

Yesterday, the Daily News' Bob Kappstatter dished on the vacant county clerkship, Diaz, Jr.'s plans for a swift transition and district leader Kenny Agosto's language skills.

More from the Times on the mishandling of the Yankees community fund money.

Just to flesh this out a little here: Basically, a lawyer hired by the Yankees to oversee the fund filed a lawsuit against Serafin Mariel, who is the chairman of fund, for putting the money into the bank (New York Community Bank) he founded and still works for. The lawyer says this constitutes a conflict of interest. And also, because the money isn't earning any interest, he says it's just irresponsible investment. The lawyer also says the fund hasn't paid him the $35,000 he says the Yankees said he would be paid for overseeing the fund.

Assemblyman Ruben Diaz, Jr. and Councilman Joel Rivera (who helped appoint Mariel) both defended him, but said the matter would be up to the courts to decide. Hope that helps.

Speaking of the Yankees, Metro-North officials say the stop at the new Stadium will open on May 23.

Armory Update: City Votes Tomorrow on Rewarding Developer Tax Breaks

The New York City Industrial Development Agency (IDA) will decide tomorrow if the Kingsbridge Armory developer, Related Companies, should receive $17.8 million in tax breaks.

As we've reported in the Norwood News and on this blog, Related plans to turn the historic landmark into a shopping center. At the IDA's meeting last Thursday, community activists demanded the agency postpone its decision until the developer commits to negotiating a binding community benefits agreement (CBA). Activists are hoping to bring much needed resources to Bronx residents by ensuring that Related provides living wage jobs with benefits, community space for youth and seniors, and the option for employees to unionize.

The agency has a history of supporting big private development projects in the borough, including the Bronx Gateway Mall, Fordham Plaza and the new Yankees Stadium. Last Thursday, the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA) organized a rally prior to the IDA's meeting. Several community leaders and elected officials, including IDA board member and City Comptroller Bill Thompson, urged the agency to postpone its decision until Related had sat down with KARA.

Related's development lawyer Jesse Masyr told the Daily News (story not posted online) they would sit down with KARA, but only as part of a larger community benefits panel that included Community Board 7 and members of City Council. Council member Joel Rivera spoke at KARA's rally last week and voiced his support for KARA getting a seat at the table. To this point, Related has been reluctant to negotiate with the alliance, which is made up of community groups, religious leaders, labor unions and elected officials.

A spokesman for Thompson said he couldn't comment on the matter until after the IDA's board met tomorrow morning.

The agency's full board of directors will meet tomorrow at the office of the Economic Development Corporation in downtown Manhattan, 110 William Street, 4th floor, at 9 a.m. Members of the community are welcomed to attend. The Norwood News will be at the meeting and posting an update as soon as the board votes. Stay tuned.

No Meeting, No Armory Tax Breaks, Groups Demand

Elected officials and KARA activists rally against tax breaks for Bronx developer, Related Companies, which plans to turn the Kingsbridge Armory into a shopping center.

Concerned Bronx residents expressed frustration on the steps of City Hall today as they rallied against giving tax breaks to the developer of the Kingsbridge Armory, Related Companies, which intends to turns the armory into a shopping center. The Industrial Development Authority (IDA) held a public hearing today to obtain community feedback on Related's application that requests $17.8 million in tax breaks.

The Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA) organized the rally and has urged the IDA to postpone its decision until Related agrees to sit down with KARA and establish a Community Benefits Agreement that includes living wage jobs (40 hours/week at $10 an hour plus benefits), employment preference for Bronx residents, community space for youth and senior programs, schools to alleviate overcrowding, and the option for employees to unionize.

"This is probably one of the most important issues in the Bronx today," said Council Majority Leader Joel Rivera. "It's time that companies contribute more. We [Bronx residents] need a community bailout plan."

Councilman Oliver Koppell acknolwedged that the development project at the armory represents an opportunity to restore the historic landmark but he added, "Related must sit down with KARA and negotiate a proper agreement."

"We are not making outrageous demands," said Comptroller William C. Thompson. "We don't want to see development that pushes our people out."

During the hearing community leaders and residents, including representatives for Congressman Jose Serrano and State Senator Pedro Espada, urged the IDA to postpone its decision until Related agrees to meet with KARA.

IDA's board of directors will meet next Wednesday, March 11, at 9:00 a.m. (at IDA's office in downtown Manhattan, 110 William Street, 4th floor) to decide whether to reject or accept Related's application. The meeting will be open to the public and IDA encourages community members to attend.

More on the tax breaks issue in the latest issue of the Norwood News.