On Tuesday, a fire destroyed Morris Park Boxing Club. Two days later, one of the men who ran it (a one-time W.B.A welterweight title holder) and his stable of young fighters, found a temporary place to train.
In an editorial, the Daily News ridicules Ruben Diaz Jr. and the City Council for nixing Related Companies' Kingsbridge Armory redevelopment proposal. The pols "stupidly killed employment for thousands" and "don't have a clue" what to do next, the News argues.
The Village Voice's Tom Robbins has mixed feelings about the Council's no vote. He writes: "It's just our luck that the first time the City Council actually musters the courage to face down Mike Bloomberg, it's to kill a plan that—whatever its flaws—would have put hard-pressed New Yorkers back to work."
Five stations on the Pelham 6 Line now have countdown clocks, informing straphangers of when the next train will arrive.
A Bronx priest has been making waves as a fashion designer.
NY Post columnist John Crudele's "Man of the Year" is a 28-year-old veteran from the Bronx who overcame a tough childhood and homelessness - not to mention stints in Iraq and Afghanistan - to land a job as a nursing assistant at James J. Peters VA Hospital on Kingsbridge Road.
Another veteran, homeless since January, has found an apartment in University Heights for him and his family, thanks for the Jericho Project.
An arsonist has been terrorizing an apartment complex in Marble Hill.
Police are looking for two men who robbed a jewelry store in Morris Park on Tuesday afternoon.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Bronx News Roundup, Dec. 24
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Pinstripe Politics May 6
Subpoena de Mayo
Yesterday, at a hearing before State Supreme Court Justice John Egan Jr., lawyers for the Yankees sought to nullify a subpoena which seeks documents detailing the construction of the new Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees' argument (via MLB.com):
Yankees attorneys said Assemblyman Richard Brodsky is exceeding his authority and harassing the franchise with his subpoena. The Yankees claim that the situation has already been aired out in public and that the subpoena would cost the team between $600,000 and $1.2 million to comply, because it includes nine years worth of documents from nearly 100 people.
"It's one of the most exhaustively reviewed and approved public projects in the state and in the country involving a sports team," attorney Jonathan Schiller said after Tuesday's court hearing.
Attorney George Carpinello argued in court the subpoena also was "grossly overbroad" and that the relevant information is already held by the New York City Industrial Development Agency and the Yankees already have provided the committees chaired by Brodsky and Assemblyman James Brennan with thousands of pages of documents and testimony.
Yanks urge judge to quash subpoena
Brodsky's argument (via the Albany Times Union):
Joined by fellow Assemblyman Democrat James Brennan of Brooklyn, Brodsky said he sent letters to the Yankees and made requests into what he said is a project involving $4 billion in public money. He also mentioned the failure of accessible ticket prices and what he called an admitted violation of law in the tax assessment for the stadium grounds, which used to be a city park.
He questioned why Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office received a luxury suite at the stadium and how the city ended up helping the team obtain $1.5 billion in tax-free borrowing.
He said there was a "misstatement of facts by the Yankees" about the amount of jobs the stadium would create and the public benefit of the project.
The two sides are scheduled to meet before Justice Egan again on May 27, at which point Egan will consider both the subpoena and the Yankees' motion. However (and this is quite unlikely), the two sides are free to work out an agreement before then.
Rain Debacle
During Monday night's 2+ hour rain delay, hundreds of fans exited the stadium after Yankee personnel informed them that the game would be postponed. Later, when the Yankees announced that the game would be played, most of the fans who left were denied re-entrance into the stadium.
Yankee brass were not amused by the mess-up. According to the Daily News "multiple sources, who all requested anonymity for fear of losing their jobs, (reported that) upper management was livid at stadium workers." The guest-relations supervisor who was responsible for the mix-up was reprimanded.
Also check out....
The schedule for the new Metro-North Yankees-153rd St. stop is out! Info here and here.
This morning I came across one of the most scathing food reviews that I have ever read. It was about eating at Yankee Stadium, of course. In the review, by Bloomberg's Ryan Sutton, there is one key oversight - while almost all beer at Yankee Stadium is sold for either $9 or $11, there is one vendor near the bleachers that sells $6 draughts.
