Living Wage Battle Heats Up

In preparation for a long-awaited Nov. 22 City Council hearing on Living Wage legislation, which has its roots in the battle over the fate of the Kingsbridge Armory, supporters, including several Council members, are stepping up their p.r. campaign.

Living Wage Study Focused on Program Not Covered by Legislation

The $1 million city-commissioned study that found that living wage legislation (which would require employers in commercial developments receiving public subsidies to pay workers $10 with benefits and $11.50 without) would result in the loss of 13,000 city jobs focused on a real estate program that's not even covered by the bill, City Limits reports.

The legislation grew out of the local battle that killed the mayor's plans to turn the Kingsbridge Armory into a shopping mall.

Armory Report: Long in Length, Short on Answers

The Kingsbridge Armory, on West Kingsbridge Road. (File photo by Adi Talwar)

Editor's Note: This story was first published in the latest issue of the Norwood News, on the streets and online now.

By ALEX KRATZ

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. has made it clear redeveloping the vacant 575,000-square-foot Kingsbridge Armory into a quality-job-producing, vibrant community space, is a top priority of his administration. But a much-anticipated report created by an Armory task force he assembled was released with little fanfare earlier this month and appears to generate more questions than answers.

On June 21, Diaz’s office quietly released the 267-page report, which included no clear plan for financing the redevelopment. It detailed all of the meetings of the task force, which included union reps, health care industry leaders, developers, community activists and elected officials. It also included three models for possible redevelopment created by a group of New York University graduate students and faculty.

Bronx News Roundup, June 24

Good morning, everyone. Feels like Ireland out there with the fine, soft rain (in NYese more of a shpritz). Mix of clouds and sun today with a high of 80 degrees. Chance of thunderstorms this evening.
We're a bit short-staffed today and need to work on getting next week's Norwood News ready, so this will be a quick and dirty roundup.

Bronx News Roundup, June 22

Weather: In the high 70s today, and thunderstorms likely this evening.

Story of the Day: Future of the Muller Center To Be Debated Tonight
A hearing is scheduled tonight to get public input on the fate of the Muller Army Reserve Center, a 55,000-square-foot former military base in Wakefield that the Bloomberg administration wants to turn into a homeless shelter.

Kingsbridge Armory Task Force Releases Report on Potential Uses

The Kingsbridge Armory (Photo by Adi Talwar)

The latest formation of the Kingsbridge Armory Task Force (there have been others over the last 17 years since the National Guard vacated the main structure), chaired by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. and Councilman Fernando Cabrera, released its report today -- 267 pages actually (much of it background material, thank goodness). We obviously haven't had time to go through it all, but the bottom line is that the task force is not recommending any one, or combination of, uses. They are instead calling on the city's Economic Development Corporation, which has overseen all the unsuccessful proposals and plans over the years to issue another request for proposals (RFP). The report includes the findings of the NYU's Capstone project.

Film studios, a megachurch, sports and recreation entrepreneurs, and the sustainable food industry (culinary school, farmers' markets) all have expressed an interest in the facility.  While the Capstone project section identifies the various potential uses as separate proposals, Diaz's spokesman, John DeSio said that there is a "lot of room for the different proposals to mesh together." 

Click here for the full report. Let us know what you discover and think about the various proposals.

Andrew Brent, a Bloomberg spokesman, told the Daily News that the administration would read the report and be open to "feasible proposals that include private-sector investment, the responsible use of city resources and the creation of new jobs."

BP Diaz' Gambling Ways

The cover story in the latest issue of City Hall features a lengthy piece on our very own Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr, called "The Gambler,"--homage to Diaz' sometimes risky political moves, from his running for Assembly at the tender age of 22, to taking on Mayor Bloomberg over the Kingsbridge Armory to his speculated run for Mayor in 2013.

The story, of course, delves into the Kingsbridge Armory battle and the uncertain future of the still-vacant building, which Diaz said lies ultimately in the hands of Bloomberg, his political enemy number one.

"The decision on whether or not something's going to be developed there is going to come from City Hall," Diaz told the paper. A final proposal for the Armory will be made this spring or summer, the story says, and then will be at Bloomberg's disposal.

The article goes on to discuss Diaz Jr.'s relationship with his controversial father, State Sen. Ruben Diaz, Sr., and says that the Rev. could be the BP's "biggest liability of all" if he does make a run for Mayor.

You can read the whole piece here. Share your thoughts in the comments section.

A Street Named Inspiration: Kingsbridge and Davidson Now 'Phyllis Yvonne Reed Plaza'

Editor's note: this story appeared in the last issue of the Norwood News. One correction: we mistakenly spelled Reed's name wrong in the original article. The correct name is "Phyllis Yvonne Reed."   

By Alex Kratz

The more Allison Richardson sees and hears about her mother Phyllis Reed’s impact — on the lives she touched and the community she loved — the more she feels guilty.

In the years leading up to Reed’s death in the fall of 2009, Richardson, an only child, tried in vain to keep her mother close and safe during her battle with cancer. Mostly, she just wanted to spend time with her mom. But Reed was often too busy empowering young people to chase their dreams, fighting for the rights of the disadvantaged or tending to her beloved public garden in the shadow of the Kingsbridge Armory.
Richardson resented this until recently, when she realized, her mother “fed and thrived on other people’s dreams,” she said.

Last month, thanks to the efforts of Councilman Fernando Cabrera, the city officially recognized Reed’s indelible impact by re-naming the corner of Davidson Avenue and Kingsbridge Road “Phyllis Yvonne Reed Plaza.” The signage hovers over Reed’s Armory plot like a guardian angel.

Bronx News Roundup, Feb. 24

A quick reminder that we will be Tweeting live from Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr.'s State of the Borough speech today, starting at 11:30 a.m. Check back here for the Twitter feed on the right side of this page or you can follow us through my Twitter account: @norwoodnews.

This morning, in preparation for the speech,  police were already setting up security at DeWitt Clinton High School on Mosholu Parkway and aggressively ticketing and towing cars parked on Goulden Avenue, presumably for violating alternate-side parking rules. News 12 was also setting up a mobile unit. A military officer wearing a beret and camouflage gear walked into the building. Wonder if he'll have a role today.

In any case, tune in today during the brunch hours to our Twitter coverage (on @norwoodnews) and tune in later today and tomorrow for photos as well as more details and analysis.

To the news! (Abbreviated version today. Like one of the borough's congressman at the State of the Union, I need to head out early and get a good aisle seat for maximum exposure during all the broadcast coverage of toady's speech. Maybe I'll even get an autograph or two.)

A preview of today's Diaz's speech, which is expected to draw some 1,500 people, with a focus on how Diaz will call for Bloomberg's support in delivering on a plan for the Kingsbridge Armory.
 
A report from the wake of 11-year-old Russell Smith, who was killed on the Grand Concourse when he was struck by a passing Honda CRV. Family member and local officials vowed to do something about the borough's most dangerous streets and not let his death be in vain.

The Times takes an in-depth look at how police caught two of the suspects they believe robbed an Arthur Avenue jewelry store last Friday. 

The Daily News has a new Bronx Education column, featuring a story on a pair of PS 86 teachers and their ideas for how the union and city should deal with teacher layoffs. 

More and more Bronxites (and other outer borough dwellers) are commuting to work outside of Manhattan and the city's transit system is struggling to keep up.

Kappy's back this week with juice on Assembly Speaker "Godfather" Shelly Silver's decision to move Bronx Dem boss Carl Heastie into a new post for political reasons and some other stuff.

The Bronx's New York Botanical Garden is teaching teachers how to teach school gardening.

Where are all the movies with great Bronx accents?

An elevator at an apartment building in Highbridge has been out for two months.

The Bronx DA dismissed rape charges against a Haitian immigrant. They realized his accent was too thick to say the threatening words the victim said she heard.

Bronx News Roundup, Dec. 17

Happy Friday afternoon everyone. Holiday housekeeping prevented us from getting this up earlier, but here's a brief Bronx news roundup, just in time for the Friday evening commute. Please, don't read and drive. 

The state health department ignored warnings that Pedro Espada Jr.'s network of nonprofit health care clinics was running afoul of regulations and a recommendation that Espada should give up control of the clinics, according to the Wall Street Journal. Espada and his son were indicted on Tuesday for allegedly using the clinics as their "personal piggy bank." They pleaded not guilty in court on Wednesday.

The Daily News focuses on the Kingsbridge Armory angle in sizing up Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr.'s showdown with the mayor over the fate of the vacant Muller Army Reserve Center in Wakefield. We reported (in a BxNN exclusive, I might add) on Wednesday that Diaz was boycotting a meeting to prevent the mayor from voting to turn Muller into a homeless shelter. But what I didn't mention was that Diaz has an alternative plan: moving the National Guard units, currently housed in the Armory's annex buildings, to Muller to make way for new schools.

The Mindful Chef is from the Bronx.

The real estate company of Ex-Red Sox star Mo Vaughn, who makes a brief cameo in our New Yorker-esque story about Councilman Fernando Cabrera, is pledging $30 million to fix up two dilapidated Bronx apartment buildings.

The Fiscal Policy Institute issued a report today on the widening gap between New York's rich and poor, pointing out fun facts like: "Wall Street, with its stratospheric profits and bonuses, sits within 15 miles of the Bronx -- the nation's poorest county." Here's the report itself.

Eater.com's Manhattan/Brooklyn-centric "Who goes there?" feature takes a look at Arthur Avenue's 89-year-old Mario's Italian restaurant. 

Bronx Weekend News Roundup, Dec. 13

Welcome back to the program, ladies and gentlemen of the Bronx. A little weekend wrap-up to get you started this week. On to the news!

NY1's Dean Meminger runs through the top Bronx stories of 2010: the Riverdale bombing attempt trial; the the anti-gay attacks attributed by police to the Latin King Goonies; Pedro Espada, Jr.'s trials, tribulations and, finally, primary loss to Gustavo Rivera; a borough-wide rise in violent crime; the deaths of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and announcer Bob Sheppard, as well as Supreme Court Justice Burton Roberts.

Police have made an arrest in the shooting of an off-duty police detective early Sunday morning in the Bronx's Pelham Bay neighborhood. The detective, Richard Olmo, 43, was apparently trying in a dispute -- over a minor fender bender or parking too close to another vehicle -- outside of the Pelham Bay Diner when someone pulled out a gun and shot him in the backside. Olmo was released from Jacobi Hospital this morning.

Award-winning Latin jazz musician Arturo O'Farrill is teaching the next generation of Latin jazz artists at the Urban Assembly Bronx Studio School for Writers and Artists. Great Bronx quote from the Daily News article: "The Bronx is what's left of the New York I grew up with - of policemen and teachers - of real working people," O'Farrill said.

On Friday, a Bronx judge ordered LNR Property Corp. -- the realty group that is overseeing 10 dilapidated Bronx apartment buildings that were bought and then abandoned by Milbank Real Estate -- to cough up $2.5 million for repairs. The judge ordered the repair work in September, but issued a stay as LNR shopped the mortgages for the properties over the last few months. The City Council recently estimated that it would cost more than $26.6 million to fully rehab the buildings.

As part of its Neediest Cases series, the Times looks at a Burmese family making its way in the Bronx's West Farms area.

With poverty and unemployment rising, some say the Bronx'sCommunity Board 7 could have used the minimum wage jobs that would have come with a new mall inside the Kingsbridge Armory. But the mall plan was killed in the City Council a year ago.

A couple that met in the Bronx and almost married here was reunited more than four decades later, thanks to Facebook.

An NYU study breaks down the city's Dominican population, 40% of which lives in the Bronx.

A couple of Pedro Espada stories as the state senator continues to stay away from Albany during his final weeks in office:

The Post says he's still collecting a pay check from his network of nonprofit health clinics, which Attorney General Andrew Cuomo accused him of using as his "personal piggy bank." (This isn't really news, we knew he was still getting paid from the health clinics, but it remains unclear how much compensation Espada's receiving because he hasn't been listed on the nonprofit's last three tax forms. A source says criminal charges for Espada could come as soon as next month.)

And, finally, Albany Times-Union political bureau chief Casey Seiler says goodbye to absentee Espada in an opinion piece. At the end, he captures Espada in a good mood, reveling in the chaos he caused during the now infamous state senate "coup" of 2009. 

Ed. note: Start a discussion about any of these stories, or anything else you want to talk about in our forum. Highlight problems in your neighborhood with our SeeClickFix feature. And find out what's happening in our constantly-updated events calendar.

Bronx News Roundup, Oct. 29

Happy Halloween weekend everyone. Be safe. Be nice.

Three more members of the Latin King Goonies group accused in the brutal Morris Heights anti-gay attacks were indicted yesterday. Charges were dropped against four of the suspects, but now seven of the 11 suspects arrested have been indicted.

An in-depth and often hilarious look at how Bronx Democrat George Gonzalez stumbled into the position of heading the city's Board of Elections (he was fired this week after just two months on the job). The Voice's Tom Robbins writes that Gonzalez was the choice of Bronx Democratic lawyer and political operator Stanley Schlein.

If Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. doesn't vote on the proposal to turn a vacant army reserve center into a homeless shelter (he is boycotting the vote, saying the proposal doesn't meet the needs of the Bronx or the Wakefield community), the mayor's office says the site will be handed over to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, which will turn it into a homeless shelter without his input.

While Diaz won't say that he thinks the mayor is delivering payback for the borough president's role in killing the city's plan to transform the Kingsbridge Armory into a shopping mall, Community Board 12 chairman Father Richard Gorman has no problem saying it. "This is payback for the borough president killing the Kingsbridge Armory," Gorman tells Daily News reporter (and former BxNN intern!) Rob Sgobbo. "The city is playing games. They have no interest in what the neighborhood thinks."

Yesterday, we had two posts -- here and here -- on the distressed Milbank buildings that the city is taking a more active role in rehabbing. Several other news organizations also wrote about it, but who needs them when you have us, right?

The man accused of killing a 17-year-old girl on Southern Boulevard told police his girlfriend (who has not been charged in the crime) helped him do it. She apparently thought the co-murder would help them solve their relationship issues, a source told the Daily News.

Speaking of murders, a Bronx gas station attendant was killed in a botched robbery attempt last night.

And when it rains, it pours: A Riverdale man accused of letting his dog die from over-heating in a van will undergo a mental evaluation.

Bronx students and environmentalists are hoping a third attempt to re-introduce oysters in the Bronx River will take and help clean up the water.

The Kentucky women's basketball team is expecting big things from Bronx-bred Jennifer O'Neill.

To Prevent Wakefield Homeless Shelter, Bronx Boro Prez Not Attending Meeting

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. will not attend a meeting downtown tomorrow morning to prevent an authority -- made up of himself, Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs and Tokumbo Shobowale, the chief of staff for Deputy Mayor Robert Steel -- from voting to recommend that a vacant army reserve center in Wakefield be turned into a homeless shelter.

Less than two weeks ago, Diaz sent a letter to the offices of the two deputy mayors expressing his displeasure with their support for turning the Sgt. Joseph A. Muller Army Reserve Center (ARC) into a 200-bed homeless shelter for men.

Diaz said the Bronx had other (better) plans for the site, which the Department of Defense closed as part of its Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) effort.

"Local elected officials at all levels, including my office, have expressed support for relocating the National Guard units from the Kingsbridge Armory to the ARC, and are opposed to the homeless shelter proposal," Diaz wrote in the letter dated Oct. 14.

The removal of the guard units from the Armory's annex buildings would free those buildings up to become schools, which activists have long advocated for and the overcrowded local school district badly needs.

Diaz spokesman John DeSio said Diaz was "not happy" to find out that the other two members of the Muller Local Redevelopment Authority, which was tasked with finding a suitable use for the abandoned reserve center, were planning to vote to recommend the homeless shelter at the authority's scheduled meeting at 11 a.m. at the downtown office of the city's Economic Development Corporation.

After combing through the fine print with lawyers, DeSio said they believe the authority requires Diaz's presence to have an official quorom to vote on anything, including any recommendation. In other words: no Diaz, no vote.

NYU To Focus on Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Plan

New York University's Wagner School of Public Policy will be the latest organization to take a crack at the development conundrum that is the long-vacant Kingsbridge Armory.

Since 1995, Wagner has tackled hundreds of public policy issues facing the city as part of its Capstone program, which puts graduate students and faculty members into teams that spend the year working for a client, analyzing an important issue they face and then providing them with a detailed report that includes recommendations.

This year, one of those teams will have the Armory task force assembled by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. as its client and the redevelopment of the massive, 600,000 square-foot castle on Kingsbridge Road as its project. In a press release, Diaz called the program "highly competitive" and "highly selective."

John DeSio, a spokesman for Diaz, said this is great news for development prospects at the Armory, which is controlled by the city and has been vacant for more than 15 years. Last year, the City Council (with the strong support and leadership of Diaz) killed a proposal to turn the Armory into a shopping mall because the project didn't include guarantees for living wage jobs. Afterward, Mayor Bloomberg (who supported the mall project), said the Armory would remain vacant for the foreseeable future.

"Things, they come through this program, they happen," DeSio said in a phone interview.

Because of this, however, DeSio said, the task force is pushing its time line for coming up with a viable plan for the Armory from the end of this year to April or May of 2011.

"We think this [program] is worth it," DeSio said.

Last year, Wagner students took on a handful of urban policy issues. For example, they worked for the Brooklyn Borough President's Office and developed a plan to turn a 6.2-mile stretch of 4th Avenue into a "community asset."

Comptroller's Task Force Releases CBA Report Based Partly On Lessons Learned From Bronx Projects

We'll get to the comptroller's group's report in a minute, but first, a little look back. 

Last winter, the City Council killed a Bloomberg-backed plan to turn the Kingsbridge Armory into a shopping mall, largely because community activists, job advocates and a united front of Bronx elected officials said the project lacked a strong Community Benefits Agreement; most notably, there was no guarantee for living wage jobs.

What started out as a local story went citywide and Community Benefits Agreements -- or CBAs: agreements signed between the developer and community stakeholders that promise additional benefits for local residents impacted by the coming development -- became a hot button issue among political, development and labor circles.

While strong CBAs, including some with living wage guarantees, were being signed in other big cities around the country, developers in New York City, backed by it's pro-development (with no string attached) mayor, was late to the game. Some CBAs were signed -- at Atlantic Yards (Brooklyn), the new Yankee Stadium (Bronx) and the Gateway Center Mall (Bronx) -- but they lacked teeth and true community involvement, community and job advocates charged.

The Armory case became an entirely different animal altogether and the prospects for a strong and enforceable CBA seemed possible. There were active community groups involved in the process from the beginning and the developer, the Related Companies, repeatedly said it would enter into an agreement at some point. But real negotiations began late and it all fell apart over the living wage issue.

In the aftermath, living wage legislation was introduced in the City Council (though its since stalled), Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. convened a new star-studded task force to create a new plan for developing the Armory (no word on what's happening with that) and new Comptroller John Liu created his own task force to create a "proposed framework for public benefits agreements in New York City that would create clear expectations, encourage broad participation and result in enforceable public benefits that comply with legal standards."

Liu's group -- made up of what appears to be a diverse and vast group of labor leaders, real estate developers, academics, business associations, thinktank types and lawyers (plus Al Rodriguez, general counsel for Diaz, the only elected official who appears to have a voice in this report and was very active in the process, according to Scott Sieber, Liu's spokesman) -- delivered the goods this week to some degree of controversy.

Group Picked for Living Wage Study Accused of Bias

On Aug. 12, the city's Economic Development Corporation announced its decision pay $1 million to  Charles River Associates, a Boston-based consulting firm, to conduct a survey on the economic effects of a living wage law.

This week, a coalition of groups and unions that have been fighting for such a law are calling the city's selection "rigged," claiming that two of the economists chosen to work on the project are biased and have well-known anti-living wage sentiments. 

“Using consultants who have already made up their minds shows that the EDC is not concerned with the economic development of all New Yorkers," said Valery Jean, Executive Director of Families United for Racial Economic Equality, in a statement. His group is part of the Living Wage NYC campaign.

A press release issued by the EDC says that Charles River Associates was chosen through a "public, competitive process," and that the firm has a "strong expertise in economic and financial analysis."

BxNN Presents: The 33rd Senate District Candidates On the Issues (Part 2)

Two weeks ago, the Bronx News Network asked candidates in 33rd District senate race to answer, in writing, a number of questions which we hope will shed light on where they stand politically, their position on key issues in the community, and what they would do if elected.

In the coming days we're going to post their unedited answers on this blog, a few at a time. Part 1 was published yesterday.

There are four candidates in the race - Pedro Espada, Jr. (the incumbent), Daniel Padernacht, Gustavo Rivera, and Fernando Tirado - which is turning into one of the most watched in the city. Padernacht, Rivera, and Tirado got back to us with answers, but Espada didn't. In an e-mail, a staffer of his wrote: "Thank you for the survey, however we will not be participating at this time. The Senator's positions will be made available via other media, including his website and Facebook, at a later date."

Part 2

QUESTION: If you were a member of the City Council last December, would you have voted for or against the Bloomberg administration’s proposal to turn the Kingsbridge Armory into a shopping mall? Do you support legislation in the Council right now that would mandate developers seeking city subsidies to require retail tenants to pay a living wage to their workers?

Advocates Want Vacant Army Center Used to Free Up School Space

It’s a game of musical buildings in School District 10.

One of the most crowded districts in the city, parents and advocates have been trying for years to have new school space built at the Kingsbridge Armory Annex, a cluster of buildings on West 195th St. For that to happen, the building’s current tenants—the National Guard—would have to move. Organizers have suggested what they see as a perfect new home for the military units: a now-vacate building in Wakefield known as the Muller Army Reserve Center.

But there’s a catch. The Muller Center, at 555 Nereid Ave., is subject to the Base Reassignment and Closure, or BRAC, process—a federally mandated procedure for closing excess military bases and transitioning them for community use. The process requires that priority be given to the needs of the homeless in the area, making it a possibility that the Muller building could be used as a shelter, an idea community members are resistant to.

“I don’t see any way it could benefit the community,” said Father Richard Gorman, chairperson for Community Board 12. There are already two homeless housing projects in the works in this Wakefield neighborhood, he added, saying the area doesn’t need any additional sites.

Gorman said the proposal to move the National Guard into the facility would be a “win-win” for the neighborhood, as it would be an appropriate use for the building and would simultaneously free up space at the Armory Annex for much-needed schools.

A decision on the Muller Center has been delayed by the city, he said.

The building’s future is in the hands of a Local Redevelopment Authority (LRA)—a panel comprised of the Bronx Borough President and two deputy mayors from Mayor Bloomberg’s Administration.

A spokesman from the city’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC), which began accepting Notices of Intent from community groups for use of the building last year, said that no decision has been made yet about the center's future. The deadline was pushed back 270 days to December 15th, according to the spokesman, because the LRA is still reviewing its applications.

Liseth Pérez Almeida, press secretary for Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., who serves as the Chairman of the LRA, said the Borough President is behind the community's efforts to free up space at the Armory.

“The BP strongly supports using it to house the National Guard units from the Armory to facilitate development of schools,” she wrote.

But the National Guard will have to compete with two community groups who are also vying for the space. An article in the New York Daily News last fall reported that the Doe Fund and the South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation (SoBro) were petitioning to use the site.

The Doe Fund, a Manhattan-based non-profit that runs a work readiness program and supportive housing for the homeless, said it could not comment on whether or not it had applied.

Phillip Morrow, SoBro’s president and CEO, said the group had indeed submitted an application for the building in response to the EDC’s Requests for Proposals, but that they hadn’t heard anything about it since.

“You probably know about as much as we do,” Morrow said. “It’s sort of fallen off our radar.”

SoBro had proposed using the space to build a Challenger Center—a mock space shuttle that children could use to learn about the science and technology behind space travel. The rest of the building, he said, would be used as permanent housing for the homeless, which SoBro included in the plan to align itself with the EDC’s request. SoBro has since started looking for other buildings to house their space center.

The EDC spokesman said there will be a public hearing, followed by a period for public comment on the reuse plan and homeless assistance submission, before a decision is made by the end of the year. Dates have not yet been set.

Bronx News Roudup, April 28

Employees and a doctors' union at St. Barnabas hospital are at war once again with hospital officials, this time over security measures within the hospital. The union feels the lack of security has doctors, nurses and other staff members fearing for their lives as they work. You can also read more here.

Last night, a two-alarm fire on White Plains Road wiped out an entire commercial building, including a laundromat, an auto-body shop and a hardware store that survived three generations in the same family.

Yankee fans can now ride a boat to games thanks to Delta Airlines.

Tenants and housing groups affiliated with the coalition Real Rent Reform held a sit-in at Senator Pedro Espada's Albany office, urging him to resign. You can also read more here.

The dispute over government subsidies and community benefits (including a mandated living wage for workers) at the Kingsbridge Armory continues to have ripple effects. The New York City Bar Association is now urging the city to stop allowing community benefits agreements to be part of the zoning approval process.

Bronx News Roundup, March 9

Enjoy the beautiful day, but while you're inside or on a laptop in one of the Bronx's many parks, here's some Bronx news for you:

A Bronx cop from the 46th precinct was arrested yesterday for being involved in a million-dollar perfume heist.

A 47 -year-old woman was found stabbed to death in her Morris Heights apartment last night. No arrests have been made.

The Parade Grounds in Van Cortlandt Park have become unexpectedly flooded, delaying it's reopening and forcing athletic leagues to look for new locations to hold their games.

Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. confirms that he is in the process of creating a new plan for the Kingsbridge Armory.

Animal Rights advocates hope that the conviction of the two men involved in a dog fighting ring in the Bronx sends a message. The men are facing up to four years in prison once sentenced on March 17.

The Daily News reports that the vehicle that killed 17-year-old Keon Nedd in a hit-and-run accident this past weekend, was stolen and driven by a group of teenagers. Police are still in search of the teens who fled the scene.

Demolition at the old Yankee Stadium continues.

Boston Road is still known for some of the best deals in the Bronx. Read more here.