Bronx News Roundup, Aug. 16

A car splashes through a puddle on Southern Boulevard in Bedford Park
during yesterday's record-setting  rainstorm. (Photo by David Greene)

Weather: Good news! The torrential and record-setting rains from the last two days have finally ceased. Skies will stay overcast today (with some light showers this afternoon) with fall-like temperatures in the high 60s. The sun will return and things will warm up again tomorrow.

Story of the Day: Street Name Honors Pregnant Traffic Agent Killed in Tragic Accident
The corner of Webster Avenue and E. 188th Street has been renamed Donnette and Sean Sanz Place, after a 33-year-old Bronx traffic agent who was struck and killed by a van three years ago while crossing the street on her lunch break. Sanz was seven months pregnant at the time and her unborn son, named Sean, died later. The man driving the car that struck her, Walter Walker, 72, had a history of license suspensions and served six months behind bars for criminally negligent homicide.

Quick Hits:
Speaking of Bronx re-namings, a newly opened South Bronx park, Charlton Thompson Garden, honors two soldiers killed during the Korean War.

Everyone should check out this beautiful Time slideshow of photographs by Stephen Shames, who spent decades, from 1977 on, chronicling the lives of young people in the Bronx. His shots, compiled in his recently released "Bronx Boys," captures some quintessential scenes of urban life (kids playing in fire hydrants, a boy sleeping out on the fire escape) as well as some more tumultuous spots in the borough's history (street fights, kids shooting up).

With Redistricting on the Line, State Senate Results Still Too Close to Call

As the New York Times reported earlier, it’s looking like yesterday’s election results could end in a 31-31 split of Democrats and Republicans in the State Senate, or with the Republicans taking a victory and Democrats losing the slight majority they won in 2008.

Three races--one on Long Island, one in Westchester and another in Buffalo--are still too close to call, and will probably await the counting of absentee ballots.

The stakes are especially high this election, as 2010 Census figures are being calculated and the state legislature will take on redistricting over the next year or two.

Redistricting, or the redrawing of legislative district maps, lies in the hands of the legislature in Albany. Whatever party happens to be in power can lay the groundwork for a victory in the next several elections by ensuring districts work to their party’s favor.

“It’s huge,” said Christina Greer, a professor of politics at Fordham University. “It only happens every 10 years. The party in power really does get to, literally, draw the lines for districts that are the most  advantageous to them.”

Bronx News Roundup, Nov. 2

Happy Election Day, everyone! Make sure you head to the polls today and vote. Here's a roundup of who's running in the Bronx and elsewhere. Now on to this morning's Bronx headlines:

Roberto Huie, a senior at the Eagle Academy for Young Men in Tremont, has been accepted into the prestigious West Point Military Academy.

Family and friends mourned yesterday at the funeral of 17-year-old Luzbenet Ramirez, who was found murdered in a Longwood apartment last week. A 40-year-old man has been arrested in connection with her death.

Catch up on your Bronx political news--including Nelson Castro's unpaid parking tickets and more on the future of the Muller Army Reserve Center--in Bob Kappstatter's weekly column. 

Rangers CEO Chuck Greenberg called Yankees fans an "embarrassment" during a radio interview yesterday.

Things are working out well in Morris Heights, where a residence for the mentally ill and chronically homeless was first met with neighborhood protests. Community Board 5 member Bernice Williams said last week that the center's residents are "very good neighbors." 

A 30-year-old Bronx man drove the wrong way on I-81 in upstate New York this weekend. He faces traffic-related charges.

State Assemblyman Michael Benjamin has proposed legislation to put the Board of Elections under mayoral control, following the firing of Executive Director George Gonzalez last week.

Story of the Day: District Leader Runs for Benjamin's Assembly Seat

District Leader Eric Stevenson is running for Assembly in the 79th A.D. 

The Tremont Tribune has the story of who is stepping in, with the backing of Bronx County Democrats, to run for the seat being vacated by Michael Benjamin. (Photo: James Fergusson)

New Issue of the Tremont Tribune

June's edition of the Tremont Tribune is on the streets and online now. Here are some of the stories featured in this month's issue:

• A longtime dispute between St. Barnabas hospital and its resident doctors may be coming to an end, as the National Labor Relations Board approved a vote for residents to form a union.

• County Democrats are backing district leader Eric Stevenson to fill the seat now occupied by Michael Benjamin, who announced last month that he wouldn't seek re-election (he also recently ditched plans to make a run for Congress).

• A group of home care workers--whose company runs eight locations in the Bronx--are attempting to unionize, despite resistance from their employer. 

• Belmont resident Marie Riolo was honored by Bronx politicians this month for her decades of volunteer work and community service. 

• We interviewed Julio Velez, Captain of the 48th Precinct's Auxiliary Police, a volunteer patrol unit of the NYPD. 

For more, pick up a copy of the Tribune or visit www.tremonttribune.org. And don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more updates!

Assemblyman Benjamin blasts gay marriage

State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. isn't the only Bronx politician who's anti-gay marriage. Riverdale Review reporter Candice Giove took this footage of Assemblyman Michael Benjamin speaking at Sunday's rally outside Governor Paterson's Midtown offices.

"They call us prejudiced, they call us bigots, they call us un-American, we are not," a fired-up Benjamin told the crowd. "... if we don't say no to gay marriage in New York, it will spread across the entire nation."

According to this list, Benjamin was one of two Bronx assembly members to give last week's gay marriage vote the thumbs down. The other being Nelson Castro. (Carl Heastie was marked down as "excused." The others voted in favor.)

Perhaps Benjamin's position shouldn't come as a surprise. Check out the reader comments at the end of this video post by Gary Axelbank.

UPDATE: Candice tells us she was covering the rally for the Village Voice. Read her story here.

Bronx News Roundup Aug. 20

In this week's Voice, Tom Robbins dissects the dubious histories of State Senator Efain Gonzalez and Pedro Espada, his challenger in the upcoming primary, saying the contest "shapes up as the toughest taste test since the Iran-Iraq War." [Village Voice]

Gonzalez and Espada aren't the only Bronx pols Robbins has bashed in recent months. Check out his equally scathing column on Larry Seabrook, who manages to stay in politics despite a waterfall of investigations and subpoenas through the years. And here's Robbins take on Maria Baez and Joel Rivera's attempts, last year, to block a pro-tenant housing bill.

Baez and Rivera eventually backed down and the "Tenant Protection Act" was signed into law. But the debate rages on. The Rent Stabilization Association (RSA), the biggest pro-landlord lobby group in the city, is trying to overturn the legislation - legislation that is designed to protect tenants from being harassed and forced out of their homes. Yesterday, Council Speaker Christine Quinn, one of the architects of the act, held a press conference outside City Hall to protest the RSA's lawsuit. [The Indypendent and NYT]

Jose A. Padilla, who was running for Michael Benjamin's seat in the 79th Assembly District, has been knocked off the ballot because of a lack of signatures. Sigredo Gonzalez (no relation to Efrain) is now Benjamin's only challenger in the primary. [NYT]. See here for a full list of who's up against who in the Bronx and beyond.

The parents of a 12-year-old Bronx girl presumed dead after falling into the rapids near Niagara Falls last week, will hold a candlelight vigil this evening, near the spot their daughter was last seen. [Daily News]