Bronx News Roundoup, March 3

Here's some news on this nasty, slushy morning in the Bronx.

The Voice's Tom Robbins, one of the best Bronx dirt digging journalists in New York, explores the frustrating ongoing effort to get a permanent ice skating rink placed somewhere in the Bronx. This winter a temporary rink was set up at the Concourse Plaza hotel near Yankee Stadium. Robbins says the rink should be a great venture funded by the Yankee Community Benefits fund, but the fund has been mismanaged and doesn't seem accessible by anyone but political insiders.

The former head of the SBCC Management Corp., Margarita Villegas, a nonprofit that runs low-income apartment buildings in the South Bronx, pleaded guilty to stealing $50,000 from the organization. Prosecutors accused Villegas of using some of the taxpayer funds received by SBCC for the political and decorating purposes of Bronx Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo and her daughter, Bronx Council member Maria Carmen del Arroyo. Villegas' lawyer insists Villegas did not dish any dirt on the Arroyos.

The Times has more on the domestic violence scandal that originated in the Bronx and is threatening to unseat Gov. Paterson. A state worker who is a friend of Paterson says the governor asked her to reach out to a Bronx woman who was accusing one of his top aides of domestic violence and tell her to drop her case. Paterson denies any wrongdoing or attempt to influence the case.

Police are looking for a missing Scarsdale doctor whose car was found in the Bronx, near the NYPD's Rodmans Neck shooting range.

The founder of a health organization in the South Bronx says black history month was underscored by a slew of bad news for minorities.

This isn't a specifically Bronx story, but the Times has an overview story on the city's economic and job situation and future prospects. Apparently, it's a little more cheery than officials and analysts expected a year ago.

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]