Walmart: Bronxites Love Us!

Retail megastore Walmart is once again eyeing the big apple for the site of a new store, and this time they've got research under their belt to fight off opponents. The company commissioned its own poll that surveyed 1,000 New Yorkers--the majority of which, the company says, would welcome a Walmart somewhere in the city.

According to the poll, Bronx residents want a Walmart more than folks in any other borough: 80 percent of those asked say they would support the retailer coming to the city, according to a press release.

Opposition against Walmart setting up shop has been fierce in the past, as critics often question the company's labor practices and argue that the retailer would hurt the city's small business community.

But Walmart polled them, too: according to the survey, 62 percent of small business owners asked said they favor the store based on the idea that it would help create jobs.

A few years back, a coalition of Walmart opponents teamed up with a number of Bronx community groups to fight the possibility of the box store coming into the neighborhood.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn had planned to hold a hearing this week to discuss the impact a Walmart could have, though the retailer says it has no announced project in the city yet. The hearing has been postponed until next month.

So what do we think? Does the Bronx want a Walmart?

Bloomberg Bringing "Business Incubator" to the Hunts Point BankNote Building

 (Photo courtesy of the Mayor's Office)

Michael Bloomberg, New York's pro-business mayor and an entrepreneur himself, turned his sights on the South Bronx today as the next hub for new start-up businesses. The Mayor and the EDC broke ground on a "Business Incubator," in the BankNote building, on Garrison Avenue in Hunts Point, which will offer support and affordable office space for people looking to start their own business ventures.

The 11,000-square-foot space will be able to accommodate up to 400 entrepreneurs, according to a press release, and will consist of conference rooms and 180 workstations. Potential tenants can rent desk space for $295 per month and shared work space for $195 per month. The incubator will also host networking events and provide business training services and other support.

“More than 15,000 new businesses were established in the Bronx in 2008, the most recent period for which there is data, and we’re creating the new Bronx business incubator to build on that momentum,"  said Mayor Bloomberg.

This incubator will be the sixth to open across the city--the EDC says the others have been a success so far--but the first planned for the Bronx. Bloomberg initiated the program in 2008, during Wall Street's economic meltdown, in an attempt to get the city's business economy back on it's feet.

The Bronx still has the highest unemployment rate of all the boroughs, at 13 percent.

"It can be hard to be an entrepreneur, so any help we can afford new small businesses is welcome, especially in this economy,” Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., said in a statement. “It is my hope that this new business incubator will lead to new job growth right here in the Bronx."

The city expects construction of the space to be finished this February. The BankNote Building, a former money-printing factory built in 1909, is currently home to organizations like Sustainable South Bronx, the Arthur Aviles Theatre and BAAD!

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."

Two Economic Development Events Tomorrow

From noon to 2 p.m., the Hunts Point Chamber of Commerce is talking energy savings strategies at a workshop called, "Government Incentives and New Technologies to Help Your Business Improve its Bottom Line" at the Hunts Point Cooperative Market, 355 Food Center Drive. It's $15 for Chamber member, $25 for non-members.

Later in the afternoon, from 4 to 7 p.m., the merchants on Kingsbridge Road are holding a summer kickoff event, featuring clowns, magicians, discounts, coupons and free gifts, on the stretch of the Kingsbridge Road commercial corridor between Jerome and Creston avenues. It's a free event.

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 Roundup January 15

DJ Kool Herc -- widely considered the founder of hip-hop-- is joining forces with tenants of his former West Bronx home, 1520 Sedgwick Avenue , in an effort to save the building from being sold to a private investor. In 1973, Herc threw a party in the rec room of the building, and many people consider this the launching point for hip-hop. Today, Herc, longtime tenants of 1520 Sedgwick Ave, and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York)are among those at a press conference at the building to announce their intention to raise $14 million to purchase the building themselves. Check out David Freedlander's front-page story in AM New York.

Bob Kapstatter reports that there was a slight decrease in parking tickets issued in the Bronx in 2007 -- a 0.7 percent decrease from 2006. This downturn was not nearly as large as the citywide reduction of 6 percent. Here in the West Bronx, the 44th Precinct, which includes Highbridge saw a 14.4 percent decrease in tickets issued. The 46th Precinct, encompassing Fordham, Mount Hope, University Heights, and Morris Heights, witnessed a 13.8 downfall in tickets issued. However, the 52nd Precinct, which includes Kingsbridge, Norwood, and Bedford Heights, saw a slight increase -- 2.7 percent -- in parking tickets issued.

The notion that the Bronx is thriving economically has become a staple of Borough President Adolfo Carrión's speeches in recent years. But this article by Dorian Block in the Daily News suggests that it depends on how you measure economic development.