Despite Outcry, City Moves Ahead With Wakefield Homeless Shelter Plan

It looks like the Muller Army Reserve Center, a former military base in Wakefield that community leaders want to house the Kingsbridge Armory Annex's National Guard so that the Kingsbridge Armory Annex can house a school (confusing, right?), is set to become a homeless shelter--the plan that Mayor Bloomberg's administration has long been pushing.

Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., who vehemently opposes the idea of another homeless shelter at the Nereid Avenue site, sent out a press release earlier this week saying the Mayor's office "is claiming that a vote was held in November 2010, despite having hosted a public hearing on June 22, 2011, to solicit public input on the reuse of the facility in advance of a vote."

Controversial Minister Looks to Set Up Shop at the Armory

Creflo Dollar, pictured with his wife, Taffi, in a photo
from the Kingsbridge Armory report.

An evangelical preacher from Georgia, known for his lavish lifestyle and for touting the spiritual benefits of wealth, is proposing to take over the long-vacant Kingsbridge Armory, according to a report released by the Bronx borough president’s office last month.

World Changers Church International, an Atlanta-based, nondenominational parish led by television preacher Creflo Dollar and his wife, Taffi, has proposed turning the 575,000 square-foot West Kingsbridge Road building into a “state of the art church facility” fit with administrative offices, daycare and afterschool program space, a gymnasium, food and clothing banks and a recording studio.

Bronx News Roundup, Thursday, June 30

Ladies and gentlemen of the Bronx and beyond, welcome to the last Bronx News Roundup of June. Here's to a lovely Independence Day weekend and a fantastic July. Now, to the news!

Weather: Absolutely gorgeous, high in the low- to mid-80s, nice little breeze to cool the sweat beads on the back of your neck. No complaints here. Tomorrow, there's a slight chance of isolate thunderstorms in the afternoon, but we doubt it.

Story of the Day: Report Says Father's Rage Led to Bronx Football Star's Death
Yesterday, we linked to the brain-twisting and tragic story of Truman High School football star Isayah Muller, who was stabbed to death in a Bedford Park parking lot just hours after his graduation ceremony at Lehman College. Today, more details have emerged. According to the NY Post, after a post-graduation meal on City Island, Isayah's father, Andre Muller, became enraged when he couldn't locate an expensive bottle of cologne in his car. After dropping off Isayah's grandmother, the father drove back to the parking lot where the family had dropped off the car during the ceremony and angrily confronted two attendants who were on duty. A brawl ensued, with one of the attendants wielding a machete and the other a makeshift knife, both weapons were apparently on hand for protection. (You know, in case an enraged man accuses you of stealing expensive cologne and you need to shank somebody.) Isayah went to help his father and was stabbed by one of the attendants, once, in the heart. He was pronounced dead a short time later at St. Barnabas Hospital. Muller was charged with assault yesterday and was released after pleading not guilty. Neither of the attendants have been charged with a crime.

Quick Hits:

BP Diaz's Testimony From Last Night's Muller Center Hearing

The public hearing over the future of the Muller Army Center in Wakefield took place last night, at P.S. 21 on 225th Street.

BxNN reporter Alex Kratz was there and will post a more detailed account later, but he said the majority of those who attended--a strong showing of Wakefield and Woodlawn residents, and many members of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition--are against the city's plan to fill the building with a homeless shelter, and support the idea of moving the National Guard from an annex at the Kingsbridge Armory into the Wakefield site to free up school space (you can read some more background in yesterday's news roundup).

Kratz said that Father Richard Gorman of CB 12 got the crowd going with an impassioned speech that took several hilarious digs at Mayor Bloomberg. Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., who sits on a panel overseeing the building's redevelopment, also testified--you can read his full statement in the document below.

Bronx News Roundup, June 21

Happy summer solstice! The season will kick off with some rain showers later this afternoon, and temperatures around 80 degrees. Scattered thunderstorms predicted for tomorrow.

Story of the Day: Armory Report Released
The Kingsbridge Armory Task force released a 267-page report today detailing plans for how the long-vacant building should be filled (ideas: a hockey arena, a culinary center and a mega-church). For more on the report, see our previous post here. Feel free to go there and share your thoughts/suggestions in the comments section. For example: what do you think of TV evangelist Creflo Dollar's proposal to take over the building?

In Living Wage Battle, Vacca Remains Unconvinced

Editor's note: A version of this article first appeared in this week's Norwood News, out today.

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. at a rally last week in support of the living wage bill. (Courtesy Borough President's Office)

The City Council held a long-awaited hearing on a controversial living wage bill last Thursday, with both sides of the debate testifying about the potential effects of the legislation in a session that lasted over two hours.

The Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, sponsored by Bronx Council Members Oliver Koppell and Annabel Palma, would require developers of projects receiving taxpayer subsidies of more than $100,000 to pay workers $10 an hour with benefits, or $11.50 without.

The bill, which sprang from the living wage fight that derailed a plan to develop the Kingsbridge Armory into a shopping mall, has the support of every Bronx Council member, with the exception of James Vacca, who had said he was waiting for a hearing on the issue before taking a side.

“He’s wary of any legislation that might prevent jobs, and I’m not sure he’s convinced,” said Vacca spokesman Bret Nolan Collazzi, in a phone interview after the hearing.

“We’re not planning on signing on at this time,” he said.

The legislation currently has the support of 30 Council Members; 34 are needed to override a mayoral veto.

The assertion that a living wage mandate would kill jobs was put forth in a report released by the city’s Economic Development Corporation last week. The 44-page study concluded that requiring employers to pay a higher wage would ultimately stifle commercial development and job growth.

City Releases Long-Awaited Living Wage Study

City Hall reports that the city's Economic Development Corporation has finally released its assessment on what a living wage mandate would mean for New York City.

The 44-page report says that requiring employers to pay a living wage would ultimately kill tens of thousands of potential jobs and stifle commercial development, on the grounds that many would not be able to afford the higher wages. City Hall uploaded the entire document on its site; you can read it here.

A living wage bill has been lingering in the City Council for over a year now. The legislation, sponsored by Bronx Council Members Oliver Koppell and Annabel Palma at the behest of Borough President Ruben Diaz and backed by a number of local organizations, would require developers of retail projects receiving taxpayer subsidies to pay workers there $10 an hour with benefits or $11.50 without.

Today's report has been a year in the making: the EDC hired Boston-based consulting firm Charles River Associates last August to conduct the study, paying the group $1 million to assess the economic effects of such a law.

Supporters of the City Council bill disparaged the EDC's move, saying several of the economists hired to work on the study are known living wage critics, and that the report was "rigged" to comply with Mayor Michael Bloomberg's opposition to a wage mandate.

Two years ago, Bloomberg and Borough President Diaz butted heads over plans to fill the long-vacant Kingsbridge Armory, where the mayor was pushing to build a shopping mall. The plan was eventually killed in the City Council, mainly because the developer would not guarantee that retail workers be paid a living wage.

The landmark building still sits empty, though Diaz is soon expected to release his own report, drafted by the NYU Wagner School of Public Policy, with recommendations for redeveloping the site.

On Armory, Bloomberg Says: 'We're Open to Every Good Idea'

At a press conference today earlier in Kingsbridge, I asked Mayor Bloomberg if his administration was willing to consider new plans for the Kingsbridge Armory, since Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. is expected to release, in the next several weeks, a report drafted by the NYU Wagner School of Public Policy with recommendations for redeveloping the vacant landmark .

"We're open to every good idea," the mayor said, exhibiting none of the bitterness some have attributed to him for having his preferred plan for the facility -- a mall developed by The Related Companies -- killed by Diaz and  many of the very same people that were at the press conference to cheer him on for the Bloomberg administration's efforts to get a portfolio of 10 nightmare apartment buildings into the hands of a new, responsible owner.

(Diaz, who had been at the mayor's side for most of the press conference, left before I asked this question.)

Vacca Holds Out On Living Wage; No Hearing Date Yet

City Councilman James Vacca is the only Bronx member of the Council who has yet to throw his weight behind the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act--the bill that would require developers of retail projects receiving taxpayer subsidies to pay workers $10 an hour with benefits, or $11.50 without.

This week, his spokesman Bret Collazzi said the councilman is waiting for an official hearing to be held on the legislation before he takes a stance.

“He’s open to the idea, but he’s not there yet,” Collazzi said. “He’s met with both sides, he’s interested in it, but he won’t make a decision until the hearing.”

The fate of a hearing lies in the hands of  Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who has said that she's opening to the Council having one. Quinn spokeswoman Maria Alvarado said nothing has been scheduled yet.

"No hearing date has been set at this point, but the committee is continuing to work on finding a date," she wrote in an E-mail.

The living wage bill has lingered in the Council for almost a year; it was introduced last spring by Council Members Oliver Koppell and Annabel Palma, and has strong backing from Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., who led the effort to defeat the city’s plan to build a mall at the Kingsbridge Armory, mainly because the developer would not guarantee that retail workers be paid a living wage. [Corrected from an earlier version]

The bill currently has the support of 29 members, short of the 34 that would be needed to override a likely mayoral veto. Mayor Bloomberg has been vocal about his opposition to a living wage requirement on the grounds that it would harm small businesses and discourage development.

The Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act would apply to any development project that receives more than $100,000 in tax breaks or city subsidies.

“We even exempted some small businesses to make sure we weren’t hurting small businesses that might not be able to pay these wages,” Council Member Koppell said at a rally for the legislation last month. “We worked hard to craft this bill so that there can be no exceptions [to it].”

Bronx Living Wage Campaign Heats Up

Text and Videos By JORDAN MOSS


Untitled from Bronx News Network on Vimeo.

The campaign that would require developers of retail projects receiving taxpayer subsidies to pay a living wage -- $10 with benefits and $11.50 without -- is heating up as advocates press for an April City Council hearing. Council Speaker Christine Quinn has said she would allow hearings on the bill, which has 29 supporters, including every Bronx member of the City Council except for James Vacca of the east Bronx. Vacca was very much on the minds and tongues of numerous speakers at a Living Wage NYC rally last week at the Bronx Pentecostal Deliverance Center on the anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s death.

The legislation was introduced by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., (see the video above) who led the effort to defeat the city’s effort to build a mall at the Armory, mainly because the developer would not guarantee that retail workers be paid a living wage. Council Members Oliver Koppell (speaking in the video below) and Annabel Palma are leading the charge in the Council.


Oliver Koppell Speaks At Living Wage Rally from Bronx News Network on Vimeo.

Mayor Bloomberg is on record opposing the bill, but with five more backers, the Council would have enough votes to override his veto.

Three Bronx Supermarkets on Violations List

William Sloan, an owner of Morton Williams on Jerome Avenue, at a Kingsbridge Armory hearing in 2009. The store was recently named one of the most-fined supermarkets for overcharging consumers. (File photo by Adi Talwar)

Last week, the NY Post published a list of 25 city supermarkets that racked up the highest in violation fines during 2010 from the Department of Consumer Affairs for overcharging customers, failing to properly mark items or using faulty scales to price goods.

Three Bronx markets made the list of worst offenders: a Pathmark in Co-op City, a Pioneer Supermarket in Mott Haven and the Morton Williams on Jerome Avenue in University Heights. All of the stores had over $3,000 in violation fines to their names.

The owners of the the same Morton Williams were a vocal party during the great Kingsbridge Armory debate two years ago, fighting the developer's plan to open a supermarket in the landmark building and storming out of a public hearing after the Community Board 7 voted in favor of a new market (see photo above.)

In the recent Post article, a spokesman for the Food Industry Alliance told the paper that most of the supermarkets made the list for minor, unintentional mistakes.

Bloomberg Makes Armory Dig; Still Against Living Wage Bill

Mayor Bloomberg was in the Boogie Down today to announce a new housing initiative (see the story here) at a press conference in Kingsbridge Heights.

In a question-and-answer session afterwards, one reporter asked the Mayor if his stance on the City Council's Living Wage bill has changed, in light of new concessions proponents made this week to make the legislation more appealing to the business community. The Mayor, though, is staying staunch in his opposition.

"The marketplace is telling us that businesses can only afford so much," Bloomberg responded. "I don't think government should be in the businesses of setting wages."

"Here in the Bronx, we had an opportunity to fill a building, and it wasn't done," he continued.

The building in question, of course, is the long-vacant Kingsbridge Armory, where Bloomberg had pushed for the development of a shopping mall last winter. The controversial plan was killed by the City Council because the developer, Related Companies, refused to guarantee a living wage pay for workers.

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., and community groups like the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, were two of the Armory's biggest living wage proponents, and were present at today's press conference.

The living wage legislation that's been proposed in City Council came directly out of the Armory debate; it would require projects that receive taxpayer subsidies over a certain amount to pay workers $10 an hour, plus benefits.

Supporters of the bill are hosting a rally tonight in Harlem at Convent Avenue Baptist Church, 420 W. 145th Street, at 6:30 p.m.

Editorial: The Armory Vote a Year Later

Editor's note: the following editorial is from the most recent edition of the Norwood News, which is out and online now.

It’s the one-year anniversary of the nearly unanimous City Council vote that scuttled the mayor’s juggernaut to stuff a cookie-cutter mall inside the landmark Kingsbridge Armory.

In that time, the city’s two tabloids, the New York Post and the Daily News, have taken every opportunity to whack at Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. for his opposition to the project, which gave the necessary juice to a community and labor-backed effort to defeat it in the City Council.

Regular readers know where we stand on this, but as long as the editorial boards of the city dailies continue to harp on this, we are compelled to reiterate our position.

For more than a decade, community organizations led by the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition hammered out plans for a remake of the facility that made room for recreation, community programming, small businesses, a movie theater, etc.

Related, the city’s chosen developer, never offered details on what it was going to provide except for retail. Despite this and the clear sense that the Armory would be a mall pure and simple, the community’s only firm request in the end was that people had to be paid a living wage, particularly when the developer was going to receive over $70 million in taxpayer subsidies to remake a public landmark.

It was hardly an outlandish request. Several other municipalities have enacted wage guarantees on development projects benefiting from taxpayer subsidies.

It hasn’t been required in New York City, but, thanks to the Armory battle, living wage requirements are now an issue with wings as legislation is being considered in the City Council. (It won’t pass this year, but it will be back on the docket and a priority in 2011, says Council Majority Leader Joel Rivera.) That’s why all the Manhattan-based big-shots are so mad at Diaz. He picked a big, risky fight and he’s winning.

We might have a little more patience for the tabloid tirades if they ever really gave a whit about the Bronx when it mattered. Where were they when the Yankees took subsidies and local parkland for their stadium, delaying some local replacement parks as much as three years? They were cheerleading the project along.

What have they said about the scandal-plagued water filtration plant that ripped a stadium-sized hole in a local park, costing water rate payers $2 billion more than the original billion-dollar price tag? Right, nothing.

Yes, jobs are critical, but what’s even more critical is laying a foundation of fairness that has long eluded the borough. That includes jobs that pay decent wages and a real role in determining what is done with our precious public property.

Whatever the tabloids say, Diaz helped lay the cornerstone for that foundation, and we applaud him for it.

Bronx Borough President to Appear on NY1 Tonight

Ruben Diaz, Jr., the Bronx borough president, will be appearing on NY1’s “Inside City Hall” this evening.

The show airs at 7 p.m. and again at 10 p.m. Topics for discussion include the Muller Army Reserve Center and the Kingsbridge Armory.

Engel Joins Opposition of Wakefield Homeless Shelters

This morning, Bronx Congressman Eliot Engel came out in strong opposition of proposals that would bring two new homeless shelters to the north Bronx neighborhood of Wakefield.

He provided comments at a public hearing downtown concerning the city's plan to award Project Renewal a $87 million contract to turn a vacant car dealership at 4380 Bronx Blvd. into a 100-bed transitional homeless shelter, saying the Wakefield area would be harmed by the excess influx of homeless shelters.

"The character of the neighborhood, a generally low-rise, low-density homeownership neighborhood, would be disproportionately affected and in a negative way," he said in a statement.

Besides the Bronx Boulevard proposal, there is already a plan to create 63-unit homeless shelter on White Plains Road and the mayor's office says it wants to turn the vacant Muller Army Reserve Center into 200-unit homeless shelter.

Engel also said he supported a plan -- pushed by Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. and the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance -- to transfer the national guard units from the Kingsbridge Armory annex buildings into the vacant Muller Center. The annex buildings would then be free to become new schools, as politicians, parents and activists have long advocated for. If not, he said a community center would be more appropriate at the army center.

"The Department of Homeless Services should reconsider these proposals and spare the Wakefield community this disruption of its character and values," Engel said.

Bronx News Roundup, Sept. 30

Mayor Bloomberg wasted no time in yanking Bronx teacher Melissa Petro from her classroom at PS 70 after he learned of her very public musings about her past as a sex worker.

Councilman Fernando Cabrera, whose district includes PS 70, chimed in about Petro--and her tenure--in a panel discussion on Fox News yesterday. Watch the video here.

A group of Bronx high school students are weighing in on the debate over the redevelopment of the Kingsbridge Armory.

BronxTalk host Gary Axelbank was on the radio program The Perez Notes yesterday to talk about his show and Bronx politics.

A Parkchester man turned himself in to authorities yesterday for allegedly beating a traffic cop who gave him a ticket.

The Daily News has footage of two sets of baby tiger cubs born at the Bronx Zoo. 

Vandals spray painted and etched swastikas into the green at Van Cortland Golf Course yesterday.

Cesar Mercado, the Nicaraguan diplomat who was found dead in his Mount Hope apartment last week, had ingested a bottle of Drano cleaner before he died, according to police.

A new breakdown of Census figures ranks Jose E. Serrano's South Bronx Congressional District as the poorest in the country, with 38 percent of residents living below the poverty line.

The much talked about change in street signs this week--where the DOT is replacing capital letters with lowercase ones--is part of a federal mandate intended to "improve readability." It'll cost the state a whopping $27 million to make all the required replacements.

The murder rate is up across New York City, with a particularly high rise in the number of killings in the North Bronx--the rate went up 46 percent this year.

Actress Rosie Perez, in a video released by gay rights group Fight Back NY, told Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. that she is "extremely disappointed" in him for his opposing stance on gay marriage. "You are not speaking for the majority of New York Latinos," she said.

Bronx-born actor Tony Curtis died yesterday at the age of 85.

The Department of Homeless Services has shut out hundreds of families from using the agency's "Homebase" program in an attempt to see how effective it is.

Kingsbridge Armory Battle Inspires Citywide Living Wage Bill

Two Bronx politicians are picking up the torch from the living wage campaign that was at the heart of last year's battle over the Kingsbridge Armory.

City Council members Oliver Koppell and Annabel Palma introduced a bill yesterday, dubbed the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, that would require all development projects that receive public subsidies from the city to pay workers eventually employed there a living wage--$10 an hour with benefits or $11.50 an hour without.                                                                                      

Living wage--just $2.75 more than the mandated minimum wage of $7.25, and adding up to about $18,000 a year, according to Koppell--was a hot button topic last year during the redevelopment of the Kingsbridge Armory. The City Council voted down plans for a shopping mall at the hulking Bronx building in December because Related Companies, the developer, would not agree to a living wage provision for workers there, despite the fact that the group would be getting millions of dollars in taxpayer funded credits.

"Today, we're showing everyone that this debate is not just about one parochial section of the Bronx. This is a citywide debate," said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., who joined a bevy of Bronx pols and leaders--and those from other boroughs--on the steps of City Hall yesterday to show their support of the bill.

Bronx News Roundup, May 12

Here's some BX-related news on this rainy Wednesday.

The four Bronx-bred stars who will be inducted into the Grand Concourse's Bronx Walk of Fame next weekend will be former Congressman Herman Badillo, magazine founder Edward Lewis (he started Essence), Celtic flutist Joanie Madden and balladeer Jerry Vale. They will be honored at the Bronx Ball next Saturday and inducted into the Walk of Fame on Sunday morning before the parade on Mosholu Parkway.

After three years of renovations, the High Bridge Public Library reopens.

NY1 takes a look inside the Kingsbridge Armory and the renovation challenges that await the Kingsbridge Armory's Task Force.

Thanks to the Melrose community rallying together, the restaurant Coqui Mexicano has received an additional six months to pay back the $11,000 they owe in back rent.

The City Council is introducing the New York Anti-Asthma program, which will require landlords of the most poorly maintained buildings to clean up their premises. If not, they will have to face liens filed against their properties.

This Friday, "The Real Million Dollar Baby," Bronx boxer Maureen Shea will get back in the ring at the Paradise Theater.

As public employee unions file legal action in federal court against Gov. Paterson's one-day furloughs, Paterson's office is feeling the heat for giving staffers raises and promotions.

Students at the Bronx School of Science Inquiry and Investigation showcased their exceptional knowledge of science at the first-ever sixth grade science fair yesterday. This event was part of the Connect A Million Minds initiative.

Bronx News Roundup, April 29

Yesterday, the attorney general's office filed another civil suit against embattled State Senator Pedro Espada, Jr.  Espada and one of his sons set up a sham training program in order to pay janitors as little as $1.70 an hour, the office alleges.  Espada claims (as he did last week) that Andrew Cuomo is bullying him. More here.

Despite claiming to be a strong advocate for tenants' rights, Espada has deep ties to the the real estate industry, which - through campaign contributions - has helped shape his agenda as chair of the Senate's housing committee, argues the Village Voice's Tom Robbins.

An assistant principal at Bronx Science habitually harassed teachers under her, often reducing them to tears, an independent report has found. But Rosemary Jahoda will likely keep her job after the Department of Education dismissed most of the reports findings.

The first ever Bronx Food Summit is being held next Monday at Hostos Community College.

A new City Council bill could force the NYPD to publish traffic accidents and summonses statistics online. 

A 20-year-old Bronx man has been charged with attempted murder following a night of violence in Midtown in Easter Day. Police say Rayvon Guice fired his gun into a group of people, injuring two men. 

In a lawsuit, a former waitress at the Lobster Box in City Island says was sexually harassed by her supervisor, and fired when she complained.

A new playground has opened in Parkchester.

Students and teachers at Herbert Lehman High School, a 4,500-student school in the east Bronx, have been told that permanent metal detectors are to be installed, following several recent fights and an uptick in gang activity.

Yesterday, Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr.'s Kingbridge Armory task force toured the mammoth building.

Charlie Ramos of the group "Bronx for Change" is after State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr.'s seat.  More on Ramos here and here.

City comptroller John Liu has created a task force to examine how developers deliver community benefit agreements.  Among the aims: more transparency.

Fernando Aquino, a political consultant who often works with Bronx politicians and wannabe Bronx politicians, was interviewed recently on the Perez Notes radio show.

A former Bronx police officer talks about his new(ish) career as an arborist at the New York Botanical Garden.

Coqui Mexicano, a restaurant in Melrose, won't close after all.  [via BoogieDowner]

Bronx News Roundup, April 23

There are, as to be expected, some Espada headlines gracing the papers this morning:

State prosecutors subpoenaed 10 staff members with ties to Espada's Soundview HealthCare Network yesterday. 

The state senator's legacy will be Soundview and sushi, says the New York Times. The sushi, like Larry Seabrook's infamous $177 bagel, is in reference to $20,000 worth of take out  delivered to Espada's Mamaroneck home, paid for by Soundview. The article goes on to say that Bronx residents still view the health clinic as a valuable resource in the neighborhood, though it's gotten "shabby" in recent years.

Espada defended himself on NY1's "Inside City Hall" last night and on "Good Day New York" this morning.

Meanwhile, Espada's newly announced opponent Desiree-Pilgrim Hunter could be picking up support from two major unions: it's said that both the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and a local chapter of the Transport Workers Union may endorse the candidate.

In other news:

Sustainable South Bronx is approaching its 10 year anniversary. NY1 ran a segment yesterday (earth day) on the group and all the good work it does to green the borough.

A 15-year-old from Throgs Neck is facing 18 months in juvenile detention for driving his family car into a tree in December, killing his 12-year-old neighbor who was in the passenger seat.

Bronx students continue to fight the elimination of free student Metrocards. 

David Gonzalez of the New York Times has been investigating a Brooklyn pastor who hired and promised paychecks to hundreds of residents in Brooklyn and the Bronx--but the jobs, and the money, never existed.

BoogieDowner posts about a NYT's article on the new mall in Rego Park, Queens and how it's become an economy booster there. BD alludes to the killed Related Companies' plan at the Kingsbridge Armory and the (albeit minimum wage) jobs that might have been provided for Bronxites, had it survived.