De Blasio Announces Support of Living Wage Legislation

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio has come out in support of the Living Wage legislation, sending a letter yesterday to Christine Quinn, the Council speaker. Quinn has not yet signaled whether she's going to allow a vote on the bill.

Bronx News Roundup, Oct. 11

A security guard apparently shot himself to death on the roof of the Bronx district attorney's office on East 161st Street.

New York Times columnist Michael Powell looks at the living wage battle through the eyes of a south Bronx mom struggling on $9.25 an hour with no benefits.

The crime and murder rate is way up in Morris Heights and the rest of the 46th Precinct -- including four murders in the last month -- and Assemblywoman Vanessa Gibson organized a rally in response.

Some custodians at Jacobi Medical Center are earning healthy six-figure salaries.

The parade grounds in Van Cortlandt Park will be closed to cricket players and other athletes until next fall, depriving park users of the fields for a third straight season. The reason? Too many weeds among the new grass. Needless to say, the players are not happy.

Arlene McLaren, a former staffer of Councilman Oliver Koppell, has been hired as the executive director of the Charles County Chamber of Commerce in Maryland.

Muggings in the Williamsbridge Oval brought Norwood residents together for a march in the park. 

Norwood News interviews Lehman Center for the Performing Arts executive director Eva Bornstein for a preview of the organization's 31st season.

Mott Haven Herald reports on those Queens chickens migrating to Brook Park in the Bronx.

Bronx Ink asks the question: Why is Heritage Field Still Closed?

Bronx News Roundup, Oct. 5

Revoking the registration of the bus company responsible for the bus crash that killed 15 people on the I-95 in the Bronx in March hasn't put the brakes on the owner who is still booking passengers through two other companies.

A new building for a charter school in Hunts Point is the first educational facility built in the neighborhood in 30 years.

The Times artchitecture critic who wrote that rare front-page review/appreciation of the Via Verde housing development in Melrose, followed up on the Times arts blog with a post and a video of his tour of the neighborhood with city planning commissioner Amanda Burden. Nice work, Mr. Kimmelman. Keep it up!

A $4 million U.S. Army Corp of engineers contract will result in the restoration of wetlands in Soundview Park.

A WNYC "radio rookie" filed a report on growing up in poverty in the Bronx.

The Bronx FEMA center, set up after Hurricane Irene barreled through the borough, is closing today at 5 p.m. 

As part of Carnegie Hall's neighborhood concert series, Chris Washburne and SYOTOS will perform on Friday at the Bronx Museum of the Arts.  

A look at how and why organized labor is getting involved with #occupysallstreet beginning with a big rally today. 

The final study on the effect of proposed living wage legislation by the city's Economic Development Corporation is out and guess what? They think it will limit economic growth and not help workers' that much. The study doesn't reflect changes to the legislation that reduces the number of businesses affected. 

The Bronx Culture Trolley returns tomorrow.

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.

Bronx News Roundup, Friday, April 22

Happy Earth Day! Go out and do something good for Mother Nature today. Send her a card made out of recycled paper or hug a tree or clean up your dog's poop or here's a bunch of other suggestions.

Weekend Weather: Very cool, in the 50s, on this Earth Day. The nearly-certain arrival of rain is supposed to hold off until the middle of the night and then continue through Saturday. Temperatures will rise into the 60s tomorrow and could hit a cloudy 70 on Sunday.

Story of the Day: The Best Roasted Pork in the Boogie Down
Roasted pork as the Story of the Day? You betcha, as my dad loves to say. We'll get to some gloom and doom in the Hits, but not here. Here we're talking about pork. Luscious, mouth-watering Puerto Rican-style roasted pork at El Nuevo Bohío. BxNN friend David Gonzalez's descriptions in this NY Times "Neighborhood Joint" feature are downright poetic. A snippet: "Veiled by vapor rising from the steam tables, platters emerge like apparitions, handed over to waitresses who balance them on forearms that would frighten a championship arm wrestler." Wow. Gonzalez is on top of his game. After reading this piece, I almost stopped this roundup and immediately headed over to the corner of East Tremont and Mapes avenues. Maybe I'll walk there later in honor of Earth Day. Plus, there's a slide show.

Quick Hits: 
Echoes of Sean Bell in Highbridge early this morning as police opened fire a 20-year-old man, who reportedly would not drop the pellet gun he was holding, striking him 10 times. Amazingly, Mamadou Valve, he's still alive as of this posting.

More on the fatal car crash on Fordham Road, which we reported on yesterday afternoon. The woman who died has been identified as 61-year-old Carmen Ahmed, who was shopping when the livery cab crashed into Cee & Cee Department store.

The NYPD ticket-fixing investigation centered around Bronx police officers received a big boost from two "hapless" rookie cops.(The Post has been all over this story.)

City Hall calls Bronx DA Robert Johnson a "winner" this week for his role in ticket-fixing investigation and endorsement from the Bronx Democrats.

Police are looking for a man who was caught on tape snatching the purse of a 78-year-old woman.

Cops arrested and charged a suspect with murdering a young Bronx mother.

The DOT is attempting to curb speeding on Bruckner Boulevard in Country Club by installing a new "speed board."

Often incendiary Post political columnist Frederic U. Dicker, who grew up in the Bronx, has been "surprisingly gentle" with Gov. Cuomo thus far, the Times report.

And finally, in a wide stretch of an editorial today, the Daily News links the impending loss of the Bazzini nut roasting plant jobs to the political fight to stop the Kingsbridge Armory from turning into a shopping mall and criticizes city politicians -- specifically Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. -- for not being more business-friendly.

Two problems with this editorial. One, the loss of Bronx jobs is never a good thing, but Bazzini CEO Rocco Damato said: "It's nobody's fault." And two, it says the living wage bill supported by 28 Council members is an "insane idea" that has "taxpayers subsidize wages in the private-sector." That's simply not true. The living wage legislation, known as the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, would require developers (not taxpayers) to provide living wage jobs when they receive big subsidies and tax breaks from the city. In that way, taxpayers already subsidize the private sector. But that money goes into the pockets of developers and doesn't translate into better jobs. So, on behalf of Diaz, Jr., I'd like to say, Oh yeah, Daily News, what do you have to say about this:


The Bronx, the Brooooooooooooonx!

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].”

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.

Bronx News Roundup, Jan. 20

Big Brothers and Big Sisters, the organization that matches adult mentors with children and teens, is looking for volunteers in the Bronx. The group received only 27 Bronx mentors last year.

A Bronx woman has been reunited with her daughter, who was kidnapped over two decades ago.

Councilman Oliver Koppell and Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., continue their fight for passage of a Living Wage bill, which stemmed from last year's battle over plans for the Kingbridge Armory. The two pols attended a rally in Harlem last week in support of the legislation, which Mayor Bloomberg and the business community have opposed. 

A 16-year-old boy from the Bronx wowed judges on American Idol this week. Travis Orlando "took viewers on a tour of his rough Bronx neighborhood near the Grand Concourse thoroughfare," according to MTV.com.

Rayvon Guice, 21, of the Bronx, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for shooting two women in last year's chaotic "wilding" in Times Square on Easter Sunday.

A student from Bronx High School of Science is a semifinalist in the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search for his genetic research project.

The family of Betty Williams, the murdered Bronx woman whose body was discovered inside a suitcase on the Upper East Side last month, are trying to reunite with her 3-year-old son. The boy was placed in foster care after his mother struggled with addiction problems.

A couple was killed early yesterday morning in a car accident on the Grand Concourse near East 165th Street.

Pedro Espada's memoir, which never materialized, was meant to be in part a political attack against then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, according to the Post. Investigators have been looking into the proposed autobiography to find out if Espada used money from his Soundview Health Clinics to pay for the ghostwriter he'd hired.

Students at Theatre Arts Production Company High School, on Webster Avenue, say it's easy to get straight A's at the school, which is one of the higher performing in the city. The Department of Education is looking into whether or not grades at the school have been fudged. The Times has more here.

New York Democrats, including Sen. Jeff Klein, are laying off staff this year due to budget constraints. The party had racked up millions in debt during their two years in power.

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.

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."

Living Wage Face-Off in Daily News

Yesterday, the Daily News featured opposing viewpoints on the living wage issue in its op-ed pages. Take a look here and here and tell us, and your fellow BxNN readers, what you think (just click the "comment" button under this post). Obviously, this is on everyone's radar following the battle over the living wage issue at the Kingsbridge Armory, which has led to legislation being deliberated in the City Council that would require retailers to pay workers at least $10 an hour in developments that receive public subsidies.

Bronx News Roundup, May 25

A 14-year-old girl has gone missing from her home on East 168 Street, and the police are asking for the public's help in locating her. 

The Daily News' "Best of the Borough Series" looks at Bronx food, Bronx culture, Bronx sports, and the Bronx for kids.

Mayor Bloomberg says the so-called living-wage bill is "poorly thought out and will not work."  The bill (full name: The Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act ) is sponsored by council members Oliver Koppell and Annabel Palma.  It's being introduced today.

Thirty-six individuals have so far graduated from the Osborne Association's Green Career Center in Morrisania.  The center, which opened in March, provides former prisoners with the skills to land a "green" job.

On her blog, a Bronx teacher laments the lack of news coverage Sunday's double-murder in Mount Hope has received. 

This summer, several Bronx pols "will find themselves in real knockdown brawls to hang onto their seats," says the Daily News' Bob Kappstatter.

The Bronx Democratic Party has endorsed Eric Stevenson, a district leader who's running for Michael Benjamin's assembly seat.  Benjamin plans to step down and may challenge Congressman Jose Serrano. 

In an editorial at the weekend, El Diario la Prensa criticized the National Puerto Rican Day Parade Committee for giving State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr. a lifetime achievement award.  Diaz is undeserving because of his opposition to gay marriage, the paper argues.  You can read Diaz's response to the editorial here. 

iPADs are banned from the Yankee Stadium. 

The Bronx Zoo's lion cubs are nameless no more.  Daily News' readers picked out Nala, Adamma and Shani.

The Bronx Halls of Justice has been open two years, but court officers' radios still don't work inside, increasing the likelihood of prisoner escapes.

The first in a two-part series about life in River Park Towers, a huge housing complex in Morris Heights on the edge of the Harlem River.  While the view is stunning, the buildings and apartments have seen better days. 

Not Messin' Around at the Armory

The Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance will be hosting new AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka in the neighborhood on Tuesday afternoon including a 3:30 meeting at the Armory.

Is the Armory, a local development project not even well known beyond the borough's borders, becoming a proving ground for the national labor movement on whether they can get some movement on the Living Wage issue?

Meanwhile, the City Planning Commission will vote on the Related Companies' Armory proposal on Oct. 19 following a negative recommendation from Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. The final determination will then be made by the City Council.

With No Benefits Agreement, Opposition to Developer's Armory Plan is Mounting

Community groups, a big retail workers union and Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. told the City Planning Commission today not to approve the Related Companies' plan to redevelop the Kingsbridge Armory into a giant shopping mall because the developer has refused to sign on to a Community Benefits Agreement.

In his statement, Diaz said he couldn't recommend approval of the project "based on the lack of a signed Community Benefits Agreement that inlcudes provisions concerning a living wage policy, first source and local hiring, various economic development initiatives, labor peace and the ability of employees at the retail development to unionize, community access to space at the Kingsbridge Armory and the development of a community facility as part of the project, the maintenance of local parks, green initiatives, and are traffic improvements."

Diaz also relayed concerns about the economic impact on businesses on nearby Fordham Road and the River Plaza, traffic concerns and the inclusion of school facilities as part of the project.

Representatives of the The Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA) and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) also said the planning commission shouldn't approve the project for similar reasons, the living wage policy and unionization protections being the biggest ones.

Earlier this summer Community Board 7 voted to approve of the project, but only if Related, a national developer with close ties to the Bloomberg administration, entered into a substantial and binding benefits agreement.

Related has said they would enter into a benefits agreement, but in a statement last week, Related said it had concerns that some of the provisions contained in the borough president's benefits agreement proposal would undermine the financial viability and profitability of the Armory.

Though they declined to specify which provisions they were referring to, Related officials have repeatedly said no to any kind of living wage policy, which would require retailers at the Armory mall to pay their employees $10 an hour, plus benefits.

Because of Diaz's stance, it's clear that negotiations between the borough presidnet (who is also representing KARA and Board 7) and Related hav fizzled.

This morning, KARA held a rally in support of CBA before the planning commission met to hear testimony. Tonight, local religious leaders who are members of KARA are rallying outside of the Armory to "call on God for strength in pursuing the righteous cause of High Road Development at the Kingsbridge Armory."