Vacca Calls Out Donald Trump

Bronx City Councilman James Vacca sent out a statement this week blasting Donald Trump, the billionaire businessman-turned-reality TV star-turned-presidential hopeful, for comments he made recently that knocked the Big Apple.

Trump, a native New Yorker, went on CNN this week and referred to LaGaurdia Airport in Queens as a "Third World airport."

"Donald Trump's comments were at best a cheap shot at New York City and at worst an insensitive knock on the diversity that makes our city great," Vacca said in statement sent out Sunday. "Donald Trump has lived in New York his whole life. He has done very well in New York. If he thinks he's going to ride to the White House by picking on New York, he has another thing coming."

Trump also called the United States a "laughingstock" to the rest of the world for its lack of investment in infrastructure, erroneously saying no one can remember the last time the U.S. built a bridge.

"Mr. Trump is free to come to my borough and look at the new Willis Avenue Bridge, completed just last year," Vacca countered. "His statement is really amazing as it shows a complete lack of knowledge about what is going on in his own city."

Bronx Weekend News Roundup, Nov. 8

Congratulations to all the Bronxites and everyone else who completed the NYC Marathon yesterday.

Most runners didn't notice crossing the borough's brand new Willis Avenue bridge, which was floated into place in early October. “I was too busy trying not to suffer,” a firefighter who works in the Bronx told the NY Times.

Some video from the race. Gebre Gebremariam of Ehtiopia took the men's title and Kenya's Edna Kiplagat won the women's race. Also competing: NY1's Bronx reporter Dean Meminger.

In his column about the race, the Times' George Vecsey said the crowds in the Bronx seemed "better" than in years past.

Several news outlets picked up on the story of a 21-year-old Mt. Hope father charged with causing the death of his 8-week-old daughter. At the arraignment Friday night, prosecutors say Gregory Gray gave conflicting statements to police about how the child was injured. Gray, who his uncle called a "loving kid," pleaded not guilty.

NPR has piece on "The Anthology of Rap," a new book about the evolution of the music genre born right here in the Boogie Down nearly four decades ago. 

A profile of Frank's Sport Shop owner Moe Stein, whose family has been in the sport and uniform business for almost 90 years near Park and Tremont avenues. Here's some video of Moe in action (watch this, Moe's hilarious). More from the Times earlier this year, and from the Tremont Tribune last year. 

After starting 0-5, the DeWitt Clinton football team has streaked to four straight wins and a PSAL playoff birth after undressing Lehman High School on Saturday, 48-6.

The Bronx Science girl volleyball squad is also streaking into the PSAL playoffs.

Could the Hunts Point Market be moving to Jersey? 

A new farming school is coming to the south Bronx.

An entrepreneur is taking advantage of the ban on cell phones at Bronx public schools by offering to baby-sit students' electronic devices for $1 a day. His mobile mobile phone depository offers its services at Lehman and Clinton high schools.

Friends worked hard to get the name of a fallen Vietnam War soldier from the Bronx, Peter Wiesneifski, included on a Van Nest war memorial.

The custodian of the Bronx's Theodore Roosevelt High School is being accused of using city workers to renovate the homes and apartments he owns.

Bronx News Roundup, Oct. 13

A man was shot and killed by cops after a wild chase that ended in what police called a violent struggle. According to the Daily News, Wardell Johnson was riding a four-wheel off-road vehicle down Boston Road when police tried to pull him over. The pursuit continued until the yellow ATV ran out of gas near Baychester Avenue. It appears Johnson was unarmed.

One man arrested in connection with the Bronx gang torture of two teenagers and 30-year-old man, posted bail Tuesday night. Ruddy Vargas-Perez, 20, who turned himself in Monday, said, "God knows I'm innocent." And his pregnant wife said Vargas-Perez was with her during the attacks and that he isn't a part of the Latin King Goonies, which police say is the name of the group that carried out the attacks.

The city's Education Department says it is done paying the bill for nearly 1,000 community groups living rent free in 900 of the DOE's buildings. It wants the non profits to pay for their own security and custodial expenses or face eviction. For groups like the Mary Mitchell Family and Youth center in the Bronx this may mean cutting back on services they offer to kids. The center's director, Heidi Hynes, says the DOE has "left us out in the cold." Here's some more background on the center's struggle to stay afloat.

After the dismissal of one juror, deliberations over the fate of four men accused of plotting to bomb two Riverdale synagogues continues.

A Bronxite shares her experiences running the NYC Marathon.

Bronx News Roundup, Oct. 12

If you missed it, here's a separate roundup of headlines concerning last week's appalling gay bias attacks in Morris Heights.

The building where the beatings took place--a brick three-family home at 1910 Osborne Place--is an example of the risky mortgage lending that's led to a growing number of abandoned properties across the city. Banks should notify the NYPD about empty buildings where gang members and dangerous squatters can set up shop, writes the Daily News' Michael Daly.

The four men accused in the Bronx synagogue bomb plot were denied a mistrial yesterday. The men's lawyers requested a mistrial on the grounds that jurors had been shown evidence that was not admitted during the trial; the request was denied, though one juror was dismissed from the case.

The 109-year-old Willis Avenue Bridge will be floated to New Jersey and disassembled this fall. The bridge, connecting the Bronx the northern Manhattan, has been replaced by a new structure.

Bronx Daily News reporter Patrice O'Shaughnessy writes of an unlikely connection between sources from two separate stories she wrote, over the span of several decades, both taking place in the Bronx.

Two Bronx residents have been accused of a major shoplifting heist at the Palisades Mall in Westchester.

A new book takes a look at the life and hardships of Yankees legend Mickey Mantle. 

Speaking of the Yankees: fans are irked by a huge increase in stadium parking fees. The garages have hiked their prices from $23 to--yikes--$40 for a space. 

Bronx (Weekend) News Roundup, Oct. 4

Here's a behind-the-scenes look into the ongoing synagogue bomb-plot trial. The case is wrapping up this week as closing arguments are set to begin today.

Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. had some harsh words for gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino this weekend, calling the Republican an "utter nut job." Diaz and former BP Freddy Ferrer were both on hand in Manhattan on Saturday to endorse Paladino's rival, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

Diaz is on one of several politicians predicted to be vying for a spot in the 2013 Mayoral race. 

Progress reports released by the DOE show a drop in evaluation grades for Bronx elementary and middle schools, though many blame the slip on tougher state testing standards.

An off-duty corrections officer was shot by the NYPD outside of a club on E. 161st after he refused to drop the gun he was carrying. Victor Hernandez  is now in stable condition at Lincoln Hospital.

Police are asking for help in locating a missing 15-year-old boy who was last seen on Sept. 28 near his home at 2115 Haviland Avenue.

A final viewing was held Saturday in Baychester for the six member of Joy Fellowship Christian Assemblies who died in a car accident two weeks ago.

Well-known Bronx graffiti artist Fernando Carlo was nabbed by cops this week for tagging a subway car at 207th Street last year. He had been abroad since then and was arrested upon returning to the states.

The Daily News looks back on the case of Larry Davis, a Bronx man charged with slaying four drug dealers 24 years ago this week. His capture and trial made national headlines at the time.

The new Willis Avenue Bridge, connecting upper Manhattan to the Bronx, reopened on Saturday.

Small businesses are still hurting from the recession, even if experts say the downturn officially ended last year.

Bronx News Roundup, Aug. 9

On Friday night and early Saturday morning, there were nine separate shooting incidents in the Bronx.  Two teenagers were killed and 12 other people were injured. In a statement released Saturday, Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. said:

Last night’s wave of violence is extremely alarming, not only to myself  but to the overwhelming majority of my constituents: 1.4 million Bronx  residents who want to do nothing more than work, raise their families  and live their lives in peace without having to worry that they or their  children will be cut down by a thug’s bullet. The summer is supposed to  be a time to relax with family and friends without fear of losing one’s  life.  Those responsible for these shootings must be prosecuted to the  fullest extent of the law. Those who would turn to a gun as the answer  to their problems have no place in decent society. This has to stop.

An off-duty Bronx police officer was arrested on Friday night for driving drunk, police say.  Juan Burgos is a seven-year veteran assigned to the 43rd Precinct.

Bronx resident Gladys Carrión, the commissioner of the city's Office of Children and Family Services, has won friends - and plenty of enemies - for attempting to close several poorly run juvenile centers in upstate New York.

BoogieDowner has posted the names of 39 people on State Senator Pedro Espada, Jr's payroll, along with their wages. One name in particular - Haile Rivera - is raising eyebrows.  Rivera, a University Heights resident and former Obama campaigner, previously mulled a run against Espada. Now he's working for him, and sounding like him, too.  On Facebook last month, Rivera wrote: "Why is it that when the powers-that-be see a Latino/a rising, they do whatever it takes to bring him/her down?"

The Gotham Gazette takes an in-depth look at the race between State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr. and Charlie Ramos.

Last night, a fire gutted a row of stores in Williamsbridge.  Investigators are calling the blaze suspicious.

A construction crew began installing the new Willis Avenue Bridge this morning. The bridge, which connects the South Bronx with Harlem, is replacing the bridge of the same name. It'll reopen in the fall.

Ten wind turbines located on the roof of a Melrose Apartment building generate enough electricity to serve the building's common-area needs. The building, which boasts numerous other "green" initiatives, opened last October.