Bronx News Roundup, Jan. 8

A 10-man brawl broke out yesterday night in front of a Radioshack in Longwood. Two of the men have been left with stab wounds from a screwdriver and are currently being treated at Lincoln Hospital. The remaining eight men managed to disperse before police arrived.

Robert Finn, former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, recounts how his childhood in MetLife's exclusive Parkchester housing development opened his eyes to injustice and social stratification. Finn references his experiences in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Plans for an expansion of Van Nest Park are finally given the green light. Proposals include more play equipment, areas to lounge, more lights and a flagpole for the park's World War I memorial. Some local residents express traffic and parking concerns, but are actively seeking compromise.

A group of Bronx teens are treated to a tour of the White House. The members of the Bronx Youth Empowerment Program had traveled to Philadelphia to campaign for President Obama last year, and as a reward are also treated to a discussion with White House political director Patrick Gaspard.

Calling Councilman Cabrera

Meant to put this up earlier in the week. 

Here's the working phone number for 14th District Councilman Fernando Cabrera's new office, located at 107 E. Burnside Ave., just off of Morris Avenue and about two blocks west of the Grand Concourse:

(347) 590-2874 (You can also reach them at 2875, 2876, 2877 and 2878)

Cabrera's made it abundantly clear that he wants people calling these numbers, stopping by, hanging out, asking for help and even creating new problems at his district office.

His skeleton crew staff, pictured here from left to right, constituent services workers Anthony Springer, Timothy Tapia and Chief of Staff Greg Faulkner, have already achieved their first taste of successful advocacy.

Yesterday, a young area couple was in the office looking for assistance after being denied shelter by the city's Department of Homeless Services (DHS). After contacting DHS, a case worker soon called back and said they would be there in 10 minutes. Maybe 8 minutes later, the case worker showed up. They went over the couple's case and, although they haven't quite worked out all the details, the couple was at least given temporary shelter.

Imagine the possibilities. Give the Councilman a call.

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Koppell: On Armory, Administration ‘Bargaining in Bad Faith’

As a vote neared in the City Council on the Kingsbridge Armory redevelopment, only Oliver Koppell was publicly expressing reservations about joining with the Bronx delegation in rejecting the project.

Earlier that week, Koppell held a town hall meeting in Bedford Park where he verbally tussled with constituents who were virtually unanimous in their position that he should vote the plan down if it didn’t include a living wage provision.

“If you want to be responsible for an empty building for the next 10 years, that’s you,” Koppell told his audience then. “I don’t want to be responsible for that.”

Add to those concerns Koppell’s support of Mayor Bloomberg in the November election and you’ve got the Bronx Council member most likely to give the project a green light.

But when the vote came, he voted with the Bronx delegation and 44 of his colleagues, in a stunning rebuke of Mayor Bloomberg and one of his top outer-borough economic development priorities.

We called Koppell a few days ago and asked him why he voted the way he did.

“I wanted the project to go ahead,” Koppell said, “but I hadn’t made up my mind because we were involved with quite lengthy negotiations with the city to try and get some concessions on the living wage.”

Koppell said the negotiations with the Bloomberg administration were “going ahead fairly positively until Friday [the vote was on Monday], and then at the last minute, the administration took all of their tentative offers off the table, and wanted us to proceed with no concession on living wage,” and no progress on other matters either.

One of those tentative offers was the creation of a fund from the sale price of the building to subsidize merchants so they could pay their wokers the living wage -- $10 an hour plus benefits – demanded by elected officials and the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance.

On the day of the vote, Council Majority Leader Joel Rivera told the press that the city’s top lawyer said that  one of the offers – giving direct financial to eligible workers – might run afoul of the state Constitution .

But Koppell, a former state attorney general, said he believes even that “could have been worked out in my opinion if the city and Related wanted to proceed with it.”

Koppell said there were other benefits under discussion including a provision for Bronx purchasing and hiring Bronx workers. “They were on the table and maybe they could have been worked out,” he said. “When the other two matters were taken away everything fell apart.”

Praise and Prayers for Cabrera on Inauguration Day

Fernando Cabrera's ceremonial inauguration last night at Bronx Community College played out like a star-studded spiritual revival as a small army of city politicians lined up to offer congratulations and predict a bright future for the Bronx's newest City Council member.

Although the night was ostensibly about Cabrera, who unseated two-term incumbent Maria Baez last fall, it was also bigger than him.

Speakers, from U.S. Senator Charles Schumer to new Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio to Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., hailed Cabrera's induction into the City Council as another big step in the positive reshaping of the Bronx political landscape.

"Something wonderful is happening in the Bronx," said DeBlasio, going on to praise the "new and dynamic leadership" in the borough.

DeBlasio and others said new B.P. Diaz and new Bronx Democratic Party leader Assemblyman Carl Heastie had made great strides in uniting the borough's historically-fractured gaggle of elected officials.

This manifested itself at the end of 2009 with the Council's nearly unanimous rejection of a Bloomberg-backed plan to turn the Kingsbridge Armory (which sits in the middle of Cabrera's 14th District) into a shopping mall. That wouldn't have happened if it weren't for the Bronx Council delegation's cohesion during the failed negotiations of a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) with the Armory's designated developer, The Related Companies.

During his rousing speech, Diaz, who opposed the Armory plan without a CBA that would include guarantees of good-paying jobs, heaped praise on Cabrera for showing "leadership and courage" in stepping up during the negotiating process in December, though he had yet to take office. That was partly due to Baez's inexplicable absence (she's reportedly ill, but never made an official announcement about what's happened to her), but it was also because Cabrera offered his services and proved to be an asset during the process.

"It was there that he showed that over the next four years, we're going to have a productive time," Diaz said.

Bronx News Roundup for Jan. 7

The Daily News and the New York Times report on subpoenas for State Senator Pedro Espada from Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who is looking into the relationship of his Soundview Healtchare Network and his member items. “It’s a kitchen sink kind of thing,” a Daily News source said.

Here’s Espada’s response to the Governor’s state-of-the-state address yesterday, which focused primarily on ethics reform.

The site where Amadou Diallo was shot to death is a popular tourist attraction.

A staffer of New York City’s Economic Development Corporation takes issue with the Riverdale Press’s recent editorial on the Kingsbridge Armory.

Bronx News Roundup, Jan. 6

Two NYPD detectives were injured in a friendly-fire incident last night during an attempted Fordham Road drug bust. Detectives Thomas Guarino and Thomas McHale are being treated for bullet grazes at Jacobi Medical Center after their partner fired at a charging pit bull.

A lawsuit claiming $750 million in misspent money aimed at decreasing class sizes in overcrowded public schools is being held at the Bronx Supreme Court.

Tenants of Riverview Apartments in the Morris Heights section of the Bronx cheer on a victory over rent hikes and regulation, citing a deregulation ruling from March for Manhattan's Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village.Tenants are still waiting on a response to their complaint about the landlord's right to read submeters, rather than ConEdison.

Shelter for struggling families hosts ceremony for the expansion of their children's library, thanks to the donation of hundreds of books from Kumon learning center.

The Bronx Underground, a music booking and promotions company, announces brand new hourly and monthly rehearsal space for Bronx musicians. Open House and launch party will be held on January 16th. There will be live music and refreshments will be served.

Wanted: High School Students for Journalism Program

The Norwood News and Mount Hope Monitor are running a free journalism program for Bronx high school students.

Classes will begin on Feb. 3 and run on Wednesday afternoons from 4 to 6 p.m. for 12 weeks.

Students will learn the fundamentals of writing, reporting, and photojournalism through classroom instruction, and through hands-on reporting in their own neighborhoods.

We will take them on field trips, and they will learn about community activism and civic responsibility, how their neighborhoods work (or don't), who has power, who doesn't and why.

Students' stories and photographs will be published in our youth paper, Bronx Youth Heard.

Click here for more information and to download an application form.  The deadline for applying is Jan. 22.

Bronx News Roundup, Jan. 5

The NY Post has more on State Sen. Pedro Espada's suspect parking habits, which BoogieDowner revealed yesterday. 

Councilman Jimmy Vacca could be in line for a powerful committee spot.

Montefiore Medical Center and Aetna, a health insurer, have reached an 11th hour contract deal, averting a crisis that would have affected thousands of patients.

Several Bronx buses, including the Bx4 and the Bx34, could be eliminated, as the MTA looks for ways to close its budget gap.

Well-known Bronxites share their New Year's resolutions.

Bronx Events - January 4-7, 2009

Here is a listing of Bronx events, classes and meetings of note for the week of January 4th through the 7th:

NYPD Bronx Precinct Community Council Meetings 

Wednesday, January 6th at 6 p.m. 40th Precinct Community Council Meeting at Lincoln Hospital.

Wednesday, January 6th at 8 p.m. 43rd Precinct Community Council Meeting at 43rd Precinct Station House at 900 Fteley Avenue. 

Thursday, January 7th at 7 p.m. 41st Precinct Community Council Meeting at the 41st Precinct Station House, located at 1035 Longwood Avenue.  

Thursday, January 7th at 7 p.m. 45th Precinct Community Council Meeting at the 45th Precinct, 2877 Barkley Avenue.

Events

Wednesday, January 6th at 8 p.m.
Bedford Mosholu Community Association Meeting. 400 E. Mosholu Parkway So. Apt.# B1 (Lobby Floor).

Through Janurary 10th
The Bronx River Art Center, together with the NYC Department of Transportation, present an abstract wooden art sculpture, Aurora, 14 feet tall, 11 feet wide and 11 feet deep. Center of West Farms Square Plaza. For more information visit here.

Through April 15, 2010
The New York Botanical Garden presents Ex Libris: Treasures From the LuEsther T. Mertz Library, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Ross Gallery. For more info, visit http://www.nybg.org/library/.

First Bronx Baby of 2010!

Meet the first Bronx baby of 2010, Timothy Weatherly! Born at Montefiore Medical Center at 12:34 a.m., he is seen here with family and the nursing staff. Clockwise from left: Great grandma Leora Weatherly, Aunt Starmander Mazyck, Theresa Fay-Conte, RN, Ursuline Prevost, NA, Rena Rios, RN, Grandma Sherry Weatherly, Aunt Heather Couverter, and mom Maria Fontanez with baby Timothy.

News of the Day for Jan. 4

Happy New Year, everyone! Here's your first News of the Day for 2010. Let's hope it's a year of good news and progress for the Bronx, despite the certain adversity we face.

In the Times, a profile of a Bronx botanica.

Also in the Times, an in-depth look at the millions of Americans who rely solely on Food Stamps for survival including one Bronx native who lifted herself up from the projects to sell homes on the Gulf Coast before everything went bust.

David Gonzalez has the story of yet another church fire, this one at a church in Castle Hill.

The Socialist Worker has this report on a student protest against making students pay for Metrocards, organized mostly through Facebook by a Bronx high school student.

State Senator Pedro Espada has a plan to freeze rents for 500,000 city tenants, but housing advocates say they “smell a rat.”

Speaking of Senator Espada, the Boogiedowners report that the lawmaker, who owns an apartment in their building, has some privileges the rest of us don't, like being allowed to park at a hydrant. (In case you were wondering if Espada was actually staying at his Bedford Park apartment, rather than his Mamaroneck home, the Boogiedowners say the car did not stay put overnight.

The city's new public advocate, Bill DeBlasio, says his office will foment and assist community organizing throughout the city. 

The 15-year-old Bronx girl who made a miraculous recovery after being shot in the head appeared with Mayor Bloomberg over the New Years' weekend.

And last but not least, there are plans afoot for a microbrewery in the Bronx.