Rudy's 1999 visit to Norwood in the Bronx

Photo from 1999 Norwood News article

In 1999, Rudy Giuliani visited PS 20 in Norwood. His performance at that Town Hall meeting in a way encapsulates the entirety of his mayoralty. Anyway, here's a look back.

Panel for Yankee Stadium Funds Revealed, Money Still Not Spent

As part of its new stadium deal with the city, the Yankees baseball club signed a community benefits agreement that included a stipulation: every year until 2046, the team would funnel $1.25 million ($800,000 in grants and $450,000 in tickets, merchandise and equipment) back into the Bronx community through various nonprofit groups. A special panel was to supposed to be appointed to decide where the funds should go.

But 17 months after stadium construction began, none of those funds has made it back into the community and, according to a NY Times article, the special panel has yet to meet.

The Yankees referred questions about the funds to Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, who is supposed to be organizing the panel and overseeing the fund distribution effort. Carrion wouldn't speak to reporters about it because he was too busy, according to his spokesman Mike Murphy.

Murphy went on to say the process of choosing a panel had not been completed because it "took time for people to look at the list [of panel candidates] and come to a consensus." Murphy said the interim president of the panel was Serafin Mariel, a Manhattan resident who used to run the now-defunct New York National Bank.

The latest news on the panel came last week from the Spanish-language daily El Diario, which reported that Mariel said the panel had been chosen and would start distributing the funds in March or April.

They also listed the rest of the panel: Ronald Bailey, pastor for Love Gospel Assembly Church; Leo Martinez, executive director of Alliance for Community Services; Ted Jefferson, executive director of Bronx Shepherds Restoration Corporation; Roberto Crespo, director of Knock for Freedom; and Harold Silverman, an ex-judge.

According to Muriel in the El Diario article, a seventh member of the panel dropped out because of a conflict of interest. Neither the Yankees or Carrion's office would say how and when a new seventh member would be chosen, the article said.

The community benefits agreement with the Yankees was signed in 2006 by Yankee President Randy Levine, Carrion and council members Maria del Carmen Arroyo, Maria Baez and Joel Rivera.

Only del Carmen Arroyo has spoken about it. She told El Diario that she and the other signatories on the agreement should take responsibility for the delay and, if she could do it over again, she would have first told the public that the process would not be very fast.

Other Bronx elected officials, including council members Oliver Koppell and Helen Foster (who represents the area around Yankee Stadium) said they had been left out of the loop while decisions about the fund were being made.

We Want Your Bronx Election Reports, Photos!

If you're volunteering for one of the presidential candidates, or if you attend one of their rallies, we want to hear from you. Send us your impressions of the candidates, and photos if you've got them. We'll post them to the blog and credit you. Just e-mail whatever you've got to norwoodnews-at-norwoodnews.org.
Thanks!

More Bush Bashing from Engel

Fellow Bronx Congressman Eliot Engel (pictured to the right) echoed his colleague Serrano in pointing out Bush's shortcomings following the president's State of the Union address.

Engel, however, chose to enumerate all the problems facing our country because of Bush's policies.

"The State of the Union is not good," began Engel's blunt statement.

Here's a couple of other cheery highlights:

"The economy is in deep crisis..."

"Unemployment is rising and has passed a level not seen in recent years."

"Over a trillion dollars of our debt is being held, mostly by the Chinese, and the debt keeps increasing..."

"Far, far too many of our citizens, especially millions of children, have no health insurance..."

"...the lofty goals of the No Child Left Behind Act failed to have the necessary level of funding for it."

"In Iraq, there is no exit strategy, and no talk of one for our troops."

In the end, Engel offered a few suggestions to the President, including:

"He should have offered the promised funding for No Child Left Behind..."

"He should have offered an extended unemployment benefits package to help our laid off workers."

"There should be a program to reduce our deficit..."

Bronx Congressman on Bush's State of the Union

For those of you who didn't tune in to President Bush's final State of the Union speech, here's Bronx Congressman Jose Serrano's take. Let's just say, aside from the proposed economic stimulus package, Serrano, an outspoken critic of the current Republican administration, wasn't too impressed.

On the Iraq war:
"Tonight the American people got more of the same from President Bush -- especially on the failed Iraq war. As we approach 4,000 fatalities, and tens of thousands of wounded, we still have yet to hear a truthful assessment of the present condition on the ground, and a clear-eyed statement on our nation's future course in Iraq."

On the economic stimulus package:
"I am glad that the package that seems to be coming together focuses on helping working class and disadvantaged people...they are the people most hurt by slumps in the economy."

"I also am fighting for the inclusion of Puerto Rico and the territories in any package -- their economic fortunes are tied directly to our own."

On special projects (so-called pork barrel projects):
[Bush] would have us believe that those projects which are aimed at the needs of our communities, are the cause of our fiscal problems at the federal level...With these projects budgeted at $11 billion in 2008, and his request for spending on the war in Iraq totaling more than $150 billion for this year, it's hard to believe that special projects are budget-busters."

In sum: "Having heard much of this same speech for the past seven years, I am looking forward to a new direction and message in the 2009 State of the Union."

On the West Bronx Campaign Trail

Here's a couple of shots from local political activist Haile Rivera, who passed out Barack Obama literature at the West Kingsbridge-area Target on Saturday morning (above) and then attended an Obama rally at City Hall on Sunday (below).

By the way, Rivera has political aspirations of his own. He's running for Maria Baez's City Council seat (District 14) , which is up for grabs in 2009.


The West Bronx News Network will be following the local campaign action leading up to the presidential primary on Feb. 5. On so-called Super Tuesday, New York and 23 other states will be voting to choose party nominees.

Note: We encourage everyone to send us their presidential primary campaign photos and/or information so we can post it on this site.

Latest Norwood News, out on Bronx streets, online, now

Check out the latest edition of the Norwood News, which is online and on the streets now.

Here's a quick preview:

Editor-in-Chief Jordan Moss celebrates 20 years of the Norwood News and reflects on the paper's impact on the community.

A year after North Fordham-area pediatrician Dr. Leandro Lozada was brutally murdered in his Scarsdale home, the clinic he founded and ran is slowly recovering.

After 18 years, Community Board 7 now has a new district manager. His name is Fernando Tirado and he's setting his sights high.

Lehman College women's hoop star Sally Nnamani is tearing up city competition and hoping to lead the Lady Lightning to another conference championship.

The Beacon after-school program at PS 8 delivers invaluable services to youth and adults.

Crime remained remarkably flat in the 52nd Precinct in 2007. Check out how crime statistics in 2007 broke down by neighborhood in our first-ever crime-by-sector maps.

Also, find out where to go to cast your primary vote on Super Tuesday, Feb. 5.

Wanted: Student Mentor for Youth Journalism Program

The West Bronx News Network is looking for a student mentor/teaching assistant to help run a journalism program for Bronx high school students. Classes, which will be held at 2001 Morris Ave., will begin on Feb. 6, and run every Wednesday through April 23, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Responsibilities include assisting the program coordinator, working with students to improve their writing, editing student work, attending field trips, and participating in class discussion. Some additional work, mostly editing, will be required outside of class (no more than three hours a week). Some teaching experience is preferred but not required. Journalism Grad students welcome. Compensation depends on experience but at least $20 an hour. To apply, please send resume and a brief cover letter to mounthopenews@gmail.com. The deadline for applications is Jan. 28. If you have questions, please call (917) 843-1481.

Bailouts Come Easy for Wall Street, Not Homeowners

Opinion from Guest Blogger Gregory Lobo Jost
How comforting to know that our government can act quickly to cut interest rates when things get bad. As markets tanked across the globe on Monday and Wall Street was spared thanks to the King Holiday, the Fed slashed the federal funds rate by 75 basis points or 3/4 of a percent this morning -- talk about fast action! And is anyone complaining about a bailout?

If such action could be taken on the hundreds of thousands of homeowners in danger of foreclosure (or already there), many Americans would be up in arms complaining about a bailout for their neighbors (even though it would help their own property values).

If you aren't convinced about how much better Wall Street bankers fare in hard times than our regular citizens, consider the huge bonuses given out this year. Despite huge losses for most of the corporations involved in the subprime lending debacle, bonuses are down only 4.7% from last year. This editorial on MarketWatch offers some interesting suggestions on what the bankers should do with their bonuses -- if they won't give them back, make them invest in the mortgage backed securities that are tanking! (Also, check out the section at the end of the article on the related protests against private equity firms.)

The Times' Vikas Bajaj has an interesting article today that gets to the root of the subprime fiasco. "Homeowners are suing mortgage lenders. Mortgage lenders are suing Wall Street banks. Wall Street banks are suing loan specialists. And investors are suing everyone." Why did lenders ever make loans that they knew borrowers couldn't repay? Because they were passing the responsibility and accountability on to others. The article doesn't mention the ratings agencies, however, who often rated securities much better than should have, partly because they were being paid by the banks issuing the securities. The New York Sun gives these ratings agencies a subpar rating.

Bringing things back closer to home, the Daily News has an article on how prevalent property flipping has been (and continues to be), and how it fed off subprime lending to inflate property values and push families into foreclosure.

On an unrelated note, the Daily News also reports that the Bronx had much fewer bedbug complaints to 311 than all the other boroughs (except Staten Island). While at first it felt great to think the Bronx finally ranks near the bottom in something bad, the numbers aren't quite as rosy for Bronxites once adjusted for population. In the 4 boroughs cited in the article, Queens had the lowest rate of complaints (1 per every 1,408 residents) and the Bronx came next at 1 per every 1,219 residents -- not too shabby, but not a first place finish like article mentions. Brooklyn (1 per 1,053) comes in slightly better than the most bed-buggy borough, Manhattan (1 per every 932 residents). The downside of looking at the absolute number of complaints instead of the rate of complaints is that none of the upcoming educational seminars on how to prevent bedbugs will be held in the Bronx.

Note: Population numbers come from the 2007 Population Estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau

Giant Clichés?

On the heels of the semi-shocking news that Eli Manning and the New York Giants are headed to the Super Bowl, media outlets throughout New York City are undoubtedly scrambling as we speak to produce witty headlines on deadline. We thought we would save them some time and energy... or else beat them to the punch.

Following Lawrence Tynes' game-winning field goal at sub-zero Lambeau Field (after two previous botched attempts) in overtime against the Packers , which elevated the Giants into the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots, we now present to you: Giants-related headlines to look for in tomorrow's newspapers..

(Let's see how many of these headlines -- 0r some variation of them -- actually appear in tomorrow's news)

"Just in Tynes"

"Packers Feeling Green"

"Tynes is of the Essence"

"One Small Step for Manning. One Giant Leap For New York."

"Tynes Ices The Game"

"New York State of Tynes"

"Manning of the Hour"

"Giants Refuse to Pack It In"

And of the more boring variety:

"Giants Looking Super"

Bronx and Brooklyn Put Patronage Politcs on Parade

The combination of term limits and old-fashioned patronage politics has set off an intriguing inter-borough battle with myriad local ramifications.

The position of City Clerk, one of the most plum patronage prizes still left, is open. Bronx County Clerk Hector Diaz, the choice of Bronx Democratic Party chair Jose Rivera, seemed to be sailing to City Council confirmation until Rivera’s powerful Brooklyn counterpart, Vito Lopez, stepped in and delayed the vote.

Lopez again foiled Rivera, who was hoping to get term-limited councilwoman (and his former chief of staff) Maria Baez installed at the Board of Elections as deputy director in a package vote with Manhattan Republican Marcus Cederqvist. Her Council term expires at the end of 2009. But the Daily News reports that Lopez and the Republican and Democratic political leaders in each borough who get to decide voted against the package deal, though Cederqvist received unanimous support.

The push to get Baez another job has several implications. First, it was generally believed among political insiders and the Bronx punditocracy (to the extent there is such a thing) that Rivera would put up Baez to take the place of State Senator Efrain Gonzalez, if in fact he is convicted on corruption charges this spring. So, Rivera either doesn’t think Baez is suited to that job, which is 99 percent of the time is virtually a lifetime appointment. Or he’s betting Gonzalez is going to beat the rap. If it’s the former, who does Rivera have in mind for the Senate position?

On a related note, Andrew Wolf, in the New York Sun, shines a light on the family business that is Bronx politics.

Bronx News Roundup for Jan. 16

City Limits takes a look at the possibilities of a park-and-ride at the new Yankee Stadium in the context of Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan.

Speaking of Yankee parking lots, one of the proposed stadium lots that was eventually abandoned is now being offered up to developers by the Parks Department with few strings attached, the New York Post reports.

Meanwhile, the new stadium, now in mid-construction, has a sign.

A Walton Avenue apartment complex sells for $8.1 million.

The New York Post and the New York Sun report that students staged a walkout at the Bronx High School of Science yesterday to protest their principal.

State Senator Jose M. Serrano blogs about his new bill that would mandate all state employees to keep immigration status confidential “when providing essential services for aw abiding people.”

City Council candidate Haile Rivera is organizing a Latinos con Obama event on Jan. 26.