Monday, December 3, 2012
Bedford Park News: Independent Quinn
Bedford Park News: Independent Quinn: 100 PERCENT By Robert Press BRONX, NEW YORK, December 3- This past Sunday The Independence (not to be confused w...
Independent Quinn
100 PERCENT
By Robert Press
BRONX, NEW YORK, December 3- This past Sunday The Independence (not to be confused with Independent) Party held its 13th Anti Corruption Ceremony.
We never heard of the first 12 so what makes this one special. Three 2013 mayoral hopefuls are listed as attending current City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, and former State Senate Leader Malcolm Smith. Smith is one of the honorees receiving a “Voice for the Voiceless Community Award” (not an Anti Corruption award) for his work in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Quinn with her close ties to current Mayor Mike Bloomberg who ran and won on the Republican and Independence lines should be running as a Democrat, but appears to be looking to capture the Independence party line also.
Carrion has renounced his Democratic enrollment to become an “Independent” registered voter (no party enrollment) as is the case of Mayor Bloomberg. Carrion appears in his bid to run for mayor (or whatever else) to be seeking the Republican and now Independence lines. Smith a former State Senate Democratic Majority Leader has said that he might run for mayor on the Republican line, and now appears to be courting the Independence Party also.
This Moe, Larry, and red (or is it orange) headed third stooge trio are the perfect guests for the political party that needs to call the gala it is holding not the Anti Corruption Ceremony, but “Which One of these Three Stooges is Allegedly More Corrupt”? Quinn is best know for the statement “I told my office to stop doing that” after it was revealed that there was a five million dollar slush fund in the name of phoney neighborhood organizations run by the speakers office. Carrion was fined $10,000 by the NYC Campaign Finance Board for having renovations done on his house by a contractor who came before him (as Bronx BP) for an approval, and Carrion was also made to pay for the work done. Smith was involved in the Aqueduct Race Track Casino Probe of bid rigging, and Senate Majority Leader during the whole Pedro Espada State Senate drama.
On to the City Council redistricting drama as Speaker Quinn who denied involvement in drawing up the new district lines, and that there was nothing that she could do, has now sent a letter to the redistricting committee to redraw the lines they drew up. There were questions of a Brooklyn City Council district being redrawn so that disgraced Assemblyman Vito Lopez could become a city council member. Then there was the question of the new 8th council district. Was this redrawn to be a Bronx majority district so that Bronx County Leader Carl Heastie would have the Bronx Democratic organization endorse Speaker Quinn in her 2013 Democratic Primary. Carl, the last city council speaker to run for mayor Gifford Miller came in fifth in a four person primary in the Bronx in 2005.
I would not want to forget to mention that Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. was at his best when he hosted the Bronx Puerto Rican Heritage Month Celebration. Every month BP Diaz celebrates a different ethnic heritage, and with so many different ethnic heritages in the Bronx sometimes there is more than one in a month. You can go to my blog at www.100percentbronx.blogspot.com to see photos of the celebration, and the return of State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. looking like a new man after his full recovery from knee surgery.
Finally, in 2005 a city DEP inspector found what appeared to be a trace of asbestos in the glue of a 40-year-old tile that was removed from one of the apartments in Co-op City. 86,000 air tests and $20 million later, lawyer (and former assemblyman) Steve Kaufman is now suing the city on behalf of the 55,000 Co-op City residents who have had to foot the bill to a tune of $4 million annually since 2005. What is even worse is that two Riverbay asbestos consultants have agreed that the asbestos abatement work was not needed, one being a former DEP Commissioner.
Don't forget to check my blog for items that may come in after our deadline, more details on stories that you may see in this column, and photos of the events. If you have any comments about this column or would like to have an event listed or covered in this column or on my blog you can e-mail us at 100percentbronxnews@gmail.com or call 718-644-4199 Mr. Robert Press.
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Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Bedford Park News: Crime Wave 2012
Bedford Park News: Crime Wave 2012: 100 PERCENT By Robert Press BRONX, NEW YORK, November 28- When I write this column I always check the news, and this weekend wa...
Crime Wave 2012
100 PERCENT
By Robert Press
BRONX, NEW YORK, November 28- When I write this column I always check the news, and this weekend was not good news for three young girls in the Bronx.
On Friday a 15-year-old girl was strangled in the lobby of her aunt’s building on Barretto Street in the Hunts Point section. Sunday at 1 a.m. a five-year-old girl was shot in the courtyard of a building on Hughes Avenue in the Tremont area. Police arrested the shooter, and it looks like the girl was not the intended target, but who was the target? Also on Sunday around 4 a.m., a 22-year-old woman was found strangled in her car on Brook Avenue in the Hunts Point area. There may be coverage of these events elsewhere in this paper.
While the last case involving the 22 year old was allegedly done by a boy friend, Mr. Mayor – Can you still say that crime is going down, and what are you doing to halt these senseless acts of violence that continue to happen? Are the citizens of the Bronx going to see crime increase as is the case in almost every police precinct here in the Bronx? This is happening while your police department is being cut, are doing other things, and the result is that the crime rate is increasing in the Bronx. It is not just iPhone thefts, but serious crime also. People need to know that they are safe and being protected.
Maybe the decision by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. not to seek a citywide office in 2013, but stay on to run again as Bronx BP was that there are still problems in the Bronx that need to be addressed by him. While Diaz has spoken out about gun violence he may need to step it up a notch, and ask Mayor Bloomberg to tour the areas with him where the violence occurred. While there are many other things that Diaz will do in his second full term as Bronx BP we knew that he was only testing the waters with his potential run for Public Advocate. We know that BP Diaz will seek citywide office when the time is right, and that Ruben Diaz Jr. will be known for getting things done as his record will show.
On the subject of citywide races I told you weeks ago that Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer was going to run for City Comptroller when I asked Stringer when he was going to announce the decision to run for comptroller and not mayor. While there are $1.1 million reasons for the Republican County Leaders of New York City to endorse former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion Jr. a recent Quinnipiac College poll showed Carrion at 11 percent to any Democrat at 62 percent with 27 percent undecided. No wonder Carrion does not want to run in a Democratic primary for mayor. I suspect there will be wheeling and dealing with Carrion, and that he will wind up running for Public Advocate like former Bronx Democratic County Leader Roberto Ramirez did many years ago in 1993. Ramirez however ran for Public Advocate to test the waters for a Freddy Ferrer Mayoral race to happen in 1997, that Ferrer wound up backing out of running against the very popular incumbent Mayor Rudy Guiliani. Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger then wound up being the sacrificial lamb to run against incumbent Mayor Guiliani.
The New Van Cortlandt Park Ice Skating Rink opened up last week, and you can go to my blog and check the archive section for two stories about the ice skating rink. During the ribbon cutting ceremony Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, and Councilman G. Oliver Koppell all said how wonderful the VCP rink was, but all three plugged the Kingsbridge Armory Ice Skating Palace proposal that all three have endorsed.
Don't forget to check my blog at www.100percentbronx.blogspot.com for more on these items, and check the blog archive for past items that may interest you. There are also stories that come in after our deadline, and events that may not have made it into this column, plus lots of photos of events.
If you have any comments about this column or would like to have an event covered in this column or on my blog you can e-mail us at 100percentbronxnews@gmail.com or call 718-644-4199 Mr. Robert Press.
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Wednesday, November 21, 2012
To Give Thanks
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COMMUNITY BOARD
NEWS N’ VIEWS
By
Father Richard F. Gorman
Chairman
Community Board #12 (The Bronx)
BRONX, NEW YORK, November 21- I suspect that by the time you have the opportunity to see this column, you might well be feeling a bit tired, a touch full in the stomach, and, perhaps, a tad out of sorts.
This is quite understandable, as you will be reading my words subsequent to our annual “GOBBLEFEST.” Of course, I am making light of our beloved national holiday, Thanksgiving Day. However, I refer to it as “GOBBLEFEST” not only because of this holiday’s signature tradition of enjoying a turkey dinner, but likewise because Thanksgiving is all too frequently a busy and bustling day upon which one contends with “I,” “C,” “I” -- i.e., “Irritation” with preparing for visiting relatives and guests, “Congestion” on the highways, and “Indigestion” after eating and drinking too much! Too many of us, “Yours Truly” included, “gobble” down a little more than we should in the course of commemorating this yearly event.
Nonetheless, in spite of the aforementioned, Thanksgiving is a day to take stock of life and to take the time to be grateful for whatever blessings with which we have been gifted. As we sit round and about our Thanksgiving dinner tables, we can plainly and immediately see right in front of our nose the most significant and precious of these graces and good fortunes -- viz., family, friends, health, happiness, and the means with which to provide for ourselves. In these gifts, hopefully, we are prompted and prodded to celebrate those two fundamental realities that underlie and underwrite them -- first of all, the God who gives us life and who redeems it and, secondly, a free country with its open, democratic society that affords us the opportunity to enjoy and to exercise our God-given human rights and dignity. For God and for nation, and for all those blessings that issue forth from them, we need to be humbly appreciative for who we are and for all that we have.
On this Thanksgiving week in the Year of Our Lord 2012, I write to give public thanks for, ironically enough, for that what was recently not given to us -- i.e., the same magnitude of devastation that Hurricane Sandy inflicted on our less fortunate fellow New Yorkers in other parts of our City and our State. True, there were many residents of our own neighborhood that were adversely impacted by the recent extreme weather. Nonetheless, Bronx Community District #12 was spared the horror of what happened in areas such as Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island, a grace for which I am deeply grateful.
I am equally as thankful for the privilege of serving as the Chairman of Community Board #12 (The Bronx). It has been, and remains, an awesome honor that I neither take for granted nor fail to be grateful for each and every day of my tenure and my service as Chairman. Notice here that I utilize the expression “to give thanks” for, to my mind, there is a big distinction between merely “SAYING THANKS” and really and actually “GIVING THANKS.” The distinction between them is neither superficial nor simply stylistic or terminological. There is a bona fide dichotomy that is best defined and highlighted by the wisdom contained in the familiar, old adage “ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS.” I am further reminded of the insightful admonition that words are oftentimes cheap. The values that we truly cherish and that form the basis for how we think and live are best manifested by our actions, not by our words. More importantly than maintaining that I am a grateful person is the upholding and the daily observance of a way of life that exhibits thankfulness and gratitude. The undertaking of such a lifestyle, in my humble estimation, is the genuine test of Thanksgiving and all for which it stands. Thanksgiving is not just a day. Thanksgiving should be, and MUST be, a way of life!
This avowal naturally should lead a thoughtful individual to inquire what a “Thanksgiving” way of living entails. For what it is worth, I believe it requires one to live in peaceful, respectful, and civil concord with others. Scripture instructs us that gratefulness to God is best demonstrated by esteem and regard without distinction for all of God’s children, icons of the Divine Image and Presence in whose Holy Image we have been created. Appreciation for the blessings of our magnificent land is preeminently displayed in facilitating and protecting the exercise of those God-given and constitutional liberties that we claim for our loved ones and ourselves. A most excellent fashion in which to proclaim our appreciation of family, friends, home, and the ability to support them is to enable others to realize and to have the benefit of these blessings as well. Such is the challenge of a genuinely thankful person, not only on the Thursday that is called “Thanksgiving Day,” but on each and every day in each and every year. May it be an endeavor that we all accept with relish and in which we succeed beyond all expectations.
On behalf of myself, my District Manager, Miss Carmen L. Rosa; our staff members, Mrs. Ursula D. Cruz-Greene, Ms. LaShieka Williams and Ms. Jakira Torres; our Associates, Mrs. Joyce Anthony and Mrs. Verna Smith; and all of my colleagues on Community Board #12 (The Bronx), I convey best wishes for this holiday and for the others soon to follow, along with the hope that our gracious and grateful way of living will redound to the benefit of our neighborhood, our Borough, our City, our, State, and our Nation, and, indeed, all the world.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
City Politics
100PERCENT
By Robert Press
No More Twinkies for Bloomberg to Kick Around Anymore
BRONX, NEW YORK, November 20- It appears that Mayor Bloomberg will have one less junk food company to kick around these days with the closing of Hostess Inc. Hostess CEO Greg Rayburn announced the closing after striking workers refused his last and final offer. It seems that we saw this happen in the Bronx not to long ago when the Bronx Stella Doro Bakery workers went on strike, and the owner of Stella Doro closed their Bronx factory. Unlike the complete closure of the Hostess company, Stella Doro products were and are baked at other plants that stayed open. While you may experience Twinkie, Ho Ho, Ding Dong, and Wonder Bread withdrawal symptoms, we expect that some if not all the product names will be sold to other companies. The next question will be, how do the new products compare to the originals?
Speaking of originals, Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. wants to remind us that in this time of Democrats in the State Senate joining Republicans (as new Brooklyn State Senator Simca Felder has announced) he (Senator Diaz) has always been a Democrat. “I am a Democrat, and I will be a Democrat, but the only difference is that I am a Conservative Democrat” said Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. in one of his What you Should Know letters. Senator Diaz ends his letter titled “To Set the Record Straight” with I am a Democrat and I will be voting with my Conference, and I will be voting for a Democrat as the Leader. You can seethe entire “What You Should Know” by Senator Diaz on my blog, by going to the archive section on the left and looking for “To Set the Record Straight”.
As we continue in the State Senate, but move to Independent Democratic State Senator Jeff Kline last Thursday he was in the Riverdale section of his district. Klein was with the North Riverdale Merchants Association and the local assemblyman to announce over 200 pounds of canned food were collected. in their drive for the local food pantry, and hurricane victims. On Sunday Senator Klein hosted his annual “Veterans Day Breakfast” which takes place before the “Annual Veterans Day Parade” in the Throggs Neck Section of his district. The Honorees (all women this year) were Ms. Holly Campbell, Ms. Wendi Carpenter, Ms. Isolina Espinosa, Ms. Hattie Harris (a WWII Vet), Ms. Rosa Kellogg, Ms. Jeanette Martin, Ms. Colleen McCarthy, Ms. Juliana Oliver, and Ms. Patrice Sweeting. You can go to my blog to see photos of the event, and the two other WWII Veterans (Mr. Joe Garofalo and Mr. Albert Mazzit) that I found who were in attendance.
While we are on the subject of the State Senate, don't expect to find out what party and just who is the new Senate Majority Leader is until perhaps sometime early next year. Our guess is if the Democrats hold on to the majority, State Senator Adriano Espiallat could be become the new Majority Leader. That is of course if the Senate Democrats, who are their own worse enemy can get and hold on to the majority.
If you have any comments about this column or would like to have an event listed or covered in this column or on my blog you can e-mail us at 100percentbronxnews@gmail.com or call 718-644-4199 Mr. Robert Press.
FreshDirect to give away turkeys
BRONX, NEW YORK, November 20- FreshDirect is donating a total of 1,900 turkeys this week to various groups throughout New York City and Philadelphia in anticipation of the Thanksgiving holiday.
The schools and charitable organizations receiving the turkeys are the Brooklyn Anti-Violence Coalition, the East River Development Alliance, Project H.O.M.E., and Public School 209 in the Bronx. The offices of State Senator José Peralta, Bronx Borough President Rubin Diaz Jr., and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz will help distribute the donated turkeys. FreshDirect is also providing 200 turkeys to victims of Hurricane Sandy in Far Rockaway through the Church of the Nazarene in Queens.
“Thanksgiving is a time for families to come together and enjoy a warm, fresh and high-quality meal,” said FreshDirect CEO and co-founder Jason Ackerman. “We feel fortunate to have the opportunity to help provide part of that meal for those who need it most.”
Due to a shortage of delivery trucks caused by Hurricane Sandy, the company is enlisting the help of Bronx-based small business FarmFresh Trucking to aid in its donation deliveries.
“We work hard to give the Bronx community a helping hand during the holiday season. Assistance from private sector companies like FreshDirect is invaluable to our efforts,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr.
State Senator José Peralta, who represents District 13, added, “Queens has been through a lot in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Many of our residents are struggling and need a helping hand. FreshDirect’s donation will help some of them get a good meal on Thanksgiving.”
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz said, “Bravo to FreshDirect for its generous donation to the Brooklyn Anti-Violence Coalition and for helping to make this Thanksgiving a little brighter for those in need. But let’s not forget that for many struggling to recover after Hurricane Sandy – and for thousands of residents in our area every year – the issue of hunger will be around long after the last light is turned back on and the final home is rebuilt. So as we count our blessings and give thanks for all we have, remember to support individuals and organizations like FreshDirect who are dedicated to putting healthy food on the tables of Brooklynites and New Yorkers throughout the year.”
Reverend Leslie Mullings of the Church of the Nazarene in Queens said, “Many areas in Far Rockaway were devastated by the recent storm. As we work with residents to rebuild our community, we are glad to have FreshDirect pitch in during this difficult time.”
P.S. 209 Principal Anne Keegan added, “I know there’s been some concern about how FreshDirect will fit into the Bronx, but this company is letting their actions do the talking. They’re actually following through on their promise to be a good neighbor, and I look forward to welcoming them to our community.”
Bishop Mitchell Taylor, President and Founder of the East River Development Alliance, said, “Seeing charitable donations being given to those in need, especially during the holidays, is a beautiful thing. Residents all over Queens will be grateful to receive the 400 turkeys that FreshDirect is providing.”
Reverend W. Taharka Robinson, founder of the Brooklyn Anti-Violence Coalition, said, “I would like to thank FreshDirect for their support for the Brooklyn Anti-Violence Coalition and the surrounding communities here in Brooklyn. FreshDirect has been a great community partner and we look forward to their continuing success and productivity in the community.”
FreshDirect is not limiting its contributions to New York City. The company will also make a donation to Philadelphia’s Project H.O.M.E, an organization devoted to ending homelessness in the area, where it will distribute 100 turkeys.
“As an organization dedicated to alleviating poverty, Project H.O.M.E. is proud to be working with FreshDirect and others to makesure everyone in our city is able to feed their families this Thanksgiving,” said S. Mary Scullion, executive director of Project H.O.M.E.
FreshDirect began distributing the turkeys this past Saturday, November 17th and will continue to do so through Wednesday, November 21th.
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