Not another shelter!

COMMUNITY BOARD

NEWS N’ VIEWS

 by

Father Richard F. Gorman

Chairman

Community Board #12 (The Bronx)

“L’SHANA TOVA!” or, as one would say in English, “HAPPY NEW YEAR!” This Sunday evening past at sunset, our Jewish friends across our beautiful Borough of The Bronx and, indeed, throughout the world, began the celebration of their New Year 5773.   

The traditional New Year greeting of “L’SHANNA TOVA,” literally “for a good year,” expresses the ardent aspiration of the Jewish people for a year of holiness, wholesomeness, good health, and good will among each other and with all people. On this ROSH HASHANAH, I join with my Jewish friends in praying for such a year, not only for them, but for all of God’s Children. May 5773 bring only peace and prosperity to us all!

Regrettably, though, 5773 is not getting off on the right foot for the citizens of Community Board #12 (The Bronx) and, in particular, for the residents of Wakefield. The hard-pressed people of Wakefield, already exploited by the burden of taking on three facilities housing different populations within the greater homeless populace of the City of New York, are about to be weighed down with possibly a fourth one. 

As all in Bronx Community District #12 already know all too well, three facilities are already in the works in Wakefield. PROJECT RENEWAL, a mega-not-for-profit (N-F-P) catering to homeless individuals with chemical dependencies and/or mental illness, has undertaken to convert a former commercial building into a facility housing 100 to 125 homeless persons at 4380 Bronx Boulevard at the intersection of East 238TH Street (Nereid Avenue). Directly across the street on the very same intersection, in the now vacated SERGEANT JOSEPH E. MULLER UNITED STATES ARMY RESERVE CENTER (M.U.S.A.R.C.), formerly a base for the United States Army National Guard situated at 555 East 238TH STREET (Nereid Avenue), THE DOE FUND, another colossal charitable organization addressing the homeless issue, is intending to operate a facility for over 200 itinerant individuals. Up the hill and around the corner to the right at 4339 White Plains Road, PRAXIS HOUSING INITIATIVES  --  still another sizable charity dedicated to aiding those who are chronically homeless as a consequence of H.I.V./A.I.D.S., mental health concerns, chemical dependency, and other special needs  -- has embarked on the construction of a facility with some 60+ units in which homeless individuals, with one or more of the aforesaid complicating factors, will be leased apartments thereby technically rendering them no longer homeless.

“ENOUGH ALREADY!” one would say. Certainly, the good, decent, hard working, taxpaying people of Wakefield have done more than their fair share for their disadvantaged brothers and sisters without a roof over the head. BUT . . . . . . “NO!” says ACACIA NETWORK, still another money-spinning not-for-profit (N.F.P.) who used to go by the name “PROMESA.” Conniving with a local developer, who has a voracious appetite for gulping up sites in our neck of the woods and putting up housing that he is unable to market, ACACIA NETWORK is looking to lease a newly erected edifice situated at 4453 White Plains Road between East 240TH Street and East 241ST Street that has some 56 units --  studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments  --  in which 100 or more homeless folks could easily be sheltered. Of course, who should be noticing that the greatest transformation occurring in Wakefield has less to do with the lives of the homeless than that that of the homeowners and residents of this bucolic neighborhood, who are witnessing the conversion of their neighborhood into a homeless colony! After all, protest our say our gainfully employed friends in the N-F-P community, something needs to be done in order to get a

handle on the homeless epidemic in New York City and to turn its tide.

I wholeheartedly and enthusiastically agree. Where I vehemently

disagree with many of these folks  --  most of whom I do believe are sincere in their desire to do good for the less fortunate  --  is the fashion under which this true work of God is accomplished and how the sacrifice for it is shared.

Wakefield Homeless Facility #4 brought to us by ACACIA NETWORK is a story only beginning to unfold that requires additional space and print to tell. Tune in next week for more of the truth of this sad saga.

Until next time, that is it for this time!

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FIGHTING DIRTY!

Splash Mob Beats Laundromat Clerk

See the video 

By Dan Gesslein

BRONX, NEW YORK, September 19- A group of thugs beat and robbed a laundromat clerk in Wakefield and all of it was caught on tape.

Police released the video that showed the clerk trying to fight off a male robber while two women took turns beating the worker with a pole. While the beat down was going on, a fourth accomplice made off with the cash register. 

At around 10:40 p.m. on September 16, the group entered the Clean Laundryland Laundromat on White Plains Road and attacked the clerk. As the male robber and the clerk struggled, the two women are seen hitting him with a pole.

The main attacker is described as a black male who was seen wearing a blue-hooded sweatshirt, black pants with white stripes and sneakers. The second suspect is a black woman seen wearing a long-sleeved shirt, blue jeans and yellow baseball cap. The other woman was wearing a white tank top and blue denim shorts. The fourth suspect, who made off with the cash register, is a black male who was seen wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt, black pants and sneakers.

Anyone with information is urged to call CRIMESTOPPERS at (800) 577-TIPS. The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.

All calls are kept strictly confidential.

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Conviction in 27-year-old Cold Case

BRONX, NEW YORK, September 12- Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced that a 47-year-old deaf Pennsylvania man has been convicted of manslaughter in the stabbing death of a 21-year-old Bronx man in the Summer of 1985.

Gabriel Thompson, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, pled guilty to one count of manslaughter in the first degree before State Supreme Court Justice Margaret Clancy. The judge set sentencing for Thursday, September 27, 2012 in Part H79. Under the plea agreement, Thompson is to receive a term of four to 12 years imprisonment.

Thompson admitted that on August 31, 1985, he stabbed Miguel Lopez once in the chest causing his death during an altercation on the sidewalk in front of an apartment building at 1013 East 180^th Street. According to Thompson’s statement to investigators, he believed that Lopez was romantically involved with Thompson’s girlfriend prior to the attack.

The homicide remained unsolved until September 2010 when Thompson was arrested by Retired Detective Anthony Padilla, then assigned to the NYPD Cold Case Squad. NYPD re-opened the investigation in 2006 after receiving a tip from a witness. During the course of his investigation, Det. Padilla re-interviewed several witnesses, including one who said that he failed to identify Thompson in 1985, because he had been threatened. Ultimately, investigators were led to Thompson who had moved out of state to Pennsylvania. When Thompson returned to the Bronx for an extended visit in 2010 he was interviewed by detectives and admitted that he stabbed Lopez.

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Cougar Gate Claims Naomi!

Challenger Beats Rivera

Tracy Towers Decided the 80^th A.D. Race

By Robert Press

BRONX, NEW YORK, September 15- It was not until after 12:30 a.m. that the 80^th A.D. race was over, and Mark Gjonaj declared the winner, besting incumbent Naomi Rivera and damaging the Rivera political dynasty.

In early returns challenger Mark Gjonaj was ahead by almost 20 points, and by 10 p.m. incumbent Naomi Rivera was already on television thanking those who had worked on her campaign. A rousing roar came from the large crowd that had gathered at the Gjonaj party thinking it was a concession speech, but it was going to be a long night. As more results came in the lead narrowed, and the 20-point lead shrunk to a single digit lead at one point.

The same problem that occurred in the June congressional election happened in this election as voters found that their name did not appear in the registration books. Others found out that their Election District had changed, and that they were at the wrong table while some found that their poll site had changed. I was at one poll site where a woman claimed she voted for many years at this poll site, but her name was not in the book. She even went as far to say that her sister's name (who lives at the same address) was in the book pointing to it.

It was because of situations like that where there was a question of a voter’s status that the voter is then given an “Affidavit Ballot” to fill out which did not get scanned, but was put into an envelope at each desk to be verified by the Board of Elections at a later date after the election. There had to be about 200 of these type of ballots used during the day so any victory by either candidate would have to be even greater than the number of Affidavit ballots. Each side would claim that they had the majority of such ballots in question, and or would question the registration of the person who filled out the ballot. That is what happened in a very close special election for a Brooklyn State Senate seat which took the Board of Elections (and courts) months to decide a winner.

So any win in the 80^th A.D. had to be greater than the amount of any outstanding ballots or it could take weeks to get a winner. At 11 p.m. Mark Gjonaj's lead was down to about 150 votes that was not large enough to declare victory yet. People were wondering why it was taking so long to get the full results in, and where was the Tracy Towers’ vote that was thought Gjonaj had won big. Tracy Towers residents had a big problem on their hands with a huge rent increase looming, and when it was said that Naomi Rivera could not help. Mark Gjonaj hired a lawyer to help the tenants stop the rent increase.

By 11:30 p.m. the Gjonaj lead started to grow again not to a safe margin of victory yet, but one could tell it would be a Gjonaj victory. A short time after midnight his lead had grown to over 500 votes (52 - 41 percent) clearly enough to declare victory as 99 percent of the vote was in. It was said that the Tracy Towers poll site (which has been historically late in getting in results) had just come in, and provided the winning margin of victory. Mark then arrived, congratulated everyone in the room, thanked everyone who was a part of his winning campaign, gave a brief speech, and then went around the room to shake everyone's hand.

With his victory decided some time before Democratic primary winner in the 87^th A.D., Mr. Luis Sepulveda came in to the ballroom at Maestro's to congratulate Mark Gjonaj on his victory. 

Finally let me say I do not know how the poll workers were able to endure a 16-hour workday, with many putting in even more time. I traveled through-out the 80th A.D. yesterday stopping by almost everyone of the polling sites, and I tried to talk to as many people as I could which included the poll workers. 

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and the City Council who are fighting for other workers right to fair pay needs to look into this as the $200 pay if overtime after 8 hours of work is factored in comes out to only $10.00 dollars an hour, without benefits is lower than the recent living wage bill passed by the city council.

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Westchester Square News: Benedetto Seen as Easy Winner in Dem Primary

Westchester Square News: Benedetto Seen as Easy Winner in Dem Primary: By Michael Horowitz BRONX, NEW YORK, September 13- In a Democratic Primary today, Assemblyman Michael Benedetto is expected to be an easy...

Benedetto Seen as Easy Winner in Dem Primary

By Michael Horowitz

BRONX, NEW YORK, September 13- In a Democratic Primary today, Assemblyman Michael Benedetto is expected to be an easy victor, setting the stage for him to win a fifth two-year term as Co-op City's Assemblyman.

Assemblyman Benedetto, who was first elected to the State Legislature in 2004, represents Co-op City, Throggs Neck, Pelham Bay, and Country Club. Interviewed this week, he pointed with pride to his record of accomplishments as an advocate for youths and senior citizens. Benedetto, this time around, faced token opposition from Egidio Sementelli in the Sept. 13 Democratic Party Primary.

Benedetto said that over the years, he has fought to keep senior-citizen center open and to keep public high schools in his district open as well.

The local lawmaker has also helped to lead a legislative fight aimed at reinstating a commuter tax that had provided major funding for the MTA until legislators, years ago, repealed it.

“We need to accept responsibility for finding funding sources for the MTA so that people in communities won't have to live with onerous bus-service cuts,” Benedetto emphasized. “It is our responsibility, as state legislators, to provide adequate levels of funding for the MTA.”

The local lawmaker added that he has joined the Riverbay board's effort to change state law so that Co-op City's Public Safety Officers, upon the completion of training here, would automatically obtain peace-officer status.

“I have also joined the effort to get relief for Co-op City from an absurd, unneeded asbestos-abatement requirement that is costing million of dollars per year,” Benedetto noted.

Over the years, Benedetto has also spearheaded a college-scholarship initiative for youngsters in the local community.

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Breaking Down Dem Primary

100 PERCENT

By Robert Press

BRONX, NEW YORK, September 12- How can I pick two challengers over one of the most powerful political father-daughter families Jose Rivera 78^th A.D./Naomi Rivera 80^th A.D. in the Bronx you may ask, and I will now explain. With the trials and convictions of corrupt Bronx elected officials over the past few years, and continuing still one has to wonder if all the rascals (as I will call them) have gone to jail. Jose Rivera has been investigated by the “FEDS” before I was told by his campaign manager, but just what was he investigated for, I was not told.

Pedro Espada is now on trial for tax evasion (which I said would be his downfall), and one has to wonder if a Rivera will be charged with tax evasion for the alleged lavish life style reportedly lived by the New York Post. Another question is of residency for Jose Rivera that has come up when the Post wrote that one of his sons is now living in the home of his mother and father Assemblyman Jose Rivera in Elmont Long Island.

At the press conference for the The Kingsbridge National Ice Center proposal for the Kingsbridge Armory, Jose Rivera tried to clam the credit for fixing the armory roof and inside. In a recent mailing Jose Rivera claims he made sure that the community benefited from the New Yankee Stadium. First that area is not in his assembly district, all one has to do is see the more than half empty garages built, and ask residents of that community not an outside politician. Rivera also claims credit for more jobs for the community from the Bronx Terminal Market project, which is now known as the Gateway Mall. Shortly after Jose Rivera was deposed as Bronx Democratic County Leader newly elected Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. demanded a full accounting of hundreds of thousands of dollars of the Community Benefits agreement for the Gateway Mall that was reported by the Daily News as being misused.

This one has to be the proof that it is time for Jose Rivera to retire, as he also claims he “brought the community together to win millions of dollars in new jobs and new recreation space as part of the water filtration plant agreement”. By his own words Assemblyman Jose Rivera is then responsible for the more than $2,000,000,000 (two billion dollars) in cost overruns at the Croton Water Filtration Plant that is still being built in Van Cortlandt Park, as he was the Bronx Democratic leader who helped close the deal with the Bronx delegation in Albany with Mayor Bloomberg. By the way one should then ask Assemblyman Rivera where the missing millions of dollars in the $240 million dollar mitigation money went that was to go to Bronx parks so Bronx elected officials would vote to build the water filtration plant in Van Cortlandt Park? We can go on and on, but will just say if re-elected those people who voted for Rivera deserve him. I endorse Richardo “Ricky Martinez in the 78^th A.D.

As for the 80^th A.D. what more can we say about the current assemblywoman that the New York Post has not said. As a parent leader I took a group of parents to see her in Albany (on Lobby Day) during her first year in office. Her office was right next to her father's 78^th A.D. Assemblyman Jose Rivera who also at the time still was the Bronx Democratic County Leader. As soon as Jose heard some noise coming from next room he rushed in to escort the group into his office, and we did not see any more of his daughter, much like most people in her district. In her first race in 2004 there was a third person in the race to draw votes away from her opponent which happened and thus Naomi Rivera became the 80^th A.D. Assemblywoman with less than half of the vote however. In a repeat in 2006 with out a third candidate Naomi got 3,557 votes to 1,793. There was no primary in 2008, and in her last election in 2010 against a novice token candidate with little money and no backing Naomi got only 2,699 votes to 1,166 with 14 write ins.

Against a well-funded and well-known individual such as Mark Gjonaj we are sure Naomi Rivera will have a very hard time, wind up loosing, and even if she does pull a victory out I don't see her finishing her term in office. Naomi's father once again has to come to her rescue, and I don't see the county organization having, let alone giving her, much support. It seems that the county organization may have to be involved in the 77^th A.D. in more than one race, the 87^th A.D. to insure this time a Sepulveda victory, and in the 33^rd State Senate district. Not that those other candidates are going to loose, but they must win big enough so in two years they do not have a primary challenge. Another factor in the 80^th A.D. race is the race for Female State Committeewoman where incumbent Diane Cerino has joined forces with Naomi's challenger Mark Gjonaj. There is no primary for the incumbent Male state committeeman or Male District Leader. The Liberty Democratic Association political club in the 80^th A.D. is split as members like State Committeewoman Cerino and are supporting Mark Gjonaj, others staying neutral, with some supporting Cerino's opponent for that position and Naomi Rivera. The two other candidates in the 80^th A.D. race were left on the ballot and it seems that may have been done to take anti Rivera votes away from Mark Gjonaj. However with all the lousy publicity about the alleged wrong doings of Assemblywoman Rivera the two other Hispanic candidates are now expected to take more votes away from Rivera. I endorse Mark Gjonaj for Assembly, and Diane Cerino for State Committeewoman in the 80^th A.D. Don't forget today Thursday September13 is Primary Election day. Please go and vote.

Bronxtalk host Gary Axelbank issued the following statement at the beginning of the 80^th A.D. debate on his long running show with the incumbent Naomi Rivera refusing to appear again as she did in 2010. “Unfortunately, although we had worked very hard to coordinate the schedule for this debate with the incumbent, Naomi Rivera has flat declined our invitation to appear. Editorially, I will say that asking people for their vote and then not be willing to participate in a debate with other candidates is a posture that we reject wholeheartedly. The Bronx is made stronger by responsive elected officials who respect the democratic process, their opponents, and most importantly, their constituents. By refusing to appear tonight Assemblywoman Rivera is directly insulting everyone involved, BronxTalk, Bronxnet, her fellow candidates, and you the people of the Bronx. In fact, it’s the second time she has declined to participate. Viewers will remember she didn’t appear in 2010 either. Given this program’s ongoing commitment to keeping Bronxites informed and engaged, we abhor the very notion of it. And so she will be represented by an empty chair throughout tonight’s proceedings”.

Other events such as the Bronx County Democratic Barbecue which occurred last Saturday, Sunday's Renaissance Fair on Fordham Road, Monday night's 80^th A.D. debate on Bronxtalk, and other events I did not have room for can be found on my blog at www.100percentbronx.blogspot.com along with many photos of the events, especially the Bronx County Democratic Barbecue.

If you have any comments about this column or my blog, or would like to have an event listed or covered in this column or on my blog you can w-mail us at 100percentbronxnews@gmail.com or call 718-644-4199.

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