Talk Bronx New York

New York City will hold a special election to fill the seat vacated by the Bronx borough president, who has taken a job in the Obama administration.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced on Monday that the election would be held on April 21. The winner will fill the vacancy created by the resignation of the previous president, Adolfo Carrión Jr., who began his new job as director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs on Monday.

The new borough president will serve the remainder of Mr. Carrión’s term, through Dec. 31.

Mr. Carrión served two terms as Bronx borough president. In his new job, he will coordinate all federal urban programs. Read more..

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The Hub — the commercial strip around Third Avenue and 149th Street — is among the parts of the South Bronx that some boosters are trying to rebrand as the “Downtown Bronx.” (Photos: David Gonzalez/The New York Times) City and Bronx officials this week trumpeted a major pedestrians and traffic redesign of the Hub, the commercial strip around Third Avenue and East 149th Street. Perhaps it will be more successful than a previous makeover, which tried to rebrand the area as the “Downtown Bronx.”

Fluttering above the heads of officials — and sometimes above the consciousness of local residents — were banners affixed several years ago to lampposts promoting the “Downtown Bronx Shopping District.” Never mind that the term is nothing less than a geographical impossibility to anyone who actually grew up in the Bronx, where “downtown” pretty much meant any place below 125th Street in Manhattan.

This attempt at rebranding stumps many people who walk past those banners daily (as they go to take the subway downtown, of course). Some thought it meant you could catch Manhattan-bound buses. Others said Downtown Bronx was all the way south, up against the river in Port Morris. Few knew they were smack dab in the thick of it.

Banners in the Hub commercial district in the South Bronx calls the area the “Downtown Bronx.”

Jonathan Sanchez, a security guard on his way to work, had no clue where it was. “This is the South Bronx right here,” he said, oblivious to the banner on a nearby lamppost. “Downtown is more like, Manhattan. The South Bronx is, you know, this area. It seems very good. It’s not like it used to be.” Read more..

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A Rift Among Bronx Democrats at Annual Dinner

In many ways, Thursday night’s Bronx Democratic County dinner at the Marina Del Rey waterfront catering hall was typical. The powerful figures of Albany — Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo — were there to honor the party chairman, Assemblyman Jose Rivera. Various aspirants for citywide office were there, too.

But the dinner was as notable for who didn’t attend as for who did — exposing a deep rift in the Bronx party.

Among those who declined to appear were State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. and his son, Assemblyman Ruben Diaz Jr. Also absent were Assemblymen Carl Heastie and Michael Benjamin as well as City Councilwoman Helen Foster.

Many dissidents fault the leadership of the 72-year-old Mr. Rivera, explaining that they are upset he chose to endorse Maria Matos for a Civil Court judgeship, selecting her over their choice, Elizabeth Taylor. Another point of tension is Assemblyman Diaz’s plan to run for Bronx borough president next year — with his strongest competitor being Mr. Rivera’s son, City Councilman Joel Rivera.

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Wild green Bronx

PEACEFUL: Tourists rest on a bench overlooking the Hudson river and gardens at Wave Hill, a public garden and cultural center in the northwest Bronx in New York

IT SNAPS: Lisa Henderson and her daughter Sabrina admire snapdragons at the New York Botanical Garden.

PRETTY IN PINK: An Allium Giganteum, a member of the onion family, blooms at the New York Botanical Garden.

Despite its urban image, the Bronx has 7,000 acres of park land, about 25 percent of its total area. In addition to Yankee Stadium and the Bronx Zoo, the borough’s green spaces include the New York Botanical Garden; a 19th century garden overlooking the Hudson River called Wave Hill; and Van Cortlandt and Pelham Bay parks, where you can bird-watch, play golf and ride horses.

New York City is touting the Bronx’s green attractions in a new promotion.

“Most people don’t think of the Bronx like that. We want to open their eyes to the actual physical beauty of the Bronx,” said George Fertitta, CEO of NYC & Company, the city’s marketing and tourism organization.

It’s quite a turnaround for a place that once symbolized urban decay.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the Bronx is burning,” sportscaster Howard Cosell famously said during a 1977 Yankees game, as footage aired of a building in flames near the stadium. An epidemic of arson plagued the city at the time.

New York is a different place now, billed as America’s safest big city and attracting a record 46 million tourists last year.

Many of those tourists are repeat visitors, and “their appetite for something other than Times Square and the Statue of Liberty is enormous,” said Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion Jr., who got an enthusiastic reception talking up the Bronx at a recent tourism conference in Berlin.

GREEN SPACES: Sure, the Bronx Zoo has wild animals from around the world, including a new exhibit called Madagascar.

But for native wildlife, check out the Bronx River, which runs alongside the zoo. Turtles sun themselves on rocks, a red-winged blackbird calls, geese march by the shore.

On a recent day, a wayward duckling hopped out of the water and drew a crowd, attracting more attention than a nearby buffalo exhibit.

You can walk along the river without paying admission to the zoo; the trail starts near the totem pole in the zoo parking lot.

The Bronx River Alliance, which is restoring the waterway, hosts events and paddling on the river; http://www.bronxriver.org.

If you want lions and tigers too, the zoo is open daily 10 a.m.-5 p.m. (5:30 p.m. on weekends); http://www.bronxzoo.com.

North of the zoo is the New York Botanical Garden, a National Historic Landmark that dates to 1891, http://www.nybg.org, Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

A tram takes you around the garden’s 250 acres, which include a children’s garden, forest, rock garden, and a Victorian-style glass conservatory.

The vast rose garden’s 3,000 plants include varieties that bloom continuously spring to fall. An outdoor exhibit of 20 Henry Moore sculptures is up through Nov. 2.

Yves Soulier, a tourist from France, visited the garden recently with his wife, Anne. He said the Bronx had a reputation as “a hard banlieue,” using the French term for the outskirts of a city. “I have read this in the books,” he added. “But we like the flowers and plants here.”

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New York promotes the Bronx’s parks and gardens

Ladies and gentlemen, the Bronx is blooming!

Despite its urban image, the Bronx has 7,000 acres of park land, about 25% of its total area. In addition to Yankee Stadium and the Bronx Zoo, the borough’s green spaces include the New York Botanical Garden; a 19th century garden overlooking the Hudson River called Wave Hill; and Van Cortlandt and Pelham Bay parks, where you can bird-watch, play golf and ride horses.

New York City is touting the Bronx’s green attractions in a new promotion. “Most people don’t think of the Bronx like that. We want to open their eyes to the actual physical beauty of the Bronx,” said George Fertitta, CEO of NYC & Company, the city’s marketing and tourism organization.

CITY GUIDE: Where to sleep, eat and shop in New York

It’s quite a turnaround for a place that once symbolized urban decay. “Ladies and gentlemen, the Bronx is burning,” sportscaster Howard Cosell famously said during a 1977 Yankees game, as footage aired of a building in flames near the stadium. An epidemic of arson plagued the city at the time.

New York is a different place now, billed as America’s safest big city and attracting a record 46 million tourists last year. Many of those tourists are repeat visitors, and “their appetite for something other than Times Square and the Statue of Liberty is enormous,” said Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion Jr., who got an enthusiastic reception talking up the Bronx at a recent tourism conference in Berlin.

Green spaces only comprise part of the Bronx’s attractions. There is also Italian food on Arthur Avenue, a hip-hop music tour, a bed-and-breakfast called Le Refuge Inn, and saltwater swimming at Orchard Beach. For more information, visit the Bronx Tourism Council website at www.ilovethebronx.com or NYC & Company at www.nycvisit.com/bronx. Meanwhile, here are some highlights.

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