Dec
28
What a great year. What a rotten year.
Okay, so maybe somewhere in between, even with the economy sliding into 2009.
It was that kind of year for the Bronx, with the highs hopefully edging out the lows. And let’s wish for it to be onward and upward in 2009.
Economy: Boom and bust
# On the upside, there was the new Yankee Stadium going full steam ahead - steamrolling over the local community in the process with a big loss of centrally located parkland - and the new Gateway Center mall to its south, both due to open in 2009. And the city finally chose a developer to turn the giant Kingsbridge Armory into a mall.
# The downside: the Bronx had the highest jobless rate in the state, registering 7.7% in October, while continuing to be the poorest urban county in the nation.
It was reflected in growing lines - with many turned away - at struggling local food pantries.
# A report in September by the Center for an Urban Future titled “Attack of the Chains?” found the Bronx has the fewest chain stores of any borough, with many not in the Bronx at all. Read more..
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Dec
06
They say that in Albany, everything is decided by “three men in a room” - the governor, the State Assembly speaker and the State Senate majority leader.
But Pedro Espada Jr., who is slated to become the senate majority leader, and the state’s most prominent Hispanic official, insists those days are over.
“Well, I am going to be in the room,” said Espada in his Soundview, Bronx office.
Espada is on his way to becoming the number two leader in the State Senate. He’s a member of the so-called “Gang of Three,” three Democrats who at first refused to back Democratic Senate leader Malcolm Smith and tip control towards the Republicans.
A deal brokered with Governor David Paterson and Smith now means the Democrats are taking over.
The lack of Hispanics in positions of power had been one of the chief complaints of the “Gang of Three.” Read more..
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Dec
05
ALBANY — Pedro Espada Jr. who is expected to become the majority leader of the State Senate in January, owes more than $60,000 in fines to New York City’s Campaign Finance Board, dating to his 2001 run for Bronx borough president. He has appealed the fines in state court.
In addition, state elections officials in Albany say that Mr. Espada did not register his campaign for Senate this year; and he could face more than $6,000 in fines. It is not the first time he has run afoul of the State Board of Elections: His 2000 Senate campaign was fined for failing to submit finance reports.
In 2005, three employees of a Bronx nonprofit health care company run by Mr. Espada, the Soundview HealthCare Network, pleaded guilty to diverting $30,000 from programs for family care and AIDS treatment to one of his campaigns. Mr. Espada was never charged.
In an interview on Friday, Mr. Espada said he had made mistakes in some cases and had been unfairly accused in others. The scrutiny, he added, is part of politics. Read more..
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