Talk Bronx New York

Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión Jr. is slated to direct the newly created White House Office of Urban Policy, sources familiar with the appointment said last night.

Carrión had been rumored as a contender to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development — a rumor that gained legs, in fact, thanks to Carrión himself. He made headlines last week for telling two New Haven, Conn., groups on Dec. 5 that he was in line to head a Cabinet department.

Instead, the HUD Cabinet post went today to another New Yorker, city housing commissioner Shaun Donovan.

If this is a consolation prize for Carrión, it is one that is near and dear to the president-elect’s heart. Obama campaigned on the creation of an urban policy office, saying it was needed “to ensure that all federal dollars targeted to urban areas are effectively spent on the highest-impact programs.”

And the office’s director will report directly to the president.

Senior Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett told black columnists last month that the office would better coordinate federal efforts to help America’s cities, and she called the head of the office “really a critical position.” Read more..

(No Ratings Yet)
 Loading ...
 Email This Post

Adolfo Carrion

Barack Obama is expected to tap Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion to head the White House Office of Urban Policy as the new president’s director of urban affairs, The Post has learned.

Carrion, 47, was considered a strong contender for several Obama administration positions, including Secretary of Housing and Urban Development - which went to New York City Housing Commissioner Shaun Donovan instead. Read more..

(No Ratings Yet)
 Loading ...
 Email This Post

 Former Co-op City Board President Sentenced To Jail Time For Accepting Kickback Payments

MICHAEL J. GARCIA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that IRIS HERSKOWITZ BAEZ, the former President of the Board of Co-Op City in the Bronx, New York, was sentenced today for accepting approximately $10,000 in kickback payments in exchange for her assistance in steering a Co-Op City painting contract worth approximately $3.5 million.

BAEZ, 59, a resident of the Bronx, was sentenced by United States District Judge RICHARD J. SULLIVAN to six months’ imprisonment and one year of supervised release. In addition, BAEZ was ordered to forfeit $10,000. According to the Indictment filed in Manhattan federal court and statements made during BAEZ’s guilty plea and sentencing proceedings:

Co-Op City is a New York State Mitchell-Lama housing cooperative located in the Bronx, New York. As a Mitchell-Lama development, Co-Op City was established for the purpose of providing affordable housing for middle-income residents. To effectuate that purpose, Mitchell-Lama developments such as Co-Op City charge rents that are considerably lower than the rents that qualified residents would have to pay for comparable housing on the open market.

The New York City Housing Authority ( “NYCHA” ) is a New York City agency responsible for, among other things, supervising a Section 8 rental assistance program, which program is regulated and fully funded by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development ( “HUD” ). As part of the Section 8 Program, HUD pays subsidies, typically in the form of vouchers, for people to live in private housing.

Neither HUD nor NYCHA place any restriction on how Co- Op City can spend the federal subsidies. Accordingly, the housing cooperative was permitted to use the federal funds for capital improvements such as renovations to, and painting of, apartment units. New York State, however, imposes certain regulations on how Co-Op City may spend money on capital improvements, such as requiring — for any job in excess of $50,000 — that Co-Op City put the work out for bid, memorialize the agreement with the bid winner in a formal contract, and subject the contract to approval by the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal ( “DHCR” ), which regulates the housing development.

Read more..

(No Ratings Yet)
 Loading ...
 Email This Post