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City Freezes Bronx Councilman’s Million-Dollar Non-Profit Play

Amid recent revelations about a secret Council slush fund and taxpayer-funded shenanigans at non-profits, the city has denied Councilman Larry Seabrook’s near million-dollar request to fund a new non-profit that’s located within his district headquarters.

The city system of checks and balances denied the Bronx Democrat’s appropriations, freezing his Fiscal Year ‘08 requests of $887,244 to fund the newly founded Bronx African-American Chamber of Commerce. The non-profit did not have the proper paperwork in place for the money to be released.

A divider is all that separates the commerce chamber, at 3687-B White Plains Road, from Seabrook’s district headquarters at 3687-A White Plains Road.

The office of United States Attorney Michael Garcia would neither confirm nor deny that Seabrook or the Bronx African-American Chamber of Commerce were targets of the ongoing federal investigation, said spokesman Yusill Scribner. That investigation has already snared two former aides to Brooklyn City Council Member Kendall Stewart for their roles in funneling Council cash to the Donna Reid Memorial Education Fund, and then taking that money for personal use.

Neither Seabrook nor Carl Green, director of the Bronx African-American Chamber of Commerce, returned repeated calls for comment. The organization also denied repeated requests to furnish public records about its financing.

Being less than a year old, the Bronx African-American Chamber of Commerce does not have much of a public profile, only receiving media attention for a recent press conference to discuss a program to train minority applicants to become truck drivers. A group flyer announces the “Jobs to Build on Initiative,” jointly sponsored by Seabrook, that “offers free training and employment services to low skilled, unemployed or under employed individuals.”

According to the New York State Department of State, the Bronx African-American Chamber of Commerce was founded on May 2, 2007 — just weeks before the deadline for council members to submit requests for the FY2008 budget. The group incorporated using the Bronx address of 1530 East 222nd Street, but now shares Seabrook’s office. Read more..

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Mayor Bloomberg talked about his own experience starting a small business.

NY Daily News Focuses On ‘Your Money’ 

Small business is a big deal in New York, where half the private workforce is employed by more than 200,000 such companies.

Your Money, the Daily News’ weekly personal finance section, will once again focus on this crucial part of the city’s economy at our second Small Biz: Big Impact Conference, set for March 11.

Those attending the free event will hear from panels of experts, including people who turned an idea into a chance to make themselves their own bosses.

“Most small businesses in the city were started with years’ worth of savings, raw talent and a lot of hope. Listening to how small businesses succeeded, as well as how some stumbled, offers a great education,” Your Money Editor Scott Wenger said of the event, set for CUNY’s Borough of Manhattan Community College at 199 Chambers St.

Speakers will include city Small Business Services Commissioner Rob Walsh.

“I look forward to sharing how [the agency’s] NYC Business Solutions can help local businesses start and grow, access financing and incentives, hire and train employees, and navigate government,” Walsh said.

From one-person operations to heavy industry, small businesses are in every corner of every borough, pumping $4.5 billion a year of taxes into city coffers.

More than 400 people attended the first conference in October, and heard from one of the city’s most successful businessmen, Mayor Bloomberg, who likes to say his empire began with an idea, a tiny staff and a coffee pot.

“Entrepreneurs have a vision, and innovation is about not knowing where you’re going to wind up,” he told the crowd.

SOURCE: NYDailyNews.com

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