Monday night the West Bronx green Mayoral forum took place at the Riverdale YM-YWHA. While there were high hopes for this forum only four of the many mayoral candidate confirmed attendance for this event those in attendance were current City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Current City Comptroller John Liu, former City Councilman Sal Albanese, and former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion Jr. Ms. Marcia Bystryn moderated the forum, and the three panelist were Mr. Barry Wildner (Riverdale Nature Preservancy), Ms. Yale Levy (Riverdale Riverfest), and Mr. Eric Goldstein (attorney for the NRDC).
In this forum the candidates appeared separately, but were given the same questions. 1- About the Bronx Greenway link, 2- The Special Nature Area of Riverdale and its zoning, 3- The closing of the Indian Point nueclear power plant. Candidate Sal Albanese was first up who spoke about the Brooklyn waterfront where he is from. He supports the Riverdale zoning, and phase out Indian Point cutting down on trucks for cleaner fuels. Albanese closed by saying that he wants top make NYC even safer and educate all the children.
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn was next up and said that she wants to make the city a better place to live in. She then recognized Councilman G. Oliver Koppell seated in the audience. Quinn was given the same questions and answered as follows. 1- Quinn spoke of the city turning its back on waterfront areas outside of Manhattan, but would not totally commit on the Bronx greenway link. 2- Again she was non committal saying that as part of the Land Use process she would have to hear both sides first. 3- Said that she is in favor of closing Indian Point, but also that power rates could go up if it is closed. Quinn closed by saying that the 100 year old mass transit system needs to be upgraded, and was proud of up zoning the rail yards in Manhattan for development. Spoke about Hurricane Sandy and how she would like to see the power lines underground, and then quickly left.
After a short break City Comptroller John Liu was on stage. Liu spoke of the many millions of dollars of waste and inefficiency that he as comptroller that he has saved NYC. He added that he wants to cut back on the sunbathing that is currently on some of the plazas using Broadway as an example. Lius answers to the questions were. 1- He is in favor of connecting the Bronx to the entire Hudson Greenway. 2- Liu said that he attended the Bronx High School of Science and spent some of his high school time in Riverdale and Van Cortlandt Park.He praised the rezoning of Riverdale and would continue to support it as mayor. 3- Liu said that he would like to close Indian Point mentioning that his wife was a safety inspector there while she was pregnant with his son, but NYC gets 25% of its energy from Indian Point. He said a pipeline under the city was not the answer and said that he is not a politician but has a degree in mathematical physics. He closed by saying that he would like to see more express buses to serve areas like Riverdale. Liu spoke of his fundraising problem, and after a 4 year investigation that he has done nothing wrong as proven. He added that he is not leaving the race for mayor.
Last was former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion. As Carrion began his opening speech people began to leave. on the questions 1- Carrion said as BP he was committed to the plan and still is. 2-He did not know what the Hebrew Home proposal was in the Special Nature Area, and thought the proposal was for affordable housing. 3- he had no position on Indian Point. Carrion closed by thanking those who stayed for the bottom of the 9th.
*********************************************************
TCM Gift Guide
No comments:
Post a Comment