“CITY HALL IN YOUR BOROUGH” LANDS IN THE BRONX LATE MAY

  New York- Mayor Bill de Blasio and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. today announced the next stop for City Hall in Your Borough will be The Bronx. Mayor de Blasio, top City officials and commissioners will arrive to Bronx Borough Hall the last full week of May for a week-long series of satellite office hours.

“Moving City Hall’s day-to-day operations to Bronx Borough Hall will allow for an intensive focus on the people and the priorities of The Bronx,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “I look forward to being on the ground, meeting with and hearing from Bronxites.”

“Like all New Yorkers, Bronxites demand exceptional service and prompt responses from their government. Bringing City Hall directly to The Bronx will provide my constituents with an opportunity to get direct answers from various agencies, learn more about the future of the city and interact with the highest levels of municipal government. I look forward to a productive and substantive week as we welcome Mayor de Blasio to The Bronx in late May,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.

The week will include meetings with local groups, various stops and events in the borough, and a town hall. First Lady Chirlane McCray will also hold a series of events.

The announcement was first made via Mayor de Blasio and Borough President Diaz’s respective Twitter accounts, @NYCMayor and @rubendiazjr. More details about the Bronx edition of “City Hall in Your Borough” will be made public in the near future.

EDITOR's NOTE: 

Bronx Week ends on Sunday May 21st with the Annual Bronx Week Parade, Food, and Music Festival along Mosholu Parkway. More on Bronx Week as soon as I get the details from the BP's office, and if the mayor will be part of Bronx Week or host 'City Hall in your Borough' after Bronx Week. 

Bronx Democratic Party - Judicial Screening Process Now Open

Judicial Screening Application Now Open! 

 

The Independent Judicial Screening Committee of Bronx Democratic Party (IJSC) is currently accepting applications  is currently accepting applications for all of the elected judicial positions that will occur in the 2017 election in and for The Bronx and the City of New York. 

All potential candidates for Judge of the Civil Court of the City of New York and Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York must complete and submit a 2017 questionnaire. Questionnaires must be completed and submitted no later than May 5, 2017 at 5:00 p.m. to the offices of Bronx Democratic Party headquarters located at 1640 Eastchester Road, Bronx, NY 10461.

Candidates who qualify will be interviewed by a judicial screening panel between May 13th and 14th, 2017, the Bronx Democratic Party headquarters. 

For more information on the application process, please visit: http://bronxdems.org/ijsc/ 

1640 Eastchester Road

Bronx, NY 10461

T: 347-281-9759

www.bronxdems.org

info@bronxdems.org

Assembly Member Daniel J. O’Donnell Endorses Elvin Garcia for City Council

  New York State Assembly Member Daniel J. O’Donnell today announced his enthusiastic endorsement of Elvin Garcia for the City Council open seat in District 18.

“Elvin is a gifted individual with a passion for bringing a voice to the South Bronx,” said Assembly Member O’Donnell. “His work at the Mayor’s office helped bridge gaps between historically marginalized and underrepresented groups and the City government. I have no doubt that Elvin will bring an innovative and fresh voice to the City Council.”

Assembly Member O’Donnell has served in the New York State Assembly since 2003, serving as Chair of the Committee on Corrections for four years and Chair of the Arts Committee since January. The Assembly Member has sponsored trailblazing legislation like the Marriage Equality Act, Raise the Age, and the repeal of 50-A, which shields the release of police officers disciplinary records. The Assembly Member’s work against bullying based on race, ethnicity, gender and identity in New York was realized through the Dignity for All Students Act, which has provided much-needed protections for students in New York City, and across New York State.

“The best leadership for the South Bronx is in Elvin Garcia,” said Assembly Member O’Donnell. “He is a lifelong resident, deeply committed to the place he has always called home. His perspective, experience and resolve will be the driving force of his success in the City Council. I strongly endorse Elvin for City Council District 18.”

Elvin Garcia, former Bronx Borough Director for the Mayor’s office and lifelong South Bronx resident, is running for the open seat in City Council District 18.

“I’m honored to have Assembly Member O’Donnell’s endorsement,” said Garcia. “Assembly Member O’Donnell has been a trailblazer in the LGBT community. As a member of the LGBT community, the Assembly Member’s work has impacted my life in so many ways. I am deeply honored by his endorsement in particular.”

News From The Bronx Council for Environmental Quality

 Using Waterfront Parkland for Private Housing and Economic Development - and what that means for you

Dear Friend of Parks and Waterfront Access,

For more than twenty years, city leaders have twisted the arms of local elected officials to support using Bronx Parkland for new dream projects.  The Bronx is the testing ground for quick and greedy land swaps.  If it happens in the Bronx, it will happen in your borough.  Do not think for one moment that there is a paucity of Bronx vacant land for affordable housing; there is plenty -- it just costs more money than free parkland! 

 

The ULURP has started.  They are selling off publicly owned waterfront property for private profit (POW-P3).  That would be the southern section of the always-crowded-Mill Pond Park -- once the site of the historic Bronx Terminal Market swept away in exchange for Gateway, then given back (due to the high brownfield costs) for a trade-in with the Yankee Stadium Redevelopment project that alienated another crowded neighborhood park.  

 

Make no mistakes: this is an expensive site for NYC taxpayers.  While it is on the Harlem River waterfront, parkland will have to be alienated, sanitary and runoff sewers will have to be connected to the combined sewer system; schools will have to be built (even though vacancies are abound all over that district); noise and sensory buffers will have to be added as this area has the highest asthma rate in the country; and as they ask for an exemption for parking, more subway trains will have to be added to an already overcrowded mass transit system. This is a disaster waiting to happen.

 

City Developers have an answer for everything.  They say they don’t need to replace the parkland they are taking -- that they already provided for the Lower Concourse Rezoning greenway years ago. That the area has no infrastructure connection, is not a problem -- the new sewer lines will take care of adding the runoff overstressed CSO system; there is no date to begin the plan for the Harlem River LTCP; it has the largest discharge outfall citywide, with the most outfalls of any other waterbody, and has the largest catchment area per outfall. City Developers say they will build a school.  The transportation stuff is bad too. They can't fit more people in at the 149th Street Station and there is no guarantee MTA will do anything about it. Where are we going to get all this money?  All this among many years of previous broken promises in this neighborhood already!

 

The city does not need this; they don’t even have a private developer.  This project is not in the Lower Concourse area – it is north of that.  The $200 million for infrastructure is not enough – the CSO connection will cost that much alone.

 

The Bronx Council for Environmental Quality (BCEQ) will be submitting detailed comments.  BCEQ has sought to establish — as an Inherent Human Right — a sound, forward-looking environmental policy regarding an aesthetic, unpolluted, environment protecting a natural and historic heritage.  We have been working on Harlem River issues to develop connections to and along the River and create on water access and activities.  This included work on the Pier 5 Wetland and community visioning for a park, as well as the planning document for the Brownfield Opportunity Area along the River.

 

CITYWIDE ACTION NEEDED

If it happens here, it will happen in your community.  Call/write/meet with your Council Member:  tell them you want them to vote against using parkland for housing and economic development.  We will update you when it gets to the Council.  

BRONX ACTION NEEDED

 

Come to the Bronx Community Board 4 Public Hearing this Tuesday, April 25 at 6 pm -- the Bronx Museum of the Arts.  Arrive early as you have to sign in. Be prepared, you only have 2 minutes, bring a written statement.  Ask the Community Board to please vote against using waterfront parkland for housing and economic development.

Date & Time:

Tuesday, 4.25.17

6 pm - be early   

Bronx CB 4 Hearing

ULURP, Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement, etc.

Place:

Bronx Museum of the Arts

1040 Grand Concourse
Bronx, New York 10456

T: 718-681-6000

Draft Generic EIS Pier 5Parkland:aka Lower Concourse North,      CEQR16DME012X, ULURP 170311ZMX, N170312ZRX, 170314PPX, 170315ZSX

Bronx Borough President Bronx Tech Summit on April 28th

Bronx Day in Albany is on May 1st

5th ANNUAL BRONX DAY IN ALBANY 

Monday, May 1,2017 

Hart Theater Lounge at The Egg 

4:00PM - 8:00PM

COMPLIMENTARY SEATING IS AVAILABLE. 

To reserve your seat, please call 718-409-0109
and ask for Marilyn Ceilema

Bus Locations: 

Assemblyman Gjonaj's District Office 1126 Pelham Pkwy South Bronx, NY 10461

Throgs Neck Houses 425 Swinton Avenue Bronx, NY 10465

Tracey Towers 40 W Mosholu  Pkwy S, Bronx,  NY 10468

Engel Responds to House GOP Plans to Revive Trumpcare

   Congressman Eliot L. Engel, a top member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, released the following statement on Republicans’ latest plan to revive Trumpcare:

“Trumpcare already takes aim at working families, seniors and children. Now, in a transparent effort to salvage the President’s first 100 days in office, the GOP has concocted a plan to make a bad bill worse by stripping down protections for people with pre-existing conditions even further, and eliminating guarantees to essential health benefits.

“Trumpcare failed because the American people, and House Members from the President’s own party, saw through House Leadership efforts to pass it off as something it wasn’t. I have no doubt that Trumpcare’s revival will meet the same fate.”

ONENYC: MAYOR ANNOUNCES CITY ELECTRIC VEHICLE FLEET AHEAD OF SCHEDULE, HALF WAY TOWARD GOAL

New target for 20% of motor vehicles sold for use in NYC to be electric by 2025, supported by initial $10 million capital investment in fast charging infrastructure citywide

   In advance of Earth Day on April 22, Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced that New York City’s municipal vehicle fleet is ahead of schedule to meet its target of adding 2,000 electric vehicles (EVs) by 2025. The City’s vehicle fleet currently boasts more than 650 EV sedans and more than 75 Stealth ambulances, which run on battery power rather than idle their engines to support on-board services. The municipal fleet will have 1,000 EV sedans by the end of July 2017, halfway toward the Clean Fleet goal, with eight years still to go.

“Just over a year ago, we committed to bring more EVs into the city fleet, making a more sustainable city,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “I am proud to say that we’re well ahead of schedule. Now it’s time to go further, by working with partners to build the infrastructure needed to make these vehicles of the future more accessible to New Yorkers. When it comes to meeting the challenge of climate change while creating a more just and equitable city, New York is leading the way.”

In light of this rapid expansion, Mayor de Blasio today also announced a bold new target for 20% of the motor vehicles sold for use in New York City to be electric by 2025, up from less than 1% today. This commitment includes an initial $10 million capital investment to support fast charging infrastructure that will extend access to electric mobility across the city. The Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, the Department of Transportation (DOT), and the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) will jointly direct this strategic investment along with complementary partnerships and policies to meet this EV penetration target, while taking into account the potential impacts on car ownership and traffic volumes to avoid exacerbating congestion on city streets.

One critical partnership for expanding EV penetration got underway this week, as Con Edison announced a plan to invest up to an additional $25 million in innovative EV strategies and infrastructure. The company released a Request for Information (RFI) seeking partners with the expertise to work on projects such as placing public fast chargers in the city and putting more than 100 EV chargers on NYC sidewalks. These would be the first-ever public street chargers in the city and a step toward serving the many New Yorkers who do not have their own driveways or parking lots. Fast charging could enable the electrification of taxis, carshare, passenger cars and delivery vehicles.

In addition, a new EV workplace charging program being funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), with support from DOT, was launched earlier this year. The “Charge to Work” program is a partnership between NYSERDA, DOT, CALSTART, Empire Clean Cities Coalition, ChargePoint, ABM, and NESCAUM. Recognizing that the presence of vehicle charging stations at the workplace is a strong predictor of EV adoption by commuters, Charge to Work will engage employers in and around New York City to provide incentives for the installation of more than 100 vehicle charging stations at workplaces in hopes of stimulating adoption of more than 450 EVs in the greater metropolitan area by 2020. Charge to Work supports the Governor’s Charge NY initiative, which is accelerating the growth of electric vehicle market in the state through education, research, consumer outreach and financial support for the installation of charging stations throughout New York state. 

Also earlier this year, New York City joined 29 other U.S. cities in issuing a joint Request for Information (RFI) to invite automakers to address an unprecedented expression of demand for EVs. New York City’s municipal fleet represents more than 20% of the nearly 114,000 vehicles captured in the RFI and contributes to a powerful message that cities will lead the way on clean vehicles as federal support for transportation sustainability recedes.