Army Corps awards $10.6 million contract for shoreline protection project at Orchard Beach in the Bronx

   The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District, has awarded a $10.6 million contract to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company of Oak Brook, Ill., to place approximately 250,000 cubic yards of beach fill onto Orchard Beach in the Bronx and to repair the beach's existing south groin.

    The work will help combat erosion at Orchard Beach by replacing lost sand and repairing the south groin to inhibit future erosion. It will also make the beach safer by relieving overcrowding and eliminating dangerous drop-off zones.

   "This project represents an outstanding investment of public dollars to provide the great people of the Bronx with a first-class recreational beach in these tough economic times," said New York District Commander Col. John R. Boulé. "We're excited to be partnering with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation to restore Orchard Beach."

    The project is a cost-sharing partnership with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, with 50 percent being federal funding provided by the Corps of Engineers and 50 percent being funding provided by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.

   Work will begin in October and will be completed before the beginning of the 2011 summer beach season. This summer, over 1.4 million New Yorkers visited Orchard Beach.

Rick Lazio Withdraws From Conservative Line for Governor

   It is official now, Rick Lazio has withdrawn his name from the Conservative Party line in the 2010 New York State Governors race. It is said that he will be offered the 12th Judicial nomination by either the Bronx Republican or Bronx Conservative parties. New York State Conservative Party Leader Mike Long has made that announcement, and has said that he (Long) will now push for the State Committee of the Conservative Party to place Carl Palidino as the choice of the party for governor. We spoke to Bronx Conservative Party Chairman Bill Newmark on Saturday, and Mr. Newmark told us that he was offering the 12th Judicial line to Lazio. Newmark also said that he hopes Lazio withdraws, because he (Newmark) is a Palidino supporter. 

   It looks like Andrew Cuomo will have the Democratic, Independence, and Working Family lines, while Carl Palidino will have the Republican, and Conservative lines. Palidino will also have the non recognized Tea Party line, while Brooklyn Councilman Charles Barrons will have the non recognized Freedom Party line. 

   While it was said by Palidino supporters that they needed Lazio out of the race to insure that Andrew Cuomo did not win because of Lazio syphoning votes from Palidino. The question now is will Charles Barrons do the same to Andrew Cuomo to allow Carl Palidino to win the governors race?

New York State Stands to Loose Two Congressional Seats Due to Reapportionment

   When the census data comes out in December there could be a change to 12 congressional districts. New York and Ohio are expected to loose two seats each, while the states of Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania are expected to loose one seat each.

   Texas is expected to pick up four new seats in congress, while Florida is expected to pick up two new seats, and Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah, and Washington are expected to pick up one seat each.

   This could mean a shift in monies that are given to the states from the federal government, as well as political pull by state or states that either gain or loose seats in the house.

   It was predicted that New York would loose only one seat as the census was being taken, but that may be only the half of it. Locally Congressman Eliot Engel is hoping not to loose any of the Bronx, but does expect to go further up into Rockland County. It is expected that Congressman Crowley may loose the Bronx part of his Bronx-Queens district, but Congressman Crowley denies that could happen. We asked Congressman Serrano about his district, and he said he will run for re-election even if his district goes up to Riverdale or where ever the  new boundaries are.

COMPTROLLER LIU UNCOVERS PENSION FRAUD – SUSPECTS CASH IN ON DEAD PENSIONERS

    NYC Comptroller John C. Liu joined by NYC Department of Investigation (DOI) Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn announced today that the Comptroller’s Office has uncovered nearly a half-million dollars in suspected pension fraud.

   “Fraud and waste anywhere in city government cannot and should not be tolerated,” Comptroller Liu said.  “This suspected pension fraud wastes the public’s money and undermines security for the city’s workers and retirees". "We will work with the DOI to aggressively investigate the suspected abuse of the public’s money.”

   As part of Comptroller Liu’s efforts to root out waste and fraud, the Comptroller’s Office applied cutting-edge use of data analysis earlier this year to match pension payments against death records from 2007 to 2009.  Upon examination, the Comptroller’s Office found 14 specific cases where either a person or persons continued to cash the dead pensioner’s checks, or pension checks continued to be deposited into the dead pensioners’ bank accounts. Comptroller Liu's Office will work with DOI to further investigate the 14 cases of potential pension fraud. Along with the 14 cases, the Comptroller’s Office uncovered 171 additional cases totaling nearly two million dollars where pension payments were issued to deceased pensioners from 2007 to 2009.  The Comptroller’s Office will continue its examination to determine why the checks were still issued to the deceased pensioners.

   Chief among the findings:
• One person or persons cashed 38 pension checks totaling $139,818 after the pensioner died in 2007, using the dead pensioner's NYS driver's license. When the license expired in 2010, it was renewed and the person or persons continued to cash the dead pensioner’s checks.
• Another person or persons cashed or deposited 25 pension checks totaling $9,696 after the pensioner died in 2008.
• The remaining 12 cases involved pension payments to dead pensioners totaling $310,456.

   The Comptroller’s Office began matching pension payments against social security death records in February shortly after Comptroller Liu took office. Total pension payments between 2007– 2009 totaled $29 billion. The Comptroller administers pension payments as the custodian of the New York City Employee Retirement System (NYCERS). Comptroller Liu will conduct regular reviews of pension payments to prevent further waste and fraud in city pensions.
   

COMPTROLLER LIU UNCOVERS POSTMORTEM PENSION PAYMENTS

   New York City Comptroller John C. Liu will be joined by New York City Department of Investigation Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn for an announcement on pension fraud.

   The announcement on the details will come on Monday, September 27, 2010 at 11:00 AM. Comptroller Liu, Deputy Comptroller H. Tina Kim, and DOI Commissioner Gill Hearn will be in attendance.This will happen at the Office of the Comptroller Municipal Building - Room 530 - 1 Centre Street New York, NY 10007.

Bronx County Judicial Convention Over, Now Let's Elect a Governor.

   Stanley Schlein ran the Judicial convention last night, that nominated current Acting Judge Edgar G. Walker for 12th Judicial District judge. The convention went off with only a slight bump as Civil Court Judge Fernando Tapia was also nominated from the floor. After a vote of the delegates seated at the convention, Judge Walker was voted as the choice by a 67 to 4 majority. 

   Judge Walker then thanked those who voted for him, along with his good friends and supporters who advocated for his successful nomination to the 12th Judicial District. The meeting then adjourned.

  

Bronx County Committee Meeting Update

   As we told you in yesterday's post Assemblyman Carl E. Heastie was re-elected Bronx Democratic County Leader, and no one was thrown in front of the bus as the Bronx was in the house. While Chairman Heastie got the vote of all in attendance, three district leaders and every Bronx elected official (related or not) named Rivera did not attend the meeting. 

   Assemblyman and County Committee Chairman Jeffrey Dinowitz opened the meeting by saying " This meeting will be a lot calmer than 2 years age", he also added that there will be lights and a microphone this time. Dinowitz was re-elected County Committee Chairman, and we are not going to bore you as to who nominated who or seconded the nominations as the script went on.
   The only real surprise of the night came when Joel Rivera (not the councilman) was elected as a Vice-President of the party. This was probably in return for him not running against recently re-elected Assemblywoman Vanessa Gibson, as he had done in the special election. 

   Chairman Heastie thanked everyone for re-electing him as county leader, said that he has tried to listen to everyone, mentioned the unity now happening in the Bronx, giving an example of the defeat of the failed Kingsbridge Armory project in the City Council, and added a pledge to continue to work for the Bronx.

   Don't forget tonight is the Judicial convention, which I have been told should be quick and unevetful.  

Carl Heastie Re-elected Bronx County Leader

   Yes we know that the Bronx Democratic County Committee meeting is not for several hours, but we wanted to be the first with the news. As Current Bronx Democratic County Leader Carl Heastie told us last week there should be no reason as to why he is not going to be re-elected Bronx Democratic County Leader. Heastie added to the number of district leaders that are on his side this election over two years ago, so we will project that Assemblyman Carl Heastie has been re-elected Bronx Democratic County Leader.

   We will give you the rest of the results tomorrow just in case anyone was thrown in front of the bus, for the good of the party. 

   Don't forget tomorrow night is the Judicial convention, but we are not looking for the "Thriller at the Villa" as was the case last convention. We think this will be one boring uneventful Judicial convention.