ABRAZO BORICUA 2011

   Thursday night was the celebration of the 2011 Puerto Rican Day Parade by Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz Sr. On hand were Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., Assembly members Marcos Crespo (85th), Vanessa Gibson (77), and Eric Stevenson (79), Councilman Fernando Cabrera, Civic activist and candidate for Assembly (76) Luis Sepulveda, Ms. Madelyn Lugo (president of the parade), dignitaries from Puerto Rico, and contestants from the Miss Puerto Rico contest.

   They were celebrating 20 years of participating in fundraising for Casa Boricua to buy toys for poor children in Senator Diaz's hometown in Puerto Rico. It was said that Reverend Diaz has never forgotten where he has come from, and his Puerto Rican heritage. Diaz said that we are Americans, but we are also proud Puerto Ricans. 

   New York City has never had a Puerto Rican mayor, and it was said that Ruben Diaz Jr. will be the first. Assembly members Gibson and Stevenson apologized to the mostly spanish speaking audience for not speaking fluent spanish, but said that they will work on it.

   We almost forgot that among the hundreds of people at the event, the Pirate Captain (dressed in full pirate garb) of the pirate ship float in Sunday's parade went to every table to say hello to all and let anyone who wanted to have their picture taken with him.

Borough President Diaz Participates in Rally for Stronger Rent Laws 

  Borough President Diaz spoke in favor of the extension and strengthening of New York's rent regulation laws outside the Bronx County Building on Thursday afternoon.
   “Not only must we fight to pass the laws we already have, we also need to strengthen our rent regulations to ensure that our tenants have the rights and protections that they deserve,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.

   BP Diaz is center, with Assemblywoman Vanessa Gibson on his right, Assemblyman Marcos Crespo by the BP's left shoulder, State Senator Jose M. Serrano, and with his cowboy hat on in the back row is State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. 

 

New Services Available Through The Bronx Borough Presidents Office

 

The office of Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. is offering two new services through its constituent services unit.

First, the constituent services office has opened its doors for those residents seeking to obtain food stamp assistance. The office has been assigned a staff member by BronxWorks to assist in filing applications directly with the Human Resources Administration. Clients will be prescreened and processed on Tuesdays, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

In addition, due to the overwhelming concern for those facing home foreclosure, the office has joined with the Parodneck Foundation to assist families at risk of losing their homes by providing counseling, starting Monday, June 20.

Both services are available in Room 209 of the Bronx County Building, 851 Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY 10451. For more information or to schedule an appointment, please call 718-590-3554.

Company Overseen By Joel Klein Poised To Clean Up With $27M No-Bid NYC Contract

    You had to know this was going to happen, but we thought it would be later than sooner. Celeste Katz of the Daily News writes here  that part of the $700 million dollars that New York State is getting in the Race to the Top federal program will go to Wireless Generation to develop software that will track student test scores, among other things. Did we say that Wireless Generation is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, Joel Kleins current employer after he left the DOE.
    Katz writes that since this is a state contract for the DOE it is classified as not being a conflict of interest to former Chancellor Joel Klein. Wireless Generation created the Achievement  Reporting and Innovative Systems or ARIS that has been widely criticized in New York City. 

 

BOROUGH PRESIDENT DIAZ & SENATOR RIVERA TO LAUNCH NEW HEALTH INITIATIVE

On Saturday, June 11, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. and State Senator Gustavo Rivera will come together to announce the launch of the Bronx CAN (Change Attitudes Now) Health Initiative.

The Bronx CAN Health Initiative will bring together individuals, doctors and other health providers, places of worship, community gardens and community centers, schools, and civic-minded groups of all kinds to promote the types of behaviors that lead to healthy lifestyles. The goal of the Bronx CAN Health Initiative is to have all the members of our community – young and old alike – build healthier lives, free of ailments like obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and cardiovascular disease.

As part of the initiative, community members will be encouraged to set their own health goals, whether it is losing weight, exercising a certain amount of times a week, or vowing to eat healthier. 

  Saturday, June 11 @ Noon

  Mary Mitchell Center, 2007 Mapes Avenue, Bronx

    

TWO KOPPELL-SPONSORED BILLS RELATED TO ILLEGAL RESIDENTIAL CONVERSIONS SUBJECT OF COUNCIL HEARING  

 Two bills, sponsored by Council Member Oliver Koppell, were the subject of a special hearing conducted by the Council Committees on Housing and Fire & Criminal Justice on Tuesday, June 7, 2011.

 

The hearing was convened after a number of recent fatal fires in illegally converted multiple dwellings.  Two measures were considered.

 

The first bill, of which Council Member Oliver Koppell is the prime sponsor, would require the Department of Buildings (DOB) to obtain a court order to enter a residential building when there has been a complaint of illegal conversion, and where two attempts have failed to provide the DOB inspectors with entry.

 

The genesis of the bill was Koppell’s frustration at finding out, after following up on complaints from constituents in the Woodlawn section of the Bronx about an illegal conversion, that it was the practice of the DOB to abandon attempts to inspect allegedly illegal premises after two unsuccessful attempts by its inspectors to gain entry. 

 

“I felt this was outrageous,” Koppell said. “There had to be a mechanism by which DOB inspectors could gain access to a building after a complaint about illegal conversion.   My bill requiring the DOB to obtain a court order directing access would provide this mechanism.” 

 

The second bill, of which Koppell is a co-sponsor, would allow DOB or any other law enforcement agency the authority to issue a summons or notice of violation for illegal residential conversions based on readily observable circumstantial evidence, which may include multiple mailboxes, a large number of operational utility meters, or multiple doorbells. 

 

The problems highlighted by the Koppell legislation, as well as the recent fires, induced Mayor Bloomberg to create a multi-agency task force, chaired by Chief Policy Advisor Feinblatt, to tackle this problem. 

 

“I believe the bills introduced in the Council would enhance our ability to reduce the number of dangerous illegal residential conversions in the city and would facilitate the Mayor’s efforts to solve this problem,”   Koppell said. 

Free JASA Art Event

The Jewish Association for Services for the Aged (JASA) will hold a special exhibition and reception in honor of the artist Angelo Romano, who recently donated more than 60 pieces of his original artworks to the agency. The exhibition will be held on June 23 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm at JASA’s Cooper Square Senior Residence, 200 E. 5^th Street. “We’re very appreciative of Mr. Romano’s generous donation,” said Alexandra Collier, JASA’s Director of Volunteer Services and Special Projects. “More than 50 of his paintings and sculptures will be displayed at JASA senior centers across New York City, and we will be selling 10 pieces to benefit JASA programming for older New Yorkers,” she added. JASA hopes to continue displaying and promoting the work of older adult artists.

Mr. Romano is an internationally recognized Spanish-born painter, with works on permanent display at such New York institutions as El Museo del Barrio and Hostos Community College, and at other museums, cultural centers, and schools in Spain, Brazil, and across the United States. Throughout his lifetime, he has had more than 300 exhibitions of his work.

A prolific artist, Mr. Romano appropriates whatever materials he has available for his paintings. His colorful works are done on canvas, as well as on old bottles, light bulbs, and cookie tins, assembled together into new, fantastical shapes. Juan Ramirez de Lucas, a member of the International Association of Art Critics, has written of Mr. Romano’s work: “It is painting that is minutely detailed, vital, full of optimism, luminous, and comforting in its simpleness and happiness. What more could one ask?!”

Mr. Romano came to JASA through a friend who resides in a JASA housing facility, and JASA eagerly accepted his offer of a donation. After the initial reception on June 23^rd, the works will be distributed to JASA’s Senior Centers and other facilities for permanent display.

For more information about JASA’s Exhibition and Reception for Angelo Romano, please call (212) 273-5222 or email lbelcic@jasa.org.

JASA is one of the largest community-based, voluntary social service agencies serving the aged in the United States. Its mission is to sustain and enrich the lives of the aging in the New York metropolitan area so that they can remain in the community with dignity and autonomy. Since 1968, JASA and its affiliates have provided social, recreational, health, cultural and educational programs for older persons, regardless of their race, religion or ethnicity, to help sustain them in their homes and communities and to offer opportunities for a better quality of life.

 

JETER METER UPDATE

   The 161st Street BID has placed a Derek Jeter meter on a lamp post opposite Jeter's banner hanging outside Yankee Stadium, This Jeter Meter is keeping count as the Yankee shortstop heads for the 3,000 hit plateau. As of today the Jeter Meter is at 2989 after Jeter got a hit in last nights game, and needs only 11 more hits to reach 3,000, an almost sure fire automatic entry into the baseball hall of fame. 

    The 161st Street BID came up with the JETERBUG (a take off of the famous jitterbug, sung by Ella Fitzgerald) which the children from the Highbridge Advisory Council Head Start program danced to at the press conference kicking off the Jeter Meter clock. 

  

    When Derek Jeter does get his 3,000th hit there will be celebrations at the Yankee Tavern, Yankee Bar & Grill, Stan's, and Billy's to celebrate the feat with free cake to the first 100 fans after the hit. The Yankees still have 9 games left on the current homestand, and it is hoped that Derek Jeter will get his 3000th hit during the current homestand. We don't know if Jeter is going to show up at one of the celebrations, as he will be doing a lot of celebrating with his fellow Yankee players.