LIU STATEMENT ON STORM RELIEF FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

    City Comptroller John C. Liu released the following statement about the new loans and tax relief for businesses affected by Hurricane Sandy that were approved today by the NYC Industrial Development Agency (IDA) and the Build NYC Resource Corporation. Comptroller Liu is a voting member of both the IDA and Build NYC:

“Small businesses have suffered the brunt of the structural and economic damage wrought by Superstorm Sandy,” Comptroller Liu said. “Indeed, many are at risk of going under.  The small business relief approved today is a worthy public-private partnership that will hopefully help stricken entrepreneurs to begin to get back on their feet.”

BACKGROUND:
Two programs that offer financial assistance to businesses were approved today by the City’s IDA and Build NYC:

•       The Hurricane Emergency Loan Program (HELP) will provide $10 million in loans capped at $25,000 each for businesses in an area affected by Hurricane Sandy. No payments are due for the first six months of the loans, during which time they are interest free; the loans carry a 1% interest rate thereafter.

The loans are funded with $1 million from Build NYC, $4 million from the IDA, and $5 million from Goldman Sachs.

•       The Hurricane Emergency Sales Tax Exemption Program (HESTEP) will help business affected by Sandy make repairs, renovate, and replace damaged equipment by providing up to $25 million in sales tax
exemptions on purchases of building materials and machinery. The tax exemptions will be limited to 250 businesses, each receiving exemptions of up to $100,000.

For more details on the programs and how to apply, please check the City’s website:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/sbs/nycbiz/html/home/home.shtml

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BOROUGH PRESIDENT DIAZ URGES BRONX RESIDENTS TO APPLY TO THEIR LOCAL COMMUNITY BOARD

   

    Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. today invited Bronx residents to make a difference in their community by joining their local Community Board. The Office of the Bronx Borough President will be accepting applications for all 12 Community Boards from city residents who reside, work or have professional or other significant interests in the Bronx.

   “Participation on local Community Boards can provide Bronx residents with a forum to share with their community their expertise and talents,” said Borough President Diaz. “It is important that community residents participate in the decision making process in their communities on important budget, land use and service delivery issues.” 

   Applications are available at the Borough President’s Community Board office at (718) 590-3914 or at your local community board office. Interested applicants may also get forms on-line at bronxboropres.nyc.gov. The deadline for submission of applications for the next round of appointments is February 8, 2013.

 

 

Carrion to Run For Mayor as a Republican

    Is former Democratic Bronx Borough President Adolpho Carrion going over the edge? Carrion has announced that he will be running for Mayor next year, but as a Republican and not as a Democrat. Comments are already coming in to Carrion's announcement. Some who requested that they remain anonymous have said that Carrion is committing political suicide running on the Republican line, is doing it because as a Democrat he is politically finished, and "Carrion is just plain crazy by doing this".

    There has been a comment by Tom Allon (announced Republican candidate) questioning Carrion's interest in the Republican line for mayor. Allon questioned Carrion's decision when as Bronx Borough President Carrion for having gratis work done on his City Island home by a developer who needed a project approval by him. Carrion was fined $10,000 by the New York City Campaign Finance Board and forced to pay for the work done on his home.

    Carrion needs the support of three of the five Republican county leaders. It has been said that Brooklyn chair Craig Eaton, and Bronx Chair Jay Savino have already committed to a Carrion Republican candidacy. Carrion would then need only one of the three remaining Republican county leaders to join with Eaton and Savino to be able to obtain the Wilson Pakula certificate. 

    There has been talk among political pundits that as a Democrat Carrion could not win the primary outright, and would have had to run in a run off election that he could not win. Carrion brings his one million dollar plus war chest from an aborted race in 2009 for comptroller with him. Carrion could also be hoping to be one of the Republican rising stars of the future. 

    Current Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. released the following on Carrion's decision-

 “I think that Adolfo Carrion would have been a formidable candidate for mayor in a Democratic primary, and it breaks my heart that my friend has chosen to stand as part of the Republican Party.

“It will be interesting to hear his positions on the issues that New Yorkers care about, like stop-and-frisk, living wage, paid sick leave, the budget process, public education and tenants’ rights, among others.

“As my predecessor, I wish him the best of luck. But it is disappointing that he is rushing to become part of the Republican Party, especially at a time when more than 80 percent of our City’s electorate just voted to reject their policies.

“I am a Democrat, and I will do everything in my power to elect a Democrat as our next mayor,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.

 
    
   

Assemblyman Dinowitz Calls On Board of Elections to Rethink Voting Process in Light of Election Day Poll Site Chaos

  

    Assemblyman Dinowitz called on the NYC Board of Elections to reconsider the voting process in light of the chaos that took place at hundreds of poll sites throughout the five boroughs on Election Day last Tuesday.  In a letter to the ten commissioners he outlined his frustrations with the long lines of voters and constant breaking down of the ballot scanners. While some difficulty existed due to the region still recovering in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, Mr. Dinowitz pointed most of the blame towards the optical scanning machines.  The Assemblyman explained that the current process is too disorderly and confusing and that he is an advocate of the old lever machines that were replaced back in 2010.

“I have always believed that we should have continued using the old lever machines. The Federal Government’s ridiculous overreaction to the debacle of the 2000 Presidential election led to us being told that our only two choices for voting machines were optical-scanner voting machines and the even less desirable atm-like DRG machines,” Assemblyman Dinowitz stated in his letter.

Mr. Dinowitz continued by declaring his frustrations with the ballots themselves specifically mentioning that the names of the candidates are not large enough and need to be bold.

Because of the constant breakdown of the machines which requires voters to wait in lines for hours to cast their ballot, and for the fact that it takes hours and in some cases even weeks to certify the results of an election, Assemblyman Dinowitz has called for the Board of Elections to do whatever it can to resolve this problem. 

“If it wasn’t obvious before November 6^th, it should be clear now that New York City’s voting machines are unmitigated disaster.  Our voters should be able to go to the polls and not spend hours waiting to vote.  The greatest city in the greatest country should be able to conduct a fair and smooth election in the 21^st century. Scrap these machines!,” remarked Assemblyman. Dinowitz.

EDITOR COMMENT

The number of ballot scanning machines per poll site also needs to be looked into. More scanners are needed at many sites compared to the number of election districts at said poll sites that each had a voting machine in the past.

 

New Democratic State Senate Leader?

 

    Could  State Senator Adriano Espiallat become the new State Senate Democratic Majoriy Leader if the Democrats regain control of the State Senate? It appears that there have been many names thrown out should the Democrats regain control, but only one seems to have support from almost all corners of the state. Espiallat is the Chair of the Senate Puerto Rican/Latino Caucus, serves on several committees such as Commerce, Economic Development & Small Business, Housing, Insurance and Judiciary to name a few. If Espiallat was to be promoted to Majority Leader it would also then clear the way for current Manhattan Democratic County Leader Assemblyman Keith Wright to replace Charlie Rangel as Congressman.

Help From Canada to Get the Lights Back On

   It may have taken help from Canada to get all the power restored to the Bronx. Below is one of the trucks from Hydro Quebec that was seen on a Bronx Street. Click on the photo to enlarge it.

What to Do When The Only Muni Meter is Gone

That is not a car parked at a hydrant, but a car parked on Riverdale Avenue north of West 238th Street that has one Muni Meter for the entire area of parking. Across the street there is no metered parking, and the nearest Muni Meter is almost two blocks away past the #7 bus stop. As you can see in the next photo a tree fell from the neighboring Fieldston School and landed on top of the Muni Meter leaving only the base. It can now take over 5 minutes to get to the nearest Muni Meter for a parking slip, and return to your car at this location.

Fallen tree can be seen in the background that has been cut up to be carted away.

Recyclables & Garbage Piling Up

   With the city in full recovery mode from Hurricane Sandy the Sanitation Department has stopped picking up recyclables and even garbage which is now piling up in some areas. We took visit to the Amalgamated houses on Orloff Avenue and on Gale Place to find such recyclables and trash bags piled high for pick up by the Department of Sanitation. Our visit was on Friday November 9th and you can see in the photos below what we found.

    On Gale Place we found recyclables on the right and garbage on the left sitting for over one week.

Here on  Orloff Avenue around the corner from Gale Place recyclables and garbage line the street on one side that was to much for one photo.