COUNCIL MEMBER RODRIGUEZ NAMED CHAIR OF COUNCIL'S COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION

   Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez was announced the newest chair of the City Council Committee on Transportation. This important committee is vital to oversight over the MTA, DOT, NYCTA & TLC and is set to be a major forum in discussing Mayor deBlasio's VisionZero initiative. Transportation is something that affects the lives of almost every New Yorker, as well as the many millions more who travel here from out of state and country. The focus of this committee will be to ensure efficiency, affordability and equality for all major forms of transportation.

Over the past four years, Council Member Rodriguez has been a fierce advocate for street safety in his community and across the city. An active member of the Transportation Committee prior to this appointment, he will continue to advocate for safe and efficient public transportation, while looking to expand service to under-severed communities. Upon his appointment, Council Member Rodriguez had this to say:

"I am grateful to our Speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito, for this great opportunity to make our city's expansive transportation system more efficient, affordable and equitable for all New Yorkers. We will seek to focus this committee on accomplishing Mayor deBlasio's Vision Zero initiative, placing a premium on pedestrian safety to avoid any further avoidable loss of life. Additionally, we will look for ways to expand our great public transportation system with the help of the MTA and transportation advocates; we will seek to cut travel times for New Yorkers to increase the efficiency of our city as a whole; and strike a suitable balance between the thousands of bicyclists and motorists who use our streets."

  The previous chair of the City Council Transportation Committee was Bronx Councilman Jimmy Vacca. 

Hazardous Travel Advisory

  At 9:47 AM. The NYC Office of Emergency Management (OEM) has issued a Hazardous Travel Advisory for today (Tuesday) and Wednesday due to anticipated weather conditions that will result in wet, slick sidewalks. Roadways could quickly turn icy. The National Weather Service has forecasted 8 to 12 inches of snow accumulation through Wednesday. Dangerously cold temperatures expected through Friday. Residents should drive slowly, monitor weather and traffic, use major streets or highways, and keep the name and number of at least one local towing service. Pedestrians should avoid slippery surfaces, dress in layers, and maintain a heightened awareness of cars, especially when crossing intersections. Please review the complete Hazardous Travel Advisory attached for additional details about the impending storm and precautions to take.

Editor's note --

You will find conditions like those in the photos below so walk carefully, and drive even more carefully especially over those extremely slippery metal plates covering Con Edison "Oil to Gas conversion" construction. The best advice "Get a good lawyer".

Left - A street that was not salted, and could lead up to an accident happening at this and other intersections.

Right - An overpass that was not fully salted, and could lead up to an accident as overpasses freeze up quicker than regular roads.

 

Left - A very slippery Con Edison metal plate covers construction in this crosswalk and others around the Bronx. Pedestrians not only have to worry about cars, but also have to worry about falling on the very slippery surface of the metal plate, and also if a car can stop on this surface.

Right - An intersection where very slippery Con Edison metal plates are. If you look closely a car has just slid about 10 feet on this metal plate Con Edison has left in this intersection. It is an accident waiting to happen. This is the area where a snow plow moved one of these metal plates in the street that opened a very dangerous 2 foot wide section of the construction trench area. Drivers of snow plows have been told not to plow over these metal Con Edison plates in the street.

Preschoolers at Bronx Special Ed. School Compete in Annual Winter Olympics

 
Update: This event has been postponed due to weather. 

  As U.S. athletes prepare for the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, about 100 preschoolers in the Readiness Program at New York Institute for Special Education (NYISE) will participate in their own annual Winter Olympics, Thursday, January 23, from 10 AM- Noon, in the Readiness Solarium, 985 Astor Avenue, behind the main building on Pelham Parkway North, Bronx.

Developmentally-delayed three to five-year-olds will participate in fun winter-themed activities designed to improve gross motor skills such as coordination, balance, strength and agility.

Each class will select a country to represent and make a flag for display at the Olympics. Students will wear their team color as they partake in Olympics-inspired games such as hockey, winter bowling, luge, ice-skating and snow ball fights with crumbled paper. The students will also get to participate in their favorite activity, the ice breaker.

A medal ceremony will follow and the children will be invited to create a large torch on the wall using pre-made painted hand-prints. Each student will receive a medal and be crowned a winner.

The New York Institute for Special Education, founded in 1831 as The New York Institute for the Education of the Blind, is one of the oldest and most respected schools in the nation that provides specialized services for children with disabilities.

WHAT:         WINTER OLYMPICS FOR PRE-SCHOOLERS AT NEW YORK INSTITUTE FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION

DATE:           THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2014

TIME:           10 AM – NOON

PLACE:         READINESS SOLARIUM (BEHIND MAIN BUILDING AT 999 PELHAM PARKWAY NORTH)

985 ASTOR AVENUE

BRONX

*Please RSVP if interested in attending: Bill Easton at weaston@rubenstein.com*

Welcome to Johnson Avenue Con Edison

As if the merchants on Johnson Avenue aren't struggling enough with the high rents and the poor economy Con Edison wants to add to the their despair. As you see in the photo on the left Johnson Avenue between West 235th & West 236th Street is being sliced so workers can open a foot and a half wide trench to put in high pressured gas lines as part of the Con Edison "Oil to Gas conversion" of apartment buildings that surround the Johnson Avenue shopping area. 

  This is what Johnson Avenue above West 236th Street looks like as workers were in, next to, and around the open trench near the middle of the street. Yes there is no parking allowed at the curb so that the workers an do their job while the construction is ongoing. Don't forget those slippery and pointy metal plates cover the work area when no work is going on, and that is often.

  Below on the left you can see how the cut is on an angle as it is thought on how the old gas pipe is aligned under the street.

  On the right you can see the markings that go down the full length of Johnson Avenue. Note how bad the previous  covering of construction work by and under the white car has left the roadway. Don't forget there will be no parking on this side of the street for about as long as it takes for Con Edison to do the work.

ANDREW CUOMO, THE INTOLERANT GOVERNOR

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
By Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz
District 32 Bronx County, New York

ANDREW CUOMO, THE INTOLERANT GOVERNOR

You should know that back in Biblical times, there were two cities, Sodom and Gomorrah, whose leaders were intolerant of anyone who would oppose their teachings and beliefs, to the point that the leaders would expel and commit physical violence against anyone who disagreed with them.   The leaders of Sodom and Gomorrah demanded that its’ citizens should be tolerant of their beliefs.

You should also know that New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has spent the past few years pushing for tolerance from people who disagree with him and his ilk.  However, we just got a very disturbing lesson of intolerance from our beloved Governor, Andrew Cuomo.

On Friday, January 17, 2014 Governor Andrew Cuomo made an outrageous statement during a radio interview, where he categorically condemned all New Yorkers who fall under his label of “extreme conservatives."

Governor Cuomo stated: “these extreme conservatives, have no place in the State of New York.”   So we should ask, who are these “extreme conservatives”?

You should know that these condemned New Yorkers include people of faith communities, and people of no faith at all, who uphold traditional marriage and oppose the legalization of marriage between a man and a man, and a woman and a woman.  The Governor’s condemned New Yorkers also include women and men who respect the inherent dignity of human life at all stages of development and who oppose the legalization of the brutal killing of unborn children in their mothers' wombs.

I wonder if the Governor had the chance to redo his interview, if he would like to include New Yorkers who oppose late-term abortions - and New Yorkers who oppose fornication or sex outside of marriage - among those who should no longer reside in New York State.

Governor Andrew Cuomo's widespread call for the banishment of all New Yorkers who don't toe his liberal line sounds like something we might hear from the mouth of a tyrant condemning those who sit on the wrong side of his throne.

Governor Andrew Cuomo's presumptuous license to banish those who he has called "extreme conservatives" is an outright attack on millions of New Yorkers.  It's also an attack on the core principles of the Bill of Rights' First Amendment freedoms:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Someone needs to send our Governor back to a remedial course of "Civics 101 - Introduction to the US Constitution.”  And if it helps, I would be delighted to lend Governor Andrew Cuomo my copy of Nat Hentoff’s book: “Free Speech for Thee, But Not For Me.”

You should know that Governor Andrew Cuomo's radio attack against millions of New Yorkers who are “extreme conservatives” amounts to a thinly disguised act of religious discrimination against those who are practicing Catholics, Jewish, Muslims, and Evangelical Christians.  Millions of New Yorkers revere the teachings of the Torah, the Holy Bible and the Koran.

My dear reader, we need to remain vigilant, because as they say: “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

I have to say, while Governor Andrew Cuomo's radio attack sounded like an excommunication decree, I find comfort in knowing that I am in good company with many of New York’s religious leaders, including my Catholic friends, such as Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who shepherds New York’s Catholics with loving pro-family guidance.  This includes the belief that life is given by God, and God is the only one who should take it away.

I am also in good company with the Catholic Church’s Pope Francis who recently reminded the world of the travesty of abortion when he stated: “Unfortunately, what is thrown away is not only food and dispensable objects, but often human beings themselves, who are discarded as ‘unnecessary.’ For example, it is frightful even to think there are children, victims of abortion, who will never see the light of day.”

I must ask our beloved Governor, where are all those talks about tolerance?  Is it that our intolerant Governor wants New York State to become a tyrannical state?

I am State Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz, and this is what you should know.  

 

Celebrating the Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.

   
Dear Friend,

It's important to remember that today is more than simply a day off from work or school, it is a day for all of us to remember the important work done by Martin Luther King, Jr. throughout his life.  Dr. King’s legendary heroism must be recalled each year around this time. A humanitarian, he dedicated his life to battling social injustice and was one of the most influential forces behind the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s.  In the state Assembly, I have tried to live up to his philosophy that we should act now when it comes to improving the lives of the citizens of our state.

The work of Dr. King is not over, a growing problem in New York and across the country is the ever-expanding gap between the wealthy and the middle class and poor. Combating income inequality and spurring upward mobility are defining issues of our time, and they were also central to Dr. King’s agenda.  Increasing wages for hardworking families and creating more good-paying jobs must be the goal of every elected official, and it’s an issue that I will work diligently on in Albany in 2014.

Dr. King also placed a great emphasis on education, and so do I – providing our children with a sound education has always been one of my top priorities. Dr. King once said, “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically ... intelligence plus character –that is the goal of true education.” Unfortunately, providing a top-notch education has become more and more challenging, especially for our high-need schools. Forcing teachers to do more with less, yet expecting better outcomes, is unrealistic at best. That’s why every year I call on our leaders to increase funding for our schools and work to ensure the needs of our educators and students are being met, in the spirit of Dr. King’s vision.

I leave you with this image of Dr. King along with a quote that I find especially meaningful, I hope you will share it with others and continue to spread Dr. King's message.

87th A.D. Assemblyman,

Luis R. Sepulveda

NHL Stadium Series at Yankee Stadium

  The 161st Street BID has a unique celebration planned in tandem with the upcoming NHL Hockey series at Yankee Stadium.The BID has commissioned Shinarto Okomoto to carve a statue of Yankee pitching great Mariano Rivera. Okomoto is an international renowned ice sculpter who's work has been featured in the media and on the Grammy Award broadcast.

  The sculpture will honor the pitcher celebrating the renaming of River Avenue in his name and enhance the beauty of the district said Dr. Cary Goodman Executive Director of the 161st Street bid. The date is Sunday January 26th starting at 10 AM.

HONORING DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
By Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz
District 32 Bronx County, New York

HONORING DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

You should know, that on Monday January 20, 2014, we celebrate the life and legacy of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. I extend warm greetings to my African-American brothers and sisters and to all people of good will who follow Dr. King's example.

You should also know, on April 4, 1968, Dr. King was taken from us, much too quickly and much too violently. Yet, the manner in which he left us is not what I wish to dwell on as we commemorate his life. Rather, I believe it is important to reflect on the lessons he left us, the lessons of his life and the lessons of his legacy.

Dr. Martin King’s life was a life lived in service to others. His life was a life lived calling for an end to the injustice caused by racial inequality, the injustice caused by poverty, and the injustice caused by war. Despite his best efforts and unending dedication, he did not witness an end to these injustices in his lifetime.

Reverend Doctor King’s legacy to us is this:  that in our time and in our day, right here and now, we are called to end the injustice of racial inequality, the injustice of poverty, and the injustice of all war. We are the heirs of Dr. King’s legacy. We must not falter in our efforts.

 I want you to know of a sermon Dr. King delivered, just two short months before his untimely passing, at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia on February 4, 1968:

“And so Jesus gave us a new norm of greatness. If you want to be important—wonderful. If you want to be recognized—wonderful. If you want to be great—wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That's a new definition of greatness. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.”

As we celebrate the legacy of  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his message of service and a more peaceful world, let us continue to imitate him in our deeds and in our actions. Let us be the servant that Dr. King so eloquently described. I wish God’s blessings on each and every one of you, my brothers and sisters.

I am State Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz, and this is what you should know.