Council Member Andy King Hosts “Open House” for the Community

  City Council Member Andy King was pleased with the turnout at his district offices’ “Open House” this afternoon with a steady stream of people walking through the doors within three hours.

The Open House was a chance to not only invite members of the community to the district offices at 940 East Gun Hill Rd., and 135 Einstein Loop in Co-Op City, but observe the birthday of the slain civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“It’s only fitting that on the day of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s actual birthday that we open up our house as Dr. King had opened up his heart and gave his life to improve the lives of others. That true commitment to service is what we strive for in the 12th District,” said Council Member King, of his third annual Open House.

In addition to meeting Council Member King, his staff and representatives from various government agencies and service organizations, constituents and a student government group from PS 103 raised questions on issues regarding community safety, quality of life, health care and housing. A prayer of blessings over Council Member King’s offices was given by the Rev. Stephen Amponsah, pastor of the Church of Pentecost in the Wakefield section of the Bronx.

NYC Council Member Andy King, 12^th Council District, Bronx, is joined by community residents, students from PS 103 and representatives from government and community agencies.

The Bronx Chamber of Commerce Upcoming Events

Dear Members and Friends:   We are busy planning the Bronx Chamber of Commerce's major business networking events. 2016 will be a Great Year!   Please mark your calendar and plan on attending some of the following events:   February 11, 2016   Annual Valentine's Business Networking                                 Marriott Resident Inn 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm   February 24, 2016   African American Heritage Awards Dinner                                 Tosca Marquee 5:30 pm - 9:30 pm   March 9, 2016         Irish Heritage Luncheon                                 Rambling House 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm   March 18, 2016       Women of Distinction Luncheon                                 Villa Barone Manor 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm   April 13, 2016          Annual Gala                                 Marina del Rey Caterers 5:30 pm - 10:30 pm   May 3, 2016            Annual Golf Outing                                 Trump Links 11:30 am - 8:00 pm   June 16, 2016          Annual Business Expo                                 The Mall at Bay Plaza 11:00 am - 5:00 pm   Additional events dates will be added as they are confirmed.   In 2016, the Bronx Chamber of Commerce will be expanding its programs and services including publishing a printed Annual Membership & Business Referral Directory to enhance benefits for current members and attract new members. I need your support and cooperation to request companies that you do business with to join the Bronx Chamber of Commerce. If you make it a requirement, they will join. We are witnessing a renaissance in our great borough that is unprecedented.   Together, we will grow the Chamber, enhance its influence and further improve the image of "The Bronx"!   The Bronx Chamber of Commerce sponsors a wide range of programs and services to businesses ranging from large corporations, Cultural Institutions, Universities and Colleges, Hospitals and Medical Centers, and mid-sized to small companies. Patronize local Bronx businesses and strengthen our community! Companies do not need an office in the Bronx to be active members of the association. To join or for more information, please contact Josann Ferguson (718) 828-3900 or email:Josann@bronxchamber.org.   I look forward to your active membership and meeting you at some of our upcoming networking events.   Sincerely,   Nunzio   Nunzio Del Greco President and CEO Bronx Chamber of Commerce "The Network for Business Success" 1200 Waters Place, Suite 106 Bronx, NY 10461 718-828-3900Nunzio@bronxchamber.org

Congressman Charles Rangel New Year Town hall Meeting Tuesday 1/19

REP. CHARLES B. RANGEL
INVITES YOU TO
TOWNHALL MEETINGTuesday, January 19, 2016
7:00pm - 8:30pm
Union Settlement237 East 104th Street, New York, NY 10029

Congressman Rangel and staff, as well as representatives from government agencies, will be available to meet with you to address your questions and concerns about Washington and federal benefits.

PRESENTATIONS BY:U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; New York Regional Office; Manhattan Taxpayer Advocate Service

RSVP: https://rangel.house.gov/harlemevents
Questions?
Visit RANGEL.HOUSE.GOV or Call 212-663-3900 

E-Cigarette Rally Sunday

Kids and teens are smoking fewer cigarettes every year.  This is a huge win for our public health.  But that victory is being threatened by e-cigarettes.  While e-cigarette companies will have you think their  products are safe, no clinical studies have been  submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  So we truly don't know what chemicals they contain,  how much nicotine you inhale, and how dangerous they are.  We do know that nicotine is highly addictive, and use of  e-cigarettes can lead kids to try other tobacco products,  such as conventional cigarettes, which are known to cause  deadly diseases, such as lung cancer, heart disease, and  emphysema.  And e-cigarette companies are advertising to our children.  This Sunday at 11AM, Comptroller Scott Stringer and  Public Advocate Letitia James are hosting an indoor  rally at Goddard Riverside Community Center to  call on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and FDA to  study and regulate e-cigarettes. And we are calling on  e-cigarette companies to STOP marketing to our kids.

Council, City to Address Modernizing Our Parking Systems for the Future

Editors Note First: 

  While there have been a few good ideas that have come from the current City Council that was elected in 2013 the following has to be some of the lamest ways of trying to increase revenue for New York City. How about a Muni Meter system for bicycles that also use valuable city real estate. It is a good thing that we have term limits for the City Council,

COUNCIL, CITY TO ADDRESS MODERNIZING NYC'S PARKING SYSTEMS FOR THE FUTURE

Upgrades and Policy Changes Will be Discussed in Addition to Three Parking Related Bills

   On Friday, January 15th, 2016 at 10:00 AM in the City Council Chambers, The New York City Council Committee on Transportation will hold an oversight hearing titled: Upgrading New York City Parking Systems for Greater Efficiency, Safety and Reliability.

The committee will also hear three pieces of legislation: 

• Intro 326 (Council Member Garodnick): requiring parking placards to have bar codes to ensure their validity.
• Intro 996 (Council Member Rodriguez): allowing the purchase of street parking time to be made accessible by phone application or text message.
• Intro 999 (Council Member Rodriguez): allowing the exchange of unused parking time between mobile users.

With testimony expected from the Department of Transportation and the NYPD as well as a number of advocates, the discussion will center around what DOT has done over the past few years to push our city's parking systems into the 21st century and what plans they have for the future. Discussion will also include ideas about how city parking systems can be made more efficient with increased reliability, as well as how the city is managing these systems. 

Each parking space in New York City is real estate granted by the City as a public good, sometimes for a small fee. This hearing will address the extent to which the city aims to continue its policy of granting such spaces and at what price, as well as the externalities of this policy and its impact on other street users such as pedestrians and cyclists.

What: City Council Transportation Committee Oversight Hearing: Upgrading New York City Parking Systems for Greater Efficiency, Safety and Reliability

Who: Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, Members of the City Council Transportation Committee, NYC DOT, NYPD, Transportation Alternatives, Advocacy Organizations

When: January 15th, 2016. 10:00 AM

Where: City Council Chambers, City Hall, Manhattan, NY 10007

Doctor And Owner Of Bronx Clinics Involved In Illegal Distribution Of More Than Five Million Oxycodone Pills Is Sentenced To 12 Years In Prison

   Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the conviction of KEVIN LOWE, the owner of “Astramed,” a purported medical clinic with multiple locations in the Bronx, New York, and from which more than five million tablets of the prescription painkiller oxycodone were unlawfully distributed over a three-year period.  On May 4, 2015, LOWE was convicted of a conspiracy to distribute narcotics following a two-week jury trial presided over by U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield.  Today, Judge Schofield sentenced LOWE to a term of 144 months in prison.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “Kevin Lowe and his co-defendants used a network of bad doctors and street-level dealers to flood the streets of New York City with millions of highly addictive, potent opioids, all under the guise of a legitimate medical clinic.  Instead of medical care, Lowe and others illegally dispensed opioids, enabling a vicious cycle of addiction that affects too many in our communities.  Thanks to the Drug Enforcement Administration and the New York City Police Department, this so-called ‘clinic’ is out of business and those responsible are been held accountable.”

According to the allegations contained in the Indictment and the evidence presented by the government during LOWE’s trial:

From approximately January 2011 until February 2014, a drug distribution ring operated out of “Astramed,” a purported medical clinic with multiple locations in the Bronx that LOWE owned and operated.  At these clinics, doctors working under LOWE’s direction wrote tens of thousands of medically unnecessary prescriptions for oxycodone, a highly addictive, prescription opioid used to treat severe and chronic pain conditions.  Oxycodone prescriptions, once written, have enormous cash value to street-level drug dealers, who can fill prescriptions at most pharmacies and resell the resulting pills at vastly inflated rates.  Indeed, a single prescription for 180 30-milligram oxycodone pills has an average resale value in New York City of more than $6,000, and far more in nearby states.        

LOWE capitalized on the black market for oxycodone by employing board-certified, state-licensed doctors who were willing to write medically unnecessary prescriptions for large quantities of oxycodone in return for cash.  LOWE’s clinics, which accepted no insurance from patients seeking oxycodone prescriptions, typically charged $300 in cash for “doctor visits” that usually lasted just a minute or two, involved no actual physical examination, and consistently resulted in the issuance of a prescription for large doses of oxycodone, typically 180 30-milligram tablets, or a daily dosage of six 30-milligram tablets. 

LOWE’s clinics bore little resemblance to a standard medical office.  For example, on a daily basis, crowds of up to 100 people gathered outside the Astramed office on Southern Boulevard (the “Clinic”) clamoring to see one of the doctors at the clinic in order to obtain a prescription for oxycodone.  Virtually none of these individuals had any medical need for oxycodone, or any legitimate medical record documenting an ailment for which oxycodone would be prescribed.  Instead, most of these individuals were members of “crews” – that is, they were recruited and paid by high-level drug traffickers, oxycodone distributors (the “Crew Chiefs”), to pose as “patients” in order to receive medically unnecessary prescriptions from the doctors.  The Crew Chiefs then arranged for, and oversaw the filling of, the resulting prescription at various pharmacies and took possession of the oxycodone pills to be resold on the street.  Crew Chiefs also paid the Clinic’s employees hundreds of dollars in cash at a time to get their Crew Members into the Clinic to see one of the doctors. 

In total, between approximately January 2011 and February 2014, Astramed doctors issued 34,925 medically unnecessary prescriptions for oxycodone, comprising nearly 5.5 million oxycodone tablets with a street value of more than $165 million.  LOWE alone collected more than $7 million in cash for these sham “doctor visits” during this time period. 

STATEMENT BY ASSEMBLYMAN MARCOS CRESPO ON THE APPOINTMENT OF THE FIRST LATINO TO THE POST OF VICE CHANCELLOR IN SUNY

   Assemblyman Marcos Crespo, Chair of the Assembly Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force, released the following statement on the State University of New York (SUNY) Board of Trustees’ decision to name Dr. Carlos Medina as Vice Chancellor of the Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer.

“Yesterday, the SUNY Board of Trustees announced that Dr. Carlos Medina, the current Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (ODEI) will be elevated to Vice Chancellor of the State University of New York.  He will be the first Latino to hold such a title in the nation’s largest public college system. Dr. Medina has a distinguished career of working on such issues and his work has been acknowledged nationally in the form of top honors awarded.

This is a historic achievement and decision by SUNY on several fronts.  The leadership of Board of Trustees Chairman Carl McCall and Chancellor Nancy Zimpher on making the State University of New York a national leader on improving access, affordability, and successful outcomes for minority students needs to be commended.

The elevation to a Vice Chancellorship of the office which works on issues of critical importance to underrepresented minority communities comes only a few months after SUNY announced major and lengthy new policies to improve diversity, inclusive excellence and student success on all of its campuses.

SUNY has 64 campuses, over 89,000 faculty and staff, and almost 500,000 students of which some 20% (100,000) are minorities.

With non-whites now making up the majority of high school graduates across the nation, colleges and universities have begun to prioritize more resources and focus new efforts devoted to issues of diversity and improving student access and successful completion of a college education.  SUNY has now well positioned itself to address these issues into the rest of this century.

The diversity programs headed by SUNY have been strengthened by this decision.  Last year and under the leadership of Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie, the Minority Graduate Fellowship administered by SUNY saw a $600,000 increase to approximately $7 million annually, the first increase in this successful program in over a decade.

The SUNY Office of Diversity, Equity and inclusion was created in 2007 under then Chancellor John Ryan and in collaboration with former Assembly Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force Chair Peter M. Rivera and Dr. Raul Huerta, United University Professions Executive Board Member and Vice President for Professionals. In 2006, they traveled to campuses in other states to examine best practices in achieving minority student success.  Afterwards, Chancellor Ryan and Assemblyman Rivera put together a team of staff from their respective offices and Dr. Huerta to work out the details needed to create the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

The Assembly Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force continues to work with SUNY on issues of college affordability, improving student success, increasing diversity of its faculty and professional staff, and supporting SUNY’s overall mission as a world-class institution of higher learning.

Today, the strengthening of ODEI is due to the tremendous work of Chairman Carl McCall and the visionary efforts of Chancellor Zimpher. In combination, they have well positioned SUNY to better serve the educational needs of all New Yorkers while working to build the diverse workforce our communities and state needs to compete in a global economy.

Minority student success in higher education, increasing their graduation rates in STEM fields, and postgraduate education are critically important to the economy of New York.  Under Chairman McCall and Chancellor Zimpher, the future looks brighter thanks to their years of work on these issues and the strong foundation for progress they have built.

I along with the members of the New York State Assembly Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force thank them for their leadership and commitment. We express our gratitude to the SUNY Board of Trustees for their notable work on all fronts dealing with minority student success, diversity of faculty and staff, and improving the world-class education available at our State University system.”

STATEMENTS RE: Gov. Cuomo's 'State of the State'

STATEMENT FROM BOROUGH PRESIDENT DIAZ

RE: Gov. Cuomo’s 2016 ‘State of the State’ Address

“Great things are happening in The Bronx, and Governor Cuomo’s remarks today confirm that we are setting the bar for the entire state. Crime rates are dropping, businesses are growing and, thanks to the creation of the Bronx Employment Strike Force in 2014 and our efforts through the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation, we are putting people to work.

“The governor’s commitment of $55 million towards expanded workforce training for at-risk youth, as well as new tax cuts for small businesses, will only help our job creation efforts grow. We are grateful for that continued support.

“In his ‘State of the State’ today, Governor Cuomo outlined an ambitious agenda on multiple issues that concern our borough, our city and our state. From increasing our state’s minimum wage, or expanding paid family leave, the governor has made a clear pitch to help strengthen families. With increased funding for CUNY and SUNY, a new tax credit for teachers and an $800 million increase in universal pre-K programs, the governor is clearly focused on our public school system.

“No issue has captivated our city more than housing and homelessness, and the announcement of $20 billion in new funding for permanent and supportive housing is certainly welcome. I look forward to working with officials at all levels to identify sites and projects that could benefit from this funding while creating much needed new units.

“Finally, I am encouraged by the governor’s proposal to allow automatic voter registration at the DMV. Voter participation is the key component of civic health, and I have always supported initiatives that allow more New Yorkers to participate in our electoral process. If we do not participate, our voices are not heard,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.

NYC Council Transportation Chair Ydanis Rodriguez issued the following statement on NY Governor Andrew Cuomo's State of the State Address: 

"The proposals outlined in the Governor's State of the State address today are ambitious and have the potential to modernize our city's subways in buses in numerous ways. His vision for technology and capital upgrades in stations can provide a much needed face lift to our transit system. Yet most of all, the Governor's recognition that public transit is key to the continued economic growth here in New York is paramount to building a sustainable future for New York. These forward-thinking initiatives set forth a strong framework in which we can grow and thrive for the coming decades."

SENATOR ESPAILLAT: GOVERNOR CUOMO PROPOSES HISTORIC INVESTMENT TO COMBAT HOMELESSNESS 

"New Yorkers are losing their homes and this historic investment in affordable and supportive housing holds the potential to turn the tide. Over 40% of New York City renters are 'rent burdened', hundreds of thousands are on a wait list for public housing, and over 59,000 are homeless; many of them children. This is unacceptable. 

We must undertake a monumental effort to ensure working class and middle class New Yorkers have a home in our city. The Governor's proposal to invest $20 billion over five years in affordable and supportive housing plots a course in that direction. I will work with the Governor to tirelessly advocate for the housing funding he proposed today."