NEW YORK NAMED “2016 BEST SMART CITY,” NYC TO HOST 2017 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON URBAN TECHNOLOGY AT BROOKLYN NAVY YARD

Recognition by Smart City Expo World Congress highlights groundbreaking efforts to build stronger, more sustainable, resilient and equitable city

   Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced that New York was awarded the “2016 Best Smart City” by the Smart City Expo World Congress in Spain. The award recognizes cutting-edge initiatives that help resolve urban challenges and benefit cities and their residents. This announcement comes at a time when the City is seeing major progress related to Mayor de Blasio’s OneNYC plan, which aims to create a more sustainable, resilient and equitable city.

“New York is proud to be recognized as the capital of innovation and progress, and a city where everyone has equal access to opportunities and success,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “We are committed to ensuring we continue to be the leader of urban sustainability, resiliency and technology, and we are honored to host Smart Cities NYC ’17 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard this coming Spring."

Earlier this month, the Smart City Expo World Congress announced a new partnership to hold their first event in the United States: Smart Cities NYC '17.  The international conference and exposition will focus on the intersection of technology and urban life and will be held May 3-7. More than a dozen City agencies and offices will participate alongside public and private sector leaders and influencers from around the globe.

“There could be no better place to hold this important event than in New York City and at the Brooklyn Navy Yard,” said Jerry Hutlin, Chairman and Executive Director of Global Futures Group. “Smart Cities NYC ’17 will bring together world-class keynote speakers, experts and residents for constructive discussions and provocative debates, while also showcasing and advancing cutting-edge solutions for creating smarter, safer and more resilient global cities.”

“Brooklyn Navy Yard has been a center of innovation since it was first used to build ships 200 years ago," said BNYDC President David Ehrenberg. "Brooklyn Navy Yard continues that tradition today as home to a mix of older manufacturers and a growing number of companies that use advanced technologies to design, engineer and manufacture products – which now employ more people than at any time since the Navy left Brooklyn. We are delighted that in recognition of the role we play in making New York City the world's smartest city, we've been asked to host this incredible event.” 

The 2016 Best Smart City Award highlights key progress by the de Blasio Administration in four areas:

Expanding Connectivity for All

·         The Mayor’s Office, New York City Housing Authority and Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) kicked off new efforts to bring free high-speed Internet service into the homes of tens of thousands of low-income New Yorkers, starting with the nation’s largest public housing development.

·         In 2016, the City also broke ground on LinkNYC, the world’s largest fastest and municipal Wi-Fi network. To date, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers and visitors have used the Wi-Fi more than 50 million times. 

Piloting and Scaling Smart Technologies

• NYC continues to pilot and scale smart technologies to improve government services, neighborhood connectivity and the lives of New Yorkers. This includes an additional $3 million investment in gunshot detection sensors to enhance public safety and an $18.6 million connected-vehicle pilot with the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Growing the Innovation Economy

• In 2016, the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) launched Urban Tech NYC, an accelerator program providing 100,000 square feet of affordable space and prototyping equipment to help entrepreneurs and innovators address the most pressing urban challenges in sectors such as energy, waste, transportation, agriculture and water.
• To help connect government agencies to new smart city solutions, the Mayor’s Office of Technology and Innovation launched a series of new Calls for Innovation in 2016 and a new digital discovery tool at marketplace.nyc.

Ensuring Responsible and Equitable Deployment

• New York City recently developed the world’s first set of comprehensive guidelines for ensuring the responsible and equitable deployment of smart city technologies. In September, the White House and the Mayor’s Office of Technology and Innovation announced that more than 20 cities had signed on to this effort.

To expand upon this progress, the City recently added two new members to its senior technology team: Chief Technology Officer Miguel Gamiño and Chief Digital Officer Sree Sreenivasan. As CTO, leading the Mayor's Office of Technology and Innovation, Gamiño is working with all City agencies as we continue to develop a Smart City strategy, and head up the City’s rapidly expanding Broadband Program. Sreenivasan works to promote access to City government through technology and serves as the City's primary liaison to the tech start-up community.

“Smart City technology is essential to creating a more responsive and equitable government,” said New York City Chief Technology Officer Miguel Gamiño. “As a global leader in the Smart Cities movement, we welcome Smart Cities NYC '17 – and we will continue to innovate to ensure that every day New Yorkers are able to thrive in a more sustainable, resilient and equitable future.”

Additional information on Smart Cities NYC ’17 is available online at http://smartcitiesnyc.com/

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW - It Was Julio Pabón, Not Congressman Serrano

By Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz
District 32 Bronx County, New York

  You should know that it has been 21 years since Cuba’s Communist Dictator Fidel Castro visited Bronx County. To be more exact, the Dictator’s visit to Bronx County happened on Monday, October 23, 1995.

It is important for you to know that 21 years later, after reading a book titled “Knockout: Fidel Castro Visits The South Bronx” written by my friend, Julio Pabón, I have learned that it was not Congressman José Serrano who was the author, the coordinator and the consummator, but rather, it was Julio Pabón, according to the book he just published, who was the one to get Fidel Castro to come to the Bronx.

Could you imagine, my dear reader, for all these 20-plus years, I had believed that it was Congressman Serrano who was responsible for the Dictator’s visit to Bronx County?

As a matter of fact, during the Dictator’s visit, I organized and participated in various demonstrations against Fidel Castro and Congressman Serrano.

I remember many meetings I have had with my friend Carlos Barberia, the great Cuban composer and director of “Orquesta Kubavana” regarding Fidel Castro’s visit and how Congressman Serrano dared to invite him to Bronx County.

Since Castro’s visit to the South Bronx, my personal relationship with Congressman Serrano has not been the best. I felt offended, insulted and humiliated by the Dictator’s visit, and there were many times that I considered challenging José Serrano for his seat in the US Congress. And all of that was because Fidel Castro visited the Bronx.

Now, 21 years later, I just learned that it was not Congressman Serrano who brought Fidel Castro to visit Bronx County, but it was Julio Pabón.

It is also important for you to know that I met Julio Pabón back in 1975 when we were both students at Herbert H. Lehman College in the Bronx. Julio Pabón was always what I considered to be a lefty radical; and to the contrary, I was and remain a Pro-Statehood supporter, following those leaders who want Puerto Rico to become the 51st State of our Nation.

Julio Pabón used to follow the teachings of Ruben Berrios, Juan Mari Brás and the leaders of the Independent Party. Unlike him, I still follow the teachings of the leaders of Statehood.

During those years, The President of Lehman College was Dr. Leonard Lief; Dr. Trina Rivera de Ríos was the Director of the Bilingual Program; and Maria Herencia, Lehman College's first Hispanic Dean, who then served as Lehman's Financial Counselor.

I recall one occasion during my college days when Julio Pabón and his friends took over Schuster Hall. They chained the doors of every entrance and exit, disrupting education, and not allowing anyone to come in or out for days. I remember how food was delivered to them with ropes from the ground to the roof.

That incident caught the attention of every authority in the City and every student at the college.

Since that time, Julio Pabón has run for various political positions in Bronx County. He has been involved in sports. He was an assistant to Congressman Serrano, but I never knew him to be an historian nor a writer, as he has now revealed in his published book, “Knockout: Fidel Castro Visits The South Bronx” which you can get athttp://www.knockoutthebook.com/.

His book provides a good education for someone like me who may have been mistaken about who was the leader, the organizer and the perpetrator who dared to bring Fidel Castro into the Bronx.

As you know, the politics during those times were more conservative compared to the liberalism of today where everything is allowed and permitted.

It is ironic, or just maybe luck, that a few days before Fidel Castro finally died, Julio Pabón released his book to educate us about his role in bringing the Cuban Dictator to the one and only visit he ever paid to the South Bronx. So now you know the rest of the story.

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

TESTIMONY OF BRONX BOROUGH PRESIDENT RUBEN DIAZ JR. - ON THE FUTURE OF CITI BIKE

  I am here today to discuss the potential expansion of Citi Bike to all five boroughs, and the need to create new revenue streams to drive that expansion forward.

Over the past eight years, my borough has seen tremendous new investment. Not only have we attracted new businesses and built thousands of new housing units of all types, we have brought record infrastructure spending to The Bronx, as well.

The Grand Concourse is undergoing major renovations, and many of our subway stations have seen complete overhauls. Most significantly, we have secured the nearly $1 billion in funding for the long awaited East Bronx Metro North Expansion, thanks to strong partnerships with Governor Andrew Cuomo and the MTA.

Despite such record investment, transit equity continues to elude us in a very high-profile way.

Citi Bike is nowhere to be found in The Bronx. That must change.

In August 2015, I was shocked when Citi Bike announced that they had expanded to, of all places, Jersey City. How could Citi Bike go to New Jersey before it goes to all five boroughs? The City in Citi Bike has to mean something. Since then, I have heard from my constituents, over and over again, that they feel slighted by the lack of a Bronx bike sharing option.

We have an opportunity to fix that.

With transit fares set to rise, it is incumbent upon this city to do what it can to provide more options for affordable transportation throughout not only The Bronx, but across the five boroughs.

A Citi Bike membership—at just $155 per year—is not only a cost-effective means of transportation, but can also help remove cars from our roads and ease congestion on other mass transit options.

Citi Bike has always endeavored to be a five borough entity, and to serve as an essential part of our transit system. Bike sharing, we are told, works best not as an alternative to buses and subways, but as a piece of the total transit puzzle—an integrated part of our existing public transit system.

Right now, Citi Bike is funded entirely through private funds and revenues generated by memberships. Though taxpayer assets such as street space have been used to further its expansion, not a penny of direct taxpayer funding has been granted to the program. 

Contrast that with other forms of public transportation, which are publicly subsidized. And, that is how we have to view Citi Bike, as an important part of our public transportation infrastructure and network. 

To that end, City Hall must consider providing Citi Bike with an infusion of taxpayer funds. This funding, when combined with existing and new private revenue, can accelerate the expansion of bike sharing to all five boroughs.

Mayor de Blasio has stated publicly that Citi Bike must be expanded to The Bronx. To make that happen, the City must allocate funding to expand bike sharing across all five boroughs, ensuring that Citi Bike ventures to new areas after 2017. With a strong public financing commitment, new sponsors could be brought to the program. A commitment from the city would undoubtedly lead to an even greater commitment from private partners. 

My office is committed to working with City Hall to developing the plan to expand Citi Bike to The Bronx.

With an infusion of public funding, we can make such an expansion a reality.

Thank you.

WILLIAMS TO HOST TOWN HALL MEETING ON CITY INITIATIVES AND CONSTITUENT ISSUES

BDCC Chair Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz Steps Down, Assemblywoman Latoya Joyner New BDCC Chair

The photo above is from when Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz first came into office twenty-two years ago in 1994. The pay for a New York State Assembly member in 1998 was increased from $57,500 to its current amount of $79,500. Many Albany legislatures are also lawyers, and have done legal work to supplement their pay over the years including Assemblyman Dinowitz. While County Leaders and Executive Directors of political parties were bared from certain legal work that practice now has included County Committee Chairs of which Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz was the Bronx Democratic County Chair. The Bronx Democratic County Leader remains to be Assemblyman Marcos Crespo. Since the state legislature is not going to get a pay raise in the next two years at least, Assemblyman Dinowitz had one of two choices to make. He could give up the monies he makes from income that County Committee Chairs can no longer make, or he could give up the County Committee Chair. Assemblyman Dinowitz chose the latter. 

This is a recent photo of Assemblywoman Latoya Joyner who is now the Democratic County Committee Chair. Assemblywoman Joyner was elected to the State Assembly in 2014. She currently represents the 77th Assembly district which includes the Claremont, Concourse, Highbridge, Mount Eden, and Morris Heights sections of the Bronx.

Our best wishes to the new BDCC Chair Assemblywoman Latoya Joyner, who can wait for the next pay raise for state legislatures, whenever it comes.

Bronx Chamber of Commerce 2016 Holiday Party & Toy Drive WED. DEC. 14th

Bronx Family Court's 4th Annual Holiday Dinner

On behalf of the Bronx Family Court

you are cordially invited to their

FOURTH ANNUAL HOLIDAY DINNER

DECEMBER 8TH,2016

6:00pm to 10:00pm

Maestro's 

1703 Bronxdale Avenue

Bronx, NY 10462

To purchase tickets please contact :

Mike Greinfinger - (646) 573-1885

49th Precinct Community Council Meeting THIS TUESDAY, November 29th 7:30 PM at Morris Park Community Center, 1824 Bronxdale Avenue