DE BLASIO ADMINISTRATION KICKS OFF SECOND ANNUAL CIVICS WEEK WITH STUDENT VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVE

Week of Action will get more students registered and pre-registered to vote ahead of the 2020 elections

The de Blasio Administration kicked off the second annual Civics Week with a Student Voter Registration Drive today at William Cullen Bryant High School in Long Island City. As part of the City’s commitment to increase civic engagement, during Civics Week, DemocracyNYC representatives, the Mayor’s Public Engagement Unit and the Department of Education will register first-time student voters in high schools and colleges across the city from March 2-6.

Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives J. Phillip Thompson, Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza, and the Mayor's Public Engagement Unit Director Omar Khan and Councilmember Jimmy van Bramer visited high school students today to discuss the importance of civic engagement and participation in the democratic process.

“Our students are the future leaders of our City, and what we do now to empower them to vote will strengthen our democracy for years to come,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “I encourage all students to register and show up at the polls on Election Day because their voice matters.”

“Our future depends on engaging more youth in the democratic process,” said J. Phillip Thompson, Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives. “With 16- and 17-year-olds now able to pre-register to vote, we are working to ensure as many young people as possible can participate and lead change in our communities and the nation.”

“Across the City, our schools are hosting voter registration drives, participatory budgeting, town halls, and other activities that get students of all ages engaged in the democratic process,” said Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza. “I’m thrilled to kick off Civics Week this election year by encouraging as many students as possible to register to vote!”

Civics Week is part of the Department of Education’s Civics for All initiative, which teaches students about the foundations of American government and the democratic process. During Civics Week, students at public schools have the opportunity to participate in a variety of activities, including youth voter registration drives, participatory budgeting for their schools, public speaking competitions, and town halls on issues that matter to them and their communities.

This year, for the first time in New York, 16- and 17-year-olds can pre-register to vote, meaning they will automatically be registered when they turn 18-years-old, allowing more students to participate in future elections.

“Civics Week is a great opportunity to help recruit the next generation of leaders and to engage with young people about the importance of civic participation and voting,” said Laura Wood, DemocracyNYC Special Counsel. “Volunteers from city agencies and community-based organizations will be in high school classrooms in every borough for the next week, encouraging students to become life-long voters and engaged members of their communities.

DemocracyNYC thanks our critical partners for their efforts in this city-wide mobilization to empower youth to join in the democratic process.”

“Our democracy is strongest when it represents everyone, and we take seriously our responsibility to make that a reality for all New Yorkers, including the next generation of voters,” said Mayor’s Public Engagement Unit Director Omar Khan. “I’m proud that we are leading the charge to increase participation in our elections, and that PEU’s proactive outreach efforts will positively impact so many students during this Student Voter Registration Drive.”

“Through initiatives like Civics for All and DemocracyNYC, we not only educate young people on how to have their voices heard but work to empower them,” said the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit Commissioner Marco A. Carrión. “This city depends on the next generation knowing how to use their power.”

“At the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, we prioritize community empowerment because we know how critical education about your rights and exercising your voice through civic participation is to realizing a more inclusive, equitable, and just world for all of us,” said Bitta Mostofi, Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. “Through this Civics Week initiative, we are helping to prepare young New Yorkers from diverse families to fully participate in decisions that will impact their lives and their communities.”

“Civics Week is about supporting youth as they step into their power,” said NYC Chief Service Officer Anusha Venkataraman. “Youth already lead our city and build community to support various causes - from climate justice to ending violence. By registering to vote, young people will not only ensure their voices count now but also develop a lifelong practice of civic engagement.” 

Since the inaugural Student Voter Registration Drive in 2015, tens of thousands of students have been registered to vote at hundreds of high schools throughout New York City. In just the past two years, DemocracyNYC, the Mayor’s Public Engagement Unit and the Department of Education registered nearly 30,000 students.

During this year’s Student Voter Registration Drive, DemocracyNYC and the Mayor’s Public Engagement Unit, in partnership with NYC Votes, will also mobilize a broad coalition of partners, including the Civic Engagement Commission, the Community Affairs Unit, the Department of Youth and Community Development, the Mayor’s Office Immigrant Affairs and community-based organizations such as Dominicanos USA and League of Women Voters to register students to vote in high schools and colleges across the five boroughs.

“Civics Week gives young people the tools to empower themselves and their friends to participate fully in New York City’s democracy,” said Sabrina Castillo, Director of Partnerships and Outreach, New York City Campaign Finance Board. “NYC Votes is committed to providing data and voter registration best practices to these student leaders so they become powerful voting advocates in their communities.”

The next citywide elections in New York City will be the Presidential Primary and the Special Election for the 37^th Council District in Brooklyn on Tuesday, April 28, 2020. The deadline to register to vote for the Presidential Primary is April 3. The state, local and federal Primary Election is on June 23, 2020. The general election is on November 3, 2020. There will be nine days of early voting before all these elections. New Yorkers who need to register to vote can do so through the DMV online, by mail or in-person at a New York City Board of Elections Office. New Yorkers who are interested in registering to vote, need to update their existing registration, or want more information on the upcoming elections can call 311 or visit www.voting.nyc.

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. - Women's History Month

Bronx Borough President

Ruben Diaz Jr.

Invites you on

Thursday, March 5, 2020

5:30 PM - 8:30 PM

Morris Yacht & Beach Club

25 City Island Avenue, Bronx

2020 
Honorees

Ms. Noelle Santos

Entrepreneur/Proprietress

The Lit Bar

**********

Ms. Fatima Shama

Executive Director of

the Fresh Air Fund

**********

WoW

Women of Woodlawn

Ms. Erin Lee, President

Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Women's Right to Vote 1920 - 2020

Please call to confirm your attendance 718-590-3522 or email lroldan@bronxbp.nyc.gov

Pelham Parkway Neighborhood Association Community Meeting

Pelham Parkway Neighborhood Association Meeting:

When: Tuesday March 10,2020 at 7:15 pm

Where: Bronx House, 990 Pelham Parkway South, Bx NY 10461

Who: Joe Franklin, New York City Board Of Health

Hosted By: P P N A

Attachments area

STATEMENT FROM MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO AND COMMISSIONER BARBOT ON FIRST CORONAVIRUS CASE

Statement from Mayor de Blasio:

"From the beginning, we have said it was a matter of when, not if there would be a positive case of coronavirus in New York. Now our first case has been confirmed. The patient contracted the virus during recent travel and is isolated in her home under close monitoring.  Our health authorities have been in a state of high alert for weeks, and are fully prepared to respond. We will continue to ensure New Yorkers have the facts and resources they need to protect themselves.”

Statement from Health Commissioner Barbot:

“While we hoped this moment wouldn’t come, it was something we prepared for. Our disease detectives have already identified close contacts of the patient, who may have been exposed, and will take appropriate measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Despite this development, New Yorkers remain at low risk for contracting COVID-19. As we confront this emerging outbreak, we need to separate facts from fear, and guard against stigma and panic." 

STATEMENT FROM MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO AND COMMISSIONER BARBOT ON CORONAVIRUS TESTING

Statement from Mayor de Blasio:

"Today, the FDA approved our application to develop our own test for the Coronavirus. That is not the only good news: after asking the CDC for weeks, they have finally sent us new kits that will allow us to run the CDC's test locally. This means we will soon, within the coming week, have the ability to get results back in a matter of hours, not days. Quick detection is vital to stopping the spread of the virus, and this development will help the experts do their job to protect New Yorkers."

Statement from Health Commissioner Barbot:

"We are pleased to learn our advocacy efforts on behalf of New Yorkers have paid off and that we will soon be able to test for COVID-19 here in New York City. Having tests available will significantly reduce the amount of time we have to wait to know whether someone has the virus that causes COVID-19. This is a big step and one that was possible through our strong partnership with the State Health Laboratory."

Bronx Man Sentenced To 35 Years In Prison For Narcotics And Firearms Charges

  Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that TERRELL POLK was sentenced today to 35 years in prison in connection with his participation in a crack cocaine conspiracy and related firearms charges.  As the evidence at trial established, POLK committed three shootings of drug rivals in the Bronx, New York during August 2015.  POLK was convicted following a trial before United States District Judge George B. Daniels, who also imposed today’s sentence.    

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said:  “As the jury found, Terrell Polk sold large quantities of crack cocaine and resolved disputes over drug territory with terrifying violence.  As a result of the skill and determination of our law enforcement partners, Polk will now spend several decades behind bars.”

According to the evidence presented during the trial:

Terrell Polk was a member of a violent drug trafficking organization that sold large quantities of crack cocaine in the Highbridge section of the Bronx.  On July 25, 2015, Polk used a .40 caliber pistol to shoot a rival drug dealer at point blank range on University Avenue in the Bronx.  The victim of this shooting suffered a fractured leg. 

Approximately 10 days later, on August 4, 2015, Polk used a shotgun to shoot two victims inside of a store located on Anderson Avenue in the Bronx.  On that occasion, Polk was in a car when he saw one of his victims standing on the sidewalk.  Polk stopped the car, jumped out of the driver’s seat with a shotgun, and chased the victim into a store.  The victim and an innocent bystander in the store barricaded themselves in the back room to hide from Polk.  When Polk was unable to gain access to the room, he fired a shotgun blast through the door, wounding both men.  The first victim sustained shotgun wounds to his leg and hand, and the second victim sustained shotgun wounds to his elbow. 

A few weeks after these shooting incidents, on August 26, 2015, New York City Police Department (“NYPD”) officers stopped a vehicle driven by Polk, and recovered a loaded gun from the back seat.

Mr. Berman praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and NYPD.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Announces Guilty Plea Of U.S. Accountant In Panama Papers Investigation

  Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and Brian A. Benczkowski, Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, announced today that RICHARD GAFFEY, a/k/a “Dick Gaffey,” pled guilty today before U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman to wire fraud, tax fraud, money laundering, aggravated identity theft, and other charges.  GAFFEY, a resident of Massachusetts, is charged along with Harald Joachim von der Goltz, Ramses Owens, and Dirk Brauer in connection with a decades-long criminal scheme perpetrated by Mossack Fonseca & Co. (“Mossack Fonseca”), a Panamanian-based global law firm, and its related entities.  Harald Joachim von der Goltz pled guilty to his role in the scheme on February 18, 2020.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said:  “Richard Gaffey went to extraordinary lengths to circumvent U.S. tax laws in order to maintain Harald Joachim von der Goltz’s wealth and hide it from the IRS.  Using the specialized criminal services of global law firm Mossack Fonseca, Gaffey assisted others in violating U.S. tax laws for decades.”

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski said:  “This defendant worked with the Mossack Fonseca law firm and exploited his role as an accountant to create fraudulent shell companies and defraud the United States of millions of dollars over decades.  Today’s guilty plea reflects the Department’s commitment to prosecute financial professionals and other gatekeepers to the U.S. financial system who abuse the public’s trust.”

According to the allegations contained in the Indictments[1], other filings in this case, and statements during court proceedings, including GAFFEY’s guilty plea hearing:

Since at least 2000 through 2018, GAFFEY conspired with others to defraud the United States by concealing his clients’ assets and investments, and the income generated by those assets and investments, from the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) through fraudulent, deceitful, and dishonest means.  During all relevant times, GAFFEY assisted U.S. taxpayers who were required to report and pay income tax on worldwide income, including income and capital gains generated in domestic and foreign bank accounts.  GAFFEY helped those U.S. taxpayers evade their tax reporting obligations in a variety of ways, including by hiding the beneficial ownership of his clients’ offshore shell companies and setting up bank accounts for those shell companies.  These shell companies and bank accounts made investments totaling tens of millions of dollars.  For one U.S. taxpayer, GAFFEY advised how to covertly repatriate approximately $3 million to the United States by reporting to the IRS a fictitious company sale that never actually occurred to evade paying the full U.S. tax amount.  GAFFEY was assisted in this scheme through the use of Mossack Fonseca, including Ramses Owens, a Panamanian lawyer who previously worked at Mossack Fonseca.

GAFFEY was the U.S. accountant for Harald Joachim von der Goltz.  From 2000 until 2017, von der Goltz was a U.S. resident and was subject to U.S. tax laws, which required him to report and pay income tax on worldwide income.  In furtherance of von der Goltz’s efforts to conceal his assets and income from the IRS, GAFFEY falsely claimed that von der Goltz’s elderly mother was the sole beneficial owner of the shell companies and bank accounts at issue because, at all relevant times, she was a Guatemalan citizen and resident, and – unlike von der Goltz – was not a U.S. taxpayer.  In support of this fraudulent scheme, GAFFEY submitted the name, date of birth, government passport number, address, and other means of identification of von der Goltz’s elderly mother to a U.S. bank in Manhattan.

GAFFEY, 75, a U.S. citizen and resident of Medfield, Massachusetts, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit tax evasion and to defraud the United States, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; one count of money laundering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; four counts of willful failure to file Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, FINCEN Reports 114, each of which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; and one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison. 

GAFFEY is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Berman on is June 29, 2020, at 11:00 a.m.  Von der Goltz is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Berman on June 24, 2020, at 11:00 a.m.

The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentence for the defendant will be determined by the judge.

U.S. Attorney Berman praised the outstanding investigative work of IRS-Criminal Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations, and thanked the Justice Department’s Tax Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for their significant assistance in the investigation.  Mr. Berman also thanked the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs as well as law enforcement partners in France, the United Kingdom, Panama, and Germany for their assistance in the case.

 [1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the texts of the Indictments and the descriptions of the Indictments set forth herein constitute only allegations as to Owens and Brauer, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.

AG James Takes Action To Protect Tenants From Lead Poisoning

Files Lawsuit Against Bronx-based Property Management Corp for

Violations of NYC Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act

 New York Attorney General Letitia James  announced a lawsuit against Chestnut Holdings of New York, Inc., a property management corporation, for failing to comply with provisions of New York City’s lead poisoning prevention law. The suit alleges that Chestnut Holdings has put the health of its tenants at risk by repeatedly violating the New York City Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act, which requires property owners to take several critical measures to prevent children under six from being exposed to paint with dangerously high levels of lead.

“All New Yorkers – in every city, village, and town across this state – have a right to live in homes that don’t make them sick,” said Attorney General James. “Exposure to lead paint in our aging housing stock puts children in grave jeopardy and our future at risk. This highly toxic metal causes serious and irreversible harms, and I am committed to ensuring that landlords follow the laws to protect young children from lead poisoning.”

Chestnut Holdings manages more than 6,000 apartments in approximately 134 buildings, most of which are located in the Bronx.

“This administration has made it clear that landlords who disregard their responsibilities and put tenants in danger will not fly under the radar. Through the Mayor’s LeadFreeNYC initiative, we will continue to work with our partners on all levels of government to keep New Yorkers safe and drive lead exposure down to zero," said NYC Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Commissioner Louise Carroll. “I commend the New York State Attorney General for taking this action, and thank my team at HPD, along with our colleagues throughout the city and state who work day in, day out to protect the people we serve.”

“All New Yorkers deserve safe homes, free of the dangers of lead poisoning,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. “I am proud to stand with Attorney General Letitia James to fight for Bronx residents and to stand with all New Yorkers to demand that landlords and management companies treat their tenants with the respect and dignity they deserve.”

The New York City Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act requires owners of apartments and houses built before 1960 to take critical safety measures such as identifying apartments where children under six live, conducting annual investigations of those apartments for hazards that are conducive to lead poisoning, and remediating those conditions where they occur. The Act also requires owners and agents to take measures to prevent lead poisoning when an apartment turns over.

This complaint alleges that Chestnut Holdings engaged in repeated illegal acts under Executive Law § 63(12) violating several provisions of the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act, including failing to inspect apartments to determine if a child under six lives there, failing to conduct complete annual investigations of apartments for hazards that are conducive to lead poisoning, and failing to take the necessary measures when an apartment turns over. Additionally, Chestnut Holdings has repeatedly certified in new leases that it has complied with the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act’s turnover requirements, even though it had not done so.

In the lawsuit, the Attorney General seeks injunctive relief requiring Chestnut Holdings to comply with the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act, including bringing all apartments into compliance with the Act’s requirements, penalties for its repeated violations of the Act, and disgorgement of money it would have expended to comply with the Act.

Lead poisoning is a serious and immediate problem, particularly in New York. New York State has the highest percentage of buildings built before 1950 in the nation. In fact, lead paint has been found in approximately 43 percent of all of New York’s dwellings.

Children under six are more likely to be exposed to lead than any other age group, as their normal behaviors could result in them chewing lead paint chips; breathing in or swallowing dust from old lead paint that gets on floors, window sills, and hands; and can be found in soil, toys, and other consumer products. Children who have been exposed during critical stages of early development to even very low levels of lead are at risk for neurological and physical problems. Lead poisoning in New York City is highest among children of color and children living in high-poverty neighborhoods.

Attorney General James thanks the City of New York and the New York State Homes and Community Renewal for their assistance with data collection during the investigation.