Thursday, February 14, 2013

Wakefield News: Lost dialogue

Wakefield News: Lost dialogue: --> Wakefield Area News By Mary V. Lauro BRONX, NEW YORK, February 14 -While we wait for the other shoe to drop, we rem...
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Lost dialogue

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Wakefield Area News

By Mary V. Lauro
BRONX, NEW YORK, February 14-While we wait for the other shoe to drop, we remind you that the League will be meeting on Thursday evening at 7:30 p.m. at Redeemer Lutheran Church's Undercroft. Redeemer is located at Barnes and Boyd Avenues. The guest speaker will be Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz. Everyone is welcome. Invite your neighbors. Our meetings are fun. There is an intermission with refreshments. Please make a note. A reminder will not be mailed.
Now which shoe are we talking about? Well, last Thursday, February 7, New York City Comptroller, John C. Liu “rejected a 21 year, $91 million contract for a homeless shelter in the Bronx amid questions concerning the legitimacy of the required approval process represented to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban development ("HUD") in seeking approval for the project. Comptroller Liu's office was unable to verify whether the City properly followed Federal regulations in the disposition of the former Muller Army Reserve Center ("the Center"), located at 555 Nereid Avenue in the Wakefield section of the Bronx. The City wants to use the site, as a shelter for 200 homeless men."
Comptroller Liu's decision answered a lot of prayers since he is addressing the very points about which our Borough president threatened to take the Mayor to court. In any case, we were delighted to have our problem scrutinized by someone outside the Bloomberg cabal.
Sure enough, the very next day, a member of that cabal, Linda Gibbs, a Deputy Mayor and one of the individuals who decided the Center should be a homeless shelter was screaming like a stuck pig that Liu was politically motivated for rejecting the contract and that he had done this to "advance his political ambitions." More importantly, the Mayor's office seems to think that Liu does not have the authority to stop the contract unless there are no funds or corruption can be proven.
That's what we would like to see! Corruption proven. And the corruption we have in mind is the fakery of pretending that the citizens of Wakefield did not vehemently protest the turning of the Center into a shelter for the homeless.
This canard can best be found in a 26 page letter written by New York City Department of Homeless Services Commissioner Seth Diamond to Mayor Bloomberg last December. In it he repeats much of the distortions and inaccuracies present in the studies his Department had already made but he also lists the several meetings, especially the one in June 2011 that included Wakefield and Woodlawn residents. The purpose of listing them was to credit the Mayoral process with including the community in its decision. But, at no time did Mr. Diamond indicate that the community was 100 percent opposed to turning the Center into a Shelter for the Homeless.
Further, Mr. Diamond lists more than once that the community's wanted to use the Center for commercial purposes. He mentions only fleetingly that the community wanted to move the National Guard into the Center.
We think such distortion is corrupt
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Friday, February 1, 2013

Wakefield News: A broken promise

Wakefield News: A broken promise: --> Wakefield Area News By Mary V. Lauro BRONX, NEW YORK, February 1- The other shoe is falling! The Mayor is continuing ...
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A broken promise

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Wakefield Area News
By Mary V. Lauro
 BRONX, NEW YORK, February 1- The other shoe is falling! The Mayor is continuing his assault on Wakefield. 
Praxis is already building its 70-unit building to support AIDs victims and drug addicts on White Plains Road. On Bronx Boulevard, Project Renewal has begun construction on the Balfour building for 100 homeless men now Mayor Bloomberg has waved his nasty wand so construction will soon begin to turn the Muller Army Reserve Center at 555 Nereid Avenue into a shelter for 200 single homeless men.
"No! No! No!" Borough President Diaz had said about the Muller ARC over and again. He would not let that happen without taking the City to Court. He has every reason to do so. From its inception, the Mayor bent the federal guidelines for acquiring the Muller ARC. Then in an entirely illegal move he claimed that the three person group mandated to decide whether or not the Muller ARC would become a homeless shelter had voted to do so. One of the three people in the group (Local Redevelopment Authority) was Borough President Diaz. He claims there was never a meeting and there was never a vote. We are sure he would never vote for a homeless shelter that would negatively impact on two great neighborhoods: Wakefield and Woodlawn.
Even so and sadly, no matter his good intentions, the BP is muting his promise. He never told us that he would take the city to court only if he could find an attorney who would do it Pro Bono. So far, it seems there is no attorney in the community or the Bronx who is willing…
We thought that in making the promise, the BP had the resources. One would think that he has a legal department and/or the necessary finances. It would not pain the borough to do in the something for Wakefield. Neither the Bronx, nor Wakefield's elected officials have done anything for it for at least 50 years. Doing nothing now, will be far more, costly in the future.
To aggravate the situation, two weeks ago, the Chair of CB 12 (in which Wakefield is located) disseminated the idea that the residents of Wakefield should donate money to hire a lawyer! What an obnoxious and, well, stupid idea especially since he is himself an attorney. Surely, he can do this pro bono, for Wakefield and for the Borough President. How wonderful that would be. The people of Wakefield should not have to buy what their elected officials should do. The people of Wakefield already pay them.
All of this is not to be construed as a diatribe against the homeless. Being without a home can occur much more easily than at first considered. Surely shelter must be given to those who have none, but the host community should have a say on location. It is their treasure and their families that will be affected. The way it is done now is a form of taxation without representation.
There are five boroughs. One would expect them to each have an equal share of homeless. That would be 20% each. But that is not the case. The Bronx has 33%.
On Monday, January 28, 2013, the City will send out people to count those who have no shelter on our streets, subways, wherever. This is done every year. While it is not an accurate count, it is a reasonable approximation. Last year (2012) the count in the Bronx was 169. We doubt it will be more than that this year.
Why do we need room for 380 homeless individuals? Where are they coming from?
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Wakefield News: Bronx Hails Koch

Wakefield News: Bronx Hails Koch: -->   Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. issued the following statement on the passing of Mayor Ed Koch: BRONX, NEW YORK...
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Bronx Hails Koch

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Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. issued the following statement on the passing of Mayor Ed Koch:
BRONX, NEW YORK, February 1- “Today the Bronx is mourning the death of a son and one of the city’s greatest and most charismatic public leaders. Mayor Ed Koch was a man of wit and wisdom, a leader who helped lift our city out of the brink of bankruptcy, raising our spirits along the way and securing New York’s place as the capital of the world.
“Mayor Koch was always proud of his Bronx roots. During his administration he helped rebuild the South Bronx, creating a task force that helped restore burned-out buildings while creating new, thriving communities—work that still resonates to this day. He was a man of deep devotion, who after leaving office continued to inspire New Yorkers through his activism and his commitment to a city he fiercely loved.
“While we mourn his loss we honor his legacy, commitment to civil rights and his civic leadership, which will forever live in our hearts and in the millions of lives he touched. On behalf of the 1.4 million residents of the Bronx, I would like to extend our most heartfelt condolences to his family and friends during this very difficult time,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.
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Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Health Screenings

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BRONX, NEW YORK, January 16- Residents living in and around the Bronx can be screened to reduce their risk of having a stroke or bone fracture. Knights of Columbus will host Life Line Screening on January 28. The site is located at 3243 Ampere Avenue in Bronx. 
Four key points every person needs to know:
Stroke is the third leading cause of death and a leading cause of permanent disability.
Eighty percent of stroke victims had no apparent warning signs prior to their stroke.
Preventive ultrasound screenings can help you avoid a stroke
Screenings are fast, noninvasive, painless, affordable and convenient.
Screenings identify potential cardiovascular conditions such as blocked arteries and irregular heart rhythm, abdominal aortic aneurysms, and hardening of the arteries in the legs, which is a strong predictor of heart disease. A bone density screening to assess osteoporosis risk is also offered and is appropriate for both men and women.
Packages start at $149. All five screenings take 60-90 minutes to complete.  
For more information regarding the screenings or to schedule an appointment, call 1-877-237-1287 or visit our website at www.lifelinescreening.com.  Pre-registration is required.
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