City Island News BX: Bronx Week Caps Off This Sunday

City Island News BX: Bronx Week Caps Off This Sunday: Bronx Week Caps Off This Sunday 100 PERCENT By Robert Press BRONX, NEW YORK, MAY 15- If you read the first sentence of last ...

Bronx Week Caps Off This Sunday

Bronx Week Caps Off This Sunday

100 PERCENT

By Robert Press

BRONX, NEW YORK, MAY 15- If you read the first sentence of last week’s column it said that the headline refers to the kickoff of Bronx week 2015. There were three items that came in at the deadline, and the headline was changed after it left my hands. I am not the editor, and sometimes the column will be edited, or the headline I suggest will be changed for one reason or another. Of the 3 deadline items no one said anything about the State Senate Majority Leader being indicted by the U.S. Attorney part, which I had been waiting for. You knew that part if you regularly checked my blog where I commented back on April 17^th that Senate Majority Leader Skelos and his son Adam were being investigated by the U. S. Attorney.

The second item that came in at last week’s deadline was a rumor that Assemblyman Jose Rivera was going to step down due to health related reasons. The story of the rumor going around was confirmed by more than one elected official, and I only wrote what I have written the past two election cycles about Assemblyman Rivera. I am fully aware of Assemblyman Rivera's health problems, and very short periods of absence from the assembly chamber to get some much needed rest. However if you read my column a few weeks ago where I quoted the good assemblyman that he was running for re-election in 2016, and when I saw Assemblyman Rivera at the Ben Franklin club Dinner last week he said to me the rumor is a lie, and he reconfirmed that he will be running for re-election in 2016. Assemblyman Rivera is sometimes a hard man to reach, especially if you are in the media, but our love-hate relationship seems to continue as it has since the last century. My apologies to you Jose, but I seem to give you the energy that you need to win every year. It looks like 2016 will not be that much different, but I do have a surprise that you are going to like in store for you.

The third deadline item really was not on deadline, and if you have followed my column over the years you will find that I have supported Bronx Democratic County Leader Assemblyman Carl Heastie ever since he was elected county leader at the infamous Paradise Theater 2008 County Committee election. When Assemblyman Heastie ascended to the speaker position in the state assembly there were those in the media who began attacking him and looking for anything wrong that he may have done. In early 2010, I exposed a plot to gather district leaders for a possible coup against County Leader Heastie. I defended Speaker Heastie when he was attacked on the sloppy record keeping that was brought out by others, because I knew the exact reason and County Leader Heastie was not at fault. When the Bronx DA and U.S. Attorney sent in a spy to try to get something on County Leader Heastie, I was there to watch former Assemblyman Nelson Castro try to cozy up to the same person who made the bookkeeping mistakes as he was wearing a wire for the Bronx DA and U.S. Attorney. So Assemblyman Carl Heastie I have been there for you over the years, and you know I am right, after all I did announce your replacement weeks before it was official.

It appears that certain items, certain elected officials, and even certain elections that I cover are because of my sixth sense (or could it be the inside knowledge) to keep things honest. Just look at the 80^th A.D. race between former Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera and current Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj as one example that I covered and was the only one to project Mark Gjonaj as the winner. It seems that my sixth sense is telling me that the 2016 primary for the 36^th State Senate is the race to cover.

I have been told much in the past week about what I wrote about Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and 1199. I have been told that was done by County Leader Heastie, not to go after the first black Assembly speaker, and even have been given a thumbs up by some of the speaker's friends, but most of all support by many in the 36^th State Senate District (and even 83^rd Assembly District) who want honest representation. I am not going to repeat the words Speaker Heastie said to me at the Ben Franklin Dinner responding to last week’s article, but I do say to Speaker Heastie the following. Stand in front of a mirror and repeat those first four words to yourself, and then ask your self the following: Why is the Speaker of the Assembly getting involved in a State Senate race, and is it worth possibly throwing away a position that everyone knows can lead to higher office and help the Bronx, as you have in your short time as speaker? Is it really worth it Carl?

Back to Bronx Week 2015 that wraps up this Sunday with the induction to the Bronx Walk of Fame of Author and Actress Ms. Stacy Dash, Actor Mr. Malik Yoba, NBA Legend Mr. Dolph Schayes, and Bronx businessman and Philanthropist the Late Alfredo Thieband. That is followed by the ever growing Bronx Week parade across Mosholu Parkway, and then the Grand Finale to Bronx week 2015 is the Bronx Food and Arts Festival on the other side of Mosholu Parkway which runs from 12 – 6 PM.

Check my blog at www.100percentbronx.blogspot.com to see the latest listing of events going on by the Bronx Chamber of Commerce whose President and Bronx Goodwill Ambassador Mr. Lenny Caro was Honored by the Ben Franklin Club last week for his tremendous work in making the Bronx a better place to own a business.

Senator Jeff Klein will be speaking about his recent trip to Cuba with Governor Andrew Cuomo and Speaker Heastie on Thursday night May 21^st,7:15 PM at the Van Cortlandt Jewish Center located at 3880 Sedwick Avenue (off Van Cortlandt Avenue). The public is invited, and for more information you can call 718-884-6105.

If you have any political information that you want to share or have checked out, any comments about this column, or would like to have an event listed or covered in this column or on my blog you can e-mail us at 100percentbronxnews@gmail.com or call 718-644-4199 Mr. Robert Press.

#BronxWeek #JoseRivera #Politics #Bronxnews

City Island News BX: Posada Nailed It About PED Users

City Island News BX: Posada Nailed It About PED Users: Posada Nailed It About PED Users By Rich Mancuso BRONX, NEW YORK, MAY 14- Agree or disagree that Jorge Posada is using an oppor...

Posada Nailed It About PED Users

Posada Nailed It About PED Users

By Rich Mancuso

BRONX, NEW YORK, MAY 14- Agree or disagree that Jorge Posada is using an opportunity to promote his book “The Journey Home: My Life In Pinstripes” regarding his stance on those who used PED’s to cheat when playing the game of baseball. Agree about this, Posada in Yankees pinstripes played the game clean and has the right to speak about how he may have been cheated out of an MVP award in 2003.

He took it to another level, one that this writer and others have claimed: Those who had to cheat and did not play the game clean should not be granted induction into the Hall of Fame. 

And it goes beyond baseball. Tom Brady is now the culprit for deflated footballs and an NFL scandal that has reached epic proportions. And two sports, boxing and horse racing have never seemed to recover from corruption and those who cheat to get ahead.  

The year is 2015. Money and greed have ruined sports with television contracts and major sponsorships that provide an incentive to not play the game fair. Back then, when cheating was evident, the desire to cheat and get ahead was a hit or a miss with the financial gain not as significant as it is now.    

The year, 2003, Yankees’ teammate Alex Rodriguez got the MVP award and Posada was third in the voting by members of the Baseball Writers of America and Carlos Delgado finished second. We all know the history, and the implications about the A-Rod denials, year long suspension and eventual admission of guilt.

However, we must agree, as Posada said Wednesday: “Yeah” to a question about resenting players who did not play the game clean. Posada would know because there has never been evidence, nor has his name been implicated as one of the many who did not play the game clean.

And it seems the game of baseball will always have to confront the issue that Posada has addressed. The history of this Performing Enhancing Drug issue will always surface when Rodriguez hits another home run, when the names of Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds and others who were implicated see their time for possible enshrinement into the Hall.

The vote of members who get the privilege to decide who gets enshrined should be the final answer, however that will always be a debate. The debate continues because the owners supposedly had knowledge of illegal supplements being used that prevented the game from being played on an even field.

Yet, they let the situation continue because baseball needed to put fans in the stands after a bitter labor dispute with the players and owners. Home runs going out of the ballpark at a record pace brought the fans back to the ballpark, and bitterness of a labor war were quickly put to bed.

In the process Jorge Posada, who played the game fair, and who wore the most prestigious uniform in baseball, competed with a teammate. It was competition wearing the same uniform, sitting  in the same dugout and in a sanctuary of the same clubhouse.

The Posada book tour, and his comments are years of frustration of being the quiet New York Yankee who went about his business and helped contribute to four world championships in the Bronx. 

Agree or disagree, this is an issue a little too late to be venting about. But better late than never because the validity of his comments are true. Had Posada went the route of A-Rod, Bonds or the others, perhaps his name would be in their category.

Of course he is not in that category because Jorge Posada was one of the few who played the game fair. And his day will come when the Yankees put his Number 20 into retirement at a ceremony in the Bronx on August 22.

Comment Rich Mancuso: Ring786@aol.com   Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso  Twitter@Ring786

#Yankees #JorgePosada #ARod #PEDs #Bronxnews

City Island News BX: Workers Flunk Repair

City Island News BX: Workers Flunk Repair: Workers Flunk Repair 1 Month After it was Taken Down, Construction Scaffold Returns Overnight at P.S. 86 By David Greene BRONX...

Workers Flunk Repair

Workers Flunk Repair

1 Month After it was Taken Down, Construction Scaffold Returns Overnight at P.S. 86

By David Greene

BRONX, NEW YORK, MAY 13- A dozen burly construction workers arrived just before twilight, hours after the last child had left P.S. 86 in Kingsbridge Heights. Workers began putting up the steel and wood sidewalk-shed in the front of the school-- a month after the same workers had dismantled it.

Many of the parents of the 1,600-plus kindergarten and elementary school children who attend the Reservoir Avenue school, dubbed "The Kingsbridge Heights School," and residents of the block were surprised to see what is called a construction scaffold or sidewalk-shed, back in front of the school on the morning of May 1.

One resident recalled, "Yeah, they took it down and it went away and then it came back. It's crazy."

According to Jason Fink at the Department of Education (DOE), "This is an exterior modernization project. Some of the decorative terracotta that was part of the project had to be replaced by the manufacturer, so the contractor is going back to install the replacements."

Fink added that the contractor Vardaris Tech, Inc., was doing the work on the $4.5 million project.

Additional details were revealed when Anjaykumar Shaw of the DOE's School Construction Authority (SCA) stated, "At the time everything was fine and everything was done, but ultimately whatever winter conditions we went through, they went up there and found out what had happened."

Shaw elaborated on the problem, explaining, "Bolsters are the decorative pieces there (in the front of the building) and that bolster had some cracks in it."

Unable to provide an exact timeline, Shaw recalled, "We just realized after the winter, I would say... I don't know exactly, but in the last three or four weeks we came to know there was a problem."

Asked why the scaffolding came down in the first place, Shaw replied, "Oh, because work at the time seemed complete."

A follow up call to Shaw was re-directed to Nicole Halloway, the Bronx Community Relations Manager and the Project Support Manager for the School Construction Authority, who could not provide additional details, stating, "Because the building in question is a DOE facility, we cannot answer questions pertaining to that, only the DOE can."

Several parents stated they were very happy with the school, one believed it to be the largest public school in the borough.

One teacher called it an "A-plus" school and added, "Teacher morale here is great."

However, one parent who claimed her daughter was recommended powerful drugs for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) fumed,  "They told me I had to be sympathetic to the fact that the teacher had 37 students."

Referring to P.S. 86, that parent added, "I feel like every time I hear a teacher, there telling a parent their child has ADHD."

In a follow-up e-mail, Fink stated there would be no additional cost to the SCA, and added the completion date is not yet known.

Calls to P.S. 86 Principal Fiona Tyson and contractor Vardaris Tech were not immediately returned.   

#Schools #Construction #Education #Bronxnews

City Island News BX: Yanks Tickled Pink

City Island News BX: Yanks Tickled Pink: Yanks Tickled Pink Pineda Fans 16, Remains Undefeated in 2015  By Howard Goldin BRONX, NEW YORK, MAY 11- Sunday’s starting p...