Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz has accused the Bloomberg administration of misleading the federal government and abusing the process that it uses to find productive uses for former military sites in order to place a homeless shelter in a former military base in the Wakefield section, the New York Times reported.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg was set on opening a shelter at the site of the Sgt. Joseph E. Muller Army Reserve Center at the corner of 238th Street and Nereid Avenue, Diaz said, despite opposition and the neighborhood already having its share of shelters.
“Its total disrespect, total mistreatment and a flat out lie to the people of Bronx,” he said, “and it doesn’t surprise me one bit; it’s the Bloomberg administration’s m.o.” [more]

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz is pushing for a luxe new hotel atop one of Yankee Stadium’s new cash-strapped parking garages that would help the developers repay investors and draw additional tourists to the area, according to the Daily News. The three, underused garages, built with the help of $70 million from the Empire State Development Corp. and $237 million in bonds issued by the city’s Economic Development Corp., haven’t been generating enough revenue on game days to cover bond payments. Last September, Bronx Parking Development had to raise rates and dip into its reserve fund to make a $6.9 million payment, and now, another April 1 payment is looming. [more]

Thousands of Bronx building workers opted not to walk off the job last night after their union reached a tentative contract with the group representing the landlords of some 1,000 apartment buildings in the borough to raise wages and maintain healthcare benefits for their families. The workers were threatening to strike at 12:01 a.m. today after the landlords had attempted to cut their benefits. A strike would have affected an estimated 250,000 Bronx residents. TRD [more]

The owner of the parking garages for the new Yankee Stadium is expected to default on a $6.8 million interest payment come April 1, which could result in a seizure by bondholders, Crain’s reported. The city’s Industrial Development Agency issued $237 million in tax-exempt construction bonds to the owner, Bronx Parking Development, in 2007, but revenues have been far lower than expected since the stadium opened as fans have sought cheaper parking elsewhere or opted to take the train to games. Last year, the company said the 9,000-space facilities have been, at most, 60 percent occupied on game days, leaving it without enough cash to service the bonds. [more]

Hundreds of apartment building workers rallied in the Bronx yesterday as next week’s deadline for a new union contract looms. Some 3,000 superintendents, janitors, doormen, garbage handlers and other workers in more than 1,000 Bronx apartment buildings are threatening to walk off the job at 12:01 a.m. March 15 unless their union, 32BJ, is able to come to terms with the group representing their employers, the Bronx Realty Advisory Board. Negotiations have been ongoing since last month, but the union says its retirement and health care demands are still unresolved, as the landlords have proposed cuts to their benefits packages. TRD [more]

Bronx schools are set to receive $12.2 million for capital
improvements, according to the New York Daily News, approximately a
third of the total amount allocated for local infrastructure
improvement in the borough’s 2011 fiscal year budget. Schools just
edged out housing initiatives, which are set to receive $9.58 million
– about 25 percent of the capital improvement funds. Bronx Borough
President Ruben Diaz said that his office is aiming to upgrade
educational facilities across the board. “My office will continue to do
everything that it can to make sure that Bronx students have the best
possible facilities in which to learn,” Diaz said. Among the earmarked
projects in the 2011 budget are a green roof for Public School 71
Pelham Bay and a new Westchester Square library branch. [NYDN]

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Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz wasn’t a fan of the Related Companies’ Kingsbridge Armory redevelopment plan, but that doesn’t mean he wants the massive structure to remain vacant. Yesterday, Diaz announced the creation of a new task force that will recommend a new use for the space and craft a request for proposals from developers. “A retail mall was not the best use for this space, given the traffic issues and its proximity to the Fordham Road shopping district. My critics have challenged me to come up with something better for the Kingsbridge Armory, and I am prepared to answer that call,” Diaz said in a statement, suggesting arts and recreation, green manufacturing, and a home for the film industry as possible alternative uses. Members of the task force include Marlene Cintron, president of the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation, Paul Foster, chairman of Bronx Community Board 7, Ned Regan, former state comptroller and Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City. [NYO]

Steven Spinola, president of REBNY, and the Kingsbridge Armory

Last week’s City Council decision that quashed the controversial Kingsbridge Amory renovation in a 45-1 vote is being met with grumbles and finger-pointing from the real estate industry. Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, said the trade group plans to campaign against the decision. “We will clearly be reminding people what’s been lost as a result of the decision,” he said. “Every couple of months, we’ll be calculating how many people don’t have work, how much it’s costing the city to keep the armory from deteriorating, how much is being lost in taxes. We would like to remind Borough President [Ruben] Diaz and other people who produced this what the costs will be.” The major point of contention in last week’s vote was a requirement that employees at all retailers in the new $310 million mall be paid a “living wage” of $10 per hour, plus benefits. [Post]

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The recent debate at the potential Kingsbridge Armory development in the Bronx has shed new light on what some consider a living wage debate in New York City, WNYC reported. Opponents of the city-backed project want a guarantee that workers there will be paid more than minimum wage, a concession that some say may hamper the development. Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz has been particularly outspoken on the region’s pay laws, which he says are ineffective. “We are sick and tired of leading the nation as the number one county in poverty rates,” Diaz said. “Bronxites have been seeing development all over the place and they’re seeing the people who are making a profit, people who are making a good living from developing, don’t live in this borough.”

A new Bronx Public Housing Advisory Council will soon lobby on behalf of more than 100,000 Bronx residents who live in New York City Housing Authority buildings, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz announced yesterday. The council, which will be made up of 50 tenant association leaders, will work with NYCHA, the mayor’s office and the City Council with a goal of improving residents’ quality of life, especially with regard to safety and crime issues, officials said. “This council wasn’t create to point fingers,” Diaz said. Bronx residents comprise roughly one quarter of NYCHA tenants citywide. [NYDN]