Here is a good article from Chris Bragg at City Hall News about how the City's Borough Presidents shell out their/our dollars. One interesting quote, "Out of the $387,000 that the Bronx borough president's office has spent on discretionary expenses this year, $300,000 went directly to the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation, the office's economic development arm." In this economy, support for small businesses is critical, so hopefully our borough is getting a good return on that investment.
There is no reason to have borough presidents in first place. The City Charter should be revised to eliminate the borough presidents, just like the Board of Estimate was abolished.
ReplyDeleteI don't see any other major U.S. city with such silly and wasteful positions. Just imagine if Chicago, which has four main sections, had a Downtown President, a North Side President, a South Side President, and a West Side President!
What ever happened with F.B.I. investigation of Rubén Díaz Sr. and Rubén Díaz Jr.??? Were Daddy Diaz and Baby Diaz cleared of suspicion or is the investigation still ongoing?
ReplyDeleteRemember this article:
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The New York Times
March 24, 2007
F.B.I. AGENTS INVESTIGATE 2 LAWMAKERS IN THE BRONX
By Manny Fernandez
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating allegations of corruption against two Bronx lawmakers — State Senator Rubén Díaz Sr. and his son, Assemblyman Rubén Díaz Jr., according to an official familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The investigation, first reported by The Daily News, came to light on Thursday, when F.B.I. agents visited the city’s Board of Elections office in the Bronx seeking voter petitions and other records for the elder Mr. Díaz and his son. The agents obtained copies of their personal voter registration and voter history records as well as candidate petitions signed by voters, a Board of Elections spokeswoman said.
READ MORE AT: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/24/nyregion/24bronx.html
That is good to hear to me! The Bronx Overall Economic Development Corp has been a huge support system for the citizens of the Bronx for years!
ReplyDeleteRuben Diaz, Jr. ... born slippery!
ReplyDeleteRUBEN "Armory-cito" DIAZ JR.
ReplyDeleteAs a self-sustained volunteer organization SBCC has always looked to do allot with little. This small but important CBO has played a significant role in the continuum of services for the city especially during though times.
ReplyDeleteMuch of the Discretionary funds allocated to organizations are given to organizations that already have. Some of these large non pro-fit continue to duplicate services that are already being provide by a smaller CBO. There shouldn’t be a monopoly on who gets discretionary fund, and if these organizations are really and truly grass-roots organization there should be a limit to the amount of salary Executive Directors and many others make. Discretionary funds should not be used to build a bureaucracy within a CBO. A non-profit that develops project just so they can get the money from the city, State, or Federal Government is not concerned with quality of life for its target population. Grass-Roots Organization or 501© 3 non for-profit work to provide services to the poor and the needy and this is why they are Tax-exempt.
Discretionary funds should be for tax-exempt volunteer organizations that need to stay alive in order to serve the poor.
The fact is that in reality we can not really put this behavior of discretionary allocation on back one politician; this is a problem with most.
http://bronxchatter.blogspot.com/2010/12/how-borough-presidents-spend-their-our.html#comment-form
I read that the other day Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband was rushed to hospital after accidentally gluing his own eyes shut. Maybe he would make a good Bronx Borough President?
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