as stated BTR letters & comments
LET US HEAR FROM YOU
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, S BTR EPTEMBER 6-12, 2019 13
Put your own
house in order
Dear editor,
Governor Andrew Cuomo
should look in the mirror before
being so skeptical about
President Trumps recent positive
twitter on future federal
funding for the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority’s
proposed $6 billion Second
Avenue Subway Phase 2.
There is only $1.7 billion
in funding contained within
the MTA’s $32 Billion Five
Year 2015 - 2019 Capital Program.
This supports preliminary
work for the Second
Avenue Subway Phase
Two north from 96th Street
to 125th Street. There is still
needed $2.3 billion more in
local funding for actual construction.
These additional dollars
will have to come from the
next MTA Five Year 2020 -
2024 $40 billion Capital Program.
This program has yet
to be made public or approved
by the Albany MTA Capital
Plan Review Board. A total of
$4 billion is needed for local
funding. This is required for
the MTA to have any chance
of the United States Department
of Transportation Federal
Transit Administration
New Starts program providing
$2 billion more in additional
funding. This federal
Full Funding Grant Agreement
between FTA and MTA
would result in the Second
Avenue Subway Phase 2 being
fully funded.
Cuomo needs to put his
own fi nancial house in order
before critiquing President
Trump’s potential funding for
this project.
Larry Penner
oped
Letters to the editor are welcome from all readers. They should be
addressed care of this newspaper to Laura Guerriero, Publisher, the
Bronx Times Reporter, 3604 E. Tremont Ave., Bronx, NY 10465, or email
to bronxtimes@cnglocal.com. All letters, including those submitted
via e-mail, MUST be signed and with a verifi able address and
telephone number included. Note that the address and telephone
number will NOT be published and the name will be published or
withheld upon request. No unsigned letters can be accepted for publication.
The editor reserves the right to edit all submissions.
As Stated delves into the
latest looming NYCHA scandal,
this one involving the
housing authority’s general
manager who is alleged to
have fostered an environment
of verbal abuse, and discriminatory
language and behavior,
according to a published
report.
State Senator Alessandra
Biaggi’s made the following
statement calling for a
thorough investigation amid
allegations against the NYCHA
general manager......“The
reported allegations against
NYCHA general manager Vito
Mustaciuolo are inexcusable,
and what is even more abhorrent
is the apparent compliance
of senior staff in enabling
this kind of behavior.
“Not only do Mustaciuolo’s
alleged actions create an unsafe
and unhealthy work environment
for women and other
employees, it impedes the work
of NYCHA at a time when it is
so desperately in need of compassionate,
intentional leadership
to support its tenants. I
am holding Mayor Bill de Blasio
to his word, and call for a
thorough investigation into
the allegations immediately.”
EMERGENCY PREP GO BAG GIVEAWAY
NYC Emergency Management and Community Board 10 co-hosted
two Emergency Preparedness Go Bag Giveaways events on Thursday,
August 22 at Amendola Plaza and Tuesday, August 27 at Preston
High School. The NYCEM Mobile Offi ce Hours educated and engaged
Bronxites in emergency preparedness and on how to beat
the summer heat.
(Above) Matthew Cruz (l) CB 10 district manager and Yokarina Duarte
(r) NYCEM director for Intergovernmental Affairs gave residents
go bags and educational literature. Photo by Aracelis Batista
(l-r) FEMA’s Katrina Barnes, Jose Davila and Lesly Almanzar helped
residents sign up for important programs and learn about vital
resources. Photo by Fernando Justiniano
Betrayed by community’s ‘so-called’ friend
BY WALTER NASH
Former City Council
Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito
announced recently she
would run for an open Congressional
seat in the south
Bronx - her second attempt
at higher offi ce in two years.
Considering that she represented
much of the same area
in the Council, you’d think the
response to this news would be
largely positive. In my neighborhood,
it was not.
These days, where I live in
Mott Haven, Mark-Viverito is
most famous, or infamous, for
a potentially dubious legacy:
the construction of a massive
jail in the middle of our low-income
community of color. And
I can tell you right now that
my neighbors and I will not be
voting for her because of it.
It started in 2016, when
Mayor de Blasio said publicly
that closing Rikers Island was
unrealistic. At the same time,
Mark-Viverito was working
with an independent commission
to make that goal a reality
with a four-borough network
of new jails. Ultimately,
the pressure she created with
that commission’s report led
to the mayor’s decision to close
Rikers.
What came next was a
shocking betrayal to our community.
In order to expedite
the closure of Rikers, Mark-
Viverito then freely offered up
our struggling neighborhood,
amongst the highest in crime
and lowest in income in the
city, as the spot for the Bronx
to house its inmates. The jail
would dominate our community,
rising so tall and wide
that it would become the second
largest structure in the
Bronx. And to add insult to injury,
the site she chose would
displace a planned project to
bring thousands of units of affordable
housing to Mott Haven.
We could not believe it.
Mott Haven has struggled for
decades with an oversized
share of the city’s shelter’s,
rehab centers, a sewage treatment
plant, and industrial facilities.
Mark-Viverito’s willingness
to ignore what our
community needs to achieve
her political goals was laid
bare. It was clear: she cared
more about herself than us.
Perhaps, at the time, Mark-
Viverito simply thought that
she was term-limited and that
her next offi ce would be citywide,
so she could burn her
constituents and survive. But
now she’s asking again for our
vote.
Mark-Viverito is billing
herself as a ‘progressive
champion’ centering her campaign
around criminal justice
reform, and continues to take
credit for closing Rikers while
leaving out the details of her
dirty deal.
If Mark-Viverito really
wants to be the progressive
she claims to be, she should
join Borough President Ruben
Diaz, Jr. and current Rep.
Jose Serrano and back a location
for the new jail that
would not destroy our community.
They have proposed
a site near the Bronx Courthouse,
which makes far more
practical sense than Mott Haven,
which is miles away. The
land use process for the jail is
still going on and there’s time
to make the right choice.
Mark-Viverito was recently
quoted that her sole priority is
our well-being. If that is true,
she will fi ght just as hard to
protect Mott Haven as she did
to close Rikers, and, this time,
she will put the people fi rst.
link
link
