BY MARY JANE MUSANO
Our next informational
rally regarding the Bruckner
upzoning will be on Oct.
16 at 12 p.m. at Bufano Park
(Waterbury Park). The park
is located on Waterbury and
LaSalle avenues. We will be
speaking about our new website,
our petitions and our Go-
FundMe page. Petitions and
letters will be available. If you
have signed petitions please
bring them with you.
You might have heard that
the Bruckner upzoning has be
suspended because they did
not fi le early enough for it to
go through under this administration.
This does not mean
that our fi ght is over. The
threat is still looming over
us. But this will give us time
to work even harder to defeat
this proposed upzoning. We
can get more signatures, send
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat. Photo courtesy Twitter
CIVIC CENTER
Waterbury LaSalle
Community
Association
more letters and raise more
money. At the rally we will be
discussing our plans for the
next few months.
BRONX TIMES R 36 EPORTER, OCT. 1-7, 2021 BTR
If you have not donated
yet, please consider doing so.
If everyone donates a small
amount — even $5 or $10 — we
can get to our goal of $30,000.
These funds are needed to
hire an attorney, cover court
fees and funding for an environmental
study. All of these
things must be done to defeat
this proposal. We have several
local attorneys that have graciously
given us guidance pro
bono. This is needed and very
much appreciated. Our community
is working together
because we all know that if
this proposal goes through it
will change our community
forever. You can donate at the
rally, online at our GoFundMe
page or you can send a check
to Waterbury LaSalle Community
Association marked
that it is for the Bruckner upzoning.
BY FRANK VERNUCCIO
The war on America’s middle
class has burst into the open.
The attacks by progressive politicians,
corporate elites, and the
media is pervasive and undeniable.
From coast to coast, the message
is clear: middle income
citizens, the backbone of the nation,
are being pushed aside and
characterized as the enemy.
Almost immediately after
being sworn into offi ce, President
Biden ended the Keystone
XL Pipeline, wiping out middleincome
jobs by the thousands.
His attacks on the middle class
went further. In a number of
measures aimed at curtailing
fuel production, he initiated
skyrocketing energy prices that
will devastate family budgets.
In the process, American energy
independence was also destroyed.
Biden’s war on decent-paying
employment can be seen
clearly in his open border policy.
Flooding the nation with illegal
immigrants will dramatically
shoot down wages and job
opportunities for citizens. His
party’s determination, in cities
throughout the nation, to open
up voting to non-citizens will
make it diffi cult for voters to reject
this move. Democrats, who
now receive the bulk of contributions
from major businesses,
have repaid their corporate
sponsors.
In California, notes the Mercury
News, Gov. Gavin Newsom,
in one of his fi rst acts after
surviving a recall attempt,
essentially abolished singlefamily
zoning, long both a staple
and a goal of the middle income.
This too, is a giveback to
corporate contributors. Owners
of single-family homes do
not contribute much to political
campaigns. However, big real
estate developers, long used to
buying political favors, are major
donors. Just one example,
out of thousands: On the opposite
coast from Newsom’s California,
in the middle-income
New York City neighborhood
of Throggs Neck, a real estate
developer has plans to build a
large apartment building which
will contain numerous units
for poor tenants, destroying
the character of the community
and slashing the value of middle
income private homes. The area
is represented by U.S. Rep. Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez, who has
not objected.
Next on the agenda: crippling
taxes. Despite public pronouncements
that tax hikes
will only affect the rich, Progressives
are advocating a tax
scheme that will force motorists
to pay a tax based on how
many miles they drive. Another
concept will cause family
businesses to pay unaffordable
inheritance taxes when
passed from one generation to
the next. And, as is well known
from long experience, taxes on
the so-called “rich” never seem
to produce the revenue the Left
wants to spend on their massive
programs. Soon, “rich” is
defi ned down so that a middleclass
family with two earners,
(say, a school teacher and a fi refi
ghter) fi nd themselves in the
bracket defi ned as wealthy.
In what may seem as a contradiction
to Democrats’ addiction
to corporate money, they
plan to raise corporate taxes.
However, every political lobbyist
in existence knows that
corporate tax laws can be written
to make their major clients
safe; small businesses, lacking
the funds to retain lobbyists,
will be hit hard. Of course, the
whole concept of taxing businesses
higher than international
competitors is foolish.
Big business is mobile. Raise
taxes in the U.S., and they will
easily move their headquarters
elsewhere, taking their jobs
with them. Small businesses
generally lack that option.
Middle income families
need to be safe, as, indeed, do
all citizens. But the Left’s bid
to defund the police jeopardizes
that. However, many of the very
same politicians who want to
reduce or eliminate your police
protection use your tax dollars
to hire private security for
themselves.
Next on the campaign
against the middle class: your
car. Washington’s Progressive
politicians are full-steam ahead
in their attempt to ram electric
cars down consumers’ throats.
Electric vehicles cost on average
between $10,000–$55,000
more than gas vehicles.
Can’t afford it? Too bad! The
politicians will tell you to take
public transit, if it exists near
you. After all, the companies
that build buses and subways
contribute a lot more to campaigns
than a middle-class family.
CIVIC CENTER
Community Action
Civic Association
BY AL D’ANGELO
The Morris Park Community
Association will be sponsoring
the Bronx Columbus
Day Parade again this year.
The chairwoman for this
year’s parade is Phyllis Nastasio.
Phyllis and her committee
have been working tirelessly to
see that the parade once again
graces Morris Park Avenue.
Last year’s parade was canceled
due to the COVID-19 outbreak
and the limitations have
made her job very diffi cult. The
parade will begin at 12 p.m.
sharp beginning at Wallace Avenue
and ending at Lydig Avenue
and Williamsbridge Road.
It’s time to celebrate and
bring our community together
to honor our Italian heritage
and to share with other Americans
the traditions of family
and friends. It will be a day
to unite as a community and
share the bounty that is America,
“we are stronger together.”
This year, we are honoring our
fi rst responders. Please join us
on Sunday, Oct. 10, enjoy the
parade, enjoy our diversity and
plan to enjoy dinner at one of
our fi ne restaurants. The Association
started this parade
44 years ago and the tradition
will continue for many more
years to come thanks to people
like Phyllis who took the baton
from Chris Alessandro.
A special thanks goes out to
our doners; without their donations
the parade would not be
possible. Join us on Oct. 10, and
plan to spend a few hours enjoying
the parade and each other.
CIVIC CENTER
Morris Park Civic
Association
VISIT US ON THE WEB AT WWW.BXTIMES.COM
/WWW.BXTIMES.COM