Political arena

Community board’s budget increases

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Community Board (CB) 8 has $65,000 in its operating budget, up from $15,000 last year.

The figures, which included $23,000 for personal services, came from the treasurer’s report at CB 8’s board meeting last month.

“It will allow us to go out and do programming as well and conduct more forums,” said CB 8 Chairman Dan Padernacht. “It will also allow us to obtain different spaces we previously weren’t able to.”

“One of the big things that the board is considering is moving the office to a central location within the district,” he added.

 

Until the move actually takes place, Mr. Padernacht said CB 8 will put some of the money toward modernizing its current office space. Funds received from Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez went toward supplying CB 8 with a new data router to provide better Internet access to members across the board.

Cohen supports Puerto Rico

Bronx Councilman Ritchie Torres successfully passed resolutions on Sept. 30 calling on Congress to allow Puerto Rico to file for bankruptcy and to assist the municipality with its Medicare and Medicaid programs, which are relied on by 60 percent of Puerto Ricans.

“The economy in Puerto Rico is in very tough shape,” said northwest Bronx Councilman Andrew Cohen, who co-sponsored Mr. Torres’ resolutions. “If something can be done to spur economic activity, I would hope that the federal government will help them.”

While Puerto Rico is $72 billion in debt, with a poverty rate of 45 percent, Mr. Cohen said that the resolutions were not a means of requesting handouts, but of asking for the same rights as other municipalities. 

Employment grows

Unemployment in the Bronx fell to of 7.3 percent in August, according to a recent report from the New York Department of Labor (DOL). From July to August alone, unemployment went down 0.4 percent. 

August 2014 showed an unemployment rate of 9.5 percent, a solid drop from the borough’s highest ever rating of 14.1 percent in 2010.

More than 7,000 Bronxites have joined the workforce since the summer of 2014 and nearly 13,000 borough residents have come off unemployment, according to DOL.

CB 8, Dan Padernacht, Andrew Cohen, Puerto Rico, unemployment, Ruben Diaz Jr., Eliot Engel, gun control, Political Arena, Will Speros
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