Pols blast Bloomberg for Kingsbridge Armory plan

The Kingsbridge Armory is at the center of debate once again and on either side are the usual suspects — Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.

And now elected officials representing Riverdale and Kingsbridge are also joining the fray. Last week, local leaders including Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, Councilman Oliver Koppell, Rep. Eliot Engel and state Sen. Jeff Klein gathered at City Hall and blasted the mayor for his plan to turn Wakefield’s Sgt. Joseph E. Muller Army Reserve Center into a 200-unit shelter for homeless men.

Instead, they would like to see National Guard units that currently occupy the two buildings outside the armory on West 195th Street moved to the MARC in Wakefield, which houses army reserve units. The MARC was placed on the Department of Defense’s Base Realignment and Closure list in 2005 and must move its units by September 2011 to increase efficiency in the Armed Forces.

For years, local elected officials have supported moving the National Guard units that occupy the buildings outside the armory to make room for new schools. They say the buildings could be replaced with one or two small schools in an area badly in need of more educational facilities. That plan would also prevent Wakefield, which already houses several homeless shelters, from absorbing another one, officials said.

Mr. Diaz has argued that a reshuffle that creates schools instead of a homeless shelter would benefit two communities — Kingsbridge Heights and Wakefield — and will be cheaper than converting the MARC for a different use.

The Kingsbridge Armory made headlines a year ago after Mr. Diaz killed a proposal supported by Mr. Bloomberg that would have turned the enormous structure — vacant since 1994 — into a shopping mall. Mr. Diaz insisted any jobs created by the plan pay a “living wage” of $11.50 an hour or $10 with benefits and the developer, the Related Companies, ditched redevelopment plans. The armory still stands empty.