Bronx district attorney Darcel Clark sworn in

Johanna Brujan Edmondson, fitness instructor and founder of The Female Fight Club NYC, has announced her candidacy for female Democratic State Committee member for Assembly District 81. She is a long-time Riverdale resident, a community leader, a children’s book author and successful business owner.

Edmondson ran for the position back in 2022, alongside Michael Heller, both Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club-endorsed candidates. While Heller won his election, Edmonson lost her race to Unity Democratic Club  pick Morgan Evers by less than 100 votes. The primary in April offers Edmondson another chance for the role.

“I am excited for the opportunity to represent our community to the State Democratic party,” Edmonson stated in a Jan. 2 press release. “Bringing a voice to the party leadership is something that I have been doing here in our community, and I will be a forceful advocate for us when we meet to discuss how the State Democratic Party operates, reaches out to voters and works to ensure that progressive policies are championed.”

Originally born in the Dominican Republic, Edmondson moved to New York City at 7 where she had to adapt to a new environment and language. Through hard work she was able to thrive in the city, earning a bachelor’s degree in social work at Lehman College. Her studies sparked her passion for social justice and community advocacy.

When gyms shut down during the Covid-19 pandemic, Edmondson sought to create a safe place for women to workout. That idea ultimately transformed into The Female Fight Club, the only women-only fitness studio in the Bronx. Its goal is to offer women a sense of community and support and programs tailored to each woman’s needs and goals.

In June 2020, Johanna was recognized as NY1’s New Yorker of the Week for her community service. She was also honored with the New York State Senate 2021 commendation and merchant award by former state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi.

Aside from her business, Johanna has been involved in community engagement and political volunteering. She actively supports Borough President Vanessa Gibson, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark, Councilman Eric Dinowitz, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz and U.S. Reps. Ritchie Torres and Adriano Espaillat.

As a mother of an active duty U.S. Air Force airman and wife of a U.S. veteran, she is dedicated to serving her community through volunteering initiatives for those in need of aid, her release states.

Building collapse prevention bills

Last month a seven-floor 96-year-old apartment building in the Bronx partially collapsed, leaving more than 140 people displaced. Now local electeds are introducing legislation to counteract the circumstances that led to that Morris Heights apartment collapse.

U.S. Reps. Adriano Espaillat and Ritchie Torres introduced a legislative package on Dec. 22, comprising The Building Collapse Prevention Act and the LIHTC Landlord Accountability Act. They also sent a letter to New York City buildings department commissioner Jimmy Oddo.

In the letter to Oddo, the electeds asked the NYC DOB to provide a report to their offices of measurements to be taken to prevent similar incidents to the Morris Heights apartment building collapse, as well as recommendations to maintain building integrity in the city.

“The partial collapse of what we witnessed at Billingsley Terrace or what could potentially happen at any building in and around New York City is deeply troubling” Espaillat stated in a press release.

“This shocking and unfortunate incident could have been prevented and it remains incumbent on us, as public officials, to ensure the necessary resources and oversight to prevent incidents like this from occurring in the future. Our legislative package ensures necessary mechanisms are in place to provide oversight and accountability to advance the safety and integrity of buildings across our city.”

The LIHTC Landlord Accountability Act would require all low income housing tax credit buildings, new and old, to prove their architecture is safe in order to receive the affordable housing tax credit. Landlords would have to submit an annual report to the U.S. Department of Treasury with a thorough architectural analysis.

For landlords who are noncompliant they would receive a hefty fee of $500,000. It would also require the Department of Treasury, along with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, to release a report on the best practices for LIHTC landlords to ensure safety and structural soundness.

“Building safety is a matter of life and death. If we, as elected officials, see something on the ground, it is incumbent on us to say something,” Torres stated. “And more than saying something, we should have the power to act. The federal government is the principal funder of affordable housing in the country. And therefore, we in the federal government have a vested interest in ensuring that affordable housing is structurally sound and that the people who live there are physically safe.”

The Building Collapse Prevention Act would require HUD to create a program with the National Institute of Standards and Technology that inspects federally assisted rental housing and any building that accepts federal housing funding. Members of the House or Senate can request the NIST conducted inspections in their respective district or state if a violation is found that could potentially lead to a building collapse.

Mayor Adams sues bus companies

Mayor Eric Adams announced a lawsuit against 17charter bus and transportation companies that helped send asylum seekers to the city. The city is seeking more than $700 million to cover the costs of the migrant crisis.

In 2022 Texas Gov. Greg Abbott helped facilitate the transportation of more than 33,600 migrants. The mayor’s press release said the 17 defendants in the lawsuit knowingly implemented Abbott’s plan without any regard for the migrants they were transporting or effort to help manage the humanitarian crisis.

“These companies have violated state law by not paying the cost of caring for these migrants, and that’s why we are suing to recoup approximately $700 million already spent to care for migrants sent here in the last two years by Texas,” Adams said last Thursday. “Governor Abbott’s continued use of migrants as political pawns is not only chaotic and inhumane but makes clear he puts politics over people. Today’s lawsuit should serve as a warning to all those who break the law in this way.”

The transportation companies did not pay for the continued cost of the migrants, which is in violation of New York’s Social Services Law § 149, a release from the mayor’s office stated. That law mandates any person “who knowingly brings, or causes to be brought, a needy person from out of state into this state for the purpose of making him a public charge…shall be obligated to convey such person out of state or support him at his own expense.”

“If they are getting paid to break the law by transporting people in need of public assistance into our state, they should be on the hook for the cost of sheltering those individuals – not just passing that expense along to hard-working New Yorkers. I’m proud to support the mayor’s lawsuit,” Gov. Kathy Hochul stated.

New York City has spent an estimated $3.5 billion between April 2022 and December 2023 on shelter and services for over 164,000 individuals who have come through the city’s intake center.