Will new heating oil rules bankrupt co-ops?

Here's a story from this week's Riverdale Review.

By Brendan McHugh 

The metal sleeve runs all the way
down to the boiler in the basement.
It cost $90,000.

It started as an environmental issue and it’s now become an affordable housing problem. 

A new city-mandated rule requires all residential buildings to switch from No. 6 heating oil to at least No. 4—a cleaner, more expensive oil—by 2015, but then to No. 2 or natural gas by 2030.

Environmental activists across the city celebrated the mandate, but for Riverdale, the mandate will end up costing thousands. 

“You hear about a boiler conversion, but for the rest of the building, it’s a big expense,” said Community Board 8 housing committee chairman Thomas Durham. 

His building, at the corner of Waldo Avenue and Manhattan College Parkway, is one of hundreds in Riverdale that burns No. 6. At least it did, until this summer when the building underwent a conversion from No. 6 to a duel system of natural gas and No. 2 oil. If Con Edison shuts down the gas line, Durham’s building still wanted to have a heat source, hence the backup No. 2.

Jump below for the full story.

Hoffnung named to key post

Here's a story from this week's Riverdale Review.

By Brendan McHugh 

Ari Hoffnung will start his new position
as deputy comptroller Dec. 19.

Riverdale resident Ari Hoffnung was promoted to deputy comptroller this week.

City Comptroller John C. Liu appointed Hoffnung, 38, to Deputy Comptroller for Public Affairs. Hoffnung, who most recently served as Assistant Comptroller of Budget & Chief Policy Officer, will assume his new role on Dec. 19. He replaces Alan van Capelle, who is departing the comptroller’s office.

“Ari has been a consistent and constant driving force on some of our office’s highest priority initiatives over the past two years, and he's proven to execute with precision,” Liu said in a statement. “Ari also shares my deep commitment to public service and improving city government. I’ve no doubt he will excel even more as part of my leadership team.”

Hoffnung will oversee all operations pertaining to the Public Affairs Bureau of the New York City Comptroller’s Office, which includes the Community Action Center, Public Affairs, and Communications departments.

“I am hopeful that my professional experience in the non-profit, business and government sectors will help me build upon the work of my predecessor, Deputy Comptroller Alan van Capelle,” Hoffnung said in an email.

Jump below for the full story.

Letter from PS 24 parents association to the school staff

The parents association at PS 24 in Riverdale sent a letter to the school staff, asking them not to speak to us here at the Riverdale Review & Bronx Press, because they claim we run a smear campaign against the school.

"On behalf of the parents of PS 24, who hold our school's administration, and its staff, in the highest regard, we ask that whoever is responsible for these leaks, to cease and desist immediately," the letter states.

We wrote a news story on the letter--and the reaction to the letter--in this week's Riverdale Review. Also, you can read our recent editorials to get our response and thoughts about the PA. I'm not going to speak on behalf of the paper on the blog, but I will say that we're not printing lies about the school; if we didn't report the bad grades that the city gives the school, the school still gets a bad grade. We just let the public know about it.

We welcome good news and accomplishments from all local schools and hope you'll let us know about it. Head over to the Contact Us page to get in touch.

A commenter requested to see the letter they sent, so here you go. Ask and you shall receive!

Letter from PS 24 Parents Association to Staff

We're back!

After two years, the Bronx Press Politics blog is back online. We'll officially begin posting tomorrow. I can't promise what you'll see here, but what we have in mind is more than just links to other stories that relate to the Bronx and the city. Same thing goes for simply reposting press releases. For example, if we see a story that we think is interesting, but probably won't make our papers, we may do a little reporting of our own, and toss it up on the blog. Also, expect some videos and podcasts. The podcast is still just an idea in my head, but I promise it's coming sooner rather than later.

As for the stories that make our newspapers, I wouldn't expect to read too many of them on here. We're a free paper, so all we ask is that you walk to the closest box on the street, or even just to the lobby of your building to get the paper. A little exercise never hurt, right?

Comments: We will monitor the comments. Sorry, but commenting is a privilege, not a right, and society as a whole has proved they're too immature to handle it. That being said, as long as you don't swear and your comments do not attack anyone based on race, gender, etc., we should all be OK. We check our email constantly, so any comments will get looked at and posted very quickly. Promise.

Thanks for coming to the Bronx Press Politics. If you'd like to see us do something, cover something, or have an always appreciated tip for us, don't hesitate to email bronxpolitics (at) gmail (dot) com.

BFRDC Endorsement Meeting Thursday

The Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club will pick its candidate in the special election on Thursday night. The club, which covers the northwest Bronx neighborhoods of Riverdale and Kingsbridge and serves as the political home of Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, is expected to back Assemblyman Ruben Diaz.

The meeting will take place at the club's HQ, 304 West 231st Street, and will start at 7:30 p.m. For more info, call (718)796-6177.

--John DeSio

Welcome To The Thunderdome

The Bronx is in a very unique political situation right now.

With this week’s announcement that Adolfo Carrion would officially be heading to Washington as President Barack Obama’s director of urban affairs, the Bronx now faces the first borough wide special election for the seat of Bronx Borough President in its history, and possibly the first borough wide special election in the history of the City (we're still checking).

With that in mind, we here at the Bronx Press Review/Riverdale Review understand there will be a hunger for news about this race and it's associated consequences. To fill that need, John DeSio and Candice M. Giove will be providing daily updates about the race, covering all aspects of the contest from the important to the minutia.

Stay tuned.