Carmen Arroyo

Among the funding requests cut by the Council from its budget was one for the Bronx African American Chamber of Commerce, which was slated to get $10,000 at the request of City Councilman Larry Seabrook. The organization earned some attention when it came out that they never accounted for the ultimate destination of $994,488 they received last year.

After voting in favor of the budget, Seabrook told me, “I didn’t put it in -- that was a mistake on their end,” referring to the Council staff.

A spokesman for the City Council explained the mistake, saying that Seabrook had initially asked for the money but later recsinded the request.  read more »

In advance of the state legislature’s return to session next week,  Michael Bloomberg and city officials are holding a press conference to put pressure on the handful of state legislators who oppose re-opening the Gansevoort waste transfer station on Manhattan’s West Side, a key component of the city‘s five-borough garbage plan.

At a press conference in City Hall’s Blue Room, Marty Markowitz said he strongly supports the move, but understands that local officials near the Gansevoort site may be facing pressure from their constituents. Bloomberg quickly sought to correct him.

Bloomberg cited Christine Quinn, who has the site in her district and who said that in the two years she’s advocated for the transfer site, she’s only gotten eight complaints from constituents.

Bloomberg said the opposition to the plan is a result of “some Assembly people who don’t want to stand up.”

Adriano Espaillat, borrowing a reference to Muhammad Ali, said this issue may turn into the “Thrilla in Albany.” Carmen Arroyo took it one step further, saying, “When I raise my voice, those four people that are against this have to listen and get out of the way.“

“For the record,” Bloomberg added, “nobody is encouraging physical violence. The allusions to fights notwithstanding.”

Everyone knows that signing a lease in New York City is a lot easier than buying, but that’s d  read more »

As Matthew Schuerman noted earlier, the Yankee stadium plan easily passed the City Council subcommittee (3-0) and committee (22-1) this morning.

But the meeting was not without its moments, and tensions, as a crowd of partisans for and against the stadium packed the small chamber. The opposition held up green and orange signs and passed out fake dollar bills with Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo's face on them. ("How much was the "deal" with the Yankees to hand over our public parks?" they said.) The construction workers who support the deal but couldn't find seats in the small chamber spilled out into the adjacent one. There, speakers piped in the meeting and their muted cheers could be heard with each yes vote.

The morning's lone nay vote came from Charles Barron, who argued that the Metro North station used to sweeten the deal is just for white fans who "want a straight path to Yankee stadium and out." He then accused the Yanks, and especially George Steinbrenner, of being a bad corporate partner to the community for the last 83 years.

Staten Island's Jimmy Oddo pointed out that the "robust" Mr. Steinbrenner was not quite that old, and added "I wouldn't want to throw down with him."

Barron and Oddo got laughs, Arroyo only heard heckles. After saying that she resented how her integrity had been "called into question," the Bronx councilwoman said that she intended to stick around "past 09 - and I also intend to hold the Yankees accountable."

That caused snickering in the crowd.

"The Yankees are not the only ones who can swing bats," she said.

--Jason Horowitz

We hope the Times's chronicler of tasty local political brawls will soon make his way up to the South Bronx soon, where a truly Bronx-tastic City Council special election is underway.

"Some things never change. Like good, old-fashioned Bronx County politics," a correspondent emails. "Some things do change. Like names."

Here's the deal: the race features two guys named Serrano, neither of them related to Congressman Jose E. Serrano or to his son, Jose M. Serrano, who is vacating the Council's 17th district for a State Senate seat.

We also have Maria del Carmen Arroyo -- daughter of Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo -- whose name, until recently, was Maria Aguirre.  read more »

The Serranos and other power players -- including Local 1199 SEIU-- were backing George Torres (one of two guys named Torres) -- until he got tossed off the ballot.

We love this race! The vote is February 15.