Vacca Calls Out Donald Trump

Bronx City Councilman James Vacca sent out a statement this week blasting Donald Trump, the billionaire businessman-turned-reality TV star-turned-presidential hopeful, for comments he made recently that knocked the Big Apple.Trump, a native New Yorker, went on CNN this week and referred to LaGaurdia Airport in Queens as a “Third World airport.” “Donald Trump’s comments were at best a cheap shot at New York City and at worst an insensitive knock on the diversity that makes our city great,” Vacca said in statement sent out Sunday. “Donald Trump has lived in New York his whole life. He has done very well in New York. If he thinks he’s going to ride to the White House by picking on New York, he has another thing coming.”Trump also called the United States a “laughingstock” to the rest of the world for its lack of investment in infrastructure, erroneously saying no one can remember the last time the U.S. built a bridge.”Mr. Trump is free to come to my borough and look at the new Willis Avenue Bridge, completed just last year,” Vacca countered.

Diaz For Bronx Week 2011

Next month brings Bronx Week, the 10-day annual festival to celebrate all things Boogie Down-related. Here’s a video promoting the event, which will run from May 12-22, from Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. For a list of Bronx Week features and event, visit www.ilovethebronx.com.

Bronx Crime Watch: Murder in Kingsbridge

A 40-year-old man died last night in Kingsbridge after sustaining multiple gun shot wounds. Just before 10 p.m., police from the 50th Precinct found Bryan Nunez unconscious and unresponsive at 2816 Heath Ave., about a half block north of Kingsbridge Road, with bullet wounds to his head and torso. Emergency responders pronounced Nunez dead at the scene. No arrests yet, police say. Police said Nunez was a resident of Washington Heights.

Bronx News Roundup, April 19

Weather: Temperatures in the low to mid 50s, with rain showers throughout most of the day. Story Of The Day: Charter School BluesThe Daily News’ Daniel Beekman takes us on the scene of a public lottery at the high-performing Bronx Charter School for Excellence, in Morris Park, where 1,635 hopeful parents were vying to get their kids into just 28 open kindergarten spots. The lottery determines who gets in and who goes home, a process (as chronicled in the much-talked about film “Waiting for Superman”) which means heartache for most of the families who apply.”It’s a crushing feeling,” one parent told the News. “You gamble with your kid’s life and just hope you get picked.”Bronx Charter boasts that 88 percent of its fifth-graders passed the state English exams last year-that’s compared to the 41 percent average for public schools in Bronx’s District 11.Quick Hits: