Share This Article
Welcome to the show, Bronx people and cognoscente. To the news!
Weather: My shirt was drenched with sweat by the time I made it into the office today. It’s hot and muggy and cloudy and we’re in for a wildly unpredictable day and evening. There’s a 60 percent chance of precipitation, which means, with these conditions, we could be looking at anything from a drizzle to thunderstorms to hail.
Story of the Day: Hunts Point Market to Stay in the Bronx, For Now
On Sunday night, Crain’s NY reported that the Hunts Point Market (full name: Hunts Point Terminal Produce Cooperative Market) were not close to signing a long-term lease, but were “hammering out a short-term extension while they haggle over a 30- or 40-year lease that would include a $320 million revamp of the antiquated facility, the country’s largest wholesale produce market.” New Jersey is aggressively wooing the market cooperative, offering them tax incentives to jump across the Hudson. But the city and state have formed a negotiating team that includes Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy, the Empire State Development Corp. and the city Economic Development Corp. and other Bloomberg officials (where is the Bronx borough president on this?), and are ramping up their efforts to keep the market in the Bronx. One union official told Crain’s that about 40 percent of the 47-member cooperative are leaning toward a move to Jersey, but others think they might lose customers if they do. Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. has said keeping the market and it’s 8,500 jobs in the Bronx is one of his top priorities, but according to Crain’s, it doesn’t appear that he will have much say in the matter.
(Update: John DeSio, a spokesman for the borough president’s office says that Diaz is, in fact, in regular contact with Duffy and that Marlene Citron, the head of the Bronx Overal Development Corp., the BP’s development arm, is in constant contact with the city’s EDC. DeSio says Diaz was also instrumental in bringing New York’s two U.S. senators into the fold.)
Quick Hits:
Lots of wrongfully accused Bronxites trying to cash in these days. In one case, a Bronx man who was arrested after police thought his Snapple beverage was something a little stronger and then was thrown in jail for 40 hours, is suing the NYPD.