City Island Civic Association

Late Breaking News: The Captain of the 45 Precinct has agreed to attend the July meeting of the Civic Association.

The next meeting of the City Island Civic Association will be on Tuesday, July 27, 2010, at 7:30 p.m. at the City Island Community Center, 190 Fordham Street. We hope you can attend.

As the result of concerns raised at the June meeting, representatives of the 45th Precinct have been asked to attend. As many will remember, Lieutenant Ortiz and Officer Caldero were at our May meeting.

Because of the haste with which the Civic was asked to respond to the Coast Guard notice about the new City Island bridge, the Executive Committee sent the attached letter to Council Member Vacca and to the Coast Guard, upon receipt of several emails from Island residents.

Note: PDF file attached.

At the April meeting of the Civic Association, a representative of the NYC Office of Emergency Management advised all residents to alert authorities to anything suspicious. He said that all of the recent terrorist plots in the city had been uncovered by private citizens reporting unusual situations.

PROTEST THE PROPOSED WATER RATE HIKE: Councilman James Vacca invites all property owners and community leaders to speak out against the 12.9 percent increase in water rates proposed by the NYC Water Board. A public hearing will be held at P.S. 14, 3041 Bruckner Boulevard, on Thursday, May 6, at 7 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.). A 12.9% water rate hike is a serious matter in this economic downturn. It is the honest taxpayers who bear all the weight of running our cities.

Notification issued on 4/13/10 at 5:45 PM:

Weather permitting an aerial survey of NYC may be conducted each day from 12AM - 6AM for the rest of the week. You may hear low flying aircraft overhead during this time period.

The sender provided the following contact information.

Sender's Name: Notify NYC

Sender's Email: notifynyc@oem.nyc.gov

Sender's Contact Phone: 2126399675

The attached was sent to us by Patrick Caruso (PCaruso@cb.nyc.gov), Bronx Community Board #10

Record profits add insult to injury as utility proposes three-year, 13% hike

BRONX, NY — Council Member James Vacca (D-Bronx) today called on frustrated Bronxites to flood state regulators with phone calls and e-mails in protest of Con Edison’s “obscene” plan to raise the average household’s electric bill by 13%, or roughly $11 per month, over the next three years — even as the utility pulls in record profits.

Last year, when the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) was trying to trim its budget, it eliminated the City Island express bus (BxM7B) from its schedule. City Council Member James Vacca and other elected officials, as well as members of the community protested, and eventually, after some budget tinkering, the bus route was saved.

It has happened again, not only for the City Island express bus but for some other Bronx local routes as well. Now, however, Jimmy Vacca is head of the Council’s Transportation Committee, and he plans to mobilize an even more active protest this time around.

The next meeting of the City Island Civic Association will be on Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. at the City Island Community Center, 190 Fordham Street.

Progress reports with the issues of crime prevention, quality of life, traffic, and development will be presented by the committee chairs. Bill Stanton will bring us up-to-date on the progress of the on-going police matters.