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     Click here for Inner City Press' weekday news reports, from the United Nations and elsewhere.  Click here for a recent BBC piece on Inner City Press' reporting from the United Nations  Search This Site    Click for March 1, 2011 BloggingHeads.tv re Libya, Sri Lanka, UN Corruption by Inner City Press.     Click here for Inner City Press front page

  ICP has published a (double) book about a variety of Bronx-relevant topics -- a review in Commonweal magazine of Dec. 5, 2003, opines  that "Predatory Bender... is as vivid an account of life in the Bronx as you are likely to read" -- click here for sample chapters, here for an interactive map,  here for fast ordering and delivery, and here for other ordering information.  See also, "City Lit: Roman a Klepto [Review of ‘Predatory Bender’]," by Matt Pacenza, City Limits, Sept.-Oct. 2004. CBS MarketWatch of April 23, 2004, says the the novel has "some very funny moments," and that the non-fiction mixes "global statistics and first-person accounts." The Washington Post of March 15, 2004, calls Predatory Bender: America in the Aughts "the first novel about predatory lending;" the London Times of April 15, 2004, "A Novel Approach," said it "has a cast of colorful characters."   The Pittsburgh City Paper of Dec. 11, 2003, wrote that it "may, in fact, be the first great American lending malfeasance novel" including "low-level loan sharks, class-action lawyers, corporate bigwigs, hired muscle, corrupt politicians, Iraq War veterans, Wall Street analysts, reporters and one watchdog with a Web site."  And all in The Bronx!   Click here for that review; for more information, contact us.
2014: MRL on Beacon Reader

June 19, 2017

A brownfield at 1888 Bathgate Ave is slated for redevelopment - with Low Income Housing Tax Credits, recently scrutinized by Frontline and NPR. So, two things to look at...

June 12, 2017

If you're going to replace the Sheridan Expressway, it should be with parks, not another truck road...
June 5, 2017

   MetroNorth's service to The Bronx gets worse and worse. On June 3 the 2:54 pm train stopped for more than 20 minutes at 125th Street, with misleading announcements about a delay of 5 to 10 minutes, then a blaming of “congestion” in The Bronx. We'll have more on this.

May 29, 2017

Just south of the Bronx:

At Cameroon "National" Day, UN DSG & CdC, French Delattre, Toasts to Biya's Wife, No Internet

By Matthew Russell Lee, New Platform

UNITED NATIONS, May 24 – While the UN Security Council visited Cameroon during the 94 day Internet cut off and said nothing publicly about it (but see below), Inner City Press has obtained and has exclusively published on Patreon and now Scribd, here Cameroon's "Urgent and Confidential" letter to the UN Security Council, about weapons. On May 23, Inner City Press went to the New York event for Cameroon's "National" Day, which was boycotted in the Anglophone regions of the country. In New York, however, UN Deputy Secretary General Amina J. Mohammad and Antonio Guterres' Chef de Cabinet Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti attended, along with French Permanent Representative to the UN Francois Delattre, Burundi's Albert Shingiro and others. Video here.


 Periscope inside was not possible due, ironically, to a lack of Internet. There were toasts in French for Chantalle Biya and for the UN officials; on the way out UN staffers told Inner City Press it was sure to criticize them. What matters, as always, is what happens going forward. Italy is a member of the Security Council this year, and on the morning of May 18 including in light of Italian President Mattarella's meetings this year with Cameroon's 34 year president Paul Biya, Inner City Press asked Italy's Mission to the UN: "your Mission was part of the Security Council's trip including to Cameroon earlier this year, during the country's 94-day Internet shut off to millions of people in the Northwest and Southwest (or Anglophone) regions. The IMF, for what it's worth, told Inner City Press the government's Internet cut off is among other things a financial risk in 2017. Could you comment on your Mission's aware of the issue, during the Security Council visit to Cameroon and since, and on whether you believe the Secretary General and DPA, as a matter of prevention of conflict, may have a greater role to play in this long-standing, UN-related conflict or dispute?" Eight hours later, the Italian Mission's spokesperson Giovanni Davoli replied on Cameroon that "the situation you are mentioning was not in the agenda of the UNSC visit." To his credit, Swedish diplomat Carl Skau tells Inner City Press, "I can confirm that the issue was raised by the delegation in meetings." Now Italy's spokesman insists, "I confirm: it was not in the agenda of the visit. Whether it was raised, it is another matter on which I have no elements." Meanwhile, party in interest France has yet to respond, while Emmanuel Macron is in Mali. We'll have more on this.

May 22, 2017

UN Credit Union Solicits N Korean & UNA-USA Funds, After NK Missile, Nikki Haley Says Tighten Screws

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive follow up

UNITED NATIONS, May 14 – The UN Federal Credit Union, regulated by the US National Credit Union Administration, openly solicits the business of both North Korean employees of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's mission to the UN and the members of the UN Association of the USA (UNA-USA), amid questions of immunity and a previous UNFCU settlement for sanctions violations.

 UNFCU's website lists under “Missions to the UN in New York eligible to join UNFCU” that of “North Korea (DPRK).” Now, after the latest North Korean launch, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley on May 14 told ABC's This Week that the screws will be tightened on North Korea, to isolate them. So, at the UN, what about the (US regulated) UN Federal Credit Union?

Inner City Press asked UNFCU's Senior Manager of Media Relations Elisabeth Philippe questions including “why some UN member states' missions to the UN are eligible to join UNFCU, including the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and others are not, why members of UNA-USA became eligible to join UNFCU, what regulatory filings in any UNFCU made for this change in field of membership, and any restrictions on the use of these UNA-USA members' funds, and what services UNFCU offers to UN agencies and country teams, in which countries, and if there are any restrictions or safeguards.”

  On deeming the North Korean mission and all of its employees eligible, UNFCU's Ms. Philippe told Inner City Press, “The employees of any mission to the United Nations based in New York are eligible to apply for UNFCU membership. The employees of all missions are eligible to join once their mission has submitted an application and been approved.” The website says the mission itself can join UNFCU. On May 10, Inner City Press asked the chairman of the UN Security Council's North Korea Sanctions Committee Sebastiano Cardi about North Korea's embassy in Berlin renting out space as a hostel, video here. What safeguards does UNFCU, with UNA-USA's members in its field of membership, have?

May 15, 2017

Not good: the beating of Souleymane Porgo of Burkina Faso, on the Grand Concourse - even the US Embassy in Burkina has had to apologize...


At UN, Press Coverage of Biz Event Praising Goldman Sachs Hindered by DPI Censorship

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 11 – When the UN hosted an event and press conference about small businesses, they made it nearly impossible for Inner City Press which actually covers the topic, to access the speeches which praised, among others, Goldman Sachs and Facebook. (A surreal tango reception, however, was accessible as Inner City Press was invited and DPI wasn't around to exclude it: Periscope here.) The event was in the ECOSOC Chamber, which Inner City Press cannot access, unlike other correspondents who didn't bother to cover the issue, or even to come in to the UN. More than fourteen months ago, acting against Press coverage of Ban Ki-moon's links to UN corruption cases, the UN Department of Public Information had Inner City Press physically ousted from the UN.  Audio here.

  Since then an UNrelenting campaign of harassment by UN Security and the requirement that Inner City Press unlike other media have minders to stake-out public events in the UN has continued. On May 11 to try to cover an almost empty press conference about small businesses, Inner City Press had to wait more than twenty minutes in the metal detector line, even as DPI shepherded other correspondents to the front of the line and through. This while acting DPI chief Maher Nasser publicly says Inner City Press has fine access, and Margaret Novicki said on UNTV that DPI and the UN are fully committed to free press. It is a scam, and censorship. The Egyptian state media to which DPI is trying to give Inner City Press' long time shared office, Akhbar al Yom, is almost never in the UN, never asks questions. This is censorship.

May 8, 2017

At UN's World Press Freedom Event, ICP Asks of UN Censorship, WIPO & FAO, 1-Line Response

By Matthew Russell Lee, Video here

UNITED NATIONS, May 4 – At the UN's World Press Freedom Day event, the hypocrisy of the UN was on display. After a UN panel gave speeches praising the UN's work, the floor was opened for questions. Inner City Press raised its hand throughout. First the Department of Public Information's Margaret Novicki called on a non governmental organization; then she switched to pre-selected questioners. A DPI staffer told Inner City Press Novicki erred in calling on the NGO, but to keep its hand raised. Inner City Press waited and then asked about the UN's own commitment to press freedom, using as examples the World Intellectual Property Organization's use of criminal defamation laws against a Swiss radio station, FAO going after a website for reporting on corruption, and the UN's lack of due process protections for journalists. All Novicki said, to the three questions, was that "as you know," DPI is committed to freedom of the press. Video here.

Really? Contrary to Secretary General Antonio Guterres calling for an end to crackdowns on the press, more than fourteen months ago, acting against Press coverage of Ban Ki-moon's links to UN corruption cases, the UN Department of Public Information had Inner City Press physically ousted from the UN.  Audio here.

 Since then an UNrelenting campaign of harassment by UN Security (DSS) and the requirement that Inner City Press unlike other media have minders to stake-out public events in the UN has continued. 

May 1, 2017

History in the soil, 198 East 135th Street: "Prior site uses include a railroad freight yard, coal yard, warehousing, and various industrial uses (some of which included oil storage). Historic fill is also present at the site. "

April 24, 2017

At UN, DPI Prejudice Against Critical Press UNanswered, Bello Wiffs on Haiti and Roma

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 21 – The UN which evicted Inner City Press 14 months ago after it sought to covering UN corruption in the UN Press Briefing Room has on April 20 responded that it is fine to continue to confine it to minders, while giving much more access to pro-UN or state media like Akhbar al Yom and others which never ask questions, or challenge incompetence. This mendacious answer continued, by default, at an event in the UN Bookstore on April 21, video here.

 Maher Nasser, for the second time the "Officer in Charge" of the UN Department of Public Information, was the moderator but did not even purport to answer Inner City Press' question about his prejudice against critical media. Nasser responded three weeks after Inner City Press' formal request by saying "U have same access as 3000 other journalists." This while his DPI has given the Resident Correspondent accreditation Inner City Press had for 10 years to entities which just arrived at the UN, or those like a Moroccan correspondent who in fact work FOR the UN. It is disgusting censorship. To become the new head of DPI under Antonio Guterres, candidates Inner City Press has reported on include Michele Montas, the Ban Ki-moon spokesperson who participated in meetings about excluding Inner City Press from Google News and threatening it along with Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, and a correspondents for a Saudi media openly lobbying Guterres officials. Both are, it's said, Americans. Will the US Mission, so recently bragging about transparency in the NGO Committee, allow a censor to head DPI? Allow the lawless, no due process regime of censorship of anti-corruption reporting to continue? Watch this site. The UN, demonstrating hypocrisy on both press freedom and transparency, evicted Inner City Press as it covered UN corruption in the Ng Lap Seng bribery case and restricts it even now, after the evicting official is gone from the UN's unaccountable Department of Public Information. A formal request for reversal

April 17, 2017

At UN, Request To Explain Censorship of Press Yields 1-Line, Spox Says Criticism Is Harassment

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 13 – The UN, demonstrating hypocrisy on both press freedom and transparency, evicted Inner City Press as it covered UN corruption in the Ng Lap Seng bribery case and restricts it even now, after the evicting official is gone from the UN's unaccountable Department of Public Information. A formal request for reversal, below, was filed 13 days ago. So far only a Kafka-esque one line response, followed by an accusation by the UN's lead spokesman Stephane Dujarric that Inner City Press' criticism of the UN and some of its officials is "harassment." Video here. When Dujarric was in charge of media accreditation at the UN, he summoned Inner City Press about a mere tweet, here. This, then, is censorship. And those who took over accreditation after Dujarric, in what's being revealed as the DPI of UN bribery indicted Ng Lap Seng can't even explain the basis of minders and metal detectors for Inner City Press while, for example, Egyptian state media Akhbar al Yom was nowhere to be seen, hasn't asked a single question in ten months. The UN is Corrupt - we'll have more on this.

   Having no response other than a forward to yet more UN DPI officials, Inner City Press asked and was told, Didn't [a particular] DPI official talk to you? Well, no.

So Inner City Press put it in writing again: "Eleven days ago I wrote with several requests to the Department of Public Information, including regarding the ongoing restrictions in reporting that I face due to a no due process eviction ordered by the former USG of DPI. Other than a notification that my request was being forwarded to still others in DPI, Inner City Press has received no response, except today to be told that one of the addresses was supposed to, or supposedly, told Inner City Press 'there is no change at this time.' This is totally unacceptable. Only in the past few days, I was prevented from staking out the Rwanda genocide memorial as I have in previous years (the DPI escort or minder told me, very quickly, that I had to leave); as I have told DPI, I would have gone to cover the USG of DPA's counter-terrorism briefing today but for the requirement of a minder....This is a reiterated request for reversal or a written explanation of what the UN has done and is doing with regard to Inner City Press." The UN's response? A single line: "upon review of the situation there is no change in the current status." This was copied to UN DPI officials Maher Nasser, Hua Jiang, Hak-Fan Lau, Gallach-aide Darrin Farrant - and then others, on which we'll have more.

April 10, 2017

  The fight for freedom of the Press, from the Bronx has spread south to Manhattan's Turtle Bay, with this filed: "
At UN, Formal Request Made To End Restrictions on Press, Is Officer in Charge, In Charge?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 5 – The UN, demonstrating hypocrisy on both press freedom and transparency, evicted Inner City Press as it covered UN corruption in the Ng Lap Seng bribery case and restricts it even now, after the evicting official is gone. (A formal request for reversal, below, as been filed). After the UN's head of Communications Cristina Gallach was given a strange farewell toast on March 30, the UN told Inner City Press that the "position will be filled by an Officer-in-Charge... while the process to find a new Under-Secretary-General for Public Information continues."

 On April 3, Inner City Press wrote to this Officer in Charge, who copied the request to several others to be named:

"Four hundred and five days ago, without any hearing or opportunity to be heard, I was ordered out of the United Nations for having sought to covering a meeting in the UN Press Briefing Room that was nowhere listed as closed to some journalists and not others. Inner City Press, still without any hearing and no appeal since, was then evicted from its shared office S-303 which has sat largely unused since. I have been forced, for more than a year, to only enter through the metal detectors at the Visitors Entrance, and my pass has not worked on the second floor turnstile, precluding me from covering events on the second floor as other correspondents could. There are other restrictions and double standards, hindering reporting, of which DPI has been made aware.

 Yesterday was the last day atop DPI for the official who without speaking to me once signed the February 19, 2016 letter, and for the April 2016 eviction. The Deputy Spokesperson told me yesterday, in a noon briefing where I asked six questions (earlier the week there was a noon briefing where from the entire rest of the accredited press corps there were only three questioners), I was told that you are the Officer in Charge of DPI. In that capacity, this is a formal request that Inner City Press be restored to the office it was ousted from without due process... and that I be restored to Resident Correspondent accreditation immediately... I also incorporate this link to the Special Rapporteurs for Freedom of Expression and Human Rights Defenders letter: and, again, this petition."

 Days later, no ruling, attempted jokes while Inner City Press worked to write up the Syria UN Security Council meeting from a bench in the UN lobby. We'll have more on this.

On March 28, forwarded not sent to Inner City Press, this: "UNCA will host a farewell reception in honor of Under-Secretary-General of DPI, Cristina Gallach, on Thursday, March 30th at 5:30 pm in the UNCA room (3rd floor, UN Secretariat Building, room 310). Food and wine will be served. Please join us for a farewell toast!" Toasting what? Allowing into the UN with no due diligence the Macau-based businessman Ng Lap Seng, as detailed in the UN's own audit at Paragraphs 37-40 and 20b? Evicting the Press without any hearing or appeal? The decline in media access? On March 29, Inner City Press asked among other things, "yesterday your Office replied, regarding the USG of DPI, 'We will announce arrivals and departures as they occur.' Now that your partner has arranged a farewell for this USG for March 30, what is the rationale for your Office refusing to confirm her departure and the status of recruiting a replacement?" The UN spokesman replied, "Regarding Under-Secretary-General Cristina Gallach, her position will be filled by an Officer-in-Charge upon her departure while the process to find a new Under-Secretary-General for Public Information continues." We'll have more on this.

  In early 2016, covering the UN corruption scandals which have resulted in two sets of indictments for bribery involving the UN, Inner City Press was ordered to leave the UN Press Briefing Room by then Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

  Other correspondents were allowed to stay in the briefing room, which Dujarric had "lent" them. But he insisted that Inner City Press leave. Video here."

April 3, 2017

Gentrification watch: Treetop Development has announced plans for a $160 million, dual-tower development in the South Bronx. The 12-story rental towers will be part of a mixed-use project of roughly 360,000 square feet. The developer is also planning a 260,000-square-foot residential project with retail on the ground floor, as well as a 100,000-square-foot rental development, nearby....

March 27, 2017

There's a fight-back against closing Junior High School 145 in Morrisania. In the 2015-2016 school year, only eight percent of students at JHS 145 passed state reading exams, and only three percent passed state math tests....

March 20, 2017

  The (lack of) respect for the Bronx was exemplified by the stairs down to the D Train on Tremont during and after the snow storm...
March 13, 2017

Excess and gentrification to come: Chetrit Group and Somerset Partners are laying out their vision for the future buildings at 101 Lincoln Ave. and 2401 Third Ave....

March 6, 2017

Last week, Bronx Borough President Diaz said he supports Queens Assembly Member Andrew Hevesi's Home Stability Support plan, which would give rent subsidies to those in danger of losing their homes...

February 27, 2017

  When an Amber alert went off all over New York on February 24, it mentioned The Bronx. Afterward, this: "Cops initially tracked Hernandez to Louis Nine Blvd. in the Foxhurst section of the Bronx — about 53 miles from Bridgeport — after Hernandez was spotted in the area, and his cell phone pinged there."

 Who calls that Foxhurst? Call it Hagstrom hangover.


February 20, 2017

Slumlord or vivero? "details are being released about the victims who contracted a rare disease transmitted by rat urine, including a link to a Bronx business just a block away from the building that has become the main target of both tenants and the city. In the last two months, three people along a single block have contracted leptospirosis, a rare bacterial infection. Two of the victims, including one man in his 30s who died last year, at one point worked at a nearby live poultry shop."

February 13, 2017

Bronx Catholic schools hit hard: The Archdiocese of New York has  announced that St. Ann School in Norwood, Visitation School in Kingsbridge and St. Mary School in Wakefield will close, along with St. Gregory the Great School on the Upper West Side and St. Peter's Regional School in Sullivan County. Sts. Peter and Paul School in Morrisania will turn into a universal pre-K program starting in September...

February 6, 2017

Electeds to the Postmaster:

"Since late November, the Bronx Post Office has been removing mailboxes all throughout the borough in order to replace them with new boxes that will prevent mail fishing. We appreciate the post office’s concern with the safety of our constituent’s mail and are pleased to see them taking a proactive approach to combatting this issue. However, most of the mailboxes that have been removed still have not been replaced, and the Bronx Post Office has either been incapable or unwilling to give us a timeline as to when these new mailboxes will be installed.

We represent a large constituency of people who are elderly and living in apartment buildings that are not easily accessible to our local post office branches. These people rely on the mailboxes on their block to pay their bills and send their correspondences. After more than 2 months of these mailboxes missing, we find it completely unacceptable that the Bronx Post Office still has not replaced them and cannot give us an answer as to when, if ever, they will all be replaced.

We would appreciate it if your office would look into this matter immediately and provide any possible assistance to help resolve the problem. The USPS should also consider dispatching mobile collection units in the affected communities as a temporary measure."

January 30, 2017

RIP Wayne Barrett - and ex-Rep Bobby Garcia...

January 23, 2017

UN Again Bans Staff From Women's March, ICP Questions, Gallach at Power's Elex Party

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 21 – UN system officials told their staff not to attend the "Global Women's March" on Saturday, January 21. From the NYC march, Periscope I and II, photos here, here and here.

After Inner City Press asked, the directive was reversed - then reinstated at 6 pm the night before the march. Below is UN email first published by Inner City Press. Meanwhile senior UN officials like Under Secretary General Cristina Gallach violate the stated UN rules. Below is an email from the UN World Food Program.

  After Inner City Press published and Periscoped about it and asked four WFP spokespeople about it, by email and phone, UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq at the January 20 noon briefing answered Inner City Press that WFP's Ertharin Cousin, from Chicago, reversed her agency's Ethics Officer and said staff can march. YouTube video here.

But then just before 6 pm on January 20, the eve of the March, another UN "Broadcast" email went out, further muddying the waters before the Women's March and showing again that Cristina Gallach (and some other USGs) have violated the UN's rules. That email is below; here are the questions Inner City Press has submitted to the UN's top three spokespeople for clarification:

"These are two Press questions asked before the Women's March (in DC, and in front of the UN, as well as elsewhere) starts, in light of the unsigned, unclear Ethics Office broadcast email below sent out yesterday evening after, and contradicting, the answer given to my question at the noon briefing about the UN's position on the March.

Given that, and many questions Inner City Press has received from confused (and angry) UN staff - and the unprecedented request for the extradition of the just-former Secretary General's brother - these questions should be responded to immediately:

Who is responsible for the Ethics Office broadcast email below? Is Elia Armstrong still the head of / involved in the Ethics Office?

Why is it unsigned? Who is accountable for it? Was it cleared with the Office of Legal Affairs? Are there two different instructions for Secretariat staff and Ertharin Cousin's WFP staff?

Separately, please comment on the US government formal request to South Korea to extradite Ban Ki Sang, and again, was the UN ever contacted by prosecutors about Ban Ki-moon or his family members?

   There are still the majority of the questions below [only two and a half of 22 have been answered.] On deadline." Watch this site.

 The UN's 6 pm, January 20 email:

"To: OAH, DPKO, UN Funds Programs & Tribunals, HQ NY Secretariat
From: BROADCAST-UNHQ/NY/UNO
Date: 01/20/2017 05:57PM
Subject: Message from the Ethics Office: Public Pronouncements and Political Activities

Recently, there have been a number of questions regarding public pronouncements including participating in political activities and social media discussions.  The questions include participation in tomorrow’s Women’s March on Washington. Are such activities in line with our status as international civil servants? 

In this respect, we would like to remind staff of their obligations as international civil servants.

The private activities of UN staff members must remain within the limits of the Organization’s core values as reflected in Staff Regulation 1.2 and Staff Rule 1.2.  While the Organization respects the inviolability of your personal views and convictions, including your political and religious convictions, as well as your right to freedom of expression, we must ensure that the expression of those views and convictions do not adversely reflect on our status, or on the integrity, independence and impartiality that are required by that status.

As international civil servants, we are called upon to uphold and respect the principles set out in the Charter, including faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women.  Nonetheless, as international civil servants, our Standards of Conduct (para 9 and 33) make clear that we do not have the freedom of private persons to take sides or to express our beliefs publicly on sensitive political matters, either individually or as members of a group nor can we criticize or try to discredit a Government.

Public pronouncements, which could have an impact on our independence and impartiality as international civil servants, come in many forms including but not limited to:

-marches, protests, demonstrations;
-online petitions:
-social media activity:
-group walks/activities.

Accordingly, participating in certain activities, especially those with political overtones, may be viewed as incompatible with our status as international civil servants."

 Haq would not answer if UN Under Secretaries General on Samantha Power's election night "party" complied with the impartiality even Cousins claimed. We'll have more on this.

January 16, 2017

ICP Asks Samantha Power of Ban Ki-moon's Family Indicted, She Says Doesn't Involve UN

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 13 – There are those in the UN who like Samantha Power for what they think she stands for. By the same token, Power and the Obama administration were unrelentingly defenders of the UN for what they said it stood for. But were either right?

  On January 13 Samantha Power took up the UN Press Briefing Room for more than an hour to extol her and Obama's virtues. Her outgoing spokesman called early on two US Voice of America affiliates.

 Between questions, Inner City Press asked, What about the indictment of Ban Ki-moon's brother and nephew? Tweeted video here.

  Power looked over and said, “I don't have any comment. It's not something that involves the UN.”

  Well, no. The indictment by the US Attorney's Office says Ban's nephew repeatedly cited his family's access to the Amir of Qatar to help selling a building in Vietnam. Ban knew of this for at least a year and a half. Any UN OIOS investigation? But Samantha Power was never about reforming the UN.

   Inner City Press asked, What about Haiti cholera? Power smirked / shrugged, and her spokesman moved on. So the UN bringing cholera to Haiti and killing 10,000 people, not paying a penny - that "is not something that involves the UN?" We'll have more on this.

ICP asked @AmbassadorPower about indictment Ban Ki-moon's family. She: doesn't “involve UN.” Smirked at UN's #Haiti cholera pic.twitter.com/VwjH9rVMxT

— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) January 14, 2017

   When the UN killed 10,000 plus people in Haiti by bringing cholera, what did the Obama administration do? The issue wasn't even mentioned in Power's 8000 plus word Exit Memo. Nor was Burundi or Yemen, where US-made cluster bombs have been dropped on schools and hospitals. A problem from hell, indeed.

   Power and her Deputy Permanent Representative for Management and Reform Isobel Coleman have said nothing about the indictment for bribery of Ban Ki-moon's brother and nephew for using the UN, nor about the John Ashe / Ng Lap Seng UN briefing case about to come to trial.

They did nothing when  the Press which asked the UN about this corruption was thrown in the street and remains restricted still today, ten months later, despite a request from the Government Accountability Project.

  Specifically, Power, Coleman and the Mission / Administration did nothing when Ban and his holdover head of communications Cristina Gallach had investigative Inner City Press thrown out onto First Avenue. They were asked in writing (by the Government Accountability Project), at the UNSC stakeout (Power) and in Washington (Kirby). Nothing. The UN is trying to give its office to an Egyptian state media which rarely comes in, never asks questions.

   The failure to reform during a UN-sympathetic Administration in Washington will make the coming scrutiny all the more painful. Call it a Problem From Hell.

January 9, 2017

So what will be the displacement impacts of the NY Times calling the South Korea a must-visit place for tourists?

January 2, 2017

  So Ban Ki-moon dropped the ball, one last time, over Times Squares on New Year's Eve, promoting Planet Fitness...

Ban Ki-moon Used UN to Run For S Korea Prez As Early at 2010

By Matthew Russell Lee, Seventeenth in a Series

UNITED NATIONS, December 31 -- In the final days of Ban Ki-moon's decade as UN Secretary General, covering up genocides in Sri Lanka, Burundi and Yemen and evicting the Press which asked about (t)his corruption, Inner City Press is reviewing Ban's end, year by year. See also this Twitter Moment.

In 2009, Ban misspoke about his history in Sri Lanka, the mass killing in which he ignored to attend his son Woo-hyun's wedding, and where his son in law Siddharth Chatterjee had previously played an active, killing role.

While Ban would later evict and still restrict Inner City Press, in 2009 his strategy was to get it removed from Google News - and it happened (though it was later reversed). Here's Inner City Press' report from June 3, 2009.

 And now Ban threatens to sue, for ambition.

Ban hyped up his appearance in Times Square - where he only stood with De Blasio like a sidekick, waving inanely and promoting a corporation, Planet Fitness. It was a fit ending.

December 26, 2016

Brownfield, 198 E 135 Street "is vacant and used to store vehicles associated with a storage/moving company located adjacent to the property. The Harlem River is located approximately 600 feet to the southwest. Current Zoning and Land Use: The site is currently inactive, and is zoned for mixed-use high-density residential and commercial use. Past Use of the Site: Prior site uses that appear to have led to site contamination are railroad freight yard, coal yard, warehousing, and various industrial uses (some of which included oil storage). The site also appears to be contaminated with historic fill." We'll have more on this.

December 19, 2016

UN Thugs Attack ICP Outside Ban Ki-moon's $1200 Wall Street Event, Throw Phone

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 17  -- Outgoing UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon headlined a $1200 a ticket event on Wall Street on Friday night.

Inner City Press went to cover the event, and while live-streaming Periscope video outside was physically attacked by thugs exiting the UN event. Video here. This is what the UN has come to.

   Shortly before, Inner City Press spoke with Ban Ki-moon, now Antonio Guterres official Kyung-wha Kang. She said, of Inner City Press' eviction from the UN and nine months and counting of minders, “There must be a process.” But there is no process, no rule, no appeal right. And, it is now confirmed, there are thugs.

Call it, now, the Dark Side of the Moon (music).

   Outgoing Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson, who has received a petition on the matter, to his credit came over and greeted Inner City Press -- before the attack. Representatives of the US Mission to the UN, who did nothing about the earlier eviction despite a request by the Government Accountability Project, did not.

Not seen was UN Under Secretary General Cristina Gallach, who by her no due process eviction, audio here, and allowing UNCA chief Pioli to at the televised UN Security Council stakeout call Inner City Press a*hole, audio here, created this atmosphere.

   But where is the Committee to Protect Journalists, ostensibly now concerned about press freedom inside the terroritorial United States?

Where is Human Rights Watch, whose UN representative in fact tried to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN, here, then got Google to censor from Search his request, misusing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act?  The only solution is, at a minimum, to restore Inner City Press to where it was before the no due process eviction. Then to work from there. Watch this site.December 12, 2016

After NYC Praises UN, ICP Asks Ban's Spox of Gallach's Violations of Free Press & Due Process

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 7 -- When Mayor Bill de Blasio's Commissioner for International Affairs Penny Abeywardena took questions about the United Nations' impact on New York City, she answered Inner City Press' question about Legionaires disease by saying the UN works with the City to comply with applicable local laws.

On December 7, Inner City Press asked the UN's deputy spokesman if this compliance extends to the US First Amendment and due process guarantes, both of which Abeywardena's co-panelist Cristina Gallach of the UN appears ot have violated. From the UN transcript:

Deputy Spokesman: I would refer you back to what Penny Abeywardena said yesterday in her role as the New York City Commissioner for International Affairs about the more than $3.3 billion, I believe it was…

Inner City Press: I asked her whether the UN is subject to New York City health rules like on Legionnaires' disease and on self-inspection, and she sort of said, oh, we work very closely, the UN basically kind of philosophically accepts all of these things even if it's not legally required.

So I'd wanted to know, one, things like the First Amendment, as to the freedom of the press or due process, is there… can you say that the UN is… is… is accepting, in the same way she described as Legionnaires' disease and health regulations, of freedom of the press and due process provisions of its host country? 

Deputy Spokesman:  It's not about the laws of the host country.  Of course, the UN also upholds the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and as you know, that includes the freedom of the media, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and many other key rights.

  Then how could the UN's Gallach order Inner City Press out of the UN, for seeking to cover an event in the UN Press Briefing Room, without once speaking to it - i.e. providing any due process at the time, with no right to appeal in the nine months since?

Gallach has been written to by the UN's own Special Rapporteurs on Freedom of Expression and Human Rights Defenders and, after a three month day, misled them about a non-existent "altercation." The UN and Gallach do not comply with locally-applicable laws.

  On December 6, there was an initial joke about parking tickets, as if that would be the extent of issues New Yorkers might care about.

But while the City's study enumerates people directly employed by the UN Community, their lack of labor and other rights due to immunity was not acknowledged in the study.

   Inner City Press covers both the UN and its headquarters city, New York, and routinely receives complaints from diplomats' domestic workers and drivers about work place abuse and lack of benefits, and the lack of any recourse. Due to immunity, not only defrauded workers but those subject to physical abuse are left without rights.

  Inner City Press asked Abeywardena what the de Blasio administration proposes to do about that - for example, diplomat Joachim Haubrichs punched his wife Henna Johnson, 35, in the face and was not subject to arrest at all. Abeywardena said, in essence, that Johnson could get counseling. Video here.

   What about the UN having brought cholera to Haiti and killed 10,000 people, leaving sorrow and economic harm in many New York City communities - does the de Blasio administration have a position on that? Abeywardena did not answer, leaving the question for the UN moderator Cristina Gallach.

    But Gallach, as mentioned even in the New York Times, is responsible for the ouster and eviction of the investigative Press from the UN, and its confinement to minders to cover events on the UN's second floor for the past nine months and for the foreseeable future.

Gallach is giving Inner City Press' longtime shared UN office to an Egyptian state media, Akhbar al Yom, which rarely comes into the UN and never asks any questions.

@globalnyc @PAbeywardena at UN presser; ICP has questions on security, impunity, UN censorship: https://t.co/bDyNnnlkgW pic.twitter.com/bFkuOA5DF9

— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) December 6, 2016

    Abeywardena answered Inner City Press' second round of questions by saying the City works with the UN on such issues as testing for Legionnaires Disease - something legally required for (other) buildings in New York.  

We question whether the City administration is doing or should do anything to ensure that the UN lives up to the basic principles, applicable right outside the UN's gates, of press freedom and due process.

Gallach's pretext for throwing Inner City Press out and restricting it since was Inner City Press' attempt to cover an event in the same UN Press Briefing Room on January 29, as part of its coverage of the ongoing Ng Lap Seng UN bribery case set for trial in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York in January 2017.

Inner City Press left the briefing room - which had no “closed” sign on it - as soon as a single UN Security officer said to, at the request of UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. But three weeks later, without once speaking with Inner City Press, Gallach ordered it out on two hours notice.

  When Inner City Press was physically thrown out onto First Avenue on Gallach's orders on February 19, 2016 (audio here) and its laptop thrown onto the sidewalk, it called the New York Police Department, which said it had no recourse at all, the UN controls even the sidewalk in front of it.

December 5, 2016

We're for public access to North Brother Island - and Hart Island, too....

November 28, 2016

Sin City fall out: http://bronxboropres.nyc.gov/pdf/2016-11-21-odell-beckham-letter.pdf

November 21, 2016

Ban Ki-moon NYU Speech Has Prerequisites While $100,000 Speech Withheld

By Matthew Russell Lee, Follow Up on Exclusives

UNITED NATIONS, November 18 -- As Ban Ki-moon's time at the UN winds down and he prepares coyly to run for President in South Korea, his packaging of his legacy has become a vanity amateur operation, see below.

It is now even worse that we thought. While Ban Ki-moon on October 14 gave a speech in Washington DC for which $100,000 sponsorships were sought but a copy of which was never released, now for a speech at New York University, an Inner City Press request, twice, to cover it has been rebuffed.

There are, it seems, prerequisites to cover this Ban Ki-moon speech. The solicitation stated:

"In his final weeks as UN secretary-general, Ban will deliver a keynote address [at] NYU School of Professional Studies (NYUSPS) Center for Global Affairs (CGA)... If you are a member of the press who wishes to cover it, please contact Cheryl Feliciano."

  And so, covering Ban Ki-moon closely, and his promoted son in law at the UN in Kenya, and brother Ki-ho mining in Myanmar, Inner City Press wrote to NYU's Feliciano: "Hi, I cover the UN and would like to cover Ban Ki-moon's Nov 22 speech. This is my RSVP. Please confirm."

  But what came back was a strange request: "Hi Matthew, Do you have an official UN press credential?"

  Inner City Press replied, cc-ing the Free UN Coalition for Access (FUNCA), that "I do. But why would that be a prerequisite to cover a speech by Ban Ki-moon not inside the UN? Please let me know."

  It is particularly strange given that in Washington, at least on October 14, for nothing but money one could hear Ban Ki-moon speak.

  NYU's response came from its director of Media Relations Christopher James:

"The prereq. Is NYPD press Creds or UN press creds. Security being what it is, these are the ONLY acceptable forms of I.D. for journalists. If you are on assignment, please have you editor email us to this effect."

  That is, yet another prerequisite to hear this sure to be groundbreaking speech by Ban "$100,000" Ki-moon... Other attendees include Waheguru Pal Singh Sidhu and Kim Won-soo a/k/a Ban's Brain or now, shaman. To this has the end of the Ban Ki-moon era at the UN sunk.

November 14, 2016

In The Bronx, it seems on November 8 in Assembly District 84, ED 79 (Mott Haven-Port Morris) only 2 votes were cast: 1 for Clinton and 1 for Trump...

November 7, 2016

Call it read-lining: Barnes & Noble is closing its store in The Bronx...

October 31, 2016

Gentrification: "the South Bronx’s Melrose/Morrisania co-ops jumped 17 percent to $236,000. Nearby in Mott Haven/Port Morris/Hunts Point, one-to-three family home prices jumped 70 percent to $520,000." REBNY report

October 24, 2016

On the killing of Deborah Danner, where is the UN and its human rights Special Rapporteurs?

October 17, 2016

Tour de Bronx, October 23: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tour-de-bronx-2016-tickets-26789955478

October 10, 2016

We agree: "Since 1981, the Belmont Library has sat adjacent to Arthur Avenue, offering key services to the vibrant community while enjoying the energy, uniqueness, and spirit of the Bronx's own Little Italy," said New York Public Library Chief Operating Officer Iris Weinshall. "The dedicated staff at this branch can certainly attest to the greatness of this storied street and the people that bring it to life."

October 3, 2016

Rare Bronx - UN connection: the head of the Clay Avenue Tenants Association is headed to Quito for  the HABITAT conference. We hope to have more on this.

September 26, 2016

South Bronx gentrifying http://furmancenter.org/thestoop/entry/new-report-analyzes-new-york-citys-gentrifying-neighborhoods-and-finds-dram

September 19, 2016

While the UN General Assembly meets, click here for that, there's this (Maduro) in The Bronx:

Thursday September 22, 2016
6:00 p.m.
 
Location:
Latino Pastoral Action Center
14 West 170th Street Bronx NY, 10452

September 12, 2016

This footage of the killing of Reynaldo Cuevas is troubling...

September 5, 2016

Glad to see LinkNYC wi-fi coming into The Bronx: "The program has so far installed 25 kiosks in The Bronx, although nine do not have wireless access yet, and the borough will see a total of more than 700 kiosks installed over the next few years."

August 29, 2016

Old school: "The papers were apparently left by workers at the Langston Hughes Young Explorers Academy, also called PS 236. They are from the 2007-2008 school year, but many contain up to date addresses and phone numbers of students and parents, and potentially embarrassing medical information along with social security numbers."

August 22, 2016

Last week, Inner City Press / Fair Finance Watch challenged People's United - Suffolk County National Bank. Now: "Elizabeth Montgomery, a People’s United spokeswoman, said the bank does not comment on pending litigation, but noted that it feels “comfortable” with its lending practices. “We’re a highly regulated institution and we’re very proud of our history of residential lending and we’re comfortable with our practices,” she said. Suffolk did not return a call for comment."
 
 Comfortable? In the the New York City MSA in 2014, the most recent year for which Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data is publicly available, People's United made 82 home purchase loans to whites and NONE to African Americans or Latinos. That's NONE. We'll have more on this.

August 15, 2016

Another Inner City Press nominee for the Bronx (and Brooklyn and Queens and Harlem and Washington Heights) Hall of Shame: People's United. ICP has filed: "
in the the New York City MSA in 2014, the most recent year for which Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data is publicly available, People's United made 82 home purchase loans to whites and NONE to African Americans or Latinos. This is redlining; this proposed acquisition could not legitimately be approved and People's United should be referred for prosecution for redlining by the Department of Justice and CFPB.

For refinance loans in the New York City MSA in 2013, People's United made 24 loans to whites, 1 to an African American and four to Hispanics. For home improvement loans in the New York City MSA in 2013, People's United made eight loans to whites, and NONE to African Americans or Latinos."

August 8, 2016

We favor forward-looking relief - and standing - in Trowbridge v. Cuomo, 16-cv-3455, about the unacceptable delays in Bronx Criminal Court...

August 1, 2016

So an 8-story building will replace the church at 1017 Home Street... We remember when they tore down 975-981 Home Street... The History Channel billboard is out, iHeart radio is in. With heart?

July 25, 2016

Gentrification proceeds: Developer Keith Rubenstein of Somerset Partners has purchased a 16,000-square-foot warehouse  at 9 Bruckner Boulevard for $7.5 million and says he intends to create a "Gansevoort Market-style food hall called Bruckner Market." We'll see...

After Press Is Banned From Covering UN HLPF, Ban Says That's How Security Works

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 22 -- When Inner City Press went to cover the UN conclusion of the High Level Political Forum on July 20, it was told by a UN Security official it could only do so with an escort, or minder, from UN Media Accreditation. There was no one in that office - but when the supervisor of it asked the UN Security official to let Inner City Press through the turnstile, he said only if someone stayed with Inner City Press the whole time -- that is, a minder. The supervisor could not. And that was it: censorship.

On July 22, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokesman Farhan Haq why the Press was Banned, Video here, UN Transcript here:

Inner City Press: I wanted to ask a media access question and it doesn’t only… it would presumably impact the majority of journalists being accredited here.  There was a meeting of the High-Level Political Forum on the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) on Wednesday and it was listed in the journal as concluding at 6:30 to 7:00, so I went to cover it but was unable to stake it out and speak to anyone, because there was no one in MALU (Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit) and the guards refused to let me through the turnstile, which I want to clarify to you… which doesn't work for green ‘P’ passes, which is the majority of what the journalists have here.  So I wanted to know, it's not a question of beating up on MALU for not being present at 6:30, although the meeting was listed, but what can be done?  What is the policy?  Does this mean the majority of journalists can't stake out such meetings, or should there be a policy, when there is an official meeting at that level at 6:30 that the journalists can go through and speak to diplomats about it?

Deputy Spokesman:  Well, we certainly try to make sure that access is there for all meeting and MALU tries… you know, the Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit tries to be present as much as it can.  Obviously, for later scheduled meetings, it's hard to have escorts for all of these, but we have been in touch with the media accreditation people and they have assured us of their constant efforts to try and be there as escorts for you.  And with that…

ICP Question:  Why don’t you tell security to let people through?  If there is no escort you can't cover it.

Deputy Spokesman:  No.  That is not how security works.

 That's not how BAN's security and minder work...

July 18, 2016

As YouTube Hinders Publication of UN Q&As, Censorship Questions UNveiled

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 15 -- Like many independent media, Inner City Press publishes its coverage not only on its website but on a number of third party platforms like YouTube, Twitter, Scribd and SoundCloud. YouTube is owned by Google, and like its parent allows publishes to monetize their material with advertisements.

But do YouTube and Google behind it engage in censorship?

   This week, in the midst of Inner City Press' fight against the eviction of its shared office in the United Nations while it is asking questions about the Ng Lap Seng UN bribery case as relates not only to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon but also Under Secretary General for Communications Cristina Gallach, Inner City Press received emails from YouTube that its videos could no longer be monetized.

   The emails said “We didn't approve your video(s) for monetization because the content in your video(s) or video details may not be advertiser-friendly.... Controversial or sensitive subjects and events, including subjects related to war, political conflicts, natural disasters and tragedies, even if graphic imagery is not shown... We depend on our user community to flag inappropriate videos to us for our review.”

  But they are video of questions and answers (sometimes) at the UN, of protests in the streets of New York, etc. Inner City Press has written, more than 24 hours ago, from to Monetization then to Press [at] YouTube.com:

“The videos you are saying are “not advertiser-friendly” are videos of media questions and answers with United Nations spokespeople and diplomats. They are news. The message sent yesterday and today said “you can request an additional review below” - this is a request for review. Look at the videos: they are Q&As in the UN Press Briefing Room.

This is also a request to be informed if it was any complaint to YouTube / Google which triggered this denial of monetization, and if so if it came from the UN or any[one else.]
I note that Reuters, got one of its anti-Press emails to the UN banned from Google Search with a frivolous DMCA filing: https://www.chillingeffects.org/notices/1457339# now [HRW] https://lumendatabase.org/notices/1457339#

Please confirm receipt and review the above and restore monetization, answering the question. Google and YouTube should not be involved in any form of censorship, including the denial of monetization of news footage.

   Here are some of the video now denied monetization:


Google on March 10 announced on its front page, "Supporting the UN Global Goals." But does Google know of the UN's recent descent into outright, physical censorship? See below; petition here.

  Actually, there is a history with Google, and the UN. In 2009, the Government Accountability Project criticized Google for Banning Inner City Press from Google News, here.

In 2013, Google granted a spurious censorship request from Reuters' UN bureau chief Louis Charbonneau, to block from Search a leaked copy of his anti-Inner City Press missive to the UN's Stephane Dujarric, now the spokesperson for Ban Ki-moon. DMCA notice here; leaked email here.

  But outright physical censorship, tossing an investigative journalaist on the street on the flimsiest of pretexts, on a mere two hours' notice? The decision was by the UN Department of Public Information, with which Google partners. Maybe Google should Google it - we'll have more on this.

July 11, 2016

ICP Asked UN About Philando Castile & Alton Sterling, Working Group Condemns

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 8 -- After the police killings in the U.S. of Philando Castile outside St. Paul, Minnesota and Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the UN said nothing. So Inner City Press on July 7 asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric about the killings, and pattern. And on July 8, more came from the UN in Geneva. Here's the July 7 transcript:Video here, UN transcript here:

Inner City Press: a US question.  Over the holiday or in the last 48 hours. two African-Americans have been, in a very high-profile way, killed, Philando Castile in Minnesota and Alton Sterling in Louisiana.  One was captured on film, the whole incident.  And I wanted to know, although these might seem to be disparate incidents, does the… what does the Secretary-General think, if the United States has enough protections for particularly members of minority or other groups… being shot by the police?

Spokesman:  First of all, our condolences go to the families of the victims involved in both shootings.  I think anybody who’s seen the videos, they are extremely disturbing, to say the least, and we would hope that each of these cases are investigated thoroughly in order to find out what happened and also to establish if there is, in fact, any pattern.

From the UN in Geneva on July 8:

Human rights expert Ricardo A. Sunga III, who currently Chairs the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, issued the following statement after this week’s deaths of Philando Castile in Minnesota and Alton Sterling in Louisiana at the hands of the police, and Thursday’s killing of five police officers in downtown Dallas.

“The Working Group is outraged and strongly condemns the new police killings of two African- American men. These killings which were captured on video cannot be ignored. We call for prompt independent investigations to ensure the perpetrators are prosecuted and punished.

We also condemn the attacks on police officers in Dallas and call for the perpetrators to be held accountable.

Excessive use of force by the police against African Americans in the United States is a regular occurrence. African Americans are reportedly shot at more than twice the rate of white people.

The Working Group is monitoring the situation and has repeatedly expressed its concern to the United States Government about police killings of African Americans and called for justice. The Working Group is convinced that the root of the problem lies in the lack of accountability for perpetrators of such killings despite the evidence.

The killings also demonstrate a high level of structural and institutional racism. The United States is far from recognizing the same rights for all its citizens. Existing measures to address racist crimes motivated by prejudice are insufficient and have failed to stop the killings.

It is time, now, for the US Government to strongly assert that Black lives matter and prevent any further killings as a matter of national priority.”



When the US State Department belatedly bragged on July 6 of some victories at the UN Human Rights Council's 32nd session which ended or was suspended on July 1, it did not mention Burundi or Sri Lanka, much less an attack on freedom of expression not only at but by the UN, on which it had done nothing but UN Special Rapporteurs David Kaye and Michel Forst had inquired with the UN.

    Of course among the myriad of issues, victories can be pointed at. State Department humble-brag here. But what about Burundi, on which the US has been reduced to calling for inclusive talks, now postponed, while the UN continues to pay Pierre Nkurunziza for troops in Central African Republic who are accused of rape? On Yemen where the US stood silent while its partner Saudi Arabia paid to get its way off the UN's Children and Armed Conflict blacklist? Where is the follow through on Sri Lanka? On freedom of expression?

The UN in February and April through investigative Inner City Press in the street on First Avenue. The Government Accountability Project wrote to the US Mission to the UN urging them to act; nothing was done, Inner City Press was never even contacted, even on connection with US Independence Day. Freedom of the press indeed. We'll have more on this.

July 4, 2016

This, we like: "July 10 show from hip-hop pioneer DJ Kool Herc at 7 p.m. in Crotona Park"

June 27, 2016

Pulling the rug out: "ABC Carpet & Home is closing its warehouse outlet in The Bronx in September. 70-plus people will be laid off and some lost their jobs last week, according to a WARN notice filed with the NYS Department of Labor. ABC said it was no longer “strategically viable” to operate the warehouse." Why not?

June 20, 2016

We urge investigation of the attack on Mohammed Atique Ashraf on June 16 on his way to the mosque on McGraw Ave. in Parkchester...

June 13, 2016

This, we agree with: roll back the rent.

Thursday June 16, 5 - 8 PM
Bronx Museum of Art
Lower Gallery
1040 Grand Concourse 
Bronx, NY 10456
RSVP Here

June 6, 2016

Comment is open through July 3 on 600 East 156 "Draft Investigation Work Plan for Brownfield Site": "The property was occupied by Zola Garage Corp. in 1927 to 1940. By 1935, a garage with 120 car capacity was located on the eastern portion of the property which also contained two 550-gallon gasoline tanks buried beneath the foundation; and furniture storage and a warehouse were located in the middle portion of the Property. Arvic Garage Corp. operated onsite from 1940 to 1947; Ebling Brewery, 1947 - 1951; and Naparaco Erection Corp. and National Steel Partition Company, Inc., 1956 - 1965. In 1965, Bantam Travelware Corp. was located on-site.'

Ah Ebling Brewery...

May 30, 2016

Ugh: for 221 East 138th Street, Anthony Gurino, of Tahoe Development, has decided to make the project in Mott Haven entirely market-rate. Can you say, gentrification?

May 23, 2016

This, we like  Something Happened On The Way To West Africa!
Seyi Adebanjo - Director/Producer/Editor
Yoruba Richen - Executive Producer

The Girls of Daraja
Film 1: Girls of Daraja
Film 3: Daraja Girls: Powerful Beyond Measure
Barbara Rick - Director/Producer
Deborah Santana - Executive Producer

7:00-9:00PM
Friday, May 27th, 2016

at The Bronx Music Heritage Center
1303 Louis Nine Blvd

May 16, 2016

 Here is unqualified, un self conscious praise of gentrification: http://www.amny.com/real-estate/city-living/bronx/mott-haven-sees-more-development-as-young-professionals-move-in-1.11792445

May 9, 2016

Rent Guidelines Board, be there: Bronx Public Hearing: Thursday, June 16, 5 - 8 PM: Bronx Museum of Art, Lower Gallery (1040 Grand Concourse Bronx, NY 10456)

May 2, 2016

Et tu, Amazon? the Bronx is the only borough with no same-day delivery coverage from Amazon...
 
April 18, 2016

Coming (back) to the Bronx:

Ban Ki-moon Has ICP's Files Thrown Onto 1st Av, Bribery Audit Names His Gallach

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 16 -- Contrary to what the UN says about freedom of the press, and despite a petition signed by 1300 people and opposition from the Government Accountability Project and several Permanent Representatives at the UN and members of Congress in DC, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on April 16 threw five boxes of Inner City Press' journalistic files out onto First Avenue. Photo here;  video here.

  This followed eight of Ban's guards, at the direction of his "Public Information" chief Cristina Gallach, physically throwing Inner City Press onto First Avenue, and its laptop on the sidewalk, on February 19. Audio here.

  In the case of Gallach and ultimately Ban Ki-moon, this is retaliation for Inner City Press' critical coverage of the UN including each's involvement in the bribery scandal which so far was resulted in four guilty pleas.

  As the UN bribery scandal gathered force Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for an audit by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services of the Global Sustainability Foundation (GSF), David Ng Lap Seng's Sun Kian Ip Group and its affiliates including the "World Harmony Foundation" and South South News, among others.

  The audit, completed early this year but first put online by Inner City Press, directly criticizes Cristina Gallach, the Under Secretary General for Communications and Public Information, for example in Paragraphs 20(b) and 37-40. She should have recused herself.

  Instead Gallach has ordered the search and eviction of Inner City Press' files, on April 16. She has misrepresented it to UN Ambassadors of major countries including South Africa and to Nobel Prize winner Jose Ramos Horta.

She and / or Ban Ki-moon above her are so intent on permanently restriction Inner City Press' ability to cover corruption at the UN that they had there functionary head of MALU write to Inner City Press at 1:30 AM on the morning of the eviction, limiting the Press' ability to document the seizure of its files: