Last year, the mayor’s office blocked City Councilman Joel Rivera from giving $10,000 in public money to the Davidson Community Center, saying the group had a “poor performance on past contracts.”

Rivera’s request to fund the group through his member-item allotment was denied.

Now, that group is tentatively slated to get $75,000 in member-item money from City Councilwoman Maria Baez, according to this list of proposed funding.

A spokesperson for the Council emailed to say the fund is pending.

“They will go through the full review process. If they demonstrate that they have improved sufficiently, then they will get funding,” said Council spokesperson Maria Alvarado. She said the Mayor’s Office of Contract Services “has indicated that they have been cleared for small business services.”

The list of member items is posted above. I and a bunch of reporters are going through it now. Tell me what you find.

Bronx Democratic County Leader Carl Heastie said in a brief telephone interview that even though “there was always an assumption” he himself would try ousting Rivera, he isn't going to.

The assumption was out there, in part, because Joel is the son of Assemblyman Jose Rivera, the former Bronx Democratic leader that Heastie ousted in a dramatic coup last year.

“We’re not looking for a challenger against Joel,” Heastie said.

He’s looking to build lasting relationships with people who want to unite with his new entourage, Heastie said, not to make quick alliances to exact revenge.

“I don’t believe in political one-night stands,” Heastie said.

“This has a direct impact on our children’s health” and represent “a clear and present danger” to their health, Gioia told reporters on Sunday.

Like his publicity-savvy friend, Morgan Spurlock, who built a career on sounding the alarm on fast food, Gioia is getting an impressive amount of exposure for his initiative.(Here, below, is his appearance this morning on The Brian Lehrer Show.)

It should be noted that Gioia's proposal is not unlike one floated in 2006 City Councilman Joel Rivera, who wanted to change local zoning laws to cap the number of fast-food restaurants in certain neighborhoods, citing the dangers they posed to children's health. At the time, Gioia said the proposal was worth exploring. Some news coverage was critical of the plan and, ultimately, Rivera never submitted it as a bill for consideration by the City Council.

Gioia hasn't drafted a bill yet on his current proposal and so far, no one is saying much about its chances of passage.

Not that it's necessarily needed: Rivera now has a straight path to the office, now that that field has been cleared of his leading opponents, city councilmen Joel Rivera and Larry Seabrook.

The Bronx Democratic County Organization, which is backing him.

In a brief telephone interview, Bronx Democratic County chair Carl Heastie, a Diaz supporter, said, “I didn’t make any deals around the issue of the Borough President’s race.”

Heastie also noted that Diaz's signatures were collected in just a few days, one of which was a big snow day.

Since it's a special election, candidates will run on party lines they create.

The candidates will include State Assemblyman Ruben Diaz Jr., whom the Bronx Democratic Party has endorsed, and City Councilman Joel Rivera, whose father, Jose, was ousted as the borough's Democratic leader recently.

City Councilman Larry Seabrook is reportedly considering entering the race. City Councilwoman Helen Diane Foster has decided not to enter.

The winner will fill out the remainder of Adolfo's term, and will be up for re-election later this year.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today issued a proclamation that a special election for Borough President of the Bronx will be held on Tuesday, April 21st, 2009.

 

The special election will fill the vacancy created on March 1st, 2009 by the resignation of Adolfo Carrión, Jr.

The April 21st election will elect a Borough President who will serve the remainder of Borough President Carrión's term through December 31, 2009. Pursuant to the City Charter, the nomination of candidates in this election will be by independent nominating petition.

The endorsement caught my eye since the competitive race still includes at least one other established Democratic candidate, City Councilman Joel Rivera. According to reporter John DeSio—who launched a blog to cover this race—former state senator Israel Ruiz is considering running too.

(Since this is a special election, there won't be a primary, and candidates will run on their own lines.)

I emailed a spokesman for Bronx County Chair Carl Heastie to ask if the endorsement of Diaz marked a new policy of endorsing candidates running against other Democrats.

No, he responded, “this is not a primary. It is a nonpartisan special election.”

A bit of relevant local history: Diaz supported the coup that brought Heastie to power. Rivera is the son of the leader Heastie deposed, Jose Rivera.

“I’m not jumping on a band wagon just to jump on a band wagon,” he said.

Rivera, speaking to me in City Hall just now, said that Gillibrand “has to” evolve her position on immigration issues and that “if she doesn’t, she’ll have a real problem.”

"She’s an appointed official,” he said, pointedly.

Rivera said he’ll call for Gillibrand to meet with him and immigrant rights activists in the near future.

“We had to make a calculated decision on whether to file for re-election or for the borough presidency,” said Rivera in a brief telephone interview this morning. "For now, since there is no special, we are running for reelection in September."

Rivera raised $207,451, and spent $179,451 for his borough president's race. Another candidate in the race, Assemblyman Ruben Diaz, Jr. has raised $141,156 and spent $46,807. Diaz, like other state legislators, are elected in even years. Rivera, and city lawmakers, are elected in odd years, meaning Diaz can run for borough president without giving up his seat. Rivera would have to vacate his Council seat to run for borough president if the race is in September, and risk being out of office.

The deadline for “freezing” 2009 campaign committees – and not having those spending limits and contributions count toward a current campaign, was January 15.

“If I didn’t freeze my committee, then there is no special, and I decide to run for re-election, I would not be able to raise or spend, because [my campaign would be] above the max for individual contributions and I spent a lot,” Rivera explained.

If Carrion does eventually get a job in the Obama administration and leave his office early, Rivera said he’ll ask the Campaign Finance Board to allow him to “reactivate” his 2009 campaign account.

Peter Vallone Jr. asked</a. the CFB for guidance on whether he’d be allowed to reactivate his campaign account if a vacancy was later afterward. The board said they won’t make a ruling based on a hypothetical.