500 Turkeys Will Not Save The South Bronx From Asthma Mr Borough Prez

Today Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr, along with FreshDirect Founder and CEO Jason Ackerman (neither who showed up to the public hearings this past Monday for the company’s proposed subsidies) handed out 500 turkeys to residents of Mitchel Houses in Mott Haven (“…taking advantage of the poor and hungry” as one person put it).  Oh did we mention that we can’t even take Diaz’s photo-op seriously since he doesn’t seem to know that Mitchel Houses is spelled with one L and not two and secondly, the NYCHA development is located in Mott Haven and not Port Morris as he says on his Facebook Page?

Perhaps it’s that Diaz Jr is wearing a FreshDirect jacket that is making him forget what is located where in The Bronx.  Maybe he was wearing a ‘FreshDirect Loves the BRX’ shirt too?

I guess this is what you HAVE to do when you’re lobbied by FreshDirect so I guess he has no freewill since he’s bought and paid for by FreshDirect as the Mott Haven Herald first reported:

“Because the consultants aren’t obliged to disclose their compensation and the lobbyists’ reports combine work related to the move to the Bronx with other lobbying on the company’s behalf, it is impossible to tell just how much FreshDirect has spent in its campaign to win approval for its move and the accompanying tax breaks and grants, but the reports suggest that it is at least $200,000.

Among those lobbied by the Parkside Group and Akerman Senterfitt LLP are a deputy mayor, the borough president, the heads of the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation, the city Economic Development Corporation and the state’s Empire Development Corporation, the counsel to the governor, City Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo, the Bronx director of the Dept. of City Planning and members of Community Board 1 and its district manager Cedric Loftin. – See more at: http://www.motthavenherald.com/2014/01/20/lobbyists-smoothed-way-for-freshdirect/#sthash.wiKfda6C.dpuf“

This is so pathetic because it’s a tactic that politicians use all the time in The Bronx and particularly the South Bronx. Hand out a turkey and it will be ok…

• A turkey won’t save you from asthma
• A turkey won’t save you from an onslaught of thousands of trucks through our neighborhood streets
• A turkey won’t save children from developing ADHD or leukemia due to diesel fumes or even worse, dying from Asthma since we have 21x the hospitalization rates of this ailment in NYC.
• A turkey won’t stop industries from destroying our environment and waterfront

Ruben Diaz, Jr, why do you continue to support FreshDirect moving to our neighborhood and destroying our quality of life when residents have clearly said we don’t want this.  On Monday at the public hearing over 40 residents gave testimonies backed with SCIENCE as to why this is not good for us.  If there is such great support for this project in The Bronx where were they on Monday (Marlene Cintron doesn’t count nor does your testimony or that of 12 FreshDirect paid employees forced to give testimony).

Why don’t you instead partner with the community on what they want rather than what a company wants? The residents have spoken and you, Mr Borough President are outnumbered here.  Work with us on developing a waterfront that everyone can enjoy and send these slave wage jobs out of here.  Our residents deserve much better.

PS. Did you see the latest poll on News12 The Bronx? 64% of viewers who responded do not support FreshDirect moving to our beautiful borough. This particular poll had one of the HIGHEST numbers of participants in recent polls by News12.

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Welcome2TheBronx/

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Welcome2TheBronx/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Welcome2theBX

Instagram: http://instagram.com/welcome2thebronx

Tumblr: http://welcome2thebronx.tumblr.com/