Blake Announces PA Run
Assemblyman Michael Blake, who, along with representing the 79th Assembly District while pushing a national Democratic agenda as vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is throwing his hat into the race for New York City Public Advocate.

The Public Advocate’s seat will officially be up for grabs come November since the current advocate, Letitia James, won the Democratic nomination for state attorney general. With an overwhelmingly Democratic state, James’s shot at winning the AG seat is all but secured. Should Blake win the advocate seat, it will open the door for his Assembly seat. The district encompasses Tremont, West Farms, Claremont, Melrose, and Concourse Village.

Blake has represented the district since 2015, winning the seat left vacant by Eric Stevenson, who was hit with federal bribery charges in 2014. 

Bronx BP Slams
Heading into the November General Election are two questions over whether community boards should be overhauled, and you can count Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. in using his office to convince voters to vote “no” on the matter.

Diaz, along with Gale Brewer and James Oddo, his respective counterparts in Queens and Staten Island, have formed a committee to oppose questions of term limits on and assistance to community boards. The proposed questions are labeled Proposal #2 and Proposal #3 on the Nov. 6 ballot. The latter asks whether community board members should only serve eight years on a board, then taking a one-year break before reapplying. The current setup is that members can serve for life depending on whether they’re appointed or reappointed. The proposal was added by the Charter Revision Commission.

Diaz is equally opposed to Proposal #2, which would strip a borough president’s powers to offer assistance to boards and give them instead to a “Civic Engagement Commission,” comprised of members largely appointed by the mayor.

In a statement, Diaz said the measures, if passed, could “gut the independence of our community boards, rob them of their institutional knowledge and give developers the upper hand in the land use process.”

Of the 59 community boards in the city, 12 are in the Bronx. Norwood is represented by Community Board 7. Members are comprised of non-paid volunteers and a paid district manager who serves at the pleasure of the board.

NYCHA Heating Improvements
The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is assuring tenants they can expect a toastier winter season in their apartments.

The public housing authority announced that mobile boilers and extra staff to handle heating issues have been added to manage extreme cold spells. The news comes amid last year’s reportedly dismal response by NYCHA to handle heat and hot water issues happening across the authority’s network of buildings.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, at a news conference on Oct. 18, said that while NYCHA will provide services to everyone, it aims to “help 87,000 more residents who have seen some of the most acute heating problems” previously.

“So I want you to think about it this way – the plan is system-wide but with a special focus on the buildings housing 87,000 people that are some of the ones that’ve had the worst problems that we think we can come up with very immediate improvements for,” said de Blasio. 

NYCHA has also installed better windows to better insulate New Yorkers this winter.