Fernando Cabrera’s inauguration last Wednesday night at Bronx Community College played out like a star-studded spiritual revival, complete with song, dance and plenty of prayer, as a small army of politicians lined up to congratulate and predict a bright future for the Bronx’s newest City Council member.

That was the main event. Several hours earlier, another event of perhaps equal importance, involving the Councilman’s staff, his new district office and a distressed young homeless couple, unfolded to less fanfare.

On Jan. 2, Cabrera opened up his new district office on the second floor of a building on Burnside Avenue near Morris Avenue, right in the heart of the 14th District, which stretches from 167th Street to Kingsbridge Heights.

By Wednesday morning, Cabrera’s three-person staff was still unpacking boxes and waiting for Con Ed to turn the heat on. They were also dealing with their first constituents in need of assistance.

First Problem, Solved

Kicked out of their apartment on Christmas Eve, a homeless couple with two kids needed shelter after the city’s Department of Homeless Services (DHS) denied them temporary housing.

Someone had referred them to Cabrera’s office for help.
After listening to the couple’s story, Chief of Staff Greg Faulkner called DHS.

After an hour, Faulkner called the agency again, this time with more urgency, he said. DHS responded to say a case worker would be there in 10 minutes. Approximately eight minutes later, the case worker showed up and after talking with Faulkner, said DHS would put the couple into a shelter while the agency worked out paperwork problems.

On Monday, Faulkner said the couple’s paperwork had gone through and the family is now officially in the city’s shelter system.

Faulkner, who spent the last four years trying to get city agencies to respond to problems as the chairman of Community Board 7, said he’s fast learning how much weight comes with the title of City Councilman. “Agencies respond differently than when it comes from a community board chair,” he said. “I think [strong and vocal advocacy] sends a message. The word is: don’t mess with people in the 14th District.”

‘New, Dynamic Leadership’

Later that night, Cabrera made it clear that his office is open for exactly this kind of business. His winding, stream-of-consciousness sermon of a speech culminated a night of great hope — for the Councilman and Bronx politics in general — inside the domed Gould Auditorium at BCC.

Speakers, from U.S. Senator Charles Schumer to new Public Advocate Bill de Blasio to Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., hailed Cabrera’s election as another big step in the positive reshaping of the Bronx political landscape.

“Something wonderful is happening in the Bronx,” said de Blasio, going on to praise the “new and dynamic leadership” in the borough.

De Blasio and others said Diaz and new Bronx Democratic Party leader Assemblyman Carl Heastie had made great strides in uniting the borough’s historically-fractured gaggle of elected officials.

This unity manifested itself at the end of 2009 with the Council’s nearly unanimous rejection of a Bloomberg-backed plan to turn the Kingsbridge Armory (which sits in Cabrera’s 14th District) into a shopping mall. That wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for the Bronx Council delegation’s cohesion during the failed negotiations of a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) with the Armory’s designated developer, The Related Companies.

Diaz, who opposed the Armory plan without a CBA that would include guarantees of good-paying jobs, heaped praise on Cabrera for showing “leadership and courage” in stepping up during the negotiating process in December, though he had yet to take office.

“It was there that he showed that, over the next four years, we’re going to have a productive time,” Diaz said.

Prayer and Promises

In addition to praise for the pastor and college professor, there was prayer. Bishop Fernando Rodriguez of the Latin/African American Chaplain’s Association (LACA), who played a big role in Cabrera’s campaign, offered an opening prayer. Two LACA chaplains flanked the stage throughout the two-hour-plus ceremony. Two others, wearing bulletproof vests, looked on from the back of the room. The auditorium was packed with members of Cabrera’s New Life Outreach Inernational Church. The ceremony ended with a prayer and words of encouragement by Pastor Ron Bailey of Love Gospel Assembly.

In between prayers and speeches, singers and dancers from MS 244 performed.

Cabrera, thanking God and promising a “new day” in District 14, spoke at length about the problems facing the area’s youth and pledged to work hard to improve schools and educational opportunities. He talked about improving conditions for small businesses and creating good jobs in the community.

Toward the end of his speech, Cabrera quoted Jesus Christ about the rewards of public service and said it’s time “to change the destiny of our community.”

“We can do it!” he said. “It’s going to happen!”