By DAVID CRUZ

Kingsbridge Armory
Councilman Fernando Cabrera, in his role as 14th Council District rep, has picked his appointees for the Community Advisory Council (CAC) linked to the Kingsbridge National Ice Center. The 11-member panel was born out of the Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) drafted by KNIC and community leaders. The body will oversee funds and assist in managing community space as part of the terms laid out in the CBA.

And the appointees are…Maria Khury, Barry P. Fitzgerald and Gregoria Feliciano. All have ties to the Kingsbridge/Riverdale area, with Feliciano having a foot in Washington Heights/Inwood as the first Dominican-born female district manager for Manhattan’s Community Board 12.

The dynamic is very interesting: community leaders rubbing elbows with business-minded folks. As it stands, Community Board 7 has long picked its share of appointees, with then CB7 chairman Paul Foster choosing himself, Lowell Green, William Francis, and Bishop Fernando Rodriguez, according to a press release by Cabrera’s office. Holding out is the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA), instrumental in seeing this CBA through. They’ve been mighty quiet about this. Should they pick neighborhood activists, it can tip the scales of power towards the community.

One interesting caveat: this is not a cushy post. Each CAC member serves at the pleasure of their appointer, thanks to a CBA stipulation that states members can be removed with “cause or without cause.” So should new leadership arrive midway to an appointee’s four-year term, they can be let go. It could be a recipe for disaster.

But it’s still unclear how the CAC will function. When will they meet? Will they be active once there’s a groundbreaking? Who’s the chairperson? Is there an independent auditor to ensure the CBA money is properly being spent? So many questions The Bronx Beltway intends to find out.

Rent Laws
The rent protection laws saga just won’t end in Albany, and the bigger question is why.

One reason could be that it’s not just about rent laws, but what Democrats and Republicans can do for one another. Leave it to legislators to attach a litany of concessions.

In this case, the Republican-controlled Senate’s version of rent protection laws is tied to other bills unrelated to the rent laws, including an education tax credit bill, and a pro-charter school bill that Assembly Democrats just won’t agree to linking. The Senate passed a bill to extend the rent laws as they are for eight years by adding provisions to ensure protections are for “those who need it,” according to Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan. One provision looks to raise the vacancy decontrol threshold by $100, from $2500 to $2600. Another aims for tenants to verify their income to landlords yearly to make sure tenants aren’t scamming the system.

Senator Gustavo Rivera, a staunchly pro-tenant Democrat, said the provision could raise the workload of the state Division for Housing and Community Renewal, saying he’s unsure if it “could handle the paperwork.”

A Daily News report suggested the Senate GOP simply wants to keep their deep-pocketed real estate tycoons happy enough to continue donating to future GOP campaigns.

Governor Andrew Cuomo, juggling the rent law debate with the search for two escaped convicts, has remained on the sidelines some. Rivera urged Cuomo to “weigh in a much stronger way than he has already.”

“Millions of New Yorkers are relying on us to come up with a package that provides them with the continued ability to live in the city,” said Rivera, whose 33rd Senate District is home to some 70,000 Bronxites in rent-regulated apartments.

Bronx GOP Resurgence?
Got to hand it to the Bronx Republican Party—even as it’s up against the wall, with 12 Democrats outnumbering one Grand Old Partier in the borough, the party is still on the hunt to grow its membership. It kicked off a borough-wide, town hall-style gathering at the Redwood Club on June 17.

Their biggest push—scouting for contenders in open City Council seats for 2017. “The GOP believes in 2017 there are City Council opportunities because of term limits, so they plan on taking advantage of that,” said Anthony Rivieccio of Bedford Park, who attended the meeting.

Two City Council pols who have terms expiring in 2017 would be Jimmy Vacca and Fernando Cabrera (Annabel Palma and Maria del Carmen Arroyo also have elections to contend with), both registered Democrats. Vacca’s seat seems to have the best chance for a Republican. His district includes largely conservative Edgewater Park, Silver Beach and Morris Park. Cabrera is considered by many to be a social conservative Democrat, so a liberal Republican may not be that farfetched.

Heastie’s Finances
The mainstream press just won’t relent on Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, and rightly so.

In its latest write-up, The New York Times dug into Heastie’s campaign spending habits, showing Heastie’s use of contributions on Manhattan nightclubs and $30,000 in vehicle expenses over the course of nine years, according to the Times report. There was also another $30,000 used for unexplained credit card expenses, according to the report.

Heastie’s flack told the Times the campaign expenses were legal. But this report points to a problem even greater than Heastie’s finances—an arbitrary campaign finance system where legislators pick and choose what to itemize. Even more suspicious are legislators using a campaign credit card for purchases, and not one itemization on the bill. This means legislators can run up thousands in credit card expenses and walk away without detection. The Norwood News has never attempted to gain a more accurate picture of these credit card statements, though a bright idea just flickered.