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Volume XX • Number 14 • April 4 - 10, 2013 •
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Diaz endorsement gives Cohen a ‘clean sweep’ By HAYDEE CAMACHO The Andrew Cohen for City Council express gathered more steam after Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. endorsed him in his bid for the District 11 Council seat on Thursday, March 28th. The two toured the Kingsbridge area, discussing concerns with area residents. Diaz introduced Cohen to constituents as “your next City Councilman” and urged them to vote for him. “What I’m concerned about is that in every single City Council seat here in the Bronx we have individuals we can partner with,“ said Diaz. “ We need individuals who are intelligent, who have a strong record of caring for the community they want to represent and in Andrew Cohen we certainly have that individual.” Diaz lauded Cohen’s work as a clerk for a Bronx Supreme Court justice, his work with Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz, community board work and volunteer efforts with Friends of Van Cortlandt Park. “Andrew Cohen is someone who understands what it’s going to take for us to bring this district to the next level. He’s someone who is going to partner with me for our economic development,” said Diaz referring to two highly
anticipated development projects in the area , the Broadway Plaza retail mall at 230th Street and Broadway, as well as the BJ’s under construction at the site of the former Stella D’oro factory on 237th Street. He estimated that the Broadway Plaza project would bring 200 to 300 jobs to the area, while BJs would provide an additional 400 to 500 jobs. “We want to make sure that companies like Stella D’oro who didn’t believe in us and left eat crow because of the wonderful things happening in our borough,” he quipped. “Your support is particularly meaningful to me,” responded Cohen. “We share an agenda here including your work on a living wage, support for paid sick leave and your proposal for a gun registry. We share values. “ Diaz has partnered with Peter Vallone, Chairman of the City Council Committee on Public Safety to support a statewide gun offender registry which would expand on the current registry created by Mayor Bloomberg, Speaker Quinn and Vallone in 2006. The new statewide registry would include similar reporting requirements to New York State’s existing sex offender registry. It would keep the names of
Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. makes it clear who he is supporting in the City Council race. individuals convicted of crimes involving guns on the registry for at least 10 years and require offenders to check in regularly with local police. Failure to perform these obligations would be considered a felony level crime. Cohen responded to opponent Clifford Stanford’s asser-
tions that as a Riverdalian, Cohen would be unresponsive to the needs of other communities in the district such as Bedford Park, and Norwood, whose needs, he claimed, take a back seat to those of Riverdale. “I’ve been to all the districts from corner to corner meeting people,” said Cohen. “I
plan to be a district-wide councilman. I look forward to being a part of a new generation of leadership.” “Andrew Cohen is going to be that individual who continues to unite this council district and the different neighborhoods,” added Diaz.
Jullian Sweeney, local Lego hobbyist, wins prestigious consultant post
By PAULETTE SCHNEIDER Imagination, skill and personality won Riverdalian Jullian Sweeney a spot on the 12-member Junior Construction Panel for Legoland Discovery Center Westchester, a $12 million, 32,300-square-foot indoor entertainment venue that opened last week at Ridge Hill in Yonkers. The 11-year-old, with the help of parents Sean Sweeney and Cynthia Guaba-Sweeney, produced a video showcasing his Lego creations and entered it in a contest seeking youngsters for the new store’s “creative team.” More than 120 Lego enthusiasts from the metropolitan area proffered video submissions. “I want to be on the Junior Construction Panel because I’m creative, hard-working, and I love to build,” states Jullian, in a jacket and tie, at the opening of the one-minute-ten-second video. “I’ve been building for about four years.” As a team member, Jullian is expected to participate in classes with the store’s master model builder, remain on call to preview new exhibits, and suggest improvements to activities and rides before they’re introduced to the public. For example, “There’s going to be a new 4D movie in the summer, and they’ll
call us to be the first ones to see it,” he explained. Jullian is a sixth-grader in a class of 17 kids at Manhattan East School for Arts and Academics, a middle school on East 100th Street in Manhattan that enrolls around 260 students. A special high school comes next, and test preparation is already underway. “We’re working on that very hard,” Guaba-Sweeney said. Jullian attends the Fieldson Enrichment Program, a Saturday course that prepares middle schoolers for the entrance exams they’ll need to take if they hope to attend a specialized city high school or a competitive independent school. He spent his K to 5 days as one of the first students at the AmPark Neighborhood School, a small Sedgwick Avenue-area public school that fosters creativity—including building skills. He used to play the violin but has switched to the trombone and is now considering joining the school jazz band, according to his mom. “He’s a straight-A student,” she said, citing a recent report showing A plusses in math, English, science and journalism, with A’s in everything else.
Jullian Sweeney The product of hand-picked schools that foster individuality, Jullian gets plenty of support at home as well. “It’s true what they say,” Guaba-Swee-
ney continued. Parental involvement “makes a big difference in their educational experience.” So does self-motivation and diligence. “I’m always doing homework, basically,” Jullian admitted. “It’s kind of annoying— even my brother says, ‘Every time I see you, you’re always doing homework.’” But when that’s all done, he can work on his Lego creations, augmenting and embellishing existing pieces while creating new ones. The building materials are neatly organized in bins inside his bedroom. He and the other Junior Construction Panel members were on hand for last week’s grand opening at the local Legoland. “I stood outside for a long time while the people were opening it up and making speeches,” Jullian said. A wall—made of Lego bricks, of course—hid the entrance from the public. Then, finally, a yellow Lego mascot figure “crashed through the wall, and then we all clapped,” he recalled. As for a career, Jullian has pondered diverse options. “Maybe a sports player, a Lego designer or a singer,” he said. “One of those three.”