A Policy of Pique

Kappy has an interesting supposition in today's NY Daily News-he thinks that certain decisions being made for the Bronx are being motivated by the mayor's personal pique against Bronx BP Ruben Diaz:, the man who played a key role in the killing of the Kingsbridge Armory project "Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo sort of stuck his thumb in Mayor Bloomberg's eye last week by naming Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. to his transition team on economic development.This after Ruben killed Mike's plan to develop the Kingsbridge Armory into a retail mall, and then became a leader in the growing movement to give workers a living wage at projects heavily subsidized with taxpayer bucks. If anyone has been off the planet, it now looks as if Mike is so frosted over Ruben's mall-killing move, he's looking for revenge."

And here's how: "Bloomy is putting the kibosh on a plan to move a National Guard unit quartered next to the armory into a vacant Army Reserve Center in Wakefield. The move would open the way to build much-needed schools next to the armory, which would also act as anchors for future development. Instead, the administration insists on opening a homeless shelter at the reserve center. This despite a ton of homeless shelters already there or planned for Wakefield. There's a city hearing Thursday on a proposal to open a shelter just across the street from the reserve center."

How nice! Screw the citizens of the Bronx because of personal animosity towards the BP-but doesn't that overlook the fact that it was the city council-and not the sidelined Diaz-that overwhelmingly put the kibosh on the ill conceived Armory plan? And how reminiscent is all of this?

Remember back in 2005 when then Speaker Gifford Miller was busting old Bloomy's chops on the city's SWMP? When the dust settled on that dust up, Bloomberg shoved a solid waste transfer station right up Miller's caboose on 91st Street-damning all of the public housing residents at Stanley Isaacs and John Holmes Towers to be exposed to the stench that would be right across the street if and when the MTS is built.

This kind of mayoral arrogance is what has gone unchecked for nine years-and is precisely why the mayor felt that he could foist an under qualified Cathie Black on the school children and parents of NYC. He may, however, finally gone too far-and the blow back is certainly building towards a comeuppance.