Annual holiday food drive

Annual holiday food drive

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz’s annual holiday food drive is well underway, with members of Kingsbridge Heights Community Center and Saint Frances of Rome Church in Wakefield picking up the first batch of donations from his office this week. 

Food donations at various schools and at Mr. Dinowitz’s district office have collected hundreds of canned boxed food items as well as “dozens and dozens,” of turkeys for this holiday season.  

“I am very pleased to report that my office’s 2016 annual holiday food drive has been a huge success thus far,” he said in a statement. “Thanks to the inspiring efforts of the community, in particular the students and staff at P.S 7. and P.S. 81, my office has been absolutely packed over the past weeks with boxes of food.”

Donations will be given to Kingsbridge Heights Community Center and the food pantry at Saint Frances Church, and will collected at 30701 Kingsbridge Ave., until Dec. 15.

“These donations make a big difference to many families in our community,” Mr. Dinowitz said.

Cohen introduces new hotel bill

Councilman Andrew Cohen has introduced a bill to outlaw hourly rental options at New York City hotels and motels. 

The bill, he said, is meant to cut down on nefarious business practices that occur at motels offering rooms by the hour. 

“I think that that business model is really just closely associated with drug dealing, prostitution and illegal activities in general and kind of a nuisance,” Mr. Cohen said in a phone interview. “I don’t think there is a legitimate business model that involves hourly rates at hotels.”

He added the problem of hourly rented hotels have become a particular issue in the Bronx. 

“The Van Cortlandt Motel is a prime example but I have hotels in the district, on Webster Avenue and Woodlawn and we want to just close this,” Mr. Cohen said. “Particularly in the outer boroughs and my district included, where we have these hotels and sometimes they are problems.

Local pols in Dominican Republic

Representative-elect Adriano Espaillat, Rep. Eliot Engel and state Senator-elect Marisol Alcantara were part of a delegation of elected officials sent the Dominican Republic this week to discuss U.S. relations with the Caribbean nation. 

Mr. Espaillat became the first Dominican-American, as well as the first former undocumented immigrant, to be elected to Congress, when he won the seat on Nov. 8.

According to Facebook posts about the trip, the delegation met with a number of Dominican and American activists groups seeking to strengthen relations between the two nations.

Those included Jose Calderon, the president of the Hispanic Federation, a community nonprofit that aids in strengthening Latino communities.