Nicole Stent honored

Community Board 8 District Manager Nicole Stent was honored by state Sen. Jeff Klein at his annual Black History Month breakfast on Saturday.  

Mr. Klein honored four African American women for their contributions to communities he represents, including Deputy Bronx Borough President Aurelia Greene, teacher Robin Miller and school psychologist Dr. Tricia Joseph.

Ms. Stent has been the district manager at CB 8 since 2007, when she became the first African American woman to hold the position. Ms. Stent has worked in city government for over 25 years. She graduated from Dartmouth College and received her Jurist Doctorate degree from Howard University School of Law. Before CB 8, she served as Director for Corporate Planning, Community Health and Intergovernmental Relations at the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation.

Ms. Stent said she was honored to receive the award because of her heritage.

“The real honor for me was that it was Black History Month and my family has been in civil rights for generations. My family’s from the South and from Yonkers and my grandfather was a judge and a lawyer for a lot of folks during the Harlem Renaissance and was very active in civil rights, and my parents were very active in civil rights,” she said.

Ms. Stent has lived in Riverdale for over 40 years. Her family was one of the first black families to move to Riverdale, moving north from Harlem in 1964.

Mr. Klein said he was proud of Ms. Stent’s achievements in the Bronx.

“I’m also very proud with the selection of our honorees, African American female leaders, which includes Nicole Stent, who has done an outstanding job in her public service,” Mr. Klein said in a statement. 

Levine to run for Council

Onetime state Senate hopeful Mark Levine filed for term-limited Robert Jackson’s City Council seat in Manhattan.

A Manhattan Democratic District Leader and Washington Heights resident, Mr. Levine ran unsuccessfully against state Sen. Adriano Espaillat in the Democratic primary for now-Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s seat in 2010.

Politicker, which first broke the news, reported that Mr. Levine’s decision to run for City Council does not mean he won’t run for state Senate District 31. Should Mr. Espaillat decide to run for the so-called Dominican Congressional district, Mr. Levine may still decide to run. What does that mean for Riverdalians? Maybe nothing.

Senate district lines are being redrawn and if District 31 looks anything like the New York State Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment (LATFOR) proposed in its first round of maps, it will be pushed entirely out of the Bronx. In LATFOR’s proposal, District 31 would still include Marble Hill, but district 34, currently held by state Sen. Jeff Klein, would encompass all of Riverdale.

Engel incident

Rep. Eliot Engel is okay, but someone threw a stone at a police car near him when he was visiting the Mount of Olives Cemetery in Jerusalem on Feb. 24.

Mr. Engel and Rep. Jerrold Nadler visited the 3,000-year-old burial ground to bear witness to the desecration of Jewish graves. The vandalism has become a regular occurrence, according to Mr. Engel.

As Mr. Engel and Mr. Nadler were about to leave on a bus, a rock hit a car about 100 feet from them.

“I saw police jump out of their vehicle to ensure our safety. I don’t know if the rocks were thrown at us or at the police. All I know is we heard a thud and later someone brought over the rock. We were told that incidents happen like this all the time, but it is disconcerting to actually have been a part of it,” Mr. Engel said in a statement. “This incident is just more evidence that the vandalism of the graves and the harassment of those who visit the cemetery need to be stopped.”

Family politics

There was an interesting family moment at Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.’s State of the Borough speech on Feb. 23 at Truman High School, regarding gay rights.

Mr. Diaz said he worked to bring the borough together after a “horrific anti-gay attack” in the West Bronx last year. But also last year, his father, state Sen. Rev. Ruben Diaz Sr., rallied vigorously, but unsuccessfully, against the state’s legalization of gay marriage. His own granddaughter rallied for marriage equality, sometimes at the same time he was rallying against it. So, as Mr. Diaz Sr. sat in the front row of his son’s third State of the Borough address last week, there was an uncomfortable moment.

“This year I was proud to cut the ribbon at the Bronx Community Pride Center’s new space, and get a load of this, the space is at … Rev. Ruben Diaz Gardens in Kelly Street,” Mr. Diaz Jr. said in his speech.

He paused, smiled and couldn’t get out the next line of his speech because he was laughing.

His father took it well. He laughed himself and then rubbed his forehead.

Someone from the crowd yelled, “Si Se Puede,” and Mr. Diaz echoed, “Si Se Puede [yes, it can be done].”