Cuomo Names Antonio M. Pérez & Lillian Rodríguez López to Govt Efficiency Panel

Seeking to “modernize and right-size state government, improve performance, increase accountability and save taxpayers’ money,” Governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled his 21 member Spending and Government Efficiency Commission.

The commission includes 2 prominent New York Latinos: co-chair Antonio M. Pérez, CEO of Kodak in Rochester, and Lillian Rodríguez López, president of the NYC-based Hispanic Federation, an association of 100 Latino service agencies from across the Tri-state region.
See Cuomo announces members of SAGE panel

Bronx Gears Up for May 16th Puerto Rican Day Parade

From the Bronx down to Bogota, Columbia people will be partying next month when the Bronx Puerto Rican Day Parade kicks off on the Grand Concourse. Prior to the annual event there will be a host of pageants and events including a giant block party to celebrate Puerto Rican culture in the Bronx.


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New York Latino Political Leaders - A Video Short

Here's a terrific 4:00 minute history of the rise of Latino political power in New York by Marlene Peralta for HITNTelevision.

"Latinos started having a political presence in New York dating back to the late 1800s. In the 1930s East Harlem became El Barrio, and the main hub for Puerto Ricans, a community that rapidly became politically active, leadership that later spread to other local Hispanic groups."

BTW: NY's 1st elected Latino was Oscar Garcia Rivera, a native of Puerto Rico who won a seat in the NYS Assembly in 1937 as a Republican. Garcia Rivera was a Social Democrat by philosophy and a strong proponent of labor unions. It was he who drafted NYS' Unemployment Insurance Law and paved the way for minimum wage, right to organize and child labor laws.

Elaine Del Valle in 'Brownsville Bred...Growing Up Elaine'

Brownsville Bred...Growing Up Elaine

A One Woman Show
Written, Performed & Lived by:
Elaine Del Valle

WINNER March 2009 "ONE ACT" FESTIVAL
WINNER BEST ACTRESS
WINNER BEST SCRIPT
WINNER BEST SHOW
WINNER April 2009 Teatro LA TEA's "THE ONE" FESTIVAL

PLAYING EVERY MONDAY IN NOVEMBER AT

This autobiographical show takes the audience through an "emotional rollercoaster" that is uplifting, heartbreaking and powerful as they witness Del Valle recreate life in the tough projects of 1980's Brownsville, Brooklyn NY.

Amongst eight other characters, Del Valle narrates as herself from ages 11 to 17. Del Valle's loving father, another empathetic character, leaves the family of five as he falls from stature as a talented musician to a defeated heroine addict. Not unlike most impoverished families, Elaine's mother emerges as the loveable spirit that holds the family together and guides them to a hopeful future.



Crime, Drugs and Poverty mix with the Joys of Family, Hope, Salsa and the Birth of Rap, as Del Valle's innocence recounts a journey to womanhood, a neighborhoods crack & crime epidemic, Salsa rumbas, and her love of Run DMC, which often times help her verbalize a unique struggle and triumph that has audiences cheering and laughing through their tears while swaying to urban rhythms.

Click for more info on Brownsville Bred and tickets.

Bloomberg a Hypocrite? If it walks like a duck and whines like a duck...

In a moment of honesty, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg (aka King Bloomies) complimented Bill Thompson as "the greatest comptroller the City's ever had". Yet now that his reign as mayor is threatened, he's running $millions in negative ads distorting Thompson's record.

Hypocrisy?

Perhaps, but King Bloomies simply keeping in character. After all, he's the man who called the City Council's efforts to ditch term limits, calling it SHAMEFUL, and then drove the effort himself when his presidential ambitions were blocked.

He's the man who pretends to speak for 'the people', but pushes policies that have enriched his buddies in Wall Street and Park Avenue at the expense of the City's working and middle class families.

He's the man who takes a limo to the subway.

The man whose ed policies pushes the weakest students out of the schools they desperately need and then boasts that tests score are up.

I could go on and on...but King Bloomies hypocrisy? I think so.