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Chatting with Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion Jr.

By Magdalene Perez | Special to amNewYork

October 10, 2007

Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, taken April 14, 2004. (Newsday File Photo/ Viorel Florescu / October 9, 2007)

Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion Jr. isn't afraid to put his political career in jeopardy for the right cause.

In 2001, he spent 37 days in jail for trespassing during a protest against U.S. bomb tests in Puerto Rico. Critics said the tests harmed residents and potentially contaminated the island with radioactive material. One person had even died after a bomb accidentally struck him.

At the time, Carrion was in the middle of his first campaign for borough president.

"Would I do it again? Absolutely," Carrion said in a recent interview with amNewYork. "I think it's more important to do what is right than what is convenient."

A Democrat who emerged from a strong Puerto Rican political network in the Bronx, Carrion today is one of the city's highest-profile Hispanic politicians, political observers said. And with his term running out in 2009, he is widely expected to run for mayor that year, following in the footsteps of former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer.

"He'll certainly look very hard at the mayoralty," said John Mollenkopf, a professor of political science and director of the CUNY Center for Urban Research. "People will take him seriously."

Today, Carrion still doesn't shy away from politically thorny stances, particularly when discussing how to solve intractable problems with poverty, unemployment, health and education. The son of a minister and a former pastor, he values responsibility and likes to note that "the best social program is a job."

"My message to the Bronx and to people in the city is, 'We're in this together, we all have to take responsibility in our communities and we have to demand more of each other,'" Carrion said.

"The one thing that poor and working class people don't need is pity," he continued. "They need to know that the same standards apply to everybody."

Carrion gives himself credit for helping to "turn the tide" in the Bronx from "an acceptance of failure" to an environment in which investors are optimistic enough to put millions of dollars into housing, parkland and a new stadium for the Yankees. Statistics suggest the Bronx is safer since 2001 murder was down 18 percent then, and rape lower by 33 percent though some residents say they feel crime is getting worse.

Others, though, have criticized some of Carrion's tactics. After Bronx Community Board 4 voted against his much-championed plan to build a new Yankees stadium in 2005, Carrion dismissed or demoted several of the board members. Mary L. Blassingame, a board member who was removed as chairwoman of the board's housing and land-use committee, called the move revenge.

And in areas outside development such as schools and health, much greater improvement is needed, Carrion acknowledged. The pace of change in a borough where diabetes and asthma rates are still high and large public schools struggle behind charter schools has been frustrating, the leader said.

Carrion will have to address both issues if he runs for mayor. Carrion hasn't yet announced his intentions, but did say he is raising money "to be in the position" for a campaign.

"I do intend to be a citywide candidate," Carrion said. "And to be in the conversation about the future of the city."

Carrion on the issues
School Reform
"The initiatives that the mayor took and the idea of accountability through mayoral control is the right direction. I don't however agree [with having] a rubber stamp panel for education policy. If you asked for accountability, you should ask for somebody to check your authority by challenging your ideas and vetting them."

Health
"What we've done is we've really focused our efforts on education and prevention. You're not going to fix entirely a lifetime worth of damage but the shift in behavior to wellness requires information and education."

Mayor Bloomberg's Congestion Pricing Plan