Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. officially kicks off Bronx Week 2013, a week-long celebration of everything that makes the Bronx a great place to live, work and raise a family. At the kick-off press conference, Borough President Diaz will also announce this year’s inductees to the Bronx Walk of Fame.

This year’s kickoff will feature live music, food and fun, as the press conference is transformed into a celebration of some of the best our borough has to offer. Numerous borough businesses, including Babalu, B Blossom Garden, Bronx Ale House, Bronx Brewery, The Clock Bar & Grill, Delicioso Coco Helado, DuFour Pastry Kitchen, Flantastic, Landin Macaroni & Cheese, Lloyd’s Carrot Cake, Tirado Distillery and United Pickle, among others, will be on hand to provide samples.

This Week - May 5 - May 11

May 05, 1961
The first American in space. From Cape Canaveral, Florida, Navy Commander Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. is launched into space aboard the Freedom 7 space capsule, becoming the first American astronaut to travel into space. The suborbital flight, which lasted 15 minutes and reached a height of 116 miles into the atmosphere, was a major triumph for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

May 06, 1994

Today marks the 36th annual Five Boro Bike Tour takes place. The bike tour starts now from Manhattan's Battery Park at 8:00 AM, runs through all five boroughs, and then ends in Staten Island.

This day is celebrated in Mexico, especially in Puebla, with parades and speeches. In some cities there are reenactments of the Battle of Puebla. Cinco de Mayo has also become a festive holiday in parts of the United States with large Mexican American populations, including many cities of the Southwest. Celebrations in the United States often extend beyond the actual day to encompass an entire week, with parades and festivals that include music, dancing, and food.

A few months after the City Island Civic Association invited NYC Comptroller John Liu to be their featured speaker and special guest, two of his former associates have been convicted in a scheme to illegally raise campaign funds.

The two defendants were charged as a result of an undercover investigation of the campaign fundraising for NYC Comptroller John Liu, who is now running for mayor as a Democrat. A NYC jury delivered their verdicts on the first full day of deliberations.

The five men and seven women jury determined that Liu's two associates, ex-campaign treasurer Jia "Jenny" Hou and former fundraiser Xing "Oliver" Wu Pan had plotted to cheat the city out of campaign matching funds and lied about it.

City Island Civic Association e-mailed City Island Images the following, concerning Mr. Liu invitation “just to clarify, when Mr. Liu came to address the Civic in January, it was in his capacity as NYC Comptroller. As you may know, he did not announce for another two months.” However the statement fails to mention that the government's investigation was already underway.

The US Attorney's Office issued the following statement. “As the jury found, Jia Hou and Oliver Pan stuck a knife into the heart of New York City’s campaign finance law by violating the prohibition against illegal campaign contributions, all to corruptly advantage the campaign of a candidate for city-wide office. Cases like this give the people of New York yet another reason to be troubled by the electoral process, and they have aright to demand fair, open, and honest elections untainted by cynical subversion of campaign finance laws. With these convictions, it is our hope that some measure of the public’s confidence can be restored. We will continue our efforts to stamp out public corruption wherever we find it. We thank the jury for their time and service, and the outstanding prosecutors who so ably tried this case.”

These charges followed a federal investigation that lasted several years, which included 10 wiretaps on at least six phones linked to Mr. Liu.

You decide if the City Island Civic Association should have issued their formal invitation, while this investigation was ongoing. Furthermore the local City Island paper only comes out 10 times a year and therefore did not publish the story two months, which theoretically gave their reporter plenty of time to research the story, but never even mentioned the investigation in the March 2013 article, which appeared on page three.