Here’s Councilman Charles Barron in City Hall yesterday, sounding off on the political situation in Zimbabwe.

I asked Barron, a longtime admirer of Robert Mugabe, what he thought about Mugabe’s behavior, considering the horrific violence reported against the democratic opposition to his government in Zimbabwe. Barron's answer was the same as always: the West and Western media is biased against Mugabe because he took land back from colonial white settlers.

(Barron invited Mugabe to City Hall in 2002.)

“In the year 2000, when he said one farm, one farmer, he was vilified,” Barron told me. “For 20 years they loved Mugabe because they didn’t take the land from the whites.  read more »

CUNY leadership and two members of the City Council today called on the Bloomberg administration to pony up more money to demolish and redevelop Fiterman Hall, one of two remaining buildings awaiting deconstruction after being damaged by the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The comments came at a hearing held by Councilmen Alan Gerson and Charles Barron on the Borough of Manhattan Community College’s (BMCC)--a division of CUNY-- Fiterman Hall, a building student union representative Horace Henry called the last “open sore that is yet to be healed.”

The fist-pounding, uproarious 200-plus crowd that overflowed the main floor and gushed into the mezzanine of Council Chambers—unusual for a Friday afternoon Council hearing in the summer, to say the least— was a testament to the fervor that has come to accompany this almost seven-year project.  read more »

City Councilman and Obama supporter Charles Barron thinks Barack Obama was wrong to denounce Jeremiah Wright.  read more »

Inez Barron, wife of outspoken City Councilman Charles Barron, just kicked off her campaign for State Assembly, and, while vowing to be an independent voice for change, hasn’t ruled out seeking the support of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

“No I have not been in touch with Shelly Silver -- our campaign is a grassroots campaign,” she said.

When asked if that meant not seeking Silver’s support, Inez replied, “I didn’t say that.” So, would she? “I might.”  read more »

The rally to launch the state assembly campaign of Inez Barron, Charles Barron's wife, just got underway on the steps of City Hall.

In the audience right now is Charles Barron's controversial chief of staff, Viola Plummer, and MTV star-turned-hip-hop writer, and now Brooklyn congressional candidate, Kevin Powell.

Mrs. Barron is seeking Diane Gordon's assembly seat, after Gordon was convicted on bribery charges. 

Al Sharpton just finished a press conference with friends and family of Sean Bell, saying they hoped justice would be dispensed by the trial judge, who will announce a verdict Friday.

Sharpton also refuted the notion that their supporter need to be reminded not to act violently if they are unhappy with the decision.

He went on to say that it was the police who acted recklessly when they approached and fired on Bell and his friends without just cause.  read more »

So, in case you hadn't heard, rapper Foxy Brown was released from prison today.

And who picked her up at Rikers?

Charles Barron.

From Reuters:  read more »

About 100 people turned up at a rally in Harlem on Saturday aimed at blocking the Bloomberg administration’s plan to rezone 125th Street to allow for denser residential and commercial development. But the rally quickly turned into an omnibus protest about everything from Columbia’s Harlem expansion to Robert Mugabe’s teetering government in Zimbabwe.

The Coalition to Save Harlem planned to create a human chain stretching across 125th Street from Second Avenue to Broadway. In the end, “Hands Across Harlem” only spanned about one block of the area to be rezoned, from Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard to Lenox Avenue, though we heard one organizer remark that it was a “pretty good turnout.”  read more »

Charles Barron isn't the only member of the City Council who regards Christine Quinn's discretionary-fund shell-game as a grave offense. Barron is generally outspoken and has been critical of Quinn in the past, but another member, who has had a considerably more collegial relationship with the speaker, said on background that her conduct was pretty much indefensible.

"The story is, you know, there's like no other budget code [for setting aside money]," this member said.  read more »

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