Happy 35th birthday Bronx Times Reporter!
The Bronx Times Reporter celebrated its 35th anniversary bringing local news to the borough with a well-attended celebration at the Alley Cat Café in Throggs Neck on Thursday, April 16.
The paper’s new owners Les and Jennifer Goodstein emceed the event, and it included speeches by Senator Jeff Klein; Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj; Assemblyman and the paper’s co-founder Michael Benedetto; Councilman James Vacca; 80th Assembly District Democratic Committeeman Joe McManus; Throggs Neck Merchants’ president Steve Kaufman; Marlene Cintron, Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation president and a representative of Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., and John Collazzi, co-founder of the Bronx Times Reporter and its current editor.
“What I instantly liked about this franchise was how connected it was and how much it was loved by the community,” said Les Goodstein at the gathering, “and how the people who operated the paper loved the community.”
The Goodsteins are the owners of the Community News Group, a consortium of local newspapers in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens as well as the Bronx.
The paper’s publisher, Laura Guerriero, said that she was proud to keep the newspaper’s tradition of providing community news that sometimes cannot be found anywhere else.
“I take great pride in keeping the tradition of this news organization that Assemblyman Benedetto and John Collazzi founded 35 years ago,” she said. “I look forward to working with the new owners to make the Bronx Times Reporter an ever-improving source of local news that celebrates the borough’s best for years to come.”
Senator Klein said that the newspaper is important to the community and the elected officials, who know that their constituents read it.
“The Bronx Times Reporter always understood what their mission is: to let the community know about the issues that are going in the community (and) highlight what the elected officials are doing, whether it is right or wrong,” said the senator.
Councilman Vacca recalled his experiences working as a writer on the paper shortly after it was founded in 1981, adding that the Bronx Times Reporter provides a voice to people who don’t have one.
“There was not a neighborhood fight that we have had since 1981 where the Bronx Times has not been crucial to advising the community on what is going on” said Vacca, adding “Often, the Bronx Times Reporter was the reason we won time and time again.”
Assemblyman Gjonaj praised the Bronx Times Reporter as an example of the freedom of the press that Americans benefit from.”
“It brings to this community the news and information that we need to know,” he said, adding “it is all about being local.”
Assemblyman Benedetto praised Collazzi’s vision in making the newspaper what it is today.
“You guys always got it right,” he said of reporting. “Les, Jen we thank you very much. Continue this tradition and continue to make it great.”
Collazzi said that he continues to be amazed by the material that is in the Bronx Times Reporter, saying it is getting better all the time.
“Under the new ownership of Les and Jennifer Goodstein and the leadership of its highly-qualified publisher, Laura Guerriero, the Bronx Times Reporter is poised to be the voice of the Bronx for another 35 years,” Collazzi said.
Cintron said that the paper represents the people and the positive aspects of the Borough. McManus said that the coverage offers an evenhanded view that lets the people decide. Cintron presented the owners with a proclamation from Diaz.
Kaufman called the paper “magnificent.”
“Your paper makes this area strong, because elected officials know that it exists and they know that they have to treat us better,” he said.
Les Goodstein indicated that the paper would continue to do what it always has done.
He said: “We will continue to be a staunch supporter of the Bronx, and everything that is good about the Bronx.”
