When Fernando Ferrer spent the afternoon and evening of what he thought would be the day he won the primary delivering relief items to places around the Bronx, one of the locations he visited was the Community Board 10 office on East Tremont Avenue.
Jimmy Vacca, now a city councilman, was CB 10 district manager at the time. He kept the office open until 9 p.m. that night, collecting supplies that we were being shuttled down to first responders around Ground Zero.
“I thought it was important for me to keep the open open because many people were inquiring about loved ones and where they were,” Vacca said. “Plus, we had to do what we had to do for the cause, and the cause then of course was supplies. Food, and clothes.”
Many other community board offices across the city closed early that day.
“That was a chance for this neighborhood to contribute,” Vacca said. “We used to have floods, hurricanes, storms, any time I saw anything like that I came in and opened the office.”
Ferrer heard about CB 10’s efforts and stopped by around 4 p.m.
“It was the right thing to stay open that day,” Vacca said. “And Freddy coming in and stopping by, I really appreciated that.”
