The Lengthening Bailout Train

(The Bronx, New York) Federal bailout fever has reached down to the local level.

The deteriorating Hunts Point Produce Market, being wooed to move to New Jersey, deserves its own federal bailout, state Controller Thomas DiNapoli argued Monday.

Joined by local officials, he called on President-elect Barack Obama to help keep the market, a major Bronx economic engine, in the borough by helping to fund a major fix-up there.

The overall Hunts Point Market, which also includes meat and fish markets, is the wholesale food basket for the East Coast, with the produce market alone accounting for 8,500 blue-collar workers and $2 billion in sales.

DiNapoli, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan) and Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión all called on President-elect Obama to help keep the produce market afloat by contributing funding to help build a new center.

The Bronx biggies are asking Obama for help in getting a bailout of $450 million.