Bronx News
Robert Press
There was over a foot of snow on the ground on the original day scheduled for the State of the Bronx Address, but that did not stop City Comptroller John Liu, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Bronx Council members G. Oliver Koppell, Joel Rivera, Larry Seabrook, State Senators Jeff Klein, Ruben Diaz Sr., State assembly members Carmen Arroyo, Michael Benedetto, Richard Brodsky, Marco Crespo, Jeffrey Dinowitz, Carl Heastie (the current Bronx Democratic County Leader), Naomi Rivera, Peter Rivera, Bronx DA Robert Johnson, former Bronx Borough President Freddy Ferrer, former City Council Speakers Gifford Miller and Peter Vallone, as well as hundreds of friends and supporters who came to the Evander Childs High School Campus to hear the State of the Bronx Address 2010 by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. one week later.
Deputy Bronx Borough President Aurelia Greene said that Ruben Diaz Jr. is dynamic, innovative, consistent, greatly respected, and that he will leave the Bronx better than when he came into office.
BP Diaz opened his state of the borough address with a history lesson on how Jonas Bronck first landed in the Bronx in 1639. He said that the Bronx has come a long way from then, but still has a way to go. That the poverty rate here is 28.3 percent which is more than double the state and federal average, the unemployment rate here is 13.9 percent which is well above the national rate and is the highest in New York State, and that only 21.6 percent of Bronxites own their own homes compared to the more than 55 percent of state and 2/3 of all Americans.
BP Diaz spoke of one Bronx or Un Solo Bronx, and introduced Marlene Cintron as the new head of the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation. He said that the Bronx will not be shortchanged in these hard economic times, and that he, along with the Bronx council delegation, will fight cuts proposed by Mayor Bloomberg to senior services, schools, and parks.
Diaz spoke of the Census 2010 and the push by his office to ensure that all Bronxites are to be counted, as if anyone is not counted that could add up to the loss of federal dollars. He has allocated millions of dollars to schools throughout the borough, and has called for the DOE to do proper testing for toxins in older schools. The SAT scores in the Bronx are too low, and that the two premier Bronx High Schools (Bronx Science and American Studies) have a student body that is a majority of non Bronxites.
There will be a food summit in May, and that Diaz will work to bring healthier food options to the Bronx. That he and Mayor Bloomberg agree that federal gun laws must be tougher, and that almost 1,200 guns were taken off the streets in January with the help of Bronx DA Johnson and the NYPD. He hopes to get 1,500 guns off Bronx streets in next years buyback program.
On the issue of the Kingsbridge Armory Diaz said that for too long City Hall has embraced the mindset that what is good for developers is what is good for the five boroughs, with little regard for the real needs of the community. Planning should drive development, and development should not determine planning. Diaz said that those who have distorted his position by saying that he wants to stop jobs from coming to the Bronx are wrong, and nothing could be further from the truth, which he repeated. The idea that any job is better than no job should no longer apply especially when developers take millions of dollars in taxpayer funding announced the creation of the new Kingsbridge Armory Task Force chaired by himself and Councilman Fernando Cabrera (whose district the armory lies in).
Diaz also announced that Bronx City Council members G. Oliver Koppell and Annabel Palma have partnered with him to introduce a bill in the City Council that would require developers who receive government funding for their projects to pay a living wage to future employees of that development. He added that this is not only a priority in the Bronx, but citywide, and added that the bill already has gotten significant support and that he was hopeful to see it become law this year.