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Posted: Mar 08 2012 at 7:02pm | Views: 4282
The Bronx is back in business, Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. declared in his third State of the Borough address.

His administration is wooing corporate America on terms favorable to the Bronx and solving the Kingsbridge Armory conundrum, Diaz said in his speech at Harry S Truman High School in Co-op City.

In 2009, he went to war with Mayor Bloomberg and big business over wages at a shopping mall proposed for the vacant fortress, scuttling the plan.

But in his address, Diaz crowed over splashy development deals reached in 2011 and early 2012, including a new base for Fresh Direct, an electric truck factory, a swanky Donald Trump golf course and a big-box shopping center slated to replace the shuttered Stella D'oro bakery.

The ventures are expected to create thousands of jobs.

Diaz also touted new armory proposals requested last month by the Bloomberg administration. Ice hockey and cycling boosters have expressed interest.

Some critics argue Diaz has discarded the pro-worker values he espoused in 2009 because he plans to seek citywide office.

He recently helped to broker a $130 million subsidy package for online grocer Fresh Direct with no living wage mandate and limited community benefits.

Diaz also highlighted a living wage victory: The Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, written after the armory battle, finally has support from City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

It won't cover retail workers at subsidized malls but will require developers receiving taxpayer funds to pay their own employees $10 an hour with benefits.

For better or worse, the living wage issue has won Diaz attention outside the Bronx ahead of the 2013 mayoral election.

"There is no other Hispanic candidate and he appears to be a principled guy," said Bruce Berg, Fordham University politics professor. "His living wage stand puts him in good stead with liberals."

Diaz will also talk schools, health, transit, crime and tourism. His administration will next week release its report on the education summit held last year and a health summit is on tap.

The borough president called for “respectful” police work, a nod to the fatal shooting by cops of unarmed Bronx teenager Ramarley Graham. Yankee Stadium, now hosting concerts and football in addition to baseball, is a tourist hot spot and Diaz repeated his pitch for a hotel near the venue.

But with unemployment in the Bronx stuck at 12.4%, industrial Hunts Point and Port Morris will take center stage.

The addition of Fresh Direct, Smith Electric Vehicles and lease negotiations with the Hunts Point produce market could mean Diaz is counting on the gritty neighborhoods to rescue the Bronx and power his political career.

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