Turnaround Now Possible in the Bronx as Its President Comes Into His Own

This his has been a good month for the president of the Bronx, Ruben Diaz, Jr. When Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal for a shopping mall in the Kingsbridge Armory was defeated two years ago, largely due to Mr. Diaz’s opposition, he was widely demonized as a “job killer” in a borough that desperately needs employment.One of the president’s initial failings on this issue was to allow the discussion of the so-called “living wage” bill to consume the real issue of unfair government-subsidized competition to existing businesses, a major objection to the initial Armory Mall project.Mr. Diaz pointed out that every dollar spent in the proposed Armory Mall would have come from the hides of merchants along nearby Fordham Road. This makes sense. Most shoppers on Fordham Road travel there by public transportation. Ride one stop to the north on the subway, or a few minutes more or less by bus, and shoppers would have been able to leave behind inclement weather and dangerous crosswalks and shop at a snazzy new climate controlled indoor mall, financed with your tax dollars. What did the mayor think was going to happen to the Fordham merchants?Having shouldered the blame, unfairly in my view, for the defeat of the mayor’s initial Kingsbridge Armory plan, we now see that burden lifted. Mr. Diaz was instrumental in forging a new deal with the mayor that will result in new proposals, better proposals, less destructive proposals. Mayor Bloomberg has, to his credit, agreed to collaborate with Bronx officials. Rumor has it that one of those plans for the Armory space is a regional ice hockey and skating center, complete with minor league hockey franchise, honchoed by former New York Ranger great Mark Messier.By agreement, the new proposals will not be hampered by the living wage discussion, which Mr. Diaz agreed would be resolved in the City Council. No sooner had the Armory proposal been revived, that it was announced that a “compromise” was hammered out in the Council on the living wage legislation. While the deal seemed to let everyone claim victory, the truth is that the living wage mandate is dead. And just in the nick of time.As the Armory project is resuscitated, another huge project waits in the wings, the relocation of the Fresh Direct warehouse and distribution center that has now outgrown its Long Island City home. The city is locked in a struggle with New Jersey over the 3,000 jobs that the facility could bring.These positions require relatively low skills, perfect for pulling persons who would otherwise be mired in persistent unemployment into the economic mainstream.Had the living wage bill been passed as initially proposed, New Yorkers could have kissed those jobs goodbye. It is one thing to suggest that retailers who are part of a national chain pay a “living” wage (defined as $10 per hour with benefits, or $11.50 per hour without benefits) to their sales help and managers: in most cases they already do. But the kind of lower end unskilled jobs found at Fresh Direct are much more likely to offer lower wages. Rather than submit to inflated mandated labor costs in the Bronx, it is more than likely that the owners of Fresh Direct would have come to the conclusion that they and the State of New Jersey would be “perfect together.”By putting the Armory back on track, without the distraction of the “living wage” issue, and putting us in play for the thousands of jobs that will likely come from Fresh Direct, the Bronx president and, yes, the mayor, had a good run indeed. Piled on this good news is more — the approval of a plan by Donald Trump to assume control and build the long-delayed Ferry Point Park Golf Course.Ferry Point Park is, to put it bluntly, an abandoned garbage dump on the Bronx side of the Whitestone Bridge. The environmental clean-up associated with the project derailed the efforts of the previous developer. What will result now is a PGA tournament grade golf course, designed by Jack Nicklaus.So it is conceivable that the Bronx may soon be hosting a major PGA event, a minor-league hockey franchise, as well as another well-known sports venue, Yankee Stadium.The primacy of the borough as the premier food distribution center of the region may be insured by efforts to solve a number of issues surrounding the Hunts Point Markets, and the addition of Fresh Direct to that mix.In a borough so used to bad news, maybe there is a brighter future for the Bronx after all, under the stewardship of the engaging and level headed Ruben Diaz, Jr.

Turnaround Now Possible in the Bronx as Its President Comes Into His Own

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