Now that Borough President Adolfo Carrion Jr. is headed to Washington D.C. to serve as President Obama’s point-man on urban affairs, one of the contenders to fill his place is wasting no time outlining his plans for the borough.
Assemblyman Ruben Diaz, Jr. addressed a packed audience of businesspeople at the Hunts Point Economic Development Corporation’s breakfast meeting on Friday, February 27.
Diaz spoke of all of the changes that have taken place since he last addressed the Hunts Point E.D.C. one year ago, and outlined a plan to “connect the dots” between Washington D.C., Albany, City Hall and the Bronx.
“We know that right know it is all about the economy, and even though we have all of these different concerns, the future of the Bronx is still bright,” Diaz said to the crowd. “We have a wonderful opportunity to push one Bronx agenda at the county level. We can connect the dots between City Hall, Albany, and Washington.”
Diaz said that having a friend of the Bronx like Adolfo Carrion Jr. in the Obama Administration would be a great boon to the borough.
He reiterated his desire to create a partnership between upstate food producers and restaurants in the Bronx’s neighborhoods of Arthur Avenue and City Island.
He also spoke of the need to train public school teachers who teach Bronx children within the C.U.N.Y. system.
“We are importing teachers from other places,” Diaz said. “There is no reason we cannot work with C.U.N.Y. campuses to train our teachers here in the Bronx.”
Diaz concluded his speech by saying that with the rest of the country scrambling due to the economic crisis, the people who stuck by the Bronx can look back at the tough times they hae been through and be certain that they can handle anything.
“In these hard economic times, we will be able to say the Bronx remained calm,” Diaz said.
