by David Cruz

Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. pegged himself as a job creator and economic development booster in his first gathering with his new fellow heads of borough at a forum sponsored by Crain’s New York Business.  Diaz Jr. arrived as the more experienced borough president in the city these days, as his fellow BP’s have just begun their tenure as their respective borough’s chief executive.

Crain’s columnist Greg David moderated the morning program at the Yale Club in midtown Manhattan, peppering Diaz with questions related to jobs, economic development, and whether he conforms completely to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s political agenda.  Overall, Diaz Jr. stands behind de Blasio on several key areas such as expanding sick pay to small business workers while imposing more taxes on those making $500,000 to help cover the cost of universal Pre-K, though he admitted he’s not completely supportive of charging rent to charter schools housed in city buildings since some groups may be unable to afford it.

Diaz touched on his usual points–securing jobs for Bronxites by convincing online grocer FreshDirect to set up shop in Port Morris while leading the charge in converting the Kingsbridge Armory into a massive national ice center.  He switched topics some, discussing possible expansion of Metro-North service to the east Bronx, a move largely supported by Albany.  The BP let it slip his future intentions to push for rezoning areas where the four Metro-North stations would be built.

John DeSio, a spokesman for the BP, later clarified that more conversations are needed to flesh out possible re-zoning.  “This is more about the potential for this project than any concrete plan,” he said.

Changing zoning laws as a way to entice further development could very well change the current look of neighborhoods where Metro-North stations in Hunts Point, Parkchester, Morris Park and Co-op City will be set up, should the Albany legislature vote in favor of incorporating the plan into the MTA’s 2014 Capital Budget.  Major rezoning has taken shape in the Bronx in recent years, including Webster Avenue, intended to draw further business to the borough.

But wrapping up these projects still years in the making, allowing for the borough’s continued skyhigh jobless rate to fester.  In Diaz Jr.’s part, the three-term BP intends to shatter the double-digit uneployment figure (now at 10.6 percent) so often linked to the borough by convincing developers to primarily higher those in the Bronx, a caveat that was seen in the FreshDirect and Armory deals.

The forum was an ultimate indicator of the kind of talking points Diaz Jr. will run down during his State of the Borough Address on February 20th.  He’ll be coming into his key speech with accomplishments that include sealing the fate of the Kingsbridge Armory while still determining how to fix the jobs problem.