Photos by Adi Talwar

On Thursday, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., delivered his third State of the Borough address to a packed, darkened auditorium at Harry S. Truman High School. A bevvy of city and state elected officials were in the audience for the 54-minute speech, which covered the usual political topics–schools, health, transportation, crime–and recalled the accomplishments of Diaz’s last three years in office.

But the gist of Diaz’s speech was jobs, jobs, jobs. The Borough President spent much of the first portion of his address reeling off a list of recent economic efforts and business projects that are taking root in the Bronx: the Smith Electric trucking company, the mall project planned at the former Stella D’Oro cookie factory, negotiations for the Hunts Point Produce Market to stay put, Fresh Direct’s move to Harlem Yards and, of course, the potential redevelopment of the Kingsbridge Armory.

As we mentioned in Friday’s Bronx Breakdown, despite all the economic mentions, Diaz opted not to bring up the Bronx’s unemployment rate, which remains the highest in the state at 12.2%. He also didn’t address recent criticism of his financial support for Fresh Direct’s move–$1 million in capitol grant funds, of the $127 million in tax breaks and subsidies the company will receive from the city overall–which many have criticized as too generous for a company that pays 38% of its workers less than $25,000 a year, and doesn’t offer services to most neighborhoods in the Bronx.

There were a couple of Fresh Direct protestors outside Truman last week (see photos, above). You can listen to the entirety of the address in the embedded recording below. What do you think of his speech? Let us know in the comments section.

Bronx State of the Borough by Norwood News