Requiring developers of city property to guarantee a living wage for retail employees may have seemed far-fetched to some observers six months ago. Not anymore.

At the City Council's hearing on the Related Companies' proposal to turn the Kingsbridge Armory into a giant shopping mall, virtually the entire Zoning and Franchising Subcommittee, grilled company representatives on the living wage issue.

Phyllis Reed, 66, passed away quietly on Aug. 31 at the Jewish Home and Hospital on Kingsbridge Road, just blocks from the Kingsbridge Armory, the vacant palace Reed believed could transform the community. In recent years, Reed worked tirelessly to beautify the green spaces surrounding the facility.

Speaking before a crowd of at least 1,000 people at St. Nicholas of Tolentine School on Oct. 25, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. said the battle for living wages jobs at the Kingsbridge Armory was the beginning of a movement for economic justice in the borough, calling it "our new revolution here, our new civil rights movement."

The Related Companies' proposal to turn the Kingsbridge Armory into a massive shopping mall is near the end of the city's land use review process and is now in the hands of the City Council.

Bronx politicians have a choice. They can keep making the same mistake over and over again by letting developers walk all over them (and us).

Or they can send a message that taxpayer subsidies like the tens of millions about to be handed over to the Related Companies to build a mall at the Kingsbridge Armory comes with significant responsibilities.

The City Planning Commission (CPC) will weigh in on the Related Companies' proposal to redevelop the Kingsbridge Armory on Monday, Oct. 19. Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. issued a negative recommendation to the Commission last month because Related has not yet agreed to negotiate a Community Benefits Agreement.

Newly elected AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, the nation's top labor leader, touched down in the Bronx on Tuesday afternoon to stand with local activists and union members in their ongoing struggle to exact significant concessions from The Related Companies, the developer of the Kingsbridge Armory project.

In a sharp break from his predecessor's lenient approach to development in the borough, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz has applied the brakes to a city-backed proposal to turn the Kingsbridge Armory into a shopping mall.

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. has asked for and received an extension on his deadline to submit a recommendation for the Kingsbridge Armory mall project, saying he first wants to see how the project's developer responds to a proposed Community Benefits Agreement (CBA).