He's already been on the job a month, but that didn't stop a packed Lehman Center for the Performing Arts and the city and state's top officials from attending the formal swearing-in of Ruben Diaz, Jr., the 13th borough president of the Bronx last Thursday.

I strongly disagree with the headline of your April 30 edition, "Living Wage Hopes for Armory Dashed." My hopes are not dashed at all. The article states that Jesse Masyr, a lawyer for the Related Companies, "put an end to any hopes of securing living wage jobs, saying that if all they were looking for in a benefits agreement was living wage jobs, he could put an end to the discussion right there. The answer would be no."

With an Army Reserve Center in Wakefield closing and the city controlling the redevelopment process for the building, activists see new hope for schools at the Armory.

Grandiose.

That's the word Ruben Diaz, Jr. uses to describe his ambitious plans for the Bronx if elected borough president.

The 36-year-old Diaz, a Democratic state assemblyman from Soundview for the past 12 years, says people often use the word negatively, but that won't stop Diaz from trying.

Grandiose.

That's the word Ruben Diaz, Jr. uses to describe his ambitious plans for the Bronx if elected borough president.

The 36-year-old Diaz, a Democratic state assemblyman from Soundview for the past 12 years, says people often use the word negatively, but that won't stop Diaz from trying.

The list of injustices emanating from the deals surrounding the construction of the new Yankee stadium is long and depressing.

But the greatest civic offense is the theft of invaluable public green space and the broken promises to provide replacement parkland to the community in a timely fashion.

Several parks were promised as replacements for the centrally located Macombs Dam and Mullaly parks now occupied by the new stadium. None are on-line and most have experienced delays.

The most substantial of the replacements, a waterfront park on the Harlem River, has run into repeated delays, as Jose DeJesus, a student in our youth journalism program reported in the most recent edition of Bronx Youth Heard.

As journalists Gary Axelbank and Harvey Araton recently commented, perhaps the grandest monument to the city's unforgivable heist of green space in a community struggling with asthma and other public health problems, is the old Yankee Stadium, which still stands despite city promises it would be razed to make way for new baseball fields, so local kids can start running the bases again.

We have one more question: Why is it that only reporters are making noise about this? Is there not one elected official who considers this important enough to at least issue a press release, especially since every elected official save one supported the project?

The list of injustices emanating from the deals surrounding the construction of the new Yankee stadium is long and depressing.

But the greatest civic offense is the theft of invaluable public green space and the broken promises to provide replacement parkland to the community in a timely fashion.

Several parks were promised as replacements for the centrally located Macombs Dam and Mullaly parks now occupied by the new stadium. None are on-line and most have experienced delays.

The most substantial of the replacements, a waterfront park on the Harlem River, has run into repeated delays, as Jose DeJesus, a student in our youth journalism program reported in the most recent edition of Bronx Youth Heard.

As journalists Gary Axelbank and Harvey Araton recently commented, perhaps the grandest monument to the city's unforgivable heist of green space in a community struggling with asthma and other public health problems, is the old Yankee Stadium, which still stands despite city promises it would be razed to make way for new baseball fields, so local kids can start running the bases again.

We have one more question: Why is it that only reporters are making noise about this? Is there not one elected official who considers this important enough to at least issue a press release, especially since every elected official save one supported the project?

As the city's Department of Education begins crafting its next five-year capital plan, which will determine where new schools will be built and which schools will receive renovations, Council Member Oliver Koppell wants to make sure his district's overcrowding issues are adequately addressed.

If you happened to show up at the historic showdown between the two warring factions of the Bronx Democratic party three weeks ago at the Paradise Theater, you surely would have been entertained. It was a great show.

But amid all the shouting and the bush-league stunts (like Jose Rivera's supporters cutting the juice on the microphones and Council Member Maria Baez ignoring the "no" votes), it would have been almost impossible for most Bronxites to see how any of it mattered in their lives.

But it does matter. Politics matters - or at least it should.

Party organizations like the Bronx County Democratic Committee have a huge influence on who we send to Albany, City Hall and even Washington. Once they get there, they're supposed to represent our interests in the legislative process and make laws that address the most pressing issues facing Bronxites and their fellow New Yorkers.