In an editorial this past Saturday, the Daily News says that New York is driving away high-paying blue collar manufacturing jobs. The editorial has this to say about Diaz's involvement in the Armory fiasco, "And they scorn those jobs that the city has been able to generate. Egregious case in point: Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz scuttled the $310 million Kingsbridge Armory mall project.The development, financed overwhelmingly by a private concern, was projected to produce 2,200 jobs. Diaz thought salaries would be too low and declared he could do better. He hasn't.First, he named a panel to conjure ways of finding someone to invest in renovating the white elephant and provide "more skilled workers and higher paying jobs." Six months later, the group has invited NYU to send graduate students to come up with ideas. What they won't come up with is money to put any of the ideas into effect." I know I am not worried, now that we have these graduate students on the job.
This is gonna kill his political viability forever!
ReplyDeleteEveryone--- post this on your facebook and myspace pages!
ReplyDeleteLet's all kick back with two fingers of Jameson Irish Whiskey and a pint of Guinness, and then curse the day Ruben Diaz Junior was sworn in as boro prez. I'll drink to that!
ReplyDeleteHe's an easy (but deserved) scapegoat for decades of decline in working class jobs. The city has become addicted to Wall Street cash while the middle class and working class has died a slow death in this city. Wall Street funds the nanny state, so who needs the working class any more?
ReplyDeleteGawd 'elp us ,,,, How did we end up with a dud like this as the leader of our borough?????
ReplyDeleteBaby Diaz is holding out for jobs that will pay us a living wage in gumballs. Meanwhile he sounds like he's got a mouth full of gumballs himself. Whenever that guy is talking it hurts my ears.
ReplyDeleteI highly doubt the Armory will remain vacant for another 20 plus years. Lets give the kingsbridge Armory task force and the NYU graduate students an opportunity to come up with a comprehensive development plan for the Armory that will fully benefit the community. I am no city planner but it didn't make sense to me to have two malls just 2-3 miles away from each other with the same stores. Do we need that many big box retail stores like best buy, target, etc, etc in the borough??? i personally don't so.
ReplyDeleteThose few sentences from the Daily News perfectly sum up the situation. Diaz & Co. tried to pull a giant shakedown on the private developer of an exciting and promising project. Naturally, the developer refused to cave in to Diaz, Jr.'s unreasonable demands, and VOILÀ!: instant fiasco for the Bronx.
ReplyDeleteHopefully, this embarassing predicament will slam the door on Rubén Diaz, Jr.'s hopes for higher political office.
Anonymous @ October 26, 2010 7:16 AM says that we need to give the NYU grad students a chance. Huh??
ReplyDeleteThe grad students will be fine whatever happens. It's the local community that's been screwed by the muffle-mouthed Mr. Diaz, and it's the Bronx as a whole that will suffer as a result of his reckless anti-business policies.
What credentials does Mr. Diaz have in business, urban planning or economic development anyway? In the real world, he wouldn't qualify for an executive position in any of the profitable corporations that he spurned. Let's face it, Michael Bloomberg he ain't!
Diaz is toast.
ReplyDeleteDiaz is toast? Pencil him in for two more terms as BP and then who knows? In ten years this may all be forgotten.
ReplyDeleteGraduate students!! That's his answer???? Heaven help us.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, Diaz is the "Client" of the NYU students, so anything they come up with is going to be based on the parameters he gives them (ie. Living Wage Requirements). Second, this is a group of students who are doing this for a grade, so whether or not they come up with a feasible plan, they have nothing more at stake than a grade at the end of the semester. Third, do you really (be honest now) believe that any of these students are going to stick around after their proposal is presented? At least you can hold a company liable to iron out the problems that come up. Fourth, every RFP for the Armory has taken years of development, review, and countless hours of COMMUNITY INPUT. All of a sudden, "our Armory" has become Diaz's Armory. There should be at least some requirements for working with the community.
ReplyDeleteFinally, I can't bring myself to trusting anything else this guy says anymore. Him and his team are trying to spin this as a positive, but just like Bloomy, after his term, he can walk away without having to live with the consequences of his actions. All career politicians are the same... :(
Borough President Diaz ain't no Michael Bloomberg, but Mayor Bloomberg can restart a conversation with the Borough President and the Bronx Council Delegatiion on redeveloping the Armory. Instead, he has taken this as a personal defeat and has refused to further discuss this matter. Diaz has always been clear, despite his opposition with the Mayor and the related company, that the Armory must be redeveloped. Let's be clear on this, the Mayor and the City EDC control the funding for this project. So let's not dump all the blame on Diaz.
ReplyDeleteIf it's any comfort, that man is not going anywhere politically.....The Bronx Borough Presidency will be a dead end for Ruben Diaz Jr., and he deserves it..... The real shame, however, is that he's pulling Bronxites down with him.
ReplyDeleteBloomberg was right on the armory. Diaz was so wrong.
ReplyDeleteJust remember, if Tony had been reappointed to CB8 he'd be praising Diaz for the same crap he's attacking him for now.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that Cassino owed anything to Diaz. I was a member of CB8 when Cassino came on board, and it was Freddy Ferrer who appointed him. Cassino was then repeatedly reappointed by Adolfo Carrion (after serving as Carrion's campaign treasurer).
ReplyDeleteAs for Diaz, he did not reappoint Cassino beacuse Diaz is rumored to have made a backroomn deal with Assemblyman Dinowitz. Part of that deal was that Dinowitz would deliver Riverdale for Diaz's pal Adriano Espaillat's state senate bid. The price for Dinowitz's backing of Espaillat was that Cassino would not be reappointed to CB8. That deal also included the ouster of several CB8 members who are Cassino's allies.
Really, community boards?
ReplyDeleteIt's a damn shame that we have this much political meddling and cronyism in community boards. I wonder who else throughout the Bronx boards are pawns for Diaz & Co.? And what the hell for, to stroke egos?
We're sinking with the ship, maybe its time to bail out...
Why should Bloomberg restart a conversation with this bunch of anti-business, clueless, boobs?!? Have any of these electeds ran a business or understand anything about economic development other than the crap that they're fed by the unions and other socialist groups?!?! Its not about a personal defeat, its about the fact that no one else is going to want to invest in the Armory, especially in this economy!!
ReplyDeleteAll the elected officials in the Bronx couldn't run a lemonade stand on Westchester Square because they wouldn't be able to put their egos aside!! And if they did so, you would pay $10 for a cup of water with lemon seeds on the bottom, plus a $1.50 surcharge to pay the cashier a living wage...
My main concern is for all of the local young people who could have secured employment positions which may have helped their struggling families. Perhaps they might have even been afforded the opportunity to take apprentice positions with the assigned electrician, plumbing and carpenters unions who would renovate the space. The project could have trained workers who would then go on to train others and so on and so forth.
ReplyDeleteNow we have 2000+ people who are still jobless with nothing at all to do. I understand the need for a "living wage" but it makes more sense to work towards something better than to not work at all. The same people who screamed the loudest about the "living wage" all have jobs, benefits and retirement plans...while the unemployed have nothing but "hope".
We need to do better for everybody.