Talk Bronx New York

Ruben Diaz Jr. will present his achievements and goals for the Bronx in his first State of the Borough speech.

 Taking on development, jobs, living wages, gun violence - and a snowstorm - Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. will present his achievements and goals for the Bronx today in his first State of the Borough speech.

Key among his goals, says his office, will be a new plan to develop the Kingsbridge Armory, after he and others led the fight to kill a plan for a mall there.

A thousand invited guests at the Evander Childs High School campus are expected to hear Diaz announce a task force to develop new ideas for the cavernous, white-elephant armory’s future, such as manufacturing and recreation.

Diaz was pilloried by Mayor Bloomberg and construction unions for pushing the City Council to kill the plan for the heavily subsidized mall, over his insistence retailers there pay “a living wage” to workers - $10 an hour with benefits, or $11.50 without benefits.

He is expected today to again raise the issue of living wages for projects receiving heavy city subsidies and tax breaks, and announce he has partnered with Bronx City Council members Anabel Palma and Oliver Koppell on legislation requiring that developers who receive taxpayer help make their project pay workers a living wage.

The borough president also is expected to announce a long-held dream of former borough presidents and business leaders - to bring a quality hotel to the Bronx, working with developers and the New York Hotel Trade Council to identify sites, and generate interest from hotel operators.

Former Borough President Fernando Ferrer had a master plan calling for a hotel as part of a Yankee Village near Yankee Stadium. The new Gateway Center Mall near there has been viewed as a possible site. Some have suggested a hotel near Fordham University, with the Bronx Zoo, New York Botanical Garden and Arthur Avenue as nearby draws. Read more..

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Deputy Inspector Jesus Raul Pintos, sitting at his desk at the 72nd Precinct in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood

 SUNSET PARK — The newly appointed deputy inspector of the 72nd Police Precinct in Sunset Park, Jesus Raul Pintos, wanted to quietly celebrate his latest promotion with a few friends and family, but his father had other ideas. Last November he organized a surprise party for his son and invited more than 70 people.

Pintos’ recent promotion is the culmination of his lifetime ambition to join the New York Police Department. At 38, he has achieved a rank that is usually given to police officers in their mid 40s. What makes this achievement even more remarkable is that Pintos never formally graduated from high school.

“I never expected to get this far when I was a young kid,” said Pintos who speaks with an inflection of a Spanish accent, his first language. “I wasn’t a good student. I dropped out of high school, so I couldn’t see myself becoming something big.” Read more..

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