On Thursday, February 20, 2020, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. hosted two events as part of the annual “State of the Borough,” which was themed as a celebration of a “Bronx Decade.”
The first event — the first ever State of the Borough Community Groups Celebration, which took place at The Bronx County Building, Veterans’ Memorial Hall — honored community leaders and organizations from all walks of life for their support and assistance over the past ten years.
The second evening event — also held at The Bronx County Building, Veterans’ Memorial Hall — commemorated the transformative changes that Borough President Diaz helped usher into The Bronx during the past ten years.
Both events featured a video retrospective of his decade’s worth of work, produced by BronxNet. To watch the BronxNet video retrospective presented at the State of The Bronx 2020, visit the following link: https://youtu.be/iHmAaYC4_5Q
During the events, Borough President Diaz emphasized that The Bronx saw incredible gains in real estate development since 2009, including record numbers of new development in the last year. Together, new borough projects advanced by Borough President Diaz have created or retained more permanent jobs, in addition to thousands of construction jobs.
Throughout the day, Borough President Diaz outlined the numerous successes The Bronx has seen in recent years, noting considerable job growth and new attention from national and international media, as well as billions of dollars in new investment that has been leveraged to create jobs, improve infrastructure and build thousands of units of affordable housing.
Since the borough president took office, unemployment has been cut by more than half, with today’s unemployment rate down to 4.4 percent from a reported high of 14.1%. Nearly 100,000 more Bronxites have obtained jobs since the Borough President Diaz took office in May 2009, according to statistics from the New York State Department of Labor.
“My goal has always been to leave The Bronx better than we found it, with more resources than I had when I was here in my youth,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. “I know that we’ve left our mark in the place that I call God’s Country because our quality of life has gotten better overall. Those of us who grew up here have always known that The Bronx is a great place to live, work and raise a family and now the outside world is finally starting to recognize that as well. These changes that we’ve made and all that we’ve done, it’s bigger than any one person. Most of all, I want to thank to everyone who has been a part of these last ten years and contributed to the success and the renaissance of The Boogie Down Bronx.”
For photos of the State of The Bronx 2020 Community Groups Celebration, visit the following link: http://bit.ly/37SWEGd
For photos of the State of The Bronx evening reception, visit the following link: http://bit.ly/38NOmkb