President ruben diaz jr. Held his seventh can you believe it . State of the borough address. There he is. He announced 10 million of his Capital Budget would go towards renovating the Orchard Beach pavilion. Goals for the bronx include becoming the next Silicon Valley. Yeah. He also mentioned millions in new funding for business projects, 23,000 new units of housing. The workforce Participation Rate in the bronx has never been higher. All right, well, thats the overview. Lets get down to the details. [ speaking spanish ] ruben diaz jr. Good to see you, my friend. Good to see you. Housing, education . Well, i want to start with the fact that weve been able to highlight over the last six years all the great stuff thats happening in our borough, and we want people to revisit us. We want people to think differently, think the bronx. Do you think people dont think that way . I mean, i know a part of your job is, yes, cheerleader for the bronx. Yes, look at the bronx, but but if youre always pushing that mission, it says it says to me that the message is not getting out. Unfortunately, we still have weve seen so much of hollywood in the past highlight the negative stereotype, the negative images of what the bronx was in the 70s, the 80s, and the 90s. Yes. What i want people to know is that over the last six years alone, weve seen over 9. 5 billion, private dollars, invested in our borough. Weve seen 68 million square feet of development, housing, retail, commercial. Yes. Weve cut unemployment by more than half from 14. 2 to 6. 5 . 6. 5 , yeah. Weve seen the restoration of our public parks to the tune of over 350 million, and weve seen crime reduced to the point where the bronx is the safest bronx that the world has seen in 50 years. The question then becomes, to what do you attribute all that . How have you created this upward path in those areas . Its been a collaborative effort between elected leaders, the nypd. Mmhmm. Community activists, the community boards, just family, the immigration population. Joe, in this nation, weve seen the president ial debate, where immigrant is really coming out of the Republican Party. Ill say it. We in the bronx, we benefited. 40 of the people who were who lived there were born in another country. Yes. And because they work so faithbased and theyre familyoriented, weve benefited tremendously. The immigrants are coming from where . For the most part, like you said, were the only county of the 62 counties in the state of new york where the majority of the population are latinos. Yes. But theyre coming from africa, west africa. Theyre bangladeshi. Theyre albanians. I mean, we are really growing. Central and south america. Absolutely. I mean, you know, latinos latinos are growing. And because of that, were safer. Because of that, jobs are being created. Because of that, i was able to highlight not only the good things that happened in the bronx but also speak of some of these citywide issues that are important to us in the bronx and offer some solutions. Nice segue. The mayors comprehensive housing plan, you say, is not an effective way to meet the Housing Needs of lowincome new yorkers in the bronx. Why not, and how would you improve it . Well, its i support the mayor conceptually in making sure that we have more of new york. Yes, thats a big part of his initiative. But the problem is that the plan that he has now, he wants the entire city, all the borough boards, all of the borough president s, to vote on something. The the proposal is about this thick. They wanted us to do it in 60 days, and its painting the whole city with one broad stroke, and we in the bronx alone have been rezoning areas 14 areas of rezoning since ive been the borough president in a neighborhoodbyneighborhood approach. One size does not fit all. Well, he wants to rezone, too, the mayor, you know, to but in his rezoning, hes saying that if you rezone in the entire city, then you have to have this. This. Sort of level of affordable housing. Yes. Sometimes we we leave out those who make less than those levels. And in some areas where we need to go even higher to retain our professionals, thats not happening in his under his proposal. Under his proposal, he would do away with parking spaces. Yes. In areas that may need them. Looking at the height of buildings, where, in some areas, we want higher buildings. In some areas, we dont. So, we believe that if its not broke, dont fix it. Mmhmm. Weve been able to do a neighborhoodbyneighborhood approach. Theres no reason why we should adopt this and do it so hastily. You know, the the something so profound and so important as the development and and the reimagining of the city of new york. Yeah. Should not happen in such a short period of time. You want to invest 10 million in the Orchard Beach pavilion. Specifically, what do you want done there . What needs to be fixed . Well, if you look at if you look at Orchard Beach, its its a beautiful beach. It is. But it needs a lot of work. The pavilion, because of the salt air. Yeah. Has been deteriorated, the the infrastructure. Yeah. Its gonna take a lot more money than 10 million, but what i did is, i put this is a deposit, and ive challenged the delegations and the assembly, the senate, and the city council, as well as asked the governor to match me. And i have to say that im very in my borough who have all said, you know what . We need to help this out. Orchard beach last year saw over 1. 5 million visitors. Well, that tells you, its a gem. Yes. You know, ill tell you, its a gem that has to be you cant let it decay. Or not you, but it cant be let to decay. Not only cant we let it decay, we have to make it so that its a worldclass venue so that we can have. An attraction. A lot of concerts but also have people could you imagine folks with wedding parties. Yeah. Or quinceanera or even going to a restaurant there with your wife in the middle of winter . Yes. It should be used. Year round, year round. Allyearround purpose use. Many more questions. Sit tight. When we come back, more on the state of borough of the bronx. Still ahead on tiempo, latina 50 plus newly created organization formed to honor hispanic female pioneers over 50. Sit tight. Welcome aboard my starship. Ahoy, mateys its full of things i love. Like me brave crew. And my fellow Space Adventures and free of things i dont. Like aliens. Just like eye patches. And when its time to refuel, i eat chex cereal. Its full of stuff we pirates need. No artificial flavors, and its glutenfree. Excelsior eat up, me hearties keep it down im exploring the galaxy. Welcome back to tiempo. Weve been focusing on the borough with the largest percentage of latinos in new york the bronx. The bronx recent the borough president recently held his state of the borough address his seventh. Ruben diaz jr. Here with us to provide some insight behind some of his proposals. Regarding legionnaires disease, ive got to touch on that because your words were pretty harsh. The city failed us during this really . Why so . You cant deny that, joe. When you look at in the span of 2 1 2 weeks, we had 130 people who were sick. Yeah. And 13 died. What would you have done . Whenever that happens and there was a slow reaction by the city, then i got to call it for what it is, and what the city should have done is what we proposed initially, which was database of where all these cooling towers are. Yes. Making sure that they get inspected, that they get cleaned up on a periodic basis. They need to start doing now that again, and, obviously, the law was passed that we were able to introduce with councilwoman vanessa gibson. Yeah. And we also need to inspect other parts of buildings and and and sewage to make sure that we dont have an outbreak in the bronx or in the city of new york. Its one thing to propose that after the outbreak. Its another thing to have proposed that before the outbreak. Right. So so, we again, we thought that the city initially had this database. Okay. And it wasnt until this outbreak came about that we when we asked the pertinent questions. Mmhmm. That we saw, no, we dont have a mechanism to identify these cooling systems, to inspect them, and to clean them up. You want to make the bronx the Silicon Valley of of new york, or the east coast. Youve got why not . Well, how are you gonna do that, and is it are the wheels in motion to make that happen already . Well, when you look at my Capital Funding in schools, weve been highlight weve been putting a lot of money into weve been doing things like bronx the bronx coding initiative. Yes. Having teachers train them so they can train their kids, and we also have been bringing in folks from the tech industry. You look at the sunshine studios and the banknote building in hunts point. Yes, yes. And organizations like doran jones are working with preschoolers. Currently, right now, 150 people in the bronx are working, Testing Software for the financial industry. Right. These jobs would have been outsourced to other countries in the past. Were doing that in the bronx, and the minimum salary is 46,000 a year. Thats attractive. We have the space, we have the interest, we have the intellect, and and if silicon if Silicon Valleys looking to the east coast, were certainly doing everything that we can to invite them to the bronx. Youve criticized the mayor a little bit regarding the issue of homelessness, and homelessness is certainly an issue, not only in the bronx but across the borough, across the city. The mayor has acknowledged that perhaps they couldve done more in that area. Your housing plan includes a provision reserving apartments for what is it . 1 3 of employed. Right. My question out of that would be, if you have apartments and new developments that should go to Homeless People who are employed, what, therefore, becomes the incentive for them to ultimately get housing on their own that they would pay for . Well, you got to understand, the face of homelessness is that, on any given night, we have about 40 latino, over 50 africanamerican. Yeah. 40 of those people, the 60,000 people in the homeless shelter, are children. Okay. Theyre not the criminals or the pedophiles that everybody thinks they are, right . And a lot of these folks, 1 3, have a salary. These folks are in a homeless shelter only because for many different reasons. They either had a fire. Maybe they were kicked out because of a landlord. Yeah. Maybe because they didnt have the a good Credit Rating so they can. Establish. Be qualified for an apartment. So, what we need to do is work with those folks, and weve doing that with sprint bank in the bronx. Mmhmm. Getting their Credit Scores and their Credit Rating up, but the city, when the developer or landlord comes to us as part of the 200,000 units. What we need to do is say, if you want our assistance, if you want a benefit, a public benefit, then you have to benefit the public. If you want charity, you have to be charitable. Why not dedicate an x amount of those units to people who are working, who are responsible, who are in the homelessshelter reason do you put a limit on how long they can stay there so that no. No, it should be their apartment. Theres something called the link program. Mmhmm. Link program is a program by yes. That says, regardless of what your salary is, you would only have to pay 30 of your salary and the city will pick up the rest. Okay. Of that rent. Yes. So, the landlord would be incentivized cause theyre getting full rate on their apartment. Mmhmm. The personnel, whatever their salary is, whether its minimum wage or somewhere a little bit above that. Right. Now they are able to pay that 30 . They get a permanent housing unit instead of us paying even more to house them in shelter. Yeah. Or to have this revolving door in temporary housing. We got a minute left. I got two more questions for tell me about the effort to bring metro north stations to the eastern side of the bronx. Were almost there. We have it weve been this is an idea thats been kicked yeah. We dusted it off. It. Okay. We got the legislature about to vote on this, and the mta just approved over a billion dolllars for four metro north stations. This is transformative, joe. This is gonna change not only the bronx but the entire region. As someone who rides the metro north regularly, yes, that would be a big change. So, thats coming soon, maybe in 2020. 30 seconds left. You want to be the next mayor of new york city . [ both laugh ] i. [ both laugh ] thats like, you know. Saved the goodie for the last. Oh, boy, well, you know what . Ill tell you this. I have one more term. Yes. If the bronx will have me, i have every intention of running for reelection. The fact is that if something arises in the future. Mmhmm. Then we have to seriously consider it. Shoot straight with me. I mean, it would be nice to have the first latino mayor of new york city be ruben diaz jr. It would be nice. A lot of folks in the city of new york and those who left the city of new york have always had report. Good afternoon. Im dan harris at headquarters in new york. We are interrupting regular programming to bring you breaking news. Former first Lady Nancy Reagan has died. She was 94 years old. Mrs. Reagan had been living in bel Air California and had been in Failing Health in recent years. Once said her life began when she met her husband and future president Ronald Reagan in 1951. Their close relationship over the next five decades was seen as a modern love story, a model love story especially during their first years as the first family of california and then as president and first lady from 1981 until 1989. Mrs. Reagan returned to public life after her husband announced he had al sooimers disease in 1994. She advocated for millions of from that disease. Her few public appearances centered mainly on keeping her husbands legacy alive as well as meeting with the leaders of the Republican Party who continued to seek her out. Many of you may remember moments like these, the former first lady paying a quiet visit to her husbands grave as she did every year on the anniversary of the president s death. Abcs cecelia vega looks back at the extraordinary life of nancy reagan. Reporter at the 1996 Republican National convention her husband. It moved the delegates and the nation. So let me close with ronnys words, not mine. It showed that part of her legacy would be how she carried on his. Never forget your heroic origins, never fail to seek divine guidance, and never, godgiven optimism. It was that optimism that carried them to the end. 2004. Nancy shared her grief with the nation. Mrs. Reagans journey began as Ann Francis Robins in 1921. After graduating from Smith College she became an actress appearing on broadway and in hollywood films. In 52 she married Ronald Reagan. They would make one film together, her last. In 1956 hellcats of the navy. Shifting roles from wife to mother, to patty and ron jr. And maureen from president reagans first marriage. I Ronald Reagan. President of the United States in 1981. Nancy right there by his side. She brought some hollywood glamour back to the white house but her style wasnt as always appreciated and was criticized for accepting a Million Dollars worth of designer dresses and expensive china. She was always fiercely protective of her husband. After he was shot in 1981, she became obsessed with his safety. One former chief of staff revealing mrs. Reagan consulted an as trolgs to plan the president s schedule and she even coached him on what to say to reporters. Doing everything we can. As first lady she also campaigned against teen drug and alcohol abuse with the now famous slogan just say no. All of us thank you and president reagan for helping us just say no to drugs. Cause many republicans disagreed with, Stem Cell Research which could some day help others with alzheimers. The Republican Party was not the center of her life, Ronald Reagan was and she saw an immediate potential application of Stem Cell Research to the person she cared about most in all the world. Her Public Perception has undergone a profound transformation over the years widely viewed in her final decade as a leading political light. She was endlessly courted by republican contenders constantly cited as a par gone of genuine conservative virtue. But what she will be most remembered for, the essential cause from which she never wavered from providing iron strength and absolute devotion to her husband. All my days our love is here together were going a long, long way and they did go a long, long way. Nancy reagan dead today at 94. Lets bring in abc news chief White House Correspondent jonathan karl. Good morning to you. Can you tell us more about the influence she had within the Republican Party especially in these later years and at this moment now where the Republican Party is in such turmoil. The timing is just incredible, dan. Nancy reagan as you heard cecilia refer to in her story was often controversial as first lady and fought with some of reagans top advisers and she was the guardian of Ronald Reagan, above all things, jealously protecting him from anybody who she saw that would at all. In the years since he died she became the protector of the Ronald Reagan legacy and when you think of the towering figure that reagan is and has been in this party. This is really over the last several decades become the party of lincoln and the party of Ronald Reagan. And it was nancy reagan who carried that flame, kept that flame lit every president ial election cycle, the republican candidates for president would come out to the Reagan Library. There would be, you know, there would be a debate there invited personally by nancy reagan. In the years in between the president ial election years, being invited to come and give a speech at the Reagan Library at was a sign of aformation. She was the guardian of that legacy and the idea that she is dying on this day, just as the Republican Party is facing its greatest crisis since Abraham Lincoln accepted the nomination in 1960 is quite remarkable. For what do you think she will be most remembered . Many people of our generation remember just saying no. But for what do you think shell be most remembered by history . Well, i think shell be remembered as the one who carried the flame of Ronald Reagan that guarded his legacy, that kept his legacy alive. She was an active first lady, obviously the just say no campaign was the thing she lady. But she remained a major figure long after Ronald Reagan left as he left the white house, obviously struggling with alzheimers. She was the one who was the public face of the reagan legacy of Ronald Reagan himself and the way she handled his struggle with alzheimers in the remaining years of his life when he fell almost completely out of public view and she was the one who spoke for reagan, she was the one who was the guardian of that legacy. Jon have we heard from her at all or in recent months as the Republican Party became obsessed with sort of internal battles over the role of donald trump and is there anything that she said in the past that would allow us to extrapolate to what her opinion of this situation might be . We had not heard from her, you know, this last debate at the Reagan Library earlier on in this crazy primary cycle, it was nancy reagan but in poor health she was not present. Shes been struggling in terms of her health. Its one of the questions that i know i have had and so many people have had, what would reagan think of what was going on here . What is nancy reagan thinking about what is happening to this party . Ultimately to the legacy of Ronald Reagan and unfortunately 94 years old we did not hear from her in her final months. Stand by. I want to bring in a special correspondent for vanity fair. He has written about Ronald Reagan and nancy reagan and their relationship. Bob, are you with us . Yes. The phone. Bring us a little bit if you will into the emotional core of her relationship with ronald well, nancy loved Ronald Reagan with her whole being. You know, this was a total meeting of the minds and it was a romantic relationship that worked on every level. That love gave him the confidence and support and optimism really after his mother, she was definitely the person who he was closest to by far. And they were very much a team. Starting when they married in 1952 and were both out of work actors 14 years later, he was governor. She paved the way in so many ways. She sought out the wives of powerful republicans in california who made his run for governor possible. Scenes of the personnel director of every reagan operation campaign. Including in the white house. She made sure he had good people around him and when they werent good she was the one who had to sort of organize their exit because Ronald Reagan didnt like to fire anybody. He was too nice a guy. One can not exaggerate how important her role was as first lady. Its hard to forget that moment where hes facing the press and she feeds him the line and he repeat it. I just want to read here a tweet from their son. He says im saddened by the passing of my step mother, she is once again with the man she loved. God bless. Can you give us a sense of the impact that Ronald Reagans health troubles, his struggles his wife nancy reagan . She was devastated by the news but she described to me when he was told by the doctor he definitely had alzheimers how he went right to his desk and wrote that beautiful let tore the american people. She never left his side. She would come to new york when he was still not so bad for a day or two and she called him every night at 10 00 new york time. She would call him. Once he really took a fall at age 90 and then deteriorated much more, she basically never left the house. She went to lunch up at Bel Air Hotel around the corner and couldnt wait to get home to him. I think patty davis, their daughter confirmed that with nancy at home just before he he opened his eyes and looked at nancy and it was like he was saying goodbye. Its one of these love stories thats almost unbelievable. But its really true. The whole thing is true. An incredible love story and it played out in public for so many years. We have just a moment left. I wonder if you might comment a bit on what jon karl was talking about a moment ago, about what nancy reagan might think about whats happening right now in the Republican Party and the internal warfare thats erupted over donald trump . I think she would be appalled. We spoke just last week but it was a brief talk and didnt get around to talking about this. She was very politically aware and always favored the more pragmatic and dignified kind of leaders, politicians like james baker. These were her allies in the white house. Command which is republicans do not make ill of each other. I think whats going on, this kind of circus i cant see pleasing her. You know, she always took the high road and so did her husband. I regret that i wasnt able to actually get her opinion on whats going on, but i assume she wasnt too thrilled. Yeah. I think you are not alone in that assumption. Bob, i want to thank you for your insight and expertise on this day when we are marking the passing of the former first Lady Nancy Reagan, she died at age 94. Born on july 6th, 1921. She had been living in bel air, california and she had been in Failing Health in recent years. Our thanks again to bob and jon karl. All day right here on abc news. Announcer this has been a special report from abc news. Here and now, the Program Featuring the news and interests of the africanamerican community. Heres your host, sandra bookman. Coming up, remembering dr. Martin luther king jr. And the day his life was saved in harlem. Also ahead, cracking down on deed fraud. The new york city commissioner of finance talks about his plans to protect the elderly. Plus, lifechanging assistance for women and children living below the poverty line in new jersey. Were gonna introduce you to the york street project