Norwood News

Borough President Adolfo Carrión gave his final State of the Borough speech on Feb. 20 at Lehman College.

If you were looking for a preview of what he plans to do in his new job as urban policy czar in the Obama administration, this wasn’t it. Instead, Carrión offered a retrospective of State of the Borough speeches past and took credit for the Bronx’s economic development since 2002.

And despite plenty of eloquent lines about the power and beauty of American cities, he didn’t offer any details of what he wants to accomplish in his new role as the first ever Director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs, a position he accepted just two days before the speech, following months of speculation. He shed no light on the President’s priorities on this front, either; all of his references to the new President were to a speech Obama gave last summer.

Carrión did say that “Neglect is not a policy for America’s urban areas,” and we need “a policy looking at metropolitan areas, not just cities.”

He also said those metro areas need federal help. “We shouldn’t be succeeding despite Washington,” he said. “We should be succeeding with a hand from Washington.” But he didn’t provide details.

Surprise guest Sen. Charles Schumer introduced Carrión and crowed about the money New York will get from the federal stimulus bill and the advantage of having Carrión in the White House —an appointment he took some credit for.

“For the first time in this stimulus package, New York gets a lot more back than we sent to Washington,” he said.

Carrión’s arrival at his new job on Monday coincided with negative publicity in two of his hometown newspapers. The New York Times reported on unfulfilled promises and the Daily News investigated his approval of large Bronx development projects shortly after receiving campaign contributions from the firms involved.