Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. threw away the oft-formulaic State of the Borough speech he’s delivered over the last decade for a retrospective of sorts while honoring a who’s who of civic activists, educators, and captains of industry. His penultimate speech at Borough Hall comes a few weeks after announcing he won’t be running for New York City mayor after all.

Diaz, 47, told reporters he’s “at peace” with his decision, mentioning that the Bronx certainly has a crop of elected officials ready to pick up the baton. He mentioned by name Assembly Members Marcos Crespo, Michael Blake, Victor Pichardo, and Latoya Joyner, state Sen. Gustavo Rivera,  and Council Members Vanessa Gibson and Rafael Salamanca Jr. “The list goes on and on,” he said.

For now, Diaz reminded reporters he still has got two years to go before retiring from public life and is focused on realizing projects that have fallen on the wayside, notably the Kingsbridge National Ice Center project that’s years behind schedule. Other projects include restoring the Orchard Beach pavilion, seeing the Bronx Children’s Museum and hip hop museum built, and seeing the early stages of the Harlem River waterfront.

“Less than two years sounds like a long time, but what we’re talking about is 21 or 22 more months. So that’s a lot to close out,” Diaz told reporters shortly after his address.

But it wasn’t what lied ahead or taking pop shots at Mayor Bill de Blasio that stood front and center as in years past, but what Diaz has already checked off. In what seemed like an informal 40-minute speech touting 10 years of progress for the Bronx, Diaz noted that crime and the jobless rate–two pressing issues where the Bronx grossly led in–have plunged dramatically. Meantime, interest in the Bronx grew under his tenure.

Diaz credited the men and women of the Bronx for that interest. “We wanted to do it in a way where the media and the world sees who’s actually behind this. Not the borough president. They are,” said Diaz, citing Diego Beekman Houses CEO Arline Parks and Community Board 2 chair Bobby Crespo as champions to the Bronx. “So these aren’t just community folks who make the Bronx better, but in many cases these are all people who have a story with me.”

Among those honored was Cyrille Njikeng, a resident of Bedford Park and member of Community Board 7 honored for taking it upon himself to clean up the unkempt underpass at the Kingsbridge Road B/D station with his three children, Zayne, and twin sisters Grace and Melodie.

Njikeng captured the gesture on video, later posting it to Twitter, which later went viral. It grabbed the attention of Diaz, who later honored his children for cleaning up the space. Njikeng, who works as executive director for the CUNY student senate, was soon appointed him to the board in August.

“At the end of the day it wasn’t about me going viral. It was about me teaching my children about community and in teaching community that we can live in a better community,” said Njikeng. “I did that every weekend. I’m still doing it.”

Nikeng was among the 12 community board members (one for each Bronx community board) honored by Diaz in the address all ranging from different sectors. They were among the five categories that Diaz sought to focus on, which included those who work in education, senior services, and LGTBQ services. Those helping military veterans also received honors, including Joe Mondello and Roxana Gonzalez.

“We’ve always done it with individual events. But I’m always grateful and thankful for those people who really do the work,” said Diaz. “And we’re celebrating ten years. So you can’t celebrate ten years and say, ‘I did all of this.’ We’re celebrating ten years like we did all of this. We should be proud.”