Marlene Cintron, tapped to run the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation on Valentine’s Day weekend, attended Senator Jose M. Serrano’s sixth grade graduation.
Cintron has known BOEDC board member Kath Zamechansky for three decades.
She met Senator Ruben Diaz and his son, Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., when an aide for Congressman Robert Garcia in the early 1980s.
“Marlene has been around the block,” Zamechansky said.
The block needs jobs and jobs are what Zamechansky and Diaz Jr., who appointed Cintron, expect the Georgetown Law grad to deliver. The Bronx boasts an unemployment rate near 14 percent.
“I think Marlene will bring a fresh approach to the BOEDC,” Zamechansky remarked. “Straightforward and accessible.”
Diaz Jr. promised that Cintron would be his “point person” on economic development. The BOEDC, which promotes job development and manages several million dollars in federal Empowerment Zone funds, is partly funded through the borough president.
Cintron, Bronx born and raised, shares Diaz Jr.’s vision for the Bronx, Zamechansky said. The former Citibank vice president and Merrill Lynch advisor, who headed Mayor David Dinkins’ Office of Latino Affairs and ran a faith-based non-profit from 2001 to 2007, applauded the borough president when he helped shoot down a shopping mall planned for the Kingsbridge Armory, she said.
In December, Diaz Jr. demanded that The Related Companies and the mayor to guarantee better wages for retail workers at the armory shopping mall. When the developer and mayor refused, the City Council squashed the plan.
“I was proud of [Diaz Jr.],” Cintron said.
Cintron replaces Borough President Adolfo Carrion Jr. appointee Rafael Salaberrios, who resigned as BOEDC president in January to join the Empire State Development Corporation in Albany.
Salaberrios had Related transform a shabby Bronx Terminal Market into the enormous Gateway Center shopping mall, which generated thousands of retail jobs. His tenure also witnessed the construction of the new Yankee Stadium. But Salaberrios took flak from neighborhood leaders who wanted more benefits set aside for borough residents.
Cintron and Diaz Jr. plan to shift focus from big-box development to high-tech jobs and small businesses as well, Zamechansky said. Cintron offered Boricua Village, the nearly completed educational and residential development in Melrose, as an example of healthy growth.
“She wants to help create real jobs for Bronx residents,” Zamechansky noted.
Cintron will rely on her broad experience in business, law and government, where she has many friends. Her last post was executive director of the State Senate’s Puerto Rican & Latino Caucus, chaired by Senator Diaz.
“I don’t think any elected officials have a bad word to say about me,” Cintron chuckled.
Cintron is a Roosevelt High School and Fordham University alum. Diaz Jr. appointed six new BOEDC board members in January.
Reach reporter Daniel Beekman at 718 742-3383 or dbeekman@cnglocal.com
