Discussing Our Five Borough Economic Plan
By Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
New jobs numbers came
out recently, and they show that New York City’s economy
continues to grow. Unemployment is down to 5.9 percent—the
lowest it’s been since before 9/11. During January—the
last month for which there are complete figures—we gained
nearly 14,000 new jobs. That puts us on course to meet or exceed
forecasts that we’ll produce 50,000 new private sector
jobs during 2005.
As good as those statistics
are, we’re not resting on
our laurels. From day one, our administration has said that
creating jobs in all five boroughs is crucial to New York’s
future. And we’re making that a reality. Last week, we
opened “Hunts Point Works,” an initiative that
will help local residents land jobs in the Bronx’s growing
wholesale food industry. And just since the first of this year,
we have also:
Agreed to lease the new Brooklyn Cruise Ship Terminal, which
will create 600 new jobs in Red Hook by the end of the year.
We joined the State
in a “memorandum of understanding” with
Forest City Ratner Companies. The City and State will each
make $100 million in infrastructure improvements to the Atlantic
Yards area. That sets the stage for a $2.5 billion commercial,
residential, and recreational center there—the biggest
development ever outside Manhattan, which will produce 8,500
permanent new jobs and be the home of a professional basketball
team playing in Downtown Brooklyn.
We signed into law
tax incentives to encourage film and TV productions, like
the pilots for five new television series that are now being
shot in New York City. They’re just part of a $5 billion a year industry that supports
100,000 jobs in all five boroughs.
And we launched a new citywide industrial policy that will
foster growth in manufacturing by establishing new industrial
zones from Bathgate to Long Island City to East New York.
Our Administration
is also spurring economic growth in all five boroughs—not just Manhattan—by improving safety,
schools, and the quality of life. Better than 85 percent of
the new school classroom seats created over the last two years
have been outside Manhattan, and nearly 95 percent of the seats
in the new school capital plan will be, too. More than two-thirds
of the 65,000 units of affordable housing we’re building
and preserving are or will be outside Manhattan. And the most
dramatic improvements in street cleanliness have taken place
in such communities as Bushwick, Highbridge, Elmhurst, and
Corona.
Given all that, it’s no surprise that over the last
four years, the biggest jumps in residential property values
have been, first, in Staten Island, Brooklyn, and Queens—where
they’ve gone up by 60 percent—then in the Bronx,
and—last—in Manhattan. That’s just more proof
that by making every borough more livable, more business friendly,
and more economically diverse, we’re putting New York
City’s future prosperity on a strong foundation. #
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