Economy

Click here to download a PDF of Bill's full economic plan, "A New Direction For New York."

Fighting for an economy that benefits all New Yorkers

Bill Thompson understands the unique challenges facing both New York City's workforce and its employers. Always a proponent of strong, efficient and effective economic initiatives, Bill is committed to developing an economy that provides all New Yorkers with quality job opportunities that pay living wages.

As Comptroller, Bill Thompson:

• Invested New York City Pension Funds back into our City to better build our economy. Among the investments were $450 million in the City Investment Fund and $200 million in a joint fund with the private sector to spur economic activity in low-, moderate-, and middle-income neighborhoods, including:

o the development of 25,000 square feet of medical office space and 32,000 square feet of retail space in Fort Greene, Brooklyn;

o the recapitalization of two high-quality office buildings on West 125th Street in Central Harlem to attract jobs and businesses to the community;

o the construction of 1.4 million square feet of office space in Long Island City, Queens, which will provide jobs and economic activity to an area hurt by the decline in industrial manufacturing.

• Spearheaded the Banking Development District Program, an initiative that allows City funds to be deposited in new bank branches in underserved communities throughout the five boroughs, nurturing the growth of new business, creating new jobs, and promoting community revitalization through total deposits of $200 million.

• Identified and advocated for the removal of taxes, fines, and fees that unfairly hamper the growth of businesses.

• Supported the burgeoning number of New York City's self-employed and freelancers, advocating for new City economic policies to reflect the growth of the sector.

• Called on the City to increase its support for Career and Technical Education, which teaches marketable skills and better prepares our youth for today's economy.

• Conducted a comprehensive study of New York City's workforce development system, revealing a stunning lack of coordination.

• Recommended the creation of an Office for Skills Education to coordinate and oversee our City's occupational training, employment programs, and workforce development programs.

• Advocated for relief for our City's small businesses and self-employed, which represent 48.5 percent of New York City's private sector employment.

• Joined with actors, crew, producers, and representatives of the Film and Television Industry Unions to demand an extension of the Empire State Tax Credit Program to save production jobs from fleeing New York for other locales. Bill urged the Governor to extend this tax credit to help sustain job creation in this vital New York industry, and asked that the State apply federal stimulus funds for this purpose.

Bill knows we need to refocus our priorities and fight for our middle and working class families. As Mayor, Bill will create a smart growth and fair growth development model and:

Make New York City a true center of entrepreneurial, small business growth. Among the actions Bill Thompson will take to reach this goal are:

• Send laptop-equipped Small Business Advocacy Teams into the field to offer on-location assistance to owners regarding concerns and questions they have with government agencies and to advise them about City programs that can help them cut expenses, hire qualified workers and obtain financing.

• Require a small-business impact statement for new regulations that will have a direct impact on small business.

• Enforce the zoning regulations that were established to protect manufacturers from real estate speculation.

• Look toward creative solutions to spur our economy and create jobs, such as a modification to our City’s film tax-credit. In May, the City introduced legislation in Albany to extend the credit, but the legislation will still sunset in 2011, and the tax credit will actually be reduced. When choosing locations, film and television shows look at five-plus year time horizons, so eliminating this sunset date—and providing increased tax incentives—could very well double our film and television industry and help us become the film capital of the nation.

• With help from low-cost financing, grants and other forms of assistance, replicate nonprofit space like the highly successful Greenpoint Manufacturing & Design Center for occupancy at affordable rents by small manufacturers, creative firms in fields such as architecture and design, high-tech firms, non-profits and others.

• Appoint a task force of small business owners and City officials to review how City tax and financing incentive programs can be made more effective for small business.

• As the recession recedes and City revenue collections recover sufficiently end the double-taxation of Subchapter S corporations through a resident Personal Income Tax credit.

• Connect vacant space with tenants looking for small commercial spaces by developing a centralized, online, searchable database of all available commercial space of under 5,000 square feet.

• Work to expand innovative programs like Brooklyn Healthworks that provide affordable health insurance to small businesses in all boroughs.

• Stop the parking and sanitation ticketing harassment of small business.

• Establish Retail Retention Zones where incentives are offered so that independent retailers can compete for rental space with deep-pocketed chains and banks.

• Restructure our workforce development system to give New Yorkers the skills required to hold jobs that pay good wages. Our uncoordinated, disjointed $925 million workforce development system needs to do a far better job of helping New Yorkers gain the skills they need to hold living-wage jobs and move up the career ladder. As Mayor, Bill Thompson will:

• Establish a Mayor's Office of Skills Development to oversee the entire workforce development system and ensure that these efforts are comprehensively planned, fully coordinated and focused on fields and jobs where career ladders exist as well as sectors where the city seeks a competitive advantage.

• Develop, in conjunction with an overall city economic development plan, a multi-year workforce development plan that ties together programs in public schools, those offered through the Human Resources Administration, the Center for Economic Opportunity, the Division of Youth and Community Development and the City University.

• As done in other cities, undertake extensive local labor market research, including employer surveys, to identify industry sectors confronting skill shortages that should be targeted for public training investments and to assess the efficacy of existing programs.

• Adequately fund high school and adult Career &Technical Education programs -- an investment that pays off by ensuring that employers have the qualified workers they require.

• Integrate Career & Technical Education into the City's workforce/economic development efforts.

• Prepare and regularly update a comprehensive economic opportunity plan that encompasses the entire city and all economic groups and that makes its top priority the creation of living wage jobs and career ladders to the middle class. This plan will be based on strategic deployment of public economic development resources to most effectively and efficiently advance those sectors with the greatest potential to diversify and strengthen the economy and provide living-wage jobs. It will:

• Be based on intensive, ongoing review and analysis of economic and labor market data and trends and close consultation with advisory councils to be established in each industry. This effort will inform the creation of tailored strategies and programs to advance individual sectors. It will aid in identifying potential new industries.

• Require that decisions to invest taxpayer dollars in major development projects undergo rigorous, periodically updated cost, jobs and community-benefit analysis.

• Require denial of public financing for a proposed development unless the new jobs pay living wages.

• Incorporate the results of a thorough examination of the effectiveness of City economic development agencies - the Industrial Development Authority, the Economic Development Corporation and the Department of Small Business Services. This review will identify opportunities for consolidation and efficiencies.

• Develop new mechanisms to expand small-business financing through public/private partnerships and to link entrepreneurs with private-sector seed funds.

This plan will also require that major development projects and re-zonings be beneficial to their communities and take infrastructure into account. It will:

• Ensure that communities are consulted when development projects are being planned.

• Link infrastructure such as mass transit and public schools with development.