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Seth Pinsky, President NYCEDC, Re-Defines Economic Strategy for New York City's Future 6/10/2011

President of New York City Economic Development Corporation outlines challenges for NYC's Future during a speech at the Queens College Breakfast Forum

Meeting hosted by Queens College Business Forums and its sponsors including Queens Borough Presidents Office, QEDC, and the Queens Chamber of Commerce

Seth Pinsky, President, New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC)         Full video coverage and follow up Q&A are available in the left column in 6 segments of approximately three to five minutes each. nycedc_seth_pinsky_20110610_cuny seth_pinsky_QA_01 queens_college_20110610_01 forum_queens_collage_20110510_01 queens_college_forum_20110610_end dutch_kills_civic_association_01

Flushing, New York June 10, 2011 - Seth Pinsky told a group of business leaders gathered at a Queens breakfast forum that New York City had to be more innovative in order to compete effectively against world class cities that have emerged as modernized during the past twenty years. Failure to re-invent NYC as a center for future industries will put the city at risk. Pinsky outlined the plan which is driven by Mayor Bloomberg's commitments. OurLIC attended the Queens College Breakfast Forum and video recorded the entire event.  The video recording is presented with this article. Watch here for highlights. HIGHLIGHTS Looking back to May of 2008, at that time the financial markets were seizing up, and the major financial institutions were teetering on insolvancy. The NYT predicted a severe recession. At the height of the recession, New York City experienced an unemployment rate of 10.5%. The private sector in NYC shed 170,000 jobs, and the citys tax collection plunged by $3.0 billion in one year alone. Though the impact was real and serious, during this downturn NYC entered the recession later than the rest of the country, had less impact than the rest of the country, and emerged earlier than the rest of the country with a more robust recovery. Pinsky sites examples such as the fact that NYC shed jobs for a period of a year, as compared to a period of two years for the rest of the US. Another example is that housing prices dropped only 14% as compared to housing prices in the US dropping 32%. Since 2007, the nation has lost 6.0% of its private sector jobs compared to less than 1.0% for NYC. The story in Queens is consistent with that of NYC as a whole. Over the past 12 months, unemployment in Queens averaged 8.2%, lower than the city and lower than the US averages. Housing prices in Queens are down 15.0% which is half the drop seen nationally.   BLOOMBERG Administration new view of Economic Development The world around us is changing. Technology is advancing at lightening speed, lowering barriers to entry to industries that NYC has traditionally dominated. Where once we viewed our competitors as cities like Chicago or Los Angeles, or even London and Paris, today we must compete with fast growing cities like Shanghi, Mumbai. There are cities that are feeding off of the growth of markets. Pinsky alerts us that these cities have becom powerhouses that are threating the unquestioned economic supremacy of the United States....and the leadership of New York City as the center of Business in the US. Pinsky point out that until 1993, the Gross City Product of New York City was larger than the Gross Domestic Product of the nation of China. The same was true for India until the mid 1990's. Today India's economy is 2.5x that of New York and China is more than 9x that of New York. To dramatize this, he points out that it might have been inevitable that New York City, with a population of 8 million, would not continue to generate more economic activity than countries that encompass more than one third of humanity. This trend is not moving in our favor. "In my opinion, the choice is fairly simple", said Pinsky. "We either fail to adapt, and see our relative positions slowly diminish; or; we change and we thrive". In other words, NYC does not have a choice. For this reason, the Bloomberg administration has spent the last two years rethinking how economic development is done, aiming to become the 21st Centure Capital of Innovation. This new view of economic development touches everything New York City does. Approach to Business Assistance Preservation and expansion of one of NYC's greatest strengths, the diversity of its economy. This is why over 100 initiative have been launched over the past two years aimed at improving NYC's standing in three categories of industries. Those in which NYC is tradionally strong. Those in which we have advantages, but for one reason or another we have traditionally lagged. Those that are yet to emerge. 1. Those in which NYC is tradionally strong. Industries such as Financial Services, Fashion, and Media Sectors, Pinsky says that they are working to help companies change from 20th Century business models to 21st Century models. Just this week, Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced initiatives to help the Industrial Sector. The Industrial Sector accounts for 16% of NYC's private sector employment, including 150,000 employees in Queens alone. Deputy Mayor Robert Steel led an extensive interagency review to determine how the Industrial Sector is meeting its challenges and how NYC is helping. Three areas were revealed that need attention. A. The scarcity of industrial space that is appropriate in size, condition, and configuration for modern industrial users. B. The limited financing resources available to smaller industrial firms. C. A perceived lack of support from NYC. Twenty two programs were developed to address each of these areas. For example, an innovative new program that the city will shortly be launching that aims to provide millions of dollars of city capital to landlords willing to retrofit currently obsolete space in exchange for a long term agreement by those landlords to maintain the space for industrial businesses going forward. Another example of a program that EDC is in the process of developing, in partnership with Goldman Sach and its 10,000 small businesses initiative. This will.create a $10.0 million dollar fund that will provide financing to the cities food manufacturere, more than 30% are located in Queens. The investment initiative in the industrial sector represent $100.0 million. It will revitalize or preserve up to 9.0 million square feet of space, create or retain up to 30,000 industrial jobs and generate annual payroll earnings of over $900.0 million. 2. Those in which we have advantages, but for one reason or another we have traditionally lagged. The Film and Television industry is an example. In 2000 this sector employed 30,000.  In 2003, this sectors employment base dropped to 20,000.  It had been in decline until the state and city developed a series of targted initiatives to restore NYC's standing. It includes creating a new tax credit program for NY based productions but also investments in and support for Kaufman Astoria Studios and Silvercup. Today the inudstry is booming. Since January, the industry has attracted more than 70 movie and tv projects which, combined, will generate more than $1.9 billion in spending and wages. The city is looking to create similar outcomes in bioscience and clean technology. 3. Those that are yet to emerge. To accomplish this, the city is focused on promoting entrepreneurship throughout the five boroughs regardless of the sector in which it takes place. Today, businesses with fewer than 5 employees make up 63.0% of all businesses in NYC. Businesses with fewer than 100 employees make up 98% of the companies in NYC. Initiatives have included training and a network of nine business incubators, one of which is the Entrepreneurs Space in Long Island City launched in January with the QEDC with Seth Bornstein.  The Entrepreneurs Space already has 100 clients seeking to start food related businesses. We have to do more.  We need to maintain the city's infrastructure. A city must invest in its future. Today the need to invest more than ever. The Bloomberg administration has put forth CAPITAL COMMITMENTS of $27 billion over the next four years. This is $10 billion more than the four year period preceding Bloomberg's election. The investments are in brick and mortar, pipes and wires, and also in parks and schools and other amenities. In some cases, even whole new neighborhoods. Willets Point and Long Island City / Hunters Point South are examples. Willets Point is environmentally compromised which has prevented development. Today the city owns 95% of the land so that it can be developed. An RFP has bee issued for Willets Point for development including construction of new sanitary and storm water sewers, an main watermain connections. The RFP is looking for private sector partner to develop new housing (35% affordable), retail space,. a hotel, and two acres of open space. The first phase will mean 1.3 million square feet of new construction generating 4,600 construction jobs and 1,800 permanent jobs. In February, the City announce that it had selected Phipps Houses and Related Company to develop 800 units of housing at Hunters Point South. Completion is scheduled for 2014. Construction is already underway for roadways and a new school at Hunters Point South. Upon completion, the new development will create 100,000 square feet of retail space as well as a brand new, state of the art waterfront park. The Bloomberg administration has also focused on making Long Island City more accessible and more desireable. For example, a new ferry service is being launched starting June 14th that will connect the Hunters Point waterfront with destinations along the Manhattan and Brooklyn waterfront. Gotham Center in Queensboro Plaze is another example of Long Island City development. NEW PROJECT - GAME CHANGER "If money were not an object, what single initiative would transform NYC?" What consistently came through, Pinsky said, was "If we really want to compete in some of the fastest growing sectors of the economy, it is absolutely essential that we increase the number of engineers and applied scientists in the five boroughs". NYC has a good starting point.  It already has more than 100 Colleges and University and over 600,000 students. In December 2010, Deputy Mayor Robert Steel and Mayor Bloomberg issued a challenge to schools around the world. In exchange for City capital and City owned land, would commit with NYC to create incremental, world class engineering activity somewhere within the five boroughs. So far, eighteen proposals have been submitted from twenty-seven top tier institutions, representing eight nations on three continents. Pinsky says that "NYC will emerge stronger and more vibrant than ever before". HIGHLIGHTS of Q&A to be continued. NOTE: Full Video is available with this article.   Seth Pinsky, President, New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC)

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