Gotham Gazette

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  • Time for the Big Banks to Reinvest in New York City

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    Eric Adams at a Brooklyn business (photo: @BKBoroHall)


    At the height of the pandemic New York City did the unthinkable in the city that never sleeps: it closed up shop. To stop the spread and protect lives, we shut down everything—including the tens of thousands of small businesses that are the backbone of our local economy.

    The sacrifice was immense. New Yorkers gave up their livelihoods and put their American dreams on hold. Some lost everything.

    It did not have to be this way. One good thing that Washington did during the crisis was to fund a lifeline for small

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  • Stringer Plan Calls for Revamping City Workforce Development, Including Free Community College

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    CUNY grads (photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayoral Photography Office)


    New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer proposed a plan Wednesday to revamp the city's workforce development strategy, including by making CUNY community colleges tuition-free and expanding job training opportunities for people at career crossroads.

    The pandemic has decimated jobs in New York City -- with unemployment at roughly 16%, though some estimates say the “real” figure is much higher -- and shifted forecasts about the future of industries across the board. Advocates and policymakers are looking for ways to

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  • Members of De Blasio's Small Business Advisory Council Frustrated by Lack of Communication, Progress

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    Mayor de Blasio gets ice cream (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


    An advisory council created by Mayor Bill de Blasio to speak on behalf of the city’s small businesses hasn’t convened in months and some of its members say their concerns aren’t being heard as the city charts a stunted recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

    In April, de Blasio announced the creation of several task forces to help lead the city’s recovery efforts, including advisory councils dedicated to specific sectors such as large and small businesses, health care, education,

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  • Borough President Candidates Talk Future of Manhattan Economy, Small Businesses

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    (l-r) Mark Levine; Elizabeth Caputo; Brad Hoylman; Kim Watkins; Ben Kallos


    The five Democratic candidates running to be the next Manhattan Borough President via the upcoming 2021 election gathered by Zoom on Wednesday for a candidate forum hosted by the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, with topics focused on the devastated local economy and small businesses in the borough.

    The participating candidates, seeking to replace term-limited Democrat Gale Brewer, were Elizabeth Caputo, a former community board chair on the Upper West Side;

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  • A Critical But Too Often Ignored Piece to New York City’s Economic Recovery

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    A resource fair (photo: Edwin J. Torres/ mayoral Photography Office)


    Getting people back to work safely after the record-breaking job losses seen during the pandemic is on everyone’s mind. While this will require a multi-faceted approach, the frontline workforce field, i.e. the professionals responsible for training and connecting marginalized jobseekers with employers

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  • Economic Development in a Pandemic: Let's Launch The Bronx Reconstruction Program

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    A ground-breaking in the Bronx (photo: Jeff Reed/City Council)


    Recent events have made it abundantly clear that the Bronx needs new, creative solutions. To rebound and rebuild stronger from the crises we face, we need policies that bring equity to economic opportunity; sustainable, liveable neighborhoods with great local schools; resilient communities; affordable, accessible transportation; and local input from the community about decisions affecting the community.

    In that spirit and as part of my candidacy for New York City Council in the Bronx’s District 11, I am

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  • How New York City Might Begin to Revive Its Decimated Tourism Industry

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    Visitors to the Statue of Liberty (photo: Spencer T Tucker/City Council)


    New York City’s tourism industry has a long road to recovery and a lot to learn from other cities like London, which has kick-started its economy through hyperlocal tourism, to come out of the coronavirus pandemic recession. During a virtual policy forum this week hosted by the Center for an Urban Future, top

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  • Our Chance to Get Queens, and the City, Working Again

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    The authors write about opportunity for Queens (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    The last several months have taken a tremendous toll on our local economy. Over 20 percent of New York City residents were unemployed in June, a level not seen since the Great Depression. Thanks to our frontline heroes and the leadership of our elected officials, we’ve flattened the curve and New York is winning its battle against COVID-19. Now it’s time to get New Yorkers back to work.

    Through a community-centered process, with buy-in from local community

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  • $40 Billion in Unemployment Paid to 3.3 Million New Yorkers as Pandemic Devastates New York Workforce

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    New. Yorkers seeking help (photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayor's Office)


    As a new report indicates unemployment in New York City may be as high as 33%, the state’s labor commissioner testified at a Thursday legislative hearing that since early March, the New York Department of Labor (DOL) has paid almost $40 billion in unemployment benefits to more than 3.3 million New Yorkers, compared to $2.1 billion in all of 2019.

    The impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and its fallout on the state’s workforce was the subject of an oversight hearing held by both houses of the State Legislature

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  • How Development Should Be Decided in New York City

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    City Council (photo: Emil Cohen/City Council)


    We are at a critical turning point in New York City’s history. Large-scale development projects, pushed by big real estate interests and the business class after September 11, 2001, did not give New Yorkers the promised security to avoid the Great Recession, or the next crisis, COVID-19. Meanwhile, a lack of investments in social programs shredded the social safety net New Yorkers were told would save them if they lost their jobs or homes.

    If there is any time to insist on accountability before approving massive

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  • Now More Than Ever, New York City Needs Leaders to Welcome Jobs

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    Council Member Menchaca & Speaker Johnson (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    All of us who care about New York City – and if you are a regular reader of Gotham Gazette that surely includes you – are worried about its future. COVID-19 has shuttered our economy and seriously impaired the lives and livelihoods of millions of our residents. It is clear that things will never go back to the way they were and that we must turn this disaster into an opportunity to bring back a different, better, fairer city. 

    But fear of change and the demonizing of ‘development’ risk

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  • Two Plans Map Path Forward for Devastated New York City Economy

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    Getting New York City back to work (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    With COVID-19 infection rates low and New York moving through phased ‘reopening,’ the attention of elected officials, business leaders, and others has turned toward the city’s economic recovery. This month, two groups, the Partnership for New York City, which represents many of the city’s largest businesses, and a new coalition, the New York Workforce Recovery Strategy Group, have released recovery plans with somewhat different focuses and

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  • Max & Murphy Podcast: A Devastating Economic Picture in New York & What To Do About It

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    New York City (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photo Office)


    July 22, 2020 - Max & Murphy Podcast: A Devastating Economic Picture in New York & What To Do About It

    Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City, joined the show to discuss the Partnership's new report on the New York City economy, what government and the private sector should both do -- at times together -- to rebuild the city economy, and more.

    Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think -- we're on

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  • New York’s Working Men and Women are Ready To Go Back to Work

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    Construction needs to boom again (photo: governor's office)


    New York, and the nation, are recovering from an economic hit unlike any other in our history. It has been tough and now is the time to get back to work.

    Let’s build our way out of the pain of the last several months with innovative, ambitious, and transformative projects that will put wages for working New Yorkers back into the economy and let our hard-hit state speed the healing by rebuilding our aging infrastructure.

    Hard work is the backbone of our nation. Hard work is what gives us purpose.

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  • Black Business Owners Hang On Through Covid Crisis as Black Lives Matter Movement Surges

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    Mayor de Blasio & Chirlane McCray dine at Melba's in Harlem (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    Miriam Milord, the Black owner of BCakeNY in Brooklyn, had to completely reimagine her custom dessert business when the coronavirus pandemic hit New York. She usually served events of around 75 to 100 people, but, with social distancing guidelines, customers cancelled those gatherings. All of her orders disappeared.

    “So that stopped, you know, from one day to the next pretty much,” said Milord. “So not only were we not selling cakes, we also were

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  • ‘Real’ Unemployment in New York City is as High as 25%, with 1 Million Out of Labor Force Due to Pandemic

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    Construction workers (photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayor's Office)


    Labor statistics can be very confusing, especially for the general public.

    The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) just released its June 2020 report, and while it does show an uptick in employment across the nation, economic pain remains widespread. The numbers for New York City and New York State, while they lag behind the national report, show more severe difficulties. A New York Times ...

  • As Unemployment and Crime Spike, City Plan for Disconnected Young Adults Remains Years Behind Schedule

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    The mayor is behind on a plan for disconnected youth (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    A city task force meant to address the needs of out-of-school, out-of-work youth in the city, who pre-pandemic numbered at over 118,000 in New York City, has not yet released its report, over two years after it was due. Now, with over 35% of young adults in the city unemployed and gun violence increasing, advocates like Marjorie Parker of JobsFirstNYC, an advocacy group that was a ...

  • NYCHA Tenant Leaders: Where Amazon Never Arrived, New Opportunity Arises

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    (photo: Your LIC)


    The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has not been equitable across New York City. While some New Yorkers have been able to work from home, or leave the city temporarily to wait the pandemic out, our NYCHA family has been devastated with the astounding loss of life and by an economic collapse at a scale we have never experienced before. 

    We have seen many people speak out about how to help NYCHA recover from this pandemic. On behalf of the nearly 17,000 residents of four Western Queens public housing developments, the virus has been catastrophic for our

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  • City Budget Crisis Threatens Lifeline for Day Laborers and Immigrant Workers

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    NICE staff and volunteers deliver groceries to workers impacted by COVID-19


    “The rags were so filthy, and we had no soap and little water to clean them, so we felt like we were spreading the virus in the subway car by our cleaning…We started on Monday, but they did not give us masks ‘til Wednesday…The gloves they gave us were for making sandwiches, not for cleaning! They would break, and there were no more, so we brought our own…I worry: How many people will get sick because these cars were “cleaned” this way?”
    -Susanna, a New Immigrant Community

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  • Could a Public Works Program Save New York City's Economy?

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    Could the reinvigoration of the New York economy come from public works? (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    Somewhere around a million New Yorkers are out of jobs and billions in tax revenue has evaporated as New York City bears the brunt of possibly the worst disaster in its history. The coronavirus has been devastating the city’s people, their way of life, and their livelihoods. As elected officials and experts look to the future, when the pandemic eventually subsides, they must plot a path out of the crises that will remain.

    New Yorkers will need jobs, and

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  • Keys to 'Inclusive Economic Recovery' in New York City Include Investments in CUNY and Workforce Development, Experts Say

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    Considering an inclusive recovery in New York City (photo: William Alatriste/City Council)


    As the COVID-19 public health and economic crises continue, so does the conversation about recovery. This past week, the Center for an Urban Future (CUF), a nonprofit think tank focused on economic opportunity and equitable growth, hosted a digital discussion, “Ensuring an Inclusive Economic Recovery in NYC,” featuring several public policy experts.

    Jonathon Bowles, the executive director of CUF, opened the discussion saying “the immediate priorities are clear: keep people

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  • Max & Murphy Podcast: Job Loss and New York City's Coronavirus Recession

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    It's a very rainy day in New York City (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photo Office)


    April 29, 2020 - Max & Murphy Podcast: Job Loss and New York City's Coronavirus Recession

    james parrot 150Economist James Parrott of the Center for New York City Affairs at the New School joined the show to discuss his recent study of job loss in the city at the onset of the coronavirus recession,

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  • ‘Recovery Strategy Group’ Eyes Future of Work in Post-Coronavirus New York Economy

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    Workers are at the forefront of a new effort (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    New York’s economy will likely take years to recover from the devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic, with millions of people unemployed and billions of dollars in lost revenue. A group of experts from the public and private sectors is hoping to create a roadmap to recovery that will help the state emerge stronger from the most challenging socio-economic crisis it has faced in modern times.

    The pandemic has forced the closure of entire industries in New York, with

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  • New Reports Paint Bleak Picture of New York City Economy, Budget

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    New York City economy is at a standstill (photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayoral Photo Office)


    Economists and budget experts concede that they can make no concrete predictions about how long the economy will be in recession because of the novel coronavirus outbreak and the cumulative effects it will have on jobs and revenue. Nonetheless, the consequences that they have been able to forecast show that the city has a tough road ahead, experiencing a worse downturn than in the early 1970s as 1.2 million jobs have already been lost and, with extreme social distancing

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  • Coronavirus Threatens to Perpetuate Generational Inequality, Leaving Young People Behind Yet Again

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    Young people are again in highly precarious positions as the economy crumbles (photo: Kevin P. Coughlin/Governor's Office)


    If we have learned anything from the Great Recession just a decade ago, it’s that young adult generations that enter the labor market in an economic downturn are at a serious disadvantage, impacting their ability to successfully launch a career and reach financial security and self-sufficiency like the generations before

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