Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Maspeth wants to save its manufacturing

From the Times Ledger:

Manufacturing in New York City isn’t dead. It just needs some nurturing.

Industrial areas like the one in Maspeth provide 342,000 jobs in New York City, according to a 2014 study by the City Council. But advocates and Maspeth business leaders worry that if Mayor Bill de Blasio does not do more to protect industrial areas, many of these jobs could lose out to the more profitable housing market.

“There’s just a shortage of industrial property in New York City,” said Jean Tanler, president of Maspeth’s Industrial Business Zone “It’s detrimental to the economy as a whole.”

Researchers at the Pratt Center for Community Development are concerned that as de Blasio continues to push for new affordable housing development, many manufacturers will be pushed out to make room for housing, taking with them high paying jobs with an average salary of $50,000.

“We support the mayor’s goal for affordable housing,” said Adam Friedman, a co-author of the study “Making Room for Housing and Jobs.” “But we believe saving manufacturing jobs is essential for this goal.”

In the study, researchers argued that these industrial zones should be considered sanctuaries for jobs through a strict zoning code that would prevent real estate predators and hotels. Preventing the development of big-box retail and storage warehouses, which provide fewer jobs than industrial businesses, would strengthen these areas. These steps, they argue, would prevent industrial areas from eroding.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

When was 50k a high salary?

Anonymous said...

New York City would like to maintain its manufacturing.
How can it if we are exporting all these jobs to the third world? Good luck , Maspeth.

Anonymous said...

Want to keep people of the welfare roles? Keep and protect manufacturing spaces. Offer tax credits to bring in manufacturers. No everyone can write or want to write code.

Anonymous said...

Entrepreneurs and investors ask "where do I build something?"

Making the answer to that question "Maspeth" involves a lot more than just declaring "Maspeth wants those jobs" or blocking the construction something else on the site on of an obsolete Maspeth factory.

Anonymous said...

The cost of everything increases when we have no warehouses, etc to offload and disperse goods throughout the city. Traffic gets worse with more trucks coming from NJ. NYC desperately needs the little 'industrial' space that it has left. Unfortunately the developers with deep pockets will pay off the elected goons to do their bidding and we'll all be fucked in the end.

Anonymous said...

Industry will slowly trickle away over the next 20 years. That's "waterfront" property and once Newtown Creek is cleaned up by the EPA (which it will be-- following the Gowanus Canal), there is nothing that will stop residential and parks from moving in. It will be PRIME PRIME PRIME.

Anonymous said...

Want to save manufacturing? Build the Cross-Harbor Tunnel.

Anonymous said...

$50k is a lot just not in NYC.... Lol

Unknown said...

offer REVERSE tax credits....the more people work on 2nd 3rd shifts holidays and weekends the lower your taxes are, call it prime time pricing.long island city is DEAD after 6pm, lots of free parking..

You dont ask a wedding dj for discount in june but january most will give at least 1/3 off.

Anonymous said...

Industry will slowly trickle away over the next 20 years. That's "waterfront" property and once Newtown Creek is cleaned up by the EPA (which it will be-- following the Gowanus Canal), there is nothing that will stop residential and parks from moving in. It will be PRIME PRIME PRIME
----
Pa-lese. It will take generations (if ever) for the toxins, metals, hydrocarbons and other carcinogens to leave the soil along Gowanus, Newtown Creek and East River.

The sad thing are the cancers that will result from children born while their parents live in those towers.

The scandal will be the poor and the immigrants who will fill those towers for decades afterwards once the ticking time bombs in the soil is discovered.

Like a modern Five Points, those buildings will be sold over and over like a hot potato as each investor group harvests money from them, and a another generation will have to deal with its 'Housing Projects.'