Thursday, March 9, 2017

Proposal to strengthen the industrial sector

From the Queens Ledger:

In an effort to build the city’s industrial sector, the Industrial Jobs Coalition has proposed a set of policies that would change manufacturing areas to foster growth.

According to the IJC, which was formed to implement the strategies, New York City has pioneered the use of nonprofit organizations to develop and manage affordable housing. Now the coalition wants those groups to do the same for manufacturing businesses and jobs.

For example, organizations like the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center (GMDC) and Evergreen Exchange collectively manage 4 million square feet of space and close to 10,000 jobs. But the coalition said the benefits of their efforts are limited to their individual communities.

The IJC now wants to extend this strategy throughout all five boroughs.

To achieve the large-scale expansion, the coalition suggested that the city give nonprofit organizations a priority in the disposition of city-owned industrial land.

It also proposed funding increases to the Economic Development Corporation (EDC)’s Industrial Development Fund and enhancing the role of Industrial Business Service Providers (IBSPs) as neighborhood partners.

The second strategy it recommends is re-conceptualizing Industrial Business Zones into “industrial campuses.” That would include physical and structural changes to industrial areas.

Advocates from the IJC proposed rerouting bike lanes off truck routes and adopting parking, loading and sidewalk regulations. They also suggested adopting signage about the area’s industrial use, expanding high-speed broadband access, reviewing street maintenance and planning for resiliency.

The last proposal to foster manufacturing growth is to reform city zoning to protect industrial spaces. To do this, the IJC wants to prohibit “incompatible uses” that accelerate speculation within IBZs, such as hotels, large-scale entertainment venues and mini-storage facilities.

The zoning changes would also reevaluate density in manufacturing zones and end a Community Facility bonus.

2 comments:

JQ LLC said...

"According to the IJC, which was formed to implement the strategies, New York City has pioneered the use of nonprofit organizations to develop and manage affordable housing. Now the coalition wants those groups to do the same for manufacturing businesses and jobs."

This made me laugh immediately, because these mysterious non-profits have not provided any affordable housing at all, unless this is an offshoot of CONY, which thinks forcing developers to set aside 10 apartments to win in a lottery format and have thousands compete for it is progressive.

This looks like a bullshit front group to fraudulently galvanize De Faustio's idiotic promise to create living wage jobs at 50,000 a year in Sunset Park a month ago.

The only thing these phonies manufacture is false hope. Which can get you a 6 figure job in this city. Nice work if you can get it is the saying right?

Anonymous said...

Yeah: give the EDC more money - they do such a fabulous job of generating local jobs. Maybe they'll spend it on more lubricant so we won't feel as much pain when we get shafted. IBZs! indeed - a way to transfer heavy manufacturing into neighborhoods already feeling the impact of exclusionary zoning policies.

Not for profit? give me a break. Let's get bios on the board members: sure they're profiting.