*APR-MAY 2009: NO uptick! That is b.s. from the 'bama heads! Employment and consumer purchases are down, food /fuel prices are up, state/ local taxes -fees and fines going up with new FY budget. NY State tax revenue way down ->[Rockefeller Group study->] corporate income tax down 36.8% first quarter.*
After 1999 S.900 Gramm-Leach-Bliley deregulation/sell-out, to regulatory impotence of SEC under Paulson Goldman-Sachs-man and hubris on to the incompetence of Bernacke, Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, we got GWBush as the Lee Harvey Oswald of the American Dream.
[TOP]
becoming a dinosaur?
Scratching the surface..
Agency &
Socio-Capitalism
Commercial space
[links]
Survey says
Clicking for Dollars
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Publications
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Building boom tax "incentives"
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After the Dot-com Bust - the Big Bang
First drop in quarterly earnings since NYSE went public, 40 companies de -listed "including Circuit City and Vonage.". [-Ipsen, CRAINs OCT 27-NOV 2 2008] NASDAQ is off less than NYSE and ended its de listing requirement.
2015 -so far- completion date for WTC site"...[T]his delay leaves us vulnerable: we should not allow our enemies to decimate private -sector [one of the two NYC central business districts] infras -tructure..for half a generation."
[N. Gelinas, NY Post 8-14-2006" PLOT's NY LESSONS -Rebuild the economic assets"]
*New income tax increases proposed with Sheldon Silver's name on it MAR 2008 for those above 1% $250k+ / 2% $500k+ / 3% $1mil+ would take top NY the top rate [above $1mil] to 13.5%* 
NY State income tax top rate 6.85 ___ % + NYC income tax 3.648%. NYC+State sales tax= 8.375 8.875%. Almost 15 per cent of NYState income tax is from non-residents.
**Of 9-11 billion$ pumped thru NY government so far, there has been pervasive fraud, corruption and little progress [so umm OOPS NEVER MIND, NY is done, stick a fork in it and sell it to the UAE after all...]** -MAR 2008: JPMorgan Chase buys out Goldman Sachs at fire-sale price [-their peak was 2007: $11.6bil profit/ $247.92 share Oct 31]. JULY 08 NYC job loss forecast was 85,000. midOCT 2008 NYC [from Comptroller's office] job loss forecast 165,000 thru mid2010!
Mortagage meltdown II: 50% of most-credit worthy Fred.Mac borrowers in past 30 days, taxpyers is on line for these ->acting 41 y.o. CFO of Freddie Mac suicide 4-21-09.
Condos and bling.. THE LAST hurrah. While demanding 'bailout' billion$ 2008 holiday bonuses were over 6th highest ever, $18billion! Sure, why not -the economy Q4 2008k [Commerce Dept figure] shrunk 3.8%! Back in 2007 as they lose BILLION$ and about to lay off even more, bonuses were $33.2bil fueled by a few big winners in huge fees for M&A, bond sales and IPOs, just 4% less than the record $33.9 bil record high prior year 2006.
Financial services sector average salary is over $200K 2005 bonus money was $21.5BIL 2006 about $36Bil. "Wall St" 2004 bonus was approx. $15.9Bil. The average passed the $100,000 figure for the second time since Y2000, though 2004 profits at $13Bil were nowhere near the 2000 $21Bil amount.
Back in the 1996 holiday season it was "only" $8 billion!
Law firms bonuses commonly $25k - $50k are "dwarfed" by the six and seven-figure [brokers $1mil++] financial sector bonuses,
I did not see a mention of about how much they all added up to. Early 2006 major law firms boosted 1st year law associates pay to $145,000. Financial sector profits are also bolstered by cost cutting especially much lower employment.
Lost convention business activity is estimated at rate $1mil per DAY and bookings were being accepted for 2012 in the expected to be rebuilt JAVITS CENTRE space that was generally eagerly anticipated. What since, as expansion plans went bust?
letters to CRAINs NY Business -[May 14-20 2007] WSJ's silence proves many points
"The failure to publish news of the offer for the company is a perfect example why a two -tier stock company should not be permitted...[T]he conduct is wrong, as is the corporate ownership structure at Dow Jones." -G. Batrouney
"The Wall Street Journal pretends to be above reproach when it comes to ethics and journalism...[N]o wonder there is so much lack of trust towards the media.-N. Theodore
Greg David in Crain's [NOV 23-DEC 3 2006] said despite Bloomberg saying he doesn't want to give Merrill Lynch $$ to stay in NYC, he will come around and do it because its "vital." Are any of *us* who are in between the working poor popping babies out to become new voters, or six-figure earners vital?
Citi Field?
Dumbs__ts!
How much business will they lose from p-o'd fans?
NO future in the future? Besides selling half their stake of FORBES Media OCT 2007, family sold the ranch, too!
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White collar, blue collar, tech jobs, manufacturing off-shored already, the only thing produced in the U.S.A. seems to be porn and "carbon offsets"! Rolling in "all" the money of the world, the collective decisions of the richest, most powerful people in US and the world are DESTROYING freedom the U.S. and the world! G20 [Pittsburgh-] Sept 25-26-2009> note G20 become takeover from G8 economic forum. 9-25 New agreement to require members to subject their economic policy to a 'type of peer review'.
Steps away from enslavement in the US of Goldman Sachs..with a chunk of pay back to US as a slush fund for ACORN, La Raza, and National Urban League by DEMS doing! They signed on to an economic coup by the people and entities that own the Fed Reserve bank particularly who will directly control the Treasury. Treasury is monitising couple of hundred billion$ of US debt. CHINA reconsidering Treasury purchases and try to change their dollars for [IMF]!] gold. China is buying up natural resource supply in agrressive strategic economic allianses supplanting US around the world. US accounts for only 5% of CHINA GDP - they DO NOT need us. Value of dollar about to tank; a cycle of deflation then hyper-inflation / depression will ripple thru the world..in 2010.
Chinese and petrodollars bailed out/ bought stakes in the 'crown jewels' of US business, stakes in Citibank and Goldman Sachs and $5bil[from China] of JPMorgChase too! How much are they even going to keep this up after bust SEPT 2008 and after...? Maybe that was the idea. Keep more out of CHINESE-ARAB hands and deliver what is left to the ultra rich, with a big helping hand by the US ordinary taxpayer OOPS US needs more as long as FEDs are gonna pump out all the phoney $$$ stimuli money. Still, tens/hundreds? billions corporate profits and so many huge salaries made are tax sheltered or backed up - by the taxpayer! They can have it all! Ridiculous, dangerous amounts of leverage for years, speculating in debt, derivatives in our new hybrid capitalist-socialist [globalist] economy resulted in risk passed down to those who cannot shelter income or are not on the dole.
Learn from NYC. The unfortunate old bosses are gone and the new ones lord over a bloated stench..
You and your leaders [business and govt] prejudices, greed, incompetence and short sightedness are bleeding funds and action from investing in infrastructure, especially if it seem to benefit "others" who are not as "worthy" as you. It was a greater priority of FED Govt to fund [whom you are prob so eager to fund all US HEALTH CARE etc] for Minnesota Dept Transportation tens of million$ to build new overpass[es] and lanes on I-35W leading to the 1967 bridge that collapsed AUG 1 2007, than to take care or replace the bridge!
NYC in 1970 "accounted for 60 percent of the region's jobs in professional and business" was down to 45 percent in 2000..."This vision should begin with the premise that blindly following the post 1950s strategy of ever intensifying real estate speculation, over- concentration on selected sectors and 'Capital of the World' rhetoric will erode the city's overall competitiveness even further, strain the city's financial resources and widen the gap between rich and poor. - a NY that was embodied in the Rockefeller's and Port Auth creation of the World Trade Center. I'd call NYC a parasitic market living off imported capital and talent of all kinds from cheap labor and high-priced baseball players, college students, to well, [like Hillary] imported politicians.
As capital flowed outside the US, US debt climbed, regulations increased to the point of having 10 local-State -Federal agencies overseeing Wall St. Wall St has -permanently- declined. US capitalists exported market know-how overseas, and LONDON adapted the "best aspects of U.S. practices." and is under one national regulatory body. "London" now manages more equity assets than the four large US centres combined. [-John Gapper, Financial Times, 11-27-2006 "The Big Apple's Glory Days have passed.] 2005 not one of top 10 IPOs in the world was in NY. In the "Boroughs" the Mayor formed reservations [16 industrial business zones so far] and is driving [relocate or die!] remaining small industry-manufacturing businesses onto them. But of $522 mil tax incentives and low interest loans, "..only $26 million of those incentives has gone to industrial firms, though "Industrial Development Agency" denids those numbers and notes that these jobs losses are at a much lower rate than in 1985-2001. DailyNews figures NYC lost 37,000+ indust. jobs since Bloomberg, "he" NYC says it is only 31,000+! PRATT Ctr for industrial development figures also cited in DailyNews AUG 26 2008, 20 percent of NYC industrial zoned land area throughout the city since Bloomberg-2002 is or will be rezoned under existing proposals leading to some big box retail but mostly condo towers and higher land costs / rents for all; the "market" drives remaining commercial-industrial users out of these mixed-use zones and remaining low-rise structures are being torn down. NOTE the glaring example of the heart of the W Chelsea [27 and 28 st 10-11 Av] club zone will be eliminated as much of these 2 blocks are going down to be filled by large condo projects in the next few years.
The financial sector profits PEAKED in 2006 or so and that job growth ended. The sub prime implosion worked thru the markets and they are even shedded post 9/11 *space.* Many stock trader and research jobs gone already post 9/11 and with changes in NY State regulation and increased computerization. The "global economy" is weaning itself off the New York markets. NY is down to about half by percentage of total financial sector jobs, nationally that it had since the late 1950s, though NYC 4X more dependent since then for revenue, as manufacturing in NYC is decimated. Since CHINA entered the WTO in 2001, NYState -after CA and TX, lost 127,000 jobs of US loss of 2.3 MILLION jobs to China thru 2007 in all sectors but increasingly in technology; report-Economic Policy Institute and Alliance for American Manufacturing released 7-30-2008 -R. Shannon-Solomon, NYSun 7-30-2008.
Because of the mid/late 2000 dot-com layoffs, slow downs and failure of IPOs, the managing director of investment research at the brokerage [Cushman & Wakefield] Ms. Janice Stanton is quoted in the article "High tech was a blip." NY Software Industry Assoc. Tech incubator closing.. [established 2005 with NY ESDC funds in 2005 at 55 Broad St].. Software group cites lack of state grants; will probably have to restructure itself." [-A. Fung, Crain's NY Feb 11-17-2008]. Private money to replace the state funding failed. It's score? 3 years, 83 jobs created and $21mil venture capital raised. In 1999 NY companies were financed with 1/10th of the amount of venture capital funds that pass through silicon valley companies, still .." "more than triple the amount New York companies got in 1998."[-NYTimes, Metro 10-27-00].
Another case of city bending zoning in deference to developers furthering push-out of commercial-manufacturing is deal allowing now-rising 42-fl Trump Soho condos on NON-residentially zoned Varick St "restrictive declaration" reached with Dept of Buildings MAY 2007 to permit construction mandates severe restrictions on the condo owners [-not allowed to hang their own pic in the unit, have to keep personal stuff locked in the "owners closet, can only stay max 29 days in row, or 120 days a year!] enabling the developer to maintain a charade that the building is permitted hotel use. On the occasion of a press party at the site and that condo applications were now available, with protestors across the street on SEPT 18 2007, K. Lyndquist of the NYC Dept. of Buildings said "The city has determined that zoning in the area allows hotels of this type. If we find that unit owners or other individuals are staying longer than permitted, we will take appropriate action." Yeah, right sure. This should be spite of office-commercial use as zoned - with Trump condo-hotel there, businesses in neighboring commercial bldgs will be in jeopardy, as developers will press NYC to rezone or grant deals to convert or tear them for condos too.
Bloomberg's NYC is said to be slowly improving with such things as new small-business satellite centers in each borough. But the center is gone, even higher-end businesses can be bled away from anywhere in NYC, as the NYC property tax is nearly as high as office rental prices in New Jersey.
This lust for ever-increasing prices and accelerating turn-over of all types of properties with minimal tangible increase in value is and investment not always backed up by demand for the space was just a means of keeping score. It dids not reflect true prosperity and the economic health of society; isn't that clear already! Speculation in top-drawer NEW residential at the PLAZA and 15 CPW by fast flips and record rental offerings is near - obscene, but equity-greased inflated buyouts of huge blocks of "affordable housing" forcing a push towards equally inflated "market" rents is a de-stabilising force on society. And NYC intervention in saving as many of the existing tenants as possible for the interim is further costing the taxpayers!
Subway construction started, but in jeopardy are #7 extension, 2Av line, and Fulton transit center. Commuter rail projects include $6.3 bil plan for East side tunnel to a new underground station adjacent to Grand Central [some work started in 2001], direct train JFK to Lower Manhattan [simple talk, pushed aside quickly] and the Moynihan station unholy mess that tops them ALL. "Partnership for NYC" lobbied [2004-05] for and Port Auth so far plans to go ahead in 2009 with tunneling for (guess they got some Fed funding by getting NY to support the request, too) "ARC" NJ-midtown rail tunnel at cost of $6Bil for NJTransit to a new station under 34st, north of Penn Sta. BUT Gov PATAKi sabotaged the project in a usual anti-NJ hissy-fit cut MTA out of the project, so the thing will NOT be linked to adjacent PENN STA that also could have continued on the new east side access station at Grand Central!
The MTA 5-year capital plan [-to 2009] funded $2.5Bil of MTA-requested $8Bil for 2Av and [LIRR] East Side Access Projects and $15.2Bil of $17.2Bil requested for repair + maint work all coming from fare-backed bonds and or MTA BONDS. Fed $$ added to Bond ACT 2005 funds are a pittance towards the costs. So ALL of Gov Patakis pet -though basically essential- transit projects are really in disarray or sandbagged and in jeopardy.
THESE NEW projects are in competition with widespread UNFUNDED absolutely NECESSARY infrastructure work from [2007 est by Regional Plan Assoc.] of $5BIL repairs to Amtrak corridor and NJ Transit rail to NYState work to replace the decaying 1955 TAPPAN ZEE Bridge which reached the END of its unfortunately-designed 50-year life, and could cost $9 to $14Bil to replace or $2Billion to rehab and also a final construction plan has NOT been agreed upon which ALSO disqualifies it from FEB aid etc.! MEANWHILE, a few hundred mil will be spent to keep it UP for the duration. Yet PATAKI reached a deal with the PORT AUTH that got him a $250mil+ slush fund that was spent under him and the Empire State Economic Development Corp [ESDC] discretion for cultural venues -NOT transportation- as a deal to match what the PORT AUTH spent on infrastructure in NJ![-(AP) Newsday 3-26-2007 "Eye on Port Authority Funding"]
The original IRT section of the subway is over *100* years old, most of the rest was built in the 1920s and 1930s. "Missing links" were called for to be filled in the [powerless] 1929 Regional Planning Assoc. study, among the most famous, and we're still waiting. The only crossings from Manhattan west to NJ are: 23 lanes of vehicle traffic that cross the Hudson in the G.W. bridge and (5) 2-lane tunnel tubes, plus approx 100-year old rail tunnels of 2 single track [!] tunnels to Penn Station shared by AMTRAK and NJ Transit, and 4 tracks for PATH rapid-transit in single-track tubes. Weekends and nights that PENN Station access west is only ONE track/tunnel due to ongoing track work etc! In 2002-3, $25 million of est $100 mil 5-year program of security upgrade was done adding monitoring, adding alarms, barricades etc. and plans are to also improve access and ventilation, though the total amount of money sounds way too low. The OLD tunnels "desperately" need a safety upgrading that was estimated at $898 million.." alone - [Tunnels to PENN STATION under the NJ PALISADES have a 10-floor height in-the-rock metal spiral stairway emergency exit. + other hazards, modernizing 2-1/2 mile length estimated $900. million project alone!] YET in 2004 HUDSON-BERGEN Light Rail widened the 3/4-mile long Weehawken freight tunnel not very far north of the Penn Sta tunnels thru the same rock AND drilled a new shaft for elevators + emergency stair to a new STATION in the tunnel. Light rail service through this $150mil project started FEB 2006. NJ is also going to beat NY is adding to its rail system including proposed commuter new tunnel to link to a new 34st station with and connection to this Hudson-Bergen light rail, announced OCT 2004, before fed funding is secured, though.
The Port Authority of NY/NJ was formed for over 60 years ago to build a cross-bay rail freight tunnel. Local pols. and community groups are trying to derail new funding efforts to build it, a $5Bil-$7Bil project[!] Rail freight cannot come directly in except via ALBANY NY, or by barge across the river- so NYC streets are flooded with TRUCKS, and $100Mil for studies and design was funded July 2005 fed Transportation Bill- [but PORT AUTH is NOT interested" in the project, the Mayor also came out against it]. One company ALONE -trucks 6,000 containers a year of Heineken from NJ docks to it NYC warehouse for distribution. So there are probably hundreds of thousands of truck trips that can be avoided thru Manhattan to become more localized with containers sent via rail to NYC warehouses besides using BKLYN piers could also be linked to rest of the US. NJ had faster growth for years of Newark than JFK or LGA esp. in freight. But the 3 NYC area airports are at max. have had worst on-time performance in US for years, leading FAA to throttle/ decrease the number of departure. US airlines are nearly literally in meltdown, US-EURO gateway agreement lead to more competition to NYC for international flights, so the new air travel in NYC is a f__ mess despite a few new shiny terminals and 1990s AirTrain/Airlink!
Are you happy about that toll and PATH fare money going to Alvin Ailey, the Brooklyn Children's Museum and the American Museum of Natural History among others?
At current rate, the sewers of NY would take 500 years to replace. Billions alone needed to upgrade NYC sewage system [$680mil alone being spent soon to build emerg generators at 3 sewage plants to cover them in case of other blackouts].. Still, at the end of 2006, a report about the water supply sytem has not been released but reasonable speculation is that as it all becoming nearly 100 years old, $40 Bil in repairs are needed. Famously clear [umm used to be] NYC water is now treated and is about to all need filtering though a $1.5 bil filtration plant is in the works, just as badly the Catskill Aqueduct is leaking badly and the ___ dam is in bad shape [and the Pols and press don't like to mention it], plus the essential watershed acquisition is not - there mu$t not be much in it for the right people and. A huge new ultra-violet [UV] water treatment facility is being kicked-off.. WATER TUNNEL No 3 is 15 years and billion$ away from completion...no possible shutdown try for complete inspection of ol tunnels 1 and 2 until then; a collapse [MORE-> on the aging water infrastructure] could make much of NYC a ghost town and impact the NATIONAL economy for a year+ and hundreds of million in repairs!
They can't keep the lights on in NY in a heat wave. NIMBY and hugely complex regulation makes the NYC market, rich as it is, a no-go for further electrical generation development. JULY 2006 ASTORIA LIC area blacked out for 7-9 days with 10 of 41 feeder cables failed and then 4 feeder cables "mysteriously" failed in part of S.I. should be looked at as due to increased electricity demand from increasingly dense population fueled by packing both legal and illegal swelling population and max build-out in other areas, in with no corresponding investment in infrastructure...[see Aug 7-13 2006 Crain's N Y Business A. Michaud "Bloomberg lowballs city energy need" especially] Post JULY 2007 CON ED steampipe explosion and AUG 8 2007 rains transit meltdown, a Councilman calls for another Commission to examine infrastructure -Bloomberg says we don't need another stinkin' Commission, just send money! In 1998 Comptroller Hevesi put cost of fixing it up at $92Billion over 10 years. The telecoms system is vulnerable to interruption. Downtown is the most densely wired in the world, but different carriers 'pipes' all go through the same few physical facilities to interconnect, few companies [..'cause only their techies realized it] have spent the big bucks to have alternate links that bypass the Verizon bldg. esp. that was damaged in 9-11 [report issued 8-9-02 by special group of execs. from everything from the Fed Reserve to Goldman Sachs etc.]
... or the subways running in severe weather Just about three inches of rain in three hours halted nearly the entire NYC subway am Sept 8 2004, all it took from the remnant of Hurricane Frances. Pumps couldn't clear it up for hours as controllers switched trains away from tunnels that were flooding and shut power to some sections and discharged passengers into the tunnels. Sick passengers on several trains on several lines further delayed service. Something musta been fixed, even heavier rains [on a weekend day, though] in APR 2007 did not cause such problems. The worst thing in these interruptions is MTA-subway shows that there is next to NO distribution of critical info. to passengers and TA staff in the stations knew very little about the situation too, and gave bad advice! In my station as in many others there is NO P.A. system or displays of any kind. While traveling underground each train line engineer and conductor seems to only receive radio info about their own line, SO at worst they could discharge you to transfer to a station for transfer to lines with an emergency situation. Anyway, PATH kept running yet the Hudson Tubes [PATH] also originated 100 years ago. The real problems are corruption and lack of standards - see MORE-> -BUT don't worry. Y'all come down to NYC. Lets say a hundred billion dollar$+ needed [even before 9-11-01], money we do not have and can't afford to pay debt service on. The record NYC $54bil [July 2007] is now debt a quaint figure! In 2009 we are floated above bust on FUMES of super-leveraged public debt thru FED 'stimuli' of Feds US of A that could see its credit rating tank if China and or Saudi see fit!
As North America's population and economic centers shift southward and westward, New York and New England east of the Hudson find themselves increasingly cut off from the continent's trade grid because of poor rail, road and air connections...Today, even as crumbling infrastructure and a lack of investment threaten the economic health of the region, no concerted action is being undertaken by regional leaders to overcome the considerable political, financial and institutional hurdles that tend to paralyze large-scale projects in the metropolitan area." James R. Russell, "THE GREAT DIVIDE" grid magazine JAN-FEB 2001 "Could New York's power to compete be eroding even as its growth rate outstrips much of America's? [...umm no, not so much anymore.]
Early 2003-over 20% of tech and IT jobs and companies gone from NYC besides all jobs, between APR 2001 and FEB 2003, 80,400 jobs lost [10 percent of total!] from financial sector according to US BLS figures, with corresponding decline of **'A lax collector - City lets firms slide on debt' results from a Comptrollers of audits since 2002 released 6-22-07 $23.8mil owed by high profile companies most like METS. telephone and other vendors, and various restaurant lessors on city property. Much of these particular debts were paid.** revenues, while costs have for gov't have skyrocketed. Some of the NYC elites are so pro-DEVELOPER and short sighted, typified by the attitude expressed by the NY OBSERVER 11-13-2006 issue "Years from now, people will wonder why it took so long for New York to dispose with the [old dilapidated buildings] industrial past along the East River...[h]owever it's enough to marvel that it is happening at all.""
Can they get enough money and get people over to justify upgrading to Stewart field as the areas 4th International airport? New Jersey is better situated now to be the active center of the Port of NY/NJ; it has the only direct rail link to the Port, and space for adjacent new clusters of first class and back office space being developed, has newer interstate road connections, and is expanding the commuter rail network. NJ also had faster growth of the airport [Newark] than JFK or LGA esp. in freight. But HALIFAX NS are capturing European trade from NYarea, the "NAFTA" corridor lines up more with Detroit, Toronto & Montreal than NY. NYC is the only major US city where a majority of freight gets in by lovely trucks [breathe it all in], as the PORT AUTH on behest or by condo-crazy developers is closing down most deepwater piers of BROOKLYN and completing regional dependence on PORT Newark and Elizabeth which are dangerously subject to closure by any accident [umm any of those d__heads heard of terrorists?] of the newest megaships in the narrow and twisting access channel. Then much-touted cruise ship plan for Brooklyn piers displaced a container ship operation. One exception to and in midst of the condo-isation of Brooklyn waterfront is keeping last shipping operation in Red Hook; Council, industry and local opposition killed NYC plan to take over piers where [ASI] American Stevedoring is based. Their lease expired 2007, but renewal signed early 2008 with the Port Authority; stopped NYC plans for the pier[s] for distribution/ lighter industry.
Other 'World Cities' renewed themselves, The sleekest and most innovative [or wild looking] high-rise towers in the world are in the Persian Gulf States and Hong Kong, and China..many designed by Americans. New construction for 25+ years in NYC has been mainly completely private sector offices, luxe apts, plus some hotels/retail/ shopping, all putting a greater burden on NYCs desperately aging public infrastructure. 9-11-2001 there were almost 3000 dead, 15 million s.f. of prime office space destroyed, transit facilities destroyed [but now are mostly reopened or rebuilt], most broadcast TV knocked off the air for a while [ok for the ~30 percent of us without cable] $40 to $60 billion in property and casualty losses with a billion dollar cleanup. New WTC: forget about world class design. Some major firms produced designs that would have been BACKWARDS LOOKING for the 1960s!
David Childs design for WTC7 was released MAY 14 2002 and it was completed late 2005, ready for Spring 2006 occupancy, leasing slowly, not even full late 2008. It is almost as tall as Woolworth Bldg, but so is the grotesquely ordinary new mid-block apartment bldg. ACROSS the STREET from the WOOLWORTH bldg because it uses "air-rights" from adjacent St. Peter's. But WTC 7 plays well with others, it has a gorgeous curtain wall and is a little slimmer than previously because smaller 'footprint' does not block the "view corridor" down Greenwich St.
- they have had "five years worth of planning time to conceivably try for a direct on another of our vital economic assets before the first one is rebuilt." The Mayor's, NYC's business establishment and the lower Manhattan financial community's resolve to rebuild lower Manhattan seems mixed at best. The NY Partnership members and CEOs of Merrill Lynch, Amex, and Bank or NY particularly, warned of *many* more companies ready to leave NY, telling other members in a confidential memo which is particularly critical of government, inferred the NY Governor especially [article, NY POST exclusive, Business MAR 31 2003] Mar 17 2003 "...[i]t is difficult to overstate the damage that further silence and delay in decision making [about redevelopment] will cause." "A 20 or 30-year schedule..is unacceptable."; its how long Times Sq. took to be redeveloped. Bloomberg de-emphasized office space and the NYTimes editorialized against the WTC Freedom Tower it, saying that there should not be a glut of new space. Leasing at new 7WTC started slowly.
CRAINs NY Business [Fickenschur and Flamm] Sept 4-10 2006 said financial district "5 years on" is "one of the city's most economically fragile neighborhoods" suffered loss of 50,000 jobs hurts retail and services, the same number of job losses downtown as there was just after 9-11. "81 percent of finance, insurance and real estate tenants whose buildings were damaged or destroyed on Sept. 11 have abandoned Downtown" [-NY POST 7-8-02 re: analysis on tenantwise.com]. Companies adjusted to move back in or leave.
*2007JUN-Pennsylvania pitched itself as being in the just right place for back of the NYC financial center if NYC gets nuked. YES, the GOV Rendell of Penn did say NJ mostly in the blast zone and other areas at the right distance are too expensive, so he promoted the Wall St West consortium plans to have $25mil of fiber run to the Poconos is just in the 100 mile "limit" for the synchronous data transmission.** Concentration is bad; bad news for NYC? [you heard of FLWright's Broadacre City?, apparently way ahead of its time.] SO MANY -millions of square ft converted to residential use in small and medium size old office bldgs are being converted to residential there is a great shortage of CLASS B office space and subsequent displacement of service, not-for-profits and support businesses. Post 9-11 FED-STATE-CITY govt policy of grants and other aid, rezoning for more residential was channeled to the fat cats moreso than those who really needed it. "Liberty Bonds" for example hastened the construction of apartments. Only $62Mil of $539Mil Empire State Dev. Corp WTC Grant Business Recovery Grants starting in 2002 went to retail and food operations [love ya too, Mr. Pataki]. EVEN this article noted for some many shops, new apartments above instead of offices mean LESS business. Move outs of financial companies etc means a loss of business for many smaller service vendors which do not get it from the increased number of tourists and residents [many young and or part time] despite the touted presence of the few luxe uptown shops.
NYState job loss figure released JAN 22 2009 100,000 jobs lost in "2 months" and 7.2 per cent officially making the State unemployment insurance broke and borrowing, NY State deficit is growing past $15billion, and 48,000 more 'Wall Street' jobs gone thru 2009. Why were they so optimistic?
In manufacturing there are steady losses, despite some bright spots. Some past numbers=139,800 manufacturing jobs in 2002 lower by 56,100 from 1998! 148,300 "wholesale trade" jobs 2002 lower by 4,900 from 1998! Apparel manufacturing loss of 3,500 jobs in 2006 though OCTOBER. Manufacturing-distribution job loss is accelerated by" TriBeCa-fication in Greenpoint, Long Island City. Red Hook, the South Bronx, Sunset Park and Williamsburg."[-NYTimes, Metro 12-15-03 re new Steiner Studios at Bkln Navy Yard displaced a trucking co.]
"..two years from now, by the city's own estimates, New York will have recovered fewer than 40% of the jobs it lost in the last recession and will still be 125,000 jobs below the job peak of three years ago."- but govt spending increasing faster than inflation [-higher in NYC than most cities] threatens even this [-Steven Malanga, "Stagflation Grips Gotham" The NYSun 1-15-04] "In 1968 when Wall Street was enjoying a similarly long-running market boom, the unemployment rate in New York fell to 3.1 percent..." "Wall Street is streamlined, though "still far from a model of efficiency." "Most of the business revolutions, like those in computer technology and biotechnology have simply passed it by."
"Study Find Many Firms Cheat New York Worker's Comp System" - by up to a $billion...NYTimes 1-25-2007, see scroll box "Survey says"
NYC dependence of the financial sector is a HUGE part of our undoing. This sector was pumped up under Bloomberg et al. After NYC 1996 tax cuts and mid 1990s tech boom, 1999 [Gramm-Leach-Bliley] deregulation, then the 2000 tech bust faded thru 2003, there was a false POST 9/11 boom. Job losses slowed and the economy heated with a flood of super - leveraged capital. It continued on with 2004 easier mortgage $$ and dollar devaluation thru the markets, but reality started to set in with big losses in Wall St, first thru decentralization, and then the 2007 'corrections' [and all warnings about higher local govt deficits, tax increases, fare increases etc] and 2008 near-collapse of the dollar.
NY up-State had some bright spots but is in bad shape-170,000 manufacturing jobs alone were lost since 1990 along with population loss in most areas. In the rest of the city, manufacturing is still being weeded out, even in 'protected' zones as illegal conversions of 30 bldgs alone in East Williamsburg Industrial Park area [-as found by NY Industrial Retention Network]. And not all can be accommodated in newly drawn lines of shrunken manufacturing areas. A zoning-housing study issued by the Manhattan Institute called for conversion of 5 industrial-zoned areas in the boroughs to residential to meet "unfilled demand" for 600,000 new units over the next 20 years. The Audubon Partnership for Economic Development concurred [July 2005] that much land for housing etc. would be available if -excess- industrial land is rezoned- the pols are doing their best to insure there is "excess"..manufacturing areas. An aim, pre-2008 crash was to push market rate housing in area such has Inwood along the Harlem River! In 2009 rezoning is expected for 30 blocks of industrial land on opposite side of Harlem River but further south [south of 149 st-from river east to Morris Av BX] for "3,400" housing units and commercial/retail/park use..who is gonna pay market to live there? How are the subsidised units gonna be paid for? Though there is subway service nearby, more city services would be required. This is still a fringe area with a concentration of poorest, most under educated, bare majority hardly English speaking area of NYC especially just east of this area. This is no L.I.C!
They say that income among many income groups rose during the 90s. The NY Times just famously wrote that median income declined for every group except for Manhattan, but that was if the 1990 figures were adjusted up to account for inflation...Steve Malanga wrote in CITY JOURNAL that *all* groups income rose and detailed them. I strongly disagree with his rosy view. The rise in incomes esp. at highest levels inflated commercial property values [much turnover of store leases to get market rents and attract the chains] along with flood of immigrants [nearly 1.25 million] pushed housing costs sky-high makes NYC -NOT Appalachia- have highest poverty rate in US, and there is no housing construction except for the upper-middle class. Study by "Center for an Urban Future" noted above near top finds high real estate cost in part caused by the few, but billion$ in corporate tax and real estate subsidies "inhibit the development of new business and the retention of lower-margin industries."
Mar 2005 the *official* rise in cost of living was 1.7 percent, highest in 23 years and 3X national average- high fuel costs are being passed on in higher prices of all types of goods and services too, but NYC higher cost of living including higher taxes passed on [BUT especially] by hyperinflated salaries of the few and property values driven by these $$$ chasing top properties and shortage of housing in all price ranges citywide. A low six-figure income a basic necessity a single to cope with housing expenses which could be several thousand dollars a month for a rental to avoid sharing cramped quarters! But like many, I would be happy with a higher five-figure salary! I do live in much more modest quarters just to have a few splurges on "stuff" and live near the subway. Rising housing costs are a big factor in the flood of ex-Manhattanites going to Brooklyn, especially among the Boroughs. Rising property values by demand and speculation are causing significant yet "unofficial" inflation. Higher wages in NY produce little gain in living standards among the shrinking "middle class" because of rising rents and retail prices due to rising commercial rents and . higher taxes. The official poverty level in NYC increased to above 20 percent. Queens, SI, and Brooklyn had small rises but The BRONX had steepest rise from 28.7 to 30.6 percent. ->this in the news AUG 31 2005 just a few days after pols took 'pride' citing official NYC figures showed the lowest numbers of welfare/public assistance recipients in many years. Official caseload figures for end of NYC FY2008 [th4u JUN 30] show lowest no. since 1963: 341,329! [1995: 1,160,593!]. It a matter less like a matter of heart than the smell of fed fund$ early JULY 2008 to show NYC has a poverty rate approx 23%+ $26,138 instead of 18.9% rate at $20,444 family iof 4 if poverty rates were calculated by feds more correctly taking into account costs of necessities beyond just food, local costs of livng and government benefit$ received. The amount of extreme poverty would also be lower, but the number of working poor will be higher. NYC will use the figures to try to force Washington to hand over more in a new "poverty campaign" in conjunction with fed proposal "Measuring American Poverty Act." The BRONX is still the poorest urban county in the US and BROOKLYN was [is still?] in the top 10 poorest counties the US; there are other new social welfare [workfare etc.] mechanisms not accounted here somehow.
Becoming a dinosaur..
NYC- the dog or the tail? When you look at size differences size of metro area in mid2008 Fed Reserve report and NYC Comptroller's quarterly letter the rich CT suburbs included make the NYC region account for a bigger chunk of the economic "engine" than NYC of the metro area [making it no. 1 in US] and will likely lose more ground to them because of taxes. NOT that any report or the press would DARE says ANYTHING about importing more poor/illegals, etc. NY Fed figures show what it counts as NYC metro has lower per capita gross domestic product - than TRENTON NJ! -"Report: N.Y.Area IS Powerhouse of U.S.", G. Rauh, NYSun 7-25-2008.
NYC can not carry out its mandated functions without parallel semi-public finance and service systems. Public works, infrastructure are failing and hardly able to be replaced. Look up bridge messes where we are just a few years from possible collapses of TAPPAN ZEE, KOSCIUSKO Bridges since NY STATE is paralysed from proceeding. [See MORE->look down in scroll box]! But our thoughts are more filled with the WTC project[s]. Back in NY Post 5-8-2003 "To Get Nothing Built...let the city run the WTC Project" Steve Cuozzo] and nothing is better. Road, rail and waterworks etc in the NYC area are crumbling or minimally maintained at great, everlasting expense. The JAVITS centre muddle, #7 extension, 2Av line debacle, MOYNIHAN Station mess and the rip-offs of new METS and YANKEE stadiums [privately managed so completed on time] new WTC, are a shame on those who praise them [and profit from them on the public's dime] and just the high-profile tips of the cancer of NY. Woe unto the rest of YOU all over the US!
So as N.O. went under NAGIN and SEIU/ ACORN, NOW so goes the U.S. under 'Bama!
US can devolve into a third-world existence - it is part of the current Presidential czars mind-set. The middle class is to be used and used up, leaving the plutocrats and rich, client/working poor, and the politrical class! Maybe you think the funds for infrastructure were there, but N.O. diverted $$$ into 'pork' pocket lining, vote buying community benefits projects under SEIU and ACORN, which are HQ in N.O. [and in the same bldg]! The majority "minority" in N.O. were jerked off by Nagin and the local Levee Authority who neglected the infrastructure except as another political issue and porkfest. If they were on top of things engineering-wise and operated cleanly, there would have been more of a chance of getting Congress to provide funding for buffer-wetland restoration and world-class dikes etc, instead of the tippy, thin walls that existed along the canals that satisfied the powers that be but failed in Katrina storm surges. The 'stim' fund which these same orgs and allies wrote for 'Bama and the Dems is more about politcal rewards rather than for infrastructure/ construction.
NY is dependent on the Financial sector, accounting for 18% to 20% of all NYC salaries with just 5% of the employment, accounted for 40% of job growth during Bloomberg's administration. "Wall Street bonuses and wages have accounted for nearly half the growth in its income since 2003 [-AM NY 3-18-2008] so that is like a big animal passing down thru the inside of a snake, distorting and disrupting the economy for the rest of us. Takes a while, but it is passes! "Financial service companies use 31 percent of the 400 million square feet of office space in Manhattan." add Law and Insurance, and the total jumps to 47% of all office space in Manhattan- according to a large commercial brokerage firm "NY TIMES 11-5-2000]. top corporate HQ and financial firms continue to decentralize and move away, and it is feared the loss will become increasingly be out of the region altogether.
JULY 30 2008: NY Building Congress and NY Building Foundation report: Office construction in NYC costs 2 1/2 times that of Chicago
and so on, are about $400++ BEFORE "marketing, land costs or the developer's profits as if WE basically did not already know that and that NYC site conditions etc. are more demanding than other cities - but compared to CHI -the GOVT is the problem. Costs are up, profits are threatened as inventory increases so the industry is further turning to the dark side looking for way tax breaks and way OUT of new NYC mini-push for safety measures after all the recent deaths and destruction from construction umm "incidents" instead of for once taking the lead of the hard work of UNION reform, GOVERNMENT reform and their OWN good practice! They would rather continue to spend hundreds of thou$$+ in "contributions" and such. And what is a few deaths considering the profits!
Disaster funds now to be allowed to be used to build lower Manhattan transportation center linking rebuilt PATH and NYC subways and perhaps MTA rail [Long Island Railroad] to be accessible from each other for the first time in NYC better possible than the set up at Grand Central or Penn Station [!] NYC hardly evolved its transportation road and rail network since the end of the Great Depression with[out] the cooperation of NJ, failed to invest for decades in new capital improvements such as a cross-harbor rail tunnel, commuter rail across the region to cross 2-rivers [such as NJ to L.I., or Westchester to NJ] commuter rail between the 2 major rail stations in NYC, long-dreamed commuter rail direct to lower-Manhattan, an added tube to PENN STA [AMTRAK] rail tunnel, and other expensive but critical rail and road projects. 8-4-2005 org N Y Transportation Council estimated $147Billion actually was required over the next 25 years just for transportation project needs, EXCLUDING projects in planning like the cross harbor tunnel and JFK-lower Manh rail. They say much of the funding will probably be available over the next 25-30 years. Understand that catch?*
"Before 9/11, Lehman considered ditching its Jersey City, NJ building. "If we'd gone down that path we'd probably be out of business."" - Lehman CEO, quoted in CIO Mag., Sep. 1 2002
"Don't believe the staff's claim that the Agency is "removed from the political environment" and embodies 'the best scientific management theories of its time.' The PA is dominated by a huge cumbersome, political bureaucracy whose members are obsessed with power and perks, such as office size and the right to a goverment-owned cars.".. "When the public learns this slush fund [Regional Economic Development Program, now $400mil and growing] .. is a payoff to governors for overlooking the agency's fiscal mismanagement, its outrage will shake the very foundations of the body politic."
-George J. Martin 1995-97 Exec Dir of Port Authority, Author "Squandered Opportunities: New York's Pataki Years" NYPost 5-13-2008]
"New York will be no more an Olympic city than Havana. "[-NYTimes, Sports, 5-19-04 Harvey Araton "I.O.C. Misses an Opportunity for Change"]
The Mayor's wish list for NYC Olympics 2012 was tied to W Side Plan [See MORE->]for a massive high-rise office land with about TWICE the sq footage of the lost WTC!
BUT NYTimes kept up a barrage of articles and editorials attacking office space construction at the WTC site - they did not want downtown space in competition with THEIR huge 8th Ave-41 st HQ tower under way, with developer Bruce Ratner. In their view all the new towers uptown somehow does not mean a glut while proposed new WTC towers somehow do.
Back on the Chain Gang
The NYTimes 2-27-05 [Styles] said $200,000 income is the new $100,000.
Real numbers - "Center for an Urban Future"[CUF] "Reviving the City of Aspiration" [report released 2-5-2009] NYC $123,322 = $50,000 Houston; rents in NYC "average $2,801" are 53% higher than S.F. [no. 2]! - and that past "boom" - wages in all boroughs except Manhattan were -flat- between 2003 - 2007 and taxes and cost of living rose greatly. Brooking Institution report of nearly the same time shows the middle class in NYC was low and about to disappear: 25% 1970, 16% 2008. The exodus of native NYers is rising quickly, the report does not compare it to the 'post-War' suburban flight.
FEB 2009-NYC unemployment figure jumped to 8.1 percent / NYState 7.7 percent.
The antediluvan "boom" in NYC job growth was in 2000, after taking the most of 1990s to benefit to from the growing US economy,. In Sept2002-03 there were suburban job gains; in NJ, a small gain in employment in Long Island, Ct etc. but was a LOSS of 47,000 jobs in NYC, according to the Fed Labor Dept.False good times as unemployment fell officially to 5.4 percent[!] Spring 2006, then AUG 2006 to 5.1%, 5% still in part of 2008 as low as it got, after a long period when NYC job growth was far below national average by official Bureau of Labor Statistics; the overall numbers hide the poorer figures in much of the Boroughs. Fall 2005 the Mayor pointed to lower unemployment but official figure showed job losses. He and BX Boro President, for example boasted about booming BRONX despite official figures. Steve Malanga in NYSun [8-5-05] and 7-27-05 "Gotham Stalls Out" demolished politicians false crowing about the NYC economy. He said the plain fact is NYC job growth was 0.3% in 2004. ALSO despite seeming boom in CONSTRUCTION, *those* jobs FELL each year since 2001 down 9% from a peak and this year has just stablised at 2004 levels. And to answer Mayor Bloomberg, 2005 was first year there was employment growth after he took office.
The great big sucking sound is from the carcass of the disappearing middle class
NYState LOST 26,000 people in FY 2005 - even with the NYC area economic boom-ish and increasing legal and illegal immigrants. Upstate past the Hudson Valley is an economic basket case with few healthy spots. One-third of all upstate manufacturing jobs were lost since 1990 overall. Crain's NY Business [Feb 6-12 2006] showed upstate has highest per capita tax burden the US[!], including real estate taxes, so much so that Eastman KODAK spent more in 2005 on DEMOLISHING buildings on its Rochester campus than any other new construction in Rochester. Though Staten Island grew [17 percent in the 1990s for example] fastest of NY State "the Island's young professionals" are leaving. 2010 census will show number escalating, surely. Poor jobs, shopping, and entertainment without serious commute on the poor streets and inadequate public transit, plus expensive housing /lack of smaller starter units handicapping S.I. RemaiNY regional forum [held in S.I] SEPT 2008 found "alarming percentage of 18 to 34 year old leaving NY State. See S.I. Advance 10-23-2004 "A demographic dwindling". There are no easy ways to change over and re make shattered established urbanised S.I. to keep them or give more variety to the larger suburbanised areas there be more appealing to younger people who have broader interest than their parents/ grandparents! YoungER, better educated lead the flight from whole northeast [-last straw after taxes, housing costs, etc.] is worsening commutes [-NYC metro is worst], creaky transport infrastructure. -Acetelli, NY Observer 1-2-2008 from NOV 2007 Regional Plan. Assoc report and Sept NYC Comptroller census analysis.
Publications JUL 2007-Bancroft's OK sale of DOW JONES/ WSJ to NEWS CORP
Agencies - Organizations
$1 billion in NY recovery bonds sold Oct. 1. 200_
WTC area businesses disrupted SO MUCH by construction, $5mil total /$25,000 max each Fed HUD Grants offered through LMDC to small retailers on ground floor at closed streets for 15 days of a 30 day period retroactive to July 2007 - -original WTC Business Recovery Centers grants for pre 9-11 lower Manhattan businesses *DEADLINE was DEC 31 2002* ["9-11 Aid Found To Favor Investment Field, Not Small Businesses" Investment dealers got 27 percent of total grant dollars, admin by NYState thru Empire State Economic Development Corporation, and highest $ per employee. The NY Merc got $54 mil, but 669 small businesses of WTC received $38mil. -NYTimes, National, 9-8-03]. Downtown Retail Attraction Program: Wall St. Rising
"New York's overall business tax climate ranks 48th among the states, according to the Tax Foundation. Mr. Paterson's money grab could make New York the biggest loser when it comes to tax competitiveness."
->Wall St. Journal MAY 1 2008. "Return of the Web Tax: New York tries to dodge the Supreme Court."
"Capital of Taxes" The local tax burden, highest in US, is approx $4,000 person. "NON-Profit Sector of City Economy Is Fastest-Growing Source of Jobs" NY TIMES 5-22-02 is 3rd largest employment sector at 14% of work force these exclude member-only orgs. from unions to hospitals etc. and schools. EVEN though NY State had cut its corporate income-tax rates, ancillary business taxes, personal income tax rate, and utility tax rates Albany mandates programs which are paid by local income taxes boosting the total but making ALBANY pols look good at campaign time since NYState income tax only 29th highest in US so, NYC is highest taxed part of the country with **state+local** income taxes 5x national avg. Might as well face it, deficit coming or NOT, govt is addicted to cash: NYC sales tax is due to go down 1% [to 7.375%] at expiration of financial control board authorisation since 1974, on 7-1-2008...Mayor Bloomberg opposed roll back as mandated. This tax is split now 4% state [raised in 1974 from 3%] 4% city and .375% to the MTA [raised sometime back from .25%]!
A fall 2003 NYC Citizens Budget Commission found $141 NY taxes per $1,000 in income, compared to $121 CA, $120 CT, $114 NJ, US avg $112, NH +TN $8 as lowest. Though among tops in per-capita in tax revenue NY has had about the lowest job growth - 0.3% [from Cato Institute analysis of Census Bureau data] while US avg. for same 1990-98 period was 10.7% and low-tax rate states averaged from 14.5% [Missouri] to 26% [Texas]. Alaska-[highest taxing state at time] had good growth of 15%. Most glaring problem is MEDICAID, where ONLY in NY is 25% of cost is passed to the city - now is $4 billion and rising.
FED - NY and FedReserve Board of Governors sued by Bloomberg LLC, NOV 7 2008 under FOIA laws "becasue taxpayers are "involuntary investors who need to know the risks" the Fed should identify the banks! But NO, each of 7 districts and 12 Fed Reserve "bank" is exempt from FOIA and the Board of Governors cites "trade secrets"!
APRIL 15 2009 CNN [Anderson Cooper]: "It's hard to talk wieh you're teabagging.. hehe" and MSBC [Olbermann] repeated "teabaggers", Olbermann enthusiastically added a dozxen or more hardly veiled dick jocks + a pic'erect' state capitol bldg + tower [as cock + balls], to refer to the Tax Day demonstrators as if [probably did] got this as a talking point *direct* from the WHite House/ Rahm Emanuel. In the studio and the field reporter slurred the citizen-protestors as strange "corporate-lead all white crowds of "Obama-bashing" right wing activists. The real fact is MSNBC->GE->GE Capital = got $billions in FED aid. Chris Matthews said earlier in the Obama term "Our [my] job is to make sure Obama succeeds! On the Obama trip to UK for G20 he said "I'm getting a thrill." Bloomberg LLC annd NYTimes financial news got more to point of the demonstrators in these two following financial stories since these are not political stories per se!
The 'public' still believes Fed is some Govt org! Of $700+ bil TARP "The Fed refuses to name the borrowers, the amounts of loans or assets banks put up as collateral under 11 programs [citing fear or bank runs etc] and unsettle shareholders. Regular banks taken $125bil, U.S. guarantees, loans and spending "to rescue the U.S. financial system" is $12.8 trillion since AUG 2007 Only BofA and Sterling Financial voluntarily disclosed borrowing funds. -Pittman, Bloomberg news April 15 2009.
"The Stealth Bailout" $ [-L. Story, NYTimes Business Day 4-15-2009] $315 billion pumped into F.D.I.C. taxpayer subisidised debt issued by Goldman Sachs [$28bil DEC 2008-APR 2009] and tens of billion$ more subsidies debt for JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley. "[P]ublic support ..with virttually no strings attached."
Coming to NYC instead of Olympics 2012, for the first time on US East Coast, the 2011 World Police & Fire games Aug 26-Sept 5.
NEGATIVE LEVERAGE. A record number of transactions at record prices coming faster then ever that only the bigger players are able to participate in but "..the returns on most Manhattan office towers has dropped to only 3% to 4% - the lowest levels in New York history." [CRAIN's NY Business FEB 12-18 2007]
SO they are counting on rising rents..COUNTING on? They will MAKE that happen as long as it all does not go bust. Real great, real smart, huh?
Ranking of most corrupt STATES by Corporate Crime Reporter, D.C. newsletter based on public corruption convictions per 100,000 population. [-can't reflect what wasn't found.] 1.Miss. 2.ND 3.Louisiana 4.Alaska 5.IL 6.Montana 7.SD 8.KY 9.FL 10.NY...to last 50.Nebraska [-AP in NY Times 1-21-04]
The NY TIMES HQ tower, another of the Ratner projects was started in 2004 is almost half speculative office space owned by the developer.
It got construction loans to get started instead of hoped for low rate "Liberty Bonds" but got other tax breaks and used ol "urban blight" justifica- tion to use eminent domain to seize 10 private properties [-and compensate owners at deflated values]
[TOP]
becoming a dinosaur?
Scratching the surface..
Agency &
Publications
Socio-Capitalism
Building boom tax "incentives"
Commercial space [links]
[BOTTOM]
Socio-Capitalism: Breathe deep, open up, continue to let them f__ us!
"City is Told to Abandon Its "Doomed Tactics of Encouraging Growth"[-NYTimes, Metro 9-9-03] a study by 'Center for an Urban Future', financed by the Rockefeller Foundation, is critical of "reactive" tactics [kick-backs, no?] as tax abatements and real estate development subsidies. NYC is sooo generous: We the little people and NYC residents pay taxes, that is all we are good for as higher paid and outsiders get the breaks! Makes me remind you of the ugly face of the new New Yorker posting in the real estate blogs [typically about StuyTown and such]; they bash "bitter renters" who they say should "leave NY if they can't afford it." Like the f__ Yankees?NY ESDC outright grants of tens of millions ranged from Fordham U getting $10mil towards its dorm/housing construction, $437k the Bank of NewYork Mellon, $5.5mil to NY Historical Society for building renovation and $150k to NYs largest jewelry manufacturer Frederick Goldman Inc. [-Chichester, "N.Y. economic development giveaways are a bloody ripoff" Daily News 9-18-2008]. Whether or not any of $650mil grant set up by Pataki shoveled to 'chipmaker' AMD [see MORE->] is an ESDC grant or not, part of final agreement OCT 2008 that includes $600mil/14 year tax break is beside the point. It is tougher than ever for taxpayers, plus AMD is selling itself to Abu Dhabi. AH, ex Gov. Pataki is STILL on the board amongst 38 others of NYs "most successful and elite New Yorkers." Taking care of each other on our dime.
ICIP Industrial and Commercial Incentive Program" Cost NYC [us!] $512mil in FY 2008 and $409.5mil FY 2007. Companies on the dole doubled under Bloomberg; led by Rite Aid [no. 1 with 137 and McDonalds no. 2 with 112] receiving property tax exemptions INCREASED from 3,743 in FY2000 to 6,030 FY2008 [-amNY 9-15-2008 'Big breaks for big business- articles says 'year', it think it is the city fiscal year July-end of June]. These 25-yr property tax abatements supposed to be for construction of regular ol commercial/industrial bldgs and factories, but 90 percent are going to retailers /national chains, such as Tours R US Times SQ got $2.4mil, Bloomingdale's, gas stations, MCD's and others were on the dole...your Albany buds extended and may continue to extend the program. New York Jobs For Justice - study - [Metro NY 5-9-2007] "At least 2 percent of companies that got tax breaks from the city in 2005 cut their workforces.. It may be higher but who knows since 44 percent that did not report job data." 21 percent hired on these jobs for less than $25,000 per years such as from IDA [Industrial Dev Authority $212 Mil to JPMorganChase's Metrotech security guards. The Mayor said the city will try to do better in granting these tax incentives. But in 2006 the NY STATE LEGISLATURE killed an attempt to toughen wage and REPORTING requirements. In June 2008 the State legislature passed a 'reform' allows the City Council to [vote] to change it to an abatement program.
REAP "Financial institutions will look at their occupancy cost just like MetLife did, and take the top 20 percent [of their people] and pay $100 a foot in Manhattan and move the remaining 60 to 70 percent to Long Island City and take advantage of REAP." giving an effective discount for that borough space of 80 to 90 percent over the prime Manhattan cost. [ D. Brause/Brause Realty and Chair LIC BID in L. Weiss "Both rents and vacancies are on the rise" NYPost 10-22-2008]. REAP benefits apply to moves to Ratner's METROTECH bldgs with $32 to $37 sq. ft. rents already are average half of average non prime Manhattan space before REAP money back and considering there is no 3.9 percent commercial rent tax outside Manhattan. With these tax credits it LIC and Metrotech matches lower prices of Class Jersey City space, but without free on site parking they have over there!
REAP $8mil "last accurate figure 2004" is $3,000 tax credit per employee if they move to NYC or out of downtown Manhattan to a property receiving another city benefit/ tax break -but businesses are NOT living up to these obligations, either! NYC-State upped ante again, competing with other States and cities in amount of handout to fickle film/TV production, 2008 are 5% NYC tax credit plus 30% NYState 'below-the-line' tax credit for production service PLUS there is new retail/service 10% discount program at 800 'vendors' for those [mostly VERY well paid] workers in the industry, shepherded thru by the Mayor's film office and HSBC Bank!
The really big fish get private attention of the Mayor and aides etc. to work out rezonings, hundreds of million$ in incentives, before it gets to public forums or other elected representatives. "The City has given more than $2-billion in tax breaks, grants and incentives to 50 corporations-mostly media and financial firms." Top dirty capitalist shark, Goldman Sachs HQ building at Battery Park City got $640mil NYC-NYState subsidies! Gee, not long after in 2006 they bought adjecent Embassy Suites Hotel for 'about' $225mil their own future use and quietly for security reasons. What are they building, the real NY Fed? BESIDES bigger $1.3BIL packages for Yankees-Mets for stadium infrastructure and aid. Baseball was to get another "pittance" of $5mil + $15mil as prime tenant for speculative office at Park Av-124st "
Harlem Park" -MLB opted out fall 2008, the project was cut in size and cancelled Dec 2008. Ol fat cat developer [Vornado] - politicians - local 'patron/ bribees' dealings fell apart, deservedly so in this case. The deal had been "$25mil low interest loan, tax exempt financing, a property tax abatement and income tax credits from the state and federal goverment." some thru Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation [-NYTimes 8-25-2008]. Which was still not enough $$$ despite all the taxpayer grea$ing direct and indirectly. Harlem is still on a SLOOOW path up..and will be again after any economic busts no matter how much these dudes with ballsacks filled with backed-up money aching to get out anywhere they sniff what they feel is "undervalued" that they can make a killing yank the taxpayer, distort the market and disrupt the community.Amongst largest deals the pols greased was the mid 1990s $183.9 million package for the New York Mercantile Exchange, which is now housed in a new bldg. at the World Financial Center. JP Morgan Chase is VERY favoured .. Their will claim tax exemptions for the jobs somehow through 2014 no matter the 13,000 workers laid off 1995-2004 and cuts in space leaded. They shopped and it was announced JUN 14 2007 they got almost $240mil tax breaks and incentives for a new tower on the DBank site where dismantling stopped after deadly AUG 2007 fire and may not resume til later 2008! The subsidies are covering much of the cost of the JPMorganChase long-tem [92 year] lease of the site. SO SOMEONE, ANYONE tell ME why the F-- this site is not privatised and site sold to the highest bidder. How much friggin money is the taxpayer spending to pay these a--s who administers these deals here and all over town? Late APRIL 2007 NYTimes printed the "C" word - Chase threat to move to CT [Stamford] if NYC does not cough up money to keep them here, following in the steps of $650mil package of govt breaks Goldman Sachs got in the deal for their new building. Chase received 'incentives' from the city to keep people here during the Koch Administration. Since a JPMorganChase merger with Chicago BankOne in 2004, it dumped more space and people. [NYPost Realty Check-Steve Cuozzo 5-3-05] says cutting 500,000 sf downtown and subleasing 1.3mil sf in midtown for as its moves its consumer banking HQ to Chicago. Just before 2003 moves were announced, Chase bought out a west-coast investment bank - Hambrecht & Quist for $1.35 billion. The NYSE expansion and office tower plans to be subsidies by NYC too, were scrapped-announced by Chairman Grasso Nov. 8 2001, summer 2002 move is OUT; a second-backup site is to be or was developed. They make money, they know how to keep it.
APRIL/MAY 2009: 13% of midtown Class A space available for sublet. JPMorganChase 400,000+ sq ft offered for sublease at 399 Park Ave. Top of the top [$150 sq ft and such..] going for 1/2 for 1/3 price [..see futher below]!
Politically connected lobbyists lined up tax breaks for new bldgs and to stay in NYC. The government is HIJACKED for them! Daily News said [11-1-05] BLOOMBERG granted approx $1Bil in commercial property tax breaks in his first two years in office, 40 percent more than Giuliani in an equal amount of time. Will the bloomberg admin still cut more of these deals in 2009?Pfizer got a package of $46 tax incentives starting 2003 in return for expansion [to some east side offices] + hiring promises but they announced closure of their Brooklyn facility by 2008. NY Life Insurance is moving about a third of its staff from MadAv HQ starting JUNE 2004, to Mount Pleasant at former IBM bldgs partly or mainly in the continuing effect of "9-11" on major corporations. Phillip Morris USA div of ALTRIA [others will stay here] announced move to be complete by 2004 out of NY to Richmond VA after 101 years in NYC, saving money and new NY smoking bans pushed it over the edge. 2007Mar GE got a city hand out of $1.5mil property tax abatement and millions of dollars more worth of sales tax exemptions for it Rockefeller Ctr NBC facility upgrade they say oh they will being the MSNBC staff there from SECAUCUS NJ but NJ back when gave them tax breaks to move THERE!
FedEx has to move from w34 truck facility so CONDOS and or offices of the "West Side Plan" can be built [oh.. in the f-u-ture] -so they got $7.3 mil tax breaks and incentives to build new sorting facility and service center in South Bronx [132st-St Anns]. Merril Lynch pre-2013 lease expiration at WFC shopped around for new HQ space, playing the JERSEY card. They could relocate but wanted big concessions from NYC. A new 41 fl "Diamond Tower" by developer Extell got city tax breaks
will have rents that may be lower than adjacent street-level spotsit is expected they that will empty them out - Cuozzo NYPost 1-27-2009 "Realty Check" says its going to marketed as office condos-Oh, Feb 3 2009 he added no work started on cleared site, they still have to get construction financing. Meanwhile, w majority of 1.6 mil sq ft of former MACY*S and Gimbels warehouses in LIC Queens filled with Manhattan jewelry makers and wholesalers moved or expanded for very big spaces at lower prices. Despite such move ins to BK and QNS, they are still losing industrial jobs; only the BX is gaining.*Citicorp received "$226 million [comparable to what Citigroup paid for naming rights to the METS new stadium- in public subsidies from New York and New Jersey over the past 18 years.." [-6-13-2007 Metro -from Good Jobs New York and New Jersey Policy Perspective]..noting the 2004 promise of jobs etc on start of new Citibank tower in LIC Queens NYC, these two groups scolded NYC - there was actually NO commitment to stay here or hire, all we got was a press release!* The New York Stock Exchange *was* about to build a new complex with a 900 foot office tower, aided by generous city 'incentives' across from the current exchange. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. on Wall St. since 1843, the US's largest and oldest private bank founded 1818 in Philadelphia, asked the City and State for tax breaks and a land deal to keep them in NYC and to build a new bldg. at Battery Park City in parcel where an apt. bldg. was supposed to be built.-[NY Times Metro, 3-9-2000]-[I haven't heard since what happened].
In 1987 Mayor KOCH approved real estate and sales and use tax breaks for NBC [threatened to move from Manhattan! Yeah sure] lasting thru 2003 and extended under BLOOMBERG thru the NYC Economic Dev Corp as NBC renovates floors of 30 ROCK . Examples of Giuliani 1997 incentives...$75 million to Bear Stearns to 'stay' in NYC locating some 'back offices' to the new Metrotech in Brooklyn but now JAN 2003 Metrotech office developer received tax incentives linked to Bear Sterns staying instead of going to NJ after that lease runs out in 2004. Also there was ['97] $28.5 million to Merrill Lynch, and ING Capital [British-Dutch] in NY since 1820 asked for a package - a financial services firm threatened to move to Stamford CT. Verizon sold [Oct 2004] it 6av-42 st HQ building and moving execs to NJ or VA, still to have many staff there. Bear Sterns was trying to get more incentives out of NYC or it will move it's Brooklyn -Metrotech offices to NJ. Taking 'incentive' money from the City is 'frosting'.
Tax breaks and concessions from Giuliani's time for DISNEY, VIACOM, Citigroup, AXA and Morgan Stanley to "stay in NYC" are expiring between 2009 and 2011. The Project Director of Good Jobs NY, Ms. Damiani says several of these top-tier companies failed to meet their job growth obligations and "It would be disgraceful for firms with billions of dollars of assets to even consider revisiting the public trough.." There is even a permanent nearly $10 million year PROPERTY tax exemptions for MADISON SQ. GARDEN since 1982 [threat that teams would leave NY did it] that owners of MSG want to make the city continue the tax exemption even if they move to a new facility built at the coming[?- so is you know who..] Moynihan Station! What the F_! MSG was probed with search warrants Feb 2004 in labor racketeering allegations, incl. no-show jobs "arranged by the powerful stage hands union and possible bid-rigging by the electricians union.." Several high-level building staff were suspended-NYPost 2-12-04.
Think about that as the Bloomberg Administration continues to favor politically connected developers with tax breaks justified upon shady promises of job increases and move-in of outside businesses. The city collects a massive amount of real estate transfer taxes says its all good. Stemming the disappearance of skilled blue collar and labor jobs which pay much higher than retail [for example] are vital to economic and social balance of the city. Job losses from policies like this should be unacceptable. To be or not to be. Michael Bloomberg or his maid. Illegal alien day labor or day trader. Broadway hoofer or squeegee man. The NYC economy is being skewed further out of whack by numerous moves, and closing of small businesses. They are forced out by their buildings sold out from under them and other that own their own property are tempted out by property values that are much higher than the value of their businesses. It will get more ugly in this city as economic polarization is amplified. The function of government is NOT to work directly for and transfer public assets to developers! How many people and how much office space and expenses do taxpayers pay for all these dealmakers of the city?
Pataki Temple of Doom: JAVITs Centre planning/studies etc. cost $100 million to get us nowhere. Rising costs forced dumping the major expansion plans and alternatives one by one, from the 'finalised' "Richard Rogers" scheme on, all officially CANCELLED JAN 31 2008 with SPITZER backing plan STILL costing $1.6Bil for repairs and a 100,000 maximum sq ft expansion. Whole roof, all the glass needs to be replaced amongst other work. Cheer "No. 19! We're no. 19!" [see more->on Javits and No.7 extension.], Javits is down to 19th in size in US.
NYC [Midtown] has highest office rents in US [sometimes swapping for No 2 for that position with DC], making them ahead of all but a few other US cities in 2006 where most office rents at least stayed flat, with lots of vacancies. By early 2007, office rentals escalated to average in midtown for "class A' approx $70+, "top" new Class A space around the $100 figure and the fewer A+ luxe literally top floor spaces in GM bldg and 9 W 57 and such $150+ to $190 sq.ft., with one record priced [$205 sq ft] trophy space at 9w57. NYPost Commercial Real Estate [Cuozzo] JUL31 2007 noted "first" below 42 St. $100+ sq. ft. lease signed by a hedge fund [100 ParkAv]. Prices rebounded from post 9-11 dip [avg $37] at the end of 2001. The Financial Times JAN 5 2007 said world's highest office rentals are in London [West], Hong Kong, Paris, London [City], then NYC [midtown]; the fall of the dollar made midtown class A space NYC no. 10 in cost - behind DUBLIN[!], in a Cushman & Wakefield survey released mid FEB 2008. Prices were so high that a new office bldg at a strategic spot in Harlem next to the MTA-MetroNorth 125st sta was to have a large office bldg, first such type again in Harlem since NY State sponsored office tower of [early 70s?] and NY Observer [5-7-07] notes non-profits who gotta be here are going up to Harlem taking space in the Theresa, for example. S. Sunshine, it's broker said "Many of my tenants can't afford more than $28 per square foot. They've been battered by this market."
After a small bust in early 1990s as too much office space was completed pre- tech boom then absorbed stock market peak was reached, NYC office occupancy in NYC peaked already [2001], but 15mil + 12mil residential conversion 'removed' 9/11 and post 9/11 rescued the marker, but a new big bloat of funny hyper-leveraged' money was pushed into the system and kicked up most all real estate that it dragged up costs in most sectors of the economy to unheard of levels. Financial services, then a flood of [new to NYC and NY expanding] legal offices led the way to demand enough space at record prices anyway to encourage even more construction. In AUG. 2002 the vacancy rate in 'midtown south' was down .5% to 12%, average overall NYC vacancy rate in FQ2002 was 12.4 percent, highest since 1996[-Newmark & Co. quoted in NY Post Business 4-5-2002] going down by 1st quarter of 2007 overall to 5.4%! A record number of record property value increases continued thru 2006 through early 2007 -with a record $13.6 Bil 1st quarter of 2007 in Manhattan office building transactions. Trophy office bldgs sold for OVER $1,000 sq ft. Selling or ummm raising $3Bil, Tishman-Speyer in partnership deal, DEC 2006 got a record total price for a building with $1.8BIL sale at $1,200 sq ft. of 666 Fifth Ave [-price in 2000: $518mil, price in 1978 $80mil]. They sold 3Av "lipstick" bldg just before for top dollar. Hey, they bought Rockefeller Ctr in 2000 for $1.8bil and paid $5.4Bil for Stuyvesant Town. The NYTimes sold their 1913 43st NYTimes bldg perhaps a but too fast post 9-11 to Speyer in 2004, so Speyer easily found eager foreign investors [announced MAY 1 2007] who bought it for 3x the 2004 price -yet it was considered very good because it was 1/5 lower than midtown! The ol Times bldg and fast completing 11 Times Sq [at 42st] are biggest new blocks of space late 2008 hitting the market in the downturn probably turning into great coming crash of 2009! FYI-NYTimes notes in report 5-29-2007 of pending Tishman-Speyer acquisition [with Lehman Bros] of the REIT Archstone-Smith of CO with 57 of its 86,000 apartments in NY area- that Jerry Speyer is a part owner of the Yankees, Chair of Fed Reserve of NY, Vice Chair of the Museum of Modern Art and a member of the CFR.
NYC had 48 of the Fortune 500 private companies HQs -Chicago no. 2, @(24), etc. as of fall 1996. NY ranks high [mostly] as a business center, when it does get a negative notice, official and business leaders fume. A most recent ranking by FORTUNE noted NYC a no.1 business city in the U.S. but it also said "New York remains among the top cities on our list for violent crimes." based on the Places Rated Almanac figures- but the next 4 cities down on the list actually had higher crime rates. In 1997 it was no. 1, last year [1999] NYC was no. 4 on this list, and it was somehow below the top 10 in 1998 FORTUNE left NYC off it's (Nov. 11 '97 issue) list of 15 Best Cities for Business "...lousy place to do business." Philadelphia WAS on the list.
Tax breaks, incentives, or NOT! Some benefitted by selling and moving, some got burned by increases and had to move away - both renters of apartments and of offices, but only landlord benefitted by new highs of rentals of retail space! Non-profits are cashing out, selling their properties like hasn't been seen; these are cruel transactions sometimes forcing evictions such when as the Salvation Army sent hand-delivered eviction notices 1-16-2007 to 200 elderly women left after some months of "harassment" [some now paying up to $1200 month!] in two rooming residences in "hot" areas [Grammercy Park, Murray Hill]. They sold off two buildings were DONATED to the Salvation Army NY decades ago for the purpose of this housing! But if business needs to be here to prosper, they will be here. If they need to have layoffs or pack up and move,they will. Period.
The building boom of the dot com years slowed after 9-11, rebounded, fuled by cheap [subsidised, actually] interest and speculation of capital looking for stuff to wheel and deal. Lower Manhattan looked good, 7 WTC almost filled up while uptown there was enough demand to lease most of the new NYTimes tower. The prestigious new Bank of America tower is leased up to some nearly at the top NYC scale. Publicly, it went downhill in 2008. Anticipation for late 2009, 2010 is for a commerical sector bust. Declining Times Co. revenue and towers high cost meant DEC 2008 "The company hired commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield to help obtain financing through a mortgage or a sale-leaseback agreement, spokeswoman Catherine Mathis confirmed [DEC 22 2008]." DailyNews 12-23-2008. Port Authority forged ahead with plans to bid development rights above the bus terminal for approx. $500mil? [Vornado is the finalist] expected to build 42-48 fl offices above the terminal if agreements are finalised before mid 2009 deadline. There is a glut of Lower Manhattan office space, so no new office space except of creeping 'WTC 1'/'Freedom Tower' is rising. The Beekamn St. 'Gehry mixed use tower is rising fastest thing in Lower Manhattan, Silversteins heralded Church St. 'Four Season' luxe tower is on hold after only the foundation slab was completed and the top other couole of higherst end condo towers planned for Tribeca jsut at the apex of the boom are cancelled or on hold.
Pre-bust Midtown "Class A" space averaged $70ish sq ft, the best of that goes over the magic $100+ sq ft. and the best cut of that in a few places went to $170+ sq ft. NYTimes [4-25-07] said since demand is so high and there are few new bldgs in midtown coming up, many companies are now warehousing extra space just in case or to profit from subleasing. And so mid 2009 we have widespread cut rate subleasing and owners being selective, but cutting deals. Even back in the swelling bust of 2008 CRAINS [Mar17-23] NY Biz said large firms are "dumping" space at a rate that could increase. A large portion of office lease signings at top rates for was hedge funds expanding to ever more luxe space but so many law firms expanded and many were new to NYC. CRAINs Sept 1-7 2008: Lawyers lose jobs; Wall St. the culprit." OH.
Notable immediate post 9-11 midtown bldgs finished up and absorbed were CIBC [Price Waterhouse signed on as major tenant] MAdAv-42, Hearst Tower, "Bloomberg" Tower, TimeWarner Ctr and the "Earnst+Young bldg. A lot of the other projects were new and condo conversions, and some rental apt. bldgs, also lots of smaller hotel and retail projects. The expensive new MoMA bldg opened NOV 2004 and other arts related projects opened in Manhattan and Brooklyn. New METS "Citi Field" and YANKEEs stadiums ground was broken late summer 2006. An E River Science Park near Bellevue-NYU Hospital is being built Goldman Sachs paid out $16.5BILLION Christmas bonuses averaging over $620,000 DEC 2006 which is far far higher than the total cost of their new [announced Aug 19 2004] 40 fl HQ tower for Battery Park City - would they really NOT build it and even MOVE away, threatening and whining that they had to have a few hundred million in tax subsidies and abatements? East of City Hall, an even taller 876 ft mixed-use GEHRY-designed tower broke ground NOV 2006 adjacent to NY Downtown Hospital. There was a relatively large amount of construction mostly completed already in Brooklyn such as 9 Metrotech South, new Federal and State courthouses, the Atlantic Center -Forrest City Ratner- shops [TARGET] and office tower [Bank of New York back offices]...but the bulk of new construction is only a proposal awaiting fueling political connection for subsidies and rezoning so it more impressive that Citigroup broke ground on a second LIC Queens tower OCT 25 2005.*
*Disputed big productions coming no matter what- CRAINs NY [Mar17-23 2008] said of 10 biggest NY development projects from WTC to Hudson and Atlantic Yards, only 2 of their list were 100% assured of completion - the Gateway Mall in the BX and the Yankees and Mets Stadium [counted as one item]! [See MORE->] of my own list. HELP!-transportation improvements are desperately needed in BROOKLYN! Ratners $2.5bil arena-office-housing-shopping plan and billion$ in office and high rise apartment towers proposed are all concentrated in the wedge of land that is downtown Brooklyn. Construction labor shortage means increasing non-Union labor is used especially in demolition and small jobs and things are so "good" that early 2006 the cost of construction in NYC went up 1% to 2% a MONTH thru 2008 with no end in site as rising commodities prices may take place of increased labour and land cost as main culprits. With increased number of small building collapses and various construction accidents, the NYC Council end of JAN 2007-early Feb passed laws to limit self-certification of construction and increase penalties for illegal construction. A revised building code on the way sounds more like an adjustment - NOT real reform, It may be "nice" to have a "green" development mandated, but that will make things MORE expensive in the short run. NYC needs to reform the land use - environmental review, permit and inspection systems MUCH MORE. The current Mayor and City Council continue on with same record of FAILURE on this!
Anyway, oft quoted is that of "38 companies that left Manhattan in the 1970's the urban planner William H. White found that 31 moved to within 8 miles of the chairman's home." They can play us against another state with a depressed urban area just across the river (Hudson County, NJ), or even other regions of the Country, etc. The burden of expenses is shifted down to lower income groups, as the multi-million tax breaks increases, and in this area of the country, we also depend on many (triple!) tax-free Municipal Bonds for Capital construction of so much of our roads, schools, water supply/environmental and other numerous projects and to rebuild the older ones that is now needed on an emergency basis as normal maintenance was deferred for years. As all 'we' can afford to hire at entry/unskilled levels are illegal.. - oh they just call them "immigrants" now."Undocumented Immigrant share of occupations in NYC: 54% of dishwashers. 35% of sewing machine operators. 33% of cooks. 32% of construction laborers. 32$ of food prep. workers. 28% waitstaff. <-figures from Fiscal Policy Institute in AM New York 2-17-2009."Land of Little Opportunity..Immigrants struggle to find work" not that anyone else has a problem today...right?
